Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Call and Write Your Senators About Harry Reid's Health Care Plan
Letters to my Senators regarding Harry Reid's "health care plan."
Dear Senator Nelson,
I implore you to respect the wishes of your constituency and vote against the pending health care legislation before the Senate. While the intentions of some may be good, the end result will be long term massive costs, increases in taxes and health care costs, and loss of services as budget restrictions force rationing of services.
The American people are far better at determining their own personal health care needs than 100 Senators and 435 Congresspersons who have little regard for the well being of their constituency.
To foist these overbearing measures on the 80% in order to supposedly provide for the 20%, a dubious justification at best, is not only wrongheaded, but indicative of the need for term limits to return elected officials to the states they hail from and limit political inbreeding in Washington.
We do not need the kind of health care reform Washington politicians are proposing, we need new representative who are more interested in statesmanship and the will of the people. Not a group of lemmings who blindly follow the party leadership.
Vote no on the Harry Reid led charge to decimate our health care system.
Dear Senator LeMieux,
Thank you for remaining steadfast in opposing the wrong headed and dangerous health care legislation pending before the Senate.
If our economy has even a possibility of recovery, this legislation will at best delay it, at worst, plummet us into a miserable decline.
The damage this legislation will inflict on the delivery of health care, on the health of individuals, and the economic health of families has been sorely underestimated.
Medicare currently costs many multiples of the originally stated cost. Senate Democrats have had to, in similar fashion to the University of East Anglia Climate "researcher", fudge the numbers and creatively skew them to show a "balanced" bill.
The truth is the ever increasing costs will result in massive deficits and/or unbearable taxation of American families that will be required after the stated 10 year “balanced” projections.
Thank you again for your stalwart opposition to this attempt to destroy our health care system, our economy and our nation.
I you haven't written and called your Senators, do so now, the time is short and the future of our nation and our economic well being is at stake.
Senate Directory: Look up your Senator and email him or her via the web mail application on their Senate website. Also check their Senate website for phone numbers or use the directory at TheOrator.com to call them. TheOrator weblinks to email your representatives may be broken. Try it before using the multistep process on the US Senate website.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Bill Nelson, George LeMeiux, Harry Reid, health care, politics, Senate, voting
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Just say NO!
We must demand our Senators and Representatives vote against any more bailout of private businesses and individuals with government, taxpayer money. It is time for us to bite the bullet and face the consequences of our irresponsible financial behavior. It is immoral for us to pass on to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren this debt.
The American people were sold a "bill of goods" last October, and it's happening again now. Throwing more taxpayer debt at the economic problems our nation faces will only at best delay the inevitable while piling up unconscionable debt on our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Our government now owes more money than all of us in the country put together possess. We now owe nearly $57 trillion while our total net worth is only $56.5 trillion. President-elect Barack Obama has said, "We've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point."
Obama's plan, being promoted by Democrats and Republicans alike, is to pass out money, running up debt that our grandchildren will be forced to pay. Their solution is simple. Throw more money at the problem. Many of the projects clamoring for a piece of the "pie" at best are poor investments. Others just don’t make sense or amount to funding of projects no one else wants or sees a legitimate need of.
Where will the government get these trillions of dollars? They will go to the printing press and print more, which means that dollar in your pocket will be worth less. It also means the government will borrow more. From whom? Try China and the rich oil producing countries. At the rate we are going, China will never have to fight us. They will own us.
We don’t need to keep digging the hole deeper and deeper. Where will the bailouts end? We need some leadership from Congress, and we need it now. In the vacuum of statesmanship out of Washington, the American people must show that leadership. We know that in the real world there is no such thing as a free lunch; we must make sure oblivious Washington insiders know that as well.
They must stop feeding the American people a line of $&#@!. Democrats railed against Republicans over federal deficits during the Bush years. Now they are set to allow nearly as much deficit spending in one year than was incurred during the entire Bush administration, and yawn while doing so.
Stop the bleeding now! Just say NO to any more bailouts, "taxpayer investment" and government wealth transfers of all kinds. I for one am sick of the enormous transfer of wealth from this nation to China and the oil producing nations. Every dollar of deficit spending means more for them.
Write your Representatives, Senators and the President-elect. Tell them, "Stop it...NOW!"
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Barack Obama, Big 3 bailout, Bush, Democrats, federal budget deficit, national debt, politics, Republicans
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Big 3 Bailout thoughts
I wrote the following to Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida on his "No" vote to on the "Cloture Motion; Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008". A yes vote would have allowed the Senate to move forward on this bill, to which leaders intended to attach auto financing and restructuring legislation
Thank you for voting "No" on the Cloture Motion to the "Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008."I wrote a similar note to Sen. Bill Nelson who voted "Yes" on the motion. Except I extended my disappointment at his vote.
While I am fundamentally opposed to government intervention in free markets, that's in large part what got us into the financial and housing meltdown to begin with, if there is going to be government intervention, there must be concessions on "all" sides.
That the unions refused to even consider concessions to help their employers to become more competitive and preserve blue collar jobs is case in point of the arrogance they have fostered.
In tough times everyone needs to be willing to do what is necessary to keep their business viable, unions included.
That said, the very best method for the big 3 to deal with the problem of mismanagement, poor market prognostication and burdensome union contracts is the very Darwinian yet efficient method of Chapter 11 reorganization.
With good decisions they will come out stronger, more competitive and positioned for future growth and profitability without eating at the public trough.
I need my blue collar, Postal Service, earnings to support my family, not those of mis-managers and unionized extravagance.
We must each become involved in the political process and tell our representatives what we think of their actions. Our Senators and Representatives are in Washington to "represent" each of us, the voter, the constitutent, not their own self interests and personal philosophies.
They must listen to us and seriously consider our wishes on the issues. If not, we have the responsibility in our Republic to go to the voting booth and replace them.
But if we fail to provide guidance and feedback, the onus falls on each of us for the actions they take with which we disagree. So take time to get involved, learn about the issues and write your political representatives, it's your future, and that of your children and grandchildren.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Big 3 bailout, Bill Nelson, financial crisis, Mel Martinez, politics, Senate
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
How progressive taxes work...
Came across a paraphrase of the following on another networking site I regularly visit. Snope's can't verify attribution so I'll leave that part off.
Still, the analogy is sound and clearly explains the fallacy of a progressive tax system and especially one geared towards wealth envy, such as ours.
How Taxes Work . . .
This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Read on — it does make you think!!
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man — the richest — would pay $59.
That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement — until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six — the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"
The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too . . . It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!".
"That's true!" shouted the seventh man, "why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.
Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!
Sadly, in America today, according to a recent Gallup poll 46% of those polled would prefer to be the first 4 or 5 guys. They approve taking from the others, only they don't want it done voluntarily, they want it under the threat of government coercion.
That says much about the state of their self motivation and one might even say moral depravity. What happens when government gets into the business of wealth redistribution? Well, I'm talking more than we currently have and more like has been proposed by the incoming powers of our government, both legislative and executive branches.
In the mid '90's I was in Hungary, a nation that lived under Communism. In 1989 she came out from under that heavy handed rule and while the Budapest was thriving, outside the city the people still labored in a state of despair.
Old world horse carts still traveled the roads as people moved themselves and the fruits of their backbreaking labor in their gardens and fields. Once the socialist economic principles of Communism took hold, breaking their grasp on those weaker, poorer victims of it's failed policies was near impossible.
This is what some in power want for our nation. I have no doubt they don't wish the wearying daily struggle, but we have already seen the results of unintended consequences of well intended government intervention gone wrong.
