I Kan't Spell

 
My take on the current state of the Union and whether or not you should build a bomb shelter.

I used to be a fan of a conspiracy theory back in the day. Between 9/11 and Bush propaganda it was all I could do not to go to someone's website and regurgitate their theories onto my friends and family. I would look at the Fed, the war, the melting glaciers, and yes... Roger Moore and spew out whatever they would give me.

And then something happened... I grew up.

In the midst of all things awful and evil I became a conservative independent willing to accept the fact that my own merits and will are more viable barometers of life then that of unforeseen measures taken by an "all encompassing" force of evil. Whether that force be self-righteousness, self-servicing, or even self-preservation I knew that in reality it had no real hold over me.

It occurred to me that every conspiracy theorist I knew was someone who was losing at life. They were usually in their mid-20's, completely unhappy, smoked a lot of pot, really enjoyed the "cutting barbs" of adult swim and usually crowded into bars with like minded/like life people to discuss the discourse of their own failures. Now...when I say losing at life, I don't mean that they weren't rich or didn't have an "important" or "respectable" job. I mean that within every conversation of liberal, holier than thou, fighting for the little guy, the government is evil, and "Why why why poor poor me" there was this stagnant under current that they wish they had an important or respectable job and they wish they were rich. So to me they were losing. They were impotent fake peopole that had nothing more than their own misshaped roads to blame.

The impotent cries of a generation raised by uneducated, yet, motivated women have turned the lower middle class into a mired pit of shrieking complacency. The empty one handed back patting of the "lost" people who claim to know that what the greater good is...is deafening to those who watch from elsewhere. They always remind me of the kid in class who wasn't picked for dodge ball and so dodge ball to him became "stupid". "Go play your stupid little game. I don't need you." This stench clings to walls I am still surrounded by in adulthood.

With all that said I have come to the conclusion that my own efforts will shape my own existence. If I want to move to Alberta I will. If I don't believe in this country or it's merits any more then I have a choice to leave, take action, or bury my head and protect my family. But...what I won't do...any more... is proclaim that there is a force with my intentions in it's clearing wake that I cannot control. Being informed and having opinions is important... claiming that we cannot change our own plight because of a conspiracy or simply "bitching" about said issues... those days are done.

So with that air cleared... it's time to state the semi-obvious.

We may be fucked.

Let's look at some of the key points of interest that usually give the state of the union a nice temperature:

Education

Economy

Defense

Environment

Let's look at the Economy first:

My current life and career aren't in any great jeopardy. I have no ill signs of losing my job or being concerned that the prices of general commodities and goods have gone through the roof. I'm sure that most of you are not tragically bothered by it either. However, I would start to prepare for leaner times. I would also start to prepare to take advantage of the leaner times the way any smart businessman would. I would bet against the house as the odds have shifted out of it's favor.

We all notice that there are tell tale signs that we are headed for a recession and possibly worse. The U.S. Government has been waiting for the other shoe to drop since we went off the gold standard. Our 8.5 trillion dollars in circulation have become nothing more than Bernanke bucks. Backed by only 4 trillion in gold and steeped in debt and extreme bail outs from foreign EFT's, and sovereign wealth funds (SWF's)... America's economy, sadly, may not be able to rebound from our current state until our children graduate High School.

The Fed bailed out a publicly owned bank in what could only be compared to Posse Comitatus in the real world. Not only was it unconstitutional, it was dangerous. Taking federally insured money to bail out a publicly owned bank with no such assurance is ludicrous and it sends a precedence that may shake the entire way the United States borrows money. For one day, this was not a capitalist country...Adam Smith threw up all over himself and we became communists.

The possibility that we may be owned by the Middle East and China are very real. A parallel to this would be the great 80's buy up that happened in America by Japanese companies. We took their money. They owned Time Square. This won't be that simple. However, it will be more simple for us to invest with them and to follow their trends.

For example Dubai currently has 85% of the world's cranes building a city out of the dirt. I don't need to tell you what you should be investing in. There are ways to benefit from our own economy's misgivings.

The state of the U.S. Economy is dreadful and unfortunately... it is going to get worse... much worse. Let's figure out a way to rise above it.

So... what do we do?

Well for starters you'll want to start investing in SWF's, international markets (esp China and India) and seriously give thought to the idea that the United States may not be the place to raise a family in the near future.

When Jim Rogers and other guru's started to denounce their citizenship and move to evolving 3rd world countries my ears perked up. Then again... they also perked up when "smart people" bought tracks of land in Nebraska to brace for the Y2K fall out. However, Y2K was a light switch that was either going to turn off or on and NO ONE knew the answer to it. Luckily, the lights turned on.

This time it's different.

When the U.S. dollar gets taken off the Oil standard and our 40 permanent bases in the middle east are left to rust over due to a new Democratic president... what happens to America as being the only Super Power left? Where in the chain will we be served our meals? Who will be the first country to attack us on our own soil? What happens when 90% of the DJIA are 50% owned by SWF's and EFT's?

Education:

The days of middle class affluence, while truly ending 30 years ago, have now come to a screetching if not freightening hault.

Our primary and secondary education systems were built to shuffle 18 year old men into blue collar jobs or the military where they knew how to obey orders, stay still, and be rewarded on tasks taking no more skill than pulling a lever. Unfortunately, the times have changed and the matriculation of blue collar jobs have evaporated into no jobs.

New jobs are not being created. Unless you call the idea of looking for new jobs for people without jobs – a job... then I can't imagine you'll find too many people bubbling about the idea of the "new dawn" popping up.

Mediocre colleges have become a complete waste of money. The idea of creating a support community or possible peers is the only purpose it currently fulfills. It establishes you a line of credit for which to pay off for the rest of your life and it shows your future owner (employer) that you are now able to borrow money, sit still, obey orders, and pull a lever.  Quite an improvement I must say.

Now the bad part... because that was the good part.

Inner city and rural schools have become all but a waste of money at this point. The traditional methods of teaching and in-turn learning have showed children that there is 100% no reason to care about school. If you have neither the ability nor the means to attend college then why attend High School at this point? This is becoming a more accepted principle among not only students...but also the community and even parents.

The entire system, on the level of preparing our children for a future via public primary and secondary schools, is broken. It is non-functional and makes no sense. There is no overhaul in the future because of the gigantic teacher's union who don't want to lose their jobs or even worse... change what they do. There is also no chance for a change because schools are Federally run through assistance programs.

And the answer is...:

In my humble opinion, each school would have to be a microcosm. And each curriculum, and environment would have to be different.

The funding for the schools would have to be the same but you can't run a school in Detroit the same way you run a school in Chevy Chase.

Parts 3 and 4 coming soon...

Link posted by JVMM : 12:28 PM