Friday, September 30, 2011

Obama Election Scenario Update

Seems that Dick Morris and I have been thinking along the same lines.

In my opinion, the very BEST thing Obama could do for his legacy at this point would be to bow out of the 2012 race while promising to focus like a laser on getting the economy moving again through TRUE bipartisanship efforts. However, by doing so now or in the future rather than when he had the opportunity during his infamous Joint-Session Jobs Bill speech, the impact will be greatly diminished. Had Obama done what Dick Morris and I have suggested he needs to do during that Joint-Session of Congress, he would have endeared himself to many people across the political spectrum and softened some of the harsh criticism he will likely receive throughout America's future history.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Questions to Consider



But I have to present it...

No one gets rich without the blood, sweat and taxes of ALL Americans?

If I make a million dollars day-trading.... I have no factory, no product ships over any highway... and thieves like Warren tell me that government has a right to expect and insist I "pay it forward"? To who? The poor? Did the poor help me make my trades? Did they tell me when I should sell or buy? Did they offer stock tips? At present government is entitled to 15% capital gains tax on long terms trades... on money that has already been taxed once! That percentage jumps considerably higher for short term (of which day-trading is) capital gains. Even at that, the question still remains to be answered by ANY Republican candidate, 'how much of every dollar I earn should I be allowed to keep?'

Ideologues like Elizabeth Warren will say: 'you can have whatever is left after all the underachievers, moochers, and government spendthrifts and wastrels, are appeased.

48% of wage earners pay no federal income tax at all (after IRS refunds); many of that 48% get more back than what they paid in via EITC. What happens when that number breaks the 50% threshold? A permanent underclass dependent upon government handouts and a permanent party power-structure in Washington... Freedom in America will be, effectively, dead. Our Republic will be finished.

As it stands now 86% of all federal income taxes are paid by the top 25% of wage earners. The top 50% of wage earners pay 96% of all federal income taxes. What happens when the top 55% of wage earners are paying ALL federal income taxes? Refer to the previous paragraph: the republic will be dead. American will be dead.

When is a rich person's "fair share" paid in full? When 50 cents of every dollar is going to the government (including income, capital gains, state, city, & local taxes)? 60 cents? 70 cents? 80 cents? 90 cents out of every dollar? How much of one's labor is considered inviolable to government forfeiture?

And just who is rich?

Elizabeth Warren is the worst kind of thief. She doesn't steal to satisfy a personal need, she steals to make herself feel good about helping those she deems 'downtrodden.'

She wants you to give her money so she can steal from you when she wins.

Well, we have enough of those in Washington already. 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

What's wrong with Senate politics...

This:




Did you hear it? No? Check out her website. What does it say at the top in big bold letters?

Elizabeth Warren... for Massachusetts
 
That's right: FOR Massachusetts. Not America.

Is she's asking AMERICANS to support her bid to, ostensibly, represent the interests of Massachusetts? No! Hell, no! Does she wants to represent the interests of ALL Americans? No!

If she wants to represent the people of Massachusetts she should be running for a house district seat, this way she could represent the people of her district. But she's running for the senate, where, according to her own words, she'll represent the interests of her ideological constituency over those of her state. She wants your support, your money, whether you live in Massachusetts or not. And that is what's wrong with Senate politics. That's what's wrong with the 17th Amendment.

I have no doubt she means well, in her own democratically twisted way, but the senate has been corrupted by the 17th amendment, which should be repealed. Let senators return to the days when they were appointed by their state governors and represented the interests of their state... not the entire nation, and only one faction of the electorate at that.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

2012 Obama Campaign Scenarios

While pondering the present state of the 2012 General Election cycle, I have developed several interesting scenarios concerning Barack Obama  that are perfectly capable of occurring. In the present environment of both a highly energized GOP and a frustrated and fearful left-wing Democrat electorate, it is easy to imagine one of these scenarios actually taking place.

