Thursday, September 29, 2011

Mr Cain - now this is a real candidate

Hi

Pardon me if I gush but listening to Cain speak on the campaign trail I can only hope that the American electorate feel as I do. I am not referring to any "glib" talk but rather his talk on the issues. Cain offers a fresh point of view, fueled by a belief in his convictions and a certain confidence that he can serve well as our next president.

Specifically, I like his tax approach. Mr Cain has offered to scrap the Internal Revenue code as we know it and replace it with a 9-9-9 tax. This plan is a combination of 9% flat tax on personal income, 9% on corporate income and a national sales tax of 9%. Before you get excited about any effect on inflation remember that his plan replaces our current tax code as it effects income. social security, medicare, capital gains and inheritance taxes. Right on. Just think of how the American public can now view the income tax department as no threat.

By bringing forward a good workable plan Mr Cain has posed a solution for many of our problems. A uniform tax plan will help even out the cost of government, eliminate the constant whining of liberals about the rich not paying their fair share, ( I quote Rush, "Did you ever get a job from a poor person?") Other areas which will be benefited by this plan are the unemployment problem, the balance of payments problem and the plan would even diminish the power of the lobby groups. Isn't this what we need.

Mr Cain, keep up the good work and give us the leadership which we need.

Please pray for our brave troops.
GOD Bless

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Did I read this correctly?

Hi

Every so often I read or hear of some hair brained idea, this morning was such an occasion. I am referring to a blog I read which quoted North Carolina Democratic Governor Bev Perdue. Apparently Ms Perdue made a speech to a civic group and in the speech the governor called for the suspension of elections for our federal congress. The reason given is that because of our national economic crisis, if we suspend elections for congress, the members of said body could devote the time to fix our broken economy.

My first reaction is to ask the governor if she ever heard of the United States Constitution? We are a constitutional republic and our governing constitution clearly defines how we elect officials. We should not take this lightly. It begs the question. "In the future how do we define a crisis?" Activist judges, congress itself, or perhaps the executive branch by fiat. I don't give a damn which party is in control, I do not want that kind of government. The way to fix our economic woes is by reining in government.

Another question which I would pose to Governor Perdue, "Congress had a major part in causing the ruination of our economy, do you really believe that giving the SAME PEOPLE more power can be helpful? I would hope that the voters of North Carolina elected a governor with more common sense that what Ms Perdue has espoused.

The cure is simple, vote out all the self serving politicians who have made a seat in congress a lifetime appointment. That is the answer, not some mushy hair brained scheme which does nothing. Governor Perdue I call on you, in your position of governor, to call for our politicians of both parties to act like grown ups. Solve the problem or quit congress. We used to say, "Fish or cut bait." That adage still applies.

Please continue to pray for the safety of our serving members of the armed forces.
GOD Bless

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Why is the president in the campaign mode

Hi

It strikes me ironic that the president is going around the country campaigning for reelection. I know, all politicians do, but in his third year of his first term? Obama must feel the pulse of the people and he probably realizes that there is a great deal of anger directed towards his administration. Hence the politician takes over, but let us ask why.

If Obama had passed good legislation, what the people wanted he would not have this problem. It is not good leadership to try to rule by imposing your agenda on the populace. This is exactly what Obama is doing. Here are some specifics:

Obamacare, every poll shows that the vast majority do not want this. It has helped fuel unemployment and yet the president clings to this misguided ideal. Mr President, we cannot afford this failed policy.

Why did he, through administrative agencies, pull the plug on off shore drilling for oil? We created the energy department to wean our nation from imported oil but since the inception of this department we have seen oil dependency increase. Shouldn't we change this policy, another failure?

The so called green jobs give away. We break the law by structuring loans so that the taxpayer cedes our protected position as a lender to give loans to companies that take the money and run. Interestingly these companies are also big Obama political donors. Quote Hamlet. "I smell a rat."

Unless and until we the American people hold our politicians to some higher degree of honesty we will have this kind of nonsense going on. Please remember this when you vote.

Pray for our brave warriors.
GOD Bless

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sum up of what we need to do to empower the people

Hi

In my lasts several posts I have written about the various things that seem to be going wrong in Washington. Here is a recap of what I would like to see. I hope that our elected officials get the message.

The first and most important item is that we the American people must clean Washington of the entrenched bureaucrats, politicians and lobbyists. Without that nothing can succeed. This can and should be accomplished by the ballot box. It is incumbent on us the voting public to carry this out.

The next thing needed is that we must hold politicians responsible. This responsibility should be extended to cover federal agencies, bureaus and cabinet departments. Unless and until this is done we will only have a repeat of what is going on now, only different faces. The American taxpayer deserves this change.

In future writings I will continue to espouse policies which favor limited government and more freedom.

We need our brave military so please kep these warriors in mind the next time you pray.
GOD Bless

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Ponzi vs. Social security

Hi

In my last 2 blogs I attempted to spell out what a Ponzi scheme is and then I gave an explanation of how social security works. Now comes the political tying of the comparison knot.

In a Ponzi scheme there is no investment of funds, only a clear intent to defraud. The person running the scheme has no other motive than to scam his victims. When you look into the funding of social security you can see similarities between both. Congress when they voted to move the social security funds into the general budget thus converting a trust into an unfunded mandate, one which would be paid for in future funds. By doing this the government actually converted the social security system into a "Ponzi-like" scheme. The continued growth of the taxpayer base has proven to be a myth, circumvented by the political desire to spend funds on pork barrel like legislation. Congress bit off more than it could chew. We now face the payback, and, to use an old phrase, "The payback is a bitch." There are detractors on both side of the issue who will try to say otherwise but facts are facts, no pundit can alter that.

Now we are faced with coming up with a solution. Here everybody goes wild, we hear-You can't take from the senior citizens, they've paid in and deserve to collect...increase the amount of wages subject to social security...increase the rate of tax on social security subject wages...use a means test to lower payments to those who collect and are affluent...push back the retirement age...etc. The list of cures goes on endlessly. Here I want you to take a good look at the so called cures, each is a scheme to punish the American taxpayer for complying with the law. Do we really need that?

My biggest complaint is with our elected officials, past, current and future (hopefully not). Why haven't they done something about the problem. Leadership includes the ability to define a problem. come up with workable solutions and then selling these solutions to the taxpayer. The American taxpayer has had no leadership on this matter for too long. The time to act is NOW. We, the American tax paying public can express our view at the ballot box. Remember when you vote in 2012. I will be writing about my ideas for a solution in future blogs.

Please pray for our troops.
GOD Bless

Friday, September 16, 2011

Social security and medicare

Hi

In keeping with my comparison of Social Security and "A Ponzi scheme" this blog is how the social security system works. I will use examples to illustrate my points.

In my example let us say that Business Corp hires Fred for ten hours a week, a part time worker. The rate of pay is to be $10./hour. Fred works his first week and now he gets his paycheck, 10 hours at $10 per hour. This figures to be $100. dollars. But when Fred gets his check it is less. What happened?

Fred looks at his pay stub and he sees an item "FICA". what is this? FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) is the legal name for social security. There is another deduction for Medicare. Upon asking Fred finds out that these are mandatory deductions. Now let's trace what happened to the money deducted. Business Corp. does not keep the money, but instead it must pay this over to the federal government. The corporation must deposit these funds from employee deductions into an account of the US Treasury. Before making such deposit the corporation must make a calculation and pay a different, larger sum. The corporation must match the deductions made by employees for social security and medical insurance. Just as a side note there is also a payment due on state and federal unemployment. This is an example of the regulation of a business that is imposed by the tax code. More on that in a later blog.

When social security was originally set up the funds collected were meant to be kept in a "lock box" account, which was that congress would not have the power to use these funds. This was changed by congress when LBJ was president and now we the American taxpayers are paying. This is a brief explanation of social security, medicare works similarly and for comparison either plan can be used.

In my next blog I will compare the Ponzi scheme to social security.

