Swan Song For America?
Welcome, my friends, to the American Nightmare. We live in the land of Greed and Hungry, a place our parents and grandparents would barely recognize. Certainly our forefathers would throw themselves back into the grave out of shame if not disgust. Truly, this is not the America I grew up in. Nor the America I hoped to pass onto my own children.
Our nation is on its heels, and about to exit the world stage, to join the other mediocre has-beens from history. Look out, France, Germany, England, Spain. You’re about to welcome America to the “meaningless rant from a former superpower” club. May we serve you well. We bring hamburgers and hot dogs as our contribution to continuing your mission of world abomination. Soon, our shattered masses will stand on the shores of defeat and agony, as we join the EU on the sidelines.
To the victors, China, India, the South American nations, and those wise enough to capture our spoils: Good luck. Another round of fiery young ones will one day put you down, too.
How did we arrive here? That, friends, is a very complicated question. There is the old favorite, NAFTA. But we can look beyond that and we encounter sloppy schools, Wall Street Greed, hometown greed, greedy credit cards, greedy consumers (unwilling to pay enough for a TV to employ the neighbor down the street). There are plenty of places to put the blame. And this includes you. And me.
I fear that our hunger for ever cheaper, but nicer, “things” has brought us to where we are. One day, I picture myself telling my grandchildren: You have not been able to succeed in life because your granny and I wanted that 50 inch plasma screen so much we put it on a credit card. However, we also wanted the BEST DEAL. So, we bought a model made in China. Nevermind that they are ALL made in China these days. That is a different, but connected, discussion.
Since the Wall Street bigwigs, and any company with an ounce of self-preservation, also knew this, they did what made sense for THEM. They moved their factories, and American jobs, to countries where they could work CHEAP.
And boy was it cheap.
Until now.
Now, it seems very expensive indeed. With unemployment approaching 1920’s depression-era levels, and no sign that anything will improve, we are only beginning to see the massive cost to us. And our children. And grandchildren.
My home is in foreclosure. There is a good chance yours is, too. If you are like me, you could give a damn. Don’t get me wrong, I loved this place. I had a lot of good memories here. The last few years, though, have been miserable. Medical and financial concerns have devastated us. The upside down housing market didn’t help. Recent figures suggest 14% of folks are in the same mess. Welcome to the boat, my friends. Too bad we forgot how to row together. I guess we’ll just drift on the current and hope for the best.
Washington and Wall Street remain un-phased. The indomitable American Spirit gets bandied about a fair amount these days. Don’t know about you, but I am tired. Maybe tired enough to throw in the towel and let the country crumble. Some experts say that is exactly what we SHOULD do. Who am I to disagree?
As I write this, foreclosures are the highest in history. My local area, Tampa Bay, Florida, has the highest number of bankruptcy filings in history. We did that, too. But it’s business as usual at Bank Of America and Wells Fargo. While we toss in the towel, they order 500 more, with designer nametags. The hundred million dollar salaries roll out like nothing happened. No, this is a hurricane for the poor and middle class. Wall Street and Washington have no reason to fear. Nor should they. The American people have been so snowballed by the so-called two-party system that most believe an honest debate is taking place. Reality is, one political party is twin to the other.
Meanwhile, the banks continue to manipulate the market. They control housing prices by holding millions of foreclosed properties back from sale. This is called “shadow inventory”. If they unleashed these millions of properties simultaneously, a house would drop in price to almost zero. They can only hold this shell game up for so long, though. It WILL crash. Louder than last fall.
At that point, I hope you have a plan for your family. Maybe a garden, some chickens, something to stave off the desperation. I know, I know. It sounded ridiculous to me, too. Right up until I found myself in this situation, and decided to learn a little about our country, and economics. The American Ponzi Scheme is about to fall.
But that’s okay. They will still have filet mignon behind the armed gates in the Hamptons and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Good luck, my friends. I think we will need it aplenty.
Apologies if it seems a rant. I had to share my thoughts.
