Page 23 - Flathead Beacon // 3.26.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM OPINION MARCH 26, 2014 | 23

CLOSING RANGE Dave Skinner

Drown ‘Em in Tea

I
N CASE YOU MISSED IT, FEB. 19 ly quit his budget job when Reagan’s
was the Tea Party’s ifth birthday. voodoo led to budgets with irrespon-

The usual pundits had plenty to say sibly huge deicits – back when our na-
about how the Tea Party movement is tional debt was around $1 trillion. Not
CARPET ON SALE
fading fast, doomed. No it’s not – but the so famously, Mister Fiscal Sanity then
Tea Party needs to focus on what really went hedge-funding in the big casino.
matters, and darn quick.
Stockman confesses “after 20 years in
50The movement began in 2009 after the inancial bubble,” he had “become
% MSNBC inancial talker Rick Santelli as oblivious to the dangers of lever-

belted out an epic Chicago trading-loor aged speculation” and “simply not no-
rant about the mortgage bailout pro- ticed the inancial landscape morphing
visions in the $800 billion “stimulus.” ever deeper into a debt-fueled casino of
Obama’s stimulus, of course, was hot speculation and rent seeking” – until he
OFF
on the heels of Bush’s “Troubled Asset made a stupid leveraged-buyout bet and
Relief Program” that res-
lost, getting indicted for
fraud with charges even- cued Wall Street’s bone-
tually dropped.
heads from their own THE TEA PARTY

folly (on our grandkids’ NEEDS TO FOCUS Stockman then had
nickel) – just more insult enough spare time to
on top of injury.
ON WHAT REALLY write “The Great Defor-
SELECT STYLES
“We’re thinking of a
mation,” 700 pages cov-
Chicago tea party in July,
MATTERS, AND ering 100 years of sordid
all you capitalists that
bipartisan iscal witch-
want to show up at Lake
DARN QUICK.
craft by both Republican

Michigan, I’m gonna
and Democratic “free-
start organizing,” yowled
lunchers,” that now has
Santelli, to hoots and
America on the skids.
whistles from his trader
Stockman’s bottom
buddies. “What we’re doing in this coun- line: Capitalism’s old rules of business
try now is making [our founding fathers] investment no longer apply. Smart in-
roll over in their graves.” It was great TV, vestors don’t bother with productive en-
went viral and is still worth watching to- terprise any more – rather, they bankroll

day – Google “Rick Santelli rant.”
politicians who will look the other way as
Nonetheless, I think a shout-out by a America’s asset base is stripped of into
trader mattered most: “Why don’t we all the ofshore accounts of the one percent.
stop paying our mortgages? It’s a moral America faces a day when “the gangs of
hazard.”
crony capitalism will ight tooth and nail
“Moral hazard” is very speciic busi- to preserve their slice of an imperiled
ness terminology: When circumstances pie” at the expense of “ordinary taxpay-
(policy, law, information advantages) al-
ers and citizens who have no voice in the
low one party to take risks because the Washington policy auctions.”
Sale Ends April 30, 2014
costs of failure will fall upon somebody Well, guess what? After sufering
else, that’s moral hazard.
through Stockman’s book (you should,
When government institutional- too), I understand much better why
InnoviaM Touch carpet is the SUPERSOFT extension of Carpet One Floor & Home’s premier izes and facilitates moral hazard, that’s America is nose deep in debt, and how
soft and durable InnoviaM brand carpet. Its incredible built-in stain and soil protection big trouble, exempliied by, um, letting we got here. The establishment elites
ensures that liquids, spills and soil will remove easily, for a long-lasting carpet. This carpet is mortgages be brokered by people with of both political parties facilitated the
ideal for consumers looking for that step up from InnoviaM for the ultimate soft experience.
no skin in the game, who bundle up the plunder of America by K-street ripof
InnoviaM Touch is the luxe ultra-soft choice that offers the same fade resistance, durability toxic paper into junk inancial instru- artists and Wall Street pillagers – and if
and Gold and Platinum Warranties as Innovia but double the softness. You can actually feel ments, then foist them of on Wall Street this iscal craziness is not stopped, none
the difference.
investment banks whom, upon realizing of America’s other “issues” will matter
they are dead meat, run screaming to the much, if at all.
• Luxuriously Soft. More ibers per square inch create a softer, more plush carpet.
Congress they bought for salvation – a What can be done? Don’t expect the
• Eco-friendly. Fiber made partly from renewable resources for lower environmental impact.
bailout backed by Other People’s Money!
Occupy Wall Street crowd to be much
• Repels Spills. Innotex technology helps repel liquids and spills.
How’s THAT for moral hazard!?
help voting the free-lunch cronyists in
• Resists Fading. Color-grabbing technology resists fading to keep looking great for years.
• Gold and Platinum Warranties. Both feature life-of-the-loor guarantee for installation and
Anyway, after watching Santelli’s the Democratic establishment out of of-
stain resistance.
rif for the umpteenth time, I wandered ice. So – it seems America’s best hope is
down to our library’s noniction section if the Tea Party focuses on what needs
MASTERPIECE
and stumbled across “The Great De- to be done to the free-lunchers of the
formation,” by Reagan Administration Republican establishment: Drown ‘em
budget director David A. Stockman.
in tea, before they drown us in debt – or
CARPET ONERemember him? Stockman famous-
worse.
FLOOR
& HOME

Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on op-
posite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns
2541 US Highway 2 E • Kalispell alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
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(406) 752-0924 • www.carpet1.com
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