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This Economy....These Politics.....
12 years ago
I'll do my best to be as objective as I can be with this one, I promise. The last thing I want to do is go all partisan in one of my rants (which very few people read, but I do anyway, because I feel it's cathartic).
I have been job-hunting for a few months shy of a year, now. Yes, in 2012, I was doing some mild job-hunting while taking those college certificate courses for OSHA, but I wasn't giving it my all, and I own that. Won't even hesitate to admit it.
I had to stop taking the courses, even though I was approved for FAFSA to fund the next and final semester, because it simply wasn't financially feasible for my household--my father's the only one working. Other-Dad is being horribly picky when it comes to what jobs he'll hunt for (I can't say I entirely blame him--he's worked his ass off his whole life like anyone else), and I had no income. Having to actually drive to the school at least two to three times a week (it's an hour away) and back just wouldn't have worked, no matter how we sliced it. I sacrificed that partly because I still had no job, and partly because it was the only sensible option to choose.
And after all that time, when I'm not gaming, or writing, or brainstorming, or doing errands, or sleeping, or eating, or masturbating, I've been keeping an eye out for opportunities that I'm certain I'm qualified for. And in this town, unless you KNOW someone, those are relatively very few and far in between (we're great for folks who want to be trukcers, nurses or welders!). But to be fair, this town was never a great place to seek employment--even before the Great Recession, this town was always lacking in jobs--not just decent paying or full time jobs--JOBS in general.
And here I am, constantly still keeping an eye out. Putting in applications to the few places I know are considering hiring. And yet all I hear about on the news and on the internet is this constant stream of either blind optimiism, or almost religious doom and gloom naysay. And I'm damn sick of it, so I tried to bring my own rational mind into the matter and form my own opinion.
I'm not going to say anything new, here: this economy sucks. Everyone knows that. We've known that for years, now. And yet, rather than stop, breathe, and try to work out the exact, undisputable and undebatable sources (I guarantee you, as complex as economics is, there is MORE than one cause) of these problems, almost everyone still seems dead-set on making it all, if not only, about fucking politics. Even after the election. Hell, even a large portion of the economists hired to figure this shit out end up pulling up the partisan flags.
Why?? Why are we still focusing on that, when what is really needed is to just sit down, crunch numbers, and figure out where the various ponzi schemes that set up the huge ass bubble in the first place happened, so we can repair the damage and make sure those bubbles don't happen again?
I know, I know, it almost seems like I just answered my own question. But really, /objectively/, I didn't. All I just did was illustrate what will need to happen, no matter who's in power and which party controls the legislative process.
To be fair, I know all of these economists are doing their damnedest--economics is, after all, one of the more complex and not fully understood sciences outside of all the other hard sciences, like medicine and astronomics and etc. My problem isn't with them.
It's with the fuckwits who keep trying to make this ALL ABOUT fucking POLITICS. I'll say it in blunt terms: the few dedicated, non-partisan economists aside, every OTHER economist and EVERYONE ELSE is making it about who gets to sit in a number of leather/pleather office chairs and debate on our collective behalf for two to four years. And I know why.
It's becuse they're not being objective at all. They're just trying to find one, two, maybe five single people to blame, so that history books can demonize them, and then surely THEIR politics will be recongized as the RIGHT WAY TO GO.
I'm sorry. No. Politics DO have an effect on economics, but the effect is, at best, correlative, not causative. Do some policies make business behave differently? Of course. That's always been the case, ever since organized government came about--OVER 10,000 years ago. But unless the economy in question is owned by the government, or protectionist, then legislation is not the CAUSE of the change. The cause is reactionary--the paradigms change, and then to make sure profit margins are met to ensure continued profit and corporate expansion occurs, the businesses change their behavior.
Honestly, I don't think even half of these economy arguments--let's be honest, folks, they're not debates. Debates actually are objective and intelligent; these are just screaming matches televised because it's good sound bytes and gets butts in seats--are really even ABOUT the economy, much less the poor, relatively worthless bastards like me, who for all our potential (keep in mind, potential doesn't equal profit--ACTION equals profit) have nothing to show for it, nor credentials to back up any reason we give to hire us. Nor are they really about the rich--both the shitheads and the very much NOT shitheads among the one percent, a majority of both, I have to be honest here, actually did work their assess off to get where they are now.
