Sad, sad, sad. Clearly Rush Limbaugh and his ilk have done their work well. How can any rational human being possibly believe that a handful of ignorant, uneducated, low-income, inner-city, minorities were suddenly given the keys to multi-million dollar mansions which they clearly could not afford and now all of us hard-working, tax-paying, by-the-book, REAL Americans, have to pay for it. And further, that the irresponsible actions of these low-lifes have somehow triggered a GLOBAL economic melt-down. Of course, banking executives and CEO's who gave themselves BILLIONS in bonuses while running their companies into the ground with bad business practices motivated solely by greed, had nothing to do with it. Or ponzi schemes that bilked investors (including pension plans, charitable institutions, 401k's) out of 50 BILLION dollars. Oh yeah, they're blameless. After all, they worked hard, sent their kids to college, and generally fit the American image better. That makes the fact that their greed devastated the lives of millions around the globe, somehow, more palatable. When I hear some self-righteous, sanctimonious hypocrite try to lay the blame for this terrible economic tragedy at the feet of some poor slob for trying to 'live the American dream' by buying some $140k shack on a 20k salary (aided and abetted by the 'hard-working' banker/mortgage lender who has assured him that he can afford it, despite his unemployed wife and five kids), I have to question the intelligence of anyone subscribing to that. Of course, we believe what we want to believe. It's difficult to override a lifetime of brainwashing. What's easy is looking for the most popular scapegoat.

Why, oh why, oh why, do you want to pass this crap on to your kids and grand-kids. Take the high ground. Break the cycle. You'll be a better person for it.



Hammer, I've lived in this country all my life. I was born here, raised here, educated here, raised a family here, and will probably be buried here. I DID NOT MISS THE POINT. With all the hostility towards Obama (whose biggest crime seems to be his middle name) on these threads, where is the outrage towards Bernie Madoff? Maybe it's time to face the truth not only about ourselves but about where America still is regarding social attitudes.

BTW, I realize that the attitudes expressed here are basically the attitudes of 'old men', men whose attitudes were shaped by the social mores of the 40's, 50's, 60's, and even the 70's. Hopefully, when this population dies off, it will be replaced by a generation less tainted with this plague. It would be so nice if the community of artists and musicians led the way.

chas