Sunday, October 25, 2009

The economy--8 months later

Well, folks, some months have passed since I first posted my reflection on the economy. Nothing has really changed for me.

My Tree Surgery Company had 2 reasonable months in the Spring, but 2 weeks before July 4 the phone quit ringing altogether. I had to borrow $2,000 to keep my only home left off the foreclosure block over unpaid back property taxes. The government always gets theirs, but us working folks aren't seeing it after high expenses of overseas warfare and ever larger sums being given to industry and finance.

Question: If the American taxpayer now owns 61% of GM by their own admission, then why aren't their products 61% cheaper to the taxpayer who owns them.

Their executives have a free GM car to drive as a perk. They have given themselves large bonuses for driving their corporation into the dirt. The same is true for banks and investment firms. Don't we love the consideration from Washington and Raleigh!

Only 1 representative on a state or national level has responded in any way to my pleas. My representative to the House states he and several others are sponsoring a bill saying "no more bailouts."

It is a lot late, but maybe someone is hearing the wise observation of the Kingfisher of Amos 'n Andy fame: "If yo out go exceeds yo income, yo up keep will be yo down fall!"

Only the Federal Government can issue counterfeit bills with no gold or silver to back it! This approach proved a disaster when we fought the Viet Nam War alongside the War on Poverty. After the Johnson Administration left office, inflation reached double digit proportions. It does not work to pump empty dollars into any economy.

What does work is dollars sent to the working taxpayer. A dollar sent to him begins to circulate quickly as bills are paid and new equipment and workers are hired. The dollar goes to creditors who, in turn, pay off their suppliers, who hire back their employees to produce more goods and services.

Thus far, large expenditures have been used internally to make corporate books look good so more foolish investors will, once again, buy their stocks. It is all figures on paper with no results in the real world of keeping utilities on, mortgage paid, food on the table, and gas in the tank.

Oil companies have been hiking prices every few days since summer. Diesel, which any industrial engines require, is back to 20% higher than regular gas after a short spell of being equal or a little lower as it should be. Why are not the Energy Company executives sitting before Congress to explain to the public why diesel is not 20% lower than regular gas since it comes off the refinery line that much before gas with that much less cost?

I have received 2 solicitations to join a Class Action lawsuit to Countrywide who foreclosed my house and Windom Timeshares who foreclosed my wonderful Las Vegas based purchase which did not have property taxes attached to it. Who will really profit in this? Us who lost or the law firm bringing the action? You know the answer.

In 200 years we have recreated what our forefathers left in England and Europe: too much government intervention in private business, high taxes, and law enforcement which put the poor man in jail while the rich went free. The "land of the free and home of the brave" is not what it used to be when politicians were unpaid and considered their representation a service.

As Walter Cronkite used to say: "That's the way it is October 25, 2009."