Unemployment.

[Asquar]

Yeah, it's all very ****ed-up. I'm an old hippie, and believe very strongly in the ethic of "turn on, tune in and drop out", so if it involves putting on business clothes, submitting a resume, being vetted by an HR department or pledging allegiance to a for-profit corporate entity, I do not participate.

I live on very little money, have never owned a car, and live as simply as possible underneath the belly of the beast. I do some free-lance IT-like work to eke by. But I'm a single guy without kids, so I can afford the luxury of not striving to attain some "American Dream" and join the middle or upper classes. I feel badly for couples with kids and credit card debt who've gotten caught up in the whole crazy cycle.

But the US needs to change, and we cannot change unless we become willing to change the way we live. A lifestyle based on opulent material consumerism needs to be renounced, and the socially, architecturally and environmentally destructive machinery of the corporate oligarchy needs to be abandoned.

If you don't believe me, go ask Alice when she's 10 feet tall...

[Snusmun]

Very well put Asquar. A breath of fresh air indeed...

[dEFinitionofEPIC]

Indeed. You are the man Asquar. I have much respect for you. You had the inner strength to not get sucked into the establishment's rat-race machine which revolves around the religion of materialism and worships the god of keeping-up-with-the-jones'

So many live the rat-race each and every day knowing deep inside that it could be different... that it could be better. Our values and priorities are all messed up and this country and most don't know how to really LIVE.

People spend their whole lives chasing something... they don't know what it is but they chase it because that is what they're "supposed" to do.... until they reach the end and realize that it was all for naught. Life isn't about material possesions, wealth, and status. Unfortunately most don't realize this until it is too late.

If only more of us had the strenth to "drop out" like you...

[RedMacGregor]

he contributes little.. as is his right.. i prefer to leave a mark than eek by however.

[sgreger1]

he contributes little.. as is his right.. i prefer to leave a mark than eek by however.

Yah for real. I agree we need to change our ways in this country but I refuse to wear a poncho and live on a group farm. There's nothing wrong with having things, but you can't make that your main goal. I have a wife and a kid so excuse me for having to "be in the rat race" to an extent, because we would starve otherwise. I don't have any credit debt and our cars are paid off this year so that'll be nice.

[RedMacGregor]

apart from that, i'm published, developed patents, etc. not because i like the money, but because i want to contribute and make a mark in history. the money is nice, I am fortunate to have enough, but more than that, someone has to advance the puck so to speak or we'll all be dirt farming in ponchos, and not have nice web forums to post on.

[sgreger1]

Another thing I wanted to mention to everyone is that the Fed has been very generous with it's interests rates for a while now and the feds flooded the market with money in the beginning of 09 to hold off a collapse but the reality is that this excess credit, cheap money etc cannot continue. The fed is likely to raise interest rates this year and this may have a heavy impact on several different markets, particularly the commercial real estate market.


We have underfunded pension funds, social security, medicare, failing State budgets, municipal corporations (cities) going broke, the fact that we now have 5 years of inventory in housing (mostly off the books, waiting), coming trouble in the commercial real estate biz, mean there's a new wave of trouble coming soon, probably this year.

The Federal Reserve will stop buying "mortgage-backed securities" this month and the FDIC has opened 3 new huge offices. Congress has put the taxpayers on the hook for however much of $6 Trillion Freddy/Fanny may need soon.

The Fed MUST begin raising interest rates this spring, which means more of the Federal budget will go to interest payments on the national debt, which is refinanced continuously.


There will be lots more happy-talk between now and the November election, but it all falls apart after that. So you've got the rest of this year to prepare for hard times, because a lot of different things are "unsustainable".

[dEFinitionofEPIC]

Leave a mark? In 1,000 years I guarantee any difference between his "contribution" and your "contribution" will be negligible.

How much do you know about your great, great, great, great, great grandfather? How he looked? His dreams? Things he wrote? Things he invented? How much money he had. What kind of house he lived in. Anything?

Your memory dies with those that know you....and shortly after it is as if you had never existed. Granted you have a shot to be one of the .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 % who many actually end up in some archive or history book but what are the odds.... and even then...who cares?

Besides how do you gauge one's "contribution" anyway?

[sgreger1]

Leave a mark? In 1,000 years I guarantee any difference between his "contribution" and your "contribution" will be negligible.

How much do you know about your great, great, great, great, great grandfather? How he looked? His dreams? Things he wrote? Things he invented? How much money he had. What kind of house he lived in. Anything?

Your memory dies with those that know you....and shortly after it is as if you had never existed. Granted you have a shot to be one of the .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 % who many actually end up in some archive or history book but what are the odds.... and even then...who cares?

Besides how do you gauge one's "contribution" anyway?

I don't think he meant that he was going to be in history books, but rather his contribution to society and the economy would go on to benefit others in the future.

