My parents told me they had a simple goal, to leave the world better for me than they found it. I think that should be a morning ritual pledge. I admit I appreciate hedonism. I’d love to be on a tropical beach in a party environment misbehaving. I am willing to embrace our animal desire for indulgence and I’m not proposing that our course in life out to be absolute self sacrifice for the next generation. That’s not what I’m talking about. Several years ago I noticed a funny bumper sticker on an RV “I’m spending my grandchildrens inheritance”. Hey, why not. Of course the funny thing is if you blow it in Vegas you don’t get taxed but if you will it to them you do.
If you have saved your whole life and feel like you ought to spend it then I’m fine with that. The reason we have trust funds is because rich people like Bing Crosby found when they gave their kids a million dollars they blew through it in nothing flat. Let’s face it, money doesn’t mean the same thing to us when we don’t earn it. This is why 97% of major lottery winners are financially ruined within three years of their prize. This brings me to my point. I’ll illustrate by way of a home mortgage. I remember hearing that Japan had 100 year mortgages. Imagine being born and being in debt for a huge amount of money the day you first saw daylight.
This really is the point. Have a look at a young mother pushing a child in a stroller and think of it. This month that child takes out $325 in debt because our government is borrowing $100,000,000,000. By the time they are 18 that would add up to $70,000 but that’s not counting the $40K in debt there already, the interest, social security or medicare. It also doesn’t count numerous other factors that make it rise horribly. In fact our total amount of money promised currently exceeds the total wealth of our nation. Remember when borrowing meant paying the money back? When exactly do we pay the money back?
The truly amazing thing about this is the left leaning perspective. I mean think about it. China has started selling off our debt. Europe is in such disarray that it looks like Greece may default on it’s debt and Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain are now known there as PIIGS for their economic troubles. China is no longer considered our biggest creditor, Japan is, except you could argue it’s the Fed. So what does the left want? National health care. Let’s ponder it. Right now it’s estimated that medicare is being defrauded byt $70-$120 billion a year. That’s fraud, as in doctors doing 200 procedures a day and pizza parlors getting checks for performing medical procedures. In Florida the mob is getting out of drugs and into medicare fraud because it’s safer and more profitable. Last I hear the president still hadn’t nominated someone to oversee medicare and the budget isn’t there to handle this. Lefty wingnuts howl about 30% overhead in profits and some mysterious 4% administration cost for medicare. It’s probably the lack of oversight. Credit card companies charge 3% and have a fraction of a percent fraud. Profit is why. In the UK they had 4,000 babies born in hospital corridors and on sidewalks last year. One UK pol said they instituted their program after WW II when they were in a shambles. Now UK health care is the third largest employer in the world behind the Indian raliroad and the Chinese red army. They can’t vote it out.
The argument is to be compassionate to everyone today and make it so they don’t have to pay anything. Like free money. Squat down, close your eyes and grunt… Hmmm? That doesn’t smell like money, but it is free. Here’s the problem with this compassion. Let’s say you want to take all your friends out to dinner. You go to the restaurant and order drinks. They take your credit card and come back and inform you there is no money on your card. There you are trying to feed everybody and there is this little snag. Of course we know what to do, right? We email our congressman and ask them to make a law that our credit card can’t be refused, right? Wrong! At some point we have to recognize that no matter how kind and thoughtful we are somebody has to pay, and pay they will. Hand them the government sugardaddy card and have at it. Drinks for everyone, caviar and foi gras. The sky’s the limit. After all your children and grandchildren will pay. Hey, maybe you don’t even have kids. Too bad those other suckers weren’t ready for the end of the world. Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we implode under the fetid debt of 40 years of excess.
When I was young I remember hearing the name George Bernard Shaw in high regard. Not long ago I saw a video clip which this video where he extolled the Marxist collectivist idea of killing those not useful to society. It is ironic that the collectivist idea that says we are our brothers keeper means we should provide for them and yet at the same time if we are engaging in generational theft we are clearly harming the collective. Of course all collective agendas must be implemented by a strong central government. Strong central governments are answerable to no one so piss on them if they don’t like us destroying society, right?
Here we are in a world I never imagined. Call me old school if you will. When I heard banks had problems with NINJA (No Income No Job no Assets) loans I was flabbergasted. How the hell do you get a loan like this. Oh yeah, the government decided it would be the good thing to do and used Fannie and Freddie who then saw the huge profits in mortgage based securities. That meant Wall street bankers could go for it and privatize the profits while socializing the losses. When people say capitalism failed I want to see if they can recognize Shinola, or say a hole in the ground. Don’t worry, your Wall street banking dollars are being well spent in the new financial capital of Washington DC. If you want to see capitalism fail you will need to look at a small business who is not too big to fail as they struggle to get a loan while all the money is now being loaned to government while they spend like crazy. Capitalism hasn’t failed, but it is getting strangled by socialism from above and below.
