Daily Mood Quotes - October 7, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quotes

Day 157 – October 7, 2011

“On Wall Street he and a few others – how many? three hundred, four hundred, five hundred? had become precisely that...Masters of the Universe.”

~Tom Wolfe

I prefer Rose's (Kate Winslet) statement from the movie Titanic when she said to Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Next it will be brandies in the smoking room...Now they will retreat into a cloud of smoke and congratulate each other on being masters of the universe.” What and who pays the price for these Master's of the Universe?

I had a conversation with my husband on this matter and I agree with his point of view. Granted, this has been a tough week for him and this may come across a bit grumpy, but here goes. Perhaps you are familiar with the protests that are going on around the country, people are banding together to voice frustration with the financial system of this country. The push me-pull you battles in Washington, the banking industry and top-ranked CEOs making millions and millions of dollars on the backs of the unemployed and working class; along with millions and millions of dollars that corporations are making as profits, while cutting jobs and sitting on the cash. Students are protesting the cost of student loans, they are going to have to pay back, if they are given the opportunity to complete the degree they are working towards. What a mess!!!

The way I see it, these folks, those who are protesting are to some degree right and in some ways maybe not so right. It depends on how one looks at the totality of the system that we are all part of. They most assuredly have the right and responsibility to organize and protest a financial system that promised to right its ways, when it was begging the American people for a bailout. Seems they have forgotten, or perhaps have no intention of showing gratitude for the mercy of the American people. I can't speak to their motivations. And I really don't care to hazard a guess. The point is the right to gather and protest is written into our Constitution and so they can. They will however, have little or no impact on the system, because they really aren’t causing any more inconvenience than midday traffic in Manhattan. I've been a parent for a very long time and I know you can't get anywhere with hardheaded boys by yelling.

To get the attention of the misdirected children, parents usually find it effective to take away the toys. I'm just saying... Banks depend on stock prices to give their company value. If folks were to decide to drop financial institutions from their 401Ks, and other investment portfolios, there are less toys and they'll find it tougher to borrow new toys too. I've also heard that Federal Credit Unions are great places for folks to put the money that they would usually lend to banks. Oh yeah, lets remember that every dime you put in a checking account is an interest free loan to the bank. I'm just saying the intention can be right, but the strategy? Well maybe, its not so right.

Also, as long as we're on the subject... How about looking to the house in the next election cycle. Those boys aren’t behaving any better and they are letting the big kids from the corner of Wall and Nassau, the decidedly wrong side of the tracks, make up the rules, pretty much as they go along... Soooo, how do we get them to behave? Take their cushy toys (read jobs) away too. Abraham Lincoln said “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” So to with unemployment.... If incumbents won't do something, well then don't the American people have the right and responsibility to correct our mistake of letting them stay and play with the bad kids from Manhattan? In the movie Wall Street with Michael Douglas, Carl Fox (played by Martin Sheen) said, “Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.” Who serves who here? To quote Donal Trump, “your fired” come the next election. That is a choice we can make, it is our right and our responsibility.

Let's not make any mistake. Our political system is still better than any yet developed and I know global economics can be a very complex issue. In the near future, tons of misinformation from both sides will flow like floodwater, all over the media. They will lap it up and spit it back out as genuine news. But, people of all ages are people, and they tend to pay attention when the things they desire most are used to correct them; just like kids (take away their toys). Or perhaps not, that just how I see this mess.  Something to think about.

How will you become a master of the universe today?

The latest news about the protest on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/politics/occupy-wall-street/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote.

Thank you for reading

Daily Mood Quote - June 6, 2011

Daily Mood Quote

Day 33 – June 6, 2011

Keep your heart open to dreams, for as long as there's a dream, there is hope, and as long as there is hope, there is joy in living.

~Anonymous

I know, keeping dreams and hope alive is not always easy in this time of turbulence. Gasoline prices spiraling out of control, unemployment 9.1% (national average) and people are losing their unemployment, because their benefits had dried up before they could find a job. People are losing their homes, their cars and sometimes everything they ever worked for because greed seems to be running rampant. So, everyday people have to make tough decisions such as, which bill to pay? Do I choose to keep the lights on, or pay to keep the gas on? I know people making these decisions everyday and I see the stress on people faces at the grocery store, at Wal-mart, even while window shopping at the mall. It's hard times out there, no doubt. Don't stop reading now, this will get better.

I am here to tell you, 'You are not alone.” The struggles many of us are experiencing are crappy, big giant piles of poo-poo, but if we close our hearts, we'll lose our hope and then joy leaves the building. Hope gives us the ability to rebound, who remembers the “energy crisis” of 1979? When crude oil went from $15.85 per barrel to nearly $40.00 per barrel. Gas prices jumped to $.90 per gallon and you could only buy five gallons at a time. It may seem laughable now, but it put a lot of people out of work in 1979. People ground through it, they buckled down, looked towards the future and took it one day at a time.

In the movie Titanic, Jack Dawson (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) says to a table of wealthy and powerful people, including Kate Winslet (Rose De Witt Bukater), “I figure life's a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don't know what hand you're gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you... to make each day count.” Life can present obstacles and sudden challenges for everyone, even those who are well off, that is for certain. To get past them, its best to learn from the past, take each day as it comes and never stop dreaming about the possibilities of the future. For in those dreams there is hope and in hope there is great power. Hope has carried humanity through some of its darkest times. It is the single thing that helps us to rise above our problems and seek safe harbor to weather stormy times and to be ready to set sail again, once the storms have past. This too will pass, but for now, as Jack said, “Life is a gift....to make each day count”

How will you make today count?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading