byte&chew

HAPPY 2012

Going the way of dinosaurs

With Christmas behind us and the new year a few days away, I would hope that we’ll be spending some time both reminiscing about the year just past and reflecting on what our future may hold for us. I believe 2012 will be a very important year for our country and for each and every one of us. As the middle class has been watching their standard of living fall over the past several years, with wages stagnant for the past 30 years, we all have to wonder at what point this will bottom out and, what will our standard of living look like by that time this decline is reversed. Unfortunately some would like to reduce this topic to no more than political rhetoric blaming George Bush or Barack Obama or their respective political parties. In fact the issues go way beyond Bush and Obama and will continue into the future beyond whoever may be elected in November. We have a worldwide economic crisis on our hands the likes of which none of us have ever seen and yet the political chatter we hear on this blog and most media is in most part nothing more than platitudes. The so called presidential debates on TV have been a shameful spectacle and a waste of time since the candidates are not prepared to be honest with the American people and discuss the issues and solutions since they fear losing their popularity. First, the average person is unforgivably ignorant of the issues, second, most candidates don’t have a clue as to what to do and third, if they did, the proposed solutions would not be acceptable to the average voter. The reason people would not support the appropriate steps is that most of those steps would require personal sacrifices and a change in their lifestyle. Telling people what they don’t want to hear is not a winning strategy for winning a popularity contest. So what are these issues and what are the steps most people would not support? In my opinion there are many, but the two that jumps at me are the issues of energy (oil) and its cost. Related to energy is our sacred cow the Pentagon and, our unchallenged and unrivaled military spending. For the past 30 to 40 years we’ve seen the cost of energy skyrocket in price while at the same time, developing countries such as China are evolving into energy consuming societies. As more and more of our disposable  income is directed at purchasing energy to drive our vehicles and heating our homes, less and less money is available to buy those “finer things in life” thus our standard of living goes down. (So are the jobs) It’s estimated that we waste from 25% to 50% of all energy resources and, where at one time due to its low price it was tolerable, it’s now breaking the bank. Some 40 years ago President Jimmy Carter proposed an energy policy that would make us energy independent within 10 years and the voters terminated his political career quickly. As I claimed earlier our military spending is directly related to our energy issue since for the past several years we’ve had an ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan that no politician dare call an “OIL WAR”. I also don’t need to remind you that “military anything” carries an inflated price tag.(Remember the $600 toilet seat) President Eisenhower warned us of the financial and political power of the Military Industrial Complex, but several of our large corporations deleted that message from our history and our memory. I believe that until we address these two issues in a serious manner our standard of living will continue to fall and the middle class will shrink to the point where it will no longer influence political decisions and direction. At that point we will have a two class society where the disparities between classes will determine if you receive healthcare or not or if your children receive an education. The whole notion of the “American Dream” will be just a memory, owning luxuries such as camps, boats or snow machines will be nothing more than quaint stories told by grandparents and recorded in family photo albums. I believe that there are enough remnants of the government of the people, by the people and for the people to re-ignite the flames of our democracy, but only if the people wake up soon and become involved. It’s almost time for New Years Resolutions and I urge all of you to become informed and, involved in saving the middle class from extinction.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

       A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you who continue to follow byte&chew

Bah humbug

Thanks toonist

More of the same with a twist

The other day while I was doing some mindless chores, my mind drifted to the issues that got us in the financial and social mess we’re in. Why is it that I can’t go to any store and buy something that was made in this country and what impact is that having on our unemployment numbers and standard of living? Why is everything being made in China? If domestic spending is 70% of our economy, then I’m sure the impact is significant. I keep getting the feeling that the middle class, of which I’m a member, is being dismantled piece by piece, job by job. The process has been going on for a long time, so slowly in fact that, the busy “working class” never noticed. What kind of society are we turning into? From where I stand, it appears to be a society of “haves and have-nots! At a time that politicians of all stripes are yelling jobs, jobs, jobs, none of them dare speak about what happened to the jobs we once had and, what really caused them to go away. The other silent killer of the middle class has to be the cost of energy. (And there’s a relationship) When crude is at $100+/bl and gas is selling in the $3/$4 range, heating your house costs $3,000 to $5,000 a year, then add to that the $100+/m electric bill and the average person doesn’t have much left to spend on anything, even if you’re lucky enough to have a good job. You can say what you want about any of the politicians be they Republican or Democrat, but I don’t believe they will resolve our economic issues as long as the large corporations own them and Washington. Our economic problems took several years to evolve to where they are today and I have to believe that it will take just as long to be corrected or morphed into something different/new.(A generation that won’t know the difference?) Who would have believed that Richard M Nixon was initiating the demise of the middle class when he was cozying-up to the Chinese back when? (Maybe we should have nuked them instead) We also have to keep in mind that, as the middle class struggles to survive, the 1% are doing very well. just take a look at corporate profits and corporate CEO’s salaries and their partner organizations that are directly supporting the corporate bureaucracy. These folks are making money hand over fist and you can bet your last dollar (pun) that they want to maintain the status quo, including corporate control of Washington through their lobbyist. At the moment the only hope I see are the demonstrators voicing their frustrations by occupying various parks around the country. (We should all be there) You can bet that winter won’t arrive soon enough for the 1% Wall Street Types who hope the bad weather will freeze the demonstrators out. It could be that the long hot summers of the 60’s will take second place to what may happen during the summer of 2012. In Berlin, those who are hanging their hats on the biomass plant and the long shot possibility of an aircraft manufacturer co-locating are setting themselves up for disappointment. Too many believe that the biomass plant will turn Berlin around, but that’s not an opinion based in fact, it’s a wish. We’re still “hung-over” from those prosperous days of old, but as one former councilman once said, “40 lousy jobs” won’t even come close to creating the economic activity the pulp and paper mills produced. I believe Berlin has roughly two years to put a plan together for the creation of a new economic base. Why two years? The next two years will see hundreds of construction workers in town and that will lift the economy significantly, but once they leave we’ll be back to square one and, we will again struggle to survive. ……By the way, when I gaze in my crystal ball, I get a vision (Maybe it’s a mirage) of Paul Grenier being our next State Senator. I would bet my last dollar (no pun) that Paul is obsessing at the thought that John Gallus has to be getting ready to pull the plug on whatever the Senator has been doing in Concord.  I bet that in two years, John Gallus will give his “honor” the nod and, Paul will have a clear path to Concord using his perceived accomplishments/propaganda in Berlin to launch his campaign.  Just remember, you first heard it here, on byte&chew!

Let's try and see..........