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Why No Outrage?

online.wsj.com — Through history, outrageous financial behavior has been met with outrage. But today Wall Street's damaging recklessness has been met with near-silence, from a too-tolerant populace, argues James Grant

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  • nerddtvg, on 07/19/2008, -9/+229Seriously. Why are Americans just taking it? Stand up and fight for your money, people!
    • Cryptocracy, on 08/17/2008, -16/+88FLUORIDE
      • quesi, on 07/19/2008, -4/+22ain't that the truth
      • SuperWinner, on 07/19/2008, -3/+21not sure why, but I dugg that
      • Skooma714, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3Nerve stapling!


        I can't run Alpha Centauri on my computer :'(
      • SquigglyP, on 07/21/2008, -0/+4It's corrupting our bodily fluids!
    • apothekari, on 07/19/2008, -2/+57Who the hell are you kidding?!!!
      I've been MAD AS HELL for 8 looooong years and so have most people I know!
      The Problem as I see it is that Washington is apparently a "Phantom Zone" where once our people arrive there they betray every single instinct, moral, principle and constituent they have!
      Nuke em from orbit it's the only way to be sure.
      I am voting AGAINST the incumbent no matter Dem or Repub you been there 2 years or 40 and if it's a 3rd party candidate I don't care if it's Rasputin reincarnated you get my vote ***** HAS GOT TO CHANGE!
      • migshark, on 07/20/2008, -1/+14I think you guys need to walk the bloody path of Ireland. Make some examples of politicians. *menacingly taps baton in the palm of his hand*.

        Of course that would be considered inciting rioting and terror so please don't take me seriously.
      • snareguy17, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3Rasputin reincarnated is a bit much.
      • Kanten, on 07/21/2008, -2/+5>I've been MAD AS HELL for 8 looooong years and so have most people I know!

        And you're not gonna take it anymore?
      • hwy9nightkid, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2this seems rather foolish if some of those people are fighting this, and then you vote against them.. why don't you actually think with your vote instead of blindly raging on the ballot box.
    • ufia, on 07/20/2008, -9/+37I'm standing up to the man by furiously typing angry comments on the internets. That will teach em!

      I'm also gaming the online polls to make Ron Paul seems more popular than he really is, that alone should fix our economy.
    • trevah, on 07/20/2008, -4/+10Oh, I dugg this article so I've done my part. Plus, I got angry and whined to my friend about how we should do something. We'll show those damn brokers who's boss just yet!

      Oh wait, jk.
    • denizen42, on 07/20/2008, -3/+2Money but also moral SANITY
    • macweirdo42, on 07/20/2008, -3/+7Because stories like this distract us from the latest celebrity gossip. I mean, I'd love to care, I really would, but then I might miss out on Lindsey Lohan's latest drama.
    • samcrut, on 07/20/2008, -0/+18You're assuming we have money. Most of us owe more than we're worth. Sure I could withdraw all my cash in protest, but I doubt $853.38 would really make much of a statement.

      I may not be employed by CitiBank, but I've been "working for them" for quite a few years now.
      • lisaawesome, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6I bet MidFirst Bank would collapse if I ever withdrew my whopping 150 dollars!
    • cheekybastard, on 07/20/2008, -1/+12Jesus is a Republican and all of this is happening because God wanted it to.
    • jerichobp, on 07/20/2008, -3/+7"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the _Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government_ (emphasis not in original), laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." - Wise words from wise men on what we should be doing right now (United States Declaration of Independence)
    • fquednau, on 07/20/2008, -4/+5A general problem amongst the western civilizations. We have just become too comfortable and too absorbed in the blinding cycle of earning and spending. Most of us are now atheists, meaning they have to cling to this one life they got from some random conjunction of two cells...fighting the oppressors may mean to die, but there is no way we couch potatoes would leave our cozy little homes to change something for people we may not even know.
      • ProfessorFoo, on 07/21/2008, -2/+2I'm an atheist, but you have no idea what you are talking about if you think most people are. Actually you must be really, really stupid to say that. Last time I checked about 75% of people in the US are Christian.
    • paradexes, on 07/20/2008, -0/+11Ok here is a scenario. If 4chan and all the big social networking sites were all taken down by the Govt. and you had this latest drama on Wall Street, which would cause more outrage? My guess 4chan going down. I mean look at the craziness that ensued when the Dixie Chicks made their infamous comments about the President. The resulting outrage basically ruined their career as a result.

      Or the latest Lidnsay Lohan nipple slip?

      Consider the ***** that Bush has done....crickets. Very little actual outrage other than what we see on Digg. He is still in office and impeachment proceedings are going through. But it is all political theatere at this point. Dems ARE weak on terror. They haven't impeached Bush. Impeach him and they will show that they are tough on terror. He is the real terrorist mastermind here.
      • cheesehead, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4I hate to say it but if the theft of democratic principles in America was the theft of crack cocaine, I think most of the theiving bastards in your gov't would have been capped by now. Do you have a link to the Lindsey Lohan nipple slip?
    • jodes440, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Sadly, J6P has no idea how he's being screwed out of his money from every angle possible. Because 'this is America' and all of the bad ***** that happens to other countries can't happen here - ever. Most people have no idea the abyss we're staring into - while Bernanke is pushing us closer by the day.
    • brundlefly76, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2We are all taking it because we were all complicit.
    • ScottMitchell, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3We will stand up in outrage, eventually, when it gets much worse. And it will. This is just the beginning. There are hundreds of other banks that are insolvent, and we've only seen the tip of the iceberg regarding home valuation declines and foreclosures. By 2010 people will be more testy and reactionary.
    • CaptainEnglish, on 07/20/2008, -3/+4Because it is an intrinsic part of Capitalism. You can't have growth all the time. Accept it, man up, re-invest and the problem goes away. These recessions hurt most when people complain and tighten up.

      This has happened throughout history, 70's,80's,90's, get used to it. Tighten up for a year or two, then we're all happy again. It's how the world works.
      • yaddayaddayoda, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3Socialize the losses, privatize the profits...
    • RationalXubrnce, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6 Because those robbing us own our press and our media. We live in the Matrix.
      • ndepalma, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1"Because those robbing us own our press and our media. We live in the Matrix."

        I hear that - there is a group in Atlanta that protests once a week outside of CNN to get them to change but they are just ignored. Satyagraha doesn't work anymore. We've lost our community.. instead of planning anything in real life, we sit in front of the tv and become outraged or sit on digg and type our outrage.
    • algaeturd, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Because they're a bunch of uneducated, lazy, apathetic fools.
      Did I miss anything?
    • jeexbit, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1***** the acid, eat the money.
    • yuutokun, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Why so serious?
    • SquigglyP, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1they are not reporting this stuff. They bring up the recent collapses of various banks and the federal bail-outs and buy-outs for just little brief pieces, and then never bring them up again. People don't KNOW, and you can't tell them because they assume that if the news was really that important, it would be on TV. But the people who own TV don't want the people to know. They enjoy controlling everything - including politics and government - and they wouldn't want to over-inform people about anything. The world is falling apart, and they still waste most of their time on talking heads and celebrity stories rather than news. No that most people even watch the news anymore.

      No one cares, but would they if they knew what was going on? That's the real question.

    • lowbot, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3Who do I fight exactly? The dumb-ass who bought that 300k+ condo or 500k+ house by saying "Yeah Ill worry about the balloon payment when it happens?" If so Ive got a few thousand people to beat up.

      Of you mean in the childish "its us vs the man" BS? Yeah, your enemy isnt the government its your friend next door with the big house.
    • sodoh, on 07/21/2008, -0/+0Watch the recent daily show. Bush went on air to give a speech at how great the economy was at the exact same time another speech was given explaining how bad it was.
    • opticwind, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Dramatic speeches about overthrowing the government are typically negated when someone asks "Specifically, how?"
    • KhanneaNL, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1I think I have an idea why >>

      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum ...
    • CCoburn3, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1We know there's not a damned thing we can do about it --that's why we're just taking it.

      We know we have no influence at all over what is done in Washington. We know we have no influence over the Fed. We know that we can't do a damned things about Wall Street.

