Been a while, but ...

... the nonsense has finally pushed me over the edge.

Took a lot, didn't it?

I don't think things are perfect. Great, even. This country, and this world, have a LOT of major issues. No need to go into them here as we all know what they are, right? That isn't what pushed me to jot down a little rant.

Heck, I even 'get' that people are upset and need to vent. I get why they tossed all the Republicans out 2 years ago, and tossed the Democrats from control of the House last month. Things are not as good as they were 10 years ago ... or 20, or 30. We have seen great prosperity under Reagan and Clinton and even did well under Bush, comparatively to how we are doing now. Again, I don't wish to go into what I think the causes are, or who is to blame, or even how this all could be / should be fixed. That isn't what made me sit to write this out.

What I am sick and tired of is the whining. The complaining with no solution offered. Those who feel free to write down anything and everything to make it appear as if we, the US, are in such a drastic state of decline that we cannot recover. That our lives are terrible now, and we were so much better off before. How we, as a generation, ruined it all as it was so perfect when our parents were growing up.

That is a load of horsecrap.

What prompted this need to vent? Another OpEd piece by Fox about how the Democrats have ruined this country? No. An editorial by CNN about how horrible the Republicans are? Nope. A stupid email. Trite little sayings strung together on a Powerpoint presentation (with pictures of modern day Hong Kong, for a great non-sequitor). I've received the same email in different forms for over 10 years. Attributed to comedian Steven Wright, then George Carlin, a Columbine HS student, Robin Williams, ... any number of name changes for the sender to think it would have more impact. It was used against Clinton, Bush, and now Obama. For those who do not think, it substitutes for modern day philosophy. Spoon fed and bite size single servings of bumper sticker philosophy that should be laughed at, yet not only doesn't it go away it was actually used to try to make a point today. By a friend who I admire and is very intelligent, even if prone to outrage for its own sake. Here is the foolish fluff (titled Paradox Of Our Time) which you probably all have received at some point wrapped up as if it is news, or deep philosophy:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; we have more food, but less appeasement; we build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology has brought this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete...

It was actually written by Dr. Moorehead, a pastor in Seattle, back in the early 90s. A side note? 17 members of the church claimed the pastor sexually assaulted them, but I suppose the man's character has little to do with what he wrote anyway, right?

The problem is that while unemployment is up, it is not as high as it was in the 80s, let alone in the 30s. Real estate values, stock portfolios, 401ks, retirement accounts, etc.? Not what they were during the DotCom boom and, yes, a lot of people lost a lot of money. But are we really saying people haven't made / aren't making more in RE and the Market than any other time in history? Sure we had to deal with 9-11, have terrorism and wars in the Middle East, have a mountain of debt, etc. but are we losing sight of what we have dealt with in the past? We had planes being hijacked and people killed on them, the Olympics stormed by terrorists, gangsters shooting up cities in turf wars, Pearl Harbor attacked, and have had many more serious wars in our history than those in the Middle East now. We have fought against Communism and extremists many times.

I hear, on one hand, about how my father's generation had it better and easier ...and did things 'right'. I hear how we have ruined it all. Really? Really? They were a great generation and bore a lot on their shoulders. They had it TOUGH. My father was an infant during the Depresssion where Americans lost homes, families, and wandered through the country as beggars. He saw Europe and Asia kill millions and millions of Chinese, Russians, and Jews. He saw a world at war, families wiped out, neighbors lose every make child in a household. We have it tough?!

"...more conveniences, but less time; ..."

Really? Less time? I spend MUCH more time with my kids than my dad did, and so do all my friends and acquaintances. My dad was ALWAYS working.

"...we have more degrees, but less sense; "

Less sense than Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot? Less sense to build safer buildings, toys, and cars? Less sense to not let your kids play in the street or to lock up your gun collection? As a group, there have ALWAYS been those with no common sense. We are not worse now, certainly.

"...more knowledge, but less judgment; ..."

Judging by what my own father had to go through, I'm not guessing judgement was in such high quantities then, either.

"... more medicine, but less wellness."

Really? People live far longer, far healthier lives now. We take care of ourselves better and have much higher quality of life in our senior years.

"We drink too much,..."

Yup, but less than we did.

" smoke too much, ..."

Yup, but less than we did.

"...spend too recklessly,..."

Okay, that one is true. ;-)

"... laugh too little, ..."

" I'm not sure the hard working generation prior or the ones before that that had to work long and hard all day, every day laughed a whole lot more. Saying it doesn't make it true.

"...drive too fast,"

Well, I do. But is it worse in general? As soon as cars were invented people started to race them. It is in our nature to 'push'.

"...get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, ..."

Tell that to all those who worked long hours every day... basically everyone prior to the 60s.

"...read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom."

Maybe. But are we reading, collectively, less than they did 50 years ago? 100 years ago? We should read more and watch less TV, but comparatively we are doing better than ever before and have more leisure time to pursue than ever before.

I'll stop going through it line by line as I hope you get my point. People read this fodder and believe it because 'if I read it, it must be true'. Its BS. A very flawed man's opinion who was preaching to his Christian flock about how they need to be better. Now we get it emailed around by every person trying to make a political statement about how bad things are now.

And some of you reading this fall for it.

Our times have challenges and troubles. We need to work at them and look for solutions, and - while we do so - some areas will get worse. But minorities and women have it FAR better than they did in the past. We work less than our dads, spend more time with our families. Education is better, access is better. We have more time to use imaginations, create art, and less time spent doing drudgery. We have safety nets for those who try and fail, and have higher expectations for our children than ever on this planet. We are healthier, wealthier, and more savvy than ever. Basically we have too much free time to feel sorry for ourselves and examine how tough we have it relevant to how easy we want it to be.

So just stop. Think. Stop reading OpEd pieces on news channels and thinking they are news. They aren't. They are opinions. Stop getting your opinions fed to you. Think with your own brain. If you aren't interested in politics, fine. Not everyone is. Its okay to not have an opinion and leave some things to others who research issues. It sounds condescending but isn't meant to be. Why do we feel we have to have opinions on everything, even things we know little about? Please don't spend 15 minutes to hear what some columnist thinks and absorb it as your own. Maybe that columnist truly studied it and believe deeply in what they wrote. It still wouldn't make it a fact or correct. And maybe they are trying to sell a show or magazine or book or newspaper by either being controversial or pandering to their fans.

We all have worries but we always have had them. Ours are minuscule compared to that which our parents grew up with, let alone those before that. Be grateful. Appreciate what you have as you strive to make things better.

But enough with all the whining, okay?

'Progressive Taxation? I think mine is more about progress..

 As an advocate of the Flat Tax (but an advocate that realizes accountants, the IRS, and lawyers have too much to lose to ever let it happen), I wrote this in response to someone who advocated steeply progressive taxation.  They believe the rich need to pay a lot more.  I don't think that progressive taxation is just unfair to the wealthy, but to everyone.  Here was my response:

"You don't see it at work in the real world... Union guys turning down work they want because they'll lose most of it in taxes if they get bumped... Under the table jobs for a lot of blue collar workers so they won't get bumped up - it isn't just the taxes on the other job, its the affect on the main one.  I know of a contractor who makes $35/hr and his boss charges $50/hr. for him.    The contractor works as much as possible outside the loop now - he makes no more, the homeowner saves a little, the boss loses money, the gov. loses money in taxes and fees...  Why?  Why would the contractor do that when he makes no more?   Because if he does it through his boss he'll get bumped to a new bracket and lose out.  THAT is the real world. "

" Rather than say every citizen should pay the same (as we all have the same army, same roads, etc.) if you want to say that someone makes 100 times what you do then they should pay 100 times what you do then I agree.  But 'Progressive' Taxation is un-American.  That said, I could still get behind it IF it were on an extreme income...  ie, EVERYONE under $35,000 pays nothing (as they are just getting started or need every penny they earn to live).  At $35,000 to $55,000 the population would pay 5% (to ease into paying taxes.   From $55,000 to $350,000 we would all pay 10%.  From $350,000 to $1,000,000 we would pay 20%.  Over $1,000,000 a year you pay $35%. "

"Would it make people earning $950,000 stop and think about a yarly salary increase?  Sure would. But how many are getting that?  And those that get more than $1,000,000 per year in compensation usually make substantially more or it is based on performance (through bonuses).  Would some not take the 'raise'?  Maybe, but the money would then be reinvested somewhere rather than taken in compensation.  The gov. wouldn't get it in taxes but it would still help the economy.  Meanwhile, everyone from $35,000 on up would be encouraged to work more, work harder, try to get ahead, etc.  The increments would be small enough that the raise or additional work would not be chewed away, and those we need to encourage to work harder and take risks would be the benefit of their risks and hard work, not see it get taken in taxes."

I'm sure there are holes in the plan and I still think a straight 10% (or whatever) Flat Tax would be better as it addresses corporate taxes as well, but it is far better than what we have now.