PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS: So, what are you gonna do about it?

[Lotophage]

Whole lot of complaining, a whole lot of blaming. It's the repubican's fault. It's the democrat's fault. It's everybody's fault but our own.

Seriously, I've never seen such an utterly blameless group in my life.

Since everyone here is utterly blameless and is blessed with perfect vision if only someone would listen, What are you going to do about it? Don't give me this "I voted, I did what I could." Voting is quite literally the LEAST you can do.

So, solve us some problems, oh wise denizens of P.O.

[dougclaysmith]

Retire to Belize.

[Lotophage]

Retire to Belize.

Gotta tell you, I admire that you actually have a solution for something in mind.

[dougclaysmith]

I'm not kidding either. I really think the US is running off the rails.

1) Our debt and no solution
2) We are too big, no more representation in Washington (Historically when Republics got too big they split up, just the very idea of that makes people go all nuts, no critical conversation about it)
3) Disinterested population
4) Consumer spending out of control, with no retirement savings

Just a few issues of the top of my head. I don’t know, the future is not looking too good around here. I heard house flipping is making a comeback. (That another thing, we never learn from our mistakes)

[Lotophage]

I'm not kidding either. I really think the US is running off the rails.

1) Our debt and no solution
2) We are too big, no more representation in Washington (Historically when Republics got too big they split up, just the very idea of that makes people go all nuts, no critical conversation about it)
3) Disinterested population
4) Consumer spending out of control, with no retirement savings

Just a few issues of the top of my head. I don’t know, the future is not looking too good around here. I heard house flipping is making a comeback. (That another thing, we never learn from our mistakes)

Dear god don't I know it on the house flipping. Also making a comeback? Tearing down small, appropriately sized for the neighborhood houses and replacing them with zero lot line monsters.

I keep remembering Anne Hathaway's absolutely chilling delivery of this line from Dark Knight...

You think this can last. There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne.

You and your friends better batten down the hatches, cause when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

I've studied enough history to know that in revolutions between the rich and poor, folks like me in the middle get gutted like fish.

[Christine]

Heard something today about how Osama hated the American way of life after visiting at some point. All the conversation was about celebrities, the neighbor's car, coveting the neighbor's car, trimming the hedges.......supposedly, he was sickened by how we cared about nothing of importance.

Which is the beauty of it, really- not having to worry, just being able to relax and enjoy life. But the superficiality and focus on the wrong things is what makes it unsustainable, I guess. He never had to arrange an attack; we're already dooming ourselves.

I try to save money, live conservatively and sustainably, beyond that I don't feel able to DO much. It's like being on a runaway train.

[Dave Cutter]

Retire to Belize.

A friend of mine (and his wife) vacationed to Belize... just to check it out. He doesn't seem to see Belize as a real solution.

I think the biggest pending problem would be a global currency collapse. Once the worthless money is actually deemed... worthless. How will we transact for goods and services?

[Dwayne Barry]

What's the problem?

[Oxtox]

Whole lot of complaining, a whole lot of blaming.

hmmm, weren't you just on another thread whining about baby boomers being the root of all evil...?

duly noted that you got nuttin' but complaints and blame to hand out...

I did like the part about turning your babies into paste, tho...

[Lotophage]

hmmm, weren't you just on another thread whining about baby boomers being the root of all evil...?

duly noted that you got nuttin' but complaints and blame to hand out...

I did like the part about turning your babies into paste, tho...

Figure if you can't beat 'em, join in on the fun.

[Bill2]

Whole lot of complaining, a whole lot of blaming. It's the repubican's fault. It's the democrat's fault. It's everybody's fault but our own.

Seriously, I've never seen such an utterly blameless group in my life.

Since everyone here is utterly blameless and is blessed with perfect vision if only someone would listen, What are you going to do about it? Don't give me this "I voted, I did what I could." Voting is quite literally the LEAST you can do.

So, solve us some problems, oh wise denizens of P.O.

I'm going to arm myself and roam around at night hunting effing punk a-holes who always get away.

[SwiftSolo]

There is a natural cycle that occurs in a free market / democratic republic. Since about the mid sixties we have been progressively heading in the general direction of socialism / unsustainability and the current culture of entitlement.

We are just now turning the corner and that has triggered the current political divide. As entitlements dry up (because they simply are not sustainable), self respect and the associated personal responsibility will return and the political divide will soften. We will look back at this period as a great social experiment that failed miserably. We will see the return to more cooperation and respect between economic classes. That trend will last for about 40 years before we begin the next cycle and slowly engage in an even more destructive social engineering fantasy.

If we view our current lives through the prism of what we actually witness first hand, life in this country is second to none. If we allow the media to dictate our view of our society, life sucks. We are growing up as a nation and the adults among us realize that sticking our heads in the sand is not a good thing but likely more healthy than sticking them in media manure without any reference to reality.

Whole lot of complaining, a whole lot of blaming. It's the repubican's fault. It's the democrat's fault. It's everybody's fault but our own.

Seriously, I've never seen such an utterly blameless group in my life.

Since everyone here is utterly blameless and is blessed with perfect vision if only someone would listen, What are you going to do about it? Don't give me this "I voted, I did what I could." Voting is quite literally the LEAST you can do.

So, solve us some problems, oh wise denizens of P.O.

[redondoaveb]

I'm going to arm myself and roam around at night hunting effing punk a-holes who always get away.

Like this one?
Man, 28, Charged With Trying To Steal TV News Cameras During Zimmerman Protest « CBS Los Angeles

[Bill2]

Like this one?
Man, 28, Charged With Trying To Steal TV News Cameras During Zimmerman Protest « CBS Los Angeles

Yep, to hell with a trial and prison. I'd have shot that Muslim terrorist on the spot and let God sort him out later. He's likely selling that equipment to fund terrorism on Our Troops Abroad. That's an act of war and as an American Patriot I'll do my part to Keep My Country Free.

