The Verdict is In--It's Official!: America is in Deep Trouble by J.B. Williams Monday, April 10, 2006 I used to wonder just how desperate Americas socialist left would become once completely rejected from power in both houses of congress, most state governor mansions, the White House and the Supreme Court. I used to try to imagine just how far the lamestream press would go to unseat politicians at odds with their anti-America socialist one-world open-pervert-society agenda. And I often pondered the depth and breadth of ignorance in the average American, limited to lamestream news as their only source of knowledge. Today, I have the answers to all of these questions… Though most Americans are far more conservative than anyone living or working in Washington DC today, the conservative movement finds itself playing defense to a long list of socialist anti-American aggressors. No, not the Soviet block or Red China, but your friendly DNC Headquarters, their minions in the press, and your next door neighbors, many of whom are unaware of their socialist standing. These aggressors are growing impatient as they become ever more desperate and there is officially no limit to what they are willing to try in their quest to regain political power. Despite a variety of unparalleled challenges to American life and liberty, the direct result of eight years of irresponsible gross mismanagement under the panty-raid administration of the 90s, the Bush Administration has managed to prevent 911 follow-up attacks, liberated 24 million in Afghanistan from the brutality of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, another 25 million from the brutality of the Hussein Regime in Iraq, delivered the lowest unemployment rate and the highest home ownership rate, while leading the country to record numbers in the stock market. Yet the Administrations approval rating stands between 36 and 39%, according to the press. How is that possible? It’s possible because the press doesn’t report any of the facts I just listed. What they do report is whatever Bush Administration adversaries want them to report. The average American relies upon the lamestream press for their daily dose of "reality", but reality is not what they are getting. Americans awake each day to a daily body count of soldiers lost in combat in Iraq. It’s usually the top headline of every paper, TV news show and NPR update throughout each day, for the last 1100 days in a row. There are no headlines of how many innocent Iraqi citizens didn’t die at the hand of Hussein, that would have had we not removed him from power. There are no reports of how many schools, hospitals, businesses and jobs have re-opened in Iraq. No stories about kids playing soccer in the streets with American soldiers, who once were imprisoned for their parent’s anti-Hussein views. Just a running body count, as if that tells the entire story, because that is the entire story for those seeking to regain political power by undermining any support for their opponents. Dan Rather and Mary Mapes lost their distinguished press careers as a direct result of their overt efforts to unseat a US President by inventing bogus National Guard service stories. But that was just the tip of the iceberg I’m afraid… This morning the US press is all abuzz over court documents filed yesterday in the defense case for Scooter Libby and nearly every news outlet in America is intentionally misreporting the story… The Chicago Tribune reports "Libby says Bush OKd leak on Iraq." The San Francisco Chronicle says "Bush role alleged in leak of Iraq intelligence." The Detroit Free Press announces "Libby: Bush agreed to leaks." By the time the story reached Turkey around the globe, which takes only seconds now, Zaman Online reports "Bush Authorized Leak of CIA Agent." The LA Times refers to Bush as Leaker in chief." As a result, everyone from radio giant Don Imus to failed Presidential Candidate John Kerry is busy working the American population into a fever pitch over a story that is not a story at all in reality. The headlines are very interesting. But in almost every case, (if you know how to read lamestream product today), the text of these stories tell a very different story than the headlines. And of course, as anyone with the uncommon initiative to check the facts for themselves would find, there is no story here at all really. First, we are not talking about a "leak", but an "authorized" release of information. Not current information as in "current intelligence briefings" used to fight the war, but as in, old intelligence information used to make the decision to go to war. You know, that information that all of these Bush critics were demanding access to under the people’s right to know. The same information and much more was released in hard copy form days later, in response to the anti-war press demand for information concerning "pre-war" intelligence. Second, the documents filed in the Libby case say nothing at all about the Plame affair. It refers only to pre-war Iraq intelligence, which was not leaked, but was released by proper authority. Third, even Libby