They don't get it yet...they still think we have all kinds of money to give them...

[MichiganVote]

in taxes, in charity, in churches, in our communities.

They are in denial, the economic and political elite. They expect that the commitments they are making to our banks, manufacturing industry, insurance companies, foreign countries....they expect these commitments will be met by us. Perhaps they think only "History" will be the judge.

They leverage us daily with instruments of time, of percentages, of margins...its all a bad magicians's illusion. They are deluding themselves they are in control and they call us the audience.

So, for whatever they say, do or propose...its all going to be a waste. They are going to continue to rely on a make believe economy made up of make believe money held by make believe citizens. They believe that so long as they could create us, they can uncreate us.

But we don't have it, the money. We know it. They deny it. So they will try to work us harder and longer. They will plead and penalize us. They will lock us up when we protest and they will try to scare us into finding more and more money for them.

They are the addicts. They are the addicts of gilt and greed. The self serving lifestyles, the cars and homes, the food and clothing...they think we can't live without providing more and more of it for them over and over again.

But we can live without them. They can't live without us. And there are many more of us, that there are of them.

[robinlynne]

1. ooh. I really like the ending.....

[MichiganVote]

2. Not the first time the elite has dug a civilization into the ground.

[robinlynne]

8. That's how I felt through the beginning of the OP, but the ending is full of HOPE!

[MichiganVote]

10. Well we should hope. If we don't hope, we don't act. And that we must do.

[robinlynne]

17. right on.

[Odin2005]

26. Yup, the Greek and Roman aristocracy did the same thing.

As I posted here:



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4745640&mesg_id=4746504

42. The Rich have declared war on America, Western Civilization, and Mankind

I despise those parasites and pity them at the same time, their minds are polluted by power, privilege, and greed.

Those who support the American Worker are Patriots, the Multinational corporate elites and their allies are traitors. It is that simple. They are traitors not only to the US, but to all of Western Civilization, and to all Mankind. They threaten to ruin our civilization with their selfishness, just like, according to British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, landed aristocrats ruined Graeco-Roman civilization, condemning it to death, the death shroud being the Roman Empire, a despotic "universal state." Western Civilization will suffer a similar fate if the Multinational Corporate parasites are not removed from the body social.

During the Peloponnesian War The Democracy of Athens was constantly under threat of it's own aristocratic elites, who betrayed Athens to the Spartans in order to destroy the democracy they hated, unleashing a class war that didn't end until the Graeco-Roman Civilization lay in prostrate subservience to the Caesarian tyranny. Western Civilization may suffer the same fate.

Welcome to the Age of the Gracchii, updated for the 21st Century.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4745640&mesg_id=4746776

52. I read Thucydides's "History of the Peloponnesian War" recently, wonderful read!

Thucydides himself was an Athenian aristocrat and sided with the aristocrats and that biases him somewhat, but in general his work is excellent and brilliant. Unfortunately the aristocratic bias has survived down into history, making Athens's foreign policy thought of as "imperialist", which is misleading, the accusation of "Imperialism" was part of the spin churned out by the aristocrats. The Peloponnesian War was just as much a class war, or even more so, then it was an actual military conflict. with democrats across Greece siding with Athens and the aristocrats siding with Sparta.

The ideology of the aristocrats was formalized by Plato in his Republic. Plato betrayed his teacher, Socrates (who was an ardent supporter of the democracy, though he got in trouble criticizing politicians and trying to turn young aristocrats to the democratic side, which lead to his death), by torturing Socrates's gentle Humanism into a sick, twisted Totalitarianin ideology that would of "liquidated" anyone like Socrates.

Plato's political ideology was used by the Fascists, and was adored by Leo Strauss, the granddaddy of the Neocons.

[MichiganVote]

39. We narrowly avoided a total collapse at the hands of the elite around the time of TR.

The Bush family was involved in that as well as the near planned coup when FDR came into power. And I don't believe they think they are finished yet.

[Raksha]

3. K & R - short, sweet and right to the point!!!

[AtomicKitten]

4. Californians expecting tax refunds may get IOUs instead.

------> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28448852/

[MichiganVote]

5. Interesting. More robbery in the name of profits for the elites.

[AtomicKitten]

6. The trickle-down theory = shit flows downhill. n/t

[slackmaster]

25. I remember the last time they pulled that stunt

1992 under the Pete Wilson administration.

We were sent "registered warrants", which turned out to be every bit as negotiable as checks.

The state cannot legally fail to pay out refunds in a timely manner. This is just another scare tactic.

