8/28/2008

A Piece of the pie

As I cannot seem to be able to figure out how to link to another blog, I have COPIED the below text from another bloggers site. It is called, "Home on the range". You can find it, and it is always a wonderful read. The below is an essay she just wrote recently and needs to be read by every single person in this country! Even those rabid Obama supporters. It will show you and them why dividing up the pie without making it bigger ain't going to work. And so:

Yes, I lured you in here thinking you'd see a piece of home made pie, but what I have to write tonight is personal, and it pertains to the election, and the future of our great country. If you've had your fill of political blogs and the news, come back in a day or two for something lighter. But sometimes there are things I have to say, even if only I read it.

"Most Americans don’t want much. They don’t want the whole pie. There are some who do, but most Americans feel blessed just being able to thrive a little bit. But that is becoming even more out of reach. The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more." - Michelle Obama

Let's all work harder to share the wealth with our less able brothers Michelle believes, while wearing a $900 suit. I too ponder on such sentiments, usually when I've re-read Atlas Shrugged, a book perhaps meant to be historical but becoming more prophetic.

The present state of our nation, the political events, and ideals of today are so grotesquely irrational and so disturbingly true to the base points of the book, that it can't be anything else.

If any of you haven't read Atlas Shrugged it is a book written decades ago that shows what happens to the world when the men of the mind - the originators and the innovators in every line of rational endeavor - go on strike and vanish, to protest again an altruist-collectivist Society, what our generation more popularly calls "the nanny state".

There are two key passages in the book that sum it up well. The first is a statement of John Galt:
"There is one kind of man who have never been on strike in human history. Every other kind and class have stopped, when they so wished and have presented demands to the world claiming to be indispensable - except the men who have carried the world on their shoulders, have kept it alive, have endured torture as sole payment, but have never walked out on the human race. Well their turn has come. Let the world discover who they are, what they do, and what happens they they refuse to function. This is the strike of the men of the mind, Miss Tagger. This is the mind on strike."

The second passage, which explains the title of the novel is:

"Mr. Rearden, said Francisco, his voice solemnly calm, "if you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders, what you you tell him to do?"

"I. . . I don't know. what . could he do" What would you tell him?"

"To shrug".

My work has value. My mind has value. I won't do it for free. those that do that, are amateurs (coming from the Latin amator - meaning lover), not professionals. As a professional I expect to be paid. Nor will I do it to pay the rent and gas and food of those who aren't willing to put forth their own effort to the best of their own ability. A hard working person, down on their luck, I will help in many ways. I've added to the tip jar of many a hard working blogger, caught up in exploding cars, dysfunctional pets, and bad experiences with Comcast. I've helped people in my community, neighbors, suddenly and through no fault of their own, out of a job, with food and/or child care while they went to an interview; with assistance with crafting a new resume and getting them some job contacts. Helping those that actively worked to help themselves.

But do not ask me to support, through work or taxes or even my time, which has value of it's own, a class of people who only wish to take, because they feel they are owed it for breathing, for crossing the border illegally, or for being a specific race, creed or religion.

Now Mrs. Obama and her party say that the "rest of us" will have to give up a little more so there can be more for those that "don't have". I was getting a hair cut while out of town and the person cutting said she was voting for Obama because then she'd have "free day car for my kids and free health care for my kids". (she had multiple kids with various fathers I gathered from the pictures and her conversation). I replied "great. . now who is going to PAY for that day care and health care?"

She looked puzzled.

I replied "I AM. So that will mean I won't get a $50 haircut, I'll get a $11 haircut somewhere else, and less often, and forget the highlights and all the rest, I won't be able to afford it any more with the increase in my taxes. So will most of your customers. So you'll make half the money and won't have money for gas to work. But Obama will get you free health care. Good luck on the eating thing"

She failed to note the irony and as she had a pair of shears pointed at my head I felt it prudent not to expound any longer.

As this election looms, we are in a struggle between capitalism and socialism attractively packaged as "change". With someone and their supporting party, talking of controls and "sacrifices", taxes, and coercions they would impose, what arbitrary powers they would enact, what "social remedies" they would hand out, without really telling us, the American people, what groups these gains would be expropriated. What they do imply, though with their vague promises of health care, and free education and free this and free that, is clear. That is, with the help of increased taxes and more from the pockets of the working classes, their power over a nation's economy, any kind or degree of said power, rests on the basic principal of statism, the principal that the working man's life belongs to the state.

Obama talks about Change. Obama talks about freedom. Freedom in the political sense means freedom from government coercion. It does NOT mean freedom from an employer, from a landlord, freedom from the laws of supply and demand, or freedom from the laws of nature. Laws which do not guarantee prosperity to every man.

It means freedom from the coercive power of the state. Freedom to use your abilities the best you can to craft a life for yourself to the best of your ability. It means freedom to protect that which you have earned, from other people, in a manner that's true to the Constitution that founded this country. It means freedom to own a weapon responsibly. Certainly if Obama and Biden have their way, I wouldn't own a gun, making it even easier for someone to take what I have at the point of theirs, be it literal or figuratively.

The American political system was not based on "sharing the pie". It was based on a moral principal that defined what made America great; on the principal of man's inalienable right to his own life - meaning, the principal that man has the right to exist for his own sake. Not sacrificing himself or his or her family to others nor sacrificing others to himself. Social interactions are not done by handouts but by trading, men dealing with others as traders, by voluntary choices to mutual benefit.

The American economy, was not built up by "sharing". What is unique in America is we were the first to use the phrase "to make money", no other language has that phrase used in that manner, in history, men had always thought of riches as a static quality to be seized, begged inherited, shared or looted, or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to truly grasp that wealth has to be created. Created with the efforts of individuals, who improved our world through hard work, and effort and earned money from it as a byproduct.

What this "change" appears to me to be is a social system based on the "nanny state", an altruist society, with it's code of self sacrifice, rather than the building of individual wealth, the antithesis of capitalism. It is socialism, which, in all it's mutated forms, fascism, Nazism, Communism, treats us as a sacrificial animal to be plundered for the benefit of the group, the tribe, the state. The final product of which would be a country in which the best and the brightest put down their thinking caps, and let their talents languish, as they derive no personal benefit from it.

A society in which, after giving and giving, so that all have a "piece of the pie", the best and the brightest, as well as the hardest working, will finally shrug.
Posted by Brigid at 7:11 PM

Now it is me again talking, Everett. I did read Atlas Shrugged when I was 18-19 years old and sitting in a frozen Quonset hut at the bottom of the world for 7 months. At that time in my life I was NOT a very good judge nor participant in life, only a few short years had elapsed. In the intervening 50 years, I had again read the book and it is where I developed my sense of Conservatism as opposed to the Socialistic, Way Left, Nanny state contrivance that professes to be our "government"! We had best look out who we vote for this time around because if it is Obama the only "change" you are going to see besides higher taxes and more give away programs, is the few coins left in your pocket! BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!! TIFN

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bugmon sez ...

The sky is falling!! the sky is falling!

As a registered independent I love when the donkeys and the elephants scream about all the bad things that will happen if their candidate doesnt win.

But good news!

Neither one could screw things up worse than the one we had for the last 8 years!

Both of the guys running

Sam said...

Hey Bugmon, I hear ya. And this day is Labor Day, the only socialist holiday of the year! Do you know why today is Labor Day? It actually goes back before that days of labor unions and commies.

No, it was about the kids that were forces to work six days a week, 14 hours a day. On the day after Labor Day, the kids would go back to school. This was right after the Civil War.

Yes, it became a federal holiday in 1894 when some New York union leaders convinced Congress we needed a day off. At that time, people were still forces to work 14 hours days, six days a week, but the unions created career ladders with pay raises and instituted safety measures - all of which were resisted by the capitalists. It was so important that the US Department of Labor was created.

I like Labor Day and drink lots of beer and do as little as possible, and stay away from all the politics about it. I think I need another hotdog!

But the reason why Obama's message resounds a little today - although not so much with blue collar workers, interestingly - is because workers are losing money compared to 8 years ago. Plain and simple, jobs pay less as costs, insurance, and taxes go up.

The Republican theory that giving the rich people a tax break would trickle down and raise all parts of the economy "like a rising tide" obviously never worked, one of the failures of true Reaganism. Basically, the common worker was shafted.

There again, I never expected a hand-out from anyone, and I can see your point there. Oh well, I'll be helping out our local Food Bank at the church because we're seeing so many more middle class families not being able to make ends meet, and the pantry is bare. It's not such a happy Labor Day for them.

