Thinking in Print - Cogito Ergo BlogitoThinking in Print - Cogito Ergo BlogitoThinking in Print - Cogito Ergo BlogitoThinking in Print - Cogito Ergo BlogitoThinking in Print - Cogito Ergo Blogito
Much has been made of the Democrats 50 state strategy to win the election. Who knew there was a fall back 15 state strategy to steal it if they couldn’t win it?
Americans who haven’t heard about ACORN and voter fraud haven’t been paying attention. Some have been hearing about it for years. Others are just now hearing after waking up to find elections upon us once again. Seems like every couple of years there’s an election and whenever there is, there’s talk about people trying to steal it.
This year is no different. But for the first time, the fraud seems massive and everywhere. And most all the fingers are pointing at ACORN. They are political activists, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. According to Wikipedia, ACORN ” … is a community-based organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, health care and other social issues.” Wikipedia has frozen further edits to ACORN’s page because people can’t agree; according to others, ACORN is a Liberal group committed to electing Democrats by any means possible, legal and illegal.
Prior to 2008, while ACORN was a player in terms of voter fraud, there wasn’t much to report. My first memory is South Dakota from 2002. This year ACORN is under scrutiny in over a fourth of America’s 50 states.
According to the New York Post and numerous other sources, 15 states are looking into ACORN for possible voter fraud. There’s just one problem, I can’t find 15 from this election cycle. I can only find 13! I looked but no one reporting the 15 state figure backed it up. A bit of light was shed when I found a comment making the tally 15 “since 2004″. Not quite the felonious total first reported, but why quibble over a couple of states. A count of 13 still means in 2/3 of the states in which ACORN ran registration drives this cycle, there were problems. If anyone knows the other two states, let me know and I’ll issue an update. If problems turn up in any of other states, let me know as well.
The 13 instances noted below are all from this election cycle. All but the Washington case are from 2008.
The links above are just one link to the state’s story. In several instances there are multiple reports on the same case and in a few instances, there are multiple cases of fraud in a single state. The point is, this isn’t made up. ACORN’s standard response seems to be the “We can’t be made to pay for what others do!” defense. But they don’t seem to mind if we pay in their place.
I don’t remember first hearing the term “9/11 Conservatives” to describe those with post 9/11 epiphanies. Realizing Liberal degradation of the US was destroying it in people’s minds, 9/11 Conservatives abandoned the Left in droves. I do remember I didn’t need the term explained to me. Its meaning was instantly grasped. The concept has been applied to different specifics over the years but it’s still clear. A big enough event can break through indifference, and even opposition, forcing us to deal with it and its consequences. Given that, perhaps it’s possible to learn something from attacks on other American institutions.
Free Market Capitalism is clearly under attack in the wake of recent financial woes. Listening to Democrats, and more than a few Republicans, Capitalism and Free Markets produced those problems. They were so bad, Government had to put Socialist bandages on Capitalist wounds. The Truth is otherwise. An objective evaluation show Government Market meddling and Watergate style Government cover-ups behind the current financial ravaging. The same is true of the subsequent bailout.
People are not as stupid as the Left needs them to be. Citizens will see Big Government, not Free Markets, caused the problem. They’ll understand the Government’s solution, as in 1929, made the situation far worse than it would have been had it let the Market work. They’ll recognize a prime Government weakness is needing to be seen doing something, even something bad! And they’ll realize one can’t eliminate Bear Markets if one also wants Bull Markets. Uninterrupted growth is unrealistic. There will be Market corrections and they are healthy. Public understanding of Governmental responsibility for the problem as evidenced by the bailout, the Community Reinvestment Act and more will ultimately push more people towards fiscal conservatism than towards centrally planned Socialism. Call them CRA FisCons.
Equally large is the assault on the sanctity of the voting process. We have peaceful transitions of power due to public confidence in the electoral process. While there have been many charges of vote fraud over the years, in the last decade, Democrats have stepped up efforts to destroy confidence in the system in order to acquire legislative power. In 2000 Al Gore retracted his concession, forcing the Florida recount nightmare on the country. Eight years later I still see “Bush was selected, not elected!” bumper stickers. The Left refused to accept a certified vote because it showed them losing. This obsession fueled efforts to ensure it never happens again, even if they need to cheat.
