I understand your point and was mainly reacting to the poster's dickish opinion. But I do believe there are laws on the books requiring the payment of debt. You may not be arrested or go to jail, but there are legal consequences for not paying a debt.

How about we make it that much harder to be poor in the United States? What a place. If you think the banks don't run things in this country, just look at the way debtors and lenders are treated. Lenders must be made whole, even though they are charging a higher rate on these loans due to the added risk they are supposedly taking on. Debtors, well they better find a way to pay.

Reminds me of one of my favorite movies. "But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money every week, no matter what. Business bad? "Fuck you, pay me." Oh, you had a fire? "Fuck you, pay me." Place got hit by lightning, huh? "Fuck you, pay me."

It already is, you heartless jackass.

Maybe they're thinking this is a great way to distribute renewable energy in a decentralized manner. But after reading you post I too am wondering what people are thinking sometimes.

This is a good thing to remember when the news is telling us about the bad guy du jour that we must go fight against. Whatever they are telling you, it's bullshit. We may not know what the truth is, but whatever they are telling you on TV isn't it.

And yet, when I talk to people about shady things that it looks like to government has done or is doing, I am told that if such a thing were happening someone would talk. Someone with a conscience would come forward and expose the shady operation.

Well, not necessarily. As we see here, there is a high cost to coming forward. If what you are coming forward about is classified, expect to go to prison as well (with the bonus of perhaps not being able to prove your allegation because it is all classified). People's sense of self preservation and responsibility to family may just keep them from talking about any nefarious deeds they know about. We can't take for granted the idea that people will come forward about crimes or malfeasance. Sometimes they do, and we should be grateful for their sacrifice. But many more do not because the personal cost is too high.

Come on, that's Goldman Sachs business model!

Oh man, my brother in law used to be on that kick. Thought it was a great idea to put Social Security into the market. Think of the returns, he said! I replied that we already have 401k's and IRA's that can be in the market if we want those returns, and the fact that SS was not in the market was actually a good thing. When the market tanked in 2008, I asked him again if he thought putting SS in the market was a good idea. Not so much then!

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

What do you think about something like Angie's List? As I understand it, you have to be a paying member to rate service providers which is supposed to make the reviews more trustworthy. I don't subscribe to the site though so I don't know exactly what it's like.

Well, you will notice I said they did things other than protect American business interests. That is not their only function, of course. They have a broad range of activities, I'm sure. I am aware of the Cold War, as well.

However, it is not in any way silly to suggest that the CIA does in fact try to make the world safe for American industry. If that were not the case, why did they assist a coup in Iran after President Mosaddegh moved to nationalize the oil industry, taking business away from Western oil companies? Why did they assist a coup in Guatemala when the government there wanted to reclaim land owned by United Fruit? Why did they assist a coup in Honduras when they tried to increase their minimum wage? Ever hear of John Perkins? He has some interesting things to say about what he did on behalf of the CIA and World Bank.

This is all a matter of record. I don't really think it is controversial to say that the CIA protects and advances US business interests. They could do that and fight Communism at the same time. It's not an either/or situation, as you portray it. In fact, from a certain point of view, they dovetail nicely.

And yes, the real danger is in fact Wall Street bankers and lawyers. But that's a different discussion.

Yeah, pretty much. They have shown themselves to be inveterate bullshitters.

While I agree, I'm not sure how much of a transformation happened. If you look at the origins of the CIA, they were about making the world safe for American business pretty much from the beginning. That's not all they did, or do of course. But Allen and John Foster were Wall Street lawyers after all.

Heh, I was starting to wonder just how old you are!