They still don’t get it!

 I just read an article where Jeb Bush said that the Republican Party needs to give up the “nostalgia” of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by democrats in the 2008 election. Excuse me? You mean to tell me that Republicans should be more like the Democrats? Really?

If you’re a Republican leader the first thing you need to do is say you’re sorry. You need to apologize for spending our money like a crackhead that’s won the lottery. You should apologize for how much you’ve grown the govt in the past 8 years. You need to apologize for tricking those of us who are conservatives into thinking you might be as well. You need to apologize for being too conciliatory with the Democrats.

If you are a Republican and want to get elected then come out, do the things mentioned above, and then tell us the right things and more importantly DO the right things.

The right things are the following:

1. We will greatly reduce personal income tax for the foreseeable future. That means that we will have to cut back on federal programs that are funded by you the tax payer. Sorry, we wont have the money, we’re leaving it with you. You as a working citizen are having to cut back in these tough times and so should, and will, the govt.
2. We will regulate the lending industry. We will increase the requirements on getting home loans, car loans, and personal loans, and make it harder to get one. Gotta be able to afford to live within your means. Doing these two things will force cash back into the market via more take home pay and the consumer can either pay down their current debt (recommended) and/or go grow the economy by buying more, whatever it may be.
3. We will no longer dump money into the car industry. We don’t have it to dump in, sorry because you’re keeping it. Not to mention it’s unconstitutional. Govt doesn’t have the RIGHT to take money in from the private citizens and in turn give it to a failing private company. Just like it doesn’t have the RIGHT to take that same company over when it gives them the money.
4. We’ll do everything we can to unleash the market and allow it to run at full strength so that we can get this economy going again.

Government seems to be getting more and more sinister each and every day. It’s like the guy that’s got the van and is asking little children if they want any candy. The general population in this country is climbing right in that van and being taken for a ride. We all know that ride never ends good.

We as a society are living in such a politically correct world that we cant disagree with someone. Well we have to re-learn that its okay to dislike someone. We have to re-learn that it’s okay to be mad when we are being sold down the river. We have to re-learn that it’s okay to call peoples’ ideas out and tell them they are wrong and tell them why.

I honestly believe that if this country continues on it’s current path that we are headed for some violent times. Good people will take a lot but they will take only so much, then something has got to give. Gun sales are through the roof. Concealed carry license applicants are through the roof. Ammo sales are through the roof. These are all things done by law biding citizens. These are not things done because people are bored. These are not done because people have got lots of extra income. These are preparatory measures.

Time to start paying attention folks.

So GM has to come up with a plan that the govt will approve or they don’t get any more bailout money. So what do they do? They bring back lending to sub-prime borrowers. http://www.reuters.com/article/privateEquity/idUSN0148180620090401

The same borrowers that got loans for houses they couldn’t pay for and started causing the financial debacle we are in. Since the last democrat that was in the Oval office started the whole sub prime lending disaster it only seems natural that our latest democrat president would revive this assinine policy.

Got up this morning and read that Rick Wagoner has resigned from GM, at the request of the Obama administration. Then a little later I read that Obama has put on hold any bailout money for GM or Chrysler until they come up with a viable business plan. So the govt has made a private company’s CEO resign. Now if they don’t submit a plan that is to their liking, I.E. a Govt approved plan, then they wont get any more bailout money. Now without even looking at the incompetence level of the govt and knowing that a govt approved plan is just a recipe for disaster, lets just look at the power they just gave the govt. That just sounds kinda dangerous to me.

I wrote a while back on my blog about charity. When you give charity you become somewhat responsible for the recipient of your charity, to make sure that it’s used in what you perceive to be the right way. The companies that stepped up to the govt and asked to be put on the dole, i.e. given charity, are now having to reap that “reward”. They have put themselves in a place where they are now being claimed by the govt, and to a certain extent the govt is right in doing so. I just wish someone in the govt would have stood up when they all came running to get bailout money and proclaimed in no uncertain terms that “if you ask the federal govt for a bailout then you are relinquishing the right to self governance. You are giving up, TO THE GOVT, the right to make your own decisions for your business. Once you give it up don’t expect to ever get it back.” I wonder if these companies would have been so quick to come to the feed trough if it was put to them in those terms?

