Hey America, Knock Off The Pity Party

Harlingen, Texas, February 23, 2009:  There is a lot of hand wringing and moaning going on across the American landscape.  The political prevaricators proclaim we are facing such dire times and such agony that it is almost the end of days.  Pardon me, but what a bunch of crap!

I am sure there are pockets of pain in various locales across the country.  The auto and banking industries have taken a hard hit.  But, they do not make up America.  The housing situation is bad, but 98% of mortgage holders are making their payments.  This is far from the Great Depression that politicos tell us in on the horizon unless we spend our way into oblivion.

Granted, most of our 50 states are running multi-billion dollars lose balance sheets.  Why, because the big spending mentality of elected officials has placed them in that dangerous position.  Some states, including my state of Texas, require balanced budgets and no red ink spending.  They are doing just fine.

Businesses open and businesses fail.  That is life.  I once read that the average life span of a business is just a little over 50 years.  That tells me that all businesses eventually fail.
A few years ago I visited a New England locale called Mystic Seaport.  It was the home of our whaling industry and more than 4,000 whaling ships were built there during the heyday of that great business.  Today only one whaling ship remains as a museum piece.

My great grandfather ran a store and did a wonderful business selling kerosene lamps.  Have you bought many of these lamps lately?  Do you even remember horse drawn carriages?  Are they in demand?  Or even more currently, Beta recordings, ink filled pens, iceboxes, milk in bottles, or lead soldiers? Have you bought any of them lately?  The point is… everything is always in a state of change.  Instead of shedding all those tears of gloom, we should all be seeking out the next big bang coming our way.

Locally, we have lost jobs, just like every other place in thee country.  The number crunchers tell us the national unemployment rate is at 7.8% and moving toward 9% or 10% unless we spend our grandchildren’s future.  But, that isn’t really horrible, unless you are one of those who have lost his or her job.  In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas we historically have seen unemployment rates of 15% or 16% and that was up until about 10 years ago.  But, everyone survived and most seem to be doing just fine, while at the same time offering helping hands to those in need.

Here we have lost national companies such as Circuit City or Steve and Barry’s. When they left there were large vacancies in our mall.  But, you know what?  Other stores have come along to replace them.  Marshals has just built a new store, as had Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Headlines in yesterday’s newspaper reported a new company to process medical claims nation-wide will be opening its doors and offering 750 jobs.

But, this isn’t just a Texas story.  There are opportunities everywhere.  Companies such as FedEx, Google, EBay, Whole Foods, Men’s Warehouse, T-Mobile and Nordstrom are doing well, and most of them are still hiring.

Those who follow commodities know that many things are on an upturn.  Gold has gone over $1,000.  Silver remains stationary. Crude oil, heating oil, and unleaded gas show a steady climb.  Cattle corn, lumber and wheat are increasing in value.

There is high demand for personnel to fill jobs in medical services and nursing. Across the computer industry employers are crying out for people who have the skills needed in that technology.  Engineering help is needed, as is help in the engineering software field.

The field of education is wide open for those who wish to serve as teachers, administrators, classroom assistants and in other staff positions.  It is estimated that almost 40,000 of these jobs will need to be filled in 2009.

Green jobs are everywhere.  More and more companies are adding staff members to fill environmentally oriented positions.

But, the mortgage market is horrible some claim.  That too is not the entire story.  A friend of mine who brokers mortgages claims she has more than thirty lenders who are providing mortgages on a daily basis.  There is one catch though…you must have good credit.

Things really are not as bad as those gloom salesmen in Washington proclaim.  Just look around and plot yourselves courses that will lead you out of this misery malaise.  America needs to knock off its countrywide pity party and become what it always has been…a nation of positive thinkers.

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During Problem Times How About Looking To Ourselves?

Harlingen, Texas, February 20, 2009:  Like most writers with a lot of time on their hands, I was thinking about the next commentary I was going to write.  The article was going to be about the nose-dive our economy was taking and how the American people were reacting to everything falling apart around them.  It was also just a few days before Christmas, 2008.

The volunteer at the opposite Wal-Mart entrance walked over to talk with me.  We were both ringing bells for the Salvation Army Christmas Bucket Drive.  His bucket was overflowing with donations and mine was about to reach the same level.  We decided to call the Army office and have them pick up our collections.

Half way between our two buckets, the U.S. Marines were making a pitch on behalf of their Toys for Tots campaign.  If they failed to receive enough donations, the 35,000 children in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas they were seeking to help would find no gifts under their Christmas trees.

The people in this southmost corner of Texas know about hard times and poverty. It is one of the most under employed, under educated and economically depressed regions of the country.  Where most of the country bemoans unemployment approaching 8%, such a figure would signify fairly good times in many counties of South Texas.  It is not unusual to see unemployment figures at 12% to 14% along the Texas-Mexico border.

But, even though much of America would wring its hands in despair and cry out to Nanny Washington to solve the problem, Texans seem to be of hardier stock.  At Christmas last year, the Salvation Army raised enough money to provide for everyone who came to them for assistance.  The Marines met their target to provide a bright Christmas morning for those thousands of children…. and there wasn’t a government stimulus package in sight.

