Of Politics, the Economy and Other Evils
http://beyondthepretty.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/pitbulls-collard-greens-and-why-this-is-so-scary/
I cannot stomach Sarah Palin. I cannot believe how stupid a campaign McCain is running, but hope beyond hope that it gets way "stupider" so people wake up and smell the f'ing coffee, ferchrissake. I cannot believe people really want the same kind of government they've had for the past 8 years. It has served them so well, after all. NOT. I really do believe that people have succumbed to "learned helplessness" as far as the state of our country goes. They want to believe that their only responsibility is to Vote Republican and everything will be okay: daddy will fix it. And if it's still broke in 4 years, it's not because daddy is a bumbling idiot. It's because there are terrorists and other bad guys out to ruin our American Way of Life. Look behind the curtain, folks... it's been daddy doing all the bad stuff all along. I've been reading too much Huffington Post.
Just watched Alan Greenspan on video saying this country is in the worst economic straits of his lifetime. No shit. Bear Stearns, then Fannie and Freddie and now Lehman Bros...with hints that insurance giant AIG might be in trouble as well. Knowing, from another life, how incestuous the relationship among major insurance companies WORLDWIDE is, that is a truly scary thought. As goes AIG, so goes Lloyds of London??? I remember listening to my dad explain the origins (from his perspective) of the Great Depression and the far-reaching effects of that implosion of the American banking system on everyday life. I could not--still cannot--wrap my brain around how completely and utterly powerless people were to fix what was broken then and what a massive undertaking it was to jumpstart the economy from virtually a dead standstill. Much of the population that lived through the Twenties and Thirties are gone now--if not dead, then at least so retired from the mainstream of American life that we don't have the benefit of their memories and their experiences. How will we ride this one out? What, if anything, can we do to prepare ourselves for even tougher times ahead? I am not optimistic (this is highly unusual). I don't have a good feeling about the rest of this year and the one lying ahead. The hardest part is knowing that it will get worse for those of us who can least afford it. A member of the chuch choir I used to sing with will become officially homeless at the end of this month. She is disabled and has been unable to find employment in the six years that I have known her. Yes, she has "issues" that make her not an ideal candidate, but the fact that she is falling completely through the cracks and will be going to live in a shelter somewhere in Northern Virginia because she can no longer afford to pay to live in the condo she has been in for years (and cannot qualify to rent elsewhere because she has no job) is pretty awful. We're talking middle class, middle aged white woman with no safety net and nowhere to go. There but for the grace of Gawd go many of us.
There are more and more roadside "yard sales" popping up in my mostly rural county, too. Businesses are closing and one-third of a local strip mall is vacant. These are not signs of a healthy economy. The late moderate drought took some of the farmers' optimism away, too, as some crops were lost by those who could not afford to irrigate. Others were hoping for a better than average year to recoup some of the huge increases in fuel costs (you need fuel to farm, unless you are Amish and relying on the horses), but won't get it. We actually "put up" some fruit this year in the freezer, in anticipation of much higher prices for produce this winter. It's the first time I've ever actually consciously thought about storing food for leaner times.
I cannot stomach Sarah Palin. I cannot believe how stupid a campaign McCain is running, but hope beyond hope that it gets way "stupider" so people wake up and smell the f'ing coffee, ferchrissake. I cannot believe people really want the same kind of government they've had for the past 8 years. It has served them so well, after all. NOT. I really do believe that people have succumbed to "learned helplessness" as far as the state of our country goes. They want to believe that their only responsibility is to Vote Republican and everything will be okay: daddy will fix it. And if it's still broke in 4 years, it's not because daddy is a bumbling idiot. It's because there are terrorists and other bad guys out to ruin our American Way of Life. Look behind the curtain, folks... it's been daddy doing all the bad stuff all along. I've been reading too much Huffington Post.
Just watched Alan Greenspan on video saying this country is in the worst economic straits of his lifetime. No shit. Bear Stearns, then Fannie and Freddie and now Lehman Bros...with hints that insurance giant AIG might be in trouble as well. Knowing, from another life, how incestuous the relationship among major insurance companies WORLDWIDE is, that is a truly scary thought. As goes AIG, so goes Lloyds of London??? I remember listening to my dad explain the origins (from his perspective) of the Great Depression and the far-reaching effects of that implosion of the American banking system on everyday life. I could not--still cannot--wrap my brain around how completely and utterly powerless people were to fix what was broken then and what a massive undertaking it was to jumpstart the economy from virtually a dead standstill. Much of the population that lived through the Twenties and Thirties are gone now--if not dead, then at least so retired from the mainstream of American life that we don't have the benefit of their memories and their experiences. How will we ride this one out? What, if anything, can we do to prepare ourselves for even tougher times ahead? I am not optimistic (this is highly unusual). I don't have a good feeling about the rest of this year and the one lying ahead. The hardest part is knowing that it will get worse for those of us who can least afford it. A member of the chuch choir I used to sing with will become officially homeless at the end of this month. She is disabled and has been unable to find employment in the six years that I have known her. Yes, she has "issues" that make her not an ideal candidate, but the fact that she is falling completely through the cracks and will be going to live in a shelter somewhere in Northern Virginia because she can no longer afford to pay to live in the condo she has been in for years (and cannot qualify to rent elsewhere because she has no job) is pretty awful. We're talking middle class, middle aged white woman with no safety net and nowhere to go. There but for the grace of Gawd go many of us.
There are more and more roadside "yard sales" popping up in my mostly rural county, too. Businesses are closing and one-third of a local strip mall is vacant. These are not signs of a healthy economy. The late moderate drought took some of the farmers' optimism away, too, as some crops were lost by those who could not afford to irrigate. Others were hoping for a better than average year to recoup some of the huge increases in fuel costs (you need fuel to farm, unless you are Amish and relying on the horses), but won't get it. We actually "put up" some fruit this year in the freezer, in anticipation of much higher prices for produce this winter. It's the first time I've ever actually consciously thought about storing food for leaner times.