Who's Calling the Shots Now, Eh? (Part Deux)

To begin, I will quote - thrice - the character of Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), on CBS's How I Met Your Mother:

1. "Look at you, ya beautiful bastard! You suited up! This is totally going in my blog!"

2. "One of the 24 similarities between women and fish are they're both attracted to shiny objects. You really never read my blog do you?"

3. "HEY STUPID BLOG READERS!!! WHY DON'T YOU READ MY BLOG MORE?!?!"

The reason for those pointed quotes? (No, I don't think you're stupid, blog readers - I appreciate you)

Again, I realized called a shot. Again, I've come to realize I was ahead of the game. Again, I am confident that people should listen to me more often. Not because I'm incredibly wise, or psychic. Because I use reason. Common sense. I observe.

And I'm being proven right again and again. Not on everything. But on significant things.

Of course, I am humble - it would be the height of arrogance for me to assume I'm always right. Praise Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Thank Heaven! And I'm probably not the only one who thinks, or eventually advertises, such prescient thoughts. I wasn't entirely accurate - I put dollars into the coffers of Big Oil and Big Politics - but since the Arab-Islamic oil states conceivably are a part of Big Oil, I was certainly close enough.

What do I speak of?

In my blog post of 14 March 2008, We're Fueling Taxation Without Representation, I railed against the upcoming economic stimulus checks being sent to the American taxpayer by the Federal Government, not because I don't like free money...rather, it was because I didn't think it was enough of a gesture. It treats a symptom, not the ailment itself. Like Tylenol. Tylenol won't save your life during a heart attack. Aspirin just might.

To quote myself in the very first paragraph of that entry, "You know what I think would help the American people more than any unoriginal, unimaginative tax rebate checks? A repeal, or at least suspension, of the Federal Government's (and any State Government's) fuel tax. That makes infinitely more sense than just handing out money that, sooner instead of later, will inevitably be spent on gas. As anyone who owns a vehicle knows, that that money will probably end up mostly paying for gas (instead of a new flat-screen TV or Blu-ray player) isn't a matter of choice. It's a consequence of necessity."

Now, it is interesting to note that on that same day, 14 March, an article was published on CNNMoney's website making a similar point (mine was published a little after 3 a.m., AZ time...the CNN article was "First Published: March 14, 2008: 2:10 PM EDT". It is that same article, a bit updated, Gas bills ate your rebate, which I am boasting of having bested now...the same day Washington announced those rebate payments would begin to be distributed earlier than planned.

Heck, folks, I even beat Senator John McCain (by a month) in publicly calling for a suspension of Federal fuel taxes (can't claim the idea, of course...that's from 12 years ago - I can just claim a recent suggestion of a contemporary application in this election year). McCain is a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, so to that's not too shabby of me, if I do say so myself.

And I do. Erm...did.

To, again, quote myself, "But like I said...that money isn't going to go all that far, if gas prices continue to fluctuate (up and down, but mostly up) as they have. Big Oil - and Big Politics - will be the ultimate benefactors - not Mr. and Mrs. America." I don't need to stupefy with lots of numbers or equations, as do the "experts". If you want to see the "expert" projections, take a look at the article on CNNMoney.

Those employing big words and big numbers, in place of big ideas, I have little time for. As John Stossel has said, "Any government program that has the support of the political class and media commentators makes me suspicious."

And/or as John Lott, Jr. - senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park; author of Freedomnomics (as well as More Guns, Less Crime) - said in an e-mail to me in an exchange of messages around the time of (and serving partly as inspiration for) the first Who's Calling the Shots Now, Eh? blog post:

"You caught on faster than some of the rest of us."

Whaddaya know...I sure did....hmmm....

I think that means you people should really read my blog more!