Miscellaneous

10/5/2012

I know it has been a while since I communicated on this Blog, but there have been so many interruptions.  I have started several but decided they were not worth the readers' time.  This morning I offer a few thoughts just to get rebooted.

Tuesday, Mary and I were invited to the Capital City Club in Atlanta to meet George Will and to hear his presentation.  We have read George's column for years and appreciate his knowledge and candor.  While talking to him, I expressed my concerns about the economy and the wars and he retorted, "then you better have a stiff drink before you hear my remarks."  And he was right as he talked for an hour (not counting the Q&A) with a special emphasis on the economy, the elections (never really making a case for either candidate), and the question over our remaining purpose in Afghanistan.  His command of the data (no notes) and insights as he compared America's past with the present and future were more than insightful.  As the driver from the hotel took us back to the Double Tree, I noted that he was a middle easterner.  Later, I observed that both clerks at the hotel had accents that were anything but American.  The housekeepers we observed the next morning were all foreign, and our server for breakfast was from India or Pakistan.  I am beginning to wonder if there really is a job shortage.  Is it pride that keeps Americans from taking jobs that they feel are beneath them?  It is beyond me if so.  I would do anything ethical to earn a living than accept a government handout.  There have been times over the past few years when both of my children (college graduates) were out of work, but neither would have accepted a government check for sitting home.

Upon arriving home on Wednesday morning, I noticed that of the three landscaping companies working our neighborhood, every worker was from a Latin American country.  As we await the results of the new unemployment report, it is abundantly clear to me that our government policy makers have created an environment where the unemployed feel no pressure to offer proof of actively seeking employment.  Moreover, there is no shame associated with sitting home all day collecting government handouts.

Of course, I have much sympathy for the sick, infirmed, and mentally incapable of holding a job.  These are the folks our government is obligated to support.  But to sit home and play video games (an HVAC repairman told me recently that this is what he often observes grown men doing when he arrives to repair the A/C) while American taxpayers subsidize his existence is abominable.