Fucking Social Security

As I was filing my taxes this weekend, I took a look at my yearly Social Security statement. Throughout my career, I've paid about $61,000 in social security tax, with my employers contributing the same amount for a total of about $122,000. At my current earning rate, I will be able to retire when I'm 70 years old and receive $3,100 per month from social security. Mind you, this doesn't keep up with inflation, so in 33 years, when I retire, that three thousand per month will barely be able to pay for my medication, much less rent or property taxes.

When you consider how little we ultimately get back from it, how completely broken the system is, and how likely it is that the entire thing will be bankrupt by the time I retire anyway, I have to ask: Why the fuck am I contributing to it? Why can't I opt out? In fact, why the fuck am I paying taxes, any taxes, to begin with? The way I see it, the federal government of the United States has taken from me at least $61,000, promising that it's for my future, but knowing full-well that I'll likely never see that money again, possibly even hoping that I die before I reach retirement.

So what do you do? Stop paying taxes, instead investing that money in retirement plans that might actually yield fruit in the future, possibly even allowing you to retire sooner? God no, if you don't pay taxes, the federal government will arrest you, throw you in jail, and then use taxes collected from other poor slobs to keep you incarcerated while you 'pay your debt to society.' Does anyone see the infinite fucking irony in this?

When you think about it, the G8 countries promised $20 billion to starving countries and then delivered not a penny, even though we were all waiting to see immediate and decisive results. What makes you think our government is going to keep its promises thirty years from now when we're too senile to remember them having been made in the first place?

Being 'Not' American

What does it mean to be an American? The first thing that it means is that you're so arrogant as to think that the United States is the only country in the world that comprises "America," and so when you say "I'm an American" you don't mean those damned "Mexicans," Mexicans here being a term used interchangeably to describe anyone with brown skin that speaks Spanish. To you, the term 'American' is one that you monopolize for yourself, one whose significance you either forget or ignore. To you, the term 'American' doesn't apply to immigrants, whether illegal or not, forgetting that only a few generations ago, your ancestors were themselves immigrants.

Those ancestors struggled, were paid nothing, and were despised just as much as you loathe those lazy Mexicans. Nevermind the fact that you epitomize the term 'lazy' and you wouldn't have the first clue what hard work truly is. Nevermind the fact that you haven't struggled a day in your life, unless you consider 'struggle' to be that time your power went out and you weren't able to watch UFC or Smackdown. You complain that they're taking your jobs and wasting your taxpayer money, but it's highly likely that you fall into an income bracket where taxation isn't one of your major concerns and the types of jobs that they're 'stealing' are ones you'd never consider lowering yourself to take. Nevermind the fact that you don't actually know a single 'Mexican.'

What else does it mean to be an American? It means you value your personal space above all else, that you live in a world of your very own, and that you care very little about the privacy or well-being of your neighbors. It means you think the other nations of the world should stay out of your business and that you should be able to play global warming tug-of-war with China to your heart's content. It means that you can complain about the environment, but continue to drive an SUV because you're paying "Carbon Credits" and that makes it okay. It means that you believe there is no problem a bunch of money can't fix. It means that you can police the world, but the world is out of line when it tries to resist you, so fuck those fascists!

What else does it mean to be an American? It means that you have more debt than you have assets, that you have no savings, that you'll never be able to pay off your credit cards, and you'll never be able to retire. It means that you are individually representative of the state of your nation, that your life is worse than your parents', your children will not have a better life than you, and their children will have a worse life than that. It means that you've sat on your ass and watched it happen, that your apathy has gotten the better of you, and that you wouldn't know how to fix things at this point even if you wanted to.

What else does it mean to be an American? It means that you are not particularly concerned about what I've just said because you're a greedy, ignorant, self-absorbed, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, jingoistic, and megalomaniacal piece of shit. It means that the rest of the world laughs at you and your sense of entitlement, and it means that you need a serious attitude adjustment. It also means that in a few years, when the United States is part of the third world, your country is not going to elicit very much sympathy from its creditors. Maybe you should start playing nice with those creditors now?

