Hovering on the edge of disaster

We can argue politics until Hades freezes over, and we can browbeat each other about political philosophies. We can trot out statistics which indicate "figures don't lie, but liars can figure," and yet one basic fact remains.

While we're doing that, we must have income. Whether you are paid well or poorly, whether you draw money from a retirement plan or from Social Security, you need money to pay your bills.

A friend of mine voiced his frustration five long years ago. "I and my wife worked all our lives," he mused, "and we saved money every year. Since we owned our own business, we knew we wouldn't have a retirement plan.

"So we managed to save a substantial amount of money," he added, "which I firmly believe is proper under the American free-enterprise system. We knew we would receive Social Security, and we thought that the interest from our savings would provide a substantial and worry-free income for our retirement years.

"But we retired about the middle of George W. Bush's presidency and were faced with a disturbing fact. The U.S. economy was faltering and, just as we needed interest income, the interest rates dropped. So our American retirement dream started to turn into a nightmare."

He and I, both former businessmen, agreed on one basic fact. If your income is too low, you have two alternatives. You can earn more, or you can spend less. It's that simple, and that's how we operated our businesses. But it's hard to increase your income when you're retired.

"So many things went wrong that it's hard to remember them all," my friend remarked as we recalled events such as the unregulated Wall Street shenanigans that caused huge banks to totter or fail, and the housing bubble that destroyed so much American wealth. All of that happened under Republican rule, he pointed out, and led to the Bush bailout that spent billions of taxpayer dollars to save conglomerates.

Then the nation elected President Barack Obama with a surge of hope for a new beginning. But there was no new beginning because Obama was saddled with two wars and an economy teetering on the brink of depression. Unemployment was high and growing higher, and government tax income dropped so sharply that even the salaries of teachers and firemen were threatened.

Another bailout followed, this time under the Democrats, and Obama's chances for success, or even re-election, are in jeopardy, my friend believes.

I too have watched our nation's economy -- despite all of our good intentions and great ideals -- hover near disaster, and this disaster has grown worse and worse. Millions of people are jobless. Millions of homes lost value. Lifetime savings disappeared into thin air.

For several decades, we'd already watched U.S. manufacturing disappear as companies built new factories overseas or hired workers in Mexico, China and other nations to build the "American" products that fill our malls and big-box stores.

When terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on that terrible day we recall as 9/11, the damage to the U.S. exceeded their wildest hopes. It was much greater than the thousands of tragic deaths and the buildings that collapsed.

Those madmen scared the United States of America into nearly destroying its own economy on an Iraq war that didn't need to be fought, while we neglected the terrorist strongholds in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where al-Quaida terrorists still exist.

While my friend and I discussed all of this (so complex that it is difficult to recall all of it), we worried about our country's future, and the futures of ourselves and our children and grandchildren.

We agreed on one thing. If the United States of America, which we love and have served, is to continue as a world power and as a haven for the oppressed, everyone who can work needs a decent job.

Lack of jobs already has decimated rural America ... and economics drives everything. With unemployment nearing 10 percent, we fear what could happen to our college and tech school graduates if the American work force remains a shell of its former self.

I chatted last week with a capable person who recently lost one job because of the business recession and is only a heartbeat away from seeing a second job disappear into this morass of fiscal mismanagement.

The road back (if there is a road back) will be long and hard. Many are suffering and will continue to suffer, and we are at the mercy of business and government leaders who, too often, argue instead of solving problems. But they pay themselves well, so they personally feel no pain.

Darrel Miller lives near Downs in rural Osborne County and is a retired weekly newspaper editor.