inquiringminds

Today is Halloween. I remember being excited as a child even though I only went trick or treating a few times. I guess I just like holidays even though many people don’t really view Halloween as a holiday. Halloween is more like free candy day for children. I have seen teenagers some as old as nineteen go trick or treating with no costume and just a back pack expecting to get free candy just for showing up at your front door. I mean many children think that trick or treating is for everyone but shouldn’t there be some kind of age restrictions now. For instance when you can legally drive or vote you should stop going trick or treating on Halloween. Halloween sure has changed. I can’t remember any horror movies topping Halloween. I think that the Blair Witch Project was okay but horror movies that are made lately just do not live up to the classic horror films of the past. There is usually too much violence or too much graphic content in horror movies today. My favorite character from Halloween is Doctor Sam Loomis, Michael Myers shrink, he was in Halloween 1,2, 4,5, and 6 and might’ve been in others I am not sure. He just was so real in his portrayal of the character. Now horror movies come and go, there are no classics to be had at all. What do you all think of Halloween as it is now?

As the George W. Bush eight years draw to a close we are again being anew with a new president soon. Whether it is Barack Obama  or John McCain that is elected we cannot imagine what the next four years will bring for the United States of America. I mean in the last eight years, we have had 9/11 which brought enormous suffering to our country. We have two wars one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan. There is a horrible genocide taking place in Darfur. The economy is awful, people cannot afford to pay their bills, homes are being foreclosed on and companies and banks are going belly up. I am amazed at how so much can happen in eight years. I mean in a soap opera a woman can be pregnant for two years and finally have a baby and in the span of eight years our whole country has change so dramatically. I mean in the last years civil rights especially for homosexuals and minorities has dramatically improved. There is still a long road to go but progress has been made that is for sure. I do not know what the next four years will bring. I hope that the country finally has made progress economically and energy wise. I mean it has been a tough eight years for all of us that we all know well. What do you think the next four years will bring? What do you hope they will bring? How would you change the country to make it better?

We all know that Jennifer Hudson’s family tragedy has become headline news. Why are people shot every single day in this country? It is sad that this country is so violent. In the early 1900’s you would never see pregnant women, children, or women being murdered but now it is happening all over the country. Why has our country become so violent? I saw on the news the other day that a pregnant woman was stabbed to death and left to die in her home. We also saw Anne Pressly a tv anchor from Arkansas die from a beating that she took in her home. Caylee Anthony is presumed dead and all the evidence points to her mother Casey being her killer. Why are these crimes happening? I read that Chicago has over  four hundred murders a year, that is a lot. I feel so bad for Jennifer Hudson and her sister Julia. I mean I cannot imagine what Julia is going through with her mother, brother, and son being murdered. Even being a celebrity’s relative cannot keep you safe. What do you think should be done to reduce violence, especially violence towards children in our country?

Okay, we have all heard that this election hinges on catering to middle class voters. My question to every one is, what is the definition of middle class now? I mean is there an income minimum? I mean you can earn 70,000 a year and be up to your neck in debt and have no savings. Now are you middle class? I ask because I always thought that people who made  at least 50,000 as a household was middle class but I do not think that, that is the case any more. I mean it is hard to survive on a household income of $50,000 right now. Rents can be so expensive, especially a two or three bedroom apartment. Credit card interest rates are high and the standard cost of living has not been adjusted to change with the economic problems that the United States has been facing. I think middle class and upper class have changed because even if you were given a million dollars, you could not survive for the rest of your life. Being a millionaire isn’t even rich, eventually you will end up needing to work. My question is what is your definition of middle class and rich?