is not being charged with "leaking" Plame’s name. That’s because it has long ago been established that her name was already public and not a secret, therefore, something unable to be "leaked". She wasn’t "under-cover", she was a well known CIA desk jockey. Yet take a good look at how the lamestream press is presenting today’s non-story for public consumption. Listen closely as socialist Democrats desperate for power rush to the microphone to make yet another attempt to create a public perception of a "culture of corruption" with a little help from their socialist friends in the media, their only hope for winning in November hanging in the balance. Clearly, there is NO limit to what Democrats will try and NO limit to how far the press will go in their efforts to mislead the American people into electing their socialist friends over at the DNC. But what about average Americans? Are they really as stupid as Democrats and their buddies in the press believe? I didn’t think so once, but yes, they are it seems… and that is the real problem. We live in a drive-thru fast-food sound-bite society today. Few Americans have the initiative to even read the complete text of a column much less independently investigate a story to find out if what they are being told is true. Some don’t even care if it’s true as long as it helps the cause. A quick glance at the headlines makes everyone an expert on any subject today. And if the headline appears in enough papers, it is assumed to be true. Well, today’s anti-Bush headlines are atop every paper in the country and none of them are true. So now what? This is the quality of information we are supposed to make governing decisions upon? Whether we should or not, we will, because this is the only information many Americans will know. And that’s why America is in deep trouble. The socialist left will stop at nothing, the press is all too eager to help and the average American is none the wiser. We self-govern by headlines at best. This morning the headlines are all lies and in most cases, the actual text of the article says so. But on the basis of those headlines, nearly every American will be referring to Bush as "the leaker-in-chief" before noon. Few will bother to read beyond the headlines and as long as that remains the case, America has no hope for the future. It’s beyond shameful. It should be criminal. It should be illegal, even with a free press, to intentionally mislead the public via bogus headlines. But it isn’t. It happens all day every day and it has for many years now. Nobody is going to jail for it, or even being fired for it. We most certainly do live in a sewer of corruption in this country today. But that sewer is a sludge-fest of intentional disinformation spoon fed to average Americans headline after headline, sound bite after sound bite, day in and day out until reality is no longer discernable in the sea of politically driven hogwash. It’s done at the direction of socialist anti-American politicians running the DNC, via the socialist anti-American free lamestream press, and consumed by an increasingly ignorant American electorate. November will tell us just how ignorant the public is today and at the moment, it doesn’t look good for the collective American IQ… JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father, and a writer. A no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy. He is published nationwide and in many countries around the world. JB Williams can be reached at JBW@JB-Williams.com. The Verdict Is In Gator Bill
I agree with the overall theme of his commentary, that the mainstream media is overtly liberal and overtly anti-Bush. However, I disagree with his portrayal of the "average" American as too dumb to to figure out the truth. This is where the unbridled arrogance of his conservative voice diminishes the credibility of his argument. It is important to know what the extreme left and right elements of our society think, but a word of caution is in order. Do not believe everything you read. His sky-is-falling approach to the issues raised by the left doesn't hold water for me. By the same token, the left's sky-is-falling approach to the mirror issues is equally lame. Unlike the author, I believe that most Americans with a high school education or better can figure things out for themselves. This country is not in trouble. Our democracy fosters the free expression of views and beliefs, some of which have no middle ground. I don't consider that aspect of our society to be a problem for anyone but those intolerant minorities who hold uncompromising beliefs. Nevertheless, it is interesting and worthwhile reading. Thanks, Bill.
Thanks, Who. You and I have something in common, other than being Hoosiers. There are those in my life who would argue that I never grew up.
"while leading the country to record numbers in the stock market." Only took six years to recover to just over where it was in the Dow and I don't think it is near where it was in the Nasdaq. Meanwhile, Oil stocks and Haliburton are booming while drug and healthcare care costs are soaring for the newly underemployed.
