On Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, 53-year-old, financially strapped software engineer Joseph Stack crashed a Piper Saratoga into an IRS officed building in Austin, Texas.
"In my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say." ~ Joe Stack
Whereas we cannot glorify his suicide nor the damage he caused, we can use this as an example of the utter frustration and growing rage sweeping across America
Joe Stacks gesture will be demeaned by our media.starting with the Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal, and will rapidly be dismissed as the act of a fringe lunatic.
Is it a populist lesson, as Stack states in his suicide note, "that there are two ‘interpretations’ for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us"? Is it a reality check that we "live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie"? Is it a social commentary on the "incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their ‘freedom’… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them"?
". . . I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at ‘big brother’ while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough."
Referring to an article by Paul Craig Roberts " A Country of Serfs Ruled by Oligarchs" 2/21/10:
The problems of the American economy are too great to be reached by traditional policies. Large numbers of middle class American jobs have been moved offshore: manufacturing, industrial and professional service jobs. When the jobs are moved offshore, consumer incomes and U.S. GDP go with them. So many jobs have been moved abroad that there has been no growth in U.S. real incomes in the 21st century, except for the incomes of the super rich who collect multi-million dollar bonuses for moving U.S. jobs offshore.
Without growth in consumer incomes, the economy can go nowhere. Washington policymakers substituted debt growth for income growth. Instead of growing richer, consumers grew more indebted. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan accomplished this with his low interest rate policy, which drove up housing prices, producing home equity that consumers could tap and spend by refinancing their homes.
Unable to maintain their accustomed living standards with income alone, Americans spent their equity in their homes and ran up credit card debts, maxing out credit cards in anticipation that rising asset prices would cover the debts. When the bubble burst, the debts strangled consumer demand, and the economy died.
There is a whole lot of suffering and misery out there and more to come Mordecai. In part, there is a sense of disconnect with our government, media, big Labor Unions, big Wall Street, Federal Reserve, Tax collectors and Tax Spenders. They talk , but it doesn't give any relief to Main Street.
A letter contained in Mr. Roberts article:
". . My husband and I could be it's poster children.[new economy] Nine years ago when we married, we were both working good paying, secure jobs in the semiconductor manufacturing sector. Our combined income topped $100,000 a year. We were living the dream. Then the nightmare began. I lost my job in the great tech bubble of 2003, and decided to leave the labor force to care for our infant son. Fine, we tightened the belt. Then we started getting squeezed. Expenses rose, we downsized, yet my husband's job stagnated. After several years of no pay raises, he finally lost his job a year and a half ago. But he didn't just lose a job, he lost a career. The semiconductor industry is virtually gone here in Arizona. Three months later, my husband, with a technical degree and 20-plus years of solid work experience, received one job offer for an entry level corrections officer. He had to take it, at an almost 40 percent reduction in pay. Bankruptcy followed when our savings were depleted. We lost our house, a car, and any assets we had left. His salary last year, less than $40,000, to support a family of four. A year and a half later, we are still struggling to get by. I can't find a job that would cover the cost of daycare. We are stuck. Every jump in gas and food prices hits us hard. Without help from my family, we wouldn't have made it. So, I could tell you just how that 'New Economy' has worked for us, but I'd really rather not use that kind of language."
The situation described above is unfortunately typical of so many today. The high flying days of the 80's and 90's are gone and no amount of "stimlus" is going to make them come back. Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, you are not heroes, but dopes, duped by those who would profit by the suffering of others and those college ignoramuses who think Keynesisan and Marxism is
holy grail.
Since 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created we have had boom and bust times. This time, paralleling the Great Depression, we are on a course leading to the Greater Depression, caused by spending and debt from which there will be no recovery.
With Love and Kindness,
THE HATMAN
No comments:
Post a Comment