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Yesterday my friend said that we're now 1 or 2 weeks officially out of the recession. Is this because we lost something like only 550,000 jobs in September as opposed to 570,000 in August? On the other hand I read news yesterday that all branches of the military met their recruiting goals for the first time since 1973!! Is that what our future is? A growing funded military spread throughout the world while maybe half of us are unemployeed, under-employeed, or studying for the 6th straight year while trying to make ends meet?
I know so many people who are pretty much sitting idle waiting for better times and I don't believe in that either. It seems that today many households are depending upon one lucky bread-winner. I'm seeing more and more "grouphomes" of young adults who live together and smoke pot because there's nothing else for them, besides the military.
The recession vs. recovery in terms of the gov't is based on GDP growing vs. shrinking. It's believe that GDP is no longer shrinking, so in that sense we're out of it. Now it may mean happy times and it may mean squat:
1) Unemployment is a lagging indicator. In both the early 90s and early 2000s recessions, unemployment went up for 1-2 years after GDP started increasing again. Usually it is because people who stopped looking for work start looking again, but we may be in something different this time and I don't think it's good.
2) There is a thing called a "double dip" recession where the economy appears to "recover" in the technical sense, but goes back into downward conditions. This happened twice in modern (post-1900) history, during the Great Depression (the highest annual GDP growth rates in history actually occurred in the mid-1930s, even though we were in double-digit unemployment, but then by 1937 it all tanked again) and in the 1980-1983 recession.
The government is just a marionette controlled by an oligarchy of corporate executives and special-interest groups. They stand to benefit by creating a permanent underclass, and expanding our military is a means to that end. Upward mobility is dangerous to the power structure, especially if those who ascend are well-versed in logic, skepticism and critical thinking. It's much easier for everyone if we all sit back, let the rest of the world bypass us in technology and social welfare, and say "well, nobody said life was fair".
The government is just a marionette controlled by an oligarchy of corporate executives and special-interest groups. They stand to benefit by creating a permanent underclass, and expanding our military is a means to that end. Upward mobility is dangerous to the power structure, especially if those who ascend are well-versed in logic, skepticism and critical thinking. It's much easier for everyone if we all sit back, let the rest of the world bypass us in technology and social welfare, and say "well, nobody said life was fair".
I agree 100%! Your post reminds me of a short essay that I really like:
Something tells me that the uber wealthy will not want the labor class go idle for too long. Remember that history class about the French Revolution ?
But will Americans actually DO anything like the French did and get off their duffs (disclaimer: except STTResident) BEFORE we are in dire straits?
The uber wealthy really doesn't care about us per se because there are many countries where there are mostly a few rich and a lot of poor.
Someone I know who comes from Brazil told me that the uber wealthy live with private armed guards, take helicopters everywhere like taxis (to avoid being kidnapped on the road) and if they want to go somewhere nice for shopping, they take a jet to Paris. They prefer this than providing any chances or social benefits for the poor in that country. It's a nice life for them.
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