Reliance on and allegiance to ACORN will ultimately cost them. The Democratic Party and individual Democrats should denounce ACORN. They should demand investigations to produce confidence in the process. They should vote to end public funding accounting for 40% of ACORN’s budget and advise private donors putting up the other 60% to cut ACORN off. Democrats should call for trials and harsh sentences for those convicted of manipulating the voting process to disenfranchise others. But they don’t and they won’t. ACORN is doing exactly what Democrats want them to do. They want distrust of the process in the public mind.
Once again, Americans are not that stupid. The Left cannot spin ACORN as part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy or even the Right in general. ACORN is clearly both intentionally engaged in vote fraud and an obvious Democratic tool. As Americans grasp this truth, look for ACORN Republicans to make themselves known.
Finally, it never ceases to amaze how Democrats spin relationships. GWB was in the oil business so he must be a shill for Big Oil. Dick Cheney served on Haliburton’s board so the GOP must be funneling no-bid contracts their way. Yes, some Government decisions benefit Big Oil. Yes, Haliburton gets some Government contracts. But are these events in the natural course of business or is the GOP linked to them in nefarious ways? No evidence exists that it is anything other than the simple natural course of things.
Democratic relationships and connections are, however, demonstrably contaminated. Bill Clinton had more than a little baggage heading into the White House. There were bimbo eruptions; Whitewater and his wife’s part time day-trading job; questions about misuse and abuse of state troopers under his authority and more. This was all known before Clinton was elected. It either didn’t matter to Democrats or it didn’t get enough press to make a difference before election day. After the election, even more misdeeds came to light and it got worse. 16 years later, it’s happening again.
Well before election day, Barack Obama’s association with terrorists, foreign and domestic, is being revealed more clearly. Obama’s connection to ACORN and its crimes is being reported more widely. His support for Socialist regulation is becoming more widely known. The questions about Obama have been answered. He’s a known quantity. If demonstrable past performance is an indicator, Barack Obama will damage this country in ways my worst nightmares can’t foresee. Fraternizing with our enemies, championing destructive economic plans and ignoring illegal acts for personal benefit combine to make Barack Obama more than dagerous to our country. He could destroy it altogether.
Obama dismisses these truths. He even paints them as positive. I’m not in bed with terrorists! But what’s wrong with talking to people? I didn’t push ACORN’s radical agenda, I was a community organizer trying to involve more people in the political process! I’m not a Socialist! But shouldn’t everyone be able to own in a house? Can’t a nation as great as America make that happen?
For Bill Clinton to be right, scores of people had to be branded as liars. Democrats took up that challenge. For Barack Obama to be the President Democrats claim he’ll be, thousands must deny they saw what they saw and heard what they heard during the campaign. Thousands more must suffer from Obama policies as disastrous tomorrow as they were in a thousand yesterdays. No matter, Democrats still rally behind him.
However, sooner or later, just as 9/11 moved folks from Liberal to Conservative, the CRA will move folks from Socialism to Free Markets, ACORN will move folks from Democrats to Republicans. Like Jimmy Carter gave the country Ronald Reagan, an Obama presidency will illustrate the lie and curse that is Liberalism and reveal the Truth and the blessing, howevermuch discomfort it produces at times, that is Conservatism. The Left may argue things like Individual Liberty, Free Markets, Conservatism and the like aren’t perfect. I agree. But they are also far superior to any other option available.
Remember this when you step into that booth over the next few weeks. There’s no need to wait until 2012 to show you’ve made the move from Left to Right.
Now that our Representatives in DC are done abasing themselves before political logic at the altar of “Being seen doing something, no matter how destructive, is better than being seen doing nothing!”, let’s take a look at what just happened.
Stripped to essentials, you and I are being forced to buy something the current owners don’t want and which destroyed individuals and companies which owned even some of it. Government believes the magic pixie bailout dust which will ensure success is assuming responsibility for all of it.
Wall Street holds a bag full of bad mortgages. So bad, owning them has already destroyed companies with even a mix of good and bad ones. Government is going to buy just the bad ones! But Government has no money with which to purchase mortgages, good or bad, that doesn’t come from taxpayers. Your Government is buying, in your name and with your money, mortgages the mortgage experts know are bad, don’t want and wish they had never made.
