Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category

National Debt: The Truth

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

If you’re like me, you pay attention to what happens in our country.  For over 40 years we have been bombarded by the term “National Debt.”  But do we really understand what that means?  It was a big issue in the last election and President Obama promised not to pass a bill that “added a penny” to the National Debt.  Do average Americans understand the complexities of our economy?  Do you?  I don’t want to turn this into an economics class so I will skip the minutiae and cut right to the main two points.

Basically our entire complex economy can be explained fairly simply if you realize that our national wealth is really the difference between our gross worth, which we will call Gross Domestic Product ‘GDP’, and out total debt.  Our GDP is basically everything in our country.  Everything!  Every car, sink, house, spoon, dollar, pencil, light switch coin, etc.  everything you do at your job adds to the GDP.  Everything you buy adds to the GDP.  Imports, exports, EVERYTHING!  Our debt is outstanding financial obligations incurred by the governments.  Pay close attention to the ‘S’ because we are not talking about just the federal government, we are talking about ALL government.  State, Federal, Local, County, City, etc.  Most of the governments try not to spend more than they take in…   and most of them fail.  The amount at which they fail is our debt.  Yes, OUR debt.  It’s not the cities debt, or the state’s debt, but your debt and my debt.  I say that because WE are the ones that will be forced to pay for it, therefore it is our debt.

So we have the good money, GDP and the bad money, Debt.  So simply subtracting our debt, from our GDP will give us our national worth.  As of this writing out total GDP was $14,334,713,000,000 and our Debt was 12,794,769,000,000.  That’s a difference of $1,539,944,000,000.  So everything we have minus everything we owe equals 1.5 Trillion Dollars.  Our country’s current worth is 1.5 Trillion Dollars and is falling by the minute.  Right now our Debt to GDP ratio is 89.3%.  We have almost reached the point in our national history where we owe more than our country is worth.  We will join a long list of countries where this has happened.  Here is a short list: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Vietnam, North Korea, Iran, Rwanda, and many more.

[source: National Debt Clock, http://www.usdebtclock.org/]

My fellow patriots, we have to stop spending.  We have to force our population to be more accountable for their own survival and less reliant on government.  This is not a cradle to grave society, no matter what the Liberals tell us, no matter what the new media says.

There is an election coming up in which some major changes can occur.  Get involved and get these big spenders out of office.  Don’t vote party, don’t vote right or left…   Vote principles and vote for the future of our country.

– The Patriot

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So This Is The Change We Need?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

With the passage last night of the “Healthcare” Bill and the signing of that Bill into Law by the president, America has taken the largest turn toward Socialism in its history.  The president and the Dems on Capitol Hill are walking around calling this a historic moment in America and I agree with them.  So this is the “change” Mr. Obama ran on.  This is the “change” his duped supporters swallowed during the election.  This is the “change” that you and I will be forced to live and pay for for the rest of our lives.

A few days ago I heard the president touting what this “change” would mean for America.  Now let me tell you the truth:

MYTH: The president said that millions of Americans will now be able to get “the same” healthcare that members of Congress get.

FACT:  This is a lie!  Members of Congress get elite medical treatment through the Capitol Hill medical system.

MYTH:  The president said that this legislation will cut the deficit, “by over a trillion dollars.”

FACT: This is a lie!  The Congressional Budget Office states that this bill will cut the deficit by 138 Billion.  First, this is NOWHERE near a Trillion dollars.  Second, This 138 Billion is only saved IF the Medicare cuts go through AND doesn’t take into account the “Doctor Fix.”  Recently, Obama said that he would cut the fees  paid to doctors that treat Medicare patients.  This was supposed to save about 400 Billion and help pay for the “healthcare” bill.  The problem is that at the last minute, the “Doctor Fix” was taken out of the Bill!  Say goodbye to any possible deficit cuts.

MYTH: Over the last several weeks, the president has vilified insurance companies and bug drug companies.  He talked about “eliminating insurance subsidies within Medicare that aren’t making anybody healthier but are fattening the profits of insurance companies.”

