Ernie's World and Society

I am certain that I am not alone. But sometimes I have to wonder if I am “nuts”. Here is the problem. I am torn between two worlds. One is “Ernie’s World” where I live, work and which constitutes the essence of who I am and what I do. The “other world”, consists of “society”, or maybe better stated, the “nation” called the United States of America. These ’worlds’ appear to be diametrically opposed to each other. But here is the catch. The only real opposition I can see comes from the national media and how they report to me about what is happening in the USA. When I talk to people, which I am compelled to do on a regular basis J , I find that the people I live and work around are not any different than I am. We all have the same basic human values. Most of us want to live our lives civilly among our various communities and are willing to help each other and anyone else we see in need of our assistance, without discrimination as to color, religion or nationality.

What this all leads me to believe is that our national media outlets, TV, radio, internet and the common news sources, are not reporting “news” as much as they are trying to redirect the “common values” we have come to live with in the USA.

Examples of this are easy to come by. Just glance at any news headline page. They are cluttered with ‘conflict’ stories. No matter if it be violence, politics, business, international relations or a local story. The media’s emphasis is on every detail that would tend to “separate” people from a civil relationship to each other.

So the “conflict” in my own mind is this. I really believe that most of us would be better off to ignore the media. But, in that case, we would be effectively ‘sticking our heads in the sand’ and disconnecting from what is going on in the nation and world at large.

I do know people who apparently never listen to the “news” or read “news” stories. They seem to be content, but at the same time they have no ideal what is taking place outside their front door, things that can greatly affect them personally. This is the catch 22. In any ‘battle of values’, which is what our country is in right now, how are we to “defend” ourselves if we don’t even know the “war is ongoing”?

It only takes a casual glance at any polling data to see that we are in a great struggle in our society about basic “values”. By ‘values’ I mean, moral, economic and political values. As in the fact that the U.S. way of life that we have come to believe in is “on the ropes”. Put there by our elected officials and the media that props them up.

For instance, when did it become ‘fashionable’ to “hate capitalism”? Have we Americans become so brain-washed that we don’t realize that ‘capitalism’ is the very foundation of a free society. Here is why; ‘capitalism’ is a free market system, based on the ideal of private ownership for the production and distribution of goods. The only alternatives are either dictatorships, where a “king” is in control of everything and everyone, plus, everything else is considered “property” of the king. The other alternative is “communism”, where the philosophy is that “no one” owns anything, but “everyone” shares equal ownership in all things.

Our nation fought the Revolutionary War to free us from the dictates of a king. The experiment of communism has failed miserable in the last hundred years, due to the simple fact that people will not produce if they don’t receive due compensation for their own production. The Soviet Union was a historic example of such a system, it did not work out very well. The peasants soon learned that the “talking heads” were using a bigger dipper in the common pot than what they allowed the commoners to use. Thus, over the course of only 50 years or so, everyone either became corrupted or the capable people just “quit producing”, then the pot dried up. The “Empire” collapsed around their heads. Since then, many of the countries of the old Soviet Union have been at war with each other and nearly all, are struggling just to survive.

The core issue in our current struggles comes right back to the beginning. Are we going to continue being a “free country”, respecting the rights over everyone to “own what they earn”, or are we going to slip into a communist/socialist system, where “Big Brother Government” will take everything by “taxation” and split it up as they see fit? This seems to be the language coming out of Washington and the media. How can some “tongue wagging politician” even use such expressions as I have heard over and over, in recent times? It goes like this; “how do we (Congress/Washington) PAY for a tax cut”? Just think about that. The only money Washington is “supposed” to have comes from tax revenue in one form or another. To use the term, “pay for a tax cut” is either ignorance or arrogance. They really act as if they “OWN EVERYTHING” and a tax cut is something they have to come up with “more money” to pay. No, a “tax cut” would simply mean they were not confiscating as much money as they are, there is nothing for them to “pay for” there. The language they use betrays their views!

Now to be fair with Washington, “we the people” must bear a fair share for the reason we are living in a “bankrupt” state. That being the overwhelming number of “citizens” who are “feeding at the federal, state or local feed trough”.

I don’t know the percentage of “paychecks” that are coming from “tax revenue”. But all the signs indicate that it is “too high” to sustain. Nor are my criticisms directed at any particular “jobs” that obtain their money from taxation sources, it is the overall picture that is choking us to death. It is simply impossible that “everyone” can be employed by the “taxpayer”. The reality is, if you have a balanced economy, the number employed by government must remain in the minority, otherwise the tax burden becomes so heavy on the producers that there is no motivation left for them to produce.

A few days ago I wrote down a quote, shamefully I did not write down the source, but the words struck me as being very true; “Modern life is a thin veneer covering historic survival. Basic living skills of agricultural peoples cannot die, without the death of a civilization.” The thin layer of veneer that is currently propping up our society, is capitalism and free enterprise. It seems obvious that there are “forces” in our own government and especially in our media and universities, that are out to destroy “capitalism”.

