*Facepalm*

Let us all give a moment's silence for that delicious, slightly greasy, cream-filled sponge cake known as the Twinkie.

Yeah, I'll miss them every once in awhile.

But, as much as I believe unions are just as corrupt as those they theoretically protect us from, the blame for this does not rest on the unions. It does not rest on the 18,500 workers being laid off from Hostess.

I blame the leadership!

So... you go into a company that is supposedly already ailing, then the execs get nearly an 80% pay raise, and the CEO a 300% pay raise, and you can't afford to do jack shit for the workers? Then you blame them and the unions.

Bad leadership is easier to replace than one good, skilled worker. And this is 18,500 people out of a job because of a handful of greedy, already rich people boarding an already sinking ship and plundering it. They've got theirs, screw the workers.

So again, the rich people are whining about how they are suffering so much while they make themselves richer by screwing over the very people who got them there. Any of this sinking in yet?

I'm Calling Bullshit on the Republicans.

As I continue to watch the campaigns, the economy, and the news in general, one thing has become plainly obvious: the Republicans just don't get it. Or if they do get it, they just don't give a rat's ass and are being deliberately deceptive. The Democrats kind of get it, but they are naive and don't seem to get just how deep the greed and cynicism is running. Things truly are getting to look more and more like what we fought the Revolution to get the hell away from - a ruling class is re-establishing itself, the corporations have a louder voice than the people. Remember the East India Company? Yeah, we're seeing a return to that... and those who oppose are being labeled "anti-business" or "anti-capitalism" or "Socialist."

For my own part, I am damned well none of those. I like capitalism, as it is freedom in one of its purest forms. What I'm seeing now though is a corrupted form of capitalism - as I said, a return of a ruling class with a widening income gap while the rich are perpetually whining for more and more. Wall Street is at its highest levels in years - as I write this, DOW is at 13,102. I remember when staying above the 10,000 mark was a big deal. So yeah, the rich ain't hurting. Yet, where the fuck are the jobs? Where the fuck is the money?

The money is lining the pockets of the rich. The money is in off-shore bank accounts and blind trusts. While the rich still whine for more and more. "We need more tax breaks!" Or, something that's also become amusing that I've been hearing about more lately - "Congratulations, employees! We just hit record profits! We will now be cutting your hours/wages/benefits/making lay-off's." It's pure greed. It's not a matter of hating people for being rich. Hell, I'd love to be rich. It's a matter of hating people for being greedy and fucking over the ones that got them there.

Then the Republicans have the nerve to call their opponents hateful. Just because the Republicans are smiling during their speeches doesn't make them less hateful - it just makes them more smug in their hate. When various people are being bashed, they will eventually fight back. Even the most loyal of dogs will bite if it's been smacked around one time too many. And this after they were exposed for plotting to sabotage Obama at all costs! The peasants American people were made into pawns for their damned political game. They hurt the American people so they could blame Obama! These are the men who sold the world.

I normally don't get this angry in my blog posts, but this truly is the purest bullshit. While I do like Gary Johnson, I'm becoming more and more inclined to again give Obama my vote. I wish this election were one just between Johnson and Obama, as I'd consider either candidate to be a victory for America.

What does eet meeean, man!?

In case you didn't hear, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), including the individual mandate. Reactions are varied, including many saying they'll move to Canada to avoid the universal healthcare. Well, I'll hope that works out for them. Maybe they'll find Canada's universal healthcare more acceptable. Yes... I am being ironic.

For my part, I'm not fond of the individual mandate, but I can see why it may be needed. It's either that or more taxes... although it would take me about fifteen minutes to come up with a list of things we could axe or scale back on to make up for it, starting with a fairly thorough audit on all government spending.

However, on the idea of universal healthcare coverage in itself, I like it. Healthcare is expensive. Very fucking expensive. There are any number of reasons for it... many can be attributed to greed, some of it corporate, some of it belonging to those who are overly quick to run to a malpractice attorney. And it is easy to see why many people think of the insurance companies as being evil. Yes, they are a business, yes, that means they should be turning a profit. But at the same time, what if instead of spending all those extra profits on ad campaigns and lobbying, they spent it on actually taking care of people?

I'll let you in on a little info on myself. I've been without any kind of health insurance for well over two years now, starting when I was laid off from a particular job. The next job I had simply didn't provide health insurance. COBRA wasn't a viable option, as it wouldn't have left me enough money to even come close to paying rent each month. My present job isn't giving me enough hours to qualify for their health insurance. Thankfully, I'm in fairly good health overall, but that can always change... in a heartbeat, so to speak. However, if I were to try for private insurance, I would be denied. Why? Because of the pre-existing conditions. In my case, depression or possibly PTSD, either one's a kiss of death for insurance. Also, having had asthma as a child would disqualify me.

My girlfriend was also laid off from a job a few months ago. She's a little more concerned about the "what-if's" than I am. She tried for private insurance, and after a very invasive phone interview, she was rejected based on having PCOS - a fairly common condition, affecting 5-10% of all women, maybe more, and in her case, not severe. She receives no special treatments for it. But it was still enough to deny her coverage altogether.

With Obama himself, I remember him saying his inspiration for this (other than Romney's own bill in Massachusetts) was his own mother having cancer and being denied live-saving coverage as a result.

So yeah, for me it's personal. It's personal for Obama as well.

Minimum Wage

I'm not a fan of Mitt Romney, although I'd prefer him over Gingrich. But, I came across this article on CBSnews.com: Club for Growth doesn't like Romney's minimum wage stance. The short of it is that Romney has a fairly progressive attitude toward wages, and does believe in a minimum wage. Although I know it's not anything new, it still does surprise me when I hear Republicans wanting wages to be completely left to the free market.

Why, you ask? Because businesses have proven time and time again that they really can't be trusted any more than anyone else. Sure, we want business to grow. But don't we also want fewer people on welfare? I think that the current wage standards are more than reasonable from a business standpoint, although still pretty impossible to really live on.

We keep seeing such experiments every time Republicans are in power. Remember Bush's "trickle down" philosophies? Remember how the only thing to trickle down was a stream of urine from the rich? I hate to sound like I'm just spouting liberal propaganda here, but this is simple greed. The rich want to get richer, and they don't care whose heads they step on on their way up. And, news flash: the economy really didn't improve under Bush. Instead, we kept seeing a steady stream of jobs leaving the US from greedy companies whose executives only cared about making more money.

The problems that come from a minimum wage (and increases in it) are this: in a perfect world, when the minimum wage is increased, the business owners might slap their foreheads and say, "holy shit, what have we been doing to our workers? I guess I can accept a little less pay this year." That seems to be what people expect when they hear of a minimum wage increase.

But what actually happens is, "shit, I'm not giving up my money. Guess I better make some lay-offs and jack up prices." So, we have increased unemployment and price inflation as a result.

It might seem like the solution would be to set a maximum wage. But no, that would be counterproductive. I don't want to punish people for being rich; I have nothing against the rich. I want to discourage greed. I don't use "greedy" and "rich" interchangeably. Hell, I'd like to be rich... but I don't see myself being greedy. Perhaps then the solution could be setting wages at percentages? To give an extreme example, imagine a CEO deciding him and the board of executives gets 90% of the company's money for wages, leaving the remaining 10% to be split among everyone else - the manufacturers, the customer service, the marketing, the accountants, the engineers, etc. Not very fair, right? Start with adjusting those percentages until they are more fair. I'm willing to still let the owners and execs have the lion's share, but not to the point of starving everyone else. For the companies, it would have the advantage of encouraging better work and loyalty from the employees, as they would see the more direct results of their success or failure. Seems also that it may take some of the point out of being greedy.