This Can't Be Happening In America

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

This Can't Be Happening In America
(posted with the author's permission from http://sane-ramblings.blogspot.com/2011/04/this-cant-be-happening-to-america.html)


America, the land I love, a beacon of freedom and compassion to people all over the world could not possibly be doing these things:

1) At war in 3 nations, each of which it attacked and 2 of which it occupies.

2) Runs secret torture cells on some of its distant military bases and contracts out other torture, while it also runs "kill teams" where it chooses. It even has a private army of highly paid "contractors," little of which it discloses to the American people.

3) Seizes people it deems terrorists, those it doesn't kill, and locks them up indefinitely, in many cases no charges, no trials, no rule of law.

4) Censors its wars from the American people, many of whom are indifferent to the suffering our beloved nation is causing. U.S. news media often cooperates with the government but not WikiLeaks nor Aljazeera but most Americans ignore it. No military draft, no interest.

5) Censors even the horrors its wars cause its own soldiers and their families. Once again, the U.S. news media often cooperates telling few stories or sharing few pictures, making these people largely invisible, left to bear their pain in silence and in a cloak of secrecy.

6) Once the greatest manufacturing powerhouse the world had ever seen, most U.S. manufacturing has been shipped overseas. But there still is a sizable amount of U.S. manufacturing as the government contracts with manufacturers to build weapons of mass destruction and deadly delivery systems such as jet fighters and drones in most Congressional Districts across America. All at taxpayer's expense.

7) Because of reckless government spending and huge trade deficits, the U.S. dollar which was long the gold standard of currencies is now so weak, many investors prefer gold or even other currencies as the dollar sinks in value.

8) Once the U.S. ran the greatest financial surpluses since the British Empire was at its peak. Now it is the world's biggest debtor nation running a borrowing and printing Ponzi Scheme to pay its bills.

9) Standard & Poor's, a globally respected credit rating agency threatened to downgrade the U.S.'s debt securities, the first step at what could lead in stages to having it declared "Junk." That would send interest rates through the stratosphere, making it cost prohibitive for home mortgages and small business borrowing and destroying the value left in the dollar. Newport Beach, CA based Pimco, the world's largest bond investor has already sold off its holdings in U.S. government debt.

10) To sustain and expand its military machine, the U.S. government would sacrifice Medicare, Medicaid, its educational system, its police and fire protection and other programs that bring quality of life to its citizens and protect its children and its poor and frail.

These things could not be happening to America for if they were, its citizens would unite and rise up and do something about it. Not sit by and let what was once one of the greatest nations in history implode in their silence. And as people of conscience, any nonviolent uprising would surely begin with you and me.

[Love Bug]

1. Nice, eh?

My 13-year-old grandson told me today he doesn't think we'll ever turn things around. That's a real sad attitude for a kid his age to have.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

2. I hope your grandson is wrong...

...but I suspect he may be right. And yes, it is sad to hold thoses feelings at such a young age.

[MedicalAdmin]

43. Since when is an acurate analysis of reality sad.

What I find sad is delusion, of which far too many Americans suffer.

Good for your gson for seeing the obvious. Anyone rational is getting the hell out. The USA is done and has been so for a long time.

[Kceres]

8. Both my sons have goals to live outside the US.

One is 17 and the other 14. Sadly, I am not discouraging them. This is not the same country in which I grew up.

[ooglymoogly]

82. First choice should be to get the hell out of hopelessly red numskull states.

I live in New England and read about the horrors going on in the south and red states. Though even here, there are times I have considered moving to a place where common sense still reigns as fascism is fast spreading. I grew up in a red state or a dark red area of a half red, half blue state, where fascism is still flourishing and getting worse and got the hell out as soon as I was old enough.

It was the best decision of my life.

[BobTheSubgenius]

18. My son, now 30, said several years ago that the world is not a fit place to raise a child,

and intends to never have any. I couldn't think of an objective argument against that position, but then I was pretty much in agreement with it before I heard him say it.

But then again, anyone who doesn't WANT children shouldn't have any.

[Egnever]

28. Your kid needs to get out more

For one America is not the world. And i think that is the biggest problem we have. Too many Americans have never been anywhere else except maybe some tourist trap. Were more Americans better traveled it wouldn't be so easy for the right to demonize other countries and the social solutions they have achieved.

The biggest eye opener in my life was a trip to Europe when I was 18. When i realized that not only were other countries not full of people living in shacks but actually full of thriving metropolises just like ours and sometimes even beter and often times cleaner and the people seemed much happier and much more kind. It was then I realized the whole America is number 1 crap was just that crap and that people the world over are very much alike and yes some places did things much more fairly with better results than we get.

[LibDemAlways]

48. My husband had a similar eye-opening experience at 18. He

was invited by friends of his next door neighbor to visit them at their home in Sweden. This was back in 1969. Before the trip, he spent time in the local library investigating what Scandinavia is like. The material was way out of date. He was expecting a rural society of farmers. When he arrived, he was shocked by the sleek modern transportation systems, progressive attitudes, and very high standard of living that made his community at home look awful by comparison. He wised up right away that the "greatest nation on earth" crap he'd been fed all his life was a huge pile of bullshit.

[Citizen Worker]

63. It was during my first trip to Europe when I asked an 18 year old French woman about her future

plans. She said, "I start university in the fall." I asked which university and she replied, Sorbonne. Her tuition, "about $50 per year." That cost was for her health insurance. Tuition, books, lab supplies, etc., were all paid for through taxes. That's when I knew that first world nations care about the education of their young, we didn't and don't. Instead we're hell bent on privatizing public education to fatten the bottom lines of already obscenely wealthy individuals and corporations.

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. My kid said the same thing.

[MedleyMisty]

72. I'm 30

Never wanted children, will never have them. And part of it is that the species is killing itself and has no future, and so why subject another person to that? Plus there's no way we can afford kids - we're doing okay now, but a baby would put us out on the streets.

Most of it though is straight up personality stuff - I like being independent and free.

[roamer65]

95. We have enough people on this planet, we don't need anymore.

We already have passed the carrying capacity of this planet. Population reduction needs to become a SERIOUS, peaceable worldwide effort...or it will be solved another way...World War III. There are simply not enough resources to go around.

I agree 100% with your son.

[csziggy]

107. When I was his age I was sure the world would be destroyed

By nuclear weapons. While kids then also worried about the environment, the direction our government and our culture were moving, many of us had the fatalistic view that it did not matter, that we would not live long enough for those things to reach bottom.

I knew people who decided not to have children because of the certainty of nuclear destruction. I knew people who planned to move to New Zealand since they thought there were better chances of survival there.

Frankly I am not sure if I am more pessimistic about the future now than I was then.

[OHdem10]

3. The direct result of Conservative Economic Fundamentalism--

The Invisible Hand of the Market will cure all ills.

It will only get worse as Democrats affirm the GOP
Economic Fundamentalism.

[WinkyDink]

19. And so it does---for the wealthy.

[Enthusiast]

39. The Democratic Party has

more or less affirmed the supply side strategy of the GOP. Cutting taxes on the ultra wealthy has only exacerbated our problems.

What has this nation come to?

[SusanaMontana41]

79. I'm right there with you.

Fending off despair is a 24/7 job.

[StarburstClock]

4. Rec'd and 2 points I'd like to add

Gold is manipulated via futures, exchange traded funds and other means, just like all other investments in the U.S. are and Standard & Poor's is a worthless propaganda front that is not respected by anyone after the real estate fraud they took part in for years. So, it's actually even worse than your post suggests, we live in a country that runs on pure criminality.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

7. Thank you for making those two points...

:hi:

[indepat]

5. These ten thing are inevitable if the extreme RW PNAC agenda is going to be fully

implemented and I see nothing to slow/derail this juggernaut. :patriot:

[OHdem10]

9. And how many Conservadems have signed on to PNAC?

Be assured the juggernaut will continue.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. There is a way to derail this, re-read the last line of the OP.

This is already being reported as occuring as the DC legislators are hearing from people in their districts. The GOP is taking a beating from this silent (or not so silent) majority who are not pleased with plans to destroy those sacred "entitlements" or Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

It starts here, it starts now. With us.

Don't curl up in a fetal position and give up yet.

[Hotler]

17. There is no chance for change untill....

thousands of people in every state take to the streets.

[Golden Raisin]

40. Yes, but one has to still believe

that "voting the bastards out" is an option. With Diebold, Masterminds like Rove, plus unlimited funds from the Koch Brothers, among others, I for one, have lost faith that elections in this country are consistently fair and untampered with. Computerized voting is seriously susceptible to corruption by a simple altering of code, or plain, old-fashioned hacking. And when one gets beyond the local and state to Presidential elections, we always have the Supreme Court to step in and choose whom they want for President as they did with Bush the Younger in his first "election". I think we're getting to the point where "voting them out" will have to give precedence to storming the Bastille.

[indepat]

47. The vast number of elected officials and the general public seemingly oblivious to/unconcerned

about this issue is astounding. :thumbsup: :patriot:

[JDPriestly]

56. Debra Bowen, as Calif. Sec. of State tested the machines and excluded those that were not

reliable or could be tampered with. Democrats won pretty much across the board in the next election. May have been a coincidence. Maybe Democrats would have won even if the machines had been rigged. But that is where we need to begin, with our elections.

First, progressive candidates need to run. The people need to know that at least in primaries they can vote for someone who will work for them.

Second, we need to make sure the voting machines are not tampered with.

[Curmudgeoness]

103. I did not suggest that the option we use is the ballot.

Politicians are politicians. They will always watch the way the wind blows. And if enough people are against some assinine policy that they dream up, and make it clear to the politicians, they will back away from it. It may mean bombarding them with letters, using letters to the editor of all the newspapers to expose lies, taking to the streets with rallies, whatever else it takes. They have so many mouthpieces spewing lies, and we are not doing enough to debunk those lies. We have to be more offensive.

[Donnachaidh]

24. and how many Dems have had the courage to *really* step in and stop them?

They act more like the mop up squad after the demolition. We need to find party members with REAL spines, ones that last beyond the election cycle.

[WatsonT]

58. Wasn't that what was supposed to happen in '08

[krabigirl]

77. You mean the neoconservative and neoliberal agenda.

I don't see obama stopping any of these wars, heck he just started a new one, left vs right is a load of claptrap.

[RandomThoughts]

6. I am due beer and travel money and many experiences.

So yea, it is hard to believe such things occurring, then again, if they can't correct the beer and travel money issue, it does seem they could do other wrongs also.

:shrug:

But I do think things will get better, they have to :)

[inna]

10. kr kr kr

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

14. Thank you!

:hi:

[MedleyMisty]

11. It's not going to begin here

Look at all the replies saying there's no hope, there's nothing we can do.

If you go outside DU though, you do see people who are taking responsibility for their own lives and organizing. Now we just need all the little groups to come together, to make contact with each other, to build a nationwide network of resistance. And then we declare our own Day of Rage, and we take to the streets like Arabs.

I vote that we borrow two cultural things from them. Fridays are big protest days, and we throw shoes at the TV whenever some dirty politician comes on. :)

[WingDinger]

13. Revolutions are sparked by so innocuous a thing, as one man setting himself on fire.

[neoralme]

60. That is exactly what needs to happen. But it may get bloody. There

are groups forming everywhere, as you say. Lots of boomer groups. One around Black Hills of South Dakota I heard about through a friend of my daughter. If they and others had a Day of Rage and took to the streets, the Republicans would back off precipitously. But using these groups as hope may be wishful thinking at this point. What I want to know people's opinion about is this. Let's suppose there were Days of Rage where people took to the streets, and the US had to call in military units--not national guard. Do you think our military would fire on the citizens?

