This Can't Be Happening In America

reply to post by antonia


I wouldn't call it democratic socialism, but I would call it democratic capitalism with injections of socialism.

I am of Dutch descendant, I wonder if I could migrate back to Holland. All I see is back stabbing and dirty politics here in Silicon Valley.

The biggest thing needed to turn the U.S. economy around is to start fighting white collar crime. Start spending infrastructure money where it should go, and put the fed res on a strict diet.

Nice video, you would think the tea party might want to pay attention to this. The people they put in power in the House are doing everything they can to reward Wall Street crooks.

reply to post by poet1b


Hello Poet1b. In Holland we are basically go the other way around now if compared to the USA. After several left wing (some call it socialist) governments, we have now probably the must right winged government we have had in decades. A favour is that in Holland we have at least many different political parties to chose between at elections (10 in total).
I agree what is said in this thread, that in a democracy it is essential that the people who vote have to feel a responsibility and have to know what's going on. With many ignorant voters every democracy is doomed. Unfortunately it looks like that on the entire planet ingnorance is on the arise. I think that it has also to do with the media. A lot of people don't understand how powerful the media is today. The media is everywhere. TV, internet, radio, newspapers. And unfortantely the quality of much of the media is pretty bad.. The media just goes for it's own sake and for a higher number number of viewers and readers (profit and commercial interests is more important to them than covering what is really happening).

reply to post by lightyears


Hi Lightyears, thanks for the reply. Yeah, I have followed the scene in Holland, watched the Movie, "The Sixth of May" several years ago. It seems though, that compared to the U.S., Holland is still pretty liberal. What is the job situation there, if you don't mind myself asking, for technically skilled people?

There was in the news just a year ago about a French automaker in N France starting a company that makes cars that run on compressed air, that was supposed to be starting to put out cars soon. I wonder if they still exist. They have a web site, but no new news of cars for sale. I wonder if the ICs have succeeded in shutting them down.

I think Obama's appointment of Petraeus to Director of the CIA is the best move of his presidency. If anyone is in a position to wrestle control of power from the current PTB, Petraeus is the guy.

With Panetta in as Sec of Def and Petraeus at the CIA, the Obama admin might actually succeed in being in charge, which is something I don't think Clinton ever achieved.

From my understanding Petraeus is a person who believes in the U.S., and might be the lion we need to restore our democracy, and stand up to the Fed Res and the ICs who have taken over.

Originally posted by poet1b

I think Obama's appointment of Petraeus to Director of the CIA is the best move of his presidency. If anyone is in a position to wrestle control of power from the current PTB, Petraeus is the guy.

With Panetta in as Sec of Def and Petraeus at the CIA, the Obama admin might actually succeed in being in charge, which is something I don't think Clinton ever achieved.

From my understanding Petraeus is a person who believes in the U.S., and might be the lion we need to restore our democracy, and stand up to the Fed Res and the ICs who have taken over.

You are very naive if you think Petraeus got where he is without being "in the loop".

Originally posted by Hessling
Folks, I’ve been politically passionate for many years. During this time I’ve seen scandals, bad decisions, foreign misadventures, economic crisis’s and so forth. While it is easily understood America is far from perfect, what has been going on the last 10+ years is nothing short of insanity.

This Can't Be Happening In America

sane-ramblings.blogspot.com...

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.

I’ve watched these events unfold right in front of my eyes and feel as though I’m in a car accident whereby everything turns to slow-motion and I feel powerless to do anything other than accept the inevitable.

I used to “fight” by voting in every election. However, it seems as though our elected leaders no longer care about us. Recently elections just seem like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Also, there is very little doubt that the media is not doing the job they were intended to do.

For those of you who have been politically awake for years, I’d like to know your take on this. Perhaps you’d like to add to this list?

Younger friends of mine do not understand why I’m freaking out over current events. They consider it “normal”.

Perpetual war…Wall Street bailouts…rampant unemployment…rich vs. poor gap reaching preposterous levels…sky rocketing inflation despite government numbers stating there is no inflation…blatantly illegal actions taken by elites with absolutely no repercussions forthcoming.

Damn it! This is NOT normal.

