Global ruling class to world: "F--k off & die"

[HiPointDem]

Modern politics can be hard to fathom... How to sift the relentless, contradictory arcana of current events and make sense of it all? I find that a simple phrase helps thread the labyrinth – four little words that capture the grand, overarching political philosophy of the age:

Fuck Off And Die.

Of course, elite attitudes toward the lower orders have never been exactly tender; but in times past, a rather large number of sufficiently quiescent peasants and proles were required to create the wealth for plutocratic plundering and maintain the machinery of power and privilege. Thus some attention had to be paid to the rabble’s basic needs and even -- occasionally – their pitiful aspirations for a more meaningful, more humane life for themselves, their families and their communities. But now the means of production (to borrow a phrase) are largely mechanized and digitized; you don’t need many warm bodies -- and certainly not skilled or experienced or well-paid ones – to keep the money rolling in. And perhaps more importantly, the means of control -- the technologies of violence and surveillance -- are now vastly more powerful and pervasive and efficient than ever.

To put it plainly, the elites don’t need us anymore -- or not many of us, anyway. And thanks to runaway population growth -- and the greasy mobility of global capital -- those few of us they do still need to keep the machinery going can be easily replaced, at any moment, by some other desperate chump trying to avoid destitution. So there is no longer any reason for elites to concern themselves with the wearisome creatures out there beyond the mansion gates and the penthouse glass. No need to worry about workers’ rights: if they get out of line, sack them, or even better, send the whole operation overseas, where sweatshop fodder is thick on the ground and comes dirt cheap. No need to worry about communities, the personal, social, economic and physical structures that gave a richer embodiment to ordinary life: just strip them, gut them and leave them to die -- and when the rot gets bad enough, as in Detroit, send in an unelected “manager” to pick the carcass clean.

And no need to worry about mass uprisings of the dispossessed, debt-ridden, insecure, angry, overwhelmed, isolated, media-dazed rabble. With hyper-militarized police forces, cameras on every corner, spies and provocateurs infesting every possible base of dissent, and gargantuan data-harvesters mining every public move and private click of the populace, repression is a piece of cake. And if by chance some pocket of protest does reach critical mass somewhere, your hi-tech, heavily armored goons can easily beat it, tase it and pepper-spray it into submission... And their policies are now ever more nakedly geared to hammering this truth home.

The Great Crash of ’08 gave them the excuse to rip off the mask at last. For five years now, the iron hand of “austerity” has been pressed down hard upon ordinary people. We had no part in the criminal folly that caused the disaster -- yet we are the ones left paying for it, in lost jobs, lost homes, lost services, lost freedoms, lost opportunities, and cramped, crippled, diminished lives. From the "progressive" Obama to the Tory toff Cameron to the pseudo-Socialist Hollande to the dour centrist Merkel -- and all the other clowns, clerks and ciphers turning their self-proclaimed “great democracies” into cash cows for their cronies and controllers -- the infliction of pain on ordinary people is the only game in town. ‘O my gosh,’ our leaders cry, throwing up their soft, unblemished hands, ‘there's just no more money left, no money for your schools, your roads, your jobs, your pensions, your rights, your benefits, your elderly, your sick, your poor, your vulnerable. The money's all gone, what can we do?’

But of course the money is not gone, not at all. A new study -- by an inside man, James Henry, former chief economist at McKinsey -- shows that up to $32 trillion has been stashed away by the world’s elites in offshore accounts and other hidey-holes. Even a modest portion of this mountain of swag would completely alleviate the draconian “budget crises” and ludicrous “sequesters” that have been artificially imposed on nation after nation. All of the suffering, chaos, ruin and degradation being caused by these policies -- all the “skin in the game” that’s being flayed from the backs of ordinary people -- all of it is unnecessary. The money is there to solve these problems -- if our leaders wanted to solve them.

