Last Gasp For The Generation Of Swine

Fatwah / September 9, 2011

By Joe Costello

“The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids.”
–HST

The three year bad joke that is the Obama administration delivered its punchline last night, and as expected, it just wasn’t very funny. So, for the last time I will tell you progressives, liberals, Democrats whatever it is you ascribe to: This president will not be reelected. Your president is d-u-n-n, dunn!

As far as the “lesser of less” strategy, which if I had penny for every time I’ve heard that in the past month I could’ve bought myself a Starbuck’s coffee–it ain’t going to happen. Let me trump your “lesser of less” strategy against your new Rick Perry bogeyman. You think Rick Perry is bad? At every level, in every characteristic, he’s “lesser of less” than what this country will produce if we don’t get serious about reforming our political economy. This country cannot afford any more “lesser of less” politics. I know you Democrats and particularly you liberals are masters of this degenerate political art form, but the game’s up. We no longer have the luxury.

Let your narrator give you a little background here. In 1980, I cut my political teeth on an incumbent Democratic president. I spent nine months traveling the country trying to elect Edward Moore Kennedy president, and unseat the sitting Democratic president, Jimmy Carter. Obama makes Carter look like a profile in competence. During that entire year, I heard from every liberal and almost every Democrat, how the American people would never elect Ronald Reagan — too right-wing, too conservative, too stupid. Ho-ho-ho, the joke was on them, wasn’t it? In the words of former president Carter, Reagan “kicked his ass.”

And the change came — Morning in America. A fool’s optimism, just smile, think positive, ignore the real problems and everything will work out. Depleting oil supplies, no problem, bankrupt ourselves militarily securing the Persian Gulf. Stagnating wages, no problem, more debt. Concentration of wealth, no problem, they deserve it. The power of mega-corporations, no problem, let them grow larger and more unfettered, it is the will of the market. Corruption of the political process, no problem, how do I get my share? And so it’s gone for thirty years brothers and sisters.

So, you want a jobs/economic program, let’s start here. We need a sweeping program of retirement at 60, for the next decade at least. We need to make Social Security a universal real retirement program. Whatever you think you have in your pension or 401k, I guarantee it’s less and going to be even more so. We can put the Boomers in charge of reforming Medicare, by capping all spending at present levels, they need to figure out how we’re going to change medicine, getting rid of drug patents, educating more medical people for less money by ending the modern medical guilds, end of life care, and taking the obscene profits out of medicine. There’s a start.

We need to all become citizens. The politics of “lesser of less” is done.

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43 Comments

Add your own

1. megazver | September 9th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
you are so screwed
i’d laugh but you’ll probably drag us down with you
2. Aaron | September 9th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
The fuck? Commentards get to publish articles now?
3. Cum | September 9th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
The Democrats basically count on being the lesser of two evils, that’s their only real strategy for winning an election. Now that hope is dead, liberals have gone back to that old meme when trying to justify their plans to vote for Obama.
4. required | September 9th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Also legalize or decriminalize recreational drugs, prostitution, and home butchering, and get a foreign policy more complicated than just doing whatever Likudniks say, and so on — in other words it’s never going to happen. I was at a sort of progressive organization meeting right after Obama was elected, where strangers were brought together solely on the basis of having voted for him. Well, it didn’t take long to get thoroughly disappointed in it. We were kind of intrigued — strangers brought together by these little postcards, not sure why or by who — but it soon became clear that the progressive-Democrat elite is out of ideas, honestly doesn’t know anything about its “base,” and hoped to use these meetings as a way of meeting, learning about and eventually controlling us. That’s how ignorant and desperate they were. The salient point regarding your excellent proposals is, not only is US culture in general a perfect Mexican standoff of opposing interests, but so are progressive politics internally. There is you and me and nobody else; everything is divided into mutually paralyzing factions that hate each other. This is a country that is totally cool with destroying the environment so long as teenagers can be prevented from learning about sex. A doddering, insane Alzheimer’s patient, madly waving a shotgun at everyone, pursuing horrible policies in the hopes of achieving totally unrelated horrible goals.
5. svirgula | September 9th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
approve
6. platitudes | September 9th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
So…we should blame Howard Dean for not whispering “primary” in Alan Grayson’s ear 18 months ago?
7. Nazidethpig | September 9th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
You’re preaching to the choir.
8. Elke | September 9th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Is this a NYT op-ed? we all know exactly how to “fix health care,” thanks, the fact is that Obama will be re-elected and the US will continue its slide into feudal decay unless the left steps up and starts drawing and quartering the sycophants of capital in the street
9. Jose | September 9th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Screw retirement at 60, just kill people at the age 60. You can no longer work? You’re no longer of use to the economy.
10. matt | September 9th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
“Obama makes Carter look like a profile in competence.”
Shit, Carter was vastly more competent. On average, and factoring in that he didn’t benefit from a tech bubble, Carter had a pretty strong record on job creation and poverty reduction, unlike Obama. If Obama had Carter’s economic record, we would have less than 4% unemployment by now, albeit with close to double digit inflation.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jan/25/carolyn-maloney/congresswoman-says-democratic-presidents-create-mo/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_created_during_U.S._presidential_terms
11. allen | September 9th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Capital is going to keep (probably successfully) blackmailing nation states, including even the U.S., because it can. It’s an international force, and it cannot easily be “tamed” by national lawmaking.
That is unless you have citizens who are disciplined enough to endure increasingly severe economic punishments that come with disobeying the masters, or unless a large enough crisis comes along to the point where things cannot get much worse anyway …
If there was nation state that could just maybe get the ball rolling without some sort of comprehensive international change, it would be the United States. Capital has to live somewhere; the U.S. is its most prominent home.
I guess I’ll just start holding my breath.
12. matt | September 9th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
…we also probably would have made real advancements towards peace in the middle east.
13. Damn Red | September 9th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
@11
Juche?
14. Sick and Wrong | September 9th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
This is how this article looks to normal people
http://sickandwrongforum.com/republican-democrat.jpg
15. Sick and Wrong | September 9th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
From a Soviet book published in 1952. Even back then they already knew everything about you, america.
http://sickandwrongforum.com/propaganda1.jpg
http://sickandwrongforum.com/propaganda2.jpg
16. Edmund Dorkey | September 9th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Dear Exholes,
I AM AS MAD AS HELL AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.
Cheers,
– Edmund Dorkey, Turks & Caicos Islands
17. Hannibal | September 9th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Sockpuppet here. I’m going to pretend that I’m morally offended by Teddy Kennedy, but what I’ll wind up writing is typical old-fashioned KKK anti-Irish bigotry. It’s a little bug in this sockpuppet software, should have it fixed soon. Hopefully the eXiled moderator will fix this bug before my sockpuppet comment goes live. I’d really appreciate it if you’d help me, O Mighty eXiled Moderator.
get misogynistic.
try and save caca.
18. ☭ mouse ☭ | September 9th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
I think we need to listen to the wisdom of that Star Wars nerd-fascist dude from the other article’s comment page.
We need Darth Maoism
or maybe some Mao Vaderism
Im not sure which
19. NoHope | September 9th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
There is not hope. Half the country are retarded assclowns that’d rather fight a civil war a 2nd time -good for killing uppity niggers and those limousine liberals- then see Warren Buffet pay a penny in taxes.
If Limbaugh told them to all drink paint thinner to kill off all the liberals, they’d gladly do so.
This country is doomed, what we’re witnessing is the 2nd Fall of the Roman Empire. Hell, we even have the eagle insignia to boot.
America may be a nation of retards, assclowns, corrupt politicians, Koch-suckers, political whores, Nazi Republicans, Eunuch Democrats, dirty cops and lying bastards but, at least we’re so large and obese we’ll take down the rest of the world with us and they’ll be forced to try and bounce us back up- that’s my only hope.
20. ☭ mouse ☭ | September 9th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
@19 Agreed! its the reason why I think that, for all of China’s corruption and incompetence, they are ultimately going to end up leading the next century (probably also teaming up w/Russia). Even though they are now capitalists, they don’t have to kowtow to free market libertardation the way the US political system is forced to, they can just do what works. I mean America is dumb enough to think that Obama is actually a socialist in any way shape or form
21. Hey | September 9th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Carter wasn’t too bad… deregulated beer, airlines, trucking
22. iCONOCLAST | September 9th, 2011 at 11:20 pm
Is this the result of your summer intern program? Well? Is it?
23. NoHope | September 10th, 2011 at 12:04 am
@19 The Chinese are developing their own upper class oligarchy. In time, as they become more stinking rich, 1000 Chinese Murdochs and Kochs will bloom upon their nation…. or so we can hope.
24. Goddamned Dot | September 10th, 2011 at 12:51 am
There is nothing wrong with the USA that destroying the TBTF banking sector won’t fix. Those wastrel rich fuckers failed, make ’em pay with their wealth, their freedom, and even their lives. It’s come down to a binary zero-sum gameplay decision these days; it is either the banks…or the Republic. What’s it gonna be?
25. General Foods | September 10th, 2011 at 12:52 am
Dream on, revolutionaries. The USA will continue to rule for a long time, until someone comes up with a better idea. They’ve got the military, the money, the media, total information awareness, and the will to do what it takes to keep the good times rolling. By contrast, y’all have got nothing to work with. And deep down, Americans love being ritually humiliated by the security state; it makes them feel like they’re contributing to something greater than themselves.
26. fajensen | September 10th, 2011 at 9:24 am
“It matters not how the votes are cast, what matters is the counting” -Diebold (well, almost).
OhBummah will be re-elected!
27. James | September 10th, 2011 at 10:03 am
The end game is all about assessing and allocating blame and that’s just what the beigocrats are doing. Obama has proved a useful tool in that endeavor and it is for that that he was chosen.
28. helplesscase | September 10th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
You wanna make a difference? Start going to Church, learn to quote scripture, become a minister. We’re never going to have a secular conversation that settles anything in this country. You gotta have faith.
29. James | September 10th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
What would make a difference is if Obama said he was actually an athiest and that religion stuff is all for weak minded people who can’t accept that fact that when you die well you’re just dead and that’s it. I mean just look at a dead body and you can tell they’re not in heaven or hell or any place. And Bill Clinton should say “hey, I not only got a blow job and stuck a cigar in a chubby jewess’ vagina when I was in the White House but I got all kinds of pussy that’ll you’ll never get because you’re losers who’ll never be president of nothing and then Dubuya can admit he’s dying of AIDS and that the great and terrible Wizard of Oz is just a tired old man behind some curtain pulling some levers and turning some knobs.
30. andrew | September 10th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
“A doddering, insane Alzheimer’s patient, madly waving a shotgun at everyone, pursuing horrible policies in the hopes of achieving totally unrelated horrible goals.”
that about says it all, thanks #4
31. Dennis Redmond | September 10th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
We are all Joe Capelli. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Chimeran installations to… restructure. Bliss, thy name is bullseye!
32. ariot | September 10th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
The “General Foods” is on to something about how people are behaving contrary to their own best interest. There’s enough folks who have a patriogasm over the security state to keep the game rolling longer than one would think possible.
33. ☭ mouse ☭ | September 10th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
@26 … Obama really doesn’t have the balls to shamelessly and fraudulently steal an election. He’ll leave that to the Republicans like everything else
One term prez
34. radii | September 10th, 2011 at 10:49 pm
yes, Obama’s “jobs speech” was a pathetic cry in the wilderness from a president who’s heart wasn’t even in it
the rub? THERE IS PLENTY OF MONEY FOR EVERYTHING
it’s just locked up in the greedy pockets of the rich
We can have retirement at 60, double the Social Security payout, free cradle-to-grave healthcare, paid vacation, 80% unemployment compensation (of your last job’s wages), new infrastructure, safe streets ,strong national defense, free higher education … ALL OF IT
we just need to commit to liberating the wealth from the greedy rich who hoard it and don’t get that if they pay for safe streets and a civil society with social welfare government programs they must pay for more fences and guards and live in fear … the Romans got it – bread and circuses
We can raise the cap on what those earning over $105,000 a year pay into Social Security, raise the top rate, impose a flat-tax on corporations only before they do any other accounting, repatriate offshore funds, impose one-time asset-charge-off on the richest 1% of 10%to15% to pay down the debt,we can impose VAT taxes on the rich, we can eliminate the income tax for those earning less than $50,000 a year
… and the irony of these revenue-based approaches? The rich will recover that money in as little as 2 years from a booming economy
35. Timur The Lame | September 11th, 2011 at 4:00 am
Fool’s Optimism? Read your own article fool. Getting a leader even of the caliber of the ‘Chapaquiddick Kid’, if that is the best you can come up with will change exactly what?
Anyone that can’t see that there isn’t a dime’s difference between the two parties should stick to m’erikan idling and leave the thinking to those with at least a chimp’s IQ.
Cheers-
36. Cum | September 11th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
The “One Sith” movement really is right up the ally of those Ayn Rand dopes. The Sith philosophy has always been about extreme social Darwinism and violently imposed order as dictated by a supreme master. And like every fascist movement, the Sith movement has always framed its struggle as “Us and Them.” When Bush made that whole “with us or against us” speech after 9/11, he really earned his Sith Lord status. I bet he made his master proud on that day.
For thousands of years, it’s always been the same gullible little kiss-up kick-down wannabe fascists that end up joining with the latest iteration of the Sith Empire. The idealistic ones are the cannon fodder. Those that have done enough back-stabbing and somehow make it into a middle-management position on a Star Destroyer really feel like their sense of superiority over their peers is justified, right up until that moment a pissed off boss chokes them to death over a rude comment.
37. tam | September 12th, 2011 at 12:20 am
Shame on you, you took that Hunter S Thompson quote completely out of context! Is NOTHING sacred any more?
38. tam | September 12th, 2011 at 12:40 am
Hmmm, On further reflection, it was maybe only slightly out of context, (you can read the quote two ways) but even so…
Although on even further reflection, Dr Thompson wouldn’t give a damn, so I forgive you…
39. CensusLouie | September 12th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
What the hell? Did they just publish a random comment into an article? There’s no meat at all to this.
All Obama has to do to guarantee reelection is make his official campaign slogan “We can’t afford another Texas governor.”
The shit on Perry is just frightening. I know it’s hip to be cynical and say Democrats and Republicans are the same, but you’ll never see Democrats going after the process of judicial review like the GOP. Here’s a terrifying article on what Mr. Perry thinks of that whole “checks and balances” thing.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/seven-ways-rick-perry-wants-change-constitution-131634517.html
40. mad props | September 13th, 2011 at 8:33 am
what if we just started killing the people who suck
would that help or just make it worse
41. Dan | September 13th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Granted, I’ll go to the NY Times if I want to read stale, trite commentary……but the spaz quotient on this site is just off the charts. Russian conspiracists and American basement dwellers both convinced The Collapse is just around the corner.
The difference between this crisis, and the 10 or 15 similar crises in US history, is the internet and the spitting outrage it produces. Banks getting their way is nothing new. Presidents failing to live up to unrealistic expectations is as old as the presidency itself.
Meanwhile the silent majority rolls along, noticing the bump in the road but not mistaking it for a vast sinkhole.
42. Tony | September 14th, 2011 at 5:38 am
@11
Capital blackmails nation states with a threat to move if it is not appeased with greater profits. The solution is to simply have strong capital controls. Think China of the West before liberalization of capital movement.
43. pat | September 24th, 2011 at 8:13 am
To lower insurance costs, someone needs to get on exposing the “brokers.” Spitzer was on it…but it doesn’t seem to have stopped anything.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apGrLkmoj8QU&refer=us
Aon robs CT, pays a fine.
http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?a=1949&q=290550
During the same period, the State of NJ picks up Aon…and they aren’t the lowest bidder…however, they come up with “rationale” to support hiring them.
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/evaluation.pdf
According to Aon in 2009, rates needed to be raised by up to 25%. “Susan Marsh, a vice president at Aon, a consulting firm hired by the state, said the recession has strained New Jersey’s health care system. For example, she said public employees are placing more unemployed dependents — such as spouses or adult children — into the state health plan.”
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/health_insurance_rates_for_nj.html
I don’t buy that explanation. State employees paid 1.5% of their salary for their health insurance regardless of level of coverage (single, family, ee & spouse). Now why would they not cover dependendents all along if it wasn’t costing them anything more? And, Aon did a dependent audit and tossed dependents off the plan. Just like they are doing in Texas this year.
http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2011-04-13/state-employees-could-lose-dependent-coverage-audit
NJ is still using Aon. Many other states including Texas use Aon. And they’ve robbed other states including Florida.
Are the states that stupid as to hire a broker that his ripped off other states? Why are the states paying millions of dollars to Aon to audit dependents on health plans? At best, this is a clerical function of document checking that should be handled by the state.
Just so happens, Aon’s founder is tight with both the Ds and the Rs (Bush & Obama.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Ryan_(executive)