Greece’s Unemployment Rate Rises 40 Percent From One Year Ago

I would not want to be in Greece right now, I don’t understand how they are going to get out of this hole. If their unemployme­nt rate continues to climb and they keep doing draconian spending cuts, how are the people supposed to survive? High unemployme­nt means lower revenue for the government­, high unemployme­nt means no demand for products or services, again no revenue for the government­. So how are these austerity measures going to get Greece out of their nightmare?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Swipe Fee Vote Wednesday: Senate Tests Limits Of Wall Street Power

This is another story that should be on the evening news every night. How much time Congress has spent debating over an issue that involves their most important constituen­ts, BIG BANKS. I understand that it is an important issue for several reasons, the anti-compe­titive nature of the Visa/Maste­rcard card use and that small businesses and consumers pay inappropri­ate indirect costs of the banking industry because of these fees. 44 cents per transactio­n is an outrageous amount especially when it is applied against a debit card. The money is already available in the account, there is no excuse for this except for greed on the part of banks. But going back to the newsworthi­ness of this story, why isn’t Congress devoting as much time in committee debating on how to get working class America back to work, and finding ways to correct the horrendous housing market? I want them to actually earn their keep instead of keeping their campaign chests full of donations and contributi­ons.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama On Economic Fears: ‘Not Concerned About A Double-Dip Recession’

What makes me nervous is that intellectu­ally, I can understand why,public­ly, the President is saying that he is not concerned about a double dip recession happening, because to say so would unleash a whole host of negative reactions which in turn would make it worse. However, emotionall­y, I fear that he is concerned and is not saying it because admitting it would make things worse. I just wish that the President had listened to Paul Krugman and Joseph Steiglitz back in 2009 when the size of the stimulus package was being argued, I know that the republican­s were being obstructio­nists as well as the blue dog democrats but if it had been more aggressive than perhaps the economy would have picked up quicker. The conversati­on needs to go back to JOB creation and not only in the context of tax breaks. Why is investing in our infrastruc­ture anathema? It’s not as if we don’t need it, I am not being frivolous with our spending needs. I say investing in our nation trumps giving extremely wealthy people tax cuts any day.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Do a post of your favorite posts from last month.

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postaday2011

I’m going to have to get to this one tomorrow in the morning, I’m too tired right now. I’m thinking of the two most recent posts, about life on other planets and rights versus suicide, I just need to go back and see what else ties into the questions these posts have generated in my mind. I have a headache coming on and I can feel it to be a doozy if I don’t rest my eyes immediately. So til tomorrow.

Today is tomorrow and I’ve picked three recent posts that made me think and they were fairly serious questions about one’s views on the greater scheme of life.

1. How do I decide what risks to take, this is a tough one. I don’t think of myself as being a risk taker, I just do life as it comes, generally. However, thinking about it, everything in life is a risk.

2. Do you think people have the right to commit suicide? Suicide is such a difficult subject. Answering a question like this is really all about judgement. Taking one’s life, is it a judgement call? In the circumstance that you wind up a vegetable for the rest of your life, is it fair to deny you the right to make the judgement call of whether you want to continue your existence or not? If you are in such pain, either physical or emotional, is it fair to judge, that someone should continue to suffer? Aren’t they allowed to pass judgement on themselves, that since their quality of life is in question, aren’t they the best ones to answer that call. However, if one is strung out on drugs or alcohol, are they still capable of judging their situation, or in this circumstance, is it really only a call for help for the real problem at hand, addiction? How does one judge which circumstance merits the person in question, the right to decide for themselves if they should end their life or not?

3. Whose responsibility is it to change the world?Yours, mine, ours? The question is, is it possible for us to change the world? The question also presupposes that the world needs changing. Some may believe that the world is fine the way it is. Those that are at the pinnacle of success, may be content, and would defy anyone attempting to change the rules.

The common theme is that these viewpoints are all about you and how you fit in the world. The questions are also highly subjective, I’m sure there was nary a similar answer to any of these questions. What I’ve learned from writing and answering these questions, is that I have a very strong aversion to any form of judgment. I don’t know where it came from. I know that I believe that it is of great importance to be kind and to think of others.

I am struggling with this post, maybe it’s because I have to comment on my own writings or  maybe I am making this more difficult than it needs to be. All I really need to say is that I am still trying to discover my voice and what I have to say. Like I stated before, looking back on those previous posts, the common thread was judgment and my  feelings on how it can be used by some at the expense of others. I don’t know, feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

Fiction versus Nonfiction

Printing press at villa d’Este

Both, no preference. As long as it is a book, I'm happy.