39 and Holding

I was recently criticized in one of my blogs, “Andrews Economics 101”, which was written as pure satire, and the critic asked me if I was a “Nazi”.  This punched my hot button and my response was “not” satire.  I pointed out the fact that I was a proud volunteer, American, disabled vet, with three sons who had also served honorably as volunteers.

Sure enough another critic jumped me for my proudly referring to our American service men and women in my blog and also in my response.

Well get this Bucko, I am darn proud of my and all the other families service to our country and I firmly believe that there is not enough family pride taught in the home and schools  having to do with the privilege of living in our blessed country.

If this tirade sounds like I’m a bible thumping, country loving, American citizen then so be it.

My take on our present fiscal dilemma is fairly simple in the solution phase.

We merely need to start world war three and the reduction of population coupled with wartime spending which will solve within its self the jobless problem should do the trick.

Why do I make these predictions? For starters, this has been the political solution in the past.  I am not promoting little actions like the Cold war, Korea, and Vietnam, but a full blown global conflict.

Wait you say, this is all wrong, and I absolutely agree with you.  If instead of a shooting war, congress should take a look at reducing the wasteful spending of the last half century or so, would be a starter.

Cut Congressional term limits to the two year terms as the president has to do, and limit the amount of dollars spent on campaign funds be limited to no more than the office holders salary, and finally absolutely prohibit the  national budget to no more that its taxable income.

No more “bail outs” as well.  If a company can’t show a profit and pay its bills, let it shut down.

Set tax limits on products coming into this country so that product similarity be on a parity with American produced goods.

Finally, if an American corporation is found to be out sourcing job related production of products to be sold in the United States they will be prohbited from importing these products into this country.

Please consider this as,  “Andrew’s Economics 101.”

According to reliable sources, in my opinion heres a real “All American” mind bender.

Countries That Own the Most U.S. Debt- I said OWN not Owed!

The U. S. government owes $2.67 trillion to foreign governments and investors—20% of our total GDP. And that number has grown rapidly. "In 2001, China held $61.5 billion in U.S. debt. Now it has $541 billion," says James Ludes of the bipartisan American Security Project in Washington, D.C. "In 2001, we owed Russia less than $10 billion. Now it’s $74.4 billion."

The debt is sold to other countries in the form of U.S. Treasury securities. "We also have to pay interest on those securities," adds federal budget expert Doug Elmendorf. In coming years, a big chunk of our country's wealth will leave our economy and go overseas to pay back the loans. Will this outflow of  cash affect our standing in the world? The U.S. emerged as a major global power after World War I, and the U.K. declined in part because we owned so much British debt. Ironically, today the U.K. is our third largest creditor.

Countries That Own the Most U.S. Debt

Japan     $585.9 billion
China     $541.0 billion
United Kingdom     $307.4 billion
OPEC Nations*     $179.8 billion
Caribbean banking centers**     $147.7 billion

*Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., and Venezuela
**Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, and British Virgin Islands
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury/Federal Reserve.

I have a two part question, (1) what in the flying cat hair has Our Congress, thats both parties, spent this money for, and (2) whos going to pay it back and when?

There is a November date far more important to me than the 4th.  It is November the 11th.  This is one day when ALL Americans actually celebrate a date that has nothing with race, religion, or politics.

I will be bringing the benediction at Burnet on the courthouse square, and this will be a verbal recognition of the Burnet County veterans who are still alive.

It is a very special day for me not only as a veteran, but for my three sons who are also American veterans.

I hope that those of you who read this will join me in giving thanks to those Americans who have served and are serving in our armed forces all over the world.  

If you know a veteran, please take a moment to shake their hand and thank them for their wonderful service.

If you know a family who has lost a service man please take the time to knock on their door and convey your thanks for this gift.  It will be appreciated.

Please fly your flag proudly over your home or business in recognition of the gift these American men and women have given us.

O.K. so now we have bailed out the inept banking and loan business and as of the time of this writing, Sunday, October 12th, 2008, the rude awakening has hit.  The “bail out/rescue” bill has been passed and signed into law and the cold light is upon we middle class tax payers but no relief in sight for those folks who cannot make mortgage payments and will be foreclosed on.

Guess who is going to make the big bucks on this whole idiotic setup? The banks, the mortgage companies and WOW!, please don’t forget the lawyers, and the realtors will make a ton on the sale of these foreclosed homes. You can bet the farm that these guys are going to buy up the foreclosed houses and make another ton on the rentals and/or resale of them.

The vast differential in the alleged bail out and the cost of the governmental scam will be paid for by, you guessed it, the middle class tax payers.

The less than 600 folks who make up our federal government will not feel the brunt of these fiscal shenanigans until the next elections.

The MILLIONS of American voters are not stupid and when the smoke clears it may be, bye bye lala land, in Washington. D.C.

I hope I will be around to see this epiphany occur.

Words are strange “animals”.  Today the word is “Rescue”, yesterday the word was, “Bailout”. Today these words are synonymous.

