Friday, January 14, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Sometimes inspirational quotes are depressing. E.g. In his speech The American Scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson states, "The true scholar grudges every oppurtunity of action passed as a loss of power." I stood up, looked around tried to do something, and then sat down at work. I got nothin' What the heck can I do with my life right now?
Monday, January 10, 2011
I cannot believe
I could not believe,
that steel could still your body,
or steal your soul.
That any thing could fill this hole,
and make me feel whole.
I could not conceive,
That reality could reel me in,
and to my chagrin,
make my skin to freeze.
---
I would not concede,
to the fatal reality of The Fall,
That our bodies could fall at all,
I would lie you could not lie there,
6 feet under, under His care.
I will not recede,
into black closets,
and sack cloths of loathing,
I will continue on holding,
that steel cannot steal your soul.
I cannot believe,
that blacktop could stop the seas,
of the beliefs of you and me.
I cannot, will not recede,
and back away from what you left in me.
that steel could still your body,
or steal your soul.
That any thing could fill this hole,
and make me feel whole.
I could not conceive,
That reality could reel me in,
and to my chagrin,
make my skin to freeze.
---
I would not concede,
to the fatal reality of The Fall,
That our bodies could fall at all,
I would lie you could not lie there,
6 feet under, under His care.
I will not recede,
into black closets,
and sack cloths of loathing,
I will continue on holding,
that steel cannot steal your soul.
I cannot believe,
that blacktop could stop the seas,
of the beliefs of you and me.
I cannot, will not recede,
and back away from what you left in me.
Friday, January 07, 2011
I walked passed the poor
I walked down the street,
and smiled as the poor passed by.
I had long yellow teeth,
and a glistening gleam in my eye.
I patted dusty shoulders,
and shook the stained dirty hands.
I asked them of the future,
and they did not have any plans.
I wondered why the poor,
cast their eyes down that way.
Why when I gave a smile,
a frown responded in dismay.
I wondered why the poor,
allowed this life to stay.
They woke with a curse,
and with curses end their day.
I continued to walk,
passed a long bread line.
And at the very end,
was the spot that was mine.
I waited patiently,
laughing with those near by.
When they spoke sorely of their life,
I paused to asked them why.
Taking my cut of bread,
and the small bowl of soup.
I waved goodbye,
To the little ragged troop.
And then started walking,
down a day labor line,
I saw a spot at the end,
and said that spot is mine.
I left the poor behind,
and joined the tired throng.
Who worked while out of work,
and kept their spirits strong.
At night when I climbed,
into my shelters little bed.
Thoughts of the poor,
ran slowly through my head.
I had left the poor behind,
yet had no home at all.
I had left the poor behind,
when I started walking tall.
For though I be poor in pocket,
my soul will not take pity,
I will not let my luck,
drag me to those trenches of the city.
I woke up with the poor,
and left them all behind.
Because today is a day in a life,
and today, that life is mine.
and smiled as the poor passed by.
I had long yellow teeth,
and a glistening gleam in my eye.
I patted dusty shoulders,
and shook the stained dirty hands.
I asked them of the future,
and they did not have any plans.
I wondered why the poor,
cast their eyes down that way.
Why when I gave a smile,
a frown responded in dismay.
I wondered why the poor,
allowed this life to stay.
They woke with a curse,
and with curses end their day.
I continued to walk,
passed a long bread line.
And at the very end,
was the spot that was mine.
I waited patiently,
laughing with those near by.
When they spoke sorely of their life,
I paused to asked them why.
Taking my cut of bread,
and the small bowl of soup.
I waved goodbye,
To the little ragged troop.
And then started walking,
down a day labor line,
I saw a spot at the end,
and said that spot is mine.
I left the poor behind,
and joined the tired throng.
Who worked while out of work,
and kept their spirits strong.
At night when I climbed,
into my shelters little bed.
Thoughts of the poor,
ran slowly through my head.
I had left the poor behind,
yet had no home at all.
I had left the poor behind,
when I started walking tall.
For though I be poor in pocket,
my soul will not take pity,
I will not let my luck,
drag me to those trenches of the city.