The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, at the heart of our current financial crisis. I've written much about that. The 2005 Energy Bill, expanded in 2007, mandating ethanol production. That short-sighted, well intended legislation resulted in dramatically higher grain prices and ultimately grocery prices, with little to show in energy production. There are currently calls to freeze its mandates at the current levels.
Social Security, a well intended product of the Roosevelt era, has had progressively steeper demands placed on it, disability benefits, survivors benefits, constantly increasing the meager monthly payments. All the while the population of those drawing SS checks grows as our population lives longer and the pool of those worker paying in continues to decrease as the birth rate declines.
I have two nephews, a niece, two step sons and two grandchildren who will be footing the bill for my Social Security payments, assuming it is still in force 12 years from now. Currently the estimated benefit for myself and my wife is $2489 in today's dollars. In 2020, at the current rate of growth, its estimated that for every recipient there will be 2.4 workers, and the ratio gets smaller every year. (More info)
That means, on average, out of each of their monthly paychecks, about $520 will be taken off the top to pay the social security for me, my wife and every other recipient. That, my friends, is wealth redistribution.
But for those currently coming into power in Washington, its a non-issue. The wealth redistribution they are pushing takes this much further and in the process the Ponzi scheme known as Social Security, Medicare, National Healthcare, Welfare, Child Credit ad nausem will end up breaking the back of the American economy.
Good intentions? Certainly, though some more skeptical will argue its merely buying the vote of the lower economic classes. But good intentions do not make good policy.
We've already seen in microcosm the results of human nature in the financial bailout. Companies are repositioning themselves to become eligible when they weren't before. Companies not related to the financial crisis are demanding a bailout for their sectors. Citizens are concocting schemes, dreaming up ways they think they should get a piece of this action.
What everyone forgets is that it isn't government who foots the bill. Government doesn't create wealth, it only takes it. Government doesn't produce a salable product. The current model seems to be redistribution.
According to the Tax Foundation analysis of 2006 tax data, if you earned $153,542 you were in the top 5% of income earners and paid 60% if income taxes. If you earned a modest $64,702 you were in the top 25% of income earners and one of the wealthy. You and your group paid 86.27% of all income taxes.
What does this tell us? For starters, the idea that the wealthy don't pay income taxes is a myth. Perpetuated by a political class with an agenda of riding wealth envy to power. Secondly, you could have confiscated the total incomes of the top 5%, those making %153,542 in 2006 ($2.43 trillion), and the total going to the government would come close to to paying the $2.7 trillion budget for that year, but only once.
The only answer to this is to reduce spending. In 2006 the federal government spent $248 billion just on interest on the national debt, that is more than twice the $117 billion spent on the Iraq war that year and $22 billion more than the federal deficit that year.
Confiscating wealth, nor redistribution of wealth, is the answer. A fair review of the data is convincing. The only answer for the fiscal dilemma our government is in, less government.
The only problem with this is the current and the incoming leadership on both sides of the aisle seem committed to more government, more intrusion into the private sector, more spending, more and increased entitlements, more deficits, and a higher national debt.
I've oft repeated this quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, "The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money."
Our legislators discovered this long ago, the people are swallowing this hook into their collective gut and it will eventually rip us all inside out.
I want more for my nephews, niece, step sons and grandchildren. They deserve more, yet sadly, I'm afraid their generation may have fallen victim to the elixir of wealth envy and may well be bringing to power those who will orchestrate their own fiscal demise.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: federal budget deficit, national debt, politics, Social Security, socialism, taxes, wealth envy
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Time to come down off the "high"
With the election over, journalists, pundits, commentators, most politicians and most importantly, the President-Elect, Barack Obama, have all begun to scale back the rhetoric. These professionals, for the most part, understand there is an important distinction between campaigning for political office and holding that office.
The words, thoughts and ideas expressed in a campaign are idealistic, crafted to appeal to a candidate’s constituency’s hope and dreams. A political candidate also knows the rhetoric of campaigning will rarely become policy. Therefore he or she must scale back the expectations of their constituencies otherwise those who carried them to office will turn on them when they realize their idealized hopes will not be attained, or at least to the degree they were led to believe during the campaign.
To his credit, President elect Obama began lowering expectations in the final week of his campaign when it became clear that barring unforeseen and hugely inaccurate polling, he would most likely become this nation’s 44th President. The difficulty for Obama is that most of the constituency he has courted, the youth vote and the wealth envy vote, do not understand the difference between campaigning and governing.
Political candidates have since the beginning of politics promised far more than they can deliver. In the form of government in this nation, that fact is inherent in our Constitutional Republic. You see, this is not a democracy, despite the misguided belief perpetuated by the educational system and the media.
Sadly, the constituencies of President-Elect Obama have drunk the “Kool-aid” of “Change” and truly believe that their candidate and our soon to be President will enact all that he has promised. Many remain in “campaign mode” ravenously attacking anyone expressing ideas and opinions even slightly different from their own. They look for attack and disparagement in even the most benign of comment.
Their youthful idealism and expectations, their lack of understanding of the American political process, will lead them to disillusion and disappointment. At the same time, their inability to tone down their rhetoric and attacks will serve only to alienate them from both those who may agree with them as well as those who don’t.
Their friends, families and fellow employees will all soon tire of the constant argumentative attitude and newly empowered political groupies will soon find themselves not only disappointed in their expectations, but distanced from those who would have otherwise been there for them when they finally realize their candidate cannot fulfill the all promises made and their government has failed them despite their hope for change.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Barack Obama, Constitution, democracy, dictatorship, government, politics, Republic, voting
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
I just finished watching a DVD I heard about on Steve Brown Etc. several months ago and had put on my list of must see videos. It is Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.
If you have never heard of this story, or haven’t yet taken time to view it, you must do so. It is a lesson, first in the strength of character of those who truly believe in their cause and secondly, a treatise on the dangers of a government that believes it alone has the right to determine what ideas are proper and must destroy those whose ideas oppose it.
In a nation where government becomes so powerful that it invades the private economy, nationalizes industry, socializes its education and humanitarian sectors, that power is an elixir to the population and a source of control for those in power. The people become either emasculated through fear or gratitude, or a few rise and speak out against the iron claw of those in power.
Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and a group of others known as the White Rose chose the latter. When they saw, either with their own eyes or through reports from others, the abuse of a government self-described as Nationalist Socialism, they knew it was their duty to speak out, even in the face of possible death.
That death came at the end of a kangaroo court where the laws and constitution of Germany were suspended for the sake of expediently dispatching those who opposed Hitler’s Third Reich.
The lessons for today are many. Throughout the film, which was created after interviews with many who were witness to the events as well as uncovered court records, Sophie, Hans and Christopher Probst were interrogated and harangued for defying the state in spite of their state provided educations.
How could they rebel against Germany after all Germany had done for them? With the continued intrusion of federalism in the United States into the educational system, the attempts to criminalize home schooling in California, and the control of the public (read “government”) education system by such liberal organizations as the National Education Association which allies itself with the Democrat party, our children may soon be asked the same question.
The education system envisioned by “Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.” It was Kruschev who in 1960 declared before the United Nations General Assembly ”America will fall without a shot being fired. It will fall from within.”
He was referring to the Communization of America, extolling the bullet points of the Communist Manifesto. What we are interested in here specifically is plank five, “Free education for all children in public schools.” An Obama nation would provide “free” education to all children, starting at birth; to indoctrinate them in the glories of a government controlled society.
It’s not surprising that Obama would promote such a scheme in that his college years included a plethora of socialist connections that have continued in one form or another to today. Black Liberation Theology, espoused by Rev. Jeremiah Wright whose Trinity United Church of Christ Obama attended for years, is rooted in Marxist philosophy.
