Maybe this will shed some light on the issue:

"We've streamlined, algorithmatized, instrumented and quarterly-profited our way to the systemic malfeasance we're now experiencing, and it will take just as rigorous an approach in the opposite direction to undo the damage."

http://www.jonkolko.com/writingHeartOfDarkness.php

Hey, Enstein, I'm thinking about nominating you as leader of the IC Player's Revolution.  Would you accept?  We'd have an election campaign where candidates could present their platforms, debates, etc..

Interested?

[closed - trolling]

fool for f-mod

Your posing the question to liberals so the answer will always be "No".  He will get credit from the liberals for his compassion.  As Presidents go, he has removed the burden of working for millions of people and now provides food stamps and welfare for those who no longer want to be enslaved by "the man" into laboring for a paycheck.  Not enough people to fleece to pay for all the dependence?  No problem, every few months we will vote ourselves a new higher credit limit (<-- maybe this is a topic for another post but what is the point of a credit limit if the limit just moves every time more is required?).

Einstein, I believe you are in error when your assigning him 'fault'.  You are looking at the free market and capitalism which is suffering hard under Obama.  It was never his (or any liberals) intention to bolster that type of economy.  His intention wasn't to better our current economy, his intention was to start the transformation to a more European style economy.  Of that - he has been tremendously successful.

People all over the world are facing personal crises because of erroneous ways of thinking.  Power itself is the problem.  Decentralization of political authority to regional, municipal, local, community, neighborhood, and even individual levels is needed. 

We can't afford to have people in power whose prime objective is to serve their own interests.  This is morally unacceptable.  We need individuals and the smallest communities themselves to wield power over their own interests, livelihoods, etc., whereby individuals and communities are empowered to be independently self-sufficient by their interactivity rather than interdependent.  Individuals and communities, if left to pursue their own self-interests, will act according to natural altruistic values that are inherent to our human nature, and such a model for society will prevent the sort of systemic malfeasance that has occurred from ever occurring again in the future.

To accomplish this, due compensation should be provided to everyone for the subversion of democracy and the subversion of economic opportunity and freedom that we have all experienced.  This should be the focus of the bail-outs (a.k.a. quantative easing, hyperinflation, etc.): the money should be allotted to everyone on Earth in portions that cover each and every person's basic needs for the duration it takes them to adjust to the new global economic paradigm that's approaching.

Next QE measure?  What is it now QE10?

Nice post above, Genesis.  Totally agree it is absurd what's happened.  And we're just beginning to learn how absurd it is.

About Americans having been programmed -  it's not just Americans.  It's people everywhere.

People are awakening from the mass hypnotism in its various forms every day, though.  I remember when I used to watch cable TV.  I used to think it was essential.  Now, though, I can watch what I want when I want.  I can search to things I am interested in watching instead of being forced to watch whatever is 'programmed' at a particular time.

I used to work a 9 to 5 job that I hated, and after dinner I had no energy to do anything but watch sitcoms, sleep, wake and repeat. 

Then youtube came along and suddenly there was all this choice about what to watch.  And I could watch it whenever I wanted to. 

Then I kept finding myself losing my jobs for various reasons, mostly stemming from the fact that I always tended to despise the people I was working for and it didn't take long for it to show.

So, I had more time to watch films and read articles / books that I could CHOOSE, rather than what was forced on me.

Then, there was the opportunity to discuss what I had learned and SHARE what I thought about things.  This was also slowly awakening me.

That is when I began to think either people around me was crazy or I was.  Now, though, having come through it, I know the answer, and it isn't me who is crazy, AND it isn't them either - it is the system which is insane, but they don't know it yet.

So what to do?  Now that I know its the system that is insane, what should I do about it?  Inevitably, people's paradigm shifts will come, just as it did for me, but in the meanwhile, billions of people continue to suffer miserably simply because people like Einstein REFUSE to realize they are wrong; refuse to realize that we are all wrong; that we still are wrong, and, therefore, that we have to continuously realize this and try to change accordingly.

