47% - The Foot-Soldiers Of The Economy

Feature Image Courtesy Creative Commons Via Defence Images

We are the foot-soldiers of the economy.
We are the bartenders, waiters, cubicle cowboys and delivery truck drivers.
We run the economy.
We may work for a corporation, but we are not owned by a corporation.
We deal with the public, we may serve them food, deliver their packages and handle their credit card issues.
We are the ones you berate for your own benefit.
We see you at your weakest and strongest.
You berate us for not having a college education, but you cause college education to be out of our reach.
You think we're simpletons and uneducated.
You believe we're the ones who have the problem with your wealth, when it's you who have the problem with our middle class and poor.
You don't know who we are, but you will.
We are not the beggars and thieves of Dickens.
We are the foot-soldiers of the economy.
Without us the economy doesn't work
We stood by and watched you get your bailouts, while we suffered, lost our homes and were ridiculed by the banks.
Your power is in your money.
Our power is in our number.
We are the 47%

How Infection Starts

Infection may happen in a few ways.

1. You start watching something that you normally wouldn't on that news channel you know is nuts.
2. You hear something from a less than reliable source. You read it, and blam, you think like they do, but you really don't want to.
3. You see something on the news that is questionable. You look into it and you start seeing all these things that make go, damn, maybe those people are right.
4. You listen to a spouse that doesn't think the way you do. In the process you change your mind about things you never would have before.
5. You want to see what the other side of the aisle is really thinking, so you read one of their newsletters or start following them on Twitter or "like" them on Facebook.

There is only on cure to infection. It is tried and true and never fails.

Think for yourself. Don't listen to the pundits from either side of the aisle. Use your own brain to come up with a conclusion that makes sense.

There are ways to avoid these five things.

1. Read up on the subject, that's what Google, Wikipedia and books are for...some books will lead you astray, beware, and read the in leaf.
2. Judge things according to your moral beliefs, religion shouldn't be why you choose your politics. 
3. Listen to the news in small doses, or get rid of TV altogether. Never sit in front of the TV for hours watching the same thing, getting angrier at people you don't know talk about things that don't effect you.
4. Don't listen to your spouse, make up your own mind. Just because you're married doesn't mean you have to vote like they do.
5. Take bits from both sides and make up your own mind.

Politics isn't personal and responding to a post on Facebook or Twitter that is derogatory or in some way defaces someone's wall is irresponsible and arrogant. On second thought, don't read the political posts on Facebook.

Have We Learned Anything From The Great Recession?

With the world and the U.S. getting past the Great Recession, I've been wondering what we have learned from the Great Recession.

Are we learning to manage our personal finances better? Are we learning to spend less on things we want and spend on things we need?

As I listen to people I work with and people I serve drinks to the answer is no, at least for a lot of people.

I've learned to spend less on things I want, like a new TV, new video games for my son and I and I'm managing our budgets a lot better than before the Great Recession took place.

People I still blow their savings on vacations, when they should be using it for something else, like a just in case fund.

We should be planning for future Recessions, because their going to happen regardless of the election outcome, there's always one around the corner, whether we like it or not.

As a race we've been conditioned, lately, to only pay attention to things in the short term, and that was one of the causes of the Great Recession. The only people who had money put away were those that knew how to handle there money, I wasn't one of those people until recently.

I see people slipping into the same habits after a bankruptcy, loss of their homes, not enough money for their kids, adults who still buy toys for themselves when they should be saving up for college for their kids. It feels like a lot of people want more for themselves, in the short term, than they do for their kids in the future.

Habits like I've described above led us to spend money we don't have on things that we don't need or will be outdated in a year or less.

This constant turn over isn't only our fault, it's the fault of corporations giving us things they think we want. 

If the power were to go out in the world tomorrow how would you feel about the objects you own? Would you be angry, jealous, despondent or would you go on with your life the best you could, taking care of your kids, family and spouse?

Are you doing things differently since the Great Recession? Why or why not? Answer in the comments.