Economic Gangbang

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Nothing New Under The Sun...

Well, I've heard it all now...you've got to be fucking kidding me...I'm mean, really. It seems that there are conservative voters out there who are disputing Barack Obama's place of birth. They are known as "Birthers" and they allege that the president was not born in the U.S., presumably because he has a foreign-sounding name, and again presumably because "he don't look like us'n." Even more incredible is the fact that these people have some backing in Congress, at least on the face of it...and none of those Congress people want to talk about it, while they are being hounded by reporters. I suspect it's that these politicians just CAN'T piss off ANY constituents no matter how wacky their voters' viewpoint is...it's just not in their genetic makeup to tell a voter, "well no, you're wrong. He has a birth certificate to prove that he was born in Honolulu, Hawai'i ." These politicians don't have the balls (or in some cases, the ovaries) to say these words.

And this kind of muckraking is not new with the Republican party. They did it most recently in Clinton's administrations. Granted, old Bill gave us all enough sexual fodder for a thousand porn websites and a million jokes, but the GOP was not able to come up with any evidence of any malfeasance of his office...unlike a previous notorious Mr. R. M. Nixon. And Newt Gingrich was on the verge of stroke and heart attack every single day he was in office, trying to come up with something, anything, to torch the Democrats with...and he couldn't do it. It was ironic that he was later found out to be an adulterer, a philanderer, and a liar, but of course he was lily-white, wasn't he?

Perid of Adjustment vs. Rude Awakening

Okay, now the buzz on the street is that we're going to take a permanent hit on standard of living. Ok. Yeah. First we spend too much, then we borrow too much, and then we keep on spending and borrowing...this has been going on for as long as I've been alive (shut up!). But I've always had this little nagging suspicion that the situation can't last forever. There are no more worlds to conquer on this planet...there is no more wild Frontier...there is no more Westward expansion and no more "manifest destiny". We're done.
Right alongside of that is...THERE IS NO MORE EVER-EXPANDING ECONOMY. We live on a finite planet with finite resources...everything we need/want is right here. It can't be used up and thrown away...because there is no more. Once it is used up and thrown away...it's gone. UNLESS, we re-cycle. And even if we re-cycle, we use up resources...just different ones from the original older cycles. It changes at each iteration. Eventually, we reach a point of diminishing returns where even re-cycling isn't sufficient anymore. When that happens we have to CHANGE OUR PARADIGM. This means we have to discard outmoded ideas...ideas that don't work anymore in the face of the current reality.
If we want to survive as a species, we have to stop fucking with each other. Politics will have to change. Personal conduct will have to change. We have to stop using and abusing, drugs, alcohol, ourselves, each other. Somewhere out here is a psychiatrist putting a gun to his head because he can't take it anymore. He has failed and he knows it. Somewhere out here is a politician who is too stupid, greedy, and selfish to do the same. He, apparently, needs a little help.
When I said we have to stop fucking with each other, I also meant it literally. At least until we get everybody all the birth control help they can possibly use. Again, it has to do with using up our finite resources. Too many people spoil the broth. But if we don't want to listen, just wait a while. Plagues and famine will take care of the problem...Gaiea always resets herself when things get out of balance. Mostly to the detriment of all the current species...so, no worries, mate. Order will be restored. All will be right with the universe once again. We just won't be around.

Not if we don't change our ways.

I Can't Believe We Ate the Whole Thing

There are plenty of Republicans out there, including now former Congressional leaders, who appear to be totally mystified as to why their agenda not only didn’t carry the day, but got unceremoniously blown out of the water. They really, really believe with all their heart that the conservative philosophy is absolutely the only way to view the totality of life. They will fervently preach it to all of the poor misbegotten souls who simply aren’t up to standard yet. But with a little right-minded education and a pat on the butt, the miscreants will have the scales fall from their eyes and, for the first time in their hitherto wretched lives, see the error of their ways. Weeping tears of joy, they will fall on their knees clutching to their breasts the hallowed flag of the Grand Old Party, thanking God and Jesus for saving them from the sins of the liberals.

It is totally beyond these people’s imaginations to consider alternatives to right-wing thought. It pervades their whole lives. It does not occur to them that other more centrist-minded or even left-leaning individuals might have an answer or two for some of our governmental and social problems. Their way of thinking is straightforward, shallow, simplistic, and dumb. Life is complicated. They are not.

