Comments on: Unknown arm-twister to House: "Pass the bailout bill or else"

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:33:19 +0000

Yep, that the bail-out bill passed is a shame — to say nothing of the other provisions appended to it by the Senate after it failed in the House of Representatives the first time. However, now that it has passed, it's time to move beyond the I-can-only-shake-my-head phase of disappointment to the how-can-I-be-part-of-the-solution phase. First, let's identify the root of the problem. After some thought, I think it's the following:

Among first-world countries,
1) Parents are not (and haven't been) raising their children.
2) Knowledge of macroeconomics is sparse at best.

The one characteristic that separates children from adults is *responsibility*; children don't have it yet and need parents to teach it to them. The financial problem was caused in large part by (1).

The financial problem was exacerbated by (2). Relatively few people want to read a book about macroeconomics.

Thus, most people implicitly make their government play the role of Mom and will run and cry to "her" when they screw-up.

What's the rest of the Rich Pav forum think though?

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:56:59 +0000

Hi Mr Pav, How are you? Hope all is well. Sorry I haven't been here in a while. Just been busy with college fun! I'm sure you remember those days. Anyhoo I heard about this and I THINK the Congressman you're quoting was talking about "martial law" for Congress and not the people. I do think it's good you pointed out about the army situation thing with the States because that is quite strange and I wonder what that's about. I wouldn't be surprised if the person who did the threat against the Congressman was someone from Bush's office or Karl Rove.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:10:10 +0000

We must all start training ourselves as warriors. In our lifetime there may be a revolution. Curtiss last blog post: Crow Extermination @ [site]

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:58:37 +0000

It's rare that I find myself defending the US. Usually I am the guy pointing out all of these wrongs this country has done over the years, but I think living here and just looking at the news tells two different, extremely different stories. If you take your perspective from the news stories it must seem like everyday we're surrounded by murdered corpses and all many of crazy things. The reality is, I don't feel unsafe at all. I don't live under any sort of spectre of terrorism or anything like that. True enough the political climate is disgusting, corporations run wild and everything, but don't lose sense of the reality. You say the economy is bad Akira? Keep in mind we are talking about the 2 most developed countries in the history of the world economically - US and Japan. There are health care concerns and the unemployment rate is rising, debt and credit problems etc, but the very fact that this is a country that can afford people using credit so abundantly is a miracle. I'm from Detroit, MI, and we've been economically "depressed" for a long while now. My family work in the auto industry and have all recently lost their jobs. Money is scarce. But the good will of the people of this nation gives me hope every day. I don't go hungry, I don't go without most things at all. The whole reason people are upset about things that are wrong with America is that people believe in this country and love it. Criticizing it is a good thing of course, but even in a recession, I'd rather live in America than most of the world. Europe does look pretty nice though. As does Japan - but the politics in Japan make me even more sick than they do here.

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:39:47 +0000

Makoto ni arigatou gozaimasu, thebaba! That was such a concise account of the L.A. Riots…..moved to Japan the year after all that @#$@ went down! (Though my home in the U.S. is far far away from L.A.)

By: thebaba

thebaba — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:10:50 +0000

How quickly you forget – was the USA all that wonderful when you moved?
The Los Angeles riots of 1992, also known as the Rodney King uprising or the Rodney King riots, were sparked on April 29, 1992 when a jury acquitted four police officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a high-speed pursuit. Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over the six days following the verdict. Widespread looting, assault, arson, and murder occurred, and property damages totaled one billion dollars. Many of the crimes were gang-motivated or perpetrated. In all, 53 people died during the riots
In addition to the immediate trigger of the verdict, many other factors were cited as reasons for the unrest, including extremely high unemployment among residents of South Central Los Angeles, which had been hit very hard by the nation-wide recession; a long-standing perception that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) engaged in racial profiling and used excessive force, subsequently supported by the Christopher Commission, an investigation led by Warren Christopher (who two years later would become Secretary of State under president Bill Clinton); and specific anger over the sentence given to a Korean American shop-owner for the murder of Latasha Harlins, an African American girl

By: Akira117

Akira117 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:11:52 +0000

Yea the US is pretty dead as far as economically. When we stopped competing educationally with the world was the beginning. No company has a single reason to stay in the US anymore, were as before thy had lots of reason economic and quality of workers (ten or so years ago).
We spend so much money on stupid things like wars and bailing out stupid companies.

By: Ninjaneer

Ninjaneer — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:01:59 +0000

Rich, I agree. I don't want to be here now...especially now that I can see what's going on. It's awfully frustrating when people around you are in a fantasy land of credit and socialization of problems. I've tried on numerous occasions to get the wife to consider relocating, at least for a while, to see what the rest of the world is like. I tell, I don't feel great about waking up here knowing what's going on in D.C.

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:50:50 +0000

Cannot agree with you more!!! Sweet Home Okinawa!!!
I am glad that one senator from my home state voted NO..at least I might get in a last minute absentee ballot for him…sure don't want to for Obama anymore to tell u the honest to Allah truth!