There is a plethora of survival shows on cable these days. Gun shows too. Are they preparing us for a republican presidency? I have to wonder.
We're still in a recession no matter what the news programs tell us and these things just don't end according to the calendar or because some man preached to the biggest choir. But with the R's telling us that we cannot survive as a nation being kind to our fellow man, woman and child, and that- it turns out- was the way our founding fathers intended it, we best get to surviving as they did. Since we're the greatest nation EVER, we should have no problem doing that.
So, perhaps to build towards (backwards?) to that there are more shows about shooting and eating bugs while lost in the woods with a camera crew than there were shows about buying houses with no money down a few years ago, where we learned that you cannot go wrong with real estate.
With republicans taking a chain saw to BIG GOVERNMENT (something they could have done at the beginning of this century- but there wasn't a colored guy in the White House at the time so, it didn't seem important....) we are all going to learn to live without a few safety nets in life that our founders never intended anyway. Things like Social Security, unemployment compensation, welfare, minimum wage laws, unions, etc. et-fucking-cetera. Basically anything thing that smacks of kindness and costs money that could be put to better use by Wall Street and other magical job creators. BIG GOVERNMENT's only role should be waging war against Islamic nations. That's it.
It makes a lot of sense if you don't think about. We could have near total employment if we eliminated minimum wage and those damn unions. Eliminating corporate taxes and those job killing government agencies like the EPA would practically overnight bring millions of jobs back from overseas. If they would only let the free market dictate wages and where sewage could be spilled into lakes and rivers, we could make this country strong again! How? I have no fucking idea. But, everyone who watches Foxnews is absolutely certain of this and they are number one in cable news.
I know what you're thinking: "Ferrerman, I have a pretty good job right now and I don't want to make $2 an hour!"
What are you- Muslim? The R's are offering total employment!
"But Ferrerman, how can I feed my family, making- $2 times 8 hours....$16 a day?!"
EIGHT HOURS!!? What are you- a fucking communist? That'll be a 16 hour day, ya lazy bastard. And don't moan about daycare and school either. Little Johnny and Janie will be right alongside you earning their way through life and learning the value of a dollar, 25 cents at a time.
"No way THAT happens, Ferrerman! I won't be able to shop at Walmart at those rates. America needs me to be a consumer too, ya know!"
Oh, really? Do the children in Malayasia who make the Nikes, wear Nikes? No, because if they did, Nikes would be really cheap and unappealing to consumers elsewhere in the world. The Nikes that you and the kids make will sold for big bucks to the Chinese and Brazillians who have yet to be fully exploited by our corporations. Those people are not all 'gimme-gimme' like Americans were before they returned to their roots and made America strong again!
And the gunshows? Them R's are pretty big on the 2nd amendment, They want EVERYONE to have guns, as the Founders gloriously intended!
Guns? No. The last thing you need in such situations is an armed populace angry at having to work for a fraction of their former wages. I don't know how the motherfuckers intend to do it but a republican will take your guns away. Have you noticed that Obama hasn't? Despite all the fears that he would, he hasn't. Hmmmm....
And that Constitution and those Founders? Inside of a generation- more likely sooner- you won't hear about those fellas anymore. They were revolutionaries. Seditionists. They are the kind of men we need right now. I bet they are spinning in their graves. They gave us a good run though.... From the ashes of America, one day there might be more of their kind to lead us back to where we were before corporate America burned the place down for the insurance.
6 comments:
Makes me glad I'm an Aussie. We don't go armed to the teeth; have an excellent social security system; free medical for everyone; a liveable minimum wage and, wonder of wonders, our country is not broke! So that puts the lie to the idea that helping the disadvantaged will send you to the poor-house.
Particularly amazing is that otherwise *mainsteam* folks think that, aside from "saving money", this would gently force welfare recipients to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and endeavour to become productive citizens. Tough love for the 50 million plus poor. Arbeit macht frei! I hate to think what they'll do with millions of poor, hungry people...but we have an idea....
How quickly they forget the Depression with millions homeless and being fed at soup kitchens.
*Nothing* will be learned from all of this and it is destined to repeat itself.
Greed is the cardinal sin here, and the shareholder is king.
I can remember a time when the stock exchange was never mentioned on TV. Now it's part of the news every day. I know our 'conservative' government, when they were in, actively encouraged the ordinary working man to invest any spare cash in stocks and shares, which is, after all, just gambling on a different level. Many of them have seen their retirement money disappear. We were never tempted, mainly because we vote Labour and didn't trust the bastards. And we were right.
Italy wants to borrow I don't know how many billions of Euros, but who from? They're all broke! It's far from over.
It may eventually affect us too. When things started to nosedive, the government gave everyone a 'one off' lump sum to stimulate the economy, and it kept us going. In the UK the government gave money to the banks to encourage them to extend loans. The banks kept the money for themselves, so it didn't help at all. Our 'conservative' opposition are constantly rubbishing the Labour Party for its initiatives, but we are the only western economy still afloat.
The main problem with welfare recipients, here too, is they are the ones who fell through the education net; read and write poorly and are therefore largely unemployable in an age which is depending less and less on manpower and more on technology.
Years ago, it used to be that the less academic kids got an apprenticeship and went into the trades, but now they want the kids with the high marks for the apprenticeships, virtually closing the door on many with manual skills. The kids with the high marks don't particularly want to get their hands dirty for a living. So now we are short of qualified tradesmen and they are importing them from elsewhere on work visas.
Spend more on education and reap the benefits, I say.
Absolutely- on the education. GW Bush tried to get us to swap Social Security for Wall Street and that's still on the agenda with the GOP. They keep talking about how it "...will be bankrupt in 20 years..." Well, we've got 20 years to make sure that doesn't happen. We're all gonna die someday too. No point in checking out now to end the suspense of 'when'. Trade schools have pretty much fallen by the wayside here as well. They don't want to train a person to command a skilled wage when illegals can do it for so much less and no pesky benefits. Plus, the trades = unions. To think for a moment that corporations and the politicians who work for them care about anything but money is foolish.
Our imported workers command the same wage as everyone else, by law. A few unscrupulous employers have been taken to court by the unions for paying shit wages to overseas workers.
The only people who are prepared to work on the cheap are usually backpackers, or people who've arrived here on a holiday visa and disappeared into the background. These people are mostly from other English speaking countries and can therefore get away with it. 98% of our illegal immigrants arrive by air from UK, USA, Canada and NZ. 2% arrive by leaky, crappy old boats from Indonesia and often pay with their lives when the boats sink. Our 'conservative' Liberal Party (different from your liberal idea of politics) likes to harp on about this 2% of desperate people, and make them a whipping-boy. You wouldn't believe the amount of public angst about these (relatively) few refugees. Nobody ever mentions the other 98% who are just as illegal as the 2%.
Climbing down now!
Similar here in that probably half our illegals are Eastern Europeans, Indians etc. who have over-stayed their visas. However, everyone concentrates on the Mexicans/Central Americans. I'm actually impressed with the law saying the immigrants must be paid the same wage. With no one under cutting wages, your native workers aren't being deprived of work. If that were the case here, the incentive to hire illegals would go away. Of course, what passes for a Labour Party here is the democrats and they're just not fighting hard enough. At a time when they want to eliminate unions, minimum wages and even child labor laws, there's no hope of such fair pay here.
Post a Comment