Sunday, March 29, 2009

Hey! Kick It Into Gear, Middle Class!

We, the hard-working saving American citizens are under attack.

Oh, the blood isn't literally flowing in the streets, but it's certainly flowing out of our veins in an even more horrific way... While we idly watch, we are being economically bled dry and our life blood - our life's savings are becoming worthless. And, we can't do a damn thing about it.

Or can we?

If the hard-working saving middle class pulls it's money out of the saving accounts and puts their cash under the mattress, will that solve anything? Well, it will ensure our money stays in our own hands. We aren't earning interest on this money while the corrupt bankers syphen off their huge bonuses. And, God forbid, the banks can always shut their doors and make our money unavailable to us.

But, should we?

Perhaps that is the more relevant question. I don't condone having a class war, mostly because I'm afraid the lower class and upper class will whip our ass - Frankly, the middle class has gotten soft in the belly. We'd be toast in a class war. Isn't that sad. It is to me. After dedicatedly working for nearly 30 years and living below my means to ensure I saved a nest egg for my retirement years, I can't believe I'm still going to eat dog food in my old age.

So what can we do?

We can vote! We can badger our elected officials and representatives until they heard our voices. We can band together and start looking out for ourselves -- instead of waiting for someone else take care of us. We must DEMAND to make people responsible for their actions. We must DEMAND accountability from those in whom we put our trust. We must DEMAND that our politicians have integrity and act with prudence when spending taxpayer dollars. We must DEMAND a return on our investment as we bail out poorly operated companies (who actually should go out of business.) We must DEMAND that common sense approaches be tried before the more risky scenarios are selected. We must DEMAND that the middle class is respected. Else we are just a nurse cow awaiting to be sucked dry.

When did we get to be so lazy? It's time to stand up and get noticed for being the backbone of this country. It's time to join forces and not let our nest eggs be targeted as the bailout funding source for greedy SOBs in the upper and lower class structures. What? This isn't PC? "F" if I care. Facing extinction isn't very appealing to me.

What about you? Do you want to become extinct? If not, get off your butt and do something about it!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Be Grateful - Things Can be Worse

Today I learned my mother has breast cancer.

Nobody in our family has ever had this disease before. That always gave me comfort. It hasn't happend to us, so our chances of getting this type of cancer were slim. Now we are opening a new chapter in our family history.

Oh, it could be worse. The other cancers that befell family members were fast acting death sentences. It's too soon to know if this is a contained or wide-spread cancer. But, it is a wake up call. Things can always be worse.

We are living through the worse financial crisis this country has seen in at least 70 years, if not the worse ever. That remains to be seen as time passes and the true magnitude of the situation unfolds. A lot of pain and misery is being felt by Americans -- those who have lost their jobs and livelihoods; those who have lost their homes; those who have lost their fortunes. But, everyday regardless of the year and financial situation, Americans lose their health.

I lost my father because he had no health insurance. He could not afford to pay the premiums, so he went without medical treatment that eventually cost him his life. My mother has health insurance and hopefully a good doctor. We are lucky. Many people are not able to get the care they need.

Last week I watched T. Boone Pickins on TV. He admitted he had made and lost three fortunes during his lifetime. He is a living example that wealth is regenerate able. But, once you lose your health, your chances of getting it back are not very good. T. Boone looked pretty darn good for an old guy. Hope Mom is lucky and this just turns out to be a minor bump in a yet longer road of life for her.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Economic Warfare - Wake Up America!

There's a lot of hype these days about the economy and everyone has an opinion. And, so do I.

Attention is being paid to those people who are in danger of losing their homes, their jobs, and their investments. That's the first side of the coin. And, I'm the first to not want to see innocent people thrown out on the street or going hungry because their employer went bust.

The other side of the coin is not getting much attention, and that's where I want to spend my attention today. What about all the people who worked hard, saved hard, and are also being hit hard by the country's economic downturn? Nobody is talking about a bailout for them. No, because they still have some of their savings left. Somehow that money they scrimped and saved now puts a bulls eye on their foreheads to be taxed to cover the money needed to pay down the obscene mortgages of the people who should have know better.

The media hype about the Obama administration is they are turning America into a socialist society. Maybe they are...

As one of the hard working, responsible people who didn't live above their means and saved for their children's college educations and for their own retirement, I am highly resentful of plans to take taxpayer money (my money) and bail out the people who lived it up on credit over the past 10-15 years. Equality opportunity is not about the redistribution of hard-earned wealth to those who could have saved, but chose not to do so. And, that is the truth of this situation. People lived high-on-the-hog and now it's time to pay up. But, those of us who steadily saved and didn't run up their credit card balances should not be the ones having to pay up.

I'm an Independent voter and I am very alarmed at how hap-hazzardly more and more money is being doled out. I know where this money is coming from - the taxpayer's pockets. Oh yes, people talk about how concerned they are -- about when the market will rebound. It's not about the stock market, but what money you have to buy food and pay your own mortgage. It's no longer a question about how fast we can regain our imaginary wealth, but how long we can hold on before one of the foreign countries now holding our national debt calls for payment and then owns America!

If the government drains the personal couffers of the middle class savers, there won't be anything left to anchor us against a financial takeover by an unfriendly foe. This is economic warfare.

Wake up, America!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Dear Mr. President...

Pick one thing and do it well.

That advice was given to me when I was coming up and I believe that is good advice for this new administration. We have a lot of problems to deal with, but can we effectively deal with them all at once? I doubt it. There's just not enough money, time, and people to tackle everything the President says he wants to accomplish.

I'm definately a lefty liberal, but this "be all things to all people" is a bad play. Come on, Obama. You are a smart guy. All you have to be is PRACTICAL. Your credibility is on the line, man.