BTW, one thing we need is some hidden channels of communication.

[OldEurope]

69. Friday?

Couldn´t you pick Saturday, please? For your jewish friends?

Or perhaps Monday like the Germans.

[hunter]

15. Were top dog number one of the banana republics and kleptocracies!

Why shouldn't we be? We invented them.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

16. A call to action.

"These things could not be happening to America for if they were, its citizens would unite and rise up and do something about it. Not sit by and let what was once one of the greatest nations in history implode in their silence. And as people of conscience, any nonviolent uprising would surely begin with you and me."

[pokerfan]

20. Fortunately we fixed all this when we voted for change in 2008

:sarcasm:

[emilyg]

66. Never mind change - I have no hope.

[pokerfan]

21. This

10) To sustain and expand its military machine, the U.S. government would sacrifice Medicare, Medicaid, its educational system, its police and fire protection and other programs that bring quality of life to its citizens and protect its children and its poor and frail.

As you can see from the following charts, it's the US against the entire world and that takes money:

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

23. I'd like to see the charts you referenced..

They did not display. Have a link I could check out?

Thanks!

[pokerfan]

26. I put them up on tinypic

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

36. Thank you. nt

[JDPriestly]

57. Judging from the length of our wars and the absence of real victories,

I would say that, as with the high cost of food in the US, much of the money goes into the packaging, not into the product itself.

[GeorgeGist]

22. Sarcasm tag is missing.

[bobbolink]

25. You can STOP right at #1. The US did NOT "attack" Libya.

If that is the level of the rest of this, then someone is throwing shit.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

30. Ya think those A-10's and AC-130's drop toys and gifts? nt

[rhett o rick]

50. "It depends on what the meaning of "is" is." nm

[bobbolink]

87. It is really sad when people don't know the difference between INVADE and being asked to help.

OR, it is just obfuscation.

[rhett o rick]

101. George Carlin might tell us that "invade" is such a harsh word and "being asked to help" is much

nicer. Of course we know the difference. Insult has no place in a decent discussion. Ok, so technically we didnt invade. We are just dropping hundreds of millions of munitions on the country. I call that war. I dont care what you call it. Being "asked to help" isnt justification. No matter how you frame it, we are involved in three wars in various degrees. And if we responded to everyone that ask us to help, we would be in many more. But we seem to be very selective with who we help. They must have oil or other valuable resources. We are an imperial empire and have been most of our existence. But we are a dying empire. As the other great empires we burned ourselves out. We cant undo the damage we've done. We've killed millions around the world only because we were the biggest bully. It will be a race as to whether "globalization" or climate change will kill us the fastest. The once great wealth of our middle class is being pumped out of the country at an ever increasing rate.

Personally I want to go out fighting, but seems there are so many living in denial. By the time they figure it out that they've been fuked, it will be too late, if it isnt already. I still want to go out with a fight.

[bobbolink]

102. Last try at reason. *WE* aren't using the term "asked to help" --The LIBYANS themselves did.

I don't like the bombs either, but the Libyans say that is what they want now, and they DON'T want ground troops, and when one of them is accidently killed, they are sad, but they take it in stride because that is what they are sacrificing in order to gain FREEDOM from a dictator. You know... kinda like the 13 colonies did way back when.

The Iraqis NEVER held up signs like this:







http://www.arabianbusiness.com/incoming/article386489.ece/ALTERNATES/g3l/Libya+no+fly+zone.jpg











You don't like it, that is fine. I respect a difference of opinion. I have no issue at all with people who don't want to see the US involved in another conflict in the Middle East. I don't either. But it is dishonest to say it is the SAME as Iraq, and if you are paying attention, you KNOW that.

If I am being attacked on the street, and especially if I call for help, I hope to hell someone will have the humanity to come to my aid, whether they *want* to get "involved" or not. And if *you* were being attacked, I *would* come to your aid, even though I DEFINITELY don't want to get ivolved in someone else's fight.

And that is the end of what I have to say. If you want to continue with the dishonesty, that is up to you. If you want to bash me for having a different opinion than yours, have at it. If *that* is your definition of "Peace", then attack away.

So long.

[rhett o rick]

104. Are you saying that I am "bashing" you? Good grief. Forget further discussion. nm

[bobbolink]

108. !!!

!!! :rofl: !!!

Photographic proof too much for ya, eh?

:rofl:

[rhett o rick]

49. Right!!! And Clinton did not have "sex" with Monica. nm

[Egnever]

27. I dont dissagree with the underlying sentiment

but the points themselves are pretty simplistic framing that ignore the complexities of the situations they describe.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Initech]

32. This is what 40 years of unaccounted GOP rule have done to us.

[donheld]

33. What's more distressing is that it is happening and few care

[hfojvt]

34. yawn, what a load of dreck

especially #7 "because of reckless government spending ..."

Yeah, way to catapault that rightwing propaganda there. :puke:

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

35. Putting aside the moral issues...

Do you think that trillion we spent on the wars was money well spent, or "reckless government spending"?

Weapons, wars, bombs, missiles, private contractors(blackwater), not to mention the future medical costs of all those wounded...You OK with all of that or is it, "reckless government spending"?

Think of all that money that could have been available to help citizens, instead of killing and making enemy's. In my eyes, that is the definition of reckless...Is that the rightwing propaganda you are speaking of?

