THIS ECONOMY IS SET ON STUPID

A few years ago, while I was visiting Santa Barbara, I saw a homeless man holding up a sign with the phrase "This Economy is Set on Stupid."

This week we truly found out just how prescient his message was as we watched in disbelief as our country's economic situation rapidly deteriorated into the worst near collapse since the depression.
How could this happen?
Very simple -- greed, rampant greed.
These past 8 years the Bush Administration was worse than drunken sailors on leave -- spending out of control...all the while unraveling the government oversight functions and safeguards and encouraging the banks to hand out loans to anyone regardless if they could handle the financial terms.
Didn't we learn anything from the depression? How could we remove bank regulations...and let Wall Street run rampant?

And now the government is handing out corporate bailouts while the rest of us do without.

Everywhere you look....unemployment, gas prices, layoffs...homelessness are on the rise....
everything but our incomes....

GP

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THIS ECONOMY IS SET ON STUPID

The homeless and wayward
are everywhere in Santa Barbara

They walk across streets wearing blankets
creating tents on the sidewalks
to escape from the cold.

One homeless man held a sign that
read "Please help. This economy is set
on stupid."

The dark side of life never far from view
on the picturesque beaches.
Human forms huddled under blankets
in front of fashionable stores.

The city father's gentrification effort is not
complete.
They can't sweep these broken people under
the proverbial rug.

With gentrification comes alienation
and economic decimation.

Yes...the man was right.
This economy is set on stupid.

George Pappas
Copyright 2008