Pray for our troops
GOD Bless

Thursday, September 15, 2011

What is a Ponzi scheme?

Hi

In the past days I have digressed from my theme of financial responsibility to one of exploring current events. Today I hope to try to explain what a "Ponzi scheme" is. Texas Governor Perry has likened he Social Security to such a scheme so I hope this blog sheds some light. The Ponzi scheme is named after a man who used such a scheme to enrich himself at investors expense.

Let me try to illustrate the idea by using an example. Mr. Pinzo decides that he wants to make money, legally or illegally. He now devises this scheme. The first thing Pinzo dose is to enlist investors, which he does by promoting an investment which will pay a high return on the investment. He does so by interesting Andy to invest. For purposes of the illustration Andy puts in $1000. Pinzo doesn't invest it because there is no investment vehicle. Pinzo s faced with the dilemma of paying Andy a dividend or return on his investment, so Pinzo sells Bill on the idea. Bill invests $1000 which is used to pay Andy's return or yield and the balance goes into Pinzos pocket. The idea then becomes a self growing one, as Pinzo now enlists investments from Chuck, Dave, Eddie, etc. The more the merrier because it means more money for Pinzo. Alas, one day the investors call for the return of their principal investment, it is not there. By this time Pinzo is somewhere on a tropical island sipping cocktails on the beach.

Of course the entire scheme is illegal. Try to catch Pinzo becomes the name of the game.

What I will try to explain in my next blog is if this idea ties or links into Social Security. Come back next time.

I ask that you set aside a moment to pray for the safety of our brave service people who are defending our freedoms.
GOD Bless

Saturday, September 10, 2011

President Obama's Work Program

Hi

Just a few days age the president gave a speech before a joint session of congress. My thoughts on the matter are as follows:

First: The plan calls for a huge outlay of money ( which we don't have ) and to pay for this outlay his plan calls for future spending cuts. Isn't the role of the super committee formed by congress to come up with spending cuts. This is a bait and switch idea. We spend the money now and then we claim that it is paid for by cuts already in the pipeline. I hope that the congress does not fall for this sham.

Second: The proposed spending is in reality a stimulus spending plan. We have already been down that road before, government make work programs do not work. I repeat - Government make work plans are not effective. Why try to use an idea when we know it will not work. This is insanity.

Third: When the deficit and United States debt do not shrink the answer to liberals is obvious - raise taxes. Raising taxes only increases unemployment. Reducing taxes increases revenue. This has been proven by cuts made by John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and believe it or not Bill Clinton. I include Clinton because during his administration he was forced to cut capital gains taxes. When this was done the economy soared.

In order to fix this unemployment dilemma we must use sound logical reasoning. The first and most important order of business should be to reign in administrative bodies. These unelected bureaucrats carry out the wishes of the president. The president could do this with one sweep of his pen. Look at the job killing decisions made by Obama during his presidency- the stopping of off shore drilling for oil ( only by United States ). We should be aggressively drilling in all of our sources. High fuel or energy prices are one of the job killers that should be addressed. Another bureaucratic policy is the intervention into the plan by Boeing Aircraft to build a plant in South Carolina. By what constitutional authority does the federal government but in? Stay out and let the private sector do what it does better, create jobs.

It is only when we get some clear thinking from our government that we can grow ourselves out of this economic hole.

I close for now, please keep praying for our armed services.
GOD Bless

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Obama speech

Hi

This evening President Obama addressed a session of Congress. The speech was hyped as a "job creation speech". My thoughts on the speech.

The delivery was excellent, rousing, animated and called for Congress to pass the proposed legislation. What was missing was the details, what gives? We got Obamacare without any discussion, do we need another "pig in a pole?" I hope that the congress is smart enough to really weigh the provisions of this or any bill before passing such bill. My take is that the congress should be an equal partner with the president and bills should be fully aired, discussed and the effects of such legislation should be carefully thought through. Only then will we have a good piece of legislation.

There was some talk of tweaking the tax code, great, we should dump the present code in favor of a flat or fair tax. I noticed that Mr Immelt, head of GE was sitting by Hillary Clinton. Mr Immelt, the head of GE, the company that pays no federal income taxes and has just exported jobs to China. Mr Obama you denied listening to Reverend Wright, you claim you did not hear Jimmy Hoffa use a derogatory expression to describe the political opposition, can we infer that you are unaware of the fact that GE pays no taxes? Please tell us what yo do know.

Another aspect of this so called "jobs creation bill" is that I did not hear any mention of reducing bureaucratic oversight. This is the real job crusher. If the president would reign in his lackeys who run the various agencies we would not be having this ind of problem creating jobs. Layers of control only lead to higher unemployment so I say let's get rid of the bureaucracy and watch economic growth. The American people deserve this. Point- Boeing wants to erect a pant in South Carolina, bureaucrats are stopping this and trying to force Boeing into North Carolina. What is the difference where the jobs are created, Mr Obama wake up and smell the roses.

On a positive note I ask that you continue to pray for our troops.
GOD Bless

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Foreign aid

Hi

Another area where the government can cut spending is the foreign aid programs. I realize some foreign aid is necessary but we certainly can look into which programs are worth while keeping. We give subsidies to places like Egypt and for what reason. Why should taxpayers subsidize another nation? This is just a beginning, there are others. We give taxpayer money for no reason and now when we are in an economical slump it pays to examine these aid programs. Taxpayer funds go to Israel and to the Palestinians, what are we doing, burning two ends of the candle. Some one in DC should wake up and get a realistic approach to this. The time is now.

I hope that I am conveying a pattern of budget cuts, cut waste and useless programs. We the American taxpayer deserve better.

Please keep on praying for our brave defenders of liberty.
GOD Bless

Friday, September 2, 2011

Who is leading this country???

Hi

In this blog I will digress from my series on budget cuts and instead write about a real sorrowful situation.
First and foremost let me state that the government employees, including and especially congress, work for us, the American taxpayer. During the last several days comments by congress people have really got me annoyed.
Specifically I am talking about Congresswoman Waters and Congressman Gordon. The talk from these two is utterly disgusting in that both resort to hate speech. Ms Waters says that the Tea Party people can all go to H***, is that the way we want our leaders to talk and think. Ms Waters should not condemn any group for a political point of view. Instead Ms Waters, who claims to be for the minority people should look at who is "economically enslaving" these minorities. I charge that it is the liberal policies of the democratic party that suppresses the minorities. All programs are aimed at making the poor permanently poor. As Rush Limbaugh often says, "Liberals measure compassion by how many people they put on welfare, conservatives measure compassion by how many people they take off welfare." Right on.
Now as to Mr Gordon, he alleges that Tea Party people want to hang Negroes from trees. He even attributes this feeling to members of congress who are Tea Party favorites. I would like Mr Gordon to read this blog and answer one question-"Do you have any original thoughts or ideas other than to play the race card when you run out of political rhetoric? What claptrap. We the American taxpayer deserve better. Let's see the Congressional Black Caucus do some thing about these two characters. We can only hope and pray that the right thing is done.

Some thing positive we all can do is to pray for our service people.
GOD Bless

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Budget cuts keep coming

Hi

As you can see from the titles of the blog I am especially interested in budget cuts. My hope is that it will rub off on our elected leaders. For too long every one in DC, presidents, congress people, and members of both political parties have ignored the harsh reality, our government costs too much. Every so often they appease the voters by announcing some sort of budget cut. In order to explain what Washington means by a budget cut I will give a hypothetical example. For sake of this example let us assume there is a department which has an annual budget of $100,000. The department submits a proposed budget for the subsequent year of $110.000. a 10% increase. After review the congress approves only a $6,000 raise to a total new budget of $106,000. The way Washington looks at it they cut $4,000 off the proposed budget which is a 4% cut. In actuality the new budget is a 6% increase. f we did math like that in grade school we would have received a failing grade. Let's give these characters a failing grade at the ballot box.

Remember to keep our service members in your prayers.
GOD Bless