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One Registered Democrat Rages

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

I've alluded to being a registered Democrat now and again, a disclosure that makes some readers go feral with wrath. For years I could only justify it as formal opposition to the cretinous brand of Republicanism that washed over the country like a septic wave with the reign of that sainted pompadour-in-search-of-a-brain, Ronald Reagan, whose “morning in America” bromide was among the biggest whoppers of my lifetime. With Reagan, we got the officially-sanctioned marriage of right wing politics and the most moronic strains of Southland evangelical religiosity. (Ronnie stated more than once his belief that Biblical “end times” were close at hand, which should have raised the question of his actual concern for the nation’s future — did he think it had one? — but nobody ever asked him about it.) George H. W. Bush expressed a similar view, perhaps merely pandering to the dolts of Dixie.

So, who in his right mind could have subscribed to that load of bullshit?

Meanwhile, the youthful and magnetic Clintons came on in 1992. They put on a good show of national stewardship in the early going. Bill could speak English fluently, unlike his two predecessors. Hillary’s committee to tackle health care reform came to grief, but the effort at least implied a recognition that medicine was turning into a shameless racket (now fully metastasized). Bill managed to shove through a species of welfare reform — remarkable for a Democrat — that has since deliquesced back into a swamp of disability fraud. But the Clinton turning point was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which opened the door to an orgy of financial mischief so arrant and awful, and to a plague of corruption so broad and deep, that American life is now pitching into a long emergency.

Add to that now the signal failures of Barack Obama: 1) no prosecution or attempted regulation of widespread financial misdeeds 2) no effort to counter the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to buy elections; 3) no end to dubious military operations in distant lands, and 4) healthcare “reform” that only fortified the existing rackets — take all that together and you can only recoil from whatever it means to be a Democrat.

And now the return of Hillary, gliding above the election arena like Rodan the Flying Reptile — caw! caw! Get me outa here! It’s not just her, of course. It’s the whole disgusting circus parade of identity politics, and PC witch-hunting, and trans-sex drum-beating, and girl-lugging-a-mattress-around-campus idiocy, and blame-it-all-on-Whitey whinging, and drone-strike-du-jour warfare, and out-of-control NSA surveillance monkey business, plus throw in the outrageous scams of “civil forfeiture” under a president who was supposedly a professor of constitutional law — the list of Democratic-sponsored absurdities and turpitudes gives me the vapors.

The New York Times ran a front-page story Sunday saying that the Republican nomination-chasers were sounding too ominous, too dark, about the state of the nation, at least for the purpose of getting elected. As if the Times has an interest in them succeeding. I guess they were “just sayin’.” For my money, you can’t paint a dark enough picture to fully capture the decadence and depravity in the current zeitgeist. This, after all, is the basic appeal of Trump — though a panoramic shot of his supporters in one of those stadium love-fests suggests that their very demeanor is a big part of the problem: crowds of overfed tattooed clowns in nursery togs clamoring for a return to 1956. Good luck with that.

More than once I’ve referred to the earlier period in US history, the 1850s, when the political compass points shook loose and parties died. The Whigs disappeared altogether (and fast!) and the Democrats became a rump party of southern slavers. Well, the two major parties of our time are now perfectly poised to enter the Temple Grandin cattle chute of death. But history doesn’t repeat, of course, it only rhymes, and this time there are no other political parties standing by to take their place, no credible institutions, certainly no one like Lincoln. There are only Bernie Sanders and the execrable Trump.

Sanders functions nicely as a foil to the flying reptile. But the self-labeled socialist has a big problem. The public may be simmering with grievance, but my guess is that they are not especially hot for more redistribution of the national wealth — that is, whatever little remains in the hands of a sore beset former middle class. The absence of any other reputible figure on the Democratic “bench” belies a party now more hollow than a supermarket Easter egg.

What we see gathering is a political storm as perfect as the typhoon that has formed in banking. Surely the financial storm will strike first and it will leave the public stupefied with loss. I would not even bet against the possibility of the 2016 selection being canceled in some manner. Imagine, for instance, what the Pentagon brass thinks of Trump. And what they are planning for him. Just sayin’.

 

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Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:04 | 6547399 sodbuster
sodbuster's picture

>washed over the country like a septic wave<  Could just as easily described the Dems, as well. A really shitty wave.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:18 | 6547477 pods
pods's picture

Maybe he will turn into an R and bitch about how badly he got screwed 8 years from now?

Free tip:  They both work for the same owners.

pods

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:25 | 6547516 negative rates
negative rates's picture

Well I gave you all an extra 24 years of life so you can thank your lucky stars for that one, the math was, and STILL is, accurate.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6547601 macholatte
macholatte's picture

 

It appears that Kunstler actually came out of his hole and looked around.

 

This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather.

--Ground Hog Day 1993

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:41 | 6547619 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

It appears that Kunstler actually came out of his hole and looked around

What we see gathering is a political storm as perfect as the typhoon that has formed in banking.

I have said many times before, "If we're going to break up our home, can I start with the windows?"

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:17 | 6547836 ThaBigPerm
ThaBigPerm's picture

Sorry, but to imply that Reagan couldn't speak English properly smacks of 30+ years of festering butthurt manifesting intself on a 2015 innernets.  Even his most vocal opponents would disagree with that characterization.

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 11:38 | 6550757 Winston Smith 2009
Winston Smith 2009's picture

"Maybe he will turn into an R and bitch about how badly he got screwed 8 years from now?

Free tip:  They both work for the same owners."

Considering your comment and all of the up arrows you got, you and most here didn't even read his column. He soundly and justifiably slams BOTH parties. Your conclusion is his also.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:23 | 6547508 bpj
bpj's picture

Clinton got welfare reform through?

 

 

 

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:15 | 6547839 PrintemDano
PrintemDano's picture

Newt forced it through.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:16 | 6547844 ThaBigPerm
ThaBigPerm's picture

Yes.  Well, more like "let" it through, after vetoing it twice, and "letting" it through the 3rd time on advice from his political advisors.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:44 | 6547634 Waffen
Waffen's picture

America needs a Pinochet, someone who is wiling to give free helicopter rides to bankers, commies and traitors. Spend 5-10 years Cleaning house so we can start over.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 19:22 | 6548603 Welfare Tycoon
Welfare Tycoon's picture

No fucking way the writings of a Democrat should ever be posted on this site. It is morally offensive to me that the opinion of this filth is even mentioned on Zerohedge. 