[hfojvt]

37. Wow a whole trillion, yeah that totally devalues the dollar

Except for the fact that the sum of the US budget over the last decade was $26 trillion. So, no, I am not gonna pick on that 4% as being any more reckless than all the earmarks.

Maybe you have not heard Republicans flogging the whole "we have too much government spending, the deficit and debt are gonna kill us all" even as they continue to support large tax cuts for the rich, and even continually propose more.

Ryan proposed to eliminate the so-called "death tax" and to eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends and make the Bush tax cuts permanent, all while slashing medicaid and medicare and any other part of the social safety net, and a "reckless government spending" fits right up his alley.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

45. My dear hfojvt, I think we are in agreement. Ryan's proposal is garbage...

And pretty much everything that the republicans propose is the opposite of what needs to happen, to put this country on a more sound financial footing. We borrow money so that we can give large tax cuts to the wealthy? Reckless. Spend 1/2 our money on wars and weapons? Reckless. 500 million a day on interest payments? Reckless. I mean, there must have been "reckless government spending" over the past 10 years, because President Clinton left office with the US in much better financial shape than it is in today. (Damn you to hell,George W Bush!)

On another note, a friend of mine was telling me about him mom, on Medicare, who has this cheap plastic tray/clock which reminds his mom to take her pills. He told me that Medicare bills that tray at $70.00 a month. thats over $800.00 a year for a $10.00 clock! I guess we pay for that too.

[hfojvt]

55. no, no, no. The Bush deficit came from reckless tax cuts

and not from reckless spending

I happen to like spending - a least some of it.

"There are two ways to get a deficit. One is by spending more and the other is by taxing less. When you spend more you get things like highways, bridges, levees, schools, school lunches, heating assistance, veteran's health care, medicare, etc. When you tax less, you get rich people with more power and more ability to indulge themselves in whatever they desire. This can be good, depending on what they desire, but the old lesson is that "power corrupts"."

Yes, Bush and the Republican Congress spent some money, particularly on the Iraq war, but the key was that income tax revenues, instead of growing with the economy - went down.

1998 - 828.6 in billions of constant dollars (1998 = 100)
1999 - 860.5
2000 - 950.9
2001 - 915.1 Bush tax cuts passed in June 2001
2002 - 777.7
2003 - 703.1
2004 - 698.1
2005 - 773.8
2006 - 844.0 5 years later tax revenue was still down from 2001


http://www.koch2congress.com/7.html

[stockholmer]

94. your own post shows some faulty logical conclusions in your reasoning

Taking the highest year (2001) and subtracting 2006 (844.0 5 years later tax revenue was still down from 2001) you come up with only a $106 billion difference. Taking the lowest year (2004) from the 2001 totals you get $252 billion. These numbers are dwarfed by the spending on the war machine alone.

For just 2011, over $1.2 trillion will be spent on defense, black ops, previous military debt, etc. The overall deficit is $1.6+ trillion. $100 to 200 billion year in lost income tax revenue is not going to come close to making serious dent in the deficit.

I completely agree with you that the wealthiest individuals should have not received extensions of the Bush tax cuts, but this is just a start. The US has to stop the empiric war spending and finally hold the financial systemic controllers to account.

Throughout the history of the last 65+ years, whatever the tax rates were for individuals and corporations have been, the most total revenue the Federal government has ever taken in is around 20% of the GDP. It fluctuates between 15% and 20% no matter what they do. Plus, the US GDP is now, as a percentage, composed to higher level of financial, banking transactions (not tangible good production, etc) than at any other time in its history.



What is needed is a 1% Tobin tax (a Wall Street sales tax, if you will) on all financial transactional turnover (with a $1 million bottom floor exemption on the first million dollars).

Combine that with at least a 50 to 60% reduction in war machine spending, and you have a balanced budget, the ability to start to pay down the national debt, and finally justice where the banksters are forced to pay their fair share of national upkeep. As of now they exist in an almost pure fascistic state, where they keep private 'profits' in the trillions, and yet get bailed out by having the trillions of real losses dumped onto the citizens.

[Enthusiast]

38. Standard & Poor's,

should no longer be a globally respected credit rating agency. They should be considered especially unreliable.

[Taitertots]

41. What America are you from?

Beacon of freedom? When was it ever a beacon from freedom? During most of American history it would only be tolerable if you were white, rich, and christian. Everyone else has been the victims of centuries of systemic discrimination.

[swilton]

42. Your introductory premise

about America being a beacon of freedom and compassion worldwide - is a myth - although I do accept your premise of love for your country.

But just ask Native Americans, Irish immigrants, Latin Americans, Mexicans, the Vietnamese, Philappinos, et. al. about America's freedom and compassion. America has been a beacon of freedom and compassion only to the white male elites and a few other wannabes who tow the line...

Granted, right now the 'man from Oz' has come out from behind the curtain so we're seeing what occurred and was obscured through propaganda in the past more openly. America has had and will have some great reform movements - Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Henry Thoreau, Martin Luther King - I can only hope that their voice will rise again.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

84. The author responds to your comments...

Thank you for your comments.

I never meant to suggest the U.S. was perfect. Far from it as it fought a hugely uncivil Civil War over slavery. After that War ended it still brutally denied the rights of its black citizens for another century.

The U.S. committed genocide on its native peoples, most of whom who survive live in extreme poverty today.

During World War ll, the U.S. illegally jailed its Japanese American citizens for the duration of the war, costing them their freedom and in many cases their life long possessions and self-respect.

Vietnam is a disaster that speaks for itself, costing a million Vietnamese lives,58,000 U.S. lives, thousands more U.S. allied lives and crippled numerous young soldiers physically and or emotionally.

But the world is also a far from perfect place and America had long been a beacon of freedom and of compassion. My grandparents came here with little more than the clothes on their backs and no-one prevented our family from working hard to attain the American Dream, which we did.

Even today, immigrants still pour in hoping to attain that dream, which is becoming ever more elusive at a rapid pace.

Because of its military industrial complex, the U.S. is fighting three wars and thousands of immigrants are drawn into those wars as soldiers in a desperate bid for citizenship.

U.S warfare is now perpetual, as apparently are military occupations and military bases. The costs of all of this is staggering as the U.S. builds weapons of mass destruction, and jet fighters and drones to keep Americans employed and defense contractors highly profitable.

It is my hope that Americans will realize this is a formula for moral and financial disaster, and redirect our nation for peaceful purposes. And offering a helping hand to people here and abroad for a better, more productive future.

[TBF]

44. "a beacon of freedom and compassion to people all over the world"

Seriously? We spend more on defense than all of the other countries put together (by far), and we are compassionate? You need to take a hard look at our worldwide military activity with an historical perspective.

[lutherj]

46. He who fights imaginary monsters will become the monster that he fears.

To paraphrase Nietzsche.

[rhett o rick]

51. "Rationalization is the key to happiness", you happy?

To quote my friend Glen.

[lutherj]

71. Just to clarify, my point is that the America as described in the OP has the

character of a deluded paranoid who grows increasingly violent as his fear feeds on itself. I'm not arguing with the OP. Rationalization, in my opinion, is the reflexive response to fear. Happiness begins when you see through the rationalizations (your own, or those of others) and start to let go of the fears.

[rhett o rick]

78. My mistake. I thought you were aiming that at the OP.

I agree that rationalization isnt the key to happiness. I believe that lots of people do believe it.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

83. That is so true.

Thank you for adding that comment.

[SanchoPanza]

52. S&P is no longer a respected organization.

The treasury yield indices have continued to drop, across the board, despite the downgrade. This makes sense, considering the fact that anyone who believes that there is a possibility of a U.S. debt default doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. Barring the repeal of the 14th Amendment or the dissolution of the Federal Reserve System, a Federal default is both legally and operationally impossible. And if S&P was concerned about inflation, it would have downgraded all dollar-denominated bonds. Not just treasuries.

The bond market knows this, and has acted accordingly. Pimco's sale is nothing more than the result of Mohammed El-Erian's constant harping about the near-mythological bout of hyperinflation that has been just around the corner for the past three years (Just you wait! It's coming!). He's just putting other people's money where his mouth is, at little risk to himself.

[JHB]

S&P has had some trouble telling junk from AAA for some time now...

...when it helps make a bundle for them and their clients. Witness the AAA ratings they gave to securities backed by fraud-ramapant mortgages.

Plenty of people, including top economists, see this for exactly what it is: playing politics. Wafting the idea of a downgrade to provide political justification for the deficit peacocks to shift budget priorities even further in favor of croney-capitalists, while not actually intending to downgrade because doing that would hit them in the bank accounts too.

[stockholmer]

97. S&P,Fitch,Moody's are corrupt, this corruption manifests itself 99% of the time in their OVERRATING

debt, bonds, systemic risk. The US AAA rating is a perfect example of this. Given all the major variables, there is simply no way that the US can pay back, let alone maintain debt service, on its fiscal books in the very near future in anything other than VASTLY INFLATED, debased dollars. The other option is eventual default, which, once the largess granted to the US dollar (largess gained as the global reserve currency) is removed (and it will be removed, of this have no doubt) becomes an much more likely scenario.

Th Fed has to rollover (ie. refinance) over $4 trillion in long and short term fiscal debt instruments in just the next 12 months. They are running quickly into the brick wall of reality.

So yes, S&P's ratings are political, but in the exact opposite manner that you attribute. Wall Street and most of the rest of the world have terms for the credit worthiness of the US treasuries, and these are far less diplomatic than 'junk'.

You just cannot wish away the deep financial abyss that the systemic controllers (banks, the privately owned Federal Reserve, multi-national corporations, the empiric US war machine, etc) and their puppet parties, the Democrats AND the Republicans, have tossed the American nation into.

In conclusion, all one needs to do is to look at real world actions. Pimco (their CEO is Bill Gross) is the worlds largest bond fund. Last month, they dumped ALL of their US debt holdings.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-09/gross-drops-government-debt-from-pimco-s-flagship-fund-zero-hedge-reports.html

Pimco’s Gross Eliminates Government Debt From Total Return Fund

Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., eliminated government-related debt from his flagship fund last month as the U.S. projected record budget deficits....................

[stockholmer]

100. you proudly carry on the traditions of those who booked tickets on the 'unsinkable' Titanic

As of the bi-annual July 2010 cut-off date (the last update available, the January 2011 totals should soon be published), the total notional value of all global derivatives is now $1.017 QUADRILLION dollars US.

BIS (Bank of International Settlements) (exchange traded derivatives) totals are now at $583 trillion

http://www.bis.org/statistics/otcder/dt1920a.pdf

ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) (non-exchange traded derivatives) totals are now at $434 trillion

http://www.isda.org/statistics/pdf/ISDA-Market-Survey-historical-data.pdf

It is actually probably closer to $1.5 or 1.6 quadrillion, as in 2009, both the BIS and the ISDA simply changed to a 'value to maturity' model, which is a 'mark to model' method, not the truthful 'mark to market' model for valuing notional derivative contract value.

This is the same trick that the private banks and firms have used for the last 15 years to hide massive losses and claim false profits to trigger executive bonuses (it used to be illegal, until the laws were changed under the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations).


If even 25% of these contracts go bad, you are talking about $250 or so trillion needed to be covered. ( this is if the total is $1 quadrillion, which I doubt, I really think it is at least $1.5 quadrillion) The global GDP is only 55 to 60 trillion a year. The definition of economic depression is a 5% drop in GDP over 2 consecutive years.


