One thing to understand is that about half of this country VOTED for this to happen and it is what they think they want. About three quarters of this country are either too young to vote, old enough to need the promised health care and socialized services or actually believe that Obama is going to take the money away from those rich capitalist pigs and take care of them. Most of the other side doesn't see it for what it is because they have been programmed that way by the media and modern education. The rich, wealthy, celebrities, media, politicians and so forth are going to be just fine because they are part of the new socialist program and are pushing it for their own reasons.

The people who work, pay taxes, obey the law, actually pay their bills and see this mess for what it is are in a reviled minority that is getting smaller every day.

When we can't buy bread and balogna to make a sandwich or a roll of toilet paper to wipe our fat butts with then, maybe, the USA will wake up.
To bad it will be too late by then.

[edit on 15-6-2009 by badgerprints]

Aye, there's the rub: what to do that is effective in bringing about the sort of change we want. Pretty much everyone I know is aware of the situation and how screwed we all are, but no one can figure out what to do about it.

The problem, I think is sheer numbers: 340 or so million Americans. To get to 10% you need 34 million focussed on one thing. That's a lot of people. Getting that many coordinated is a more than monumental task. It is a time-consuming task. And most Americans are smart enough to realize that in the process, if anyone or any group became truly effective, they would be attacked in multiple ways and isolated, thus rendering them safe for TPTB. You know the drill: financial, sexual, drug, and political allegations that destroy the reputation and consume all the resources, ultimately ending in "suicide" or bancruptcy.

Who or what do you target? If you march in a commercial district the cops will arrest you and/or beat you. If you march in a wealthy neighborhood, same, except the people you want to influence aren't there because this is just one of their residences. The corporate elite are remote and mobile, with many layers of protection. They can safely ignore any sort protest if the people peacefully march.

So again: what can be done?

The only things I see as effective are difficult in the extreme to accomplish: a general strike might work, but what are you striking for? Higher minimum wage? Affordable healthcare? Lower taxes? Higher taxes? Better schools? It's pretty frustrating...none of those things solves anything, really. If you can't define and agree upon what you're striking for and provide a plan to get there, it's a pointless endeavor.

Here's my one thing, one idea to unite behind and strike for that might actually create the sorts of change that we all want:

Cap wealth.

Limit wealth to one billion dollars per individual, counting cash, stocks, bonds, cars, furs, jewelry, homes, boats, etc., in the total, no matter where in the world it is located.

Tax everything above that at 100%. Give those currently over four years to disburse their excess wealth within a set of guidelines. Mandatory commercial retirement when the cap is reached. Remember, the thing that most distinguishes the super-wealthy from the rest of us is not their intellectual or business acumen superiority, but rather their callousness and ruthlessness. They are replaceable; quite easily, in fact. After a billion dollars, they can work philanthropically or play or actually (god forbid) raise thier children and be with thier families.

That's my take: I've spent a great deal of time thinking about this and actually writing a law, the Maximum Individual Wealth Act, MIWA for short, that explicitly defines what, who, and how. Penalties are genuine, too: loss of citizenship and the privelege of doing businessin or for the US, its territories or possessions, visiting or living within the same, as well as economic sanctions.

Other than that, the only thing I see that will effectively change anything is collapse a la USSR, and who what sort of change we'll get then...

Bravo, bravo, bravo op, star and flag for you.

Home of the brave my *ss! Americans will do nothing. They will watch as the gestapo police force and government continue to beat the other guy and steal their country blind. It's all good, as long as the people of the most overweight (fat) nation in the world are still able to sit on their butts, eat McDonalds and talk smack about their (also fat) neighbors.

Originally posted by lee anoma
I've been sicked and disturbed at what has been happening to our country for the last eight or nine years.



Every politician is in bed with each other no matter how much they try and convince the naive out there that the other side is to blame. They are in bed with the corrupt companies that help bleed us dry. All of them are implicated in some manner.

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I agree to both points..I have seen a donward spiral in this country..Everyman for themselves it seems..Instead of trying to help there fellow man,they wood rather throw them under the bus to get ahead..

Its sickning to see how this country has turned out to be,so quickly..I would rather live in a box then stoop so low..I'm just a lowly construction worker that has their house forclosed on twice,but I wont forget my morals no matter what..

Money has deffinately been the driving force in the coruption of the masses along with DC..

Its a F-you I want mine mentality..It bridges all walks of life..

sadly I think something along the lines of the possible truth of 911 is the only thing that will snap people out of there walking coma's