[JKCalhoun]

> Mainstream media is feeding us constant lies...

No one reporting that apparently.

I agree with some of your points but accusations like that without any room for nuance do not resonate with me.

> The problem with the US and the west is not freedom of speech or the free market, it's our debt-based monetary system which is now based on soft money.

And I've seen convincing arguments claiming the exact opposite: that debt has allowed large enterprises, investments that have gone on to create untold capital. I'm still on the fence.

> The decline started in 1971…

I have seen the "WTF Happened in 1971?" web site.

[cryptica]

> No one reporting that apparently.

Just some things that the mainstream media lied about:

- The NIH having funded gain of function research in Wuhan Labs.

- The mortality rate of COVID19 (they ignored obvious issues with data collection and flawed incentives which over-counted deaths and under-counted cases).

- The effectiveness of COVID19 vaccines (several outlets initially said that 1 dose would be enough to get 90% protection, now they're saying we need 4).

- Covering up the 2008 and 2020 bailouts of the stock market - These are considered crimes in the eyes of many people but mainstream media has been silent on the subject.

- The existence of Hunter Biden's laptop containing compromising data.

You can look up all of these things. It's only a tiny fraction of all the lies they told.

[aaronsimpson]

What sort of complete moron would consider the 2008 bank bailout (what I assume you're referring to) as a crime? How is TARP and the repurchasing of toxic bank assets for the stabilization of the US/global financial system, which was fully paid back to the taxpayer with interest, a crime? Unless you think we should've just let the financial system melt into oblivion?

It's this populist rhetoric of people being mad at shit they don't know anything about.

[bavell]

I don't consider the 2008 bailout a "crime" per se but it was definitely a govt handout and did not punish the bad actors who caused the issues in the first place.

It's interesting to me that you ignored the rest of the lies that were pointed out and focused only on one bullet to make your point. You seem to think people are mad when they shouldn't be? Is constantly being gaslit by cable news (just to give one example) acceptable to you?

[aaronsimpson]

People seem to think being "constantly gaslit by cable news" is something that news companies do of their own accord, rather than as market agents responding to market signals that we the people send off to them. Fundamentally, the blame lies with us. If you want to change what they show, change what you signal you want to consume. It's literally that simple. I'm not saying this interaction is one way, but people tend to focus on way too hard on only one half of the equation.

[cryptica]

Yes, the financial system should have been left to melt into oblivion and then people could have rebuilt it properly instead of allowing the crooks to keep doing what they've been doing and making the problem even worse. The financial system is an overcomplicated mess which has been hacked to pieces and is doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do. It hasn't worked for decades for value creators; it mostly works for crooks. What kind of moron cannot see what's going on with their own eyes?

If you need more proof that the financial system is destroying the economy, don't worry, there will be plenty more coming! Some people simply won't get it until they see mass starvation, mass protests and nukes blowing everything up... Heck they still won't get it, they'll blame the Bitcoin people, they'll blame some new virus, they'll blame some foreign politician... They'll blame everything except the fiat monetary system; the root of all incentives.

[euroderf]

It is more important to feel good than to think good !