Now there is a fascinating take on the state of the economy.....absurd yes, but fascinating nonetheless. The great philosophical vortex of the left would have one believe that everything less than nirvana is the fault of an incompetent administration while anything remotely positive doesn't exist and is figment of the conservative imagination or is in actuality a bad thing but the public isn't smart enough to know that its a bad thing......e.g., record employment, record personal incomes, record home ownership rate, record personal net worths, record corporate earnings, record dividends, etc., etc, etc......absurd, but fascinating nonetheless. Terry
BT, Read this article, digest it and try to realize that the impact of the American auto industry going down the tubes is so immense that it would absolutely cripple the U.S. economy. There must be 500,000 to 700,000 domestic jobs minimum that would be adversely affected by say a GM going out of business. Of course, all of these workers and professionals could get the "new" jobs you are referring to at half the wage and/or compensation and the American economy will just keep on humming and not miss a beat..(really?) I can't believe so many have their heads in the sand. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/TVReports/P149668.asp
Is this the free enterprise system at work? Or is it decades of overpaying employees to do simple jobs and the crush of benefit costs and pension plans coming home to roost?
Motorcity... I'm not sure who has had their heads in the sand all these years... George Will Column stu
The Will article discusses the Jobs Bank set up by GM but they didn't do this out of generosity or stupidity. The strategy they have on this is one of flexibility in the workforce without having to lose and then retrain workers. Obviously a downturn in cars produced and sold has caused that strategy to go awry. The auto industry itself may have provided too lucratively for menial or unskilled jobs many years ago but not so today. The fat has already been trimmed several times since those days. With regard to the hundreds of thousands if not millions of supplier related jobs, the impact of the U.S. auto industry going out of business would be astronomical. Fortunately in 1981 Reagan saw the need to bail out Chrysler with a Gov't. loan because he could see the dire reality of the situation so hopefully our leaders will still have this vision on GM. Global competition in all industries here in the U.S. is a result of competing societies having living standards that are decades behind where Americans have ascended to. Their labor costs are therefore dirt cheap and benefits are low. If a return to 1940s living standards is what our economy is boiling down to then I don't see too many Americans in any industry that are going to be very happy.
Chrysler had a dynamic leader in Lee Iococca and a new design scheme which worked. Plus Iococca paid his debt back in advance. Does GM have the same attributes? I agree with you about the support industries being destroyed by a GM failure. I'm from Dayton, Ohio and the tool and die industry there is devoted in large part to GM support. Already GM has announced that the Delphi plant, which has been there forever since the Delco days, is closing. Of course Dayton has previously lost Frigidaire and NCR manufacturing which cost it combined about 50,000 jobs. The basic problems remain the same though; companies who became lethargic in the marketplace, falling behind in technology and design and labor unions making unrealistic demands in the face of a reality that would indicate a degree of capitulation. I'm not sure how familiar you are with these situations or others like them but I am quite familiar with them.
George, I think the auto industry is still paying for past sins rather than for many new ones. They have tightened their collective belts over and over and they have gained many union concessions that they would not have gained in the past. In any event, the mismanagement and union greed that happened 20-40 years ago is no reason for naive, unaware Americans to look on Detroit's auto industry problems as something they deserve and that the industry's demise won't have a severe deletrious effect on their own finances as these same Americans gleefully drive off the lot in a Honda. The problems you mention in Dayton are reflective of many automotive support communities as the industry has already weeded out the profits of U.S based suppliers and they all have been in survival mode for quite a while. To survive, these suppliers have closed U.S. plants and have outsourced much of the labor to the lower standard of living countries that I mention above. Is this what we are coming down to in America? Will Americans continue to decrease the market share of the Big Three and support this whole process of a standard of living downturn by doing so?