Republicans are dipshits are just as big of a part of the overall problem. But AT LEAST the Republican issues of Orwellian State Control, Warhawking, and destroying other countries under false pretenses is not quite as obvious at first and takes some investigation/insight. 

Democratic priciples and policies have been proven wrong time and fucking time again, both in recent and past history. Yet people still vote with this moronic ideology. Want to see how Democratic priciples fail? All you have to do is:

READ A FUCKING HISTORY BOOK

or

USE COMMON FUCKING SENSE

I used to be Libertarian, but then I realized that being Libertarian meant giving these people a voice or opinion. The more I think about it, the more I side with a dictatorship from one reasonable person to rule the country and not let these dipshits speak their minds. Democracy is a farce anyways. 

Those EBT's dont load themselves motherfuckers! 

 

 

 

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 02:06 | 6549522 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

"If yer young and a Republicon, you have no heart.  If yer old and a Decepticrat, you have no brain!"

[quote]...the more I side with a dictatorship from one reasonable person to rule the country and not let these dipshits speak their minds.[/quote]  -- Just WHO decides whom that reasonable person might be?  Give me a Republic (with TERM LIMITS!) any day!

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 05:23 | 6549669 WOAR
WOAR's picture

Give me a meritocracy with a king.

Only, let the people decide the merits of their king!

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:04 | 6547402 AmericasCicero
AmericasCicero's picture

After the crash the war begins

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:14 | 6547452 DetectiveStern
DetectiveStern's picture

Without a shadow of a doubt. Much like how WW2 was the only way out of the Great Depression, WW3 will be the only way out of the Great Recession the only hope is that our children forge a better world than our ancestors did after WW2.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6547531 daveO
daveO's picture

Or, End the FED and let the parasites starve. 

"Bill managed to shove through a species of welfare reform"- No mention of the Republican takeover of Congress that forced Bill to 'shove'.

'dolts of Dixie'? At least they aren't brainwashed, self-hating whites, like Sanders(Sanders was born in Brooklyn, New York to Eli Sanders and Dorothy Glassberg.[20][21] His father was aJewish immigrant from Poland whose family was killed in the Holocaust,[13][20][22] while his mother was born to Jewish parents inNew York City.[23][24])

, who'd give every damn thing in the nation away to the least deserving POS on the planet. I give the writer a little credit for recognizing the Peak Absurdity, but he can't even connect the dots. Dolt. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:57 | 6548071 sharonsj
sharonsj's picture

daveO--obviously you are not an old Brooklyn-born Jew (like me) because we are not brainwashed, self-hating whites.  We were the smartest, most educated generation brought up to believe in "truth, justice and the American way."  Not only are you a dolt, you are a racist dolt.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:15 | 6548393 Macon Richardson
Macon Richardson's picture

Are you implying that Jews are a race? Hitler did that and you see how it turned out. Judaism is a religion, not a genetic condition.

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 02:08 | 6549523 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

Hmm, so you're saying Stoopidity doesn't run in families?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:27 | 6547903 ersatz007
ersatz007's picture

doubtful

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:15 | 6548136 Bob
Bob's picture

I'm still ruminating on the notion of what the MIC plans to do with The Donode.  The Guy Who Will Make America Great, again.  Again. 

No more Mr. Nice Guy pansy scenes from Charles Atlas comic ads of the 60's, no more getting sand kicked in our faces while the world snickers behind out backs.

I can't help but wonder what the MIC couldn't do with Trump--light years short of the absurd insinuation of a Kennedy-style assassination.

WTF was that element of the pathos-swarmed Mr. Kunstler's argument again? 

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 02:10 | 6549526 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

WHEN China and the rest of the BRICS implement oil for Renminbi/Rubles (anything but dollas!), will it really matter who be da Prez'dent?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:05 | 6547404 Teh Finn
Teh Finn's picture

Genuinely stupid people can only learn by experiencing pain...enter Kuntsler.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:11 | 6547442 ThanksChump
ThanksChump's picture

Seriously, Kuntzler bacon is the best. Thick-slice.

 

Oh.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:22 | 6547494 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

I feel a disturbance in the force. My Dem connections were unctuously salivating the Second Coming with Hitlery and now seem more Sanders struck. I get " understands the essence which ails the country", " understands the needs of the people" and other various nebulous statements short on facts how he would accomplish these things. They don't like the aloofness of Hitlery seen as being out of touch with the common man. So it seems how one " feels" about the candidate is the deciding factor.

It's hard to interact with people on political topics. I use to find it so engaging to debate these issues. Now it's a challenge not to projectile vomit.

Miffed

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:29 | 6547539 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

American politics is the new ebola.

Only sure way to survive it is wrap your house in plastic and stay home for the next 16 months.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:33 | 6547567 pods
pods's picture

Yep, keep the the hell away from people until then.

Although, as of now the only people who are showing that glazed-eye-just-got-fucked look are the Trumpsters.

Maybe more people are seeing there is no spoon?

pods

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:40 | 6547614 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

If it was ever gonna happen, this would be the year for it.

Cracks in the matrix ...

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:12 | 6547818 negative rates
negative rates's picture

If it saves one life, it was well worth the effort.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:48 | 6548504 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Tough to avoid the wife of 25 years that long.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:35 | 6547581 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

Miffed, the problem is both at the top 1%, and the bottom 40%, the little that is left in between can no longer pull the wagon.  There is yet to be a candidate on either side that realizes this (trump has glimmers of realization).  Without attacking both sides there is no solution.  If Sanders would realize that the bottom 40% is unsustainable, then he would likely be the best candidate, as sad as that is.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:39 | 6547610 pods
pods's picture

The problem is that our money supply is dependent on exponential expansion, by design.

All else is superfluous.

pods

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:28 | 6547916 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

Yes, and we all know how perpetual motions machines always end, badly.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:34 | 6547949 booboo
booboo's picture

"The problem is that our money supply is dependent on exponential expansion, by design

This^^^^
Once you drill that in your head you no longer wonder why a broke ass government insist on digging a deeper hole and why it can't end peacefully.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:56 | 6548059 Sweet Chicken
Sweet Chicken's picture

"The problem is that our money supply is dependent on exponential expansion, by design."