But getting back to Sophie Scholl, it is important, even more so as we approach this coming election, that we remind ourselves of the dangers of empowering one who lifts himself up as the answer to all societal needs and will administer those remedies via the power of the state.
When we assign to the state our right of self-determination, we assign to the state our freedom as well. Freedom is not easy; moreover, it is difficult to determine ones course for ones life and family. When government assigns to the people certain entitlements, with each entitlement comes a loss of freedom.
Incrementally since Roosevelt’s New Deal we are assigning our freedom and liberty to an increasingly socialist government. With Social Security, the expansion of government education, the welfare system, Medicare and Medicaid, now with the advent of corporate welfare in the recent bailout of Wall Street and the intrusion of government mandating private industry rewrite legal contracts and looming on the horizon the specter of national healthcare, the American electorate is blindly and ignorantly reducing themselves to wards of the state.
Alexis de Tocqueville, who lived from 1805-1859 stated, “The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.”
Sophie Scholl, as she headed to the guillotine said in part, "How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause.”
de Tocqueville’s prediction is now coming true in America. The question is, is there anyone left who is willing to ascribe to Sophie Scholl’s admonition? I pray there is yet a remnant who will rise up stand. If not, it may soon be illegal to publish a dissenting article such as this.
Other sources:
Accuracy in Media - Obama’s Communist Mentor
Accuracy in Media - Obama’s International Socialist Connections
The New York Times - The Mask Slips
The Conservative Voice - Barack Obama Lauded by Marxists
American Thinker - Another Obama Marxist
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: abuse of power, Alexis de Tocqueville, democracy, education, election, Medicaid, Medicare, Nazi Germany, Obama, politics, Social Security, socialism, Sophie Scholl
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
SNL Update
YouTube has taken down the video link in the last post.
NBC has stated that the skit failed to meet standards. The question is, whose standards? SNL has never been afraid to lampoon anyone and specifically anyone on the right of the political divide.
They used their editorial commentary skits to skewer most recently Sarah Palin and her family, even going so far as to suggest incest. So I don't understand what the problem is here unless some very powerful people, i.e. the Sandlers or George Soros, has threatened NBC with lawsuits, or even with buying them and firing them all.
Michelle Malkin is following this closely, visit her site for the latest info.
Here's the link to the edited version just posted on the NBC Saturday Night Live site. On my first viewing the differences seem minor. The most prominent is the absence of an identifying tag under the Herb and Marion Sandler characters that states “People who should be shot."
Maybe they were afraid that some of the people they took advantage of in their quest for billions of dollars would see that not as a satirical statement but a suggestion that should be followed up on.
I just located a site with the original unedited version of the skit along with an outtake of the edited portion and a video embed of the edited version from Hulu.
SNL Bailout C-Span Video Clip
Thanks to the internet, NBC can run but they can't hide. Hmmm, I wonder if someone at NBC, some free thinker, is actually helping to keep this alive as a snub to whomever is trying to shut it down in original form? Ya think?
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Barney Frank, democracy, Democrats, Fannie Mae, financial crisis, Freddie Mac, George Soros, humor, legislation, mortgage crisis, Nancy Pelosi, NBC, politics, Sandler, SNL, video, websites, YouTube
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Congressional statesmen hold the line for the people.
An open letter to Florida Rep. Ric Keller:
Thank you for your vote against the flawed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 - H.R.3997. It was and remains deeply flawed and fails to address the fundamental problems underlying the current weakness in the credit markets.
It seems that many in Congress have the mindset that the only solution to a problem is to “throw” money at it. You cannot fix is problem caused by bad legislation with more bad legislation.
There is a much better solution that will be less costly to the American taxpayer. According to William Isaac the Fair Value Accounting rules, better known as mark to market, are a prime culprit in the current crisis.
According to Isaac, “This is contrary to everything we know about bank regulation. When there are temporary impairments of asset values due to economic and marketplace events, regulators must give institutions an opportunity to survive the temporary impairment. Assets should not be marked to unrealistic fire-sale prices. Regulators must evaluate the assets on the basis of their true economic value (a discounted cash-flow analysis).”
One Rep. John Linder has said that were this rule returned to mark to par almost every financial institution that is now in trouble would be back on solid footing. Mark to par served our nations financial institutions well for 220 years. FAS 157 and mark to market has resulted, in conjunction with other flawed legislation such as the Community Reinvestment Act, in the current crisis in our financial markets.
The CRA requires banks and lending institutions to make loans to that were otherwise fiscally indefensible. Many of the loans made under CRA form the basis of the current sub-prime mortgage foreclosure problem.
Community organizers have used CRA to force banks to make loans they otherwise would not have extended. A.C.O.R.N., for one, is well know for its methods of “shaking down” lenders and requiring them, under the auspices of CRA, to make “exotic” loans to unqualified applicants.
Contrary to assertions by Democrats, deregulation by Republicans has not been a factor in the current crisis in the financial markets. To the contrary, Sarbanes-Oxley, voted into existence by a Republican Congress in response to Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, et. al., was a buzz saw where a scalpel was needed.
This should be revisited and repealed in part or, better, in whole.
Additionally, updating F.D.I.C. insurance to cover up to $250,000 in deposits will ensure small businesses that the money they need for payrolls and operating expenses will be there when needed despite the turmoil in the credit markets.
I’m not financial wiz, but I do understand that when government gets involved in the private sector, the primary result is chaos and disruption. There is a place for prudent regulations and laws to punish abusers.
But government manipulating the private sector for the purpose of advancing “progressive” policies that fly in the face of common sense and good business practice must stop.
Further reading:
- Wikipedia - Mark to Market
Talk Gwinnett - 10 Reasons Why Republican Oppose the Bailout
TMP Cafe - William Isaac's quote
Wikipedia - Community Reinvestment Act
Michelle Malkin - The A.C.O.R.N. Obama knows
Wikipedia - Sarbanes-Oxley Act
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, financial crisis, legislation, politics, Republicans, Ric Keller, taxes
Sunday, September 28, 2008
An open letter to Congress...
I am very concerned about the legislation currently being drafted to socialize the US financial markets. The primary reason for the current financial crisis is the manipulation of the financial system by Congress through entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
An additional primary factor is the decade old legislation such as HOPE IV promoting home ownership by all that provided stiff penalties to “unfair” practices in mortgage lending. Those unfair practices were left ambiguous enough to force banks and institutions to make unsound loans to unqualified applicants in a bid to protect themselves from lawsuits.
Secondarily, giving taxpayer funds to activist agencies such as A.C.O.R.N. is a travesty. A.C.O.R.N. has been a major player in creating this crisis taking advantage of the aforementioned legislation. Included in recent drafts of the bail out legislation is language giving them 20% of any profits. This is like allowing a convicted murderer to profit from books written about his crime.
A major initial concern of my was what Congress would do with any "profits" from this supposed "investment." I had no faith they would actually return it to the people from whom they took it. There is no precedence for that. Now we know what their intent is.
Ayn Rand said, "One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."
The Congress has done that to our financial systems through demands for housing loans to many who cannot afford it, in the process encouraging the "cooking of the books" and fraudulent application and approval process that Congress now rails against.
The creation of GSEs Freddie and Fannie, then failing to provide strong rules to prevent them from buying up weak mortgage packages while allowing them to enrich members of Congress through lobbying and contributions has only created an incestuous and disastrous relationship.
Instead of a rush to create another monster that may address the short term "crisis" but in the process create unintended consequences that will irreparably damage our financial systems for decades to come and take us dramatically into socialism, the Congress needs to step back and breath deeply.
The American people in their intuitive grasp of this problem has said, "slow down and back off!" Congress needs to do just that. The major players in the financial system are sitting back to see what Congress is going to do.
If Congress stands down, the financial players will step up to the plate. But why should they if there is a socialist Congress willing to commit the wealth and treasure of ordinary Americans to the task.
I'll do my own investing; I don't need Congress to do it for me.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: capitalism, Fannie Mae, financial crisis, Freddie Mac, mortgage crisis, politics, socialism, voting
Friday, September 26, 2008
We need term limits, now!
The following is an excerpt from an article I came across on Gas Buddy:
"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers enjoy a perk not available to their colleagues in any other state: unchecked use of gasoline charge cards that stick taxpayers with the bill.Makes term limits look more inviting. I used to believe the ultimate term limit was the best way, vote 'em out. After all, are we not as a nation of voters supposed to understand that the politicians work for us and we hold the ultimate authority?
Through the first seven months of the year, California taxpayers have spent $220,000 to pay for lawmakers' gasoline, according to a review of records requested by The Associated Press. That includes July, when lawmakers already were past their deadline to approve a budget and the state faced a $15.2 billion deficit."
Now it seems the voter is more interested in the promises politicians make to them but cannot or will not fulfill. You know, tax the evil business that employ us or the evil rich who own the evil business that employ us. Promise to send our kids to college or preschool, pay for our health care with no cost to us, oh, and put a chicken in every pot and free cable with HBO.
We know they cannot or will not do what is promised, but continue to fool ourselves into believing it. When will we wake up and realize that the politicians, with few exceptions, are in it for only one thing, the power to control our lives.You may say, "but that's California, not my state." Well, you better wake up, historically what happens in California will sooner or later spread to the rest of the nation. Do you want to wait until its too late, or act now while we still have a chance to stop it before it starts?
Once a politician gets a taste of power, unless he is exempt from the human condition, he will crave more and more until his primary interest is maintaining power, not the betterment of the nation.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: abuse of power, politics, voting
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Is YouTube saying life begins before birth?
While I’m an a strong supporter of allowing a child the choice to reach full term and have every opportunity to engage in the life that God has breathed in him or her, I’ve often been uncomfortable with some of the tactics of Operation Rescue.
Too often it seems that they engage in practices that in the end may do more harm than good to the progress of creating an America where abortion is not only undesirable but also unavailable. Still, this is America and we have a constitutional right, and some will say duty, to express our views as individuals and groups.
Some will argue that such expression needs to be respectful, reasoned and responsible. I would agree with that sentiment. But there are times when a bold statement is the only way to shake someone enough to truly look at the core issues.
The producers did not distort Mr. Obama’s positions, just stated them in such a way that the results of those votes were graphically depicted. YouTube said it failed to meet “Community Guidelines.”
Apparently those standards are subjective to the sensibilities of YouTube and it’s corporate owners, Google. As Google’s motto is “do no evil” it seems that they believe it is evil to tell the truth about the beliefs an individual who aspires to the highest political office in the land, the most powerful office in the free world.
But if the censorship of this video by Google means they believe that in the case of Barack Obama freedom of speech should be suspended if it depicts him in a negative light, then they, Google, through their surrogate YouTube are themselves violating constitutionally protected speech and in doing so committing “evil.”
Some might argue that the graphic nature of the depiction is offensive or over the top and removal was justified. But a perusing of the YouTube site will reveal a plethora of video ranging from near pornography to graphically depicted violence. So one is left with the reasonable assumption that the only “Community Guidelines” offended were those of the “Obama Community.”
Of course if YouTube removed the video because the depiction of an aborted fetus violated their policy against viewing dead bodies they then have another problem. If by pulling it they are saying they will not show images of a dead body, they are tactically admitting that an aborted fetus, rather than a “mass of tissue,” is in fact a human being.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: abortion, election, Google, Obama, politics, speech, YouTube
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wow Crowds in The Villages Frighten Dems
Sunday we headed south to The Villages to be part of the crowd welcoming Republican V.P. Nominee Sarah Palin. We left early because the crowds were anticipated to be in excess of 30,000. That estimate was based in part on the 30,000 event tickets that were snatched up by Florida residents who were anxious to see this charismatic candidate.
However, on Friday before the event, the Republican Party of Florida announced that all comers would be welcome; no one would be turned away. With that, the doors swung wide and the thousands who couldn’t get to a local party office to retrieve their free tickets stormed this small but growing retirement community 65 miles northwest of Orlando and 85 miles northeast of Tampa.
We arrived about 3 hours before the event was to begin and after waiting in traffic for an hour, only to learn that the parking for that area was closed, we turned around and headed back to another access. When we discovered we were in stopped traffic moving at a pace that would easily give a turtle first place, and finding ourselves 3.5 miles away we decided to reevaluate.
I needed to be back home to get some rest before getting up at 1:30 am for work and realizing, with the crowds and traffic, it would be hours after the event before we were able to get out of the heavy traffic and begin the drive back home. So we made the hard decision and turned around and left.
It was disappointing to miss being a part of this event, but duty called. When I learned the following day that the crowds were estimated to be 60,000, I wasn’t’ surprised. Though I had in no way got close enough to get a visual, and when we left it was still 2 hours before the event, the number of folks already there was amazing and there was no apparent end that we could see.
I’ve read a number on online accounts of the event but really not that many. It was heavily covered locally, but national coverage was limited. Newspapers close to The Villages reported the crowd at 60,000 estimated by the fire chief whose job it is to know such things.
There are anecdotal stories of people traveling in excess of 100 miles to be part of this event, the first by Mrs. Palin out from under the wing of Senator McCain. The crowd was hoping for a glimpse of this energetic and engaging newcomer to the US political scene. The media was hoping for a gaff.
A number of liberal papers and news sites disputed those numbers citing unnamed individuals in the crowd or pitting their reporters estimate of the crowd as low as 20,000 against the numbers cited by the professionals. They questioned the validity of the estimates and on Washington Post columnist suggested that the McCain campaign released the numbers provided by the Secret Service, which the columnist offered doesn’t provide numbers.
I think they are trying to diminish the welcome Florida gave to Palin because of the poor showing for Obama earlier in the week. The Miami Herald described Obama’s visit to Jacksonville, a metropolitan area of 1.3 million and heavily Democrat as attended by an “overflow crowd…capacity 13,000.
Oh, by the way, The Villages is a community of roughly 70,000 with the much larger metropolitan areas of Orlando and Tampa 1 ½ to 2 hours away. So it seems that even in something a benign as crowd estimates, the bias of the media shows through.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, election, McCain, Obama, politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin
Thursday, August 28, 2008
You are being manipulated...
...and you probably don't even know it. Of course that's the whole purpose of advertising, to manipulate you into buying the advertised product or service. But what about politics? Are you being manipulated there as well?
According to a recent broadcast on NPR's Science Friday, you are and have been for a long time. I think the difference this political cycle is that the candidates and their campaigns are getting a better understanding of the science and using it to their advantage.
According to "The Science of Getting a 'Yes'" there is a proven relationship between the method of displaying an apparent large group of like minded people, and an individual's decision, conscious or otherwise, to go along with the group.
Obama is using this concept tonight to, for the first time ever, filling Denver's Invesco field with some 70,000 people, hoping those in attendance will use their cell phones to bring others there as well, at least in a virtual reality sense. If you are part of the group, well...if all these people believe it must be true. Right?
Of course, if you are armed with information, you can inoculate yourself from the manipulation, well, at least to the degree you want to be immune. So take 20 minutes or so and take a listen to the podcast by clicking on the player below.
