I’m sure I’m not that only one that’s realizing this - except for the politicians of course since they don’t have to worry about their paycheck. As a matter of fact they’re not tied to any performance quotas, nor do they do piece work though they do like to pass this type of legislation to keep others from doing what they’re doing, which is slacking.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ggBk3xI5km4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=GGiU658aSIw&feature=related[/youtube]
When I moved to this country in 1999 gas prices were at about $1.30 - for me, who was used to $6-8.00 /gal I thought that was a joke and I said at the time, there’s a lot of leeway here for the government in terms of pricing and taxes. In europe, in particular Germany, most of the money people spend at the pump is for taxes - the large part of the cost beyond the raw cost of oil goes towards taxes for infrastructures, etc. In this country however it seems slightly different. Since we’re a country that doesn’t believe too greatly in taxes, we instead have a system that gives oil companies the leeway for profit - instead of leaving some margin for the government. So instead of having a dollar per gallon go to environmental protection, the reconstruction of roads, repairs of bridges, it all goes to the oil companies. The truly amazing part is that the executives of the major Oil companies actually went to congress to tell them why they can’t stop subsidizing the oil industry due to the high exploration costs. Tell ya what - it costs me money to get to my job too and I’m not seeing any government grants flying my way paying for it - those are costs I have to absorb and the same should of course be the case for the oil companies, especially in the light of historical profits. A British newspaper goes as far as calling the profits obscene and I have to admit that I agree completely.
Now things are so bad that truckers are going on strike. When I came to this country I learned an expression which is “If you bought it, a trucker brought it”. If that’s true, I’d say it’s safe to say we’re in some deep shit. Not counting the fact that we’re at war that nobody wants to talk about, not mentioning the fact that our health care system is worse than that of Cuba, now we will soon all notice the change in this country. To me something very drastic has to happen, because the way things are going it seems the government is just going to ruin this country and then leave to Dubai to join Dick Cheney at his new corporate headquarter.
What’s very interesting is that those people who have the audacity of questioning other people’s patriotism, see no problem in taking the tax revenue of a company and moving it away. Behind closed doors the business men all know - patriotism is just a word that they can sell to the American people. While the common man/woman busts his/her ass to get by, the big companies are enjoying all the tax loop holes and incentives they can, maximizing their profit and stripping themselves from more and more pesty costs such as health care and other benefits.
Once again I have to say, I came to this country in 1999 and since then I can safely say that things have downhill at an extremely sharp angle. To all the people that aren’t paying attention to what the crooks in Washington are doing to us, I hope you will realize when you can’t afford to drive your SUV anymore, when you can’t take your kids to the make belief world called Disney World anymore and when all the luxuries you’ve come so accustomed to are gone, maybe then you will get up and raise your fist and say you’ve had enough.
Until then, I’ll be here.
