Dependency

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/us/07cutbacksWEB.html?hp

I found this article and I am not sure that my thoughts are what the author was trying to stir in his readers. I believe the writer was looking for sympathy for folks. I don't have it. I see it as there are some communities figuring it out. Folks are depending on the government to provide them a service and do it cheap. The government can do that, for a limited amount of time. Then, it goes into debt. Period. Why? Because the government over-pays for everything and everyone. Remember all of the old jokes about the $10,000 hammer at NASA? It's not too far off. Just this week, there was a report about government employees and CDL drivers who were working and drawing disability payments at the same time. It only added up to a couple million dollars a month. And that's just the ones that reporter found. Have you ever done work for the government? Anyone that has can tell you that you ALWAYS give them a higher bid than you would any other business. So, the government wouldn't choose that bid right? Wrong. They are all on the same page. Everyone knows that the government wastes money. The bigger the government, the bigger the waste. Shrink the government, shrink the waste. Oh, and a newsflash folks: businesses are in business to make money! I know you find that shocking, but it is true.

Second thing I got out of this article: the bailout is working....temporarily. I know, shocking, again. Nobody ever saw that coming. I mean, surely the money would be there after the government money ran out, right? It had to just show up from somewhere. Oops. The recovery isn't going to happen overnight. It will take time. The stimulus and bailout are temporary help to hold things up. Now, one of two things has to happen: get more money from the government or make the cuts necessary to save money that should have been made before.

The US government is trying to create a society where the majority of people rely on the government for much of their lives. They are taking over businesses. Think about the bailouts for banks and autos. This tells these companies that they are too big to fail and the government will be there again if they fall down. So, do you think this will affect the way they run their companies? If you had to cross a high wire, would a net make a difference in how you approached it? Same thing. These same businesses are free to take huge chances and not have a bit of concern because they are assured that, no matter what, they will never go away. Now, had we let some of those big banks go under and let GM go under, it would have scared the crap out of businesses around the country. They would have seen the example and cleaned up their acts. Instead, they just sit back and laugh, knowing they have a huge safety net that you and I are holding up. Personally, I would love to pull it out from under them when they fall.

The NOT so United States

Are we stupidly fighting against a division of the United States? It's a question I ponder. Look at this country and it is very easy to divide it up into at least 3 parts and even better if you do 5 or 6. Yes, we are all Americans, but I think that someone from Texas sees that differently than someone from California, who sees it differently from someone in Massachusetts. I am not stereotyping here. It's not just politically either. It's attitudes and approaches to life. I am reminded of a caller to a radio show that I heard while Bush 43 was in office. She didn't understand why the Democrats in Washington, DC, weren't cooperating with Bush. She said the ones in Texas had been much more agreeable. Well, yeah, because the Democrats serving in the Texas Congress are different than those serving in DC. We have Blue Dog Democrats, most of whom are from the Southeastern US. There are Liberal Democrats in the West and Progressive Democrats in the East. There are Progressive Republicans in the East as well. The center of the country is super Conservative. It's so blatantly obvious. Like minded people flock together the majority of the time. It's difficult to fit in when you feel differently from 90% of the people around you. The problem is that the big government in DC would never, ever allow anything like this to happen. It attacked the Confederate states when they seceded. It wants to weaken the powers of individual states. Yet, at the same time, it comes down on Russia for invading Georgia and backs the separation of Serbia along religious lines. Does this make sense to anyone? Georgia was nothing more than a former state in the USSR. It would be the same thing as Florida saying, "We don't see things the same way and we are moving out", then being invaded by the US. That is a restriction of freedom here at home and encouraging freedom on the other side of the globe. It reminds of the folks on "Whale Wars." They want to save whales which is highly commendable. Yet, they chug around in a diesel burning boat, dumping trash and a boat into the ocean, and endangering the lives of their own crew and those of other boats. Human lives at the expense of whales? Really?