The Cranky American

Occupy Wall Street, I love your energy but some of your people are off target in a major way. Down with Capitalism? End corporate greed? This looks great on a sign but if you dig a little further you’d see that your definition of capitalism was probably taken from someone else’s idea of what capitalism is and that big, unsuccessful corporations are not just bailing themselves out without help.

Take a look at this article regarding capitalism:

“The basis of capitalism is individualism. The economic system stems from humanistic ideals of the 18th century European Enlightenment — beliefs that each human being is individually unique and valuable. This mode of thinking was a turning point. Before the Enlightenment, governments didn’t talk about human rights. But in this vision of humanity, a society made up of unique individuals who pursue their individual interests is healthy — it’s characterized by progress, spiritual and worldly wealth, and liberty. Individuals are not just free to pursue self-interested goals; they should pursue self-interested goals.

It’s easy to see how this shift in social consciousness became the basis of capitalism. If self-interest is a good thing, and personal wealth is a self-interested goal, then widespread personal wealth is a good thing. And if individual welfare leads to overall social welfare, than individual wealth leads to overall social wealth.”

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That doesn’t sound so bad to me!

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This post below helps to explain why capitalism is getting the shit end of the stick.

“It’s unfortunate that so many businesses today go to the government begging for handouts and special treatment. I wish they wouldn’t. But the real problem is the politicians who choose to give those favors to them, at everyone else’s expense.

“I hope the Occupy protesters will start to direct their anger away from Wall Street and big businesses, and toward our government, which has done so much to destroy free markets and entrench crony capitalism.”

Click here to read more.

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I had to address the two issues above before coming to my final gripe (for the moment) about some of the OWS movement. More than a few articles can be found regarding Barack Obama and his campaign contributions from Wall Street…

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The Daily Caller article from earlier this month.

“Despite his rhetorical attacks on Wall Street, a study by the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Project shows that President Barack Obama has received more money from Wall Street than any other politician over the past 20 years, including former President George W. Bush.”

“Fleischer continued by saying that President Obama and Democrats, such as New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who has received approximately $8.7 million from Wall Street since 1989, should stop taking campaign donations from Wall Street banks if they are so offended by their actions.”

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That’s pretty interesting. So why are Democrats who are running with Occupy Wall Street planning to vote Obama in for a 2nd term? You would think it would be a classic case of talking out of both sides of one’s mouth.

“One top banking executive who raises money for Obama, discussing fundraising efforts on the condition of anonymity, said reports of disaffection with the president “are exaggerated and overblown.” He said a strong contingent of financiers in New York, Chicago and California remains supportive of Obama and his economic policies, even as some have turned on him.”

But, this donor added, “it probably helps from a political perspective if he’s not seen as a Wall Street guy.”

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No I don’t suppose he would want to be seen as a Wall Street guy especially when a bunch of his Democratic OWS voters think he supports their cause. Unless his followers are really that dense to the situation, I don’t see how this won’t come back to bite him in the ass.

To all the Occupy Wall Streeters who know what the root problems are and help to educate others, hats off to you.

I keep asking myself how in the world America got into the hole so bad without even noticing it. How have we kept voting in politicians that make promises then break them and why is this acceptable? What are we, a bunch of morons or something?

The trillions of dollars of debt and the runaway train we call a government cannot be blamed primarily on just crooked and simple-minded politicians. They all got there somehow, either we voted them in or allowed them their power by turning a blind eye.

It’s time for the people of America to clean their goggles and take a real good hard look at Ron Paul. I am downright excited about this man. For over 30 goddamn years he has been talking about the same issues over and over. Predicting outcomes of the government’s actions or lack of action. You would think America would have caught on by now.

I watched this last night and it gave me chills.

The mainstream media no longer has any control over what we see. Because of the internet there are all sorts of alternative news sources and people sharing their opinions through social media. It is apparent that Ron Paul’s time has come.

Like many others I ignored Ron Paul’s message just by simply not taking a closer look. It was rare that I even heard his name through the years. I didn’t hear about him on TV or read about him because of what media I chose to pay attention to.

I had considered myself a Democrat since the time I was eligible to vote simply because my parent was a Democrat. I didn’t take a close look at any candidate but just let myself be swept up into voting in the candidate riding the biggest wave. It’s been a community heartbeat that any time politics were brought up between people, there would be anger through disagreements.

For whatever reason negative feelings are completely acceptable when it comes to politics. So most people either don’t bring it up and the people who do better be really damned confident and keep cool about their stance or there’s bound to be fightin’ words. Hell, look at sports. All you have to do is root for the “wrong team” to get your teeth knocked out.

Now is the time to look at the facts. Listen to what these politicians say. Are they saying one thing and then doing another? Are they consistent? You have to pay attention to this. Voting in a politician and then whatever they do is acceptable because you voted for them does not work. Voting for a politician just because they are Democrat or Republican  and you identify with their party does not work. It never worked.

Put aside the old lazy way of supporting people you think you believe in just because they are a Democrat or a Republican. To look at candidates on an individual basis is not wrong in any way. And it is certainly not wrong to change your mind about the way politics have always been for you in the past by taking a step out of your own box.

To some people this is old news, but I don’t think that a lot of Americans are aware that back in 2005 the U.S. began constructing a Vatican sized embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. The cost to build this 80 football field long waste of space was $700 million. That’s right, one million times seven hundred. That’s a lot of fuckin’ money!

While on the hunt for more information I  stumbled upon articles stating that some of the many workers were fooled into their positions. Apparently dozens of workers were led to believe they were getting on a plane to Dubai when in fact, and without their knowledge, were going to be dumped in Iraq for their new job. What a surprise that must have been for them!

