The economy….
Well now, here’s another fine mess you’ve got us into, George (with apologies to Laurel and Hardy, who made that line actually sound funny).
Like so many other Americans I saved my money, invested conservatively, paid my debts, and now I discover that most of the money I had intended for that mythic time called ‘retirement’ is gone. Ah well, that’s the market.
But wait. I was one of the responsible ones. I was one of those who did it ‘right’ by most people’s standards. I didn’t go for top dollar returns, I went for pretty safe long-term investments. Now they tell us there never were any safe investments anyway. They were all horribly risky, because the mortgage crooks looted everything.
So yes, those who never saved actually did have the joy of their money, which I didn’t. Those who saved, who paid into a social security system that is as broken as everything else, well, we won’t be getting anything in this lifetime, it seems. This is a reversal of Aesop’s fable of the ant and the grasshopper - in that tale the industrious ant does get a reward of stability, at least.
It won’t break my heart. I’m still able to work and earn and get along. But older folks aren’t, and some of them will wind up being cared for by their middle-aged children. You can see where I’m going with this, I think?
Me? I won’t bother to save from now on. There’s no point. Not that I’ll spend a lot. I can’t get excited about the shiney junk we’re expected to care about and buy. No, I guess I’ll be giving to charity and helping those people I know. There are now a lot more of those, every day. And they’re going to need every cent.
And in my spare time I will devote my energy to bringing down, through political and legal means, any Republican party that shows signs of being remotely like the one we presently have.
So perhaps we should thank George Bush for turning so many of us into activists, and for giving us the chance to love our neighbors. Thanks, George.
