Respective

Are we, the world at large or even on a more macro scale our local governments, reaping what we have sowed for years?  It seems that there are very few, if any, places on the planet where things are just so great, that they are not affected in someway by one one of the many global events currently en-play or unfolding (middle-east uprising, earthquake in Japan, banking and finance, etc.).

On my way in to work today, I caught today’s  perspective on my local NPR Radio station:  http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201104130735.  It certainly seems like many of the problems in the world today, seem to have roots in past decisions.  I don’t know enough of the world to say if this is entirely true or not.  But, I don’t think the world is any more at an end today than any other time in history, consider the ‘dark ages’ for reference.

What is most disturbing about some of the problems of today, is how we plan to fix them.  We had a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, yet people are still pushing to drill-baby-drill.   We saw what happened in Japan, and yet we want to build more Nuclear Reactors.  Banks and their cronies in governments use deregulation to operating their businesses an always winner for them, and a great lost for the average person.  Yet, even though we are still struggling out of that mess, we can’t past meaningful financial regulation.

I really like the part about the corporations picking our pockets clean as we play ‘Angry Birds’.  We have a deficit in the USA which both Republicans and Democrats agree needs to be fix.  We fight over $60B-USD in cuts to this year’s budget, but approve $700B-USD in tax cuts to the top 2% of wage earners in this country.  I won’t go so far to say that the super-wealthy don’t need those extra dollars.  But at a time when things are tough and many in the middle are getting squeezed and are being asked to give up more.  I don’t know if I can really feel too sympathetic.  Some reliable sources claim that removing the GWB era tax-cut alone, will reduce the deficit by 1/3.  Yet, that doesn’t look likely soon.

So, even if all that is happening today is not entirely rooted in actions of the past.  It certainly seems like our action, or inaction, today.  Will be the root of the problems to come.

And that’s my perspective.

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