The mounting failures of government

Bail-out package failures growing
Banks keeping funds and corporations asking for welfare

If you checked out the Drudge Report this morning, you might think the world was approaching extinction. Iran is testing a new missile, Russia is rejecting a U.S. missile proposal, USA may loose their AAA rating, the American auto-industry is on the verge of bankruptcy and American Express headlines the page, holding their hand out at the government money-till demanding a few billion from Uncle Sam. Are things as bad as they seem? Actually yes!

Before I go into details, I do want to address positive news, at least for average everyday Americans. You probably have noticed that you're no longer paying $4 for a gallon of gas. Actually your no longer paying $3 and if you live in a state that does not have to provide a container of Vaseline when sending tax forms, you are paying under $2 for a gallon of gasoline. Obviously everybody welcomes the decline in gas prices, but such a drastic drop in a short period of time, is a clear sign of how bad the economy is globally.

Oil producing nations better known as terrorists, I mean OPEC, have already cut oil production output. However the bottom line is even when supplies are cut, if demand doesn't increase, than prices will still dwindle. While the entire planet is suffering financially and much worse than the United States, prices are dropping because people are not driving as much. Sorry Hugo and Mahmoud, but most of America will be paying nearly $1.50 a gallon by Thanksgiving.

If you read the articles I linked in the first paragraph you will see and underlying theme...GOVERNMENT! While there is no way to exclude the evil "G" word when is comes to security and foreign policy matters, it can and should be avoided when it comes to everything else. Economics, Education, Health Care and anything else that doesn't have to do with security and enforcing contracts, Uncle Sam needs to leave alone. Government turns everything it touches to sh*t. Just look at our economy.

I have addressed this matter before, but for the future of America it must be repeated. Government got us into this crisis, their involvement will make it worse and in reality it already has. The money allocated to supposedly save our economy is being used by financial institutions for administrative costs and compensation bonuses for corporate big wigs. While I believe private entities should pay whatever bonuses they deem worthy to management, in the current crisis the funds are from taxpayers, not profits and therefore, such compensation is called fraud.

They say that death and taxes are the only certainties in life. But another undeniable truth is that government never learns from their mistakes. Repeating their incompetence is a Washington tradition just like intoxicated Kennedy's and congressman having sex with pages.

Knowing this sad truth, other corporations from the auto industry to American Express are lining up at the door of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with their hand out at the endless financial- till of the government. While nobody wants to see the auto industry collapse and those great Amex commercials off the air, our government cannot fix the problem. They will just make it worse.

So what is the answer? The best solution and only solution is Capitalism. Free market solutions have always been our nation savior and will once again, if Washington and the American people will allow it. People quickly forget that all economic systems have cycles and trends. When capitalism is peaking it does so higher than we can imagine. When she turns downward, times can get rough, but they never collapse. Socialism or the European style that has capitalism traits, sees highs with limitations and declines that are devastating.

Washington has been driving down this path for twenty years. The Republicans talked about changing courses when they controlled all three branches of government, but sadly "stayed the course." Obama, Pelosi and Reid driving the train will speed up the transition into European-style Socialism, which simply means increased regulation, limited freedom (including speech), higher taxes and corporate welfare.

May I be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah! I'm sorry it won't be as Merry and Happy as Speaker Pelosi and her selected friends receiving your tax dollars.

Paulie