We're totally screwed, aren't we?

[matt819]

Looking at the news here and on HP today, that's the only conclusion I can draw.

Let's see:
Oil well still leaking
Tarballs exploding
Intelligence community out of control
Fund unemployment benefits, but give tax breaks to the wealthy with total disregard of the budget
Unemployment growing, skilled people taking jobs at fast food wages - if they're available
Republican insanity passing for political discourse

Who here is optimistic?

[Warpy]

1. Short term, yeah, we're totally screwed.

Long term will depend on a lot of things, like whether or not we get rid of more Republicans in office this year and whether or not we continue to weed out the conservatives in both parties in government.

The ship of state is like the Titanic, a huge monstrosity with a rudder that's too small. We can avoid the iceberg only if we turn that rudder to port soon enough.

[Winterblues]

4. I think we already hit that iceberg and you are just rearranging the deck chairs.

:shrug: I see no ships on the horizon for rescue either.

[Warpy]

7. You're talking about an ice floe

The iceberg is what ends this country in revolution or world war, or both.

[daleanime]

22. Sorry Warpy....

we don't get to go out with a roar, it's whimper city for us.:scared:

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

2. So what's new? Could be 1969.

[matt819]

15. This is different

I was kid in 1969. Too young for Woodstock, too late to become a hippie, and not all that political. The big political issue was the Vietnam War, of course, and you either for it or against it. Stay in, get out, or peace with honor. Maybe it was, but I didn't see it as the Rubicon for America. It was something to get past, and everything would be okay, or at least okay-ish. Same with the gas crisis that came later. We'd get past it, and all would be well. And, from the perspective of the time, it was, and we did. Jobs were mostly in abundance for the next few decades. The Berlin Wall fell, and that was okay. The era of personal computing began. Anything was possible. Trickle down economics was pretty stupid - still is today - but when you had a job, and options, the trickling down wasn't all that important. Up until 2000, you still had the impression (real or not) that the future was pretty much bright. Okay, maybe not blindingly so, but still you thought there was something to look forward to. You could still have the sense that things would be okay with your kids, and, hey, they might even have it better than we did, just like it was for our generation. And that was even after Reagan and Bush I.

But it's different now. We are utterly divided. It's us vs. them. Skilled people can't get jobs. Very few, on the left or right, believe that things are better now than they were for our parents, and I would argue that no one believes it will be better for their kids. The gulf between rich and poor grows by the minute. Think about it. Goldman Sacks was slapped with a half billion dollar fine, and they considered it a win, and their stock rose.

Hey, I'm having a bad day. But I still think I'm right. We are well and truly screwed. And as much as I'd like to feel the awe that the double rainbow guy had for his day, I just don't see it.

[XemaSab]

3. Word

n/t

[costahawk1987]

5. On the bright side...

One of my friends just went on a beer run. I get what you're saying and could add plenty to that list. Try to get a break from it sometimes if you can though.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. I'm not.

x(

[CrownPrinceBandar]

8. Greed has become institutionalized........

and the American public has become so disengaged that they can get away with this shit right under our noses.

[Uben]

9. We're not totally screwed......

...afterall, we could be stuck with Bush or McCain! Then, we would be screwn to epic proportions! There would be no fight for unemployment extensions, the intelligence community would still be spying on US, there would be no jobs AT ALL, and we would probably have to pay for the gulf clean-up ourselves!

So, it could be much worse, like it was, say, before January of 2009. The republicans knew they would lose the election two years prior, and did everything they could to make sure whichever democrat won would face monumental problems. And, they did a pretty damn good job of that! They left us with two failed wars, a financial industry facing complete collapse, a recession bordering on depression numbers, an intelligence community in complete disarray, and a justice dept more corrupt than Jack Abramhoff!

Despite all that, Obama has already kicked their asses. He has rescued us from financial collapse, has pretty much got us out of one war, turned the tables on the justice dept, passed healthcare reform, financial reform, and has just about procured an extension for the unemployed benefits (awaiting Byrd's replacement). Throw in his response to the Haiti earthquake and the BP oil spill, and I think the guy has done a damned good job with what he was dealt.

So, look at the bright side.......things could be......republican. And we know what that's like!

[niyad]

14. uhhhh, the intelligence community IS still spying on us, we actually are paying for the gulf clean-

up (and bp is lying, endangering clean-up workers and screwing those whose lives they have ruined)

and, as for one of the wars almost ending--really? when all the troops are home, not just a few thousand, then talk about one of the wars almost ending--as the other drags on and on. . .

[notesdev]

10. Not yet

Wait till November, then we're screwed.

[niyad]

11. not optimistic, but refuse to give up. and taking pleasure in small joys whenever I can--

for example, it is raining (which is cooling things off nicely), my tomatoes are coming along nicely, have some wonderful music on,just talked to a dear friend, and sitting here with an ice cream soda.

[Silent3]

12. I'm only 57% screwed...

...but that's up 3 points from yesterday, after what had been an encouraging downward trend the previous week.

[DevonRex]

13. What does that even mean? You're just gonna stay home or something?

:shrug: You live your life. You do what you can. You vote. You protest if you want to or need to. That's life.

Or you can say you're totally screwed and give up. Your choice.

[matt819]

19. Of course not

Hey, it's tempting, but if you don't get out of bed in the morning, you don't get paid.

But look at what you said - You protest if you want to or need to. That's life.

And that's what's a shame. Our lives have become lives of protest. I've been here at DU since I don't know when - Nov 2001? - something like that. And I was out there with my signs before the Iraq war. And I voted straight down the Democratic ticket. And I've given money to Obama and a handful of others. I cheered along with the rest of you when we achieved our small victories. And those small victories were rewarding in their own way. Not so much now. Not with Teabaggers and Palin, and 50% of Americans having less than $2,000 in savings for the "golden years."

[NeedleCast]

16. I'm an optimist

Because I've lived in enough places to know that it could be a whole lot worse.

[Scurrilous]

17. No, we are not screwn. n/t

[Crazy Dave]

18. Wait until it's time to retire

Then you're (we're) really screwed.

[katandmoon]

20. K&R.

[daligirl519]

21. I'm watching the Brady Kids singing

"Sunshine Day." Who can not be optimistic after hearing that?

[onethatcares]

23. try, "flintstones, meet the flintstones,

they're the modern stoneage family,

When your with the Flintstones
It's a page right out of history."

It don't get much better than that.:banghead:

[Raschel]

24. Time for Billy Joel to write 'We Didn't Start the Fire' part II.

[proteus_lives]

25. I just looked out the window, the sky isn't falling.