Black Friday

So, retailers did "OK" on Black Friday. Consumers spent.

I have to admit, I still have a problem with blaming economic ups & downs on consumers. The glitch in the economy comes from an entirely different direction. Consumers are the last stop on the block. If an ordinary, average-income, average-type-job American doesn't feel as if his/her finances are secure, they will cut back on spending, perhaps right back to food, clothing, shelter. Now, what makes Joe/Jane Average feel financially secure? A job. A job that pays enough to cover their needs, plus a bit extra for the future. A job that's gonna be there. A job that holds the promise of advancement for good work.

So, you want Mr/Ms Average to spend? Provide them with jobs.

I read a sci-fi story, once-upon-a-time, where the majority of people were on the dole. Their job was to buy, Buy, BUY. The poor were charged with buying up the produce of the automated factories, to keep the economy going.

Sound familiar?

Ripples

I've been told all my life that everything we do has ripples that affect others. These ripples may be bad, or good. We may see no effect for years. But, what we do affects the world around us, somehow, someway, for good or ill.

Now, we have an economic situation where a few people's ill-considered actions are affecting 4.5 billion people. Heck, their actions may well be affecting the whole world. I'm no economist, nor business whiz. But it seems to me that these fools here in America affected the whole world's banking/credit/money market. Or were there fools overseas who hopped that train right with them?

So, are they proud of themselves? If your actions affected the whole world -- wouldn't you want it to be over something to which you could point with pride? Job satisfaction, so to speak?

Are they proud of how they've affected the world? Hey, guys! Would you take this to your mother & say "Look what I did!"?

The Value of America

The DNC is over, and the RNC is about to start (about the time Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans, if it doesn't expend itself over Cuba), and Sarah Palin has been selected for McCain's VP.

Wow! What a race! A black man up for president, a woman up as vp. And a woman as a serious contender for the Dem prez slot. How times have changed! Wow!

But the issues haven't changed. Jobs, cost of necessities, the environment, war in the Middle East. Some things seem more pressing -- maybe it's just that they've been on the table so long, we feel it's time, and past, to solve them.

Or can they ever be solved? Were people fussing about the cost of, say, arrowheads back when they were chipping flint? Arguing about the smoke from the blacksmith's in the Bronze Age? Or the odor from the Healer's hut as s/he made up this year's batch of potions?

Since it seems so ingrained in us, we can assume they were fighting wars over the One, Real & True Faith before recorded history. We know that 5000+ years ago, religious wars were going on -- The Bible tells us so. Whether you believe in the religion it espouses or not, there is little doubt of it's historical accuracy. Anyway, I'd say it's safe to bet that the same thing was going on when we lived in caves.

Somehow, it seems pointless to me. Politicians are NOT Saviors. They are human beings, all too flawed, just like the rest of us. Sometimes, in their quest for power, perhaps a tad more flawed, more jaded, less caring. At best, I imagine someone beginning a political career desiring to actually gain enough power to actually, really change things, make a difference. Over time, the reality of the political arena infiltrates -- compromise, do business, trade this for that, and eventually they become principle-less, all in the name of Power. That's my "benefit of the doubt." More often, I think people who aim for that career are those for whom power is the paycheck.

Here's what I want from the next administration:
A. Rid this country of it's dependence on oil.
1) This will give Americans control. We will not be at the mercy of unstable, juvenile governments, who do not have our best interests at heart, nor even the same set of moral values.
2) It's dirty -- for the environment, our health, and who knows what else.
B. Encourage the development of jobs that pay adequate wages.
C. Make health care affordable for everybody.
D. A Code of Conduct. I don't even know how to phrase this succinctly. But the lack of responsibility for one's actions, from the top down, has gone wa-a-a-y too far. People are people & will err, but when our government, our businesses, our universities, as a body, operate only by expediency and not by values -- we have lost. If we do not conduct ALL the business of America by the values Americans hold dear -- then America has no value.