But they don’t. For “austerity” isn’t designed to fix our problems; it is instead meant to be a permanent condition, a new normal, the endless, changeless natural order. (Just as the “emergency” of the “War on Terror” has now morphed into a permanent way of life.) It’s all out in the open. Obama is eagerly offering to slash the social compact to ribbons. Cameron is driving the poor and sick to their knees. The IMF is breeding Nazis in Greece. They’re not even pretending to care about anyone outside the golden circle anymore.

Fuck off and die: that’s it, that’s all they’ve got to say. The rest is show-biz -- strip-tease and shell games -- to fleece us of our last few coins as they shove us out the exit.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/2319-pay-in-blood-may-day-and-modern-politics.html

[marions ghost]

1. K&R

Seems to be true--"they're not even pretending to care about anyone outside the golden circle anymore..."

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Checks & Balances are what They've deleted ....

Hence, NWO .

[woo me with science]

44. They are systematically deleting the Constitution. nt

[orpupilofnature57]

2. Maybe next time they're all together you could tell them .

http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/index.php

[Fumesucker]

4. "The money is there to solve these problems -- if our leaders wanted to solve them."

QFT, Quoted For Truth.

I have this argument about three times a year with a friend of mine, he will finally forget the last time I stomped his pathetic drivel and tell me how there's "just no money" and we go through the whole thing again and then I don't hear about it for a while.

Odd thing is that he knows a lot more about the details of the financial shenanigans than I do and yet he still falls for the "no money" propaganda, it's so relentless that unless you are very strong minded (stubborn as a mule, iow) it's hard not to succumb.

[chervilant]

8. Perhaps, it's just that he--

like so many of the rest of us--wants to believe in the inherent goodness of humankind, even as misanthropy crooks at us its bony finger.

[truebluegreen]

27. I still believe in the inherent goodness of humankind

I just don't count the 1% as part of that group.

[reformist2]

70. "We're Broke!" is the biggest lie of our age.

Their little oases of luxury come at the expense of entire cities and even entire regions of the country that have been allowed to decay into rundown and abandoned slums. And the kicker is that the 1% are less deserving of their privileged status than ever before in history - there are literally millions of people who can do what they do.

[ms liberty]

5. K&R...n/t

[chervilant]

6. And, the band plays on...

Just turn back around and watch TV, there's a good little sheeple. See who's winning the next big jackpot. You, too, can be rich!

(Cue maniacal laughter in the privacy of their private estates...)

[RKP5637]

16. Majority of Americans today are brainwashed sheepie, not caring, not understanding and I think

many just as pleased to be garbage under the wheels of wealth. And, for many, "Idiocracy" rules the day. Sadly, I don't see much of a future for most ... because many are just too damn complacent, ignorant and those that do care will be squashed, stamped out by TPTB with their endless surveillance and militarized police. I hope I am totally wrong, but the trend IMO does not look promising.

[BobbyBoring]

41. On top of that

you have a large group that has everything just ass back wards and think they're the smartest people in the room, thanks to Rush, Hannity, Beck, etc. They're too stupid to realize that there's a reason these guys make 80 mil a year. They are paid servants of the oligarchy. They'll also to stupid to realize that Faux prez Roger Ailes is a super big dog in the R party. Fair and balanced? You decide!

[RKP5637]

68. Yep, well said! As we used to say in one of the companies I worked for ...

"It's hard to soar like an eagle, when you have to fly along with a bunch of turkeys!" I hate saying that about some of my fellow citizens, but damn, even when presented with irrefutable facts, they still cling to and spout the garbage filling their minds as you mentioned. They have hard-wired minds, incapable of learning and adjusting to new information as presented.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Yeah, they have a plan to deal with catastrophic climate change and the global resource

Crisis. Oddly it is the same plan:

fuck off and die

[cantbeserious]

9. The Oligarchs Own The Politicians And Control The System For Their Benefit - To Hell With The Proles

eom

[watoos]

11. and the Corporate controlled M$M enables it through its complicity.

