10+ Abuses for the Past 30+ Years

These 10+ abuses below (most being manifestations of unchecked greed) did not all come about by mere coincidence.
These 10+ abuses are gradually eroding the future and security of the nation.
Government is too corrupt, but too many voters repeatedly reward corrupt, irresponsible, and incompetent incumbent politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates.
It takes a lot of abuse before a country decays into lawlessness and economic disaster, and the past 30+ years are evidence of that.
That is, the U.S. is still one of the 26 best nations (of the hundreds) in the world to live.
But for how much longer?
What will the U.S. be like if these abuses are allowed to continue much longer? 
The growing wealth disparity (see chart below) and these 17+ economic conditions have been deteriorating in the U.S. for over 30 years, because of the following abuses:

  1. Lawlessness

  2. Wars

  3. Plutocracy / Kleptocracy

  4. Illegal Immigration , Illegal Employers ,  and  Unfair Trade Practices

  5. Election Problems

  6. $Loading...  National Debt ,  $57+ Trillion Nation-Wide Debt  and

  7. Inflation / Usury / the Monetary-System is a Pyramid-Scheme

  8. Regressive Taxation

  9. Insufficient / Inadequate Education

  10. HealthCare or DangerousCare?

    . . .  other  problems  (    e.g.  environment,  energy vulnerabilities,  entitlements,  the human factor, etc.) . . .

So, why do the majority of voters repeatedly reward corrupt incumbent politicians in Do-Nothing Congress for all of it with 85%-to-90% re-election rates? 
Is that working?
Below are 10+ abuses we should stop as soon as possible, before they get worse:

  1. Lawlessness: 
     
  2. Wars:  Some unnecessary wars.  As of year 2008, we have had 7 wars in the last 90 years (about 1 war every 13 years).  A war in Iraq and Afghanistan are ongoing as of late 2008.  Some of these wars were probably unnecessary (i.e. Vietnam and Iraq:2003-present) which was largely based on false information (see video; see transcript) and invalid intelligence about Weapons of Mass Destruction that was never verified).   
       
  3. Plutocracy / Kleptocracy: Our government is FOR-SALE, as evidenced by 99.7% of all 200 million eligible voters that are vastly out-spent by a tiny 0.3% of all 200 million voters who make 83% of all federal campaign donations (of $200 or more).  How can the remaining 99.7% of all 200 Million eligible voters hope to out-spend the vastly wealthy who abuse their wealth to control and influence government?  The bought-and-paid-for incumbent politicians (puppets) carry the water for their wealthy donors (puppeteers).  As a result, Corruption,  corpocrisy, corporate welfare, graft, pork-barrel, subsidies, waste, a severely bloated federal government that continues to grow and grow to nightmare proportions, and other manifestations of unchecked greed are rampant.   It is essentially (at this time) more like a government of, by, and for those that abuse vast wealth to control and influence government. 

    And while many voters know this, the voters do a very strange thing.  It is the Voter Paradox:  Most voters complain about corruption, give the President and Congress dismally low approval ratings, but then still reward incumbent politicians within Congress with a 85% to 90% re-election rates which empowers and rewards corrupt incumbent politicians to grow more corrupt and irresponsible.  It also saddles the President with a dysfunctional Congress.  It is no mystery that things continue to deteriorate, and the nation's problems continue to grow in number and severity.
     
  4. Illegal immigration is not only costly due to job displacement, but also due to many burdens and costs (estimated between $70 Billion and $327 Billion) that are shifted to U.S. citizens who already pay REGRESSIVE sales taxes and REGRESSIVE income taxes for the already burdened social services.  It is dangerous too.  That's not fear-mongering.  Massive illegal immigration is accompanied with increased crime rates (a fact that U.S. government does not want you to know about).  That's the sad truth.  More Americans have been murdered in 3 years (between 2005 and 2008) than all U.S. Troops killed in Iraq in 5 years (between 2003-2008).  Crime along the borders is rampant, and it is also pouring across our borders.

    18 of the 19 perpetrators of 11-SEP-2001 (some who were illegal aliens and/or had violated several immigration laws), possessed 13 state-issued drivers' licenses and/or 21 ID cards , and all 19 hijackers had obtained Social Security numbers (some real, some fake).  The terrorists very simply tapped into an enormous market for fraudulent documents that exists because tens of millions of ille    gal aliens have successfully breached our borders and now reside here illegally; anonymously; spawning widespread document and identity fraud and crime that threatens our ability to distinguish illegal aliens from U.S. citizens and legal foreign residents; and giving rise to the fastest growing crime in America: identity theft.  All for profits , votes , and (supposedly) misplaced compassion.