Let me make a plea that Americans get over “abuses of the capitalist system”, for corruption in society is not in “the system” but in “people”. Anyone who claims that “freedom” is to blame for our troubles, are ignorant or dishonest about the real problems we face. It is a moral failure in ‘individual people’ who abuse the free market by dishonest means. It is a moral failure by ‘individual politicians’ who will spend more money than the nation has, just so they can be re-elected to their office. It is a moral failure by ‘individuals’, not a failure of capitalism or a free market, that has gotten us in this mess that our children and grandchildren are going to reap the actual consequences of.
How can it be a “help” for the USA to give up the free market capitalist system? That very system, is what made this nation the richest on earth. That very system, capitalism, is what has brought us the technology to have a “standard of living” far beyond any civilization in history. Even what the government calls “poverty level” (I qualify big-time, by their standard), live a ‘rich life’ compared to generations even of recent history. That very system, is why I can sit in the woods and communicate anywhere around the world in a matter of seconds. Etc, etc, etc!

I do resent so called “Americans” who whine for the “government” to take care of them, whether it be bankers on Wall St. or bums on the back streets of St. Paul. Our nation did not become what it is by having the printing presses of the Federal Reserve “creating wealth”, but by everyday American citizens picking themselves up and going to work. Producing, inventing, creating businesses founded on the principle that they would be able to enjoy the fruit of their labor in a free country.

I saw a headline this past week that Congress or the Senate, or maybe both, had passed a trillion dollar budget for next year. We are 15 trillion in the hole now, much of that trillion they are spending will go only for interest on our debt. Somewhere, sometime there will be a day of reckoning. This is where “Ernie’s World” finds a great conflict with “that world”. I don’t want to be sunk by the downdraft of the sinking Titanic. I am not sure that this is possible to avoid, but “Ernie’s World” will keep a close eye out for floating ’ice burgs’ and try to avoid them.

Black Friday

Once again our suffering economy has 'pushed the clock' to get the public to shop early for the Christmas season. That the retailers are successful is only because we consumers are cooperative. Not all of us, naturally, but enough to make it seem worth the while of big stores to open at all kinds of odd hours, all determined to get the cream of the spending glut that inflicts the nation at this time of year. Anyone who knows me will already know that I will not be part of the shopping mob. Just out of principle if for no other reason. I just don't like hustle & bustle crowds, a personal taste that obviously is consider "strange" by a lot of folks, judging from what I hear on the news.

The facts are this. The largest, most competitive retail stores are desperate to sale a lot of products today, not next week, but today! How have they gotten themselves into such a state, that this one day greatly determines whether or not they will make a profit this calender year? Is something to be amazed at. We might even say "alarmed" about. What kind of economy have we created that depends on "over consumption", to the point that if Americans do not spend more money than they have, our whole economic system will go down the drain? Something, besides home mortgages, is upside-down!

Now I know a lot of my friends and relatives are participating in the great American tradition of shopping today on "Black Friday". My observation is not meant to be critical of 'shoppers', nor of capitalism, but rather to think reasonably about our nations economic future, if our great retailers are so over extended that they cannot expect to make any profits until the last 5 or 6 weeks of the year, this cannot be considered as a 'healthy economic system', but rather "fragile".  Nor can it be healthy for an economy to "depend" on credit for a "healthy business" to operate. I mean the "credit" of the 'consumer'. When all of our retail industry is counting on the public to go into debt for Christmas shopping, it would seem to me we are walking frayed tight-rope.

How vulnerable has our economy become? What if there is a large scale terroist attack at this season? Or even a cyber attack that "scrambles" the major retailers or banking computer networks? Does this mean our national retail companies are so delicate that they would quickly be driven into bankruptcy if suddenly consumers cut back on their purchases during Black Friday or throughout the Christmas shopping season?  I would suspect many of them are close to the edge as it is.

Here is a "common man's" opinion. From our top government officials, to our corporate heads, all the way down to the shopper on the street, we have lost our collective minds! Just as many people knew that the housing boom of 'recent collaspe' could not possibly continue, we ought to know that an economy built on a foundation of debt is always just one step from a major collaspe.

But cheer up, there is an answer to our economic vulnerability. But it will not start at the top of the food chain with government or big business. It must start at the very root of our economic system and that is with we the people, better know to retailers as consumers. If millions of Americans decide to give up the "debt addiction" and bring our personal finances back to solid ground, our whole nation will benefit, in the long term. It won't be so good for some of the more fragile retailers who are counting on us to keep their boat afloat by our personal debt, but as a nation, we will be better off with fewer companies that are healthy than a million big corporations existing on a thread. Let them go out of business and companies who do their job right will fill up the gap for the real demand.

I don't think it can be disputed that debt is necessary for business and individuals for certain big ticket items like homes, autos and such. How else can normal people finance such items? But those who keep records of such things tell us that our debt is far beyond "reasonable" and credit card debt it totally out of control for far too much of our poplulation.

Soon we will be in a new year. If you are make New Year's Resolutions, another questionable habit of Americans :), I would suggest, for your own peace of mind and the welfare of our country, you can't go wrong, if you to pay down your debt as much as possible. There is nothing we can do to help our economy more than by exercising some common sense restraint, when it comes to spending money that we don't have. It is a sure thing that our government is "not" going to cut their "overspending", after all, next year is an election year. The "powers that be", who have already ran the piggy bank dry, will not stop borrowing money to pacify all the "voters" who are screaming for more government "assistance", as long as they control the printing presses or can get "someone", even our enemies, to loan them money to keep themselves in office.

If on the other hand, you have money that you can spend without putting your personal economics in question, GO SHOPPING!

Happy Black Friday to all.