We are wondering why career politicians are retiring? Really?

[galileoreloaded]

Financial systems being held together by duct tape (literally), and the evidence all around you.

Pensions imploding (public and private) Publics have a $2 trillion dollar, 20 year shortfall. That is teachers, cops and firefighters.

Schools closing, teachers being let go, class size increasing.

The social safety net is now an un-funded good idea, with the payments only coming if American citizens can either keep their jobs, or choose to support the system via payroll taxes and consumption based taxes. (spare me the "fully funded" SS meme, show me the account and the balance, otherwise it is accounting tricks, future needs funded by a promise)

Sovereign default a real threat, as the FED bought over 90% of Treasuries last year, and the Asian market is tapped out. They literally doubled the cash supply last year, and the banks hoarded it. Then the FED rewarded the banks by paying interest on reserves, guaranteeing no lending.

And we are wondering why they don't want to be a focal point of anger over lost livelihoods, pensions, etc.???

The answer is that politicians have calculated the maximum ability to feather the nest and they have hit a saturation and inflection point where the benefit of existing in the system holds more risk than picking up the ball and going home, avoiding being in the system when it fails.

You are being choked out, and the arm is around your neck, yet you have a little bit of air left. The politicians know it and are acting prudently.

Seems clear to me, but what do I know. Good Luck.

[The Northerner]

1. Perhaps NOW is a time to end the wars and reduce the military budget?

That would be a nice message to embrace & campaign on.

Now, how do we get more of the Dems to actually do it?

[leftstreet]

4. +1

[Sherman A1]

6. +1

[TheMadMonk]

10. Good luck with that.

Collectively, the United States suffers a truly pathological case of Small Penis Syndrome.

Muscle cars; McMansions; monster trucks; monster TVs; conspicuous consumerism in all its designed in wasteful forms; (Dare I say it?) guns; professional sports; the list goes on and on, and topping the charts is a military industrial complex that has become a metastatic cancer on the back of the meme that any cut in defence spending is akin to lopping the knob off Amurika's collective cock. It's not even possible to sell propper oversight and waste reduction measures to reduce costs, because that argument is immediately reframed as "cutting the defence budget". And too much of the populace view spending growth with the comforting thought "Well my dick just got a little bit bigger."

[FarCenter]

2. Rats deserting a sinking ship, they are.

[nc4bo]

7. +1. nt

[galileoreloaded]

8. That is probably the better analogy. n/t

[enough]

3. "saturation and inflection point"

Man, you said it.

[DemReadingDU]

5. I was thinking the same thing, n/t

[defendandprotect]

9. Pensions, again, are another question of corrupt government oversight . . .

which permitted underfunding --

[Dappleganger]

11. Obviously they were in it while the gettin' was good...

and have no idea what real public service really entails such as was exemplified in the life of Ted Kennedy.

[Kablooie]

13. Maybe Kennedy was the straw the broke the back.

[Kablooie]

12. I think I'm going to go back to 1990. I liked it better back there.

[gratuitous]

14. No great mystery here, Scooby Doo

After you shit the bed, you want to get off the mattress.

[smalll]

15. Um, "You are being choked out, ... arm is around your neck, yet you have a little bit of air left."

Somehow, when you round off your argument with professional wrestling and/or "Tapout"-style references, you lose a little credibility, at least with me. Maybe that's just a random personal idiosyncrasy. :shrug:


Sorry!

[galileoreloaded]

17. Yeah, OK. Have not watched professional wrestling since I was 12.

So, not really sure what you are referring to there.

But good luck with your wrestling!?!:hi:

[sojourner]

18. way to keep yourself from listening to anyone....set up arbitrary rules

about what is "allowed" in an argument. from out here, surely does look like "random personal idiosyncrasy", but there are many people using similar methods to remain aloof from the discussion - focus on the construction of the argument, criticize the way the author writes rather than actually try to hear what he/she is saying and THEN discuss the point and the supporting evidence (or lack of)....

[Kablooie]

16. So we may not have to kick the bums out. They'll escape on their own.

And leave the roof to collapse on the rest of us.

It's beginning to sound kind of scary.

[mimitabby]

19. our government is broken

i can totally understand why anyone would be allergic to congress or the senate.