On top of all that, throw in the local TV news reporters with their perfect teeth, slicked-back blonde hair and make-up caked on thick to cover their wrinkles, who think they are all hot stuff because they report for some local in-the-sticks TV station, and you have a real life horror-show on the Comedy Channel.
But the real-life horrors in today's America don't end there. Today's American is poor, both monetarily and in common sense. In many ways, these two are related. The Japanese save money. Americans don't. Of course it is common sense to save money. The Japanese save for all the right reasons, but they also save money for special reasons. It's those special, just-in-case reasons for which the Japanese would always have a nest egg saved.
When I went to the United States this time, I visited a good friend. I'd consider him one of my best friends. I am glad I could visit his place because then I could truly see for myself just how far America has gone downhill. Even though he had little, he was gracious enough to let me stay with him. I was thankful for this as, without his help, I had no way to get around and knew no one else who could help me to do so. But within two minutes of entering his abode, I could see just how poor Middle America has become.
In Japan, a guest is a guest. A guest in your home - especially one from far away - is to be treated with reverence. It would be completely unthinkable to ask a guest for money (although it is also common sense, in Japan, for the guest to offer to pay - an offer which will certainly be refused).
I know it used to be this way in America. In Japan, honor and respect are much more valuable than money. If you had a guest come to stay in your house in Japan and you had no money, you would borrow money - you would do something - in order to treat your guest with the utmost respect. It is absolutely unheard of to ask a guest for money.
It reminds me of that Chevy Chase movie Vegas Vacation where he and his family visit his wife's broke family and the brother-in-law says to Chevy, "Would you like a cold one?"
Chevy answers, "Sure!"
To which the brother-in-law replies, "Me too. Got any money?"
That was a joke in a movie released in 1997. It's not a joke any more in today's America.
From what I've seen, the average 30-year-old college-educated guy in America today is getting paid less than I was paid in 1975 as a part-time commission salesman at Sears Roebuck department store. I have friends who tell me that they are getting six or eight dollars an hour right now. At 40 hours a week, that works out to about $320, less taxes. In 1975 I was getting paid over $1,000 per month after taxes - and those were 1975 dollars. I'm no economist, but it sure comes as no surprise that today's young American has no money left to save after receiving this paltry income.
When my friend took me around, driving through the city and out to Camp Casey, we stopped at a gasoline stand. Of course I volunteered to pay. He was complaining about the sudden rise in the price of gasoline. Here was where I witnessed just another small item that made me sure that America is headed for third world status, if it is not already there. He was complaining about gasoline at $3 a gallon. I hear that in Atlanta, after Hurricane Katrina, it hit $6 a gallon.
I shook my head and thought, When are these crazy people going to wake up? Apparently it's good that the USA invaded Iraq to secure oil. Japan has no natural resources. America does. America even has its own oil. Guess what? About seven years ago, the price for a liter of gasoline in Japan was 100 yen (3.78 liters per gallon). The price today is about 125 yen per liter. That means today's price for a gallon of gasoline in Japan, a nation that produces no oil, is about $4.58 - an increase of 25% over the last seven years. Now, it doesn't take much of a math whiz to figure out that if the prices at the pumps in America - a nation that produces oil - have doubled in the last few years, there's something strange going on. How is it possible that Japan's gasoline prices have just barely inched up over these past few years, at about 3% per year, while USA prices have doubled or more?
Is it just the Iraq war? Or is it the decline of the dollar? Probably a bit of both, but you can definitely be sure of one thing, it is the US government taking advantage of you - regardless of whether you are a Democrat or Republican. And the average American still cheers on the federal monster.
After filling up, we headed back onto the freeway. I looked at the scenery and had a feeling of de'jà vu. I thought to myself, Hey! I've seen this before. Now where did I see it? Then it came back to me: The road leading to Crawford looked an awful lot like the road leading from Phuket International Airport towards Patong Beach - a nice place, but definitely not a road leading through a world power.
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