Bill Clinton not George Bush was the worst Republican president in history. NAFTA, junking the Glass-Steagall Act, a preemptive war with Bosnia, a love affair with Israel and a relationship with Saudi Arabia that motivated bin Laden to act like a madman. Peace

When I was in school in the late 60s and early 70s I remember hearing about how computers were going to reduce our work hours and give us all more free time in the future. In the 80s I recall a lot of my friends finally DID get that free time- in the unemployment line (thank you Mr. Rayguns)- while the rest of us picked up their slack, and did the work of three or four people. So my question is- when is all that free time coming for the rest of us. And, I don't mean the unemployment line!

Back in 1975, one union wage was still sufficient to support a family. Wages today aren't sufficient anymore. Real wages have declined to the point that even with two incomes, it's tough to get by, even though productivity has increased 25% or more.. Meanwhile, CEO salaries have increased disproportionately; where CEOs used to make the equivalent of 30-50 average workers, today they make the equivalent of 300-500 average workers.

But long before nearly everything was made overseas and "our" manufacturers were selling us the "Buy American" mantra, they were already farming out for foreign-made parts. Parts already made in China, Mexico, India and everyplace else except the US.

I remember when my company had made even the more insignificant parts in-house and then they began using foreign made parts...and still called their product "American Made". So how is a consumer going to "Buy American" when even the "American Made" products were largely "Foreign Made" parts?

Keep waving those flags and voting for the next smoke-and-mirrors, promise-them-anything, useful-idiots for the ruling elite. They are winning the class war against us and we will eventually not even be able to buy the cheaply made products from WalMart. Some of us are already there...I'm sure.

I had a GE refrigerator that lasted more than 20 years...in fact I am still using it...again (good thing I didn't throw it out). I had bought a new "other brand...(but it probably wouldn't matter if it was still a GE brand if they are made overseas now as well)..refrigerator 9 months ago and it broke with a bad compressor starter capacitor/relay module. It was covered under warranty for a year so it did not cost me to have it repaired. But the original warranty will end in a few months and they send me a mailer trying to get me to buy extra insurance for extra years of coverage. The cost each 1 year coverage would be about the cost of 10% of the original refrigerator price. I probably won't buy the insurance because if that frig goes out again for that same part...I will just buy the part (for a lot less than what the insurance would cost that year). Now if the compressor goes out...I'll probably just buy another refrigerator. But most certainly another brand.

If products are built to last a certain time between failures and this is calculated by insurance companies...and if people are buying those insurance contracts...then the insurance companies have an interest in a product's mean time between failure (mtbf) being longer than the service contract. Many people realized that buying a service contract was generally not worth it because the products tended to last. Most consumer protection advocates I've read have said that buying service contracts were really not worth it because the products tend to last beyond service contracts anyway.

So the manufacturers have to engineer their products to last longer than a normal warranty or even an additional service contract yet not so well as to last a long time so that the customer will have to buy again as soon as possible.

It is a gamble, of course...but, hey, that is the reason why these FIRE economy gangsters get rich. The odds are in their favor...if you play their game. Isn't it gambling when you "invest" your money? And a lot of people found out that they lost the game because they believed in the system.

I'm not even sure if it really matters, from a quality standpoint, if it is made overseas...American manufacturers had hired these brainy wizards to come up with things like "planned obsolescence" so that things would only last a short time before people felt the need to buy again...a new model...

In fact, for a number of years, during the decline of American manufacturing, the competing foreign products went from a history of shoddy copy-cat products to better-than-made-in-America products...and everyone wanted the reliability and quality of the foreign products. Now that many US corporations are relocated overseas...running the show...using cheap labor...they are, perhaps, again showing the world how shoddy and unreliable "planned obsolescence" mentality is.

I'm not sure, but isnt cutting out free trade what they did in 1929? I wasnt for free trade particularly, the way it was done, but now that it's here, it may do more harm then good to retreive it. China probably wouldn't allow us to anyway with the threat of selling off their U.S. bonds and cuasing interest rates to skyrocket.

The current working conditions many face remind me of my non union job during the Reagan recession of the early 80's. It was a large printing company and we all worked mandatory long hours, at least 70 per week including weekend hours. It was a frightened workforce and management knew it, they kept reminding us to be thankful we had a damn job. I can remember thinking to myself, the owners, now called "job creators", should be thanking me for showing up to make them rich. These guys laughed all the way to their offshore bank accounts.

Anyway the experience taught me the necessity of working in a unionized environment, but my point here is that high unemployment creates a working environment that spawns, abuse of, and great amounts of stress for many working folks. Although it works out great for companies owned by wealthy sociopaths, and the republicans have provided these conditions once again.

One last thing.....polls indicate the majority think free trade hurts the nation, also contrary to CANTOR'S lie which I keep hearing on abc network radio news, the one about his belief that the American people are against all raising of taxes to reduce the deficit. The fact is polls indicate 72% SUPPORT RAISING TAXES ON AMERICANS WHO MAKE MORE THAN $250,000 PER YEAR TO REDUCE THE DEFICIT. I sure as hell don't hear abc or any others mentioning this little fact.

Are you working harder than in 1975? Thom- I haven't worked since the Clinton Administration which is why I have time to write in your blog.

POETIC PREDICTION TWICE FULFILLED in a week or so from Oh, Omaha!:

"Ghastly, ghostly, ghouls and Walker,
Peter Falk, Whitey a Talker.
A Hollywood Star will get a stalker."

Halle Berry was confronted by a stalker who has a criminal past. Get this? Hall (Lincoln-Hall) Berry (Berry Street).

My mother Katherine Anne Kryder was stalked from 1960-1972 by Berry Street Lincoln-Hall criminal agents of Bush's CIA and G.H. Walker & Co. transfers her securities. Will anyone help break this case and open the doors to the US Treasury?

No. I am a little red hen, and Billina reports 4,300 turkeys died of the heat in Kansas, and more turkeys are bound to go if someone doesn't speak up.

XXXXX

In 1975 I had a Union Job and at 23 years of age I was able to build a new home for $25,000, have a child ('78), buy new Dodges in '76 and another in '77 for $2900 and $3200, and my wife stayed at home to raise the kids (+ step daughter) until they started school so we did it on one income. This was the last time we had run away inflation and BECAUSE of my UNION job we recieved cost of living raises each year around 7% which at the time didn't seem to be enough, and we fought for more, but as it turned out, I still had more purchasing power each year since my fixed payments were easier to make as my wages went up. The only "loser" was the Banksters, who were getting paid back with dollars that were worth less each year. They were singing the blues BUT THEY WERE GETTING PAID! I was building equity to cover the inflation and even though I wasn't really gaining potential profit, it allowed me the freedom to sell and buy another home as I was NEVER up side down in the mortgage.

Now I live in a Right to Work state where there are no unions and it is hard to find work for more than $10/hr, the house we bought in 2007 for $130,000 would probably appraise at less than $100,000 and due to insurance and taxes our monthly payments are going up at ridiculous rates. Even though we were carefull when we bought and did not over extend ourselves, and got a great fixed rate, we are stuck and have no options other than to absorb increases until we can no longer afford them and walk away, some retirement plan eh?

Quite frankly I am ready to try some inflation again!