Archive for the 'The Economy' Category

The Ant and the Grasshopper

ant-and-grasshopperI received this e-Mail from a friend the other day and would like to share the stories with you in case you haven’t seen them.  Any resemblance between version number two and the current government regime’s method of operation is purely intentional.

Two different versions — two different morals.  When referring to the Left, I use the term “moral” advisedly.

Traditional - Version #1:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

Moral of the story: Be responsible for yourself!

Contemporary - Version #2:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’

Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’  Rev. Jeremiah Wright then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti- Grasshopper Discrimination Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

Moral of the story: Be careful how you vote in 2010. The rights you save may be your own!

So it is written — so it shall be.

R.S.F.

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Tell Them No — NOW!

Capitol At NightTomorrow (Friday 6/26/09) the Cap and Trade, more accurately called the Cap and Tax bill, comes up for House vote.  It represents both the largest tax increase and greatest incursion into our lives by government in American history.  It must be stopped in its tracks.  Passage of this measure will siphon thousands of dollars per year from your family’s pockets.

For example, according to American Solutions, the energy tax would:

  • Destroy an average of 1 to as many as 3 million jobs every year
  • Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline and heating oil prices by 74 percent
  • Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent
  • Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500 annually
  • Increase the federal debt by 26 percent, which is $29,150 per person

Several Republicans and ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats are on the fence and under tremendous political pressure to pass this travesty.  They must be contacted immediately and told to vote “NO” if they expect to be re-elected next year.  These key votes are:

Republicans:
Bartlett (MD)
Bono Mack (CA)
Castle (DE)
Dent (PA)
Ehlers (MI)
Frelinghuysen (NJ)
Gerlach (PA)
Inglis (SC)
Tim Johnson (IL)
Kirk (IL)
Lance (NJ)
LoBiondo (NJ)
Petri (WI)
Platts (PA)
Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
Democrats:
Altmire (PA)
Bright (AL)
Dahlkemper (PA)
Drieshaus (OH)
Ellsworth (IN)
Kissell (NC)
Kratovil (MD)
Kanjorski (PA)
Minnick(ID)
Teague (NM)
Be polite but be firm.  Keep government out of our lives. Call 202-224-3121 now — and tell them “NO TO CAP AND TRADE!” My thanks to Mark Levin Show.com for this list of legislators.
R.S.F.

“Ists” and “Isms”

iranian-revolution-montage

I received a letter the other day which addressed me as a “Conservative Activist”. That night I saw a television show that made me realize some might consider me a “Survivalist”. Here, all the while, I thought I was a “Capitalist” speaking out against “Marxism” in America and supporting our troops fighting “Terrorism” abroad, so the rest of us can live to enjoy “Freedom” at home. Freedom. How’d that word get in there?

Lately, freedom seems to have gotten lost among the labels and, as it turns out, some of us don’t really understand what it is. Take, for example, a Liberal friend of mine [about whom I've spoken before] who agrees with the acting president that we have no right to “impose our way of life” on people in other countries. They both call it “meddling”, as does Mahmoud Ahmedinejad — who probably didn’t even know the word existed until our own B. Hussein Obama used it and gave him the opportunity to toss it back at us as propaganda. My friend has finally quantified the reason we can’t agree on any of the issues: we disagree on the fundamental principles.

What none of the three aforementioned understand is that freedom is the natural condition of human kind. Our founding fathers realized that reality and wrote about it often. Freedom comes from God, not from man. Since it can only be suppressed by man [governments and tyrants], helping to restore the natural order is neither imposing nor meddling. Millions of Iranians risking their lives in the streets of Tehran know that too and are waiting for words of encouragement from America — but our shining beacon at freedom’s door is dark. My friend says it’s none of our business because no one has asked for our help. I don’t know why anyone thinks so many signs in the crowd are printed in English but I’m guessing they’re the same people who think the revolt we are witnessing is still about the election.

Obama is an embarrassment. He has abdicated his responsibility as any kind of free world leader. Even France and Germany have spoken out but, for all the meaningless drivel he and his teleprompter have generated, his deafening silence is broken only by a few vague remarks about the government violence. This ideologue is coldly recasting the very essence of what America is about and will have the blood of thousands on his hands if Ahmedinejad once again slams freedom’s door on the fingers of the Iranian people.

Let me be as plain as the ears on ‘Bama’s head. When he apologizes for the brilliance of America, he does not speak for me. When he parades weakness in front of the world, he does not speak for me. When he insults our friends and friendlies up to our enemies, he does not speak for me. When he says America is broken and should be fixed with massive government programs, he does not speak for me. When he demonizes success and tramples our Constitution, he does not speak for me. When he disrespects the military or degrades their mission he does not speak for me. When oppressed people cry out against tyranny and are willing to die for freedom, he doesn’t speak at all.

So all other “ists” and “isms” notwithstanding, I say to my Liberal friend that I mostly consider myself a “real-ist”. Occasionally my government loses its way and as long as there is a First Amendment, I will speak for myself and try to influence a course correction. I have always been and shall always be proud of my country. If supporting those in other countries who are trying to restore freedom’s natural order is “meddling”, then I’m a “medd-ler”. There, we now have a “ler” label.

Above all else, I am an American and to the people of Iran, if our acting president won’t say it, I will — Press on! We hear your voices and you are not alone. God and the American people are with you!

R.S.F.

The Dime Store

Dime Store LunchWhen I was a kid, I loved going to what we called “The 5 & 10″. The name was a holdover from the days when a small variety store had items that actually sold for 5 or 10 cents. Of course, those were the days when $43 a week was a livable wage and milk cost 10 cents a carton. We used to laugh because nothing sold for less than a dollar anymore but they still they had a wide array of merchandise on display. There was even a “soda fountain” where the man behind the counter would mix up a soda [pop] right before your very eyes. He’d squirt a little syrup into the glass, add some carbonated water and voilà — a treat to tickle your tongue and the perfect complement for your Snickers bar.

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Today the little variety store is called North Korea, the man behind the counter is named Kim Jong-il and you still can’t buy anything for a dime. However, they have plenty on display and regular live demonstrations of their merchandise. Most recently, they rolled out a nuclear device about the size of the Hiroshima blast and a couple of rockets that can reach out from a few hundred to a few thousand miles. No-o-o-o, they’re not aiming at The United States but they are hoping this eye candy attracts the attention of buyers like Hamas, Al-Qaeda and similar prospects who may be shopping for the right ingredients to quench their murderous thirst and complement their bar full of nuts.

Meanwhile, what is the acting President doing since he returned from his American apology tour? Well, Barack ‘Chavez’ Obama is focusing his wrecking ball on the economy once again, this time buying himself another car company, preparing to add health care to the long list of failed government follies and nominating the most radical candidate ever to be considered for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. Add a VAT tax, an energy tax, as well as several nuisance taxes and we have pure taste titillation for the quenchless thirst of our own Socialist nut bar.

As far as the North Korean dime store, not to worry — just like Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other troubled kids on the block we’re going to talk with them, all the time hoping we don’t get mugged while we’re hobnobbing. Maybe we’ll even roll over for the United Nations, just to show our soft underbelly to any madmen who didn’t notice when our fearless leader exposed it in the first place. Change? Geez, I hope I have enough left for a chocolate soda!

R.S.F.

Now Amerika!

American TurncoatsYesterday the House and Senate each passed the huge $1.2 trillion ‘Porkasbord’. If there’s a bright side to any of this, it’s that House Republicans seem to have rediscovered their core values and stood solidly against the non-stimulus measure, even though their meager numbers were predictably outvoted 246-183. The Senate tally was 60-38 with three traitorous RINOs voting with the Amerikan Socialist Party.

Twice, Arlen Specter [of Pennsylvania], Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins [both of Maine] had a chance to stop this giant obscenity in its tracks, sending it back to the drawing board for a realistic rewrite. Twice, with their votes for the original Senate bill and last night voting for the revised House version, all three stood with their backs firmly turned against their country, their party and the vast majority of the American people.

