BBBS, The Economy, and How To Defuckulate Ourselves. Part 1.

Well, Kittens and Kits, it's your not-so-humble favorite cat, returning to guide you on this meandering journey for self-improvement.

I shall, at a later date, happily provide you with dissemblings a-plenty about my wild roving between last August and the present. But something is weighing quite heavily on my mind, so I figured I'd start there.

I don't want this blog to transform into a political rant, or to be a mopey bitch whilst bringing you news of how to edu-ma-cate yourselves on a shoestring budget. However, I have been reading a lot of depressing news as of late.

Add that to a sudden increase in costs with out similar increase in wage, and you can understand my frustration. I am certain many of you suffer likewise.

So we are pissed, and the people in charge are pissed that we are pissed.

It's a goddamned mess, my kittens. A whole heap of it.

I was reading this article, and it got me to thinking. We are risk-adverse. We are terrified taking chances.

I want to address this, because the economy affects everything. If you are too poor to eat right, well, I guess it's noodles and cheeseburgers. Doubly true if you are working 55-70 hours a week. Goodbye weight loss, hello diabetes. We are being told to take risks as if things are abundant while being forced to live a world of contrived scarcity.

So anyway, take a look at that wonderful article. I'm going to pick it apart, give my 2 cents, and then offer some solutions off the top of my noggin. That's how I roll.

Ok, let's start with a basic premise. The NYT is saying we should be worried about this current generation not trying to become mobile and taking those entrepreneurial risks that made this country great. No cars, no bikes, no business ventures. That the stagnation "is the Occupy movement we should really be worried about."

OK, with all due respect, fuck you and fuck your face, already. We haven't gotten 4 shitty paragraphs in and you are leveling your bourgeois snark at the occupy movement. Todd Buchholz and his wife seem to think that the lack of a can-do spirit of Americana is preventing us from making it. Why, you silly goose GEN-OCs, if you only rolled up your sleeves and packed your car for brighter pastures, you could make it big in this big bold world.

By the seven-headed Dinosaur Christ. I don't have enough words to explain how utterly moronic that is. This isn't the goddamn 1920s. I am writing this on Written? Kitten! And you better thank the universe for that little guy keeping me from flipping a table.

OK, so, let's start with your Grapes of Wrath analogy.

I know, we aren't getting meaty yet, but I want to break this up. So we'll start light.

The book is a real downer, Tom. Starvation, Violence, Murder. Seriously dude, I know the last time you read it was in high school, but maybe you forgot how crapsack a world he creates. At the end a man is so starved that he must be breastfed for nourishment. Yeah, that's inspiring, you fuckwad. Shit, it's John "fuck-hope-with-crowbar" Steinbeck, for chrissake!

So, In order to get across country, you'll need transportation and food. We'll assume a car for this analogy. Traveling by plane, train, bike, or thumb has it's own problems.

I have a beat-up Taurus that gets 20 miles to the gallon with a stiff tailwind. Assuming I am traveling from Oklahoma to Cali, a trip of 1447 miles, I would use 72 gallons of gas. That's 300 bucks. Food, for 2 days, will cost you only a 20 bucks or so if you stick to PB&J (though I shudder at the syrupy state of the J after 10 hours in a hot car). This assumes 10 hours of driving a day. This will also assume that you don't rent a room to sleep in. And you can fit all your shit into a 2 or 4 door car.

So a move across the country is about 325 bucks. Not too bad. Why, that's a week of work for some, and 2 weeks for anyone on minimum wage. But what other obstacles are there? What other costs? believe me, my dearest dears, there are many. Is it really as easy as packing your shit into your car and heading out? And what about the fact that gas was 17c a gallon in 1930s, which equals about $2.86 in 2012, while we pay over $4 a gallon now?

Stay tuned, my kittlin's, for our journey to navigate the BBBS (baby-boomer bullshit) returns later.