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 41
by Jim Clonts, 2010

02/15/2010

In Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged, one of the main characters is a steel tycoon who invents a new metal several times stronger and lighter than conventional steel. Another main character in the book, a railroad executive, employs that steel to build a new rail line, considered a risky move given the untested nature of the metal. The strength of the new rail allows trains to cruise at speeds of 100 MPH. This innovation leads to increased productivity. With shorter travel times, each freight train can deliver more loads in a given time. The railroad does not have to operate as many trains to move the same loads. The railroad that took the risk and built the line with the new metal has a competitive advantage over the other railroads. Manufacturers clamor to ship their goods on the new rail line, which can deliver them faster for less costs. Other railroads begin laying off their personnel, downsizing in the middle of an already terrible recession. Enter the US Government. In an attempt to "save or create" jobs, the Government sets limits on speed and lengths of trains. This eliminates the competitive advantage of the innovative railroad. Limiting train lengths also force all railroads to run more trains, theoretically increasing employment, but destroying their economic viability in the process. The cost per ton per mile skyrockets and manufacturers, hit with the increased costs, lay off more employees. Do you believe our Government today won't try to inject this type of "fairness" into society?

A few weeks ago I heard President Obama giving a speech discussing the rising unemployment rate in the United States. To paraphrase the President, he said, "Many businesses are not hiring because they have learned to produce more with fewer people. Productivity has risen, preventing the hiring of additional employees."

Generally, if a company can produce a good or service using fewer resources it is deemed a good thing; in fact it is the basis of competitive free-enterprise. We call it innovation and it leads to both lower prices for consumers, pay raises for company employees and increased returns for stock-holders, even increased tax revenues for Government. It's also how the average American can afford a lap top computer with more computing power than the Apollo spacecraft used to land on the moon.

However, the context in which the President spoke left no doubt he considers increased productivity a problem to be solved, not a success to be hailed. With the coming of the new "jobs" bills in Congress we need to be watchful and wary of anything described as fair. My fear is that we will soon see shades of Atlas Shrugs, penalizing certain employers or industries, removing competitive advantages in an attempt to "save the industry."

We as Friends of Liberty need to be able to recognize this when it happens, see it for what it is and explain it to our other friends, family-members and co-workers.

Ford Motor Company just posted a $2.7 billion profit. Ford did not take bailout money from the Government. The question is: what will the Government do to Ford to increase sales at GM and Chrysler---in the name of fairness. Given the recent recall and media coverage of it, does anyone think the Government is not gunning for Toyota at the moment?

Friends of Liberty will be watching.

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