Are we witnessing the collapse of America?

Perhaps stop editing previous posts to make it seem like I'm not reading...

Michael Moore is also a fat ****.

 

Oh the United States government understands quite well, so does the frighteningly powerful insurance and pharma industry and lobby.

Here's the thing: Americans are literally conditioned from birth to have an irrational and potent fear/hatred of taxation - it's literally akin to a phobia. It's so engrained that it's part of our mythological heritage "No taxation without representation" That little phrase has been abused and perverted and used for all kinds of terrible mischief since the formation of the United States. What at least half of the United States apparently doesn't understand is there is "No Representation without Taxation". The bottom line is, politicians are going to work for whoever pays them. So if the average american doesn't want to financially support (and thereby control) his/her government, the private sector sure as hell will, and they do, and our government is absolutely fucking corrupt as a result.

The Right wants to privatize EVERYTHING, and when I say EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING - and yet, they still want their version of BIG GOVERNMENT, to function as basically an insurance policy and pr firm for the private sector. So, out one side of their mouths, they cry socialism, whenever the left tries to make survival possible for the poor, but they jump at every opportunity to subsidize big ag, big pharma, big everything and then justify it by saying that the wealth will get spread around through the magic of capitalism and trickle down economics, but here's the kicker - it NEVER trickles down, it only consolidates wealth further in the hands of the very rich, and they figure out even more new and ingenious ways to provide as few jobs and for less pay as possible, to still provide a level and amount of product, just good enough (and no more) to keep the money rolling in.

So, the United States will never have a national health care plan. The insurance companies won't allow it. Big Pharma, won't allow it. Obamacare (and I hate that fucking term) was essentially written by the insurance lobby - it should be called the "InsuranceLobbyCare". Believe me when I say that the top 1% in this country would have no problem leaving the old and infirm (the poor old and infirm) to openly rot in the streets.

Now, there are people who will say I'm full of shit, that emergency rooms in the United States will take anyone, regardless of ability to pay, but what they don't know, is the other half of that story. What they don't know, and what I do know (because I've witnessd it first hand) is that the level of care you're given, from the moment you walk, or are wheeled, into an ER in the United States, is largely dependent on what you say when you are asked (and it IS one of the first things you ARE asked) whether or not you have insurance, and what kind of insurance you do in fact have. It will also determine which hospital (rich or poor) you will find yourself should you require hospitalization. There is a system of euthanasia in the United States, it's very subtle and very effective and it is systemic. Oh you get what you can pay for, in the United States, when it comes to health care - make no mistake about it.

So this whole "national health care will undermine the quality of health care in the United States", is a load of absolute and complete bullshit. It would only undermine quality if we allow fuckheads who don't know shit or care about how hospitals/nursinghomes and health care workers really work, to design it. Do you think a Doctor gives a fuck about who pays for his/her salary, as long as he gets his/her salary and is allowed to do his/her fucking job unimpeded? Yes, this could be achieved under a government system. (1.5% surcharge across the board in the United States could easily cover the cost of medical care in this country, the moment you elimated the enormous expense that hospitals incur from sorting through the alchemy that is the insurance billing process.) Yes, you would have to do something about malpractice lawsuits, there would have to be more government oversight, but if you keep profit out the equation entirely, there's no reason this system couldn't work in the United States - without any reduction in quality. In fact, I'm convinced that it would only improve.

 

No shit that is why I want nothing to do with the medical industrial complex. Before insurance and big pharma got control of "health care" the cost of seeing a doctor would not have put a hardship on the average working single or family. We used to have a great charity hospital system. All doctors of any merit would do rounds in the local charity hospitals and many doctors trained in them as well a nurses also worked and trained in them.

 

Beautifully put Jamgrasphan. How I wish you could get an extended version (minus a few expletives?) published in Time Magazine or similar mainstream publication.

 

Our forefathers knew that our Democracy would not last. The statement was...though this is not a perfect document (our Constitution), it is the best we have...it is doomed to fail. Rome lasted longer because the warring and greed took time to take its toll. America was founded by wealthy men that felt the rest of us were too dumb to vote (the electoral college). The articles of the Constitution were created to show the difference between the new America and the England we fled. Greed has taken over our government totally. All elections are bought (Florida Gov. Rick Scott - $70 million of his own money), unlimited campaign contributions turning Presidential elections into 2 Billion dollar runs to the White House to get a salary under $500,000. The wealthy have bought the country and are slowly killing it. They forgot that this country and their companies were built on the backs of those without money. Bank of America is laying off 13,000 by years end and 30,000 total by the end of 2013. If we can't stop share holder boards from demanding not just profit...but ridiculous returns, then our economy is ruined. It is happening and the snowball that it is, is slowly rolling towards the edge of a very steep mountain and will crush everyone in the end.

 

All too true CmdrBond. There's an old Hungarian saying " The fish rots from the head down' . Nothing will change in the US, or the rest of the world until the disease of modern economics and business studies is attacked at an academic level. This isn't just the nauseating problem of M BA's prostituting the language in annual reports etc. What also needs to occur is for academics who aren't neo-conservative or right wing to take seriously the influence of writers like Ayn Rand. They've stuck their heads in the sand over this one by pretending she wasn't 'a real philosopher' ( whatever that is) and gleefully ignored her powerful and continuing influence in todays world. A thorough critique needs to be made too of the Austrian neo-classical economists. Ignoring something you find on the nose doesn't make it go away.A thorough critique is also overdue of the massive hypocrisy we see when the corporate world decries socialism whilst gleefully sucking on the welfare tit itself.
To my mind the most obscene aspect of the global financial crisis wasn't the reckless greed of the Lehman Bros et al it was the government rescue package the US financial giants happily put their hands out for at taxpayer's expense. Ayn Rand herself must be rolling in her grave at that one.

 

Another huge problem the US faces, apart from corporate string pulling on Capitol Hill is the influence of the media, specifically that of Rupert Murdock's all pervading influence.

Analysis: 93 Percent Of Fox News Climate Coverage Is ‘Misleading’
Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:02 PM PDT
There’s a new report out today analyzing climate coverage from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and Wall Street Journal. The results likely won’t shock anyone who reads this blog.

According to a review of recent climate coverage at these two outlets, 93 percent stories from Fox News on climate were misleading and 81 percent of stories in the WSJ op-ed section were misleading. The assessment was conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

What makes a “misleading” comment? UCS researchers say they include “broad dismissals of human-caused climate change, disparaging comments about individual scientists, rejections of climate science as a body of knowledge, and cherry picking of data.”

Or, as climate scientists have called Fox News’ climate coverage over the years: “utter nonsense,” “utter rubbish,” “patently false,” and “simply ignorant.”

According to the UCS analysis, Fox News aired 40 stories or interview segments between February and July 2012 that mentioned climate change. Here’s how the misleading statements broke down:



The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page also did very poorly. According to the UCS analysis, which looked at op-eds over the last year, 81 percent of pieces mentioning climate change were misleading. In this case, the WSJ featured many stories personally attacking climate scientists:



In 2009, a managing editor at Fox News issued a memo telling reporters to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question.”

This shoddy reporting isn’t just limited to U.S. operations. According to a recent analysis from the Australian Center for Independent Journalism, the top six Australian newspapers featuring overwhelmingly negative and misleading coverage about climate issues in 2011 were all owned by Rupert Murdoch.

“It’s fair to say they’ve campaigned against it rather than covered it,” wrote the report’s authors.

Responding to Rupert Murdoch’s disinformation campaign, one Australian climate scientist put it bluntly: “The Murdoch media empire has cost humanity perhaps one or two decades of time in the battle against climate change.”

This study shows once again that Murdoch’s news outlets are leading the charge in climate disinformation.
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Taken from 'Climate Change - Climate Progress. http://thinkprogress.org

 

Of course it is bud,ITS MAINSTREAM GARBAGE -- Meant to keep people UNAWARE AND LIVING IN A STATE OF CONTROL!!

 

Murdoch's efforts are far more evil than just producing simple mainstream garbage. He'll crawl up the arse of anyone from the Tea Party to the Chinese Communist Party to achieve his aims. For this nasty little thug power is a means of acquiring more money for which his appetite is unlimited. His influence goes much further than brainwashing the masses with biased reporting. For instance, his pull was an essential part of getting the British government to join with the US in the invasion of Iraq.
He's also been instrumental in lowering the moral standards of journalism in the west ( didn't think that was possible!) as instanced in the British phone taping scandal. If there is any fairness in the English justice system they'll lock the bastard up for decades. We can but hope.

 

Just read this whole thread. This is some pretty heavy stuff, man! By the way, my comment is meant mostly as a means to follow development on the thread; so, disregard it if you like.

 

Yes, I think Murdock's "lowering journalistic standards" is a monumental understatement. ALL mass media (since the invention of propaganda/mass media - and yes they are parasitic twins) is beholden to its corporate sponsors. We all have Freud's Nephew to thank for the birth of this monster. News Corp has just dispensed with the formalities of objective journalism entirely - so the monster has reached full maturity. The thing about Faux News that seems especially insidious, is that it doesn't seem to be entirely profit driven, because as time goes on they alienate an increasing number of their advertiser's potential clients, and I suspect they are, to an increasing extent, being directly funded by a small, but very wealthy and (psychopathic) powerful elite with a very specific agenda. Greed is a an easy motive to understand, but incredibly wealthy people do not worship money, they worship power and influence. They want to mold the entire fate of humankind into their own private vision of the world - this is the level of megalomania we're being subjected to. They know better than everyone else, what is best for all of us, and the less we know about what is best for all of us, the better.

 

One weapon we have to counter all this bullshit propaganda is the web. OK, a lot of web content is garbage but sites such as the one below provide a glimpse of the truth not available in sewers like the Murdock media :-http://www.google.com/ig/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/climateprogress/lCrX

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/23/america-miasma-misinformation-climate-change
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/20...ing-birther-and-climate-denier-lord-monckton/

 

It's funny that anyone thinks people can be trusted to sift truth from lies that already agree with what they want to believe.

 

Being a sceptic of the scientific kind I take nothing as given, especially if it comes from a so called 'Holy Book'. And yes, many will gravitate to on line sites that reinforce their irrational beliefs. That doesn't mean we're all stupid and incapable of differentiating between oposing claims.

 

Count on it always being in the minority. We is stupid.

 

Is anyone in doubt about whether Murdoch can be trusted with 30+% of media share?

We are stupid.

 

Great posts Karl Rand and Jamgrassphan---as usual. Agree completely.

 

I enjoy their posts too

 

I think we are all pissing in the wind, such is the power of the press. Millions of people could spend years and find the truth, but this could be lost in minutes using the media.

People trust the press and the government, perhaps because they feel safe.

Look at JFK, the story is bullshit from start to finish and yet everyone (a vast majority) still believe it.

The 9/11 story defied the laws of physics when the 3 buildings "collapsed" but there is no doubt in most people's minds that the story is true. Plus there is a number of ridiculous coincidences, that if the "bottom feeders" thought about they would realise the whole story was bullshit too.

There is no escape from this level of propaganda. What next, Iran and WW3?