Remember "tranche"? I do. Now we've got this one: "austerity"
Before I continue, here's a quick etymology:
austere --->early 14c., from L. austerus "dry, harsh, sour, tart," from Gk. austeros "bitter, harsh," especially "making the tongue dry" (originally used of fruits, wines), related to auos "dry," auein "to dry" (see aurora). Use in English is figurative: "stern, severe, very simple."
austerity -->mid-14c., "sternness, harshness," from O.Fr. austerite (14c.), from L.L. austeritatem (nom. austeritas), from austerus (see austere). Of severe self-discipline, from 1580s; hence "severe simplicity" (1875); applied during WWII to national policies limiting non-essentials as a wartime economy.
Remember George Carlin? I sure do. I miss the man every few days. I miss him because he could make me laugh about some of the most basic, ugly things in this world, and make me cry over how Orwell has become embodied in the very fabric of our lexicon.
When we are introduced to one of these words, it's kind of cool at first. There is this sparkle of meaning, embodied in a word that has character and roots. It's a false spark though. The same kind of spark one gets from a bit of shallow culture shown to the naive, or simply unaware or ignorant person, who is otherwise solid, well meaning and educated.
That is what happened with "tranche". It means deliver buckets of money until things are better. Did they get better? No. Are we seeing any kind of return for that money? No. Our everyday cost and risk continues to escalate out of control, despite those buckets of money. Big buckets, and a lot of them too.
That's money we could have used to build things, pay down our debt, empower our people, and show the world we are strong, capable, and that the dollar is backed by our sheer force of will as Americans.
Some of us don't get that, eager to drop the word as if we are in the know, somehow above whatever is embodied in the word. Others get it right away, easily dismissed as "those people", or maybe just a buzz kill of some kind, marginalized because they don't embrace the word, and the meaning behind it.
One word can embody a plan, and when that's done it's powerful. There is no greater messaging than to introduce a single word, owning all that it invokes, focused, potent, real. Austerity. That's from the top people. There is no higher power than those invoking that word, and that's the plan no matter what anybody says. Count on it.
Well, I guess I'm going to be one of those people. The buzz kill, that nay-sayer, who will likely be marginalized as "idealistic", "impractical", or simply, "not with the program".
Who gives a fuck really? I sure as hell don't. I know a reaming when I see it, and particularly when I live it, and if there is one thing I've always lived by, it's to face that shit full on, unabashedly, staying just and true to those things I hold dear. I fucking know we can labor our way out of this, and be much better for it, free, empowered, potent, not owned, in debt, rendered useless.
Now you know how this is going to go, right? Right. Does that sit well with you? It doesn't sit well with me. Not at all. Fuck that.
That word has transitioned from a description of a state --sour, harsh, bitter. That's a state of life that's less than fulfilling to endure. That word described a time that nobody wants, and everybody prays we don't need.
Somewhere in there, just as "Toilet Paper" became "Bathroom Tissue", that word moved from a thing that happens, to a thing we are expected to do, without any real explanation as to why and how that is.
I don't recall masses of people looking to screw the world over, unless you count the wealthy elites and trans-national corporations. Who really does that? I don't. Have never met anybody that does!
Are there really masses of people just looking for the dole? Are we really supposed to be punished for failing to work for low enough wages and shit enough cash? Was it wrong to grow the middle class, structure things so that a solid days work meant being able to feed a family, some expectation to retire and enjoy a few golden years, maybe put a kid to school, start a business?
And how is it that we are being introduced to this sour, foul, bitter life when we bear the risk, seeing the absolute minimum for a reward? Maybe I missed a day in school somewhere? Seriously, somebody explain to me how the fuck that works exactly?
Why are we not talking about putting the people to work?
Since when do we Americans tolerate being marginalized, constrained to rot and diminish, just because some corporation somewhere doesn't want the competition, or thinks it deserves a bigger cut of the action? Since when have we been rendered to sit idle while all we built is sold, rotting, owned by others looking to make profit from the very commons we built for the greater good?
What entitlement grants those wealthy and corporations the right to decide that we must endure this Austerity, not working, suffering, impotent? What did we do as a people exactly?
Was it that failure to keep civics enough of a priority? You fucking know it is! I'll own that. We screwed it up, somehow getting lazy, buying into the idea that "others" will get it done for us, if we only would agree to a few "conditions".
Yeah, that rings true. Is there any wonder we are here, suffering this shit? Not really. Not if we dig deep down and face that inhibition we don't often talk about. Somewhere along the way, having a good time, not rocking the boat, getting it easy became worth more than doing the work required to secure our freedom, our general welfare. Somewhere along the way, kind of like how that word went from being a description of a state to an idea, a plan, a future, we just forgot what civics really means.
I honestly believe that. Of course, it's not all of us. Some of us --many of us right here do the civics, we care, we do advocacy, we vote, and we do those other things we think we need to, because we know what's coming if we don't.
But what about the majority of Americans too distracted working two jobs already, forced to buy at the WAL*MART, living to work, working to live, so tired that entertainment consists of a quick dinner, peck on the kids cheek and a little gaming, or tube before bed the next day?
How can we get them to understand just what this word means, and how offensive it is to the ideas that founded this nation? Do we really not give a fuck?
I have to ask because I am flat out millitant over the idea that we are not talking about labor to dig our way out of this!
We have SO many Americans, and we've got lands, talent, resources, and we can't just start working to pay down this crap?
If we are to endure something, why not that? Is some hard labor really much different than 10 years of a reduced standard of living, while the banksters finish owning what they don't own now? Is knowing your kids will get set back to a point that is likely worse than we started from worse than just getting Americans to work?
What do you do in your own life when things get tough? Do you just roll over, accepting it, suffering whatever comes along, or do you fight for it! I know in my life, I worked my ass off and came through, not owned, not in debt, not dead, fresh and able to face another day --even though that might be a fresh start day, it's better than being in debt, owned and impotent.
How is it we can't talk about simple labor here? Who decides whether or not our spending is unsustainable?
Well, given we keep labor off the table, it is, but we don't have to keep labor off the table, do we? There isn't anybody telling us we can't just start paying our people to build our way out of this!
...or maybe there is! Ever wonder about the real implications of Citizens United? I do. I have to wonder whether or not we actually do have a democracy and a government that serves us in any fashion, given we are being pressured into cutting back all that we built before, again as if it is some evil deed, some vile act that we actually managed to build our middle class to be better than it was before.
Today, I look around in wonder at the profound shift in opportunity. People working two, three jobs, just making ends meet, watching as their peers have no job, knowing why down deep, but unable to do anything about it lest they too suffer the risk of not putting food on the table.
Soon a lot of people will die. There will be the starving people, suicides, and the old guard that knew how to make things, how to build it up too. We don't need anything like that to happen, but we really don't need to sit on our asses, impotent, while those people fade away, taking our spirit, our skill either. Our legacy goes with them to the grave, unable to pass it on, because trade agreements --almost a treaty to not threaten the powers that be in the world, lest the people find out they really can have it better than they do, moved the means to do that out of their grasp, rendering them useless, marginalized, old.
I swear to god people. This isn't ok. If we go down this road without taking one good swing at serious labor to build wealth and pay down our debts, what will we have become? What shall we tell our kids, wondering what happened, and how come nobody did anything? What shall we tell our elderly, who saw it build up, only to die knowing their efforts were for nothing?
The idea that some global organization can deem us unfit to take care of our own is not what sovereign nations do. That's not American by any fashion, and it sure as hell doesn't sit well with me.
Does it sit well with you? Really?
Perhaps we are already owned. Are you ready to accept that? Are you prepared to say the American experiment has actually failed, and that no nation can escape the tyranny of wealth, unable to render it's citizens a modest, productive, happy life?
Is this all really about them getting their dollars? Do you think this shit will ever trickle down? Are you high?
These are the kinds of things that go through my mind as I read ever escalating reports of economic doom, laced with the lies. What lies? Glad you asked! The lies that if big business is doing well, we will do well.
That is a lie people. If they get the max, we get nothing. Austerity.
Activist Guy contributed this brutal bit of information in the comments:
Numbers published by the Federal Reserve a few weeks ago show that corporate profit margins have just hit record levels. Indeed. Andrew Smithers, the well-regarded financial consultant and author of "Wall Street Revalued," calculates from the Fed's latest Flow of Funds report that corporate profit margins rocketed to 36% in the first quarter. Since records began in 1947 they have never been this high. The highest they got under Ronald Reagan was 30%.
How does surrendering your future adult expectations to cover their largess and greed sit with you? I can't really go there. Honestly, I can't! It's wrong, and I'm not afraid to say it, but I think a whole lot of people are, because that means owning the civics problem, and it means work --lots of work.
Maybe it's better to just let them run the show. They won't actually make it hurt enough to cause militant people to hit the streets, will they? Not here! Won't happen to us, and if it does, it won't be on the TV, right?
We all should be asking one question: namely,
WHY ARE WE NOT PUTTING THE PEOPLE TO WORK?
Go ahead. Ask it. You'll get the same bland response I did, and you will be left to wonder just how this great nation, filled with great, potent people, got neutered the way it did.
You know, Obama inspired me with a single word: "ENOUGH!!"
That's the word I'm not hearing. It's just as powerful as austerity is, in fact, it's more powerful because it embodies an entire nation, culture, will to fight, work, prevail. That's us. We are better than that --or we used to be.
Perhaps we just aren't anymore. Do you really believe that? More importantly, does our government believe that?
Silly you ask?
Well, why not talk about putting the people to work then? Think about that question. It's important, scary, and there isn't an answer that I can see, and there damn well needs to be. We deserve that at a minimum, and failure there is completely unacceptable, unless we want to be owned and surrender who we are.