Regulate The "Regulars"

Regulate The "Regulars" - Hello everyone! Say, how did you like the first of altogether three presidential debates the other night? In my opinion, there was nothing presidential at all about that one- on- one confrontation. As rather alarming I would like to refer to it in more reasonable terms and as fairly ineffectual in its entire nature at best. Nothing, though reveals that widespread issue of half- heartedness in this country better than the shallow actions of its political spearheads. Clearly enough, exactly those have been making a perfect ridicule of themselves around the entire globe, and the present ominous signs are promising no improvement but rather predictably a drastic change for the worse. It does seem as if the "regulars" among the top politicians in this country needed just as much regulation based on law and order - to inadvertently quote Mr. Trump - as 75% of all US business folks. Remember, a fish always rots from the head down. I admit, I just know too little about the elite in this nation as I am not in close touch with the upper class. However, I can relate quite well to what is going on in the middle class or rather what is left of it after increasingly tethering on the brink of extinction for quite a while already. What I have been experiencing first hand regarding American work ethics, job expertise and executed quality, I just can't help finding myself caught between sheer nightmarish bewilderment and absolute disbelief. So here is my husband, a general contractor (this terminology is a typically English one and therefore completely unknown to German speakers, for instance, a crucial fact which I would like to focus on next time). In the past, he ran a medium- sized local company but finally quit after being bombarded with a myriad of most annoying and hindering regulations and additional laws alike that were basically all implemented to squeeze even more taxes out of the self- employed. As a consequence, he decided to essentially work for himself and maybe sporadically accept help by his brother and occasionally by myself. Well, these days he is drowning in repair work, and the tasks are already lining up right through December. Did you just get the small hint here? Right, this is quite obviously not about constructing or building anything new but quite contrarily about re- doing, fixing, repairing, mending, whatever you prefer to call it. Honestly, I have lost count of the many times alone this current calendar year that he has come home repeating the same old tune. Again some areal contractor - mind you, entirely self- proclaimed and autonomously established more or less overnight and without any credentials whatsoever - started another building project or maybe just showed up for the purpose of potentially remodeling or even salvaging old and run- down edifices. In fact, there is a flood out there that shows up at people's doorsteps at first, but rather sadly the vast majority performs exceedingly poorly or just runs off once they get their hands on the money so gullibly trustfully paid to them up front often leaving an unfinished mess behind. You see, this is where my husband usually debuts as the knight in shining armor once pleaded to take care of the shambles and to fix those at times strikingly monumental screw- ups which some random contractor caused. We have been to houses which should by law no longer be deemed habitable at all as badly deteriorated, incredibly dilapidated and overly hazardous the living conditions have become after alleged renovation operations carried out by unlicensed contracting men and women who still claim to know what they do. As a matter of fact, many sadly don't have the faintest clue what kind of consequences their unskilled and reckless actions bear, what is actually at stake, nor do they really care which is even worse than all the above. Without a shadow of a doubt, this so thoroughly indoctrinated mantra- like mentality, which appears to be brainwashing almost everyone here, and according to which just anything is possible, feasible and manageable, results in the absolute freedom of choice naturally being extended right into the labor sector as well. Nevertheless, primarily for the sake of steady economic growth in this country, the national market must eventually be subject to overall strict regulations throughout all US states. Of course, everyone, especially within the low income middle class, wants to save a buck or two whenever they can and thus often makes all too poor choices when it comes to picking cheap, cheaper and even the cheapest service rates to get home improvement done professionally. Anyway, this kind of mentality automatically attracts what lies on the bottom of the barrel which is mostly just crappy because in essence completely unprofessional work. Now one might indeed be tempted to maliciously comment in ways such as, "Well, you get what you pay for", would you not agree? - More next week.