Modern Mythology

myth: - noun, an unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution.

I remember learning Greek and Roman mythology in school. I was fascinated by the stories of heroic acts, divine intervention and dark powers. The Greek and Roman Gods seemed so...human. Flawed, imperfect and governed by their passions, they warred with each other and mankind. I secretly wished for them to be true and not just a collective belief. One could argue that there are no more great myths being written today.

That is...unless you count Washington D.C. and the storytellers we elect to run the country. They seem to be writing new myths every day with the ease and fluidity of Homer. I shall endeavor to relate to you their latest yarn entitled, "Cash For Clunkers".
It's a tale of greed, lust for power and a deceptive, God-like hero whose deeds rival those of Hercules and Achilles combined.

It all started on bright and sunny summers day on Olympus. Our hero, Obamacles, lay on his cloud wondering what he might do as a gift to the lesser humans on whom he had already bestowed his love and care.

"I know!", he said loudly to his scurrying minions, "I'll give them some money to buy new cars. When my children are happy, then I am happy!", he exclaimed gleefully and set about magically making 1 billion dollars appear. "This will do nicely I think." he said triumphantly.
He gave instructions to his servants, Barneyopholus, Doddocles and Reedera to spread the wealth around.
"Give this to my children, that I might shower them with my love!"
Away they ran, as fast as their little legs could carry them to trumpet the gifts of Obamacles to the poor, unwashed masses. Sadly, Obamacles did not know that his servants would run out of money before all his children could receive their gift. This made Obamacles very cross and in a loud and thundering voice he spake, saying, "WE NEED MORE MONEY!" ...and it was so.

Told like that, the "Cash for Clunkers" program (C4C) sounds almost peaceful and heraldic doesn't it? Told the way it's really happening just sounds sad and stupid though.

What can one say about the unqualified success of the C4C program that hasn't already been said? Quite a bit actually, considering the Pollyanna like coverage by the press and the lack of foresight in the original funding cap for this bill. As of this post, the House has approved an additional 2 billion dollars and it's fate is still pending in the Senate.

This begs an obvious question, allocated from where? From an already bloated Federal deficit? From the "automobile fairy"? If I lift up my pillow will I find 2 billion dollars under there? Let's just say I'm not holding my breath on that one. No, this will ultimately be paid for by you and I my friends in the form of higher taxes. That is, after all, the only way any government gets money since they produce nothing but layers of bureaucracy.

On it's face, the program seems to have nothing but the best of intentions but a closer look at the periphery reveals what we all know to be true about "feel good" legislation, that it is rife with unintended, negative and costly consequences. Let's break down the major points of this "feel good hit of the summer!"

Myth #1 "This program will spur new care sales which is good for the economy."

Edmunds.com's CEO Jeremy Anwyl had this to say about the program's inception and application,

As we noted earlier in July, over 100,000 buyers had put their purchase on hold waiting for the Cash for Clunkers to launch. Is it any wonder that showrooms filled and the government servers crashed when this backlog of buyers rushed to finalize their purchase?

Secondly, last week we published an analysis showing that in any given month 60,000 to 70,000 "clunkerlike" deals happen with no government program in place. In other words, the 200,000-plus deals the government was originally prepared to fund were barely above the "natural" clunker trade-in rate.

There's myth #1 exploded by a man with no political ax to grind at all. He works, in a roundabout way, for the auto industry so sales figures have no real meaning to him. He's simply watching the numbers and reporting them to the auto industry. They in turn use this information to help them determine car buying trends for the future. Whether this program succeeds or fails is irrelevant to him.

Myth #2 "We're taking low mileage cars off the road and replacing them with more fuel efficient models."

Let's go back to Mr. Anwyl again to reveal the simple truth of economics that the President and members of Congress don't seem to understand,

"Clearly, the sales frenzy of last week was inevitable. In fact, students of economic theory will quickly recognize the dynamics of a classic shortage. We have taken three to four months of normal activity and caused them to occur over a few days, as consumers rushed to not miss out.

What everyone fails to realize is that once this backlog is met, interest in the program will quickly fade.

As is the case, there is also an ironic unintended consequence. Car companies have reduced production levels as one response to this downturn. Shortages are developing -- particularly around clunker-favored fuel-efficient models. As these prices rise, non-clunker buyers will inevitably shift to less-efficient models, crushing one of the touted environmental benefits of C4C."

What he seems to be saying is a simple supply-side economic realty that most Liberals have no clue about. Even if this program has spurred sales which I seriously doubt, it has unwittingly removed most of the supply of the cars they were targeting to put on the roads from the available stock. The response dictates the outcome. Overload the system and then when automobile industry runs out of fuel efficient cars in stock, consumers will inevitably buy less fuel efficient cars to grab up all the "free money". I actually heard someone on a radio show refer to this plan as a "tax cut". I was mystified at the stupidity of this statement. Where, in heavens name, does he think that money is coming from? Obamacles magic wand?

Myth #3 "This program is good for the economy because it will spur job growth."

That myth is a throw away line used about everything the government says about why they need to take us deeper into debt. The stimulus bill hasn't done it yet. Most of that money is still sitting in a room somewhere unused so far. The ugly truth about the C4C program is that just below the surface are a host of thousands of after-market repair shops, small business owners, who have already seen a sharp drop off in the amount of work they would normally do. That's because the cars they would normally be repairing and the money gained is quickly drying up. Some have already started to lay off employees as a result and just below that level is the used parts business that will also ultimately be hurt by this boondoggle.

The most disturbing part of this fiasco is that the government, by offering this money to consumers, is essentially giving money back to car companies...IT ALREADY OWNS! We gave them money when we bailed them out. That failed and they went bankrupt anyway so we gave them MORE money when we bought them...and NOW we're giving another little perk for reasons only the President and his friends in the labor unions know for certain.

Do you seriously want me to give you MORE of my tax dollars now? What this reminds me of is Barney Frank saying that "All Americans deserve a house." and then setting about to destroy not only the housing industry but the economy as well. This is the housing bubble for cars simply put. It's another in a long line of promised "changes" to our country that bear no resemblance to the way the world really works.

If this level of rampant stupidity is allowed to continue, there will be no future for our children and grand children. There will be only government and slavery to a debt that we will never see the end of in our lifetimes.

An inconvenient speech...

"My commitment is to make sure that we have universal health care for every American by the end of my first term as President...but I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out..."

This was taken from a 2007 speech. Obama made those remarks during an SEIU health care forum when he was making his bid for President. He spells out quite clearly that it may take a decade or more to be implemented but that is his ultimate goal. A single payer, socialized system akin to Canada, Great Britain and France. For you naysayers and disbelievers, I will provide a link at the bottom of this post to dispel any disbelief you may have.

I have believed from the outset of the debate on health care reform that something just didn't smell right about the way it was reported on, the speed with which is was being implemented and the lack of clear definition of what was being proposed. Something just didn't sit right with me and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps I had seen the video during the campaign and it played on my subconscious or perhaps my natural skepticism made the little hairs on the back of my neck go up. Either way, the truth is undeniable and irrefutable. The "public option" as it is adoringly referred to in the press is actually the first step towards single payer, socialized medicine after all. I made mention of Sen. Barney Frank's comments on reaching single payer through a public option in a previous post and knew the truth then. Seeing these videos has now brought it all into sharp focus at last.

Breaking campaign promises is nothing new really. You grow immune to it after so many years of watching the political machine go through it's gyrations. One expects to be lied to during a national political campaign. It's so common place these days that we rarely ever notice anymore. Not only have we learned to accept it, we've come to expect it quite frankly, so jaded have we become on matters of politics of late. In fact, when a politician says they will do something and then actually does it, we are suspicious of them instantly. How dare you let us down by keeping your word!

I fear that is not the case with Obama-care though. I fear that he is actually putting lipstick on a pig and asking me to kiss it... deeply. "Beware of Trojans bearing gifts." comes to mind in this instance. Those of you skeptical of the end goal need not be skeptical anymore. It's laid out in black and white and with little chance of being mistaken as to the truth of a public option. It's only goal is to stamp out private health insurance as it's primary focus and to leave us all with no option at all really. Government run, funded (with our tax dollars) and administered and with no where else to turn when the system breaks down, and it will.

This change from free market to public option will stifle competition, put thousands more Americans out of work and spell the final doom for an economy already teetering on the precipice of total disaster. Out of control deficit spending, pie in the sky promises of free money from the government and now this. What's next...an Ipod in every home filled with Obama's speeches? Meant to comfort us when we lose our jobs?

Act, react and make your voices heard. Say no to socialism of any kind. This country was founded on freedom and the pursuit of liberty not on promises of "spreading the wealth around".

Glenn Beck - Current Events & Politics - Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance

The Week In Review

Well, it certainly has been an interesting week in these United States hasn't it? It's been a week of racial tension, subterfuge and double talk about health care and having a beer at the "picnic table of peace" with the pres and the cop who loves the Red Sox and the prof who loves being arrested.

We've seen furious debate over health care reform...from Liberal Democrats versus the "Blue Dogs", a group of candidates hand picked by now Chief Of Staff Rahm Immanuel for their conservative tendencies. It seems he wanted to court the moderate and conservative Dems so badly that he wound up getting a group elected that may ultimately spell doom for his boss' health care " overhaul" plans. How about that bill too? It seems that it's length of more than 1,000 pages made it impossible for anyone in Congress to actually read it. Said Senator John Conyers (D) MI, of the behemoth bill this week,

“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill!' What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?"

What good is reading the bill? Because that's your job you idiot. That's what we elect you to do and what we ultimately have taxes taken out of our paychecks to pay you for. The arrogance here is breathtaking. The utter lack of respect for his constituents and the rest of us is mind boggling. He may as well have said, "Do I have to do my entire job or can I just do the parts that enrich my financial portfolio?" Why read the bill? Because you are supposed to be safeguarding those of us who can't read or even understand this gargantuan piece of socialism. Think about it...it was written by lawyers after all. No one without a law degree could even get close to comprehending it and I suspect that more than a few lawyers would have hard time with it. On Monday, Barney Frank explained what most Americans already understand: the public plan will lead to single-payer, socialized medicine. In response to questions about the current House health care proposals, Frank said,

“I think if we get a good public option, it could lead to single-payer, and that’s the best way to reach single payer.”

Frank is right. A public plan would “demonstrate its power” and drown private competitors with rates subsidized by the taxpayers. The Lewin Group estimates that a subsidized public option could quickly drive over 119 million people out of the private insurance market. As the Wall Street Journal explains, it has never been a secret that the public plan connects naturally into a single-payer health care system:

Jacob Hacker, now a professor of political science at Berkeley, came up with the intellectual architecture for the public option when he was a graduate student in the 1990s. "Someone once said to me, 'This is a Trojan horse for single payer,' and I said, 'Well, it's not a Trojan horse, right? It's just right there,'" Mr. Hacker explained in a speech last year. "I'm telling you, we're going to get there, over time, slowly."

As Rush Limbaugh has pointed out so many times before, "You don't boil a frog all at once. If you throw him into hot water, he'll simply jump right back out. If, however, you drop him into cold water and then slowly raise the temperature, he'll be dead before he knows what's happening."

In other news, radio talk show host and Fox News rising star Glenn Beck called the president a "...racist with a deep seated hatred for white people or the white culture." He was instantly set upon by the left leaning press, called a hate monger with race issues of his own. That's right out of the Democrat play book though. When someone accuses them of lying, they simply point out what liars we all are. As if that non-admittal admittal means they're any better. Beck's case for his accusation was made on his radio program in a compelling and often heart stopping way. I won't say that I followed his line of reasoning except to say that if any case can be made against the president it is that he is a bigot at minimum with a deep seated mistrust of white people. So much for the post-racial candidate he appeared to be. Beck leveled this accusation after the president inserted himself into the Gates kerfuffle which ended with what is laughingly referred to as the "Beer Summit" now. It became a huge distraction to the president during the critical time when his health care bill might have made it to the floor for a vote had it not been for his insertion of himself into the fray. We learned something important through this little scandal though, "Being Barrack means never having to say you're sorry".

Even when you're wrong.

Elsewhere, up in the frozen tundra, Sarah Palin, former Veep nominee and the subject of Liberal scorn and Conservative fantasy, bade farewell to the citizens of Alaska saying that she would stay engaged and continue to work on their behalf but in the wider scope of public service. Speculation swirled about her future, would it be radio, television, a continued career in politics or a centerfold spread in Playboy? No one knows for sure yet. She's been very hush hush on details and very scathing in her assessment of the "main stream media", calling them out and reminding them that their profession should be a noble one of service to the public, not service to a political party. She's right on that score. They shamelessly carry water for the president and hang on his every word as if he were the Christ child about to speak his first syllables. There have been some chinks in the armor of late with the AP reporting some very disturbing facts about the true economic state of the union and Obama's poll numbers, which coincidentally have been dropping faster than Oprah's ability to resist a Twinkie. While CNN is reporting that the recession is over, AP had some sobering statistics on the rising debt and continued shrinkage of the job market. Sarah has been almost a constant news story at a time when she should be fading from our political view. The media hasn't let her fade though. They keep finding reasons for us to mistrust and despise her and they keep her on the front burner as often as they can.

The "Cash For Clunkers" program, initially slated to be only 1 billion dollars ran out of money in just under 6 days. Oddly, that money was supposed to last until mid October but for reasons unknown to bureaucratic dunderheads it disappeared faster than ...well...money in Washington. As of this note, an additional 2 billion dollars is being gathered to continue the program. It seems that nothing ever costs as much as they say it will and it never works like it's intended. Seems lots of folks trying to get the subsidy are being denied because the rules keep changing so quickly that car dealers can't keep up with it all. Lots of applications, precious few of them accepted. Honestly, who didn't think that Americans, when presented with the idea of snatching some stimulus money, wouldn't respond this quickly? Apparently the rocket scientists on Capitol Hill didn't and their emergency supplemental funding is proof. Oh, and speaking of stimulus money, it seems that the National Endowment of the Arts is using some of it's stimulus money for shall we say...less than pure endeavors. The NEA may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night "pervert" revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco, as first reported Thursday by FOXNews.com.

Now why am I not surprised?

I love this country. No where on earth could you have this kind of fun and all of it made possible with taxpayer dollars. Perv reviews and dwindling money and socialized medicine...OH MY!
If Nancy Pelosi is Dorothy and Barney Frank is the scarecrow (no brain)...that would make Beck the cowardly lion, John Conyers the tin man (no heart) and of course...Obama as the great and powerful wizard of Oz.

Pay no attention to that man behind the screen. That's just Rahm tightening the thumb screws on some pesky blue dogs.

We are certainly NOT in Kansas anymore Toto.