Government believes it will perform better than the Market. 337legislators with nothing at stake but re-election feel better qualified to risk taxpayer’s money and future than the 200,000,000 taxpayers either opposed to or unsure of the plan. By what measure are they more qualified? By virtue of being able to ignore the people and impose their will on them. But being powerful doesn’t make one right.
There are some great ideas for Private Sector involvement. That few investors are clamoring to be let in on the action is telling. However, if profiting from bad mortgages was the sure thing Government needs it to be to garner public support, we wouldn’t need the Bailout. The Private Sector would be lined up to do it. That they’re not undermines the Government’s contention this is a low cost, no cost, or even profit making venture.
Interestingly, the Bailout isn’t about the Housing Market at all. It’s about the Credit Market. Holding bad mortgages is a threat to financial health. In today’s volatile market, even the hint of weakness spells disaster. No one knows how much in bad mortgages anyone else is holding so no one is extending credit. The borrower may be destroyed in mere hours by a loose word or a breeze on their house of cards. The Government solution is to buy up all the bad mortgages. Freed from worry about risk, lenders will begin extending credit again. This is exactly the solution the Market would have imposed had it been allowed to with some differences in implementation.
The Market would not make taxpayers responsible for the sins of others. It would have relaxed tension in the Credit Market by making those responsible for bad lending decisions endure the consequences. This would dump bad loans on the market at a low price for investors to see as good investments which they then begin buying. As the Market cleansed itself confidence between surviving lenders, demonstrating unquestionable financial soundness by virtue of their survival, would increase and the Credit Market would loosen. This is essentially identical to Government’s plan while taking a little longer. Government is underscoring the soundness of Market principles without being willing to permit Market processes.
By far the worst result of the Bailout is deeper Government intrusion into the Private Sector. The crisis was not a failure of the Market. The Market expects there will be downturns, corrections or cutbacks at times. No one likes them, but only certain forms of Government abandon responsible behavior to avoid them.
We used to have wise and responsible Government; limited and small, it taxed little and meddled less. That allowed a Free Market in a truly Private Sector to transform a wilderness into the world’s richest economy in mere decades. The inertia of that Economy carried us forward despite the low speed, high drag baggage of Woodrow Wilson’s Socialism, FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society.
But even that powerful engine is not immune to the braking action of constant friction. Today Government spends hundreds of billions monthly in unconstitutional entitlements. Crying that a minority will fail in their quest for success, it impedes the majority’s quest, ignorant that a single success does more than a single failure can wipe out. Left alone, we would provide far more for the least of us than the pittance Government doles out for votes. But that garners no power for Government.
Barack Obama and Democrats have already told us what they intend if elected. They plan even more Government regulation and control, weakening even further the economic engine that is Capitalism. They won’t be satisfied until the engine stops altogether.
I’m not convinced we’ve reached the point of no return in our rush to self destruction at the hands of Socialists and Central Planners. But neither am I convinced we have not. The bailout is a huge step in that direction. Granting Democrats control of all 3 branches of Government would be another. And I’m not sure Americans and the GOP is up to the challenge of stopping it. For now, work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God. In the final tally, it does.
Hat tip to Eric Odom for the news that Politivity.com has just released another great video (embedded below) exposing the Democratic corruption, neglect and destruction wrought on the Housing Market and now, the broader American financial market, via their deception, manipulation and mismanagement of the Market in general and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in particular. The Truth seems to be gaining some traction. This is not a Free Market, deregulation, Republican problem. It’s a selfish, personal enrichment, bait and switch, deceptive Democratic Party problem. And Barack Obama is in it up to his neck.
In addition to noting the now familiar players Barney Frank, Franklin Raines and Tony Rezko, the video introduces us to two more top Obama advisors who got millions to serve the public and failed miserably to do so. Valerie Jarrett, CEO of Habitat Co. and Allison Davis, a former law firm associate of Obama, failed so poorly to provide good housing options with the money they received to do precisely that, that many of the housing units they oversaw were declared uninhabitable.
But they did manage to donate and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Obama and his political campaigns. They did manage to do quite well for themselves at the expense of the people they were supposed to serve. And Democrats like to point to heartless, corporate, Right Wingers as the culprits in taking advantage of the less fortunate and less powerful; enriching themselves at the expense of the little guy. Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle!