    5 of the 19 hijackers of 11-SEP-2001 were illegal aliens, and had violated federal immigration laws while they were in the United States.
    And amazingly, in the months before 11-SEP-2001, 4 of those terrorists were stopped by local police for speeding.
    Those 4 illegal aliens could have been arrested, "convicted", and deported, if only the police officers had realized that they were illegal aliens. 
    And 14 of the 19 hijackers were also on the FBI's Terror Watch List !
     
    Too many despicable politicians and greedy employers are selling us out in numerous ways.  Government won't prosecute illegal employers.  Without internal enforcement too, a fence won't stop the greedy illegal employers.    For example, see this law firm (Cohen & Gri    gsby) that teaches corporations how to avoid hiring Americans (i.e. H-1B Visa abuse, and fake job advertisements).  Also, the richest person in the U.S. (Bill Gates) wants the government to increase the limits on H-1B Visas so that more cheap labor can be imported (despite 1.5 Million foreign workers already being imported annually).  The problem with this race-to-the-bottom model is that wages rise unless you continue to increase the inflow of cheap labor.  Therefore, the limits are continuously increased to depress wages. Many Republican and Democrat incumbent politicians are despicably pitting American citizens and illegal aliens against each other for profits and votes, disguised as compassion (which is severely misplaced at best). 
          
  5. Election Problems:
      
  6. $14 Trillion National Debt is being piled up on voters and younger generations (it could take centuries to pay down).  With an approaching 77 million baby boomer bubble (13,175 or more people per day eligible for Social Security and Medicare), some adjustments will be necessary. So much debt is unfair to future generations.   For those that don't think the debt is any reason for concern, perhaps they should see this movie:  http://www.IOUSAtheMovie.com .  

    The $14 Trillion National Debt per-capita (i.e. $45,161 as of DEC-2010 per person) today has never been worse, and is 2.02 times the previous highest federal debt-per-capita ($22,348 in 2010 dollars) in year 1945 after World War II (i.e. federal National Debt was $3.1 Trillion in 2010 Dollars, and the population was 140 million in year 1945).

    In inflation-adjusted DEC-2010 U.S. Dollars, the $14 Trillion federal debt-per-capita in year 1941 was $5,481 (in 2010 dollars).
    Therefore, the current $14 Trillion federal National Debt per-capita ($45,161 as of DEC-2010) is 8.24 times larger today in year 2010 than the federal National Debt per-capita was in year 1941.

    Here's more information about the debt.  And think about this one question that no one seems able to answer:
     
  7. The monetary system is a pyramid scheme:   Inflation is like a REGRESSIVE tax, since the poor and many middle-income-level Americans are limited in ways to preserve wealth with property, gold, stocks, homes, etc., and their incomes are also not keeping up with inflation.  Household incomes have been falling for 30 years (especially when considering more workers per household, more regressive taxation, more National Debt, more illegal immigration, incessant inflation since year 1956, etc.).  For over 7 years (since year 2000), the U.S. Dollar has fallen significantly against all major international currencies.

    Let's make some money! Cha-Ching!
      
    • Why do the banks get to create money out of thin air?  Up to 90% of each loan is new money printed out of thin air.
    • Why do the banks receive the interest on the money created out of thin air?
    • Why do the banks get to convert money (printed out of thin air) into real assets and property via confiscation on foreclosures and defaulted loans?
    • Why do the banks get to use predatory practices, to hasten the conversion of money (printed out of thin air) into real assets and property?

    The monetary system is a clever pyramid scheme, which did not come about by mere accident, and it will eventually collapse, as all pyramid schemes do, when the capacity for more debt is finally reached.
    The two fundamental problems with the Federal Reserve Bank's (and member banks') monetary system is:
     

    • a moral problem:  usury
    • and a mathematical problem which all pyramid schemes suffer. All pyramid schemes are doomed to eventual collapse.  And while it might take a long time (i.e. many decades; perhaps centuries), the end result is inevitable, and the journey is painful due to the many abuses seen on this page.

    The Federal Reserve loans money to member banks, and up to 90% of each loan from the Federal Reserve is new money created out of thin air.
    This is why The M3 Money Supply increased from $135 Billion in year 1950 to $10.15 Trillion in year 2005 (i.e. increased by a factor of 75.2 !). 
    This is why A 1950 U.S. Dollar is now worth less than 10 cents. 
    This is why there is pressure to grow GDP exponentially, which is unsustainable (i.e. 3% of this year's GDP is more than last year's GDP, and so on).
    This is why the U.S. Dollar is falling like a rock.
    This is why there is pressure to increase productivity and increase profits (via reduced household incomes, illegal immigration, predatory lending, more debt, more money printing, more confiscation of property which converts money printed out of thin air into real assets and property, more unfair trade policies, more war profiteering, more regressive taxation, more of the 10+ abuses on this page, etc.).  It is doomed to collapse.  It is a mathematical certainty.  Exponential growth to avoid collapse of this pyramid scheme is impossible.  Exponential growth and sustainability are not compatible.

    This pyramid scheme was also one of the major causes of the Great Depression (the Federal Reserve was signed into existence in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson, who later re    gretted it very much).
    Unfortunately, we learned nothing from it, and we restarted the same doomed cycle (i.e. pyramid scheme).
    Isn't it interesting that pyramid schemes (see this pyramid calculator) are illegal in many places, but the biggest pyramid scheme on the planet is not?
    By the way, the Social Security and Medicare Trust funds are pyramid-schemes too, because the money was spent, and replaced with non-marketable I.O.U.s.
     

  8. REGRESSIVE taxation:  
     

          

  9. Insufficient / Inadequate Education:   Not only is education in math, science, and technology important to compete in a increasingly competitive global economy, but insufficient education about government, human nature, and the many abuses and manifestations of unchecked greed (described on this page) is equally disastrous, and leads to the failure to recognize the importance of Education itself, Transparency, and Accountability, which breeds Corruption and numerous abuses listed on this page:
     
    • Responsibility =  Power  +  Conscience  +  Education  +  Transparency  +  Accountability 
    • Corruption      =  Power  -   Conscience  -   Education  -   Transparency  -  Accountability

    Most (if not all) politicians don't want you to know that.
    You won't learn that in public schools.
    You won't learn about the pyramid-scheme monetary system, usury, regressive taxation, lies about economic statistics, lies told by your elected officials, election fraud, or the many abuses in public schools.
    In a voting nation, an educated electorate is paramount. 
    Otherwise, the uneducated and the ignorant, as usual, will be abused and exploited.
    Either way, the voters will get their Education one way or another, and the voters will have the government that they deserve.
      

  10. HealthCare or DangerCare?:  Healthcare is not only increasingly unaffordable, but dangerous too!   HealthGrades.com reported (27-July-2004) that "An average of 195,000 people in the U.S. died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a new study of 37 million patient records". 

    Since 1999, that is over 1.5 million people killed by preventable medical mistakes.     That is more than all the 917,316 American soldiers killed in all American wars (American Revolution (4,435), the War of 1812 (2,260), the Indian Wars (1,000), the Mexican War (1,733), the Civil War (462,000), the Spanish American War (385), WWI (53,402), WWII (291,557), Vietnam War (58,209), Korean War (36,574), the Iraq Gulf War (529), and the current Iraq and Afghanistan wars (5,232 as of 18-OCT-2009))  combined!  Compare those 195,000 killed by preventable medical mistakes to the 43,000 people killed annually in the U.S. in automobile accidents.

    Once again, part of the problem is government meddling, the growing corpocrisy, corporatism, and other manifestations of unchecked greed.       Health Care Solutions are needed.  While government is not necessarily responsible for providing universal health care, it is responsible for protecting consumers from some greedy corporations that will do anything for a buck.  Also, illegal immigration is placing huge burdens on the healthcare system. Illegal aliens are over-running our ERs, hospitals, Medicaid, and welfare.  If the 9 problems (above) were adequately addressed, it would reduce the pressures on the healthcare system. 
     

.  .  .  other  problems  (e.g. environment, energy vulnerability, etc.).  .  .
 

These many REGRESSIVE and OPPRESSIVE systems (above) did not all come about by mere coincidence, as demonstrated by the data and trends shown below:  

The wealth disparity has been growing worse since 1976.
The wealthiest   1% of the U.S. population has 40% of all wealth in the U.S. (up from 20% in year 1980; never worse since the Great Depression).
The wealthiest   2% of the U.S. population owns more than the remaining 98% of all Americans.
The wealthiest   5% of the U.S. population has 60% of all wealth in the U.S.
The wealthiest 10% of the U.S. population has 70% of all wealth in the U.S.
The wealthiest 20% of the U.S. population has 83% of all wealth in the U.S.
The poorest 20% of the U.S. population has negative net worth (i.e. debt)
40% of the U.S. population has (on average) essentially zero net worth.
80% of the U.S. population has a mere 17% of all wealth in the U.S.



 

Despite the graph above showing the real median income (adjusted for inflation; in 2004 dollars), . . .

