Stop Pulling the Wagon

I HAVE A QUESTION. WHY IS BERNIE MADOFF IN PRISON FOR 150 YEARS WHILE 537 BERNIE MADOFF WANABE’S ARE LIVING A LIFE OF LUXURY AND INDOLENCE AT THE TAXPAYERS EXPENSE IN OUR NATIONS CAPITOL?

Supposedly ole’ Bernie is guilty of running an 80 Billion Dollar Ponzi scheme which bilked thousands of investors.  In the meantime, 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 memers of the Senate and 2 elected members of the Administration just scammed three hundred million Americans for another 2.4 Trillion Dollars to add to the 14.3 Trillion Dollar Ponzi scheme that is our nations National Debt.

After months of finger pointing, name calling and accusations they just pulled off another big one.  Lets see, they add 2.4 Trillion to the debt while they promise to reduce deficit spending 21 Billion Dollars.

Folks, 21 Billion Dollars is equal to the amount of debt they will be adding to the deficit in the next five days!

Remember, our children and grandchildren will “inherit” the 16.7 Trillion Dollar Debt forever!  That and whatever “our Representatives” continue to add to it !

And, there is no doubt this bunch will continue to add to the total.  All so they can perpetuate themselves as power brokers in public office.

Lets see, they spend an additional 2.4 Trillion dollars over and above the amount they will take in and for that they promise to reduce deficit spending by 21 Billion.  What are they planning on doing?  Taking five spending days off in the next year?  What a sacrifice!  Heck of a deal!     

Click on the following link for a “Casey At The Bat” spoof which I include just because its funny….  We have to remember to laugh at ourselves…. No offense intended….     

Bob Bandy

Right now there is a lot of discussion about the United States involvement and commitment in Afghanistan.  Legitimate questions are being asked as to why we are there, what is the U.S.  goal and exit strategy and just how much blood and treasure are we willing to invest in what kind of hoped for outcome.

While I was appalled at the treatment of Afghan women and children under the rule of the Taliban there is also questions in my mind as to whether we may have gotten ourselves “bogged down” in a country that seems to be contentedly lost in the 8th century.

I heard Ann Coulter comment on a television news and commentary program the other day that Afghanistan is a country with more goats than flush toilets.  While her comment was no doubt made somewhat tongue in cheek, it also highlighted the fact that this is a mostly Tribal Culture without rights for women or children and where the accepted norm is brutal enforcement of the harshest form of Islam.

A country with very little infrastructure such as electric power, roads, sanitation systems or public education system beyond the Muslim Madrassa’s where boys and young men are taught to hate everything about the “Evil West”.

A country whose only significant export and source of revenue is opium/heroin.  Whose government is enormously corrupt and does not have the trust of the people it pretends to govern.

So………   While I do not like to envision what would happen to the people, especially the women (including young girls) of Afghanistan if the United States were to leave, I also cannot think of a viable long range goal for our being there.  I find myself with questions that I do not have satisfactory answers for.

Maybe the National Organization for Women could open a headquarters in Kabul with branch offices in every village and town throughout the country?

Something to think about……..    

Bob Bandy

I knew a man who cured his son of the desire to smoke by having him smoke a pack of cigarettes at the kitchen table while he helped by lighting them for him.

Here in California we did something similar. For many years, under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, we have given public sector employees and unions (mostly all good people like you and me) pretty much everything they asked for including early retirements with lifetime incomes and medical care. Now the State of Calfiornia, as well as many Counties and Cities within the State, are finding themselves in a situation where they do not have the money to pay both their current and “retired” employees. In too many cases they are now having to layoff current Police, Firefighters, Teachers and others because the “retired” employees have Contractual and Legal “first dibs” on whatever money is available in Government budgets.

One solution offered by some is to increase the amount of tax revenue available by simply raising taxes on “The Rich” and “Corporations” . Unfortunately, California, as well as New York, Illinois and some other states, is finding out that those same “Rich” and “Corporations” who have the money to pay more in taxes also have the money to move. And, many are moving themselves, their tax money and the jobs they have provided, to other states (and sometimes countries) with lower tax rates.

What is left behind is a higher percentage of those who are too poor, too sick or too lazy to move to greener pastures. They continue to consume whatever tax revenues are left from a smaller and smaller public “bank account”.

How do we fix this?

As a former Girls Softball Coach I learned early on that the way to victory was not by “punishing” those who showed up on time, worked hard, played as a team and won games while at the same time “rewarding” those who did not show up for practice, refused to play as a team, broke the rules and caused us to lose games. The point being that if I punish the hard working players who are winners they will simply move to another team where they can play up to their potential while those who are not hardworking will continue to drag what remains of the team down to the point it can no longer compete and the team will “fade away”.

Something to think about. …………..

Bob Bandy

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

ALMOST FREE MONEY?

I remember years ago when out daughter was young.  We wanted to go to someplace special but the wallet was empty.  Our daughter said there was no problem, we could just go get some money out of the machine at the store.  We tried to explain to her the concept of first putting money into the bank before the machine would give us money, but, no luck.  She thought the machine was magic.

Well, thanks to modern technology, the folks at BETTER LIVING THROUGH MONEY MAGIC can now offer you the newest and greatest personal ATM ever.   The MONEY MAGIC MACHINE. Their engineers have managed to combine an old fashioned ATM machine with a state of the art printer. 

Introducing the all new and improved Money Magic Machine.  Once you have this handy little gadget installed in your family room you need never be short of cash again.  Want a new car.  No problem!  Big screen T.V..  You got it!  Trip around the world.  Pay cash!   Just put in your “Money Magic” card (sold separately),  enter your secret PIN number and out comes all the money you need.  Its a $500 value but we are offering it today for only $19.95 (plus shipping and handling).

As an added bonus we will include our newest “lap-top” traveling companion version of the Money Magic Machine which can travel with you everywhere!   Its a $399 value but we will include it FREE.   (just pay separate shipping and handling).

Order in the next half hour and we will include two boxes of our Money Magic pre-cut currency paper and a full gallon of our special Money Magic green ink.  (Just pay separate shipping and handling.)  

But wait, there’s still more!  Pay with an I O U  and we’ll double the offer.  Thats two Money Magic Machines plus two lap top versions of the Money Magic Machine plus four boxes of pre-cut  Money Magic currency paper and two full gallons of the Money Magic green ink.  (Just pay separate shipping and handling.)

Thats over $1000 worth of  Money Magic products all for only $19.95 (plus a whole bunch of shipping and handling).

Order yours today and start living the good life with all the money you could ever need or want.  Its Money Magic!

And,  not to worry.  This product has been tested extensively and is still in use by our very own United States Federal Reserve System in co-operation with the United States Treasury Department, where,  it has been, and is still being used to produce hundreds and hundreds of Billions (and now Trillions) of  Money Magic Paper Dollars.  All with no need to put money into the bank first and is being covered with I.O.U.s which will be paid for by your children and grand-children.

LIFE IS  MONEY MAGIC  GOOD!     

Bob Bandy

(Not sold in any store but only through this special offer)