THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

TARP. Remember TARP? If the bill wasn't passed within a week, the world was going to end. It took three weeks and the world did not end. That was followed by another emergency calamity, and another. The world did not end. Money was admittedly....underscore that....admittedly misspent. The money spent has not saved one job, but it has caused many parties, celebrations and bonus checks.

Those three "cram downs," crammed down our throats whether we wanted them or not, perpetrated the biggest barrel of pork ever to pass through the halls of Congress and collectively indebted countless generations to come.

But, they're not through with us yet.

Gas prices are soaring. Despite predictions that gas prices would not reach $3.00 per gallon again for several years, gas prices have gone up 70 cents a gallon in northern California in the past six weeks and are at $3 a gallon. At this rate, they will be over $4 per gallon by the end of July.

It was in this column that I said last year that gas prices could not continue at those levels without having a serious adverse impact on our economy. I believe today that it was those high levels of gas prices that tipped the fragile economic scales and caused the meltdown. Now, we're in the melt down. We've burned through $3 trillion. Sales and other taxes, fees, and penalties are skyrocketing in an effort to bring money into federal and state coffers. And, the gas prices are on a rapid increase back to 2008 highs.

What the government is allowing to happen not only sucks, but the course is bound to throw the country into a depression that will make the 1930's look like child's play.

Now comes another emergency calamity. Health care. The President says the health care reform bills have to be passed before Congress goes on vacation or the sky is going to fall in. The world will end.

This is a lesson that we old farts have to pass on to the younger generation. Yes, we need to resolve the health care issue. But, we don't need to rush into another "cram down." The issue needs to be explored, solutions need to be vented, discussion needs to be had. It's not going to make one iota of difference to the timing of implementation whether we reach a good, solid conclusion in December or January or whether we rush into more stupid mistakes by the end of July.

The mere fact that the administration is trying to rush this through Congress by the end of July, thereby absolutely and affirmatively preventing public exploration and discussion of alternatives should tell us all something. The sky is NOT falling. We do NOT need to give Congress another opportunity to misspend our money and spread more graft and corruption.

By now, I would hope that even the younger generation is tired of bending over on the freeway. We need to stop these cram downs, and we need to join together and work together to bring some sense back into the way we are running our country, and we need to do it now.

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.