This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: America: Why Aren't You Protesting
Submitted by Andrew Smolski of OilPrice.com
America: Why Aren't You Protesting
As noted by Richard Heinberg on June 22nd, 2011, the media has lacked
the ability to connect the economic situations in the Middle East and
their uprisings to what is happening in Europe. I would avoid the word
“Revolution” in the case of the Middle Eastern uprisings, seeing as no
dramatic systemic changes have taken place, only the ousting of
dictators. Same as I would avoid the words of social upheaval in the
case of European protests, which have been quite calm and only demanding
to maintain the social safety nets produced through years of labor
struggle. Rather, the odd occurrence is the ostensibly quiet population
of the United States who are in many cases having the same economic
problems and austerity based government solutions. This is a place where
the media does want to ask the public the question, “Why aren’t you
protesting?”
Effectively in the United States the labor movement has been
dismantled over 30 years through multiple policies, the main one being
“Right-to-Work” laws, which have left only 6.9% of private sector
workers in unions, and 36.2% of public sector workers in unions. This
has correlated as well to a 30 year stagnation in wages, which has
barely kept pace with inflation, leaving many with the option of
accumulating debt buttressed by a free flowing credit policy. That
points to a problem when consumer spending accounts anywhere from
40%-70% of the economy (whether or not you wish to count government
spending which is done through the aggregation of taxes from said
consumers). Even if the low end number of 40% is the truth of the
matter, it is large stake in the economy and plays a disproportionate
role in the health of the economy as a whole.
The importance of wage and debt is linked to the economy having a
large consumer component, which is basically like the gas to the engine,
it keeps things in motion. According to the Federal Reserve, Household
Debt is far greater than disposable income, basically at a ratio where
consumers are maxed out. Connect this with the Weltanschauung (world
outlook) of consumers at the moment, according to the Rasmussen Consumer
Index, 61% of the US population see the economy as getting worse.
Basically, you have a massive Molotov cocktail being thrown at the
economy. The wage trend is not reversing, as noted by Paul Craig Roberts
and Shadow Government Statistics, new jobs are typically in non-value
added labor (service economy), with an industrial sector shedding jobs
as they are outsourced to countries with cheaper labor and laxer
regulations (or harsher authoritarian regimes).
When unemployment is calculated correctly it stands nearer to 16-17%,
and high-value labor is not returning to employ most of these people,
but only the non-value added labor. Without wages and jobs, how is 40%
(roughly 5.9 trillion dollars) of 14.7 trillion dollars going to be
maintained. Possibly through Citigroup’s idea of a Plutonomy, where the
economy services only 20% of the population. However, wouldn’t that lead
to political instability in a country that in a form stabilizes the
world economy through dollar supremacy and also US treasury bonds (one
of the safest investments).
With all this being the trend, and each recession taking longer to
reach normal employment levels, where is the social reaction in the
United States in comparison to Europe and the Middle East, which were
experiencing (and still are) similar situations. A large part of the
blame can be laid at the feet of the media who have downplayed protests
calling for stimulus and national reinvestment from the grassroots and
economists such as Paul Krugman, Josepsh Stiglitz, Robert Reich, and
Mike Whitney. Stimulus having the point of proper regulations (neither
over or under-regulated, but well regulated), and bringing back
value-added jobs which maintain the advancement in Science &
Technology. At the same time the media has overrated the Tea Party
movement which has been calling for the implementation of the same
policies which have been followed since Regean.
These were bad solutions to growth stagnation at the end of the 70’s
and still are in the present. Cutting taxes and eviscerating regulation
produced large mountains of government debt and has not increased the
number of middle class workers (rather decreased that number). Those
people, Tea Partiers and so-called Conservatives, do not understand the
first thing about economics and are just rabid ideologues spouting words
that make semiotics professors mouths’ water. But, not all the blame
can be placed on the media, it also is a lack of political will on the
part of the politicians, and large propaganda campaigns by corporate
America. What has happened is a corporatization of American politics,
especially after Citizens United case, but even before, as rampant
individualism and greed have taken root into the American culture in a
corrosive manner.
A quick glance at the historical record shows that when the elites
begin to siphon off more and more of the surplus, social movements were
typically the norm. This creates instability and opens doors to collapse
of power and markets, the internal structure of a nation. The new
rulers are the multi-nationals, and they are not nationalist. As they
exist without borders, they are not worried about political or economic
instability in a single country.
The new rulers do not have any real party affiliation, and neither
party adheres to the political philosophy they claim, they are all
corporatists now. And this is the fundamental reason why America is so
silent. The people are behind history, they are standing in the trashed
piled high by the Angel of History, which always progresses forward, not
understanding their old paradigm does not operate properly anymore.
They do not believe a government is meant to regulate an economy, that
is for the markets. Yet they want a government, just not to impinge on
their right to be greedy at all costs.
What then is left to this government that has no purpose within the economic sector?
Militarism and policing, which has never been good for a government
to occupy all it’s time with. The other function has been for the
government to siphon money through taxes (by having one of the highest
corporate tax rates which can be avoided with a legion of lawyers), into
corporations. This is shown by the revelations about GE. GE had
American profits of $5.1 billion, paid 0% in taxes, and received a tax
benefit of $3.2 billion, but I am almost certain it is using roads,
electric and water systems, and other American taxpayer produced
resources free of charge. So, yes Americans are going the Tea Party
route, because they do not trust government, not recognizing that the
line between Governments and Corporations have been obliterated over the
last 30 years.
