Posted on 07/21/2008 9:46:08 AM PDT by Invisigoth
Of all the themes that recur in this column, one fills my inbox with angry e-mails like no other. It is the notion that you can and should take control of your own life and your economic destiny. It’s my deeply held conviction that if you learn how to do the right things and make good decisions, you will never need to participate in any “recession.”
People hate this. Every time I say it, I get barraged with indignant feedback from people who tell me I don’t understand how tough it is.
This was never more true than after my column of July 14, 2008, which expressed support for former Sen. Phil Gramm’s comment about the “mental recession” and America as a nation of whiners.
Readers wrote in to tell me that I, too, am out of touch. They explained to me how they are working hard but struggling. Several went to pains to point out that they, like me, are small business owners and by no means are they lazy. This is all well and good, but they missed the point of the column, which was: If you have problems, some politician coming along and showing you how “in touch” he is by empathizing with your misery won’t do a damn thing for you.
(Excerpt) Read more at northstarwriters.com ...
Graham was right and he was wrong. Yes we are a nation of whiners. No, whining citizens did not cause our ecconomic ills. Idiots like Graham in the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAUSED IT.
So don’t go shrugging your elitist shoulders and try to weazle out of any responsibility Graham. For 30 years YOU have been a part of the problem.
I’m just glad that McCain has distanced himself from Gramm. I hope it continues. Because if McCain gets elected and appoints Gramm as SecTreas....we as a nation are screwed beyond belief. Gramm will be the ruin of our economy. He’s made a good start thusfar.
Are you talking about somebody named Graham, or are you talking about Phil Gramm -- the subject of the article? And if the latter, you call HIM an idiot? You are correct that the government has been the source of most of our economic ills, but when you say "Idiots like Graham ... caused it" you fail to recognize that Gramm voted AGAINST most of the expansive government policies that have caused it. Gramm is a solid, supply-side, limited government, reduced-taxes, free-market economist, and his voting record in congress reflects that.
This is not the first time I have read this quote from you regarding Phil Gramm.
Please explain how a Phil Gramm economy would ruin our economy?
If you can't afford to heat your house, you are a slacker and a non believer.
He was there. He is complicit.
And if when times are good the Federal government steals a lion share of your profits so you don’t have capital to reinvest, it’s your fault when your business gets passed by by foreign competitors.
By that reasoning, I guess Reagan was complicit too, and is to blame for our current “economic mess”.
You don’t believe we are in an economic mess?
In general the economy is still a growing economy, although the cost of gas makes it seem otherwise. If gasoline were $2.97 per gallon rather than $3.97 per gallon, people would think things were pretty good. If gas were $2.27 per gallon, people would think things were even better. However, the fact that gas is high does not mean the economy is bad anymore than the fact that the stock market is down does. The stock market is not a proxy for GDP anymore than the price of gas is. Unfortunately, the drive-by media either doesn’t know the difference, or worse — they do know the difference but they deliberately lie in order to shape public opinion in favor of socialist solutions to the “bad economy”.
Were we in an “economic mess” in 1992, when clinton campaigned on “It’s the economy, stupid”? Everybody thought so and the drive-by media talked about how terrible the economy was every day right up until clinton was inaugurated. Then, once clinton signed the largest tax increase in history, the same drive-bys started recognizing how much better the economy was doing. They even referred to the clinton recovery — even though the recovery began in March 1991 a full 19 months before boy clinton was elected.
Our economy is in a mess and it is BECAUSE of past socialist “solutions”. We need to face up to our problems and we need to make sure voters know who is responsible for them.
Part of the solution is in recognizing and identifying the difference between a bad economy and a situation where certain MICRO sectors of the economy are bad.
The economy as a whole is not a mess, but a big problem is the price of oil/gas and the impact it is having on people across the economy. Unemployment is still DOWN. Interest rates are still very low. The drive-by media has been talking down the economy for six years to try to help democrats, and it has worked. Then along comes a conservative like Phil Gramm, pointing out some rather simple and profound TRUTH about the economy and people who decry socialist solutions play right along with the drive-by media with their cries of “No Phil, you’re wrong, the economy is even worse than the media claims it is and it is your fault, along with the republicans that had control of congress.”
However, for insight into Mr. Gramm's past actions that would qualify him as worthy of my scorn, one need only to look at the current mortgage crisis. It has Phil Gramm's fingerprints all over it.
Granted, the greed of those in the banking industry had much to do with it. But that does not alter the fact that eight years ago, as part of his anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown.
Read about the Commodity Futures Modernization Act.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.