      What's the point of getting upset about something we can't fix?
    • pharoah724, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1For Americans to take to the streets will take a crisis of apocalyptic proportions. Unfortunately, we run the risk of breathing life into mob rule if a crisis that huge happens. But, it still remains to be seen.
  • roosevans, on 07/19/2008, -31/+148The American people have become accustomed to "Big government" taking care of us, since the "New Deal" of the Roosevelt presidency. The American people have lost their "rugged individualism" and self reliance in dependence upon governmental entitlements and welfare. In my opinion, that is why there is no outcry at what Wall Street and the Fed is doing to the American on "Main Street".
    • ciaran036, on 07/19/2008, -7/+15part of the big plan:
      “Other aspects of the Brotherhood Agenda, across the ‘Millennium’ and
      the years to 2012, include: a global financial collapse to introduce the one-world
      electronic currency; conflicts and terrorism galore; and a whole range of other events to
      terrify and dispirit the human population into unquestioning servitude.” - Written in 1998 by David Icke.

      “Such
      conflicts all over the world lead to demands that something must be done and that
      ‘something’ is always further centralisation of power.”



      • covertbadger, on 07/20/2008, -2/+15Did you seriously just quote David Icke with a straight face? The man genuinely believes politicians are lizard monsters from space. He makes Alex Jones look like a sane and rational man.
      • 2reflective, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5If you're not sure who David Icke is, you should watch this then make up your mind if he's really crazy:

        http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-479944711 ...
      • yaddayaddayoda, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Politicians _are_ lizards.
    • BHO4Prez, on 07/20/2008, -16/+5rooseevans

      If you want to see the end of big centralized federal government, elect Obama.

      Obama is the greatest champion of small government in Washington.
      • quesi, on 07/20/2008, -1/+16hahahahahaha. Brilliant
      • LoveWidescreen, on 07/20/2008, -3/+11You CLEARLY have not read and heard Obama's desires for this country if you truly believe that. That's one hell of a potent Kool Aid you've been drinking, though.
      • OCSmoke, on 07/20/2008, -2/+9Well...except for his desire to create a domestic security force that is as large and well-funded as the US military.

        500,000 new goons on the streets of the US is not exactly "smaller government."
    • DifferentAngle, on 07/20/2008, -2/+13Too bad there's no old-school republican party anymore either. The two-party system prevents us from addressing the issues - the parties only differ on superficial things, or in words but not in actions.
      • edwartica, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Well, you still have the log cabin republicans.
    • growler1, on 07/20/2008, -4/+11"Government entitlements and welfare" --?

      Do the people who receive such "entitlements" usually invest them on Wall Street?

      No, they don't.
      • OCSmoke, on 07/20/2008, -0/+10Actually yes - yes they do. Most new welfare is going to Wall Street entities, and not hungry or poor Americans.
    • WileEPeyote, on 07/20/2008, -4/+9"Rugged Individualism" was a popular term during Hoover's administration, this is the guy who refused to do anything about the depression. Another term that came out of that administration is "Hoovervilles", little shanty towns that sprung up all over the country.
    • SpinningHead, on 07/20/2008, -0/+10Seems to be the corporations which have become used to big government handouts and bailouts.
    • dracken, on 07/20/2008, -3/+22No.

      Americans have become used to "credit". It used to be the case that you lost your job, you could not pay for food. Leave alone luxuries. A hungry stomach is a strong motivation for protest. This was the short term impetus towards outrage against financial unfairness. The longer term motivation for outrage is social mobility. If you are from the lower middle class, it used to be the case you could not afford a car or a house.

      Now the short terms needs are taken care of by short term credit (credit cards) and the lack of social mobility by longer term credit (mortgages, student loans). A rich person has an Ipod. You have one too. A rich person has a car, you have one too. A rich person has a house, you have one too and Americans are content.

      Americans have adjusted their lives accordingly by learning to live with debt and by refinancing. Hence the lack of outrage. The fact that a rich person has 100Mill$ in the bank and you have 500K$ debt is lost upon us.

      The concept of cheap credit is a win-win situation. On the one side, wall street bankers have turned handsome profit by lending credit to the millions of lower middle class population, on the other hand it has kept those millions of lower middle class population pacified by giving them a false impression of wealth. When the millions of borrowers cannot return the money, you have government bailouts, inflation, increased taxes and decreasing value of the dollar.

      Safety net like unemployment benefits and social security make for a mobile labor force and quick changes in the market. They take care of you during brief periods of unemployment while giving you opportunity for retraining. That has now been replaced by credit cards. Lost your job ? no problem. Here is a discover card with 0% APR for 1 year. Just pledge me your life in exchange.

      Dont blame abstract entities like "big government". Social security is different from the mortgage crisis. Did you even pause to consider that ? Or were you too brainwashed to simply rant "big government" for every ill that faces the US ?

      Safety nets like social security and unemployment benefits are the better way than taking care of the populace through cheap credit and ultimately shafting them through government bailouts of the creditors. Stop and wonder why this huge talk about "default" and "interest rate" and not talk about "jobs", "manufacturing strength" or "economic fundamentals".

      I am tempted to bury your comment as pig headed sophistry.
      • LuaPron, on 07/21/2008, -3/+2What do you expect to happen when the safety nets you talk up are stretched to the breaking point?

        Considering the amount of money and power involved, what do you think about the possibility of someone like George W Bush in charge?

        What do you think is more destructive, the abuse of power, or the power to abuse?
      • maxmidget, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Extraordinarily incisive. There is no current upheaval of the masses because they can put off their troubles to another day.

        Unfortunately, anything that is not having an immediate impact upon American's lives is not considered an issue.
    • ShimonDigg, on 07/21/2008, -5/+5"Rugged individualsm" is another way of saying "taking a corporate ***** up the ass and not saying anything"

      Conservative doublespeak.
    • rz8472, on 07/21/2008, -0/+4Yeah, I'm sure the New Deal was the problem. Just as Roosevelt didn't call a bank holiday, let war profiteers thrive during WWII, and wasn't the target of a coup attempt by fascists financed by JP Morgan and other big Wall Street names (see - the Business Plot)

      Government can work for or against the people - something some people fail to understand.
    • flossdaily, on 07/21/2008, -0/+4People love to whine about 'big government', but they don't seem to mind having interstate highways, a cutting-edge military, workplace safety regulations, ensured bank accounts, social security, etc, etc, etc...

      Big government is NECESSARY for a big populous and big economy.

      When Republicans cry about big government, they're really just ranting about government regulations on industry. See, they don't want to have to worry about worker safety or wages, or the environment, or product safety or quality- they just want high profits controlled only by "market forces".

      Government is the thing that protects citizens from businesses. Now that businesses are big, I'm very happy that my government is bigger.
      • wojtyk, on 07/31/2008, -0/+0>> People love to whine about 'big government', but they don't seem to mind having interstate highways, a cutting-edge military
        Both of those things are 'small government' (as enumerated in the Constitution under "provide for the common defense" and the interstate commerce clause).. These things are necessary staples of the federal government.

        >> workplace safety regulations
        There's no reason this couldn't/shouldn't be handled on a state level

        >> ensured bank accounts
        This one is debatable, but not all limited government advocates oppose bank regulation. Personally, I'd rather the government take over the banks rather than "having their backs" while the banks reap the profits.

        >> social security
        Worthless waste of money - essentially a money funnel to the richest segment of society (the elderly). Kill it and let the states waste money on whatever pyramid schemes they want to run. Or at a very minimum, reform it to take net wealth and/or income into account.

        >> When Republicans cry about big government, they're really just ranting about government regulations on industry
        That is something you choose to believe. Libertarians/Conservatives are not Neocons. Hell, Neocons aren't even the bulk of Republicans.

