Whenever you hear somebody concerned about America’s federal government deficit, tell them the US should slash the $1 TRILLION annual military budget. The U.S. military spends more in one year than all of the social programs for the poor in the U.S. for a two decade. More than 10 years of universal health care.
Military budget of the United States
As of 2009, the United States government is spending about $1 trillion annually on defense-related purposes.
The military budget does not include any Homeland Security (hate that name!) spending — no border control or airport control spending. The military budget is to make war and keep wars going.
Why is the United State so hell bent on war, weapons, and bullying other countries? Why does the United States spend more on its military than all of Western Europe combined?
This money could be used to better the lives of Americans: reduce poverty, increase education, universal health care, living wages, food inspections, etc. etc. What diseases could be cured with greater spending on research? Instead, this money is used to inflict pain and suffering throughout the world. It is the main reason most of the rest of the world hates this country. Who can blame them? America invades countries for oil.
Ironically, Republicans and Democrats who claim they are fiscal conservatives are always defending the U.S. military spending. They are not fiscal conservatives, they are war mongers.
America is doomed.
Sometimes I feel sorry for the capitalists. They have always been able to make their profits, but they don’t seem to realize that the world has changed. It changed pretty quickly. The NY Times is considering charging $5 per month for access to their web site. I predict this approach will not work out very well. Likewise, Murdoch thinks he can charge for his content. Well, knock yourself out. Sure, they will get a few subscribers but it will be the beginning of the end for them — at least until they reverse it. They will lose the eyeballs which give them significance. Most people will simply seek out other content — and there will always be free content.
New York Times Considers $5 Monthly Web-Access Fee
The New York Times’s site “is considering charging a monthly fee of $5.00 to access its content, including all its articles, blogs and multimedia,” the survey stated.
Today, I heard somebody wondering how much people would be willing to pay for Facebook or MySpace. Well, do you study if you want. But I will tell you right now — for free. People are not willing to pay anything for it. If such sites start charging they will be replaced virtually overnight with free sites which will be happy to get a few ad clicks to keep the lights on.
Maybe this is a good evolutionary approach to helping capitalists figure out that the world has changed and left them behind. They no longer control distribution or content. The internet is the ultimate socialism. Maybe, people like Murdoch should just ban the internet and declare they want a capitalistic version. Laughable but I could probably get them to agree without too much trouble. Yet, as long as the capitalists keep thinking that there just must be a way to profit from content, there will be a lot of pain ahead.
America is doomed.
Capitalism will do what capitalism does — it will rush to destruction. It doesn’t matter how many booms and busts there are. No lessons are learned. Greed is the mantra. Capitalism guarantees destruction because money is the only goal. There is no rational thinking, ethics, or humanism. Money. Money. Money. Capitalism acts like you can take the money with you when you die.
So, here we go again with Morgan Stanley securitizing a bunch of crap and selling it as AAA. Why would they do that? Money, of course. The answer to any question about a financial institution is always Money. Since many institutions can only buy AAA — AAA it is. Moving onto the next scam. When do they hand out the next bonuses?
Morgan Stanley Plans to Turn Downgraded Loan CDO Into AAA Bonds – Bloomberg.com.
Morgan Stanley plans to repackage a downgraded collateralized debt obligation backed by leveraged loans into new securities with AAA ratings in the first transaction of its kind, said two people familiar with the sale.
Don’t expect any help from Congress. They are still in a mutual masturbation session with lobbyists and special interests. Congress declares daily they will sell their votes to special interests who will pay for their next election. Damn the people who elect them. Unless a person gives lots of money to the next campaign, Congress will only pretend that they give a damn. No wonder actors are great politicians.
America is doomed.
America is broke and broken. Maintaining the status quo is certain destruction. It is time to do something radical. A government option is not enough for health care. The country needs to go all the way. One plan. Everybody In. Nobody Out. Eliminate the thousands and thousands of health care programs that exist and replace it with one. There would be no more insurance. No more insurance cards. Everybody would be covered. Bills would be paid by one organization — national health care. Revenue would come from taxes. All procedures and prescription drugs would have reimbursement rates and small co-pays at most.