One day, I will not be an 'American' and I won't regret that decision for a second. The false patriot's typical retort when one criticizes their government or country is to say "love it or leave it." In my case, I'll be overjoyed to oblige them. Others have said that it's not a good idea to give up dual citizenship, that it's convenient to have a US Passport. Well, I'd rather be inconvenienced than call myself an 'American.' Maybe if what it means to be an American should ever change, then so will my opinion, but I don't see that happening soon.

The Seven Deadly Sins

The United States is a very Christian country, and so I'm sure that we good Americans know about the Seven Cardinal Sins that destroy grace in the eyes of God and condemn us to eternal damnation. Considering our knowledge of these sins, we obviously go out of our way to avoid them, don't we?

Lust: Easily our favorite sin, which is why hollywood continues to crank out talentless whores like this one. You'd rather see something that's easy on the eyes than be forced to think.

Gluttony: At least 23% of the world's obese population live right here! And since that number's growing daily, you'll eventually be one of them (if you're not already). Stop eating!

Greed: It's not just AIG that's greedy. There's a good chance you are, too! When's the last time you donated to a charity or purchased a sensibly sized television or automobile? Not ever!

Sloth: God gave you feet, lady, use them! Last month, Honda unveiled an electric unicycle that allows people to travel around their houses at 3mph without standing up. America will be its best customer.

Wrath: 3,000 of our people die, so we attack the wrong country. Our occupations are responsible for over 1 million deaths, and our 'peace loving' President is causing that number to rise daily.

Envy: If he can be president, so can I! So what if I have no experience? I want what he has: vast power with no idea how to wield it responsibly.

Pride: No words can express the joy I feel when I see bumper stickers proclaiming the pride one feels for simply having been born in a country to which they barely contribute. It brings a tear to the eye.

A Change You Can Still Hope For

Many Republicans decry the idea of social programs like single-payer healthcare as yet another form of welfare, claiming that they don’t want to ‘foot the bill for somebody sucking off of the government teet.’ They profess that they’re for small government and argue that government spending is out of control, while at the same time not being terribly troubled by the fact that more than half of this country’s discretionary budget is siphoned directly into the war machine.

Many Democrats decry the jingoistic dogma exhibited by many Republicans, acting as if they were appalled by the incredible ease with which our country embarks on its imperialistic endeavors. They scream that we should stop invading nations and killing innocent people, while at the same time not being terribly troubled that the United States is the single largest supporter of the Israeli government’s lopsided aggression toward Palestinians.

All of them have completely bought into the economic and xenophobic propaganda that our government wields so cleverly, keeping us in constant fear of one another and convincing us that we have no choice but to place all of our future hopes in the wisdom of our federal government and its ability to successfully navigate the storm that it seeded on our behalf.

Americans, from top to bottom, have lost their identity. The elite forget that their fortunes were made through the toil of the working class, while the working class forget that the best way for one person to be successful is for everyone to contribute toward each other’s success.

Instead, we have become an ocean of isolated individualists who care little about the ongoing health and well-being of our culture. We cling to our possessions and stations, as if they are the only things of value that we can claim. We no longer protest when our leaders, landlords, and employers exploit us to increasing degrees. Instead, we prefer to avoid rocking the boat such that we might retain our titles as wage slaves.

We’d rather lock ourselves into our homes, watching mindless television with its fraudulent news and debilitating content that masquerades as entertainment. We spend countless hours on ‘social networks’ peering into the fiction that people create for themselves, while never actually ‘socializing.’ We barrage ourselves with pornography and violence that desensitize us to the world and devolve us as a species.

In the recent election, we heard a great many promises and a lot of assertions that change was somehow inevitable. To the degree that a Democratic President is outspending his Republican predecessor on things such as military aggression and corporate welfare, then yes, change has indeed occurred.

The change is that the two corporate dog and pony shows known as the Republican and Democratic parties have finally arrived at their point of convergence. They no longer retain any of the attributes that might have, at one point, made people believe they were two separate parties. Instead, they are a single corporate duopoly who are no longer accountable to their constituents, much less the American people as a whole.

