Good Morning Middle America, your King of Simple News in on the air.

The National Weather Service is reporting that one big snow storm will arrive here in Western Colorado today and stay with us for up to 3 feet of snow in the high mountains. Luckily, I have a good supply of wood in the shed and most of my outside work wrapped up.

All of the talk these days is centered around unemployment and job creation. But as I continually state, jobs can’t be created. Not real jobs anyway, and certainly not jobs created by the ineptness of government leaders.  

But there is a third leg to this stool that is often left out of the equation; “can do” people who invent and produce. The phenomenon that has created much of our past employment base has been bulldozed by big business and their partners in crime, big government. Those who are most responsible for America’s base employment are often referred to simply as entrepreneurs.  And these people have fallen victim to yet another unintended consequence. I wrote the following on that subject some time back.

I’ve got good news and bad news for you this morning, so I’ll give you the good news first.

I was reading a magazine and came across an ad for a new car that gets 50 MPG and costs less than a $1,000! That’s the good news.

The bad news is that it was a 1949 magazine. The ad was for the Crosley automobile made in Cincinnati, Ohio. My uncle used to drive one when I was a little kid and it was a cute little car that provided basic transportation. I don’t think it had heated leather seats or a moon roof.

In the same magazine, R.J. Greensfield, a chemist for Shell Oil Company, won the Wood River Fuel Marathon, by driving a 1937 Desoto 74.22 miles…on one gallon of gas!

Luckily for us, technology has advanced to the point that we can buy a car today for $42,000 that approaches 18 miles per gallon.

In 1927, Ryan Aircraft designed and built the “Spirit of St.Louis” in 60 days. Charles Lindbergh, with minimal testing, flew the Spirit non stop from New York to Paris.

In 1942, in 8 months and 11 days, the Army Corps of Engineers built 1543 miles of the most difficult road ever attempted on earth. We know it today as the “Alaskan Highway,” or the “Alcan.”

So what happened to America? What became of the spirit that was necessary to accomplish the above feats? Two words; government control. Government has so depressed the American spirit and our way of life that we can no longer compete.

Americans have turned every aspect of their lives over to government control. From home town mayor to the bloated federal bureaucracy and all of those in between, one must beg permission and pay fees for nearly any action that you wish to take.

What if the above ideas were trotted out today?

The Crosley auto? There is no way it would pass side impact and emissions tests, let alone the fact that it didn’t have electric windows.

The Spirit of St. Louis? The Federal Aviation Authority wouldn’t approve the design in 6 years, let alone allow the aircraft to be built in 60 days. The costs to Ryan for FAA testing would have run to the $100s of thousands, not the $10,000 that the entire aircraft cost.

The Alcan Highway? Road permits and oversight would have delayed the project for 5 years and environmental impact statements would have cost millions. Cooperation between the Canadians and the U.S. Government would prove impossible.

As Americans continually increased Government involvement in our everyday lives, in all that we do, there was a cost. As we became more dependent on government to provide for us and to keep us safe from ourselves, there was a cost.

To remove all personal responsibilities and to make others responsible for even our dumbest actions, there was a cost. To allow even the most frivolous lawsuits to be brought to trial against our industries, our doctors, our neighbors and our own families, there was a cost.

That cost was the American way of life.