So, adding in the rest of all public debt you come up with this scenario (and this again is based on the $1 quadrillion derivative total):


The USA is actually around $ 350 trillion in debt : $14+ trillion in 'official' debt, 111 trillion in unfunded mandates, plus 75 trillion in OLD derivative and other hidden, off-balance-sheet debt, plus 150 trillion in NEW, future forward derivative losses that the Fed will monetize/subsume).

The EU and rest of world will have new, future-forward derivative losses of $100 trillion, on top of old losses of $50 trillion. In addition, they have around $300 trillion in unfunded mandates, plus another $50 trillion in collective 'official' sovereign debt for a total of 500 TRILLION in total debt for rest of world

This means that the total debt of the world's nations, when you factor in official government debt, unfunded mandates ( ie. the social security, medicare of the USA and then the EU's and all other country's safety nets and pension funds), plus the global derivative losses (given the historical 25 percent loss rates for derivatives) that will be tossed from the banks unto us all via the Central banks of the world is around, to my best dead reckoning........

$ 850 TRILLION dollars total global PUBLIC debt owed by nations to the private central banking cartel.

To pay this off, at a Central Bank bank global interest rate of just 3 percent, would take 100 years of payments at 27 trillion a YEAR, or 50% of the entire WEALTH of the world's complete output for the next 100 years.

The USA alone has around $10 trillion each year in wages and profits paid out to all its 310 million citizens, but its share of the global debt of $850 trillion (around 41 percent or 350 trillion) means that is yearly payment for the next 100 years would be $11 trillion a year, so you tell me how even a 100 percent tax rate will cover the payment.

Bear in mind, taking just 5% off (or ten time LESS than the 50 percent required to pay off this REAL debt over the next 100 years) of global GDP for 2 consecutive years constitutes a global depression, and taking 10 percent (or 5 times LESS than is needed) runs toward global financial systemic collapse.

This also assumes all sovereign debt borrowing STOPS now, which, of course, it will not, in fact it is increasing at an exponential rate.

This also DOES NOT take into account the PRIVATE debts owed by the global population for mortgages, student loans, cars, credit cards, etc etc, nor does it take into account state, city, provincial public debts at sub-national levels.


If you take the derivative total of $1.6 quadrillion (at a 25% loss rate, and add in total global private debt and subnational public debt) the global all-inclusive debt total is $1.3 QUADRILLION dollars US, and the USA share is $550 trillion US. At a 50% derivative fail rate, the USA is $690 trillion in debt, and the global total debt (all inclusive of all forms public and private), is $1.7 quadrillion.

BOTTOM LINE


1 these derivative losses have and will continue
2 the sovereign nations have and will dump these losses onto their citizens through the central private run banks
3 the nations have and will keep spending and borrowing more, further racking up debt to these very same private run central banks
4 the world's nations have over $400 trillion dollars U.S. in unfunded mandates that they have promised the 6.8 billion people on the planet in terms of all social safety nets and pension funds
5 the world cannot, I repeat, cannot GROW its way out of the following total debts, and they will have to literally enslave the entire planet into working as a slave, (ie, for no wages, 100 percent global tax rate), just to come close to keeping the current global cumulative debt payments going over the next 200 years

The system will either collapse in its entirety, and almost debts, especially most debts owed to private central banks by nations (as well as all, and I mean all, derivative debt) will be forgiven, expunged, shredded, etc, or else we all will literally have to be enslaved and all our wages confiscated at state-force implied and/or real gunpoint simply in order to keep the debt service scheme payments flowing.

It is mathematically impossible for there to be any other choice, the numbers speak for themselves.


This crisis point will occur in the next 5 to 10 years max, it even may cause a new world war, as many industrialized countries (not just 3rd world periphery states) will simply be unable to continue to operate at a level that will prevent their own citizens from outright civil wars and coup d' etats (much like we see now in the 'arc of crisis' ie. Morocco to the Chinese border).

This concept was laid out over 30 years ago by Zbigniew Brzezinski (chief geo-political strategist for Carter, now for Obama) in his books, speeches and CFR articles. His goal is to use this arc to force a China vs. Russia war by 2020. This will complete the elimination (in his mind) of the last threat to the Anglo/American banking cartel for true, lasting technetronic global hegemony. The end game is perpetual, privatized chattel debt-peonage for the citizens of the world.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921766,00.html

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/32309/george-lenczowski/the-arc-of-crisis-its-central-sector

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_chessboard.htm


2 key books by Zbigniew Brzezinski

http://wearechange.org.uk/london/wp-content/themes/arras-theme/resources/misc/Zbigniew%20Brzezinski-Between%20Two%20Ages.pdf

http://sandiego.indymedia.org/media/2006/10/119973.pdf

[femrap]

53. Yet with all that

military might, the US can't send a few drones to Tripoli and get Qaddafi. Why? Because the US likes war. It makes TPTB wealthy and they enjoy seeing poor, oppressed people being destroyed.

But as George Carlin says: We have the illusion of Choice....there are 23 different bagel varieties to choose from.

And don't forget that we imprison more of our own people than any other country.

We are all living The Decline of the American Empire. I would imagine that fairly soon certain states will begin to secede.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

86. Re: We are all living The Decline of the American Empire.

Sad, but I think, true.

[defendandprotect]

54. It's been "America" since 11/22/63 --

and still waiting for citizens to rise up and begin anew!

Evidently many are still staring at the idiot box confident that if there

really was anything wrong, the news reader would let them know!!

[rtassi]

61. +1

[neoralme]

59. Reasonably good post. We are past flash point now, imo, where

a turnaround cannot happen without a total collapse, writing 700 emails to Bernie Sanders notwithstanding.

[harmonicon]

62. It's not as if these are really new things.

I guess I'm sorry that you had the wool pulled over your eyes for so long, but the US has a long history of doing seriously fucked up shit, not limited to slavery and genocide (though those are probably the most egregious).

[toddwv]

68. Agreed.

People also forget Jim Crow laws
Firehosing black students who wanted to learn
The internement of Japanese Americans and the seizure of all their property.

This list could go on and on.

Perhaps the TRUE bitter pill for most Americans is not that we are not all that exceptional but that we are, in truth, exactly the same as every other country.

[polichick]

64. Voters keep believing that if we only unseat the Republicans or the Democrats...

...things would change - turns out neither party represents the people.

We've been divided and conquered by greedy and soulless corporate whores.

[emilyg]

67. +10

[neoralme]

70. Yep. And the only thing that will fix that is revolution. The only

bright spot is that more and more people are starting to see that. I'm going to more demonstrations now than any time since the late sixies. I'm kind of in the background now, being older, but that's okay. Maybe when the police start shooting I can stand in front of some kid who has yet to taste the wonderful life in this wonderful country.

[polichick]

75. Your last sentence really got me. I've been fighting for change since the early 70s...

...and it's one step forward, two steps back more often than two steps forward, one step back.

I agree, it'll take a revolution - wonder what form that will take.

[neoralme]

93. Good question. I figure when they cut entitlements, the people--

just certain people--will hit the streets, some fully armed. A few battles will ensue. Then the government will try to ameliorate the situation by offering crumbs. Some will accept the crumbs. Others will not. (Like when Mubarak tried to pacify the Eqyptians). The battles will get uglier until it turns to full scale war.

[indimuse]

65. who said this?

An illusion it will be, so large, so vast it will escape their perception.

Those who will see it will be thought of as insane.

We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connection between us.

We will use soft metals, ageing accelerators and sedatives in food and water, also in the air.

The soft metals will cause them to lose their minds. We will promise to find a cure from our many fronts, yet we will feed them more poison. (deodorant..water supply..food...toothpaste..etc..)

When they give birth we will inject poisons into the blood of their children and convince them it is for their help. (vaccines)

We will establish their governments and establish opposites within. We will own both sides. (i wouldn't have agreed with this in 2008!)

We will always hide our objective but carry out our plan.

They will perform the labour for us and we shall prosper from their toil. (ya think?...)

We will control all aspects of their lives and tell them what to think and how. (Tv-Media-Our School System)

We will guide them kindly and gently letting them think they are guiding themselves. (our system)

When a light shall shine among them, we shall extinguish it by ridicule, or death, whichever suits us best. (_____________)

We will accomplish this by using hate as our ally, anger as our friend.

The hate will blind them totally, and never shall they see that from their conflicts we emerge as their rulers. They will be busy killing each other.

We will continue to prosper from their wars and their deaths.

We will continue to make them live in fear and anger though images and sounds.

We will make them hate themselves and their neighbours.

We will take over their land, resources and wealth to exercise total control over them.

We will deceive them into accepting laws that will steal the little freedom they will have.

We will establish a money system that will imprison them forever, keeping them and their children in debt.

When they shall band together, we shall accuse them of crimes and present a different story to the world for we shall own all the media.

We will use our media to control the flow of information and their sentiment in our favour.

They will be helpless to do anything for they will have no weapons.

The truth will be hidden in their face, so close they will not be able to focus on it until its too late.

Oh yes, so grand the illusion of freedom will be, that they will never know they are our slaves.

When all is in place, the reality we will have created for them will own them. This reality will be their prison. They will live in self-delusion.

Their minds will belong to us and they will do as we say. If they refuse we shall find ways to implement mind-altering technology into their lives. We will use fear as our weapon.

When our goal is accomplished a new era of domination will begin.


?

[Jakes Progress]

73. Think France. Think Great Britain.

World leadership comes and goes. Looks like we've left.

[harun]

74. People think voting can stop this, however we don't live in a Democracy, voting won't cut it.

[krabigirl]

76. Yes it can. People here are placated and deathly afraid of their government.

[mckara]

80. Dear Pollyanna: Some of Your Points are Inaccurate:

6.) The United States is still the biggest manufacturer in the world.

7.) The Federal Reserve policies of quantitative easing and low interest rates are killing the US Dollar, not government spending.

9.) S&P would lower the rating to AA+ instead of AAA, far above junk bonds.

10.) Although we have a bloated defense budget, cuts to the welfare state would result from failures to remove the Bush tax cuts, and not adding greater revenues to the Treasury. Last week, Pimco started buying US Bonds again.

Many of the other points are not without historical precedent. We have never been a perfect nation, and we will never be, until there are more people like you who want to make us one!

[WinkyDink]

81. And the author is calling for a gathering where, again?

[Taft_Bathtub]

85. Actually, America is at war with 4 countries

Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya.

[murphyj87]

105. and Canada...

We're gathering matches to burn the White House again, as we did in the War of 1812......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ety2FEHQgwM

[truedelphi]

88. One huge correction -we currently are fighting in FIVE nations

Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Colombia.

Of course we use entities like Dyncorp to bring about the pain our officials want to have coming down in Colombia, but that doesn't make it any less of a war.

[Fire Walk With Me]

89. The majority of these items are Bush policy.

[pokerfan]

90. and now that Obama's in charge...

:shrug:

[Fire Walk With Me]

91. I agree, they've gotta change, but the military industrial complex isn't going to come apart

overnight... We all have to keep working for what we know is right.

[ooglymoogly]

92. If we have any chance of regaining this country that we all love, it will be

by finally stopping deluding ourselves on who this man really is.

Even after the many reasons I have oft stated and many of us have oft stated that would doom any democratic candidate; this last one takes the cake:
He has now stated that he supports the torture of Bradly manning, because he broke the law by (as yet unproven) exposing deadly and treasonous corruption in our own Military and Government.

