Which brings me to David Lazarus.  David is a business columnist that usually rights op-ed pieces.  While T.J. Simers and Bill Dwyre head the sports department, I usually turn to Lazarus when it comes to an op-ed piece in the biz section.

David Lazarus usually opines on relevant topics, but this is often accompanied with his perspective on the topic, and  I must admit I’m usually aligned with his take on the topic; whether a liberal or conservative in political slant is hard to tell, but I like to think he straddles the fence like most great political minds (although, isn’t the media always liberal, (-) Fox News of course.

Well, today I find a topic that no one can disagree with, unless that is you are part of the Restaurant Association, and more specifically the caterers. It turns out over 1.5 million tons of food a year gets thrown away by caterers, rather then passed on to those people that are homeless or food-starved, or even just hungry?  And the stats on the other side?  There are over 1.3 million children going hungry daily — and this is just in California!

The biggest impediment?  Logistics (ie. not having the means, transportation and infrastructure, to deliver the throw-aways to hungry people).  Otherwise, there does not seem to be another hurdle in this shear waste of perfectly good food – foods that vary from excess wedding functions (guess what, I drank more then I ate!?) to corporate shindigs, to A-list Hollywood parties.  Boy, sounds like good eats.  The legal constraints? None, zip, nada, etc.  Donors are even covered by law for not being responsible for the food in the event it causes any liability to another (ie. spoiled or tainted goods).  The thinking being, food banks and homeless shelters can use common judgment to differentiate what’s good from bad–kind of like the salvation army, where everything seems to be used some way in the end.

So….there is all this food, it exempts donors from any legal concerns from the state of the food, and logistics are the problem?  In this case, logistics includes the California Restaurant Association, and their state lobbyists for caterers and event planners.  I don’t know how they (the CRA) have such pull, but they don’t have to disclose to people the foods can be donated to the needy, so they must have one hell of a lobbyist. One congress women, Jenny Oropeza, has tried to help bridge this gap, but her first bill was previously shot down, as 1.3 million kids go hungry a day (not to mention adults, even if those figures are skewed for whatever reason).

The government’s solution?  A new bill which tries to slowly pick away at small changes to the existing failure of a system.  One step at a time it seems, although that is the type of gridlock in the system which just exacerbates the problem, not to mention how it is probably getting worse as our economy and unemployment rate continue to languish.

I’m sorry, if people are hungry and excess food can be delivered to those in need, call me up and I’ll drop the rations off myself.

The obvious: similar to the USA, and much of the rest of the world, the global economy is in a real state a funk.  The reality: this funk is just the tip of the iceberg, and a real societal shift is in order to revive the world from these doldrums. We are currently in this crisis due to several factors, most of which lie in big government and big businesses’ ability to make so many wrong decisions in so short a time.  Big gov. begets big biz, and vice versa.   Big businesses’ pursuit of justifying the bottom line to their shareholders by any means possible, and Big government (ie. the Bush and to a lesser extent the administrations prior) with their inept ability to control such larceny, as well as feed it.  Case in point the debacle of invading Iraq, and the ensuing largess of money spent by the government, and subsequent abuse of this money as big business and big government “rebuilt” Iraq.  Another case:  the inability of the U.S. Government to intercede in the bilking of millions of soon-to-be-homeowners, who had no business buying a home.

This drives home another important factor driving our global economy south.  As they say, “it takes two to tango.”  Citizens of the world, whether American, South African or Irish must consider their individual hand in this melt down.Whatever the cause of this global economic calamity, we are in this mess and need to right this ship before we spiral into a potential global Ice Age.   I believe an Irish lass summed it up best, speaking in relation to the frivolous over-consumption of goods (sound familiar) in their country:  “”As soon as we got a whiff of money, a lot of us ran ahead of ourselves,” said Lucey of Trinity College.  ” I think we need a period of pain and reflection. We need a period of frugality, of reality.”

We elect our government, we play into big business as we continue to buy, buy, buy “stuff”, with no thought to future  consequences; because, while we may be in a temporary lull financially, we are in store for an impending global dilemma that will make the current economic uncertainty seem trivial:  The Destruction of the Planet, and the consequence of this on the generations to come.

