23 September 2008

"Maxed Out"... Off the Wall... Down the Drain... Make the Call

I'm not just referring to a recent flick I watched, "Maxed Out" (put out in 2006), which tells a lot of stuff we already know but also serves as a reflection of things we might have forgotten about. I must say that I wasn't aware about the magnitude of some folks debts & emotional strain, some to the point of suicide. I know poverty is brutal, but geez. In short, from Regan to G.W.Bush (1983-2005) Social Security has been pillaged of $1450 billion to cover debts. Credit card debt among the American population is horrendous. The flick mentions the Bankruptcy legislative debate & when bill was reformed, MBNA (GW's #1 campaign supporter) helped to rewrite that reform. Accrued debt has robbed public service facilities such as schools, parks, & volunteer departments (rec. meds) of federal & state funds. It mentions that at the consumer credit hearing (2005) the credit card companies only introduced themselves & gave a 4 min. intro. They never had to answer any questions regarding their exploitation on the impoverished population. What to do? They suggest writing to legislation (state & federal) & lenders. Oppose predatory & discriminatory (targeting the poor, college students, etc.) creditors. www.affil.org is the website they recommend. I'm thinking of opting out of Social Security. I thought of doing this in college, but never went through the process of finding out how. Honestly, I'm feeling like I won't see any of it anyway & if I continue to pay it, that means that I'm inadvertently supporting that the administration can use my $ at will for sh*t. I'll post the where-with-all once I find out, for those of you interested also.

Good News is that our President is a genius. He shares such insights with us such as, "It turns out *clasped fingers* that these financial things are inner-related." *insert smarmy looks as if he invented penicillin & we should bow down.* I began this blog post to talk about this current upheaval with Wall Street's & the "leadership" of this country as of late. This is f%#%$#g serious when our Treasury Sec. (Henry Paulson) announces that they want $700 billion to rectify the mortgage crisis. (Why am I not buying a house right now, at the expense of the American taxpayers? When I did almost buy a house this summer, the lender approval still has loopholes & doesn't seem to be changing much from the practices that got us into this in the first place.) The catch to this $700 billion? Don't ask, won't tell. They specifically ask for NO inquiry, no interference, sheer trust that this experimental money pit will work. Because if we can't trust the government, we can't trust anyone (Brainwashing flyer #1). Blarg! Why do we need to come up with this $700 billion anyway; aren't we already into the virtual $ system? Why not just write in the $ & "pay" the bills? {I realize I'm going all over the place here. But, this is my blog, my rant page, & you've chosen to view it. Thanks for hanging with the rip curls.} [For a glance at his speech: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/24txtpaulson.html?_r=1&sq=paulson&st=cse&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&scp=2&adxnnlx=1222239767-eNLAot3eFNXHSvHYQFemGA]

These are the questions I pose. What can we do as individuals to counter something like this happening? Yes, don't get 12 credit cards & buy groceries & a house with them. I don't even know what to do when I do check the stocks that I have, everything is probably so low to sell right now. I'm trying to use the stock market to my advantage, yet I'm grappling that it's more often using me. How can we seriously uprise against this constant flow of us being informed that day in & day out if the administration decides that we need to burn some $ we should ask no questions? Isn't this communistic? Is this the way we really want to go? No!? Then, what do we do besides vote in the efforts to predict where this country might go? Realistically, the outcome has the potential to determine where the world might go. What else can be done? I'm not posing these questions to put anyone on the spot or to debate about it. Well, I kind of like to debate. Nay, I want to be proactive.


This is the dilemma I'm often finding myself in recently. There is this gargantuan amount of topics that I want to learn about, part of which is politics in both the US & our world at large. I want to know about current affairs, which undoubtedly reflect the underlying history, another thing that my background knowledge is limited with. I'm trying to start where I am & just try to retain the information as it comes along to me or as I'm interested. This is a daunting, exciting & frustrating task, but I'm up for the challenge & I'm hoping to only bite as much as I can chew to be able to retain the info. I'm interested in a lot as of late! Any of you who have knowledge or experiences to share, I wholeheartedly welcome it. Let me give you my existing list (political only, never mind the classic & contemporary literature, health science, pedagogy methods, natural medicine, music, meaning of existence inquisitions :-)... US government & it's inner workings, track records of our presidential candidates, Middle Eastern history (specifically, Iraq, Iran & Palestine/Israel), British influence upon the world... I'll stop there. I'm also facing this mound of questions about how to be proactive, what can we do as individuals & the public at large, right now? I've had the good fortune of being blessed with brilliant friends & family, some that know quite a lot about these things. I've been talking to them a bit & getting resources. Wish for me good counsel & a sound memory to absorb this ever important knowledge. :-) Thanks ahead of time to anyone who wishes to endeavor to help me on this quest of mine.

Ok, I'm stepping down from my soapbox.
(Ahhh... how the exercise of good basketball games can get the mind moving. I must depart for my slumber awaits me.)

5 comments:

Deanna said...

you ask good questions, carey. i have the same, but lack any direction in really finding out information. you really need to have good background knowledge to be able to understand what the heck they're talking about in the first place. opting out of social security sounds like an interesting and appealing idea, but extremely scary, not that continuing to pay it doesn't sound scary either.

oh, my oh my. i want to learn too. i want to contribute and be proactive in our society also, but where to start.... it's overwhelming.