[The Doctor.]

7. Well... it's either that, or it's deliberate sabotage.

Either way, the paradigm will play out as it always has.

[MichiganVote]

9. Yep, it surely will.

[leftofthedial]

11. TO THE BARRICADES!

[MichiganVote]

12. In due time. History speaks to us all.

[bvar22]

13. We're not paying.

We quit.

We will no longer pay for the obscenity this country has become.
We have reduced our taxable income to near poverty levels.
We no longer use "credit", don't have a mortgage, build everything ourselves, buy "used, 2nd hand, or salvage" directly from previous owners, and Barter, Trade, or pay CASH to avoid all taxes whenever possible.
As much as possible, we have stopped consuming in the Corporate America sense of the word.


In 2006, we quit our jobs, left the Big City (Minneapolis), and moved to our new place in a very rural unspoiled/undeveloped area of The South with an abundant clean water supply surrounded by National Forest (plenty of wildlife, long growing season, low energy demands, very low property taxes).

We have planted a large vegetable and fruit garden, have two healthy HoneyBee colonies (expand to 4 colonies next Spring), and keep a dozen chickens. More fruit trees and a large BlueBerry Patch will be added this year. We are freezing and canning this year for consumption over the Winter. Next year we will be drying BlueBerries, Figs, and Lavender for marketing.

We ARE registered to vote, and supported the Democratic Party 100% this election, but don't hold much hope that anything will really change. Our focus has become local Humanitarian/Community Issues, and methods of denying support for Corporate America and our One Party system.

[OwnedByFerrets]

14. Good luck with the rest of your life. I applaud you and your

commitment to change. Most of us do not and never will have this commitment.

[bvar22]

32. We are old Hippies,

...and had planned to do this for a while. It is more of an attraction to this lifestyle than a decision made out of fear. :hippie:

We realize we are very fortunate to be in a situation to do this. We have no dependent children, are in good health, and between us have most of the assorted skills necessary to make this fun. We miss the advantages of Urban Consumption, but have no desire to return.

[MichiganVote]

40. I once saw a bumper sticker that proclaimed, "The Hippies Were Right!"

[eilen]

16. Ever read this blog?

http://milesfrombabylon.blogspot.com/">How Many Miles From Babylon?

It is fantastic.

I wish I could do the same but I am a city girl and don't have the knowledge of direct use economy (gardening, canning, care of livestock etc.). I am also not physically fit although I am sure that would correct itself in time. I did start my first garden last year and plan to plant another this year and I am planning better so I will have much more started when it is time to plant. We generally can't plant in the ground here until late--mid to end of May d/t waiting for the soil to dry up. I am also inspired by http://www.pathtofreedom.com/">Path To Freedom but would like to see more examples of this type of stewardship in a standard suburb in the Northeast.

Anyway, I am thinking of ways to decrease consumerism, I generally purchase shoes and underclothes but not much else from shops--everything else is thrift store or homemade for myself. My son is pickier and my husband-- I generally purchase from an employee owned collective in PA for his work clothes. I am inspired from people who look to manufacture here but in order to do that they must participate in the rituals of licensure, taxes and all sorts of governmental rigamorole but then, they do provide means of employing their neighbors. It is a job of an individual to see where they can fit into this -- where their niche is -- to live outside the mainstream economy with integrity and keeping within their values of social justice. Not all can be agrarian although for many it is a long held dream.

I have outlaw anti-corporatist, anti globalism dreams. I keep thinking there is a better way to live outside of the nets that are thrown over us such as debt, insurance, permits, passports, licenses,-- I resent being regulated more than the banks are.

[MichiganVote]

21. That's an interesting site. Thanks for the tip. Try growing herbs. They're easy, small and cheap.

[DeschutesRiver]

36. thanks for that blog site

I've bookmarked it - what I've glanced at so far is the kind of thing I like reading about.

Can you hook up with any CSA (community supported agriculture) groups that might be in your area? That would help you consume locally without needing the direct knowledge of gardening/livestock care/etc. They seem to be springing up all over.

Here are a couple of sites, but google and you'll find a lot more info on this. You may not be able to eliminate consumerism entirely, nor be a one family production unit for all of your needs, but there are tons of ways to connect to a lifestyle that fits your needs better.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/csa.html
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

[eilen]

51. Yes, we have a CSA

I wanted to join it last year but didn't have the start-up cash for it --this year I should be able to.

[bvar22]

37. Hi.

Thanks for the links.
We are regulars at Path to Freedom, but the Babylon site in new to us.
I've bookmarked it for reference.
I like the way that guy thinks.
We are not as far along, but are headed in that direction.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x5729

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=246&topic_id=7979&mesg_id=7979


Each day will be a little longer
Each night a little shorter
Each day we move a little closer
To this

And that makes me happy. :)

[eilen]

52. I am "green" with envy lol

I have 4 little square foot garden plots. One thing I found last year was that I tend to plant vining plants. I need to accomodate them better/develop a better design.

I grew cucumbers on a trellis and couldn't keep up with them. This year I plan to do two regular cukes (in rotation) and three pickling cukes.

I do have some space on the side of my house (the side with the solar collector) that currenly has a bunch of perennials, herbs, two rosebushes (that don't produce rosehips, natch!). I'm thinking of reclaiming it and relocating the ornamental types somewhere else -- like the front yard where they can "show off". Thing is, I have a grapevine there and a horrible weed investation that sends up flowers that are similar to Queen Anne's Lace, they send out shooters below the soil to spread. Also there is an ancient clump of peonies in the corner of the chimeny which, I've read do not transplant well.

BTW, read all Eleuthros archives on "How Many Miles from Babylon". He certainly makes you think. I love his old English verse.

[DeschutesRiver]

34. Congrats, glad you posted this because we feel lonely sometimes, having done the same thing

for pretty much the same reasons. Got started down this path in a light way a few years earlier than you guys, and then kept upping the ante until today.

We don't consume for sport; we don't work just to hire other people to do things or build things for us (as much as possible, and turns out we can build/repair/create/make much of what we need). Moved to a remote place, surrounded by National Forest/BLM, raise cattle that will never see a feedlot graze and drink from a spring, plant gardens and freeze/can, mostly use a woodstove for heat, and next year will be the year of planting the fruit trees/blueberries/raspberries, etc. Have a short growing season and live at a high elevation, so have to proceed there with care.

If it isn't local, I try not to buy it, support it or care about it. Some exceptions to that. No credit use, no mortgage, and in turn, living like this has reduced our needed income level by a tremendous amount. We save and re-use a lot, the work we do, we do from home which means we hang out here, not driving around aimlessly, shopping the malls, needing to use gasoline or a car daily, etc. A key point in what you said was the importance of changing how you live with an eye to eliminating taxable income and also not to incur debt. People used to live like that, they still can live like that, we do. Ending mindless consumption is easy. Refusing to pay the taxpayer bill to support others who consume mindlessly is harder, but definitely is a choice one can make.

Yeah, medical or other "disaster" related things can happen (and that is something I'd tap credit for or boost what I earn), but most people who are in a world of hurt right now are not there because of those reasons. I know thousands of them, many thousands, and we talk. In debt up to their eyeballs to maintain a lifestyle (low, middle and low-upper class people). Our lifestyle is about making them pay for their own stupidity, greed and lifestyle "needs" as much as possible, rather than us taking a tax hit to help them pay for their lattes/bailouts/foolishness. It is possible, and it was nice to read that we aren't alone in doing this.

Getting by with less turned out for us to mean having a more cool and fulfilling life.

[OneBlueSky]

15. my particular gripe is police and fire organizations that farm out their fund raising . . .

to outside groups which make phone calls on their behalf looking for donations . . . there was an article in the paper the other day that showed that, on average, only 20-30% of the funds raised this way go to the intended charities . . . the rest is the "fee" charged by the fund raisers . . .

and most of these organizations I've never heard of . . . things like the Assistant Deputy Sheriffs Charitable Fund . . . I probably get at least one of these calls every week, even though I'm on the Do-Not-Call registry . . .

personally, I prefer to give directly to my local police and fire departments, both of which do their own fund raising and keep 100% of the donations for their own programs . . . keeps the money in the local community, and you know most of your donation's not going to these fund raising outfits . . .

[MichiganVote]

19. A couple of times a year, my husband and I get petitioned to do a drive for

the Diabetes Association, Lung, Heart, etc. So we receive their envelope with all their materials which we then put in envelopes and mail out to our neighbors. In all the years we've been doing this, only ourselves and one or two other people in the subdivision give a donation.

So my husband told them from now on I'll just donate but no more sending info. to the neighbors. Get this--he gets a call from a state president of one of the charities who explains that they don't care about the fact that others don't donate. They just want to get the information into the homes of people. As in PR/Marketing.

