Friday Rant — This Country Is Finished

Source: Decline of the Empire

This country is finished
   —George Carlin, on Keith Olbermann, October 23, 2007

Disgusted. That is the only word which describes how we should feel about what’s happening in this country lately. Just look at this, from Democrats Seek to Own ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Movement.

Occupation can lead to ownership, whether or not you want it.

The spread of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement was met with initial hesitation in both the Democratic and Republican parties. That might be an appropriate response to any protests that aim themselves squarely at the establishment, particularly those with goals that are diverse and diffuse as the current protesters’ are.

But a consensus is emerging among Democrats that the “Occupy” movement is worth tapping into, even helping along and joining with in some instances.

“I support the message to the establishment,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Change has to happen. We cannot continue in a way that does not — that is not relevant to their lives. People are angry.”

To Democrats eager for a liberal antidote to the Tea Party energy that lifted Republicans to power last year, the “Occupy” rallies that started in New York last month and have spread to cities nationwide are tempting to embrace.

In their broadest focus, the protesters channel the indignation Democrats are trying to stir up in the year before the presidential election. The Obama White House is seeking to rally the public for a jobs package and deficit-reduction ideas that argue for the rich and corporate America to pay more — goals the protesters largely share.

If you just read the quotes above and you’re not disgusted, go away. There’s nothing I can do for you.

The Empire has been in Decline for 30 years, and that decline has accelerated to an alarming extent over the last decade, and especially the last 3 years. There are (at least) two important consequences of our longer term downfall which you need to bear in mind at all times.

• Solutions to America’s outsized problems will never arise within our corrupt, dysfunctional political system. That system has been captured by powerful special interests.
• There is no economic “quick fix” which will put America back on an inclusive growth path which lifts all boats.

If Americans could only remember these two simple rules, they would have a surefire litmus test for detecting bullshit in our public discourse. I support the message to the establishment says establishment member extraordinaire Nancy Pelosi. Give me a break! The Democrats are trying to stir up indignation in the year before the presidential election, to rally the public for a jobs package and deficit-reduction ideas. Another $400 billion jobs package is like putting a band-aid on a severed limb. Deficit reduction (austerity) can only mean one thing for working Americans, and it’s not good.

This stuff coming from Democrats is 100% pure, undiluted, unadulterated horseshit, big steamers straight from the horse’s ass(es). Clearly the Democrats want to co-opt the protesters for their own purposes. They want to control the government again. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. The Awful Truth about America’s economic situation is not even on their radar. Just ask them. Surely they don’t think America has now become a third-world country.

Do you know that 25% of all children under the age of 6 now live in poverty in the United States? Twenty-five percent! One quarter of all of them, 5.9 million kids!  Almost invariably, such children will be scarred for life. And don’t quote some Horatio Alger rags-to-riches story, like Herman Cain likes to do. That’s bullshit too. File that one under myths we create so we don’t have to feel ashamed. If you care about this country, aren’t you ashamed that 25% of young kids live in poverty? If not, why not? This despicable situation arose under the very “establishment” Nancy Pelosi so ably represents. And why on Earth would anybody think she and Hopey-Changey have way to fix it?

Despicable situations are easy to come by. A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 20 percent of Americans say they’ve had trouble putting food on the table in the past 12 months, up from nine percent in 2008. And speaking of being scarred for life, consider the drastic fall in wages for younger workers (ages 25-34). This is from the Wall Street Journal’s Number of the Week: Falling Wages for Young College Grads.

9.6%: Decline from 2000 to 2010 in inflation-adjusted median earnings of people 25 to 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree and no graduate degree.

Few people have gone unscathed by the bad economy, but the way it has damaged the prospects of America’s young college graduates may be one of its most lasting legacies. The high unemployment they are now experiencing will leave many of them a step behind throughout their careers. Research by Yale School of Management economist Lisa Kahn found that workers who graduated from college during the deep recession in the early 1980s were still worse off than workers who graduated in better times in 2006.

When young college graduates do land a job, it often won’t pay well. According to the Census Bureau, the median annual earnings of a worker 25 to 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree (but no graduate degree) was $40,875 last year. That compares with $45,200 in 2000, adjusting for inflation.

The trend is clear, isnt’ it? Our nation’s young workers are being flushed down the toilet, just like the 20% of those who can’t easily put food on the table, or the 25% of young children who live in poverty.

I will end where I began—disgusted. I can’t abide the constant pretense that there’s some easy way to fix this unholy mess, some magic elixir which is going to lift 5.9 million kids out of poverty. Poor is what they are, and poor is how they’ll stay. And that number will very likely grow and grow. The elites who run this country simply don’t give a fuck about our invisible poor.

The “occupy X” protests are a healthy sign of life in a corporate-dominated faux culture, and I support those protests. The problem is that they have come at the end of a 30 year decline which shows no signs of abating. In fact, that decline is getting worse by the day. Apprarently things finally got bad enough to get people off their asses. But it’s a case of way too little, way too late. And now, Nancy Pelosi feels our pain. Jesus wept. Barring a miracle—I don’t believe in miracles and neither should you—I agree with George Carlin. This country is finished.

Read more at Decline of the Empire