tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31175972733715177322024-03-21T19:22:58.227-07:00Melvin H. Shapiro"There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. The danger must be growing for the rowers keep on rowing, And they're certainly not showing any signs of slowing!" Willy WonkaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-38361627562212022242016-03-18T16:22:00.000-07:002016-03-18T16:22:39.057-07:00The Emergence of the New Aristocratic Era<blockquote class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458336794159_6334" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em; text-align: justify;" type="cite">
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<span class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458315631425_2796" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">I think we are headed back to a form of the Aristocratic era that preceded the Industrial Revolution (IR). The IR </span>changed the world in an unprecedented manner. Jobs, Opportunity, wide spread Equality, and Wealth; the creation of a huge Middle Class. But no one saw it coming to an abrupt end; <i class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458315631425_3309" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">What futurists foresaw did not happen... e.g. a world in which all humanity enjoyed leisure (not enforced unemployment) and wealth (not minimum slave wages nor the humiliating dole).</i> Think for a moment what "slave wages" are are: (eliminating "ownership" of the person) slave wages pay an amount that feeds and clothes and provides minimum housing - nothing more; exactly what slave holders of yore provided. </div>
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The governments of the 1ST World are the new slave owners, but have not provided jobs for their slaves, nor income from those jobs with which to feed the kitty to keep the system going. Instead 1ST World Governments are simply dissipating the wealth that was generated during the IR period And worse they have borrowed against wealth that has for intents disappeared. Even emerging economies are dissipating their natural wealth: Venezuela, the Ivory Coast, etc. </div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-814546">In the richest country, the USA, every man, woman, and child each face a community debt of over $60,000 - each!</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-814546"> </a> </div>
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<span class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458315631425_3310" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">What a glorious, albeit short, period the IR was. You and I received the best of it and are living to witness the end of it. The period we are in right now is what I'll call, for lack of a catchy phrase, the period of Equity Dissipation/Debt Acquisition</span>; it will be shorter than the period of equity building that occurred during the latter stage of the IR since spending is quick, thoughtless, and requires neither skill nor effort. We are seeing it all around us: Governments of every stripe in debt up to their noses, most people struggling with debt, home ownership declining, home equities evaporating. Even a minimal college education encourages debt and in many fields requires huge debt levels. All only exacerbating and furthering the dissipation of wealth. </div>
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<span class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458315631425_3927" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">I see it in my own family and in most of the families I am familiar with: the adult children of many would be poor if it weren't for government subsidy and dependence upon parents. Compare those to the economic health of the previous generation: that role was reversed! That generation <i class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458315631425_4135" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">aided</i> in the financial support of their parents.</span></div>
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The near <i class="yiv3945967974" id="yiv3945967974yui_3_16_0_ym18_1_1458315631425_4717" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">Future</i> is not rosy: No jobs for the hoi polloi, no broadly enjoyed equity creation. Further concentration of enormous wealth into the hands of the few: Gates, Zuckerberg, Allen, Buffett, Trump, etc., the new Aristocrats. They wield enormous power both economic and political. They generate jobs, but few high paying jobs compared to the era of the IR. </div>
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The new Aristocrat's vast wealth is a result of the nature of the Technological Revolution in which a handful of people (or even a single individual), using digital tools creates a product (using another digital tool, the simple computer, that needs no direct support of a broad spectrum of industrial might - as did say the IR era automobile industry) that when combined with modern financial resources generates - almost overnight - billions of dollars for the "inventors" of products like Facebook! </div>
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The nature of that particular product needs little infrastructural support: little or physical industrial development, no wholesale or retail distribution apparatus... nothing but another $200 digital tool - the iPhone.... which, by the way, needs no telephone lines, no phone poles, no telephone operators, no switchboards, no phone repair men, no millions of miles of copper wires, etc. </div>
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Cheers, Mel</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-57760044869936128372016-03-05T16:34:00.000-08:002016-03-05T16:34:20.287-08:00This Screwy Election Can Get More Bazaar!<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5586" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> How stupid I've been! Here I am, 75 years old and all those years I've thought that we had free and open elections. Closely following this current Presidential election cycle has opened my eyes: we don't. <span class="yiv3559530815" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5388">The </span><span class="yiv3559530815" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5390">election of the President and Vice President of the United States</span><span class="yiv3559530815" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5392"> is an </span><a class="yiv3559530815" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indirect_election" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5394" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Indirect election">indirect vote</a><span class="yiv3559530815" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5396"> in which citizens cast ballots for a slate of members of the </span><a class="yiv3559530815" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5398" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-image: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Electoral College (United States)">U.S. Electoral College</a><span class="yiv3559530815" id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5400">. Period.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5658" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5687">The states hold primaries/caucus, wherein citizens choose a "preferred" candidate. After the state primaries the</span> "Parties" hold a convention - that's where the <i id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457210570451_19954">real </i>voting begins. Democrat's have something called Super Delegates; these actually pick the nominee: Those Supers Ds are the Ins that can use their votes for anybody, someone that might not have even appeared on a single primary/caucus ballot! They can simply "name" their candidate using the power of the Super D's. Similarly the GOP can at their convention choose anyone they wish to appear on the ballot.... Unless that GOP aspirant has won 1236 delegates thru the primary/caucus system prior to the convention; if none has won 1236 Delegates a "brokered" convention is set to make the choice of Nominee. The number of "votes" citizens have cast for individuals is irrelevant.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5585" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Then once "The Parties" have chosen Nominees we the citizens can vote for one. But wait, there's even more: regardless for whom you have cast your vote, all you've done is made a choice. "Electors" then cast their vote, it could be for whomever they choose, for the Candidate.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457210570451_47247" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Bottomline? Unless there is a landslide election - from Day 1 - your vote and mine are simply meaningless.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5416"><span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5528" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5860" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">One Caveat: I think this was covered in my 7TH Grade Civics Class, but somehow I still thought our system was superior to the Soviets. All very confusing - on purpose I think - and I may well be wrong on the details....</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457210570451_5766" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Voting is simply a way of allowing ill informed citizens <i id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457210570451_5767">TO THINK </i>that it was they who elected their President.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3559530815yui_3_16_0_1_1457208267304_5909" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Cheers, Mel</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-56846640568925812372016-01-20T15:31:00.000-08:002016-01-20T15:31:26.256-08:00The Conservative Republican Establishment?<div id="yiv7817675159yui_3_16_0_1_1453312385942_6858" style="background-color: white;">
<span style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who and what is the "Conservative Republican Establishment</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">?" Dinosaurs or Fantasy Creatures? We only know that they are unsatisfiable. They threaten to vote for an Independent, they threaten to vote for Hillary or Bernie. Or they threaten to not vote at all! Unless they get their way... Fine. Be the spoiled kid on the block... take your ball and go home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i style="font-weight: bold;">These folks are living in some sort of Fantasyland.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> So, who was the last President of these folks? Will no one will fit their bill this time.. again? It still comes down to two available choices. Choice One: Vote Trump or don't vote, which is a vote in favor of the status quo or worse, continued galloping socialism and reckless spending. Granted, you'll not be voting for the "Conservative," but you will be voting for the America that made us great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> And then there are those <i>mindless conservatives: Spiteful. </i>They choose Choice Two: They would actually prefer the corrupt Clintons to Trump! The only rational I could guess at is that they are in the mental state of "happy-power-lite." Their elected are happy to enjoy the occasional ride in Air Force 1, and an invite to the occasional State Dinner, and of course get the perks of a comfortable life in D.C. (now the third richest City in America, in spite of the fact that they make nothing!). These are sycophants to power and in reality have no principles. But make the same sounds of the conceited elitist progressives that got us here. Where they ran for office there must have already been a "D" on the ticket... but hey, there was an "R" spot open! These mindless ones are free to continue their bitching without responsibility. There is the Third Choice: Don't vote. Don't vote don't care. Not a choice of the thinking person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i style="font-weight: bold;">The reality of the situation has to be confronted. There is no </i></span><b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Conservative Republican Establishment</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> only a Fantasyland of Republican Conservatism... i.e. there is no "there" there. We have to wake-up and face reality.</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> We will never get rid of most of the social welfare programs the progressives have been able to initiate but perhaps we could at least return to the concept of "country," security, and opportunity. Our government has become an organization of thugs and muggers. Those in power see citizens as targets and will do what ever is required to push their agenda. Cut-off their money you say? Go ahead, they'll just print it. And that's exactly what has happened... to the tune of twenty one trillion(!) dollars and growing! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <i style="font-weight: bold;">We have to get real! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> The national debt - - with the help and assistance of the Establishment Republican Party is drowning us. Imagine what will happen when interest rate rise? How will the debt be paid then? With confiscatory taxes or with the printing presses that will, with every dollar printed, eventually destroy the value of all those already printed? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> I'm looking for a leader that can change the thinking process of government. A government that can help return America to a business oriented national agenda... away from the progressive one that will end in the destruction of the country that I see as America. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i> Profitable American Business - the only viable way to paying down the debt.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Check out the short film below... Donald Trump is the orator. The Donald is the only candidate qualified to get us back on track.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.ijreview.com/2016/01/511284-this-trump-campaign-video-just-released-is-sending-chills-up-peoples-spines/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=video-social-mobile-bar&utm_campaign=Sharing" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1453325223765_2522" style="background-color: transparent; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.ijreview.com/2016/01/511284-this-trump-campaign-video-just-released-is-sending-chills-up-peoples-spines/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=video-social-mobile-bar&utm_campaign=Sharing</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cheers, Mel</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-90680947609895168212016-01-19T21:06:00.002-08:002016-01-19T21:06:45.479-08:00I Like Trump!<div dir="ltr" id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453152883176_3467" style="background-color: white;">
<span id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453262713802_7893" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It's a matter of <i id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453152883176_3466">choices. </i>The political establishment on both sides of the isle have had little regard for the Constitution since the turn of the last century, especially so since the years of the Great Depression. That said.... we aren't going back to an earlier time.... it just doesn't work like that. We move forward until the system breaks. To me Trump promises a partial restoration of our system. I say partial because we Americans, like all peoples are still humans, not perfect, but still better than the current crop. Obama has denied that - - Hillary promised last night to continue the Obama "legacy." Sanders wants to break the system. Neither Rubio, Kasich, Christie, nor Bush have the magic touch to pull us together, and they all represent the Establishment. Carly, Ben, Rand, Rick, or Huckabee have no chance of getting the nomination. Nice, earnest folk all, but they don't have the charisma required to win the Presidency, which Mr. Obama proved is necessary in today's celebrity crazed world.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453262713802_7892" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That leaves Ted. Ted is a true Conservative but is disliked by both parties. Ted has no business experience - which is sorely needed. Can he get along with Congress? Not well if his record is any indication. And they know him... know his weaknesses and without a clear Mandate could ignore him. But my biggest concern is that he is an Ideologue. We, I think, have had our fill of Ideology.</span></div>
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<span id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453262713802_7891" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>America to survive must have good dose of business. Profitable Business. With the rest of the world joining the industrial/technological age competition is tougher than ever. Trump can deal with business. And business is the only route to prosperity. Prosperity is the only solution to the looming abyss of debt and insolvency: Twenty one trillion dollars(!) of government debt, perhaps Seventy trillion of unfunded total debt. The interest on these debts can only be paid with profits afforded by prosperity; or by inflation, insolvency and bankruptcy.</i> </span></div>
