Is America Finished?

jackiebaron

Our Goose is Cooked

By Mike Whitney

June 02, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- This must be what it was like in Russia before the Soviet Union collapsed. The government's so crooked that nothing works right, the infrastructure's in a shambles, millions of people are scraping by on government handouts, and everyone's on a permanent downer. Welcome to the Soviet States of America 2011.

I mean, seriously, things are really looking bad. Apart from killing people, we really don't do anything anymore. We have a humongous, over-bloated military that lumbers from one war to the next spreading misery wherever it goes, and meanwhile, back at home, things continue to go to the dogs. How long can that go on?

You can't get a job anymore, because all the jobs have been shipped off to Guandong Province or someplace South of the border. The best you can hope for is some part-time gig jerking double-tall-mochas or steering folks towards the red-dot special on Aisle 9. So, how can you sustain a middle class on a measly $9.50 per hour? It can't be done.

And just look at Washington. What a joke. The White House is just a protection racket for big business. And Congress, well, what can you say about congress? We'd be better off if they just packed their bags and went home for all the good they do. Then at least we could turn the House of Representatives into a homeless shelter or something that had some practical value for people. At any rate, we wouldn't have to listen to the bloviating of numbskulls like Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid anymore. That's got to be worth something.

You know our goose is cooked, don't you? You know we're not going to get out of this, right? The country is disintegrating. It's obvious. It isn't even America anymore; it's like we're on some kind of movie set where everything looks real, but it's all just props. Everything is perfectly placed to make you feel like you still live in a free country, but you know you don't. You know the government spying on you and going through your mail. You know if you stand in front of the state-house with a peace sign you'll get rousted or pepper-sprayed or something. You know if your name turns up on the wrong list, you'll either get bounced off your plane or dragged off to some far-flung blacksite where they keep you in a 6 ft. box until they want to waterboard for the millionth time. Yeah, everything still looks the same, but it's all changed. Everything's different now.

You watch news, right? It's all propaganda, every bit of it. In fact, they all read from same script. Maybe you went to some toffeenose college so you prefer PBS's Jim Lehrer News Hour, because you're smart and you want more "in depth" coverage. So, you get two brainy experts on each segment. But, there's one little problem, isn't there? Both experts are from corporate-funded think tanks, and both of them have exactly the same views on every single issue. But you think, "Hey, at least public TV airs different opinions." Right.

It's all George Orwell. It's all 1984. You know that. That's why we're all so frustrated. It's bad enough that the country's going to Hell in a handbasket, but it's even worse that they have to lie to you about it 24-7. That just reinforces the feeling that we're all goners; that the whole society is just propped up on one big freaking lie.

Have you looked around lately? Have you noticed the women at the grocery store who keep their head's down at the checkout stand while they load the boxes of mac n' cheese onto the conveyor-belt hoping like Hell that one of their credit cards will be accepted? Have you noticed that there are more kids at school showing up like ragamuffins and piling into the cafeteria for a free lunch. Have you been to a state park lately and seen the people who sleep in their cars at night and then spend $.50 to shower in the public restrooms. Have you taken a look under the freeway overpasses where small encampments are turning into tent cities.

I'm telling you, our goose is cooked.

The other day my bank shut-down after 30 years in business without any sign they were in trouble.
Whoa. You talk about shattered confidence; that'll do it every time. There I was in a long line of nervous-looking 50-somethings chewing on their lower lips and scowling while they made their way through the front door of the bank.

"Er, Mr. Bank Teller, could you tell me; do I have any money left?"

Don't kid yourself, when your bank goes under, it changes your world view. And it changes your feelings about America, too. Forget about security; it doesn't exist anymore. They'll fleece you out of your life's savings without batting an eye. Bankers are all crooks, every last one of them. And we're all just chickens for-the-plucking.

There was an article in USA Today that really sums up how bad things have gotten. The article is titled "Feds chase more student loan defaults". Here's a clip:

"The government increasingly is threatening to sue people who've defaulted on their student loans to get the money back. The number of loan defaults that the Education Department has referred to Justice Department lawyers for possible legal action has risen dramatically since before the recession and nearly doubled from 2009 to last year....

If the government does sue, it can go after wages and bank accounts, put liens on people's property and hold parents responsible for their children's debt if they co-signed the education loans. "The most important thing to remember is we want the loans repaid," says Jane Glickman, Education Department spokeswoman.

Can you see how sick this is? Since when has the Justice Department become a collection agency for private industry? Let the banks hire their own goons for Chrissake. They'd probably like that better that anyway.

And why is the DOJ shaking down our kids when the guys on Wall Street who created this mess are still slurping Bordeaux and figuring out new ways to ripoff Uncle Sugar? The whole thing is backasswards.

Any country that preys on its kids to make a few bucks is on it's last legs.

America has lost its way. Sooner or later we going to wind up in the same dustbin as the Soviet Union.

studiorat

Can't beat a bit of speculative historical fiction of a friday.

AhSureTisGrand

Hope you have a nice time OP

jackiebaron

studiorat wrote: »

Can't beat a bit of speculative historical fiction of a friday.

