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Forum Post: Why do Americans Watch Debates or SOTU?

Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 26, 2012, 4:40 a.m. EST by Middleaged (5140)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Why do Americans Watch Debates or SOU??? Really!

All we get is a guy kissing a baby for all our time!

US Politics Prevades All of Our Lives due 2 Perverse Incentives both in business and in politics.

The secret is to control the narrative, then you control the facts and the truth. I am told that investigative reports have been laid off in the USA. So much of what we see on the Internet and cable news is a repeat of news that was previously written and released.

You can call US Politics and US Business spin "Public Relations". But why don't we call things what they are. I first started learning about politics when President Nixon was being impeached on TV. Then I remember Jimmy Carter saying how we needed to work on Alternative Energy. Then Ronald Reagan charged President Carter with increasing the US Budget, and US Budget Deficit. Then of course Ronald Reagan had budgets that were multiples of Jimmy Carter's budgets - taking the budget to $3 Trillion Dollars building up the Defense Department and fighting what was a cold war (one with very few bullets fired).

Later on we learned that the Vietnam War was started by a "False Flag" operation in which a US Ship was shot by US military in order to declare a war that was never intended to be won. The Social Security Trust Fund was raided in 1967-8 to fund the Vietnam war (a war 5000 miles away, which we had been involved in since 1959, and which had nothing to do with American citizens, American Soil, or American common interests).

So we have a War Department not a Department of Defense. And we have propaganda, political spin, and shills like Bill O'Riley on Fox news mouthing words written by Public Relations, corporate, employees. And we have politicians who transfer US Taxpayer dollars to one of our giant industries.

But historically politicians have always had some weak ethics and morals. Take your pick. We called US Indians savages to take their land to build this country under an excuse called "Manifest destiny" (American progress to build a strong economy). But how is it we don't know so many things about our world history and US History. Politicians didn't want you to worry about how our government has been involved in regime change in many countries over the last 100 years.

Did we forget about Iran Contra? That was where the CIA was caught moving drugs around the world to fund operations around the world that weren't approved by congress. Did we forget that congress is supposed to authorize use of military and military support programs in foreign countries. yes. And congress is supposed to declare war before we go start wars in foreign countries too. Naw, congress doesn't want to sign off on US Budgets and US Wars. The US Congress doesn't want to sign off on any CIA programs either. Signatures can hurt elections.

Well Iran Contra involved the US Government and CIA funding, training, and supporting the abusive government(which killed and tortured people all over Nicaragua). The Sandinista rebels were minding their own business in their own country. The US Government didn't have any business in Nicaragua. It turns out the CIA was recruiting and training Nicaraguan National Guard soldiers. Hm,...why so covert??? If it was above board and moral, why wasn't it the US Army that trained the government soldiers?

Because we have a military industrial complex (MIC) that is big business. And if the MIC wants to lobby why not have a war in Iraq??

US Politicians control the narrative even beyond the borders of the USA. The major media outlets carry the news world wide. It is pretty hard to tell the truth with so much Spin, and self serving propaganda (both government and corporate).

Say, you don't think if US Congressmen will allow a war in Iraq without any evidence... they wouldn't cover up massive Fraud on wall Street, or the systemic risks to financial systems posed by Financial Derivatives (CDS,CDO)??

Surely the US Congress would not sanction too big to fail banks that have grown 33% since 2008 and who now control way too much of our banking and economy. YES, They HAVE!

So here are some more conclusions:

The problem that I see is all of that, but also we have perverse incentives in business that encourage fraud, encourage out sourcing of jobs, encourage layoffs, and don't encourage building businesses and invention.

It appears that the US wages and European Wages have been too high for the last 20-30 years. It appears that national strategies in the US and Europe are to bring down the wages and benefits. This probably means bringing US quality of life down as well.

I believe it is clear that Federal Politicians and Federal Puppeteers see the huge population of the USA and are looking at China and India to plan out our next 10-20 years of control in the USA. I think it is also clear that INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS are been eroded (and have been eroded over the last 30 years) to help in strategic government planning. All of our government systems, court systems, city planning systems, welfare systems, food distribution systems, agriculture systems, water systems are going to face enourmous strains as predicted by population growth analyst. And the strain is not just funding, but also infrastructure of dealing with people face to face or dealing with their data or their needs.

So it makes perfect sense to look around the world at other countries and see what they are doing. Yes, there is corruption around the world but look at the bottom line. In the end the problems have to be dealt with quickly and cheaply. Government has to become quick and cheap. And not that the USA has been a spotless example of Humanity or Tolerance over the last 100 years (think of slavery, civil rights, and pushing native peoples off the land).

It is CLEAR that we are heading for more of the globalism that has cost so many good jobs, and now we are learning how to treat our population from India and China. Politics just COVERS THIS UP. But so much of this is kind of a natural progression. The economy was based on stealing land, slavery, then government support of capitalist, now wages and benifits look very high, and we have a growing and expanding population. It doesn't look evil. It looks like part of a plan.

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[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

Power whether formal lines of command or informal links through relationship is responsible for a good portion of the problems with government regulation. I mean agency regulators and even agencies that don't regulate get "High Level" requests from congressmen to produce explainations, explain policies, and defend actions (when they are in fact already under regulation from multiple government sources).

Conclusion:

1) Maybe congress intimidates government agencies into avoiding certain areas of regulation or policy.

2) Maybe congress is a tool of the rich, and influential to try and interfer with normal government functions.

3) Maybe THIS IS anti-democracy

4) Maybe normal government TRANSPARENCY or state of the art transparency could provide all the answers to congressional inquiries ( I think this is called open source or open government and there is a website out there by a professor trying to kick this off).

[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

You know I'm not sure the 1% conspiracy damages freedom, free enterprise, and competition AS MUCH as the human motivation to compete and win in business.

I think this is why we need regulations, effective and honest regulators, accounting rules (GAAP), campaign finance reform, an end to lobbying by foreign entities, an end to all lobbying in Congress, an end to differed wages for corporate executives, and minimum tax rates for people that can afford tax accountants, tax lawyers, and lobbyists.

This is just understanding that people will cheat, commit fraud, and attempt to use the government and the supreme court to increase their profit (psychology).

Make Love not War.

[-] 1 points by epa1nter (4650) from Rutherford, NJ 12 years ago

"It appears that the US wages and European Wages have been too high for the last 20-30 years."

According to whom?

"Government has to become quick and cheap."

Why cheap? Why not simply efficient?

How is a growing and expanding population part of any plan?

[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

1) If you own a business you are going to continue to reduce overhead represented by employees. We know that Union Benefits became so large they became unsustainable (Think of Detroit Big 3 Auto Corps). 2) Automation has been a great help in increasing productivity, just like robotics in the Auto Industry. These advances help reduce the overhead by reducing the number of employee required to perform specific functions for the enterprise. 3) Federal Government has become very large and spends too much, seemingly without any understanding of the dollars that they are borrowing. I can't think of a single thing that the Dept of Education really does of value since we all all still concerned that all US Students are not prepared for college (you can correct me if you know what the Salaries of the US Department of Education does that is crucial and that states can't do themselves). 4) You know we never had a War Chest or reserve funds that we could use in the event of war. We have been borrowing for all wars at least since Vietnam when in 1967 we had to steal from Social Security Trust! 5) It is only $16 Trillion Dollars - I remember when $3 T under Reagan was a scandal. 6) I don't know that cheap has the same meaning to me as for you. Perhaps I should have said cheaper and more effiecient. 7) All governments and kingdoms plan 5 - 10 - 20 years into the future (or they should). 8) You know we are running out of water in many places not only in the US, but around the world. They say buying stocks in water utilities might be a good hedge against inflation. 9) US Environmentalist have been talking about over population since the 1970s, corporate polution, personal polution, food shortages around the world, scarce resources and competion for resources around the world.

[-] 1 points by epa1nter (4650) from Rutherford, NJ 12 years ago

Sorry, I still don't get what you mean by an expanding population is somehow a part of any plan. Overpopulation has been on the radar for a long time, but how does it, specifically, tie into any sort of "plan"? Plan by whom?

[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

I make an assumption that readers are from the USA. The US Government Budget Process may not be well known, but it includes the current year, the future year, and the next 5 years. So regardless of what you hear about an official presidential budget submission or a requirement for Congress to submit and pass a budget by July of the Year previous to the end of the Fiscal Year - The Real Budget process for the US Budget is prepared by each agency for a total of 7 years. This is standard stuff for anyone at the executive level in my opinion. I will also tell you if we look at the US Budget over those 7 years it will look like $20 Trillion dollars this year. Not the comparitively small number of $1.5 Trillion shortfall that needs to be cut from this years budget for Fiscal Year 2013.

[-] 1 points by epa1nter (4650) from Rutherford, NJ 12 years ago

Sorry, this is getting frustrating: You are not answering my question. In your opening post, your mentioned that a growing and expanding population looked like part of a plan. Your implication was that it was some sort of hidden plan by the 1% to enslave people.

What do you mean? What you described in your response is has only to do with budget planning. The implication in your post is that somehow overpopulation is in itself a plan by the 1%. Which is? Is it the government trying to plan for contingencies (which would be a good thing) or a plan to CREATE overpopulation? If it is the latter, why?

[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

I apologize. I just mean plan to deal with population growth, but feel there are many who want wages to come down to increase profits and lower overhead (even for government employees and government budgets). First, an executive looks at the current situation, then looks at the Trends. Then Plans take shape looking down the road 10-20 years. Clearly both the Executive Office and the US Congress are looking at plans. Maybe there are moderate Republican Plans, moderate Democrate Plans, Neo-Con Plans, and Liberal Plans. Then you should know that there are both Right Wing and Left Wing "Think Tanks" that make new plans probably every year. Search Wikipedia for Project For the New American Century, and Center for a New American Security, and Hudson Institute, Center for American Progress, and the following are most well known Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations, the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. However, many countries in the world have Think Tanks. (everyone has designs and plans for our world, but most of us don't have info on what the 1% are doing).

[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

Federal Agencies that have failed their primary mission: 1) Dept Education 2) DEA (we are still fighting the drug war after 50 years) 3) SEC 4) Supreme Court since it rules for corporations not for Individual Rights and Not for the Constitution 5) Department of Defense - see all the illegals coming in the country or take a look at the Civil War in Mexico that we are not prepared for (sure it does good things just like the DEA, but it is focused to take wars over seas not to defend US Soil - and by the Readiness standards for the Army in the 1980s our readiness is lower now) 6) Housing and Urban developement (HUD) has been riddled every year with scandals involving fraud and embezzlement. 7) Bureau of Indian Affairs (US Indians don't like them and they seem to play hard ball with the Indians holding back the dollars that were earmarked for the tribes). -Correct me on any of the above as needed, please.

[-] 1 points by Middleaged (5140) 12 years ago

Here is a link to video of Russell Means and he talks about the decline of US Education from when it was ranked #2-3 in the world. (Get rid of the US Dept. of Education) He states we have been deliberatly dumbed down and deprived of information. The name is "Welcome to the Reservation" meaning that now all Americans are being treated the way US Indians were in Colonization. Quote is 34 minutes into it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dhzQMlhb4g