Between Friends: A Discussion on the Economy

A high school classmate of mine whom I have recently reconnected with after many years was telling me of her consternation over the Obama flap on the Leno show. That's perfectly understandable since, as an admitted Obama voter, I was a little put off by his statement, too. It's certainly not an appropriate comment to come flying out of the soup cooler of someone who calls himself President of the United States.

She was also concerned with how our country is quickly moving toward class warfare and how the political system is just making matters worse. Something she said to me spurred the following response, which I will share with you here. I have added italics to denote my portion of the discussion.

It's unhealthy for the Republicans and Democrats to be this fractured. That's especially true when both parties are this ineffective. This country is completely ripe for a polycameral political system much like you see in European democracies or in Canada. Problem is, the voters in this country and the politicians that could all make this happen are too chicken shit to defy the status quo. In that regard, it is almost embarrassing to be a conscientious voter in this country.

Obama is allowing the celebrity aspect of his office to get to him and he really needs to watch what he is saying. He really needs to get a handle on the state of this economy because EVERYBODY is underestimating the magnitude of our economic situation. The situation is going to get a lot worse before it improves. Throwing money at the AIGs and Citis, Banks of America and JP Morgan Chases of the world is going to solve nothing and will probably make matters worse.

There is a culture of entitlement in the corporate world that is every bit as insidious and profound as the welfare state entitlement they've railed against. Both are wrong, but it is the masses in the middle that are going to be the casualties. When that happens, you've got a class war where the rich accuse the poor of their malfeasance while asking their government to bail them out of their own incompetence and the poor continue to require assistance for basic maintenance of a spartan lifestyle. And who gets the bill: that's right, the middle class who gets up daily, goes to work and pays the taxes that government then extends to the welfare state among the poor and the rich.

What that would look like is three kids on the playground. The bully pushes one kid over another who is kneeling behind the kid getting pushed. The bully is the rich. The kneeling kid the poor. And the middle class is the one getting pushed. And in the scenario, the middle class is the only one really getting hurt.

Look, we all work hard in this country. It used to be that we were all in this together. When did that stop being the case? When did the rich become the enemy of the middle class who has invested so much sweat equity into living bucolic suburban lives where children could be raised in the way that reflected parent's middle class values?

We all want to be a success. But does it really require material possessions and bank accounts with several numbers beyond the left of the decimal to be a success?

The feeling is that the perversion of that concept has caused the rift between classes. It's causing a now elite, corporate class that says that what's mine is mine and what you have I can take away if I can't maintain what I have in the manner I have become accustomed. It's a feeling that is wrong on so many levels, but it still exists and it can't be helped. One can only hope that it can be stopped.

Government is empowered by the Constitution "to promote the general welfare". What that means is that we are all Americans and that we will not let other Americans slip away into despair and poverty. It can't be meant to be a handout and once the help is received that the giver is forgotten. We were once a great country because we worked hard and made things. We still work hard, but we have the con artists who will say one thing and their lives reflect a wholly different ideal.

But we are not making the things we need to sustain a middle class economy in this country. Believe me, I will be discussing this in another segment in these pages (stay tuned). Until then, the hallmark of what created the American middle class is slowly going away and it is threatening to strip away an entire class of people if we are not careful and if we do not hold our government accountable to take decisive, non-political and non-partisan action.

Mr. Obama, it's very nice that you are now "POTUS #44". But you now have a big mess to clean up and America (or, at least, this American) expects action. The legacy of your Presidency hinges on this very important issue. Don't blow it in a fog of bowling score discussions!

Finish The Sentence

Thanks to my former colleague and dear friend Molly for this one

1. A moment ago.....I cleaned up from dinner and loaded the dishwasher.

2. I am listening to....Keith Olbermann tell me how America is "Still Bushed".

3. I talk.....like I have a mouth full of marbles, sometimes.

4. I love......the Ol' Lady and my kitties.

5. My best friend's.... Karen, Wes and Storey.

6. My first real kiss.......is still a pleasant memory...thanx Suzie, wherever u are!

7. Love is......grind.

8. Marriage is........not a bad thing at all.

9. Somewhere, someone is thinking......about sex.

10. I'll always......feel good about being a Steelers fan in Cleveland.

11. The last time I really cried was because......of a memory I had of my mom.

12. My cell phone.......is my home phone.

13. When I wake up in the morning......I usually have a cat sitting on my chest.

14. Before I go to bed......I brush my teeth.

15. Right now I am thinking about......what I will do this weekend.

16. Babies are.....great, and they're even greater when you can give them back to their parents.

17. I get on Myspace......only when looking at someone elses' profile.

18. Today I......took a three hour nap

19. Tomorrow I will be....working 7 hours and change thanx to the overtime freeze at work.

20. I can't wait to.....see the Indians win a World Series!

I'm Rushing To Judgment!

Rush Limbaugh. Rash Limpjaugh. Same difference!!!

For those who don't really know me, I was formerly a Dittohead! I stress the words “was formerly”. I had Dittohead, as if I had a terminal illness. I got better.

Let's not mince words: Ol' Rash is spreading over the Grand Old Parody like...well, a Terminal Illness! Couldn't happen to a more fraudulent political movement. This loud mouthed pot of piss might just be arrogant enough to be the answer to a future trivia question: Who was the opinion leader who talked his preferred political party into its grave? Putting it the way I choose, Ol' Rash can't tell his asshole from his elbow.

Rash is a three-time divorcee, a proven drug addict and a cheeseburger away from a massive heart attack. If he wasn't also a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, he would be a complete basket case.

This is what happens when you allow the nosy and the busy-body hausfrau element of the Republicant Party to control the social agenda. At the end of the day, government should never dictate social policy. Allowing the free market that the Republicants love so much to dictate the ideal social agenda would probably work far better and yield more acceptable results on the American culture. Rash has been a huge cog in informing this segment of the population, even though his personal missteps run at loggerheads with what most social conservatives would find acceptable.

Rash has been running roughshod over the early days of the present administration, encouraging the failure of his agenda. Rash just needs to admit that his candidate lost the last election and if he can't be anything more than a sore loser he can move to another country where his particular brand of liberty will be embraced...can't think of one off the top of my head...America has been the only country tolerant enough to dig its own grave with unregulated capital markets and a government who over-regulates social mores like abortion, the drinking age and marriage.

What the hell could Rash possibly be bitching about? We just spent the last eight years with a country whose federal government invented new and better ways of maximizing the wealth of the chosen few while making it exponentially more difficult for a middle class to exist.

Rash's bed has been made and he still feels the need to stir the pot...wonderful! He should do us all a favor...if he really wants to affect change in government why doesn't he just simply run for office? I know he's said he can't afford the pay cut (likely story). But is the real reason because he'd have to lay himself bare to voters and subject himself to public scrutiny and ridicule over his less than stellar social history?

Instead, Rash chooses, like many of his ilk, to simply be a mouthpiece and to point fingers of blame and cheer on the ruin of his country when we all need to get things together and create a country that goes to values that encourage looking after one another and being a better society and culture instead of leaving everyone to fend for themselves.

We are Americans, no matter what the political preference...we should be great enough to put differences aside and help each other become great again and not simply look out for #1. That's NOT what made America great.

Of course, this is all lost on the Rash Limpjaugh's of the world. He has his own, so should he really give a damn about his millions of “Dittoheads”? I'm sure we can all answer that question on our own.

A Friend Gone Too Young

Many of my friends online, as in real life, are peers...we are the same age and grew up in the same time and are in the prime of life. When a peer dies, at our age, it can be a wake up call. I'm 43. Will Gunther was 47. Between you and me, that is far too young.

I attended Will's wake. We were Jaycees together and the wake was a kind of reunion of sorts among the old Berea Jaycee crowd. We will be meeting soon under much more normal circumstances. It was good to catch up with people that I haven't seen since the chapter dissolved five years ago.

Kim (Will's SO) was holding up very well. Then again, much of her life for nearly the last two years was tied up in helping Will beat the cancer. She appeared relieved. The way she knew things were different...she had to use the keys to get into the house. Her house was locked for the first time in nine months. The last nine months of Will's life he was attended by hospice.

In the end, he was bedridden and unable to speak. If relief was the emotion Kim felt most, I can relate.

I can tell you from personal experience that I was there with my own father. His heart failed him, ultimately. But it didn't last the nearly two years Will's lingering episode did. Nowhere near. But I was relieved when my father passed, if for no other reason that the pain of my mother's death which weighed upon him heavily was finally gone.

Another old Jaycee friend put together a video tribute to Will's life. Will enjoyed himself. He had a great smile. He was always very calm and laid back. I think had most of you met Will, you would have liked him, too.

When people die you can't help but think, even if just for a moment, of your own mortality. But when a person is your own age when death comes, you think of things like justice and how wrong it is that a person in their prime of life won't get to be old.

That won't happen for Will and it sucks that it won't.

But, for the friends he left behind the hope of greater life that is still ahead is what motivates us all to keep going all out everyday.