But I can't really deny where I'm from. Let's be honest, Idaho is about as country as it gets. Particularly Southeast Idaho. I do love living in a bigger city, though, and the fact that I was not born in ID probably saves me the Wranglers, plaid and a baseball cap gene. Country music is not really my favorite either, though I do love me some hot country men like Timmy and Keith Urban and the guys from Rascall Flatts. I've recently developed an appreciation for the classic outlaws too. Who doesn't love Cash and Willy? Seriously. And if you ever want to tell me that country music is less offensive than rap music, you should listen to some of David Allen Coe's non-publicized songs and get back to me (er...that one is nsfw. This one is funny and only slightly inappropriate tho! ;->).
Anyway. One of the country musicians I've always appreciated is Cletus T. Judd. If you don't know, he's the Weird Al of country (and I bet he hates that comparison). When I was first exposed, I heard his silly songs like Did I Shave My Back for This?, which is mild compared to some of the things that I've heard from him recently. Cletus is still silly, but he's apparently taken up politics as well. And you know, I've gotta give it to him for not mincing words about it either. Exhibit A:
And you know what? He's right. Look, I voted for Obama, and despite everything I haven't lost complete faith in him. He really did inherit a HUGE mess. And he's been looking older and older because I'm sure the stress is more than any of the rest of us could handle. But we're going on two full years of his reign and things have not and are not changing. Well, they are changing, because change is always inevitable, but if anything the economic situation has worsened. Unemployment is at 9.6 percent? That's insane, particularly considering what he had to say about unemployment while he was campaigning for the stimulus package.
There is some good news, though. Retail sales are up, and one can never complain about that. It doesn't surprise me, though. I know I'm not having any problem spending the money I do have,. but I have also had to spend some of the money I don't have, which is bad, but it's better than being charged out the wazoo for late payments and overdrafts, right? Right. The GDP is up too, and there are 27,000 new jobs available in UT this month, which means that all of the new, prominent, flashy advertising I see from local businesses is not just a coincidence.
So at least my state's economy is recovering a bit, but that's probably mostly because it wasn't hit as hard as the rest of the country. I guess I have to count that as a bonus of living in this sheltered place. UT aside, the national economic situation is still out of control. Granted, it did take us a good eight years to get into this mess, so perhaps it's too much to expect any one man to get us out of it in two. But after this year President Obama will only have two left, and he'll have to spend those ones actually making things happen if he even has a shot at re-election. And honestly, if he doesn't stop trying to please everyone in congress (and all of their various corporate supporters) and start making good on everything he promised the voters in the first place, he deserves to be voted out.
And yet, eternal optimist that I am, I can't help but be hopeful. Here's to 2011 being kinder to my 401(k).
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