WE'RE ALL MIXED UP

Has anyone noticed that both as individuals and as a government, we can’t seem to get out of debt?  Well if you agree with that, perhaps I can help us all figure out why.  You see, we’ve got saving and investment all wrong and quite frankly we have it completely backward.  Don’t believe me, consider the following.

Yesterday I took my granddaughter to purchase a winter coat and as we were checking out, this very nice young lady offered me a credit card saying that if I took it that we would save an additional 30%.  When I explained that I didn’t want the card, she continued to ring up the coat, and as she handed me the receipt she politely said thank you sir, your coat was $83.45 and you saved $91.00 today by shopping at Kohl’s.  As we were leaving the store, my granddaughter said wow papa, you saved almost a hundred dollars, to which I replied “honey when you spend money, no matter what they say, you didn’t save”.  I remember several years ago a couple of friends  went shopping on a Saturday morning and when they returned shopping bags in hand, I asked  them, “exactly how much did you guys spend”; to which one of them replied I spent $800.00, but I saved $500.00 because it was all on sale.  Now I don’t know about you, but to my way of thinking if you spend $800 to save $500 that’s not saving.  Hopefully if you use this logic, you’re purchasing things that you need and not just your wants, but either way, you’re not saving!

Our government is no better!  Has anyone besides me noticed that when the government talks about saving money, they really mean that if they had planned a spending increase of 3% and they reduce that percentage to 2%, they say their saving us money.  Now once again, I don’t know about you but a saving would actually be spending less, not spending more and passing off a slight reduction in the increase as a savings.  If you have folks who don’t know a true savings from a reduction in spending, is there any wonder that our budget never gets close to balanced? 

For years I’ve heard people say that their home is their largest asset.  Now let me see if I’ve got this straight, I own a house that let’s say I agree to purchase for $500,000.  I put down $100,000 and the bank agrees to lend me the remaining $400,000 if I agree to pay them 5% interest for the next 30 years.   If I stay in the house for 30 years, I’ll pay the bank $772,920 which comes to almost double what I borrowed 30 years earlier.   Some asset!  If mobsters were charging that kind of interest they would be convicted of racketeering and put in jail for 30 years.  Now I’m not saying that a bank lending money to people who want to buy homes is a bad thing, I’m simply saying that people need to see their homes for what they are, and that’s a Liability, not an asset!  Unless we can figure out how to get income from our homes, we need to stop calling them investments!

I’m Just Sayin

A MESSAGE TO RICK SANTORUM & NEWT GINGRICH

There are two things that I can’t stand in a politician.  Number one is a Panderer and the other is a Panderer who uses race baiting in an effort to get votes, and this week we saw both in the persons of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.  For years I and those like me have made excuses for what at best passes for insensitive and at worse are out right racist comments by both Republicans and those on the quote “Christian Right”.  Well this week, I finally had enough and decided that those folks need to be called out for exactly what they are.  Now I know that some of you won’t agree with me, and that’s ok, however please don’t email me, or leave postings trying to defend what these two idiots said, or make excuses for what you think they meant, because we all know what they meant, and there is no excuse or explanation for it. 

First there’s Mr. Santorum who said at a campaign event:

 “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.”

Then there’s good ole Newt who said:

Gingrich told a town hall meeting at a senior center in Plymouth, N.H., that if the NAACP invites him to its annual convention this year, he'd go there and talk about "why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps."

Well gentlemen (and I use that term very loosely), In Iowa and New Hampshire where the populations are 95% white, and most have probably never had a meaningful conversation with a black person, they may believe your idiotic statements and take them as fact;  but the truth is (and both of you know this) that there are 10 times as many White Americans collecting welfare, foods and other public assistance as there are Blacks.  Your implication that black people don’t pay taxes, are all on some sort of public assistance and don’t want to work is a blatant attempt on your part to appeal to the “Ignorant White Vote”.  You both seem to think that by implying that because the face of the current president is black that somehow other black people are benefiting could not be further from the truth.  Obama is so busy pandering himself, that he doesn’t have time for ordinary black folks.

There is no question that there are far more poor whites than blacks in both Pennsylvania and Georgia receiving public assistance, and you know that, but for years both Republicans, Democrats and the News Media have painted the face of the poor black.  You’ve done this despite the fact that in places like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Texas, Kentucky and a whole host of other states there are twice as many poor whites as there are in any inner city in America!  Fact is that we all know that black people don’t have the market cornered when it comes to generations of families receiving welfare and other government benefits, but when politicians are looking for votes; the face of those receiving benefits is always painted black!   Why not take cameras into the hills of West Virginia, Kentucky, or Pennsylvania and put the faces of those poor whites who have been on welfare for generations on the 6:00 news?  No, we can’t do that, because making scape goats out of blacks is much more appealing to those ignorant of the actual facts.

I have to say that Newt is right about demanding paychecks rather than being satisfied with food stamps, but that’s true for every American who doesn’t have a job, who is willing to work, but can’t find it.  Newt was the Speaker of the House when NAFTA was passed, so perhaps part of his platform should be to cancel NAFTA and bring some of those jobs back to America, rather than continuing to give tax breaks to companies who export American jobs to other countries. 

Finally, a couple of messages to Rick Santorum, I agree that I don’t want to give my money away either.  I didn’t want to give a loan to Bank of America, CITI bank, Goldman Sach’s or any of the other big banks who were bailed out.  I don’t want to pay more so that Exxon, Chevron and the other oil companies can continue to get tax breaks at my expense either, but I don’t hear you talking about cutting those folks off.  Maybe that’s because the fat cats make campaign donations and have the resources to fight back when you attack them, and poor blacks don’t!  By the way, what kind of Christian would vote for a Racist homophobe?  That’s right, I called Mr. Santorum what he is, and I make no apology for doing so, he has a long history of making both racist and homophobic remarks, and it’s time that someone called him on it.  Those of you who really know me, know that I do not take the "R" word lightly, but the comments of these two idiots have been eating at me for almost a week now, and I couldn't let it pass without comment.

I’M JUST SAYIN!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

As we enter 2012, I hope that everyone will take the time to realize how fortunate we all are to live in such a great country.   Almost every day in 2011, the news was about how bad things are in America, and nearly every person that I came into contact with seemed to have a complaint about how bad the economy is doing.  The problem with all of this is that none of these people were unemployed, living in a box on a street corner, or in need of food assistance; nope from where I sit, they are all doing pretty well in life.  In fact most have excellent jobs, making considerably more than the national average, yet they had complaints.

America is now and has been the greatest country on the planet for two hundred years.  People still come here from all over the world to live in peace and enjoy the kind of freedom that only a handful of countries on the globe can offer.  Our standard of living is still the highest in the world, and no matter how much we borrow from China, they are still a hundred years from having our standard of living.  It’s true that we have many people in our country who are poor and disenfranchised, but if you’re going to be poor or disenfranchised, what better place to improve your lot in life.  You see, contrary to popular belief, in America, people can still start with nothing and end up with every advantage that America has to offer.   If you don’t believe this is true just ask someone who has had the good fortune to move here from another country.  I have no doubt that we all know someone who has moved here from Asia, Africa, Europe or some Latin American country who came here with nothing, but now owns his/her own business, has a home and is thriving.  These people came because they believed in the promise of the American Dream and believing is a huge part of every successful persons receipt for success.

2012 will be for all of us what we make it!  My plan is to make 2012 the best year of my life, to enjoy all that life has to offer and I sincerely hope that you’ll join me.   

HAVE A SAFE, PROSPEROUS, HEALTHY, & JOY FILLED 2012