Email, Hate Mail and Comments from Readers

Email, Hate Mail and Comments from Readers
By John Ransom
6/19/2011

OK, so this week we learned that you must never, ever, criticize the job Obama’s doing with the economy.

Don’t you know that he inherited the largest, most productive economy in the history of the world? An economy that’s been growing substantially for the last thirty years?

It takes a long time for an economy like that to see a return on investment when you get to spend more money in two years than all the other presidential administrations combined. Can’t you at least be grateful for the budget deficit?

You bunch of whiners.

Don’t make Obama turn this economy around.

Oh, and if you like this week's column, send it to a friend. ;-)

Brad wrote: I say increase tax rates. Over 1 million in income it should be 40% [in taxes], over 5 million in income it should be 50%, over 10 million it should be 70% and over 100 million make it 90%. Let's get rid all the tax scams especially the charitable remainder trusts and all the charities people have to save on taxes and hire friends and families.- in response to my column Tax Cut Talk Shows Obama Desperation

Dear Brad,

You’ve cut to the argument that’s really at the center of the debate.

Liberals have no respect for private property. That’s why some conservatives call you guys fascists and communists. You think just because someone is successful that they owe that success to the rest of the country, rather than their own efforts.

Conservatives start out with the assumption, correctly, that private property is sacrosanct.

Private property starts with ownership of the fruits of our labor. Anything less than being able to retain the whole of our property is slavery.

We fought a civil war over the simple proposition that a man can not be legally deprived of the fruits of their labor.

You, me, everyone is entitled to the entire fruits of their labor, even if we may grant the government some portion of our property to safeguard the rest. Yes, we all voluntarily band together to create a government to protect these rights in property. And yes, in order to accomplish this, we pay taxes.

But when governments start to trample on those rights and assume that the money is theirs to begin with, that’s a tyranny.

Go back and read what the Founders have to say about it.

Alfred wrote: The economic villain of the past several months goes unmentioned in the above article: inflated oil costs. Unfortunately for the author, there is no single politician, party or segment of society that can easily be blamed. Perhaps that's why Ransom and many of his ilk so rarely bring up the price of oil. - in response to my column Tax Cut Talk Shows Obama Desperation

Dear Alfred,

My ilk brings up the price of oil almost constantly. I mentioned energy prices in the first sentence of the article.

You know why? Because when it comes to energy policy, we’re right and liberals are wrong. It’s a great issue for conservatives.

I would even venture to say that if oil prices hadn’t collapsed in October 2008, Obama wouldn’t have been elected.

Here’s the truth Alfred: We have enough energy resources in the U.S. to be entirely self-sufficient.

And while I’ve heard the claim that when the GOP was in charge they didn’t solve the problem, do you really think we wouldn’t be using the PBR coal in the West, or drilling in Alaska or expanding the use of frac-ing and nuclear if the GOP had its way?

There’s one group that is standing in the way of energy production Alfred.

And you know who it is.

Ken wrote: Oh my God, we are a tourism economy now. I always felt embarrassed for countries and states that depend on tourism. Some it was understandable. Everybody can't depend on tourism. Somebody has to make something to make this work. –in response to my column Blame the Economy on Welfare Queen General Electric

Dear Ken,

I was really rooting for Jamaica when they started exporting Red Stripe and running those commercials for it. They were clever commercials and it was nice to see them have an export. And don’t even talk to me about the Jamaican bob-sled team.

I think the Obama administration is using tourism in their “jobs” plan because tourist traps like Disney and Las Vegas have a big proportion of union workers.

That’s what Obama really means when he says “shovel-ready.”

Can he shovel more money towards unions? And are they ready?

Zerubbabel wrote: Here this author writes a piece blasting the collusion between big business and big government. But this is a conservative forum who hold corporate America as sacred. So ... ok there is one bad corporation now, GE. –in response to my column Blame the Economy on Welfare Queen General Electric

Dear Zerubbabel,

Like a lot of liberals, I think you’re confusing conservative with Republican.

People here don’t worship at the fount of Big Business. But we do respect private property more than we do government. And we like the GOP more than the Democrats by a wide margin. But that’s not saying much.

