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America - Good, Bad Or Ugly? Part 1: The Bad
Submitted by Thad Beversdorf via FirstRebuttal.com,
I wanted to start with The Bad and then move on to The Ugly so that I can end on a positive note with The Good.
So over the past couple days I’ve read several articles in which someone who is publicly an adamant proponent of righteous behaviour was exposed as being a complete hypocrite (think essentially any politician). And this really got me to thinking about the epidemic that has befallen America. We no longer have anyone in positions of trust acting with any sense of integrity. Our policymakers, bankers, corporations, unions, etc., all of these institutions have become nothing but a mechanism to enhance the personal positions of those who have the ability to directly or indirectly control the actions of those institutions.
By the late 1990’s the world was in the most prolonged period of global peace since WWII. Accordingly, military budgets around the world were being slashed. And so those with the powers that be decided the world therefore required some new wars to ensure peace continued (not kidding that is exactly what they argued), as I evidenced in an article last year, The Most Essential Lessons of History that No One Wants to Admit. Now the thing is, it’s not just politicians and policymakers that are devoid of any common decency these days but those who can manipulate every facet of our society.
Let’s look at central bankers for instance. The other day David Stockman wrote a great article highlighting the ridiculousness of statements by the Fed Vice Chair, Stanley Fischer. The point is Fischer is either out of touch, out of his mind or lying to us. But it’s not just at the highest levels that we see this type of human decay. Not at all. Let’s look to an area that so many of us know intimately, the financial services sector. Now there are a lot of examples we could use here but let’s look at a particularly interesting firm infamous for its culture of indiscretions. Jefferies LLC, which used to be Jefferies & Company Inc., is a mid tier investment bank, similar to Goldman Sachs in that it has no retail branches.
In 2012 Richard Handler, CEO of Jefferies, was actually the highest paid banker on Wall Street. And not to be left out in the cold, Handler’s number two, Brian Friedman also topped the charts as discussed in a Bloomberg article from 2013 which explored the credit risk such payouts create. Now making absurd amounts of money may or may not be ethical but what I find more interesting is the blatant hypocrisy of guys like Richard and Brian. As has been written about many times (e.g. here and here) is the fact that Richard and Brian put out a monthly company wide letter with words of ‘wisdom’ that are to guide and encourage their employees to rise above the fray. They look something like this from a recent monthly letter…
“…By the way, the capitalism concept really never took hold in Russia because the only way lasting, open markets work is through transparency, a culture of integrity and rule-following, and a true legal system.”
Now that sounds admirable on the surface, however, the reality when we look at the culture at Jefferies is anything but above the fray.
Remember Jesse Litvak? He’s the only banker that has been personally prosecuted, convicted and sent to prison for fraud related to TARP and was a Jefferies Managing Director at the time. Now for those of you that don’t remember, Litvak was caught lying to a customer when an employee of his accidentally sent that client an email exposing the lie. In the end, Litvak tried to explain away his actions to the court by saying it was common practice at Jefferies. The government agreed according to a quote from a bloomberg report, “Litvak wasn’t the only employee who lied to his customers, the government said. ”
Now some might feel well one example doesn’t prove a corrupt culture, right? And I only wish it were but a fleeting example, unfortunately though isn’t. Perhaps the most outrageous banking scandal of all time was Sage Kelly, Head of Global Health Care Investment Banking, for Jefferies. Sage Kelly is the real deal. He is Wall Street anthropomorphized in all its glory as depicted in a classic article by the boys at ZeroHedge. And again it appears that it wasn’t just poor behaviour by one man but a culture taken on by several top investment bankers at Jefferies. And surely the severely outlandish culture adopted by these bankers is not the type of behaviour that goes unnoticed. For unlike artists, legends in banking are known, not in death, but in the here and now.
What is less known is that Jefferies was actually sued by UBS for the way in which they acquired Sage and his Investment banking group from UBS, as this article by the NYT describes. But it appears that for Richard Handler and his executive officers, being called out for inappropriate behaviour is not a deterrent as some 3 years later Jefferies was sued by Newedge for the very same thing, as described in this FT article. It’s beginning to seem that despite Richard and Brian’s monthly words of moral and ethical enlightenment to their employees, it is them that have failed to live up to the benchmark they preach.
Now when a CEO is making $58M a year he should be held to a higher standard of accountability. But what we find is quite the opposite, as we regularly see now in America those in positions of notable status are exempt from consequences. The Rich Handlers, Donald Rumsfelds, Hilary Clintons of the world reap all the upside and zero downside. Similar to the market having a Fed put, members of America’s upper class have a legal put. They simply are not held to the same standard to which the rest of us are held. And so if Litvak had the letters CEO in front of his name surely he would have been spared any prison time. Instead a large fine would have been paid into the Treasury’s General Fund and all would have been forgiven.
And so the consequences are worn by the non-elites, that is, the rest of us. The Rumsfeld lies that took us to Iraq and all of the subsequent continued fallout (now ISIS) are worn by soldiers fighting a synthetic enemy created in a social laboratory to perpetually expand defense industry contracts. The selling of favours and foreign policy deals by Hillary are worn by the families that lost loved ones in Benghazi. The multiple failures of Handler to properly manage risk and culture inside his firm led to rising legal and regulatory costs and declining business further leading him to shut down, only three years after purchasing, Pru Bache, a 130 year old company that had weathered the worst of storms. His failures are worn by thousands of non-six-figure income financial services sector employees that lost their jobs when he closed the doors on the 130 year old company but while he continues to receive his 8 figure compensation.
We can all think of literally a hundred examples of the legal put provided to those in the American upper class. And while any single example has a story of tragedy behind it, it is the assumed immunity we give across the board to those with a notable status that perpetuates their self serving indifference to those for which their duties are naturally responsible but now unaccountable. Yet we give them immunity, in part, because they do a fantastic job of portraying themselves as having concern for right and wrong and falling on wrong only due to circumstances outside of their control.
This really pinpoints the issue. While we listen to politicians, central bankers and CEO’s preach publicly about doing what’s right, ensuring economic stability, protecting the middle class and watching out for our employees and customers, it’s all absolute bullshit now isn’t it. That is, while guys like Rich and Brian pretend to be angelic proponents of good behaviour their firm is clearly an absolute disgrace in an industry already known for its lack of integrity. And it’s surely not just Jefferies but the general corporate and political culture in this nation that suffers from a lack of accountability and a lack of character. Apologies and fines are great but they don’t deter the bad behaviour that always lands on the rest of us, that much is clear.
This nation has become a land where character and integrity are secondary to profits for the few and self serving interests of the powerful. And as we are seeing already for the third time in this millennium’s infancy, stability and prosperity can be but short lived for even the highest paid CEO’s in such a world.
In Part II, I am going to expose The Ugly by releasing a recorded conversation of perhaps, contextually, the ugliest example of just how callous and inhumane our banking executives have become. Watch for it.
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It's always been that way. Here and elsewhere. It's how humans are. Difference now is we have technology that allows ass-fucking to go parabolic.
Agreed. The internet has accelerated human wackiness by a zillion.
Nah. Try a world wide reserve currency that is fiat backed by blood.
Best of luck finding the good anymore.
Puppies. Always a sure bet.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p336IIjZCl8
I like dogs way more than I like people.
I like people way more than I like Banksters.
First we have to dismiss OUTRIGHT the idea that America had a 'Golden Age' at the end of the 60s. Yes, I know that is near impossible for most, but its the first, necessary step.
What really happened was that JFK, RFK and MLK were all assassinated. America entered the Vietnam War, primarily for the CIA to make money for black ops from drug smuggling (the Golden Triangle, nuff said). Gulf of Tonkin was 100% Grade A Bullshit. There was a military draft. Muhammad ALI (!) was drafted, but said "I ain't got no quarrel with no Vietcong" (sometimes paraphrased as "No Vietcong ever called me n____er"). And he was convicted, black listed, for it!
Which brings me to... The fact they faked the manned Moon landings. AKA The Apollo Program.
Those brave enough, feel free to read all about it here: Kubrick and... The Moon Landings
http://www.reactorbreach.com/showthread.php?tid=4891
Admitting the truth, as mentioned above, is the first step.
The Golden Age -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyDg7EROtrs
Kitten innocence.
puppies drool.
So much for the headline . Mr. Thad's first un italicised paragraph had me hooked as a reader.
I might read the second installment.
Life's always been a giant terd. This world has never known justice. And it will never know justice in the future. So why get all worked up?
We don't have an action gvt, they are reactionary, they wait for you to act, and then react only in ways which promote their limited lifestyles and greeds. And there is nothing which one can do about it, your new name is Manule Labor, like it, leave it, or lump it.
http://cosmicconvergence.org/?p=1167
Isn't this why the country has gone to hell?
The problem isn't us, it's them — http://www.barefootsworld.net/nockoets0.html — and having run amok the world over, they have precipitated a collapse the likes of which the world has never seen.
Best to buckle up and hunker down — http://readynutrition.com/resources/52-weeks-to-preparedness-an-introduc...
gee....where are the posters that claim all we need is true capitalism.....released in all it's glory....no rules!!!!! doesn't exist and never has......there is a reason for rules/laws and not unfettered capitalism. now getting the rules/laws enforced is another matter....yes?
Besides the murder of MLk, our nation's most cherished plagiarist, I would definitely agree with your sentiments on the 60's as being quite far from a "golden age". How could anyone even make an argument to the contrary is beyond me.
I once personally knew, and worked for, a San Diego billionairre.
I remember one quote from this guy. Said directly to me in response to my explaining some shit.
"No good deed goes unpunished."
That's a fucked up mind-set.
He was talking about women.
My father uses that saying in jest all the time. I think it boils down to don't own someone else's problem. Basically if they ask for support you can help them but don't do it for them. Women for example just want you to listen to their problems not offer solutions. This is a hard concept for most men to grasp as we are mostly solution orientated (we like to fix things). But trust me just listen and if they ask for help give it but don't own the problem.
I like Banksters way more then I like poloticians.
OT
But can anyone explain why the currrent headline from Drudge posits the death of 11 Syrian refugees should be placed at the doorstep of Europe (in general) when the perpetrators lie significantly to the west and south of the delivery?
And better yet posited by a website (The Independent...awesome Orwellian resonance there!) that does not facilitate commentary or response to posts?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/if-these-extraordinarily-...
Oh yeah....it was 11 drowned Syrians... there's no asylum like an obvious asylum
Your mind control will be preceded and signified by the appearance of NWO's universal symbol for control: the number 11.
Looks a lot like the ubitquitous 'pause' symbol on electronics in a a way but also like a component of 911...No that shit is crazier than the repetitive appearance of the number 33 if you ask me...
I REFUSE to read any news site that does not allow comments.
I noticed even soccer (!) web sites, that normally thrive on comments, don't even allow for comments on some topics. Specifically anything controversial/political/'THAS RACISS'.
You tube has comment battles, bad language is even encouraged.
No welfare for illegal immigrants, no illegal immigration problem.
Or a prison industry that is not backed by "laws".
It's worse than that. We celebrate mental illness where a man can have his junk surgically hacked off, wear a dress and demand to use the ladies room, and we give him a TV show. We have an MTV video awards program that was more soft core porn and drugs than music or videos. (and the music was shit). We have an organization that we pay tax payer dollars to to hqack up babies and sell their organs for profit. How does it get more evil than that? We are an immoral lawless society, and everything that follows comes from this rotten core.
You can't call anything evil any more. Its just 'different' and you are 'intolerant'.
IMO it is indicative of a society with no moral compass, whatsoever.
I've got a wide screen TV, a massive fridge, iphone, ipad and iwatch. Moral compass? Sounds great, where can I buy one?
aw bullshit
You can by one right here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=moral+compass+for+sale&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8...
They sell um at the moral sense store for pennies on the dollar.
We have a moral compass...
we're just missing the needle.
Oh, found it!
It was buried in all the political bullshit. It's gleaming bright gold, and it's heavy in my hand. It's fucking awesome. Sixteen of them gives me a hard on to want to drill a 60 year old wife.
(Three twenties would kill me! But I'd die with a smile!) [Wife is of the caliber that she'd hire the three twenties just to prove I can't perform without prior notice. She's a keeper.]
How does it get more evil than that? We are an immoral lawless society, and everything that follows comes from this rotten core.
I was talking to a woman at the gym who works with "troubled" youth. She was commenting that she gets sick of all the lying - and I asked her, "Why should the kids tell the truth? Everyone they're supposed to look up to is a liar - from the President on down - every single one is a lying POS - they're pathological liars incapable of being honest - so why should THEY tell the truth?"
Your post reminds me of this quote - similar ones can be found elsewhere, but this is from the Koran:
Ibllis/Satan said: "Oh my Lord! because thou hast put me in the wrong, I will make (wrong) fair-seeming to them on the Earth, and I will put them all in the wrong, except Thy servants among them, sincere and purified (by Thy grace)" (39-40. Al-hijr)
and of course, Protocol 14 talks about this, too.....
quote:"The point is Fischer is either out of touch, out of his mind or lying to us" <-all of it
Whoo hoo!
Let's keep writing articles about how fucked we are from the safety of our computers!
We are so awesome! (Pats self on back)
We know what is going on.
We write and read articles about how fucked we are.
The founders of this country would have done it.
This is a jew zombie worshipping nation.
Derp!
What would your alternative be ? Hmm for people to stop this corrupt collapse and restore faithful sound Government . To see the guilty arrested & imprisoned for their terrible crimes. That would be wonderful , but the levels of corruption & sheer stupidity are far to great now ! The only course open now is to try and survive the coming apocalypse that humanity brought on itself !
Like when a crab tries to crawl outta da bucket, you be dam sure Ta drag is azi back down cos you don't want that bitch being all dat
Hey, can we have a round table discussion tomorrow night?
Welcome to Zero Hedge "focus group" Bitchez. ha
group shrug!
I'll bring the glue...
I'm guessing that "part III" will be short
I reckon so
Brand new photos have just been released of the Bush administration on September 11th 2001. The photos emerged thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUUY6eyLkEk
9/11: WCBS NIST Dub #2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZWI4TlVsMc
2nd link ^^^ Ground Zero after 1st Tower fell @ 8:10, unbelievable.
Great links as always Rusty....
Before most videos even have 100 views, Rusty's got it face down on the mat in a full nelson.
Amazing links man. I worked in the World Financial Center at the time and was THERE that day, I couldn't have been closer, was across the street.
That second video really brought me back, had never seen images from the second tower so close to it before it fell.
Also, Jesse Litvak was my friend at Jefferies.
So, I guess you can say this post really reasonates with me!
I remember when Richard Handler interviewed me in 2008 before I went to work there.
We live in interesting times.
Should be titled: America, the dumb, stupid & ignorant.
Never before have such a few finacial sociopaths stolen so much from so many. They were enabled by being agents of The Great Red Dragon. Sometimes The Dragon Wins. That sucks.
When do the hangings start? Oh right, sheep can't hang wolves...
It's all peacetime charades.
If real war hits main street, there will be a firestorm of AMERICAN INSURGENT firepower the world has never seen.
The true AMERICAN INSURGENT fights with the strength of 1,000 men.
Yes Indeed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LedR-ILK18U
Was this a deleted scene?
Why the fuck don't I remember it?
I have been drinking heavily.
True insurgency has seldom been confirmed in war. It is the line of code that brings down an entire system. It is the loose part that destroyed the machine - whether a tank, or fighter jet, or missile. True insurgents are neither seen nor heard, only suspected. Like the French underground fighters in WWII they hide in plain sight. They use existing materials to fashion tools of destruction. A $10 weapon to destroy a $20 million tank. These are the battles the elites pray they are never against as they cannot prevail. The best insurgency ever? The Vietnamese fighting against Ghengis Kahn nearly 1000 years ago. Khan lost. The Mongols had all the advantages militarily. But they didn't have a will to win at all cost and a resolve to fight to the last person. Worse, the will to fight to the end while taking out 1000 of your enemy for each rebel fighter.
I'm flabbergasted.
