random social commentary, sort of

Warning: this is not a regular type post for me, here at the State of Indiana... check back later for updates on the family.


Don't mind me.
Some days,
no one does.

Every month, on the 3rd, Chris's mom takes us to lunch at the local Chinese place. We have been doing this for almost 2 years now. Today, brooding upon our life as i have been, i noticed some things that made me very sad. As we turned the corner to pass the mall on our way to pick up Chris's mom for the monthly meal, i noticed two stores closing (within a block of each other)and next to the store closing signs, a homeless man pushing his shopping cart across the street.

Now, i know things wont be so bad as living out of a shopping cart for us, but i cant help feel more emotional for that man than ever before. I feel more deeply for all of the employees of those stores that are closing. I know a girl from one of those shops, went to school with her.

I wonder how this happened? I know all the newsy blurbs, housing bubble, bad mortgages and all that,but really... how did we come to this? Where are all the people who have these bad mortgages and not paying their bills going to go? Are they going to become homeless, or are they just assholes who bought a 500k house on a 200k budget and some p.o.s. banker said "hey, i don't care if you cant pay, we are just going to sell this to some idiot who doesn't know you cant pay"? Who are the greedy bastards who caused this mess? Are we, the people as a whole, responsible for the mess we find ourselves in now, demanding living wages and health insurance and paid coffee breaks, along with filing lawsuits for EVERYTHING (come on, some lady overhearing a dirty joke, not even told to her, but that she eavesdropped on, winning a few mil for sexual harassment... please!?! she was only offended they didn't tell it to her. nosy, my mama always said " don't listen to other people if you don't want to hear what they have to say". coffee on your lap? i didn't know it was going to be hot. its COFFEE for gawds sake, not a milkshake. stupid #&$^%.)? Do you know what that does to insurance rates, and to companies who cant afford to hire people because of those rates? Or are the greedy execs, Enron type fellows all, who hand out bonuses from our tax money to blame? Why are there still CEO types making a mil, while so many shops are closing, so many children are hungry right here in AMERICA? Food banks in Oregon are seeing record numbers of people in need, yet record lows in donations. Are we, as a nation on a witch hunt, resembling 1930s Germany, trying to find someone to blame for our own idiocy? Who's turn is it to play scapegoat? Who is really to blame? Even the local population of illegal migrants is disappearing as jobs disappear. So, i guess it wasn't the Mexicans, hmmm? Several of our friends families have splintered as men follow jobs in other areas, leaving behind wives and children to struggle on as best they can, waiting for the call home, and the letter with money in it. How do we help each other come out of this mess? How do we make sure the guilty parties don't get a chance to do this to us again?

Honestly, i no longer even care who is to blame, i just want to know how to fix it.

How do we create new jobs in this environment of fear? How do we make people and companies feel that it is safe to bet on America again? How do we weed out the corruption of millionaire ceo's and cfo's?

what can i, the individual, caught up in this mess herself, do to help fix it?