Election cycles have an increasingly slaughterhouse feel to them. Not only are politicians getting butchered: this is the third election in a row that the party in power is getting its veins slashed laterally from the 49th parallel south, with good reason. But the American language, too, is getting butchered by hyperbole. It makes for good TV but dumb politics. It also sums up the last 30 years. There’s nothing new here, which explains the mire of America’s direction since the age of Reagan (with a small ‘a’) and the transformation of a nation of Great Things into a country slouching toward second world status, and third world status in Florida.
Click On:
- How Republicans Became America’s Arabs
- Neo-Supremacy Chic: Glenn Beck And Sarah Palin’s Tea-Scalding of MLK
- Socialism, Capitalism, and Other Fallen Stock
- August 2010 GAO Report on Stimulus
Two years ago when Democrats solidified their gains in Congress and took the presidency, the GOP was a party of obituaries. Republicans were written off. Last night, the word of the evening was “bloodbath,” with Democrats’ blood irrigating Republican glee. Memory isn’t an American strength, but Google is: Democrats and the Clinton presidency were written off in 1994, too, when Democratic losses were greater than last night’s, just as the Reagan presidency was written off, two years into the old man’s tenure, when his approval rating was around 35 percent (10 points below Obama’s today) and Democrats picked up enough seats to increase their House majority to 62 percent. Republicans still controlled the Senate then, just as Democrats still do today, with roughly the same slim majorities. Reagan never had a Republican House the entire time he controlled the White House’s jellybeans jar. But his presidency was far from done, unfortunately. Check your national debt stubs, which doubled during his tenure.
When Carter was elected in 1976, with a veto-proof, 61-seat Democratic majority in the Senate and a crushing, 292-seat majority in the House (67 percent of House seats), Republican obituaries were almost as popular as Oliver’s Story, Erich Segal’s sequel to Love Story then dominating the bestseller list. You know, and don’t care, what happened to Oliver’s, and Carter’s stories. The Number 1 bestseller the year Reagan was at 35 percent? E.T. The Extraterrestrial Storybook, which inspired Reagan’s biggest initiative in his State of the Union message immediately after the big electoral loss: the Star Wars missile system that would end up adding $125 billion in absolute waste to the deficit we’re facing today, though you won’t hear tea party debt wailers mention that one.
It was the same story in the 1950s, even with Eisenhower’s cross-dressing Republicanism in power. “In the United States at this time,” Lionel Trilling wrote in 1950, “liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition.” Republicans were the joke that William Buckley got tired of hearing until he stood “athwart history, yelling Stop.” Reagan, of course, was Buckley’s idea of a progeny.
There’s not been much of an intellectual so much as an ideological tradition to speak of since 1980. Democrats, elected out of fear rather than conviction, should have been warned two years ago not to make too much of their big win. Barack Obama’s campaign was brilliant, seductive, even reassuring. But it was also strategically short-sighted, promising too much too quickly without explaining how difficult it is to pull a nation away from depression after years of concerted efforts to put it there: two useless wars, the 2005 Medicare prescription drug plan that began digging a $500 billion hole with not a dime to pay for it, and of course the compounding tax cuts of 1981, 1986, 2001, and 2003, not to mention the tax cut of 2009, one of the largest in history—Obama’s, that one—which did nothing to stimulate more than ignorance: some 90 percent of Americans, about the same proportion of Americans that benefited from the cut, say they didn’t know they got one, and blame Obama for raising taxes.
You can’t blame it all on a nation of imbeciles. There is that. But there’s also an administration incapable of telling its own story of governance as well as it told its president’s story on the campaign trail. “Given how much stuff was coming at us, we probably spent much more time trying to get the policy right than trying to get the politics right,” Obama told the New York Times in September. “There is probably a perverse pride in my administration—and I take responsibility for this; this was blowing from the top—that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular.” OK. Give him that. But every president will blame his failings on public misperception.
There’s also the inescapable reality of an Obama administration not yet conversant with leadership. Aside from the recession, three events defined Obama’s first two years more than any other: the stimulus package, the passage of health care reform, and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He handled all three the same way. He got the job done, as six presidents before him could not do in health care’s case, and as the previous president proved he was incapable of doing with anything that didn’t involve cutting a tax or blowing something up. But it’s the way Obama got it done that hurt him. Like the spill that wouldn’t stop, he dragged health care reform through Congress and that pretense of bipartisanship instead of taking ownership of it and making it his own, as he was elected to do. The stimulus bill and financial reform went through the same emasculation by Congress instead of carrying the president’s seal. He was not elected to defer to Congress, but to lead it. He deferred. He got punished, deservedly so.
It’s just as true that the punishment is out of proportion with Obama’s failings. There’s no question that the administration had major successes, including the rather modest stimulus package. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s judgment: the stimulus “increased the number of full-time equivalent jobs by 2 million to 4.8 million compared with what would have occurred otherwise.” A depression was averted. Wall Street was reformed. A drawdown, albeit timid, took place in Iraq (at the expense of a mad escalation in Afghanistan). Taxes were cut. GM and Chrysler were saved and are now back in the black, and even the $700 billion bank bailout, approved during the last days of the Bush administration, but administered by Obama throughout, has been mostly repaid, with losses that won’t exceed $30 billion—about $200 billion less in losses than the savings and loan bail-out of the Reagan-Bush years, which was never repaid. Again, check your debt stubs.
Obama, in essence, has been an establishment president, too much preserving the status quo that led to the collapse of 2008 while tinkering with a few improvements. He has not only been a centrist. He’s been a deferential one to the point of being obsequious, more conservative than liberal, more protective than daring, and in foreign policy (or with Guantanamo, don’t-ask-don’t-tell, Afghanistan and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict) he’s been more Bush than Bush. But he’s also an evolving president whose combination of talent, intelligence and probity exceeds that of most of the men who’s held the White House, including every single one of them since Johnson and Nixon (who had two of the three qualities). His colors aren’t about to run, either.
The absurdity of calling Obama a leftist president, let alone a socialist, is part of the adolescent mentality that seduces perceptions in America these days, where the language of fear and mock discourse poses for policy—and where “mainstream journalism,” if there is such a thing anymore, has co-opted the bloodletting rhetoric of the fringe and made it its own. It’s no place for debate or conversation when obstruction and evisceration is so much more fun, more lucrative to seekers of power and ratings, short-term profits being the corollary of short-attention spans.
In that sort of climate, governance-minded Republicans are being booted out of office as swiftly as governance-minded Democrats. Those who try to compromise will be punished. That’s one of Tuesday’s big messages. Another is that in American politics, where Wall Street’s fine print ensures permanent blurriness between the Republican and Democratic parties anyway, there is no such thing as ideological dynasties anymore, except at the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices are shielded (for good and ill) from electoral accountability.
Short-attention span politics are here to stay. This is no longer a time for debate or conversation about getting things done. Do that and you’ll be accused of being aloof, professorial, disconnected, dull. No, this is a time for cleavers, for the butchery of policy in league with the butchery of language. It won’t get us anywhere. Which is why Tuesday’s results are merely the latest re-casting of the same tiresome play that’s not about to end its run on our second-world stage. Not with willing, paying spectators and bloodsuckers—or allegedly educated voters—like us.
c.zossima says
I do not believe more than a handful of Republican voters could understand let alone read this essay. Mentally deficient they all are. The country will be adrift for the next two years. Not a damn thing will be done for the average American. No jobs coming to Flagler county is a definite. Rubio is a crook, Scott is a crook, and the good old boy Florida graft and corruption machine steams down the track. Americans are in for shock and awe alright….the economy will continue to decline..as millions of jobs continue to be out sourced.
Two years will pass by quickly considering they will start campaigning 11/02/2011…one year away. The Repubs will have accomplished nothing, zero, zilch, squat, goose egg.
Tina Jeffe says
Unfortunately, we face the same old, same old from conservatives. And voters with amnesia will still blame the “Socialists”.
Robert L says
Most people don’t comprehend that not much will change. There is not one newly elected person who is going to go to Washington and tell the existing crew how to do business or change the manner in which business is done. The gravy train is going to continue to run. Those already in office will continue to be bought and paid for by special interests and the new ones will learn how it is done. Some may get a larger share than others but the train will still run.
Smaller government you say? Well which congressman is going to volunteer to cut jobs in their district; close installations, offices, reduce pork,etc? Tax cuts for the wealthy because they will create jobs? Where are the jobs that were created by the Bush tax cuts and those that were to be created before him by the Regan tax cuts?
And the band played on.
Dave Thompson says
Just wanted to say thanks for the great info on this website. After reading the longwinded socialistic posts by the acedemic zeros that feed here here I voted straight republican and NO on amendment 4, as did the great majority.
Obviously Mr. Maginot and his leftwing loons still do not understand that unlike France, where they rioted in the streets like animals when the government threatened there ration of free cheese, Americans still want freedom and the oppurtunity to succeed, and they realize that we cannot borrow our way out of debt nor can we be taxed into prosperity. And don’t even think of trying to cram something down our necks!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Kevin says
To the genius c.zossima:
It is obvious I suppose to everyone but yourself but based on your comment and what I saw of the people who attended the various rallies democrats and their “progressive” base held recently in Washington held by comedians that you are more or less the smartest kid in the mentally challenged class. Instead of finding a common ground people like yourself demonize, insult, and make ad hominem attacks when addressing others not at your level of ignorance and/or sharing your ideologies.
You come across as a childish rub, the very kind you accuse others of being. Yet here you are with the same old failed name calling tactics…sound familiar??? Maybe you should open your eyes and research personally the actual bulk of the democratic party, as well as yourself, before you make ignorant stereotypes about all republicans and more importantly, conservatives whom only want to put a halt to the detrimental policies currently being forced upon us against our wishes and good sense, which good little leftists like you seem to march in beat with glee.
Really who are the the dumb ones here…people who allow politicians of all people, to create and implement massively written laws that they have not even read themselves and then, congratulate them as having accomplished something good? You sure are a smart one my friend. Your like a double nought spy— the type that Jethro Bodine from the Beverly Hillbillies praised himself of being.
Jimmy says
But I do have to ask, what is the deal with the Republicans and “lower” spending? Reeeeally? Are the Republicans known for balancing the budget? Are Republicans known for “shrinking” government? Really? I ask this, not just sarcastically, but also honestly. Empirically speaking, Republicans have done none of this. They talk a strong game when not in power to score points but when in the driver’s seat, they start wars, run up deficits, bankrupt Social security, pervert the constitution, pass new laws which favor the rich, and bring new meaning to the word “corruption” just to scrape the tip of the iceberg…sorta like what Dems have been accused of by them (minus the small detail of the multiple wars….but hey, didn’t hear much about the cost of that this time around, huh?).
Soon, as schools, the environment, food safety, local law and order, and other social programs start to be impacted, people will wake up again and nudge the electors back to the middle. So yea, people wanna be mad and blame the Dems? Fine. The Dems do share some blame for things, but not for what they were blamed for this election.
Now, with that being said, I also blame moronic voters. I cannot begin to wonder what the fuck all the suckers who voted all the TP/reactionary right wingers were thinking. Here is the consequence of people not reading the newspaper. There was a sales pitch swallowed by those who seem not to be able to discern fact from fiction. It’s sad. We need to start reading again. An educated public is one which is not easily fooled (and speaking of that, where the hell are all the Florida teachers? This is going to change your profession here. Did you already forget what nearly happened six moths ago?). Historical amnesia works to the advantage of con artists and liars. Revisionist history was injected into the veins of those who are under the influence already and the consequences, I fear, could be fairly evident in the near future.
As for what it means? Well, we have heard all sorts of things. “It’s a message to the Washington establishment…” is something we have heard a lot. Whatever. The message is voters need to fucking pick up a newspaper and quit watching TV. Most importantly, it is a reminder to get-back-on-it out there. As for me, I need to get involved again. Activism takes on many forms. I like that so many people reading this can tell you, it can be as involved or as simple as one might choose.
Candidates are just one part of a ballot. And the ballot is just one part of the election. And the election is just one small part of a year in the place where you live.
So if you are reading this and are as frustrated and puzzled as I am, then I hope you agree that we have to look in the mirror for who to blame as well. It is our fault too. And I don’t say this from a partisan POV, rather I say it from a this-is-what-it-is-gonna-take mentality. It is not a “this is war” or “us against them” thing or anything, it is just that voting is not enough if you are a believer and working against something is just not as productive as working towards a better world. And as cliche as this all is, I still wrote it and believe it.
Kip Durocher says
The new governor took the 5th more times than Al Capone and John Gotti combined.
FB Local says
Kevin:
While I agree with some of what c.zossima said, I think he should of replaced the word Republicans with “most Americans”. This would be much more correct. I can’t stand any comment that is assuming & polarized. The party system has failed, it doesn’t take a genius to see that. No one is brighter on either side, both sides are equally deficient in truth.
Just look at Mr. Thompson up there, he just admitted he just voted for whoever was on his team, like this a sports match or something. Now, that’s just plain ignorance. It is clear that he just wanted his Red team to win, regardless of how incompetent the candidates were. How angry and uninformed he sounds.
By the way, Mr. Thompson, at least the French fight for something. Most Americans lay down and take it like two bit hookers. Protest? What??? and miss the Nascar race, American Idol or Teen Mom?
Americans pay taxes to nurture the progress of our nation and it’s people and to increase the quality of life in our country, yet we hardly get a say on where it is spent, instead we trust these criminals to do it for us. We spend out lives as slaves to the machine, work like dogs ( if we have jobs), take hardly any quality time with our families (for fear of losing our jobs), eat processed, genetically modified food (because it’s cheap), worship money, act selfish & self absorbed when it comes to charity (because it’s their fault they are poor), pollute the earth (because hey, we won’t be here to see the effects) and continually allow dole out corporate welfare so corporations can keep shoveling us shit we don’t need, (they need the tax break so the CEOs & greedy politicians can keep their summer homes).
This country has more excess, obesity, depression, addiction, crime, violence and disease than most every developed country in the world, including many third world nations.
How’s that for quality of life Mr. Thompson?
We only have ourselves to blame because we don’t stand up and take to the streets. But that’s what happens when you have a gradual dumbing down of an entire nation.
It makes me sad that our nation is breeding such self absorbed & sick generations after generations.
We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over.. it’s not working.
Real change is progression.
If we cannot progress, we are lost. Our country is in dire need of producing something other than garbage. Innovation & ingenuity was our strength, why not go back to those core values instead of outsourcing it for profit?
Oh, yeah, because some folks are afraid they might not get the whole, entire pie, instead, they might only get two pieces of it for their big fat asses.
We have become a culture of the blame game, everyone fighting against each other, no credit where it is due, no education on the facts, no investigation past what is fed to you via the idiot box, no thinking of others before ourselves. While we all point and blame, try to crush or imaginary enemies…
the clusterfuck continues.
United We Stand, divided we fall.
Commentator Jimmy did say it best…
It is not a “this is war” or “us against them” thing or anything, it is just that voting is not enough if you are a believer and working against something is just not as productive as working towards a better world.
Here’s a thought…Maybe we should do what’s right for the nation as a whole. Ask yourself, what have you done to make things better in your community? Volunteered to help your community, country, a neighbor, or a cause?
Or did you just pick the Red or the Blue team?
NortonSmitty says
To paraphrase one of the last real and honorable conservatives, Pointing to Stupidity in defense of Liberty is no vice. (Barry Goldwater, if you were wondering.) Kevin, if you’re an idiot, and I point it out to you, I feel it’s my civic duty in the hope you will rethink your position for the good of society and our country.
It’s not that I get any pleasure from it. But it’s because your stupidity is dragging our country down. By buying into the Fox news/corporatist/Fascist/zenophobic and, yes, I’ll say it Zionist International Banker Propaganda, you have turned the keys over to the people that have plundered the American middle class that has angered you so. You’ve been played. This is giving them the power at the key moment that will allow the to solidify their grip on all of us. A dyslexic chimpanzee could see this. The Chinese certainly will.
So, thanks, Kevin. You and your stupid ilk. Your shallow stupidity has killed America after citizens less stupid and naive than you have fought to bring it into the world, and then fought for over two hundred years to protect it from the greedy bastards that have always been there trying to take it away from us.
You gave it to them on a platter after only what, fifteen years of Fox propaganda?
So let me proudly point out to you the indisputable fact that you, sir, are an idiot. I’m tired of playing nice. This election as well as the last eighteen months has shown that you take this as a sign of weakness. My bad.
Kathy Tiller says
Great article, Pierre – especially “the Star Wars missile system that would end up adding $125 billion in absolute waste to the deficit we’re facing today”, not to mention the $4 Trillion amount I heard the other day that the War in Iraq has cost us to date. You won’t hear any of that in Republican or Tea Party slogans – but that is what they are very good at…polito-marketing slogans that appeal to people unfortunately in the sensory-overload lifestyle we all live today. Few seem to take the time to educate themselves on BOTH sides’ history…and be able to make intelligent voting decisions. Instead (in my opinion) we have instant-believers of slogans. And when it comes to selling themselves, the Republicans seem to have it. But what exactly have the voters BOUGHT?
starfyre says
i blindly voted for all republican on my ballot–because the dem’s are blindly leading our country
PC MAN says
I’m looking forward to the NEW republican party getting it done in Wash. I hear that kid Boehner is really gonna shake things up. This time it will be different. Trust me.
Jimmy says
Another 2 cents: But I would add that voting for politicians has done VERY LITTLE in American history to fundamentally change anything. Rather, collective groups of like-minded people who are fed up with the status quo have, throughout this country’s history, been able to make society better through direct action.
What do I mean by “direct action”? Any ACTIVIST could probably tell you, “direct action” is a catchall term that applies to actions taken by ordinary people to better their communities. Actions like participating in public feedings of the homeless and hungry, like so many Food Not Bombs chapters do every day in this country. Actions like organizing low-paid workers to demand higher wages and better working conditions, like the Industrial Workers of the World and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers do so well. Actions like engaging in boycotts of corporations like Monsanto that put harmful chemicals into our food, or building organic community gardens in your neighborhood.
You see, folks, voting for a wealthy, mostly white male politician (whether a Democrat or a Republican) to make decisions for you does NOT constitute democracy, and this country isn’t a real democracy. It’s a republic and not even a very good republic at that.
But if you all want to live in a REAL democracy, one where ordinary PEOPLE, and NOT politicians, corporate executives and military officials decide the fate of this country, then it’s your duty to get involved in radically changing the social structure of this society. By starting at the community level, you build a better society from the ground-up.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents for a grand total of 4 cents.
Kevin says
NS:
You pathetic little weasle…Little need be said in response to the ignorant ad homenim comments you made outside of the fact that there are no facts or specifics to support your ignorance. You talk a tough game through your keyboard. In the end, that is where it stops with you and people like you who mouth off during fits of anger because of your baseless notions developed from having too little skills and educational tools in your arsenal to better understand others. You appear hardly to be a person of worthy of commenting on the intellectual abilities of others based on your rant. So, let this be my proverbial slap to your big mouth, served with a glass of shut the hell up joker.
To the others…Yes, the problem is that our political system is broken indeed. Our two party choice is a joke. It is corrupt from the top-down because the influence of corporations and the ultra rich elite have in controlling their servants–our elected officials, the ones they allow us to choose from. I stopped hating the other side of conservatism because I have seen the light in the fact that they either don’t know any better (as do many on this side) or are corrupt and can’t be changed unless removed permanently from the roles of government.
Kevin says
Hey Kathy,
What about the bills the annoited one (BHO) has racked up like the one in India that shames that of kings and princes? You don’t see this too much of this being reported in the liberal rags, many of which are going bankrupt due to their inability to remain honest and objective, do you? Why is it this and was this necessary to do at this level of cost or was it more of the same, just because I can attitude- let them eat cake?
Maybe research ideas on boths sides of the isle and maybe you won’t be so happy about this man who walks on water (while wearing Edward Green Dover split toe shoes).
NortonSmitty says
Kevin, you pompous asshat, your “proverbial Slap with your keyboard” is about as lame as I can imagine your real slap would be. I stand by my words. You are a poltroon.
Jimmy says
@ Kevin: What specific “liberal” agenda or policy are you conservatives so afraid of? I have yet to find a conservative who can legitimately answer this one question without parroting Faux News talking points.
Kevin says
Jimmy,
I can appreciate your question however my answers have to extensive and wil cause a huge new debate that I cannot keep replying to because of work I am suppose to be doing as I write you now. I am hopeful you may have a few ideas of what they might be since you seem like you may have a brain and two eyes to see with.
Is everything on “faux news” a lie or dishonest? Seems to me they crush the other media outlets by huge numbers. Of course, most who don’t like them will say the people that watch that network are dumb. I’ve noticed that most on the other side of the isle can’t back up that comment as well. Let us leave it at that…until this semester is finished:o) I’m sure Pierre will have some meat he’ll throw into the ring at that time for us to fight over.
Jim R. says
One lesson the Democrats learned from the election results was that they didn’t try hard enough to be like the republicans. Now watch the great effort at appeasement , First thing Obama comes out with is extending the tax cuts for the rich, when he should have said we are going to reintroduce a progressive income tax up to 90% like the good old days when those with excessive income contributed to the betterment of all the less fortunate in our society, that’s right Kevin I’m a socialist and proud to say so.
