In light of the recent economic issues, have you been wondering where your voice comes in? Have you considered where this country is going and how that will affect you? The following article contains some of my observations which you may or may not have considered before.
Bailouts. Now this isn't a partisan issue because if you remember, the Reps started bailing companies out in '08 to the tune of $750,000,000,000 I think that seven hundred and fifty billion dollars. Now the Dems are doing it in '09. And in Grand Fashion. Of course who know how much really goes where as I guess Law Makers didn't have time to read the bill. However they did manage to borrow more money from China off of credit from the unborn. I just say bailouts because I've totally lost track of how many have been bailed out and how much it has cost. The reason is because We're all too busy worrying about paying taxes. All of them- property tax, sales tax, income tax at the federal, state and local level. And of course, there's the gas tax as well.
We're busy paying our house and car insurance, plus insurance on all the other items like the boat, the motorcycle, and the snowmobile. Let's not forget medical and dental insurance, plus the electric bill, water bill, gas bill, heat bill, not to forget the phone bill, the internet bill, and the cable TV bill. And the banks are in there waiting for the mortgage payment.
So, are you seeing my point? We, you and I, are working our lives away to pay our gov't, to pay huge corporations like insurance companies, medical facilities, energy companies and the banks. In reality, most of our monthly paychecks go to these people. This is true for all lower and middle income people and for small businesses. So, all the money all these companies are getting from all of us isn't enough to ensure they make a profit? Why Not? Because they know it doesn't matter how they run their businesses, the gov't will just bail them out anyway. What about Wall Street, the huge banks, oh yeah and the pharmaceutical companies. Doesn't it seem to you that anyone with money and an agenda can buy law-making power? However, I think they may have dismissed how much power we would have if, we all used our voices in a united, common vision and purpose. We just need to quit being so complacent. Think about it, we're probably two- thirds of this country's population, considering they are not biased, in any way, when it comes to getting in our pocketbooks. They want to make us all their slaves and they aren't discriminating by ethnicity or religion.
Here's the lie we have been led to believe. Here's what enslaves us. First we get out of high school, where we have been taught that we will need a college degree to get a good job. So we take out school loans because we can't get enough grants. This is the start of our enslavement to debt. Oh yeah, this is when the credit card companies start sending you their offers which are targeted specifically to college kids. Why? Because they know they will be able to charge them late fees, penalties, and a whole lot of compounded interest when they are unable to meet their obligations. These companies are depending on 'Mom and Dad' to pay the bill, so that their child's credit won't be wrecked. Isn't Citibank one of the banks getting bailed out? A trap and more debt. Then, in order to get to our job, which may or may not be in our chosen profession, we will have to finance a car. As we embark on our career, we possibly decide to get married, so we need a house, which we finance, of course. And furniture for the new house, financed. The first car is shot, so we finance a new car. Then we may want a boat, a motorcycle, a snowmobile-- all financed. Then there's the new gadgets the world comes up with, and because we are told these will make us happy, and improve the quality of our lives. This is the illusion of the American Dream.
I just don't understand why they think we will just keep going along with it all. Of course, we are somewhat to blame. We Americans have had it pretty good for the last few years. Even through the seeming "good times", our gov't has appeared to be only out for itself and these huge corporations. But since we have all been doing ok, we have been just going along, closing our eyes to the preliminaries leading up to what's going on. We have grown accustomed to instant gratification.
It's the instant gratification attitude that has gotten us here. Our citizens have fallen into this attitude with the help of all these conglomerations, the media (which is a conglomeration all its own), and the special interest groups who, for some reason, decided they are our spokespeople. This instant gratification is the reason we are financed to the hilt, and now can't make all the payments. We eat instant food, which is making us fatter and fatter. We can have our paychecks instantly deposited and our payments instantly withdrawn. All in the name of saving time. So what are we using our extra time for? To work more, so we can pay for all the 'stuff' we own! We aren't using it to spend more time with our families or even so we have more time to use our stuff. This instant gratification mentality just seems mental to me. We have been led to believe that this will make us happy, but you know as well as I do, that once you get what you wanted, you realize you're not any happier, and you have to work extra just to pay for it. Until the next thing comes along that we think will bring happiness, and the cycle goes on. Materialism and Credit runs our minds and our country today.
It made me happy to see the TEA parties that took place across the country this past month. This is what we, as Americans, need to do; we need to stand up and say, "I'm not going to take it anymore!" Are you as sick of it as we are? Do you feel like you're screaming to be heard, but there's a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that's telling you your voice will never be heard?
It's time to let these greedy, manipulative companies know we are sick of all of it and we're not going to be silent anymore! This is where I'm at. This is why I, Doug Newman and The Fat Cats have written a song that portrays this exact feeling. "The Game" is a song that gives us, as Americans, a voice. Now you are asking why would a band put in the time and effort to write and record a song about the economy? Because I have been through it all. My family's business has been going through a Chapter 11 for 3 years. Throughout I have seen the greed and the callousness of the banks and the lawyers, first hand. On top of this 3 year ordeal, my son, who is also involved with the family business, served in Iraq for 2 years of those 3 years. He and his group of guys, who are National Guard, have served in an active duty capacity for more time than many regular service people. And now he's been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This disorder is one that affects everything in a person's life. It affects how a person copes with life. And just the other day, I heard that Congress was contemplating changing military laws on what medical benefits service people receive. What is wrong with this picture? Men and women who voluntarily served our country are not worth anything now that they are back home? Sounds a little like Vietnam to me. I get just angry thinking about it! And the other day, I heard that the gov't is saying to be on the look out for terrorism coming from our own returning veterans. This is rubbish!
The Fat Cats have decided that we Americans need a voice. We need to stop being quiet and speak out against what seems to be a serious squashing of lower and middle America and American small business. If you would like to hear the new song, The Game, go to
www.reverbnation.com/thefatcats ,
www.myspace.com/thefatcats1990. There you can listen, and if you like it, you can download it for $.99 cents. This is the first of three songs they have written and recorded that apply to how we are all feeling about the issues in our country today. The other 2 songs will be available soon, so keep checking. If you sign up as a fan of the Fat Cats, you will receive notification when the other 2 songs are ready to download.
This is the beginning of a grassroots movement and anyone who cares needs to get involved. We want to keep our country a republic, based on the human rights that our country was founded on. You can, of course, be as involved as you want, but my advice is the more involved the better. Remember the last Tea Party, Boston 1773? Remember where that went? We need to get involved because just standing by and watching it happen hasn't done us much good lately, has it?
Here are some links to sites where you can get more information and get involved: