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I haven't made many political posts in the months since the election for various reasons I'm not going to get into here, but I couldn't pass this one up. Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] tick_wonderdog for the story.

BUSH: HOLDING THREE JOBS 'UNIQUELY AMERICAN'
Tues Feb 8 2005 9:27:01 ET

Last Friday when promoting social security reform with 'regular' citizens in Omaha, Nebraska, President Bush walked into an awkward unscripted moment in which he stated that carrying three jobs at a time is 'uniquely American.'

While talking with audience participants, the president met Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties who told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a 'mentally challenged' son.

The President comforted Mornin on the security of social security stating that 'the promises made will be kept by the government.'

But without prompting Mornin began to elaborate on her life circumstances.

Begin transcript:

MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?

MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)


Yeah, that's really funny from someone who has never had to worry about how to pay the bills and doesn't cut his vacation short for little things like tsunamis.

Something I've been thinking about a lot recently, even before Time's cover article on "twixters" and why my generation refuses to grow up (sorry, I couldn't find a link) is the declining standard of living in the United States. When our parents were our age, if you didn't want to go to college, you could still get a decent job and have a house and a family. Now one of the reasons I'm so ambivalent about the question of children is because I have serious doubts that I'll ever be able to afford the things I think a child should have -- specifically a good education like the one I got. (Not that a college degree, or where it's from, really means much anymore. My brother's degree is from a vo-tech community college; mine is from a Top-20 university. He made nearly twice what I did last year. Which is my fault for not being interested in the fields that pay well. But I digress.)

We can't leave these issues to the politicians of any party. They're all rich and greedy anyway. If we want to deal with this, we have to do it ourselves -- and unfortunately, I have no clue of how to do that.

A big damn part of the problem..

Date: 2005-02-10 06:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spikepage.livejournal.com
..is the companies themselves and their "bottom line" they have to meet. The reason so many people have so many jobs is that a company can hire two part-timers rather than one full-timer and save on one shitload of benefits.. not to mention being able to split up their combined hours and cover more shifts or peak business hours.

But the blame doesn't lie completely with thc companies. The cost of those benefits is fucking outrageous, especially considering that most of us will never reap a sincle dollar we thwor into those programs (We all know SS is going straight to hell)

The second problem is that yes we ARE being taxed to death. Some of the absolute utter BULLSHIT that our tax dollars get spent on is a crying fucking shame. (Believe me, I live in Georgia, home of high taxes and shitty public schools)

Oh...and while I'm ranting, can we get the cost of our INSURANCE lowered a bit. I HAVE to have insurance by court-order, and it costs a fucking fortune, even though I never get sick.

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