[bballr4567]

I think the worst thing is our debt. The fact that the world almost had a complete melt down because our credit was downgraded should of been a wake up call. Did it change anything? Nope, just a machete hacking away at a 200ft wide tree. No real solution was found and no one wanted to step up. Did our leaders step out from behind their crooked fingers and attempt to lead us to a better place?

[Lotophage]

I have a simple solution to most of our problems. It's horrible, it's unethical, it's unfair and it's going to happen whether we want it to or not, the question is simply, "When?"

We need a plague.

We need something that kills off about 10-15% of the population in the space of about 5-10 years.

The thing that's good about plagues is that generally speaking, they're equal-opportunity killers. Rich or poor, it comes for you and there's not a whole lot you can do about it. And a really lethal plague affects almost everyone. We all lose.

But, after 10 years and a loss of a sizable chunk of the population, unemployment is down. Spending is up because in the process of dying, a whole lot of money got redistributed through inheritance. And, the nation has a shared tragedy to maybe bring people together, if only for a little while.

[BadHabit]

solve us some problems

Isn't it about time for a new religion? The ones we have are boring and ineffectual, and clearly false. We've wasted thousands of years on them, and for what? All it takes is a messiah and a few people to buy in, get it started. And some commandments we can all follow. If it's any good at all, after a few millennia we'll be headed in the right direction! Problem solved.

[Lotophage]

Isn't it about time for a new religion? The ones we have are boring and ineffectual, and clearly false. We've wasted thousands of years on them, and for what? All it takes is a messiah and a few people to buy in, get it started. And some commandments we can all follow. If it's any good at all, after a few millennia we'll be headed in the right direction! Problem solved.

It's gonna be another couple centuries before scientology can go mainstream. But hey, at least they're trying!

[dougclaysmith]

I have a simple solution to most of our problems. It's horrible, it's unethical, it's unfair and it's going to happen whether we want it to or not, the question is simply, "When?"

We need a plague.

We need something that kills off about 10-15% of the population in the space of about 5-10 years.

The thing that's good about plagues is that generally speaking, they're equal-opportunity killers. Rich or poor, it comes for you and there's not a whole lot you can do about it. And a really lethal plague affects almost everyone. We all lose.

But, after 10 years and a loss of a sizable chunk of the population, unemployment is down. Spending is up because in the process of dying, a whole lot of money got redistributed through inheritance. And, the nation has a shared tragedy to maybe bring people together, if only for a little while.

Naah, you can't do that, sounds too much eugenics. What you have to do is quit all the hand holding and giving everyone a trophy.

Life sucks, get burned, learn and move on.

Not all pain is useless

[BadHabit]

We will see the return to more cooperation and respect between economic classes.

If you're thinking of forelock-tugging, I'm afraid it would only lead to the return of droit du seigneur.

But I think you are on the right track—cooperation, respect and sharing of resources and wealth. It's the only way. Break down the barriers of privilege and waste and Gaia can support us all.

[Lotophage]

Naah, you can't do that, sounds too much eugenics. What you have to do is quit all the hand holding and giving everyone a trophy.

Life sucks, get burned, learn and move on.

Not all pain is useless

I gotta tell you, I think a plague is inevitable. We have just about destroyed the effectiveness of antibiotics and mother nature has a nasty habit of letting these things mutate.

[BadHabit]

Econ 101: Without birth control is death control.

[dougclaysmith]

I gotta tell you, I think a plague is inevitable. We have just about destroyed the effectiveness of antibiotics and mother nature has a nasty habit of letting these things mutate.

Oh, I don't doubt it's coming. Not like in a World War Z sort of way, but more like the 1918 Influenza way. - Thinking again, that is another thing we are doing wrong, everytime we feel sick, depressed, fat, we run off to the Dr and they are more than happy to give us a pill. Whatever happen to working through the pain, or do the ELF diet (Eat Less Food)?

[Lotophage]

Oh, I don't doubt it's coming. Not like in a World War Z sort of way, but more like the 1918 Influenza way. - Thinking again, that is another thing we are doing wrong, everytime we feel sick, depressed, fat, we run off to the Dr and they are more than happy to give us a pill. Whatever happen to working through the pain, or do the ELF diet (Eat Less Food)?

I can tell you from hard-won experience that if losing weight were as simple as "eat less" there wouldn't be a fat person left anywhere.

It's taken me 8 months to lose 25-30 pounds.And before that it took a year of trying and failing. It's still dicey. A stressful day can easily send me to the kitchen looking for snacks I don't want even as I'm eating them. If you are lucky enough to be naturally at your ideal weight, I salute you. But I can tell you that my body fights me hard for every pound under 220. 220 is where it wants to be. I have to be careful post-exercise not to over-eat. soooo very easy to fall into the trap of "I just rode 3 hours, I can have some (insert bad food here)."

And depression, having watched people with ACTUAL depression try and deal, you have no idea what that's like. Watched a friend spiral out of control. And all her friends tried to pull her out of it and she could do nothing about it until she finally got herself to the doctor and on anti-depressants. back to normal. AD meds may be overprescribed but for the folks who actually need them they're pretty much the difference between functioning and losing everything.

There's pain you can work through and there's damage. it's important to see the difference.

[Bill2]

Naah, you can't do that, sounds too much eugenics. What you have to do is quit all the hand holding and giving everyone a trophy.

A trophy teeming with ebolavirus