 

Perfectly succinct. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:10 | 6548376 Cloud9.5
Cloud9.5's picture

The problem lies in the fact that we have reached the end of growth.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 20:08 | 6548695 Fukushima Fricassee
Fukushima Fricassee's picture

Sanders is a communist, COMMUNISUM is murder, COMMUNIST are brutal dictators Sandars is more idiological than even this fucker Obama. How many types of stupid are you?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:44 | 6547632 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

Feelings...nothing more than feelings...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzBJmoVSIYE

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:48 | 6547651 DIgnified
DIgnified's picture

The "your god is a magic sky fairy" crowd is desperately, visibly hunting for their own messiah. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:14 | 6547835 BandGap
BandGap's picture

It got personal, the responses got canned. I stopped giving a shit in 2007. Lost some people I thought were friends back then.

It isn't just politics, it's everything. And this is the design. At this very moment I contemplate how to tell Team Family that we are gearing up for the big time eruption. Literally, I am making a list of the final things we may need to make it through the winter -it started with 390 rounds of various rifle and shotgun ammo ordered over the weekend. Started planning the garden layout and chicken headcount, too.

The time for anger, debate, looking for better times/leaders was over a few years back. Time should be used 100% in the preparartion of whatever the fuck is heading down the road.

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:34 | 6547952 TuPhat
TuPhat's picture

You must live in Montana or North Dakota if you only need 390 rounds.  I've got at least 390 pounds of beans and rice.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:37 | 6548240 mygameon
mygameon's picture

Band gap, do yourself a favor a google hugelkultur . Best way to build and sustain a natural, heirloom, survival garden. Maximum bang for the buck. No water, no fertilizer, no tiller needed. Me and the misses grew 36 tomato plants from last years crop in an area of 10x15. Yielding over 15 pounds a day for the last three plus weeks. Still no end in site. We also grow lettuce, cabbage (lots of kraut this year), turtle beans, green beans, sweet potatoes, peppers, and......you get the picture. Still have green beans coming out our arse. Southen Iowa location.

Btw, you'll need at least two zeros beyond your ammo purchase and close neighbors. Half of our crop goes to our communal future survival group of neighbors. Break bread together before you have to trust someone in the future with you and your family's life.

Peace.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:07 | 6548117 Solomonpal
Solomonpal's picture

I wonder when was the last time Hillary did a load of laundry.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:27 | 6548199 BigJim
BigJim's picture

 They don't like the aloofness of Hitlery seen as being out of touch with the common man. So it seems how one " feels" about the candidate is the deciding factor.

What? Are they supposed to THINK stuff about the candidates as well???

Jheez, Miffed, I work hard all day, and at the end of it, all I want is a beer on the sofa with my landwhale wife and three ritalinridden children. This is America, Land of the Free, no one said nuthin bout thinkin.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:53 | 6548513 arrowrod
arrowrod's picture

Landwhale...

The winner of the day.  And, I'm stealing your material.

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 02:13 | 6549527 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

So, you just now come to the conclusion that Decepticrats don't think with their brainz?  Sorry Decepticratic snowflakes but all of life's important lessons did NOT just occur in Kindergarten!

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 07:48 | 6549818 de3de8
de3de8's picture

Aloofness, that's what you call it? Way too kind.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:39 | 6547608 ZippyDooDah
ZippyDooDah's picture

That "sainted pompadour in search of a brain" jibe must have really hurt!

 

It's funny to read responses to Kunstler on ZH: some appear to think he's only attacking

Republicans.  Maybe they missed the "pox on both their houses" attitude.  Anyway, he

still writes better than almost any other observer today.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:57 | 6548074 11b40
11b40's picture

There are plenty here who simply respond to the dog whistle and come running anytime someone says anything negative about "their" side, or positive about "the other side".  Thankfully, more are coming to relaize that both sides are to blame, both sides are bought & paid for, and neither side has a clue what to do to fix anything....except to vote as their sponsors tell them to.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:28 | 6548440 Talleyrand
Talleyrand's picture

I've enjoyed JHK's stuff for some time...off and on. "The Eyesore of the Month" section of his site is sometimes a hoot.

 

That said, he seems to be over excited about all this political circus election crap. I think he's losing it.

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:00 | 6547737 Syrin
Syrin's picture

Schadenfreude

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:05 | 6547408 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

That bold, underscored passage is a keeper!

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:07 | 6547420 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

Jeb Bush was on TV this morning flashing Reagan Wear.  LOL

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:10 | 6547434 RopeADope
RopeADope's picture

To which Barbara Bush commented "I think America is tired of being flashed by Bushes."

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:33 | 6547570 Zero-Hegemon
Zero-Hegemon's picture

Jeb? He's got Peewee's bike locked up in his garage

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:19 | 6548406 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

... the country needs another bush as much as it needs a third term with the illegal indonesian kenyan alien muslim pathologic lying fudgepacker....

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:08 | 6547428 RickM
RickM's picture

Why don't you write about the obvious!!!!

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:08 | 6548119 11b40
11b40's picture

Excellent link.  Jim Webb really clarifies this in a way I had never really perceived, even though I am a product of these forces.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:11 | 6547440 Mr. Bones
Mr. Bones's picture

Only one, and it took this long?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:12 | 6547446 Nutflush60
Nutflush60's picture

Typlical left-wing asshole, angry that white people went to the suburbs to escape the urban cesspoll. Fuck you and you misearble kind Kunstler

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:16 | 6547461 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

You can’t make this up. 

Unattended consequences. 

Detroit is currently in the midst of a “Diaper Drive”.  Seems those free-eats school meal programs offer to the public at large have been so successful people use up their children’s diaper allotments before they get their next welfare check. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:22 | 6547497 pods
pods's picture

They should send one of those mobile "spay and neuter" trucks into Detroilet instead.

I heard about this diaper drive this morning. Everyone was fawning how great a deed this teen did.

My idea, if voluntary, would work much better long term.

pods

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:29 | 6547537 ToSoft4Truth
ToSoft4Truth's picture

They can't afford water down there either.

Somebody needs to teach Detroiters how to bury their duty…. Then fumigate them on the buses.

Cambridge Company Says Live Bacteria Spray Will Keep You Clean

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/09/04/cambridge-company-says-live-bacter...

