Underground Economy

I am all in favor of President Obama's statements regarding fiscal responsibility.  As a bookkeeper, I know enough about the economy to realize that credit is not solid if it can't be turned into hard cash, or real money.  So right up front, let's grab some hard cash from the underground economy, which is loaded up with money.  The state of California has just today introduced legislation to tax and regulate marijuana in the same manner that alcohol is taxed and regulated.  Common sense is what the author calls it.  I agree, let's put that underground economy into our destitute marketplace.

Cities and towns would benefit from the sale of business licenses.  Counties could charge sales taxes.  Payroll taxes could be charged.  It's a win-win situation. Marijuana needs to be taxed, thereby bringing in hard cash, and also saving money on cops, courts, and prisons.  Prohibition does not work for marijuana any more than it did for alcohol.  This could all be done on a probationary or trial basis.  It could be voted on after five years or so.

The country is in deep trouble and running on credit.  When credit surpasses the ability to repay, then it is meaningless.  Jimmy Carter said it a long time ago, but no one listened.  It is ok to fix or replace broken things, like the economy.  Actually it's wise to take action before the crisis point, but we didn't.  We waited for the fear to compel us, and now that it has, we need to add actual dollars into the economy, not more bad credit.

Put The Crazy On The Paper

Just when I'm at the end of my economic rope, a migraine whips me into submission, beating and pounding ferociously at my head, kicking me while I'm down, and laying waste, much like the Bush administration did to the United States during its tenure.  As a proud Native American half-breed, I've always been afraid to truly speak my mind, you know, what with the torture, killing, forced removal and all.  My dad called it bad feelings.  I was born in Ohio, the Indian killing state, so I very well know that look . . . the one that says - yup, we shoulda killed all you bastards when we had a chance.  Well, right back at you, honey! 

On the day that Barak Obama was elected president of the United States, I was so proud, so happy, because I had come to believe that I wouldn't live long enough to see anything like that, not in my wildest dreams.  In my heart I know that Obama was only elected because the country has been so thoroughly trashed and mismanaged that there is nothing left for anyone to make a quick buck over; oh right, there are probably some fat retirement bundles around to be squeezed and swindled.  But still, it's not easy pickings like it once was, when huge accounting scandals like Enron and pyramid schemes like Madoff are exposed, it tends to encourage people to ask more questions and hopefully, every little scandal will unravel another.

For whatever reason the United States has decided to become civilized, whether forced or not, we need a new system, one that actually works, that doesn't idolize the biggest thieves our culture produces or run on some insane fake credit foundation.  I'd like to see the government go into the alternative energy business, the private sector has done nothing but screw that up.  Solar panels have been around for what, thirty years, so they should be cheaply mass-produced by now.  Special interest groups like the oil lobby have to quit running the country. 

Conspiracy Theory

Geo Bush, Dick Cheney, certain corporations, and Donny Rumsfeld all a conspiracy make, like soup in a can, such are the days of our lives.

Hell, yes, I believe in conspiracy theories, in particular the one involving Geo Bush.  For monetary and political reasons leading back to monetary reasons, Dick Cheney and compatriots wanted to go to war; no, they needed to go to war.  And the timeless answer revealed itself.  All they had to do was get the citizens of the United States riled up.  And with modern day complacency being what it is, there had to be an outrage on American soil.

How many wars have been started that way?  With a nice little inside job leaving clues that directly lead to the enemy.  You slap the citizens around a little, raise a public outcry, then war explodes across the country.  Politicians are the first to jump up and say hey.  It behooves them to talk the patriot talk and walk the patriot walk.

Hard to say how much Geo Bush knew and when he knew it.   I have no doubt that he knew a tactical event was coming down.  Leave it to Dick Cheney and Donny Rumsfeld to go all overkill; they weren't leaving any room for doubt.

Laying Low

I've been laying low for months now - trying to stay out of the economy's way.  Trying to survive, not live good or anything like that, just the hell to survive, and I guess it's time to ask - What the hell have I been reduced to?  After all these years, I'm living like a college kid again, strictly hand to mouth.  My greatest fear is that I'm living one misstep from homelessness.  Last night the chill crept into me.  And today it lingers.

Union Label

The United States has gotten away from the days of strong union feelings.  Workers must organize.  Don't cross the picket line is what I was taught.  Your own family put their time in to the picket lines.  Support your fellow workers.    One of my cousins took a truck driving job as scab labor once when he really needed a job.  He was heading back on I-75 N when he was advised by CB radio to stop the truck and leave his job.  He ignored this request initially.  But when the bullet slammed through his windshield a few moments later, he was a convert.  He pulled the truck over and left his job; had someone pick him up on the side of the interstate.    I'm not making any judgments here; however, for unions to be effective, they must be respected.

Two things happened in the United States that were instrumental in destroying this country's labor movement.  The mob didn't help much when they nosed into union business in the US; really they made it all a joke.  Not much to take seriously with the mafia calling the shots, but the problem was that the unions were the only safety net standing between the employees and the bosses, factory owners, the money boys. 

President Ronald Reagan kicked in to the fray when he fired the air traffic controllers en masse in 1981; since they were public employees, a government union, they weren't allowed to strike.  Other government unions had violated this 1955 law in the past, but Reagan went after the air traffic controllers.  He then cowboyed up further and also banned the FAA from ever hiring back any of the fired workers.  In 1993, President Clinton overturned this decision; over 850 workers at least were hired back after 12 years. That Reaganonomic day was a turning point for the unions; they were effectively busted in the United States.   Every union in the country should have protested that action loud and clear, but they didn't and executive privilege ruled.  Consequently, labor stoppages which had been approximately 300 a year now dropped to 30 a year.  And the power of the unions in the United States was vanquished.

Bad Taste

The bad taste of the Bush administration hangs like fog.  Yes, we're happy that it's over.  But we're all wandering around like accident victims, not able to think and barely able to function.  I think it's called shock.

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The Emperor Is Going To Look Fabulous In This

The system doesn't work.  Now that it's finally and completely collapsing, maybe it's time to get a new system rolling, one that's a bit more equitable for a whole bunch of people, and not just the chosen few.  It should be fairly obvious to everyone that the class system doesn't work.  And the United States has had a class system going since the get go. 

First you got the pit bosses, politicos, the money boys.  They who call the shots, the populist puppet masters, keepers of the flame of money.  This is the class of the rich, the all powerful and all knowing, damned near godlike in their elevation.  This slender bit of spectrum rules over all else, decides for all.  The commonality is the righteousness, the hunger, the thirst, stockpiling, never, ever having quite enough.  But in actuality having money enough to choke a horse, more than they could ever possibly spend, more than they could ever eat, more than they could ever take with them.

Then a very broad and free ranging middle-class, from the private schools to the ghettoes, from the hill houses to the railroad tracks.  America the beautiful.  It's a class stuffed with dreams and go get ‘em attitudes, magic in the air and a very real sense of possibility.  The class of education and free will, America's middle class is lusted after the world over. A golden sugar coated fantasy and just about as healthy.

Then we've got the low life poor, the ones who never count and are barely seen.  Native Americans were the first in this esteemed line of scum produced by the U.S.  Other cultures have swirled and blended their religions and cultures through the fringes.  The poor, the crazy, the disenfranchised, the elderly, the destitute, all these have their special place among the lowest of the classes.  Their numbers grow, but dispassionately we say, the poor are always with us.  Yes, the poor are always with us, so I guess that makes it ok.

Truly this is a system that does not work, a bloated mass choking itself to death.  Mortgages and bad credit flutter through the air, desperately trying to breathe through the polluted haze of freedom.  Irrationality and suspension of belief are necessary to float the boat on this, the free enterprise system, classes A through C. 

How to get involved with helping the environment

There are a multitude of things that can be done for the environment. The little things count for a great deal. The quick and easy version is shutting off the lights, heat, and water when not in use, or switching over to energy saving light bulbs, or keeping the refrigerator door closed while you're thinking about food. Energy saving appliances can be purchased and certainly, all recycling helps the environment. It is easy to sort paper, plastic, glass, and metal once you get your containers straightened around. Then you start walking, a little bit here, a little bit there.

Read more. . . .

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