Does this generation want to be known as the generation that failed the world miserably?  Time to buck up, make sacrifices, conserve, preserve, and help that neighbor you were once envious of ________.

Concerning the tough road ahead, the stock market on Tuesday dropped to the lowest it’s been since the ‘so called bottom’ of the marktet on November 20, 2008.  I fell it pretty safe to assume, that the country has yet not reached the bottom, but with inauguration of the new president, I can only hope that we are near the nadir of this depression.  The last 4-8 years have clearly shown that our economic policies did not combat the evils of greed and in a large part corporate America.

A wise old friend’s father once reminded me that, similar to just about everything else, the real estate market is cyclical and what goes up must come down.  Now it seems difficult for me to understand how everyone couldn’t see this happening, but the bubble burst and many were burned.  The real estate market may have been the trigger that resulted in the current state of depression in the United States, and to a larger part the whole world, but it was by no means the impetus that resulted in the dire straights the country is currently experiencing.  Big Insurance, Big Finance, and Big Banking can all join hands amongst many other under scrutinized areas of todays economy and all share the blame at hand.

Now, back to the one person who has been asked to rectify this situation: Obama.  It would be completely ignorant to think that one man can change the world, but some expect him to do just that:  save their world.  I believe Obama hit some key points in his Inauguration Speech, that the solution didn’t rest on him or even the government, but every individual living in this country.

I would also be amiss if I didn’t publish in this post a couple of his most salient remarks,  surely several of many, many more to come – nice deviations from the norm people complacently accepted from George Bush.

Concerning Religious Views and the Economy:
“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non believers.  We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth, and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass, that the lines of tribes shall soon dissolve, that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself, and that American must plan its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”

He later explains that his term will be defined by peace and cooperation, whether Muslim or Conservative, such a fresh world view as opposed to what’s been driven in our heads in recent years.  Its seems Obama won’t prey on fear and anxiety, but on goodwill and hope.

Historical Reference to a Better G.W.:
A second quote, invoking the words of George Washington at Valley Forge, “So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how we far we have traveled.  In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.  The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was  stained with blood.  At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: ‘Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.

“With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.  Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter, and…we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

This sounds like great words from a great man.  Let’s hope the country can rise to the challenge to help prove these words true.

While not a skilled technician of the Internet or blogging in general, I know he will offer up his Tid Bits of Wisdom, which is more or less the inverse of this blog. Terry is a skilled lawyer by trade, has previosly killed for his county in Vietnam, but most importantly he care about society and would do just about anything to help this world, and especially this country, along the right path.

So, he has already begun posting, and I perused his comments to see how things were coming along. And low and behold, a very salient entry on a very important issue: Our Next President of the United States.

I don’t want to steel any thunder so here is the link: presidential vote.

People need to heed this advice, since I believe the United State’s Hegomony is not only in fast decline, but on the precipice of some very dire possibilities. War does not protect us, it only provokes threats, especially when the war is not waged on the correct enemy. There may be a war on terror, although I wouldn’t use those exact words to explain my view, but by no means can that war be won by killing innocents in foreign lands that, for the most part, are not our adversaries. Often times the best way to fix a problem is to heal it, not fight it; and we are not only fighting it, but fighting the wrong entity entirely.

Aside: On a personal note, I believe Obama to be the best hope for the future of our country. Even if Hillary is more skilled and a better stateswomen, and to a large degree I believe this, the electing of Obama will prove to the world, both allies and enemies alike, that the United States really is the home of freedom and individuality. After all, he is black and his middle name is Hussein – similar to another man (Saddam). While he was a tyrant, similar to many others with do nothing about, we hunted down and executed him in retaliation to events that were not spurned by him, but a collective group, which he may be a part of after all; in addition, while the country and its people may have wanted to be democratized, I believe this presidency couldn’t have done a more terrible job (see No End In Sight), especially since its cause to invade was based on lies and deception. Enough, read his blog.