I do not support raising taxes for the sake of fairness, regardless of the negative impact it is likely to have on the economy. In fact, I support equal taxation by percentage across the board, regardless of income levels.
I believe the federal government has gone too far in bailing out the auto, insurance and finance industries.
I do not support amnesty for illegal immigrants. I also realize that a solution that is completely in line with my principles and ideals is not practical. I support a registration program that includes a fine as penalty and requires the payment of estimated back taxes implemented simultaneously with a new guest worker program.
I believe that English should be the official language of the United States.
I have not completely agreed with the large expansion in social spending and welfare that we have seen over the past decade and I believe that the time to start cutting back benefits is just around the corner. There should be length of time, education and work requirements for all able-bodied Americans on welfare programs.
I believe that if the effort that recently went into socialized medicine had gone into creating jobs, we would be better off today.
I did not support the creation of a national health insurance program administered by the U.S. Federal Government. While recognizing the need for reform, a completely partisan bill rammed through the congress was not the right solution, especially from a man who said he was going to unite the country. I believe that once the federal government is dictating prices and eligibility to doctors and hospitals, the quality and availability of healthcare will be greatly reduced. Those with no insurance will now have insurance at the cost of the 50% of Americans that actually pay income taxes and those who already had insurance will see the quality of their care decline. I also believe that the development of new medicine and treatments will greatly suffer under the weight of this new federal health insurance program.
I believe that we should eliminate teacher tenure and increase the use of performance standards and accountability.
I believe that our armed forces should remain an all-volunteer force.
I do not believe that federal employees should be allowed to unionize if they serve in positions critical to safety and security. While I am not a big union supporter at all, I do believe that union elections and initiatives should have secret ballots.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Who Is Going To Get The Blame For High Gas Prices Now?
Spring is officially here, which means that your precious summer is not too far behind.
With each year as we move into spring, then into summer, we experience that inevitable increase in the cost of gas as you get out there and vacation and drive more because it's sunny and your kids are out of school, etc. etc. etc.
I, too, find this a most unwelcome season for gas prices, but what I am really curious about this year is who is going to get the blame for the gas price increases this time around.
Remember when Bushie was in office and the price of gas went up and then, all of the sudden, it was that evil Bush family with their oil business and ties to King Saud that were the reason behind the spike in gas prices?
Well, my Bushie-hatin' friends, who do we blame for the increase in gas prices this year? Republicans that didn't support the socialization of 1/6 of America's economy? Tiger Woods? Me?
Or is it going to be that I need to thank The Magician for only increasing gas prices to a level that is just plain bad, not really super really bad like it would have been under John McCain and Alaskan Oil Baron Palin?
With each year as we move into spring, then into summer, we experience that inevitable increase in the cost of gas as you get out there and vacation and drive more because it's sunny and your kids are out of school, etc. etc. etc.
I, too, find this a most unwelcome season for gas prices, but what I am really curious about this year is who is going to get the blame for the gas price increases this time around.
Remember when Bushie was in office and the price of gas went up and then, all of the sudden, it was that evil Bush family with their oil business and ties to King Saud that were the reason behind the spike in gas prices?
Well, my Bushie-hatin' friends, who do we blame for the increase in gas prices this year? Republicans that didn't support the socialization of 1/6 of America's economy? Tiger Woods? Me?
Or is it going to be that I need to thank The Magician for only increasing gas prices to a level that is just plain bad, not really super really bad like it would have been under John McCain and Alaskan Oil Baron Palin?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
More On Obama's New America
As our week of polarization about the new Obamacare law continues with half of our politicians gloating and the other half continuing to do the work that their constituents have charged them with, I think it is important for us to try to take in exactly what this change means for America.
Make no mistake about it, this is a fundamental change to the way that the country does business. Just as Social Security and Medicare changed how people earned their living and how they planned for their future (or in many cases, stopped planning for the future themselves and put their trust in the federal government completely), chipping away at a capitalist system that had been the status quo for almost 200 years...a capitalist system built on personal responsibility and above all, a driving entrepreneurial spirit based on hard work.
