A Mr. LaPointe notes-it's all about the Benjamins. Greed begets poverty - of the pocket and the soul. My parents, children of the Depression and WW2 and Korea, built a house with a mortgage payment of $110 a month. They raised 3 kids on a salesman salary(Mom raised us at home, with no need for a second income just to feed us) and sent us…
A Mr. LaPointe notes-it's all about the Benjamins. Greed begets poverty - of the pocket and the soul. My parents, children of the Depression and WW2 and Korea, built a house with a mortgage payment of $110 a month. They raised 3 kids on a salesman salary(Mom raised us at home, with no need for a second income just to feed us) and sent us to top end colleges. The U of Chicago cost $3000 a year.
A consumer based economy, which has led the U.S. to maintain the Reserve Currency and economic leadership of the world, has created a populace of desirous, shallow materialists whose children's children have no goals because 3 generations from the Greatest Generation they have no hope of living the "American Consumerist Dream". And AOC (a political lightweight) and Bernie (a failed Communist) are too late to the game to ever have any noticeable effect. Their Congressional partners are in it for the dough (see Pelosi's stock picks) and every Congressional district has a Department of Defense corporate recipient of weapons systems largesse.( You forgot to note that the one industry that leads the world in expertise and quality work-except Boeing- are defense contractors).
Sadly the only likely way out of this soul crushing crisis is war. If not the 30 year Neocon dream of taking over Russia via the Ukraine debacle(BlackRock already has the contract to rebuild the rubble that will be left there), then China will eventually overcome us economically as they pattern their economy on the US model, if they don't first economically crush us in a protracted war.
Wow. This is a fascinating mix of things I agree with and things I couldn't disagree with more strongly. I actually wrote about what you're describing - how people used to be able to build lives on one income - in this piece https://www.americasundoing.com/p/a-massive-american-pay-cut
But then you call AOC a political lightweight, which has been proven false by her effectiveness in Congress, and Bernie a "failed Communist" when he's really more of a democratic socialist who's achieved remarkable things. I do agree with your assessment of Pelosi and many other House members - both Democrat and Republican. And yes, the military industrial complex was incredibly strategic in positioning themselves across congressional districts.
Where I disagree is on military products and technology. I don't think we're still producing the best - we're starting to get beaten there too.
But the biggest disagreement? That war is the only way out of this crisis. That's the path unthoughtful leaders might take. Sure, there's appeal in using war to unite the country and build an economy, but it's not the only way. The Green New Deal was essentially mobilizing on a wartime footing without building bombs.
Glad to see you engaging with these ideas, even if we see some things very differently.
A Mr. LaPointe notes-it's all about the Benjamins. Greed begets poverty - of the pocket and the soul. My parents, children of the Depression and WW2 and Korea, built a house with a mortgage payment of $110 a month. They raised 3 kids on a salesman salary(Mom raised us at home, with no need for a second income just to feed us) and sent us to top end colleges. The U of Chicago cost $3000 a year.
A consumer based economy, which has led the U.S. to maintain the Reserve Currency and economic leadership of the world, has created a populace of desirous, shallow materialists whose children's children have no goals because 3 generations from the Greatest Generation they have no hope of living the "American Consumerist Dream". And AOC (a political lightweight) and Bernie (a failed Communist) are too late to the game to ever have any noticeable effect. Their Congressional partners are in it for the dough (see Pelosi's stock picks) and every Congressional district has a Department of Defense corporate recipient of weapons systems largesse.( You forgot to note that the one industry that leads the world in expertise and quality work-except Boeing- are defense contractors).
Sadly the only likely way out of this soul crushing crisis is war. If not the 30 year Neocon dream of taking over Russia via the Ukraine debacle(BlackRock already has the contract to rebuild the rubble that will be left there), then China will eventually overcome us economically as they pattern their economy on the US model, if they don't first economically crush us in a protracted war.
Buckle up kids, the road si gonna be a bit bumpy.
Wow. This is a fascinating mix of things I agree with and things I couldn't disagree with more strongly. I actually wrote about what you're describing - how people used to be able to build lives on one income - in this piece https://www.americasundoing.com/p/a-massive-american-pay-cut
But then you call AOC a political lightweight, which has been proven false by her effectiveness in Congress, and Bernie a "failed Communist" when he's really more of a democratic socialist who's achieved remarkable things. I do agree with your assessment of Pelosi and many other House members - both Democrat and Republican. And yes, the military industrial complex was incredibly strategic in positioning themselves across congressional districts.
Where I disagree is on military products and technology. I don't think we're still producing the best - we're starting to get beaten there too.
But the biggest disagreement? That war is the only way out of this crisis. That's the path unthoughtful leaders might take. Sure, there's appeal in using war to unite the country and build an economy, but it's not the only way. The Green New Deal was essentially mobilizing on a wartime footing without building bombs.
Glad to see you engaging with these ideas, even if we see some things very differently.
-Corbin