WINNERS & SINNERS HERE WE GO AGAIN! The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee (an oxymoron) has suspended the clearance privileges of a staff member for allegedly leaking classified material to the New York Times, a failing old media company based somewhere in Manhattan. That patriotic entity published the classified information for all the world to read. Do you think the Democrat Party should now demand Patrick Fitzgerald be re-activated and begin a full-blown investigation of the staff member, a Democrat, or the Times? Do you think the New York Times will advocate being investigated for its involvement with leaked, classified information? Do you think Scooter Libby will be interested in this affair? Or Joe Wilson? Valerie Plame? If not, why not? STUBBORN THINGS Facts are indeed that. Let’s look at some hard facts. Federal deficit: 1.9% of the gross national product [GDP] Economic growth: Currently = 3.5%; 1990s = 3.3%; 1980s = 3.1% Unemployment: Currently = 4.6%; 1990s average = 5.8%; last 40 years average = 6.0%; for college graduates? 2% Oil: The new find in the Gulf of Mexico increased America’s proven reserves by half. Gasoline: Price where I live - Los Angeles - down 26% from its recent high of $3.35 per gallon. Mortgage rates: Still well under 7% for 30-year fixed rate loans on good, not excellent credit. Remember these when someone tells you the economy is in dire straights these days. It is not. IMMIGRATION AND ILLEGAL ALIEN FACTS Our last Winners & Sinners brought howls of indignation from intelligent readers who refuse to read, instead try to make the “racist” label stick. While I don’t enjoy that sort of stuff, I at least know I’ve won the point and the argument. Apropos the illegal aliens and legal immigrants, some facts to note: How many legal immigrants enter the U.S. each year? a. 150,000? b. 350,000? c. 750,000? d. 1,000,000? None of the above. The answer: one million two-hundred thousand How many illegal aliens try to cross the Southern border each and every day of the year? Over 10,000! How many are caught by the Border Patrol? About 3,000. [Source: P.J. Bonner, president of the Border Control Council and recently head of the Border Patrol agents union. Simple math: 10,000 - 3,000 = 7,000 x 365 = >2.5 million illegals every year. Analogy: Twice as many illegals as legals. 2.5 million versus 1.2 million; 3.7 million every year. Another California every 10 years. Plus, their families and children. FYI, more than half of Los Angeles County residents speak Spanish at home. At my house, we speak Chinese and English, but then my wife is legal. 30% of prison inmates in the U.S. are illegal aliens. These are just facts; draw your own conclusions. I report; you decide. FIXABLE PROBLEM It is common wisdom that America cannot compete with foreign countries in automobiles and other manufactured goods. Ever hear one good reason why? I mean aside from the fact that factory wages, benefits and working conditions are usually far below our standards. Foreign manufacturers generally do not pay a corporate income tax; our companies do. Thus, our guys need to produce far more profit in order to retain the same amount of money. That’s subsidy number one. Almost all foreign nations have a VAT [value added tax] which is rebated to the final manufacturer on exports. U.S. manufacturers receive no export bonus. That’s subsidy number two. Almost all foreign nations protect their domestic manufacturers with import tariffs on manufactured goods by slapping a tariff or import duty tax on American goods coming into their nation. That protectionism of home-grown companies amounts to subsidy number three. Thus do we suffer job losses in our auto industry and its related support businesses; thus do we make China our biggest creditor. Why do we do this? Damned if I know. Solution: The Golden Rule, slightly edited: Do unto others as they do unto you. Do we do this or variations on this? Sometimes. E.g., there is a $.50 cent per gallon tariff on ethanol so as to protect American farmers who, as a group, are America’s biggest pocket-pickers. Why we subsidize farmers is beyond my ken.
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