        In conclusion, you make the oft-made mistake of claiming that small government advocates are anarchists. Small/limited government means just that. Nowhere does it imply "zero"or "none". Similarly, not all conservatives are rich corporate-loving asses. You really need to see outside the current administration. There's more to an entire party than a handful of people.
  • MarkEarhart, on 07/19/2008, -11/+190Most Americans are so dumbed down and preoccupied by the lies that the oligarchy feeds them through mainstream media that they don't even realize there is a problem to be outraged about. After all, the President says the economy is fine, so it must be. The American people will not become outraged until the rug is yanked from beneath them and the ***** hits the fan full force. At that time it will be too late. This is what they have planned. Does anyone out there care? Is anyone listening? The elite have been working for more than a century and a half to create the disaster we are about to be hit with at point blank range. Are we just going to continue watching the grass grow while they finish us off?
    • HumanCattle, on 07/19/2008, -2/+20Its no use, they just won't listen, and have been rendered incapable of grasping even basic concepts...

      I think we should probably just sell up everything we have and move to china or dubai. Thats what everyone else is doing.

      America is gone... let it go, move on. The rest of the world seems to be adjusting for this reality. Its quite sad :-(
      • heymisspenny, on 07/19/2008, -1/+12All due respect, but I am going to have to disagree with you.

        First of all, you just have to know how to talk to them.

        Second, I know it seems like a few people up against the scariest man-eating establishment alive. And I know it looks like there's no chance or the people who are finally getting it should give up ... that there aren't enough of us to rally the masses and get back our nation ... But wait, I think I've seen this before in a book or a movie somewhere?

        Oh yeah, that was us. And we won.



      • HumanCattle, on 07/19/2008, -2/+8Hmm... are you talking about Star Wars?

        Battlefield Earth?

        The Mighty Ducks?

        Revenge of the Nerds?

        Cliche Underdog Folk Hero-Archetype Fairy Tale Feel-good Schmalz Story 2: Judgement Day? :-)

        In other words, I think you're living in fantasy land if you think the masses will ever wake up to the totality of their situation. Its a nice sentiment but I'm getting quite disheartened. I suppose eventually I'll come to despise the common man and consider him a mere herd-animal to be milked, shorn and slaughtered as the 'good shepherd' requires.

        Maybe one gets to a point where one become so jaded with trying to awaken the sleepers that one begins to see oneself as separate and better and somehow more evolved than the bleating masses... feeling as if the profane Manimals deserve what's coming to them. Almost as if its the natural birthright of the superior post-human to capitalize and feed upon the weaker species.... pig, sheep, cow, chicken, common human - whats the difference? They're all just farmed animals, right?

        *sigh* thinking hurts.
      • quesi, on 07/19/2008, -0/+10That kinda talk renders you no better than "them". C'mon, man - stay and help U.S.
      • SaraLiberty, on 08/16/2008, -1/+17"First of all, you just have to know how to talk to them."

        Is it really *that* easy...

        I have attempted to discuss similar topics as addressed here in calm, rational manner with many family members, co-workers and friends who claim themselves to be "open minded".. All I hear is the voice of HAL, the possessed computer from 2001, saying "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave." Their eyes glaze over and they begin regurgitating the latest Fox News talking points in a frenzied panic. When they are not busting out in laughter like I'm Lily Tomlin doing stand-up at the mere mention of "one world government", NAU, FEMA camps or Federal Reserve fraud. Heaven forbid you should claim 9/11 isn't what we are told it was! Their minds have been expertly manipulated to instantly reject uncomfortable truths. Their worldview, shaped by a TV box plugged into a wall socket.

        Their entire isolated one-dimensional reality dictated by what the so-called "reputable" controlled government sanctioned mass media sedates them to believe. Not by personal experience. Not from worldliness, critical thought, real life knowledge, traveling the world to take in different cultures, customs and realities, or understanding where other people are coming from and what they've been through and learned in life. They won't even consider what is really going on beyond the CNN paradigm, much less any opinion or information that doesn't comfortably agree with their TV-addled soundbites and controlled media pundit 'talking points." "Well if I didn't see it on TV it can't possibly be true!".. It's a sad state of affairs for America, for anyone who gives less than a ***** about our Constitution, our rights or freedoms this country was founded upon. Keep hope alive at any rate. I'm not ready to give up yet, by a long shot.

        ..Perhaps you would be most obliged to offer suggestion as to some ideas in "how to talk to them", as you claim to be well versed in this area. Or was that a front?

        How about it. What are some methods in getting through to the pajama people (sleepers) I'm honestly dying to know. How do YOU talk to them and get through to them and get them to consider what you are saying? I'm all about learning and Digg is all about 'sharing information' (among other things..) so if you have anything to teach I'm all ears. Spill a few for the cause. Guess I won't hold my breasts waiting for a response..?
      • quesi, on 07/19/2008, -0/+3"they all got flannel up and down 'em, a little trap door back aroun'em, and some cozy little footies on their mind"

        SOGL: now about that last sentence, my dear...
      • bluesnowmonkey, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5Same. I've had a lot of frustration trying to wake people up to the problems around us. The more terrible the facts I share, the less people want to hear them. They look for the nearest excuse to put the problems out of their minds.

        "The GAO said we're in debt up to our eyeballs and need to double taxes NOW or else the country will go bankrupt," I say. "Oh, it's fine, they'll balance the budget eventually," they reply, as if the matter is somehow settled.
      • ammundsen, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Americans has become a crummy country full of strip malls, gaudy homes, and selfish people. We have no sense of community. We have become a nation of diversity, which practically means atomized humans with no felling of connection to our fellow man. Thus, we are no threat to the powers that control us. We cant organize for change.

        Americans have no idea their country is not the capitalist paradise they think it is. Our infrastructure is falling apart. We have lost our manufacturing. We are living today on credit. We are 3rd generation rich. Some day the party will end. And that day is upon us.
      • heymisspenny, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3Holding your breasts? I needed that, thanks ...

        I wanted to ask everyone, I know we're all convinced the media (and maybe flouride) have the masses zombified ... but do you think this the first time hoards of people have been convinced not to sway from the flock? Sure now we have more media outlets today, but the money/power conspiracies manipulating everybody else into following along is not a new thing. It's all relative, and in it's own context it's all the same....

        Anyway, I digress ...

        to HumanCattle: Trust me, it's a daily battle not to be jaded, I just realize that there a lot of people angry about this or that, and when they voice it to me in a passing conversation I take the moment to start planting seeds. Sure there are a sh**-ton of people out there too busy with American Idol to look away from their TV, but to say that they're ALL so far gone is a but nihilistic.

        And the way I look at it is I'm not going to just be one of them, and this isn't worth keeping my mouth shut over.

        to SickofGovtLies: No, it wasn't just a front. And trust me I know it's not an easy thing to do, either. I’ve failed with many, but I’m learning from my mistakes and trying new things. I just treat it like any other viral marketing project: one qualified ear at a time. You can't expect everyone to eat up everything all at once. And you can't condescend people into buying it. No matter how true it is

        And that's just it: I only go after what they've shown they have an issue with: if it's as simple as a speeding ticket or it's as big as a family friend in double jeopardy for some crooked-system-in-cahoots-with-the-media bs, I grab the opportunity and run with it. I’m aware of their responses. I try to ask open ended questions to learn more and get as much as I can from it. And it probably should go without saying, but you have to be careful to talk in their terms and NOT be condescending. More often than not I find people as aware as you or I can't get off their overly-enlightened high horses and talk face to face with the "pajama people." That’s one of the major things that, for those who ARE willing to listen

        What it comes down to is that I don't expect to change any one person's mind in one fell swoop. I plant a small seed, and I take every chance I can to water it. For the people I may talk to once and never see again, I can only hope that showing empathy helps them see they aren’t alone.

        I imagine to some that's seems a lost cause, but I don't believe it is.

        One day soon I’m going to turn my part time blog-rant into a full time not-so-covert pr stunt that turns people’s minds back on to the idea of Liberty. That’s a whole-hearted promise.
      • fireburner23, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2My question is, where is the advice to help us? We read all the time about how the FED/banks are screwing us, but I cannot help ask the question "What can I do on the personal level to hold on to my wealth?" Do I invest in gold (or wait till the gold boom goes bust then get back into it?) Where is the good advice on to weather these storms?

        The only thing that I can think of that will put me into a better financial state is 1. Paying off all my credit card debt 2. Once credit card is paid off, take that money and put into savings 3. Start paying cash for items.
      • heymisspenny, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1fireburner, you're right. real advice out there from non-MSM types can seem shaky at best.

