9 out of 10 monkeys believe they are not behind glass

Earth day 2008 hits us again today. And it reminds us just how complex an idea can be for a large group of individuals. We are told so many conflicting things about the environment and what we need to do to help, that most of us are embracing the wrong ideas. The Green Movement is a virus.

We are reminded that as a country of 300 million that going green is a good idea. On the surface at least.

Yet each and every one one of us generates about 3 and half pounds of garbage a day. Going green is not really helping anything. We are still a consumer culture. Shouldn’t we be trying to fix that instead?

Yesterday I heard a sound byte on the radio from an analyst about the current economic conditions. (The analyst was a POLITICAL analyst, not a ECONOMIC analyst, so he knows just as much as I do.) He said that the rising cost of gasoline and food stuffs are putting the hurt on American families.

Perhaps if we didn’t expect so much, as Americans, and if we didn’t believe we were entitled to so much, perhaps this “crisis” wouldn’t be a crisis at all. Rampant consumerism is literally killing our culture. Maybe it isn’t, I am not an “analyst”… but…

I think the housing bubble was a two way street. Sure the banks shouldn’t have made stupid loans, but then again, people should have been responsible about their purchases. Buying a million dollar home when you make 80 grand a year is probably a bad idea.

It is ironic because what made our country great in the last 70 years is starting to erode at our ability to perform as a culture and as a country. Don’t get me wrong, Capitalism is great. But what our country needs is responsible capitalism, and responsible government that is more focused on the home front, than on any country with a dictator with a Napoleon complex.

Our tax gross should be focused on keeping our country relevant in the next 100 years. Not focusing on playing daddy for a world that just resents it. Right? Business ethics, education investment, research investment, all those things should be put into a roadmap for our country. We were able to do it once thanks to JFK and NASA. And in a decade we put a man on the moon.

We can do stuff. Cool stuff. Big stuff.

But we need to stop being so focused on the moment. So focused on what we can buy next. That is not a way to live. And it is killing us.

Americans work the longest hours in the world. Seriously. Look it up. And what is it gaining us?

Ulcers and debt.

Just a thought.