Wow. I can tell it is the holiday season because I’m receiving lots of email on family issues, unemployment, and politics.
Nothing says Christmas like arguing with your more conservative family members over the reasons why you can’t find a job (Bill Clinton’s fault), the conspiracy of global warming (attributed to Hillary Clinton’s role in the State Department), and healthcare reform that will force every small business into bankruptcy (Harry Reid).
Sheesh. I feel your pain. I know all about the passive-aggressive family debates around abortion, affirmative action, and Barack Obama’s citizenship. If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone complain about the national debt, I could pay off the national debt. By the way, I love engaging in economic debates with people who buy gold from Glenn Beck and think we’re still trading skins & furs up in Saskatchewan.
This is why I drink heavily during the holidays.
Here’s my favorite job/politics complaint from people in my inner circle.
- I’m broke. I can’t lose my job or I’ll lose my health care. Barack Obama hasn’t done anything for me.
Amazing.
So believe me, dear readers, you’re not alone. I can’t offer you comfort and joy during the holiday season because that’s not my style, but I can remind you of the days when we were talking about Kanye West, Mike Meyers, and how George Bush didn’t care about black people.
It’s amazing how Hurricane Katrina seems like a simpler time.
Merry Christmas!
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I almost forgot about this video. Thanks for sharing.
Laurie, I can offer hope. Just a little. I’ve definitely worn down the birthers, who now question my citizenship almost as often as Barack’s, the poorest family members who have never paid any taxes who think the GOP is their best hope for low taxes, who now think that Ron and I are better off because of sneaky Dem tax breaks for the successfully self-employed, and the Jews killed Jesus bunch who think the Pope had no choice but to protect the Nazis, who now admit the the Inquisition might have been a little harsh. Slowly but surely, but the’ll be flooded out by global warming before we get to the serious differences.
Good morning Laurie. Very interesting post here.
This post clearly demonstrates your “outside” view on business and business ownership. I am an employer of persons in 5 different states.
Our government is taking over our economy. (I almost added “slowly, but surely” there – but the speed with which Obama is moving to change the very nature of our business landscape is frightening.)
Our President views Business Owners with contempt. His “jobs” summit did not include the very people who employ the most tax payers in our country. (Though he did have Jennifer Granholm – Governor/Destroyer of Michigan there. Maybe he wanted a true outsiders view on jobs. She knows nothing about them.)
P.S. Glenn Beck doesn’t sell gold.
Your post reminded me that there is one (only one) good thing about not being in England with my family for Christmas. Usually while I’m there I have to answer for all the things America has done over the last few years. Two Marches ago, I spent one breakfast trying to defend against a litany of ills which ended with causing grocery prices to rise by growing too many bio fuels.
This year I’ll just light a fire and read a book. And whenever I feel homesick, I’ll remember this post.
Luckily, there are so many babies & kids in our family no one gets the time to discuss (argue), politics, religion, taxes, illegal aliens or the whether “pigs have wings”.
Plus we are all happy drunks and stock up on lots of wine!
A Very Merry Christmas to you Laurie and all your readers…..please ignore if you don’t wish to be wished a Merry Christmas.
I just received a survey from the RNC accusing me of being a Republican and asking me very slanted questions full of complete fiction about Obama & the Democrats (I always think Josie & the Pussycats when I read that). I suppose the upside of this is that RNC is obviously broke if they’re data mining someone like me and begging for donations. But digusting how they’re pandering to the very people who have the most to lose. The survey tried to pretend like the Republican White House didn’t have a hand in all the issues we have now, and it made my head explode that some people are obviously gullible enough to take it at face value, or they wouldn’t continue to pose fictional questions.
So I did send the survey back (it said PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE, after all), and I just wrote “BITE ME” at the top. They at least had to pay the postage on that. I don’t have any patience for Democratic propaganda either, but they don’t send me stupid, racist crap in the mail.
I get all that out now because my Christmas will be a “mixed” affair of an older generation of conservatives and a younger generation of liberals, and stirring the pot is always a possibility, but I don’t tolerate it. If anyone tries to start in on politics, I immediately say, “We’re not discussing this! Everybody eat and here’s more wine! Dad, look, I bought you Johnnie Walker!” Nobody can argue with that logic, and we’re a family of happy, not disgruntled, drunks so the alcoholic is a big help.
@Jerry – I happen to share Laurie’s “outside” point of view.
It’s hard to feel great wellsprings of sympathy for big business. Jerry, you may well be an ethical, sensible leader at your company, and as someone who spent most of this year laid off, I applaud your drive to create jobs and employ people.
But there HAS to be a balance, somewhere, in the drive for wealth and profit vs. the need to approach the acquisition of said profit in a sensible, solid way. The banks and AIG gambled our entire economy away, and then have the indecency to thumb their noses at the very people who make their business viable – the very people who lent them significant amounts of money so they didn’t fail – as they dig deeper into our pockets.
I don’t think the government wants to be as involved as it has been, but industry after industry (banking, automaking) has completely run off the rails. No one learned any of the lessons from the steel industry collapse in the 80s.
I may be a MSNBC liberal, but I have deep concerns about our spending – and the health care bill. What I hope is that people come together and communicate (not yell or demonize, but communicate) and take responsibility. Taxes and corporate responsibility is like going to a big dinner with friends – everyone thinks it’s a great idea, but no one wants to pick up the tab. (Especially if your friends are drunks.)
