The USA Oligarchy-Austerity-Schadenfreude Thread

[stickdog99]

Meanwhile, the Greek economy reacts to enforced austerity:

And austerity doesn’t seem to be working either. Take Greece for example. Greece has been operating under the austere requirements of the EU and IMF for more than a year. Yet things haven’t gotten better for Greece; they’ve gotten worse — across the board as shown below.



To sum up the above table: Since adopting tough austerity measures, the Greek economic activity is contracting more aggressively. Its debt burden is growing, led by continued worsening deficits — precisely what the austerity plans are crafted to reduce.

The risk premium in Greek government bonds is higher, government revenue is lower, spending is higher and Greece needs even more money to stay afloat.

Put simply: Austerity is not working!

One thing austerity is doing, though, is its killing global growth.

[justdrew]

man up a tower.

Man refuses to come off Tulsa telecom tower for 5th day
Posted on 08.15.11 | By David Edwards

A 25-year-old man in Tulsa refused to come down off a communications tower for the fifth day Monday.

Authorities said that the man, only identified as William, had been at the top of the 300-foot Clear Channel tower since Thursday at 11 a.m.

“Dehydration at a cellular level cannot be denied,” senior negotiator Cole Butler said Saturday.

The man had requested a Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Rooster Booster and a cappuccino.

His reasons for climbing the tower were not clear at the time of publication, but he denied that suicide was a motivation.

“Honestly, if he was wanting to jump, I think it would have happened by now. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the next five seconds,” Butler said.

He shouted to police Saturday night that he would rather be on the tower than “down there.”

live cam?

[Searcher08]

Rooster Booster is memetic reverse engineering covering the JFK campaign button of the 1960 election


"Clear Channel, William" is quasi-inverse neuroteleology and implies that Prince William will assist at an event in the Channel Tunnel that will lead to him taking over the UK

[norton ash]

^^ Weave a circle round him thrice... for he is in the grip of the manatee.

[Bruce Dazzling]

"I am wholly pessimistic about American society. I believe that The Wire is a show about the end of the American empire. I believe we are all, or our kids are going to live that event, and how we end up at the end of it, or where we end up, and whether or not we can survive it ... on what terms ... is going to be the open question."

[justdrew]

"I am wholly pessimistic about American society. I believe that The Wire is a show about the end of the American empire. I believe we are all, or our kids are going to live that event, and how we end up at the end of it, or where we end up, and whether or not we can survive it ... on what terms ... is going to be the open question."

never seen the wire but this guy seems to know what he's talking about

part 2...


part 3...

[Bruce Dazzling]

Belief vs. reality.

Goebbels is tap-dancing in his grave.



Can we get a tap-dancing Goebbels emoticon?

How equal is America?

Economic inequality in America has come to the fore because it directly relates to budget cuts and revenue raising. But how the public perceive economic inequality and the reality are very different, as psychologist Dan Ariely found out when his pie-chart quiz was tested on people in the street.

[Plutonia]

[justdrew]

Belief vs. reality.

Goebbels is tap-dancing in his grave.



Can we get a tap-dancing Goebbels emoticon?

How equal is America?

Economic inequality in America has come to the fore because it directly relates to budget cuts and revenue raising. But how the public perceive economic inequality and the reality are very different, as psychologist Dan Ariely found out when his pie-chart quiz was tested on people in the street.

the general ill-informed "conservative" amercian is so completely propagandized, feeding on a continuous stream of disinformation, it's really distressing.

I just found a good source to hear from them, not at some rally, but just man-on-the-street interviews with a really nice relate-able interviewer. Listen to what these people have to say, it is chilling... I think a huge percent of that generation have just completely lost touch with reality. It's mind-boggling. Anyway... give this hour long interview show a listen, and hear the voices of self described "conservatives" with the friendlies interviewer they could ever ask for.

http://www.wfmu.org/flashplayer.php?version=2&show=41643&archive=71544

[Joe Hillshoist]

FFS.

[Nordic]

We're doomed.

[Plutonia]

We're doomed.

That was my thought too - "It's over."

[Joe Hillshoist]

I got the impression they'd been coached into giving that opinion (don't teach evolution in schools) beforehand, you know, sday this and make sound believable and the judges will prefer that.

Miss USA is an official spokesperson of sorts yeah?

[Plutonia]

Yeah, I think everything about their presentation of "self" is coached and they can't be unaware of this:

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society." Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006 ... h_were.php

[Luther Blissett]

We're doomed.

That was my thought too - "It's over."

There is a very clear delineation between the answers of the women from the west coast and the northeast and those from the rest of the country. All the pro-evolution comments were saved for the end. Wow. I think the only state that breaks from the trend is Arizona or New Mexico, but all she says is something like "evolution is based in science..."