#1

Well, here goes:

I have been noticing a few things in politics and government recently.  One of these things is that we are becoming a third-world country.  I have heard that characteristics of third-world countries include a national lottery (PowerBall and MegaMillions, anyone?), illegal housing, and corporations moving factories into a country because of cheap labor.  As for illegal housing, one only needs to look for tent cities and parking lot takeovers in high unemployment states.  I would like to talk to one of the now homeless people that had the painful task of training the worker who now does his job.  BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Honda have all built factories in the U.S. because they don't have to pay the workers the same money they would pay in their home countries.  All those factories (except for Honda and one Toyota factory) are in southern and/or right-to-work states.  What does that mean?  Not one of those factories are UAW, and few provide health care for an employee's whole family--usually just the employee.

Another interesting thing was a segment on the Rachel Maddow Show about current trends some states are engaging in. (watch that segment here.)  In this era of tough real estate sales, declining property values, declining property tax revenues, and a crappy economy in general, Nogales, Arizona is turning out the lights.  They have turned off most of their street lights to save money.  Santa Rosa, California, Fitchburg, MA, and Colorado Springs, CO have also turned off or removed many of their street lights.  Colorado Springs has cut 40 police officers from their payroll, as well as auctioning off the police helicopters.  Philadelphia, PA has also tried to cut spending by shutting down three firehouses during the day, and three different ones at night.  In a nation that is preoccupied with security and toughness, why are the most basic things that provide for a secure existence some of the first things to go?

Four other points of interest from the segment:
1.  Clayton County, GA has eliminated the bus system.  8000 people relied on that system to get to work, and they are now out of luck.
2.  To save money in the state of Hawaii, students have every other Friday off from school.  They just shut the schools down.  Happy Friday, everyone!
3.  Over the past year, over 46,000 jobs in education have been lost.
4.  My personal favorite?  In North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Ohio, Alabama and Pennsylvania, officials have thought it cost effective to UNPAVE THE ROADS.  That's right.  Depending on the state and county, small and large sections of roads have been turned back into gravel.

I don't know about you, but I am rather dismayed by this last point.  Our manufacturing capacity has been emasculated, which means that meaningful, well-paying jobs are no longer around.  Business and government leaders have us believe that making useful things is somehow beneath us, and that outsourcing is the way to usher in the era of "globalization" and "free-trade."  Well, the U.S. became a great nation on the back of manufacturing, and has fallen when we stopped making things.  The reason the United States has fallen on hard times is not because of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, terrorism, or any other "cause" of our time.  The U.S. has taken it in the shorts because of NAFTA, GATT, Most Favored Trading Status for China, all the other trade agreements we have entered into, and the actions of Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich.

People say that things change, and that we moved from an agricultural society to an industrial society, and that we are changing again to a service economy, but working people know that these words are the property of the ruling class.  "Service economy" means non-union, low pay, little job security, no power,  homogenized labor tasks, no individuality, no chance to create and offer new ideas (nominally, at best), etc.  (The only exception is the now-dying foodie trend.  The interest in celebrity chefs I think comes from the freedom of creating things for people to purely enjoy.)

Except for Jamie Oliver.  I hope everything he does turns to gold.  He rules.

Anyway, I wrote this a long time ago, and I just wanted to get something on here so I can get started writing new things.  Hope you enjoy.  See you all soon.

Hello!

Thank you for visiting my blog.  If I like this format, I will write about my thoughts on music, politics, culture, art, etc.  If you want to read it, and have some discussion about what I have written, or discussion with fellow readers, that is fantastic.  I can follow your blog, too.

Hope to discuss, argue, agree, scream and shout with all of you very soon.

Tom