If you only knew what you didn't know...

Recently Alec Baldwin, left wing actor, wrote an op ed piece for the Huffington Post discussing the Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") movement. (here)

I find this article interesting because I think it shows that if your underlying premise and understanding is wrong, you can't see the real problem and therefore are blind to the solution as well.  Unfortunately for Mr. Baldwin, his political ideology prevents him from really understanding the underlying foundational causes to the problems he sees as the root of the OWS movement.

For instance, he says the oil companies manipulate how much oil to produce, this is fundamentally incorrect. First, OPEC, not the oil companies controls how much oil they pump out of the ground.  Second, President Obama has issued an executive mandate through the EPA and other federal agencies controlling domestic oil production to shut down the oil rigs in our country.  Moreover, in order to appease the environmental wing of the Democrat party he recently declared that no decision will be made Canadian oil pipe line that is proposed to bring oil from Canada to the US until after the 2012 election.  Third, the Congress and Federal agencies have refused to green light or approve new oil refineries in this country since the late 70's/early 80's.  These refineries would increase output and be more efficient, but they cannot be built without government approval.  That approval will not happen when the government continues to interfere in the market place in its attempt to push "Green Energy" to the forefront.  What this all represents is governmental interference with the market, not the oil companies being evil.  Mr. Baldwin is blinded by an ideology that believes government is the answer, so when what there is a problem, Mr. Baldwin has a hard time accepting that it is precisely what the government is doing that is the issue.  Therefore, he lashes out at the business entities in an effort to blame someone.  Speaking of those big evil oil companies, lets ask Mr. Baldwin who those corporations actually are.  Most people do not stop to realize that those companies are you and I.  Companies are made up of stock holders.  Almost anyone with a 401K is likely to have energy stocks and oil stocks are part of the portfolio of stocks that the 401K owns.  So every time you attack a corporation, you are really attacking yourself.  In Mr. Baldwin's case perhaps he is so wealthy that he doesn't have a 401K but instead has individual investments and doesn't own oil stock, but the majority of the rest of us do.  

Mr. Baldwin also discusses the Protestant work ethic.  Does he realize where that comes from?  It comes from a society rooted in the foundation of God and morality.  He says nothing about the fact that since the 1960's the Baby Boomers and the generations that have followed have been farther from God and religion than ever before.  While religion is attacked daily in our schools and universities and groups like the ACLU are attempting to ban religion and God from the public square completely, is it any coincidence that the Protestant work ethic has been lost?  In fact, I would be shocked if Mr. Baldwin would defend expressions of God in the public schools or square.  The Constitution grants freedom OF religion, not freedom from religion.  We cannot have a Protestant work ethic as a nation if we undermine the idea of Protestantism which is God's law and morality expressed through religion.  The Founding Fathers of our nation realized the importance of God and His place in the public square.  They prayed to God for guidance, providence, and hope.  George Washington famously stated that the foundation of the republic was God and religion and that the republic could not stand or last without God's morality. (paraphrasing)  The fact that we as a nation have divorced ourselves from God is a major reason why we are in the problems we are in.  Without a recognition of God's law, moral standards, and a clear right and wrong, it is no wonder we've become as Mr. Baldwin labels it, "the Greediest Generation".  I find it wholly ironic that Mr. Baldwin references the Protestant work ethic without also advocating for Protestant values and morality which create that work ethic.

Mr. Baldwin also touts the holy grail of high speed rail, (rhyme honestly not intended).  High speed rail is a great concept in theory.  However, if it were a viable idea the market would have capitalized on it already.  Mr. Baldwin says we bail out the oil companies and the airlines every time we fill up or fly the friendly skies instead of demanding high speed rail.  Well, Mr. Baldwin, I suggest this to you, if this is such a great idea, why not put your money and efforts where your pen is and invest in creating a high speed rail system that is privately owned and not funded by the tax payers.  If you can make it work and make it profitable do so.  Otherwise, what you are suggesting is that the taxpayers (the 1 percent, since over half of all American's don't pay federal income taxes) subsidize or bail out your failing venture of high speed rail that cannot make a profit.  If you don't want to bail out the car companies and the banks, why should we bail our high speed rail?  

I could go on with what is wrong with this article, but I'd rather find the common ground and say I completely agree with Mr. Baldwin when he says we should not bail out corporations that fail.  We should have let all those banks and car companies go bankrupt.  Sure there would be short term pain, but the long term benefit would have been greater.  Allowing those companies to fail would have allowed the market to correct itself and reallocate capital to profitable uses.  If those entities were in a market sector that still had viability and was not overly saturated then someone with a better idea or business model would have filled that void and provided a better product to the market in a profitable manner.  Instead we see that the Treasury Department is finally admitting that we will likely never be fully repaid from what we gave General Motors (here) and do not even get me started on Solyndra.  

I also agree that there are many many people in Congress who need to go, both Democrats and so called Republicans. We need to get people into Congress who are more willing to have fidelity to the Constitution and realize that the government that governs best is that which governs least. Most governing decisions should be done at the local level.  Local control allows for much greater influence over your government.  You will have much more sway at the local level with your mayor and governor (if you want to be involved) than you ever will over someone in Congress.  

I leave you with this, things are likely to get worse before it gets better.  I have empathy for those who are jobless and struggling.  I have family who are similarly struggling and I hope more people have empathy for them.  However, the answer is not more government rules and regulations and meddling, it's less.