Mad as Hell

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!”
___ The Fed Up Newscaster On the1976 Television News Satire, Network

“...and I’m not going to take it any more!” is the good news. It was the good news in 1776, in1976, and the good news today.

The 1970s, a time of fear, frustration, and dire predictions. Under President Carter’s weak leadership—or worse—the West was in retreat around the world. At home, growing government intrusion. Double digit inflation and interest rates, and the dollar on a verge of collapsing. The financial situation did not look good. Numerous pundits predicted world shortages of food, water, industrial commodities, and financial collapse—the end of America and the need for a one-world collectivist system. Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb and numerous other popular books proclaimed the world’s end. Scientists were forecasting an immediate coming ice age—we were all going to freeze to death.

Today we have former Vice President Gore’s false man-made global warming assumptions and exaggerated predictions. The result—besides a very wealthy Al Gore—frighten school children and a call for a “Green revolution” from the emotionally unstable progressive liberals in press, media, and halls of congress.

One person not concerned by Gore’s award winning frightful movie showing America’s East and West coasts under walls of ocean water, Al Gore. He recently bought a multimillion dollar seaside mansion on California’s shore.

"All the exaggerations are right, if they exaggerate the right thing." ___ G.K. Chesterton

Contrary to the1970s doomsday exaggerations, better days were ahead. Middle America—our Nation’s backbone—the individuals responsible for a strong, prosperous, and generous nation had awakened. They were not going to take it anymore. Prayer and political action brought changes. And it seemed the right change with the1980 election of President Reagan.

As President Reagan took office, the massive outflow of dollars overseas stopped. The dollar recovered. Foreign demand for dollars increased as the need to pay off international loans grew. A stronger dollar abroad and lower oil prices at home helped to curb domestic price increases. Blame “America Firsters” in media and academia were in retreat. But then came pain.

By summer of 1982, the U.S. economy was in a recession, Unemployment the highest rate since the Great Depression—necessary pain to purge a financial system out of wack due to political interference in the marketplace.

But then, political backsliding and a return of political intrusion in the marketplace. The Federal Reserve released the tight-money brake and stomped on the easy-credit gas pedal. By end of 1982, financial institutions falsely appeared strong. The great six year bull market for stocks started. Good times rolled. Reward without risk, or so it seemed.

Investors and financial institutions feeding on illusions of easy money and unstoppable expansion ignored flashing danger signals. October 19, 1987, that which was going to go on forever, didn't. The Dow Jones Industrial Index plummeted 508 points. Next trading day, a wave of selling swamped world markets. And again a return of political intrusion in the marketplace. To the rescue, the lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve.

"Politics may shape economics in the short run, but economics will shape politics in the long run."

Good times were here again, or so it seemed. Waves of optimism swept over stock market investors. Real estate investors soon followed, providing a decade of reward without risk, wealth without effort, a rapidly expanding bubble.

Then 2008, a financial moment of truth. A dropping stock market and crashing home real estate market. U.S. economy again in a recession and high unemployment, necessary pain to purge the financial system due to government interference in the marketplace. And again political interference. The Federal Reserve again stomped on the easy-credit gas pedal—prolonging the inescapable pain.

Periodic economic downturns are unfortunate but inevitable. To avoid the necessary pain of economic downturns, both Republican and Democrat administrations—at the expense of middle America—made money cheap to borrow and went on a deficit spending binge. At first millions, then billions, and now trillions of dollars to bail out inefficient companies and buy the votes of unions, public employees, and the self indulgent.

Neither President G.W. Bush’s big government spending and financial bail out nor President Obama's failed Keynesian deficit spending blunder delayed the recession—only prolonged and deepened it.

Today’s rapid government growth, excessive debt, and rush to centralize control of America’s financial markets and means of production, if not stopped means inflation or stagflation, wage and price controls, and an ever grinding lower living standard for middle America.

True lasting prosperity does not come from big government, huge federal debt, and taking from the haves and dividing it amongst the have nots. Hope, new ideas, hard work, and freedom to succeed are the answers to today’s economic crises. Not envy, greed, and policies of entitlement.

To create new wealth and raise everyone’s living standard we must have the freedom to create new wealth. That requires a government that respects and protects our individual right to life, liberty, and property. Creating new wealth depends on a government that allows the individual to prosper, to freely pursue his or her dream, not a share-the-wealth secular socialist government based on envy.

Is there hope? Yes. We can reverse our downward spiral into collectivism. It has started. Middle-America is awakening. A growing number “... are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.” You can help. If we influence one person at a time or one hundred, positive changes will take place. But we must be informed and be involved. We must be engaged in our political process.

Our trust and hope, however, cannot be in political parties, their candidates, nor their promises. Our trust, hope, and comfort is in our loving God. A God who takes a hand in our daily lives. For us there is always hope.

______ Michael E. Odell

Your thoughts and comments are welcome, well most of the time.
E-mail: odellmike@comcast.net

What can you do to change the negative direction our elected leaders are taking us? For six proven action steps go to Blog Archive at upper right, click on May-11-08, “But What Can I Do?” Pick yours.