Phil Gramm
“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline.” — Phil Gramm, Sen. John McCain’s chief economic adviser

McCain has acknowledged on more than one occasion that the economy is not his strong suit, he relies heavily on economic advisers. It’s not unfair to hold McCain responsible for the “let them eat cake” attitude of his surrogate.

“‘I strongly disagree’ with Phil Gramm’s remarks, McCain told reporters in Belleville, Mich. ‘Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.’” — Quotation from AOL News

It’s not enough for McCain to repudiate Gramm’s remarks, he must break all ties with the former senator. Perhaps McCain should hire a blue-collar worker to take his place, I’m sure he would let the presumptive Republican presidential nominee know what a terrible shape the economy is in.

Gramm is a multimillionaire and vice-chairman of the USB Investment bank, how dare someone in his privileged position label Americans as “whiners.”

Americans, by and large, are not whiners, but we have every reason in the world to complain about the Bush domestic policies that have wreaked havoc with the economy.

When I go to the gas station and pay over $4 a gallon, that outrageous price is not a figment of my imagination and I have a right to complain. When a small bag of groceries sets me back almost $50, that’s not a mental inflation, that’s a very real inflation that is taking a huge bit out of my wallet. When an elderly person has to decide to buy food or prescription drugs, that’s not a mental recession, that’s a very real economic crisis that is particularly hard on senior citizens living on a fixed income. Multitudes of Americans have seen their American Dream confiscated by banks, that’s not a mental recession, that’s an economy in turmoil.

Americans have been patient beyond belief with the incompetence of the Bush administration. I’m surprised we haven’t seen mass demonstrations against Bush’s failed economic policies.

Americans aren’t whiners, but we shouldn’t accept anything less than a decent chance of realizing the American dream. I hope that the electorate will remember Gramm’s words when they vote in the general election.

REFERENCE: The buying of the President 1996 - Phil Gramm

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 Columnist - John Sammon
Yeah man! Gas prices, higher, higher, higher.

I’m lovin’ it!

The higher the better!

What this will do is cause more Americans to cease being mass consumption glutinous hogs, and will ultimately help to save the North Pole from melting.

Let me explain. I know full well this will result in my branding as a left-wing traitor by right wing mass consuming racist nuts (I’m actually a former conservative who left the Republican Party because of their lying and cheating and lack of morality).

You might also try and call me a “negativist” who enjoys the misfortune of others. I on the other hand view myself as a “positivist,” a person who can see great possibilities in supposed dire situations.

Oh, I almost forgot. Gas prices may also help Americans to reclaim the lost soul of their country, a country evolved into greed, of feeling superior to other less abundant countries because of our material possessions, and our frequent purchase of “things.”

Let’s say you’re a typical greedy fat upper middle class guy who buys a new car every year because you discard the old car like a toy you’ve suddenly grown tired of, and you currently drive a huge, gas guzzling four-wheel-drive Hummer, a vehicle as big as the German tank that invaded Poland in World War Two. You smoke cigarettes and discard the butts. You carelessly toss trash at the beach and eat rich calorie-laden junk food like a hog at a trough. You have a three-story house that burns more energy than the entire consumption of Nigeria (that’s a country in Africa for those of you right wingers who are mad at this piece).

You’re a gas guzzling hog.

Rising prices huh? You can’t afford to be a pig anymore like two years ago. You have to actually put yourself on a budget. To conserve. The C word. Not the C word. Not that! Oh the pain of it.

You drive less, which causes less freeway congestion and less greenhouse emission melting the Polar Icecap (our natural air conditioning down here). You’re forced to cancel that automatic yearly Hawaiian vacation which in turn puts less pollution pressure there.

The irony here is, and it’s a supreme irony, is you’re forced into becoming a conservationist kicking and screaming even though you don’t like it by the very same people who made you an oil addict in the first place…..the oil companies and their secret cartels and their Saudi Arabian robber barons and their Washington lobbyists.

You’re forced to cut back on your lavish lifestyle you hog. To you, more is always better. The things you purchase make you feel worthy, temporarily, until you have to buy more things, and the money. There’s never enough, even though you have more than you need.

Right now, there’s a Chinaman who used to ride a bike in Beijing, but who now drives a car. He also wants to be a glutinous hog like you.

In fairness, I drive a car, though I’ve always left personally a very small ecologic footprint. I seldom buy anything. You might describe my lifestyle as that of an “esthete,” or “Spartan,” or “Ghandiesk.” For those of you right wing haters who never read a book, Mahatmas Gandhi was an Indian leader who stressed morality and restraint.

All I can say to those to whom any form of idealism and not just thinking only of themselves is real hell……welcome to my world.

Some people will lose their jobs because of oil prices, but they were probably jobs centered around addiction to oil which was wrong in the first place. Jobs can be retooled to meet the new demand for conservation and ecologically friendly living.

Rising oil prices will force Americans to seek alternative travel, mass transit, fuel efficient and hybrid and eventually electric cars, which will improve air quality and slow global warming. It will also teach you, the glutinous hog, that the world isn’t your private oyster to be abused any way you see fit. That every little you thing you do has an impact. Ultimately, it will also force you to become more humane, more aware of others who are less fortunate.

Being forced to walk a little more may help stall that heart attack you the hog are now working towards.

Rising oil prices will also help end the economic-political strangle hold the Saudis and others have over us because we won’t need their oil. It will end their outsourced power and put them in their proper place among the community of nations.

I’m lovin’ it!

I hope gas goes up to $10 a gallon.

Like we used to yell at the football game, “hit ‘em again, hit ‘em again..harder…harder!”

Copyright 2008 Sammonsays

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