It has been a turbulent month in the first 8 days of August. The US lost its S&P AAA (now AA+). Stock markets around the world have tanked as much as 15%. After London cops (bobbies?) killed a man last week, riots have expanded from London to throughout the UK—due in part to government cutbacks in jobs and welfare payments. A US Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan killing 37 troops—the Afghan resistance looks to have developed new strategies that will change the way we fight the invasion of "NATO troops" (nearly all US).
I have a stable pleasant life here in the Pacific Northwest. My income and retirement are not contingent upon the appalling abuse of government policies and shady stock market practices nearly as much as is the case for others my age and older. It has to be stressful to work all your life and watch your savings tank by 15% in a week with no chance of the economy ever getting back to the glory days of 5% GDP growth per year with current policies. All too many baby boomers can look forward to a retirement that includes questions such as "do you want fries with that?".
The truly sad, tragic and despicable part of the situation is that it did not have to be this way. If we had not invaded Iraq and Afghanistan under false pretenses such as WMDs, not let Bush steal the election from Gore, stopped taxing the largest corporations, and let the military-industrial-congressional complex run out of control, the US could be paying down the national debt instead of political brinksmanship in the fight to raise the debt ceiling with no new funding to pay the debt.
I am extremely grateful that the chaos described above will have a limited impact on my life resulting in almost no change in my life.
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