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<span id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453262713802_7929" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Bringing it down to Trump this is the way I see it: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />1. He ain't in it for the money; he's got plenty, more than he knows what to do with<br />2. He has no commitment to any party nor to any lobby<br />3. His power will vanish if his base - the public - turns against him. Remember that he has no number 2 as ultimate support; only "the people."<br />4. His swagger, his self confidence, his "John Wayne" is powerful. I see him as the American I grew-up admiring.<br />5. He is very smart, very accomplished, very generous, and has a beautiful family... they are all winners! These things mean something to me.He's not perfect. None are.<br />5. Lastly, <i id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453152883176_4009">He is not an Ideologue; </i>he does not scare me as did (and still does) Mr. Obama and Hillary and Sanders.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1453264657236_2492" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This last is important as he won't be shoving his "wouldn't it be wonderful if just..." ideas, as have been fostered upon us by the Establishment, down our throats. Like Ronald Reagan was, he is the throw-back now needed; the throw-back to the American that we loved on the big screen of AMERICA the GREAT. He is <i id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453152883176_4083">our</i> last ratchet-latch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1453264657236_2510">Trump: A Happy </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1453264657236_3611">Warrior.</span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv3542388254yui_3_16_0_1_1453262713802_7975" style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Cheers, Mel</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-54374877475343360312012-10-12T18:58:00.002-07:002012-10-12T18:58:16.758-07:00Hillary Off the Bus?<br />
<div id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469054" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 19px;">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072">Libya. As you know, our Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and 3 other government employees were murdered in Benghazi, Libya on 9/11/12. Ambassador Stevens is reported to have been horribly tortured and brutally raped before he died. No US Marines to protect him..... at Administration direction.... no guns, no bullets in these most dangerous Embassies of the Middle East (there was a "local" Libyan security man employed who "disappeared" when the attack occurred!) - - BUT we do have Marines, with weapons, in places like ....... PARIS!? AND all in spite of the FACT that our Libyan Embassy ASKED for 12 Security Men, BECAUSE THEY KNEW they were about to be attacked, but were still DENIED protection. </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072"><br id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469089" /></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072">During the VP debate Biden stated that "we didn't know the Embassy asked for help....." and this in spite of the FACT that under sworn testimony by State Intel this week that YES THEY WERE INFORMED!</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072"><br id="yui_3_2_0_156_1350088844690117" /></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469054" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal;">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072">Now the Administration is saying it was the State Dept.'s fault...... yep, get the bus door open, Hillary is about to go out and under! The White House is NEVER AT FAULT. NEVER. Always someone else's fault. ALWAYS. </span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072"><b>Think about it: 9/11; Libya; Al Qaida flags flying high; Embassy Begs for Marines....</b></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072"><b>I think about it: I think.... WHY?</b></span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072">I wonder if Bill will continue campaigning for BHO?</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_156_135008884469072">Cheers, Mel Shapiro</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-12635583895320227142012-09-05T21:45:00.000-07:002012-09-05T21:46:25.710-07:00Our MONEY is at stake....<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv1782401521" id="yiv1782401521bodyDrftID" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: separate; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><tbody style="width: 1010px;">
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><b>M O N E Y, </b>our money, every country's money, has a reason behind its value: some (<i>were) </i>backed with gold, other's - oil (and every manner of natural resources), still others the value of their labor, or their geography, etc. Since America left the gold standard our money's value has been based on a couple of things, amongst them are the wealth of our natural resources: now depleting; our political stability: now polarizing; military strength: waning; the educational level of its citizens: dumbing-down; and perhaps the most important when combined with that list is the value of American's <i>industriousness: now being stifled .... by our own government! </i> </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The value of and therefore the purchasing power of the US dollar has, in the past decade, severely diminished - - all the while the country's <i>foreign</i> debt has grown dramatically. Just compare the purchasing-power of the American dollar to the NZ - DOUBLED, the Australian - DOUBLED, and the Canadian - UP 50%! American Illiteracy is deepening as the rest of the world's increases. Cultural icons, the American cultural touchstones, are being systematically destroyed, the traditional family exists in fewer and fewer homes; the church is on the way out. </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The "profit" of an economy is, just as in a business, at the margins. By that I mean profits come at the end of efficient business practice; in a nation-wide economy that comes when there is effectively full-employment.<i> A Big Government taking of an ever bigger slice of whatever success remains and giving it to non-producers is a recipe for a continuing downward slide!</i></span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If these events continue on the course now carved-out, <i><b>our wealth, yours and mine</b>,</i> will not be enough to keep us from poverty. it is imperative that our money continue to have <i>value, </i>since we are not rich enough to have "a diversified portfolio," i.e. our own off-shore bank as do the truly rich; they'll be rich regardless. </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We need a businessman, in particular one that is a <i>turnaround specialist</i> as CEO - President, to restore value to our dollar. You've heard the adage: "Voters always vote their pocketbooks." Now that so many are in the pocket of the government either via employment or entitlement, and since we have been politically identified and segregated by the world's greatest community organizer, many voters will vote for more government entitlement - regardless of the final effect on our <i>financial worth</i>; like eating the goose that lays those shiny eggs. </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This election is truly about choosing sides.<b> I'm on the side of those values that made my country, -- going back to the boats -- successful.</b> </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What side are you on? Deciding to change the character, values and fundamental ethical positions of a country is dangerous. Like war plans; once the plan gets underway one can toss out the plan..... things don't necessarily work out the way one might wish. Ask Adolf, Hirohito, and Napoleon. </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We are in trouble when so many simply want their fellow citizens' stuff! Next thing you know they'll want their heads too!</span><br />
<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
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<span class="yiv1782401521Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: medium;">Cheers, Mel </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-56721514508728201932012-08-19T14:36:00.000-07:002012-08-19T14:36:16.366-07:00The Death of the American City
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I've thought about this problem: <a href="http://am870theanswer.com/column.aspx?id=ea29c24e-51ad-48b0-a71d-85b384d12f68">John Ransom: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px;">Union Greed and Politician Apathy are Killing Cities</span></a></span>, in
the past, and although Ransom is right in his analysis of the immediate problem
facing many cities, this is only part of what is "killing" cities. Some cities,
like NYC, Boston, Seattle, and others are not being killed - - yet. What, in my
opinion, <i>has</i> killed many cities are the same forces that have killed
the mainstream media and is killing other sectors of the “old city” economy.... Societal Evolution and the Invention of the Internet. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Today there is little need for big
cities. Sweatshops have all but disappeared.
Manufacturing has disintermediated, as has much of the old traditional
economy: Supplier > Manufacturer > Wholesaler > Retailer to finally,
Buyer, has been replaced with: Just-In-Time Manufacturer > Buyer; and this to large degree has been facilitated via the Internet. Even the traditional salesforce
has been severely diminished. In the traditional economy, of just a decade or
two ago, the old model business chain clustered in and around the city,
providing millions with jobs. Many of those "jobs" have simply
disappeared - never to return. Not just outsourced manufacturing jobs, but most "middleman" jobs as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Today, especially in the high-tech
world of electronics, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices,
"campuses" have sprung-up in the suburbs and even the exurbs. What
little population support needed by workers quickly develops around these
campuses as, what I call, "a city in a box." The box is nearly pre-manufactured and
merely needs assembly. It generally consists of the familiar modern
"town" of a few big-box stores, fast food franchises, and necessary
services such as: a complete medical building, perhaps even a small hospital; various
and sundry mechanical services including a local airport; educational
facilities and minimal county government services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Crowds, crime, the uneducated, the
unemployed, the unemployable, the unwashed of the present, if you will; those
are the peoples of the dying cities. Those folks do not pay substantial taxes and are supported to a large degree by government: police, the courts, other government service providers; the
bureaucrats. The very presence of this growing segment of modern society is exacerbating the death of the city. President Obama, and others are attempting to stop and even reverse this trend, to financially gut and strangle those
suburbs and exurbs in order to force the tax paying population back into the cities and thus support the old culture there. Drive-up
the cost of fuel is one ploy, but is back-firing; the one-time commuter will
look for work closer to home or move even further out rather than return to
that which he/she ran from: the big (and now dirty and dilapidated) city; and simply use less fuel. Starting a business today requires, in city services, little more than an internet connection! Gone
is the glamour of the city. Good food, culture and entertainment are all available
just about everywhere, and once again the Internet aides and abets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Cheers, Mel</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">P.S. Sorry Governor Brown (CA), High Speed Rail and other rapid transit public transportation schemes won't stop, let alone reverse, this trend. It's called: evolution. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-8493161875326722412012-08-11T21:00:00.002-07:002012-08-11T21:00:25.247-07:00The importance of the next electionRomney's choice of Paul Ryan was the perfect decision for a CEO, a businessman and a President: an Accountant and a Comptroller.<br />
<br />
Most don't realize where we, as a nation, sit today: on the brink. We have used-up most of the equities left to us by our forefathers: world power, prestige, and shear wealth. Even the equities in our homes have greatly diminished. Beyond that we have become a debtor nation that without serious recovery will slip over the edge. Economic collapse is the ultimate destroyer of every once great nation. Most recently it was the Soviets, now but a memory. Prior to the USSR it was Great Briton, France, Spain, Portugal, Rome, Greece, Egypt, etc. All fallen empires - all spent into debt. All history.<br />
<br />
Ronald Reagan's exhortation, "....tear down this wall!" did not bring down the Soviets, it was their failed economy based on a false ideology: Communism. What reduced Great Britain was their loss of wealth through war and collapsed colonialzation. And so it goes. America is on the brink today because of a complex multitude of losses. Our lost sense of who we are: hard working, risk-taking, "a better life" opportunity seeking nation of <i>individuals</i>, with the absolute knowledge that this dream is obtainable only through a righteous life and hard work. But then we came to believe, and quickly - within a generation, that we could leverage our way to success by borrowing against ever greater wealth that would accrue to us <i>naturally.</i> We were entitled to success. We were each deserving of a gold star, a medal, a trophy. We've done that....... When that failed we decided to take the "Kick The Can Down The Road," road: more of the same, but better, bigger. That hasn't worked either so we are trying the age old and failed technique of inventing wealth through the magic of words and paper.<br />
<br />
But where's the beef?<br />
<br />
The penultimate choice is the one we are contemplating now, and we will actually have the chance to vote on it: "Let's Take Someone Else's Wealth; our neighbors, the boss', the "corporation's," the Rich Guy's. Just take it, from whomsoever.<br />
<br />
Okay, so we vote on it. We go for the, "Let's Take The Other Guy's Stuff" scenario. That should last, what, a couple years? After that where do we turn? That's the question we should be asking: What are the consequences of our choice? What do we do when we've used up the other guy's stuff? Because that is what's next and it is coming at us like a runaway train!<br />
<br />
Seminars are given regularly in every major metropolis extolling the virtues of living a life AWAKE. Let's wake-up for a minute or two.... we can't really live long on someone else's effort.... to use the phrase of the day, that's not sustainable.<br />
<br />
Ideology should be a personal thing: you <i>believe </i>what you want to <i>believe</i>, I'll <i>believe </i>what I want, but let's both believe that we are each responsible for "us and ours" and not entitled to that of others. It's the only sane and logical course - IF - we wish "America," not the country but the concept, to continue. We need a CEO - a real businessman and his bright Accountant/Comptroller, not ideologue, to awaken us to the opportunities we each have, and to return to our special place in the world. Each of us is entitled to his and her personal ideology, but governments of Ideology are doomed to fail and their people are doomed to the consequences of that failure. That's the choice we are faced with now. It can be seen clearly..... by those willing to awaken from their daydreams.<br />
<br />
The alarm is ringing; It's time to Wake-UP and see America clearly.<br />
<br />
Cheers, Mel<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-38142455259755735752012-03-19T16:53:00.002-07:002012-03-19T16:53:53.683-07:00History As A Script<br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_22_133219038081494"><div id="yui_3_2_0_10_1332190382505633">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_10_1332190382505632">I've come to believe that men have simply "repeated" throughout their history. They can only do what they do.... invent new and better gadgetry which is always supposed to improve their lives, or conquer their neighbors. This men have done admirably. Beyond the gadgets however men are limited to the "map" of their DNA.... they are compelled by it and restricted by it to simply do what they do over and over again only that which they are capable of. Because their "stuff" is so marvelous... all the way back to the age of metal and beyond, even pottery at one time represented man's highest level of "technology"... they have fooled themselves into the belief that they can change, alter or at the least, control themselves and their neighbors in some new or better way. But it always results in individual and then city, state and national quest for power, which ultimately finds its own end, in a sense predestined by man's very essence: his DNA. The process then starts over. </span></div>
