wtf?!?!

[-deathboy-]

seriously, what the fuck?


now i can understand the economy is in the shitter and big oil was in bed with the previous administration and blah blah blah etc...

but what the fuck was someone thinking when they put these 2 headlines right next to each other on the front page?

[DeathFrogg]

Maybe they wanted people to see exactly why the economy was in the shitter. Maybe this was deliberate.

$27 billion in bonuses given to stock traders and bankers for FY 2008.

$4 TRILLION in total banking losses since 1987. We get to foot that bill. that means we get to pay taxes so the bankers and stock traders can keep their yachts, jets and lamborghinis and vacation palaces in the Bahamas.

Record profits in the oil, gas, banking, military manufacturing, stock trading and advertising industries at the same time non-military manufacturing and construction is laying off huge percentages of their workforce, while giving their own top executives multimillion dollar bonuses.

Alan Greenspan is a devotee of Ayn Rand and has spent the better part of the last 20 years putting her delusions into practice. You are now seeing the ultimate manifestation of what she envisioned. It is the foundation of the entire Republican economic philosophy. That is, coddle and support the wealthiest industrialists and the bankers, concentrate the greatest share of available wealth into the smallest number of individuals as possible, and the rest of society no longer matters.

And its only going to get worse. We have barely scratched the iceberg.

It is the ultimate Republican wet dream. Put a third of the country out of work, allow the bridges, roads, schools, sewer and water systems to become totally decrepit. Turn local police into paramilitaries that are exempt from the laws they exist to enforce. Enforce minor criminal law with maximum force against the most defenseless sectors of society, and ignore or even abet the crimes committed by the super wealthy against those same sectors.

Make people so desperate to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, they'll take any pay you want them to and you can treat them any way you want.

Its what fascism is. It is how it functions. What do yo thing Ronald Reagan was all about?

[derek666]

Maybe they wanted people to see exactly why the economy was in the shitter. Maybe this was deliberate.

$27 billion in bonuses given to stock traders and bankers for FY 2008.

$4 TRILLION in total banking losses since 1987. We get to foot that bill. that means we get to pay taxes so the bankers and stock traders can keep their yachts, jets and lamborghinis and vacation palaces in the Bahamas.

Record profits in the oil, gas, banking, military manufacturing, stock trading and advertising industries at the same time non-military manufacturing and construction is laying off huge percentages of their workforce, while giving their own top executives multimillion dollar bonuses.

Alan Greenspan is a devotee of Ayn Rand and has spent the better part of the last 20 years putting her delusions into practice. You are now seeing the ultimate manifestation of what she envisioned. It is the foundation of the entire Republican economic philosophy. That is, coddle and support the wealthiest industrialists and the bankers, concentrate the greatest share of available wealth into the smallest number of individuals as possible, and the rest of society no longer matters.

And its only going to get worse. We have barely scratched the iceberg.

It is the ultimate Republican wet dream. Put a third of the country out of work, allow the bridges, roads, schools, sewer and water systems to become totally decrepit. Turn local police into paramilitaries that are exempt from the laws they exist to enforce. Enforce minor criminal law with maximum force against the most defenseless sectors of society, and ignore or even abet the crimes committed by the super wealthy against those same sectors.

Make people so desperate to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, they'll take any pay you want them to and you can treat them any way you want.

Its what fascism is. It is how it functions. What do yo thing Ronald Reagan was all about?

Wow, we all know Oil companies are reaping massive benefits, but am I the only one who has noticed that banks and the stock market have gone in the shitter?? The only reason these fucked ceo's are getting huge amounts of money is from Bush and the mostly democrat bailout packages!!! Those billions of dollars should NOT have been given away like a halloween treat and most people with half a brain know this.

Since when has this state become a Republican state? The schools, roads, bridges becoming decrepit from allowing it to happen?? You described exactly what is happening here!!!

Maybe its just me, but how is it that all the bad shit that has happened in this whole country the fault of Republicans? Greenspan was also Clintons boy for 8 years and no one cared then!

[Blonde leading the blonde]

Too little, too late?

[Project Undead Vish]

This state isn't a red state. But the majority of the state is RED... when you look at the land's vastness. The only blue areas are from Pierce County and north from there and a few places on the Olympic peninsula. The rest of the state is red. Luckily, the most concentrated part of the state has more people than the rest of the state. So we win.

[derek666]

This state isn't a red state. But the majority of the state is RED... when you look at the land's vastness. The only blue areas are from Pierce County and north from there and a few places on the Olympic peninsula. The rest of the state is red. Luckily, the most concentrated part of the state has more people than the rest of the state. So we win.

I know this state isnt red, my point was throwing something out that contradicts DF's statement about only republicans are closing schools, letting the roads go to shit etc etc, everything he was blaming on the right is happening right here in this state, and this state has been majority blue for 28 years now. Republicans are NOT the ones who are the cause of this countries shit, they are not the ones backing Bush and the Dems on all these bailouts. and to top it off, why the hell is DF not bitching about the stimulus checks that will be in the mail like when GW was sending em?? Its ok for one to send out free loot but not the other?? Double standard, rhetorical hypocrisy!!!!

[DeathFrogg]

Heh, interesting about how much you resemble the Jonestown folks.

You complain about the flavor of the kool-aid, rather than the poison it contains.

The 1950's and early 60's set the standard for what is considered "prosperity" in the eyes of conservative economists. They all mention it at one time or another, never mind that the black population was still entirely marginalized and pretty much legally prevented from participating in most commerce in this country, especially in the south. Forget that for a moment. Think about the fact of that standard of cost of living in the 1950's. That wonderful high water mark that everyone seems to think was so great.

A young man or woman, could move out of their house at 19 or 20, go to a college or university for less than half a weeks pay every semester, including the cost of books. ON A PART TIME JOB. They could even get government support, direct payments, tuition waivers and free dorms if they kept their grades up and showed promise in a particular field.

Another half a weeks pay would handle the costs of rent and utilities.

You could buy a 1-1/2 inch thick t-bone steak for 12-15 cents a pound. And know that that steak had been inspected, and certified as being safe to eat by a Federal Employee who was not beholden to the industry.

You could go to a State or national park, and camp, and the park was well maintained with functional toilets and decently maintained campsites, not to mention educated, learned and well trained park rangers that were employed by the Government to keep it that way.

You could send your young kids to a public school, knowing that that school and the others like it around the country were some of the best in the world, so good that people in other countries would send their kids to be educated in the United States. That those buildings were maintained in near pristine condition, and the Teachers were well qualified to teach the young kids the subjects they would need to live as adults in a free society.

A young man could expect a UNION job when it was time for him to go out in the world and earn his own keep. The pay was good enough for him to buy a house by his mid 20's if he worked hard and proved his worth. The pay was good enough to get married and start a family and not have to borrow himself into slavery to buy that house, or that new car, or send his kids to university. A middle-class wage earner could buy a new car every three years. On an hourly pay, Union job.

Think about that, and be reminded that the top income tax rate in this country was 90%, charged to the top 1% of income earners.

Right now, the top income tax rate is 32%, and it is charged to the 60-70th percentile of income level. I make less than 37 thou a year, and I pay 25%. Another 10% of that yearly gross pays for health insurance, over $3000 a year.

Right now, the top 400 income earners pay a 17% tax rate. As of 2007, their incomes, the top 400, have increased by nearly six hundred times. While the average wage earner, has seen his hourly rate of pay stay nearly exactly the same for more than 25 years, and has actually gone down in many parts of the country. Way down.

The average houry paid worker in this country makes $17.00 an hour. thats a little over $35,000 a year.

As of 2007, the average income of the top 400 income earners in the United States is $217,000,000 per year. Thats two hundered seventeen MILLION dollars. Per year. Average. And they "pay" 17% of that in income tax. Minus those write-offs for buying that 150 foot yacht, or that 10,000 square foot vacation house in Aspen Colorado or the Bahamas, or that new private jet, or giving to the phony charity that the wife set up and makes a couple hundred thousand a year off of herself, or owning that giant chunk of land in the central plains that might once have been farmed in the past.

Hell, that last one could earn you $4,000 per acre that you aren't farming in direct subsidy payments from the Federal Government. Buy 400 acres, own it free and clear, and the Federal government will PAY YOU CASH to not grown anything on it. People like Scottie Pippen and Gene Simmons and Kurt Warner make a lot of money that way.

Think you could pull that off? do you have that incredible and totally unfettered access to cash money to make that happen? That is the system we've seen put in place since Reagan became President. The US Senate has been controlled by the GOP for most of the last 25 years. We have had a majority of GOP Presidents in that time. The House has had a GOP majority from 1996 untill 2006. Plenty of Democrats have been going along with all that. Enough to see nearly everything the GOP pushed for being passed, nearly eliminating everything that Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy built, the school systems, the roads, bridges and parks. All of that is barely a shadow of what it was, when the top percentages of income earners in this country paid 70-90 percent of their income in taxes. Actually contributing something to the Country that made them the wealthiest people in the world.

Economically, we are right back in the 1920's. And the ONLY solution the GOP has to offer is more tax reductions for the very wealthiest of Americans. The people who caused the problems we're seeing in the economy, right now. Their main solution is just to print more money and hand it out willy-nilly to the bankers and flimflam artists on Wall Street.

Give President Obama a chance, its going to take at least three years just to stop the hemorraging.

[Adremelech]

We have barely scratched the iceberg.

That's like saying "Happier than a clam in a henhouse".

[LIVE FO RETSINIM]

unfortuanatly, I dont' think anyone is going to make it 3 years, let alone the next 6 months. Wonder what is going to happen.

[DeathFrogg]

That's like saying "Happier than a clam in a henhouse".

Not when you're riding the Titanic.

[The Green Manalishi]

Think the population growth in the world has something to do with it too. Born into poverty, some folks I think, unfortunately will never have a running start...

Look at all the changes just in a short amount of time in a century, it all ties together, the more people, the more the earth gets trashed, economic disasters due to the chaos that jackholes like the Bush crew, it just all ties togther.

I don't know if it is an urban myth, something to check into, heard a while ago that we've shot so many satellites, moon, mars, etc. missions up through the atmosphere into space that there is all this "space garbage" floating around, that the pilots of the space shuttles have to steer around it when they are in that space.

Crazy if true. Maybe there is no green house and we have holes in the ozone from shooting shit back in and out. Maybe pigs fly.

Its obvious that systems are set up to fail, prime example the Reservation system. Know first hand.

Just hoping New dude has mercy on us, three years. Damn Gina. Depressing.

[Irrylath]

The average houry paid worker in this country makes $17.00 an hour. thats a little over $35,000 a year.

I'm no where near that.

[derek666]

Heh, interesting about how much you resemble the Jonestown folks.

You complain about the flavor of the kool-aid, rather than the poison it contains.

You, mr likes to talk shit, are the one who is hung up like the Jonestown idiots!! For some reason you are completely hung up on this "only democrats can do right and republicans are fascists" crap.

In your eyes and your words, Tax cuts are only for the richest of the rich etc etc, I will not spend my refund check blah blah when it was Bush doing it. Where is this outrage now that Obama is doing it? Who keeps voting for these free billions of dollars in handouts to the super elite rich fucks?

I am in total agreement with you on how things used to be in this country, there is no denying that. Times change and people change, and heres one thing to think about, do you think it is better to keep rewarding women for spitting out 3,4,5,6, kids just to collect free checks? There really isnt a 5 year cap on welfare in this state, trust me my oldest is 15 and his mom has figured out how to keep it coming in.
Hows this one, Dem Sen. Mitchell and this waste of money chasing Barry Bonds and other baseball players for squirting steroids in their ass?!?! Seriously? You should know that that is a waste of time, money and effort? Just like this new $819 billion stimulus crock of shit, along with the bailouts. We the working class are the ones getting the shaft in all this mess. My tax dollars could definately go to something better than finding out if Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens stuck a needle in their asses!!

[derek666]

Think the population growth in the world has something to do with it too. Born into poverty, some folks I think, unfortunately will never have a running start...

.

Oprah, who had 2 things against her, black and female, is proof that you can make gold from shit!! How many rappers, athletes etc have come from absolute nothing to be rich? If you do shit for yourself and don't expect things, you have no one to blame but yourself for your own downfalls.

[The Green Manalishi]

Oprah, who had 2 things against her, black and female, is proof that you can make gold from shit!! How many rappers, athletes etc have come from absolute nothing to be rich? If you do shit for yourself and don't expect things, you have no one to blame but yourself for your own downfalls.

Yeah, your right. There is just SO many Oprahs.
Unfortunately the statics, research, data, etc. shows that poverty is just THAT... POVERTY.
NOT everybody is born to be 5O CENT.
Not everyone has a natural gift to be an athlete, etc.
Those are beautiful STORIES OF AMAZING PEOPLE.

Stop with the self induced wedgie already.
This is a Forum for opinions.
Its ok, get a brown paper bag and breath, for fuck sake.

[derek666]

Yeah, your right. There is just SO many Oprahs.
Unfortunately the statics, research, data, etc. shows that poverty is just THAT... POVERTY.
NOT everybody is born to be 5O CENT.
Not everyone has a natural gift to be an athlete, etc.
Those are beautiful STORIES OF AMAZING PEOPLE.

Stop with the self induced wedgie already.
This is a Forum for opinions.
Its ok, get a brown paper bag and breath, for fuck sake.

What the fuck would I need a brown paper bag for? What the fuck is wrong with someone doing what they can to better themselves? Do people really need to be told how to do better for themselves by a shit government? Does the government really need to pay for welfare rats? Do people really have to be slaves to make someone else wealthy?
No one is forced to stay in poverty, anyone can get a manual laborer job which pays a decent wage and work your way up the ladder to make more to keep yourself out of poverty. It starts with effort, self sacrifice and hard work, whats wrong with that? Maybe its just me but filling out a 1099 is better than waiting on a w-2 form making someone else money.

[The Green Manalishi]

What the fuck would I need a brown paper bag for? What the fuck is wrong with someone doing what they can to better themselves? Do people really need to be told how to do better for themselves by a shit government? Does the government really need to pay for welfare rats? Do people really have to be slaves to make someone else wealthy?
No one is forced to stay in poverty, anyone can get a manual laborer job which pays a decent wage and work your way up the ladder to make more to keep yourself out of poverty. It starts with effort, self sacrifice and hard work, whats wrong with that? Maybe its just me but filling out a 1099 is better than waiting on a w-2 form making someone else money.

Missed the point, the whole frickn' point.

Your preaching to the choir.

There is another angle to look at, regarding the GOVERNMENT AND HOW THEY SET PEOPLE UP FOR FAILURE. LOOK AT THE RECENT HEADLINES. OUR ECONOMY SUCKS AND WE HAVE BAILOUT B.S. NO ONE IS DISAGREEING WITH YOUR VIEWPOINT, BUT THERE IS MORE TO IT.

we are on the same page dil.

[The Green Manalishi]

P.S.

Welfare Rats = goverment pays.

Big bail outs for Auto Corps, Banks, etc. = we pay.

WTF.

[derek666]

P.S.

Welfare Rats = goverment pays.

Big bail outs for Auto Corps, Banks, etc. = we pay.

WTF.

Welfare Rats = we pay!!!! Where does the government get the money to pay?? Our tax money. No matter how ya look at it, the bailouts are nothing more then fucking welfare for rich fucks.

[-deathboy-]

another fine wtf!?? moment brought to us by mayor greg "out of touch with reality" nickels:

strap on your glitter helmet!

[wadruid]

another fine wtf!?? moment brought to us by mayor greg "out of touch with reality" nickels:

strap on your glitter helmet!

Yeah. That makes a lot of sense (or should I say cents?).

"Here's your $50 rebate, sir. Now write me a check for $75 to process it..."

[derek666]

another fine wtf!?? moment brought to us by mayor greg "out of touch with reality" nickels:

strap on your glitter helmet!

Brilliant, simply brilliant