| When I was much,
much younger it was right after World War II and The
United States had the strongest economy in the world.
Most of our goods were manufactured here and a man could
get a job right out of high school in an American factory
and would earn enough so that he could marry, have two
children, buy a small house and an automobile. His wife
did not have to go to work and could stay home to raise
the kids. As
we all know, things are different today. Both parents
have to work and at least one of them should have a
college degree. Many advances have been made to supply us
improved comfort and healthcare, but we have to pay
dearly for them.
I ask myself:
Could we have avoided the extreme pressures of today's
way of life for most Americans? I think we could have if
we had been smart enough to collectively see into the
future and had taken steps that would have led to an
easier life for most of us today.
Many things would
have been out of our control and we would have had
to tolerate them, but even then we "should"
have been smart enough to see what was coming and take
appropriate actions with regards to situations we could
control. We did not do this.
What
could we have done?
- Oil used to be
$4.00 a barrel, now it is over $40.00. If
we could go to the moon by 1969 we certainly
should have had an automobile by now that does
not depend upon oil for fuel. Why
not? Special interests!
- Most of us use the
same incandescent bulb that was invented by
Thomas Edison over one hundred years ago.
In fact, it seems to me that the bulbs I buy do
not last as long as the ones tested by
Edison. 90% of the energy used by an
incandescent bulb is wasted by the heat
generated. Just think of how many fewer
power plants we could get along with if the
efficiency of our light sources was raised to
just 50%.
- Our country was
made up of mostly farmers over a hundred years
ago and the children were needed on the farms to
help out during the summer. No more
today. The country could save a fortune if
every four years of school were compressed into
three. Most people are working harder today
than ever before with only two or three weeks
vacation. Teachers today are being paid
very well and get tenure and huge pensions.
Three months vacation with pay and all those
holidays during the year – come on!!!!
- Then there are the
government and public service jobs that have
great pension benefits. Nothing wrong with
that, but when the recipients see to it that they
get tremendous amounts of overtime in the years
just prior to retirement just to raise their
pensions way above a reasonable amount –
that’s really milking the cow. And who
pays for those fantastic pensions? The
taxpayers of course!!
- Now lets talk
about real estate. During World War II
rents and prices were frozen to prevent
excesses. Well, after the war there was a
tremendous increase in population (baby boomers)
that drove the demand for living space way up out
of proportion with a corresponding increase in
prices. Where was our government that
should have done something to slow the upward
spiral.
- SUV’s: Now
that’s a phenomenon. Just when gas is
getting more expensive we begin driving around in
gas guzzlers that we can well do without.
SUV’s are being used as automobiles and are
not subject to many of the laws passed to make
cars safer. The bumpers don’t match
automobile bumpers and they are dangerous in
collisions with cars. They are really
trucks that should be treated as trucks.
How come they are allowed on parkways where no
trucks are allowed? Just drive behind an
SUV.
- Budget
deficits. OK! The whole country is
like a person who has spent up to the limit on
all of his credit cards. If he tries to get
another one he has to pay more interest. If
he keeps living on borrowed money he eventually
goes bust. It’s happened before to
countries. The U.S. is not immune.
I could keep on writing
and end up with a book larger than one of those Harry
Potter 500+ page volumes. Would anybody
listen? Probably not: Until they get hit over the
head with something big that really screws up their way
of life. Whatever happens will take place very
quickly. We are like that big bird in Australia
that tries to hide by putting just his head into the
sand. His rump is well exposed for kicking.
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