I woke up with the poor,
and left them all behind.
Because today is a day in a life,
and today, that life is mine.
Nancy Pelosi
When we were in the capital building walking around with R-Jeff Flake (or our Jeff Flake) we walked by Nancy's office and could hear her talking. I told Mr. Flake, I really don't like her (I probably said hate) and asked him what he thought. He said, "WEll, there are some things I don't agree with her on." He wouldn't play into it. He really is a nice guy. But she is not a nice person.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Field of Green
They came upon a wanton field,
with rocks and weeds and trees.
And slowly they did labor there,
to shape it to their needs.
And side by side they worked and toiled,
to improve the landscape there,
The days were hard, hot and long.
But together, they did not care.
For day by day the field did change.
and began to be a grass field of green,
with smiles and laughs they relaxed,
and lived as if in a dream.
Every day, in the midst of play,
they would stop to make improvement there,
and a garden and flowers there sprung,
where once was a field so bare.
Small disputes would there arise,
minor, but disputes none-the-less.
But disputes were disproved and sent away,
with a smile and a gentle caress.
They stood proud and side by side,
on what they had made together.
They took the bare minerals of earth,
and with effort made it better.
But slow and sure, in independent demure,
they had made their dreams real.
But all the glory and beauty there,
could not match the way they feel.
But one day, from a sky of grey,
came a rock of insidious size.
And smashed in the middle, and made brittle
Their beautiful and glorious prize.
With anger complete, and determination replete,
they set out to tackle that rock,
but small indecision and silence's derision,
they started to cease to talk.
Unable to fix it, they decided to nix it,
and it sat obstructing their view,
and there they sat, back to back.
Unable to do anything new.
The rock could have been moved,
with the strength of them two,
but she blamed it on him alone.
And he is in anger,
berated her like a stranger,
and a crack appeared in their home.
A year passed bye,
you could see it in their eyes,
that slowly their love passed too.
And unable to act,
and with unflattering tact,
weeds began to infiltrate their view.
They left their lovely, once wanton field,
and went there separate ways,
and the passer-byes, and vagrant guys,
would pity with their wondering gaze.
The Field of Green, and what it did mean,
how did it pass from that to this?
The lover's quarrel, did erase the toil,
and freeze the warmth of the kiss.
Years later he too passed bye and cried,
as he looked on the Field of Green,
Because with all of the beauty and glory there,
the rock was all that could be seen.
with rocks and weeds and trees.
And slowly they did labor there,
to shape it to their needs.
And side by side they worked and toiled,
to improve the landscape there,
The days were hard, hot and long.
But together, they did not care.
For day by day the field did change.
and began to be a grass field of green,
with smiles and laughs they relaxed,
and lived as if in a dream.
Every day, in the midst of play,
they would stop to make improvement there,
and a garden and flowers there sprung,
where once was a field so bare.
Small disputes would there arise,
minor, but disputes none-the-less.
But disputes were disproved and sent away,
with a smile and a gentle caress.
They stood proud and side by side,
on what they had made together.
They took the bare minerals of earth,
and with effort made it better.
But slow and sure, in independent demure,
they had made their dreams real.
But all the glory and beauty there,
could not match the way they feel.
But one day, from a sky of grey,
came a rock of insidious size.
And smashed in the middle, and made brittle
Their beautiful and glorious prize.
With anger complete, and determination replete,
they set out to tackle that rock,
but small indecision and silence's derision,
they started to cease to talk.
Unable to fix it, they decided to nix it,
and it sat obstructing their view,
and there they sat, back to back.
Unable to do anything new.
The rock could have been moved,
with the strength of them two,
but she blamed it on him alone.
And he is in anger,
berated her like a stranger,
and a crack appeared in their home.
A year passed bye,
you could see it in their eyes,
that slowly their love passed too.
And unable to act,
and with unflattering tact,
weeds began to infiltrate their view.
They left their lovely, once wanton field,
and went there separate ways,
and the passer-byes, and vagrant guys,
would pity with their wondering gaze.
The Field of Green, and what it did mean,
how did it pass from that to this?
