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5 Signs Of America's Decaying Society
Submitted by Paul Buchheit via CommonDreams.org,
While Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou are vilified for revealing vital information about spying and bombing and torture, a man who conspired with Goldman Sachs to make billions of dollars on the planned failure of subprime mortgages was honored by New York University for his "Outstanding Contributions to Society."
This is one example of the distorted thinking leading to the demise of a once-vibrant American society. There are other signs of decay:
1. A House Bill Would View Corporate Crimes as 'Honest Mistakes'
Wealthy conservatives are pushing a bill that would excuse corporate leaders from financial fraud, environmental pollution, and other crimes that America's greatest criminals deem simply reckless or negligent. The Heritage Foundation attempts to rationalize, saying "someone who simply has an accident by being slightly careless can hardly be said to have acted with a 'guilty mind.'"
One must wonder, then, what extremes of evil, in the minds of conservatives, led to criminal charges against people apparently aware of their actions: the Ohio woman who took coins from a fountain to buy food; the California man who broke into a church kitchen to find something to eat; and the 90-year-old Florida activist who boldly tried to feed the homeless.
Of course, even without the explicit protection of Congress, CEOs are rarely charged for their crimes. Not a single Wall Street executive faced prosecution for the fraud-ridden 2008 financial crisis.
2. Unpaid Taxes of 500 Companies Could Pay for a Job for Every Unemployed American
For two years. At the nation's median salary of $36,000, for all 8 million unemployed.
Citizens for Tax Justice reports that Fortune 500 companies are holding over $2 trillion in profits offshore to avoid taxes that would amount to over $600 billion. Our society desperately needs infrastructure repair, but 8 million potential jobs are being held hostage beyond our borders.
3. Almost 2/3 of American Families Couldn't Afford a Single Pill of a Life-Saving Drug
62 percent of polled Americans said they couldn't cover a $500 repair bill. If any of these Americans need a hepatitis pill from Gilead Sciences, or an anti-infection pill from Martin Shkreli's company, they will have to do without.
An AARP study of 115 specialty drugs found that the average cost of a year's worth of prescriptions was over $50,000, three times more than the average Social Security benefit. Although it's true that most people don't pay the full retail cost of medicine, the portion paid by insurance companies is ultimately passed on to consumers through higher premiums.
Pharmaceutical companies pay competitors to keep generic drugs out of the market, and they have successfully lobbied Congress to keep Medicare from bargaining for lower drug prices. The companies claim they need the high prices to pay for better medicines. But for every $1 they spend on basic research, they invest $19 in promotion and marketing.
4. Violent Crime Down, Prison Population Doubles
FBI statistics confirm a dramatic decline in violent crimes since 1991, yet the number of prisoners has doubled over approximately the same period.
Meanwhile, white-collar prosecutions have been reduced by over a third, and, as noted above, corporate leaders are steadily working toward 100% tolerance for their crimes.
5. One in Four Americans Suffer Mental Illness, Mental Health Facilities Cut by 90%
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 25 percent of adults experience mental illness in a given year, with almost half of the homeless population so inflicted. Yet from 1970 to 2002, the per capita number of public mental health hospital beds plummeted from over 200 per 100,000 to 20 per 100,000, and after the recession state cutbacks continued.
That leaves prison as the only option for many desperate Americans.
There exists a common theme amidst these signs of societal decay: The super-rich keep taking from the middle class as the middle class becomes a massive lower class. Yet the myth persists that we should all look up with admiration at the "self-made" takers who are ripping our society apart.
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"There exists a common theme amidst these signs of societal decay: The super-rich keep taking from the middle class as the middle class becomes a massive lower class. Yet the myth persists that we should all look up with admiration at the "self-made" takers who are ripping our society apart."
Spiritual bankruptcy among the people generally, and among the ruling elite extensively.
buh some Bitcoin you ignorant sons o' birthers!
https://localbitcoins.com
"Violent Crime Down, Prison Population Doubles"
You seem to have a poor grasp of the concept of cause (more violent criminals in jail) and effect (violent crime down).
I'd be much more comfortable with that concept if we didn't have an existing private, for-profit, prison system.
"The super-rich keep taking from the middle class"
Bull shit. The GOVERNMENT keeps taking from the middle class to give to it's cronies and the FSA. And the Fed keeps taking from the middle class to give to the rich. The middle class can choose to give (buy products/services from) to the super rich or not. If you don't like t that a movie producer is "super rich" then DON'T see his movies. If I hate that Bill Gates is rich I can buy a PC running a free operating system -Linux - not giving Gates a penny.
