Invest

As everyone else panics because of the debt ceiling/continuing resolution/government shutdown - use common sense. Watch the good stocks and as they temporarily go down - buy, buy buy. In a few weeks you can sell as those perfectly good stocks return to their value.

I was Wrong

I consistently predicted that an immigration reform bill was coming. I based my belief on several truths.

1. Democrats and Republicans understood that the Hispanic vote in the near and distant future was critical.
2. Reform is needed to fix our immigration system.
3. Until we have a just immigration policy that allows the poor to enter the country legally, we will continue to have illegal immigration.

Now, it appears possible that the Republican Party will commit political suicide and prevent a just (but far from perfect) law be enacted. It is remotely possible that the party of Lincoln will survive the next few elections. However, as more Hispanics reach voting age the pendulum will swing so hard the other way that being a Republican candidate may be a waste of time and money.

Billions will be spent on a fence. Scandals will emerge as contractors, lobbyists and politicians try to lay hands on that money. Farmers and many other corporations dependent on cheap labor will continue to encourage and employ illegal immigrants.

The mass hiring of Border Patrol Agents and the pressure put upon the recruiting of those men and women will undoubtably result in many people wearing badges that should never have been hired. Many large city police agencies experienced the same situation when forced to 'hurry up and get recurits' to fill positions. Border Patrol Agents perform a tedious and dangerous job. Most of their time is spent staring at bushes, trees, rocks and dirt. It is hot and tiresome work. Put another way, we have an army with badges, guns and an unbelievable amount of power. Most of the time they are tired, hot and bored.

Meanwhile the farmers, ranchers and other Americans that actually live on the border do not want it militarized or fenced. 

I may have been wrong.  Perhaps nothing will be done to help the situation.

Civics 2013 How a Bill becomes Law

1. A corporation, individual or group with deep pockets write a bill that provides them benefits at the expense of tax payers.
2. Lobbyists are hired to find one or more people in congress to present the bill.
3. Campaign money, etc. is promised from multiple groups and entities that all receive money from the originator of the bill.
4. As money is spread around and 'meetings' are held on golf courses and at resorts around the globe, more politicians jump on the band-wagon.
5. Key committee members are promised more campaign money.
6. Congressmen and congresswomen attach completely unrelated amendments to the bill to bring home the pork (my next blog).
7. The news media cranks our stories about the bill, but avoid actually providing the public with the actual bill.
8. The bill is voted on by both Houses and the President signs it into law.

Next I will write a little about how the gravy and pork keeps flowing and then explain how to keep the public at bay.

Soon I will write about the necessity of keeping the blood of our brave military flowing so that the rich get richer.

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Social Security

Social Security is not difficult to understand. There is not and never has been a Social Security Account where our Social Security taxes are held until we retire. The money used to pay each person receiving a check from Social Security is provided by contributions of today’s workers. With the exception of the first year of this program, that is the way it has always worked.

Today’s workers pay social security taxes that are used to pay today’s retirees. So why is there a crisis? There are several reasons, but it still boils down to fewer workers and more people receiving Social Security checks. Today, it takes three workers to support one person receiving a Social Security check.

Each year we have fewer babies in America and as generations pass, there are fewer workers. Between 1973 and 2011 there were 54,559,615 abortions in the United States and birth control further reduced our birth rate. Americans had fewer babies in 2011 than in any year before, according to an annual summary of vital statistics.

The problems caused by low birth rates are not limited to Social Security. Many retirees will not pay very much in the form of income tax and they will be such a strong voting block that politicians may grant them many tax-savings.

More workers can be solved by higher birth rates or more young immigrants that tend to have large families. Our choices are simple. Have more children or increase the number of immigrants from groups that are likely to have more children.

Debts for our Children: What happened to the Conservative Concerns?

Conservatives have piled on the demands for more border security to defeat any type of immigration reform. The idea was to demand so many outrageously expensive ‘security’ demands that there would be no hope of any immigration reform. Now it seems that it has all backfired. We may again double the size of the Border Patrol, add 700 more miles of a fence and add/upgrade millions of dollars of electronic equipment and pretend that the cost will come from some fantasy about the amount of money we will see increase because of immigration reform.

First, if the politicians believe they are spending money that will actually come as a result of immigration reform, limit any dollars spent to that money. In other words, everything must be paid with the money that this immigration reform saves or generates. The one study that predicts this new tax money/savings explains where and how this magic money will appear. The politicians say they believe it. Simply include the ‘source’ of this money as the only source to fund everything in this bill. Why not? If the politicians truly believe the money will come from the sources in this study (taxes from the ‘new’ legal workers, savings in emergency room visits, etc.) then write it all into the law.

The truth is that many are so afraid of the cultural changes (not jobs, not crime, not welfare expenses) that the conservatives added so many repugnant requirements that they were certain the bill would fail. Now they are really in trouble.