The lover's quarrel, did erase the toil,
and freeze the warmth of the kiss.
Years later he too passed bye and cried,
as he looked on the Field of Green,
Because with all of the beauty and glory there,
the rock was all that could be seen.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Daily Rant
Here is the link for the charts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget
Red herrings and charitable people with other people's money. That is how I feel this morning. The Republicans and Democrats in the proceeding months will begin to wage important and imperative battles to save people, to cut the budget, or other grandiose and important items. The reality if the government was serious about making changes the important budgets to cut are not the discretionary ones. I pulled charts and data from two sources and to be honest, government accounting gimmicks are the worst, so take all numbers at face value.
First, www.usgovernmentspending.com lists the budget as thus,
.7 Tril Welfare
1 Tril Social Security
1.2 Tril Health Care
1.1 Tril Education
.9 Tril Defense
1.8 Trill All Other Spending
Second, Wikipedia, who also provided the graphs and pictures and whom I trust more, given there numbers seem to come from the CBO have these percentages
19.63% Social Security
18.74% Department of Defense
16.13% Welfare/unemployment
12.79% Department of State
8.19% Homeland Security
For a total of 75.48%
So what you will not see is any serious actions coming for any of these top budgets. Really you can ignore the headlines and the strong budget cuts unless they are to drastically cut these programs. You'll notice from one chart I am attaching the mandatory spending is almost the total of our federal income. That is with the Department of defense place as "Discretionary." Right..... like at their discretion congress can cut that..... or would without losing their political career. So if we cut 100% of these red herrings and cut the DOD in HALF! We are still unbalanced and worse, things will continue to get worse with the expanded costs of health care under Obama care. Republicans will win the battle in the house and move to repeal it and congress will do nothing. So the Republicans will put the onus on the Democrats and score a major political victory with much fighting, effort, and most importantly, attention, but in the end it will amount to nothing but political shenanigans. Obama care will not be repealed and all of that will be spent on brownie points.
As a side note, not the main point, we need to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Piling on the debt does not increase our homeland security, it weakens us. The US is threatened by a serious foe to the Republic, and it should be painfully familiar to Americans in this time, for that foe is Debt. We cannot continue in this way, we must change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_federal_budget
Red herrings and charitable people with other people's money. That is how I feel this morning. The Republicans and Democrats in the proceeding months will begin to wage important and imperative battles to save people, to cut the budget, or other grandiose and important items. The reality if the government was serious about making changes the important budgets to cut are not the discretionary ones. I pulled charts and data from two sources and to be honest, government accounting gimmicks are the worst, so take all numbers at face value.
First, www.usgovernmentspending.com lists the budget as thus,
.7 Tril Welfare
1 Tril Social Security
1.2 Tril Health Care
1.1 Tril Education
.9 Tril Defense
1.8 Trill All Other Spending
Second, Wikipedia, who also provided the graphs and pictures and whom I trust more, given there numbers seem to come from the CBO have these percentages
19.63% Social Security
18.74% Department of Defense
16.13% Welfare/unemployment
12.79% Department of State
8.19% Homeland Security
For a total of 75.48%
So what you will not see is any serious actions coming for any of these top budgets. Really you can ignore the headlines and the strong budget cuts unless they are to drastically cut these programs. You'll notice from one chart I am attaching the mandatory spending is almost the total of our federal income. That is with the Department of defense place as "Discretionary." Right..... like at their discretion congress can cut that..... or would without losing their political career. So if we cut 100% of these red herrings and cut the DOD in HALF! We are still unbalanced and worse, things will continue to get worse with the expanded costs of health care under Obama care. Republicans will win the battle in the house and move to repeal it and congress will do nothing. So the Republicans will put the onus on the Democrats and score a major political victory with much fighting, effort, and most importantly, attention, but in the end it will amount to nothing but political shenanigans. Obama care will not be repealed and all of that will be spent on brownie points.
As a side note, not the main point, we need to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Piling on the debt does not increase our homeland security, it weakens us. The US is threatened by a serious foe to the Republic, and it should be painfully familiar to Americans in this time, for that foe is Debt. We cannot continue in this way, we must change.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
All Was Quiet on the Western Front
All was quiet on the Western front,
and all the guns lay low.
There was no war and there was no hunt,
and Peace did quietly bestow.
Gifts of silence and time to think,
far from the fiery glow,
Hanging strong was the sulfuric stink,
and the soldiers still did know.
Of the battle that had raged there,
of the passion of the fight,
The war had taken every care,
and only paused at night.
Now the soldiers sadly sat,
without purpose, hope, or direction.
Without the valor of combat,
They could not hide in armors protection.
So home they came to enwrap their love,
and rebuild what they left behind,
But at home they found;
It was they that had been left behind,
and their loved one slowly unwrapped their love.
Uncovered, without proximity's protection,
At home there had been no combat,
and fight had fled another direction
At home the loved one sadly sat.
And thought while alone the cold nights,
Wishing to know of their soldiers care
Instead the passion of their fights,
Was all that remained there.
But the soldier did not know,
At home had hung his battle's stink,
He was far in the fiery glow,
And in the silence she could think.
A solemn kiss she did bestow,
Their was not the passion as at the hunt,
For now their guns lay low,
For all was quiet on the Western Front,
But how long would it last at home?
and all the guns lay low.
There was no war and there was no hunt,
and Peace did quietly bestow.
Gifts of silence and time to think,
far from the fiery glow,
Hanging strong was the sulfuric stink,
and the soldiers still did know.
Of the battle that had raged there,
of the passion of the fight,
The war had taken every care,
and only paused at night.
Now the soldiers sadly sat,
without purpose, hope, or direction.
Without the valor of combat,
They could not hide in armors protection.
So home they came to enwrap their love,
and rebuild what they left behind,
But at home they found;
It was they that had been left behind,
and their loved one slowly unwrapped their love.
Uncovered, without proximity's protection,
At home there had been no combat,
and fight had fled another direction
At home the loved one sadly sat.
And thought while alone the cold nights,
Wishing to know of their soldiers care
Instead the passion of their fights,
Was all that remained there.
But the soldier did not know,
At home had hung his battle's stink,
He was far in the fiery glow,
And in the silence she could think.
A solemn kiss she did bestow,
Their was not the passion as at the hunt,
For now their guns lay low,
For all was quiet on the Western Front,
But how long would it last at home?
Friday, December 31, 2010
Lest we forget
Do not forget fellow citizens, in this country, economics introduced the slave trade, and Christianity killed it.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Names
I don't like remembering names. I would rather spend my time learning about the person. I don't care what your name is, if your around me enough I'll learn your name. I don't like that feeling when somebody knows my name but nothing about me. Like it validates them that they know my name. The minimum requirement for me to treat them civilly or for them to pretend we are friends. I throw away names, and remember faces, I remember people.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Ben Franklin is the man, Barney Frank.... is..... well.....not
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. – Ben Franklin
Monday, December 20, 2010
Pity
I hate pity. I could leave it at that but I feel it is the worst feeling in the world. When I feel it I feel like I am sinking. I hate to hear people admitting defeat. It is even worse when I can see they don't even believe they can succeed. I hate pity and whenever there is a hint of pity in the eye of someone around me when they look at me I instanstly burn inside. I cannot stand to be pitied. I cannot stand to hear people seeking pity. If things are bad for you, I am not the man to come to. I do not gratify and I do not validate. When a man is tired and feels like the task cannot be accomplished, what use would I be to take that task from him. Take away the pride of accomplishment? It would take away all of what he should have felt from all that he had accomplished so far. I don't want to help, only to encourage. When you feed a man, you starve his soul. When you give a man his home, you take away his chance of hope. Nothing is worse than pity. Perhaps not even death.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
I was walking on the beaches of Marinduque, Philippines when I stopped and turned to my Filipino constituencies and asked if they wanted to learn a little about economics. They didn't protest enough for me to stop. Looking out I saw about 40 canoe sized boats with fisherman not too far from the shore. Farther out in the richer waters were larger boats. I asked how many men could be put in each smaller boat. "2". Then I asked how many would be in the larger boat. "5". Then we discussed how much more fish the larger boat could catch. We settled on about 10 times as much. When asked why anyone would use the smaller boats the answer was money, they can't just go buy a bigger boat. Then I laid out the following scenario. A business man and politician wanted to increase the amount of fish that could be produced fisherman in that area, but wouldn't do it because of the political effects. First of all I pointed out it would take 4 of the larger boats to replace all 40 of those boats. The number of men thereby employed would be 20. Each of those fisherman would make more money, enjoy better hours, and would have the added benefit of reducing the pains their hit or miss way of fishing was causing. Politically it would be disastrous, for sure those 20 men and their families would vote for him, but he would face strong opposition from the 60 whose lives were now ruined. Politics and progress. Most of the time these two are very incompatible.