If that doesn't getcha thinkin' maybe this will. Is Obama the Messiah? Of course you've heard it mentioned on talk radio for weeks, even months. But there are true 'believers'. Check out the following:
Is Barack Obama the Messiah?
The Obama Messiah Watch
Barack Obama's Messiah Complex
Obama, The Anointed ONE
AP Photo Evokes Obama as Christ at His Baptism
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declared him "a leader that God has blessed us with at this time." Of course conservatives need to be careful about this. Many declared the same thing about George W. Bush.
But Bush didn't march around acting as though he was the answer to the worlds problems and that it was "our time." Obama acts as though he believes he is "the ONE" and the scripting of his campaign carries out that message both overtly and subliminally.
Of course thinking people know that anyone who thinks he has all the answers to the worlds, or even America's, problems doesn't. But then, it appears that those who support Obama have either checked their brains at the door, or have agenda that is supplemental (race) to or tangentially related (consolidating power) to an Obama presidency.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, election, NPR, Obama, politics
Friday, August 08, 2008
Windfall profits?
Microsoft reports a net profit of 29.3% (5 year average of 27.9%) Industry 5 year average 16.3%
Coke reports a net profit of 18.4% (5 year average of 21.2%) Industry 5 year average 16.2%
Gannet (Newspapers) reports a net profit of -22.8% (5 year average of 15.8%) Industry 5 year average 7.2%
BP reports a net profit of 7.3% (5 year average of 8.2%) Industry 5 year average 10.9%
Exxon reports a net profit of 9.2% (5 year average of 9.6%)
Conoco-Phillips reports a net profit of 7.6% (5 year average of 6.7%)
So who's making more on their investment and which company are you going to invest in? Who is making more off the consumer? The "profits" are distributed to the investors, the stockholders. I.e. Mutual Funds, 401-K's, Pension funds and individual investors. Tax these "excess" profits and who are you taking the money away from? Vanguard, Washington Mutual, College Retirement Equities, Fidelity and 1624 more mutual funds and institutional funds hold 52% of Exxon alone.
Research the other oil stocks and see who is holding them, the majority holders include your next door neighbor, maybe even yourself. So before you demonize, know what it is you're demonizing.
The politicians are merely playing into the ignorance of the American, public school educated, people. It takes work to know the facts. Try it, it's empowering.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: election, fuel prices, politics, power, taxes, windfall profits
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Politics, power and pocketbooks...
It’s been a few days since posting. Lot’s of personal responsibilities clamoring for attention drew my attention away from the computer, but not the news. Still, in the coming days it will be a balancing act to write while continuing to take care of business at home.
Of interest is the today’s story on the draconian measures of House Democrats to shut down Republican efforts to pass legislation to deal with the current rise in prices digging into the pocketbook of American families.
The House leadership, without debate, passed a resolution Friday to adjourn that legislative body for the next five weeks. In doing so they effectively turned a deaf ear to the cries of Americans seeking relief from high gas prices.
Democrats are reticent to enact any legislation that brings relief to high oil prices, preferring to play on the American distrust of oil companies that has been perpetuated by their rhetoric and media misinformation.
After the adjournment, Republican held a protest on the House floor with Representative Thad McCotter (R-Michigan) proclaiming, “he believes part of the reason Congress is so hated by the American people is because they ‘care more about politics than about working people.’"
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind, declared, "Republicans will not go quietly. Let us demand that the president of the United States ... call a special session of this Congress on energy."
So what’s up this Democrat Congress? Why won’t they address the issue of high oil prices? I believe, like many others, it’s because they want oil and gas prices to remain high, at least through the November elections. What better tool to demonize Republicans than to paint them and the Bush administration with the false colors of complicity with “big oil.”
The ignorant voter base of the Democrats who will not educate themselves on the facts of the issues will blindly fall in line. Many other Americans who remain more interested in entertainment and celebrity than arming themselves with the facts will follow along.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama has flipped and now supports drilling offshore. That’s a 180-degree flop from his strongly held, immovable and principled position of only a few weeks ago. One would have to believe that his principles can be bought and the change we can believe in it the changing nature of Mr. Obama’s positions.
And the beat goes on. Meanwhile, while the American people struggle with high fuel prices, spiraling grocery prices and an economy that seems to be faltering, succumbing to the efforts of the Democrats and their media crony’s, Democrats and Republicans go on a spending spree.
The spending bill passed on Friday included 510 earmarks. These spending measures are stuffed into legislation, most going unnoticed until after the final vote. Most of the money spent goes to pet projects in the representatives’ district and much of it isn’t even requested or lobbied for by the recipients. Their primary purpose is to memorialize the representative or senator who lassos it.
Meanwhile, weighed down by the aforementioned increasing cost of living, American families are paying for the vanity of their representatives $17 Billion addiction. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, politicians spent $17.2 billion on 11,610 pork projects in 2008. It cost’s every American family $153.57. That’s more than a week’s worth of groceries for most families, money they could sorely use in their own budget yet Congress persists in pilfering the pockets of the public for their own pernicious practices.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, election, energy, food, fuel prices, Obama, oil, politics, Republicans
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Drill here, drill now...
American Solutions' Dave Ryan presented a petition with the signatures of 1.3 Million American voters today to the Republican Congressional leadership.
The petition demands Congress take action now to Drill Here, Drill Now and tap our American petroleum resources. This is too important an issue to stand-by and let Congress do nothing.
And they will do nothing if the voters don't act. Americans are now struggling under the burden of high petroleum prices brought on by legislators who have done nothing to prepare for this crisis since the last time oil prices shot up in the 1970's.
We do have a few leaders, statesmen, in Washington who will take the lead, but the majority party will continue to point fingers and blame all the way to the fall elections. All the while the American people will be the ones struggling under these high prices while our congressmen and senators drive around in luxury paid for by our tax dollars.
We need to tell them to act now, not out of politics but because as our representatives they are required to act in our, the voters interests. Not in the interests of the environmental cartels that have ruled the liberal agenda in Washington for so many decades.
If you have yet to sign the petition, do so. It's not too late to let your voice be heard.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: crude oil, energy, fuel prices, oil, politics, Republicans
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Will new energy technology be defeated by old power?
Inventors: Solar Dish Could Revolutionize Energy Production
Just read this article on a new solar collector technology that is simple, inexpensive and efficient. American ingenuity is at work trying to find new, better ways of dealing with our energy needs.
Come on Washington, get out of the way and let the American people do what they do best, meet problems with innovative answers. We have some 300 million people in this nation and if turned loose, they can accomplish far more than 535 representatives in Washington who are so stricken with themselves they think only they have the answers.
Our leaders seemed to have forgotton that power corrupts, and truly, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Rarely attributed, the latter phrase is a quotation from Lord Acton, in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887.
That quote succinctly describes the political leadership in America 120 years later. And we the people will pay dearly for their corruption if we fail to take serious interest in and responsibility for our nation and return America to a Republic formed "for the people and by the people."
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: energy, politics, power, solar power, technology
Sunday, June 22, 2008
The charge of the light...uh...er...police!
CFLs, Compact Florescent Lights. One of the latest technologies in lighting is making a strong showing as the technology matures. I have a few around my home. In some ways I like them. Long life, low cost to use.
Though they are much more expensive, the 3-way I bought was about $9.75 compared to $2.85 for a comparable incandescent 3-way, the longer life and lower cost to operate make them a good buy in the long run.
Of course there are downsides. Due to their size, especially the base, not all lamp receptacles will accept them. I have one 3-way floor lamp that won't. To use a 3-way CFL in that location I'll have to buy a different lamp. But hey, it's good for the economy, isn't it?
They are also considered hazardous waste by the EPA and require special methods for cleanup and disposal, especially if broken. What about the long term "unintended" consequences. We Americans are good about that. Rush out to the latest, greatest, best thing, only to find out months or years later there's something terribly wrong with it.
But wait, these things are made in China, only China. Let's send more trade deficit to the nation that in 2007 brought us lead paint in children's toys, industrial chemical poison in pet foods, antifreeze in toothpaste and more.
OK, all that aside, now comes along Congress and they want to tell us we "MUST" stop buying incandescent bulbs and switch everything over to CFLs. Looks like the CFL manufacturers lobby made some campaign contributions.
I'm all for conservative use of energy. After all, I AM a conservative. But what I don't want is Congress telling me what I WILL do, especially in the privacy of my own home.
Liberals rail against those who have strong convictions on abortion and homosexuality. Their primary argument is no one should tell anyone what they should do in the privacy of their homes or even bedrooms.
But now this Liberal congress wants to invade the privacy of my home and mandate I use a technology that they dictate. Doesn't this smack of hypocrisy?
Just for the record, I don't want government telling me I have to wear a seat belt either. Should I wear one? Yes. Do I wear one? Of course. Do I wear it because the law requires it? Absolutely not!
I wear a seat belt because it's stupid not to. Years of tests and studies have proven seat belts save lives. Two weeks ago I came upon a rollover accident moments after it happened where both occupants were thrown 10's, perhaps 100's of feet because they had no seat belts.
In the same way, CFL's have benefits. But one thing they don't have the benefit of is years of research. Do we really know how they will perform and what dangers they may impose years down the road?
So to Congress, get out of my personal life, quit telling me what I should buy to light up my life. CFL's are OK and have many uses, but it's not up to Congress to tell me to use them.
But, wait a second. I have a thought on how we can use them and maybe clean up Congress at the same time. Rep. Poe mentioned something that may help. Lets all grab a few CFL's and toss them into Congress! According to the EPA, they will have to evacuate!
If we throw enough of 'em, maybe the cleanup will take so long they'll be out of session for several years and "we the people" will be able to take our country back from the career politicians and we can do something positive for this nation.
How 'bout it!
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: CFL, Compact Florescent Lights, conservatives, Democrats, energy, politics, power, technology
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Congressional windfall profits grab...
The rising price of gasoline is hurting nearly every family in America. We are tired of Congress doing nothing but bowing down to the environmentalists.
It is time for Congress to develop a program that allows the exploration of America's energy sources without materially affecting our environment. Congress should put our families first, ahead of the environmentalists!
Recent actions by Congress to demonize oil companies while Congress does nothing of substance are deplorable. Senator Claire McCaskill castigates oil companies for earning $83,000 a minute in profits in 2007.
At the same time, for every minute of 2007 and 2008 Congress spends $5,137,000.00 of the American taxpayers hard earned money, and continues to ask for more. That's over $5 million a minute with nothing of substance to show for it.
As a nation our problem is not the oil companies, who produce a needed product and earn a reasonable 8-10% profit margin for their efforts. Our problem is a Congress who is in the pockets of the environmental cartels that are bent on the destruction of the American economy while Congress aids and abets the ruin.
It's time Congress acted with substance, not throwing fodder to the masses in the form of an oil company "windfall profit tax" "trust fund" that will be raided by this do nothing Congress in the same way the Social Security trust funds are.If this is the best our elected officials can do I suggest they do the American people the greatest service a politician can and just get out of the way and allow the American economy and private industry go to work and fix this problem that by it's very nature Congress cannot.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: crude oil, Democrats, fuel prices, oil, politics, profits, Republicans, taxes
Friday, June 06, 2008
D-Day musings
D-Day. Remembering the day when the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France and began the surge that eventually turned the war in Europe around and defeated Nazi Germany.
Today, 64 years later, many have forgotten the sacrifice, the loss of life, the horror that was D-day. If you wish to honor those brave men who made up that force, find a copy of "Saving Private Ryan" and take the time to watch what many who were there call the most accurate portrayal every of this day.
Most, too, have forgotten, or never heard, the June 6 comments of President Roosevelt, his prayer, for the troops and the nation. If you haven't, click the link below to listen and view some photos of that time and day. If you have never heard this, do so now, it's only about 6 minutes, but time well spent.
I have to wonder, if a President of the United States were to present these words today, what would the response be? Would some rise up and rail against this fusion of "church and state," this attempt at "establishment of religion?"
Would some demand for a prayer calling on the gods of other belief systems to bolster a sense of plurality. A prayer to the gods of Hinduism, Wicca, Islam? A prayer to Buddah?
Surely we in this great nation have forgotten the importance of prayer in the public square. On D-day even those who gave religion scant attention took time, were reverent and focused on, rather than themselves, those troops fighting and dying on those sandy shores for the cause of freedom, their freedom.
Why do we find that such a difficult thing to do today?
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: d-day, history, military, politics, prayer, religion
Thursday, June 05, 2008
A comprehensive solution needed
Finally, a major factor in the rising cost of crude oil and fuel is the decline of the dollar. Having lost about a third of its value since 2001, this loss of value has weighed heavily on the cost of foreign goods imported into the US. Taken another way, all else being equal, a barrel of oil that sells on the futures market for $133 would, with the dollar returned to its former strength, cost only about $90. That would result in a corresponding drop in the price of gasoline back to about $3.00 - $3.15 per gallon, just on the strength of the dollar.
Of course the question is, “how do we do this?” The short answer is, “we don’t.” The rise and fall of the dollar is a response to US monetary policy. In the US the Federal Reserve, a non-governmental group that wields huge control over the money supply, drives monetary policy.
In it’s attempts to thwart a slowing economy, fight inflation, stabilize the stock market and generally reassure everyone from Wall Street to Main Street, the Fed raises and lowers interest rates and increases and decreases the availability of money.
As it relates to the value of the US Dollar (USD), low interest rates, while good for business and consumers, decrease the investment potential of US currency, increase the investment potential and therefore demand of foreign currencies, and in the process lower the value of the dollar as it relates to the world currency market.
When the Fed increases the money supply, and the US Treasury increases the amount of dollars in the economy, the value of the dollar is diminished as well. The value of the dollar in your pocket is not fixed. It is based in the perceived value of that dollar as relates to the integrity of the US government to back it.
Many think the basis of the value of the dollar is the US Gold Reserves. They couldn’t be more wrong. The US total Gold Reserves is reported to be 8,133.5 tonnes valued at $256 billion, the largest in the world but a mere fraction of the total gold ever mined.
At the same time, the US M2 money supply as measured by the Federal Reserve is $7676.1 billion, or 30 times the total of US Gold Reserves. In practice this means that faith in the US government and economy are by far the driving factors in the value of this fiat currency called the US Dollar, not the objective value of an underlying treasury reserve.
Why does the value of gold go up in terms of US Dollars? In short it’s because the USD is seen as having less value. The same goes for the price of crude oil. Supply and demand being as they are, they affect the day-to-day price fluctuation of this commodity. The longer-term price is impacted by the value of the USD in the world.
The lower it goes, the less it buys and more of it is required to purchase a particular item of value.
To increase the value of the USD the Federal Reserve and US monetary policy should begin to take steps to normalize interest rates and money supply. While that may have a negative effect in the short term on the US economy, the short term pain would result in longer term gain.
Secondly, the US policy towards business should be less restrictive in terms of tax policy. As noted before, businesses do not pay taxes but merely collect them from consumers embedded in the cost of goods and services, from investors in lowered investment value and passes it on to government.
Corporate income taxes and such issues as the Lieberman-Warner “Cap and Trade” scheme currently before the US Senate saddle business with costs and expenses that strangle it in the world economy, often driving business and the attending jobs away from US shores to nation with more friendly tax policies.