Not.. that... hard...
Frick'n envious whiners.
Depends on how do you define "government", what it serves and who really controls it.
This country was founded by slavers bent on conquest and it hasn't changed. It's only gotten better at disguising it.
Y’know, I just heard something about Stop Orders being eliminated on exchanges.
That sounded curious but I do not care because I eliminated GO Orders a couple of years ago.
It sounds like we are getting close to the non-Caucasian swan.
It's funny how none of the societal and cultural changes rared their nasty heads until about 7 years ago... Gee, what event took place then that has caused the US to go batshit crazy?
This is the future for the US society:
http://goo.gl/3G3r6i
You can send your explosive thanks to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC
Keep your porn fetish to yourself, you microscopic little prick.
This is fight club, not wanker club...
Spoctor Din
Yep and we're supposed to walk around in some rosy coloured glasses...
Like I don't see no fascists,
Or segregated classes,
They rob me, call it taxes,
My intellectual property has been hacked,
It's not a joke but I fukin laugh,
It's not funny, it's fukin sad,
What can we do there's no going back,
We're in the noose and there ain't no slack,
No matter if you're white, yellow, brown or black,
Your either in the club, or out the back,
In alley fighting for scraps,
Or sing the blues like alley cats,
We're outta tune...butfukit!!
Good point about the disguise Ignatius.
But how long have they truly had to refine their instruments? I ponder this often.
>>>This country was founded by slavers bent on conquest and it hasn't changed.
But you're leaving out the religious worthies of New England whose heirs, even today, remain adept at smarmy, self-serving deceit, in the pursuit of the Greater Good for All.
"The GOVERNMENT keeps taking from the middle class to give to it's cronies and the FSA"
"HELP! The GOVERNMENT keeps throwing average amerikans' money at us!!" - The Cronies
The Super Rich are the Government. Keep up.
and add the fact that most are non-violent drug offenders and mostly minority and viola' we have another assembly line if lives being plundered and raped by the "elite". It's getting terrible and a snap is on the horizon, like this last black guy killed by the Stazi, impunity is almost over!
There exists a common theme amidst these signs of societal decay: The super-rich keep taking from the middle class as the middle class…
....... does nothing about it.
Shouldn’t #1 on that list be that people don’t know if anyone’s life matters if they’re not black??
Lube up a stack of Bicoins with flaming napalm, and sit on it.
Baked Alaskan Coinhead.
The world celebrates your cook off.
How much does a moster box go for these days.....and do I get free shipping?
It may be summed up as a comple lack of noblesse oblige https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noblesse_oblige
US Gives Their Proxy Army ISIS 45 Minute Warning Before Air Strikes......
http://beforeitsnews.com/conspiracy-theories/2015/11/us-gives-their-prox...
^^^ Illiteridiot
Oh my. We are now fulfilling the goals of the ONE and ONLY real ruling class. Back to serfdom. Back to slavery. Back to ruling classes of centuries ago. Richest are trying to take power over the planet. It is time now through chaos. Everything else is only window dressing,
Any semblance of free speech or democratic rights are now 'being evaporated" through fear/legislation. AND I have to laugh out loud at the audacity of passing a bill that allows for 'mistakes of the MINION Class'. Yeah there are mistakes being made. Big one is the idiots (Wall St. Minions) who are being bribed into thinking they are part of the elite. They are not. Throw a dog a bone and command them to fetch and carry. There is no more respect for these minions than for a servant.
There really is only one ruling elite and they are well hidden through last few centuries of war and rape and pillage. nobody dares speak the Name. But the only way to rid? Break up the banks. Dismantle Central Banking. Put nations back in control of their own money. Throw out billionaire election contributions and set limits. ONLY way is to rid this planet of the THE ONE WEED.
USA, EU, Canada, Australia, NZ, everywhere is already lost. But that was the prize as plotted way back before 1900 or before. History of this plan is rolling out, maybe not as completely planned but rolling out.
I will be dead and gone before it is all destroyed but heaven help anyone with children/grandchildren. And heaven help the idiots going along with this as the carrot is dangled for personal gain (read Obama). Not one politician has any ability to act anymore, and that was the plan. We are all becoming useless eaters to the very very few....whose name is well hidden and whose tentacles go everywhere.
The plan is unfolding and the beauty of this plan is that the bribed classes go along this path...not knowing they are going to be sacrificed at any time for the good of the VERY VERY FEW. The name that is not allowed to be advertised or spoken or connected or traced. I doubt any of the Minions even have one single clue of how stupid they are.
The Chosenites wouldn't have it any other way...
Go on then. Name names.
Suggest everyone listen and pass around this interview by Paul Craig Roberts about the Paris terrorist attacks, TPP and NWO.
http://themindrenewed.com/mp3/TMR_126_DrPaulCraigRoberts_Paris&TPP_128kb...
Detroit is the sign of the future of USSA ! Chicago, Memphis, Atlanta, St Louis, Los Angeles, San Fran, Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, NYC,and DC will all follow. And a few smaller like Phoenix and Portland Or. Just a matter of time and which catalyst occurs first. It is all already in motion and completely unavoidable. The seeds have been planted and they have sprouted and taken root in the sunshine of corruption and lies!
"Yet the myth persists that we should all look up with admiration at the "self-made" takers who are ripping our society apart."
Found the socialist.
Hint: there really are self-made men, and they aren't the ones doing this shit, it's entrenched interests, many of which have dynasties (family or corporate) going back hundreds of years. But man, nothing pisses off the liberals more than someone earning their living and taking credit for it.
There is no such thing as "self-made" unless he's living alone in the wilderness dropped off at birth.
Found another one!
Sorry Seek, you just didn't build that. ;-)
Miffed
you mean like Steve Jobs, the genious ? what a fucking joke it all is. Shove your Iphones up your ass Jobs, you got exactly what you deserved and nothingless ! same with Zuckerberg, more like suckerberg with his lips wrapped around BHO and CIAs/NSAs ass. I hope you all get some horrific incurable disease and die a miserably wretched death and we get to watch on TV ! As a matter of fact fuck all the crony control freak elitist cocksuckers, like Immelt, Corzine and of course Jamie !
Guy, you just took the words out of my mind! I don't know how you did that, but I'd just add that...."I hope you get cancer in your assholes and that it hurst so bad that you cry every time you shit! Trigger time is coming!
And this whole process has been accellerated under the liberal Obama, and you thought the mother fucker was going to help you. Do I need to say you dumb fucks or is it self evident?
Identity Politics has always been bullshit. I'm a white male, and none of the previous Presidents in my lifetime have done a whole helluva lot for me. And wait to see what Hillary has in store for women.
No, financial interests have a lot more to do with it than the superficial similarities promoted by America's bullshit Identity Politics fetishism.
White males are the enemies of the white and jewish elite. They represent potential competitors. Remember what David Rockefeller said: "competition is a sin." He meant competition in every sense of the word.
Show me a "liberal" who supports the TPP and I'll show you a Fascist.
2. Unpaid Taxes of 500 Companies Could Pay for a Job for Every Unemployed American
For two years. At the nation's median salary of $36,000, for all 8 million unemployed.
8 million unemployed? GTOH.... 94 million working-age Americans not in the work force. They're not all college sophomores bro. Where the fuck do you get your numbers from?
He is using american labor bureau official figures i guess
Proggies and garchs: birds of the same feather. All that huffing and puffing, yet not a thing about the Fed. That's the skull drill the plutocrats are using on the middle class, ya idjut.
Agreed.
Plus, acting like this condition exists in only one "nation", how cute!
Change the title to "The World Gone Insane" and expand the list well beyond a paltry five!
You didn't build that you dirty self made taker.
Gawd, I feel so... dirty.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/754723/winchester-le-training-ammunition-40-s-and-w-180-grain-full-metal-jacket?cm_mmc=pe_weekly-_-clearance-_-20151120-_-20151120#delivery
Let me help ya out. www.ammoman.com you can get. 45 acp hollow point Remington for 255.00 for 500 rnds. That's JHP. Free delivery.
The State of GA can't even manage to mail out car tag renewals because its private industry crony contractor who was responsible for the mailings went bankrupt. It's a Full Soviet jumble fuck now trying to get a tag decal.
Privatization is about cronies making money, not providing service, silly!
sure...because nothing scream effiencent like public union employee making $100k. In NJ cops retire at 40 on $75k
In Soviet Amerika, car tag mails you..........................
In Alabama they are rolling pennies to keep the capitol's lights turned on. True story. I saw Gov. Bentley in front of the CoinStar in Piggly Wiggly the other day. He was dumping out one of those large bottled water jugs full of coins. Think the total came out to $323-ish. Had the biggest shit eating grin on his face as he walked away counting the bills.
6. The entire 'article'
I look up to Kyle Bass who predicted and made money off of FED manipulation. Is that wrong?
Only if we do it.
"Do as I say, not as I do." say the masters of the universe.
Tick tock, quim queens............................
This is news?
Only the poor pay taxes and usury, and only the poor go to prison.
The rich buy theft bonds with other people's money and grow even richer on the coupon payments. Even prisons are a profitable racket, with no è of the proceeds going to the victims of crime.
About the only way for rich people to go to prison is to steal from or merely embarrass other rich people.
It's the same in every society. All that's changed is the technology involved in theft.
Madoff went to prison...not because he stole from people, but because he stole from Jews. Some things just *aren't* acceptable...
I guess I do not understand if the Congress Critters are corrupted, undeniably stupid, ignorant and lazy or simply complicit.
My guess is that most are ignorant and lazy (probably not too bright) and then they become corrupted and feel as if they are unredeemable (which is not true. They can be redeemed).
So, is this the 'good guys' trying to legitimately protect people, or the 'bad guys' trying to scare people. I dunno about you, but I don't intend to be sitting in an airport waiting to find out.
Yes, the oligarchs are taking advantage of the system.
But I fail to see how making one group poorer makes another group richer. How about we just level the playing field by dealing with the Fed, reducing the size of government and dealing with corruption, especially in Congress?
Class warfare at its finest. Not sure of the point the article is making.
sschu
The problem is 'we' can't really do a thing about the Fed, the size of government or corruption because CONgress polices itself and gets tons of money thrown at them via lobbies to enact laws that benefit the big companies and not us. If you think about it, the FIRST thing WE need to do is demand term limits in CONgress.
Only way to get the corrupt, life long scum out of office. After that, things MAY actually start to work.
Term limits have been declared unconstitutional.
Being a Christian, revival is my answer.
But I suspect many see violence as a solution. Something like what Jefferson said about watering the tree of liberty. I would be OK with that.
sschu
Why not vote against ANYONE accepting Corporate money regardless of party?
WOW, you really did miss the point! You say you "fail to see how making one group poorer makes another group richer?" Didn't you just read "The super-rich keep taking from the middle class as the middle class becomes a massive lower class." What do you call that?
If the solution to the rich getting richer is to take their riches and give it to the poor (er), how exactly does that make everyone richer?
It is the zero sum mentality that is the enemy, not the rich, middle or poor.
End the Fed, reduce the size, cost and intrusion of government and prosecute corruption.
sschu
And don't you dare say it's a "class war" otherwise there will be screams of denial from both the war wagers and the brianwashed victims
The Center for Medical Progress
http://www.youtube.com/user/centerformedprogress
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSI8qkDPz1CZj1u9I8Wbcg
Human Capital - Episode 1: Planned Parenthood's Black Market in Baby Parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2xi9mhmuo (11:49)
Human Capital - Episode 2: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzFZM73o8M (10:30)
Human Capital - Episode 3: Planned Parenthood's Custom Abortions for Superior Product
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzMAycMMXp8 (10:37)
So reading this, I am to be convinced to settle for a measly 600 billion in infrastructure repair when I do know that 32.8 trillion resides in the U.S. Treasury unallocated to the rightful owner(s). 1 trillion of that earmarked for a mag-lev rail system the planet has yet to witness, garnering millions in jobs and residual projects with additional jobs.
These corporations are guilty of much more than unpaid taxes. We are talking real crimes. Drug and human trafficking. Should we settle for a measly 600 billion to apply to an illegal private PR based corp in the IRS, to service interest on illegal debt demanded by the Federal Reserve, or demand no less than 300 trillion in claw back?
So then I ask once again, where ............. oh where is the public outrage?
https://app.box.com/s/hfgvcqg7gqh7i27at6sv53ywu87lwarp (Read Me First)
Stop all taxation, and the money "sitting offshore" all comes back a thousandfold.
Commondreams.org? Get real.
Another leftist shitstain website.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Dreams
Exactly. Progressive scumbags. How did this shit get on ZH? Progressive is just another word for Free Shit Army. Pure evil
or the Free Sybian Army!
wow - clicked on this and it is NOT Michael Snyder listing ....
It's smart to take as much as you can from people lower than you. Pure evolution. Fight if you don't like it. Writing articles won't do anything.
Devo - Alright Devo. So why dont I set uo a government, rob you then tell you to shut up at the point of a gun. Theft and cheating are not the only behaviors in evolution buddy. Ever hear of a value proposition?
My penis is bigger than yours so I get to bang your wife, then your daughter then you, all in the ass of course with no lube. Should have been born with a bigger penis douchebag.
