Having been away from everything including Incoming Bytes for a few days right in the middle of one of the biggest financial crises in North America's economic history was actually helpful. Let's call it a stress reducer, fortuitous timing, a blessing in disguise, you name it. Why? The fact is , there is absolutely no logic in worrying about something one has no control over.
Meantime, North American stock markets took a terrible dive, shiny gold climbed to over $1700/ oz. for the first time in history, and as usual, the overly-nervous small investor panicked and sold off--giving the banks and the wealthy with endless cash coffers yet another opportunity to use our own money to engulf stocks at bottom-feeder prices. Go figure. How lovely. Is that happenstance, devious manipulation, just good economic choreography, or what?
So what is really happening? With the US credit rating dropped, the international community looking at the U.S with a wary eye, ordinary investors are nervous--and rightfully so. Unknown to most Americans, the Federal Reserve does not even belong to the Federal Government, it belongs to foreign banks --who are tightening the purse strings willfully. China "warns" the US that the days of easy borrowing are over. How cute.
With burgeoning personal debt, it is easy to understand the conundrum. Many North Americans, Canadians and American households alike are overspent, and their discretionary spending, the amount of money they have left after huge interest payments are made--is shrinking rapidly. Simple to understand, budgetary discretion also known as --choice-- is siphoned away by burgeoning interest payments and bad fiscal management.
The fault really is our own. Governments R US......literally. We actually vote for, and pay people to manage our financial affairs--and where does that get us? They make bad to worse decisions, spend our tax dollars foolishly, advise us what "we" want, and then we all scratch our heads in wonder, contemplating why national piggy-banks no longer rattle with gold. Ya' gotta appreciate the no-win -no-win mess we've put ourselves in.
Let's use the latest debt crisis in the US as a result of bad political management, bad partisan politics, and bad spending --as a typical 'model' of desperation --in reality, a typical model of despair.
To be realistic, perhaps we should not feel bad as individuals, other countries, Greece,
Spain, Ireland, Portugal --are also in a mess, and now the whole of the United States of America is in the same situation. Why would that be? Unbelievable?
In the case of the USA, all you have to do is look at the chart to see why. A full 58% of discretionary spending is spent on the military.
Let's all close our eyes and disregard reality.
"Let's worship political dogma, practice party gamesmanship, and just raise the debt ceiling some more, so our great-great-great grandchildren can pay it all off. Let's stick to our guns, spending habits, and outrageous spending at all cost. Right. Let's raise the debt ceiling and make it even worse next time. The Holy Dollar is all that counts as long as we get to spend it. "
Frankly, at times it seems like two or three working, budget-minded single moms and a handful of mediocre but hard-working average Grade VI students might do a better job of managing the biggest economy in the world.
The way I see it, priorities should be people instead of political dogma, "power" and political gamesmanship.
How is one to convince North America that's what is needed?
Think NEW priorities ! Imagine using logic instead of politics to run countries.
Perhaps we should have stayed on vacation, chilled out, and hid our heads in the sand instead. Would that help? No. Would that fix problems at home? No.
The fact IS, it really is time to go back to the grindstone, back to the drawing-board and redesign the economic model everyone depends upon so heavily. The North American economic model IS failing. What are we going to do about it?
I know... go on another vacation, buy on credit some more, borrow more money, wear rose-coloured glasses, and blame everyone else.....
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
