We're in a National Crisis, and No National Leader will Admit It. This is not going to go away.

Disclaimer:

Any and all substantive criticism of Barack Obama and his policies is permitted. And by "any and all substantive criticism" we mean all of it -- no issue is off limits. Expressions of dismay, disappointment or disagreement with Barack Obama or his policies are permitted.

But insults, name-calling, or other expressions of contempt toward Barack Obama or his supporters are not welcome.
Skinner

Substantive criticism, won't be a problem. The basis for the criticism I feel compelled to make will be the ten or so pages of statistical data, all sourced and referenced, complied with the help of DU membership - showing the real state of America today. But "expressions of contempt" can be challenging, because it is completely subjective. On one hand, expressions of dismay and disappointment are acceptable, but expressions of contempt are not. Where is that line drawn? That's open to interpretation.

I hope the best defense against charges of "contempt" rather than "dismay" is to make substantive arguments based on factual, well-sourced evidence. That way, even if you feel very emotional about it, your claims are rooted in substance, with source information anyone can read and verify. To me it seems that if you are telling the truth, and that truth can be verified and referenced, and you can present that referencing information - hopefully you get some latitude on expressions of dismay and disappointment. I'm angry. And the more important question is, why isn't everyone?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So here's the reference material:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8187415">We are Losing America Right Before our Blind Eyes (UPDATED 4/21/10)

Based on those pages and pages of sourced statistics, this is my conclusion: We are in a crisis.

But this crisis didn't star in 2008. Its not a crisis brought on by this most recent round of Wall Street corruption. The crisis is the very way we do economic and political business in America. It's structural, and it is quite literally (as measured by statistics) running our country into the ground.

Which Democrat Will Speak Up First?

So far, not one Democrats - not the President, not the Speaker, not the Majority leader, not Senators or Representatives, not the chair of the Party, not members of the DNC, DLC, or DCCC - have ever listed these facts and declared that we are in a state of national emergency.

So far, all of our politicians from either party refuse to acknowledge that our country is fundamentally broken. And you can hear them refuse to acknowledge this over and over again - still claiming we are the greatest country in the world. You hear that right before they ask you to take out your pocketbooks and make a generous donation to their campaigns. They still reassure us that our fundamentals are solid, they still sell the product that all we really need is just is to "restore" our economy to the way it was before the financial meltdown.

Guess what? See those statistics up there? Let them sear into your soul. You can run and hide from them. The "way it was" before was categorically unjust. If for some reason the idea of justice doesn't matter to you, then just focus on the fact that the "way it was" was fundamentally unsustainable.

We're driving toward the cliff of our own demise. By an large our politicians are so indebted to their financial backers that they refuse to even acknowledge these realities. No one can reasonably dispute that these numbers are disastrous, that they represent extreme inequality and injustice, and that they are shameful.

And yet, has a war on economic inequality been declared? No.

Has a war on Poverty been declared? No.

Does poverty even get anything other than a passing mention in Washington? No.

Can you name for me the last time you heard any politician state for the record the truth that we have the highest income inequality of any of our industrialized peer nations - we rank dead last, meaning worst, out of the next twenty richest countries - and that changing this must become a national priority? No.

Can you reference the last time any politician point out that 20% of the country owns 93% of the entire wealth of the country, and that this was completely antithetical to spirit and aims of American Constitutional Democracy?

When was the last time you heard a politician say it was time to take a stand against financial tyranny and the authoritarian economic demands of a tiny privileged elite so that we can save American from its collapse?

Instead, even among Democrats, all talk is about slapping some new "paint" on our broken machine. Have some new regulation for Wall Street to circumvent as they always do. Have some health insurance "reform" that empowers the same bad actors all over again. The ship is sinking. And neither the President, nor Democrats, nor Republicans are confronting that. How can one not conclude that the financial elite of this country exert coercive financial influence over all of our national politics? The super-rich don't care if the ship is sinking. They're making billions, and they brought their own life rafts.

Who will be the first to speak out? Who?

Wake up!

Keeping in Democrats in power does not matter unless Democrats are more willing that Republicans to deal with our sinking ship. In that case, it matters very much! But if they are not, and so far the sad truth is that they are not (as evidenced by the fact that no Democrat has ever made the facts linked above the foundation of their political action, campaigning and agenda) - then we will sink with Democrats in office or we will sink with Republicans in office.

Tragically, all the good things that Democrats do that Republicans will never do won't matter if we lose the country! That's what you have to understand. I cheer when a Democratic President tells hospitals to stop discriminating against families, and I know that a Republican President wold never do that. I cheer when a Democratic congress gives more money to education than any other congress in history and I know that a Republican Congress would never do that.

But guess what, none of that is going to matter if we lose the country. I repeat, none of that is going to matter if we lose the country! One more time: none of that is going to matter if we lose the country.

And right now, we are losing the country!

Someone must find the courage to stand before America and say enough is enough. But haven't we had enough evidence yet to convince us that our leaders will never voluntarily do this on their own? Looking to favorite leaders, or favorite personalities to save us isn't saving us! It's not working. Treating Washington like Hollywood isn't saving us. Our politicians are not stars or celebrities to watch from the sidelines. They're not going to magically save us if we just donate enough money to their campaigns or get out enough of the vote.

The only ones that are going to save us is us.

We are going to save us - by declaring political war on anyone who continues to refuse to acknowledge the scope and magnitude of our crisis and act to transform our institutions that are destroying America as we watch.

As I read back over those numbers on the state of our country, I weep. I am filled with outrage. And I say something choosing my words extremely carefully: God damn any American politician who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge American inequality and exploitation. God damn them. Refusing to acknowledge the real state of America is betrayal of the American people. It's not treason against the State. It's something far worse. It's "treason" against humanity, social justice, working american families, people dying in poverty, the homeless and the destitute.



Omission is every bit as much a sin as commission.

You want to be a patriot? Then the time has come to start speaking truth to power. This means unequivocally demanding that the people who are supposed to be representatives of the people either acknowledge the American reality reflected in these statistics or get the fuck out of Washington while we find someone who will. This is too important for the same old popularity and personality politics that has been the hallmark of American life for too long.

I'm waiting on President Obama to hold a press conference and tell the world that he acknowledges that we have the highest income inequality of any western nation in the world, and that the Top 20% of America holds 93 percent of all wealth and what we rank dead last in the world among our top twenty economic peers with the highest poverty and most children in poverty of anyone.

I'm waiting on him to declare that a state of emergency, constituting a clear and present threat to the health and wellbeing of our country. I'm waiting on him to declare war on poverty. I'm waiting on him to declare war on structural inequality. I'm waiting for him to tell the world that we can't go on economically as we have for the last generation. I'm waiting for Democrats to start every press conference they have by addressing this CRISIS, as though they believed it would be absurd and immoral to start with anything else (which it is.)

Every day they do not do this, they are participating in the destruction of my country and the rape and pillage of my friends. That's speaking truth to power. Dispute that its the truth? Feel it is too extreme? I send you right back up to the top of this page to the link of ten pages worth of data that says we are losing America right before our blind eyes. Then you tell me again that its "too extreme."

The question you should be asking, in light of these information is not why am I so angry, but why isn't everyone? Why isn't everyone demanding true accountability from our leaders to this data? Why is it some do not believe it is an blight against basic moral decency to keep pretending that our system is "basically fine" and can be fixed with a little more "regulatory reform?" Why are so many people in the United States constantly campaigning for a basic status quo that results in these numbers?

We're in a crisis where we face losing our country - and right not a single one of our politicians are saying a damn thing about these realities. Are you going to keep being enablers?

ENOUGH!

So we are to unilaterally disarm?

It is not coincidental that when workers had a greater share of economic pie is when 36% of the work force was unionized. They could demand and get fair treatment and this sped to non-union jobs as well in order for them to complete. Nor is it coincidental that workers are getting the shaft when only 6% of todays workers are unionized. If you want a living wage, universal health care, control of exorbitant top management compensation through fair taxation, repeal of NAFTA, and stop the hemorrhaging of jobs then the answer is simple; UNIONIZE and elect representatives that will protect your interest. I am too old to lead the fight, but I hope that someone will come forward that can get workers to realize that their only hope for a fair deal is to organize. I see no other way out of this dilemma.

I call for the following laws:

1) An absolute ban on trade with all nations that don't permit their workers to form trade unions with the power to bargain, form international associations, strike, etc.
2) A race to the top in environmental laws; i.e. the right to ban imports from any country with environmental standards lower than the importing country
3) An international minimum wage

So, I guess that means we have great contempt for We The People, ourselves.

That seems about right.

Great marketing job "the few" have done to "the many", huh? And with a comment like "Our Government Has Great Contempt for Us", that marketing has done its job.

doesn't even bring the rec count up past zero, though.

The truth, or, at least, a pretty ugly portion of it, is about to break free (this month, I think, maybe beginning of next.)

I wonder what the denialists will say then?

Thanks for this post. How can we get these truths out? A very few politicians in Congress (the millionaires club) like Alan Grayson, Dennis Kucinich and Bernie Sanders; haven't they (at least) mentioned some of these FACTS? I realize that doesn't really help us. Possibly, if we set a date, all across the country for Constitutional Conventions in each state. These facts would be the reason for these conventions and our goal would be to elect citizens determined to stop our plunge. It's one thought.
We, as you state, must do something. These "Constitutional Conventions" could all have the same goal.

1) make these facts as well known as our birthdays
2)determine a (hopefully non-violent) path to reverse these atrocities

Just a suggestion, but we need a lot of suggestions and even more action, and a true movement to educate the public and immediately begin the work necessary to reverse this shit.


on edit: I just looked at these facts. I thought I was pretty well informed about the U.S. inequality among the top twenty nations. I wasn't. This is much worse than I knew. We are in fact, the worst "civilized" nation in the world. How can we be the "best country in the world" as our politicians and teevee tell us. This information has to disseminated everywhere. Then it has to be fixed. I do not want a "constitutional convention" over-run by teabaggers. I want this fact sheet to be the basis of our revolution, before it is too late. DU'ers. please read these facts. I knew some of it, but it will open your eyes...

I know that is not what Kucinich fans want to hear, but I keep saying this.... he is NOT talking about poverty, and a big part of that reason is because he put it to a vote of his supporters, back in '04. They voted us poor folk off the island in favor of other issues. And that is the fact of the matter, no matter how much you want to deny it.... "progressives" are NOT interested in poverty.

The other two, Sanders and Grayson, will I very much like both of them, and respect them both, NEITHER of them talk about poverty. THE MIDDLE CLASS, yes.. they talk about that a lot.

But those of us who are not counted among the middle class are invisible.

Only the middleclass "progressives" can change this by DEMANDING that they start speaking about poverty!

Only the middleclass "progressives" can change this by DEMANDING that poverty be addressed with the $$$ that it needs!

I don't think anyone wants to talk about it, hear about it, & certanly not DO anything abourt it! Definitely not the politicians, but I don't think anyone else does either.:cry:

Problem is.."it" is made of human beings...people who suffer everyday...indignities most of us never think about in our wildest dreams. I can't imagine never feeling safe when I sleep or have a place to just kick off my shoes and relax and get my head together.....

If people would take some time and just think what life would be like with no home, they might be more open to help.....

The biggest problem I have seen is that, as you say Bobbolink, NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT, let alone take a stand and DO something to change things.....whether its politicians or religious people. Everyone is so afraid they might have to face some really hard truths about their lives & their country or even worse, that they might lose what little they have.

Very sad.

Fuck it.

are just designed to maintain this status quo anyway...something to make folks feel they are using their voice...
If folks really used their voices like they should, like you do, we'd make those politicians deaf...not that they hear us now...but they'd have to then...

:yourock:

DU needs to stop obsessing and hand-wringing about Recs and UnRecs. Threads that merit Recs will get plenty of them as this one demonstrates. Ultimately kicking a thread matters more in the long run.

and yet the post currently has a +155 rating. :banghead:

Can we please just stop the fucking complaints about unrec? Good posts will get their recs. Shit won't.

Sid

A real Democrat would of been too busy with chicken jokes to have written this

Thanks :)

So thank you.

hehe

:yourock:

...Has there ever been a "war on poverty" in any nation, really, in history? I'm racking my addled brain and can't think of one.

In their institutional form, the United States has had its own War on Poverty. Latin America as well, though many of those victories were then attacked by the United States who quickly assassinated leaders and installed economically friendly dictators.

The rise of Democratic socialism in Europe could be argued to have been a war on poverty, and given that they are kicking our asses in their poverty rates, I can't say we're in much a position to dispute that.

And in other cases, they're called "revolutions."

I'll be watching for it! :hi:

Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty

Forty years ago today in his first State of the Union speech, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a "War On Poverty." Johnson's declaration came just weeks after succeeding to the White House upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Making poverty a national concern set in motion a series of bills and acts, creating programs such as Head Start, food stamps, work study, Medicare and Medicaid, which still exist today. The programs initiated under Johnson brought about real results, reducing rates of poverty and improved living standards for America's poor.NPR Reports

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1589660

AND More from:

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Poverty

To add in Edit:

I don't believe that this is only happening to America, I think that much of this is happening world wide. Look at the unrest in a number of countries around the Globe and you will see that something has changed that is not going back.

the American people are much more sedate than most. Guess it has to do with watching cable TV/pron.

Before you try to downplay this, you might look that up.

it's getting worse here, too. Not quite to US standards, but getting there.

It's not like the recent Wall Street corruption can be ignored.

Charts from your original post, look at where this all started.


Growth spurt of the top 1 percent, 1987:





Growth spurt of CEO pay, 1994:





Decline in average hourly earning, 1972:





Decline in personal savings, 1982:





Downward mobility, 1946




This situation didn't happen overnight, and it was Bush's policies, separate and apart from the decades of financial inequity, that delivered the U.S. to the brink of financial catastrophe. The corruption and root causes of the crisis have to be addressed.

President Obama is also addressing the long-term issues: hunger, poverty and homelessness. Still, it's going to take a lot to reverse decades of inequity.

We can't address our crisis if our leaders continue to believe that slapping a few new coats of paint on our sinking ship will do the trick.

You do read your links, right?

Sorry that just made me laugh. :D

... I needed that. I am saddened by the fact that your OP was spot on. And I hate that realization.

:-(

I wish people would wake the hell up.

excellent post! :applause:

Society is held together with a combination of fear, greed and out right lies. It has always been this way. If you can convince a majority of people to go your way then you get your change. If you cannot then you had better hope that who ever has the reigns of power is at least somewhat on your side or you are screwed.

Do you really think the majority of folks here in the USA are smart enough to think and act for themselves?

it is unacceptable.

we really do have to face up to these truths, and do something about it

...during the 2008 campaign with his "Two Americas" Campaign.
After Edwards withdrew, "The Poor" were never again mentioned by the two remainders in Campaign 2008 to the best of my knowledge.

Great Essay!
Frightening.
The Writing IS "on the wall" for anyone who cares to read it.

What can be done?
My Wife and I were so disillusioned by Campaign 2004 and the "Centrist" Democratic Party Platform that we started making plans.
We sold everything, moved to The Woods in 2006, planted a BIG garden, started "doing" for ourselves, and focusing on local Rural Community and Humanitarian issues.
After the Health Care Failure, we are now thinking that we should have left the USA entirely.

K&R

"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone

I really miss THAT "Democratic Party". :cry:

And saw the Video of FDR's statement of the Second Bill of Rights.

Thank you kindly for taking the time to post it here.

BTW, We are back on the farm and ramping up food, fiber and fuel production after neglecting it for a few years. It's great to be back in creation mode, planting more food crops, building more things, and basically just watching visitors jaws drop when they see a self sufficient household with extremely low overhead, yet able to enjoy the Internet, refrigeration, virtually freed food, and very little external consumption.

Our political parties, in my opinion, are no more than a collection of unsustainable legal concepts foisted upon the country for the past 40 years. The Government uses convoluted interpretations to avoid responsibility to the citizens, yet preaches that everyone must obey the rules and regulations they have enacted. When it all comes down to it, they really have no power in regards to telling us all how to live, yet the Social structure is imposed upon us through the tried and true methods of "Keeping Up with the Jones-es" and maintaining the facade of "Success", which is a big unproductive Lawn, requiring constant mowing, a big house, full of crap that is meaningful to nobody else, collected mainly because of slick marketing and pro consumptive policies.

As you and I have realized, being self sufficient is labor intensive, but extremely soothing for the soul. I have found that my participation on Democratic Underground these days takes much lower precedence than dealing with the farm, marveling at nature, and planning for and implementing future project.

This political administration is nothing more than the Status Quo, and there are truly meaningless attempts to fool people into believing that anything has changed. The Government, represented equally by the Democrats and Republicans, are operating virtually in lock step, separating people simply by ideological beliefs instead of factual knowledge of true wealth, which is the ability to produce nearly everything for one's family with the possibility of some extra. Individuals like us that have moved beyond the Consumptive norms scare the PTB to death, simply because it erodes their power in manipulating people into doing stupid things.

When I saw FDR speak the words

"The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;"

It gave me shivers, because we have long lost this ability. It is true that I have made a decent living as a farmer, but policy and the current system makes it much more difficult than it needs to be. This is one of the reasons that I focus on personal production, and avoid the "Farm Gate". My produce is now only for the benefit of like minded people that respect labor, and have the ability to see the current Social Disease for what it is.

If I was still stuck in the Capitalistic system, there would be no way I could do this.

Bolivia, the two of us feel drawn there.

While here, everyone is all "Well if the Tax and Trade (and Carbon Cap) need us poor people to give up fifteen cents per gal on the gas we buy, we must do that. It's the American Way!"

:puke:

To go to yesterday's and today's Democracy Now's podcasts from Bolivia, you will be enheartened. Those people just don't take the S%^T that people here do.

Any nation whose people turn around and go BACK INTO THE STREETS when they see that the cops have started shooting - that nation has my vote.

And a big :hug: for you.

*I* can't make others go to the streets, and me doing it myself is going to accomplish nothing except ending what little life I have left.

All this romanticism about how one person can change a society is bullshit! And making me feel responsible for it only weakens me further. And that is precisely what so many here try to do.

*I* can't change this. Only the muddleclass "progressives" can, and they clearly don't give a flying fuck.

... do you know what would happen if they had to pay their fair share? Well for starters, they would have to wait a couple more months to upgrade their top of the line Mercedes to the current year model, which has an extra cup holder from last year's. Do you know the shame which bring being aware that your neighbors know you have one less cup holder than they do? And do you know the murder on the nerves which is having to wait an extra couple of months to get delivery of your top of the line Mercedes? Of course you don't! Because you don't own one!!! (In fact, neither do I since I don't own a 'cedes either).

We have it easy with our blissful ignorance of those stresses, which the rich make sure they suffer silently so that we don't have to. We're such a bunch of ingrates! Shame on us... really....

;-)

A short anecdote to bolster your argument: two weeks ago I went to our Democratic county convention. The keynote speaker was our Congressman. In his speech to the assembled movers and shakers of the local Democratic party, he said (and I paraphrase because I cannot remember the exact quote) we should all be proud that the Democratic party was able to pass a healthcare reform bill that ensures that all Americans will have access to health care. Does he really believe what he said?

Recommended.

Thanks for putting it together.

Obama is full of himself and the rich.

Serious question. And what party are you advocating for that could clear this all up for us?

It's the line of anyone who gets the fact that any politician refusing to even acknowledge this crisis is complicit in our continuing self-destruction.

You don't support those complicit in our self-destruction, do you? Or maybe you dispute the statistics? If so, please post the data that calls them into question?

Or perhaps you dispute that they are currently going unaddressed? If so, please go ahead and link for us the campaign platforms, our political speeches, or policy initiatives that declare that the united states has by far the worst income inequality of any of the twenty next richest nations in the world, or that a tiny faction of people hold nearly 100% of the entire nations wealth, and that this is a national crisis that must be the top priority of politics.

What does political war look like? It looks like fighting back, and it starts by saying no, enough and no more.

No to politicians that tell us everything is "fundamentally sound" when we know that is a lie.

Enough of cheering on our corporate subsidiary politics and acting like it is anything other than quibbling over deck chairs on a sinking ship.

No more, giving into the politics of fear perpetuated by status quo loyalists who fear-monger with claims that if we were ever to refuse to vote for those who failed to address our nations moral crisis, and chose only to look for those who would - the every bigger, meaner bad guys would win.

If no politician is willing to address our crisis that is clearly (as evidenced and well documented by detailed factual data) driving our country into the ground, then it doesn't matter which ones have power.

You can stand with the defenders and apologists of our unsustainable immoral political-economic free fall, or you can stand with the resistance. But you will stand somewhere.

There is no sideline.

... we are in this predicament, the most fundamental of them being that the entrenched power has literally co-opted our government and our media.

Before anything real can happen blows will have to be struck against those realities, and that isn't going to happen until things get a lot worse.

Which they will.

The ponzi game that is being played almost everywhere has to end eventually. I don't think the end is very far off, maybe 1-3 years.

including what you state... and the sense of helplessness

There is power in knowledge and numbers, in organizing and cooperatively working together, no matter how little or poor...

we have become so broken as a community, as a society of people. I believe that the great hope of Barack Obama is that he saw that desperation in the people and would be our advocate... and now we have come to see that there is no one that will save us, we must do the work ourselves.

I believe that President Obama is a good president and the best for the times, but that does not excuse all of us from acting... within our communities and elsewhere.

We can fight back against the media and the corporate interests and the powerful, but it takes going outside our comfort zone and working together

of us.

Do you have any idea what it is like to come to a forum like this and realize that your death wouldn't even matter?

Yes, THAT is how we feel.

now, a typical DUer will disparage that, rather than express any compassion at all.

It is amazing to me that because you have not seen Democrats take to the mikes "declaring war," literally stating "I declare WAR on (fill in the blank)" your conclusion is that they are not only not accomplishing anything, but are not interested in accomplishing anything, and that the solution is to say "no" to anyone who is not "declaring war." That's why I called it "your line." I can't count how many times I've stayed up into the night watching Democrats on C-Span fight Republicans tooth-and-nail for every inch of progress made. And there has been progress made. I absolutely disagree with you that economic inequality in this country is "currently going unaddressed."

I'll take you up on your invitation:

"Or perhaps you dispute that they are currently going unaddressed? If so, please go ahead and link for us the campaign platforms, our political speeches, or policy initiatives that declare that the united states has by far the worst income inequality of any of the twenty next richest nations in the world, or that a tiny faction of people hold nearly 100% of the entire nations wealth, and that this is a national crisis that must be the top priority of politics."

Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
http://brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press_releases/release/?id=DF1C860C-FB02-4C3A-84C2-583E8F88D7E9

On Trade Policy
“If we’re going to turn our economy around, we need a fundamental shift in U.S. trade policy,” said Brown. “Years of broken trade policy have resulted in stagnant wages, rising income inequality, and a shrinking middle class. Broken trade policy contributed to the economic crisis, and it’s going to take a new direction in trade policy to rebuild our economy.”

Bill Introduction:
http://brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press_releases/release/?id=81454741-0DED-443A-8F8A-643F784CA9F2

Sen. Brown Joins Colleague in Announcing Bill to Ensure that Workers Receive Protection and Benefits They Have Earned

Brown Introduces Legislation that Would Reduce the Number of Worker Misclassification Violations and Ensure Fairness to Workers and Businesses

April 22, 2010

WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today introduced legislation that would prevent workers from being misclassified as independent contractors and would provide for the protection and benefits which they have earned. The Employee Misclassification Prevention Act would ensure access to safeguards like fair labor standards, health and safety protections, and unemployment and workers' compensation benefits. U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the house.

"For too long, workers have been denied vital worker safeguards - like fair labor standards, health and safety protections, and UI or workers' compensation benefits," Brown said. "With still fragile economic recovery with significant job loss - workers are too often taken advantage of and lose out on the benefits they rightfully earned. Meanwhile, employers who do right by their employees are placed at a disadvantage when competitors are cutting corners."

Tens of thousands of employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, and as a result, these workers are not eligible for benefits such as minimum wage and overtime, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. Misclassified workers are also not protected by anti-discrimination and health and safety laws.

"Misclassification cheats workers out of important labor protections, like the right to overtime pay and workers' compensation, and robs federal and state governments of desperately needed tax revenues," Chairman Harkin said. "This important legislation will address this growing problem by giving workers the information they need to protect their rights and leveling the playing field for responsible employers who play by the rules."

Misclassification also undermines the budgets of state and local governments - resulting in increased costs for taxpayers or reduced services. According to a study by Ohio Attorney General Rich Cordray, Ohio loses at least $160 million a year to each year from worker misclassification. This does not account for further losses to local government and school budgets. The Obama Administration estimates that better record-keeping could raise $7 billion over the next ten years.

More at link:
http://brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press_releases/release/?id=81454741-0DED-443A-8F8A-643F784CA9F2

Obama
NYT - In Health Bill, Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality
By DAVID LEONHARDT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/business/24leonhardt.html?sq=Obama inequality&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print

excerpt:
For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.

Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor.

Nearly every major aspect of the health bill pushes in the other direction. This fact helps explain why Mr. Obama was willing to spend so much political capital on the issue, even though it did not appear to be his top priority as a presidential candidate. Beyond the health reform’s effect on the medical system, it is the centerpiece of his deliberate effort to end what historians have called the age of Reagan.

excerpt:
A big chunk of the money to pay for the bill comes from lifting payroll taxes on households making more than $250,000. On average, the annual tax bill for households making more than $1 million a year will rise by $46,000 in 2013, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group. Another major piece of financing would cut Medicare subsidies for private insurers, ultimately affecting their executives and shareholders.

The benefits, meanwhile, flow mostly to households making less than four times the poverty level — $88,200 for a family of four people. Those without insurance in this group will become eligible to receive subsidies or to join Medicaid. (Many of the poor are already covered by Medicaid.) Insurance costs are also likely to drop for higher-income workers at small companies.

Policies and Initiatives:

Passage of Minimum Wage Increase:
http://www.speaker.gov/issues?id=0037

On July 24th (2007), Americans received the second step of Democrats' minimum wage increase. Last year, the New Direction Congress enacted the first minimum wage increase in a decade – which is being implemented in three steps. The minimum wage now rises to $6.55 an hour, and will rise to $7.25 next year. The previous Republican-controlled Congresses blocked minimum wage proposals from being considered. In 2006 alone, Republicans blocked minimum wage legislation from coming to a vote 11 times. The minimum wage increase passed by the Democratic-led Congress is the first pay raise for working Americans in almost 10 years. This raise is part of our New Direction towards shared prosperity, and is a down payment on a broader American agenda for working families.

A Look at How Raising the Minimum Wage Helps America’s Families

In May 2007, Congress enacted the first minimum wage increase in a decade. The legislation increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years. The minimum wage had been frozen at $5.15 an hour since 1997.

Under the legislation, the minimum wage increased from $5.15 to $5.85 on July 24, 2007; will increase to $6.55 on July 24, 2008; and will increase to $7.25 on July 24, 2009.

Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 over two years will provide an additional $4,400 per year for the families of minimum wage workers.
12.4 million workers will benefit from the increase to $7.25 – 5.3 million directly and 7.1 million indirectly as a result of a new wage floor – as well as more than 6 million children of low-wage workers.

Of the 12.4 million workers who will benefit from the increase to $7.25, 7.6 million are women, 3.1 million are parents, and 4.6 million are people of color.

It is wrong to have millions of Americans working full-time and year-round and still living in poverty. At $5.85 an hour, a full-time minimum wage worker still brings home only $12,168, well below the 2008 federal poverty level of $17,600 for a family of three. Americans who work hard and play by the rules should earn enough to be able to provide for their families.

******************

More policy enactments:

http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/reports?id=0339

HIRE ACT, bipartisan bill to create 300,000 jobs with tax incentives for businesses that hire unemployed Americans, unleash billions of dollars to rebuild highways and other infrastructure, and strengthen small businesses with tax credits and accelerated write-offs. (Signed into Law)

STUDENT AID & FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT, making the largest investment in college aid in history – increasing Pell Grants, making college loans more affordable, and strengthening community colleges – while reducing the federal deficit by ending wasteful student loan subsidies to banks. (Signed into Law)

LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS, providing targeted increases for health, education and worker training, including NIH research, Pell Grants, Head Start and clean energy jobs. (Signed into Law)

CASH FOR CLUNKERS, jump-starting the U.S. auto industry, providing consumers with up to $4,500 to trade in an old vehicle for one with higher fuel efficiency—spurring the sale of 700,000 vehicles. (Signed into Law)

JOBS FOR MAIN STREET ACT, to create and save jobs with targeted investments to boost small business, to rebuild highways and transit, and to hire and retain teachers, police, and firefighters; paid for by redirecting TARP funds from Wall Street to Main Street; with emergency aid for the unemployed. (Passed by House)

DISASTER RELIEF AND SUMMER JOBS ACT, to provide disaster-stricken communities with aid to rebuild their homes, infrastructure and local economies, add approximately 300,000 summer jobs opportunities for young people, and extend Recovery Act provisions to make small business loans more available. (Passed by House)

PERMANENT ESTATE TAX RELIEF at the 2009 level to ensure that 99.8 percent of estates never pay a dime of taxes and offer certainty and stability for farmers and small businesses. (Passed by House)

BUDGET BLUEPRINT, creating jobs with investments in health care, clean energy and education; cutting taxes for most Americans by $1.5 trillion; cutting Bush deficit by more than half by 2013. (Action Completed)

STATUTORY PAY-AS-YOU-GO, to restore 1990s law that turned record deficits into surpluses, by forcing tough choices; Congress must offset new policies that reduce revenues or expand entitlements. (Signed into Law)

The three pillars of Obama's "Blueprint for American Prosperity" - two have been enacted, one to go:
HEALTHCARE REFORM
STUDENT LOAN REFORM
FINANCIAL REFORM

The $250 stimulus check sent last year to seniors is also worth a mention, as are the multiple extensions of Unemployment Insurance that Democrats have fought for and won since Obama's election, as are the $250 'Medicare Doughnut Hole' checks that seniors will be receiving this year.

Charts
http://www.speaker.gov/issues?id=0002
In January 2009, before we enacted the Recovery Act, Americans lost 779,000 jobs in one month alone. A year later, job losses have turned to jobs gains of 162,000 in March, including 17,000 in manufacturing—a complete reversal from what President Bush left behind.
JOBS


ECONOMIC GROWTH


HOUSEHOLD WEALTH


MANUFACTURING
America’s manufacturing base has grown for 8 straight months—now at the highest level in six years—with manufacturing jobs being created three months in a row.

CONSUMER SPENDING & RETAIL SALES
Consumer spending is up five months in a row, with household purchases on track to expand at a 3.4 percent pace this quarter, the best performance in three years. Retail sales soared 1.6 percent in March, for the third consecutive month of growth.

Random sampling of economic information from Recovery.gov:

The Office of Tax Analysis estimates that, as of March 2010, $162.7 billion in tax relief has been made available. This relief comes in various forms including the Making Work Pay tax credit, COBRA Continuation Coverage Assistance, and tax incentives for businesses.


Grants to states from the Recovery Act (states picked at random):
http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/RecipientReportedData/Pages/RecipientReportedDataMap.aspx

Utah:
1,310 Grants awarded for a total of $1,345,869,245 and 4,210 jobs created

Pennsylvania:
4261 Grants awarded for a total of $6,197,739,132 and 11,197 jobs created

Tennesee:
3611 Grants awarded for a total of $2,922,844,921 and 11,938 jobs created

BENEFITS AND TAX RELIEF
http://www.recovery.gov/FAQ/Pages/benefits.aspx

First-Time Homebuyer Credit

Mortgage Refinancing and Modification

Weatherization Funding

COBRA

Tax Incentives and Credits

Making Work Pay Tax Credit

Child Tax Credit

Earned Income Tax Credit (which has been increased)

A scroll through the Bloomberg Adobe Flash economic charts at the link below reveals:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/
(scroll down and to the right of the page)

CONSUMER SPENDING - up
DURABLE GOODS ORDERS - up
NEW HOME SALES - up
EXISTING HOMES SALES - up
EXISTING HOME PRICES - up
PRODUCER PRICES - up
LEADING INDICATORS - up
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION - up

I've posted all this to tell you that where I stand is with my party, The Democratic Party who are working their asses off almost literally night and day (pun intended) to repair the damage done and to implement policies that do and will benefit even those who prefer to stand at the sidelines sniping at them while they go about the work of getting things done. I stand with the Democratic president and not with a seemingly romantic notion of a "resistance." I don't say that to piss you off, but to say that what I see with my own eyes, the continued, daily, exhaustive efforts of The Democratic Party to level the playing field in this country, trumps someone else telling me that they aren't doing anything.

"It is amazing to me that because you have not seen Democrats take to the mikes "declaring war," literally stating "I declare WAR on (fill in the blank)" your conclusion is that they are not only not accomplishing anything, but are not interested in accomplishing anything,"

Actually, that is a mis-characterization of what I said. I didn't say they were not accomplishing anything. I said what they are accomplishing doesn't matter if we lose the country. And as long as our politicians remain fundamentally unwilling to address the root structural problems, and admit that simple "reform" or new coats of paint on the old machine isn't going to fix our structural problems, then we'll continue losing the country, as evidenced by the mountain of concrete factual data showing that we are losing the country.

Here is what I said:



And



You just listed four pages worth of slapping new paint on the old machine.

I know you "stand" with "your" party. I stand with the people. See you on the line.

No "facts" were ignored. They were put in their appropriate context. Window dressings on top of a broken system doesn't fix the broken system. We have structural problems and entrenched injustice. Raising the minimum wage doesn't change that. Slapping reform on top of a corrupt and broken economic system of plunder and pillage doesn't fix that. Raising taxes by 1% doesn't fix that. Arguing in every speech that we need to "return to" the "days of prosperity" doesn't fix that, because the "days of prosperity" were days of entrenched economic and social injustice for the many and "prosperity" for the few.

No, the "facts" weren't ignored - in fact they are at the heart of the problem.

What you call "window dressing," I see as the beginning of systemic change. For ten years, Republicans blocked any movement on the minimum wage, Democrats finally successfully moved it forward. For decades, the wealthy have not paid into the system. This president and Congress have moved and are moving to address that - the same goes for corporations. This time around, corporations had to pay back the corporate welfare they received, and going forward, they will have to pay for and devise their own "funeral plans" - that's a fundamental change from how things used to be, and adds up to more than window dressing in my book.

What it sounds like you're arguing for is a complete breakdown and rebuilding of this society's structure, and I see you have your fans in that here at DU. I'm just not one of them.