NortonSmitty says
Kev, your right about the common opinion about the intelligence of the viewers of Fox. It gathers about 50% of the audience on any given night. Hard as it is to believe, even here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, half of the citizens are statistically below average in IQ scores. That does cipher out to 50%, I checked. This can’t possibly be a coincidence. Or a leftist plot. I don’t know, mabe Glenn Beck can explain it.
William says
“Forget politicians – they’re irrelevant. Politicians exist to give you the illusion that you have a choice. You have no choice. You have owners.”
-George Carlin-
It can hardly be argued that our electoral system is broken when your choices amount to paper or plastic, coke or pepsi, fries or chips. With very few exceptions there is no one, certainly not on the national political scene, who really gives a shit about the plight of the people. We have the owners favorites who cut taxes for their masters, start wars based on lies, and deregulate their masters enterprises; the other side at least gives the appearance of empathy, the illusion of change without the substance.
The masters endlessly promote their favorites by way of the media outlets they control, when they’re not busy distracting the sheople with American Idol or Dancing with the Stars. And the sheople swallow it hook, line, and sinker because they have been systematically dumbed down, propagandized, distracted, and misinformed. Add to that fear and anger, and the gullible voters drink the kool-aid by the gallons, yet have the nerve to wonder what happened.
In the unlikely event that a question still exists, a large portion of the voting public has shown the rest of the world that they are the stupidest electorate on the planet. In a manner not unlike the co-dependent victim of spousal abuse believing the “I’ve changed, please give me another chance” ruse, the people have given power back to the party that has brought our nation to its knees and are expecting different results. Wat could possibly go wrong? These are not just the people who voted repuke/teabagger, these include the moderates/progressives who stayed home. A 48% voter turnout is not something to be proud of. In an exercise of minority rule, 51% of this elections’ voters (24.5% of eligible voters) said it’s OK to put an individual who should be in prison into the governor’s mansion. Completely. Fucking. Stupid. And spare me the “he didn’t know about the Columbia HCA fraud” excuse; accepting this falsehood on its face can only mean he was incompetent as CEO, or he’s a liar.
So, what happens next? The Fascist States of America will continue to be under the thumb of the big banks and Wall Street, multinational Mega-Corporations, and the MIC. You know, the owners.
I can’t help but wonder what the baggers reaction will be when they realize they’ve been had; that the rich keep getting richer without any semblance of accountability for their criminal behavior, while they themselves remain summarily fucked. What will be the repercussions when people who are armed to the teeth and angry realize their “chosen ones” are essentially the same as the bums they sent packing? What will become of the “no compromise” battle cry when the authorization to raise the debt ceiling comes to a vote and party leadership demands a “yes” vote so their pyramid scheme can go on a little while longer?
They said they wanted to take their country back. As compromised as the system is, I would still have preferred someone who would take the country forward. Assuming that’s still possible
FB Local says
William for President! You got my vote.
PC MAN says
The teabaggers will come to realize what the christian right has already found out, they are the bitches of the republican party. They will get them to donate money, volunteer and vote on election day, and for that they will get NOTHING.
hitekrednek says
i wanna vote for the gay guy–hes best in touch with my feminine side…
William says
@ FB Local. I’m announcing my candidacy, representing the Keg Party.
NortonSmitty says
I’ll be the loyal opposition, The Mazolla Party.
Leo Sigh says
I just keep saying over and over again how happy I am I left America a few years ago. It’s a country in decline, with a wailing, screaming elite that will destroy everything in its path in an effort to save its disgusting immorality.
So happy I no longer work or live to support this disgusting system. I just feel sorry for all the Americans who still do and who think, by voting, they can change it. Nothing will change it.
Uman says
My understanding is that financial regulatory reform hasn’t amounted to much. Credit default swaps haven’t been touched. The Federal Reserve has been given MORE authority. The big banks (the only ones left) are sitting on a trillion bucks in cash with little or no incentive to loan it out. And now the Fed is planning to quantitatively ease them on down the road by printing out another trillion in cash.
Unlimited anonymous money now fuels the toxic political hatchet cycle. We should take it easy on each other because we’re ALL getting played! Remember real estate? The other shoe still hasn’t dropped . When the reckoning comes, it isn’t going to be pretty.