May 31, 2011

• People, Anger, and Politics

  The last few years, it’s hard to miss the anger…some times the rage that people are feeling. Since we have a two party system in the US, each side blames the other, little actually gets accomplished, and the snarl of issues needing answers grows exponentially. I never buy “simple solutions” to complex questions. Ever. NO, they don’t require convoluted, Rube Goldberg plans…but if something is complicated, the answer will never be in 25 words or less. You won’t find the solution to cold fusion on Twitter.

  Worse….we as a nation seem unable to PICK a direction, or goal. We’re all over the place—but ask someone the three top issues we need to address, and you won’t get the same answers. Even when you do, everyone wants a different answer.  Fix the economy! Ok…but that will take time. NO..NOW. Ummm…it didn’t fall apart in a single day, a single week, month, or year. It was the inevitable collective collapse of the fairy tale spun 30 years back, when we bought into the concept of a “service economy”. It was a popular idea. No more messing with Unions…we’d all just get jobs offering services to our modern population.

  I remember asking then…”Well, that’s nice….but what happens if times get tough? You can’t EAT a service.” I was lambasted for my “negative” thinking. I was a Luddite, clinging to the past. No…actually, I was just an adult who had grown up in a blue collar home where both my parents worked to support us. We didn’t have money for cars, vacations—stuff other people had without a second thought. I was AMAZED when girls in my high school had their own phones…that was heady stuff. I grew up never owning more than two pairs of shoes…and I learned to be frugal from an early age. SO my question wasn’t being negative, or un-american…it was just practical.

  When I was in college, I had a phone for one semester. I was sharing a house with four other girls—and they used it as well. The agreement was that they would cover their calls at the end of the month.  But three months later, I had HUGE bills, and no one was admitting to the use. I never saw a dime…and eventually just gave up the phone. I went through college without one, and didn’t have a car either. There was no internet. I wrote letters. I worked my way through college on a shoestring…a knotted one. I lived modestly from necessity, and I learned that you could survive without a lot.

  The Yuppie years changed not only our country, but us.  We got used to good incomes, and lots of extras.  Consumer debt ballooned from 2-3K for a family (Not counting their mortgages) to $6100 per family this year. Two percent of our population carries more than 20K in credit card debt along…that’s one in 50 families. The same people have little or nothing in savings, including retirement accounts. We spent more than we earned, borrowed to spend more, and now are facing a huge crunch for it.

  Add the price of gasoline, which now takes a dollar of every ten a consumer spends, inflation in food prices, and you have a ton of red ink.

  No wonder so many people fell for the endless chant of “no new taxes”.

  I do my finances in a weird way.
  I have not used a credit card in over four years.
  I buy used cars for cash—no financing, no  leasing.
  I use pay-as-you-go cell phones, and use them to make calls ONLY…I can send pics from my computer for free. I don’t need to be hooked into the net 24/7.
  If I don’t have the cash, I don’t buy.

  Result? Zero debt, save for my mortgage.
  The paychecks go further because I have not “pre-spent” any of it for credit card interest.
  Since I own my car, I can shop for the cheapest insurance, and am not obliged to pay for collision…unless I want it.  So I am less angry than most. But I still hate what I see happening.

  We are hardly flush—but my daughter is eligible for ZERO college aid.
  People who had five children, instead of one can get full boat college scholarships…but I had one child…so we get none. I paid into Social Security since I was 14…but it may not exist when I retire. I only worked part time so I could actually raise my own daughter…and that will count against me.

  The people who DID put away money took a huge hit when Wall Street collapsed. Money that could have been used to help our citizens was used instead to bail out companies that SCREWED UP. We’re telling our children they have to pay back huge student loans, but we are giving money to companies who played Wall Street like a casino…and that just sits wrong with me.

  My state is ranked number five in the nation for education…but everyone is screaming about the school taxes. We have over 400 school districts—each it’s own little fiefdom…and each taking aid form the state. Instead of a uniform public school system, they are suggesting Charter Schools (which don’t have to take special needs kids) and Vouchers…which amount to a rebate to the affluent, who are already sending their kids to private schools. They are kindly suggesting that the special needs families could have vouchers too, bless their hearts. But 8K will not go far when the average special needs private school runs over 40K a year.

  Then you get that interesting look. That…”well, it’s YOUR kid” look.
  We’ve forgotten that we are a society. I paid school taxes for a decade before my child was in school…so I paid for other people’s kids. My daughter could never play sports, due to a physical disability…I never asked for a refund on the portion of my taxes that covered school sports. The same people who don’t want medicare touched ignore the fact that in the future, we may not have it ourselves…after paying a life time for it.

  We are intent on getting our share…and determined not to pay for someone else…but…how would you like to do that? Again, I ask—which government goodies are you willing to sacrifice? Roads? Prisons? Education? The military? And always I get that same angry look. Nothing. They are absolutely certain that if you cut the “waste”, we’ll be fine.

  Ok. I’ll play.

  At a billion dollars a day, that war in Iraq is rather pricey.
  End it, and we save 365 Billion dollars a year. (That’s more than a quarter trillion dollars.)
  Stop giving tax breaks to companies that post record profits…and better yes, end Corporate welfare—and save a few billion more.

  Offer scholarships to kids who DO WELL IN SCHOOL…instead of athletes, so our schools end up being training grounds for the  NBA, the NFL, and ABL. We spend billions each year for the advantage of a handful of students…and give them the college money as well, though a number are not strong academically.

  MAKE the companies actually supply the services and goods they promised. NO exceptions, no loopholes. Can we please stop acting like corporations who outsourced jobs and employment are doing us some sort of favor by selling their goods here? We have a market of over 300 MILLION people. They will still want our dollars, even if we make them play fair.

  And can we pretty please stop pretending that “The rich are better”? Could we stop acting like acquiring money makes you REALLY smart…and not having it makes you really stupid?

  Yes, people are angry…and they have the right to be. But if we had a hand in our own destruction, if we chose “leaders” based on stupid promises they couldn’t keep, maybe the people we should be angry at is ourselves. Maybe we need to think long and hard about what we did, to sink this ship of state. It won’t be easy. But it’s the only way to fix what broke…and have any hope for a future.

  • 10:00 am
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