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Tara Baker

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My name's Tara, I'm 28, and I live in the fabulous city of Atlanta (go Braves!) I'm a former newspaper reporter, now turned marketing assistant for a successful company in Alpharetta. As a journalist, I covered every beat possible (from crime to sports), but my primary focus was government. I c...

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One Whiney Nation

By Tara Baker

I’m sure like most people, I was a bit taken back by the comments of Sen. John McCain’s economic advisor, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, regarding the current state of our economy.

If you haven’t heard (or if you’ve been living under a rock the past couple of days), then allow me to get you up-to-date. In a nutshell, he dubbed the current recession a “mental recession,” adding further that the United States is a “nation of whiners.” Whatever pills he’s on have led him to believe that the ever-rising gas prices, corporate downsizing, and overall hike in the cost-of-living are “all in our minds.” I just have one question: where does he get his gas from?

In some way, he is correct. If all the countries on the planet were considered Earth’s children, the United States would be the most spoiled of them all. We’ve got an abundance of everything, and we think nothing of throwing out the excess. We’ve got emergency services at our beckoning call whenever we need them, not to mention the freedom that this country was built on. We’ve got clean water shooting through practically every wall in our houses, and we’re blessed to be able to fall asleep without the sound of bombs detonating in our backyards.

But to say that he was entirely correct would be nothing short of ignorant. While I hate to use the word “victim,” I can safely say that I have become one to the current “mental recession,” as my company position was downsized only a few short weeks ago (it seems like forever). Suddenly, something as crucial as an oral procedure to fix an infection in my mouth has to be put off until I can safely afford it (or until I start breaking out in cold sweats). When people are forced to put their health on the back burner in order to make ends meet, that (in my humble opinion) is cause for “whining.”

And while I’m on a roll, let me just say that my hair hasn’t been cut in over a month. Yeah. It’s all scraggly and frizzy, and no amount of serum or flat-ironing is going to change that. But can I afford a haircut? No. The bottom of my feet keep getting caught on the carpet, but can I go get a pedicure? No. My dog’s birthday is coming up. Can I afford to throw her the usual bash? No. More than that, she’s got summer allergies that have caused hotspots, and I’m forced to treat her with a measly 75 milligrams of Benadryl, as I simply cannot afford the veterinarian costs. Then again, she’s allergic to everything.

And what about the single parents out there? Lord knows it’s hard enough funding a family with two incomes, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to put food on the table with half the cash flow. On top of the usual household bills, there are diapers, meals, daycare, recreational activities, and so much more that goes into raising a child properly. You could clip as many coupons as your heart desires, and it still wouldn’t be enough. Obviously, Mr. Gramm is not the paternal type.

I was talking to my mother the other night when she has a mini-flashback to the Vietnam War. I love when she gets like that; it’s like a trip back in time for me.

“Every time there’s a war like this, this happens,” she said. “I remember when you could only buy gasoline based on the odd-even numbers of your license plate. They have got to do something.”

I’ve always understood the economy to go through phases, sort of like the weather. Last summer, Georgia was overwrought with drought, and this summer, we’re getting rained on practically every day. Hopefully my intuition is correct. Or maybe we as a nation really are imagining all this? Maybe the $4.09 per gallon really isn’t there, but by some strange coincidence, we’re all just seeing the same thing. Maybe Channel 2 Action News’ Monica Kauffman is delusional, and the 46% increase in Georgia’s unemployment rate since last year is bogus. Maybe McCain was out of his mind when he fired Gramm for uttering those ridiculous words of his.

Maybe now Gramm knows what it feels like to be downsized. Probably not.