"Something You Can Take to Congress Other Than a Teabag"

I have to admit that ever since I saw the Tea Parties during the second round of stimulus, I had mixed emotions. I was thrilled people finally were getting off their duffs to do something, but I was also disheartened to see that there was no coherent plan of action other than just gathering together and complaining, and like any large disorganized group, the crazies came out of the woodwork to ruin it for the whole bunch.

Overall, I find the news to be full of sensationalism, one side trying their best to out-outrage the other. This has gotten to be so tedious I gave up TV when the whole conversion box thing happened and I now get my news on an as-needed basis: if I need to know, someone will surely tell me.

There is so much wrong, and so few people who truly have a clue what to do about it other than line up at the trough for more and more handouts from Big Daddy Government.

What is wrong with this picture? Why would you want the same people who have failed miserably at providing public health care to provide more of it? Why would you want the same people who ruined our financial system to be in charge of putting it together?

For insights on these topics and some interesting anecdotes, watch this 10 minute lecture from Professor David Breuhan (a former professor of mine). He is also an author who is releasing a book on November 1st entitled, Spread the Wealth: More Haves Fewer Have Nots.

I am hoping to generate a lively dialogue about the ideas he presents here and eventually, in the book, on the Brazen Careerist Economics and Finance forum which I moderate. If you are unfamiliar with Brazen Careerist, it is a social network loosely geared towards Gen Y professionals. Yes, I know, it's annoying to have to sign up for yet another social network, but I recommend it!

To summarize points from the video:

1. Cash for Clunkers was a dismal failure and example of "circular production." $3 Billion dollars was worth only 3 weeks worth of cars. The Ford Focus was overwhelmingly purchased as "American." Sales at GM and Chrysler declined during and after the program. The 3 weeks worth of car sales provided a fuel savings (between the Clunkers and the new vehicles) equal to 22 seconds of fuel consumption (according to the WSJ).

2. $787 Billion Stimulus is another failure. Because Bush's $150 Billion didn't work, $787 will? The promise of 3 million jobs for $787 billion in stimulus - you get $262,000 a job. Clearly this makes no sense, and not a single person will ever see that kind of money.

3. Ethanol is a failure and the people who brought you ethanol now want to bring you health care.

Scary times - join the conversation.
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4 Comments:

  2. I think we need to review policies, compare them to historical examples of what has worked, what hasn't, and we need to monitor government spending and legislation much more rigorously as citizens. Our representatives are not doing the job in many cases, or the ones that do, do not have enough political clout, precisely because they ARE doing the checking and balancing rather than worrying about winning votes.

    Google "logrolling" and you'll see what I mean.

    In short - we need to organize, discuss issues rationally, write, call, or otherwise let our legislators know which policies promote freedom and prosperity and which policies destroy it.

    Change can only happen with large voting blocks of people. And I think only meaningful, positive change can come from groups of people who really know what they are talking about.

    Furthermore, I don't care what political party people belong to - it doesn't mean much. I don't believe any party has a monopoly on rational thought. (not that either party has been exhibiting much of it lately anyway.)

    Specifically, once David Breuhan's book comes out Nov. 1st - I'm going to ask a small handful of people serious about turning the country around to join me in buying it, reading it, and acting on it.

    Do you want to be one of them? (Email me if you are interested: milena@quietthethunder.com)
    ReplyDelete
  3. Did the dealers ever get reimbursed from the government on the cars for clunkers program? Maybe ... after how many weeks ... another ill-conceived program that couldn't even be set up properly to disburse payments. I hate to think how the government will perform with handling a health care industry the private sector is struggling with presently.
    Good post Milena.
    Have a beer on me. :)

    Mark W.
    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought you'd be interested to hear what Tom Morgan says about the government's dismal record (100% failure rate) on managing programs and what we already know.
    The short audio file can be found at http://spedr.com/x1zz - Oct. 2 entry.
    ReplyDelete

I'm curious to see what you are thinking...

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