Most folks don't realize we're in the middle of a national disaster.

[Philosoraptor]

A crisis, a disaster in slow motion, most Americans don't know this, or do and are living in denial, or refusal, blissfully unaware or knowingly complicit by association.

If you look around the office, the social gatherings, you'd almost never know that the nation is verging on the brink of total meltdown. Some will deny it, explain it away, reason with it, cover it up, argue against it, but I say baloney, this is a national disaster in full bloom.

Add up the atrocities, tally the tyranny, total the terror alerts, calculate the collective chaos, connect the dots, nine eleven was only phase two of the disaster, the appointment of bush was the start. Every single torturous event since then has all been part of the same, mammoth disaster.

TWO MORE YEARS TO GO IN OUR EIGHT YEAR DISASTER.

Buckle up.

[GeorgeGist]

1. American's who don't know are...

a personal disaster.

[snappyturtle]

2. Look at this article on the Housing Nightmare for 2007!

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney08302006.html

More dots that have been connected and the resulting picture isn't pretty! :yoiks:

BTW K&R

[DemInDistress]

10. what a bleak outlook... here's a few snips

When the stock market nose-dived in 2000 the Fed lowered rates 17 times to an unbelievable 1% to keep the economy sputtering-along while the Bush administration dragged the country to war, gave away $450 billion a year in tax cuts, and awarded zillions in no bid contracts to their friends in big business. All tolled, the Bush-handouts amounted to roughly $3 trillion dollars, the largest heist in history, and it was carried out under the nose of the snoozing American public.


Rather than face the recession which should have followed stock market crash, the Fed chose to increase the money supply (which doubled in the last 7 years) and lower the qualifications for getting mortgages. (I read recently that 90% of first time home buyers not only lie on their mortgage applications, but that 50% of them say that they earn TWICE as much as they really do. The applications are not cross-checked with IRS statements) Now, tens of thousands of Americans live in $400,000 and $500,000 homes without a penny of equity in them and with loans that are timed to increase dramatically in 2007. (Many of the monthly payments will double)


And, thirdly, according to the Fed's own figures, "the total amount of residential housing wealth in the US just about doubled between 1999 and 2006"up from $10.4 trillion to $20.4 trillion". Times Online.

UP $10 TRILLION IN 7 YEARS! That is the very definition of a humongous, economy-killing equity monster. In other words, the Fed knew the ACTUAL SIZE OF THE BUBBLE and chose to steer it towards the nearest iceberg without warning the public.

scary shit here thanks for the link

[maxsolomon]

3. its a black cloud that sits over me every day

as i read the iraq/afganistan clusterfuck page of the NYT - the strategic & diplomatic incompetence is stunning & depressing.

i've read Dune. this doesn't turn out well for the empire.

it hurts to look, especially if you were dumb enough to vote for *. twice.

[earth mom]

4. That's why I'm here every day...I'm waiting for & dreading the moment

it all hits the fan! :yoiks:

[Parisle]

5. .....Agreed.

---- We are most definitely in the midst of a gradually-unfolding national disaster,..one capable of furnishing the final chapter in our Great Democratic Experiment. It embraces so many factors and variables that it is too complicated for the sound-byte news assimilation process to which the nation has been deliberately bred. It is not even certain that a democratic takeover in 2006 and 2008 will be able to arrest the process.

---- Personally, I feel the primary factor in this national catastrophe was the complete handing over of national policy, both domestic and foreign, to the uppermost corporatist class,... ensuring that America's decisions were being made by only a relative handful of individuals,... and they being in no way reflective of the nation's best interests. The neocons wanted a "limited" World War, and it appears that they will get one.

----While I remain active in the political process, I also have my XE-6 ready to head for the mountains,.. with gasoline for 1000 miles, and guns, gear and provisions for,..... whatever. That will likely be the "Bush legacy."

[lonestarnot]

6. Waiting and watching.

[MindPilot]

7. I think about it every day. Several times.

Everything looks so normal. People come and go doing and dealing with the day-to-day chores and concerns, buildings get built, movies get made, life goes on.

But just beneath the surface there's a lot of uneasiness and just plain fear. There are a lot of people who don't know, but I think there are a lot more who are whistling through the graveyard.

[DemReadingDU]

8. I see the train a'coming

A lot of young people today have never known 'bad times'. They have always had parents who have bought them anything and everything whenever they wanted it. A lot of parents are in the same boat amassing huge amounts of credit card debt, and have saved nothing for a rainy day. Times will be very difficult for these people.

[Gregorian]

9. It started with the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

And then when one looks at that, they see it started before that, and before that, and before that.

But I believe that is not where you wanted to go with your post.

I tend to think in general terms. The core problem is the uncivilized, unsophistocated, unintelligent fraction of Americans that is growing ever larger. And it's selfperpetuating. Which delights the neocons. No money, no schools. Jails. Wars. And only the unheard voices of those who are aware.

I just want to heap praise on the people who take it upon themselves to care. Because we don't have to. But we do.

[GliderGuider]

11. Add in the collapse of the housing bubble,

grease the skids with a bit of Peak Oil, stir up the Middle East a bit more, and you're looking at Dr. Doom's Surefire Meltdown Recipe. We're going to have such fun trying to swallow it all.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

12. K & R. Are they just numb to it? In denial? Or totally unaware?...

...I see it's Groundhog Fuck Day again today---and not a damned thing I can do about it.

[Philosoraptor]

13. to use an overused phrase, WAKE UP AMERICA

[Philosoraptor]

14. V

[Horse with no Name]

15. I think I had one of those "light bulb" moments while driving

the other day. I had just heard one of the RW pundits say something along the lines of "See? This is freedom of speech? We are the only country you can stand up and dissent in. Our country is great." (that was paraphrased). And then it basically hit me...THAT is the joke.
We ONLY have freedom of speech (now) because enough people haven't realized that the other freedoms we take for granted have been taken away. They have been too preoccupied with American Idol and Survivor, as well as eking out a living.
But, the thing of it is, and there isn't any getting around it.
Right now, the ones that are vocal about the crimes of this administration, are EFFECTIVELY painted as nutjobs. That is working for now.
But make no mistake, when more and more people start rising up against this government, freedom of speech will become a past luxury and all of those detention camps will be used for the loudest.

[LUHiWY]

16. Police state?

We live in a police state posing as a democracy.

Many herd animals still graze unaware...but occasionally raise their heads to sniff the wind. The storm approaches. The herd is uneasy...and the cowboys are out riding the edge of the herd...singing their songs to calm them.

[truedelphi]

17. Hey we weren't snoozing

We were busy watching reality TV shows and voting for our favorite American Idol

[Philosoraptor]

18. disastrous kick