As if any further proof is needed.

This is a disgraceful self agrandising mind that does not deserve our respect; willing to let deadly blows to our integrity go unpunished, nay empower and magnify those blows to the vitals of this country.

This is a mind that sees through an insensitive, ruthless, very narrow and dangerous lens that spends a good part of its energy attempting to appear something it is not.

Now in electioneering mode, it has gone back to saying good, honorable and sensible things that most Americans can agree on, admire and who, too desperately would like nothing more than to attribute to a great man.

And we must like the pugs apply this hard edged ethic to regain our honor to every elected office in our country right down to every school board and dog catcher.

Been there done that. The one time chance to fool (me for one) has been used and abused to the max.

Please, if you can prove to me that I am wrong so that I may become "pragmatic" and be just another good little doobie supporting the systematic fascistamising (unmitigated and flagrant word coinage be damned),
and the blatant sodomizing and destruction of a country we all love so deeply.

How can we not rise up and do something. We are not a dumb people and not a stupid country.

These desperate times scream out for a Founding Fathers moment.

The greedy times we live in are about to, if not already destroy the decency and common sense this country has held sacrosanct in those we elect HAHA I laugh at my own joke of naivete.

These desperate times scream in the dark, for an FDR moment.

Isn't there anyone out there that is up to this.

Of course there is and plenty. It is our failing that we have not identified those screaming to be identified and supported them even if if we have to sell the shirts off our backs, meaning digging deeper and working harder than we have ever worked before. We are facing a fascism that will treat us like dehumanized rats and we are doing it with a yawn and a mass mind check out and worst of all a the biggest portion of delusion in our history.

It is long past time to rise. Just look to Gandhi, Wisconsin, Tunisia, Egypt and our own rise, long past, against king George.

We have not taken kindly and compliantly to being ordered to act beneath ourselves in the past nor have we ever stood for it for as long as we have now stood for it.

IMO we can turn around these dire straights, only by running a primary challenger. And it will have to be someone we absolutely trust, Absolutely. Then we have to work our asses off to get him/her elected, just the way we did for this flim flam now crooning the same old saw that convinced us to bust our asses two years ago.

[ooglymoogly]

99. sorry paragraphs on above are out of order making the post unreadable

re posted below.

[murphyj87]

96. Dollars

Not long ago the Canadian dollar was worth $0.80 US. As of Thursday, a Canadian dollar is worth $1.0505 US.

Canadian unemployment is currently 7.8% and US unemployment is 8.8%.

Over 300 US banks have failed since January 1, 2008, while zero Canadian banks have failed since the end of the Great Depression, and TD (Toronto Dominion Bank) bought out Ameritrade <[Ameri(ca)trade is owned by a Canadian bank>, and Boston Bruins play at the TD Gardens.

[ooglymoogly]

98. Extra Kick...and repost of the above unreadable post.

My little yorky is trampling all over my keyboard demanding attention. So to repeat with paragraphs in proper order.

The only way I can see that we can regain control of this country is

by stopping deluding ourselves on who this man really is.

Even after the many reasons I have oft stated and many of us have oft stated that would doom any democratic candidate; this last one takes the cake:
He has now stated that he supports the torture of Bradly manning, because he broke the law by (as yet unproven) exposing deadly and treasonous corruption in our own Military and Government.

As if any further proof is needed.

This is a disgraceful self aggrandizing mind that does not deserve our respect; willing to let deadly blows to our integrity go unpunished, nay empower and magnify those blows to the vitals of this country.

This is a mind that sees through an insensitive, ruthless, very narrow and dangerous lens that spends a good part of its energy attempting to appear something it is not.

Now in electioneering mode, it has gone back to saying good, honorable and sensible things that most Americans can agree on, admire and who, too desperately would like nothing more than to attribute to a great man.

Been there done that. The one time chance to fool (me for one) has been used and abused to the max.


Please, if you can prove to me that I am wrong so that I may become "pragmatic" and be just another good little doobie supporting the systematic fascistamising (unmitigated and flagrant word coinage be damned),
and the blatant sodomizing and destruction of a country we all love so deeply.

How can we not rise up and do something. We are not a dumb people and not a stupid country.

These desperate times scream out for a Founding Fathers moment.

The greedy times we live in are about to, if not already destroy the decency and common sense that this country has held sacrosanct in those we elect HAHA I laugh at my own joke of naivete.

These desperate times scream out in the dark, for an FDR moment.

Isn't there anyone out there that is up to this?

Of course there is and plenty.

It is our failing that we have not identified those screaming to be identified and supported them even if we have to sell the shirts off our backs, meaning digging deeper and working harder than we have ever worked before.

We are facing a fascism that will treat us like dehumanized rats and we are doing it with a yawn and a mass mind check out and worst of all a the biggest crapbag of delusion in our history.

It is long past time to rise. Just look to Gandhi, Wisconsin, Tunisia, Egypt and our own rise, long past, against king George.

We have not taken kindly or compliantly to being ordered to act beneath ourselves in the past nor have we ever stood for our country becoming a country of lowlifes for as long as we have now stood for it.

IMO we can turn around these dire straights, only by running a primary challenger. And it will have to be someone we absolutely trust, Absolutely. Then we have to work our asses off to get him/her elected, just the way we did for this flim flam now crooning the same old saw that convinced us to bust our asses two years ago.

we have to hunker down and get what has to be done, done

And we must, like the pugs, apply this hard edged ethic to regain our honor and standing in the world. We must apply it to every elected office in this country right down to every school board and dog catcher. After all that is what the pugs have been doing these last 40 years while we were sleeping.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

106. Thank you for adding to the discussion. nt