Sunday, March 7, 2010

Is this all there is?

You cannot say the Obama administration has been a boring event for our country, but I am personally getting bored with the repetition of the health care debate and the constant promises. At this point, I see our country going no where but it is also a world wide dilemma in one form or another.

I was surprised this morning when I found a link to a Frank Rich column in my Twitter list. Frank Rich writes for the NY Times and is definitely anti-conservative. He is a great writer, but I have disagreed with his opinions in the past. You may access his post at this link . His opinion was concerned with President Obama's first year in office and how he is handling the Health Care process today. Mr. Rich has written may opposing articles about President Bush, but since Mr. Rich is a liberal, I was taken back when I read Mr. Rich's article about President Obama.

I wonder if everyone is as skeptical about our economy as I am. It wouldn't matter whether a Democrat or Republican was in office at this point - we are in a mess and so is the world economy. Who would have thought Toyota vehicles would be having mechanical problems. Toyota had one of the highest rated reputations for a good vehicles in this country. It was to be admired. It's like the really smart brainy kids in school who went bad. Shocking! The US financial markets are in disarray. Retailers are struggling to sell their products. This all didn't start yesterday and we can blame the political for number one, having their hand in the pot and two, not doing anything to solve the problems sooner.

For years the citizen were and still are very irresponsible with their own finances. We can point our fingers at the politicians almost 95% for their misdeeds but we have to take some of the blame too. I believe it all started with the generation of my adult children. My parents worked through the depression then worked hard to get what they had and keep what they had. They retired comfortably and could enjoy life free from financial worry. Then my generation came of age and mass marketing became a new way of life. But I remember we were one of the last of our crowd to get a colored TV.

Market maneuvers were different with my kids and their friends and through TV commercials they wanted everything they saw then and now and they wanted it now - all of it. Credit cards were abundant and the companies didn't care who they sent them too - mommy and daddy would pay it, or so the companies were banking on. In the last ten years mortgages were given away to people who couldn't afford them. Foreclosures and bankruptcy became common and those words were no long evil as they would have been in my parent's day. My kids have friends who think nothing of charging a bunch of very expensive electronics and knowing they will file bankruptcy without any concern for their future or their children's future. It has all been too easy for my kids generation and those who followed and are coming of age now.

Who's fault is it? I put the blame on multiple sources. TV commercials, public and friend pressure, weakness of character which lacks responsible decisions, and also our elected officials who allowed companies to take advantage when we were so ignorant. Also, we depended and needed Fannie and Freddie to obtain real honest low cost loans to purchase home - but we were dupe by the same elected officials who put voted into office to protect these government departments. Then we got organizations such as ACORN who selected only certain folks for loan and knew they couldn't pay for them. As parents we can take some of the blame if in anyway we supported the stupid decisions our kids made which assisted them to overspend or use bogus credit cards. It is very difficult as a parent however to tell your 40 year old son what they are doing is wrong and they will not survive financially. They cannot see the outcome. They have been so brain washed, they have no idea how to save money and leave it alone. It is a sad situation.

It will take years for our country to recover what has taken many decades of overspending by the citizens and politicians. The blame should be shared by all political parties and the citizens as well. It is too sad that our elected officials can't get it together and work side by side. Their egos are too superior and they are more important than saving our country. Today we are so diverse in all realms of life there may be no turning back. The miracle of the Internet and technology has provided us with abundant knowledge but we haven't learned to channel the knowledge to a profitable base to the benefit of freedom and security of our country. Where will the compromise be or will there ever be any compromise? For the future of our country, we must band together.

I am in the retirement phase of my life. I am fortunate to have health insurance and a doctor I like and I also have Medicare. I was told by one of the receptionists in my doctor's office recently that she know physicians who are now refusing to treat Medicare patients because of the Medicare cutbacks by the Obama administration. I feel sorry for those poor souls. It has begun - will there be a turning back. Will there be a Savior to help? God only knows...........

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