I Wish I Had The Answers

Today's post will be two things, a) short and b) serious.

No Pope, no silliness.

I was reading an article in Time Magazine the other, by one of their regualar columnists, Rana Foroohar; the article was entitled "Don't Hold Your Breath", and was an examination of the so-called economic "recovery" that America is currently experiencing.

In the course of the article, Ms. Foroohar quotes from a study that she does not name, that, "Half of Americans say they couldn't come up with $2,000 in 30 days without selling some of their possessions."

Half of Americans say they couldn't come up with $2,000 in 30 days without selling some of their possessions. Even though Ms. Foroohar doesn't name the source of her information, I have heard other quotes from this nameless study, and frankly, I believe what I hear.

Now I realize that $2,000 isn't a paltry sum for most people; it sure isn't for me. But, my goodness, its not the national deficit either.

I would like all of you to think about that statement above once more, and ask yourself: could I raise $2000 in 30 days without selling some of my possessions? If you can't, then that's a problem, not only for you, but for your country. If what Time Magazine says is true, half of the citizens of our great land are within spitting distance of insolvency, because, to me, that's what it means when a person, or a family, cannot raise cash to satisfy short-term emergencies. And when those emergencies cannot met without some kind of outside aid, that's when the real trouble begins. We all know about payday loan houses, defaults, credit cards with 30% interest rates, "underwater" home mortgages, all the things that go hand in hand with not being able to raise $2,000 in 30 days without selling your TV or your good silver.

Please, I'm not attempting to blame anyone here; see the title? Yeah, I wish I had the answers. There's a really nice house, right next door to me, sitting empty. The owners, good people, both school teachers, got laid off their jobs last fall, within a week of each other. Goodbye, house, and goodbye to a lifetime full of dreams about and sacrifice towards achieving the "American dream".

Their fault? Hell, I don't know, maybe they were lousy money managers. But I have a feeling that wasn't the case here.

I have no solutions to offer, no profound thoughts or magic wands to wave at the problem, and that's the hardest. I suspect that the majority of the people in America are just like me; I'm tired of all the horror, and there's just so much that it seems impossible to know where to begin to fix things, or even if they can be fixed, and even worse yet, whether or not they should even BE fixed.

That quote by Rana Fohoohar really struck me hard. Half the folks in this country, the greatest country in the history of this sorry planet, can't come up with what amounts less than a month's income, in cash, in an emergency.

That, my friends, is bullshit. And make no mistake here, I am no bleeding-heart liberal advocating the just division of the country's wealth, but I'll tell you this much: when less than 1% of the populace controls over 80% of the wealth of a country, things are out of whack, big time.

2012 is an election year; please, all you faithful followers of the Pope and the All John All The Time World Church, please do two things for me, for yourself and for your country: first, vote. Second, before you vote, do a little research about the candidates and vote smart. I believe we oftentimes forget that our representatives, whether at the local, county, state or federal level, all work for us; we put them there, we can remove them. (Although guys, how about no more fiasco's like removing Gray Davis, the Governor of California, duly elected in the fall of 2002 by the citizens of this great state, and then replacing him less than a year later with the Arnold the Sperminator, okay? Let's not make another smooth move like that one real soon, whatta' ya' say?)

My point is that our elected officials reflect their constituents (think Anthony Weiner or Bill Clinton). Vote smartly, please.

Thank you for allowing me to vent some of my frustrations. If I caused some of you to reconsider some of these same things and maybe make better choices in your lives, then today's essay is an enormous success. And thank you for that as well.

Now, if I can just get the Harley Dog to quit stinking up my office with what my ex- used to call "a smelly", life will be good.

(You didn't really think I could go a WHOLE post and not mention farts, poop, sluts, gerbil golf or Miley, did you?)

Love and my best thoughts for all of you,

PJTT

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