There are a ton of companies we don’t like. Take General Motors, for example.

I’d wager that 9 out of 10 conservatives on this forum would rather buy a Toyota than pay less for a General Motors car.

We just don’t share your delusion that profits are evil.

Charles wrote: I have been talking about the 'why' of the financial crisis since Sept of 2008 until I was blue in the face. I was so glad when Michelle finally said this. I felt like I had been blowing smoke in the wind. However, I still reserve judgment on Rep. Bachmann until January, when ALL the possible contenders will be present (through addition or attrition). –in response to my column Michele Bachmann's Outside Business Savvy

Dear Charles,

You bring up and important point about reserving judgment.

I think everyone should take their time before declaring a winner in the presidential primary this year. I want to see candidates work at getting support.

I think it’s very important that whoever gets nominated understands that they have 80 million partners that they are lucky enough to represent and who aren’t going to remain just silent partners.

Ray Ancle: Any chance Ms. Bachmann is gong to show her small government and free market druthers and return the 250,000 dollar welfare check she got from the American taxpayer in the guise of a farm subsidy? –in response to my column Michele Bachmann's Outside Business Savvy

Dear Ray,

I don’t know why she would return it.

Is Obama going to return the subsidy he got on his student loans? Is he going to return the salary that he received over the last 30 months? Are you going to return any of the money you got from the federal government in the guise of tax breaks?

Oh and can we get some of that not-quite-shovel-ready money back too?

Thasic wrote: Yeah, my 9 year old daughter told me the students in her 3rd grade class asked the teacher what the BC in some years meant. The teachers answer, I am not allowed to talk about that. Say what?!? The teacher can't even say Before Christ? They weren't asking for a theological discussion just a simple answer. –in response to my column Michele Bachmann's Outside Business Savvy

Dear Thasic,

You HAD to get me started on this?

So, my son in 8th grade comes home and tells me that one of the moms of his pals at school is mad at the social studies teacher because the teacher is teaching from a book that hasn’t been approved by the school district.

“Oh, yeah. What book?”

“The People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.”

I nearly exploded.

If you don’t know it, please click on the link and read about it, because this is what they are teaching in middle school and high school as history.

And what really upsets me is that when I talked to the administration about it, they defended the decision by saying they used a book by Newt Gingrich as a comparison piece, like somehow Zinn and Gingrich have equal legitimacy.

The scary thing is that they really think that Newt represents the “extreme right-wing” of America. That’s what they told me… condescendingly.

This is exactly why we are graduating kids who can’t qualify for manufacturing jobs.

Zinn’s work isn’t even legitimate scholarship.

If this is what happens in a conservative, upper-middle class public school district, what hope do we have for our urban schools?

Robert G Munck: So I commented: And 90% say George W. Bush is "Somewhat," "Mainly" or "Solely" Responsible for Economy. And Lo, there were great cries of "Bush isn't running!" Obama is not going to be punished by the electorate in 2012 to the extent you're hoping. –in response to my column 82 Percent See Obama Policies "Somewhat," "Mainly" or "Solely" Responsible for Economy

Dear Munck,

Well Bush won’t be on the ballot. And while you are correct that many still blame Bush for the economy, you’re wrong in assuming that the electorate is so simple minded that they’ll say “Bush bad, so Obama good.”

The Right Track/Wrong Track numbers are bad for Obama.

A majority of Americans have believed that we’ve been on the wrong track since the summer of 2009. In fact before OBL got capped, the wrong track number was in the high 60s. It’s around 62 now. And a majority of Americans haven’t approved of Obama’s handling of the presidency since before Thanksgiving 2009.

While it’s true that the GOP can’t expect to nominate Sharron Angle for president and win, I don’t see anyone like that winning the nomination.

Obama will have to work for it, even with the generous assist from the press.

For all the Dads, including my own, here’s to you.

You taught us to camp and fish and drive. Some of us are still trying to unlearn those lessons. But we still love you because you taught us to do plenty of others things the right way.

Have a great weekend dads.

“Jake”
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To read another article by John Ransom, click here.