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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: Once Upon A Time In Old America We are living in a state of selective amnesia or fearful denial? "To a large extent, the housing bubble has concealed the systematic destruction of America's industrial and manufacturing base. Low interest rates have lulled the public to sleep while the rise in housing prices has created the millions of high paying jobs have been outsourced. The rise in housing prices has created the illusion of prosperity but, in truth, we are only selling houses to each other and are not making anything that the rest of the world wants. The $11 trillion dollars that was pumped into the real estate market is probably the greatest waste of capital investment in the nations history. It hasn't produced a single asset that will add to our collective wealth or industrial competitiveness." . . . "The Federal Reserve produces all the fact and figure related to the housing industry. They knew that trillions of dollars were being diverted into a speculative bubble, but they did NOTHING to stop it. Now the effects of their 'cheap money' policies have spread to the hedge fund industry where hundreds of billions of dollars in pensions and savings are in jeopardy." It is advised that citizens (those involved in loans - investments - etc, in local communities), come into the 21st century and get a grasp of the serious implications: In case some of the opinion that government will ride to the rescue and retrain former auto workers, textile employees, paper mill/ steel/manufacturing workers, etc, for those high end technological or positions in the health field - get a grip! Thousands upon thousands are graduating from college unable to find jobs! No 50-60 old worker who has worked for decades in a paper mill, or steel plant, is going to compete with those educated in the best of colleges in their early twenties! Let's get real. Besides, we now have hundreds of thousands of professional guest workers (Democrats and Republicans support), being imported to replace Americans, at a third of the salary, no benefits, no pensions, and no job security. Prison labor is being used by other corporate interests! Besides, President Bush, who never held a real job in his life (before the Presidency or government position), has cut funds for job retraining: President Bush, and career politicians, don't have to care or relate to their employers (US Taxpayer). They get lucrative salaries, yearly cost of living raises, and full health coverage (we pay 72% of their premiums). Their pensions also see yearly cost of living raises! No severance packages here, of a few weeks pay, no matter how miserable their job performance, or felony convictions. Note, when a politician comes down with some health issue, they receive immediate care at the best of hospitals. No drone in a far away cubicle informs their physician that such and such a procedure is not covered. They are not advised to become destitute, having no assets, before they can receive medical care! They don't die ignored, on the floor of an emergency room (Los Angeles), of a ruptured bowel, with medical staff fully aware! Coming home from war, they are not one of the 192,000 veterans left homeless, having to prove their disability. Note how convenient the troops are for photo ops (in spiffy uniforms amidst flags) going off to war. You'll not see politicians posing with brain damaged/blind/faceless/ veterans, advising, "Be all you can be etc." You'll not see presidential candidates shaking hands; with those living under bridges, in abandoned cars, or crowded shelters! You haven't seen politicians (whatever the party) addressing the bureaucratic nightmare of today's medical debacle; written, by the pharmaceuticals, insurance, and HMO interests. Both parties continue to vote malignant trade agreements, for the benefit of corporate hucksters, in their global plundering of our planet. Millions upon millions, left dispossessed in their own lands, (due to trade agreements), are exiting their countries seeking employment in the U.S. Corporate interests rally the naive, unskilled, and uneducated immigrants, in various protests, against the unemployed, and over burdened U.S. taxpayers being billed for these failed trade agreements! Victims against victims. Pretty clever maneuvering. The top few % responsible for this global plunder are out of sight. This can't be identified for what it really is - class warfare. The few are benefiting obscenely at the expense of the multitudes. The media (corporate owned) blames this discontent on those not willing to do the work of immigrants or on unions. Hey, the bigger the lie, the more believable. Immigrants are not only (as the media presents) out in the field picking lettuce or beans. They are standing on street corners all over the nation; being hired on by unscrupulous contractors; for roofing, brick laying, concrete work, construction, etc. At the end of the day (week) many hired on in this manner, find themselves without pay, or working for slave wages. If they are injured on the job, that's their tough luck. Non-union jobs result in coal miners left underground (Utah), and are not about environmental or safety issues. This is the face of your new global plantation. An indentured slave work force. Once upon a time, in Old America, there was pride in the workmanship of American Made. Small town America flourished with manufacturing, tool and die shops, sheet metal, appliance companies, paper mills, steel mills, mining machinery plants etc. The police did not carry electrocution devices (tasers) nor did we have Ninja troops, breaking down doors, killing innocent citizens, in some ill-founded drug bust. Meantime, our southern border has tons of drugs entering in unhindered! The poppy fields of Afghanistan are booming. What drug war? Once upon a time in Old America, the doctor would come to your house. The President didn't advise those in need of health care to sit in an emergency room for hours. A hospital bill didn't bankrupt a family. Medicines were affordable. Children didn't die of an abscessed tooth because a dentist demanded cash. Small town America had downtown streets bustling with hometown businesses. Wal-Mart with its poison junk from China was not the largest employer in the nation. The elderly didn't need to apply for jobs, bagging groceries or as Home Depot Associates to make ends meet. Schools were not centers of social engineering, teaching alternative life styles, or the intricacies of putting a condom on a banana! Children were permitted the joy of being a child and not arrested for zero tolerance schemes, thought up by some mindless educators in Washington. A compliant, obedient, passive workforce needs early intervention and training in obedience. Group Think is in - individual genius, exuberance and creativity needs drugged. It takes a village to raise an mindless idiot. Once upon a time in Old America a man working