I got a call for my property rental and I asked the prospective tenant what he does for a living. He said he was retired. I said, oh you sound so young. He said he was 47. I responded, so you must be a civil servant to retire so young. He answered, "yes, he was a civil servant." Then he said. "that's the only way to afford retiring at my age - you either have to be independently wealthy or a civil servant."
It should not be possible for a person to work for 20 years in a civil servant position funded by taxpayers, and then be able to retire with the level of salary and benefits that allow them to retire and live off the taxpayer for the next 30 plus years! If this man lives to an average life expectancy of around 80 years ago he will be earning nearly twice as much being retired than he earned while he was working. That's wrong!
Taxpayers don't enjoy these benefits and they certainly can't afford to support others with their taxes so that they can enjoy these benefits!
This man, and millions like him, enjoy entitlements, (pensions, health and insurance benefits, special aid programs, etc.) that are out-of-whack with what the average employee is able to afford for themselves, and it is unfair for the rest of us to carry the burden of others who worked for government. Why should a civil servant or union worker be entitled to more for the work they do than a non-government worker? It's not fair and it is bankrupting America!
Here's another example. Earlier this year I volunteered to help a homeless shelter plant some flowers. It was a lousy rainy day and the last thing I wanted to be doing was work outside, but I made a commitment and I figured I was going to get dirty anyway so what's the difference if I got wet too. I arrived and went straight to work. The shelter director told me there was over 100 people on any given night at the shelter. She also had quite an ambitious amount of garden beds that she wanted me to clean up and plant flowers & vegetables in.
Given the volume of work and the fact that I wanted to finish up in a few hours, I asked the shelter director if she would ask a couple of the shelter's "guests" to give me a hand? I told her I would show them what to do. I was floored by her response. She told me that she could not ask any of them to help me! Why, I asked. Get this answer --- if any of them got hurt (planting flowers!) the shelter would be sued! I told her you have got to be kidding me! Nope, she said, not kidding! That's wrong!
People who are on the public troth should be required to do something in exchange for their benefits. Anything! There is a way that anyone can be productive. Frankly, I think the less pleasant the work the better!! This way they are motivated to get off of government assistance! And, while they are on it they can at least be productive members of society. That would be positive on many levels!
It's examples like these above that are why the Tea Party is gaining so much support! Many of us are fed up with the outrageous ways our government is spending America into bankruptcy. We need more common sense approaches to the problems with government spending. Besides spending less, we can get more bank for our buck by changing our foolish laws which make it possible for shelter residents to live scot-free and civil servants to collect a pension at age 47 when they could still be working.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
All European Life Died in Auschwitz
(The following was forwarded to me - in a chain. I post it pass it along too.)
ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ
The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper on Jan. 15, 2008. It doesn't take much imagination to extrapolate the message to the rest of Europe - and possibly to the rest of the world.
REMEMBER AS YOU READ -- IT WAS IN A SPANISH PAPER
Date: Tue. 15 January 2008 14:30
ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ
By Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez
I walked down the street in Barcelona , and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz ... We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen
people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.
The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.
They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime. Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.
We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.
What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe ..
***********************************
A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves.
Absolutely No Profiling! Pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test.
These events are actual events from history. They really
happened! Do you remember?
HERE'S THE TEST
1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and
massacred by:
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davey Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
14. And now we can add: In 2009, 31 people wounded and 13 American Soldiers murdered on base at Fort Hood by a Major that was known as...
a: You guessed it - A Muslim male extremist between the age of
17 and 40.
No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.
The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000; that is ONE
BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz
Peace:
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1990 - Elias James Corey
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1999 - Ahmed Zewai
Economics:
(zero)
Physics:
(zero)
Medicine:
1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad
TOTAL: 7 SEVEN
The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000; that is FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World
Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin
Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Josephson
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger
Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel
Medicine:
1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abraham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis
1996- Lu RoseIacovino
TOTAL: 129!
The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims. The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants.
There is NOT one single Jew who has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew who protests by killing people.
The Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.
Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems. Muslims must ask 'what can they do for humankind' before they demand that humankind respects them.
Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel's part, the following two sentences really say it all:
'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Benjamin Netanyahu
General Eisenhower Warned Us It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
He did this because he said in words to this effect:
'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'
Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way.
Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.
How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends some Muslim in the United States ?
It will take only a minute to pass this along.
The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper on Jan. 15, 2008. It doesn't take much imagination to extrapolate the message to the rest of Europe - and possibly to the rest of the world.
REMEMBER AS YOU READ -- IT WAS IN A SPANISH PAPER
Date: Tue. 15 January 2008 14:30
ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ
By Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez
I walked down the street in Barcelona , and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz ... We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen
people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.
The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.
And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.
They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime. Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.
We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.
What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe ..
***********************************
A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves.
Absolutely No Profiling! Pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test.
These events are actual events from history. They really
happened! Do you remember?
HERE'S THE TEST
1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and
massacred by:
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davey Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
14. And now we can add: In 2009, 31 people wounded and 13 American Soldiers murdered on base at Fort Hood by a Major that was known as...
a: You guessed it - A Muslim male extremist between the age of
17 and 40.
No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.
The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000; that is ONE
BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz
Peace:
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1990 - Elias James Corey
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1999 - Ahmed Zewai
Economics:
(zero)
Physics:
(zero)
Medicine:
1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad
TOTAL: 7 SEVEN
The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000; that is FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:
Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World
Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin
Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Josephson
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger
Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel
Medicine:
1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abraham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis
1996- Lu RoseIacovino
TOTAL: 129!
The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims. The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants.
There is NOT one single Jew who has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew who protests by killing people.
The Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.
Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems. Muslims must ask 'what can they do for humankind' before they demand that humankind respects them.
Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbors, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel's part, the following two sentences really say it all:
'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Benjamin Netanyahu
General Eisenhower Warned Us It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
He did this because he said in words to this effect:
'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'
Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way.
Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.
How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends some Muslim in the United States ?
It will take only a minute to pass this along.
Super Committee
Super Committee stands for:
S - selfish. For putting self interests and political interests ahead of the country's interests.
U - underhanded. For not negotiating in good faith.
P- pricks. For screwing America
E - eggheads. For lacking common sense. That's all it would take!
R - rejects. For being the wrong ones for the mission. Throw them out!
C - cowards.
O - oblivious.
M - maddening.
M - meatheads.
I - incompetent. For being unable to do their job.
T - toothless. For not taking a bite out of our national deficit.
T - tease. For being all talk and no action.
E - endless waste of time. That's what they will go down in history for.
E - eat shit. For what America wants everyone on the Super Committee to do!!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Nothing Makes Me More Angry
No other economic or geo-political issue gets me more angry than this topic!! Every year China and Russia steal invaluable intellectual assets (patents, formulas, processes, designs, trademarks, etc.) and private information from USA industry and government.
The result is the illegal transfer of vast wealth and jobs from our society to theirs. Estimates range as high as $1 trillion dollars every year!! And, this is not even counting the vast wealth that is lost in equity values to shareholders that would come from the increases sales and profits American firms would realize if China was properly compensating them for their intellectual property, or directly purchasing the goods & services they offer. Imagine further the inroads into the vast Chinese marketplace that would be gained and the resulting benefits that would ensue as well. Are you angry yet!
There are great costs to USA taxpayers in other ways. When China rips off defense technology which compromises our country's defense or that of our allies, we as taxpayers must fund advances to recover our readiness. Each technological achievement can come at a hirer cost and brings greater complexity. So we're hit to create the original technology, that China steals and applies for pennies on the dollar, and then the USA has to pay again to improve or substitute the technology because we've lost our advantage. Are you angry now?!
For all the talk about China's currency manipulation you would thing that intellectual theft is not as big of an issue. Not so says an article in the NY Times. Plus, if we addressed the theft we would go a long way in addressing the under valued Yuan Renminbi because it would be in China's interests to have a stronger currency with which to purchase our intellectual property.
Intellectual theft is the single greatest threat to our our economy and our national security. A recent counter intelligence report sheds light on this topic. It is relatively short and easy to understand analysis - click here for a link to this report. It's time America got tough on foreign governments and industry that make it standard practice to steal from us and our allies.
We owe no diplomatic favors and allowing these countries to steal from us as a "cost of doing business" or to "maintain positive relations" is no longer acceptable. Every USA business should be able to file a challenge to the intellectual integrity of ANY importer into the USA and if there is a valid suspicion that importer or firm should be required to prove legal chain of custody of the intellectual property that was used to create that product before it is allowed into the USA. And if they fail to be able to establish genuine custody we should have enforceable reciprocal treaties with foreign allies that require them to reject those imports as well.
If you're as angry about this as I am then what do you think about this idea? If you ask me, I would deduct every dollar the Chinese have stolen from USA companies from the foreign debt we owe them. If we did that we would probably eliminate our national trade and budget deficit. And I believe it would be morally correct to do so! It's time to square away with China and Russia - if they want our citizens ideas, technology, designs, and inventions they have to pay for them! Stealing is an unacceptable economic development strategy and Chinese and Russian governments blatant endorsement for its practice must be intolerable!
To underscore how desperate China is for our innovations. It is interesting that not one Nobel Prize for science has been granted to a Chinese citizen! Considering the fact Chinese comprise 20% (one in five people) of the world's population this is starteling! Contrast this to an equally amazing set of statistics* below about Jewish contributors.
Now consider this profound thought ... Do the Chinese have to steal because they are less intelligent and creative problem solvers and inventors, OR, they less creative problem solvers and inventors because they steal? Maybe if the Chinese government fostered a society that encouraged and rewarded innovation by protecting intellectual property that would go a long way to stimulating more inventions by Chinese citizens. Would the world be better off if 1/5th of the population stole the ideas from the others or if 1/5th contributed to the world of ideas? Come on China ... get with the program!!!!
The result is the illegal transfer of vast wealth and jobs from our society to theirs. Estimates range as high as $1 trillion dollars every year!! And, this is not even counting the vast wealth that is lost in equity values to shareholders that would come from the increases sales and profits American firms would realize if China was properly compensating them for their intellectual property, or directly purchasing the goods & services they offer. Imagine further the inroads into the vast Chinese marketplace that would be gained and the resulting benefits that would ensue as well. Are you angry yet!
There are great costs to USA taxpayers in other ways. When China rips off defense technology which compromises our country's defense or that of our allies, we as taxpayers must fund advances to recover our readiness. Each technological achievement can come at a hirer cost and brings greater complexity. So we're hit to create the original technology, that China steals and applies for pennies on the dollar, and then the USA has to pay again to improve or substitute the technology because we've lost our advantage. Are you angry now?!
For all the talk about China's currency manipulation you would thing that intellectual theft is not as big of an issue. Not so says an article in the NY Times. Plus, if we addressed the theft we would go a long way in addressing the under valued Yuan Renminbi because it would be in China's interests to have a stronger currency with which to purchase our intellectual property.
Intellectual theft is the single greatest threat to our our economy and our national security. A recent counter intelligence report sheds light on this topic. It is relatively short and easy to understand analysis - click here for a link to this report. It's time America got tough on foreign governments and industry that make it standard practice to steal from us and our allies.
We owe no diplomatic favors and allowing these countries to steal from us as a "cost of doing business" or to "maintain positive relations" is no longer acceptable. Every USA business should be able to file a challenge to the intellectual integrity of ANY importer into the USA and if there is a valid suspicion that importer or firm should be required to prove legal chain of custody of the intellectual property that was used to create that product before it is allowed into the USA. And if they fail to be able to establish genuine custody we should have enforceable reciprocal treaties with foreign allies that require them to reject those imports as well.
If you're as angry about this as I am then what do you think about this idea? If you ask me, I would deduct every dollar the Chinese have stolen from USA companies from the foreign debt we owe them. If we did that we would probably eliminate our national trade and budget deficit. And I believe it would be morally correct to do so! It's time to square away with China and Russia - if they want our citizens ideas, technology, designs, and inventions they have to pay for them! Stealing is an unacceptable economic development strategy and Chinese and Russian governments blatant endorsement for its practice must be intolerable!
To underscore how desperate China is for our innovations. It is interesting that not one Nobel Prize for science has been granted to a Chinese citizen! Considering the fact Chinese comprise 20% (one in five people) of the world's population this is starteling! Contrast this to an equally amazing set of statistics* below about Jewish contributors.
Jews currently make up approximately .002 (that is one fifth of one percent) of the world's population and only 2% of the US population.
Yet, 22% of all individual Nobel Prize recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2011, and constituting 36% of all US recipients during the same period, were of Jewish descent.
In the research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Physics, and Physiology/Medicine, the corresponding world and US percentages are 27% and 39%, respectively. Among women laureates in the four research fields, the Jewish percentages (world and US) are 38% and 50%, respectively. Of organizations awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 25% were founded principally by Jews or by people of half-Jewish descent.
Breakdown by field:
Chemistry (32 prize winners, 20% of world total, 29% of US total)
Economics (28 prize winners, 41% of world total, 53% of US total)
Literature (13 prize winners, 12% of world total, 27% of US total)
Peace (9 prize winners, 9% of world total, 10% of US total)
Physics (49 prize winners, 26% of world total, 37% of US total)
Physiology or Medicine (54 prize winners, 27% of world total, 40% of US total)
See also data on "other Nobels":
Jewish Recipients of the Kyoto Prize (25% of recipients)
Jewish Recipients of the Wolf Foundation Prize (33% of recipients)
Jewish Recipients of the US National Medal of Science (38% of recipients)
*Source for the statistics on Nobel Prizes is Copyright © 2002-2011 JINFO.ORG.
Now consider this profound thought ... Do the Chinese have to steal because they are less intelligent and creative problem solvers and inventors, OR, they less creative problem solvers and inventors because they steal? Maybe if the Chinese government fostered a society that encouraged and rewarded innovation by protecting intellectual property that would go a long way to stimulating more inventions by Chinese citizens. Would the world be better off if 1/5th of the population stole the ideas from the others or if 1/5th contributed to the world of ideas? Come on China ... get with the program!!!!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Don't Lose Your Nerve Now Bernanke!
Fed Chairment Bernanke spoke yesterday at that Economic Club of Minneapolis. In his speech he recapped the financial crisis that has gripped the economy going back to 2008. While he did reinforce his belief that the recovery and end to the recession began back in June of 2009, he also disappointingly stated that "it is clear that the recovery from the crisis has been much less robust than we had hoped." Most notably is his remark that "The pattern of sluggish economic growth was particularly evident in the
first half of this year, with real gross domestic product (GDP)
estimated to have increased at an annual rate of less than 1 percent, on
average, in the first and second quarters."
Bernanke then proceeds in his speech to list various reasons for why the economy is so sluggish and explains the major headwinds that are apt to lead to even further slowness including fiscal drag and general uncertainty over Federal policy and taxes. Then he goes on to dismiss inflation as any threat in the near term, and by the time he is 4/5ths through his speech he has completely cleared the way for the Federal Reserve to take greater actions in order to focus on the other of its two mandates, "full employment." This is clear in the closing sentence of his speech, "The Federal Reserve will certainly do all that it can to help restore high rates of growth and employment in a context of price stability."
You know what I got from his speech? A whole lot of nothing! (Or, maybe something much worse!) I didn't need a history or an economics lesson. Or, are we supposed to feel more confident because Bernanke can outline the series of events and issues so succinctly? If so, it didn't work for me at least and I don't think the market felt any sense of relief either. Frankly, knowing how we got here is a lot different than knowing where we are heading or what to do next!! Besides, the situation today is long past needing "Fed Speak" as way to address the many severe depressionary challenges the world faces!
Bernanke ... take a page from Christine Lagarde, the new Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, who warned today that the global economy is entering a "dangerous new phase" and that "as time goes by, there's a danger of (the economy) getting worse rather than better." Lagarde is pretty straight about the fact that "The world is collectively suffering from a crisis of confidence, in the face of a deteriorating economic outlook and rising concerns about the health of sovereigns and banks." It sure seems that Lagarde sees the need for "strong action and even refers to more action to support the recovery, including through unconventional measures."
I am beginning to sense fear in Bernanke of late. There appears to be a reluctance to take real action and to lean impotently on the power of speech. What's more, it is troubling to think that Bernanke's expressed surprise over the consumers' behavior are indicative of a Fed Chairmen who is confused and has lost self-confidence. For heavens sake Ben, do NOT lose your nerve now!!! This is NO TIME for you to be timid, let alone fearful of how your outspoken critics will respond to your decisions. With Obama and all of congress locked in all out political battle, and practically unable to tie their shoes, we need the one person on the planet who can take meaningful, albeit controversial, actions to move the economy forward to do so. Be bold Ben Bernanke. To quote a famous phrase used by the last man to face the challenge of a depression and a world war, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself!"
There is way too much inaction or negative action going on around the world when it comes to getting the USA and European economies on an upward trajectory! We need bold moves by the monetary powers around the world while we still have an economy that can be stimulated! And we need those actions put forth in a strong, confident, and collective voice! NOW!!!
Bernanke then proceeds in his speech to list various reasons for why the economy is so sluggish and explains the major headwinds that are apt to lead to even further slowness including fiscal drag and general uncertainty over Federal policy and taxes. Then he goes on to dismiss inflation as any threat in the near term, and by the time he is 4/5ths through his speech he has completely cleared the way for the Federal Reserve to take greater actions in order to focus on the other of its two mandates, "full employment." This is clear in the closing sentence of his speech, "The Federal Reserve will certainly do all that it can to help restore high rates of growth and employment in a context of price stability."
You know what I got from his speech? A whole lot of nothing! (Or, maybe something much worse!) I didn't need a history or an economics lesson. Or, are we supposed to feel more confident because Bernanke can outline the series of events and issues so succinctly? If so, it didn't work for me at least and I don't think the market felt any sense of relief either. Frankly, knowing how we got here is a lot different than knowing where we are heading or what to do next!! Besides, the situation today is long past needing "Fed Speak" as way to address the many severe depressionary challenges the world faces!
Bernanke ... take a page from Christine Lagarde, the new Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, who warned today that the global economy is entering a "dangerous new phase" and that "as time goes by, there's a danger of (the economy) getting worse rather than better." Lagarde is pretty straight about the fact that "The world is collectively suffering from a crisis of confidence, in the face of a deteriorating economic outlook and rising concerns about the health of sovereigns and banks." It sure seems that Lagarde sees the need for "strong action and even refers to more action to support the recovery, including through unconventional measures."
I am beginning to sense fear in Bernanke of late. There appears to be a reluctance to take real action and to lean impotently on the power of speech. What's more, it is troubling to think that Bernanke's expressed surprise over the consumers' behavior are indicative of a Fed Chairmen who is confused and has lost self-confidence. For heavens sake Ben, do NOT lose your nerve now!!! This is NO TIME for you to be timid, let alone fearful of how your outspoken critics will respond to your decisions. With Obama and all of congress locked in all out political battle, and practically unable to tie their shoes, we need the one person on the planet who can take meaningful, albeit controversial, actions to move the economy forward to do so. Be bold Ben Bernanke. To quote a famous phrase used by the last man to face the challenge of a depression and a world war, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself!"
There is way too much inaction or negative action going on around the world when it comes to getting the USA and European economies on an upward trajectory! We need bold moves by the monetary powers around the world while we still have an economy that can be stimulated! And we need those actions put forth in a strong, confident, and collective voice! NOW!!!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Tough To Say!
On so many levels it's tough to say where things are heading! There
is so much uncertainty: Recession, 50/50; Super Committee's plan for
deficit reduction and how will it be received, who knows; The
presidential election, anyone's guess; What type of governments emerge
in Egypt, Libya and will they be stabilizing? What's next for Syria?
Is Iran after that? Where does it all leave Israel and will they be
forced to mitigate the nuclear threat from Iran? How will we cope with
climate change? There's a thousand really tough questions and very few
solid answers. I can't remember a time in my life when there seemed to
be so much uncertainty over so many substantial issues worldwide. If
you're a pessimist it is an awful time! Even if you're an optimist is
still an unnerving. A pragmatist could throw up their hands trying to
come up with a calculated answer. It's really to tough to say where
things are heading.
People hate uncertainty. Stock markets hate uncertainty. I think the only people who love uncertainty are anarchistic and doomsayers. This is a great time for someone who would like to lead a rebellion. And, as the political season heats up around the USA I'm betting some of the political stumping sounds as close to a call for overthrowing the government as you can get without seriously meaning it. No doubt that some of them will mean it. (Get your pitchfork ready.)
It's getting ugly and austerity hasn't even really kicked in yet. If Euro countries, the UK, and the USA take the austerity steps they seem to be that are needed to rein in deficit spending from a gallop to a cantor, let alone a fast trot, there will be much more pain and protest to deal with. Scenes like the ones we saw in Greece earlier this year will be much more common across Europe. In the USA, expect to see Tea Party rallies so large that they fill stadiums. No security could safely escort Harry Reid through those tailgating parties.
We are about half way through the Hurricane season, and already FEMA is broke. Let Katia or whatever storms or other kinds of natural disasters cause another few billion dollars of damage and leave a few more millions without power or homeless and then even the weather is a big factor in turning an already tumultuous time for society into a downright out of control situation.
Is it a coincidence that next year is 2012? Movies about Armageddon went into production years ago. Their producers may be starting to get worried about the box office receipts if we are actually having it. Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony!
OK, let me try to rise above all this. The world is not coming to an end! But if it is, consider yourself lucky to have lived to see it. There's no denying the parallels with the Mayan calendar, and that recent geopolitical events appear to play into the "end-of-days" prophets. If it's enough to scare you then go ahead and get your house in order - worship and repent, tell people you love them, cherish every day, and take the vacation you've always dreamed of ... it's all good even if the world goes on for another ten thousand years.
Generation after generation have had to face tough times and frightening thoughts about the future. I don't have to list history to prove that. The key thing to keep in mind is that we always got through it! Mankind finds a way. Humans are amazing and resourceful creatures. Overall, we tend to get our way. And while Americans may have grown soft we are bred from the stock of the people who founded this nation, got through the civil war, the Great Depression, and won two world wars. We got "enough tuff" in us to handle just about anything Obama or Bernanke can throw at us!
What we need is a little perspective in order to see where the situation with the economy is heading. I will take a stab at it.
Various governments around the world are broke and the only way they can get through this mess we are in is through more aggressive monetary policy. Forget about fiscal stimulus or new taxes raising enough money to deal with the debt. Call the solution whatever you like, but I like to call it what it is, printing money. That sounds bad but first let's get this fact straight. ALL the money in circulation is fake!! None of it is backed by material assets. We've been off the Gold Standard for decades. Money js just printed pieces of paper or digital numbers with lots of zeros. It only has value because we believe it has value! And, money only has value for two reasons: 1) People accept it in exchange for what really does have value (goods and services). 2) There is NOT so much money floating around that there is more it chasing the supply of goods and services than there is a supply of those goods and services. With those two facts firmly in mind, ask yourself the following three questions: 1) Do you really expect people to refuse any legitimate currency in circulation? 2) Are you worried about having too much money? 3) Do you expect the Exon/Mobile to say they are out of gas? If you answered "NO freak'n way" to those three questions then I believe we all need to stop worrying about QE anything causing too much inflation! There is way too much fear of inflation. I like the way Bernanke put it ... I believe he called recent inflation concerns "transitory!" What a perfect way to put it!!
Even if oil did go to $120 a barrel again it's only going to accelerate the rate at which America becomes non-dependent on foreign oil. Watch how many more businesses and households take real steps to reduce their demand for oil and gasoline as oil prices go back up again. People will be going solar, pulling up to the pump in hybrids that get 2x mileage, recycling every ounce of metal or plastic, and replacing their windows, doors, furnace, and every inefficient appliance they have before they pay $140 a barrel again. Oil and gas supply towns like Williston North Dakota will be booming across the USA and oil will be coming out of every pour before we become dependent on a Libya, let alone Iran, for their oil. I think just about every American wants to tell OPEC to pound sea salt and it's about time we did!!! I'm not worried about higher oil prices. In fact I say, bring it on!!
I'm not worried about food inflation either. America has the greatest agricultural supply industry in the world. And in the process we've learned to manufacturer the most amazing farming machinery and equipment the world has every seen. We have corn combine tractors that need their own zip code. That bodes well for many American firms who are positioned fantastically to profit from the demand coming from developing and emerging continents like Africa and Asia, as well as South America. Food inflation will be tackled with the tools and other farming technology. that America leads the world in. (And by the way, our cheap dollar isn't hurting the firms that make and supply this equipment.) A tangential benefit that I see coming from food inflation is how it will cause Americans to rediscover something wonderful that we gave up to the giant industrial farms - family farms. One way American's can address food inflation, let alone the effects of all the additives in processed foods, is to get back to "home grown" or at least locally grown produce, meats, and dairy. This isn't just good for our health, it's good for jobs in our communities as we source more of our table from local farmers and markets.
No matter what we do to turn our economy around it isn't going to happen until we fix the housing industry! Given the fact that the housing industry is at depression levels it's a wonder that unemployment isn't as well above where it is today. Personally, I see that as evidence of how strong and diverse our economy really is. But the housing industry is still vital to the health of our economy and just like the automotive industry, the housing industry needs to make a comeback. I believe it will and with it will come the jobs. And, with both we will be pulling ourselves out of the economic malaise and seeing brighter days
I know I can't get off that easily with just saying "I believe housing will make a comeback" without giving some reasonable logic for why it will. So here is the reason and it's much simpler than you than you think. The solution for the housing industry plays a lot like a game of musical chairs. Only instead of players getting out of their chairs there are lots of distressed homeowners who need to get up out of the homes and slide over to another home a lot like it. Now I will explain.
The game begins with Bernanke's "operation twist" in order to drive down long term interest rates. As if they aren't low enough already, the 30 year mortgage is apt to go a level we haven't seen in our lifetime and our children will never see in their lifetime. Couple historically low interests rates with a remarkably attractive pricing index and fantastic supply and people have an opportunity to buy a home is that is possibly the deal of the century!!
The great housing values and affordability is all well and good but if people can't qualify for a mortgage it's not going to do a lot of good for home buying or the housing industry. I believe that is about to change. It makes no sense for someone to be disqualified for a home that they truly can afford because they failed to make the payments on an overly priced house with the mortgage that they never should have been given. The situation in the housing industry is just insane and government regulators and the private sector have got to come to terms with the fact that someone who was just foreclosed on or who simply handed back the title and keys and walked away can be highly qualified to buy another home right away regardless if they have a 200 credit score. When we stop the insanity and let those people get a mortgage with some reasonable down payment, or even to refinance their current mortgage with no equity, that will be the day when we start to turn back the housing industry crisis, for that is the day when the musical starts and a lot of desperate homeowners will get out of their "chairs" and move to a home they can afford and start to make payments they can easily live with. And when the banks and other holders of mortgages start eliminating their non-performing loans and liquidating their properties we will all start to see brighter days!!
What about the government and size of entitlements you may ask. OK, I saved the best (or the worst) for last. If you ask me that could well be the biggest prize for having to live through this painful recession. For the first time in over a generation we may actually begin to shrink government! That includes Federal, State, and every level and agency. Hallelujah!! Less government means less spending and less spending means less government borrowing. That means businesses are in less competition with the government for capital borrowing or workers. No apologies to many greedy Union leaders who had it coming and have been destroying rather than helping our country!! (When the Unions recognize how they can be part of the solution I will applaud you, but thus far it has been far the opposite.) The problem with our deficit and debt is simply that there are just too many living off of too few. Let's stop calling this overhead "entitlements" because it starts off with the premiss that people are entitled!! Too many people have been given pensions and benefits that they should not be entitled to! That is the tough truth! I don't say that rolling back entitlements won't be painful for some, but it can be done and it has to be done! If I agree with the Tea Party on anything that is it. And, I'm including the military in this. Enough already! No, too much already! While there are some tax loopholes that have to be closed, we can not tax our way out of this deficit. In fact, if we want American company profits made overseas to be repatriated and invested in the USA we actually have to cut corporate taxes! Every dollar that goes into government has to be looked at as a dollar that could have been better spent by you! Every dollar a business has to hand over to government is a dollar that the business could have been spent on labor or invested in research, development, plant & equipment or even distributed as dividends to help fund someone's retirement income.
As government shrinks the economy can grow, but only if there is sufficient monetary stimulus to ride us through a truly soft patch. And, only if regulators encourage more energy self-sufficiency by letting more towns like Williston to raise domestic supply. And, if we get reasonable about who qualifies for a mortgage today regardless of what happened with their last home mortgage. Entitlements are the past, America needs to invest in the future. The biggest crisis we have in America is finding the leadership that sees our problems for what they are and has the courage and ability to articulate the problems and solutions and inspire us to tackle them. That is what I really mean by the title for this post "tough to say!"
People hate uncertainty. Stock markets hate uncertainty. I think the only people who love uncertainty are anarchistic and doomsayers. This is a great time for someone who would like to lead a rebellion. And, as the political season heats up around the USA I'm betting some of the political stumping sounds as close to a call for overthrowing the government as you can get without seriously meaning it. No doubt that some of them will mean it. (Get your pitchfork ready.)
It's getting ugly and austerity hasn't even really kicked in yet. If Euro countries, the UK, and the USA take the austerity steps they seem to be that are needed to rein in deficit spending from a gallop to a cantor, let alone a fast trot, there will be much more pain and protest to deal with. Scenes like the ones we saw in Greece earlier this year will be much more common across Europe. In the USA, expect to see Tea Party rallies so large that they fill stadiums. No security could safely escort Harry Reid through those tailgating parties.
We are about half way through the Hurricane season, and already FEMA is broke. Let Katia or whatever storms or other kinds of natural disasters cause another few billion dollars of damage and leave a few more millions without power or homeless and then even the weather is a big factor in turning an already tumultuous time for society into a downright out of control situation.
Is it a coincidence that next year is 2012? Movies about Armageddon went into production years ago. Their producers may be starting to get worried about the box office receipts if we are actually having it. Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony!
OK, let me try to rise above all this. The world is not coming to an end! But if it is, consider yourself lucky to have lived to see it. There's no denying the parallels with the Mayan calendar, and that recent geopolitical events appear to play into the "end-of-days" prophets. If it's enough to scare you then go ahead and get your house in order - worship and repent, tell people you love them, cherish every day, and take the vacation you've always dreamed of ... it's all good even if the world goes on for another ten thousand years.
Generation after generation have had to face tough times and frightening thoughts about the future. I don't have to list history to prove that. The key thing to keep in mind is that we always got through it! Mankind finds a way. Humans are amazing and resourceful creatures. Overall, we tend to get our way. And while Americans may have grown soft we are bred from the stock of the people who founded this nation, got through the civil war, the Great Depression, and won two world wars. We got "enough tuff" in us to handle just about anything Obama or Bernanke can throw at us!
What we need is a little perspective in order to see where the situation with the economy is heading. I will take a stab at it.
Various governments around the world are broke and the only way they can get through this mess we are in is through more aggressive monetary policy. Forget about fiscal stimulus or new taxes raising enough money to deal with the debt. Call the solution whatever you like, but I like to call it what it is, printing money. That sounds bad but first let's get this fact straight. ALL the money in circulation is fake!! None of it is backed by material assets. We've been off the Gold Standard for decades. Money js just printed pieces of paper or digital numbers with lots of zeros. It only has value because we believe it has value! And, money only has value for two reasons: 1) People accept it in exchange for what really does have value (goods and services). 2) There is NOT so much money floating around that there is more it chasing the supply of goods and services than there is a supply of those goods and services. With those two facts firmly in mind, ask yourself the following three questions: 1) Do you really expect people to refuse any legitimate currency in circulation? 2) Are you worried about having too much money? 3) Do you expect the Exon/Mobile to say they are out of gas? If you answered "NO freak'n way" to those three questions then I believe we all need to stop worrying about QE anything causing too much inflation! There is way too much fear of inflation. I like the way Bernanke put it ... I believe he called recent inflation concerns "transitory!" What a perfect way to put it!!
Even if oil did go to $120 a barrel again it's only going to accelerate the rate at which America becomes non-dependent on foreign oil. Watch how many more businesses and households take real steps to reduce their demand for oil and gasoline as oil prices go back up again. People will be going solar, pulling up to the pump in hybrids that get 2x mileage, recycling every ounce of metal or plastic, and replacing their windows, doors, furnace, and every inefficient appliance they have before they pay $140 a barrel again. Oil and gas supply towns like Williston North Dakota will be booming across the USA and oil will be coming out of every pour before we become dependent on a Libya, let alone Iran, for their oil. I think just about every American wants to tell OPEC to pound sea salt and it's about time we did!!! I'm not worried about higher oil prices. In fact I say, bring it on!!
I'm not worried about food inflation either. America has the greatest agricultural supply industry in the world. And in the process we've learned to manufacturer the most amazing farming machinery and equipment the world has every seen. We have corn combine tractors that need their own zip code. That bodes well for many American firms who are positioned fantastically to profit from the demand coming from developing and emerging continents like Africa and Asia, as well as South America. Food inflation will be tackled with the tools and other farming technology. that America leads the world in. (And by the way, our cheap dollar isn't hurting the firms that make and supply this equipment.) A tangential benefit that I see coming from food inflation is how it will cause Americans to rediscover something wonderful that we gave up to the giant industrial farms - family farms. One way American's can address food inflation, let alone the effects of all the additives in processed foods, is to get back to "home grown" or at least locally grown produce, meats, and dairy. This isn't just good for our health, it's good for jobs in our communities as we source more of our table from local farmers and markets.
No matter what we do to turn our economy around it isn't going to happen until we fix the housing industry! Given the fact that the housing industry is at depression levels it's a wonder that unemployment isn't as well above where it is today. Personally, I see that as evidence of how strong and diverse our economy really is. But the housing industry is still vital to the health of our economy and just like the automotive industry, the housing industry needs to make a comeback. I believe it will and with it will come the jobs. And, with both we will be pulling ourselves out of the economic malaise and seeing brighter days
I know I can't get off that easily with just saying "I believe housing will make a comeback" without giving some reasonable logic for why it will. So here is the reason and it's much simpler than you than you think. The solution for the housing industry plays a lot like a game of musical chairs. Only instead of players getting out of their chairs there are lots of distressed homeowners who need to get up out of the homes and slide over to another home a lot like it. Now I will explain.
The game begins with Bernanke's "operation twist" in order to drive down long term interest rates. As if they aren't low enough already, the 30 year mortgage is apt to go a level we haven't seen in our lifetime and our children will never see in their lifetime. Couple historically low interests rates with a remarkably attractive pricing index and fantastic supply and people have an opportunity to buy a home is that is possibly the deal of the century!!
The great housing values and affordability is all well and good but if people can't qualify for a mortgage it's not going to do a lot of good for home buying or the housing industry. I believe that is about to change. It makes no sense for someone to be disqualified for a home that they truly can afford because they failed to make the payments on an overly priced house with the mortgage that they never should have been given. The situation in the housing industry is just insane and government regulators and the private sector have got to come to terms with the fact that someone who was just foreclosed on or who simply handed back the title and keys and walked away can be highly qualified to buy another home right away regardless if they have a 200 credit score. When we stop the insanity and let those people get a mortgage with some reasonable down payment, or even to refinance their current mortgage with no equity, that will be the day when we start to turn back the housing industry crisis, for that is the day when the musical starts and a lot of desperate homeowners will get out of their "chairs" and move to a home they can afford and start to make payments they can easily live with. And when the banks and other holders of mortgages start eliminating their non-performing loans and liquidating their properties we will all start to see brighter days!!
What about the government and size of entitlements you may ask. OK, I saved the best (or the worst) for last. If you ask me that could well be the biggest prize for having to live through this painful recession. For the first time in over a generation we may actually begin to shrink government! That includes Federal, State, and every level and agency. Hallelujah!! Less government means less spending and less spending means less government borrowing. That means businesses are in less competition with the government for capital borrowing or workers. No apologies to many greedy Union leaders who had it coming and have been destroying rather than helping our country!! (When the Unions recognize how they can be part of the solution I will applaud you, but thus far it has been far the opposite.) The problem with our deficit and debt is simply that there are just too many living off of too few. Let's stop calling this overhead "entitlements" because it starts off with the premiss that people are entitled!! Too many people have been given pensions and benefits that they should not be entitled to! That is the tough truth! I don't say that rolling back entitlements won't be painful for some, but it can be done and it has to be done! If I agree with the Tea Party on anything that is it. And, I'm including the military in this. Enough already! No, too much already! While there are some tax loopholes that have to be closed, we can not tax our way out of this deficit. In fact, if we want American company profits made overseas to be repatriated and invested in the USA we actually have to cut corporate taxes! Every dollar that goes into government has to be looked at as a dollar that could have been better spent by you! Every dollar a business has to hand over to government is a dollar that the business could have been spent on labor or invested in research, development, plant & equipment or even distributed as dividends to help fund someone's retirement income.
As government shrinks the economy can grow, but only if there is sufficient monetary stimulus to ride us through a truly soft patch. And, only if regulators encourage more energy self-sufficiency by letting more towns like Williston to raise domestic supply. And, if we get reasonable about who qualifies for a mortgage today regardless of what happened with their last home mortgage. Entitlements are the past, America needs to invest in the future. The biggest crisis we have in America is finding the leadership that sees our problems for what they are and has the courage and ability to articulate the problems and solutions and inspire us to tackle them. That is what I really mean by the title for this post "tough to say!"
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Laugh at the Recession
US RECESSION
The recession has hit everybody really hard...
And, finally....
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hot-line. I got a call centre in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
The recession has hit everybody really hard...
- My neighbor got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
- Wives are having sex with their husbands because they can't afford batteries.
- CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
- Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
- I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
- If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them
- and ask if they meant you or them.
- McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
- Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America .
- Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.
- My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!
- A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico .
- A picture is now only worth 200 words.
- When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
- The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
And, finally....
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hot-line. I got a call centre in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)