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:07 | 6547782 One of We
One of We's picture

Could just skip spay/neuter and go straight to organ harvest?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:19 | 6547861 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

That's a workable proposal, however I prefer A Modest Proposal.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:39 | 6547611 Boozer
Boozer's picture

This pastor sums up the Detroit situation nicely.

Added a new word to my vocabulary as well.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-a-HpjBwyE

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:18 | 6547450 City_Of_Champyinz
City_Of_Champyinz's picture

I would wonder who this idiot who is so clearly full of himself would put up as the Dem version of Reagan? Would that be Carter?  The sex pervert rapist Billy Clinton?  Obama who raised more money from Wall Street than any candidate in history while doling out massive tax payer subsidies to his corrupt cronies and campaign bundlers?

Malaise forever bitches!

https://vimeo.com/72381720

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:41 | 6547616 Crisismode
Crisismode's picture

 

 

Under 8 years of Reagan as POTUS, the national debt grew more than under all the previous POTUS' combined.

How's that for a supposed *fiscal conservative*?

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:11 | 6547812 venturen
venturen's picture

SO DID INCOMES FOR ALL! Remember Reagan also had a Democrat Congress...spending as they will. Any credit for bring down communism...and the reverberating economic boom under Clinton?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:29 | 6548206 11b40
11b40's picture

Correct me if I am wrong, but Reagan signed every one of the spending bills.  Every one.  And, don't forget how heavily weighted those budgets were toward the military.  The Soviet Union was a basket case about to collapse under their own weight anyway.  Like a cigarette with a long dangling ash, it just needed a little bump to fall.

He also gave us the Savings & Loan disaster, which was just a warm up for 2008. His bankster buds learned a lot after so many went to jail  They made sure that didn't happen again.  Even McStain almost went up the river, along with Gorge Bush's little boy Neil.

It was under Reagan/Bush that the incomes of the top quintile started to run away from the others, and the top 1% began to sky rocket.

http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Household-Income-Distr...

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:16 | 6547842 City_Of_Champyinz
City_Of_Champyinz's picture

You forget about the simple fact that Reagan defeated the most evil empire in history, responsible for killing tens of millions of its own citizens and millions of other people while not having to fire a shot and averting nuclear armageddon at the same time.

That and the simple fact that no President in the modern era achieved more spending cuts:

Ronald Reagan sought–and won–more spending cuts than any other modern president. He is the only president in the last forty years to cut inflation-adjusted nondefense outlays, which fell by 9.7 percent during his first term. Sadly, during his second term, President Reagan did not manage to cut nondefense discretionary spending, and it grew by 0.2 percent. But his record is still quite remarkable if compared to other administrations. Every other president since Lyndon Johnson serving a full four-year term did not even do as well as Reagan in his less-impressive second term.

 

Some facts to ponder...

  • President Reagan cut the budget of eight agencies out of fifteen during his first term, and ten out of fifteen during his second term.
  • President Clinton cut the budget of nine out of fifteen agencies during his first term but cut none during his second term.
  • President George W. Bush has cut none of the agencies’ budgets during his first term.
  • resident Reagan is the only president to have cut the budget of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in one of his terms (a total of 40.1 percent during his second term).
  • President Reagan is the only president to have cut the budget of the Department of Transportation. He cut it by 10.5 percent during his first term and by 7.5 percent during his second term.
  • During his first term in office, President Reagan cut the real budget of the Department of Education by 18.6 percent, while President Nixon increased it (that is the education part of what was then the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare) by 19.1 percent. That budget increased by 22.2 percent under Bush 41 and by 38.5 percent under Carter. Our current president has increased it by a whooping 67.6 percent.
  • Reagan managed to cut the budget of the Department of Commerce by 29 percent in constant dollars during his first term and by 3 percent during his second one. President Clinton by contrast increased the department’s budget by 24 percent in his first term and then by 96.7 percent in his second term.
  • President Reagan cut the real budget of the Department of Agriculture by 24 percent during his second term in office.

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:17 | 6547851 MortimerDuke
MortimerDuke's picture

Hilarious.  How old were you when Regan was POTUS?  Three?  Do you even know what the nature of the spending debate was centered around back then?  I'm sure you can catch up on Wiki.  Good luck.

google search hint: Tip O'Neill.

further google search hint: Cold War Winners; Cold War Losers.

You may also want to get "read in" on how the US government passes spending bills.  

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:50 | 6548040 City_Of_Champyinz
City_Of_Champyinz's picture

Nice comeback, all I was attempting to do was present some simple facts regarding domestic spending on non-defense areas of the budget.

Any of those facts not true? Did the budgets cited go up or down?

All spending bills originate in the house, I am well aware of that simple fact, and I am aware of who Tip O'Neil was and the role he played in the house. 

Again I ask, are any of the facts i presented incorrect?  Maybe you can be more of a pretentious, condescending piece of shit than you are being now when you respond, if that is even possible.

I would say the best part of Reagan was when the Iranians, whose cocks Obama has been sucking along with Valerie, immediately caved and released the hostages when he was elected.  Something Carter was embarrassed about for over a year while he looked like the pathetic 'leader' he was...

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:40 | 6548248 steelhead23
steelhead23's picture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Surprise_conspiracy_theory

Of course, this may all be bunk - but the cast of characters is as shady as they come.  After all, Robert McFarlane did sell Hawk II missiles to the Ayatollah.  Reagan may have been a forgetful old man by the time this came to light, but we should not forget his ethical lapses. 

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 12:32 | 6548279 11b40
11b40's picture

Oh, horseshit.

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

http://useconomy.about.com/od/people/fl/Deficit-by-President.htm

You can spin this any way you want, but here are the numbers.  As for Iran and the hostages...George Bush went to Iran and cut a secret deal with the Iranians to hold the hostages until after the election.  Remember, Bush was Director of the CIA.  Then, let's not forget that Reagan illegally sold weapons to the same Iranian hostage takers...read up on the Tower Commission report.

http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/feb-26-1987-arms-traded-hostages-94...

Budget Deficits by Fiscal Year 

President Bill Clinton: Total = $63 billion surplus.

  • FY 2001 - $128 billion surplus.
  • FY 2000 - $236 billion surplus.
  • FY 1999 - $126 billion surplus.
  • FY 1998 - $69 billion surplus.
  • FY 1997 - $22 billion.
  • FY 1996 - $107 billion.
  • FY 1995 - $164 billion.
  • FY 1994 - $203 billion.

