Revolution From Above

Revolution From Above by Paul Craig Roberts

"This chart shows where the median household income of the US Superpower, the “indispensable people,” stands at the culmination of 2011. Americans are as well off as they were in 1967-68. Most americans cannot pay for fighting multi-trillion dollar wars for 11 years, bailout trillions of dollars in uncovered casino bets by Wall Street, have their middle class jobs sent abroad by corporations, and still expect to have higher personal incomes.

(see chart in the article)

Apparently, Americans are the first people in history who are so idealistic, or so thoroughly brainwashed, that they prefer to pay for wars and bail out banks than to make their mortgage payments and help their children with student loan debt."

These few words "pay for wars and bail out banks" are monumental in size, scope and effect, yet many people I talk with can't seem to get their head around this simple to understand bottom line.


Bill

Only 24.6 Percent Of All Jobs In The United States Are Good Jobs

Only 24.6 Percent Of All Jobs In The United States Are Good Jobs by Michael Snyder

This article speaks (loudly) for itself


Bill


Reflections on a Medical Career Robert S. Dotson, M.D. By: Robert S. Dotson, M.D.


This article should be seen by every American. Dr. Dotson consolidates a huge amount of highly valuable information in an article-size space.

A tidbit from his piece, which is off-topic but a very powerful notion that I've not seen put so well into words before. Dr. Dotson mentions in context of how people in control stay that way by using their authority and access to information to eliminate the opposition. "The old Soviet dictum attributed to Lavrenti Beria (Stalin’s NKVD chief), “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime,” is in full force in Amerika."

If this gets your attention, or should I say increases your angst, there is a single, general purpose solution that will breed other solutions: true election system reform



Bill

Good news on the automotive front

This is good news for America as well.

Introducing the Tesla S: It's electric, it's got great lines, and there's a waiting list a mile long

"Instead of a bulky transmission console between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, there is a nice empty space for parking your briefcase or purse. Instead of analog dials, there is a 17-inch Wi-Fi touchscreen display that handles everything from the navigation system to your MP3 collection to the suspension control settings. On the version I tested, there aren’t even door handles—until you touch the spot where they should be, which prompts them to emerge like the wings of a Golden Snitch."

Yes, it's pricey. All innovations these days start out priced so only the wealthy can afford them. But that's temporary. Once the industry gets into gear the price will drop - and drop.


Bill

Why Are So Many Bad Things Happening To America?

Why Are So Many Bad Things Happening To America? by Michael Snyder

An interesting summation of the desperate state of affairs in America today. One thing I don't understand is the ordering of the list - it should have WAR and DEBT at the top.

On the debt, this article is revealing, if anyone doesn't know yet:

Related: 27 Things That Every American Should Know About The National Debt

Related:Half Of American Households Hold 1 Percent Of Wealth by Dan Froomkin


Bill

Glenn Greenwald: How America's Surveillance State Breeds Conformity and Fear

Glenn Greenwald: How America's Surveillance State Breeds Conformity and Fear

"Once the government is able to monitor everything we do and say, we will be unable to fight back."

This should be required reading for every American.


Wars Have Unpredictable and Dangerous Collateral Effects by Ivan Eland

"In conclusion, those who advocate using the Libyan episode as a future model for U.S. intervention, especially in Syria, have overlooked its harmful unintended consequences."

A brief history of the consequences of American meddling in the Middle East. As if we didn't already know, but Ivan Eland has a concise way of putting it.


Bill

Washington’s Militarized Mindset

Washington’s Militarized Mindset by Tom Engelhardt

"Militarization in this country is hardly a new phenomenon. It can be traced back decades, but the process hit warp speed in the post-9/11 years, even if the U.S. still lacks the classic look of a militarized society. Almost unnoticed has been an accompanying transformation of the mindset of Washington — what might be called the militarization of solutions.

If the institutions of American life and governance are increasingly militarized, then it shouldn’t be surprising that the problems facing the country are ever more often framed in militarized terms and that the only solutions considered are similarly militarized. This paucity of imagination, this constraining of what might be possible, seems especially evident in the Greater Middle East. "

Tom has some really interesting information and observations about the current state of affairs in a dozen or so Middle East countries. It reads like a scorecard for a very horrible game. It's almost unbelievable.


Why This Obsession With Iran? by Patrick J. Buchanan

"Comes the retort: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a certifiable fanatic who has threatened to wipe Israel off the map. He cannot be allowed to get anywhere near a nuclear weapon.

Yet whatever Ahmadinejad said years ago, and that remains in dispute, he does not control the military, he does not decide on war, and he leaves the presidency next July and heads back to academia.

Is America afraid of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Where, then, is the mortal threat to justify the U.S. preparations for war with Iran described in the national press this week? "

This stuff is just plain ordinary common sense, and just have to believe most Americans feel this way. I think most people just feel helpless to do anything about it. But you can do something. Talk with your family, friends, relatives, the barber, anyone who will listen. Write blogs or reader responses to articles. Follow alternate websites. Of course you or I aren't going to make a difference, but if millions of people decide they've had enough we can get the changes we need (which is an election system that cuts down the influence of money dramatically. It can be done)


Bill

Why the ObamaCare Ruling Stinks

Why the ObamaCare Ruling Stinks by DAVE LINDORFF

"The real losers in the latest Supreme Court decision, however, are the people of the United States. Not those who will be required to go out and buy some over-priced, minimal coverage, rip-off insurance plan offered by the private insurance industry, or to pay a “tax” to the IRS for not doing so, but everyone.

This is because the Affordable Health Care Act is not affordable. It does little or nothing to control health care costs, which are destined to continue to gobble up an ever increasing amount of the total US Gross Domestic Product as well as of corporate profits and families’ incomes.

...


There is a reason why the US has far and away the costliest medical system in the world, and yet still has some 50 million people who cannot get preventive care

...

But it is a pyrrhic victory, both for Obama, who will now have to explain why it is a good thing to tax poor people who can’t come up with the money to buy a crummy mandated health insurance plan, and for the public, who are going to end up having to pay through the nose for this new law."

Bill