LOW PAYING JOBS REPLACED BY MEAGER PAYING JOBS!

LOW PAYING JOBS REPLACED BY MEAGER PAYING JOBS!

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(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

I’ve written about this subject several different times…..and each time I discover something else that I’ve missed. A small nugget of statistical information, a morsel of a story on how someone else in the work-place has been exploited by an unscrupulous employer. In this case, with this story, I am amazed by those people that author statistical information through hours of work on their part as well as those undergrads who have helped in the research.

 

Each time one of these studies reaches the printed media, in this case, an article by Rick Romell in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel using information gleaned by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor Marc Levine in an October 29 edition, I wonder at how they feel about what the research, and write…..it never says…..and as far as I’m concerned, they could offer up an opinion…..in fact I would welcome such a commentary.

 

In the latest report on wages, jobs, employment, and where, as an all encompassing issue, the trend is going, the report, although interesting, shed little light on where (they thought) the trend was heading. Of course, there was reference to the downturn in 2007-2010 with regards to the nation’s economy, as well as the world’s.

 

But for me, that wasn’t good enough, I wanted the nuts and bolts of why wages have foundered since 2009 and 2010 when the financial atmosphere and unemployment begin a slow return to “normalcy”. Of course, I have my own opinion (that won’t surprise you regular readers) and we’ll get into why I think wages have lagged since about 2007.

 

I am a student of history…..not an expert, and as such, I take a slower read on why our history seems to repeat itself. I am not mired in the country’s history, I just think that we, as a people, can learn from it (history), apply some of it to our 21^st century lives…..and move on. As a people we do not need to praise or dwell on our history, or use it for some devious extraction, but to simply use history as a learning tool.

 

UNDERSTANDING THE REASONS FOR LOWER PAY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Workers have always been in a struggle with their employers and the rate of pay that they were willing to pay. The rate of pay, and workers dissatisfaction is nothing new…..except this time it seems as if consumers goods remain higher than usual. A case in point, the initial cost for breakfast…..a box Cheerio’s is $3, a gallon of milk is $3, a loaf of bread is $3, oleo is $3, and sugar is $1.50 a pound for a total initial cost of $13.50. If you’re making $13.50 at your job…..say goodbye to one hour.

 

If you got an old clunker that serves as transportation going to and from work, and round trip is 10 miles a day, and you work 5 days a week and you get 13 miles per gallon, and gas is $3.50 a gallon, say goodbye to $13.38, or wave goodbye to another hours work.

 

I could go on, but you get the point, by the end of your work week, a person making $13.50 an hour ain’t got much left…..in fact he’s going to be facing more week then paycheck. I’m retired, on a fixed income, and have a tough time making ends meet…..I simply can’t imagine how people with a family are making it in today’s work world.

 

Of course the recession which started in 2007 was nothing compared to the great world-wide depression was engulfed most of the world’s nations. Although the cause’s of that world-wide monitory catastrophe are still debated to this day, several things are crystal clear, (1) there was way too much credit that was extended to people that had absolutely no business being involved with the buy now, and pay later practice of doing business.  (2) There was some super faulty decisions and reactions to escalating unemployment (3% in 1925 to 25% in 1933). Wages of those who still had jobs fell by 42% and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was cut in half, from $103 to $55 billion, which was partly due to deflation, where prices fell 10% per year. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was passed into law in 1930 to provide revenue, to regulate commerce with foreign countries, to encourage industries of the United States, and to protect among other things, the United States worker.

 

Actually what the Smoot-Hawley Act did was to raise U.S. tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods to record levels. In so doing, the act actually discouraged incoming consumer and industrial goods and was highly counterproductive and contributed to the depth and length of the global depression. In short, and to be totally simple…..which I am, the world tightened their belts and readied themselves for a long period of serious manufacturing, importing, exporting, and the financial strength of the buying public…..around the world.

 

THE GREAT RECESSION

There are similar parallels between the 1929, and the 2007 monetary crises, unemployment, falling wages and again extending credit to people who had little chance to repay what they had purchased…..on credit that was extended to extremely poor credit risks.

 

The terms are different, like housing bubble, high-yield investments, innovative securities, and lowered credit standards. But there was the same basic problems that occurred 78 years earlier…..money got extremely tight, and in fact the federal government ended up bailing out several corporations.

 

As in 1929, today, in 2014, we have a situation where there has been major unemployment (from 4% in 2005 to over 10% by 2009) and the business community of the United States pretty much taking advantage of that situation. It has always been the way the country’s business community has rolled, it’s the great American way…..to take advantage and milk a situation for all that its worth.

 

As a nation, we’ve been there before, somehow we’ll recover…..we always have, business and industry are counting on that recovery…..hell, their already counting the profits that they’ll gather in from the current low wage for more work, and more responsibility on the job, jobs. It is extremely sad, but in my estimation, the truth.

 

Minimum wage, low wage, intolerable jobs and living conditions, their part and parcel of America’s economy in 2014, it always has, and always will be. We individually or collectively are completely incapable of changing the proliferation of low paying jobs that are hitting the job market today. Business has down-sized because of the power of the buying public, or have taken their trade overseas, and import their products back to the U.S. to sell to us at what we feel is great reduced pricing. Ha, ha, instead of paying workers to make a screw-driver here in the U.S. $16 an hour, the pay some Bangladesh .50 cent to do the same job.

 

There will never be equal pay for equal work, or an honest living wage, or a raise in the U.S. minimum  wage that people can live comfortably with until……….?

HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

ANOTHER HOSE JOB?

ANOTHER HOSE JOB?

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(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

Do consumers win when gasoline prices fall at the pump…..I’m not sure, pretty much because of those nasty gas taxes that are tacked onto the price of a gallon of gas. You see the way that I look at taxation is kind of a multi-layered situation. Whether you agree or disagree with the amount of taxes that we pay, or how those tax dollars are spent…..we all benefit to varying degrees on what is offered from our tax dollars.

 

Taxing gasoline per gallon has been going on in the United States since 1919, when Oregon begins a .5 cent per gallon tax. By 1939 every state in the union as well as the District of Columbia had introduced a tax on the gasoline that was sold. Today there are federal, state and local taxes that are generated from the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel. Although the tax is not a panacea as was originally thought, in 2013 the federal tax levy raised almost $30 billion dollars…..the tax was last raised in 1993.

 

At the federal level the fuel tax revenue is used, about 60% for highway and bridge construction, while the remaining 40% goes to earmarked programs. However there is revenue from other taxes that are used for the country’s transportation programs.

 

There are rumblings by some on Capitol Hill that a raise in the fuel tax is necessary to sustain the country’s transportation infrastructure. The National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, (NSTIFC) (government has a committee or commission for everything) issued a detailed report in February of 2009.

 

An increased cost of fuel (per gallon) would also encourage less consumption by U.S. drivers, and of course there is a growing fiscal and national security concern that America’s dependence on foreign oil imports must be blighted. The United States spent nearly $470 billion dollars for foreign oil imports in 2013.

 

WHY GAS PRICES RISE MORE THEN THEY FALL

The quick answer is “because they can,” we as consumers have very little control over how the gasoline pricing structure goes. As consumers we are a fickle bunch, we’ll go by a gas station, see the price is at $3.49.9 a gallon…..down from $3.55.9 the day before and exclaim, “wow, that’s a pretty good price for a gallon of gas.”

 

When the economy is down, when there’s an uptick in unemployment, people tend not to travel as much, they schedule their trips to take advantage of accomplishing several errands during the same trip. When people are flush, when the economy is going great guns, people might take an entire week-end to accomplish those same errands, and make several trips.

 

Gas prices are based on the price of a barrel of crude oil as well as on a daily basis, based off buyers and sellers of physical and futures contracts (actual delivery for a set price). Geopolitical events also play a huge role, as can the weather in the pricing of a gallon of gasoline.

 

Seldom do I write one of these things (blogs) when I don’t discover why it is that as a species, we need to be protected from…..ourselves, and the gasoline situation is no different. I am a firm believer that we don’t see things in the long term, rather when the price of beef might drop by a quarter a pound, we simply buy a 3 pound roast and save .75 cents…..and don’t buy 50 pounds of meat and save $12.50.

 

The sale of gasoline to consumers throughout the world is a very large scam, where billions are made every day. As a people we are running low on reserves of crude oil, of that I am positive, fossil fuel is unrenewable…..so if you got one 55 gallon barrel of it, once the barrels empty it’s gone forever.

 

THERE ACTUALLY IS COMPLICITY BETWEEN THE CRUDE PEOPLE AND ROAD BUILDERS

Did you ever wonder why the U.S. Transportation Department is always approving new and improved roadways while leaving thousands and thousands of miles of ill-repaired roads left for us to travel every day of the week? Well I did…..and have.

 

America’s old, decaying surface roads (inner-city) are in super ill repair…..where some pot holes are big enough to swallow those cute little economy cars whole. The shape of the country’s road system…..(as a whole) is in sorry repair…..and needs to be addressed.

 

Roadways in poor repair in the U.S. are a significant drag on the economy, last year clogged and congested travel cost Americans an estimated $124 billion in lost time, wasted fuel and higher business costs. There are those who feel that a massive public infrastructure investment is the best hope for a slowly recovering economy. Attached to this infrastructure investment would be a jump start the stagnant wage doldrums.

 

Don’t let these gasoline prices fool you, there only going to go so low…..and they’ll never, ever be as low as when I was going to high school. Hell, in 1961 I could take a girl to a movie, then to A&W for a burger on $5 bucks, and still have money left. The price of gasoline in 1961…..31 cents a gallon, a movie, .50 cents a ticket, popcorn .10 cents, and two burgers fries and a coke…..$2. Happy days huh.

 

Sadly those days are gone, and we’ve been adjusting to the world’s new ways for several decades now, I say “several decades,” because just when we kind of settle in on some new dictated ways…..those powers that be slip in a few more changes that we gotta deal with.

 

Watch and wait people, near the end of the crude oil supply, those petroleum people will simply shift gears and present us with some alternative way to power our cars and trucks…..and it’ll only cost half your weekly paycheck.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

ATHLETICS AND EDUCATIONAL PROCESS IN THE UNITED STATES

ATHLETICS AND EDUCATIONAL PROCESS IN THE UNITED STATES

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I knew a guy, a football player when I was in high school that was great, he was a monster for his time, (1960) 6’-5”, 235 pound tight end. He could run, had great hands and was going to the University of Michigan to further both his academics as well as his athletic horizons. Luckily for him he committed to academics, because in practice in his freshman year he ended up blowing his knee out and never played a varsity down, or was he able to play a single down on the professional level. But he got himself a degree in engineering and I suppose today is enjoying retirement the same as me.

 

We are now saddled with another academic scandal involving…..what else, student athletes and adult academic and coaching adults. That’s right, you didn’t really think that the kids, the student athletes that were involved, initiated such nonsense did you?

 

It’s like they say, “if you take the adults and parents out of Little League and Pop Warner football, and just let the kids play, everything would be just fine.” And there’s a lot to be said about that statement. Adult meddling with their kid’s extracurricular activity starts almost before their out of their bassinette. 

 

But in America today, the vile activity of cheating has taken on a whole new effort, it not only touches athletics, but academia collaborated cheating on test scores, and to a lesser extent gambling…..only because gambling is more or less condoned by mostly everybody…..didn’t you ever see as kind of strange the way odds are published on different school’s football, or basketball games?

 

DIFFERENCES IN CHEATING

An assistant registrar changed more than 500 student’s grades for in over 2,500 illegal transactions, charging students hundreds of dollars per transaction. The story broke when a young woman presented herself as a graduate of Southern University, but there was no record of her obtaining a degree. It was later determined that several other students earned fake Bachelors and Masters Degrees and teaching certificates and teaching degrees.

 

Fuqua School of Business in Chappell Hill discovered that 34 1^st year students of the Master of Business program collaborated on a take-home exam. The professor of the class noticed similarities on assignments, and answers on tests. Nine students were expelled, 15 others were suspended for a year, and the rest failed the class.

 

There have been point shaving scandals, booster interference, slush-fund accounts that were administered by school officials, and numerous other tricks to keep a star athlete eligible for their sports team. At least one case involved a murder of a teammate, and the coach, Baylor’s basketball coach, Dave Bliss, actually instructed his players to lie to the NCAA. The shooter, player Carlton Dotson, was sentenced to 35 years in prison, the coach was fired and the school self-imposed a one year postseason ban and loss of scholarships.

 

Parents of student athletes can also be drawn into scandal, unscrupulous boosters, administrators, and coaches have also induced a players parents with all sorts of financial gain, from cars, to trips, to free lodging and board, to free admission to games and souvenirs.

 

 

Of course players aren’t as innocent as the driven snow, as Ohio State Football player’s traded issued memorabilia for cash and tattoos!  I’ve been known to do quite a few things in my time, but I for sure would draw the line at getting a tattoo for anything…..my body is a temple.

 

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

UNC seems to have been at the cheating thing for almost two decades…..you’d think that they could have gotten their cheating talents down pat, and never would have been caught…..however. UNC is probably just the tip of the ice berg, unless they invented cheating.

 

There is no excuse for cheaters at any level, it cheapens the game, the institution and both players and administrators. The NCAA does not deter infractions of the rules that they basically established to control the activity of their members. As with anything else in today’s world, the almighty dollar bill drives what these people do, and what they ignore or sweep under the proverbial rug.

 

From the school chancellors on down to the lowest assistant coach, there needs to be a changing of the guard…..because the current guard just isn’t working, these people are inept at what they are supposed to be doing.

 

The University of North Carolina, which has allegedly been getting away with ignoring the rules of operation for eighteen or so years will undoubtedly become the poster child for of what not to do if you want to get caught. That’ll be the way some of these jokers will see the final outcome.

 

Who will suffer, not a guy like Dave Bliss, the basketball coach at Baylor, although he hasn’t coached at the college level since 2003, he’s an athletic director and basketball coach at a private prep school in Texas.

 

The institution, administration, the students, the alumni, and the players all will suffer, some merely indignation for either being involved in a program, or actually attending the school. No my friends, the dollar bill has controlled the college educational business for years and will continue to do so until we get some of these jokers out of the educational system.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE

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I never knew that by opposing gay marriage personally, that if a law somewhere was passed, or a decision rendered by a court to allow same sexes to join in a legal union, or a movement by concerned activists for the ability of two same sexed people to marry…..was an encroachment of my right. If two lesbians get married or if two men tie the knot, I was being “put upon” because of their decision. This I’ve gotta think about!

 

An opinion that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, penned by Julaine Appling sparked my interest, and pushed me to write this blog almost in rebuke to what Ms Appling had to say. She cited a decision by the United States Supreme Court which allows same sex marriages in Wisconsin and the admission by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker that “the fight to preserve Wisconsin’s Marriage Protection Amendment is over.”

 

Ms Appling admitted that the “fight (opposing gay marriage) may be over for now; however it may be just the beginning because children really do matter for Wisconsin’s future.” I’m not too sure where the lady is coming from, does she mean that there are thousands of kids in the state who are living with two mommies or two daddies, and that atmosphere is a disruptive factor to the children? If so…..I had no idea that there were that many kids like that (either no dads or no moms).

 

She continues that the Supreme Court has stripped Wisconsinites of their ability to protect marriages…..again I don’t get it. Just because some court rules that gays can marry, how does that action impact me, I won’t marry a gay guy and I sure as hell won’t marry a lesbian, so exactly how have my rights changed?

 

MARRIAGE WASN’T INVENTED BY THE UNITED STATES

Well “la-de-da,” like I didn’t know that, I however don’t think that the act was invented by Neanderthals…..well now wait a minute, maybe there was an exchanging of clubs or something when a man and woman decided to live together.

 

Of course Ms Appling, Wisconsin didn’t invent marriage, nor did the United States…..nor did the churches; I think it evolved from man’s need to consummate one of the most important unions that humans enter into. It’s for sure more important than buying a house or automobile…..well maybe an automobile is a bit more important than a marriage.

 

I have never…..repeat “never” entertained any thoughts of marrying a dude, that thought is repugnant to me…..anyways I love most women way too much to waste myself on another man. I do however have men friends…..but unlike women who have friends, and they kiss hello and goodbye, the men friends that I’ve had don’t kiss, although we hug…..does that make me gay?

 

Does it sound like I’m putting a comic spin on this issue, well I hope so, cause I do not think that people like Julaine Appling have a clue about what they are talking about. For me and mine, we really disdain the argument against gay marriage, for us it’s a non issue, and a damn expensive way for our elected officials to waste their time and our tax dollars.

 

The “heel” of opposition to same sex marriage is that if children are brought into such an atmosphere, or if two women have a child through artificial fertilities (in vitro), those children have way over a 50% chance of turning out maladjusted at the least, and complete messes at the most.

 

Sorry Ms Appling but here again, your concern about compromising a child’s upbringing or quality of life is…..well, full of bull. Study after study has shown that mostly well adjusted kids have come from same sexed couples…..I don’t know how one person could get so many things wrong…..but Ms Appling, thanks to you I’m learning.

 

LET’S KNOCK THIS NON-ISSUE OFF

Okay Ms Appling, everybody has his/her right to voice an opinion, and you’ve voiced yours, the trouble with you voicing your opinion is that you base yours on antiquated, out of touch issues that are easy to disprove.

 

The question of whether same sex unions, either legal or otherwise is a sin, are unreligious are well founded, and I totally agree. However I do not think that to people of the same sex getting married endangers anything, especially a guy like me…..you see, I’m a homophobe, to see two same sexed people traveling around together as man and man, or women and women kind of makes me sad because I know how many in the world react.

 

Being queer or gay isn’t for me, like I said “I love women way too much.” For us, as a species, we need to move on--- these people are not threats to straights, in fact I’m sure that to a gay, imagining an encounter with a straight is kind of disgusting.

 

And anyways, the real problem with states accepting same sex marriages is tied to a monetary issue, big time. Health insurance and life insurance to a lesser degree has a bug in their bustle about treating same sex marriage just like they do heterosexuals. Think about it, the nightmare of either recognizing all marriages the same or creating a whole new department for gays…..money, money, money.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

CIVILIAN PROTECTION POLICY DOES NOT APPLY TO SYRIA

CIVILIAN PROTECTION POLICY DOES NOT APPLY TO SYRIA

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Idiotic, the Obama administration and the war mongering Pentagon has finally went completely over the edge, “officials say U.S. policy requiring ‘near certainty’ civilians won’t be hit does not apply to current mission against ISIL.” Talk about an edict that’ll push the U.S. to…..well, the Indian wars in the countries old west when the only good Indian was a dead Indian.

 

Who in hell is running this war anyways, and exactly how much crap can we heap on our perceived enemies, before we anger 2.8 billion Muslims, and they actually become our enemies? I have no idea who is advising the president and his cabinet, but cap whatever it is the guys drinking, I want a shot of that stuff.

 

This past January, President Obama, barred drone strikes unless there is “near certainty” that they would not cause civilian deaths. The president has been criticized for his administration’s campaign of drone strikes…..which have killed at least 2,400 people, of which many have been civilians in countries including Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

 

Now imagine if the drone strikes had been unbridled, with no restrictions, and sensitivity for civilian safety, that above figure of 2,400 would probably have either doubled or tripled, and the world would have been aghast at the deaths and injuries.

 

“The ruthless bombing from the air of civilians in unfortified centers of population…..has sickened the hearts of every civilized man and woman, and has profoundly shocked the conscience of humanity…..I am therefore addressing this urgent appeal to every government which may be engaged in hostilities publicly to affirm its determination that its armed forces shall in no event, and under no circumstances, undertake the bombardment from the air of civilian population.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1939.

 

OBLITERATION FROM THE AIR

Since the invention of air flight, man has dreamed of air supremacy, and the current bombing mission by the United States and its coalition of the willing achieved total air dominance before a single bomb was dropped, and before a single jet bomber left the tarmac…..ISIS or ISIL doesn’t have an air force, and although I don’t know for sure, I’m still pretty sure that they don’t have much in the way of ground to air defense. So for coalition forces, it’s kind of like shooting fish in a barrel.

 

In the recent wars in the Middle East, Iraq (number one and number two), Afghanistan, Libya, and now Syria, air power, and air defense has been pretty much non-existent. To my way of thinking, these air wars in the Middle East is like twenty guys in the woods driving deer to where shooters are perched on some high ground, and as the deer emerge from the forest, the hunters on the ridge pick them off one by one.

 

Near the end of World War II the United States and her allies had achieved air superiority, and of course everybody knows what happened in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, two bombs dropped within days of one another took the lives of (a minimum) of 90,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000 in Nagasaki. Of course the numbers of dead can be debated until the end of time, but when approximately 129,000 people perish, the numbers are sobering…..it’d be like taking the lives of every single Packers fan in the city of Green Bay.

There was a hatred of the Japanese for the atrocity of the attack on Pear Harbor in December of 1941, and that hatred was justified, given the casualties suffered on that Sunday morning on December 7. Without a doubt, the United States took the Japanese military, the political officials, the Emperor, Hirohito, and the civilian population to task…..but to bomb to death as many as 246,000 civilians in just two bombings seems a bit…..over the top, at least to me.

 

Between 1942 and 1945, when the allies pretty much had locked up the skies over Europe and the Pacific, air bombings took the lives of more than 500,000 civilians. What’s your point one might ask me, well gee fella, I’m damned glad you asked…..cause you know I’ve got a pat answer for you; “it seems that in every war, the good guys blend into being the bad guys, want proof, well read the statistics two lines up!

 

I DO NOT CARE WHAT GOVERNMENT SAYS

I simply do not care what the president says, or the Pentagon, or any newscaster; I do not believe that whatever threat is perceived with regards to terrorism in the Middle East coming to the United States, to me, it simply doesn’t make any sense. These terrorists (yes I believe that there are terrorists) have all that they can handle right in their own back yards; they really aren’t equipped to wage war of any consequence here in the United States.

 

Sure September 11, 2001 was a black day in the history of the United States, and the lives lost were a tragedy…..but all of lives lost were accomplished in just three attacks…..and not one life has been lost sense…..a pretty good record.

 

Yet we continue to make war against these people on their soil…..so they can’t come to America and wage a terrorist type war. It’s what the media, the president, the Pentagon, and many retired generals would have us believe…..kind of like that movie, Starship Troopers, when the enemy is a huge bug and the war will take decades to win.

 

For the United States to indiscriminately bomb targets designed as enemy strongholds with no regard for civilians is foolharded larceny, what it will accomplish will be the recruitment of terrorist membership and strengthen the resolve with regards to the mission.

 

One final point that I’d like to take issue with…..U.S. intelligence, it doesn’t matter from where it comes, the United States has a horrible track record in the intelligence gathering efforts, and if I had to bet my life on its accuracy…..I wouldn’t.   

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

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With all the crap that’s going on around the world, almost forgotten is the United States war on drugs and the legalization of pot in some states. Hell, mid-term elections are less than six weeks off and I have yet to see a candidate expound on the drug problems in their district, state, or on the federal level. They’re still drug busts…..right?

