Fraking sick of all these 'goverment plot' conspiracies

[KDbeads]

Seriously, I'm sick of this crap.  The current BS in this area now is that the government has taken control of our food supply and will be artificially jacking up the prices to pay for the deficit.  This in response to world wide news about food shortages due to drought and other natural disasters over the last couple of years.

Is this coming from foxnews?  Cause if it is they really are screwing with people's minds, getting them to think that our government has enough power and technology to change global weather for its purposes and come up with cover up stories that are posted to all world news outlets.

I just can't imagine people actually believe this bull and to hear otherwise somewhat intelligent people talking about it as if it were fact.....  well....  I think I'm in the wrong area of the country.

[BadPoison]

I just can't imagine people actually believe this bull and to hear otherwise somewhat intelligent people talking about it as if it were fact.....  well....  I think I'm in the wrong area of the country.

As a fellow texan I know the feeling - though lately I've been just as upset with the discourse across the entire country as with my state.

But hey, I'm a gun-toting, gay-loving, socialist.

[KDbeads]

But hey, I'm a gun-toting, gay-loving, socialist.

I'm an open minded educated feminist........  But make sure you say that with a sneer of disgust, then you'll get close to how they view me out this-a-ways.

At this point I'm thinking the only area of the country I could get away from this BS is Chicago or San Fransisco.  Already lived in Chicago, never going back...... SF... not, never, ain't gonna.....

[BadPoison]

You know, I visited San Francisco for a measley week yet it was a blast. I loved the weather, and the city itself was fantastic. The people seemed (in my little experience) to be very kind and helpful - maybe more so than what I'm used to around here. This leads me to the conclusion that "southern hospitality" is bull !@#$ and that the Californians don't deserve to fall off into the ocean.


Edit:
I once told someone that I was a feminist and they were entirely incapable of understanding. As in, they didn't realize that you don't have to be female to be a feminist!

[fester30]

This is the same reason conspiracy theories have such followings.  Think about JFK and Roswell.  There is no actual physical proof that Oswald had help.  The preponderance of evidence suggests strongly that he acted alone.  There is not one shred of actual physical evidence that aliens have visited this planet.  In each case, once all the arguments are refuted, the answer conspiracy theorists use to support their view is that the all-powerful government is hiding the evidence.  It's a big cover-up.  Just like the 6 day creationists say the all-powerful God planted the dinosaur bones to test our faith.

Distrust of government is natural.  We all distrust government to a point.  Government, by necessary function, keeps us from having exactly the life we want.  They take taxes from us, and don't just use them for what we want, but also for what other people want.  There have been cover-ups in the past (Watergate, for example), so there is ammunition for further claims even where they don't make sense.

Problem is, most Americans have no idea what drives economics.  Even most economists don't know.  If you watch enough CNBC you'll see they don't all agree, and none of them are always right.  There is a strong possibility that the rise in commodity (food, fuel, etc) prices is due to the current bond-buying program of the Federal Reserve.  The problem is, this is the first time that this sort of loosening of economic policies has ever been attempted.  In the past, when the economy was tanking, the fed would lower interest rates.  Problem now is that there is nowhere for interest rates to go.  Now, they are buying bonds from the Treasury (right hand giving to the left hand).  This is a way of printing money, which increases inflation.  The reason for doing it, according to Bernanke, is to avoid deflation (which happened during the Great Depression) and increase asset prices.  It has certainly done both, but whether this is good for the economy overall is another issue I won't discuss here.

Food and energy prices are increasing considerably due to this program.  The Fed won't stop the program, because they don't count food and energy prices in their inflation numbers, but instead just things like retail prices (what you pay for a toilet seat at Walmart).  Now, if energy prices increase, Diesel goes with it, so transportation costs increase.  Is Walmart going to absorb increased shipping costs of goods, or are they going to eventually charge you more for a toilet seat?

Anyway, most people do not grasp even the theory I just briefly described.  This is not the only theory out there.  There are many theories about the current state of affairs.  It's very difficult for the average person without any formal economic education to even understand what makes sense, so organizations with an agenda to help out their sponsors could easily sway many into thinking that there is some government conspiracy going on.  There may be.  Could be the Fed is buying so many bonds to help support the enormous deficit, because it's possible that without the Fed intervening the Treasury wouldn't be able to sell so many bonds at decent prices.  Who knows?

