Reflecting on where we've been focuses us on ourselves in a way not done well on television.  On television we indirectly focus on ourselves always as a right now solution to some product being offered.  My kids can sing the Free Credit Report song by heart.  In harmony, even but they can't remember to pick their shoes up off the floor. 

What does that mean? 

People take shots at American selfishness because we seem to have a short sighted-ness in really seeing one another in the world around us.  We focus too much on the trivialities in our lives. 

How can I be more beautiful? 
What will be my next purchase? 
How can I make more money? 

We don't give much thought to how we arrive at the moment which allows you (or me) to read this.  Or watch TV.  Or, how do we arrive in front of the television with our family and no one talking?  'Sshh...I'm trying to figure out who's going to be the next American Idol!'

The days become a blur and we forget what we did yesterday because it's so similar to what we're doing today.  We forget that we're prone to move.  By default we move even when we're not directing ourselves to move anywhere: we're still moving somewhere.  Even if we only move through time, sitting on a couch, we're still moving. 

When we forget to reflect on our movement, we forget to ask ourselves the meaning of our movement.  We forget to reflect as much in our own lives as we forget to reflect on our collective lives.  Our collective lives together in this world we've been thrown into without a say in where we've landed and yet we must still deal with where we've wound up.

You can't escape the economy in the United States of America.  In the U.S, Republicans and Democrats begin again to engage in practiced political battles of rhetoric.  Dressed in pomp and circumstance, U.S. politicians go through the movements of trying to 'fix' our broken economy.

Rarely do Americans hear anyone ask what 'our broken economy' really is, maybe for fear we might not like the answers.  At the heart of capitalism is 'the Market.'  We hear about the Market.  The Market has an Invisible Hand which, according to some, can better lead us all to future prosperity like Jesus Christ himself.


Last week, President Barack Obama chastised stewards of the Market.  CEO's took large bonuses as U.S. taxpayers bailed out companies with billions to subsidize a certain kind of lifestyle for certain individuals.  The U.S. government subsidizes interest on some of my student loans while I'm still in school.  I take advantage of that $200 to $300 a year break, so I can maintain my lifestyle of helping a family of five eat, dress and sleep undisturbed by the elements while taking on the burden of rising education costs. 

Citigroup, on the other hand, apparently required $45 billion and $300 billion tax-payer loan guarantees to subsidize"Citigroup's" lifestyle.  They planned to use this money to buy a $50 million corporate jet.  They planned to use this money to rent the rights to name the New York Mets' new baseball stadium at a rate of $400 million over 20 years.  

Citigroup announced layoffs of 50,000 employees in November and $19 billion in losses last year.  If the Invisible Hand had its say, Citigroup would be dead.  Since the U.S. has bought into these institutions to keep them afloat, we must ask ourselves: How do you feel about Socialism?  It is no longer a hypothetical question.  How do you feel about Socialism, because the United States of America is now practicing Socialism and a Republican (George W. Bush) put us there.

It's time to reflect on how much control government should have in businesses owned by the government.  It's time to reflect on how we feel about giving money to huge corporations which will subsidize the lifestyles of select individuals hiding behind corporate documents. 

It's time to reflect on how we feel about each other.  We've given billions of dollars to private companies, so can we still seriously talk about the Invisible Hand and the Market?  The Invisible Hand would've crushed those companies not capable of surviving.  We've propped them up!  Where do we go from here? 

After the New York Times announced Wall Street would pay $18.4 billion in bonuses for 2008, Senator Claire McCaskill suggested the U.S. government cap compensation at $400,000 for companies which are now partially owned by the U.S. government. 

What about the Invisible Hand though? 



How are people in America going to ever own a $165 million home when pay is capped at $400k? 



What about the family that needs 103 rooms to feel comfortable?  What would happen to people like them under such systems?  Shouldn't the Invisible Hand just work alone to guarantee one day we all may live in a $140 million castle, if only the Invisible Hand might deem us worthy? 



Doesn't the Bible guarantee such a thing?  (If not, someone may want to go in and update that thing.)  Where's Jesus when you need him to talk sense into these people?  In the absence of Jesus speaking to Americans, we have President Obama casting shame upon corporate CEO's as they lay off American workers and lavish fortunes upon themselves.  And it's about time! 

Why stop with $400k salary caps for companies that have been bailed out by U.S. taxpayers?  The theory of the Invisible Hand is: 'as one person prospers, everyone around them will prosper as well.'  2008 has shown us the Invisible Hand guarantees no such thing; therefore, the Invisible Hand has been replaced by the Watchful Eye of Government.

Welcome to socialism America.  It's really not so bad, but we do need to rethink how we feel about it because nothing is changing in political rhetoric.  That's a problem.  I might suggest we look at a ratio of pay equity under the Watchful Eye of the Government.  Something along the lines of no American CEO should make more than 15 times the amount of their lowest paid employee.  What are the penalties you might ask?  Nothing too severe, simply higher taxes.  The economy, you see, is you and me.  We buy which makes the Market work.  When we don't buy the Market- and our economy- crumble slowly.  Witness the strangling results of "consumers" not having anything to spend in the 4th Quarter 2008. 

