REPOOB ABROAD

Will the Repoobs take us "Back to the Fifties" Internationally??

Are any of my readers old enough to remember "The Ugly American"?  A famous book in 1958 and a movie, starring Marlon Brando, in 1963, this title for both crept into national language during my youth.

At that time in our history, we were the richest, by far, nation on earth.  Little more than a decade after the end of World War II, with just about all of Europe in ruins, we were riding high on the savings of U.S. citizens.  Those savings, stoked by memory of the horrors of the Depression, followed by deprivation and rationing during the war, were at record levels in our history.

Coming of age, and awakening to national politics during the Fifties, I am getting a chill watching Mitt's peformance on his international swing to England, Israel, and Poland.  The Fifties,  gave us our entry into military involvement in South Vietnam; McCarthyism; Afro-American student uprisings across the country; "Checkers" and the early revelation of the real Richard Nixon.  Only the immense good will the nation held toward Dwight Eisenhower was able to contain it all.  It was truly a Dark Decade for me; matched and exceeded only by the decade led by Bush/Cheney.  The list of horrors that took place between 2000 and 2008 will be studied for decades; especially the "finale" which took place in 2008.

Eisenhower was a Republican; not a Repoob.  He was a decent, fair-minded leader whose leadership style and abilities were forged in World War II.  As a first voter, at the national level, in 1960; I was never presented with a Republican candidate choice: only Repoobs.  For me, Eisenhower was the last Republican.  The descent into Repoobism was steady, beginning with the rise of Tricky Dick.  The transformation of the party to the Repoob Party also began with Nixon.  The Ugly American characteristic of Repoobs also began with Nixon.  The Democrats caught the disease over time, but never as egregiously as the Repoobs.  Our Nativist values were adapted to foreign policy; leading to spreading resentments abroad. 

President Obama, in addition to patching a severely broken economic structure, also brought this nation back from the extremes we suffered in our relations abroad.  Mitt and the Repoobs are rapidly moving to turn us back to the "Ugly" direction.  This can be much more dangerous today, given that the world has changed drastically, making it much less likely that such past behaviors could succeed.

We have entered the last 100 days leading to the Presidential Election of 2012.  Given the clear record of events in this nation since the Fifties, it is my hope and prayer that the voters will shake off the fear and xenophobia that have dominated the past several national elections and stay on the course the current president has set.  The country is in precarious condition, economically and socially, and it would not take much to sharply steepen the slope we've been on since 2000.  Suicide should not be an option!

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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NATIVISM (2012) in the U.S.

Send a Message to Mitt and the Repoobs

The steady march down a road illuminated by the ugliest thread running throughout the history of this country is gaining steam as we approach the election of 2012.  Fanned by the fears emanating from the global meltdown, (initiated by Money Boys in the U.S), the Nativist side (joined by the Globlists) in a four-way struggle (against the Safety-Net and United Citizens sides) is stepping up their assault. 

Beginning with Reagan, assisted by Atwater and his disciple, Rove, the movewment toward the separation of the citizenry by economic class, race, personal relationship patterns, and ownership, have culminated in the candidacy of Mitt Romney and his fellow Repoobs.  The Repoobs, united in the Congress have consistently driven our economy toward total collapse in their efforts to regain power.

Mitt equates INDIVIDUAL wealth with "success".  The "success" of this nation has emerged from the growth and strength of the Middle Class, coupled with the leadership of enlightened Corporate Leaders.  Barber Conable, former member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and a man famous for his expertise on taxation, once made it clear that the Middle Class pays the bills in this country.  The Rich have the means to avoid paying taxes, and the Poor don't have the means to pay the taxes.  Since Reagan, we have starved government of tax revenue, squeezed the income of the Middle Classes and now we're shocked that the country is losing its ability to pay its bills.  Join to this the rise of the klepto-rich, and we have this sorry state we face economically.  These forces feed on each other to spiral down the economy and the society.  It sets the stage for violence, mega-poverty, and corruption.

As we approach the election, the Nativists (think KKK, anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant, etc. groups among us) have been enlisted to capitalize on the fear, xenophobism, isolationism, anti-Wall Street sentiments to put the Repoobs back in power.  Boosted by the fear spilling over us following 9-11, Cheney and his boys set the stage for the Meltdown of 2008.  The tactics led to the election of 2004.

As we've been reminded, "We've Seen This Movie, already"!  The profiteering that took place post-9/11 is not to be confused with "success".  Romney, I'm sure, knows this.  He's hoping we don't, and will again vote our fear as we did in 2004.

To understand the power amassed when big money, xenophobia, and extreme individualism merge into a "perfect storm", read more about the history of Nativism in the United States on Wickpedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativism_(politics).

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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"I RUN FOR OFFICE"

A Message that "Haunts"

Over the course of my writing this blog, I've been haunted by something I read when I was nineteen and a student at Lincoln University in Missouri.  I will be seventy-three tomorrow, and the article, published in 1947 in Harper's Magazine, also appeared in my textbook, Thought and Statement,

Leary. Smith; Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1951.

After watching Charlie Rose's interview last night with Treasury Secretary Geithtner; I pulled the old text from my library and read again "I Run For Office" by Senator Richard Neuberger of Oregon.  He could easily have been describing the plight of some of our politicians in 2012.

Those who truly want a safe and prosperous future for all of our citizens must be extremely frustrated by what Geithner told Charlie last night.  The interview aired on PBS on July 23rd, and will re-run today.  Almost no one in the media is telling us what Geithner told Charlie; facts we all need to know and understand.  Compared with Neuberger in 1947, in his smaller Oregon political district, today's politicians must seek votes from their own district AND make those voters understand their links to  economies of the Eurozone and Developing Nations.  Those fates are inextricable from our own; and our voters are extremely asymmetrical to the scope of the real problems we all face.

Aside from the voters in the coming election, every member of Congress, especially those in the House of Representatives, where, by our Constitution, all money bills must originate, must now choose between their re-election and the future of our country.  Any shorter-sighted view held by any of the 535 members can doom this country.  The clock is ticking and the "Fiscal Cliff" is eerily parallel to the booby-trapped apartment of the Dark Knight Shooter.

Those of us who bear the scars of serving this country in uniform, and the spirits of those who died serving this country hold you accountable.  Check your Bible; Matthew 16:26; Mark 3:36; Luke 9:25.

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
All Rights Reserved: Williams LLC

TOO BIG TO FAIL??

What's Our Role In This??

Today, in the announcement of it's punishment meted out to Penn State for its role in  the abuse of  small children, and the connection of that behavior to their sports mega-programs, the phrase "too big to fail" was used.

Here we go again: banks -- too big to challenge or to let fail; Wall Street -- too big to challenge or let fail; Our Media -- too big to effectively challenge or effectively counter; The NRA -- too big and powerful to challenge or counter; The Repoobs -- too big and powerful to be countered by our federal government; The Money Boys, etc.  Where does it all stop, and who is big enough to end the insanity and effectively counter the monsters who beset us and our future?

Does all of this prove that the people, united, can no longer govern themselves?  Please check out a blog I wrote entitled "THE WATCHERs" , dated March 21, 2012.  The Media, today, broadcasts a "consensus" to the effect that nothing can be done by anybody to stop events like the Dark Knight Shooting over the past weekend.  They claim that we'll all wail for a while, and then go predictably back to sleep.  The Repoobs know this and and are counting on this factor to prevail.  Will we let them and their backers get away with it? 

In my earlier blog, I posit that we're doped and duped by a variety of media that is piped directly into our brains.  It circumvents our senses, preventing us from evaluating and reacting against any harmful stimulus received.  Note how many of the shooting victims thought they were experiencing a "media stunt".

We all recognize that we live in a global economy; yet, we insist on selecting our leaders on the basis of what is happening in what used to be our national economy.  Mass insanity??  Or, is it all just too big to comprehend?

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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"WORK HARD" and play by "THE RULES"

The Common Thread??

Alas! Maybe we've found the common thread that connects Romney and the Repoobs with Obama and the hapless Democrats.  Even the Dark Knight Shooter, it appears from media reports, was a believer; before he wasn't.

Romney and his wife, Ann, espouse the belief that they and their supporters obey the "rules"; and those Ann called "you people", don't. 

What "Rules"?  Who makes the "Rules?  The answer to these questions depend on how far back you look into our history.  The common path some of us use for such a search is one marked "Community", while others follow a path marked "Individual".  This schizophrenic view of the history of the United States has led to the pathetic state of our politics today.  Overlay this search with our peculiar view of race and class and our loathesome attitudes toward poor people on this planet who do not have white skins, and you can solve the riddle of our curious pathologies of violence, inequity, and now, the destruction of access to opportunity for escaping the conditions of birth.  Before 1980, most of our corporations followed the "community" path.

Romney takes the Reagan ideas disparaging "community" to extreme levels; giving all credit to the "winners" -- those who wind up with a pile of cash; no matter the means -- and blame the "losers" -- everybody else.  We've always had  Theory X versus Theory Y, and the "Libertarians" who follow the extreme and narrow views of Ayn Rand;  but Romney represents something new.  Behind the Romney door lurk the people who knowingly and willingly pushed the global capitalist system to destruction.  They are served in politics by those who denigrate "compromise" and exhibit a willingness to destroy the country to get their way.  This dictatorial posture is something new within our political party structure.

We're all guilty.  We cheerfully credit the quarterback while ignoring the role of the team.  We worship people like Gates and Jobs while ignoring the government-paid, and militarily-produced technologies that they took from the stages of successful demonstration to final commercial products.

The millions of bright people, the tax-payers, along with our more sane, less craven, and more insightful politicians of our recent past, are ignored.

Because the president we have, who showed extreme gifts and skill along with the courage of politicians of old, patched up the wreckage of 2008; because he does not come in white skin and embraces the "community credit" approach, the Repoobs aresucceeding in  advancing their cause.  They blame Obama for their own dastardly deeds, and work to kill the economy in order to discredit him.  Any fool knows that presidents don't create jobs???  They are "hedging" their bets that the voters are too stupid to know, understand, or care.

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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"WILD WEST": New U.S. "Government"?

Do the Majority have "Sheep" for Brains?

We awake today to yet another senseless gun killing in the "Wild and Repoob" West.  Like sheep, we all weep and pray, but we fail to act to stop what is now a very long list of incidents.  One of the most recent, in Tucson, targeted a sitting member of the House of Representatives.

 We know that there has been a large migration of "religious" and right-wing citizens to the old, "wild" west.  Last week, I drove through Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona.  The economic degradation in both cities since I was last there, three years ago, is stark.  This move to violent lawlessness by people who used to champion "law and order", shows they have clearly abandonded that political stance.  If you compare the brain of sheep with the brain of humans, the differences are tremendous, yet humans can be "conditioned" to behave like sheep.

What will it take for the voters in this country to "connect the dots"?  Is it the power of the media, and the power of lobbyists for the NRA that reigns over us all?  After more than two decades since Littleton, Colorado, the drift has accelerated toward a lawless future in which the "government" is seen as the enemy.  We know which politicians  and corporations lead this movement.

Florida's answer to this trend appears to be "everybody packing heat"; empowered by special new laws to feel free to kill anybody that "scares you".  This is a march toward mass insanity.

We all grew up on the Hollywood lies about the likes of Billy The Kid, Wyatt Earp, the G-Men, John Dilliger, the list seem interminable.  We were taught to worship these people.  This mind-sets leads to a "Blade Runner"  future from which there is no escape. 

The Buffalo Soldiers and the Texas Rangers (they were enemies) were used to establish "law and order" in the Old West.

Stay Vigilant!

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GOD MADE ME DO IT

Thanks, Again, To Trayvon

Zimmerman, the admitted killer of Trayvon Martin, is at it again!  Last night on one of the smut channels, he gave an interview in which he made a statement that provoked the title of this blog.