This week, The Magician signed into law a bill that socializes 1/6 of the American economy...our healthcare industry. There was no mistake...healthcare reform was needed and a close look needed to be taken to find a solution that worked for all of America to incentivize caregivers and future caregivers, to reduce costs to patients, stop ever-increasing healthcare bankruptcies, and find a way for the industry to survive.
I believe that what we should have seen was true debate and collaboration from both sides of the political spectrum that reached the conclusion of a healthcare reform bill that was acceptable to a large majority of Americans, not the narrow 51% to 49% majority that we ultimately ended up with. A bill that was both acceptable and reasonable to those that are going to benefit from it, and those who are going to be footing the cost. A bill that was reasonable and acceptable to those of us who believe that this nation should remain on track with the capitalist principles originally designed into our government by the Founding Fathers, but also acceptable to those who don't mind having 1/6 of our economy sucked up into an already failing federal government.
Instead, however, over the past year, my President and my Congress have basically told me to get on board with their plan or shut the hell up. Until Scott Brown won Teddy's seat in the Senate, my President and my Congress took a completely partisan path, telling Republican lawmakers to either get on board, or go to hell...either accept our piece of legislation, or have no voice whatsoever for your constituents in this matter.
When Scott Brown did win that seat, there was a dog and pony show roundtable in which The Magician gave Republican lawmakers a final chance to get on board with his bill. Of course, it was masked as a bipartisan sit-down in which The Magician and his party were going to now listen to the voice of the other half of the citizens of this country.
The problem was, when he sat down with them, they didn't change their mind. They stuck to their guns and to their convictions, which meant the only way to get his bill passed was to completely bypass bipartisanship and compromise (real compromise, mind you, not a piece by piece vote by vote compromise to just get the necessary votes).
The Magician ran a successful Presidential campaign on two things...novelty and promise. The novelty of his race and the promises that he made, regardless of how reckless and detrimental to our governmental and economic systems keeping those promises would be. Bushie was accused constantly of polarizing this nation with "his" wars, but obviously, this one-sided healthcare "debate" has done far more to polarize this country. The Magician's campaign promised giving the "disenfranchised" a voice, but his first year in office has now disenfranchised the idiotic 50% of America that actually foots the bill for 100% of the people that live in this country.
My President and my Congress have let me know what it is like to have absolutely no voice in the direction of my country and it's economy at a time when they are unilaterally unraveling the basic foundations of it.
Make no mistake, comrades, while the capitalists are upset about the passage of the healthcare bill, the basis of the unrest is ultimately due to the fact that your Magician and his Assistants have quite literally rammed down the throats of nearly half of the people of this country a piece of legislation that unravels 1/6 of the capitalist and democratic system that the Founding Fathers put in place from 1776 to 1789.
Don't think you are seeing things like the "Don't Tread On Me" flag and gatherings called a "Tea Party" because the capitalists think the Revolutionary War era is a neat novelty. It is because they are seeing the very basic foundations of this nation and its original core system of government and economic structure being pulled apart 1/6 at a time.
Make no mistake about it, this is a fundamental change to the way that the country does business. Just as Social Security and Medicare changed how people earned their living and how they planned for their future (or in many cases, stopped planning for the future themselves and put their trust in the federal government completely), chipping away at a capitalist system that had been the status quo for almost 200 years...a capitalist system built on personal responsibility and above all, a driving entrepreneurial spirit based on hard work.
This week, The Magician signed into law a bill that socializes 1/6 of the American economy...our healthcare industry. There was no mistake...healthcare reform was needed and a close look needed to be taken to find a solution that worked for all of America to incentivize caregivers and future caregivers, to reduce costs to patients, stop ever-increasing healthcare bankruptcies, and find a way for the industry to survive.
I believe that what we should have seen was true debate and collaboration from both sides of the political spectrum that reached the conclusion of a healthcare reform bill that was acceptable to a large majority of Americans, not the narrow 51% to 49% majority that we ultimately ended up with. A bill that was both acceptable and reasonable to those that are going to benefit from it, and those who are going to be footing the cost. A bill that was reasonable and acceptable to those of us who believe that this nation should remain on track with the capitalist principles originally designed into our government by the Founding Fathers, but also acceptable to those who don't mind having 1/6 of our economy sucked up into an already failing federal government.
Instead, however, over the past year, my President and my Congress have basically told me to get on board with their plan or shut the hell up. Until Scott Brown won Teddy's seat in the Senate, my President and my Congress took a completely partisan path, telling Republican lawmakers to either get on board, or go to hell...either accept our piece of legislation, or have no voice whatsoever for your constituents in this matter.
When Scott Brown did win that seat, there was a dog and pony show roundtable in which The Magician gave Republican lawmakers a final chance to get on board with his bill. Of course, it was masked as a bipartisan sit-down in which The Magician and his party were going to now listen to the voice of the other half of the citizens of this country.
The problem was, when he sat down with them, they didn't change their mind. They stuck to their guns and to their convictions, which meant the only way to get his bill passed was to completely bypass bipartisanship and compromise (real compromise, mind you, not a piece by piece vote by vote compromise to just get the necessary votes).
The Magician ran a successful Presidential campaign on two things...novelty and promise. The novelty of his race and the promises that he made, regardless of how reckless and detrimental to our governmental and economic systems keeping those promises would be. Bushie was accused constantly of polarizing this nation with "his" wars, but obviously, this one-sided healthcare "debate" has done far more to polarize this country. The Magician's campaign promised giving the "disenfranchised" a voice, but his first year in office has now disenfranchised the idiotic 50% of America that actually foots the bill for 100% of the people that live in this country.
My President and my Congress have let me know what it is like to have absolutely no voice in the direction of my country and it's economy at a time when they are unilaterally unraveling the basic foundations of it.
Make no mistake, comrades, while the capitalists are upset about the passage of the healthcare bill, the basis of the unrest is ultimately due to the fact that your Magician and his Assistants have quite literally rammed down the throats of nearly half of the people of this country a piece of legislation that unravels 1/6 of the capitalist and democratic system that the Founding Fathers put in place from 1776 to 1789.
Don't think you are seeing things like the "Don't Tread On Me" flag and gatherings called a "Tea Party" because the capitalists think the Revolutionary War era is a neat novelty. It is because they are seeing the very basic foundations of this nation and its original core system of government and economic structure being pulled apart 1/6 at a time.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
$12,311,349,677,512.03 As Of January 2010 - Socialism Ain't Cheap
Did you get your Annual Report On The Budget And Spending Of The United States Government 2010 from your local Congress-person? I got mine! An exciting read, indeed!
The first thing I see is that tax revenues for 2009 were down about $419 Billion from 2008 because Evil Bushie the Great Satan George Junior single-handedly destroyed the American economy and caused us all to lose our jobs and livelihoods and homes with the poor policy decisions he made while serving as President during the mid to late 1990s.
The next thing I see is that at a time when tax revenues and the economy were down, with the change of power (or was it the power of change?) in 2008, our expenses increased by $543 Billion in 2009. It is a good thing to see that we are spending more money than is coming in, and doing so at a record pace. We definitely should not let a little thing like World War II be the most expensive thing this country has experienced!
Do you remember always hearing about the huge national debt that Evil Bushie the Great Satan George Junior was running up with his evil war-mongering? In 2003, it was over $6 Trillion, and by 2007, it was $8 Trillion, adding roughly $2 Trillion in debt in just four short years, or at a pace of $500 Billion per year.
Guess what, though? The Magician added almost a full $1 Trillion to the deficit in 2009. That's right...No more Bushie...No more evil Republican capitalist pig congress, yet somehow the nasty Republican debt builders paled in comparison to The Magician's first year on the job, almost to the tune a full 100%.
Speaking of evil war-mongering, while the argument is made that we spend too much on defense, if you take defense and diplomacy costs ($699 Billion), it also pales in comparison to our social spending ($2.487 Trillion). Why aren't I hearing more voices calling for cuts to social spending, than to defense spending? Oh, yeah, that's right...those usually screaming about defense spending and using the majority of our social spending aren't the ones paying taxes anyway.