You and I fit into this system.  We are 'Consumer Spending.'  If we (the consumer who spends- you and I) don't have money, our economy falters!

You and I often get lost in the processes that make headlines to sell newspapers.  We may find ourselves, at times, in the political rhetoric of the parties in power.  Other times, not so much. 

On Fox News Sunday, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has implied his pending rejection of President Obama's legislation for stimulating the economy.  He's been quoted saying, "You have to start from scratch and reconstruct this."  Kyl took issue- it seems- with: a $500 tax rebate, new government programs and federal cash going to state governments.  This is an interesting position for Kyl to take with President Obama because he voted for President Bush's $700 billion federal finance package in October.  Kyl voted for unsupervised billions of federal dollars being supplied to private financial institutions when offered by Bush 43rd's Administration, but Jon Kyl balks at the Obama Administration's brand of stimulus.  

Jon Kyl is consistent on providing relief to tax-payers in the form of tax rebates.  Kyl voted 'no' for Bush's tax credit rebates and he appears ready to vote 'no' again for Obama's tax credit rebates.  The change everyone hopes for should not obscure the fact that political party rhetoric is a problem in America.  Believe in democracy all you want, but realize our democracy in America is now being modelled in Iraq (the country we invaded to 'spread democracy.')

In Iraq, they just finished voting for the second time in 4 years (much like the U.S.)  People in Iraq may have already become bored with this brand of democracy.  With barely fifty percent of registered voters turning out for the Iraq election, the Chairman of the Iraq electoral commission, Faraj al-Haydari, was quoted as saying, "Very rarely in other parts of the world do you get a higher percentage for provincial elections, so yes we are very happy."

If the People are confused: let democracy be free. 
If the People are too far from the polls: let democracy sing. 
Let democracy shine from sea to shining sea and don't be bothered if the People don't participate. 

We won't have to stop calling it democracy, right?

Finally, reflection upon our changing of the guard.  The way we transition power in the U.S. is a thing of beauty.  We move from leader to leader without bloodshed or violence.  We vote and gracefully bear the brunt of what that means.  These things are tributes to the people in the U.S. and everything that can mean. 

We allow the burden of leadership to move without feeling too threatened by the outcome.  To this degree we trust one another and with this little nugget, we demonstrate a commitment to democracy.  On January 15th, 2009, President George W. Bush (43rd President) delivered his Farewell Address to the world.  In his address, President Bush noted the civility and humanity inherent in us Being-With-One-Another-In-This-World when we peacefully pass on the symbolic leadership of Everything.

"Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people."

Symbolically, we've handed Barack Obama responsibility for any problem we think he should be capable of handling.  We did the same thing with Bush and, I think, he squandered his opportunity to be considered a great leader.  History will judge and it seems Bush only likes history to an extent.  In his Farewell he said, "This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house — September the 11th, 2001."

His presidency began January 20th, 2001.  "As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did."   September 11th seems to have driven Bush 43rd's Administration almost obsessively.  "Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created."

The compassionate conservative expanded government.  For those of you paying attention, that's not conservative ideology. 

"Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States."

Again, massive spending!  He attempted to exert government control added with the expense of the population being one other than his own.  "America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil."  We'd gone a long time prior to 9/11 without being attacked.  This argument relies too heavily on odds.  What would the bookies in Vegas have to say about this?  Someone comes in and says, 'I want to bet you thirty thousand dollars that there'll be another terrorist attack in America within seven years.'

What are the odds?

"And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism. So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity. We're standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to dying patients — to bring dying patients back to life, and sparing mothers and babies from malaria. And this great republic born alone in liberty is leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations."

Wow!  The hyperbole is amazing.  People criticize Obama for being too rhetorical (whatever that means,) but Bush was the Drunken Master Rhetorician.  We're bringing "dying patients back to life?"  That's insane. 

That's Jesus-territory!

"All Americans are in this together. And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America's free enterprise system."

Where was this for the last eight years?

"You may not agree with some of the tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."

I don't!

"While our nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack."

Again we go back to playing the odds?  Is it worth living together-with-one-another-in-the-world-colored-by-fear?

"I've often spoken to you about good and evil, and this has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two of them there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere. Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right."

Just because he says it doesn't make it so.  I can say there isn't good and evil in the world just varying degrees of Desire.  Now we're at an impasse, Mr. Bond!

"We see America's character in Dr. Tony Rehcasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We've seen it in Staff Sergeant Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines."

I'm ending with this quote because it demonstrates one of Bush 43rd's Drunken Master Rhetorical stylings.  Talk about people.  Just throw out names and talk about them rather than talking about the substance of what is taking place before him.

For the sake of parity I would go on with Obama's Inaugural Address; however, I've already gone on too long.  I'll look to post my analysis of that speech in the next day or two.

Currently, I'm out!