Obama Budget Chief Says Health Bill ‘Not Enough’ to Fix System
The Obama administration pressed House lawmakers to strengthen legislation to revamp health care, saying it doesn’t go far enough to fix a system plagued by spiraling costs that leaves millions of Americans uninsured.
The world is connected. Health care does not exist in a vacuum. America food supply has been corrupted. More obese people in the U.S. that ever. Blame it on high fructose corn syrup. Blame it on the capitalistic greed-based corporate food chain. It is designed to produce quantity over quality. Food that actually kills people — in the name of profits. For example, 90% of the corn crop is one strain of corn. Until it is process, it cannot be eaten. It tastes like shit. It has been engineered so that it can be grown at 200 bushels per acre. The nutrition is gone. It is genetically modified to reduce the germ where the nutrtion is and increase the kernel which is starch. Starch for ethanol. It is not food humans should eat. Corn is present in 90% of products sold as “food” in grocery store packages. If you eat at McDonald’s, you are eating corn. Corn is in the meat. It is fed to cattle even though it makes cattle sick — they get antibiotics to compensate. Corn is used to cook the fries. Corn is in the soda, milk and shakes. You are eating corn. This applies to most other fast food as well. Also, much is the same for soybeans.
This is why America is doomed. The systems in place in America have devolved over time and it will be hard to change them. Snack foods are kill America but they make lots of money. They have lobbyists. It will be impossible to correct as long as law makers are bought and paid for by special interests. Money, profit motives, and corruption are killing America. It’s a fact.
Believe what you need to believe about America. Believe this is the country that fought off tyranny. Believe this is a country of liberty and freedom. But it just isn’t true. America is the country of torture. It is the country of corruption and secrecy. It is the country where elections are rigged. It is the country of power in the hands of the few. It is the country which favors the rich. Exploits the poor. This is not your father’s and certainly not your grandfather’s America. This America is doomed.
Sadly, whatever Congress will come up with for health care reform will not be very good. They might add another program and another thousand pages of rules. It will take months, if not years, to fully understand what they passed. It will be the result of cumulative effects of lobbyists and special interests. It will be the best that a totally corrupt system can mustard. There will be Press Conferences that tell America how great it will be. In the end, it will be shit.
America is doomed.
I find it amazing when Republican Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma asserts he would never vote for a climate bill. He thinks climate change is a hoax. Over half of the ice thickness in the Arctic has disappeared in the last six years. Inhofe clearly doesn’t believe that crap — half of it is still left. I hope he teaches his children and grandchildren how to swim. He should rent Waterworld. Sadly, this old fart, idiot will die of natural causes before the waters crest throughout the earth. At least it will be written that Inhofe never voted for any stinkin’ climate bill which might have helped.
Inhofe: Nothing Could Make Me Vote For Climate Bill.
Sen. Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the environmental committee, is an ardent opponent of the notion that human activity is contributing to climate change and has gone on record labeling global warming a “hoax.”
Inhofe, don’t worry too much about the Energy Cap and Trade Bill. The one that passed the House is hardly adequate and it is believed to be way too radical by most in the Senate — you know — people who pee next to you in the Senate bathroom. Anyway, it is just another “tax hike” to Republicans. And — everybody knows — that the only thing that matters to Republicans are taxes and fetuses. Republicans are not too fond of other human beings or silly things like providing health care to everybody — instead, health care is only for the people who can afford it.
Be very proud, Inhofe. You clearly believe yourself smarter than all the climate scientists throughout the world. You know climate change is a hoax because you listen to Limbaugh and Hannity — neither one could even spell science. In fact, Limbaugh never even went to college. But, education, who needs that anyway — just liberal bullshit, right? Inhofe, you probably read your bible and know that the earth is 6,000 years old. What do those pesky geologists know about a five billion year old earth or a 14 billion year old universe. Science! Inhofe, you don’t need it. Let’s pray.
America is doomed.
