Suicide and Soup Kitchens
Reflections of our past, 1936. FDR's Bail-Outs did not help them.
Little has been said about the growing suicide rate across the country. I was first enlightened by an Iraqi War vet who told me about many his friend’s who took their own lives upon their return from Iraqi. That was a stunning revelation. The reasons were many including the loss of jobs, homes and families. With the economy beginning to tank at this juncture people have already begun to whack themselves as well as their families. This phenomenon has crossed all cultural lines within our society.
Without getting into the politics or religious aspects of suicide I simply want to focus on the blatantly dumb reasons. Economics has offered a host of reasons one might want to kill ones self. The loss of jobs, homes and ultimately families seem to be the trend these days as we dip deeper into the abyss of financial turmoil. The fact millions of Americans have lost everything already with no bail-out in sight is a potentially grave indicator indeed. But surely this is no reason to kill yourself. You’re only losing “stuff” and stuff comes and goes.
Born with a plastic spoon in my mouth has become a benefit in this trying time. Raised in abject poverty in an era where it was expectable to beat your spouse and racial divisions was considered a birth right, I’ve seen plenty. Being poor is not as bad as one thinks and it is not impossible for a person to pick up the pieces and rebuild. If everyone decided to whack themselves whence they took a financial hit we would not be here.
No matter what our politicians tell us today, it was already known we were going to take a major hit and the downward spiral would not hit bottom for couple of years. And I believe these irresponsible politicians who’ve offered false short term hope are the culprits of the suicide epidemic. Bail-outs failed during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. It was the advent of WW II that brought the economy back in the black. So it is ludicrous for our leadership to use this fiasco as an example as to why bail-outs are needed and giving false hopes. It is better to brace the nation for the inevitable and make preparations to feed and house a suffering nation. This would better prepare people emotionally for the future. Knowing others are in the same boat would not be such a stark and lonely reality and possibly stem the rising murder suicide rate that is sweeping our nation.
A hard look at the present and our secret reality
One thing I do agree with our new stewards is volunteerism since this offers some dignity since people would be participating as well. So we have to get in line to get a box of beans and bread once in a while. Just be glad you’re in line then take a long hard look around you and you’ll see fellow American’s. If the organization needs help in distributing food, jump in and help out. I’m already volunteering in food distribution since this economical debacle has been in existence for much longer than the media recognized. The only real thing that is happening now is that no industry wants to be first to take a fall. and the mainstream media can no longer cover it up.
Knowing what it was like to go to bed hungry as a child I have no qualms about picking up free food, even if I don’t care for it. I learned a long time ago that I can eat anything when I am truly hungry. This is survival at the ground floor and the sooner you get into the swing of things the sooner we will recover as a people. We’ve lived in an era of waste and greed. The only way to wean us of this gluttonous way of life is to simply change our ways. There is a generation of people who never knew suffering and they will take this the hardest so we have to be the example, like my mom is mine. She survived the depression and learned how to survive. The recession of the 50’s was my lesson in survival. My people and my mom lived in poverty when I was a little poop butt kid. Sadly many of my people still live in depression mode but that’s another story.
Loosing “stuff” ain’t nothing but a meatball Paisan. The hard realities of life are; if you can’t eat it you don’t need it. The fact we are headed for some major food shortages should prompt the need to save what money you have. Learning how to can, make soap and stretch a meal will undoubtedly be a priceless asset since we will have to weather at least one or two winters in national poverty. If you’re not in a drought zone you can grow veggies and use them as bartering material since money will not be able to buy sustenance if fresh food become rare. People would rather have food instead of cash. When food is scarce money will become you can’t eat paper. My mom told me about salt riots and other food related disturbance. The Great Depression was a cultural equalizer, except for the rich who’ve profiteered from the stock market drop. After all, the money went somewhere and most likely the loot is going into the pockets of the same families this time around.
A rule of thumb is all luxury items such as Ipods, electric gizmos, goodies in Sharper Image Magazine and a host of other trinkets will go by the wayside as people begin to starve. Industries based on luxury items and excesses will soon disappear as survival becomes a priority. My ma told me after you’ve been hungry long enough you no longer feel the pain of starvation. My mom nearly died of starvation and she, like so many other people, would sift through fields and trash heaps to find anything to eat. Picking weevils out of flour was a common practice provided you could find any. Cartoons in the old days used to depict people boiling shoe leather in a kettle. My mom said this was very true for many people. When I was a kid we were dirt poor and I remember back in the 50’s during a major recession, I discovering a cube of Oleo margarine and ran to a hideout so I could eat it. Chicken used to last us three meals and we savored every bite if we could afford one. The bones became a soup the next day and the third day was biscuits and gravy day. Beans were a constant source of protein for us. Pasta, rice, fry bread and other food stuffs were delicacies. Fresh veggies and fruit were novelties and highly revered. The depression was much worse that the 50’s though.
