I have not wanted to write for a while – I guess I find the world depressing, and it takes the starch out of me just living in it. I have a bit of my thinking here to share – it’s what’s on my mind.
I have a question. If so many Americans got filthy rich off their unemployment benefits, then why is there an impending flood of evictions that are only being held off due to a federal moratorium on evictions? If you follow the Republican argument, unemployed Americans have been making more money staying at home and collecting unemployment than they did working. If that was the case, would there be all these eviction notices waiting to be served? I think the economy was not near as good as we are told. The whole country went broke in the span of one pay period back in March, even our biggest corporations were lining up for handouts, bailouts, and PPP loans, and you name it – they all had their hands out for some corporate welfare, yes, corporate welfare is the right term. If this is not socialism, then you tell me what is. I am damn sick of this doubletalk, and just plain Republican bull shit – sorry for the term, but it fits. And, I think I just blew a hole in their argument about folks getting rich off unemployment. Many of our workers in this economy do not make a living wage – and there is the story behind this economy.
I can tell you what a good economy looks like. I started working in one back in the 1960s. We built roads, interstate highways, bridges, schools, hospitals, and homes for people that worked here in the U.S. making the products that we use every day. We had a space program that sent men to the moon and brought them back again safely. Everything we wear and use did not come from China or someplace overseas. Yea, there were some Volkswagens, but most of what we needed we made here and people worked at jobs that paid a living wage with benefits. Most of our moms could stay home and raise a family. All of this now sounds like I am sharing a fantasy, but I am not. I do not blame China, or anywhere else – I blame the lousy politicians that gave us an economy that is a house of cards. They crafted a tax system that has funneled money to the top and left little for working Americans. Remember “trickle down” economics – well, we are living in the result.
I also lay some of the blame with American businesses. Many of our biggest corporations walked away from the country that made their success possible. They went off shore every chance they got, and then banked their profits off shore as well to avoid paying taxes on their profits. There are no flag waving patriots in that bunch, unless there is some government hand out coming their way.
And, by the way, if folks are getting so damn rich on unemployment, then they won’t be needing to get evicted. And, has anybody thought about all the lost health insurance that went bye-bye when folks were laid off?
A Vermonter Writes - A Pathfinder 