Jindal gives impressive response

Gov. Bobby Jindal gave Louisiana a shining moment Tuesday night as he presented the national Republican Party’s response to President Obama’s first address to Congress. He said it like he felt it when he told the nation “the strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirit of our citizens.”

He claimed that the stimulus just passed by the Democratic Congress and administration will grow that government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt. He called it irresponsible.

A conservative to the core, Jindal had already turned down part of that stimulus package for Louisiana that would have provided $98 million to expand unemployment compensation here for individuals for several months. It would have been a permanent change that our state would have had to bear the burden of in future years. And it would have forced us to raise taxes on businesses to pay for it.

It seems the governor has good reasons there. After all, if you increase taxes on businesses, you chase them out of the state and that expands the need for more unemployment taxes.
At the present time, since the overall stimulus package has been proposed and adopted, the economy has worsened.

Hopefully that is only a temporary decline.

But it is becoming more and more apparent that the government cannot be the big savior in this downturn to the economy. Governor Jindal’s view is that we have to help the private sector save itself. And that can’t be done by raising taxes on businesses.

Compare the economies of the United States with that of European countries where state-run socialism has ruled for many years. We have far surpassed them in providing prosperity for our people.

Downturns in economies that are directed mainly by the private sector are common but they are corrected  when that private sector realizes what it can do to improve business. We need to rely on that type solution and use the government aid only as a temporary tool to spur that private sector up.
We can’t rely on the government to provide the efficiency needed to spruce up the economy. We saw what happened when government agencies tried to correct the mess that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.

Hopefully, the President will realize a government-controlled economy does not work as well as one that is steered by the private sector. As our governor said Tuesday night, that is no way to build a prosperous future for our children.

Improving infrastructure would work

President Obama is right in proposing improvements to our nation’s infrastructure to help spur up the economy. One such improvement here would be to create a commuter train service from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that would serve all of southeastern Louisiana.

It would save on the need for highway improvements in the future. And it would reduce our dependence on irreplaceable fuel to get us where we have to go.

Public transportation is one type infrastructure in which European countries have excelled over our country. It’s easy to travel the continent over there without pressing on the gas pedal one time.

Gov. Edwin Edwards had suggested such a rail route from New Orleans to the state capital back when Interstate 10 was being constructed. The route would have been right down the middle of that roadway.

Beautiful love song has returned . . . at last!

We hadn’t heard the beautiful love ballad “At Last!” for a long, long time until . . . President Barack Obama and his wife danced to it at the inaugural ball in Washington last month. That’s all it takes to bring a past treasure back to life.

Since then, we’ve heard it on many television programs and commercials.  We realized right away how much it was missed.
Dancing and romancing to it years ago was one of the most enjoyable experiences on the planet. But then it was forgotten. And now one of the most beautiful love songs ever written is back, thanks to Barack and Michelle. At last!

 

About Allen Lottinger 433 Articles
Publisher Emeritus

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