At Loaves and Fishes, non-profit multi-purpose center to assist those in need, more than 9,000 meals were fed in January 2009.  This was up more than 2,000 meals from January 2008.

January also saw the nonprofit organization providing 562 bed nights of shelter for the homeless and 237 families with at least a week of food supplies. All of this was done with private money and no federal bailout.

Isn’t it strange…a small city of less than 75,000 people can manage to take care of its own and not incur a massive debt doing the job, while our national leaders can only seem to throw all this country’s financial resources and future wealth into a bottomless pit of inefficiency?

Last night the three Rotary Clubs of Harlingen and the Rotary club from neighboring San Benito held their 15th annual Shrimp Fest.  More than 2,000 people turned out to support the event, knowing that every penny raised was going to local charity.

Every night Monday through Friday Jay Leno tightens up his necktie in an action reminiscent of the late Rodney Dangerfield and fires off a string of jokes about our bad economy.  But, the people of this corner of the Lone Star State don’t think bad economics are something to be used as comedic punch lines.  At the Rotary Shrimp Fest there were 600 more people participating than in 2008…and all of them knew their contributions would be used to help fellow residents.

There is a federal program in this area, which is designed to repair and weatherize homes for the disadvantaged.  It has a budget of about 3 million dollars and after a year of operation has not repaired a single home.  There is a similar program being undertaken by that same Loaves and Fishes organization mentioned before.  The local program to provide the same type of weatherization and repair has only received about $90,000 in private money, but in the past year it has completed or has underway repairs on almost three-dozen homes.

One other important government financial consideration should be how debt is addressed.  The constitution of the state of Texas does not permit any red ink spending, nor does the city where I live.  Thus, the state and the city are debt free during this bad economic tsunami and are not beholding to Nanny Washington.

Granted, these are local antidotal examples of how people react to their surroundings when things turn sour.  But, people here know how to look after their own.  Be it a barbeque or a fund drive, they always seem to face up to their problems and obligations. This is the way it happens in Deep South Texas.  We would hope the remainder of the fifty states would follow the same example.

And yes, we all have all heard about our goofy congressman who had a Frisbee Golf Course for Austin, Texas included in the stimulus package, but every family has a crazy uncle.  Ours just happens to be named Sam.

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Have We Become A Nation of Lemmings?

Harlingen, Texas, February 16, 2009:  When we reflect about the Lemming, if we have occasion to dwell on this animal at all, it brings to mind a dull, unthinking rodent who subjects his well to the first of his kind in line.  The Lemming mirrors the actions of his leader and mimes the leader’s movements, sometimes to his own detriment or destruction.

Has America become a nation of Lemmings?  There is much evidence pointing in that direction.  We have become a people with no clue as to what is transpiring in the world around us. 

We have become a nation of whiners.  We whine about health care, taxes, gas prices, food prices, our jobs and crime on the street.  We whine about our local leaders, our school boards, Congress and the White House.  But, while all this whining is taking place, how many of us take the time to educate ourselves on the issues or individuals who directly impact our lives?  The answer to that one is…very few people even attempt to seek out the root causes of those things, which create distress in our lives.

The Lemming accepts his reality as being the same as the reality that is taking place all around him.  He is not capable of understanding that we have been manipulated from such an early age that most of us are no longer able to see past the system that brainwashed us into such group acceptance.

The Lemmings among us refuse to understand that our government is intent upon keeping all of us completely in the dark.  The use of a monopoly educational system, an obedient media and a strong government propaganda machine directed at all but the political elite has made it almost impossible for the Lemmings of America to develop an informed opinion on any significant issue.

A brash statement you say?  Well think about these little publicized facts.  In any number of international tests American students are continuously outscored by Asian nations such as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and even Hong Kong.  With European nations, the Americans find themselves scoring around 15th to 18th among some 24 nations taking these educational tests.

We try to explain away our poor performance by saying we need more money in the system, or smaller class sizes.  However, looking at other countries we find that they spend far less money on education and most have even larger classes.  The real answer could reside in the fact our educational system is a government monopoly that is designed to keep us all in the same mindset as that of an abused housewife who takes no corrective action because she knows the head of the household understands things far better than she…and has her best interests at heart.  The Lemmings among us allow those in government to tell them how things should be and accept what the government has decided is education.

These same Lemmings, in their group-think mentality, believe just about everything they see on television or read in the daily newspaper, despite huge disclosures that the media has given up its adversarial role and accepted a position as spokesman for government pronouncements.

If you argue with this observation, think about what you hear or read in American news reports compared to what is said in Great Britain or Japan.  Those countries, with a critical and adversarial media, are much stronger at holding their government’s feet to the fire.

But, if you are the average American Lemming, you don’t know what is taking place in other countries and lack an international vision.  Readership of news oriented articles is in steady decline.  The American popular culture keeps its focus on the trivial, and only a sprinkling of our citizenry are informed on worldwide events.  A full 70% of the American population never leaves the boundaries of the United States.

The propaganda and advertising moguls of our country also realize that the best appeals they can make are to our base desires.  Thus, education is never promoted, as a primary objective young people should seek. Excellence is made to sound geeky.  Competition is maligned. Satisfying personal wants or desires becomes a lifelong objective.