MCG, not all automobile manufacturers in the US are struggling.....only the ones HQ'ed in Detroit who took their eye off the ball, ignored the consumer and continued to perpetuate a flawed business model "hoping" things will get better.....hoping is not a sound business strategy. Toyota and Honda manufacture millions of units and employ tens of thousands of auto workers in the US. They don't seem to be having any trouble at all.... The Detroit automakers need to quit whining and build a motor vehicle that someone wants to buy..... Indeed, Toyota having achieved its ninth consecutive year of record sales in the US is expanding production capacity in the US and has doubled its operating earnings in the US just in the last 4 years....the Camry just being named the top selling passenger car in the US for the 3rd straight year. Camry's are built in the US with good ole American workers.... Re: Chrsyler bail-out....me thinks that the bailout package had more to do with Chrysler the designer and manufacturer of the new M1 Abrams tank - that was just beginning to roll its very first versions off the assembly line - than it had to do with automobiles.... Dutch loved his tanks and his messages to the "Evil Empire" about US military strength and resolve.....
Buckeye T, Didn't Chrysler also have a new design, the "K" car which gave them a lot of short term momentum at that time? Maybe I'm wrong....I can't even remember what I had for breakfast. :wink:
Krebsie, that seems to be about right for the K-car....good call. I solved the breakfast problem - I write it down and put it in my pocket in case anybody asks. It then can serve a dual purpose in that I can also use it to write down what I had for lunch.....! :wink: Terry
K car was a piece of, well, you know. In my opinion, what brought Chrysler out of the hole early was two things: 1) The majority of government agencies bought Chrysler products to help the profitability of a company that owed the government plenty. You saw Dodge and Plymouth police cars and Dodge trucks in Forestry services much more than any other make. 2) Chrysler teamed with Mitsubishi to bring in high milage small cars into the Chrysler product line. The Plymouth Arrow, Plymouth Laser (Dodge Daytona), and Shelby Charger were much more successful than the K car. Just my opinion. I was however a Chrysler performance nut back during those days. I was drag racing with a 68 Dodge Dart GTS 340 during part of that time frame and a 70 Plymouth Duster 440 six pack (obviously modified since this engine was not offered in that car) later in my racing period.
Without researching and posting links BT I'm going to suggest that the Japanese and other foreign manufacturers do not have the grandfathered in problems that the Big Three have and when they finally did choose to establish plants in the U.S. it sure wasn't in the union hotbeds that are only where they are located because of the Big Three. Also, they get a lot more parts from lower cost foreign providers than do the domestic manufacturers and they don't have an AC-Delco/Delphi issue either. I would like to see a comparison of the wage and benefits of a Japanese U.S. plant worker vs. a domestic car company worker. Hey, if you agree that Americans make too much money and we all should work at half the wage then I guess that's the "new" economy that some of you tout that has sprouted wings because of Bush, et. al.
That is an unfair comparison MCG, one is working building motor vehicles that appeal to the US consumer and looking forward to the enhanced career opportunities presented by a successful company expanding production and jobs, the other is not working and b!tching and moaning at his union rep about how unfair the world is whilst having to look over his shoulder at the prospects of his employer filing for bankruptcy....I don't know about you, but I know which job I'd rather have! I'd bet a fortune on the results of a survey of Toyota workers if asked if they would rather be employed by GM.... At the end of the day, the marketplace will determine how much somebody's job is worth.....if labor costs are too high then the company's ability to invest in research and development, new plant and equipment, product promotion and/or quality will suffer -v- the competition.....the consumer will react appropriately with the inevitable consequences on the company and implications to its labor force. As it relates to the state of the economy, personal incomes, home ownership and net worth have never been higher in the history of our country....that's tough to do on "half the wage". Sniping at the Bush administration on the state of the economy yields nothing but a well-deserved and laughable credibility problem for the lefties..... Terry
MCG: I'm not sure what your point is. Japanese manufacturer Honda opened a major plant operation in the middle of union auto manufacturing country in Marysville, Ohio about 30 years ago. It is a non-union shop. The average production worker there earns $46,700 after two years, excluding O.T. They employ over 16,000 people. In my opinion that is not a bad deal for assembly line work. Also, the average US car takes 40-43 hours to build versus the 29-31 hours needed for a "Japanese" car. Now consider that these "Japanese" cars are often produced here by American workers ( in most cases non-union ) and it says something, does it not? The fact that the "Japanese" cars consistently rate higher than US cars is the clincher. My take: The Big Three are fat, lazy and complacent and have been for a half century. In a free market economy that spells disaster in the long run.