 

With an almost total lack of effort by the media to cover any activity with regards to drug enforcement, it makes one guess that maybe the drug war is over…..and the straights won. I kid, I know that our drug enforcement agencies are still hard at work, I suppose that it’s a bad time right now to report on any drug use, I guess the officials and the media are waiting for both high school and college students to get settled in, and kind of have a routine before pot parties are raided and under aged drinkers will be hassled once again.

 

I knew that Afghanistan has been the world’s major producer of opium at least since the early 1990s and experts peg this year’s crop to be of the highest ever. Of course there’s a murky connection alluded too between the C.I.A. and these poppy growing farmers. The case for these allegiances can be defined in one single word…..money.

 

“The beginning of the withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Forces from Afghanistan, the political instability in the country and a number of other factors make it a probability that the situation may drastically deteriorate in the near future.” This is a quote from Viktor Ivanov, Director of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service at a conference of anti-drug agencies from Caspian states.

 

According to the Russian official, drug production in Afghanistan has now reached “a historic high,” with more than 250,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of opium poppy, 150,000 acres that have been cultivated for cannabis, and Viktor Ivanov added that as many as 4,000,000 Afghans are involved in the illegal drug industry in the country.

 

Ivanov labeled Afghanistan as a “direct threat to international peace and security,” as the country has recently become “a truly planetary center for drug production.” There are eight million drug addicts in Russia and over 1.5 million of them use Afghan heroin.

 

In the United States, which has a population of 318,827,000 there are an estimated 12.5 million people addicted to illegal substances. Russia with its population less than half the size of the U.S. has a per capita drug problem that exceeds the U.S.

 

 WHERE THE WORLD’S WORSE DRUG ABUSERS LIVE

People usually think that the United States would have the world’s worst drug abusers and it might lead some to figure that that would be correct if one watches the evening news, but there are actually much more severely addicted people in the world besides the U.S. in fact there are seven countries that have it bad when it comes to drug abuse.

 

As mentioned, Russia, Iran (heroin addiction), Afghanistan (heroin addiction), United States (not a producer, but among the world’s top users), Great Britain (world’s highest overdose rate, and the number one user of hard drugs, cocaine and heroin).

 

There are, in addition to the above, countries with huge numbers of abusers, France (prescription pill abuse), Brazil (Oxi, Oxidado, or rust), and Canada (runaway pot use). With the exception of both Afghanistan and Iran, these are developed countries with established drug treatment programs, and stringent controlled substance laws.  

 

Ivanov laments of the turmoil in the Ukraine and how drug traffickers have facilitated illegal drug transit through the country, thus allowing the flow of methadone into Russia. He also touches on the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States. “The political leadership of the U.S. has sanctioned me and banned me from entering the Ukraine, thus putting an end to the Russian-America working group on drugs, which actively operated for over five years and of which I was a co-chair from the Russian side,” he said.

 

“I don’t know what the motivation was, but it clearly wasn’t the interests of the American people, as Russia and the U.S. conducted large-scale joint operations to prevent shipments of cocaine from South America to the U.S.

 

DRUGS WITH HIGH POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE

I can’t say too much about drug abuse, I abused alcohol in my youth, so in a way I kind of understand why somebody might abuse a controlled substance. That said I will have to admit that I have an abiding hatred for drugs drug use, drug pushers, and drug suppliers. I think that drugs and dependency rip away at the fabric of our society.

 

I’ve used pot a handful of times, and although the high that I got was a hell-of-a lot better than getting drunk, the euphoric high wasn’t the same as alcohol, it made me paranoid, and I sure as hell didn’t need that…..plus it was illegal.

 

The list of what is called schedule 1 drugs is extensive with 150 headings and over 1000 derivatives listed. I don’t pretend to be a drug expert, and I’ve never met a drug expert, but I’ve sure met a whole host of drug users and abusers, and they mostly swear by whatever their choice of drug is.

 

I’m not sure why the United States through their sanctioning process quit cooperating with Ivanov, the Russian drug guy…..but I have an idea. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) might want to get their hands on some of the illicit for their own devious use…..like bribing, selling to pad operating expenses, and to keep entire sects of people under the oppression of abuse.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!