Dec

28

The recent terrorist attempt on flight 253 was a sobering reminder that extremists are alive and well and still want to kill us.

What I found even more interesting was that a few days later the same flight reported a similar incident. A man, also a Nigerian, created the false alert by spending too much time in the restroom. Turns out he was not feeling well.

At 30,000 feet, given the recent circumstances it is hard to fault peoples caution. But, this is not the point. In a post I wrote September 14th of 2009

http://everydollarmatters.com/blog/2009/09/14/frightening-and-intolerant/

I commented…

“All it really will take during this time is one plane into a building, one more meltdown of the economy and the behavior of rational people can change in a very bad way.”

You just saw a very small taste of this. During WWII we rounded up and interned Germany and Japenese citizens. The vast majority of these people were nothing more than hard working Americans that happened to be from nations we were at war with.

If you think America is too civilized for this to happen again you are incredibly naive. We are one attack or economic meltdown from becoming a nation of Glen Becks in the majority.

If you think that our behavior is motivated by race or religion you should think again. If a bunch of neo-nazis or skinheads or other white hate groups started attacking us on our soil we would be rounding up anyone with facial tatoos faster than you can say your name, and free speech would stop being free for these groups.

The fact is that as a nation we will tolerate hatred and other offensive perspectives to the extent that we do not feel threatened as a nation. We once again feel threatened by these extremest bastards. These twisted souls are filled with hatred. It is buried deep within their soul. 

These nut cases are not going away anytime soon.  Trying to maintain our ideals and democratic values is not easy when shit like this happens. But we must. If we do not then these evil dirtbags will have won. This is a very tight rope we are walking.

If these people are truly the minority in the Muslim world then Muslims need to stand up and unite against the extremists. Expecting Americans to do so will only result in a world that become divided by race and nationalism.

We need to remain diligent in our intelligence while still maintaining our civil liberties and freedoms. This is not and has never been a war about tanks and bombs.

One final note. I appluad the father of the captured terroist who five weeks ago reported to us that his son was a threat. We dropped the ball bigtime on this.

 

 

Dec

23

Because we collectively punish our elected officials by voting those into office that feed us the biggest line of bullshit.

In looking at our history of government deficits I still contend that unlike companies and individuals some debt seems to be okay. But, I am not sure, neither are our leaders and economists exactly how much is too much. But, I think most of us agree that we are likely past the limit.

I am with the tea party people on this issue.

If your personal debt were to be transferred to your children would you continue to rack up debt? Most of you would not.

Yet, we seem to have no qualms about letting our national deficit continue to rise. Our current deficit is estImated at around 11.4 trillion dollars. I do not want to get off on a tangent here trying to explain everything. I think we can all agree the amount we owe is pretty gross, and pretty outrageous.

We are also in some pretty tough economic times. Unemployment is high. And, to make matters worse we have an aging populations that are going to take social security and medicare, both ponzi schemes, and literally bankrupt our federal government. Oh, and let us not forget that our national infrastructure (roads, utilities) are an aging mess, as is our education system.  

All is not total doom and gloom. Since the economic meltdown in October 2008 the general American public seems to have wised up (hopefully long term) and consumer debt is falling and personal savings are rising.

I think it is high time for our leaders to get a similar haircut.

But, they ARE NOT going to do this as long as you do not understand what is at stake and what will be required to dig out.

The principles are really quite simple. Getting everyone in our country to swallow the medicine is the hard part.

If we look at the governments deficit (which is our collective deficit) there are essentially three things that can be done to dig ourselves out of debt.

1) The government can increase revenues by increasing interest rates, and through the increase of taxes.

2) The government can balance its budget and not spend more than it takes in. Our 2008 budget was 2.9 trillion, the government took in 2.5 trillion, a deficit of 400 billion. But, 400 billion is not the real number. We spent 600 billion in social security surplus to fund the debt. Yes, that is correct, the money left over that you and I have been paying into social security is actually spent on other aspects of the Federal Budget.  This is a different issue we need to take up at a later time.

3) We export at least as many goods to other countries (in dollars) that we import. Did you know that our 3rd biggest export is scrap metal to foreign countries. They recycle these metals and sell them back to us as finished products.

Now, for the bitter medicine we all need to swallow.

To increase revenues
- The Fed needs to raise the Federal Funds rate. It is currently 1/2 percent. To put this in perspective for every trillion the government lends at this rate they receive 5 billion in revenue. Raising this rate to 3% would raise an additional 25 billion in revenue and lending rates would still be affordable.
- Raising taxes seems to be to much a lightening rod. Ok, our GDP is around 13 trillion dollars. If we were to enact a national sales tax of 3% of our GDP for 5 years on 10 trillion of our 13 trillion GDP amount this would along raise 1.5 trillion dollars which would be enough to pay off most of our deficit owed to foreign countries.
- Make an investment to put people back to work. It is estimated that over the past three years 7.5 million jobs were lost. Every million people we can put back to work convervatively represents another 4 billion dollars in collected taxes just at the federal level.
- Let the 3 Bush tax cuts expire. Before you get all bent out of shape. If your adjusted gross income is 50,000 and you are filing married jointly this meant you paid $48 less in 2008 that you did in 2007, and $32 less in 2009 that in 2008. I chose 50,000 as this is close to the reported median family income in 2007. The savings of repealing these tax cuts add an additional 12 billion in government revenues. You and I would be missing $1.53 a week. That is $1.53 on $50,000 in annual income. Not a big deal to you and I. However, an additional 12 billion can go a long way.

To Manage the Federal Budget
Simple
- The government only gets to spend what they bring in.
- We spend this money wiser. Easily, we could find 25% of the money our government spends as wasteful. That is a pile of cash. It is time for a fiscal haircut. By the same token, after we pay down or pay off the foreign debt we owe we takes the years of surplus and we save them for the rainy days. If you analyze most periods of severe economic downturns since the turn of the century you will find they are preceeded by years of government surpluses. Is this a coincidence?

Balance Imports and Exports as a zero sum game
- We begin to do this by investing in green energy and reducing our dependency on foreign oil. By doing this we also create jobs for the future and start taking better care of our environment.

If you think we can get out of the mess we are in by not raising taxes and decreasing spending you are a moron, plain and simple. There are many on the left and many on the right that want fiscal responsibility. But, there are still not enough.

Why?

Because so many of you do not seem to really understand what is going on. It is time to get educated and time to demand our leaders to be fiscally responsible.

Because we elect the person that tells us the best line of BS. I can lower your taxes and increase the services I provide you. We need to quit being fools on this. If our employer said they were going to cut our pay and by doing this we could increase our standard of living we would not buy it.

Wake up America.
 

 

Dec

18

The Republican party to the core is morally bankrupt and obstructionist. If you work at Fox News, are named Rush Limbaugh, or are one of their shrinking base you would not think so. For the rest of American (the majority) we see you for who you are. We see that party over country is your mantra.

You are sorry excuses for Americans. You may win some seats back in the 2010 elections. Winning back seats in areas of the country that are conservative and went to conservative Democrats (assuming you can even manage this) will not be that big of a deal.

Most of America (including many in the Tea Party movement) are not so stupid and see right through you. Assuming you can survive as a party it will be quite some time and take real, substantative action on your part to get back the trust of America.

Ronnie and Dwight are rolling over in their graves! You will never again get my vote.

Dec

17

The majority elected you partly on Healthcare Reform. Here is what you need to do.

White House / President Obama - Chill Out. You have time to get this done.

House - Show some stones, and stand up to the Senate. Mobilize and force them to go into reconciliation.

Senate - If you do not have 51 votes fess us now, otherwise get you butts into reconciliation and get the Bill back to where it needs to be.

Any questions? No. Good. Get busy!

 

Dec

13

First, I cannot believe how ill informed ALL news organizations and many political pundants are when it comes to understanding basic facts. Facts that are readily available.

We live in an era when access to information and media is available for everyone. And yet, we seem to live in an age where spin and bullshit are at an all-time high.

If we want to get back to conservatism in terms of fiscal discipline I am afraid that statistically the Democrats are the ones that have been fiscally conservative since 1976.

Many of us have a hard time understanding economics. So, lets look at this in the easiest way possible. I am going to take the side of the Tea Party people that are outraged and calling for responsible government spending. So, we are going to accept their position and take the premise that the government should not spend more than it makes. (I too am for responsible government spending)

Credit and overleverage has put our nation (government, business, and the people) in the predicament we are in today. In simpler terms, we spent more than we had to spend and that is why we are where we are today.

Let us look at government spending starting first with deficits racked up during various presidential administrations. To be fair, the numbers are adjusted using the consumer price index (CPI). The consumer price index is a formula that adjusts a dollar so we can compare money from one date in time to another. This should make sense to you as prices always seem to go up.

Deficits under Democratic Presidents Since 1976.

President     Deficit (Actual $)   CPI Adjusted Deficit   Avg Yrly Deficit (CPI Adj)

Carter          227.4 billion         673.9 billion              168.5 billion

Clinton         192.2 billion         514.6 billion                64.3 billion

Deficits under Republican Presidents Since 1976

President     Deficit (Actual $)   CPI Adjusted Deficit  Avg Yrly Deficit (CPI Adj)

Reagan       1,338.6 billion        2,630.5 billion            328.8 billion

Bush I          933.2 billion         1,444.8 billion            361.2 billion

Bush II      1,630.5 billion*       1,897.82 billion           271.1 billion

* Statistics for the last year of the Bush Administration have not yet been released. In that year alone 800 billion was allocated for TARP. Also, during the Bush Administration the Wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan were not included in these numbers!

You need to go back to the Eisenhower administration to find a fiscally conservative President in terms of the Federal deficit. Eisenhower only racked up 148 billion (CPI adjusted) during his eight year administration (18.5 billion per year average). Note: He was the president that enacted the visionary Federal Highway Act, first conceived by FDR.

If we look at the last 96 years. During the 48 that a Republican was president the average CPI Adjusted spending average 140 billion per year. During the Democrats 46 years the average is 109 billion per year.