If our new President truly wanted to help the American people, he could do so in a heartbeat… Among other things, he could pass a single payer health care bill, and he could do so for a fraction of the money that was spent in our multiple failed attempts at bailing out the banking and auto industries. So the question to ask is ‘why hasn’t he?’

Is it because he doesn’t know what he’s doing? Unlikely. Any person with the savvy to campaign for two years and win the White House on a platform as amorphous as Barack Obama’s is certainly capable of avoiding mistakes in policy and doing what’s best for the American people with little to no resistance from either side of the Congressional aisle.

No, if our President really wanted to change our country for the better, there would be very little standing in his way. The fact is that he has no intention of ‘change’ and never did. The powers that be, both government and corporate, don’t want change because change means that their reign over the political and economic interests of the American people may become weakened, and such a disruption threatens the foundations of their power.

Change is a risk they’re not willing to take on your behalf, and through targeted psychological warfare, they’ve made damn sure that you will fear and reject true change. True change is to dissolve the political bonds which have connected you to a system that no longer acts in your collective interest. It is saying ‘to hell’ with seemingly innocuous but increasing restrictions on your ability to protest and speak out against your government. It is revolution, and it is time.

The Jamaican Economy: No Problem, Man?

I visited Jamaica for the first time in 1984. I was 12 years old at the time, and though most children that age are generally oblivious to their surroundings and the conditions in which strangers are forced to live, Jamaica had a major impact on me, and the things I saw became permanently etched in my memory.

I will forever remember people living in abject poverty, forced to dwell in corrugated tin and block shacks with little to none of the conveniences that Americans enjoy. They are expected to leave for work in pristinely clean uniforms in order to serve fat and rude white tourists for pennies an hour... Tourists who find it exciting to get their hair braided, never really thinking about the life of the woman performing the service. It is an incredibly beautiful island, and yet it is ironic that those who live year round in this beauty are subjected to a hellish life.

After the island became independent from England in 1962, it suddenly found that with this independence, and without the colonial aid it had enjoyed in the past, it was harder to tend to the needs of its people. Like so many countries, it turned to the International Monetary Fund and other world banks for assistance, and like so many of those who have had to crawl to bankers for assistance, they were forced to compromise themselves completely in doing so.

The bankers, driven by greed as always, insisted that Jamaica completely eliminate all barriers to foreign trade and become part of the free market world economy. Having no other choice, they did so, and the loans that they received, while being a temporary band-aid to their problems became the death knell of their economy.

Soon, American imports, freed from regulations and tariffs, began to flow into the country unabated. These American imports, often subsidized by the US government, were made available to the Jamaican people at substantially lower monetary cost to the consumer. Unfortunately, they also came at a great personal cost to Jamaican farmers, who could not compete with cheap imports and found their businesses and livelihoods threatened. It was also clear that the bankers, Washington politicians, and the corporations shoving cheap products down Jamaican's throats were in collusion on this practice.

For some time, one of Jamaica's major exports, Bananas, remained a strong industry, owing in part to the fact that the UK and other EU countries brokered with Jamaica a trade agreement that favored Jamaican imports with no tariffs and with near exclusivity. This deal, based partly on reparations and good will toward a former British colony lasted until the Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita corporations, feeling that 95% of the world market in Bananas was not enough, urged Washington and the World Trade Organization to put adequate pressure on the EU to abolish this practice. Former President Bill Clinton was instrumental in making this happen.

I've read that the Jamaican economy has gotten slightly better in recent years, but nothing that America or the rest of the world does can undo the damage that 'free trade' and the 'global economy' have done to the people and island of Jamaica. As one of the richest countries in the world and with the most leverage in dictating trading conditions and prices, it's easy for us as Americans to believe that a free market world economy is a good thing, but the fact is that though it's good for us, we've literally strangled and crushed smaller countries to the brink of extinction as the result of our unchecked greed.

Think about that the next time you buy a bunch of Bananas.