Friday, October 21, 2011

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

1)V.P.Joe Biden has, up till now, been a fairly handsome man. Suddenly his physiognomy has undergone a very noticeable change. I suspect a botox treatment gone bad. He looks terrible. He has always been an idiot but some of his recent statements make me believe that he has actually gone mad. I think he should be removed from office.

2)The US government from time to time issues it's estimate of the ongoing inflation (i.e the debasement of our currency ). These estimates seem to have very little to do with reality. Evidence of this is readily available in your local food market. This was brought forcibly to my attention when I discovered, to my chagrin, that a six pack of beer has gone up by a dollar, a 20% increase in price.

3)Bloomberg, mayor of NY city has shown himself to be gutless. He has failed to control the bunch of unwashed freaks that are messing up his city. This bunch, it seems to me, are a conglomeration of clueless individuals, many of them spouting anti US and anti capitalism statements. I suspect that behind them is a socialist or Communist sentiment which is spooky to say the least and perhaps even dangerous. My hope is that NY experience a particularly cold winter. That might chill their ardor.

4)I really am getting tired of these endless so called debates by the Republican candidates. They are doing great harm to each other and are solving nothing.

3 comments:

amycue said...

I agree with you about the debates - how wonderful to be able to turn the television off. I am not sure Bloomberg has a choice in this without escalating whatever it is "they" are angry about. Since I kind of work on Wall Street it is difficult for me to understand what their position is and most importantly what they could possibly accomplish by doing this instead of actually looking for a job or creating one.

Nancy Adams said...

I rarely comment cause I forget my username and password -- alas, old age is creeping up on me! I also have to resist taking the bait all the time...

I agree that Biden has gone mad -- and I hear he is thinking of running for President in 2016. All Republicans need to get behind him and push him to win the Democratic nomination -- this will ensure a Republican victory (similar to what the Dems said about Palin!)

On the OWS crowd, well so far they are harmless and are simply exercising their constitutional rights. I actually read a really great article that talked about why they are angry at banks and it resonated well with me. Frankly, we should all be furious with the big banks that have caused a financial crisis for the country and required massive government bailouts. They were "too big to fail" in 2008 and now they are even BIGGER. The government (Dems and Reps) are not blameless in this whole scheme and have done absolutely nothing to fix the problems. Even pro-capitalists and rah-rah Americans have expressed their displeasure at the financial collapse in 2008. These protesters may not all be coherent, but they know they are displeased with what they see and where the country is headed. Do you really disagree with them that much?

Frankly I love the debates and love to see how they handle the hot seat. I have watched every one of them and come up with some opinions (and yes, I do have opinions at times!): Gingrich wins most of the debates, but is unelectable; Cain has the most gutspah (sp), but is unelectable; Perry stinks; Romney does a great debate, but lacks charisma; Ron Paul is great - always have liked him, but he is unelectable; Bachman is a bitch and unelectable and stupid; Santorum is an ass with a huge ego and is unelectable; and Johnson has a few decent points, but is too off-the-cuff and unreliable, and is unelectable. So, unless Romney can win, we will have another 4 years of Obama. And frankly, if this is the best that the Republicans can do, maybe they deserve to lose. Almost every one of these candidates is expending alot of political capital on the "morality issues" like abortion and gay marriage, when these are NOT the pressing issues of today. And frankly, it turns off all but the religious right.

Francy-Pants said...

Wow, just wow- this is my response to Nancy's comment.

Nancy, I adore your synopsis of the Republican debates. You have a keen eye for the reality of the situation.

You may all be surprised to know that I am really unhappy with the Obama presidency, and don't relish the thought of another term with a gutless capitulator who refuses to dig in his heels and adhere to his campaign promises.

Meanwhile, OWS is of extreme interest to me. Granddad, it is so much more than a bunch of unwashed kids making a scene. If you pay close attention, you will note that there is a huge contingent of elderly people among the protesters ranks, there are Democrats, Republicans, liberals and perhaps even some rather conservative-leaning types.

I think this may be the most important movement of my short lifetime, not because of their ability to make sweeping changes, but because of the dialogue that has opened up, nationally, about how tax policies have changed radically over the past 30 years in a way that so vastly favors the wealthy that it can no longer be denied.

Politicians are in the pockets of billionaires and industries- who rely on the public to absorb their externalized costs (pollution, mostly) without contributing a dime in taxes.

We have an entire generation shackled by student loan debt (including me), a form of indentured servitude if you consider the lack of jobs out there for recent graduates (who are not petroleum engineers).

I think it's time for this conversation. I'm damned proud of the people who are n longer able to sit at home and stand by while the system stacks the deck against them.

I'm no anarchist, but I think our fundamental regulatory system could use some overhauls, some rebalancing.

And Amy- much as I want to believe we are all capable of whatever we would like to accomplish, I just don't think that everyone out there is capable of "creating a job". Most people are worker bees. And the hives are shedding more bodies than they are accepting these days.