Thursday, May 20, 2010

Building from the inside out

4/8/10
Building from the inside out
The economic recovery... which led us out of the Great
Depression, which began with the Stock market crash of
1929...was built upon job creation from the New Deal...We put
our citizens to work... We built our country up... from the inside
out....sewers, roads, bridges, tunnels. We built our great
cities.....we connected the country...one mile at a time.
Certainly preparing for the 2nd war in Europe and Asia... also
galvanized our hard industries and harvested the best of our natural
resources ...we built or converted our factories to aid the massive
War effort...We also unlocked the secret of the Atom...giving birth
to the nuclear age...by the end of WWII in 1945... the United
States entered into the greatest economic growth period in our
history.
With a world win under our collective belts... and an arrogant
attitude to go along with it... we could do no wrong...We produced
everything...and... in so many industries... All of this was done...
within our own borders... with our own hands. It was a financial
bonanza that spread across the country and was very evenly
distributed... in fact.....a new term was created... the middle class.
Even though...while we, as Americans, only represented 6% of
the World population, we produced 50% of the goods in the
world. That is a staggering statistic...Wielding this much
economic clout made us quite powerful...and
wealthy...Corporations grew large...people invested in America.
Our government and military and any industry related to
it...became very eager ....to stay very strong... and stay well ahead
militarily.... of any potential adversary...
We had all the “hard industries” one could imagine ..... From
steel to steel wool... cars to carousels...Just like an erector set... we
constructed our way into prosperity. It was all homegrown...our
agriculture and natural resources, were all focused and balanced.
Times were good, families grew... Cities grew, housing was
affordable. The automobile industry was healthy...Made in the
USA...was a symbol of excellence... and...meant
something....people had jobs....education...once a dream for many
immigrant families became mainstream and economically
feasible... Life was good and improving for many Americans.
The space race was on....technology was underway...our defense
was building and we “Were the Champions of the world”
We reached 1960 with a new young president ... JFK...we referred
to this period as....Camelot... likened to the beautiful, yet
somewhat fictional realm of King Arthur and his court. Jackie
was the Queen. John John, as they called JFK jr.. and Caroline
were america’s first children..
Fast forward like a flash to 2010.
In just a few generations....50 years....we have somehow,
squandered what got us there..... and... in so many ways... we
have come apart at the seams...
Have we become so intoxicated by our arrogance and success that
we have been blinded to the following realities of where we are as
a country in 2010?
How about a 50 year report card?
Our steel industry .... gone
Automobile industry ..... gone
Computer hardware... gone overseas
Road, bridges and tunnels and cities..... deteriorating
Factories and manufacturing facilities.... all overseas...
Home values... depressed
Foreclosures and repossessions..... exploding
Middle class.... evaporating rapidly
Unemployment--- 20 million and going up
Poverty ... widespread and increasing
Political and religious tolerance....... strained and divided
Teachers- being reduced in number
Government Debt........... beyond comprehension
State Governments............ financially failing
We have virtually... let deteriorate.... all the basics that made
us strong and have forsaken the people who got us there...
In exchange, we somehow have inverted the triangle so that those
at the very top have benefitted greatly...that being the major banks,
and defense industries and large corporations with dominant
special interests from our Government.
.... Including control of the Media...resulting in widespread
confusion for many Americans.
Those at the top are cleaning up.... while the people at the base
of the triangle are being left to wither and die....the rich get
richer and the poor get poorer... and its tough kanoogies...
Of course... to the powers that be..... Their delusion...is that they
believe that continuing of this path will bring us back to
prosperity.... It won’t...It can’t....They know this ...They want a
status quo at all cost... even as we bankrupt ourselves into oblivion
and we burst apart at the seams...
We can not possibly survive this unless we commit to rebuilding
ourselves from the inside out. That effort must be built around
job creation and bringing hard industry back to our shores.
Every able bodied person can be put to work to rebuild the
infrastructures required... sewers, roads, bridges, tunnel, water,
cities.....
We must recommit to retraining the trades and providing jobs for
all student coming out of schools...
Teachers and teaching as a profession must be refocused and
supported, otherwise our great colleges and universities will
become ghost towns except to the rich and privileged, who are in
no danger anyway...endowments will continue to deteriorate...
Jobs and rebuilding the infrastructures of our country must
become our #1 priority.. Our resources must be reallocated away
from areas of dominance...such as: futuristic defensive strategies
and war efforts and space exploration and be re-directed towards
people, cities and states....
Manufacturing within our shores must become a priority, those
industries which can be revived must be supported along with
international trade laws swinging back to us.... instead of the other
way around... its time for the boomerang to return....
A strong financial America will always be good for the world. It
always has and always will be...
We already have the technology and nuclear know how to
annihilate populations and destroy our adversaries... Why push 50
years forward in advanced warfare strategies? Or spend billions on
regional ground conflicts....that do not work to beget peace.
Unless critical decisions are made, which are dedicated to
rebuilding the central core of our country from the inside out,
which create jobs for its citizens...we may suffer the same fate as
the Roman Empire... who.....in their quest to dominate the world...
Came apart at the seams from the inside out...and never
recovered...