These words are used (or abused) to describe the absolutely abhorrent idea of the wasteful spending of millions of taxpayers dollars without a public vote, ostensively to save a few bankers and other lending institutions that have through poor judgment brought their
businesses  to their knees.

This is an attempt by our political leaders to fix a problem that they have been warned about for around the past ten years, but were more interested in keeping their plush jobs than looking after their constituents best interests.

If passed this will be paid for by our great grand children, if ever, and is an absolute disgrace to our governing bodies.

BAILOUT FAILS-STOCKMARKET FALLS

Now if the senate will vote against the “bailout”, we will have taken the first baby steps of getting our nation back on some sort of fiscal stability.

The obvious next step and one that should have taken years ago will be the idiotic drunken spending bills that have been passed and become law by many generations of tax and spend politicians inside the Beltway.

I am not pointing a finger at any one administration, there has been enough blame to go around regardless of political party affiliation.  I must in all fairness also point a finger at the lackadaisical voter apathy as one of the prime mover in this whole mess.  Vox populi, “we the people”, have not demanded through our voting that our elected representatives be held accountable so now we are going to have to take the licking for this apathy.

I wrote in an earlier blog that we will survive and that I, at age 83, had managed to live through one depression, and I now write that it is my sincere hope that we as a nation will have learned from these experiences.

It is my opinion, that with the common sense that our Lord gave us, we just might manage to take this bitter fiscal pill and get on with our somewhat bent national pride.

I frequently get reader response to my blogs, often the readers simply disagree with me, but my comments on the “Debates” drew fire from folks who apparently scan rather than actually read the words then jump on me for something I “DID NOT” write.

A case in point was readers comments that I said that the Debates were interrupted by commercials.  Here's the direct quote from my blog.

“If I read it right and I’m reasonably sure that I have made a correct assessment of these goings on, this whole process of “Debates” is a reach out for TV ratings and big bucks for advertising, and not the very least one heck of an ego feed for the moderators.”

 As a retired professional journalist I also had a daily broadcast program similar to my blog.  Those “Read and Misunderstood” folks should be aware that the name of the broadcast business is ratings, ratings, ratings and they have lead in commercials about the “Debates” running for weeks that hopefully will entice folks to tune into their channel.  The lead ins and follow ups to the “Debates” are the way that the networks are the way they hope to entice sponsors to throw copious amounts of cash into their tills.

My blog if you read it carefully describes these activities refers to  “A REACH OUT FOR RATINGS AND BIG BUCKS FOR ADVERTISERS” and does not imply that there are “Debate” interruptions.

You are forgiven, so please keep those cards and letters coming.

I thought that there was something fishy about the “Debates” between candidates at the time of the last electoral round four years ago.  Well I have just made the same observation in the current waste of air time.

If I read it right and I’m reasonably sure that I have made a correct assessment of these goings on, this whole process of “Debates” is a reach out for TV ratings and big bucks for advertising, and not the very least one heck of an ego feed for the moderators.

These blatherings do not really make any real difference in how the average voter is going to cast their ballots in November as most of them use their own personal yardsticks as to how they vote.

My final comment is quite simple, I will not watch the rest of the “Debates”, and I will not waste my time reading all the writers commentaries in the print media, and will hit the delete key on my computer if I receive the garbage in my e-mail.

I can do simple research on the candidates qualifications then make up my mind as to how I will vote. I will walk away from any conversation that makes disparaging remarks about personalities between the players, and I will not indulge in boring my readers and listeners with slanted, yellow journalistic remarks.

Yes, I will try my utmost to report factual information as I see it with the codicil that these are my personal comments period.

I hope you will continue to visit my blogsites and offer your comments as you see fit.

I cannot help but be amused at the stupidity exhibited by the Wall Street financial wonders.  These folks have looked down their Puritanical collective noses at we commoners, but have now got their hands firmly caught in the fiscal cookie jar.

Our feds have taken the same collective fiscal stupidity as the guys who are expecting the government to bail them out.  

I for one would like us to cut our losses and let the chips fall where the may, instead of using trillions of taxpayer dollars to end these idiots plight.

The analogy I use is that if a mom and pop business fails through bad management they lose the business and have to somehow start anew. The feds are not going to send them copious amounts of cash to “FIX” their errors.

As a 83 year old tax paying voter I hereby “DEMAND” that the folks I helped put into congressional and legislative offices renounce these cries of anguish and tell these folks to get on with their life, get a job and be glad they were not strung up to the nearest tree for lying to their shareholders.

This country will survive a depression, I know that to be the truth as I lived through the last one.

I enjoy hearing from many of the folks who read my blogging efforts, and once in a while they make e-mail contact and as  a relatively shut in, disabled, Amvet, these comments and e-mails are really appreciated.

I always allow the comments to be printed whether they agree or disagree with mine as I figure that I’m not the smartest guy in the whole world.  

