For all of our collective shortcomings, America Held Hostage is a more ‘apt descriptor’ than the more derogatory terms the corporate owned media commonly uses to describe the general public.
What Mr. Krugman is pointing out is how the Republican threat to shut down the government hasn’t ‘gone away’.
He also uses the very valid example of how things went down the last time our erudite but spineless leader faced off with the underdog Republican’s.
Six months ago President Obama faced a hostage situation. Republicans threatened to block an extension of middle-class tax cuts unless Mr. Obama gave in and extended tax cuts for the rich too. And the president essentially folded, giving the G.O.P. everything it wanted.
Now, predictably, the hostage-takers are back: blackmail worked well last December, so why not try it again? This time House Republicans say they will refuse to raise the debt ceiling — a step that could inflict major economic damage — unless Mr. Obama agrees to large spending cuts, even as they rule out any tax increase whatsoever. And the question becomes what, if anything, will get the president to say no.
Do you think he can say ‘no’ if he asks his handler’s ‘pretty please’ first?
It doesn’t even have to really mean ‘no’, it would just be to show the public that he still has a pair!
He could ‘say no’ but have it happen anyway, like a lot of other ‘mysterious’ government action.
Let the legislative ‘ghost squad’ take the hit for once!
Everybody already knows that we have a ‘puppet government’, why do they have to keep making Barry out to be such a wimp?
You know good citizen, the more we see the more confirmation we get that we are living under a government we have no control over.
Since the same people who own the government also took over control of the media we have been 'well and truly ____.'
You can fill in the blank yourself.
One thing is indisputable, Richie Rich and his lawyers have run the nation into a ditch after first having snapped the backbone of the legal system.
Yup, the ‘I paid to get you elected’ has turned into ‘now you have to protect me from prosecution!’
Who does the law take its orders from? The fucking politicians!
So, who should we run up the flagpole?
The WHOLE answer please.
Because hanging the treasonous politicians is only half of the equation, ‘the money’ needs to be similarly punished if justice is to be served.
Worse, the corrupted mechanisms used to pervert justice must also be dismantled and new, stronger systems put in their place.
How fortunate is it that A Simple Plan provides exactly that?
Um, yeah…I too have an ‘agenda’ to push.
I don’t spend countless hours doing this because I like to bitch or I’m deluded enough to think you actually care what I think.
The main thrust of what I do is to provide you with an alternative when our oppressors try to ram the next big swindle down your throats (or up your ass, they really don’t care!)
For centuries we have been told that there isn’t ‘a better way’. Turns out that is a lie.
There is a better way, a different way.
A way where you don’t have to choose between being an oppressor or one of the oppressed; (and if we had the courage to admit it, it really is a choice…but you have to be a certified sociopath to choose the path of oppressor!)
And most people who choose it end up in prison!
Not to be blowing anyone's notion of ‘social mobility’ out of proportion but the truth is never as kind as the fantasy.
It has long been my belief that if you didn’t have an alternative to offer then you were out of line to complain about the way things are.
Ironically, not many of you favor the ‘level playing field’ I propose which only speaks to the power of the lie you first heard at your parent’s knee.
A lie that, although unfulfilled, they repeated to you nonetheless.
Ah, the crimes we commit in the name of raising ‘normal’ children!
Can’t have our kids running around the schoolyard telling the truth, can we? Think about how unpopular it would make them…
Not that it would particularly matter, our failure to act has already damned and doomed them.
Although running off ‘half-cocked’ may well have done more harm than good, so perhaps doing nothing was indeed a ‘kindness’.
Then there’s that murky, mucked up moral compass to contend with. That’s going to create a lot of problems for future generations, especially if the ‘Fundies’ seize power.
But, (and it would be highly unusual If I didn’t) digress.
Mr. Panzer is amazing when it comes to debunking ‘happy talk’ he seems to have the inside track on factual economic data.
Truly, I’d like to believe in the revival of manufacturing as much as the next person. Manufacturing, in the broadest sense, is an essential part of the U.S. economy, and any good news would be welcome.
Unfortunately, the latest figures do not back up the cheerful rhetoric.
Among other things, Mandel notes that the real (inflation-adjusted) value of factory shipments has only recouped about a third of the decline that occurred in the wake of the financial crisis. In the meantime, he adds,
“Imports have recovered far faster and more completely than domestic manufacturing. Goods imports, adjusted for inflation, are only about 1% below their peak. That’s according to the official data. If we factored in the import price bias, we would see that real imports are likely above their peak.”
There are, er, ‘quite a few’ manufacturing positions on the local jobs website but (and I’m a thirty year man) I haven’t gotten so much as a single response from any of them.
And no, I don’t use my ‘pen name’ when applying for a job!
Which is to say ‘employers’ aren’t interested in hiring the unemployed.
If we were interested in ‘opinions’ here, I’d have to opine that Mr. Panzer’s source is correct. Claims that manufacturing is up are based in the same ‘creative accounting’ that is keeping our financial sector solvent.
On that cheery note, it IS a time to worry!
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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