What Do We Want?

Common Answers include:

1. World Peace
2. Enough Money
3. Food, clothing, shelter
4. A better life for their kids
5. Free Internet
6. A meaningful job or work
7. Not to feel lonely
8. A sense of security
9. Lose Weight
10. Enough Sleep

This list is not meant to be scientific or universal.  It’s just some of the most common answers that I have found while looking for the answer in this country of ours.

Let’s see how many of these are possible and what the government role should be.

1. World Peace.  Not possible.  We have to create “pockets of peace”.  We can start in our own families and spread from there.  Do you want the government involved in your family to keep the peace?

2. Enough Money. How much is enough?  Isn’t that an individual decision?  Or should everyone have $200,000 in the bank?  This unfortunately is an area that our government has been messing with for a long time, the re-distribution of wealth, which gets more and more complex and unfair with each new law and rule.

3. Food, Clothing & Shelter.  See #2 above.

4. A better life for our kids. Nice idea but history has also demonstrated that if this happens, within a couple of generations, the grand-kids or great-grand-kids will lose the family fortune.  That’s because they didn’t have to put in the work, it was handed to them, and the principles and values that created the better life are not inherited.

5. Free Internet.  If you have a laptop, there are enough places that offer free wi-fi and the government was not involved.

6. Meaningful Job or Work. What will make each of us feel fulfilled? It’s not a government job.  It’s not necessarily a hourly wage job.  I recall 8 years ago when I worked as a Thermoformer Operator for a couple of years and when I realized that one of the main benefits of the job was all the time off, I knew I should look for something else.

7. Not to feel lonely.  If you know how the government can help this want, let me know!

8. A Sense of Security. Now, we are getting somewhere. Maybe. All depends on what you want your security to look like.  If you want to feel safe in your home, then you place some trust in the police and your neighbors, or maybe in the locks on your front door.  Security from foreign attacks? We have a government that is supposed to be on top of this.  Except, they have asked us for our help too.

9. Lose Weight.  This is largely (pun intended) an individual choice.  Unless you are sick or starving.

10. Enough Sleep. Yeah, sleep.  Now that I don’t have little ones running around or getting up in the middle of the night, I can sleep as much as I need to.  Either go to bed earlier, or wake up later. I don’t see how the government can help on this one either.

So there you have it. 10 things that most people in this country want.  Did I miss anything that is more important?

Spank & Hug

It has been nearly a year since President Obama took office.

Has his approach work?

First, let’s uncover his approach.

It began with, “Can’t we all just get along?”

I call it the Hug approach.  During the campaign, he pledged all of these actions which made him very appealing:

1. Stop the Wars and pull the troops out in 2009.

2. Put people back to work with stimulus money.

3. Health Care for everyone at a lower cost.

4. Clean up the Government with “Transparency” and

5. Clean up Spending by going thru the Budget with a fine tooth comb to get rid of waste.

None of these have been accomplished yet.  Instead the President continued what he started as a Presidential Candidate of traveling around the world and giving Hugs, apologizing for the actions of the United States under previous administrations and expecting a Hug back.

Instead, he was seen as weak and ineffective.  His world tours have not made us any safer.   Instead the attacks on our country in recent months have increased because the fear of punishment (a spanking), has decreased.

I’m not going to waste my time continuing to criticize what is going on right now with these issues.

I do know that I wouldn’t want that job no matter how much power and money you want to give me. But he did and it is time to get down to business.

Hug and repair strained relationships only does part of the job. But we need a Tough Love Approach.  Sometimes, you just have to spank to get results.

I hope and pray that President Obama spends the next 3 years learning from his mistakes from his first year and focusing on his constitutional duties as he pledged when he took the oath of office:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The HealthCare Mess

Recently I watched the movie SICKO by Michael Moore.  And it has raised a few questions in my mind.

Some might consider these to be radical questions, others might think that I’m abandoning my conservative ideals.  But as I’ve stated before,  we are all living, walking contradictions.

We have the radical left-wing and the radical right-wing and then there are all of those in the middle.

I can’t get a government organized the way I want, so I have to settle for an imperfect union.  And that’s what politicians do too.  But despite my desire for a strict Libertarian form of Federal Government, I think in order to fix what we currently have, we may have to swing the other way when it comes to healthcare.

Before you accuse me of jumping on the Socialist Bandwagon, let’s look at what other Government run programs we have.  To name a few:

1. The Post Office.  Even at 44 cents it is still a bargain compared to the alternatives.  And the private sector has not come up with a lower cost alternative to First Class Mail.

2. Public Education. Dollar for Dollar, less than the Private Schools, and money is NOT the real reason some schools do a better job than others.  There are many, many other factors involved too.

3. Police & Fire Departments.  Funded by tax dollars, but very few complaints overall and there are not really any serious private sector options that compare.

What concerns me most is that the politicians that are either trying to pass or block a health care reform bill don’t have the guts for a radical change.  They are too concerned about getting reelected or getting financial contributions to take the big bold steps and throw out our current system.

If we were to eliminate the insurance companies and put all of us on the public dole, we could clean up this mess.  The arguments of a public option would be eliminated, because the public option would not be optional.

Yes, our taxes would increase, but our insurance premiums would be gone.  The cost of health care procedures and medicines would drop since there would be less layers of companies adding to the mix that are making profits.

The problem right now, is that the politicians are trying to be sly about this and appeal to everyone and go thru multiple steps before they end up at the final goal of a universal, government payed for, taxpayer-funded health care system for the citizens of the United States.

We need 60 Senators who will know that is less painful to rip a band-aid off quickly, than to drag it out the way they are doing right now.

100 years ago, before the mass and instant communication world we live in now, they could have done this, but today… I’m concerned that they will only apply more band aids and screw it up even more.

Where Does The Money Come From? Part 2

A couple of weeks ago I asked the question. Now it’s time for the results.

Either:

A. People don’t know where the money comes from to run our government.

B. People don’t care where the money comes from to run our government.

C. People don’t care to leave a comment in answer to the question: where does the money comes from to run our government.

So, times up.  I need to give you the answer.

All money that our government spends comes from the people.  And the people are you and me.

Taxes, fees, all have to come from somewhere and you and I are the only ones that have money to give.

The problem is, most people do not understand this, mostly because the federal government is financially broke and living on loans that will come due sometime in the future.  And because of the complex financial system we have in the United States, we will probably never run out of cash, because the Feds can always print more.  However, the value of the printed money is questionable.

As long as we continue to accept that a dollar is a dollar, we will continue.  Problem is we have received loans and investments from foreign countries and if they stop accepting that premise, we are sunk.

Don’t believe me?  Look around and you’ll see how at the State and City level of government, they have to balance their books or they have to cut expenditures.  California is a great and sad example of this right now.

For those of you who say we should increase business or corporate taxes, you apparently are not aware of where those businesses get their money to pay their taxes.  They get it from their customers, namely you and me.  If they didn’t get it from us, they would have to reduce their profit margins and it is easier to simply pass the tax to the customer.  In some businesses, it is the only way for them to survive.

Higher costs for doing business always have to be passed on to the customer as higher prices that you and I pay.  Not just taxes, but energy costs, raw material, employee wages, etc, are all reflected in the prices we pay for the things we spend our money on.

So, as you ask for more from your government, just remember who is paying for more.

You and me, my friend.  If you are willing to pay more in exchange for more “free” services from the government, please remember these words.  Your comments are always welcome.

Where Does Money Come From? Part 1

Do you know where your government gets the money it spends?

A simple question, that I’d like you to answer in the comments.

 

If I get enough reply’s, I’ll answer the question too.  But first, I want to know what you think.

 

The Floor is yours…..

A Better Idea

I woke up this morning after my wife left for work and turned on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. This is how I start 4 out of 5 weekdays.

The political chit-chat was about Tuesday’s Election races, what it all means, and all this “fill the time” political fluff and puff that is required for these talk shows to stay on the air.

As my political skepticism continued, all of a sudden, they had a breaking news story about Ford….

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says it made nearly $1 billion in the third quarter, fueled by U.S. market share gains, cost cuts and the government’s Cash for Clunkers rebates.

The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker posted net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share. Ford says it now expects to be “solidly profitable” in 2011. Previously Ford said it would be break-even or better.

Ford’s key North American division posted a pretax profit of $357 million, its first quarter in the black since the first quarter of 2005.

The earnings came despite an $800 million revenue drop compared with the third quarter of last year. But Ford said it cut structural costs by $1 billion during the quarter.

Without my knowing all the details, I still see this as a victory for the Sink or Swim mentality and economic policy that excludes Federal Government (Taxpayer) Bailouts and Takeovers that have been so controversial the last couple of years.

You and I have limits as to what we can do economically. Those limits are based on our own creativity and abilities, not whether or not the Feds are going to bail us out. And that’s why Ford can hold it’s head high today.

Money Numbness or Dumbness

I’m too young to have been around when posters like this one were common place. And my parents who bought US Savings Bonds have passed away, so I can’t ask them. But from the information I have seen, it appears that when our country, our federal government needed more money, in this case to fund our efforts in World War 2, they asked for it and the citizens loaned them the money through the purchase of bonds.

For the past couple of years, decades, we have become numb to big money numbers. In my city there was debate about the spending of just over $1 million dollars to change two blocks of a downtown street from a one way to two way street. And the loudest critics of the project were not the financial conservatives but the folks who were concerned about the removal of trees that lined the street.

