"If at the start this cancerous growth in the nation was not particularly noticeable, it was only because there were still enough forces at work that operated for the good, so that it was kept under control. As it grew larger, however, and finally in an ultimate spurt of growth attained ruling power, the tumor broke open, as it were, and infected the whole body." The White Rose, Munich 1942
"Democracy in a free market capitalistic society today only exists in the imaginations of sleep-walkers in the American Dream. The idea of honest, hard work being suitably rewarded has become a mind-numbing slogan that is now just beginning to wear off in the minds of some Americans.
While Americans were working and playing hard, our representational democracy has evolved into a political system that has been completely and utterly bought by the moneyed interests, and is now a protection racket for their accumulation of wealth and advantageous positions of power and influence. We live in a land where untaxed off-shored wealth is ignored, and the whole tax system has been customized to suit their personal needs.
We live in a fictitious land where multi-national corporations are legally given Frankenstein-like status as a red-blooded American, and their money has become their vocal chords. Politicians, while posturing that they are working for the people, are nothing but lobbyists for the rich, which most of them are, or assured to be upon leaving office to be rewarded with speaking fees, or think tank positions by their powerful benefactors.
This unreal, and unjust dream-land is kept alive by obscuring smoke and brightly lit mirrors of the mass media that is completely controlled by a relatively few corporate interests. Combined with idealized statistics provided by the government we have been lulled into an illusion that is both numbing and dumbing. To realize there is even a problem, attention spans must be able to last for longer than a 60 second advertisement.
The hard rock reality of the great American experiment is being felt by most everyone with a wallet or purse. The financial system is run by the un-Federal Reserve Banks. The privately owned US Central Bank gives money which they make out of thin air to the boys who run the biggest Banks for less than .25%. As the statistics reveal, this money rarely goes far from the hands of the rich. Their fingers grasp this money so tightly that the so called trickle is now a mere tiny dribble that seeps slowly to those below.
The US dollar is a fiat money con-game sustained by the illusion of American exceptionalism. This confidence in America as a moral force for good has been destroyed by its self-serving hypocrisy, its torture, the poor performance of its political drama queens, and endless wars without end. But things are changing. No longer can the US declare an economic embargo that brings countries to their knees, especially since the US itself is up to it's myopic third eye in debt.
I believe the problem that we will be facing soon enough is not the economic imbalance of the rich and poor in this country. This unequal lopsidedness can be maintained for many years, especially with a militarized police force.
The real problem is those beyond the reach of the system like Russia and China and the rest of the BRICS. When they decide that they have had enough of our self-serving antics, and renounce the US dollar as the world currency, then folks, that's when we have a problem.
Until then nothing changes, since most members of our society can't even remember there is problem or what caused it.
"Suddenly, abused and battered wives or children, the unemployed, the depressed and mentally ill, the illiterate, the lonely, those grieving for lost loved ones, those crushed by poverty, the terminally ill, those fighting with addictions, those suffering from trauma, those trapped in menial and poorly paid jobs, those whose homes are in foreclosure or who are filing for bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills, are to blame for their negativity.The ideology justifies the cruelty of unfettered capitalism, shifting the blame from the power elite to those whom they oppress."Chris Hedges
"When the political process becomes controlled by multi-national corporate interests, the US government becomes a tool of those interests. When multi-national corporations own the mass media as they presently do, honest democratic debate becomes unlikely.
As we witness corporate power becoming a dominate force in international relationships, it will surely continue to diminish independent national sovereignty under the banner of 'free trade.'"
Joseph A.
"Once you go down the path of empire, you inevitably start a process of overstretch, of tendencies toward bankruptcy, and, in the rest of the world, a tendency toward the uniting of people who are opposed to your imperialism simply on grounds that it’s yours, but maybe also on the grounds that you’re incompetent at it.
Indeed, one wonders whether we have already crossed our Rubicon, whether we can go back. I don’t know.
The Department of Defense is not, today, a department of defense. It’s an alternative seat of government on the south bank of the Potomac River. And, typical of militarism, it’s expanding into many, many other areas in our life that we have, in our traditional political philosophy, reserved for civilians. Domestic policing: they’re slowly expanding into that.
So, what do I suggest probably will happen? I think we will stagger along under a façade of constitutional government, as we are now, until we’re overcome by bankruptcy."
Chalmers Johnson
