seanseamour's Comments (402)

“This is frightening, although most of us are aware of this emergence notaby tduringhte Bush administration we must fear their will to regain power, I take the livberty of necessitiy to draw a paragraph of Gorge Soros' "Nw Wrold Architecture" in Project syndicate http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/soros52:
"In fact, democracy is in deep trouble in America. The financial crisis has inflicted hardship on a population that does not like to face harsh reality. President Barack Obama has deployed the “confidence multiplier” and claims to have contained the recession. But if there is a “double dip” recession, Americans will become susceptible to all kinds of fear mongering and populist demagogy. If Obama fails, the next administration will be sorely tempted to create some diversion from troubles at home – at great peril to the world.
President Obama has a daunting task, we must not let him fail through lack of support.”

“Robert Shiller http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/02/robert-shiller-address-in_n_341828.html recently feared many Americans do not or may not wish to live in our country. It has become a reality for me when I see such expressions. A sad state of affairs when, because of a feeling of hopelessness that America might change many prefer to leave, where the lack of perspective and understanding of societal advances elsewhere to emulate or to encourage positive activism is branded, labeled, denigrated.
From Fox to Bachman the rhetoric is so insular, we rather revel in the ugliness of word and form, the truth be asserted by the loudest and often most shortsighted, most definitely the most self serving. Many find purpose or solace in this, from greed is good culture looking the other way from their gated communities to the frontier dreamers that believe the Indian war parties are still roaming and need to keep their guns ready and prepped for any eventuality.
There are historic examples of such regression, yet I fear the notion of too big to fail may be misplaced, we are rapidly reaching that paradigm as a nation, then again, perhaps it is the solution. America dwells on the misplaced belief of being best in everything, as long as that stays insular the rest of the world will just pass us by, our and their only fear is waking the extremes in quest of a calling.”

“Come again, we should ponder America's outcome without Reaganomics,
what would have happened without the phenomenal concentration of wealth amongst the few,
what wealth and vibrancy of our economy without the S&l /Enron/current crisis,
with conservative versus hyper-inflated home values gone bust with the life savings of so many,
with a stronger community minded versus poorer scratching middle class,
I could go on with the legacy of corporate oligarchy that has perverted our institutions, finally the righteous hubris that led us to Iraq for oil...
Save reform on all fronts the disaster continues, only the blind deny it.”

“Shiller is right in the sense that many Americans do not or may not wish to live in our country in the future, a reality today that in effect suits the extreme fringe of haves who wish just perpetuation of greed is good, wannabes who think there are still coattails leading to the pinnacle, finally perhaps the most obtuse, frontier dreamers that believe the Indian war parties are still roaming and need to keep their guns ready and prepped.
A sad state of affairs where, because of a feeling of hopelessness that America might change many prefer to leave, where the lack of perspective and understanding of societal advances elsewhere to emulate or to encourage positive activism is branded, labeled, denigrated. We are so insular we rather revel in the ugliness of word and form, the truth be asserted by the loudest and often most shortsighted, most definitely the most self serving.
Obviously reverse immigration will not breach the floodgates, there are insulatory alternatives for the few from gated communities to sectarian followings, for the many by simple lack of opportunity. I fear the notion of too big to fail may be misplaced, we are rapidly reaching that paradigm as a nation, then again, perhaps it is the solution. America dwells on the misplaced belief of best in everything, as long as that stays insular the rest of the world will just pass us by, our and their only fear is waking the extremes in quest of a calling.”

“They want more of the same savage capitalism that is destroying the fiber of the nation, stop a second and think, then see what companies need boycotting:
Have you ever wondered what would have happened without Reaganomics?
What would have happened without the phenomenal concentration of wealth amongst the few?
How the economy would be without the S&l /Enron/current crisis?
Without the hyper-inflated home values gone bust with the life savings of so many?
With a stronger versus poorer middle class?
I could go on with the legacy of corporate oligarchy that has perverted our institutions, finally the righteous hubris that led us to Iraq for oil..., and now California where the first step in the privatization of Medicare is being quietly attempted through the Republican establishment on favor of Halliburton of all candidates!
Save reform on all fronts the disaster continues, only the blind deny it.”

