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?
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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?

Let the leeches help the bloodsuckers

It must be getting rough down at the auto plant, as the CEOs are now willing to restructure, take cuts in pay, and even drive to Washington in order to get on the dole at the FSL, Federal Soup Line. But, these acts of sacrifice come at an additional price; they are now asking for $34B instead of the $25B they were asking for just two weeks ago. Does it ever end? Is there no limit?

As for any thoughts of allowing these outfits to go bankrupt, forget about it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said bankruptcy isn't an option for the Big Three. And, President-elect Barack Obama has called for propping up the industry.

I say if they can't pull the freight, why should the taxpayer be stuck with their losses? Did they share their profits with us? No!

Another idea I've heard is for the oil industry to bail out the auto industry. They need each other and the oil companies have posted record profits, while the rest of us have been hurt. Let the leeches help the bloodsuckers, I say!

Why We Fight

"It is nowhere written that the American Empire goes on forever."



Military + Industry + Congress = Military Industrial Complex

"This is not about one President or one Party."

John McCain asked, "When does the United States go from a force for good to a force of Imperialism?"

President Eisenhower said, "In the counsels of government, we must guard against the Military Industrial Complex." He said that if we didn't keep an eye on the Military Industrial Complex, we would see what he called 'a disastrous rise of misplaced power'; people making policy who have zero accountability to the voter.

On October 10, 2002, the U.S. Congress passed Joint Resolution 114, granting the President the right to use force against Iraq at his discretion.

On how we maintain an all voluntary military, "We appeal to people's self-interest, and then put them into a situation that's based on self-sacrifice."

From a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel - "These guys were manipulating public opinion, okay, creating, ah, falsehoods and fantasies to inspire fear in the American people so that they could have their war." Further, she says, "I have two sons and I will allow none of my children to serve in the United States Military. If you join the military now, you are not defending the United States of America; you are helping certain policy makers pursue an Imperial agenda." Later, she says, "We have a Congress that failed, in every way, to ask the right questions, to hold the President to account; our Congress failed us, miserably. And that's because many in Congress are beholding to the Military Industrial Complex."

"It turns out, it's not that hard to get a country to go to war."

When pressed, President George W. Bush said, "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th."

"It's a terrible thing, when American citizens can't trust their President."

"There's something wrong with the entire system."

"The reason we are in Iraq, first off, has not honestly been told to the American people. It certainly had nothing to do with the liberation of the Iraqi people. It was never part of the agenda and it's not part of the agenda, now."

"We know we did not have an exit strategy in the invasion of Iraq, because we didn't intend to leave. We are in the process right now of building 14 permanent bases in Iraq."

"The world has changed and we're not going back to where we were."

"One of the sillier ideas [people say]...American policy has been hijacked by a handful of people and as soon as they are out of there, we're going to go back to the way it was. They are wrong about that, because we are not the same people we were, before."

"We are walking on thin ice. We are treading the same path taken by the first Democratic Regime ever created in the Western world, namely, the Roman Republic."

"[The Roman Republic] discovered that to maintain, expand, [and to] protect this empire, they required standing armies. Standing armies is what George Washington warned us against in his farewell address; that they will destroy the structure of government that we tried to create in our Constitution; to prevent the rise of an Imperial Presidency."

"[Our Constitution] gives the right to go to war exclusively to the elected Representatives of the people, to the Congress. Our Congress, in October of 2002, voted in both Houses to give this power to a single man, including the use of nuclear weapons, if he so chose..."

"The fundamental reality is that most of the government's decisions today are substantially dictated by powerful corporate interests. Clearly, Capitalism is winning [over Democracy]."

"...the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance, and we have not been vigilant since Dwight Eisenhower issued his warning to us back in 1961 about the dangers of unauthorized power in the form of the Military Industrial Complex."

President Eisenhower said, "We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper, together."

"So, why we fight? I think we fight [be]cause too many people are not standing up, saying, 'I'm not doing this anymore.'"

Complacency and boredom

As long as the majority of us allow those in power to get away with whatever they care to do, we will all be slaves to their greedy desires. Kid yourself, not. There are those that will take everything you have, without giving it a second thought.

I suspect you get the same reaction from most of your family and friends as I do when any subject having to do with politics or current world affairs is brought up - complacency and/or pure boredom. Too many of us have become disenfranchised, discouraged, or simply never cared in the first place. The latter is what I find, mostly. Only when it's too late will these people finally look up and wonder just what the hell happened to our great country, our very society!

When headlines read something like, "US Unveils New $800 Billion Plan to Loosen Credit" or "U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit", most people I know simply skip past the article. (You should read both of them!) Of those that do read it, very few believe there is anything we, as individuals, can do about it. They may be right. They may not. Just consider a bee hive or an ant colony, with each of them doing their small part. Individually, they may not amount to much, but by working together, they have the ability to create huge, thriving communities. We could learn much from bees and ants, and it starts with communication. Talk to your family and friends; start blogs; put tag lines on each of your emails. Don't allow their complacency and boredom to discourage you! You may not be able to control their actions, or lack thereof, but you can control your own. If we fail, let it not be because we were unwilling to do our own small part!

$7,000,000,000,000 commitment - No big deal!

Americans must think Paulson has an honest face. He can now write the largest check in the world, and there's nothing you can do about it!

It's no be deal, is it? $85B here, $153B there, $700B here, $800B there. So what? The Federal Reserve controls the printing press! All they have to do is pour in more [red] ink and start the presses! Federal money is free, isn't it?

$85B for AIG; $700B for banks and Wall Street; $153B in pork to get the bill passed, $800B for credit cards, auto loans, mortgages and other borrowing. Soon, we'll also be bailing out the auto manufacturers and anyone else that can weasel their way into the federal soup line. Is it ever enough? Currently, the total bailout commitments, loans and pledges of backing is almost $7 trillion - that's $7,000,000,000,000, folks! But, it's no big deal! It's free! Just crank up the printing press!

Where's the help for Main Street? Who gives a rat's behind? That was just part of the rhetoric to get past a temporary problem - you're a schmuck, not deserving of an even break!

Just when the hell are we going to wake up? The general public is being played like a cheap fiddle. It matters not whether you are American, British, German, Italian, whatever! We are all losers. That is, we are all losers as long as we continue to sit on our complacent behinds and allow those in the know to continue raping us with this sham. Wake up and educate yourself, before it's too late! Tear up your credit cards and pay off your debt. Do you want to lose your home for the price of a department store credit card? I think not! Don't allow these creeps to take advantage of you and your family!

Obama Birth Certificate Petition

Please sign the Obama Birth Certificate Petition.  This issue must be cleared up before Senator Barack Obama is allowed to take office!

PETITION FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OF

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE

To: Electoral College, Congress of the United States, Federa Elections Commission, U.S. Supreme Court, President of the United States, other controlling legal authorities

Whereas, by requirement of the United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, no one can be sworn into office as president of the United States without being a natural born citizen;

Whereas, there is sufficient controversy within the citizenry of the United States as to whether presidential election winner Barack Obama was actually born in Hawaii as he claims;

Whereas, Barack Obama has refused repeated calls to release publicly his entire Hawaiian birth certificate, which would include the actual hospital that performed the delivery;

Whereas, lawsuits filed in several states seeking only proof of the basic minimal standard of eligibility have been rebuffed;

Whereas, Hawaii at the time of Obama's birth allowed births that took place in foreign countries to be registered in Hawaii;

Whereas, concerns that our government is not taking this constitutional question seriously will result in diminished confidence in our system of free and fair elections;

SIGN THE PETITION

We, the undersigned, assert our rights as citizens of the United States in demanding that the constitutional eligibility requirement be taken seriously and that any and all controlling legal authorities in this matter examine the complete birth certificate of Barack Obama, including the actual city and hospital of birth, and make that document available to the American people for inspection.

Please click here, to sign the petition.

Thanks!

Bush was NOT snubbed at G20 Summit

As it turns out, President Bush was NOT snubbed at the G20 Summit, as previously reported by CNN's Rick Sanchez.  Apparently, Sanchez didn't bother to actually check out the details of the reception.  Now, CNN's Jeanne Moos sets the story straight.  The problem is, the damage has already been done and very few will get the correction.