Thursday, June 17, 2010

Debt. Why do states and countries have any?

This is an interesting article. Aside from the "No taxes 100 years ago" part it is a good concept. In truth, 100 years ago there were excise taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes. There were no income taxes or transportation taxes.

The truth of the matter is that most Americans are not opposed to being taxed. The problem with being taxed comes with the perceived value of the services provided by the money that we give to the government, as well as the perceived efficiency of those using our moneys.

For many middle class Americans, what we expect from our government is fairly easy to accomplish; smooth roads, electricity, clean water, sewage and garbage services... We want to know that building aren't going to spontaneously fall down and that our kids toys aren't poisoning them with lead. If the government provided a clear report on the utilities provided(utilities that most persons actually used), I doubt anyone would argue with paying moderate taxes at all.

Where I draw the line is when the government escalates taxes due to poor efficiency, or dedicating our hard earned money to causes that do not merit the application of those funds.

Somehow, our state government in CA has dramatically increased our spending in the last decade - and it is not readily apparent where the money is going. City or highway, driving can be compared to off-roading in many places. I need additional filters in my home for my water because the water here is so bad. All summer long I have to deal with "brown outs" or black outs. My toilets flush, but my kids diapers still stink! (ok, that was a joke) My point is, there is NO PERCEIVED VALUE to all of this extra spending. Specialty groups get the money for whatever purpose - when our society and our economy would be better served by cutting our spending (and thus taxes), and letting the increase in discretionary income have its own positive impact on our economy and society.

OK, with that being said, enjoy the article.


545 VS THE PEOPLE

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them...Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million who are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.

In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason... They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits...The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker Of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party... She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red...

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way...

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or" politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.

They and they alone, have the power.

They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not a single tax existed 100 years ago(not true, see my comments above), and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Funny Story.

Sorry about ignoring the world. With the economy the way it is, the only way to make things work is to be doing a crazy amount of the work ourselves. Love you all and hope you enjoy the story/joke!

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A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in Wyoming when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.

The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes , Dolce&Gabbana sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your
herd, will you give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly
answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his IPad notebook computer, connects it to his IPhone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an
exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop
and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany.

Within seconds, he receives an email on his IPad that the image has been processed and the
data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his IPhone and IPad and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet
printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.


He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man
stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give
me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"


"You're a Democrat Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.


"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"


"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you
want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter.

This is a herd of sheep...

Now give me back my dog.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Small updates are better than none...

I have been promising an update for some time. For some of you, the lack of a certain mission "cow story" will be disappointing - but I promise to rectify the situation by publishing that story soon. (You know who you are.)

So many things have happened, it is hard to know where to start. With the economy in the toilet, our flooring store is making it just fine - with the caveat that there are less people to do the work, and more of it falls on the ownership. In addition to the maintenance that falls to the owners, questions about the books, customer issues, installation questions, merchandising decisions, what seems like 100 emails a day... I have the honor of running our insurance program - which is to say that when a home in Santa Clarita loses their floor to unexpected water or fire damage, Famers -State Farm- Allstate, and a number of other insurance companies use us as their flooring vendor. That means that we show up when their house is destroyed by emergency water services (cutting drywall, ripping out anything wet like cabinets, walls, flooring etc) and we (by we I mean... I) make a perfect diagram of the home in the insurance software (down to the inch) and detail in the software what is damaged, what needs to happen to return the insured to their prior state, if the flooring can be repaired or why it needs to be replaced, and then I enter into the software every little thing we will have to do on the way. I cut up a piece of the old floor, and send it to a company that evaluates it for value, and then when I receive the number (value) I input it into the software and upload the completed estimate to the insurance company.

The entire process in the home takes from 1-4 hours, we wait 2-5 days for the value from the company that evaluates the floor, and we usually have the insured in the store picking out new flooring within 1-2 weeks. At any rate - those cabinets I was making more than a year ago are still unfinished, and my wife is happy when I get home in time to help put the kids to bed. It has been a hectic time, but the business is doing fine, and our home is running wonderfully thanks to my beautiful wife. It is hard to complain when we are so blessed.

Soooo, since I last wrote, we had another child, ANOTHER boy... and named him Ashton Ree. Ree is Natalie's Grandpa's name, and a better role model for our boys we could never find. He is the man who has been there and done that, from teaching math, driving trucks, woodworking - he built a cabin @ Bear Lake, and then expanded it... all with his own 2 hands. I will never forget some of the hunting stories he has told us, much less time with him on wave runners, quads, and snowmobiles. I digress...

The holidays season came and went, and life continues to be crazy. Amidst it all, my friends have kept popping up on facebook (its like online crack) and I have to say, it has been wonderful to see you again.

At the end of the year, Nat and I cleaned out our home office, and changed our setup - we got rid of the space taking desk (now the guest bedroom is JUST a bedroom) and mounted an all in one hp to the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Now Nat can do her building management in sight of the kids, and the kids can play online learning games under our watchful eyes - the last thing we want is our kids hidden away in a bedroom online!

While cleaning out our desk, we found 2 old cameras with undeveloped film in them. Nat's didn't turn out (remember those days?) but I got about 4 pics off mine. They were from 1997, a trip from Rick's ID to the dunes with some friends. Campfire, s'mores, root beer, and good friendship. Can't ask for more than that. I will upload and tag them, but here they are for you guys first.






Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Birthday Thanks...

Well, I have to say I am stunned at the rain of friendship that has been falling on me all day today. I feel encircled by the arms of so many friends and family members, that it is impossible to feel anything apart from being on top of the world. I know that it has been a while since I have posted some real meat on my blog or in my facebook notes, and I will rectify that eventually! Either way, for my friends and family, thank you for making my day~ and especially for getting this year off to a good start for me. All of my love and support goes out to you and yours!

Ben

Y a los quenes no hablan ingles... saben que esten en me corazon tambien!