Tell Me More, OWS...

See, now why can't Democrats push something like this? I don't understand- I'd never heard of this until today and the more I read about it, the more I think it's a damn good idea. Tax financial transactions on Wall Street.

I've still got any number of issues with the OWS Crowd:

First, camping out in a park is still not a radical act of revolution. Sorry. Especially when your supposed ideological purity gets undermined by the site of some very nice tents (at least in Iowa City- are those Columbia Tents? I think they might be...) and cell phones, iPhones, iPads and other hallmarks of liberal-hipster middle class privilege.

Second, I'm not wild about this. F**k the Boomers and their stupid a** hippy nostalgia! You want socialism? Move to Europe- I'm sure the Greeks can tell you all about how swell it is. The biggest problem we have to wrestle with- and it's not just us, it's everbody is that capitalism as we know it today plainly doesn't work- it's morphed into a weird nexus of government and business making our country more corporatist than democratic- but unfortunately, the wreckage of the Cold War more than proves that state led economic central planning and hard Socialism/Communism doesn't work- and given Europe's parlous financial state right now, I'd argue that soft socialism ain't that great either. So what does work? I don't know- but we need to break out of the 2-Party-Coporatist-Box and start developing new ideologies (and new parties) for the 21st Century.

Third, I'm not part of the mass of progressive sheeple. It makes me crazy when situations like this come up and people (usually liberals) say things like 'well, at least they're doing something' or 'you lack the awareness to understand this properly.' If what you're doing isn't accomplishing anything, then it's not helping anything much. This is the problem with 'power to the people' leaderless movements- everybody wants 20 things from 20 different people and no one has one overarching goal. I keep hearing about the supposed success of OWS, but is it? How do we know? What are the benchmarks we can measure it by? Should there be any? If 10% of the people get what they want is that enough? What about the crazy guy that wants a unicorn in every garage in America- doesn't he matter? I can understand why people don't want agendas- but it weighs down the efficacy of what you're trying to do.

Which is what makes this Robin Hood Tax idea so interesting to me- while some Republicans will argue that any tax is a bad tax, you can't say you're taxing small business when you're going after financial transactions of Wall Street Titans like Goldman Sachs. Any revenue stream is a good revenue stream after all.

Fourth (and finally), I will be the first to send canned goods/money/my time, whatever to a truly anti-Establishment movement- which OWS is definately not. You can't say that President Obama is the solution to the problem when is part of the problem. And don't give me any shit about 'the lesser of two evils.' No- all of 'em are evil, all of 'em are bad and I want 'em all tossed out.

But: I am intrigued... tell me more, OWS. Tell me more.

Grading Cain

Everybody's talking about Republican Candidate Herman Cain these days- after Christie and Palin took a pass, he suddenly is getting a lot of love from the anti-Establishment types in the Republican Party and if he hasn't hit the big time yet, in terms of money and stature, he's about too. But here's the thing: I haven't actually read up on this guy, so I thought I'd be a responsible citizen, check out his website and see what's what... I know he's had to walk back a couple of early missteps and he's pretty out of step from where I am on social issues, but I figured, what the heck. A little civic edumacation never hurt nobody, right?

National Security: very light on foreign policy specifics. Is in favor of a strong military, defending America and doing right by our veterans. Hmmmmm... tell me more.

Spending: Well, he's a Republican, so he wants to cut back obviously. He says that 'everything should be on the table' but does he mean it? If he's willing to take on the Sacred Budgetary Cows of both the Right and the Left, I'd be impressed. I'll believe it when I see it.

Immigration: Republicans have got to change their tune on this- and how many illegal immigrants are dangerous? I'd like to see numbers on that please. As a legal immigrant, I'd like to see the path to citizenship for EVERYBODY made a little easier, a little quicker and a little cheaper. That and a strong guest worker program that rewards compliance with residency after a certain period could go a long way to disincentivizing illegal immigration. Again, sounds good, short on specifics.

Energy: A little better here. He's against ethanol subsidies, which is ballsy for any candidate, but it's essentially 'drill baby drill' in another form. A more focused answer would call for dropping all subsidies and tax breaks to all energy companies and letting the market take care of the rest. I guess my question would be: do the Brazilians subsidize gasahol? Because if they don't- then what the hell are we waiting for?

Economy: Meeeeeh. And then we get to this- while it's true, the Federal Government shouldn't be subsidizing industry, gutting regulations means nothing unless you cut all ties between business and government- end corporate welfare, tax breaks, subsidies, the whole damn lot. No more crony capitalism! That ain't never gonna happen- and the one person who's said anything about crony capitalism, well, she ain't running. Pity.

Health Care: vague, vague, vague... while I tend to agree, the Feds shouldn't be doing this, I'd be open to the states doing it a lot more. How is RomneyCare working is Massachusetts?

Entitlements: Very, very disappointing here. Raise the retirement age! Means test entitlements! Partial privitization would be my preferance over total privitization- it hasn't gone all that well when other countries have tried it.

Regulation: predictably, he's against it- but again, until someone tackles the corrupt ties between business and government- ties that, (don't get smug, Democrats) benefit both parties, then you can gut all the regulations you want. Still won't help.

Education: Charter schools yes, vouchers no. While something has to be done to loosen up education and encourage innovation- I'd agree, fixing the schools we've got should also be on the list and it's not.

Faith and Family: In God We Trust. OK. Tell me something I don't know... :-)

9-9-9: is apparently just the first step. A 9% business, 9% income and 9% national sales tax would eventually transition to just a national sales tax. I need to read more about The FairTax, but I've always thought it sounded good- at least in concept.

Overall: Hmmmmmm... he seems to be consistently on the verge of impressing me, but not quite getting there. A lot of what he says sort of makes sense, but he needs to expound on it a little more. While he might be leading in some polls, I don't think he's quite made the leap to the big time yet. He needs to start talking specifics if he wants to really impress me and so far, he hasn't. An interesting candidate though, I'll give him that- and as someone who really and truly has never been a politician, he intrigues me. I'd like to hear more...

Innovation U

I think Higher Education is going to be fun- at least for the next ten years or so. Budgets are strained, tuition is far outpacing inflation, more and more people can't afford to go to college and have trouble paying for it if they do- at some point, something's gotta give. At a certain point, higher ed is going to have to take a serious look at how it does things and make changes- otherwise, state budgetary concerns are going to do it for them.

Take Florida for instance- newly minted Republican Governor Rick Scott is on the warpath, gunning for Liberal Arts programs- which has the folks over at Mother Jones a bit peeved. But he's got a point, I'm forced to admit. How does a degree in Women's Studies get anyone a job in this economy? Or a degree in Religious Studies? Or Political Science for that matter? Seems like for a vast majority of Liberal Arts majors, teaching seem to be the only way to go- or taking a random left turn into something completely unrelated to your degree. Like Dispatching.

So what's a Liberal Arts program to do? Well, for a start, I'd say a metaphorical destruction of how they do business is in order. State budgets are going to be more and more strained in the coming years- and things like basketweaving, poetry and art are going to be called into question more and more- especially for Public Universities. Is that right? In a perfect world, no it's not. Politicians- and let's face it, although they make policy, they're crap at it- should not get to decide what gets funded and what doesn't. Personally, I think demand should drive that, plain and simple. If people want to study it and want to pay for it, there it should be.

But hand in hand with that, you've got to make a committment to innovating new, more cost-effective ways to get your 'product' to people. Online education needs to be embraced by higher ed as a whole, so they can really knuckle under and figure out how to make it work! Exhibit B, from the Golden State, surprise surprise, shows exactly what not to do in the changing times we live in.

I'm becoming less and less sympathetic to the idea that people are entitled to jobs if they haven't earned them- doubly so for pensions. While I can appreciate people wanting to hold on to their jobs, you can't escape the writing on the wall at the end of the day. A lot of public sector jobs are going to go the way of the dodo in the coming years. As a public sector employee myself, I'm keenly aware of this and my brain is constantly churning up notions and ideas about what I could possibly do next with my life- so far nothing has stuck, but I want to be on the hunt for those answers now, as a posed to 10 years down the road, when people start peeking in my little window and wondering if I'm really necessary to make the proverbial trains run on time. My answer would be 'of course I am' but then that too is part of the problem: my answer is everybody's answer.