Check the date, studiorat. Probably got lucky though...right?

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney04082005.html

nyarlothothep

So American society=warfare between competing interests? I think the economic massive fallout is the outcome of the implementation of the neo liberalist friedmanomic doctrine and the departure from Keynesian policies. Americans were apparently wealthiest overall in the 1950s-1970s when the keynesian system was in use, now many of them work excessively long hours to maintain the semblance of middle classdom of whatever position they have on the economic totem pole. It reminds me of the rise and fall of Rome, during Trajans reign Romans enjoyed unparalled wealth but with the principle of entropic corruption, Rome was a weakened power before it fell to the barbarians. Its amazing to compare soldiers from the time of Caesar to what they were like when Attila was attacking the empire. But I don't think the situation is the same. I don't know how it will unfold, as the US military is unparalled and the American economy is still no.1, other than that the American project was meant to signify a change from the old European monarchies, the old ways of empire, oppression and authoritarianism and its now become depressingly similar. Is society just a case of most people warring against each other with the pretense of rules, justice, civility and solidarity?

todolist

The United States needs to elect a strong conservative President who will close military bases overseas,penalize American companies who search for cheap overseas locations.Get America manafacutering again.America can be saved but the politically correct,liberal left have a stranglehold on the printed and visual media in America(hence the empy suit Senator from Illinois,Obama becoming President).The next election in the US will be crucial.If Obama wins America is all but finished..

loldog

todolist wrote: »

The United States needs to elect a strong conservative President who will close military bases overseas,penalize American companies who search for cheap overseas locations.Get America manafacutering again.

There's nobody in the Republican Party advocating anything like that. The only people talking about closing down overseas bases are Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.

The problem you have in the USA is that there are no alternatives, the Democrat/Republican divide is false, an illusion, you have only one Party, the Corporate Party made up of Democratic and Republican members who bicker over trivial issues to maintain the illusion.

The USA is doomed because the political system has been totally and utterly owned and hijacked by the military-industrial complex and the corporate oligarchs, so no real alternatives to the path of doom are possible. The sad thing is, most voters in the US lack the critical skills to see what is happening, and fall for all the lies and illusions about "Liberals" or "neocons" and get lost in foolish pointless debate about trivial matters.

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Brown Bomber

todolist wrote: »

The United States needs to elect a strong conservative President who will close military bases overseas,penalize American companies who search for cheap overseas locations.Get America manafacutering again.America can be saved but the politically correct,liberal left have a stranglehold on the printed and visual media in America(hence the empy suit Senator from Illinois,Obama becoming President).The next election in the US will be crucial.If Obama wins America is all but finished..

I think America will be all but finished if they start closing down military based and cutting back on the military budget. The Fed has destroyed, perhaps intentionally? the economy beyond repair. Without the military the US is not long for being a superpower.

I think you are mistaken in thinking the President, not Just Obama - any of them are working for the American people. The people who Obama is working for dont care about America or Americans. The US is the host which will be sucked dry, discarded and left to rot and the leeches will move onto pastures new to corrupt. Take a look at what happened immediately after the fall of Communist Russia. The Bolsheviks were financially supported by Wall Street and continued to support the USSR even during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall came down and the country's resources were carved up between the oligarchs who became overnight billionaires and took their money and ran.

Brown Bomber

loldog wrote: »

The USA is doomed because the political system has been totally and utterly owned and hijacked by the military-industrial complex and the corporate oligarchs, so no real alternatives to the path of doom are possible. The sad thing is, most voters in the US lack the critical skills to see what is happening, and fall for all the lies and illusions about "Liberals" or "neocons" and get lost in foolish pointless debate about trivial matters.

Couldn't agree more. You put it well but I think Professor Anthony Sutton here nails it like no one else. Essential viewing; in fact all Professor Sutton's work is essential reading/viewing.

shanered

True, what is happening in Europe with the Lisbon Treaty is another example of these people exerting their controls over populations.
We had a referendum, we said no.
Then instantly recession, we said yes.
Coincidence?
Now we have been bankrupted and they are looking to privitise everything.
Its funny, I remember, "Say yes for jobs!"
Since then we have had one of the fastest unemployment increases ever recorded.

jackiebaron

todolist wrote: »

The United States needs to elect a strong conservative President who will close military bases overseas,penalize American companies who search for cheap overseas locations.Get America manafacutering again.America can be saved but the politically correct,liberal left have a stranglehold on the printed and visual media in America(hence the empy suit Senator from Illinois,Obama becoming President).The next election in the US will be crucial.If Obama wins America is all but finished..

Dream on. The last President who tried to curb the march to war and curtail the power of corporations got a bullet in the head.

todolist

jackiebaron wrote: »

Dream on. The last President who tried to curb the march to war and curtail the power of corporations got a bullet in the head.

I agree with you about President Kennedy.

loldog

I just saw this cartoon, which explains it very well.

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studiorat

jackiebaron wrote: »

Check the date, studiorat. Probably got lucky though...right?

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney04082005.html

Good novel, reads it a long time ago. The OP reminded me of it probably because they're both fiction.