The Quiet Conservative November 20, 2008
Looters and the Barbary Pirates of Detroit
This is what real piracy looks like: The three corsairs strike from the west winging their way down
on the unsuspecting victims. They array in a line to strike the foe in chairs before them. They let
loose the battle cry: “We must have 25 billion dollars! Our unions demand it! We need it!”
Democrats feel like swooning and throwing open the coffers. After all, they had already given the
Detroit Buccaneers 25 billion in loans to make cars no one wants, what was 25 billion more? But
unlike softer times, the fact the Congress had just blown through 700 billion without anything to
show for it was getting the rest of the nation a bit irritable. The workers are beginning to notice the
government is spending the taxpayer dollar like a crack addict on a drug spree. Of course, Senator
Schumer of New York, totally absorbed in Senator Schumer, hasn't noticed the lesser people and is
proposing a 700 billion dollar stimulus package. He isn't a pirate, he is a looter.
If you are not an Ayn Rand fan you should give her books another try. Atlas Shrugged might well
have been written in today’s times to describe our nation’s decent into the next great depression. It
doesn't have to be a depression. All the government has got to do is stop making it into one. Stop
giving away money.
In Atlas Shrugged the people that produce the wealth are vilified by those who produce nothing.
These non-producers who want to redistribute wealth are called ‘Looters.’ We would call them in
the real world ‘Liberals.’ They say they are concerned with “Main Street” and despise “Wall
Street.” Yet they look on with panic when the markets tank and suddenly Main Street is looking like
it will be all boarded up. It seems maybe the wealthy do have something to contribute after all. The
looters are frantic to dictate productivity so they can continue to loot at will. They demand the rich
provide. They demand the wealthy to produce so the looters may redistribute the proceeds. Their
cries of tax cuts for the middle class seem to miss the middle class works for companies owned by
Wall Street and those evil wealthy people. If Wall Street tanks then the middle class lose their jobs.
You have a hard time glad handing the middle class when they are unemployed. They aren't so
happy with a thousand dollar pay off when they have no other income. The whole economy slumps
when Wall Street is working for the government. It is hard to loot when the producers stop
producing.
Speaking of looters and pirates, off the coast of Africa Somali pirates are riding the waves of the
high seas looking for the next ship. They strike quickly. They board and hold the ships and crews
for ransom or take them and steal their cargo. It has been reported they have been paid millions in
ransom by shipping interests as it is easier to pay the pirates than lose their ships.
Meanwhile the world’s navies stand impotent in the face of speed boats and stolen fishing boats.
Why? Because no one has the intestinal fortitude to go in and clean out the nests of pirates on
shore. That would be messy and someone might get blamed.
How long do you think the piracy would go on if the US decided to give the Navy and Marines a
free hand to shut the pirates down, political considerations be damned? A day? A month? Surely
not that long. But that isn't possible in this age. Immediately the press would be swarming along the
Somali coast looking for bombed out buildings and zooming in with hour after hour of screaming
women hovering over dead bodies. "Evil America Imposes its Fascist World Hegemony Again"
would be the headline across the globe as privately every government and international shipper would
be profoundly grateful.
That intervention won't happen. Nothing will be done until the shipping companies tire of paying
the ransoms. Then they will hire private mercenaries and do the dirty work. There is an indication
the Saudis are already taking that option on their captured oil tanker.
Navies are for fighting each other, not keeping the seas safe. The shipping companies should arm
themselves if they don’t want to be taken. It is a cruel world out there and no nation is going to step
up and play policeman anymore. When they do the African piracy problem will become like a
hundred other small conflicts that people never follow. It will just fade away as well it should. For in
the end it is strictly amateur hour. What is a few million compared to the theft and destruction of
trillions?
Who will deal with the real pirates? Who will put the looters back in their place? The people are
looking for the leaders to come forward and say "Enough!" Let the markets crash and burn. Then
what comes out will be cleaner, more efficient, more profitable, and we can grow! Who can stop the
looting? Who can set the economy on solid economic grounds? Who is John Galt?