So, the bottom line, America, is that when you look at these numbers (instead of just throwing your budget report into the trash or recycle bin), the system is unsustainable. We need to reduce our spending and we need to reduce our spending quickly. We all know that there is a lot of government waste, and we all know there a lot of people out there mooching off the system, and we need to put a stop to it. Maybe we could create a huge new national bureaucracy that provides free healthcare to millions of people who aren't paying taxes to help drive down the national debt. Now, there's some magic for you! Poof - Problem solved!
How in the world have we ended up with a January 2010 National Debt of $12,311,349,677,512.03? Politicians, runaway spending, less people earning, less people paying taxes, and more people living off the system. C'mon, America, we can do better than this!
The first thing I see is that tax revenues for 2009 were down about $419 Billion from 2008 because Evil Bushie the Great Satan George Junior single-handedly destroyed the American economy and caused us all to lose our jobs and livelihoods and homes with the poor policy decisions he made while serving as President during the mid to late 1990s.
The next thing I see is that at a time when tax revenues and the economy were down, with the change of power (or was it the power of change?) in 2008, our expenses increased by $543 Billion in 2009. It is a good thing to see that we are spending more money than is coming in, and doing so at a record pace. We definitely should not let a little thing like World War II be the most expensive thing this country has experienced!
Do you remember always hearing about the huge national debt that Evil Bushie the Great Satan George Junior was running up with his evil war-mongering? In 2003, it was over $6 Trillion, and by 2007, it was $8 Trillion, adding roughly $2 Trillion in debt in just four short years, or at a pace of $500 Billion per year.
Guess what, though? The Magician added almost a full $1 Trillion to the deficit in 2009. That's right...No more Bushie...No more evil Republican capitalist pig congress, yet somehow the nasty Republican debt builders paled in comparison to The Magician's first year on the job, almost to the tune a full 100%.
Speaking of evil war-mongering, while the argument is made that we spend too much on defense, if you take defense and diplomacy costs ($699 Billion), it also pales in comparison to our social spending ($2.487 Trillion). Why aren't I hearing more voices calling for cuts to social spending, than to defense spending? Oh, yeah, that's right...those usually screaming about defense spending and using the majority of our social spending aren't the ones paying taxes anyway.
So, the bottom line, America, is that when you look at these numbers (instead of just throwing your budget report into the trash or recycle bin), the system is unsustainable. We need to reduce our spending and we need to reduce our spending quickly. We all know that there is a lot of government waste, and we all know there a lot of people out there mooching off the system, and we need to put a stop to it. Maybe we could create a huge new national bureaucracy that provides free healthcare to millions of people who aren't paying taxes to help drive down the national debt. Now, there's some magic for you! Poof - Problem solved!
How in the world have we ended up with a January 2010 National Debt of $12,311,349,677,512.03? Politicians, runaway spending, less people earning, less people paying taxes, and more people living off the system. C'mon, America, we can do better than this!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Welcome To Obama's New America, Comrades...
Good Morning, Comdrades...
Welcome to Obama's new America! Where the only place you can get student loans is from the federal government, and where 30 million people now rely on the rest of us for healthcare and the federal government to deem what is healthy and best for their lives.
Sit back and relax, citizens, your federal government will take care of everything for you. An America, where you are entitled and deserve it all while paying absolutely zero taxes. An America where you can sit on your ass, do nothing, and just let the food program debit cards, checks, and free health services roll in while those idiot suckers get up every morning and go to work.
What a bunch of dumbasses! Look at 'em going to work with their hopes and dreams! More like hope and change, suckers!
An America where you can work harder and harder and keep less and less of what you earn, because let's face it, who the hell do you think you are, evil capitalist scum, that you are entitled to keep all of the money that you have earned. An America where we are fostering new generations that will be the weakest in our history, not getting off mommy and daddy's health insurance until they are 26, because let's face it, who in the world could stand on their own two feet when they were 26? That's just much too young to have to face the world.
An America where charity is no longer a choice, but forced. An America where the government that you need to survive has a hand in what you earn, how you earn it, how you invest it (for every $1 you make in the market, 3.8 cents above your regular capital gains rate goes to cover healthcare costs), and now, even more importantly, the type of healthcare that you may have, the type of health care that you may not have, and already has a hand in what you can stuff in your face.
