The Film Was Better

A film about an incompetent administration is one thing, living with an incompetent administration is another. I am reminded of the Russian humor during the days of the Soviet Union. In one joke, one Russian worker is complaining to a fellow worker that the state does not pay them enough for what they do. The fellow worker replies, what difference does it make, there is nothing to buy with the money they pay us anyway. Here in America, the tables are reversed. There is plenty to buy, just the prices are so high that workers can not afford to buy everything they need. People are being forced to make tough choices. For some, the choices are even painful. Medicine or food for the elderly, gas or food for the family, these are the choices American families are struggling with in 2008.

Gas prices are up for the tenth straight day and the national average is $3.78 a gallon. In ten states, gas prices have reached $4 a gallon or better. The President is unmoved by the sudden rise in prices, nor does he believe that the policies of his administration have anything to do with the situation in which we find ourselves. His latest remarks, which I heard on TV, stated that the problem was because we did not allow more drilling, or that an oil refinery has not been built in the U.S. since 1976. Both of these statements are true. But, unfortunately that is only part of the reason for soaring gas prices.

The Congress has been working on a new bill to keep more families from losing their homes. However, the President said he will veto any bill designed to help borrowers if it does not meet his requirements. Interesting that in the Senate, both political parties are working on the same bill to help families hold onto their homes despite the President’s warning of a veto. A compromise bill will no doubt reach both floors of Congress before too long. I would not be surprised if the bill was passed over the President’s veto. Members of his party must stand for reelection in November, while he is finished with his second term, others are trying to hold onto their seat. The prospects this fall do not look good for the GOP.

People are hurting and the administration stands pat. I think of it more as sitting on their hands. Ronald Reagan once asked Americans if they were better off now than they were four years ago. That was 1980 and the end of the Carter administration. Another incompetent administration in my opinion. Carter never understood that money was a commodity. He too had some good people around him, but did not have enough sense to listen to them. The second President Bush will be remembered for one of the most pitifully run administrations in American History. That is another opinion.

When the campaign for the next president gets under way this fall, perhaps every American should ask themselves, “am I better off now than I was four years ago?” I think that is a fair question people should be asking themselves. Economics alone did not produce the situation that most Americans find themselves in today. Some problems people brought on themselves, but for the vast majority of Americans that made the right choices, only to have poor policies undermine their efforts to be responsible citizens, a change in administration and a change in fiscal policy is long over due. Stay tuned.