Don't confuse gullability and stupidity with masochism

Americans aren't masochist. They vote for virtually identical politicians then lament about the horrible things the politicians do. They complain of health problems while funding the sources of their problems. They complain about a lack of jobs while supporting organizations and people that move jobs elsewhere. I could go on, and despite all these seemingly masochistic acts, Americans aren't masochists. Instead, they are profoundly gullible, largely ignorant, very forgetful, immensely selfish, and often stupid.

You see, the selfish stupid people will eat the minority until the majority of the people are eaten. Simply recognize that, once a minority is eaten, there is a nee minority and the number of people is reduced. And, while Americans did not literally eat each other, they did exploit and screw each other. Doctors exploited their patients, consumers screwed american factories by buying cheaper foreign products, american factory owners screwed their american factory workers by "moving" the factories overseas, everybody sued each other just to make money instead of extracting justice, the lawyers and the legal system exploited their clients, prisons exploited the prisoners by getting them to work for pennies, traffic cops exploited drivers, company owners exploited workers by minimizing compensation, workers exploited company owners by minimizing actual work done, colleges exploited students by increasing tuition costs, credit card companies exploited the naivety of students, banks exploited the willingness of people to take on loans for houses, etc.

In 2004, I learned from an agent that loan officers were issuing loans they knew the loanee could not pay back for houses which would consequently be foreclosed on. This, combined with the many articles in major news publications at the time about how the housing market was a bubble soon to be popped lead to the fairly concrete idea that a lot of people were getting screwed. You had buyers thinking they were going to make a killing in appreciation of their purchase - effectively screwing the former owner. You had former owners who recognized the hype and screwed buyers knowing prices were inflated. And, you had loan officers loaning out loans they knew would never be repaid, but, being compensated for how many loans and the size of the loans they gave out, they went forward screwing people by indebting them with debt they would not be able to pay back. And so, it was a bubble of greed, and before you tell me your sad story about how you got screwed, know that doing so tells me a couple of things about you:
You are supremely ignorant, as the signs of the collapse were apparent
You are a greedy
You are a whiny

Moving along, the housing bubble collapses. Then, shortly after, there is much news of how the Fed and the US government are trying the help the market recover from this housing bubble. Around this time I learn that the Fed is giving out 0% interest loans to banks. That floored me. At that point, I had already known of the intricacies of 9/11, but this was a new level. For those of you less inclined to think, giving banks 0% interest loans means banks have just about no reason to lend out to consumers. IE, banks can take the 0% loans and invest the money in guaranteed government bonds instead of lending out to risky business starters or home buyers. And so, while the news put forth that the Fed and the US government were trying to get the economy moving and money flowing again, the Fed was doing the very thing that would freeze funds and make them unavailable to the general public.

Sure, there was a coordinated effort to screw you, but don't be a hypocrite. If American's weren't so selfish, so gullible, ignorant, and stupid you wouldn't have had the problem in the first place. And, being burned, did you learn anything? Well, certainly not enough! I personally knew people who got screwed with major home devaluation and who subsequently started to be a lot more cynical of the system. And yet, they still voted for Obama. And now, you have the same type of ignorant, gullible Americans who rush to just another false hope, Romney.

When are you going to learn? You enemy isn't going to feed you any actual solutions. You better start thinking about real issues. Issues like provable economics, morals and ethics for society, reversing the degradation of our culture. I've tried to do this with something I called persistence society, but I was amazed at the near complete lack of interest in the matter.

Most people did not ask why the bail out was forwarded to the major banks, instead of the home owners who actually needed the money...


If the bail out money was provided to the owners of the loans of the mortgage, the payees of the loan would not be in the situation they are in...the banks would have gotten their payments on time and been in the clear as well.

reply to post by capob

When are you going to learn? You enemy isn't going to feed you any actual solutions. You better start thinking about real issues. Issues like provable economics, morals and ethics for society, reversing the degradation of our culture. I've tried to do this with something I called persistence society, but I was amazed at the near complete lack of interest in the matter.

S&F

Nice rant!

While I found your assessment very entertaining I disagree that people aren't working toward real solutions. Many of us are aware of what's going on, we're just not as cynical as you appear to be (based on this one post of course). 

Unless there is some drastic event that creates an opportunity for fundamental restructuring then we must continue to work within the current system to create change. Sometimes it's effective and other times it fails but we remain persistent. I think you're mistaking our perceived inaction as stupidity. 

Remember, when you point a finger, you have 3 fingers pointing back AT YOU!

oddly enough your on to something there, i was working on a computer one day for a family member
and i was telling her about some work im doing on software in my spare time, anyway long story
short she told me i should patent that and i could sell it for large sums of money, that may well be
true but the idea simply sickens me, i would rather simply use it for my purpose or release it as
a free deal, i will make money off of it anyway as it is used in my tech work and my prices are far
more fair than your average techs are so i always have something to work on, i just cant bring myself
to perpetuate the greed anymore.

until people realize its all just one lie built on another lie built on pure greed then not much will change.
oh well maybe one day, i honestly think this attitude will destroy us. oddly enough i believe one
question could make all this better, start asking why and dont stop till you get a real answer. and
i dont know doesnt count. and if that answer makes no logical sense at all then by god there
should be H E double hockey sticks to pay.

There was a time when millions of God fearing folk lived in this country who were obedient to His commands. They enjoyed stable families, unlocked doors and nearly crime free living. Today, we have the exact opposite, and instead of understanding that the consequences we are all living with are a direct result of disobedience to the God of our forefathers, most would rather blame the bankers and the politicians instead of themselves. I did until He let me understand. The most difficult part is watching millions argue over the "best" politician to save us, when the reality is that only God saves. The very government that ripped prayer and God out of homes, schools and our institutions is now declaring itself god. How many golden halos can Obama stand in front of before we understand the gospel's warning"We have no king but Ceasar"? How many declarations of "WE are the future" and "WE Built This" must we hear before it clicks that man and his government are loudly proclaiming itself to be Ceasar? The false teachers within the churches point it's congregations to these same leaders.

reply to post by seabag


I didn't intend to equate inaction with stupidity. But, on that note, you should know, that without a rather solid end goal in mind, your efforts may be completely fruitless. Militaries don't wait for opportunities before they start planning. Do you think the major power players are just moving along haphazardly without end goals in mind?

There's not a lot you can do now in the current system? Well, how would you know this without knowing your end goal? If you want to draw paths, you have to have a destination.

reply to post by bloodreviara


I've had this type of experience very often. And, when I try to tell some of them I do this or that for reasons other than money, I only, later, get a repetition of the same. Some people are just intractable in their desire for money and power; and this, consequently, limits their ability to see or accept the reasons for what you do in terms other than money and power.

reply to post by capob

I didn't intend to equate inaction with stupidity. But, on that note, you should know, that without a rather solid end goal in mind, your efforts may be completely fruitless. Militaries don't wait for opportunities before they start planning. Do you think the major power players are just moving along haphazardly without end goals in mind?

Do you think the people in this country are just moving along with no end goal in mind? Some are but I don’t think the majority of the country fits that mould.

There's not a lot you can do now in the current system? Well, how would you know this without knowing your end goal? If you want to draw paths, you have to have a destination.

The end goal, for me, has always been adherence to the constitution and an end to crony-capitalism. I don’t think a lot of us are waiting for opportunities….we’re moving forward now, it just hasn’t been completely effective yet.

There is no perfect society or utopia in this world. America was and is the closest thing to it IMO. I’m working on improving it rather than writing it off as a failure. If it’s too far gone and our complacency as American citizens ultimately leads this country’s economy to collapse then we’ll start over working towards the same goals.

I don’t give up that easy, I’m not complacent anymore, and I think we still have a chance at fixing things (at least I do today...my optimism may fade again tomorrow).

reply to post by seabag


"Do you think the people in this country are just moving along with no end goal in mind? Some are but I don’t think the majority of the country fits that mould.
"

I would say the majority either have very selfish end goals or insignificant end goals (like get a job and have a family).

"The end goal, for me, has always been adherence to the constitution and an end to crony-capitalism. There is no perfect society or utopia in this world. " Yes, I agree, but this shouldn't stop us from attempting to improve. I have another post here called "The Fallacy of a Return to the Constitution", so you might guess what I think about the constitution: good effort, but insufficient.

Just curious, in your desire to end crony-capitalism, what have you come up with in terms of paths to that goal?