Federal Hatcheries Closing?

[Jerry Rapp]

the too big to fail, should have failed.

[Al Agnew]

the too big to fail, should have failed.

Maybe...but I'm close enough to "retirement" to be thinking about starting to draw out money out of the stock market instead of putting it in, and there are a whole lot of people who are in the same boat. Letting them fail would almost certainly have tanked the market and the economy worse than it did anyway. That's what I mean when I say that there are too many people with skin in the game. They've got us by the short hairs...they've got the country by the short hairs. Maybe, if they'd been allowed to fail, the economy would have bounced back in a decade or so, but a whole lot of people would have suffered in the meantime.

[Bird Watcher]

I think the most amazing thing about this thread is that I see known, staunch, supporters of both sides of the political fence loosely agreeing on something. Maybe it's indicitave of the population. It gives me a little, just a little, hope. Nah, probably not though. Come election time everyone will probably just pull the familiar handle and blame the other guy.

[Flysmallie]

but a whole lot of people would have suffered in the meantime.

Take a look around, a whole lot of people have been suffering. But not the guys in Wall Street, nope the politicians had to protect their money. When people make bad decisions in their business and it starts to crumble, that's their fault, not mine. It should have failed and we could have used that money to pay the people back.

[kjackson]

It's interesting to see how threads develop away from the original intent. I was only interested to see if there would be a push to keep mitigation hatcheries open. Now, the question may be moot. This is from the Fishing Wire:

It appears pressure brought to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) by some members of Congress as well as the media has halted another effort by the agency to shutter its National Fish Hatcheries.

As both The Outdoor Wire and The Fishing Wire have been reporting in recent weeks, the FWS has kept its official plans safely under wraps, but when its apparent intentions were revealed by inside sources and news agencies, several members of Congress intervened in an attempt to block its efforts.

To many, it appears the agency desperately wants to shed its responsibility to the mitigation stocking business, and it is hoped by most within the fishing industry a long-term solution can be found.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander has a longstanding record as an advocate for hunting, fishing and practical conservation of natural resources. He's especially been there when it comes to protecting federal hatcheries (in his state) in the past three years, including brokering a three-year agreement in 2012 to get the Tennessee Valley Authority to help fund the two federal hatcheries in Tennessee.

Besides those facilities threatened in Tennessee, targeted hatcheries in South Dakota, Georgia, Arkansas, and Kentucky, provide jobs and economic benefits, and further the objectives of providing outdoor recreational opportunities for all U.S. citizens.

Alexander's office on Wednesday Sept. 18 announced it had reached an agreement with Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell to halt any action on a "hatchery review" to be released next month, which was expected to recommend the closure of the mitigation hatcheries. Jewell also ordered the FWS to seek "longtime solutions."

"I appreciate Interior Secretary Jewell heeding the concerns of Tennesseans and others around the country who depend upon these hatcheries to replace trout that are destroyed by federal locks and dams," Alexander said. "Members of Congress spoke out, and the Department of the Interior responded. Now, the nearly 900,000 Tennesseans and visitors who buy fishing licenses in our state can once again have faith that Tennessee's trout fishing will remain some of the best in the country."


Sen. Alexander's release continued: "If federal locks and dams are going to destroy fish, then the federal government has a responsibility to replace them.

"Hopefully in coming weeks we'll be able to report on true progress to keep these facilities open and continuing to provide recreational opportunities and the economic benefits that enjoyed by all citizens."

- Etta Pettijohn

© 2013 The Fishing Wire.

- See more at: http://www.thefishingwire.com/story/299366#sthash.AvlNWLqh.dpuf

[Al Agnew]

Take a look around, a whole lot of people have been suffering. But not the guys in Wall Street, nope the politicians had to protect their money. When people make bad decisions in their business and it starts to crumble, that's their fault, not mine. It should have failed and we could have used that money to pay the people back.

