“Beware the Ides of March!”

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.

After the infusion of unbelievable amounts of public dollars,


I continue to hear rumblings from the foundations of our national banking system.
National:

This week a new report emerged which disclosed that our national banking system was even closer to total melt down than reported by grim faced “moneycrats” when the first infusion of TARP funds was being sold to the public. Even worse, there are some who feel another crisis is coming from the same sources.

These “too big to allow to fail” banks haven’t helped themselves any in the public eye as they continued to hold corporate junkets at expensive locations and to award huge bonuses for performance to executives responsible for the impending bankruptcy of the organizations. This tends to make the public more skeptical and unsympathetic.

The pronounced goal at that time was to “loosen” available credit to enable businesses to operate and to thus retain jobs. This hasn’t happened. It seems they are all either sitting on the money, or are busy stuffing it into dark corners and their own pockets. Instead, in the normal fashion of government overreaction, they have tightened credit rules to the point that few can qualify. Loans are not being lent, money is not flowing, businesses continue to fail, and unemployment continues to rise.

I keep hearing of several local banks that are “on the brink” and that we are in for another year or two of constant business closures, bank failures, and rising unemployment. In my opinion the actual current unemployment level is actually near 20% instead of the quoted 9.8%. If the statistics included those who have depleted their benefits and have given up, as well as the under employed, and the self employed who are now unemployed but are not eligible for unemployment compensation (one of the great benefits of being self employed), the rate would double.

Meanwhile, most governments have refused to lay off any “crats”, they are continuing to give annual raises to their bureaucracy, new fees and taxes are being forced upon the struggling masses, and the utilities are continuing to reap and rape. Also, in the name of the “green movement” the FDEP and EPA are continuing to impose more and more unnecessary regulations and requirements on businesses which either causes them to go out of business because of these costs, or if they can pass the costs on to the public (as in the case of a utility), the struggling families pay for this environmental lunacy. I sense a mounting pressure upon the public, and fear an oncoming calamity…..I hope I am NOT Getting It Right.

Local:

I personally know of two long-time businesses here in Jackson County that will either close or be in receivership by the end of the year. One of these businesses is closing because of continued new requirements levied upon them by the FDEP, and the other business owner will lose his business because of the lack of available financing in today’s banking world of “no money”. We have already lost Beall’s, Swearingen-Lord, Bryant’s Enterprise Gulf Station, and the Great Oaks Golf Course, all of which provided jobs in our community for many, many years. Our government is too busy spending money on sidewalks and fire trucks to worry about business failures and loss of jobs.

♦ Due to continued allegations of corruption, Governor Crist has replaced two of the Public Service Commissioners with new appointees. One is a newspaper executive and the other is a bean counter in government. I hope they are both honest and really look after the interest of the thousands of families across Florida who are struggling to pay their electric bills each month.

♦ A good example of how things work in the dirty game of politics: Political Formula = Auto Workers Union donates huge funds to Obama campaign + Obama gets elected President + President bails out bankrupt auto companies with taxpayer funds and saves union jobs : then, Saturn division is closed and auto jobs lost (just happens to be the only non union plant in the industry) + State of Tennessee loses jobs (Tennessee voted for McCain in election) = POLITICAL PAYBACK! Who said life had to be fair?

♦ I encourage our elected officials to get involved with the local tea party group “Concerned American Patriots”, by at least attending some of their meetings. This group is growing and will have an impact on the outcome of our future elections, locally as well as statewide and nationally. If our local officials are really concerned about controlling the size and cost of government, and want to help get our nation restored to what it once was…they will participate. If they wait until a few months before their next campaign and then suddenly start attending meetings, the voters in this group will see through that ploy. Thus far, Brad Drake, James Wise, and Eddie Hendry are the only ones who have been involved.

♦ The only two elements of our economy where I see growth is in government employment, especially at the federal level … and in the auctioneering business.

♦ At the Marianna City Commission meeting this week they increased the cost of remodeling or building anything within the city limits by $.07 per sq. ft. in a plans review fee for the fire department. How did our forefathers ever get anything designed and built without having all of these expensive bureaucrats around to help them?

♦ The first “Marianna Day Fall Festival” was held last weekend. It featured a re-enactment of the downtown battle which occurred on the streets of Marianna in 1865, and a five band “Bluegrass Festival” at Citizens Lodge Park. If you missed it this year, you need to plan to participate next year. It is a great addition to our annual community agenda, and I thank all who helped make it happen.



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