Voters must demand that politicians get control of government spending, cutting back budgets and reducing spending to minimal levels and enact a transparent and balanced budget. The US has over $9 trillion in Public Debt having a devastating effect on the national economy, interest rates and exposure to the whims of overseas investors.
The Fair Tax put forth by Congressman John Warner would create a transparent US tax policy, replacing all federal taxes, Income, Social Security, Medicare ad infinitum, with a single sales tax. While there is plenty of discussion over this proposal, and it’s attendant misrepresentation, there remains difficulty in gaining traction in Washington.
So in summation, the problems facing the energy crisis are multifaceted in nature and require a comprehensive response. There is no one “magic bullet” solution. Rather, in the interests of long term solutions and national security, answers must be long thought out, deeply researched, span a variety of technologies and energy sources to protect against vulnerability to single source attacks like we’ve seen on crude oil.
As a nation we should:
It’s not a matter of finding answers to the current pain nor is it simple environmental, economic or security in nature. In the long term it’s a matter of providing a sustainable future for the nation and our children and grand children. To think less is nothing more than selfish.
This series:
1. Gas prices, taxes and politics
2. Crude, profits and big government
3. Dealing with petroleum production
4. Optimizing petroleum
5. Is there a single solution?
6. Monetary policy and energy
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: battery technology, carbon tax, concentrating solar power, crude oil, csp, fuel prices, hybrid, nuclear power, oil, politics, power, solar power, taxes, technology, tidal generator, wave generator
Monday, June 02, 2008
Lieberman Carbon Tax a Dangerous Idea
The Lieberman-Warner carbon tax scheme before the Senate is a dangerous grab for power, tax dollars and control.
It's put forth as a marketplace to help business deal with carbon emissions. What it will end up being is another tax on the consumer. Don't be fooled. A tax on business is a tax on the consumer. In all business the cost of doing business is passed on to the consumer.
There are no corporate taxes, only corporations that collect for government taxes embedded in the price of their product or service.
- "The EPA has estimated what the McCain energy tax would mean to consumers. Since the bill’s provisions are phased in, the full cost of the tax would not be felt for a number of years. But in a letter to Senator McCain dated July 2007, the EPA estimated that the tax will be about $.26 cents in current dollars per gallon of gasoline by 2030 and $.68 cents per gallon by 2050. For electricity, the EPA estimates that the McCain energy tax would increase individual’s electric bills by 22 percent in 2030 and 25 percent in 2050." Roy Cordato-NRO
More power will be vested in Congress and the Lobbyists will have a field day working your Senator and Congressman for perks, loopholes, and breaks on the tax.
The loser will be the consumer, again. Anytime Washington comes up with a "great idea" its the taxpayer, the consumer, the citizens who pay. Make no mistake, this is a bad idea.
Even Canadians are concerned about carbon taxes and "cap-and-trade", and they have data to back it up. Never forget, government will never miss an opportunity to remove income from the pockets of it citizens.
The question is, will the citizens allow it to continue or will they rise up and say "NO MORE!"
We better decide quick or there won't be anything left to keep.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: carbon tax, lobbyist, politics, power, taxes
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Is there a single solution?
In my previous post on this topic I talked about the need to expand the development of petroleum-based answers to the energy problems facing America. Today I want to take a look at alternative solutions.
Certainly alternative fuel vehicles, including hybrid, electric and fuel cell, are important resources to develop. But transportation only accounts for about 28% of US energy consumption. A comprehensive plan will address energy consumption in industry (33%), residential housing (21%) and commercial buildings (18%) as well.
The greatest hurdle to overcome in electric car technology has to do with the batteries. For decades auto manufacturers have used the tried and true lead-acid battery. It’s rechargeable, relatively long lasting and inexpensive to produce. But the greatest downfall of lead-acid batteries is their weight.
One of the latest technologies on this front is the zinc-air battery. These use oxygen in the air to react with cathodes to produce electricity. They have a high power to weight ratio, are safe and environmentally responsible. Several companies are working on moving the technology to the automobile arena.
Fuel cell technology is rapidly improving. Used for some time in a variety of exotic, static and military applications, in recent years researchers have working hard to develop technologies for automotive application. The intent is to either fully replace the petroleum fueled vehicle or to replace batteries in hybrid vehicles.
Hybrid vehicles are coming on strong and while they are relatively new, the technology is rapidly improving. Combining improved battery technology with small, efficient gas engines and powerful electric motors, hybrid vehicles look to have great prospects for long range, fuel-efficient vehicles.
Just about everyone has heard of solar power or wind power. Both seem to have great potential for generating large amounts of electricity using the right technologies.
When we hear "solar," most of us think of solar cells, i.e. photovoltaic, energy production. The technology with the greatest potential for producing electricity though is in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). This technology produces electricity by concentrating the suns heat to generate huge amounts of steam that in turn is used to power electricity generating plants.
It’s estimated that arrays of these concentrating plants covering a combined area of only 100 by 100 miles square could generate enough electricity to supply the electrical power needs of the whole United States (Listen to an NPR story on this). One company, Arusa, is building a 177 megawatt plant in southern California to power 120,000 homes while Abengoa is building similar plants in Europe and South America.
Tidal generators are another up and coming technology using the action of waves and tides to generate electricity. While most of these have no direct application to transportation, they can relieve some of the environmental burden and produce electricity to charge electric vehicles.
Nuclear energy has been used around the world to produce electricity for decades. France, for one, has 59 nuclear plants producing 75% of its electricity, exporting much of that.
On the other hand, the US’s 100 nuclear plants produce only 20% of total electricity generated. After the Three Mile Island incident in 1979 plant construction came to a screeching halt. Now, nearly 30 years later, we are beginning to revisit nuclear energy. But the environmental lobby continues to roadblock plans along with the need to overcome lingering public fears whipped up by the media.
The technology has improved way beyond TMI and the US has never build any plants using the same technology as those in Chernobyl. Another recent development is the change in some of the leadership of the environmental lobby. Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace, is now promoting nuclear power as an important part of solving the climate problem.
These are only some of the better-known technologies under research and development. Anyone of them has potential to impact the US energy need, working together they can provide a comprehensive solution to our current and future energy needs. But they require time for further development and to explore their potential affects on our economy and society, both pro an con. When we rush new technologies out too often the impact of unintended consequences is missed. By taking time to fully vet the technology we can hopefully anticipate and discover ways to diminish those negatives.
The greatest asset we have as a nation is our ability to innovate and develop new answers to the problems that trouble us. Our greatest enemy is jumping to quickly to a quick fix without dealing with the root problem. That is the nature of politics and while it didn’t used to be, is becoming the cry of the American people.
As a society we must begin to again take the long view to the challenges that face us. The “microwave mentality” works fine for cooking, but for serious problems we need to put it in the oven and let it “slow cook.” We must find full, comprehensive solutions that use every asset and resource available to us. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.
My next and final post in this series will discuss the impact of economic policy on the price of crude oil fuel at the pump.
Further reading: A Blind Man's Guide to Energy Policy
Interested in holding your politicians "feet to the fire?" Follow the link below to American Solutions where you can join others petitioning Congress to act now to expand use of our domestic resources.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: battery technology, concentrating solar power, crude oil, csp, fuel prices, gas, hybrid, nuclear power, oil, politics, solar power, technology, tidal generator, wave generator
Friday, May 30, 2008
Let them know how you really feel......
I received an email from "The Freedom Project" making available a petition/protest to Congress regarding the current energy debacle. I wrote as follows:
Respectfully...
