It's remarkable really...a tale of mythological proportions.

[Dover]

A tale of how a minority can usurp power by creating the illusion of being the majority (media, polls, e-voting, etc). They knew reality was perception. And while many of us slept through much of this with eyes wide shut, there were those who saw this a mile off.

This minority (the 1%) were able to bulk up by co-opting a few more warm bodies from less educated lower working class folks by exploiting their sense of powerlessness with promises to support their religious beliefs and generally give them a voice they've never had. Of course they would be the ones most impacted by the greed and fascist policies being planted (in all honesty by BOTH parties). This is not really about party politics anyway. It's about the 1% of wealth with an agenda to play God at the global level and line their own pockets, making their big move amidst the chaos of global change where oversight is lax and the vacuum of power beckons to be filled. Our government was seized in a corporate-style, slow but steady hostile takeover (with redistribution of its assets and a dismantling/reorganizing of agencies as well as the restrictions that The Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and any other laws that bound their greedy hands). Our government has become a revolving door, employeeing their CEO's and executives like a team of players who would do their job in innings, and then if they caught too much heat they'd be taken out and put back into their cushy private sector jobs while a replacement stepped in. Their team has plenty of depth to play endless innings without breaking a sweat. And it would/will take all of that to hold back the ocean of growing anger and public protestations.

Of course at some point those groups in their lower ranks that they exploited could no longer
deny that their pockets were emptier and their rewards few for their allegiance. Nothing teaches like experience. So now this group is finding that they have joined the protest demanding the heads of the theives and an end to corruption. But most importantly, the universal cry for a common wealth (on so many levels beyond financial).

This may be the beginning of another great depression, but this time perhaps we're a little wiser
for the wear and might more aptly call it The Great Theft. The veil has been removed.

Will all live happily ever after?

Will WE be the authors of our fate?

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. Now you can say that I've grown bitter, but of this you may be sure

The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there's a mighty judgment coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the tower of song

-Leonard Cohen, Tower of Song.

[Dover]

4. I love Leonard.

A poet for our times...and all time.

[marions ghost]

2. you sum up the plot well

what amazes me is the numbers who will go down this road of greed and corruption. "Their team has plenty of depth..." is an understatement.

The predators and exploiters are everywhere. They have no conscience. It's an epidemic of soulless narcissism. And it's destroying all that is good in this country.

[Dover]

3. Yesssssss....sssso many wants it.....

my precious.

[Dover]

5. Like Dubya was created and sold to appeal to the disenfranchised, uneducated lower classes

...someone they could have a beer with and was anti-intellectual...

is Obama packaged to appeal to the newly disenfranchised and jobless educated middle and upper middle class?

Hate to be so cynical but he does seem a man for the times whether intentional or not.

Bad cop, good cop.

[marions ghost]

12. well everything has to be packaged ...

Obama's our only hope for really turning this mess around. If he turns out to be a fake, then this country is really on the skids.

[Two Americas]

6. am I the only one?

Am I the only one who was around and can remember when this whole shell game started back in the early 80's? Oh we were all going to play the stock market and the real estate market and get rich. The hustlers and con artists were crawling all over the place peddling this toxic crap, enabled by deregulation and easy credit.

Noe the whole damned economy is held hostage by those slimy salesmen and their modern equivalents, and every thing we predicted would happen if they got a foot hold in the economy have come true and then some.

Life savings and retirement funds in the stock market? Are you crazy? Meeting payroll by borrowing money? You have to be kidding. Using homes as investments? Huh? Homes are for living in, not for becoming tycoons with.

And now no credit, because there is no confidence because, there is no trust. Hell no, of course there is no trust. It has been broken. 30 years of lying, cheating, hustling and stealing will eventually destroy trust.

I didn't trust this scam when it first started. But now, if we will just trust them again, then magically they will once again be trustworthy. It is not their fault for stealing from us, it is our fault for not trusting them. Confidence must be restored to unfreeze credit! Place your confidence in those who broke your confidence and all will be well. Otherwise, we will have a Great Depression and it will be all your fault for not trusting the same people who destroyed trust and ruined our country.

[girl gone mad]

7. It does appear that they are now trying to shift the blame..

onto all of the ignorant peons who refuse to be blackmailed into handing over what little we have left.

[Dover]

9. The problem is so deep and wide it is systemic.

Plenty of criminals to put away, but the problem is embedded in our entire value system
and culture at this point. Our system is created in our own image and currently
we measure and value everything monetarilly.

When we change (and I believe we are), our institutions will eventually reflect those changes in
values. We need to be creating a system of common wealth in every aspect of our lives.


The changes, in other words, will follow the lead of the collective. We have a ways
to go....but have already begun.

[Two Americas]

10. there was a dramatic change

Sure, you might have a long term mortgage on the building. But you tried to avoid debt, not welcome it. You built the business on real confidence, real value, a track record of stability, not a chance for a quick kill. The financial office in the company supported the workers, not the other way around. You produced something of actual value, employed people to do that, and made money one dollar at a time - straightforwardly and honestly. You had strong long term relationships with your banker, your suppliers, your employees, your customers and roots in the community.

Then deregulation and it all changed. All of the stable business methods were mocked and ridiculed as old fashioned and obsolete. Your money was just sitting there doing nothing we were told. We borrowed here, invested there, leveraged this and what the hell ever. We were all going to get rich rich rich. Gradually the producers, the relationships, the employees all became a secondary consideration. I remember being told straight out that we could make a lot more money playing with the cash flow from the business, cleverly moving money around than we could by running the business and producing anything. Imagine that. Brave new world. But it was all trashed by that. Outsourced, diversified, downsized, merged, whatever. Almost everyone lost out. A few made a killing.

[girl gone mad]

11. Well stated.

I think you summed it up very succinctly.

[Kaleko]

8. What a great thread this is.

At least so far.

Recommended.