Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE 20, MARCH 30, 2009, THE ISLANDER Islander to sponsor ’tea party' We talk to more and more people who are fed up with our government throwing our money away. We don't believe you can spend your way out of debt by accumulating more debt. We don't want to see our capitalist way of life gone in a flash. We don't want the government mucking about in any more of our business. Enough is enough. Based on what we have heard from our readers and how we feel, The Islander has decided to sponsor a 'tea party' to protest the financial crisis, the huge waste of taxpayer dollars, and the blatant grab for political power by throwing away taxpayer dollars. Plans for the 'tea party' are underway and we will keep you updated by way of our web site: www.theislanderonline.com. To participate, or make sugges tions call us at 912-265-9654 or email: ssislander@bellsouth.net. Matt is at spring training for a few days watching the Braves so we hope you enjoy Paul Jacob's From Oz to Obama piece. □ From Oz to Obama By Paul Jacob Many things remain perfectly nor mal. For instance, I often lose my car keys and sometimes misplace my cell phone. The University of North Carolina is still good at basketball. My youngest almost always begs for a Slurpee or candy when we drop by 7-11, and my 17-year-old never laughs at my jokes. But when I read the paper or turn on the radio or TV news, the world has been turned upside down. It's as if I've slipped into a parallel universe. I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, wanting so badly to get back home. Perhaps I feel this way because government officials — from President Barack Obama to the too-big-to-fail treasury secretary, from finger-point ing congressmen to my county commis sioners — resemble “that man behind the curtain.” I've worked hard to put a roof over our heads and two cars in the drive way. To save money for college. To fund retirement so my wife and I can enjoy our golden years. As much as our sav ings have been socked by the market collapse, I feel we can weather that catastrophe. It's the government-cre ated catastrophes that have followed and more that will follow that produce my fear. Years of easy credit, wild lending, and deficit spending are said to be solved only by more of the same. Much more. And if that doesn’t work, even more than that. What? Electroshock to the frog won't make it leap? Then super-size the stim ulus. What? Not a twitch? Then super- dooper-super-size it, man, fast! If we were suffering from a hang over after a night of heavy drinking and asked our leaders for a prescrip tion, their debate would be between slapping back a half-dozen shots of rum the next morning or downing a whole bottle. Uh, two bottles? Really? The world has always been a strange place. Even John Maynard Keynes’s crazy ideas, though obviously misguid ed, were not totally surreal. The sur realism stems more from the constant repetition that no matter what the problem there can be only one solution: pump money to someone somewhere. Or everyone everywhere. Any failure of this brilliant strategy must be a failure of amount, of not pushing a large enough dose. As a byproduct of the federal govern ment taking over the economy, bail ing out financial institutions and car companies and specifically AIG, we are now treated to an Orwellian “two-min- ute hate” at the AIG bonuses. Before that we were supposed to envy their corporate jets. The simple solution to corporate excess is to make execs pay for their own excess. Not with tongue lashings added to billions in bailouts, but with going under. That is, with the real- world costs of failure. Had AIG been allowed to fail, these bonuses would not only not be paid by taxpayers, they would not be paid at all. There are millions more frightening little signs of both the depth of the eco nomic trouble and the ignorance and self-dealing of the political response to it. One was listening to Chinese Pre mier Wen Jiabao tell reporters, “We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S., so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets.” It’s not that I blame him for worry ing. I’m worried, too! Truth is, I don’t want to be on the hook for trillions to anyone. Not my best friend or a malevolent loan shark. Though, if I had to borrow, I’d prefer my best friend, of course. But I especially don’t want to borrow these trillions from China. Do you sleep well knowing that the Butchers of Bei jing serve as our largest creditor? We’re told that we need the Chinese rulers — that our standard of living in the greatest bastion of freedom in the history of the world is largely depen- Turn to Page 5 - Back Talk St. Simons Island For $25OK. Deja Vu? Located ujh uteim BhAwhit] m 1015 Beachu^tDrfra VILLAS i t'lhv Located i.fl Sea Island Rtaf at 11Ki JjIJiui I Mocte Driua - Fully Furnished New Luxury Vacation Homes * 2 Great Locations - Oceanview ut * Incredible Financing Available * Developer Pays First Year's Principal & Interest * No Homeowner Association Dues For 1 Year * FREE Initiation Fee To The Yacht Club !■* Ill YAC HT-C LU E ■ M A LTY-G KOLf P .St (fA H-i: 912-6345995 WWW.'YC RCA LTYG RO UP.COM I iff M Fl-tnsH u- IrtfT,' !■»-+-Hi fcv IlMKlittH •* *1*1 'l“l lOflrtl -rT 3<1 f+r lll&UIKr r-w VtaH QiA 4JVjf»**a#Wl tVH WyViSk MV l» pC»>:-r>■' rVMfflU'Ftf'