And that brings me to another simple principle I was taught. Be honest. I know, how silly and old fashioned is that. I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word is is. When FDR started social security he gloated that nobody would ever be able to get rid of it and get re-elected. Remember government of the people, for the people and by the people? What would happen if you set up a retirement plan for your business and then borrowed money from it and used the money from younger people coming in to pay older people. I’ll tell you. You would end up parked next to Bernie Madoff. That is exactly what was done with social security.
There is an old saying that the older I get the less I know. When we are young we are ready to change the world, but with time we come to see things differently. Where we used to challenge the ideas before us we come to see the wisdom in them. Let me tell you about some really cool guys, Madison and Jefferson. They really distrusted government. Jefferson said “government governs best that governs least”. Madison was instrumental as a key thinker in forming our constitution. You may not care about their opinions but I bet they would be dismayed with our government today.
I know this isn’t popular but I don’t want a dime from social security. Did you know that the Amish don’t have to pay in because they are conscientious objectors? It does not require a religion. However it is frightening to consider confronting the IRS and the government. On the other hand in a just world things would be different. Government employees and elected representatives would be held the the same practices and laws as private citizens and corporations. Much of congress past and present would be in court or in jail for defrauding the America tax payer. FDR would be remembered for starting a Ponzi Scheme. LBJ likewise. Thousands of laws including social security would be rolled back as unconstitutional. People would begin saving for their golden years. The average 65 year old would be a multi millionaire if they put their social security payments instead into a mutual fund.
Here is the amazing paradox of our current dilemma. I recall in the 80s being told debt was insurmountable. it wasn’t. In WW II we fought wars on two fronts and we beat Japan with 18% of our industrial output. At the start of the war they had the best navy in the world and vastly superior aircraft. In the war of 1812 Andrew Jackson beat the British who were at the time the best army and navy in the world. In less than a decade of JFK saying we would go to the moon we were there. We can do amazing things, but only if we adhere to simple principles.
It’s time we stopped being a bunch of babies and demanding a wet nurse. It’s time we told Washington DC to get the hell out or our lives. Last year we had over $300B in charitable giving and that is with one of the worst tax burdens in the world. Imagine the explosion of greatness and dignity if we ditched Marx and instead went for Madison.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 2:27 AM and is filed under social commentary.
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Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Simple Principles
My parents told me they had a simple goal, to leave the world better for me than they found it. I think that should be a morning ritual pledge. I admit I appreciate hedonism. I’d love to be on a tropical beach in a party environment misbehaving. I am willing to embrace our animal desire for indulgence and I’m not proposing that our course in life out to be absolute self sacrifice for the next generation. That’s not what I’m talking about. Several years ago I noticed a funny bumper sticker on an RV “I’m spending my grandchildrens inheritance”. Hey, why not. Of course the funny thing is if you blow it in Vegas you don’t get taxed but if you will it to them you do.
If you have saved your whole life and feel like you ought to spend it then I’m fine with that. The reason we have trust funds is because rich people like Bing Crosby found when they gave their kids a million dollars they blew through it in nothing flat. Let’s face it, money doesn’t mean the same thing to us when we don’t earn it. This is why 97% of major lottery winners are financially ruined within three years of their prize. This brings me to my point. I’ll illustrate by way of a home mortgage. I remember hearing that Japan had 100 year mortgages. Imagine being born and being in debt for a huge amount of money the day you first saw daylight.
This really is the point. Have a look at a young mother pushing a child in a stroller and think of it. This month that child takes out $325 in debt because our government is borrowing $100,000,000,000. By the time they are 18 that would add up to $70,000 but that’s not counting the $40K in debt there already, the interest, social security or medicare. It also doesn’t count numerous other factors that make it rise horribly. In fact our total amount of money promised currently exceeds the total wealth of our nation. Remember when borrowing meant paying the money back? When exactly do we pay the money back?
The truly amazing thing about this is the left leaning perspective. I mean think about it. China has started selling off our debt. Europe is in such disarray that it looks like Greece may default on it’s debt and Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain are now known there as PIIGS for their economic troubles. China is no longer considered our biggest creditor, Japan is, except you could argue it’s the Fed. So what does the left want? National health care. Let’s ponder it. Right now it’s estimated that medicare is being defrauded byt $70-$120 billion a year. That’s fraud, as in doctors doing 200 procedures a day and pizza parlors getting checks for performing medical procedures. In Florida the mob is getting out of drugs and into medicare fraud because it’s safer and more profitable. Last I hear the president still hadn’t nominated someone to oversee medicare and the budget isn’t there to handle this. Lefty wingnuts howl about 30% overhead in profits and some mysterious 4% administration cost for medicare. It’s probably the lack of oversight. Credit card companies charge 3% and have a fraction of a percent fraud. Profit is why. In the UK they had 4,000 babies born in hospital corridors and on sidewalks last year. One UK pol said they instituted their program after WW II when they were in a shambles. Now UK health care is the third largest employer in the world behind the Indian raliroad and the Chinese red army. They can’t vote it out.
