The Curse of Interesting Times

There is an old saying:  "May you live in interesting times." and it is widely viewed to be a curse as it can be argued that the word interesting is meant to be a synonym for turbulent or dangerous.  The origins of this phrase are disputed but thought to be Chinese.  (you can see a whole discussion on this on Wikipedia here)

Boy, are we living in "interesting times!" - - Alas Babylon, it seems that we are just at the beginning of a truly "interesting" period.  Day-by-day the Machiavellians in Corporate America decimate our middle class while our inept government continues to stumble from fumble to fumble (Iraq... Katrina... FEMA corruption... habeas corpus... GOP Scandals... cronyism... need further reminders?).

The number one economic clown of our time, Alan Greenspan, created a credit bubble to avoid a necessary recession in 2001.  What could have been a minor, necessary correction, was thwarted by artificially low interest that created a credit bubble that is now unwinding as a foreclosure crisis.  Unfortunately, reality doesn't work that way... you can't avoid a correction, you can only postpone it. 

Now his successor is caught in a truly difficult situation.  He is truly between the proverbial ROCK (Support the dollar by raising interest rates) and the Hard Place (Inflation).  Whatever will he do?  Is there anything he can do?  Lower interest rates will only do so much... inflation is becoming inevitable (not the government will report it).

Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more apparent that it won't matter for the middle class... since we do not matter or even figure in their calculation (except for trying to get us to vote... which they pay obscene $$ to deceive us on).

What we have seen since Reagan, is a massive transfer of wealth.  Not from the rich to the poor... but from the working classes to the financial classes.  How long will Americans remain oblivious?  The left is accused of trying to incite "class warfare" but the wealthy already fighting (and winning).

Wake up America!  The middle class is under attack by the wealthy.... The nostalgia for "better times" they play on for votes was created by the liberalism of FDR's "New Deal" and post-WWII GI Bill.  Those transferred tremendous wealth from the top to the middle and created a middle class that is now under attack.  All the good things in the common workers lives, from a living wage to employer funded health care to government funded education... it all served to make the America that the rest of world used to admire.  By the way, you can thank socialist and unions for most of those gains... if it wasn't for unions, we would not have a weekend, paid holidays or a 40 hour work week.

Obviously, the "trickle" in Trickle down economics is the rich pissing on us.  I'm sure they will start a campaign to point out that the piss is warm, so we should be grateful.  It is time to eat the rich... Tax them as they were in 1940's and 1950's (top tax rate was WAY higher than now and they still managed to be rich).

MEDIA TIDBIT:
OK... enough doom & gloom!  Even on bad days, there is beauty and joy in the world!  I was recently turned on to a great artist: Eva Cassidy.  She is deceased and has had tremendous posthumous success.  Lovely voice... passionate delivery.  Check this out: It's her cover of Sting's Fields of Gold.  You can learn more about Eva here and on Wikipedia.