What does all this mean for political and economic stability in the U.S.?
It looks like a long brimstone filled road, unless somebody can grow a
pair to start making a proper political discourse in that beacon of
light on a hill, that republic from 1776. There are many people who are
shareholders and need to recognize that collapse economically in the US,
means a collapse in their portfolio. And stakeholders as well need to
recognize that it is their tax dollars being turned into profits (money
begetting money) rather than value-added goods and infrastructure
development. These are the last people with any clout, because obviously
the rap line is the only mantra left in the US, “Money Talks, Bullshit
Walks.”
Otherwise as the system deteriorates even further, massive protests
will happen, but with a narcissistic victim hood component where people
are finding someone else to blame, ultimately not accepting
responsibility for misunderstanding or being blatantly ignorant about
the link between politics and economics. With money moving freely around
the world, markets will react as markets like to react, dropping dollar
supremacy, moving investments to other countries with a better “order”,
and leaving a highly militarized and narcissistically angry society
holding nothing but guns and their broken dreams.
By. Andrew Smolski
»
- 14335 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Patience. It is The Long Emergency.
How can I protest when I'm more worried about whether Justin Beaver is a poof or not?
Protesting means getting up off the couch. Hard on the knees for a 360 lb slob sucking on a bucket of chicken fried wings (and a 2L of Coke as the chaser).
Too fat, too lazy, too complacent. Bankers know it.
Hey! Wait a minute there! It's a 2L Diet Coke!
America to author: "tl;dr Idol's on soon."
This article is silly. We know everything is unsustainable and a lie, and that the police state is closing in. You can't protest everything, it doesn't make sense. When people are hungry, they'll protest. Until then there isn't a target that more than 2 people could agree on.
Like it or not, having 40 million people on welfare is better than having them out taking what they need by force. That is the price we paid for globalization.
North Koreans are not protesting against their own government.
Europeans are not protesting against 20% sales tax.
Germans did not protest against Nazis.
Cultural and ethnic diversity.... barrier to assemble and protest. THEY (victims) are not one of US (unaffected / ignorants) so who cares.
American upper middle class still thinks that they have a chance to join the upper class (401ks bounced back, wall st. is still raining bonuses, etc.), so nobody educated is leading the massive poor class into a revolution to overthrow the upper class.
It isn't the physical laziness that Americans are most guilty of - it's the mental laziness. Despite all the information available to them, they have no interest in learning what is wrong with the nation. That would require working their brains. It's much easier to hear Fox News give them a 30-second soundbite, which explains everything in the world (i.e. that the problem is the guy down the road, rather than the one in the mansion).
True. I think the two aren't mutually exclusive. Most forward thinking and interested people I know aren't sitting in front of the TV all day eating crap.
you cant blame it all on lazy and stupid
some of it lies with the fact that protesting has proven here in america to be ineffective
it only works with the right charismatic leader to roust the ingrates into action
this leader will be promptly shot
name a protest of something that worked where the leader of said protest survived
aside from that you get inneffective G-series of protests and the like
....and don't forget the propaganda machine and the politics of division. Every "leader" who portrays himself/herself as the one to unite the country succeeds in creating more division, more confusion, more subterfuge. The science of deception is so keen these days it's awesome to watch it unfold right before your very eyes if you know how to see it.
Ignorance is bliss. Keep the sheeple confused.
Divide and conquer, baby. Divide and conquer.
relevant:http://www.xkcd.com/927/
Well, though you got junked, I tend to agree. Between the oxymoronic patriot act, warrantless wiretapping and regular complete abrogation of our rights (DHS is a growth business), no one who IS smart is willing to be "disapeared" into gitmo. They've become smart enough to watch all the social media that have been so "helpful" in creating Arab Spring...You hear about busts made via them all the time - a little warning about what's going on. If you've got a plan, you can't advertise it to say the least, which has, shall we say, somewhat of a chilling effect in getting a herd going the right way.
Those of us who might start or lead such an uprising or protest know this, and tend to be individualists, and perhaps fairly cynical who are just getting ready for whatever is to come -- alone or nearly so (small informal groups), as sticking up right now is like that blade of grass in the emperor's proverb. All you're doing is putting your neck in a place his sword reaches more easily.
And then, there's lazy and stupid, which DO have to take some of the blame. And conditioning. No one wants to take a chance anymore over anything. When I ran a business, I found plenty of people who wanted the title and perks of project manager, but none who would do the job -- all expected me to micromanage them or they self-paralyzed, afraid of the results of making a bad (or seen as bad) decision. It was most frustrating and made it hard to grow the business, actually. Lack of talent, and not just the technical type - the ability to take risks, put yourself on the line, and make dreams come true was just not there in hundreds of applicants, so I just gave up.
some are protesting, the msm just isnt covering it, they have other priorities
http://red-pill.org/mainstream-media-ignores-gathering-anger-weiner/
It is an excruciaing one by one battle for minds and then hearts. That is where the protest is now. Waking the sleepers.
when fannie and freddie were goin TU i was pretty alarmed you know big bucks and all that... so I was at work working and being like hey, this stuff is serious were talking trillions of dollars of bad paper in housing this is some pretty serious malfeasance and g generally bad for money, law, and contracts... and the guys in their late 50's were like...
