Peaceful Revolution

Drastic changes are coming soon. Great inequality leads to great unrest.Our track record on dealing with big changes is pretty bad. When inequality spirals out of control, like it is now, people revolt. It gets ugly, very ugly. I don't see why the powers that be are ignoring all the warning signs. If I was a card carrying member of the elite, I'd want people's basic needs to be met in order to maintain the status quo and my comfy place in the scheme of things. I'm still a powerful rich dude, and people are basically happy, or at least content. It seems like whoever runs things is very reckless, selfish and short-sighted. Austerity, lack of healthcare, high youth unemployment, decreasing wages all to make the filthy rich even richer will not end well. It never does. It always ends badly for the blind elite. They seem to be blinded by their own narratives of superiority. Talk about a bunch of entitled feeling people, enough to make the most savvy welfare queen blush. After all, they see themselves as "job creators." Hint, it has more to do with demand. They ignore science to make money. They fail to see the unnecessary suffering of others, countless others. (yeah, they may stroke a sizable check from time to time while leaving existing structural violence firmly in place.) I will not venture a guess on how they see the rest of humanity or how they sleep. If history counts for anything, we are on a bad track.  

People are starting to respond. There are revolutionary movements popping up here and there. Despite starting off peaceful, a number of these have turned to violence. I think Syria has been violent all along. Here in the USA, things seem pretty stable. But unless there's a major change in Washington, this will soon no longer be the case. It cannot. If enough people are forced into poverty and destitution, rebelling will become the only means of survival that no amount of crumbs (cutting Food stamps??) and circus (NFL, NHL NBA and never-ending TV) can stop. Add to this mix all the guns here. That's a huge pucker factor, even for Mad Max. We need the kind of change that the current corporate financed duopoly is incapable of. Make no mistake my friends, the Democrats are brought to you by the same people who bring you the Republicans. BOTH parties are puppets of the Neoliberal System we have been living under for the last few decades. If you are unfamiliar with Neoliberalism, follow the link and google it yourself. Yeah, yeah "soon" is subjective. I broke my crystal ball right after the NFC championship. I don't think one is needed to see what we are in for. History has plenty of examples. And this guy is getting nervous. It's too bad he misses the point of Occupy, and other movements.    

Can change be brought about through peaceful means? Yes. Will it? Probably not. We'll save this for next time. 

Buzz words...

How do we get people back to work in an economy that no longer makes things? The buzz words retrain, adjust and stimulate somehow come up short in our current situation. We have gone from an industrial power house to the new FIRE (finance insurance & real estate) economy. The link gives a so so explanation of it but you will get the idea. In my state, North Carolina, what do we do with thousands of poorly educated textile and furniture workers? Back 30 or 40 years ago a job at the local plant was today's government job. You had it made! The company took care of everything. Sure. you were never going to be rich but you always had a roof and a place to be 40 plus hours a week. Down turns came and went. Draw a little unemployment until things turn back around and repeat. Now how will it work? So many of these jobs are gone for good this time. Will the stimulus plan work? Sure, with that kind of money being thrown around a lot of people will go back to work doing something but for how long?  Where is the long term answer? The business people get on TV and warn us all of not going back to "protectionism" and "isolation" but these are not the same people trying to get by on a small weekly unemployment check. Sure, we cannot go back to the world of 200 years ago where we did our own thing  but do we have to compete with places with terrible human rights records, wages measured in pennies and no environmental regulations? Somehow this is supposed to benefit our economy and help create jobs here. Immigration is a great way to keep America healthy and dynamic. The way the powerful are using it today merely to drive down the cost of labor for their own short term financial benefit is making it much harder for people here to find work paying a living wage. In typical American fashion, many here blame the poor slobs fleeing terrible living conditions in their own country. It is divide and conquer at it's finest. They would be better served to follow the money where ever it leads... We hear a lot about change, another buzz word, lately. The current system here is broken and WILL change. Will we be able to manage the real change on the way?