A Rotting Corpse...

[JFN1]

And we're all so desperate to save it...to breath life into it, once more...to see it alive, yet again...

Is there anything more wasteful, more deluded, more pointless?

Mr. Obama wants to bring in a new age of bi-partisanship.

That is a really, really nice idea. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, and SELF-RIGHTEOUS.

But it takes two to tango, and Mr. Obama's dance partners are refusing to take the floor.

And instead of acknowledging this, he continues to insist the new way, is the only way.

He may be right, I don't know.

What I do know is the rot in this country runs bone deep.

I bought paper towels yesterday, the same brand I've been buying for years. The package is exactly the same, and so is the price.

But the product has been altered. it is thinner, lower quality. It is not the same product I've been buying all of these years.

So is it a lie, to sell me a different product in the same wrapper for the same price? I think it is.

And yet, this lie, and MILLIONS like it, are told, and accepted, every single day in this country.

We can't even tell the truth about fucking paper towels.

So what hope have we for saving this country from itself?

What hope have we of breathing life into the rotting, dessicated corpse our country has become under the Republic Party boot?

Can you save someone who does not want to be saved? Can you teach reason to a stone?

I no longer have hope.

The Republic Party, the media, and our spineless Dems. What a crew!

And our Dems are going to continue on the road of pointless appeasement, continue to compromise with uncompromising selfishness, continue to take the "high road" even as our country falls into the ditch.

What am I supposed to say, or feel, or do? Should I be happy that even with Congress and the Presidency in Democratic hands, the Republicans still utterly control the debate? Should I "just be happy" that we have Dems there at all?

WHY? There is little left of our beloved country. The stink of decay and rot is fetid; and it is everywhere...

And all we are working on, all our President and Congress are working towards, is the resurrection of the OLD ways, the dying body America, the rotting corpse of promise and freedom and equality and fairness and justice, that is our United States of America...save the banks, and the big-wigs, and the fat cats, and the wealthy. Save them - not us, not America.

Did you not realize that America is only made up of about 400 people? the richest of the rich? WHO DO YOU THINK TARP IS FOR? You? Me? WHO DO YOU THINK THE STIMULUS WILL HELP FIRST? Rich bankers? Or my dying 19 year old niece who had her health insurance canceled last year for reaching her LIFETIME MAXIMUM BENEFITS?

Spare me the platitudes of faith in politicians of ANY stripe. I cannot afford them anymore than our rotting corpse of a country can...

[CrispyQ]

1. In another post I said it's like "fair & balanced" government.

I don't want fair & balanced. Not all views are valid & not all views should be heard. Thirty years of free trade, deregulation for industry, & tax cuts for the rich have ruined our economy. Why are we listening to the voices of those who have nothing new to offer?

[JFN1]

10. Because we're not really serious.

If we were, we'd ALL be in the streets instead of at work, we'd ALL be refusing to shop instead of buying more crap we don't need, we'd ALL be STANDING UP and taking the fight to our government, instead of breathlessly waiting, incipiently trusting, our POLITICIANS, to do the right thing, when it is clear their will to do the right thing differs from ours, as does our definition of the "right" thing...

[Fire1]

13. Right On! When ordinary citizens no longer have anything to

lose, THEN, we will stand up and be heard and ONLY THEN!!

[Mari333]

2. if obama wants the economy to be fixed

he can start by ending both wars and slashing the defense budget by 2/3.

[Autumn]

3. What a post

you covered everything. Thank you.

[peacetalksforall]

4. We must feel the thefts. We must teach the thefts. We must not let these thefts fade away.

Israel is waiting for the people to forget about their invasion and massacre.

Wall Street is waiting the the bail-out to cool off.

The SEC is waiting for the next election in hopes that the Republicans are back in power and in the meantime, they explain nothing.

And human beings are still being tortured.

And more people are being evicted.

And more deserving youth are not getting grants or loans.

I was astonished to see the Congressman from NY not let the SEC thieves explain away and make excuses without answering questions. That's the way more of us should be.

But, Washington is what - polite when we don't want them to be and rotten to us and each other when they please? And political against all human understanding?

