January 17, 2008
By: Sid Riley
This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items that are impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope that you will read the column regularly and that it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
There Is No Shortage Of Subjects Deserving Attention …Only a Shortage of How To Cope With Paying For It All !!
As we are continually bombarded with factors which reduce our ability to enjoy the money we work so hard to earn, I find no shortage in subjects for this column. However, I fear we all are experiencing an increasing difficulty in coping with the net effect of these increasing costs. The final result will most probably be a reduction in our standard of living.
This weekend I was watching a film on television which showed vivid scenes from the depression era of the 1930’s. It showed families struggling to survive while living in tent cities, and long lines of men sitting on street curbs waiting for a possible day’s work. I remember my mother and father telling of living in a tent with a dirt floor, in a friend’s back yard during those years.
Banks aggressively foreclosed on properties and took homes as the economy fell apart. It was the era of criminal heroes such as Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, and John Dillinger. The public sided with these bandits as they robbed the evil banks that had taken all they owned.
Those circumstances occurred not too many years ago….and could return. We have been "brainwashed" into a sense of economic security, but there are no guarantees in life. Enough foolish decisions and poor leadership could lead this nation back into that pit of economic despair.
That danger is the reason we should all diligently resist those factors which cause companies to lose their profitability and individuals to lose their net disposable income.
This is why negative elements such as government waste, unnecessary spending, over regulation, over taxation, abuse by insurance companies, abuse from financial institutions, abuse from utilities, and many other areas of cost should not be tolerated by us. And in today’s world, the economic health of our citizens and subsequently our nation is severely impacted from international influences such as gasoline prices, out-sourcing of jobs, international balance of payments, foreign debt and ownership. All of these constitute potential dangers which could cause our wonderful world to suddenly collapse around us.
To remain passive and inattentive is foolish.
Now, with this preamble completed, I will address some of the issues of the moment which contribute to these growing dangers:
-A FOOLISH NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY
To allow a situation which endangers our national economic structure because of political fear of the environmental loonies in our society is dangerous and foolhardy. We need to build atomic energy plants, build new refineries, and drill anywhere we can find oil reserves. This should be done with a maximum of regard for protection of the environment…but it should be done at once! We can not remain at the mercy of the Sheiks and Sultans of the Mid-East!
- A FOOLISH INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY
To allow China and numerous other nations free, open access to our markets while they continue to engage in restrictive trade practices, poor human rights practices and provide economic assistance to those who would destroy the United States is foolish. We need to choose our friends more carefully and to remember that friendship is a two way relationship. We can not economically survive with an unimaginable negative balance of trade which erodes the value of the dollar on the international market.
- A FOOLISH MOVE INTO LIBERAL SOCIALISM
Our society is becoming more and more dependent on a liberal, amoral, and socialistic system of government. Individual responsibilities for actions and choices are being overtaken by attitudes that "big brother" government will take care of all of our needs. This moves us away from the free, capitalistic system that has made our nation so great. Socialism does not work. It leads to certain economic collapse as the unproductive "free loaders" become so numerous they overburden the system.
I feel our nation has entered an era of change that threatens us all. We must all be involved and diligent in our resolve to keep our nation strong and to only allow honest, astute leadership which is dedicated to our common good. Do this and you will be sure our nation is "Getting It Right".
There Is No Shortage Of Subjects Deserving Attention …Only a Shortage of How To Cope With Paying For It All !!
As we are continually bombarded with factors which reduce our ability to enjoy the money we work so hard to earn, I find no shortage in subjects for this column. However, I fear we all are experiencing an increasing difficulty in coping with the net effect of these increasing costs. The final result will most probably be a reduction in our standard of living.
This weekend I was watching a film on television which showed vivid scenes from the depression era of the 1930’s. It showed families struggling to survive while living in tent cities, and long lines of men sitting on street curbs waiting for a possible day’s work. I remember my mother and father telling of living in a tent with a dirt floor, in a friend’s back yard during those years.
Banks aggressively foreclosed on properties and took homes as the economy fell apart. It was the era of criminal heroes such as Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, and John Dillinger. The public sided with these bandits as they robbed the evil banks that had taken all they owned.
Those circumstances occurred not too many years ago….and could return. We have been "brainwashed" into a sense of economic security, but there are no guarantees in life. Enough foolish decisions and poor leadership could lead this nation back into that pit of economic despair.
That danger is the reason we should all diligently resist those factors which cause companies to lose their profitability and individuals to lose their net disposable income.
This is why negative elements such as government waste, unnecessary spending, over regulation, over taxation, abuse by insurance companies, abuse from financial institutions, abuse from utilities, and many other areas of cost should not be tolerated by us. And in today’s world, the economic health of our citizens and subsequently our nation is severely impacted from international influences such as gasoline prices, out-sourcing of jobs, international balance of payments, foreign debt and ownership. All of these constitute potential dangers which could cause our wonderful world to suddenly collapse around us.
To remain passive and inattentive is foolish.
Now, with this preamble completed, I will address some of the issues of the moment which contribute to these growing dangers:
-A FOOLISH NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY
To allow a situation which endangers our national economic structure because of political fear of the environmental loonies in our society is dangerous and foolhardy. We need to build atomic energy plants, build new refineries, and drill anywhere we can find oil reserves. This should be done with a maximum of regard for protection of the environment…but it should be done at once! We can not remain at the mercy of the Sheiks and Sultans of the Mid-East!
- A FOOLISH INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY
To allow China and numerous other nations free, open access to our markets while they continue to engage in restrictive trade practices, poor human rights practices and provide economic assistance to those who would destroy the United States is foolish. We need to choose our friends more carefully and to remember that friendship is a two way relationship. We can not economically survive with an unimaginable negative balance of trade which erodes the value of the dollar on the international market.
- A FOOLISH MOVE INTO LIBERAL SOCIALISM
Our society is becoming more and more dependent on a liberal, amoral, and socialistic system of government. Individual responsibilities for actions and choices are being overtaken by attitudes that "big brother" government will take care of all of our needs. This moves us away from the free, capitalistic system that has made our nation so great. Socialism does not work. It leads to certain economic collapse as the unproductive "free loaders" become so numerous they overburden the system.
I feel our nation has entered an era of change that threatens us all. We must all be involved and diligent in our resolve to keep our nation strong and to only allow honest, astute leadership which is dedicated to our common good. Do this and you will be sure our nation is "Getting It Right".
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