But I doubt one President or another can fix that situation all by himself. -sam

Everett said...

If either party had put up someone of the caliber of Colin Powell or some as yet undiscovered candidate, I'd have voted for them in a minute. Obama comes with too many skeletons in his closet that the MSM refuses to discuss or even bring up. When Fox asks the questions they are bombarded with screams of "smear" tactics from the other three. This is a guy, who, no matter how he tries to color it now, HAD direct ties to a KNOWN terrorist bomber! Remember William Ayers anybody?? I sure as hell do! An admitted bomber of federal buildings during and after the VN conflict. It REALLY amazes me that the SOB is not doing time in a federal prison.

John McCain comes with some baggage also, but there is no question as to his dedication to the preservation of the rights and ideals of this country!! You can't say the same for BHO, who won't, or wouldn't, wear a flag lapel button, and turned away from the flag during playing of the National Anthem. What the hell kind of patriotism does this instill in the younger generation?

No, I am not happy with either of the candidates, but I will most assuredly take the lesser of the two so called evils.

GWB? Wait a few years before you judge him so harshly. The recession the MSM and the Dems have been spouting off about? It TWO (2), count them quarters of no growth, increased unempoyment, and lots of other factors before you can consider being in a recession. We are almost at the end of one quarter where things haven't been as good as previous ones, but we are by all accounts of the people who REALLY know what the hell is going on. no where near sliding into a recession!!! Al though thats all you hear from the Dems as thats what they want you to remember as the last thing you heard before you walk into that voting booth to vote for the "GREAT SAVIOUR" or "THE ONE"!!
IF, we are going into a recession, put the blame where it rightly belongs! Right on their doorstep!! They have had COMPLETE CONTROL of both houses of Congress for TWO years and have not accomplished ONE GOD DAMNED THING of any consequence for the good of the American people!! Nothing! Nada! Zilch! So before you vilify GWB put a lot of the blame squarely where it belongs! On Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid,Teddy boy,Joe Biden, and the rest of those DO NOTHING assholes! Uhh--- did I make myself clear on this?

Sam said...

You know I am in the very strange position of defending some - not all - of President George Bush's decisions. He didn't cause the mini-recession or soft markets, whatever you call it. And the markets appear to be stabilizing if we can keep those dang hurricanes out of the Gulf of Mexico (early reports are that Gustav damage was fairly mild compared to Rita).

The big mistakes were WHY we went into a war in Iraq when the terrorists were being trained in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Pakistan. He should have fessed up about this. By driving a wedge into the Middle East, the US could dictate some largess in the area and be able to run Special Ops into those more remote countries.

Why does poor Sammie always always have to spell this out?

That's the truth and I'm afraid the George Bush, Collin Powell, and Mrs. Rice outright lied when they said Saddam Hussein had WMD or some BS like that. That way of thinking came exclusively from VP Cheney, who I do not trust if he was a snake at ten paces. They in fact lied repeatedly and the facts will bear that out.

Incidentally, VP Cheney is otherwise a right nice fellow. A neighbor of mine is a professional Barnum & Bailey clown and was hired by Cheney's wife for their grand-kid's birthday parties. Very easy people, love to laugh, and paid good from what I hear. Well, once you got by the mansion gates, the Secret Service, and the screening, that is.

But Cheney turned out to be too much of a Hawk and Neo-Con for even the President's liking. And that folks, is what really happened there.

Sam said...

Hey Ev, speaking of patriotism, I remember when V-J Day was big on Block Island. That's Victory over Japan Day for y'all clueless, and is August 15th of every year.

No big marches or booming bands, but everyone knew. When I worked at the 'Gannsett, the cooks had a wonderful time explaining to the young college waitresses about what what V-J Day meant. "Give me a kiss, honey, it's V-J Day!" The girls thought they were just being dirty old men. Geeze, nobody appreciates history anymore.

But back to your point and Bugmon's as well, and as an undecided independent, the choices couldn't be worse. One shouldn't have to pick the lesser of two evils. I can handle the trash-talking and mudslinging, but clearly, neither candidate is true presidential material. So it will become a beauty contest and a battle of personalities instead of statesmanship.

To the men and women who celebrated V-J Day and came home then or soon after, that really sucks. We're letting them down, and the younger generation doesn't even have a clue about it!
-sammie

Anonymous said...

