As the Holidays approach and monetary reports swing all over the spectrum it seems clear to me that after the hype of retail holiday sales, wall street bonuses being way up, and massive government cutbacks proposed to “fix the monolithic budget shortfall” something very fundamental is being overlooked. As Washington tries to convince us and itself that the only way out is for the taxpayer to suffer massive shortfalls on promised programs and pay highly inflated taxes, they fail to even mention let alone address remedy for the root causes of our dilemma.
First and foremost: If this country would/could get its workforce fully back to work our dilemma would pale. Of this there is no question but with acknowledged unemployment running too high and untold numbers of Americans permanently closed out of the employment loop, we will never be able to achieve fiscal stability remotely akin to what we have historically expected. We are rapidly becoming a poor, third world nation. Quite the fall from grace. Now you have to ask yourself why would a statement like this be entertained let alone put into print? Because there are three distinct root causes. And they all involve unbridled greed and a lack of morality.
The Culprits:
1) The American Government.
We are told in school that we have the choice and obligation as to who gets elected but in reality we only get to choose between the lesser of two (and sometimes three) evils. These candidates, whether Presidential , Congressional, Senatorial, etc. are all bought and paid for by big business. And that couldn't have been driven more to home than in the latest election where promoters didn't even have to disclose who they were or where the millions upon millions of dollars spent getting their party into power came from! Who do they think they are kidding with no disclosure? Two years into the current administration it is abundantly clear that the American Public is not who is being represented.
2) Big Business, predominantly Wall Street and “The Banks Too Big To Fail”
Not too much new to tell on this front except to say we are going to pay the price for decades to come. All of those folks laughing all the way to the bank with their bonuses for having pulled the wool over our eyes and getting the government not only to give them billions upon billions of bail-out dollars but far less publicized, the fact that they unloaded all of their toxic waste on us. Bad loans, property that was loosing money and factories stripped of all viable equipment and sent to their overseas manufacturing facilities. We get stuck with the stuff nobody wants, the losers! I imagine there are quite a few billion dollars lost there that will never get recovered ...if even acknowledged. Things they don't want us to know about!
3) Lastly and the most insidious of all, Healthcare:
Here we have a business model that has greed running at such a runaway pace that it staggers the imagination. Our healthcare is no where near the quality you would expect for the price, we certainly aren't in the top ten of countries anymore. The tens of thousands of providers, you know, the doctors and practitioners, who were colluded against by the very hospital organizations and insurance companies they counted on to enable their efforts, have been reduced to nothing more than highly educated employees with no control over the care (of what they used to pride themselves on) given to their patients. Patients that are now nothing more than cogs in the money making wheel. As a consumer hopefully with some kind of insurance, you will never know what a procedure really costs. You will only see the absurd numbers printed out on statements telling you the difference you have to make up for that your insurance didn't pay. Ask for an estimate before hand? Not even for an ingrown toenail will you get any kind of a fixed cost! Yet they prey on the desire we all have been duped into believing, by them of course, to live long lives, and that they can fix anything ...never of course telling you at what price. And if you do become really ill or even just older, the insurance companies will do everything in their power to cancel you. You are expendable, a liability they will do everything they can to be rid of.
Once Upon A Time... as the saying goes, this country was pretty good at breaking up monopolies. But that takes guts on the part of our leaders. They can't continue to be on the payrolls of the wealthy and accomplish that kind of tasking. And they really need a far better moral base to attempt to address injustice. And putting more taxes on the backs of Americans, while all the time cutting promised (and well funded) benefits won't do it either.
Only courage in the face of well financed opposition can solve our problems.
This will be interesting to follow, so keep your eyes and ears out for further developments. I am sure this isn't over yet. In fact I have a feeling it is just beginning?