An America where the Speaker of the House touts how wonderful her new Obamacare will be because it is going to follow in line with the fantastic successes of Social Security and Medicare which are losing money hand over fist despite the fact that they get 15.3% of every dollar that every American earns within their lifetime. If these idiots can steal 15.3 cents of every dollar that every American earns and still cannot somehow manage to turn a profit with it, how in the world are they going to be able to provide better healthcare than the evil capitalist pigs?
Let me give you a scenario. You need a procedure. The evil capitalist pigs do not feel that it will be profitable for you to have it, so you can either pay for it yourself (crap, there's a concept), or not have it done. Now, you no longer need to worry about that because in Obama's America, the taxpayer is going to foot the bill. Sounds like a great solution, right? Well, what happens when we are footing the bill for every procedure that needs to be done for 30 million people? Where is that money going to come from? Tax increases, of course, but you working idiots are more than willing to give up even more, right? Naturally, you'll pay into the system as you are young and healthy, taking care of those who are older and unhealthy, but then, it will be your turn as you get older and unhealthier, and the younger and healthier pay for your care, right? Can I site precedence? Right now, those of us who are not drawing on Social Security are paying in full $1 bills - and lots of them, at that. According to the best non-partisan estimates, when we reach our ever-increasing Social Security retirement age, when we ask for our full $1 bill, they are going to give us three quarters and three pennies, 78 cents. So, I am going to pay in my full $1 bills for healthcare as I am younger and healthier, and then when I go in for my kidney transplant in 30 years, Obamacare is going to offer me 78% of a kidney? Shit, I hope that works. Crazy, isn't it? If they haven't been able to get Social Security right, how are they going to get healthcare right?
This is a prime example of our comrades being sold a bottle of snake oil. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Makes you feel like we are doing something wonderful and worldly. The problem is, when you look at the reality of it, we have just given up another good slice of our freedoms, another good slice of our paychecks, and another good slice of what used to be a capitalist-based American society.
I was raised on a very simple principle...self-reliance through hard work. If you needed or wanted something, you got out there and you worked for it. If you didn't put enough money away during your working years to sustain you when you got older, you kept working. You took care of your own life and your money is square every time. I was raised to believe that these were the principles of this great country. I was raised to believe that you took care of those who could not take care of themselves, but you did not take care of those that were just lazy and made the choice to make nothing of their lives. Sadly, this is the America of the past, not the America of the future.
I'll leave you with one more thought on how absolutely ridiculous all of this is and why, simply, Obamacare was a campaign promise designed to get votes. We all know full well that cigarettes cause cancer and kill a whole lot of Americans each year. While we have driven the price of cigarettes through the roof with taxes, there are still millions of Americans who smoke. There are millions of Americans who smoke, and will never pay a penny in federal income taxes because of their income levels. Those same smokers that pay no income taxes will one day be drawing large amounts of taxpayer-funded healthcare to treat them for what was a 100% completely and totally preventable illness that they got from smoking. Smoking is still legal, and now, not having healthcare to treat your smoking-related diseases is illegal. That, comrades, is the America that we live in today.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
As The Highest NASDAQ Closing In History Turns 10 Years Old...
Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the NASDAQ Peaking at 5,048.62.
An entire decade has passed and we are nowhere near the numbers when the tech bubble burst in 2000. Right now, the NASDAQ is at 2,431. Some things have changed since then, though. Fast Company has given us the following to reflect upon:
World's Richest Man Then: Bill Gates
World's Richest Man Now: Bill Gates
U.S. Cell Phone Penetration Then: 34%
U.S. Cell Phone Penetration Now: 89%
Number Of Daily Newspapers In The U.S. Then: 1,480
Number Of Daily Newspapers In The U.S. Now: 1,422
No. 1 Web Site Then: AOL
No. 1 Web Site Now: Google
Internet Users Worldwide Then: 360 Million
Internet Users Worldwide Now: 1.7 Billion
No. 1 Auto Manufacturer In The World Then: General Motors
No. 1 Auto Manufacturer In The World Now: Toyota
An entire decade has passed and we are nowhere near the numbers when the tech bubble burst in 2000. Right now, the NASDAQ is at 2,431. Some things have changed since then, though. Fast Company has given us the following to reflect upon:
World's Richest Man Then: Bill Gates
World's Richest Man Now: Bill Gates
U.S. Cell Phone Penetration Then: 34%
U.S. Cell Phone Penetration Now: 89%
Number Of Daily Newspapers In The U.S. Then: 1,480
Number Of Daily Newspapers In The U.S. Now: 1,422
No. 1 Web Site Then: AOL
No. 1 Web Site Now: Google
Internet Users Worldwide Then: 360 Million
Internet Users Worldwide Now: 1.7 Billion
No. 1 Auto Manufacturer In The World Then: General Motors
No. 1 Auto Manufacturer In The World Now: Toyota
Monday, March 1, 2010
Keep Your Eye Out For The Brown M&M's
A recent Fast Company Magazine article pointed out some different ways that people are looking at data for tell-tale signs of what the future may hold. For instance, Johns Hopkins University researchers took a look at the attendance patterns and grade patterns of students who had dropped out of high school and found that students who missed more than one out of every five days of class, or students who had failed either an English or math class were most likely to not finish high school. 78% of those missing one out of five days, and 75% of those who had failed either an English or math class were destined to drop out. By knowing this pattern, educators can begin to identify troubled students earlier and, perhaps, turn that student around before it is too late.
Credit card companies are now spending a good deal of money ensuring that they are able to track your "normal" spending patters because it helps them identify when someone is using your card, perhaps, even before you come to the realization that it has been lost or stolen.
The article also pointed out that data that can foretell the future doesn't have to be high tech, and in some cases, doesn't even have to be numerical. As the magazine points out, consider how Van Halen would determine whether or not their equipment had been set up properly during their 1980s-era heyday concerts...brown M&M's. Due to the large amount of equipment and minute details that were required to put on one of these extremely large, extremely costly, and potentially extremely profitable concerts, the band needed to ensure that their set-up instructions had been followed precisely by the venue. How did the band know whether they were good to go, or whether they needed to quickly avoid show disasters by having all of their equipment (nine full-size truck trailers worth, by the way) re-checked? According to David Lee Roth, all he had to do was look at the bowl of M&M's in the dressing room and see whether or not it had brown M&M's in it.
The contract between the band and the concert venues was often so large that required steps were often missed or skipped due to time constraints, so in order to give themselves a clear view of whether or not these instructions were followed properly, the band inserted what they called "Article 126," which read, "There will be no brown M&M's in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation." So, if David Lee Roth didn't see brown M&M's, the band was confident the contract had been read and followed, but if he saw brown M&M's in the bowl, that meant it was time to yell at some venue reps because chances were, the band's equipment had not been set up properly.
Credit card companies are now spending a good deal of money ensuring that they are able to track your "normal" spending patters because it helps them identify when someone is using your card, perhaps, even before you come to the realization that it has been lost or stolen.
The article also pointed out that data that can foretell the future doesn't have to be high tech, and in some cases, doesn't even have to be numerical. As the magazine points out, consider how Van Halen would determine whether or not their equipment had been set up properly during their 1980s-era heyday concerts...brown M&M's. Due to the large amount of equipment and minute details that were required to put on one of these extremely large, extremely costly, and potentially extremely profitable concerts, the band needed to ensure that their set-up instructions had been followed precisely by the venue. How did the band know whether they were good to go, or whether they needed to quickly avoid show disasters by having all of their equipment (nine full-size truck trailers worth, by the way) re-checked? According to David Lee Roth, all he had to do was look at the bowl of M&M's in the dressing room and see whether or not it had brown M&M's in it.
The contract between the band and the concert venues was often so large that required steps were often missed or skipped due to time constraints, so in order to give themselves a clear view of whether or not these instructions were followed properly, the band inserted what they called "Article 126," which read, "There will be no brown M&M's in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation." So, if David Lee Roth didn't see brown M&M's, the band was confident the contract had been read and followed, but if he saw brown M&M's in the bowl, that meant it was time to yell at some venue reps because chances were, the band's equipment had not been set up properly.
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