A very good reading/info. Decide for yourself...
Happy holidays, everyone!
Best wishes.
R.Y.
*Subject*: THE PARTY'S OVER
About Linda Monk
Linda R. Monk, J. D., is a constitutional scholar, journalist, and
nationally award-winning author. A graduate of Harvard Law School , she
twice received the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award, its
highest honor for law-related media. Her books include The Words We Live By:
Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution, Ordinary Americans: U. S. History
Through the Eyes of Everyday People, and The Bill of Rights: A User's Guide.
For more than 20 years, Ms. Monk has written commentary for newspapers
nationwide, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles
Times, and Chicago Tribune
*THE PARTY'S OVER
*
By Linda Monk
The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our
people's wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one
era and the onset of another.
The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America . The
'Omnipower' and 'Indispensable Nation' we heard about in all the hubris and
braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.
Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market
economics, a failure of conservatism. This is nonsense. What we are
witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko ('Greed Is Good!') capitalism.
What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores
history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it
great.
A true conservative (Rep or Dem) cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal
responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in
saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not
buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means.
Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess -- that we
followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk?
'Government must save us!' cries the left, as ever.
Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government -- the Fed with its
easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by
liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy
For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing.
Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt --
all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out,
much of that debt will never be repaid.
Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not
forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they
will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars. We are going to have to
learn to live again within our means.
THE PARTY'S OVER!
Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must
remain economically independent of the world in order to
remain politically independent.
But this generation decided that was yesterday's bromide and we must march
bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another.
American companies morphed into 'Global Companies' and moved plants and
factories to Mexico , Asia, China , and India , and we began buying more
cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes,
cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.
As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we began
vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.
At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social
spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The
dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.
Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come.
Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all but
that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal
income tax load.
Who are we kidding?
What we are witnessing today is how empires end. The Last Superpower is
unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars, or balance
its budget.
Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded
liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.
What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of
government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud
over the viability and longevity of the system.
Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi
says she had nothing to do with it.
Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out
Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and
Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U. S.
government behind $5 trillion in mortgages.
They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant
sink beneath the waves. Unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the
assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial
elite plunged the nation.
We are just spectators.
What the Greatest Generation handed down to us -- the richest, most
powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest
standard of living any nation had ever achieved -- the baby boomers,
oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.
Added Comments:
How do WE THE PEOPLE put the villains who are responsible under oath and sit
them down at public hearings to determine whose necks should meet the
guillotine?
Hypocritically, those who had oversight responsibility such as Senator Chris
Dodd [Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee] and Barney Frank [Chairmen,
House Financial Services Committee] who helped get us into this mess are on
every TV channel voicing their righteous indignation and pompously sitting
on their elevated platform glaring down at those they are chastising and
grilling, trying to pass the blame to others.
WE THE PEOPLE should be on the elevated platform in judgment and execution
of the likes of Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and the rest of the band of thieves
and conspirators who are responsible for the financial collapse of the USA .
To name just a few of the culprits:
Henry Paulson Jr, Secretary of the Treasury
Alan Greenspan & Ben Bernanke -- Chairman Federal Reserve
Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman.
But not to worry -- YOUR PUBLIC SERVANTS who fear being voted out of office
will take their self-awarded Golden Parachute Congressional Retirement, give
WE THE PEOPLE the finger one last time and head for their safe havens as the
World Citizens they are.
However, before they waddle off into the sunset, they will go on record one
last time denouncing corporate greed, lavish salaries, and bonuses for their
key felons at Fannie May, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers & AIG
Meanwhile, WE THE PEOPLE fiddle while Rome burns and we're too lazy and
indifferent to vote them out of office.
--
Life's too short, dream big and go get em!
--
.
"If you want to take your mission in life to the next level, if you're stuck
and you don't know how to rise, don't look outside yourself. Look inside.
Don't let your fears keep you mired in the crowd. Abolish your fears and
raise your commitment level to the point of no return, and I guarantee you
that the Champion Within will burst forth to propel you toward victory."
~ Bruce Jenner
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