FACT:  At the last minute, several provisions were put into the legislation that HELP big drug companies and actually MAKE MORE MONEY for the insurance companies.  The president stated that he would lower healthcare premium increases and make insurance more affordable.  This is a lie!!  With these last minute provisions, insurance premiums will still increase and any penalties imposed by the federal government can AND WILL simply be passed onto consumers.

MYTH: The president has said that you will not be affected by this legislation.

FACT:  Every American will be affected by this new law.  Either you will be the one of the recipients or you will be one of the providers.  let be define each a little more.  For those of you that have worked hard in your field, provided for your family, made mostly wise financial decisions and already have adequate healthcare – YOU ARE NOW A PROVIDER.  If you have struggled with finding work, have found it hard to pay your bills and mortgage, agonize about whether to pay bills or buy food and look to the government for long-term help – YOU ARE A RECIPIENT.  With the passage of this bill, the Democrats (against the will of the people) have shackled our kids with Trillions in debt.

MYTH: Bart Stupak and the “Pro-life” Democrats oppose government funding of abortion

FACT:  Under intense pressure from the White House and Congressional leaders, Stupak and the rest have sold out their principles for their own re-elections.  Through the guise of an Executive Order, the White House BOUGHT the votes they needed to pass this MASSIVE spending bill.

MYTH: The House passed this bill with specific guarantees that the Senate would vote on a “Fix Bill.”  This is supposed to fix everything that is wrong with the bill that just passed.  WAIT!?!?!  If there are things that need to be “FIXED” in this WHY DID IT GET PASSED?

FACT:  This bill should NOT have passed!  The American people didn’t want it.  The “Fix Bill” won’t fix anything.

My friends, I truly believe that this is the beginning of the end for our form of government and out way of life.  Now that Obama has rammed one piece of Socialism through, they will stop at nothing.  Next on the agenda will be Immigration Reform.  Mark my words, Obama and his cronies will give away our country!

The time is rapidly approaching where diplomatic solutions won’t be enough.  Those in power talk about bi-partisanship while not listening to anyone in the public.  They lie to the American people about EVERYTHING then smile and applaud as they steal our money.

The election this November will be a telling factor as to the future of our country.

One last thought: If the Dems thought the Tea Parties were big in the last few years, WAIT UNTIL APRIL 15TH THIS YEAR!

–  The Patriot

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Quick Thought: Economic Recovery

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

It is a slow day in the small Minnesota town of Marshall , and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit. A rich tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night.

As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Farmer’s Co-op.

The guy at the Farmer’s Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her “services” on credit.

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything… However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States government is conducting business today.

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Global Warming: The Big Lie v2.0

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

A few days ago I posted my thoughts about the emails recently released, willing or not, from some of the world’s top climate scientists, Climate Change: Is It The Big Lie? Today I find this article on Forbes.  In 1975, I was a very young boy living in the Northwest, enjoying the rain.  Little did I know of the coming ice age…

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reprinted without prior permission from [source]

The Fiction Of Climate Science

Gary Sutton, 12.04.09, 10:00 AM EST

Why the climatologists get it wrong.

Many of you are too young to remember, but in 1975 our government pushed “the coming ice age.”

Random House dutifully printed “THE WEATHER CONSPIRACY … coming of the New Ice Age.” This may be the only book ever written by 18 authors. All 18 lived just a short sled ride from Washington, D.C. Newsweek fell in line and did a cover issue warning us of global cooling on April 28, 1975. And The New York Times, Aug. 14, 1976, reported “many signs that Earth may be headed for another ice age.”

OK, you say, that’s media. But what did our rational scientists say?

In 1974, the National Science Board announced: “During the last 20 to 30 years, world temperature has fallen, irregularly at first but more sharply over the last decade. Judging from the record of the past interglacial ages, the present time of high temperatures should be drawing to an end…leading into the next ice age.”

You can’t blame these scientists for sucking up to the fed’s mantra du jour. Scientists live off grants. Remember how Galileo recanted his preaching about the earth revolving around the sun? He, of course, was about to be barbecued by his leaders. Today’s scientists merely lose their cash flow. Threats work.