What God? Whose God?  Tell us more!!  What faith follows such a God??  What is the race, gender, or nationality of the God, or the Faith?

Zimmerman's lawyer, we're told is a "high-priced" trial lawyer who took the case "pro-bono" (that means the client does not pay).  Who DOES pay this lawyer?  Was the interview for the purposes of raising money?  For Whom?  Zimmerman's wife has been  in jail for lying over money that the Zimmermans either do or do not have.  The lawyer had to approve this televised interview -- why did he do that?  Is this designed to re-define Trayvon while he lies in his grave?

The "thlot plickens" -- stay tuned.

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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"We've Given All You People Need To Know"

R-e-a-l-l-y Ann????

The title of this blog is a quote of a statement Ann Romney gave on ABC on July 19, 2012.  Check it out on Google!  July 19th should be the date that the Romney candidacy committed suicide.

What the Hell!!  Who does Ann Romney think she and "her" people are??  In this country the VOTERS decide what they need to know in order to cast their precious vote for ANYONE running for the Presidency of the United States!!  Got That!!

It's just this penchant for secrecy from Mormons today and throughout their history that gives pause to non-prejudiced voters contemplating voting for a Mormon.

Any red-blooded or blue-blooded American who reads this should be pissed to the gills!  Steal our money, but don't dictate what we need to know.

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
All Rights Reserved: Williams LLC

"ENTREPRENEURALISM": THE NEW FRAUD??

"Charlie Hustle" Never Sleeps!

Big things are gobbling up smaller things everywhere you look these days.  Big banks gobble up small banks, Super-stores gobble up smaller stores, and entire business sections of small towns.  Only Big Money Boys have access to the Big Money (pension funds, 401K and other pools of money).

Fat Pigs are gobbling up Skinny Pigs all over the planet, it seems.

Now that Joe Sixpack is "getting a clue" that nobody's jobs are safe, and old jobs will never return, it seems he wants to become "an entrepreneur". 

The big schools, like Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Cornell, are getting into the game of entrepreneuralism research.  We've come a long way since the days I studied this subject with Peter Drucker in the 1980's.  He was also a pioneer in this subject area.

What's up with all of this?  Corporate interests are replacing government functions and destroying government powers in all Capitalist countries.  It started around the time that Reaganism joined Thatcherism and decided that government was bad for people and the powers of government should be replaced with "market forces".  It led, within a period of about thirty years, to the "near death" of global capitalism in 2008.  When the Repoobs had six years of "hand's-off" regulatory environments and total control of tlhe U.S. government; they got drunk on power.  With that power, they created "2008", which will go down in history with "1929".

What were we all thinking?  The Cold War had us singularly focussed on killing Communism.  We succeeded (except for the new Chinese variety and the old, "un-killable" Castro variety).  Did we not realize that there would be changes to "Capitalism" itself?  Now we  are starting to see the results of those changes.  The question is whethr it is too late to do again what this country did in the days of the Robber Barons; put Trusts and Corporations under control.

Maybe it will take a few years of Mitt and the Repoobs to wake us all up to the fact that their vision of the future for us is: "everyone eat dirt!" (except for their buddies, of course)!

You will hear the phrase "The Golden Rule" from the Money Boys.  This means those with the gold  rule! (i.e., control money, access to big money).  Those of you foolish enough to think that "technology rules"; think again.  Zuckerberg is the exception that proves the rule (look more closely).  Before I retired from the corporate world, the finance boys were bragging they could buy technology by the pound.  Big Money only needs your ideas, they don't  need you!

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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THE "QUICKSILVER" of WHITE RACISM in the U.S.

Why White Supremacy may Never Go Away

July 13, 2012

Even a casual reading of the Post-Columbian history of the Americas will show the integral nature of African slavery to European success and the infinite creation of wealth throughout the Americas, and in Europe.  Reaction to all things African created a unique mind-set in the part of the Americas  known as the United States.  Tonight, Erin Burnett, in her CNN show, Outfront, took on the question of whether or not Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin, is a racist, and whether his actions were tainted by racism.

Erin quickly entered that space that enables and supports the survival of what has become our most monstrous collective evil.  In her interviews she purported, with the implication of some sort of mass consensus, that Zimmerman's actions in the Trayvon Martin case cannot be considered "racist" because the number of Zimmerman's friends who thought he was a racist was not as large as the number of his friends who thought otherwise.  What's up with that logic?  Racism has now become a question of majority opinion?  I don't think so; and such thinking defies common sense.  President Eisenhower, when urged to get involved in the Little Rock matters in the Fifties, stated that racism was a matter of the heart.  Over the ensuing years, he has been proven right!  Erin should think twice before airing such shabby logic, amplified by a media juggernaught like CNN!

I'm personally saddened by her actions, because I have been her fan since she and Mark Haines were together on CNBC.  She has lost my respect.  Perhaps some blame goes to her writers.

Maybe White-Racism-Denial is at work here.  It may occupy some peculiarly similar space in the mass mind as Holocaust Denial.  Given the rise in living standards of non-white peoples on this planet, white "talking heads" may need some special psychoanalysis to end their practice of spreading their poison on the airwaves.  Karl Rove, student of Lee Atwater,  has successfully mined the value of such mind-rot for purposes of getting right-wing candidates elected in this country; and is currently raking in millions of dollars to float Mitt in 2012.

In today's USA Today  there are stories and reports that lend support to such conclusions:

Opinionline (pg 9A): reviews various takes on Romney's recent performance before the NAACP.  Race serves as a backdrop for each of the comments, submitted by a broad spectrum of writers; none of whom address the subject openly.  The political cartoons on the same page embrace notions of race as a part of our political "game".  None of them cite the fact that both Romney and Reagan employed these tactics before the NAACP.

Wells Fargo Settles lending bias case (pg 1B): reports the settlement of a case against a mega-bank for race-based sub-prime lending practices.  Although the case revealed that senior bank officials were aware, the bank was allowed to settle the case without admitting guilt.  This practice is a de-facto (and profitable?) legalization of white racism.  The rich and powerful backers of Zimmerman may be applying similar practices to get him freed of his charges.

School culture blasted in report (pg 1A) : reveals the power, values, and ethics of Penn State, a large and wealthy institution, and its dealings in matters involving defenseless, lower-class children.  It underscores the attitudes of the rich and powerful toware our laws and  how our laws are to be respected and applied.

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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MANAGING CHANGE

Can you Accept "Secular"??

One of my most interesting courses of study at the Drucker School was that of "Managing Change".

Change occurs constantly throughout a person's life, but sometimes the change is so large and so permanent that people can't comprehend or accept it. 

We talk a lot about "recovery"; which most of us think of as a return to "normal", but there are times when that is not possible.  Think of the German people laboring under oppressive debt payments after losing World War I.  The change that brought about triggered other large changes that eventually impacted everyone on the planet.

You also hear a lot about "secular" change.  We often know the word "secular" as simply "not religious".  Businesses look upon secular change more as permanent structural change.  This means everyone affected has to struggle to survive the event triggering the change and chart a new path ahead.  Many often don't survive at all, others survive within a different structure.

Except for World War, very few large changes occur that impact everyone on the planet.  We are now experiencing a "secular" change, not caused by traditional war, but rather by economic catastrophe.  Those who still are hoping for some return to "normal", may be hoping in vain, regardless of whom they choose to lead them in government or in business.

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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HE'S O-o u-UT!!

Will he also "get off"??

Zimmerman is out of jail!  How incredible is that - given that he sat right in front of the Judge and watched his wife lie in her testimony for his first release on bail.  She went to jail for lying to the Judge.  But he's out!  So go figure.

This is to wake up all of you who really would like to see some "justice" meted out to a grown man who stalked an unarmed child and shot him to death.  For even in this country, which tolerates a lot if the racial calculations come out a certain way; this is too much.

Remember, the enabling Media hopes you forget about this; then the powers that be can slow roll the issue and get Zimmerman off.

Stay alert!  It's the only thing that will "hold their feet to the fire".