Hopefully, in the few days left before the election, the general public will be broadly educated as to the character and intentions of the people the Democratic Party is backing for office. If entrusted with political and legislative authority, these men and women will assume, not without reason, they are free to continue their deceptive and manipulative ways. The irony is that the folks most hurt by this will be the ones least able to fend them off and the very ones these powerless citizens believe have their interests at heart.
From the guy who gave us last week’s viral video “Burning Down the House” (1Million+ views), comes another great piece of YouTube goodness. Democrats in the House, many of whom are playing major roles currently in both defending the Democrat’s involvement in the implosion of the housing market and blaming the GOP and the Free Market for the financial woes, are simply shown here talking about how wonderful Freddie and Fannie are. This at a time when the GOP was calling for investigation, oversight and change at the agencies. These people have no shame!
There are likely a number of versions of this out there. But it’s the first time I’ve seen this one. It’s quite good and is an easily understood comparison. Thanks to Frank G for the email!!
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew . She didn’t even have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, ‘How is your friend Audrey doing?’ She replied, ‘Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She’s always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn’t even show up for classes because she’s too hung over.’
Her wise father asked his daughter, ‘Why don’t you go to the Dean’s office and ask him to deduct 1 .0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.’
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father’s suggestion, angrily fired back, ‘That’s a crazy idea, and how would that be fair! I’ve worked really hard for my grades! I’ve invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!’
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, ‘Welcome to the Republican party’
When unexpected good things happen, we call it Serendipity. Not so with unexpected bad things. The Law of Unintended Consequences, abbreviated LUC and pronounced “luck” as in “If it weren’t for bad LUCk I’d have no LUCk at all!”, is perhaps the most famous non-scientific Law. No need to be a rocket scientist to recognize no matter how hard you try to avoid it, bad things will happen which you did not foresee and did not intend.
BCM’s corollary to LUCk postulates the larger the pool of original actions from which to derive consequences of any sort, the greater the odds of realizing a Spontaneous Unintended Consequence, abbreviated SUC and pronounced “suck” as in, well, you’re likely way ahead of me here! All of which puts Democrats, with their emphasis on more regulation, bigger Government and expanding bureaucracy at huge risk for SUCking on a regular basis.
News reports this week show Dems SUCking in 2 ways which don’t bode well for Americans. As always, in November, remember who got you into this mess.
Both instances of Democratic SUCking stem from their Energy policy which refuses to acknowledge both the value of drilling for American oil and of increasing our ability to refine oil we are able to acquire from any source. While Democrats publicly pretend to hate high prices for items impacted by oil costs, privately they are jubilant. High fuel prices are particularly joyous as they force Americans to drive less thereby ushering in the long awaited dream of planetary salvation. But just here, things start to SUCk for the country.
World Net Daily reports BusinessWeek is running a story on a new Ford, the Fiesta ECOnetic. It gets a stunning 65 mpg, but the carmaker can’t sell it in the US. Only Europeans will be able to buy the ECOnetic.
“We know it’s an awesome vehicle,” says Ford America President Mark Fields. “But there are business reasons why we can’t sell it in the U.S.” The main one: The Fiesta ECOnetic runs on diesel.
Automakers such as Volkswagen (VLKAY) and Mercedes-Benz (DAI) have predicted for years that a technology called “clean diesel” would overcome many Americans’ antipathy to a fuel still often thought of as the smelly stuff that powers tractor trailers. Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient.
Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. Taxes aimed at commercial trucks mean diesel costs anywhere from 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than gasoline. Add to this the success of the Toyota Prius, and you can see why only 3% of cars in the U.S. use diesel. “Americans see hybrids as the darling,” says Global Insight auto analyst Philip Gott, “and diesel as old-tech.”
Higher taxes, higher production costs and decades of irresponsible environmentalism - all thanks to Democrats - leave Americans out of fuel, walking on the roadside. Meanwhile, world citizens in Europe reap benefits from American technology, manufacturing jobs and the economic benefit of both.
The second instance of Democrats as LUCky charms also comes via World Net Daily, this time pointing to an ABC News story that the Highway Trust Fund, in which monies are held to be disbursed to the several states for infrastructure upkeep and repair, will run out of money at the end of this month.
