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posted by martyb on Tuesday December 08 2015, @02:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the new-normal dept.

Paul Buchheit reports via AlterNet

While Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou are vilified for revealing vital information about spying and bombing and torture, a man who conspired with Goldman Sachs to make billions of dollars on the planned failure of subprime mortgages was honored by New York University for his "Outstanding Contributions to Society".

This is one example of the distorted thinking leading to the demise of a once-vibrant American society. There are other signs of decay:

  • A House Bill Would View Corporate Crimes as "Honest Mistakes"
  • Almost 2/3 of American Families Couldn't Afford a Single Pill of a Life-Saving Drug
  • Violent Crime Down; Prison Population Doubles
  • One in Four Americans Suffer Mental Illness; Mental Health Facilities Cut by 90 Percent
  • The Unpaid Taxes of 500 Companies Could Pay for a Job for Every Unemployed American ...for two years ...at the nation's median salary of $36,000 ...for all 8 million unemployed.

Citizens for Tax Justice reports that Fortune 500 companies are holding over $2 trillion in profits offshore to avoid taxes that would amount to over $600 billion. Our society desperately needs infrastructure repair, but 8 million potential jobs are being held hostage beyond our borders.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by fritsd on Tuesday December 08 2015, @09:47PM

    by fritsd (4586) on Tuesday December 08 2015, @09:47PM (#273648) Journal

    I'm a fan of the multi-party system, which is practiced a lot in European countries.

    I have had this weird thought that Americans don't get exposed much to how voting works in most other countries (I say most on purpose, bear with me).

    Americans speak English (mostly); the international news they absorb will most likely be of other English speaking countries because it's easier; and due to a trick of fate, several English speaking countries have inherited this "British Commonwealth" system, with
    "first past the post" voting. So, even if you're interested in how it all works, chances are you'll be exposed to the only other 2 o three countries where *THEY DO IT EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS IN THE USA*.

    There has been a mathematical study (sorry no link) that first past the post leads to a stable situation with two parties.

    Proportional representation, on the other hand, means that everybody gets the feeling that they're alowed to vote for the party that represents them, and that parliament *sometimes* listens to the wishes of small parties with 5% representation, if they deem that a sane idea. It makes politics a bit more "real". It makes single-issue parties viable. And sometimes parties just split or disappear.

    It is my belief that in the USA (where I've never visited, so take that with a grain of salt) you have a stagnated situation between the Right-Wing Party of Power, and the Extreme-Right-Wing Party of Power. How does that benefit the actual Americans doing the voting? Politicians will never say what is needed but impopular; they don't have to, there's about a 50-50 chance they'll be voted in anyway, whatever they say. It doesn't work like that in politics in other countries. If you piss off voters, you'll get less voters next time. No political party has eternal life.

    Several years ago I thought the situation would be remedied in the UK when the Lib-Dems got into a coalition with the Tories. They could have made it dependent on just 1 issue: electoral reform. Would have bennefitted them tremendously forever after (as a small "third party"). But noooo... Pity..

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