If we Blame the Economy, isn't that a bit of a cop-out? Aren't we really blaming ourselves?

If you want to accept the blame for all the ills within the US including the economy by all means be my guest. But I’m not going to join you. I have been the unwilling participant in a great many things created by policy AND law that I have no interest in being a participant in.
The options for opting out aren’t really desirable to most people as it would involve leaving family and moving onto an ashram, kibbutz, or commune somewhere. We have all been dragged into consuming at levels that boggle the mind and then made to participate in order to be a part of mainstream society whether we like it or not. For example If you move to a place with better schools than you will find your children are expected to have cell phones if they participate in sport teams…and you may become totally responsible for their after school activities if your school district deems it too much money to have after school busing. This means you don’t get to work that extra job AND you have to invest in cell phones to boot. And then this better education makes your kids more likely to want to go on to college….which means if you can’t pay the full tuition out of pocket and your kid is a solid B student you are going to have a whopping big tuition bill for the difference their school loans won’t cover…and that’s because B’s won’t get them any scholarships unless you belong to a minority. And so then you take out Parent loans to cover the difference…a new bill….try that yearly with three kids in college….and then your job starts saying they aren’t going to contribute at the same level towards benefits…and so you have more to pay for medical, dental, eye care and prescriptions…..and you aren’t getting any cost of living increase this year either…..and those small cars now cost what a small home used to go for….and a small homes costs what a McMansion used to go for. And you can’t even build an efficient small home in some places because it doesn’t meet the zoning…..and so on and so forth.
My list goes on and on and on.
And all the while I am watching the money trail. I know exactly who has got money in the bank and how that is happening.
I blame a two party system that disenfranchises anyone that is middle class and below….the bulk of society. You get fed up with the fall out of the previous congress and the new guys get bogged down cleaning up the mess and you don’t like how that looks and so you throw the bums out for people from the old guys groups and so it goes back and forth…back and forth…..just the same crap with a flip of the coin….and no one says…hold on a moment….you can’t work with just two options and get anywhere….there needs to be a reduction in monies funding two parties and we need to shake up this system and create viable 3rd, 4th, and 5th parties with really savvy people put up to run for office. And we need to become really aware of how much marketing spin influences us. We need to get real on how often women and men choose the tall good looking guy because it’s an unconscious bias we have. We need to get REAL.
I will now relinguish the pulpit to someone else.

Thanks, I needed that. And I completely agree.

At the beginning of the documentary Running with Dick, Shrikant Chelapa tells us that he’s confused as to why America has only a two party system. He’s is from India, where he informs us there are no less than 70 different political parties at any one given time.

I propose a different solution. I propose that all adults put themselves into a required government service draft pool. Just like jury duty, we must all offer ourselves for political service at some point in our lives. No pay beyond basic needs, no incentives. Your legacy lives by the quality of service you performed, and that performance is based upon how well you heed the cry of the public will.

I read somewhere that people who want to hold office, by definition, should not be allowed to hold office.

But what about the youngsters who can’t find a job or even an unpaid internship? Many of them did not vote (some were not eligible due to age).

They work hard. They get good grades (3.5+). Some of them have very good ideas. However, when it comes time for them to get a job, they cannot, despite their efforts. There are simply very few jobs out there. The jobs that are available pay very little and there are literally like 100 resumes for one position (that’s what I’ve heard from recruiters, and I don’t doubt it). I have personally witnessed a room full of 50 people vying for a single summer internship at a financial services firm.

“But what about the youngsters…”

I know this sounds off topic, but I believe the economy is controlled in the same manner as genes control a body. And in that sense, if the current genes manifest a cancer upon the body, then “the youngster” genes… are fucked, unless they can overpower the cancer created by the older genes.

And the only way to accomplish this is to re-write the code which caused the cancer in the first place, or to cut out the cancer altogether and hope the organism has enough life left in it to survive on the merit of the younger genes.

I also will leave you to take the blame. I did it the way I was supposed to.
30yr fixed, two kids in the suburbs. 401k and the whole bullshit sales pitch. Now me and the next 4 generations will be paying for the vaca the financial market ceo’s take this winter.

Yes I’m sorry to hear that @MissPoovey. And you are right in blaming me. Now that we’ve isolated that and I’ve accepted full responsibility, what do you suggest we do to change the situation? Are you a victim of my treatury? And if so, what’s preventing me from becoming a victim of yours?

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies How would you suggest re-writing the code?

Many of my friends who have just graduated are frantically applying for jobs to no avail. Some of them have student loans they need to pay off. Others are mostly self-reliant for their daily needs.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies there has been more than two ppl on the voting ballots for years. How many times does anyone use this? I have, the year Regan got elected. I ended up feeling like I just threw away my vote. So yes, I am open to discussion and any ideas, aleast the ones I haven’t already tried.
I worked for tips, Bartending, over 20 years of it. Regan was the genious that decided that was taxable income. Instead of taxing the uber rich, he taxed my tips…

I left out the part about the “money trail”. It’s all about profits. Most middle income people I know don’t invest. They are pretty strapped. A certain segment of the population invests and invests big….they are the people who CEO’s cater too while rewarding each other and their immediate underlings big bonuses. And they are also the power and influence that put people into office…they are the people who pay for the marketing and the spin that influences who people vote for and why they think they are voting for them. But it all comes back down to the money trail and who has the power and influence really. The people who are going into huge debt buying their own home, buying transport to work, sending their kids to college, and trying to pay off their own school loans are the people who have money to invest….they are strapped and falling farther and farther behind. And the government funnels money towards the pork to entertain those who still have the cash flow that they made off the rest of us in profits. And you can’t even really inherit….that has become a joke too unless you turn over everything you own a decade before you think you might die to one of your children who then will have to pay taxes on that.
I’m disgusted with this state of the union that you NEVER hear any president talk about.

That only works with people who understand that “the economy” and us are one and the same. Most people do not have the basic understanding of how that works.