[quote=Damnthematrix][quote=cmartenson]Oddly, Obama is not attending, only Bush (and by extension Cheney). All the more curious.
[/quote]
If Obama isn’t going, what CAN the G20 do?
[/quote]
I’m afraid the coming G20 will end up with NOTHING but words. At best they’ll get a minor concensus with no effect.
Everyone will try to protect its own interests. As a result we’ll se more protectionism, selfishness, tensions and intimidations: oil-war(?), cold-war(?). I hope not worse!
I do not expect anything from our politicians. Execpt for very few of them, their ONLY goal is to be re-elected the next time. Even if they’re aware of the real problems we are facing, they do not take any real decisions to cure them, since such decisions are unpopular and take too many years before having an effect.
I’m belgian and I’ve seen the same story over and over again at every level of decision: European Union, Belgium…
If you want to understand why our financial and political system is not working in our best interests, watch Money Masters. It was a documentary on our financial system created in the 90’s.
We live in interesting times.
[quote=Davos]
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRxZox4GFoIweckPDP1oRhKBlHOwD94CCDU00
Georgia congressman warns of Obama dictatorship
By BEN EVANS – 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship.
Broun cited a July speech by Obama that has circulated on the Internet in which the then-Democratic presidential candidate called for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military.
"That's exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it's exactly what the Soviet Union did," Broun said. "When he's proposing to have a national security force that's answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he's showing me signs of being Marxist."
[/quote]Yeah, and a lot of McCain supporters didn’t want to vote for Obama because he is an "Arab", a Muslim, a terrorist, or because he associated with a terrorist when he was 8 years old.
If you’re going to make accusations as serious as this, try having some actual evidence to back them up first. Some jackass in the South making a comment out of his *$@ doesn’t constitute evidence, by the way.
I have a lot of problems with Obama and with the corporate-sponsored two-party system, but that doesn’t mean I believe every piece of redneck propaganda I read about him.
BTW, we already have exactly what you’re suggesting with Bush: Blackwater. Furthermore, Bush violated the Posse Commitatus Act by deploying the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division on US soil.
Well said Joe.
BTW - you don’t have time to contemplate anything - get back to work! The banker at table 3 needs more butter and another glass of fine wine!!
Best of luck to us all,
Bob
This is just part of the verbal assault that has already started and will continue throughout Obama’s administration. The likes of idiots like Limbaugh, Hannity, Delay, Pat Robertson, Broun, et al will continue their right wing hate speech as long as they think it will work. They have proved over the last few decades that they have no moral or ethical scruples, and are bereft of any ideas or knowledge concerning our current economic, environmental and energy situation.
the Fed has given American Express carte blanche access to the array of Fed lending programs. Like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the Fed will allow AmEx to call itself a “bank holding company” so it can gain access to both the Treasury’s TARP bailout and the Fed’s lending facilities.
The Fed fast-tracked AmEx’s application after it reported a 24% decline in third-quarter profit and said it will fire 10% of its employees.
Here it is ladies and gentlemen, the next in a long list of soon to be "re-classifications" that will allow virtually anybody to jump on this ever-expanding bandwagon of fun. In a world of "if you can't beat-um, join-um" attitudes, then my solution is simple: I am going to keep a given amount of money under my mattress. Each day, I will keep a journal where I promise to one day pay me a certain amount of interest on my keeping this money. I will also lend me money and promise to one day put the money back with some extra money someday after later. So then this makes my mattress a bank, and I the banker, and since I sleep on this mattress, er - bank, I am a bank holding company!
See you all in Phoenix by the pool! (Check out AIG's executive vacation schedule!)
Bob
Switters:
Personally, this election, in my opinion should have been held on October 31st. Both parties scared me.
I see what you are saying, and let me state my point of view: Stuff like a New World Order, W’s Blackwater or whoevers Rex Camps should not be and neither should civilian security forces. I posted this becuase this is NOT the change I personally want to see. It, like the rest of the cr@p has no place in this country.
Like I said before watch zeitgeist the movie at http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
You’ve heard of the Euro, yes? Ever heard of the Amero? That’s coming next.
The US dollar, Canadian dollar and Mexican peso? Soon to be obsolete.
The American Constitution? Same fate - soon to be obsolete.
You know about the European Union and the African Union, yes? You will soon know about the North
American Union and the Asian Union.
So what’s the aim of these men behind the curtain who have been orchestrating these events for the
past 60 years?
ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT! WORLD DOMINATION! COMPLETE CONTROL OF OUR LIVES!
ONE BANK, ONE ARMY, ONE CENTER OF POWER!
It is a scientifically proven fact that if you repeat a lie over and over again it eventually becomes
hardwired in the subconscious mind as a belief.
It’s time to reprogram our subconscious minds, to install new beliefs, if we are going to beat this one.
And the Crash Course is a great place to start. Thanks Chris.
My thoughts exactly.
Maenad also in Australia.
I remember reading that quote back in 2004 too.
This is called "magical thinking" in psychology and is a well known easily observable symptom of narcissistic personality disorder. The Republican Party elite display other symptoms of NPD and much of Bush’s language has betrayed him as suffering a personality disorder. Narcissists also tend to form mutual admiration societies in which they look down on others. The egotism of the quote is also narcissistic.
While watching the election coverage I heard people saying that the election of Obama had been "a bloodless revolution" and a handing over of power from one regime to another. I know the US president-elect is black but seriously, isn’t he just another politician and wasn’t it just another election?
Since the election I realise that we (Australians) not getting enough of a picture of what is really happening in the US at the moment to fully understand the changes at grass roots level. That’s possibly because it is moving so fast or moved so much further than journalists realise, but it’s hard to know.
On one hand it looks to me like many people have unrealistically projected a revolutionary role onto Obama because of his status as first black president, but perhaps it’s not about unrealistic hopes but desperation. When countries go into recession the population becomes more open to new ideas and trying new ways of living. If electing Obama doesn’t work what will they do then? They’ve been good boys and girls and played by the rules and got screwed by them. They’ve learnt that they can act en masse and get something powerful and unprecidented done. If Obama is seen to make an effort on the behalf of the screwed over population but is prevented from doing so, if there is an assassination attempt, or a coup attempted, what then can they do?
I think that’s when they will be ready to break the law en masse.
The whole looting operation is playing with matches. Failure to bring the American people a sense of justice or standing in the way of that justice will be playing with fire, and I think they know that.
About a month before the election I came across a story on Digg about American troops brought back from Iraq to train in subduing urban discord within America. Apparently this is the first time in American history that this has ever happened. It is not routine and has made people nervous. The people on Digg were talking about perhaps the election would be indefinately postponed especially since I think it surfaced about the time that McCain "suspended" his campaign over the economy.
Maenad
I’ve always felt democracy’s overwhelming virtue is that once things become so unbearably bad that everyone recognizes we are in trouble, the electorate will "throw the rascals out." In this case, the electorate came to blame the Republican administration for the economic mess, and voted for the only electable alternative. The real test of this system is going to happen when and if Obama is unable to deal with the mess. He’s going to be on a short leash as far as public approval goes.
FDR, the greatest president of the 20th century, was elected four times, the first of which was because Hoover was perceived as being responsible for the Great Depression. Despite the fact that the Depression did not improve a lot during his first two terms, he instituted programs like the WPA and CCC to put people to work on public projects. The people who took advantage of these programs at least got "3 hots and a cot" for their labor. FDR was somewhat prescient in recognizing that WWII was coming and, despite popular opinion to the contrary, started putting the economy on a war footing. Hence, we were more ready for the war when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the American people were mobilized relatively quickly. Then our overwhelming manufacturing capacity, unimpeded by fighting on our soil, was able to essentially supply the allies with weapons that proved to be the winning advantage.
Whether Obama is the leader that FDR was remains to be seen, but for the moment he has the hopes and expectations of a little more than half the American people on his shoulders. In four years we will have an opportunity to render judgment on his performance. I really don’t see things deteriorating to the point that armed insurrection is seriously contemplated, but that may be because people my age and younger have never seen things go that bad. The right wing has already started its standard attack mode of lying and whipping their base into a frenzy. If Obama can strip away support for that movement, he has a chance of succeeding. But, if things continue to go south his chances of success will be greatly diminished. The American right has thoroughly rejected the historical role of the out of power party as the loyal opposition. Their only strategy is to attack, attack and attack. Watch the off year election in two years to see how many seats in Congress the Dems lose to get a sense what’s going to happen two years after that.
I read recently on Oboma.
First, let me state that I voted for Nader. I knew he wouldnt’ win but I just couldn’t vote for the other 2.
McCain and Palin scare me, Oboma not quite as bad.
That said, here is the jist of what I read and what I buy into.
- Oboma has never worked. He has never started a company or ran one
- He is smart and a natural speaker who can move and inspire crowds
- He will have to do something HUGE (not some pidly 700bl or 2trln) to "New Deal" us out of this mess or he will go down as a one term failure
- Something that big will really tank the dollar (even worse then Ben and Paul's and Alan's mess of it)
- Something that big will likely stress the oil supply/prices again as things temporarily pick back up
- Even if it works short term I know it will bite us in the but becuase they aren't fixing THE (dollar fiat) problem