Cough up some more money or, um, um — YOUR BABIES WILL DIE !!! (Yeah. That’s it.)
Just when I think the NC Chamber can’t sink any lower, they DO. You expect a meme like ”Spend more government money or the babies will die” or ”Don’t cut any government spending or the babies will die and the world will end” from any of the usual left-wing suspects. (Blinking’ Chris, for instance.) But not from the alleged defenders of capitalism in The Old North State.
This is NOT your grandpa’s Chamber of Commerce. It’s not the group who hosts golf tournaments and great banquets locally. The NC Chamber is a gaggle of big businesses, mostly in Charlotte and The Triangle, who employ lobbyists and have government subsidies and / or “favors” as an intricate part of their business plans. They can afford the costs government hands down to us, and have the,um, connections to get exemptions when they want them.
Well, The Chamber thinks we need to spend a whole lot of money RIGHT NOW on roads and “infrastructure.”
The Chamber has a web site up: www.nccantaffordtowait.com . One of the first things you see when you browse to the site is this headline:
Road Funding Urgency: Bridge Collapses Near Yancey County School
Get the message?
Open up your wallets, shell out a lot of money right now, or something bad is going to happen to your kids on the way to school.
All this comes while the governor and his allies in the state House are trying to sell the idea of letting us vote on taking on BILLIONS in new public debt for road and infrastructure maintenance and construction.
The approach favored by the governor and House includes local government matching requirements. If your county or city doesn’t have money sitting ready to match the state’s contribution, your local property taxes and other “fees” and the like are going to go up. 
Bonds involve borrowing based on the assumption that you have a need to pay for that you don’t have money for right now. In a lot of ways, it’s like credit card debt. The way to pay off additional obligations is to increase your cash flow. How does government do that? Shake more money out of us. (And how do they do that?)
The Chamber’s fear-mongering ridiculous site includes two radio ads. “Our economy is on a collision course with poor infrastructure” the first ad tells us. Long-term infrastructure funding reform is what the call it. (That sounds sooooooo much better than vote in favor of forking over even more of your hard-earned money to the state.)
The second a
d on the
site tells you that — if you don’t cough up the cash — something bad will happen to your kids on the way to school and it will be YOUR FAULT.
(It sort of reminds me of former congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-CO) crying on the House floor about how Republicans will starve and kill all of these children if the budget cuts in The Contract With America went through. Actually, it sounds a lot like the marketing for Obama’s stimulus.)
These ads are showing up on radio and TV stations all across the state. They play on your fears. They don’t tell the whole truth. It’s what your chamber dues are paying for.
Why doesn’t The Chamber ask hard questions about where all of that gas tax money has gone? We pay one of the highest gas taxes in the country, and yet we hear all of this moaning from Raleigh about how we just don’t have the money to meet our road needs. Well, how does everyone else in the country do it? The gas tax money is not supposed to be spent on anything but roads!
Why doesn’t The Chamber quiz NCDOT about its construction priorities? Supposedly, all of our kids are in danger. But many of us frequently see paving jobs underway on little-used secondary roads. (Save the babies, first!)
We also get the same kind of moaning about education funding. I thought the lottery was supposed to handle all of that. Why doesn’t The Chamber actually stand up for the little people outside the beltline and demand and accounting of THAT MONEY?
It won’t happen. It’s too much fun climbing in bed with the politicians and trading favors. But do yourself a favor — the next time you see an ad or a mailer with “NC Chamber” on it, remember their record of cheerleading for big government and crony capitalism.
The North Carolina Chamber is not too different than today’s US Chamber. The people running them no longer believe in or support free enterprise or fighting excessive government regulation and spending. Now they are all for big spending, big taxing, government handouts and corporate welfare, and illegal immigration.
The Chamber has also declared war on conservatives politically:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/gop-rep.-dave-brat-u.s.-chamber-wants-to-override-the-people/article/2570552
Today’s Chamber is all about crony capitalism, and is more akin to the role of business in classic fascist economic theory than it is in free enterprise.
Does the state of North Carolina fund any part of The Chamber? Grants, or anything? Most scam outfits like that generally derive some funding from the state or the Feds, or both. (See also Planned Parenthood.)
It appears The Chamber has an excess of revenue, such that it can run ad campaigns like that, and was just wondering how much of that excess funding might be compliments of the NC tax-payer.
Alas, the state affiliate appears to be as liberal as the U.S. Chamber, which supported TARP, the Obama Stimulus (that only three GOP Senators voted for), and, of course, scamnesty.
The US Chamber now also says it is fine with Obamacare.
It is getting hard to tell the difference between the Chamber and the AFL-CIO.
NC Chamber: Keep Common Core or your babies will be dumb!!!!
Just kidding, the Chamber wants to keep Common Core because businesses need tax payer funded training centers to supply them with ‘human capital’.
http://hirestandardsnc.org/
The first time I saw that offensive “we can’t wait” ad on TV, I spent several minutes thinking about the poor roads I encounter while driving all over north central NC- rural and urban. I COULD NOT THINK OF ANY POOR ROADS!!!
Whatta scam. They are LYING like Democrats- a few nuggets of half-truth surrounded by tons of spin.
Well, John Steed has hit the nail on the head!
Guess who is one of the biggest supporters of illegal immigration?
Door #1: The Heritage Foundation.
Door #2: The African American Community.
Door #3: The US Chamber of Commerce.
If you picked Door #3, CONGRATULATIONS! You get your very own Barack Obama Bobble Head doll, a free phone, and unlimited welfare benefits! AND, free cable with porn channels, so you can “screw up a storm, and have an ANCHOR BABY”. Ole!
And on the (increasingly common) occasion that you might be a five times deported illegal alien with multiple felony convictions, don’t worry, mi Amigo, the Southern Border is WIDE OPEN!
You can come back to a Sanctuary City like San Francisco (in the Land of Fruits & Nuts) , and murder an innocent American woman!
Viva Obama!
(Gud Dummit Rad, why don’t you tell us how you REALLY feel)? Thank me very much!