Anonymous said...

Carey! glad to hear from U ! Hope all is well with you. things are wonderful here! I'm so blown away by the good things that are happening in my life! (almost scared things can only start going wrong now...that's just negative energy wanting physical manifestation!) really enjoyed reading your blog entry. I've been so excited by the reinvigoration of my own political awareness, and I can totally attribute it to two things: an enduring desire to know the truth, and newfound access to information, mainly via satellite tv (FreeSpeech TV and Link TV), documentaries I saw on those channels, and the internet. I've found the mainstream media (MSM) is a hollow, perverted shadow of its former self. it is commonly used as a tool for pacifying and placating a public that's all too willing to be pacified and placated. the best documentary on this is "Orwell Rolls in His Grave". I saw this and got chills from the many confirmations of suspicions i already had but could never confirm or deny through the MSM. Howard Zinn is a wonderful historian we should all hear speak or read his books. Democracy NOW! is a daily independent news program and it pulls no punches on the power elites and their power grab in washington over the decades. Molly is coming ... i'll continue when coast is clear... Danny

Anonymous said...

anyway, talking about politics...i guess a main motivation of mine is that I really do love my country. we don't have a king in the form of a person, just in the form of a sacred document known as the Constitution. The founders were truly geniuses - they knew from their recent experiences the truth in the old addage: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." their response was a Constitution that was to forever divide power among three separate but equal branches, and the whole theme of that sacred document was protection for the citizenry from their government. in 2008 we've seen first hand the effects of those who value power and profit over people and the Constitution. "no taxation without representation" was a clarion call from rebel men and women who would rather die than live without liberty. But nowadays we the people are taxed while the lobbyists and their funders are getting the representation in Washington. Next April 15th can I just send my tax bills to K-street (the main lobbyist-central headquarters in Washington D.C.) I mean since they got the representation and not me, shouldn't they pay the taxation? I love what Mark Twain said about patriotism: "A true patriot supports his country all the time and his government only when it deserves it." So important to separate the concept of country and government if your goal is to find the truth--so important to blur that distinction if your goal is to hide the truth. The fox has been asked to guard the henhouse. Big Lobby (Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Media, ...) is well organized and well funded. THe only hope regular people have against organized big money is if the people themselves organize. Public Relations is the mechanism by which they hide their true intentions Shit Molly just busted me, oh well... I love my country. I love the citizenry and see all our plight as a struggle to keep soverign power in our hands while Big Lobby tries daily to take it. They've got TWO political parties representing them in washington while the other 95% of us have NO political parties representing us. WHatever any particular person's particular issue is that concerns them the most, if the media is consolidated into the hands of a few as the ultimate gatekeepers of information, how will anyone's issue be aired publicly? watch "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" . it's on YouTube in 11 parts. People have to be marching before things change, and the elites are even trying to preempt this. (Oct. 1st will begin the Armys ACTIVE 3rd Infantry 1st BCT, which spent 16 of the last 35 months in Iraq, will be reassigned back here, on our soil, to guard against rioting, etc.)
gotta go, mo later
DAnny

Anonymous said...

check out Bill Moyers Journal on PBS Friday nights. I am currently burning DVDs of all his weekly programs since he started last year. THe National Conference for Media Reform was just in Minneapolis this year, in St. Loius last year and in MEmphis as well. What a great movement to get our media back from the elites. I watch a lot of independent media programs on satellite TV. I've found that, after being exposed to SO MUCH gay, leftist, socialist programming in the search for what's being left out of the MSM, that I am definately neither gay, leftist or socialist! Just extremely concerned for my fellow countrymen ... WHen arguing with bonehead neocons, they'll say "you're a socialist" But look at the last 7 days' worth of news. Get the government to pay the corporations' debts????? WHOSE THE SOCIALISTS???? THey'll say, "You're a conspiracy theorist...." Here's the main point on that one: THere's a BIG DIFFERENCE in a conspiracy and a plain ol' conflict-of-interests. And when the public's interests differ from Big Lobby's interests, and our representatives in Washington still favor the interests of Big Lobby over WE THE PEOPLE, that's a conflict-of-interest. They don't have to conspire. They know what's in their best interests: remove all obstacles to their accumulation and maintenance of wealth and wealth growth, even if the obstacle is the Constitution, the common wealth of the citizenry or the soverign power of the people to be governed and represented by leaders THEY THEMSELVES VOTE IN. Websites: ww.talkingpointsmemo.com , ww.strike-the-root.com , ww.newswithviews.com

I just realized there's too much shit in my head now, i gotta do the blog thing and get it all outlined in some sort of order...

so Blogspot.com? I'll have to try it!

later,
(sorry for rambling..)
DAnny

Anonymous said...

Hey! sorry about all the ramblings today...but i couldn't resist this: Now HERE'S a conspiracy theory:

all this $750,000,000,000 bailout news is a smokescreen to cover what is being slipped in, which is this:

http://archive.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/24/army/index.html

creeeeepy, huh?
Danny