I simply want to know how in the heck we reached this point and within a breathtakingly short span of time in relation to our history? Do you think we can ever go back and restore our honor?

(MODS: I took my best guess on Forum selection. Please feel free to move as necessary.)

if I had to add one more thing I would say not to mention the countless conspiracies involving the government and the elite making an attempt to actually promote these problems oppress the people and the Constitution many others issues and some even conspiracy theorist haven't even heard of..

the way I see it there is only two possible final outcomes one is complete and total revolution and the second would be complete and total hostile takeover by another country or nation or superpower which before hand would require our total destruction; of our laws our ways of life and our societies. from what I'm hearing about China and it overtaking the American dollar (or overcoming America in some way or another I can't remember) by 2016 and India quickly following behind China in terms of growing numbers or economy or both sorry I don't have my facts straight but it's all along those lines more than likely it will be one of them that take over America and force some sort of check mate..

the real problem behind all the other larger issues is not only our quality of life but the fact that the Federal Reserve and the new world order are working to create a World Bank system in which all countries nations regions whatever will have to answer to them and if you control the money you control the action and so there will be no action if there is no money which means if there is a World Bank system that World Bank system would control the world and I think we need to look beyond the large problems to the largest of problems the future of our future basically..

Then there are those conspiracies about free energy unlimited energy sustained energy all these kinds of energies that have been available for decades and either our government and maybe all of the world's governments have been trying so hard to suppress and keep secret the rather spend money on bombs for blowing up in his people that have nothing to do with the fight because God bless America I love America and probably because I was born in America. it seems funny to me that for children at such a young age they drill them constantly every day soon after they wake and force them to pledge their allegiance to the United States and the flag of America when they have no true understanding of America America's history and world history or what America even stands for and you will see that anyone from any other region of the world loves the country they're from and when you boil it down, simply because they were born there; it's their motherland. See that simple American his-story is tought to middle school and high school kids and it also seems funny that the minimum age to join the Army is 16 with a parent's permission and 18 when you're in adult, funny how that leaves almost no time in between for any child to get a full grasp of the situation of their country their country's conflicts and the rest of the world, all these kids fighting wars they know nothing about, because they pledged their allegiance to a country that they know nothing about except what they were told and what they were taught up until the very moment the government and the Army puts an M-16 in their hands.isn't it also funny that there's been a major increase in ROTC programs and early army cadet programs massive installments of Army college programs in grants but you don't see that kind of emphasis in Art, music or culture programs and especially science programs for clean energy (and astronomy) sure they exist but I'm talking about the emphasis our country isn't prioritizing what's most important science, knowledge, peace, understanding ect. the betterment of mankind of America not the destruction of it.. seems like that is the only thing America is focused on is the destruction of itself and everyone else so God help me if somebody comes over here and decides to slay the beast... I got a be honest I don't think I would stand in their way I think is a better chance if we all work together and realize what really needs to be done what we have been doing wrong and what we can do right. it seems like America is fighting to protect all the things it's been doing wrong it's fighting to say that it has never been wrong and that our way of life is correct, we may have gotten some things right in terms of politics, we may have gotten some things right in terms of law, we may have gotten some things right in terms of technology but overall it did not work out and so when the time comes for reformation or transformation we should all get busy living or get busy dying..because for the longest time under the harshest of conditions we have been slowly dying slowly coming to our and slowly fueling the fire that will burn us all..

reply to post by poet1b

In some perspective Holland is still liberal (euthanasia, gay marriage) but on the other hand we also see a right wing movement in the country, calling for tougher penalties and a call for lower taxes. So in some ways Dutch politics are actually looking more like American. The financial crisis has also let to a strong decrease in government spending.

What about the unemployment: Well the official statistics show that unemployment in Holland is about 5% what is the lowest of all EU countries and about 50% lower than in the United States. But I have to say that although this statistic sounds pretty good, finding a job is quite difficult bacause of the economic crisis. I myself facealso difficulty to find a new job in real estate because house rpcies fell 9% during the crisis. What about the technical industry: I think it is probably a little better than in my own branch. There is a manufacter NedCar in Holland, but they have difficult times and don't have jobs at the moment. I don't know the French manufacter you were talking about .

