March 3, 2009: A White Russian Rant
By White Russian
What has the world gotten itself into? I have never seen anything like what is going on now on the economic front. That may not be saying much, as my earliest recollections of troubled economic times are vague memories of the problems of the 1970s when I was too young to really know what was going on, but there are people far older than me who agree that they have not seen such economic uncertainty in their lifetimes. When I was growing up, there was a genuine fear that we would blow everything up in a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. We had the capability to destroy the planet multiple times over – and all it would take was one push of the button to start it all. Today the fear is the collapse of the economic system and another Great Depression, this one on a global scale. My fear is that the government is only making it worse in their efforts to solve every problem for everyone, and in the process make us feel more dependent on the government to fix things now and in the future.
When I was younger, I felt that there were people who were smart enough to figure it all out, to guide us through, and to be steadfast in their morals. Now, however, my confidence is shaken. Corruption rules the day, and I am afraid that so many of the decision makers and influencers have fallen prey to corruption. Corruption, of course, is nothing new and perhaps the problems we face today are really not as dire as they are made out to be. But it seems different now. It seems like the stakes are higher and the consequences are increasing exponentially. It’s like playing a video game and things spiral steadily out of control until you are doing crazy things just to see what would happen because you are planning on reverting back to the previous save before things got so out of hand. Only in this game, there is no previous save to go back to. Whatever mess that is created is here to stay and to be dealt with.
There are bright minds out there, but they must not be in the positions they need to be in. And who in their right mind would want to join the cesspool of politics? As Brock and his friends move us rapidly to a more socialist government and society, they risk the ruin of all. Capitalism is not a bad thing. Capitalism is not the cause of the state we are in and socialism will not fix it. Socialism and communism failed miserably. It is not up for debate, it is a fact. They say history repeats itself. If that is true, then I fear it will get far worse before it gets better. I hope I’m wrong, but, as my good friends from Queensryche say, “There’s a revolution calling.” In times like these, our government is doing the wrong things to turn it around. Higher taxes and more government spending on more programs will not stimulate the economy. Where is the incentive to work hard and do things the right way? A handout with only the guarantee of needing more handouts does not breed success. Capitalism rewards those who work hard, while socialism penalizes those same people. Bailing out companies who are either too corrupt or so poorly managed that they can no longer stay in business without government intervention ought to be allowed to fail. How can a company, GM, lose on the average more than 80 million dollars a day for an entire year? How is this possible? And how is it possible that we think it appropriate to save them? If they screwed up that badly, then they should be gone.
Added to this craziness are the athletes making insane amounts of money in a time when everything else seems to be falling apart with more and more major companies you would have thought safe are closing their doors. Albert Haynesworth, who once deliberately stepped on the head of an opposing player after the play was done, just signed a hundred million dollar contract to play football. One hundred million dollars. And he most assuredly already has enough money to be set for life. It’s not just him, obviously. Manny Ramirez turns down an offer to play baseball for one year at $25 million? Is he completely out of his mind? That is not enough? It has to be more than one year? For what? Security? What more security do you need that 25 million dollars will not take care of 25 times over? The top athletes are pulling in staggering amounts of money to do nothing more than play a game. Yes, it’s a business and they work hard and all that crap, but when you get to the essence of it, they are just playing a game. They are not healing anybody. Not solving any great problems of our day. The real shame is not on the players, however, as they are only getting what the owners are willing to dish out. It’s hard to find fault with a player for earning what someone is willing to pay them. If somebody wanted to pay me an exorbitant amount of money for something that does not call for an exorbitant amount of money, I would not turn it down. But I also would not be caught doing the foolish and idiotic things they do. Athletes are in their own little world. Marshawn Lynch was caught with essentially a colt 45 and two zig zags (it was really a 9 mm and marijuana, but the colt 45 sounds better). Plaxico Burress had his less than brilliant moment with a firearm. Dog Beater (better known as Michael Vick) threw his career away in what is arguably the quickest and largest downfall of a celebrated athlete. There are plenty more, of course, but this just goes off on another tangent.
And here’s where I run out of steam. It is depressing to watch the news. But we need to stay informed so we can stay on top of things and challenge what is wrong, yada, yada, yada. For as long as I can remember the news is always bad. You have to wait for the final two minutes of the newscast to get the one feel good story they could find, and often that is about some useless panda that won’t screw to save its species. So what is there to do about all this? The only thing I can do besides continuing to follow the American Dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and it is no small thing, is to continue to turn to my faith and place my trust in God. All things happen for a reason. For as messed up as everything may be, life is beautiful and I am eternally thankful for it.