Uh oh, I feel a politically fueled rant coming on....

{I realize I already posted once today, but I just can't get my kids to sit and listen to my political hissy fits anymore. So you get to! Aren't you lucky?!?!}

I just read on the AOL homepage that Steve and Barry's, the low cost clothing store, has filed for bankruptcy. Now, you may be saying, "So what", but I see it as another reason to dislike our president even more powerfully then I already do (notice I didn't say hate...I am trying to get Nat to stop saying it but it doesn't help when I am screaming "George Bush! You effing idiot! I HATE you!!).

When you examine why a low cost clothing store is going under instead of a high-end, high cost clothing store you just have to look at the economic situation of our country. My point is...the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. The wealthy people of our country still have the cash to shop on Melrose and wear their Armani to the grocery store. The less-wealthy of us don't even have the money to buy a pair of flip flops at Wal-Mart. The economy is in a recession, even though we are told it is not. We were also told Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. People, we are not always told the truth in America, no matter what they say. People can't find jobs. They are losing their houses. They can't buy gas for their cars. They are having trouble affording to feed themselves and their families. It is just so sad. And all for what? Bush's personal vendetta against Iraq and Sadam Husein?
When our president came into office he was working with a surplus of money. A SURPLUS!! We were doing well as a country. People had money to go on vacations, buy clothes, do things that may have been a little bit on the extravagant side. Our economy was strong because it was stimulating itself. When the money left one person's pocket it went into anther's. That is how things work.
Take my Dad's profession for example. A lot of what he does is "extras" that people may not need but they want. People want a nice deck on the back of their house. People want a fresh coat of paint on their walls. People want a newly remodeled kitchen. But when having to decided between those things that they want and, let's say, eating for the next month, most people will choose eating. So they don't hire my Dad. And my Dad doesn't make money. So he doesn't go to Best Buy and pick up the cd he really wants. So Best Buy doesn't make money either. It is all a giant circular pattern of economic growth.
So, now stores meant to cater to the lower income families of America are having to shut their doors. More people are losing their minimum wage jobs. They now can't pay their rent or mortgage and so they lose their homes. All the while, the stars in Hollywood are upgrading from a 15-bedroom mansion to a 20-bedroom mansion on their enormous paychecks they get from doing as important of a job as acting.
I appreciate everything our family has. We have a roof over our heads, food in our tummies, and clothes on our backs. But it scares me that there may come a time that even those things will be hard to come by in this economy. Our money goes overseas to continue fighting a "war" that we said we "won" how many years ago??? With all of the other problems in the world, and right here in our own back yard, I just can't see any justification in it. I have to tell ya, I would much rather my president be getting a blow job in the oval office then sending our country into a downward spiral of economic depression. But maybe that's just me.