January
15, 2008
Economic
woes
Holy
Crap. Citigroup and other big
banks are selling off large shares to Kuwait and Saudi princes. What the hell! Our banking institutions, the
foundations of our economy, are broke and need foreign dollars from suspect
countries to stay afloat. What a
mess.
On
top of that the dollar is continuing to fade. Gold has risen to $914 and expected to go above $1000.
People
are saying we are already in recession.
This was predictable. You
canŐt just cater to the wealthy.
They donŐt care about the countries economic health, just their
profits. If they can make more
money by closing factories here and opening them in a developing country,
theyŐll do it. If they can use
Bush tax codes to not pay their fair share of taxes, theyŐll do it (cheating
America of funds for infrastructure, military health care and salaries,
education, and energy research).
We
have to understand that the wealthiest 1% of Americans would be fine, if all
the rest of us were their serfs and servants. Look at the majority of jobs that are currently being
created. They arenŐt in industry,
research, or education, but service.
Low paying service jobs are abundant.
We
are just seeing the results of the Bush economic plan: I got mine, you
better get yours. The rich will continue to get
richer. Manufacturing jobs will
continue to leave the country. The
deficit will continue to grow. And
the dollar will continue to fall.
I
donŐt mean to sound so cheery. My
advice for the short term is to get your money out of American dollars and buy
gold or Euros.
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Gold bars photo at
http://goldprice.org/buying-gold/uploaded_images/how-do-you-buy-gold-781694.jpg |
Epilogue:
January
25, 2008
The
Bush administration and Congress are pushing an economic stimulus package to
Ňjump startÓ the economy. Only
recently has Bush even admitted to economic troubles. He thought everything was fine, because for the people in
his circle, it is. Now that stock
markets across the world are tumbling, he wants to take ŇactionÓ.
The
package could give married couples with children as much as $1200. The average rebate or refund (depending
on if you make enough to pay taxes) will be around $600. Wow, thanks. Gee.
They
must not realize the average family has $8,000 of debt just from credit
cards. On top of that people are
struggling to pay mortgages, tuitions, medical bills, heating bills, etc., and
those clowns in Washington offer a few hundred bucks. It may help the corporations and owners as people buy goods,
but it will not provide long-term help to the average family struggling to stay
afloat.
The
country needs programs that create jobs while improving our infrastructure and
society. We need to give more money
to Americorps and similar programs that train young people as they serve the
country. We could revive the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) from the 1930s. Give it a modern name if you want the idea to seem
original. We can train and hire
unemployed/underemployed fathers and mothers to install internet connections in
rural schools, insulate public buildings for better energy efficiency, clean
polluted waterways, help remediate old industrial sites, plant trees to combat
erosion and climate change, etc.
The list of worthy projects that improve America is endless.
The
government already incurs costs from these issues (monetary, medical, or
societal). It makes more sense to
actually begin solving the problems while developing the workforce.
I
would much rather see a few million Americans given the opportunities for a
lasting career, than all Americans given a few hundred dollars. What happens when the little refund
check is spent? Rent will still be
due the next month, jobs will still be leaving America, and our infrastructure
will still be crumbling. (Note the bridge collapse in Minnesota last fall.)
If
you teach people to fish instead of giving them a small fish, the impact will
be long lasting. The economy would
be much better if people have checks to spend every pay period as opposed to
one rebate in June.
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Civilian Conservation
Corps – putting Americans to work on American. Photos at http://newdeal.feri.org/images/a92.gif
and http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/2669181.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=6E41E83E90A345BD1206F620B66F45FBA55A1E4F32AD3138
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