Now, the stock market gets up this morning, looks at what the govt made Rick Wagoner do, see that they still didn’t get any more money, there is lots of unrest in the preparation for the G20 summit. I wonder what the market will do today??? I’ve got a good idea, how about you?

FYI, This posting is me totally thinking out loud. (Not that all the others aren’tJ)

This past weekend my oldest son asked me to come to church with him, mom, and little bro. I knew it really meant a lot to him and said sure, I’ll go. I’ve never felt an aversion to church but haven’t felt drawn to go either. I haven’t really felt a need to go. I’ve been to many different churches over the years and I have appreciated each service that I’ve been to but the church that my family goes to is by far the most comfortable that I’ve been in. It has a huge children’s church and the boys really enjoy it. The congregation is a good mix of young thru old and Amy really gets a lot out of her time spent there so all is good in those regards.

I’ve never really felt “drawn” to go to church. I feel like I have a good relationship with God and I draw on his strength throughout my day to get me thru. I guess since I feel like I’ve got a good relationship with God I haven’t felt the need to go to church to “get right with God”. I know there are countless reasons that people go to church and there is no one right answer for everyone but for me I think it’s beneficial because it allows me to really concentrate on my relationship with him. No matter how good you feel about any relationship there is always room for improvement.

I’ve described my fishing trips to friends that don’t fish as forced relaxation. If I take the time to hook the boat up, go to a lake or river and then get out there there’s nothing else to do but fish. I don’t take books, there’s no phone, etc. so the only thing to do is fish. It’s forced relaxation. Well it occurred to me while sitting in the service Sunday that going to church enables me to experience that same feeling in regards to my relationship with God. It gives me uninterrupted time to work on, and appreciate, that relationship. I must say that was a comforting and calming feeling.

So with all the talk about the recession and how crappy things are I thought I would blab about my thoughts. They’ll be random so take them for what they are.

I am working so that’s a good thing. My “extra” side work has dried up some but that has allowed me to finish up on some of the projects that I’ve neglected at home for so long. Don’t get me wrong the house is no Taj Mahal but it is getting better.

The side work drying up is a good indicator of how things are going though. People are getting really worried and trying to hold on to their money. I don’t blame them; I’m trying to do the same. I’m not buying how the govt is going to fix this either. Anybody looking at what the govt is doing can see that they don’t have a clue. They’ve handed 700B to the head of the treasury to spend it however he chooses. That attitude is so typical of how so many people think today. People just have a just fix it and lets be done with it attitude. That type of thinking or lack thereof has put us here. We as a nation have lived so far beyond our means that we don’t know how to methodically pay down debt, save money, and not live off of credit. I’m not saying credit is a bad thing, I’ve certainly carried it. I’ve gotten in trouble with it too. I’ve also worked my way thru it and paid it off as well. I learned my lesson and now it appears that our country as a whole has to learn the same lesson. Think of it this way, the govt is spending 700 billion bucks to get certain people and organizations out of debt. Since the govt has a deficit, 10 TRILLION DOLLARS WORTH, they just borrowed 700 billion more from us. Think we’ll get that money back?? Now have you ever borrowed your way out of debt? That’s what the govt is doing and we’re letting them!!!  I say them knowing full well that since we are Of, By, and For the People it’s our debt but our elected officials are the ones that have been running this tab up. Turns out they have been running the tab up to the tune of 3.9 billion dollars a day since Sept of 2007. Doesn’t sound like they are checking up at all to me.

Well, it goes without saying that I’m disappointed in the turnout of the Presidential election. When I was growing up I was raised in a house that always voted democrat. My granddaddy was raised thru the depression and saw the democrats bring the country out of that, or at least that was his perception. He had great respect for Truman as a president for doing the things he did and making the tuff decisions he did. My mom was a single mother in the 70’s raising me and was also a democrat. Growing up I always listened to the adult conversations around the dinner table; politics, current events, etc. and took it all in. Not until I became an adult did my thoughts start to gel and did I become aware that I, and my family, have always been conservative. If granddaddy were alive today I dont think he would like what the democrat party has become. I consider granddaddy to have been an old southern democrat and we now know how they vote, Republican.