Sam what did Saddam use to murder 50,000 Kurds, a potato gun ?

Sam said...

The famous Iran-Iraq war famous for trench warfare and poison gas? That would be back in the 1980's. If is a stretch to connect what happened in the 1980's with what happened after 9/11.

Know who the largest owner of land mines and poison gas bombs in the world? The United States of America! Dow, Monsanto, and Diamond Shamrock produced every kind of poison gas invented, including new ones like Agent Orange. We sprayed 19 million gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

We've got so many bombs and barrels full of military-grade poison we're having to burn the stuff in huge incinerators, as the containers are rusting and rotting. Remember the Vulcan ship, that was supposed to burn nasties off the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico? Well, that's because we couldn't load up an entire ship of the stuff and sink it off the coast anymore ... there are over 30 such "poison ship" wrecks off our coast. Check your nautical charts ... it says "Explosives Dumping Area."

All that doesn't make Saddam any better or a more forgivable man. He was a despot, although his genius was to control about 17 warrior tribes in Iraq. Now look, that we've hung Saddam.

Anonymous said...

Smart Anonymous here
Sam, are you still kicking that Iraqi dead horse. The #1 reasons we invaded was'nt WMDs that every intelligence agency in the world said he had (so did Clinton and gore in speeches given while they were still in office) it was the fact that he was violating the cease fire agreement he signed after getting kicked out of Kuwait, on a daily basis. #2 reason was refusing UN weapons inspectors access. We just finished removing last month enough tons of yellow cake uranium to make about 30-40 tactical nukes. We did not sell Saddam his poison gas. It was a German corporation that had it labeled as pesticide. Iraq is taking over its own security more and more. This month there is only 1 US death, and it was not combat related. Have you ever talked to a Kurd or Iraqi Shia? I have worked with them and us removing Saddam was the best thing that ever happened in their opinion. Since his removal the Iraqi govt has reflooded the southern swamps that saddam had drained to punish the Marsh Arabs for supporting us in the first war. This was condemned as an environmental disaster and has now been reversed. Oh and saying saddam was a genius for keeping 17 warring tribes under control is like saying Stalin was a genius for keeping 30 odd ethnic groups under control (and killing 12 million of them in the process) or Hitler was a great leader for reducing unemployment and making the trains run on time. So give that foot a rest.

Everett, polls are showing McCain/Palin ahead 10 points. Even Kerry was still ahead in the polls right up until election day, so maybe that will cheer you up.

Sam said...

Gee, anonymous person, I'm just a little old boy from Texas with a few opinions, vote independent, and try to hit the baseball without hurling the bat over the fence. If I offended you in some way, well, get over it because my opinion ain't a pimple on a mountain top.

If you're looking to score points somewhere, somehow, and claim "we won" well I guess it's your party, not that I'll attend. But you can take your fictitious yellow-cake and eat it too!

Let's go back to what Bugmon said in the very first post - "neither one could be worse than the one we had for the last 8 years!" I tend to agree with that. Do you, or have you been privy to some sectret "think tank" conversations with the man as well?

Meanwhile our armed services are stretched beyond their limits, we're losing in Afghanistan, and the economy is in tatters. What was that little fact that happened Sunday ... oh, we had to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie as well because of failed Bush policies.

Or was that a sign of Bush's omnipotent strength? I'm sure you can turn the words around to suit your purpose, and do so in a very attacking way that is not proper manners.

If I only cared, brother ... I really don't "shive a get."

Anonymous said...

Sam ,what failed Bush policies? Can you name them or just speak in broad undocumented terms? The economy is soft, but recession,no!! Unemployment is up but not as high as the early 90's. Bush bashers always spin things,like jobless claims highest in 5 years. Nice post Smart Anony.When did we ever gas anybody, Agent orange was a defoliant, not a poison gas. Sam you sound like tyipcal blame America first person. We are not perfect, but from were I sit we are by far the best people and country going, in to many ways to list. Can we be better? yes,and we will be cause thats who we are.Maybe BHO can get all those folks in Berlin to vote for him. I like McCain will take the sound of 50,000 harley's anyday.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sam, Heres your "ficticious" yellow cake from the AP July 7 2008:

"Here's a story you may have missed over the long holiday weekend: 550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium worth tens of millions of dollars were shipped out of Iraq to Canada. The material was transported in 37 military flights in 3,500 secure barrels, according to the Associated Press."

