Current Events – Earth-Shaking Gloom and Doom and Personal Concerns

The last article I read last night before retiring was a well-written discourse on the coming collapse of our economy. It predicts the end of life as we know it for the foreseeable future. There wasn't a single bright aspect to this man's view of the US economy - just gloom and doom. I can't tell you where to find it. It was not on Gather and I didn't keep the information needed to find it again.

Meanwhile, I have been laboriously plodding my way through a book by Fareed Zakaria titled "The Post-American World" that points out how the status of our country is declining. The author indicates that our position as most powerful nation will be taken over by China, with India and Brazil close behind. Since he is from India, he is quite cheerful about it.

Today's news is that Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac are about to go down the tubes. Congress has to decide if the government should save them. If they go bankrupt, the news pundits say the already weakened dollar will plummet. But to save them from bankruptcy, don't we have to borrow more money from China? As I understand it, every time we borrow more money the value of the dollar goes down. That sounds like a vicious circle to me. Meanwhile at 9 AM EST the stock market is rising - well, I just looked again and it is up only 14 points and going down again. It looks like this might be a bad day on Wall Street, but what do I know. All this gloom and doom in the news has me paranoid.

Another thing that gets me is that so many of our congressmen seem to be in doubt that we are in a recession. Why can't they see it? Every week brings more news of lay-offs, cutbacks, and rising prices. They should go home and ask their constituents. People must be pretty well off not to have felt it by now. I know I do, and I have to cut back a lot to make ends meet.

Not only that, my least socialized cat, Mack, disappeared last week. Disappeared translates to 'eaten by a coyote'. So last night when I couldn't fine my sleek, black and white tuxedo cat, Indian Charlie, I was sure he got caught too. I called and called, but no sign of him. I wasn't positive he was outside, but after searching in all the cat hidey-holes inside, I decided he must be out. This morning at daylight when I let my dogs Smokey Joe and Sherpa outside, it was Tiger Tommy who streaked in. He was the one that had been shut out all night. But no Charlie - until suddenly there he was behind me. I still don't know for sure if he was in or out. He is very good at slipping away under Smokey Joe's bulky self as he goes in or out.

And Zelda the Friendly Coyote wasn't waiting for me when I brought her supper yesterday at sundown. Was she not hungry because she ate a cat? Am I crazy to feed her? Don't answer that - I know I am. No one should believe that any coyote, even a pretty little girl coyote, would resist the chance to catch a cat for lunch. But if I feed her maybe she won't be hungry and be so motivated to go cat hunting. You know, I think God really goofed when he designed this system of one species living off the bodies of another. I don't like it! There must be a better way. But then He didn't give me a vote.

There are just too many 'do or die' issues out there these days. They make me feel tired and hopeless. Today I think I'll go back to reading a book. I broke down and spent $4.58 per gallon gas to make the 25-mile trip to the library and back. At least I can get large-print books there. Because of worsening eyesight, I can only read a few pages at time of regular print. I checked out a western, "Blood Bond - Brotherhood of the Gun" by an author unfamiliar to me, William W. Johnston. I'm only half way through and already the two heroes, plus an old mountain man, have rescued 25 blonde little rancher's daughters who were captured by bad guys to sell into the bonds of sexual slavery. Plus the same heroes wiped out a band of savage Apaches under the leadership of a chief worse than Geronimo. Just the three of them did in a couple of weeks what the army had been trying to do for months. Amazing!

Westerns are very popular among the older men in Jacumba, and they put their initials inside the cover of the ones they finish, so that they won't check out the same book twice. I guess they don't realize there are multiple copies of every book circulating all the time throughout the very large San Diego County library system.

The other two library books I checked out to make the world go away are, "Plum Luck" by Janet Evanovich, and "Shepherd's Abiding" by Jan Karon. I may have read the last one. That is one of the nice things about getting old and senile, I don't always remember the plots of stories, and I can read them again with equal pleasure.

Later today, I plan to do some more researching and writing about 'democracy' in its varying forms. It is amazing how much democracy varies from country to country and generation to generation. To keep on top of things, and abreast of the times, I think we should know as much as possible about how our government runs, and consider what improvements could be made. I can't solve any problems, but I can raise questions that might induce someone else to think up solutions. Who knows how far a ripple started by one of us may travel?