However, all my worry is for nothing. All of the bills require that a plan to secure the border include certain items. 

America

Americans love a good debate and loudly disagree. However, our freedom to disagree seems to have devolved into hate for fellow Americans. We seem to have lost our ability for civility. Instead of arguing facts, we argue emotion.

The Internet has the potential for national debate, discussion and communication. The Internet could diminish the influence of the handful of people that control the media. However, the handful of people use the tried and true method of controlling us. They identify a group that can be blamed for all of our troubles and we eat it up like manna from heaven.

We can’t wait to blame everything on the present administration, political parties, political groups, welfare queens, illegal immigrants, liberals, conservatives and welfare programs. Reading the comments on many blog sites is educational. 95% of what I read on blogs is simply anger and hate. Few comments are fact based. The blogs have become a feeding frenzy for anger and prejudice. Many are really text messages where one person directs a comment (usually something nasty) to another person that made a comment.
Trillions of dollars were stolen from the hard-working American taxpayer to bail out banks, corporations and Wall Street gamblers. Yet we follow the lead of the media and focus on blaming some minority group for high taxes, the national debt and unemployment.

President Van Buren took office as a national depression set in and he said, “It is not the objective of government to make men rich – nor repair their losses.”

Anyone that invests in the stock market, real estate market or a business does so in hopes of a profit. Win or lose (just like in Las Vegas) the profit or loss belongs to the investor. The idea that tax dollars can be used to cover losses is insane.

While Americans blame minority groups and fuel hate-based debates without facts, the super-rich continue to rape the American taxpayer.

·      90 percent of ‘farm subsidies’ go to the super rich mega-farms

·      Foreign aid requires that food be purchased from these super-rich mega-farms and shipped around the world and the result is that local farmers in starving nations cannot sell their crops. It would be cheaper and far more effective to help the farmers in those starving nations. At least one major food distributor has refused food from the USA for that very reason. We are only helping the rich American farmers and crushing the local framers

·      Foreign aid also requires that weapons must be purchased from the American arms industry. For two decades (do the math) the Egyptian military received 3-billion dollars of such aid – and our leaders cheered during the Arab Spring.

·      Russia and China receive foreign aid.

·      Wal-Mart and many big box stores receive huge tax breaks that helps these large companies to put small retailers out of business

·      Forcing motorists to use Ethanol is a huge boon to farmers

·      Using tax dollars to keep military bases open because these bases provide jobs to civilians is a huge waste of tax dollars.

·      After the military begged Congress to discontinue purchasing more tanks, our Congress ordered more tanks because the creation of tanks that are not needed or wanted by our military creates jobs.

·      War has become our number one business as a nation.

·      While we argue about who should pay for health care and who must be insured, the pharmaceutical and medical industries laugh all the way to the bank! We spend 50% more on health-care than England, Germany, France and a host of other countries while people in those countries outlive us!

Debate can be healthy. However, communication and debate require two things; talking and listening. A few facts might also be nice.

Did You Know?

Did You Know?

A ‘like’ on Facebook places a tracking cookie on your hard drive and every site you visit is captured by Facebook. The tracking takes place even after you sign off from Face Book and is sent to FB the next time you sign-on to FB.  Your personal information and the sites you visit are sold to advertisers and anyone willing to pay the price.

Facebook has the right to copyright any photo or video you post. (When you signed up for FB you clicked “I agree” and like 99.9% of us you did not read your agreement. So what? If you post a photo of a news event that you witness, for example, you can’t sell it to the media. FB owns the copyright.

Not to beat up on FB, but the same applies to much of Twitter and most social media sites. You agreed. Your personal information is tracked and you agreed to the copyright by these social media sites.

Alternate e-mail addresses, like those used on dating sites and by some FB users, can be easily traced back to you. Your name, address, telephone, etc. is easily available. Those ‘safe dates’ where you meet someone at a restaurant and he does not have your real name, address, etc. – well they are not really all that safe.

Wal-Mart, Target and a lot of businesses receive government tax subsidies. For example, a state or city might wave all property taxes for Wal-Mart so that ‘new jobs’ are created. Small businesses, that pay property taxes’ cannot compete and close their doors.  (read on – it gets worse).

Some states allow businesses to keep the state income tax it collects. You read that correctly. Instead of mailing the taxes to the state, some businesses get to keep those payroll taxes and simply inform the state that the employee paid x amount in state income tax. Small businesses send the taxes they collect to the state and cannot compete and close their doors. (read on – it gets worse).

Studies show that the ‘Wal-Mart’ effect creates very few new jobs because so many people are put out of work when the small businesses that cannot compete go under.

Why do politicians cut these deals? Because we are lazy and uninformed. The politicians know they are killing local businesses, but they can fool a disinterested public by claiming hundreds of new jobs.

What to do?

Create an email group that lists every political representative that needs your vote and email the hell out of them.