With the end of WWII, the U.S. sat in the catbird seat as a financial and industrial powerhouse. We did well as a nation from the 50′s through the 70′s, then came the era of the Nixon’s, Ford’s, Carter, our nation now riding on the downside of our former success. Then with Reagan/H.W. Bush came the era of economic myths; ie., “trickle down” economics, spending 5 trillion to defeat an ‘Evil Empire’ that was already failing as we are now through its own mismangement and resistance to change. Also during the Reagan/Bush era we went from being the world’s greatest lending nation to that of the greatest debtor as we are now.

When Ronald Reagan took office our national public debt was 800 billion dollars. Now with 20 of the past 30 years having been controlled by “rethug”, MIC friendly regimes we have over 13 times as much debt with nothing to show for it other than a national ‘toy box’ full of uber expensive ‘killtoys’ courtesy of said MIC.

We’ve been scammed. Now even state governments are bust, the mighty bond market is soon to have its bubble burst as yields skyrocket and those holding earlier issues take it in the shorts. With the bond bubble about to burst, we best man the lifeboats because it’s going to a bloody rout as the USS America, stern now rising above the water is soon to take a Nantucket sleigh ride to the bottom; I.E., state and national government insolvency.

Now if you want to go back to skulduggery instigated by “monied interests” since the dawn of civilization that’s a story for another day and I’d probably go through several dozen keyboards doing so.

Merry Christmas 2010 to you and yours…! : )

Carl Nemo **==

Cap’n, you insult all the rest of human history!

He came to office via his articulate bluster, but faded quickly into a ‘yas suh, no suh’, hat in hand “Uncle Tom” relative the masters that now seemingly control plantation planet.

Carl Nemo **==

He was an artillery officer in WWI. The account of his involvement in combat is quite impressive to say the least. He also loathed war profiteers, his sentiments being that they should receive the supreme sanction for doing such; ie., the death penalty. Like wow is all I can say. His name is befitting too; ie., a ‘true man” of principals…no?

Our government has been relentlessly compromised by the monied interests since Truman’s era. Ike warned us of the dangers of the MIC, but our citizenry failed to heed such advice. Post Kennedy’s assassination it seems all we’ve had is a bunch of corporate friendly knaves ascent to the White House. Congress is rife with compromised crimpols on the make and the take while government contractors are ripping us off bigtime with seeming no curtailment in sight. They have ‘plans’ for “We the People” and it ain’t good for sure.

I urge readers to take the time to read his Wiki bio. Presidents post Ike with the exclusion of JFK wouldn’t make a pimple on ol’ “giv’em hell Harry’s” butt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman

Carl Nemo **==

Truman did two things have I haven’t seen in the last 40 years: he looked further than his own nest to what was best for the United States. And he looked ahead into the future to judge whether a decision would stand the test of time.

Such attributes can surely be found in SOMEBODY! Peace.

Merry Christmas 2010 to you and yours. : )

Carl Nemo **==

This “shellacking” Obama spoke of oddly does not reflect upon him. It’s just one of those things, like a forest fire. Well, somebody started the damned thing somewhere. It was not the “loss of the Left” as the media has decreed. It was the loss of those, left, right, and middle who have the common sense to know they were betrayed. Knowing that the Republicans were going to do slightly worse than the Democrats (and that’s a LOT) many stayed home on election day. It’s not much more complicated than that.

As someone wrote months ago, if the Democrats got creamed in November the White House was adamant that NO blame be put on Obama. And as far as all these “accomplishments,” other than the START treaty (which should not have been a partisan issue in the first place), I see these accomplishments as follows:

1. A watered-down “healthcare reform” which uses the power of government to force citizens to purchase from private corporations while doing nothing to control costs.

2. A watered-down version of finance reform which once again allows the president to sign something in front of cameras that does jack diddly in reality. It is only a matter of time before the casino economy crashes again and this administration will be there with cash in hand.

3. A ridiculously predetermined “deficit reduction” commission which tackles SS even though SS is by law not part of any deficit. The agenda is to transform America completely into a 1950′s Cuba. Wait until President Obama announces this “shared sacrifice” routine next year.

The START treaty in isolation should be, as I said, non-partisan. However, if one considers Obama’s fetish for this namby-pamby “nuclear free” world with bluebirds and butterflies flitting in our hair as we sing kumbaya, then it’s no victory for peace, but for an ideological theory.

Obama’s “rebound” is simply this: full strength whisky for his enemies and near beer for his constituents. It’s no longer “Yes We Can” but “Oh Yes He Will!”

bmclellan – You could have stopped there. Instead, you went on to push blame on all but your beloved.

Americans need to get off the couch. (and welfare) Sanction foreign importers (redundant)? How about cracking unions and making production in the U.S. a feasible thing, once again? How about actually competing, rather than making excuses?

As a country we need to grow a pair or step aside, and your guy doesn’t know how to empower, only how to enslave.

I did like your post, though. Well thought out and intelligent. Please ask your guy for a job. Maybe you can help him.