[snappyturtle]

23. I regard the M$M as the propaganda masters. nt

[abelenkpe]

60. anti trust laws

we need to break up big media, finance, and energy.

[Laelth]

10. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[The Wizard]

12. Yesterday was Bastille Day

when the French Revolution started and was followed by the reign of terror. Maybe some guillotines and head baskets on Wall Street might change a few minds.

[CrispyQ]

26. The heads of some CEOs & Board members need to roll, too.

The system is rotten to the core. I don't believe there is one major institution that hasn't been corrupted with money & influence.

[corkhead]

56. Love that pic

As they say, "laughter is contagious"... But so is the clap

[AverageJoe90]

57. It reminds me of some bad old days.....

That I'd rather not re-live again.

[Hydra]

64. Remind me when we left those bad old days?

Because other than a few fights we've miraculously won, it's all looking pretty similar.

[bvar22]

72. The ONLY fights we have made ANY movement to the Left on are LGBT,

...and that is because the advocates have STOOD UP and DEMANDED it,
AND it didn't cost the 1% a single penny of their Quarterly Profits.

Everything Else, including the much ballyhooed Health Insurance Reform has been movement to the Republican Right.



You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[Hydra]

73. Oh, I agree

And the President did not support Equal Rights for LBGTs until the very end of the fight.

The ACA is a train wreck, and we'll see it become moreso in as it gets implemented, I think. I was roundly criticized for saying so because some people are benefiting. Hell, I benefited a little from the SS tax holiday, but that didn't make it a good idea.

[corkhead]

69. oops, on second thought...

I loved it when I saw it on my tiny iPhone screen, but not sure I love it so much now that I have seen it full size and can see ties Lieberman and Obama are wearing. That changes the context of this pic entirely.

[SCVDem]

13. Could they at least get WalMart

to sell generic Cyanide .

At least let us die with dignity.

Lets see what the sight of a dozen Jonestowns does for the debate and situation.


Alone, unemployed, uninsured and homeless.

Where does the line start? What? No balls to do this you pussies?!

A bottle of Jack, some fine bud and a forever nightcap.

[TBF]

14. Best post I've seen on DU for awhile -

but in this country (and on this site for that matter) most are still stumbling around with blinders on. Folks in other countries - Brazil, Egypt, Greece amongst others - are ready to end this nonsense.

[RKP5637]

17. They stumble with blinders on and fall hook line and sinker for all types of propaganda, becoming

willing enablers for their own demise and feeling good about it all. In short, it is really all F'ed up in the US. The game of divide and conquer works ever so well on a willing populace.

[woo me with science]

43. +1

[xchrom]

15. du rec.

[Rochester]

18. K. & R.

[Marblehead]

19. TPP and TTIP

are the end for us. Bankers and corp will own the world and discard us like used tp.

[Zorra]

20. Yeah.

Yep.

[snappyturtle]

21. Eloquent summation of the great demise.K&R nt

[Dustlawyer]

22. K&R. I say we demand and elect politicians willing to pass CCFR, Complete Campaign Finance Reform!

That will surely put a knot in their collective panties! It will take a lot of us to get to a tipping point, but it can be done. This would allow us Representative government again!

[marmar]

24. k/r

[CanonRay]

25. Wish I could rec this about a million times

Nailed it, as they say. The sooner we all absorb this into our thick skulls, the better we can fight.

[CrispyQ]

28. Excellent article. The truth is here:

“austerity” isn’t designed to fix our problems; it is instead meant to be a permanent condition, a new normal, the endless, changeless natural order.

"The country is broke." I hear that all the time & every time I hear it I refute it. TPTB tell us we are broke because they don't want us to think about other revenue streams, revenue streams that impact them. How about rescinding the Bush tax cuts. How about a stock transaction tax. How about raising the cap on SS. How about taxing investment income like labor. None of these suggestions are ever allowed to take hold, but chained CPI & other austerity measures are. They are greedy fuckers who don't want to pay their way.

[truebluegreen]

29. Exactly right.

[Jessy169]

31. There IS a method behind their madness

Increased economic growth = increased demand on oil supply.

Increased demand on oil supply = increased contributions to global warming.

The LAST thing the super-elites in this world want is a world that they can't comfortably live in -- or their surviving minions, as a second thought of course.

The super-elites are purposely draining the world economies of cash and growth, and storing it all in offshore accounts -- basically, keeping it out of circulation. All the chaos and fraud and unbelievable dirty-dealings that we see going on are linked to this one reality.

That's what it looks like to me, and I've read plenty of discussion between economists and lecture-circuit professors in different disciplines who are saying this IS what is happening.

Prepare for a long steady period of economic contraction, folks. The days of constant GDP growth is over. Population decline worldwide is in the works. Embrace the horror. Learn how to farm. Develop some skills that our settler/pioneer forefathers knew -- you're going to need them in the not too-distant future. That's my guess.

[RedCappedBandit]

37. Interesting.

[LiberalLoner]

52. Yes I think that is exactly what is going on too.

[Moostache]

58. I reject this 100% (nothing personal, because I know my opinion is just that...opinion)

The idea that this is part of a grand plan is folly.

If there were really a plan out there, it would not make sense to capture the market on fossil fuel-driven growth economies, drive out any meaningful competition and rule with impunity and without creditable challenge, only to turn around and starve it all of the oil and gas needed to thrive WITHOUT REPLACING THE SOURCE OF ENERGY. If you control everything, then the "plan" is not to kill people off or reduce everyone's standard of living...the plan is to control the NEXT means of production and energy and then kill off enough people to terrify the poor and keep those who are moderately well-off comparatively scared to death of becoming poor themselves. Just another way of saying you can always afford to pay one half of the people to kill the other half for a pittance of what it would cost to do it yourself!

Is it possible that this is happening by accident or through plain old abject greed and utter lack of vision? ABSOLUTELY!

Is it likely that there is a cabal of highly enriched white men hiding in the Swiss Alps hatching grandiose plans of domination and population control while all the while ignoring the fact that in doing so they will inherently destroy the society and luxury items that they have come to adore? (CARS? BOATS? HOUSES? PLANES? MOBILITY? COMMUNICATIONS? COMPUTERS? LITTLE PEOPLE TO MAKE THEM FEEL SO BIG AND SUCCESSFUL?)

To that, I say hell no. They are callous and uncaring and self-absorbed, but they are not at the heart of anything more than a simple equation:

HATE + IGNORANCE = DESPERATION (and desperation turns any man against his own principles and into a pawn or puppet or both...)

If they can stoke enough hate - hate of race, hate of creed, hate of sexual acts, hate of "the other", hate of gays, hate of blacks, hate of hispanics, hate of asians, hate of 'atheists' and secularists and humanists and Thomas Jefferson for fuck's sake!!!; and at the same time utilize their bought and paid for politicians and media trained monkeys to lie and obfuscate to the public and keep 50% of the morons in this country believing in a 6,000 year old earth or doubting the links between CO2 and global climate change (by recycling the EXACT SAME FUCKING ARGUMENTS ONCE USED TO CAST DOUBT ON THE LINKAGE OF CANCER AND CIGARETTE SMOKING!!!) or not even knowing the capital of their own state, or being unable to even name one of their 2 United States senators, or remaining totally befuddled by basic scientific principles like the difference between a "hypothesis" and a "theory" (or why a scientific theory is NOT a conjecture or guess!@$!#!&*^!!)....as long as they can do all of this, then that IS THE PLAN, full stop.

This are people with fortunes and power beyond reason and beyond measure in some ways...save one - they too are mortal and will die the same as everyone else...somewhere, if there are meetings being held in secret to determine the fate of the species, someone is in that room telling these people of power that they cannot kill off the poor to rebuild a more pliable society for themselves to rule...they CAN force their way to the control of new technologies and new ways of extracting energy for productive use and thereby extend their dominance over mankind for another millennium, but not if they engender so much hate that it gets turned on them instead of on the other half of the poor...

