Obama Dictates It All For You!!

Now America will learn the folly of voting for style over substance. Obama and his ideological partners in crime have played fast and loose with the American electorate the first two years of his administration. Elected on a platform of centrist moderation and bi-partisan support, he fooled the electorate, and rammed a radical leftist agenda down America’s throat with nary a glance at the poll numbers telling him that America didn’t want what he was selling: backdoor deals, bailouts, clandestine votes held on Christmas Eve, and a health care policy already spinning out of control…and it hasn’t even really started.

America fought back, and handed Obama a shellacking; his words not mine. It was the biggest turnover in the House of Representatives in seventy five years. Faced with an overtly Republican House, and a Senate now dominated by Republican and conservative Blue Dog Democrats up for re-election in 2012, Obama made nice on the tax compromise. But he kicked and screamed all the way calling Republicans hostage takers. So much for his feeble attempt at bi-partisanship!

But never fear!! Leftists always have a plan B, and it usually involves circumventing the Democratic process because what they want fails in the normal Democratic process. It is called authoritarianism…and we are now on the brink of entering Dictatorship America.

Pshaw, you say. You can pooh-pooh all you want, but that is exactly where we are headed. If he can’t win the vote in Congress…and can’t win the case court…he will do it through the Dictatorship of the Bureaucracy. Here come the agencies, courts and Congress be damned.

1) While America was out fa-la-la-ing around, the FCC took over the internet. Congress already told the FCC it couldn’t do it. The Supreme Court of the United States said it couldn’t do it. It did it, and how Congress and the Supreme Court reacts will dictate our freedoms for the future. Using old laws governing radio waves, the FCC implemented something called net neutrality, which means the owners of the broadband wires can’t play favorites as to who has access to them. Sounds good? You bet. Here’s the problem…there was no problem. Nobody was complaining. It is just something they wanted to do. And the FCC in a 3-2 vote told Congress and the Supreme Court to shove it. So what’s the big deal? Besides the obvious that the FCC is trying to dictate how the internet is used by fiat, it is a precursor to the re-establishment of the fairness doctrine in radio broadcasting. This is dangerous, and the proverbial getting the camel’s nose under the tent.

2) The EPA is about to promulgate (I love that word) a bunch of new rules that will implement by executive order the Cap and Trade global warming fiasco defeated in the Senate last year. It has declared carbon dioxide a dangerous gas, and is now claiming the right to regulate it. Watch out, America. While you are freezing your ass off in one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record, the global warming zealots are on the prowl doing good for you and for mankind. Never mind the science or the will of the people, they know what’s good for you.

3) In the health care debacle, Republicans warned of death panels. Congress removed from the health care bill funding to pay doctors for end of life counseling. That’s telling people the virtue of dying with dignity. This is more than turn off the machines when brain dead. This is making seniors feeling guilty about spending money for treatments that may prolong life but are expensive. Let’s just put granny in the box and bury her out back. By the way, this counseling is not the death panel Sarah Palin warned about. THAT is the government agency that determines the cost effectiveness of treatment by dividing the cost of the treatment by the actuarial tables’ life expectancy of the patient to determine whether that patient is qualified for treatment. If you break your hip if your 85, your screwed. That, of course, is not to be confused with the Health and Human Services Secretary granting compliance “waivers” to the new health care regs to “friends” while the rest of us twist slowly in the breeze. Seriously!!!!

This kind of arbitrary governance is dangerous and can lead to civil disobedience and civil unrest. Obama is conceding that he is finished in Congress. So now he will do what leftists do best…rule by decree. The battle for freedom over the next two years will shift to the courts….and I predict the United States Supreme Court will be very busy telling Obama and his minions just what they can, and more importantly, what they can’t do.

Death and Taxes

The nation dodged the bullet on the trillion dollar omnibus spending bill and saved the country a bundle. Couple that with the extension of the Bush tax cuts it was a pretty decent week for the American taxpayer. The electorate spoke in November, and Washington listened. One can only hope.

I hope America got an earful on how some of these guys think after the announcement of the Obama tax compromise. It wasn’t the Republicans making a stink. It was the Democrats. And the hostility and class hatred bubbled to the surface and they groused around about the “rich”. The estate tax compromise was the focal point of Democratic rancor. Where does the hate come from?

Ten years ago, if you had an estate valued over $650,000.00, you paid estate tax starting at 55%. No, that is not a misprint. If you were married, you were able to pyramid various tax credits to shelter $1.2 million…but if you were single, your heirs would have to pay 55% above $650,000.00 of what was inherited to the Federal government, plus another 7% to the state.

Bush gradually phased it out. This past year, the estate tax went to zero. So George Steinbrenner, worth millions, hit the jackpot (so to speak) by dying this past year. His multi-billion dollar estate paid nothing.

Democrats talk about the lack of an estate tax as being unfair. Could somebody please tell me what is fair about taking more than half of what a person owns when he dies? While there some uber rich who could afford and not blink an eye, for the most part these estate taxes were the death knell for family farms and small businesses that were capital intensive and cash poor. You can have a business that is valued at $20 mil, but if it is all equipment or land, you have to sell it off to pay the taxes.

If there were any other winners besides the government, it would be insurance companies. Small business people, if they were able, would purchase insurance policies for the sole purpose of paying taxes. Insurance trusts were specifically designed for this, and the life insurance was NOT subject to the federal estate tax so there would be enough cash to pay the taxes on the rest of the estates.

The compromise that came out of Obama for the next two years was to tax estates over $5 million at a rate of 35%. For a married couple with a good estate planner, that means about $10 million can be sheltered. I am opposed to all estate taxes, but I can live with this.

The Democrats screamed and yelled. How awful. Those rotten rich people!! How much liberal economic policy is based on sound economic principles, and how much on class envy and jealousy?

Remember, just ten years ago government bureaucrats were taking 55% of accumulated, earned, tax paid already wealth above $650,000.00. Maybe not in Youngstown, but in certain markets, that’s the value of an average house. And the government goons had no problem with that. And here is the lesson, if the government can do it to them, it can do it to you.

Now it’s the Republicans up at bat, I only hope they don’t screw it up, too.

We Need a Little Christmas

The mood of the country is ugly. In fact, the mood of the world is ugly. The riots in London, which have only been scantly reported by the American media, are about as ugly as they can get. Police were almost forced to draw guns on the mob as it attacked a car carrying Prince Charles and Camilla. The rear window was broken, and it looked dicey for awhile as bottles, rocks, and rotten fruit were thrown at the car. America isn’t there yet, but it’s close. The anger is palpable.

Maybe the country needs a rest. Maybe the country needs a little Christmas, as the song so eloquently declares. To quote Jimmy Carter, there is indeed a malaise over the nation. Things aren’t near as festive this year. Retailers have cut back. The decorations are skimpy. The news is depressing. The weather, at least in northeast Ohio, has been abysmal. America needs some time off to take stock of things. America needs to review the situation.

The good news is that as American institutions continue to sputter and fail, the American people are showing resiliency. The very nature of the country is being debated everywhere, from quilt clubs to coffee shops to dinner tables to churches. The debate is heated, but at least there is debate as America moves to redefine itself in ways that are monumental. What is the nature of our Constitution? What is the nature of our Democracy? What is the nature of property? What is fair…and what is greed? What is the nature of our commonality as a nation? What does Rule of Law mean? What is our role in the world economically and militarily? Can you imagine these types of issues being examined in any meaningful way as little as three years ago?

But it’s time to put the debate aside for awhile…say two or three weeks. It’s time to go home to our families and appreciate what we as individuals and as a nation have achieved. It’s time to hug your spouse and children. It’s time to bake some cookies. It’s time to party and to enjoy ourselves in the midst of traumatic times. Decorate your tree. Put up the lights. Go buy some presents. Go sledding or skiing. Drink toddy…the stronger the better. Go visit some friends or go out for dinner. Go see a Christmas show. Turn off the news and sports and turn on some Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby Christmas tunes, and watch the lake effect snow blowing outside your window.

Yes, we need a little Christmas. Right this very minute. Candles on the table. Carols at the spinet. And if you don’t have a spinet, turn on Fa la la la Lifetime and watch a hokey Christmas movie. Those are win/win. They will either make you glow all touchy feely inside, or be glad to be living in the reality of today’s world because nothing can be that sappy!!! Somebody got paid good money to write that stuff.

So, America, take a break. Cool it. And go and celebrate the season. Pelosi, Reid and cohorts will still be there after January 1.

Whacked over Wikileaks? Go See a Christmas Show!

Reading the Drudge Report, one can quickly discern that the world, the county and Obama are spinning out of control. So much bad news, so many disturbing things, I don’t know what to write about. How about you? Are you whacked over Wikkileaks? Are you suffering tax-olepy over tax cuts? Are you seething over spending? Are you dopey over the deficit? Hey, it’s Christmastime. Go see a show. And there are plenty of local chestnuts from which to choose.

If you are looking for something to do Saturday the 4th or Sunday the 5th, check out Move Over Broadway’s latest entry in its “Believe” Christmas series. We saw the show tonight, and as usual, Marlene Stollo and Company outdid themselves at St. Michael’s in Canfield. The show features the “come to be expected” outstanding choral work and spectacular solo voices, as well as numerous ensemble pieces. Highlights included the terminally cute Broadway Babies singing the Christmas Alphabet, a ladies ensemble version of It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, and Tom Gent and Grace Vouvalis’ duet version of Thankful. The bifurcated program hits a spot on religious note the first half, and a secular extravaganza the second. The show finales with its outstanding medley of carols ending with a spectacular O Holy Night. Don’t miss this one.

But just in case you do…there is a Christmas stocking full of other holiday happenings from which to choose. The Oakland Theater is at its satirical best with How The Drag Queen Stole Christmas this weekend and next . Go with an open mind. As if the regular version is not enough, next week they offer a very special unrated, no holds barred midnight show for the most brave among you. We saw it last year, and it was hoot. We were so shocked at what we saw, we are going to see it again next weekend…the regular version…not the XXX version.

Stage Left Players in Lisbon moves Christmas to a diner in Jingle My Bells, also this weekend and next weekend. Snowbound patrons order Christmas over easy. I know the drummer, and he only does good stuff!!

Victorian Players offers In The Spirit of Christmas through December 5. It is a series of vignettes sure to tug at your heart strings. Victorian Players does an outstanding job at more traditional theater presentations…and this is no exception.

The Youngstown Playhouse does Inspecting Carol December 10 – 19th. A local theater company tries to save its subscribers and funding by doing a spiced up version of A Christmas Carol. Seems a little too close to the truth here in Youngstown…but reviews of the play say it is a side splitter. If you want to cry at Christmas, stay home and watch the Hallmark Channel!!

Salem Community Theater serves up a stage version of Miracle on 34th Street December 10 – 19th. These folks always do a terrific job, and their shows are always filled. This should be no exception. Which way to Macy’s?

On a bigger scale, Miracle on Easy Street once again is offered at the Powers Auditorium by Youngstown’s own professional Easy Street Productions. This is a Youngstown tradition, made more special by some of the personal issues overcome by the stars and owners of the production company. They have put out a CD of the show’s musical highlights. It is a great, happy CD. The $20.00 cost will go a long way in helping them to recover from some of their physical and monetary issues. I’m there this year. And the CD really is worth the money. It will be one of my favorites.

The Youngstown Symphony Christmas program Sounds of the Season is presented December 11th. This is always a top notch production. We saw it last year, and the gospel tunes set our toes a tappin’. Don’t miss it.

Finally, my own Seraphim Chorus is doing Vivaldi’s Gloria, plus other familiar Christmas tunes on December 12, 3:00 PM at Martin Luther Lutheran Church at Clearmont and Hudson. We have never sounded better, and a free will offering gets you admission to one of the hottest tickets in town. We are THAT good.

Have a Merry Christmas…and forget about that Wikkileaks leaks stuff!!

Changing our Schools

On Saturday morning, I stopped at Panera’s to have a cup of coffee with a friend of mine. We had only been sitting at the table for a short time when an acquaintance of mine came over to say hello. He is on one of the local school boards. He opined that the school board was afraid of newly elected Republican Governor Kasich and what he was going to do to the schools. I responded that Kasich wasn’t going to do anything to the schools per se. Our state constitution states the budget must be balanced, and since the Medicaid and schools make the bulk of the state’s budget, that is where the cuts are going to have to be made. You can’t spend what you don’t have.

He then praised Strickland’s raising of the CAT (Commercial Activity Tax) and putting that money towards the schools. Of course, what he didn’t say was it probably cost Ohio tens of thousands of jobs, which depresses the housing market, which lowers the revenue base for property taxes, which is the primary means of school funding in Ohio.

Next he criticized charter schools for bankrupting the local school systems. That comment precipitated another lady, who none of us knew, to come over and join the conversation. She teaches in a local charter school, and roundly gave my friend the proverbial “what for.” Now people were watching us.

Then my friend criticized the voters for defeating several school levies. He said that they just don’t understand. I informed him folks understand perfectly. I live in Canfield, and have four rental properties. If our Canfield local levy would have passed, it would have cost me an additional $2500.00 a year taxes…that is equal to one month’s income from the rental properties. That would be in addition to the two months I am already paying in current property taxes. We are at the end of the road, I said. The well is dry, I said.

People aren’t stupid. They have seen the state spend tens of millions of tobacco settlement money on “buildings”, particularly in the inner city, none of which has improved the schools' preformance one iota. A case in point is Volney Rogers Junior High School, which was relatively new, and torn down for no reason at all other than the school system had some money to burn. Violence in the new East and Chaney High Schools makes the front page of the Vindicator. People have seen dollars upon dollars upon dollars thrown at education, and the output goes down…not up. The answer isn’t in money. The answer is someplace else, and everyone knows it.

