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September 24, 2008 |
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—Guest Opinion—
Believe In America Again
This just in… the sky is actually falling, capitalism doesn’t work and America is no longer the global economic leader. After watching the news and listening to the endless blather from the media how can you draw any other conclusion?
Never mind the fact that our lifestyle is the envy of the rest of the world. Forget the fact that we eat like kings and live longer and healthier than any other society on earth.
The market has fallen before, but there are real problems this time. This time it’s serious, this time is different, right? Right? Ah, how quickly we forget.
No less than six times since 1980 has the stock market had major corrections of 15% or more, twice as severe as 45%. What we are suffering from today is not just a credit crisis, but more importantly a crisis of confidence.
The demise of such prestigious institutions as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch should send shivers down all of our spines. But what caused them to become insolvent, and why did it happen in some cases, literally overnight?
Some of these institutions were not in much worse shape two weeks ago than they were eight or twelve months ago. However, as fear of the unknown built (namely, how far the housing market will fall), and as the media preached the hot gospel of the demise of capitalism, stock shares of many financial companies plummeted. Because of this their own sources of precious capital virtually dried up (chiefly due to their stock price falling) and the fear of collapse became a self-fulfilling prophesy.
What is most troubling to me this time around is the fact that many people speak of “Wall St.” as if it were some abstract entity; as if what “happens on Wall St. stays on Wall St.”. But in fact what happens on Wall St. effects every man, women and child in this country, and even abroad.
These are the companies that provide the majority of jobs in this county, manufacture our cars, develop life saving drugs and despite what you may have heard, pay the majority of the taxes (either personally or via employee withholding).
Maybe it’s because it’s an election year, or maybe people have just lost touch with reality, but its time to stop the class warfare and endless rhetoric and realize we are all in this together.
Corporate America is the heart that pumps blood to all the rest of the peripheral economy. Here is the real issue; if corporate America goes away, it would destroy the wealth of not just a select few people smoking Cuban cigars on yachts somewhere in the Caribbean, but the wealth of the vast majority of our country as well. It would dry up the source of tax revenue, which is the entirety of Government funding. Those funds are used for many things, as we all know, but some of the more important programs that come to mind are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and the Social Security administration.
The point of all this is that it is time to realize that what is good for corporate America is good for the stock prices, and since the vast majority of Americans own stock of some companies either directly or indirectly though mutual funds, what is good for the stock market is good for you and I.
It’s time to turn off the non-stop pessimism that pours out of your television set. Have faith in your country again. Have faith in capitalism again. Have faith that your neighbors are working just as hard as you are to rise out of these hard times, and they may be the folks who work for or manage the companies you invest in. Invest in American companies again. Have faith in American ingenuity, science and technology.
I believe in this country and I have faith we will only come out of this situation a more abundant nation. We have a lot to be optimistic about; after all, oil has fallen sharply from its highs in July, and the U.S. dollar has strengthened markedly the last three months or so. These can only be viewed as a net positive for America.
So let’s ignore the doomsayers and march on. We have seen this story before and we know how it ends- America will rise again and our days as the beacon of global economic activity are far from over.
Teddy Roosevelt had a quote that I think you will find especially fitting during these tenuous times. He said- “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at least knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
I’ll place my bet that America will stay in the vanguard due to our hard work, faith and ingenuity. We have never walked away from an unmet challenge before, and this is certainly not the time to question our resolve.
Matthew Cunningham is an Investment Adviser Representative practicing at 1935 Main St., Baker City OR 97814. He offers securities and advisory services as an investment adviser representative and a registered representative of Commonwealth Financial Network®, a member firm of FINRA/SIPC and a Registered Investment Adviser. He can be reached at (541) 524-0399.
—Letters To The Editor—
Ear Marks A Good Thing
To The Record-Courier:
When I was growing up on the ranch we often cut part of an ear off a sheep if it needed to get culled or if it was castrated and needed to be killed and eaten in the fall. We called that an ear mark. So I was perplexed as to why everybody was up in arms when Congress did it. I thought it was a good idea marking those who needed to be culled from the herd. Now I find out it was just a way to steal money or feather your own bed or bribe somebody who made contributions to your campaign. I liked the old ways better.
Now I see my Baker County law enforcement people endorsing a senator because he is for law and order, expect when it comes to enforcing the borders through a proven electronic verification system. Could be there is a vested interest there. Of course the other guy doesn’t like it either because it might cost some votes.
Then I’ve heard Republicans talk all those bad entitlements for years except when they need a few hundred billion or maybe a trillion, for their lying, cheating, double dealing, two timing, ear marking, cheating hearts of their robber baron buddies, or something.
Baker County has spent five years basically shuffling paper on a land use plan that, I guess, makes the state’s directives easier to implement. It doesn’t have anything to do with actually addressing zoning laws. That will have to wait until we can look at the comprehensive plan in a few or so. Meanwhile Bob Stacey and Thousand Friends will come to La Grande on the 30th to reassure us that if we turn land use decisions over to the counties and have local control all those millions who just wandered on into the United States uninvited will sprawl all over their open space. And I should quit riding my 4-wheeler because there is just too damn many of us riding our 4-wheelers, but we will still legalize a million new people this year and another million will just jump the fence, what there is of it.
Ear marks use to be a good thing, maybe could be again.
Steve Culley
Baker City
Palin Keeps Repeating The Same Old Lies
To The Record-Courier:
Please indulge me in the following: An open letter to Bobby Heriza. Dear Bobby, I read with a great deal of interest your letter in The Record-Courier and would never be so presumptuous to try to tell you how to vote.
But, here a few facts I would like you to consider for the next all to few weeks. I respect and admire John McCain . His service to our country is admirable. As we have heard over and over again of his years spent in the Vietnamese prison camp, they must have been devastating. But consider this, he was in there for five or so years. Those were years that he was completely out of touch with what was going on in the rest of the world. When he emerged from that camp he was the healthiest looking prisoner I have ever seen. And I've seen a few. How about the rest of his fellow prisoners? In my opinion he was always right on in his philosophy while he was a Senator for 26 long years. Why didn't he speak up sooner? He was against drilling in the ANWAR until he, along with Sarah Palin, decided it was politically expedient to be for it.
You compare Alaska to Wyoming and Delaware. Wyoming just happens to be surrounded on three sides by other states. Delaware may have a small population, but it has more corporations than any other state in the union. Nevada also has a small population, but it is next to Delaware in incorporations. Have you ever been to these states? Well, I have been to all of them and Delaware is particularly bustling with activity. I have also been to Alaska. I watched the Ididarod take off from Sarah's hometown sometime in the early 80s. It has grown a little since then but not much and I have to tell you it is the absolute end of creation. Being a city councilman in Baker City would give a person more experience than Governor of Alaska.
Granted Palin can give a very good speech and she can rile people up, but she keeps repeating the same old lies about selling the jet on ebay for a profit. Simply not true.
She sold it months later to a private businessman and took a loss. The infamous bridge to nowhere that she killed? Well, what she doesn't tell you is she still took the money from our government so what happened to the two hundred and some million involved? Maybe that is what she gave back to the Alaskans recently. She thinks foreign policy is being able to see Russia from her front window! Just let Putin get a hold of that and we will all be toast.
She is definitely a talented politician, but let's start telling the truth here. Once a politician lies, can any of his statements really have credibility? If elected she will be one melanoma event away from the presidency. Just think about her sitting in the oval office with her finger on the button. She is known for her 'my way or the highway' philosophy. Kaboom! Take that you so and so's. And last, but certainly not least, is this: the last time I looked at the Constitution I distinctly remember reading that we should separate religion and government. What happened?
Elizabeth Cavallo
Reno, Nev.
Economic Downfall - Do You Want To Stop It?
To The Record-Courier:
For many years I have been trying to warn as many people as possible from the President on down, that the policies, laws and programs we have enacted and engage in are a serious threat to our economy.
The breakdown has begun! We have regulated ourselves out of business and it will continue to worsen until we recognize this fact and remove enough of these regulations to allow Americans to go back to work.
Our basic industries, Oil, Mining, Lumber and food production, that are the foundation of any economy have been seriously impacted. No business or industry can operate without a source of supply. We must recover the resources and produce of the earth.
We cannot afford to buy these products from foreign sources because all original wealth comes from the ground and even more countries are refusing to accept our paper dollars which are losing value every day.
To turn the economy around and create the money we need to prevent complete bankruptcy I recommend the following actions be taken immediately.
