An Improved Nation

What are they thinking?!

Congress is planning to bail out the failing insurance companies, mortgage lenders and auto makers.

I’m sure I’m not the only person struggling to keep my car in decent shape and fully fueled. I’m not the only one struggling to pay the pharmacy and doctors. Not the only person who’s worrying over my diminishing insurance coverage.

Congress is going to feed those who’ve made our bank accounts worthless but it can’t be bothered to flatten and grade the curbs or adorn the street corners with interactive audio and visual cues. They can’t be bothered to demand State and Local Municipalities insist every building and vehicle open to public business be refit with ramps, low curbs, hydraulic assist doors and lifts with wide [mechanically operated or assisted] doors, lowered counters, larger [screen or sign] fonts, translucent lighting... and a host of other accommodations that are of equal benefit to those who are and are not aged, ill or disabled.

There are still many places which are inaccessible to me and those like me. Short sighted folks fail to consider while they are healthy at this point in time, the time will come when they too are aged, ill or disabled. Hopefully, you will have lived a long and meaningful life before that time has come; however, when your infirmities set in, wouldn’t it be nice if accommodations were already in place?

There is a board of persons [at the State and Federal level] appointed to get such things done – but they’ve been doing little more than talking, discussing, suggesting since 1985! Really, what’s to discuss, just get it done.

Spend the money on something useful to us all.

Don’t reward those who’ve gotten rich making our lives burdensome.

Solving problems is generally much easier than it may seem. Most often the solutions are avoided because greed and fear overwhelm our reason.

Problem: Insurance Companies Failing. Solution: Federalize. Make Medicare the National Health Insurance Carrier, available to everyone! Cease all private health insurance. As to life insurance: a tax exempt ‘end of life’ fund would end the worry of internment expenses. Insuring your debts against death and loss of income is as easy as paying the fee on your loans or credit cards. I know, I’ve ignored the children and unemployed spouses. Surviving spouse will need a job, sell the house and the extra car - live within your new means. Insurance companies simply can’t get the job done because inherent to their business is profit!

Problem: Auto Makers Going Bankrupt. Solution: Make Fewer Cars. It could also be argued there is no need for so many auto makers, to say nothing of so many car models! Auto makers should be concentrating on developing a better automobile, one which is fueled by sources more efficient and globally available. They should also be consolidating with fuel dispensaries (gas stations) to more readily enable the transition from gasoline to a new fuel. Of course, decreasing the salaries and severance of the board and officers is a course of action which would allow the company to maintain it’s workforce without compromising product.

Problem: Mortgage Lenders Bankrupt. Solution: Close The Doors. Really. For years I heard all that prattle about “for what you’re paying for rent you could own your own home”. I know many people who ignored my counsel and soon found themselves with a home they couldn’t keep. Home ownership shouldn’t come with your first five figure annual salary. Homeowners are responsible for their own structures, equipment and land. Home ownership has more expenses than a renter is led to believe, expenses renters take for granted. The fools who bought these easy mortgages received their due – now the villains who sold the mortgages will get theirs!

New worries will crop up. There will be bank failures. A drop in stock value is inevitable. That’s what this country must endure. We must shake out the cobwebs, brush the dandruff away. We’ve gotten stodgy and old. Feeding the rich, stepping on the poor.

We wave our flag and hold tight to our religious texts while raising our fists and pointing our fingers. Often we neglect the tenets from which this nation was born and upon which this nation is supposed to be governed. Many of us are hypocritical. Most of us feel powerless. We compound our problems rather than solving them.

The United States Of America and it’s member states have endured many financial crises over the centuries of it’s life. And, we’ll endure this one.

In the meantime, let’s slow down a bit. Stay home. Keep a savings account rather than a credit card. Be social with one another. Help those in need. Accumulate friends and knowledge rather than things and debt.

Let’s be content with what we have and put profit aside while attending to the building of an improved nation.

Speaking Frankly by Lewis