Fourth of July wishes

When asked what America ’s leadership should do do to help us celebrate the Fourth of July, Charlene Wells, roving service banker, with Wachovia here in New Smyrna Beach had a ready answer: I want them to do something to give us lower gas prices and improve the economy.

When asked for specific things she thought they should do she declined to give any suggestions. This, however, opens the door for a torrent of suggestions.

To lower the price of gasoline we should immediately start drilling in many of the forbidden places such as ANWAR in Alaska and the off-shore regions.

We need to build more refineries. We need to get rid of the silly restrictions on what gas can be used where.

We need to quit demonizing Big Oil and let them do what they do best that is produce oil.

We also need to get rid of the regulations requiring the use of ethanol, which is expensive.

Next we need to free up nuclear power. The state of the art is such that nuclear power is safe and economical. The problems remaining are political.

The best thing to do for the other alternate fuels is let the market handle the problem.

The market can best determine which alternatives will be developed, by whom and when.

Turning to improving the economy, note that the five determining factors in making the economy either better or worse are taxes, monetary stability, foreign trade, regulations and legal protection of property rights.

Right now, the two things hurting us the most are monetary inflation and the imminent threat of higher taxes.

As this is being written, monetary inflation has caused a bubble in housing and stock prices. It is a factor in driving up the cost of oil and, of course, everything else we buy.

The Federal Reserve needs to take steps to get the amount of money and credit back down to where it belongs.

If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to lapse, we will have a huge tax increase where it hurts the economy the most.

In anticipation of this possibility, investors and businessmen have put off plans to invest and expand business. This has contributed to the present slowdown in business.

As usual, these left wing plans to punish the rich by raising taxes will end up starving the poor. What we need to do is lower taxes not raise them.

Everyone comes out ahead that way.

The legal system is in need of reform. It has become a tool for thievery rather than justice. Two reforms that will help are to make the loser of a suit pay everybody’s court costs and make liability for accidents be proportional to blame rather than who has the most money. In other words do away with the deep pockets principle in law.

Of course we need to reduce regulations and barriers to trade.

There is one more wish for the Fourth: My neighbors and I would feel safer if all Americans and all of our leadership would recognize the threat posed by radical Islam.

I don’t believe we in America can ever be overcome by a threat that we recognize and are willing to meet.