People put these ideas with the programs the government has to pay farmers to not plant portion of their lands, the goal being to keep prices up by reducing supply, to make their conspiracy theories.  The government does do this, but it's not part of a conspiracy.  It's to help keep supply from flooding the market and rendering farming too unprofitable.

[hismikeness]

Anytime someone mentions the government implementing conspiracy theories, with their intracate details held in secret and passed on from administration to administration (JFK, Area 51, 9/11, Pat Tillman) I just remind them that this is the same government that can't even get public education right. I may be naive, but I believe the government is inept, not conspiratory.

[The Magic Pudding]

Well the US $ is down so prices are up that's not very complicated.
Low interest rates send the USD down and stimulate the economy = more jobs.
A low USD makes the US more competitive = more jobs.
Quantitative easing lowers the USD, is inflationary and makes debt relatively less.  
Prices of many commodities are up, largely due to the development of China and India sponsored by aliens from Betelgeuse.

[terranus]

At this point I'm thinking the only area of the country I could get away from this BS is Chicago or San Fransisco.  Already lived in Chicago, never going back...... SF... not, never, ain't gonna.....

Visited both Chicago and San Fran last summer. They were both nice, but both not for me. Chicago was too cold and the traffic was crazy. I liked the ppl though, they're not 100% rude like I was always told yankees are. San Francisco was a little warmer but still had crazy traffic and the people there just seemed too snooty and arrogant.

[fester30]

Well the US $ is down so prices are up that's not very complicated.
Low interest rates send the USD down and stimulate the economy = more jobs.
A low USD makes the US more competitive = more jobs.
Quantitative easing lowers the USD, is inflationary and makes debt relatively less.  
Prices of many commodities are up, largely due to the development of China and India sponsored by aliens from Betelgeuse.

Weakening the dollar doesn't have as much impact as it used to.  Sure, our products are cheaper overseas... where our products are made.  More jobs for those countries.  Weaker dollar means other currencies are stronger.  Our Walmart nation buys our products from all these other countries, and so now we pay more for stuff here, which means we by less stuff.  Of course, the energy and food prices, that aren't counted in the Fed's "core inflation," are the ones people find more difficult to simply stop buying.  As the dollar weakens, futures contracts are more attractive at the Chicago Board of Trade for the speculators, and these prices increase.  

I don't think it's any conspiracy.  I believe Bernanke is doing what he feels is best, and he's a lot smarter than me.  Doesn't mean I don't have concerns about where this is headed.

[Byronazriel]

Whenever you hear people talking about government plots, (or whatever...) the easiest way to get them to step back and rethink their priorities is to Whole Heartedly agree with them... And then add that the government has been killed and replaced by the Slitheen wearing meatsuits, and that their Ultimate Goal is to reduce all human life into the Instrumentality.

Keep it up until they think that you're the most insane person ever, and then start talking about how much that they remind you of yourself. The first step toward sanity is realise that you have a lack of it!

[Will]

Seriously, I'm sick of this crap.  The current BS in this area now is that the government has taken control of our food supply and will be artificially jacking up the prices to pay for the deficit.  This in response to world wide news about food shortages due to drought and other natural disasters over the last couple of years.

It's a combination of climate, growing population, poverty, and food speculation, which is this frightening thing where investors are creating a food bubble that will eventually burst. Forgive the conspiratorial advice, but now would be a fantastic time to start a garden.

[ForTheLoveOfAll]

While I wouldn't go so far as to say that the leaders are reptillians, or that every bad thing that happens is a direct result of government conspiracies, I can say with a certain degree of certainty that the control structure is not what it seems. That there are people who are not in the public eye that really control things.

[KDbeads]

Seriously, I'm sick of this crap.  The current BS in this area now is that the government has taken control of our food supply and will be artificially jacking up the prices to pay for the deficit.  This in response to world wide news about food shortages due to drought and other natural disasters over the last couple of years.

It's a combination of climate, growing population, poverty, and food speculation, which is this frightening thing where investors are creating a food bubble that will eventually burst. Forgive the conspiratorial advice, but now would be a fantastic time to start a garden.

Hence why I have a hobby farm :brick: