Haunting History

By now you've grown tired of hearing about corruption in D.C. and how good governance is a pipe dream until a cure is achieved. Many of you are caught up in the media circus that passes for politics, and some are engaged in seeking to defeat the evil dim wits running for the 'other' party. Here's a piece that seeks to provide some perspective. Reaching a venerable age (read vulnerable age) does cause one to look back for clues that might provide some kind of insight into today's jumble of frightening possibilities.

From early childhood, I've been obliged to find my way through a constant and ever-changing mine field of crises. The first was the Great Depression, marked by 20% unemployment when households had one wage earner. I saw the beggars, the homes filled with relatives who had no other place to go, and old people sitting on the sidewalk, surrounded by their meager belongings after being evicted from their homes. Then came WW2 when folks on the west coast prepared for invasion and German subs sunk ships just outside New York harbor. The FBI set up a radio tracking station on my street to search for spies. At the start, it was not at all clear that we would win. These crises were marked by clear, tangible, facts that one could judge for oneself.

The Cold-War followed. We saw the Iron-Curtain go up and the Communist invasion of Korea. We accepted Communism as a genuine threat to our country and way of life. A long series of crises followed. We had the Red Scare, Communists in Hollywood exercising mind control, Domino Theory, the Cuban Missile Crisis when many of us built bomb shelters. In between, we had the John Birch Society, Militias, and the Christian Right. And there were others that I've conveniently chosen to forget.

As we learned later, many of these crises were self-inflicted. The Soviet Union and Communism were imploding, rotting from within. Others were media hyperbole and died a natural death. As I look back, there seems to have been very little by way of tangible facts associated with these issues.

And then came 9/11 with an abundance of tangible facts.

The point for me is that politicians, the media, and analysts are a poor guide to what's actually going on, better to look at tangible facts. Make your own list, being sure to exclude verisimilitudes (opinion stated as fact), including your own.

Here are some of mine to start:

1/ The national debt exceeds GDP and is planned to grow as a percentage of GDP for at least several years.

2/ Many states have significant budget deficits, and virtually all, along with a great many municipalities, have large, unfunded, public pension liabilities.

3/ Interest rates have been kept below the rate of inflation for four years, and the plan is to keep them low for at least two more years. There is no, comparatively safe, investment yielding above the rate of inflation. Savers lose, government wins.

4/ Unemployment is high. Our GDP is growing but too slowly to raise employment for years to come.

5/ Europe is in recession, and all but Germany require fundamental economic reform in order to achieve balanced economies. This has barely begun and will take years to achieve.

I could go on but I see my grandchildren getting MEGO (my eyes glaze over). Besides, these things take care of themselves eventually, don't they? Don't count on it. Look to Europe. Somebody always pays; will it be you?

JOSEPH J BAKEWELL, author of STRIKE, currently available as a Kindle ebook and on Smashwords.com. Coming soon to Nook and Sony. See my blog: www.joebakewell.wordpress.com