The rich do not appear to be plotting to me...they appear to be idiot-savants, entranced by a flame and holding onto the match too long...

[Jessy169]

74. I agree with you on many points

But look at it this way...

The ONLY thing that has enabled these 1% masters of the universe to lie/cheat/steal/manipulate (and sometimes invent) their way to the top is Cheap Oil. Without huge amounts of cheap oil, world commerce declines dramatically and/or goes belly-up. Without world commerce, the one-percenters holding billions if not trillions in offshore accounts will see their dollars re-valued to zero actual worth. What they end up with, in the end, is just what they were able to buy with their money while it was still worth something.

It didn't take much to induce the great financial and real-estate collapse. All they had to do was eliminate some of the regulations, conveniently fail to enforce other regulations -- then sit back and watch as natural human greed and avarice filled the void. Worked like a charm.

I believe that the truly well-placed and well-informed KNOW what is coming down the pipeline, and they are preparing for it. The military is preparing, the NSA and security apparatus is preparing (as in, they are now poised and ready to jump). And I read that the wealthy in Europe are buying up land in wine-country, digging their holes, getting ready for whatever might happen.

If you haven't watched "Oil Smoke and Mirrors", it might be worth your time. I found it chilling, frightening, but it made perfect sense.

[DLevine]

32. K&R. nt

[woo me with science]

33. K&R

THIS is what we need to be talking about. This is what the latest Snowden smear attempt is intended to distract from.

[RedCappedBandit]

36. Everything the MSM allows us to bicker about is a distraction

[Enthusiast]

66. A few of us recognize this.

But every day more people grow more suspicious of the media.

[Initech]

34. Hey billionaires!! How are you going to continue to siphon wealth....

If we don't have the money to buy your shit? Explain that, you vile leeches!!

[Egalitarian Thug]

35. It's not about the money at that level, they already have far more than they could ever need.

They are going to rule the world and they only need less than billion serfs.

The sad thing is that I can understand their thought process in working toward this.

The sadder thing is that I don't think they understand that their own natures will prevent them from ever succeeding in creating the world they envision.

[RedCappedBandit]

39. At a certain point, they won't be able to work together to the extent they do now.

[Egalitarian Thug]

40. Exactly. They, as a group, are precisely the wrong people to achieve anything positive.

All the power is in the hands of those least suited to use it well. They will kill and destroy and kill and wreck and kill until they turn on each other.

[RedCappedBandit]

38. KnR. Threads such as this are why I continue to come to DU

[Octafish]

42. The hell with humanity! Thankfully, the rich'll be A-OK in floating cities...

The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles

By Mark Ames, AlterNet
Posted on June 2, 2010, Printed on June 2, 2010

What happens when Americans plunder America and leave it broken, destitute and seething mad? Where do these fabulously wealthy Americans go with their loot, if America isn't a safe, secure, or even desirable place to spend their riches? What if they lose faith in their gated communities, because those plush gated communities are surrounded by millions of pissed-off Americans stripped of their entitlements, and who now want in?

SNIP...

The floating castle is a longtime dream of libertarian oligarchs -- a place where they can live their lives in peace free from the teeming masses of starving losers and indebted parasites and their tax demands. Since they’ve grown so rich off of America, they have enough spare change to fund projects like the Seasteading Institute, run by Milton Friedman's grandson, Patri Friedman, and financed by the bizarre right-wing PayPal founder, Peter Thiel. It couldn't have come a moment sooner for Milton Friedman's grandson, who was best known until recently for running a grotesque advice blog for married swingers, PUA4LTR (Pick Up Advice For Long-Term Relationships). Actually, Patri Friedman ran that pick-up advice blog with his wife--the two of them are apparent big-time cyber-swingers, apparently--posting blog entries saying things like "Why Should Husbands Become PUAs? Because otherwise, your wife will talk like those wives on the blog My Husband Is Annoying."

