Talking Revolution

Great read. GREAT read.

Thank you Robin.

Truth Revolution

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Just before clicking on this tread--and after having watched 'Sicko'--I had pondered the crass corruption affecting those in charge of our lives. Unemotionally but sadly, I had reached the exact same conclusion you had. We are 'circling the drain,' as another TBD'r put it so well in a similar thread.

Sorry about that, DD..

I personally feel and think that there is nobody in charge of my life except ME. (and maybe the Mrs.)

Doom and gloom.

Our IRAs are fine. Our other funds are fine. Since we live in the city, fuel hasn't affected us greatly. Where it has, we pass it on to the customer.

My youngest son just bought a house, my lovely daughter-in-law is finishing her clinicals, and they're doing great.

My oldest son is as aimless as HE chooses to be.

I don't know... maybe I'm just not seeing the doom and gloom as being reported to me daily my the press.

...disagree with the WSJ writer on some issues.He indicates that populism won--and may be partly to blame. Me:with rare exceptions [trust-busting Teddy Roosevelt and the near-dictatorial FDR] populism rarely won after, say, the 1880s. Laws opened the door to the downward spiral. Those laws were 'bought.' Why would you need lobbyists to buy legislation if it's the right thing to do anyhow? But he makes very good points...and on balance he's right, to me.

Regardless of the link, whether its politics, war, religion..People no longer live in villages working together..They live behind fences in gated communities, never really seeing much beyond their own needs or concerns and not willing to risk anything...Making a banding together on many ideas and concepts very difficult...Revolution in the true sense is a lost artform...Its more of a long lost feeling..One person can be a revolutionary but it takes many to have a revolution...Thats just my observations and opinion anyways..

Glad you're doing fine. [And I'm better than in years]. But this isn't about me or you personally, so no need to be sorry. When the government rescues failing enterprises and a 'bank run' is today's news, we're taking notice that something is not normal. You may feel that what the government does doesn't affect you, but it may be affecting others--sometimes dramatically.

If you spend some time reading the WSJ, you might not actually be surprised. The Journal is not universally pro-business, all the time.

The real problem is that a lot of people don't pay (enough) attention to financial matters because it is deemed too "heavy." we also have a number of people who are arch-conspirists, who prefer to look at financial matters as "us vs them" rather than as facts.

Some folks actually do pay attention and we have been outraged for some time. There are a (large) number of people, of all financial situations, who should be in jail -- of couse they won't (it's nice to have low friends in high places). Now some of these situations are not criminal; bad judgement is not necessarily against the law. but there is plenty enough blame to go around, for people of all stripes.

Part of this is an educational situation. High schools do not edcuate kids in financial matters and, as a result, much of the public is woefully uninformed about matters financial. Folks also do not understand that their actions have consequences and when things go wrong, they look to someone else to bail them out from their own mistakes. A lot of what went wrong with the housing market was caused by greedy homeowners buying homes they were financially ill-equipped to buy. At some point, you have to realize that you just can't afford what is being sold. This does not excuse the mortgage brokers who piushed people into this situation, nor the bankers who knowingly packaged bad mortgages into securities supposedly safe but filled with sawdust and even worse, knowing much of them were crap, bought them anyway!

There is a concept known as fiduciary responsibility that folks in charge of other people's money are supposed to abide by. In many instances, failure to do so is a criminal offense. Unfortunately, the government is so busy trying to keep the financial system from collapsing (and it won't) that it will never get around to going after some of these dickweeds (And I include publicty hounds like that Hockey Puch, senator Schumer. who single-handledly caused the demise of IndyMac) The are the schmucks guarding the hen house