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The state of the US and beyond

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posted on Aug, 5 2014 @ 12:50 AM
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The government gets away with borrowing money from the Fed for whatever they can get through Congress and the President. It usually but not always ends up with the American people's best interests cast aside for more Federal/Corporate power, bigger budgets that justify raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere, or last resort just charging it on the Fed credit card for later repayment + interest. The current and probably most of the last 50-100 years worth of Senators and Representatives don't really care for multiple reasons:
-It's not their money they're spending. It's the Federal gov'ts money to spend as Congress sees fit.
-Raising taxes might hurt them a bit as well as the American economy/people so that is very hard to get passed.
-Lowering taxes helps the economy and helps them get re-elected year after year.
-Year after year of sitting in Congress lets them get to know/mingle with some of the most wealthy, powerful, influential people in the world, which is part of the reason they always get richer after serving a $100k per year job and make millions per year.
-Year after year of sitting also lets the special interest lobbys get their slimy cash-filled hands into our rep's pockets and eventually around their throats.
-As long as they can gain a large enough % of the people's trust, they know they can gain enough support to pass pretty much anything. ("You'll have to pass it to read what's in it" ACA and the Patriot Act/NDAA come to mind here.)
-As long as enough lobbyist money is thrown at congress, a majority for re-election campaigns, the lobbyists (aka corporate interests a lot of the time) can override the average American's voting power.

Congress isn't alone in this. Unless they have the votes to overcome a Presidential veto, the POTUS has the final say on bills. The POTUS is described as the "leader of the free world" and the "most powerful man in the world" (or at least in the US) so he/they need to share some of the blame for this mess as well. Most/all of the items in the list above applies to the POTUS equally with Congress or more. I say more because he is 1 man/woman with 1 opinion and 1 viewpoint and 1 backbone that can stand up and say NO "FOR" the American people. He's the main man, top dog, in the business world he would be the top-level CEO/Chairman of the Board and has the final say most of the time. I think the last president like this was JFK and I think he was taken out by some entity, I don't want to get into who here, to keep certain info/tech/knowledge from coming out of the President's mouth on national broadcasts. I believe JFK found something out that would shift the balance of power into the people's hands and out of the MIC's clutches. I don't know what that info was, but it must have been BIG to kill the POTUS live in front of tons of people, some/at least 1 of who had portable video cameras.

Someone once said there's 3 things you can do in any situation: the right thing, the wrong thing, and nothing. Doing nothing and the wrong thing can have very similar results in the end, but in dire situations, doing something as opposed to nothing can have a stabilizing effect over the short-term at least. Either way, even doing the right thing can have disastrous consequences. Ultimately, doing the right thing at the right time is always best, but not always doable. The right thing is sometimes painful, rarely easy, and almost never perfect for everybody, but being able to show others how it truly is the right thing to do for the long-term takes true talent and lots of time/money.

Most animals think only about their short-term survival, even us advanced humans don't put enough thought into the long-term future of our species. It's totally understandable, long-term solutions take a lot of thought and tons of data points to interpret to make the correct or at least the best guess decision, and most people are preoccupied with putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads, and lately have their faces buried in their "smart" device all the time. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive, even more so if you have children or other dependents that rely on you for their well-being. I'm single ATM but I get it.

Humans are the masters of the Earth ATM and if we want to stay at the top we are going to have to change our ways, and IMHO soon. What we do and how we do it is currently unsustainable. There's enough arable land to let every family have a sizable chunk just for themselves and their future progeny. The US produces something like 50% of the worlds food all by ourselves but so much get's wasted trying to get it to where it needs to be. Socialism is always criticized for this very reason, bureaucratic red tape and corruption, which always gets worse as the central authority grows in power and influence. Capitalism was supposed to be this great new experiment in human economies, and in many ways it has been. Capitalism has produced great products, innovations, ideas, and most importantly wealth for most people in Western society. The standard-of-living gap between western 1st worlds and the rest of the 3rd world nations is incredible. Hence the meme: 1st world problems.

When previously time-limited job specific corporations gained the rights of "people" and basically became immortal beings under the laws of the US, things have slowly but surely gone downhill. The older established corporations were able to build a foothold in an industry and pay to help write/pass laws that favor them and drive the smaller competitors to run on less profit or go out of business. Then the larger company can buy up the assets cheap and expand even more. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making a buck as much as the next guy and in capitalism that's supposed to be how things work. Better products, designs, innovations, ideas, etc. should and will win out in true capitalism and failed business plans, ideas, designs sometimes just aren't as good as the next guy's.

Unfortunately today, what we see is the rise of corporatism/fascism/call it what you want-ism, where instead of true capitalism, we have "too big to fail" businesses and industries getting bailed out, over-regulation to the point it's difficult to start out your own business without major funding and marketing and legal expenses the average American just can't or isn't willing to lose to try something. Even with all that, small business is still one of the biggest innovators, job creators, and wealth builders in America if you have the drive and determination to see it through to the end.

Finally, at the end of the day, the basic facts seem really simple to me. Complicated and diverse, but they can be simplified. I hope I have done that here a bit for some people who just can't/don't want to see the big picture. Well just had this thought while reading something else and needed to put it down on paper(in electricity now i guess? lol). Thoughts always welcome and thanks for reading.



posted on Aug, 5 2014 @ 01:20 AM
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While sitting here thinking about solutions to some of these massive problems, I'm watching True Blood and the guy said something so perfect it bears repeating: "... teenagers can have a Pavlovian response to a ringing cellphone." I think it's true for far more people than just teenagers but the simple fact they have been surrounded by cell phones their whole lives would produce a stronger imprint. Technology is great, today's smartphones are more powerful than what sent man to the moon and we can instantly communicate with anybody else around the world through the Internet, which I view as the great equalizer between growing corporatism and small business quality and service.

Once the entire world, 1st and 3rd, is interconnected with cheap, reliable, easy access to the Internet, things are really going to start to change for the better for humanity. The biggest problem with this is then that makes the value of the current 1st world nation's currency/products cheaper depressing their economies while expanding the 3rd world nation's economies. This is far better and more fair for everybody, for humanity as a species, than the current tiered system. Capitalism has shown that in the long run, raising the standard of living anywhere, will improve living conditions, pay rates, and overall economic activity in a region. Look at how well it worked for the US from the 1900's to the current day. There's no reason that can't work for the whole world if done correctly and as locally as possible with the Internet backbone/equalizer.

Given all that, there will be growing pains. Products are going to need to get more expensive in 1st world nations and/or income needs to increase in 3rd world nations. I believe 1 is going to have to come at the expense of the other and neither is going to be pleasant for the short-term. Over the long haul though, everyone's lives get better. People will be able to learn anything they want on the internet for free. How to grow crops, raise livestock, make solar stills and ovens, etc.

Nobody needs go hungry, thirsty, or un/undereducated on this wonderful little blue marble we all live on together. It will take work and technology and innovations but honestly, isn't that what we humans do best, solve problems?



posted on Aug, 5 2014 @ 08:08 AM
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I do realize a good portion of my theories are unsubstantiated and mostly opnion and speculation, but I think my underlying princials are sound.



 
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