You think not?  Perhaps you haven’t heard we have one of the highest crime rates in the world.  Doesn’t that come from trying to satisfy desires?  How about obesity?  We have become Super Fat America.  Is that not giving in to our wants and accepting them as needs?

In a nutshell, Lemmings refuse to think for themselves, like to be spoon-fed everything, refuse to strive for excellence, fail to search out the truth, deny they should be informed about the world they live in and are sure that Nanny Government will supply all their needs.  Have we become a nation of Lemmings?  You will need to search out the correct answer to that question.  But, as Edward R. Murrow once said, “The obscure we see eventually.  The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.”

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We've Heard It, But Do We Believe It..."Trust Me!!!"

The United States Senate said “Trust Me” and passed the pork filled spending bill they call a stimulus package.  Wall Street trusted that action so much the stock market dropped 382 points.

But, trust in Congress or in the United States Government has been on a downward spiral for the past three decades.  Seventy two percent of the nation’s citizens report they have no trust in the entire Washington D.C. establishment.  When Congress is singled out, 82% say they have no trust in the legislative branch of government.

What do individual Americans say about trust?  John Boring is a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant living in Arizona.  These are his words; “ Do I trust government?  No, not a bit.  I don’t trust politicians and I adamantly do not trust either the House of the Senate.  I don’t trust my butcher or the owner of the gas station where I pump my own gas.  I don’t trust anyone but my barber who gives me a good cut for a decent price.  And, he’s a transplanted Russian who speaks only marginally good English.  I trust my wife and my family.  I trust my very good friends and I trust my church.  I believe in and I trust God.  I don’t trust my local newspaper or what I read in it.  I don’t trust anyone who knocks on my door trying to sell me something or ask me to donate to something.  I don’t trust charities, airlines or the oil industry.  I don’t trust the makers of the goods I buy”.

John Boring reflects what most Americans seem to feel during this time of economic and governmental upheaval.  Almost 80% of the population believes the federal government has too much power and they do not trust it to use that power wisely.  They also see state and local governments expanding their powers in moves that also erode governmental trust.

Trust in individual politicians is in the cellar.  Along with that feeling, according to a Reuter’s poll, at least 50% of the population believes their political leaders are dishonest.

A Zogby poll conducted two years ago showed 72% of the people do not trust Congress, 58% do not believe the media, and 69% have no faith in corporate leaders.

Kevin Healey in Little Compton, Rhode Island, is even less trusting than most people today.  He says, “The only person I trust is my wife and I know that she lies to me from time to time. But then I love her and she loves me.  Trust is earned not demanded… You can respect but not trust. People are born liars. Politicians are liars on steroids. “

The majority of politicians are lawyers, so it is an interesting observation to see the public holds lawyers in the same disrepute as those in elected office.  A full 80% of the public feels lawyers are dishonest and have no ethical standards.  A recent Gallup poll ranks them even lower, with 83% of the population lacking any faith or trust in those who are in the legal profession.

Texan Carl Loya says, “I don’t trust a single person in office today.  Add to that the media.  I think every newspaper writer; radio and TV reporter is a fraud.  They don’t even know the difference between a lie and the truth.”

The Gallup organization seems to agree with Loya.  It says,” The long-term trends of Gallup’s honesty and ethics survey, reveal a growing skepticism among the American public regarding the ethics of news professionals.  That survey found only 21% of the public believes journalists are honest or ethical.  It finds that 16% of the public has any trust in newspaper reporters and only 21% of the citizens believe TV reporters have high ethical standards.

Americans also have little trust in stockbrokers.  Only 6% of the public gives them the benefit of their complete trust. Real estate agents, insurance agents, financial advisors and bankers are completely trusted by an average of only 14% of the population.

On the plus side, however, are doctors, dentists and nurses who have the trust of their patients in the mid 90% range.

In organizational trust, the United States Armed Forces still maintains an approval and trust ranking in excess of 80%, the highest rating given to any organized body in the country. This high level of trust comes, even though the military is held in contempt by the far left and is savaged regularly by the media.

The first person quoted in this article is John Boring.  The retired Marine had another observation that fits in with the feelings expressed by other Americans. 

He said, “I really didn’t know what my feelings were until I was asked.  I was a bit surprised at my answer but that’s exactly how I feel and I don’t think I would be alone in those feelings. You know what’s really bad, is that I wasn’t like this not too many years back.  I grew up as a very trusting soul, I believed in everything and everyone… and gradually, one by one, all the things I trusted in were proven to be false an untrustworthy. Government has totally eroded any trust I ever had and I’d punch in the nose any politician who knocked on my door these days.”

So...back to that stimulus bill that the vast majority of Americans hate.  It is inching closer and closer to law and a debt that even our grandchildren will be unable to pay down to a reasonable level.  The American public has said it doesn’t want this huge pork pie, but the politicos we hold in such low esteem demand we eat it.  They can’t see the truth that is right in front of them.  What Americans really want is to have their trust back.  With the ability to trust, everything would seek its own level and the country would be on the right track again.

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