Comments on: Thriftville Vs. Squanderville

By: ISTHISAJOKE?

ISTHISAJOKE? — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:39:36 +0000

Just kidding with my name…..”a nation of middlemen” is so tragically true at this time. The starkest example of me, a former Economic Dummy, was when we chose NAFTA. I argued until I was blue in the face with a Republican friend (turned Red during the “Reagan Years”). He kept saying”But people can retrain” for other jobs. And I just refused to buy it. And in the end I was right. I have seen former union guys setting up little enterprises for themselves ….selling in various “antique and collectible malls”….working on trying to keep their former dignity. What are they producing, you say? The American Dream?….no, they have been forced to go to yard sales to pick up old things for fifty cents and sell them for two dollars.

To hang our hats solely on new green businesses is just not enough. I believe it is getting to be time to emigrate, and start afresh, just as our forebears did when they came here in the first place. I say this not facetiously, but reluctantly, as my forebears came to New Amsterdam in the sixteen hundreds.

By: mfpdx

mfpdx — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:38:32 +0000

IF you ignore the mistakes [or outright thievery] of the past you WILL see it repeated in the future.

Anyone who thinks otherwise, slept through History class and has zero business saying a word about this.

Period.

By: BenG

BenG — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:44:19 +0000

That’s why we should be making positive light of these bad times if we are to climb our way out of this economic pitfall. The most simple statement that I’ve heard from all of this is that the past economic plan was unsustainable. Like a B. Maddoff ponzi scheme, it was only a matter of time. What is positive about it is that it effects many who were responsible for the economic failures more than those who work and struggle for a living and hopefully the stimulus package will help many who were innocent and got swept under.

I agree with looking forward for solutions instead of failed policies of the past, although some would say your scenario may be a bit too rosy and may take too long for the immediate need. I know someone who works for a local utility company and he’s in charge of re-tooling his division to meet the future needs of an alternative energy business world, such as solar, conservation, and altering work shifts to optimize energy costs, to name a few. It could be an exciting time and here’s to the hope that optimism prevails!