82 Cheat Sheets

I would like to kill two birds with one stone. FB friend Jennifer mentioned how much she hated cheaters, as in married people cheating. That sounded like a good one. I also have become incensed about the AIG idiots and the gummint cheating us out of our hard earned money. So, if you're of a mind to, we'll talk a little about both today.

Jennifer was watching the show "Cheaters". I have never had the priveledge, but I can guess: they probably show trendy couples behaving badly, and not with each other. Big whoop. Reality is far worse, oh and trust me, those stupid shows are anything BUT reality. I have seen countless couples our age, fed up with one thing or another, call it quits but only after (gasp) flying in the face of convention and running to the arms of another. I must say that during a stressful time in our lives, I confided in someone, spilling my guts about all the stress we were under, only to be beguiled and bamboozled about my future. Nothing improper happened, but I still should have talked to Roz and not someone else. The problem I faced was the same as so many others: we had a source of stress in our lives and instead of dealing with it, I looked for an escape. I was fortunate. I feel I kept some semblance of morality throughout the experience. So many fail to even try. They look for escape through a physical relationship. It is so much easier to go to a bar, "hook up" with someone or worse, start a relationship with someone elses' partner. Roz and I had so much stress in our lives from various events, it seemed like the only way out was to get out. We still cared for one another and nothing was ever said to the contrary. Within a couple weeks, we laid everything out, talked about it and made decisions to correct the problems. One of our biggest was not focusing on us. We spent many years focused on everyone else, trying to help family and friends and rarely having any "us" time. It leads you down a path of much stress and loneliness, you forget why you are together and then everything is a problem, no matter how big or small.

We worked it out relatively easy because we knew we still cared for each other and we both knew we had gotten married for a reason. We also knew that we had kids that we WANTED, we PLANNED and we wanted to raise together. Many people we have known have had kids just to stay together and when they divorced, guess who suffered? Not the two selfish people that had to have an excuse to stay together to begin with or were too selfish to compromise, no, the kids almost always suffer. I tell you all this because I'm sure at one time or another, most of you have had stress in your marriage. Many of you have worked it out, some couldnt. Many times there IS one partner willing to work on it, but in the end it takes two. Everyone has stress in their lives, you just cant be selfish with your partner and you have to TALK. That and you cant be narrow-minded. If you cant do these simple things, you probably shouldnt have gotten married to begin with. Oh, and for the love of Pete, dont take to people-hopping unless you're single. I've seen too many of them do it. You wont get any real satisfaction out of it, only more heartbreak.

Now, my favorite kind of cheaters to hate: big business and big gummint. We all know about the idiots in office giving the idiots in "too big to fail" companies ungodly amounts of money for them to stay in business. AIG promptly paid their execs bonuses amounting to the budget of a small country. Now they are handing out more exorbitant bonuses. My question is "Why did the government not step in and say NO?" I remember them griping about it and saying they were going to make some top execs pay back a percentage of their bonuses, but it still went on. Who's to blame? Us for electing one idiot after another? Them for giving companies that cut their own throats money to stay afloat when they should have failed? The companies for having the audacity and the F*ck You attitude to pay exorbitant bonuses in a tanked economy that they created? Yes. All of the above.

What happened to the "You made your bed, now lie in it" mentality? When our small business failed(during the time gas rose to almost $4 a gallon, mind you) where the hell was my stimulus? Not to make this just about my business, it should have been about ALL small businesses. WE should have been the ones getting a hand from government, not some gargantuan company that manipulated tax laws and their books to prop themselves up until the toothpicks holding the battleship up started to break. Many small businesses shuttered their doors during that time because people couldnt afford to do much more than buy food, shelter and go to work. Hell, I didnt need billions, a paltry mil or two would have been great.

I could have paid my exec(Roz) a bonus equal to a hundred times her salary and then you could have been griping about me. Instead, we closed our doors and moved on. I have ranted several times on these behemoths that should be dead in the water. GM getting hundreds of billions so they can still claim they're "Like a Rock", AIG in its ragged Armani suits begging for a few hundred paltry billions, credit card companies that extended credit beyond the means of even Hugh Hefner getting money so they can keep issuing cards to college students who are mostly too dumb to know how to use them and the list goes on.

What to do, what to do? I know: lets take the money back, let the businesses that created the mess fail if they're going to and then LOAN the money to any small business that shows REAL and LASTING promise. Help them hire experienced workers first, from the large, failed companies. Look to existing small businesses that are strong and honest and see if they could use a boost. While we're at it, look at single parent families and lower income families not already taking assistance and see how they can be helped.

Where the Hell are checks and balances in this country? I have seen a few of the Senators and Congressmen that seem to have some sense and at least some semblance of a conscience. The problem is there just arent enough of them. Wouldnt it be something to at least have a feeling like Americans used to talk about having? What was it? Pride, Accomplishment, Righteous Might? Wouldnt it be wonderful not to have the sword of Damoclese dangling over our heads?

The world is changing and we must change with it. India is on track to become a major player economically, China will be if they can shake off the communist yoke(they already have the largest standing military) and if the EU ever gets their crap together they may well challenge the rest of the world in manufacturing. One of our biggest failings is buying vast amounts of inferior products from China and having it pushed down our throats because we wont work as cheap as they do.(yeah, I know,slave labor) Build American, buy American, employ American. Take care of your house first, then you can help others. That's what I learned from 21 years of marriage.

I am waiting for more people in "power" to raise their voices over this obvious waste of taxpayer money that's going on, but it doesnt look like enough of them will. I think maybe I should start another business and then immediately apply for stimulus money. How many of you would like to be executives at my company? I thought so. I believe there's a senator somewhere that could use a little "grease" to get the wheels turning. What the heck, if you cant beat 'em, join 'em , right?