Stop Pulling the Wagon

INSTEAD OF BEING CRITICAL OF CONGRESS,  CAN WE LEARN FROM THEM?

Maybe we could apply “Congressional Problem Solving Solutions”  in our own daily lives?

For every dollar our government now spends,  forty two cents is borrowed.  I like to think of it as the 42% solution.

Don’t have all the money you would like?   No problem!  Just do what Congress does.  Want to spend $1000 this week but only have $580 available?  Borrow the other $420! 

Can you do this indefinitely?  Sort of like paying your Visa bill with your Mastercard.   Congress seems to believe its possible.

Just think what would happen if every one of us applied this “simple” 42%  solution to our own lives.  Get a calculator and do the math.  We could run up some really big numbers fast!  How long would it be before we were bankrupt?   Just like Congress!  

Congress is showing us that, for them, there is no “Day of Reckoning” (when the bills come due).  They are content to let a future Congresss  send the bills to our children and grandchildren.        

Are we willing to leave a pile of debt to our family and future generations?  If not, why to we keep voting for those who will leave our children  a mountain of debt? 

This is not a Republican vs Democrat issue.  This is a very real question we must answer.  If we want to get out of this hole, we must decide to stop digging.   The debt clock is running and the debt is  piling up as the hole gets deeper.      

Something to think about……  Bob

I am sometimes asked what my political party affiliation is.  I once considered myself to be a John F. Kennedy kind of Democrat and many years later a Ronald Reagan kind of Republican.  These days neither one of these seems to fit anymore.  I have come to think of myself as a sort of Independent but that sounds too middle of the road and we all know what happens if we stand in the middle of  the road here in Califonia. 

In fact I am thinking of starting a new Political Party which I would simply call the Math Party.  To become a member of the Math Party you would only have to believe in the simple laws of mathematics.  If you wanted to run for elective office representing the Math Party you would have to demonstrate that you can get at least a ‘B’ on a Third Grade Math quiz.   And, if you wanted to run for President under the Math Party Banner you would have to show us your Third Grade Diploma.  The real one.

You see, I have become absolutely convinced that no political party now representing us in Washington D.C. (or for that matter Sacramento, California) can do Third Grade Math.  They sure can’t add or subtract.  In fact, they act more like a teenage boy with the keys to dad and moms new car,  a bottle of Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Brand and a credit card.  When asked to solve a relatively straight forward math problem like, say, doing a budget for the country that does not involve spending money we don’t have, they instead come up with a plan to “reduce the deficit 12 to 16 years “down the road” (when they are no longer in office).

So what do you think?  Would a political party that believes in the simple laws of mathematics have a chance?  Or, have we all become addicted to believing in the Tooth Fairy and just want to hope that Uncle Sugar in Washington has a bottomless checkbook?

I don’t know………….     

Bob Bandy

This is not my original piece.  It came to me via email but it fits so well with what I have previously written on this subject that I share it here.  Bob

JUST FOR FUN AND WITH TONGUE IN CHEEK. 

If  I wanted to destroy the United States economy and impoverish its citizens here is what I would do in five steps:

Step 1.  I would seek out and recruit incompetent people to infiltrate and take charge of our government.  Next, I would split them into two groups, which I will call, lets see, how about “Congress” and “Administration”.  The folks chosen  need not be co-conspirators,  just big spenders with big egos and no common sense.  All of these folks would be given unlimited borrowing and spending  power and the bills would be sent to the taxpayers.

Step 2.  I would have laws and regulations passed to make it nearly impossible for any individual or company to drill, mine, extract or in any way acquire any of the natural resources we need as a nation, within the physical boundaries or territorial waters of the United States.  All such needed materials would be required to be imported, preferably from countries not friendly to us.  This would be done in the name of protecting the environment.

Step 3.  I would have the government pass laws and regulations to punish hard work and financial success either by individuals or companies with a combination of regulations, fees and  confiscatory taxes.    For whatever “profits” were left over after the fees and taxes were paid I would unleash packs of morally bankrupt, ravenous Trial Lawyers to file endless lawsuits and litigation.   This would encourage any individual or company to move production (and jobs) out of the U.S. to places with more friendly environments to manufacturing and employers.

Step 4.  I would have “my” government reward laziness, incompetence and failure with government handouts, grants, promotions, do nothing projects and various “freebies”.  These same people could later be hired into government make work  jobs in a variety of government agencies and departments  where nothing useful or productive is accomplished or expected.   That way they could continue to get paid for producing nothing and retire to fat lifetime pensions and benefits .  They would fit right in.

Step 5.  I would make sure the government kept increasing the national debt to the point that even paying the interest on the debt became impossible.  They could then destroy any remaining wealth in the country by hyper-inflating the currency,  just as Germany did following World War I.   In Germany at that time it got to the point that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread.  For a more recent example one need only look to Zimbabwe where inflation reached 79600000000% per month in just the last couple of years. 

What’s that you say?   I’m too late?  Somebody stole my idea? 

