freeacre
As thousands of support staff at financial institutions do the “plant walk” out the door - their desk plants, personal photos, and granola bars loaded into cardboard boxes; their bosses, the Big Boyz, just got over like the Fat Rats they are. “Move over, Jackson, “ they’ll say to their buddies in the Business Class airline section. “I want to get a look at the skyline of Abu Dubai.” Their briefcases bursting with cash, the bloated beneficiaries of the most recent governmental largess, are swilling Champaign and heading to financial paradises. Rewarded, as it were, for their final urber-swindle that removed the last assets of the former middle class and their children for the foreseeable future, these pirates are retiring to their off shore condos with their hundreds of millions of dollars in “bonuses.”It could also be considered “loot.”
We’ve been robbed.
But, then, what else is new? They’ve been milking us like a vast herd of dairy cattle for years as productive jobs were outsourced and we were directed to the Debt table. Take a look now at the tent cities springing up all over the country. It looks like a feed lot, doesn’t it?
Really, Google “tent cities” and take a look at the displaced people living on the outskirts of towns after they have lost their homes and moved to places where they could find no work, like Reno or Fresno. These people are not given a “golden parachute.” They have been given an anchor and tossed overboard.
Gee, what happened to all that harkening back to their working class roots that we heard about non-stop during the conventions? Wasn’t it just a couple of weeks ago that we were told how in touch the democrats and even the republicans are with their history of the noble working class and how they constitute the backbone of all that is good and productive in our society? Did they convene a special session of the congress to get the homeless out of the rain? Uh, no….
Has anyone suggested that now that they own millions of homes from the Fanny and Freddie take-over, they could arrange to house the homeless and hire them to look after the properties? Maybe make a “rent to own” deal? Uh, no…
No, instead we are taking out a half a trillion dollar loan that is impossible to re-pay and putting up real estate and infra-structure as collateral to Saudi Arabian sheiks and Chinese moguls. And, no doubt, the financiers just made a commission on this final transaction as well. BRILLIANT!
The consequences of a well-deserved financial collapse of the Blue Chip corporations are too hideous to contemplate - the privileged would have to live maybe close to something like we do. The bailout saves them from having to be productive. It saves them from having to act like a responsible human being or to suffer any consequences for their crimes against their country.
What would it look like if the bovine civilian herd awakened from their television, media, and pharmaceutically induced stupors and started to express their dissatisfaction with the financiers and the investment class?
A vote of “no confidence” to our elected representatives who have relentlessly driven us to the economic slaughterhouse would be in order, for openers. A “Vote for No Incumbents” drive, for instance. Memo to our Senators and Congressmen :” YOU eat those toxic derivatives – don’t jam them down MY throat!!”. I’ve already written to my elected brain trust. I hope you have as well.
Humm….. random acts of rebellion and resistance to tyranny and debt servitude to our owners and financial barons would be emotionally satisfying if nothing else.
Of course, to speculate on anything more tangible than toilet papering the front lawn of your local banker or stockbrokerage firm as a way to express dissatisfaction is probably grounds for rendition to Gitmo… so I will refrain from exercising my former right to free speech.
Anyway, it is shaping up as though the predictions of tension building, financial collapse, and rebellion are all manifesting more or less on schedule. I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned to see if the dollar tanks after the election, or even if there will actually be an election. Perhaps it will all be swept away in the wake of some disastrous event that obscures the looting going on by turning our attention to something worse. There seems to be no moral depth to which these miscreants won’t sink.
My advise to getting through these difficult days is to strike a balance between looking outward at these disturbing events, and looking within and closer by where we can manifest our own peaceful place. Pet your dog. Make some pie. Let’s assume that we all chose this time to be born because we knew it was going to be so amazing. And, it is!
39 comments:
As you point out, expecting anything from the government or the corporations at this juncture is pretty pointless. I like your idea "to strike a balance between looking outward at these disturbing events, and looking within and closer by where we can manifest our own peaceful place." In addition to petting your dog and making pie, I would suggest getting closer to loved ones and planning your garden for next year. In the time to come, we are going to need each other--it's clear that there is no one else we can depend on.
So, true, moonraven! I've already got my seeds for next year in anticipation of a shortage, and we are planning to build a bunkhouse for visitors who may need an extended stay. It's all about taking care of each other, and you are right - we are on our own.
I welcome this change.
