Election Issues Today

What a popular topic today, the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, July 20, 1969.

Like so many other space travel enthusiasts around the World, along with science fictions crazies, we thought a new age had dawned and that space travel was just a few years away for the rest of us.

Such was not to be. Not only is space travel not available to any but the very richest individuals in the World, a Russian Soyuz trip is about the only way to get into space. A trip to the International Space Station for ten or twenty million dollars is not what we had in mind for the masses.

Space travel is very limited even for the few countries who have engineered a vehicle capable of reaching orbit and returning. In fact, AFFORDING a national space program has become a real question of priorities in virtually every country, including the USA.

Back in 1969, NASA officials probably thought they would be engineering trips to MARS by the beginning of the 21st Century. So did I.

Now, however, even a return trip to the Moon is being re-tooled to do it on the cheap. Forget about Mars; the economy is so bad and the NASA budget so tenuous, that the “return to the Moon” plans are becoming doubtful.

For the population at large, the exploration of space, and manned space travel in particular, has lost the romance it once had. We need to feed our people, educate them, provide for their health and for their old age, not spend billions to put a man on the Moon. BEEN THERE; DONE THAT!

There is a scene from the 2009 season finale of “Desperate Housewives” where Lynette’s husband plans to return to college to study the Chinese Language to better position himself as a “marketing” executive.

To many Americans, me included, China seems even more foreign than Russia. The people look different. They eat different food. They have different social customs and manners. They use a different way of writing. We have much to learn about them. Language is just the beginning.

When we discuss the AIG situation and comments that they are “too big to fail” I just have to ask: how big do you have to be in order to rate a government bailout?

General Motors has been around for a long time. Are we now in the situation where the American car industry will not only take a back seat to European and Asian car manufacturers, but simply leave the American market for them to enjoy?

I know that many foreign car manufacturers are now producing automobiles in the United States with U.S. labor, but those company profits go to overseas owners, primarily. And I understand that automobile parts for virtually ALL automobiles in the World are usually produced somewhere other than where the auto assembly plants are located. But I think American workers, labor unions, stock holders and loyal CUSTOMERS deserve just as much consideration as some financial services giant or bank.

Is it time for the USA to become more socialist? Should the U.S. government become the de facto owner of the means of production? If the alternative is turning over our industries to foreign ownership and foreign investment (more than we currently have), I think that U.S. government ownership, partial ownership at least, will give the government more muscle in directing these industries.

Socialism works in Europe and Great Britain and Australia, to some extent. I think we need to separate ourselves from the notion that Socialism equates to Communism. Perhaps what the American public needs is a better understanding of world economic systems, but I doubt that most Americans would be willing to listen and learn about things that go against the conservatism, protectionism, and isolationism that talk-show hosts pander for hours on end.

I am not an economist, or accountant, or banker or financier, financial analyst or securities analyst. Those professions get paid for making decisions (or at least recommendations) that involve money–lots and lots of money.

When I ask the question of “Bigness” being “too big,” I am coming from a position of ignorance. I saw an article today wherein a U.S. government official has stated something to the effect that:

AIG is a globally interconnected colossus, with 74 million customers worldwide and operations in more than 130 countries. The government decided it was simply too big to let fail.

There are CORPORATIONS with assets and annual revenues that are bigger than the gross domestic product of some COUNTRIES!

A financial crisis in a small country can be bailed out more easily than these huge “conglomerates.”

I don’t know a great deal about American history, but there were so many problems with monopolies during the early years of the Industrial Revolution, I thought the U.S. Government had put measures in place to control these “giants.”

I think the problem may now be that the “giants” have become so BIG and so POWERFUL that the CEOs or Presidents wield more power in the World than many–(yes MANY)–government leaders. Corporate CEOs fly around the World in private jets that put many a country’s elected leaders to shame. Corporate CEO’s and other top officials earn salaries (oh yes, and bonuses too) that FAR exceed the incomes of all but the most corrupt World dictators.

I just hope it isn’t TOO late to put the Brakes on and exert some Control over these “TOO-BIG-for-their-own-good” corporations.

SPIDER superstitions:

Spider Webs can be seen as traps that ensnare people, like flies that become stuck fast. Spiders in history have often represented human fragility as well as enticement for evil. In Africa spiders are often associated with tricksters.

(In all fairness to the world’s spiders, most spider superstition is actually favorable and they are often associated with good luck.)