Social Security is a regressive tax hitting lower income individuals harder than the rich. There is a cap that when you reach that income level you do not have to pay that tax any more. Cutting the social security tax for employees is the smartest way to cut taxes in a simple effecient way to benefit those who WORK and make less than $106,800.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
It was a GAME!!!
One of the most maddening things about playing sim city on the super nintendo was how when you took a loan to build the city I would always reach a point I had no cash and I would lose the game. THE GAME. That means there is more accountability on a game then in real life..... that is humorous. The state didn't bail me out, nor did the Fed. Nowadays in real life we just kick it further and further down the road. One day the rock with grow too big to kick and we will just be stuck.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The No-Grow Zone and the new American Civil War
Another post in which I am grossly under read and my idea is very underdeveloped. The elections have set off another wave of predictions and indications of our future. The reference to the No-Grow Zone is a reference to the Euro Zone and the problems faced with the PIGS (Portugal, Iceland, Greece, and Spain) When Greece reneged on their financial obligations they faced a serious debt crises. Who picked up the tag? Those more financially conservative countries, notably Germany. This set off a firestorm of blame and anger with nationalistic zeal with Greece recalling Nazi Fascism and Germany posting animations of Greek statues motioning vulgarities. The relation?
Today America is in a very real and a very hotly debated financial hail storm. Bush, Obama, Clinton, Reagan. It is deeper than that, pretty much everyone is to blame generally. The point is is that major decision and sacrifices have to be made now. So..... lets see back to the no-grow zone. The recent elections pointed to a movement away from government control and intervention on economical and fiscal matters. Lower spending, decentralized government structures. Except in California, in fact California rejected some movements to temporarily suspend their dramatic and expensive initiative to cut carbon by 30% in 10 years. Just like the health care bill parts that are yet to be enacted the costs for this legislation is being front loaded and effecting the economy now. California has and is refusing to enact legislation that puts some environment and social goals on hold until it heals from the onslaught. To put it in perspective the wounds that are being widened and added, California is adding debt of $25 million a day, it currently has a 12.5% unemployment rate and accounts for nearly one-third of the nation's welfare participants (when compared to having 12% of the population that means Californians have nearly 3 times more people on welfare than the national average). The legislation (AB 32) to cut carbon is going to RAISE the already high cost of living in California by $7,857 per year. California also taxes high with having the nation's highest sales tax rate and the third-highest state income tax. How is it then when a state is hemorrhaging financially that it passes these dramatic climate legislation? It couldn't be evil businesses like in Texas could it? No it must be because of the good tree-loving unemployed hearts of Californians. WRONG, AB 32 was kept in tact while hedge managers, solar companies, and alternate energy companies pumped three times as much campaign dollars into upholding the legislation then other energy companies. Hedge managers being involved in this is the evilest, vilest move of all since many are actually shorting energy companies and betting on their DECLINE in California. Californians suffer, hedge fund managers gain, this my friend is California, confused and blinded under liberal agendas and do good initiatives. California without knowing it, is engaged in a form of class warfare. Clean energy companies are pushing legislation that hurts the common people for their own gains. It is liberals, climateers, and alternative energy companies working together, for different purposes, to get their personal needs answered while drowning the state in debt and costs. So while the nation is moving quickly in one direction towards less government, lower taxes, reducing deficits, and making strides towards less regulation and a more business friendly environment, California is doing the opposite. We all know this can't last, so when the divide is so dramatic what will happen when California goes belly up? Or when California face a several fiscal catastrophe? Who will rush to the rescue? Texas? After all that California has done and said and will do in order to establish some egotistical identity as a greater, kinder, and moral superior to Texas? Ads frequently displayed Cowboy hat wearing, smoking, "evil" business men destroying California. Obviously these were references to eViL Texas who is STEALING jobs from kind peace loving Californians. All this is driven by greed by those companies and the payer is not customers who choose to buy, but tax payers who will have to pay the bill in the future?
The large ideological shift is becoming increasingly split as well across races. As the old majority (white) is fading as a segment of the population it's importance is fading. A recent article pointed out that blacks voted 90% for democrats, Latinos 64%, and Asian-Americans 56%. Whites on the other hand voted 60% for Republicans. I am not overly alarmed as to the voting except to point out two important points. Minorities generally align for Democratic and Whites for Republicans and blacks vote for Democrats 90% of the time. The Republicans are cited as a racist party because it is mostly made up from White voters but that is at 60% of the vote! Compared to 90%? I don't feel either way my vote is swayed by race, it is swayed by IDEALS! Politics is money. Let us be honest. So while states swing back and forth based on economics or social issues let us be honest and look at why and when. When the economy is good we look at social issues and debate topics. Then back to economics and so forth. Whites swing widely on these issues. When it comes time to vote on economics swing voters vote to make difficult decisions and fix the economy. States higher in minority population percentages are less affected by these changes. When viewing the California representative map, large Hispanic areas maintained their Democratic holds. South Eastern states did as well influenced largely by minority voting as well. The dangerous civil war reference is classic of me potentially crossing a line. Ideologies are sharply dividing coinciding with racial portions in those areas. Unfortunately some of those states are have 2 things in common. High minority ratios and high debt ratios. As the economical and political landscape changes one of my greatest fears is race will become more divided and the day will come when State debt becomes a national issue. When heartland states that were fiscally conservative like Germany will with great anger will stop funding Californian spending. The moves will divide upon political battle fields which are becoming more and more racially divided. I am not speaking of violence but of deep resentment. Economic problems breeding social issues. The new American Civil War.
Today America is in a very real and a very hotly debated financial hail storm. Bush, Obama, Clinton, Reagan. It is deeper than that, pretty much everyone is to blame generally. The point is is that major decision and sacrifices have to be made now. So..... lets see back to the no-grow zone. The recent elections pointed to a movement away from government control and intervention on economical and fiscal matters. Lower spending, decentralized government structures. Except in California, in fact California rejected some movements to temporarily suspend their dramatic and expensive initiative to cut carbon by 30% in 10 years. Just like the health care bill parts that are yet to be enacted the costs for this legislation is being front loaded and effecting the economy now. California has and is refusing to enact legislation that puts some environment and social goals on hold until it heals from the onslaught. To put it in perspective the wounds that are being widened and added, California is adding debt of $25 million a day, it currently has a 12.5% unemployment rate and accounts for nearly one-third of the nation's welfare participants (when compared to having 12% of the population that means Californians have nearly 3 times more people on welfare than the national average). The legislation (AB 32) to cut carbon is going to RAISE the already high cost of living in California by $7,857 per year. California also taxes high with having the nation's highest sales tax rate and the third-highest state income tax. How is it then when a state is hemorrhaging financially that it passes these dramatic climate legislation? It couldn't be evil businesses like in Texas could it? No it must be because of the good tree-loving unemployed hearts of Californians. WRONG, AB 32 was kept in tact while hedge managers, solar companies, and alternate energy companies pumped three times as much campaign dollars into upholding the legislation then other energy companies. Hedge managers being involved in this is the evilest, vilest move of all since many are actually shorting energy companies and betting on their DECLINE in California. Californians suffer, hedge fund managers gain, this my friend is California, confused and blinded under liberal agendas and do good initiatives. California without knowing it, is engaged in a form of class warfare. Clean energy companies are pushing legislation that hurts the common people for their own gains. It is liberals, climateers, and alternative energy companies working together, for different purposes, to get their personal needs answered while drowning the state in debt and costs. So while the nation is moving quickly in one direction towards less government, lower taxes, reducing deficits, and making strides towards less regulation and a more business friendly environment, California is doing the opposite. We all know this can't last, so when the divide is so dramatic what will happen when California goes belly up? Or when California face a several fiscal catastrophe? Who will rush to the rescue? Texas? After all that California has done and said and will do in order to establish some egotistical identity as a greater, kinder, and moral superior to Texas? Ads frequently displayed Cowboy hat wearing, smoking, "evil" business men destroying California. Obviously these were references to eViL Texas who is STEALING jobs from kind peace loving Californians. All this is driven by greed by those companies and the payer is not customers who choose to buy, but tax payers who will have to pay the bill in the future?
