LISTEN UP AND SUCK IT UP, AMERICA

Whatever happened to the problem solvers of America? Have the think tanks dried up? Why is it when a crisis rears its head, we now moan and turn inward?

Ok, so America got soft – sitting on her fat can for decades, borrowing more money than she could rightly pay. Houses were used as ATM machines to buy all kind of widgets from infomercials at two o’clock in the morning, because somehow, it would make life more convenient. Then, IT hits the fan. A nation stood staring down the barrel of a creditor’s gun. ‘If you’ve been late, EVEN ONCE, B-bye.’ Ka-blam…

Granted, there is that throng of dice-rollers who chose their reckless financial path, because they had to ‘keep up with their neighbors’. They do not deserve pity, but having said that, I will also say that predatory lenders should be drawn and quartered, period.

Wall Street: Yeah, we get it, screwed again. Let’s stop groaning and go forward so my 401k can rise from the ashes. The Media: keep talking as if the world is coming to an end, and damn it, it will. When was the last time you listened to a news report and thought, ‘For the love of Christ, do you have ANYTHING good to say? A crumb, all I need is a crumb!’…?


The ‘drink the Kool-Aid’ fear-soaked drivel that led this country into fiscal ruin now represents the same mindset that has bankers terrified and consumers walking on eggshells. Continued dismal reports about unemployment, foreclosures, etc., FEED the ‘dragon’ or ‘recession’ - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everyone must to commit to reeducation with regard to spending and borrowing, or stimulus efforts of any kind will be meaningless. Credit card debt must be paid down, and ‘one stop shopping’ has to go. The bright, but lazy idea of putting a supermarket, bank, pharmacy, and God knows what else under one roof has driven a stake through the heart of small business sector.

America may be on her knees, but its time to get up, and pull up, our socks. The entire planet has proved it runs on confidence, which comes by word-of-mouth, i.e., the media. At the end of the day, the masses need something to believe in. They will not spend money, invest, nor have faith in the market or government until ‘Sam’ and the media, begin to convey even the smallest positive improvements in our economic situation.