A Few Thoughts from the Set about Current Affairs

We have just completed our first week of photography on “The Prince and Me 4.” The production is going really well except for a slight mishap on the set the other day. It was Friday the 13th. The sun was shining and there was not one cloud in the sky. However, it suddenly became very windy. In fact, so windy that a funnel cloud formed and lifted the lunch tent about fifty feet into the air. The tent dropped and it was suddenly very calm again. A rather small, but dangerous tornado had landed on our set.

This would have been a very interesting occurrence except for the fact that there were still people in the tent eating lunch. We immediately ran to the tent and dug out about four people who were rushed by the set paramedics to the hospital. In the end, no one was seriously injured. However, it was a scary 20 seconds or so. That’s right. It was only about 20 seconds.

The next day, the Thai crew decided that we had not asked the spirits for a proper blessing for the shoot, so we had a Buddhist ceremonial prayer session that lasted about twenty minutes before shooting. Nothing major happened that day, so I guess it worked!

Somehow, this is what I feel we need politically in this country. We are in the middle of a major economic crisis and there is no one praying to God or any gods whatsoever about how to get out of this mess. The only thing the Obama administration can come up with is to spend money. And, boy is it spending money. By the time you read this, the coveted Obama stimulus package will probably be law. And, this is no small tornado. This is the real thing.

The current spending package amounts to approximately 780 billion dollars which thankfully is substantially less than the 925 billion dollar package that was passed in the House and the 870 billion dollar package that was passed in the Senate. But, according to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, “A stimulus bill that was supposed to be timely, targeted and temporary is none of the above. And this means that Congress is about to approve a stimulus package that is not likely to have much stimulative effect.”

The general consensus is that the Democrats picked a number in the area of one trillion dollars and then just randomly figured out ways to spend the money. The vote was almost exclusively on party lines. In fact, had three Republicans in the Senate chose to follow their colleagues, then the package would not be going to the president for signature. The Senate vote was 60-38. The House vote was 246-183. Not one Republican voted for the bill in the House. In fact, approximately 10 Democrats had the guts to go against the President and voted “no.” It’s a real shame that the three Republicans in the Senate did not have the same guts as those ten House Democrats.

Senator John McCain, appearing on CNN’s State of the Union this weekend stated Obama has gone against his campaign promise to be bi-partisan. McCain feels that this is the main reason why this stimulus package had almost no Republican support whatsoever. McCain states that this was a “bad beginning because it wasn’t what we promised the American people, what President Obama promised the American people – that we would sit down together.”

This bill is supposed to either create or save jobs. In fact, Obama was selling it as a major infrastructure initiative. Let’s build roads and bridges and put people to work. Sounds like the “New Deal” right? Wrong. Only 48 billion or about six percent of the bill will go to infrastructure. And, a big chunk of that is for a high speed railway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This sounds like a good idea, except for the fact that Senator Harry Reid from Nevada who is up for reelection in two years pushed this piece of pork into the bill in order to keep his constituents happy. So much for the lack of earmarks.

Individuals will receive a $400.00 check from the government and joint filers will receive an $800.00 check from the government. Again, this is supposed to stimulate spending and get the economy on track. Let’s analyze this a minute. How much exactly is $400.00 per person? Well, let’s see. It’s about $7.69 cents a week. Wow, that’s going to really help the average consumer. Maybe, they can buy an extra six pack. At least, Joe Six-Pack will be happy, and, of course, those who have shares in Coors and Anheuser-Busch.

In addition, Mr. Obama and the radical leftists are getting their way by creating a new welfare state. The rather large sum of $7.69 per week is being given as a handout to, not only citizens who pay income taxes, but also to those who do not pay income taxes at all. Wow, a true $400.00 free lunch! Just what I voted for last year. Oh, wait; the people that voted for Obama wanted a free lunch and a lot of free things. Maybe, they will get them all. Of course, people like me and my friends will pay for it.

I do not want to seem cynical about these things, but the “do nothing” Congress, just passed a “do nothing” bill that will be signed by a “pragmatist” president that will succeed in doing nothing to stimulate the economy. President Bush doubled the National Debt in eight years. President Obama just added another ten percent in less than one month. Not a bad record for the “best president ever.”

You may ask, why I just said, the best president ever. Well, I will tell you. I was sitting on the set yesterday and one of my crew members was Skyping with a typical leftist resident of Southern California. When my crew member asked what was going on in the world as we have no access to news from the set, the person on the other side of the line said, “We have the best president ever. He’s doing everything right.”

I mean, come on! How can anyone with any level of intelligence make a comment like that with a straight face. As I’ve stated before in this column, I wish the new President all the best and hope and pray that he is successful, but the best president ever after four weeks? This is just an example of the blind love that certain people in our country have for this man. It is beyond ridiculous.

Oh, and by the way, the best president ever would not be having such a difficult time picking a Commerce Secretary. So, far he is 0 for 2. Who will choice number 3 be? Of course, he could never be worse than choice number 2 who voluntarily withdrew his appointment because he did not agree with the President on the stimulus package or the economy. I wonder if any vetting was done at all by the President’s administrative staff on that decision?

Speaking of the best president ever, the London Times ran an article on October 31, 2008 just days before the election ranking the US Presidents according to their panel of experts. Of course, the top two were Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. No surprise there, right? However, let’s discuss two other presidents that they ranked very highly.

Number six is Dwight Eisenhower and number twelve is Lyndon Johnson. I remember growing up in the sixties and seventies and one thing I can say for the record is that both of these men were not considered good presidents at that time. In fact, Eisenhower was considered one of the worst presidents ever. As for Lyndon Johnson, he was hated more than George W. Bush is hated now. By the way, the London Times doesn’t like Mr. Bush much either. They have him ranked at 37. I strongly suggest all of my readers take a look at this poll. It is quite informative, although I admit I disagree with their positions, especially their ranking of John Kennedy. You can read it at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5055404.ece.

As for their feeling for George W. Bush, maybe time will tell and he will go from number 37 to somewhere in the neighborhood of number 15 in the next forty years or so. Unfortunately, I will probably not be here to see it.

My thoughts on the economy and supply-side theory in increasing revenue to the government are more intellectually analyzed by Amity Schlaes who writes for Bloomberg.com. She published an article on February 6, 2009 which was forwarded to me by Arthur Brown of Los Angeles, California. The article, entitled, “Obama’s Gift to GOP is Challenge to Supply Siders”. In this article, Ms. Schlaes says that the GOP should be doing some serious thinking right now as Obama’s plan will probably not work. She also seems to agree with my analysis that the only way out of this recession is through time.

You should also all read, “A Black Woman’s View” by Anne Wortham which can be found at http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/wortham1.html. This article expounds an interesting viewpoint on the historic election of President Obama. I feel that this article is interesting reading although I do not agree 100% with its content.

Well that’s about if for this week. I’m back off to the set to begin week number two. Hopefully, there will be no more tornados either on the set or in our political world. Have a great week!

© 2009 by Frank T. DeMartini – All rights reserved. Permission to be quoted will be given freely upon request.

Socialism Here We Come!

I am down to my last few days of pre-production here in Thailand. We officially start shooting “Prince and Me 4” on Monday. It is now Friday afternoon here. The cast and crew are working their butts off and things are coming together. I’m going to have to make this column shorter than usual, but there are some things that I feel have to be said about this pending stimulus package and about President Obama’s declaration this week on executive pay.

Also, starting with this column, I’m going to add information sent by my readers so that we can get some other opinions and viewpoints as well. So, if I get e-mails or comments, I will attach them to the end of each column, and hopefully, I will be able to give a fair and unbiased sampling of the information received.

But, now let's start with the stimulus bill. I have been listening to the President over the past few weeks from my hotel room in Thailand. The first comment I have is what happened to “hope”. I still hear a lot about change, but the “hope” apparently has become fear. The new President is using fear in promoting his stimulus package in the same way he said the Republicans used it over the last eight years. Every speech and bit I hear is loaded with, “if we don’t pass this stimulus package right now, catastrophe is right around the corner.”

Isn’t this the kind of rhetoric that the Democrats said got us into the Iraq war? Isn’t that what the Democrats have blamed President Bush and Dick Cheney with? Isn’t this what the press has blamed the entire Republican Party with? Even a noted Republican pundit stated that one of the reasons the Republicans got shellacked in November was because their entire message was based upon fear.