And even the democrats approved of us going into Afghanistan after 9-11. And by the way, we are not even close to "losing" there either.

Anonymous said...

You look at Obama’s economic advisers, the guys he has counted on from day one and who have raised him a ton — and I mean a ton — of money: Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, both of them are waist to neck deep in the mortgage debacle.”

“How can Obama go out with a straight face and saw it was Republicans who made this mess, when it is his key advisers who ran the agencies that made the big mess what it is?” says a Democrat House member who supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. “It’s his people who are responsible for what may well be the single largest government bailout in history. And every single one of them made millions off the collapse that are lining Obama’s campaign coffers. If the McCain campaign lets this one go, they deserve to lose.”

It isn’t just Fannie Mae where Obama has a problem. Another close political adviser, in fact the one man responsible for rallying support for Obama early on among Congressional Democrats, is Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who served on the Board of Directors for Freddie Mac after leaving the Clinton White House. According to Freddie Mac insiders, Emanuel during his time on the board opposed every reform proposed by the Bush Administration that would have impacted Freddie and Fannie Mae.

Anonymous said...

It is really funny how the "put downs" have stopped since the pictures of the East Beach were posted. Not even a "sorry you were right Everett".

Sam said...

I just read the article, again, which was hard because it was on the hideous color of orange (no offense, Ev). The last several paragraphs were actually pretty good, such as about "change" maybe meaning more of a "nanny state." I kind of agree with that.

By the same token, I don't think we should be supporting rich people and big business too much either. The "trickle down" vision espoused by Reagan never really ever worked - it just made the rich richer and the poor poorer. That, taken together with the Republican's aversion to social security, sure makes them no friend of the common working man.

And I don't consider the union workers as representing "the common working man." No, I may sound left of center, but unions and their pensions have cause the ruin of many companies (General Motors) and towns (Vallejo, CA). George Will, one of the best conservative writers alive today, has an excellent editorial about the union issue today.

I like to get educated about both sides of the matter ... not that either presidential candidate is worth a goose fart, but hey, at least I do my homework. -sam

Everett said...

Hey Sam, How about these colors?

Sam said...

Yowzza, much better sir. Hoo-ah!

I liked Catt's comment that the many Cyber Snipers seem to be held at bay in the new system here. Good job.
-sam

Anonymous said...

I forgot that this blog is being edited. Everett have you had any negative comments about your recollections of the East Beach erosion since the pictures were published? I mean any that you thought not fit to print. Just curious.

Anonymous said...

Bugmon sez...

I guess I had 2 comments edited , (my first one on this topic in mid-sentence , and another completely ) and for the life of me I don't know why. I never use any words that the late George Carlin had on his list ( the seven words you cant say ....) , and I dont think I've ever said anything libilouis (sp?)

Everett said...

Hey Bugmon, Your last comment has been the ONLY one to show up in the box of comments to be moderated! I usually get an email from blogspot telling me there is one to do and a quick response button is provided to do just that. I haven't gotten ANY emails concerning you at all since ht one half way up the list! I think Blogspot is eating them first! Or at least licking them a little.
Try to post them again and we'll see what happens.
If Mr. Cyber Sniper stays in his hole, maybe I'll do away with this moderation crap!

Anonymous said...

Bugmon sez...

No I don't think its you Ev . It's proly a cyber-ghost or something.
No need to re-post , I;ve forgotten where my thoughts were at that time.
I've just started reading a book by Thomas L Friedman called 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded' . Mr. Friedman makes some very good points about his visions concerning energy and such. I know this might be alittle off-topic , but I also know that you are hip to conserving electricity Everett , have you poked your nose into this one yet?

Anonymous said...

Please, stop watching and believing Fox news.

Anonymous said...

Who should we watch?

Everett said...