P.S. – You’re right, Glenn Beck doesn’t sell gold. The stuff he peddles every day is brown.
@Patrick Erwin…. I think I’m in love
@David I never saw the SNL spoof. I heard it was hilarious.
@Naomi You’re coming to my family party in Chicago, right? RIGHT?!
@Jerry Well, I’m a small biz owner and I have a home in Michigan. So I’m right there with you — the economy is oppressive for those who are trying to make an honest buck. I don’t blame the gov’t, though. I blame the citizenry. We voted in these bozos who promised us the world in the 2000s (lower taxes, biz-friendly climate) and couldn’t deliver because our resources were diverted to Iraq and to private contracts. I also think debt, and money, are psychological constructs rather than physical & tangible items. The dollar is a dollar is a dollar — until it isn’t and it’s just a worthless piece of paper. We need a national wi-fi policy, a national infrastructure program, and a national program to teach real and meaningful skills in our educational system so we can vote for politicians who can be held accountable for representing our interests. As someone who is in the top 1% of income in America, put my money *there* and not towards tax cuts, fake wars on drugs/terrorism, or Corporate Welfare. Also, Glenn Beck is paid to advertise gold that you cannot trade on the market. So really, he’s worse than someone who sells gold. He’s a fraud.
@Louise Nice. I’m starting this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595142401/ref=oss_T15_product
@H.Aria I was given a membership to the NRA for Christmas, one year, as a joke. Now I’m on 100 mailing lists. It’s ridiculous. I also receive notes from Wayne LaPierre asking me to join again. COME BACK. I’m like NO FUCKING WAY.
@Patrick Why aren’t you writing a political blog? That’s awesome.
@teresa Back off, Patrick is mine.
I like to believe that every time a fight starts at a family holiday gathering and angel gets its wings.
My family has given this gift to over 17,000 angels in the last 20 years.
@Jerry – I dunno…I do not believe in governmental influence in business. I mean, that’s socialist or communistic…not capitalistic. If a company wants to charge an arm and a leg, so be it. Another company will rise from their shadows and introduce competition. Glenn Beck may very well be extremist…but so is our President. They are equally idiotic but one is acting within what should be acceptable under his role and the latter is not. Your belief that the government wants less involvement is inaccurate…they want more. Which is why they keep interfering in the lives of general citizens and companies. Shhh…big brother is watching.
Oh…and I have the answers;
Nat’l debt – Walk away from it and tell all the other countries to get bent. We have saved your butts at one time or another.
War – Pull soldiers back and let them spend their money in the US.
Immigration – Let soldiers protect our borders with bullets.
Healthcare – Buy insurance, pay out of pocket or die.
Gun control – Criminals have ‘em, you might want one, too.
BTW – I’m broke. I lost my job & I’ll lose my health care. Barack Obama hasn’t done anything for me.
Patrick, sadly, you sound middle of the road. Many conservatives and libertarians would agree with you, and hate what the Republicans have done to their party. Specifically: abandon fiscal responsibility and civil liberties, and cater completely to religious nutcases. Suddenly, if you don’t do these things, you’re part of the far left. The Republicans refusal to negotiate with Obama has left out key reforms in health care many conservatives would have liked to have seen, especially mal-practice reform. While they hate Obama with a passion, the mindset that, “we’re going to oppose *everything* Obama does,” is just backfiring on them. I truly hope that Olympia Snowe switches sides.
Matthew, I agree except on the national debt (and guns, because I feel the mentally ill shouldn’t be encouraged to buy them). About $600 billion (or more; I can’t count that high) of our debt is owned by the Chinese. Tell them we’ll start paying as soon as they stop stealing our jobs and get on the same level with us and the EU on global warming.
And Beck, while peddling crap, also promotes buying gold on his TV show because he’s paid to do so. So, while he isn’t selling gold directly, he is serving as an advertiser.
I am amazingly lucky that the family members with whom I will spend the holidays are like mined progressives. We bore eachother in our agreement on politics, so we usually take in a movie and then play Balderdash into the wee hours. Same thing, I guess, but much more hysterical and fun.
I get my fix for political sparring by jumping in on your blog and Facebook page, Laurie.
I do find it ironic that folks think Obama is extremist. He is about as tame and middle-of-the-road as they come, much to the chagrin of liberals. Yes, he has had to act more boldly than most because of the extreme circumstances he inherited, but there is nothing extreme about him.
The only thing extreme about him is his cool. That seems to get the rad right all worked up, so they have to cast their Orwellian spells on him.
Very appropriate on this holiday for the rest of us. “The tradition of Festivus begins with the Airing of Grievances!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS7-jcsB_WQ
@econopete – Perhaps I’m not such a good liberal after all. Then again, I was never one for labels. If someone tries to tell me who I am, it’s when I get most fired up to prove them wrong.
And “Middle of the Road” is an awesome Pretenders song….but not me LOL. I am moderate in some things and radical in others. (Like – believing that ALL marriages should become civil unions, because the government shouldn’t decide if a marriage is valid – your religious institution can decide whether to bless it or not.
Quelle radical!)
PS – Teresa and Laurie – thanks for the love!