Well said, my friend. At 70 myself, I recall the exact conditions you're talking about. Thom is absolutely right, we need to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable, particularly now that they are price-gouging us to death and causing a manufactured inflation while reaping ungodly and wholly undeserved profits. Robert Reich points out …
Well said, my friend. At 70 myself, I recall the exact conditions you're talking about. Thom is absolutely right, we need to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable, particularly now that they are price-gouging us to death and causing a manufactured inflation while reaping ungodly and wholly undeserved profits. Robert Reich points out that this, and not wage pressures or supply chain issues, is the real cause of inflation. But, as you say, we also, as a nation, must hold ourselves to account for being led around by the nose by the "Get out and spend, America! The bigger, the better!" voices of laissez-faire capitalism, our TRUE national religion. We ultimately cannot blame "the Man" for lying to us. We KNEW it was a lie, and chose to go along with it, anyway, so we could keep up our toys and consumer-driven lifestyles. Every time I hear analysts talking about "consumer confidence" as an indicator of our economic health, I want to hurl! The TRUE indicator of a healthy economy would be that consumers are spending LESS and saving MORE. And I salute your paeon to hybrid technology, which truly was a revolutionary step in the right direction. Would that we'd had a government with the will and backbone to mandate that all vehicles employ that technology, at least while transitioning to fossil fuel-free technologies.
Well said, my friend. At 70 myself, I recall the exact conditions you're talking about. Thom is absolutely right, we need to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable, particularly now that they are price-gouging us to death and causing a manufactured inflation while reaping ungodly and wholly undeserved profits. Robert Reich points out that this, and not wage pressures or supply chain issues, is the real cause of inflation. But, as you say, we also, as a nation, must hold ourselves to account for being led around by the nose by the "Get out and spend, America! The bigger, the better!" voices of laissez-faire capitalism, our TRUE national religion. We ultimately cannot blame "the Man" for lying to us. We KNEW it was a lie, and chose to go along with it, anyway, so we could keep up our toys and consumer-driven lifestyles. Every time I hear analysts talking about "consumer confidence" as an indicator of our economic health, I want to hurl! The TRUE indicator of a healthy economy would be that consumers are spending LESS and saving MORE. And I salute your paeon to hybrid technology, which truly was a revolutionary step in the right direction. Would that we'd had a government with the will and backbone to mandate that all vehicles employ that technology, at least while transitioning to fossil fuel-free technologies.