Middle Class War

I gotta hand it to all the freakin' spinners out there; "Bail-Out, No Bail-Out" crappers who really haven't taken the time to look and research it all, to TRY to wrap there heads around just what has been happening here, in out local area, in our state, in our country, in our world, but most of all in our very way of life.

I'm from FLINT, you think we're just heading into a recession, and the economy is just a little unstable PLEASE STOP BY. Our economy has been on a slow and steady decline since the late 70's and all we did was shoot (and bad spin) the messeger. Michael Moore will tell you that he's not "from" Flint anymore (really he was from Davison, a suburb of Flint), he lives in Traverse City, WAY north, and MUCH more quiet and secluded from Flint. You see, FLINT's the place that GM screwed in the late 70's. I know because I was around to see it. Flint was THE birthplace of the "middle class" the beginning of the "middle class disposable income", and the first city to feel the economic pinch way, way back when.

When I was a kid all the shop workers had cabins "up north", bought the latest recreational toy, populated an incredibly high per capita fleet of bars and strip clubs, baby we had it GOOD. Late 70's, when GM started outsourcing, I watched as a tap was turned on draining the area of the money brought to us, not only by industry but by the working man's capitalizing on that industry and "getting them some". I was offered admittance into "the shop" TWICE and turned them both down, primarilly for my sanity, but I was also lucky in that EVERYONE my age that went into "The Shop" when I would have were all caught up in the first waves of lay-offs during the Carter administration. I was that guy running the local bookstore chain that was capitalizing on everyone else's misery by selling them Houston papers, wrapping papers, and racing forms.

Later on, through the 80's and a failed marriage, I worked as an art department in a few t-shirt print shops (an experience both happy and rewarding as well as tedious and stressful- not from the work as much as the employers)and watched as our local economy settled out a little. Times were a bit better, but not because our local economy was better, but because we made them better by working harder and earning more money. I stayed sane working in an artform that I loved on a mostly part time basis, but living and breathing comics was what kept me sane.

The 90's were different. I watched as the art form that I loved decayed into a state of near nothingness. Where a readership of over 1000 meant unusual success, and Flint struggled on with systematic lay-offs and a manufacturing industry that was still bleeding, albeit a little slower at some times than others. The Clinton years saw housing values rise, even depressed area's property values. and a stock market where folks could make a little jing on that new fangled internet. There was a guy back then name of Perot that was spun into being a mad man, chastised for warning everyone that that new NAFTA agreement Clinton was signing would spell doom to our national economy, and there would be a "Giant Sucking Sound" of jobs running south of the border and elsewhere as we people suffered a slow economic drain EXACTLY like the one I've been watching happen in Flint for the previous 15-20 or so years.

The century turned and I voted for a new president to come in and add a little dignity to a job that was demeaned by a guy getting a BJ in his office. There would be change, and a new definition of America as we knew it running square into the new century of growing wealth and oppurtunity. Oh yeah, we forgot in all that spin to realize that that oppurtunity would come at the cost of our freedoms, rights, personal income growth, and many more middle class youngsters who would give their lives uselessly on what everyone now says was "bad intell" on some despot(or 3 or so)that we gave money and power to in the hopes of...really...in the hopes of what exactly? Honestly, what were we out to acheive and did it work?

Makes you think that Alex Jones (look him up!) isn't such a madman after all doesn't it? Who out there is crying asnd pointing about a "War On The Middle Class"? I was talking about it for YEARS before CNN made up their little graphic and Lou Dobbs decided that there was ratings into it. But then again I was looking at it from a Flint perspecitve, from growing up listening level-headedly to folks like Perot and Michael Moore and looking around considering both sides of their spin and making up my own mind for myself as to just how valid they were (and still are).

I'm talking the REAL Michael Moore here, NOT the liberal characature that his name has been spun into, believe me when I tell you that they are 2 SEPERATE things. Go read his stuff for yourself, free of any spin, and decide on your own. Sit and watch Roger and Me...but wait I digress and Moore is another posting for perhaps another time...

Back to point here, I'm from Flint, I KNEW about the "War On The Middle Class" YEARS ago. All I had to do was watch it happen. I LAUGHED at Bush saying our economy was sound. I KNEW McCain would NEVER have the guts/balls/stupidity to come here to campaign (and yes, I was SHOCKED to see Obama here as well, and the more I think about that...well...that copuld turn out to be as bad a mistake as voting for Bush...), I watched with my own eyes as the spicket on our local economy was turned wide open YEARS ago when folks started treking the hell outta town in greater numbers. I voted against Bush the second time because all I had to do was look around, I voted against out Governor the last time for the same reasons. Nice to see folks finally saying we're in a reccession, I say "Where the HELL have you been?!" As Flint goes, so goes the national economy, and I can tell you folks that we haven't seen the bottom of this hole yet not by a LLOONNGG shot! If you think it's bad now, just wait to watch how many retail stores go out right after Xmas, THEN tell me about how "sound" our economy is!

I say we as Americans SHOULD rebel, but not against our system as much as the people running it, and ESPECIALLY against all the sad spinners out there trying to say we are okay and that things are fine. Those folks that are telling you how great our economy is are only saying that untill they shore up their wealth, and then they're outta here and we all can go to hell.

The "War" hasn't only begun, we're way into it and we've already lost a number of key battles.

More on this as I get fired up and start to gather a little evidence. What, you didn't think I wouldn't want to prove my point here? In the meantime do us all a favor and

WAKE UP!

stay tuned!