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[M_Sprague]

Not much to do with climbing, but I think it is a good and timely read.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/david-simon-capitalism-marx-two-americas-wire

[strandman]

Mostly true, i guess....i thought we were going to argue about Obamacare 

[eyebolter]

Remember that "giant sucking sound" that Ross Perot talked about?  I have one word for you: NAFTA (well two: GATT)

Passed by a Republican legislature, signed into law by "liberal" Bill Clinton.

The good paying jobs are long gone, and they are never coming back.  Never.

And Obama wants to "create" more jobs by passing more free trade agreements.

There will be plenty of new jobs when our wages are the same as Vietnam's, like 75 cents an hour.

If you still think that there are two parties then please go back to sleep.

There are only right and left wings of the multinational corporate party.

[strandman]

No more parties ?  I'm going to sleep

[M_Sprague]

The question is: What do we do about it? Is there a better system we can create that allows for innovation and capitol growth that doesn't crush the humanity out of it. And is it really the system or is the system incidental to people putting their will behind their conscience?

Some ideas to start with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_threefolding

[darwined]

How many of you would rather pay extra for the head of lettuce picked by the middle class ( house, two cars, retirement nest-egg, healthcare, vacations, and a couple of kids) lettuce-picker?  That's what I thought!  The market is working just as we've decided it should.

It's too late. 

[M_Sprague]

I think very little of what I pay for a head of lettuce is going to the person who picked it, that is unless I buy it from a local small grower who picked it herself.

[kenreville]

Remember that "giant sucking sound" that Ross Perot talked about?  I have one word for you: NAFTA (well two: GATT)

Passed by a Republican legislature, signed into law by "liberal" Bill Clinton.

The good paying jobs are long gone, and they are never coming back.  Never.

And Obama wants to "create" more jobs by passing more free trade agreements.

There will be plenty of new jobs when our wages are the same as Vietnam's, like 75 cents an hour.

If you still think that there are two parties then please go back to sleep.

There are only right and left wings of the multinational corporate party.

Pay attention people. This IS the truth.

[MT]

It's easy to throw your hands up and blame everyone else for the ills of the world, much harder to get out there and try to change it. The attitude that there is nothing left for us to do (ie, we're powerless in the face of the corporate political apparatus) is what has gotten us to where we are now.

If you care about what you're leaving to the next generation, get out there and do something about it. If a relatively modest fraction of our population would do that (for example, see Tea Party--although I loth what they've done), things could change.

Great post, by the way. Living in Baltimore in the early 90s and experiencing some of the things I saw on Simon's "The Wire" really convinced me that TV can be a force for good. One of the best TV series ever.

Mike