@Tall Bald and Ugly The vote for Trump was a vote to "throw the bums out" and elect the guy who said he cared about them and would do things for them, while the other gal called them names and said she liked to see people out of work.

Some 90% of voters do not analyze issues. They vote either based on "team" or promises. When their team has a bad coach, they tend to not bother going to the game.

If it's one in three, or even 40%, why the Hell have we not thrown these bums out?!? Seems to me, all we have to do is start Talking TO each other, instead of At each other.
I do believe that if I were to run for office, I would have to get Mr. Hedges' permission to use that quote that joe posted in the eb for a stump speech.
Now THAT'S a rallying cry if I've ever heard one!

peace

@Bollox Ref

to your mortgage payment, the bank will cut you some slack. Even a refund.

Honest.

/s

@earthling1 I began to realize the long term effect of trying to exist in America. Have a job, buy a house and you are suddenly in debt for the next 30 years. Add a car or two to the debt pile and before long you owe so much money you began to wonder how you will ever pay it off. Add in the expenses of working, clothes, gas, tires and near mandatory payments for phone, electricity, water, sewer, cable and insurance and you have just reduced your net take home pay to zero leaving very little left over for food or entertainment.

The goal of the 1% was a pretty simple theory, get you in debt and keep you there! It's far worse today. By the time you get a college degree, you're already 10's of thousands in debt and you don't even have a job yet. In the past, your student loan debt could have purchased a home. I don't see how these young people ever have a hope of escaping that debt short of a winning lottery ticket. They will be slaves to that debt for their entire lives and very likely die with most of that debt still unpaid.

It was back in those early 90's that I made a commitment to myself that I was not going to live my life according to the "American Dream". I began paying off all debt, credit cards first, then cars and then started on the house. I started making principal payments on my home to bring down the balance. When an extra $100-200 a month doubles the amount of principal you pay per month, the balance comes down pretty fast. I refused to purchase anything that couldn't be paid for with cash.

But I also had a plan. By the late 90's, I'd eliminated all credit and consumer debt. Cars were paid for and the balance on my mortgage had reduced significantly. I had substantial equity in my home and cars and other assets that had cash value.

I started shopping for my future home and escape vehicle. I found the perfect sailboat for the two of use. One that would provide a comfortable home and be able to take us anywhere in the world. I actually took out a loan on the boat to hold on to the cash I'd saved to make improvements on the boat. After a couple years of refitting the boat and making other preparations, we sold our house, paid of the boat liquidated our other assets and in August of 99, we cut the dock lines and sailed south for Mexico and beyond. We've never looked back.

By the time we left in 99, I was so disgusted with the United States, in particular the impeachment of Bill Clinton, that I never wanted to step foot in the country again. Somewhat sadly, I feel even worse about the US today and I will never come back. I can honestly say that I hate what the US has become. I see the photos of military police, the number of people incarcerated, the numbers that live in poverty, those without healthcare and it sickens me. I view the US as one of the most dangerous places in the world. I fear the police as much as I do the criminals. What I found intolerable 25 years ago is 10 times worse today. The greed of the 1% has become insatiable. They now dream up new ways to get you in debt and keep you there. Hard to believe a graduating student could be saddled with $50k of debt or more before they ever start a job. They'll never be able to do what we have done.

And now, with Trump president, the US will sink only further and much, much faster. If you're young and you're reading this, get out of the US while you can. The longer you stay the more difficult it will ever be to leave.

Okay, time for me to quit ranting! In 4 months I start collecting my Social Security. For whatever time the republicans allow me to collect it!

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@Dopeman Congress privatized the student loan system and then made it the only type of debt that cannot be discharged via bankruptcy. It is one of the worst scams going on in this country of scams. My heart goes out to you Dopeman.

not be able to pay off in my lifetime. This isn't negativity, just simple math.
I've always paid on it when I could and it was always easy to get another period of forebearance when I needed it but that was when I was able to deal with someone at the department of education. Those days are gone. Since Obama privitized student loan collection I can't talk to the DOE who I took the loans from, but a ruthless, heartless private debt collector. They dgaf what my problems are or how garnishments might affect my family, they get paid commission based on how much they can squeeze from me, period.
Yes, there are income-based programs but they are set up so that one slip up puts you right back into garnishment.
This is my life now and nothing but a lottery win or inheritance from a rich relative I didn't know I had will change it. I'll go back and forth between making payments, having a huge percentage of my paychecks garnished, and grovelling to some glorified telemarketer about the details of my failure in life and the depths of my poverty (please sir, may I have another sliding scale payment plan?) FOR. THE. REST. OF. MY. LIFE.
There's no light at the end of the tunnel. This will continue through the rest if my working life, then when I start collecting social security they will garnish that too. I won't just be eating cat food, I'll have to settle for generic cat food.
I wish there was a debtors prison (as long as it's not a life sentence). I'd be glad to spend 10 years away from my family fighting to not get raped if it allowed me to finally put the mistake of trying to get an education I couldn't afford behind me.

@orlbucfan

I do plan to fire up again. I have just completed the slowest and most inefficient household move ever, but we are now settling in and I have time to read and write once more.

Rec'd!!

@PriceRip

they are too comfortable now.

@RantingRooster

I have noted elsewhere that there are actions short of violence which would make it harder for the swine to enjoy themselves. Specifically members of congress and MSM shills like Maddow & Hayes.

They are so full of themselves- a "here's what we think of you" campaign is the least we owe them. Jimmy Dore has the right idea.

Public ridicule and shaming. Let there be street theater! Videos,etc.

Watching the " nyc elite" suck HRC toes on Broadway was enough to make me vanilla for life.

great post RR, thx.

this sort of thing may not be enough.
but if we are down to violence as our best choice, things are dire indeed.

          Yea, I was told I was an idealist. I have even been told I didn't know what I was talking about. Yep, so what the fuck is new? I have been watching this train wreak unfold in slow motion since (no one gives a shit), but no way can it be avoided. I even voted for a guy (another idealist, I suppose), that exactly like me, knows this is all a manufactured problem. But, who gives a shit about that, because damn idealists, snarl.

          I knew it from that day, in the dark deep past, when this guy said, "This is how we can pay for that." His office was under the stairs in the Administration Building and he had magical powers. (Don't tell anyone, but he knew how the economic system really worked and knew how to "game" the system.)

          Over the years I (and others like me) have been described a leech, or a tick on society, a "welfare drag (like a sea anchor I suppose) on the economy (or society)", and other terms of endearment. Everyone of us (despised disposable scum) has produced far more than we cost. And, Bonus, it was even a larger gain for society because as productive member of society we did not chose the alternative life. So if you subtract a negative from the sum with a positive the result is even more of a positive, wow who would have thought math could actually apply in the real world, funny now that happens.

          I suppose I am just a jerk because, duh, the solution is obvious and when I told people over at TOP what we should be doing I was informed that I was being jerk.

          If every representative (both houses) in Washington perceived a physical threat from their constituents, they would act to preserve their physical integrity. This is a reality. This is the way it works on the streets, okay, on some streets. So, how about a less physical (and criminally insane) approach to force the bloody bastards to do the right things. Reason isn't working, because reason isn't a part of their Weltanshauung. There must be someway to scare them into either stampeding in the direction where something good happens or stampeding in the direction wherein their actions may be neutralized, thereby allowing something good to happen.

          But then I am just a jerk. So, as usual, your mileage may vary.