        For me, this specific concern has come up all too often, so in the spirit of not having to repeat myself I decided to blog about it:

        http://www.lovehatelife.com/archives/42

        And for a little more about buying gold/silver:
        http://ezinearticles.com/?Buy-Gold-Coins&id=278337
    • macweirdo42, on 07/20/2008, -0/+13Honestly, I would be more shocked if people DID get up in arms. I mean, did you sleep through history class, or what? People never react until it's too late. It's just human nature. There's no sinister plot to keep us in the dark, it's not that we've been brainwashed or anything - it's simply that people tend to ignore that which does not directly impact their lives.
      • wesdenton, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3It's true. We live in a very reactionary society.
      • eryximachus, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5It's been decades since the people had any arms of significant with which they could bring to bear against the government.

        Handguns and hunting rifles are pretty much useless in any kind of modern military engagement.
      • WileEPeyote, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3There are plenty of times in history when people have stood up against tyranny. The problem is, too many people are busy looking at their shiny things (iPhone, HD TV, etc.)
    • DangerCollie, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6The interesting bit to the article is how savers are the real losers, a line of reasoning echoed by Yahoo financial blogger Robert Kiyosaki. And it's really true. I don't borrow money for anything these days and I'm the loser. I've watched the t-bill interest rate drop from almost 5% to less than 2 on a couple auctions, though it's recovered a bit lately. Still well below inflation. If I shop around I can find a 5% CD and almost break even on inflation, provided I don't spend any of it for a year. Savings cash is nearly worthless and losing more value by the day.

      Maybe there aren't enough people saving money to get angry.
      • covertbadger, on 07/20/2008, -1/+2Cash is a useless way to store wealth long term. Nothing to do with evil banks or global currency nut-job conspiracies, it's just basic risk-reward fundamentals. Cash is highly liquid and non-risky, so you get a crap return on it. Shares and property are more risky and less liquid, so you get better returns. If your idea of 'saving' is hoarding cash, it's little wonder you're losing out.
      • jodes440, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Absolutely spot on. And no, there aren't enough people saving money to get angry. The national average of savings is NEGATIVE. We're so f-d and most people don't have the slightest clue.... Maybe people will wake up to the fact that you can't have your cake and eat it too - there is no such thing as a free lunch.
    • FutureGuy, on 07/20/2008, -1/+2Americans unfortunately don't have the balls left to be outraged about anything. Prefer to stay home and watch TV or play video games. If the Iraq war, totally based on lies and propaganda, and is fast turning into a worse episode then viatnam has provoked no "outrage" nothing will. Somehow this attitude reminds me of another once great civilization, Romans, I don't think I have to explain what happened to them.
    • jhandfield, on 07/21/2008, -2/+3"This is what they have planned."

      Conspiracy theorists get 142 diggs these days? Forget what's happening to the economy, doesn't anyone care what's happening to Digg these days?
    • dagoonmaster, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2*sigh* i think part of the reason no one is up in arms is because they don't understand what is wrong with economy in the first place, and im going to assume most people on here don't either. Regardless most people haven't really lost much if anything yet(unemployment went down to 5.3% from that spike to 5.5% just so you know) (as much as you hear about foreclosed homes that is only a small percentage in most areas and most people (RIGHTFULLY)( blame the people who didn't/wont/cant pay back their loan as much as the people that gave it to them) And ..im gonna go out on a limb here and say within a year or so we will have recovered from recession and be questioning why all these doomsday theorists were running around with their heads cut off like every other recession they predicted would end the world as we know it and ...were wrong
    • zer0nix, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3it's not about the lies, it's about greed and a lack of intelligence. show me the lies. where are the lies? i see positive pr and ad campaigns -just as you would expect in any capitalist industry- but where is this massive conspiracy you want me to believe is controlling everything?

      there is no need for conspiracy. the american public is wired to the system through their pocketbooks. they support it everyday with their actions and their money. the average american couldn't care less how corrupt and flawed it is as long as he's still reaping wealth from it. oh, and 'knock on wood,' 'wink wink,' do a voodoo dance and hope everything comes out alright and make a lot of money while doing practically nothing -because 'everyone else does'- or else 'the system sucks.'

      americans aren't behaving outraged because they're filthy rich. the average, middle class american owns (at least one of each) a car, a house, broadband, cable, eats out, travels abroad for vacations, owns multiple superfluous electronics and has a retirement account on top of everything and is even planning to start a side business with 'extra money.' who the ***** gives a ***** about 'cyclical' economic changes when you're so goddamned well taken care of? who gives a ***** about ANYTHING when they're so well taken care of? hey, why rock the boat right? spare the details for 'smarter folks' who know what to do with it. the average american is content to sit back, relax, and say 'the system will run itself.' -swiftly into the dirt because you deserve the assholes and gambling, self-entitled, ignorant pricks you elect into power.

      my father voted for bush twice. he has confirmed on many occasions he's voting for mccain come november. he HATES them -HATES THEM- with a vengance and yet he's voting for them because of a percieved guarantee of lower taxes.

      you can't count on the average american to stand up for anything other than their own greed and personal pocketbook. -and i do mean 'their own' because the average american i know doesn't give a flying ***** if their neighbor goes broke -not beyond a tacit expression of gossip.

      the sad thing is, the average american assumes the government will take care of everything -on both sides- and doesn't realize that the people we elect into office are just as greedy, incompetent and flat-out ignorant as they are; they don't just 'deserve each other,' they are absolutely, totally alike. they are ONE AND THE SAME. dick cheney isn't some demon from hell, HE IS YOU. -and just like YOU, in his heart of hearts, he really doesn't give a ***** about anyone but himself.

      the really smart ***** will reap money from the corrupt system and walk away laughing, while shouldering none of the blame or the costs.

      the really dumb ***** will look to these gamblers and sociopaths, thinking 'well he certainly has a lot, i bet if i follow him i'll make a lot too' and act surprised when the really smart ***** take all of the dumb *****'s money and skips off laughing.

      you get exactly what you deserve. vote with an understanding of history; -failing that, vote with your conscience.
    • diggingaround, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1"...Are we just going to continue watching the grass grow while they finish us off?..."

      I dunno 'bout grass, but "The American Idol" is on tonight ... I'll watch it with some Gatoreaide coz it haz Elektrolites ...
  • SaraLiberty, on 08/16/2008, -8/+79"The most blistering attack on the ancient target of American populism was served up last October by the then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, William Poole. "We are going to take it out of the hides of Wall Street," muttered Mr. Poole into an open microphone"
    /etc.

    If that doesn't say it all..

    They don't even try to hide it anymore. They're right in your face.

    Abolish this theft of our American monetary system already. We don't need it. Your gov't is owned by big corp. interest and the Central banks who print the money via the illegal Federal Reserve system, which is about as "federal' as 'Federal Express.' The Federal Reserve is a private corporation and passes its own laws in complete disregard to the United States Constitution. There is NO difference between Obama or McCain. They are bought and paid for by the same people who control the Federal Reserve.

    Federal Reserve (private bankers) have bought and sold politicians since their creation in 1913.

    “We shall have world government whether or not we like it. The only question is whether world government will be achieved by conquest or consent.”
    -Paul Warburg, Council on Foreign Relations / Architect of the Federal Reserve System

    “We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government, the supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”
    - David Rockefeller, Council on Foreign Relations.
    • FrankHope, on 07/19/2008, -0/+16Can you provide a source for those quotes? I'd be interested in reading more about this. Thanks.
      • SaraLiberty, on 08/16/2008, -1/+22I'd be happy to FrankHope. Thanks for your interest.

        The quotes were sourced here:
        http://www.constitution.org/col/cuddy_nwo.htm
        linked from the Constitution Society homepage (excellent site BTW..)
        http://www.constitution.org/
        "This organization was founded in response to the growing concern that noncompliance with the Constitution for the United States of America and most state constitutions is creating a crisis of legitimacy that threatens freedom and civil rights. Although the focus here is on government in the United States, coverage also includes the rest of the world, and private as well as public organizations. We maintain that the principles of constitutional republicanism are universal, and applicable to all nations, although not well understood or upheld by most. We also examine the related principles of federalism and nomocracy, the rule of law, of nomology, the science of law, and show how those principles are applicable to solving the fundamental problem of avoiding excessive or unbalanced concentrations of power."

