Welcome to the November Retail Industry issue of NorthBay biz. Included this month is a Special Report on Transportation and Travel that includes a story on the status of the North Bay’s regional airports. Please enjoy all the insightful stories, special features and columns in the area’s only locally owned glossy business publication—NorthBay biz.
Here we go again. The bickering brainiacs in Washington have shut down the government as, once again, their blind devotion to ideology trumps common sense and any consideration of what’s best for the country. There have been 17 government shutdowns, ranging in duration from 1 to 21 days, since 1977. In each instance, the shutdown has been accompanied by wails predicting disaster. Newscasters frothing at the mouth in their haste to predict the impending “catastrophe” facing the nation. This time, Harry Reid, in his most somber tone, decried “the fate of the country” was at stake if a shutdown was allowed to happen. All of these histrionics have but a single goal—to cast as villain those in government who won’t roll over and sign a blank check. It’s a game being perpetrated on the American people. That’s why an open-air Veteran’s Memorial was closed—to have a visceral connection with the inability to live our everyday lives without the government’s intimate involvement.
Here’s the reality: All truly essential government functions (and, unfortunately, many that aren’t) are continuing as usual. National defense, social security checks, air traffic control and the like roll on as if nothing has happened. It’s some shutdown when 80 percent of federal workers are still on the job every day. So why is this budget impasse being characterized as such a potential disaster? Because, at its core, it’s really about the continuing battle against the exponential growth of big government—a government that ultimately wants to control every aspect of our daily lives. All the bluster, hysteria and nightly sound bites of impending doom provide cover for true intentions.
Government as envisioned by our founding fathers was one that functioned in the background of our lives. As Thomas Jefferson said, “A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement…This is the sum of good government.” No concept is further from present day America.
Here’s an unbelievable statistic: According to the Office of Management and Budget, almost 60 percent of Americans receive more in government benefits than they pay in federal taxes. Let that sink in for a moment. What does that number auger for the future? What happens when Obamacare kicks in? Does that number grow to 70 or 80 percent?
The steady erosion of our personal freedoms is accelerating. Our daily lives are directed, regulated and subsidized by the government in ever-intrusive ways that we’ve meekly come to accept. There are 456 federal agencies that administer 80,000 pages of regulations impacting our day-to-day activities. Soon, another 12,000 pages of regulations will be added when Obamacare takes full effect, adding total government control to another one-sixth of the nation’s economy in the biggest wealth transfer ploy to date. Left unchecked, the government takeover of the economy will change the economic face of the country. Economic growth and prosperity as we’ve known it is becoming obsolete, being replaced by central planning administered by millions of faceless bureaucrats.
The road of faith in total government control has been traveled before and has always ended the same way. There’s overwhelming evidence of an intrusive government’s inability to make our lives better. Why should we believe that all of a sudden, it’ll be competent running the nation’s health care? We were told the average annual premium paid would decrease by $2,500. We were told we could keep the same doctor. We were told too many things that have already been proven untrue, and the new health care system isn’t even in force yet. Imagine what’s to come.
The best part of this whole debacle is how quickly the discourse has plunged to playground levels. Isn’t it amusing to hear the same president, who promised to bring a whole new civility to government, accuse his opponents of holding the nation “hostage” to their “ideological demands?”
If you read a help wanted ad for the job of president, one of the main job requirements would be expert negotiating skills. Yet, we have a president who maintains his refusal to negotiate any compromise to restart the government or to debate the merits of a debt ceiling increase. How is it possible to have a sitting president more willing to negotiate with terrorist regimes than with Republicans in the House of Representatives? Every president in the same situation in the past realized negotiation was the key in resolving the impasse. Perhaps our president is confused. Maybe he thinks he was appointed king, not elected president. His actions remind me of my younger days when I’d argue with my mom and she’d end the discussion/negotiation simply by saying “No!” When I’d press her for reasons, she’d say, “Because I said so.” And that, my dear reader, is exactly what Barack Obama is doing today.
Remember, Obamacare is the only major piece of social legislation that was ever passed, in the history of the country, on straight party lines. The Constitution provides numerous checks and balances with the expectation that they be utilized. Yes, the new health care system is the law of the land. Yes, it passed Supreme Court review and is championed by a twice-elected president. However, with the opposition party in control of the House of Representatives, where all spending bills must originate, it’s totally lawful to pass a spending bill to fund the federal government but not include authorization to fund spending for the health care bill.
Despite the indefatigable assault on the Constitution, it still works. Want to break the impasse? Negotiate.
That’s it for now. Enjoy his month’s magazine.