Because this society is structurally unjust.

I've said previously that the system is broken. But that's actually not the most accurate thing I can say. The system is not broken for the people it is designed to work for. It's working exactly as it is intended to work. It's just that ordinary people are "externalities." So if the system is working exactly like its designed to work, then you can't "fix" it. You can only replace it.

Democrats can be part of that fight, the right fight, the only just fight there is - standing hand in hand with the American poor and American working class against a system that functions - by design - to exploit them. Or they can remain part of the problem. Personally, I'd hope for the latter. But if you are representative of the Party, as you claim to be, I won't hold my breath.


PS - "Corporations had to pay back the welfare they received"

Really. TRAP is currently 315 BILLION dollars in the RED. The amount some have paid back is miniscule compared to the amount that is not paid back, or the amount our own government estimates it will NEVER get back.

http://www.propublica.org/ion/bailout/item/your-bailout-update-315-billion-in-the-red-mar-2010

http://bailout.propublica.org/main/summary

http://www.propublica.org/ion/bailout/item/bailout-breakdown-tarp-losses-likely-to-be-larger-than-treasury-estimates-1#13307

You certainly spent a lot of time painting the Lipstick on those piglets.

Such a load of Happy talk. Who helped you dig all that up?

Hurl ourselves over the nearest cliff?

Does our suffering, and inevitable deaths from poverty, matter?

THANK YOU for making my point!

WE ARE IGNORED BY ALL OF YOU!

It is time to rise up and DESTROY the parasites before they reduce us to corporate serfdom. "Compromise" is capitulation, the roots of economic injustice must be eliminated.

the cause of this disease, are those that pay most of the cost of maintenance. They're actually happy that they get to pay their robbers to rob them.
:smoke:

Most European countries are in the 24-29 range. We are in the same range of inequality as Mexico and China (46). For the most part only Third World countries have GINI coefficients in the 40's and above. The US is the only developed country above 34 (UK). Even India (36) had a better level of income equality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality">List of countries by income equality

The United States has been abandoned by its leaders.

At a time like this, our leaders should be thinking "outside the box", providing drastic emergency steps to provide a sustainable society. Instead, we get cut-throat capitalism as usual.. led by the Goldman Sachs bankers and Hedge fund Hyenas.

Bringing all troops home should have been the first priorty. The second step should have been to nationalize the banks and get rid of the Fed. Secure a block of "Interest-Free" money to be used exclusively for rebuilding the infrastructure.

The third step should have been a massive public works program designed to rebuild the rickety electric grid and water supplies. (we need 33 million jobs to be at full employment). Fund close-
in mass transit and redesign our city centers to be functional once more. The day of Big Box Stores is over.... and we can not afford the gas to drive 10 miles for a loaf of bread.

We need to implement the electric car... yesterday.. but we can't do that because our electric grid is so obsolete.

There is so much that needs to be done.. the world is passing us by in education and technology while our politicians stuff their pockets with tax money.

begin a massive public works project to rebuild/repair our already decrepit infrastructure. that isn't welfare, it's giving jobs to americans. it seemed so easy to implement. we're falling apart before our very eyes....it's depressing.

is that, unlike Military Spending, the American People actually have something to use after the money is spent.

End the useless WARS.
Cut Military Spending at LEAST 50%.
Use the money to start a massive (mega-Billion) Public Program to rebuild and update America's Rail System using ONLY American Made Products and Labor!
:patriot:

.. sad to see that the new "Green" wind turbines are being made in China.

Meet the new boss..same as the old boss...

Americans invented the T.V... yet what did we do? We turned around and gave all the manufacturing rights to Korea and Japan...

Well, I'm sure we didn't GIVE it away for free... many big Corps and politicians profited... but you get the idea...

I, too, am angry! I have taken advantage of my current state of "unemployment" (although since I'm coming fast on 50, have to face the fact that "current" may very well become "permanent"...)to read and educate myself on what exactly is going on with this country, how we got here, and what we must do to change if we are to survive. My public library has books such as Bruce Judson's "It Could Happen Here", Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Ehrenreich, etc... and other such "radical" reading material prominently displayed at the front of the library. I have been checking out and devouring such books for the past 6 months, in a desperate attempt to figure out how the fuck I ended up this way..... I did all the right things, went to college, bought a house, married and had kids, stayed home with those kids while they were young, etc... until my shit of a husband (who, I might add, had recently started listening to Rush Limbaugh) decided he could live in greener pastures with some whiny big titted, big moneyed Republican bitch. Over 13 years of marriage and 3 kid under the age of 10, and the SOB leaves, taking his new found "Republican me first values" with him. Of course, "me first" meant that he didn't feel that paying child support was in his best interest....

At any rate, here I am, 12 years later, jobless, living with 2 of my kids and my male friend who is kind enough to provide a roof over our heads, as he "couldn't bear to see a single mother living on the streets". My only source of income is foodstamps. I haven't had a "real" job in almost 5 years. I went from a salaried job paying in the neighborhood of $40,000 per year to shit temp and retail jobs paying in the neighborhood of $8.00 per hour.... How the FUCK did this happen? I'm a college graduate for shit's sake!!!! Because I've been head of my household and didn't have the "luxury" to be able to wait for something better, be pickier and choosier about what kind of jobs I have had to accept.

My last shit job was a cashier at one of the grubbier local grocery chains around here. One fucken break a day for an 8 hour shift....what the fuck????? I would ask some of my co-workers about what they thought of their jobs; most of them were just like fucken sheep, making comments like "well, it's at least a job" and the like. Yeah, anti-union shit has gotten to them, they think that this is a "good company to work for" because that's what the company is feeding them. One woman was excited after filing her taxes, claiming that she has finally broken the $20,000 mark....I asked her how long she had worked there; she states,"oh, about 15 years."....WTF??????? All the adult employees there that have kids are on food stamps, yeah they earn so little that the qualify for food stamps and medicaid, even after working there for OVER 10 YEARS!!! WTF is wrong with people??? This is exactly WHY I went to college; to avoid a lifetime of poverty/just getting by, and HERE I AM cuz of all of this laissez fare, free-market bullshit that we have been spoon-fed over the past generation or so. Every morning I would tell myself," Off I go to make _______ (name of owner) a ton of money!"; you see, I averaged around $5300 on my shift, just on my shift and register alone! I brought home about 50 fucken dollars a day. There were 11 registers and 2 shifts per day; do the fucken math!!!!

You have hit the nail on the head, Political Heretic!!!! Slapping a coat of paint on a broken economy?? Absolutely fucken right!!!! And, unfortunately, this seems to go for BOTH of the major corporate parties, Dems and Repukes alike! No, they sidestep the important issues; the big picture. The problem that I have with Obama is not really what he has or hasn't done to date, it's more of the general tone that I am disappointed with; the tone of not wanting to rock the boat and upset the powers that be TOO much....just the same kind of stuff that you were saying in your OP. I would LOVE to see corporations and money OUT of the political system.....get our representative's working for the people rather than the all mighty dollar. This free market shit has become a sick religion to a whole lot of folks; the absolutely WORSHIP this shit!!!! And it's scary as hell for me, too! At a point in my life where I went from middle-class homeowner to teetering on the brink of poverty with my formerly good credit shot to hell, I'm "MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!" And I sure as HELL aren't the only one in this boat!

Anyhow, Politcal Heretic, I sincerer apologize for rambling on here. I didn't intend to, but your topic just set me off, and I guess I just needed to vent.... My only question to you is,"where do we go from here? What can we, as a people, do to take back our country?"

Thanks for the OP and bringing this stuff out of the basement and into the light!

Theresa

you are a case in point. A subsistence wage would mean that you can afford a roof over your head and food on the table based on your wages alone.

I believe that you could break even on your wages (barely) if you didn't have the kids. So, let's see the next thing on the agenda is don't reproduce?

Honestly, I am going to reread Karl Marx. Not that I think Marx or communism is the answer... but a lot of what he says about expropriation of surplus labor and subsistence wages seem to ring true.


A few days ago, on the way to a doctor's appointment, I saw someone neatly clothed but very thin with a sign reading "Hungry". On the way back, I saw another neatly clothed but very thin person with a sign in bigger and bolder letters, "VERY HUNGRY".

It about says it all.

To paraphrase Carville, "It's the jobs, stupid!" Obama is doing a lot of good things for the long haul; but there are a lot of people who can't wait. They need relief now. They need reforms to take effect next month not slowly over 10 years.

About a year ago, I re-read Karl Marx as well. And I agree, communism (while it sure SOUNDS great on paper....) is not the answer, but he had some very valid points on expropriation of surplus labor.

In retrospect, thinking back on the workers plight in that time period, or in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" era, I guess I really shouldn't be bitching, but then again, to accept the current subsistence wage situation is to move backwards...... and too many fought too hard (and sometimes with their lives) to revert to those days.

In fact, you are probably quite bitchin' (JOKE!).

But, seriously, it's the same situation as the turn of the century except you are in retail where there aren't big heavy machines that will lob off a body part. (It turns off the customers).

And I think of all the sheep out there with that BS mentality that they have been sold for the last few decades.... and I start bitching some more!

What happened to a living wage??? For shit's sake, we have folks out there that chose not to go to college, for whatever reason. Should they be punished with a life of extreme financial hardship just because they didn't make "the right choice"???? Maybe college just wasn't an option? Folks nowadays are working their asses off only to make "The Man" (whoever "The Man" may be to that particular person..) rich beyond his/her wildest dreams. Why? Because we've been sold the BS that with "a lot of hard work, we too can have a chance at that Brass Ring!!!!! News flash: it ain't gonna happen; the deck is stacked, the cards are marked and the dice are loaded.

We need to wake up, America!

:)

The trick is to be the one that actually understands what it take to MAKE The Brass Ring.

It's taken me 7 years to learn how to do most everything that I need to make my life better, and this journey has gotten me out of debt, enabled me to produce my food, fiber, and fuel.

For me, The Brass Ring is a steady, abundant supply of healthy, Organic food, with abundant variety. All the rest is generally unimportant to me at this point, as most of the food sold in America is tainted in one way or another -- or grown on depleted soil and is just for show.

I figured it out one day, because all that most of you want to talk about is "workers". Those of us who are too old to work, or too sick to work, or too injured to work... can just go suck an egg.

IT FIGURES OUT TO $4.21 AN HOUR!

DOES THAT MATTER AT ALL TO YOU?

I get $500 a month from my part-time employment and $200 from SSI. The only reason I can survive is that I get Section 8 rent subsidies and food stamps. Over 80% of us with Asperger's Syndrome have no full-time work

It is a national disgrace.

And I'm sorry to hear about your disability; I'm not familiar with Asperger's Syndrome, but having a disability doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. And I'll be willing to bet that you work your ass off for that $500 per month.....

What a crying fucken shame this country has become!

I am a college grad., I decided to become a carpenter as I had started on a "framing crew" when I was 15 during summer break, and I loved working outside. Now three heart attacks later, social security turned me down again for disability. I have statements from my Cardiologist that I am unable to work. I take 18 meds a day. I have been lucky because my Union insurance has been paying me $250.00 a week. The SS had me visit their Dr. G.P. (10 minutes). His only "patients" are SS seekers. He doesn't even have a receptionist or speak intelligible english. He stated that I was able to do "sedentary work." My Cardiologist is a medical professor at I.U., a medical researcher and a surgeon who has worked on my heart. He placed two of my five stents. Yet, his invaluable opinion did not hold water compared to the SS "Dr.", I worked as a Union carpenter and earned every bit of the $30.00 an hour salary. What happens to Dr's, Pilots, surgeons, etc.. who become disabled? Are they expected (against medical advice) to find sedentary jobs? Now, in a few months I will be eligible for SSI because my temporary disability from my Union runs out (after 3 years). I can receive $400.00 a month. I often made that in a day and a half. Fair? I can't even read this without taking BP meds. I shake like hell. If I could survive off of my meds (they make me exhausted) long enough to go back on a Union job site, I'd go. What a world.

P.S. I will no longer have health care anyway..

This is outrageously UNACCEPTABLE in a country with this kind of wealth!

I'm sorry, but having a roof over your head IS NOT AN OPTIONAL LUXURY!!! Having food on the table IS NOT AN OPTIONAL LUXURY!!! Having adequate health care (not health insurance) IS NOT AN OPTIONAL LUXURY!!!

And where the fuck does this SS "Doctor" (SS??? ha ha) get off telling you that you can get a sedentary job????? Where exactly does he think these mythical jobs are????? I dunno, but I don't think Mickey D's allows their employees TO SIT WHILE FLIPPING BURGERS!!!! And in case that asswipe of a doctor hasn't tried to find a job in this economy, I gladly show him exactly what kind of job opportunities are out there right now!

Sheesh! And folks wonder why I changed my party affiliation to the Socialist Party.....

Their policy clearly states that just because there are no jobs in our economy for a specific condition, it doesn't matter. If there were, you'd be able to perform that function. Even if I were able, and I'm not, it took years of training and experience to reach that point in my career.They expect you to go from $30 an hour to $6.50 an hour. Is this what they tell huge earners also? I don't think so. What if an SS "judge" was no longer able to perform his job? Ticket taker? lol, right.. Of course, I can not get my retirement benefits from the Union. Their policy is that you have to be rated 100% (no work of any kind, like my Cardiologist already states) by the SS to receive your (paid by you) retirement benefits. It's not the Union. They raised my standard of living and have helped me every since my major M.I., rebuilding in New Orleans. They have been very creative to allow me to still draw insurance benefits, years longer than the original 26 weeks.

I am ALL FOR THE UNIONS!!! I'm thankful that we even have the smidgen of what's left of the unions after what Raygun has done to them.

Did you see what I wrote about living on disability?

People here are only concerned about "the working poor", no matter what we try to get through their heads.

Over half of all people on disability are on SSI, and I figured it out one day... it amounts to $4.21 an hour.

WHERE do you think we can find a place to live on THAT?

Yes, for me a place to live is "optional".

and good to be back to DU and hear from you, Bobolink, by the way. I beleive you, I know what the fuck is going on; disability??? can't keep a roof over your head for $400? Fuck me..... it ain't happening! I'm sorry, I'm a Socialist, this IS NOT AN OPTION!!!!!

T.

I have had so much of that and it hurts....deeply. (Of course, then I am told to toughen up)

People don't understand the reality of the situation. They don't understand, and as others here have said, it has become apparent they don't WANT to understand. :cry:

Several of us have tried and tried to get across what the reality is, but very few actually listen, others get nasty, and even the ones who HEAR AND CARE don't want to join in taking action.

So, we are left as it is. Clothing optional? no... HOUSING OPTIONAL.

I am working hard on putting together a PowerPoint presentation (with the help of several DUers!) to try to educate people to this reality. I don't even know if THAT will make any headway with this, but SOMETHING has to be done.

Care to join us in this?


ps.......I have some recommended reading, a report by WRAP called Without Housing. It is the best one, and well worth the time to read it.
http://www.wraphome.org/downloads/without_housing.pdf

See why I get away from politics/DU for months at a time? Certain subjects, such as inequality of wealth, poverty, etc... just get me really heated up. And look, I've only come back for a few days and here I go, getting so incredibly angry. Not at any DUer so much as all the bullshit in this country, and no, the fricken teabaggers don't mean a damn to me.

I'm going to click on to your link and read once the virus scan is done (it always slows down the computer while running), meanwhile, good to hear from you!

T.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

The "people skills" requirement fetish for jobs even where that is not relevant, how job interviews work, and the behavior of bosses themselves makes finding a job very hard for me, and working at a McJob is impossible because of my sensory sensitivities and inability to multitask.

Sometimes it takes a shock to the system to see the lies foisted upon us and break out of the Social norms imposed upon us.

What struck me in your comments are your descriptions of the state of mind of your coworkers, along with their acceptance of the economic state they are in.

The failure of society is the removal of the basic skills needed to provide for oneself and loved ones that do not rely of money earned by working for somebody else. It's the result of Corporate education and marketing that promotes a New and Improved way of doing things that removes our connection to actually prodicing things with our hands and our minds. American's have become nothing but consumers, feeding a machine that thinks up new ways the transfer their wealth to the rich.

Unfortunately, many people that have done the "Right Thing" have received no training when it is finally revealed that the "Right Thing" was just another unsustaianble marketing campaign that was not based in reality.

Take advantage of this event and teach yourself new skills that make YOUR life better, not some perceived future employer. Do something wild! Learn about Electricity, Chemistry, or Botany. Learn why Genetic Engineering could be the end of us. Start looking at things from several different viewpoints and identifying the phony claims made by Corporate America and refuse to go along.

The web is a wonderful place to get lost in the many sciences that the Powers That Be would rather not let the Average American know about. They are all inter-related, and the focus on specialization is a Corporate trip to reduce the ability of people to take care of themselves.

As far as teaching myself new skills, I have developed a passion for genealogy; I love a good puzzle!
I enjoy finding little links and pieces and putting together a picture. Not exactly rocket science, but I enjoy the hell out of it.

Without doubt this country is going through changes that are profound and unfortunately we're all caught up in the consequences, but I can't really think of anything I would want to salvage. Not because there aren't any good things about it. There are, but what most Americans believe this country is all about is false and always has been. What exactly do you think is broken that wasn't broken for many generations at least.

I agree we're in a crisis, but it's a crisis that's been building for a long time. We were just not paying attention maybe because most of us were caught up in the rat race while at the same time coddling ourselves with a standard of living that was impossible to sustain. And it has been a rat race which is unsustainable. No leader is going to stand up and tell Americans that the reason we are in a crisis is because of the very things Americans clutch dearly to their chests. The American dream was and is little more than a fantasy, and the meme that we are the greatest this or that has always been false.

We have been consumers far more than we've been true citizens, and it's been at the expense of other countries on an economic and environmental level. We may be feeling the sting and stigma of poverty now but we've lived in such a way that we've created the worst kinds of poverty and pollution on the planet for other countries. For example, our leaders have done their best to keep every other country on this continent in poverty. Our neighbors to the south of us suffer because of us when it should be that they should be thriving because of us.

I don't know how to solve our problem but I believe the consequences of our actions will teach us what we need to do and we will still be here. What we will be will hopefully be very different than what we have been.

Maybe it isn't a matter of 'taking our country back'. What is it that we want to take back? Our standard of living as consumers who pillage the world for our pleasure? Maybe we need to evolve into somthing different. That's where my thinking is. I see nothing so precious from our past that needs to be 'taken back'.

We are rapidly approaching a bottleneck of cultural evolution. We've changed our own environment to a point where we will either adapt culturally and continue to exist, or we could actually cause our own extinction through our inability to accept the limits of the environment.

I believe that humans will continue to exist, it's the unsustainable cultural that will go extinct. How many casualties there will be, and how we continue to exist are the questions.

Our current "leadership" is driving us down the extinction path. Survival depends on workers rebelling against the bosses.

No Choice and they know it better than we do.

When the shit really hits the fan.

That way, they will have billions of colonists climbing over each other, and maybe even pay for the chance to get blasted off into space for years at a time using new and untested space travel technologies that will miraculously appear at the most appropriate moment.

I'm sick of it. We have become so selfish. The Tea Baggers are complaining about taxes they aren't paying and health care that they already get. And the media shines a light on them instead of real problems in this country. We used to want to care for the least of us instead it's what's in it for me. The 70's have been called the "ME GENERATION", but I really think this is the "ME GENERATION". At least back then we were fighting for real rights and causes.

seemed to be more latitude for disagreement with Obama and Congress, but once it was over that latitude was reduced. I am now back to posting gingerly for fear of being called a flipper, whatever that is. Yes, the experiment that was the United States of America is now over. In a real experiment you can't take chemicals out of test tubes and put them back the way they were, and such is it with the United States. The changes cannot be undone, reversed, particularly by an administration who wants to gain favor with the opposition in all its endeavors. There may indeed be a short period of seemingly improvement as all the money pumped into the economy gains velocity. But with the debt overhang, it can't last. Also, you can't force people to spend. The boomers, who had between 30 and 60 per cent of their savings destroyed are saving like mad. That is good, actually. But it does not make for a booming economy that will endure. The middle class, who has paid for everything is dissolving right before our eyes. So we have the rich, who control everything, including the all branches of the government still spending freely, the middle class spending relatively little, and the ever-growing poor class spending, as always, nothing. Reagan began the destruction, and every President after him perpetuated it. What will what's left look like? Basically, a bunch of nice buildings with dirty bathrooms and few people. My projection is the US will be gone by 2045, except for remnants.

Our elected officials support it while trying to convince us that our social democracy is alive and well. The Bush era was the end of any remaining semblance of democracy in the U.S. I saw it, my friends saw it, even my mother saw it. No matter how we tried to educate others, we couldn't pull them away from American Idol long enough to show them what was happening to this country right in front of them. I'm considering selling my home, if it's even possible, and leaving this place. Especially if these maggot-fucking republicans ever regain power in this country.

FDR, but we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, the defense budget still burgeons, most corporations still pay little or no US federal income tax, Warren Buffet, God bless him, still pays a less percentage of his income to Uncle Sam than his secretary with a VAT being floated as a panacea, the jails are still burgeoning with non-violent drug offenders and hundreds of thousands are still being arrested annually on marijuana charges, the DOJ has not been cleaned out and former senator Stevens (R) was exonerated whereas Siegleman (D) is still being crucified, most of the egregious Patriot Act is still with us, and some very conservative names are being floated for the Supreme Court, HCR assured the insurance companies will still rake off thousands of dollars annually per capita, Wall Streets still rakes off thousands of dollars annually per capita, and BHO seems to be moving perceptively further to the right. :cry:

We have 47 million people in this nation without health care, we have over a 10% unemployment, we have a homeless population that is larger than some of our largest cities, yet were is the voice from these masses?

Quelled under tons of misinformation in order to distract them from unifying under a single banner of change, they are shuffled to the side as a stat in order to keep them quiet. There have been various attempts to form various "movements", but what becomes of them?

Our society is now designed in such a way, that a person in poverty is so busy trying to keep mind and body together that there is virtually no time to do anything else. As a result, depression, suicide and hopelessness is rampant among its population.

One would think though, with so much untapped raw power at the peoples disposal, why isn't it being utilized?

Class division.

As long as the rich, the crooked, the glad handers and the career politicians keep people under the guise that there are different levels of class other than the uber wealthy and the rest of us, the general masses will continue their circular firing squad of "inter-class" warfare.

The rich control the mass media, they control what we eat (for the most part), the control the purse strings, they control who gets to say what and when via blackmail, backroom deals and outright corruption and most of all, they maintain the class mentality.

Like I have written so many times in the past, the wealthy, the government and the powers that be learned a lot from the protests of the 60's and 70's. They learned how to keep the masses off balance. To dumb us down, to make us fat and lazy, to take the easiest route to a perceived form of "freedom" redefined by them. As long as people believe that unions are crooked and worthless, that protesting is an exercise in futility, that only having wealth, being famous and or that everyone has a chance of being a celebrity, what do you exactly think people will do to change things? Nothing. Everyone believes they are a lottery win away from success, they are an untapped sports talent, they are americans next idol, dancer or whatever. We are children and made so.

What is freedom?

