Well, we have sure found ourselves in some serious deep crap.
The bailout hasn't "kicked in" yet. Bush is telling us all to "just be patient" and wait for this thing to settle down. Well, I don't think that is going to work here bud. Americans have become a nation of folks who demand instant gratification. We want what we want, and damn it, we want it NOW!.
Being patient is not the American way. OK, once upon a time it might have been, but from the way I see things, since the early 1980's and "saint" Ronnie of Ray-gun we have become very impatient with everything. The "me" generation and the film "Wall Street" with the catch phrase "greed is good". Yep, that's America. I want it NOW! and I want MORE!
Well, now we are finding out just where that has got us all. In debt past our ever loving eyeballs! The national debt is in excess of 10 Trillion(!!!) dollars. The Iraq war alone is going to cost us something in excess of 3 Trillion of those same dollars. The "bailout" is "only" $700 Billion, so far. We are in serious economic trouble here folks.
Where is the money going to come from? Well, we are doing our damnedest to borrow more, from China, Japan, and other countries that have lent us money in the recent past. In fact, the two wars we are fighting, Afghanistan and Iraq, are being fought with borrowed monies. Yep, we are using the old "national credit card" to pay for the wars. This goes way beyond the old deal of "war on the cheap" and sets a new precedent in human history, as far as I know. I may be wrong, but I think this is the first time a war has been fought where one side (us this time) has used borrowed money to fight the war. I am sure that other wars in the past were fought with the promise of profits for the "investors" of the war, but this must be the first time that America has fought a war with borrowed money. Yes, in Gulf War One, papa Bush got some other countries to "chip in" to pay for the troops, sort of like "rent an Army" if you will. This is different. The entire war has been and continues to be fought with borrowed money.
Maybe a good thing to come from the financial collapse will be the end to these damn fool wars of choice. It sure as hell ought to slow down the rush for more wars, say with Iran or Syria.When you cannot get the cash to pay for fuel for your war machine, how are you going to have a war?
A few more things to ponder. Just how much longer will the Chinese continue to lend us the funds to keep these wars going? How much are they willing to lend us to keep our "economy" (such as it is now) alive? What happens when the money stops flowing into America? This whole financial meltdown has the look of being worse than the "great depression" of the 1930's. One thing seems obvious, we are in for one hell of a bumpy ride.
I see where lately at the rallies for Mrs. Palin, the crowds are getting down right rowdy. Nasty is a better description of the "gangs" who show up for her "pep talks". Folks who attend them shouting out crap like "kill him" "Traitor" "Hang him" and such. Wow!
I don't know how you see this, but it is getting damn close to being much like 1930's Germany in my view. This can get way out of control and fast. Did any of you see where even McCain himself cannot control his own "supporters"? He tried to calm a crowd who was there to hear him, when some fool shouted that Obama was a Muslim, McCain actually tried to correct the idiot and got shouted down by his own supporters! Now that has got to be a first for America. Getting shouted down by your own supporters! Wow. I don't think this has happened before in America. I may be wrong, but I surely don't recall anything like it.
All this just adds to other concerns of mine about America. Now mind you, when old charlie gets concerned about the future of the country it ought to make you sit up and think, at least for a minute. Why? Because I do not have any children who will "survive" my "passing". I would venture that most of the folks who read this post have children. That makes your concern for the future of the country very easy to understand. You have a personal "stake" in the future, through your children. I just have the cats and last time I checked, they don't count as my "kids" for legal purposes. They ARE my kids in fact here at the house, but it isn't the same as "real" kids. When those of us who don't have kids get concerned about the future of the country, well, things must be getting pretty damn bad. I think we ARE at that point now.
Among reasons to be concerned for our future, even our immediate future are such things as a recent article on Antiwar.com by Dr. Prather. Here is the link www.antiwar.com/prather?/article=13579 In this he discusses how bad things might get and his reasons why. I agree with this article and his reasoning. He did leave out two more things of great concern that, in my opinion, make the future less bright. They are National Security Presidential Directive-51 or NSPD-51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-20 or HSPD-20. These measures are to "ensure continuity of government". They give the president almost unlimited power to run everything in America. Now read that again, it gives the president almost unlimited power to run EVERYTHING. Not "just" the government, but absolutely the entire country, including the economy and all private sector activity.
That alone ought to be cause for concern among the "real" patriots in America. The fact that any president could have such unlimited power is the most un-American thing ever. These are NOT brand new, just signed into law documents folks. Nope, they were signed on 9 May 2008. There was no press release on this, for what I would venture to say obvious reasons.
The documents establish under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator. The job of that office is to plan for "National Essential Functions" of ALL federal, state, local, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president's directives in the event of a "national emergency".
What would be a "national emergency"? The documents very loosely define that to be "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions." Wow, now THAT is a very, very broad definition of a "catastrophic emergency" in my opinion. ANY event? Like , oh, say, the collapse of the big Wall Street banksters? Well, that would affect the economy, wouldn't it?
Also, remember that very recently, we now have a standing Army, right here at home, ready for any such "emergency". Yes, North Comm, or Northern Command, now has an active duty Army unit stationed on home soil for an emergency. This is the 3rd Infantry, First Brigade Combat Team. They are now stationed here at home for possible future use for such things as crowd control in case of "civil unrest". Whoa there! The military is not supposed to be used for law enforcement on home soil. Add this military unit to the above listed documents (NSPD-51 and HSPD-20) and now you see why old charlie here is getting a bit concerned about the future of America. Toss in the crap going on at the "rallies" for Mrs. Palin and things are not looking so very bright for our future.
I do NOT mean to panic anybody, but damn, this is not the America I grew up in. It sure as hell is NOT the America of my high school civics class. It is starting to look very much like Germany of the 1930's to me. And that is something we should all be concerned about.
Somehow, we have let "our" government get out of our control. This is supposed to be a constitutional republic. Power is supposed to come from the ground up. We the people are the ones who are supposed to hold the power here. That is how the Constitution was written. That is how things are supposed to be. Instead, we have had, for far too long, rule from the top down. Our "leaders" tell us what they want us to do. No! Wrong!! It is supposed to be them working FOR us. They are OUR employees folks! An election is basically a job interview. WE elect them, and they are supposed to work for us.
With the current economic disaster, the "security directives mentioned above, the military Combat Team stationed here for use in "civil unrest", the hatred being spouted at the Palin "rallies", things do not look good for our future at all.
We the people must demand that this stop. We cannot continue as a nation if we allow ourselves to be divided by idiot politicians who are in this "game" for their own personal gain. We need to demand that OUR elected representatives start to work for US, not themselves and not for the big money folks who bankroll the campaigns. If we fail in this, our old republic just may disappear for our future generations.
semper fi
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