My granddaddy was my primary male roll model as a child and always has and always will mean the world to me. He was incredibly independent and always helped others. Our house and I call it ours even though it was actually his house but I stayed there, would go without repair so that he/we could help others that he deemed needed it more. That was fine with me. I never once thought that we were suffering. He made it clear that we should help others who needed help. Not those that were too lazy to do it for themselves or that took advantage but those that just weren’t able and needed an extra hand. One of the worst people in the world to him if not the worst was a thief. I guess that came from growing up in the depression and not having anything and having to work for everything he had. It certainly taught me the lesson that the things you have you have to earn. If you want more that’s great just work harder. Obama has made it clear that he thinks that a politician has the right to take your money and allocate to those that HE feels need it more. For all of you that agree with him in those regards I would like to ask you why haven’t YOU already done that? Why haven’t YOU gone out and taken YOUR money and given it to those that don’t want to have to worry about filling their gas tanks and don’t want to have to worry about paying the mortgage? Now, explain to me how its okay for a politician to take money from one citizen and “redistribute” it to another and that not be stealing?

I’ll finish this with a quote:

“You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatreds. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.”

From Walter Williams, writing in the Washington Times:

One of the campaign themes this election cycle is “affordable” health care. Shouldn’t we ask ourselves whether we want the politicians who brought us the “affordable” housing, that created the current financial debacle, to now deliver us affordable health care?

So do enough people see that Obama has communist leanings? He’s saying it if anyone would care to stop and listen. Here he is stating that he wants to “spread the wealth around”. http://www.breitbart.tv/html/195153.html He is also saying that HE wants to give everyone the chance for success too. Everybody already has that chance. Every morning when you wake up you have a chance at success, if you choose to take it. It’s called freedom. Obama is describing the Marxist theory “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need ” which is COMMUNIST.

If Obama taxes that plumber more then he takes money away from him. That money could be spent by that plumber, who earned it, to hire new employees and grow his business. Isn’t that the desired result, economic growth? Does anyone truly believe that the government can spend your money better than you can? That’s what you’re saying when you agree with Obama on this. He’s saying that he knows better what to do with your money than you do, therefore you need to be taxed more.

Also, don’t believe the adds that he’s running saying he wouldn’t increase your taxes if you make less than 250,000 a year. That is wrong.  Here is an explanation and his voting record on increasing your taxes if you make 42,000 a year or more.  http://richmond.craigslist.org/pol/858401534.html

Well looks like it may have been the Democrats  that started this crap after all.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9c0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

So we as taxpayers are being asked to “loan” the govt $700,000,000,000.00 (damn what a lot of zeros) so the govt can buy a bunch of bad loans from the banks that loaned to people that couldn’t pay the loan back. How many of us out here can afford to take on a high risk loan right now? Seriously, this is a high risk venture. This “fix” is more of the same type of mentality that got us into this trouble. The root cause is bad loan practices, period. Regardless of who is at fault the loan practices are bad. It was bad that someone went to a bank and borrowed more money than they could pay back. It was bad that the bank lent them the money knowing these people couldn’t pay it back. Until the lending institutions change how they do business, we should not buy any of these loans. The behavior has to be corrected. We have as a society become so dependant on credit that so many of us can’t get by without it. We carry insane amounts of credit card debt, car loan debt, etc. that we don’t know how to be fiscally conservative. We don’t know how to save money up to buy the things we want. We have a buy now, pray later attitude. Well it looks like we’re at the pray part, and look who we’re praying to. The government. We are praying to the government to fix this?? Come on, seriously? Doesn’t that seem a bit odd? This rant doesn’t even touch on the fact that we are socializing a certain portion of our “free market” society. That’s for a different discussion. I have yet to be convinced that we are “fixing” any of this. We’re giving an iron lung to a chain smoker without taking away the cigarettes. That isn’t fixing it folks.