Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 11 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds   

The "Dark Ages" of America

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   No comments
Message Sam Hamod

The "Dark Ages" of America are upon us -- the broken 100-year old levee in Wisconsin, the wars, the corporations and more jobs being lost every day.

It is clear that America is running things upside down, and that the dark days we've seen are but the beginning of a new "Dark Age" in our country. Here are five reasons I say that:

1. The "stimulus money" could have been used to fix levees, roads, rivers, bridges, etc. Instead it was given to banks, which fix nothing. They refuse to furnish the money for home loans; instead taking the money and buying smaller banks that are doing well, and investing it overseas in foreign currencies -- all with OUR MONEY. To this day, banks are making it harder and harder for people to get home loans, and are calling in some loans that could help people save their homes. The banks are playing a dirty game, with our money, at zero percent money from our treasury. Now the "wizards" around President Obama are talking about buying more bonds to help the banks, and of course, they will buy them with our money. It is putting down a non-ending dark hold. They did this during Hoover's time, and they're doing it again, yet none dare call this a "depression," although it is worse than in the time of Hoover. That depression that FDR and WWII helped us out of will look like a cake walk compared to this mess that Ronald Reagan started us into, that Bush made much worse by adding wars to the losses of our monies, and is being continued by the stupidity or chicanery of Obama and his financial bankster friends with whom he surrounds himself.

2. The corporations, many of whom we "bailed out" have been making profits overseas during this time, just as Lehmann Bros. took their money and put it in Israel. When we asked for the money back, Israel said no; it was a private matter! To make matters worse, the corporations' profits overseas are not subject to American taxes, yet we call them "American corporations" (GM, Ford, etc.). Many of those we "bailed out" were doing well, but just not letting the money come back to America, while crying "oh, help us." Ah, tis a pretty dirty business we have in our corporations.

3. Instead of creating jobs in America by spending the money on the infrastructure that I mentioned in point 1, the money, having gone to the banks, has not created the new jobs that were alleged to result from "the stimulus." When this "stimulus" is over, we can be sure more companies will do more lay-offs, and then we'll be in an even worse situation because the money hole we've dug has gotten deeper. Note also, that no profits have, nor will, come from it, nor will we have more jobs.

4. Crime will rise because many people who have lost their jobs and cannot find work will be faced with a desperate need to feed their families, and their only alternative will be to turn to crime. Of course, this will call for more police, and more breaking of America's right to privacy laws, but no matter how many police are hired, they will not be able to keep up with a new and rising crime rate. But who can blame the people; the government has sharply reduced welfare programs, and is toying with Senator Mitch McConnell"s ideas of privatizing Social Security and cutting back on Medicare. You will find even more senior citizens becoming criminals. Of course, the privatized jail systems in America will benefit, but no one else. Also, remember that it costs more to keep a person in prison than to send him to a good university -- $50,000.00 per year!

5. We are also losing control of our informational sources because more and more politicians are giving privatizing city owned and controlled libraries; something they have no right to do. Add to this a new attempt by Comcast and a few others to contol the Internet, and you can see that many of our alternative sources of news will be destroyed in time because the corporations will continue raising rates for websites until they are forced to leave the Internet because Comcast, ATT and others are now considering charges per bytes, and at a high rate. These things are a new way to control people's access to libraries and information by the new privatizing of libraries as happened in Santa Clarita, CA, and other places. But Comcast, ATT and others have no right to control the freedom of the airwaves or Internet lines, and the corporation doing the take-overs of libraries promises a profit -- and that is because corporations break the prevailing unions, fire employees, cut hours and cut the buying of books. All of this takeover of the Internet and the libraries will lead to a new "age of darkness." Sadly, what we call "our government" is part and parcel of this by the way it has expended our monies, has continued its wars and has given our nation over to corporations who are extra-national and have allegiances only to money and to no country. "Our government" is continuing to allow corporations to control our airwaves with ridiculous loud-mouthed commentators all day long on TV and radio; it has allowed mega corporations to control all the newspapers and magazines and is now considering, through an eviscerated FCC, the takeover of the Internet as well. Ah, tis dire indeed.

You may ask, will we come out of this? I'm not too optimistic, because it will be a lot worse before it can, if it ever does, become better. I could go on with more data and examples, but let this suffice so that people can see just how dark and upside down things are in America and why we are no longer the "land of the free" because of government spying and arresting people who protest, and because our human rights and whatever wealth we had has been spent on wars, corporate profits, banksters and the greedy who are milking the country dry -- and laughing all the way to their secret bank accounts, their deceptive holdings overseas on which they pay no taxes and, as they go to the offices of their auditors who, as with Enron, Madoff, SEC and others, help keep the public in the dark and make fools of the American citizenry that pays for all this.

Rate It | View Ratings

Sam Hamod Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Sam Hamod, Ph.D. is a graduate professor; he has taught courses in creative writing, politics, religion, mass media and intercultural relations. He has one of the very few PhDs awarded by The Writers Workshop of The Univ. of Iowa, has published 12 (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Why Is Anyone Surprised Anymore? The Housing Market Is Being Sunk On Purpose. We'll All Drown In It Before It's Over

It Is Time For The Warmongers to Step Back -- or Step Down

Robert Gates Was Correct: They Should Have Their Heads Examined for Starting Another War

If We Follow Obama's Logic...

Dangerous Precedents Have Been Set by Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron and Hague

Falling Faster and Further Into the Abyss

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend