I don't listen to NPR very often. My sister is addicted to it however and she has my car's radio tuned to it. I don't listen to my car radio very often because I am addicted to audio books on CD. But, I haven't been to the library for a few weeks so I am audio book-less for the nonce. I got bored sitting in traffic the other day, so I turned on the radio and got some news program I think, where the news guy was interviewing some expert on I guess unemployment about Congress' refusal to extend benefits.
The interviewer asked what would happen to those who lost their benefits. The "expert" answered something like this-
"Oh, one of three things. One, they drop off unemployment roles as "discouraged job seekers. Two, they find a job. Or, three, some other alternative."
SOME OTHER ALTERNATIVE! Oh, you mean like uh...losing their homes, not having enough money to feed their families, or, how about, dying because they can't get adequate health care?
And the interviewer let him get away with this bullshit non-answer. No wonder we are in such trouble. If I were a person on the verge of losing that last modicum of income, and I heard that, I would feel like a complete nobody whose ultimate fate was not even interesting enough to be discussed.
I can't believe where we have gotten to in this country. Oh, well, yes I can believe it. I saw it happening with Reagan, but the seeds of our destruction were always there. We just let them take root and grow. The greed, the self interest, the endless pointless distractions, the destruction of neighborhoods, common interests, community, the atomization of the family, the rise of "magical thinking." It is a wonder we function at all as a government, that is "we the people." It is somewhat of a miracle.
Maybe we can still save ourselves or "some other alternative."