They're all about the politics. This law, that law; More regulation, less regulation; stiffer immigration, looser immigration..."economy" and every major term associated with it has become the buzzword of the 2010s, much like "terrorist" was the buzzword of the 2000s. Need I remind you all the things the Patriot Act enabled? Sure, there were some security benefits, but it was mostly just another political tool to make Americans feel safe. Our actual safety was never the REAL concern when you brought up terrorists--it was how opinions on terrorism and it's capabilities could effect politics and how the country is run, and by whom.
I am just, so SICK of being unemployed. If I had a million dollars in savings, I wouldn't be QUITE as aggrivated, or even financially concerned, for that matter... but I'd still at least make attempts to find some part-time work, if for no other reason to keep myself busy and out of the house, and feeling like I was doing SOMETHING with my time that was productive. I don't WANT to be some lazy moocher, I want to PRODUCE, even if my productivity doesn't really mean much in the bigger picture. And here, in my town, even finding PART TIME work without knowning the right people, or having juuuuust the right skills, has become a nigh-miracle.
And yet on the news, I have to watch either pundits from both the left and right bitch at each other about how "I AM RIGHT, YOU ARE WRONG, YOU'LL RUIN THIS COUNTRY WITH YER TERRIBLE IDEAS AND WAYS, (note how relatively accurate a representation that is....then realize how little it has to do with discussing the economy objectively)", or hear Piers Morgan exchanging heated sound bytes with someone or other about gun control laws (Yes, yes, I know--the massacre in Colorado was a tragedy, and such things do need to be discussed, but COME ON, Piers, we all know where you stand on the issue, and where others stand--let's stop bitching at each other and fucking DO something about it, not just talk!).
And then, I finally understand how folks must have felt--how my GRANDPARENTS must have felt during the Great Depression....that their leaders, their political representatives, and everyone but their neighbors and friends and family, had just left them behind.
I have been job-hunting for a few months shy of a year, now. Yes, in 2012, I was doing some mild job-hunting while taking those college certificate courses for OSHA, but I wasn't giving it my all, and I own that. Won't even hesitate to admit it.
I had to stop taking the courses, even though I was approved for FAFSA to fund the next and final semester, because it simply wasn't financially feasible for my household--my father's the only one working. Other-Dad is being horribly picky when it comes to what jobs he'll hunt for (I can't say I entirely blame him--he's worked his ass off his whole life like anyone else), and I had no income. Having to actually drive to the school at least two to three times a week (it's an hour away) and back just wouldn't have worked, no matter how we sliced it. I sacrificed that partly because I still had no job, and partly because it was the only sensible option to choose.
And after all that time, when I'm not gaming, or writing, or brainstorming, or doing errands, or sleeping, or eating, or masturbating, I've been keeping an eye out for opportunities that I'm certain I'm qualified for. And in this town, unless you KNOW someone, those are relatively very few and far in between (we're great for folks who want to be trukcers, nurses or welders!). But to be fair, this town was never a great place to seek employment--even before the Great Recession, this town was always lacking in jobs--not just decent paying or full time jobs--JOBS in general.
And here I am, constantly still keeping an eye out. Putting in applications to the few places I know are considering hiring. And yet all I hear about on the news and on the internet is this constant stream of either blind optimiism, or almost religious doom and gloom naysay. And I'm damn sick of it, so I tried to bring my own rational mind into the matter and form my own opinion.
I'm not going to say anything new, here: this economy sucks. Everyone knows that. We've known that for years, now. And yet, rather than stop, breathe, and try to work out the exact, undisputable and undebatable sources (I guarantee you, as complex as economics is, there is MORE than one cause) of these problems, almost everyone still seems dead-set on making it all, if not only, about fucking politics. Even after the election. Hell, even a large portion of the economists hired to figure this shit out end up pulling up the partisan flags.
