Gardnr
Recycles dryer sheets
There's no shame left.
No doubt about that.
There's no shame left.
shock doctrine
the majority of Americans are complicit in the greedy debt orgy that's been going on, and it's a little hard to be righteously outraged when you've been part of the problem.
who is this american majority of which you speak? the only person i know who thought she benefited, but who i wouldn't even characterize as "complicit in the greedy debt orgy", was my now-dead-to-me-cousin who atm'd her house until she had to sell for less even than its construction value, after having lived there for about 15 years already. shameful what equity she wasted, but she paid that price personally without burdening anyone by it. in fact, i've no doubt she made the banks happy & the recent buyer quite happy, having paid zero for the property and nothing for the location and got the building itself at discount.
the only flipper i ever even met was my fly-in, flew-out across the street neighbor who ended up selling distressed. among my friends, i know of no one else who benefited the slightest from this disaster. i can hardly think of any of my associates who hasn't owned their home for at least 5 years. in fact, i can think of just one who bought in 2003 and no one since then. (edit: also one friend who bought retirement home and will pay his mortgage despite the downturned value.) so i don't know the majority of americans, but who i know are sure suffering now with homes worth less than if this bubble never was. never mind that we are threatened with a collapsed economy & somehow we've inherited the burden to fix it. we are they with plenty of cause to anger.
I think it's one part - they don't really understand what's going on and one part - the majority of Americans are complicit in the greedy debt orgy that's been going on, and it's a little hard to be righteously outraged when you've been part of the problem.
Congress is currently in session debating the largest financial rescue plan since the Great Depression. The last I heard, the package would amount to $700 Billion dollars.
The thing that bothers me the most about this this financial crisis is that the average citizen does not seem to be angry. Anger is a natural human emotion and is not always negative. In fact, sometimes it's needed for survival.
I believe that in some cases change cannot take place until their is collective anger. Our largest financial corporations have done a number on American citizens. The U.S. government was simply negligent in their fiduciary duty to its people.
We, our children, grandchildren and perhaps even our great-grandchildren will be paying now be on the hook for a sum of money that could eventually approach one trillion dollars. This comes at a time when two expensive wars are being fought on foreign soil, not to mention the domestic war on terrorism. This is all occurring while while 40 million Americans are without health insurance and the cost of health care is spiraling out of control. Both our government and corporate leadership has simply let us down.
Could someone please tell me why the average citizen is not angry about what is now taking place? I do not believe that any significant and meaningful change will transpire until people become mad about the unfairness of what is currently taking place in our country.
Do you remember the movie, Network? We desperately need some people like these who are willing to open up their windows and shout out, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
who is this american majority of which you speak? the only person i know who thought she benefited, but who i wouldn't even characterize as "complicit in the greedy debt orgy", was my now-dead-to-me-cousin who atm'd her house until she had to sell for less even than its construction value, after having lived there for about 15 years already. shameful what equity she wasted, but she paid that price personally without burdening anyone by it. in fact, i've no doubt she made the banks happy & the recent buyer quite happy, having paid zero for the property and nothing for the location and got the building itself at discount.
the only flipper i ever even met was my fly-in, flew-out across the street neighbor who ended up selling distressed. among my friends, i know of no one else who benefited the slightest from this disaster. i can hardly think of any of my associates who hasn't owned their home for at least 5 years. in fact, i can think of just one who bought in 2003 and no one since then. (edit: also one friend who bought retirement home and will pay his mortgage despite the downturned value.) so i don't know the majority of americans, but who i know are sure suffering now with homes worth less than if this bubble never was. never mind that we are threatened with a collapsed economy & somehow we've inherited the burden to fix it. we are they with plenty of cause to anger.
They still don't understand it, but now they are angry.
I think it's one part - they don't really understand what's going on
and one part - the majority of Americans are complicit in the greedy debt orgy that's been going on, and it's a little hard to be righteously outraged when you've been part of the problem. .....
Well I don't have any statistics so my "majority" is obviously a bit speculative and based on the anecdotal evidence and stats I've seen. You do realize though that a majority is 51% or more though, right?I agree (to a degree) with your first part as to many Americans not fully understanding a lot of the high-finance involved in this problem -
But - I take issue with your second part as to the "majority" of Americans being "complicit"
I know I haven't been "complicit" - and I've know over the past 20 years many, many people in the various places I've lived who haven't been "complicit" - worked, paid their bills, bought appropriate houses for their incomes, dutifully put money away in their 401K's, etc
But perhaps that's because a lot of these people I've known live in "flyover country". They are the ones who've done the right things (mostly) and are getting hurt by this.
But we're bitterly clinging to our guns & religion & I expect will survive whatever comes
(well, maybe not the religion part in my case, but I don't begrudge anyone else their religion as long as it's fairly benign)
I think it's one part - they don't really understand what's going on and one part - the majority of Americans are complicit in the greedy debt orgy that's been going on, and it's a little hard to be righteously outraged when you've been part of the problem.