2003-01-09 - 1:54 p.m.

And a Happy New Year!

Or at least a tolerable one! We are, to reference the not-chinese-but-sounds-kind-of-like-it quote, living in "interesting times". And, if I may hazard a guess at the outcome of recent events, the tables are about to turn. Bush has just shot himself in the gut with his Economic plan: anyone with a modicum of sense has noticed that %60 of the break goes to those who earn - EARN - $100,000 a year. It's hard not to be taken aback by something so obviously larcenous as ignoring a shrinking middle-class and an increasingly desperate under-class in order to make the rich just that much richer. The Dems are actually moving on this one, and if they stick to their guns, they can win. The Republicans have pretty much dropped the Christian Right in terms of influence over policy, and are now using their pre-eminence to benefit their core constituency: the robber-barons. You know who they are. They're the ones who spent the 90s laying workers off, cutting pension plans, and keeping wages stagnant even as their profits grew exponentially, and then (just so everyone could know who really runs the show) they sold their over-priced shares just in time to avoid the stock-collapse they told us would never happen. They bastards who turned the US economy into an over-blown boiler-room. Money doesn't disappear: when the stockmarket lost $1,000,000,000,000 in value, that money didn't just vanish. It made it's way into the pockets of people like Bush, Cheney, Gates, and a host of other plutocrats who now govern us, because they knew when to sell.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we were duped. The 90s fucked us all over. We are now so saddled with consumer debt that we are all in danger of bankruptcy. What happens if we lose our jobs? How do we repay our debts? Our wages stayed the same, but our benefits were slashed. Can you think of a single friend that has adequate, affordable health coverage? Our entire economy is now based on the Financial sector, the very sector so recently accused of malfeasance and graft. Who wants their portfolios managed by mutual funds that buy the stocks of sweetheart companies, regardless of profitability? The welfare state was shut down, by the Democrats, so we have very little in the way of a social safety net, even as corporate 'flexibility' set about laying off workers only to rehire them as temps, sans benefits. And then the Reps let 100,000 people run out of unemployment insurance just in time for Christmas.

Our economy, the pride of the world, the shining example of the New Economy, the promise of the Internet, and the inevitable new world order, is in much worse peril than most acknowledge. Consumer spending is down, because everyone is worried about their jobs, and they have too much debt as is. This keeps our economy from growing. The Bush tax cuts give more money to the rich, who are highly unlikely to spend it, and will instead put it into money-market accounts, or perhaps, into the Euro, taking the money out of circulation. We have a massive trade imbalance that will only get worse thanks to 'Globalization': China is a manufacturing power now, and thanks to their lack of labor standards or corporate oversight they can export goods at an incredibly cheap price with which US goods can not compete. What keeps the dollar shored up is the amount of foreign investment in the US, but with our financial sector in disarray how many foreigners will want to trust our markets? The dollar is already sliding against the Euro ($1 to E 1.05), and this will only get worse as foreigners move investment to Europe and elsewhere. If the dollar drops farther, foreign goods will become much more expensive, and since very little is actually manufactured in the US, this means our quality of life is gonna plummit. And most frighteningly of all, our national debt is already somewhere around Argentina's (relative to size of the economy) and we're cutting taxes and running huge deficits and preparing for a $100,000,000,000 war or two. How long before our creditors start suspecting that we'll never pay them back?

Now, this is all worst-case scenario, but the worst case is pretty bad, and not all that improbable. Something is gonna give: either the Rich will destroy our economy and take their money out of the US like the rich in Argentina did, or the Dems will grow a fucking spine and save Capitalism from its own appetite. We are looking at a replay of the Great Depression, folks. scary, eh?

But enough political belly aching: personal news is in order. My twin brother Billy came down for the holidays, and we had a spectacular time. Herb was smoked, laughs laughed, conversations held, and several women flirted with. He got me a spectacular book for Christmas, which I recommend to anyone who wants to understand the 90s, and the precise meaning of the Taco-Bell revolutionary Chihuahua. It's called 'One Market under God', by Thomas Frank. I got him herb, because I'm terrible at giving gifts, and I don't read enough to be able to recommend very much. I will fix that this year. I read several works from Marx and Engels, and was able to understand them. They were smart guys, and while some of their conclusions may be argued with, their basic thesis is very convincing, and their reading of current events was astounding. It's stand-up economics, seriously. I feel more intellectually capable now than I have felt in a year.

I also opened the Bits of the Bard show. I'm getting $60 a show, for maybe 3 hours worth of work a day. It's pretty awesome. I'm standing in for the lead tonight and tomorrow, so I should have a great time. I do love Shakespeare. I've also started rehearsing for Merry Wives of Windsor, and will start rehearsing for MacBeth soon. I'm also trying to get more temp-work, but it's hard to reconcile all these competing schedules. Thank God for my PDA (Yes, I'm yuppie scum on only $100/week). Anyway, I'm building a reputation as someone easy to work with, who follows directions well, and who can give life to a scene that otherwise is deadly. I'm quite good at what I do. I've also noticed that I'm not nervous anymore about acting: most actors will tell you that the nerves never go away, but they're wrong. They do. I know what I'm doing on stage, and so I don't worry, I just act. I'm still nervous as hell about Improv, but that's because I'm not very funny. My comedic timing, on the other hand, is really good. If someone gives me the words, I'll give them the moment: I am an actor.

Well, I'm gonna do laundry now, and maybe call Jessicca, a woman I've known since middle-school with whom I have a totally indeterminate relationship. Wish me luck Comrades.

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