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Paradise Lost

Though we didn’t appreciate it at the time, 15 years ago we were living in a kind of paradise. Most of us had good secure jobs that we could depend on. Very few people lost their jobs through layoffs or downsizing.

In addition, we all had Blue Cross/Blue Shield cards which allowed us to go to any doctor we wanted whenever we wanted as many times as we wanted for only ten bucks per visit.

Homelessness didn’t exist. Oh, there were a few alcoholic “bums” around but they were all but invisible and no one worried about them.

A college education was easily affordable to all. Many of us had politically powerful unions to protect our jobs. Virtually everyone had unemployment insurance that would provide a check if we lost our job.

The only people who went bankrupt were the fools that couldn't handle money. And terrorism was something that only happened in far off lands. 

That Was Then - This is NOW!

Today all that has changed. Now everyone is worried about losing their jobs. Downsizing and outsourcing are epidemic. Tens of millions of good high-paying jobs have left the U.S. for Mexico and China.

In the past you'd have to search hard to find foreign made goods in a local store. Today that situation has reversed itself. Now you'll have to look very hard to find American made products! (I refer to Wal-Mart as the "Chinese Emporium" as almost everything they sell is of Chinese manufacture."

Homelessness is a major and growing problem. One quarter of them are veterans. Despite a supposedly “good” economy. In 2006 over 1.5 million Americans went broke and filed for bankruptcy - half forced into it by simple sickness.

Though no one spoke of it back then - we were living in paradise. Today it’s been transformed into paradise lost. We now live in a virtual pressure cooker of worry and anxiety. We’re worried about losing our jobs, losing our health insurance, becoming homeless, getting sick, being forced into bankruptcy and ever-present new risk of terrorism. And let's not forget about bird flu!

The movie “Grand Canyon” (which has very little to do with the actual canyon), includes a very interesting line. At one point the rich white wife jogs through an affluent neighborhood and is confronted with a homeless man sleeping in a box in an alley. She returns home and tells her husband that perhaps the real problem is that things are getting worse and worse but because it’s all happening so slowly we don’t recognize the decline.

I believe that's the central problem. Our nation is going through a period of accelerated national decline. Our dollar is becoming increasingly worthless. The sun is setting on the American Empire and we are all adapting so slowly that we hardly notice it.

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