For sake of putting into context, the author is a Canadian and is anti government involvement but the words are food for thought....

"Helicopter Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve is dropping trillions of fresh paper dollars on the world economy, the President of the United States is cracking jokes on late night comedy shows, his energy minister is threatening a trade war over carbon emissions, his treasury secretary is dithering over a banking reform program amid rising concerns over his competence and a monumentally dysfunctional U.S. Congress is launching another public jihad against corporations and bankers.

As an aghast world — from China to Chicago and Chihuahua — watches, the circus-like U.S. political system seems to be declining into near chaos. Through it all, stock and financial markets are paralyzed. The more the policy regime does, the worse the outlook gets. The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in many minds: Is this the end of America?"

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/b...f-america.aspx

We ask that the government undertake the obligation above all of providing citizens with adequate opportunity for employment and earning a living. The activities of the individual must not be allowed to clash with the interests of the community, but must take place within its confines and be for the good of all. Therefore, we demand: ... an end to the power of the financial interests. We demand profit sharing in big business. We demand a broad extension of care for the aged. We demand ... the greatest possible consideration of small business in the purchases of national, state, and municipal governments. In order to make possible to every capable and industrious [citizen] the attainment of higher education and thus the achievement of a post of leadership, the government must provide an all-around enlargement of our entire system of public education ... We demand the education at government expense of gifted children of poor parents ... The government must undertake the improvement of public health - by protecting mother and child, by prohibiting child labor ... by the greatest possible support for all clubs concerned with the physical education of youth. We combat the ... materialistic spirit within and without us, and are convinced that a permanent recovery of our people can only proceed from within on the foundation of the common good before the individual good.

-- from the political program of the Nazi Party, adopted in Munich, on February 24, 1920, quoted in Die Nationalsozialistische Dokumente 1933-1945, edited by Walther Hofer, Frankfurt am Mein: Fischer Bucherei, 1957, pp. 29-31.

Take Down the Bird Feeder

The analogy is absolutely right on . . .
Maxine tells it like it is!!!!

I bought a bird feeder. I hung
It on my back porch and filled
It with seed. What a beauty of
A bird feeder it is, as I filled it
Lovingly with seed. Within a
Week we had hundreds of birds
Taking advantage of the
Continuous flow of free and
Easily accessible food.

But then the birds started
Building nests in the boards
Of the patio, above the table,
And next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was
Everywhere: on the patio tile,
The chairs, the table ...
Everywhere!

Then some of the birds
Turned mean. They would
Dive bomb me and try to
Peck me even though I had
Fed them out of my own
Pocket.

And others birds were
Boisterous and loud. They
Sat on the feeder and
Squawked and screamed at
All hours of the day and night
And demanded that I fill it
When it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even
Sit on my own back porch
Anymore. So I took down the
Bird feeder and in three days
The birds were gone. I cleaned
Up their mess and took down
The many nests they had built
All over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like
It used to be.... Quiet, serene
And no one demanding their
Rights to a free meal.

Now let's see.
Our government gives out
Free food, subsidized housing,
Free medical care, and free
Education and allows anyone
Born here to be an automatic
Citizen.

Then the illegal came by the
Tens of thousands. Suddenly
Our taxes went up to pay for
Free services; small apartments
are housing 5 families; you
Have to wait 6 hours to be seen
By an emergency room doctor;
Your child's 2nd grade class is
Behind other schools because
Over half the class doesn't speak
English.

Corn Flakes now come in a
Bilingual box; I have to
'press one' to hear my bank
Talk to me in English, and
People waving flags other
Than 'Old Glory' are
Squawking and screaming
In the streets, demanding
More rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe
it's time for the government
To take down the bird
Feeder.

I flat don't buy into this "End of America" garbage.

We made it through a brutal civil war
We made it through World War One (with everyone else on our back!)
We made it through the Great Depression
We made it through World War Two (with everyone on our back)
We made it through the Cold War, and the "police actions" and other wars along the way (with everyone on our back)
We made it through several oddball presidents and their cronies.
We made it through screwball Congresses, from McCarthy to O'Neill at the helm.
We added five states in the last 102 years (two in my lifetime!)
We sent people to the Moon and back, and the Space Shuttle still can shuttle.

In comparison to previous generations, we eat better, live longer, and have a greater standard of living. Our kids as a whole have greater opportunity than any previous generation, and debt-be-#^@%# will outlive, outlast and outplay us all, as we have done to support all before us.

What we are going through today is MINOR in comparison to all of the other things this country has seen and endured. All the doom-and-gloom rhetoric by those who have a profit motive of their own to keep our spirits at a low level are but tin sounds.

We WILL make it through Bush, Obama, Pelosi, Frank, Reid, K Street and everything else, because WE CAN! In the grand scheme of things, we still have it made in comparison to anyone anywhere else.

God bless America.

Originally Posted by SteveZ

I flat don't buy into this "End of America" garbage.

We made it through a brutal civil war
We made it through World War One (with everyone else on our back!)
We made it through the Great Depression
We made it through World War Two (with everyone on our back)
We made it through the Cold War, and the "police actions" and other wars along the way (with everyone on our back)
We made it through several oddball presidents and their cronies.
We made it through screwball Congresses, from McCarthy to O'Neill at the helm.
We added five states in the last 102 years (two in my lifetime!)
We sent people to the Moon and back, and the Space Shuttle still can shuttle.

In comparison to previous generations, we eat better, live longer, and have a greater standard of living. Our kids as a whole have greater opportunity than any previous generation, and debt-be-#^@%# will outlive, outlast and outplay us all, as we have done to support all before us.

What we are going through today is MINOR in comparison to all of the other things this country has seen and endured. All the doom-and-gloom rhetoric by those who have a profit motive of their own to keep our spirits at a low level are but tin sounds.

We WILL make it through Bush, Obama, Pelosi, Frank, Reid, K Street and everything else, because WE CAN! In the grand scheme of things, we still have it made in comparison to anyone anywhere else.

God bless America.

WHOA Steve...if you read the article he also says....

"Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. The U.S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals in the past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people who rose above the political turmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It’s happened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years to rise out of the Great Depression."

Originally Posted by Bucco

WHOA Steve...if you read the article he also says....

"Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. The U.S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals in the past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people who rose above the political turmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It’s happened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years to rise out of the Great Depression."

Did read the article - my thoughts are for the "Drive-by Media," the politicos who want to make us miserable for their own gain, and all the others who believe we owe them something.

There are some savvy neighbors to the North who have seen it before, and have taken residence within 100 miles of the US/CAN border for good reason. They know we'll get it turned around, and they are part of the solution.....

Originally Posted by Bucco

...spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people...above the political turmoil...

Oh boy! You must be referring to those guys on Wall Street or the banks or the insurance companies or Freddie or Fannie or the auto companies or...on and on.

Are THOSE the corporate leaders who will lead the struggling masses out of this mess? Forgive me if I withold my enthusiasm.

Their main concern at the moment seems to be "how can I make a buck in this situation."

I believe that Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki said it best in their book Why We Want You to be Rich. Also, Mark Yarnell expressed the same conclusions at www.15yearsleft.com (That is ... it was 15 years in 2007, when he posted his opinions there; there are now 13 years left; approximately).