The open political discussion thread. Read the first post!

[supmet]

Originally Posted by Phaeton

Everybody has an opinion on how the U.S. got to this point.
I'd like to here peoples ideas how to get us out of this mess.
Any ideas welcome.

I know every likes to blame greed. Greed from the consumers, greed from the banks, greed all around. I tend to agree with all of it, except greed from the banks.

Now yes, in the end, it was greed that caused the banks to give out ridiculous loans - but not greed thinking they were gonna make money off of the loans. They knew the bailout money was coming for years. I REFUSE to believe, people with degrees in economics and banking, actually thought there was ANY chance someone making 30k a year would ever pay back a 500k loan.

Ya the government "encouraged" looser loans, but nobody was holding guns to bankers' heads telling them they HAD to give out crappy loans. They knew what they were doing, and they knew it would inevitably collapse their company. But hey, who cares right? You can get billions in bailouts, and give millions to all your execs. Everyone important got taken care of, and now - America is in a state of emergency, its favorite place to be.

When everything is perfect in America, the people will not vote to change anything. When everything is going to shit, the people will give up their right to vote, and allow the government to pass ANYTHING(see patriot act).. This has pretty much been the standard operating procedure for the united states for quite some time. To get things done, there needs to be an emergency that is either completely made up, blown way out of proportion, or we knowingly let people attack us - (gulf of tonkin, pearl harbor, 9/11)

The banking collapse is just the latest emergency orchestrated to make you vote for some stupid shit, and act without thinking.

How to get out of it? Let the chaff burn and move on with your life. I still have all the essentials for life, and nobody is trying to kill me. The economy will bounce back on its own, thinking you can artificially control the economy is perhaps the dumbest thing I've heard in a while.

If you want immediate fixes -

1)legalize drugs - billions and billions made on taxes, trillions saved in the DEA, all gangs in america will become ABSOLUTELY POWERLESS over night. Marijuana farmers and drug manufacturers will bring new jobs too :D

2)drop homeland security - again, trillions saved. Homeland security has been responsible for the detainment of exactly ONE so called "terrorist" group, that was just a bunch of rednecks that wanted to blow some shit up. Not to mention they impede on my rights on a daily basis.

3)raise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol - two of the least affected industries by the failing economy. alcohol sales have actually been UP in some months.

4)raise taxes on any making over 500k a year - Ya

5) fire everyone at the IRS and start over new. The fact that people making 40 grand a year get audited is fucking insane. Go spend some time getting the trillions of dollars owed by big businesses and leave people trying to survive alone.

6)take back all the bailout money, all the money you're saving on not having homeland security and the DEA, and give it back to the people, who need it.