Saturday, February 14, 2009

I'll be darned...


I only fell asleep for a very brief time on the sofa after the news tonight. I did manage to watch all of the news and I know the country has been in a recession since April now. That was the happy news they told us tonight.

Every time I watch the news, things become more dire, for the middle classes especially, but I don't belong to them, so I am managing some optimism still. I can't get lower down the economic ladder than I am, so I am frankly not all that worried, but I do feel sorry for the other people who stand to loose so much and watch their hard earned money fly out the window.

The government is doing its best, they really are, but who can fight this crisis? We'll be left with a huge deficit for future generations to pay off, there is no other solution it seems, although people are breaking their heads to try and come up with one. Not every solution is welcome to every group of the population, that's what makes it so hard. And it is always the people with the most money who are the least willing to give up a bit of it.

They are thinking of raising the retirement age to 67 years and getting rid of the mortgage interest tax deduction and especially the latter is causing a lot of resistance among the people who own their own homes. I am not going to express my own point of view here, but I know what I think about both these issues.

Well, anyway, maybe we need Barack Obama over here to set us straight, although secretly I think the whole world is keeping an eye on what he is doing and may be following his lead if the situation is applicable to their country. Although, now that I think of it, he may be finding his inspiration in Europe and following our lead. Actually, I think his inspiration is Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was an old Dutchman himself and the perfect example of a Western European Socialist. Don't ever confuse that with Stalinism. That's a totally different brand.

So, I'm sitting here with my decaf and my loyal dog close by who has been to the vet and has gotten 2 kinds of ointment to be applied to both eyes twice a day. His right eye was badly infected again, although it is always hard to catch, because his eyes are always on the red and droopy side. The vet had to put little strips of paper under his eyelid and practically sat on top of him to keep him in place. The strips of paper where to see what kind of bacteria it wasn't and how much eye fluid there was.

The dog was really well behaved though, he knows the vet is not really going to do anything harmful to him. He doesn't try to get away from him and he doesn't growl. Poor guy. I mean the dog. He does need an awful lot of petting though. He keeps coming up to me to have his ears scratched and his head rubbed. I guess he thinks he deserves that after that visit and having me put 2 kinds of ointment in his eyes.

Well, now it is officially tomorrow, I've done it again. I've stayed up past my bedtime. Hee, hee. It gives me so much joy. I really feel like I'm getting away with something. At least I'm not looking deep into a glass of alcohol and drinking myself silly and making inane remarks. There are people who do that, you know. I'm going to have to fess up to my SPN, though, that I'm spending an inordinate amount of time behind the computer again and that I'm keeping late hours too. It's better if I'm up front about that.

I'll be sensible now and go to bed. I really do have to be responsible up to a point. I can't throw all caution to the wind.

Have a terrific night and a good morning. Your award is in the post before this one.

Ciao...

6 comments:

Stacie said...

FDR is my absolute favorite president. He spent a lot of time here in Georgia in a little town called warm springs. You can visit the "little white house" and it is just as it was while he lived there. The warm springs in that area were supposed to have healing qualities and he went for his polio. It was very strange moving thru the little house. When I got to the bathroom and looked in the mirror I thought, " FDR looked at himself in this very same mirror." Very daunting.

Wisewebwoman said...

And we ain't seen nothing yet of the dire financial straights the masters of the universe got us into, Irene. Funny that, I don't think any women were involved in our sorry mess.
It will take women to get us out of it though.
Good post!
XO
WWW

Maggie May said...

We have got ourselves into a hole in England too, thanks to Mr Brown. The country is in debt that will not be paid off in my lifetime anyway.
I try not to dwell on it.

Hope you have a good day, Irene. This is the first day of our school half term. Good feeling. X

Bev said...

Four bankers who have left the taxpayer with multi billion pound debts sat before a select committee the other day and got duly slated.

A lot of businesses around here are closing.

But, look on the bright side, spring is on the way!

Maureen said...

Financial troubles are everywhere. Hubby was laid off a few weeks back with absolutely no notice.

So it is around the world these days. But we'll be okay; things can always be worse.

Irene said...

Maureen, I am sorry about your husband having been laid off. Times are tough. My daughter was laid off and so was her father. My ex is getting laid of per March the 1st.