For example if I hold a patent on something that benefits the IT community, it will generate money and productivity. After a hundred thousand people contribute one small thing, it builds a larger picture. After a thousand people write 1 line of code, a useefull program emerges, therefore providing something that will live on in history.

Being recognized for doing something isn't the intent. Its the progress that counts. Every little mark someone makes has some affect on all future events, whether it be inventing the lightbulb or just showing up for work.

But to each his own.

[Asquar]

he contributes little.. as is his right.. i prefer to leave a mark than eek by however.

What an advanced epistemology you must have, that you are able to discern the "mark" that one leaves on this earth based on his degree of participation in a decrepit and decaying oligarchy!

How do you do it? Inquiring minds want to know!

[dEFinitionofEPIC]

lol...EXACTLY..... how does one go about measuring such an intangible thing? MAYBE...those who decided to contribute LESS to the system of materialism and "progress" (which is subjective to begin with) that we currently have will have contibuted MORE to world history in the larger scope of things as they set the precedent for not feeding a failed design.

...interesting.

[lxskllr]

For example if I hold a patent on something that benefits the IT community, it will generate money and productivity. After a hundred thousand people contribute one small thing, it builds a larger picture. After a thousand people write 1 line of code, a useefull program emerges, therefore providing something that will live on in history.

Either that, or a patent troll snatches it up, and stifles growth, and innovation for years to come :^D

[sgreger1]

Lol perhaps he shouldn't have said that you were contributing less, as like you said there is no way to measure that.

I am all aboard the train that the US needs a major revamp of it's view on things and a flat out purge of our current leaders, but I highly doubt living off the grid with no car or kids is contributing much to anything.

decrepit and decaying oligarchy!

The thing is that we are only born in one country, and unless we plan to move (which I do not), we have to make the best of it. Just saying it should fail doesn't benefit you or anyone else. What we need to do is be out voting en masse come November for candidates that aren't our usual strain of corrupt.

But who to vote for? How do you overthrow such a massive machine that has the backing of the military industrial complex and all the money and connections that come with it?
This is my problem. The country is built in a way that anyone could run and we got to vote for who we felt would be best. But how are we to be adequately represented when we only have 2 choices, both of which are working towards the same end and equally corrupt?




Seriously, how does one even bring order to the chaos that is the US government? Voting won't work. Fundraising won't work. Violent overthrow probably wouldn't work. Should we do what the French did and just laugh at our leaders until no one takes them serious anymore?

Really, what is a guy to do?

[sgreger1]

Either that, or a patent troll snatches it up, and stifles growth, and innovation for years to come :^D

What a patent troll may look like

[dEFinitionofEPIC]

Lol perhaps he shouldn't have said that you were contributing less, as like you said there is no way to measure that.

I am all aboard the train that the US needs a major revamp of it's view on things and a flat out purge of our current leaders, but I highly doubt living off the grid with no car or kids is contributing much to anything.

decrepit and decaying oligarchy!

The thing is that we are only born in one country, and unless we plan to move (which I do not), we have to make the best of it. Just saying it should fail doesn't benefit you or anyone else. What we need to do is be out voting en masse come November for candidates that aren't our usual strain of corrupt.

But who to vote for? How do you overthrow such a massive machine that has the backing of the military industrial complex and all the money and connections that come with it?
This is my problem. The country is built in a way that anyone could run and we got to vote for who we felt would be best. But how are we to be adequately represented when we only have 2 choices, both of which are working towards the same end and equally corrupt?




Seriously, how does one even bring order to the chaos that is the US government? Voting won't work. Fundraising won't work. Violent overthrow probably wouldn't work. Should we do what the French did and just laugh at our leaders until no one takes them serious anymore?

Really, what is a guy to do?

This is the million dollar question.... I think the answer lies somewhere in getting people's minds out of the two party trap. Since both parties are corrupt beyond what words can even describe we need to get people to realize that if everyone voted for a (insert minority party here) candidate than we could have a (insert minority party here) president and (insert minority party here)senators and (insert minority party here) congressman. People need to learn that a candidate should be voted for on their record and on their own credentials...not because of their party affiliation. This won't work, however, if the elections are rigged...which is certainly a possibility. And if not this is still incredibly difficult because those who control the parties control the megacorps, the military industrial complex, big pharma, and most importantly...the MEDIA. Without the backing of the media it is difficult for any candidate to get off the ground.

Television began the fall of this country (among other things of course...namely the FED). The majority of people take the tid bits of spun information that they get from the media and take it as 100% fact. The fact is that we as a nation are mentally herded by our overseers in the media. They tell us what is fact. They tell us what is fiction. They tell us what is good and bad...and they tell us what is normal. Until people unplug from this deceptive matrix there will be no solution.

BUT...if one day we do actually "purge" our government of the criminals and liars that currently sit as our authorities we can then convict those who sit above the law for their lies, treason, and countless other crimes against not only the constitution...but against humanity.

Unless people start "waking up" I don't think I'll ever see this day.