Jobs

[boedicca]

Refreshingly cerebral and centrist? In which parallel universe do you live?

 

[georgephillip]

Do you believe the US is currently a Democracy or an Oligarchy?

It is now and it always has been an oligarchy.

The degree to which the insiders have been giving themselves advantages that the rest of us end up paying for, however, has accelerated considerably in the last 30 years.

That is why this economy is unsustainable.

We allowed our masters to screw the midddle class.

And without its middle class The Center Cannot Hold.

In one of his recent articles, Noam Chomsky filled in some details of why Joe Stack crashed his small plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas last March.

Joe came from the rust-belt where he lived next door to steelworker's widow in her 80s existing on cat food. Instead of the promised pension and medical benefits for his 30 years of service in the mills, the widow's husband"...was one of thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement."

Leaving his wife with nothing but Social Security to live on.

And now the rich want Social Security.

What do you think will happen if the Fall of 2010 makes Fall 2008 look like Happy Days?

 

[boedicca]

Leaving his wife with nothing but Social Security to live on.

And now the rich want Social Security.

What do you think will happen if the Fall of 2010 makes Fall 2008 look like Happy Days?

Excuse me - but Social Security was sold to the public as old age income insurance. Anyone who pays into it has a right to expect the return of their money.

 

[georgephillip]

The irony is we are a democratic obligarchy. We keep electing the same power elite (or those put up by the power elite). I'd hoped Obama was different - his choice of Timothy Geithner as Sect. Treasury and Larry Summers as an ecomomic adviser makes me wonder what he was thinking. Insiders have no clue as to the plight of real Americans, or, at least they don't seem to care if they do.

Sometimes the radicals (Noam Chomsky & Alexander Cockburn) get it right. Both saw Obama as a centrist Democrat in the Clinton mold long before Obama reached Washington.

Possibly his selection of Geithner and Summers has more to do with the amount of Wall Street money his campaign raised in '08?

What I wonder most about is why so many "progressives" seem incapable of judging Obama by his policies and character...

Many progressives want him to lead more to the left, and radicals on the right see him as far left (it all depends on ones perspective). On most issues I find the Obama presidency refreshingly cerebral and centrist - the one issue I question is the economic policy.
It's obvious the Republican Party is fighting for its survival, they have lost the last two elections and feared a successful Obama administration might be their undoing. As the economy is central to the success of any president, McConnell and Boehner as well as Limbuagh - the defacto leaders of the R party - have made every effort to stonewall an economic recovery. With an intense propaganda campaign against Obama from even before his inauguration, aided by the conservative media, it's little wonder recovery has been slow.
IMHO the biggest lie told by the Republicans is "Country First".

Republicans and Democrats are all about Party First.
Maybe second since both put Wall Street first.

How bad would circumstances have to get before you would consider FLUSHING both major parties from congress (and the White House)?

Imagine a 2012 presidential race between Ron Paul and Ralph Nader with the loser serving as vice-president.

Working with a congress that's 50% Green/Libertarian...

 

[boedicca]

Sounds like a Dystopic Nightmare.

 

[georgephillip]

Leaving his wife with nothing but Social Security to live on.

And now the rich want Social Security.

What do you think will happen if the Fall of 2010 makes Fall 2008 look like Happy Days?

Excuse me - but Social Security was sold to the public as old age income insurance. Anyone who pays into it has a right to expect the return of their money.

I agree.
Now which one of us wants to tell Pete Petersen?

Social Security is the last big pot Wall Street wants for itself.
Maybe Pete and the boys have overreached this time since it won't be just the fringe left who'll be in the streets on this one.

Maybe we can all remind Pete why Social Security's known as the third rail of American politics?

 

[boedicca]

Peterson's "Running on Empty" is a good read. (he's an On, not an En).

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Running-Empty-Democratic-Republican-Bankrupting/dp/B003JTHT1C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278359740&sr=8-2]Amazon.com: Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It: Peter G. Peterson: Books[/ame]


He's correct in that we are going to have to redo the "SS bargain" in order get our unfunded liabilities under control. I'd be okay with this if the same ruthlessness were applied to the public employees whose lavish pensions and benefits (and employment levels) are bleeding out the country.

I personally do not expect to see one dime of my SS contributions returned to me - and started saving for retirement right after I finished grad school. I could see the train wreck coming years ago.

 

[georgephillip]

Sounds like a Dystopic Nightmare.

Both Nader and Paul would end the mass killing in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It's hard to see any Democrat or any other Republican willing to do that.

 

[georgephillip]

Peterson's "Running on Empty" is a good read. (he's an On, not an En).

Amazon.com: Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It: Peter G. Peterson: Books


He's correct in that we are going to have to redo the "SS bargain" in order get our unfunded liabilities under control. I'd be okay with this if the same ruthlessness were applied to the public employees whose lavish pensions and benefits (and employment levels) are bleeding out the country.

I personally do not expect to see one dime of my SS contributions returned to me - and started saving for retirement right after I finished grad school. I could see the train wreck coming years ago.

Do you see the wreck arriving before midterms 2010?

 

[boedicca]

The wreck has been underway for quite some time. Just look at the Unemployment Levels - especially U6.

Tax receipts are below 15% of GDP while the government is spending above 25%. They've created such a mess that even if they threw the entire $400B of Stimulus Pork spending into the economy between now and the mid-terms, it wouldn't move the economic needle.

The only thing that could save the Dems is to simultaneously announce rollback of federal spending to 2007 (or earlier) levels combined with making the Bush tax cuts permanent. It's against their DNA, however, so they won't go there.

 

[georgephillip]

How about simultaneously declaring victory in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to the American Empire?

 

[KissMy]

Do you believe the US is currently a Democracy or an Oligarchy?

The irony is we are a democratic obligarchy. We keep electing the same power elite (or those put up by the power elite). I'd hoped Obama was different - his choice of Timothy Geithner as Sect. Treasury and Larry Summers as an ecomomic adviser makes me wonder what he was thinking. Insiders have no clue as to the plight of real Americans, or, at least they don't seem to care if they do.

You people will continue to be lead around by the ring in your nose because you thumb your nose at grass roots selected candidates from the TEA Party. You will always vote as your masters pulling your strings tell you to, for the leader they choose for you.

Enjoy slave Enjoy!

 

[georgephillip]

If it's true the three richest men in the world have more money than the poorest 48 countries, is any country on this planet more democracy than oligarchy?

There are reports from the left that the Koch brothers pull a lot of strings in the tea party.

Who are the slaves in that movement?