I told my husband, no more. I'm not buying stamps to put some black and white photo of somebody's diseased lung or something into a neighbors home because TV commercials are too expensive for these charities to pay for.

Enough!

[eilen]

18. Our governor is raising all manner of fees and taxes

to make up for our huge state deficit. I can't figure out why it is so huge considering the state had to be bringing in majpr bucks from Wall Street when it was booming and of course are suffering big shortfalls in income now that many banks are bust. We should be ahead not behind.

I don't know where they think the people here upstate will find the money. Every week it seems like another employer is closing shop to move to China. Even the Obama Admin sends me email for donations to pay for the frigging inaugeration. I laugh at that. I'd rather donate to my food pantry so my neighbors can eat. It is very cold here now, I hope the county and the city still has heat grants for those in need or we will see a big increase in house and apartment fires.

[MichiganVote]

20. Yeah, we've had that happening in Mi. for years. A year long state park permit in Michigan

for residents or non residents is over $25. And let's face it, most people only use the parks in the summer for 3 months or so. Daily pass = $6. Now how the hell can families enjoy our own natural world if everytime they want to take their kids for a swim they have to shell out that, plus gas, plus food, etc.

But we sure have a great lakes coastline riddled with multi-million dollar homes and condo's. For the last several years the state legislature was dealing with a bill put forth by some rich assholes and developers who wanted to define the "private" property lines as being about three feet from the actual shore. Meaning, no one could walk the beach or walk the beach without being in at least 3 frickin' feet of water.

Enough!

[eilen]

22. NY State Park Passport is $65

The Passport provides access 178 state parks, 55 Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) forest preserve areas, as well as to boat launch sites, arboretums and park preserves.

Available for only $65*, the 2009 Passport is accepted now through March 31, 2010.


Camping, golf, museum, historic site admission and other special activity fees are not included.
The Empire Passport is only usable for passenger vehicles.
The Empire Passport may be used only while the holder is visiting the facility.
The Empire Passport must be permanently affixed as described below. It will not be accepted if it has been altered in any way or is adhered with tape.
The Empire Passport is not valid unless permanently affixed to a window on the vehicle’s driver's side.

Then there are the county parks which have parking fees and admission -- depending on the park. In some parts of the state (shorelines)-- such as Long Island/Fire Island there are town/village fees to go to the docks/harbors or sandpits (swimming areas in the bay) as well as parking fees for the beach parks. I don't think the NYS passport is helpful in any of those situations.

Of course the County has park "memberships" as well-- but I think those are all individual but many of the County Parks are free -- probably d/t our property taxes which are higher than average.

[MichiganVote]

23. I wish Michigan DID have a more encompassing "Passport". As it is,

all our fees are split up between this thing or that thing. And then the county parks also charge as much as the state for parks, boat launches, etc.

The price of registering a car, trailer or some other vehicles are exorbitant. License fees of all kinds are huge.

In Michigan we do have to balance the budget. The state legislature, Republican of course, only wants to reduce government in areas such as Medicaid and public education. All the public or poor peoples services.

Our roads are crap because we have so much interstate and intercountry truck traffic but no one has raised those fees. We take in trash from Canada for about nothing too.

Oh boy............

[eilen]

33. We have a Democrat in office now but that was after two terms of Pataki

and our elected guv got caught with a hookah so Paterson is it and he didn't ask for it. He is humble and has a sense of humor.

We have high fees too. Probably similar to your state. Health and Education are over 50% of our state budget so there are always proposed cuts to them in order to meet the levels of budget cutting to eliminate the deficit.

[MichiganVote]

38. You have been on a roller coaster in NY re: leadership that's for sure.

[Patchuli]

48. Schwartzenegger tried to tax

taking your cat or dog to the vet!! I am not kidding. I just found this out the other day after an (already expensive) visit for our kitten. Can you believe that $hit??????? Tax me because I care for my animals? That's so Republican.

[Odin2005]

24. They are blinded by greed and ideology, deluding themselves further and further.

It's disgusting.

[MichiganVote]

27. They've put the entire planet at risk.

[HillWilliam]

28. Luck fell into our laps a couple of years back

that we managed to get a goodly piece of land in a foreclosure deal. We'll be living off of it more and more. (Matter of fact, in a few minutes I'll be getting up from here to start tilling in preparation for spring planting.) Not everyone has the luxury; I don't know what city folks are going to do to break the shackles.

