civil's blog

If you want a government that promises to “spread the wealth” (i.e. tax the rich and give to the poor).
If you want a government that promises universal health care..
If you want a government that will increase spending.
If you want a government that will insert itself more into the lives of the citizens.
If you want a government that will discourage increased domestic petroleum production.
If you want a government that will operate naval vessels on nuclear energy but refuse to allow its use for domestic generation of electricity.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

I just heard about Robert Moore. Seems he is a Presidential candidate. Anybody out there have any info on him?

Yesterday (10/13/08) during a walking tour, Obama likened his economic plan to “spreading the wealth”. A better name for the plan might be “redistribution of the wealth”, and is the anti-theses of capitalism. In other words, it is socialism and it will ruin our economy as we know it today. Experiments in this type of "wealth sharing" have proven time and again that such programs result in less productivity and more and more reliance upon the government for support.

Well, Obama has unveiled his “new” economic plan. There is the forgoing of penalty for early withdrawal of up to 15% of one’s 401(k). McCain first proposed that several days ago. Then he comes up with a 90 day moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners “acting in good faith”. Obama criticized this plan when Hillary Clinton suggested it during the primary. Then he is going to “lend” funds to state and local governments. No mention of repaying the loan, I guess the state repays the loan by raising state taxes. Finally he offers a temporary tax credit to firms creating new American jobs.

The news today reports that Obama approves of the latest deal from North Korea. You know, that is the “agreement” where N. Korea has said “take us off the terrorism list and we will dismantle our nuclear reactor and let U.S. and UN inspectors in to verify we did disable the reactor.” Turns out the N. Korean approach is first you take us off the list, then we dismantle and then you inspect. Rumor has it the next demand will be all U.S. troops off the peninsula. Seems we have been here before. We’ve already mistakenly given them $25M in aid and look what it got us. What’s the old saw? “Screw me once, poor you, screw me twice, poor me”.

A group of 100 Economists, including 5 Nobel Prize winners today issued a letter explaining the Obama econoomic plan to raise income, dividend, capital gains and payroll taxes would be the wrong approach for the American economy, pointing out that this was the same approach used in the 1930's that deepened and lengthened that depression. They explained that in times like these raising taxes and curtailing international trade (isolationism) takes money out of the private sector, discouraging new business formation, stifling growth of existing businesses and leads to a growth in unemployment.

When I was in the service some 50 years ago, I enlisted into the Army Security Agency which was rolled into the National Security Agency (NSA). My duties in this organization required that I have a top secret code word security clearance. It took a year and a half to get it and I was a clean whistle. I recall MP's entering our work area and carting people out because it was discovered they had direct relatives overseas.

A question keeps tugging at me, just who is Obama? Where has he been? What does he stand for? Should he be elected president, where is he likely to take this country? His record does not reveal where he stands, so we must go to his associates and supporters for answers.

One of his associates, and a supporter, is William Ayres, a 1960’s domestic terrorist who bombed the capitol, among other places. In 2001 Mr. Ayers stated he was not sorry he did that, he only wished he had done more.

Fox News ran a really good special, "Saving Our Economy - What Next", Saturday evening and repeated it Sunday afternoon. I hope most everyone saw it and if you didn't I hope they will run it again. If, after viewing this special, you think voting a Democratic ticket is the thing to do, and that wisdom prevails, I guess we deserve what ever we get. Trouble is, those of us who vote Republican will have to share in the misery should the Democrats gain more seats and the presidency.

1933: Investment banks are prohibited to also act as commercial banks.
1938: FDR creates Fannie Mae
1970: Congress creates Freddie Mac
1977: Carter signs Community Reinvestment Act, the major factor in origins of sub-prime loans.
1989: U.S. government bails out S & L's, setting a precedent.
1995 Community Reinvestment Act is revised so that banks and thrifts are forced to give home loans to low and moderate-income households.

I have been impressed by the large number of financial institutions on TV hyping the reverse mortgage, and using high profile spokespersons such as Jim Garner for that purpose. These mortgages must be cash cows to somebody, but not the borrower. They are costly in fees and interest to the borrower and can be a serious burden to the heirs.

The original legislation authorizing Community Improvement Districts did not allow the district to levy a sales tax, with the exception of Kansas City. I don’t know when the ability to levy a sales tax was included in the legislation, but it should be repealed. As it stands now, board rooms in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and elsewhere can petition the city council for permission to levy a sales tax of up to 1.0% within the district. While the elected city officials must approve the tax, it is still a tax levied without a vote of the people, and often is levied over the objections of the people, and possibly even without the populace’s knowledge.

The two party system of government has served this country well for over 200 years. In the early years there were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Then there was a period with the Democrat-Republican and the Whigs. Now there are the Democratic and Republican parties. There have been several attempts to form third parties, but these generally address a specialized or local interest and don’t garner a great deal of national attention. Typically they are on the scene through one or two election cycles and then disappear.

President Bush has lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling. He has requested that congress do the same. True to character, the Democrats in congress have said no, disregarding the fact that 75% of the American people are in favor of drilling now. They claim that drilling for oil will have no immediate impact. Yet, just the lifting of the executive ban resulted in a $21.00 per barrel decrease in the cost of oil. They complain about the cost of the Iraq conflict, yet ignore that we have paid the sheiks of the Middle East 3 times the cost of that war, and some of that money has come back in the form of shrapnel in a soldier’s leg. That alone should make offshore drilling a priority item.