Are these US protests significant?

[Gandalf]

Lyle, you live in cloud cuckoo land. The US has been systematically assaulted for a good 30 years. It doesn't matter which party it is, they have all brought about the same thing. A weakened middle class. Party politics is bankrupt. Big business owns them all and they will continue to assault people until there is nothing left. They want America to be like Mexico.

[greynotsoold]

There has definitely been an assault on the American people, either that or it has been an accident and our "best and brightest" are absolute ninnies. My whole life it was important to keep the dollar strong against other currencies. Until 2000 when, suddenly, the strategy became to devalue the dollar. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that that is destructive to the financial status of just about everybody in this country, excluding those the either own multi-national corporations or that have access to unlimited supplies of money.
In 1980, I was a 'believer' and a high school senior and I worked as a volunteer for the Reagan team in the election. In the primary, he campaigned on a promise to eliminate the influence of the Council on Foreign Relations/ Tri-Lateral Commission from government, and then he made Bush (a TLC and CFR member) vice-president and appointed 81 of them to high positions. He, in essence, put in control of this country a group that he had denounced for favoring the interest of international bankers and MNCs over those of the American people. He signed off on the largest tax hike in US history, and, despite his claims of being against 'big-government', the size and scope of the Federal government exploded while he was in office. He was a pretty good public speaker, and he worked well in front of the camera. And it was during his 8 years that we became a debtor nation.
For many many years we've bought into this notion of trickle down economics, which I prefer to call slop the hog economics. Because that's what it is: keep feeding the pig and what ever overflows the trough is yours, providing the hog doesn't inhale that and you, too. How anybody ever thought that running a country for the benefit of 1% and to the detriment of the other 99% was a good, sustainable idea escapes me.

[VictorCharlie]

The meteoric rise in college tuition is a problem. We have convinced ourselves that it is a good measuring tool when for the most part industries would be much better off requiring just an Associates and having their own job training. There needs to be a lot more vocational training and not just for blue collar type jobs. Health care, housing prices and college tuition all have something in common. All have been heavily subsidized and b/c of this have increased in price far outpacing inflation. When we pull the government titty our of University's mouth and make them be much more competitive with both choice and quality then the price will have to come down.

[greynotsoold]

My sister has two daughters (16 months, and one any day now) and her financial advisor told her that, to have any hope of sending them to college, she needs to contribute a minimum of $1000per month, each, starting now. Fortunatley she is a vice-president at a major corporation and her husband is an engineer, but how the hell can the majority ever hope to pay that freight?

[VictorCharlie]

Greynotsoold,

Either you have arrived recently or our posting paths have not crossed in the past but nice to meet you. I'm the boards resident American war mongerer who enjoys raping and pillaging third world countries in my spare time. No but seriously, I've enjoyed reading your posts lately. Cheers.

[greynotsoold]

Pleased to meet you as well.