Often times I ponder what lies ahead for us (Americans) which seems to be the motivating force behind these posts.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this endeavor.  And, obviously, we Americans like to predict the future – as if we actually know something.  One of the things that is continually “hammered” home to me from my experiences is how little I know.  That being said, I don’t anticipate a change in my “need” to predict the “future” at least as I see it, anytime soon.  I have become almost obsessed with reading books which give perspectives (along with inside information) on what our leaders are doing.  I try to stay away from the books which are TOTALLY politically motivated (although, I realize they all are to some degree).  For example, I’m not going to read Sarah Palin’s book (which, I’m guessing was written by someone else), or Sean Hannity’s book, or Glenn Beck’s, or – from the other perspective – people on the “left” who are collaborating with “ghost writers” to “cash in” on their “fame.”

People like Seymour Hersh, Naomi Klein, Kevin Phillips, Thomas Ricks, John Dean, Bob Woodward (I started to lose respect for Woodward in the past couple of years), Frank Schaeffer, David Sirota, Frank Rich, Greg Pallast, George Packer, Jeremy Scahill, Thom Hartman and a long list of others look past the political expediency of the moment in an attempt to find the truth about what is really happening at the top of our political “food chain.”  The picture is not a good one.  And, for those of you into bipartisanship, from my perspective the picture is BAD from BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM!  The republican party and those affilitated with it have been consumed by GREED, and the democrats – well, where are the democrats when we need them?  The bitter truth is that you’ll find the “high rollers” in this nation feeding both political parties in an orchestrated program designed to make sure that their best interests come before everything else.

The sad reality of all of this is that we will continue facing one “BUBBLE” after another until we purge our nation of these contemptuous people who are all about MONEY.  (here I go making predictions again)  However, the people at the “top” seem to be totally removed from the rest of us – almost as if we are “collateral damage” when their actions backfire or simply don’t work.  Take Wall Street for example.  The large banks that survived the 2008 “meltdown” – Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, B of A, etc. – simply got a bit bigger after the recent crisis and their reprehesible behavior slowed down only an “instant” until the TARP bailout “righted the ship.”  It’s as if these guys will just keep grabbing for more until there’s nothing left to grab!  And, the republican party is right there with their collective hands out asking for their share of the spoils in return for fighting regulation.  All this while the democrats rig up regulations which are better than nothing, but don’t go nearly far enough to shift the direction of this nation’s wealth back toward the middle class.

That’s basically the choice “we the people” are faced with.  The republican party, as it’s constituted today, will take the GREED position (every man/woman for him/herself) right over the cliff, while the democrats are content to be “better than nothing.”  That’s the way it was for health care, that’s the way it’s looking for financial regulation, that’s pretty much the way it looks to me on just about any issue.  I mean, we’re still in Iraq and Afganistan – these occupations have been going on long enough under democratic control of congress that the blame can no longer be just aimed at Bush/Cheney (although, they are mostly to blame – their actions have just made it clear the democrats are spineless).  And while I don’t expect Sarah Palin to stop shouting “Drill Baby Drill,” I also don’t expect Barack Obama to admit that he made a HUGE mistake in agreeing to open up our shorelines to more offshore drilling.

Deflation is what happens to an economy when it begins to shrink instead of expand.  It is also what happens to citizens in a free society when they begin to realize that their voices don’t much matter.  I can hear all the Obama supporters saying that he’s doing what he said he would do.  However, the reality of ALL the things he’s doing which couldn’t be anticipated based on his election promises is GROWING – and, the lack of enthusiastic democratic voters is growing right along with it.  Obama doesn’t seem to “get” this.  Now, I’ve been voting for over 40 years and fully understand that American politicians say what they believe their audience wants to hear.  So this one’s on me.  I actually thought “change we could believe in” would be real change – and back toward the fundamental values which made this a great nation.  Much to the chagrine of those on the “right,” – at least what they would like to believe – America never reached “world power” status until the “New Deal” of FDR.  America came out of World War II as the “leader of the free world.”  And, the rest of the world is still looking to us for leadership, and instead we’ve allowed ourselves into this downward spiral caused by massive GREED.

