Stop the Madness 2

As often as possible I pick up the Wall Street Journal because it is by far one of the most in-depth newspapers in existence (not to be confused with the USA Today). During a recent perusal, I happened to come across a piece about Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke getting taken behind the woodshed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Friday, June 26, 2009 "Bernanke Blasted in House"). By the way, for all those keeping score at home, this committee is going to be busy for A LONG TIME reviewing several of our congressmen).

Apparently, the HCOGR didn't like Mr. Bernanke's methods of "...pushing Bank of America to complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch..." They didn't like his tactics, but who was giving him his marching orders? The gov'. Who was leaning on him to get this deal done? The gov'. From the article in the WSJ:

It was the harshest public grilling for a central bank chief since the late 1990s, the result of unease over the Fed's role in fighting the financial panic and a backlash against government bailouts, which the Fed has helped to lead.

So as to get a good picture of what happened, let's take a closer look at this sentence. "...the harshest public grilling..." for:
1. "...unease over the Fed's role..." Really? I can't imagine that. Someone is disturbed by the gov's role in pouring money into a nebulous, global credit and financial system? Why on earth would someone be uneasy about that? Could it be that the gov' was never designed to do this?
2. "...fighting the financial panic..." And just why is the gov' trying to fight this? We have supply and demand on our side. The gov' is once again NOT THE ANSWER!
3. ...backlash against government bailouts..." Stop the presses! I for one will throw the first stone at the yahoo who is upset at this. Government bailouts are a) as American as apple pie and baseball, b) have been around for hundreds of years, and c) are proven successful means for saving the economy (cross reference any number of countries who have tried socialism and/or communism).

STOP THE MADNESS! You can't grill Mr. Bernanke for being successful at the task for which you sent him to complete. You can't use him as a punching bag when YOU sent him to do this.

"...The biggest point of contention was over whether Mr. Bernanke threatened to oust Bank of America CEO..." You told the man to go do something with I'm sure all the pressure of the world's economy in the balance, and you're now worried over whether he threatened to fire the CEO. Are you kidding me? The CEO might have been convicted that what he was being pressured to do wasn't right. Did you ever think of that?

"...Bank of America approached top U.S. officials...about abandoning its deal to buy Merrill Lynch..." Thank heavens. Someone comes to his senses and tries to reason with the gov'. Not so fast Batman.

"...In the end, the government arranged a $20 billion rescue package for the bank to cover growing losses at the investment bank..." And no matter what a person tries to do to steer the ship in the right direction, the task is just too great...the gov' won't be denied.

Ben, won't you come up to the front of the class and share with us what you did this past summer...

More Catch Up From SpinDaddy

Since I last had time to blog in earnest a lot has happened in politix. The GOP lost control of the US Congress and more recently the Executive branch as well.

As Miles Davis would say. So What?

Frankly; they deserved to lose, as they were governing in a sort of stupor of merely being hopeful that they could keep the brakes on the precipitous slide to the left this country is in. They almost completely abandoned their base; which politically speaking is tantamount to committing suicide.

I'm paraphrasing here; but, George Will summed up American politics probably the most accurately when during the early Nineties he described the difference between the GOP (Republican is probably too strong a term to describe the party anymore as most of them have no clue what a republic is or how it differs from a democracy) and the Democrats. Remember I am paraphrasing from memory here; but, Will said that Should the Democrats pass a measure to burn down the Library of Congress, the Republicans could surely be counted on to stamp their feet and demand that it be burned down in stages! I believe Will was using the Library of Congress as a metaphor for any American institution. Free enterprise, state sovereignty, moral institutions, capitalism, freedom of speech, etc.

Governing with the goal of merely hoping to slow the slide toward socialism is insufficient to the needs of the Republic. Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract With America gimmick is a fantastic illustration of this.

Actual progress towards undoing some of more abusive manifestations of creeping socialism is what is necessary, not attempts or lame excuses. The Contract With America was a promise by congressional republicans to bring ten (conservative) measures up for debate and a vote in the US House of Representatives if they were able to attain majority status. This was appealing because the democrats who were running the place before wouldn't even allow these items to come to the floor for debate; let alone a vote.

Newt and the GOP got their majority and fulfilled the letter of the promise but most were promptly killed by weak Nancy-boys in the Senate who could not be bothered with such foolishness as what the majority of the nation was clamoring for. That the majority of the nation wanted this is evidenced by the overwhelming political upset that brought the GOP to the majority in the Senate in 1994 in the first place!

The GOP did manage roll back some federal nonsense and meddling such as the National Mandatory Highway Speed Limit. The dreaded 55mph speed limit (later raised to 65mph). Guess what? The highway safety and consumer-advocate-RalphNader-type ninny's are crowing about bringing it back. This was and is good, but the point is that the GOP failed to rollback any significant measures that are creeping into our lives more and more everyday. Don't believe me? Just take a look at the latest Obama powergrab under the guise of fixing our "failed" economic system. Now his team of nanny-state-cliphaired-meanies are going to set compensation levels, mitigate risk, more and more command control marxist horse dookey.

I was also disappointed by Ronald Reagan's failure to actually rollback any significant federal government foolishness. Such as the federal departments of education and energy created under Jimmuh Carter and which Reagan campaigned on dissolving. My understanding is that the executive is responsible to me for running these departments. Reagan could very simply have appointed secretaries to each department and call them in his office and inform them that they had thirty days to dissolve the department and put the keys on his desk.

This would have been completely consistent with his style of governing. But today we still have a federal department of education meddling in; or worse, the purely local function of educating our children. The department of energy has yet to form a cogent NATIONAL energy policy. They meddle plenty, they couldn't produce and erg of energy if they tried.

I remember before the midterm election that cost the GOP control; sitting around the dinner table with my lovely wife as she had asked me what I thought was going to happen. I explained that it was very likely that the GOP would lose control, and that would begin a significant leftward lurch in policy direction that would eventually turn us into Europe-lite. The Leftward lurch has since become a violent snap roll to the left which I am hopeful will awaken what Nixon called the silent majority, as they are getting a belly full of this leftist socialist-wannabe nonsense.

The overwhelming majority citizens that make up this country are not socialist, their is a deeply ingrained American instinct to take care of ourselves by ourselves, just stay out of our way. When someone abuses our economic system punish them not me. -SpinDaddy

SpinDaddy Update

Whew, it has been a crazy last few years for the SpinDaddy I will have to update the about us post soon. I have been in Memphis the last few years and got so crazy busy with a return to school, and new career two jobs that I just had absolutely NO time to do this and I have missed it. My work schedule was 14-16 hour days six to seven days a week, I barely had time for family, or sleep let alone ranting about politix but I have a fantastic career opportunity and have moved from Memphis TN to Denver CO and now have a much better schedule. My family has stayed behind in Memphis to get that house sold so I will be commuting back and forth for a while until everyone gets out here. Back to the Mountains where I started BumperStickerPolitix in 2004, although the Rockies are wayy more mountains than the Appalachains I was living in while in Boone, NC.

After I get settled in with new job here I will get back to posting about Politix and posting pictures of my surrounds. There is soo much to catch up on. If you r familiar with my previous posts at this blog you might imagine that I am somewhat skeptical of our new Congress and President.

I also have a new writing parnter the RedAnt who will be posting here as well. He is largely responsible for me making the time to get back to my blog. Thxs . There will be much to enjoy here so stop by often. -SpinDaddy

If you fail to plan, you should plan to fail

If this doesn't beat all. From a June 12, 2009 MSNBC.com article

House members expressed dismay at the closing of 789 Chrysler dealerships and plans by GM to shutter about 1,350 by the end of next year. They said many rural communities would be left without dealerships while thousands of jobs would be lost without any firm guarantees that GM and Chrysler, which have received billions in federal aid, would benefit long-term.

"When it comes time to purchase a new vehicle, many of my new constituents will abandon GM or Chrysler and go to whichever brand is still locally sold by a person they trust within their community," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the subcommittee's chairman.

What a shame. It's a shame that people in such places as congress didn't have the ability to foresee such detrimental side effects as this. "Dismay"? What did they expect when such a large company files for bankruptcy? THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS! This is AMERICA - where you have a right to: start your own business, go bankrupt, become a billionaire, or not even get a job. The only thing you have to do is die (note: I excluded "pay taxes" and "stay black," which is what Samuel L. Jackson said in one of the Die Hard installments). That's the awesome part about living in a free-market, capitalistic society. And now congress acts like it's surprised by the results of such a massive bankruptcy? I CALL BULL$HIT!

Stop the Madness!

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I read a web article recently in Slate that alluded to the possibility that your next credit card could be backed by Obama. That's right, one day our credit cards could be backed by the federal government. And why not? The gov' has lots of capital (see recently passed stimulus bill); it's got unlimited credit (since someone continues to loan us flippin' money); and we should get better interest rates! In addition, if you have an unpaid balance on or before April 15 and were expecting a refund...guess what? The government can use your tax refund to pay the balance on the card. Is that convenient or what? And if you owe the IRS money, use the card, man...that's what it's for!

Sound far-fetched?

Oh Red, that will never happen.

Survey says, WRONG! As Willy Wonka put it:

"...It's all there [in the contract signed prior to the tour], black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get NOTHING! You lose! Good day, sir!..."

THAT'S what the gov' is going to tell you. And you see, this is what happens when you start out with the wrong paradigm; when you start out with "the gov' is the answer" paradigm; "the gov' will save us from this" or "the gov' will save us from that." THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT THE ANSWER! THE GOVERNMENT CAN'T SAVE YOU FROM ANYTHING! THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T GENERATE REVENUE! IT MANAGES OUR TAXES!

You can't start with wrong thinking and get to any healthy, sustainable, lifestyle. We have a system that has afforded us the right to outlive our means...AND IT'S CAUGHT UP WITH US. But the government is not the answer. The government is never the answer. Let us start by looking to anything but the government to get out of the mess we're in.


Right thinking leads to right results. The results may be a long-time coming, but it's the right thing to do. If we don't start with right thinking, we're only going to continue moving further from the right answer - further from the healthy answer.