Originally posted by lightyears
reply to post by poet1b

 

Hello Poet1b. In Holland we are basically go the other way around now if compared to the USA. After several left wing (some call it socialist) governments, we have now probably the must right winged government we have had in decades. A favour is that in Holland we have at least many different political parties to chose between at elections (10 in total).
I agree what is said in this thread, that in a democracy it is essential that the people who vote have to feel a responsibility and have to know what's going on. With many ignorant voters every democracy is doomed. Unfortunately it looks like that on the entire planet ingnorance is on the arise. I think that it has also to do with the media. A lot of people don't understand how powerful the media is today. The media is everywhere. TV, internet, radio, newspapers. And unfortantely the quality of much of the media is pretty bad.. The media just goes for it's own sake and for a higher number number of viewers and readers (profit and commercial interests is more important to them than covering what is really happening).

WOW yes very well said. I agree. the media and the news used to be for the people by the people and now they are just for themselves and their own bank accounts I think the collapse of the American dollar is probably the most important thing that will ever happen to our country deadly yes unnecessary no it seems like for every civilization and for every major disaster humans seem to wait until the very last moment or until the damage has already been done before they wake up and decide there is something that they should do about if our government comes to an end or if all world comes to an end there will be no one else there will be no one to blame except for the human race itself.

reply to post by Odin2305


How's that saying go?

Never let a good crisis go wasted?

Very little doubt to me that 90+% of this crap is engineered. With the contingency planned well ahead of actual need, naturally.

Originally posted by Hessling
reply to post by Odin2305

 

How's that saying go?

Never let a good crisis go wasted?

Very little doubt to me that 90+% of this crap is engineered. With the contingency planned well ahead of actual need, naturally.

edit on 27-4-2011 by Hessling because: ETA

Yes I have no doubt with the government and its billions of dollars and super teams of think tanks I'm sure they have contingency plans for just about every situation. Talk about wanting peace there's a book called 'report from iron Mountain' and it's on the desirability of peace and the necessity of war if you haven't already read it it's a good read some people are saying that it's a work of fiction but real or not what is being described in the book I believe is totally within the boundaries of reasonable possibility..

reply to post by Odin2305



Yes contrary to popular belief the government isn't a bunch of monkeys standing around throwing # at each other. every single thing they do is well-planned and well thought of every backup plan has a backup plan is a contingency for the contingency plan the deeper situation is why are they playing around with society. what is their overall agenda for most of the known conspiracies? from what I keep hearing from multiple sources whether they are trusted or not and this is well into the realm of possibility that our government and military has been severely infiltrated by extraterrestrials.. Think about that explanation because why would any human being or group of human beings really want to do so much damage to their own fellow human beings minus ideas like Hitler killing all the Jews.. And which even Hitler was said to have ties with extraterrestrials and was close to if not had completed a wonder weapon

reply to post by Common Scarecrow


There is no doubt that Petraeus is in the loop, but that loop goes through several circles of trust, and not all those circles of trust work together. There is quite a bit of evidence that a great many of the top brass are unhappy with what repubs have done. If you think they don't resent how private contractors were allowed to rip off the U.S. government, and the military budget, and tarnish our image, then you are paying enough attention.

I think Petraeus succeeded in Iraq against Cheney and companies wishes, but his success means they can't do anything about it. That whole coalition put into power, of the Bush Cheney group, and the people who founded the CIA, that fools with free market idealism on their breath, put into power, are the biggest part of the problem.

Know this, there has always been a fight going on for the soul of America, and while the good guys may be down right now, we are a long ways from being out, and soon we will be back on top again. The history of the U.S. is a history of the right people winning. Those who tell you different are batting on the wrong side, whether or not they realize it.

reply to post by Odin2305


While the U.S. has its problems, we are taking the steps to correct those problems. People are speaking up, and pushing for change.

China and India are still screwed up far beyond our darkest days in the U.S.. I have the highest hope for those nations to succeed, but their problems are substantial, and it will be a long time before they take the steps necessary to establish freedom and opportunity that are necessary for any successful first world nation.

Take the time to learn the real history of the U.S.. Pay attention to the version people are telling, and watch for their possible agenda. Then teach your children the real history.