in a mill, or auto plant etc, could see his son becoming an engineer, a doctor, or scientist. Today's child has his/her career being mapped out in school by social engineers. College costs are out of sight, with various grants and loans being eliminated. Youngsters no longer works at paper routes, or at odd jobs. These are being done by unemployed parents or immigrants. Those being prepared for a world of Forever War - or placement in the local Wigget factory; don't need math skills, spelling, or reading abilities. Thus many graduating today, can't do simple math (watch what happens when the computers go down in a store), read a newspaper, or discuss a work of literature. Many have no idea of our history, and think the civil war was the Watts Riots. Try asking your fourth grader to look up a word in the dictionary or write a short story. The fault of this rests with parents/citizens - who have allowed this madness of indoctrinating their children into stupidity. Teachers (change agents) are only interested in a paycheck or retirement benefits. They are not about to rock the boat. Citizens on the other hand, without a murmur, have their children prescribed mind-altering drugs, without the least bit of research! Because some bovine drone threatens them - they bleat and obey. Would that we had some 'zero tolerance' addressing the corruption in Foggy Bottom - or in the robbery of war, with billions gone missing. Meantime, the offspring of the moneyed/well connected, receive the best of private school educations - to prepare them for their secure positions of future hucksters - industry hacks etc. Once upon a time in Old America, there was no danger stranger, Amber Alerts, or daily fear advertisements. True we had Duck and Cover, a silly ass routine of Bert the Turtle, advising us to duck under a desk, to avoid the aftermath of an Atomic Bomb. At age six, I had enough sense to see the lunacy in this, and received a monthly 'unsatisfactory' in deportment, because I wouldn't participate in acting the fool. Today I imagine I'd be arrested. Once upon a time in Old America, the streets and parks were alive with the laughter of children at play. Small town America had its fireworks, parades, carnivals, swimming hole, family picnics, concerts in the park, fishing, building forts etc. Today the streets are silent and echoing on a summer's eve. Video games and mindless TV programming have created a generation of lumpkins. Except in a rare instance, I don't recall a classroom filled with doughy - dullard overweight children. But then we had no fast food restaurants, or additive saturated foods, when I was growing up. To this day, I have never eaten (WHY?) at a McSlop fast food joint. Citizens today have been propagandized and programmed to enslaved consumerism. I can't imagine that my parents would have paid hundreds of dollars for sneakers, or designer clothing, so that I could fit in with the other kids at school. 'TV was my teacher far into the night - it taught me to buy everything within sight' - this is today's mantra. Imagine robbing your children, by sitting them down in front of something called Sponge Bob (or whatever) or violent video games? We are for the most part kept ill informed as to the true state of our nation. Millions are losing their jobs and homes. One state or region has no idea of what is occurring elsewhere. Detroit looks like Beirut - with its downtown echoing with abandoned hotels, train stations, and rusted auto plants. The steel mills and textile plants of Middle America - the South (never modernized), were allowed to rust into oblivion - with few realizing the implications. In times of crisis, we could never prepare for war. Once upon a time in Old America, there were real grandmas with aprons and flowered dresses. Women didn't feel the need to resort (TV conditioning) to liposuction, face-lifts, breast implants etc. Our votes weren't hijacked by computers with no paper trail. True, there have always been the robber barons exploiting the workers, shooting down strikers (looking for a decent wage), and crooked politicians, only too willing to sell out their constituents. The difference today is that these robber barons and corporate hucksters; hold the most strategic positions in government (from the Defense Dept to the regulatory agencies). Lobbyists for industry now determine legislation. Government (politicians) for the most part, are nothing more than props. No matter the party in power, one can observe, that they are about feathering their own nests, serving their corporate owners, or holding tedious hearings, that result in nothing but filling time. Anything done for the citizen is by pure accident. And now in the New America we can see that our infrastructure, utilities, water, and vast holdings of real estate are being sold out to foreign interests. Rest assured, that all these supposed protected areas (parks - timber - minerals - grasslands - etc) are mere collateral for our massive debt. I suspect, that under the guise of paperless ID, we will next be ordered to be chipped (much like pets). In the days of slavery, this was called branding - the chip is merely updated branding. One must keep track of one's human resources on a plantation. "Ship is sinking Digging up the dead, with a shovel and pick It's a job; it's a job God's away, God's away God's Away On Business -Tom Waits Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: robin (#0)
Judith just nailed it. Thank you for this post.
What people don't realize is that our DC elite don't care about us. They are not our kinsmen. They are not related to us by tribal or ethnic blood. They are not tied to us by a common religious faith. We don't even have the same concepts of rule of law any longer or basic beliefs about the power and role of government. The people who rule us- have ZERO connection to us. They feel no obligation to us. They know that "Americanism" is a fiction. "Patriotism" for the federal flag- is a joke- that only rubes believe in. They don't. They care about their families and their circle. Of course they will sell us out. Why wouldn't they? The DC elite don't care about Rust belt blue collar workers who, like morons, have American flags on their pickup bumpers. The Farmers of Vermont might as well be Sri Lankans for all DC cares. Our DC elite have no and feel no obligation towards the fictional people called "Americans". They are doing what Americans have always done- and what was the strength of this country- acting out of self interest. But when you concentrate political and economic power in the hands of a central government in a polygot nation- that strength becomes a weakness. "Americans" better wise up. No one in DC gives a shit about them. There is no loyalty in this country to anything higher than your own family- and it has always been that way.
They don't have too. They have the media to tell us how to vote and the people will always obey the media.
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