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Future Thought... Thoughts of Futures?
Oct. 4th, 2008 11:03 pmToday on the News I watched an Economic Commentator compare the bailout plan to a defibrillator shock.
That comparison really scared me, because after reading The Shock Doctrine, which was one of the first economic commentaries/exposes I'd ever read, I've been trying to keep a keener eye and ear out for the language used by pundits, politicians and sound bite economists.
The worst thing about this is that the really wealthy won't notice this, those whose entire capital was invested in stock will get benefits from this bailout and thus will be able to go on their merry way, while inflation goes over board and unemployment abounds.
I'm parroting the News and I can't help but wonder, do these people understand who inflation and unemployment hurts most? Are they aware that small businesses (like my father's) can go under simply by employing people, because prices soar and no one can pay a salary because no one can afford because the customers themselves lose their job and are forced to go onto welfare and social security... which in my little Hell Hole is dwindling and dwindling.
I myself am also thinking about my future. What I'm to do with my degree inUseless studies Lit. and Gender studies.
I once thought of getting an MA or Certificate in Information/Library studies.
But when I think about what I really want to do and considering what I'd like to use my degree for, I always think of my mother, who is a teacher.
And this week a friend of the family who runs a chapter of an organization that tries to encourage education/literacy among the Indigenous people in Australia. She and her Significant Other (who also works at this NGO) were telling me about some of the projects and the young teachers that work at the organization and all I could think was "yes, yes... this is what makes the difference".
I'm still young enough to remember that I thought teachers were idiots and that I almost all of them.
Except my literature teachers in Junior High and High School.
And my Drama teacher from when I was 11 'till 14.
And sometimes I fantasize about being that kind of influence, if that one awkward weird kid can look back and think... I'd like to be like that.
Real world cynicism (and having a parent as a teacher) lets me know that fantasy aside, being a teacher is a thankless job in today's economic reality, especially in Israel where if you don't have tenure you barely get enough pay to make ends meet.
So... yeah.
This is what I think about when I have time. And I get memory streams, but that's the subject of a different entry.
That comparison really scared me, because after reading The Shock Doctrine, which was one of the first economic commentaries/exposes I'd ever read, I've been trying to keep a keener eye and ear out for the language used by pundits, politicians and sound bite economists.
The worst thing about this is that the really wealthy won't notice this, those whose entire capital was invested in stock will get benefits from this bailout and thus will be able to go on their merry way, while inflation goes over board and unemployment abounds.
I'm parroting the News and I can't help but wonder, do these people understand who inflation and unemployment hurts most? Are they aware that small businesses (like my father's) can go under simply by employing people, because prices soar and no one can pay a salary because no one can afford because the customers themselves lose their job and are forced to go onto welfare and social security... which in my little Hell Hole is dwindling and dwindling.
I myself am also thinking about my future. What I'm to do with my degree in
I once thought of getting an MA or Certificate in Information/Library studies.
But when I think about what I really want to do and considering what I'd like to use my degree for, I always think of my mother, who is a teacher.
And this week a friend of the family who runs a chapter of an organization that tries to encourage education/literacy among the Indigenous people in Australia. She and her Significant Other (who also works at this NGO) were telling me about some of the projects and the young teachers that work at the organization and all I could think was "yes, yes... this is what makes the difference".
I'm still young enough to remember that I thought teachers were idiots and that I almost all of them.
Except my literature teachers in Junior High and High School.
And my Drama teacher from when I was 11 'till 14.
And sometimes I fantasize about being that kind of influence, if that one awkward weird kid can look back and think... I'd like to be like that.
Real world cynicism (and having a parent as a teacher) lets me know that fantasy aside, being a teacher is a thankless job in today's economic reality, especially in Israel where if you don't have tenure you barely get enough pay to make ends meet.
So... yeah.
This is what I think about when I have time. And I get memory streams, but that's the subject of a different entry.
