Day: March 22, 2011

We Are Recovering!

Daily Agitator

Are tired of the spin yet?  Well, let us be honest and call it what it is…….LIES!

We hear daily that the economy is recovering….that the markets are up….that there are jobs being created (but at a slow rate) ……..corporate dividends are rising…….CEOs are making out like bandits……..yada…yada……but are we truly recovering?  According to many media outlets the recession has ended……but so far as I can see and I am not looking through rose colored glasses, it still sucks and many others are worse off than I…….

Let me see……8.9% unemployment with the real figure more like 19%……housing starts down to a 5 year low……home sales down…..foreclosures still rising……food prices up 6%…….gas prices rose by 4%….so what part of those figures look like a recovery is occurring?

OK, I will admit that if you can afford it and by it I mean investments, then you are in the middle of a recovery….but unfortunately, most Americans are NOT that heavily involved in the investing in stocks and bonds…..

But the American do not seem to see the recovery that the airwaves are reporting….

A new CNBC survey finds the percentage of Americans who believe the economy will get worse in the next year spiking to 37%, a 15 point gain from December. It’s now just five points below the all-time high of 43% in June 2008, which came in the midst of a surge in gasoline prices.

If you are an average middle class working family…..then you have NOT seen the recovery that those on Wall Street tell you that you are experiencing…….funny how that works……one part of society is doing fine and even maybe prospering and the other is stuck scratching out a living day to day, pay check to pay check…….

All the cheer leading for the economy is for those with cash to invest…..not you…your investments are such things as home payments, food, gas and the necessities….you have NO room for luxuries….what would you call this phenom?

It’s Not As Bad As You Think

Calm Down!  Just take a deep breath and calm down!

There is been a plethora of “experts” paraded across the tube trying to calm the sensibilities of the American people over the possible contamination from radiation pouring out of reactors in tsunami torn Japan…….CALM DOWN!

Here is a quickie for your history buffs…….about 25 years ago we had the same scenario playing out in the world……we bombed Libya and Chernobyl was heating up (no pun intended)……okay on to the main point of this post……

If you are old (like me) then you will remember all the fear that was foisted onto the American people back in the days of the Cold War…..we told that we could die from radiation and we were told how to protect ourselves from it…..like hiding under your desk…..now there was a brilliant idea……we were told that fallout….even if miles away would still infect us with all sorts of biblical afflictions….boils, loss of hair, blindness,  frogs (no that one was not in there)….anyway you get the picture….we were told that it was bad…..really BAD!

But now it is not so bad that we need to worry about any sickness……but how bad is bad?

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica:-

“The average total dose received from all three [natural] sources by a person residing at sea level is approximately 0.91 mSv per year; however, a dose twice this size [which makes 1.82 mSv per year] may be received by a person residing at a higher elevation such as Denver, Colo., where cosmic rays are more intense, or by a person residing in a geographic region where the radium content of the soil is relatively high.   In the latter type of region, the radioactive gas radon, which is formed in the decay of radium, may enter a dwelling through its floor or basement walls and accumulate in the indoor air unless the dwelling is well ventilated periodically; occupants of such a dwelling may therefore receive a dose as high as 100 mSv per year in their lungs from inhalation of the entrapped radon and its disintegration products “

Anyway, you now have an official explanation to radiation and its effects (a scientist will be more help than me….I am a political historian and what the Hell do I know about the science side of this?)

We are already finding signs of radiation in the Northwest……but not to worry…it is NOT enough to cause in serious danger…..but what if the plant in Japan goes boom?  Will we, as Americans, need to start worrying then?  Or will we be kept in the dark to add cover to an industry trying to claw its way out from under the happenings in Japan and save its future government subsidies?

So after decades of terrifying young children….we have come to….”We have nothing to fear but fear itself”  (if you recall that was a statement about Japan….go figure)