This is what happens when you run out of other people’s money…yes, its 13 minutes, but its worth it.

The promises of a great society based on government defined and imposed equality and fairness is impossible to maintain.  The fundamental flaw in Liberal or Progressive thinking is that the money will never run out; that the individual will accept the loss of freedoms; that the pride and will of the individual will be broken.

The United States was founded on the basic principal that each individual has equal opportunities to succeed and prosper to the extent that they’re willing to put in the effort.  In such a system, individuals and firms have the right to own and use wealth to earn income and to sell and purchase labor for wages with little or no government control.

Capitalism does not fail the people; the people fail at capitalism.

How the hell?

Smart management, ingenuity, better products, desirable products.

The smartest move Ford made was not taking any bailout money.  While GM and Chrysler were begging for easy money and blaming the world for their problems, Ford hunkered down and got to work.

I love my Ford vehicles and today I am even more proud that I have owned six Ford trucks over the last 17 years.  A Ranger pickup (4 years), an Explorer (8 years), an F150 (5 years and counting), and the wife has had an Escape (4 years) and an Expedition (2 years and counting).

I have a few problems with the F150, but nothing serious.  The power window mechanisms have issues.  I blame it on first year model redesign bugs.  Other than that, I have had nothing but great trucks which took some abuse (especially the Explorer and F150).

I have owned several GM products in the past and they always had issues.  Computers dying, steering systems freezing up, bad valves, on and on.  I’ve never been a fan of Chrysler, they never had anything appealing and I knew the quality was lacking.

So… Dear Leader jumped all over the bailout of GM and Chrysler.  “We gotta fix them, make them more competitive…” My question is this…

Will Barrack Obama come out and praise the work that Ford has done to avoid government interaction?  Will Obama praise the rewards of a capitalist economy where competition yields the best product or service?

Hell no he won’t.  Dear Leader is about control.  He believes only government can make companies and workers better.  He will criticize Ford for posting a profit, saying, “How can a greedy corporation keep a profit in times like these, all at the expense of laying off workers and cutting hours?”

If Barry had ever been in charge of anything, he would know that in order for a company to be profitable when revenue is down, that company must cut expenses.  Most people call that living within their means.  Of course, Liberals like to live beyond other people’s means.

So….well done Ford.  Keep up the good work and I’ll keep buying the cars.

As an aside:  Why do liberals believe in evolution in nature, but not evolution in business?

The blind hatred for corporate folks has approached a level of blatant stupidity and absolute insanity.  The protesters don’t even understand why they’re angry.  Sure, the bonuses are crap…but, uh, guys… YOUR GOVERNMENT created this and allowed it to happen.  AIG traded and insured derivatives backed by the quasi-government entities Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  The Federal government set the rules, set the regulation, and insured them with tax payer money…all so more subprime (i.e., high risk) citizens could by a home.

I think what entertains me the most is what protesters will put on signs as they march in circles and chant.  This picture was taken in Seattle…

Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com

Note the yellow signs and what they say… “it’s time for an economy that works for everyone“  Ummm… see that’s the beauty of Capitalism, it does work for everyone:

In such a system, individuals and firms have the right to own and use wealth to earn income and to sell and purchase labor for wages with little or no government control.

The Capitalist economy is based on everyone having unlimited ability to earn as much as they want.  You get out what you put in.  Hell, even Sam Walton started with a single drug store in a small town.

So, perhaps the signs should read…

Of course I don’t like the bonuses on my tab…duh. There’s a bigger issue here that is is getting lost in the blind hatred for the evil rich guys.

The actions that the Obama administration and the Democrats in the House and Senate have been taking relating to the AIG bonuses is a story that simply cannot be made up.  My god…these people need to be tried as criminals.  No, not the AIG guys…the so called “leaders” of this country.

While Obama comes out sooooo mad about the bonuses, he needs to look at his own people to point the blame.  The stance that these clowns are taking is blatant bullshit….and they think you are too stupid to figure it out.  Let me help…

AIG is contractually obligated to hand out these bonuses… now Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer want to tax the holy living crap out the bonuses in an effort to appear outraged.  Wait a second boys, let’s take a look at some history:

Chris Dodd (D-Conn) knew that such contracts existed while writing amendments to the porkulus bill.  His amendment to the Crap Sandwich (now a $787 billion “law”) provides an… “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009.” Yeah, seriously, its in the Act.  Interesting… but wait, there’s more…

AIG  has made donations totaling millions of dollars to Senators and Representatives over the last few years.  Guess who is tops on the list of recipients in 2008, to the tune of more than $100,000?  Yup…Chris Dodd.  You know who’s second, coming in a just a pinch less?  Big bad, Barry Obama.  Juicy… but wait, there’s more…

AIG has offices all over the world.  Guess where AIG Financial is located?  Yee-haww…. in Chris Dodd’s home state of Connecticut!

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made donations totaling millions of dollars to Senators and Representatives over the last few years.  Guess who is tops on the list of recipients in 2008, to the tune of more than $40,000?  Yup…our prez….Barack Obama.  You know who’s second?  Chris Dodd.  Hmmm… but, wait, there’s more…

AIG insured billions of dollars worth of loans and banks involving Fannie and Freddie.  AIG Financial traded the derivatives, as they had for years, on loans backed by Fannie and Freddie.  Fannie and Freddie exist to back home loans, protecting banks from default.  Of course, we all know Frank Raines, the former CEO of Freddie Mac begged Congress to loosen the lending guidelines to accommodate sub-prime borrowers.  Wait, you don’t know Frank?  Oh, well, he made almost $90 million as the head Freddie in six years.  He received nearly $20 million in 2003 alone on overstated earnings akin to the Enron fiasco (by the way, where’s the outrage here?).

Tim Geithner, our trusted, over-worked, under-staffed Treasury Secretary, along with Hank Poulson, crafted the bailout to AIG last fall.  AIG disclosed the bonus contracts last fall.  There were no restrictions on the money handed to AIG…this was no surprise to the administration.  The administration did nothing… until that is, approval ratings began to drop.

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) chimed in and made some threats in a show of “holier than thou” antics.  Remember Chucky?  The guy who said America doesn’t care about pork.  So let me get this straight… 165 million out of 170 billion (less than 0.1%) is outrageous and disgusting… but a 100 billion in pork out of 787 billion (13%) is OK? Chuck, you and your grandstanding are disgusting.

“Quick, we tapped out the hate Rush Limbaugh rhetoric, we need a new target to focus our liberal hate machine.  Seriously guys, ratings are dropping, people are waking up!  Timmy, stir up the AIG bonus scandal!”

Because the Dems and Obama were billed throughout 2008 as the only people who could possibly fix this mess that they supposedly inherited, I’m left with some questions:

If these guys are so damn smart and they knew these bonuses were there, why didn’t they do something about this when handing out money?

If they’re not so smart, how was such incompetence promoted to the highest offices in the land?  After all they’re handing out trillions of our dollars and they should be minding the store.

Could this be a purposeful destruction of American capitalism in an effort to further promote a Socialist agenda?

Answer me that…

I’ve read it twice and lately, I’ve felt a need to read it again.  Recent thinking and the shift of America’s political spectrum have caused me to stop and consider the purpose of work and its resulting reward.

Apparently, I’m not the only one.