A good discussion or debate topic

I was emailed this article and thought it might ignite a good discussion or maybe even a good debate. I am interested to hear from everyone. What are your opinions?


About the Author:

Linda R. Monk, J.D., is a constitutional scholar, journalist, and
nationally award-winning author. A graduate of Harvard Law School , she
twice received the American Bar Association' s Silver Gavel Award, its
highest honor for law-related media. Her books include The Words We Live
By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution, Ordinary Americans: U.S.
History Through the Eyes of Everyday People, and The Bill of Rights: A
User's Guide. For more than 20 years, Ms. Monk has written commentary for
newspapers nationwide - including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los
Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune

THE PARTY'S OVER

By Linda Monk

The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our
people's wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one
era and the onset of another.

The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America .

The "Omni power" and "Indispensable Nation" we heard about in all the
hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.

Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of
market economics, a failure of conservatism.

This is nonsense.

What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko ("Greed Is Good!")
capitalism.

What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores
history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made
it great.

A true conservative (Rep or Dem) cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal
responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic.

He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred
gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living
within your means.

Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess -- that we
followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk?

"Government must save us!" cries the left, as ever.

Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government -- the Fed with its
easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by
liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?

For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned.

We save nothing.

Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt
-- all are at record levels.

And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will
never be repaid.
Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall.

For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if
they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper
dollars.

We are going to have to learn to live again within our means.

THE PARTY'S OVER!

Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America
must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain
politically independent.

But this generation decided that was yesterday's bromide and we must march
bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another.

American companies morphed into "Global Companies" and moved plants and
factories to Mexico , Asia, China and India , and we began buying more
cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes,
cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.

As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we
began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.

At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social
spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise.

The dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.

Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come.

Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all
but that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the
federal income tax load.

John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into
Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching
uranium or "bomb, bomb, bomb," with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliore.

Who are we kidding?

What we are witnessing today is how empires end.

The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency,
win its wars or balance its budget.

Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded
liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.

What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure
of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a
cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.

Notice who is managing the crisis.

Not our elected leaders.

Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it.

Congress is paralyzed and heading home.

President Bush is nowhere to be seen.

Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail
out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under.

They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of
hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in
mortgages.

They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance
giant sink beneath the waves.

An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of
getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite
plunged the nation.

We are just spectators.

What the Greatest Generation handed down to us -- the richest, most
powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest
standard of living any nation had ever achieved -- the baby boomers,
oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.

Added Comments:

How do WE THE PEOPLE put the villains who are responsible under oath and
sit them down at public hearings to determine whose necks should meet the
guillotine?

Hypocritically, those who had oversight responsibility - such as Senator
Chris Dodd [Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee] and Barney Frank
[Chairmen, House Financial Services Committee] who helped get us into this
mess - are on every TV channel voicing their righteous indignation and
pompously sitting on their elevated platform glaring down at those they
are chastising and grilling, trying to pass the blame to others.

WE THE PEOPLE should be on the elevated platform in judgment and execution
of the likes of Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and the rest of the band of
thieves and conspirators who are responsible for the financial collapse of
the USA .
To name just a few of the culprits:
Henry Paulson Jr - Secretary of the Treasury

Alan Greenspan & Ben Bernanke -- Chairmen Federal Reserve

Christopher Cox - SEC Chairman.

But not to worry -- YOUR PUBLIC SERVANTS who fear being voted out of
office will take their self-awarded Golden Parachute Congressional
Retirement, give WE THE PEOPLE the finger one last time and head for their
safe havens as the World Citizens they are.

However, before they waddle off into the sunset, they will go on record
one last time denouncing corporate greed, lavish salaries and bonuses for
their key felons at Fannie May, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers & AIG.

Meanwhile, WE THE PEOPLE fiddle while Rome burns and are too lazy and
indifferent to vote all the scum out of office

Energy Vampires

Well folks, I ran across another good article that explains what I have been trying to tell you all along: Leaving certain appliances plugged in CAN drain energy and cause a rise in your electric bill. Below is an article by Lori Bongiorno. Please read, learn and enjoy!

Energy Vampires: Fact vs. Fiction

By Lori Bongiorno

Posted Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:52pm PST

It's well-known that most electronic devices in our homes are sucking up energy even while they are turned off. But for all the information out there, many questions remain. I got hundreds of reader questions after writing the post What's wasting energy in your home right now. Below are answers to the five most common inquiries:

Which electronic devices waste the most energy when they are turned off but still plugged in?

Set-top cable boxes and digital video recorders are some of the biggest energy hogs. Unfortunately, there's little consumers can do since television shows can't be taped if boxes are unplugged. It also typically takes a long time to reboot boxes.

However, some of the other major consumers of standby power are more easily dealt with: computers, multifunction printers, flat-screen TVs, DVDs, VCRs, CD players, power tools, and hand-held vacuums. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) measured standby power for a long list of products.

While it's true each individual product draws relatively little standby power, the LBNL says that when added together, standby power can amount to 10% of residential energy use.

Why do electronic devices use energy when they are switched off?

Electronics consume standby power for one of two reasons, says Chris Kielich of the Department of Energy. They either have an adapter that will continue to draw electricity, or they have devices (such as clocks and touchpads) that draw power. Anything with a remote control will also draw standby power, she says, since the device needs to be able to detect the remote when it's pushed.

Does everything suck energy when it's plugged in and turned off?

No. If your coffeemaker or toaster doesn't have a clock, then it's probably not using standby power, says Kielich. Chances are your hair dryer and lamps (although they may have a power adapter for the dimmer) are not drawing standby power either, she says. Devices with a switch that physically breaks the circuit don't consume standby power.

Will switching things on and off shorten their life?

Probably not, says Kielich. You'd have to turn devices on and off thousands of times to shorten their lives. The real downside, she says, to unplugging electronics is that clocks and remotes will not work, and you do have to reset everything.

Can you ruin batteries by unplugging battery chargers and causing batteries to completely discharge?

It could be a possibility, says Kielich. Her advice: Don't let batteries get completely drained. But you don't need to have things like hand-held power vacuums and drills plugged into the charger when it's 100% charged, or even 50% charged.

Power Strip FAQs

Plugging electronics into a power strip and turning it off when you're not using it is a widely prescribed solution for curbing vampire power. Here are answers to common questions:

• Power strips draw energy when they are turned on, but not when they are switched off.
• Any decent power strip should have surge protection, according to Kielich. Flicking your power strip on and off will not create a power surge capable of damaging electronic devices. In fact, it will protect devices from other surges.
• Several readers were worried about the possibility of fires caused by plugging too many things in at once. If you plug in the allowed number of devices, then power strips are safe, says Kielich. Just don't plug your power strip into another power strip, or you run the risk of creating an overload.