Comments on: Is America The Last Sucker-Nation On Earth? While Her Majesty Bans Brit Banker Bonuses, American Bankers Gamble The Middle Class Into Extinction

By: Alan D. James

Alan D. James — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:02:51 +0000

The oft repeated argument for these obscene bonuses is that they have to be paid in order to keep the talent of the bankers on board.

My question is this: Given the disaster that has befallen the world, what talent?

By: Trevor Bacon

Trevor Bacon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:53:45 +0000

Perhaps the American people should take up Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert suggestion of starting a peasant party in America. Could it be worse than what’s happening now? At least the relationship between the rulers and the ruled would be more honest. forget Democracy, it’s dead.

Long live Servitude.

By: Maya

Maya — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:29:11 +0000

What we need to do is TAX WEALTH. The idea of taxing income is a red herring to protect the truly wealthy, the mega-rich. Tax those whose wealth is massive. Neither party wants to do so however, since taxing the mega-rich would end their careers financed by this money. Taxing the schlub who makes $150,000 and works and lives in a metro area is senseless. People barely make it in metro areas on that money. Tax the Soros and Gates and Waltons, the Paul Allens.

By: wengler

wengler — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:49:00 +0000

We need a mass general strike and we need to go to where our overlords live. They tend to hide so anybody who knows please share.

This is America. The oligarchs will KILL you for stepping out of line, but if enough people do it we WILL WIN. I think the biggest problem today is that people aren’t willing to engage in the kind of tactics that are successful in this type of environment. Media management makes marching a picketing quaint and useless. Petitions and letters are even more noise that can be rejected very easily out of hand.

What we need now is systemic harassment of the people in power in every part of their lives. They have spent their whole lives creating a bubble where only certain people are allowed to exist-now is the time to pop that bubble now and forever. There is only a short window of time where this type of change is possible. The wealthy are currently only partially compounded behind walls in great estates. The time that their houses’ grounds are patrolled by Blackwater with submachine guns will be too late.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:29:43 +0000

We can’t outlaw every form of being a stupid greedy fuck, so first off the government should NEVER put money into casino’s of any sort, and secondly we need mass indoctrination of moral Christian values to shrink the pool of small time greedy idiots who keep giving the big time greedy idiots their money.

By: prole

prole — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:32:21 +0000

So the question now is, who could possibly save America? I think some bizzare hybrid of Eugene Debs, Michael Collins and Uncle Ho would be best.

By: Plamen Petkov

Plamen Petkov — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:18:38 +0000

Tom the Dancing Bug said it way better and funnier and more concise in his recent cartoon: http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2009/09/26/

By: Rosa

Rosa — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:42:58 +0000

Speaking of class war, there is a real backlash going on against that “Free Polanski” Hollywood petition. A lot of people are just finding out that showbiz cats think they get to make up their own rules. I wish they felt this sort of rage against the bankers and health insurance companies, but this is America after all.

There does seem to be a new inchoate class rage being expressed regarding this story right now. I have no idea if it signals any sort of change.

By: hajime

hajime — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:46:11 +0000

Ames, Is that you in a beard holding up that sign?

By: Quadrillion Dollar Man

Quadrillion Dollar Man — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:07:50 +0000

As if capping Bankers salaries is going to stop them putting public money in their pockets? You don’t stop piracy by capping how much booty the pirates get at the end of the run. They’ll just bury the stuff along the way.

The only way to stop them is to starve them: kill the central banks, end leverage and carry trades from made up money.

By: DarthFurious

DarthFurious — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:25:41 +0000

Yes there is, my child. All you have to do is embrace the dark side of the for — er, uh, I mean, jesus christ.
Of course.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:54:42 +0000

I hope you’re fucking kidding. Even starting from where we are now, I can’t think of a thing that’d fuck us up worse than an invasion and occupation.

…you know, I used to think nobody’d ever dare invade the United States, because it’s just too much area with too many people per square mile to ever effectively control. Now I just shake my head — after seeing the way we just bend over and take it, over and over and over again as often as our masters expect us to, shit, why *not* invade the United States?

Aside, of course, from the fact that we’re rapidly running out of anything that a foreign occupier might want, unless somebody develops an efficient method of processing bad debt directly into petrochemical fuel.

By: Allen

Allen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:19:44 +0000

Well said Darth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

… Destiny still wait’n on the day the Red banners of Labour fly once again.

By: Needs to Be Liberated

Needs to Be Liberated — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:15:29 +0000

Will someone come and liberate us? It’s not as if we’re ever going to do it ourselves. Isn’t there some hyper-power out there that will take us over and fix us?

By: DarthFurious

DarthFurious — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:15:50 +0000

America has always had a government of our wealthy masters, by our wealthy masters, for our wealthy masters. Our ruling class has never changed. What has changed is the ruled class.
Once upon a time, Rockefeller Sr. told congress that he couldn’t mine coal in Colorado without machine guns. Once upon a time the Army of the Potomac had to march thru Philadelphia and shoot people back to work. It used to routinely require the national guard to break strikes. But those people, people like my great grandfather, people with spines, are dead and buried. Their children and grandchildren sold their souls to the company store for shiny trinkets and blinking lights.
Wither democracy…

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:48:46 +0000

Don’t hold your breath re. the UK: We don’t call them Liebour for nothing. As I understand it the proposals link bonuses to long term risks. Since the banks were unable to assess the long term risk of the housing market failing (aka a ‘recession’) then, what makes Darling think bankers can do it now, even assuming they wanted to? We too live in a country where greed is seen as socially acceptable: market power a right and not an abberation.

By: fajensen

fajensen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:34:33 +0000

these shares will only be saleable after a period of several years, meaning that the bankers will have an interest in the company they work for and won’t take such insane risks.

Sure,
Those shareholder incentive plans worked soo well for Enron and most of the other dot-bombs!

Instead of letting the crooks go bankrupt and lose their jobs or enforce the law and put them in jail we merely give them more chips to gamble with!

By: Morgan

Morgan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:00:34 +0000

Like William Appleman Williams and Gore Vidal like to point out, the American Revolution was no such thing. It was more properly a coup d’etat. And why was it that Marx thought revolution was impossible in America? Too ethnically diverse. Without any chance of overturning the oligarchy, let’s celebrate the global multi-ethnic monoculture, make feminism a rationale for imperialism, and call ourselves progressive. Americans don’t want revolution, they are just shocked when the oligarchy excludes *them*. Exploitation is done to other people, right?

By: fajensen

fajensen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:25:59 +0000

There is now way in hell that Gordon Brown will do anything against his bankster friends – its just talk, passing the time!!

Come the next election he will be out on his arse & elbows and in dire need of a well paid consultancy position within private industry.

Quid pro Quo!

By: Eddie

Eddie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:25:23 +0000

Americans have no collective ethos. It’s all about the individual. There has never been a better people to divide and conquer over. They will simply not risk their own life for a fellow man. Just give them low gas prices and a reasonable tax rate and they will support you even though the neighbour is starving.