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BACK TO “Are we a nation of whimps?? with Dale!
By fred | July 2, 2008
I have no idea why my buddy Dale – ‘Full Gale Dale’ as has been his logo here, – sends me stuff at my private e-mail address instead of directing it to my BLOG here. But then I think – both of us are almost 80 years of age, at our ages we can send stuff to where ever we darn well please.
Below it the lastest from Dale, I believe it belongs in this catagory– ‘ARE WE A NATION OF WHIMPS!’ as this seems to be of interest to so many. First, Dale’s commentary, then a copy of a article by Tom Friedman that is something each of us that have any concern for your nation – is a must read.
HERE IS MY BUDDY of over a half century Dale (Full gale Dale)—
>>> Well Gang! Here we go again: This guy does make several good
>>> points, but Hey! We all know were in trouble, individually, and
>>> as a Nation.
> Knowledge of our problems, only matters, if we are then willing to
> settle down and solve them.
> I! There’s the rub!
> Actually, it’s a lot simpler than most people think. (Or rather,
> than a good many people want us to believe).
> What do we need? How do we fix things that once made us the envy
> of the world? Do we really need to wait for the next General Election?
> More questions, than I, or this guy, can pose here, but do we
> really need more questions? How about some answers?
> To regain the America you and I grew up in, we must take a giant
> step “Backwards”, and see just what has gone wrong.
> Most of us came from families that had one (1) bread winner. A
> person able to provide us with our necessities, I.E. Food,
> Housing, and Clothing, with some left over for recreation.
> Over the years, (and especially the last few years), the cost, and
> difficulty of maintaining this standard of living has risen to the
> extent that most families, need two, or more, “bread winners” to
> just make ends meet.
> Why this is so, (I’m sure is known by most of us), at least in
> part, by our own greed, our almost psychopathic need to have more
> than we did, as children, and that our children be better provided
> for. ( and, of course, keeping up with the Jone’s, mentality).
> I seriously doubt that all our efforts in this regard have been
> that successful, but that’s another story.
> So now we get down to what needs to be done, and by whom.
> Right now, we need, less expensive housing, food, and fuel, and
> more, and better paying jobs. The rest will take care of itself.
> So how can this be accomplished?
> Less expensive Housing, can be attained by less expensive material.
> Less expensive food, can be attained by less expensive shipping
> costs.
> Less expensive fuel, can be attained by “Price Control” over Oil
> company policy.
> All of the above can be attained by the last suggestion! Price
> Control of Oil.
> Oil is used to transport all goods to the “Market” what ever, and
> where ever, that Market may be. Thus, when fuel prices go up! All
> prices go up.
> Control the Oil production and supply, and we control all products
> everywhere.
> This means more jobs, more trade goods, to reduce our “National
> Debt”, and a better life for all Americans, except the few “Moguls”
> running the greedy Oil boondoggle now being used against all
> Americans.
> The folks that can do the job that needs to be done are in
> Washington now. Many, (hopefully) will not be there six Months from
> now, but, by waiting for that to happen, will just get us more
> behind than we are now.
> Write your Congressmen/women, and let them know, we know what’s
> going on, and expect action soon.
> It’s really up to us, as it usually is!
> Take care… Dale
>
>
>>> A Tom Friedman article…many good points.
>>>
>>> This is the subject of my next writing, only I will be much more
>>> specific on what needs to be done. Maybe enough people are waking up
>>> to our real problem.
>>>
>>> Op-Ed Columnist NY Times
>>> Anxious in America
>>> By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
>>> Published: June 29, 2008
>>>
>>> Just a few months ago, the consensus view was that Barack Obama
>>> would
>>> need to choose a hard-core national-security type as his vice
>>> presidential running mate to compensate for his lack of foreign
>>> policy
>>> experience and that John McCain would need a running mate who was
>>> young and sprightly to compensate for his age. Come August,
>>> though, I
>>> predict both men will be looking for a financial wizard as their
>>> running mates to help them steer America out of what could become a
>>> serious economic tailspin.
>>>
>>> I do not believe nation-building in Iraq is going to be the issue
>>> come
>>> November – whether things get better there or worse. If they get
>>> better, we’ll ignore Iraq more; if they get worse, the next
>>> president
>>> will be under pressure to get out quicker. I think nation-
>>> building in
>>> America is going to be the issue.
>>>
>>> It’s the state of America now that is the most gripping source of
>>> anxiety for Americans, not Al Qaeda or Iraq. Anyone who thinks they
>>> are going to win this election playing the Iraq or the terrorism
>>> card
>>> – one way or another – is, in my view, seriously deluded. Things
>>> have
>>> changed.
