The Ides of February
Somehow I lost a post, and I'm not happy about it. . .it disappeared on me. Hmmmm
My state is going down in flames. We have a 800 million dollar deficit, and all industries and citizens are going to feel the pain. It is the 1970s redux. Then, we had a recession, and in my state, 14.5 percent unemployment, which is very high in the United States. In the 1970s, we were bogged down in another unwinnable war, our economy tanked, and people fled south as though there was an outbreak of plague. I did too. I went to Texas. I remember seeing a bumpersticker in Ft. Worth that read "The last one out of Michigan please turn off the lights." (The auto industry was collapsing, yet again.) It seemed like every Northern Midwestern youth had moved to the Southwest. I see the same thing happening now. It is ridiculous that we spend 2 billion a week to fight a war that is incredibly unpopular here and abroad, and our grade schools are closing because of a lack of funds. In my state, the citizens are adamantly against imposing new state taxes. I feel like I'm living Groundhog Day--"deja vu all over again." (Bring back KC and the Sunshine Band and platform shoes) You can't have it all. You can't fight a war, fix roads, fund schools, and provide services if your citizenry will not pony-up the money. But if your citizenry is stratified into the rich and the moderately poor, you are left with the mess we have presently. The rich feel that they have earned their money and shouldn't have to support the poor, and the moderately poor, which used to be the middle-class, cannot afford to pay more taxes. So schools close, services are curtailed, and yet, 2 billion, 2 billion, 2 billion a week is marching overseas. One half of a week of funding for the war in Iraq would erase my state's deficit (some of it caused by "Homeland Security" spending that was not reinbursed by the federal government, and most of it due to outsourcing to other countries: we have lost around 85,000 jobs this year alone). Argh.
I was horrifed to read on "Where Date Palms Grow" that United States visas cannot be obtained, without basically pledging one's first born, for those who helped the U.S., and/or that are threatened by the insurgents/militias. More Iraqis (mostly the intelligentsia) are going to Canada, the U.K., Jordan and other countries other than the States. That makes a hell of a lot of sense, doesn't it? We basically dismantle Iraq and then say, "Sorry, you have to remain here and become a walking target--our regrets, but we can't help you." Is any of the 2 billion a week helping these souls? Forget about it. An example: Paul Bremer testified before congress that he gave out 9 billion in cash (how could you even physically do this?), but he can't account for any of it. That's many countries' yearly GDP, and he can't "account for it." My god, no wonder no one wants to pay more taxes.
Somehow I lost a post, and I'm not happy about it. . .it disappeared on me. Hmmmm
My state is going down in flames. We have a 800 million dollar deficit, and all industries and citizens are going to feel the pain. It is the 1970s redux. Then, we had a recession, and in my state, 14.5 percent unemployment, which is very high in the United States. In the 1970s, we were bogged down in another unwinnable war, our economy tanked, and people fled south as though there was an outbreak of plague. I did too. I went to Texas. I remember seeing a bumpersticker in Ft. Worth that read "The last one out of Michigan please turn off the lights." (The auto industry was collapsing, yet again.) It seemed like every Northern Midwestern youth had moved to the Southwest. I see the same thing happening now. It is ridiculous that we spend 2 billion a week to fight a war that is incredibly unpopular here and abroad, and our grade schools are closing because of a lack of funds. In my state, the citizens are adamantly against imposing new state taxes. I feel like I'm living Groundhog Day--"deja vu all over again." (Bring back KC and the Sunshine Band and platform shoes) You can't have it all. You can't fight a war, fix roads, fund schools, and provide services if your citizenry will not pony-up the money. But if your citizenry is stratified into the rich and the moderately poor, you are left with the mess we have presently. The rich feel that they have earned their money and shouldn't have to support the poor, and the moderately poor, which used to be the middle-class, cannot afford to pay more taxes. So schools close, services are curtailed, and yet, 2 billion, 2 billion, 2 billion a week is marching overseas. One half of a week of funding for the war in Iraq would erase my state's deficit (some of it caused by "Homeland Security" spending that was not reinbursed by the federal government, and most of it due to outsourcing to other countries: we have lost around 85,000 jobs this year alone). Argh.
I was horrifed to read on "Where Date Palms Grow" that United States visas cannot be obtained, without basically pledging one's first born, for those who helped the U.S., and/or that are threatened by the insurgents/militias. More Iraqis (mostly the intelligentsia) are going to Canada, the U.K., Jordan and other countries other than the States. That makes a hell of a lot of sense, doesn't it? We basically dismantle Iraq and then say, "Sorry, you have to remain here and become a walking target--our regrets, but we can't help you." Is any of the 2 billion a week helping these souls? Forget about it. An example: Paul Bremer testified before congress that he gave out 9 billion in cash (how could you even physically do this?), but he can't account for any of it. That's many countries' yearly GDP, and he can't "account for it." My god, no wonder no one wants to pay more taxes.
posted by mariestaad at 4:54 PM
2 Comments:
Hey! Its Erin Herbst from last semester ENG 201. I love this post. It really ticks me off that all this money is being wasted to kill our US soldiers and innocent citizens. Michigan is getting its lights turned off. And fast. I know first hand, my mother lost her job due to downsizing and is having the hardest time finding another.
How much more do we (the US) have to go through before we realize were in a heaping pile of trouble?
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