It’s the end of the year and it’s mighty slow for those of us looking for a job.  Things started drying up dramatically around Thanksgiving and then it trickled to next to nothing on Christmas Eve.  I guess it’s to be expected.  I hope things will pick up shortly after New Years.

Sigh … I wonder how the latest financial problem involving that Madoff guy will affect everything.   How many more are out there like him?  And how many companies will soon find out that the money they’ve “lent” out evaporated?  I hope this doesn’t erode the little bit of confidence that could have been built up in the past few weeks.  I realize that it’s going to take a while to unwind everything and figure out how much money there really is in the system.  I imagine a lot of money is being double counted now.  My feeling, though, is that it’s time for a return to sanity and for the world economy to be based on actual trade again rather than debt swapping.  We’ll see if that actually happens.  The US isn’t in the best position to actually manufacture much of anything anymore.  Plus, there aren’t enough creative business people and managers who can envision cost effective manufacturing in the US that pays a good wage, is safe for the environment, and provides cost competitive products for consumers.  It takes a strong will to change things and it takes courage to act.  Right now, though, I see a bunch of flimsy spined folks running around who only know how to cut costs with a chainsaw or beg the government for corporate well-fare.

( Hahaha … irony of ironies … spreading personal wealth to corporations.  There are so many out there who don’t have a pot to pee in blinded by the thought of  the stereotypical “Well-fare Queen,”  who have been fooled into thinking that they are middle class or even rich.  Hahaha!!!  It blows my mind!  I guess this explains the state we are in.  Everyone was  living beyond their means because so many people deluded themselves into thinking that they had means.  Welcome to reality and enjoy the global “three finger salute.”  Not everyone can and should own a house and a car … that’s why there are apartments and public transportation.  The rest of the world seems to understand this.  Anyhow, there are some nice stats on Wikipedia about household incomes in the US — link.  I wonder how many people have actually looked at their finances to understand their true situation.)

So what comes next?  It’s clear that the rate at which people are accumulating stuff is not sustainable because there’s only so much matter on the planet.  Which leads me to some “Duh!” moments I’ve had in the last few days:

Duh! #1:  My husband says to me after thinking really hard about it,” What if there were some way like plants and trees to convert the CO2 to oxygen and water, then we wouldn’t have to worry about carbon so much anymore.”  My deadpan response, “Uh, why not just plant enough trees and plants to cover your carbon usage …Duh …”  Continue reading Goodbye and Good Riddance 2008 — Green Rant →