http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-next-meltdown-will-come-in-2012-2009-08-11?pagenumber=1

The big banks including the Federal Reserve are all privately owned transnational corporations owing no allegiance to the American public and do not answer the the US government. They squeeze the sponge (the American taxpayers) dry as often as they can get away with. No financial "meltdown" has ever not been orchestrated.
The early financial panics were orchestrated simply in order to get the Federal Reserve enacted.

The Federal Reserve and the current worthless "dollar" system is a scam that is unsustainable in the long term and will eventually crash completely unless WE can replace it with something else.  In the meantime they will continue to use it to enslave and loot this nation and most of the world.

Yeah, I agree.  I think the article was a good starting place to a discussion, though.

Yeah, I agree.  I think the article was a good starting place to a discussion, though.

Right on, my brother!

Cripes, i can't BELIEVE anyone is letting the Obozo slams in that second one slide...

i'm totally down with "Obozo is our only hope for change" ~ but only if we can get him, the Dems AND the Reps OUT OF THE WAY for a truly "New Page"...

Been saying this all along, and Emp knows it. You're passing an aspirin to a retarded kid with a shattered spine. We're only setting ourselves up for another fall as soon as this one looks like it's resolved. Tear it down, throw it all away, start over.

I actually don't like Obama very much.  I didn't vote for him.  I celebrated him getting elected because I thought racism would win out, not because I thought he'd be a great president.

I think he was a bit of a blank slate when he was running for president - you projected what you wanted to see on to him, because he didn't have the track record in politics to establish himself one way or another and because he was pretty vague on a lot of issues.

I particularly don't like that he has backpedaled and made concessions on the few things he did make explicit statements about.  I don't like many of his appointees, especially on the economic side of the spectrum.  I think he's inherited a disaster in the economy and not done anything to make it better - I think that any economic programs should have directly created jobs and rebuilt failing infrastructure, instead of the half-assed bullshit he pushed through.  I hate that he gave more money to the banks and is giving every appearance that he's too weak-willed to change anything in the financial industry.  I don't like that he kept the same guy in charge of the DoD instead of putting in someone interested in reform and downsizing.  I don't like that he's escalating the unwinable situation in Afghanistan.  I hate that he's promoting a health care plan that is not single-payer (even though I knew in advance he wasn't even going to consider that) and might end up just giving handouts to pharmaceutical companies and the health insurance industry rather than truly doing anything about the health care system.  I hate that he's lying about increasing taxes - you can't fight multiple wars, give hand outs to a corrupt financial industry, and do all of the other things that he's proposed without increasing taxes.  There are a number of other things I don't like.

I just believe he was born in the US.  That's all I'm willing to defend.

Oh, I also particularly hate that he's not investigating the Bush administration.  And that he hasn't repudiated many of that administrations reaches for more executive power.

I agree with everything you said Emp except the DOD thing.  I feel like Gates has done a pretty good job lately and the military has actually handled things well in recent months.  I think it was a smart move keeping him on (who else would Obama have gotten to oversee the conclusion of a pair of shitty wars?).  I'm also glad he backpedalled on his hardline promises for troop withdrawal to give the military time to at least put some girders on the house of cards governments they've built in both countries before they leave.  Not only that but Gates has been cutting spending on shit like billion dollar airplanes that suck.  There's a lot of criticism that could be thrown around, it just seems to me like the DoD is the last place that deserves it right now.

I agree that his first year has been disappointing.  He has basically used all of his political capital to bailout finance and industry, bluster around about health care reform among other topics, and has not really seized initiative on his campaign promises with any kind of conviction whatsoever.

I agree with everything you said Emp except the DOD thing.  I feel like Gates has done a pretty good job lately and the military has actually handled things well in recent months.  I think it was a smart move keeping him on (who else would Obama have gotten to oversee the conclusion of a pair of shitty wars?).  I'm also glad he backpedalled on his hardline promises for troop withdrawal to give the military time to at least put some girders on the house of cards governments they've built in both countries before they leave.  Not only that but Gates has been cutting spending on shit like billion dollar airplanes that suck.  There's a lot of criticism that could be thrown around, it just seems to me like the DoD is the last place that deserves it right now.

I agree that his first year has been disappointing.  He has basically used all of his political capital to bailout finance and industry, bluster around about health care reform among other topics, and has not really seized initiative on his campaign promises with any kind of conviction whatsoever.

I hadn't thought about the point of who he would get to oversee the end of the two shitty wars.  It's a tough job that no one would really want, I guess.

Though when we have 700+ military bases worldwide and the countless programs we still have in development for weapons that we don't really need, you can never heap too much criticism at the foot of the Pentagon.  Getting rid of a plane that no one seemed to really want is a good start, but it's a drop in the bucket of reform that needs to occur there.

I still think that Afghanistan and Iraq are fucked barring long term occupations. We can't keep up the threat of violence combined with bribery to keep those countries marginally stable forever.  Is the goal to be able to pull out eventually and not see a civil war right off the bat or something?  I certainly can't see the governments we've built lasting, given the levels of corruption and the taint of them being forced down people's throats by the US.  I'd put money right now on Afghanistan making it less than 2 years, no matter when we pull out or how stable it might appear at the time.

I'm also pretty worried about where all of the aid is going - there are epic levels of corruption in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where we've been pouring tons of dollars.  I think between the money and other aid and the veteran fighters being developed in skirmishes with US forces, we might be buying ourselves a disaster in Kashmir.

 

I'd put money right now on Afghanistan making it less than 2 years, no matter when we pull out or how stable it might appear at the time.

I'm also pretty worried about where all of the aid is going - there are epic levels of corruption in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where we've been pouring tons of dollars.

Hey wtf, as long as we can keep a conflict going we profit.

You do know who "we" are don't you? It's the same as "they" except with acceptance of our responsibility for our part in being apathetic enough to allow their agenda to rule us.

"Everybody's elated with Bernanke's latest bubble except working people who have seen their wages slashed by 4.5%..."

I was reading the figures on unemployment and I believe that there is a direct correlation between new unemployment figures and the raising of the minimum wage.  I think it is a sad day when people are losing their jobs because their company can't afford to pay them minimum wage, which isn't even a livable wage.  I'm probably not the only person to have thought this, but it just made me think... I made more as a temp than I do now as a perm. employee.  That just seems backwards to me.  Everything about our economical system is backwards!

I don't like many of his appointees, especially on the economic side of the spectrum.  I think he's inherited a disaster in the economy and not done anything to make it better - I think that any economic programs should have directly created jobs and rebuilt failing infrastructure, instead of the half-assed bullshit he pushed through. 

Geithner is a fucking tool, who shouldnt be anywhere near that administration.

I think the blank slate comment is on the mark, and I think that people are expecting magic to happen and all the problems of the last 8 years to suddenly melt away because he is a blank slate. It'll take at least 8 years to undo Bush's fuckups. Has there been much progress in New Orleans? That shits been festering for 4 years now.

"Everybody's elated with Bernanke's latest bubble except working people who have seen their wages slashed by 4.5%..."

I was reading the figures on unemployment and I believe that there is a direct correlation between new unemployment figures and the raising of the minimum wage.  I think it is a sad day when people are losing their jobs because their company can't afford to pay them minimum wage, which isn't even a livable wage.  I'm probably not the only person to have thought this, but it just made me think... I made more as a temp than I do now as a perm. employee.  That just seems backwards to me.  Everything about our economical system is backwards!

It is because there is no employment beyond basic local services that cannot be done for cheaper by outsourcing.  Why pay a software engineer $100k/yr+healthcare+pension+retirement when you can pay an Indian to do the same job (maybe even a superior job) for 1/5th of that with no benefit liabilities at all.

Americans standard of living is too high relative to the worth of our production.  Until the rest of the world raises their standards of living/employment (like a global minimum wage) most of our workforce will remain uncompetitive.

Bernanke, like a stopped clock, is correct twice a day. He makes himself out to be a student of history, particularly the Great Depression, so he's attempting to NOT make the same mistakes that were made then.

The problem is that the world is a vastly different place than it was 75 years ago.

Also he's telling up that things have levelled off, that the next step is to stimulate some more. The economy was bleeding profusely. Now the bleeding has stopped. But the patient is still sick and has been moved from the ER to intensive care. Stop patching him up and start healing him.

IOW, hold the rates for another year and do something to create jobs.

make it more appealing for people to start businesses and create jobs. 50% of all job creation each year comes from small business

Most of the work people do is fucking meaningless anyway.

I think we should go back to small farms and local businesses *waves walker angrily at computer*

haha.... go to Cuba you fucking Communist!

Nah, you have that wrong Sasha...

haha... go to Margaret Thatchers England you fucking Limey...