Phil Gramm - Let Them Eat Cake
Exactly what universe is Phil Gramm living in? Apparently the same that Bush I was living in when he showed that he had no idea how much a loaf of bread or other basic grocery items cost.
Mr. Gramm, I have a few choice words for you. YOUR recession may be in YOUR HEAD. But, mine is very real. I h
ave a practice, family responsibilities and a lifestyle that require me to drive several hundred and sometimes a couple of thousand or more miles per month. The cost of gasoline has caused me to eat out several fewer times per month, cut out some entertainment entirely and even cut back on some basic items. I am deferring needed maintenance on my vehicles and my properties. And, I am not taking out of town cases any more unless the client is willing to pay my travel expenses.
I suspect that I am not alone in this situation. If you multiply my private situation by the number of Americans similarly affected, you have a ripple going through our consumer based economy that cannot have positive results unless of course you are living in the parallel universe of Democratic utopians who think we make it all work with bicycles, public transportation and a total restructuring of the auto based American lifestyle.
But, this is not just a personal recession. There is no question that the real estate industry is in free fall and the second largest federal bank takeover in U.S. history occurred last week as a result of it. There have already been several disasters in financial institutions and it doesn't appear that we have reached the bottom yet.
Couple all of this with the fact that Israel may very well launch a very necessary pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, denying Iranian oil to the world market and probably locking up the Straits of Hormuz through which somewhere between twenty and forty percent of the world's oil must pass and you have the recipe for a world wide depression that could make the 1930's look like a day in the park.
Gramm's statement is an indication of one of the primary problems in the GOP. Instead of addressing lower and middle class economic concerns like a shrinking job base, unfair foreign competition and competition for existing domestic work by illegal aliens, the Country Club Wing of the GOP has simply made it unfashionable and perhaps even disloyal to talk about it in their company.
Well guess what Country Club GOP Brahmans, gas is over four bucks a gallon, the price of everything in the grocery store is going up, people have less money and too much of the money they do have is going abroad to finance corrupt middle eastern governments that do not support our national interests or the American way of life. Bubba may be poor but he isn't stupid. He knows all of this and then some.
Given the above, the GOP may be in for a rude awakening come November and we may see if Obama can take on the mantle of FDR as a depression president.
History now teaches that Marie Antoinette was not making a callous statement at all when she supposedly said, "let them eat cake." What she is alleged to have really suggested was to remove the taxes on cake and pastry so that the whole output of French bakeries would be available to the general population. But, since history is written by the survivors, her statement has been popularly misquoted and taken out of context.
Whatever version of history you choose to believe, Marie Antoinette at least recognized that there was a problem and showed some sort of sympathy for the plight of her subjects. Phil Gramm does not even do that. His callous disregard for the economic problems of a large portion of the American population have rightly embarrassed John McCain and will probably hurt him and the GOP come November.
Mr. Gramm, I have a few choice words for you. YOUR recession may be in YOUR HEAD. But, mine is very real. I h
ave a practice, family responsibilities and a lifestyle that require me to drive several hundred and sometimes a couple of thousand or more miles per month. The cost of gasoline has caused me to eat out several fewer times per month, cut out some entertainment entirely and even cut back on some basic items. I am deferring needed maintenance on my vehicles and my properties. And, I am not taking out of town cases any more unless the client is willing to pay my travel expenses.I suspect that I am not alone in this situation. If you multiply my private situation by the number of Americans similarly affected, you have a ripple going through our consumer based economy that cannot have positive results unless of course you are living in the parallel universe of Democratic utopians who think we make it all work with bicycles, public transportation and a total restructuring of the auto based American lifestyle.
But, this is not just a personal recession. There is no question that the real estate industry is in free fall and the second largest federal bank takeover in U.S. history occurred last week as a result of it. There have already been several disasters in financial institutions and it doesn't appear that we have reached the bottom yet.
Couple all of this with the fact that Israel may very well launch a very necessary pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, denying Iranian oil to the world market and probably locking up the Straits of Hormuz through which somewhere between twenty and forty percent of the world's oil must pass and you have the recipe for a world wide depression that could make the 1930's look like a day in the park.
Gramm's statement is an indication of one of the primary problems in the GOP. Instead of addressing lower and middle class economic concerns like a shrinking job base, unfair foreign competition and competition for existing domestic work by illegal aliens, the Country Club Wing of the GOP has simply made it unfashionable and perhaps even disloyal to talk about it in their company.
Well guess what Country Club GOP Brahmans, gas is over four bucks a gallon, the price of everything in the grocery store is going up, people have less money and too much of the money they do have is going abroad to finance corrupt middle eastern governments that do not support our national interests or the American way of life. Bubba may be poor but he isn't stupid. He knows all of this and then some.
Given the above, the GOP may be in for a rude awakening come November and we may see if Obama can take on the mantle of FDR as a depression president.
History now teaches that Marie Antoinette was not making a callous statement at all when she supposedly said, "let them eat cake." What she is alleged to have really suggested was to remove the taxes on cake and pastry so that the whole output of French bakeries would be available to the general population. But, since history is written by the survivors, her statement has been popularly misquoted and taken out of context.
Whatever version of history you choose to believe, Marie Antoinette at least recognized that there was a problem and showed some sort of sympathy for the plight of her subjects. Phil Gramm does not even do that. His callous disregard for the economic problems of a large portion of the American population have rightly embarrassed John McCain and will probably hurt him and the GOP come November.
posted by Bill Kumpe at 10:23 AM
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