For years I was in a time warp. I was a teacher and an administrator for much of my career, but even before that I was involved in the Boy Scouts. Near the end I was an Explorer. Much of that time I spent my time with boys who were a few years younger than myself. As a teacher your students never age, they are always the same age.

It is only after you step away from that type of career that you realize that there are people who are older, but by the time you retire most adults are into their careers and have little time for a graying ex-teacher.

Today I was in a grocery line waiting to be checked out and in front of me was a gentleman and his wife. We started to talk as you do when you are waiting for service and for the first time I found myself enjoying the chatter. I was amazed that this "old" guy had an interesting outlook on life and then it dawned on me that he and I shared a similar background in experiences and life. The trouble with getting old is that most of the people you deal with learned about the 50's,60's, and 70's from history books! It was nice to talk to someone who even experienced the 30's and 40's first hand. Seems like I have a bit of catching up to do in making some friends that are my age or a little older.
 

Wow did I just get a lesson on the marvels of the internet.

Over the past few months I have been sharing with you some of the exchanges that my cousin and I have made. Well he is one of the individuals where I share or pass on other emails I get from other friends. Some of them are just the funny ones or the ones that are cute, but sometimes they are political. Regardless of what my friends political beliefs I pass them on to all of them. I figure if they are liberal they should see the conservative viewpoint and the reverse. Anyway my cousin decided to respond to one of my emails by sending his response to all the individuals on my forwarding list. Some of them in turn must have send his response on to their email friends.

At any rate some one out there in cybra space responded to him. My cousin immediately assumed that the individual was a radical liberal because the individual not only agreed to what I had said but provided links that supported my statements. Well that was too much for my cousin and as usually began to attack our new friend. I just have to share his responses.

Oh! The topic was the one which I posted that the American economy was in trouble not because of the current president but because of the failure of the presidents of the past fifty years to really tackle the economic realities of the day.

His response after my cousin wondered about his background and why he had responded:

"the only reason i responded was to provide some sources that have substance on these issues. the financial problems facing the country have been 50 years in the making. they are not the result of 11 months of the obama admin policies. we as a country and as individuals have been living beyond our means for too long. relying on the kindness of foreign gov'ts to foot the bill..ie china. getting into wars that we do not want to pay for..the bills for iraq and afganistan are on the feds credit card... the solution to these problems are things that we do not want to hear reduced standard of living, incresed saving etc...

the pete peterson organization is non-partisan. byw, the i.o.u.s.a. video predates obama admin. {EXCELLENT VIDEO my words TD} niall ferguson is worth reading as well..read the "ascent of money" , "the cash nexus" and "the war of the world"
this is a good site too...
http://www.concordcoalition.org/

also this one..read the storm watch section..it predicted much of the financial mess...like in 2006
http://www.financialsense.com/

as far as my back ground? i am1981 grad from st. a's (economics). i still keep in touch with my old profs. some of our recent conversations revolve around the events over the last 18 months. i spent 20+ years in high tech mostly in the storage area (backup, disaster recovery, fault tolerance). worked for several venture capital start-ups. left the industry in 2001 and now i am a private investor. i am a very active options trader. i also do a little consulting on the side.

i like to think i am educated on these issues...i have to be since i have "skin in the game" i read quite a lot and subscribe to all the major business and finance publications such as fortune, bus week, the economist, wall street journal etc...."

My cousin's next response was what was st. a's and accused him of being a radical liberal. His second response was:

"why do you assume i am a liberal? christ i am a self made multi millionaire. i live in new hampshire and the reference to st. a's (st anselm college) is a local school...i thought you were local. anyway, to the afgan and iraq wars, unlike most of the wars the us has fought it is not being paid for as we go (war bonds, war taxes etc. ww2 was paid for this way)..instead it has been put on the federal credit card (thank you bush and cheney)...read a book called "the three trillion dollar war" if interested. it would be a great test if the american public would support say a .50c to $1 tax on gasoline to pay for these wars. btw, i did not say i do not support these war efforts. also, i come from a military family,,my father was a career army officer and fought in three wars...he is buried at arlington. so i have some appreciation as to how wars affect those that actually have to fight them.

as far as the obama deficit goes....wasn't tarp passed under bush? as to healthcare..huge issue. i am self insured and have a private plan with a $5k deductible. but it pisses me off that i am subsidizing those with no coverage. after all if someone gets sick they just throw themselves on the mercy of the system..and they do get taken care of. in other countries (switzerland for example) by law you have to have health insurance...god you have to have in most states to drive a car..."

He also made a separate email to me that pretty well sums up my opinion of the ultra conservatives and their opinions:

"thomas, i just responded to xxxx..i will forward it to you. funny he accused me of being "liberal"...which i am not. i have friends like him that unless you totally agree that obama is the devil incarnate you are liberal. folks like that simply don't read and are not informed..just sacred. (and they should be)
I am a bit of a student of history (both economic and political)..we can very close to entering a 1930s type depression this year....which would make our current problems pale in comparison. indeed we still could. I recently read a book called "the forgotten man" a new book on the great depression. the foreclosure rate in some cities was 80%...30 year mortgages did not exist then..houses were finances with 5 year notes with a balloon...people lost their jobs and could not get a new loan...many of these people had >50% equity in their houses"

He gave me another insight on health care, one I had not thought of, and a greater appreciation of what has and is being done to prevent another 1930 type depression. The scary part is his comment "indeed we still could"

But when you least expect it out of the blue someone else arrives on the scene that not only supports what your gut has been saying but supplies the factual background to support your gut! -)




 

Just got this blog from my cousin. I have got to the point I don't respond to his comments anymore because his mind is so made up that there doesn't seem to be any point. What do you think?

Hey Tom,
One doesn’t have to look to far to find major holes in National Security in The USA anymore, we can just look at The White House. Well I guess when Obama begins to drop his guard on USA Security, it spreads like a cancer..doesn’t it. When the Commander in Chief begins to loosen his grip on terrorism and not even allow his staff to use the words “The War on Terrorism” any longer, well this is what happens or could have happened. You don’t get that close to The President and Vice President of The United States of America with zero credentials, BUT THEY DID! The radical Libs leading this White House Staff and Security are to blame. This was a major breach of security for The President of The United States of America, his Staff and my country and it ’s citizens.. Let me guess your response..Bush’s fault.

After the Army Major (terrorism attack) and that was very clear because of the words he used prior to the murders that moment..while murdering his fellow soldiers. He killed 13 people to include his fellow warriors, this was kind of a second thought by Obama at the conference he was attending when he finally said “something”. I actually thought the press had made a mistake when they said “we are going right to the President on his comments”. But low and behold it was two long minutes minutes later when my President finally acknowledged the murders of 13 people by a terrorist Army Officer..Someone better wake up in the Military and get this PC bull shit out of their script. Now it’s time for the retired military brass to step up and correct this mess! How many more are there in our military, it’s in The USA as sleeper cells.

Hey how about the leak out of Europe on THE FRAUD about Global Warming that Al Gore has been making millions from? The New York Times which has the E-Mails is refusing to release the context of the e mails and “you say the media is not biased”, well your head must be where your A….is. There is no Global Warming. It’s a Fraud and it has been so for well over for 20 years now. I’m glad it’s finally out!

In case you haven’t checked the Rasmussen daily Tracking Poll today 26% of American voters approve what Obama is doing as President and 46% disapprove. What does that tell you? That’s tells me the USA is finally waking up to who they voted in as President of my country. But most of all the Independent Voters now recognize a phony. Prior to the elections you always advised me to follow the tracking polls. Are you still of the same opinion? This administration’s policies have now become laughable on The Nightly Shows and when Johnny Carson did that in the past..well you were cooked.

Next,… American Presidents do not “bow” to foreign leaders and this President continues to disgrace my country. “Bowing to leaders” overseas is not “Hope and Change” it’s a disgrace to my country.
That’s another issue..”Hope and Change” was Obama’s challenge to the American people. Well “where is it”? Not happening here after a year. Unemployment is @ 10.2 on a National Average and expected to rise to 11% , but it’s really@ a very high rate of 17-18% across the USA. If that’s “Hope and Change” it sucks big time! So get your head out of your ..A. This guy has done zero. I tell it like it is.

Please tell me where his concentration is and where the USA is hurting? I’ll tell ya .He’s concentrating on bringing Socialism into my country , changing the Health Care System, disrespecting his generals (who support me and your families) regarding our Homeland Security.
Now where does The United States of America need his total concentration it’s on JOBS! This guy is shying away from making any tough decisions that keep Americans safe and able to remain in their livelihood as proud citizens of my country. It is certainly not on JOBS! This is disgraceful and comes with a President with INEXPERIENCE TO THE JOB.