Now, I hear nothing but fear coming out of the President’s mouth. What happened to the pragmatism that he was so famous for? Now, in the last few days, I don’t see “hope” any longer, I see anger and frustration. He’s almost behaving like a school boy who isn’t getting his way.

This stimulus bill and the cap on CEO earnings should not be passed or permitted to happen. Under its current state, it truly is socialism in disguise. In fact, the cap on corporate executive earnings announced a few days ago actually reeks of central planning. Dare I say that this is actually one step beyond socialism?

How can we as a free market economy allow this to happen? We can’t. Either we stick up for the free market now, or we give in to European style socialism for the next 10 to 20 years. We must fight this stimulus bill and do whatever is necessary to fight it. In the end something will be passed, but hopefully, it will be something that has a chance at working.

Do you think any top executives will want to work at any company that is accepting public money? The answer to that is a simple ‘no’! The will go wherever the money is best. Further, the companies that may need the money the most may not take it. I know if I was the CEO of Citigroup or Bank of America, I would think twice before accepting any more public funding. I would start thinking about how to keep the company afloat without the money, and then we things got so bad that I realized the company had to take the money, I would start looking for another job. Call me a capitalist and decadent, but that is the way most of these guys think as well.

As for the stimulus bill itself, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) states that only three percent of the money will be spent this year and another 13 percent of the money will be spent next year. I really would like to know what kind of stimulus this is. Out of 825 billion dollars, a mere 107 billion dollars will be spent in the new president’s first two years in office. Is this the immediate need that the new Democratic fear mongers are trying to sell? Is this the pending “catastrophe” that Obama is talking about ad nauseam?

At least when President Bush passed the TARP act, half of the money was spent in the first three months before he left office and the remaining half is being spent right now. That’s action. If we are going to burden our children with decades of debt because of failed Keynesian policies, let us at least spend the money quickly. What good will an 825 billion dollar stimulus package be that is only spent piecemeal?

Another problem I have with this stimulus package is the protectionism inherent in it. What is this requirement that public works projects using stimulus money use American made steel, iron and manufactured goods? This is protectionism at its worst. If this is allowed to pass, we are taking one more step away from a free market and into socialism. Further, this clause will alienate most of our trading partners. Canada and Mexico are already up in arms about it. I can’t wait until the Japanese really start complaining. And, what about Germany, Italy and Spain? Oh, I forgot, this might piss China off a little too.

Protectionism did not work during the Great Depression. In fact, many argue it made the depression deeper and longer. But, in the words of Ronald Reagan, “here they go again!”

To continue, what is this provision that allows $200 million dollars to be spent on planting grass in Washington? This is an earmark of the worst order. When listening to the president this morning his comments regarding earmarks had a defeatist attitude. He simply said, “When has Congress passed anything that isn’t loaded with pork?” So, now one of his campaign promises about eliminating earmarks has gone by the wayside. Or, is it that he is just receiving a true education on how Washington works?

Since I’m running out of time, I just want to make one more comment about this pork laden, socialistic stimulus bill. I could go on for hours if I had the time. But, for now, I just want to state that is 335 million dollars for handing out “condoms” and STD prevention programs going to create any jobs or stimulate anything more than somebody’s libido?

Now, for some comments from my readers, Billy Dean Bennett of Missouri sent me some interesting statistics on the effects of the Australian Gun ban. After one year in effect, homicides were up 6.2%, assaults were up 9.6%, armed robberies were up 44% and in the state of Victoria alone, armed robberies were up 300%. All of this after the government of Australian spent more than 500 million Australian dollars on taking the guns away. I guess the only people in Australia with guns now are the criminals.

Maybe, the ACLU and other liberal think tanks should look at these statistics. Or, maybe, they will just choose to ignore them. I think this is pure proof that eliminating guns does nothing to eliminate street crime.

David Allen Jones of Bangkok, Thailand sent me an interesting article by Mickey Edwards entitled “Reagan Wouldn’t Recognize this GOP.” This article was written for the LA Times and can be found at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-edwards24-2009jan24,0,3344794.story. I think all Republicans should read this article as it states some of the basic problems with today’s Republican Party. Although, I agree with a lot of it, I do not agree with it all.

Thank you for your time again this week. I will try to write more columns while shooting the film, but only if time permits.

© Copyright 2009 by Frank T. DeMartini. Permission to use excerpts will be freely given.