Rant ahead!

Posts are light this week because I’m on medication for my back pain and it makes me very loopy. But I just wanted to pop in and say that I’m thoroughly disgusted with the blabber about oil prices. It’s bad enough that oil prices are so high– it’s worse that it’s really because governments and speculators are making it so high. And then we have the self-proclaimed wise, socialist pundits who, with baited breath, watch the price that that stupid black goo bounce up and down and all around. They gleefully and sadistically report the most miniscule rise and fall as if oil is a new drunken celebrity.

High oil prices have crippled an already devastated Upstate New York economy. I don’t find it fascinating, funny, or encouraging at all. And I hate it being in my face all the time.

So I just heard that oil prices are going down (for this minute, anyway). That makes me happy to hear some good news- I mean if they are going to constantly shove news down our throats, it may as well be good, right? Then I read about some folks who are angry that oil prices are going down! They say oil prices should go up much more, because it’s the only thing motivating the evil corporations to invest in alternative energy! And it gets us lazy Americans buying hybrids instead of SUVs!

Argh, that makes me so mad. What?! We NEED the cost of living to go through the roof in order to inspire alternative energy devices?!? That’s like saying we need more wars so we can appreciate times of peace, and do more to encourage peace. Ridiculous!

I think the people who are happy that prices are going up don’t realize that it’s on the backs of the poor that you’re getting your hybrids and windmills.

Alternative energy and thrift should be the goal ALL of the time. There are other ways to force corporations and big spenders to invest in them, rather than killing the economy for those people at the bottom of the economic totem pole. Argh!

Just had to get that off my chest… lol

New York Chica has an interesting post about the Top Ten Recession-Proof Cities. The list is interesting and not surprising (Texas, Utah, and North Carolina made the list). She summed up the sentiments of New Yorkers when she said she didn’t expect any NY city to make the list. The only Top Ten lists New York is making are the ones with highest taxation, lowest wages, and most poor. Worst education is coming onto the list, as well. Those recession-proof cities in TX, UT, and NC are because NYers are fleeing the state in droves and migrating to those states.

I live in Upstate New York– right smack-dab in the middle of the state. The rest of the country has been reeling with recession-style tremors, but here in NYS, we’ve been living this way for about 30 years now. Our troubles all started when the state changed some language in the state constitution to favor Downstate (New York City area). New York City has seen a huge boom in the last 20-25 years. However, it has been Upstate’s natural resources and jobs pool that has fueled the economy down there. So essentially, the NYS government has slit its own throat. The “good times” can only last so long because sooner or later, the leech runs dry. And that’s Upstate right now… pretty dry.

New York State loves to tout itself as the “Empire State,” claiming that this state is the trend-setter for the rest of the states. Well, maybe 200 years ago that was something we could brag about, but since the 1880s, the state is leading the nation as an example of how NOT to govern. Let’s hope the other states learn from NY’s idiotic mistakes. Don’t let labor unions and politicians micro-manage the affairs of the people; don’t accept high taxation as a way to become prosperous and assume political “clout”; don’t add taxes upon taxes upon taxes and call them “fees” and “surcharges,” hoping no one will notice; don’t brag about how unsinkable you are when everyone knows it’s just a matter of rearranging the deck chairs.

Unfortunately, however, for those southern and midwestern states is that they lack the natural resources to support large populations. Drought conditions and the home foreclosure crisis brought this to the forefront. Northeasterners who have migrated south and west complain of the lack of green grass, trees, and abundant water. Duh.

It’s like I always say, here in NY, we don’t have calamitous natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods. Our natural disasters come in the form of politicians. I sometimes wonder that politicians are worse than weather disasters…. but no matter where you live, there will always be some price to pay. We’ll see how the nation fares, because we are seeing a monumental change in our American way of life.