To have drafted the final bill without permitting Republican input was irresponsible; to have voted on it before anyone had a chance to read it was unconscionable; to ignore the will of the people, begin changing our system of government into something alien to The Founders and mortgage the fortunes and liberty of future generations simply defies description! From what anyone actually knows about the ‘Porkasbord’, there is little stimulus in it for the economy but plenty of payback for special interests and funding for growing government.

You expect destructive behavior from demagogues like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank or ‘Bama himself: they’re flagrantly far-Left, arrogantly radical and plainly incompetent. It is fools like Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who continue to confound by declaring themselves as Republicans but vote, more often than not, with the Socialists. Their punishment is mandatory; voting out of office is too good for such un-American behavior but it’s all we have in what, at least for the time being, is still a democracy.

There is no comfort in knowing that this spending legislation, and that which follows, is doomed to failure or that it’s failure falls squarely upon the shoulders of the former Democrat Party. Historically, spending in a down economy has never worked — on the other hand tax cuts have never failed but the dark forces crafting this boondoggle managed to remove what few actual tax cuts there were.

There is no comfort because, even more important than the cost of this measure in dollars and cents, is the cost in liberty. So distracting is the financial aspect of the ‘Porkasbord’ that most people have overlooked where their money is going and what it is doing. As well as the single greatest transfer of wealth in history from the private sector to government, it is also the single greatest transfer in history of freedom from the individual to the state. The Constitution has been cast aside and we are now entering an era of government without limits — huge, unrestrained and tyrannical. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize this kind of spending, mandates about to be imposed upon the private sector, or restrictions placed upon the individual. Rather, the Constitution was designed to restrict government and protect against exactly the kind of abuses occurring right now.

Thank you Mr. Specter, thank you Ms. Snowe, thank you Ms. Collins for selling out the free Republic of America and helping to reverse more than 200 years of sacrifice and hard-won liberty. Thanks to you and your Stalinist comrades, God-given rights are fast becoming government-granted privileges and “Government of the people, by the people and for the people” which “shall not perish from the earth” — just did!

R.S.F.

$1.17 Trillion Pork Smorgasbord

Just to show you the Liberal spin being applied to the un-stimulus package of pork heading for the Senate, I intercepted this tidbit from MoveOn.org to their Leftist backers:

This week, the Senate will vote on President Obama’s economic stimulus plan—with historic investments in green jobs, health care, and education to get our economy back on track. But right now, the stimulus doesn’t have the votes to pass. 1 Republicans and conservative Democrats are teaming up to strip out the good stuff—college loan assistance, health research, tax cuts for poor folks, and more—in favor of more tax cuts for corporations. 2 If they don’t get their way, they’ll block the plan.

Last week, not a single Republican in the House voted for Obama’s plan—they didn’t think voters would ever hold them accountable. That’s why we’re asking folks to pledge now to help run ads after the vote letting the public know where key senators—both Republican and Democrat—came down on the bill. We need to get started now, so politicians and the media know their constituents are paying attention.

Liberals Feeding at ‘Porkasbord’First of all, the Democrats already have the necessary votes to pass their bill but, knowing the deceit and inevitable failure inherent in this measure, they want Republican fingerprints on it so they don’t have to shoulder all the blame themselves.

Secondly, it is because their constituents are paying attention and they will be held accountable that so many politicians are opposing this debacle. Only 37 percent of Americans now think the bill is a good idea, according to Rasmussen Reports, down even further from last week.

Lastly, none of the items being propagandized by the kook-fringe groups are in question. This bill will simply stimulate nothing that helps our immediate economic situation, which is supposed to be its intent. Proponents will most likely strip out a few items as bargaining chips but unless they kill the whole thing, it’s just a bad bill — and a major step toward converting America into a failed, Socialist nation. Let’s see what’s really in there that responsible legislators find objectionable:

  • $1 billion for Amtrak, which hasn’t earned a profit in four decades.
  • $2 billion to help subsidize child care.
  • $400 million for research into global warming.
  • $2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.
  • $650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.
  • $600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.
  • $75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.
  • $21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.
  • $2.25 billion for national parks. This item has sparked calls for an investigation, because the chief lobbyist of the National Parks Association is the son of Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wisc.
  • $335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
  • $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which means a substantial amount of it will be captured by ACORN, the controversial activist group currently under federal investigation for vote fraud. Another $750 million would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN – meaning cities and states are barred from receiving that money. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., charges the money appears to be a “payoff” for the partisan political activities of these community groups during the last election cycle.
  • $44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.
  • $32 billion for a “smart electricity grid to minimize waste.
  • $87 billion of Medicaid funds, to aid states.
  • $53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.
  • $13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing.
  • $20 billion for quicker depreciation and write-offs for equipment.
  • $10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.
  • $20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program.

