dog-gone-right.com Blog

WAL MART is trying to build a Super Center on the outskirts of the WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD PARK in Orange County. The site is across the road from Mc DONALDS AND SHEETZ, just West of 7-11. So what? right? WELL, it seems this is the area General Grant observed the battle from, and has always been in the park’s range of study, even though it is not in the park. I find it sad to drive through that area today. Homes have been built throughout the area. Commercial sites dot it here and there. It has changed drastically in my small memory of the area, so I can only imagine what it was like in 1864. My toon while extreme may not be so far fetched as to what someone may observe on the Battlefield tour in the very near future. You can reach a Wal Mart in 1/2 hour from this site going east or west. One would think a site up or down the road away from the battlefield would not be so difficult. Because, there is only one Wilderness Battlefield, and that site is where General Grant observed the begining of the end, his first combat with the Army of the Potomac against Robert E Lee. We have too many Wal Marts now. No wonder the Chinese are getting so rich.

ATTACHED COLUMN BY JAMES BAYNE ARE YOU FEELING STIMULATED?

I do not know about you but I haven’t got that stimulated feeling yet. Oh sure I received my $500 economic stimulus check. Took that sucker right to the bank and deposited it into an account for my children to help them out when the tax bill for all of these government bail outs come due. Let me see now, the American public has been made responsible for $787 billion via an economic stimulus program that was going to solve many (not all) of the financial woes of the nation. Now those who predicted this program would turn things around are saying the American Public is lousing things up by increasing their savings when they should be spending like there was no tomorrow. Well I can almost guarantee that if the people in Washington do not quit piling up the national debt for us that there will be no tomorrow. Not very long ago the pundits were lamenting the fact that “We The People” were saving at a rate nearing zero (2007) and now that it has increased to nearly 7% we are the cause of the problem. I read where some idiot in Washington complained that “every dollar of savings comes out of consumption”. Maybe if the government decision makers would adopt a “save” mentality they wouldn’t be passing on this tax burden to this and future generations.

The projections that those folks in Washington were making on how the massive increases in the federal debt would be ameliorated by a turn around in revenue (without large tax increases) were based on increased employment in 2009 and beyond. Have you looked at the recent unemployment figures? The announced figures for current unemployment is 9.5% (the administration had predicted a peak of 8.0%) which is probably understated by 50% or more and is further misleading in that it does not account for people who are underemployed by working less than 40 hours per week. Since February, 2009 unemployment has increased by nearly 20% and is continuing to rise.

Where has the $787 Billion in the “first” stimulus program gone? Very little has gone to the needed effort on the nation’s infrastructure. Most reports indicate perhaps 10%—and that is where the opportunity for increased employment exists; as well as beginning a fix on the infrastructure before catastrophic failures commence. Instead billions have been awarded to financial institutions (whose horrendous business practices contributed mightily to the current problems) such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, etc., and AIG is at the trough again. Have you noticed that these mismanaged companies have returned to profitability again—it’s not too hard when you are using public moneys? And I thought the intent of bailing out these institutions was to increase the flow of money into the lending channels. I’ve also been following the latest coming out of Washington which is a proposed second economic stimulus program. Currently it is being run up the flagpole to see who salutes it. What a shame.

If we think we have it bad now with the talk of federal income tax increases (and do not be fooled that it will only apply to upper income brackets), cuts in Medicare (or increases in the premiums you pay), a new tax on health insurance benefits, etc. just wait a little bit when state and local governments raise our taxes to make up for the short falls in revenue resulting from unemployment and the extraordinary decline in real estate values. I saw an interesting statistic the other day which noted that 15% of our total economy is represented by the taxes from state and local authorities. As Colonel David Crockett said to fellow members of the Congress when he opposed a small government give away—“not yours to give”.

Might the HOKIE SWAGGER have had something to do with the massacre at Virginia Tech?

Probably the last time there was any big news out of Orange county, it involved the Civil War. It’s deja vu all over again.
Recently Wal Mart decided they should build a store on a portion of the Wilderness battlefield site. There is spotty development around the battlefield, and no combat took place on the proposed site. Still, preservationists want to maintain the site as part of the park. Recently, the Orange county administrator said that it would be in the county’s best interest to ask Wal Mart to pick another spot in the county. The Orange County board of supervisors decided in closed session to terminate the administrator. I grew up in Orange and every time I looked up at that Confederate Statue, I wondered about those men who fought and suffered to protect Orange in that terrible time. The Orange county supervisors see it a different way, I guess.