THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume I, Issue XIV

Our PARENTS Lived Through the 'Decade from Hell'

The 'other' weekly news magazine came out proclaiming the first decadeof the 21st Century as the "Decade from Hell." Too bad most of our parents who lived through the 1930's aren't around anymore to set us straight.

The 1930's saw a massive meltdown of the world's economy prolonged by government policies.

In Great Myths of the Great Depression [click to read] Lawrence Reed gives a lot of insight in a brief work to enlighten us on this periodin history. Here also is sound advice on how to prevent the current situation from becoming a repeat of the thirties.

FDR's Folly [click to read] offers more insight.

Some Perscriptions for Avoiding a Repeat...

Pro-Market, Not Pro-Business

Here is a sound bit of advice for the Conservative Movement [click to read]. Big business is subject to many of the same foibles as big government. My example of the Tucker Automobile Company shows how innovation [which we desperately need right now] is squashed by an approach that simply favors business and not necessarily the dynamics of the free market.

Take note how big business, often seen as the fair-haired child of the Republican Party [not without reason, I might add] actually makes hefty donations to the Democrats. This 'protection money' often assures that regulations that harm 'big business' are written so as to harm the one making the donation less. In a sense, they are using regulations meant to improve business responsibility to stifle competition.

The problem is that the ensuing regulatory structure works against creative alternatives entering the marketplace. Innovation, which we desperately need right now, is what is stifled.

Real Healthcare Reform

Which brings me to the Trial Lawyers. Here the Democrats fair-haired child and many in the legislature hail from this overrepresented group.

Charles Krauthammer [click to read] offers a straight up perscription for really fixing Healthcare financial matters in Jewish World Review. It is no surprise that he starts with Tort Reform.

Energy Independence

Finally, we need to develop our energy self-sufficiency as a nation NOW! We need to do now what we had not the will to do in the 1970's when we should have had a serious wake up call to develop every energy source we had.

Europe and developed Asia use far more nuclear energy to provide electric power than we do. It's time for us to get a jump on things.We need to build every reactor planned at North Anna yesterday. Natural gas needs to be exploited quickly. Our freight system needs to be refitted to run on natural gas, biodiesel and where there are catinary wires nuclear generated electricity. Multiple sources and methodologies are to be encouraged. Ethanol can be part of the mix too, with the following condition...

Switchgrass and Cane Ethanol should be grown. Corn is the most overproduced American crop right now and USDA and Monsanto need to stop their love affair with this soil depleting one-crop shopping. Ever hear of the Irish Potato Famine? That, my friend is another 'decade from hell' we dare not forget.