Ask any American what freedom is and I will be you anything, the average person will give you some half assed answer regarding being self sufficient. The average person has been so brain washed into thinking that their freedoms have been taken away and that we have to get back to some bizarre utilitarian form of self made whatever, that the real meaning or definition of freedom has been so lost in the haze of disinformation, they they will solve their feelings of want of freedom buying a 72" or 84" HDTV as a good replacement.

I'm not just talking about the halfwit tea baggers, I'm talking about everyone.

Here on DU, we are informed for the most part, however there are still many here that will continue to cheer on the titanic as it vanishes beneath the waves.

Those of us who shun the tv propaganda machine, radio screech fests or the heavily slanted large news papers choose instead to get our news from the source instead of the filter. We filter, use critical thought and come to logical conclusions (for the most part).

But you must remember, we are part of a very small group of people who actually pay attention.

As for the majority of the people in this nation, I don't think the issue is a lack of caring as a whole, it's a lack of understanding. People want easy answers, they want to be able to express their thought's, feelings and stands on issues in 15 words or less. Life isn't explained in 15 words or less and that is the problem.

I have several close friends whom I consider good dems, yet they are so completely disconnected from what is really going on, that when I present them with stats, they still don't believe me. They think every problem is just one congressional bill away from solved.

We live in a state of colossal disconnect.

People complain about oil spills but they don't have a problem driving to work or continuing to use plastic whatevers.

People bitch and complain that the economy sucks yet they go out an buy enormously expensive things to make them feel good thus putting themselves further into debt.

People complain about the state of our food, yet they think nothing of going to a fast food stuffer shack to fill their guts with poison.

Daily we see the homeless increasing in numbers on street corners, by freeway exits, under highway bridges, yet, the blinders still go on.

We hear horror stories about our health care system but because a "reform" has passed, everything will be A-OKAY now.

The tea baggers protest against their own best interests because they are willfully ignorant of the actual problems going on in this nation. For them, it's better to be right than do the right thing. It's this type of ignorance that is our ultimate undoing. The constant striving to be right in the face of contrary evidence is what it's all about now.

It's no longer a matter of what is good for the nation, it's a matter of what is good for "me".

On a whole, the concept of critical thought and questioning everything that comes across our political, social and economic table has left the building completely.

Once upon a time, protesting was for the greater good. No longer, it's about staking "my share". The obvious rantings of the right and some on the left is more about, "me being right" regardless of what is real and important.

It's a vent.

This "being right" mentality is a vent for the economically and socially disenfranchised. As long as the masses are allowed to let off steam, real or fake, every now and then via false reasoning, the kettle is kept on the pot.

Keeping the people from unifying is the main mission. So long as that is maintained, nothing will be change.

The government works hard to keep a solitary leader from leading a movement. Or if one does emerge, they are usually bought, sold and controlled by the media, money, celebrity or blackmailed. Sometimes all 4. sarah palin comes to mind. She will never amount to much because she's more useful doing what she does then if she actually had any shred of creditability.

She does more to keep her mouth breathing followers off balance then the government could ever hope to do.

Maintaining the status quo is the soul mission of today's government.

The tea baggers will never coalesce into to anything more than a group of frustrated Americans. And if they do "unify", their party or whatever they form into, will be so watered down from its original form, that they will be no more a threat then our current parties who are already very similar.

So like I said at the very beginning, I completely agree with you, but given the fact that any movement is willfully sandbagged before it gets off the ground, it will take someone more unusual, something unexpected, something from out of the blue to change the status quo.

Until that point, all we few, that pay attention, should not give up and to continue our best to push the ball forward in the face of overwhelming odds. Why?

Because, not that we know better, but something much simpler, we want better.

Cheers.

Like I have written so many times in the past, the wealthy, the government and the powers that be learned a lot from the protests of the 60's and 70's. They learned how to keep the masses off balance. To dumb us down, to make us fat and lazy, to take the easiest route to a perceived form of "freedom" redefined by them. As long as people believe that unions are crooked and worthless, that protesting is an exercise in futility, that only having wealth, being famous and or that everyone has a chance of being a celebrity, what do you exactly think people will do to change things? Nothing. Everyone believes they are a lottery win away from success, they are an untapped sports talent, they are americans next idol, dancer or whatever. We are children and made so.

"Our society is now designed in such a way, that a person in poverty is so busy trying to keep mind and body together that there is virtually no time to do anything else. As a result, depression, suicide and hopelessness is rampant among its population.

One would think though, with so much untapped raw power at the peoples disposal, why isn't it being utilized?

Class division."

The Middle class is also kept very busy in order to keep them from actually using their own mental capacity to actually see what the system is doing to them.

When one totally escapes from the "Rat Race" or the current system, you have time to do whatever is necessary as each day presents itself. Every day has the potential to be a "Snow Day" where you stay at home and do whatever is most appropriate in regards to the natural functioning of our physical body. I have been able to do what my mental, physical and environmental situation indicates for the past 7 years, and it is has been a very productive journey so far.

Too many people think that we as humans are like some fricking machine, that can do the same repetitive task day after day, year after year. Well, we may be able to do it for a while, but eventually the physical body will fail, or the mental aspect will cause the physical body to fail. We are not made to keep working despite blisters on the mand, feed or mind. We need variety to recuperate and keep the minds alert and happy.

Unfortunately, most people are so busy with a specialized career, bills, TV, etc, that lack of time for family, relaxation, education and actual love of work destroys the ability of most americans to grow in wisdom or become aware.

I see many people that aling to a $65,000 per annum career, but they are very unhappy, yet vigorously defnd their way of life like it was the only thing that matter. They put up with self imposed Political stress and subjugation simply for a paycheck. It's really sad to see so many people trapped in the machine, but they are the ones caged in by their own choosing.

When people see alternative to the status quo such as myself, they immediately become hostile, because subconciously they see the alternative they are too timid to undertake.

at DU. We are routinely ignored. Ignored among "progressives".

There is an effort right with a handful of DUers to take an action, but we sure don't get any support.

Want to help us?

I believe this is the root of all our problems, not just in America, but throughout the world. It's important to make this distinction because, and this may be a cliche, but we're all in this together because, to quote JFK, "For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal."

I've written a couple blog entries that deal with many of the issues that you raise. The class division, the misinformation (and sometimes disinformation) that prevents us from unifying, the colossal disconnect between the social issues we care about and the social habits that belie our supposed concern. You're damn right that maintaining the status quo is the soul mission of today's government. The only real change will come when the status quo collapses. When will that happen? I say don't hold your breath, but keep your eyes and ears open. This blog entry illustrates what is going on:




The Primal Forces of Nature vs. The Real Primal Forces of Nature

While I myself am sick to death of the way the word "revolution" is bandied about like a hip label at a boutique retail outlet, I realize that talking about it has become par for the zeitgeist. Even the New York Times feels it's important enough to weigh in on this sign of the times. I've gone on the record lamenting this misdirected anger in a previous blog entry that I believe correctly relabels this phenomenon as devolution. I think that Jenna Orkin, while commenting on the New York Times article, gives the best assessment of the cinematic genesis of this movement:

Network

They say a radical is a conservative who's gotten arrested. These days, "laid off" or "foreclosed" will do just as well.

The Tea Party movement is Paddy Chayevsky's immortal scene in the movie Network projected onto the national screen; the one where everyone starts shouting out the window, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" It also evokes the early days of 9/11 Truth which was a ragtag militia of well-meaning, patriotic and even heroic souls finding their way among the misguided or psychotic. Ron Paul figures large but so do some other less reliable but all too familiar characters. (Read the article and figure out who's being referred to, dear reader.) They have even resurrected the phrase, "big tent."

The burgeoning doubts about the Federal Reserve are a good sign but when they're coupled with questions about Obama's citizenship, one is left with the queasy feeling that there's major disinfo going on here, like those websites that smear legitimate questions about 9/11 by juxtaposing them with doubts about the Holocaust. - Jenna Orkin



Sad comparison, but probably apt; no doubt four years from now Tea Partiers will be resigned to getting evicted from whatever show Bill Maher is hosting as a means of getting attention. Or they could take a far right turn and pull a McVeigh on the country they claim to love. Either way, their movement is doomed because the vast majority of their members remain locked in a "mad as hell" mentality without bothering to investigate the roots of their anger. Orkin is right that those questioning the Federal Reserve are getting close, but they're missing the big picture. An illustration of a larger portion of that big picture is given later in the movie Network, when Howard Beale, after rallying his supporters to demand the government stop the sale of a corporation to the Arabs, is called to a meeting with Arthur Jensen, the head of CCA-the Communication Corporation of America that owns Beale's network:



Arthur Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU...WILL...ATONE!
Arthur Jensen: Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those *are* the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that . . . perfect world . . . in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.
Howard Beale: Why me?
Arthur Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.
Howard Beale: I have seen the face of God.
Arthur Jensen: You just might be right, Mr. Beale.



It is these self-proclaimed "primal forces of nature" that call the shots and are responsible for the way the world is today. The Federal Reserve is just one part of this; shut it down, put the dollar back on the gold standard, do everything on the Tea Party wish list and it still doesn't scratch the surface of what the "primal forces of nature" consists of. A quote worth repeating, "Until you change the way money works, you change nothing". While there is the temptation to identify the "primal forces of nature" as corporations, or the system of corporatism, I believe these are the symptoms and not the actual disease.

The disease is the Infinite Growth paradigm. This disease afflicts all operating economic systems in the world today; capitalism, socialism and communism all operate within this paradigm. Why do I consider it a disease? Well, let's take this "one holistic system of systems" at it's word. What do you call "primal forces of nature" that attempt to grow infinitely within a finite organic system? I call it cancer! The difference that makes this an imperfect analogy is that our planet is much stronger than the human body. Or as George Carlin put it, "The planet is fine! The people are fucked!" Whether we fuck ourselves through Peak Oil or Global Climate Change, it is the inevitable result of the Infinite Growth paradigm colliding with The Real Primal Forces of Nature: Earth!

The arrogance that fuels the mindset that we humans are the primal forces of nature is what must be addressed if we are going to have the revolution we need as opposed to the revolution that stimulates our ideological persuasion. We need genuine balance, not the ebb and flow from "one vast and ecumenical holding company". That means as people, we must live in harmony within the natural physical limits of our planet. That means our economy must be based on sustainability, not growth. That means our money is no longer tied to wealth creation but is representative of energy, both the human energy we produce and the planet's energy that we utilize. I'm not sure what that civilization will look like, but I think it will be a hell of lot more civilized than the one we have now where our Supreme Court takes what is satire in Network and makes it reality in this century.

"You say you want a revolution?... You better free your mind instead".

http://americanjudas.blogspot.com/2010/02/primal-forces-of-nature-vs-real-primal.html



There is another blog entry I wrote that amplifies the concept of devolution, and how this is both a threat and an opportunity:




Devolution: The Reality of Post-Peak Upheaval

There has been a lot of bantering in the blogosphere using the word "revolution" recently. The frequency and intensity with which I've seen the word "revolution" goes beyond the hysterical insanity from which it originated this year. It's no longer in the domain of Dominionist "Birthers" and "Deathers" prattling on at their "Tea Parties" as though waving a pack of tea bags that they bought on sale at Wal-Mart bears any relation to the wholesale destruction of the tea shipment at the original Boston Tea Party in 1773.