Both Thiel and Milton Friedman's grandson see democracy as the enemy--last year, Thiel wrote "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible" at about the same time that Milton Friedman's grandson proclaimed, "Democracy is not the answer." Both published their anti-democracy proclamations in the same billionaire-Koch-family-funded outlet, Cato Unbound, one of the oldest billionaire-fed libertarian welfare dispensaries. Friedman's answer for Thiel's democracy problem is to build offshore libertarian pod-fortresses where the libertarian way rules. It's probably better for everyone if Milton Friedman's grandson and Peter Thiel leave us forever for their libertarian ocean lair--Thiel believes that America went down the tubes ever since it gave women the right to vote, and he was outed as the sponsor of accused felon James O'Keefe's smear videos that brought ACORN to ruin.

While Thiel and Friedman are busy cooking up their libertarian dystopia, the Frontier Group investment firm -- an offshoot of the Carlyle Group -- has already entered the realization phase with the Utopia floating castle. Frontier Group, was founded by some of the same big names from the notorious Carlyle Group--the private equity firm that brought together right-wing oligarchs like George H. W. Bush and other top American officials with their billionaire pals in Saudi Arabia like the Bin Laden family, who together raked in enormous profits thanks to the War on Terror that their kids Dubya and Osama launched.

While neither Bush nor the Bin Ladens are principals in the Frontier Group, its founding director, Frank Carlucci, is a name they know well, and you should too. Carlucci ran the Carlyle Group as its chairman from 1989 through 2005, right around the time that the wars started going undeniably bad, and floating castles started to look like a viable plan. But Carlucci's past is much weirder and scarier than most of us care to know: whether it's his strangely timed appearances in some of the ugliest assassinations and coups in modern history, or serving as Carter's number two man in the CIA, and Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense, if Frank Carlucci (nicknamed "Creepy Carlucci" and "Spooky Frank&quot is the founding director of a firm that's building floating castles, it's a bad sign for those of us left behind.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/story/147058 /

In addition to helping keep the Pentagon chubby after the Cold War, Carlucci is/was a big wig in the Carlyle Group.

[Demeter]

46. Floating castles--otherwise known as Sitting Ducks

As if they could stand to live in isolated splendor, recycling their urine and growing their own food, fighting off anyone with a grievance, and never, ever having a fashion show or a diamond-plated Rolls......plastic bimbos, exotic foods, designer drugs....

It ain't gonna happen. These are not survivors we are talking about. They are pirates.

[Demeter]

45. The 1% are delusional

Without the 99%, they become rather common, and the Economy collapses like a pancake, which it has been doing everyday for the last 5 years.

No, the question is, when will the 99% realize that we do not need the Useless Eaters of the Parasitical Class, that they are the enemy, and must be displaced for all our sakes, even theirs?

The times, they are a changin'...

[duffyduff]

50. Parasites are exactly what they are

They really think they are superior and they deserve to rule, but in fact they got "their" money through outright theft of other people's money.

[LiberalLoner]

53. Yup.

[bvar22]

47. Despite the celebratory messages from the White House and MSM....

....celebrating and catapulting the "Economic Recovery" meme,
ONLY the 1% has recovered.
The rest of us have fallen even further behind,
and the rate of the Working Class Economic Tailspin is INCREASING.
All "they" need now is One More Ring to Bind Them (The TPP "NAFTA on Steroids).


The 25 year plan is almost complete,
and has worked beautifully as designed.

*UNIONS have been destroyed

*Wages and Benefits are in a Race to the Bottom

*The Safety Net is in tatters and being quickly defunded,
and BOTH parties get to blame "The Sequester" and claim its NOT their fault.

The Sequester was a brilliant strategy that gives BOTH Parties involved Plausible Deniability, just like the perfect timing of the Wall Street Bailout,
the heist that was committed during the narrow window between administrations,
letting BOTH side point their fingers at the other.



Right now, forty percent of Americans make less than the minimum wage from 1968.
http://pac.petitions.moveon.org/sign/raise-the-minimum-wage-19/?source=search


Daily CEO Pay Now Exceeds the Average Worker's Annual Salary –
http://thecontributor.com/daily-ceo-pay-now-exceeds-us-workers-annual-salary




76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck
http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/index.html


New Rule (Passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) signals Kiss of Death for Pensions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100694955

Wealthy win lion's share of major tax breaks
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/05/29/wealthy-win-lion-share-major-tax-breaks/Ua0UyYle21EUXub7g1suCI/story.html

Half of America is in poverty, and its creeping toward 75%
http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-toward-75-0

Wealth gap widens as labor's share of income falls
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/wealth-gap-widens-labors-share-income-falls-1B6097385

As the Economy Recovers, the Wealth Gap Widens
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2013/03/11/as-the-economy-recovers-the-wealth-gap-widens

Top One Percent Captured 121 Percent Of All Income Gains
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/top-one-percent-income-gains_n_2670455.html

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc


These things ^ do NOT happen by accident.
They take careful planning, preparation, marketing, buying the right politicians, message control, and the suppression, intimidation, and marginalization of any opposition,
or even those who ask the embarrassing questions.

These craven, gluttonous, elite sociopaths are very, VERY good at what they do.


You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[woo me with science]

48. ^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^

Thank you.

[bvar22]

51. Thanks, but I am deeply ashamed of the World I am leaving to my children and grandchildren.

My Fathers and Grandfathers shed BLOOD to give ME a World where I could make a good living,
and still have leisure time, security, and resources to enjoy life.
My parents truthfully told me the if I worked hard and kept my nose clean,
I could have a life better than theirs.
They were right.
Sadly, WE can NOT tell OUR children the same thing.

We were Asleep at the Wheel while the smooth talking politicians STOLE the birthright of our children, and we pissed away the hard earned Restrictions on Capital for which OUR parents shed blood.

[nolabels]

65. No doubt

And if you didn't have a job that you really needed to go to and had all this wealth sitting around what would you be doing (just trying to put you in their shoes, not questioning your morals)

My guess is there has been a lot of orchestration in the last half century aimed a fleecing the general population

The proof is in the pudding as they say.

[avaistheone1]

75. k&r

[polly7]

49. Absolutely. K&R. nt.

[blkmusclmachine]

54. .

[leftstreet]

55. DURec

[SnakebiteSnakebite74]

59. so much for the 3-legged stool

Economics 101- Adam Smith- The 3 legged stool of capitalism
Land Labor Capital
Remember that? Thanks to new 'financial products' ie hedge funds, now capital can make capital by itself, no need for land (factories) or labor (workers).
I didn't mind being a sheep until the farmer came home from the market and said he could make more money on mutton than wool. Then this whole free market thing started looking shaky.

[99th_Monkey]

61. I wish to God I could argue with you on this, even just a little

but I'm sad to say I can't.

It sums up our sorry-ass collective situation in just a few words,
and doesn't shy away from the cold hard facts, ugly as they are.

[political_battle]

62. esponce to 99monkey

so why can they print more $

[99th_Monkey]

63. Which "they" are you referring to?

and what does printing money have to do with my post?

Sorry, don't mean to be obtuse.


Welcome to DU!

[Enthusiast]

67. Thank you. Kicked and Recommended.

They are planning wonderful new wars and trade agreements.

[Waiting For Everyman]

71. Yet people keep voting for them, voting to empower them.

Voting to let them steal more.

Being the 99%, we still have the ability to stop this with out votes, but we won't. It won't be long before it's too late to stop it that way. This is where we're at today.

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." (Winston Churchill)