The Wrong Worries

It was an awakening when I read about the history of the “Great “ Depression recently and that Franklin D Roosevelt (famous for setting up the CCC camps, the WPA and other major jobs programs for the country) had begun to cut back on many programs and reduced spending and the depression was, again, in trouble, just like it is now.  Then WW II set in and the country was mobilized to all get to work, set up plane and munitions factories, create new technologies etc.  etc.  and  that is why people say that “wars are good for the economy” (which that one was)  etc. etc.  Our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been good for the economy, in fact have created a huge deficit only to benefit a few rich corporations like Haliburton and Blackwater and  a relative  few  young people.  The reason why is that the country was not mobilized to fight a war (not that we should have) which involved sacrifices of all sorts; belt tightening, rationing of gas, corporate support, etc. etc.  So killing people is not the solution.  But it does suggest what needs to be done; discover what the needs of the people and the planet are : alternative fuels, solar energy and clean energy, education to support all of that, debt reduction…bank sacrifices (remember those corporate sacrifices)….new jobs in biomass and forest management (remember those forest fires) in all sorts of new and exciting places (teachers aids for millions of teachers), new sources of revenue (look at the 1% of population who have been getting richer and richer every year…on our backs…trickle up …well, er,  not really a trickle, really; more like a flood) !  And how about soil building (the backbone of everything), grey water treatment, water catchment, organic farming, etc..  The GOP  and the others who are bickering got it wrong all along and it is time to wake up and see this; this is the time for the government to step in and help out big time (not with bank bail outs this time, but jobs programs and boot-strap support…..on our new war …..to support the people who need help the most right now and not after the economy has begun to (don’t make me laugh) “trickle down” again.  Houses need to be solarized and sealed and insulated and set up for water harvesting.   Wow, everybody….let’s have a war…….ON POVERTY and ECONOMIC ABUSE and POOR MANAGEMENT (gotta keep those unions, folks, to keep the working people’s rights supported).  Gotta have regulations to keep people from ripping each other off in a myriad of ways; the big economic crisis was caused by lack of regulation and proper support of the people’s needs.    In Germany (recently when the economic collapse hit) they made sure that people were not laid off, but they (mostly) all kept their jobs and reduced their hours so that people shared in the economic situation (no zero sum games being played).  No offence to Barak Obama but he needs to get out of that “preppy” world of his and start listening to people with dirt under their fingernails for a change; there is no place for people who are not attached to the earth anymore, because it is in saving the earth (and not the way the litigious enviros and greenies have been thinking and doing) that we will save ourselves. 

Here is a link: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/opinion/the-wrong-worries.html