Not that the Christian Taliban were the only ones at those rallies. There was also a large contingent of Libertarians who hitched their wagons to that Silly Symphoney. I'm not talking about the gun nuts packing heat and cherrypicking "liberty" quotes from the Founding Fathers. Hell, even the Official Tea Party Pied Piper Glenn Beck calls himself a Libertarian. He also believes he's in complete agreement with Thomas Paine, which shows how little he actually reads from the books he promotes. I'm talking about those who are in ideological agreement with Ron Paul, who long before Beck twirled his teabags wrote a book called Revolution: A Manifesto. His followers think that abolishing the Federal Reserve without first changing the way money works is some sort of panacea to our problems. While I am not in ideological agreement, I can at least respect it as an ideology: "One Nation Under God" only qualifies as ideology if the goal is theocracy, which I can't respect.

But now in the wake of Health Care Reform watered down to the soggiest of waffles, revolution is no longer a right-wing rallying call. Within the last week, I've seen it trumpeted at dailykos and democraticunderground. These calls for revolution differ from the dispensationalist drooling at the town hall meetings this summer by focusing on the dynamic disparity of wealth exacerbated by a Corporatist State where both parties are bought and sold. While I am closer in ideological identification with this problem in the wake of the 2008 Meltdown, it still doesn't quite get to the source of what's ailing us. This quote is the closest it gets to really encapsulating the crossroads we stand at and the tools it will take to deal with it:

"You know, there's been a lot of talk about Abraham Lincoln. But the President we need today is not Abraham Lincoln. The President we need today is Thomas Jefferson. He said that we needed a revolution every generation. Thomas Jefferson said you have to be ready in order to preserve the vitality of your liberty and your freedom to defend it, not by overthrowing anything else except for what you've been holding in your head that may not be applicable anymore. We've gotten very lazy, we're many generations overdue for a revolution in our thinking. I'm not talking about blood and violence although I'm afraid that's already happening. I'm talking about a revolution that's probably the hardest kind, the kind that takes place inside the human soul and the human mind. To be able to tear everything down, throw everything out and start with a completely fresh piece of paper and say, 'OK, how do we solve this problem?'"
-Michael Ruppert, March 2009

This is the quote that starts the movie Collapse, which I reviewed previously. The problem he refers to is Peak Oil. That problem is not a question of if, but when. It is a problem because by and large, the civilized world has done nothing to prepare for that problem. Without preparing, future economic growth is not possible if there is increasing demand for a permanently declining supply of a product that is irreplaceable to the foundation of our economic infrastructure. As Ruppert , Catherine Austin Fitts and originally M. King Hubbert said, "Until you change the way money works, you change nothing". Something's got to give. Most people assume that "something" means revolution. But I believe we face devolution. There's two ways of understanding devolution: politically and metaphorically. I'll address the political definition first:

Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. It differs from federalism in that the powers devolved may be temporary and ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure, unitary.

Any devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed by central government in the same way an ordinary statute can be. Federal systems, or federacies, differ in that state or provincial government is guaranteed in the constitution. Australia, Canada and the United States have federal systems, and have constitutions (as do some of their constituent states or provinces). They also have Territories, with less power and authority than a state or province.

The devolution can be mainly financial, e.g. giving areas a budget which was formerly administered by central government. However, the power to make legislation relevant to the area may also be granted.


While wikipedia provides a nice overview of how devolution has occurred throughout history, including American history with the District of Columbia, I anticipate that there will be a much deeper devolution in post-peak society. Many researchers in the Peak Oil community have noted that relocalization is a necessary component of adapting. With increased local responsibilities will bring increased local power to whatever tenable form of government exists. What shape that takes remains to be seen. It could occur through a second Constitutional Convention. It could occur through violent force. But the bottom line is that relocalization necessitates restructuring our political and economic infrastructure in a devolutionary manner. Whether we will be successful in doing this or not depends upon whether we can reverse the devolution that has already been taking place metaphorically. Now for that definition:


In common parlance, "devolution", "de-evolution", or backward evolution is the notion that a species can generally evolve into more "primitive" forms by losing adaptations no longer necessary in a new environment. According to this view, changes from one biome to another may usher in pressures to weed out an obsolete function which is no longer useful for survival after the transition, and that the probability of losing a organic function in a new biome, via the conventional evolutionary pressures to "evolve", is more frequent and explainable than the synthesis of a new organic function. The scientific evidence for modern evolutionary synthesis has disproved the idea of "devolution".<1>

The popularized connotation of the word "evolution" leads many to misunderstand Darwin's theory of evolution in thinking that "evolution" requires some sort of "increasing complexity".<2> Yet the Darwinian theory of evolution does not reject the possibility of decreasing complexity (c.f. vestigiality) as the basis for some evolutionary change. Early scientific theories of the history of life on earth tried to account for species diversity as a result of acquisitions of various adaptations to the environment, and these included Lamarckism and orthogenesis. However, modern genetically-based biological evolution theory asserts that evolution occurs by non-teleological mechanisms such as natural selection, genetic drift, and mutation; hence "devolution", Larmarckism, and orthogenesis are rejected by modern evolutionary synthesis.


Again, I am being metaphorical, I am not propagating a biological fallacy. You see, whereas many people who read, listen to or watch Michael Ruppert and find an alarmist proclaiming doom and gloom, I read his above quote and I see an optimist. That he can go through life, experiencing all the drama he has and come out the other side of the rabbit hole believing it possible that there can be a revolution in our thinking "inside the human soul and the human mind" fills me with hope. But when I think about the devolution taking place metaphorically, well, I think I'll let George Carlin provide a more eloquent description to my wariness:


"Not too bright, folks. Not too fucking bright. But if you talk to one of them about this, if you isolate one of them, you sit 'em down rationally, you talk to 'em about the low IQ's and the dumb behavior and the bad decisions; right away they start talking about education. That's the big answer to everything: Education. They say, 'We need more money for education. We need more books, more teachers, more classrooms, more schools. We need more testing for the kids!' You say to 'em, 'Well, you know, we've tried all that and the kids still can't pass the tests'. They say, 'Aw, don't you worry about that, we're gonna lower the passing grades!' And that's what they do in a lot of these schools now, they lower the passing grades so more kids can pass. More kids pass, the school looks good, everybody's happy; the IQ of the country slips another two or three points and pretty soon, all you'll need to get into college is a fucking pencil! 'Gotta pencil? Get the fuck in there, it's physics!' Then everyone wonders why 17 other countries graduate more scientists than we do. Education!

Politicians know that word; they use it on you. Politicians have traditionally hidden behind three things: the flag, the Bible and children. 'No Child Left Behind! No Child Left Behind!' 'Oh really, well it wasn't long ago you were talking about giving kids a Head Start! Head Start, Left Behind, someone's losing fucking ground here!' But there's a reason. There's a reason. There's a reason for this. There's a reason education sucks and it's the same reason it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It's never going to get any better, don't look for it, be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that.

I'm talking about the real owners now. The big, wealthy...The real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets, and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They've got you by the balls! They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying – lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else.

But I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking.
They're not interested in that! That doesn't help them. That's against their interests. That's right! You know something? They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don't want that! You know what they want? They want Obedient Workers – Obedient Workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork but just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And, now, they're coming for your Social Security money. They want your fucking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all from you, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It's a big club - and you ain't in it! You and I are not in the big club.

By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long and they tell you what to believe...All day long, beating you over the head in the media, what to believe, what to think and what to buy...The table is tilted, folks! The game is rigged! And nobody seems to notice, and nobody seems to care! Good honest, hard-working people! White collar, blue collar... Doesn't matter what color shirt you have on! Good honest, hard-working people continue...These are people of modest means!...continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don't give a fuck about them! They don't give a fuck about you! They don't give a fuck about you!They don't care about you! At all! At all! At all! Yeah! You know? And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on. The fact that Americans probably will remain willfully ignorant of the big red white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes every day! Because the owners of this country know the truth - it's called the American Dream: because you have to be asleep to believe it."

Yes, devolution might be a solution politically for the future, but right now it is most definitely the metaphorical problem with our American culture.

http://americanjudas.blogspot.com/2009/12/devolution-reality-of-post-peak.html



If you're paying attention, you may have noticed an inherent contradiction between the distinction I made at the beginning of this post about how this is a global problem, we're all in this together, and the re-localization option that I advocate. Reconciling this contradiction is not as simple as "think globally, act locally". On some level, the degradation of our global environment necessitates international cooperation. But the simple truth is that we will not have enough money to enforce anything on an international level. Participation in Project Save Humanity can only be acknowledged through an honor code. Collectively and individually, in conscience and behavior, we simply must evolve or perish, grow up or die.

The wealthiest influence lawmakers and policy with their wealth, and the ignorant masses are convinced to vote against their own interests. They're told that unions are why our manufacturing base collapsed, they're told that "Drill baby drill" will lower gasoline prices, they're told that the government wants to take away your freedoms and kill your grandma with a MODEST health care reform bill that only tinkers with the system we already have. They're told that excessive environmental and safety regulations are killing companies and thus killing jobs. They're told that tax cuts for the wealthy and for businesses will stimulate the economy and make companies open new factories and hire people like them. They're told that welfare queens and illegals are stealing all their hard earned money. So, many of them do as they're told and put Republicans into office, based on these false ideas. And then we get the obstructionism and gridlock that we face today, with any tiny amount of legislative progress akin to pulling teeth, with a firestorm of bad press (oh noes, soshulism!), and Dem politicians too afraid to do anything more than make small improvements and fearing for their jobs. I don't know how we counter the ignorance, unfortunately--the media will never do its job.

What the goddamned fucking hell?!

You disgree that the average person is distracted and poorly informed? You disagree that the wealthy and the corporations at the top of the food chain aren't taking advantage of this ignorance (and maybe even perpetuating it), and dumbing down and manipulating the masses to do their bidding?

Insulting people and then demanding they vote for YOUR wishes is about the height of selfishness.

Get back to me when you are able to be a bit respectful of people who are different from you.

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lump yourself in with stupid uninformed people who vote Republican against their own self-interests, then be my guest.

bottom, no thanks to people like you who don't seem to possess much compassion.

That was an insult to me and millions of other people just like me. YOUR WORDs.

You were insulting, and made a broad-brush statement with your insult. When you decide that you are a big enough person to apologize for that generalized and prejudicial statement, then we will have something to talk about.

Until then, your lack of courtesy says it all, and the conversation is ended.

Goodbye.

I am enjoying your posts,I have downloaded from the link and will read it later..

When the balance of wealth and power got out of hand, the proletariat rose up. Look at the French Revolution. The irony of that was many of their financial problems came from helping a foreign country, America. Compounded with the lavish spending habits of the "Elite", there was nothing left for the commoner. "Let them eat cake" are some famous almost last words. Sound familiar? Look at how better off those "Poor people" from NOLA were after Georgey bought them one way tickets to Democratic districts. It's working out very well for them!

Here's the problem we have now. The proletariat is too fucking stupid to rise up. Americans have been dumbed down by a failing (by design) education system and a bombardment of bull shit. The "Average Joe" is too engrossed with NASCAR, Dancing with the stars, American Idol, etc to know what is going on around them. I crack up when I see the 1984 Toyota Tacoma that's falling apart with W stickers all over it. Here's a poor stupid fuck that has been ingrained to believe that the Rethugs really care about HIM when in fact, there's not a one and there are MAYBE 10 Dems that do. Goebels would be green with envy if he could see the massive mis information machine created by the PTB. It's brilliant! Convince people that the media is liberally biased and then come up with the "Truth Channels". Those enlightened ones who watch and listen to the Truth Channels are encouraged to hate and distrust those poor dumb fucks that are destroying THEIR country. Divide and conquer, that simple. Bill O said one thing that I can think of that is true or close to it, and this was during the 04 election cycle. He said we break down like this as a society. 20% loony left, 20% loony right, 35% that just wander through life without a clue, and 25% that pay attention to what's going on. I think we can take away 10% of those that pay attention and add them to the loony right.