Why?? Why are we still focusing on that, when what is really needed is to just sit down, crunch numbers, and figure out where the various ponzi schemes that set up the huge ass bubble in the first place happened, so we can repair the damage and make sure those bubbles don't happen again?
I know, I know, it almost seems like I just answered my own question. But really, /objectively/, I didn't. All I just did was illustrate what will need to happen, no matter who's in power and which party controls the legislative process.
To be fair, I know all of these economists are doing their damnedest--economics is, after all, one of the more complex and not fully understood sciences outside of all the other hard sciences, like medicine and astronomics and etc. My problem isn't with them.
It's with the fuckwits who keep trying to make this ALL ABOUT fucking POLITICS. I'll say it in blunt terms: the few dedicated, non-partisan economists aside, every OTHER economist and EVERYONE ELSE is making it about who gets to sit in a number of leather/pleather office chairs and debate on our collective behalf for two to four years. And I know why.
It's becuse they're not being objective at all. They're just trying to find one, two, maybe five single people to blame, so that history books can demonize them, and then surely THEIR politics will be recongized as the RIGHT WAY TO GO.
I'm sorry. No. Politics DO have an effect on economics, but the effect is, at best, correlative, not causative. Do some policies make business behave differently? Of course. That's always been the case, ever since organized government came about--OVER 10,000 years ago. But unless the economy in question is owned by the government, or protectionist, then legislation is not the CAUSE of the change. The cause is reactionary--the paradigms change, and then to make sure profit margins are met to ensure continued profit and corporate expansion occurs, the businesses change their behavior.
Honestly, I don't think even half of these economy arguments--let's be honest, folks, they're not debates. Debates actually are objective and intelligent; these are just screaming matches televised because it's good sound bytes and gets butts in seats--are really even ABOUT the economy, much less the poor, relatively worthless bastards like me, who for all our potential (keep in mind, potential doesn't equal profit--ACTION equals profit) have nothing to show for it, nor credentials to back up any reason we give to hire us. Nor are they really about the rich--both the shitheads and the very much NOT shitheads among the one percent, a majority of both, I have to be honest here, actually did work their assess off to get where they are now.
They're all about the politics. This law, that law; More regulation, less regulation; stiffer immigration, looser immigration..."economy" and every major term associated with it has become the buzzword of the 2010s, much like "terrorist" was the buzzword of the 2000s. Need I remind you all the things the Patriot Act enabled? Sure, there were some security benefits, but it was mostly just another political tool to make Americans feel safe. Our actual safety was never the REAL concern when you brought up terrorists--it was how opinions on terrorism and it's capabilities could effect politics and how the country is run, and by whom.
I am just, so SICK of being unemployed. If I had a million dollars in savings, I wouldn't be QUITE as aggrivated, or even financially concerned, for that matter... but I'd still at least make attempts to find some part-time work, if for no other reason to keep myself busy and out of the house, and feeling like I was doing SOMETHING with my time that was productive. I don't WANT to be some lazy moocher, I want to PRODUCE, even if my productivity doesn't really mean much in the bigger picture. And here, in my town, even finding PART TIME work without knowning the right people, or having juuuuust the right skills, has become a nigh-miracle.
And yet on the news, I have to watch either pundits from both the left and right bitch at each other about how "I AM RIGHT, YOU ARE WRONG, YOU'LL RUIN THIS COUNTRY WITH YER TERRIBLE IDEAS AND WAYS, (note how relatively accurate a representation that is....then realize how little it has to do with discussing the economy objectively)", or hear Piers Morgan exchanging heated sound bytes with someone or other about gun control laws (Yes, yes, I know--the massacre in Colorado was a tragedy, and such things do need to be discussed, but COME ON, Piers, we all know where you stand on the issue, and where others stand--let's stop bitching at each other and fucking DO something about it, not just talk!).
And then, I finally understand how folks must have felt--how my GRANDPARENTS must have felt during the Great Depression....that their leaders, their political representatives, and everyone but their neighbors and friends and family, had just left them behind.
