The state of Washington has begun the inevitable shift toward State-controlled media. Governor Christine Gregoire has approved a 40 percent tax cut for newspapers in her state.

This is the first subtle step in moving the already liberal mainstream media toward government control without actually seizing the presses themselves. For the past several months liberals throughout the country have been calling for a bailout of the newspaper industry. They have used a modified "too big to fail argument" saying that they are "too important to 'democracy' to fail".

What good does a tax cut do for an industry that's not making any income to tax? This is window dressing for currying favor with the libs in government. For instance, if a newspaper decides to run an expose on corruption in government or on a liberal darling like unions, all that the government has to do is threaten the newspaper's tax cut or bailout money. Story killed.

In the interest of full disclosure the newspaper industry itself is mostly against the bailouts. But one wonders as the industry gets closer to a fundamental shift in their business model and possible shutdown, will they knuckle under and take the money?

SOURCE: Seattle Times story

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I have a local story that illustrates a national problem. In Mobile, Alabama, Councilman Fred Richardson--a Democrat no less--has decided that the city needs a large object to lower from the top of our largest building ala-New York's Times Square ball.

But this won't be made of Waterford crystal. Oh no. It will be a giant moonpie.

"A moonpie", you say. "What's that?"

Well gather round kiddies and I'll tell you. A moonpie is a confection that appears once a year (usually) around these parts for the annual Mardi Gras celebration. The banana and the vanilla varieties are pretty good, but personally the chocolate takes like something that the parade horses leave behind.

But I digress. The point of this little missive is that in a time of recession and economic uncertainty, terrorist attacks and a liberal majority in Congress and Obama in the White House, this is just what we need. Major cities, several states, the auto industry and every Tom, Dick and Harry around is traveling to Washington, D.C. with their hand out to get bailout money. Yeah, we really need to spend good money on a giant googaw that will only be used once a year. Then it will probably sit there like a giant diaphragm so that all the visitors to our area can say that they saw the world's largest contraceptive.

The unnecessary spending is bad enough. Now the entire city will look like a trailer park at Christmas.

Well, Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez. And let's hope that the bloody thing doesn't fall on someone (unless it's the city council, of course).

Come and get it. The trough is open. First, it was the banks and insurance giant AIG. Then it was individual citizens. Now the Big 3 automakers are coming to Congress with their hands out and it appears that municipalities throughout the country will be next. Everybody wants a piece of the bailout pie and you and I are footing the bill.

The problem of course is that we are already spending at a deficit. Between two ongoing wars, the spendthrift nature of recent congresses and the dwindling revenue due to the financial crisis itself there's no way that the government can make up that gap. This is why the government uses credit from foreign nations to prop up its budget. But other nation's are feeling the credit pinch as well. And that brings us to an even more troubling situation.

The United States may lose its 'AAA' rating which will make it more difficult to get loans to pay all of the deficit spending that we are doing. And in the unlikely event that some nation calls in its loans, it will make the Great Depression look like a mild correction. I say that it is unlikely because the debt could not be paid off and trying to seize the assets of the U.S. would cause a catastrophic crisis around the world including the nation or nations that call in that debt. But we live in a world filled with suicide bombers and socialist dictators that would love nothing better than to destroy capitalist nations, especially America. The suicide bombers would have nothing to lose because the believe they answer to a “higher power” than Wall Street. The tin-pot dictators who believe they are the second-coming of Marx aren't bright enough to realize that socialism is no replacement for the free market. Case in point: Hugo Chavez. Since he nationalized most of the Venezuelan economy and put price controls on food, rationing of essentials and economic collapse has been the result. And let's not even get into Cuba.

So there are worries involved in any economic crisis, especially this one. But that's all the more reason to take a measured, judicious approach to the treatment of these crises. Republicans warned that the socialist bailout plan that Congress passed a few months ago would result in more problems than it would solve. Now that the nation knows that its so-called leaders can be cajoled to give handouts, everyone wants a piece of the action.

Props go to Drudge for the article on the 'AAA' threat.

SOURCE: CNBC article