The large ideological shift is becoming increasingly split as well across races. As the old majority (white) is fading as a segment of the population it's importance is fading. A recent article pointed out that blacks voted 90% for democrats, Latinos 64%, and Asian-Americans 56%. Whites on the other hand voted 60% for Republicans. I am not overly alarmed as to the voting except to point out two important points. Minorities generally align for Democratic and Whites for Republicans and blacks vote for Democrats 90% of the time. The Republicans are cited as a racist party because it is mostly made up from White voters but that is at 60% of the vote! Compared to 90%? I don't feel either way my vote is swayed by race, it is swayed by IDEALS! Politics is money. Let us be honest. So while states swing back and forth based on economics or social issues let us be honest and look at why and when. When the economy is good we look at social issues and debate topics. Then back to economics and so forth. Whites swing widely on these issues. When it comes time to vote on economics swing voters vote to make difficult decisions and fix the economy. States higher in minority population percentages are less affected by these changes. When viewing the California representative map, large Hispanic areas maintained their Democratic holds. South Eastern states did as well influenced largely by minority voting as well. The dangerous civil war reference is classic of me potentially crossing a line. Ideologies are sharply dividing coinciding with racial portions in those areas. Unfortunately some of those states are have 2 things in common. High minority ratios and high debt ratios. As the economical and political landscape changes one of my greatest fears is race will become more divided and the day will come when State debt becomes a national issue. When heartland states that were fiscally conservative like Germany will with great anger will stop funding Californian spending. The moves will divide upon political battle fields which are becoming more and more racially divided. I am not speaking of violence but of deep resentment. Economic problems breeding social issues. The new American Civil War.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
The Kiss of Death
No, this is not a post about actual kissing. So put those teenage fantasies behind you and focus for a moment because this is something I have been thinking about for a while. First you need to understand what some financial analysts and accountants call the kiss of death. It has to do with cash flows. There are three different cash flows. Finance, Operating, and Investing. Finance principally moves by loans and interest, operating by the cash flow of day to day operating, and investing by the purchase of land, capital and the likes. That was a very simplified definition but it will suffice for the example.
Some will argue that our government is ruining our country with their free spending ways and egregious debt intake. They are mortgaging our future. They are selling the future of our children. They are putting us in bondage. The government is driving our attitudes some will say. The government is spending without constraint so what do you expect the everyday citizens to do? Start saving like crazy? Who affects the decisions of who? Where does it start. Is it the mindless spending of the people? Or the careless spending of the government?
Both are mired in the problem. Personal savings rates for American households are abysmally low. In the last couple of years they have even been in the negative. The current depression has forced Americans to start being more prudent, but to be honest there isn't extra money lying around for people to save. So Americans are spending and not saving, plundering their retirement accounts, and losing their #1 investment (their homes) while looking to the government to save them. The real problem is less with the current mindset and more with the mindset of the the pre-depression 2008 American whose savings rates were negative.
