FEATURING THE ONE AND ONLY, REAL SAVANNAH ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

for December 1996 through December 2383:

(OR, HOW TO SUCKCEED IN SAVANNAH WITHOUT REALLY TRYING)

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Commentary

If you are a contractor with close ties to the local teat, opportunities abound for sucking in vast amounts of local revenue to be spent ad nauseum on race tracks, gazebos, Trade and Maritime Centers, various museums, theaters that can't afford themselves, "civic" centers, and numerous other totally useless, money losing projects real or imagined.. We suggest you milk this one for all it's worth. There seems to be no end of people in this town who believe that government can stimulate an economy by taking peoples money and spending it for them, mostly on more government. This is called " creating jobs". You should be able to successfully argue in this town that since one Trade and Maritime center will create so many jobs and bring untold prosperity to Savannah, it stands to reason that if we built 5 or 6, we could all retire as millionaires.

Government always gets bigger

As overall tax levels always go up, never down, and annual local government personnel figures nearly all ways increase, as do government wages and new idiotic projects, it stands to reason that otherwise totally useless members of society will be always be able to clean up. Hopefully, soon the whole town will be run by the almighty government and all our problems will be solved.

Everybody's On Your Side

It is suggested that you take full advantage of the rampant stupidity and " make hay while the sun shines" as you never know, one day people might wake up and..........nah!, it'll never happen, everyone's on your side, The Savannah Morning Stew, the Chamber of Communism and the Depublicans ( don't worry , these groups are only pro free- market in certain extremely small areas, like for instance, the inside of your trash-can..

An Alternative

An alternative approach is to actually go work for the government. This has the added advantage of you not actually having to do anything..Also you can often wangle two hour lunch breaks so you can get all your Christmas shopping done or go work out at the DAC, or hold secret breakfasts at Elizabeth's on 37th, (to hell with Shoney"s !).

The Patented Patrick Shay Approach

You can also utilize the " Patrick Shay approach" ( make Shay while the sun shines?) of lining up exclusive government contracts for your architectural firm or whatever. Eventually, you might be able to work( lick ) yourself.into a position where those idiotic entrepreneurs will have to grovel in front of you in order to get permission to do something really stupid like try and start a business in Savannah.

Only for the Insane

Warning!!!! The third approach is not recommended and is is usually only undertaken by the insane.or those either too stupid or too honest to know about the aforementioned methods of making yourself, and supposedly everybody else, rich.):

You save up your money, line up some investors, then start a business that you, in truth , have absolutely no idea if it will succeed or not, no matter how hard you work. This is because the marketplace is constantly changing as new products and services constantly come into existence. Who knows which will succeed ? Luck has something to do with it , no matter how much thought and preparation you put into it, or even how much money goes into it. Then you have to grovel in front of the local royalty to get permission to go into business in the area that you believe will maximize profits ( read : provide a service or product that plenty of people want, and consequently provide employment for people without your gambling instincts but just as necessary to your success.), for something as mundane as a liquor license. But if you grovel expensively enough, you might be granted permission from the powers that be. Then , even though you've been given permission, they might turn around and change their "mind", if for instance you're thinking of opening a tattoo parlor , or anything unusual.that young people might like..Then , after you been in business awhile, they might change the "rules" on you. Raise taxes after promising not to, pass new laws that either put you out of business or reduce customers ( how 'bout them anti- smoking ordinances ?) Or even go into business competing against you using money you are forced to give them. Still, if you manage to buy off a sufficient number of officials, you might even show a profit after 15 years hard labor or so; and you might even be able to EXPAND! , and create new jobs for people , even though the minimum wage laws and all of the other anti- business regulations make this highly unlikely.

Forget It! 

As I said before, this is an approach suited only to the insane, far better for you to forget about opening a business in Savannah entirely. Be come a professional parasite instead.

From the SCCLP Chairman:

Dear sir,

I read with concern your recent editorial on the misfortunes of "CAT", Chatham County's public transportation system, and its projected 1997 operating deficit of $840,000.

You say : "the concept of public transportation in Chatham County deserves support. The concepts of waste and inefficiency, however, deserve a one way trip to the nearest junkyard."

The "concept" that needs a one way ticket to the junkyard is the one you never question that says that a government can and should fund a transportation system, and that it is able do so without waste and inefficiency. To continue believing that a system involving taxpayer funding can be made "efficient", ignoring the evidence right under your nose, is dangerously naive at best. Waste, corruption, inefficiency, and ever increasing future tax dollars to paper over glaring fiscal holes, go with the territory, always. Why is this so hard for you to see ? The only way that the people of Chatham County will ever get cheap, high quality mass transit, is for local government to get out of the way and allow fully private transit companies to compete for clientele without interference from meddling bureaucrats.