“I cannot believe what I thought the only reasoned Bush is saying, in essence hooray for savage capitalism and more of the same. To JB and his pseudo-patrician ilk I ask :
Have you ever wondered what would have happened without Reaganomics?
What would have happened without the phenomenal concentration of wealth amongst the few?
How the economy would be without the S&l /Enron/current crisis?
Without the hyper-inflated home values gone bust with the life savings of so many?
With a stronger versus poorer middle class?
I could go on with the legacy of corporate oligarchy that has perverted our institutions, finally the righteous hubris that led us to Iraq for oil..., and now California where the first step in the privatization of Medicare is being quietly attempted through the Republican establishment on favor of Halliburton of all candidates!
Save reform on all fronts the disaster continues, only the blind deny it.”

“Have you ever wondered what would have happened without Reaganomics?
What would have happened without the phenomenal concentration of wealth amongst the few?
How the economy would be without the S&l /Enron/current crisis?
Without the hyper-inflated home values gone bust with the life savings of so many?
With a stronger versus poorer middle class?
I could go on with the legacy of corporate oligarchy that has perverted our institutions, finally the righteous hubris that led us to Iraq for oil..., and now California where the first step in the privatization of Medicare is being quietly attempted through the Republican establishment on favor of Hallibuton of all candidates!
Oh please, the disaster continues, only the blind deny it.”

“As an expat CNN int'l has always been a lifeline, unfortunately their focus has increasingly been on who presents versus content. I still follow some for the US content but as soon as their condescending Richard Quest takes over primetime I move to BBC. The real threat is that I an slowly moving to alternatives getting my US content from PBS and NPR then international networks like BBCand Aljazeera which has superior content than CNN, perhaps that is why so many professionals have moved there. Does a network really need clowns to attract advertising dollars?”

“and Finland, about 80% nuclear, and most of it from Russian technology that they became masters at re-engineering to make it both safe and more productive through their IVO company.”

“Incompressible unemployment is a reality that is a parallel trend to what has happened in mature European countries, theirs differs in the soft landing / progressive policies that have managed this process and could have been implemented at home had it not been for the disastrous Reaganomics / supply side policies of the last now thirty years.
Sadly the Republican ideology is still blind-sighted to this, notably in the close minded south.
Another sad point is that it is the UK media that steps in here to convey Zuckerman's enlightenment, understandable considering the UK is the only country to suffer the depth of the current crisis largely due to PM Maggie's adulation for everything Ronnie did.
In passing, a relevant infobit : PM Brown's query to PM Merkel "how did you manage to exit recession so quickly", reply, "in Germany we still make things..." (I want to add other than derivatives).
For those that have not read the article please go the the Financial Time's article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b3565084-bc02-11de-9426-00144feab49a.html”

“This article is a reality check of where America's job market is going. A parallel trend to what has happened in mature European countries which differs in the soft landing / progressive policies that have managed this process and could have been implemented at home had it not been for the disastrous Reaganomics / supply side policies of the last now thirty years.
Sadly the Republican ideology is still blind-sighted to this, notably in the close minded south.
Another sad point is that it is the UK media here to convey Zuckerman's enlightenment, then again the UK is the only country to suffer the depth of the current crisis largely due to PM Maggie's adulation for everything Ronnie did.
In passing a relevant infobit, PM Brown's query to PM Merkel "how did you manage to exit recession", reply, "in Germany we still make things" (I want to add other than derivatives) For those that have not read on please go the the Financial Time's article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b3565084-bc02-11de-9426-00144feab49a.html”

“Mr Boehner, the real world starts at you doorstep, starts with what you are willing to see, stars with, yes the majority of your constituents who want this reform, starts with realizing that America no longer leads in everything and must join the trend of civilized nations that put their citizens first. In turn some within the GOP need to take this turn and recenter the party to meet the challenges of tomorrow not the nostalgia of yesteryear. Please stop appeasing those in your party sitting to the right of Attila the Hun, become the architect of a new center right GOP, become a real leader.”

