Break the Piggy Bank - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Break the Piggy Bank
by

…SO WE’LL TAKE RICH PEOPLE’S
Re: Jeremy Lott’s “We Are Out of Money”:

Jeremy Lott wrote that “President Barack Obama handed his political opponents a bludgeon the size of Thor’s hammer Saturday.”

And where is the conservative or Republican “Thor” who can wield it effectively?

Lift it, even?

None in sight, Mr. Lott. None in sight.
A. C. Santore

Sometimes it is the simplest words that bring the clearest definition to the problems at hand. With President Obama declaring in national press that we are out of money, the cat has been let out of the bag, or as my old Daddy would say in more graphic rancher lingo, “The cow just got out of the chute gals, get the heck out of her way!” What we all knew for so long is now fully visible to all who are looking around the world. The once great nation has now declared they are broke and their money is worth nothing. His disclosure is akin to the emperor with no clothes who was exposed for who he really was by a simple child. Our own Emperor has announced it himself. 

Between that announcement and dear Vice President Cheney speaking clear discernable truth to Obama’s nonsense, the future is looking somewhat brighter. We have now confronted real truth and that is always needed before we can turn things around. For all his empty rhetoric and naïve world view, this standing president will hold the reins of a now run away horse and he, who had never ridden a horse at all, will not be able to stay in his saddle.

I believe firmly that Congress may enact away but from this point on not one-tenth will actually be put in place. For we have now found ourselves bankrupt and announced it. What nation will want to invest in our economy now? And as the economy turns as many Chrysler-owned dealerships are closed and tangential businesses along with them, we will soon see chaos breaking out all over. The people are already hot under the collar over governmental incompetence and nonsensical dealings with our real enemies, and enough will be enough.  

All in all, it makes me thankful to be so far away from the Beltway in D.C. Here on the ranch we can view it all on stage. And as disgusted as I am, that is far enough. 

I’m praying for our country this one day after we remember those who died for all we have now.
Bev Gunn
Texas

 A LITTLE MODESTY WOULD SUIT YOU
Re: Darrell Issa’s An Airport for Somebody:

One is suspicious of anybody who allows something to be named after him while he’s still alive — Republican as well as Democrat. And the more often their name is bestowed, the more suspicious one gets.

Couldn’t they just repress their egos and wait, until they’re long dead and one is going down the highway wondering “whose name is that on that sign, who is this highway named after? What did he do?”
Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

NEVER SAY DIE
Re: Jay D. Homnick’s Civil Lies:

America’s dalliance with Obama may leave Jay D. Homnick reeling, disoriented and unmoored; in which case he had better head back to port. Me, I’m mad enough to chew nails and have just begun to fight.
Douglas Herz
Pleasanton, California

THE D-WORD
Re: George Neumayr’s May the Schwarzenegger Not Be With You:

I agree with some of George Neumayr’s points — but there is another thing I have to add: one reason why the left mops the floor with us.

I have just been over at the O.C. Register‘s website. It is a fairly conservative newspaper with a bunch of editorials expressing the anger behind the rejection of the recent tax-hike initiatives. Without exception, the anger was directed at “Sacramento,” “the political class,” “politicians,” etc.

What word was not said? DEMOCRAT.

It is to the point where my intelligent, conservative mother, being told that I was sick of the disaster that was California, said “Well that’s a Republican governor, isn’t it?” This in a state where Democrats have thoroughly dominated the legislature for decades and wiped the floor with Arnold the one time he stood up to them; he learned his lesson and never did it again. With a Republican legislature, he would be annoying but there is no way a government of all Arnolds would have created anything like this situation.

Articles like Mr. Neumayr’s feed this type of thing. Yes, “moderate” Republicans are annoying, but if when there is a crisis conservative Republicans’ first instinct is to turn around and rip into “moderate” Republicans, when do we hit Democrats? Like this:

Democrats belonging to the Democrat party through the Democrat enactment of Democrat laws at the behest of Democrat unions passed the Democrat budgets filled with bloated Democrat programs that saddled Democrat-dominated California with a Democrat deficit that these Democrats (who belong to the Democrat party) are responding to in the Democrat way by Democratically raising Democrat taxes.

“The political class” isn’t on the ballot; Democrats are. When voters go to the polls, if they want this nonsense to end they should vote against Democrats, and if this fact is not conveyed at a time like this when will it be conveyed? Granted the California electorate, it may not help, but it should at least be tried.
Roy Koczela

IT’S THE FUEL ECONOMY, STUPID
Re: Eric Peters’s Obama Nails the Coffin Shut:

The car industry is hardly the last to flee oversees in search of affordable labor cost. A sizable portion of GM, Ford and Chrysler are already “imports” back into this country. I think I have as good an idea of what is wrong with Detroit designs as any one, and it isn’t CAFÉ standards by any means.

Detroit can’t design and sell any kind of domestically produced passenger car for $20,000 or less that the bulk of Americans want. Detroit designs go to the shop a lot more often than Japanese designs. Even under warranty this still costs money and aggravation that most people will avoid if possible. Honda has never tried to gin up sales with longer warranties as Detroit does. They don’t need to. A bad reputation is a terrible thing to overcome when you are dealing with major purchases like vehicles.  

Third, no company can make enough profit on vehicles in the $20,000 range with the wage and benefit cost of Detroit UAW labor to stay in business. You simply can’t be competitive paying high school graduates $30.00 an hour average, carrying three pensioners for every worker and giving away health care insurance valued over $1000.00 a month per employee.

Fourth, all three Detroit based companies have been losing billions for years and this started with the increase in fuel prices. That connection can not be discounted Ford was supposed to return to profitability in 2008…and they’ve borrowed tens of billions to stay afloat. They weren’t going to make a profit in 2008 even without the financial meltdown.  

What Eric doesn’t seem to grasp is that the average American with the average wage in this country looks upon the math regarding the purchase of a vehicle and its operating cost a whole lot differently than Detroit does. It isn’t just the CEOs making 20 million plus that don’t get it. I still remember the days of 5 year loans and American design owners ending up owing more at three years into the loan than the vehicle was worth.

At the end of the day, both a rancher in East Texas and I have the same core problem here while having vastly different needs. Cost of ownership. Few people can afford $4-5.00 a gallon for gas and drive the national average with anything that barely gets up to 20 mpg with a tail wind going down hill. That’s the bulk of the Detroit pickups and SUVs. The difference between what I paid 3-4 years ago for gas and when it hits $4-5.00 a gallon is a couple extra percent in my 401K. Guess which one is more important in the scheme of things? The higher cost of vehicles combined with uncertain fuel cost is going to create a death spiral for the auto industry in general.

If we don’t fix the fuel problem, there is no fixing a domestic industry that needs $30-50,000 dollar pickups, SUVs, mini-vans and fleet purchases by government to remain profitable.  Economics 101 is going to win out here in the long run. 
Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

MORE FOR FEWER
Re: Tom Bethell’s Population, Economy, and God:

I leave to theologians questions related to God, but let’s clear up questions related to population and economic growth. Tom Bethell falls into the trap of believing that rising prosperity leads to lower fertility but not the other way around. The evidence suggests that smaller families can make a major contribution to economic development by lowering dependency ratios and allowing parents to invest more resources in the education of their children. As Bethell himself notes, “Countries with the highest fertility rates are Mali (7.4), Niger, and Uganda.” These countries are at the bottom of “the wealth chart.” What he fails to acknowledge is that many of these impoverished countries will remain at the bottom of the wealth chart, unless fertility rates fall.

On the other side of the demographic divide, rising dependency ratios in “aging” societies may pose economic challenges, but those challenges can be largely met if older workers work longer, the labor force participation rates of younger workers increases, and appropriate fiscal policies are adopted.
Robert J. Walker
Executive Vice President, The Population Institute
Washington, District of Columbia

REVERSE MEMORIAL DAY
Re: Ben Stein’s For Crying Out Loud:

I am a retired U.S. Air Force guy as old as dirt. You, Ben Stein, just happen to be the most admired person I’ve ever encountered! As I tried to awaken from zombie to person with my first cup of coffee this morning, I tuned on the TV and there you were, on Fox. I only caught the end of your remark about Mr. B. Hussein Obama, and I wanted to memorize it, but at 81 years I have had more than enough ‘senior’ moments, like remembering things. This morning was one of them so I simply forgot your marvelous, eloquent, superb and accurate assessment of our ’empty suit’ (AGH!) leader. Geez! Leader? That is a stretch!

Anyway, I wish to hell I can someday recall that excellent declarative…it was on target and worth recalling.

Thank you, Ben Stein, for being Ben Stein. I am a much flawed, USAF Retired old coot, who loves you.
H.J.
Wilmington, North Carolina

GOP-SICK
Re: Larry Thornberry’s Republican Establishment Strikes Again:

This is a “spot-on” assessment of what is going on in Florida. Those Crist-endorsing fools STILL don’t get it, and are making me, and this once-great country, ILL.
— Mark-John Kasperek
Minneapolis, Minnesota

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