Like I said.  Just for Fun.  Something to think about.           ……..Bob

“WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US”

POGO

I have always had a special place in my heart for the 1971 Pogo Cartoon strip by Walt Kelly (1913-1973) in which our little hero returns from a kind of scouting mission to announce what he discovered about possible invaders. (I think I have that right –  its been a while).   Although Pogo (and Walt Kelly’s ) web site makes a point of not wanting Pogos famous observation to promote any one group or cause, I am sure he would have no problem with the observation that the enemy we most encounter is, as Pogo so astutely observes, ourselves.  I would very much  put myself at, or near, the top of any list I might compose.

I believe that we, as a nation are at a tipping point, or crossroads if  you prefer.  One of our nations  founders wrote (and I paraphrase)  that our democracy would last until the people discovered that they could vote themselves money from the public treasury.  A sort of  “Day of Reckoning”.

Maybe the question we should be asking ourselves it whether we as individuals, and as a nation, can again return to our nations roots and  practice self discipline, financial discipline and the willingness to postpone gratification of desires until we can pay for them.  Or, do we continue to demand instant everything and let our credit cards  and  Uncle Sugar (the government)  pay for it with borrowed money.

I am old enough that I can remember when Lyndon Johnson was President and promised us that we could afford both “Guns and Butter”.  In other words we could afford to fight and pay for the Vietnam War and at the same time launch a massive “War on Poverty” transferring our nations wealth to those in need.  I was thrilled at the time thinking that poverty would be eradicated,  there would be no more poor people and we would all live in a land of plenty.  President Johnson was wrong and I was wrong.  What we did was to acquire several Trillion (thats Trillion with a T)  Dollars in debt while seriously damaging the family stucture for millions of people. All with the best of intentions.  In the process we also created a whole sub-culture who became entitlement “junkies”.

As a nation we are now 14 Trillion Dollars in debt and that total is growing at the rate of more than a Trillion Dollars a year.  We are rapidly reaching the point where just paying the interest on the debt will consume an ever increasing portion of the nations annual tax revenue.  Do we have the remaining discipline as a people to make the hard choices and practice self denial  to halt and reverse this process?  I am beginning to doubt this.

On its present course this government wagon is one  I do not want to help pull.   I think I will work on a way to not participate!

The Barbarians at the gate are us!

Something to think about………..     

Bob Bandy

Often while working on the computer I like to listen to the radio. 

GET RICH WORKING FROM HOME!                                     WORK PART TIME!                    

EARN $50,000 A YEAR OR MORE WORKING A FEW HOURS A WEEK!

 NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED!                    ANYBODY CAN DO IT!                   NO SELLING!

CALL FOR DETAILS!            OUR SECRET PLAN CAN MAKE YOU WEALTHY!                   

                        VISIT OUR WEBSITE!        www. LOOKINGFORSUCKERS.COM

I’ve got a question.   What do they need me for?   If the plans are that easy, why do they spend their money to recruit me?   Why don’t they just do it themselves and pocket all the profits?   

I have some good friends who got involved in one of these schemes (and I use the word intentionally).  They spent many thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment that creates a “wifi” computer zone.  This would allow customers at a restuarant to use their credit cards to go online.  The plan was that my friends would share in the revenues generated and have a large income with little or no work once they purchased the piece of equipment and found a place to locate it. 

If my memory serves me correctly my friend told me that they received exactly one “Revenue Sharing” check for $9.00 and never another dime.  The machine/equipment that cost them thousands of dollars became a “dinosaur” within a very short period of time and the company that advertised and sold it would not buy it back at any amount.  The equipment ended up at home in their garage and the only “benefit” they ever got from it was the business loss writeoff on their income taxes.  In other words they lost all their money.  The company that advertised the business plan was really only in the business of selling the equipment.  IF THEIR BUSINESS PLAN HAD ANY REAL MERIT THEY DID NOT NEED MY FRIENDS.  THEY COULD SIMPLY HAVE HAD THE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT INSTALLED THEMSELVES AND KEPT ALL OF THE PROMISED REVENUE/INCOME FROM ITS USE!  Their only real business plan involved was to sucker people into buying the equipment with an unproven “blue sky” promise of  “easy” profits.

The truth is that you can make money working from home but it doesn’t involve any pre-packaged “plans” being sold to you.  It involves you putting together a workable plan based on something you have expertise in that is marketable.  It also involves discipline and hard work.  In the process I found out that the worst boss I have ever had is me. 

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT HAVING YOUR OWN HOME BUSINESS IS THAT IT IS CONVENIENT AND THE BAD NEWS ABOUT HAVING YOUR OWN HOME BUSINESS IS THAT IT IS CONVENIENT!   THAT IS YOU FIND YOURSELF WORKING ALL THE TIME IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED.

So, the next time you hear one of those ads ask yourself these two questions:  1. Why are they spending their money to run this ad?  And, if it is that easy, why do they need me?  A third question to ask yourself is:  What are they selling?

Just something to think about.                                  

Bob Bandy