“Entertaining for some? Like Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh? They must be drinking champagne at this time. Olympia Snowe mentioned how her republican values have not changed but how the GOP (nothing Grand about it) has moved to the extreme right. Well this is how a certain horror was was similarly generated in Germany. The GOP today stands to the right of Attila the Hun. The GOP needs to realize how much they have lost any sense of reality, how close they have pushed some to the cliff, how if anything were to happen they would be shunned forever destroying both the ethic foundation and politic of Democracy, a set of values that is foreign to their actions and inaction. This is beyond revolting.”

“Unbelievable. Primates in their survival mode are less dangerous than this. If this is representative of America today God is not here to help us.”

“I believe it is high time we reduce the huge amount of aid / subsidies paid yearly to Israel. Beyond the good we could do with such funding at home, the political and subsequent economic cost of blind alignment with Israel are orders of magnitude more.”

“If some wish to believe the world was created 5000 years ago be it, freedom of speech and to worship are codified in our democracy what is not is threatening the motion picture industry to censure an acclaimed UK production on the life of Darwin, to falsify the writings of a third party and introduce falsities. Unfortunately there is am emerging culture that has institutionalized such behavior from health care to education in Texas, why the parallel drawn between certain right wing hatmongers and McCar..t is perhaps again a bridling of free speech and a bad trend for a democracy .”

“Please go after all those who defy majority opinion to serve their own interests.
When one looks back at those upon whom we have bestowed our trust and realize that if our intent to express a voice was pure we do not have a politic that is effectively committed to representation of those voices, it cannot be as it is committed to serving the special interests. -- In the end the process is a self replicating offer: buy the politic so he may return from the electoral process to be bought again.
Under this principle there can be no consensus building in favor of the many when the non-citizen has a monopoly on the process.”

“Whether you take one, two or three zeros off the number the issue is the same you fool.”

“If our elected legislators could be forced to read the linked article by Steven Hill health care and much more might be won http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/15/europe-us-healthcare-economy”

“The health care "market" is a "supply driven" (read "side") care system spiraling out of control, a self replicating offer of technology and product renewal for ever lessening added value other than boosting revenue and profits for the shareholder's benefit, as the purpose of the corporation should be. Herein lays a fundamental contradiction with the Hippocratic Oath where the deliverer of health care is responsible to the patient.”

“You don't have to look that far, Canada has a very good system that many might perceive as being quasi CONUS so the NIH factor would be somewhat softened.”

“When one looks back at those upon whom we have bestowed our trust and realize that if our intent to express a voice was pure we do not have a politic that is effectively committed to representation of those voices, it cannot be as it is committed to serving the special interests. -- In the end the process is a self replicating offer: buy the politic so he may return from the electoral process to be bought again.”

“Little by little the truth emerges, even a Bill O'Reilly admits a public option is warranted, after last week's New England Journal of Medicine report showing up to 75% of doctors in favor. The health care "market" is a "supply driven" (read "side") care system spiraling out of control, a self replicating offer of technology and product renewal for ever lessening added value other than boosting revenue and profits for the shareholder's benefit, as the purpose of the corporation should be. Herein lays a fundamental contradiction with the Hippocratic Oath where the deliverer of health care is responsible to the patient.”

“I agree with this but in the broader picture of a greater problem the feeding of our defense industrial base, since the end of the cold war our enemies have grown to our imperial policies, whether energy or financial, an escalation tool to ensure the words of President Eisenhower remained tucked away.”

“If we can find this compromise we should as we need to find our Pax Americana.
We had and still have imperialistic impulses on both the foreign policy and economic fronts, but the real problem is the United States never received a post cold war peace dividend as Western Europe did. Yes largely due to our policing for them (and our self interests), but since, from Wall Street to the Capitol and most often the White House the often four to one ration in defense spending has been protected with disputable arguments. A small example is both rational and cost of Iraq war compared to health care.
Finally, the end of the American era may be consolidated by an internal economic implosion. Supply side is gone, mass consumerism will dwindle by necessity, the ever growing “Bush go shopping” locomotive of economic growth is running out of steam as Americans attempt to rebuild through savings a decade of lost wealth. More than ever we need to look towards Europe’ economic models to understand how we are to cope with high unemployment, lower growth and growing societal needs.”