Products that Nobody Wants

Now, this one is worth the time to read -

Products that Nobody Wants
By Randy Fardal

A few excerpts -

The UAW PAC alone spent $11.5M this year on Democrat candidates, including a $3M ad campaign for Obama, so congress inevitably will acknowledge those "bribes" with a taxpayer-funded bailout.

But that inevitability won’t let the auto company CEOs avoid more symbolic water-boarding. Torturing auto execs benefits lawmakers in three ways: First, public opinion is against bailouts, so the hearings let lawmakers pretend they are spending this taxpayer money reluctantly, rather than gleefully; Second, since union leaders already have ginned up militant “solidarity” among workers by vilifying management, the hearings let lawmakers obligingly reinforce the union’s portrayal of management as greedy and evil; And finally, lawmakers always want press coverage.

...Americans actually think it's the lawmakers that produce products that nobody wants. According to the most recent Rasmussen poll, Congress's approval rating has been hovering around 9-12 percent for the past six months. On a ten point scale, congress would get a "1".

What does the typical American family pay for the "products" that Congress produces? Before the bailout frenzy, Congress was spending at an annual rate of about three trillion dollars. With about 110 million households covering those expenses, each family pays Congress directly or indirectly an average of more than $27,000 per year in taxes and loans. Remember, corporations don't really pay taxes; they just pass the bill on to consumers in the price of their products.

And now that Congress has virtually doubled this year's federal budget with "emergency" spending, they will take an average of about $50,000 per family out of the private economy and redistribute it to their favorite "charities". That might save the jobs of a few wealthy New Yorkers and UAW members, but a lot of productive small businesses could have been started with that money in places like Louisiana or Utah. Or if credit really is our biggest problem, think how much money we withdraw from our local banks to pay taxes. Much of that money could be used instead to fund car loans and mortgages in our local communities.

What products does Congress produce with all that money? Today, governments do little more than transfer wealth, while skimming a bit off the top to fund their own bureaucracies each time they touch it.

If organizations are to be rebuked for making products that nobody wants, the United States Congress deserves the harshest punishment of all. As the big three auto CEOs deliver their recovery plans to lawmakers, Congress itself is being criticized for having no recovery plan of its own, despite writing a flurry of checks with “insufficient funds”.

Perhaps it’s time for Congress to slash payrolls, sell off unproductive units, and design more efficient products. After all, they’re asking taxpayers for trillions to bail them out. Where’s their austerity plan?
---

Okay, it was more than a few excerpts; I couldn't help it. You still should go and read the entire article.

I'm simply left wondering just how long we Americans are going to continue putting up with this?