To have to point out the benefits of free market competition to a supposedly conservative newspaper promoting an idea that would be laughed out of most of Eastern Europe today is to realize just how far America has drifted from its capitalist roots. Wake up and smell the coffee, before Savannah strangles herself, with your help!

yours, Andrew Amendola,

Chairman, Savannah and Chatham County Libertarian Party.

Trade and Maritime Resort Center Letter

Another recent letter to the "Savannah Morning Stew" from the SCCLP, this time concerning the as yet unbuilt, (let's hope it stays that way) Trade Center.

Editor,

The Savannah and Chatham County Libertarian Party (SCCLP) wishes to go on record as being in unqualified opposition to government funding of a "Trade Center."

Nobody ever mentions that every dollar taxed away by government is a dollar not borrowed, loaned or spent by individuals on cars, food, housing, Nintendo, new businesses etc. Consequently $ millions are sucked away from most local businesses and individuals, for government funded projects. There is NO overall increase in local jobs or business start- ups as most businesses lose sales, and many new business plans are scrapped, because individuals, (including the poor) have less money to spend or loan.

The confiscated $ millions are simply diverted, after the government skims off it's "share," into the eager hands of elite, politically aligned corporations, contractors and other sycophants. They return the favor by donating votes and campaign re-election contributions. This is the road to poverty for Savannah, and is, in short, corporate welfare, something your newspaper recently professed to oppose.

If a Trade Center is such a money maker, how come CSX and friends needs taxpayers to be coerced into funding it? In a September 1995 televised debate with SCCLP Chairman Andrew Amendola, and ex County Commissioner Robert McCorkle, then County Commissioner Patrick Shay admitted, in a rare moment of truth, that a Trade Center would all ways lose money because its a "public service," "like roads." Translation: government and assorted parasites get the gold mine, taxpayers get the shaft, and Savannah's economy sinks further into it's government created " black hole."

yours, David James Whiting,

Vice Chairman , Savannah and Chatham County Libertarian Party.

SCCLP Members at the February Chatham County Commission Meeting

Following is the full text of a statement read by SCCLP Treasurer John Kennington at a public meeting of the Chatham County Commission, at 9am, Friday Feb 21st 1997, at the Wright Square Courthouse, concerning the granting of a renewal of the Jones Communications Cable franchise for Chatham County. (This statement was also presented to the Savannah Morning News):

The Savannah and Chatham County Libertarian Party (SCCLP) would like to point out the following:

1. This meeting has suspiciously been called at a time when it is a serious inconvenience for many who might wish to complain about the cable service in Savannah.

2. We suspect that most people who are dissatisfied with the Cable (so- called) choice in this town will engage in fruitless arguments about how Jones Communications Service might be improved by adding channels, cutting fees and other irrelevancies. THE SCCLP DOES NOT CONSIDER THESE POINTS TO BE VALID. WE BELIEVE THAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THE SERVICE IS UNSATISFACTORY, AND WHY IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO IMPROVE IT AS LONG AS THE CURRENT SITUATION CONTINUES. We therefor feel it is important for US to raise the REAL issue:

3. The SCCLP opposes ALL government granted monopolies in Savannah. These include Cable TV, CAT, trash collection, electricity and water. We oppose these monopolies because they are economically unsound. Monopolies all ways lead to complacency, a severe, and steadily worsening lack of consumer choice and service, and most importantly, constantly escalating service costs. THIS IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE ABSENCE OF MARKET COMPETITION, CREATED BY A GOVERNMENT GRANTED MONOPOLY. The ONLY way that we can lower prices and increase service satisfaction for Cable TV is to allow each consumer to freely pick and choose among as many cable companies as wish to compete for customers in Savannah. Let THEM choose their service, not incompetent bureaucrats. Jones Communications is scared of competition. They have a shoddy service but they wish to deny Savannah residents the freedom to choose other, competing cable services! We urge the local politicians with the power, to be brave, and bring Savannah into the 1990's by denying this monopoly renewal. In the age of Web TV, and 500 channel dish systems, there is no excuse for this utter nonsense. The Federal Government is (rightly or wrongly,) currently investigating Microsoft for alleged "monopoly practices," while down in Savannah GA, we're busy perpetuating them! IN ANY CASE, ULTIMATELY THE MARKET WILL WIN! As the price of competing systems (e.g.. Web TV, satellite dishes and who knows what else) drops , local monopoly cable systems will lose subscribers. If they had to learn to compete RIGHT NOW, they might be able to survive, and the slow death of a once mighty industry might be prevented. Yours Faithfully , the SCCLP .