I like to think that I am not TOTALLY narrow and close minded. Yes I do have the Fox on the TV, in the kitchen during the day. I might watch it for a while when having lunch or passing through. But in the evening and for most of the past ones for the last 50 or so years, I have watched the MSM evening news, either CBS or NBC
Now, just exactly which one of these totally and religiously unbiased outlets do you recommend that I watch to get a true and complete take on the national, international, and local news? Would that be Ms Couric et al, who can barely restrain herself from flinging her body at the feet of "The ONE", The Obamessiah, and his palagirist(sp) cohort, "Cheating/Stealing Joe Biden"? Or maybe over at NBC where Brian Williams does his best to paint both members of the opposition ticket as unrepentant baby killers and crooks?
These are two of the MSM examples of fear run amok! They are scared shitless that since the announcement of Sarah Palin as a VP candidate, the fortunes of their anointed ONE have taken a turn for the worse and they are in full throated cry to "Please, SOMEBODY, find some kind of bad dirt we can bury her with"! Not happening, no matter how hard they dig. Whats that old saying about getting blood out of stones?
SO you get your MSM heros to go after obamessiah/biden with the same dedication and wild eyed obsession that they use to smear McCain/Palin and just maybe when I turn 95, I might just begin to, "see the light". Till then I'll continue to watch Fox because, if you have ever watched it, they now and then even slam the GOP where it is needed! When was the last time you so your MSM go after a Dem with the same zeal, even when they are acknowledged and or caught crooks? Come on now, keep on thinking! I'm sure you will be able to think of one somewhere? Teddy? Bill? Hillary? Keep thinking!

Everett said...

Note the time stamp on the above post. Not 30 minutes later I'm sitting here watching Ms Couric interview O and McCain. It the shots with O she is all smiles and giggles and interacts with him during his discourse all the while exuding the "Love" body language.
Then comes McCains turn, and she sits there rigid as a board not even a hint of good will showing in her facial expression or body language, and with this stony visage staring at him trying her best to un-nerve him I guess, he went on to explain his position on the question without so much as a , aaahh, errr, uuumm ! These "adjectives" completely dominated the speech of "The second Great Orator"! Sorry Ronnie, to associate you with this empty suit. He also speaks well, but doesn't SAY much!

Anonymous said...

Bugmon sez...

Hey ev .. I'm curious , are you republican or democrat?

... you cleverly keep your afilliation secret.

Anonymous said...

Democratic Congress May Adjourn, Leave Crisis to Fed, Treasury

By Kristin Jensen

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn't equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can't agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.

Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments -- Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate. While they haven't ruled out returning after the Nov. 4 elections, they would rather wait until next year unless Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who are leading efforts to contain the crisis, call for help.

One reason, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday, is that ``no one knows what to do''

Sam said...

To be fair, the US Congress is composed of two parties and the Dems only have a razor-slim majority in the Senate. Nobody knows what to do.

The President doesn't know what to do either. That leaves Secretary Paulson and Bernanke hanging out there trying to put out brush fires.

True, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which might have prevented today's financial meltdown might have helped, and Clinton signed the repeal of the Act (but with a Republican majority lead by McCain, interesting).

But how do you fix it? You can't just say "OK, banking, investment, financials, credit card companies, and insurance companies SEPARATE RIGHT THE HECK NOW." I mean it's impossible.

Oh well, back to your comedy shows on TV. You're going to go blind watching that MSN and FOX political porn, Everett!

Everett said...

Now Sam, I don't sit in front of the tube all day! i watch about 15-20 mins of Fox while having lunch, and 30 minutes of the laughing stock of the news info business, A, B, and C at 1830! After that it is back in a book, build a plane or go reload a thousand more rounds!

Sam said...

Hey I just read a good editorial from the liberal kommie newspaper the New York Times.

Basically it says to disregard whatever Obama and McCain say about fixing the economy. We don't have a bazillion dollars to do some pie-in-the-sky stuff that either wants to do. Nope, we just want to pay off our debts. Consider:

National deficit (9 trillion)
Financial meltdown (800 billion)
War costs (600 billion)

Just the national deficit costs every man, woman, and child in the US about $30,000.

This is not to mention that the boomers are retiring and that many "entitlement" like social security and Medicaid and pension programs (think armed services too!) will simply run out of money.

Maybe Bugmon, the sky really is falling.

And Everett I was kidding about your black and white TV with the rabbit ears! LOL!!!!

Anonymous said...

Sorry Sam the democrats knew what to do to get us in this mess.
Some might say the current mess couldn't be foreseen, yet in 2005 Alan Greenspan told Congress how urgent it was for it to act in the clearest possible terms: If Fannie and Freddie ``continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road,'' he said. ``We are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.'' What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets. If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed. But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter. That such a reckless political stand could have been taken by the Democrats was obscene even then. The Democrats and the few Republicans who opposed portfolio limitations could not possibly do so if their constituents understood what they were doing.
Oh, and there is one little footnote to the story that's worth keeping in mind while Democrats point fingers between now and Nov. 4: Senator John McCain was one of the three cosponsors of S.190, the bill that would have averted this mess

Anonymous said...

The dems are up to their eyes in this mess. You notice they are not calling for investigations and forming commeties to look into the mess. The left is running for cover. Chris Dodd and Barney Frank should be run out of office.

Sam said...

Talk is cheap, it ain't about me, and the blame doesn't matter. The current demise of the economy can be traced back to before Ronald Reagan. Who cares? That's all besides the point. The question is "how do we get out of this hole?"

Do you think we should give Treasury Secretary Paulson a "clean bill" so he can bail out his banking buddies, forgive 700 billion in debt, and allow all the big boys to get nice fat year-end bonuses.

I'm thinking no. it isn't a matter of politics or who is "better." It's about how to bail out these dumb-arses without screwing the common man and woman. I don't have time for political hacks and quacks right now. To tell the truth, I'm pretty disgusted with all of it.

I feel sorry that companies and quasi government-private agencies like Fannie and Freddie were so retarded they couldn't take care of their own books. But as my daddy taught me, being a dumb-arse ain't an excuse bad behavior.
-sam

Anonymous said...

I read that this bailout is costing each American-Man, Woman, Child----$3000.00 per person.
OUch.

That's what I get for living frugally--- now we're all paying for the McMansions that we don't live in!

Anonymous said...

Bugmon Sez:

I'm a fan of Pat Buchanan , and he made some very good points when he posted this in the 'WorldNetDaily commentary' , as copied here --->

The party's over


Posted: September 19, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

© 2008

"The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people's wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.

The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The "Omnipower" and "Indispensable Nation" we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.

Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism.

This is nonsense. What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko ("Greed Is Good!") capitalism. What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it great.

A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means.
Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess – that we followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk?

"Government must save us!" cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government – the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?

For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt – all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.

Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.

We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.

The party's over

Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain politically independent.

But this generation decided that was yesterday's bromide and we must march bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another. American companies morphed into "global companies" and moved plants and factories to Mexico, Asia, China and India, and we began buying more cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes, cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.

As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.

At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.

Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all but that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal income tax load.

John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium or "bomb, bomb, bomb," with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.

Who are we kidding?

What we are witnessing today is how empires end.

The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.

What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.

Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.

Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.

An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.

What the Greatest Generation handed down to us – the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation had ever achieved – the baby boomers, oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away."

I love that last paragraph .

Anonymous said...

Hey Bugmon, Have you heard of Obamas plan to end world poverty by dishing out billions of our tax money to every tinpot dictater and their kinfolk? While Senator McCain is in Washington actually working on helping to solve the current financial crisis, Senator Obama continues to campaign for President claiming that this shows Obama is adept at “handling a crisis”. Rather than being in Washington, Obama’s “principles” are “hard at work”.
While Americans face a $700 billion bailout of financial institutions, foreclosures, high gasoline prices and home heating bills, and little or no health insurance, Obama outlined his ambitious plan to end “half the world’s poverty” by 2015, paid for by American taxpayers to the tune of $845 billion. Obama also outlined another plan to “educate” every “boy and girl” across the globe by 2015, again, funded by American taxpayers. This is not some pipe dream but actual legislation introduced by the Senator. Buchanen has some good ideas, but he has issues, like blaming Jews for a host of problems for example. So I see him as sort of a broken clock, correct twice a day.

Sam said...

Yeah, Obama has some real pipe dreams there, a little more far-fetched than Kennedy's "City on a hill". Ugh-oh, I think I just gave Everett the barfies by mentioning the K-word!

But Obama was at the White House and Congress hearing rooms today, no campaigning. What you said wasn't exactly right. And McCain tried to spin a new Republican bail-out at the last minute, causing the committees to break up without any agreement - yup, he was electioneering, my friends.

Ah, should be fun to watch. For an independent, all of this is a mixture of comedy and blasphemy.
sam