Not a bad rant and we're certainly well into "troubled times".

Here's mine: Our nation's attitude about fuel and consumption, and the resultant cry against rising prices yet little action among the criers, are just symptons of the greater ills. We are no longer a nation of united states. That's just a holdover kept to make the illusion feel better. This "country" is a vast pool of consumers gobbling the spew from special interests and a corporate controlled government. The only change on the horizon is when the entire planet is basically a conglomerate of controlling mega-corporations looking to extract every possible resource and capital from it's captive workforce. My bet is we're there within the next century. Why? Very, very few people are willing to rock the boat. Remember television before remote controls? You'd have to really dislike something enough to get up to change the channel. As a nation we've barely begun to even grumble about what's on the American channel, just the whiny brats at the back of the room have even made themselves noticed.

If you're over 35 you can probably relate to the changes in your lifetime, the slide to mediocrity and the lack of desire to succeed. An overfed slacker-society is ripe for control and we've taken the express lane to get there, all at the illusion of superiority over the rest of the world. Look at how children are raised and schooled today compared to the way we were. The ideals of differentation and competition are gone in order to maintain control and "political correctness". Drone production. So we continue to outsource while domestic labor unions price our nation out of jobs and the rest of the world becomes our supplier. The eventuality is that we will produce nothing and then be at the mercy of our benefactors, who we will be dependant on for food and energy. It's hard to threaten when your military doesn't have food or fuel.

But it's just business. Remember that when nations begin mergers and acquisitions. What kind of lay-offs and downsizing will be the result of that?

End rant.