Welcome, my friends, to the American Nightmare. We live in the land of Greed and Hungry, a place our parents and grandparents would barely recognize. Certainly our forefathers would throw themselves back into the grave out of shame if not disgust. Truly, this is not the America I grew up in. Nor the America I hoped to pass onto my own children.
Our nation is on its heels, and about to exit the world stage, to join the other mediocre has-beens from history. Look out, France, Germany, England, Spain. You’re about to welcome America to the “meaningless rant from a former superpower” club. May we serve you well. We bring hamburgers and hot dogs as our contribution to continuing your mission of world abomination. Soon, our shattered masses will stand on the shores of defeat and agony, as we join the EU on the sidelines.
To the victors, China, India, the South American nations, and those wise enough to capture our spoils: Good luck. Another round of fiery young ones will one day put you down, too.
How did we arrive here? That, friends, is a very complicated question. There is the old favorite, NAFTA. But we can look beyond that and we encounter sloppy schools, Wall Street Greed, hometown greed, greedy credit cards, greedy consumers (unwilling to pay enough for a TV to employ the neighbor down the street). There are plenty of places to put the blame. And this includes you. And me.
I fear that our hunger for ever cheaper, but nicer, “things” has brought us to where we are. One day, I picture myself telling my grandchildren: You have not been able to succeed in life because your granny and I wanted that 50 inch plasma screen so much we put it on a credit card. However, we also wanted the BEST DEAL. So, we bought a model made in China. Nevermind that they are ALL made in China these days. That is a different, but connected, discussion.
Since the Wall Street bigwigs, and any company with an ounce of self-preservation, also knew this, they did what made sense for THEM. They moved their factories, and American jobs, to countries where they could work CHEAP.
And boy was it cheap.
Until now.
Now, it seems very expensive indeed. With unemployment approaching 1920’s depression-era levels, and no sign that anything will improve, we are only beginning to see the massive cost to us. And our children. And grandchildren.
My home is in foreclosure. There is a good chance yours is, too. If you are like me, you could give a damn. Don’t get me wrong, I loved this place. I had a lot of good memories here. The last few years, though, have been miserable. Medical and financial concerns have devastated us. The upside down housing market didn’t help. Recent figures suggest 14% of folks are in the same mess. Welcome to the boat, my friends. Too bad we forgot how to row together. I guess we’ll just drift on the current and hope for the best.
Washington and Wall Street remain un-phased. The indomitable American Spirit gets bandied about a fair amount these days. Don’t know about you, but I am tired. Maybe tired enough to throw in the towel and let the country crumble. Some experts say that is exactly what we SHOULD do. Who am I to disagree?
As I write this, foreclosures are the highest in history. My local area, Tampa Bay, Florida, has the highest number of bankruptcy filings in history. We did that, too. But it’s business as usual at Bank Of America and Wells Fargo. While we toss in the towel, they order 500 more, with designer nametags. The hundred million dollar salaries roll out like nothing happened. No, this is a hurricane for the poor and middle class. Wall Street and Washington have no reason to fear. Nor should they. The American people have been so snowballed by the so-called two-party system that most believe an honest debate is taking place. Reality is, one political party is twin to the other.
Meanwhile, the banks continue to manipulate the market. They control housing prices by holding millions of foreclosed properties back from sale. This is called “shadow inventory”. If they unleashed these millions of properties simultaneously, a house would drop in price to almost zero. They can only hold this shell game up for so long, though. It WILL crash. Louder than last fall.
At that point, I hope you have a plan for your family. Maybe a garden, some chickens, something to stave off the desperation. I know, I know. It sounded ridiculous to me, too. Right up until I found myself in this situation, and decided to learn a little about our country, and economics. The American Ponzi Scheme is about to fall.
But that’s okay. They will still have filet mignon behind the armed gates in the Hamptons and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Good luck, my friends. I think we will need it aplenty.
Apologies if it seems a rant. I had to share my thoughts.
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