April 22, 2023
Contributed by Travis J, MBA
Enter Ana Kasparian from Left-Wing "The Young Turks"
Conservative Republican Russ Vought from “Center for Renewing America"
“I’ll just starve”, one student-worker at a local restaurant commented, when eggs hit $9.
Middle-income families are having to let house repairs and car repairs go on just a little longer, because there’s no money. Certainly no one’s getting any raises. Gas prices only continue to rise across the country; due to the federal government’s mismanaging our strategic oil reserves, to geo-political begging for resources in Saudi Arabia, a refusal to reprise trade deals that put the American family first (above corporatist elitist big business). Living with that constant ringing fear "Will I be able to handle my same bills I've always had?" is no way to live at all.
Misguided people in our country like to beat up on “Business Owners” and Capitalism, as if everyone who owns a business in this country is some sort of a shadow-elite Billionaire.
But small business owners around the country are left scratching their heads, thinking “What are we paying for?”, as they shell out their quarterly tax payments, every few months. That’s right—despite what some people in our country think, tax day is not a fun day for everyone. Businesses have to cut the federal government a check, every few months. Small business owners don’t “~gEt MoNEy bAck~”, during tax-time. It is not a good time. I can think of many, *many* things that are more deserving of that money than the federal government.
Mid-level business owners have to let people go. That means firing people. That means people losing paychecks. That means families losing income; leaving them unable—or stretched-thin—to buy groceries, pay bills, cover mortgages and rent, etc. Stocks and shelves are bare, with anything from groceries to electronics, as mid-level businesses resort to regressive cost-cutting, or choosing “stock this-thing over that-thing”, or "do we do *this* business process, or *that* business process?" at stores at which we all shop and love (if you have any money).
Speaking of groceries and moving onto some of our wealthier fellow-citizens, it was none other than our national entertainer “Cardi B” who recently stated,
“You should buy these solar panels to put on your roof because you’re an irresponsible person who uses too much electricity and gas, and it’s your fault the world is burning down. So why don't you just hate yourself?” They say, “It’s ok, don't worry — we’ll give you a tax-credit. SO IT’S LIKE YOU’RE NOT REALLY PAYING AT ALL!”
This is one of those times in America where the normal, everyday citizens from “Red States”, “Blue States”—and everywhere in-between—can come together in agreement. Something is wrong for the forgotten man and woman in our country. The regular, every day family out there—from all colors, political stripes, backgrounds, ethnicities, and persuasions—knows the system is rigged against them.
“Business” and “Capitalism” are not bad things. Our country is neither systemically racist, nor inherently corrupt. We have let too many institutions get “too big to fail”. No one’s holding anyone accountable. When they sit up there and tell you, “Yeah, why dontchu just go ahead and buy these solar panels for several thousand bucks; and uh, you know, we’ll pray about it, maybe you’ll get a tax break or something.”
For too long, our own friends, our own familes, our own co-workers; entertainers on the left, politicans on the right—and people in between—they’ve all talked about the same thing! “The Congress is bought-and-paid for” and “Nothing can possibly ever get done or change.”
So now, when you hear Ana Kasparian who is a left-winger from The Young Turks; and when you hear Russ Vought who is with an economically Conservative organization agree in their rhetoric; calling for new methods of economic governance—you know something's up.
And the thing to remember is these too-large-to-fail institutions, corporatists-globalists, and administrative state are the ones who've all gotten too chummy together. They're the true fascists, and have left us poor schlubs down here at the bottom to pick up the bill. They're counting on our apathy. "If you continue to look the other way and shut up; then, the oppressors, the authoritarians, get total control and total power", as one commentator** puts it. They're counting on you to feel self-defeated, or that there is no hope.
“Politics in the United States is broken”, they say. And they’ve kinda been right.
It is now for us to bring about change. Let us return to thinking through the issues for ourselves and not allow our minds to be spun by popular media. When it comes to voting and politics, let us take a pause before we fall into the "what-our-family-and-friends-expect-me-to-do", or what our family tells us we’re “supposed to think based on who we are”. Let's be honest—some of the people we know and love most, who may also be well-intentioned and have all the love in the world for us, can be the most low-information voters. We have to look at the world for what it is, and what is really going on. Not what "We've been told we're supposed to do based on who we are."
Let’s demand more from our politicians and legislators. We’re letting the globalist elites, the well-connected, and a festering pustule of an endless bureaucratic administrative state in Washington DC dictate to us.
But even moreso than “we deserve better”—it’s up to us to take it back. No one is gonna do it for you, and with all due respect, no one is coming to save you. It's up to you. Your social security / entitlement funds are going to dry up within ten years. So begin now training yourself to say "no".
We deserve better.
You must peacefully, within the bounds of laws, rules, and regulations; wrestle-back that power away from the elites at the top who are telling us what we should do and like it. Like Tupac said, "That's thugs". They're not going to stop until we *make them* stop.
We're living in Pan Em.
It’s up to us.
Yeah, right.
Like Ms. Kasparian, we don't want to hear it. Who has the cash to shell out for an electric vehicle, in this economy? Or solar panels? We don't wanna hear "You may get back some little tax incentive."
The people are hurting.
"Why don’t you just hate yourself for using that old gas-based fossil-fuel car?" and "Buy this electric vehicle, maybe we’ll give you some tax benefit later on.” While our largest cities have rolling blackouts, irresponsibly high electricity-bill rates, no *real* sustainable plan for charging stations for EV cars nobody owns, and a complete lack of planning on renewable energy when it comes to continuous base-load capacity.
“..when I see that groceries is like TRIPLIN UP ..”
The point is nobody has any money.
People are feeling the squeeze in our country, and it really doesn't matter whether folks call themselves "Conservative" or "Liberal". First of all, those labels aren't as accurate or important as they used to be in our national discourse anymore. The labels are all but moot, in this day and age. But I digress — digging into the obsolescence of the labels "Liberal" and "Conservative" is a whole 'nother article.
Demand more. Within the bounds of laws, rules, regulations, make that change in your community and in your country. Get involved. Contrary to popular belief, there are way more things you can do than just “donate money to politicians”, or “knock on doors when election times come“, or even just only vote. Make sure you think-through the things that are actually happening in the world. Don’t let your brain be led like a zombie by the same-old same-old media sources like your facebook feed, FOX News, CNN, sellout corporate mainstream media like ABC/NBC/CBS, highly-partisan “NOW THIS” videos online, publicly-funded NPR and PBS; or God forbid, the poisonous twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. Do better, please.
“Oh but buy these electric cars and you’ll get a tax benefit sometime down the road”, we hear.
Something’s wrong, and it need not have been.
Cardi B is right.
Lower-income families are having to pick up extra shifts at their jobs in order to make ends meet. A few weeks ago, eggs at local grocery stores shifted to being more of a luxury item rather than the classic American staple we've all come to expect.
But wait, there's more.
