Because It's Friday
2 hours ago
Saturday, March 19, 2016
How's that outrage working for you?
No matter who gets selected, I mean elected, president, plenty of people are going to be angry. Really really angry.
People, no matter their political affiliation, really want things to change. They don't want business as usual. The very last thing that the powers that be want is to upset the apple cart. Expect political shenanigans to prevent the American people from having a real say in November.
In the past, the entrenched powers usually got their way. They don't expect things to be different this time around, even if they are currently running a bit scared.
Our nation has reached the stage where just muddling through is not going to work. Real systematic changes are going to be needed to get through the challenges facing us.
The economy is not doing all that well. There are some huge storm clouds on the horizon. No, they are looming overhead. China is not going to be absorbing exports from the rest of the world as everyone hoped. It's laying off people and trying to keep wages low. With the world's biggest population country in contraction, it has got affect world trade.
Automation is replacing more people, not just in manufacturing. Ever use a self check out line or those little pay at the table machines at restaurants? The logical solution is a guaranteed basic income, among other reforms. Let's see how far logic gets us this time around.
Sure, the stock market looks like it's doing well. Frankly, it doesn't matter. The stock market hasn't been a true reflection on the real economy for some time. There are two economies. One is the real economy that produces goods and services. The other is a paper economy consisting of financial smoke and mirrors. The paper economy might look good, but the real one . . . not so much.
For some time the system has been kept going with band-aids, spit, and duct tape. That can't go on forever, and we know that things that can't go on forever eventually don't.
As the facade crumbles exposing the ugliness beneath the surface. Areas as diverse as the energy sector to immigration are in turmoil.
Things are going to get interesting. What's a person to do with their anger and outrage when things unravel? Well the last thing you want to violent overthrow. Just look at the mess the whole Arab Spring has made. Yes, those countries were ruled by bad dudes, but the chaos that followed was worse.
Work for a political solution, but prepare for disruptions. Now is the time to get your house in order. I don't want to burn it all to the ground, but I do realize there are plenty of outraged people who have nothing to lose.
-Sixbears
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I've always said that when people no longer have anything to live for, they start looking for something to die for. I don't think "the powers that be" realize how quickly that day could come.
ReplyDeleteIt could happen here. People don't realize how quickly things can fall apart sometimes.
DeleteAgree with the post. Despite how cynical I've become over the years, I suspect that at some level, I'll still die in denial. Denial that nothing more than greed causes the most powerful people to exacerbate our obvious, serious problems, and the ordinary person to ignore them. In tandem, those reactions perpetuate the whole mess and guarantee a negative outcome. It's just math.
ReplyDeleteIf we are going the way of the buffalo, it seems to me that it should at least be for some better reason than banal greed, and for something beyond our control, like an asteroid.
But there I go again ... superimposing conjured "should" ethics upon our slightly more evolved monkey species. ;-)
There will be people who survive this miss, the prepared and lucky.
Deletealready republican insiders are publicly
ReplyDeletesaying that, if donald trump is chosen by the people, they are going to subvert the will of the people.
isn't this illegal?
and yet they are saying it out loud.
the corruption, which has always existed since the fall of man, has become so endemic that it is now just one more thing out in the open.
pols used to hide their rottenness, occasionally actually accomplishing something good, but now that is all straws in the wind.
yoda, i don't know if we ordinary people are ignoring the terrible problems. i think we just don't know what to do about them.
every civilization rises and falls, but ours has done it more than double quick time.
as for greed, lust for money is the root of all evil, and that root has grown into a huge tree in our time.
Hi Deborah,
Delete"already republican insiders are publicly saying that, if donald trump is chosen by the people, they are going to subvert the will of the people. isn't this illegal?"
Saying that is stupid, but not illegal. Doing it might be illegal, but I suspect they don't mean that. They will subvert whatever disagrees with them as long as they can find a way within their convention rules. Otherwise, they'll have to accept whomever wins. That said, people have been fabricating "reasons" to get their way since there have been people.
"yoda, i don't know if we ordinary people are ignoring the terrible problems. i think we just don't know what to do about them."
Look around carefully at what people spend their time doing, and then see if you really believe they're not ignoring the problem. Activists, at best, are considered misguided time-wasters. Whistleblowers, worse. We all have created a hostile environment for people who tell the truth.
Additionally, we've developed a very antagonistic, bipolar social/political environment in the U.S. Whether the 1% engineered that or not, it certainly benefits them. If we're all at each other's throats, we're not focusing on them -- the real problem. And to make matters worse, almost 50% of us are actually supporting those knuckleheads and their destructive agendas, and/or have our heads otherwise up our keesters.
What to do about it? Two things in order:
1. Stop fighting each other long enough to agree on the real problem.
2. In the wonderful words of H.L. Mencken:
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."
Yoda
It's all "legal" as the insiders are the ones who make the rules. What it isn't is moral.
DeleteI'm going to need a bigger boat.
Amen brother.
Delete"I'm going to need a bigger boat."
www.triloboats.com ;-)
I like Dave Z's designs. However, my lovely wife doesn't want me to build another boat in the near future. Still need to put a good sailing rig on the Ooze Goose I built.
DeleteAnyway, it's possible to get some pretty good used boats for less money that building one. However, you might not get exactly what you want.