Who Owns What?

It has been a while since I have written any articles. Fortunately, in this poor economy we have been very busy at work. This is the case with most business people I talk to on a daily basis. Only a very few have mentioned that business is less than expected for this time of year. The sun still comes up every morning and people go to work. They do their job and being productive just like always. Funny think is none of them have mentioned getting a wake-up call every morning from Obama or the Government to help them do what they do. This fact alone drives the Democrats crazy. People can actually do something for themselves without help or intervention from the Government. Imagine that; people doing for themselves!

Most people I know don’t want intervention or “help” from the Government. They want to be able to make their own decisions and provide for the families and businesses on their own. As a matter of fact the Government is more of a burden than an asset to most including me. For example; if the amount of taxes required for an employee wasn’t as high as it is we could afford to hire another technician. This would create a job that was productive and meaningful not only to my company but also the employee. And, as amazing as it may seem, would create more income for the Government. That seems to be an impossible concept for most Democrats to understand. But when you look at their strategy it’s not hard to see why they have difficulty understanding how this concept works. In case you didn’t already know, this concept is known as Capitalism. In their little greedy minds they know better what we the people need than we do ourselves. They can better determine how our money and resources should be expended than us. In their opinion we are not smart enough to know how to manage our own lives so we need them (the Democrats) to tell us. The problem with this concept is it becomes self-serving for the ones doing the telling and serves little for the ones being told. It is a share-the-wealth concept whereby people that have and are willing to work to have must share what they have with ones that aren’t willing to work for anything. In the process the ones doing the telling take their “commission” for managing our lives. In case you didn’t know, this concept is known as Socialism.

The Government is in the process of rapidly shoving Socialism down our throats. If you think this is wrong just look at the banking situation. At this moment the Government is discussing investing in a 40% share of Citi Bank. In effect this would give the Government controlling interest in the bank. There is also discussion of the Government nationalizing many of the larger banks such as Bank of America. Now you might think this is a good idea given these banks have failed miserably at their job of being bankers over the last few years. Let’s get control of them and run them right. Buzz! Wrong answer! When have you ever known the Government to be able to run anything right? Take this scenario a step further. Say Representative Barney Frank’s (D MA) boyfriend wants to build a memorial to gays and lesbians. He needs about $100 million to build this memorial. Of course there is no way it will ever return that investment but because the Government owns controlling interest in Citi Bank without anyone ever knowing Mr. Frank can put pressure on Citi’s board to loan his boyfriend the money. Mr. Frank’s boyfriend makes a handsome sum from the deal, gets public recognition for his human rights stand and in turn makes a handsome campaign contribution to Mr. Frank. Who is left holding the bag? Citi Bank of course and since the Government is the controlling investor we can’t allow them to take a loss so we must subsidize the loss with, you got it, more taxpayer money.

Here is another example. The Government is discussing “investing” in the auto makers. When the Government obtains partial ownership of a private company be it called “investing” or otherwise it is Socialism, plain and simple. In this case instead of having innovative designers that come up with concept cars that are stylish and appeal to the public, since the Government controls the interest in these companies they decide that stylish and appealing is not in our best interest. Instead efficiency and environmentally correct is the way to go. Those creative car designers are replaced with Government employees. After fifteen years of research and study funded by, once again you go it taxpayer money, these Government employees decide a cardboard box with a five and a half horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine is the most efficient and environmentally correct mode of transportation. Soon every car rolling off the assembly line looks the same, runs the same and falls apart when it gets rains, a little fact the Government employees overlooked in their fifteen year study. So now we all drive cardboard boxes that do twelve miles an hour and can’t be used when it rains. Never mind the fact that fifteen minute commute to work now takes you three hours and on rainy days you have to walk because your cardboard box will fall apart if it gets wet. What is the next step? People don’t need to decide what kind of house they live in? The Government comes up with a design that is, in their opinion, better suited for us than what we want? Will we all be living in the same kind of house with no diversity or design innovation? Oh, and back to the car issue. Since it takes so long to commute and you can’t drive in the rain Government determines it is more efficient that you live within 5,280 feet of your job. Since all the houses are just alike now what does it matter if you live on the 40 acres you worked and paid for? That land can be better utilized for the Government owned farm to raise crops or timber. Where does it end?

If you think all the above is extreme think again my friend. This is the road we are on and heading down it at break-neck speed.