People don’t remember that the Depression fostered the advent of vitamin fortified foods products such as the case of Wonderbread to stem the tide of malnutrition. Fortunately iodine was included in table salt to assist digestion and stem the tide of thyroid condition called goiter prior to the Great Depression. Laws were passed to keep industrial greed at bay though these protections were eliminated by Inron and their petitioning Congress to eliminate these safeguards. You do remember the Inron Loophole and all the ka ka it evolved. Wonder why these loopholes, hedge fund and speculator disasters were forgotten by Congress this year? Please tell me you remember how Congress was going to address these criminally disastrous activities and the plan to fix them last year?
We suffered a major recession in the 50’s and it was a bad one since there was much suffering. Only difference with Roosevelt’s Depression and the recession of the 50’s was the fact President Eisenhower did not Bail-Out anyone. Eventually we came out of this period of economical disaster a much stronger country unlike Roosevelt’s Bail-Outs which plunged us deeper into the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s only salvation was WW II. So I venture to say war will be our next salvation. I can hear the sables rattling now and the bugler will rally our troops as Gary Owen echo’s around the world.
In any event these periods of economical disaster were survivable and not worth killing yourself over. The lessons learned made us stronger rather than weaker. The survivors learned the valuable lesson about borrowing money and how foolish it was to live beyond our means. We became a frugal nation as a whole. Loan sharking used to be a bunko street crime and people went to prison for doing so since it took advantage of people. Credit was only a last resort and it was likened to dealing with the Devil since the borrower paid exorbitant fees for using someone else’s money. If you could not afford it you did not buy it and you learned how to save. Now it’s the cornerstone of our economy. How stupid is that?
Today borrowing and spending beyond ones means is promoted and people pay interest that far out paces the most sinister street thug. And we wonder why we are in this mess, we did it to ourselves. Like a junkie to a drug dealer we borrowed beyond our means and the people who were supposed to be our protectors, the government, allowed it to happen. The reality is people in government became partners in crime by investing in the very cancer that caused this disaster. These thugs should be jumping out of windows for guiding this nation down the path of destruction. They are traitors to America and the respective nations they represent. Take the time to explore who is invested in these corrupt corporations such as the mortgage industry, insurance, housing and healthcare. The list will include the rolls of the House of Representatives, The US Senate and Congress.
It is stunning to note that the top of our political garbage heap are profiteering directly from Bail-Out money vicariously through stocks and bonds. Small wonder both parties are arguing about who’s Bail-Out is better. No matter which one we eventually agree on, trillions of dollars will go to less than 1% of our population while the rest of the country will be given pocket change. Obama wants to give the poor some crumbs and a little relief anyway. The greedy balk at the notion of giving anything at all to the poor and labeled this miniscule amount as “Pork” and only seek ways to capitalize on our suffering. We should not be contemplating suicide; we should be absolutely pissed off at the very least. No matter which way we go, the lion’s share of our money will grace the pockets of an absolute minority and we will be fed chicken feed.
Obama mentioned that we should buy American and that’s the first positive word I heard from his mouth. We need to support our country in the worst way. We can’t push the corporate agenda of Globalization anymore. It was a greedy and self serving directive from the very beginning and it was an act of treason for politicians to promote this Ponzi Scheme in the first place. Madoff made off with 50 billion dollars while he was this exalted steward of NSADAQ and you better believe he was only the tip of the iceberg. To bad so sad eh. No one is connecting the dots or paying attention anyway. And your reward for your blindness is suicide? How far beyond stupid are we?
Oh well, guess I’ll unpack my box of food stuffs and keep a keen eye on the news paper. I’ll look for more food give-aways and brace for the hard times ahead fore this is only the beginning. Gads, I was raised on commodities so I know the drill. I just wish we got commodity cheese again since I think I will be eating more macaroni and cheese in the future. I just hate powered cheese. And I’ll have to adjust my pallet as I eat more canned green beans, again. I’ll miss my fine cigars and imported wine though. So much for my taste for Armani attire since there is no way I can afford them now since my portfolio looks more like a ski sloop. Course being in the entertainment industry we’ve always lived in a depression era like existence. It has always been a feast or famine situation no matter which genre we are in. I did no whack myself then and I’m not going to whack myself now. But I am going to put myself in survival mode and I suggest you do the same.
Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
