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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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Monday, September 22nd 2008 HOW CAN YOU STILL NOT CARE? Don’t think for a moment that the title of this week’s Soapbox in any way indicates that I have gone soft. This is not a call for action column about Darfur, the Sudan, AIDS, Rwanda, human trafficking, child predators, global warming, or any other abstract problem which has reached some level of hysteria that has finally caused me to scream aloud “please care!” to the rest of you. The problem I want to discuss this week is unlike all of those I listed above in two very specific ways. For starters, unlike Darfur, the Sudan and Rwanda, this week’s topic matters….to you. It must. The fact that it doesn’t, I suppose is the very problem. It’s easy and almost understandable to turn away from suffering halfway around the globe, but you cannot, under any pretense, explain to me how you turn away from a dire situation happening right before your eyes, affecting you and your family. Secondly, unlike global warming, the problem we will be reviewing in this essay is real and changeable. It is stunning to me that millions of Americans rally behind a cause that no human on Earth can explain with certainty or control at all (global warming), yet too few of you even notice or pretend to care about what could be the very basis of America’s existence. A new poll commissioned last week indicates that practically no Americans are paying attention to, learning, caring or worrying about the American economy. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/US-on-financial-turmoil-so-what.aspx I have never understood Americans’ apathy towards their own economy, but now it is more glaring than ever before. While it is not arguable that we do a pitiful job of teaching our children about money, finances, the stock market and the economy (four different things, that most people believe are the same, by the way), it is equally not arguable that as an adult, ignorance is never an excuse. My position is simple; who will ever care about your money as much as you do? While it might be acceptable to turn over care of your yard to a landscaper or allow your child to be occasionally watched by a babysitter, under what system of logic is it remotely defensible to turn your financial stability, now and in the future, over to a total stranger, solely because he is deemed to be an “expert?” Let’s stay with the babysitter analogy for a moment. In this nation, we cherish, protect and prize our children. Some argue too much so. While we must occasionally leave our children in the care of others, ranging from babysitters to day care providers to accredited teachers, we never would consider turning over their entire well being to any of these people, regardless of how well trained or educated they were. Even in circumstances of temporary care, we still watch over these “trained professionals” with nanny-cams, regular phone calls to check in and un-announced parental visits. Prior to even having children, most Americans seek out baby books, the advice of people who are already parents and in some cases, enroll in parenting classes. We research pediatricians as though we’re hiring a head-of-state and we support inane, worthless laws devised to “protect” our children, ranging from bicycle helmet mandates to Scarlett letter-type wastes of time like Megan’s law, all in an overkill notion designed to make us feel as though we’re doing everything we can to be safe, rather than sorry. Yet, when it comes to our money, the American people do nothing. It’s embarrassing beyond description. We live in the richest nation on Earth and the lone super power; a distinction bestowed upon us not because of the size of our military, but rather the size of our economy, a fact most Americans don’t even know or understand. We are a capitalist nation, based, founded and run on the notion that money is the fuel of freedom’s engine; everything we have as Americans is predicated upon our nation’s wealth. We live in a nation where poverty is defined as having fewer than two televisions in a home. In the rest of the world, poverty is defined not even as simply as not having a home, but rather wealth is defined as knowing where your next meal is coming from. America is the greatest nation in history solely because of our economic power and excess. Despite this, the overwhelming majority of our population never takes the time to learn about money, finances, the economy and the stock market. Those who do attempt to plan for the future, don’t do so with any actual knowledge of what they are doing, they prefer to simply hire some so called “expert” and turn the total control of their financial stability over to that person. It would be like dropping your child off at the age of 2 months and telling the “expert” to bring the child back at 18, when he’s a perfectly prepared adult. Ludicrous isn’t even close to the right word for this. “Experts” ran Lehman Brothers, which just became the largest bankruptcy in American history. “Experts,” ran AIG, which just needed an $85 billion loan from the American government to stay in business. “Experts,” ran Bear Stearns into the ground 4 months ago, forcing a government controlled buy out. We are witnessing the greatest, most dramatic financial meltdown of the American economic system since the 1930s, yet no one cares. Everyone remains willing to sit back and allow the “experts” who created the problem to also fix it. As we all fiddle while Rome burns, The United States government continues to nationalize, seize, and take control of our financial institutions, perhaps the most un-American thing our government has ever done. Yet, sadly, we remain a nation of cowards and idiots. All we want as a people is to be told that everything is fine. We simply want to be nestled into the government tit and told to suck until we’re tired enough to fall fast asleep. As long as the “experts” say everything is and will be “okay,” we all feel better. No longer is this the nation of people willing to sacrifice, suffer, work hard and achieve. We are now a people of drooling, sniveling whiners who are totally unwilling to learn, work and care about the most basic and fundamental things important to our very existence. I refuse to waste my time lecturing on the specifics of how dramatic the events of the past week have been, because most people would have no clue what I was talking about. The fact that there wasn’t a revolt over the government taking ownership of 80% of AIG says it all; no one understands and no one cares. Imagine the outrage if the U.S. government confiscated 80% of our guns. The bottom line is simple; everything will be fine. Not because we will work our way through the problem and emerge a stronger a nation, but rather because we will turn even more of our freedoms, liberties and control over the government. The economy will survive, your money will be safe and you will remain an abject moron who feels safe. We will pay for it all by mortgaging the future of this nation. Never before have I been so glad not to have children. We’re all fine now, and will be. The future of the United States of America is not so bright.----- |
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