.
'they' wont let it happen... and these guys arent fat or lazy... just republicans that believe in insainely powerful government force and overreach
.
you know, self proclaimed anti obama individualist patriots lolz
Fascism.
I like your comment and the style in which you expressed it. You've definitely got the young texter talk down, but there is clearly an awareness of proper grammar coupled with a fine vocabulary behind it. Nice. Write some more. You hit the nail on the head with a very interesting hammer.
The lack of leadership is creating a massive vacuum - the inverse of a bubble. Vacuums are more destructive than bubbles. Vacuums are the lack of - not the surplus as in bubbles. There is a vacuum of critical thinking, a vacuum of true education - self-esteem - you shouldn't be taught that you somehow deserve praise when you really suck at what you do.
Look at the so called Greatest Generation - their children became the radicals of the 1960's and 1970's. The next generation gave us the 'stay at home kids' (go see the latest Hangover movie to get the humor of that one). The is a vacuum of standards and expectation. Moral relativism is for idiots and is used by those who 'game' the system. Reward without its counter - malice - has caused asymetrical risk taking.
Protesting is un-American. Striking is un-American. Not repeating what the government says is un-American. Having your own opinion is un-American.
Do not think. Do not think. Do not think.
Yes sir. You nailed it.
I lost 50 pounds and now am down right about 180 and able to run a while, not like two years ago where I could not get across the lot.
Remember in UK, you are not allowed to have guns so you need to maintain fitness to outrun those who wish to knife you.
God may have created man, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
Amen, and a little bit of kick from Rowland as well.
+1
I may have snapped at you in the past, but this shows decent and sensible thinking. Rule #1 of Zombieland - good cardiovascular.
RiflesUK law defines a "rifle" as a rifled gun with a barrel longer than 30 cm, and a total length longer than 60 cm. Single-shot, bolt-action, martini-action, lever-action (also called under-lever action) or revolver rifles and carbines are permitted in any calibre. Semi-automatic (self-loading in English parlance) or pump-action rifles are only permitted in .22 rim-fire calibre.
A shotgun license is relatively easy to obtain, although you'll require a proper gun cabinet, and the cost of the whole thing is driven by "the country set" rather than American pricing.
Remember these as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_%28weapon%29
Using lead shot, in trained hands, these are as deadly as small calibre firearms, and silent [hint: silencers don't actually silence the noise]
/hypothetical
"too fat, too lazy, too complacent..."
or maybe, maybe....the amerikan police state has proceeded far enough along that knowledgeable "protestors" realize it's best at this point to just let the fascist contraption implode on its own bullshit....
The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting -sun tzu
Beer, bassboats, and ballgames bamboozle big-ass Bubba . . .
Until the proverbial wolf comes to the door of enough people at the same time, then dissent and active opposition will be desultory and sporadic at best.
You don't need to be fat to be a mindless follower.
You can also be fit and brainless, part of the under-educated masses who will follow which ever 'leader' talks the best game.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/quazen/2008/05/18/163850_1.jpg
We need a protest APP for that. Everyone is headsdown today
I was going to say the same thing and you beat me to it. Don't forget the six pack of
keystone beer, and Scoal in the lip to top it all off.
America: Why Aren't You Protesting?
---
Because I'm too busy snorting lines & banging skanks...
Next question...
In America it is the dependent class that protests.
Productive people Go Galt.
The problem with that is you have collateral damage upon innocent parties.
By attempting to starve the government in that manner, you harm everyone except the bureaucrat. Through that harm, you turn people against you, while empowering the government to act.
If you want to do anything, do something that doesn't call for more bureaucratic action.
Did the Germans protest against Hitler as he rose to the staus of nut job?
Did the Chinese protest against Mao after the Revolution didn't bring imancipation but delapidation?
Did the Russians protest against Stalin when the Revolution turned out to be revolting?
Even when millions of people start dying as a direct result of Mao's and Stalins incometent agrcultural policies or Hitlers thuggery people did not protest
44 Assasination Attempts against Hitler should be proof enough.
true enough. Tyranny is the norm. The past 235 years in America have been a fluke in the grand time line of historical civilization.
Actual real protests? Armed maybe? Hell I dont even see mild irritation from the body of the american people at all!
But when they want the protests to happen, they will happen.
I think you mean Justice Beaver, the crime fighting beaver...
I think you mean Justice Beaver, the crime fighting beaver...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-RHT6KLmj4
Well....here is why America doesn't care:
Mon: Monday Night Football & Castle
Tues: Glee, American Idol
Weds: American Idol (vote show),The Office
Thurs: Must See TV & Dancing with the Stars.
Fri: Date Night
Sat: Date Night redux (if you did well Fri)
Sun: Football Day & Laundry
No doubt Americans hardly have time to protest anything meaningful when they are forced to face such a grueling television schedule. The TiVO can only hold so many hours of programming!
I myself will go purchase more ammo tomorrow.
You are absolutely right. Most people writing these essays calling for the immediate commencement of riotous festivities are products of the instant gratification culture--myself included. We want to see revolution and we want it NOW!
But what I've known for some time--if not able to fully admit to myself because of the implications--is that this process of change is more likely to happen over decades rather than days, weeks, or even months. As history teaches us, this process happens in stages, and is temporal. All the pieces must be in place for the next lever to fall and the subsequent step of the emerging paradigm to assert itself.
This is a long term process, that will go in fits and starts, with probably long periods of dormancy in between. In the end, looking back, this will have been a process that stretched over a generation.
Prepare appropriately.
I am Chumbawamba.
tl; dr
</snark>
Because it would be considered racist to protest against the Obama regime.
TPTB were quite wise in choosing this latest presidential puppet.
Why is it racist? If Obama's mother was pure white, and his father was pure black, then O is only half-and-half, right? Why is he then touted as automatically black? Why can't the white people of America simply call him white and then have free rein to call him whatever else they want? Any objections to his policies would therefore couldn't be called racist.
too much thinking involved...
now move to the front of the affirmative action bus and quit complaining because you don't like the view...
Because we have yet to reach the point where we judge Obama on the content of his character.
He's black on the outside, and that's all that Americans care about.
Because things need to get a little bit more worse before it breaks Society as a whole. The self reliance and generosity of our neighbors and churches are a sight to behold right now. Everyone is just about out of work but all are hanging in there.
Bibles and guns? Certainly.
"A large part of the blame can be laid at the feet of the media who have downplayed protests calling for stimulus and national reinvestment from the grassroots and economists such as Paul Krugman, Josepsh Stiglitz, Robert Reich"
What a crock of shit, these Keynesian idiots are the cause of the problem, not the solution!!!!!!
lynnee bee?
TERRY INGRID HILLSON
JOHN JINGLEHEIMER SCHMIDT
his name is my name too...
Anyway... careful of what you reveal around here or your name might as well be 'Kostoyed Amoursky' in this Administration...
JESUS H. CHRIST
If the social security and military checks don't come on time, if the food stamps and WICK vouchers don't materialize, if the power grid on the East Coast fails in the face of this heat wave, I believe the old SHTF moment we have all been anticipating will arrive. What do you think will happen when those of us in our 50s who are just barely hanging on, and maybe have kids suddenly returned to the nest down and out, suddenly find our aging parents unable to make ends meet and we have to feed them too? What is going to happen when the families of the military personnel don't get their allotment checks and can't pay the mortgage or the electric bill or put groceries in the house? What will happen when people who are actually on the knife's edge and depend on the government cheese to actually feed their kids and provide formula for their babies hear their babies crying and have nothing to feed them. I think we are this close to an explosion and God help us all then. If the power goes out in this heat wave I think those cities in the east are going to erupt.
Who would they protest or attack? The power company? Get real. Angry people will just loot their own neighborhoods. There won't be anything that causes change.
That's true enough and what happens after that?
American Idol, bitches!
People will only protest when the welfare checks stop coming.
Hundreds of thousands are already homeless... live in their cars or in tent cities... yet none of them are camping in front of the White House.
And what would they protest? The postman? Get real. Hungry, poor people can hardly hoof it to DC to confront Obama. They would just go outside and loot what ever is nearest... destroying their own neighborhood.
That new show that everybody is talking about! That's why...
"Why arent you protesting?" Because we have it all already you stupid bastard! People protest to get enough, not because they want more!
I thought it was a quiz.
ans? because I focus energy on things I can affect. plus, I'm rich.
Unfortunately until all the distractions (i.e. Angry Birds, Facebook, Twitter, iPad, iPhone, YouTube, reality TV, etc...) are sidelined, mainstream America won't wake up to what's going on and do something about it.
My facebook is filled with guns and bad news daily.
The family thinks I am a fringe nut. Not worthy of attention. Back to netflix please.
It's like talking to a stone wall. Except 5 out of 150 friends 'get it' and are 'awake' aka, red pill.
It's like talking to a stone wall. Except 5 out of 150 friends 'get it' and are 'awake' aka, red pill.
what is there to protest about? all the 401k-ers/ira-ers are thrilled to bits with the market since the crash, all the ones holding pms/guns/farmland are pretty happy things are going according to plan, all the ceos and uber-wealthy are quite pleased with their holdings, all the welfare/food stamp/medicaid recipients are thankful they live in a country that can provide for them, the military brass is pleased we are involved with 3 wars..really--who can complain?
Best way to protest.
Buy Gold and Silver
Agreed, revolution without firing a shot
Ugh. I stopped contributing to my 401(k) a long time ago and put that money into buying physical PMs.
Unfortunately, my plan doesn't allow for a generic hardship withdrawal, otherwise I'd take half of it out, pay the tax penalty after defaulting on the loan (it's my money, anyway), and buy gold with it.
But instead, it's just going to inflate until the [hyperinflation/default/nationalization] end whereupon it will be worthless.
Funny - but you speak truth.
Everyone is busy milking the great and generous milk cow called America. Not many are bringing her sustenance for the long haul. Until the milk turns sour, no one will notice and no one will care.
In America, the media won't cover it decently, and will slander the leaders, to help destroy American protest movements, because the corporate media is owned by the oligarchs.
Americans are afraid. There's over two and a quarter million prisoners in US jails, tens or hundreds of thousands of them are innocent, no one is helping most of them, and the US has concentration camp facilities ready for many more, hundreds of thousands more if not millions. People feel this, and fear it, even if not consciously aware of it.
People who take a bullet in the chest, murdered as martyrs of the American system, will be largely 'erased' by corporate media, slandered after they are dead, people in America know that and fear that.
We fear nothing. The Prisions are universitys with graduate courses in crime and how to make a sex offender be your woman. Also are communications networks divided by race and gang affiliation if any with a military ranking system that works.
Concentration camps can be built fast. We have the room for it out west. Just don't let the bus or train catch you and haul you there.
And the people who are killed here are either too stupid to venture out late at night without knowing how to use a gun or deserve to be shot and killed invading a home where we are.
We do fear the almighty poverty with it's associated struggle. They say you can always get out of the trailer park but it will always wait for you should you fail.
I quit protesting after Seattle, I dont even think we made the news in most places yet anyone else who was there knows the score.
I saw what happened in Seattle.
Don't you worry. There are some who knows...
America's 99% who could care less because they know less will only protest if/when cable TV, fast food and high speed internet all get prohibitively expensive.
Keep the cheap crud flowing to their ears, eyes and pie-hole and all is well.
We don't eat fast food and cable is obselete. I pay a few dozen dollars a month for good DSL when I realized the fiber to ethernet last mile system is a failure in our area. Waiting on Fios to get here. The cell phone is worth the hassle. No junk calls there.
I'm too fucking busy working for a living and subsidizing pathetic welfare shitheads and the MiC with my tax dollars.
It will happen here in stages. Already, there are many non-reported crimes of robbery and violence. When unemployment among single males under 30 approaches 50%, it will be time for barricaded homes, guns and ammo, curfews, and roadblocks on major thoroughfares at night. Retail shops and stores will close at twilight. The troops will be brought home and martial law will be initiated. All politicians will request 24/7 security details.
Remembrances of Argentina; specifically the BA environs.
It's been happening since O-daddy got elected. I can probably trace the Guns and ammo back to when he opened big mouth and said that we bitterly cling to guns and bibles.
Gun sales took off that year, ammo shortages hit later and then holster and carry gear after that followed by shortages due to Fukushima etc etc etcetc
Everything that happened bad signals a flaw in preparations so those who can see in the troubles buy up what they need and do what they can.
99% of everyone are ARE FUCKING SHEEP who think they can simply go to walmart and get food. Katrina was my personal warning to prepare.
Katrina was just another test run for us. Everybody made it through, our small community worked together. Genny's, chainsaws, and tractors came out immediately, all the perishable food was cooked first so we had big BBQ's to keep our spirits up, everyone was great.... until.
A week later FEMA finally showed up. They got run off with guns. Then the hoardes of welfare subhumans started pouring in from NoLa. Thats when the murder rate went sky-high. Murders, rapes, burglery, the kind of shit you'd expect when you give a bunch of hood rats money and Fema trailers and put them in a community that is trying to take care of itself.
For all of you living in the big cities, if TSHTF kiss your ass goodbye, you come into our community you will meet lead. We dont care if you're wearing your blue Fema polo shirt. Any Fema trailer put up in my town will be met with a molatav cocktail you can guarantee it.
The gulf coast is ready, we get a hurricane as practice every couple of years, we know whats its like to have no power or running water for weeks. Thanks to Katrina, we also know what its like to have hoardes of subhumans dumped on us. We will not hesitate to shoot on sight next time. Especially the carpetbaggers in the blue FEMA polo shirts.
How can we pass the lines around your neighborhood to lend a hand without getting shot?
So this author thinks the Tea Party is the problem and more of Krugman's policies are the answer? LOL!
Hey, we had protests. We were ignored. We were called "racists". we were called extremists. We were called potential terrorists by DHS. We elected a new congress. If we don't get some spending cuts, we'll be back in the streets.
+1
Get 2 dozen pro illegal immigration protestors together and it's front page news. Ma, Pa, kids grandpa, grandma and thousands of their friends neighbors come out for their first ever political (tea party) rally and it gets buried in the back pages and mischaracterized..
People are protesting, but they are doing it privately, direct to their elected leaders and at the ballot box. Don't count us out yet.
America is not protesting because we have been brainwashed, dumbed-down, misdirected, distracted and pressured in a very short span like no people ever before in history.
We are not the same people that lived here 50 years ago.
The average citizen here has absolutely no insight into the workings of government and finance, and really don't care. They don't believe it impacts their lives in any way. They let others do the thinking, and trust the media to keep them informed on any important matters.
The plan to take over this country has worked brilliantly so far.
Protest? What's to protest. Everybody loves the socialist scams they (or their parents) got rich off of.
Big-Mic, Big-Ag, Big-Road, Big-Water, Big-Airport, Big-House, Big-FIRE, Big-Ed, Big-AntiDrug, and (the latest) Big-PoliceState.
Note sure about everybody else but I LOVE the socialist scam I'm in on right now.
May my Zombie bank live for ever and ever (amen).
The fluoride in the water keeps people dumb,
Pop Idol is to distract the masses,
Political banter and waffling (like this debt ceiling) keep the rest in hope,
The elderly can be `mugged` without fear of uprising,
The youth have PS3 and XBOX and they have thir own `console wars` to care about,
TPTB pump markets and manipulate the rest.
