Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Me, Me, Me
The latest issue of Time has a cover of President Bush with the tagline of "What Bush Got Right." And as soon as I saw the cover, I got to thinking, rather selfishly since I'm an American, what he got right for ME -- and came up with the initial answer of damn little. Is he personally responsible for the problems. Not really, but it has happened on his watch. Could things have turned out differently had he done his eight years differently? Probably, but then again things may have gotten even worse.
In the last six years, gas has gone from under $1.30 to over $4.00 . My friends have run into an immigration nightmare - they being handicapped by doing the immigration process legally. And not just immigration, but simply a visit to the USofA from a foreign country has become a royal pain in the ass. My house is worth less than I bought it for and I can't sell it even at a loss. My pay hasn't increased in 8 years. The retirement package offered now sucks. It's lost substantial value in the last year or so.
The infrastructure of the USofA is literally crumbling away. Brown outs, water breaks and bridge collapses are an everweekly occurrence. We've got roads here in Michigan that will rattle your teeth when you drive them. Not to mention wheel eating potholes. Mass transit in most places in the USofA is something you can only pray for. We used to be able to take a nice train ride from my home to Toronto. Now that same train ride, between immigration and customs is so unwieldy, that a two hour car ride to a Canadian station is preferable.
Unfortunately, I don't really expect anything better from whoever wins in November. Candidates are so afraid of upsetting anyone, that they no longer satisfy anyone. By the time November gets here, both candidate's platforms will be fundamentally identical.
Labels: government, gripes
