*Today I really urge you to ponder the photo above and what this all really means.
Yesterday was a game changer for our nation. Congress and the Senate showed just how willing they are to flub it up when we need them most. And while it's nice that they are busy bailing out (or rather, not bailing out) Corporate America, still nothing is being done to help you and me directly. What about at least giving deferments for the millions who are behind on mortgage payments? Or maybe adding more duty-free days to the calendar like they do for back-to-school shopping? It would boost the economy, and lighten the load on families nationwide. Or how about a complete moratorium on all taxes for 2009, state, federal, and sales?
I'm not saying that the things I just suggested would work, but at least I hear myself making suggestions. I hear nothing from our elected leaders on how to fix OUR collective messes. Nada. Instead we always get "help" in ways we DON'T need. We don't need another "stimulus package" for us all to blow on DVDs and The Cheesecake Factory, but then that just brings to light the real problem, doesn't it?
Government never told us what to spend the stimulus checks on... but then they already KNEW what we would blow/waste/spend them on. Not on our student loan(s), not on the utility bill(s) that we get cutoff notices for each month because it's already 2 months behind. Nope, instead this summer we spent it on IPhones and The Dark Knight, which is now the 3rd highest grossing movie of ALL-TIME. And which also debuted in theatres the same week that we saw gas prices peak with a national average of $4.09/gallon! The movie has grossed nearly $600 million of your hard earned dollars. And sales for the IPhone have been about half of that or $300 million.
Don't get me wrong, you will never hear @W tell you not to enjoy the fruits of your labor... but many of us are enjoying the fruits of things we haven't even labored for yet! We're selling out our futures for STUFF! Living check-to-check and further entrenching ourselves in the rat-race we claim to hate so much.
Sure, I want you to enjoy the things this life has to offer... just not with a bill collector on your back, and while the credit company earns 20% interest off of you!
So let's have a moment of silence for the Great American Dream. The ride was fun while it lasted, but that doesn't mean that YOUR dreams have to be over because of it. If we learn our lesson this time and dump this mentality of debt, this could actually be the birth of what makes our nation great again.
@W
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