The financial catastrophe of 2008 nearly precipitated a calamitous economic depression, jolting America and much of the West into a sudden recognition of their systemic vulnerability to unregulated greed.
—Zbigniew Brzezinski
**************************
How did we not learn our lesson? Did we forget this soon?
But it seems we have forgotten that greed without regulation is a voracious beast, leaving us now to live in a time of unbridled and shameless greed with no end in sight.
Oh, it’s nothing new. Greed is as old as mankind and was the basis for the rise of most kingdoms and empires. But what we are experiencing now, as in the Republican Congress’ cash-stuffed love gift to big business that they claim is tax reform, has been building for the past 30-some years, since the first blotch of trickle-down economics stained our national fabric, to this crescendo of pure avarice where the Republicans in Congress have given up even trying to hide their thirst for more and more.
Their bald-faced lies, the deaf ears they turn to their constituents, the denials of any evidence that disproves their claims and the paltry bread crumbs they symbolically throw to the masses is an abomination, a direct insult to the people of this country.
Plain and simple, it is filth.
But until we stand united against this filthy greed, the greater part of the populace will suffer and pay for the greed of the few. This will deepen and continue until it is no longer sustainable.
And the cycle of greed is never sustainable. And when it is comes to an end there will be a great reckoning, one that I fear will be as ugly as anything this country as ever witnessed.
And we have seen some great ugliness.
I apologize for this riff this morning. There are no answers here outside of advising you to stay engaged and enraged. I know that’s a hard thing to sustain but we have no choice. As tired and frustrated as I am now, the anger I feel as I watch our country being played the fool while its pockets are being picked fuels me. Knowing that we are setting the table for a great suffering, one that the short-sighted refuse to see, and not caring is unacceptable.
Redtree Times 
Gary, I keep having this conversation with my wife. She is so depressed by Republicans continuously trying to break America that she can’t see straight. She sees the continuous drip drip drip of dismantling of the safety net as an attack against our children and grandchildren, which it is. She has no hope that Republican voters will ever care.
Sadly, as much as I hold out hope, I’m afraid she is probably more right than I am. Maybe the Democrats can get their s**t together and turn it around in the midterms… if we live that long.
That’s pretty much where we fall as well, Gary. As you say, they strip away the safety net for many people now and in the future on a regular basis. I fear that every day that passes is a step towards normalizing the behavior going on around us to the point that it will soon be unable to reverse any damage done. I think it’s going to take focusing on the Dem Party at the local and state level, much like that which happened in Alabama. Local politics can involve local people on issues that have meaning for them in an immediate way, far removed from the dysfunction that occurs with both parties on a national level when issues tend to get lost in waves of lobbyists and special interests. Making it more local empowers their votes, makes them more meaningful. At least, that’s what I am thinking at this moment. Thanks, Gary.
On Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 11:56 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
>