Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Thursday, October 15, 2009

What I Think About It




So I wonder. How can we have raised such barbarians who would set a child, a fellow classmate, on fire? Something has gone terribly wrong with our youth, somehow we have created a society which is producing mindlessly violent children. 


Which leads me to Wall Street. Where the predators end up, allowing them to legally commit financial violence upon us. Wall Street is back up over 10,000. One year later it's back where it was. Nothing has changed, not one, count it, one regulation has been put into place to control the behavior which caused the collapse of our economy in the first place. They have received 3 trillion or more of our dollars and they have had not one restraint placed upon them. As soon as taxpayer dollars flowed in, they went right back to the crazy risk taking. Goldman is paying out 20 billion in bonuses; Citi is at 25 billion in bonuses and Bank of America comes in at 30 billion. Another crash seems to be inevitable, why not, they have the treasure of the United States bankrolling them.


Michigan has an official unemployment figure of nearly 16%. Every 7.5 seconds a house is foreclosed in America. 14,000 people lose their health insurance every month. Small businesses are having their credit line pulled. 


Think of the head of a pin. We are approaching three quarters of the nation's wealth sitting in the hands of a number of people who could fit on the head of a pin. No society which has reached this imbalance has survived.


This brings me back to the barbarians we Americans are raising. When one considers what we value, how we have created a 'get it while you can' mentality, it isn't surprising we are raising generations of sociopaths.


I usually reserve this for the other blog, but I think this is something everyone should consider, so my thoughts on this Thursday are as you read them here. I think you should call your Senators and Representative, every week. If only half of our population became engaged, can you imagine?

8 comments:

Memories Of Mine said...

I have to say I agree with you.

Two reasons why people do nothing:
#1: they don't believe opinion will amount for any positive change.
#2: are happy living in ignorance, when it hits them personally they start to change their tune and then most then resort back to reason #1.

Me I like complaining, it keeps people honest. When I'm not complaining, I'll state my opinion. It doesn't always make me popular but at least I don't lie and you know where you stand.

Ganeida said...

Our banks *are* regulated ~ which is why they survived the collapse a bit better. I must say that as an outsider the way America does things ocassionally really floors me. It just doesn't seem sensible...

As for the other. I think when our youth becomes disengaged from the adults in their society they don't take on our values & I must say the number of young people I know who sidle away from, if not downright avoid adults, including their own parents, is really starting to bother me. The violence is starting younger & younger too. No wonder us Christians are wagging our sage heads & thumbing through Revelation...lol

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

Total agreement here! It absolutely gets my goat that we, the taxpayers, bailed out these companies only to have them go back to their same old ways. And what does the taxpayer get? Higher interest rates, more foreclosures on homes, more bankruptcies and the list goes on and on. I find it quite humorous (not really)that Wall Street is touting that the recession is over. Just another ploy to sucker us out of our money...or lack thereof.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

We have to speak up and act, otherwise our silence is complicit. We also need to question the information we are fed through the media. Question, speak, demand and act. NOW.

Sandra said...

Liss, you summed it up well.

Ganeida, as I understand the countries that had the worst effects from the investment banking collapse were the US & Great Britain. Both allowed a free-for-all mentality. The Brits reacted differently though and put restrictions in place afterward. We are business as usual. We would make sense to you if you understood the motivator for everything: money. If you follow the money trail, you get it.

Alicia, If we are coming out of recession (actually I think depression) it would be a first. A recovery without out job creation. Tell me, how does that work?

Bonnie, there is a simmering rage in the US population. It crosses political divides. We are all feeling we are being tossed from the train. And we are. We need to put a voice to our frustration before it explodes into something not good.

Just Jules said...

come play along on my blog today everyone!!!!!

EveryoneThinksThey'reGoodDrivers said...

I agree Sandra - I am currently just very thankful to have a job.

How the heck did they sneak by without an regulation?

Sandra said...

They didn't sneak by, they were allowed. It started with the TARP money during Bush & continued with the additional TARP money with Obama. No strings attached. But what is worse is the Federal Reserve has been handing over enormous amounts of money to Wall Street. They don't need Congressional approval. Wall Street has been funneled trillions.