That is what your logic sounds like to me. The fish rots from the head down. Whats really fucked up is half the people in this country would be just fine now operating under the warped analogy I provided. You could be being comoletely sarcaastic and most people would no longer no the difference
End lobbying. Since I doubt the owners are going to do it themselves you get WW3. The violence is going to be epic.
Because you are too weak and incompetent to do so. If you could do that, you would and should. Evolution! Instead you just write nonsense on the internet. The people stealing from you don't read ZH, nor do they write nonsense on the internet all day.
I'm curous Mr. Devo,
What percent of the population is "lower" than you?
...and how exactly do you make this determination?
Thanks in advance for your enlightening reply,,,
Spoctor Din
I'll take these headlines over any involving those moronic black lies matter @$$h0LES
Black lives do matter.
Niggers, Not!
WHATEVER?!
The world is at its all time financial best! Everything gunning at its highest clip! Stocks are up, bonds are up, the dollar's up, shit even gold is up on in $$ terms compared to what it was a decade ago.
This is the greatest economic boom in the history of the world!
So poor people have it bad. They should work harder. They should steal more, pillage more. Like Wall Street! It's not Wall Streets fault it corners the markets.
It's good to be a rich person! That's what matters in life!
It's good to be a rich person.
:)
Where do you live? An address pleeze,,,
Spoctor Din
Oh the cou try is going down the tubes. Like anybody is able to do a thing about it. I guess the string pullers will be happy once the bottom falls out and they can stride around the globe surveying the colossal wasteland that is their legacy.
Its all the ILLEGALZ FAULT!!!!! The brown ugly, squatty ones!!!!
IT'S OUR FAULT. We do nothing while this happens. IT'S OUR FAULT.
You must not be American... We don't ever take blame!
The ONE thing that makes theft and corruption by the elitists possible is financialization of our economy. Without the ability to create essentially free money out of thin air and the ability to value it at the same level as value add earned from labor money, the elitists would not be able to rape this country and its people.
The parasitic takers take by making real earned money almost worthless because the volume of money they can create out of thin air relative to that which is earned is disproportionate.
BOHICA
I am starting to think that allowing Obama to destroy the country and the dollar might be a positive thing. The problem is, what would replace the current system ... probably someething worse.
Why if you are an American citizen the IRS will hunt you down for $10 in unpaid taxes from anywhere in the world but if on the other hand you are an American corporation the IRS just sits on its hands. Facism that is why.
If taxes were affordable everyone would pay them.
Poor people are too poor to pay taxes.
Rich people pay to change the law so they dont have to pay taxes.
Middle class people, always get fucked (rich enough to almost pay the taxes, too poor to renegotiate the law lol).
https://youtu.be/qiuCKv3tooc?t=30s
We're all Apaches now, and there ain't a single Daniel Boone with balls left on the prarie. Shucks but what a chikkken s#it disaster this genocidal nightmare has become.
Onward to boot hill...boot$ first!
The so-called elites and mysterious oligarcs aren't the problem. They existed prior to 1913 (see Rockefellar, Carnigie etc). But the FED and the income tax did not. And that was the start of the warfare/welfare state financed by debt. And its was started by one party and one president, the fabian socialist Woodrow Wilson, who was oh so gung ho on the League of Nations if you myoptic "progressive" commentors above might recall (a true one worlder). If you fail to understand that you don't understand human nature never changes-its determined by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. Competition and self-interest rule supreme and only anarcho-capitalism follows these rules of evolution. You can't end corruption or greed or any of the other phoney bogeymen of the fabian socialists. You can't prevent the concentration of power except by competition. The issues listed are distractions-don't fall for human envy. Just end the FED and establish sound money and free market competition with failure and no bailouts. The other problems will be minimized (but never eliminated as long a humans are involved). There will always be a few rich people and lots of poor people. Fairness in nature is an illusion and cannot be established by fiat. Its competition and survival of the most fit. Any program or party that violates that principal will fail.
Ahhh, a breath of fresh air. Kudos John,
Spoctor Din
I'm quite tired of hearing "Violent Crime Down, Prison Population Doubles"
How about "Violent Crime Down BECAUSE Prison Population Doubled"
Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org)
http://www.commondreams.org/author/paul-buchheit
Liberal Chicago social justice asshole.
Tyler fails to comprehend this correlation: which is the cause, which is the effect... lol
4. Violent Crime Down, Prison Population Doubles
FBI statistics confirm a dramatic decline in violent crimes since 1991, yet the number of prisoners has doubled over approximately the same period.