First, as President Obama's approval rating continues to fall amidst a growing unease with his leadership abilities, it's not hard to imagine him announcing another nationally televised speech when he admits he has no answers to our ongoing economic situation and informs America that he will not be seeking re-election to a second term. In fact, if his numbers do not improve by the end of 2011, it's likely the very best thing he could do for his legacy. By announcing his decision not to run for a second term and vowing to dedicate his remaining time in office to working with Congress to find real fixes to America's problems, Obama could leave office still admired by his followers and even forgiven by his political enemies. I must admit, I was somewhat expecting this very thing to occur last Thursday night during the Joint Session, so please...take that into consideration as I unveil these scenarios.

Secondly, because of his obvious narcissistic tendencies, Obama could continue pretending to be POTUS while actually the Panderer-in-Chief, lose the general respectably, and have to live with his failed presidency and infamous legacy.  

Third -  if his numbers continue to fall, Obama could face a landslide loss in the General Election. This should, of course, be an unthinkable thing to say in the wake of the Democrat punditry proclaiming as well as celebrating the death of the GOP during the aftermath of the '08 General Election. And this leads to my fourth scenario -one which is very possible.

Like every other perpetrator of political assassination against a sitting US President or prominent political figure in America's history, some left-winger, most assuredly a Democrat, will take it on his/her self to eliminate a doomed Obama candidacy with a well-placed shot to his brain. Remember, it was a Democrat who shot Lincoln, a left-wing anarchist who murdered McKinley, a communist who fired the magic bullet into Kennedy's cranium, a palestinian activist who took out Robert Kennedy, a Democrat racist who ended MLK's life, a left-wing Manson family-member who tried to kill Gerald Ford, and a crazy weirdo trying to impress a vocally left-wing actress who nearly ended Ronald Reagan's life. One can easily imagine some deranged leftist "nobly" rescuing his party from a shameful defeat in November of 2012 by making room for a more competitive candidate.

Then again, Obama could win re-election. Despite...or perhaps because of...his record, he could win re-election. An ugly symptom of American descent.

All are viable scenarios.

If Obama does happen to be re-elected, I predict he will be forced to resign from office in disgrace during his second term.

But that's another scenario we can explore later, perhaps. 

That Scheme Called "Ponzi"

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there was only 1.75 full-time private sector workers last year for every one Social Security recipient. Obviously this doesn't include part-time workers, or "covered" workers-- those who, while receiving Social Security benefits, also work part-time and pay social security taxes. But part-time and covered workers didn't pay enough to make up the difference between what came in and what went out...

That means that for each husband and wife who worked full-time in the private sector last year there was a Social Security recipient somewhere in the country taking benefits from the federal government.

Most state and local workers are part of the Social Security system and pay Social Security taxes; and, since 1984, all federal workers have been part of the system and pay Social Security taxes. However, unlike private sector workers who pay Social Security taxes with private-sector dollars, government workers pay their payroll taxes out of wages government pays them with tax dollars or with money that was BORROWED BY GOVERNMENT AND TAXPAYERS MUST EVENTUALLY REPAY. [emphasis added]


In its latest annual report, the Social Security board of trustees reported that the federal government’s total revenue from Social Security taxes in 2010—$544.8 billion—was not enough to cover Social Security’s total benefit payments—$577.4 billion. 

This is the beautiful part: government workers paid their social security taxes with our tax money... that non-government workers have to pay back. Taxed twice, essentially... private sector workers paying for public sector workers' social security benefits.

Public sector workers deserve to receive benefits when they reach that age, but there needs to be a better system in place where the private sector isn't carrying the tax burden of public sector workers as well as their own.

This pyramid scheme isn't going to be able to keep pace with demand for much longer. Last year saw a 32 billion dollar shortfall. Reforms MUST be made. Reforms that include a lock and key on all future contributions; no more plonking it all into the general fund where politicians can squander it. Reforms that include allowing taxpayers the option of investing a portion of their pre-tax earnings into private retirement investments. Reforms that ensure that present recipients and those of a certain age are guaranteed the benefits promised them.



Follow the link for the full article:

Labor Dept. Data: Only 1.75 Full-Time Private Sector Workers Per Social Security Recipient


UPDATE:
Found a bit of history surrounding Social Security over at Godfather Politics. Here are the salient remarks:
 

Most Americans don’t know much about the financial structure of Social Security, and they also don’t know much about its history. Here’s just a little background. Take it for what it’s worth.
In William L. Shirer’s book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich we learn the origin of Social Security policies and the effect they had on the German people. Social Security was engineered by German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck in the 19th century. His policies gradually made the German people “value security over political freedom and caused them to see in the State, however conservative, a benefactor and a protector.”[1] Between 1883 and 1889 Bismarck put through a program for social security far beyond anything known in other countries at the time. It included compulsory insurance for workers against old age, sickness, accident and incapacity, and though it was organized by the State it was financed by employers and employees. Sound familiar? This is American-style Social Security!
Adolf Hitler took full advantage of the German state of mind and Bismarck’s early progress in turning the nation into a model of socialist reform. Hitler remarks in Mein Kampf, “I studied Bismarck’s socialist legislation in its intention, struggle and success.”[2] It was Hitler’s social security policies and promises that helped get him elected.
Hitler was not alone in his admiration of Bismarck and what he was able to accomplish. FDR borrowed Bismarck’s socialist agenda and created what is now known as the Social Security System. Bismarck said that “the State must take the matter in hand, since the State can most easily supply the requisite funds. It must provide them not as alms but in fulfillment of the workers’ right to look to the State where their own good will can achieve nothing more.”[3] Roosevelt and his admirers agreed. P. J. O’Brien, writing in Forward with Roosevelt, links Bismarck’s social policies with those of Roosevelt: “[The quotation by Bismarck] might have been lifted out of a speech by President Roosevelt in 1936, but the Iron Chancellor uttered it in 1871.”[4]

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Ten Years Later

Everyone has been looking back this week; where they were, what they saw, heard, felt.  I was fortunate enough to actually work at a television station [and still do]... I literally got paid to watch the whole spectacle, in all its grandiose horror, for some 48 hours before we ever bothered to do a local news broadcast. Looking back, it seems now that at the time we were too focused on what we were losing to worry or even bother about what we were doing, or saying... we allowed ourselves freedom enough to express [or expel] our very natural uncertainties and insecurities born of that day. 

Not only could I not believe what I was witnessing, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I heard language on live television that would incur huge fines were such words and phrases ever uttered on live television today. I remember being stunned by some of the "vocalizations" CBS allowed to air that day-- especially the blasphemies.


I wasn't blogging then-- very few were (blogger was only two years old) --but I was writing.

What follows are my own impressions of that day, on that day, September 11, 2001.
 

To Shine That Much Brighter

It is said the Egyptians built with eternity in mind-- perhaps inspired by the Sphinx itself which is older than Egyptian civilization. It’s said also, that Caesar found Rome brick and clay, and left it marble. The Pyramids still stand, the Coliseum still stands, the Acropolis still stands, but the Twin Towers do not. We build to satisfy our egos, but we don’t build for posterity. In three thousand years, will there be anything left in America to exemplify the culture of our time? Will we leave a mark, or will others leave marks upon us?

It’s been said of one era or another, "these are evil times…" but times are neither good nor evil. Rather, it’s the hearts and minds of Men that shape the times which create pain and suffering enough for others to name these times evil. World War II saw evil times; Hitler’s Final Solution, America's own use of atomic weapons. There were evil times in Korea, and Vietnam, and the killing fields of Cambodia, but the times themselves were not evil. Again, it was the hearts and minds of Men. The times are not evil, Men are. Change the heart of a man and you can change the world.

But can any one man or woman change the world? Can any one Nation make a difference? While it’s true the United States has had a hand in inspiring and helping to shape today’s world, it’s also true there are those who have resisted this change, seeing in the U.S. a great evil; rather to be destroyed than emulated. They cry out that the west meddles in things that don’t concern it, that it forces its own ideals and belief system upon nations incapable of defending themselves against its unwelcome intrusion. The Taliban government of Afghanistan recently arrested several westerners for trying to convert Muslims to Christianity; an offense punishable by death. Not too long ago the Chinese used tanks against their own people in Tienanmen Square, simply because they wanted to be more like the West. U.S. companies push such products as cheeseburgers, Coca Cola, and ‘decadent’ television programming upon starving third world countries. They turn a blind eye to those who see these companies as intruders, not as business adventurers; but as subversive attacks upon the core values of nations which didn’t want or even care about Kentucky Fried Chicken, before Colonel Sanders stepped off the plane. "We’re just making money!" the West cries, but others see this as an attempt to weaken their culture and their sense of national pride. When the Pharaohs built the great pyramids it’s certain they never envisioned Burger King moving in next door. China is only now beginning to open its borders to the West. They need the money; they want the money, but how much does that Big Mac really cost? How much will it cost the West?

‘But the West is decadent! It has lost its moral center!’ Many who hate her call America a Christian nation, and in this they demonstrate their ignorance. Certainly the United States was founded on Christian principles, but those principles have eroded over the last three centuries. America today is but a dim shadow of what it once was. ‘Christian’ is a word bandied about by everyone; the Right, the Left; the Agnostic and Atheist alike, but less than ten percent of avowed Christians even put their faith into practice. The mind of this nation has changed, and Morality is now viewed subjectively at best; where once the people held to a belief in God, and right and wrong were seen as black and white issues, is it any wonder Christianity has fallen from grace? Every nation we thrust our interfering hands into can see the truth in this, so why can’t we? Could it be the Emperor has no clothes after all?

Times have changed, however. It no longer takes months on horseback to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Big Apple. It doesn’t take years for ships to circumnavigate the globe. Weapon of war have also changed. Where once armies faced one another with swords and knives and spears, they now face each other not at all; they simply make a call and push a button. Where once they rained arrows down upon enemy ranks, they now rain devastation from the skies, leveling whole cities. War has become too clean, and so we balk when the children of the Third World use our methods against us, albeit with less finesse and less concern for innocents (though that point could be debated). But destroying ten thousand innocent lives is not acceptable, no matter who pulls the trigger, pushes the button, makes the call, or hijacks the plane. And justice should be required of everyone responsible, no matter where the blame falls.

Mercy, however, should not be forgotten. Any thought of revenge should be put aside. America should not concern herself with revenge; it is not a pure enough motive for what must be done. For what must be done is terrible in and of itself. A life for a life will not return said life. Death cannot be undone. And since it does not lie in our power to give life, we should be careful in our deliberations to take life. Hunt down those responsible, yes. Make them pay the ultimate price for their crimes, yes. But let us not take pleasure in what must be done.

Changing the hearts and minds of all men is impossible. It is human nature to set ones own needs above the needs of others, but its man’s capacity for self-sacrifice that sets him above nature. A dog can only be a dog, it cannot choose to rebel against millions of years of evolution; but man most certainly can. He can say to himself, "I could die in this collapsing building, but I will work anyway to save the life of someone who might yet be alive."

Today in Manhattan civilian volunteers are finding ways to make a difference; digging through the rubble, assisting in the hospitals, donating blood, giving money, praying or simply holding a stranger in their arms as they weep. This is man at his best. This is what he aspires to, but never seems to find until times like these. The times aren’t Evil, men are. But despite the times, it is comforting to know there is still good in the world, that Evil no matter its magnitude only serves to make Goodness shine that much brighter.

The Egyptians built things to last, as did the Greeks and Romans, but then they never saw anything so big as a jumbo jet falling from the sky. It’s not likely even the pyramids could have survived such an attack unscathed; neither could men. But we will survive. That is what we do. Judgment must come, but so must rebuilding. Terrorists thought to destroy a national symbol; they think even now to force us into the bunkers for fear of other such attacks, but we must not give in to this. Find those responsible, punish them swiftly, with mercy, and then rebuild. The Towers are dead, but the ideal is not. Build a memorial to the lives lost, by all means, but rebuild. Show the enemy the measure of our strength, our courage, and our resolve. Rebuild and show the world that these places are sacred; the Spirit of America does not reside in buildings, but in the hearts of her sons and daughters.

Who will ever forget September 11, 2001? Who will ever forget the loss of so many lives, or the tears shed? Who will ever forget that at 8:50am ignorance took a stab at killing something that could not be killed? They have taken untold lives, but they have not destroyed America. Let us rebuild. Let us learn to build for posterity, and hopefully leave in our wake something that will endure.



ELAshley
September 11, 2001