President George H.W. Bush: Total = $1.03 trillion.

  • FY 1993 - $255 billion.
  • FY 1992 - $290 billion.
  • FY 1991 - $269 billion.
  • FY 1990 - $221 billion.

President Ronald Reagan: Total = $1.412 trillion.

  • FY 1989 - $153 billion.
  • FY 1988 - $155 billion.
  • FY 1987 - $150 billion.
  • FY 1986 - $221 billion.
  • FY 1985 - $212 billion.
  • FY 1984 - $185 billion.
  • FY 1983 - $208 billion.
  • FY 1982 - $128 billion.

President Jimmy Carter: Total = $253 billion

  • FY 1981 - $79 billion.
  • FY 1980 - $74 billion.
  • FY 1979 - $41 billion.
  • FY 1978 - $59 billion.

President Gerald Ford: Total = $181 billion.

  • FY 1977 - $54 billion.
  • FY 1976 - $74 billion.
  • FY 1975 - $53 billion.

President Richard Nixon: Total = $70 billion.

  • FY 1974 - $6 billion.
  • FY 1973 - $15 billion.
  • FY 1972 - $23 billion.
  • FY 1971 - $23 billion.
  • FY 1970 - $3 billion.
Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:09 | 6548125 darteaus
darteaus's picture

News Flash: All spending bills originate in the House of Representatives.  The President can sign or not.  Not signing 'shuts down' the government.

Was Reagan ever presented with a balanced budget? NO, as the Democrats ran the HOR throughout his term:

1981 - 1983 - HOR run by the Democrats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/97th_United_States_Congress

1983 - 1985 - HOR run by the Democrats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/98th_United_States_Congress

1985 - 1987 - HOR run by the Democrats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99th_United_States_Congress

1987 - 1989 - HOR run by the Democrats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100th_United_States_Congress

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:49 | 6548288 11b40
11b40's picture

But, strong leader????  Why didn't he shove it back down their throat?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:24 | 6548422 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

Q:  How many republicants does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  Nobody knows because no one has seen one since Reagan died....

 

"Government isn't the solution to our problem.  Goverment is the problem."  Ronald Reagan

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:20 | 6547454 PivotalTrades
PivotalTrades's picture

You know things have gotten out of hand when the clueless originators and supprters of the nanny state  finnaly see the consequences of their misguded idea's. thanks alot moron!

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:16 | 6547464 rita
rita's picture

Give change a chance this continuation of the same old Democrats and Republicans have destroyed the US in and out, now refuse  and will fight to give up that power, no matter what.

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:17 | 6547472 Publicus_Reanimated
Publicus_Reanimated's picture

Dear Howard --

In our home when I was a child, the expression "lying politician" was redundant.  I am so sorry for you that you have learned that lesson late in life.

There is hope for you.  Abandon your party affiliation, which has put you in this cognitively dissonant state.  Figure out what your values really are, then decide on a set of policies that are designed to deliver change in accordance with your values.  Then do what you can within our political system to encourage our government to follow those policies.

No political party represents you, and no politician will advocate for you.

Sincerely,

Publicus_Reanimated

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:18 | 6547473 chrsn
chrsn's picture

Heads you lose, tails they win

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:20 | 6547485 venturen
venturen's picture

only worthwhile sentence "you can’t paint a dark enough picture to fully capture the decadence and depravity in the current zeitgeist"

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:21 | 6547487 Ajax_USB_Port_R...
Ajax_USB_Port_Repair_Service_'s picture

"Well, the two major parties of our time are now perfectly poised to enter the Temple Grandin cattle chute of death."

Best line in the piece.


Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:37 | 6547596 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Hopefully Knustler will be at the head of that line.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:27 | 6547491 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

I'm still chuckling...
Buh, buh, Bernie & The Inepts.
Hillary Rodan Reptilian

We should only be so lucky if the Dems and the Repugs should die.
The new political party to take the void should be the Hedgers, Stackers, PetRocks, BarbarousRelics, Bitchez or Durdens.
Our candidate could be Deez Nuts.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:22 | 6547501 Dick Gazinia
Dick Gazinia's picture

I am not real convinced that an election will occur next year either.  Civil war, plague, pick your scenario.  All brought to you by a lunatic, purple-lipped, ass ranger who can not have his legacy tarnished.  He could motion to appoint himself Ceasar and that fucking Boehner and McCain would second the motion.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6547553 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Whoever wins will need to drop money from helicopters.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:56 | 6547716 Jethro
Jethro's picture

I'm kind of OK civil war or plague at this point.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:24 | 6547509 TrumpXVI
TrumpXVI's picture

I used to vote FOR personalities/candidates.

Then I stopped voting for personalities and started voting FOR a political party.

Then I stopped voting FOR a political party and started voting AGAINST a political party.

Then I just stopped voting.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:37 | 6547597 pods
pods's picture

And yet your handle still screams politics?

All this happen in three years?

pods

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:26 | 6547512 atlasRocked
atlasRocked's picture

Here we go, the corporations bought the poor poor democrat leaders.    This is a KNOWN, proven lie.  

For instance:

 Remember how I've been telling you the gov't is the largest briber of all - far out-bribing any campaign donors?

I can't wait to see the liberals ENRAGED about a $175 BILLION **UNAPPROPRIATED** SPENDING BRIBE to big insurance - to go along with the fraud called Obamacare. Remember, campaign donations in the last election were under $2.4 Billion. This is 72X larger than all the 2012 campaign donations.  

"Specifically, $175 billion paid to insurance companies that was not appropriated by Congress. Indeed, the administration requested that appropriation but the requested appropriation was not made."

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230653

Government is the largest briber on the planet, giving away $2 trillion of unbacked credit their friends every year, almost 1000X larger than campaign contributions, thus 1000X more damaging.  

The gov't has bought the people far more than the big donors have bought the politicians.  1000X more.

http://www.teapartytribune.com/2015/05/15/liberal-boogie-man-campaign-co...

4 Grand Lies of Obamacare

1.  The title is a lie: There is no affordability mandate or fix in it.

2.  Mandating insurance means it's not insurance anymore, it's welfare. 

3.  We already had mandatory medical care for all citizens for 30 years: EMTALA.

4.  Insurance is a voluntary, periodically paid, fee, paid in return for being repaid for

catastrophically expensive events.    Paying for EVERYTHING is a maintenance fee.

5.  It violates the Clayton Act which outlawed cartel pricing, America's greatest consumer anti-price fixing law.

Donors don't bribe the politicians into corruption - the money printing politicians corrupt the people, and the people silently go along with their corrupt plans.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:55 | 6548064 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Wait till folks start dropping like flies from EMF & the rapid fire buildout of the wireless infrastructure umbrella of death.

5G will be a financialpaloosa windfall for the MedIC.

Few Drs. here have even heard of EHS much less know how to treat it.

Further obfuscated with multiple coding on incorrect diag.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:34 | 6547513 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Hey cuntstler. You keep preaching the end is near, so why are we supposed to take anything you have to say seriously? You're no different than Reagon. Welcome to the real world of U.S politics where there is no opposition party. Glad you're finally getting a clue.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:28 | 6547530 mantrid
mantrid's picture

the doesn't talk like a typical "registered Democrat"

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:32 | 6547564 atlasRocked
atlasRocked's picture

Yes he does.   The democrat either says "the other party sucks" or "both parties suck".   they never say "my party lies more than all the others," even though they know it's true.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:28 | 6547532 mantrid
mantrid's picture

double post. please remove.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6547549 Questan1913
Questan1913's picture

The next logical step in the evolution of governance in this country is dictatorship.  We have soft dictatorship now.  Outright dictatorship, unless Americans wake up, and act, is not far around the next corner, and we have one presidential candidate who perfectly fits that role and is loved even more than Barry was several cycles ago.  To you individuals who still vote, dying breed that you are, I would float this reminder:  All three of the last presidents ran on approximately ten talking points that they cycled through depending on the makeup of the audience they were addressing.  If one examines what they said and compares it to their actions as president, every one of them did the exact opposite.  

The eloctorate is as corrupt as those running this country into the ground.  Ignorance is not an excuse.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:04 | 6547757 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

Oh how cute.  You thinking that voting matters. 

Voting doesn't matter.  Counting matters.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:01 | 6548097 COL Jackson
COL Jackson's picture

Uncle Joe is that you?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:30 | 6547550 aelfheld
aelfheld's picture

Could Kunstler have written a more self-serving diatribe? 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:05 | 6547761 TheReplacement
TheReplacement's picture

No but he is improving each time so wait a month and it might get there.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6547554 2handband
2handband's picture

Kunstler is the worst kind of idiot. Lots of people follow him because he gets peak oil and it's implications, but that's more than canceled out by his ridiculous canonization of 19th century America, his naked contempt for the lower classes, his support for the terrorist state of Israel, and his unending belief in political solutions. Why does ZH reprint anything this asshole says?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:34 | 6547576 Questan1913
Questan1913's picture

Because it always makes interesting reading.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:27 | 6547914 PrintemDano
PrintemDano's picture

We only have 5 years to change our climate before the world will end and we'll all drown. Been hearing that for 30 years.  That lie is no different than the peak oil lie.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:31 | 6547559 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

The moron author still thinks there are two political parties??

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:39 | 6547609 atlasRocked
atlasRocked's picture

You making up lies now NWJ, the book clearly cites the role of each party in our decay.  Your comment indicates you'd like the book a LOT if you're honest.  If you are a closet democrat - you'll hate it. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:32 | 6547562 jakesdad
jakesdad's picture

I could never call myself a democrat (for all the reason's you've listed & more) but have long self-identified as a "recovering republican".  agree 400% re: the identity (really victim) politics thing - while I am sympathetic to the plights of various groups the asendency to supremecy of it means we aren't EVEN rearranging the deck chairs but merely lamenting the demographics of the crew versus passengers...

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:34 | 6547578 Freddie
Freddie's picture

F You Kunstler.   Typical liberal filled with regret after Obama's Reign of Terror for the past 7 years.

This jerk off should be at the head of the line when the guillotines roll.

He is filled with regret just like the Vichy French were after Paris was liberated.

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:46 | 6547642 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

Paris was liberated?  Did anyone inform the French?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:54 | 6547695 Jethro
Jethro's picture

He meant from the Nazis....not the muslims.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6547582 lordbyroniv
lordbyroniv's picture

This Shemitah stuff was overhyped me thinks.

 

Sigh

 

Was hoping today was THE END.

 

Maybe tomorrow

 

SIGH

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:36 | 6547591 Zero-Hegemon
Zero-Hegemon's picture

Seems to me the author WANTS to vote for someone... because "change", right?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6547600 Zero-Hegemon
Zero-Hegemon's picture

Kunstler, FYI: voting only encourages them. Don't be part of the problem. Stop encouraging them.

You're welcome.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6547602 Jim Shoesesta
Jim Shoesesta's picture

I like the way libs credit Clinton for welfare reform. He signed it, but had nothing to do with crafting it.  That was the shitty wave running the house and the senate the at time under Gingrich.  He signed it reluctantly.  He really could care less, he was too busy stashing his cigars in any available hole. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:43 | 6547629 atlasRocked
atlasRocked's picture

They just moved all the welfare spending to medical spending.   It was typical socialist deal - "lets change one form of rip-off into another form of rip off, and we'll tell everyone the prior was solved and latter is being made better."

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:38 | 6547606 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Nobody commenting here seemed to notice the little jab at the end about the 2016 selection might even be cancelled.

I've been wondering the same thing for a year. It might be the imposition of martial law, or it might be a civil crisis/war that "requires" O to take "extraordinary steps to preserve the Union".

Start paying attention, people. The field of candidates are either antiques, ass clowns or psychopaths, or some combination of these. Someone with MIC contacts, deep pockets and a private army might make a move and very suddenly this shit might just get mufuck'n real 4 reelz.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:27 | 6547915 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

President Ass Clown would at least be funny.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:58 | 6548079 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Dude -- clowns are scary af

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:02 | 6548103 COL Jackson
COL Jackson's picture

"Someone with MIC contacts, deep pockets and a private army might make a move and very suddenly this shit might just get mufuck'n real 4 reelz",  could you narrow our choices a little bit this is too inclusive.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:12 | 6548381 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

I've been saying for a long time that some kind of crisis in the next year may occur and Obie will have to stay on to guide us thru it. I have noticed a few articles about could Obama serve a third term. These are not just some bloviating but sounding out the sheeple.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 18:36 | 6548459 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

...hell, the fudgepacker circumvented the requirement that the U.S. President be born in the U.S. so of course the illegal indonesian alien muslim pathological liar would circumvent the rest of the Constitution being the constitutional scholar it is....   hardeharharhar.....   to the moon, Alice, to the moon...  bang.... zooom......

