Let me get this straight Thom, when PPL see $$$s, a Protest is no longer Right? i actually think you came closest to the mark, when you mentioned the French Revolution at the very end of your Article.

we need to have a Revolution, or things will go on EXACTLY the way they have been.

Sorry for the Property damage but we've seen where 'peaceful Protests' have gone. there are Videos on youtube of Pepper Spray & Guns, & the change that NEVER happened.

An interesting comparison. People don't see it. Which is worse? To destroy a business which puts people out of work because you're angry over an injustice. Or, to destroy a business which puts people out of work or to just ruin peoples lives in many different ways for profit. Both are wrong and equally evil but only one is reported in the news as a criminal activity.

With very rare exception, Democrats and liberals have both worked to further divide and subdivide the "masses," and worsen conditions in the US, in large part by maintaining an endless pep rally for the better off, the middle class. Our poverty crisis has not been a prefered topic of the liberal bourgeoisie. If they notice poverty at all, they defined it as a black issue, even though the majority of the US poor are white. (I do understand that considering poverty as something that effects "those other people" enables middle classers to feel a measure of economic security.) Does anyone NOT know that it has essentially been "open season" on our homeless poor for years, subjected to brutality by police and citizens alike? And that the majority of these are white? Liberals probably didn't notice because they've spent the last couple of decades waving the banner for middle class elitism. Can you remember the last time that liberals were outraged when a white homeless person was raped, beaten, murdered? Right.

What would it take to knock middle classers out of their complacency? The occassional urban uprising catches the public's attention for a short time, and then it's back to business as usual. In a couple of weeks, liberals and Democrats will resume their pep rally for middle class consumers and campaign donors. We will keep the "masses" divided and conquered, black vs. white. middle class vs. poor.

Thom correctly points out that this has been the story for four decades now. But he fails to mention what else happened four decades ago: forced bussing, which greatly sped up white flight in the areas where it was practiced.

Like all government-forced social engineering experiments, there were unexpected consequences. In this case, those consequences - white flight - are as much of a problem as the original problem the program - bussing - was supposed to fix.

And, also in the last four decades, blacks have gone from the second-largest, to third-largest minority, behind Hispanics. It's no longer a black/white issue.

It's gotten to the point now where most Americans would rather give aid to the Nepalese, on the other side of the world, than the citizens of Baltimore. The Nepalese didn't bring the earthquake on themselves, and they say "thank you" when you help them.

The mayor of Baltimore spoke about how they had to push CVS to build the pharmacy in that part of town - the CVS that was looted and burned. This is the "thanks" they get for investing in the inner city. Good luck getting that rebuilt.

Suppose that the manufacturing base came back to the USA. How many of those factories would re-open in the inner cities? I'll bet most would go to rural and suburban areas of right-to-work states.

John Angelos make some good points but I believe the rioters and protesters in Baltimore, Ferguson, and other places are making a statement and that stetement would be, "If police keep harrassing and murdering citizens, and getting away with it, there is going to be hell to pay in costs to the cities where these murders happen in the form of destroyed police cars, violence against cops, extra pay for cops overtime, the loss of revenue from businesses that are destroyed and from unlawfull death lawsuites. Those in our local governments need to pay attention to the real problem and it's not riots. It's the cause of the riots. The unnessary killing of black people by cops".

I'm sure that stupid trade policies that unemploy Americans plays a huge part in the depressed areas where the rioters live. I've sent messages to my Senators asking them not to vote for any trade policies that will not benefit all Americans. There's nothing free about free trade agreements. They are very costly to workers and only benefit CEOs and shareholders. E-mailing your representitives to let them know how you feel about somethig is helpfull and they do pay attention. I always get a responce from them. It's surprising how few e-mails representitives get from their constituants. You want to change things? E-mail your government representitives. They want to hear from you.

Quote 2950-10K:stepcoop01...I assume you're being flippant???

I was trying to be flippant. I'm just very annoyed at all the environmentalists who jabber on about what we're doing to the environment, and these same people have 3, 4, 5, 6, or more kids. There is simply no REAL discussion of controlling population growth, by anyone.

Sorry, but i feel people only put up with inequality and discrimination for so long.

But, riots are most ususally started by young people who dont know how to control themselves. They are angry and start riots because they have no other recourse.

Should they call the police ???

SOO...Thom...MORE Evidence for Catastrophic Climate Change, NOT the 'thousands of yrs' that leading Scientists have continually quoted as giving us time to 'fix'.

Thom, we have passed EVERY previous Model of 'Tipping Points', for Climate Collapse due to CO2 accumulation. ALSO; Geologists have 'quietly' agreed that the Magnetic Pole of the Earth is moving, as it's done MNY time in Planetary History.

WHY is this important? BC the Layers of Earth Core's Studied, show that Pole Shifts happen Catastrphically, NOT the 'Thousands of Yrs' that Scientists are telling us, AND, Pole Shifts ALSO affect Earth's Climate, actually HELPING the Earth's warming BC, both Cosmic AND Solar Radiation, historically, SCOUR the Earth when our Magnetic Belts no longer protect the Earth.

THIS is our TRUE Future Thom.

there are Geological Layers of LIFE...and Layers of DEATH...we call them Extinction Events.

WELCOME to Reality.

The 1 'good' thing is; we will NOT have Costner's 'Waterworld'...WHEN all Ice is Melted, it will ONLY reach to, approx, the Statue of Libery's...Chin.

Edward: I don't mean to simplify or disagree with your idea of a rental fee on natures commons....but how about just returning to the pre-Reagan tax rates? I think that would cover about 90% of the wealthy individuals you, and or, Henry George intend to target. I realize this won't necessarily encourage increased high density population in urban settings, but it would certainly diminish the power of those who make millons off developing and abusing our natural resources.

stepcoop01...I assume you're being flippant???

The Kochs and other carbon barons just like them, despite being in the twilight of their years on this planet, are still obsessed with the god almighty dollar and the arbitrary feeling of power that comes with it. Their legacy will not be unlike the endless parade of tyrants who have preceded them......ruinus, self puffed, myopic delusional sociopaths who should have been stopped long ago by a government that promotes the general welfare to ourselves and our posterity. That government no longer exists, and it's up to, we the people, to revolt and re-establish what our founders intended. The riots directed against cops needs to magnify into a movement focused on social and economic justice...what the hell are we waiting for?????, ..the Kochs to gain another ten billion?

Here comes the rogue's gallery of fascist pigs aiming for the highest office in the land... WHUP-tee-do.

A small but growing number of economists who understand environmental policy issues are reaching back over a century for guidance. They have discovered in the writings of the American political economist Henry George the means by which we can curtail destruction of the planet's life-support systems. What did Henry George urge in the 1880s? His proposal was simple but would have changed our behavior in important ways: any individual or entity that controlled nature in any form must compensate society for this privilege. As nature is the birthright of all persons equally -- a birthright essential to life itself -- the only practical means to guaranteeing this birthright is for society to collect the full potential annual rental value of whatever land one holds (in cities and towns, tracts of land rich in natural resources to be extracted, frequencies of the broadcast spectrum for television and radio, permissions to pull fish from the seas, oil or gas deep within the earth's crust, or even take-off and landing slots at airports (noting that no two plans can occupy the same place at the same time without very serious consequences). Some environmental economists refer to the public collection of "rent" as the capture of values resulting from societal investment in public goods and services, investments that enable private interests to operate in areas that would otherwise remain inaccessible. Economists who look at urban land markets note that by moving to a land-rental value only property tax base (i.e., one that exempts all buildings and other improvements from taxation), investors would no longer be able to hold land off the market for speculative purposes. Locations in our cities and towns would be brought to "highest, best use" as determined by market forces in combination with community development codes, zoning, and planning regulations. Sprawling development that consumes fertile agricultural land would subside. Cities would have the revenue to replace aging infrastructure, convert to renewable energy sources and draw population back from suburbs, thereby reducing automobile created pollution.

The problem with getting this change in how local governments raise revenue is that there are thousands of municipalities, boroughs, townships, counties and school districts across the country that raise revenue from property taxation. State constitutions require formal amendment in many cases to permit the change in how revenue is raised. Landed interests have the financial muscle to oppose changes they see as harmful to their narrow financial interests, and few politicians grasp the fact that some means of taxation are constructive, others destructive. Ideological bias is also a problem.

Your program and others like it can help create public awareness and, hopefully, public pressure on our public servants to embrace the above change and make it happen. However, this will not happen without continuing reinforcement. One segment here and there will accomplish little. The bibliography of peer reviewed academic studies on the subject is pages long but the findings receive almost no media attention. will RT.com take up the challenge to help change the course of history before it is too late?