The “New Generation” needs to speak up!

The Environmental Defense Fund is asking for our help again. They have begun a campaign to ensure that Global Warming, Alternative Energy and other Environmental issues are included in the presidential debates, and not pushed to the wayside by typical politics. Think about what concerns us most, especially if you are in Generation X or a Millenial. This economy and multi-trillion dollar debt will affect our lives and our retirement, and add to that the possibility of ever-changing weather due to climate change, and we face some major issues as the Baby Boom retires. We need to make sure that our issues are heard, so we have a clear choice of who will lead us into the future.

The current administration has stalled our growth by reducing spending on capital in the science and technology sector, and we need to get it back before the rest of the world catches up or surpasses us. In Europe, they are in the large-trial stages of stem-cell transplants, and in the Scandinavian region, countries have tidal power, geo-thermal power, hydro-electric power, wind and solar power. Feeling a little behind? Well, they are also driving on electricity, CNG, and ever-reducing their dependence on foreign oil. One of the reasons Japan lost WWII was an oil embargo against them. How would you function if the world all of a sudden had a beef against us, and decided not to sell us oil?

Alternative Energy sources are a major part of National Security, and this administration has ignored it. Sign the petition to keep the Environment on the list of issues during the Presidential Debates.

In ECON 201 today, I became more depressed about the state of the US economy. I wish I could put my 401K money under the mattress right now, but I'm going to "ride it out" like the "experts" keep telling me to. This $700 billion bail-out is absurd. Instead of thinking what is "bad or good" for the economy, think of it as "easy or difficult." The bail-out is the "easy" way out, which is not always best in the long run. Think about it – stopping terrorism "over there" instead of dealing with it "over here" seemed like an easy answer, but look at where it got us in the long run. Are we any safer from domestic terrorists than we were 7 years ago?

Bailing-out the banks is an easy way to STABILIZE the market for RIGHT NOW. It does not guarantee the prevention of a slide in the near future. It will only "open up" the credit market, or so they "speculate." It will not prevent a recession – at 6.1% unemployment we are already 1.1% ABOVE the "preferred" unemployment rate, therefore we are already in a recession. The bail-out will create inflation, as it makes the dollar weaker. It will make it harder to buy the essentials, much less pamper ourselves with Starbucks and HBO. And as a Gen-Xer, I can live every day for the rest of my life, knowing that my 5 member family donated $10,000 to corrupt bankers who made horrible decisions, so their credit market could be re-opened. Every day, for the rest of my life – I really hope my kids forgive us if we let this happen. If you haven't written to your Congressmen/women or Senators, do it now.

Think about it, if every "bad" mortgage was re-negotiated at lower interest rates, people could afford their mortgages, the banks would end up getting most of their return on investment, and real-estate would not sit empty as homelessness rises. It is difficult for the banks to sit on their bad debts and wait over the long run for a return on those investments. So they would rather the US taxpayer buy those bad mortgages, re-posses the properties, and hope that someone buys them as they sit, empty, at prices just out of reach of many Americans. How strange would it look to the rest of the world as houses sit empty while "Bushvilles" pop up across the nation?

If you look at the raw basics of this crisis, it is not a difficult decision to let "Lassiez faire," or let the markets be free, in good times and in bad. And if the big boys can't play right, then they need to share the profits with the debt-holders. At least raise the tax rate back to what it was in 1999, and start paying off some of the debt that already exists.

– $ 9,795,674,339,326

Economic Bail-out should spark a letter writing campaign

I wrote to my Representative and Senators today, asking them to postpone a vote on the Economic Bail-out, and debate it on the floors. The last plan they hastily pushed through Congress was the Iraq War and they claimed it would be easy and pay for itself. Remember? Everyone should write one as well, because we have Inflation coming. That was the subject of our first lecture in ECON 201 today. Our country is in economic trouble and we are about to make it worse for the individual worker.

For those of you who are fortunate to know someone still alive from the Greatest Generation, ask them how much a loaf of bread was during the Depression compared to their salaries. We are about to socialize a HUGE debt and bail-out executives who made HUGE mistakes.

We will not even socialize medicine, but it's okay to socialize the banks' debts without socializing their profits. Here's a copy of the letter I sent, please send one of your own:

We already know with the bungled results of the Iraq War that hasty votes by Congress can become large mistakes. Please take the time to ensure that the Executives responsible for these companies are fired, make golden parachute deals illegal, and regulate, regulate regulate!

It is not fair to my generation or my children's that we socialize debt before we socialize medicine and profits. Please do not hastily shove another one of the President's Best Guesses through. Too many Americans will have to pay in inflation and retirement fund sacrifices for too many generations to come. And those executives who come out with millions from all of this don't even pay their fair share of taxes.

When is Congress going to stand up for the majority of workers instead of bailing out the minority of large earners from their poor choices? I thought that's what a Democrat majority was supposed to produce.

Thank you,
Amy Lucas

Wall Street went down, down, down, down

As I am sitting here, the stock market is dipping and dipping. I don't even want to know what my 401K is doing, but hopefully my hypocrisy investments in "Natural Resources" are keeping it afloat. Despite the pain it will inflict on the economy, I am glad the government did not bail out Lehman Brothers, and I hope they tell the auto companies to "Suck it," too. What? The more wealthy citizens will finally feel a pinch like the rest of us?

Don't chide me for the loss of jobs, I realize this is a bad thing, but in the last 12 years, we have let M.B.A. salaries skyrocket past those of doctors, physicists, most lawyers – you get the picture. These C.E.O.'s and C.F.O.'s have been paid hundreds of times, sometimes even thousands of times (as in the case of Wal-Mart), the salaries of their lowest paid workers, and most of these salaries aren't even based on performance. They have been allowed to make bad investments, slash the skilled workforce, slash bonus programs for workers, and run the companies into the ground. But they get their parachute bonuses before leaving the companies, and I'm sure they are immediately put into tax shelters.

They are rewarded with golden parachutes of millions if their company is sold during their time as CEO. So what's the best way to get multi-millions without having to work? Simple, get an MBA, become a CEO, run the company into the ground, break it up and sell it off in pieces, then get your golden parachute. This happened to my husband, after 20 years of loyalty to a grocery chain, we watched his management bonus get smaller and smaller, while workers' wages were frozen, and the executives' were paid more and more. Not long after he left to run his own business, the company publicly announced its financial troubles, and was sold off in pieces. The executives were rewarded quite comfortably, while thousands of workers lost their jobs.

I really wish John Edwards had been able to keep his pants zipped, because this is a major example of the two Americas that John McCain doesn't want to acknowledge. To the autoworkers in Detroit – leave now. Go get a job with Toyota, or another car company willing to listen to the consumer, and act responsibly. I never thought I would buy a Japanese car, but if GM and Ford aren't willing to build the efficient cars we want, then we will go elsewhere. The government needs to recognize that bailing them out is just enabling more poor decisions by out-of-touch CEO's. For those CEO's to say that saving their company from their bad decisions is the only way to save the American economy is nothing but offensive. America has prospered through its past tough times with ingenuity and aided with innovations by Academia.

This de-regulated CEO thinking is dinosaur, get-rich-quick thinking, and it's time that a new generation of workers, who are familiar with the business and skilled in management, begin running the companies. Just because you have an MBA from Harvard doesn't mean you know what's best for a hospital or a grocery chain (or being President for that matter). Let Wall Street reel in its bad decisions, let the market slide to where it should be, and maybe next time investments are made, history will be examined before money is blindly invested.

Update: I went into my funds and heavily diversified yesterday. I moved some money around and hopefully, some positive choices I made will leave me with at least as much retirement as I put in.

Pharmaceuticals for Everyone!

The AP, astounded by its investigation in March of America's drinking water, recently decided to expand its study to more Metropolitan areas. In fact, many cities voluntarily tested their water after the initial statistics came out this past spring. The recent analysis found that over 46 million Americans are exposed to pharmaceuticals through their drinking water, and what's alarming is that some big cities, including New York City, declined to participate.

Seattle – you are safe. Lucky for us in the Northwest, most of our drinking water supply comes from snow melt in the mountains, including my well here at home. However for my brother in Huntsville, Alabama, he might start feeling a bit emotional with all the estrogen in the drinking supply, but it may be countered by the fluoxetine (Prozac) and other mood stabilizers found in Huntsville's water.

While I commend communities for being environmentally conscious by recycling their water, there needs to be a better way to eliminate the pharmaceuticals from the drinking water. While it's not going to affect you in one day, studies have not been done on the effects of constant exposure over time. Drugs metabolize differently and can build up in one's fat cells.

Scientists do not know if the pharmaceuticals are a result of drugs being metabolized by the kidneys and liver and excreted as number ones and twos in the potty, or if it's a result of the public directly disposing of drugs into the wastewater system (aka flushing). As a pharmacy technician, I feel it's probably a bit of both. Pharmacies do need to be more responsible in helping people dispose of drugs properly.

The Washington State Pharmacy Association recommends adding hot water to your unused pharmaceuticals and sealing them in a tight container which should then be thrown in the trash. However, when I do this at work, I always imagine a mangy dog digging through the trash, puncturing the vial and drinking all the old people medicine – ah yes, my guilty conscious at work. It would be interesting to see the volume of pharmaceuticals found in the fish and crustaceans off the coast of America's cities as well. Anyone want some shrimp?

Dear Jesus – gimme a pipeline

Surprise, surprise, I have another problem with Governor Palin. There are many video clips from her Assembly of God church that will be coming out soon, but a few things struck me as just plain wrong, even as a non-religious person. First of all, as mayor of Wasilla, AK, she tried to fire the town librarian after the librarian refused to pull books out of the library. She finally withdrew her recommendation of termination when she realized that half the town was backing the librarian and their First Amendment rights.

Second problem: she attended a Jews for Jesus conference in which the featured speaker said that the destruction of Israel by the Lebanese was "judgment" by God himself because the Jews refuse to accept Jesus as their Messiah. I thought Jesus said, "Do not judge unless you judge yourself." Isn't that God's job?

And third, Sarah Palin called for her church congregation to pray for a gas pipeline in Alaska. What?! Screw world famine, poverty and peace, Jesus – give us a pipeline! Hmmm… I really thought Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

Her church is also hosting a joint conference with James Dobson's Focus on the Family to promote the conversion of gays. Doesn't sound like she has the interest of all of the public in mind, but the 17% of the selfish, yes selfish population instead - Evangelicals who have big mouths and fat pockets, and think they have the right to impose their views on the other 80% of the population.

But to get past the religious problems, she outright said she has always been anti-earmark (aka special interest). Here are the facts – this year alone Governor Palin requested $197 million in earmarks (the highest earmarks per capita than any other state!), while Obama requested zero. McCain and Palin's campaign is fueled by lobbyists; they are even in charge of the campaign. Obama has not taken one penny from lobbyists, and yet he has raised mountains of money from citizens like you and I. Before you buy into the Pitbull's rhetoric, check the facts of her record.

On the Obama front, I'm still "Fired up and ready to go," but my question is where are we going and when are we leaving? You're being "swift boated" buddy, and saying things like, "McCain's a great guy, and Palin's a outstanding woman," is not going to get you votes. It's déjà vu all over again, and you're about to go to the wayside. In the words of Bob Marley, "Get up, Stand up. Don't give up the fight."

 

G.O.P. is Out of Touch

Well if you did not know it by now, the Greedy Old Prude convention confirmed it last night. The Republicans are completely out of touch with the common American. Not one of them mentioned the economy, not one of them mentioned alternative energy, and not one of them mentioned health care. What did they mention? Well, aside from hockey (which most Americans can't afford to put their kids in), they bashed Obama for not getting a high paying corporate job after he graduated from Harvard. According to the Republicans, a community organizer is a joke.

Why is it a joke to want to get into your community and help people who are not as fortunate as you? If anything, it makes Barak and Michelle Obama more admirable, because they both could have gotten high paying corporate lawyer jobs out of college. Instead, they decided to live in Chicago and give back to the community, working hard to pay the bills. Now let's talk about what a community organizer does, and why it deserves a lot more respect than what the Republicans think.

According to the official Obama campaign a community organizer is, "the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies. Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed."

What a slap in the face to poor people, those who live paycheck to paycheck, those with little savings, and those who may be comfortable economically, but realize that there are millions who are not. If we go out and register the millions of hard working Americans to vote that aren't already registered, we can show them what the Democratic process means. The PEOPLE choose the leader who can understand what they are going through, who doesn't think it's a joke that people lose their jobs, or can't find work, or can't work because of sickness that they don't have a health care plan to take care of. Unfreaking believable!

I also kept scanning the crowd, and it looked like a sea of rich white people in suits and ties and gowns and pant suits. The crowd certainly was not even half as energized as the Democrats, and I am certain that McCain will not get more viewers of his speech than the Super Bowl or the Olympics. That's right, according to Nielsen ratings, Obama had over 40 million people tune into his acceptance speech last week. That's the highest rating in television this year of any show or event!

I want the Republicans to keep making fun of community helpers, and keep thinking we are worried about controlling the sex lives of our citizens. Keep on keeping on McCain, and hopefully your entire rich people base turns out to vote, so it won't be such an embarrassing landslide in November. Then the Republicans will understand that Roe vs. Wade is done, and it's time to tackle the real problems of America.

And in other national news, please don't think that our area up here in the North Cascades is a crazy shoot 'em up wild west. We have made the national news twice in less than 2 months for shooting deaths, but this last one could have happened anywhere in America. The man that went on the shooting rampage is mentally ill, and is another reason why national healthcare should be in the spotlight. Perhaps it could have been prevented if he could have gotten the mental health care he needed.