Who would have thought just a few short years ago that we were heading into a recession? People were buying houses, two at a time, and joking about early retirement on all the profits they would experience when they resold. Because their houses had doubled in price, people were refinancing, getting home equity loans, and using their homes like piggy banks. They were using their credit cards like there was no tomorrow.
Suddenly the experts were shocked to learn that subprime lending had put people in homes they could not possible afford. (These are the knowledgeable people who give out information like gold on programs like CNBC to calm us stupid people down.) No bank examiners wer monitoring the packaging or ’securitization’ of loans (in common terms known as passing your trash). Either the people in charge were blind, paid off, or grossly incompetent–like ‘Brownie’ who failed miserably after Katrina, then was praised by Bush for ‘great job, Brownie’.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the trillions of dollars spend in the Iraq war has drained our resources and ended up putting all the burden on us Americans. Then politicial officials smilingly assure us that we are raising standards of living for the Iraqui people. That’s wonderful. But we are knee deep in a recession in our own country and that $600 dollars they are supposed to pass out isn’t going to save us.
People all around us are depressed. Suddenly they are unable to make their house payments which interest being adjusted upward. Living in Florida, I see elderly people unable to pay their overinflated taxes and insurance and still pay for food and medicine. Anti depressants are being prescribed at unusually high rates (if patients can afford them).
Politicans are screaming that we need ‘change’. No kidding. Some adults have to be in charge, watching the financial markets here and worldwide and making decisions which protect our financial security. It is interesting that these very politicians who vote us into disastrous situations have the best financial care in the world and should they get anxious or depressed, they can get immediate relief. Those of us who have no medical insurance, medical savings accounts, or several thousands of self payments before insurance kicks in.
People are depressed when they see their dreams fall away and no immediately hope for a turn around. All of us are invested in the stock market in one way or another though our IRAs and 401 k programs or personal investment. We see a crash in the market and feel vulerable again that our savings and hopes for retirement will be wiped out.
Why are retail sales falling? We are afraid to spend money on anything not essential. Why are the sales of cars falling? Same reason. We are all of us-except the super rich- concerned about what lies ahead. We don’t know if we will be able to send our kids to college and even if we do, will there be a job waiting or are we importing people from other contries to take good jobs our people need. Why do we continue to increase the number of work visas from places like India when large companies are laying off tech workers, knowing they can get foreign workers for pennies on the dollar? No wonder we are depressed.
Depression is anger directed inward. Let’s start focusing it outward, raising hell with our representatives, and throwing the bums out of office who have not served us but served their own needs. Let’s build the border fences, use high tech surveillance, and keep the invaders out. Let’s give huge fines to companies who hire employees with bogus identies. It’s time to let the people in charge accept that they serve at our will, and we can dump them at our pleasure. Let’s start pressuring these huge companies who send jobs overseas with whatever tactics that get their attention.
Listen up folks. It’s a matter a survival for us and our way of life.
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