Really. Hypocritical investment bankers...
What next?
If we are not ever vigilant. Sociopaths rise to the top. Just below them are greed heads with sociopath tendencies. Below them are ideologues, Then in various measure are dumb asses, brainwashed and just plain stupid. They are supported, installed, allowed, by the greater mass of lower level, ideologue/dumbasses, plain dumb asses, brainwashed and stupid. A smaller percentage that are not in the previous categories, hold false hope, that they can choose a lesser evil. But that really rolls them into dumb ass. A very, very, small pecentage are enemies of the state. They do not currently, or soon will not, matter, or exist.
You are 100% correct. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance or as kedi stated " Sociopaths will rise & take over " and that is what is happening now . The main problem with this is it creates instability in society . This leads to war, famine ,suffering & lot's of death .mThis cycle has occurred repeatedly in human history . You think that humanity would have risen above this pathetic evil behavior by now !
You would think. Especially since we have started handing down written history of these cycles. As recently as the founding fathers did, in the constitution and their other writings / warnings.
Governmental, economic, social, failings written out and given forward to us.
I have lived long enough and been watching enough to have seen the cycle begin to repeat. Several decades ago the education material, the news and other media were putting forward the perils of repeating the past cycles. Delving into publicly discussing how to best avoid it again. Every year it seemed to be muted and / or, transformed into something else. Yes, everything seems to be going those same old bad ways that lead to all those same old troubles. BUT. This time, we are smarter.....
If we are smarter is debatable. But if we are as a whole. Then so are those that seek to profit in whatever way. All the new tools for telling us what we need to know, are usurped and telling us what some want us to know, or twist what we should know.
It isn't different this time. We are letting it happen for the same reasons it has happened all those other times. New ways of hiding it. New ways to describe that it isn't happening. New ways to tell us that we are in charge, or my most hated " EMPOWERED ". Empowered = I liked it or re tweeted it, I did my part. Bread and circuses. Make a difference get a fucking tattoo, wear a ribbon.
We did things right. For a while. It was hard. Then we start to reap the benefits. ( which were provided by the people before us. ) Then we think it is time to just keep on reaping. No sowing, thinking, guarding and doing.
The vultures start picking at our fat lazy carcasses. The children watch and learn..........much later their children's children are once again pecked clean.
Waiting for "smarter" to equate to "wiser". Our advanced technology has created hubris to believe history is no longer relevant.
" You think that humanity would have risen above this pathetic evil behavior by now !"
Umm, nope, not at all. Humanity has proven time and time again it is about half as bright as a dead firefly. Given that the West has basically been founded on single parent families since the 60s and it's no wonder everyone is dumb as dogshit. No dads to teach their sons what's what.
Manhood is a club. You gain acceptance through practice. You practice what you are tought. Males are only bred nowadays, not raised.
Fucking tragic.
"My greatest flaw. I surround myself with idiots."
- Victor von Doom
Sociopaths rise to the top.
It has been true as long as there have been humans.
Politicians used to be considered lower than whores. Now we celebrate them.
The human species has been a big disappointment in many aspects, least of which is their relentless desire to be ruled by phychopaths and inherant inability to think for themsleves - eahudimac.
Keep in mind the worst human characteristics of servility and inability/refusal to think for themselves has been systematically BRED into the DNA in a very literal sense for thousands of years. Think about the millions of people who have been enslaved or murdered for merely having a diferent perspective from another tribe, nation, rulter, etc.
Look at how plants and animals have been selectively bred. The same thing applies to the current throngs of bleeting masses of sheeple. It's their fault, but in a sense it's also not.
This nation has become a land where character and integrity are secondary to profits for the few and self serving interests of the powerful.
When was it not?
when on a gold standard, and the etablsihemnt of Glass Steagal
The Southern states, prior to April 1865.
Be as callous and inhumane, you can try. However, it will NEVER top this ..
http://eagleonetowanta.com/?page_id=12
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/01/02/wanta-plan-must-be-deployed-now/
WAKE THE FUCK UP! Including and especially this crowd at ZH. We are bringing all this calamity upon ourselves. I don't appreciate having to dodge all the bullets, getting caught in the crossfire. (snce the summer of '02) Enough of this selective and willful ignorance ..
https://app.box.com/s/hfgvcqg7gqh7i27at6sv53ywu87lwarp
There are still good people, nasty, fun and mischevious, but overal ok types, its just the bad get more publicity.
When are you going to write about the MILLIONS of hyper-reckless breeding entitlement-tit-sucking proletariat parasite hordes = BAD + UGLY ?????????????????????
If you have a corrupt govt deciding who is successful and who is not, you will have a lot of crooked people in business.
But someone is creating the modern world, and it isn't the "little guy" or those crooks or the politicians.
It's a relatively small number of rational, productive people. They are the truly persecuted minority.
Well this is nothing new that is for sure. What would be new is if we all decided to do something about it once and for all instead of talk about how "Greshams Dynamics" have entered the global economy on all levels. I agree. However it will not stop until something is done. The people who hold money dear are the ones that do not understand wealth. They never did.
Once good, now bad, the future: ugly.
This nation has become a land where character and integrity are secondary to profits for the few and self serving interests of the powerful.
Enjoyed the article.
The Good, Bad, and the Ugly movie had a great soundtrack. Do we get something like that as we crash & burn (in a future dramatization)? I'd like to think there's a silver lining here (I'm quite the optimist).
The Good, Bad, and the Ugly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjoXaJUOInU
We have always had a minimum level of corruption. Especially at the top, where the sociopaths live. However, in prior decades the level of corruption and greed didn't take enough blood from the host to kill it. Thus, there was a substantial amount of wealth to share with the proletariat (that's you and me if you are not worth over $100 million). Though riddled with parasites it didn't kill the host.
Now, however, it has become an accepted axiom in boardrooms and executive offices that most businesses these days cannot survive unless they bend the rules in their favor. They know this to be true and wanting to remain employed actively do things that at other times would be considered patently illegal, immoral or similarly challenging. Everybody does it and this is what we do to "compete". But now, after multiple bubbles and bursts, the average worker bee understands there is no place for him if he just does his job well. No, he must steal from the corporation in order to continue to remain employed or at least to survive properly. Now, we devolve into the societies that preceed us, not because capitalism failed, bit because corruption overtook it. Our debt may kill us but the corruption will guarantee a " double tap".
I began working full time in 1974, first in the trades, then in a profession. I have worked for relatively small businesses, to two of the largest firms on the planet. I have personally seen how lying, cheating and stealing is now accepted behavior in middle management for the Fortune 500, and more. As we get c!oser to collapse and reset this corruption will filter down to the lowliest person on payroll. That the firm dies from the parasites should not be surprising. Given how moral and decent behavior is rewarded now I look forward to the reset, and for the blood of fools to run in the street like a river. It seems other prophets see similar historic repeats.
I can't disconnect from this reality. It encompasses us all. Just prepare and hope your work is adequate.
Really? That's it? Swimming in the shallow end are we?
bla-bla-bla
Elites never really change, here in the UK we have a bit more history.
The UK's aristocracy has seen social systems come and go, but they all provide a life of leisure and luxury with someone else doing all the work.
Feudalism - exploit the masses through land ownership
Capitalism - exploit the masses through wealth (Capital)
It was collective Labour movements and not Capitalism that got the majority a larger slice of the pie.
The rich are very greedy.
They will do whatever it takes to line their pockets, e.g. slavery, child labour, appalling conditions in 19th Century factories.
We can see from the suicide nets of Apple factories in China little has changed.
The Liberal Left want the UK nation to apologise for past acts BUT .......
When it comes to apologising for slavery, colonialism and similar despicable acts it should be remember it is not the nation that is responsible.
The poor within the nation were being treated very badly too and given an existence that was the bare minimum to keep them alive to work in the factories of the wealthy.
Little different to slavery but they were paid a wage.
The cold blooded, psychopaths that emerge from our top private schools that engage in this sort of behaviour have changed little and now head to the City to do their dirty work and line their pockets.
idiot-Samsung, Android, Kindle and the Windows phone are made at the same factory
Idiot . Android is NOT a phone its an operating sytem
Idiot . Android is NOT a phone its an operating sytem
fanbois/idiot -- then why do the apple-specific factories have the highest rate of suicide/child labor violations?
For the iphone4, there was a last-minute change to the production with the addition of a harder tempered glass screen. This meant that factory workers who had just come off a 12-hour shift were sent back to the production line after only four hours rest, with a cup of tea and a biscuit to tide them over.
I hate to break the news to you, but YOU are one of the rich who is oppressing the poor. I'll bet your house is full of stuff made in Chinese sweatshops. If they ever collectivize, it will be YOUR pie that they get a larger slice of.
If they ever collectivize...
China already tried that. It didn't work. The scum still rose to the top. 50 million dead. And the scum are still at the top.
Our greatgrandfathers suffered to lift us out of poverty. Unions gave the rest. There is no reason in the entire population cannot live a comfortable middle class life. The hoarding of wealth and corruption create countries which see starvation used as a weapon. Breaking ground and building the foundation of a functional infrastructure from the ground up means more than the construction of a pyramid. And those who designed it and maintained it through diligence and sacrifice deserve the rewards of a decent life. Garbage dumpters outside of mansions and castles which house one family and at times, 1 man, are the industrial sized. Waste is at the top.
Please do plot us a timeline superimposing Labour's growth versus UK financial dominance in the world.
Let me corrrect that for you:
"Capitalism Central Banking/Fractional Reserve Banking - exploit the masses through Authoritarian (Government) Fiat."
Last I checked printing "money", arbitrarily setting interest rates, and gifting trillions of said printed money to elites...is NOT Capitalism. It's a common mistake you made to mistake Statism for Capitalism.
just die bitchez
This is the way of a ceo: He eats and wipes his mouth and says, "I've done nothing wrong". [/Proverbs 30 20]
A Small Victory: VMA Viewership Slips Again for Degenerate MTV:
http://winteractionables.com/?p=24690
Constantly being beaten by the Jews. It is an eternal theme. And it doesn't matter which way things go or who proposes a solution. The Jews come out on top. Clever fellows.
Some day more clever folks will come along. But it will not be people obsessed with the occult. Neither those into it or those opposed to it.
You want to beat them? Breed and raise smarter children. Teach them science. Teach them math. Teach them business.
Math is too hard? Well go back to watching the VMA and looking for traces of the Illuminati. It might not be useful. But at least you will be out of the way. Oh. Wait. Staying out of the way helps THEM. My condolences.
When the biggest nation on earth becomes a huge, militarised, predatory machine that is linked to the biggest financial casino, enrichening its clients based on : "greed and fraud are good; we are in the Roman Coliseum and we will never lose."
The End justifies the Means! Machiavelli's Prince runs the world!
Why wonder when History is being written by the Barbarians who are the Empire's bastard children--like the Renaissance Condottieri who burned Rome for Emperor -- destroying 3000 years of human heritage in Syria, eviscerating the populations of two continents; all for KING OIL. As the black gold of ME energy Jerusalem serves its unholy Oligarchy of US and Saud since FDR's handshake and who will do ANYTHING to stay in power. Just like their role models did in Ancient Rome.
The smell of hubris is a stench that no amount of "easy money" can obliterate.
Cameron says : "NO, we won't reign in Cayman's off shore corporate and bank account ownership transparency. Its too important to CITY ...(and they pay our salaries)."
The Oligarch's laugh at seeing the unwashed led from pillar to post in a game where the psychopaths own the levers of power.
Brave new western world.
Dude. You believe in a fantasy world where GOOD reigns. Or at least has a chance. You are delusional. Here is how it has always worked as chronicled by you:
Sociopaths rise to the top.
It has been true as long as there have been humans.
Politicians used to be considered lower than whores. Now we celebrate them.
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And I don't get the hate for oil. It is rather useful. Which is why people want it. Some by the gallon. Some by the barrel. If you really want to do something about it invent or develop an economical replacement. Inventing not your thing? Quitcherbitchen.
Development is my thing. http://protonboron.com/portal/
Oh how wonderful. Do you know how I can donate?
Well you don't understand that in all historical constructs there are CYCLES; so psychopaths and the TRIBE, or political construct they belong to, do get their commeuppence.
Its good to be a free man but is good to understand what world we live in.
Been to Rome ? Seen the Coliseum? Been to Berlin? Seen the photos of 1945?
The list is too long. Humanity knows how to re-invent itself.
So I don't stand with the cynical and defeated of mindset. Hope and faith are everything after love of life and what little liberty we enjoy. I never give up on hope and never give up on free expression.
I don't hate OIL i hate the USE we make of it. I worked 20 years in OIL so I know it as I was an architect and executive ; I made those damn things that shit gas and fuel and refined products. The question is even if you are an inventor or an architect and you conceive and invent; what use is your invention? If it serves Mammon you are just a pawn.
I don't knock development as its been my blood both when I worked for Oil oligarchy and later when I became an entrepreneur for 20 more years.
But I don't close my eyes to those who pull the strings. Einstein said it best : those who are the most guilty are not those who cheat but those who know it and remain silent.
Yes the fight goes on and we all do our things. Do yours.
PS/ I hope the end justifies the means in your "game", and its not a pyramid of hot air. "Good" is a word that also applies to what you do and why you do it !
It is the "hope" that suffers most from this mess, especially the "hope" that a moral life with integrity will sustain us. There are cycles, large and small, short and long. What I fear is that a collectivized power takes hold of this world that no economy, no public outcry, do demand for liberty can break its hold. America was the last great response to tyranny, a land largely open to development with little "governmental" oversight. We don't have that anymore. we are not even pursuing space exploration that could potentially enable such "escape".
It is hope that is suffering the most and presents the greatest real threat. When people do not strive or even try for anything more, the whole thing dies. I would submit that it has always been HOPE, rational or not, that has driven everything.
"He who controls the narrative, controls the story" and "He who pays the piper, calls the tune" I don't like kicking a person when they are down, but it has long been accepted knowledge the U.S, republic is completely rotten and corrupt to the core. Politics in the U.S, has reached a level of debauchery unprecedented in American history, and a business-corporate sector where fraud and breaking the law is part of the business model, the regulatory bodies are captured and politicians have been turned into subservient treasonous eunuchs.
I would argue like many others that the U.S has not stood for good since? Yeah, WW2. It has been that long. A superpower has becoming a self-serving host for the ultimate parasites, while cognitively mapping the general public like a Pavlovian Dog, to engage in cognitive dissonance when the words, Israel, Finance, war and Anti-Semitism is spoken, along with a few other choice phrases and words. The east coast establishment which traditionally was the elite of the U.S, which was once made up of 95% European Americans, has now been usurped and is now defacto a Jewish establishment, but alas stating the obvious in the mainstream is not allowed. This unspoken truth the mainstream media refuses to discuss is, because a certain demographics own 97% of the U.S mainstream media and its regional subsidiaries’ and don’t want these facts coming out. “It’s just another one of those 101 coincidences, that they've just stumbled across owning all the press, because they are hard workers and smarter” Cue the cognitive dissonance.
I see it as two types of integrity, low and high. I went from a relatively high integrity environment in eastern MT farming community to eventually land in the middle of the corporate world and then on to that of private equity. I cannot say that integrity has went from a relatively higher position to a relatively lower position but I can tell you that I did see it going from the farm to the financial world. It was actually quite incredible to me, perhaps my naivete, but the difference was absolutely there and those I learned to deal with in my new world would have had their asses whipped by a farmboy and left at the county line with instructions not to ever come back.
Mr. Beversdorf's comment - "This nation has become a land where character and integrity are secondary to profits for the few and self serving interests of the powerful." is an understatement squared...
I had a simular experience in the insurance industry. Grew up in ranch country in Eastern Colorado, moved east to learn (mostly since the MBA white shirts came flooding out of universities) that if you asked the upper management what the definition of "moral turpitude" they thought you were asking them the length of their dicks!
This new melinnia bunch are worse than the 80's bunch of idiots!
Well back to Colorado and to hell with this bunch of management fools!