One should begin the thought process to step down if unable to Manage. It’s understandable when one has no experience to come to the job nor a staff to support him.
The Foreign Media last week is calling my President an “empty suit”. “They basically said he brings nothing to the table and China is basically looking for their money that Obama has now placed us in trillions of dollars of dept with them. Guess what..they are right.


If you had some credibility to comment living here in the USA, I’d give you some slack, but you don’t. I’ll listen to your comments only.
 

"American politics are getting very interesting. In a way I sometimes feel like we are watching the fall of the “American Empire” They argue about some obvious things like health care, they argue about the role of empathy in appointing their judges, and they don’t seem to realize the rest of the world has already made major decisions on the things they argue about and have moved on and beyond the Americans. Issues like gays in the military, same sex marriage, government-sponsored health care, are all considered “no-brainers” by most of the world. It is only a matter of time before the rest of the world realizes the US dollar is worthless and switches to another currency."

This was written in the middle of June this year and seems to be as true today as it was then.
 

I responded today to my cousin and used another tactic. Instead of trying to explain and justify what the current president is trying to do I gave him a plan of what he can do to improve the situation. After I wrote it I thought why not share it with everyone. so here it is:

"Now you and I can agree or disagree if the economic woes of the US is because of Obama or like I said, years ago, from a failure of the past fifty years of Presidents doing the easy thing rather than the right thing. The fact is that every president except Clinton put the economy on the credit card and charged. Clinton has been the only President since the 1950's to say we pay for what we spend and produced balanced budgets and left a surplus at the end of his term as President.

Today the country is over TEN TRILLION dollars in debt. The economy is the pits, housing is down, unemployment is up, the dollar is continuing to collapse, and gold has hit the roof.

US imports are far greater than our exports. Many countries are looking for another currency to be the world's currency. Even if all of Obama's economic measures are a 100% successful the US is still in a long road of recovery. It will not happen in his LIFETIME never mind the next four or eight years. The Republicans answer is worst than Obama's. Lowering taxes and cutting spending does NOT work! It didn't work for Regan or Bush one. Of course Bush two lowered taxes and INCREASED spending!

As much as you hate the idea of increased taxes the fact is the US tax levels are among the lowest in the WORLD! Tax increases are coming and it will not matter who the President is!
The US is the only industrial nation not to have a VAT (value added tax). Its coming within the next five years. US income taxes for companies and individuals are among the lowest in the world, (of course you don't have a national health care system) but taxes will have to rise.
Any politician that fails to do so for fear of getting tossed by the voters will do so at the peril of the country going bankrupt. If that happens get your wheelbarrow out. You will need it to put your money in it to go and buy a loaf of bread!

If you think I am running down the country or am a "communist" then so be it, but you do it at your peril.

How long do you think the country will be able to keep the interest rates at historically lows it's at now? What do you think is going to happen to the dollar as countries that hold US dollars begin to sell them for gold? India bought 200 TONS of gold last month and the price of gold went up to over a thousand dollars. China has been quietly been telling its citizens to buy gold. Most of the middle east has been working with India, China, and Russia to settle on another currency for trading in oil. Tonight Dubi just announced that it wants to withhold payment on 60 billion dollars of loans for six months:
LONDON TIMES Report:
Global financial markets swooned Thursday, with London seeing its most precipitous drop in nearly nine months, a day after Dubai stunned investors with the news that it was asking banks to allow its main investment vehicle, Dubai World, to suspend its debt repayments for six months.

If you aren't scary you should be! This has NOTHING to do with who is President it deals with fifty years of neglect of politicians of all stripes not being honest with the people of the United States and of ignoring issues that needed to be addressed, because being in power was more important than being truthful to their citizens.

How many Americans can lose their job and have at least six months worth of reserves without touching the kids college fund or their own retirement fund? Very few I would bet! How many Americans put away 25 cents for every dollar they earn after taxes? Even less would be my bet.
How many people like yourself bought gold when their cousin told them to four and five years ago? A lot less I think.
I think the United States is one of the best nations to every surface on the planet, but I am getting tired of the whiners that just run down the President and have NOTHING to offer. Who close their ears to things they don't like hearing and then call the individuals trying to help a bunch of hurtful things that add NOTHING to the situation.

This is what you can do to help yourself and the nation if you really want to do something to help.

First buy real gold or gold stock with companies that only work in North America.

Second stop buying anything made in the Far East. Particularly China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India.

Third buy only from North American markets.

Fourth tell the stores you shop at why you will not longer buy certain products. Like shrimp from the Far East!

Fifth tell them you are willing to pay more if the product is MADE in North America, (not just a product of NA)

Sixth start buying US bonds if you value your country then invest in it!

Seventh spread emails like this to others instead of just crying about what is or not being done by the government."

 

The last few days I have received a few emails from my cousin where he insists that I am a communist and am running down the USA.

Wow! Seems like every time I shake his tree he thinks its an attack on everything he holds dear.

Last night I listened to McCain saying the US health system is the best in the world! NOT! It isn't even in the top twentyfive!

The Republicans think that all things can be solved by lowering taxes and cutting spending! Regan and Bush both did this and the US debt went up! How about matching our income with our spending? How about any new proposals be self funding? That is what Clinton did, and it was the only time since JFK, and he ended up with a SURPLUS!

Agree or disagree with the current health proposal at least from what I have seen it pays for itself!

The United States is the ONLy major industrialized nation without a VAT tax. Its income tax for both companies and individuals are among the lowest in the world. So I get a little tired of politicians and citizens crying about the burden of taxes!

If we don't stop crying and start doing something our children will be looking at 40 cents of every dollar we earn going to taxes just to pay the debt, health, education, and social security. Forget about a military, roads, national parks, a postal system and any thing else you can think of.

i guess if I'm sounding the alarm bell hoping people will wake up before it's too late then I am running down the USA.




 

The past two days I have received emails concerning the current White House changing the Christmas tree to a Holiday tree and for taking off the term "IN GOD WE TRUST" off American coins.

Of course neither were true, but it seems that the ultra conservatives take any rumor and try and turn it into fact. Then blame the administration for it! When they discover the truth, rarely on their own, they then blame the administration for misleading them!

Can't wait to see them flip when Obama announces the troop increase for Afghanistan. For weeks they have been betting on him pulling out, now it's going to be what took him so long. And of course they will be all over the fact he puts an end date on our involvement in Afghanistan.

For the conservatives if Obama isn't doing some thing wrong it's because he just finished or is about to do something wrong.... Sounds a lot like the last puppy we had!
 

When the current administration came to office the US economy was in shambles.

The Bush Administration had inherited a balance budget that was providing a 500 billion surplus. It was a budget that was reducing the national debt.
By putting two wars and military defense on the credit card the surplus soon became a deficit. In addition the administration did not fully fund programs it had proposed and had pass through Congress. The “Leave No Child Behind” education reform was short funded by 60% resulting in America’s educational standards to drop far below acceptable levels. Education still needs to be addressed.

The Bush proposal to change Social Security from a government run program to an individually run program failed to correct or address the underfunding of the program. The good news, in light of the economy, is that people did not lose what they have in the current system when the Bush proposals failed to get Congress approval. The cost of Social Security still needs to be reformed.

The Bush administration did pass an updated and improved Medicare Bill amendment, however health care remains a major issue in America. Until a national health care program is adopted the US will continue to lag behind the other industrialized countries that have adopted a national system. This results in American products remaining too expensive to compete with world markets and costs America jobs as their own companies ship the production of goods overseas!

The Bush Administration’s drive to reduce government involvement in business resulted in very little oversight of Wall Street and allowed the subprime section to over whelm the market to a disastrous collapse of the market.

It took eight years for America to feel the full impact of a government that believed that less government was better government, that the US government had an obligation to bring democracy to countries suffering under a dictator.

The new administration has actually done quite a bit in a short period of time.

They first went about trying to save the auto industry, the key industry of American workers. Without the bailouts both Chrysler and GM would have disappeared by now. They still have a rocky road ahead but at least they are still on the road.

The stimulus package is slowly working its way through the system, but one can see its positive effects. The jobless rate has slowed down and one can now start to see the bottom. The market has already recognized that and is beginning to climb to higher levels. The package has saved thousands of teacher, police, health care, and firefighter jobs. Just ask California how bad things would have been without the stimulus!

The new administration is also tackling the major issues of education and health. How that turns out is anybody’s guess.

It is strange that too many people still claim that the current administration is doing nothing but talk. They want someone to undo eight years in eight months. The only person I know of in all of history took three YEARS of talking to change the way people lived and then it took a thousand years for everyone to get it!

Will the new administration be successful? Unfortunately there are times when people start down one road it becomes nearly impossible to reverse direction.
The damage done during the past thirty years may not be able to be fixed.