The reigning cultural ethos has been characterized by greed, pathological competition, narcissism, contempt for humanity, and hypertrophic individualism. It's nice to see the piper get payed.
From what I understand, the majority of the shareholders in firms like Lehman will get either 0, or a small fraction of what their stocks were previously worth. I doubt there are many below the highest executive level that will be making out like bandits on this.
What's more, in case anyone didn't notice, we just became a socialist country.
Rednecks in the south will soon be lining up for the dole and begging for help from a very large government.
Ironic that this began in a Republican administration..
oh yeah...freeacre
I youtubed "tent" city and found this video.
So it turns out even if we solve:
the housing collapse
peak oil
global warming
the casino economy
even if we fix ALL of those things...
we will still go bankrupt once we have to start paying the boomers for medicare costs.
Jacques,
We have been sporadically talking about our social ethos on this site. Interesting speculation about where all you mention originates don't you think? One explanation is that we are a fallen race. What's yours?
Problem I see is that the piper will be us. These people are not held accountable for their decisions and consequences.
But I think it is just society bowing before the elitists again like we have always done in complex societies. So where do we attach the blame? Us or them? Look who we give the authority to govern.
Ever read about the robber barons from the late 1800's up to the 1920's? Same shit going on. Same socialistic solutions also in the Roosevelt administration. This is not new, just the extremes of it. Only this time, it may bring down the whole 'new world order' crap we have been fed. Just too many real bad problems coming at us at once and not one politician willing to step forward and say it.
I would disagree that it started with a republican government. It has been going on for around 150 years. Actually, according the the Sumerian and Egyptian documents, for around 6-8000 years of recorded history. What we are seeing is the most modern example of it.
I don't think it is just the rednecks from the south that are lining up for the dole. And besides, if you have no other means of making an income, where else should you turn? Holding up 7-11's?
I think it is misplaced blame on the boomers concerning the busting of the Medicare costs. I found on examination that the base problem is the cost of medical care, and I blame a large amount of that on the insurance companies. Back in the 50's and 60's, the cost ratio to income for medical costs was much lower. Back then, mostly, you insured against catastrophic stuff and paid regular medical out of your pocket. But, then you could afford it.
Check out this piece;
http://daveeriqat.wordpress.com\
2008/08/29/
plan-to-make-big-pharma-king
-for-the-next-century/#more-169
by Dave Eriqat
There are a bunch of other more serious analysis' on the web concerning this problem. If you get away from the Repugs propaganda on the issue, there are other ways of looking at it. These people use the same argument for privatizing social security, and all of the arguments have giant holes in them. For example, with social security, actually the program is far from being broke, about 2 trillion solvent, if the government hadn't given IOU's stored in a cabinet and spent the money for other things, like wars, bailing out busted giant corporations, etc.
Pretty easy to see the problems I think. It's the bitch of doing something constructive about the problems.
jaques,
You are, of course, correct - at least if the current demographics and the current outrageously expensive health care/insurance model continues in its present form. Add onto that the Altheimer's epidemic that by itself could break the bank, and we are looking at a total train wreck.
But, I don't see any way we can continue on this course of ruthless growth and increasing age. The realities of resource depletion, economic collapse, toxic levels of contamination from myriad sources in our environment and food will take its toll.
I hope that we can begin to judge our lives by quality rather than longevity. Personally, I'd like to avoid the twenty years from 70 to 90 spent in managed care hooked up to the pharmaceutical complex that so many currently endure.
My own answer is to eat as naturally as possible and to live as frugally as we can. I have no health care insurance and don't particularly desire any, even though I have chronic conditions. We need to develop a graceful exit for ourselves, or a Die Off of great hideousness will be administered from without.
It's funny in a way, but my "doomer" outlook, with its attendant heightened awareness of death and destruction and idiocy has eventually led to a greater sense of security and an appreciation of each day. I have no plans beyond 2012. Until then, I'll make a serious effort to make each day count and be grateful for my life, my loves, my friends, my community, my planet, my universe. I'm sitting here in a forty year old single wide trailer in the poorest county in Oregon. But I feel richer than I have ever been.
Go figure.
From Belgium,
You know what the foreclosures are for. They are to house the Chinese drones and cut down on the transportation costs of the goods. Problem is they are still going to require customers, I wonder who they will be?
