Syria

What a time in history to be President. We are still reeling from a catastrophic war in Iraq, ongoing war in Afghanistan, seemingly unstoppable tide if illegal aliens, economic instability, carnage amongst drug infested neighborhoods and a myriad of other problems. Now, there is Syria, another country thousands of miles away, suffering through an almost inhuman carnage of their own. The President, when speaking about the political divide, civil war and senseless loss of human life going on there, drew a line in the sand and said that if chemical warfare was used we would step in and do our best to stop it. A daring statement. A few days ago hundreds of people, mostly women and children were killed. Two things are being investigated, was it in fact chemicals or gas? And who did it? One thing is sure, almost every other country in the world has declined to go along with us in any type of military response. It looks like if we do respond, we'll be going it alone. Will that result in a reduction of killing of innocent people or will it bring on even more retaliation to their own people and more importantly, beyond their borders and around the world. Iraq is still after so many years involved in a civil war and people are being murdered every day. So far, not much was settled in that war. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found. Some say the stability and modernization brought on by Saddam Hussein was far better even if he did kill the guys he didn't like and make stupid threats.

The president is going to make a decision for us. Just as he has done so many times before as well as  his predecessors. There doesn't seem to be much we can do about it. Where does this get us? According to news reports, most people in Arab countries don't like or trust us so much do they? Normal for us isn't necessarily normal for them. We have a Judeo-Christian set of morals. Al Quida and other similar groups find our desire to be fair in all things as a weakness. They kill us as well as their own people without conscience. Is any intervention from us, further taxing our already slim resources, going to accomplish anything constructive? Personally, I do wonder where the Arab groups and countries stand on Syria and the murder of innocent people. They, so far really haven't said anything or offered any real solutions or help military or diplomatic. I wonder if they know more than we do concerning the mind set of that region.

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, We've been there. I do pray for a correct answer to this. I do pray the president looks at all the consequences involved here. I know I certainly don't know what the solution is but too swift a move often leads to more loss of lives. I pray that doesn't happen.

Minimum wage

One confusing aspect of governmental controls that is a bit crazy to me is the imposition of a minimum wage. Personally, I feel that those people that work should receive a fair compensation for their labor. Anyone withholding wages from a worker to keep exorbitant profits for themselves should be prosecuted in a court of law. A minimum wage to me however, is counterproductive in many ways.

#1- Minimum wage, as dictated by government, does not take into consideration market, demand, costs or any other conditions regarding any particular business and the profitability to remain operational.
#2- Minimum wage, as dictated by government controls, removes the competitive nature of international commerce and manufacturing. Countries without minimum wage produce and manufacture cheaper than we can. Fair or not, that is a fact.
#3- With far less jobs available due to the competition in non regulated countries, right here in the United States, far more people are on government assistance. Government assistance is funded (supposed to be anyway) by income taxes of working people thereby reducing their take home pay.
#4- The higher the minimum wage, the less competitive our products and services, the less competitive these things are, the less companies there are, the less companies there are, the less people are employed at any wage, the less people employed, the more people on government assistance. The more people on government assistance, the more taxes needed to pay for the assistance. With less people working, the higher taxes they pay so minimum wage or not, their take home pay is taken away by excess taxes.
#5- With more and more people losing their jobs because we cannot compete with other countries, more and more people are buying the imported products from other countries because they are way cheaper. Resulting in a reverse cash flow from the united States to the other cheaper countries draining our cash resources so fewer and fewer companies remain open. Creating a downward spiral in our economy.
#6- In my opinion, wages too high to compete=fewer people employed=more people on assistance=higher taxes=fewer people to pay those taxes=an overall lower wage and our currency becomes worthless. So, what did the minimum wage dictated by government to increase our standard of living actually accomplish?

Oh, wait a second. Am I talking about the United States or is it Greece? I forget sometimes. I'm probably just a bit tired, need coffee. Have a good day.

It don't work that way no more

Having lived during many decades I've experienced innumerable changes in the way we live. Most of the things that have changed, although exciting and adventurous and practical at the time, simply wouldn't work today. We are far more educated, worldly, and "mature". Grabbing onto a slow moving car rear bumper, in the middle of the winter and being pulled a full two miles on ice and through drifts before letting go and rolling to a stop, laughing until my stomach hurt is probably something I would never want my grandkids to do. I'm way to smart for that now. Seemed good at the time though, all us kids did it. Walking back and forth to work through the streets of downtown Detroit in the middle of the night was necessary and interesting back in 1964 (although I did get robbed at gunpoint twice by the same guy, I survived). I certainly wouldn't do that now. I guess maybe I'm a scaredy cat. Working two full time jobs every day, one in Detroit and the other in Grand Rapids, catching what sleep I could on the train ride back and forth between the two. Rather fun then but I value my sleep too much now. Meeting people from all over town by dialing my own number on the telephone to get a busy signal and speaking to total strangers in between the beeps. Too many perverts out there now. Cruising up and down the street on Friday and Saturday nights until the sun rose right alongside hundreds of other teenagers playing loud radios and yelling at one another and having an occasional drag race at the red lights. Are you kidding me? Wouldn't want to try that now would you?

Nope! None of that stuff would work anymore. I sure did like it then though. I kind of feel sorry for anyone that hasn't.