Out here in the sticks, we're already becoming more self-sufficient. We've been withdrawing over the last year, buying as little as we must. We're becoming a community again; people are meeting their neighbors in a way that hasn't been done in decades. One thing is for certain: we're all damned tired of being robbed and we're all damned tired of a complicit Congress that's all too happy to shovel our money at a small group of people who neither deserve nor appreciate it.

That's "all", regardless of party. And yes, there are many, many more of us than there are of them. They can't sic the military and police on every one of us everywhere, all at once, not even in large enough pieces.

And they know it.

Passive resistance by withdrawing from the system may well do the trick. We shall see in the next year.

[MichiganVote]

41. I agree with your points. It took a long time for people to get on board w/recycling,

now whole communities do it. Granted not everyone is motivated but its not a "hippie" thing anymore.

So I remain very hopeful that people will opt out of the "mall" mentality w/regard to goods and services. As more people in communities do this, the "haves" will find that their marketing is useless.

[HillWilliam]

45. Recycling runs our micro-farm

I just got done with the first bit of tilling-in for the new year. The soil is mightily improved in just one year for having done some very simple things. All the marketing crap that comes in the mail, if it's recyclable immediately, it goes through the shredder and gets mixed with all the leavings and turned in. What comes from the earth goes back into the earth. Last year I spent nothing on commercial fertilizer and insecticides. I used organic preparations and recycled kitchen-leavings, got educated and applied what I'd learnt. I had a better crop and less insect problems than any of my neighbors. They think I'm some kind of magician.

I love to watch their heads explode when I smile like Mona Lisa and explain simply that I applied good, solid, conservative economics. (snicker)

[MichiganVote]

47. :) I don't purchase any of my fruits and vege's in the stores in summer.

I use the Farmer's market or the ever ready fruit and vegetable stands, which are pretty much guaranteed of being organic. Its not the chemicals so much that I'm seeking to avoid, although that is certainly a factor. Rather I want to support growing practices that reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals in our food.

Good for you Farmer Hill. :)

[HillWilliam]

49. That, and supporting our neighbors instead of

ADM, Sygenta, Cargill, Monsanto, and all the other corporate poisoners. F*ck 'em. I ain't eatin' their crap. I buy heirloom seed from known heirloom lines, tasty stuff, comfort foods I grew up on. (It was later it became fashionable to call it soul food. We poor Appalachians had been eating it for centuries.) The seeds I have will breed true next year and the year after and the year after, unlike the GM-meddled crap you have to buy every year, stuff that tastes like shit anyway.

I'm a decent farmer. My neighbors are good hunters. Deer are over-plentiful. I can barter for some meat and they get good veggies they don't have time to grow. Another neighbor has bees. Another trade. Another has chickens. Nothing like free-range eggs. We swap our overages, and everyone has enough.

This year I'm going to put a load of quinoa and amaranth in. We should have some semi-grain to go along with the veggies. I'm also growing some stuff that's unusual to the area, both for the vitamins and for the trade. In a few years, when our extended families around here get fully up and running, and the education we're handing out gets around, we won't need a whole lot from outside. Hear tell, that sort of thing is catching on all over. That spells game-over for the corporatists, unless they come in and start burning fields.

They better be ready to fight whole communities at a time. That won't be pretty and it won't be easy. As you said, there are much more of us than there are of them and they'll never catch up. It's already way too late.

[MichiganVote]

50. Now that's the stuff I'm talking about! Even if we all do something, its better than nothing. :)

[eilen]

53. I view growing your own food as

the most elemental form of protest. I read about the idea of planting seedballs in public places as a guerilla act in Kerri Smith's blog Wish Jar.

The agrarian community as a model of direct use economy is self explanatory. How do we live that are not farmers, without trading off a Right Livelihood ethic for security? The non-farming skills that were once in demand in agrarian societies are now obsolete (smithing, tailoring, shoemaking, tanning, food processing: milling, butcher, etc.) except for perhaps some alternative healing/healthcare type things but most small communities can't support more than a few of those.

Most farmers in this country are in the same bind as the people in the suburbs-- overextended and overtaxed. My dh travels to lots of states in the midwest/breadbasket and he tells me that farming is really expensive-- all the machinery you need - many of the people he works with has a farm to help support when they come home from work (farms needing support of outside incomes instead of providing support.... something wrong here). Of course this is not necessary -- it depends on your idea of farming, your theory of economy. That blog I cited earlier talks quite a bit about this.

