Larney Santry – 2/5/09

This page was last updated on February 8, 2009.

Economy was ignored by GOP; Larney Santry; Beaver County Times; February 5, 2009.

In summary, as Mr. Santry’s previous letters here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, this is a rant devoid of facts. It’s also Mr. Santry’s second rant in two days.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“For eight long, miserable years, Republicans sat on their hands and didn’t do anything to help the economy.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Santry missed the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Then again, a lot of lefties believe tax cuts hurt the economy.

Mr. Santry also missed the fact that employment grew for 52 consecutive months (9/03 - 12/07) adding more than 8.3 million jobs, the longest such string in U.S. history. What imploded the economy was the one two punch of the mortgage mess and high oil prices. Let’s also remember we increased the federal minimum wage 25% (from $5.25 to $6.55/hr) between May 2007 and July 2008. Mix an artificial 25% wage increase with a slow economy and you get a jump in unemployment at the low end of the pay scale because businesses don’t want to add/keep employees at inflated wages. We’re not done either. The federal minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $7.25/hr in mid-2009. That’s a total of about 38% over two years. This is exactly the wrong thing to do, especially during a recession.

Finally, Mr. Santry ignores the fact it was Republicans who consistently since 2001 called attention to the problems with the mortgage market (The core reason of our current mess.), but were smeared by Democrats for doing so. Please read my critique of “Let’s have some of the $700 trillion” for details.

“Now, all of a sudden, they are complaining about President Barack Obama’s stimulus package. Maybe there are some flaws in it, but at least he is trying to get us on the right track.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Santry has missed the fact an increasing number of Democrats are speaking out about the excessive spending in the proposed bills.

Oh no, “there are some flaws in” “President Barack Obama’s stimulus package?” This admission about something related to Mr. Obama not being perfect could get Mr. Santry an unfriendly visit from local lefties. <g>

“Why didn’t the 144 House Republicans who voted against the package come forward before? Typical, loudmouth Republicans.”

[RWC] As a reminder, while a majority of Democrats voted for last fall’s bailout bill supported by President Bush and Sen. Obama, a majority of Republicans voted against it. Yet another inconvenient fact for Mr. Santry.

Besides, if the package is so good, why isn’t Mr. Santry bragging that Democrats will pass the bill without Republican support? Since Democrats can pass the bill without a single Republican vote, why are they complaining Republicans aren’t on board? Democrats should be glad since they would get all the credit, right?

As a side note, Mr. Santry apparently likes calling people loudmouths. In two out of his last three letters Mr. Santry referred to Republicans as loudmouths. As I wrote previously, “Perhaps we should listen to Mr. Santry. After all, who better to identify ‘a loudmouth?’”

“All of a sudden, the U.S. senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, knows everything. Where was he for eight long, miserable years?”

[RWC] Has Mr. Santry really been miserable for the last eight years? If so, based on his last two letters, that feeling hasn’t changed despite the election of President Obama.

“His ex-leader is sitting in his stuffed chair in Dallas while people are going through hell to make ends meet. I do not wish him well because he did a horrible job. It’s so nice not to see him walking around the White House with that cocky strut he had.”

[RWC] As discussed in my critique of Mr. Santry’s letter of two days ago, this paragraph is more evidence Mr. Santry still suffers from BDS.