By the way, while I’m thinking about it, I have voted in EVERY election since I was nineteen years old. I have always been an Independent, choosing to vote the issue, not the person or the party, considering what was best for the city, county, state, or country as a whole. Naïve, huh. Now that I’m a lot older and a lot saltier, I have no such pretenses.

Two years ago, for the first time in my life, I voted a straight party ticket. I tried my best to fire all the Republicans. I voted for all the Democrats and to hell with everything else, thank you. For me that was very extreme, politically speaking. It had been a long time coming and well deserved of the GOP. Now, just before this Presidential election, and also for the first time in my life, I registered as a Democrat. Then I voted a liberal plank, just as I had two years earlier. I am now part of a political machine...scary, isn’t it? I haven’t lost my identity, though. I’ve just added a new one and it feels good. Who knows? I might change my mind again someday.

There’s no question that I’m rolling the dice, right along with a majority of Americans who want “change”. Good luck to us all. I just don’t see how it could get any more screwed up than it has been the last eight years. Greed, corruption, and scandal have been the norm. The current administration from Bush on down has deliberately ignored the pulse of the nation, refusing to listen to anyone but their insulated right-wing advisors, the good old boys who have made their pile and continue to rake off their ill-gotten profits at our expense. Their corporate cronies have been calling the shots and reaping the benefits, while we stare in disbelief at their excesses. Some of them should follow the example of Kenneth Lay…all the way.



There are some things Obama can and should do right away when he takes office:

1) Put people to work on the country’s infrastructure…rebuilding bridges, replacing railroad tracks, and resurfacing roads…physically fixing things so they last longer…and the U.S. government SHOULD pay for it.

2) Find a way to give people the healthcare they require and deserve…not depend on the “free market” concept…It’s not free and there is no market…it’s just what insurance companies can get away with charging the client/patient/consumer/hostage…believe me, I know. I’m dealing with the problem of finding health insurance right now. If you don’t negotiate, if you don’t insist on your rights, you are screwed. You will pay dearly. Hospitals, drug companies, and doctors are complicit in this healthcare mess. From each patient they encounter, every one of them is trying to recapture dollar one of their overhead, research and development, or education and training.

3) Initiate an Energy policy. Make it a long-term goal to eliminate oil as our primary fuel. Make it a shorter-term goal to stop importing foreign oil. Start thinking “Green”, really. Put incentive and seed money into wind, electric, hydrogen, and while I think of it, a high gas-mileage carburetor and/or fuel injector. Come on, oil companies, it’s out there. You know it. I know it…yes we can, and yes we should.

4) Initiate an Infrastructure policy. Aside from putting people to work, we need to take care of the systems that make our economy run: airlines, trucking, communications, highways, and railroads. If necessary, nationalize some of them. Whatever it takes to make everything run smoother, better, faster, on time, and more effectively.



Now you might be thinking, oh my god, he’s preaching socialism! What is he, a freaking commie?!...Get over it. Life is not all about capitalism. It’s not even all about democracy. Just ask anyone who has ever been in the military. Life IS a big balancing act between me and you (what we want) and the rest of the world (what they want). The best compromise that can be had is when everybody gets at least something of what they want, but nobody is entirely happy with it. What has been happening is that corporate concerns have totally overridden public concerns. I really don’t have to say that, do I? The above list is by no means exhaustive. Add your own items.

While I’m thinking of it, the last official direct democracy was Athens, Greece, a few thousand years ago. It was a small enough city-state to accommodate a relatively quick tally of votes and seemed to work until being overrun by Spartans and, later, Romans. Now fast forward to our newly formed republic. That’s right, it was called a republic even then…a representative republic, at that. Because the new country was so big, and transportation and communication so painfully slow, it made sense to elect people as representatives and have them carry the wishes of their constituents to a common center (let’s call it Washington City), where the merits of their wishes could be argued and voted on. It seems that the first representatives were also the first lobbyists. Scary thought.

Deja Vu All Over Again

I suppose it had been too long since I first got on my soap box about government politics. Some people tired of it. They had it good; things were going well; why disturb the process? Apparently I was harping on an old saw of social responsibility that many felt was unnecessary, redundant, and, well, expensive as hell.

Now, the buzzards have come home to roost. It’s high time we paid for our economic excesses. All the bills have come due and we’re broke. What did you think was going to happen?

