"These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls"

Hypocrisy and Lunacy

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

"If it was not such a tragic, desperate situation facing our nation at this moment in time, the antics of our inept political leaders would be humorous."

The most serious aspect of our current national and state dilemma as it impacts our elected officials is the problem they face concerning "How can I continue to please and appease everybody all the time…when we are out of money?"

"A manager! A manager! My Kingdom for a manager!" That is what I feel the impulse to yell when I see or read the news.

I especially enjoyed watching the financial tribunal which was held in Washington last week, where the group of legislators met with the top honcho’s of the Big Three auto makers. I found this event to be a great example of the stupidity, hypocrisy, and political posturing that only compounds the fears and disdain most citizens feel for our national leadership.

First, it was an obviously big mistake for the auto executives to use their corporate jets to fly to a meeting where they were required to get on their knees and beg these sly politicians to sprinkle their bank accounts with billions of tax payer dollars. They should have come to the meeting wearing soiled coveralls after hitchhiking from Detroit to Washington.

This tactical error gave those seasoned officials the opening they needed to pounce upon these needy, bleeding executives and simultaneously make themselves look politically astute and demanding as they prudently managed the available bail-out funds. Of course, the politicians themselves were all driven to that same meeting by chauffeur driven limousines at taxpayer expense earlier that morning. In my opinion both groups are "fat cats" who have no appreciation for the real plight of the nation or the public.

In reality, the plight of the auto industry is no different than the desperate plights that were previously faced by our electronics industry, our textile industry, our steel industry, our paper industry, our toys industry, our pharmaceuticals industry, and many, many other industry sectors which are diminishing or are already gone. Our nation has evolved into an industry cost model that can not compete in today’s world markets, and consequently almost all of our industries are doomed to eventual failure or relocation out of the USA. Only those products that are too perishable to allow the time it takes to transport them here from elsewhere, or those that are too bulky to allow affordable shipping costs are protected in today’s world of global industrial competition.

With the costs added through over regulation from a herd of watchdog government agencies and bodies of legislation as contained in the family leave act, discrimination claims avoidance, bogus workman’s compensation claims and requirements, minimum wage legislation, environmental legislation, occupational and safety administration legislation, social security benefits costs, laws tilted to promote unionization of industries and companies, and soon to be enacted medical insurance costs....combined with one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, and a philosophy of open world markets – all create an environment where few American industries can hope to compete on a world wide basis. We have priced ourselves out of the game.

All of these various bodies of legislation and oversight of industry are founded on some original basic need and justification. However, the bureaucracy and politics involved has added to these basic needs to the point that the massive amount of disruption and costs which are now impacting U.S. industry borders on lunacy. Most of the requirements, rules and costs are about 40% need justified and 60% bureaucratic B.S.. Each area of regulation requires extra record keeping, extra staffing, and frequent disruption as bureaucrats invade, demand attention and information, and inspect as the industry simultaneously attempts to produce in a productive, cost efficient manner. Big Brother government regulates the way they manufacture, what they design, how they package, and how they advertise.

Meanwhile in most of our industries the unions also frequently disrupt orderly production, lower productivity, create extra staffing, add wages and benefits, and create costly rules and inefficiencies. All of these extra costs from government and labor have to be added to the ultimate cost of the product. When all of the calculations are finalized, the net result is a non-competitive product that is too expensive for a consumer to buy when it sits on a shelf or in a show room next to a competing foreign made product.

We must face the fact that we can no longer manufacture most products in the United States….and that includes automobiles.

Rudiments – Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
● The "crats" are planning to close Three Rivers State Park at Sneads. At the same time Marti Coley and other legislators are parading around in their districts across the state as they give away checks totaling millions of dollars for NEW parks, even one for $200,000 in Bascom and another one for $200,000 in downtown Marianna.

● The credit card companies are sending out notices announcing their intent to raise interest rates to between 20% and 25% on all accounts, even if you have a perfect payment record. They have been bombarding the public with promotions begging them to take and use credit cards for years, and now they plan to "stick it to them". This will cause even more foreclosures, reduce retail purchasing, increase the plight of the struggling public, and deepen the recession. Rates this high are recognized as being usurious and against most banking laws, but the credit card companies have found a legal loophole. This is something you can complain to Boyd and Nelson about. The public needs protection in this matter—and quickly.

● Another of the many hands you feel in your pocket is the greedy utility. Florida Public Utilities has used their bribery of the Florida Public Services Commission to gain another 11% rate increase for your electricity beginning January 2009.

● Across the nation every company is tightening its belt. Industries and companies are laying off thousands and unemployment is soaring as this recessionary snowball rolls downhill and gathers momentum. I predict next year these staff reductions and cut backs will reach the most protected group of employees of all…the sacred bureaucracy. When the cow is sick you finally have to quit milking.

In these times all I can recommend is that everyone be conservative in all you do….and pray a lot! Do that and you will be "Getting It Right".

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Hatcher Publications.