Will we ever change the status quo in the US?

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What kind of cheese and crackers do you want? Saltines? Low-fat? Cheddar? Mozzarella? Provolone?

Would you like some moonshine instead of Whine?

Fnord, you definitely have made my day. Seriously, you should be a comedian. Maybe Raptor and Reuven can be your sidekick. Maybe you three can do slapstick and tell corny but fun jokes. Think ya three can hook some of us up with a front row seat?

Trying to become prosperous by spending more and more money is kind of like trying to become physically fit by eating more and more cake.

Why is the focus on economics and politics only?

Okay, so what do you think is being consumed THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE INVESTMENT TO PRODUCE?

Concerning money being created out of thin air, did you know that expanding the money supply is a common tool for stimulating economic growth?

A POSSIBLE bad side effect of this is inflation IF TOO MUCH is created because "too much money will be chasing too few goods" thus driving up prices...

CURRENTLY, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING.

The things that are currently holding back the national and world economies are related to low inflation/deflation (see Japan) and poor consumer demand. One reason for this is because too much money is being hoarded at the top by banks and 1%ers. What we need is more consumption and that is most easily achieved by putting money in the hands of PEOPLE WHO WILL SPEND IT IN THE REAL ECONOMY--buying groceries, paying rent, going to movies, eating at restaurants, getting hair cuts, buying Christmas presents, etc.

That's the sort of economic activity that creates demand, stimulates investment and creates jobs. People with jobs spend even more money in a virtuous cycle that benefits everyone.



You know, what's really destroying this country are good intentions misdirected by ignorance.


The best thing you could do to save the country is TAKE AN ECONOMICS CLASS.

It is happening. The reason prices are so high is because of the easy money. Home prices, education prices would free fall if the easy money was turned off - as these industries benefit especially from the easy money. Consumer good prices fall too. Everything would get cheaper.

Instead we expect our citizens to go into huge debt. Want education ? Take on huge student loans. Want a car ? Here is a six year loan for one. Want a house? OMG here is a 30 or 40 year debt on your back.

The real sick part to it all is that China is buying up real assets in America with all the money that Americans spend on consumption. It reminds me of some of the stories of the Great Depression where some super wealthy people ended up in poor homes.

Housing prices are not increasing. I bought my house 4 years ago for 50% less than it sold for just two years before that!
If my house has appreciated at all since then, the gains have been VERY MODEST.

As for the costs of higher ed, the main driver there is STATE FUNDING CUTS that shift more costs on the students. The CURE for that is HIGHER TAXES.



The reason people are going into debt is because American Capitalism has deteriorated to such a point that employers are no longer willing to pay a living wage in their ongoing efforts to strip-mine the American economy.

Here again the answer is simple, employers must be compelled to pay higher wages or higher taxes so that the government can expand aid such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.



Stop beating up on those poor Chinese peasants! They deserve some prosperity too!


PS

So, you used to be the biggest globalization apologist here. What happened, did you get outsourced?

The great thing about America today is that yes, there is deflation in many common needs and goods other than insurance and food that are relatively dirt cheap as compared to years ago.

And yes, even though the price of vehicles has gone up they last potentially decades longer than they use to, per increases in technology per quality of product.

Live a modest life and a person can become reasonably rich in what really counts in life.

Live beyond one's means and that is what happens.

I lived on minimum wage straight out of college comfortably as material items meant nothing to me.

I live rich now at age 54, cause material items still mean nothing to me.

I have a modest home that is almost paid for, a 2014 Honda Civic that costs the same now as it did in the year 2000, relatively speaking, which is much more efficient and advanced, technically and comfortably speaking, and yeah, food is expensive, but I have enough money to buy all of that I want, within reason, but I do burn about 4,000 calories a day at maintaining the relative health of a pro-athlete in the greatest gift of all, human health and well being..:)

Money doesn't touch that GIFT OF GOD AS MOTHER NATURE TRUE AS TRUTH in HUMAN BEING WEALTH.

We have so much in this country but some people see so little of what is even here and almost free, particularly the potential for FERRARI STYLE HUMAN HEALTH and well-being in BALANCE, PER MASTERY OF ONE'S OWN MIND AND BODY through relative free will, per the GREATEST POTENTIAL WEALTH OF HUMAN Being Animals in Balance.

That is the real human being status QUO OF HEALTH and WEALTH that most people cannot even see as reality in life, in this country today.

The real advanced societies like the indigenous American Indians lived it as way of life, until the 'smart' Europeans came over and ERADICATED THEM OR THEIR 'SO-CALLED' uncivilized ways and got them sick in the body and mind in IMBALANCE OF 'REALLY SMART' westernized ways of illusion in living life.

And with ALL that said, here is, some theme music, to go along with all these words..;)



EVER SEE a blood.. hmm.. blonde haired, blue eyed American Indian, well in true effect and AFFECT there is one in that Avatar by both way of life and BLOOD per maternal Sioux and Cherokee roots..;)

JUST CALL ME chief Aghogday, with a double wink..;)..;)..and smile..:).

I FOR ONE AM FRIGGING WILD AND FREE, now that I INSTINCTUALLY, INNATELY LEARN, AND PRACTICE how to UNDOMESTICATE MYSELF AND TRULY fly free with eagles, BIG CATS, and wolves that are my ancestors in metaphor, AND BLOOD too..:)

AND HELL YES, I have the flesh and blood evidence from head to toe to validate that statement with irrefutable evidence that yes, it is possible to un-domesticate a very domesticated human back to the 'WILD ONES' 'WE' USED TO BE AND truly live LIFE FREE.

AND PEOPLE think I do nude male renaissance art on restricted Internet blog way, IN THE FLESH AND BLOOD, just for fun; hell no, it IS NOT JUST amazing natural HUMAN ART OF heART, IT IS frigging science too, ON A CASE STUDY BASIS.

Flesh and Blood does not lie, and neither do hips and eyes, when seen for truth.

OH, AND by the way here is a song for that too..;)

Ya can call me a Cosmic DJ, if ya like too..;)



I DON'T kNOw much about Y'all BUT I for ONE AM KILLING IT WITH EVERY NOW IN FUN..;)

*(laughie smilie)*

If we do as you say, we'll end up nearly as prosperous as Zimbabwe.

Is that where you went to school?

Fnord, this is a great first: we completely agree on something, yep, 150%.

To be blunt, this is the choice you have to consider: either you act to facilitate the change you want to see or you are passively consenting to, and perpetuating, the status quo.

I felt really illuminated when I read Gandhi's autobiography.

He was not always this ascetic, thin-looking old man who wore granny glasses.

He was actually well-educated, and grew up in the "upper classes" (not to take away from his accomplishments, which were revolutionary in scope).

He was a very politically-astute person. You wouldn't think so by his later appearance.

He was a pragmatist, rather than merely an idealist.

In his autobiography, he readily acknowledged his faults, and told us how he learned from them.

See www.encyclopedia.com for a biographical summary of Mohatmas Ghandi.

This is a fairly comprehensive though short account of his achievements. Note that when he returned to India, he didn't encourage Indians to blame the British Raj for their predicament; instead, he informed them that their problems were "self-made" - meaning that they tolerated the intolerable - foreigner rule and exploitation of Indian resources, instead of changing their own behaviour and ideas.

Notice any parallels in that?

Don't be stupid.

I take it, however, that you studied Keynesian Economics to some minimum level and bought it hook, line, and sinker.

If spending created prosperity, after these last few years of unprecedented levels of economic stimulus, wouldn't the economy be in far better shape than it is now. It isn't for the simple fact that spending does not create prosperity.

It might create prosperity if the velocity of money was far greater than it is in real life. But it isn't near high enough for that.

Yep...I agree with B19. We have to be determined to advance in society "on our own terms." However, I also believe that we have to do this "within the system," rather than solely "outside the system."

Martin Luther King operated, by and large, "within the system." He succeeded quite well, thank you.

If people with autism operate like separatists, they will never appeal to the "greater society." Instead, they will turn off the "greater society."

They will also turn off the people who are already doing things to change society. That is, those of us who have grown bored of their incessant complaining have already tuned them out completely.

As I think about it, I think there must be a balance, which Martin Luther King also did quite well.

Dr. King could be rough when he had to be. Sometimes, we have to be "rough." But we have to be smart about it.

We also have to do a Thurgood Marshall: Gain our rights through the courts.