When the plans were revealed to the critics that showed how new trees would be included, the majority of the critics quieted down and the project is currently underway.

But what about the money? Perhaps if the media would present the numbers in their full glory, people would understand how much money is being spent by our governments? Which number looks bigger:

$1 million dollars
or
$1,000,000.00

Many people have what I call Money Numbness. We are used to such big numbers that we don’t flinch when we hear about the cost of a house or car that is 5 to 10 times more than they were years ago.

One way we have become Money Numb in those two examples is the use of financing and payments as a guideline for deciding if we can afford it.

“Easy payments of $299″ and then a bunch of fine print and disclaimers are now common in auto ads. As consumers, we have been trained to focus on the affordability of payments instead of the price tag.

This Money Numbness has contributed to Money Dumbness in regards to government spending and government income.

There is only one level of government that has the ability to spend more than it has and that is our federal government. Towns, Cities, Counties & States either have to come up with a balanced budget. They can use loans, bonds, taxes, fees, and whatever else their rules and regulations allow, but they cannot simple print their own money.

The Feds, well, they can do whatever they want. They can commit trillions of dollars that they don’t have to projects that they want to fund.

Let’s do a little comparison of what some of these numbers look like:

$25,000.00 Cost of a new car.
$50,000.00 A decent middle class income
$125,000.00 Cost of a middle class three bedroom home in my neighborhood.
$1,000,000.00 Cost to rebuild two blocks of s downtown city street
$2,000,000,000,000.00 Estimated cost of one of the healthcare reform bills

Let’s look at a Trillion dollars. This is from the website DailyCognition.com:

What ONE TRILLION dollars looks like in dollar bills…

Have you ever though about it. What would 1 trillion dollars look like, layed out in front of you?

I mean, these numbers numbers are tossed around like doggie treats.

So I thought I’d take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We’ll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently it’s the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation.

Pretty much, everyone has seen a $100 bill. But fewer have owned them.

They’re also guaranteed to make friends wherever you go!

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2″ thick and contains $10,000.

It’s fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000).

You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable.

It fits neatly on a standard pallet…

And $1 BILLION dollars… now we’re really getting somewhere…

Next we’ll look at ONE TRILLION dollars.

This is that number we’ve been hearing about so much.

What is a trillion dollars anyway?

Well, it’s a million million. It’s a thousand billion. It’s a one followed by 12 zeros ($1,000,000,000,000)

You ready for this?

It’s pretty surprising.

(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase “trillion dollars”… that’s what they’re talking about.

That’s a lot of money. And the problem is too many people who want the government to provide various services have no idea that the money to pay for these goods, services, projects, etc, come from the only source the government has for money.

You and me.

Another area of Money Dumbness is that we need tax the companies that are making excessive profits. However, those companies only get their money from one source, You and me as consumers. So, raising taxes in this manner, means more money that comes out of our monthly budgets.

I don’t have an easy answer to this. But if we can educate those that are either Numb or Dumb, we may at least be headed in a better direction.

Healthcare & Capitalism

Over the weekend, I saw Michael Moore’s latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story. As I was watching the story of political corruption, greed and excess, I saw many things I agreed with.

And Michael Moore appeared to be critical of both Democrats and Republicans in the film.

During the past 24 hours I watched last weeks interview with Sean Hannity and it solidified my negative opinion of Mr. Hannity. You can watch these interviews by going here.

I also read the story of Lunsford Richardson whose name you probably don’t recognize, as much as you would the product he invented, Vicks Vapor Rub. Click here to read it for yourself.

At the end of the movie, I was hoping that Michael Moore would NOT say that the answer was Socialism, which is what he is accused of saying. No, what Mr. Moore says is Democracy is the answer. Check it out and see for yourself.

Mainstream is not boring

My wife and I have some very opposite political views. This is not new information for either of us, but it does create some interesting and sometimes heated conversations.

Both of us have friends that lean left and friends that lean right. And the danger is to pigeon hole folks who have conservative ideas as right wing extremists, which is just as dangerous as pigeon holing folks with liberal ideas as left wing extremists.

Politics is a game of compromise and often contradiction. I have contradictions in my own life and I’m sure you do to.

With the media focusing on the radicals on both the left and the right, please don’t lump your friends with different viewpoints into the radical camps on either side. If you want to have an impact, then have a conversation and explore the issues with an open mind, even if you have your own strong beliefs and convictions.

Recent elections have been won by the votes cast by the mainstream voters, not the radicals.

The Healthcare Debate on a Napkin

Setting aside the legalities of this whole debate for a moment, I found this presentation very good..

Healthcare Napkins All

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