Lately I've been going back and listening to speeches given by Barack Obama when he was a Presidential candidate, in particular, his nomination speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention, his victory speech on election night and his Inauguration speech. Likewise, I've been re-reading the souvenir issues of Time, Newsweek, US News, People and others I collected after the election and inauguration. The media was gushing, waxing poetic about how Obama would change the world and that from hereon in, nothing would be the same, and how different things would be now. We'd live in a more peaceful and harmonious post-racial society where anyone could dream of being anything they wanted to be when they grew up...and so on. Obama - and the media - spoke of a dreamed of new world where our sagging economy would roar back to life, jobs would be plentiful, prosperity would reign once again, and the US would once again lead the world on many fronts. It was ambitious, it was exciting, it was.....well......here we are, two years later, and we know darn well it was all very unrealistic expectations we heaped on Obama, to where many of us are feeling somewhat disappointed at the lack of substantial change that has come about since he took office. I suppose we had all kinds of lofty ideals about an Obama Presidency, after the hellish 8 years of the Bush/Cheney misadventures. We dreamed of a progressive society where everyone would be on a more egalitarian financial footing. No more rewards to fat cats who mishandled the economy and sent it reeling into near collapse. Well, we all know now that they got huge bonuses and recently, continued Bush era tax cuts that will continue to make them filthy rich. Trickle down economics is still the law of the land even though we've had several generations of it that has failed the middle class and enriched the wealthy. Cold hard reality has hit us in the face and we've seen that the Democratic Party, when push comes to shove, would rather cower in the face of Republican threats than stand up and fight for what it believes in. Republicans have mastered the art of fearmongering as a political tool to get their way, and it sucks that Democrats fall for it each and every time. It makes them look weak and spineless and an easy target for Republicans to bully around with their tactics.
Tomorrow night, the President gives his annual State of the Union address. I know that the primary focus of it is going to be jobs, jobs, jobs, because that's what we need right now in this time of economic downturn, jobs. What the President does not seem to realize is that what is strangling our economy is the fact that employers are forced to pay higher and higher amounts for health insurance for their employees. It's crushing American business. Most employers have gone with high deductible, high co-pay plans that put the onus of paying the majority of one's medical bills out of pocket, but honestly, who can afford that in a time of stagnant wages? I'm entering my third year with no raise, not even cost-of-living. I'm in a career field that is very much dependent on jobs and taxpayers. Ohio's recession is even deeper than the nation's and our governor and legislature, who are all Republicans, have to balance the state budget which is facing an $8 billion deficit. My fear is that libraries are going to take another large hit financially. The library where I work has already been hit with a loss of $3 million in state funding, and it could get worse. If they cut our state support by 50%, which is what they were threatening last year until library activists spoke up in enormous numbers, then we could be looking at layoffs instead of downsizing by attrition, which is what we've been doing in this downturned economy. We've been told that many of the jobs that were left vacant will never again be filled, that our staff will permanently be downsized from what it was before the economy tanked. This means that things like sick leave and vacation are going to be discouraged as much as possible. As it stands now, we are no longer permitted multiple weeks of vacation. We're only allowed to be off for one single week, limiting where one could go if one wanted to travel on a vacation. That means, no vacations of any distance. Vacations must be taken close to home to where people can get there and back again in the space of a week and still have time to relax a bit. Extended sick leaves are discouraged, too, unless absolutely necessary. It's a shame it's come to this, but.....we just can't afford to have people off for very long. As a result, people come to work sick instead of staying home like they should because they don't want anyone complaining about them staying home and taking a day off they rightfully should be able to. We're an aging staff and we don't mend like we once did, but we all feel guilty if we take a sick day, so we all come in to work feeling half baked and probably spreading germs around to where everyone ends up sick after a while. It becomes tough to stay well sometimes, especially given the brutal cold and heavy snows we've had all winter. But I guess this is the New Normal. All I can say is that I am so looking forward to retirement in 2013. I'm already busy counting down toward that day I retire for good.
