reply to post by Jakes51
Brilliantly said remarks! I have to agree with everything you are saying and you back it up well. It is precisely what is going on? The self-interest
is so widespread I don''t see us staving off our own demise. I'll play devil's advocate here, now you laid out the problem, do you have any
possible solutions? Or is it like that kid we remember in school that didn't do his homework the entire year, but tries to do so at the end to
advance; but the work so far backed-up that it is impossible. Have we reached that juncture?
The problems are still correctable though they might take some time to correct them.
The biggest problem that prohibits an abatement of this downward spiral is Americans by and large want their government to be responsible why they the
citizens themselves act in an irresponsible, selfish and short sighted manner.
For instance I won't shop at Wal-Mart under any circumstances or any other retail monopoly that peddles foreign made products.
I pay a bit more for some items, I travel a bit further to get some items but I refuse to feed the beast based on the false assumption that it is
saving me time and money.
One of the ways the government has deceived us long term in to thinking that more or less overnight the world has fallen apart is for many years while
overall wages have remained stagnant they have hidden both inflation and the rising cost of living by utilizing cheap foreign resources and labors as
lowcost substitutes. While Congress votes itself a raise each year and government workers are given an automatic raise each year on par with the
annual increase in the cost of living it takes decades for the minimum wage to go up a few cents an hour and for many unskilled and entry level
workers to get a raise in jobs they work at for years.
In 1972 I could go into a Woolworth Store on Main Street anywhere, any State, and buy a men's button down cotton dress shirt made in the U.S.A. of
U.S. Cotton, and U.S. Milled Fabric, and U.S. made plastic buttons for 12.00 to 20.00 dollars depending on the style and detail.
Today I could go into Wal-Mart and by a men's button down dress shirt of a synthetic fabric made entirely in China for 12.00 to 20.00 dollars. It
will wear out within a couple dozen washings and not even make a suitable rag for pollishing or washing a car when it does, it will wear less
comfortable, be cut and styled less flattering and come in fewer varieties and styles but I could still buy a cheap replica of that 1972 dress shirt
for 12.00 to 20.00 dollars just like in 1972.
However if I wanted the same quality shirt that I bought for that 12.00 to 20.00 dollars in 1972, in a made in America, 100% Cotton or Silk shirt,
with the same quality construction, stitching and cut and style...price...129.00 to 179.00 dollars.
That's the real rate of inflation that has been hidden from us.
In 1972 when I bought that shirt you paid cash, the only credit cards were Diners Club and American Express bills due in full at the end of the month,
no revolving balance.
While wages have not gone up, and inflation except in gasoline and food well hidden pressure has been taken off the government and businesses to
provide a real living wage through revolving credit.
Rather than unionize or demand a raise to a living wage and risk loosing their jobs Americans simply turn to what has been cheap and plentiful easy
credit to finance the shortfall in their wages so they can happily have today what they won't even be able to afford tomorrow or perhaps never at
all.
That has worked great for American business as it's kept it's domestic market strong even while keeping domestic wages low but it's been long term
disaster for the nation and people who now many of are in such debt they have no chance of paying back the banks.
Is American business or American creditors penalized for this, no...the government steps in and picks up the tab for them on all this through the
bailouts and forces the taxpayer to just assume the debt load in a different way.
With American workers now making so little, and Americans tapped out on their credit most of them maintaining balances that will take them years if
not a lifetime to finance, American business itself has given up more or less on America as a market, as it seeks to just keep maximizing profits and
doing easy business elsewhere.
It all changes when people stop feeding the beast and take responsibility themselves and refuse to work unless they are given a living wage, refuse to
purchase foreign made products from monopoly style retailers who offer nothing but foreign made products, stop patronizing businesses and services
that use illegal cheap immigrant labor and refuse to pay taxes without adequate representation that favors the average American as opposed to foreign
and corporate interests.
Obviously we all have no choice but to learn to do without when we have no money and no credit, Americans need to learn to do without need be to deny
business to irresponsible companies and funding for a corrupt and irresponsible government until both realize that it is the citizen that enriches and
empowers them and the citizen should not be abused or lied to or taken advantage in that process.
I ride my bicycle almost everywhere now and buy almost no gasoline. I work for myself at home and insist on payment from my clients in hard cash. I
buy my food from local farmers through local farmer's markets. What other goods I need I buy from mom and pop stores that sell either locally made or
made in America products.
If there is no made in America product I find a handyman or electrician to make it for me custom here in America.
I won't feed the beast, if people one at a time grew up and started realizing that the government is not going to legislate common sense when they
get paid more for the average persons stupidity and people learned that each and every one of us has an impact on the economy and the government no
matter how small, that each and every one of us adds up to something huge.
No government can rescue us from ourselves, we can only do that as individuals and the individual who waits patiently for every other individual to do
it first is simply a fool.
We can fix the problem as soon as we all can agree we are responsible for the problem and not Richard M. Nixon, or Gerald R. Ford, or James Earl
Carter, or Ronald Regan, or George H.W. Bush, or William Jefferson Clinton or George W. Bush, or Barack Hussein Obama or Jay Rockefeller or David
Rothschild but that person in the mirror who wants to blame anyone and anybody but themselves and not do one thing for themselves and by themselves to
start making it better.