This GREED was facilitated by Ronald Reagan when he began the propoganda scheme that claimed by reducing taxes for the “rich” the money would “trickle down” to the rest of us.  It was ridiculous when he said it, and it’s even more ridiculous today – despite the FACT people on the “right” are still trying to cram this philosophy down our throats today.  The bottom line is that our wealth has “trickled” up to the point where a smaller and smaller group of Americans control a larger and larger pool of money.  THIS IS UNHEALTHY!  I often wonder, how much do these guys need?  I’ve read the reports of the apartments in New York, the chauffeur’s, the home in the Hamptons, the two trips a year to the Carribbean or Aspen, the exclusive private schools, and the expensive country clubs as being necessary for this “lifestyle,” but, I also read today a column in the NY Times by Bob Herbert about the deteriorating conditions in America’s cities, the children being murdered in alarming numbers, and the lack of concern by society at large for the problem.

So, here’s how I see things playing out if we continue in the same direction we’ve been headed for these past 30+ years.  The wealthy in this nation will continue to get wealthier – creating the “wealth bubble.”  This will be TOTALLY supported by republicans and “accepted” by democrats (I think I’m more disgusted by the democrats as I think about this – because they’re the ones I would expect to be fighting for the “New Deal” principles).  Certain things are bound to happen as long as we continue this course – I’m just not sure in what order.  The climate will continue to change, without a concerted effort to reduce “man’s” role in that change – UNTIL A DISASTER HAPPENS!  We will continue to burn fossil fuels at an accelerating pace – UNTIL A (well, maybe I should say until more) DISASTER HAPPENS!  Who knows how many DISASTERS have to happen before we realize what a stupid course we’re on in the middle east and elsewhere? (if you read Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” you will see that it’s these very disasters that fuels the right wing agenda)

I could go on with this, but I want to focus on Herbert’s article a bit.  Because, it’s America’s cities which are becoming the looming DISASTER that no one seems to want to notice.  Herbert is an articulate editorial writer for the Times who is focused on the real human costs of our GREED.  And, this latest article should get people’s attention, although I’m skepticle that it will.  I guess I’m regressing back into my cynical stage based on my disappointment with President Obama’s direction (I mean, he had the head of one of Wall Street’s banks as a guest at the White House last week – for heaven’s sake!)  I suppose if I’m feeling that people won’t fully address the issue of climate change until a major city is under water, then it should be no surprise that American’s will ignore their own inner cities until they erupt in violence resulting from their “inhabitants” frustration at a general lack of concern for their problems.  In Herbert’s article he interviewed people who are afraid to go outside to “wash their cars” in inner city Chicago because of the threat of gun violence.  Yet, our congress will continue to cower to the NRA and other lobbyists who will perpetuate the situation until it erupts in a way that interferes with the “good life.”

Just the other day, speaking of the NRA and the “gun lobby,”  I saw clips of republican senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina arguing against a bill in congress which would deny suspected terrorists the right to buy guns or explosives.  Now, Graham was singled out because, on the same day, he argued that it was wrong to read someone his “Miranda rights” if he was accused of a terrorist act.  I’m pointing this out to show how absurd our entire national debate has become.  Refusing to allow guns to a suspected terrorist would violate their 2nd amendment rights – and, that would be bad.  Giving them their “Miranda rights,” (right to counsel) guarnateed by the 5th amendment, however, is bad because we should just torture them in order to get them to say whatever we want to hear!  I mean this is convoluted thinking.  It is the thinking that has allowed all the 16 year old gang members in cities like Chicago to be “bearing arms,” with the result being something like 150 children KILLED in the past year alone – with hardly a whimper from the rest of us.

Something is terribly wrong here, and as long as our leaders continue to cower to the forces of the high money rollers little will change.  What will cause change will be the DISASTERS!  In the educational world this is called being reactive instead of proactive.  The FACT we can see all this “stuff” coming, seems to have little effect on the ones who could do something about it.  That’s the people who are, unfortunately, unable to resist the temptation to take the money of the “moneychangers” in Washington DC.  It certainly wasn’t lost on me that a cool BILLION dollars was invested by the health lobby during the previous “health reform” debate – and, there’s no question in my mind that they will get their money’s worth!  Despite the proclamations of Obama and the democrats, I have no doubt that the health care industry will get every dollar back in “spades.”  This translates in so many different directions.  And, in my view, as long as the politicians keep taking the special interest money, the children being murdered in our cities will be “back page news!”