Sick Society We Live In

[damngrumpy]

Actually video did not kill the radio star, bean counters killed the radio star. In the 1970's
individual effort was killed and replaced by broadcast certificate institutions and the
entrants were taught a sort of method approach to the industry. They all sounded the same
in about five years. That way, accountants and advertising people, who took over management
from creative programmers, could keep costs down and format what the announcers could and
could not do. By the mid nineties, the old era of individual talent was no longer there, as there
were no more individual goals to strive for, even the Wolfman was gone.
Now the satellite radio stations are carving into local markets because local listeners don't have
the individual friendly voice that was once at the end of the radio. Where some stations have
gone back to that format they are doing well, but the majority are struggling. I left because I did
not fit into the conformity mould, and the old ways for me were gone and were not coming back
soon enough so I moved on. I did go to voicing commercials, and narrating commercial audio,
and things of that nature. The only problem was I now wanted something different so I went to
be a professional gambler, I took up Farming. I still do public relations, and some voicing of
commercials but they are few and far between.
This guy in the news though has a lot to offer and he will do well. He also has the benefit of
experience not to repeat the same mistakes so I think he will do well. Rather than a sick society
I think it is great when someone can draw attention to themselves and climb out of the depths
of despair, and everyone recognizes their effort and rewards it. In fact it demonstrates that our
society is not as sick as I once thought it was.

 

[ironsides]

This is what is really sad. The "Middle" class is beginning to dissolve into the poor much faster than thought. No mention about it from the President or anyone for that matter. Ted Williams is one lucky guy, he has a chance to turn his life around.

WASHINGTON – The number of poor people in the U.S. is millions higher than previously known, with 1 in 6 Americans — many of them 65 and older — struggling in poverty due to rising medical care and other costs, according to preliminary census figures released Wednesday.

At the same time, government aid programs such as tax credits and food stamps kept many people out of poverty, helping to ensure the poverty rate did not balloon even higher during the recession in 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office.

Under a new revised census formula, overall poverty in 2009 stood at 15.7 percent, or 47.8 million people. That's compared to the official 2009 rate of 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million, that was reported by the Census Bureau last September.

Across all demographic groups, Americans 65 and older sustained the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula — nearly doubling to 16.1 percent. As a whole, working-age adults 18-64 also saw increases in poverty, as well as whites and Hispanics. Children, blacks and unmarried couples were less likely to be considered poor under the new measure.

Census: Number of poor may be millions higher - Yahoo! News

 

[damngrumpy]

Ironsides you are right about the middle class shrinking and becoming poor or the working poor.
People still cling to the idea that any government measures are bad measures and the market
will solve the problem. Who's Problem? Unpatriotic business people stripped the jobs away
from Americans after receiving tax benefits for decades. All the jobs went to Asia. People should
stop buying products made in that country. Yes it would be one hell of a hardship agreed but in the
end if the companies stopped making money they would get some measure of the message.
Americans lost their edge in a number of areas One their education, science and research areas
went down hill because people decided government should cut taxes instead. Education became
secondary to saving tax money and people would have more to spend, pure theory, as no on said
anything about spending it on meaningful things like education.
Over the holidays I was watching the CNN program GPS and an interesting item came up. Most
Americans were not aware that nearly 70% of the research and development money that the
private sector spent came from the Defence Department. As those budgets were cut, America
fell behind the rest of the world in terms of future scientists and revenue. But hey, they saved on the
budget right? In the end that money got squandered like the rest of it.
Older Americans are in the vanguard, of shutting down Medicare and other programs demanding
the budgets be slashed, therefore they have become their own worst enemy. It is not the amount
of money available, it is how well the money is spent. At present the money is made by the few for the
few to benefit the few, and why because the people still believe their outdated system works and
clearly it does not. It is a lousy economic system, and it is doomed to failure just like the Soviet Union
collapsed over its wacky financial system.
No system however is sustainable, if people spend beyond their means, if people are not well educated
in order to take advantage of opportunities and the discovery of new ideas. No country is sustainable
when they mistake CHEAP for VALUE whether its the cloths on their back, the consumer goods they
purchase and use or the food they eat. Value establishes the worth of things. If something is cheap
oh well use it until it breaks and buy another, credit is cheap so buy what ever you want and worry
about paying it later. Every dollar taken out of the economy by consumer debt is another dollar the
financial institutions cannot lend to small companies to increase production and the job market.
Printing more money lowers the value of the money. Our dollar is not worth more its at par because the
American Dollar is worth less and that creates a crisis of confidence in markets around the world as the
US dollar is the bench mark for all other currencies. The Americans and soon we will be added to the
list is because we have all been living in a fools paradise and the world is passing us by. Our industrial
base, going fast, our service base slipping away, our agricultural industry on its death bed, and still
we cling to the past, we believe we will pass the other guy and own a bigger chunk of nothing in the end.
The rest of the world is laughing at us and we are to arrogant to even hear them. Then one guy like this
climbs out of the depression of poverty and some are outright angry. If more people did something we
would see a better world. This thought, saw it in the paper yesterday. Don't confuse motion with action.