Well…have been reading the polls lately and one thing strikes me as a great example of the schizophrenia that the US electorate suffers. Why is it that the Democrats are always held responsible for everything, even things that are out of their control when the repubs can screw the whole country and preside over the greatest redistribution of wealth upwards in history and no one cares? I think it may just be ignorance since the leaders of the repubs proudly display the lack of “book learnin’” and exhort their followers to demonize those who have advanced degrees and who can think. If they could, think that is, they would remember their 11th grade economics that taught that employment is a lagging indicator in any recession; especially one this severe. I am kind of hoping that the repubs take control of the House so people will have their memories refreshed on how bad their policies are for the working people of this country…geez….
Monthly Archives: September 2010
It’s those changes again….
Well…it’s been a weird morning…decided to go out to GH to see the waves and even wanted to go swimming but the temp of Lake Michigan has dropped about 10 degrees and it just wasn’t worth it. The Moday funday yesterday was a somewhat melancholy affair, at least for me, because it marked the acceleration of the changes that will shortly take us quickly into the fall. I do like autumn but it is much easier for me to lie to myself that I’m not getting older, that time is not passing when all of the days seem the same. I could see the first small markers of that change in some of the leaves that I saw turning on the bike ride and lining the road to GH. The problem is, you can’t do anything about it; but it is still hard to accept, especially when you know your are closer to the end than the beginning. I guess I’ll just have to try to ignore it again….but that never works….maybe just revel in the melancholy, let it have me for a couple of days and then get up and go forward…..
September 7th
Well…there was Monday Funday yesterday to celebrate (or mourn) the end of summer…had fun at Logan’s and was a good boy when I got home so I feel okay today…there was a huge traffic jam on 131 coming home because of an accident so it took me almost a half hour to go 13 miles….I don’t understand why people can’t just drive past a wreck….there was one open lane and no one could drive past it faster than 5…not a lot to do today, hope to get back on the bike since I gave my legs a rest yesterday and they do feel better; not sore at all but I’ll take it easy anyway….I will have some topics later, I hope,….more later…
A short comment on Labor Day…
Well…since it is Labor Day, I think it’s appropriate that I comment on the role of labor in our society and what I see as the demonization of labor, and the active, organized program of the right to destroy the unions and put the worker “back in their place”. One of the assertions that is always made by the new robber barons is the reason for moving jobs offshore is that American labor just costs too much; all the while the compensation gap between the CEOs and general labor is at it’s highest point in history and the real cost of labor is the same that it was 30 years ago. So, who is it that costs too much? The question that I always ask when discussing this problem is “how much is enough?” If the CEOs would halve their pay, saving the company millions, then how many workers could be retained? Is the man (or woman) at the top worth hundreds of workers?
I think we are now seeing the true cost of the hollowing out of the middle class and the elevation of the CEO and banker to godlike status….and the scapegoating of labor for all of the ills in the economy…it is time for us to stand up and say enough…without the American worker and consumers there would be no economy for the right to distort; there would be no money for business to steal, and this wouldn’t be the great country that it is. Let’s hope there is still a reason to have a Labor Day next year….
September 6th
Well…had to take yesterday off for a recovery day but was bad again last night so we’re back on the recovery today….but I am going to go out and get coffee and read the papers…so I’ll try to get something topical out later today…might have a Monday Funday later since it is a holiday…..more later…
September 5th
Yeah, I know, I’m late this morning…had way too much fun yesterday and Michigan won,,,yay! Started out the aft at Peppino’s downtown but 7 dollar draft beers? So, we moved over to OT for the rest of the game but didn’t watch much of it since we were playing shuffleboard and, of course, K and I won both games we played…that gets us to 23-2 when we play together. It was nice to have a few of the group back together if even just for the day. I’m debating with myself whether to go out for a bike ride but I probably will if just to get the toxins out. No sprints today, just a cruise.
Oh, a one last thing, I did buy a slow cooker yesterday and made some chicken, potatoes, carrots, and corn on the cob…well..don’t want to cook any other way….some of the best, most tender chicken I can remember….can’t wait to have the leftovers today….
Go Blue!
Well…it’s been a long time coming but the day is here for the real college football to start with Michigan taking on UConn. We also have the State game at noon along with Notre Dame and Purdue. So, it should be a fun day…not a Sunday Funday, but a fun day nonetheless. Whew…any time I have to use words like nonetheless I cringe a little..but just a little since it fits so well. I am a little concerned that we are going to have another season like last year…I don’t know if I can take 3 losing seasons in a row and I can’t remember that happening since I have bee a fan. Could they turn into the Detroit Lions of college football? I shudder (literally) when I have those thoughts. At least we have hockey starting in three weeks if this goes bad. Or, State, since they are both Michigan teams, I have to root for them, too, and there is a little connection for me to that school since my daughter graduated from State a few years back.
Any other sports? Well, there is the Nationwide race from Atlanta under the lights for later if I make it that far…guess I’ll just have to pace today and stay to the one beer and hour limit…which is a good idea anyway and saves me money.
September 4th
Well…another boring night at home but feel okay today…the change in the weather has been a little surprising but at least it’s not raining anymore. I DO have something to do today…yay! Going out to watch the Michigan game against Uconn and it looks like there will be a few of us at Peppino’s downtown. Had to look all over this place for my gear but found the shirt and need to de-wrinkle it so I don’t look too sloppy. I think I’m going out to get a slow cooker today and maybe cook some chicken, potatoes, and corn….should be yummy…more later…
I DO have to wish two of my sons happy birthday today…yep, two of them born on the same day 3 years apart…but the even weirder thing is that my oldest brother and I were born on the same day 13 years apart….match that one…
I think they may have won….
Well…have been reading a lot today…yeah, I know, I do that everyday but today it seems that an idea has formed that I wasn’t even thinking about. Weird, huh? Not really, I’ll bet that happens to everyone…we have this long, protracted recession on our hands and one thing that I haven’t heard anything about is the decline of the middle class and it’s effect on the recovery. Since 75% of the economy is consumer spending, when the consumers have been squeezed as they have been by outsourcing of jobs, wage cuts, and rising health care costs, the engine of growth that used to be the middle class can only sputter. It has been an orchestrated attack on labor by the right and business that has led us to these straights; where the average worker makes less today than he did 30 years ago but the top one percent’s share of the economy has grown from 9 percent 30 years ago to almost 25% today. It is clear that it has been the goal of the right to decimate organized labor but I can’t understand why this same labor keeps voting for them because they will “get government out of the way” and allow them to keep more of their money. But more of less wages is always going to be less than what they would have had if the playing field wasn’t so tilted to business. And, the repubs have their thumb on the scale taking more and more from you and me and giving it to the rich.
I’ll end with a question that I now ask of all business but was originally aimed at GM: “Who is going to buy your 40 thousand dollar Suburbans when the middle class is destroyed?” I think we now know the answer….
Why are they rooting for the US to fail?
Well…a thought came to me this morning when I was at the coffee shop reading the newspapers. That’s not the only place thoughts come to me but it seems that way sometimes…and it was not really a thought but a question. Why are everyone on the right rooting for the US economy to fail? Whenever more bad news is reported, the commentators that call themselves patriots on the right gleefully gloat that it’s all Obama’s fault and that nothing he has or will do will have any effect. This has been true for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, too, and I wonder why no one on the left is calling them on this ghoulish behavior.
I know why they are doing it, it’s just more of the scorched earth policy that the right has used since the early 90′s; led by the same guys, our old buddies Newt and Karl. When are we going to start recognizing that these two are responsible for most of the rancor that passes for politics these days? But it doesn’t have to be that way…we can change it if we just stop listening.