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:40 | 6547613 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

Did he mention Obie giving Reggie a good rogering on the links?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:41 | 6547617 atlasRocked
atlasRocked's picture

The failure and lies of the left were predictable and normal socialist behavior.   He is acting suprised now as if leftists ever had any history of monetary manipulation success.  

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:41 | 6547620 MATA HAIRY
MATA HAIRY's picture

good to see a Democrat reject PC/multiculturalism/race baiting etc

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:45 | 6547636 Jethro
Jethro's picture

Ha. He's just seizing the opportunity to be dramatic. Make no mistake, he wants still desperately wants to suckle the government tit.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:43 | 6547628 Dr. Bonzo
Dr. Bonzo's picture

Oh Kunstler, you drama queen. Political "storm." Get over yourself. New demicans flow into the country every day by the tens of thousands. The machinery of government insanity will continue until it collapses under its own weight. That's how it's going to end. Voting is a circus sideshow.

 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:48 | 6547653 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

Give this guy some information on the Fed.  Then maybe he will understand.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:48 | 6547656 ZIRPY
ZIRPY's picture

I sometimes agree with Kunstler and sometimes disagree with him. But this post was dead on. If Kunstler were the typical American Liberal we wouldn;t have 1/2 the problems we have now. Unfortunately he's a relic in today's Democratic party and as he notes the poltical landscape has no party for him.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:53 | 6547690 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

 

 

What Mr. Kunstler basically suggests is that aside from Glass Steagall, the Clinton era was actually quite wonderful...

And that's fine, but he tips his hand when showing his affinity for abject immorality on nearly every level during the Clinton reign, as opposed to Reagan, who, despite his administration's own foibles, was a Decent Human Being.   Contrast that with a pair of perhaps the most criminally-minded dirtbags to have ever held office, let alone supervisor of the Out House...

Sorry, but this is typical 'Gentile-phobia' from a Kike-owitz who wouldn't be able to discern true moral character from anything $$$related, if his life depended on it... 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:58 | 6548085 darteaus
darteaus's picture

now we have a Communist bent on the destruction of America and an impotent GOP who won't impeach him because they don't want to be called raycyst.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 15:58 | 6547724 Restcase
Restcase's picture

The cult of Reagan has baffled me since his election. He was a huge disappointment. For those who remember Gowater, Reagan was weak beer indeed.

And he never invited G to the WH.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:09 | 6547772 Shadow1275
Shadow1275's picture

You see the problem with guys like this is he's halfway there. He understands that politicians lie both democrats and republicans. He understands that government is corrupt with the most blatant example being citizens united. So why support more government control at all? The constitution is the ultimate expression of where government power should lie because it acknowledges the universal truth that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Yes we need a government for self-defense and rule by law but that is essentially it. Almost every government institution has been used in a corrupt way in some shape or form. Social Security? Money is drawn out and replaced with IOU notes, not to mention that the replenishment rate is simply not fast enough to support the system. The IRS? Caught for targeting institutions based on their political beliefs. The Patriot Act? Used to violate civil rights.

 

We demonize private industry in this country when the problem is that government allows bankers and mega corporations to hold the majority of power. Hell even that moron Ben Bernake admitted that the Federal Reserve (technically a private bank but their chairman is selected by the president) caused the Great Depression. 

 

Why does everyone keep voting for these morons both Democrat and Republican? Even Republicans are more socialist these days with programs like Medicare. "B-b-b-but Sanders said that the one puhsent ain't hiring anybody because they keeps the munney for themselves." No because of government regulation forcing businesses overseas combined with price penetration from governments with less regulation which sends low skill manufacturing jobs overseas. The only high paying jobs left are high skill areas which require excellent EDUCATION. Not a public education system that currently ranks 14th in the world. Equality is a lie. I cannot beat Michael Jordan in a one on one basketball game right out of the blue, and even if I played for 20 years I'd get smoked. Competition will never disappear in the world. The more skilled you are the more useful you are to society and therefore more valuable. The only way to become valuable is to improve yourself, and no government can ever force a man or woman to improve themselves. Only the need to survive and achieve one's goals can do that.

 

It's such a simple concept. If you think government allows the "one puhhsent" to control everything than why vote for more government in the first place. If corrupt government is the problem than why vote for more government? That's not some difficult theorem or calculated argument, it's just plain old common sense. No wonder these idiots vote for Socialism, half of me wants Sanders to get in just so these idiots can get a reality check but the other half knows that they'll just eat it up. "Oh no, socialism did not exist in Russia. That was Communism, they are very different ideas. Well besides government control of privatised industries like Healthcare. And Democratic Socialisms ok, Europe has been democratic socialist for years and look at how prosperous they are. Well besides the rising National Debt, decreasing replenishment rate of loyal citizens, terrorist attacks, centralization of powers, citizen debt, growing income inequality, and flabbitty floopy fap.

 

Gentlemen, humanity has failed thanks to it's naivety and failure to learn from history. The Roman Empire fell due to several reasons. Bipartisan politics and civil wars among its leaders, the centralization of government and powers, rapid inflation, social policies, and immigration without a filter. Today Europe and the U.S. are facing many of the same problems and reacting accordingly.

 

 

Time to push the big red button gentlemen. Bunker down, it's back to the Dark ages with religous wars against Islam supporters (Who by the way had a nasty habit of castrating male slaves and prositutiing females), medicine and science shunned, and tyrannical rulers who tread all over freedom.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:17 | 6547850 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

Why does everyone keep voting for these morons both Democrat and Republican?

What other choice is there?

