This is all nuts. An excerpt from 60 Minutes interview tonight:
President Barack Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, touching off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.” His remarks came in a ‘60 Minutes’ interview in which he was pressed by an incredulous Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy. “You’re sitting here. And you’re - you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he’s sitting there just making jokes about money.’ How do you deal with - I mean: explain…” Kroft asks at one point. “Are you punch drunk?” Kroft says. “No, no. There’s gotta be a little gallows humor to get you through the day,” Obama says, with a laugh.
I would not want his job, and there are no easy answers right now, but there is something weird going on.
March 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
This was sent to me by a friend, you be the judge………….
A bit lengthy, but worth the time to read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
History Unfolding By David Kaiser
I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.
Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.
Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.
We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?
We learn just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has “loaned” two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of “we the people,” who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.
We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?
We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?
We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?
Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is medicare and our entire government, our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x ten. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.
And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla, Alaska. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)
Mr. Obama’s winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change.
Why?
I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.
This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.
And that is only the beginning.
And I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative “losers” read it right now.
And promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his “brown shirts” would bully them into submission. And then, he was duly elected to office, a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world. He did it with a compliant media-did you know that?
And he did this all in the name of justice and .. . . change.. And the people surely got what they voted for.
(Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.)
Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.
Don’t forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe. It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors.. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.
As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.
Some people scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and why I believe it.
I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.
David Kaiser
Location: Jamestown, Rhode Island , United States
For the past thirty years I have been a historian of international and domestic politics, as well as an authority on some of the more famous criminal cases in American history. For the past four years I have been commenting on current events.
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:52 pm
An interesting read. I’ll tell you this. I know a lot of people that are scared. They are planting gardens and buying guns. And its not Obama, per se. The rules are changing everyday. How can you plan anything when business people wake up everyday and look to D.C.? People see that government won’t enforce the borders and won’t fix education. The educational system doesn’t teach children that we are a unique country based on eternal truths. If government won’t do the things it supposedly can do, but wastes time on trivialities, people become exasperated. I think we have reached the tipping point… where more people vote who don’t pay taxes than do pay taxes. Hopefully the things that made previous generations great run deep in us and we will pull out of it.
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 am
True, Robert, this is about DC in general. Too many people looking for a daddy and a mommy. Sad that’s where we are.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:17 am
It´s no wonder the FED is spending trillions of dollars to bail out banks. Look at their website, the FED is not a government institution, it is a private institution that is owned completely by private US banks.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:32 am
Watch this movie, note: 2 hours long but worth watching.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3250674156367789898&ei=gGPHSbOIFY-o2wKGmM3RAQ&q=architects+of+control
Of course you must have more liberal views to comprehend some things. ;)
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 am
The year 2012 has been foretold by several of the earlier civilizations as the year that life as we know it will forever be changed. It is also the last year of Obama’s presidency. If there is a perfect storm brewing, and it most certainly seems to be the case, I wonder if those early civilizations knew something that we just can’t fathom. I also wonder if all those who voted for ‘change we can believe in’ are happy with what we are getting.
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
The article attributed to David Kaiser is fraudulent. While compelling, it was not written by David Kaiser, PhD.
Dr. Kaiser has made note of this fraud on his blog site at: http://historyunfolding.blogspot.com/.
I believe in the greatness of this country and its founding principles. While the article is one man’s (fraudulent) opinion, it is an opinion nonetheless. But to attribute a fraudulent opinion to a respected historian totally discredits any argument that can be made in support of it. I’ve taught my children not to always believe what they read, see or hear unless they check the facts. As Ronald Reagan used to say, “Trust, but verify.”
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:21 am
Here is how obama seems to be looking at it…..
Punch Drunk?
Obama said he believes the global financial system remains at risk of implosion with the failure of Citigroup or AIG, which could touch off “an even more destructive recession and potentially depression.”
His remarks came in a”60 Minutes” interview in which he was pressed by Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy.
“You’re sitting here. And you’re — you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he’s sitting there just making jokes about money’ — How do you deal with — I mean: explain. . .” Kroft asked at one point.
“Are you punch-drunk?” Kroft asked.
“No, no. There’s gotta be a little gallows humor to get you through the day,” Obama said, with a laugh.
Watch the entire interview here. On the long version, Obama refers to terrorists as “those folks?”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/18/60minutes/main4873938.shtml
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I think to focus on Obama chuckling once or twice in a television interview is a bit of an over-reaction. I think most clear-thinking people will see there is no maliciousness meant by it. This seems to be his natural style - and I find it interesting that Steve Kroft is not able to sense this.
Besides, is it going to help the situation if we all put up our really, really, really serious faces when we discuss this? We are not talking life and death here, are we? Let us not forget there is more to life than just the economy.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Etienne, my concern is that he seems nervous when he is usually very confident. My real concern is that may feel the problem is much worse than he is letting on. I don’t feel like we know everything. This is not blaming him, I simply think something is odd.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I hear you. Just shows you how powerful non-verbal communication can be.
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 pm
First I apologize for posting an inaccurate letter, I know better than to take everything on the internet as accurate, I can usually trust what is sent me by the person I received that from.
Second, obamas chuckling as you call it is more like the idiot laughing as rome burns. it was VERY inappropriate. Actually I was amazed the interviewer said what he did….. shows some balls.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
The only time obama is confident is when he has his trusty TelePrompTer.
He is a blubbering boob without it.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:10 am
I hope Im not the only one that sees the irony in a guy who posts fraudulent letters calling others blubbering boobs…
March 25th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I guess you must have voted for the boob?
March 25th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Who’s Really Running The Country?
Last night, Obama upgraded his teleprompter (TOTUS) to giant TV monitor to feed him his talking points during the news conference. (video)
Breitbart reports that “He read that opening statement from one massive TV monitor from the back and middle of the East Room. White House officials removed the normal glass teleprompters that usually are positioned on both sides of the podium. That change likely a reaction to the focus on the President’s heavy use of teleprompters.”
I remember the liberals spent 8 years telling us how dumb George W. Bush was. However, Bush was in charge of his White House and wasn’t afraid of answering tough questions from a hostile press. Bush, love him or hate him, was real.
Now we have a clueless idiot whose handlers and bosses won’t allow him to answer any of the soft-ball questions lobbed at him from a supportive and fawning press. Nearly every spoken word is spoon-fed to this affirmative action poseur by TOTUS. This guy is a complete phony.
What I want to know is this — who is the wizard behind the curtain? Who’s really running the country? I know nobody voted for him/her/them.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:41 am
link to the above post…….. http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm