I like a guy who is not afraid to wear an orange tie...
I like a guy who hands the President of the United States his hat, and eats his lunch....
I like a guy who can do basic math...
...all WITHOUT A TELEPROMPTER
Derned facts!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
That Duck is a Duck...
A Ponzi scheme is an investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation.
Social Security is a social insurance program that is primarily funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insuarnce Contributions Act tax (FICA).
In 2010, Social Security total income was $781.1 billion and expenditures were $712.5 billion, which meant a total net increase in assets of $68.6 billion. Assets in 2010 were $2.6 trillion, an amount that is expected to be adequate to cover the next 10 years. In 2023, total income and interest earned on assets are projected to no longer cover expenditures for Social Security, as demographic shifts burden the system. By 2035, the ratio of potential retirees to working age persons will be 37 percent — there will be less than three potential income earners for every retiree in the population. The trust fund would then be exhausted by 2036.
Social Security is a social insurance program that is primarily funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insuarnce Contributions Act tax (FICA).
In 2010, Social Security total income was $781.1 billion and expenditures were $712.5 billion, which meant a total net increase in assets of $68.6 billion. Assets in 2010 were $2.6 trillion, an amount that is expected to be adequate to cover the next 10 years. In 2023, total income and interest earned on assets are projected to no longer cover expenditures for Social Security, as demographic shifts burden the system. By 2035, the ratio of potential retirees to working age persons will be 37 percent — there will be less than three potential income earners for every retiree in the population. The trust fund would then be exhausted by 2036.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Math...
Obama: "This is not class warfare -- It's math"
"The money has to come from some place," he continued. "If we're not willing to ask those who've done extraordinarily well to help America close the deficit... the math says everybody else has to do a whole lot more, we've got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor."
The president is also putting forward a measure he's calling the "Buffett Rule" -- named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- to compel those making $1 million or more a year to pay the same overall rate as other taxpayers. Taxpayers making $1 million or more often make their fortune through investment income, which is taxed at 15 percent; the top income tax rate is 35 percent.
Okay...lets do the math:
The top 10% of income earners in the United States, pay 70% of the personal income taxes collected by the federal government. $114,000 puts you in the top 10 percent of income earners.
Obama and the Democrats throw around the number $250,000. If a married couple makes less than $250,000, their taxes (federal income taxes) won't go up...they say. That represents the top 2%.
The average total federal tax rate (income tax + others) for those in the top 0.1 percent was 30.7 percent. That means for the ultra-rich, 1/3 of every dollar they earn, goes to the federal government (not including state taxes).
Ignore the fact that history shows when you increase tax rates you DO NOT always increase tax revenues. Ignore that Obama said “We have not proposed a tax hike for the wealthy that would take effect in the middle of a recession...the last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up – take more demand out of the economy and put business further in a hole.”
You simply can't solve our deficit spending problem, by increasing taxes on 2% of American tax payers...
"The money has to come from some place," he continued. "If we're not willing to ask those who've done extraordinarily well to help America close the deficit... the math says everybody else has to do a whole lot more, we've got to put the entire burden on the middle class and the poor."
The president is also putting forward a measure he's calling the "Buffett Rule" -- named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett -- to compel those making $1 million or more a year to pay the same overall rate as other taxpayers. Taxpayers making $1 million or more often make their fortune through investment income, which is taxed at 15 percent; the top income tax rate is 35 percent.
Okay...lets do the math:
Obama and the Democrats throw around the number $250,000. If a married couple makes less than $250,000, their taxes (federal income taxes) won't go up...they say. That represents the top 2%.
The average total federal tax rate (income tax + others) for those in the top 0.1 percent was 30.7 percent. That means for the ultra-rich, 1/3 of every dollar they earn, goes to the federal government (not including state taxes).
Ignore the fact that history shows when you increase tax rates you DO NOT always increase tax revenues. Ignore that Obama said “We have not proposed a tax hike for the wealthy that would take effect in the middle of a recession...the last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up – take more demand out of the economy and put business further in a hole.”
You simply can't solve our deficit spending problem, by increasing taxes on 2% of American tax payers...
Thursday, September 22, 2011
A Message...
...from Ronald Reagan to the Tea Party, in reference to the election of Barack Obama
From the Dec. 1, 1964, issue of National Review
By now a new cliché has been added to the time-worn list, but I know of no other way of comment on the election than to open with the by now familiar — “Well, it’s over and we lost.”
Yes, we did; we lost a battle in the continuing war for freedom, but our position is not untenable. First of all, there are 26 million of us and we can’t be explained away as diehard party faithfuls. We cross party lines in our dedication to a philosophy.
There are no plans for retreating from our present positions, but we can’t advance without reinforcements. Are reinforcements available? The answer is an unhesitating — “Yes!” They are to be found in the millions of so-called Republican defectors — those people who didn’t really want LBJ, but who were scared of what they thought we represented. Read that sentence very carefully because in my opinion it tells the story. All of the landslide majority did not vote against the conservative philosophy; they voted against a false image our Liberal opponents successfully mounted. Indeed it was a double false image. Not only did they portray us as advancing a kind of radical departure from the status quo, but they took for themselves a costume of comfortable conservatism. Read again their campaign fiction and you will find their normal flamboyant Liberalism hidden under the protective coloration of “the great society,” or as Hubert Horatio Humphrey (who can’t ask what time it is without conducting a filibuster) put it: “We don’t want a planned society — we want society planning.”
Unfortunately, human nature resists change and goes over backward to avoid radical change. It’s a head shaker, I know, but the whole Liberal apparatus which can be quoted ad infinitum on “the wave of the future, the need for new approaches to old problems, adopt new rules for complex new problems, forget the Constitution,” was able to campaign in a last year’s model, singing, “The old songs — the old songs are good enough for me.”
Very shortly, though, they’ll bring the show into town for a four-year run, complete with a new score — words and music by Reuther, Joseph Rauh, and the “Great Society Chorale.” Time then for the music critics — that’s us. We must dwell unceasingly on the change of tune. Our job beginning now is not so much to sell conservatism as to prove that our conservatism is in truth what a lot of people thought they were voting for when they fell for the cornpone come-on.
In short — time now for the soft sell to prove our radicalism was an optical illusion. We represent the forgotten American — that simple soul who goes to work, bucks for a raise, takes out insurance, pays for his kids’ schooling, contributes to his church and charity and knows there just “ain’t no such thing as free lunch.”
I’ll add a postscript — I don’t think we should turn the high command over to leaders who were traitors during the battle just ended.
From the Dec. 1, 1964, issue of National Review
By now a new cliché has been added to the time-worn list, but I know of no other way of comment on the election than to open with the by now familiar — “Well, it’s over and we lost.”
Yes, we did; we lost a battle in the continuing war for freedom, but our position is not untenable. First of all, there are 26 million of us and we can’t be explained away as diehard party faithfuls. We cross party lines in our dedication to a philosophy.
There are no plans for retreating from our present positions, but we can’t advance without reinforcements. Are reinforcements available? The answer is an unhesitating — “Yes!” They are to be found in the millions of so-called Republican defectors — those people who didn’t really want LBJ, but who were scared of what they thought we represented. Read that sentence very carefully because in my opinion it tells the story. All of the landslide majority did not vote against the conservative philosophy; they voted against a false image our Liberal opponents successfully mounted. Indeed it was a double false image. Not only did they portray us as advancing a kind of radical departure from the status quo, but they took for themselves a costume of comfortable conservatism. Read again their campaign fiction and you will find their normal flamboyant Liberalism hidden under the protective coloration of “the great society,” or as Hubert Horatio Humphrey (who can’t ask what time it is without conducting a filibuster) put it: “We don’t want a planned society — we want society planning.”
Unfortunately, human nature resists change and goes over backward to avoid radical change. It’s a head shaker, I know, but the whole Liberal apparatus which can be quoted ad infinitum on “the wave of the future, the need for new approaches to old problems, adopt new rules for complex new problems, forget the Constitution,” was able to campaign in a last year’s model, singing, “The old songs — the old songs are good enough for me.”
Very shortly, though, they’ll bring the show into town for a four-year run, complete with a new score — words and music by Reuther, Joseph Rauh, and the “Great Society Chorale.” Time then for the music critics — that’s us. We must dwell unceasingly on the change of tune. Our job beginning now is not so much to sell conservatism as to prove that our conservatism is in truth what a lot of people thought they were voting for when they fell for the cornpone come-on.
In short — time now for the soft sell to prove our radicalism was an optical illusion. We represent the forgotten American — that simple soul who goes to work, bucks for a raise, takes out insurance, pays for his kids’ schooling, contributes to his church and charity and knows there just “ain’t no such thing as free lunch.”
I’ll add a postscript — I don’t think we should turn the high command over to leaders who were traitors during the battle just ended.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
How Can Someone So Smart...
...be so stupid.I give you Warren Buffet.
I have never admired Mr. Buffet, except for his personal frugality. As frugal as a billionaire can be.
Now, thankfully, Obama has jumped on Buffet's claim that Buffet's secretary pays more taxes than he does. Thankfully, it is getting alot of press that it simply isn't true. She pays a higher INCOME TAX RATE, because Buffet owns everything - he doesn't collect a PAYCHECK, which is what is taxed in INCOME TAX.
Obama and the Democrats are doing what the Democrats historically do. Ignore history.
The Buffet rule or whatever they are calling it - is an effort to get the ultra-rich to pay more taxes. Uh...we have tried that, its called the Alternative Minimum Tax.
It didn't work the first time, and its been NOT WORKING for 42 years. And worse - members of both parties campaign against it, claiming to want to get rid of it - but they don't. They can't. Once they create it, they think its an institution, and that they have to alter it.
[ Many Republicans said the same thing about Obamacare - "Well they passed it, so you can't just get rid of it"...what happened to YES WE CAN?
"Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!" - Ronald Reagan]
These are the same people (including many Republicans) who try to fight "sending jobs overseas." Jobs go overseas, when it is less expensive to do so. Where does Obama think the money millionaires and billionaires have will go - when he tries to take it?
Sunday, September 18, 2011
In Other News...
Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, etc., continue to try to transform the country into something it never was, pushing us to the brink...
However, now that MMA has exploded onto the scene - can't we all recognize that boxers are a thing of the past, and their sport simply exists for gamblers? I'm fine with that, its just that these clowns (current 'champions') make millions - and most Americans can't name the Heavyweight Champion of the World...or any other weight category for that matter...but you see UFC t-shirts all over the place, and any guy I know can name at least half a dozen recent champions and contenders.
Again, I'm okay with them earning their money, but where is their pride in their sport?
It all ended for me with boxing when Tyson tried to eat Evander Holyfield. They DQ'd Tyson? Isn't it a fight? A new sport was born...its called Mixed Martial Arts. It started off with only a few rules, and I think 'No Biting' was one of them, but still, its a REAL FIGHT.
The current billionaire boxing champion to prove he could not exist in a ring with any moderately skilled REAL fighter, was Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz in what I consider a completely legal hit. Ortiz knows the rules of boxing, and should have...uh...fought. Anyway, Mayweather did not want to face tough questions about the fight, or another fight that he knows 80-year-old Larry Merchant was going to ask about.
The thing to watch....Merchant's response (Warning: Rated R language, not anything you won't hear in a fight in the park after school, but pretty bad stuff for boxing). He knows Mayweather is all show...
However, now that MMA has exploded onto the scene - can't we all recognize that boxers are a thing of the past, and their sport simply exists for gamblers? I'm fine with that, its just that these clowns (current 'champions') make millions - and most Americans can't name the Heavyweight Champion of the World...or any other weight category for that matter...but you see UFC t-shirts all over the place, and any guy I know can name at least half a dozen recent champions and contenders.
Again, I'm okay with them earning their money, but where is their pride in their sport?
It all ended for me with boxing when Tyson tried to eat Evander Holyfield. They DQ'd Tyson? Isn't it a fight? A new sport was born...its called Mixed Martial Arts. It started off with only a few rules, and I think 'No Biting' was one of them, but still, its a REAL FIGHT.
The current billionaire boxing champion to prove he could not exist in a ring with any moderately skilled REAL fighter, was Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather knocked out Victor Ortiz in what I consider a completely legal hit. Ortiz knows the rules of boxing, and should have...uh...fought. Anyway, Mayweather did not want to face tough questions about the fight, or another fight that he knows 80-year-old Larry Merchant was going to ask about.
The thing to watch....Merchant's response (Warning: Rated R language, not anything you won't hear in a fight in the park after school, but pretty bad stuff for boxing). He knows Mayweather is all show...
Saturday, September 17, 2011
There are two sides to every story...
Wounded Grizzly Kills Hunter in Remote Montana
Associated Press - BONNERS FERRY, Idaho -- The two hunters were tracking a wounded grizzly bear into an area of heavy cover along the Idaho-Montana border when the animal attacked, fatally injuring one of the men before his partner could kill the bear, authorities say.
Steve Stevenson, 39, and Ty Bell, 21, members of a hunting party from Winnemucca, Nev., had been going after black bears in the mountainous, heavily forested region near the Canadian border when the attack occurred around 10 a.m. PDT Friday.
"They tracked the bear into an area of heavy cover where Mr. Stevenson was attacked by the wounded grizzly bear," Faulkner said in a news release late Friday.
"This is big-time back country," he said. "There are no roads even close to this thing."
The incident is under investigation. It is illegal to kill a grizzly bear.
or...
Wounded Hunter Kills Grizzly in Montana Bear Country
Bear Press - BONNERS FERRY, Idaho -- A grizzly bear was shot and wounded and then followed into an area of heavy cover along the Idaho-Montana border when the bear defended himself, and managed to fatally wound one of the human attackers, before being murdered by another human attacker.
The grizzly bear was minding his own business in the woods where no humans live, or want to go, when he was ambushed by an out of town group of murderers mid morning, just after berry-breakfast.
A bit earlier, one of the humans shot and wounded the young male grizzly, not a black bear.
"The bear was followed into an area humans shouldn't go, when the bear defended itself," a forest spokesbear said.
"This is big-time back country," he said. "There are no roads even close to this thing."
The incident is under investigation. It is illegal to kill a grizzly bear. Black bears are okay to kill, but we are not sure why.
*This was a joke. I'm fine with killing bears...as long as they are not talking-bears.
.
Associated Press - BONNERS FERRY, Idaho -- The two hunters were tracking a wounded grizzly bear into an area of heavy cover along the Idaho-Montana border when the animal attacked, fatally injuring one of the men before his partner could kill the bear, authorities say.
Steve Stevenson, 39, and Ty Bell, 21, members of a hunting party from Winnemucca, Nev., had been going after black bears in the mountainous, heavily forested region near the Canadian border when the attack occurred around 10 a.m. PDT Friday.A bit earlier, Bell shot and wounded a young male grizzly, believing it to be a black bear, undersheriff Brent Faulkner said.
"This is big-time back country," he said. "There are no roads even close to this thing."
The incident is under investigation. It is illegal to kill a grizzly bear.
or...
Wounded Hunter Kills Grizzly in Montana Bear Country
Bear Press - BONNERS FERRY, Idaho -- A grizzly bear was shot and wounded and then followed into an area of heavy cover along the Idaho-Montana border when the bear defended himself, and managed to fatally wound one of the human attackers, before being murdered by another human attacker.
The grizzly bear was minding his own business in the woods where no humans live, or want to go, when he was ambushed by an out of town group of murderers mid morning, just after berry-breakfast.
"The bear was followed into an area humans shouldn't go, when the bear defended itself," a forest spokesbear said.
"This is big-time back country," he said. "There are no roads even close to this thing."
The incident is under investigation. It is illegal to kill a grizzly bear. Black bears are okay to kill, but we are not sure why.
*This was a joke. I'm fine with killing bears...as long as they are not talking-bears.
.
Off the Shelves...
...no longer on the market ladies, sorry. When we said, "while supplies last", we meant it...
(the beat and the pics are off, but its hard to edit when you are laughing...BTW, these videos were funny at first, so I will be doing them for decades....decades after people stopped laughing)
(the beat and the pics are off, but its hard to edit when you are laughing...BTW, these videos were funny at first, so I will be doing them for decades....decades after people stopped laughing)
Friday, September 16, 2011
Slavery...
...I don't know this messenger, but what a great message (video below)
Until I moved back east, I didn't really understand "inner cities" problems. It seemed to me, out west, even the bad areas are better than back here. And if you are in a bad neighborhood, whether you live it it, or are just driving through, to 'escape', you can go in any direction a few blocks and its all better. Also, in many homes, the people inside those neighborhoods, look just like the people a few blocks away.
(LA is bad too, but maybe it just seems better because its sunny?)
...it ain't like that back here.
I work in the inner cities. Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Newark, Atlantic City, Philadelphia. They are all different. Some not as bad. But each has neighborhoods of massive housing project. "The projects." The Government traps these people in there. It offers free, or heavily subsidized rent. It offers them welfare that comes on a credit card, instead of jobs. It offers them free job training over and over again, as if any of us with jobs got them because we were pre-trained. It offers them free schooling - no matter what your grades.
It sucks the life out of them...the drive to succeed.
The free schooling sounds great, but in my experience it is another part of the trap. Its extremely hard to go back to school, at nights, at your own expense, to improve yourself. But that is the key, you are improving yourself. When somebody else is paying the bill, you can drop it anytime you want. And that is what happens. Its an excuse to a probation or parole officer as to why you don't work.
...not to mention - there are no grocery stores in these cities, but there is alot of fast food.
These people are trapped. The drug dealers even call their work and where they sell it - "the trap." Because they know, there is no escape...
h/t American Perspective
Until I moved back east, I didn't really understand "inner cities" problems. It seemed to me, out west, even the bad areas are better than back here. And if you are in a bad neighborhood, whether you live it it, or are just driving through, to 'escape', you can go in any direction a few blocks and its all better. Also, in many homes, the people inside those neighborhoods, look just like the people a few blocks away.
(LA is bad too, but maybe it just seems better because its sunny?)
...it ain't like that back here.
I work in the inner cities. Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Newark, Atlantic City, Philadelphia. They are all different. Some not as bad. But each has neighborhoods of massive housing project. "The projects." The Government traps these people in there. It offers free, or heavily subsidized rent. It offers them welfare that comes on a credit card, instead of jobs. It offers them free job training over and over again, as if any of us with jobs got them because we were pre-trained. It offers them free schooling - no matter what your grades.
It sucks the life out of them...the drive to succeed.
The free schooling sounds great, but in my experience it is another part of the trap. Its extremely hard to go back to school, at nights, at your own expense, to improve yourself. But that is the key, you are improving yourself. When somebody else is paying the bill, you can drop it anytime you want. And that is what happens. Its an excuse to a probation or parole officer as to why you don't work.
...not to mention - there are no grocery stores in these cities, but there is alot of fast food.
These people are trapped. The drug dealers even call their work and where they sell it - "the trap." Because they know, there is no escape...
h/t American Perspective
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Success...
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser."
- Vince Lombardi
"I hate to lose more than I love to win."
- Jimmy Connors
I just read a book, Talent is Overrated -What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. It explores the nature of "World Class Performers" in all areas - chess, science, business, sports, and more. It covers in detail how Mozart took 18 years, of professional full time training, forsaking 'normal education,' and most other pursuits, to compose an original masterpiece...how Tiger Woods, at age 19, after practicing golf with tremendous intensity, under professional teachers for 17 years, lost his match while representing the U.S. team in Walker Cup play.
Great performances, great performers, those who truly excel above the rest...get there from one thing.
...HARD WORK.
.
- Vince Lombardi
"I hate to lose more than I love to win."
- Jimmy Connors
I just read a book, Talent is Overrated -What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. It explores the nature of "World Class Performers" in all areas - chess, science, business, sports, and more. It covers in detail how Mozart took 18 years, of professional full time training, forsaking 'normal education,' and most other pursuits, to compose an original masterpiece...how Tiger Woods, at age 19, after practicing golf with tremendous intensity, under professional teachers for 17 years, lost his match while representing the U.S. team in Walker Cup play.
Great performances, great performers, those who truly excel above the rest...get there from one thing.
...HARD WORK.
.
Monday, September 12, 2011
September 11, 2011...
The horrific events of Sunday, September 11, 2011, will haunt me until....next Sunday. America's Team was once again taken down by Jets. I don't want to name names, but TONY ROMO fumbled the ball on the goal line, and threw a pick with under a minute to go! Several prominent figures were overheard saying, "This, was a national tragedy, the likes of which we haven't seen since the Cowboy's opening game last year..."
And that's all I have to say about that...
I hope the American public does not think the intelligence community, the administration, or the media's response to 'credible threats' for the ten year anniversary was just 'the sky is falling.' A little west-coast-stay-at-home mom, who knows NOTHING about counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, or anything much outside of...well I don't know anything she knows much about...but she said to me, "If I were a terrorist, I would strike when they least expected, not when they most expected." Me too. We need to be ready.
While there were many ceremonies in and around NYC, I was not able to attend any of them. I did watch a little TV early on Sunday morning, and that alone was difficult. I watched the ceremony in Shanksville, PA. There were some great speeches, and great acknowledgment of the magnitude of what happened on Flight 93.
Flight 93 only had 33 passengers on it, plus the four hijackers. But it had the right 33. The backgrounds and makeup of the passengers and surviving crew assured that the Muslim jihadis could not win.
It is apparent from phone calls that were made from Flight 93 at the time, that when the passengers were in the final stages of their plan to retake the plane, the terrorist pilot made some sharp maneuvers, jarring the passengers. Todd Beamer was on the phone with with GTE-Verizon operator supervisor Lisa Jefferson. He told her what the passengers were planning, and they prayed together. When the plane took a sharp dive, Todd yelled out "Lisa!" Jefferson responded, "I'm still here Todd." He wasn't talking to her, he was calling out for his wife, Lisa Beamer.
I would like to think that if I had been in that situation, I would have been as brave. I know two things for certain. One, I would have been yelling at everybody, "I told you I hate flying! I told you! I knew this would happen!"...and Two, I would be calling out for Mrs. Bannon...she is my everything.
And that's all I have to say about that...
I hope the American public does not think the intelligence community, the administration, or the media's response to 'credible threats' for the ten year anniversary was just 'the sky is falling.' A little west-coast-stay-at-home mom, who knows NOTHING about counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, or anything much outside of...well I don't know anything she knows much about...but she said to me, "If I were a terrorist, I would strike when they least expected, not when they most expected." Me too. We need to be ready.
While there were many ceremonies in and around NYC, I was not able to attend any of them. I did watch a little TV early on Sunday morning, and that alone was difficult. I watched the ceremony in Shanksville, PA. There were some great speeches, and great acknowledgment of the magnitude of what happened on Flight 93.
Flight 93 only had 33 passengers on it, plus the four hijackers. But it had the right 33. The backgrounds and makeup of the passengers and surviving crew assured that the Muslim jihadis could not win.
It is apparent from phone calls that were made from Flight 93 at the time, that when the passengers were in the final stages of their plan to retake the plane, the terrorist pilot made some sharp maneuvers, jarring the passengers. Todd Beamer was on the phone with with GTE-Verizon operator supervisor Lisa Jefferson. He told her what the passengers were planning, and they prayed together. When the plane took a sharp dive, Todd yelled out "Lisa!" Jefferson responded, "I'm still here Todd." He wasn't talking to her, he was calling out for his wife, Lisa Beamer.
