The Silent Majority has found it's voice

I know how little you care about the ongoing street protests across the country as evidenced by your lack of comments on the subject.  That's OK, move on to something else now if you wish, but I'm still going to blog about it because this movement, growing in respectability, is saying what I've been saying for several years now.  This issue really has my attention.  

From one of the online newspaper's editorial pages I read daily:

[The protesters]...."are exactly right when they say that the financial sector, with regulators and elected officials in collusion, inflated and profited from a credit bubble that burst, costing millions of Americans their jobs, incomes, savings and home equity. As the bad times have endured, Americans have also lost their belief in redress and recovery."

"The initial outrage has been compounded by bailouts and by elected officials’ hunger for campaign cash from Wall Street, a toxic combination that has reaffirmed the economic and political power of banks and bankers, while ordinary Americans suffer."

"It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge."

The "silent majority" isn't so silent any more, is it?  The next 12 months (leading up to the 2012 election) are going to be interesting, to say the least.  

S

Our double standard

Yesterday on the news they played a clip where Prez O'bama said that what the big bank chiefs did (referencing the financial crisis of '08) wasn't necessarily illegal, but just unethical, therefore there isn't anything to prosecute them for.  Then numerous legal scholars chimed in saying there could be a very strong case made that there was out-and-out fraud committed by many in the financial community, but their status and political connections are preventing charges being brought.  What a rip.  If you or I pulled something like that I guarantee we'd have our fingerprints on file and a new striped wardrobe. 

While the system of government our Founding Fathers gave us is a masterpiece, the career politicians we have today and the fat cats they run with have subverted it.  This is why there are marches in the streets.  Sure, some of those protesting are just bored and looking for something to do (other than work), but many are just upstanding hard working folks finally coming to grips with the double standard that exists in this country.  What's it gonna take to really change things?

S

My kindred spirit in revolution

Spain is a real mess today.  They had an economic crash a couple of years ago that was even more severe than ours.  Unemployment is over 20% and the country is effectively broke.  The people are feeling the pain while those who profited tremendously from the corruption still sit atop their spoils and are enjoying the good life.   (Sound familiar?)


They are having nationwide elections today, and there have been huge protest rallies all across the land.  They carry signs that say, among others, "Let those responsible pay for the crisis".  Visiting a protest site in Madrid the BBC reported this:


"This is an historic moment.  Thousands of people have been camping in Sol since last Sunday with no flags or affiliation to any party."


They go on to quote one of the protesters, Milena Almagro Garcia: "Young people, old people, families, it does not matter.  We are not just asking for jobs.  We are asking for a change in the political system."


"We have no option but to vote for the two biggest parties in Spain, who are more or less the same.  They are unable to solve any problem.  It is just a nest of corruption.  We are tired.  In short, we want a working democracy.  We want a change."


We need to get more people here fired up like Milena.  I'm pulling for the Spanish to start something big, something that will inspire us here.  


This might be a bit of a heavy read for a Sunday morning, but this story from across the pond really grabbed me.  I'll be watching with interest.


S