Who will compain with pitchforks? No one.
The only way there will be an uprising is when Apple no longer make iPhones/iPads.
iReckon...
The fluoride in the water keeps people dumb
Word. When I as among the sheeple, I used to laugh at folks that mentioned flouride. The gubmint wouldn't give us something like that if its wasn't good for us. They just want us to have healthy teeth, damn it!
Three years later, every drop of water that goes into my wife, son or me, goes through my Berkey with the flouride filters attached. I now really do believe the use of flouride is contributing to our Idiocracy.
.
"The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent."
Charles Eliot Norton
Because we're too busy posting our dribble and whining on ZH and other blogs....that's why!!
AH-HAHAHAHAHAHA
Well... at least after we are dead and gone, they can come back and convert this net language into whatever they are using 1000 years from now and understand just how things went.
All I have to go on is stories passed down from grandparents reaching back to the 1870's as they lived it.
Everyone should get iRiot!
We need an American Riot Dog to lead us.
government needs to do something about consumer credit. i would say abolish most of the social welfare safety net and provide an open line of credit, means tested, with those at the bottom getting the least amount, and paying the lowest rate on that money, but who cares, since they are never going to pay it off. That outstanding balance never comes due, but it doesn't cost much to service either. if you give people money, a few of them are going to figure something out, they might cook some meth, or grow some pot, but eventually they might make enough money to move into something legimate. Right now this money is simply recycled into corporate profits. in other words you incentivize these p;eople to do something with the money, by cutting off all their government subsidies, with strings attached, and just letting them have the cash.
and a lot of people are going to screw up, but that's life. a lot more will work their way out of it, or create something that sustains them.
But we can't allow people to screw up. It's not fair that some people succeed and others fail! We need to take from those that make it and give it all to those that don't. Hell if they're rich they can just make it back anyway. ;)
Protest? For what?! The hacks that run this country will ignore the protesters even if the entire country showed up. We can protest until we are blue in the face but the politicians will keep lying and their idiot supporters will vote them in anyway. Screw protest the government. We should protest the asshole voters that keep buying the garbage their left wing/right wing officials feed them and keep voting them into office.
Someone please tell me how this country will ever get better when we have the same crooks in office year after year? We need to clear out the whole damn lot of them and start over.
Well, ya know I think there is a bit of Crowd thinking at work (Better word... "Hivemind")
300,000,000 wants the 535 removed because they failed to the job they were hired to do. But the 300 mil know that the first leaders to step up and try to make it happen will be eliminated without predijuce by the Government.
Right, Manzilla! And furthermore, what would americans be protesting about? They got what they demanded from their voting, SLAVERY!!
Not there yet. Once the food subsidies become unsustainable, that's when things begin to get dicey. Unfortunatly, people will probably turn on each other.
Watch the 18 wheelers. The gasoline and reefer trailers with meat and food.
If those stop... prepare for the battle.
Example. Memphis has a big earthquake danger. The last time the big one hit, it rang bells in Boston and made the old Miss flow backwards. After it was over, Cotton was all you could grow.
They have been feverishly hardening the I-40 bridge for years trying to strengthen it against the next big one. The I-55 bridge is just too old and they will let it fall into the river seeing it's cheaper to build a new one.
Autozone headquarters in Memphis sits on a Base Isolation with complete self sufficient. However it is not likely employees will survive the firestorm that will destroy the city.
Again, if that I-40 dropped that's it.
In the last floods we had this spring, we were left with only three routes to get out of Arkansas into Missouri should we need to leave.
I already know after a quake, we will need to go and bring a chain saw to create bridges world war one style to span the fallen bridges between here and the Ozarks.
Memphis is JIT Distribution, Medical Drugs, BNSF Hump Yard, International Airport and a series of industries that are vital to the nation. And the south side is infested with thugs and criominals that will think nothing of shooting you or knifing you down low for a costy bag to shit in for the rest of your life.
If the JIT delivery system shuts down for any period in a major city all hell will break loose. People point to the NY blackout a couple years ago as to how it will be. Hell, everyone knew that it was temporary. Watch what happens when the lights go out at walmart for a day or two. Forget it. Sooner or later the idiot thugs are going to realize that lifting a TV was not quite a good idea, and then they will go looking for who lifted all the spam. Once it hits them that there is no law of nature that the light has to come on when you flick the switch it is game on.
pods
don't worry... if anything goes wrong... Mitch Mcdeere will sue the pants off of whoever is resonsible...
You clearly don't know anything about BNSF's hump yard operation in Memphis. I don't blame you, as you are making assumptions based on locality. The Memphis hump yard is basically the end of the line, BNSF basically runs West to East, not the other way around. So no, Memphis is not vital to the railroad. Enjoy starving to death after your big earthquake.
Reminds me of something I saw on surviving disasters. An expert pointed out we are always 9 meals (3 days) from anarchy and few people have more than a few days worth of food. The same is true of supermarkets. if deliveries stopped they would be empty within a few days or sooner in a riot.
The bottle water in the grocery store is our barometer of how well our water supply is doing.
When it is low or out, it either means a break in the mains or (100+ year old pipes) or they are pulling a flush causing taps to brown.
