Bill O'Reilly To Congressman Barney Frank "You're A Coward" Over Financial Crisis

[timd354]

We all partied. We all benefited from the boom. We all consumed more than we should have. We elected the politicians in that catered to our constant pleas for more, more more.

We deserve the government we elect, both the failures and the successes. If we want to go in a different direction then we need to vote for a completely different kind of government, from top to bottom.

Throw them all out. Enact campaign finance reform. Send the scofflaws of those laws to jail.

That's exactly correct....and it also shows ther biggest flaw with democracy...since the average citizen is a moron and only thinks of his or her self, politicians get themselves elected by promising ever increasing benefits that the country is unable and/or unwilling to pay for. The present so-called financial crisis with the $700 Billion bailout is just a drop in the bucket compared to the unfunded liabilities of promised social security and medicare benefits which are coming due. It is estimated that these unfunded liabilities exceed $50 Trillion dollars over the next 50 years and will cost every household over $500,000. Obviously, there is no way that all of the promised benefits will ever be paid out unless the dollar is purposely deflated so that the benefits will be paid essentially with "monopoly money", yet no politician has any hope of ever reforming the system, because anyone who ever even considers reforming these programs is a political dead man walking. While I am on my rant, I might as well tell the truth about the generation in charge of our country, the baby boomers...they are the greediest, most self absorbed, evil generation of human beings ever to walk the face of the earth. They have done nothing but vote more and more benefits for themselves and have passed the bill for these benefits onto future generations.....BTW, this is exactly what the current bailout is about...trying to save their own 401(k)'s and passing the $700 Billion bill along to the next generation (full disclosure: I was born in 1963 which is considered as being the second to last year of the baby boom).

 

[Couch Potato]

Question?

That we're a nation of dumb sheep?

Why did you put a question mark at the end of your statement of fact?

 

[timd354]

Actually the vast majority of mortgage brokers I deal with were born after 1963. Many were in fact fairly young "kids' born after 1980 - as substantiated by their "My Space", Facebook and other entries. They would brag about their lavish life style quite openly with pictures of their many girl friends, cars etc..
The children of baby boomers have been raised to be scumbags just like their baby boomer parents.

A lot of baby boomers are going to be living on the street or in "yurks" set up in vacant areas. Many will probably subscribe to a nomadic life style with the Hells Angels or such, - especially as the years go by. Not just Baby Boomers.
That is quite possible.

None of the existing systems of government work: Totalitarianism, Communism, Socialism or whatever it is we have. Although, quite frankly, we have done relatively well with our system of goverment up until recently. But, of course it has been living off of borrowed money.
I think that we essentially have a kleptocracy, where votes, politicians, benefits, etc are all for sale. In theory we have a republic, but it has been so thoroughly corrupted, that I am not sure that it is fair to call it a republic or a democracy.
Well, that depends on what you mean by "work". Some totalitarian systems work quite well for what they are designed to do - keeping the rulers in power and enslaving the population (i.e. North Korea). Communism where tried has always been just Totalitarianism by another name. The only reason it fell from power in the USSR is that Gorbechev, unlike previous Soviet leaders, was not willing to kill a significant part of the population of the USSR and the eastern block countries. If Stalin were alive in the late 1980's, eqarly 1990's, the Berlin wall would still be standing. Our system of government and the social democracies of western Europe have both spent the past 50 years borrowing against their children's future. Now, the bills are coming due and society is going to radically change as it will be impossible to pay the promised benefits. Things have the potential to get very ugly and their is a very real chance of significant breakdowns in the social fabric. When the social fabric breaks down, totalitarianism is a very real possibility.

With 30 days to go Obama is projected to win by a landslide, 338 to 200 electoral votes projected by intrade.com, 353 to 185 by RealClearPolitics.com and has a 5.9% lead in the popular vote according to the RCP Average and a 9% lead according to Gallup. [Interestingly, you can buy a "contract" (similar to a share) for Obama on Intrade.com for $6.67. That means if Obama wins you get $10 minus a $.50 commission for each contract, netting $2.53 per contract or a 42% profit in about 31 days, as of October 4. Tempting. - Of course if he loses for some reason, you loose everything. McCains contract sells for $3.35.]
That is quite tempting.

Anyway, with Obama and a likely larger majority of Democrats in the Senate, laws will get changed. Anything the goverment will do will probably get done - at least to a certain extent. It doesn't look though, like the intelligence of the goverment is going to be able to effectively deal with the intricacies of our problems. And no doubt whatever they do is going to stifle the commercial sector for years to come.
Unless the Democrats get an effective working majority of 60 senators, the amount of changes that can be made is limited due to the filibuster.

