The Present Is Bleak

Processed cheese. Melted cheese product. De-mineralized water. Sodium-free salt. Flavored water.

We live in a world that sells us shit that used to be good for us, but mechanized and industrialized and boosted with additives that will kill most of us.

And the masses buy and buy, more than ever before, despite our being smack-dab in the middle of the longest and most costly recession mankind has ever known. Then again, recessions didn't exist before capitalism, so either it will get worse, or that will kill us, too.

But the U.S. have announced their economy has progressed by 1.9% in the first half of 2011 - technically not a recession, which means ''step backwards'', but it has progressed so little - and with 20 million people receiving unemployment cheques (which will expire soon) counting in that number, once those people run out, it'll get even worse.

And yet there was more money spent in the first half of the year than in any 6-month period ever, with the notable exception of that time-frame between 1998 and 2000.

And through the magic of Ebay, I feel I'm contributing more to the American economy than most Americans... although the amount I put in doesn't even equate one person ''sending'' their savings to Mexican drug lords. Now those people have Purchasing Power - and that's why I've always preached that a sales tax-based system will always be better than an income tax-based one, because even the dirty money gets taxed and put back in the system right away.

But I digress, as usual. Call me Digressy High.