An Economic collapse has occurred because Politicians weren’t up to the task of mitigating it. We have failed in electing serious individuals that can make the hard choices when they need to be made and it has become clear that both the economic and political systems are mortally flawed.
As we live our lives and pay our taxes, we assumed our elected shopkeepers are at least competent enough to mind the store as we toil, yet we return to find the cupboards bare. It turns out that competency behind the counter wasn't the nature of the beast. Minding us was.
Citizens who lived through the Great Depression warned us that rose-colored glass is dangerous. They tried to instill the wisdom that each of us needs to be responsible, practical and prepared. In their day, a penny saved really was a penny earned and savings and work were the only true attributes of wealth and capital.
They didn't trust the government to be good stewards so coffee cans and mattresses would again be necessary when the rainy day returns.
Along came the Boom Generation and they spent everything they had and then some. The Boomers had no such qualms with the hand at the till as the Depressers did and the mantra of “can we” won out over “should we”.
By the turn of the new Millennium the debt was so cumbersome it could not conceivably be repaid by the original borrowers. Instead it would need to be passed to their children and grandchildren. Unimaginably in the U.S. over the last nine years that debt has tripled and if the U.S. sneezes...
I'm not sure what generation of grandchildren's grandchildren must now pay off this enormous debt but assuredly the idiom has reached absurdity.
We are now consumers more than producers and the politicians became cheerleaders to the indulgence. The more we spent the better the markets reacted. Spend! Spend! Spend! How the hell did spending by the over-leveraged masses, not saving, become the answer to financial hardship?
They cheered us on knowing the system fails when consumption is halted and it’s hard to get re-elected when the economy is in the crapper. So while we the people were too busy personalizing our iPods, our great leaders were only busy taking our temperature and playing mood ring. Not being the leaders they needed to be.
It’s reprehensible that politicians failed to focus our malaise, however it’s inexcusable that they did nothing to fix the real problems despite it.
A politician’s job has become all about winning elections by pandering to our whims, fears, and imagination. Their job has morphed into the perception of their accomplishments and our tolerance for reality.
Politicians today lack fortitude and conviction as these are counterproductive to electability.
Instead they are glorified vacuum salesman more interested in fundraising and networking than actually solving problems. Not that they have the skill set to even solve problems.
Robert Redford’s famous role in The Candidate had become reality. "What do we do now"...indeed.
I have absolutely no faith in the partisan politician as our savior. Partisan is another way of saying you love Tie Domi if he is a Maple Leaf but hate him if he’s a Hab. He is a laudable or contemptible hockey player based on a logo! This is ridiculous.
Partisanship and pandering to an ideological niche demographic has nothing to do with good governance by intelligent people. There are only good ideas and bad ideas regardless of jersey color.
The candidates themselves are nominated by bag men and the politically obsessed. We should not have the elitist Country clubber nor the nosey neighbors playing kingmakers in deciding who will eventually be making the direst decisions for us all.
These people are not our best and brightest. They are the insincere, ground up and extruded from a flawed system, then molded to appeal to the masses. They are partisan hacks who are merely poll chasers and sycophants to the powerful and myopically motivated. They lack true intelligence and character. They are not leaders.
Democracy itself has let us down for it dictates the populist decision is always right. Remember such a notion encouraged such gems as the sun travels around the earth, the earth is flat, slavery is acceptable, segregation is the right approach and homosexuality is immoral. I don’t want the mass opinion to dictate what is right at all times.
Right now, we need actual leaders not buffoons craning their necks for the cameras, looking to score political points and touting nonsensical answers meant only to ingratiate.
This economic tsunami is happening and we are in that little dory from Robin Williams’ painting in Good Will Hunting with the waves crashing down upon us and there is no land in sight.
The housing market has merely begun its decent into the abyss. Spurred on by the intoxicating interest rates and tax deductible mortgages stateside, this incentivized real estate Ponzi scheme is going to fall like Niagara and the US needs to recover before we can. Unfortunately, all we have is disingenuous and ill-equipped politicians between us and the rocks below.
The U.S., according to Bloomberg has committed $12.8 trillion dollars on their “recovery” so far. That is almost equivalent to their entire GDP and is 14 times the actual tangible currency in circulation. Their national debt has risen from $4 trillion to $12 trillion in nine years with another $1.7 trillion forecasted in the next federal budget.
Now, these are barely comprehensible numbers to we non-shopkeepers and I'm fearful that they mean no more to politicians. It is time to take back the shop and kick out the useless mimes behind the counter. It’s time to realize that their act is about self preservation and that does not include our own.
-as appears in PIE Magazine. Written by Kevin Bubel.
See you next week Top of the Food Chain!
-Life is complicated and far from perfect but it is still great.