$46,700 in Georgetown, Ky. is pretty damned good compared to what they could earn at Walmart, which would be the other choice. It pales however in comparison to wages earned in northern industrial cities. BT, I think you unfairly discount the effort in engineering and design that our Big Three do put into their products. Anyway, check out the manufacturing locations of Toyota: MANUFACTURING Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc. Headquartered in Erlanger, Kentucky. Established in 1996. TMMNA serves as headquarters for Toyota’s growing manufacturing activities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. TABC, Inc. Manufacturing plant in Long Beach, California. Established 1972. TABC, Toyota’s first North America manufacturing plant, produces sheet metal components, steering columns, catalytic converters, and coated catalytic substrates for Toyota’s North American manufacturing facilities and for export to Japan. TABC also assembles commercial trucks for Hino Motors to be sold in North America. In 2005, the plant expects to have a capacity of 4,000 units and an estimated 10,000 trucks by 2006. New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. Manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. Established in 1984. NUMMI, a Toyota/General Motors joint venture, manufactures the Corolla and Tacoma for Toyota, and the Pontiac Vibe for General Motors. The plant has an annual capacity of 390,000 vehicles. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. Manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. Established in 1986. TMMK, Toyota’s largest manufacturing facility outside of Japan, builds the Avalon, Camry, and Camry Solara coupe and convertible, as well as 4-cylinder and V6 engines and powertrain parts. The plant has an annual capacity of 500,000 vehicles and 500,000 engines. Bodine Aluminum, Inc. Manufacturing plants in St. Louis and Troy, Missouri and Jackson, Tennessee. Established in 1912 and purchased by Toyota in 1990. The St. Louis plant manufactures engine brackets and carrier covers. The Troy plant manufactures cylinder heads, cylinder blocks, intake manifolds, and engine brackets. In late 2005, Bodine will begin production of aluminum engine blocks at its third plant in Jackson, Tennessee. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana, Inc. Manufacturing plant in Princeton, Indiana. Established 1996. TMMI produces the Tundra full-size pickup, the Sequoia full-size sport utility vehicle and the Sienna minivan, with a total annual capacity of 300,000 units. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia, Inc. Manufacturing plant in Buffalo, West Virginia. Established 1996. TMMWV manufactures 4-cylinder engines for the Corolla, Matrix and Pontiac Vibe; V6 engines for the Sienna and Lexus RX 330; and five-speed transmissions for the Camry, Sienna and RX 330. TMMWV has an annual capacity to build more than 550,000 engines and 360,000 automatic transmissions. TMMWV will begin producing automatic transmission gears in 2006. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, Inc. Manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama. Established in 2001. TMMAL manufactures V8 engines for the Tundra. The plant has an annual capacity of 120,000 engines. It is the first Toyota plant outside of Japan to build a V8 engine. In 2005, TMMAL will begin production of V6 engines for the Tacoma and Tundra, with an additional capacity of 130,000 engines. In 2006, the plant will increase capacity of V8 engines by another 150,000, bringing total capacity to 400,000 units. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas, Inc. Manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas. Established in 2003. In fall of 2006, TMMTX will begin production of the Tundra full-size pickup. The plant’s annual capacity will be 150,000 trucks. I think what you are saying is that it's tough luck and too bad for the good ole American made car companies that the Johnny-come-lately to America Japanese have the upper hand in where they place their plants and how they pay their U.S. workers. Tough sh*t that the U.S. car companies helped to bring America to the forefront of world industrial giants many years before the Japanese got into the act and so therefore they happened to generate in northern industrial cities this labor problem they now face. The leaders at GM today were not even born when these present day problems were seeded but they must deal with an American public today who just has scorn for their plight as they buy foreign made cars and trucks.