Republican leaders say the un-stimulus package will add 32 new government programs at a cost of $136 billion. One objection is that many of the programs, once established, are likely to continue indefinitely.

The $1.17 trillion ‘porkasbord’ passed by House Democrats bears little resemblance even to the bill originally proposed by Obama himself, with less than 5 percent of the expenditures now going to repair America’s deteriorating infrastructure.

This is not to say there aren’t some worthwhile projects being addressed but an alleged stimulus bill is not the place to address them. As House Minority whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told the media, “This was not a stimulus bill. It was a spending bill.” Let your senator know you don’t like pork!

R.S.F.

Pelosi’s Pork Roll

So the unstimulus bill passed the House of Unrepresentatives tonight, marking the first step toward the biggest pig-feed in world history. I’m please to report that every Republican plus 12 Democrat patriots had their heads screwed on straight and stood strongly against the measure. Unfortunately, 242 Democrat turncoats voted in favor of government control rather than upholding the will of the American people.

The following cartoon by Mark Dean is offered in place of my next thousand words and, I believe, says it all. Click on the picture to see other insightful works of art by Mr. Dean.

The Inmates Are Running The Assylum

Here’s hoping the Democrat Pork Project encounters unexpected sanity in the Senate, despite liberal subversives like John McCain.

R.S.F.

A Taxing Explanation

‘Working People’

John McCain is proposing lower taxes for everyone.  The Obama media, and the rest of his campaign, interpret this as tax cuts for the wealthy.  Senator Obama has promised to increase taxes on high wage earners and reduce them for the other 95% of Americans, 40% of whom aren’t even paying taxes…thus providing them with what amounts to welfare.  Sound complicated?  It really isn’t, if you remove the political spin.

One of the clearest explanations of both the truth and consequences of South Side Barry’s tax plan was written by Dr. David Kamerschen, Ph.D., Professor of Economics at the University of Georgia.  It goes like this:

Suppose that, everyday, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.  If they pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would break down as follows:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing
The fifth would pay $1
The sixth would pay $3
The seventh would pay $7
The eighth would pay $12
The ninth would pay $18
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59

So that’s what they decided to do.  The ten men drank in the bar each day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day the owner threw them a curve.  “Since you are all such good customers” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.  Drinks for the ten men now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected.  They would still drink for free.  But what about the other six men…the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share’?  They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33 but, if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

Hearing their dilemma, the bartender suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount and he proceeded to calculate the amounts that each should pay, and so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing - (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 - (33% savings)
The seventh now paid $5 instead  of $7 - (28% savings)
The eighth now paid $9 instead of @12 - (25% savings)
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 - (22% savings)
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 - (16% savings)

Each of the six was better off than before…and the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.  “I only got $1 out of the $20,” declared the sixth man.  He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got $10!”  Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too!  It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I did!” “That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man.  “Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!” “Wait a minute!” yelled the first four men in unison, “We didn’t get anything at all!  The system exploits the poor!”   The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night, the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him.   But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.  They didn’t have enough money among all of them for even half of the bill!

…And that boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, journalists, college professors, T.V. anchors and Mr. Barack Hussein Obama is how OUR tax system works.   The people who pay the most in taxes derive the greatest benefit from a tax reduction.  Tax them too much or attack them for being wealthy and they just may not show up anymore.

In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier. And just where do you suppose ‘The Messiah’ is going to get the fish and loaves to ‘anoint’ the folks that didn’t pay into the system at all?

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.  For those who don’t understand, no explanation is possible.

R.S.F.