Part of the torment involved in the paradigm shift is despising oneself for not only having been wrong but continuing to be wrong and not changing as much as one feels they could.

Yes, in some ways the reason I can't change is because of external pressures (like the cost of changing, etc.), but there are some ways I could change but don't change because it would mean breaking a habit or even an addiction: escapism, for instance - I can only handle the truth in small doses, it seems, else it drives me back to escapist diversions: sports, comedy shows, etc..

And then there's the inaction that makes me despise myself as well. I have long struggled with fear of speaking out about these issues, fear of being labeled an extremist, but also hating myself for not speaking out about such; hating myself for not sharing what I have learned; hating myself because I know I am self-censoring my expression due to the fear of the state and the establishment that has been drilled into me by the system. 

And then there is also the fear I have to get involved in a movement that could affect real change.  Ideas for actions for real change are dangerous.

Allowing for a free flow of information online for people to peruse is helpful and carries with it the potential for real change, but only if it is organized in a way that people can access easily, effectively, and for FREE.

This is not happening in my opinion, and meanwhile billions continue to suffer as a result.

This is what has brought me to shoptivism - a feasible, legal, non-violent method that could affect the necessary change FAST.

If consumption of a product of a company suddenly just stopped because 'organized consumerism' (much like organized labor) decided to strike against that company - not merely boycott it - that company's shares would fall.  And if the company's shares fell far enough, the organized consumers (and maybe the employees) could buy the company at a discount, change the way it operates so that it suits THEIR interests rather than majority shareholders who (like Stefan) don't really give a @#$# about the product they produce or how it is produced or the effects of the product on the world aside from the money they get from product sales.

I believe organized consumerism on local levels can accomplish the sorts of changes that THEY want in THEIR local communities.  I haven't worked out how to get organized consumerism thriving in my local community yet, but I am working on it.  I believe it starts with community awareness of and willingness to participate in peaceful, legal, shoptivism.

The alternative is a collapse of the financial system, which we are not prepared for.

I agree with Little Paul.  During the Cold War we were prepared to see NY and Washington nuked and still fight on.  Now I'm supposed to believe we can't eat, we'll starve, without AIG or Citibank?  It's not like the human resources vanish when a bank goes under.  All those people still know how to bank.  They just need an employer. 

US needs a banking industry.

We don't need these banks.

for $900 billion we could have started over with fresh banks eager to prove they weren't as stupid greedy as the last bunch.

lemme say in that regard Obama is just continuing Bush's failed recovery policy, but Obama has also added a war on carbon and oil and coal and natural gas and jacked up the price of doing financial business and now he's screwing with healthcare.

But that is just my idea.  It's just one idea of billions of people's ideas left to be forgotten.  In my particular case, it is because I have no choice but to post such ideas here on some text-based video-game website, where I know they will never reach the people who might actually benefit from them.  I have no choice because I am terrified by the present circumstances in the world and fear what might happen if my ideas were to reach a large audience.

What is REALLY necessary is a social network that facilitates the ease and effectiveness of people sharing ideas; where ideas are searchable by region, by problem type, etc., all in a secure, open, abuse-proof, and refinement process, whereby peoples' ideas get exposure to the audiences that are most in need or want of them, according to how well they accepted through a fool-proof democratic process of up-voting the good ideas and down-voting the bad ones.

This needs to be set up before the collapse so individuals and communities can use it to support each other.

It's certainly not facebook or google+ or even reddit - these are all insufficient.  First, none of them are geared to provide the sort of ease of access to knowledge, ideas, and SOLUTIONS that people need and want.  None of them are geared to allow the user to easily share with those who want or need such truths, implications of truths, and ideas for solutions implied by shared truths.

In order to adjust to the post-collapse circumstances that we will face, whatever they might be, we need such a social network.

I say we build a mother ship with lots of nukes and put it in orbit

winner gets to the mothership first

Seriously, what is so hard about designing the kind of social network that people want and need?