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<span><br /></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_22_133219038081485">
<span id="yui_3_2_0_22_133219038081490">I think human civilization is quickly approaching that "start over" point. This time, as has happened previously, a collapse of fiat currency will help reshuffle the existing order.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" id="yui_3_2_0_22_133219038081491" style="font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif;">Cheers, Mel </span></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-83918911929914027642012-03-15T11:20:00.000-07:002012-03-15T11:20:45.242-07:00Power<br />
<br />
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<span><div>
<span>I've come to believe that power is a weird squishy kind of commodity; more a state of mind actually, with near invisible tentacles that lead into every agency and around every individual associated with government. When one looks back at history you can't help but wonder how it happened that entire countries - empires - were literally taken-over by usurpers... both elected and declared. </span></div>
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<span>There is something in the human psych that becomes sort of mesmerized and to some degree paralyzed by the potential fear of those that grab the reigns of power. Of course there is the fact that individuals are no more powerful than an individual when faced with the full force of government seized by a cabal.</span></div>
<div>
<span><br /></span></div>
</span>Recent developments show us that the Constitution is not automatically adhered to. <span>It all comes down to the individuals in power respecting the institutions that got them there. I'm sure that if Roosevelt had lived he'd have extended his presence in the White House indefinitely - he had no respect for the two-term tradition set by all those that preceded him. I have no doubt that if President Obama could find a way to remain entrenched in power he simply would; America would have moved from an elective republic to an emperorship. We are more than halfway there with Congress having, over the past several decades, surrendered much their power to the President, without a shot, without a coup. <div>
<span><br /></span></div>
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<span>Free bread (food stamps) and free circus (Jersey Shore!); ignorant stupid masses (with a deplorable high school dropout rate of more than 30% - nationwide!) without the cares of even personal survival does not auger well for the future of a free republic. </span></div>
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<span>History, it is oft said, is repeated by those who have failed to learn from it. The longer I live, the more I learn, the more I've come to believe that history is not something we learn from .... to avoid pitfalls .... but is learned more as a script. It teaches us not that which is to be avoided but that which is coming.</span></div>
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<span class="yiv777246950Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif;">Cheers, Mel</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-66795634441215813272011-10-11T12:38:00.000-07:002011-10-11T12:38:31.714-07:00America Needs a Competitive Edge<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The key to American success today is a competitive edge. Prior to WW2 America was thriving as the engine of the Industrial Revolution for a couple of reasons: widespread opportunity and access to cheap energy and cheap labor. Today: opportunity has been strangled with a maze of government red tape; highly regulated labor; very costly energy. An American success plan should start with reduction of regulations, especially in the development of energy. Energy development in</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1318356105_0">North Dakota</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">has created a '49ers Gold Rush environment for job seekers in the Bakken area oil fields. More high paying jobs than job seekers! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">A Federal Government program subsidizing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1318356105_1">America's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">rolling stock to CNG would drastically reduce the demand for imported oil, driving down the cost of that resource which is used in virtually everything Americans consume. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">Imported oil is in effect a tax upon all Americans that goes off-shore, into the pockets of those opposed to our style of government and freedom, and unlike a legitimate tax is never returned as a government service! Development of CNG, clean coal, our own oil, and new nuclear energy would further drive down the cost of energy. Top-off this plan with the elimination of all taxes on all energy and suddenly you'd have very cheap energy costs, attracting manufacturers from around the world. Jobs: building and re-fitting CNG facilities across the country; building new nuke and clean coal plants, jobs developing our own oil resources - not allowed to be exported! Opportunities for the development of ancillary businesses surrounding these industries wouls spring-up across the country.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">That's an American Recovery plan. Not wasted money kicking the can down the road. Not an ideology with a hidden agenda to "fundamentally change" what was and still has the capacity to be the greatest system ever created. We've already spent so much of our ability to repay that which we've already borrowed and now that scheme is busted. Proven, BUSTED! Time to go to work. Real work that makes stuff the world needs. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Let's begin with energy! That's an edge the rest of the wold cannot beat. That's the edge we've still got. We've got the talent, we've got the resources, we've got the people. Let's unleash them - - let's compete!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Cheers,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Mel</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-21587899658695482292011-09-03T14:30:00.000-07:002011-09-03T14:30:55.439-07:00Fed Budget Deficit Made SimpleFrom Bill Teitelbaum:<br />
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<span style="color: #20951b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica;"><b>Numbers and political information can be so confusing.... </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #20951b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica;"><b>I think this simple analogy will be helpful to gain an understanding whether we should be concerned or not... </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">National debt: $14,271,000,000,000</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Let's remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
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<span class="yiv1505123251Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Annual family income: $21,700</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Money the family spent: $38,200</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">New debt on the credit card: $16,500</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Total budget cuts: $385</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;">Understand those "deep" cuts now?</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica;"> </span></div>
</div>
<br /><span class="yiv1505123251Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><div>
Cheers, Mel</div>
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</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-53428851418061228632011-08-16T14:42:00.000-07:002011-08-16T14:43:51.392-07:00I Love Stuart Varney, BUT......<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stuart, you proudly proclaim how you love America and want her to remain as she is - vis a vis Britain and the EU. But you just can't resist your genes. You have the tint, if not the color, of the socialist when you express the idea that a law requiring a key lockbox on the front door of ones home, allowing entry to cops and firemen (and who knows who else - what's wrong with just using a battering ram?) as okay! This is UNAmerican. I know it is because I come from a long line of folks born and raised here with American ideals. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm an oldster, I and my parents were born and raised in the West of yore. We have witnessed the slow but inexorable and lamentable march of East Coast ideas destroy Western values. Like the folks that move to the desert, love it, but then can't help themselves and are impelled to plant a lawn - because lawns are in their genes - and thus destroy the desert climate they loved so much. Lawns may be a stretch but it's an analogy that works.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please Stuart, don't plant a lawn..... they are so English.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheers, Mel</span></div><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-15857922219964630992011-08-12T13:07:00.000-07:002011-08-14T08:38:53.736-07:00An American Solution to Stagnation<div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646497"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have to get busy and <u id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646535">work</u> for a replacement to Obama and all those stifling energy development. One has to ask, is he and his supporters purposely trying to destroy the country? There is no other explanation for an administration and its cohorts: the Senate majority, and various special interest lobbyists, that have refused to develop energy, which is the life-blood of our civilization. Not just refused to develop it but work actively to shut-down development! </span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646668"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646668">That's not hyperbole, that's a fact. Energy, or lack thereof, was the prime mover of Japan's attack in 1941. It was the reason Adolph and Co. attempted to take-over Europe. </span>Thanks to our abundant energy resources prior to WW2, and of course our distance from the front, we were able to prevail. Since then America has depleted the "low hanging fruit" - we have used-up much of our easy to get oil. But natural gas (NG/CNG) is abundant and available for the taking right here in the US and Canada.</span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646626"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646626"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Energy is what has gotten humans to their current high standard of living.</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646631"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646631"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Without reasonably priced energy America cannot compete on the world industrial stage what with competitors like China, who have no EPA, OSHA, Dept of Energy, etc. to shackle and hinder growth and production. In China, a projects are identified, discussed, and if given the go, construction begins within days. At trip to China is absolutely mind-blowing!</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646497"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646497"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm not suggesting that we become the dictatorship/oligarchy the likes of China, but we have to develop energy if we are to preserve our strength and our wealth, or we will fall under the control this type of government.</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646558"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646558"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Just imagine where we would be if energy was all but free! We have vast resources of NG. Many pipelines are already in place; every major city has them supplying most of the population now. Supply pipelines already criss-cross the country. Our government should offer tax incentives, and outright cash, to convert gas stations to CNG stations. Unlike Cash for Clunkers, a costly and complete failure, Cash for Conversion would yield a payoff every time one used their car or truck! Converting the USA rolling stock to CNG would all but shutdown the use of oil for transportation - our biggest use of the product. The money spent on oil, by the way, is essentially exported.... it's a tax without a return in the form of returned government services. A complete loss! Ironically, most of that money goes toward those at odds with our way of life.</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646558"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646558"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The side benefit, and not a minor one, would be the radical drop in the cost of oil. Add to that scenario: the elimination of all taxes on energy. With these two ideas working together suddenly Made in America would have real meaning..... our products would be far more competitive in the world marketplace. In the EU gasoline/diesel/avgas costs range from $8 a gal on up to $16 a gal and more! In terms of costs of industrial production, we could beat them on every front. China uses coal for industry, but still must ship their finished product around the world, not a cheap enterprise. America, manufacturing locally - customers available localyl - both right where goods could be produced with cheap energy; that spells, what Charlie Sheen calls WINNING!</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646558"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646558"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Add to that: American Cost Of Living would drop drastically. Heating/AC, cooking, traveling - all living costs are tied directly to energy costs - all would be a lot less expensive. This would in turn free-up cash for other uses improving American's lives. Farm products too would drop in cost, since fertilizer, tractor fuel, shipping, and refining costs would all drop - drastically.</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646591"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646591"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Think of the jobs that would be created immediately, today, building systems and converting every service station to offer CNG; and every car and truck to run on CNG. This is the kind of government sponsored infrastructure that would actually pay returns back to citizens for generations. </span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646591"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646591"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If energy was a lot less expensive, maybe we could actually afford to get sick! We have to put those in favor of developing NG into the driver's seat.</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646591"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"><span id="yui_3_2_0_16_1313171896646591"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cheers, Mel</span></span></div><br />
<div id="yui_3_2_0_16_131317189664648"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-10041541751505762152011-03-01T10:48:00.000-08:002011-05-27T11:44:22.850-07:00Taking Easy Money<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Seniors of America are the last bastion of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;"><i>confiscatable </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;"> wealth. In practical terms they can't leave the country; they can't sell their assets in a bad economy; they have children and grandchildren they can't leave. Their income, for the most part comes in the form of Social Security and Medicare. It just so happens that those two items are the largest part of the Federal budget. </span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;">Now the best part; it's easy to take: 1) stop COLAs - done, 2) pare back Medicare coverage - underway; 3) demonize those two funds as, "The biggest part of the problem is not <i>discretionary</i> <i>spending</i>, it's <i>entitlement spending," </i>read: Social Security and Medicare. Also know that the discretionary spending is the source of <i>pet</i> <i>project money</i> of nearly every elected official. And lastly 4) Inflation, which is the ultimate theft from Seniors; they don't work, have limited ability to earn enough to keep-up, and survive by an ever lowering standard of living. 5) Easy to TAX. They are the largest group of individuals in our society with paid for homes. Seniors do not use credit and are not a threat to the banking system. </div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13.3333px;">A weak and immediately identifiable group: Seniors are America's last bastion of hard earned and saved wealth.<br />
