When I lived in Pittsburgh, in the late 70s, I used to date a girl who worked for Allegheny Ludlum Steel. She drove a Volkswagen and she had to park at the end of the company parking lot farthest from the entrance because she drove a foreign car. Can you imagine walking in high heels in the snow to get to your desk?

I don't really think this kind of discrimination is fair, but it does kind of give you some insight into how things have changed. We now live in a country that cannot produce clothing, shoes, furniture, and plenty of other household and personal goods for its citizens. We all know about appliances, automobiles, consumer electronics, industrial equipment and machine tools. Its all made by slave labor overseas. Only the middlemen who sell us this stuff are prospering.

So just WHAT do we produce? Agricultual products, raw materials, software, "services"? Financial products? Just what the hell IS a financial product? Do you know anyone who earns his living by making them? I know there are "valid economic reasons" for all this, but I don't care. We simply cannot continue like this much longer.