Obama stated long ago that he intended to make it very expensive for Utilities burning coal to stay in business. He has followed through on that promise. Some coal fired plants are closing and others are paying billions of dollars to meet new government mandates. It has been reported that we can expect brown outs in different areas of the country as the available power supply diminishes.
The country has an opportunity to avail itself of natural gas from Canada via a new pipeline. That pipeline is being fought by environmentalists and undermined by our government. More pressure on Utility companies and prices.
Nuclear power is having its own difficult way of moving forward.
Oil, of course, is getting more expensive along with our dependency on foreign sources. Meanwhile our government prohibits and/or impedes every effort to drill for oil in our own country. This country has tremendous reserves of oil. Opening up drilling in this country would not only lower overall utility costs but would also fast track our country’s ability to get back on our financial feet. Not billions, but trillions of dollars are at our disposal in this country via our energy resources so why is our own government preventing us from accessing them? Canada has other countries willing to buy their natural gas so who is going to be hurt? We watch China now about to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama loans several billion dollars of our money to Petrobas in Brazil to help them develop their off shore oil deposits which they will sell to China, etc. and not necessarily the U.S. Petrobas is the 8th largest oil company in the world so why are we loaning them U.S. tax dollars and not at least getting a guarantee of some of the oil they drill? I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that George Soros, Obama’s buddy, owns a significant piece of Petrobas?
Most of us just want to work and take care of our families but if we don’t spend time reading and watching what our politicians are doing to us and then voting according to our dictates we will deserve what we get. What we are getting so far (small business) is a major screwing. Farm products are going up and will continue to go up because of massive new government rules and inflation resulting from the money printing presses cranking out more money. Utilities of course are going up and business taxes are increasing. This latest Obama jobs plan that he says will be completely paid for if passed. The plan will be paid for with even more taxes on business. I think he forgot to mention that.
Benjamin Franklin said that we have a Republic, “if we can keep it”. If the people do not pay attention to politics then we will keep electing the fools that we now have. If a significant portion of the people find out that they can get all kinds of free stuff from government by simply voting for the politicians who promise to hand it out then we are cooked. There was a time in this country when it was embarrassing to be on welfare or to be a homeless beggar. We do not see hardly any homeless beggars in small communities because in small communities everybody knows everybody. There is a social stigma attached to begging. But in the big cities this is not the case. We should not turn our backs on those who truly need help and who are doing everything they can to help themselves. Unfortunately, today, government agencies actually advertise for customers to pass out food stamps, other sources of food supplies, housing subsidies, medical and a host of other freebies. Somehow the theory that the recipients of aid should be doing everything they can to help themselves has been discarded and replaced with the theory that recipients should be provided with food, medical and housing without having to do everything they can to help themselves at the expense of the rest of us. If people are on welfare then let them do community work, require drug tests and let us make sure that they are truly needy. T.V,'s, cell phones, even cars, alcohol, cigarettes and a host of other things are not necessary to live and certainly should not be paid for by the rest of us who are working as hard as we can. But all of these things are available to people being given aid. Food stamps, or more commonly now, food cards, are tradable, sold and even used to buy things not necessary. We have read on this board how difficult it is for some to hire employees even today. It is simply to easy to get unemployment benefits and it is even easier to keep getting them. So why should these people work? And many do not.
The bottom line is that all of the above elements contribute to a dependency on government for all things. The people who make a life project out of obtaining benefits while making no effort to actually find work are going to vote for the politicians who promise to continue the scam.
The source of our problems is us. The solution to our problems is us. We can decide to keep informed and vote according to our beliefs or we can go back to our daily lives and forget about it hoping somebody else will pick up the responsibility. I remember the quote, “all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. What is happening today is evil and it threatens us, our way of life and our children.
For over 200 years America has been the dream of so many people throughout the world because we are a free people. But we have also heard the saying that “freedom is not free”. There is a price to pay and a responsibility to meet. Look around your community and look at those people who volunteer for various projects and jobs that benefit the community as a whole. In our small community no city council members are paid. Early every Saturday morning I leave my home to go to the gym and every Saturday morning I see the current mayor of our community walking with his wife picking up trash along the streets. The librarians are volunteers as is the fire department. Local business groups and women’s societies are constantly working on projects that benefit our city. Occasionally there is a crisis of some sort that comes to the attention of the city council. I am amazed at the number of people in the community who show up to voice their opinions, offer suggestions or to simply monitor events. Can you imagine if every community, city or whatever in this country operated in this fashion?
A side note on the community thing. Our community contracts with the county Sheriff’s department for police protection. A while back we got one of those rare bad apples of a policeman. Because of our tight and involved community people began comparing notes and observations about this officer. A group of four or five women took it upon themselves to monitor and even follow this officer around town during his shift. They noted dates, days, times and everything else that related. Then they attempted to talk with the officer about his performance hoping to get him to change but he completely ignored them. The women then took it to the city and the county. Presented with the facts the officer was quickly removed from our city and everybody was relieved.
To get involved, to become informed and to talk with others who are possibly not as well informed is work. It takes time away from our businesses and our families but it is the price we must pay for our freedom and way of life. To not do these things will result in us paying a price far greater when the consequences of our non-actions take effect. We are already seeing consequences in this county of non-actions by good people. Things are being imposed upon us without our consent or input the effects of which are going to be felt by us and our children for a very long time. It is still within our power to reverse the direction but “wishin’ ain’t going to make it so”.