I had an inquiry the other day as to whether I had a spam blocker or not.  My response is that my browsers and my ISP take care of the majority of the kooks who want me to invest in some offshore project or inform me that I have just won the lottery in Lower Slovobia.  My delete key coupled with common sense generally catches those who slip through my firewall, so I depend on my software to keep to a minimum the idiots who want to send me a virus.  

However, it cost me a couple of hundred bucks and the loss of all my data just a few months ago, so yes, I can get caught, but for the life of me cannot fathom why some one would want to cause me problems, so I’ll just keep on plugging away and backing up my data onto CD’s and hope for the best.

As a contemporary American comedian is quoted, “Release the hounds!”.

I am writing this on Friday September 5, 2008 and our election day is scheduled for November the 4th of this year.

I have been arraigning my thoughts so as to be able to have some fun with the players now that the “Conventions” are over and we are finding out just how silly the majority of the media “Experts” look.

This blog will be short as I sort through my notes and remembrances of the last few weeks.

I will remind you folks who read my musings, that I am a certified Independent Moderate, so I get to throw stones and shoot arrows into those who purport to have the inside track on everything, when they just pray that whatever they voice will somehow become fact.  

I have been watching and participating in our electoral process for many lustrums and this on its face makes me as much an expert as any of those self centered pundits who run about in circles braying and bragging about how much inside information they possess.

Shucks, I’m just an old country boy who tries to use applied common sense and if I’m right 10% of the time, I feel like I’m ahead of the game.

As I started this epistle, “Release the hounds!”

60 Days and counting.............

I have to weigh in on the sad story that has reached national and perhaps international proportions. The story covers a short 20 minute time span in the lives of some folks who reside in the beautiful central Texas town of San Marcos.

On August 5th, a policeman stopped a couple who were speeding, not drinking, to take a pet dog that was choking to an emergency vet.  The entire scene was played out on the policeman's video and has been shown many times on TV news casts.

For the record the driver was pleading with the officer ot let him proceed to the vet and the comment of the officer was that it was, “just a dog and he could get another one” is recorded on the tape.  Several other officers responded to the incident and reports are that one of them tried to revive the pet.

The plot thickens to the point that the police chief apologized to the pets owner in a letter, the officer will undergo counseling and received a reprimand. The latest reports are that the officer has received death threats, the police chief has been threatened with dismissal and the mayor held a news conference Thursday to announce these details.

My reason for weighing in on this is highly personal, first I am not acquainted with any of the folks I have mentioned, and I do not have a canine pet.  A step further, I have in my 83 years owned canine pets and hunting dogs and was attached to them. I love and appreciate cats as well and am getting a beautiful seal point Siamese to replace my cat who was over twenty years old when she died.

My comment is that the arresting officer somehow must have missed the boyhood joy of having a pet as he grew up, but this is no excuse for his unfeeling behavior.

My personal recommendation is that he be dismissed as  he poses a potential threat to anyone he might arrest.  He is not of the proper temperament to stand up to the stress of being a law enforcement officer, and I base this conclusion as the son of a Texas Ranger and a pet owner.

I generally read my daily newspaper in an orderly fashion.  This is not the way it is put together by the publisher, but “to each his own”.

As a former publisher, general manager, photographer and reporter covering local breaking news and sports, I also have served as a rewriter, so I understand that it takes advertising to make the payroll and pay the printing bills.

As a subscriber however I choose to immediately toss out 95%  plus of all advertising, as they just interrupt my daily perusal of what I feel is of importance to me.

I thoroughly enjoy using my internet by being able to read newspapers from all over the world, and cross compare their take on a given news event.  Often the various reports don’t seem to be covering the same event, but this gives me insight into how other reporters view the world events.

Now that we are getting into the November elections it is even more fun to read the various international print media's reporting.  It rapidly becomes apparent that these folks have absolutely no concept of how we Americans determine who is going to occupy the White House for the next four years.  

I am going to close this entry with the following observation, “These folks are akin to the average American citizens, as they have the same lack of the electoral concept.”

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are without a doubt in my mind the two biggest terrorists in the United States.

We voting citizens, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents, sent our members of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate to serve we citizens, and what have they done?  

They have done nothing to substantially make the necessary changes in our disgraceful national debt, solutions to our stupid energy problems ( that most high schoolers could suggest corrective actions), and even though a consortium of leading Democrats and Republicans have offered a bill to drill for oil on available land, they have instead resorted to childish behavior such as turning off the lights and taking a paid vacation at tax payers expense in their efforts to kill this legislation.

Going back to my first paragraph, I repeat that they have done something that foreign terrorists have never been able to do and that is to grind  a primary source  of our government to a screeching halt, and worse yet making we tax payers foot the bill for their misdeeds.

These folk and their ilk should be, in my opinion, drummed out of their offices and possibly found criminally responsible of obstruction of their responsibilities as leaders of our legislative branch, with appropriate fines and or/ jail terms.