The Sky is Falling

Many of us know the story of "Chicken Little". For some of the younger readers we will use the Disney version (LOL). In the Disney version of "Chicken Little" we find that the main character was struck on the head by something he could not see. This is where the famous phrase "the sky is falling" comes from. What we do know is that he felt the pain of the hit - he saw something - but wasn't really sure what to make of it. In his panic, Chicken Little tried to warn everyone of the impending doom.

Let's compare this story to the unfolding events of this week. We have witnessed the crashing of banks, the falling of stocks in the market, and a needed bailout for some of these mortgage companies. There is great panic in the world today as people feel the pain of the hit - we are seeing things falling around us - but we really aren't sure what to make of all of this. In our panic we warn of the impending doom.

In Disney's version of the story there was an actual threat. It wasn't the sky but another outside force that created the problem Chicken Little faced. We have heard our president address the nation over our current crisis, we have hear the political pundits try to spin all of the information for one party or the other, and we have heard what Congress has had to say - unfortunately no one has figured out (or admitted to) the cause of the pain we feel.

As a person who believes in conservative values and our free market, I'm confident that we can get out of this mess if we handle things properly. Now is not the time for people to be screaming "the sky is falling." No, now is the time to figure out a plan.

Too often we can become reactionary in our decisions. In other words we react with our emotions rather than our intellect. We see a child nearing a cliff and we scream at them to come back. Instead of securing them we startle them and they fall off the edge. If our leaders don't take the time needed to hammer out the best plan we can end up with an outcome that we were trying to divert in the first place.

I share this with you today because I have the same concerns as many of you. I hear that something must be done and it must be done NOW. However, there is time to do it right. Our market has not crashed completely. I know that some banks are failing and there is concern about small business, etc. But we cannot rush this to the point that Americans feel the heat later.

If our country is going to have to spend this gross amount of money to help these companies then let's ensure that it is done as a loan. Let's ensure that a plan is in place for that money to come back into the reserve. And let's take the steps to ensure that this junk does not happen again.

I heard a report today about some of these small business that would not be able to take out loans to make payroll. But I have never understood why companies operate in that manner. Why do they have to take out a loan or line of credit to pay their employees? Should they not have expected to pay their employees from the money they make when selling a product? And let's look at the housing market because people are also talking about the difficulty in borrowing "right now" to buy a house. But didn't we just hear that new home sales have been down in recent months? It just doesn't make sense.

Who knows what will happen today? We may see a huge mismanagement of taxpayer money or we may see a plan that doesn't put our future economics in jeopardy. I vote for the latter. Does anyone in Congress hear that? Do what is right for the nation in the future! Don't be so short-sighted that you agree to something we are going to have to bail-out in a couple of years. And right after you sign whatever it is into law, start working on proposals to get more money back into the economy, cut the spending in Washington, remove the earmarks that have been built into defense bills and the like, allow our country to start producing some of its own resources for energy so the money stays in our economy, and make the necessary legislation that guarantees the free market will not be hampered.

Now is not the time to be reactionary. It's time for our leaders to be visionary. Look ahead - not just 1-2-or 3 months but see the big picture. There are things that are falling but it's not the sky.

May God grant our leaders the wisdom and temperance they need to do what's right for our nation. May God bless America.