My Sunday column

The worst of times


Ever see one of those nature documentaries where a pack of sharks lays into a dead whale’s corpse?
They rip off big chunks of flesh and gobble it down, gorging on the poor critter’s remains.
Now, with that in mind, think of our national economy as a a big fat, dead whale. Circling it in a frenzy is a pack of the most ravenous, insatiable scavengers on Earth — U.S. congressmen.
It’s not a pretty scene, people, and it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Our current national nightmare started under the Bush Administration, as the president ceded his authority to a handful of Wall Street slickers who were brought in to clean up the mess caused by another bunch of Wall Street slickers.
The president’s handpicked Wall Street slickers decided that the federal government must move quickly — “boldly” is the word they keep jamming into our brains — to help the other Wall Street slickers.
No surprise there.
Congress rolled over for it, even many so-called conservatives. Heaven forbid they appear to voters to be “doing nothing” even if “nothing” is preferable to the “something” being slapped together by a handful of non-elected smart guys.
Bad as that was, at least you can cut everyone an iota of slack due to the sheer panic involved.
However, even though that panic has largely subsided — despite the president elect’s efforts to keep the herd in a panic — calmer heads are not prevailing.
Instead, Obama and a pack of Vandals are about to storm this economy like the Japanese hit Nanking.
They call it a stimulus package and Obama swears it’s needed to save this country. Maybe he believes what he’s saying ... maybe ... but once this genie is unleashed it’s going to be a mess.
Like hogs to the trough THEY are lining up.
SNORT-SNORT: Locally, Whitfield and Murray County politicians have already said they’ll be seeking some of those stimulus bucks. I guess those SPLOST funds voters keep giving them aren’t enough.
SNORT-SNORT: The auto industry needs billions in bailout bucks so they can continue to build cars shunned by American consumers.
SNORT-SNORT: Big banks got a pile of cash and now seem reluctant to come off of it, which of course was the justification for giving it to them to start with.
SNORT-SNORT: The porn industry wants $5 billion. Daily Citizen wag Charles Oliver summed that up nicely: “Unlike the car industry, they actually make a product Americans want to buy.”
My favorite would-be looters of the public till are the fine folks of Edwardsville, Ala., who put in a request for $375 million in stimulus cash.
The 194 residents want to use the money — which works out to roughly $2 million per resident — for improvements.
How bad can Edwardsville, Ala. be?
Opp I could see, but Edwardsville?
There’s even talk of the newspaper industry lining up for some of those fat federal bucks. Oh, that hurts. Hurts deep.
I crack wise on these matters because ... well because I am a wisenheimer. But there are deadly serious issues here.
What the incoming administration proposes is a massive pilfering of the public treasury, an economic kamikaze attack the likes of which this nation has never seen. We will suffer its effects for many years to come.
Our goose is nearly cooked. The Democrats have powerful majorities and are drunk on power and the intoxicating allure of spending billions of other people’s dollars.
I hate sharks.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost@blogspot.com
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