□  Year 1978:   $40K
□  Year 2006:   $43K  (a mere 1% increase in 28 years)

. . . incomes for most Americans have actually decreased when the following are also considered:

  1. Total Domestic Financial Sector Debt = $17.2 Trillion
  2. Total Household Debt = $13.8 Trillion
  3. Total Business Debt = $11.1 Trillion
  4. Total Other Private Sector Foreign Debt = $1.9 Trillion
  5. Total Federal Government National Debt = $12+ Trillion
  6. Total State and Local Government Debt = $2.2 Trillion
    __________________________________________________
    Total = over $57+ Trillion

The total $57 Trillion nation-wide debt has never been larger in size, per-capita, and as a percentage of GDP.
$57 Trillion it is about $184K of debt per person (U.S. population about=310 Million as of 2009), but only a tiny 2% of the U.S. population owns most of the wealth in the U.S. (a wealth disparity gap that never worse since the Great Depression).

Where will the money come from to repay $57 Trillion of current nation-wide debt, much less the interest on that debt (which could be larger than the current principal debt of $57 Trillion itself)?

Why has the nation-wide debt been growing so much larger than that national income (e.g. GDP=$13.86 Trillion in year 2007)?

These trends (due to the abuses above) are causing a growing wealth disparity gap and many worsening economic conditions for most Americans.
With millions of foreclosures (see below), many Americans are being forced to liquate their assets (e.g. homes, savings, etc.).
Home equities have fallen below 50% (the lowest level since year 1945).
Savings rates have fallen below negative 0.5% (the lowest level since year 1933):


Of course, as long as voters still haven't lost the right to vote, the voters theoretically could change it.  But that isn't likely while voters are in the habit of repeatedly rewarding irresponsible incumbent politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates.  Unfortunately, that is not likely to change until the consequences of the voters' apathy and complacency finally becomes too painful.  Only when the consequences become too painful will enough voters finally draw the connection between corruption in Do-Nothing Congress and repeatedly rewarding incumbent politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates.

Unfortunately, the politicians have a very clever mechanism that capitalizes on the voters' apathy and complacency: the party-lever.  Too many voters simply pull the party-lever without even knowing who their senators or representatives are, much less their voting records.  It is fast, easy, and makes the voter feel like a team member.  Along with the party-lever, there's the circular partisan warfare. Politicians love to fuel it, and too many voters are all too eager to wallow in it. Again, it capitalizes on the voters' apathy, complacency, and laziness because:

That is human nature. 
There are cycles:  2.00 steps forward, 1.99 steps backward, and eventually, there is either progress, or growing disparity (or worse).

It's unlikely Congress will reform itself voluntarily.
Especially when Congress is repeatedly rewarded with perpetual re-election for ignoring reforms.
Government will not become more responsible and accountable until the voters do too.
Only the people (i.e. the voters) can provide the incentive for government to become more responsible and accountable, and finally begin to solve the many serious problems facing the nation. 

The voters must learn to reject the petty partisan politics, labels, party bigotry, and other clever mechanisms used as a clever distraction from the fact that government is failing the people, and we're all failing ourselves by not only allowing, but empowering and enabling those in government to continue to be too irresponsible, and continue to avoid tackling tough problems for fear of risking re-election.

Until then, we will probably continue to crap in our own nest.
The only caveat is that some of us are getting crapped on more than others (as evidenced by these 10 abuses and the painful consequences).
 


Obviously, that's  not too smart is it?
If we all keep crappin' in our own nest, how long before the bough it all rests upon finally snaps, and this house of cards comes crashing down?
Yet, too many voters continue to repeatedly reward THEIR incumbent politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates.
Obviously, too many voters care more about THEIR party than their country?
Oh well, that's the voters' choice.
In a voting nation, an educated electorate is paramount, and voters are going to get their education one way or another.

At any rate, the voters have the government that they voters elect (and re-elect, and re-elect, and re-elect, . . . , at least until that becomes too painful).

   
Congress To-Do List (see what Congress has done since the last election)
Compare 17% Income Tax System and  30% Sales Tax
Compare 17% Income Tax System and  Progressive Income Tax
Alternative Energy Sources
Irresponsible Incumbent Politicians (what irresponsible incumbent politicians do while troops risk life and limb)
The Problem and the Solution (accounting for the human factor)
PROs and CONs (why to stop re-electing irresponsible incumbent politicians)
National Debt (growing fast)
Debt and Money (M3 Money Supply and the Federal Reserve)
Interest on the National Debt (it will take 143 years to pay off the National Debt)
Consider the Following Scenario (must we always learn the hard way)?
Solutions (common-sense, no-brainer reforms that politicians resist)
Help  Educate  Others (peacefully force government to be responsible and accountable too!)
Badly-Needed, Common-Sense Reforms
The Plundered Environment
The Cheater's Philosophy (learn to recognize the manipulation techniques)
Frequently Asked Questions
   

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