LEAVE IT TO PEEVER
Economic woes
-Bumper
sticker of the week: IÕd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. Picasso
-Quote of
the week: ÒWith money in your pocket, you are wise and handsome, and you sing
well too.Ó Yiddish saying
ÒFormula for
success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.Ó J. Paul Getty
-Poor us:
Kiss the economy goodbye. Our greed and insatiable quest for profit has caught
up with us. ItÕs time to pay the piper. The great reckoning is upon us. A few
comments:
* You canÕt cheat
people forever and expect it not to catch up with you. Most bankers will cheat
you at the drop of a hat. Used to be you trusted the local banker. He, (seldom
a she), was held in high regard. Now you better hold on to your billfold when
you get near one. For twenty years or so they played on our fantasy that owning
your own home was the ultimate in lifeÕs pleasures. Find yourself a home, weÕll
take care of the details. So we bought, and we bought, and we bought. Ends up,
we bought ourselves right into oblivion. Now, bankruptcies and foreclosures are
at an all-time high. Financial institutions, propped up on our overzealous
purchasing of the American dream, are dropping faster than BushÕs popularity.
And guess who gets to bail them out? A lose, lose proposition for the middle
class.
* You hardly hear a
word about the Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars. Does anyone say that perhaps
spending an estimated $2.4 trillion on an illegal war over a decade might just
in fact kill our economy? No, theyÕre too afraid. Afraid that we might think
they are un-American. Unkind to our military. Whinny liberals. Traitors. At the
beginning of the new millennium, this might well be the stupidest thing we do
in a 1000 years. And we can all be proud to have been a part of it. ItÕs the
war, stupid.
* The name of the
game in the financial world is to get you in debt. Credit cards are nothing
more than a way for financial institutions to get a monthly check from you, the
sucker. TheyÕll give you credit for $500, or $5,000, or $50,000, and you send
them a monthly check to pay off
the interest. The principal always stays there. It is estimated that we spend
15% of our take-home pay to pay off debt. A mortgage works much the same way. You
pay off most the interest, than start on the principal, which would be the
actual amount you borrowed. It all works to the advantage of the rich, who are
willing to share their riches with us, at a price. When these schemes break
down, like they currently are, who pays the price? You guessed it. You. Who do
you think will buy back our repossessed homes, after years of us paying mainly
the interest, at bargain basement prices? Congratulations. YouÕre catching on.
And who bails out the financial
institutions carrying on this deception? Ah, now youÕve got it. Watch how much
we pay the CEOÕs of these failing companies for their total ineptness and
thievery. None of it should surprise you. After all, you know own them.
* Capitalism requires
profit. No one argues with, if you make an investment, you should get a reward.
But when you are allowed to make an unlimited reward, reasonableness turns to
insanity. The distance between the rich and the poor becomes wider and wider.
The more distance, the less connection to our shared humanity. When Capitalism
ships all our jobs overseas for the cheap labor, our anger gets directed at the
people filling those jobs, all of whom are filling them to get ahead in life,
the same as we did. There is no talk about companies perhaps taking lesser
profits, paying themselves less. Immediately, it is claimed you are attacking
ÒThe American Way.Ó It is a game that corporate America has us playing into,
hook, line, and sinker. It is a game we can no longer afford to play. You
cannot base an economy on continual growth without eventually causing chaos and
environmental disaster.
-Leadership:
I see we did us a front page article on leadership. I couldnÕt agree more we
need leadership at all levels of government, particularly in Galesburg and Knox
County. What we donÕt need is a masquerade ball. If youÕre going to lead, you
better by ready to walk the walk. DonÕt step forward with your underwear on too
tight. This ainÕt a masquerade ball.