It didn’t take long to realize where we were going when George Bush Sr. was in office. He was off performing dazzling feats of foreign policy when our economy got into trouble. There were many of us working stiffs out in the real world who saw sales drop in every business sector across the board, saw the auto industry get into real trouble due to arrogance and inflexibility, saw many of our jobs threatened and then disappear altogether. In a collective voice we were telling him, “Uh, George, we’re in trouble and need a little help here.” But old George wasn’t listening and we fired him at the next election…so much for a lame-duck one-term president.

Eventually the economy righted itself and after the first year Clinton was in office, it was going gangbusters. As far as I was concerned, his charisma and charm really helped, even if his personal conduct was highly suspect (and by the way, who the hell really cared except Newt Gingrich? Everyday I thought his head was going to explode). At the same time, we had some real problems, which Bill and Hillary tried to address. Their health initiative was totally shot down by the Republican Congress who said “Let the free market determine who gets health insurance and how much it costs.” Not the message we wanted to hear, but what the hell could we do about it at the time?

True to their philosophy, the Republicans didn’t want to spend government money on social welfare, but were more than willing to part with billions propping up corporate interests…after all that’s what made the economy go around. But Republicans are, in my view, genetically short-sighted, bound as they are to feverish concern about the next quarterly profit, and to hell with the future down the road. They’re ecstatic about deficit spending because their mantra is “See? No new taxes!” and this technically qualifies…no matter that the entire country’s future gets mortgaged up the ass.

Not that Democrats don’t have their own problems. It’s just the opposite with them. You can count on new taxes during a Democratic administration. That’s a promise. But at least my tax money is generally going somewhere closer to home…somewhere I have a chance of agreeing with. The caveat with Democrats is, once they start spending tax money on a new social program, the program never ends. You can count on it. (See Social Security, which I currently thank heaven for.)

The election has come and gone. The American people have spoken…for “change”. I’m not sure what this means, except to say that, every time one of the political parties gets voted out it’s because the American people want “change”. Well, we’ve got it now, for better or for worse. Some of it we’re going to love, some of it we’re going to hate. We’re going to be ecstatic and joyful, whining and crying, often all at the same time. Stay tuned, but be prepared, and wear your armored underwear.

Everything Is Beautiful, In Its Own Waste

Quiet please. Let me think. This is my first blog ever, so be gentle. If you're not, I'm coming over there and then you'll be sorry. You're going to eventually notice anyway, so I may as well tell you ...I use a lot of lines from movies, TV, songs, other media events...and if it's obscure enough that I can get away with it, I won't give credit...who the hell am I kidding, I might not give credit anyway. And, let's see, oh yeah, the ellipsis (...), I use lots of them...you know, dramatic pause and all that. Just like William...Shatner!

And I write as though I'm working on the dialog of a movie script, but without the "She said:", "He said:" attributions. I never read "The Elements Of Style" for writing, but I know what works for me. I proofread my work but occasionally something will slip by. I am an absolute stickler on the proper use of American English, but even I will use colloquial forms and idioms when it seems appropriate. And if you are a little light on proper spelling, you'd better use a spell check program before you send out your email...that makes me crazy! There is really no excuse for improper spelling...on a computer...using Word...with spell checking. Got it?

First a word of introduction..again, as you will soon discover, I'm a cranky bastard, and don't care who knows it. I don't suffer fools gladly, so if you want to email me, take care with your wording. I will try to do the same. We can actually have a lot of fun, you and I, if we approach things with the right attitude...you know...sarcasm, facetiousness, brutal truth, making fun of stupidity, taking advantage of helpless third parties not present, things like that. Oh, and gossip, too. That's always fun, especially if there's not a word of truth to the rumor. Lighthearted and heavy-handed, that's the motto!

Let's see, what else? Well, one of my favorite song writers is Randy Newman, and my personal patron saint of comedy is Lewis Black. I'll mention other favorites as I think of them now and then. My basic purpose for this blog is to just vent whenever I need to. And over the last eight years I've needed to, believe me. So this is perfect. I will occasionally spew forth a string of obscenities in this blog, but not gratuitously, and always appropriate within context.

So, there you are...another blog dog, barking for attention, but it's ok. I'll talk more about me later, and then unleash some Word documents I have stored away just for these occasions.

But tomorrow's gonna be another workin' day, and I've got to get my rest, that's all I'm just trying to get some rest...