American Freedom on the March Across the USA

Me and Bobby McGee is a Janis Japlin song that she recorded only a few days before her death in October 1970. “Me and Bobby McGee” was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, and originally performed by Roger Miller.

While the song was written in the early 1970′s the lines “freedom is just another word when you have nothing else to lose” is taking on a new grim meaning for millions of Americans.

With the official unemployment rate at 9.8% and unofficial “shadow economy” figures at twice that amount, millions of hard working Americans are finding that losing their job and not being able to find another of an equal pay level, or a job at all, is a harsh reality. Home foreclosures are at record levels, the double trouble storm of residential mortgage resets and commercial real estate defaults is about to break, and yet the US government is spending trillions of dollars in a futile effort to take the nation back to “the way it was”.

Rather than to plan for and build a new sustainable scaled down economy the nation is wasting resources in attempting to bailout all of the “too big to fail” businesses at taxpayers expense. Under such misguided efforts it has become easy to lose all that you have and to become “free”.

As economic conditions worsen the potential for violence in various ugly forms is high and increasing. Millions of unemployed and foreclosed upon Americans who are now free may also become unrestrained as they seek revenge on those who they think helped to bring on all of the trouble.

This would especially include the Wall Street crowd, their partners in crime the banksters, and just about every politician in Washington. Main street Americans will soon realize that at Christmas and New Years the Wall Street gang, lead by Goldman Sachs, are planning to reward themselves for wrecking the American economy and once again will pay out billions of dollars in bonuses to their executives and professional con men marketers.

As millions of those who have lost everything begin to understand that control of the United States government has in effect passed to elite financiers who just don’t get it as far as main street reaching a breaking point all bets are off as to where “freedom” will take the American newly set free.

As the song says “freedom is just another word when you have nothing else to lose”. The challenge for keeping civil order in truly distressed times is that those with nothing else to lose may decide that with their new freedom they are free to get mad as hell and start to do something about it. This year if I were a Wall Street executive about to receive a few millions as a bonus I would be thinking about spending a good chunk of that money for an armor plated automobile and Blackwater type security guards.

How to keep order and restore long term healthy growth in a nation that seems intent on destroying itself, and that has millions of disenfranchised citizens armed to the teeth, is an issue that deserves more attention from politicians and TV anchor newsmen who prefer to talk about green shoots and how strong our economy and currency are. People who have nothing more to lose are dangerous people indeed and will not be in the mood for more BS.