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Liberal/Conservative Divide Only Grows Uglier
It would be easy for me to dismiss Obama supporters as mentally defective but for one inconvenient fact: my mother, sharp as a tack at 92, is voting for him. And so is my sister, a San Francisco attorney who is no slouch in the brains department. I’m not sure where my brother, a municipal employee, stands, but neither am I eager to find out. There is no bridging the political gap between us, and so we simply avoid discussing politics. The same goes for old friends, although newer ones are another matter. One of them walked out on our dinner together in a huff when an innocuous remark I’d made about Abe Lincoln evidently bruised his self-righteously liberal, morally perfect heart . Good riddance. It is far better friends than he that I am worried about. Will they draw the line when I let slip my support for the right to bear arms, even concealed? A few of my wife’s closest friends are unmitigated liberals, and it’s unclear how much longer we’ll be able to tiptoe around the political rough edges when we get together socially.
The truce with my siblings and mother has held, but not without strain. When the latter referred to the eminently decent Mitt Romney as “a jerk,” I returned fire with an over-the-top fusillade of anti-Obama invective. That was a month ago, and we haven’t talked about the election since. Nor do I plan to rub it in after Romney wins on Tuesday — an outcome I believe is inevitable because the nation has been wallowing for nearly five years in an officially undeclared, if not to say brazenly-lied-about, state of recession. Romney voters will have to stifle the hubris, though, since there is no way he will be able to reverse the country’s inexorable slide into economic darkness. To be fair, I should state that Obama is no more culpable for the abysmal state of the economy than Bill Clinton was praiseworthy for its resurgence during his presidency. He got lucky, is all, while Obama inherited a disaster two generations in the making. Economic cycles are far bigger than the presidency, and this one is going to take its ruinous course no matter who is in the White House.
Dating Game’s Top ‘No-No’
In the meantime, the political gap between liberals and conservatives can only continue to widen. And to grow uglier. This unfortunate trend was underscored by a recent Wall Street Journal story that focused on dating services. It seems the matchmaking business has declined in recent years because clients seeking mates are increasingly putting political compatibility at the top of their lists. “In this neck-and-neck, ideologically fraught election season, politically active singles won’t cross party lines,” the Journal noted. “The result is a dating desert populated by reds and blues who refuse to make purple.” So much for romance these days. Time was when smoking, drinking, religion, education level and physical attractiveness were the main concerns of men and women looking for love; now, apparently, a date-seeker’s political views trumps them all.
Until a crisis equal to the Great Depression arrives, liberals and conservatives are unlikely to bury the hatchet. For voters on either side of the divide, the stakes in this election will not seem to have been exaggerated; for they involve nothing less than a fight for the nation’s economic well-being – nay, for its very soul. Over the next four years, and probably long thereafter, moral and financial jeopardy will confront each of us in ways that seem likely to widen political divisions. Putting aside the wild card of Iran, one of the most difficult issues we face will entail putting public employees’ pension and health care benefits on a sound financial basis. The unions will claim, correctly, that there is no legal precedent for denying workers benefits that were promised them when they were hired. Their employers will claim, also correctly, that the money simply isn’t there. But anyone who thinks the Federal Government will be able to “solve” this problem simply by printing money is in for a rude awakening.
The financial liability is in fact so large that attempting to monetize it would be tantamount to hyperinflating. If, say, the Government were to offer lump-sum settlements averaging $150,000, the money could conceivably be worthless on delivery, since the actual disbursement of digital cash would be taken as a sign by the rest of us that Uncle Sam was on the hook for everyone’s financial needs. If the Government were instead to assume responsibility for years of scheduled payments in “real” dollars, taxpayers would eventually riot in the streets. No matter how you work the numbers, there is no easy way out, at least not using monetary shenanigans. The very clear implication is that the “solution” will come in the form of a dramatically lowered standard of living for most Americans.
