It looks like we actually believe it.......

What a mess............ Never in my wildest imagination could I have conjoured up this election scenario.
No one knows how much either Barack or McCain are promising to spend, but both of them are promising the moon, cutting taxes and expanding services, and this is on top of an already multi-trillion dollar deficit. I just call it multi- trillion because no one knows how much it really is. It is inconcievable to me that no Americans seem to be wondering where this money is going to come from in the shadow of the tax cuts and the deficit. It is unbelievable to me that no Journalist is addressing the situation.
There is no sensible way to think of reasonable survival as a nation the way we are now. There is also no sensible way to foretell how we'll be 5 years from this day.
It is so far out of control that I'm beyond such speculation.
There's one thing that I do think I see coming, and that is simply, no matter who wins the Presidency, that person and all Americans will be in for the most trying times in our history. There will be those who will blame the one who wins for their inability to fix what hurts, and of course the rest will basically blame George Bush for our horrors.
Americans are terribly uninformed and have memories about as long as a flea's. Our troubles truly started with Franklin Roosevelt. He is absolutely responsible for setting the stage for the welfare state we now find ourselves in. There is absolutely No President since that's done even a little bit towards making us into an economically stable and long surviving Republic. The major contributers to our demise were Lyndon Johnson with his 'Great Society', Richard Nixon with his ineptness in dealing with the country's troubles, Gerald Ford for just being plain dumb and showing that importance does exempt the very important from the long end of the law when he pardoned Richard Nixon, when he should have at least stood trial, Jimmy Carter from being a damned woosie and loosing our respect around the world. Ronald Reagan was the best of the lot because he gave us a good example to go by and gave us hope while breaking the communist back in Mother Russia, then came George Bush Senior. He fought a war for the right reasons, set the objectives and achieved them, and got someone else to pay for it. But he promoted our love affair with China. Then came Bill Clinton, sure to go down one day as responsible for some devastating decisions that began our terrible slide to disaster, such as the laughable NAFTA and GATT treaties that silenced our factories, not to mention his dishonesty, then came the very worst of all, George Bush 43 and his list of debacles are so long there's no point in even starting. Whatever chance we have of recovery will be snuffed out by two choices for the job that are worse than him. Finally, our lack of giving a damn trumps it all. The only blanks to fill in is 'When it's done'...........

Boredom

I have an ongoing case of boredom with life. It's been going on for over 10 years and can be troublesome and depressing. This is a time in my life that should be exciting, but isn't. I'm single and there's a world full of ladies to be addressed, I'm back to entertaining again, overall business is good, health is excellent, stress level is low. So what's my problem?
The single part is good. Life is uncomplicated and my time is my own and I'm anything but lonely. But to keep anykind of meaningful company with a lady means I gotta listen to everything bad that's happened in her life and hear about everybody that ever wronged her or offended her and since I've been single again I have yet to run into a lady that wasn't angry.
The stage was always my life and a return to it would suggest the beginning of life again, but that too is proving to have a streak of boredom in it too. Since I've taken stage again there hasn't been a single audience that hasn't made it plain I still had some magic. Outside of a couple of times it just hasn't really been magic for me. Can this change? Don't know
Business has been more than I can handle, and very physical, which keeps me healthy. I should thank my lucky stars for my good fortune, but that just ain't much fun either.
Stress? Haven't had any for awhile.
So what is my problem?
I think the world I live in is the problem. Honesty is the cornerstone for my happiness, and the world I'm part of just doesn't have much of it. I appreciate the art of telling a good fib to enhance the moment, the one who can do that is the one who has the most fun, and that's not what I define as honesty. The honesty that's important is truth about everything that matters, and life comes up shy there.
Dreams are what makes life go 'round, and that may be what's got the doldrums so heavy on me. I find myself with no real dreams left and nothing in particular that I want to do.
This must change.......

Socialism?

Are we now Socialists?
The best way to disect such a question is to examine how and what we are, versus how and what we use to be.
Does our Government manage and re-distribute our wealth? To be sure. 50 years ago the taxes of the average citizen was miniscule compared to today. Now taxes are crowding 50% after you get through the checkout line at Wal-Mart, and that's only the withholding on your check plus the state sales tax at the counter and has nothing to do with all the taxes, hidden fees, and licenses on the product you just bought making what some very smart and informed people say is a total of 84% on each dollar you spend.
Is the Government in your life in an intrusive way? Absolutely, from the cradle to the grave and beyond. We are all now subserviant in thought, activity, and behaviour. We've now acheived big brotherism to the point that everyone is a cop and peers over the fences and through the windows of your life and is very quick to ' turn you in' if you don't behave in the prescribed way and raise and treat your children the way the Gov says you should. Authority is quick to respond if you aren't behaving properly, and will tear the family apart, most of the time immediately, much of the time permanently, or at least until the uneducated can have their thinking re-arranged to adhere to the Governments guidelines. If you're a good student you'll be back together in a while. If not, never.
Does the Government control your life in the community? Totally. You must not only have insurances on your home and car to get a loan, you must have liability to cover the other guy, health insurance to see a doctor, maintain your property in a specific way and there's not a single thing otherwise that can be named that isn't governed by legislation either directly or by association other than your very innermost thoughts, and you'd better keep them to yourself.
Does the Government control private enterprise? What a 'no brainer'. Now the Government is printing up money to take over businesses to save us all. The correct thing would have been to let them fail and let us pick up the pieces and start again. Painful? Damn right. Correct? Damn right. Are we socialists? Damn right......... Sad times...............

Chaos

It's been a few days since the economy collapsed and it would appear it will be successfully propped up again. But the result will be different. Because this time the economy truly did collapse. The sane and responsible thing to do would have been leave it alone and let it correct itself, but then the big money people would have lost their ass, and the welfare folks would've had to give it up. I know we'll all go down together because the politicians don't have the balls to deal with it in truth and reality, because the very rich do vote and more importantly, do give money. On the other end, the welfare folk vote too. It's those in the middle who don't.
I've said many times anyone who gets a check from the government for any reason other than working for it is on welfare. This includes social security recipients too. No matter what is believed, that's exactly what it is, Welfare. Any idiot who understands primer math should be able to figure that out, although I realize they can't. The old whining explanation that 'I paid it and ByGod I want it' is only showing their ignorance. That entire system is nothing short of a pyramid scheme with the first 4 generations getting the gold, and all beyond that will get nothing and have nothing because of it.
The American way now is to get disability, live in subsidized housing, get paid for the kids too, get free health care, get a student loan and go to school...... most don't finish, or pay the loan back. A very large number work while they recieve their welfare checks too.
It is frustrating for someone like me to watch these assholes go by in their new vehicles while I putter around in my truck that's near 20 years old. I'm a few years past social security eligibility and have no intention of accepting that welfare. I'm healthy, and I'll work till I die and ask for nothing. But enough of that........
Here's what to expect now.....
Since the bailouts have started, look for them to continue, and possibly even get larger, and certainly more numerous. It may appear that we've stabilized, and prices may even come down a bit. But then, inflation will come screaming into our lives and decimate everything we have plus what we thought we had. This will be inflation beyond the wildest imagination. Look for it to start within one year from this date, October 13, 2008. No one even knows how to spell misery yet...... and we've done it to ourselves...........

Oh well......

When Rome fell it collapsed all the known worlds ecomomies and ushered in what is known as the dark ages. It took 800 years, untold human misery, famines, and even a round with bubonic plague before human kind recovered. Does the USA have that kind of power and prestige that will collapse a world if it fails? I think not. Technology has made the world a very different place than it was when Rome ran things, and the world is far better educated. That hasn't kept us from being stupid, and the last couple of weeks has proven that.
In my wildest imagination 40 years ago I could not have begun to picture how we would one day simply hand over the authority to those who have led us into such depths of dishonesty and to crush the chances of future generations so far ahead.
All this is assuming we will stand responsible for the havoc we have brought on ourselves, which of course we won't. Instead, lurking in our future is probably a war so big it will defy definition, and re-write all the rules for living standards, and who knows how that will play out.
When the idea of bail out was first mentioned, who knew how far it would reach? Nor who could possibly know just how far our politicians would drag us?
This bail out was never about the regular folk. We have yet again been taken to the cleaners. Nothing will prevent this economy from collapsing as long as it has no reason to correct itself and no one wants to face the music, and that does include everybody. The welfare recievers will take theirs as long as they can, and so will the big buck guys. I still say this ain't over as long as we can print money and as long as it has more stability and power than anyone else's, which it's still the currency of choice worldwide. Trust me.... this will change ...........