The argument is to be compassionate to everyone today and make it so they don’t have to pay anything. Like free money. Squat down, close your eyes and grunt… Hmmm? That doesn’t smell like money, but it is free. Here’s the problem with this compassion. Let’s say you want to take all your friends out to dinner. You go to the restaurant and order drinks. They take your credit card and come back and inform you there is no money on your card. There you are trying to feed everybody and there is this little snag. Of course we know what to do, right? We email our congressman and ask them to make a law that our credit card can’t be refused, right? Wrong! At some point we have to recognize that no matter how kind and thoughtful we are somebody has to pay, and pay they will. Hand them the government sugardaddy card and have at it. Drinks for everyone, caviar and foi gras. The sky’s the limit. After all your children and grandchildren will pay. Hey, maybe you don’t even have kids. Too bad those other suckers weren’t ready for the end of the world. Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we implode under the fetid debt of 40 years of excess.
When I was young I remember hearing the name George Bernard Shaw in high regard. Not long ago I saw a video clip which this video where he extolled the Marxist collectivist idea of killing those not useful to society. It is ironic that the collectivist idea that says we are our brothers keeper means we should provide for them and yet at the same time if we are engaging in generational theft we are clearly harming the collective. Of course all collective agendas must be implemented by a strong central government. Strong central governments are answerable to no one so piss on them if they don’t like us destroying society, right?
Here we are in a world I never imagined. Call me old school if you will. When I heard banks had problems with NINJA (No Income No Job no Assets) loans I was flabbergasted. How the hell do you get a loan like this. Oh yeah, the government decided it would be the good thing to do and used Fannie and Freddie who then saw the huge profits in mortgage based securities. That meant Wall street bankers could go for it and privatize the profits while socializing the losses. When people say capitalism failed I want to see if they can recognize Shinola, or say a hole in the ground. Don’t worry, your Wall street banking dollars are being well spent in the new financial capital of Washington DC. If you want to see capitalism fail you will need to look at a small business who is not too big to fail as they struggle to get a loan while all the money is now being loaned to government while they spend like crazy. Capitalism hasn’t failed, but it is getting strangled by socialism from above and below.
And that brings me to another simple principle I was taught. Be honest. I know, how silly and old fashioned is that. I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word is is. When FDR started social security he gloated that nobody would ever be able to get rid of it and get re-elected. Remember government of the people, for the people and by the people? What would happen if you set up a retirement plan for your business and then borrowed money from it and used the money from younger people coming in to pay older people. I’ll tell you. You would end up parked next to Bernie Madoff. That is exactly what was done with social security.
There is an old saying that the older I get the less I know. When we are young we are ready to change the world, but with time we come to see things differently. Where we used to challenge the ideas before us we come to see the wisdom in them. Let me tell you about some really cool guys, Madison and Jefferson. They really distrusted government. Jefferson said “government governs best that governs least”. Madison was instrumental as a key thinker in forming our constitution. You may not care about their opinions but I bet they would be dismayed with our government today.
I know this isn’t popular but I don’t want a dime from social security. Did you know that the Amish don’t have to pay in because they are conscientious objectors? It does not require a religion. However it is frightening to consider confronting the IRS and the government. On the other hand in a just world things would be different. Government employees and elected representatives would be held the the same practices and laws as private citizens and corporations. Much of congress past and present would be in court or in jail for defrauding the America tax payer. FDR would be remembered for starting a Ponzi Scheme. LBJ likewise. Thousands of laws including social security would be rolled back as unconstitutional. People would begin saving for their golden years. The average 65 year old would be a multi millionaire if they put their social security payments instead into a mutual fund.
Here is the amazing paradox of our current dilemma. I recall in the 80s being told debt was insurmountable. it wasn’t. In WW II we fought wars on two fronts and we beat Japan with 18% of our industrial output. At the start of the war they had the best navy in the world and vastly superior aircraft. In the war of 1812 Andrew Jackson beat the British who were at the time the best army and navy in the world. In less than a decade of JFK saying we would go to the moon we were there. We can do amazing things, but only if we adhere to simple principles.
It’s time we stopped being a bunch of babies and demanding a wet nurse. It’s time we told Washington DC to get the hell out or our lives. Last year we had over $300B in charitable giving and that is with one of the worst tax burdens in the world. Imagine the explosion of greatness and dignity if we ditched Marx and instead went for Madison.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 2:27 AM and is filed under social commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.