Pensions are where I've got the real axe to grind. While the Boomer Commentariat of the Left and the Right likes to denigrate my generation as a bunch of lazy freeloaders (some of us undoubtedly are, but then, what can I say: we learned by example!) the Boomers are robbing us blind and leaving us with nothing- and why? Because they think they've got a by-God right to retire at the age of 65 with a full pension. And some people undoubtedly do and should get to retire at 65 with a full pension. They've earned it. But Our Glorious Leader in Des Moines is working fulltime yet still drawing a pension from his previous time in Office. That shit ain't right. A story from Illinois caught my eye: 2 Union Leaders have somehow managed to arrange to get 438K and 500K in pensions respectively. One worked in the Water Management Department for 44K a year the other worked for the City for 15K a year and was getting this pension despite not working at his job for 25 years now. That's beyond just plain wrong- it's psychotic.

And it's why a lot of very comfortable people are going to be hurting unless someone puts the house in order. Until higher ed and the public sector learn to do less with more, we're going to stay in trouble. Which means that innovation should be the watchword of any educational institution. We need Innovation U- and we need it now.

#OccupyTheDean'sOffice

The #Occupation continues in Iowa City and elsewhere- (down in Des Moines, they're not fooling around. State Troopers apparently don't have the patience for this kind of thing) but Republicans are starting to tee up on the protestors, which to me, is a mistake- especially for Herman Cain. Calling these protestors 'jealous' Americans who want to 'play the victim card'? Uncool. It might be nice red meat for some of the more disapproving sectors of the Republican base, but Herman Cain- Mr. Cain, you're on the verge of having a serious breakthrough. Don't compromise your chances by engaging in partisan mudslinging- especially don't demonize people who have serious grievances that need to be addressed by someone. Plus points for partisan primary Parcheesi, minus a helluva lot more for lack of leadership. Not very Presidential, Mr. Cain.

What these protestors want is a still evolving discussion, I think- but an emerging trend seems to be the Millenial Generation's realization that they've been sold a bill of goods. A college degree was, for my generation, a good investment in your future. You went to high school, went to college, got a house, got a job- the 'good life' would follow. It was our happy-go-lucky version of the American dream. In these economic times, a lot of grads are realizing they're graduating with degrees that are useless with a ton of debt and dismal job prospects. All of this is compounded by the fact that student loan debt cannot be discharged through bankruptcy. While there are payment options and consolidation options aplenty, student loan debt is rapidly becoming a trap with no escape for a lot of people.

Plus, if student loan debt and college costs are the issue for a lot of people, then Occupying Wall Street isn't the answer. Occupying the Dean's Office is. Exploding college costs can be laid solely at the feet of colleges and Universities themselves! And it's worth noting that the one protest I can remember having a palpable effect on University policy when I was in college was when Students Against Sweatshops staged a good old fashioned sit-in at the President's Office here on campus. (Look what apparel they sell now!) Really and truly, it's time for college students to start biting the hands that feed them. Old fashioned campus takeovers are called for- and more to the point, if you really want to get people's attention, don't just camp out in a park. (Which is why this endorsement is somewhat troubling to me- the AAUP is part of the problem, especially when it comes to college costs.) Start staging sit-ins! Actually occupy something important! If 5,000 Tea Partiers and 5,000 Occupiers walked into Congress and sat down and refused to leave? That would get somebody's attention...

It's Baaaaaack...

The whole 'Mormonism is a cult thing' has resurfaced with a vengeance, as a major backer of Perry launched the first broadside against Romney, calling Mormonism a cult, that's not Christian.

Personally, I could care less. The more that Perry and Romney bicker, the more space opens up for Cain and Paul to take advantage and as they're the only two in the race (other than Gary Johnson) whom I would consider to be anywhere close to 'radical' or 'different' that's what I consider a good thing.

Are They High?

Look, I'm not a huge druggie or anything, but can't we just agree that the Drug War is stupid, costs way too much money and feeds into coffers of both government and the private prison industry in some states? Yeaaaaah... first, Congress is at it again- a bill is being proposed that would enforce our effed up drug policy worldwide. As someone in the article explained it:

"Under this bill, if a young couple plans a wedding in Amsterdam, and as part of the wedding, they plan to buy the bridal party some marijuana, they would be subject to prosecution," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates for reforming the country's drug laws. "The strange thing is that the purchase of and smoking the marijuana while you're there wouldn't be illegal. But this law would make planning the wedding from the U.S. a federal crime."

Uncool, Congress... totally uncool. If, as a free citizen of the United States of America choose to travel to a country with more sane drug laws and avail myself of some grade A Cheeba, it's none of your damn business.

