I wrote this in response to the news that Obama is opposing a Bush aide and proponent of the privatization of Social Security to the Social Security Commission. I denounce that appointment and I hope others will join me.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6811245This rant just poured out of me upon learning that.
The history of America, (short-long version) since 1960 (as I remember it)
1963. Kennedy is assassinated and with him, his plans for peace, nuclear disarmament and reorienting the American economy to benefit all Americans.
Johnson enters the White House, gets fairly free reign with regard to his liberal social agenda including civil rights and the Great Society legislation, but in exchange, has to give the military-industrial complex its 30 pieces of silver in Viet Nam and elsewhere -- killing many, many young Americans and bankrupting the country in the process.
1968. Nixon wins the election, passes a lot of very bad laws that appear benevolent including ERISA, and conducts a scorched earth foreign policy in Cambodia, Laos, Viet Nam, South and Central America and elsewhere. He rationalizes his war on the poor around the world as a fight against Communism, but then, in seeming contradiction with his other policies, but perhaps in order to cover up the economic decline and international debacle that is going on, dramatically "opens up" to China -- the greatest bastion of Communist dictatorship anywhere in the world at the time. Nixon’s friends and even family members almost immediately start wheeling and dealing with China.
Nixon is caught in blatant lies, revealed as a walking paranoid delusion and finally embarrassed out of office. Ford enters -- briefly to hold the line and just caretake.
Surprise! In a backlash against creeps and crooks, Americans wake up, and on the 200th anniversary of our American Revolution, an extremely honest but somewhat naive man, Jimmy Carter, is elected president of the United States.
Carter’s vision is exceptional. But, like Cassandra his dark predictions (which have turned out to be pretty much true) are rejected. Further, religious fanatics in Iran take over their country -- and our embassy -- perhaps to avenge a decades-old coup and years and years of insensitive foreign policy in the Middle East.
Enter Reagan promising that the sun will once again shine on America if only we free Wall Street (hereafter "they" and "them") from government restraints. (At various points between the advent of the Reagan administration and the present, we are entertained by movies such as Rambo, Nos. I, II, etc. and Terminator and the like, all of which brainwash the American people into thinking "freedom" means that you have a license to beat other people up if you disagree with them.) Reagan pushes for privatization and deregulation and free trade.
The greatest heist in the history of the world, a conspiracy to grab the entire wealth of the wealthiest nation on earth, has begun.
Bush I comes in and tries to continue Reagan's work on robbing the American people. He is politically and socially awkward and totally loses the people’s confidence by raising taxes. By this time, the rich are definitely getting richer and the poor poorer.
The U.S. appears to be entering into a recession. The poor in Los Angeles riot and start burning the city.
"They" (Wall Street) realize that "they" have to try a different approach.
Bush is voted out of office. Clinton enters the stage, down-home swagger, big, juicy smile, can't-help-lovin'-that man kind of guy. Fringe right-wingers create a lot of distractions for Democrats, defaming the Clintons with Whitewater and murder accusations. Finally they titillate the entire country with the Monica Lewinsky sex fantasy.
Outraged Democrats turn a blind eye to Clinton's cheating as to everything including his economic policies and rally around him. The hullabaloo on front pages of newspapers every day blinds Democratic activists. Thus, the Clintons and their buddies on Wall Street have free reign to rewrite the Wall Street rules so as to increase privatization, allow more trading "freedom" and create newer and better financial instruments to steal from the American people.
History in the making. The "Liberal" Democratic Party at work.
Bush II steals into office and the heist really gets underway.
First Bush II starts a war in Iraq which proves amazingly expensive considering how small Iraq is, how poorly equipped its military is, how little resistance the people present, how simple the invasion is. Bush manages to completely bungle the administration of the occupation of Iraq thereby creating enough resistance to “require” increasing expenditures on the war -- must support the troops, you know.
War appropriations are off -budget and completely uncontrolled. Congress is terrified of questioning Bush. At the same time, must lower taxes on the mighty rich, you know. Must stimulate the economy, keep the juices flowing . . . .
So, Bush borrows the money to fund his war.
Meanwhile to keep the natives happy, Bush throws a houseraising party. Everybody who wants a nice, big house can have one -- next to nothing down and few questions asked. Move in now, pay later.
Meanwhile, wages stagnate. Gradually, the fringe employable, older people, etc. start losing their jobs. Nobody much notices or cares because after all, they are old, incompetent, useless, whatever. Outsourcing to China and India is stepped up. Must compete. Need that cheap labor.
Everybody is pacified by loose credit, low interest rates, the increasing home equities and, ahh, the Baby Boomers’ 401(K)s, safely tucked away on Wall Street just waiting for the baby boomers' retirement bulge.
Life is but a dream. Everybody is getting rich. Capitalism. working as it should.
At this apex, when so many Americans thought they had reached a material nirvana and that we would be rich forever, Bush began to introduce the idea of privatizing Social Security. Most of America went on red alert. No. That was going too far.
By 2008, Bush II's approval ratings were far below 30%. His policies, his personality, his wars, his ideas, everything he was and had done was pretty widely rejected. In the final weeks of his presidency, it was evident to more Americans than ever that Bush and the economic policies that he and his predecessors since at least Reagan had embraced had completely destroyed the economy.
They -- that is Wall Street -- were admittedly broke. A good portion of the money we (and our friends around the world) had entrusted to “them” had pretty much vanished. Pyramid schemes, fantasy financial deals. The illusion of wealth suddenly vanished.
America was ready for change. At this point in our story, in walked . . . . (fanfare and a Parthenon backdrop, please) Barack Obama . . . . promising change . . . .
And if ever anybody looked and acted like change, it was Barack Obama. Change of political party, change of personal style, change of social class and background, change of governing philosophy (or so we thought), change of body shape, change of age, change of policy on gay rights and on drugs, change of color, change of economic perspective, change of view on Iraq, change of foreign policy. Everything was change.
But, within the first weeks of Obama’s administration, the signs of trouble emerged. Of course, we were so enamored with the idea of "change" and our own dreams about peace and prosperity and the closing of Guantanamo and all that good stuff that we didn't see Obama for what he really was.
In one of his early acts, he appointed "them," the Wall Street minions (or their representatives) to be his closest advisers.
There is, there never was to be change where it matters: in the economy.
There is, there never was to be real change with regard to the war machine.
Now, it’s our time to change.
Instead of shutting our eyes, becoming distracted by balloon boys and momentary fluctuations in the stock market ticker, we need to take a stand.
We need to agree that we will support the president provided he brings about real change.
I am just one tiny little person (physically as well as numerically). Alone, I cannot change history. But, I for one cannot, will not, in good conscience remain silent and watch this administration continue the heist that was begun by Reagan, if not before.
My ancestry goes way, way back in America. And my family,, many of them pacifists, fought hard and long for freedom and for abolition and social justice.
Those, like me, who are older entered into a social contract with regard to Social Security long ago. I remember getting my first Social Security card within days of becoming eligible (must have been 14). I had been working for years already, having taken on my first outside paid job delivering ads for the local hardware store in cold, Midwestern winters at the age of maybe 7 or 8. I had babysat for spending money since I was about ten. And then, when I was “legal,” meaning when I got my Social Security card and my official work permit, I worked half-days at a day care center during the summer. I was so proud.
With the exception of two years when I taught and some years when I lived out of this country and paid into the systems in the countries in which I worked, all of the wages that I have earned have been taxed pursuant to Social Security tax schedules.
My generation supported our parents – and our children. Now it is our turn to be supported.
Wall Street is nothing but a bunch of thieves. I do not want them handling my Social Security money. A succession of U.S. presidents has already indentured my retirement to the Chinese and our other creditors. What did they think I and others in my generation were to do? Look, with the exception of health care, the fact is that older people really don’t spend nearly as much money as younger people. I don’t buy pots and pans. I wear my clothes until they are rags. I don’t even eat as much as I used to. Is supporting me and my generation really that much of a burden? I don’t think so.
And besides, across the generations, it's time to make the Wall Street thieves answer to us, not the other way around.
Bring industry and jobs back to America.
Stop the Wall Street thieves.
If you doubt my history of America look it up on Wikipedia -- and please read Matt Taibbi and watch Dylan Ratigan. I rest my case.
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