As I walked through downtown LA today, I passed Wall Street. No, I'm not horrifically lost or high. There is in fact a Wall Street not too far from where I live, and as I saw it, I paused to take a picture. What if the Wall Street we all know looked the same way? Ironically enough, a few blocks up is Main Street, newly renovated with multi-million dollar lofts, art galleries and boutique coffee shops and clothing stores. How I wish that was prophetic...but I don't think it is.
While the Senate will more than likely squash Rep. Paul Ryan's horrendous bill that passed the House last Friday, that's just the beginning. We're in deep shit. And I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that, just like we didn't need Standard and Poor to tell us that - the same people that gave two thumbs up to mortgage-backed bullshit securities until the actual day the housing bubble burst. However, as the Chicago Tribune writes, the possible demotion of our credit rating is a "disturbingly big deal." If we get docked a notch, the remote stories of Greece and Ireland could become all too real. And just as physics suggests, when the big ones fall, they fall hard, and that hard fall will reverberate throughout the global economy. Supplement that with the fact that we are rapidly approaching our $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, unsure if it will be raised before we turn into the economic equivalent of cat food.
So, what words from the wise wizards on Capitol Hill? "lja^%%(IHUTFJYKiasdf896uyy%EW*&)IIUFUDUmhgasuk8ii7t%Tj"
That's a direct quote...
might as well be.
Politicians from the lowliest Senator to Obama have yet to say anything worth its weight in gerbil testicles about this economic precipice. They do continue to banter - oh my, do they banter. House Republicans have even threatened to vote against raising the debt ceiling until Democrats agree to slash spending. Meanwhile, Democrats are attempting to get through their tax hikes while Republicans flatly refuse. Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever taken a fucking MATH class up there?
Numerous economists, having gone through Ryan's bill, mark the money saved against what it would cost to blindly slash all government funded programs, employees, grants, etc. It will cost them MORE - that's right, it will fucking end up being more money to pull the rug out from under us than to let us stand with the little pride and dignity these corporate cunts allow us to have. And on that same note, tucked in the folds of his bill, is a repeal of the Dodd-Frank law: protect taxpayers from having to bail out failed financial institutions. So in effect, taxpayers would be responsible for all future Wall Street fuck ups...I wonder how much Ryan is getting paid to rape us on that one.
Hmmmm, meanwhile: tax cuts for the rich, no tax hikes for anyone, well...maybe the remnants of the middle class.
I need to punch something...
...
Here we are, standing at the abyss , closing our eyes, repeating the age old arrogant mantra, that we, are too great to fall. As Michael Schuman in Time Magazine pointed out, we are one of the very few debt-ridden economies with absolutely no "credible plan to control deficits and debt." We find it much more fun to play politics, hopping in those company cars and playing chicken with each other while the road crumbles underneath. What the fuck people?!
I take it back - maybe I am high.
Because I can't seem to understand how an entire nation of people can be wholly oblivious and/or OK with this cluster fuck of a situation! This is beyond fucked!
Let's not even ask how the hell we've managed to outrun a $14.3 trillion debt ceiling because I might burst a blood vessel - but seriously, how do we not just make a decision. I have to say that as much as I hate Republican ideas, they are bold and they get the spotlight - enough so the apathetically ignorant American will lean towards the right, if only because they're the loudest. You need to raise taxes right now - you can not just pull out government funds from necessary programs - you just fucking can't. All studies and research suggest that's a terrible idea. But here we are. And as much as I'd like to be optimistic (I really do try), I can't seem to muster up enough bullshit psychosis to believe that Republican ideas will be struck from the eventual bill. The experience trained cynic in me suggests that we will sink deeper. We will barely squeak by with a below average solution that keeps us out of the fire until the next guy comes into office. Then, we'll do the same.
We will continue on this road until the captains of industry look out over their graveyard of homicidal works: an American people crippled by lack of money, livelihood, education, health care and above all, rights and freedom. And that's where we'll be - you and me, a sad, pathetic representation of the arrogant behemoths we today claim to be.
We have to stop treating this like it's a fucking video game - it's not. The people made to represent us aren't. And we pay them to - indeed we do. The problem is, we don't pay as much as corporate lobbyists. In effect, our own employees are fucking us over with money stolen from our pockets by racketeers in business suits. Think about that.
If that doesn't piss you off - if that doesn't make your insides writhe, you have no central nervous system.
This is our country, these are our problems, and they will not go away.
We HAVE to Do Something.
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