Homestead mailing list

["Wendy" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>]

This went to Bob personally and I meant it to go to the list.
Wendy
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wendy" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>
To: <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Atlas Shrugged - Fiction to fact in 52 years


> Thank you.  President Reagan was clueless on a lot of things.  He was 
> personally responsible for the demise of the electronics industry in 
> America.  I'll explain.  It is all because of apples.  Not Apple 
> computers, but the fruit.  I saw this in his press release speech when it 
> happened and yelled at the TV, "OH NO! You stupid ASS!"  Japan was 
> concerned about their traditional apple farmers.  Japanese apple farmers 
> take great pains to ensure that their apples are perfect.  It is one of 
> those traditional, ritual-like things.  As a result, apples are very 
> expensive and considered a special treat.  The Japanese Prime Minister 
> (can't remember his name right now) was concerned that because of the 
> influx of cheap American apples, the traditional Japanese apple farmers 
> would be forced out and they would see the end of something that is 
> revered as part of traditional Japanese culture.  Reagan offered to limit 
> the export of apples to Japan if the Japanese would offer to limit the 
> export of something to our country.  The Japanese Prime Minister offered 
> to limit the export of microcircuits to America.  Reagan excepted and was 
> all proud of himself for negotiating a trade treaty all by himself.  ASS! 
> Let me explain.  As most of us are aware, the Japanese people love their 
> high-tech gadgetry and have been the driving force for just about all of 
> it from cameras, to cell phones, to HDTV, to well, you get the drift. 
> Almost all of the revolutionary advancements in telecommunications 
> (especially since Reagan also broke up Bell Telephone and put an end to 
> Bell Labs, America's think tank for telecommunication technology and 
> research) have been funded by the Japanese government.  The fruits of 
> their research was offered freely to anyone in the world who could put it 
> to use.  Like I said, the Japanese people love their gadgets and they 
> don't care who makes it.  And the more people who like to tinker, the 
> faster technology advances.  Reagan's little apples for microcircuits 
> trade effectively put an end to our ability to play in that game.  In the 
> early '90s, while working at NASA, I tried to procure some CCD camera 
> arrays from a Japanese company and could not even receive documentation on 
> them because I had a USA address.  That was when it really hit home how 
> much damage Reagan did to the American electronics industry. Today there 
> are almost no electronics made in America.  Even our military electronics 
> is made via over-seas firms and incorporated as modules. Component level 
> design/assembly of state-of-the-art equipment is no longer an option for 
> us.  There are no TV's, cell phones, satellite systems, digital camera's, 
> camcorders, etc made in the USA today thanks to Ronald Reagan.
>
> Wendy
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "bobf" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
> To: "Wendy" <crazygardens AT verizon.net>; <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 8:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Atlas Shrugged - Fiction to fact in 52 years
>
>
> > You make a very good case , Wendy.  One correction is that I think 
> > President Reagan wanted to get the government off the backs of 'all' 
> > business --big & small--not just big business.  He also wanted to keep 
> > the government off 'my' back and yours, something I do find appealing.
> >
> > Unfortunately, he didn't account for the rapacicious greed and hubris 
> > inherent in this present generation of moneychangers invilved in big 
> > business and banking; not to the degree that the Congress would become 
> > nothing more than their errand boys.  And had he know that most all of 
> > the titans of banking and industry would  become and support liberal 
> > democrats, he might have been red-faced.
> >
> > I liked your critique, though, as much as I liked the original article. 
> > I think that thousands of bankers; big business CEOs and board members; 
> > and other various moneychangers 'and' politicians should be under federal 
> > and state indictment , right now.
> >
> > It will not happen, though. They own or frighten almost all of the 
> > politicians, regardless of party identification.  Only Ron Paul, Dennis 
> > Kucinich, Jeff Flake and a few others will stand up to them, and those 
> > who do are considered 'fringe' or 'nuts'..........
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > --- On Sat, 1/10/09, Wendy <crazygardens AT verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Wendy <crazygardens AT verizon.net>
> > > Subject: Re: [Homestead] Atlas Shrugged - Fiction to fact in 52 years
> > > To: bobford79 AT yahoo.com, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > > Date: Saturday, January 10, 2009, 8:19 PM
> > > Mr. Moore draws parallels to Atlas Shrugged that do not
> > > exist.  Atlas Shrugged is about economic collapse due to the
> > > imposition of socialistic policies (an attempt to even out
> > > everyone and their status in society). What is happening
> > > today, is a result of Reganomics -- give the wealthy the
> > > freedom to do what they do best (i.e. make money) and wealth
> > > and prosperity will "trickle down" on everyone
> > > else.  This crisis is NOT the result of too many
> > > regulations, but the result of insufficient oversight and
> > > regulation of the flow and use of money at the very top of
> > > our economic structure. Remember "Get the government
> > > off the backs of big business"?The real wealth of our
> > > economy was sucked up and pocketed by those at the top.
> > > Nothing "trickled down" and no one at the bottom
> > > experienced any prosperity.  Small businesses were bought
> > > out by the giants.  Common folk were tricked into turning
> > > over their money to brokers and "investors" who
> > > gave them worthless pieces of paper and artificially
> > > inflated properties.  Small businesses are gone and the
> > > common folk are bankrupted.  After Common Joe was
> > > financially raped, they took those notes which were backed
> > > by Bankrupt Joe and repackaged them as another sellable
> > > commodity (money markets, hedge funds, etc) (think making a
> > > silk purse out of a sows ear) and marketed them to those who
> > > were only marginally wealthy or wanted to pretend that they
> > > were. Completely opposite scenario.
> > >
> > > Wendy
> > >
> > >
> > > > >From this am WSJ .  I am a fan of Rand, as are
> > > many others.  But, I am >one (rarely mentioned, but
> > > 'is' mentioned in this editorial); that has a
> > > >problem with a seemingly lack of compassion in her
> > > ideology.  Anyway, >this is an interesting commentary of
> > > how today's events seem to mirror >much of the
> > > fictional plot lines in Atlas Shrugged....bobf
> > > >http://cartoonbox.slate.com/stevekelley/
> > > >
> > > >
> > > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > OPINION: DE GUSTIBUS JANUARY 9, 2009
> > > >
> > > > 'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52
> > > Years Article
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > By STEPHEN MOORE
> > > >
> > > > Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato
> > > Institute, we used to label any new hire who had not yet
> > > read "Atlas Shrugged" a "virgin." Being
> > > conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the
> > > economic carnage caused by big government run amok was
> > > practically a job requirement. If only "Atlas"
> > > were required reading for every member of Congress and
> > > political appointee in the Obama administration. I'm
> > > confident that we'd get out of the current financial
> > > mess a lot faster.
> >
> > > >