“Elections should be held on April 16th - the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.”
-Thomas Sowell
Well, at this point, the general election of 2012 is over, and none too soon, in my opinion. As I pen this article, the first presidential debate is hours away, the political ads here in Ohio are deafening, the lies get more preposterous, the polls so conflicting as to be negligible and the overall electorate is basically brain dead. My hope is that before we go through this process again in four years, we will have realized this electoral process is a heck of a way to run a railroad.
Nevertheless, even with a new or a recycled administration, the problems that are plaguing our country will not go away very soon, if at all. A case in point is Obamacare. I heard the best query of that great social program, or should I say social tax, just to be correct. The question was posed by Dr. Barbara Bellar, a former nun, an Army major, a lawyer, a college professor and a physician who wants to be a state senator in Illinois. If you have heard it, I apologize, but it's worth repeating.
“We are going to be gifted with a health care plan that we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don't, which reportedly covers 10 million more people without adding a single new doctor but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese and financed by a country that is broke. So what the blank could possibly go wrong?”
I don't know about you, but in my pea brain, the entire concept and potential effect on every one of us really frightens me. Did you know that if you sell your residence in 2012, you will pay a tax of 3.8 percent on any capital gains and unearned income that will go to fund Obamacare? Not much chatter going on about it before the election. Well folks, grab your coat and get your boots, because the storm is only beginning. As if that isn't enough to worry about, it seems that far too many businesses in this country have gone on strike, much like depicted in the classic Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. They seem to have stopped or seriously curtailed expansion because, for the most part, they are frightened with what the politicians will foist on them next. We can only hope the election will see a change in Washington's attitude about business and what they expect the producers to deliver for those on the dole. If not, I fear we may see the major recession in the next two years we all hoped wouldn't occur.
So on to happier delights. I saw the other day that the media has achieved a lower approval rating than politicians. I immediately thought, since everything is really only about me, “How can this be, and what might be the potential effect on my literary career if my favorite subjects are no longer considered pond scum?” But alas, no problem, as I will gladly expand my rhetoric to include the biased left wing media, who are totally devoid of any ethical qualities and unable to create a report, telling both sides of the story and allowing people to make up their own mind. Is it any surprise newspapers are becoming so thin, my dog can't even get it in his mouth anymore? They, the media types, insist the problem is with the Internet and television, but why then are network news channels struggling? Perhaps it's because people are tired of blatant, biased reporting and after enduring this past election period are starting to put their money where they can achieve the most value. Hmmm, an interesting concept.
Ciao baby,
Don Frendberg
Don Frendberg is chairman of North American Technician Excellence and president of Phase 3 Insights. Contact him at 614/208-6801 or [email protected].