Sunday Thoughts on Monday | The State of Things

I’m an avid news reader and thanks to the WWW I’m not limited to mainstream media’s idea of what news items make money rather than reporting without bias. Even better than that is being able to read comments on those news articles that allow them which is rapidly becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Because of this ability to read not only various daily news items but the feedback on these items as well, I’ve had several thoughts running around my head of late. Thoughts mainly revolving around our new president and this stimulus package package that was recently passed.

Any one of these ideas might be worth a post and may very well be in the near future but since time is limited (and because I’m headed out this afternoon for a 2 day trip to the Boston VA and I need to get ready) I’m just  going to list some of these thoughts in no particular order.

So…

• No, Obama is not a socialist nor is he a communist. He wasn’t Muslim either. Get over it.
• Yup, he’s black. Get over that one too.
• 95% of Americans alive today wouldn’t know a communist if they were dropped into the middle of Red Square in 1960 and bumped into Nikita Khrushchev. The other 5% wouldn’t either.
• Same goes for a socialist. The majority of Americans simply don’t have a clue despite what they may think. Why should they?
• America (meaning the USA) is a republic whose political structure is based on democracy. It’s economical structure is based on capitalism. For the most part each individual state in the union operates autonomously. Among the towns and cities and their various political structures there’s a fair helping of democracy, socialism, communism, nationalism, feudalism and more all mixed together. The phrase “melting pot” does not just apply to the people.
• About 95% of all comments I’ve read on news items about the economic crisis and the stimulus package are complaints, rants and insults (some racist). Around 5% actually offer productive insights into the situation.
• The current economic crisis is real, no doubt. It’s also 100% uncharted territory. If someone either professionally, politically or otherwise states they know what to do, they’re blowing smoke…period. No one knows what do to do. It’s a “take it one day at a time” situation for now.
• Today’s crisis is not comparable to the Great Depression. It’s 2009 not the 1930’s. Think about it.
• It took a second world war to halt the last depression, it was never “solved”. Think about that also.
• Obama never said the economic stimulus package was going to solve the crisis. It’s a “jump start” only. Let’s just hope the engine catches.
• No, tax cuts alone would not have helped. Not even a little bit. Tax cuts alone never helped before so why should they now?
• Bush, McCain and others warned congress that this crisis was going to happen back in 2002 (and even prior to that). Congress ignored them. Fancy that.
• Only the American people along with a great deal of damn good improvisation and flexibility by the Federal government can turn this current crisis around.
• Most Big Business mainstream players today will either adapt or fail entirely. Guess which one of the above two options will be the most common.
• Things are going to get worse before they get better and it’s “We the People” that will determine whether we make it through this or not. The question is whether “We the People” are still capable of weathering a bad storm or not.
• And no, it wasn’t just the government that caused let crisis happen in the first place. It was just one of the many players.

I know that a few might take umbrage at some of my thoughts listed above but then again, they’re only thoughts. And that’s what this blog is all about—thoughts.

It’s a rough road ahead to be sure. The kind of road that this country (and most of the rest of the world as well), as it exists today, has never dealt with before. The old ways of doing business either politically or economically have come to an end and, to my way of thinking, the American people have been way too complacent about it up to now, myself included.

At present it’s more akin to sailing an early 19th sailing vessel through a hurricane in that there’s going to be a whole lot of “sailing by the seat of your pants” and not much else for awhile. Let’s just hope the captain and our fellow crew mates know what they’re doing.

And I’d bet that I’m not the only one whose had thoughts running around their heads these days. Anyone else?

See you in a day or so.