My wife still hasn't put it together as to why I bought a pellet rifle and started feeding the squirrels in the backyard on the same day.
America: Why Aren't You Protesting
1. UE for college educated/skilled labor is less than 5% - check BLS
2. The definition of poor in this country is considered middle class in Europe - Heritage Foundation
3. Still a lot of people getting UE bennies - soon to change with 3.7M rolling off by end of year coupled with budget crisis
The bottom line is we have not felt the pain yet, for the most part people are eating. This is changing and getting ready to change a lot more as the reality of our predicament is emerging.
We are in the midst of stage 3, the Politcal stage of the 4 step model. Soon it will be clear that the politicans have no answers. After they clean out your 401K that is.
sschu
I am protesting. It is easy. Just cut off credit. That is one way that will work, and it is legal. No bullets required. No application for a permit. Just stop feeding the beast.
The OP is a bit myopic looking at the trees of inflation and unemployment without bringing up that this system is designed for that. And that when exponential expansion cannot keep up, things break.
Sure we can blame Bush, or Obama. It makes one feel better. But it really does nothing.
Folks, it ain't that difficult. You don't need long missives to get to the point. The system ain't gonna work. Ever.
pods
Face it, Americans are stupid. Reelection rate of 2010 election : 89%. Reelection rate of 2008 : 92%.
And people are ``pissed``... GIVE ME A BREAK.
I'm protesting the way I can... I don't pay taxes and I don't work. I get welfare. The only way to kill the monster is to starve it of money. I won't enlist in the army. If everyone did this, the government would collapse real fast.
If everyone stopped working till the whole government resigned, things would change.
We are stupid. Ever watch Jay Leno go out and ask people on the street things like "where is San Jose?". Someone answered "the capital of San Juan", another answered "a city in Mexico".
Idiot nation.
so amerikans are 'aware' of what is happening in the middle east and europe. not the ones i know. they dont care or have a clue what is going on outside of american idol or 2andahalfmen......99% of amerikans dont even now about QE1/2....most amerikans dont work so how are they hurting....now when the soc sec checks stop and the welfare checks stop and the unemploment checks stop and the disability checks stop THEN THE SH%T WILL HIT THE FAN........all the people that are having problems like no job are the losers and deserve their plight because they werent good christians......if you are having problems then it is ONLY you and no one else......thats what the media tells me anyway.
Not the ones I know of either! I can maybe name 2 people I know, people I work with or whatever that have ANY clue of whats going on at all! All they want is for the ATM machine to spit out a couple $20's, store stocked with Hot Pockets and pop, and live streaming movies!
Protest? If they want that, just shut off the cell phones and internet, THEN americans would go fukin bananas!
What would america protest, what they voted for? The life they DEMANDED? Free EZ credit shopping splurges? Why be pissed off now? YOU WANTED IT!!
<OCCUPY WALL STREET>
http://www.entendance.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=801&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30#p18253
Apparently the author hasn't been to Wisconsin recently...
When the true 'austerity' comes to a local government near you, and the 'bread & circusses' are withdrawn; then you will see the pitchforks and torches come out...
Did it work?
I have faith in both Democrats and Republicans. No need to protest at all. They'll fix it all baby!
Plus, It's just too darn hot outside!
Sure there are the over-fluoridated, over-medicated, American Idol obsessed couch dwellers. Then there are others who, like the rattler on the Gadsden flag, are calm until irrevocably provoked. When that point hits there are many who will be protesting the banksters and the police state... from the rooftops about 800 yards away.
800 is a bit of a reach. Call it 500-640 for whatever is common out there in 308 win or 7.62 nato
Don't forget to adjust for wind-age and the Coriolis affect. ;)
Just takes the right dope for your rifle.
Protesting the bankers? Don't make me laugh. They won't ever find a banker and know one when they see one. No, Amerikans will burn and loot their own neighborhoods.
Have you tried a conversation with someone on the street?
Most are...
"derrrr.... whua???"
And the rest are...
"I just don't care anymore."
Yup. Most of them were my former co-workers when I was trying to explain to them they would lose their jobs. They were just like that.
Yep! how true. my old boss said she was glad when the market crashed in '08. She said the people that keep her portfolio up (aka those that control HER money) could just buy up cheaper stocks....Well, she lost her job! And will probably lose the remaining "investments" she had soon.
Hehe! Good one. Yeah, it's comical. about 50% of my former co-workers did find another job making about 30% less than they were before. I mean, come on what sheep. Take the unemployment while they are still printing money man!
This guys has it right.
So many Americans are deluded and they got it all wrong when it comes to "keep the gov'mint out of my medicare".
Strange how so many of these hate the ideas of regulations, wrongly associating
this somehow with THEIR lives. So they support the notions of no regulation.
What they get is no regulation on Too-big-to-fails and markets, and masses
of regulation at the main-street level. Ha! It would be funny if these attitudes
were not creating a deluded mind-set to joe/jane average.
So, some little girls trying to have a lemonade stand to make some money for
the waterpark are considered breaking the law, yet Jamie Dimon whines and
gets billions from the taxpayers, via the corrupted poli-ticians.
Now, I think the guv'mint should stay out of the lives of these little lemonade
girls, and get on with protecting the society, the nation, by regulating the big
boys.
Maybe good regulations vs bad regulations instead of none vs many.
Also, regulations have been weaponized and are being used by TPTB to eliminate competition through selective enforcement. No rules for them, and draconian enforcement and show trials for everyone else.
There was a good article by Thomas Sowell on ergulations yesterday at Real Clear Politics (RCP):
Upshot --- clean water is a good thing, but pure water or air is impossible to achieve, with no extra benefits, and the costs are exponentially higher. So regulations aimed at acheiving such goals are ridiculous and harmful because it misallocates resources.
There are a few mountain valleys out west among the pine where the air is so goddamn clean and the waters off the snowmelt so fresh.
I long to be relocating there someday. A little peice of heaven on earth.
You two think regulations will save the day? Funny one. In case you haven't noticed there are lots of regulations on the banks and every other facet of corporate "life". But the paid off gov doesn't ENFORCE them on their friends.
So you two are the sleeping american idol watching bozos everyone here is criticizing.
If you could find a way to assemble in one place, all the verbal protests, whining, complaining, anger, frustration, and hatred that has been posted on blogs, in letters to government fucks, and other media you'd likely have enough energy to blow up a government building in D.C. A small unimportant one, but, hey....
Today in a doctor's office I heard a 70-something dude with some money go on for 10 minutes about the things that are wrong with health care, vaccinations causing autism, and generally using the F-word in normal tone of voice in the quiet waiting room. His last statement was the most telling: after all is said and done there is only one thing the government honchos in the Senate and the House will understand: Some of them being killed at their desks by 'protesters', nothing else, he says, will make a damned bit of difference.
I agree. Investment Bankers at Goldman sucks, JPMorgan, their henchpersons like Paulson, Bernanke, Geithner, Orszag, Kashkari, Cassano, Chris Cox, Chris Dodd, Barney Frnak, Dick Fuld and their peers have to suffer assassinations before they will change.
You and the "old man" suffer from the same childish lack of imagination. Did you not notice how 100 year old banks went out of business silently and without warning when others withdrew their business?
All we need to do is opt out. The system is extremely fragile. Most banks and many other corporations have tremendous leverage. So they can't weather a small decrease in business. All "we the people" have to do is boycott them. Stop using credit. Buy only what we need. Stop feeding the beast and it all comes tumbling down... without firing a shot.
One reason...Sports!
you cant blame it all on lazy and stupid
some of it lies with the fact that protesting has proven here in america to be ineffective
it only works with the right charismatic leader to roust the ingrates into action
this leader will be promptly shot
name a protest of something that worked where the leader of said protest survived
aside from that you get inneffective G-series of protests and the like
Have you guys seen that British guy who walks around asking Americans at shopping malls questions like, "Put a pin in Australia on this map" or "In which two countries is America fighting a war right now?" and 9 out of 10 people have NOOOO CLUE about even the most basic stuff.
Does anyone think these same people are going to get mad about QE1/2/3 or TARP or corporate tax shelters or lobbyists in D.C. or Halliburton or ANY of this stuff?
I've said it before...Americans as a whole will pay no attention to any of this until they are HUNGRY, however that may end up happening. Until then, forget it. Americans now have the government they deserve. When you remain ignorant, and cede away all your power to the powers that be, this is what you have EARNED.
Good point, but it also says a lot about the people who hang around malls in California.
Good point, but it also says a lot about the people who hang around malls in California.
Shopping malls, selectivity bias
Really? Tea Parties and Conservatives no nothing about economics. I'd say it is the opposite. Most of our truly disgusting economic garbage comes from Liberal elitists trying to siphon off as much as they can. Raising the debt ceiling will not keep us from default when the deficit will still run over $1 trillion per year even if we increase taxes 100%. Economics is one of the simplest concepts in the world. It is simply 2+2=4, however our economic system has spent billions of dollars and countless man hours trying to turn this simple equation into a trig problem that gives Hawking migraines. So that the common man can't easily see that the current equation is obviously wrong.
A true conservative would not allow 100:1 leverage and SPV's to ferry debt from one bankrupt company to the next. I don't think you will find many publicly traded corporations using conservative accounting methods.
Deregulation works when it creates competition. The problem is the laws on the books were not meant to deregulate anything. Only allow for the appearance of choice when in reality the law only lead to the further consolidation of power, hello Energy Choice. Washington and Wall Street are not filled with Liberals and Conservatives, only self serving criminals preventing the true laws of capitalism from destroying their empire.
Bravo!!
+1776
Bravo!!
+1776
Uh... we did protest. And we're winning. Were were you??
We started it all with the USA Tea Party in Spring of 2009, the original anti-bank and austerity movement, a year before the Greek crises was even heard of. In 2010 we got people elected to congress and across the country in a historic wave election and we're just getting started.
Contrary to the European protests, we protested for austerity. The Europe left is protesting against austerity and cutbacks. But we all have common ground against the banks which are screwing us all.
Violent revolutions tend to turn effective serious people away. We're winning the game the way we're playing it now, so why change?
Agreed, I just hope we have time to keep from some violent outcomes before we can get though another couple election cycles.
Yes. All sides need to stay focus on a united front against the big banks.
Well said. I fear there will be much blood between the polarized parties, when in fact, we share a common enemy.