In 2002 I stood in a room of the Smithsonian. One entire wall charted the cooling of our globe over the last 60 million years. This was no straight line. The curve had two steep dips followed by leveling. There were no significant warming periods. Smithsonian scientists inscribed it across some 20 feet of plaster, with timelines.

Last year, I went back. That fresco is painted over. The same curve hides behind smoked glass, shrunk to three feet but showing the same cooling trend. Hey, why should the Smithsonian put its tax-free status at risk? If the politicians decide to whip up public fear in a different direction, get with it, oh ye subsidized servants. Downplay that embarrassing old chart and maybe nobody will notice.

Sorry, I noticed.

It’s the job of elected officials to whip up panic. They then get re-elected. Their supporters fall in line.

Al Gore thought he might ride his global warming crusade back toward the White House. If you saw his movie, which opened showing cattle on his farm, you start to understand how shallow this is. The United Nations says that cattle, farting and belching methane, create more global warming than all the SUVs in the world. Even more laughably, Al and his camera crew flew first class for that film, consuming 50% more jet fuel per seat-mile than coach fliers, while his Tennessee mansion sucks as much carbon as 20 average homes.

His PR folks say he’s “carbon neutral” due to some trades. I’m unsure of how that works, but, maybe there’s a tribe in the Sudan that cannot have a campfire for the next hundred years to cover Al’s energy gluttony. I’m just not sophisticated enough to know how that stuff works. But I do understand he flies a private jet when the camera crew is gone.

The fall of Saigon in the ’70s may have distracted the shrill pronouncements about the imminent ice age. Science’sprediction of “A full-blown, 10,000 year ice age,” came from its March 1, 1975 issue. The Christian Science Monitor observed that armadillos were retreating south from Nebraska to escape the “global cooling” in its Aug. 27, 1974 issue.

That armadillo caveat seems reminiscent of today’s tales of polar bears drowning due to glaciers disappearing.

While scientists march to the drumbeat of grant money, at least trees don’t lie. Their growth rings show what’s happened no matter which philosophy is in power. Tree rings show a mini ice age in Europe about the time Stradivarius crafted his violins. Chilled Alpine Spruce gave him tighter wood so the instruments sang with a new purity. But England had to give up the wines that the Romans cultivated while our globe cooled, switching from grapes to colder weather grains and learning to take comfort with beer, whisky and ales.

Yet many centuries earlier, during a global warming, Greenland was green. And so it stayed and was settled by Vikings for generations until global cooling came along. Leif Ericsson even made it to Newfoundland. His shallow draft boats, perfect for sailing and rowing up rivers to conquer villages, wouldn’t have stood a chance against a baby iceberg.

Those sustained temperature swings, all before the evil economic benefits of oil consumption, suggest there are factors at work besides humans.

Today, as I peck out these words, the weather channel is broadcasting views of a freakish and early snow falling on Dallas. The Iowa state extension service reports that the record corn crop expected this year will have unusually large kernels, thanks to “relatively cool August and September temperatures.” And on Jan. 16, 2007, NPR went politically incorrect, briefly, by reporting that “An unusually harsh winter frost, the worst in 20 years, killed much of the California citrus, avocados and flower crops.”

To be fair, those reports are short-term swings. But the longer term changes are no more compelling, unless you include the ice ages, and then, perhaps, the panic attempts of the 1970s were right. Is it possible that if we put more CO2 in the air, we’d forestall the next ice age?

I can ask “outrageous” questions like that because I’m not dependent upon government money for my livelihood. From the witch doctors of old to the elected officials today, scaring the bejesus out of the populace maintains their status.

Sadly, the public just learned that our scientific community hid data and censored critics. Maybe the feds should drop this crusade and focus on our health care crisis. They should, of course, ignore the life insurance statistics that show every class of American and both genders are living longer than ever. That’s another inconvenient fact.

Gary Sutton is co-founder of Teledesic and has been CEO of several other companies, including Knight Protective Industries and @Backup.

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There is nothing I have to add.

– The Patriot

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