Jacques, re the comment on Medicare costs, the pharms part of it, as you realise, is a scam. Did you see the last part of Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ documentary where the group of sick people sailed into Cuba and one lady was examined free of charge and was told that half of her US prescribed medication was unnecessary for her complaint and the rest she bought for a couple of dollars instead of the best part of her months disposable income. Isuppose though the only alternatives the US people have is to free their fingers from their dollar bills or move to Cuba.
You may remember some time ago towards the end of the Globalisation series, I referenced a link a to Brian Garish lecture about the Common Purpose organisation. This is purported to be an outfit which organises management training courses but whose true purpose appears to be in training and selecting the elites’ future requirement of soldier ants for the civil sector. I sent an e mail to Brian telling him that he had made the TCC link and today I received this reply.
“Thank you for the email and apologies for the very late reply. We just had to take a rest over the summer and some other matters took up the time. Please see www.cpexposed.com and also a new UK Column paper will be out next few days. Much more emerging on CP and associated organisations which I will be covering. www.ukcolumn.org website has been updated and we the webmaster is keen for material / comments on site. keep at it rgds Brian G”
The first referenced link is the lecture linked to in the Globalisation lll piece but the second is a series of short articles which though largely not new info for many of us, are relevant and to the point.
I'm nearly 67, I'm a widow, I have limited financial assets and my friends are scattered to the winds. I essentially have no community where I live and I'm really scared. I live in a town of affluent people who will probably do fine when the proverbial shit hits the fan. No one I know is storing food or even thinking about the inevitable collapse of the world as we know it. I think we're toast and I strongly suspect that people like me will be the first to "slough off" and go under. Any world where I have to pack a rifle to survive is a world that I don't want to survive in. I see very little out there about those of us not really in a position to tough this out. Those of us who may not want to live anymore when things spin so far out of control....
This is all part of the great squeeze that is only going to get worse. As depletion accelerates more and more people are going to be pushed to and over the edge, many of them deliberately. There are only so many resources to go around and less of them every year from here on out so many people in positions of influence or power are going to srive to keep those positions and the only way to do this is, naturally, to shove some more people off the cliff.
Banding together is the only way to increase the odds of survival in the times ahead. Casualaties are going to be a lot higher than they would otherwise be because of the lack of community and cooperation in this country. There are two aspects to this: One, the people who are doing all right (including those who are prepared) are going to look down their noses at the rest of the people. And two, most people are going to keep trying to do things the old way -each person, each family entirely on its own. This doesn't work any more (not that it ever did, really). As the squeeze gets harder and harder more and more people are going to be shoved off the cliff -a lot of them because they have no hands to cling to. And a lot of them will eventually be ones who refused to hold a hand to someone else at some point.
Does this make any sense? Let me know if not and I'll rewrite it...
sweetroxie,
Welcome to the campfire. We run it more or less as if we have a "talking stick" that passes around. Each person speaks their truth and the rest listen respectfully until it is their turn. Then, they speak from the heart and express their truth from their perspective. We have many diverse experiences and ways of looking at things, but over the months and years, have developed a deep appreciation of each other. As goofy as it is, this "place" can be a starting point for developing a sense of community for those to whom it just feels right.
Murph and I have been dwelling on these things and making preparations for years. There are days that we are staggered by events, the collective "dumbasserie" (my term, I think), and feel frightened or mad as hell, or depressed. Those reactions to the increasing knowledge of the situation we are in are understandable. This has become a place where we can at least express our feelings and thoughts and the listeners do not feel compelled to talk you out of them. We also know that on other days, you might feel better. It seems to help.
It is true that many people may not want to live rather than go through what is necessary to survive a collapse. For me, it depends on what I actually face. We all have our limits (or should). I think setting parameters is a good thing. People who don't, end up in the End Days medical/pharmaceutical matrix for years on end, which I consider worse than any doomer scenario.
You may consider hooking back up with some of your friends. You may start planning a garden. Any step you take will often lead to meeting or attracting someone else of like mind. Or, lead you to move somewhere else that is more viable.It's the attention and the intention that seems to have more of an effect than is normally acknowledged. That's my experience, at least. Anyway, it's nice that you found your way here. It's a start.
aho (that means, "I have spoken" and indicates that the stick is passed.
ras,
I have never known you to not make sense, My Dear.
sweetroxie,
Try not to get too upset. Freeacre's advice is good: be aware of what's going on, but try not to dwell on it. Certainly we all are here to lean on if you need an ear.
That said, I find this whole bailout crap utterly sickening. What happened to the principle that those culpable for their errors pay the price? And we're not talking about poor slobs who didn't know any better, but the "cream of the crop" who knew exactly what frauds they were perpetrating on the rest of us, and who are fully capable of suffering the consequences of their own actions. Let the f-ing banking system burn to the ground! We'd be MUCH better off! Then we can start over, perhaps a little wiser. The government isn't doing us any favors at all by absorbing all the losses of these financial firms. That's just going to prolong - for decades - the agony.
I have written my state's senator - Jim Bunning, who I'm very proud of for resisting these bailouts - three times to vent my frustration and urge him to continue resisting.
Dave (really pissed)
From Belgium,
Sweetroxie, we are all your friends here, whenever you feel down or just feel you have something to say, then sound off on the blog. We are a bit too far scattered about (especially me) to drop by for coffee or to make sure you have enough wood put by but we can we can hold your hand and talk to each other over cyber space as it were. Make yourself welcome at the campfire. By the way, which state do you live in?
Jacques, I forgot to say hi, welcome also.
I feel refreshed. I took a break from venting about all the fascist financial festivities to make a delicious tomato pasta sauce (with lots o’ garlic, my favorite food) and some spaghetti, fresh Parmesan cheese and a glass of wine. As long as I can continue to eat like that I don’t care what happens to the financial system.
While chowing down on spaghetti, I thought of a witty (to me) analogy for the government’s actions vis-a-vis the financial system:
The financial system was like a car that was losing its wheels. Instead of letting the wheels fall off and the car slowly come to a stop, the government threw a large money wrench right into the engine compartment.
Let’s have fun with this crisis and think up more such analogies. Any takers?
Dave
I just found your blog through Carolyn Baker. I really appreciate your honest take on our flustercluck and the sense of community - may I join?
I am not sure how to get notice when new articles are posted. Can someone advise? If so, please share your knowledge with me at wendy@trendresumes.com.
SweetRoxie - your message touched my heart. I am a single mother raising a teenage daughter. Last year we lost the most important person in our lives, my mother, at age 74. The hole she left is enormous. I am grateful she doesn't have to see what is happening while at the same time I am so very terrified of living this out without her wisdom to guide me. I wish you could move to our town and be a part of our lonely circle of two. At your age, you have lived through so very much and your wisdom is an assett.
As I struggle to balance what I know with what everyone else is pretending, I often wonder if I'm loosing it. Everyone has two jobs now - the one they must have to sustain every day living and the other, to prepare for when those day jobs no longer exist. It's like being a stripper at night and not being able to tell your friends and family for fear of shame. My entire family thinks I'm "just a little off". I've stopped encouraging them to prepare. It's too much like beating my head against a brick wall.
I too am damn mad about this bail out. As a single mother and small (very small) business owner, I don't have medical insurance, savings, or investments. I don't own my home and don't have a penny of borrowed debt. Yet I must bear a burden for those who do in order to "save" them. I say "bull shit".
Analogy? This is like a roller coaster ride for the rich that is headed for a cliff. In order to shore up the ride, they build new supports with the bones of the peons.
I'm grateful to find like minded people here.
Welcome, seetroxie and ethical1. The more, the merrier.
Check out this link, gang. Anybody out there got any expertize in the stock market? Is this for real?
I will try to do some further investigation as regards the fellow who was advised to blind-sell his portfolio. I worked on his ranch a couple of times. Built him a stone barbeque, in fact. He was CEO of a large, US corporation in the 80's and 90's. Now retired, he bought a 3,000-acre spread and payed $1,000 per acre, tore down all the buildings and hired contractors to rebuild according to his vision.
Now he's just dumped his 5 million-dollar nest egg for "whatever he could get?"
And he claims all his buddies are advised to do the same. We must be seeing a very huge transfer of wealth taking place behind the scenes.
-rockpicker
Oops. Sorry.
Here's that link:
http://ming.tv/flemming2.php/
__show_article/_a000010-000923.htm
-rp
From Belgium,
Ethicalf, please just join in, you won’t find any bouncers on our door asking to see your membership card, everybody else will move out a bit so you too can have a share of the fire.
I also owned a small business at one time in the UK. I was encouraged by Thatcher’s entrepreneurial spirit when she knew full well that the elites were going to pull the plug on the money I had borrowed. There is no going back on that one, life goes on, older and wiser as the saying goes but I am not altogether sure wisdom is enough now.
I am no financial expert but I do not take this bale out at face value. Bush has borrowed other peoples’ money to pay for his war and he can’t pay it back even in deflated dollars. It is due for payment on the 1st October and then he will get a taste of what the IMF does to little countries. The bale out is just something to keep the financial markets busy until he hits the siphon button next month and the economy goes down the pan. Mind you, the leader of the western world does think that working two or three jobs is the All American thing to do. You are dead right though, we all know who is going to pay the bill and it will be the ones who can’t pay their own bills.
Welcome sweetroxie and ethical! There's always more room at the fire. This isn't a banker's cabal, after all. ;-)
I think we've all had the experience of trying to convince others and having them look at us like we're crazy. Even the ones I know who 'get it' in some ways still think technology or magic fairies will save us. Grr.
Jacques, rednecks in the south have always been on the dole, just like the rest of us.
Thanks, fa. I sometiems have trouble expressing what I mean in a way that's intelligible to others.
One day I am going to tell my grandchildren (or the equivalent thereof) about all these things we used to have -electricity, the internet, frappucinos. Greed, derivatives, global warming, George Bush. You know what is scariest? How the hell am I going to explain Bush? Lol.
More bad news...take a look at cryptogon, the article about Emperor Paulson and the Patriot Financial Act. It's worse than we thought.
hello to the new voices. we are honored. you are most welcome. here around the campfire.
as for comment... well, i'm pretty much commented out right now. its time! ... palooka
what if "the taxpayers" decided to
abdicate?
-rp
From Belgium,
Well rp I reckon you have all got about a week to do it.
Thanks for the post fa, as usual it to me seems clear and a reflection of what is probably in most of our minds in one way or another. We keep at this long enough and we won't even need the internet, it will happen around 2012 i spect.
Welcome to the new commenters, its so nice to see that our little crop circle is growing, i can only imagine how many are dropping in and feel that their ideas,fears,or whatever are not worth expressing at this sacred council, it is sacred you know, this is a gathering of like minded individuals sharing their experiences regardless of what they may amount to , and they are not to be judged, only looked and maybe to lend a hand in pointing out something that might be helpful in one another's particular experience.
I for one am honored, and gratefully appreciate the brothers and sisters that allow me to say a lot of what are probably considered impolite by some, but if one is not allowed to speak ones own heart then what's the fucking use i say.
Personally i feel more comfortable here then anywhere else on the net. The very real sense that we are actually one in that we all share similar aches, pleasures and pains are a true bonding as far as i can see, the words that are carefully or un=carefully placed at this campfire are reflected in the caring hearts that have grown into something unimagined two years ago or so whenever this gathering started taking place.
We are a cyber family and it is growing i think just for the reason that we all do share the doubts and dreams of one another and can express them here, we have tea and crumpets together so to speak.
So welcome, welcome, all of you that listen in to our home fire , please feel free to speak to us here, we would love to hear what's on you mind and hope that you would feel somehow that you are one with us.
peace
aho
mf
ps my little spirit guide says that when it rains the drops become little rainbows as they rest on the grass,it is like this place she says/
Happy Mabon!
Welcome fall!
Senator Shelby was on NPR this morning practically yelling about not supporting the bailout -and actually making sense. I thought for sure the world was going to end.
Winter is coming, both for the year and for our society. It's really scary out there and I keep trying not to be afraid.
walk down that lonesome road,
all by yourself.
Don't turn your head
back over your shoulder.
And only stop to rest yourself
when the silver moon
is shining high above the trees.
-James Taylor
-rp
Billy Meier, of Project Camelot fame.
Better check this out, Freeacre, Murph and anyone else on the west coast. Singapore, heads-up to you, too. BTW, where you been, man?
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/9/prweb1365754.htm
Well, that would jibe with the prediction from the Time Monks at Halfpasthuman that 2 earthquakes will hit the Pacific Northwest in December of this year, I reckon.
Hey, Singapore, time to dust off that raft!
ethical 1,
Nice to hear from you. I am touched that you reached out to sweetroxie. I lost my mother. I was going to say "recently," but then I guess it's been a couple of years ago. It still feels recent. She was way old, couldn't remember shit, and incapacitate in every way, except she could still love us to our core. I miss her every day. I'm sorry for your loss.
How did going to Carolyn Baker's site lead you here, by the way? I haven't seen any reference to us from there in ages.
We don't notify of new posts. We just publish them about once a week when we have something to say or when the comments become cumbersome to catch up on all at once. The conversation, you see, is on-going daily. And every person here is as valued as we are.
You mentioned being a "lonely circle of two." Well, now you have us, as goofy as we are. It's a start.
Dang, Rockpicker. I'm rather a moron when it comes to high finance. Had to read that one twice to start to get what he was talking about. Don't know what to think. Sounds like a rather prime example of just what a house of cards the whole money structure is though. Jeesh.
I'm rather a moron when it comes to high finance.
consider it a blessing fa. the only thing needing to be understood about high finance is that its not understandable. not anymore anyway. even the ones who dreamed up this scam don't understand it and can't explain it. the morons are the ones who try to account for it AND the ones who think the high financiers are one up on em and try to buy into it thinking it is their only option to "security".
drove the mile down the street last night to fill up. 30 vehicles in line!!
i finally did a blog entry this morn after many weeks of sitting with a mute muse. i'm speachless as the fucking world is crumbling around us and a mouse brings me to word. weird... p
No one understands high finance anymore, fa. I figure that's the point. Eventually we'll be back to a system of exchange that makes sense, say I give you so many sheafs of wheat in return for your jam. But we have a long way to go before that here in the U.S. I read somewhere that 90% of all transactions in the world (except for here and most of Europe) take place in the informal economy -i.e., barter, cash, etc. I wonder how much here in the U.S. would have to be transferred to the informal economy to bring the whole nasty banking system down? I would say much less than half. Probably less than a quarter these days.
Sweetroxie, I'm in much the same situation as you are only I'm much younger. Take heart and see what your options are to either move or make community where you are.
There are still problems with gas here where I'm at. You can get it, but several stations are out or mostly out and it isn't cheap. P, the funny thing is as the world crashes and burns around our ears I've been making more blog entries rather than less. I guess maybe I just like to talk. ;-)
Palooka,
I truly enjoyed the new post on your site. Lol. I thought you had given up on your blog.
Oooooo, looks like the markets are in a bit of a tizzy today. Still trying to figure out if I should buy some silver -'cause I can't afford gold. But even if I could afford gold, some Blackwater Bozo would probably break down my door and confiscate it and give it to Paulson. Bastards.
Still waiting for the nudie pics of Palin to surface -of which I will stare at while eating some "fava beans" ffffffffffffffff!
Anonymous 11:07;
Might I suggest, while you're waiting for the photos of Palin, you mouse on over to Project Camelot and listen in on a new phone interview with George Green?
Might put nudie pix in perspective.
http://www.projectcamelot.org/
-rockpicker
George has started to sound like Tommy Smothers, bumbling in the Rose Garden about having had all this economy stuff explained to him by advisors who "understand it."
And Paulson reminds me of a Rowan Atkinson character attempting to bully the populace with fearful images of certain ruin should Congress dawdle long enough to consider the implications of Hank's proposed coronation.
George is a lame duck with a limp Dick for a sidekick, and neither has had much success achieving agenda goals lately.
Try as they might, still they find World War III eludes them. (Thank you Robert Gates and Vladimir Putin.)
My guess is, the 3rd Brigade will refuse orders to fire on US civilians.
Lyndon Larouche says you have to go back to the 14th Century to find a comparable economic meltdown.
'Z'ata tar pot ah smell bilin'?
-rockpicker
From Belgium,
Well AlterNet finally seems to be getting its act together although their solution to the bale out crisis is flooding your reps with e mails. I guess that is one step before the American Public floods them with pitchforks (if only).
http://www.alternet.org/story/99979/
Belgium, if I were in charge of things I would start by finding the ones responsible for this mess and stringing them up from the nearest tree (or lamp post, since Wall Street has no trees). Never mind the pitchforks. Not that we could find many pitchforks, since this is Amercia, after all, and most people have never seen a pitchfork. ;-)
I'm at the point where I wish it would all just come tumbling down. I could pull up a chair, find a beer, and set back and watch.
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency," the original draft of the proposed bill says.
And with those words, the Treasury secretary - whoever that may be in a few months - would be vested with perhaps the most incredible powers ever bestowed on one person over the economic and financial life of the United States. It is the financial equivalent of the Patriot Act, after 9/11."
by Andrew Ross Sorkin, for the International Herald Tribune
"Fool me once, uh...shame on you. Fool me twice, can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush
-rockpicker
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