Thank you, Jon Stewart. Now, the next step.

Jim Cramer is a man who KNEW. He knew what he was doing and advocating and did it anyway. Thank you Jon Stewart for calling him out and exposing him for the crooked intelligent dumb man that he is. But we need to take the next step. It is not enough to point the middle finger at Cramer and the rest of us skate. WE are all responsible for this mess. WE need to look at ourselves and make the needed changes.

It angers me to hear Obama critics moan that he, Obama, is "mortgaging our children's future." WE all did it. WE all owe our children and grandchildren an apology. WE also owe them our resolve and our commitment to use this to help us individually to learn and grow. WE need to look at our selves and recognize one of two things. Either I knew and did not enough, or I did not do enough to be educated/enlightened sufficient that I could help solve problems. In either case WE failed. For me, personally, I knew and did not do enough to forestall the problems. I have known for decades that certain attitudes and practices would inevitably lead to what we now see. I did not do enough, yell loud enough, push hard enough, to prevent it. I apologize to my children and grandchildren. I applaud Jon for holding Cramer's feet to this same fire.

However, it will not be enough to blister Cramer's soles if WE get to walk away with our souls unscathed. If you have sat back and accepted your own personal ignorance, YOU are to blame. If you whined that it was too hard to understand, YOU need to accept responsibility for this mess along with me. If you did not push to know enough to be a part of the solution, then YOU are part of the problem. Do not seek to blast some politician or a collection of them for our current mess. YOU elected them. It is OUR fault. If, like me, you knew--where was your voice? If you understood that a 30 to 1 leverage was unwise, did you scream that at anyone? If you knew that, in the end, only what a person produces should be rewarded, did you stand for that? If you respected a non-productive person or system, no matter how white the collar, while knowing it was unwise, then you contributed to this mess. If you knew that a hand which holds a big bank account means nothing if the hand produces little of real value, but deferred to that rich idiot, then YOU are to blame. If you did not know these things, why are you so lame? If you just accepted what the prevailing social order told you (money received, no matter how it was received is all that matters) why do you not think for yourself?

What we can resolve now:
I will read! I will seek to be enlightened.

I will ask questions! I will push for answers when I don't know something, rather than accept ignorance.

I will do the hard things! The only way we can avoid a continuation of this mess is to WORK to understand, plan and activate. It may be hard but it is the way.

I will let my voice be heard! I will find other voices crying in the wilderness and join with them. I will seek to understand issues and use my vote wisely.

I will allow someone to question me and what I believe! I will listen and learn from people who disagree with me. There is no "right" to be. Being "right" is always being "wrong". The only thing is growth through dissension, discourse and new ideas.