Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages, welcome to the circus that is life. In ring #1, we have our President and Congress arguing over tax breaks for the purchase of corporate jet aircraft and cutting Medicare and Social Security for seniors. In ring #3, we have the burgeoning Russian space program and Chinese high speed trains. And, special for you all, in the center ring, we have Marshall Gruskin, working the high wire, with NO net, without health insurance and a weekly paycheck. Look up at the top of our huge big tent and see the amazing debt ceiling.
Ladies and gentlemen, our circus today has record unemployment, 9.2%, millions of people with no hope of a good job and an economy that is dead as a week old fish on ice. In addition folks, for your enjoyment, we have stagnant wages, soaring food prices, billions spent on an unnecessary war and a useless space program. Our featured side-show in our international pavilion has Mexican trucks being allowed to drive anywhere in the U.S. Hold the hands of the kiddies, because the show is on – bring in the endangered species and turn on the global warming!
Please, somebody pinch me for God sakes. I would point you to a piece in the CBS News – Political Hotsheet – the link is – CBS/Congress/LOTR – “Most members of Congress simply don’t share in the average American experience. Congress is a “club” of 245 millionaires – 66 Senators and 179 in the Representatives. So, while just 1% of Americans are millionaires, 66% of Senators and 41% of House members a worth over seven figures.”
“Even the 2010 elections, with its promises to "take our country back," produced a freshman class of senators with a median net worth of close to $4 million. The median net worth of freshman House members is more than half a million dollars. Bottom line is: most Americans are being represented by people who, any way you cut it, are in the elite of the financial elite.”
The New York Times reports – NYT/BD/LOTR – “The average American worker was taking home $752 a week in late 2010, up a mere 0.5 percent from a year earlier. Figures that show that the median pay for top executives at 200 big companies last year was $10.8 million. That works out to a 23 percent gain. Despite the soft economy, weak home prices and persistently high unemployment, some top executives are already making more than they were before the economy soured.”
“Cash bonuses, as opposed to those awarded in stock options, jumped by an astounding 38 percent, the final numbers show. Philippe Dauman, the chief executive of Viacom, at the top of the list. Dauman made $84.5 million last year, after signing a new long-term contract that included one-time stock awards. Les Moonves, chairman of CBS, got a 32 percent raise and reaped $56.9 million. Mike White of DirecTV was paid $32.9 million, while Brian Roberts of the Comcast Corporation and Robert Iger of Disney each received pay packages valued at $28 million.”
The stupidest thing that most Americans do, myself included, is that when you’re in your twenties not realizing that someday, for whatever reason, you will be working without a net. That’s what all those annoying “retirement” commercials by Schwab and Wells Fargo are all about. Unfortunately, most people ignore them. For those of us who are in our 50's, we know that the decades between the time you leave college and enter the real world are but a mere flash in the pan. It all happens so fast, in fact, that when you do reach your 50's, you just don’t feel 50ish, your mind is stuck somewhere decades earlier wondering what the hell happened. Unfortunately, your body feels very much the 50 that you are.
Whatever the age, right now, many of us are working without a net. My goal, despite my physical handicap, is to find a new (better) net and get it back up as quickly as possible. It might be returning to trucking, if that becomes possible again, it might not. I believe God has a hand in where I’m going, I just wish he’d share with me his (her) plans so I can sleep at night. I recall very well the feelings I had driving this past winter, when despite the weather, I could count on a weekly paycheck and had medical coverage - I’ve read my posts from back then – I was miserable. Now that I no longer have either, I don’t feel any worse.
If you liked that post, then try these...
No comments:
Post a Comment