Author: al92653al92653 Date: Jun 21, 2008 12:41
No longer proud to be an American
JIM PLANAMENTE
For the Courier-Post
I used to be proud to be an American of these United States. No more. The
present administration of President Bush was the catalyst in pushing me to
that pronouncement. In actuality, and without hesitation, I can state that I
am embarrassed to call myself an American.
Our government has told us our economy is not in a state of depression.
Maybe the facts and figures don't exactly match those of the Great
Depression of 1929-1939. Back then, personal incomes declined sharply for
those who had jobs, as did tax revenues, prices and profits. Unemployment
figures were staggering. Farmers suffered as the prices for crops dropped 40
percent to 60 percent.
Today there are, unfortunately, some disturbing similarities, as well as
opposite trends, but with the same basic results. Wall Street has been
consistently inconsistent and that's a gross understatement. An enormous
number of jobs, encompassing a diversity of fields, have been lost coming
under the auspices of new rationalizations called "reorganization" and
"downsizing." Different wording, same result.
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