The More Things Change?

[daveman]

George, TM, who exactly is keeping you down, and how?

 

[georgephillip]

George, TM, who exactly is keeping you down, and how?

Here's the best answer I can provide on short notice.

Courtesy of Catherine Austin Fitts.

A Declining Popsicle Index:

"I have said it 1,000 times. I will keep saying it. At the root, it is very simple.

"The Popsicle Index is the % of people who believe a child can leave their home, go to the closest place to buy a popsicle and come home alone safely.

"For my entire life I have watched the people around me make money from things that cause the Popsicle Index to go down. Drugs, housing bubbles, mortgage fraud, political corruption, environmental pollution. You name it.

"Now this is REALLY simple. If we all try to survive by doing something that causes someone else harm, then the pie shrinks and many or all of us go down.

"So what is the solution?

"Wake up tomorrow and say, 'I will do my best to shift my time, my attention and my resources to focus on people, activities and enterprises that support a rising Popsicle Index.'

"Just stop doing things you believe cause the Popsicle Index to go down.

* Stop spending your time watching media that has not protected the Popsicle Index.
* Stop investing in companies and governments that cause the Popsicle Index to go down.
* Stop dating people who make money causing the Popsicle Index to go down.

"Begin anywhere. Just start. Do what you can. Keep it going. Do it in a way that gives you energy. Try stuff. See what works for you. Attract people who do likewise. Avoid people who don’t.

"For my entire lifetime the Dow Jones has been going up while the Popsicle Index has been going down.

"The question before us is 'Can we align the relationship between the Dow Jones and the Popsicle Index from a win-lose relationship to a win-win relationship?'

"The answer is, of course, yes. Step one is to face the real problems. Most of the answers lie outside of the matrix.

"Stop being socially acceptable. Our problems are too serious to stay inside the matrix in the hopes of clinging to respectability.

"The world is now full of organized crime syndicates that have more powerful computers and weaponry than sovereign governments and have grown powerful on decades of drug running and black budget shenanigans.

On one hand, it is pretty scary."

If I had to pick one word responsible for my condition, it would probably be fear.

 

[Liberty]

The earth would be a paradise without humans.

So why do you choose to be alive? Set the example.

 

[shintao]

Such fucking whining about how the evil rich people screwed you over.

Can anyone tell me how their life would be better if the fucking government took all the money those evil rich people have? Or are you really lamenting your own failure and seeking solace in blaming someone else for your fuck ups?

I believe it's the latter.

I have some problems with the whole scheme of things myself. First govrnment would be better if we took all the money the rich had, and redistrbute to all Americans. How are your going to stimulate the economy if the money isn't in circulation?? Hmm? Same thing with the Stock market, disolve that bitch that is destroying America.

My problem here is that Amerian workers claim to be these rugged individuals that don't need any government help, yet they laid around for three years now with never a thought to save themselves. Meanwhile the Unions who are not weak, who are organized and self-sufficient, are working right along. And yet you slugs of society critize them for having living wage jobs, the very reason people work,...and for stimulating the economy with their money.

Why don't these bums gather and start a business? Put an ad in the paper and get some people to stop being weaklings and start controlling their own destiny, start a business and get off the dole. Or go overseas and get a job.

Instead we have the loafers getting free paydays off the backs of the middle class.

 

[daveman]

George, TM, who exactly is keeping you down, and how?

If I had to pick one word responsible for my condition, it would probably be fear.

That's your problem. Why should anyone else have to pay for it?

 

[Meister]

The top 1% of incomes that own 90% of everything has always screwed-over the other 99% less fortunate. So what's your point?

The most recent example is the wealthy moving 14,000 factories overseas. Now we have 10% unemployment and a growing underclass, all thanks to the DC whores who rake in lobbyist donations for their votes.

Not to mention that with Obama trying to bypass Congress with the EPA, I'm sure more will be leaving. Ah, yes....the dirty little facts.

 

[georgephillip]

George, TM, who exactly is keeping you down, and how?

If I had to pick one word responsible for my condition, it would probably be fear.

That's your problem. Why should anyone else have to pay for it?

Tax bias?

"Most Americans believe that a person should enjoy the full fruits of his or her labors, however abundant.

"In this light, taxation tends to be seen as an intrinsic evil.

"It is worth noting, however, that throughout the 1950's--a decade for which American conservatives pretend to feel a harrowing sense of nostalgia--the marginal tax rate for the wealthy was over 90 percent.

"In fact, prior to the 1980's it never dipped below 70 percent.

"Since 1982, however, it has come down by half.

"In the meantime, the average net worth of the richest 1 percent of Americans has doubled (to $18.5 million), while that of the poorest 40 percent has fallen by 63 percent (to $2,200).

"Thirty years ago, top U.S. executives made about 50 times the salary of their average employees.

"In 2007, the average worker would have had to toil for 1,100 years to earn what his CEO brought home between Christmas in Aspen and Christmas on St. Barthes."

Please stop thinking like a slave, dave.

A New Year's...

 

[Skull Pilot]

Such fucking whining about how the evil rich people screwed you over.

Can anyone tell me how their life would be better if the fucking government took all the money those evil rich people have? Or are you really lamenting your own failure and seeking solace in blaming someone else for your fuck ups?

I believe it's the latter.

I have some problems with the whole scheme of things myself. First govrnment would be better if we took all the money the rich had, and redistrbute to all Americans. How are your going to stimulate the economy if the money isn't in circulation?? Hmm? Same thing with the Stock market, disolve that bitch that is destroying America.

The economy or what people do with their money is not the government's business.

My problem here is that Amerian workers claim to be these rugged individuals that don't need any government help, yet they laid around for three years now with never a thought to save themselves. Meanwhile the Unions who are not weak, who are organized and self-sufficient, are working right along. And yet you slugs of society critize them for having living wage jobs, the very reason people work,...and for stimulating the economy with their money.

Many people made bad choices all on their own and they should be allowed to suffer the consequences of those choices all on their own. I never took out a mortgage i couldn't afford. I never refinanced my house every time the value went up. I never maxed out all my credit cards. I save almost 30% of my monthly income for the future because I live well below my means.

There are a lot of people out there like me who feel it's not our responsibility to bail out the fucking idiots who don't know how to run a budget.

Why don't these bums gather and start a business? Put an ad in the paper and get some people to stop being weaklings and start controlling their own destiny, start a business and get off the dole. Or go overseas and get a job.

Instead we have the loafers getting free paydays off the backs of the middle class.

I ask people all the time why they don't take responsibility for their own lives. And I never get an answer I only get whining.

 

[editec]

GeorgePhillip asks us to

imagine if hyperinflation turned every $10 bill in your possession into a $5?)

George... I don't have to imagine that.

When I was a kid a dime bought a loaf of bread.

That same loaf is now about $3.

Very few people's incomes have really kept up with inflation in the last 40 years.

 

[editec]

Such fucking whining about how the evil rich people screwed you over.

Can anyone tell me how their life would be better if the fucking government took all the money those evil rich people have? Or are you really lamenting your own failure and seeking solace in blaming someone else for your fuck ups?

I believe it's the latter.

I have some problems with the whole scheme of things myself. First govrnment would be better if we took all the money the rich had, and redistrbute to all Americans. How are your going to stimulate the economy if the money isn't in circulation?? Hmm? Same thing with the Stock market, disolve that bitch that is destroying America.

The economy or what people do with their money is not the government's business.

My problem here is that Amerian workers claim to be these rugged individuals that don't need any government help, yet they laid around for three years now with never a thought to save themselves. Meanwhile the Unions who are not weak, who are organized and self-sufficient, are working right along. And yet you slugs of society critize them for having living wage jobs, the very reason people work,...and for stimulating the economy with their money.

Many people made bad choices all on their own and they should be allowed to suffer the consequences of those choices all on their own. I never took out a mortgage i couldn't afford. I never refinanced my house every time the value went up. I never maxed out all my credit cards. I save almost 30% of my monthly income for the future because I live well below my means.

There are a lot of people out there like me who feel it's not our responsibility to bail out the fucking idiots who don't know how to run a budget.

Why don't these bums gather and start a business? Put an ad in the paper and get some people to stop being weaklings and start controlling their own destiny, start a business and get off the dole. Or go overseas and get a job.

Instead we have the loafers getting free paydays off the backs of the middle class.

I ask people all the time why they don't take responsibility for their own lives. And I never get an answer I only get whining.

There are, of course, things in one's life that one must take responsibility for.

There are also things that are completely outside one's ability to change.

This is so obvious that I often wonder why people like you post statements that apparently insist otherwise.

 

[georgephillip]

GeorgePhillip asks us to

imagine if hyperinflation turned every $10 bill in your possession into a $5?)

George... I don't have to imagine that.

When I was a kid a dime bought a loaf of bread.

That same loaf is now about $3.

Very few people's incomes have really kept up with inflation in the last 40 years.

ed...

I started working full time in the mid 60s.
Ten years later, one single minimum wage job enabled me to pay rent on a brand new one bedroom apartment and maintain a 6 year old Chevy Malibu.

At that time the apartment rented for $175/month.
Today it would rent for ten times that amount.

I haven't been able to afford a one bedroom apartment or a car of any age since 1993, and I see things getting much worse.

There is one last, vast store of wealth Wall Street has yet to get its hands on, and that's Social Security and private pensions.

Slick Willie apparently had Social Security in his sights after repealing Glass-Steagall.

Luckily for most of us Monica and the blue dress came to our rescue.

Obama may well have the same "success" with Social Security "Reform" as he had with health care.

 

[daveman]

If I had to pick one word responsible for my condition, it would probably be fear.

That's your problem. Why should anyone else have to pay for it?

Tax bias?

You're flailing, boy. Nobody owes you anything because you're a chickenshit.

 

[editec]

GeorgePhillip asks us to

imagine if hyperinflation turned every $10 bill in your possession into a $5?)

George... I don't have to imagine that.

When I was a kid a dime bought a loaf of bread.

That same loaf is now about $3.

Very few people's incomes have really kept up with inflation in the last 40 years.

ed...

I started working full time in the mid 60s.
Ten years later, one single minimum wage job enabled me to pay rent on a brand new one bedroom apartment and maintain a 6 year old Chevy Malibu.

At that time the apartment rented for $175/month.
Today it would rent for ten times that amount.

I haven't been able to afford a one bedroom apartment or a car of any age since 1993, and I see things getting much worse.

There is one last, vast store of wealth Wall Street has yet to get its hands on, and that's Social Security and private pensions.

Slick Willie apparently had Social Security in his sights after repealing Glass-Steagall.

Luckily for most of us Monica and the blue dress came to our rescue.

Obama may well have the same "success" with Social Security "Reform" as he had with health care.

Yup. I remember those days, too.

The problem here is that we are too often talking to kids who truly do not understand what life reall used to be like.

Well that and they cannot imagine that their life is their life and cannot be duplicated, of course.

Take Skull pilot, for example.

I don't doubt that the man worked for everything he has.

What he apparently has difficulty understanding is that many people worked just as hard but for one reason or the other, didn't have his string of successes.

Its the WILLIE MAYS school of thinking.

Since Willie Mays made it as a BLACK MAN, why didn't ALL BLACK men make it?

Basically what they're doing is living in (and demanding that we join them in, too) denial.

It's a conceit, you see, to assume such a preposterous thing as:

I made ergo, everybody can make it.​

That's so obviously absurdly untrue than one must assume that they're either dumber than hammers or simply being provocative so they can remind us how successful they've been.

Not everybody has the same ANYTHING, so claiming that we ALL have the same chances in life is just pure self agrandizing, right wing bullshit.

 

[georgephillip]

That's your problem. Why should anyone else have to pay for it?

Tax bias?

You're flailing, boy. Nobody owes you anything because you're a chickenshit.

Not chickenshit enough to kill children for money.

How many times in your "life" has someone pointed a gun at you and threatened to use it?

More than once?

Twice??

 

[daveman]

Tax bias?

You're flailing, boy. Nobody owes you anything because you're a chickenshit.

Not chickenshit enough to kill children for money.

How many times in your "life" has someone pointed a gun at you and threatened to use it?

More than once?

Twice??

Why are you changing the subject, George? We're discussing why you're wrong for thinking the world owes you a living because you're too scared to make your own way.

 

[georgephillip]

GeorgePhillip asks us to



George... I don't have to imagine that.

When I was a kid a dime bought a loaf of bread.

That same loaf is now about $3.

Very few people's incomes have really kept up with inflation in the last 40 years.

ed...

I started working full time in the mid 60s.
Ten years later, one single minimum wage job enabled me to pay rent on a brand new one bedroom apartment and maintain a 6 year old Chevy Malibu.

At that time the apartment rented for $175/month.
Today it would rent for ten times that amount.

I haven't been able to afford a one bedroom apartment or a car of any age since 1993, and I see things getting much worse.

There is one last, vast store of wealth Wall Street has yet to get its hands on, and that's Social Security and private pensions.

Slick Willie apparently had Social Security in his sights after repealing Glass-Steagall.

Luckily for most of us Monica and the blue dress came to our rescue.

Obama may well have the same "success" with Social Security "Reform" as he had with health care.

Yup. I remember those days, too.

The problem here is that we are too often talking to kids who truly do not understand what life reall used to be like.

Well that and they cannot imagine that their life is their life and cannot be duplicated, of course.

Take Skull pilot, for example.

I don't doubt that the man worked for everything he has.

What he apparently has difficulty understanding is that many people worked just as hard but for one reason or the other, didn't have his string of successes.

Its the WILLIE MAYS school of thinking.

Since Willie Mays made it as a BLACK MAN, why didn't ALL BLACK men make it?

Basically what they're doing is living in (and demanding that we join them in, too) denial.

