DeletedUser2259
Living the end of the American dream.
I know most if not all of you will disagree. Or maybe not.
When I was a kid I grew up under a dictator in a small European country. I used to watch John Wayne movies and all I ever wanted to be was an American.
One day my mom met an American tourist and he was such a nice guy. Tall, dark hair, strong. He befriended us and we became friends. Then one day he had to leave. I remember going with him to the airport. I asked him. What is it like to be an American? He looked at me, smiled, petted my head and said… It aint bad kid… It aint bad. I never did see him again.
I came to this country with nothing. I had to fight to get in. It was not easy.
My mom and my step dad came ahead of me. The country where I was from did not want me to leave because at 16 I was too close to army age.
The first place my mom took me to see was a supermarket. I had never imagined such a place. All that food, right there.
When I arrived here (not speaking much English) my step dad who was an auto mechanic for a dealership, had me put on one of his uniforms (pants way to short for me) and had me go to work with him. He told me to polish every car in the showroom, wash every car in the front lot, sweep everything and just keep working. I worked there for over one year before the owner stared asking who I was.
This was the early 70’s and the time of the oil embargo.
Eventually he hired me. Paid me little.
I was treated poorly in the US. Because my name sounded Hispanic and therefore I must be from South America, and was treated as such.
I was told he was taking advantage of me. But I knew we were taking advantage of each other.
Well I grew up. And I blended in; I became a very proud American citizen, by choice not accident of birth. I contributed, a lot. Over the many years I built a very successful business. Today that men’s family and mine are friends.
I became wealthy by any reasonable standard. I have homes in 3 different latitudes, and four locations, I own a yacht, and I have done many wonderful things such as racing Indy style cars for 14 years just for fun and a lot more.
I earned my wealth from the first penny and yes I am a proud card carrying member of the 1% group.
America, gave me the American dream. Much more than I ever deserved.
Now I look at what we have done to my beautiful America and it just makes me want to cry.
First, this countries government today is much more corrupt then the one I ran from. We are constantly being divided by the facets of our government because they know that as long as they keep us fighting one another we won’t fight them.
GE just canceled its pension plan for any new employee, it canceled many of its benefits. Publix is going to “take the penalty” and drop its health care package. And on and on. I know because I have clients who work for these companies. Our government is encouraging capitalist America to drop the people onto the government.
I was self employed most of my life. I am built that way. But most people are not. With the pressures of education costs, food etc, most of them will not save for the future because it will be easier to give up the future then it is to pass up on that shinny new iPhone our child really really wants and needs.
In a few more years the current generation of kids will suddenly realize that they got older but will never be able to retire. At 50 corporations will drop them like hot potatoes because they cost too much and move too slow. At 50 you can’t find a job.
The country will collapse. I know. I lived there where we had socialized medicine, government pensions etc. It does not work.
Before any of you reminds us the “The US is still the best country on earth”. I ask you… Why do you today feel compelled to insert the word “still” in there…?
We are being exploited and robed by our government. They talk about things like social security as if they were government benefits, and conveniently forget that we made those contributions into that fund (we and our employers ... I paid twice since I was self employed) that is our money.
They tell us SS has no money but they forget to mentions that for example, Regan raped the SS fund, and Clinton used the SS fund to magically balance the budget. They robed us.
If the US government was a bank they would have all been jailed for breaching their fiduciary duty.
They are like the mafia. Two dominant (families) parties fighting among each other but always getting together to exclude any new opposition. When it behooves them they go in the back room and make a deal.
They care only about themselves and their re-election.
There isn’t one single patriot among them. Not one.
The problem is that we are too comfortable and so we don’t do anything about it.
We vote. That makes us feel like we are doing something. We are not. They decide who wins not us. They play the game we are the pawns. One of them wins the other wins less. We the people always loose.
You know the old saying… In the US anybody can become president… Sure…Anybody with about a billion dollars and belonging to one of those two parties.
I listen to other Americans debate. They simply mouth the party lines as if they were robots.
I have a son. He is 11. My son, born here, will never get the kinds of opportunities I had.
We, our generation destroyed the American dream. We did it. Our government may be a grouping of liars, self interested self serving disgusting beings, who will stop at nothing to further themselves and who care only about what they want and what they can get.
Yes they may be all that but above all they are a reflection of us.
I have no party affiliations. They all disgust me equally.
Now we are all starting to live in the initial stages of the American nightmare.
What do you think?
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