.... and another thing !
Lately there is the drumbeat of an empty phrase in US politics - "jobs !"
Yea that's a big thing we need. But rather than see what's right in front of their faces if they bothered to take a look or care, i.e. the 20/20 hindsight of history, our politicians refuse to disrupt the current path to ruin and prattle on about government programs, stimulus and business incentives to create jobs. Uh, excuse me, but if you'll look back just 10 or so years any fool will see that there have been so many incentives, and indeed rewards, for taking advantage of third world cheap labor that the mass loss of jobs at home was inevitable.
It's not even funny that our republican party repeats and repeats the theory that:
(sorry-ass theory #1)
If the top wealthy corporations have more money, they will create the jobs we need.
And conversely, if you take money from them in the form of making them pay their fair share of taxes, then that increases unemployment here.
I'm sorry, but isn't it obvious that
IF that were true, since there is magnitudes more money at the top today than any time in history, there would be so many jobs that we couldn't possibly fill them???Don't get me wrong, both parties blow money they don't have like there is no tomorrow (which may be true) and the democratic party is supposed to be a little worse at this than the republicans. So handing out free money to folks that don't deserve it needs to halt in a big way - in fact that would put more money available to folks who actually need it. But they're feeding the mantra that people who have worked their whole lives need to do all the sacrificing, and if there aren't any jobs anymore then who exactly will be those working folks to rob and pillage? I don't think government needs to take more money to spend as they will, indeed they need a big dose of frugality. But they DO need to stop taking it entirely from the sweat and blood of working folk while leaving the manicured hands at the top clean and free to keep every dime they can snatch. I don't know if you guys have heard this, but there are
several multi-billion dollar corporations who pay zero taxes, or very little (like less than the average single worker does). They do this by taking advantage (indeed by writing and pushing bills from their own handwriting through the bought off puppets in Congress) of subsidies and tax loopholes.
Anyway, it's just more of the same warning I guess. I am not on either party's side (or the "third" one either if that counts). My feeling about politics today is that I believe them as long as the don't talk. As soon as words start coming out of their mouths, if it isn't an outright lie to help them get elected next time, it's at least a major dose of spin to help get them elected next time. That's it really isn't it? Politicians don't even have a claim of making a career of steering policy. Rather they pretty much can only claim of making a career of getting elected over and over again. No wonder they are so easy for big money to buy off. Make that harder and make it hard for business to ship out labor to the lowest bidder and unemployment will fix itself.
I'm convinced at least.
Details in Oz are likely a bit different, but politics being what it is, I'm sure we are being patterned the world over as a way to become what I call a "monopolocracy" without firing a shot (at least not directly). We are essentially a shadow aristocracy at best. So as before, whatever you have and whatever you are going through, stay vigilant as you can and try your best to keep the short-sighted leaders from ruining it all for everybody else.
OK I think I'm pretty much done ranting.
As you were.