It’s all good though because supposedly they were paid pretty well. Maybe all that money can make up for the unsanitary working and living conditions provided to them during that time. Sleeping in a room with 20 other workers sounds pretty sweet. Wish I could have a job where security guards are flashing their guns, reminding you not to make too much a fuss. They’re hiring over there, do you need a job? Just click here to apply online.

More costs to be considered are the wages for all who work there. A place that big is going to need a lot of people to keep it clean, make sure any greenery is manicured, restaurants, security, receptionists, you get the picture. I wonder how many people work there now. It’s hard to get an exact answer to that question. I found an article from this year saying that the U.S. plans to downgrade to less than 20,000 employees after U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq. If the U.S. means to withdraw from Iraq they sure have a funny way of showing it.

Speaking of “our” plans to withdraw troops, is it even going to happen or do politicians just like to throw around empty promises? Doug Bandow recently wrote this article that says:

“The U.S. is supposed to be leaving Iraq. But the Obama administration is desperately lobbying Baghdad to keep American troops in place, which would turn Iraq into yet another costly U.S. military dependent.”

What started out as one question for me “We built a U.S. embassy in Iraq?” has bloomed into more questions while researching the first. Why did “we” spend over $700 million to build an embassy in a country that we didn’t need to be in to begin with? I think it’s been made pretty clear that the excuse of Weapons of Mass Destruction was a bunch of horse shit. So we didn’t find any WMD but we stayed and then we planned to leave then built and embassy but still plan to withdraw this year?  Our government must think we are a bunch of suckers.

Did you watch? If so, who do you think won and why? If you didn’t watch, why the hell not?

America is rolling through really interesting times right now. And whether you’ve been paying attention or not means a shit. The reason why all this chaos is going on is because the American people stopped participating. Having a shit job and coming home to sit in front of the tit-tube, crack a beer and heat up a TV dinner is what happened. You professionals take care of all the hard stuff. I just want to relax and live my life free of thinking about things that really matter such as the country I live in, the country my children and children’s children will grow up in.

Are you hoping that magically by not paying attention to other candidates President Obama will be re-elected? And do you think he’s been doing a good job? Pretend like there is no sucha thing as Democrat and Republican. Pretend like we live in a world where you hear out all the candidates and choose the one you really think is going to put this country back together. We got to this place for a reason. We didn’t just all the sudden become 14 Trizillion in debt. Is the person your leaning towards full of band-aid remedies or real root problem solutions to get us back on track? Just think about it, that’s all I’m asking.

As I watched the “debate” last night I took a step back and looked at all of them and wondered how my fellow Americans would be choosing their champion. I saw color…age…gender…looks…and deep down I realized some people would vote for a particular candidate based on details such as these. These “debates” are a really good way to hear them all and the way they conduct themselves. Honesty and spontaneity get to peek through. You get a small glimpse of who they might be if you happened to be sitting at a table across from them.

It’s always fun for me to see what expressions people make when others are talking. If they get sucked into petty cat-fights or start pointing fingers, playing the blame game and start passing the buck. Listening skills are an important quality to have. When asked a direct question, did you notice some of them answer as though asked a completely different question?

Oh yes, the “debates” are a wealth of information. Keep watching or try watching sometime, even if you’re a “Democrat”! Try to remember that we are all “Americans”.

We drink water with unnecessary chemicals, we eat food that has unknown side effects, we slather chemical laden lotions and beauty products onto our sensitive skin and we gladly buy it all with near worthless American play money.

How did we get here? What has happened to us through the generations? How did we fall for a lifestyle where we don’t have time to grow our own food or create our own natural, healthy solutions to our everyday needs? We’ve been suckered into the mindset that power is working a job we don’t care for to make money so we can go to a store and buy heavily processed chemical soaked products and worthless junk that is supposed to make life better for us. How is this power? How is this happiness?

How is taking your child to fast food restaurant for a “Happy Meal” awesome? Here ya go little one, eat this processed meat from a cow injected with hormones whose whole life was horrible because it was standing knee-deep in its shit and the shit of hundreds of other unhappy hormone filled cows. Here kid, eat these french fries that were soaked in genetically modified vegetable oil and make sure to rake them all through gobs of nutritious corn syrup based ketchup. But it’s all good, because it came with a worthless plastic piece of shit toy that will make your kid happy for 2 hours. How is this a far superior experience than lets say, firing up the BBQ and making patties with organic beef with your child, teaching them how to cook? How did slicing potatoes and frying them up yourself become such a horrendous chore?

I guess an excuse could be that you grew up living this way and that’s the only way you know. You weren’t taught how to make things or fix things or want to know things that were out of your immediate bubble. It sure is a good excuse and would certainly gather sympathy from many others who have adopted similar attitudes. But today, in these times that excuse cannot slide any longer. It’s out of gas, friends.

Wake up and smell the power.

We have the power to change things. Why do you think our government is poisoning us? We outnumber the people who run America by MILLIONS! WE choose what we put in ourselves and on ourselves. If you don’t know this than what do you know? I’m sorry but you cannot walk around any longer with your head in the clouds singing La La La anymore. If you don’t know what exactly you are eating and drinking and then most important, what your children are eating and drinking  you have to question that. Why don’t I know? Why is it okay for me not to know these Really important things?

More questions will come to mind, I guarantee that. You do have time to discover your power. Decide sometime to not watch whatever bullshit program you feel you must watch and get on your computer or call your water company and try to find out Exactly what’s in the water that comes out of Your faucet. I’d be mighty surprised if you had no questions after that quest.