Hard not to read today's post and not have Michael Douglas's speech in the movie "Wall Street" pop into mind; "Greed, is good!" his character said. While most Americans would reject such an assertion, find a billionaire who is not living that worldview. In fact, find a working-class family who is not living indentured paycheck2paycheck so they can pay for the $80,000 pickup, RV or trailered speedboat, motorcycle, and a car or two parked in the driveway of their 1,400 sqft houses every night.
America's version of capitalism promotes the notion that "he who dies with the most toys wins." Yet billionaire or worker, most Americans live like their next acquisition (company, house, or spouse) will finally make them happy.
Two things at play here. First acquisition of things, money, land is an addiction, just like gambling, and staring at the small screen all day
Second: These people are like sharks, they have to keep swimming less they suffocate.
When they stop, all of their credit gets called in because they can't make payments. All of their ventures, from stock acquisition, to land acquisition is leveragaged
By leveraged I mean debt.
They don't write checks from their accounts in Switzerland or the Caribbean to buy planes, yachts, build bunkers, no they borrow money using their acquisitions as collateral, and pay off loans by selling off assets or using the income from the companies that they control.
We are living in a horrible loop of our own making. One of history repeating itself, seemingly endlessly.
Sure we have new toys, mostly invented to make a profit for the few. Toys that are priced in tiers of both availability and privilege. Very few are presented as an improvement of society as a whole. And, If they are presented this way, they are soon seen for what they are, a sales gimmick in order to appeal to our need to feel as though we are actually getting ahead as a people. But, where are we really going, except to our next war?
Do we have a collective dream? Do we have a collective goal even, except to get rich and not work within the system of wealth for the few but rather to become one of the “few” ourself?
We’re lost and dangerously separated in a hierarchy of privilege for the users and manipulators versus being one of their needed worker bees (soon to be obsolete) and then further divided against each other into classes of worker bees by beliefs and ignorance.
Our only hope as a people is for the vast majority to wake up to our own history of one war or battle dividing our organized economic arrangement of the era, followed by the predictable rebellion of the many against these organizations of wealth (the users). Or, the other story of war, the conquering and annihilation or assimilation of a civilization by ignorance and greed personified in people with more powerful weapons than you.
Families are not really respected by those in power over us. The controlling powerful merely drain the resources of both nature and the resource of the people they use.
We, in the majority, have allowed this to happen over time. That’s why we are considered expendable and collateral damage after one of the endless wars declared by politicians. We go fight these battles that end nothing and begin nothing. There is no real accomplishment at all, unless you consider reproduction and sheer numbers an accomplishment, or maybe producers of garbage.
With few exceptions we are filled with the same prejudices, greed, anger, and mistrust as ever and seemingly, as a people, only getting more extreme.
"We in the majority," Really? I do not feel like I am in the majority. I relate to a lot of common values, but I do not see those values as widely shared or held. When I see right-wing Black Republicans like Justice Thomas, Black Senators like Tim Scott and Gubernatorial candidates like Byron Donalds in FL, I want to puke. Their party is racist as heck, and so are they. It is mind-boggling, but some people will sell their souls for power they use against their own and other racial minorities.
I do not vote Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist, Republican, or MAGA. Since 1968, I have always voted for the least objectionable candidate rather than FOR a candidate. Dems are usually the lesser of two evils, so they often win elections. But let us not overlook recent history. We elected 2 demented old men from opposing parties in a row as president. The first one appointed a competent cabinet and executives; the second one appointed unqualified nincompoops. The Dems knowingly re-ran Biden out of power-greed. The GOP ran a sleepy serial lying convicted criminal. The "majority" voted him into office - a self-inflicted wound. So where was "our" majority? Betrayed, many Dems voted Red to punish the DNC.
The Biden administration tackled COVID, and our economy was reasonably healed before Trump ran again. Trump's current cabinet appointees were all ill-equipped to question their Ruler's edicts, unlike in Trump's first disastrous presidency. Thus, Trump now swims in a swamp of unintended negative consequences, and literally is leading a war against the entire world - his own country included. Trump is ruthless but stupid as a brick. I do think that "a" majority of voters are fed up and will vote Blue, hoping for impeachment given that our lickspittle cabinet will never 25 Trump. Like Bavaria in 1886, history will hopefully repeat itself so we can stop building castles and start rebuilding our government.