I wonder if there is a space to discuss ideas about an economy based on Right Livelihood and cooperative (note, I did not say "communal"-- I have a natural aversion to communes) living/economy that incorporates direct use economy and engineers an environmental stewardship that possesses a natural feedback loop into the system. For an example: rain barrel catchment systems that drain into a purification system (in cases of acid rain which we get in the Adirondacks) then into a reservoir for drinking water or household water. And I just thought of that off the top of my head (I really know next to nothing about water purification/ecology).

If anyone has any ideas, I would really like to participate because this is something that has been driving me, knowing there is a better way and just having glimpses or flashes here and there (as if through a streaked window on the bus going very fast) and it is often difficult for me to find the right words or terms outside of "A different way to live". This has been riding me for YEARS and it is very frustrating.

I also would like to exchange ideas on what the suburban homesteader can do.

[fascisthunter]

29. Greed is like any other addiction

...when your mind is overwhelmed with the desire for the next drink, next hit, next dollar, you lose interest in most everything else, focusing your attention on that one single objective.... all rationality goes out the window. Rationality is only used to reason one's addictive behavior.

[MichiganVote]

42. And moral decay sets in.............

[rhett o rick]

30. I agree and disagree. And I do appreciate your optimism, I just don't share it.

I agree that greed is a disease that will eat itself eventually. And when the greedy eventually kill the Golden Goose they will be sorry, but.... the Golden Goose (middle class) will be dead.

There is still a tremendous amount of cumulative wealth in the middle class. And still large amounts of natural resources in this country. They will continue raping until this is a Third World Country.

You say "we can live without them". Yes but in what standard of living. Look at third world countries and see how well the peasants are "living".

You say "They can't live without us". I agree they need us to feed their addiction but when we are spent, they will look elsewhere. Just look at the mega-wealthy living in Dubai and tell me they need us.

"And there are many more of us, than there are of them." How does that help us?

I am truly sorry for being so pessimistic. I will continue to fight, but think things are bleak and looking bleaker.

[Odin2005]

31. Pessimism ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Pessimism leads to cynicism, when in turns leads to apathy and fatalism.

[RandomKoolzip]

35. No, pessimism is REALISM.

When things suck, you'd best acknowledge and internalize that things suck, that way you can make whatever adjustments and adaptations to best survive in those sucky circumstances. And it's not pessimism to take into account just how horrible it is to exist in present day circumstances, and to take into account all the signs pointing to American life's downhill slide; it's just being realistic (i.e. "honest")

How come pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy but optimism isn't? Optimism being a self-fulfilling prophecy: isn't that the basis of that bullshit "The Secret" shuck all those self-help dipshits have been foisting on us all these years? Face it, y'all: wanting for something to happen fervently isn't going to make it happen. The only way to change things, to make your lives better, is through hard labor, rational deliberation between unattractive choices, back-breaking work, and sacrifice - all of which you will NOT enjoy.

[MichiganVote]

44. Sacrifice is the very feature of life that the "elites" do not have. They reject it.

We must learn to welcome it (within reason of course) back into our daily lives. I'd prefer not to work in life, but given the choice between becoming a trust fund, boobie headed, self centered, "consumer" and working alongside or among healthy thinking hard working people...I know my choice. I happen to enjoy that.

[Quantess]

46. Sometimes, but not always.

People can be overly pessimistic as well as they can be overly optimistic, and it is not always a self fulfilling prophecy, either.

Sometimes you just come to your senses and realize that your perceptions have been unrealistically rosy or bleak, and fine tune your outlook.

Depressed people, for example, often have an unrealistically pessimistic attitude ("no one will ever hire me", "I'm the ugliest person in the world", "everything sucks, all the time", etc.) Many depressed people are challenged with having to change their ways of thinking, often with counseling.

[MichiganVote]

43. It is true that the cumulative wealth of the Middle is what they want.

It is no accident that the "haves" managed to propel the economy over a cliff and will now raid every single fund they can get their raggedy ass hands on.

BUT.

In every fearful, lice-ridden situation there is an opportunity. The opportunity here, today, is that people will learn that its not so bad to restrain their spending, ignore the hype and the marketing and reassess their priorities. This "crisis in confidence" is a good thing when you look at it this way.

Are we still going to continue to be robbed? Unfortunately, yes. Yet I believe that we can begin to make it hurt, to become more work, and with any luck, our judiciary will begin to focus on the real heists taking place instead of a bunch of drug users.

Pessimisim is not a bad thing. In today's world, its a viable reality. It does not mean that people should be paralyzed, however, and doing nothing is not an option.

Buy less, recycle more, say no and/or buy or make everything you can in your own communities. Those are real and viable strategies to use.