“Four sorrows are certain to be visited on the United States. Their cumulative
effect guarantees that the U.S. will cease to resemble
the country outlined in the Constitution of 1787.
First, there will be a state of perpetual war, leading to more terrorism against
Americans wherever they may be and a spreading reliance on nuclear weapons
among smaller nations as they try to ward off the imperial juggernaut.
Second is a loss of democracy and Constitutional rights as the presidency eclipses
Congress and is itself transformed from a co- equal ‘executive branch’
of government into a military junta.
Third is the replacement of truth by propaganda, disinformation,
and the glorification of war, power, and the military legions.
Lastly, there is bankruptcy, as the United States
pours its economic resources into
ever more grandiose military projects and shortchanges
the education, health, and safety of its citizens.”
Chalmers Johnson
Sorrows of Empire
AWD says:
Reminds me of the four horsemen of the apocylpase, which will also visit us before long:
Conquest, War, Famine, and Death
The four horsemen of the middle class apocalypse – what does it say that we as a nation bailed out the financially wealthy too big to fail banks yet failed to bail out the middle class?
What made the U.S. the envy of the world was the belief that if you worked hard enough and had the right kind of grit and intelligence that you would be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. This is what built the solid middle class after World War II.
The majority of people finally had the chance to purchase a home without going into dramatic debt, to send a child to a quality public schools, and for the most part enjoy in the rising quality of life for most Americans. The last category has been lost in the last few decades. While incomes for the bottom 80 percent of Americans have gone stagnant income growth for those in the top 1 percent has skyrocketed.
The tools and amount of capital needed to prosper are largely out of the reach of the middle class and only the modern day oligarchy can afford to send their kids to $50,000 a year private schools without sweating it. Does the public have at the top of their priority list a desire to keep the middle class solvent? We bailed out the too big to fail banks under the premise that they were instrumental for our economy but the same has not been offered to the middle class. Why is that?
Horseman #1 – Rising healthcare costs
Horseman #2 – Cost of college
Horseman #3 – Price and volatility of housing
Horseman #4 – Fuel and energy
http://www.mybudget360.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/oil-prices.png
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26th January 2013 at 11:06 am
Outtahere says:
AWD
Can’t argue with what you’re saying, except for this:
The majority of people finally had the chance to purchase a home without going into dramatic debt, to send a child to a quality public schools, and for the most part enjoy in the rising quality of life for most Americans.
The 30 year mortgage that was offered up to the American public after WWII took billions of dollars of potential capital out of the pockets of individuals and into the pockets of the Banksters. Paying 3X the original cost of a house is terribly expensive, even if it was made “affordable” by making the payments drag out over 30 years.
While it did allow masses of people to “own their own home”, at what price? How much more stable would our economy be if people had saved more money and either paid cash for their homes or put down at least 50% of the cost and financed the rest on a 10 year note instead. Just imagine how much money would still be in the hands of the people who innovate rather than in the hands of the Banksters who suffocate.
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26th January 2013 at 11:26 am
KaD says:
Why is that? Because the oligarchs are the only ones with the spare capacity to buy off our government.
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26th January 2013 at 11:51 am
Thunderbird says:
My hope is that the people will regain their conscience, see how their government at all levels have been taken over by criminal minded self interested tyrants & mindless serfs that serve these tyrants, and take back their government.
The first thing that has to be done on a State level is all the Administrators have to be fired. Administrative Law has no conscience and solves no social problems. Administrators are local dictators of federal law pushed on the public with no recourse.
A free people do not need federal administration. Think how the public schools would benefit right of way if the Administrators of federal law were dismissed and the school curriculum was decided on the local level to reflect the needs of the local economy?
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26th January 2013 at 12:13 pm
sangell says:
Charles Hugh Smith yesterday had about as clear and succinct explanation as I have ever read on the symbiotic relationship of banks and government to turn the American people into debt slaves. Its quite simple really. Allow the banks to extend credit for homes and now student loans to otherwise unqualified borrowers through the use of the government guaranteed loan. This fueled the debt led growth of the economy and the increased share of profit to the financial sector.
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26th January 2013 at 1:08 pm
Outtahere says:
Charles Hugh Smith is an outstanding blogger that has a way of putting things into context that even us most dense can understand. I highly recommend his books too for common sense understanding of where we are, how we got here and solutions for the future.
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26th January 2013 at 1:50 pm
Thunderbird says:
Outtahere: What do you mean by “solutions for the future?”
We are a country that has put lawyers into legislative positions. Lawyers don’t make solutions, they create problems by creating laws with unintended consequences. Bar lawyers from making legislation and the solutions will eventually come from people with conscience.
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26th January 2013 at 3:03 pm
AKAnon says:
T-Bird-I would consolidate your prescription: Bar lawyers. Willie S was right.
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26th January 2013 at 3:25 pm
AWD says:
T-bird
Well put. As in Rome, so it is today. Lawyers and politicians. destroyers of nations.
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26th January 2013 at 9:08 pm
Outtahere says:
Thunderbird
Basically, CHS advocates getting debt free, not being a debt serf to either the govt. or the Banksters. If everything you own is paid for then all you have to contend with from most outside influences is taxes, which so far are manageable. He contends that when the financial system finally collapses under it’s own weight then a reset will occur and a new system will evolve out of the ashes.
Resistance, Revolution, Liberation: A Model For Positive Change available through Amazon via Kindle or printed version. Excellent read.
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26th January 2013 at 9:31 pm
Makati1 says:
The housing bubble would never have happened if mortgages were limited to 20 years like it was for most of the previous 60 years. When sales peaked, the banks realized that they could keep the scam going by allowing 30 year mortgages and probably 40 year loans in some areas. They had to get the payment down so the herd of of buyers could expand. Same thing happened in the car industry. When it began to be obvious that most could not afford the higher prices, 3 years became 4 and then 5 and then 6 and then 7. Peoples actual incomes were dropping but prices were still rising.
Credit cards with ever expanding limits and gimmicks like low teaser rates, kept the game going, but it was reaching a peak and then came $100 oil. That blow put the average consumer into the ICU on government life support. The Fed keeps sticking in the IVs but it is doing less and less to revive the patient. The ‘for profit’ capitalist ‘democracy’ is coming to an end. I hope Mother Nature pulls the plug with $200 oil and then $300 oil and soon.
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26th January 2013 at 1:43 am