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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Dear Diary 12.21.13

  The year is just about finished yet the entrails of unhappiness lingers. Countless millions are unemployed, the economy is stalled into the wilderness among the brush and dust of the withered plants of unfulfilled dreams.

  Those who have the power to change the circumstances have no idea which way to turn, they are frozen by their ignorance or indifference, perhaps by their self serving advisers. Nothing is being done, the stagnant waters swell with the decay. The mold and mildew seething into a sauce of dissatisfaction boiling over into the frost of days without sun.

  To distract the dissatisfied hungry idle the illegal immigrant society in America is being singled as a problem needing current attention. Finally eleven and a half million illegal people who came here looking for ...? whatever? are getting the eyes of the government on them. Uncle Sam is trying to find a way to assimilate them into the mainstream of America. One condition for their 'legal' status being discussed is to have them pay back taxes.

  There is not a word mentioned regarding the corporations, companies and people who employed these 'illegals', no mention of any possible penalty for those who gave these foreigners a reason to come here. No mention of the negligence of the government for not addressing the issue when they were 'only' one million illegals. No one did anything, those who were aware of the influx closed their eyes, looked the other way or were bought into blindness. Yet, there is no dialog as to what punishment should befall them. They who caused this abundance of cheap labor producing windfall profits for companies who never reduced prices or paid fair wages for their services. Why are they not being discussed anywhere. Why are these companies not being investigated, brought to trial, if not in a courthouse how about the court of public opinion.

 Today it is winter, although the cooler temperatures have already set up shop around the country, the chill in the air is breathing a frost on compassion, causing strife before winter, and still, millions are unemployed, millions are illegal. How can the nation weather this storm of discontent.

 Corporate employees as well as government personnel seem to be exempt from accountability, their wrongdoing is nonpunishable, except in the case of misuse of funds. Some corporations are penalized for wrongdoing by paying fines which are never received by those who have been wronged, instead the bounty is recouped by legal fees and the government. These monies go to the government but never seem to trickle down to benefit the governed. Politicians who were poor when first elected to public service are millionaires upon their retirement.

 Originally, America was a consumer driven economy, the consumer, you and me, would vote with our hard earned dollars where to spend our money and what to purchase. It seems this is no longer the American way, competition is being or has been choked by 'the economies of scale', large businesses who can buy goods in bulk at much cheaper prices than the 'mom and pop business' drive smaller competition from the marketplace. We no longer have local eateries, or variety stores run by families. Every city has the same clothiers or mercantile with facades that look like warehouses, no windows for browsing or investigating to choose whether or not to walk in, you must walk in to see what is being offered and because there is no competition theirs is your only choice, No longer are products advertised with integrity, no longer are goods expected to perform as advertised. You got what they got and if you don't like it you do without. Ah, yes, the prices are cheap, goods produced in countries which have never seen 'one of those' have no idea how they are supposed to work, or why someone would buy one. Eateries are all the same, every town visited has one of each of the fastest saltiest food, again putting mom and pop into retirement. For persons with limited income there is no choice, no competition, these monopolies are the new face of America along the roads that are so large they divide communities making a walk across the street impossible. When you call a company you no longer speak to a person, you answer to a computer, over and over again, trying to make yourself clear, heard or understood.

 Integrity, an unknown word at the end of twenty thirteen, making the best is no longer a mantra, making more and more is what matters. Call someone about your charge account and the computer you reach will only answer select questions, all other inquiries must be addressed at their website, where you send a message and wait and see if you get an answer.

 Medical insurers are also trying to monopolize their business. Last year they tried to put locally owned pharmacies out of business by offer cheaper prescriptions through their owned mail order pharmacies or mega shops like Walgreen or Walmart.

 Democrats and Republicans alike, have stalemated the nation by refusing to compromise. The President misspoke about his health care, repeatedly, and then the all important roll out failed. Maybe we ought change our name to 'Murphyland' everything that can go wrong does. It is for us to decide is this incompetence, indifference, negligence, fraud or simply laziness.

 Reducing government at this time will increase the unemployment rate to catastrophic proportions since manufacturing is obsolete on these shores. Education ineffective, which is a nice way of saying our children are falling on their scale of competitiveness in the world arena.

 Since we are already over our heads in debt, investing a little more in educating the unemployed is probably money well spent. Overcoming ignorance may get us some individuals who have some good ideas to turn around our boom bust economy hopefully preventing another greater depression. But already the seeds of the newest world war are being sown. China wants the water and islands close to them as their territory, they are increasing their military, probably because there is a slow down in economic production for them also, and they must find something for their millions of millions of young people to do to earn an income, so why not get them ready to dominate the world.

 Fast food and television is probably making our kids crazier than they have to be. Ever sit in front of the television to watch a program to be bombarded by commercial after commercial selling stuff by persons yelling and screaming, a good way to agitate any age, younger persons full of energy just explode and have no way to expend that energy. Their parents work more than one job, with little time to spend nurturing their offspring, not even the energy to cook a meal. So what is left, a bunch of baby boomers retiring on social security with their medical issues in hand, but the separation of the masses continues to isolate every individual into striving alone in this 'sea of troubles'.