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that individual citizens and those who need to should tighten their belts and live within their means, I cannot agree with those who say we have no right to blame the government or hold them responsible in any meaningful way. Would we be fighting with the Mexicans over jobs if most manufacturing jobs had not been sent to China, India or other 3rd world countries? The same companies who export jobs get federal subsidies. This doesn't bother conservatives? Would small towns be dying out and devastated the way they are ir this hadn't taken place? Have you read about how gas station owners are struggling while gas companies post record profits? It's the same with the pharmaceutical companies. Drugs cost a fortune while they are not necessarily reliable.
I don't have a car. I make about 35,000 annually. I have all used furniture. I shop at Goodwill and take the bus to the library downtown just to get out. I live in an inexpensive apartment complex, and yes I see a lot of my poorer neighbors have flat screen TVs, and this weirds me out because the TV I have was given to me, and it's color and it's 17 inches, but compared to the sets we had as kids, it's great. My kids and I are not suffering or starving, but things could be better. I am not asking that anyone GIVE me anything, just that they stop stealing from the rest of us. A lot of the gainfully employed who work for the government have way better safety net programs than the rest of us (legislating for pharmaceutical companies then going to work for them, better health care and similar) and they don't do their goddamn jobs. I could point to a bunch of scandals within the past year to prove it, but what's the point.
Since I have to know how to stretch my money and how to be self-sufficient, I have been. How bout the folks in power do the same.
