To Save The Nation We Might Try Common Sense

 



 

I am going to approach this economic crisis that we are in, in twoways, the mundane and then, the spiritual. I first want to saypersonally, that I am deeply entangled in what is happening to so manypeople. This is my story:

I purchased a house with my husband that was well within our abilityto support. However, my son has a learning disability and I found thatin the special class in which he was placed, there were no text books,and basically no teaching going on. The only recourse that I could seewas to send him to a special school. The insurance paid forcounseling, but not for diagnosis, which was a $2000.00 expense. Themedication that he was taking was very expensive even with insuranceand so was his tuition. Being hounded regularly by mortgage brokerswho made offers that were so good, while we were unable to continue topay for our son's tuition, we said "yes". Of course, at that momentwhen we promised the tuition payments would be brought up to date, thecloser for the mortgage company comes in with the 'switch' as in 'baitand switch', and we really did not get the mortgage that we werepromised, but we were already too in need of the money to back out.

At this point, we can't pay for food, clothing ,utilities, themortgage and continuing tuition, so we accepted the many credit cardoffers that came in, only to use for living expenses. Without knowingthat the interest rates would only equal a loan shark. I explain mystory because when I hear politicians concerned over the fact that thegovernment helping the people who are losing their homes could penalizethose tax payers who were not abusive, I think that this is ludicrous. I believe that bailing out the institutions who prayed on those of usstruggling so that their executives could bring home embarrassingpaychecks is what is insane.



 

 

That was personal, now, here is what is logical to me. I have beenhearing lately, predictions that this recovery will happen by the endof 2009 or 2010. I still don't see how. The reason that I don't seehow is because there is a difference between a PH.D. in economics andcommon sense. Since the 1980's there has been little governmentregulation of industry and what regulation there was, was clearlyoverlooked. And what has happened? This is called the benefit ofsmall government. No matter what anyone says, we are here because theGovernment wasn't. Let me repeat, this is what happens when thegovernment does not regulate industry. This is no governmentintervention in business. As opposed, to total government interventioninto our private lives as we have had since 9/11. Ok, Business= nogovernment - the common citizen = Big Brother.





 

The average CEO went from making 50 times as much as the averageworker to 500 - 5000 times as much in that time period. So, while thetop of the food chain was experiencing a boom, the bottom wasexperiencing a bust. The cost of living steadily increased as theincomes on top increased, so the rich grew richer, the poor grewpoorer, and the middleclass just grew poor. But no one in Washingtonsaw this coming. No regulators, no analysts, no oversight committeesit was just POOF- it all happened in two months! Almost Supernatural!

In the past two years we have lost over 2,000,000 jobs - more thanhalf of those this year. Millions of families have lost their homes,everything that they have struggled to build. Now, the governmentthinks that putting more money into the banks will help the economyrecover. How? If - the banks lend, it will only be to those will goodcredit which leaves out everyone who has lost their jobs and or homes. Or, it will be fixed by tax breaks. Again, How? If I am an employerwho pays for store space in order to sell shoes that no one can affordto buy - why would I hire more employees to stand around doingnothing? Why would I keep the employees that I already have standingaround doing nothing? What kind of tax break will make this work forme? If the small businessman receives a large tax write-off forlosses, he will be really grateful that now he will be able to make hisown mortgage, he is certainly not going to increase production ofmerchandise that will sit on the shelves because no one can buy. If Iwere a manufacturer or a store owner I would appreciate my tax breakcome in the form of paying customers, after all, to go from 50% ofnothing to 35% of nothing really isn't a big incentive. And I thinkthat I can speak for many Americans when I say that an extra 25.00 inmy paycheck each week would only change how many times a week we eatpasta. Perhaps an extra 50.00 might help us add a steak night. As forshopping, my department store of choice is The Goodwill Superstore andI am afraid that unless the tax break can in effect double our income,or guarantee a future income, that will remain the only other store Ienter outside of the supermarket.

Today, we need 2,000,000 jobs. We don't even have to create anindustry to do it. Hire teachers, hire police, hire firemen, hirehealthcare professionals. Hire laborers to build more and betterschools so that our country can compete in the industrialized world,good clinics so that everyone can receive adequate healthcare. Insteadof guessing how much bad debt the banks have. Let the government takeover the mortgages that are at risk of foreclosure and renegotiateloans with terms that people can afford. Let the government take overthe homes that have been foreclosed on, locate the families and againrenegotiate terms that they can realistically pay. Do this, and it isa win, win situation. The government will see more of its money thanit ever will if it gives it to banks. The school system andhealthcare system will not be the worst one in the industrializedworld, people will be better protected, crime will decrease and most ofall - we will have some money to spend and maybe we will not be soafraid of spending it. Then create a supplemental healthcare systemfor those who cannot afford insurance, and for those medical crisisthat insurance companies don't pay for which destroy the livelihoodsand lives of millions of Americans. All of this, if done, can createemployment today - create spending today, because if we don't do ittoday, by the time the government has created 2,000,000 jobs we willneed 8,000,000.

The Republicans like to call this wasteful spending, pork. Ibelieve that tax breaks, at this juncture, is wasteful spending. Thisis my opinion. Arguably, I am a little miffed. But I would be even ifit was not happening to me because I see what has been going on asunconscionable. You know how I think it could have been avoided? Ithink that if the government renamed the minimum wage a "livable wage",and raised it to meet the increase each year of the cost of living,corporations would have had to raise all of the wages on up and thoseat the top would have had less to steal. In fact, if I knew a ballsylitigation firm, I'd beg for the largest class action suit ever seenagainst these CEO's of Wall street who created this mess, tookgovernment money and still spent in only on themselves while the restof the country lost everything. OK, now this is my non-spiritual takeon this situation. My next post, will be my Spiritual view of what ishappening in the world, why it must happen, and how it fits intoAstrology and the indigenous predictions.

Tags: foreclosure, bankruptcy, failure, obama, policy+change