Should the Causers of Recessions/Depressions Hang?

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The Middle East is an interesting region, but it's hamstrung by the oppressive belief and political systems that exist in the countries. The decades of Western Imperialism are over, the East shall rise from the shadows and engulf the world. We will play fine music, you and I.

That has always been obvious to me -- not that anyone ever listens... While it's true that they mindlessly follow and believe the hype, It would be more realistic to blame those who DID understand what they were doing and took advantage of the stupidity of the masses. They didn't just allow. The monopoly on the mainstream media is absolute. Everyone believes that we have freedom of speech, which only adds to the confusion. The five (5) people who control the global media consciously and deliberately created a culture of consumerism in which one was practically required to play. Most people have no idea what is really happening, and if you try to tell them, they edge away as though you're a dangerous lunatic. The mainstream media openly ridicules any alternative view, strongly encourages everyone to do the same, ("If you see... just push him down the nearest flight of stairs") and subtly hints that you can go to jail for speaking out. You are forbidden to think it through, and you don't have time to anyway before the next commercial (at double the volume) blows away whatever half thought you might have had.

They also encourage racism, while pretending to oppose it. They want us to believe that the government loves certain ethnic groups more and will protect us at the expense of other groups. That was one of the messages of Hurricane Katrina. "Don't worry, this could never happen to us, so it doesn't matter."

The idea that our own government could murder 3,000 people, on US soil, in broad daylight, is just so horrible that no one can think it. My own brother-in-law was in that building (a typical Wall-street guy). He was so traumatized that he didn't talk for a week. Then he went back to work at the new location, as though nothing happened. He still believes that he is at the top of the food chain, and that his government loves him. There's no room in his mind for anything else. He reminds me of Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind" (fictional character who couldn't adapt to a changing world). Can you say, "house slave"?

We've known all along that this was coming. None of the arguments are new. One of my earliest memories is of my father yelling at the TV about inflation, "stop printing the damn stuff!" It was as obvious then as it is now. But we're not allowed to know or think about it. Just buy, buy, buy, and all will be well.

They talk about economic theories as though it's complicated, and invent complicated excuses until you run out of room in your brain, then they say, "Trust me. I'm an expert." As though that is proof of something.

Neither are we allowed to know what the people non-english speaking countries think. They paint everything in the worst possible light, and absolutely never discuss motives. This war is breaking out here, that one is breaking out there, and there's never a motive. We are expected to believe that all Arabs are mindless lunatics who go around killing each other for no reason at all. If we could talk to each other, that would help. They take advantage of the fact that the Arabs are not here to defend themselves.

The enemy is not really the people in the US or the Arabs or the Chinese or the Jews or anyone else. The real enemy is a handful of people who don't care about any of us. The competition is an illusion. (A rising tide floats all boats.) If they can keep us suspicious of each other, they can keep doing whatever they like.

Good luck with that. The truth is that we're all going down together. Either we all win, or we all lose.

Sometimes, I have trouble remembering why we even want to save this retched planet.

No, there is a difference. Real estate brokers that encouraged people to over-state their income (and then approved the application as verified) actually did something wrong - as did the the loan applicant. People that did stupid things with derivatives also actually deserve a big slice of blame - they can't be punished unless they broke the law, but they cannot be exculpated.

They won't be punished because they continue to wield power. This is not Stalinist USSR where powerful people were stripped of power and shot or sent to Siberia... I think that's what they really find shocking about regimes like Stalin's, that people with power were at greater danger than everyone else.

yeah good luck with that. face it, america has entered its twilight. in the middle east its just dawn.[/quote]

While the U.S. may be fading (a distinct possibility) the intellectual light went out in the Uma around the 13th century c.e.. Islam had a brief flourishing of intellect which was extinguished by the religious bigots and hard-liners. Just as the light was going out in Persia and in the Andulus (in Spain) the beat was being picked up in Europe which imported the Greek classics preserved and translated by Arab and Jewish scholars. That is how most of what we have of Aristotle (for example) made it back to Europe (by way of the Byzantine Empire).

ruveyn

yeah all thats true but it doesn't pertain to anything i have said. my point the that the geo-political, economic, and military power of the middle-east will continue to grow and will eventually become a force to be reckoned with on the world stage, whereas americas power and role in international politics will diminish. of course the middle east wont be the only previously ignored region to whom the west will have to start listening: brazil, india, indonesia will all emerge as important players, not to mention china which is already richer the the USA

in summary: lol america is f****d

Given that the middle east's economy is based upon petroleum and basically nothing else, I would not trust it's success. It is not necessarily true that oil will continue to drive economies, and if it stops, then the middle east is relatively dead in the water. Heck, given what seems to be the case about their economic policies, if oil loses it's importance to any extent, these countries *are* dead, as the economic policies for some of the larger countries seem terrible at a first glance.

China's GDP is still much lower than the US's, so I do not know what sense you talk about when you say they are richer, because their GDP is still less than half of ours.

less debt = richer than. in terms of gdp yeah americas richer, but if you factor in future economic prospects china has a bright future to look forward to whereas the economy of the US will continually diminish

as for oil if you have one of the fastest growing populations in world you wont necessarily need oil exports to facilitate economic growth. also countries like iran, iraq, lebanon and syria have a highly educated populace and economies that are becoming diversified, once oil exports start dropping it'll hardly mean the end of economic progress

That's a very funny definition of richer you got there.

Hrm, actually, if they reimbursed all the money that they've conned out of people, that "could" be enough for them to keep their lives. ;p