Interesting stories showing up all over the place. In the U.S., Mitt Romney is slipping behind President Obama in the polls, while the NFL is failing miserably to keep the game of football from going down the tubes due to the lack of proper referees. Somewhere in Iran, they're possibly plotting an attack on Israel, while China has a new aircraft carrier that still isn't half the size of American ships of the same class. Did I cover everything? Nope. There are cows eating candy instead of normal feed due to higher prices, multiple shark attacks all over the world, and Torrey Smith's little brother dying.

I can't imagine what life would be like without my little brother, but i'm proud that the members of a Maryland team are supportive and family oriented. Not just through a win against the Patriots, but also with how they take care of one of their own. Torrey Smith is in good hands.

But what about our economy? Nationally? Internationally? Are we in good hands?

... Nope.

With constant fluctuation of the stock market, politicians pointing fingers at each other, threats of World War III in the Middle East, and "zombie" bees in the western United States, I can understand if people want to throw in the towel and start foraging for food in their back yard. We haven't reduced ourselves to tree hanging- feces flinging monkeys yet, but to paraphrase a few different books and quite a few famous people: "We all have to return home some time."

The United States' problem is an "easy" one. We need a good strong president to create "jobs" and then we'll be fine, right? But wait, where are we supposed to create those jobs? The sadly most accurate answer: Manufacturing. I may have touched on this before, but I had a political sciences major in college tell me recently: "Bringing manufacturing over is easy. Anybody could do it." At that point, I looked at her and said:

"Is your dream to work in a factory? Would you?"

You might have guessed, her answer was no. She wants to be a political science major. But her comprehension that people would jump at a job like that... well, it's noone's American Dream to be a factory worker. However, i'd like to point out that most people want a job. So there will be a rush for the money, IF there was money to be had.

The best people making money right now in my opinion? Plumbers. Sure, they have a crappy job (pun intended) but let's face the facts, few people know how to operate a toilet other than the handle these days. I could go as far as to say that few people know how much toilet paper to use. Plumbers get called out to fix toilets, sinks... etc. and they make a very good living by it. In a social setting though, I always cringe when a guy says he's a plumber at county fair or town event, because people treat him like he's beneath them. A lawyer for a smaller firm was spitting in one recent altercation that I witnessed. The joke was that the plumber was making more than the lawyer. He was even a good guy during the brow-beating.

I worked in landscaping in college, I did home repair, I worked at a dairy farm in high school. I worked in warehouses. I'm not saying close to ten years in relatable "blue collar" industries makes me an expert, but I do think I have a different perception on the economy. Your dream job as an insurance policy manager may net you 38K per year starting off, but you're going to have to make sacrifices to move up. That plumber I was telling you about? He's making 56K per year without trying, but he's working hard for his job regardless. You become a factory worker, I think you should be making those numbers too.

If we had more factories in the United States, we'd have more jobs. I know government jobs sound great, but remember that the larger the government, there are less people in private and corporate sectors that can pay the tax to foot those government salaries. One of the principles of our founding fathers was to SERVE the people of the country, not have the people serve the government.

Small insert: I'm aware of the environmental complications and effects that more factories would have on our country. Yet i'd like to point out that pushing our companies overseas does not accomplish a positive spin, instead we're allowing other countries to poison their own peoples (China, Three Gorges Dam) while we are losing jobs.

A perfect example of the people serving the government? Nazi Germany, Rennaisannce France, Crusades- Era England, Cold War Russia. We're not in the history books as any of those countries, nor have we been compared to them yet...

But if you want to fix the economy, the environmentalists, politicians, businessmen, and this country's people all have to get together and give a little to get a lot.

A small disclaimer of the above: I'm not a ranting freak show (never heard one before) nor am I anti-government in any way. But if I'm going to talk my way, I feel I should walk my way as well. I believe in good people, strong, diverse businesses, a guiding federal government, an open society. I want to feed the starving, yes, but give them food AND jobs. Your beliefs?