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What's New

2013-03-01 10:11:37

What's new now? - series

A-For the past several years I have shared with you my opinions and those of others on a myriad of domestic topics…including but not limited to the declining strength of the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency, the presidential campaign, the economy, and critically-needed tax and entitlement reform. They all share a common denominator…the fiscal soundness of our country. Although it may sound terribly materialistic, I will promise you…the fiscal soundness of our country must be in place before we can ever lead the world diplomatically, politically or militarily. I just don’t see many countries paying attention to what countries like Nigeria, Finland, Greece, Italy, Venezuela, Argentina and others, that are in as deep as trouble as they are, have to say about anything. Maybe you do. Last month, after not being able to take any more of what has been coming from President Obama and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, I had to take a break and let people know what these two men have done to our country. One never knows if it did any good as it is worse than ever and I still get just as sick as I always did when I watch or listen to it, but I must have touched the feelings of many of you, because I had an overwhelming amount of positive feedback compared to the negative comments I sometimes receive. Since this is a publication that goes out to every business with two employees or more, and the majority of households we go to are subscribers to weekly and monthly publications that include all political persuasions…the overwhelming and positive feedback felt good. I either received it because what I wrote made sense, or because those with an opposing view decided to remain silent for whatever reason (s). This month I will get back to where I left off after January’s article. We have a deadline coming up on the “fiscal cliff” (does just hearing or reading this term make you as ill as it does me?). It is May 19th. But ahead of this, on the day this publication is delivered…March 1st…automatic sequestration goes into effect. Sequestration, for those of you who may not know, is an idea spawned by President Obama, although now he says it wasn’t…which is most typical of him. It was one of those “lab experiments” he wishes he had back in the bottle. It was actually a bluff by him on the American people, the economy, and both foreign and domestic policies. He has been conducting these “lab experiments” ever since his younger years as a law professor at the University of Chicago, and during the time he was filling his head with the things that occupy it today. Tell me, how do you like being his “mouse” in the experiments he is conducting…knowing there has been nothing but failure from them throughout all of history? Sequestration is a term for what some describe as “draconian” automatic spending cuts to the nation’s defense and discretionary spending, with some exemptions in the area of Social Security, Medicare and Veteran’s benefits. But Sequestration is not cuts at all. It is redefining of how much more is going to be spent. Instead of something going up 5%, Sequestration says it will go up 4.5%. His idea was to make these spending cuts so terrible, that the very thought of sequestration being enacted would serve as an incentive for Congress to act on increasing the debt limit with the Budget Control Act in August of 2011. Well Mr. President, you know how you and your cronies went around the country after the election in November saying, “Elections have consequences”? Guess what… “Ideologies have consequences too.” You and your people have divided this country so much with your lies, distortions, deflections and socialistic ideas that at least half of the county won’t lift a finger to help you. After your polarizing and negative Inaugural and State of the Union speeches, laden with promises of more disregard for Congress with dozens of more planned Executive Orders, I don’t think it makes any difference what you have to say about anything. And maybe…just maybe…some who used to “sing from your hymnal,” are seeing the light. I would like to think so with the results of the feedback I received from last month’s article. While I have stated in this column previously that we have reached a “tipping point” where things will never be the same, from time to time I see and read and hear things that make me think some of his followers are coming back to reality. They are beginning to understand where we are headed is a “no win” destination for anyone. I also can’t help remembering each time I think it’s all over, what President Reagan said, “When Americans are fully informed and have all of the facts before them, they will almost always make the right decision.” It’s going to take someone who can communicate and articulate these facts. Maybe Dr. Ben Carson, who bases his decisions in real life on empirical facts as opposed to ideologies, is the one to do it. What a breath of fresh air it was to listen to him at the recent National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC. Is he the one to lead us to getting back the country we love? Maybe he is. How would you like to take a little test? Regardless of your political persuasion, whether you are extreme right or left, right or left, or centrist, read the Reagan quotes below. Then after you finish, send me an email at editor@theqandatimes.com. Tell me in just a few words whether you would like to return to an America whose President espouses these sentiments, or you would like to stay in the America we have today and continue to listen to what our current President has to say and the way he says things. God willing, I will give you the results in next month’s issue. I have had to be more conscious of including “God willing” in all of my statements regarding being here tomorrow, as I am about to…or have reached…a tipping point with my views…if someone wants to come after me. It will only be God’s will that I am back tomorrow, which is the way it is anyway, but mentioning it again here will help explain things if I am not. “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is when they decide to protect us from ourselves.” “If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.” “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” “The most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” “Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face.” “Christmas can be celebrated in the school room with pine trees, tinsel and reindeers, but there must be no mention of the man whose birthday is being celebrated. One wonders how a teacher would answer if a student asked why it was called Christmas.” “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” “Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.” “You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans. ” “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God.” “How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.” “I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.” “We don’t have a trillions of dollars worth of debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillions of dollars worth of debt because we spend too much.” “Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.” “Sometimes when I’m faced with an atheist, I am tempted to invite him to the greatest gourmet dinner that one could ever serve, and when we have finished eating that magnificent dinner, to ask him if he believes there’s a cook.” “Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in’.” “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.” “I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.” “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.” “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don’t have that problem.” “We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.” “Government is not a solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” “America is too great for small dreams.” “Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment.” “The federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.” “Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.” “To sit back hoping that someday, someway, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last - but eat you he will.” “When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.” “Someday, the realm of liberty and justice will encompass the planet. Freedom is not just the birthright of the few, it is the God-given right of all His children, in every country. It won’t come by conquest. It will come, because freedom is right and freedom works. It will come, because cooperation and good will among free people will carry the day.” “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” “Socialists ignore the side of man that is the spirit. They can provide you shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you’re ill, all the things guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They don’t understand that we also dream.” “Don’t be afraid to see what you see.” “The future doesn’t belong to the light-hearted. It belongs to the brave.” “If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals. If we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called Conservatives today would be the Liberals and the Liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.” “Life is one grand sweet song so start the music.” “Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.” “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!” At press time of this publication, President Obama, after beginning to see how devastating sequestration could be, requested that Congress make some temporary spending cuts, “so the world and our economy does not go into chaos.” We should know what happened by the time you read this. Congress voted to raise the debt limit in early February so the Government would not shut down. This was called the, “No Budget, No Pay Act (H.R. 325). It has a supposed, “comforting” wrinkle attached to it. It says, if Congress fails to do what is necessary relative to the debt limit, revenue and spending cuts, their paychecks get held up. Really? It’s not like they’re not going to get them. They are held up. I have to believe that I could have a paycheck or two held up too if I was being paid nearly $200,000 per year or more. Couldn’t you? They’re not going to lose a thing. They will get it all retroactively. The Senate is supposedly going to have to pass a budget as part of all of this, for the first time in over 1,400 days. The last time they passed a budget was April 29, 2009. Since then the Federal Government has spent $9.4 Trillion, with $4.1 Trillion of it going to our debt. Yes, we borrowed $4.1 Trillion over the last 1,400 days to stay in business. Why hasn’t the Senate passed a budget? Because someone would have to get some bad news, and Harry Reid doesn’t want to alienate anyone, except for the Republicans in the Senate and the Majority in the House of Republicans…so he has not allowed a budget to be presented and voted on, even though law mandates that he does. But now, there’s a new strategy in town. All of a sudden, the Senate Democrats and our President feel that passing a budget is going to put the Republicans in a corner, and nothing delights them more than doing this. They have realized that any normal budget contains both expenditure AND revenue projections. By including revenue in the budget, and the Republicans having to pass it because they have been clamoring for a budget passed by the Senate for so long, they will be put in a corner, as they couldn’t possibly vote down the first budget presented in more than 1,400 days. Everything today is a game. Everything is politics. There is nothing happening in the way of solutions to our problems. When someone is asked a question, they go into a spin until that person’s brain figures out how to answer it so the answer never hurts them, their party, or their cause. It’s all a bunch of “hooey.” When does it ever end? It doesn’t. It is here for good…and “good” may not be that long anymore. Last month I wrote and meant, “President Obama…because of him and the manner in which he has operated and does today…it is now acceptable to outright lie about anything and everything in our society. It doesn’t matter what you have said previously, you can now say whatever it is you want to say for any and every purpose; then you act like you never said what you said before; and if you are asked why your position or statement has changed, you bring up something that happened in the past, that has nothing to do with anything being discussed, thereby deflecting the question, diverting the questioner, and demonizing him or her for having an opposing view to yours. Never…under any circumstance…answer the question.” This month I will write and mean, “It is now okay to be a complete, irresponsible idiot as a Federally-elected official in regards to fiscal management. How many times have you heard the pundits say, “If it were a Republican that did this or said this, they would have ____ to pay.” Well, I am tired of all this political correctness. From now on, I don’t care who it is, if someone lies, as far as I am concerned…he or she is a liar and I will call them out. If someone does idiotic things or acts like an idiot, as far as I am concerned…he or she is an idiot and I will call them out. I cannot name 10 of our Federally-elected officials (and I follow many of these 550 people quite closely), that I could recommend for a management job in the private sector requiring fiscal prowess, or even a general knowledge of fiscal management. And yet, most all of them purport to know everything about it and act as though they are qualified. For a while I thought I was on Nat Geo the other night watching a bunch of flapper seals, then I realized I was watching Congress applauding our President during his State of the Union address. Tell me…what is there about anything going on in Washington that is worthy of any applause? I am sick of it all. I think it is going to take all of us getting sick at the same time in order to get better. One thing is certain…no one in a position of authority or leadership…out of these 550 people…is advocating the radical reforms necessary to stop what is coming. An increase from 35% to 39.6% taxes on the most wealthy Americans and closing loopholes or limiting deductions to $25,000 or $50,000 is not going to raise or make for enough revenue. Increasing these rates another 20% (which no one is advocating) and closing all the loopholes won’t make it happen either. The spending cuts they are advocating along with the tax increases will still leave us nearly $1 Trillion short of balancing our budget this year and more each successive future year. This doesn’t even address the more than $80 Trillion worth of unfunded liabilities (promises) for which we have no way to pay. NEVER in the history of man, has ANY nation, survived a mess similar to the one we’re in. Do you hear that Washington? No country has ever survived a mess like this. Some say I am wrong? Here’s a challenge for you. Find one instance throughout all of history where the debt of the nation equaled or was more than that nation’s economy (GDP) and that nation survived by increasing taxes and/or cutting spending…WITHOUT immediately limiting spending to revenue, and making the radical reforms necessary to eventually pay off the debt. It has NEVER happened. Now…who out there thinks this bunch of liars and idiots can do it? To me, the rhetoric behind all of this empty, political and divisive talk is repulsive. Assume our elected officials could all agree on what they are proposing. If it all goes through, it will only increase revenue by $100 Billion per year. This is a rounding error compared to what we’re facing. We are “out of whack” from 10 to 13 times this amount with $1 Trillion to more than $1.3 Trillion per year in deficit spending currently, and sequestration with its “draconian” cuts would only better it by about $80 Billion this year. Would you like to know how much trouble we are really in with our debt and deficit? Consider this…we will be at $16.6 Trillion in debt in a few days. Our deficit this year will be $1.3 Trillion. One year from now we will be $17.8 Trillion in debt. With sequestration, only $82 Billion will be cut out of our spending. That’s 6.3% of our deficit. Yet, everyone in Washington is going around proclaiming it will be the end of everything if sequestration kicks in. It very well might, but the point is…how bad are things really? If the end of everything is going to happen by cutting only 6.3% of our deficit, can you see why this problem can’t be fixed the way they are going about it? This whole thing is like a bunch of kids playing marbles and fighting over whose turn it is, after the “dam has broken and water is gushing down the valley.” Anyone would ask, “Why on earth…with such devastation coming…are they playing marbles anyway?” In a few minutes, it won’t make any difference whose turn it is. Get on with the discussion of radical tax and entitlement reform, pro-economic growth policies, the lessening of burdensome regulations, and strictly enforced programs to stop waste, fraud and abuse. In case you are a new reader, I am not someone who just whines and complains. I try and solve problems in the shortest way to get things done, that will never come back to bite us in the future. Solutions to each of these problems were presented here in this column in the November 1st, 2012 issue (see Recent Issues at www.theqandatimes.com). Let anyone you choose run the numbers. Our situation is dire. The only reason…the ONLY reason…why we are not seeing some of the things happening relative to Martial Law today, that I wrote about in the January ’13 issue, is that Fed has been printing unprecedented amounts of money which is keeping down interest rates and artificially pumping up the stock market into a “house of cards.” Because of these low rates, interest is now only around $400 Billion of the $2.1 Trillion we take in annually. If interest rates should climb to 10% of our national debt, or even in the high teens like they were in the early 80s…it would all be over. Interest on our debt would consume all of the revenue we collect. There would be nothing for defense…nothing for infrastructure…nothing for Medicare…nothing for Social Security…nothing for Food Stamps…nothing for Medicaid…nothing for our government…nothing for health care…nothing for anything…but interest! And you know what? With QE 1 and 2 complete, and now QE 3 in progress from the Feds, when interest rates begin to rise…we will forget all about the problems we had with high unemployment and the slow growth of our economy. It won’t be a “Fiscal Cliff.” It will be a “Fiscal Armageddon.” It’s already happening. Take a look at just one area...the increase in food prices over the past 12 months. The Feds can talk all day about the low interest rates they have put into place, but inflation is here and on the rise. With all I write, one might think I should be a “prepper.” I am not. I prefer instead to ask God that it be His will to save us and our nation, but I also pray for His will…whatever it may be…to be done in all matters; that He makes us an instrument of His will (which He may be doing with His inspiration on this article); and that He gives us the grace to accept His will. To those of you who still might think what Washington is working on, relative to the “fiscal cliff,” will work, let me give you some “did you knows.” Did you know that every man, woman and child in America’s portion of our national debt is now $52,000 at this writing? Did you know that with the out-of-control-spending I mentioned earlier, that we spend $4 Billion per day, MORE THAN what we take in, that we don’t have, that we borrow…from places like China and Japan? We go $4 Billion deeper into debt each day! This $4 Billion per day equates to an additional $12.60 per day per person for every man, woman and child in this country. There is no way most Americans could ever pay their $52,000 share of the national debt. They couldn’t pay the additional $12.60 per day either. How a sudden…to have to pay $12.60 per day in an additional expense for each member in your household…on a weekly basis? I know people who make into the 6 figures…some well into the 6, 7 and even 8 figures. They would scoff at this additional $12.60 per day expense like it was the biggest penalty they were ever hit with. Here’s a way we can immediately get everyone on the same page insofar as this out-of-control-spending. Immediately, we need to begin assessing each member of each household in America…with NO exceptions…an additional $12.60 per day for this excess spending. It will be PAYABLE WEEKLY to the Federal Government. We could call it the “deficit spending assessment,” or “DSA” for short. For a family of four, this would amount to more than $50 per day, or $350 per week. We would see just how many supporters of this out-of-control-spending there would be now! Add to all of this all of the unrest in the Middle East, the possibility of a nuclear Iran with every other country in the region going nuclear if Iran is successful…the Syrian conflict that is now the focus of many countries of this world…the North Korean nuclear situation…the perceived weakness of America throughout the world, more so now than at any time over the past 100 years…our economy…the unemployment and under employment… the crushing debt…the out-of-control-spending…the absence of solutions that will fix our problems…the class warfare that is so rampant…the non-transparency, lies and corruption of our government…the now more than 50% of all American households receiving some type of monthly government check (not counting Social Security or Medicare)…and the fact that we are now under Martial Law with the Executive Order, “National Defense Resource Preparedness” that you can read about on the White House’s own site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness...the dozens more of Executive Orders coming each week from this President…and who of us can remember a more bleak look into the future for our country and the world? In the past, some have accused me of not loving this country, or that I am disrespectful to the office of the President of the United States, or to its Congress. Let me correct this now…publicly…and emphatically. It is because of my love of this country that I write what I do. I deeply respect the office of the President of the United States, our Constitution, our three branches of government, and all we have been, and all who have fought and died for what we have over the past nearly 250 years. I do not respect anyone going outside of what we have in place to change it, unless it is changed per what we have in place. We are a democracy. We are not a dictatorship. We have a President who we have elected to represent us who has sworn under oath to God to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He has trampled it and its spirit. We have members of Congress who have sworn under oath to God to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that they will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that they take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that they will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which they are about to enter. Many are not living up to this oath. Many cannot even remember it. All of this is wrong. It is ruining our country, both at home and abroad. We can’t let this happen. How did we get here? It didn’t happen overnight. The seeds have been sown for the past 50 years. All of the conditions were right for all of them to “sprout.” Call me anything you want to call me, but the biggest reason why we are where we are is directly related to another quote from Ronald Reagan, where he referred to a comment from President Lincoln. When asked about the Union’s participation in the Civil War, somebody said, “We trust, sir, that God is on our side.” Lincoln replied, “It is more important to know that we are on God’s side.” We may no longer be.