I don't blame the Republicans. I cannot trust Mr. Obama to do what he says he will do. Budget writing is a matter of spending and revenue. I want to see the spending cuts AND the revenue picture. This is not unreasonable to ask. We haven't had a budget in this administration in almost 4 years now. Tell me why we should trust you to do what you have refused to do in your first 4 years.
    In the words of Ronald Reagan..."trust, but verify". Revenue AND spending, Mr. Obama. At the same time. A budget. 

May 2012 Recession May Be Here

   I mentioned a while back that we will probably have another contraction/recession. Many , like myself, believe it is here. Currently we are in the downtrend. Note the Dow Jones Industrials and S&P over the last ten ays. It isn't looking good. Other indicators are showing recession. The trouble with recession is that it isn't acknowledged for some time after the money people know it for certain...maybe 6-9 months.  That gives the big money people...banks and hedge fund guys...a chance to get OUT slowly...without showing their hand and bringing the prices of stock crashing down. It comes down slowly and the media people who are supposed to know just fumble and scratch their heads. Meanwhile we have lost 30 or 40 % of our 401 K's that we have invested in stock funds.
   The state has a "Stable" fund that has been giving around 4%. It's guaranteed. THAT is where mine is. At least what is left of it after the 2007 drop. DON't think you are going to make money in stocks right now. Nobody is. You won't either. Greedy equals Stupid. Be smart. Protect yourself.

Putin Who? and the US Debt

   I just want to go record about a few things.
   Judging from President Obama's "private" comment to Putin about how he would have more flexibility after the election...concerning nuclear weapons treaties and agreements... Obama wants to engage Mr. Putin concerning certain things like anti-ballistic missile systems and such. That is, he will be more able to give away some of our strength for something. Liberals call Conseratives "mean", and Conservatives call Liberals "stupid". This is a good example of how our president is a liberal. I am comfortable knowing that we have some sort of capability of shooting down an incoming ballistic missile...even if it IS headed for Washington...mixed emotions about that one...but yes...comfortable. I am also comfortable knowing that we have our missile submarines off cruising and hidden...able to make a country disappear should they try to do the same thing to us. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a good thing which makes us safer. We need to keep those things.
   I am not comfortable with our government's debt of 1.2 trillion dollars for this year. That's about three times what George Bush's record was. I don't think most people understand the problem with this. Well, read all about it. It is happening in Greece right now. Smaller scale...it is a perfect example of what happens when China and the rest of those governments who buy our bonds which, in turn, pays for our government and the entitlements, become unenamored with a country that is spending way too much more than it takes in. Can't pay salaries, social security checks stop...or are necessarily cut in amount...those sort of things. When China slows it'sbuying of our bonds where do you think the money will come from? We can't just print it.
   The House and Senate need to consider Bowles-Simpson that is a neat framework for fixing some of the biggest problems we have.
   The democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthy. It is too little, too late...a non-starter. Republicans won't let that happen. So, while we are debating this mouse of an issue, the horses have left the barn.
   1.2 trillion dollars this year. Next year the expensive parts of Obama's health care thing start kicking in.
   Part of Bowles-Simpson is the idea that our government needs to stop being a health care company and pay for vouchers that help seniors buy health insurance. It is the only way to fix the problem. Remember the $60 billion in Medicare fraud two years ago?  We make a truely lousy health care company.
   I'll get to the pharmacy mismanagement at another time. Meanwhile, read about  Bowles Simpson. at the following url. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_on_Fiscal_Responsibility_and_Reform

   I read today that they now are selling Narcan as a nasal spray...a drug that reverses the effects of heroin and other opiate derivatives...to addicts and families of addicts.  Heroin overdoses unfortunately knock out your biological ability to breathe.  I have saved a bunch of lives with the stuff. Hopefully those people went on to live productive and happy lives...yea...well...at least they get the chance to continue. Some 10,000 lives have been saved  since the program started in 1996. This is a wonderful thing.
   The article, written by Denise Lavoie with the Associated Press, included the notion that opponents say the program makes it less likely that addicts will seek treatment. Those opponents are not the sharpest knives in the drawer.
  
    

Debt and the GNP

   As the President signed the new ceiling for Federal Borrowing our National debt passed the total GDP for the country...now 15.67 Trillion dollars in debt. That is...15.7 thousand billion dollar bills. A billion is a thousand million. A pile of money, for sure.
  Gross domestic product (GDP), the featured measure of U.S. output, is the entire market value of the goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States for one year.
  The reason this is important is that when a country has borrowed so much money that it equals it's GDP, that is a signal to investors...other countries, big US and foriegn banks, pension funds, etc...that they can expect to demand higher interest rates on future bond auctions...because our credit worthiness is damaged when we are seen to be in poor financial control.
  Just another little side note about this...When our Bond interest rates go up, so will mortgage rates...and so will all of those Adjustable Rate Mortgages so many of us own. That will be very bad news for the entire country...just when we are trying to come out of recession.
  President Obama and company have said that the reason our country is having to finance our government by borrowing approximately half of all spending by selling bonds...in other words...going broke... because the wealthy aren't paying their fair share. According to Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary...who has a political reason to paint an untrue, rosy picture...if he could get away with it but can't...said the Buffet Rule...which would raise the taxes on millionaires to 30%...said that would only bring in an additional 5 billion dollars a year. It is a drop in the bucket.  Insignificant. The President has since backed off from the statement. Is he really a "Pie in the Sky" type of guy?  Can he really say anything...and what's not true we will forgive him for it?  Is that really his attitude when he is talking? 
   The other end of this thing is that when we raise the taxes on Capital Gains...which is what he is really talking about...we will see an instant reduction in investment in the market. How much is a guess but it will come down...not go up...which is what drives job growth. The Republicans are correct in voting this down...even if you hate them...they are correct. We need jobs...not "Pie in the Sky" fantasies about fairness. Do we want to give a man a check or a job? There you go.
   Geithner's political angle...what the President wanted him to say so he isn't shown to be weak or in failure mode prior to the election...was that the Buffet Rule is a "part of a very comprehensive, detailed, long term fiscal program that would bring our deficits down to  sustainable levels". His words.  Two months ago he told House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan..."You are right to say we're not coming before you today to say that we have a definitive solution to the long term problem." He then said, "What we do know is we don't like yours."  What happened to all of the detailed, comprehensive, long term program stuff?
   After four years we aren't any closer to fixing the debt problem than this?
   Is this Buffet Rule an attempt to make the Republicans look bad in the eyes of voters who don't understand how insignificant it really is?  Well, of course it is. The Democrats need to cultivate mistrust of  the "Rich" by those who aren't rich. It's political. It's meant to garner votes by a man who has a "Pie in the Sky" mouth and nothing but our amazing ability to forgive a lie...or a "mistake"... to back him up.
   I have no reason to hate President Obama but we need a Fix It guy. He is not fixing the problem.
   He is in re-election mode and I'm afraid he thinks we are stupid. 

Solution to Medicare?

   A wonderful idea...Medicare...but who knew it would lead to this?  Uncle Sam shouldn't be a provider in the health care insurance business.  Why not move all Medicare recipients to Health Care Insurance Companies? The Government could pay some or all of the premiums. It could provide policies with the same co-payments. I haven't done the math but I instinctively feel with certainty it would be much, much cheaper. Let them handle it and I bet they wouldn't see 60 billion dollars of fraud drain their bottom lines in a year like Medicare did.
   They haven't made a deal with the drug companies about getting our seniors reduced rates. What about that?
   If they are going to do so crappy a job as to have seniors forced to buy supplemental insurance to cover what Medicare doesn't, it's just a step from allowing seniors to opt out and buy their own insurance...using what the supplemental insurance costs them plus a tax credit. If anyone deserves a break in the form of a tax credit it is the seniors.
   Instead they are giving dumbasses who build families without the ability to support them the tax credit. That's the Earned Income Tax Credit...Check it out if you don't already know. Be informed. You'll still be broke, but it may help you feel better about it.

A Case For Term Limits

    I remember receiving offers in the mail in the early 2000's for loans of $150,000 that said they were pre-approved, "no credit check".  I wondered then who was going to be hurt when these types of loans failed because of the  lack of "due diligence". My answer was...the banks. And I was right. If I could see it coming, how could all of those MBA's in the finance industry not see it coming? The answer was, they saw it quite well. But it was one of those "inconvenient facts" that would be addressed later by others.
    Now we know what happened. The "Too Big To Fail", totally unaccountable banking system is full of those no better than drunken used car salesmen. AIG, Citi, and the rest of the "Too Big To Fail" money giants will continue to ignore common sense and need taxpayer support. The idea of us moving toward Socialism has escaped me until now, written off in my head as Right Wing propaganda...but Federal Government support of these big banks IS Socialism and it is a little scary...Fannie Mae being the example. Jim Johnson, Franklin Raines and Hank Paulson, Countrywide and Fremont people...all should have their days in court. It doesn't look like they ever will be. Virtually all of those bankers who made billions buying up toxic loans and selling them to unsuspecting pension funds and others...they are still lurking...unashamed,  waiting until their time to strike again comes around.  Point: "Too Big To Fail" cannot happen in this country. "Too Big To Fail" means "unaccountable for their actions" and hence, "taxpayer supported". In the finance industry it also means "Capable of bringing the country to it's knees" as we have seen. Break them up. Glass-Heatley would be a good start.
    What are they doing?  Pelosi's brother's company just secured a government guaranted loan are securing their fair share of benefits throwing around stimulus loan guarantees to family...provided by the Obama administration and trying to push the 400 Billion dollar "Obama to nowhere" stimulus.
   We are going around and around and around...around the wrong way, again and again. Some of us blame Bush. Some, Obama. Some blame our intelligent elected officials who, for no understandable reason, act like idiots like Barney Frank and Dodd.
   The system is broken. It has been corrupted with the constant need to raise  money and maintain support for re-election. Decisions made by lawmakers should be based on honest appraisals of problems, priorities and available resources...NOT by how much political capital and "money" interest" is involved. Until we fix that our system will remain broken. Maybe it is time we take up the cause for term limits and push it through. Something like the TLC...Term Limit Coalition. Pull the rug out from under the thousands of lobbyists in Washington and set our elected officials on the path to what we sent them there to do in the first place...be responsible lawmakers...responsible for this country's and the world's present and future concerns.
      

Buy American

   If you can do it, please buy American. It makes sense and it's important.

US Cannot Afford Not To Use Yucca Mountain

   Gregory Jaczko and Harry Reid have stopped the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository project after taxpayers have invested 15 billion dollars in it to secure safe storage. Our nuclear wastes are being stored in 104 sites around the country at a high cost that is unnecessary and wasteful. Upkeep of these sites coupled with security of each is what Reid and Jaczko have for us. This is a glaring example of how things are going wrong in this country. Common sense is sidetracked in order to preserve political interests. It is one of many examples of how the good of the whole is compromised for the good of a few...this one being the reelection of Harry Reid. Too much power in the hands of too few. That's Congress. That is congress without term limits.
   The same thing happened with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There wasn't an MBA on Wall Street that didn't know the consequences of the toxic mortgage orgy that has brought this economy to it's knees. But Fannie Mae and the likes of James Johnson used political favors to sway our "political leadership" to do just that.
   Using the Social Security Trust Fund to fund government programs is another example of politics leading us to blindly dance and spend ourselves into financial bankruptcy.
   Mitt Romney says that all federal programs must be evaluated in terms of whether the outlays are important enough to borrow the money from China to pay for them. This is a flame of common sense where that fire has long been absent. I am hopeful that Romney's approach will be repeated and expanded on. This country must use common sense with healthy fundamentals. If we fail to change the way our government does business, borrowing alomost half of every dollar we spend from foriegn governments, we will find ourselves without a place to call home. 
   Getting the Yucca Mountain project back on track is one of the things we must do. Refunding the Social Security Trust fund and walling off it's funds from being used for federal programs is another even more important goal we must accomplish. Romney's evaluation of all spending according to a new set of financially sane national priorities will lead us toward financial strength. Only then can we get  back on the road to growing our economy and providing opportunities for the now unemployed. Currently, our political system is so mired in personal agenda that our leaders are unable to address those problems, as has been seen over and over again of late.  America is drifting toward the waterfall of insolvency. Romney offers a fresh direction, one from which we never should have veered in the first place. It is high time someone stood up and said it.