Would you ever invest in stocks again? We have seen how badly Wall Street managed our money so would you ever invest in stocks again? I never invested in the stock market because that requires having extra money which I don’t have. Many people have lost a lot of money due to this down turn in the stock market. The government wants us to invest in the stock market in order to help revive the economy. Is that such a good idea? I mean isn’t that like betting the house on a last place horse? None of us can afford to gamble with our hard earned money. Yes, you will find some very cheap stocks right now but you have to really do your homework because any business can go bankrupt or go out of business at any time. I would caution anyone when investing to not invest any money in the stock market if they do not have a healthy amount of money in their savings account. What do you think about investing in the stock market at this time? Is it a good idea or should we wait and see what happens economically before investing our hard earned money?

Lately, I have been talking to many people and they say the same think savings accounts are not being invested into any more. Why is this? Because many people live paycheck to paycheck and can barely afford to cover their monthly bill payments. Usually my personal savings account has a few cents in it. The banks usually cancel and close your savings account if you do not deposit any money for six months.

When I was a kid, people actually had healthy savings accounts. Now, you are lucky if you are able to save a few hundred dollars. There is always some bill to pay for or some unexpected emergency repair that needs to be paid for. How can anyone even keep depositing money into their savings account in this economy? It is sad that the economy has negatively affected all of us this way. I saw the other day that KMart is starting layaway again.  They had stopped doing it a while ago but now they have started it up again to help boost their holiday and Christmas sales. I think we all need to have some economic relief so we can start making deposits into our savings account.

The Dow plunged again today. The Dow Industrial Average lost five hundred and fourteen points.The economy just keeps suffering. Why does this keep happening even after the 700 billion dollar bailout package has been signed? The economy is collapsing because of poor decisions made by the current administration. How are we going to recover economically when it will take months to get new financial laws and packages passed through the Congress and the House? The economy usually prospers during the holiday season due to holiday shopping. However, this holiday season many people might not shop and spend as much money due to the tough economic times. What could help the economy? I don’t know what could make a big difference right now, even a stimulus package wouldn’t do that much. Hopefully, the Dow will recover soon so Main Street can survive and thrive.

I have grown up in small towns my entire life. I have gone to both private and public school and I was home schooled also. Small towns do not have the best and most moral people in them. I mean there is a lot of racism, premarital sex, crime, and hatred in small towns. If you look at a small town versus a big city, you are going to see similar problems. Small towns have drug dealers in them as do large cities and urban areas.

Small towns are not any better in comparison. I mean all of us who live in small towns say we want to get out of our small towns because they are boring and offer very few well paying job opportunities. Where do you have to go to find well-paying job opportunities? Why the big cities after all. We need to come together as a country not be divided over which parts of the country are better and more American than others.

Today, college costs so much money. So many people come out of college with thousands of dollars in student loan debt.Why is college so expensive? I mean one college textbook can cost more than a hundred dollars depending on the subject. I mean that is literally insane. There are technology fees if you have a class that is online. I mean what does that fee even cover if you are using your own computer and Internet connection at home?

Shouldn’t there be a cap for student loans? I mean basically you are giving all of these debts to people aged 18-22 and really strapping them financially for years to come. Isn’t that basically negligent? I mean teachers pressure you to get good grades to get into college and then you are rewarded for all that hard work by having to pay huge student loan debts. I mean parents pay taxes for public schools, if your kid is in college shouldn’t that money be shifted to their college expenses, thus decreasing the overall cost of college expenses? What do you think is necessary to decrease college costs so more people can attend college.

John McCain’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin will be on SNL tonight. Tina Fey hopefully will be on SNL tonight too. McCain/Palin are using comedy to distract people from the real issues at hand. I love Tina Fey’s impression  of Sarah Palin, it always makes me laugh. However, we don’t want a VP we can laugh at, we want a VP that we can be proud of and sadly Sarah Palin isn’t as qualified as Joe Biden to be our vice president.

This election season has been going on for a year and a half. Why has it been going on that long? Because of George Bush’s policies. We wanted change so bad, I am surprised these candidates didn’t start their campaigns on Bush’s inauguration day.

Are you going to watch Sarah Palin on SNL tonight?