Fun fact reminder: the American economy took a 12-14 Trillion-Dollar hit starting in 2008.
And tax-payers had to borrow that much (paying interest, of course) from our buddies around the world, and that means - lemme see - about 13 Trillion plus about 2-and-a-half percent interest - gosh, it seems we might have a number that fairly closely resembles the horribleness of the $15 - 18 Trillion added to our national debt that "Conservatives" love to bitch about.
Or maybe it's purely coincidental. I suck at math, and I'm often real wrong about a lotta things. But my Spidey Sense tells me the guys who make billions off of Other People's Money aren't likely to become saintly and altruistic just because their shit hits somebody else's fan. They'll do what they know how to do - which always comes down to making sure they're not the ones left holding the bag. And oh yeah - I want Elizabeth Warren to stay where she is, doing exactly what she's doing for a good long time. Dang - the mad crush on that woman continues unabated.
Wow. Hey look - breaking news. Corporatized Lobbyists don't just write the legislation; and they don't just bribe our Coin-Operated Politicians to vote for or against it - they also tell us what our opinions are.
OPINION COLUMNS PUBLISHED in California newspapers over the last year in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership use language nearly identical to drafts written and distributed by public relations professionals who were retained by the Japanese government to build U.S. support for the controversial trade agreement.
Take this column by former San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who now serves as the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, in the San Diego Union-Tribune, titled: “Trans-Pacific trade pact benefits San Diego.”
Much of the language in Sanders’ op-ed also appears in a “San Diego Draft op-ed” distributed by Southwest Strategies, a consulting firm paid by the Japanese government to promote the TPP: Jerry Sanders: “Notably, the TPP includes Japan, which is significant” Southwest Strategies: “Notably, the TPP includes Japan, which is critical”
And somehow, this is news. Full circle. The loop is closed. Has been for a while, actually. Nothing to see here. Get back to work; or go back to sleep; or watch some more of the Daily Freak Circus on TV. They pretend to tell us what's going on, and we pretend that none of it really matters.
Isn't it great to live in a free society like USAmerica Inc?
Public schools End slavery Trust-Busting Federal income tax Allow labor to organize Child labor laws Voting rights for women Regulate banks Federalize the currency Minimum wage Social Security Desegregation Voting rights for 'blacks' Medicare Head Start Childhood nutrition Permit interracial marriage Pollution prevention A woman's right to choose AIDS research Sex Education Stem cell research Marriage equality
and on and on and on. "Conservatives" have always argued against these things, saying they'll cause the collapse of industry, or the ruination of the family, or the end of America. "Conservatives" have railed against policies that are in keeping with a basic rock-solid American value of doing what we can in order to form a more perfect union. They've argued against doing the right thing; against doing what's best for the most. They argue against keeping the promises we've made to ourselves, and to each other, and to generations beyond what we can see from where are now. Every time. Every issue. The argument is always overblown, and it's always wrong. How does anybody with pubic hair stay with these clods?
Well, to be a little clearer, I love parts of the silly season - I'm gettin' pretty tired of the Silly Season That Won't Fucking End, but there are certain things about it that I do still truly love. This for instance:
Somebody always comes out with a version of this, and I love that part of the silly season a lot.