Now, since spin has become so ridiculous and NOT based upon facts I want to one other look at these numbers. We will now look at the deficits based upon the makeup of the Congress and the Senate. This is a little tricker to deal with as there are two branches. What I did to be pure is took only the years that the Democrats or Republicans held both a majority in both the House and the Senate, and the President was from the same party. Here are the numbers since 1976. Again, to be fair the numbers are adjusted using the CPI.

Democrats controlled House, Senate, President - 1977-1980

 168.5 billion per year average deficit.

Republicans controlled House, Senate, President - 2001-2006

250.6 billion per year average deficit.

Neutral (At least one of the three branches of government is the other Party)

230.2 billion  per year average deficit.

These statistics paint a simple and compelling picture. When I originally set out to gather this information I was outraged by our growing deficits. I was under the impression that the Democrats were the fiscally irresponsible party. I was outraged by our mounting deficits long before the tea party movement began and was out to prove how deficits were going to kill us as I was under the impression that our government running deficits was a new thing.

Ha!

We have been running deficits since the country was founded.

If you would like more information on this go to the following link.

http://www.everydollarmatters.com/Government_Spending.php

Our economy is a very complex beast. But, to understand it we need to put it into simple terms and come up with simple solutions. We need pragmatism, not reactionary policy.  Let me put it in these terms for you.

If you have a credit card debt of $10,000 and are unemployed (which is a situation many of you are in), would you try to pay down your debt by paying more than the minimum monthy payments?

NO, not unless you were a fool. But, once you got a job and your income started coming in you would want to start paying of this debt.

Well, currently our nation is in a similar situation. We need to spend money in meaningful ways (MEANINGFUL WAYS!!!) to stimulate the economy and jobs. If we can do this it will increase the tax base so that we can begin to pay down our debt. The debt we need to retire is the debt that is owed to foreign countries. This represents about 25% of the national deficit.

As a final note. When anyone is giving you their point of view listen carefully to what they are saying. Are they backing up their position with information and details that can readily be verfied? I do not care whether they are from the Lef of the Right or somewhere in the middle.

If all you do is get riled up by 30 second commercials. If your opinions are formed by people that are short on verifiable facts then you need to take a close look in the mirror.

 

 

 

 

Dec

8

The AP reported that Consumer Credit fell by 3.51 billion in October. They went on to report that demand for revolving credit fell 9.3%. But, the number is even better as auto loans are included in this category and actually rose by 2.6%. Revolving credit has fallen for the past 13 months. (Source: NY Times Dec 8th, page B7)

The report implied that this trend could be a problem to the economy recovering I about fell over. Are you kidding?

Americans, you need to be commended for paying down your debt. Spend what you make and nothing more. In fact, you are saving more and this too is a good thing, as Banks actually get to loan X number of dollars based on the $$$ of deposits they have on hand. So actually, savings is good for our recovery!!!

While we are not close to being out of the woods, and I still think something smells funny with the banks , but, lets take a quick inventory of the good.

Last October we were in the face of a complete and total meltdown of the economy. At that time your government, both parties, stepped up to the plate and took steps to stop the bleeding.

After the Obama election our President and the Democratic party have continued working on this matter. Much work is still left, but…

- We have received back 500 billion of the 700 billion in TARP money.
- Americans are saving more
- Americans are shedding debt that is bad (credit cards!)

Our government has done what was needed to help a complete meltdown. Now, hopefully they will reapply this TARP money to stimulate job growth in meaningful and enduring ways, like building up green infrastructure and investing in education. Frankly the government has acted far more like capitalists than our captains of business and industry. Hopefully big business they will continue to become more responsible with their balance sheets.

The road to change is about being fiscally responsible, from the government down to each one of us. We have a long way to go, but we must continue this pattern of behavior in sustaining ways.

If we can get people back to work, we can soon begin paying down our deficit again, which if you recall President Clinton started doing during his administration.

Good work America. Keep it up.

Dec

7


Dec

6

I just watched this documentary. I do not use this word very often. It was provacative. I was also scary. It was supported by fact and parallels in history that are hard to deny.

What is scary to me is that the work of the last Administration is still in place. We have become a nation so scared and divided that I think all it may take is one more substantial attack, or economic melt down to push us over the edge.

My question for the Obama administration is why are we still employing Blackwater, a para-military organization?

Dec

3

AP News

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33973665/ns/health-womens_health/

“A government task force said Monday that most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50″.

I have been listening to the discourse on both sides of this issue. I suspect that in some cases it might be okay to wait until fifty, but I do not know for sure.

I do know this.

My wife is 45 years old and just underwent a lumpectomy and is shortly going to start Chemo. She was badgered by our primary care provider we have had for close to twenty years. He told her at an exam months ago that if she did not schedule a mamogram she would need to find another doctor. She was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer. For those of you that are unfamiliar with breast cancer, there are five stages.

Five is the worst.

She has dense breast tissue so a self-exam may not have revealed anything. The mamogram only revealed that they needed to do further tests.

When it comes to the human body there is and likely will never be “one size fits all.”

I will let you draw you own conclusions as to your opinion on this matter. I suspect you already know mine.

Thanks Dr. Thompson for preemting what could have been the greatest tragedy in my life.

 

 

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