This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Paul Farrell Explains Why The Fed-Wall Street Complex Will Self Destruct By 2012
- Barney Frank
- Bear Market
- Ben Bernanke
- Ben Bernanke
- Bill Gross
- Cohen
- Deficit Spending
- Fail
- Fannie Mae
- Federal Reserve
- Fisher
- Freddie Mac
- Global Economy
- goldman sachs
- Goldman Sachs
- Hank Paulson
- Hank Paulson
- Irrational Exuberance
- Jeremy Grantham
- Jim Cramer
- Krugman
- Mad Money
- Main Street
- Marc Faber
- Meltdown
- Moral Hazard
- Nassim Taleb
- new economy
- Nouriel
- Nouriel Roubini
- President Obama
- Recession
- Reserve Currency
- Robert Rodriguez
- Robert Shiller
- St Louis Fed
- The Economist
- Tim Geithner
- Wall Street Journal
- Warren Buffett
- White House
- World Trade
Some rather scary predictions out of Paul Farrell today: "It’s inevitable: Wall Street banks control the Federal Reserve system,
it’s their personal piggy bank. They’ve already done so much damage, yet
have more control than ever.Warning: That’s a set-up. They will eventually destroy capitalism,
democracy, and the dollar’s global reserve-currency status. They will
self-destruct before 2035 … maybe as early as 2012 … most likely by
2020. Last week we cheered the Tea Party for starting the countdown to the
Second American Revolution. Our timeline is crucial to understanding the
historic implications of Taleb’s prediction that the Fed is dying, that
it’s only a matter of time before a revolution triggers class warfare
forcing America to dump capitalism, eliminate our corrupt system of
lobbying, come up with a new workable form of government, and create a
new economy without a banking system ruled by Wall Street." And just like in the Hangover, where the guy is funny because he's fat, Farrell is scary cause he is spot on correct.
Handily, Farrell provides a projected timeline of events:
Stage 1: The Democrats just put the nail in their coffin confirming they’re wimps when they refused to force the GOP to filibuster Bush tax cuts for billionaires.
Stage 2: In the elections the GOP takes over the House, expanding its strategic war to destroy Obama with its policy of “complete gridlock” and “shutting down government.”
Stage 3: Post-election Obama goes lame-duck, buried in subpoenas and vetoes.
Stage 4: In 2012, the GOP wins back the White House and Senate. Health care returns to insurers. Free-market financial deregulation returns. Lobbyists intensify their anarchy.
Stage 5: Before the end of the second term of the new GOP president, Washington is totally corrupted by unlimited, anonymous donations from billionaires and lobbyists. Wall Street’s Happy Conspiracy triggers the third catastrophic meltdown of the 21st century that Robert Shiller of “Irrational Exuberance” fame predicts, resulting in defaults of dollar-denominated debt and the dollar’s demise as the world’s reserve currency.
Stage 6: The Second American Revolution explodes into a brutal full-scale class war with the middle class leading a widespread rebellion against the out-of-touch, out-of-control Happy Conspiracy sabotaging America from within.
Stage 7: The domestic class warfare is exaggerated as the Pentagon’s global warnings play out: That by 2020 “an ancient pattern of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies would emerge” worldwide and “warfare is defining human life.”
It gets worse: Farrell postulates that the closer we get to the Mad Max moment, the less those in charge will discuss this "optionality" of the end of the world trade.
In this rapidly unfolding scenario, the Fed cannot survive. Why? Not because the Fed is at the center of America’s economic problems, beyond repair, a dying institution. But because the Fed is a pawn of Wall Street’s Happy Conspiracy, which is incapable of seeing the train wreck that it set up.
This out-of-control, conspiracy of greedy Wall Street bankers, corporate CEOs, corrupt politicians and Forbes 400 billionaires will, in the near future, trigger the third catastrophic meltdown of the 21st century, a collapse that paradoxically can transform America into a new, stronger post-capitalist economy … but only after a revolution and brutal class warfare. But few will talk about what’s coming.
The problem is that by using a simple metric suggested by Nassim Taleb, there is nobody Americans can trust to be the bearer of bad news, which is why everyone is and will be responsible for their own well being.
Here’s Taleb’s “simple metric for judging whose economic opinions are worth his time: ‘Did someone predict the crisis before it happened” in the past? “If the answer is no, I don’t want to hear what the person says. If the person saw the crisis coming then I want to hear what they have to say” about future crises.
Taleb target No. 1: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who spoke just before Taleb at the forum. Of course, experience tells us you really can’t trust anyone in government. All politicians fudge the numbers, cherry-pick data to suit their personal goals, biases and political rhetoric.
Remember Hank Paulson, Wall Street’s Trojan Horse inside Washington? Earlier he had made over half a billion as Goldman’s CEO. Back in July 2007 before the meltdown he bragged to Fortune that this is “the strongest global economy I’ve seen in my business lifetime.” Never trust anything “leaders” like him say. Never. Worse, he and our clueless Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke later lied to the
public that the subprime crisis was “contained.” No, my friends, you
cannot trust politicians and government insiders. Never.
Others whose opinions can be summarily dismissed include economists and authors:
Taleb warns: Nobel economist Krugman not only supports Keynesian deficit spending, he favors the “transformation of private debt, with all the moral hazard it entails, into public debt” that’s toxic from a “risk standpoint.” Worse, it’s “immoral.” Our “grandchildren should not bear the debts of the grandparents.” OK, add Nobel economists to the list of people Taleb says you can’t trust to speak “the truth.
Actually, using Taleb’s “metric,” you can’t trust any economists. Why? Because all economists, even the best, are capable of making catastrophic errors: Remember Greenspan’s sad apologies during congressional hearings after undermining America for 18 years. And remember Michael Boskin’s classic $12 trillion error? Bush Sr’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, a respected Stanford economist, attempted to justify some cockamamie logic that his newfound Social Security savings would lower America’s debt, giving a political boost for his party. He was $12 trillion wrong.
No, folks, you can’t trust any economists, they’re just average humans. Most have strong political biases. They’re hired mercenaries who say whatever their employers ask them to say, pawns working for some Wall Street bank, corporation or politicians.
Yes, Allan reveals another character Taleb can’t trust for economic advice. Prizewinning authors like NY Times columnist Tom Friedman who’s book, The World is Flat is “very bad for society,” misleading, having failed to “assess risk.” So scratch celebrity authors from the list you can trust to tell you the truth about the future of America.
The circle of mistrust obviously includes all the corrupt idiots who control over the sheeple:
Taleb is merciless when it comes to politicians like President Obama, Congress and The Fed chairman: You can’t trust any of them. Earlier Bernanke’s reappointment “stunned” Taleb: He “doesn’t even know he doesn’t understand how things work or that the tools he uses are not empirical,” wrote Taleb in HuffPost. But it’s “the Senators appointing him who are totally irresponsible ... The world has never, never been as fragile,” and we’re stuck with an economist running The Fed whose methods make “homeopath and alternative healers look empirical and scientific.”
Obama’s reappointment of Bernanke left Taleb so distraught he “withdrawing into the Platonic tranquility of my library, to work on my next book, find solace in science and philosophy, and … structure trades betting on the next mistake by Bernanke, Summers and Geithner.”
Taleb’s “metric” essentially warns Americans to trust no one, certainly not Washington and Wall Street insiders. The vast majority fail his simple metric, “Did someone predict the last crisis before it happened? ... If the answer is no, I don’t want to hear what the person says. If the person saw the crisis coming, then I want to hear what they have to say’.”
Follows listing of some of the biggest hypocrites in the world:
Bernanke: “I don’t anticipate any serious failures among large internationally active banks.” Wow, was he ever wrong.
Billionaire Ken Fisher: “This year will end in the plus column ... so keep buying.” Main Street lost trillions on advice like this.
‘Mad Money’ Jim Cramer: “Bye-bye bear market, say hello to the bull.”
Goldman Sachs’ Abby Joseph Cohen: “The fear priced into stocks is likely to abate as recession fears fade.” Soon after, Goldman was essentially bankrupt.
Congressman Barney Frank: “Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound.”
Barron’s: “Home prices about to bottom.” Three years later they still haven’t
Worth: “Emerging markets are the global investors’ safe haven.”
Kiplinger’s: “Stock investors should beat the rush to the banks.” Costly advice.
Bernie Madoff: “It’s virtually impossible to violate the rules.” But it’ll happen again.
To be sure, some continue to spit in the face of docile complicity and warn the world about what will happen:
These twenty did
warn America between 2000 and 2008. Although few listened: We reported
on warnings from economists Gary Shilling, Marc Faber and Nouriel
Roubini, the St. Louis Fed president (Greenspan ignored him, just as
Bernanke is ignoring the Kansas City Fed president today), former Nixon
Commerce Secretary and SEC chairman, billionaires Warren Buffett and
oilman Richard Rainwater, institutional portfolio managers Jeremy
Grantham, Bill Gross and Robert Rodriguez, and major cover stories in
Fortune, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, The Economist and The Wall Street
Journal.
However, at the end of the day, everyone has an agenda:
So who can you trust? Nobody, not me, not even Taleb. Why? In the final analysis the Buddha said it best: “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
The problem is that if left to the average American, the looting will not finish until well after the end:
Unfortunately, America is losing its capacity to reason, its common
sense, its values, its vision of the future.
Which is why the silent minority is best advised to stock up on popcorn, and watch the cannibalization and the race to the bottom resume at an unprecedented pace, as everything unravels: the best we can do is hope for some amusement as the endgame approaches the finale.
»
- 29610 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Tea Party is my party !
Tea Party Workers Unite - Bitches!
glenn beck and sarah palin...?
No, Alex Jones, Bob Chapman and the Info Warriors.
jones, beck, palin, rush= pro israel joo shills.
rand paul too.
Take your antisemitic bullshit somewhere else, asshole.
Is it really you George? We've missed you!
Art, not all Jews are part of the conspiracy but those involved are almost all Jews. They are the bankers, Fed, govt. Agencies, Scotus, CFR etc... Do some homework. It's not anti-Semitic to expose the kosher nostra anymore that it prejudicial to notice that the mafia has Italians and the Triads have Chinese members... If I say Al quaeda has Muslims, is that also anti-Semitic ?.
I don't really liked the way the poster phrased his spew, but he was right about who is behind the curtain...
The fact are quite simple:
Be aware than Israel is not equal to Judaism, however much it may attempt to confound the two.
http://www.nkusa.org/
Judaism as a religion existed before it, and will exist after it.
I'm fiscally conservative but I don't like the thought of that duo.
I second that. How about we just randomly pick adults out of society for a limited term. We do that to decide to put people to death, kind of an important job and there's a good number of things we need to put to death.
+1
Lewis Black has a good idea on picking the next President.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuD1zKtyHak&feature=player_embedded
Dumb and fucking dumber.
Which one is Charlie McCarthy?
Edgar Bergan, Uncle Remus, that is who we should look for, there are lots of Charlies' McCarthy!
Sadly, the tea party is a movement with a lot of magnitude but no direction. It is simply a scalar quantity that can be used to multiply whatever agenda it is applied to. Too bad we can't pull off something like project mayhem.
Project Mayhem is already being run by the FED.
+1.
I think it is pretty widely understood at this point that The Tea Party is an umbrella under which people gather who don't like Obama and what he's doing. It doesn't have to be much more than that to be effective
That is the post pathetic and simple-minded synopsis of the Tea Party phenomenon I think I have ever read.
I don't know you, I don't know who you are... But if this obtuse observation is any indicator of how you tend to analyze socio-political manifestation, then perhaps it's time to go back to crayons and fingerpaint.
And try not to eat any more paste. It's bad for the brain. And yeah. I'm the first to junk you.
"Widely Understood..."
What a wiener.
Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
Maybe.
Or maybe she's just frustrated with everybody who watches what the MSM says about the TP and takes that as gospel, instead of actually *gasp* going to a meeting or a rally and seeing what's actually going on.
IMO they are desperately trying to play up the Palin faction of the TP, while trying equally as hard to ignore the Paul faction.
But WTH do I know, I just hang out and discuss things with actual Tea Party members on occasion.
And what "socio-political manifestation" analysis do you think you're demonstrating here Ms. Tomato?
-You disagree that those who organize and are attracted to Tea Party groups and their activities share a common dislike for the Obama Administration's policies and ambitions? What would you identify as their biggest commonality?
-Do you think this is not in fact "widely understood" - that a lot of people show up at Tea Party events hoping to sample fine tea beverages only to find out that they've been duped into anti-Obama political activism?
-Do you think that it is not the case that Tea Party groups realize that by forming an official, separate, national political party they will likely split too many Republican votes and suffer the political fate of Ross Perot - and that is why they have thus far avoided major centralization?
-Are you upset or flummoxed that many disparate groups of political malcontents scattered all across the country can't be all things to all people?
-Do you not think the Tea party will be effective in affecting the outcomes of the 2010 and 2012 elections?
Do enlighten us my dear for clearly this is a serious issue to many ZH readers.
Enlightenment. No problem. To simplify the Tea Party movement as "Obama Haters" is preposterous, simple-minded and insulting. To only see that as the raison d'etre is to beg for debate. Junk away, simpletons.
Sadly - I think you're exactly right Mercury.
The Tea -Party is drifting abit right now, but it will evenually hone in on it's course.
Which is what course? Where do you think this political impulse is headed and do you think it will be subverted by the mainstream parties?
BTW, should I assume that Tea Party members understand that the powers that be might be directing the various foreign and domestic intelligence agencies under their control (read all of them) to work against a third party in America?
Course unknown, What I'm saying I do believe the Tea Party is rudderless & waiting & willing to accept the truth & a leader who speaks the unpolished truth. Yes I do believe they for the most part know they are under attack, to be co-opted, manipulated. I have been to one rally here in Texas, just to check it out, did not seem to be a bunch of fanatical rednecks. I believe they know the system is broke, I don't think they have the solution, but they are learning,listening,watching knowing buisneess as usual only spells the demise of life as we know it..
Find the truthsayers, find the leaders.
The current course that has been charted by both parties is full speed into an iceberg the size of Texas. So the Tea Party course can't be any worse (can it?), and by default will probably be better.
Any new political party that would gain power *must* enforce term limits.
Hopefully I'm preaching to the choir here:
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
"Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt…If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy."
-- Thomas Jefferson
When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
-- Benjamin Franklin
The founders understood corrupt governments all too well.
Well, at least the experiment worked for a few decades anyway.
"The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the State" Tacitius (sp). This country is drowning in it's own spit. Milestones
CD, we have not seen unrest here because TPTB have not done anything yet.
Wait until they actually curb free food, retirement benefits, or Medicare:
French daily newspaper L'Humanite is an old mouthpiece of their communist party.
That course being to elect more Republicans. As if that will fix anything.
You might ask Castle and Murkowski how that is working out for them. The Republicans are simply second tier and they will be gotten out in time if the TP can hold focus. It isn't just about 2010, but '12, '14, and further.
Electing more Republicans won't fix a thing. Electing more conservatives that follow the Constitution, cut the Federal Government back to its useful and intended size, and want to eliminate the FED; that will get you somewhere. At least, its a start.
The Tea Party is all Americans who work at real jobs(NOT jobs looting the country) and save their money. They are the lootees, and their motivation is survival.
Mercury, you are of course right, but it is more definitive than that description.
The Tea Party is truly representative of the classic Ameritard, easily persuaded, completely dense and morally bereft.
Why? Because they play the stooges, demanding ever more tax cuts for the super-rich who actively pay little, or absolutely no, taxes!
What could possibly be more idiotic?
The Koch Bros. and Peter G. Peterson, who have long funded such trivial nonsense, live to pay nothing to the feds, while having the rest of us pay everything!
Tea Parties regularly boo big-government "conservatives". If the "leaders" stray from the principles of the movement, they will be crucified.
They are directionless like a stirring giant is directionless. All it takes is one more prod, and he may awaken, enraged.
The concept is widely known as herding cats. Nothing wrong with allowing people to fly their freak flags, so long as they do no harm.
You sum up nicely the art of psyops. Let people feel their being radical or revolutionary without actually showing up at the Washington Mall to protest. After all, to do so costs money and I'd need to drive and where would I stay and my hemorrhoids are acting up.
Let the air out slowly. Don't try to stop it, just slowly dissipateit. A little in fighting also helps to work off the animal spirits so let's seed the crowd with some so-called anarchists and other various disruptor's.
Psssssssssst
Yes. The religious wing of the Republican party has been outed as destructive to the GOP supremacy. My guess is they are the primary means of undermining the TP and getting it labelled as a repository for nutjobs. Throw in some vocal racists and TP credibility is toast.
The TP is funded by those responsible for the sad state of the world financial system (as usual, follow the money). They simply want to divide and conquer (never gets old) to secure yet more power... ensuring continual loophole legislation designed to scim Trillions (more) from the peasants.
You are being had my friend, and are a very big part of the problem.
+ + +
You got junked, but it only emphasizes the denial. I have no doubts about the intentions of certain Tea Party people--they truly desire reform. However, they appear to be naive regarding how the machine works. You only need to witness how quickly it consumed Obama to realize that there is no solution from within government anymore.
All other points being sound, IMHO, you speak as one who has experience being naive when you state that the machine consumed obama.
The machine is Obama, for now. Can't wait to see the next puppet.
My wife and I have been to tea party rallies along with all the other well-educated, well behaved professionals in Richmond...our part of the trillions must be in the mail.
Are you willing to starve the poor to death to make sure you remain well fed? Do you feel that you are entitled to your station in life because of the wise decisions you made? Do you feel that you are entitled to your station because of your birthright? How many laws currently exist to ensure that your industry / business remains healthy? In short, what size is your brown shirt?
My wife and I have been to tea party rallies along with all the other well-educated, well behaved professionals in Richmond...our part of the trillions must be in the mail.
& that right there is the whole problem. why are you well-behaved? why are you still being a goody-two-shoes. we are in for the fight of our lives, the "other side" is not playing by the rules, they are robbing you. but, you, being so well-educated & well-behaved, you'll just sit there & allow it.
FOR GOD'S SAKES MAN .......... GET THE HELL OUT THERE & REVOLT ! HAVE YOU SEEN HOW EUROPEAN LABOR REACTS TO BEING RAPPED & ROBBED !!! ARE THEY WELL-BEHAVED ! WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE IF WE'RE WELL BEHAVED. I see what's coming, it's going to be armed revolution or we are all toast.
p.s. didn't mean to yell ...... i'm just so upset with this entire situation..... my poor children & grandchildren ...... FOR THEIR SAKES, GET RID OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK or we all perish & are going back to the middle ages.
Think of the new challenges this future will present to your children! I have two little ones and have to take the long view. Honestly, I am quite bored with my current existence. At some point the children won't be pulling at their mommy's apron strings anymore and will have to survive on their own -- you did prepare your children to survive on their own, didn't you? That nice little nest egg just might not be there for little Johnny after all...
The sad part of this post is that you've apparently already made the decision to sacrifice the future freedoms and liberties of your children so that they don't have to live in a world where individuals are responsible for the outcomes of their own decisions.
No Gene, I've resolved myself to make my children pay their own way through life rather than suckle their Mommy's tit till they can't survive on their own.
No Pan, that's what you think you are doing. You are in fact condemning them to suckle at the monster's teat for all eternity. But oh well, the road to hell, as they say...
maybe he doesn't write well, but that's how i read it too.
consistent with his post up a few where he asks if we're entitled because we made wise decisions...
f--- yes.
So the children of people who make poor decisions are condemed to hell...
Some day you will realize that you are where you are through fortune and maybe at that point you will develop compassion.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach my children to fish and they eat for a lifetime, regardless of conditions.
+1
+100,000!
SRV - ES339, please ignore all those boobs who junked you.
Those same junkettes are completely ignorant as to why Dick Cheney's godson, DJ Gribbin IV, was the national field director of the Christian Coalition back in the '90s, prior to the Bush ascendancy.
Similarly, they are igorant of Gribbin's bouncing back and forth between Koch Industries, the Republican-run DOT, and Macquarie Group (which is interlocked with Koch, naturally) -- all for that noble purpose of privatizing all of the American roads and turning them into securitized toll roads.
And that's just one item.....
Yep. Those that junked this don't want to hear the truth.
I've always loved the Don't Tread On Me flag, but I thank my lucky stars I never got that tattoo.. ! If only the TP would have adopted something else =\ powdered wigs and flintlocks perhaps.
The Tea Party is not a solution.
For a real solution we need a Titles of Nobility Amendment. Only a TONA will avert massive bloodshed.
What do you think about the Transparency of Loyalty in Government Amendment?
"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, foreign power, or secret society, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."
tona2009.com
How are you going to know, if the secret society is effective in keeping the secret soceity's secrets, secret?
And if they are ineffective, does it still qualify as a secret society?
See Article I Section 9 (7)--Nobility-presents from foreign powers etc. U.S. Constitution. Milestones
The tea party is just a branch of the Republican Party. There is nothing that distinguishes it from one of the parties that brought this country to ruin.
The Tea Party is BEING CO-OPTED by the Republicons, after all, what they're advocating are traditional Republican values: Small government,
fiscal responsibility, following the Constitution, and education about rights.
None of which most Decepticrats will support, since they believe that More Govt is the solution to all our problems! There are some Democrats that agree with the Tea Party, but they dare NOT admit it to other Decepticrats.
The thing I find disgusting about the current Political atmosphere is the Decepticrats demanding that the Tea Party put forth their plans for governing (kinda like asking someone to hand over their rifle -- so you can shoot them with it!), because the Decepticrats don't understand that PRINCIPLES are vastly more important than plans, especially of the 5-year variety. All of these Decepticratic PLANS are precisely what's leading the Country into an abyss, because none of their PLANS are backed by a moral compass or Principles.
If I were the next president, here's what I would support:
1. Gradual phase out of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid
2. Closing ALL foreign military bases.
3. Abolish the FED, and force Congress to resume their monetary coining responsibilities!
4. Abolish the DEA, Dept of Education, and Dept of Energy.
5. Place the following Amendment up for a Constitutional vote:
"Congress shall make NO law abridging the Freedom of Production and Trade."
6. Take the valid regulations from OSHA, EPA, etc. and cut their staff 90%.
7. Place ALL Govt employees on notice that their jobs will be cut as soon as it's determined that they aren't doing anything useful or productive.
In short, solutions are out there, but SPINELESS Politicians aren't even gonna mention them, much less implement them!
Make no mistake, the current crop of Republicons and Decepticrats are just different sides of the same coin.
How do you know the tea party won't end up like this:
Stage 5: Before the end of the second term of the new GOP president, Washington is totally corrupted by unlimited, anonymous donations from billionaires and lobbyists.
great, i get junked just for stating my political affiliation. Abviously we have people in the white house reading this blog and expressing their frustration
No. People are just mean to the tea party to toughen them up. They were formed and attempted to be hijacked and steered. But they've proven to be a little sterner stuff than was expected.
A four minute Must-Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8
Nice start. But asking or encouraging the f**kers to jump won't work, despite how in-your-face the song is or the pleasure it brings us.
We must begin to push them out of their corner office windows. They won't leave voluntarily and they won't go easily. They must be persuaded. How you and I persaud them is where imagination and courage is needed.
I see it as an anthem for Our Times. Much as I can understand the cynicism of the folks who condemn the impotent passivity of the "sheeple" and implicitly (whether deliberately or not I do not know) write off any possibility of popular awareness and action, I do know that sometimes all it takes is a single match to ignite the powder keg of change.
In due respect, CD, the "sheeple" must hear something that they have not heard. They are not here but, as you would have it, are on their couches or senselessly surfing and tweeting. I would submit to you that change starts with an alternative impulse . . . and this sort of thing (the video) provides just that, imo.
I see it as a start. Got something better?
My apologies. I wasn't saying the public should not hear or be shielded from this message. I'm saying that the message must be stronger, more proactive. In a population as conditioned and passive as we Americans are, this type of message subconsciously implies that someone somewhere is doing something. In many ways, it satisfies the internal need to know that the person hearing the song isn't alone in their dissatisfaction.
What is the song saying other than that these bastards are bastards and they should stop doing what they are doing? No where does it say to the population that everyone has a personal responsibility to make the change they want to see happen by actively engaging in that very change. Instead, in a subliminal manner, it's feeding into every one's desire for the problem to resolve itself by the bad guys leaving town once it's been pointed out to them that raping the women and killing the men isn't very nice.
Protest songs of this type can actually lead to further passivity. People know they're angry and people know their neighbors are angry. Now what? Does anyone really think that these still extremely passive people will spontaneously act when the next insult to their freedom and pocket books is enacted? People need alternative leadership. I'm working on a local level and I encourage others to do the same. It all starts with the neighbors, not the country. Revolt flows upward.
"Protest songs of this type can actually lead to further passivity. People know they're angry and people now know their neighbors are angry."
I disagree. The "sheeple" are all--by definition--tuned out. They're "conditioned" to not think outside the MSM box and to feel only what they're "supposed" to.
Stay consistent, CD!
I see no credible threat of this video furthering sheeple passivity.
C'mon.
First may I suggest you stop using that term. It is extremely insulting to the very audience you claim you're trying the reach. I recognized this many many months ago and I no longer use it nor will I repeat it if I can avoid it.
Second, while people are conditioned, they aren't blind. I don't agree with the popular belief that the people you're talking about are blind and completely out of touch. I think it's a popular myth. While they might not understand what's going on, they are rapidly recognizing they can't trust anything they're told, particularly from any authority.
Many here on ZH think that the "average Joe" voices we hear on the MSM represents the majority. This is an illusion perpetrated by the MSM. People may be in denial about what needs to be done or what they personally should do. But they are not blind to whats going on.
This is just my opinion. I have no problem with the song other than it will make little difference. People need alternative leadership. They are rapidly waking to the fact that they have a serious problem.
My kid's 9th grade science teacher yesterday sincerely asked the class if anti-gravity chambers were real...
Yeah, I don't like the term "sheeple" myself, and I would think that comes through, yet I think it does have a widely understood meaning and, hence, genuine utility here. I see no reason to go PC about it, especially at ZH.
My thought wrt this video is that the nation needs to be massively stirred in an emotional way. Without an underlying driving human passion, few find ideological discussions of any interest.
I see that here at ZH as much as anywhere.
You and I are in general agreement. The population needs to be energized. How is the question. I must admit that the person who made the song is doing more to further that goal than I am. So my criticism is not helpful and maybe even detrimental.
Thanks for the dialogue.
Likewise, CD.
Let us hope that being at ZH can amount to actually doing somthing, as we both (I assume) would wish.
So you're gonna forward the video to at least one person?
:)
Yes, I will. Maybe even 10.
Quote from above comment. I'm with you on nomenclature. It's demeaning to call your fellow citizens sheeple. It implies a superiority by those who use it. "I know the truth and you don't!" As a matter of policy I never use terms like that and I use a person's name, no Obummer, no Dufus, nothing. One's position is given away and a presupposed bias kicks in. Bad debating methodology. Your terminology gives away your viewpoint. Reasonable argument should be accompanied by actual names, pronouns, etc..
Carry on.
In a perfect world.
It is attempted shorthand in this case, but you score a debate point, if you like, RR. What do you think of the video?
90,766
views for "Jump..."
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=annoying+orange&aq=f
Approx. total view count for the above series on YouTube:
Over 450,000,000
Nuff said?
What did I think of the "Jump..." video? Clever. Catchy.
Not annoying enough.
BTW: Calling the President of the United States "Slick Willie", "Dufus" or "Obummer" is not shorthand.
It's better than simply annoying, imo.
An Anthem for Our Times:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8
I apologize for being obtuse. My point is that until the views reach a viral level it will be worthy but unappreciated.
i'll often use the 'sheeple' (sheople is how it ought to be spelled, eh?) term both inclusively, as one who believes in spite of my "knowing better", that i really dont... :^), and condescendingly, as one who believes that many of us (e.g. some of my professional peers) simply don't want to leave the burning barn.
because of my respect for CD/RR/etc. i may temper its frequency, but i think that word is appropriate in multiple contexts.
2cts.
1ct... your change, sir.
Thanks!
My Neighbors:
One is boarded up selling dope, two others have 15 dogs woofing all day long, of course the usual cadre of rednecks ("America doesn't wanna work anymore blah blah blah")....
The 'sophisticates' are the high falutin chicks who go to their fake jobs where software algos command their peabrains...
The corrupt docs are too busy putting the old folks to sleep with pills..etc etc.
on and on...give me a break. There is no raw material to work with.
Just look at the dimwits on Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, millionaire, etc.
The people who go on tv are a self-selecting group. I would be careful about making any generalizations about American society from them. I tend to agree by observation that most of the people I live around are dumb as rocks in some ways, or perhaps far too enthralled with trivialities, but not everyone is stupid, merely indoctrinated. It won't take much starving to change all of it quickly.
True, true. Strike up a conversation with a person at random and you'll find out real soon where they stand on politics and economics. Most, and I do mean most, people have become indoctrinated by the media. They spout the talking points of their favorite TV commentator/pundit. They like the word bites but lack the background knowledge needed to go one level deeper in the discussion. In my neck of the woods there are bigots who dislike having their White House debauched. That's all the motivation they need.
Once in while you'll encounter someone who is not rock solid in their ideology. These are the folks we should befriend -- and call when the time comes.
A bit off topic but what's the point of the junk-o-meter ... a bit of fun or a little herding tool?
Partial to citizen myself. Shame it has been compromised.
Sheeple beats the dastardly insult of "consumer".
we could combine the two maybe: Woolworth shopper.
the 'fuck up' was executed through paradigms comprehensible at 3 0r 4 std deviations. The effects of the 'fuck ups' is of course felt through and through.
This is where the disconnect is slowly happening (painfully).
It is the dismantling of the 3 - 9 std deviation constructs that are now blowing up and getting names. Like mortgage crisis.
It is still a ways before the 'revolutionary meme' grabs hold.
is that like traction or something?
All we need is for 40% of American's associated with BOA to show up one morning demanding their money! This would send the message. The bankrupt FDIC would show up with their damage control officers within minutes....Sorry, just give me my money not your guarantee and your lip service....DONE...There are ways the sheeple could end this madness in about an hour, unfortunately they have their heads too deep in the sand to relate!
Exactly, Every person I see I ask them (literally every person I come in contact with)...do you bank with JPM? how about BOA? Citi? pull your money out then I proceed to explain to them in leveraged terms how much you would be REALLY hitting them with? withdrawls are bullets....and people are firing...pulling out saving accounts are bigger guns and if your going to dump your IRA or your brokerage account skynet won't last very long. Just look at those outflows!
Also throwing a little history about jpm funding every war we've been in since 1913 also helps the case.
Actually, they don't need your deposits anymore. They can get money from Ben. You can only screw them by defaulting on your loans. Why do you think they changed the bankruptcy rules?
Proactive? Why CD, are you suggesting we should give them a little nudge from the ledge?
"Not I" said the little piggy as he pulled the red hot fireplace poker from the burning pile of office furniture. "Not I."
:>)
"It all starts with the neighbors, not the country. Revolt flows upward."
Ah, but it's so much easier expecting other to do it! That's why we ar epretty much a nation of talking-heads anymore.
"You never change anything by fighting the existing. To change something, build a new model and make the existing obsolete."
- Buckminster Fuller
"Set the example," that's what I'd learned a LONG time ago. And more recently I learned that you cannot speak truth to power because power already knows the truth: lying is what keeps them in power; if they spoke the truth we'd be hearing about how the system cannot continue to operate as a growth-only model (which is exactly how TPTB rule- collecting usary, which requires "growth").
I guess we'll have to wait for somebody to take the gloves off and start the violence. Until then it's mostly tempest in a teapot.
When the violence starts though, don't expect this to result in some glorious revolution to a cleansing new beginning. Revolts are ugly, with mostly the wrong people dying and the parasites sneaking away and reappearing again like roaches when the lights go off.
++++ (NICE)
What specifically are you doing on the local level? Are you trying to drum up support for local city council/school board types, or are you just organizing people in general to vote against R's and D's alike? If not, what specifically are you doing, and how do you feel it best reproduced and grown throughout the country?
I'm not an organizer but more like an irritant. No, I don't try to drum up support for anyone nor myself. I consider myself a spark or an ignition source. When I hear anyone complain, say in the grocery line or at the bank and talking with someone, I ask them what they think they could do about their complaint. After a few rounds of deflecting the simplistic answers (I don't know or throw the bums out or call the local TV station) I offer some suggestions for action.
How do you describe a jack-of-all-trades other than using those words. I don't fit any stereotypes nor do I advocate political parties. Most people I do this with lose interest quickly when they realize I won't do the work for them. But for those rare few who want to really learn how to be proactive and think critically I will work with them to explore ideas. I'm like a muse or a bigger brother pushing the little brother forward.
I refuse to do the work alone. I will not solve their problems for them even when I can. People need to become more self reliant and I try to help them. But after doing this locally for 5 years the people I first worked with are now doing it with others. A second and third generation of "sparks" are beginning to flare.
I don't fit any popular notions of what an activist is supposed to be or do. I don't collect signatures or pass out fliers. I'm a local unpaid consultant and problem solver but I don't actually fix the problems myself. I work behind the scenes. I'm trying to help people help themselves. I'm an idea person. I'm always working with 3 or 4 different small groups or individuals at any moment. The good news is that the local county commissioners are really beginning to hate me. :>)
This takes time. You don't change ingrained beliefs and passivity in weeks or even months. You don't break people out of the spell of helplessness the first or second time you try. People revert back to old habits of being the victim. The TV tells everyone its OK. It's easy work and nearly everyone likes the job.
I am no activist either. Just leaving them (TPTB) alone will insure a self-demise, but the time frame will be excruciating. I don't attend city council meetings since most of the topics are neighborhood spats. We have the exact same conflicts at the national level. It's a hopeless outlook. I like the concept above about creating a new paradigm. Gotta think more about that. Might look up some of Bucky's writings.
@Bob:
Oct 8th, 2010 -- "Inside Job" hits the theaters -- get some "Sheeple" to see it with ya!
+100
ROTFLMAO
You're entire comment is formatted as a quotation. Is this a mistake? I see the bold paragraph is from the article. Is the rest of it from you or someone else?
You're right CD... I only wanted the bolded part from the post to be in quotations... The text that follows are my thoughts and should not be construed as a quote... Should have previewed it... Sorry for the confusion.
I am of two minds regarding this simple sentence. I fear there will be a revolution and many will suffer or die. I fear there will be no revolution and many will suffer or die.
Yes, the pain of the ultimate choice. Reared to expect something different, fated to face something we would never really wish.
But it is what it is. Seems we were truly born to live in interesting times that will force us to define ourselves, one way or the other.
So much for my movies and video games.
If there's no revolution, WTF am I going to use all my vacation time doing?
If you're truly patriotic, you'd actually take your vacation and put it on your credit card.
For crying out loud, get with the program.
Wait - I thought maxing it out on guns, ammo, gold, silver, food, water and gift cards to the local massage parlour was the patriotic thing to do?
Mother Mary & Joseph. Will someone PLEASE get the criteria for patriotism worked out?
Biden heads the Patriotism Committee?
Hopefully someone will inform him that it is AMERICAN patriotism we are talking about here...
Did a vehicle
Did a vehicle did a vehicle
Fly along the mountains
And find a place to park it
Self?
Or did someone
Build a place
Or leave a space
For such a thing
To land?
Chester's thing... on Ruth.
And DEFAULT after it's filled.
LOL! Thankfully, a voice of reason . . .
This is true. Many suffer and die all of the time. It may be the one thing that never drops to zero, until there is no timeline at all. Hmm.
The revolution does exist, and it was started a long time ago (one could argue, I suppose, that it was baked in from the start [read "innevitible"]). Revolutions happen in the mind; the physical manifestations are no more than the offical proclaimations/ribbon-cutting events. Yes, it IS about class warfare*, and as soon as the divide becomes unbearable it'll be more than clear. People, such as in the Tea Party, are dying to pound someone, and at this point their violence is being directed away from the wealthy, toward govt workers and folks receiving govt assistance (never mind that they fail to question the fascist-angle, militarism and the police state; I suspect, like history tells us, that they hope to take over this power in order to further pound whomever the mob's figurehead points to).
*The lower class in the US are still mostly leaps above the majority of the world's population (2/3 or which lives on $3/day or less).
have to agree right here.
the real revolution is personal, people "wake up" incrementally, as much as their safety valves for sanity allow. . . some have further to go to catch up to others, and the ones furthest ahead are the least apparent, particularly to those that choose groups to hang in.
get back to me when a "movement" forms that eschews voting, from that point forwards a revolution may follow - prior? just hanging out, letting off steam, IMO.
I think that the "power elite" are already geared up for this... Consider all of the "secret" detention camps that are being set up around every major city in America... Consider all of the private security and intelligence companies that have come into being... If I'm not mistaken, hasn't posse commitatus been repealed?
Yes. Americans need to self-actualize. Man up! Who has their list going?
I was told by a close friend and neighbor that someone else in the neighborhood was beginning to watch me closely since I'm such a radical. In effect, he was making a list and checking it twice.
So is this the list you're talkign about? :>)
+1
You DO know the meter reader has anti-terror training...
LOL
And she's hot to boot. Plus she told me she has hand cuffs in the truck. :>)
Be still my beating heart.
R U sure your a happily married man?
All your meters (and meter readers) are belong to us...
Bob, that most certainly is not a "must watch" and please stop posting it in every thread.
Edit - It is a "must watch" if you are an ignorant populist moron, otherwise it is not and you may continue on
It's interesting that all the brilliant putative "big ballers" here condemn the ignorant passivity of the "sheeple" with such smug satisfaction, yet find the notion of passing around something that might arouse them repugnant and inherently ignorant.
Perhaps you should demonstrate some ideological consistency by realizing that "populism" is de facto popular.
How 'bout we rouse ourselves from our elitist navel gazing and actually make active attempts to engage the "sheeple"?
Don't know about you, but I've trying been for a couple years now and my tally so far includes: 1 ex-fiance and about 5 ex-friends. Luckily family is not so quick to reject.
Being at the literal cutting edge is no picnic, man! I likewise know the pain.
The MBS fraud that will likely now sieze up the financial system changes the landscape, imo. This is an opportunity to reconsider our previous actions, i.e., TARP and the host of other socialized/public loss assumption programs.
The public will be ready to get smarter now, as I see it.
"Cutting edge?" That clip is over a year old... and all that's happened is they're getting bigger bonuses!
Tell me something new Bob.
Oh, for chrissakes. I suppose that it's time for me to come clean and admit that I have neither a blackberry/iPhone or a facebook page? Gimme a break.
The video only had 90k views as of this morning. Get real.
What's your real beef? Are those windows a little too close?
Glad to know that club isn't so small after all.
I'm hearing my Old Man, may he rest in peace, muttering "these goddamn kids nowadays don't know their asses from a hole in the ground . . . "
Honestly, though, unlike my Dad, I both like and have great faith in the younger generation that I pray is not misplaced.
Sounds very familiar - the father part. I have a son, in his 30's. I think he'll step up, if he survives the Battle of Los Angeles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse
The proles should pray for soceital collapse because "social failure may also result in a degree of empowerment for the lower levels of a former climax society, who escape from the burden of onerous taxes and control by exploitative elites." They may find themselves taxed and exploited by someone from their own social class instead though...
How is the public supposed to be smarter with shit like this beautiful propaganda piece coming out everyday
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/110920/exclusive-trea...
hi blingaling like your name
Hey kathy love the avatar
Daniel Gross is a good little bootlicker. should move up the ranks quickly.
It does not really matter how you try to explain the situation, most people are not going to understand it. It's a complex problem, and people only want to understand simple problems. You can try breaking it down for them, but even a cartoon like South Park could not fully explain the dilemna. Americans suffer from crisis fatigue--no new crisis is going to raise an eyebrow short of a food shortage.
a lot of people, don't even want to understand, simple problems, as it requires effort, and sacrifice.