All that said, we're fucked UNLESS, those of us who do care and pay attention make a stand and do it now. We have to educate or at least attempt to educate those who just don't get it. I know that's hard because to a lot of them, facts are of no consequence. I have had success with a few though by asking them to just step back and THINK for one second about what goes on IN THEIR LIVES. If we were a "Totalitarian, Communist, Dictatorship, would Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, et al even be on the air?? No, they would be in Obamas secret Gulags (built by Haliburton under W). If we were giving all our money to the worthless poor, would they still be worthless and poor? Thinking, or at least independent thought is a thing of the past unless we encourage people to stop and think. I know that's hard as all our lives, we have been indoctrinated to believe certain things from an early age. Cowboy good, Indian bad. American good, Russian bad, etc.

If you think about it, our heritage is a pretty shitty one. Our fore fathers happened upon this great land mass full of natural resources, murdered or enslaved it's original inhabitants (Read Savages)and hogged all the resources for themselves. The great Buffalo massacres were about depriving said "Savages" of their source of food, clothing, shelter, jewelry, etc, not satisfying a desire to just kill big animals. Those Savages had great respect for everything the great land mass had for them. Then we came along. Our heritage is not a proud one and America is not exceptional. We were at one time a great country due to our sense of community. We need to bring that sense of community back and realize we're in this together. WE also need to encourage people to think outside the box and encourage 3rd party candidates. Our currant 2 parties are totally corrupt and wholly owned with the exception of a few. They must serve us or go. The dems are in a pickle now because 9 of the top 10 Wall St favorites are DEMOCRATS.
They will be biting the hands of their corporate masters with this reform their "Pursuing". Can't wait to see how this turns out.

Stay tuned! I'm working on a plan and will need lots of help!

There are a lot of us who used to be in the middle class, but no one seems to care about any of us - or the poor.

expressed, let alone reply to it.

And have compassion for the pain that you are feeling?

HAH!

:nuke:

:pals:

admittedly it is much worse after 30 years of Reaganism and the enabling done by members of the Democratic Party.

Jimmy Carter gave a famous speach about 'malaise' and after that Reagan and his disciples manufactured a new propaganda election based upon a new dawning in America where we could spend and consume our way out of our problems. Forget little realities like we were extremely dependent upon fossile fuels, largely used up in this country and only available in places of high political instability or hating us due to our ties to Israel. Reagan was elected - and after 8 years of Reaganomics and endless wars under Bush I, and Clinton, Bush II and now Obama we have failed to reap the social dividends that would have resulted from the peace dividend brought on by cuts in military spending from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the so-called evil Communism. (One would note that despite the Communist perks and the benefits given to the nomenklatura, Communist systems did not have homelessness and unemployment as we have seen in this country under capitalism. Furthermore, the wealth disparities between the party elites and the blue collar workers was far less than it is in this country.)

Maybe it helps those who enable these diastrous policies (mostly Blue Dog Democrats but many who don't claim to be Blue Dogs but enable just the same) to demonize Republicans. But the Democratic Party has largely replaced the Republican Party as the party of the elites while the Republican Party has moved to the right and into the nut house.

Thanks for the thread, Political Heretic.

There are a group of us working on raising awareness of these realities, hoping to put an Ad in the NYT very soon.

If anyone wants to help, keep an eye out for upcoming threads, and let it be known you are ready and willing to help!

Thanks!!

However, many on DU don't like this idea. They would rather have government tax more from the rich. But that doesn't solve the problem of lower income people not getting pay raises.

Tying Executive pay to all employees pay, means if they want more money, they have to pay the employees more. Quite simple really.

you said what needed to be said, but what can we do? i'm not sure ANYTHING can be done short of a revolution and i'm certainly not advocating that. the politicians are so corrupt and as long as we don't have term limits they'll continue to be there for the highest bidder.
and the weird thing is....the rightwingers/teapartiers agree with us.

I have nothing to add to what's been said already.
Sad and sickening.

This country has been through worse. It will still be here long after we're all gone and there will be citizens of the year 2200 crying doom and gloom too.

The only time the wealth disparity or the creep of the power of the corporations got to these levels dramatic actions were required and taken.

...while working full time and still unable to pay the rent. Or cooking in the fireplace because you cannot afford electricity (if you are lucky enough to have a place and your place even HAS a fireplace).

Talk about a lot of drama, live that way for a week and you would be crying like a baby.

AARRGGHH!
Cat in Seattle

THEN these same people will be wanting us to go and vote for *their* candidates.

To. Hell. With. It.

What about "Earth" and "Human Being"?

You make it sound like this man made construct of Nationalism and division of peoples into Nationalistic enclaves is a good thing. Meanwhile, the planet and it's environment are inexorably poisoned to the point where all life is affected.

When a country can be co-opted into supporting a system that ignores the fundamental realities of finite resources, such as clean air, clean water, and health food, then that Country is nothing more than a collection of Bacteria ready to hit the tipping point and fail.

... not because they sat around making excuses and accepting their situation.


During the French revolution, there were plenty of people making a case that cake isn't that bad... and that things were far bleaker before like during the hundred years war. During the American revolution, there were plenty of people making a case that the early colonial years were far tougher; there was famine, conflict with the Indians, the Spaniards and the French, and in the big scheme of things a tax without representation wasn't the end of the world. During the great depression, I am sure people were making a case how being unemployed wasn't all that bad... it could be worse the Canadians could be marching over DC and scorching it.

Milquetoast apologists and enablers have never been part of the solution. It would be fantastic if they were to stop using the achievements, of those who actually did something to solve the problems generations past, to make their apologies.

citizens of the future would have no reason to be crying doom and gloom. Or are you actually saying there is no reason to be doing so now?

Other Empires have fallen, in fact all of them. That's what's happening to this one. I don't think it's a bad thing, unless you like you being an Empire. Most of them evolved, like Britain, which can no longer go around the globe raping and pillaging other nations, unless they attach themselves to the New Empire as they have in Iraq. Hard for the Elite to get over all that power. But, for its own citizens, things are a lot better in Britain today than they were when they WERE an Empire. There's far more equality than there was back two or three hundred years ago.

If this country had heeded the warnings about getting engaged in 'foreign wars' eg, iow, becoming an Empire, we might not have had to go through this difficult transformation.

But yes, the country will be here in the future, hopefully lacking the global power it accumulated in much the same way all Empires do so, at the expense of untold millions of other people's lives. Like all Empires, this one has made the same mistake others have. They have not taken care of their own citizens, and those citizens eventually realize what has happened to their country, and who really owns it.

Maybe in that future, it can be a country that takes care of its own citizens, leaves the citizens of other countries alone, and starts applying the rule of law to the criminals who brought about the state of affairs we are now dealing with.

They are doing it in South America, including finally, prosecuting THEIR war criminals, men who ironically, were supported by this country. No one will miss the U.S. Empire, except for the few who profited from it.

If even Bill Gates Sr sees it and calls for more taxation for the rich in my state (who have the highest tax rates on the poor more than any other state), you KNOW there is a problem: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011662727_apwaincometax2ndld.html.

Here is the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy where you can look up your state: http://www.itepnet.org/ Incidentally an interesting analysis they have there is a disgusting lack of corporate taxes being paid ~ over 1/4 are paying nothing and yet getting billions back ...

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE PEOPLE?

Cat In Seattle

The USA as is may not last a whole lot longer. I would have not that that possible in my lifetime but now I don't know, critical mass is building.

He happens to be an independent and not a Dem.

Double sigh.

He has a lot of causes, but poverty isn't one of them.

As another poster observed, Edwards was the only one who had the courage to talk about poverty.

:cry:

Blind (and deaf) Helen Keller, a socialist, had 20/20 vision when, in 1911, she wrote, "Our democracy is but a name. We vote? What does that mean? . . . We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee."

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OK for who...the poor and homeless?

Really? How do you see that playing out?

Maybe you need to get OFF your medication and wake up.

:party:

I was going to rec this because of all the accurate facts, but it's just way too over the top.

Perhaps we could get more people to understand this without screaming revolution and posting pictures of fists in the air? It's great for getting people to rec posts on DU, but it doesn't work in the real world.

Calm, cool and reasoned discussion will work. Not overly dramatic hyperbole.

Sorry. Unrec'd :thumbsdown:

... we got an uppity progressive to run over with our concern!

for a while.

THEN we'll see if you remain unexcited.

Its really too bad that you can hear the screams of those who are hurting.

REALLY sad.

Of course, the answer could be that its worked out pretty well, if you are part of the majority DU demographic (based on the polling recently conducted) as white, over 30, and upper "middle class" "Calm and Quiet" works great for that demographic, because it maintains the status quo that benefits them.

But in reality, there's nothing "hyperbolic" about a system that functions - by design - by exploiting disposable poor people. Spend a month living under the bridge with the people you usually drive past and then come talk to us.

The absurd immorality is in those who aren't loud and angry.

Your insensitivity and utter lack of empathy is appalling.

we need more of these. Our problem with poverty is NEVER addressed, whether it be in the media or by our "leaders". They are the forgotten, in the supposedly richest country in the world.

But this hit the Greatest Page and so I took you off Ignore so I could read the thread



No? Really? Dude's name was Lyndon Johnson. Read a book. Seriously.

Back to Ignore

That's without a doubt, the dumbest response I've ever read in my life. :eyes:

Most seem REI grade at least:

Eight months ago I was still living out of my twenty year old truck.

I hope things are going better for you now.

Oh, and the car I live in is 25 years old now. And small.

and yes Jimmy Carter spoke of these burgeoning inequities while in Office.

He spoke of a national problem, he never actually said the word "Malaise", of consensus.

The media ran with the "Malaise" even though he never said it (sound familiar), Reagan beat him over the head with his shining city on the hill bull crap. There was a shining city on that hill only the bottom 90% were denied entry...

Ronald Reagan, on the other hand...

Forces, the Bush, et.al., interference in the Iran "Hostage Crisis," and the completely manipulated "gasoline crisis." Now Ronnie the Raygun on the other hand, benefited handsomely from these events.

The end of Jimmy Carter's Presidency can well be called a "hit job," orchestrated primarily by the Texas-American Petroleum Mafia and their butt-buddies, OPEC, and with background 'support' by the Military Industrial Intelligence Complex (MIIC).

BTW, I just bookmarked (something I hardly ever do), and HIGHLY recommend this other thread by the OP:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8187415

We have a strong contingent of enablers who refuse to see anything wrong with what is happening. If enough people actually do see how wrong the direction we are headed is, perhaps there can be change. I don't get my hope from mindless genuflection in the direction of "leaders" who don't lead us where we need to go. My hope comes from the idea that people care enough to see the truth. If enough people opt for the red pill, we can overcome the negative direction of those who choose blue and even counteract those who took the red pill, but have decided that the blue pill makes them happier. They know the truth. They just refuse to acknowledge it.

Well done post. Thank you.

many before me have said this, but thank you for what you have written. We absolutely must be honest with ourselves about the state of our country. And you laid out an unsavory truth here. Thanks for being courageous and doing that.

Thanks! :yourock:

is a super power. Its ridiculous. What are they judging the super power by? Too many Americans have suffered great losses. The Politicians and greedy Corporations have stripped some of the people of there very existence. Hence, no home,no address.No job,no food. See the one thing I think is that they figure that they will be safe in their little gated communities.They think that if the masses are starving that they will be able to keep their food. These really aren't the brightest bulbs in the pack. See crime and violence may go up,but people that live in your neighborhood have about what you do. They are also two or three paychecks from being homeless. Now if they are the ones who have the money,food,and housing, How long do they think that hungry people will let them keep it. They are only 20% of the population.They think like Marie Antoinette "Let them eat cake" But someone needs to tell them the chicken won't make it to the doctor's office.

:kick: