On Sun, 02 Jan 2011 11:57:52 -0600, F. George McDuffee
wrote:

On Sun, 2 Jan 2011 04:40:07 -0500, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:


"F. George McDuffee" wrote in message
. ..
==========
I think a better simile is a generation long Ponzi scheme,
where the insiders make out like a bandit, and the majority
investors get it in the shorts when it comes time to
actually deliver those promised outsized returns in actual
cash. The rationale is that they just need to invest a
little more money and then everything will be fine.

The "Republican" grift is very appealing, stolen as it was
from actual Republicans such Taft and Goldwater, that taxes
and regulations can and should be minimized by limiting the
size of government, and by combating [wait for it] fraud,
waste and abuse. The problem of course is that in a spirit
of bipartisanship, government has grown enormously, not
shrunk, fraud, waste and abuse are so rampant that these are
no longer recognized as such, and the Republican campaign
contributors are addicted to the Federal tit, albeit at a
higher aggregate level such as entire weapons systems
contracts.

The "Democratic" grift is very similar in that it promises
increasing social services and safety nets, again to be paid
for by increasing enforcement against Fraud, waste abuse,
and tax evasion, with no increase in taxes. The Democratic
campaign contributors and voters are equally addicted to the
federal tit, but many of these are at a lower
[subsistence/cheese check] level.

The entire established economic mantra of the last
generation from deregulation and the new knowledge based
economy to free trade and supply side economics is as much
bourgeois bafflegas/BS as Madoff's "split strike
conversion."

It should be apparent that as long as the executives on Wall
Street and the transnational corporations including the
banks are allowed, indeed encouraged, aided and abetted, to
skim the profits off the top and pay minimal to no taxes
[but large political campaign contributions], the US economy
will not and cannot improve. It should also be apparent
that such massive skimming and tax evasion requires
extensive bipartisan support including the top levels of the
DoJ and IRS, so the replacement of a blue scoundrel with a
red scoundrel will change nothing.

As long as the voters keep believing the popular myths,
legends, folklore, magic spells, incantations and oral
traditions pumped out by both political parties and the
political pendants, nothing is going to change, but then no
one wants to know the truth about Santa Claus either.


-- Unka George (George McDuffee)

I don't see how it's possible to resurrect honesty, integrity and justice in
America. Term limits and scraping the current tax system would be an
absolute must for any serious attempt to halt or slow the decline of America
and that will never happen. America will never be a major wealth creation
leader again. Look at the worst of Europe, that is our future. The
mounting debt can never be paid and default is inevitable. What happens
when all the give-aways grind to a halt?

=========
You appear to be correct in your analysis.

One "solution" is what I call the "Seven days in May" option
where the military gets fed-up with being the whipping boy
and cleans out the Aegean stable, aided and abetted by the
irate civil service employees who have been cheated out of
their deferred wages, i.e. pensions, and who have been
blamed for doing what they were told when things went wrong,
quite likely with drumhead court-martials and summary
executions of those most accountable, e.g. starting with
Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan.

Another possible endgame is continuation of business as
usual until no more money can be borrowed by the US
governments at any rate of interest, and all the trust
funds, bank accounts, insurance policies, privately owned
precious metals, foreign currency, etc. have been
commandeered by mandated "investment" in governmental
"securities," at which point a general collapse in not only
the financial/fiscal systems occur, but also a general
collapse of civil government at all levels.

As wrenching and catastrophic as it would be, IMNSHO the
least harmful "solution" now appears to be a refusal of the
"tea party" and other financially conservative legislators
to allow an increase in the national debt limit, projected
to be reached in mid April. This of course will result in
almost immediate governmental default and shutdown, but as
this now appears inevitable, the sooner this occurs the less
damage will be inflicted, and the more of their capital can
be salvaged, by the people, from the wreckage.

Bring on the Great Cull!!

In any likely "resolution," both the Democratic and
Republican parties will be identified as criminal
organizations, on a par with the "Crips" and the "Bloods"
and totally new political groupings will hopefully emerge
that will implement Draconian regulation of the financial
services industry, prohibit governmental deficits, abolish
the FRB, replacing it with an accountable government
owned/controlled central bank, and implementing a tax code
that insures everyone pays their fair share of the cost of
operating government. Don't hold your breath.


-- Unka George (George McDuffee)
..............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

--

"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once."
Robert A. Heinlein