[pleah]

5. Sometime I feel like this country is a hollowed-out shell of its former self

K&R

[JFN1]

8. Its not even a shell anymore

We sold that, to China...who then took the shell, put it in a sweat shop, turned out millions of cheap, thin, brittle copies of the original, and sold it back to us at low, low Walmart prices...

[Greyhound]

6. Welcome to the enlightenment.

I wrote nearly the same post two years ago. America has insufficient production to sustain itself and has resolutely denied that reality for three decades. An economy must be based on making something, there is no way around that fact.

The financial industry has spent the last generation selling off and consuming the flesh of our nation and now, like the Thanksgiving Day turkey after a couple of weeks, there is nothing left but the dessicated carcass.

It is up to us, but which way to go, where to start?

[Fire1]

12. Not necessarily. A service economy can survive and flourish.

Look at Europe. Mostly service industry. In recent decades the line between service and manufacturing have become blurred. Just as jobs are created for the manufacturing of one product means there are jobs created to service that same product.

[Greyhound]

23. But, service is dependent on manufacturing, just look at what has become of IT.

As the manufacturing of hardware left our shores the support and service aspects followed. Service is always subject to the "race to the bottom", i.e. someone else will do it cheaper and quality is irrelevant in the eyes of the buyer.

Manufacturing, OTOH, has the option of differentiating itself through quality when price is not an option. We'll pay more for a German or Japanese auto because of a perceived superiority in quality. If this were not true, Hyundai and Suzuki would be the biggest car companies. This has never translated into the service sector.

I would also point out that Europe is still largely dependent on our economy, as is the world, and that is left over from our manufacturing dominance for 40 years. Also Europe, unlike us, protects it's markets. The service sector is important and profitable, but the economy of a nation our size cannot depend on it.

[JFN1]

29. Euope makes lots of great stuff!

What about Sham-Wows? They're made in Germany...!

[Fire1]

30. Yes, they do and by so doing they create jobs here. PC's

may be manufactured elsewhere but are maintained by IT specialists here. The same for most other products that involve packaging, transport, delivery, stock, marketing, repair and/or maintenance. All of which equals jobs.

[mike_c]

7. WELL SAID!

:applause:

[knowbody0]

9. and actually, those 400 people can be reduced to 4

and those 4 to 1.

I had the same epiphany re toilet paper.

All of my life I have had a "knowing" that the paper empire would fall like Babylon. I am remembering way back in the day when everyone lectured about the revolution, that we could only change things from within. Soon the anarchists were wearing suits on Wall Street. I comfort myself these days hoping that this was all the plan, that greed indeed was their weakness. We are all seeing through the illusion, behind the curtain like in the wizard of oz. Zero, Nada, Zilch. All the grand sky scrapers that produce nothing but paper are crashing, the executives are crying, employees out on the streets now with their cardboard boxes looking like cocroaches who have just enhaled a toxic gas.

It is fear of the unknown for all of us. What really should we be doing to prepare for tomorow. I'm believing that we will all tune into a new collective spirit guided by the greater good. Each and every "solution" today only creates new paper. As the biggest consumer nation with the most garbage, it is only fair we stop the madness and begin a new way.

[Uncle Joe]

11. I hope

your niece and family can find some peace, take care.:hug:

We do need some serious and dramatic change in this nation, regarding our dysfunctional for profit health care system.

We need national universal health care coverage, we shouldn't be behind the rest of the developed world on this critical issue.

In the military, they have a motto when going in to combat, "leave no one behind," that should be a national motto!

Thanks for the thread, JFN1.

[Taverner]

14. So if you think the economy and government are a rotting corpse...

Then why are you still here? Why not just kill yourself? I'm not being trite - this is an honest question...

For everyone out there who is reveling in doom, why not just off yourself? I mean, you guys really believe that we'll be doing the Mad Max Shuffle in the next year or two - so why not just OD on sleeping pills?

If we are beyond hope, beyond salvation, then shit, lets just save the paperwork and put a bullet in our brains?

:shrug:

[Fire1]

15. Sure, why not? It's alot easier than standing up for what's right.

Thank god, Dr. King and so many others didn't think like that.

[Taverner]

16. Well yeah - but I don't think the government and economy are unsalvageable

If I truly thought the economy was dead in the water then as a student of history I know what happens next

But we are NOWHERE near that now

Yes, things will get bad

They might get really bad

But they will get better

The problem with Capitalism is that every action is followed by an equal reaction

And right now we are going through that reaction

Hopefully it will last no more than 30 years

Most likely it won't last more than 10

And hopefully it will last no more than 2

But reveling in its demise will do nothing, except make me recommend suicide

[Fire1]

18. Which is why I guess I'm not a capitalist. I'd like to be here to

see another system emerge. I'm not willing to see the sacrifices in human life and well being in the process of waiting out this capitalistic revival. Thayt's the problem with capitalism. This will happen again and again in various degrees.

[Taverner]

21. I'd rather see Socialism - Big Euro Style Socialism

But we won't - its not in our national character

As much as we wish for a fish, we won't get it by any other method than fishing

[Two Americas]

17. objection

The gratuitous use of the subject of suicide to make your point is disgusting and cruel.

Beyond that, speculating about a person's emotional state is a clever way to make an ad hominem attack - focusing on the messenger rather than the message.

Claiming that all who are speaking the truth - as they see it, of course - about the emergency the country is facing are "reveling in doom" and telling them to "off themselves" is extraordinarily malicious and hateful, as well as being a heavy handed effort at disrupting the discussion and suppressing freedom of speech.

You may wish to cope with the crisis by feeling good and thinking positive. That is your choice. The continual attacks on those who do not wish to approach it that way, laced with ugly personal attacks and smears, contributes nothing of value to the discussion and debases and coarsens the atmosphere here.

[Fire1]

19. Well stated.

[Taverner]

20. No I cope with the crisis by doing as much as I can

Not rolling in glee at the demise of the country, which is still a long way off

[Two Americas]

22. fine

You take your approach, others will take their approach.

I have not seen any evidence that anyone is "rolling in glee at the demise of the country."

[glitch]

25. Thank you. nt

[JFN1]

26. There are really two choices

One - BEAT THAT DEAD HORSE!!!! If we just believe hard enough, it will get up!! Come on, little horsie...

-- OR --

Two - Acknowledge that the horse is fucking dead, get off our asses, and WALK!!

[aldo]

24. Obama changed the bill before the house for the Rethugs & then got none of their votes??!!

Are you kidding me? You change things in negotiations if you're going to get something in return, not just to be nice. Obama, just draw a line in the sand and smash the bastards.

[L0oniX]

27. Said before and will keep on saying it until we meet in the streets.We need to have a massive RRRR

rebellion, revolt, revolution, riot. A massive work stoppage would be a good start. Then a massive crowd many millions entering the house and grab all the spineless and criminal rich asscarrots we call congress and have a huge tar and feather party before physically throwing them out on the street. We need to shut down the MIC too. We need to pull out all of our military bases. We need to throw Gen Betrayer and his accomplices in prison. We need to enter all the media news building and smash their VTR's and control desks. We need to find out where these asscarrot banker live and throw them into prison. WE NEED TO DECLARE WAR AND ATTACK THEM ALL BECAUSE THEY WON'T ANSWER TO THE REAL AMERICAN PEOPLE.

[JFN1]

28. Nothing in this country will change

so long as we rely only upon existing tools (voting), the same infrastructure (personnel), or the same methods (trusting aforementioned personnel), to change it.

And my favorite Founder Thomas Jefferson, agrees with you:

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
* Letter to James Madison (January 30, 1787); referring to Shays' Rebellion

[L0oniX]

32. Howard Zinn also asked the question ...Did you vote for equal rights? Did you vote for womens right

to vote? Did you vote to end discrimination? Did you vote to end the Vietnam war? Howard went on to say that only mass civil disobedience can force changes when our government fails to do so.

[Fire1]

31. I don't think a riot is effective, but we certainly need to show up via

work stoppage and head for the mall in D.C. again. Slapping 'officials' around won't accomplish anything but chaos. We already have a meaningful agenda, if we were to stick to it.