WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

Friends of Liberty VOL 29
by Jim Clonts, 2009

10/20/2009

Question #5: Do you think corporate bailouts are an appropriate use of the taxpayer's dollars?

Too big to fail. How many times have we heard that in the last year? Whether talking about investment banking, the automobile industry, the mortgage industry or even newspapers, today we have forgotten a basic tenant of nature---the law of the jungle, Natural Selection. The strong survive and adapt to their environments. The weak die. Quite often the weak become food for the strong, making them even stronger.

Nature understands this rule and, in fact, most liberals contend this is how our species evolved from a single cell organism. Even those of us who believe in a Creator cannot deny that mankind has had to adapt to his environment. Over the millennia millions of people have fallen prey to various bacteria and viruses, thereby removing their genes from the pool of Humanity. Those who survived these illnesses developed immunities and their children who survived developed even greater immunities. The Natural Selection which occurred over the generations has produced today's Human. Many had to die in the process of delivering the immune systems our generation enjoys. This is a basic rule of nature, one that some argue we are perverting with modern medicines. Some argue that Nature no longer weeds out the weak in our species and we are producing generations of humans reliant on artificial chemistry, perhaps more susceptible to mutated micro-organisms. We may very well be condemning future generations to death as our natural immunities fail. Needless to say, as individuals, we do not want die and I for one lose no sleep over giving an anti-biotic to my four year old to cure an ear infection, regardless of what burden my great-great-grandchildren will have to bear a hundred years from now.

So how does this apply to Government bailouts of corporations? Capitalism succeeds for the simple reason that it mirrors nature. The strong survive and adapt while the weak fail. Success is rewarded and breeds more success. Failure is the tool that weeds out the weak and inefficient. A successful company grows, creating jobs, wealth, tax revenues and goods or services people want or need. A successful company is an asset to society.

A failing, inefficient company is a liability to society. It creates sub-standard products or services, does not create jobs, does not create wealth or tax revenues, wastes valuable natural resources and acts as a drain on Government coffers and society as a whole.

When the Government bails out one of these failing, non-profitable companies it really amounts to little more than a transfer of wealth from its successful competitors. General Motors and Chrysler were bailed out with funds much greater than Ford paid in taxes. It could be said that all of Ford's tax liability went to continuing the operations of its primary competitors, robbing Ford of potential customers, sales and market-share. Bailouts benefit companies that fail at the expense of those that succeed.

But what about the jobs lost if the Government doesn't bail out a company? Two things are wrong with the premise of this question. First, the real question may need to be how many jobs are lost at successful companies by propping up their failing competitors? The second fallacy is that all employees of companies in bankruptcy will lose their jobs. Some companies emerge from bankruptcy stronger than before, with a better business model and improved efficiencies. Other companies are bought by their competitors and the jobs are not only saved, but the new company brings with it a successful business model. Still other companies close their doors forever and their employees move on to other companies, where, in theory at least, the fruits of their labors may be more productive, benefiting themselves and society.

One final question: how many innovative, productive, hard-working people are wasting their talents within the confines of failing companies, producing sub-par products and being kept in business by tax dollars paid by their successful competitors.

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