… the Transportation Department said that this month it is expecting to bring in $2.7 billion in gas tax revenues but anticipates needing $4.4 billion to reimburse states for their highway and road projects. The department said it will start the upcoming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 with no money in the trust funds if patterns continue as is.
Why? The story reports that Americans are driving less due to the high cost of fuel. A lot less. Try 10 billion miles less in May of ‘08 than in May of ‘07. Music to Democratic ears. But wait. The Highway Trust Fund is kept chuck-full-o-bucks by fuel taxes. Less driving means less fuel purchases. Less fuel purchases means less revenue to the Fund. And less Fund revenue means that “…starting next week [The Transportation Department] will begin delaying payments to states …” for the projects they are working on. Oooops, the favorite Democratic tactic of raising taxes to generate income doesn’t work yet again!
The solution? Democrats want yet another $8 billion in tax money for the Fund. Is there no end to the SUCkiness? The Bush administration recently opposed that plan. Democrats merely criticize the President, pointing to projects that will suffer if the Fund stops paying. Leaving alone, for this post anyway, the waste inherent in sending money from the states to the Feds to be sent back to the states, another factor is at work here. Railing at the GOP, Democrats conveniently forget another truth.
In this highly charged political season, Transportation Secretary [Mary] Peters blamed the financial crisis on earmarks included in the last transportation bill, which she said amounted to $24 billion in pet projects.
The last transportation bill, the one passed by a Democratic Congress, the Congress with a 9% approval rating, contained enough Pork to fund the Highway Trust Fund for almost 6 months! But it’s the GOP who is wrong for not simply ponying up another $8 billion. Democrats in control of purse strings don’t have to exercise fiscal constraint or oversight. If Bush and Co. won’t go along, open fire on the GOP. If the Right continues to balk and Dems need another few billion dollars for something, they’ll just raise another tax.
I remember just three years ago. The scene was chaotic, people were everywhere, frantic! Concern etched on their faces, “Is it too late? Have I waited too long?” No, it wasn’t fearful Gulf Coast residents hoping to get away from Katrina. It was fearful Democrats trying to find a camera and microphone to condemn George Bush and the GOP for hating poor, black people. Such awful white men simply couldn’t be anything but racists considering the way the entire situation was mismanaged. Why, they probably did it on purpose. I had no idea evil corporate technology had progressed to the point where we can generate Category 5 hurricanes on demand. Damn you, Haliburton!!
The fact that Ray Nagin, the black, male, Democrat Mayor of New Orleans, and Kathleen Blanco, the white, female, Democrat Governor of Louisiana so totally mismanaged the local situation on the ground that people who depended on them lost their lives because of their incompetence while others lost everything they had for the same reason is seldom acknowledged. Instead, Bush and Co. is blamed. You’d think the truth would get out, but you’d be wrong.
The GOP is legitimately concerned about the timing of this week’s GOP nominating convention in Minneapolis and the arrival of another huge hurricane on America’s southern doorstep. The specter of Democrat usage of clips of Republicans enjoying themselves at parties juxtaposed with hurricane footage and human suffering from the Gulf strikes fear into Republican hearts and warms the cockles of whatever Democrats consider theirs.
So much so that Democrats are publicly gleeful at the possibility of the damage, death and destruction about to be visited on Gulf residents by Hurricane Gustav because of the negative impact it will have on the GOP Convention. Just so we’re clear, I will repeat my charge. Democrats are excited that people may die or lose everything in a Katrina repeat because it will rain, literally and figuratively, on the GOP parade in Minneapolis.
It is understandable that some of you may think this is just my low opinion of Democrats finding a voice, Poor Blue, he just can’t help bashing the Left. They do so much good. They’re so compassionate and effective he has to keep tearing them down to elevate himself! Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. The next time I tell you something unflattering about the Left, remember this. Because there’s video proof.
Two prominent Democrats, former National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Don Fowler and currently serving Congressman John Spratt, Democrat of South Carolina, while on a plane returning home from the Democrat’s Convention in Denver openly and publicly laughed about the possibility that Gustav would damage our country and kill our people because it would be good for the Democrats to have that to talk about opposite the GOP convention! In an un-Democratic meme, they even invoke the name and participation of God in the event choosing to view this as evidence God is on the side of the Democrats!