<br />
Cheers, Mel</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-27588314977246095122011-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:002011-01-24T18:08:31.606-08:00Frank View of the Big PictureThe following is from friend, NYU Stern School of Economics Economist, Price Waterhouse Accountant, Fortune 500 Co. Comptroller, entrepreneur, and now retired, Frank Fischer. This is his response to an ongoing email exchange concerning the future of America.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-size: 16px;">Hi Mel...<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />I think you already know some/most of my big picture suggested spending cuts to the Federal budget. Getting rid of entire agencies and departments, like the Dept of Education, EPA, Dept of Energy, Dept of Commerce and as big a hawk as I am, big cuts in the military/Pentagon. I'm sure there are others that could be eliminated. All other departments and agencies should take a 25% budget hit, bar none except veterans programs. I also believe the Feds should cut 25-40% of all Federal employees and implement wage, bonus and COLA pay increase freezes until the budget is balanced. I also believe it's an opportune time to get a balaced budget amendment passed.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />Also, no more <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_0" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">defined benefit pensions</span>. Stop them all right now and immediately switch all Federal employees to defined contribution plans like 401ks. No more Cadillac health care programs either. Stick them all into Obamacare insurance pools, if Obamacare doesn't get repealed. Congress and Federal employees are exempt from Obamacare. WTF!!<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />I also believe we need term limits for all Congressmen/women (3 years) and Senators (6 years). Cut the hell out of their pay, or don't pay them at all, like it used to be. Or pay them something similar to what the military pays for a low-ranking officer. Same for their staff. Give them some frugal expense reimbursement plan. No pensions, no health care they take with them. No more <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_1" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">per diem</span>, that they just pocket for personal use. Build a decent barracks-type residence for all reps, or just convert one of the many unused buildings in DC to a residence hall type thing for when Congress is in session. Staff are on their own like the rest of us. Eliminate perks like paying off their school loans for them too. <br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />Get rid of all the BS money-draining subsidy programs like Ethanol and money sucking things like <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_2" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Amtrak</span> and the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_3" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Post Office</span>. Privatize these things with no subsidies from the taxpayers. If they fail, they fail. If prices go up, tough shit. Pay the going rate or use something else.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />That would reduce federal taxes for the folks which would help our 70% <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_4" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">consumer spending</span> based economy and set an example for frugality for state and local government. State and local gov'ts need to cut the fat and get rid of all of the money sucking union pensions, health care and big paychecks. The lower taxes that would result will also help the 70% consumer based economy. Privatizing a lot of what state and local govt's do will cut costs and make things much more efficient. Case in point - NYC Sanitation Dept. Why have a city run sanitation dept? Sub-contract the work out, including snow removal. There certainly wouldn't have been any slow-down in snow removal with that last storm that hit <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_5" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">NYC</span>. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_6" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Waste Management</span> does a great job. They've been picking up my trash for years at a very low cost and I don't know if they provide pensions or health care to their employees. Frankly, I don't care.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />We need a national energy plan and as you know, I recommend CNG, nuclear and clean coal. Plus we need to drill for more domestic oil in the meantime and send these <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_7" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">OPEC</span> and other dictatorial financial rapists back to the stone age. This would probably be the biggest contributor to putting money into consumers pockets, thus helping the 70% consumer spending based economy.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />Those are some of my "big picture" actions I'd like to see take place. I don't consider them small or insignificant.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />As far as all of the smaller things I, and you, become aware of and bitch about all the time, a $ billion or two here, a few $ billion more there....it all adds up to tens or hundreds of $ billions. It's just like eliminating earmarks. Sure, they don't add up too much in the big picture scheme, but taken as a cumulative whole with everything else, they add up to a ton of money. Plus, it helps eliminate corruption. Corruption always starts small and grows from there as politicians become bolder and bolder and steal/waste more and more of our money. Case in point is the ethanol scam and the proposed cap & trade fraud.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />As far as our economy goes, I still believe we're in the midst of our fist lost decade. And it may continue to another decade, not unlike <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1295920722_8" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Japan</span>. Obama and Congress aren't going to get us out of this mess. Only the private sector can do this. Regretfully, I don't see any clear way out. I don't see any clear way to reduce unemployment, other than through attrition as folks fall off the unemployment roles. But then they're on welfare, food stamps, etc. The housing market has crushed us. The US economy has been riding on fictitious, non-existent wealth in the form of bogus home equity for the past 10 years.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />For years, folks have been pulling this bogus equity out of their homes to buy cars, big screen TVs, take vacations, remodel their homes, buy 2nd homes, etc, etc, etc. Then there were the house flippers taking quick profits of bogus equity. It was all BS. Look at what happened when the bubble burst. IMO this is the main cause of unemployment in this country. All of the lost jobs including contractors/builders, sub-contractors, building suppliers, realtors, mortgage brokers, bankers, title companies, etc, etc, etc, plus all of the government related jobs, like those in building depts, inspectors, etc. Then the effect it had on the rest of the economy. Severely reduced auto/trucks sales, mall closings, restaurants closings, retail shops out of business.... you name it, it's gone. Then the foreclosures....well over a million, maybe 2 million and an estimated 3 million more coming. This has touched every part of our economy.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />So the big question is: in what sector of the economy will jobs be created? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else, including Obama and Congress. The truth is I don't believe a significant number of jobs will, or can be created in any sector. Hence my forecast of 2 lost decades. Until such time as all of the millions of baby boomers (1946-1964) are finally out of the work force, we'll continue with 9-10% or higher unemployment. It's the norm now and may get worse. We need to create 140K jobs a month just to keep up with normal growth. Where are all the kids graduating high school and college getting jobs? They're not. They're moving back in with their parents or other family members. Folks that have lost their job and their houses are moving in with friends and relatives. It's a mess. All of this causing a lack of contribution to our 70% consumer spending based economy.Yet the population continues to grow.....with illegal aliens and babies from single parent mothers living in projects and ghettos. All needing entitlement support, further stressing out the financial situation in the country.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />Sure, the stock market is doing better, but it's all BS. Most companies are recording increases in their bottom line profits, but little to no growth in their top line, revenues. This is all because they cut the hell out of expenses, mainly with headcount reductions. Productivity is way up. Wall St banks are making a killing since they're able to borrow money from the Fed at zero % interest and turn quick, daily profits by lending it to other banks on short terms. Business and consumer credit is still tight and tough to get. All of this Wall St and stock market crappola does nothing for our 70% consumer spending based economy. Consumers that do have an income aren't spending. Those that don't, can't. Many are terrified and either saving or paying down debt. Many are helping to support other family members, just to help them get by with the basic needs to survive. Bankruptcies are at a record high. Foreclosures the same. Huge numbers of unsold homes are out there and the numbers are growing. Home values are dropping like a rock and continue to do so.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />That is the big picture. We're screwed. The truth is guys like you and me DO get it. It's the rest of them that don't.<br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" />Frank</span></span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-51581076976126500162011-01-22T23:43:00.000-08:002011-01-22T23:43:03.371-08:00Affordable Health Care..... Now<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv532284250" id="yiv532284250bodyDrftID"><tbody>
<tr><td id="yiv532284250drftMsgContent" style="font: inherit;"><span class="yiv532284250Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Just saw an ad on TV selling the Silver Sonic XL by Bell and Howell. This little baby looks just like a bluetooth cell phone ear piece you see mounted on dopes at Costco. Here's the deal. My dad and Rebecca's mom wore hearing aids. Their vanity wouldn't let them wear any device, let alone a honkin' wasp's nest on their ear, until science and engineering had invented a completely invisible device worn entirely inside the ear. The problem here was that these elegant tiny marvels of sound amplification were expensive - - $Thousands!</span><div style="font-family: arial;"><span class="yiv532284250Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: arial;"><span class="yiv532284250Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">But the Silver Sonic XL shows how humans adapt. And how we'll move forward into our brave new world - - cheaply, putting function before fashion. To wit: Now, you can get a fully featured audio enhancement device..... for</span><span class="yiv532284250Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"> only $19.95. And if you call right now you get 2 for the price of one!! One for each ear or one for you and one for your partner!</span></div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;"><span class="yiv532284250Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"></span>So there you go.... what cost Bernie and Becky four grand every year or so.... trying to get one that really worked.... is now available, functionally anyway, for only ten bucks!</div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: arial;">Your future at work, bringing costs down! Aren't we creative funny creatures?</div><div style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</div><div>The next thing you know that same world of hi-tech will bring us cheap knee replacements...... a simple amputation of the lower leg - above the faulty joint - and the ware-it-home replacement! A fully featured wooden-leg, but modern..... and much better; with - get these features: super light weight super tough kevlar "leg," no-rust titanium joints at both knee and heel!, super-stick silicone custom-fit breathable "cup" at the stump. </div><div><br />
</div><div>To make it a real winner it will be available with any number of shoe styles..... including slippers. One hell of a lot cheaper than the current "invisible" but very expensive "knee replacement procedure!"<br />
<br />
<span class="yiv532284250Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;">Cheers, Mel</span><div style="font-family: arial;">www.melvinshapiro.blogspot.com</div></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-78651626805086635952010-11-04T20:39:00.000-07:002010-11-04T20:39:08.047-07:00Tea Party Redux<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times;">The TEA Party, named after the Boston Tea Party, the forerunner to the American Revolution that began in 1773, is nothing less than a Citizen rebellion against a government felt to be dictatorial and unfair.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times;">That first revolution began on December 16<sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">th</span></sup> 1773, and soon spawned all out <i>war against government </i>that did not end until 1783 when </span><span style="font-family: Times;">the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1783)"><span style="color: #003e97; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Treaty of Paris</span></a> recognized the sovereignty of the United States.</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times;">But make no mistake, the revolution was war against the citizen’s own government - - British citizens, “Colonists,” living in British America, against a British government, a government that had grown ever more hungry for tax revenue and ever less responsive to citizens. Thus the famous phrase: <i>No Taxation Without Representation</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Today we have a similar struggle: The Government has grown ever more hungry for citizens' wealth and ever less responsive to those paying taxes. Taxes for unpopular wars; for bloated and needless bureaucracies; for overpaid government employees; for unpopular entitlements; for outrageous government employee pensions; etc., etc. When taxes could not be raised to fund these unpopular adventures and entitlements, the money was simply “borrowed.” Borrowed without the approval of the citizenry and expended primarily for constituents’ of powerful lobbies, in return for political support -- i.e. the sale and purchase of votes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times;">When the Constitution was originally conceived, the House of Representatives was designed to allow for a single Representative to “represent” 30,000 citizens - a population, in today’s terms, of a small American town. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Over the years the number of citizens represented by each Representative has grown from that reasonable figure of 30,000, to now 750,000+ folks. How does a Representative represent nearly <i>a million </i>people (750,000+/-)? Well they don’t. They represent a few special interests. This huge number of 750,000+ citizens has turned Representatives into a kind of “short-term” Senator, but free of State accountability. Members of the House have grown very powerful, commandeering huge entourages, enjoying foreign junkets, and even providing some with private government-paid-for jetliners, wherein they travel like kings and queens! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 23.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;"><i>Article. I.<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;"><i>Section 2.</i></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 22.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: Times;"><i></i></span></b><b><span style="font-family: Times;"><i>Clause 3</i></span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"><i>: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. (See Note 2) The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. </i><b><i>The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, </i></b><i>………”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times;">Perhaps it’s time to return to the original concept of “representation” as spelled-out in the Constitution. With modern technology there is no need for Representatives to congregate in D.C., a computer at a home town office will do just fine. With electronic conferencing and voting and with direct input to and from constituents a more perfect union could be had. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times;">Here’s the problem with the current Representative arrangement: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">1)</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> <b>Anonymity.</b> A small town Mayor or a County Sherriff has much greater accountability to the voters. They are widely known as are their views, and they nearly always reflect the character and political position of their electorate. Representatives, having an electorate of 750,000+ souls can take just about any position they chose! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">2)</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> <b>Arrogance.</b> Representatives somehow feel that they are elected to exercise their own views, totally contrary to the actual reason for their existence, which is to represent the political views, within the framework of the Constitution, of their immediate electorate. They are not elected to represent a position that they think is best, the arrogant elitist position – <i>“I know what’s best for …you!” </i>No, this is not their job. And lastly, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">3) Corruption.</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> When Representatives vote for positions paid for by lobbyists they have become corrupt. When they “trade” votes to satisfy a fellow Representative, in return for who knows what, they are corrupt. Their job, their only job, is to vote the will of their immediate electorate -- again, within the framework of the Constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times;">In 2012 there will be another TEA Party “wave.” As a matter of fact there may be a succession “waves” until Representatives “get it.” I fear they will never get it until the system is fixed. The best way to largely fix all of the above is to: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">1) Cap the number of constituents within a congressional district to 30,000.</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> Representatives will then have to answer to a small group and will be out the first time they fail to represent the views of their constituents. In this past cycle, Representatives voted in direct opposition to the wishes of the majority of voters, from deficit spending to entitlement broadening to health care. They ignored the voter’s wishes to effect tort reform which would reduce the cost of virtually everything, change health insurance company operating rules, thus making their product more competitive, and eliminating State Mandates that force insurance companies to cover idiocy like sex change, and a plethora of other issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">2) Remain in their home districts.</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> They do not have to be in DC. If there are hearings held, Committees can be assembled to hear testimony. Interested house members and the public can view them via TV or on the Net. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Times;">3) Term limits.</span></b><span style="font-family: Times;"> Serving is an honor… not a career. Serve, do you job and get out of the way. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times;">I think we should go back to the original percentage of Representatives spelled-out in the Constitution --one per 30,000. No assembly in Washington; the new Representative, one of 10,000, would vote with computers from Representatives’ home offices. Then a citizen will truly have representation. Representatives should never have become potentates. Today, just as in 1773, there is once again <i>Taxtation Without Representation</i>. One Representative per 750,000+ people is no representation at all, and allows Representatives to act capriciously without care of citizens' wants. Not good. Let them be locals, and answer directly to their hometown constituents. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p>Cheers, Mel</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-60823517114515490592010-09-16T20:30:00.000-07:002010-09-16T20:30:59.078-07:00Melting Down<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are witnessing historic American Political times. The 1st non-white President. The 1st American President attempting to mollify long-time historic enemies (since the Jefferson Presidency) with bows and American deprecation. The most serious economy crises since the Great Depression. And now the first major breakdown of one of our major parties.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Founded in 1854, when The Whig Party lost touch with the American public and the Democrats continued to support slavery, the GOP is at it's end. Are we seeing the demise of a party that too has lost contact with its prime supporters? The Republican Party, for some time, and especially so since the Bush 41 administration, has steadily drifted to the left and has finally joined-up with the Elite Power Structure, the Political-Media /Government-Union Complex. The Complex, consisting of - starting at the bottom, SEIU (and all big unions), ACORN, Government employees, the Mainstream Media (including it's propaganda arm - Hollywood) and at the very top Elected Officials (both Dem and GOP), is our ruling class.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">All of these folks have become fat and happy living off the wealth of America, created largely since the end of WWII. Today, Union and Government employees earn incomes nearly double that of the "civilian" population, enjoy broad job security and generous early retirements. They are our Greece! Those that pay for these excesses have finally had it. That 15% of the population living below the poverty line, have decided that they'll not take it anymore either. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">All the moves coming out of Washington, for decades, have steadily increased the cost of living, made life more difficult, more complex; have created the fallout of the Nanny State; have created the Entitlement Mentality.... well known in Europe, newer to our shores.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And the trend may well have continued until, like the frog immersed for cooking in a cool pot of water, when finally feeling the heat discovers he's too "cooked" to jump free, the U.S. was so deep in the paradigm it was all but too late to climb-out. But then <span class="yiv1173405601Apple-style-span">Candidate and then President, Mr. Obama promised Fundamental Change. Little did he, or The Complex, imagine the story now unfolding. </span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="yiv1173405601Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="yiv1173405601Apple-style-span">The Change is less "Change You Can Believe In" and more; Obama, The Agent of Change. Change is happening, and the off-hand remark of Rick Santelli on CNBC, that recent outrageous government actions begged for "a new (Boston) Tea Party," was Change the public really did believe in! Rick, you got one. The Ruling Class is on the run, Change is a comin', but it ain't Obama style and it ain't Establishment style.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Below is a picture of just a tiny corner of the coming meltdown.....</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Cheers, Mel</span><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">www.melvinshapiro.blogspot.com</span></div><br />
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</style> <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672WordSection1"> <div align="right" class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b><u><span style="color: #984806; font-family: Algerian; font-size: 20pt;">Is Karl Rove the Architect of His Own Political Demise?</span></u></b></div><div align="center" class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="color: #984806; font-size: 12pt;">Power Elites have been exposed as never before, the Far Left came out of the closet like defiant gay extroverts, and RINOs are stampeding</span></i></b></div><div align="right" class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">By</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <i>Jim O'Neill</i> on Thursday for CFP; September 16, 2010 </span></div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Last night I watched Karl Rove drive the final nails into his political coffin, as he double-downed his attacks against Christine O’Donnell, on Greta Van Susteren’s show “<a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/index.html#/v/4339421/rove-not-raving-about-odonnell/?playlist_id=86925" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">On The Record</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="foxnews.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>.” It may be awhile before the “funeral” takes place, but the coffin is finished, no doubt. <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">The night before I had watched as Rove began his public self-immolation, on The Sean Hannity Show. Hannity, to his credit, defended O’Donnell against Rove’s surprising (to me, at least) and graceless attack, after her win against Power Elite insider, Mike Castle, in the Delaware Republican primary. <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jlh1EsgS7Q" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(Link)</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="youtube.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>(Kudos to Sean Hannity for standing up to Rove, however, I hope he won’t mind a bit of friendly advice: lose the UN-blue power tie. It’s a bit of sartorial style that was first popularized by “the anointed one” himself, Obama—besides, well…it’s UN-blue). <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-01/obamas-power-ties/%20%3Ca%20href=" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(Link)</a><div f608ed3bb27="thedailybeast.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Response to Rove’s rant by true conservatives was <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/civil-war-karl-rove-slams-christine-odonnell-sean-hannity-michelle-malkin-and-more-fire-back/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">immediate</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="mediaite.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>, and almost unanimously, negative. <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Rush Limbaugh <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/limbaugh-joins-palin-and-malkin-in-condemning-roves-critique-of-christine-odonnell/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">said</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="mediaite.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>, ““Everyone I know that saw this was just—they were perplexed and said, ‘What’s going on?” <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Michelle Malkin <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/14/rove-bashes-odonnell-odonnell-supporter-at-victory-party-strikes-back/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">noted</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="michellemalkin.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>that, “Rove came across as an effete sore loser instead of the supposedly brilliant and grounded GOP strategist that he’s supposed to be.” <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Last night when Van Susteren had Rove on her show, I fully expected to see some fancy damage-control back-pedaling. Nope. <br />
<br />
Figuratively speaking, Rove took out hammer and nails, and went about sealing his political coffin, with a will. If you’ll permit me to mix metaphors, his aim was unerring, when it came to shooting himself in the foot. His performance was stunningly tone deaf, arrogant, and elitist. </div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">When Greta responded to some derogatory comments about O’Donnell’s student loans, by saying that perhaps a lot of people, in this economy, could relate to her troubles, Rove failed to take the hint, and carried on with his tirade.</div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Has Rove never heard the old saying “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging?” Apparently not. </div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">There’s one thing “we the people” can thank Obama for—a lot of previously well-disguised “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” have been shown for who they are. The Lame Stream Media has been irredeemably discredited as a source of unbiased news, Power Elites have been exposed as never before, the Far Left came out of the closet like defiant gay extroverts, and RINOs are stampeding. </div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">All of which is, in its way, good news for “we the people,” as it has given us a much clearer view of the “lay of the land.” It may be an unsettling view, but as we wake up and get our bearings, it’s a much needed view, nonetheless. </div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">The Republicans have strayed too far away from their conservative roots, and the Democrats have wandered off to…only God and <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/14700" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">George Soros</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="canadafreepress.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>know where—Lenin Land, or another planet, it would seem. <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">As for <a f5c5aa0ec2addf38="true" href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/civil-war-karl-rove-slams-christine-odonnell-sean-hannity-michelle-malkin-and-more-fire-back/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Karl Rove</a></div><div f608ed3bb27="mediaite.com" style="cursor: pointer; display: inline; height: 16px; padding-right: 16px; width: 16px;"> </div>—he’ll be moving on to greener pastures, with the rest of the RINO herd. Well, maybe the pastures won’t be greener, but he and the herd will definitely be moving on.</div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672WordSection1"> <div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt;">Laus Deo. </div><div class="yiv1173405601yiv143348672MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-56411076620457901612010-04-01T20:27:00.000-07:002010-04-01T20:27:35.880-07:00Health Care Cost Reduction? NOT!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: times,serif; font-size: 19px;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">It's not a matter of NEEDING health care. We all need health care. The problem with health care is its cost! With the Obamacare Bill, Congress has not done a single thing to lower the cost of health care.... which is the public's number 1 "health care" concern. As a matter of fact, they have just raised that cost!<br />
<br />
Think about it for a minute, without emotion, but with common sense. The Administration claimed that this new law will cover 31 million Americans, heretofore uninsured. The US Census Bureau estimated that in 2006 there were 116 million households in the US. Each household has approximately 2.6 members. That means the uninsured represents about 12 million households. Subtracting those 12 million uninsured from the total of 116 million leaves 104 million insured households to pay for all those uninsured. Simply speaking, if 104 million households picks up the tab for 12 million uninsured ones, the 104 million will have to pay at least 11.5% more in insurance costs every year!<br />
<br />
Now some will say, "No, business will pay!" Or, "No, the government will pay!" Or, "No, insurance companies will have to pay!" Of course, but getting back to the emotion free state of logic, we all know that in the first instance businesses will simply raise the price of their goods or services to cover those new taxes/expenses, which means that the end user will pay... that's us. In the second instance, we know that the government has no money, other than that collected in taxes from... us. In the third instance, the insurance companies, if not permitted to raise premiums will simply go out of business.... they can't run on air! That leaves... us! In other words a single-payer system funded by.... us!<br />
<br />
So no matter how one slices and dices it, raw insurance premiums will have to go up by at least 11.5%. As they say on TV commercials, "But wait, there's more!" There's more here too because now the government will have to hire tens of thousands of folks to administer the program. The Bill calls for 16,000 new IRS "inforcer/collectors" immediately. That's right now, while the private insurance companies are still in business. As they fold their tents and vanish, more and more government workers, like those at the DMV or the Post Office, will be required to do the underwriting/administrating those insurance companies had been doing, competitively I might add.<br />
<br />
