Why don't we remember?

Does anyone, other than Rudy Guliani, remember 9/11? Do you remember what happened? Do you remember how unified we were -- for about 20 minutes?

Do you remember what our peerless leader, GWB, told us all to do?

Shop.

That's right, go shopping.

Do you remember one of the proudest accomplishments of the Bush administration?

Remember -- it was "the ownership society".

We were told, by leaders, on TV, radio, ads, by EVERYONE, to buy. Buy TV's, homes, cars, etc., etc., etc.

We were told the greatest thing we could do was support the economy. WE could "keep America STRONG" -- with our money, our plastic, our mortgages.

Do you remember Ameriquest? All the mortgage companies that looked so solid, so strong? Do you remember how "the very serious people" said our economy was sound?

Well, by golly, they were ALL wrong -- except for some voices that (back then) cried in the wilderness).

NOW, those very same "very serious people" say we need "austerity".

What does that mean?

It means you and I have to pay for the sins of the bankers. We have to pay for the mistakes of "the very serious people".

It also means that the very people who thought they were doing both a very good thing, a very sensible thing, and helping the economy -- while helping themselves (after all, real estate ALWAYS went up -- so, after a few years, you could sell and have a profit, a stake, a way to buy another house with a large down payment -- that's what all "the very serious people" said -- and, it made sense.) -- were WRONG. They were VERY wrong -- and now THEY have to pay -- for listening to "the very serious people".

In addition, "the very serious people" say the people who bought houses that they can NO LONGER AFFORD (even though they could, once upon a time) are "BAD PEOPLE"!!

They have to be PUNISHED. They might well be black, or brown, or of a class that "doesn't belong" in this or that development. They "overreached". They have to be PUNISHED.

In addition, even though we HAVE to lower taxes for the SUPER-RICH -- we have to cut services, cut every aspect of any safety net that's left -- we need AUSTERITY -- affecting the middle class, and below.

We can't ask the well-to-do, the rich, the truly wealthy, the super rich, to contribute -- after all, they contribute by existing. They contribute by supporting repressive right-wing anti-American creeps. They contribute by telling folks up against it to "be patient".

It's just more "pie in the sky" crap.

Will we learn in time?