The video is here. Both of these despicable excuses for men should be drummed out of the Party at a minimum and expelled from our country for their callous and cavalier attitude. Given what happens to Democrats who engage in outrageous behavior; men like Barney Frank, William Jefferson and Bill Clinton, this will probably be the best thing that ever happened to their political careers.
Excuse me if I continue to find Democratic promises of concern for the welfare of the little guy repulsive, repugnant and, thanks to these two - I don’t even know what to call them, they don’t qualify as “men” in any book I own - thanks to them, I can add opportunistic lies to the list.
Please, you Democrats out there, the ones refusing to condemn these two or call for their ouster, explain to me where and how I am wrong? Justify this. Given the attitude of the upper echelons of your Party, I really do Hope there is Change in the wind for November.
The invaluable Michael Silence gets the hat tip this morning! He links to a Knoxville News Sentinel story reporting that, effective October 1st, TVA is increasing rates. Remember this post when you vote this November!
Customers can expect a 20 percent rate increase on their October electric bills — the largest jump in more than 30 years.
TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore announced a fuel adjustment rate increase of 17 percent at the agency’s board of director’s meeting this morning at its Knoxville headquarters. The increase will go into effect Oct. 1. The board also approved an additional 3 percent base rate increase, also to take take effect Oct. 1.
TVA’s quarterly fuel adjustment, a provision approved by the board of directors in 2003, passes along fluctuations in the price of coal, natural gas and other fuels to its customers.
As they say on late-night commercials, “But wait, there’s more!” I’d say this fell into the arena of “unintended consequences” for the Democrats and their Energy policy. However, if they are not sharp enough to have seen this sort of thing coming, then they aren’t smart enough to trust with taking out the trash. Anyone opposing their strategies has been warning about exactly this sort of thing for years. What thing?
KNS reports there were people at the TVA hearing that spoke in opposition to the increase. Among them was
Bobby Glenn, general manager of a Panasonic electronics facility at Forks of the River Industrial Park in East Knox County, said a recent pattern of increases in electric rates threaten the company’s continued local presence. Three Panasonic facilities employ 300 people. Glenn manages an aluminum foil division that operates a high voltage electroplating operation that supplies process foil for use in capacitors produced in Knoxville and at other plants worldwide.
Previous base rate and fuel-related increases this year have already added $3 million per year to the company’s electricity costs, Glenn said, making the plant less competitive among the Japanese company’s international operations.
“We, as an internationally headquartered company, have to give our top management some view of the future operational costs and profitability at this location, but TVA has not put forth a plan that gives a road map for the future or that gives us any hope that the situation will ever change,” Glen said at the hearing.
The Democrats badly flawed Energy policy now threatens industry and employment in addition to hammering consumer’s pocketbooks. A company acknowledges that higher energy costs may force relocation. That means lost jobs, wages, taxes and a host of other consequences that impact “the little guy”; the very people Democrats claim to be defending.
What is it that Democrats expect of the real world? Is TVA supposed to run in the red and lose money when their costs for producing energy skyrocket? They cannot continue to produce power indefinitely if they lose money. Is Business supposed to run in the red and lose money when their costs for consuming energy skyrocket? They cannot continue to produce goods and services indefinitely if they lose money. Are consumers supposed to simply smile and live with choosing between heating their homes and feeding their families as their costs for consuming energy skyrocket?
The media is filled with stories about Consumers, at every level and in every sector, dealing with the problems high energy prices produce. It’s time for that same media to add the ‘Why’ and the “Who’ of that debate to the other 3′Ws’. Why does Energy cost so much? Who is preventing common sense, sound Economic principles from being applied to the matter? It’s not an effect without an easily identifiable cause. Democrats won’t drill. Democrats won’t debate. Democrats just shill. They won’t even legislate. And you and I are left to pick up the pieces.
Lost in all of this is another question that also needs asking. When some common sense and practical Economics are finally brought to bear on the discussion and Energy prices come back down, will the TVA immediately lower their prices or will they operate under governmental practices which resemble nothing so much as the Ferengi 1st Law of Acquisition, “Once you have their money, you never give it back!”?
