Do you remember the joke about the guy who comes across this man one night on the side walk intently looking in the gutter, under the mailbox, behind the trash can...so he asks him, "Pardon me, but did you lose something?" The man replies, "Yes, I dropped my keys."
So the guy joins into the search and together they scour that area - down the sewer drain, behind the light post, under the bench... Finally the guy says, "OK, where exactly were you standing when you dropped the keys?" The man points half way down the block and says, "Over there coming out of that dark alley..."
Exasperated, the guys says, "Well, why the hell are you looking over here?" "Oh, well, "the man replies, "The lights much better, isn't it?"
I have long wondered why we, the citizens of this country, allow the powers that be to get away with the claims they make. After all, the recession is over - happy days are here again! How exactly are they coming to this conclusion? What are the tools they are using? What are the indicators they are considering? What are the statistics they are looking at and how are they interpreting them?
I daresay that for many of us and our families and friends - the recession is far from over - that the recession is, in fact, fast becoming a life style. However, the powers that be like to toss around economic indicators to prove how wonderful things really are - inventories, GNP, and all these measures that I think may have less and less to do with life here on the ground.
I want to see quality of life indicators - I want real wages to be considered, I want unemployment figures that don't write off those who stop looking for work and those who have used up their benefits, and those who traded their $32,000 a year manufacturing jobs for $15,000 a year retail/service industry jobs.
I think we should start "measuring" how we're doing as a nation by how the working individual is faring, not the corporations. I am so tired of living in a country of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.
It is time to overturn the Supreme Court ruling of 1886 in Santa Clara County v. the Southern Pacific Railroad. This is the moment in history where it was decided that a corporation is entitled to the same rights as a person.
We, the people, have been on a downward slide ever since. This ruling, passed at the zenith of the Gilded Age and the peak of railroad baron power, has helped to grind down the working class and promote and protect corporations for over 120 years now. It needs to change.
We are seeing the birth of health care "reform" legislation essentially written by the drug company and insurance industry lobbies. Take a good hard look at what is being proposed, folks. In the name of reform, families will be forced to buy insurance or face fines - that is how we will work towards universal coverage and how the politicians will boast that "X" million more Americans have coverage now. Yes, they are insisting that no one can be excluded for illness.
So families that cannot afford insurance now will receive some tiny stipend towards purchasing a plan that will likely have enormous deductibles and co-pays - all under the control of the insurance companies. Most, if not all, of these newly insured millions will merely join the growing ranks of under insured Americans who are going bankrupt WITH health insurance "coverage."
Nothing in the health plan will force cost containment on the industries in question.
Our politicians sure like "looking where the light is better." But, hey, the next time you catch yourself worrying about how you're going to manage the big co-pay on that bottle of antibiotics for your child because the mortgage payment is overdue again and your boss has just told you that there won't be any raises forthcoming and be happy you have a job, remember, the recession is over - it's time to celebrate!
So the guy joins into the search and together they scour that area - down the sewer drain, behind the light post, under the bench... Finally the guy says, "OK, where exactly were you standing when you dropped the keys?" The man points half way down the block and says, "Over there coming out of that dark alley..."
Exasperated, the guys says, "Well, why the hell are you looking over here?" "Oh, well, "the man replies, "The lights much better, isn't it?"
I have long wondered why we, the citizens of this country, allow the powers that be to get away with the claims they make. After all, the recession is over - happy days are here again! How exactly are they coming to this conclusion? What are the tools they are using? What are the indicators they are considering? What are the statistics they are looking at and how are they interpreting them?
I daresay that for many of us and our families and friends - the recession is far from over - that the recession is, in fact, fast becoming a life style. However, the powers that be like to toss around economic indicators to prove how wonderful things really are - inventories, GNP, and all these measures that I think may have less and less to do with life here on the ground.
I want to see quality of life indicators - I want real wages to be considered, I want unemployment figures that don't write off those who stop looking for work and those who have used up their benefits, and those who traded their $32,000 a year manufacturing jobs for $15,000 a year retail/service industry jobs.
I think we should start "measuring" how we're doing as a nation by how the working individual is faring, not the corporations. I am so tired of living in a country of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.
It is time to overturn the Supreme Court ruling of 1886 in Santa Clara County v. the Southern Pacific Railroad. This is the moment in history where it was decided that a corporation is entitled to the same rights as a person.
We, the people, have been on a downward slide ever since. This ruling, passed at the zenith of the Gilded Age and the peak of railroad baron power, has helped to grind down the working class and promote and protect corporations for over 120 years now. It needs to change.
We are seeing the birth of health care "reform" legislation essentially written by the drug company and insurance industry lobbies. Take a good hard look at what is being proposed, folks. In the name of reform, families will be forced to buy insurance or face fines - that is how we will work towards universal coverage and how the politicians will boast that "X" million more Americans have coverage now. Yes, they are insisting that no one can be excluded for illness.
So families that cannot afford insurance now will receive some tiny stipend towards purchasing a plan that will likely have enormous deductibles and co-pays - all under the control of the insurance companies. Most, if not all, of these newly insured millions will merely join the growing ranks of under insured Americans who are going bankrupt WITH health insurance "coverage."
Nothing in the health plan will force cost containment on the industries in question.
Our politicians sure like "looking where the light is better." But, hey, the next time you catch yourself worrying about how you're going to manage the big co-pay on that bottle of antibiotics for your child because the mortgage payment is overdue again and your boss has just told you that there won't be any raises forthcoming and be happy you have a job, remember, the recession is over - it's time to celebrate!
2 comments:
The biggest problem with the traditional unemployment figures is that we have so many people in this country working anywhere from two to four "part time" jobs to get "full time hours", but of course they get NO benefits that a traditional 40 hour work week job historically got. I don't think the full impact of this is reflected on "traditional" employment statistics.
I was horrified the first time I learned about that Supreme Court Ruling, while watching the movie "The Corporation." Well, at least that's the first time I remember learning about it (did we learn such things in history classes at LT? I think I slept through many of those classes!)
Anyway. Most people don't know about that, and when I mention it, they don't believe me!
We must become a more informed and active population!
Carolyn Mason
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