dagblog - Comments for "Why don't they get it ?"

Fix the price for a barrel of

Beetlejuice — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:59:48 +0000

In reply to We've got a pretty damn big

Fix the price for a barrel of oil in Euros, then figure out how much it will cost as the value of the dollar drops...it's not pretty. Americans have been pampered with the dollar being the world reserve currency so we've never had to calculate the real cost of an item. The value of the items aren't changing...it's the value of the currency being used that determine the cost. And the value of the currency is a reflection of the value other countries give us. Once the dollar is replaced as the world reserve currency, Americans are going to find out the real cost of living. It'll make taxes look cheap.

That's ironic. It just

kgb999 — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:04:17 +0000

In reply to Europe has its share of

That's ironic. It just occurred to me that they are talking about killing off Fannie and Freddie ... which means we're about to eat whatever toxic slop they crammed into that though their backdoor bailout. (what, capped at something insane like $24 trillion, right? Or was it lower ... that feels high. regardless.)

With the ACORN thing and all, the narrative is totally set that minorities are behind the problems at Freddie and Fannie. It sure looks like a total setup. We're going to eat their crap ... and they're going to blame the whole damn thing on the "coloreds" and be all like "it wasn't us, dude. ACORN." Thank goodness we've had Geithner at the helm. Imagine if someone had handled things poorly.

Man, it's hard not to burst into a ball of flaming cynicism sometimes.

And yeah ... some of those Euro-racists make our neonazis look like girlscouts.

That's not entirely a

kgb999 — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:49:12 +0000

In reply to Well here is where I

That's not entirely a disagrement ... I think we just took different paths to get there ... but I should probably re-read the original post to be sure.

(LOL BTW).

We've got a pretty damn big

kgb999 — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:41:26 +0000

In reply to When you say...people have

We've got a pretty damn big country. I mean simply visiting the major areas of Texas - if you are from Texas - requires as much traveling as visiting several European countries. How many Asians our Europeans could tell you a single difference between North Dakota and South Dakota? Or Oklahoma and Kansas for that matter? Hell, could they even nail that Green Bay and Chitown are big rivals? If not, wouldn't t that make them isolated, unworldly clods too?

The formula is America = EU not America = Luxembourg. We were once a republic, not a nation-state.

I have no idea how the Europeans view taxes. But aside from those asshats Fox news and MSNBC follow around perpetually (two different justifications - same damn people getting focus), most people in America view taxes much like you describe - from conversations I've had. You act like "Americans" are the "1% of wealthy Americans who just screwed everyone else by refusing to pay their taxes". There is a pretty big difference in my mind. That's the only reason we're fucked right now - we could even have absorbed getting hung with all their *#@$^ toxic assets if they just started paying taxes again.

What exactly is this free ride the rest of us have all been on? I must have f'n missed it.

Europe has its share of

Michael Wolraich — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:20:16 +0000

In reply to Why don't they get it ?

Europe has its share of crazies, too. Ever follow the right-wing xenophobic parties over there? Scary stuff, and they've had real national influence in places like Switzerland and Austria.

The difference is that the Euro-nuts haven't joined up with the anti-government libertarians. They're following more of a classic fascist model. (They are, however, anti-EU.)

The reason the American nuts are so much more anti-government and anti-welfare than the European nuts is because the Republicans co-opted them with the myth that our government only cares about minorities. It goes back to the 1970s.

Well here is where I

cmaukonen — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:38:03 +0000

In reply to Not buying it. These same

Well here is where I disagree. As I said in a comment to another blog here.

The problem is that those on the right and most on the left still believe that the system - economic, political and to an extent social - still works. It just needs to be fixed is all. Left wants it fixed their way and the right wants it fixed their way.
I - on the other hand - believe that the system is broken to the point of being unfix-able by anyone. That any fixing needed to be done 40 years ago. It's too damn late now. The parts have failed or are failing and there are not longer any replacements to be found. Not even on eBay.

The only thing I can add to that is.

Elephant is soft and mushy.

Your comment reminds me of a

AmericanDreamer — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 23:32:09 +0000

In reply to Maybe the answer is that a

Your comment reminds me of a SNL sketch during the '08 campaign where Kevin Neelan plays Biden. Neelan has Biden talking during a debate performance about what a hard place Scranton, Pa. was to grow up in, declining industrial era town, etc., the outward apparent purpose of which is to burnish his working class, ordinary-person credentials for the viewers. Neelan follows this remark by also verbalizing the scriptwriter's take on what Biden is privately feeling as he talks about his hardscrabble upbringing ("I'm the only one who made it out of there", or words to that effect.)

Maybe the answer is that a

kgb999 — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 23:04:00 +0000

In reply to Interesting comment. Many

Maybe the answer is that a driving motivator for these people is running away from their roots in pursuit of joining the ranks of the elite?

Not buying it. These same

kgb999 — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:53:00 +0000

In reply to Why don't they get it ?

Not buying it. These same factors apply to pretty much all Americans.

Americans support failed policies because they are exclusively focused on hating/defeating the rival party rather than holding their leaders to account for policies enacted. If challenging a failed policy can be construed as damaging a politician's future prospects ... the partisan will always err on the side of shit policy and protecting their football star.

Seriously. How many people around here have given a balanced justification for doing stuff that Democrats have fought against since I was born? Everything they have argued in support of - from KFTA to tax cuts for the wealthy to keeping Goldman Sachs bankers in charge of our regulatory organs to rendering "terrorists" for "interrogation" - are totally failed policies. Now totally supported by the "smart" ones - lifetime Democrats with all the "I'm so liberal I've been feeding orphans and eating nothing but organic eucalyptus leaves while capturing my farts so I don't contribute to global warming" credentials to prove it.

There is something priceless about these "smart" folks supposedly trying to understand why Americans act against their own self interest ... at the exact same time supporting policies that clearly do just that. It sure isn't a "right wing" phenomena. It's a partisan one.

It is sad, but I read once

Donal — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:34:02 +0000

In reply to Interesting comment. Many

It is sad, but I read once that successful people know which bridges to burn and which to keep open.