WHO CALLED THE DOGS OFF?

Are the "Dogs" the Real Problem?

In one of his commercials, Mitt asks: "Who Let The Dogs Out?".  The rest of us want to know "Who Called The Dogs Off"???   Just about everybody in academia agrees by now that the serious lack of oversignt by regulators, already empowered by law to prevent the meltdown of 2008, lies at the root of the mess the world's economies are in today.

Reagan originated the popular notion that "Government is the Problem, Not the Solution".  The "Dogs", or regulators, are empowered by law to work within government.  If Mitt and the Repoobs hate government so much, why are they spending unheard of amounts of money to "buy" it?

Could it be that they want to regain control so they can call the "Dogs" off again?   It was reported today that Mitt raised $160M in June; to Obama's $70M.  The Repoobs are deadly serious about regaining control. 

Jack Abramoff, the top "lobbyist" for the Repoobs leading up to the Crash, was on 60 Minutes last night.  He pointed out the fact that the writers of the regulations are the chief beneficiaries of  derelictions of duty by the regulators.  He stated that any regulations can be "gotten around".

The goal of it all is MONEY.  The capitalists of today, the VENTURE type, are so enthralled by unconscionably large sums of money, they're willing to destroy this country (remember the default debates) and even capitalism itself!

Our Congress is so intent on killing off the "Dogs", they voted Contempt Of Congress against our Top Cop!  Attorney General Holder, according to published accounts, was sniffing out the "failure to act" of certain "regulators" in Arizona involved in gun-running to Mexico.  It seems the NRA was miffed and sic'ed their dogs on a U.S. Cabinet Member for the first time in our history.

I'm not making this stuff up -- that's the saddest part of this tale.

Maybe we have to become "The Dogs"??

Stay Vigilant!

Copyright © 2012: Williams LLC
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IS IT CONDI??

Oh Lord! Let's Hope Not!!

Last week, our limited media quoted Anne Romney as stating that her husband "was considering" a woman as his Vice Presidential pick.  If it's Condi Rice (who figured prominently at a bash for the right-rich held in Utah a week or so ago), that could prove to be troublesome -- not sure for which side, really.  Would be interesting, though.

Remember, Condi's the one who testified before Congress that the Bush-Cheney Administration did not know an airplane attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) was threatened.  Even Eric Holder was not charged with anything so egregious -- and the Repoobs held him in Contempt!!  Surely, that was for his not playing ball like his predecessor, Hapless Alberto Gonzales.  The Repoobs like Condi though, for some reason, even if she, also, is "a minority".  Condi is reported to have given a well-received speech at the Romney right-rich-shindig.

Then there was Katrina and hundreds of poor blacks in New Orleans facing ignominious drownings.  Condi was simply insensitive to the issue; not as mean as Mama Bush was reported to be.  Seems Condi comes packaged the way they like-em!

But Romney knows these are hard times and he's gearing up, apparently.  The mean-spirited responses common among Repoobs and their supporters are in line with those David M. Kennedy cites in his book: Freedom From Fear:  The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945:

       " The Depression thus revealed one of the perverse implications of American Society's vaunted celebration of individualism.  In a culture that ascribed all success to individual striving, it seemed to follow axiomatically that failure was due to individual inadequacy."

As for the causes of the severe unemployment, underemployment, starvation, and other hardships of the 1930's; the similarities to what is happening today are stunning.  The European banks were fighting over war debt payments to be extracted from Germany.  The furor fueled the rise of Adolf Hitler and was a trigger for the collapse of Wall Street in 1929.  Despite efforts of Hoover to stave it off, the resulting forces caused the near collapse of the British economy.  The full depth of the economic decline into Depression greeted Roosevelt (FDR) when he took office in 1933.

That was a finance-led, structural collapse, as was the 2008 collapse.  Romney knows this (or should, if he's qualified to be President), and is lying when he equates the 2008 debacle with the recession following the WTC attack.  Structural collapes caused by financial shennanigans take at least ten years to fix!  If they can be fixed at all.

Stay Vigilant!

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WHEN KIDS in the U.S. WERE CAPITAL GOODS

What This Means for "Work" in the Future

You know by now that I am a member of the "Silent" generation.  In that generation, people had large families.  The economy (mostly agricultural, early manufacturing) required more kids to offset the costs of raising large families (and account for those kids lost to infant death).  My first full time (10-hr day) job came when I was eight years old (for ten cents per hour). 

Around the time of Mad Ronnie, it was clear that our economy had shifted permanently in most of its characteristics.  One of those was our attitudes toward, and our laws concerning, child labor.  Most people think that was a "good" thing.  It was also the time in our history when we should have shifted public awareness to all things economic; but we didn't.  Liddy Biddy, in the early sixties, noticed the phenomenon of the baby boom (leading edge, then, entering teen years) and, with the Disney effect, shifted them into becoming shop-a-holics.  Then there was Tricky Dick and Revenue Sharing, the Commodity Shocks, and the Oil Embargo in the seventies.

Safe to say, our lexicon should have totally shifted to all things economic, but we were thoroughly "mushroomed" into the economic stupidity that prevails today.  Take the word "good".  We first think, along with our religious nuts, of good and evil.  But we should be thinking, instead of economic goods.  Check out Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_(economics) for a quick tutorial.

Drucker taught me that children in this country were a capital good until somewhere around 1956.

Up to that time, children were expected to earn their keep by the time they were teenagers.  They learned to work; which means they learned all of the basic skills required to earn an income. 

After the transition, children became consumer goods, and were economic trade-offs with other consumer choices like new cars, new house, luxury goods, etc.  Most of our citizens never realized this consciously.  Over time, the costs associated with those econoomic good connected with child rearing exploded in cost: (housing, children's clothing, medical care, etc).  Like frogs slowly cooking in a tub of water in which the temperature is steadily increased, we now can no longer ignore the fact that children are a good that most in this economy can no longer afford.  We can no longer afford these "cost-drivers; that are never trained to help offset those costs.  They ae never taught basic work skills.

The 2012 Election is totally an economics issues election.  In the old days (Truman in the 1948 election) it was taken as given that people would "vote their pocketbook"; i.e., not vote against their economic interests.  Dubya proved in the 2004 election that babyboomers were not that smart.

Reflect on the fact that the majority of "jobs" in the future will be service jobs; to be manned or womaned by people who were never taught to work and who were trained to be served, and, you get the picture.



"UNITED" or "INSURGENCY"??

Could This Be Our Last "Independence" Day?

As a Major in the Air Force in the early 1970's, I enrolled in Command and General Staff training.  It was a program in which I had to write papers on various topics, and I wrote one on the Multinational Corporation.  As I researched the legislation passed by our Congress, I became disturbed by one facet of the legislation;  it appeared that these entities lacked allegiance to any country in the world, by law.  Over the years since, it appears I was right.  They can choose whether or where to pay taxes, and they can hide their earnings off-shore. 

They have also, in the interim, shipped the jobs of this country off-shore.  They defend their actions by claims that they "can't compete" because of over-regulation and a "lack of certainty" for business.  Since when did businesses of any size come to expect "certainty" or shields from "competition"?  Add to that the fact that these corporations now own the legislators that created them; and the circle is complete.

John Kenneth Galbraith wrote that power has at least three key ingredients; they are organization, money, and strong leadership.  Multinational Corporations have all of these, at minimum.  In their wake,other elements of our society have followed in this path; most notably, religious organizations that have become very powerful financial institutions using the advantages afforded them through our tax laws.

These moneyed religious groups have morphed into political groups that have invaded our institutions, like the Repoobs.  Get the picture?

What stands against all of this?  The people, united, well-informed, willing and able to vote.

How well informed are we?  The Yin Yang Media (also Multinational Corporations) are determined to keep us "entertained", especially with "news".  As a result we're zombified and kept in a posture wherein we walk with our heads up our rectums, viewing the world through our belly-buttons.

It didn't use to be this way.  And we still have a chance to right this ship (or, take charge of the bus).

Stay Vigilant!

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