Fair Trade

Here is my proposal to help reduce the cost for welfare in our great country. Let’s trade twelve million people from our welfare roles for the twelve million illegal aliens we allowed in. The illegals are all doing the work that those on welfare refuse to take. Why do our citizens refuse to work? Because welfare pays better.

Think of the benefits: 1. We save billions in welfare money, 2.) We send the unhappy recipients back to the country of their ethnic origin thus making them happy to be home again, 3) We make the illegals very happy because we embrace them as the hard working people they are, 4) We get to keep our good laborers and enjoy the fruits of their labor, 5) We eliminate the need for Acorn and free those people to find work in a socialist state, 6) We eliminate the minimum wage because the illegals are happy to make anything, 7) The illegals are happy with whatever amount they make because it is more money than they have ever seen in their own countries, 8) The majority is happy because they have finally repatriated the unhappy people whose decendents were brought to these shores against their will, and the list goes on.

Fair trade? Not even close, we win.

Slavery or Liberty?

My personal history is what shaped my thinking today. Mom and Dad came to this country to escape slavery. Yes, they were slaves. In Europe, most countries were feudal monarchies. In a monarchy the Lord owns everything, and everyone on his property. History is nice enough not to call them slaves; they were referred to as “serfs.” Living on a royal estate meant that if you were caught stealing a rabbit or a pheasant for your meal, you were punished. Everything belonged to the Lord of the estate. Happily, the monarchies eventually crumbled. My grandparents and my parents were born during this era. Living as a serf meant they were dirt poor. My grandfather couldn’t afford to feed his son, so he sent him to the “promised land.”  My father landed at Ellis Island in the nineteen twenties. He was seventeen, with only the clothes on his back. Somehow he managed to get to Chicago where he settled in a neighborhood of fellow immigrants who spoke the language. He managed to get a job with the railroad as a laborer. HE LEARNED TO SPEAK AND WRITE ENGLISH, He became a citizen. He registered to vote and voted in every election until he died. He retired from the same job forty eight years later.

 Shortly after he arrived, the country collapsed into the “Great Depression.”  His hours were cut in half. The RR wanted to spread the work around. He was happy to be employed. He married Mom, and together they worked things out. She grew vegetables in empty lots, learned to sew, and patched clothing. When she could, she worked part time jobs as a cook. There was no minimum wage, no health care, no forty hour week, no vacations, and welfare was a swear word. Only the very desperate went on welfare. They didn’t have a “Community Organizer” or “Acorn,” to help them. Mom and Dad survived on their own using their God given brain. They learned and understood the value of citizenship and the right to vote. They registered and voted in every election as Democrats. They lived as conservatives.

 They worshipped FDR because he brought the country out of the depression, and put men to work. We were never allowed to forget the depression. Any time we complained, we got the “depression,” lecture. Mom and Dad didn’t want to go through that again, ever. They warned us of the hardship that a depression would bring, and lived their lives as if another one could happen any moment. My grandfather lost his life savings in a failed bank, my Aunt lost her house to foreclosure. Life in a depression is not good.

My parent’s only education was their language and citizenship classes. Yet, they believed in the value of education. I went to a parochial school, they gladly paid. If I wasn’t getting good marks, they wanted to know why. They couldn’t help with my homework, but they insisted it be done. I went on to college. Dad didn’t understand what my chosen profession was about, but he supported me financially, and morally. They never complained, never asked for any help. They insisted I finish school.

Currently, our country faces the prospect of another “depression.” I know that those of us who were prepared to survive will make it through. I can only hope the same holds true for those who are not. What the people of this great country do not understand is the meaning of ‘poor.” I have personally seen poor people in other parts of the world. The poor in the U.S.A. are by far the richest poor in the world. They don’t know what poor means. We are also faced with a huge redistribution of wealth from the very rich to the so called “poor.” This move is definitely in the direction of socialism. Add that move to the effort to remove “GOD” from everything and we have “Communism.” Once the wealthy have been taxed to the point that they are no longer wealthy, we will all be the middle class. Those of us who are still working will be “slaves” to the Federal System to socialize everyone.

This is the way I see our choices:

1.    Vote for BO, become a slave to the feed the system.

2.    Vote for McCain and maintain your liberty to make a living as you choose and to use your earnings as you wish.

What will it be? Slavery or Liberty?

How Much Is A Trillion?

The last few days I have heard the words “trillion dollars” bandied about like it meant a dollar. Just what is a trillion? How many of us have tried to fathom what a trillion dollars is? I like to break things down into terminology that I can understand. I worked for over fifty years, and my lifetime salary approached something like three million dollars. Sounds like alot doesn’t it? Well I earned that much over a fifty six year period.  A very significant portion (about $800,000.00)of that salary went to pay taxes to the state and federal governments. At this moment the federal government is considering spending seven hundred and fifty billion dollars to correct a mistake they created.

 

A trillion is the number “one” followed by twelve zeros ($1,000,000,000,000.00). Lets break that down to something more basic. Lets say that you turned twenty-one years old today, and because of new technology we know you will live to one hundred. That translates into seventy nine years or 28,835 days of life. How lucky you are. Now lets divide a trillion dollars by twenty eight thousand eight hundred and thirty five days. The answer is thirty four million six hundred eighty thousand and seventy six ($34,680,076.00) per day, or one million four hundred forty five thousand and three ($1,445,003.00) per hour 24/7. Do you really think you could spend that much? Think about it. It took me fifty six years to earn three million dollars, and I had a very nice life. Sure I could have used more money, but I can’t imagine spending thirty four million in my lifetime much less spending it every day for seventy nine years.

Here is another way to put the number one trillion. Lets say that we wanted to buy a nice double wide manufactured home for some of the poor people in this country. How many could we buy if they cost one hundred thousand dollars a piece? Are you ready for the answer, ten million.

The whole reason for the sub prime mortgage fiasco was to lower the lending rules so poor people could buy homes. Well the program exceeded our expectations. It is costing us nearly a trillion dollars. I think the government would have been smarter to give each poor family a manufactured home. Think of the jobs that would have created. Making that many houses takes alot of effort. With four people living in each of these homes we could have housed forty million people, over ten percent of the population. Instead, we have people losing their homes, banks going out of business, and our country is at risk of a “great” depression. The politicians are pointing at the greed of Wall Street as the root cause. The Feds created two organizations for the purpose of creating investment vehicles for investors. They really got iinto the “greed” thing and decided it was great scam so they hid thousands of known bad loans into packages that were sold to banks and to investors. Sure the investors were greedy, I am too when it comes to my pension. What I nor anyone else knew is that our glorious leaders were pirates. Many politicians profited from this effort also. The “Wonder Man”  BO was among them. By the way, BO is also connected to the invention of the entire scheme.

This great program to become socialist is going to cost each one in the population twenty eight hundred and fifty seven dollars($2857.00). That means me, you, your wife, and each of your kids, etc. for every single member of the 350,000,000 population.

I happen to think I can do better with my money than to give it to Uncle Sam to pay for his mistakes. I sure don’t want to give the responsibility of spending trillions to a socialist leaning BO.

He Has A Lot To Learn

Multi-tasking is not the modus operandi of a true leader. Multi-tasking is the result of a lack of focus. True leaders identify the problems facing their organization. They assess the problems to determine which ones have the greatest impact on the company. They prioritize using the 80/20 rule, i.e. eighty percent of the benefit comes from twenty percent of the effort. Once they know which problem is the correct one to solve first, they attack it with a vengeance. It is clear to me that BO has never had any real experience in a business situation where a solution to the number one problem will make the difference between success and failure. Had he taken the most elementary course in productivity, he would know that the principle is simple.  Define your problems, prioritize, keep your desk clear, and then attack the most important project with a vengeance. Why a clear desk? Clutter will cause one to lose focus from the task at hand. Everywhere the eyes turn they see another task to perform, and the mind takes you there. It is proven that the conscious mind can only concentrate on one task at a time. So the very concept of multi-tasking implies a mind that is skipping from project to project rapidly. The gurus of human potential tell us to clear the mind of all extraneous thought in order to concentrate on one task at a time. By concentrating on one project at a time with focus, there is a gain in productivity.

BO’s sophomoric remark about a president having to multi-task was rather naive. There is a difference between talking on the phone while driving, and working on a number of projects. Presidents do have huge numbers of problems before them, but I can’t imagine the president sitting on the pot, signing bills, and talking to a world leader all at the same time. It is proven that the conscious mind can only work on one thing at a time. Multi-taskers kid themselves into believing that performing many disconnected tasks during slack times is productive. Yes, we all have many things on our plates, and sometimes we all read e-mails while we talk on the phone, but is that the same as brainstorming solutions to a crisis such as the sub-prime mortgage bailout, and preparation for a debate? I hardly believe that a president will try to squeeze a phone call to the Kremlin into a bill signing ceremony. Each task requires concentration. Yes, the president is required to squeeze many activities into his schedule, but multi-tasking would seem to be the behavior of a person unfocused on the important.

Had BO learned the most basic rule of human potential, he would have learned that the key to effectiveness is focus on the correct things. BO prioritized, and chose his preparation for a presidential debate as the most important project on his plate. Senator John McCain prioritized and chose to “save” his country as his most important mission. In doing so, John McCain exhibited the traits of a proven leader. BO proved that he has a lot to learn.

Really, Really Sick

Not too long ago I sat in the barber chair discussing the election with my barber Vini.  He asked if I owned a gun. I said, “no, why?”

“I recommend that you spend five hundred dollars to buy a gun and ammo,” he responded.

“Why?” I asked again.

“Well, the way I see it is this, if BO wins, there will be a celebration of the blacks so large and raucous with burning and looting, that the local police will not be able to contain it, and we’ll have to defend ouselves.”

“I don’t disagree with that,” I replied.

“On the other hand if BO loses, there will be riots, also beyond the capabilities of the police to control. Again, we’ll have to defend ourselves.”

“What happens if he wins and none of that happens?” I asked.

“Most likely he’ll be assassinated, the riots will begin, and we’ll need to defend ourselves.”

“Really, really sick, but probably true.”

I have not purchased a gun because I don’t believe any of Vini’s predictions will occur. We are too far a civilized people to solve every problem with a gun.

I do believe, however, that there is an underlying racism that will become evident during the election.