It is so terribly easy for government to go astray. The special interests, wanting to profit off of government, never go away no matter who is in office.
On one hand, there are crafty officials with impure motives. On the other hand, there are uninformed officials who are taken-in by the crafty ones.
Do you remember three years ago when capitalism was dead and socialism was what we needed to aspire to if we were smart?
Do you remember when the European Union was the new shining example on the hill? Poll results showed the American public believed all the propaganda.
Please do not forget that Timothy Geithner was the “only person” in our country capable of turning our economy around three years ago.
Now Europe’s economies are burning to the ground to the point where several European central banks are looking at printing their own notes again because of a possible collapse of the euro. Likewise, half of the E.U. countries are under some sort of weighty austerity plan.
While Geithner did a great job bailing out his Wall Street cronies, the rest of our country has been left hanging in the balance.
Only a couple of years ago we were assured the federal stimulus subsides would save us. We ended up with Solyndra-gate and their buddy-buddy relationship with President Obama costing us around $535 million in loan guarantees for a corporation that could not meet lending standards.
Even as the “green” leader failed, Solyndra almost received another $469 million worth of taxpayer funds.
Our wise federal bureaucracy now gives a 30 percent solar energy federal tax credit to homeowners as a subsidy to our solar power industry.
This led Wall Street to create limited liability corporations (LLC) to buy the tax credits and depreciation from the homeowners in exchange for installing the system for free and selling power back to the homes for slightly less than market rates.
After 10 years, the home’s solar system is completely paid off and the LLC is making huge profits. But since the system only has a 20-year life span, the LLC unloads the ownership of the aging panels onto the market into what is being called “solar-backed securities,” leaving the toxic-like asset on someone else’s doorstep. This reminds me of something I have seen before.
And before you think we can still claim the U.S. solar industry is getting a boost from all of our tax dollars, many LLC solar installers are buying their hardware from low-cost Chinese manufacturers recently found guilty of illegally dumping their products here.
So we end with huge federal subsidies to finance Wall Street profits and promote the Chinese solar industry. So much for “American” jobs!
Do not hold your breath waiting for Congress to save us. They are too busy getting rich off of insider trading, legal for them and illegal for the rest of us, proving that government really does pay.
The Dec. 19 Wall Street Journal headline, “House Members Received VIP Loans,” did not shock anybody either.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder blamed illegal firearms for the 13 percent increase in law enforcement deaths. “For much of the past year, one fatality in particular has weighed heavily on Holder’s mind, that of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whose December 2010 murder sparked interest and public investigations into the Justice Department’s botched Fast and Furious gun-walking program” (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70907.html#ixzz1hyqIEd7Q).
Holder’s department allowed high grade weapons into Mexico for drug cartels even though the agency field operators warned they would not be able to track the guns.
Before the House Oversight Committee, Holder was asked, “What is difference between lying and misleading Congress in this context?” referring to a Justice Department letter containing inaccurate information. Holder replied, “Well, if you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind.”
Things are no different at the local level. To those who even mildly follow local politics, it is obviously not a coincidence that the empty Rivers Elementary School sits along the route of the unwarranted West Fayetteville Bypass. That fiasco is turning into upwards of a $40 million special interest demolition of the public treasury.
Just recently, a couple of county officials with direct report responsibilities to the Board of Commissioners purposefully failed to disclose a series of communications with a large Coweta landowner who was soliciting support for the construction of the controversial TDK Extension between Peachtree City and Coweta County.
Even though I brought up the resurrection of the TDK Extension as a concern, there was still no disclosure.
The justification for having to wrestle away city-owned land from Peachtree City, a move that could possibly set up the TDK Extension, was ridiculous.
There also currently exists a hidden back track in Fayette County where certain officials are trying to undermine other officials because they dare look out for the best interest of the citizenry.
These particular individuals spread a lot of rumors secretly in the background to dilute the influence of the others. Our newly elected municipal officials can expect to be approached by the undercurrent of duplicity.
Beware of the public official who claims to privately align with a cause, but refuses to take a stand in public.
Trusting government is pointless, the Founding Fathers knew this well. Citizen vigilance is absolutely essential.
Steve Brown
Fayette Commissioner, Post 4
CommissionerBrown@fayettecountyga.gov
Peachtree City, Ga.
