This is NOT a "feel good" post

I just read in the news that Canada now has a more affluent middle class than the United States.  So do several other countries.

On the ever-popular topic of health care, the United States ranked 40th in the world on accessibility of quality health care, behind #1 France, as well as Singapore, Portugal, and Chile, among others.

We've been reading for years about the sad state of our educational system here in the US.  Finland ranks first in the world followed by others like South Korea, Hong Kong, Latvia, and Slovenia.

Our economy statistically is bouncing back from recession at a world-leading pace, but those jobs are by-and-large not the high paying jobs we need.

Now many are questioning the wisdom of borrowing heavily for a college education.  They say the debt students are straddled with when they graduate is way out of line with the modest-paying jobs they're likely to get.  They'll be in debt forever.

Many of our cities are decaying, our roads and bridges are in sad shape, and we're afraid to smile at anyone for fear we'll be called in for "sensitivity training."  Political correctness rules.  

When something goes wrong, it's always that elusive "someone else's" fault, never our own.  Lie, cheat or steal if you have to,  just "show me the money".

We universally think we're the best at everything, when we are increasingly just average at everything....nothing more. 

This is not meant to be a "beat up on the US" post.  Quite the opposite; this is meant to be a "WAKE UP AMERICA" post. 

IMO, and I think my position is probably now a majority opinion, our system is simply broken.  Class warfare is raging.  "I've got mine.  You go get your own".  Tea Party members don't play well with others, nor do their extreme liberal counterparts.  We are our own worst enemies.

We MUST break this.  Our political system is a joke.  The wrong people / special interests get breaks at the expense of the rest of us, which ultimately weakens us all. 

Yet we still strut around yelling "WE'RE NUMBER 1".  We're talking the talk, but we're sure not walking the walk.  How long do you have to be in denial before you hit bottom?

There's nothing we can't do, but a lot of us are going to have to change the way we think before that will happen.

Does anyone give a shit anymore?

Happy hump day.  :)

S

The Tea Party Unmasked

I can't believe the bald-faced lies I hear coming out of the mouths of these Tea Party brown shirts (Nazi reference).  Just as Adolf Hitler, with a straight face no less, said his invasion of Poland in 1939 was in self defense after a series of German-staged "incidents", Rafael Cruz & Co. are saying they are shutting down the government in order to de-fund Obamacare and "make a down-payment on fiscal discipline and reform".

Well gag a maggot!  Let's just call 'em what they really are:  Class Warfare Storm Troopers.

If they're so hell-bent on cutting spending, why didn't they just jump on the Simpson / Bowles bandwagon? 

[Simpson / Bowles was a true bi-partisan committee....technically the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform....appointed in 2010 to "achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run".  Its recommendations were severe yet fair to all, meaning everyone took a serious haircut.  Rich, poor, entitlements, homeowners, business subsidies, labor unions, The 1%....everyone would have to give up something.]

The Tea Party couldn't run from it fast enough!  

"What?  No subsidies for Big Oil, Big Banks, Big Ag, no tax loopholes, no special deductions, tax increases, a hit on capital gains?  BLASPHEMY!"

Truth is, The Tea Party wants to cut spending for everyone except their own.

In fairness, the ultra-left wants to protect their labor union buddies, welfarians, minorities, entitlements, etc, while cutting everything near and dear to the wealthy.  (There can't be a Class War with just one combatant.)

But back to the problem at hand:  there are soundbites all over TV showing Tea Party candidates campaigning in the last election promising to "shut down the government".  They said it out loud, and there is video to prove it.  There is absolutely no way in hell they can honestly say this current mess is the fault of the Democrats.  They picked their fight and got their wish.

And when the economy stumbles, when / if our nation's credit takes another downgrade, when / if we default on paying our bills, when / if interest rates rise, those soundbites are going to come back to haunt them.  

Americans always love to pin blame on someone when things go bad, and the Tea Party will be a sitting duck....it's their mess.  And then maybe....just maybe....rational Democrats and Republicans can get back to work on The People's Business.

Show some spine, Republicans, and give the Tea Party hijackers the boot.  I only pray Rafael "Ted" Cruz' 15 minutes of fame is about over.  Let him go stand in the corner with the ghost of Joseph McCarthy.

S