This is Daisy, who is, as you can see, blessed with great physical beauty. Sheâs even got matching beauty moles. She is somewhat vain in consequence. I tell both my dogs that theyâre smart girls, good girls, beautiful girls. But with Daisy, it is definitely the latter that resonates. She takes in the sun like …
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Medicare fraudster Rick Scott still occupies the governorâs mansion he shelled out $70 million-plus to acquire in 2010, and he apparently stood out as a fool even among the many nitwits and frauds at CPAC. Grandstanding faux-exile Marco Rubio, whose political prospects are receding along with his hairline, lied agreeably to the gathered fools at CPAC and remains our most prominent politician down here, which provides some perspective on the state of disrepair hereabouts.
The US economy is showing some green shoots, and I fervently hope a recovery is for real, because people are suffering. And also because Iâm not sure the country could withstand another round of Republican governance. Oh sure, thatâs what THEY say about President Obama; everyone who spoke at the convention of morons in DC this week cleared his or her throat with a variation on that very theme.
But the empirical evidence shows they are lying, whereas the insane policies theyâre promising to implement should the American people be dumb enough to give them control of the government again really could advance the project of destruction moved forward so aggressively by the last blithering ninny the GOP stood as president.
Thereâs a lot we can and should do as individuals and groups to make sure that doesnât happen, and I will do my part. But thereâs only so much any of us can do, not only to make an impact within this country but also in a world-historical sense. My Rumproast co-blogger StrangeAppar8us once said:
In truth, nations have been obsolete as sovereign organizational units for some time. There are sovereign corporations and sovereign piles of capital, but nations are basically accounting entries associated with a particular profile of a) indigenous resources, b) comparative labor costs, c) relative social stability, d) relative currency strength and e) relative weakness of business taxation and regulatory controls. Local military power still matters, and some nations still command a certain reflexive residual deference to their post-WWII/Cold War primacy. However, in an age of cheap intercontinental shipping and wire transfers, nations are basically cultural theme parks competing for ticket sales.
I think he was exactly right. We know something about theme parks in Florida. That and sunshine are about all weâve got left. As far back as my parents and I can remember, one steady source of revenue here was retirees, and what a goldmine they were for a few generations. People still joke about the state being âGodâs waiting room,â and until a few years ago, they joked that the state bird was the âconstruction crane.â
The construction jobs are pretty much gone now, and they probably arenât ever coming back, at least not to pre-crash levels. I donât think weâll return to the days when you could pass a rural cow pasture and then drive by a month later to find it had been walled off and converted into an age-55+ golf course community.
I donât think thatâs necessarily a bad thing. I dislike those walled-off âcommunities.â I can understand why seniors would want to escape obnoxious teens and wailing toddlers — god, who doesnât? But theyâre part of real life, as are the elderly curmudgeons and watchful nanas who have sealed off their wisdom and capacity for creative interference behind a gated guard shack. To paraphrase another doddering old fart, itâs time to tear down that wall.
And come down it will, I think. But as usual, it wonât be good sense that makes it happen but rather money. My parents are among the first wave of baby boomers who are now reaching retirement age, and luckily for them, they donât have to move to Florida since they grew up here. But I think they and their age-cohorts may be among the last who have that option anyway. Their children donât have comfortable pensions but rather crappy 401(k) plans that the Wall Street titans blew at the roulette wheel — and thatâs only if theyâre lucky.
A lot of us donât have jack shit, and weâre going to have to work until we drop — if we can find work at all — or reinvent retirement as some sort of hobo adventure, maybe? In that case, perhaps Florida will remain a retirement mecca. Even people who have to sleep outside are unlikely to freeze here. Although the chances of being swallowed whole by a giant snake are increasing.
[X-POSTED at Rumproast]