Lately I've been going back and listening to speeches given by Barack Obama when he was a Presidential candidate, in particular, his nomination speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention, his victory speech on election night and his Inauguration speech. Likewise, I've been re-reading the souvenir issues of Time, Newsweek, US News, People and others I collected after the election and inauguration. The media was gushing, waxing poetic about how Obama would change the world and that from hereon in, nothing would be the same, and how different things would be now. We'd live in a more peaceful and harmonious post-racial society where anyone could dream of being anything they wanted to be when they grew up...and so on. Obama - and the media - spoke of a dreamed of new world where our sagging economy would roar back to life, jobs would be plentiful, prosperity would reign once again, and the US would once again lead the world on many fronts. It was ambitious, it was exciting, it was.....well......here we are, two years later, and we know darn well it was all very unrealistic expectations we heaped on Obama, to where many of us are feeling somewhat disappointed at the lack of substantial change that has come about since he took office. I suppose we had all kinds of lofty ideals about an Obama Presidency, after the hellish 8 years of the Bush/Cheney misadventures. We dreamed of a progressive society where everyone would be on a more egalitarian financial footing. No more rewards to fat cats who mishandled the economy and sent it reeling into near collapse. Well, we all know now that they got huge bonuses and recently, continued Bush era tax cuts that will continue to make them filthy rich. Trickle down economics is still the law of the land even though we've had several generations of it that has failed the middle class and enriched the wealthy. Cold hard reality has hit us in the face and we've seen that the Democratic Party, when push comes to shove, would rather cower in the face of Republican threats than stand up and fight for what it believes in. Republicans have mastered the art of fearmongering as a political tool to get their way, and it sucks that Democrats fall for it each and every time. It makes them look weak and spineless and an easy target for Republicans to bully around with their tactics.
Tomorrow night, the President gives his annual State of the Union address. I know that the primary focus of it is going to be jobs, jobs, jobs, because that's what we need right now in this time of economic downturn, jobs. What the President does not seem to realize is that what is strangling our economy is the fact that employers are forced to pay higher and higher amounts for health insurance for their employees. It's crushing American business. Most employers have gone with high deductible, high co-pay plans that put the onus of paying the majority of one's medical bills out of pocket, but honestly, who can afford that in a time of stagnant wages? I'm entering my third year with no raise, not even cost-of-living. I'm in a career field that is very much dependent on jobs and taxpayers. Ohio's recession is even deeper than the nation's and our governor and legislature, who are all Republicans, have to balance the state budget which is facing an $8 billion deficit. My fear is that libraries are going to take another large hit financially. The library where I work has already been hit with a loss of $3 million in state funding, and it could get worse. If they cut our state support by 50%, which is what they were threatening last year until library activists spoke up in enormous numbers, then we could be looking at layoffs instead of downsizing by attrition, which is what we've been doing in this downturned economy. We've been told that many of the jobs that were left vacant will never again be filled, that our staff will permanently be downsized from what it was before the economy tanked. This means that things like sick leave and vacation are going to be discouraged as much as possible. As it stands now, we are no longer permitted multiple weeks of vacation. We're only allowed to be off for one single week, limiting where one could go if one wanted to travel on a vacation. That means, no vacations of any distance. Vacations must be taken close to home to where people can get there and back again in the space of a week and still have time to relax a bit. Extended sick leaves are discouraged, too, unless absolutely necessary. It's a shame it's come to this, but.....we just can't afford to have people off for very long. As a result, people come to work sick instead of staying home like they should because they don't want anyone complaining about them staying home and taking a day off they rightfully should be able to. We're an aging staff and we don't mend like we once did, but we all feel guilty if we take a sick day, so we all come in to work feeling half baked and probably spreading germs around to where everyone ends up sick after a while. It becomes tough to stay well sometimes, especially given the brutal cold and heavy snows we've had all winter. But I guess this is the New Normal. All I can say is that I am so looking forward to retirement in 2013. I'm already busy counting down toward that day I retire for good.
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