A perfect example about how the government is leading the bad behavior is our beloved government of Arizona. In the financing category it would be hard to believe you didn't know we were mired in debt and threatening to shut down almost every stinking year. This year's propositions noted several moves to plunder other account kept separate from the general state account for other spending initiatives. This is much like Americans moves to pilfer their retirement savings. So let us go ahead and put a + for cash flow for financing. Operating..... Really? Is it a real question about whether or not tax income is greater than spending? Not even close. I have a definite - for operating. And in the most amusing and interesting section we even have a plus in investing. Now before we start to say that is a good thing think of this. When you purchase equipment that signifies on outflow of cash, therefore a negative. When you need money for spending you sell assets. Our state actually sold the state capitol building and are now leasing it in order to keep up with spending. This triggers a positive in the current account. Now that wasn't this year, but if you do the addition of the + for financing, to the - for operating, and + for investing you have.... +_+ The kiss of death.
So we clamor as Americans. What a horrible example they are setting for us, and we once again begin the chicken or the egg argument. The government is making us act like this, no it is the people that are making our government bail them out! When are we going to quit switching sides of the fence? First we claim the government is of and for the people, then claim the government is not of the people at all. It is a separate entity that should be held to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. If we as individuals are debt ridden and going through the perils of foreclosure, wouldn't our government be as well. Isn't it made up OF the people? It is OF the people, and elected BY the PEOPLE, I am not surprised they are reflecting our individuals attitudes and habits. If our attitudes and habits were grossly different, we wouldn't stand for this at all and neither would our elected politicians. So until we start being prudent, the change really still starts with us. Save more than you spend, put aside for a rainy day, and don't wait for other people to take care of others and make a difference. If we start doing it, and not stand for our government not doing it, that will make all the difference.
Some will argue that our government is ruining our country with their free spending ways and egregious debt intake. They are mortgaging our future. They are selling the future of our children. They are putting us in bondage. The government is driving our attitudes some will say. The government is spending without constraint so what do you expect the everyday citizens to do? Start saving like crazy? Who affects the decisions of who? Where does it start. Is it the mindless spending of the people? Or the careless spending of the government?
Both are mired in the problem. Personal savings rates for American households are abysmally low. In the last couple of years they have even been in the negative. The current depression has forced Americans to start being more prudent, but to be honest there isn't extra money lying around for people to save. So Americans are spending and not saving, plundering their retirement accounts, and losing their #1 investment (their homes) while looking to the government to save them. The real problem is less with the current mindset and more with the mindset of the the pre-depression 2008 American whose savings rates were negative.
A perfect example about how the government is leading the bad behavior is our beloved government of Arizona. In the financing category it would be hard to believe you didn't know we were mired in debt and threatening to shut down almost every stinking year. This year's propositions noted several moves to plunder other account kept separate from the general state account for other spending initiatives. This is much like Americans moves to pilfer their retirement savings. So let us go ahead and put a + for cash flow for financing. Operating..... Really? Is it a real question about whether or not tax income is greater than spending? Not even close. I have a definite - for operating. And in the most amusing and interesting section we even have a plus in investing. Now before we start to say that is a good thing think of this. When you purchase equipment that signifies on outflow of cash, therefore a negative. When you need money for spending you sell assets. Our state actually sold the state capitol building and are now leasing it in order to keep up with spending. This triggers a positive in the current account. Now that wasn't this year, but if you do the addition of the + for financing, to the - for operating, and + for investing you have.... +_+ The kiss of death.
So we clamor as Americans. What a horrible example they are setting for us, and we once again begin the chicken or the egg argument. The government is making us act like this, no it is the people that are making our government bail them out! When are we going to quit switching sides of the fence? First we claim the government is of and for the people, then claim the government is not of the people at all. It is a separate entity that should be held to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. If we as individuals are debt ridden and going through the perils of foreclosure, wouldn't our government be as well. Isn't it made up OF the people? It is OF the people, and elected BY the PEOPLE, I am not surprised they are reflecting our individuals attitudes and habits. If our attitudes and habits were grossly different, we wouldn't stand for this at all and neither would our elected politicians. So until we start being prudent, the change really still starts with us. Save more than you spend, put aside for a rainy day, and don't wait for other people to take care of others and make a difference. If we start doing it, and not stand for our government not doing it, that will make all the difference.
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