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Thanksgiving in America

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by poncho, Nov 28, 2013.

  1. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Shocking Poverty and New Records for the Stock Market

    This year’s Thanksgiving holiday, coming more than five years after the Wall Street crash, highlights the devastating impact of mass unemployment and budget cuts on tens of millions of Americans. It underscores as well the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny elite.

    Even as food banks across the country report increasing demand and dwindling supplies, the US media is obsessed with snowstorms, travel delays and Black Friday sales. There is barely a mention of the intractable unemployment, poverty, hunger and homelessness that impact millions.

    Judging by the media coverage, one would never suspect that the United States is a country where, according to a July 2013 report by the Associated Press, “Four out of five US adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives.”
    In cities throughout the country, people have lined up by the hundreds for Thanksgiving food distributions, recalling the bread lines of the 1930s. Food banks are reporting rising demand not only from the unemployed, but also from the growing ranks of the working poor.

    The dire conditions created by years of economic slump have been compounded by cutbacks in food stamp benefits that took effect at the beginning of this month, eliminating the equivalent of two days of food every month. Extended unemployment benefits are set to expire for millions of people on December 31, throwing them even further into destitution.

    Amid such shocking poverty and misery—and incessant claims that there is no money to do anything about it—the stock market is setting new records every day. Over the past week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has hit 16,000, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index has reached 1,800, and the NASDAQ has once again topped 4,000.

    The giddy—and unsustainable—rise of stock prices, which is propelling the personal fortunes of the rich and the super-rich to ever more astronomical heights, is being deliberately engineered by the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve Board. Near-zero interest rates and $85 billion a month in cash infusions from the Fed into the financial markets are facilitating an accelerated transfer of wealth from the bottom to the very top of the social ladder.

    CONTINUE . . .

    Happy Thanksgiving.
     
  2. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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    And to think all those evil Jewish bankers are celebrating Hanukkah at the same time. Is there no shame.
     
  3. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Wow you're just overflowing with compassion for your fellow man aren't ya?
     
    #3 poncho, Nov 28, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 28, 2013
  4. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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    Ironically, I was thinking the same thing as I was reading this article.

    The Thanksgiving I experienced this year in America watched more folks show up to help serve dinner at the homeless shelter than showed up to eat. The one I saw in America had neighbors inviting neighbors to share a piece of pie. This American Thanksgiving had folks taking Thanksgiving dinners to floor nurses who volunteered to work extra shifts so their co-workers could stay home with their families.

    No disrespect intended, Poncho, but you seem to enjoy digging up articles that show America in the worst possible light. The 1% may have gained in material things but that does not make them rich.

    The richest among us gathered in an unheated 18th Century church this morning to worship singing

    Now thank we all our God,
    with heart and hands and voices,
    who wondrous things has done,
    in whom this world rejoices;
    who from our mothers' arms
    has blessed us on our way
    with countless gifts of love,
    and still is ours today.


    They will stay away from department stores and instead cook a meal or clean a house for someone who cannot do it themselves. They will be in the fields chopping corn for the farmer who slipped on the ice and injured cannot get to it himself.

    I don't know what part of America you live in Poncho but I consider myself blessed to live somewhere folks still take care of each other regardless of social standing. And where I don't have to dredge through Canadian publications to find someone badmouthing this land I love.
     
  5. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    Shegits :smilewinkgrin:
     
  6. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    In other words you don't like being reminded that the country you love is being run into the ground by a handful of unaccountable "elites". I suppose to I'm being un American bringing this up while you're trying to digest your third or fourth plate of turkey and stuffin.

    Well, exuuuuuuuuuse me. I love this country enough to defend it rather than consenting to it's destruction by remaining silent and insinuating that those who do speak out are either un American or anti semitic, yeah I caught that little cheap shot "pastor".

    I've cared for the sick and elderly all my life, I've chopped their wood and cooked their meals, I've repaired their houses and took them to the store. I've been helping those who couldn't help themselves since I was a kid so you got no "righteousness" to hold over me "pastor".

    You ain't no better or "holier" than me.
     
    #6 poncho, Nov 28, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 28, 2013
  7. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Yes, The Ponch is quite a mystery - Too bad he doesn't spend as much in the Word and serving the Lord - as he does in serving Ron Paul.

    (Padre - stop off at Exit 34 and drop in at the C-Store [OIN] )
     
  8. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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    I never said you were being un-American. I was saying you are ungrateful. Money is not the root of our evils. America's problem is spiritual not fiscal. And I only had one plate of turkey today but thank you for your concern for my health.

    You tried to connect Thanksgiving with American greed. It is also Hanukkah. I was wondering why you didn't try to make a connection there too. You need to read this article about the Jewish influence in banking throughout the world.

    Cheap shot? You're the one beating your drum about the corrupt financial world. Are we supposed to pretend that it is only Harvard-educated Episcopalians that work in that industry?

    In all sincerity I say "Good for you!!" :applause: You keep focused on being the heart and hand of Christ to this broken world and what those fat cats are doing on Wall Street won't mean a thing. Really. If you have the heart to help folk here I have a feeling you would help someone if you lived in the most impoverished country in the world. In the grand scheme of things the richest of the rich have no influence on your Christian witness. God promises to supply your daily bread not any of those you have such disdain. The filthy rich have existed since man began to trade with other men. They will exist until Jesus comes. Christian folk thought it was their duty to rail against the Robber Barons, too.

    I am confident I am your lesser. You can sleep well tonight.
     
  9. church mouse guy

    church mouse guy Well-Known Member
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    I don't covet what the rich have but I think that they are mostly useless in alleviating human misery.

    Here in Indiana you can see the decay in the small towns as jobs are very scarce and populations are declining and houses need obvious repairs and stores and businesses are boarded up and abandoned in once busy areas.

    I don't think that the Democrats can extract much more wealth from the poor and working people for their grandiose schemes. The unemployment and poverty is now so widespread in Indiana that it seems impossible to believe that this recession can end anytime soon no matter how much money the Fed prints to prop up the Democrats.
     
  10. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    And it's getting worse, Ponch. When you start calling "American patriots" the enemies of the world, as you did in another thread this morning, it's time to rethink what you're posting.
     
  11. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Please get an understanding of how the news cycle works. News is what is happening today, plus or minus 24 hours and how it could immediately impact people. Unemployment, poverty, hunger, etc. have been in news and are well known issues.

    A Google search of “Four out of five US adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty" turns up over 90,000 hits. And that was news back in July 2013 because a report had just come out detailing this data. Ironic that you state it's not news and cite a news story to prove it.

    Hyberbole.

    "Food banks are reporting..." WHERE are they reporting it--in the NEWS?

    Working people with 401ks and IRAs are also benefiting. Also please show me how the stock market gaining value is taking money away from people not in investments. How is their money being transferred to the super rich?

    Had a pretty good one, actually. Back at ya Ebeneezer.
     
  12. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    What Salty is saying here is "okay Poncho is my ignore list so I'm free to talk about him all I want without having to see his replies, ain't that cool?"
     
  13. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    I agree America's problem is spiritual. Why is that? Cowardly preachers that have made the government head of the church instead of Christ. That's why.

    “If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.” Charles Finney


    Who's the head of your church, pastor?

    American greed? That's a good one. As if greed had national boundaries. Because I don't care what the race, creed, color or religion of those that are destroying this country is anymore than I care what political party they belong to. A crook is just a crook to me.

    Yes I beat my drum about the corrupt financial world all the time. You're the one trying to make it sound like I'm a Jew hating anti semite for it. Like I said, " I don't care what the race, creed, color or religion of those that are destroying this country is anymore than I care what political party they belong to." Maybe "the Jewish influence" is a big deal to you but to me it isn't. A thief is a thief. Period.


    The preachers in colonial times preached against tyranny, taught their congregations about biblical natural law and the blessings of liberty. But that was before the govt made the church an offer it couldn't refuse, eh?

    Now that the state is the head of the church corruption can run wild without any real resistance from what was the body of Christ.

    “Many Americans find it disturbing that some of our churches today are little more than milquetoast corporations that fear our federal government more than the great I AM. Moreover, it can even be said that some preachers have the appearance of cringing, ‘politically correct’ cowards, rather than committed Godly men of fortitude with backbone, such as those we read of in the Bible.” (Source: Greb, Dick. “The 501(c)(3) Hallucination: A Bane to Liberty.” Reasonable Action Issue #244 Winter 2003.)

    Dear reader, you can take this to the bank: the vast majority of pastors and board members of these 501(c)(3) corporations, when push comes to shove (and it always does), will demonstrate unconditional loyalty to the State. Plus, they will compromise or sacrifice any and every Bible doctrine or principle in order to preserve their tax-exempt status and stay on the smiley side of the IRC. They will also throw anyone under the old proverbial bus who might risk them falling out of favor with the IRS. (I can give painful and personal testimony to that fact!) Greb is right! Many, or most, of today’s pastors and church officers fear the federal government far more than they fear God.

    Not only did colonial preachers not have to contend with putting their churches under some State-controlled corporation, they would never have allowed it to happen! Can one imagine John Leland, Jonas Clark, or John Witherspoon being told by any State official what he could or could not say, or what his church could or could not do? What a joke! These men were willing to go to prison or even the grave in order to remain faithful to their spiritual calling and to their political and moral convictions!

    http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/Articles/tabid/109/ID/296/State-Owned-Churches-Are-Killing-America.aspx

    I'll sleep well knowing I haven't sold out Jesus for a few perks from the government.
     
    #13 poncho, Nov 29, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 29, 2013
  14. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    It's a free country and there are no rules about it on BB. Besides, he's not addressing you directly.
     
  15. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    I know exactly how the news cycle works. The multinational corporations tell you what they want you to hear through their control of the media you accept it if it fits your preconceived notions or reject it if it doesn't then you forget all about it by the time the next news cycle rolls around.
     
  16. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    It's a moral issue. I wouldn't expect you to understand it.
     
  17. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Not wanting to interact with Poncho and obliquely referencing him is a "moral issue." Wow, that's rich.
     
  18. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
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  19. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Cowardly attacking a person on your ignore list for months while encouraging others to do the same then lying about it and making lame excuses like "there's no specific rule against it" are the acts of someone who doesn't grasp the concept of morality.

    There's a reason you couldn't get anyone else on this board to go along with your cowardly personal attacks. They all knew it was a cowardly underhanded thing to do.
     
    #19 poncho, Dec 6, 2013
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