Lately i have become increasingly disillusioned with the state of, well, our entire government and country. It just seems to me that a 50/50 split between liberals and conservatives is absolutely devastating to our ability to get anything done, or even more fundamentally, get along with each other.

I don’t remember there being a time when there was so much hate out there. Even I have to admit, i really do hate right-wing ideology. Despise. I was just looking at the morons who were commenting on the White House’s official Facebook page.

The President is a domestic threat to the country. He has caused more job losses. What?

Everything to destroy jobs. Of course.

This genius went to a mexican restaurant to apply for a dishwasher job and was told no cause he couldn’t speak spanish. Yes, he also lived in Arizona. Well, that might be the only believable comment in this whole bunch. Still makes him a moron, though.

I am not so much going to break down our jobs situation for the countless idiots out there who blame Obama for them (even when he came into office under pre-existing depression-like economic conditions) as much as i like to read my own thoughts after the fact. I know it makes no difference  to either people who agree or disagree (once a teabagger, always a teabagger).

Our economy sucks mostly due to two things – the housing market shitting the bed (because under regulated banks offered up loans to people who had no business taking them) and two simultaneous wars that we aren’t winning and that are taking all of our available funds and flushing them down the toilet. Unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done about either of those situations now after the fact. Republicans are standing in the way of financial reform (makes sense for them, i mean, if we can’t fix the problem then we can blame Obama for it later) and of course, the war isn’t going away anytime soon, as pointless as it is.

So we are destined to have another contentious election coming up. Whoever is elected will be reviled by roughly half of the country, and will not be able to make any progress to solving these problems. You can surely bet that when a Republican is voted into office, the calls for their removal will begin the day after they take office. Its just the way it is. Politics has turned into a sport where there are winners and losers. If your ‘team’ doesn’t get voted in, then you are going to stand up and boo and wish ill on whoever is in there. Remember all the religious folks praying for Obama’s death? I foresee that happening again, with whoever is unlucky enough to be elected.

I’ll just say from the outset that Bernie Madoff is a douche bag.

My take on this situation, that of his sentencing to 150 years in jail, isn’t going to offer up some other assessment of this guy. Total. Douche. Bag. However, I want to explore a bit deeper and look at his sentence.

On the surface, sure, 150 years when a guy is like 71 seems excessive. And there will be others that will say that a sentence of that length is entirely justified – that he ruined their lives and he deserves to be thrown into a cell and locked away. Hell, some think he should be put to death! The courts are clearly sending a message, and fine, that’s good. The thing that has me scratching my head is that we’d send a guy away for LIFE for this kind of a crime.

Maybe I am just ignorant (and if so, please let me know I have a thick skin) but, no one died (actually, someone may have killed themselves but I don’t believe Madoff actually pulled the trigger on anyone is what I mean).

Some rich people lost money. Some probably less than stinking, filthy rich people probably lost some money. This guy, again, was a douche bag. Many of the people who lost money are going to get a portion of it back. Does a life sentence fit with this crime?

I’ll put myself in the victim’s shoes. Okay, i invested some money and the person I trusted more or less stole it. And, this happened over a long period of time. Well damn, who doesn’t steal from you? I feel like car and home instance is a total scam. Same with home owners association fees, automated speed cameras, investment companies and in some cases, even the Federal government. Everyone is out there trying to screw you out of your dollar.

I’m not saying this guy doesn’t deserve punishment – but locking an old man up for 150 years (he’ll be dead in 10) isn’t going to really get anyone their money back. He was obviously intelligent. Put him to work for the people he stole from. Give him no comfort, thats fine, but make the punishment be productive for some type of good.

To me it becomes a bigger issue – money for life. If this guy killed someone, then yes, lock his ass away. But, he stole money.  Yes, a lot of money.  Should his entire life be taken away for that? Is money that valuable? Is there no other way of making it up to the people who lost the money? Do they not have ANY accountability in the fact they gave him the money in the first place? Does the government have any accountability (I assume they do if they are refunding people up to 500k).

Does Madoff deserve to sit in a cell for the rest of his life (aka 10 years or so)? What type of justice would you dispense if it was up to you? Probably sounds crazy but i’d put the guy to work (under supervision) for minimum wage doing CPA work or something for non profits – put his intelligence to GOOD use and turn him into something other than a crook.

In which GM's Rick Wagoner escapes certain financial uncertainty

I really want to fail at running a business.

I’m thinking a bank — but you know, an insurance company or car manufacturer would be okay too. I’m not that picky. It just has to be something large enough to draw the attention of the government and employ lots of people. You see, the larger my company would be, the more I’d be able to get when I was booted out for performance reasons.

Our economy in crash mode

Our economy reminds me of “Crash Time” mode on Burnout – a popular video game in which you rack up points for creating the largest vehicular spectacle possible. Hit a few cars, jacknife a few semi’s and you’re looking at a new high score. Not unlike corporate America.

Obama really doesn’t have a choice. He can’t let GM fail because the ripple effect will be like the Death Star exploding. All of a sudden a lot of folks are going to lose their jobs, from auto workers to people who supply the parts, etc. At the same time, the guys piloting the ship (into the iceberg) are smart enough to have thier spots on the lifeboat. They won’t be sitting on a wooden bench seat in that boat either. It will look a lot more like a high back executive leather chair.

All around them are people drowning. Its cool though because the drive to fail garners the grandest rewards.