Ignorance is Bliss? OR Let's Pretend We Have Solutions!

Robert Reich, my political and economical voice, has a blog that concisely lays forth an explanation for our economic woes. Does anyone pay attention? His latest post should be submitted to every print and electronic news source as an editorial. Well, with a little fact checking it could actually be journalistic article.

Fair Warning: I am going to state some personal opinions formed by my interpretation of real facts, which I will back up very soon in another post. My intent here is to start a conversation and bring attention to important issues.

The opening of "McCain's Budget Whopper":

"George W. Bush took the largest budget surplus in history and transformed it into a giant deficit. McCain's economic plan, announced today, will to even worse. McCain says he’s going to balance the budget by the end of his first term (actually, he didn’t literally say that – he just “demanded” it – implying that a Democratically-controlled Congress would be ultimately responsible if it didn't happen). And then McCain came up with numbers that will blow the deficit into the stratosphere."

Question is: Will MSM (main stream media) pick up on this and give the topic serious consideration? OR will they believe McCain is going to make the impossible happen?

I am afraid for my son. Unless he marries into big money (like McCain), he will not fair well economically. Lowering taxes for the economically advantaged and promising to reduce this country's insanely high debt is just not possible.

For 5 years, I have known I need to learn Mandarin Chinese. I have taken classes. It seems many are not aware that starting over a year ago, China and Russia have been forging a close relationship. Are some Americans so short sighted that they don't see where this is going?

Here are problems that have become crises because of either lack of understanding, or the short-sightedness of Americans to make decisions based on short term profitability rather than on long term losses to our limited resources.

1. The US government is financed by China, Japan and United Arab Emirates. (I'll add my sources soon). We are digging ourselves deeper every day. Our military was dictated to win a non-war, (my stance is that we are not at war with Iraq, so how can we win a war that does not exist, and what is the definition of success for that war?) while still fighting a different important war that has taken a back seat, and preparing for another. All while we ignore the real threat to the American way of life.
   
2. Young American citizens are not being educated. I have personal experience in seeing that some public schools are just a breeding ground for future prison inmates, not tradespeople, entrepreneurs and future leaders.
   
3. We have a huge population of retirement age, with a very small pool of educated and talented new recruits.
4. The state of Florida had to make huge cuts from an already crumbling school system (ranked 49th in the nation), losing essential staff and hard won teacher raises. This has to be happening in other regions. What is going on with education for the victims of the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina?
5. Our infrastructure is not going to last. The Building of America was the cornerstone of the building of our economy. That was a very long time ago. There is much work to do. We need to replace existing structures as well as build new systems for mass transportation.
6. I was at a young and impressionable age when Carter was president and there was the beginning of a "green" movement. I learned about picking up litter, taking care of our environment and using less energy while I was in elementary school. Seeing all the green talk now seems almost ridiculous. What happened?
   

While I appreciate the true stewards who are genuinely trying to make a difference and bring attention to devastation caused; the only reason this has become a movement at all, is that media and marketers have latched on and wear a green badge of honor, to both present a panacea solution and promote corporate agendas and products.

The panacea solution is willingly accepted by consumers. Talk to a scientist and you'll only hear that we can attempt to mitigate some additional damage, but the dramatic changes caused by our ignorant and gluttonous behaviors of the past have only been set into motion and are gaining momentum. This cannot be undone.