Sustained unemployment, record numbers of foreclosures, burgeoning debt at every level: personal, business, local, state and federal.
Politicians posturing and patronizing while the masses clamor for a fair shake and a measly few scraps from their master's table.
Corporations hold trillions in cash, slash their workforces, declare record profits and award astronomical bonuses.
Financial markets streak to new highs.
Lobbyists realize record profits on soaring revenues.
The Fed pumps unprecedented amounts of cash into the banking system resulting in: exorbitant bonuses for the financial elite, a freight train market, and inflated commodity prices worldwide.
The top one percent add trillions to their net worth.
Members of the privileged oligarchy work feverishly to consolidate, hide and protect their untold fortunes.
Luxury item sales boom.
The world reserve currency (the US dollar) stands on the verge of collapse.
The noise, hate and discontent begin to swell.
Does something seem out of whack? The "system" is concentrating wealth at an unparalleled rate.
We're addicted to drugs, addicted to oil and addicted to easy credit.
As a nation we have lost our way.
The corruption and deceit we so readily condemn in other nations runs rampant in our own.
The groundswell response to any deviation from the path to ruin is vitriolic rhetoric, unrestrained emotion and the threat of violence from those who risk losing even ill-gotten gain.
If this is a recovery, I must be looking at the wrong things - I don't see it.
Have we reached crisis yet? We have fallen over the cliff, but so far the breeze, as we plummet, has been bearable.
Unfortunately the ground is fast approaching.
We may not be able to endure the crash.
When will we as a nation and a people realize we have taken a wrong turn? It's time to lay the truth bare; assess the unvarnished facts; get our house in order; and begin anew.
The days of the American empire are over.
Our hubris and our greed have brought us to this day of reckoning.
We reap what we have sewn.
It is time to act - in different way - for our collective interest.
A crisis holds one truth: there is no room for fear.
The emotion, the vitriol, the lies and the deceit are all symptoms of fear.
We cling to faded glory, to jaded promises.
We must act despite fear, act to overcome fear, act to put ourselves on a forthright and noble path.
We must choose a new course and begin again boldly.
There is no "easy" choice.
There is no "simple" solution.
We must take up the yoke and bear the weight of the discipline we have for so long avoided.
America rose to prominence, to preeminence, not by the might of her military, but rather on the inspiration of an idea.
America was the one nation on earth where men and women could apply themselves, dream great dreams, and work to fulfill those aspirations.
America flourished because it pursued happiness.
People envisioned a future worth living and worked to make that vision a reality.
We turned from that path.
Instead of innovating and advancing, we clung to oil and wagered our futures on finance as the means to sustain prosperity.
We set about policing the world.
We chose poorly.
Convinced we had arrived, the elite placated the masses with promises of entitlements while they siphoned off the wealth.
We have duped ourselves and must now stand up and claim responsibility for our misdeeds and mistakes.
America, the legendary land of the free and home of the brave, can be once again.
But not remotely in the form we find ourselves in today.
Our thoughts have been focused on how to have it all and have it now - well that is not how life works.
We can experience happiness however, by working together toward a worthy goal - an inspiring dream.
America needs a new birth of freedom, a motivating aspiration and a stirring conviction.
The American spirit is not yet dead.
Let's choose again; for this is no time for fear.
Copyright (c) 2011 Scott F Paradis
Politicians posturing and patronizing while the masses clamor for a fair shake and a measly few scraps from their master's table.
Corporations hold trillions in cash, slash their workforces, declare record profits and award astronomical bonuses.
Financial markets streak to new highs.
Lobbyists realize record profits on soaring revenues.
The Fed pumps unprecedented amounts of cash into the banking system resulting in: exorbitant bonuses for the financial elite, a freight train market, and inflated commodity prices worldwide.
The top one percent add trillions to their net worth.
Members of the privileged oligarchy work feverishly to consolidate, hide and protect their untold fortunes.
Luxury item sales boom.
The world reserve currency (the US dollar) stands on the verge of collapse.
The noise, hate and discontent begin to swell.
Does something seem out of whack? The "system" is concentrating wealth at an unparalleled rate.
We're addicted to drugs, addicted to oil and addicted to easy credit.
As a nation we have lost our way.
The corruption and deceit we so readily condemn in other nations runs rampant in our own.
The groundswell response to any deviation from the path to ruin is vitriolic rhetoric, unrestrained emotion and the threat of violence from those who risk losing even ill-gotten gain.
If this is a recovery, I must be looking at the wrong things - I don't see it.
Have we reached crisis yet? We have fallen over the cliff, but so far the breeze, as we plummet, has been bearable.
Unfortunately the ground is fast approaching.
We may not be able to endure the crash.
When will we as a nation and a people realize we have taken a wrong turn? It's time to lay the truth bare; assess the unvarnished facts; get our house in order; and begin anew.
The days of the American empire are over.
Our hubris and our greed have brought us to this day of reckoning.
We reap what we have sewn.
It is time to act - in different way - for our collective interest.
A crisis holds one truth: there is no room for fear.
The emotion, the vitriol, the lies and the deceit are all symptoms of fear.
We cling to faded glory, to jaded promises.
We must act despite fear, act to overcome fear, act to put ourselves on a forthright and noble path.
We must choose a new course and begin again boldly.
There is no "easy" choice.
There is no "simple" solution.
We must take up the yoke and bear the weight of the discipline we have for so long avoided.
America rose to prominence, to preeminence, not by the might of her military, but rather on the inspiration of an idea.
America was the one nation on earth where men and women could apply themselves, dream great dreams, and work to fulfill those aspirations.
America flourished because it pursued happiness.
People envisioned a future worth living and worked to make that vision a reality.
We turned from that path.
Instead of innovating and advancing, we clung to oil and wagered our futures on finance as the means to sustain prosperity.
We set about policing the world.
We chose poorly.
Convinced we had arrived, the elite placated the masses with promises of entitlements while they siphoned off the wealth.
We have duped ourselves and must now stand up and claim responsibility for our misdeeds and mistakes.
America, the legendary land of the free and home of the brave, can be once again.
But not remotely in the form we find ourselves in today.
Our thoughts have been focused on how to have it all and have it now - well that is not how life works.
We can experience happiness however, by working together toward a worthy goal - an inspiring dream.
America needs a new birth of freedom, a motivating aspiration and a stirring conviction.
The American spirit is not yet dead.
Let's choose again; for this is no time for fear.
Copyright (c) 2011 Scott F Paradis
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