Waste

We have wasted our world away and now the bill collector has come for his money. Bad news, we are broke. We decided that having a modest lifestyle was not good enough. The big corporations decided to use all of our resources to put us into a type of indentured slavery. Our debt has now reached 10.6 trillion dollars. The poor dollar does not have a very bright future. Where was government? The protector of the people. In the big corporations pockets. The sad thing is that other countries were looking at us as the model for their economies/societies. Bad move. As I have said before, great men and women must rise to the challenges facing our world. We are currently headed down a path that could lead to great social unrest. The scariest part of the equation is that I don't think that the people are willing to change. It is part of the "American Dream" to have as much as you want. This model is no longer sustainable. We have built a society with money we don't have. Our people have become complacent. There will have to be pain, before we can adjust to the old way of life. Living within your means. Work hard. Help your fellow man/woman. Greed and Sloth have brought us here. Giving and Caring will bring us out.

Hard Times

Guess what, the economy is in a ditch. It is amazing to me that people are actually surprised. A revolution is brewing. Voters are going to come out in record numbers to choose who will lead us through this mess. I hope they don't make the same mistake that was made in 2000 and 2004. Looking at the 2006 elections, it appears that we have learned a thing or two. Both parties have let us down, but it is time to let the democratic party have their shot. I do want to see investigations into the housing bubble.

Tight Race

The canidates cannot be more different. They represent two very strong segments of the United States. The old guard and generations X, Y, and millinials. The nation is divided about evenly, as it has been for the last few presidential elections. The election will be decided on Abortion. This issue has divided the nation more than any other issue in the last 20 years, with gay marriage coming in second.

Housing Crisis

People think that the housing crisis is half way done. It is just getting started. Many of the prime mortgages are going to start defaulting within the next 12 to 18 months. Why would someone keep paying on an asset that has lost 20 to 50 percent of it's value. Fannie and Freddie are going to have to become government programs.

Not only is housing in a world of hurt if energy stays high people are not going to be able to heat and cool these brick ovens. I would like to propose a massive effort to start building underground houses. They are very energy efficient and could cause builders to stay in business.

The Slowdown

The economy is really putting the breaks on. We were tapping for about a year, with the thought that the price of oil couldn't keep going up. Well it did. Now that Americans have tapped their 401ks and maxed their credit cards things are starting to slowdown. The airlines and the big 3 automakers don't have time to adjust strategy. They are laying-off thousands. There has finally been enough slowdown to cause the price of oil to subside. I would expect the economy to continue downward for at lease 24 months, possibly leveling off after that. Wide economic expansion may never come again, unless oil falls below $75 or another energy source starts to compete with oil.

The Storm

I don't like to write about negative topics, but they seems to be the only things happening these days.

We now are faced with crop damage to thousands of the nations most productive acres. Flooding along the mighty Mississippi has caused much damage. Tornadoes have swept thought our land and we are now heading into hurricane season.

High gas prices are about to bring the country to it's knees. The pain has been gradual, primarily due to credit cards and the economic stimulus package carrying the burden. Billions if not trillions of dollars turning into CO2 will cause many businesses to go out of business very soon.

To advert the Second Great Depression the US citizens need to make some drastic changes to their lifestyles. Get rid of the the gas guzzler as soon as it makes sense financially to do so. Don't eat out as much and buy groceries that will keep your family healthy. Start or keep working hard at your job to increase productivity, even if your pay is the same or lower.

The sad realty is that these things will be done by 5 maybe 10 percent of the population, but most citizens will continue down the same road. The scary part is that I think foreign investors are going to catch a fire sale pretty soon and we won't own our country anymore.

The Parties

The two party system that we have is failing us. The U.S. is faced with some of the biggest challenges of our short existence. These include - social security, healthcare, and peak oil.

The government has failed to address any of these problems. The nation faces a collapse from any one of these problems, much less all of them. These issues should be the main topics of conversation for all political figures and the nation as a whole. We are headed down a path that leads to destruction. The solutions are not easy.

Social Security - Raise the age that benefits are recieved. Don't give benefits to the rich. I realize that this is not what the people who paid into this scheme signed off on, but this is the only option.

Healthcare - Limit the care that the elderly recieve. Cut back on procedures that have a low percentage of success. Make prevention a priority.

Peak oil - Aggressively raise the miles per gallon requirments for cars in the U.S. Invest in alternative fuels. Invest in public transportation ugrades. Invest in a better railroad system.

At this point, no one would get elected if they ran on these issues. U.S. citizens don't react until things get bad. We are on the verge of things getting really bad, if action is not taken soon.