It's a conceit, you see, to assume such a preposterous thing as:

I made ergo, everybody can make it.​

That's so obviously absurdly untrue than one must assume that they're either dumber than hammers or simply being provocative so they can remind us how successful they've been.

Not everybody has the same ANYTHING, so claiming that we ALL have the same chances in life is just pure self agrandizing, right wing bullshit.

I hadn't made the connection to conceit.

That is one characteristic of most blue-collar conservatives I've ever met. Conceit and racism which may be related.

The need to remind others of their "success" is another conservative trait I've encountered over the years.

Do you think their tendency for self aggrandizement makes it impossible for conservatives to see the effects of tax bias on their level of "freedom"?

The conservative's moral code is based on obedience to authority that's always assumed to be legitimate. Does their inflated sense of self worth make it impossible for conservatives to even consider the possibility that freedom doesn't always come from obedience?

Or maybe they actually ARE dumb as hammers...

 

[georgephillip]

You're flailing, boy. Nobody owes you anything because you're a chickenshit.

Not chickenshit enough to kill children for money.

How many times in your "life" has someone pointed a gun at you and threatened to use it?

More than once?

Twice??

Why are you changing the subject, George? We're discussing why you're wrong for thinking the world owes you a living because you're too scared to make your own way.

You call me a coward for admitting I've felt fear at times in my life and then accuse me of changing the subject?

I believe the world owes me full compensation for my labor.
I don't believe capitalism pays workers the full value of their labor.
That's largely where private fortunes come from.

Are you too scared to debate these issues without resorting to personal insults?

 

[daveman]

Not chickenshit enough to kill children for money.

How many times in your "life" has someone pointed a gun at you and threatened to use it?

More than once?

Twice??

Why are you changing the subject, George? We're discussing why you're wrong for thinking the world owes you a living because you're too scared to make your own way.

You call me a coward for admitting I've felt fear at times in my life and then accuse me of changing the subject?

I believe the world owes me full compensation for my labor.
I don't believe capitalism pays workers the full value of their labor.
That's largely where private fortunes come from.

Are you too scared to debate these issues without resorting to personal insults?

You're not paying attention. I asked you what's keeping you down, and you said your fear.

Oh, and calling me a slave isn't a personal insult? Hypocrite.

 

[Skull Pilot]

I have some problems with the whole scheme of things myself. First govrnment would be better if we took all the money the rich had, and redistrbute to all Americans. How are your going to stimulate the economy if the money isn't in circulation?? Hmm? Same thing with the Stock market, disolve that bitch that is destroying America.

The economy or what people do with their money is not the government's business.


Many people made bad choices all on their own and they should be allowed to suffer the consequences of those choices all on their own. I never took out a mortgage i couldn't afford. I never refinanced my house every time the value went up. I never maxed out all my credit cards. I save almost 30% of my monthly income for the future because I live well below my means.

There are a lot of people out there like me who feel it's not our responsibility to bail out the fucking idiots who don't know how to run a budget.

Why don't these bums gather and start a business? Put an ad in the paper and get some people to stop being weaklings and start controlling their own destiny, start a business and get off the dole. Or go overseas and get a job.

Instead we have the loafers getting free paydays off the backs of the middle class.

I ask people all the time why they don't take responsibility for their own lives. And I never get an answer I only get whining.

There are, of course, things in one's life that one must take responsibility for.

Like not spending more than you make?
Like not taking out loans you know you can't afford?

There are also things that are completely outside one's ability to change.

Yes natural disasters come to mind but that's why there is insurance.

This is so obvious that I often wonder why people like you post statements that apparently insist otherwise.

It's obvious to me that one should save more than they spend or that one shouldn't have kids they can't afford.

It's obvious to me that if Americans stopped whining and took some responsibility that we'd all be better off.

 

[georgephillip]

Why are you changing the subject, George? We're discussing why you're wrong for thinking the world owes you a living because you're too scared to make your own way.

You call me a coward for admitting I've felt fear at times in my life and then accuse me of changing the subject?

I believe the world owes me full compensation for my labor.
I don't believe capitalism pays workers the full value of their labor.
That's largely where private fortunes come from.

Are you too scared to debate these issues without resorting to personal insults?

You're not paying attention. I asked you what's keeping you down, and you said your fear.

Oh, and calling me a slave isn't a personal insult? Hypocrite.

My slave comment was out of bounds in this context.

The context my fear and the responsibility it plays in my current economic situation relates to a previous point in the same post.

Changing the status quo between the Dow Jones and the Popsicle Index requires one to step outside the matrix:

"Stop being socially acceptable. Our problems are too serious to stay inside the matrix in the hopes of clinging to respectability."

My fear was of losing what little respectability and social acceptance I had managed to acquire during my life.

And I'm not asking anyone else to pay for it.