Pensions Too Big to Bail Out
What is the dollar amount of the unfunded liability? Many hundreds of trillions of dollars, according to some published estimates. Consider that a bankrupt Flint, Michigan, under the direction of a conservator, has cut its budget to the bone to effect annual savings of around $10 million. But the long-term structural shortfall imposed by Flint’s retirement promises is on the order of $600 million dollars over the next 25 years. Of course, Detroit’s long-term problems are orders of magnitude larger, and New York City’s vastly larger still — too big, in the aggregate, for even the U.S. Government to fix. Or rather, pretend to fix, since that’s all that the would-be fixers have been doing all along. Yes, the bailout has been a fraud – a con-game made easier by the fact that most of the bailout “money” has gone to sustain the illusion that the assets of our biggest banks net out to a positive number. But there can be no such shell game when it comes time to send out pension and healthcare checks after the coffers of states and cities have gone empty. Paying for the lives of retired workers will require coughing up real dollars each and every month, not virtual ones such as are posted as “reserves” by the banks. And that’s why it will be impossible for the Federal Government to pretend, as it has with the banks, that the bailout is other than a charade.
Under the circumstances, hostility can only grow between liberals and conservatives, haves and have-nots, public and private workers, taxpayers and recipients. We wish Mr. Romney luck, but he’ll have his hands full merely trying to keep blood from running in the streets, never mind returning America to prosperity.
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When he said Romney was a thoroughly decent man, I knew him for a Kool-aid sipper. Do thoroughly decent men lie and pander in such brazen fashion? Where I come from, they don't. He cares not one whit for the average American, only seeking the title of President so show is dead daddy that he is worthy, which he most certainly is not when compared to Mitt Senior.
The last ego-maniac with a Daddy complex was Bush the Lesser. How did that work out for us?
"Do thoroughly decent men lie and pander in such brazen fashion?"
Better question: how many "decent men" even run for public office and, very importantly, of those, how many actually win?
but how can a "DECENT MAN" ever be elected. maybe romney is saying and doing whatever is necessary to get elected since if he were to dare utter what is necessary to "fix" the convoluted mess that we find ourselves in, he would be labeled like "perot" and "paul" and destroyed by all vested interest.
romney has uttered a few code words during the debates that lead me to believe this is the case.
in any event, at least we know who romney is, and where he came from. i believe he will stand for what is right and not for what is now "legal".
and maybe, just maybe when that small compass is used we can begin that first step on a 1000 mile journey but know that we are heading in the right direction.
"which he most certainly is not when compared to Mitt Senior"
Er, there's no Mitt Romney, Sr. Mitt's father was George Romney, who served one term as governor of Michigan after helping to run American Motors into the ditch.
All the acrimony here only serves to reinforce Ackerman's point, that people have tossed civility out the window along with their cognitive functions, and can do no better than to react to everything from prejudice and emotions.
Why are people still willing to vote for Obama? Because they can't, or won't, relate to the common welfare any more. There is only self-interest and tribal loyalty left, with scarcely anyone willing to act on principle. Obama has only compounded and deepened the sins and errors of the GWB administration, and now demands another four years to do what he refused to do in the first four. He has held no banksters accountable, quadrupled the deficit and added trillions to the national debt. He is a fraud and a felon. Seen those college transcripts yet? You won't, because he sealed all his personal records by Executive Order on his first day in office.
So why are so many willing to vote for Mitt Romney? Because they aren't willing to face the fact that there are no good options, there is no "Two-Party System", no integrity left in government and that Romney is a property of the corporate oligarchs. Just like Obama, just like Bush, just like Clinton Thing One and Clinton Thing Two. People want desperately to believe that "Romney is a moral person" and "at least he's not Obama". Sorry, not good enough. A President Romney probably would not seduce his Oral Office interns or make up wild stories about his uncle being tortured by the British, but he also will do NOTHING about the deficit or the Fed or the ubiquitous corruption in government. He himself said "It will take 10 to 12 years to balance the budget", i.e. "long after I'm out of office."
I'll vote for His Lordship Mombasa and the Empress de BargeAss when hell freezes solid. I'll vote for Romney when he stands up and says "America, listen up. No more free lunches, no more bailouts and welfare for unbelievably corrupt corporations, no more public policy determined by the likes of Monsanto and Lockheed-Martin. No more ethanol/Solyndra/pseudo-Green boondoggles. And most of all, you corrupt bastards at the Fed, clean out your desks. There's a new sheriff in town."
In other words, not gonna happen.
While I do agree with much of what you say, and I obviously got the name wrong while multi-tasking, I stand by my comparison of Mittens to his father, George.
I disagree that George Romney ran American Motors into the ground, In fact, it was just the opposite. He took the helm only a year or so after American motors was formed by merging Nash and Hudson, both of which were struggling. He developed the Rambler and set the company on a solid track before departing. In 1960 & 61, Ramblers were the #3 brand in America and AMC was standing tall.
He was tough, and street smart, and had real character. When he ran for President, he released 20 years of tax records, saying that you really needed to see multiple years to have any understanding of the real picture.
Mittens? Not so much. While George was a real job creator, Mitt has been more a destroyer....at lest of American jobs.
I stand for self ownership and individual sovereignty. So my principles are those of self interest and tribal loyalty. Thing is I just want my people to be left alone to do what we need to do in our own way. And I won't force my point of view on anybody else. Busybodies are do-gooders of all stripes are the problem. Government is the most powerful manifestation of that mentality.
Maybe the rift grows wider, but why do I have to give up my country to the socialists? Nevermind, it has been happening for many decades. I reserve the right to believe what I want to believe in and not be told by the left that I have to accept this and that. I want to stick with what has worked in the past; such as free markets, capitalism and wealth creation. Sure, maybe it isn't fair for all, but it beats the hell out of wealth equalization which amounts to lower wages and slavery. I want the right to be successful or fail on my own without government telling me or forcing me to do something.
The only reason the system appears to be broke is that it is infected with socialism, over-bearance by the FED, welfare, non-responsibility, Marxist derivatives, excess government and monstrous debts created by such. The progressives, for the most part, hate living here and being successful and being well-off. Rather than work to create more wealth and prosperity, their solution is to destroy it. Like The Dictator, they hate bussiness and libs want government to provide for every little need and want. You can get that garbage in half the countries of the world.
Truth be told, Romney and the RINOS won't do much to change the course of this country. That is pretty much dictated by a huge and growing welfare- based debt problem. Someday, it will become the "Sandy" of our nightmares.
But that's what government is intended to deliver. There's no problem with the system, the system is the problem -- red, blue or otherwise.
<- Hypocrite
<- Quisling
What your family and friends apparently fail to understand is that ANY BIG GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM.
Your so-called "divide" is a well-planned construction intended to distract weak-minded conventional fools like you from seeing where the real action is happens. You're like the idiots playing slot machines on the casino floor. You don't even see the door for the high rollers or have a concept of the stakes they wager. You're petty. You were raised petty. No one taught you how to think. You stand for nothing. You don't have a real life. All you care about is whether your heart medicine and mamographies are covered. Call back when you're ready to tell your mother, your sister, your friends and yourself, to fuck off. Then just to prove it, go live in the desert in a RV for one winter as penance for your stupidity.
Ahhh, it's not big govt vs small govt thats the prob, it limited vs un.
It's the reliant vs the unreliant of govt support that's the divide
Reliant on snap SSI soc sec govt jobs govt programs govt contracts govt
Tax breaks govt access govt pension govt health care.
Then the rest of us the unreliant just trying to make a profit in between the moras
Sing it precious... sing it
I hope Ackerman's relatives don't rub it in when the Democratic lackey of the Oil Oligarchy that runs the USA "defeats" (as if there really was an election going on - LOL) the Republican lackey of the Oil Oligarchy that runs the USA.
I remember way back in 2002 when Ackerman was giving excellent advise to people to NOT go the refi route if they could not afford the mortgage. He wisely told people the issue WAS NOT the monthly payment. However, he TOTALLY IGNORED the scam from Wall Street that was behind this dynamic. He knew there was no free lunch involved and the whole housing bubble derivative scam that had mortgages being issued to anyone that could breathe was criminal but he concentrated on "blaming the victim".
WHY? Because THAT is what Libertarians specialize in!
Can you say, INCOMPLETE PERSPECTIVE?
I am ashamed that our congress hasn't done anything for 4 years
No budget no checks and balances to the executive branch no outrage against the POTUS governing by Czars and illegal executive order no outrage against Internet free speach or rights or domestic drones or NSA eavesdropping or union pensions or wall st reform or theft of savings interest or killing the federal reserve
I'll vote......but not for anyone in office now anywhere
"I am ashamed that our congress hasn't done anything for 4 years"
WTF -- does that mean you're proud of what they did/didn't do for the preceding 8 years?
Sorry Max, but they have been busy.
On average, more than once every month, they come up with some new proposal to restrict women's rights, expressing a strange, purile obsession with what hapens between a woman's legs.
My own Representative introduced 42 bills in one day. It must have been a lot of work, as each one was crafted to exempt a very specific cehmical compound that I can't pronounce from tafiffs. Chemical compounds with one party benefitting - the Koch brothers.
He also took part in crafting legislation that would allow telemarketers to call your cell phone. He even introduced his own version of the budget that got zero votes....not even one from his own party.
And these are just a few examples of the hard work these dedicated public servants doing on our behalf. Now that you know, I hope you can sleep better tonight.
When the victim sanctions his own destruction perhaps a stern warning is in order.
"... Obama inherited a disaster two generations in the making."
Oh for Pete's sake. Obama didn't have to make it worse! Adding over $1,000,000,000,000 per year in debt?!
Actually, Obama DID have to make it become twice as bad, and the next President will preside over making it all be twice as bad again. The entire Ponzi Scheme pryamid system of money-as-debt MUST keep on making more and more money out of nothing, as debts, or else it collapses into chaos. The fundamentally fraudulent financial system that controls the USA has been running continuously for a Century. Since 1970 there has been a near perfect match to the mathematics of exponential growth in the total debts of the USA combined. America is rushing head long into genocidal world wars and democidal martial law, because its basic system is debt slavery, whose numbers have become debt insanity. There is no doubt that the next President will be the worst one there ever was, just as every other President for several decades has managed to be worse than the previous one! ... The necessary Second American Revolution alternative is practically impossible, since it would require intellectual paradigm shifts that the vast majority of Americans could not understand, because they do not want to understand! It is impossible fo the established systems to do anything else but drive their basic madness through to severe psychotic breakdowns.
Have some faith there in the pending revolution. We Americans have much more in common than we are told we do and the few, dangerous/ambitious people who've claimed the deed to the planet are on borrowed time.
"Have some faith there in the pending revolution."
Modern American revolutions defined:
1. Bitching in a too-long line at Starbucks.
2. Bitching that Honey Boo Boo is replaced by something actually educational on The LEARNING Channel.
ONLY after all the games and circuses are gone will Joe and Jane Sixpack get off their fat asses and ignorantly vote for some smooth talking, charismatic jerk who'll offer easy (non)solutions and probably be even more statist/fascist than the clowns we've seen thus far.
Have some faith there in the pending revolution.
There will be no such "revolution". Ain't gonna happen, now, later, ever.
What WILL happen is America taken down by foreign powers, first financially then militarily.
Actually not militarily in the traditonal sense, more like militarily in the thermonuclear sense.
There will be no "reset". There will be defeat, which means complete destruction, death, etc.
America will never come back from it.
So where are you moving to? I want to go.
I try to maintain that faith, since it IS crucial for the whole planet that there be some kind of successful Second American Revolution. However, I believe that is WHY there have been so many man-made (and perhaps "natural disasters" that were assisted by men to become worse) that have been hitting America is so many places, to try to knock it down, before it can stand up! ... Way later in this thread, honestann posted a comment about the relative ratios of different kinds of people in the USA, which I tended to agree with. For some kind of intellectually successful Second American Revolution, there would have to be a group of at least 5% of the population that were dedicated to that, and a group of at least 20% that were serious about understanding why that was necessary, and supporting it. I like to think that is possible. However, I think the percentages of those kinds of people are still down around 2% or 3%, for the first group, and 5% to 10% for the second group. There would have to be at least twice as many people as there are now wake up enough, and agree enough on the ideas necessary for a successful Second American Revolution. ... The main problem is that process is in a race against the current system continuing to deliberately destroy the republic, by starting more genocidal wars abroad, and imposing democial martial law at home. We DO live in interesting times!
We do live in interesting times indeed. One hallmark is that we get to actually respect, dare I say, Love one another dispite the rules..
We think we're FUBAR. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Hang in there, it gets more than interesting in 10000, 9999, 9998,...
Too bad the dems are SOOOO bad at math.
171,000 jobs created in Oct.
363,000 initial claims in unemployment the last WEEK of Oct.
Over 1 million NEW unemployed in Oct, alone, and it's been like that for 4 years.
"Job creation" does not mean NET job increases.
We have been losing jobs 7 X more than creating jobs for 4 years.
The ONLY reason the govt "unemployment" % looks better, is that once people exhaust their unemployment benefits, they are no longer counted in the "unemployment" figures
The 171k is net
here's hopin' that the dumpster fires (that are coming in NYC) occur after all of the useful food has been redistributed.
Can you imagine that a NYC food inspector would come along and stop people from gaining actual food from such sources?
This is a punch in the face and stomach for those who choose to live in big cities. Rosie's article today is spot on.
- Ned
Its an interesting fact for our "regulate at all costs" friends to ponder.
They're dropping code enforcement at all levels. Even to the point of..."collective statist" gasp...allowing non-union ships to dock in order to bring in product that is desperately needed immediately.
Hmmm ;-)
"At a press conference Friday morning, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the waiver was necessary to speed delivery of fuel to area ports. Soon after, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement that read, in part: “As a result of impacts caused by Hurricane Sandy, today Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a temporary, blanket waiver of the Jones Act to immediately allow additional oil tankers coming from the Gulf of Mexico to enter Northeastern ports, to provide additional fuel resources to the region…Secretary Napolitano’s action immediately allows additional ships, that would otherwise be barred, to begin shipping petroleum products from the Gulf of Mexico to Northeastern ports, increasing the access to fuel in the storm damaged region.”
http://transportationnation.org/2012/11/02/explainer-the-jones-act/
Societies only have the laws they can afford.
As we are shitcan broke ,only the Law of the Jungle is now in force.
Coming soon to a city near you.
This is just the foreplay before BOHICA.
the politicians are not "waiving" the Law, they're breaking it. Period.
New York State leaves the city wide open to a freak tide with a pissy little sea defence causing $billions in damages and Bloomberg is poncing about like he's St. Christopher... is NY going to pay for their negligence while they break laws to catch-up with the carnage??
Math: The New Inconvenient Truth
Post of the year 'knukles'...
The only math they know is government multiplication and societal division.
Exactly. Among other things, it's aided through the control of terminology. Look, for example, at Rick's words... the liberal/CONSERVATIVE divide.
Want to know the primary way to tell liberals and conservatives apart? The actual definition? It has to do with each of their views on how large the size and scope of the government should be... liberals more, conservatives less. THAT'S IT... there is no other determination necessary to decide whether someone is a liberal or conservative.
Now, tell me again, where are the actual conservatives? People are arguing over complete and total irrelevant platform issues, e.g. abortion. The words are so far removed from their meanings, that we're now arguing over strictly social liberalism or conservativism rather than the whole enchilada (fiscal side too). There is no liberal/conservative divide.
We have no conservative leaders and the citizenry at large demands that they not be seen as conservative, despite everyone being conservative at heart (note: would you feel bad if someone stole your bicycle? If you can answer this honestly, then you can understand why liberalism is a failed ideology). Point being, people are caught up arguing over which professional wrestler, the red or the blue one, is better... best of luck to us.
"government multiplication" x -some number
"societal division" / \inf
the math has no good outcome.
- Ned
Yeah well "sometimes people are pissed off for all the right reasons" too. I mean "vote starvation and hunger while we rob you blind" seems a little rich to me. Not that anyone is surprised of course. The fact that we can think these things through doesn't change the "reality on the ground" as they say. Needless to say you haven't presented any ideas here...nor will people like you. EVER. Of course if you spend year after year coming up with good, practical ideas and literally get tortured for it for all the world to see...well, let's just say "you fit in perfectly."
Sir. I do not know your life. Nor am I here to judge it. I am only commenting on the narcissism of Rick Ackerman - the common vanilla bean who think's he's a truffle. That should not be projected onto you or your decisions in life, since I know nothing about them. I do present ideas. They begin with learning to think and end with acting responsibly.
If it weren't for big government, man wouldn't have walked on the moon. It's a matter of economies-of-scale.
Nevertheless, the extreme bipolar divide in American politics, and throughout the world, is symptomatic of an underlying manic-depressive worldwide psychosis:
http://thespiritoftruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/some-apocalyptic-ranting.html
There are apocalyptic implications to this truth.
Man will walk on the moon again when it make financial sense, and for the wealthly it makes more and more sense daily to invest in the technology to get their and stay there to escape the masses here that wil want to destory them.
LOL! Boris remember supposed "Moonwalk" - at first is fooled, but when sober, realizing great Amerikan Faux! Is wonder why denouncement from Kremlin is not happen, but then realize Soviet is also spend many rubles on same adventurous. If make it fun of Amerikans, is cannot continue own sputnik programs. But okay, let's pretend moon base is future in anti-gravity wet dream!