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I know I am going to catch hell for this, but here goes. The ultimate responsibility resides with the citizens. We put the criminals in office. We were too busy with our own personal lives to be involved in government. We were even too busy to stay informed on what was going on. For the past 30 years we have let the politicians and big business do what ever they wanted so long as we were well fed, and had plenty of personal comforts. We allowed the government teaching establishment to raise our children and mold their minds and influence their opinions.
In the days of Rome's demise it was Bread and Circuses that kept the people placated while the aristocrats perused unpopular wars to pillage and obtain wealth.
Today it is food stamps, sports, reality TV, cheap alcohol, cheap fast food, and what ever they want to see on the internet that keep people too fat, stupid, and lazy to even look out for their own best interest.
In the end, whether it is Rome or the US, the result is the same.
Self determination requires fulfilling the responsibilities of citizenship, not just indulging in its rewards. No one did this to us, we did it too our selves. As a people we have miserably failed ourselves. We also have the power to take our country back if we ever obtain the courage and wisdom to do it.
WHO did this? At both anti-war protests, there were TENS OF THOUSANDS of demonstrators. Sadly, I remember the news coverage at the time was pretty low. But that's not because voter's didn't care. TONS OF people wrote, called and protested. The polticians did not care.
I personally wrote my legislators to express my disagreement with the bailouts. I bet tens of thousands of other Americans did, as well. I got the BRUSHoff from my elected representatives.
How many people protested the "healthcare" bill? Granted I am somewhat socially liberal, but I agreed with the tens of thousands of other Americans that at a time of crisis, when we have already spent MAssive amounts of money, we needed to focus on something other than socialized healthcare.
I don't care what the purported benefits are. Americans have not been quiet...and a lot of people HAVE been contacting politicians with their concerns. How are the people at fault here?
The romper room just doesnt stop. Even yesterday, Obama and Boehner are still trading barbs, and the perplexed citizens of this nation ask---------why?
There is a job to be done---there is work to do----its time to stop the avoidance, bickering, and childish idealogy and dogma.
This country has been able to meet serious dilemmas in the past by shelving partisanship and uniting to tackle roadblocks.
There are two ways to meet the debt dilemma like the mature men and women we are suppossed to be
1----- recognize the fact that we need to trim some fat in all progams----entitlements and
even sacred cows like defense----we dont need to fight 12 wars any longer
2------recognize that the 2008 recession has robbed the government of income streams
and tax resources. Stop the slogans and foolish jargon----nobody is going to be
foolish enough to promote a middle class tax increase now. However, if we are
going to ask for pain in entitlements, than we also need to cut some preposterous
tax loopholes and escape hatches, and maybe introduce the irs to some folks.
Enough of this repetetive soap opera-----I believe repsonible people are tiring of this garbage and tripe. Bring on mature, logical, and methodical leaders from both parties who want what is best for the country-----not strictly what is best for party allegiance, idealogy, or kamikaze missions.
Remember taking names of suicidal kamikazes who where hell bent on a collision course with default, and who have contributed to the laughter around the world hurled toward the U.S. politcal process is no vice. Lets take the names of democrats, republicans,and zealots who only care about slogans, and sorry to say dont care about the outcome.
WHO did this? At both anti-war protests, there were TENS OF THOUSANDS of demonstrators. Sadly, I remember the news coverage at the time was pretty low. But that's not because voter's didn't care. TONS OF people wrote, called and protested. The polticians did not care.
I personally wrote my legislators to express my disagreement with the bailouts. I bet tens of thousands of other Americans did, as well. I got the BRUSHoff from my elected representatives.
How many people protested the "healthcare" bill? Granted I am somewhat socially liberal, but I agreed with the tens of thousands of other Americans that at a time of crisis, when we have already spent MAssive amounts of money, we needed to focus on something other than socialized healthcare.
I don't care what the purported benefits are. Americans have not been quiet...and a lot of people HAVE been contacting politicians with their concerns. How are the people at fault here?
For every person like yourself who is exercising their civic responsibilities there are a hundred thousand sitting on their oversized butts watching reality TV and who really do not even have a clue what the details of the problems facing this country really are.
So long as the vast majority are complacent, we will continue to have the status quo. The only thing that will change that is when we begin to experience the kind of austerity that takes the average person out of their comfort zone.
On the positive side thought, I believe that will come sooner than the authorities think.
It is my personal opinion that our fellow Americans have an extremely low threshold for pain after decades of living beyond their means.
I believe that when the reality of the present economic situation begin to assert itself, the whining, crying, and gnashing of teeth will far eclipse what is now going on in Europe.
Until that time comes though, we will continue to dig our hole deeper.
Exactly. The tea party candidates were right in trying to hold out for a balanced budget amendment. That's what we really need - balanced budget every single year. We also need a debt to GDP ratio below 90%. The borrow and spend habits of Washington are going to come to an end. Either we take the necessary actions now or the market will force us to do so when the interest rates start skyrocketing.
Obama has been going on a spending spree trying to do all this stimulus non-sense that doesn't even work. Now our debt to gdp ratio is at dangerously high levels (100%). If we don't balance the budget (through tax increases and budget cuts) then we are well on our way to a major depression. Forget recession, this is going to be a depression if we don't act fast.
Unfortunately, I believe we have already gone over the point of no return. There sure ain't enough tea party candidates in Washington to resolve the issues at hand.
it seems that the SEC has been totally useless in preventing wall street fraud, but it looks like they are wasting no time "investigating" S & P:
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the method Standard & Poor’s used to cut the U.S.’s credit rating and whether the firm properly protected the confidential decision, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
SEC inspectors are examining S&P’s policies for conducting such analyses and whether those procedures were followed when the New York-based firm downgraded the U.S.’s credit rating Aug. 5, said the person, who declined to be identified because the inquiry isn’t public. (end)
time to "punish the messenger" from the most crooked administration ever. i wonder what they will do when the next downgrade comes, because they have NO INTENTION of fixing anything, but the crackdown on citizens continues, as jono pointed out:
Family Fined at airport for undeclared fruit.
Woman fined and threated with jail for home garden.
Raw food store raided by swat team.
Amish farms raided.
Kids lemonaid stand fined.
Common folks harrased fined threatend and jailed.
Last edited by floridasandy; 08-13-2011 at 05:18 AM..
controlling wall street fraud is no different than controlling crime anywhere else. there will always be those that are bad apples and the sec will not even be aware of them until after the fact.
for the most part the 5000 or so companies that trade daily on our exchanges are on the up and up and thats what counts.
there will always be trouble in the penny stocks, or the criminals who creat an enron and its no different from any other walks of life. criminal behavior lurks everywhere in life. its easy to finger point after a crime and say you should have known and that will go on forever as there is just to many should have knowns in our world for the sec or law enforcement to deal with.
i can say in the 25 plus years i watch the markets as a whole daily they react just the way they should to the days rumors and news.
some days they may over react up or down but for the most part it does what its supposed to do trend wise and that is reflect what it sees or perceives.
WHO did this? At both anti-war protests, there were TENS OF THOUSANDS of demonstrators. Sadly, I remember the news coverage at the time was pretty low. But that's not because voter's didn't care. TONS OF people wrote, called and protested. The polticians did not care.
I personally wrote my legislators to express my disagreement with the bailouts. I bet tens of thousands of other Americans did, as well. I got the BRUSHoff from my elected representatives.
How many people protested the "healthcare" bill? Granted I am somewhat socially liberal, but I agreed with the tens of thousands of other Americans that at a time of crisis, when we have already spent MAssive amounts of money, we needed to focus on something other than socialized healthcare.
I don't care what the purported benefits are. Americans have not been quiet...and a lot of people HAVE been contacting politicians with their concerns. How are the people at fault here?
Citigroup COO to become new head of Standard & Poor's
*Citigroup’s chief operating officer Douglas Peterson is to become the new head of Standard & Poor's rating agency as its former president Deven Sharma steps down, RIA Novosti news agency quotes S&P’s subsidiary McGraw-Hill on Tuesday. Sharma, 55, will resign at the end of the year to “pursue other opportunities,” it stated. The agency downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA-plus on August 5, which caused a fall in stock indices and condemnation of S&P in the country
.
i am sure that this is a coincidence that the S&P head is stepping down, and that the citibank head will be totally objective in the future.
The people responsible now, are the same idiots that did not do what they were told. Back in April and again the third week of July, S&P told the world, publically, that they wanted $4.5 Trillion in deficit reductions for the U.S. to keep their AAA. Congress called their bluff and lost dearly for our economy, by coming up with about $2.5 Trillion.
S&P told Congress exactly what they wanted to see, and Congress failed.
That week long circus was a joke and I am ashamed to be an American.
Every day, on multiple business channels, you hear the same thing day after day. Only the U.S. Government can prevent our national debt from escalating, start creating jobs and all the rest. They are too worried about whether they will get re-elected to do anything.
Canada lost their AAA and it took years to get it back.
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