Date: September 06, 2006
Ah, yes…the “global economy”…
…Such a “utopia” of human unity…No?…
Memories come back to me, of news stories…
…the…”leaders”…of China and the United States, standing side by side, speaking favorably of the new “partnership”…
…and “the world” rejoiced, and cheered…
It’s not as though China had not been shipping enormous tons of stuff into the United States, all along…but, now…the tariffs…the checks and balances…the previous embargos on Chinese imports over human rights abuse…
…they just sort of went out the window…
…Kinda as though, China magically became that friendly Chinese store or restaurant in town, which we all like to go to, every now and then…
…as though China has entered our boarders, and become a literal part of the United States economy…
While China (or, at least its so called “leaders”) has been overjoyed with this “good fortune” making it fat and happy…This has come at a tremendous erosion, of the once strong, thriving and vital, United States economy.
Individual families in the United States, are at an all time, record high, for bankruptcy…as average income has taken a steep decline…while once rock solid, huge companies have been forced out of business…(along with countless, smaller ones)…
…because they can not compete, with a country that uses its’ own citizens, like slave labor…
The United States “president”, enjoys patting himself on the back, pointing towards the thousands of jobs “he” created…while conveniently forgetting to mention, that they are almost all minimum wage (or low paying, non living wage), with no benefits…and “at will” employment, to boot…(meaning they can fire you for almost any reason, or no reason at all…and it is all legal…They only need to decide, they no longer wish to employ you)…
The president, seemingly, thinks it is wonderful, that no company can afford to offer us common folk comprehensive health plans, a retirement plan, or a living wage…while at the same time, forcing us to have to work a 60 hour week, just to make ends meet, pay the bills, and keep food and necessities available to us and our families…
…when so many of our parents got by on a 40 hour work week, with only one parent working…
…Our economic status is degenerating…It is dying…
All sorts of “wonderful” things have sprung from this…
…including the inability, of Americans to raise their own children…
They are to busy working…trying to get the bills paid…and keep food on the table…
…Of course, all this stress, and overworking, is killing individual Americans…We are starting to die off, younger and younger…
…but, what concern is this, to the United States “president”, or to China?…
The “president” lives a lush life, of grossly lavish privilege (and this current one, always has, from what I gather)…He does not have to look at the devastation…much less live it, himself…
No…he can dine on his meals, fit for a king, made by world class chefs…at the very same time, you or I, have to quickly choke down the $1.99 item we had to pay for ourselves, as we continue to work at a stressed out job which refuses to provide us any break to either eat or rest…
…Well…”partner”…I think someone here, has been bending over, and taking it up the hiney…
…hard and dry…
I am sick to death of what I am seeing and personally experiencing…yet nearly nobody will say…
I am sick of having no financial future…I am sick of having no career opportunities…I am sick of the lack of incentives, and the drab outlook…
I know at least one person, who did not even attend high school…yet in his youth, he got into General Motors, with a cushy job…and very, very good pay…contract, full, generous benefits…retirement…
I do not at all believe, that most young Americans understand, just how common this used to be, here in the United States…or fully appreciate that you will not find this same thing, today.
That same company is reeling from the economic changes…
It offers nothing comparable, to “this” generation…
Even myself, with some college behind me…There is nothing left here, for me…
…and what really, really angers me…is seeing all these young kids today…
…the ones that will never know what it was like, when it was good, economically, here in the United States…
…They do not even have a concept, of what has been lost…what has been stolen from them…what legacy we once had…
They wont know what it is like, for example, to actually earn a living
wage…
They will be stuck working their lives away…not enjoying it…but, being worked and stressed to death…
They will not know what it is like to retire…or to live comfortably…or to live without need…or even to own their own home…
They will be working, till the day they die, just to sustain themselves.
They will not be cared for medically…or learn to take better care of themselves…
They will never know what it is like, to buy a VCR for $350.00, and have it last you 20 years…
…They will only know what it is like, to buy a $50.00, piece of junk, every two or three years, when the cheap VCR from China breaks…(and we stupid Americans keep buying this…betraying businesses, and the items worthy of purchase)…
I have never been an opponent of free trade. In fact, I believe it is good.
I am, however, staunchly opposed to unfair trade.
I am further opposed, to stupidly planned, recklessly implemented, politics, which treat our very economy in the United States so unbelievably incompetent.
What we have here is not fair trade…and the Chinese “president”, seems all to happy, to make sure that it never honestly is fair trade…
…No…What we have, is China becoming an economic vampire, which continues to suck the life out of the United States, and most of its population…
This is wrong!
To China, I say this…
The future of my family…my parents, my siblings…my friends…my young friends, and the children I know…is not here for you to pillage!
To the United States government, I say the exact same thing.
My future is not yours to dictate…nor is the future of any American, young or old.
This was never a level playing field…and the outcome was starkly predictable.
You can not open your economy to a country which keeps its own population down, and drives it like a bunch of slaves…and expect that a country like the United States would ever be able to compete, without dragging itself, and its’ own standards, right straight down into the same political (and economic) toilet, which we are, supposedly, trying to pull China out of.
It is incredible naivety, to think otherwise.
The United States, whatever its’ faults may be…its’ people earned the economic success and rewards, with hard, honest work…
…That same success and reward is being squandered by careless, corrupt politicians, and usurped by power crazed, opportunistic dictators…
Why the hell is it…that so many Americans are unhappy about this…so many of them are suffering because of this…yet, nobody is willing to DO anything about it?…
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