Reading this article and watching the two videos mentioned in it got me to thinking about what issues should really be important to the various presidential candidates still running. Things like why are we letting China get away with eating our lunch and the three trillion ($3,000,000,000,000) dollar elephant in the room.
The China issue reminded me of a fairly recent PBS documentary on Wal-Mart:
To understand the secret of Wal-Mart's success, Smith travels from the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to their global procurement center in Shenzhen, China, where several hundred employees work to keep the company's import pipeline running smoothly. Of Wal-Mart's 6,000 global suppliers, experts estimate that as many as 80 percent are based in China.
"Wal-Mart has a very close relationship with China," says Duke University Professor Gary Gereffi. "China is the largest exporter to the U.S. economy in virtually all consumer goods categories. Wal-Mart is the leading retailer in the U.S. economy in virtually all consumer goods categories. Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture."
Sen. John McCain, the Republican front runner, and Democratic rivals Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are alike in not addressing the central budget issue: baby boomers' retirement costs. Already, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (the main programs serving the elderly) are 44 percent of federal spending. In 2007, these programs cost $1.2 trillion, more than double all defense spending. (My emphasis added)
I don't understand why all the political talking heads on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, et al, never seem to bring these issues up. They all just go on and on about super delegates and Hillary's comparison to a frakin' Rocky movie, Obama's response to Hillary's Rocky movie comparison, stories about what a nice old lady McCain's Mom is etc., etc., ad infinitum.
If our government officials don't get focused about these issues and others, such as the growing possibility of many economically delayed boomer retirements, they may have to deal with those same boomers taking it to the streets again with a lot more life experience minus most of the booze, beer & drugs. (Please note the lack of a smiley here!)