Now let me suggest we may be headed towards a Singapore model. The Singapore government builds flats for people to buy with their savings - and the cost is relatively low. It is fairly easy for newlyweds to buy a 1-2 bedroom flat. Prices vary from $50,000 upward. Medical care is much less than in the US, education is free. It seems to work ... The parallel here would be that the government takes control of these real estate assets it is buying up and provides them to the public in similar plans - where there is some savings. BTW, taxes are essentially modest: http://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/default.aspx
I don't think the Singapore model will work here. Singapore is just essentially a large city, and, as such, is relatively easily managed. I don't believe that the Singapore model is workable in such a large nation.

One special problem that we face, is that California is so large that it is really a separate nation. The 2-way dependency on funds creates a major conflict of interest in certain areas. For example, California gets more property tax with hyper-appreciation - and yet, it is the US taxpayer who foots the bill for the damages. Some kind of accountability has to be created - or this problem will SURELY reoccur.

Bert Craytor, SRA

One thing is for sure, the next few decades should be interesting. 5 or 10 years ago, I never would have seriously started making plans to deal with the very real possibility of the collapse of our society. We may yet avoid this outcome, but it is a very real possibility. It is prudent to make plans now for dealing with the societal chaos that may well occur. I do not worry about myself too much, but I am very fearful as to what the future holds for my young son.

 

[AnonApprsr]

That we're a nation of dumb sheep?

This is a huge fallacy perpetually stated by those who think they're right. (not picking on you) More people than not, aren't sheep. They understand what's going on, and either don't care, or figure it's better than nothing. That goes for a lot of topics in which the smart people call others sheep. Or, the ever popular "sheeple."

 

[Ray Miller]

Trying going after the elected officials and the bureaucrats that work for them, with them and that support them. They will do their best to slap you down any way them can. With government agencies, court system and in public meetings. Bark and nip at the S _ B’s and they will try and bury you. I know I have the invoices and bills. I know of several that have rolled over and tried to play dead, but that didn’t work.

Pam is right just too many sheep that will follow and are following the “Judas Goats” into the slaughter house.

The average person didn’t have and I still don’t think many have a clue how the inter-workings of government are. They feel that government will protect them from any thing and everything. As long as they got jingle in their pockets they are fat and happy cats in front of the fireplace on a deep cold December day. Government is taking care of them, they are happy. Just ask our cat Bugs, he could really care less about the world around him right now.

Pam is right I feel on this one. Too many sheep’s. Not enough boarder collies and Aussies to nip at the heels and noses of our elected officials and the bureaucrats that work for them.

 

[SANDY]

Timd354 quote-"One thing is for sure, the next few decades should be interesting. 5 or 10 years ago, I never would have seriously started making plans to deal with the very real possibility of the collapse of our society. We may yet avoid this outcome, but it is a very real possibility. It is prudent to make plans now for dealing with the societal chaos that may well occur. I do not worry about myself too much, but I am very fearful as to what the future holds for my young son"

Interesting comments---How are you preparing? I also think that it is worth to think about how to prepare.

 

[Couch Potato]

This is a huge fallacy perpetually stated by those who think they're right. (not picking on you) More people than not, aren't sheep. They understand what's going on, and either don't care, or figure it's better than nothing. That goes for a lot of topics in which the smart people call others sheep. Or, the ever popular "sheeple."

I wish you were correct, but my experience teaching high school, studying psychology and numerous surveys indicate otherwise. While it is true some of the 80% of the adult population that does not have a college degree simply decided they didn't need it (e.g. Bill Gates) for most of the group it is because they lacked the intellectual capacity. Most of the people in this country cannot understand our economy, much less its current crisis. Most people are indeed sheep.

 

[Ray Miller]

I wish you were correct, but my experience teaching high school, studying psychology and numerous surveys indicate otherwise. While it is true some of the 80% of the adult population that does not have a college degree simply decided they didn't need it (e.g. Bill Gates) for most of the group it is because they lacked the intellectual capacity. Most of the people in this country cannot understand our economy, much less its current crisis. Most people are indeed sheep.

Just look at what the "Intellectual Capacity" has gotten us on Wall Street, in our Banks and those that have tried to run our Goverment. Maybe we need less "Intellectual Capacity" and more common sense.

Just my thinking.

 

[Riick]

Just look at what the "Intellectual Capacity" has gotten us on Wall Street, in our Banks and those that have tried to run our Goverment. Maybe we need less "Intellectual Capacity" and more common sense.

Mark Twain: .
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"Common sense is not that common."
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".....there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."
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“There are laws to protect the . . . press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press."
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[Couch Potato]

Just look at what the "Intellectual Capacity" has gotten us on Wall Street, in our Banks and those that have tried to run our Goverment. Maybe we need less "Intellectual Capacity" and more common sense.

Just my thinking.

My thinking is we need fewer sheep, and more people with a brain exercising their voting privileges. We have the government we do because too many idiots are allowed to vote. They don't really have a clue about the people in the election or the pertinent issues, they vote based on political party, sound bites on the news, what they heard at the barber shop or worst of all what they read on the Internet in a forum or blog.