I used to think that history is told by the winners, but life has taught me that this isn't correct. The losers will still be hanging around, putting their spin on history. I suspect that most of the time, the losers were in fact the bad guys, which is why they lost, and will continue to lose, but unfortunately, that doesn't stop them from continuing to create problems at every opportunity.

reply to post by lightyears


I am not real familiar with the political environment of Holland, but I see Europe going more conservative, mainy pushed by needed changes in immigration policies.

I consider myself a liberal, but too many liberals have become too idealistic. Some pull back from the extremist is probably due. Hopefully Europe doesn't swing as far to the right as the U.S. has.

Great post - this has been happening for a very long time. I have seen certain events with my own eyes regarding cover ups. TV is a great brain washing tool. There are days I just wish it would hurry up and either end or get on with the take over.

We should require an IQ test (and more) or every public official from major to senator to US president. Yes, it's a democracy,but we should have requirements to any job posting in government as in any industry. Aren't these positions more widely encompassing that that of an engineer or teacher? Lack of leadership and in any government summarizes itself in lack of brains, ideals,decency, and purpose.

Also lack of supervision. As any employee, government officials should face the possibility of firing, no advance notice, if they are failing at their jobs. I would get rid of over 50% of officials right now and start a new hiring process with delimited requirements for each job. I once heard a senator say to Bill Maher that it didn't require any special skill to be a senator, and he was living proof of it. Recent presidents have proved this to be a burning embarassment for many Americans...

Education is lightly supported, has no goals that tie to current national manufacturing or scientific goals (if any) or artistics developments; there is no education to pride on learning, the intelligent are ridiculed and tagged as "nerds". TV, and the ever lingering "right" of everyone to say anything and everything to anyone , about anyone or any subject no matter how ignorant or biased is the right of the morons to spread myths, semi truths and innuendos all over the waves.

The many wars fought inward and out of the country; some against brown people that just want to work and earn a better living--not too different in goals from the founding fathers-- others against those who want to be free of dictators, or believe in UFOs, spread the resources too thin to make any significant presence in the things that really matter.

The excessive influence of the trivial in the daily lives of children where having an mp3 player costing $400 is a milestone to celebrate a birthday or just the reason to make parents to feel guilty if they cannot produce these items on the asking; makes this a society of zombies, who give up their rights to protest, to know their representatives and pass judgement on voting day, the responsibility to educate themselves in world and national matters and as long as the little world around them remains the same. This is the elite of the ignorants. That is why this is all happening

Bottom line is that the people who control things are going to get their way no matter what...you can enjoy the ride as much as they will allow you to,or not...thats it

reply to post by HolgerTheDane


This guy sounds like a bleeding heart liberal. And someone from another country trying to tell us how to read and understand things they really have no understanding of.


People we have plenty we can do about whats going on. The prblem is their are only a few of us whiling to do what needs to be done. So until then we all just enjoy the ride and hopes it stops soon.

How did we get in this mess?
#1 Creation of the Federal Reserve, slowly siphoning off the wealth of America.
#2 The 2 party system that has excluded the people from their concerns while catering to corporate interests.
#3 Allowing the media to be owned by a few corporations and wealthy individuals, eliminating any real investigative journalism.
#4 Neglecting the Constitution while twisting the rules for special interests (see reason #1)
#5 Signing on to GATT, NAFTA and all the other "free trade" agreements which have allowed American industry to be shipped overseas for higher profits.
#6 Failure to reign in the CIA, NSA and other intelligence organizations has led to chaos in foreign countries and backlash against the US.
#7 Allowing uncontrolled illegal immigration across our southern border, placing enormous burdens on our state and local social programs, schools and hospitals.

I should stop now before I go on 100.

I don;t blame young people for thinking the state of America today is normal - all they've ever know is a "post 9/11 world". There was a time not so long ago where people actually felt free and had no fear of speaking opposing viewpoints. When you could get on airlines without going through paramilitary checkpoints, when there was no such thing as a "homeland", just the United States.

It ain't over yet, not by a longshot, Americans are more resourceful, more patriotic than you might imagine. They've just had to hide it well lest they get on some government watch list.

reply to post by Bonified Ween


nice list, but you're forgetting computer games. Definitely up there with TV and Movies and has a desensitising role to play that's very strong.