Of course they have been...but a whole lot more people probably would have been suffering if they'd been allowed to fail, and it wouldn't have been the guys on Wall Street, who always have golden parachutes, money and equity stashed away, and politicians in their pockets. It would have been the stockholders who suffered, and that includes everybody with a mutual fund or retirement plan these days. That's my whole point. You want, rightly, to punish those who caused the companies to crumble through their own mismanagement. But when it comes to companies the size of those that are "too big to fail", that ain't who would suffer. You and I would.

[Flysmallie]

But when it comes to companies the size of those that are "too big to fail", that ain't who would suffer. You and I would.

I already did suffer through it. I'm glad you were lucky enough. But if you really look at it the only ones that were complaining about bailing them out were the ones that were closest to retirement. Oh and the piece of crap politicians. You knew the risk when you put your money in. But it's all good because YOUR money was protected (that my kids can pay for later) and they gave themselves all big fat bonuses for screwing the country. Time to quit living in fantasy land Al.

There's a pizza place down the street from me. He has great food and a great atmosphere, but he's made some real stupid decisions and is going to have to close. This is going to hurt his family, his wife, his kids. I'll let them know that you will be sending them a check to make up for their mistakes.

Too big to fail? Get real, you gotta stop listening to politicians.

[Al Agnew]

I already did suffer through it. I'm glad you were lucky enough. But if you really look at it the only ones that were complaining about bailing them out were the ones that were closest to retirement. Oh and the piece of crap politicians. You knew the risk when you put your money in. But it's all good because YOUR money was protected (that my kids can pay for later) and they gave themselves all big fat bonuses for screwing the country. Time to quit living in fantasy land Al.

There's a pizza place down the street from me. He has great food and a great atmosphere, but he's made some real stupid decisions and is going to have to close. This is going to hurt his family, his wife, his kids. I'll let them know that you will be sending them a check to make up for their mistakes.

I'm not list

I'm not listening to politicians, I'm listening to common sense. As we all know, the economy tanked even with the bailouts. It still hasn't recovered. Nobody knows for sure what would have happened if those too big to fail companies hadn't been bailed out, but every economist (not politician) agrees that the recession would have been far deeper. You might think that only the people with money in the stock market would have been hurt (and my point has always been that there are now a LOT of people in the stock market), but we've already seen what happened to jobs with the recession the way it was.

I'm not saying it was right to bail them out. It ticks me off, too. But what I'm saying is that banking companies should have never been allowed to get that big in the first place, and once they did, the repercussions from allowing them to fail very well could have been far worse that what we have gone through.

As for the pizza guy, this is one time when you can't equate a small business to these financial mega-corporations. The pizza guy is not too big to fail, it's as simple as that. When he closes his doors, he and his few employees will be the only ones to suffer. NO company SHOULD be too big to fail, but the reality is that they are.

[Feathers and Fins]

Oh no you did not bring up to big to fail! Tell me Al, and excuse me if this comes off rude but its a very soar subject that has hit home many many times. Who is to big to fail the Stock and Bond and Banks and Detroit Auto makers? or the AMERICAN FAMILY?

To big to fail! HA!!! Try to big to not keep for Political funding of campaigns! How many small business were not saved? How many small banks were not saved? How about this one FAMILIES who lost everything, houses foreclosed on, Cars repossessed jobs lost! Im sorry the AMERICAN FAMILY should have been to IMPORTANT TO FAIL. Yet it is not governments job to get involved in that either.

NO SIR it is not our governments job to decide who is to big to fail or to small to save, government should have let all of it fail, we would have rebounded and much faster than anyone thinks because it would have forced government to downsize and to take actions that benefit small business which is the heart and soul of this nation and always has been. History has shown one thing to always be a constant and true. If you over burden the people with Taxes the country will FAIL. This is the road we are on and have been since the creation of the Income tax and the entitlements programs. Prosperity of a nation only comes when its people are prosperous and the people are not prosperous but they are over taxed.

[Old plug]

You know when i mentioned that about the country could have a revolution. That is the first time i ever discussed it in a public forum and I am sorry I did. I am amazed that were so much closer than I even thought we were.