I have been watching this series today. They are now talking about William Jennings Bryan. Could Elizabeth Warren be our Bryan? The similarities between those times and today are staggering.

In the past 5 years or so I have noticed a distinct shift in the level of anger I feel and the level of anger i see in others around me. The tension in my daily life is palpable and it wears on me. Everything, even small things, seem to bring on a level of anxiousness that is silly.

I attribute these changes in the "quality of my life" to seeing friends, family and former students suffer job loss, health issues that have bankrupted them. Watching all of our expenses go up in a slow but steady manner. Groceries for us have gone up about 20 percent and I don't think we eat as well as we used to, i use coupons and watch for sales but it doesn't seem to help. Gas of course, car and home insurance have gone through the roof because we live in Oklahoma where bad weather is a regular thing. Our once healthy savings account is now down to a month of salary after paying for some necessary home repairs and an illness.

My friends who have lost jobs are faring so badly I feel lucky, most are in their late 40's early 50's and cannot find work that pays anythng close to what they were making, some have lost homes and cars and are on food stamps. These were solid middle class people 5 yers ago. No wonder I cannot sleep at night, there by the grace of God go I.

I do NOT blame the President, I Blame the Bush administration, the Republicans, all of them, and the right wing media that feeds them.

Am I angry, yes, do I understand the anger of young people who cannot find a good enough job to pay for the basics, food, housing and clothing absolutely! I have warned before that we are dangerously close to class warfare. The masses will rise upif this continues, frightened people do things that under normal circumtances they would not consider.

My hope is the Democrats win in 2014 and go right to work fixing the things these idiots have done to our precious country and her people. Yes, I still have hope that good will overcome evil, it s the ony way I can get up in the morning.

Thanks for allowing me to vent here, I think it helps me because I normally feel safe here.

I swear, every program on MSNBC has him on plugging that book! How boring and self serving.

Then they will build their "new country" out of the ashes. Slavery returns, only white males have power, gays are stoned to death, you must be a Christian, and prayers will be monitored. Ted Cruz will be President, Sarah Palin will be first lady.

Life in the teanut country.

We MUST take our country back from these nutcases!

I called my house rep, a conservative republican who wants to repeal Obamacare. This is my 5th call to that office in 5 days. Today the person who answered the phone told me that based on their data, only about 20 percent of the people calling were angry with the party or Mr. Republican for the shutdown. She said they felt the 70 percent blaming republicans number being put out there is grossly exaggerated.

Ok, what that tells me is, people are not calling, they are coming here and other places to vent, but not calling the people we need to call to make them listen.

They listen to the TP people who call them all the time. They organize better than we do, they make it seem like there are more of them than there are of us. We need to do the same, ring their phones till they are sick of us.

She may have been talking the party line, but it sounded honest to me. I was nice to her, I apologized for the job she had to do but I had to make myself heard. She didn't want to hear.

is a must read right now. I know it is a hefty book, I found it this summer in a used bookstore, but it is like reading what is happening today. Today's Republican party is going to be taken down by the same forces that destroyed the Whig party, chapter 14 is a very telling chapter if you can't handle the whole thing.

who or what is meta?

We are not rich people, we are more able to pay our bills than most people, and we are grateful for that but for the most part live paycheck to paycheck. We have taken care of elderly parents which took a toll on our savings. We both had student loans that took a big chunk of our money for a long time. We still have my husband's retirement which is in the market and bonds but I am terrified what all of this will do to that nest egg we have sacrificed to save.

I am not working due to health issues, but am thinking of trying to find something just to give us more of a cushion. My doctor is not real pleased but I have to do what I have to do.

You know 20 years ago we would be considered very upper middle class, now we feel like we are lower middle class if that. We are both educated but it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Every time I go to the grocery store it costs more than the last time. Gas costs more, home repairs everything.

This debt ceiling thing scare the crap out of me, I am afraid to lose what little we have accumulated. Am I alone in this feeling? I know there are people in much worse shape, but we are a couple of paychecks away from being in pretty terrible shape.

I want to scream at everyone concerned, this is not a game it is our lives!

I think a lot of people forget how much medical research is funded by NSF and NIH. They also do not realize how many people those grants employ, either outright or partially. My husbands lab alone employs 5 and helps employ 10 more in his department. Not to mention the tuition assistance it gives graduate students.

Shutting down the government to these nuts is not giving welfare checks to these invisible welfare queens, who wear expensive clothes and drive fast cars. In fact it affects lots of people they never thought of.

Idiots!