Senior Sarcasm

A journey away from affluence

By Alex Hutchins

I woke up this morning (10-27-11) later than normal and The Early Show on CBS was in full swing; the story which joined me with my first gulp of coffee was a story about an American, who had just recorded 1,000,000 miles on the odometer of his Honda automobile.  Honda gave him a parade and a new car. My first thought was that I had owned a Toyota Camry and before I traded it in for another Toyota Camry, had recorded almost 400,000 miles.  Then, I thought back a little farther to see if I could remember the last time I had purchased an American automobile.  It was 1980, and the car was a Ford.  Back then, the letters stood for:  Found On Road Dead or Frigging Old Rebuilt Dodge.

At 64 years of age, I have seen a lot of water pass over the dam and am very discouraged by what I have seen.  First of all, I should have retired, like my father did, 2 years ago but because of some greedy bastards on Wall Street, I cannot.  I am really disappointed in our elected officials in both the House and Senate, not because of their party affiliations but because they cannot and will not put their party off to the side and do what is right for America and Americans.  Yet, in their myopic arrogance, expect Americans to vote them back into office.

And, while I do not think much of the Obama administration, he is gaining my confidence because he is doing something!  He is helping the future leaders of this country, our students, with their student loans through an Executive Order, because both our House and Senate leaders are paralyzed by the overwhelming weight and burden of counting their money over drinks with colleagues at the end of the day.

But, it is not just their hypocrisy that bothers me, it is the hypocrisy of the unemployed that still ranks at the top of my list.  For years, the unemployed have been willing to accept their weekly payments and claim they cannot find work; yet, miraculously, have been able to find work right after and in some cases right before, their benefits expired.  In short, they were working the system.  However, let me be fair, this does not pertain to all the unemployed.

To make matters worse for America, I would venture to say that most Americans, whether or not they are wealthy, have been working the IRS system looking for every loophole that they can find to lower their tax burden.  While all of this is going on each year, Americans are filing unnecessary medical claims, unnecessary insurance claims (auto and home owners), and unnecessary Veterans medical claims.  For instance, I was recently advised (but did not do it) to file a VA handicap claim on a scar I received while serving in the US Navy because I would probably get my Veterans benefits quicker that way.

American workers steal small items from work, such as pens, pencils, Xerox paper (to use in their home computers), toilet paper, and light bulbs thinking their employers will never notice and if they did would be able to simple, “write it off.”  Some workers, who have their company to reimburse expenses, take friends out to lunch or dinner and in some cases inflate their mileage because of the company’s reimbursement policies.  In fact, I have known some employees when I was working in the Community College System of North Carolina to inflate their monthly mileage reports every month so that they could use the reimbursement monies to make their monthly car payments.

Honda automobiles can last longer, on average, than American automobiles because they are made better – it is just that simple.  Why is this, the case?  Partly because of Government regulations; partly because of the strategic plans of management, and partly because of the worker who takes his/her job for granted.  If fact, auto workers will tell you flat out, not to buy an automobile that was built on a Friday or a Monday because of worker attitudes.

So, when I see unemployed people protesting because they do not have work, I wonder why immediately.  Is it really because there are no jobs or because the jobs that are available they do not want?  Is it because the job has no benefits?  Is it because the job does not pay what they want or think that they deserve?  I wonder if it is a job that their parents or grandparents would have accepted.

These thoughts also make me think of the statement:  “what is one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.”  Thanks to the protesters, millions of dollars have already been spent in overtime for law enforcement; tax payer’s money that could have been used somewhere else more beneficial perhaps?

I wonder why our Churches, those religious non-profits, have not used the monies that they have saved for years by not paying taxes, to help our unemployed, since many of them claim that to be their sole mission.  Here is a chance for them to “step up and be counted,” but where are they?  Are they waiting for the Government to take action, so that they do not have to spend their money?  Are they waiting for the businesses to take action, so that they do not have to spend their money?  For what are they waiting, I wonder?

I lived overseas for 4 years, in Cairo, Egypt while attending high school and got a unique flavor as to how the rest of the world perceives America.  I was in a graduating class of 28, I believe, with 18 different nationalities and we all were given an excellent opportunity to understand each other’s cultures.  I wonder what the rest of the world thinks of America.  But, more importantly, I wonder if Americans care what the rest of the world thinks of them.

I am aware that some of you who read this will merely think that these are the rants and ravings of a bitter old man who cannot be happy unless everyone else is unhappy.  Well, you are entitled to your opinion as am I.  But, if you are honest with yourself, you will see that much of what I say is true.  And, if we are going to point the finger at someone, it should be at ourselves.  Each of us, had a role to play, albeit small, regarding the economic situation in which we presently find ourselves.  All I can say in closing is, please do not be like my college students (who are about to graduate) ask, “…how should I write my research paper?”

Alex,

Me thinks you forgot to add "but for the grace of God go I".  Sorry to disagree with everyone helping themselves.  The majority of Americans trusted their stock broker; their commander in chief; their banker and their Realtor and mortgage lender.  You really mean we should have. . . all of us, put in 8 to 10 hours a day and then sat on our hands.  I'm broke because I didn't.  I followed the rules and what every other successful American was doing.

Vic,
But for the grace of God go I, is part of my beliefs as well.  I know that many of us, you and me and plenty of others, played the game exactly as we were led to believe that it needed to be played while those around us took advantage of our innocence.  And, I lost 2/3 of my retirement savings because of the criminals on Wall Street.  My plans were to retire at 62 like my Dad, and now I will probably have to work until age 70, if I can continue to teach as an Adjunct.

Whether you have seen this or not, I have seen people who are on unemployment, not doing anything to really find a job until their benefits run out.  I see people getting deeper and deeper into debt because they want to live like the rich.  I have seen salespeople lie to make a sale because their jobs depend of number of sales each month.  None of these people had any problems doing this until life started to work against them.

It is like the lady who wanted to sue McDonalds because she was not warned that the hot coffee was hot.

The Government should have never bailed out any business at all, and yet, well intentioned and well educated economist advised otherwise and so the Government followed their advice.  Well intentioned Politicians believed that America's growth would always be there.  Our Presidents going back many years borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund and America has turned into a nation of liars.

As one business fails another business is created.  More jobs are created by companies who have 100 employees or less than there are from companies who employ more than 100 people.  Those small businesses do not "screw" their employees like the larger companies do.

Our affluenced has caused our apathy and now that apathy has impacted our country, and especially those who were not apathetic and followed  what our leaders told them; well, "surprise, surprise," as Gomer Pyle would have said, life is not fair - there are greedy people out there and there is a whole group of American who have, for years, been trying to work the system.  And, this is a natural byproduct of all of that.  And, yes, some people will get hurt, but overall, our economy is strong and some people are still spending lots of money.

As some American institutions fail, those failed institutions will be purchased by foreigners and Americans will again be given jobs, but the majority of America's wealth will go overseas...

No one encouraged Americans to drive 80 mph on the interstate which burns more gasoline.  No one held a gun to the heads of Americans forcing them to smoke or over eat.  No one forced Americans to lie on their incom taxes.  No one forced Americans to acquire a credit card and spend more than they earned.  No one forced Americans not to have low voter turnouts in previous elections.  No one forced Americans to stop having babies.  No one forced Americans to put internal parts of machines on backwards (which I have seen) because they were angry at a supervisor...  BUT, we were told not to purchase cars that were manufactured either on a Friday or a Monday.....

I am not saying that America should force the Churches to take care of the old or the poor, but the Churches themselves should see this automatically as their mission and purpose for being on this earth...  No one has forced Christians not to want to help...

It our affluence that has caused these outcomes and these outcomes will forever transform our society.