Rangel: "Somebody stops hitting you with a hammer and you're supposed to say 'thank you'."

[Bonobo]

Self-made crisis. Self-made "solution".

SHOCK DOCTRINE.

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Rangel to teabaggers - "Have you lost your mind?"

[Justice]

17. Answer yes, we have

[annabanana]

2. Loving this...

"these guys coming out of nowhere talking about small government"

"are you out of your minds?"

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. He was great!

Loved it.

[Odin2005]

4. Calling this a case of the Shock Doctrine is an insult to people who suffered...

...real cases of the shock doctrine in places like Chile under Pinochet. You are degrading real criticisms of vulture capitalism by using the term to play the OBAMA BAD OBAMA BAD shit.

[Bonobo]

5. No, it's not.

Shock doctrine is a tactic consistent with this.

Take your outrage elsewhere.

[Poll_Blind]

7. Chileans everywhere can finally sleep easier after your comment tonight. nt

PB

[woo me with science]

9. That is NONSENSE.

This contrived "fiscal cliff" was the definition of a Shock Doctrine scam. It will impose austerity on Americans who would never have accepted austerity had they been included in this process. In case you hadn't noticed, our middle class has already been looted beyond recognition. We have the second highest child poverty rate in the developed world. Over a million American schoolchildren are homeless now.

This token tax raise on a small fraction of the wealthy who should be paying will account for just 600 billion of FOUR TRILLION that this deal is designed to collect over the next ten years. Where do you think that money is going to come from?

People are going to die as a result of this. Austerity harms economies, and it kills human beings.

[NashvilleLefty]

10. WHAT "austerity"?

There are absolutely NO austerity measures in this bill.

[woo me with science]

11. Read the post again.

Reading comprehension is your friend.

[rhett o rick]

15. Oh yeah. Here the deal. Almost 50 million Americans live in poverty. With no solution in this fuckin

deal for them, I call it austerity. You may love the status quo, but some of us will fight for killing poverty in America.

[Odin2005]

16. +1,000,000,000,000

[Skittles]

12. THANK YOU

f***, we have ALREADY SACRIFICED!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. I disagree.

They believe it worked in places like Chile under Pinochet. So they will try to do it here as often as they can.

[We People]

14. Think back on the Fall of 2008: "Too big to fail", or remember New Orleans after Katrina.

It was Shock Doctrine then, it's Shock Doctrine now. OF COURSE it is.

You don't even think it's an example of "Vulture Capitalism"?

What would it take for you to imagine that it is? If not, then what would YOU call it?

[woo me with science]

6. They didn't even stop hitting. There are huge hits here.

This deal loots the 99 percent. It obscenely favors the rich.

Not only does this public relations tax increase affect only a small fraction of the wealthy who should be paying, it is insulting in its size and the amount of money it does collect, compared to the amount of money that will be squeezed from Americans who have already been knocked down and robbed over and over and over again.

Look how obscene the numbers are: The new taxes on the top two percent will collect a measly 600 billion dollars, out of more than FOUR TRILLION that the White House seeks to collect over the next decade. Guess who's in line to be soaked for the rest?

http://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/542987339047200
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022110382

It is a cruel joke. It is beyond cynical and obscene to pretend that this is a win in any way. The military is protected, corporate welfare is protected, most of the rich are still protected, and what we gave was traded for temporary concessions.

We were hosed, cynically and deliberately, by corporatists in both parties. You can't spin lipstick onto this pig. We have seen this game too many times before, and it is getting very, very old.

Real change will come only when Americans look clearly at how the game is rigged from the start in every single negotiation, how the possible options are artificially narrowed from the start, and how every negotiation moves us rightward. Every. Single. One.

[In Truth We Trust]

18. Well said...thank you!

[Skittles]

19. based on the reaction of a lot of DUers

I would not expect real change anytime soon

[quinnox]

8. this deal is lousy and nothing to cheer for, and is basically business as usual

Give me a break, the Bush tax cuts are all of a sudden a good thing?

Those tax cuts are largely responsible for all the budget problems and deficits we have had ever since, and I'm supposed to be happy that a tiny percentage of the super-rich who earn over $400,000 dollars a year are getting hit, when it should be everyone in the top 5%, which starts at $161,000, and truth be told all Bush tax cuts should be rescinded if we are serious about getting back on the path to sanity.

This is nothing to celebrate, and just more of the same.

[Bonobo]

20. The whole thing was a cynical display of Kabuki politics. nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

21. But it is a fascinating demonstration of just how flexible the human brain can be

when controlled by consistent input combined with the desire to avoid pain.

It isn't simply a matter of making them agree that black is white and up is down, they actually believe and will fiercely defend the new reality. George Orwell merely scratched the surface of the possibilities.

[Bonobo]

22. So true.

Even ideology is meaningless when compared with the "joy" of being on the "winning side".

This seems to be especially true when people are forced to make a choice between two things. The tendency to view one as false and ourselves as true is heightened and apparently is completely divorced from any consistent application of principles.