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Mining Affairs Forum May 7, 2009
By Ken Thornberg
“Globalism’s Poor Return and Posturing on Phony Cuts”
For practically two decades we Americans have been told that
China, Russia and other totalitarian nations traditionally hostile
to freedom, closed to free markets, aggressive toward the West,
and murderous in their conduct towards their neighbors and own
people, have all mellowed. News pundits in particular remind us,
“They’ve changed. They are embracing freedom, relaxing
controls, and opening their borders to those embracing free markets.”
So, after endless bailouts and deliberate transfer of U.S. industry
and technological know-how to those socialist nations, what are
we getting in return? Well, this past week I got a guy on the
phone from India whom I couldn’t understand, pretending to
help me with a flight problem. He never had a clue (anyone else
encounter this?). However, Breitart, on a more serious note, recently
reported, “Venezuela will buy combat and training aircraft
from China this week.” President Hugo Chavez, “A staunch
foe of the U.S. government, confirmed that while in Beijing he
will arrange the construction of tanker vessels in Chinese shipyards,
with the aim of installing a shipyard in Venezuela in the near
future.” He will also benefit from a new gasoline refinery
which will process Venezuelan oil. This is the latest, following
the destruction of that nation’s Constitution in order to
guarantee Chavez a life term as president, along with his latest
encouragement to kill or expel missionaries who are the only opportunity
millions in his nation will have to receive an education, earn
a living, and feed their families.
If we think we are hurting at the pump right now, Caracas, which
provides 500,000 barrels of oil per day to Beijing, is about to
ramp it up to one million barrels by 2012. Increasing our own
refining-capacity is something Americans have either been led
to believe we can do without, or they have no clue that it is
not allowed to happen, presuming at the same time that it is.
The phony global warming scenario (sell this one to those in Fargo!)
is said to be caused by the consumption of our fuels. So while
we base economic policies on environmental myths, our nations’
traditional enemies have used our trade deficits, generous economic
concessions, and technology transfers to gear up for cornering
the supply of easy oil across the globe. Remember Venezuelan oil
next time you are tempted to pull up to a Citgo station!
Posturing with a Miniscule Cut in Spending
Budget analysts expect the federal deficit for the current fiscal
year to soar past $1.75 TRillion. That typo was on purpose, by
the way. President Obama recently called on cabinet officials
to reduce spending by $100 million. After getting a wee bit of
pressure, he is asking the same men to now look for $17 billion.
Before anyone gets too excited, realize that several of the programs
he is seeking to stop have had former President Bush try to do
so earlier and Obama’s allies have voted them down already.
That $17 billion amounts to less than ½ of 1% of his $3.4
trillion budget! President Obama stated, “Is the U.S. government
prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility that Americans
are in tightening their belt?”
Well, let’s review these numbers to assess his alleged bold
moves of conservative economics. Congress first passed a $787
billion economic recovery bill. It was followed by a $410 billion
omnibus appropriations bill—you know, the one that gave corporate
CEOs bigger bonuses and new jets for their vacations. Now we have
the $3.4 trillion budget and a House panel just added today another
$9 billion for our war efforts, the same wars Obama said he would
put a stop to. Plus, we have a president who wants to end the
$26 billion in tax breaks that oil and gas companies receive.
Anyone want to sell this to the man on the street who just lost
his job and is about to get his home foreclosed on? Oh yeah, the
$3.4 trillion budget has a 10% increase for non-defense items.
Have any readers seen a 10% increase in their business bottom
line, or sales-volume line, for that matter? Was this from the
same president who just said today that he wants to tighten his
belt? Are Americans really that gullible?
This pretend cut, which will never really happen, would amount
to a bucket of water from the Potomac. Why don’t we start
with canceling the $51b foreign aid program? Why give away money
when we’re over our head in debt? The poor and needy never
get any of the money anyway, so why not start by starving tyrants?
Or why not pick on the tens of billions in education funding that
has only resulted in lower test scores for decades? Imagine if
we didn’t have a Department of Education and left it up to
the states to deal with it? That would remove $68.6 billion alone
this year. Maybe our government could consider getting out of
the oil and gas business, removing the Dept. of Energy to the
tune of billions more, and allow them to produce more so that
we don’t have to import 60% of our oil now. Before the DOE’s
creation, we were only importing one-third! That’s been a
great return on our investment, hasn’t it?
The disease that dwarfs the swine flu is our bloated government
gone amok, getting into more un-Constitutional programs than Carter
had peanuts. President Obama needs to hand out axes to department
heads to do real cutting, or use the axe on their own heads!
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