Dealing with today's economy by making the right choices

These days, there are those of us who must make choices based on our current economic status. Sometimes it is just a matter of which oil to put in the car or if the cheaper blue jeans are a better deal. Sometimes it is buying groceries instead of paying the cable bill. I have noticed a couple of people who have made their own economic choices that appear to be pretty darned selfish if you ask me. There is the guy whose kids used to go to private school. Not a snooty private school, just a really good Catholic school. The kids now go to public school. He now drives a Land Rover. Another is the owner of a large commercial construction company. As most people now, this business sector is experiencing 25% unemployment and reductions in sales up to 90%. I am acquainted with an employee (recently let go) who actually worked with this guy's father-in-law in the original company. But, he's getting older, and when cutbacks started, he was on the list. I think the company's employee list was reduced by at least half. The owner of this construction company is going bird hunting in South America.
For these guys, personal priorities override any potential effect on the people around them. Their way of dealing with a sour economy is to screw up other people's lives and livelihoods so that they can maintain their lifestyle.

What do politicians really do?

I've been seeing the political ads for a while now, as mid-term elections approach, and I was wondering how many of the promises made actually get anywhere. The opposing candidates are constantly dissing each other while claiming they can put people to work or solve our economic problems. Roy Barnes is running for governor of Georgia again. He lost his bid for re-election in '02 by pissing off the education sector and the Confederate flag gang. Now, he is claiming that he can reform education again and is sorry that he made the teachers mad. Typical political double-talk. He is also claiming that he will institute procedures to keep Georgians from losing their homes in foreclosure by forcing mortgage companies to exhaust all possibilities or solutions before foreclosing. It's 2010, Roy! Foreclosures have been happening for 2 years. Doing something about foreclosures after November is like closing the barn door after the horse got out! It's already too late. Mortgage companies already don't give a crap or follow the federal guidelines so why would they pay attention to a state mandate? Every candidate running now claims to have the answer for our faltering economy because they are all businessmen. Generally, a businessman's main goal is to improve the bottom line, regardless of what it takes or who it affects besides customers. Businessmen are the reason we have outsourced jobs to other countries. How is it that we can make plastic pellets in the US, ship them to China for manufacture, ship them back to the US, and sell them at Walmart at a profit? There has to be more to it than just the 64 cents an hour Chinese factory workers earn. Some of it has to do with tariffs or the lack thereof. The US will not take on China in a tariff war because China owns us like Bank of America owns my house.
One law that did get passed in Georgia is the texting while driving law. Why it takes a law to stop us from doing what is really stupid to start with puzzles me. Apparently, common sense died out a generation ago. What about reading the newspaper while driving? Until the internet happened, this was a common occurrence. I was beside a car the other day in Tampa at a red light where both occupants were texting. When the turn arrow changed to green and the turning traffic started, they almost drove through the red light! Another strange thing I saw was on Clearwater Beach. Someone was laying on the beach in the dark, texting. The fine in Georgia for TWD is $150 and 1 point on your license. If you are under 18, you can't even talk on a cellphone while driving. They can subpoena your cell phone records (like a drug test) if you are in an accident if they suspect it was a contributing factor. I think the penalty needs one more step. There should be a bumper sticker placed on the offender's car that states: "I'm an ignorant dumbass because I text while driving"!