Declare an Economic Emergency!
Suspend all regulations that are delaying or impeding production of vital resources and produce that are necessary to keep our processing industries and factories at work.
Declare a moratorium on all new regulations, land withdrawals etc. that restrict access and use of the land. Stop the Government purchase of private land. This takes it off the tax rolls and stops productive use. Charge the agencies that have caused much of the problems i.e. National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, etc. with responsibility for improving productive use of land under their jurisdiction.
Reduce the size of the land control agencies to the 1965 level. We were productive and prosperous at that level and our country got along fine without most of the activities we have invented to employ these people.
If we sit on our hands and do nothing, millions of jobs and businesses will be lost. What will happen to our country and who will take over when chaos reigns?
Act now we’ll never get another chance.
Kenneth E. Anderson
Baker City
Thanks For The Hospitality
To The Record-Courier:
We would like to thank Misty from Elkhorn embroidery in Baker City for the beautiful banners that we were able to hang in Richland, Halfway, Pine Creek and Oxbow; Hells Canyon Store and Old Pine Market for their donation of the American Flags; Jerry Welch for attaching them to the poles; to Halfway Mercantile for ordering up the brackets; and Halfway Feed and Seed for ordering up the brackets and helium; Idaho Power employees Doug Freebert who gave permission to put the flags up; to Alan Jones from Cambridge who came over to help put the flags up; and to Whitey Bloom who worked with Alan to put the flags on the power poles; to Whitey and Mike Herold for removing them from the poles this last week; Sheila Farwell, Angie Butler, Shelley and Tami who thought sweeping the streets would be nice; and Hooter Larry Walters Sr. took care of helping us remove the piles of stuff; Charity's and Laurel Olmstead for the use of their mannequins; Eleanor Smead for coming up with our awesome the "WAGS" (womens group from Richland) who greeted each and every Cycle Oregon rider; their families; the Cycle Oregon Crew and anyone else who just happened to be driving by; Dale Denson and Doug Miller for the use of the wagon, horses and providing the wagon rides; Susan Sciarrino for your help with ordering balloons and ribbon; Audrene Simpson and Tami Carpenter for decorating the arm bands; Tami and Lynn Carpenter; Kristy Henry, George Loop for helping get the 250 balloons up around town; VFW Auxiliary for decorating, dressing the part, and providing information; Betty Warmath of Jacobs Dream for graciously providing the creative clothing needs for our various characters being built by Kristy Henry, Tami Carpenter, Trevor Durr, Cliff and Sandra Duvall, Rachel Brown, Renee Heeren; and Jerry Welch for providing us with awesome mining theme people to display around town; Jennifer and Abbey Godwin and the Humanities Class who painted the windows in town; Jenipher Dehlin for the "We struck it rich in Halfway, Oregon" photo op board; the 75 folks who graciously created their own unique centerpieces (which were on the tables at mealtime for cycle oregon); Eldon and Marge Deardorff and family for the set up decor of the mining camp, the demonstrations with the mules, for the dancing in the street, true down to earth entertainment; and Lonnie Farfanick, Ivan McKim, Jerry Miller and Pam Haney for sharing your respective gold panning techniques. We thank Steve Backstrom, Hells Canyon Journal for the awesome "Valley Pine Mine Newspaper"; Linda Collier and Tory Crawford for organizing the home tour and to all who participated on the home tour; Lynn Carpenter and George Loop for getting the historical walk signs together (and all who gave history, for the historical walk and Valley Pine Mine Newspaper); to those who dressed in the mining theme; Keith and Linda McLean for the use of their yard, to put our "Thanks you Cycle Oregon" "Thank you for coming" "Be Safe" signs out on the morning Cycle Oregon left for Joseph. This list is to thank all of those who made the "hospitality" piece so hospitable, but it also goes out to all of the volunteers "time donors" who graciously took time in whichever capacity to make this year's cycle oregon such a success. A huge thank you to our fellow Hells Canyon Chamber Members, to the Halfway Lions Club and Pine Eagle School District. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to the communities of Richland, Halfway, Pine Creek, Cornucopia and Oxbow for being wonderful hospitality folks and making our efforts so much easier.
Shelley Welch & Tami Waldron
Hospitality Coordinators for 2008 Cycle Oregon
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