I'm in some serious trouble, folks. You see, as many of you know, I've been out of work since January 2009. I've looked for work, but it is more difficult for me to find work as a fifty year old man than it might be for a young twenty year old buck. I've looked for work, but it's tough to find a job even when the hardest requirements are the ability to say "Welcome to Walmart" or "Would you like fries with that?" So, I've tried to make writing my work, tried to make money writing these little opinion articles. So far, I've made nothing. Now it seems that the emergency unemployment funds have been held up by the loving members of congress that claim to care so much for their constituents. It seems that some have determined in their infinite wisdom that the source of our financial troubles is all the unemployed running around taking money from the system and that a good place to start cutting their uncontrolled spending would be unemployment compensation.
The house has passed an emergency funding bill and hopefully the senate will follow suit, but I've been reading some people making a big deal out of this and calling it bad legislation. Normally, I would agree with them. I would have preferred to have paid into a private unemployment insurance system where those running it could be held accountable should they fail, but that wasn't an option I had. My employers and I were forced to pay into this system in the form of taxes. This was supposed to be a system meant to protect people from economic downturns until they could get back on their feet. This is a program that has failed miserably, just like every other government program.
But this unemployment situation has become a political football. Suddenly certain politicians are crying about adding a few billion to the deficit. Suddenly the unemployed are too much of a burden to support. Yes, the deficit has ballooned to unsustainable levels and yes the federal government needs to cut spending. I just don't think they should start by cutting benefits to the unemployed who have paid into the system for so long.
First of all, this system we operate under has come about in large measure due to government restrictions and regulations. It is in no way, shape or form what a free market is supposed to look like. The very fact that you have to get permission (permits), meet certain government obligations and pay for the "privilege" of operating a business (taxes, fees and fines) shows that we are not operating in a free market. That is a subject that books have been written about, so I will only touch upon it here. In any case, the fact that this system is so heavily influenced by government control makes it the responsibility of government to take care of those financially harmed when the system collapses, much as I hate to say that. It seems to me that there are more sensible places where the federal government can cut spending rather than abandoning the unemployed. The political elite need to start taking responsibility for the wreckage they have caused.
What expenses could be cut to help reduce spending and the deficit? How about ending foreign aid? Why give money to foreigners when we can't take care of our own? How about withdrawing our troops from foreign lands? How about we bring an end to these unpopular and illegal occupations in the Middle East that benefit large corporations and do nothing for the common folk? Why is it okay to spend trillions on killing brown people overseas but spending a few billion on keeping the unemployed from ending up homeless on the streets raises so many eyebrows? The wars haven't helped the economy, they've bankrupted the United States Empire. They will continue to do so as long as we keep them up. It is time to proclaim victory and just get out. It is time to stop spending on destruction and start investing in more productive endeavors.
Another place the federal government could cut their spending would be the Department of Education. How many billions have been wasted on this failed bureaucracy? What was wrong with letting states, counties and local communities run and finance their own educational systems? When I was young and that was the case the United States of America was rated among the best nations when it came to education. Since the feds have insisted upon having their say the quality of education in this nation has declined significantly.
Better yet, why not divorce education from the public sector completely. Let each parent pay for the education of their children and we'll soon see just how much the market believes should be spent on education. As it stands right now, home schoolers are the best and brightest and repeatedly outscore public school children on tests. That's because home schoolers are usually actually educated and taught to think rather than indoctrinated and taught to obey. I'm even certain that under such a system churches, charities and community organizations would help poorer children and provide them with a better education than the public sector currently does. Too long we've depended on government for our services and for too long we've accepted failure and allowed it to continue. This needs to stop. We need to show that we can do a better job than they can and should be allowed to compete.
I wouldn't want to end this paper without mentioning the bailouts. We common folk screamed "NO!" while they were considering them and the political and elite classes did not listen. The banks and the Wall Street elite, with the help and support of their political friends, stole hundreds of billions, some say even trillions, from the public coffers. They then removed that money from the economy causing the failure and downsizing of many businesses in the private sector. I myself was downsized only a few months after the first bailout in 2008. Why is it okay for these businesses worth trillions to be bailed out while hard working common folk get shafted when their jobs are lost in an economy that is failing due to the practices of those very businesses? Why do CEOs and other high powered executives get their billions in bonuses and get to keep their mansions, yachts and privileged life styles while common folk worry about whether they'll even be able to feed their families in the coming weeks?
We know where the fault lies. We know that the central banks and their huge corporate "too big to fail" cronies have connived to monopolize business and influence the federal government for their own corrupt purposes. We know that the big government control freaks have allowed their judgment to become clouded by power and money and all the privileges that come with such things. We know our politicians have lost their principles, that they are corrupted and corruptible. We know they have given up on doing what's right for mankind and that they insist on doing everything they can to increase their power and feed their egos. It is time to point the finger directly where it belongs, at big government and the big businesses that support big government. These are the entities that have failed epically. These are the entities that should pay for their mistakes, not the common folk who in many cases don't even realize that they've been played.
The unemployed are on their way to becoming the sacrificial lambs of the power elite. They are about to be shoved under the bus and trampled under foot in the name of political expediency and correctness. Millions of men and women will soon be hung out to dry simply because they don't have the political power or clout of the mega rich that inhabit Wall Street or the web spinning spiders crouched in their plush central banking offices ready to strike. Unfortunately, I am one of those who will go under the bus should this happen. Perhaps we will get a slight reprieve, hopefully, perhaps not, but sooner or later we will be forced to have to fend for ourselves. Big government has once again shown its indignation toward the little folk and I fear for the fate the central planners have in store for us.
I have personally, however, taken steps to try to improve my financial situation. Due to these circumstances, I have decided to release a book I wrote under the name Matthew Wayne a few years back. It is entitled "The Ouijiers" and is available now as an ebook at Ipic publishing. I could not afford to wait for some editor in some posh New York office to discover what a good writer I am. I can not trust the corporate publishing industry to even understand what good writing looks like. You, my readers, are already aware of my word crafting skills. You can help support me and my writing by purchasing a copy of "The Ouijiers" at the discounted price of $7.95. If you do not like horror or simply do not wish to purchase a copy but would still like to support me and my efforts to spread the message of freedom, I am still taking donations at szandorblestman.com. I thank you all for the kindness and support you have shown over the last few years. I wish you peace and good fortune.
Szandor
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