All of the dancers at the ball went to and fro, while the record went round and round. Mixing and matching with new partners, in a slow choreographed display of talent, the dancers put on a beautiful show for all to enjoy watching. Slowly, the record player began to lose control and the sound that came from the speakers was one of horrible cacophony, first getting louder and then playing slower, but with none of the handsome sounds that had been playing earlier. The dancers, looking at each other in a confused manner, slowed down and eventually stopped moving, and began to whisper to each other in a quiet tone and as they moved towards the door, the lights dimmed. The ball was over. Now, if you thought you were watching a classic black and white movie, you would be wrong. The picture that was just painted was that of America, and the current situation that it finds itself in.
For many years now, the United States has found itself dancing to the 4x4 beat of a drummer that has led it through thick and thin, good times and bad. However, looking at recent headlines around the country, it is easy to see that the fabric of society is slowly tearing itself apart. Headlines announce the stock market is trading at near record highs, while government statistics show that unemployment is at lows not seen in decades. Officially, things in the United States are better today than they were yesterday. And yet, there seems to be a discord between what is said on the news, and that which the average Joe knows to be true.
More and more companies are announcing layoffs. In fact, Bloomberg is reporting that — “Kraft Heinz said it would close seven manufacturing facilities in North America and cut 2,600 jobs.” Other headlines this week note that Target, essentially a middle-class Walmart, will be closing 13 stores within the next 12 weeks. Why? According to CNN — “ …before the company decides to make a closure, a store's financial health is evaluated over a long period of time. Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability". That’s right. Several years of decreasing profitability. Because this isn’t a new phenomenon. In fact, headlines earlier this year had already announced that Target would fire an additional 1500 employees.
Trying to hide it as long as they could, the puppet masters inside the Beltway have been able to juke statistics and play number games, but this holiday season is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Other stats suggest that the Baltic Dry Index is down, shipping rates have fallen and factory orders have shrunk. Everything, it seems, is slowing down. In fact, Presidential candidate Marco Rubio just said — “For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting". As they say, time will tell. And since the Holiday shopping season kicks off in just a few weeks’ time, the truth will come out sooner, rather than later.
Other headlines have highlighted different problems. Recently, the Washington Times noted that-“Polls also suggest American voters are increasingly wary of the administration’s response to the wars in Syria, Iraq and Libya, which have killed more than a quarter-million people and spawned a vast refugee crisis stretching into Europe during recent years.” A different Associated Press-GfK poll noted that-“More than 6 in 10 now disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.”
Echoing this statement, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said in an interview — “There’s a level of dissatisfaction among the uniformed military that I’ve never seen in my time here.” He continued by saying — “We’re sending 50 — count them, 50 — special operations soldiers to Syria, and they will have ‘no combat role,’ the president says.” McCain continued by saying — “Well, what are they being sent there for? To be recreation officers? You’re in a combat zone, and to say they’re not in combat is absurd.”
The story is shocking for many reasons, one of which being that the area that the US soldiers will almost certainly come into a situation where they will come into contact with Iranian soldiers, which of course, are fighting on the other side. What then? However, the most shocking part of this is simply that apparently, America has suddenly found some “moderate” rebels to equip and train. Let’s just forget for a moment that all summer we heard about how a 500 million dollar program had produced less than 100 soldiers, most of whom, as the Daily Mail notes, were either killed or ran away. So, where did these mysterious “moderate” rebels come from? Well, apparently nobody in western media has even thought about that, yet. And speaking of other things that people aren’t asking, why did the US send warships to confront China? And then promise to do more of the same, in fact, as Reuters reported, to do so up to 8 times a year? And by confront, to be clear, we are basically talking about a game of chicken, except with missiles and guns and even airplanes and helicopters.
As America’s economy continues to slow down, the central planners have lost control of the machine they have used for decades; that machine that was used to make sure everyone danced to the same rhythm and beat. The ensuing calamity is having an effect on the collective psyche of the American people, thus allowing the citizenry to not question the powers that be and the official line that is coming out of DC.
So, what do you think dear listeners, “Where did America find moderate rebels?”
