General Music Chat

I could go on all day, but I have a job... my point was and is - that deregulation, regardless under what name it masquerades as- has been a direct conduit to some of the worst economic outcomes (for the poor and middle class, of course) in the history of this country. And most of it in the last 32 years.

My point about this "stuff" coinciding with the economic fall of the poor and middle class stands.

I must respectfully disagree.
Deregulation is just a symptom of a much greater problem... runaway political influence by and for special interest groups. They are the ones who manipulate the system for their own benefit and make life more difficult for everyone else. They are the ones who are interfering with the political process out of greed to "get what's mine." If you must point a finger at a bad guy, these are the ones responsible for 90% of the disruption of government and are the greatest impediment to fairness in this country by rigging the game in their favor. The names and affiliations may surprise you.

The real bad guys:
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

We are all conditioned to choose a "team" and root for our team, but in the political arena we really need the full spectrum of ideas. Absolute left or right, red or blue won't get it done. We need the voice of the vast silent majority in the middle, and reading a bunch of extreme partisan nonsense from Rush, Romm, Beck or others just plays into their hands. We get TOO excited about "our team" and forget that the bad guys from both sides are busy dealing under the table.

So how do we stop them? The only way I see is to cut off the flow of money. No money, no power of undue influence. Figure out how to do that and you can be president.

I could go on all day, but I have a job... my point was and is - that deregulation, regardless under what name it masquerades as- has been a direct conduit to some of the worst economic outcomes (for the poor and middle class, of course) in the history of this country. And most of it in the last 32 years.

My point about this "stuff" coinciding with the economic fall of the poor and middle class stands.

I must respectfully disagree.
Deregulation is just a symptom of a much greater problem... runaway political influence by and for special interest groups. They are the ones who manipulate the system for their own benefit and make life more difficult for everyone else. They are the ones who are interfering with the political process out of greed to "get what's mine." If you must point a finger at a bad guy, these are the ones responsible for 90% of the disruption of government and are the greatest impediment to fairness in this country by rigging the game in their favor. The names and affiliations may surprise you.

The real bad guys:
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

We are all conditioned to choose a "team" and root for our team, but in the political arena we really need the full spectrum of ideas. Absolute left or right, red or blue won't get it done. We need the voice of the vast silent majority in the middle, and reading a bunch of extreme nonsense from Rush, Romm, Beck or others just plays into their hands. We get TOO excited about "our team" and forget that the bad guys are busy dealing under the table.

So how do we stop them? The only way I see is to cut off the flow of money. No money, no power of undue influence. Figure out how to do that and you can be president.

Hear Hear!!!!!

But even if you get the silent majority voices, how do you implement it? that's been my question all along. And how is this different than from the time we had monarchs? When people would kiss the king or queen's ass just so they could ask a "favor?"

Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but I don't believe it will change because I just know how human beings are. I mean, you can't even go to a blues jam without people playing favorites. So, I'm just gonna focus on living my life to the fullest, signing my petitions in making the little small changes and differences in people's lives as I can.

Chaeya