Each night in America, one can easily see within various parking lots the migration of homeless families stuffed in their vans, cars, and motorized camper shelters away from the north-east before the winter season emerges once again. Some who are locked into a desperate situation as per any possible assistance will risk harassment and remain. The retired, pensioned, and the dwindling savings homeless are likely once again to continue on the road as a means of avoiding any risk of further humiliation, purposelessness, and the crushing pall of disillusionment.
Without being fully aware, we tend to become what the majority are doing next.
Today, many highly skilled and educated homeless workers remain unemployed and have fallen between the statistical cracks of accountability. As a result, the majority are giving up on the perception of any future prospects.
For those returning to college hoping that in two to four years, an economic turnaround could coincide with a new career path, prevalent job openings, and security, they will be simply acquiring further debt secondary to the incredible cost of education. This is all that one can truly know or expect of such a path. Furthermore, any meaningful world economic recovery within the next five years is now fundamentally at risk.
Hope as you should know, is a very poor investment strategy.
To make matters worse, there seems to exist a self-perpetuated, albeit Robama-media inspired, basis for denial. This is coupled with many irrational expectations that very soon, just around the corner, there will immediately flower an economic nirvana of transcendental proportions thereby saving the whole of mankind permanently from himself.
There is a price for the imperfect path of democracy on a planet that is negotiated by something much larger than “we the people”.
Socially, and especially of the individual, denial in the face of an overwhelming change leads ultimately to acceptance but not before there is anger and a great sense of disappointment. As an example, intractable problems such as the ongoing cost of an unpopular war in Afghanistan, government sponsored health care reform, and a multi-trillion dollar debt could easily suffice in terms of a predictable response regardless of political persuasion that could lead into a prolonged stage of anger causing a much higher degree of polarization.
If true, this will undoubtedly influence a 2012 national election in which something or someone like a David Petraeus* could then easily win the Presidency of the United States.
Note: If you are one of the creepy prozac-ian fluffers now pledging to mindlessly obey the Robamautomaton of Washington, a future rosy outlook from this point on might require smoking a more refined source of hopium.
* Recently, David Petraeus, a U.S. Four Star General offered no certainties as to his commitment to run for public office following his retirement. Should a war with Iran begin and escalate via Israel before 2012, the perceived need for a conservatively minded strategist such as General Petraeus would likely occur.