The Time To "Remember When..." is NOW!

OK, I'm 44 years old now...so I guess that officially makes me old enough to remember when.

I remember when most Americans made a decent living, owned their own home, weren't completely saddled with credit card debt, paid their bills on time, weren't worrying about foreclosure and laughed at the thought of buying a Japanese TV or car. Those days really weren't that long ago!


Here it is 2010 and what do WE as a country have to show for it? Not much from where I'm sitting. "American Made" usually means overpriced and poorly made (in the eyes of the global economy which we are now a part of, whether you like it or not). Look at everything you own...how much of it was made overseas? Look at your car, your TV, your cell phone...hell, look at your clothes...where were they made?

Sure, you saved some bucks...but at what cost?


How many people do you know who's job has been "outsourced"? If you know one, that's too many. Sure, people in other countries need jobs too...but do they really need OUR jobs? The reality is this: American corporations have raped and pillaged our country. Sure, lets save production costs, get around the unions and charge at an 80% profit margin. While we're doing that, let's keep the American poor REALLY poor, abolish the middle class and piss all over the American dream.


I recall vividly a conversation I had with two friends when we were in fourth grade. We were discussing what we wanted to be when we grew up. This was 1976, our nation's bicentennial. I wanted to go into show biz, my one friend wanted to be a doctor and the third friend, and I'll never forget this until I die...said he wanted to "go where the big money is and get a job in the steel mill". At that point in time, he was correct in his thinking. At that time, a job in the mill would make you a very nice living. You'd be able to afford a house, a new car every couple of years, and have the money to raise a family and put your kids through college. It was only a matter of years after that that the unions destroyed the steel industry. Don't kid yourselves, that's what happened. The unions pushed too hard and destroyed the corporations...and the corporations have finally had the last laugh.


Steel work was a hard and often dangerous job. The unions were right in making sure the workers were taken care of...but it got out of hand. Things like triple overtime for working on Arbor Day...what a joke. The unions proved that they were just as bad as the corporations. So what do the unions AND the corporations have in common? Simply put: GREED.


Call it whatever label is comfortable for you. Call it "special interests". Hire someone to lobby for you. It all boils down to greed. That's the problem with our form of capitalism. It makes us WANT to cut off our collective nose to spite our collective face. Few of us ever look at the long term effects of this form of greed...we just want to fatten our own wallets and too bad for the other guy. Well, the time has come for all of us to pay.


Our country is in a mess. We the people elected a president who promises us change. It's coming...slow but sure...with a fight at every turn. And who's behind most of those fights? If you're thinking "Tea Parties" and fringe groups, you're wrong. Its corporate greed. Change will necessitate a dismantling of old policies in favor of new; a new status quo. It will most likely also turn billionaires into mere millionaires. And gosh, who could stand that????


The corporations are the ones behind your Tea Parties. They failed at attacking our changes for a better future for all so they've hidden behind the mask of Joe the Plumber. If they brainwash the masses with bumper sticker slogans their lies become accepted truth.


I remember when a trip to the doctor was normal. We all went for regular check ups. We ate healthy, got exercise and the biggest fear was cancer. Fast food was a treat not a diet. Now you hear about more types of cancer than ever before, we have AIDS, and even mold can kill us. We, as a country, have become sloths. We have hundreds of TV channels for our Japanes/Chinese/Taiwanese TV sets and little reason to get off of the couch. We can lay there waiting for our unemployment checks and watch lying idiots like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, etc... spout more slogans that they are PAID to spout. And who pays them? I'll give you a hint: it starts with a "C" and sounds like shmorporations.


I'm lucky. I have a job that I love. It doesn't pay crap but I love it. I finally have healthcare again. And I'm also lucky enough to have a heart condition that will hopefully kill me before this country completely flushes itself down the toilet.


Do you remember when things were better? I do. We can make it better again...together. Like the old saying goes, united we stand, divided we fall.......