It's time for States to get all 10th Amendment about this shit. State budgets are just as strained as the Federal Budget and legalizing weed and taxing the crap out of it would not only kickstart a whole new industry, but it would keep it out of the hands of our children and bring in a shitload of revenue for states and the federal government. Probably more than the Homeland Security/Prison Industrial currently puts into the pockets of our corrupt Establishment.

Second, the President has changed things up on the medical pot community in California again- the Federales are launching a crackdown and pot advocates are pissed off- as well they should be. I hope someone in the White House is taking notes, because this is the exact problem the President is having with the economy. Pot dispensary owners felt OK about things because the Feds said they were going to layoff- but now they've done a bait and switch and are going after them. Sudden and random shifts in policy/regulations for no good reason at all act as a deterrant to people want to get into that line of work-- and it also explains why businesses large and small across the nation have a ton of profits yet aren't hiring anyone. They don't want the Feds to run a bait and switch on them.

The President should back off this- fast. He should be consistent with his policies and in fact, start moving money away from weed and towards more harmful drugs like crack, meth and heroin.

So, to review:

War On Drgs = bad.

Why? It's a titanic waste of money, kids smoke pot anyway and we're 14 trillion dollars in debt. We gots to make some dinero.

The bait and switch on the medical pot industry in California underlines a huge problem we've got nationwide- nobody wants to hire because they don't want to get doinked in the butt by regulations that the current administration hasn't thought of yet. People don't want to get screwed over- until this administration can persuade them that they won't get the fuzzy end of the lollipop, nobody is gonna hire.

I don't understand how people don't get it- are they high or something?

Good Crowd For the Campout

Well, I was cautiously impressed by the #OccupyIowaCity crowd. When the Missus and I drove by on our way to a very nice dinner at Atlas around 6 or so, College Green Park looked more like the 1% instead of the 99%. When we drove back home around 7:30 or so, they actually seemed to be taking up some space.

Good for them! (The cynic in me still thinks that once enough drunk students piss on or egg their tents and once the weather stops being so ridiculously nice we'll see this dwindle and then die.)

Perspective

After a nice workout and some deep thought, I'm a little more at peace with the world. Kids, I want you to follow me through this line of thinking.

Until the Elites (whether of the Left, Right, Republican, Democrat, Media, Business, Cultural, Political- all of them) are neutered and put back into their proper place, gridlock and malaise will continue. Therefore, any attack on the elites in my book, is a good thing.

The Internet (and Steve Jobs played a vital role in this) is pushing power outwards and downwards and into the hands of individuals like you and I at an ever expanding rate. Centralization of power impedes progress, therefore any centralization of power, in my book is a bad thing.

The Tea Party (such as it is) has made it's name attacking the sacred cows of the Elite Left. (Bloated public pensions, ineffective public education systems, unsustainable entitlement commitments teacher's unions and their effect on education, neo-Socialists attempts to turn us into Europe.)

OccupyWallStreet seems (after a rough start, they seem to be focusing down a bit) to be going after the sacred cows of the Elite Right- (corporate welfare, crony capitalism, legalized corruption in Congress that waters down effective regulation of corrupt corporations.)

So in other words, Elites of all varieties are being attacked from both sides. I can get behind this and give it a big old two thumbs up.

I still think there's more work to be done. We're in a fundamental moment of transformation and we need a new politics and a new ideology (or ideologies) for the 20th Century. I have little patience for decades old socialist talking points being constantly repackaged and passed off as something 'radical'. I have even less patience for a party that says that government is depraved and must be destroyed yet curiously insists that government stick around to enforce a moral obligation to dictate what a woman can do to her own body, whom a person can marry and whether they can engage in moral, ethical family planning by easy access to whatever means of contraception they choose to employ. Such hypocrisy makes me sick.

The true transformation of this country can only begin when we break down the barriers that the Elites impose on us and those that we impose on ourselves. When we truly realize that America deserves better than what our elites have to offer us, then we will be truly free.

I say all this as a registered, proud, fiercely Independent voter. You better believe I'm going to remain that way.

Occupy Wall Street: A Manifesto

Oh goody... they've got a list of demands! Let's take them one at a time-

Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.