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:25 | 6547888 Shadow1275
Shadow1275's picture

What kind of free choice is a decision with 2 options but one outcome? The entire point of Democracy is to vote for politicians that you believe will carry out your interests. When you buy into the idea of a two party system than you eliminate choice by creating an ologopoly on power. Eventually it will be abused. You don't have to vote Democrat or Republican at all, hell you can even write in names. But to vote or even refuse to vote is the same as killing democracy itself. When the Silent majority sits back and does nothing the politicians pander to radicals who are the ones who will get them elected. Then they will give incentives for election using their power. Incentives like corporate tax cuts, welfare, food stamps, unemployment, pensions, higher public sector wages, and minimum wage increases. All at the expense of the middle class who always shoulders the burden, and as more of the silent majority joins the poor class they turn into radicals.

 

Apathy is Death

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:50 | 6548036 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

Seems like voting and democracy was always a scam from the start.  If you can't not do something, such as is the situation with being forced by a system to participate whether you like it or not, then the whole thing is a sham.  It doesn't matter if you vote or not; the votes will always be there at the whim of those who truly own the country.

You have no choice.  You never had any choices.  It's always been a lie to cover up the true system of control- oligarchy.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:13 | 6547822 astoriajoe
astoriajoe's picture

"Ronnie stated more than once his belief that Biblical “end times” were close at hand"

I'm not sure about you Howard, but I'm pretty concerned about it right about now. 

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:15 | 6547837 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

When the age of blowhards like Kunstler has passed, we'll be making progress.  Yap yap yap.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:20 | 6547865 Mike Honcho
Mike Honcho's picture

You are/were a Democrat because you hated Repubs.  Such intellectual depth.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:28 | 6547918 Mini-Me
Mini-Me's picture

Anyone describing Hillary Clinton as "magnetic" is smoking some really good shit.  Magnetic, James?  What a putz.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:33 | 6547939 Smiddywesson
Smiddywesson's picture

At my age, if I have to look up more than one word in an article, which I have done since I learned how to read, I always return to the beginning to see if the author is a narcissistic wind bag.  Sure enough, this guy is a hoot.  Yeah sure, whatever you say Howie, you're the brightest guy in the room, and yet you are just discovering all this?

 

I really don't need some schmuck who voted for Clinton, and probably Obama, preaching to me about what he thinks.  He has no standing.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:38 | 6547970 MathWins
MathWins's picture

Both parties suck.  I'm about ready to give up voting at the national level, as all that matters is what the leadership of each party thinks.  Our representatives haven't represented us for a long time.  The corruption gets worse every year.  We need a cleansing......

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 16:56 | 6548068 darteaus
darteaus's picture

"Welcome to the party pal"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OpIbiFmY60

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:12 | 6548140 Vlad the Inhaler
Vlad the Inhaler's picture

"In order to win this struggle we are going to need nothing less than a political revolution, and let me tell you what I mean by ‘a political revolution.’ When, as was the case in this last election in November, when 63 percent of the American people chose not to vote, when 80 percent of young people, when 75 percent of low-income workers, chose not to vote, what we need to do is create a momentum so that 70, 80, 90 percent of the people vote. And when that happens, we win hands down." -Bernie

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:29 | 6548205 KingTut
KingTut's picture

As a seriously disaffected Dem, I am sick of the sanctimonious, arrogant spew that passes for intelligent analysis among modern Liberals. They are bunch of hateful, snobish morons, and Kunstler's "raging" is right in there.  Democrats pretend to be the intellectual party who bring rationality and the benefits of higher education to "enlightened and compassionate" policies.  I am so disillusioned because liberals are in reality totally F*ing ignorant.

First, they are completely innumerate.  I am sick of the "I don't do math" poseurs, looking down their noses as though mathematics were some kind of vulgar sub-intellectual pursuit for bottom-dwelling nerds.  As a physicist, I am a good position understand the role mathematics and logic have played in lifting humainty out of the neanderthal mud.  It is largely this innumeracy that has allowed Keyensianism to inflect both parites.

Second, their motivations are almost exclusively emotional, moral or ill-considered philosphical claptrap they picked up at cocktail parties.  They bear no more relation to reality than Grimm's  fariy tales.  We all feel sorry for the poor, disabled, ill and otherwise disaffected.   But while, liberaism prides itself on instituting policies that solve all these "problems", if you ask who the F* is going to pay for it, they look at you like "How could you be so stupid and callous"? It never occurs to them that not adding up the bill (because they don't do math), will lead to total catastrophe, where none of those people will ever be cared for.  Instead, they trot out some Keynesian nonsense like "debt doesn't matter" blah blah.

Third, to be acepted at thier cocktail parties it is manditory to opine that free markets, capitalsim and profits are inherently evil.  That we will never have a viable society as long as those things suck the society dry.  Instead, socialism is the only way humanity will ever make progress.  Key to that is that the government is better at anything a private enterprise might do.  The proverbial "They Should Do Something About That".  God forbid that a liberal actually take responsibility, just let the goverment do it.  All this leads to more and more policy, more and more laws and regulations designed protect us from greedy business men and terrorists.  Talk about sucking us dry.

For me both parites are bankrupt: the same cake just with red or blue food coloring in the frosting.  It is crucial to remember that the Nazis and Italian Fascists were all Socialists.  They thought communism and soviet totalitarianism were too extreme.  Better to form a partnership with government and the "private sector".  But they didn't imagine a partnership with capitalism but rather with oligarchs or crony captialists, where the winners are always the same and everyone else is a loser. 

As for Reagan, US presidents, from Carter to Obama, when asked who they think the most influential president of our time was, have all said it was Ronald Reagan.  That is because he was the only recent president able to single handedly change course of political history.  The modern liberal juggernaut launched in the 30's that became the core of both party platforms in 50's, 60's and 70s should have been unassailable. But the "pompadour looking for a brain" toppled it and launched a conservative shift that hasn't stopped since.  In many repsects Ronald Reagan's failures were due to his inability to stick to the script, and he got bamboozed into replacing his lower taxes with more debt instead of reducing government spending. Stockman's "The Great Deformation", has some great insights into Reagan.

While I agree with some Kunstler's thoughts, his bubonic sarcasm is really just hateful and vitriolic spew.

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 00:25 | 6549396 One of We
One of We's picture

Ronald Reagan is a hero and might have thrown the fed in the shitter where it belongs if it wasn't for the Bush mafia.....long live Leo!

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 17:33 | 6548221 o r c k
o r c k's picture

The "Shemita Stretch" begins at midnight tonight.

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 20:44 | 6548785 mendolover
mendolover's picture

Thanks for voting democrat Howie.

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