Hard not to read today's post and not have Michael Douglas's speech in the movie "Wall Street" pop into mind; "Greed, is good!" his character said. While most Americans would reject such an assertion, find a billionaire who is not living that worldview. In fact, find a working-class family who is not living indentured paycheck2paycheck so they can pay for the $80,000 pickup, RV or trailered speedboat, motorcycle, and a car or two parked in the driveway of their 1,400 sqft houses every night.
America's version of capitalism promotes the notion that "he who dies with the most toys wins." Yet billionaire or worker, most Americans live like their next acquisition (company, house, or spouse) will finally make them happy.
Two things at play here. First acquisition of things, money, land is an addiction, just like gambling, and staring at the small screen all day
Second: These people are like sharks, they have to keep swimming less they suffocate.
When they stop, all of their credit gets called in because they can't make payments. All of their ventures, from stock acquisition, to land acquisition is leveragaged
By leveraged I mean debt.
They don't write checks from their accounts in Switzerland or the Caribbean to buy planes, yachts, build bunkers, no they borrow money using their acquisitions as collateral, and pay off loans by selling off assets or using the income from the companies that they control.
We are living in a horrible loop of our own making. One of history repeating itself, seemingly endlessly.
Sure we have new toys, mostly invented to make a profit for the few. Toys that are priced in tiers of both availability and privilege. Very few are presented as an improvement of society as a whole. And, If they are presented this way, they are soon seen for what they are, a sales gimmick in order to appeal to our need to feel as though we are actually getting ahead as a people. But, where are we really going, except to our next war?
Do we have a collective dream? Do we have a collective goal even, except to get rich and not work within the system of wealth for the few but rather to become one of the “few” ourself?
We’re lost and dangerously separated in a hierarchy of privilege for the users and manipulators versus being one of their needed worker bees (soon to be obsolete) and then further divided against each other into classes of worker bees by beliefs and ignorance.
Our only hope as a people is for the vast majority to wake up to our own history of one war or battle dividing our organized economic arrangement of the era, followed by the predictable rebellion of the many against these organizations of wealth (the users). Or, the other story of war, the conquering and annihilation or assimilation of a civilization by ignorance and greed personified in people with more powerful weapons than you.
Families are not really respected by those in power over us. The controlling powerful merely drain the resources of both nature and the resource of the people they use.
We, in the majority, have allowed this to happen over time. That’s why we are considered expendable and collateral damage after one of the endless wars declared by politicians. We go fight these battles that end nothing and begin nothing. There is no real accomplishment at all, unless you consider reproduction and sheer numbers an accomplishment, or maybe producers of garbage.
With few exceptions we are filled with the same prejudices, greed, anger, and mistrust as ever and seemingly, as a people, only getting more extreme.
"We in the majority," Really? I do not feel like I am in the majority. I relate to a lot of common values, but I do not see those values as widely shared or held. When I see right-wing Black Republicans like Justice Thomas, Black Senators like Tim Scott and Gubernatorial candidates like Byron Donalds in FL, I want to puke. Their party is racist as heck, and so are they. It is mind-boggling, but some people will sell their souls for power they use against their own and other racial minorities.
I do not vote Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist, Republican, or MAGA. Since 1968, I have always voted for the least objectionable candidate rather than FOR a candidate. Dems are usually the lesser of two evils, so they often win elections. But let us not overlook recent history. We elected 2 demented old men from opposing parties in a row as president. The first one appointed a competent cabinet and executives; the second one appointed unqualified nincompoops. The Dems knowingly re-ran Biden out of power-greed. The GOP ran a sleepy serial lying convicted criminal. The "majority" voted him into office - a self-inflicted wound. So where was "our" majority? Betrayed, many Dems voted Red to punish the DNC.
The Biden administration tackled COVID, and our economy was reasonably healed before Trump ran again. Trump's current cabinet appointees were all ill-equipped to question their Ruler's edicts, unlike in Trump's first disastrous presidency. Thus, Trump now swims in a swamp of unintended negative consequences, and literally is leading a war against the entire world - his own country included. Trump is ruthless but stupid as a brick. I do think that "a" majority of voters are fed up and will vote Blue, hoping for impeachment given that our lickspittle cabinet will never 25 Trump. Like Bavaria in 1886, history will hopefully repeat itself so we can stop building castles and start rebuilding our government.