All that may not sound so bad until you figure that, hey, those private insurance companies used to make money and pay taxes and their newly out of work employees will be in the unemployment lines.... pulling even more money out of the system! What will all these unintended consequences cost... us? Another 10%? Or more? One last note about expenses.... you can just forget about the "fraud and abuse savings." Those savings will never be found... as a matter of fact they will only increase. Costing another 10%!</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">There are solutions to many of the problems that have increased the cost of care and the cost of insurance, but none of these have even been considered by the elected officials currently running the show. Here's a few:</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><ul><li>Insurance should be 100% portable. When we moved from CA to HA we could not take our California <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_0" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">Blue Cross</span> policy with us. The same thing happened again when we moved abroad, yet again when we moved to Washington. Moving abroad we discovered that outside the US there are Insurance Companies that sell policies good anywhere in the world!</li>
<li>State mandates put upon insurance companies should be eliminated. Why should one have to buy an insurance policy that provides for sex-change operations? Or plastic surgery? Or, or, or? My family wanted and needed only major medical insurance. We were middle aged, had no intention of having children or a sex change!</li>
<li>State lines for the purchase of Health Insurance should be erased. Some States allow a variety of policies to be issued; some at far cheaper premiums than others, but neither you nor I can shop across State lines to buy them - this should be changed.</li>
<li>Employees should own their own policies. If it's a job-perk, fine... the employer could simply give the employee a cash credit to purchase their own policy, fully portable. If the job is lost, or the individual changes career, or whatever the reason for change... the policy travels with the "owner."</li>
<li><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: none; cursor: pointer;">Tort reform</span> for everything!.... would bring down - way down - the costs of everything. From food to fuel to especially medical care, drugs, and expensive items like Auto Insurance! We've lived where it's happened, in both <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_3">New Zealand</span> and Australia. But Congress, where too many are lawyers, won't do it. Billions of dollars are wasted on high <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">insurance premiums and </span>cover-your-ass expenses in every industry, all of which are passed on to the final consumer..... us!</li>
<li>Mandatory <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_6" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: none; cursor: pointer;">Physical Education</span> and mandatory nutrition courses, K thru College 4 - with mandatory weigh-ins! When we were kids we rode a bike or walked to school. Once in school we were required to exercise - in Physical Education class - every school day! My high school graduation class had nearly 800 seniors in it; I can't remember a single fatso let alone a third of the class being "two-ton-tubbies!" </li>
</ul></div><div style="margin: 0px;">These are the issues that have driven-up health care, none - NONE - of which have been addressed by Obamacare. Your family's health care costs will continue to rise, as will all American's until these problems are fixed. By then private medical insurance companies will be out of business, we will have "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_7" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">single payer</span>," your doctor may well be foreign born, you will go to a "clinic" for services, you will wait all day to see.... not a doctor but a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_9">Physician Assistant</span>. There will be no other choice. Payment for the government plan will be mandatory. If you want private services you'll have to pay extra for them yourself. Better health services may well be found in Costa Rica. This, by the way, will further us down the road to the two-class system. The privileged and the rest of..... us. </div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Body parts: knees, shoulders, hips, etc., will be denied unless you are young enough to "pay-back" the cost through future taxes. Your option? Go get them on your own in Brazil or Switzerland, or wherever. That's a fact. In New Zealand and Australia they have a simple age cut-off, re-determined each year, that sets eligibility based upon cash in the system. Oldsters either come here to the US for those parts, or go to Asia, or stay home... use a cane, a walker or sit in a wheelchair. </div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">My argument does not oppose health care for all.... all already get it. For example, a couple (unrelated) friends of ours were stricken with breast cancer.... neither had insurance. They had money for the latest and greatest Apple computers, cell phones, tattoos, one even enjoyed Cuban Cigars (really! - $10 each!) and to drive new cars but nary a dime to spare for insurance! Although never a dime was paid, they both were guided to a California community "program" that paid for all their needs. Not only paid for everything including surgery, all meds and follow-up therapy but also for "reconstructive" surgery; new breasts to match and lipo to go with them! Another acquaintance, a middle aged gentleman, not a citizen but living in Washington, suffered from a massive heart attack. Likewise, not insured. His bypass surgery, all follow-up and post surgery meds (some of which will be needed the rest of his life) were/are all paid for by...... us!</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">We've all seen off-ramp-beggar's with signs saying they needed money for food (although I've never seen one that looked starved), but I've never seen a sign that said.... Need Money for Surgery (or even medicine).</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">With Obamacare, everyone (that has two cents to rub together) will have to pay more for health insurance. An ARMY of public employees will be hired to administer the soon to be <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_11" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;">National Health Care</span> Agency (or some such) in a - I guarantee you! - half-ass manner. If you don't think that costs will skyrocket beyond our atmosphere and into the stratosphere then you're living on the Moon. It has to go way up. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1270160785_12" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: none; cursor: pointer;">Health care</span> will become the biggest expense this country has ever seen. To cover the costs the US will have to change the Pentagon from a defense military organization into an international police force. A Standing Army, Air Force, and Navy will not be affordable.... without sucking every dollar out of the atmosphere. And speaking of atmostphere.... no more NASA exploration either, every farthing will be sucked-into the giant government maw, just to accommodate "health care" expenses. </div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Welcome to the Fundamentally Changed America!</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;">Cheers, Mel</div><div><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-3431365822667097562010-03-15T10:06:00.000-07:002010-03-15T10:06:06.757-07:00IS THE END NEAR?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: table; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><tbody style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">
<tr style="display: table-row; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; vertical-align: inherit;"><td style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; display: table-cell; font: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" valign="top"><div id="yiv152532351" style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="" id="bodyDrftID" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: table; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><tbody style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">
<tr style="display: table-row; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; vertical-align: inherit;"><td id="drftMsgContent" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; display: table-cell; font: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><div id="yiv592424128" style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="" id="bodyDrftID" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; display: table; font-size: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><tbody style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">
<tr style="display: table-row; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; vertical-align: inherit;"><td id="drftMsgContent" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; display: table-cell; font: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_0" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bernie Madoff</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> might just be emblematic of a worldwide meltdown as the </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ponzi scheme</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of all Ponzis raises it's ugly head..... that of the US </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Social Security</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> end game! And yet our "leaders" continue to spend as if there's no tomorrow..... but tomorrow is now on the horizon.</span></span></span></span><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One would think that a little saving would be in order, but no. Every Governmental Agency, be it local school boards, </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_3" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">County Councils</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, City and State officials, all the way up to the White House, just keeps on creating "programs," spending money on virtually every imaginable ridiculous scheme from robot-bees to bridges to nowhere; from Nancy Palousi's coast to coast 767 flights, to Obama's travel in our 747..... even when the distance is as short as 150 miles! </span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now I know this is all waved away as "just peanuts" when the problem is as huge as it is, but we have to start somewhere, there are no trillion dollar items we can just slash.... it all consists of the </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><a href="http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_billionhere.htm" rel="nofollow" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_4" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">billion here and the billion there</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Senator Everett Dirkson spoke of</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Someone has to say enough! It's not, obviously, going to come from our elected leaders.... we citizens that care are going to have to get more active and more vocal than ever before.... and say loud and clear... "NO MORE SPENDING - START CUTTING! We're mad as hell and we won't take it anymore!!!" </span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With virtually every municipality, county, State and even the Federal Government economically upside down, and now SS on the brink, can you imagine the taxes we are facing? RE Taxes will have to go up... in spite of the fact values are going down! </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_5" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Payroll taxes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, sales taxes, much higher gas taxes, a new energy tax, new </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_6" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">excise taxes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, soda taxes, sin taxes, Internet login taxes, </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_7" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Internet sales taxes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Texting taxes, higher income taxes on city, state, and Federal levels, watch for Net Worth Taxes.... and the granddaddy of all....a </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_8" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Sales Tax</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of anywhere from 10 to 20% on every purchase.... all on top of every tax already in place!</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Who's going to pay all these taxes? Where does the money come from? The 15 million </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_9" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">undocumented aliens</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">? Coming Amnesty will legalize and thus bring those folks into the Scheme, and their 30 to 50 million immediate family members! These folks will all want entitlements too, in spite of the fact that they come without portfolio! </span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are in a crises unlike anything since the 1930s, but no true Jobs are being created! The TARP money went to the already rich, the stimulus money is nothing more than a </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_10" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">political slush fund</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Ask yourself this, what happened to all those "shovel-ready projects" that were all around the country? Remember the Interstates in deplorable condition? Bridges, over and under passes falling down? Reservoirs on the brink of failing? The list of horror stories went on, yet I don't see the money flowing into these projects. If they ever existed.... Money is going to the States however, where it's spent on: maintaining government payrolls and rich union and government pensions, i.e. on the privileged class. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What happens when these funds are gone? What has set America apart from every other country on earth has been the willingness of its citizens to work hard, to take risks and thereby fulfill that burning desire to succeed - on one's own! What has helped fuel these dreams has been an abundant source of cheap energy, from our forests to our coal to our oil. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Energy is the key to all human advancement. Without it it's back to the caves......</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If this Administration was really interested in creating jobs and getting America moving again they would be issuing "sue proof" permits to build nuclear reactors from coast to coast.... one in everyone's backyard. They'd be letting leases on </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_11" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offshore drilling</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. The Fed would be offering tax credits for the conversion of auto and truck engines to run on CNG and putting up the cash to build-out CNG filling stations coast to coast. This makes way more sense than offering "cash for clunkers," or "cash for caulking," and it would mean millions of good jobs! </span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Plentiful cheap energy puts the US back in the game. With jobs vanishing to robotization, costs of living is reduced to the cost of energy. With cheap energy we can compete with anyone including the Chinese.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But what are our elected folks doing? Spending all their energy and all our futures on yet another huge </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_12" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">entitlement program</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.... the biggest entitlement of all... "Free Medical Care for Everyone!"</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Ponzi is close to the end, as all Ponzis eventually come to. We've found every last "investor" on earth when we've found the Chinese. There are no more "investors!" As the attempt to collect ever more taxes fails, watch for the Federal Government to require everyone with an IRA or a 401K to become an "investor." A significant part of those savings, in order to continue their special tax status, will be required to purchase US Bonds.... to be paid back not in a lump sum, but as an annuity. It's coming... the confiscation of money. Madoff was just a trailer of coming attractions.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" /></div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><div class="hd" style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 11px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; zoom: 1;"><h1 id="yn-title" style="display: block; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 34px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 40px; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam's IOUs</h1><a class="provider-logo ult-section" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/brand/SIG=11f589428;_ylt=AtmjCqvb7_3ww9XxrN2FUBGtQLN_;_ylu=X3oDMTBzc2k0M2xoBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bi1wcnZkbGluawRzbGsDYXA-/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ap.org%2Ftermsandconditions" id="yn-prvdlink" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0058a6; 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border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" width="213" /></a><cite class="caption" style="clear: both; color: #777777; display: block; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-top: 3px; zoom: 1;">AP – FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2005 file photo, Susan Chapman, director of the Division of Federal Investments, …</cite></div></div></div></div><div class="byline" style="color: #777777; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><cite class="vcard" style="color: #777777; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer </cite>– Mon Mar 15, 12:00 am ET</div><div class="yn-story-content" style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Social Security Administration</span>.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It's time to start cashing them in.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For more than two decades, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_1" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Social Security</span> collected more money in<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_2" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">payroll taxes</span> than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Sounds like a good time to start tapping the nest egg. Too bad the federal government already spent that money over the years on other programs, preferring to borrow from Social Security rather than foreign creditors. In return, the Treasury Department issued a stack of IOUs — in the form of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_3" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_14" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Treasury bonds</span></span> — which are kept in a nondescript office building just down the street from Parkersburg's municipal offices.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Now the government will have to borrow even more money, much of it abroad, to start paying back the IOUs, and the timing couldn't be worse. The government is projected to post a record $1.5 trillion <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_15" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">budget deficit</span></span> this year, followed by trillion dollar deficits for years to come.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social Security's shortfall will not affect current benefits. As long as the IOUs last, benefits will keep flowing. But experts say it is a warning sign that the program's finances are deteriorating. Social Security is projected to drain its trust funds by 2037 unless Congress acts, and there's concern that the looming crisis will lead to reduced benefits.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"This is not just a wake-up call, this is it. We're here," said Mary Johnson, a policy analyst with <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_5" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_16" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">The Senior Citizens League</span></span>, an <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_6" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">advocacy group</span>. "We are not going to be able to put it off any more."</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For more than two decades, regardless of which political party was in power, Congress has been accused of raiding the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_7" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_17" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Social Security trust</span></span> funds to pay for other programs, masking the size of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_18" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">budget deficit</span>.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Remember <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_8" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_19" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Al Gore</span></span>'s "lockbox," the one he was going to use to protect Social Security? The former vice president talked about it so much during the 2000 presidential campaign that he was parodied on "Saturday Night Live."</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Gore lost the election and never got his lockbox. But to illustrate the government's commitment to repaying Social Security, the Treasury Department has been issuing special bonds that earn interest for the retirement program. The bonds are unique because they are actually printed on paper, while other<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_9" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">government bonds</span> exist only in electronic form.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">They are stored in a three-ring binder, locked in the bottom drawer of a white metal filing cabinet in the Parkersburg offices of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_10" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_20" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Bureau of Public Debt</span></span>. The agency, which is part of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_11" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_21" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Treasury Department</span></span>, opened offices in Parkersburg in the 1950s as part of a plan to locate important government functions away from Washington, D.C., in case of an attack during the Cold War.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">One bond is worth a little more than $15.1 billion and another is valued at just under $10.7 billion. In all, the agency has about $2.5 trillion in bonds, all backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. But don't bother trying to steal them; they're nonnegotiable, which means they are worthless on the open market.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">More than 52 million people receive old age or <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_12" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_22" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">disability benefits</span></span> from Social Security. The average benefit for retirees is a little under $1,200 a month. Disabled workers get an average of $1,100 a month.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social Security is financed by <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_13" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">payroll taxes</span> — employers and employees must each pay a 6.2 percent tax on workers' earnings up to $106,800. Retirees can start getting early, reduced benefits at age 62. They get full benefits if they wait until they turn 66. Those born after 1960 will have to wait until they turn 67.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social Security's financial problems have been looming for years as the nation's 78 million <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_14" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">baby boomers</span>approached <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_23" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">retirement age</span>. The oldest are already there. As that huge group of people starts collecting benefits — and stops paying payroll taxes — Social Security's trust funds will shrink, running out of money by 2037, according to the latest projection from the trustees who oversee the program.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The recession is making things worse, at least in the short term. Tax receipts are down from the loss of more than 8 million jobs, and applications for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_24" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">early retirement benefits</span> have spiked from older workers who were laid off and forced to retire.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_15" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_25" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Social Security Administration</span></span>, says the crisis has been years in the making. "If this helps get people to look more seriously at that in the nearer term, that's probably a good thing. But it's only really a punctuation mark on the fact that we have longer-term financial issues that need to be addressed."</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the short term, the nonpartisan <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_16" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_26" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Congressional Budget Office projects</span></span> that Social Security will continue to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes for the next three years. It is projected to post small surpluses of $6 billion each in 2014 and 2015, before returning to indefinite deficits in 2016.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">For the budget year that ends in September, Social Security is projected to collect $677 million in taxes and spend $706 million on benefits and expenses.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Social Security will also collect about $120 billion in interest on the trust funds, according to the CBO projections, meaning its overall balance sheet will continue to grow. The interest, however, is paid by the government, adding even more to the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_17" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">budget deficit</span>.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">While Congress must shore up the program, action is unlikely this year, said <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_18" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_27" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Rep. Earl Pomeroy</span></span>, D-N.D., who just took over last week as chairman of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_19" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_28" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">House subcommittee</span></span> that oversees Social Security.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"The issues required to address the long-term solvency needs of Social Security can be done in a careful, thoughtful and orderly way and they don't need to be done in the next few months," Pomeroy said.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The national debt — the amount of money the government owes its creditors — is about $12.5 trillion, or nearly $42,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. About $8 trillion has been borrowed in public<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_20" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">debt markets</span>, much of it from foreign creditors. The rest came from various government trust funds, including retirement funds for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_21" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">civil servants</span> and the military. About $2.5 trillion is owed to Social Security.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Good luck to the politician who reneges on that debt, said <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_22" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_29" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Barbara Kennelly</span></span>, a former Democratic congresswoman from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_23" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Connecticut</span> who is now president of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_24" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_30" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare</span></span>.</div><div style="display: block; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"Those bonds are protected by the full faith and credit of the United States of America," Kennelly said. "They're as solid as what we owe China and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268627179_25" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1268671946_31" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Japan</span></span>."</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><br />
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</tbody></table></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-64880553247181998742010-02-16T18:30:00.000-08:002010-02-17T14:32:33.962-08:00The End of Jobs?<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">10%! The New Normal?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Is 10% unemployment the new normal? The numbers the USA enjoyed during the Bush years are not likely to be seen again because they were the result of an unsustainable nationwide/worldwide building boom. All during those years and prior, jobs, real sustainable jobs, had been shrinking due to the efficiency needs of industry. Not only have those jobs been outsourced to cheaper labor abroad but in many cases they have been eliminated altogether due to robotization, even in countries with abundant cheap labor. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Need a Formula?</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 21px;">AP Economic Writer, Jeannine Aversa, presents an interesting formula, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100131/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gdp_unemployment">described here</a>, that shows just why high unemployment numbers may be with us for a long time to come. But even this mathematical figuring does not take into account the extreme shift from human labor to robots. Now that we can "manufacture" slaves, in the form of machines, that can even replicate themselves, a new way of thinking about "employment" has to be explored.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #777777; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Auto Making: Going, going, Gone!</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">This video of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5WGLWNllA">a modern VW plant</a> speaks volumes, as does this video of a new <a href="http://apps.detnews.com/apps/multimedia/player/index.php?id=1189">Ford factory in Brazil</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">As you watch these videos, as fascinating as the factories are, pay close attention to the workers manning these plants… or the startling lack thereof!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Electronics</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">How much of the stuff we buy and use everyday no longer employs human workers… at all!? The Sharp TV Company in Japan recently opened an LCD <a href="http://www.sott.net/articles/show/198203-New-Sharp-Flat-Panel-Factory-No-Humans-on-Assembly-Line">TV screen manufacturing plant</a> that uses <u>not a single worker</u>, yet will, by the end of this year, produce scores of thousands of large flat screen TVs! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Cell Phones</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Hundreds of millions of cell phones are manufactured worldwide every year….. by a handful of employees as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XevKzpgNyfk&feature=PlayList&p=D56CC0C7C7F5EA59&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=19">seen here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Building Material</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">How about something as mundane as concrete blocks? Check out <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S_ciJcHE7g">this factory</a> in Belgium.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px; text-decoration: underline;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Food Shelter and Clothing</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">The list of products we use daily are, for the most part, made without much human labor. Even farming has been automated, from wheat production to egg production.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;">Here at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W54aXW10a00">Fair Oaks dairy farm</a> in Indiana 32,000 cows are milked every day…. Essentially by machines with the help of the cows themselves! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Another example, this one of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtCldC2C5C0">robots cutting complex shapes</a> from materials as diverse as denim, felt and foam.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">What else is there? Well, how about surgery?</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">What once required a team of highly skilled surgeons is now <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NZLpWrJGgk">routinely done by machines</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Wanna Fly-Away from it all?</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">In the recent past, when passengers were whisked from city to city and country to country via air transport, their route was plotted by an onboard crewman: Navigator, instruments were monitored by another: the Flight Engineer, the plane was flown by yet a third: the Pilot and for a fourth: his back-up, the Co-Pilot. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Satellites and today’s GPS mapping and broadcasting has eliminated the need for navigators. Electronic monitors keep an unblinking eye on the instruments and many flights forego a co-pilot altogether. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Are pilots the next to go? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWLy4WF4cww">Unmanned Ariel Vehicles</a> are already being used around the world in surveillance, war, and law enforcement. When will we be boarding the equivalent of the UAV 747? It’s just a matter of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Labor Free World!</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Have we finally reached the point of the labor-free world? Most things the modern world uses are made by machines. Need more production? No need to hire more workers…. More production can be obtained by simply turning a dial!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Well, what’s the point of all this? Aside from the fantastic advances man has made in the evolution of machines and artificial intelligence, the part of the equation left out is literally that of the human being.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">What are 7, 10, or 20 Billion Humans going to do to earn a living when only a couple billion are a billion too many? The English and French are trying The Dole. But unless the Americans, the EU or the Chinese are willing to pick-up the slack, providing a free lunch, the basic Laws of Thermodynamics tells us this scheme too is unsustainable. The Law of Thermodynamics is currently being tested in Greece where legions of bureaucrats are highly paid but produce nothing. The Germans or the EU will have to pay the freight for the Greeks just to avert Euro-disaster. Even this will play-out as only a short term solution….. Kick the can down the road. But it’s not a road; it’s a Blind Alley.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Even if The Dole could somehow be made to work, there’s always the axiom, “Idle hands are the Devils workshop,” to deal with. In France those hands are used nightly <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLNOUB5y4Js">to burn cars</a>. In other places they are used in the pursuit of other forms of social ills demonstration. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Man has the mental capacity to invent and develop fantastic machines to create a labor free world of lazy pursuits, yet he lacks the vision to see the true and complete product of his work. Is 10% the new normal or is it just the <a href="http://247wallst.com/2010/01/20/cities-will-struggle-with-high-unemployment-for-years/">prelude to even bigger numbers</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;">?</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Where are the Solutions?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;">These are problems that our elected representatives were hired to solve. But instead they have chosen to curry favor with a block of voters through: numerous entitlement programs, promises of "health" through expensive government schemes, rich paying government jobs, payoffs to unions, and other either non-productive individuals and entities, earmarks and other wasteful spending "projects." They have latched on to complete idiocy, like Global Warming, to gain even more wealth and control over the lives of human beings, but without even an inkling of how wealth is actually created, all the while living like Potentates, a class apart. One harkens back to Orwell's <i> Animal Farm, </i>where all the animals are equal, except some are more equal than others. How is it that so many politicians, most whom have never had a real job, never hired a real employee that made a real widget, born into a middle-class family, wins an election, travels to Washington then returns home a few years or a career later multi-millionaires?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;">Cheers, Mel</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;">Post Script: This morning Feb. 17, 2010, from <i>Bulletin News</i>:</span></span><br />
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<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 14pt;"><span style="color: #324790; font-family: Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 14pt;"><b>Two Million-Plus Manufacturing Jobs Lost During Recession</b> </span> The <u>CBS Evening News </u>reported, "As the US economy struggles, we're not just losing jobs, we're losing manufacturing jobs, the kind that pay well, have benefits and provide a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. Of the nearly 8.5 million jobs lost since the recession began, more than a quarter were in manufacturing and getting them back may require a big change in attitude about working with our hands." CBS went to say that "America has largely stopped making things," and noted that "in the year 2000, more than 17 million Americans were employed in manufacturing," but "by last year, that had dropped to fewer than 12 million."</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-81009932829035801472009-12-11T08:53:00.000-08:002009-12-11T09:24:04.494-08:00Hockey Stick Shenanigans<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="color: #cc6600; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.25em; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc6600; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 30px;">Hockey stick observed in NOAA ice core data</span><br />
<div class="post-body entry-content" style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div><div class="post-header-line-1"></div><div class="post-body entry-content" style="line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/09/hockey-stick-observed-in-noaa-ice-core-data/" style="color: #3d81ee; text-decoration: none;">Hockey stick observed in NOAA ice core data</a><br />
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</div><div>My previous post contains details that show weather data has been "altered" to fit the need of those seeking money, power, and control over virtually every aspect of life on the planet. My gosh, these people have powerful government agencies working to that end. Take as an example the EPA which has, in all its wisdom, decided that the air we breath (all air breathing creatures) is a pollutant! My granddaddy used to wonder when the government would figure out a way of taxing the very air we breath... Well Baba, if you can hear me, they have..... it's called Cap and Trade.<br />
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</div><div>The link above displays the famous "hockey stick" data that scientists hang their hat on, as proof that we are indeed in a warming period, never-mind the alternative, which is a cooling period - read Ice Age - because the weather NEVER stays the same for long. Click on the link, it's an easy short read with some very interesting graphs - including the vaunted Hockey Stick. It's an eye-opener and explains why the <a href="http://jimrogers-investments.blogspot.com/">Jim Rogers</a> of the world are busy buying-up prime agriculture properties in the subtropical regions of the world..... they are betting big on a broken Hockey Stick!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;">Cheers, Mel Shapiro</span><br />
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</h3>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-68894341743935684072009-11-24T12:53:00.000-08:002009-11-24T13:35:09.344-08:00The Greatest Hoax On Earth...EVER!If, after reading this <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/"><b>link</b></a>, you have any faith left in science, you are the personification of the "cockeyed optimist!" "EXPOSED" is what the headline of the New York Times should read, but strangely, it's quiet on this hugely important story. The entire world's wealth hinges on what governments do in regard to "carbon footprint," "Cap and Trade," oil exploration, electricity development and distribution, food production, jobs and ultimately world prosperity.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Shoot the Messenger, Control the World!</b></span><br />
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Instead, to the Times and others, it's: Shoot The Messenger! This, after Global Warming is exposed as a gigantic, perhaps the world's greatest, hoax! <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/"><b>It's a HOAX</b></a>, but Obama and company will push further in a headlong rush to destroy all that makes America, America! This crew and their minions are not interested in the fable of "alternative energy," they want NO energy. They talk about "Clean Coal," an oxymoron. They talk about wind and solar energy, terribly inefficient. What they are after is the total CONTROL of all energy. Control of energy is the ultimate control of humanity. The weather, or Climate Change, or Global Warming, has been the fear tool used thus far. If you are in the camp that wants to live in the TV Series, "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner"><b>The Prisoner</b></a>," or the English movie, "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(film)"><b>Brazil</b></a>," or Orwell's "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four"><b>1984</b></a>" or "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm"><b>Animal Farm</b></a>," stop reading.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Prosperity Now!</b></span><br />
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What the USA should be doing right now is seeking prosperity. Forget the rest of the world because when the USA is prosperous, the rest of the world is prosperous too. Instead, our dear leaders are offering tax increases upon the country's very job creation engine: small business! Instead our dear leaders are hiring bureaucrats to regulate (sort of, like they did the Banks? or the Insurance Companies? or Wall Street?) or should I say to sit and knit, take home a check and look to purchase a new car with taxpayers money or buy a house with taxpayers money?<br />
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Not one of these government jobs, "saved or created," produces a single widget. No economic multiplier effect, unless the laws of physics have been part of the "Change" in Washington D.C.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It's EASY!</b></span><br />
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There is an easy way to get the engine of prosperity chugging again. I'll get to that, but first a little history. What made America great was: 1) a vast country of what appeared to be unlimited energy resources, and 2) a population free to exploit it. It's that simple. Two World Wars quickly depleted America's easy to get oil, converting that vital resource into freedom for Asia and Europe, but still America moved forward because we were still far richer in these vital resources than all the other developed nations.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Energy = Wealth</b></span><br />
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As oil's cost increased, America's wealth waned. When oil reached nearly $150 a barrel last year, the US economy ground to a near halt. The world's engine of prosperity was literally choked-off. Greedy fraudsters, selling bogus nonsensical products like "Carbon Offsets," aided and abetted by government "leaders," and a fraudulent scientific community, contributed mightily to the near demise of the greatest economy, while personally obtaining grants, some getting rich, others false fame, with little or no regard for the greater good.<br />
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Vast energy is still within our reach, as is full employment. Here's what we can do right now: 1) Instead of programs like "Cash for Clunkers," that actually exacerbate our problems, the government should offer tax credits for motor vehicle conversions to allow cars and trucks to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). America has huge natural gas reserves, often compared to the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. 2) Build 1000 pocket-sized nuclear power plants.... in everyones backyard. Want electricity? Live with a nuclear power plant! This would apply to the <a href="http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7800530.html"><b>Kennedy's</b></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Koch_(businessman)"><b>Bill Koch</b></a>. This simple axiom has worked well for the <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html"><b>French where 75% of electrical production</b></a> comes from nuclear fission.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Jobs right NOW!</b></span><br />
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Imagine the jobs created by these two "programs!" Millions of good high-tech jobs, that not only employ men and women right now, but jobs that create infrastructure that goes on paying back for generations. America, once again, would lead the world to greater prosperity. The cost of oil would plummet; The use of electric vehicles would soar on the fuel of cheap electricity; CNG and electric "fill-up" stations in every business and home garage. The most expensive part of this energy distribution system is already, literally, in the ground. Every home and business has electricity and millions of home and businesses have natural gas lines.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Time will run-out....</b></span><br />
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It's long past time to get off the dime and get moving toward growth and prosperity again. This should be done before America falls further into the stultifying slumber of our forefathers homeland: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a9192AnASCmg"><b>England</b></a>. Here's the other bright-side to this equation: <b><a href="http://gawker.com/281714/is-homewrecker-laurie-david-a-secret-carbon-sasquatch">Laurie David</a></b>, the The <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Satchsquatch</span> of Carbon Foot Print, could, without guilt, enjoy her 26 foot long bar-b-que and her 24,000 square foot house on Martha's Vineyard. She would also be free of the title: Hypocrite Queen.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3117597273371517732.post-71656176302811053182009-11-20T10:40:00.000-08:002009-11-20T13:15:35.495-08:00Tempus Fugit<span style="color: #00007f; font-family: 'Courier New', courier, monaco, monospace, sans-serif; font-size: 19px;"></span><br />
<div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I've experienced a couple of firsts having to do with my age:</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the 4th of July, while at a large birthday party, I had occasion to look around and notice that there wasn't another soul in the room my age. The closest was Rebecca; born in 1943, she is nearly 3 years younger. I was, by at least - not counting Rebecca - a half decade or more older than the next oldest person present. </span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A couple days ago, I had need for some advice from an Apple Store tech regarding my computer. Having no appointment, I went to the "Genius Bar" and awaited my turn in line with the others that had no appointment. Soon it was my turn next. But just as I was about to be called an attractive young lady stepped in front of me - to the front of the line. I (gently) tapped her on the shoulder and mentioned that we - I and all those behind me - were waiting our turn in line and that I was next! "Well." she said, "I have an 11:15 appointment, and it's 11:15 now. Do you have an appointment?" Well no I stammered, and dropped the subject. A moment later the techie behind the bar motioned to the next in line, where upon the young woman stepped-up with, "I have an 11:15 appointment." The techie, a young man, perhaps 35, looked at her with a smile and then, much to my surprise, said, "Do you mind if I take this gentleman next? After all age before beauty." I was floored.</span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While walking Skipper this morning, a fellow, perhaps in his late forties, riding a golf cart slowed to a stop in front of us and said, "There's no sight more serene than watching an old man walk his dog in the morning."</span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm going to have to turn on some bright lights and take a closer look in the mirror, because, really, I don't see that old guy!</span><br />
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</div><div><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cheers, Mel</span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1