What do I think?

Crooks, Suleman, and a repeat of a repeat

by Barry Bauer

As if we didn’t have enough bad news in this country, they have to tell us Socks, the White House cat during the Clinton administration, has died.

Did we really need to hear that?

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Believe it or not there are some people in this country who know what’s going on. Unfortunately they’re the ones trying to take us to the cleaners. I’m so damned mad at our government for letting this happen, and you’d better believe they did. All they do is shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh well.” People in high positions either in government or the private sector need to live up to a standard or spend the rest of their lives in jail with the rest of the crooks. Unfortunately we’ll never see that. Everything has gone to hell in this country, and it’s nobody’s fault.

Where is the accountability? Shouldn’t somebody go to jail? These people are bigger crooks than the ones we have in prison now. At least those people only ruined a few people’s lives and not thousands.

Today’s buzz word is transparency. That’s another joke played on the American people. There will be no transparency, believe me. It’ll be the same old smoke and mirrors and the continuation of their asinine rendition of the dog and pony show.

I have a solution to this problem. In order to correct what’s going on in this country today we need to elect four new Senators, one each from India, Japan, China and Mexico. Never mind the law; we can skirt it. Everybody else in government does. We’ll just simply tell them that the four new Senators will do a better job for less money and no benefits.

If we hit those people right between the eyes, do you think we can get their attention?

* * *

I’ve got it figured out now – I think. Nadya Suleman, mother of the California octuplets, has a master plan; and while that plan goes into action she’s having some fun with us.

The plan begins with a little financial help from the taxpayer in the form of welfare and other handouts. Then comes the book about her life that will eventually be turned into a made-for-TV movie. All of this will bring in money. There’s also a reality show on TV involving sextuplets, so octuplets have to draw more viewers.

Will she ever pay for what’s estimated to be at least a million dollar hospital bill?

Nope.

We’re all under the Big Top with Suleman as the Ring Master – and the band played on.

* * *

I wrote the following in 1983; and it appeared in the 925 Press, a local UAW publication. I’ve used it before, and I think it’s worth repeating.

So often we hear about someone who’s shopping for a new car and thinking of buying an import instead of one made here in the United States. The reasons given range from being cheaper, better quality, gas mileage, or simply, the mystic of owning a foreign car, even though the American car has become competitive in most cases.

The economy depends largely upon the products of all our industries being bought and sold and when we don’t buy from them and instead go to an overseas competitor, we break a link in our own economic chain.

We must, to a large degree, purchase products of our own making to insure that we and not someone else controls the fate of our economy. People in government, education, farming, merchandising, steel manufacturing, automotive parts, and housing, bring hard times to themselves by failing to do so.

Our trade deficit with Japan was $14.4 billion for the year ending March, 1982 and that means while we are supporting a happily employed Japanese worker who’s not buying our products, we are creating a very unhappy and unemployed American worker.

That same worker will not be able to buy other American made products causing still more workers to become unemployed.

While we are not arguing the right of anyone to buy imported vehicles, noting that foreign trade can be mutually beneficial, we do think in a case where such trade is one-sided, where people in the auto industry are laid off because of it, that we need to wonder how much that so called cheaper imported vehicle is costing us!

This article was about the events of the time and does not take into account today’s failed government policies and greed that runs rampant throughout our financial institutions and our corporations. While we give them bailout money without question, they thumb their noses at us and hold lavish parties anyway.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, how could so many things go so wrong in so little time? At least it seems that way.

Until the next time . . .