Thursday, July 17, 2008

Complain If You Must---don't keep that bottled up inside

This week, for some reason some things are really starting to fry my butt----so am gonna off-load here---want to warn you more sensitive happy happy people, best ya skip this post and keep your head in the sand------.
So whats bugging the old dude ya wanna know?---I am totally bummed out over the kids bitching about how miserable they have things, tired of their loud ignorant cater-walling, the sky is falling rhetoric-----.
Maybe its because its an election year, maybe it because we only have a half dozen major media companies and gawd forbid any of em dare to disagree with the others, so the whole group moves in lock step (maybe you recall the WaMu adds about the group of fat old bankers being penned up ----well that's our media today. All run by 40 year olds , getting advice from 30 years old who are still living at home.
I had to actually laugh today listening to a radio announcer reporting the news actually emotionally, his mind boggled, report that housing prices here in So. California had dropped 24 percent from a year a go.---"the sky is falling, the sky is falling", screamed chicken little" The same announcer a moment later added, "New housing starts are at a 17 1/2 year low, and new mortgage rates where 6. 7%----"the sky is falling , the sky is falling---". I purchased my first house in 1975, (in Colorado Springs, Colo.---a beautiful city on the front range of the Rockies), The price (1975) was $138,500" and I obtained a VA mortgage of 7 1/2% fixed. My mtg payment was 279.00/mo-------At the time, I was earning a gross paycheck of $245/Week. I had to drive up to Denver, (75 miles) to argue with the VA to convince them I could afford the mtg payment, and show them how I budgeted my money---I was 38years old at the time)---anyway I got the loan. The laid in concrete rule by loan agencies at the time was your mortage payment could not exceed 1/4 your monthly income. Seems we are getting back to basics in this last year----thats a good thing.
So here we are 33 years later, the mtg rate is wow, under 7%----housing prices have fallen 24 percent from last year----(I remember the year before that it being reported that they were INCREASING 20-25% Year to year---was the sky falling then??). Kids today just don't get it, all their lives, life has been given to them on a platter, they have been patted on the heads, told how great they are (and passed upward grade by grade--don't want to give the kid a trauma---and the parents,--"heres some money go away and play, don't bother us"----but now some have moved out from under their parents umbrella---and a few drops of rain , and total panic----if it wasn't so sad to see how ignorant they are , it would be funny.
Well its an election year, and the media (gotta sell them papers and keep them advertising rates up) have all decided to swing left and push the theme of "Change"----lets bash the ins, promote the new faces----damn the torpedo's full speed ahead----. The finance people, the ones that control the money ain't stupid----and they see the trends, and they act accordingly, one step ahead of the media herd------we NOW have the Liberals taking over congress again, after some absence----watch your congress spend money on new large welfare programs for education, medicare, social security, do not expect a tax cut, lets cancel the money for the war, and spend it on new welfare---hows THAT for Change??----watch too, the cost of living index, ---under the last liberal government it hit double digits---(most kids and people in power today hadn't either been born or were still wearing pull ups).
Okay,that's enough of MY ranting---been there before, and here we are again---life WILL go on----and I have to SALUTE our forefathers who established our government, set up the checks and balances-----who knew the people would be so fickle, and swing left and right ---like who knew??

4 comments:

  1. Okay time for a rant of my own here. Our highway system was built in the 50s. Our electrical grid was built in the 60s. If you consider rebuilding our infrastructure welfare then I feel sorry for you. If your roof was falling in would you wait until it hit you in the head before calling a roofer?
    Again as for spending I seem to recall we had a balanced budget until Bush went on his drunkin spending spree. What is it 9 trillion now? And what's to show for it. It was all welfare for corporations and the rich. Even Warren Buffet was embarrassed to admit it. He pays less taxes than his receptionist!
    But the real problem was that the neoCONS got in and all the old rules were thrown out the window. It's been checks and balances be damned. Constitution ha it became a piece of toilet paper to the Bush republicans and you know it.

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  2. GJG - I really like reading your posts. But when you complain about one group walking in lock step as they complain about some perceived problem or wrong and then at the end of your post pull out the same tired old lock step rhetoric from the other side to bolster your point, my eyes glaze over.

    Liberal Congress? Come on. This Congress is hardly even close to what we both know from past Deocratic control. With 48 Blue Dog Democrats in their ranks, calling them a Liberal Congress is misleading and flat out wrong. That will pass anything that does not have bipartisan support is a stretch. I would call this Congress a movement back to the center. Not even close to leaning to the left.

    Will they make stupid mistakes? You betcha. But that is what both sides do. But I will say what will be a refreshing change for me is the liklihood that debate might begin to center on things that matter to average Americans instead of the single minded special interests that have taken over the Republican party.

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  3. Hi GJG. I wanted to add to your story a little bit (about the housing market). My parents bought a house in 1970 and locked in a 20-year mortgage term at a rate of 6.75%. In the very early 70's, this seemed high. By the late 70's and early 80's, my mother (by this time widowed) was thanking her lucky stars to have locked in to such a low rate.

    The only other observation I'd make is that in 1975, $138,000 for a house was a LOT of money. You must have had a good chunk of change thrown in as equity to end up with a low mortgage payment of $279.00 per month.

    As to your comments about the US Congress, if I'm reading you correctly, the liberal bent you're ascribing to them is to the Congress you believe will be elected this fall, right? If it isn't, then I agree with Macrum that the current Congress could be described best as centrist, and indeed, they aren't nearly as liberal as the Democratic-controlled congresses of the 1970's through 1994.

    But y'know, in the centre we find the greatest mediocrity. Congress now has an approval rating under 15%? Wow. It's no surprise - with a few exceptions, neither party has much talent in the House of Representatives.

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  4. Alrighty then....here comes the younger buck with his two cents.

    I see people getting kickbacks from governments and politicians making money on shady deals with larger corporations. If they were really there for our interests, wouldn't you think we would hear at least one, JUST ONE person in politics stand up and say, "this corporation tried to bribe me, they are no good, and you need to know this"?

    You will never hear that from anyone in politics, and that is absolutely shameful. They are too worried about their own image for my liking. Not everyone can be everything for everybody, but to not own up to any mistakes one might make without the media dragging it out of them is sad.

    I've lost faith in our governments ability to do what is right for the good old USA, and every four years I'll cast my vote for someone I really don't think will be good, but is perhaps better than the other option on the table.

    I want more than that personally.

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Speak up, don't be a nebish---your opinions do count.