Pay Now, or Pay Later - It's Not pretty!

Like many of you, I have angst all week over the fiscal cliff.  It is in every news story every hour of every day.  We haven’t fallen off the cliff but the media is already blaming Republicans if we do.  And actually, that’s kind of funny because Republicans, who want desperately to save the Bush tax cuts, automatically lose them if we go over the cliff, while many Democrats, like Senator Patty Murray from Washington, are gleeful over the prospect of the fiscal cliff.

I think everybody who is worried about our future should read the article on the fiscal cliff posted in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_fiscal_cliff for an honest assessment of the crisis and how we got there.  

Political parties enjoy blaming each other, when in fact they both continue to find ways to kick the can down the road for another six months or another year.  Republicans are determine to keep the Bush tax cuts in place while Democrats are determined not to cut spending.  Strong measures are needed that will require both sides to give ground.  

The world will not end if an agreement is not reached and we go off the cliff - or slope (which better describes the crisis).  The Budget Control Act of 2011 would be implemented, ending Bush tax cuts - for everybody, as well as much of the stuff in the 2010 Tax Relief Act such as payroll reductions and unemployment insurance extensions.  Also included will be across-the-board spending reductions in almost every Federal Agency and cabinet department.  

If we take responsibility for the bad government both parties have wrought and except the consequences, then going over the fiscal cliff (or equivalent harsh measures enacted by Congress) must happen.  It will bring lower deficits and debt but also have lower spending and higher taxes.  Future deficits would be reduced from an estimated 8.5% of GDP in 2011 to 1.2% by 2021.  

If, however, Congress avoids austere measures, then our future will continue on our present course of higher deficits and debt but lower taxes and higher spending.  If we choose this route then we are safe for the short term, but the clouds over our future will continue to darken as public debt rises from 69% GDP in 2011 to 100% by 2021 and approaches 190% by 2035. 

So, which is it America?  Pay now or pay later.  Either way we will pay.  Blame the Republicans or blame the Democrats?  It doesn’t really matter.  We will all still pay.

Birthday Greetings!

Thank you for the birthday wishes.  I appreciate the kind thoughts, the cards, and the Facebook greetings from each one of you.  While looking through my Facebook post, it suddenly occurred to me most of my “friends” on Facebook were younger than me.  It’s true.   I spent a few minutes removing the deceased from my file and discovered that a whopping 94.8% of my friends are younger than me.  (By the way, Facebook really needs to address this problem of friends dying.  Having to “Unfriend” the deceased is a bit distressing.)  Besides, nobody wants to be “unfriended” just because they died! 

Anyway, being somewhat in denial, I rationalized that I had plenty of friends who were older than me - they just don’t do Facebook because, well, you know, they're old.  I turned to my address book for solace.  Carefully counting and categorizing each person as older or younger, I did see a slight improvement - but not enough to matter.  Even excluding all the businesses proved unnecessary because they were all way younger than me.   Sadly, I had to reckon with the truth--I’m older than a can of Spam with a key. 

My grand niece Hannah told me I looked like Walter.  “Walter the mouse?” I asked.  “No,  Jeff Dunham’s puppet Walter,” she said.  And while sitting around the back yard this summer Granddaughter Madie paid me a compliment.  “Grandpa was probably pretty good looking - when he was young.”

I asked Mckenna today what she thought of her grandpa turning 68 she said, “You probably think birthdays are boring.”  Shannon, my youngest granddaughter with a heart to please said, “Grandpa,  I know someone older than you. Momma Ruth!”  (Momma Ruth is a friend of Sunni’s who is almost 96 and lives in an assisted living center.   

It’s been a great day!  Pancakes for breakfast, chocolate malt for lunch and a world of wonderful loving family and friends.  There are some good things that come with age.  

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
3. Because there is no one else old enough to remember the past, they have to believe me!

Thank you again for helping to make this a wonderful day!

Corporate Tax - Truth & Lies

I do not agree with this video.  I have posted it to show how deceitful the Left is and how flagrant the attacks against American business in this country have become.  It concerns me that conservatives are silent regarding this issue, leading many to believe that the charges - corporations pay no taxes - are true.  They are not.

Commentators like Thom Hartmann and Politicians like Barrack Obama play people like fools on this issue, persuading them with sarcasm and mis-information that the American business world is evil.

My intent with this blog to inoculate you with a little truth so you won't have to cower in fear, unsure of your conservative position.  You'll recognize a lie when you hear it and will be able to boldly declare the truth to others.  It is for that reason I ask you watch this video and then read the rest of my blog.

Convinced?  Thom Hartmann certainly seemed convinced.  Mitt Romney, the Supreme Court, nasty corporations, almost everybody is against poor little Thommy.  Everyone except, of course, the 200+ air-heads who commented on his video.

Here is a very disturbing fact; all of the corporations he mentioned pay taxes - lots of taxes.   I know, not because I'm smart, but because I took the time to look them up.  Here is what I found.  Over a ten year period these particular corporations paid an average of 46.42% per year!  Really.

Any public corporation is required by law to open their books for all to scrutinize and therefore, anyone (including you) can look for themselves and see who is lying - Thommy or me.  I don't mind sharing my source,  Standard & Poor's stock reports.  I have no idea where Hartmann got his information.  

You can  rely on Standard & Poor's data being correct because their entire business model relies on  accurate information.  This is the same Standard and Poor's that downgraded U.S. bonds from triple A to Double A+ after the President and Congress demonstrated the inability to enact sound fiscal policy last August.  I and many other investors stake our savings on the truthfulness of their data.

Presented below is the actual figures for 2010 (the year Hartmann refers) and a ten year period starting in 2002 and ends in 2011.  Two exception: First, NewsCorp's date for 2012 is already published so their  ten year period is from 2003 to 2012.  And second, Bank of America was the only corporation that paid zero taxes in 2010 as Hartmann claimed however, in 2011, the following year, BAC paid 727% of it's income in taxes.  That would make the ten year average annual taxes for BAC 185.41% and the 10 Yr. Ave. for the group would actually be  67%.  Not wanting to be a technocrat and go through the rigors of explaining everything that happened, I eliminated that year and only used a nine year average for BAC.   But even with that the average these corporations paid in taxes was 46.42%.

	2010	10 Yr. Ave
General Electric GE	7.39	29.22%
Bank of America BAC	0	22.04%
Exon Mobil XOM	40.7	80.18%
Boeing BA	26.5	44.40%
Citigroup C	16.9	47.70%
Wells Fargo WFC	33.4	63.58%
Verizon VZ	19.4	38.10%
NewsCorp (Fox) NWSA	20.4	46.16%
10 Yr. Tax Ave.		46.42%

That's quite a difference isn't it?    Is Thom Hartmann lying or is he just another air-head projecting his beliefs above the truth?  I honestly don't know.  But now, at least you know Corporations do not get a free ride and pay a higher percentage of their gross income in taxes than most people.

Politicians need a paradigm shift

I don't care what tribe you come from.  What all Americans want is to dramatically lower their healthcare cost and have the freedom of choosing their care.  For this to happen politicians need a paradigm shift away from lower health care insurance premiums to simply lower healthcare cost.  There is a big difference there, and I think someone should be speaking out about this aspect of cost control.  

Originally insurers were there to keep cost low.  For the past several decades, insurance providers (government included) have exercised the practice of paying whatever cost providers demanded then passing those cost along to consumers.  The result was skyrocketing premiums at over twice the inflation rate.  

Insurers and providers have tried to justify these cost as necessary to pay for government regulation, new technology and R&R.  But you have to question the validity  of that when considering technology advances in almost every other industry brings cost down.

Focus on the Economy and Jobs

I think Republicans are over confident about winning the White House this fall.  Here is a current  Gallop poll showing President Obama’s lead increasing and Governor Romney’s drop in support.  With the ruling today from the Supreme Court, I believe Romney support will continue to decrease while Obama support increases.  Currently, Gallop sees the race as dead even.  

With all the controversy around Eric Holder, Immigration, Health Care, White House leaks you might think President Obama should be doing worse than he is, but as this week’s poll shows, his support has increased, not decreased.  I suspect next week will reflect the Supreme Court’s ruling and we will see Obama’s numbers increase again.  That’s not good news for Republicans.

Current news, is working in Obama’s favor because it is causing voters to take sides on issues they really don’t feel that strongly about.  For instants many are ambivalent about healthcare.  If you look at the table below you will see that only 6% of voters view this as a "most important problem."  Republicans, had hoped this would be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court but as we learned today, the ruling was otherwise.  Still Republicans maintain ObamaCare will be thrown out.  They claim they will replace it with new legislation that truly reforms healthcare and lowers cost substantially but currently, they have no plan on the table.  

I believe the Affordable Healthcare Bill is a bad bill and it should be dismantled and replaced with more responsible legislation.  But for whatever reason,  Republicans are mum on what "responsible legislation" means.  With Congress approval rating at 17%, this leaves an awful lot of uncertainty in the minds of voters who are worried how it will effect them and their pocketbook.  

Illegal immigration is another issue that for many voters think is irrelevant.  Because of the poor economy here there are a million fewer illegal aliens in our country than 2007.   It is on the top ten list according to Gallop, but only 3% of Americans think it is significance.  


So when Republicans make a big deal about Attorney General Eric Holder involvement in illegal gun-running or vow to stop President Obama directive to not deport illegal children who came with their illegal parents to this country, you might guess this doesn't build trust among Hispanic voters.  Hispanic registered voters, by the way, are more concerned about the economy and jobs than they are about illegal immigration. 


If the Republicans are to win the presidency and a majority in the Senate they must focus on the economy.  Currently, the polls show Romney is ahead of Obama in the economy, in jobs and leadership.  Persuading independents, women, minorities, union members, and almost any other group you can think of that Romney would be better for the country because he understands the economy and how to create jobs would be an easier task than trying to win by discredit the president.   

Gallop Poll

A Simple Solution for Our Woes

I posted to a blog last week by Michael Brown, a columnist, radio talk-show host and credentials far greater than mine.  

Mostly, his blog was devoted to explaining all the problems in America are not the fault of any one person, certainly not any one president, rather it is the fault of a nation that has lost it’s moral compass.  Brown, discouraged himself, says he will vote for anyone but Obama, but divulged that Mitt Romney isn’t exactly his cup of tea either.  

I’m sure many Americans share his lack of enthusiasm with Romney.  Personally, I look forward to Mitt Romney’s leadership bringing our nation back to greatness.  But that’s fodder for another blog.  

What made Brown’s blog noteworthy was at the end of his essay where he writes, “...the answer to America’s greatest problems is looking in the mirror [to see] if we align ourselves properly with God and with our neighbor.”   He concludes “...if we have messed things up, then by God’s grace, we can turn them around.”  But he fails to mention our role in recovery is repentance.

From a biblical world view, there are three institutions ordained by God - Biblical family, the Church and Government.  These institutions represent the framework in which we are to live and relate with one another.  Studying scripture one could conclude that we are to respect, honor and devote ourselves to these institutions as an act of reverence to our Creator.  Disregard the institutions and we become disconnected and our of sync with our fellow man and with God Himself.

Our disregard for the family is evident in the divorce rate which has steadily climbed since the 1950‘s. Today, at 50% it stands as a glaring reminder of our neglect.  The Church, once the center of our society, is now irrelevant to most Americans.  Nine in ten believe in God but only 18% honor God by attending church regularly.  Our growing disrespect for government is at an all time high.  Our views of President Obama and Governor Romney are more strongly negative than positive.  Congress approval rating is at 20%.  

Could it be that the Bible is right after all?  God lays out a simple solution.  Maybe it’s time we gave it some thought.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7:14

Scandals Serve to Polarize

Since retirement, my morning routine consist of pouring a cup of coffee and turing on the TV to watch the news.  I had hardly awaken this morning when I heard Nancy Pelosi accuse Republicans of attacking Attorney General Eric Holder for preventing voter suppression.  With my mouth hanging open I tried to connect the dots.  How could Eric Holder’s contempt of Congress have anything to do voter suppression?  I was about to declare this Pelosi craziness, when I realized it was actually pretty crafty.    

Following the Bush-Gore debacle in Florida, states have been cleaning up their election systems.  State legislatures have passed laws that have been very effective in eliminating voter fraud.  In my home state of Washington, Attorney General Rob McKenna has done a traffic job of getting rid of corruption and restoring confidence in the system.  

Attorney General Holder, on the other hand, has been fighting to overturn many of these laws for political purposes.  Why?  Very simply, voter fraud benefits Democrats more that Republicans.  Voting in the U.S. is a privilege reserved for the citizens of this country - not Chinese tourist or illegal Mexicans. 

Pelosi doesn’t see it that way.  In a way, she was right when she said Republicans are trying suppressing the votes.  They do.  They suppress illegal votes.  Unfortunately, Pelosi would rather have us believe this is all some dark mysterious plot.  All that stuff about lying before a congressional committee, withholding evidence, and being in contempt of congress - that’s nothing.  According to her, this is really all about punishing poor little Eric for doing his job. 

While none of this helps Obama, I maintain it doesn’t hurt him either.  It only serves two purposes, 1. It eclipses Romney.  Instead of hearing his message on how we are going to turn the economy around, we’re focused instead on the scandal.  2.  It makes a mockery of our government.  We need leadership we can trust, but all we get is mud wrestlers   No wonder America disrespects Congress.  

Scandals serve to polarize, they don’t persuade.  They provide division instead of vision.  A congress caught up in squabbling isn’t going to give us solutions for the problems we care about most.  If this flap continues through the summer, Obama will be re-elected narrowly in November.