I would like to think that if I had been in that situation, I would have been as brave. I know two things for certain. One, I would have been yelling at everybody, "I told you I hate flying! I told you! I knew this would happen!"...and Two, I would be calling out for Mrs. Bannon...she is my everything.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Credible reporting...
...from Abbottabad has indicated that a certain person, formerly of this world, wanted his friends to strike on the ten year anniversary of 9/11.
I personally believe, that U.S. Americans . . . (anytime I start that sentence, it always goes that way)...
Let me try again.
Based on my training and experience, I think 9/11/11 will go off like Y2K. At midnight on 12/31/1999, Mrs. Bannon and I were just outside the city, looking at the city lights. While I had not prepared for anything, a part of me thought the lights would go out. Nothing happened.
Due to credible reporting...this weekend, I will be away from family, staged, ready to go do harm to bad guys. But mostly just - staged.
On 9/11, I was far away from the terror, and watched it on TV like most U.S. Americans. This time I'll be somewhere else, hopefully, just watching the city lights again...
Blog ya' on the other side...
UPDATE: We have a duty to report...
I personally believe, that U.S. Americans . . . (anytime I start that sentence, it always goes that way)...
Let me try again.
Based on my training and experience, I think 9/11/11 will go off like Y2K. At midnight on 12/31/1999, Mrs. Bannon and I were just outside the city, looking at the city lights. While I had not prepared for anything, a part of me thought the lights would go out. Nothing happened.
Due to credible reporting...this weekend, I will be away from family, staged, ready to go do harm to bad guys. But mostly just - staged.
On 9/11, I was far away from the terror, and watched it on TV like most U.S. Americans. This time I'll be somewhere else, hopefully, just watching the city lights again...
Blog ya' on the other side...
UPDATE: We have a duty to report...
Monday, September 5, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Gross Domestic Product
GDP.
It is a measure of a country's wealth, standard of living, and economy. A country's wealth is not determined by how much gold it has, or money it has in the bank, it is determined by the total amount of stuff it makes, sells, buys...economic activity.
GDP is relative to many things, and is only one of numerous factors. But this is the number many use to determine if we are in a "recession."
2 Quarters of negative GDP = recession. (Economists didn't want to getfired tied down to one number, so they also measure a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production and wholesale-retail sales."
GDP = Private Spending + Gross Investment + Government Spending + Exports - Imports
GDP was .4% in January, February, March of this year.
GDP was 1% in April, May, June of this year.
Opinion: Is Obama responsible for the red in the chart? No. Is Obama responsible for the last two columns. Yes.
Roughly 70% of GDP comes from Private Spending (every single dollar we spend, rent, food, sneakers, vacation...)
In the last 40 years, Discretionary Spending as a percentage of GDP peaked at 13% (1968) and is much lower now. Discretionary Spending is the amount the government spends after "Mandatory Spending" like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Debt, etc.
So - if you were President. Would you think that your "Jobs Program" would focus on Consumer Spending or Government Spending?
This President doesn't even know how to save his own job - let alone yours.
It is a measure of a country's wealth, standard of living, and economy. A country's wealth is not determined by how much gold it has, or money it has in the bank, it is determined by the total amount of stuff it makes, sells, buys...economic activity.
GDP is relative to many things, and is only one of numerous factors. But this is the number many use to determine if we are in a "recession."
2 Quarters of negative GDP = recession. (Economists didn't want to get
GDP = Private Spending + Gross Investment + Government Spending + Exports - Imports
GDP was .4% in January, February, March of this year.
GDP was 1% in April, May, June of this year.
Opinion: Is Obama responsible for the red in the chart? No. Is Obama responsible for the last two columns. Yes.
Roughly 70% of GDP comes from Private Spending (every single dollar we spend, rent, food, sneakers, vacation...)
In the last 40 years, Discretionary Spending as a percentage of GDP peaked at 13% (1968) and is much lower now. Discretionary Spending is the amount the government spends after "Mandatory Spending" like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Debt, etc.
So - if you were President. Would you think that your "Jobs Program" would focus on Consumer Spending or Government Spending?
This President doesn't even know how to save his own job - let alone yours.
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