        Enjoy. And have a good weekend, ~Sara
      • DestroyFascism, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2intellectual elite?

        Smarter people work in Labs. I think what they are saying is deceptive, the NWO is a mafia like entity, control and supply.
    • schneid4323, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3I have a better Rockefeller quote for you

      For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as "internationalists" and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.
      —David Rockefeller, "Memoirs" autobiography page 405

      http://digg.com/politics/Senator_David_Rockefeller ...
    • diggingaround, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2So... let's say after (if ever) they achieve NWO and make us all their (financial) slaves.. what's next? Because when you get that brand new car - it's not new any more and you want something else..
    • fireburner23, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2My question is, where is the advice to help us? We read all the time about how the FED/banks are screwing us, but I cannot help ask the question "What can I do on the personal level to hold on to my wealth?" Do I invest in gold (or wait till the gold boom goes bust then get back into it?) Where is the good advice to weather these storms?
  • girwen, on 07/19/2008, -3/+50“We shall have world government whether or not we like it. The only question is whether world government will be achieved by conquest or consent.”
    -Paul Warburg, Council on Foreign Relations / Architect of the Federal Reserve System

    Notice he did not say "Informed" consent.

    The voice of the people has been shut down and what is left is drowned out by the new voice of persons created by 118 U.S. 394 (1886) Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
  • Erich100, on 07/19/2008, -3/+38Her it is again, the bill that could set us free. Spread the word and put pressure on our Representatives to make this reality. Everything America and Americans are depends on getting out from under the Fed.

    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110 ...
    • tnoy, on 07/20/2008, -5/+4That has also been introduced the past four years, nothing will come out of it.
    • beebelo, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6Thanks for that info Erich100.
  • Cryptocracy, on 08/17/2008, -12/+34We have Fluoride now....
    • D3koy, on 07/20/2008, -3/+13A town I lived in voted it down, saying it was a way the government could control one more aspect of our lives, and they could poison us all and it would allow them to put other things in our water...
    • deweyhewson, on 07/20/2008, -4/+7My town voted for it by: 51% for, 49% against.

      Thousands of citizens were outraged by it, and managed to fight to get it back on the ballot the following year, and again: 51% for, 49% against.

      People don't want personal responsibility, they want and expect the government to do everything for them. So they give government that power, and then refuse to hold it in check.

      THAT is what is wrong with our country. Not individuals like Bush or Cheney, not institutions like the Federal Reserve or the IRS, not those who belong to the military industrial complex, as horrible as all of them are; but the fact that THE PEOPLE not only refuse to do anything about it, but refuse to BELIEVE it is happening.
    • indubitably, on 07/20/2008, -9/+7You know when fluoridation first began? Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
      • reddikilowatt, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3The funny thing is, every time someone starts to debate me over fluoride I bring up Dr. Stranglelove. Most people who are against it have never seen the movie.
  • ciaran036, on 07/19/2008, -12/+59Because America is busy reading about Paris Hilton, watching one of her porn films or playing GTA or some war propaganda game like Call of Duty 4.
    • quesi, on 07/19/2008, -4/+4I vow not to buy a PS3 or Xbox 360, no matter how much I want to go back to sleep - I mean, no matter how much I want to play GTA4.
      • ciaran036, on 07/19/2008, -1/+5play it! I play GTA4 and COD4. As long as I KNOW not to be influenced by it lol

        Although I stopped playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare a good bit into the storyline. I got sick of British soldiers beating up and murdering Arab terrorists.
        Because of this game, millions of western kids will grow up thinking that the Middle-Easterns and Russians are our enemy!
        I absolutely agree with the game having an 18 certificate. Younger kids playing it will get the wrong message.
      • notoneofus, on 07/20/2008, -0/+8@ciaran036: To be fair, only some of the Russians in COD4 are enemies. But, as far as Arabs go, it's quite skewed.
    • whyufail, on 07/20/2008, -0/+9I'm sorry, but if you think games are being used for propaganda, Yeah, it may be skewed, but often its for the sake of the story and because its not exactly a great idea nor interesting to make the enemy you're going to be blowing to bits for the next 30 hours a happy family man. You're circling the drain of tinfoil hats. The rest I agree with however.
    • xkorbin, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Speaking of media, why the hell isn't Boiler Room on the movie list?
    • Chris1280, on 07/21/2008, -1/+1Seriously. Go watch CoD4 zero punctuation. Its not propaganda .
  • FrankHope, on 07/19/2008, -5/+46I think most people have given up hope and become cynical. At one time in the "greed is good" days, I think many people held up the hope of joining the ranks of the wealthy themselves. Now people have just given up the fight. After all, was Enron punished?

    Privatize profits, socialize losses. Welfare for the super-rich.

    The only part of the article I disagree with is that somehow the Left is responsible for the creation of the Fed. The Fed is a creation by the capitalists, and for the capitalists. It is supposed to dampen the wild oscillations of naked capitalism. Capitalism depends on ever expanding markets in a global Ponzi scheme. How else can the "miracle" of compound interest work. Eventually a bubble forms and it bursts. This is not an anomaly. It is built into the system. The latest scheme to increase the size of the market is globalization. But that bubble is bursting too.

    The super-rich know this. They know capitalism is just an illusion. They have their golden parachutes and know how to hedge their losses so they always come out ahead. They get out just before the bubble bursts, and then go on to create the next bubble. That's the way the system works. Steal from the poor, give to the rich.
    • quesi, on 07/19/2008, -0/+8Oil bubble is inflating, they'll get out before it pops. All the millionaires think they are ahead of the game - but it's the guhzillionaires that are coming out intact.
    • Cerebron, on 07/20/2008, -4/+7'Captialism', You keep saying that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.
      • mithrasinvictus, on 07/20/2008, -4/+1He never once wrote "Captialism" and it is not a word.
      • FrankHope, on 07/20/2008, -3/+4Capitalism is an economic system. That's what I mean. At the core of capitalism are corporations that are funded by capital which is borrowed from investors. Those investors lend money expecting a profit. The investors do no work in exchange for the profits they receive, but they would argue that they take on risk. So why don't we hear about more big investors losing all their money? It is only the small investor who loses, while the big investors always win. So the system is rigged and is an illusion.
      • duckyinc, on 07/20/2008, -1/+4"So why don't we hear about more big investors losing all their money?"
        Because they are managed well and there are only so many big organizations? Capitalism is about greed and when it fails you can't just go cry and switch to another system. The American people messed it up for themselves with years of borrowing and money for nothing schemes; now it's payback time no matter how much you write.
      • GovernmentsGun, on 07/21/2008, -1/+0As a Capitalist, I'm for about half of that. I'm for privatizing profits, and privatizing losses.

        But smart men in business doth not make a Capitalist. Simply being in business does not make one a Capitalist.

        But you see everything you address is wrapped up in government control and Socialism. Government regulation is supposed to dampen any 'wild oscillations'; even though it ends up causing them. Social benefit structures depend on a ever widening Ponzi scheme as more people feel they're entitled to the dole. More people have to born into the system to support those of older generations. And, eventually, the government bubble is going to burst when it becomes too big (ie Rome).

        Even our market system is not a true capitalist system. It's heavily regulated, and becoming morso every day. It's the government involvement that allows corporations to write off profits (ie: socialize losses).

        Everything you complained about either directly applies to government, or is endorsed by government. But you probably have an idea that government is absolutely necessary, and as long as we 'vote', the system is entirely moral and can do no wrong. So, as anyone with a good/evil dichotomy has to, you pick another enemy.
      • wunksta, on 07/21/2008, -0/+0corporatism and capitalism, two different things. adam smith would balk at the system we have created.

        as one mentioned, we have an elitist corporate socialist country. we have a country that bails out corporate failures and puts the ticket to the rest of the populace while creating tax cuts for the SAME people they bailed out and their friends. these same people are the same people and are friends with those who own the media, the military industrial complex and the oil companies, as well as big pharma. they trick us into thinking all sorts of things, like we need a bigger military budget but blind us into looking into the details of that budget and who gets paid. they make us fear cheaper medicine to keep the medical companies rich.

        ask yourself why there was a medical clause in the patriot act. in the words of Smedley Butler, one of the highest decorated soldiers (a general no less) in our history:

        ""I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."[21] "

        if you think that its over and they arent playing the game with us, youre mistaken.
    • wunksta, on 07/20/2008, -2/+4Corporatism is the word you are looking for.
    • jerichobp, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3Capitalism...? That sounds more like Aristocracy to me.
    • ammundsen, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1I would not consider the Fed part of capitalism. The Fed is part of a corporate-fascist economic system. Limited liability corporations are creatures of the state and thus there is a correlation between the power of the state and the power of the corporation.

      The modern corporation is equivalent to our system of democracy. The leader rapes the customer. This is accomplished by his underlings who are loyal to the organization in hopes the organization will some day reward him for his obedience. This might happen of the underling will be thrown under a bus to protect higher ups. The leader is only concerned with milking the organization for all it is worth while he is in office. He leaves the organization poorer and worse off but personally richer.
  • Hangly, on 07/19/2008, -0/+27If you imagine society as a large number of nodes that work together, like the cells in your brain, television and other media are like the alcohol that dampens the signals and makes the brain retarded.

    Or, imagine society like coals in a campfire. If the coals are close together the heat will be sustained and the fire will continue to burn. Spread the coals apart, and the fire will die.

    For outrage to be sustainable people need to get together. Individuals are emboldened if they know they have the support of a group behind them The internet is ok for that, but there's nothing quite like face-to-face contact for motivating people to action.
    • noImmigration, on 07/19/2008, -0/+7You are spot on that the internet is not enough to beat the cooperations who want to rule the world and eliminate Nations.
    • nontoxyc, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2americans are fat and lazy now, wait until they don't have enough food and there will be riots.
  • StingingNettle, on 07/19/2008, -1/+21The elite bankers propaganda was that central banks were more stable. This was an obvious lie. The $ has lost 90% of its value since its inception. We had the great depression under central banks, and many banks went under as recently at the S&L crisis. Now we have the mortgage derivative crisis. Our banks will still be writing off these losses over a year from now. FDIC is going to be very busy, which is why they had to hire back people from retirement to work for them again.
  • BHO4Prez, on 07/20/2008, -20/+2If you want to see a smaller Federal government, vote for Obama in the coming election.

    He is our greatest champion of small government in Washington.
    • Hangly, on 07/20/2008, -0/+9/s
    • lazerus9, on 07/20/2008, -2/+7Obama?...Please!...This is the thinking persons thread! I think you were looking for the "Front Page" and wound up here by mistake, but keep reading, you may learn something!
    • akpwnz, on 07/20/2008, -1/+2Find me one pop story that doesn't involve a "This is why you should vote for (candidate)" comment
    • spritom, on 07/20/2008, -0/+8Since when did Obama get on the Libertarian ticket?

      I'm not aware of any positions Obama has taken that would even keep government at its current size, let alone reduce it in size.
      • kufu91, on 07/21/2008, -2/+316 month withdrawal from iraq. given that the military is the source of about half the money that congress makes a budget, ending the largest cause of military conflict should substantially reduce the size of the government.
    • thrive868, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4God I hope you're joking.
  • UltramegaOK, on 07/20/2008, -1/+48I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!
    • wesdenton, on 07/20/2008, -3/+11It's my money and I need it NOW!
      • theutopian, on 07/20/2008, -1/+2I hate those ***** commercials!
      • Observer001, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Timeshare? Sell it for caaaaash.
      • BTom14, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3*furrows eyebrows* Its your money use it when you need it.
    • jodes440, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4When enough people have that sentiment, then we'll see real change. Hopefully it won't be too late....

      And dug for the movie quote.
    • verevi, on 07/20/2008, -1/+8Yeah! Me too!

      Oh wait, hold on.. American Idol is about to start.
    • UltraDavid, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5Honestly, I don't believe you for a second.
    • fool13, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Then do something about it. Like most people on digg, all talk no action. They just bitch to waste time.
    • reddikilowatt, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ELleCQvew

      They're yelling in Baton Rouge.
      • Olfster, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Crap. I think I woke up my neighbors.
    • beaunewcomb, on 07/21/2008, -2/+1*I* am as mad as hell, and I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
  • scuvball, on 07/20/2008, -5/+27[Insert abstract comment aimed to imply that I actually do ***** to change the status quo but which really highlights my pathetic life as a keyboarding crusader!]
    • lazerus9, on 07/20/2008, -1/+5Don't be so hard on yourself! Once you understand the magnitude of the deception that has been perpetrated on the people of this planet, you will no doubt find the (where with all) to actually take purposeful action, for action without purpose and direction is pointless!
    • GogglesPaisan, on 07/20/2008, -2/+1I heartily support your platform and second the motion. Like any of us can actually do anything about what The Big Machine does. What are we supposed to do, go join a Militia that is already on the Big Brother Watch List? Riggght. It's just another screwing by the Powerful Elite; there is a new one every so many months. It wasn't all that long ago the donkeys were braying about the S&L debacle. Joe Wage Earner and Tom Tax Payer took it in the pooter then, too. The rich and powerful have screwed the little guy since first day of kindergarten. It isn't going to change in college.
    • fireburner23, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1I truly understand what your referring to. I am sure some of us what to do something about it, but have no idea where to start. In addition, I've wondered if I did get involved, would I become a target of my government?
  • HappyScrappy, on 07/20/2008, -8/+3I think the government has fallen flat on regulating Wall Street. It's unconscionable that we would have the mortgage meltdown/credit crunch only 4 years after the Long-Term Capital Management blowup showed the system was off the rails.

    But...

    I have to bury this because of ***** victim-playing "where's the outrage?" crap. If you want to make a point, make it flatly, don't play the victim.
  • Ubermann, on 07/20/2008, -1/+261. The media does not clearly report what is going on in the financial markets to our population.
    2. Americans don't give a *****.

    When 60% of oil futures contracts are being bought and sold on the exchanges for SPECULATION (never to take deliver of oil, but to sell the contracts before they mature) - and no one on the news is making a stink about this - you know you're being manipulated.
  • mrzack, on 07/20/2008, -9/+3Americunts have been dumbed down by the fluoride in the water ,the boobs in the TV, the trinkets on Madison ave., the mercury in the vaccines, the chem trails in the air, and the chemicals in the processed non-organic foods....
    • denizen42, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Err... boobs in the TV?
    • bizen, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1All that's missing on this list are the Reptilian Overlords controlling The Fed.
  • HappyScrappy, on 07/20/2008, -0/+13Oh, and read "When Genius Failed" and "Origins of the Crash" for some perspective on problems with the current "greed is good" system on Wall Street. There's plenty of room for Wall Street to be an engine of economic development without the ***** we've had from "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap and "CEO of the Century" "Neutron" Jack Welch. Growing a company is not the same as short-term maximizing the stock price, and it's the growth that's important for the country, not the quick cash-ins.
  • Ubermann, on 07/20/2008, -5/+22In the 1920s we had a strong sense of American Nationalism and we cared about this country. These days Nationalism is a bad word and thus taking pride in our country and future is dead.
    • ChayD, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2I guess the Pledge of Allegiance no longer means anything *sigh*
      • fireburner23, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Seriously! I've been thinking about that lately. I've even made the comment to many of my "political" friends about "Liberty and Justice for all".
    • FrenchAnarchy, on 07/21/2008, -1/+2The 1920's led to the Great Depression...
      • GovernmentsGun, on 07/21/2008, -1/+0World War 1 led to the great depression.
  • diggydougie, on 07/20/2008, -1/+18There is plenty of outrage. But the MSM sees it as their responsibility to not stir up trouble, so they downplay the bad news, just like the government does. When was the last time (or ever) you heard any sitting politician or mainstream reporter say "We are in deep trouble and ______ is to blame for it, so go get 'em"? It has to be grass roots with the establishment denying it all the way.
  • vinceislegend, on 07/20/2008, -0/+15If people had the ability to get outraged over Wall Street, Bush would have been impeached years ago, and 90% of Congress would have failed to get reelected.
  • Dumbledorito, on 07/20/2008, -7/+21America also got their outrage-o-meters re-wired by Ronald Reagan and his ilk who somehow convinced working-class people that taxes on businesses and the wealthy are wrong and that demands made by labor (themselves) for workplace safety, health benefits, and redress against management were somehow going to destroy the country.

    Even though a great many people are now suffering even more at the hands of their corporate and banking masters who think the economy is their own risk-free game of video poker, they still have this conditioning that makes them give it a pass, because somewhere they've got this delusion (much like the one perpetuated by various Lotto games) that someday THEY'LL be rich...
    • jahurt, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3Damn... too bad I can only digg this once. You nailed it.
    • lajaw, on 07/20/2008, -1/+5Down in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, automobile factories are being built. Built by foreign companies who have to build a whole base structure to support the assembly lines. They didn't build up north because of the unions. If you think the unions are a panacea for the problems of industry and it's employees, you are very badly mistaken. Unions are good in some instance. But they are bad in most because the unions end up trying to run the company. And they can't.
      OSHA takes care of safety and company furnished health benefits are the bane of the health care industry. Take away the tax write-off for furnishing health care and let the free market take care of it.
      Taxes are bad no matter where they are collected except on most imports. That is where our government should be funded from.
  • toddhenkel, on 07/20/2008, -0/+19Setting aside the the point that Americans are too dumb, too distracted, etc. that has already been mentioned, I believe there is something else for the remaining population. They participated in the behavior.

    Look how many watched with glee their home values rise at unlikely rates. Or how many over extended their credit and mortgages. Look how many have jumped into the stock market with a "I want my share too" mentality. Some of these people are still in shock I think.
    • ajwinder, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5Thank you, I came here to say the same exact thing. The 401k wasn't something that was really big the last time the market took a sizable tumble, either. Investing in mutual funds wasn't something that was nearly as big as it is today.

      You have a housing market that crumbled with a huge factor being people trying to flip houses for profit. Yeah. A bunch of jokers took out these huge loans, in the interest of flipping the house for a profit a month or two later. Who cares if the mortgage is unlivable, its only for a couple months! Oh. Right. When the system starts going south, you've got a bunch of idiots defaulting on loans.

      The only outrage we can really have here is with ourselves. This isn't some mysterious wall street, trench-coat-wearing boogieman. Its your idiot neighbor whos flushing his money from company to company acting as if he has a clue what hes doing, just because he watched some raving lunatic on CNBC. It's your boss, who thinks that real estate speculation means buying the POS, over-inflated house down the block with a huge mortgage and a huge-mortgage rate, and flipping it 3 months later. The idiocy of people in this country in pursuit of the all-mighty buck is a huge part of the problem. And thats not even considering all the Quixtards out there...
  • frostcrow, on 07/20/2008, -1/+8Because we are to busy blaming ourselves. It seems these days "it's our own fault" and "we are dumb and fat" and "we get the government we deserve" and " the rest of the world hates us " or " the rest of the world laughs at us "...

    We are so caught up in self loathing or hating our fellow Americans we just assume it is our fault, their fault ( other Americans) or there isn't anything we can do about it.
  • deweyhewson, on 07/20/2008, -1/+10I posted this above in a reply, but wanted to separate it out here:

    People don't want personal responsibility, they want and expect the government to do everything for them. So they give government that power, and then refuse to hold it in check.

    THAT is what is wrong with our country. Not individuals like Bush or Cheney, not institutions like the Federal Reserve or the IRS, not those who belong to the military industrial complex, as horrible as all of them are; but the fact that THE PEOPLE not only refuse to do anything about it, but refuse to BELIEVE it is happening.
  • tnoy, on 07/20/2008, -6/+4I'm doing my part: I'm investing in foreign markets now.
    • baconz, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1That's unpatriotic! That's unamerican (whatever that means). That's...um...a very smart thing to do actually.
  • jreinstedler, on 07/20/2008, -3/+12This article sums up a number of the problems I have with this ***** of a place. People would rather sit back and take it up the rear instead of doing something... I think all this 'tolerance' training/brainwashing is making most of us a bunch of weak ass pussys. The financial crisis is just one of many things that this applies to. We Americans have lost what made us special and sadly enough we could learn from what some of the Mid Eastern countries are saying about our decadent ways.

    Get up off your ***** asses and do something other than make more money, eat too much, watch shows about flipping houses (which just overinflates prices), and complain to a wall of deaf ears (government) that arent going to do ***** for you... you who elected them.
    • RiverdaleStomp, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Good Idea. "Do something". Brilliant. Can't believe no one thought of that before. And what have you done? Or better yet, what do you suggest we do?
  • duckyinc, on 07/20/2008, -8/+21Why so serious?
  • SilverBlade2k, on 07/20/2008, -0/+12People today have been wired to only care about themselves and their own little world, to ignore everything outside of their own comfort zone until the 'outside world' affects them. There is no outrage because what is happening doesn't affect *them* right now. They'll only act once their own comfort zone is threatened, but at that time, it really is too late. The U.S government knows this, the corporations created this and uses this to please the population. Nothing will happen, no outrage will happen until people wake up.
  • sfgamergirl, on 07/20/2008, -0/+13This guy raises a good question. The next question is are we going to do something about it? The Digg community can pull together 1/2 million people to Rick Roll the Mets or get a cop a raise... where are those numbers when real issues are on the table? I'd like to hear everyone's idea for solving the problem... Now someone who is smarter than me...go.
    • SemiSarcastic, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2The first problem is that it has to be more people then just in the "Digg community" trying to get the word out. You also need fear. Yes it's a low blow and not the most logical form of helping the populace rise against the establishment, but it's one of the strongest forms of human emotion. If you can convince the people that the establishment is threatening their lives, that they WILL die under them then you will have your "revolution".
    • Ellipsys, on 07/20/2008, -0/+6Quoth, the "Snakes on a Plane" effect. There are some times that "The internet" can be a great force for change. For instance, many more people know of Scientology's ills today due to Anonymous - what started as a bunch of teenage pranksters' vendetta soon became a movement for change. While the Church of Scientology hasn't fallen as of yet, Anonymous' contributions have definitely affected a real world change. However, there are times when "we" the vocal nerds of the internet, aren't enough by ourselves.

      There were predictions that Snakes on a Plane would be the biggest movie opening since Jurassic Park (or Spider Man?), judging by the net. However, in bombed. There are a lot more of "them", the people who keep their noses buried in their gossip rags and trash TV, then us. Even the "internet generation" cares more about Cracked.com and Perez Hilton then the Trilateral Commission. There are a ton of people who are ignorant, arrogant, or are just plain good people who have enough to worry about in their lives. Do you think the maid who is cleaning a hotel room right now for minimum wage is going to come home tonight and jump on Digg, looking for intellectual discussion? How about the single mom with three kids who is working two jobs to make ends meet - Is she going to want to spend hours researching how guys in suits are ***** the world over, or does she just want to relax at the end of her day knowing she has enough food for tomorrow?

      Finally, we can be our own worst enemy. Right here on Digg - there's a percentage of us who are hardcore Libertarian "The free market will fix everything, so lets let businesses do whatever they like! The market will decide! That's true freedom" anyone who disagrees hates freedom, is a communist, etc... sound familiar? There's also the opposing faction of people who believe that more, and better government regulation is necessary. Two groups looking at the same situation, and coming out with vastly different plans to obtain "freedom". The impetus behind both sides is clearly seeking a better society, but quite simply, we can't agree on how to get there. If we can't even convince and agree with each other, how will we convince the common people? They're going to hear "Wackjob libertarians" and "wackjob utopians", get confused and generally go back to the same safe, predictable drivel they've always known.

    • bearsandbulls, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3campaignforliberty.com
    • Hangly, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2It's tough to fight back when no one can agree who or what the enemy is.
  • JrtD, on 07/20/2008, -1/+10It's difficult to show outrage when you've been sucker punched and had the wind knocked out of you. Wait until we catch our breath again and figure out what the heck happened.

    Hopefully more people will know what clobbered us before we vote in the next election. Deregulation, corporate welfare, outsourced jobs and war are mainly pushed by Republicans, but there are Democrats in power who need to go too. Thankfully President Clinton is gone (he signed the bill that allowed the Telecommunications Act put together by Republicans that basically destroyed our news media, and he signed NAFTA). But there are other Democrats in office who allowed things get out of hand.

    By now, I think most of us know that corporations, big money and greed will steamroll working Americans if our government doesn't regulate big business and if our government doesn't stop pushing our resources into the pockets of rich people. It's time to remember that "we the people" is our government, and we have the power to set the direction we go collectively.
  • SemiSarcastic, on 07/20/2008, -1/+4But really though, even if we did destroy the current establishment we'd only be moving from one extreme form of government to another. People need to be taking a more moderate approach to this. Conservative or liberal ideals alone are not going to save us.
  • solstice21, on 07/20/2008, -0/+7Off with their heads
  • schallb, on 07/20/2008, -1/+4Does your grandparents and parents get on line and look to alternative new sites to get the REAL news. My mother doesn't own a computer and if she doesn't see it on tv see thinks I'm talking out of my mind. . Most of Americans think what news they get on tv is the real deal. Don't blame them, help them, get them a cheap computer to see their government taking them for a ride. Maybe they think their just fine.....But since your informed help spread the real news.
    • preban, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1I sympathize, but most people who take for granted tv news do so because it's easier than getting on the internet and reading. That requires work. My parents are the same way. They will disbelieve what they see with their own eyes if the tv says otherwise. They will argue with me about something in my career field even though they know nothing about it other than what they heard on tv.
  • Aliwalla, on 07/20/2008, -3/+5Because we've been taught that free capitalism is the only way. Georgism FTW
    • thrive868, on 07/20/2008, -2/+4That's sarcasm right; because the Fed subsidizes virtually every industry, thus making it Fascism/Socialism, NOT Free Market.
  • maxhrk, on 07/20/2008, -1/+8Do you people wonder why it has met with near-silence? because we are shouting on digg, not go down to wall street and riot.

    I takes, people cant stay away from computer for more than a day or something like that? :) I wonder.
  • wildone71, on 07/20/2008, -11/+9Obama will save America! NOT, LOL!
    • ucccft, on 07/20/2008, -2/+3I know you would bring back "***** and Thugs"?
  • charlie55, on 07/20/2008, -9/+4why would i care what these cats on wall street do? i make my money and live my life independent of them.
    • StripeyMagee, on 07/20/2008, -4/+1There's nothing wrong with yard maintenance or car detailing.
      • charlie55, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3of course there isnt, but you are implying that there is. you are an arrogant jerk. there is nothing wrong with blue collar work.

      • whyufail, on 07/20/2008, -1/+1And when you're told to ***** off, guess what you're going to have to roll up your sleeves and do for once you useless gluttonous pile.
  • Billistic, on 07/20/2008, -3/+5At one time it would've been possible to march on wall street and start something.

    Now there's the army, and they have tanks, what's the point of trying to start something if there's no way to stop the war machine?
    • felman87, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2and yet, people find a way. Fighting fire with fire is stupid, try another element.
    • Loxahatchee, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3Can you be even more of a coward?
  • highlyhigh, on 07/20/2008, -3/+3that just proves it. we've become dumb and slow due to all the crap we put in our food, our water, and the air. msg? prescription drugs in public water? more obesity and ADD among kids and always increasing. its been building up slowly over the decades and we finally collapse under the weight of our own greed and negligence. big corporations ***** all of us. there should've been more regulation and control for them. right now, America is a failed experiment.
  • myspacecomments, on 07/20/2008, -16/+5I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!










    http://myspace.comments.birthday.googlepages.com/f ...
    • TrevorBelmont, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4No one wants your garbage. Take your SPAM and get out.
  • TrevorBelmont, on 07/20/2008, -0/+11I can say why I haven't done anything. I have no idea what to do.
    There are many calls above my comment to wake up and get angry with no indication of specific action. I suppose I could make a clever sign and go hold it up in the "free speech zone" but that seems as ineffectual as doing nothing at all. My resources are limited. Votes are rigged. Government, it seems, is too corrupt and to erratic to lead us back to the path.
    So you've pinpointed the cultural failings that have led to our current situation. Whether it be conspiracy, complacency or "other", this brings us no closer to solution.
    My question is this: At this point, on a small and personal level, what can be done?
    • ScottMitchell, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And therein lies the rub.

      It's like asking, "What can a snowflake do to stop an avalanche?"
    • thrive868, on 07/20/2008, -2/+2Join a militia, wait for things to get worse, abolish the government and restore the constitution-in a very simple outline.
    • Bazillions, on 07/21/2008, -4/+1Vote Republican.
  • doom777, on 07/20/2008, -8/+1too hard too read, I don't really understand a lot of it.

    Seems to be an article for business majors only.
    • gotamd, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Wall Street lines its pockets in bull markets using practices that cause crashes eventually. Then, when we're in crash territory (like now), the government bails our their companies using money taken directly or indirectly from the rest of us.
  • eccitante, on 07/20/2008, -2/+14There is no outrage because it has become too risky to show any. Government can label anyone a terrorist for disagree with literally anything they do nowadays. They can lock you up without due process, put you on a no fly list and basically destroy your life. This county has destroyed the very foundations of what made it great.
    • scamper22, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3There's no outrage because they keep you housed and fed. Beyond all the crap about freedom and liberty... most people aren't going to do anything until they start losing food or housing.

      That's how government's stay in control BTW. They keep the poor happy. They keep the rich happy. Fck the middle class because they know the middle class won't do anything. We're too busy trying to live our lives without government. Do we risk it all to be put in jail? Not bloody likely. So we take it in the ass and the government knows it.

      They fck with the rich and they pull their capital out... big problems.
      They fck with the poor and they get riots and people dying... big problems.

    • Hangly, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1There's no outrage because people have been conditioned to be passive and to fear individuals power.

      I don't excuse myself, I have too. Last week I actually considered the reality that there might be a civil war (and that I would fight in it) and I got so dizzy I had to sit down.

      I think part of my conditioning broke or something. It was seriously weird.
  • synarchy, on 07/20/2008, -0/+11"To preserve [the] independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses, and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account, but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers."

    --Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:39
  • dilpil1, on 07/20/2008, -7/+3You don't like it?

    Stop giving us your money.
    • ScottMitchell, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5Well then stop showing your commercials during my sporting events!
      • Sandhog, on 07/20/2008, -0/+4Yeah, let me watch other people play a game, un-interrupted, while I sit and drink beer.
  • Rudegar, on 07/20/2008, -7/+1Resistance is futile
  • lazerus9, on 07/20/2008, -3/+10Educate yourself...that is the first step. Decide what is important to you and your family. Examine your value system and determine whether or not you are following your own principles of living.
    Understand that you and your actions are being manipulated by very sophisticated psychological mind control techniques. Start your research by learning who Edward Bernays was and what effect he had on the corporate ethos and hence everything that you see in todays media.
    Here is a good link:http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Kp24ZeHtv4&feature=rel ...
    • synarchy, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3Hey, that's pretty cool that you posted that. I am pleased to see this kind of stuff getting suffused through the diggosphere. If enough people can understand how basic psychology is actively used to control the public, there's perhaps a chance of combating it as more and more people get a clue. Or, perhaps we're just doomed.
      • lazerus9, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Thanks!
        We're not doomed yet, but people do need to seek out this kind of information because no one will teach them.Some of us will point them in the right direction, but ultimately they are responsible for their education.
  • AgmLauncher, on 07/20/2008, -1/+8Welcome to 21st century apathy.
  • skunks, on 07/20/2008, -2/+10And this coming from Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal. Wow.
    • synarchy, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Eyes wide shut, aye?
    • diggerphelps, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3"Grant's Interest Rate Observer"
    • pharoah724, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1Don't be too taken by this article. Stay tuned for about face changes in the near future. I am not persuaded by this article to think that Murdoch is a good guy.
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