During the great depression, my grandfather used to walk the railroad tracks to pick up coal that the trains had dropped in order to heat the house.

By MajorKong

My father told us the same story, while growing up in a small mining town in PA. He and his is friends would walk the rail lines coming from the mines and pick coal off the tracks. By the age of 16 he was working in a CCC camp in order to bring in a few bucks home to the family, as well as fresh vetigables. He loved to cook, he could make a simple hamburger into a feast, he also specialized in vetigable soup and stew, which he used to call Depression food, my mom an Irish girl from Port Chester NY was a little more fortunate in terms of education etc. she was able to finish HS.

After serving 3 years in North Africa and Italy he left the military with the rank of technical sergeant and 2 bronze stars, battle ribbons for six campaigns as well as leg full of metal from a German mortar.

As a Teamster he was a union Democrat, and saw as child the struggles of labor in the coal mines of PA, he saw how poorly these men were treated. The Great Depression and the 2nd World War shaped my parents lives. They viewed FDR as a father more than a president, they listened to his fireside chats on the radio and felt that he cared about their lives, he gave them hope and they loved him for it. Contrast that with the bozos who inhabit the Whitehouse now, fear fear and more fear, go out and spend money and don"t think about our preemptive corporate war, than be afraid when it suites us politically, this is not leadership.

In defense of Hoover he was quoted saying, "the problem with Capitalism are the Capitalist, his failure was conservative ideology not greed, he was a better man than George Bush.

The definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative growth is a myth. With the speed of financial transactions and the loss of credit, galactic personal and public debt, layoffs, unemployment, outsourcing, loss of mfg. jobs, energy costs thru the roof, dollar tanking, endless war draining our treasury, current accounts deficits, infrastructdure crumbling, several states already in recession, etc., etc., the only thing that has kept his country afloat is the heavy borrowing from abroad--China, Japan and even Mexico. The dolt in the White House was touting his wonderful economy just twenty-four hours before he was begging for a stimulus package to avoid a nationwide recession or worse. The time period for a recession went from 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth to 24 hours, prosperity to panic.

Don't worry folks, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, its called "Hannah Montana". She will save us all so we can afford to go see "High School Musical". The economy is saved, let's all dance in the streets.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3683270

"Better-than-expected profit results from Walt Disney Co. handed Wall Street some good news. Disney posted a 26 percent decline in profit late Tuesday, but the results beat expectations. The company " one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrial average " reported a 9 percent rise in revenue, thanks in part to the success of brands such as ESPN, "High School Musical" and "Hannah Montana."

Time to replace The Fed.

During The Roaring Twenties, banks loaned money to farmers in The Midwest. Then The Dust Bowl began. Farmers where unable to repay those loans. Banks went bust. The Fed, designed to control inflation, recalled all the monetary loans to the banks, akin to monetary auctions of today.

Banks were unable to repay the loans to The Fed. Banks failed. The Fed took over and sucked capital out of the markets.

Capital dried up. Money, used in the wild speculation on Wall Street, was removed from circulation by The Fed. Wall Street cashed in their stocks creating The Collapse of 1929 in order to repay The Fed on those loans. A dollar is actually debt to The Fed. Hence, a dollar bears the inscription, "Federal Reserve Note".

The farms, used as collateral, ultimately became the property of The Fed. The farms were the guarantee for the original bank loans. The banks used the farms to guarantee the loans from The Fed.

Fast forward to 2007 and The Sub-Prime market crisis. Housing collapses. The Fed injects money into the system creating ever-worthless "Federal Reserve Notes". And now, there is a problem. As the dollar continues to spiral downward, The Fed cannot absorb the trillions of dollars possessed by foreign holders. There is not enough physical goods to repay foreign dollar reserves.

In 1929, dollars were secured with land. In todays world, the dollar is secured by American workers. Unless you wish to sell American land to foreign buyers.

You are the collateral. You are an economic slave to the debt in all of our pockets. All by design.

The system, The Fed, works. The Fed, after 1929, withheld money from America. Work was ready to be done. However, money was not forthcoming from The Fed to pay workers. Until 1941, when The Fed released money onto the markets to pay for WWII. Instead of depression which wars cause, an economic boom ensued.

This time, The Fed will own us all.

During the depression when my shoes had holes in the soles, I used carboard as inserts for protection until the cardboard got wet and looked for more. There was no hot water and the home was heated with coal and wood, there was no central heating.. The temperature at night was as cold as the outdoor temperature. There were other problems--adequate clothing, food and health/care because any income was to meet the needs of the barest necessities. The mess we're in today is a direct result of the uncaring and lack of attention to the real issues facing this nation because the republicans have duped the people into believing that they have the best policies for the economy when in effect their greed and corrupt practices are aimed to benefit the few at the expense of the majority. Americans elect republicans at their own peril and to the impediment of their own economic welfare and security.

Greed. Excess. Propelling it all.
Remember this above all.
We can tackle Ignorance after anesthetizing Greed.

Anyone interested in the DLCs' Corporate antics?
>>
"'Third Way' Think Tank Pushes Telecom Agenda on FISA Bill. The so-called "progressive" organization is now revealed to carry water for the corporations."

http://www.alternet.org/rights/75950/

"About the Third Way"

http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=128&subid=187&contentid=895

>>

Will we truly see reform while the DLC is still stacked with corporate cronies??

Will Clinton or Obama *truly* reform Capitalism or is this another elaborate Bait-n-Switch?

THE SUPPLY-SIDE SCAM

George Bush"s $3 trillion dollar tax giveaway to the rich over the past 7 years has been a disaster for average Americans. Supply-side (trickle-down) economics is a bogus theory promoted by those who benefit from it. In a mature capitalist system, supply side never rules, it"s always the demand side of the equation that governs growth and well-being. Think about the 1930s Depression, General Motors had plenty of supply, but demand evaporated.

Past U.S. economic downturns have been cured with only $200-300 billion in tax cuts targeted to the middle class, because the consumer (the great middle class and 2/3rds of the economy) spends that tax cut and primes the economic pump. But over 7 years Bush has raised the debt that our children and grandchildren will pay from $6 trillion to over $9 trillion for current economic growth (i.e. we all get trickled on, as the rich spend some small fraction of their gains). Unfortunately, this growth is largely and uniquely without wage gains, and so has shrunk the middle class that makes America strong and great. Also, this growth has already over ($3 trillion flushed down the toilet and gone!), as the FED has had to cut interest rates because recession is looming. Massive debt has led to a weak dollar, which is now at record lows vs. other major currencies because of FED interest rate cuts. In turn, the record low dollar has produced record oil prices ($100/barrel); and any additional needed FED interest rate cuts could cause a free fall in the value of the dollar, guaranteeing recession or worse, stagflation.

The middle class is slowly being tapped out, as home values (most of their net worth and the credit card of last resort) are falling in price, and a considerable number of homeowners are heading for foreclosure. With the rich-poor divide increasing, we"re headed toward previous shining examples of trickle-down economics: South America of the recent past and feudalism in the Middle Ages. SUPPY-SIDE ECONOMICS IS NEW FEUDALISM AND SERFDOM!

It just goes to show that even Wall Street rides on the backs of working stiffs. Give the working stiffs jobs and a decent salary and they will lift the whole economy out of the gutter. Did somone say the infrastructure is collapsing? Jobs, jobs, jobs and what a payoff for the country.

Please open the windows before you start jumping.

Nice to see that the eventual Republican nominee admittedly knows nothing about economics.

And it happened on a day when voters aren't paying attention. Go figure ...

Hmmmmmmm...I wonder if the Irish know about that wonderful Spring tradition in America called a "White Sale"?

Misery loves company it seems:

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8004

Anyone recognizing the pattern?


*Stock Markets around the World Drop
**Wall Street Panics and begs the Fed for a rate cut.
***The Fed provides the rate cut.
****Stocks go up ... Yea!!!
*****Stocks go down ... ah SHIT!!!
******Stock Markets around the World Drop ...

*******and so on and so forth.


This will continue until no more rate cuts are possible as the CDOs, CMOs and derivatives in circulation deflate, evaporating billions and trillions of dollars.


There is really no fix when a fraud unravels ... all you can do is ride it to the bottom and try to pick up the pieces.


The Markets are suffering a fatal condition brought about by lack of regulation and rabid greed.


This is really going to be something.