>>>
>>> Up to now, the economic crisis we’ve been in has been largely a
>>> credit
>>> crisis in the capital markets, while consumer spending has kept
>>> reasonably steady, as have manufacturing and exports. But with banks
>>> still reluctant to lend even to healthy businesses, fuel and food
>>> prices soaring and home prices declining, this is starting to affect
>>> consumers, shrinking their wallets and crimping spending.
>>> Unemployment
>>> is already creeping up and manufacturing creeping down.
>>>
>>> The straws in the wind are hard to ignore: If you visit any car
>>> dealership in America today you will see row after row of unsold
>>> S.U.V.’s. And if you own a gas guzzler already, good luck. On
>>> Thursday, The Palm Beach Post ran an article on your S.U.V. options:
>>> “Continue to spend upward of $100 for a fill-up. Sell or trade in
>>> the
>>> vehicle for a fraction of the original cost. Or hold out and park
>>> the
>>> truck in the driveway for occasional use in hopes the market will
>>> turn
>>> around.” Just be glad you don’t own a bus. Montgomery County, Md.,
>>> where I live, just announced that more children were going to
>>> have to
>>> walk to school next year to save money on bus fuel.
>>>
>>> On top of it all, our bank crisis is not over. Two weeks ago,
>>> Goldman
>>> Sachs analysts said that U.S. banks may need another $65 billion to
>>> cover more write-downs of bad mortgage-related instruments and
>>> potential new losses if consumer loans start to buckle. Since
>>> President Bush came to office, our national savings have gone from 6
>>> percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent, and consumer debt
>>> has
>>> climbed from $8 trillion to $14 trillion.
>>>
>>> My fellow Americans: We are a country in debt and in decline – not
>>> terminal, not irreversible, but in decline. Our political system
>>> seems
>>> incapable of producing long-range answers to big problems or big
>>> opportunities. We are the ones who need a better-functioning
>>> democracy
>>> – more than the Iraqis and Afghans. We are the ones in need of
>>> nation-
>>> building. It is our political system that is not working.
>>>
>>> I continue to be appalled at the gap between what is clearly
>>> going to
>>> be the next great global industry – renewable energy and clean
>>> power -
>>> and the inability of Congress and the administration to put in place
>>> the bold policies we need to ensure that America leads that
>>> industry.
>>>
>>> “America and its political leaders, after two decades of failing to
>>> come together to solve big problems, seem to have lost faith in
>>> their
>>> ability to do so,” Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib noted
>>> last week. “A political system that expects failure doesn’t try very
>>> hard to produce anything else.”
>>>
>>> We used to try harder and do better. After Sputnik, we came together
>>> as a nation and responded with a technology, infrastructure and
>>> education surge, notes Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman
>>> Sachs
>>> International. After the 1973 oil crisis, we came together and made
>>> dramatic improvements in energy efficiency. After Social Security
>>> became imperiled in the early 1980s, we came together and fixed
>>> it for
>>> that moment. “But today,” added Hormats, “the political system seems
>>> incapable of producing a critical mass to support any kind of
>>> serious
>>> long-term reform.”
>>>
>>> If the old saying – that “as General Motors goes, so goes America” -
>>> is true, then folks, we’re in a lot of trouble. General Motors’s
>>> stock-
>>> market value now stands at just $6.47 billion, compared with
>>> Toyota’s
>>> $162.6 billion. On top of it, G.M. shares sank to a 34-year low last
>>> week.
>>>
>>> That’s us. We’re at a 34-year low. And digging out of this hole is
>>> what the next election has to be about and is going to be about -
>>> even
>>> if it is interrupted by a terrorist attack or an outbreak of war or
>>> peace in Iraq. We need nation-building at home, and we cannot wait
>>> another year to get started. Vote for the candidate who you think
>>> will
>>> do that best. Nothing else matters.
Topics: ARE WE BECOMING A NATION OF WHIMPS??? | 1 Comment »
July 8th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hi Fred,
You’re right on target about your comments in my opinion. For further elucidation and giggles, those who haven’t seen this tidbit, check out: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080707/ap_on_re_us/presidential_putdown or simply Google “Bush sewage plant”. Probably someone came up with this as joke)San Francisco is often wacky that way) but political satire sometimes offers the bare truth. I believe it does in this case. Let’s name all our sewage plants (and septic tanks, and outhouses, etc,) for GWB, to give this a**hole an appropriate niche in one of the sorriest eight years of our nation’s history.
Best regards,
Ola