Well, I guess my question is: did we ever have a living wage to begin with? I think it'd be nice to have the minimum wage keep pace with inflation at the very least, so raising that, I'd be OK with. As for the tiresome free trade versus protectionism thing, well, I can honestly say I come down on the side of free trade. Presumably, cows from California (happy ones, the pot smokers!) imported to Iowa or Wisconsin would undercut existing cow market prices here. Does that mean we start intra-state protectionism? I'm confused. And leveling the play field for domestic family farming? What are farm subsidies for? (I'd be in favor of ending subsidies for corporate farmers and corporations in general- if you don't need the cash, you shouldn't getting them.) The bigger issue is though, how many people actually want to farm? When the bespectacled hipsters who started this mess come see what cornfields actually look like, then we can talk. Unless of course, our glorious collective leadership is going to send us all down to the farm, just as Mao or Che did. Wonderful.

Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.

Ummmm... then why aren't doctors, nurses and hospitals piss poor? Apparently insurance companies are taking the money and giving it to Wall Street. I've seen a little bit of the NHS in the United Kingdom and it didn't impress me. Free does not equal good- the quality of care would go down in a big way, waiting lists for the simplest outpatient procedures would go up and it would necessitate the creation of a massive government bureaucracy to pay for it all. It wouldn't give us more Doctors, Nurses or a better quality of care. Just a shitload of paper-pushers- that we'd have to pay for somehow. Pass.

No doubt, we need to do something about health care and I support government backed health insurance (or tax credits or vouchers or something) for people that actually need the help. If you don't need the help, you should be paying your own way. (Tort reform and breaking the insurance monopolies would help with this in a big way. Why are we not asking to break the insurance monopolies? Hmmm... I'd like to know.)

Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.

Fuck that. If I wanted to live in France, I'd move to France. If you want money, you can damn well find a job doing something and earn it. No freeloading.

Demand four: Free college education.

Hahahahahahahahahaha! I don't even know where to start with this one. What are these people smoking!? What we should be asking for here is a reduction in bloated higher education administrative positions nationwide with the savings passed onto students in the form of tuition cuts. We should be demanding an end to all private college student loans nationwide and a greater emphasis on job shadowing, internships and technical education so that instead of making idiotic, naive demands, these people could graduate and get jobs. Oh and P.S. Iowa students, if you start preaching at me about how you are the 99% and show up at the shiny new rec center on campus that has jacked up student fees (you only think it's free, kiddies) then guess what- you're helping making college more expensive. Practice what you preach, y'all.

Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.

I can't totally argue against this, but solar, wind- all the alternatives aren't there yet. Fuel cell technology is coming- slowly. How about more investment in that? But I'm sorry kids, oil companies make too much money and all the baby boomers have their retirements invested in oil companies to bring fossil fuels down soon. Not gonna happen.

Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.

What are we schilling for the Obama Campaign now? Did you lift this from their talking points? Not very anti-establishment, OWS. I'm disappointed- and besides, aren't we doing this with the Obama Administration's shovel ready jobs already?

Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.

Ah, so the Sierra Club is writing your talking points. Awesome. Selling out to special interest groups, OWS? Uncool. I'm down with planting trees and re-establishing wetlands, but hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants aren't coal power plants, so I think they can stay until we find something better. In the wake of Fukushima, I'm less pro-nuclear than I have been, but do we want nuke plants that might blow up or coal plants that are pumping tons of carbon into our atmosphere every single day? We can't have both- and I'm inclined to think that hydro and nuke power are the perfect stopgaps to help us transition away from fossil fuels. Someone needs to invent fusion power. Do y'all want to get on that?

Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.

Didn't we try the ERA already? What about the 14th Amendment? How about demanding enforcement of the rights we already have as Americans? Lord knows the Establishment likes to ignore those whenever and wherever they can.

Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.

Can't we do this already? Or do you mean internationally? I think a guest worker program is a must- we had the bracero program back in the day. Maybe we should look into that.

Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.

Jesus. That's it? No abolishing the electoral college? No term limits for Congress? No end to gerrymandering and independent redistricting nationwide? No cut in Congressional pay and benefits? Somehow, you've got a national platform and you had the opportunity to call for something truly radical and you failed, OWS. Epic, epic, epic FAIL.

Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.

Oh wow. OWS, I'd like to know who your dealer is, because I really need to get my hands on some of the sweet, sweet mary jane you must be smoking. I don't believe in something for nothing- the public service debt forgiveness options asks for 10 years of on-time payments and public service before they give you any forgiveness. And I'm OK with that, but I believe in paying off what I accrue and working for what I earn. You ask for a handout if you want too- but leave me out of it.

Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.

I'm OK with this. Go right ahead.

Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.