So I'm thinking there has to be something wrong with the GOP - no really, something way wronger than the usual junk we see every day. Something fundamental. There's a serious rot problem in the heartwood. They're always telling us that the only polling that counts is the polling that happens on Election Day, and we hafta let the people decide. Well first, how come Repubs are working so hard to keep people from voting? And second, why are Repub leaders in Congress so sure the people didn't decide they wanted Obama to appoint a Justice to SCOTUS (eg) if need be? They say all these high-sounding things about democracy and then ignore the decisions people make when those decisions don't jive with GOP thinking? If that thinking is so obviously superior, why is it so often a direct contradiction of what so many people are telling them? Elitist much? Here's the kicker - Repubs and "Conservatives" (and Neo-Liberals too) love to link themselves to Business; they preach at us every day that we have to run the joint like a business; "the free market" - that magical marketplace of ideas - provides all the truly great pronouncements about quality and truth and America-ness because we're "letting the market make the call". But it's largely an upside down bullshit little game. People have been polling and voting in favor of (eg) Zero-Emmission Cars and Solar Energy and a Greener Planet for a coupla generations now, but the (mostly) Republicans have perverted that message and have been telling us that what we're really saying is that we want more Ford Pintos and Coal Mining Jobs and 8-Dollar Toasters. Gotta remember that popular doesn't necessarily mean good and unpopular doesn't necessarily mean bad, but over a period of time, when millions of your "customers" are trying hard to send you the message that your product stinks because your company's been taken over by people who can't be trusted to run a high school car wash, ya gotta brighten the fuck up a little and make some changes. That's the "Marketplace", guys - it's speaking in loud clear ways; has been for years. You can't take all that feedback and pretend forever that it doesn't say what it says. And you can't just throw some pixie glitter in the air and wish for a whole new set of customers. You have to make some changes. (And BTW: let's not hear any more about "conservatism hasn't failed us, we've failed to be conservative enough". Cut that shit out. The Soviets sounded stoopid when they were singing their version of it in the late 80s and you don't sound any smarter now. So just stop it.)
At the risk of showing my ignorance (and really, when has that ever stopped me?), please indulge me as I ask just one question:
Where the fuck has this guy been for 7 years?
Damn, Prez - this should've been an every-day thing from the beginning. And your staffers should've been hounding the Press Poodles for airtime to back it all up and hammer it all home. Every.Fucking.Day.
Honest, I'm really glad when you do this, Mr President, and yes, I'm aware that you've done it before. I just really really really wish you hadn't insisted on being so polite and humble and gee-whiz-maybe-if-I'm-courteous-they-won't-be-such-assholes-to-me-so-fucking-always.
Sorry.
Lotsa jobs is a good thing. 70+ months of expansion is a good thing. 60% reduction in the federal deficit is a good thing. Stock market up 65% is a good thing. Progress on equal rights is a good thing. Millions more with healthcare insurance. Winding down the wars. Lotsa good things.
But way too many people stuck in the poverty cycle is a bad thing. Hundreds of Banksters not in jail is a bad thing. 30,000 Americans killed every year with guns is a bad thing. 1000+ new laws restricting women's reproductive rights is a bad thing. Millions of 20-somethings living at or near the poverty level and needing their parents' help is a bad thing. Fucked up infrastructure is a bad thing. Voter suppression is a bad thing. Gitmo is a bad thing. Drones and extra-legal snuff lists are bad things. The complete crazy-fication of the GOP is a really bad thing. Lotsa and lotsa really bad things too.
Not that you're directly responsible for all that, I just think we needed you to be standing there every day telling us you're trying to do something about it, but somebody seems to be holding you back and getting in your way every time.
I think the pendulum isn't yet swinging the other way, but it's rightward motion has slowed enough to make it much more probable that it could be heading back to the left pretty soon. So maybe you get a lot of the credit for arresting that movement, and I should ease up a little. But I think you know as well as I do that if we don't constantly push for progress, very little gets done, and the natural tendency is to slip back into that Authoritarian Oligarchy thing, which happens to be what the current batch of Republicans always seem to be pushing for. And maybe you could articulate that little "elephant-in-the-room" thing too(?) Gotta push back.
And if we're looking at President Hillary Clinton, it's going to get real important real quick to push back hard against her Neo-Liberal bullshit.
Paraphrasing FDR - "I wanna do what you want me to do, but this is a democracy, so I need for you to make me do it."
So yay, Obama. But we gotta get off up our asses and make things happen if we want things to happen.
There was a similar phenomenon when the whole TeaBagger thing erupted in 2010, but that was an astroturf operation that was fomented and nurtured and financed by guys like Chuckles Koch to make it look like some kinda populist uprising.
This woman didn't plan anything like showing up at a town hall meeting deliberately to disrupt the process - she saw her chance to make her voice heard and she took it. Good on her for that.
What she did seemed organic and spontaneous. And it was obviously not what Gov Scott was expecting or hoping for. But the best part is when she totally shuts down the staffers, and they all parade out of the joint looking very very glum, while Scott can't figure out how to react in any human way so he freezes that phony condescending Pageant Queen smile on his mug trying hard to pretend he was OK with it. He wasn't. That one stung pretty good, and it needs to happen a lot.
