Although we 'avoided' Debtpocalypse this week, there are things that seem surreal and virtual going on all around us. How secure are we? What's real? What is valuable? What should we be doing? Who is on our side? These are tough questions, and I do not think there are any easy answers. However, if you know what's going on, you can make better decisions than the Congressmen who panicked this week like a bunch of shrupshire sheep.
Obama has no clue what's wrong or how to fix it. Obama parties barefoot while the DOW plummets and the people he governs get poorer. Only 58% of the eligible workforce actually has a job, yet somehow they report unemployment is 9.1%. They talk about how we've had a recovery and how we're close to another recession when most Americans didn't realize the recession or depression ever ended, since we only had 0.4% growth last quarter and they revised the unemployment claims figures for the last reporting season as well. The DOW has lost almost all of its gains since the last election (10,700 on 19 Jan 2010 and 11383 today). Yesterday, White House Spokesman Jay Carney confessed that "The White House doesn't create jobs". The president goes golfing, on vacation, holds birthday parties, and goes to fundraisers. He cares nothing for you. How can he? He doesn't know you.
My mom's brother reported some odd advice from his financial planner. Normally, those people get paid because they recommend investments that earn you money, from which they take a cut. Unless this man is invested in food storage companies or gun/bullet manufacture, his advice is very odd. Among his tips, we find the following:
1. Pay off home ASAP
2. Get out of consumer debt
3. get at least 6 months food supply
4. get a gun
These are illuminating if you know anything about what other people recommend. For months, I have bristled every time they recommend we buy gold. It's not useful for much. Debt is technically slavery, because if you owe money and they call it, they can render you homeless if they like. Not that having the title in hand will protect you per se (Kyoto v. New London case), but it removes one more level of putative tyranny.
We once got stories about how great economic malaise was. Families spent more time together. Old friends reconnected. There were all sorts of amazing and beneficial things about not having a job, 'Funemployment' they called it. Now, the reality has set in.
Earlier this week, I was feeling a bit down about my situation. Since I started here, I have taken in effect a total of 25% in pay cuts. The secretary at the campus to which I have been transferred feels equally dejected, but she pointed out that there are other perks. After all, a 25% paycut beats 100%.
Our entire society has become soft. Few of us have any skills. Few of us really do much for ourselves. We became accustomed to earning so much money and paying other people, and now we don't have that. What we do have escapes us, and in some cases is now lost to us as a consequence. I hear a lot of young women talking about how their boyfriend/fiancee/husband is "going to be a doctor" or "going to be a lawyer", which means that they will work long hours away from home. Doctors and lawyers are important parts of society, but they have a limited utility. In Douglas Adams' science fiction series that begins with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", he shows how earth suffered because they put all the janitors, laborers, etc., on a spaceship and sent it away, only to all die from a disease they contracted from dirty telephones. Earth had lost the ability to do so-called 'menial' jobs.
Earlier this year, I learned another lesson very strongly about what's real. A few nights before he died, I phoned my grandfather to make sure it was still ok to visit while I was up in town on other business. He died the morning before I headed up. However, I had the opportunity to speak to him shortly before his death rather than wishing I hadn't waited months or years to talk to someone. What is most important almost always involves the people around us.
Often we assume they know how we feel, but we must never assume they do, we should let them know.
In the end, some of these changes, while important and urgent, are not things that matter most. Too often, we focus on the good without looking at things that are better or best. We content ourselves with a passing grade when we can do so much more. We content ourselves to do some things and miss out on important things. Just because you're engaged in something that is not evil doesn't mean that it's good. Just because someone says it's good enough doesn't mean it's great or amazing. If you settle, you get what you pay for, and if the price was low, the return usually is too.
People with values are usually better at finding value. I am not sure what the President's values are, but I know they are different from mine. In the end, the only way to vote for someone who shares your values, opinions, principles, and attitudes is to run for office yourself. Most people recognize that they have more important things to do, and rightly so.
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