Schills for Obama, Schills for the Sierra Club and now schills for the Unions? Pass, pass, pass... whether you agree with unions or not, the decision should be taken free of any chance of intimidation on the part of either side in the discussion. Secret ballot elections are a must. And as it seems in Wisconsin, once automatic deduction of union dues was ended, nobody wanted to pay, I'm not sure unions have the support they think they have.

On balance, I find this disappointing. There's nothing remotely resembling an attack on the establishment- and a lot of comments point out that our corrupt government is the problem, Wall Street is just the symptom and I'm inclined to agree with that. This was an opportunity to do something truly radical and they ducked it.

There's some criticism from the right over here, including the following snarky quote that pissed me right off:

The second theme is entitlement. Other people should pay for my health care. Other people should pay for my college education. I shouldn’t have to pay back my credit card balance. In short, gimme. How millennial.

How millennial? Not so much, I'm afraid- I don't want other people paying for shit. I want to be left alone, because the writer's generation has fucked so much of this country up already. I want to carve out a life for myself and the Missus, work damn hard for whatever we can get and stay the hell away from the mess that's being made out there. It was the older generation that insisted on universal home ownership and universal education. It was the older generation that stood by as the value of the high school diploma was reduced to little more than a piece of paper. It was the older generation that stood by while college costs shot through the roof and Wall Street grabbed more and more and the government grew more and more corrupt and the gap between government and the governed grew ever wider.

Millenial? Hell no. My generation isn't entitled- we're just pissed off, because we know we're not going to get shit and we're going to have to make sure the older generation gets theirs as a price. We'd like something-- but we're not going to get it.

OK, So Maybe I Was Wrong...

While I tend to believe that the class warfare rhetoric of the Left tends to obscure the bad behavior of our entire establishment, both left and right- when I read this article, it did piss me off.

Basically, there's a growing trend of what are called deficiency judgements being levelled against foreclosed homeowners who just lost their house- basically, if it doesn't sell for enough, the bank will come after you to make up the difference.

How is that right? I mean, I know people have a fiscal responsibility to make sure they pay their mortgage on time and all that jazz, but what about the banks? Surely if they're going to give people a chunk of change that big, they've got an obligation to make damn sure people have the ability to pay that back. Some of these mortgages should not have been given to people in the first place- and the fault of that lies directly with the banking industry. And it's curious to me that in the middle of all this mess, there have been absolutely no consequences of any kind for the banks getting people into this mess.

And there should be- defeciency judgments should be 100% illegal. Plain and simple- this puts the onus on the bank to work with homeowners to preserve/refinance the mortgage and keep people paying their mortgages and it also means that there are actual real life consequences for banks making/lending dubious mortgages: they take a financial hit.

To me, if you take someone's house for whatever reason- that should be the end of it. These deficiency judgments are just fundamentally wrong and more than a bit cruel.

So, while I wish, wish, wish that people would read between the lines a little more and start seeing the Establishment for the cross-party bunch of theives that it is, I'd say go right ahead- Occupy Wall Street. Banks should have consequences as well- and so far, they seem to be getting by scott free.

But what else is new?

Occupy Wall Street Intensifies

I had this conversation with The Pale Man last night- and I stand by my original premise. One of my biggest problems with liberalism in this country is that it attempts to sell people on the idea that class warfare (racism, sexism, etc and everything that goes along with it) is the greatest threat to this country's democracy. Capitalism is inherently evil of course and part of the global imperialist system of blah blah blah- and while I completely agree that racism, sexism and classism are all problems in this country, they're not the chief problem-

That lies with the Republicrat elites. Like I told The Pale Man last night- political elites are married to the business elites who have creeped into media and entertainment elites- they're all one big elite power system that works the country to benefit themselves and the expense of the rest of us. What the Left continually ignores is it's own guilt at participating in said system. Our elites cut across both party and ideology and nobody- nobody is innocent. Whether it's Republicans and their love of corporate cronyism or Democrats and their Union sugar Daddies (witness the special interest goodies, waivers and side deals packed into ObamaCare for Democratic interest groups) they're all part of the same elite power system.

People need to stop buying into the rhetoric that the politicians are trying to sell. It's us versus them and until the people of this country rise up and neuter the elites- dysfunction in America will continue.

So, by all means, occupy Wall Street. But to me, you're protesting what they tell you to protest and you're becoming part of the problem, not the solution.