Something To be Said about America

The Great depression is marked in history as 1929 to 1941, but in reality the seeds of the fall were planted during World War I. In the timeline of The Great Depression, it is evident that our country got itself into trouble by investing heavily in the war.

The symptoms of the failing economy were not felt, however, because the population was decimated. The Flu outbreak of 1918 had claimed many lives; an estimated 50 to 100 million people world wide.Three percent of the population died of the flu with the outbreak infecting 1/3 of the world population.By contrast, estimates of the total death toll of World War I is roughly 16.5 million.

During this time children worked to supplement their families income by selling newspapers, sewing and washing (hand washing by the way) clothing for other people who could afford to pay. They worked these jobs as well as taking care of their siblings and going to school. Some children, approaching the age that they would be sent to war would hide, not because they were cowards, but because they were the closest thing to a parent their brothers and sisters had.

People were poor. By 1929 1% of the US population controlled 40% of the wealth, while 93% had experienced a 4% drop in income.

World War II literally saved our lives. As awful as that sounds, men went to war and women went to work to fill in the gaps.

During world War II the US Economy rallied, and it gave the government the idea that as long as we were at war, everything would be okay here at home. I learned about this when I was studying in High School to be a secretary, they had to teach us a bit about economy. They taught us that War is big business and the only thing that has ever kept our economy stable. I know it is a terrible truth that no one wants to face, but it was the truth, until we started having all of our manufacturing moved to other countries.

The graph to the right is from the web site: The Good Sheet. It shows how the economy has fluctuated and you can pretty much follow the years and the wars that were associated with these economic growth spurts.

Of course the 70's saw the "end" of the Vietnam "conflict" and the return of our soldiers who were spit on and called baby-killers, they were wounded and had done what they were told. Most of them had been drafted, nobody liked the war but they went, and they fought. They were wounded and patched up and sent back out to fight some more. They missed out on their wives and their children, and when they came home they were treated like criminals.

We all knew by then that we had been duped. That the conflict over there was not a war that would ever affect the US. There was no stopping it. Our economy could not compete with our population growth. People had already stopped growing their own food and farmers were being paid not to grow crops.

What no one realized however, is that we had been in deficit spending since 1931, and that by 1945 Federal Spending was already over double the tax receipts.

Pretty amazing stuff considering Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to four terms as President. He bailed the country out, with deficit spending, and war. War does decrease the surplus population, after all.

The video capsule above and below are songs written by a great American. He was trying to give us all a message. He was born in 1947 and so he watched most of this growing up. He saw the changes first hand. Due to this he was, as he says at the end of the song "Invited to play at the White House and told not to sing about God or Politics." So he sang this song. "The Great American Novel" Do not think he is joking about the wire taps. He was considered a radical, and yes, they watched him.

It is amazing to me that these songs are still so relevant today. We do not learn from our history. We debate it and fight over who is right and who is wrong, and what we should have done yesterday.

What will you do tomorrow? If you think it is so bad, and that there is nothing that anyone can do to fix it, what will you do tomorrow. Surely debate and argument has not fixed the problems yet? Try something new. It's the only choice we have left. We've tried all this before.

I am an American. I am tired of people putting down our country. I don't care if you like me or not. My family came to this country from Germany and England, from Scotland and Ireland, from Wales, and Holland. I have Cherokee and Navajo blood in me. I was married to the adopted son of a first generation Italian whose father and mother emigrated to this country and came through Ellis Island. His adoptive mother's parents were born in America, but her grandparents emigrated from Hungary. She was Jewish and her husband was Catholic.

My mother's grandmother came here from Holland. She still spoke Dutch and learned English after she came here. On my father's side I have ancestors in every war fought on this soil. My father was Baptist and my mother was Protestant.

A gift from France Welcomes new people to our lands. America is made up of all people, from all over the world. As far as I am concerned it is wrong to think that we are less of a nation because of immigration. Without it we wouldn't be here ourselves.

On a plaque within the base of the Statue of Liberty, is this Poem by Emma Lazarus: The New Colossus.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

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