- "Please forget the Fed gas tax "holiday." It's merely political pandering and will in the long run produce more bad than good. The only reason for it is for politicians to be able to say, "I did something."
Do something real, pass legislation to expand exploration to areas now restricted. This is a National Security issue. We MUST be able to have control of our energy supply, otherwise we are at the whim of every third world dictator and despot.
For me, while the cost at the pump hurts, what hurts more is the loss of security for my family and my grandkids. We must regain control of our energy supply, otherwise their future WILL be owned by every country who sells us energy.
Do something real, open exploration in areas now restricted. Do something real, support expansion of research in Shale Oil production, i.e. Raytheon's new technology.
Do something now, stop diverting corn to ethanol and incentivize a change to switchgrass. Do something now and provide substantial support to research and implementation of new energy sources like Concentrated Solar Power.
Don't talk about it, study it, demonize oil companies or any number of non-productive "political" responses. The problem is not the oil companies nor is it even the foreign oil suppliers.
Look in the mirror. Had Congress addressed this problem decades ago instead of "studying" it, we would not be here. Instead Congress gets in bed with those whose agenda runs counter to the good of the nation and her people.
Then, testing the political winds a concentrated effort is made to do...nothing.
Do something now, pass "real" legislation to address the problems, or get out of the way to allow some who will the opportunity to do so.
Thank you."
If you want to add your "two cents worth," Visit The Freedom Project.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: crude oil, fuel prices, gas, oil, politics, taxes
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Optimizing petroleium
One of the more promising new energy sources being researched and even now coming into production is Oilage or growing algae and using it to produce a high-grade crude oil. PetroSun is now producing in Texas and though researchers don’t think they can produce enough to replace crude oil, the resulting product can be blended with low grade crude to where it can be processed without retooling refineries and extend our supply exponentially
The recent rush to ethanol has proved the error of moving too rapidly to embrace a supposed alternative without exploring all its consequences, intended and unintended. The demand corn ethanol has put on this food crop, taking 20-25% of last years production, has fueled the rise in all grain prices raising fears of food shortages and bread lines around the world. This in a year of record crop yields. What will happen during a low yield year.
Now the multi-million dollar commitment investors and industry has made to this failed plan has politicians wringing their hands and instead of doing the right thing, backtracking this policy, they blunder ahead.
A better source of biomass would be switchgrass, but that wasn’t immediately available and would have required a season to plant and grow the source. That small delay would have staved off the drain on the food supply and the rampant run up in grain prices. But in the rush to deal with this problem in a short-term political way, another long-term problem has resulted.
And don’t forget the powerful agricultural lobby. Their strangle hold on Congress continues to funnel tax dollars in the form of crop subsidies, loans and more to these large corporate farm operations.
We must, in addition to finding new economical, reliable energy sources, continue to discover new ways to conserve energy in socially and economically friendly ways. One of the big problems with the environmental lobby is the constant call for actions that will harm the economy of industrialized nations and in the process bring hardship to the citizens of those nations.
Truly at its core, the underlying philosophy of environmentalism is to return industrialized nations to agrarian societies like the third world. Technology, industry and development must go to make way for the forests, the snail darter and spotted owl, and the grassy plains. To their way of thinking there is blight on the face of the earth and Humanity is its name.
Next post, new and old technologies visited.
If you haven't done so, visit American Solutions and sign the petition to let Congress know you want action on allowing exploration and production of our domestic resources. It's a national security as well as an econonmic issue.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: business, crude oil, fuel prices, oil, politics, technology
Friday, May 23, 2008
Dealing with petroleum production
One of the most immediate and difficult predicaments facing the American people and their political and business leaders is the problem of energy. Where to get it, how to conserve it and how to use it effectively throughout our economy.
Please understand that I am not an expert on these matters. I'm simply a layman who looks at these things, is curious about the facts, and analyzes them with a basis in common sense. The latter part seems to be pretty scarce in American society, politics and the educational system.
Lets deal with the problem of supply first.
US proven reserves as of January 2007 totaled 21,757 million barrels or enough to fully replace foreign imports for just 10.8 years. So that alone isn’t the answer. But when you consider our largest trading partner for crude is Canada from which we import 15% of our need has reserves totaling 179,210 million barrels the situation doesn’t look quite so dire.
The problem with accessing the US reserves is one of political policy. The US Congress and the Administration, both past and present, Republican and Democrat, have gotten in bed with radical environmentalists who have convinced them that our crude oil reserves cannot be accessed without doing damage to the environment. That is patently wrong.
While it can be demonstrated that done improperly, oil production and transportation can cause harm, we have the technology and know how to do it right. ANWR and the continental shelf have huge untapped oil deposits that have been deemed politically inaccessible. That must change if America is to regain energy security.
Another huge source of petroleum for the US is found in shale oil. The US has reserves of 2 Trillion barrels of shale oil, nearly four times that of the rest of the world. Because of the difficulty in extracting and processing it, until now to do so hasn’t be profitable. But with crude prices in excess of $130 per barrel, it can now be a viable source of energy.
At current levels of consumption, that would provide crude oil for 280 years. Allowing plenty of breathing space for technology to develop and test alternative energy sources without rushing them out to unintended consequences.
The problem now is again, the environmental lobby who rail on about the potential damage that may be caused by extraction. Enter Raytheon Corp. which has developed a way to do this in a much more environmentally friendly way. Still, politicians and environmentalist will persist in blocking this resource that would provide a major foundation of US energy security.
Also, the US is an exporter of crude oil, 1,317,000 barrels every day. That amounts to fully a quarter, 25% or total US crude oil production. If we diverted that flow to domestic markets we could extend our total crude oil supply an additional 10%. To continue to export crude oil in the face to the energy security crisis we face is unthinkable.
If the US seriously committed to any of or preferably all the above the effect on the crude oil futures market and the petroleum producing nations would be immediate, even though it would take time to ramp up production.
Remember, it’s a futures market. The price is based on anticipated supply and demand. If the marketplace understands there is truly going to be substantially greater supply, traders will factor that in, producers will recognize the increased competition for their product and the price per barrel will shrink accordingly.
That will have a very quick impact at the pump. And it will be long lasting as opposed to quick fix fuel tax holidays and wrong-headed suspension of deposits into the SPR proposed by politicians who refuse to think out of the box.
House Republicans have already begun to answer the call with a proposal to increase production. But it needs to be more than merely a proposal and House Democrats need to join in.
OK, so is increased domestic production the answer. Not in and of itself. We need to actively pursue alternative energy sources. I’m not talking simply solar or wind technologies though they are a part of the matrix.
The next post will discuss some of the alternatives to petroleum.
Statistics taken from:
The Energy Information Administration-Dept. of Energy
Interested in holding your politicians "feet to the fire?" Follow the link below to American Solutions where you can join others petitioning Congress to act now to expand use of our domestic resources.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: crude oil, Democrats, fuel prices, oil, politics, Republicans, technology
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Support your candidate, pin him down, er, up, er whatever
A short aside from the current topical line. There’s a new campaign tool out for the Obama campaign. Acknowledging BO’s deep knowledge and understanding of the US political geography one company has created a lapel pin for his supporters.
This is a great way to show your unwavering support of Obama, regardless of his knowledge, or lack thereof, of the country he’s campaigning to run. He's really a great guy who we know little of, but he’s talks real good and looks nice. That’s enough, right?
On the other hand, if you are not a supporter, get one, or several as a way to telling others you are not blinded by his charisma. This tongue-in-cheek slap will raise questions and perhaps give opportunity to explain why he actually isn’t the best candidate.
Of course, then you have to decide who is. Hmm, tough choice.
Get yours here:
View a larger image
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson