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In response to Michael Geer’s letter to the editor, I offer the following:
Mr. Geer notes that “Big is the problem. Big education. Big finance. Big transportation. Big media. Big politics. Big insurance. Big public relations. Big agriculture. Big utilities. Big legislation. Big
entertainment. Big energy. Big … well you name it and Big is dominating everything and Big … is the problem.”
Agreeably “Big” has its drawbacks to many of us as individuals, but “Big” also provides many things for us that “Small” could never pull off. “Big” is not the bane of our existence that many would have us believe.
It is amazing that we often complain about “Big” things and lament their existence, but then we turn to the biggest “Big” of all (the federal government) and expect it to fix the “Big” that we are having problems with. Why do we trust the biggest “Big”? There is probably more crime, fraud and waste in the biggest “Big” than we will ever see in all of the other “Bigs” combined, and the government does it all with money it has taken from us. At least the other “Bigs” can only do it if we buy their product.
This disdain of “Big” is nothing more than another type of class envy that is all the vogue now under the Obama administration. Our current leadership is fostering a hatred of wealthy like none I have ever seen before. When are they going to charge themselves with a hate crime?
Their jealousy of the hard-working, well-off is certainly a form of hate as far as I am concerned.
DON PETTYGROVE
Grand Junction
16 Responses to “Disdain of ‘Big’ is a type of class envy”
Posted June 13th, 2009 at 11:34 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
The gentleman has apparently not learned the lesson of “too big to fail”, one that any observant and rational person would have learned learned from the current financial and economic debacles we now find ourselves. Or, perhaps he does not understand what is its true meaning. He might, I would suggest, go back to the lessons he should have learned from Teddy Roosevelt and the great depression. As a pointer to the latter, I would direct his attention to the classic study of the latter by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. He might also study the other classic work on the period, The Great Crash, but John Kenneth Galbraith. There, he might find that what caused that time of hardship are the very same that caused the current one. It is truly unfortunate that so man have neither the fortitude nor the “time” to study the past. Otherwise they might learn the lessons that it would teach him, as well as those others who believe as he does.
Posted June 14th, 2009 at 12:45 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
excellent letter by mr. pettygrove. completely agree with your second to last paragraph. for somebody touted as a uniter, obama has drawn more ire as the person running this country in a direction i don’t like.
Posted June 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Unity depends on all parties recognizing and agreeing to common objectives, which in this case is the country and its people. Otherwise, it is about as possible as “clapping with one hand.” So, before pointing the finger, the individual needs to make sure that he/she is the one that is not at fault.
Posted June 14th, 2009 at 1:45 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Adulation of “big” is just as much a fault as the opposite. Those who have neglected the “too big to fail” lesson are the very ones who will bring about the next fiscal and economic disaster. That has always been the case, and it will always be.
Posted June 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Big government, a goal of liberals, is where we are headed. And big government means big government spending. And big government spending means big deficits. And big deficits, of the magnitude this president and his liberal cohorts in the Congress are imposing on our country, will place a long-term burden on the economy like none we have ever seen.
And what will this president, and his cohorts do about the deficit? They will try to offset them with the biggest tax increases ever recorded. And even if they succeed in shrinking those deficits, the headwinds that the new tax burden will place on the economy will give us high unemployment and low economic growth for as far as the eye can see.
The only way to stop the economic disaster in the making is for the people of this country to raise their voices and tell their congressmen and senators to stop the spending insanity before it is too late. Allow the economy to recover before imposing huge new government programs. Come up with a fix for medicare and social security. Then, and only then, propose new spending programs together with ways to pay for them.
Posted June 14th, 2009 at 9:10 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
headed there? are you serious bullish? We have been living with an enormous, unconstitutional federal reserve system while bureaucratic malaise cripples production and continuous tweeking creates animosity within the nation. The big government party has been going on in earnest for last 100 years. Where we are headed is a dramatically increased government/corporate business ownership of the market. This partnership, if continued to be practiced in purchasing insolvent banks, manufacturers, and insurance companies coupled with a rapid transition to total government control over the health care system will yield control of up to 80 percent (made up on the spot) of the economy in the near term. Why not? but step back and think about it for a moment… won’t these actions fit very well with the last ditch efforts of our grandparents-time periods’ economy as it enters it’s death throws? They certainly don’t seem to be inclined toward taking some obviously needed changes under consideration. What a shame for all of us who will bear the brunt of their selfish-ignorance when the dollar devalues.
Posted June 14th, 2009 at 10:28 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
RLaitres
None are “too big to fail”, and fail they should. The federal government as NO business bailing out any of the businesses they have. It is an infringement on the free market. If they fail, let them. It will stand as a lesson to the next who try it. Why are we bailing out Chrysler, for the second time, and GM. Let em go. Let the unions suffer the consequences of their stiff backs and let other businesses benefit from the lesson. The feds will drive us to the next failure, that of the U.S. Treasury. There simply isn’t enough money in the system to bail out the U.S. Treasury. Why in the hell are we selling ourselves to communist China? It is an act of stupidity. The current administration is going to spend us into a straight jacket. They will have to raise taxes, and don’t believe just on the rich, which will destroy productivity and growth. BO is going to ruin our economic system just like his Muslim friends wanted to do when they flew into the WTC.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 8:24 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
duke: “What will your story be when President Obama finds a way to get Israel and Palestine to a peaceful settlement?”
I would say he is, indeed, the messiah.
“And when the economy improves and we start to pay down our debt”
The Obama deficit projections, of a magnitude never seen in the history of mankind, already assume economic growth that most economists believe to be overly optimistic.
“we create a prosperous new green economy, and we devise an equitable health care system?”
Beutiful dreams indeed.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 8:29 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
I know, bullish, but SOMEONE has to be a “pie in the sky” optimist.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 9:28 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
bullish, et. al.,
I highly recommend you read Paul Krugmans’ column in todays’ NYT. Remember, he is a Nobel prize winning economist.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 10:54 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
Duke, don’t you know that the Nobel prize is just another part of the Great Liberal Conspiracy? Put “Nobel Prize winning” in front of any name and the wingnuttia automatically dismiss the person as in cahoots with Al Gore or George Soros… Anyways, here’s the link, along with another great article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/opinion/15krugman.html?_r=2
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3421
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
duke, I actually read Krugman’s column this morning and I don’t really have much disagreement with him on the points he makes.
My concern, and one which he does not address, is the deficits that we will see starting AFTER the stimulus package spending expires.
We are looking at deficits averaging a trillion a year for the ten year period beginning with fiscal 2010 and rising at the end of the period. And that is based on rosy economic growth assumptiions. That is a time bomb which will cause interest rates to rise, the dollar to decline, inflation to go up, unemployment to stay permanently high, and a weak economy for as far as the eye can see.
Obama says those deficits are unacceptable. I know of no one who says they are. The problem is I have not heard anyone tell us how they plan to deal with them.
Of course, we both know how they will try to deal with them. It will be tax, tax, tax, and more tax. And when you overwhelm an economy with taxes, the end result is not good. It will lead to sub-par growth and those rosy economic growth predictions will go out the window.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 7:47 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
toaaronuu,
That story on the vox website is very informative. Thanks for the link.
bullish,
I know how to raise the money to deal with the deficit. Put Mt. Rushbo in a dunk tank and charge 5 bucks a throw. We should be able to raise a couple of trillion that way.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 7:52 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
duke: I would contribute.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 8:23 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
bullish,
I’m outta here.
Posted June 15th, 2009 at 11:10 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
duke: “The more I think about it, the angrier I get.”
It is frustrating at times but it does not do much good to get angry. That is best left to those who cannot discern that some individuals may have a fundamental view of this country and the world. To achieve a catholic view instead of the parochialism we see so rampant here in “Happy Valley” takes a great deal of conscious effort, an effort that many do not wish to make. They are quite content to hide between the mountain ranges, convinced that such is all there is to the world.
Don’t get me wrong. I have met some very nice and intelligent people in this area. Some are old, some are young, some have considerable schooling (much more than I), and some have very little. Strangely, there does not appear to be much of a difficulty getting along well with them. It is only when we encounter the local idealogues who apparently, and for whatever reason, feel threatened, that any difficulty occurs.
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