song of the week

smile like you mean it – the killers

this video is less than quality, but it was all i could find on youtube

song of the week

this more adequately would go under a post ‘video of the week’.  yes… the song is good, but the video is absolutely amazing.             I am not copying P.W. Antilla, for in fact, I showed it to him first a few months back ;)  But here it is:

life in technicolor ii – coldplay

song of the week

fix you – coldplay

 

song of the week

a lack of color – death cab for cutie

 

You think the US has a bad economy? It’s really not that bad!

Before you read any further, I would like to say that I am saddened by the current economy in the US. Yes it is sad that people are losing jobs, and that people are having to go to food banks and homeless shelters. I am so sorry for those who have lost their 401k’s or who have lost great numbers of their retirement, or who have been cheated out of money by investors. Again, don’t get me wrong, I feel very blessed to be getting an education and to have a place to live. However, what we are facing here in the US really isn’t that bad, and it could be so much worse!

Zimbabwe is a place that is close to my heart. My uncle and his family (wife and kids) lived there for many years, my uncle lived there for over 40 years and he and his family are Zimbabwean citizens. My grandma also lived there for many years as well. I lived in two countries which bordered Zimbabwe, so what happens there matters to me.

10 years ago, Zimbabwe was thriving as a country. It was known as “the bread basket of Africa.” The reason for this is because it was supplying enough food for itself and many other countries in Africa. Now, ten years later, the country has gone done the tubes thanks to a greedy leader named Robert Mugabe.

The economy there is now the worst in the world. Many of its statistics rank amongst the worst in the world.

So we have an unemployment rate of 7.6% right now here in the U.S. Statistically speaking that is equal to 11,000,000 of Americans that can work. That is a lot of people!

However, the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is 94%! Apply that to the amount of Americans that can work and you come up with 145 million people. That is hard to imagine! Can you imagine 145 million Americans without a job?

Zimbabwe has roughly a population of 12.8million people. Using the statistics of Americans that can work, that would mean 6.4million Zimbabweans can work. With an unemployment rate of 94% that means that 6,016,000 Zimbabweans are without a job.

Zimbabwe’s population is 4% of America’s yet the unemployed people of Zimbabwe already represent half of our unemployed people in the US. Remember, that would be 145 million Americans without a job.

Another big number to look at is the inflation rate in Zimbabwe. 6 months ago it was at 231,000,000 %, and their economy has done nothing but fall apart since then. Right now the inflation rate in the US is at roughly 4%. that is 1/58000000th of Zimbabwe’s.

Yes the American economy is bad compared to what it has been before. But we are no where near as bad as it could be. The Average American has food on the table. The average Zimbabwean gets a meal once every four days. If that isn’t sobering I don’t know what is.

In these times of a bad economy who can we turn to for hope? Where does your allegiance lie?