The refusal back in the early 1990’s to address the issue of a national health system maybe one such issue. That single failure resulted in American products being less competitive. It has driven many families and businesses into bankruptcy. The continued resistance of a national health system continues to amaze and bewilder the rest of the world. At the same time this refusal will kept the US in the “dark” ages of caring for its citizens. Should the Congress fail to pass health care this year then the US can look for a even more rapid decline economically and socially.

If you think getting a national health care system up and running is difficult the saving of the US currency as the world currency is just about impossible.

China owns over a TRILLION dollars worth of US bonds. It is important to them to prop up the US dollar. The less value the more they lose. But there comes a point when you can’t kept riding a dead horse. So what do you do? You use your US money to buy another currency that will retain its value. So you buy gold! Gold prices have jumped from the mid $250.00 an ounce in 2004 to over $1,100.00 an ounce today. Many are talking about a $2,000/ oz by the end of 2010 and some have even gone so far as saying $5,000/oz by 2015!

Several countries are, as we write, looking for another currency to use for trading purposes and while they look the price of gold continues to climb.

Personally I think that a declining dollar will have some long-term benefits. It will allow American products to become more competitive in world markets, it will encourage Americans to travel within the States keeping billions of dollars at home and putting more people to work in the service industry. The problem with that is the government will get nervous from a falling dollar. The public outcry will be deafening and the government will be tempted to raise interest rates. If they do it too soon the danger is that all the benefits from a lower dollar will collapse along with the economy.

What is scary in all of this is that NOBODY has bothered to talk to America and explain this. It’s as if every leader has decided the American public isn’t smart enough to understand the problems or nobody has yet figured out any of the answers. Perhaps it’s a little of both!

 

I remember the day JFK addressed America about the concerns of a Catholic President being influenced by his church. I admired and believed him when he said:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish--where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source--where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials--and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all....

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end--where all men and all churches are treated as equal--where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice--where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind--and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood."

Seems like the good Bishop has put a religious viewpoint ahead of democracy. Patrick Kennedy was doing his job and remembered that he was representing ALL of the citizens of Rhode Island not just the Catholics!

We wonder how the Taliban can go about destroying schools for girls for religious reasons and yet we have a Bishop, and he's not alone, just as intolerant!

It is obvious that the good Bishop does not believe in the words of JFK when it comes to voting on issues. Patrick Kennedy did not get elected to present Catholic views, he was elected to represent all of the people of Rhode Island and vote for what he believes is right for all its citizens. Abortion is a personal choice and as a result it should be left to the individuals involved to make the final decision and not the government.

The good Bishop should be spending his time and efforts on his own flock and not try to control the agenda, by threatening members of Congress to vote the way HE believes they should. If the people of Rhode Island do not like Kennedy's efforts they can make a change come 2010 and every two years after that!

It is strange that for a group that oppose birth control the Catholic Church has seen a declining family size since the "pill" came along! Maybe the Bishop should address that problem and let the good congressman do his job, without interference!

Dear Bishop what happen to JFK's statement where he said: "I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act." Is it because Kennedy is only a congressman that comment doesn't apply?
 

The more I read and listen the more I seem to be confused. There are ALL kinds of coverage about what Hollywood and TV personalities are doing. There is plenty of coverage about the various scandals that politicians step into, and we get all the cute coverage about guys pulling buses with their hair or drag queens losing their wigs.

What I really want to know is how crooked is the Afghan government, what are the real costs of the proposed health care program, why do we let the Chinese keep their currency well below par. CNN can fact check a SNL comedy sketch but can't spend a week giving us a complete breakdown of the health bill?

What is the true effect, as of now, of the stimulus package? What are the up side or down side of the US dollar being removed as the world's currency?

Nope we get more of Sarah or Lee. H'mm reminds me of the cake company with its name reversed. We get more of a bishop telling a congressman maybe he shouldn't go to communion. Or what is Oprah and Lou going to do after leaving their shows.

It seems that everything from the mass media to the internet that there is no longer a place to find facts. It's all opinion and much of it based on shaky information. I'm beginning to think that my mother's love for the National Enquire was well founded. At least with the National Enquire you know they are having fun and are not even thinking about being accurate. Even once in a while they hit a kernel of truth as with the Edward's affair.

I personally am hoping that the Mayans are right that 2112 is the end of an era. I just hope it is the end of an era that revels in misdirection, half truths. and deceit. With my luck instead of the cycle repeating back to phase one of the cycle the world probably does end. But until then I would really like to know what's going on and have the silly reporting stopped!