The U.S. Government's pat answer to every crisis is: throw money at it. I'm pretty sure that businesses like the lending and financial institutions and car manufacturers should be allowed to fail if we were truly a capitalist society. I mean, that's what capitalism's all about right? Survival of the fittest? The almighty dollar? The fact that the government is getting involved in any way smacks of socialism.
And what have the lenders done with the money thus far? One institution in California was able to cancel the scheduled closure of its dayspa (costing over $440K of its monies to keep open) once they discovered that the government was sliding them funds. So thank goodness for that. Other financial institutions canceled layoffs and still managed to get their upper management their paid vacations and perks. And then wound up right back in the same whole they were in.
My uncle is an unemployed schizophrenic that has recently obtained 8 credit cards with absurdly high interest rates that he will NEVER EVER be able to pay off. Through predatory lending practices these financial institutions got themselves into the predicament that they find themselves in. They made their bed, and should lie in it. When my uncle doesn't have the money to pay back his lines of credit--which branch of the government can he approach, hat in hand, and beg for help? Or any average joe citizen for that matter? Who do we turn to when we don't have the money to pay our bills?
When a first-time home buyer applies for a loan, it is the bank that tells him how much he can afford. So he goes for the gusto and gets the house of his dreams that in reality he can't afford. It's then foreclosed on and a limited number of overwhelmed non-profit organizations may or may not be able to provide him with minimal assistance if any. Not the federal government.
When a small business goes under, the fed doesn't step up.
The big problem with every corporation in this fair country is that the people at the bottom can be paid a pittance (even a single person can barely survive on minimum wage) and are expendable-while the guys at the top can't be ousted. There's no cap in place for the amount of money a CEO can make so though a local tire company was closing its plant's doors 5 years ago and hundreds of employees were displaced-the CEO gave himself a $6 Mill raise. He moved the company's manufacturing to Mexico.
What we have left here is a service based economy that pays dick. So wait, the new south-of-the-border employees get paid dick and the employees here make nothing...but the CEOs are rolling in it?
Grab your ankles American workers, cause it's only going to get worse.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
backwards america and africa
It's almost insulting to African culture as a whole that the United States continues its meddling in the affairs of African society with a subtle combination of ignorance and arrogance.
For example: our government continues to make food and supply drops into areas that are completely controlled by militant regimes. These regimes guard with machine guns the food that we've dropped after they confiscate it and cram it into silos, where it rots, without reaching the population because American food is unacceptable for consumption due to the high percentage of foods that are genetically modified in our country (some 60%). Ergo, the groups in Africa won't use it anyway.
We throw money at South Africa's persistent AIDS crisis, as well. We send in psuedo doctors with medication and condoms. Problem is: more than half of them are women, and white to boot. Women are the lesser sex in Africa, and still considered property in many of the African states. Sending women in with valuable information about safe sex is useless, not to mention the general distrust of white people.
Then there are the real cultural problems, such as the fact that it is believed in South Africa that AIDS can be cured via intercourse with three virgins. What Africa needs is education not medications that are dropped with too few doses to be effective and too few syringes to actually be administered and information conveyed by white women.
Africa's poverty is in the global spotlight, but the spotlight could stand to shift toward a focus on inhumane legislation that exists across the continent.
It is horrifying that barbaric pulic executions are the norm. Recently a thirteen year old Somalian girl was buried up to her neck in sand and stoned to death by fifty men with thousands of onlookers that were shot if they attempted to intervene. The girl's "crime"? She had been raped by three military officials, and for this was convicted of adultry.
When the U.S. waged war in Iraq, the rest of the world demanded that we citizens take action against our government-wo why don't we, and the rest of the world demand the same of Africa, where every year mass genocide is committed by every state and province, and these barbaric practices are the norm? The least we could do is cut Africa out of our foreign aid until they straighten up and fly right.
For example: our government continues to make food and supply drops into areas that are completely controlled by militant regimes. These regimes guard with machine guns the food that we've dropped after they confiscate it and cram it into silos, where it rots, without reaching the population because American food is unacceptable for consumption due to the high percentage of foods that are genetically modified in our country (some 60%). Ergo, the groups in Africa won't use it anyway.
We throw money at South Africa's persistent AIDS crisis, as well. We send in psuedo doctors with medication and condoms. Problem is: more than half of them are women, and white to boot. Women are the lesser sex in Africa, and still considered property in many of the African states. Sending women in with valuable information about safe sex is useless, not to mention the general distrust of white people.
Then there are the real cultural problems, such as the fact that it is believed in South Africa that AIDS can be cured via intercourse with three virgins. What Africa needs is education not medications that are dropped with too few doses to be effective and too few syringes to actually be administered and information conveyed by white women.
Africa's poverty is in the global spotlight, but the spotlight could stand to shift toward a focus on inhumane legislation that exists across the continent.
It is horrifying that barbaric pulic executions are the norm. Recently a thirteen year old Somalian girl was buried up to her neck in sand and stoned to death by fifty men with thousands of onlookers that were shot if they attempted to intervene. The girl's "crime"? She had been raped by three military officials, and for this was convicted of adultry.
When the U.S. waged war in Iraq, the rest of the world demanded that we citizens take action against our government-wo why don't we, and the rest of the world demand the same of Africa, where every year mass genocide is committed by every state and province, and these barbaric practices are the norm? The least we could do is cut Africa out of our foreign aid until they straighten up and fly right.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
fashion show
I'm wearing men's shoes. Women's shoes are seemingly intentionally uncomfortable and always less than durable. This is the case with all women's apparel when compared to men's.
According to the signals given by clothing manufacturers, women don't need to have durable pants or rugged shoes. Why would we? We should be in the kitchen, where it's safe and warm. That must be why men's hooded sweatshirts and cots are so much thicker and warmer than women's. If we females find ourselves crossing damp terrain in our dainty footwear, surely a man will throw his heavier-than-ours coat on the puddle, so that we can cross it, unscathed. Right? If we're chilled, that same man can provide us with an additional coat wrapped around our shoulders. Chivalry is still going on in American society.
A female's options are limited in chosing a clothing style that is both functional and affordable. Even rugged athletic women's footwear, were it affordable, is typically colored with at least some small shades of pink piping or some other femenizing, and hideous feature.
Perhaps it is th lack of viable choices in the wardrobe department that leads to so many middle-aged women simply giving up. Somewhere along the way we'll stop caring aout our body's physical health and become more concerned with what garnishes we're applying to it: nail polish, expensive clothes, highlighted hair-and none of it will be done because our tastes run that way. We'll doll ourselves up to feel better about ourselves-because other people will find us more attractive when we do this to ourselves.
Or we begin earlier by deliberately trashing our bodies with an eating disorder, or unrealistic work-out routine that takes up our time (the only amenity we really have in this life) that could be used for personal growth-intellectually, or spiritually. We become obsessed with our bodies' shapes and sizes so that we can slide them into that skimpy, flimsy, designer outfit.
And who runs the arm of the media responsible for guiding the female population towards their emphasized "ideal appearance"? It is a group of middle-aged women and gay men at the helm of almost every fshion and merchandizing firm and magazine across the globe. We'll kill ourselves to look 'fabulous' according to these people's standards, believing that we're appealing to the opposite sex (that's the ultimate goal, right?) and base our self worth on how well we achieve in that capacity. Hmmm.
According to the signals given by clothing manufacturers, women don't need to have durable pants or rugged shoes. Why would we? We should be in the kitchen, where it's safe and warm. That must be why men's hooded sweatshirts and cots are so much thicker and warmer than women's. If we females find ourselves crossing damp terrain in our dainty footwear, surely a man will throw his heavier-than-ours coat on the puddle, so that we can cross it, unscathed. Right? If we're chilled, that same man can provide us with an additional coat wrapped around our shoulders. Chivalry is still going on in American society.
A female's options are limited in chosing a clothing style that is both functional and affordable. Even rugged athletic women's footwear, were it affordable, is typically colored with at least some small shades of pink piping or some other femenizing, and hideous feature.
Perhaps it is th lack of viable choices in the wardrobe department that leads to so many middle-aged women simply giving up. Somewhere along the way we'll stop caring aout our body's physical health and become more concerned with what garnishes we're applying to it: nail polish, expensive clothes, highlighted hair-and none of it will be done because our tastes run that way. We'll doll ourselves up to feel better about ourselves-because other people will find us more attractive when we do this to ourselves.
Or we begin earlier by deliberately trashing our bodies with an eating disorder, or unrealistic work-out routine that takes up our time (the only amenity we really have in this life) that could be used for personal growth-intellectually, or spiritually. We become obsessed with our bodies' shapes and sizes so that we can slide them into that skimpy, flimsy, designer outfit.
And who runs the arm of the media responsible for guiding the female population towards their emphasized "ideal appearance"? It is a group of middle-aged women and gay men at the helm of almost every fshion and merchandizing firm and magazine across the globe. We'll kill ourselves to look 'fabulous' according to these people's standards, believing that we're appealing to the opposite sex (that's the ultimate goal, right?) and base our self worth on how well we achieve in that capacity. Hmmm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)