Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 6, 2011

12

LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 Mountain Views News Saturday, August 6, 2011 

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREG Welborn

“This whole process has 
been like; you’re in a bank, 
it’s a negotiation where you 
got some hostages and after 
getting everything you wanted 
you’re still going, ‘Oh, and one 
last demand - I still get to kill 
the hostages, right?’”

- Jon Stewart

THE DAILY SHOW 
host drew an analogy with 
congressional tea-baggers 
holding the nation’s economy hostage, threatening 
mayhem unless their demands are met. Then, after 
a deal is struck, reacting not with relief but with 
disappointment they won’t get to have their mayhem.

Stewart observed, “Government isn’t perfect, but 
some people wish it was better - not gone.”

Throughout the entire ordeal, there was the 
disquieting realization that these hostage-takers had 
no idea what the issue was, and remained blissfully 
unconcerned with consequences.

The issue was not deficit spending. Governments 
routinely borrow in times of war, natural disaster and 
to bring economies out of recession. Governments 
borrow to make investments - as we have in such 
areas as science research and education, interstate 
highways, a space program, rural electrification and 
a G.I. Bill - leading to immeasurable dividends.

Deficit spending was not the reason Wall Street 
threatened to downgrade our credit rating, and 
foreign governments questioned the future of the 
dollar as a benchmark currency; rather, it was 
because we’d become immobilized by debate over 
whether to pay our bills.

The United States and Denmark are the only two 
nations with statutory debt ceilings (a mechanism 
we adopted in 1917 to facilitate the financing of 
World War I). Most other countries, and the U.S. 
Congress up until a few months ago, assumed 
that authorization for an expenditure implied an 
intention to pay for it.

The tea-baggers aren’t constrained by such 
assumptions. They’ve made comparisons to a family 
around the kitchen table deciding which debts to pay 
right away, and which to put off for later. The U.S. 
Treasury has no such latitude. It must pay debts as 
they become due.

They’ve offered reassurance we have enough 
funds to continue making interest payments. But 
when a Treasury bond matures, it’s the face value 
that becomes due, not an interest payment. If the 
family sees a bill from the plumber for $75, they 
know the plumber expects the $75 - not an interest 
payment.

That disconnect from reality was symbolized by 
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), the ubiquitous tea-bagger 
talking head making the media rounds lecturing on 
fiscal responsibility. When asked on CNN about his 
being sued by an ex-wife for $117,000 in back child 
support, the congressman suggested such problems 
show he’s one of us, because “This is where the real 
America is.”

Unfortunately, divorce and child support 
payments are indeed part of American life. But 
what the congressman and fellow tea-baggers fail to 
understand is that, whether child support or national 
obligations, the “real America” doesn’t renege on its 
debts.

Fortunately, enough Republicans joined with 
Democrats in realizing this went beyond partisan 
game-playing, a strategy of betting President Obama 
gets blamed for whatever suffering is inflicted, 
and risked nothing less than the “full faith and 
credit” of the United States. Sen. John McCain (R-
AZ) described Tea Party confidence in extorting a 
balanced-budget amendment as “unfair. It’s bizarre. 
And maybe some people have only been in this body 
for six or seven months or so really believe it.”

Sen. McCain continued by quoting the Wall Street 
Journal, warning that tea-bagger positions “not only 
undermine their House majority, they will go far 
reelecting Mr. Obama”.

As it is, the final deal seems anti-climatic. President 
Obama can raise the debt ceiling, and Congress can 
say it doesn’t like it. Only about 2% of the $3 trillion 
in envisioned cuts need be dealt with right away. 
A bipartisan committee will come up with its own 
recommendations around Thanksgiving, and unless 
Congress wants to deal with half-a-trillion in defense 
cuts, revenue will be part of the equation.

In a Congress truly representing We the People, 
it wouldn’t have come down this way. A CBS News 
poll from mid-July showed just 21% support for 
Republicans’ refusal to allow consideration of tax 
increases. Overall Republican handling of the talks 
got 51% disapproval - among Republicans. (32% 
of Democrats disapproved of their own party’s 
performance.)

As the deal grew closer, a Washington Post / Pew 
Research poll asked respondents what one word best 
described their impression of budget negotiations. 
“Fair” got 5% of the vote. “Compromise” got 
6%. The top three vote-getters were “Ridiculous”, 
“Disgusting” and “Stupid” (66%, 42% and 35%, 
respectively).

Hostage dramas draw attention from what really 
matters. When interviewed by Chris Matthews on 
MSNBC, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) turned the topic 
back to reality: “75% of corporate profit over the 
last two years has been a result of cutting personnel 
and innovation. We’re cutting out jobs in order to 
maximize profit, and corporations are sitting on $2 
trillion in cash. We are not a poor nation, but we’re 
never going to realize our real wealth as long as we 
don’t invest in our people.”

In another interview, Matthews took on Matt 
Kibbe of FreedomWorks, the corporate astro-turf 
firm behind the tea-baggers: “You have an ideology 
behind you which makes sense, but the trouble with 
it when it comes down to running the United States 
government, you guys don’t accept the fiduciary 
responsibility to be part of the United States 
government, do you? You’re basically still carrying 
placards, and you’re still standing outside the Capitol 
yelling. But you’re not willing to come inside the 
building to help run the government, which means 
paying the bills, because you don’t accept that 
responsibility, do you?”

On Monday, the day before the hostage crisis 
ended, the U.S. lost $18 million in a single day as 
higher interest was demanded by a worried market 
in an auction of short-term Treasury bills.

Wall Street continues to tumble at the prospect of 
even minor budget cuts in a struggling economy.

The Republican House has adjourned for a five-
week vacation. 


HOBBITS, NEO-NAZIS & 

TERRORISTS AT THE TEA PARTY


So based on their performance last week, 
Tea Partiers are (depending on who you want 
to believe) Hobbits, Neo-Nazis or Terrorists. 
Seems like a pretty extreme accusation, 
especially coming from the party that pleaded 
with us to resume a more civil discourse after 
Representative Gabrielle Gifford’s shooting, so 
I thought I’d review what claims, aspirations or 
goals of the Tea Party might warrant such a title.

Let’s start with documenting the fact that we 
don’t just have some loons on the left hurling 
these charges. After all, if it’s just one nutter who’s 
having his 15 minutes of fame, then it would 
be unfair, and blatantly uncharitable, of me to 
assign such lunacy to the entire Democratic Left. 
Sadly, it’s not just one nutter. Maureen Dowd, a 
mainstream Liberal writer if ever there was one, 
accused the Tea Partiers of being Hobbits. O.K., 
O.K. that might actually be a compliment. After 
all it was a Hobbit that saved the world. But dear 
Maureen meant it in the most disparaging and 
condescending of ways. Tina Brown of Newsweek 
called them suicide bombers. Representative 
Doyle of the great state of Pennsylvania referred 
to Tea Partiers as the equivalent of the Taliban or 
Hezbollah. He then followed that with the “T” 
word, accusing them of actually being terrorists, 
which was quickly picked up by Chris Matthews 
of MSNBC, and then not-to-be-left-out-of-the-
press-coverage Vice President Biden, who also 
picked up the theme.

So what is it exactly that Tea Partiers want? 
Well, the proximate cause of all these complaints 
and accusations is the fact that Tea Partiers want 
to reduce the deficit and prevent the federal 
deficit from consuming us. They point to the 
sheer size of the deficit and debt, which ballooned 
under President Obama, and have dared to say it 
is at unsustainable levels. To add to their hate-
filled and violence inciting remarks, they’ve 
pointed out that the amount of revenue collected 
by the government has remained fairly steady 
as a percentage of our economy (GDP), but the 
amount of spending has increased well beyond 
anything imaginable. In other words, they say, 
it’s a spending problem, not a tax problem. That 
is truth, but as has often been the case, speaking 
the truth doesn’t earn you any friends or allies.

 Seems a bit absurd, doesn’t it, that pointing 
to the extravagance of spending would equate 
a group of average Americans with bumbling, 
hate-filled and violent characters from fiction, 
history and the Middle East? Perhaps there’s 
more to the story. It seems after all that Tea 
Partiers are unhappy with a number of things the 
current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. has 
done. It’s actually a rather long list.

1. When Obama took office, the federal deficit 
was 3% of GDP, and it’s now 11%.

2. When Obama took office, the federal debt 
was $10.7 trillion but has 
grown in 3 short years 
to $14.3 trillion, with 
another $2.something 
trillion agreed to.

3. The dollar has 
lost roughly half its 
value against gold since 
Obama took office.

4. Since Obama took office, employment has 
FALLEN by 3.5 million jobs, instead of growing 
by 2.5 million as he claimed.

5. China’s military budget has increased by 
13% while ours will suffer $40 billion per in cuts 
over the next decade, with even more threatened 
by December, and Tea Partiers don’t think the 
Chinese want to just run humanitarian projects 
with all these soldiers and weaponry.

6. Since Obama took office, the percentage of 
“moderate” Muslims who had a favorable view of 
the U.S. has fallen from George Bush’s 9% to 5%. 
Sucking up to them really didn’t work.

7. Peace-loving, misunderstood Iran has 
increased their enriched uranium from 1,000 
kilos to 4,000 kilos, undoubtedly to be used in 
the export of really fun glow-in-the-dark toys for 
American girls and boys.

The list could go on, but space is tight. The 
reality, though, is that none of the above is really 
a reason to accuse Tea Partiers of the heinous 
crimes listed. The point of the matter is that 
liberals are irate that Tea Partiers have been so 
successful in transforming the nature of the 
political discussion in Washington. The Obama 
era started with a goal of increasing the size and 
scope of government to levels almost unheard of 
in our republic. 

Conservatives seemed on the defensive. 
Conservative ideas seemed to be waning. Within 
the scope of a few short months, and lots of grass 
roots efforts, Tea Partiers have helped Americans 
of all stripes recognize that a bloated government 
with massive deficits and debts is counter to the 
American way. Americans are now engaging in a 
serious debate about the size, scope and mission 
of government, and the restrictions it imposes on 
average Americans. Bringing that in to the clear 
light of day has earned true conservatives the 
invective and vile anger we’re seeing now.

About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is a 
freelance writer and has spoken to several civic 
and religious organizations on cultural and moral 
issues. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his 
wife and 3 children and is active in the community. 
He can be reached at gregwelborn@earthlink.net.


BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques


Promoting Your Small Business:

Developing A Tagline for Your Business

by La Quetta M. Shamblee, M.B.A. 

Along with your business name and logo, a 
tagline is definitely the most noticeable element 
of a business’s identity. A tagline is usually a one 
or two line descriptor that is usually placed along 
with a logo or company name. However, some 
taglines can be comprised of single word, like 3M’s 
“Innovation,” or Budweiser’s “Whassup?!”

Coming up with a tagline that is creative and 
catchy enough to be memorable may seem easy, 
but corporations typically spend big money for 
advertising agencies to develop and market test 
their taglines. Small businesses that don’t have the 
big budgets can still come up with brilliant taglines 
by following a few guidelines and investing some 
time to brainstorm. If you choose one that is 
creative and catchy enough, it will also be the most 
memorable association that the public makes with 
your business.

When potential customers begin to identify 
your tagline with your business, they’re more 
likely to patronize you when they have a need or 
desire for what you sell. It may even prompt them 
to spend money with you as a result of learning 
more about the company with the catchy phrase.

Consider the following four “retro” taglines to 
see if you can recall and match them with their 
respective businesses (answers are provided at the 
end of the following paragraph):

1) “Just Do It!” 2) “The Quicker Picker Upper” 
3) “The Ultimate Driving Machine” and 4) 
“Where’s The Beef?”

Although all of these taglines were used in 
marketing campaigns that featured a series of 
television, radio and print ads over a number 
of years, each tagline communicated a message 
about the company and its products. Each of these 
businesses has moved on to new taglines, but they 
were so memorable that millions of customers 
still make the association with their respective 
businesses: 1) Nike, 2) Bounty, 3) BMW and 4) 
Wendy’s.

“Shorter is better” is the Golden Rule when 
developing your tagline. By following basic 
guidelines, you will be able to come up with one to 
serve your business well. First, ask yourself, “What 
do I want to communicate to my customers?” 
What is the main message that I want to convey 
about my goods or services? Second, do some 
research on taglines of other companies, large 
and small. Gather them into a file where you can 
review them. Which ones grab your attention and 
why? Third, it’s time to have some brainstorming 
sessions (solo or with a small group). You may 
have 10, 20 or even more ideas when you finish. 
Fourth, once you’ve generated the list, it time to 
narrow it down to the top three so that you can 
make a decision. Your final choice may need to 
be reworked or reworded. Finally, it’s time to do 
some informal marketing research on your short 
list of taglines. If you’re already in business, you 
can ask existing customers for their opinions. If 
you’re still in the planning stages, you can solicit 
feedback from business colleagues or others who 
fit the profile of your potential customers.

Mountain Views News will be sponsoring a 
Fall 2011 series of free introductory marketing 
workshops for small businesses. Final arrangements 
are being made to confirm dates and locations, with 
the first to be announced for registration in next 
week’s column.

If your business paid Federal Taxes last year, and you don’t have a Qualified Retirement 
Plan, you just gave money to Uncle Sam that you could have saved and invested for your 
retirement instead!
Whether your business is currently not taking advantage of one of the many Qualified 
Retirement Plans available today; OR: If you currently have a plan and would like a no-cost, 
unbiased review of your plan, I would be more than happy to review your situation and cater 
something to your specific situation.
Your Ad Could Be Here!

Call Patricia 626-818-2698