It is important that all citizens of Ohio to get involved in finding alternative means of funding the schools. We have been fooled by the elected officials in Columbus. They said the lottery money was supposed to go for schools. It did; but the general assembly then cut existing school funding from the non-lottery budget. The Youngstown City Schools get funding in the amount of $11,000.00 per pupil from the state. Canfield gets $1700.00. How much is enough?

I suspect Kasich will do several things to balance the state budget while improving how our schools operate. At the top of the list will be consolidation of small districts. Next will be unification of generic services for county schools. For example, a county run bus system with a centralized coordinator; county wide payroll services; centralized buying; and a cap on administrative personnel payroll as a percentage of a school systems’ budget. You will also see caps on system admininstrative fees, and perhaps an overhaul of the County Boards of Education.

But more importantly…he will begin the process of moving away from the property tax as the fundamental source of funds for schools. Arguments can be made both for and against this idea. There will ALWAYS be a degree of property tax for local schools, if for nothing else than to allow each consolidated district to maintain a degree of autonomy. But my guess you will see a retreat from property and income taxes, and perhaps a move to a sales tax model. This will not just be for school funding, but for the state generally.

Change is coming whether we like it or not. The more we know, the more we can participate in the outcome. It's time to end the controversy over school funding.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving! It is a simple phrase that is uniquely American. Even in the worst of times, America has always been a land of plenty. Sure, we have relative poverty in the United States…that means even the poor have access to junk food and cell phones. But in the rest of the world there is absolute poverty, with bloated stomachs and flies and people dying of thirst or starvation. We don’t have that here, and I am thankful.

This past year has been a tumultuous year both in my personal life, and in the life of the country. On a personal level, I have done things and achieved certain goals I thought would have been impossible several years ago. I have sadly said goodbye to old friends who have died or moved away. I have joyfully made new friends that have added new texture of my life. I am singing better. I am fundraising better. I am practicing law better. I am politicking better. I have met some interesting people beyond my reach a year ago. I have had some fun, eaten some good food, taken some trips. I have spent quality time with my family, the most important thing of all.

In the life of the country that I love, I watched Americans rise up and stand up against government intrusion into our lives. While I have seen disturbing things happen that never in million years did I think could happen here, I have also watched and listened as ordinary Americans openly debated the nature of our country, our freedom, our constitution, and American exceptionalism. Not only was it debated, it was debated with an intensity that would have made the founding fathers proud. And on election day, the people sent the elite in Washington a message…the people are still the boss. And if they didn't get the message the first time, the American people will be prepared to send the same message again in 2012.

This past year America has made a choice of growth opportunity over managed decline. We are paying off our credit cards at home, and now we want our government to pay off the credit card in Washington. We are choosing hope over fear, and I don’t mean the false hope of Barack Obama which offers nothing but government dependency. We are choosing the hope self reliance, personal freedom, unlimited economic progress built on hard work. We are not ready to throw in the towel like Britain or France, tossing the American dream on the dust heap of European social democracy.

We have a long way to go as the people continue examine the cause of the current national malaise. But they will sort it out as the themes of free trade but fair trade, an aggressive energy policy, and a common sense environmental policy begin to rise to the surface of the debate. And we will repeal and replace the convoluted health care plan passed by an ideological group of rabid leftists against the express will of the American people.

And a word to the TSA and its bizarre screening plan. The terrorists are not nuns or handicapped or five year old girls. How dare they take away our dignity in the name of political correctness gone awry because we might offend some Muslims. Shame on the the TSA, and shame on Barack Obama for allowing this to happen. This is government out of control in the worst possible way. America will rise up against these indignities, too.

We will take the country back.

For all of the above, I am thankful. God bless America.

The Debt Commission's Homerun

Obama’s much maligned debt commission, issuing a preliminary report, got it right. In fact, the recommendations are a home run. We are in a debt crisis which is effecting every aspect of our life, and everything needs to be on the table. And what is surprising, the hue and cry of criticism has been remarkably muted. America is in the mood to get all of this mess straightened out, and realizes there are no sacred cows.

Among its recommendations is the elimination of the home mortgage interest deduction for mortgages in excess of $500,000.00. Finally!!! While the government and populous has long viewed this sacred cow as an entry way into home ownership representing the America dream; how has that worked out for you? Most experts ask a very logical question. Why should a segment of the population who responsibly attempts to limit the amount of money borrowed against their houses subsidize interest payments for those who use it as a cash cow…which is the effect of this tax deduction!! It skews the prices of real estate, and punishes those who attempt responsible behavior. It is particularly egregious on luxury homes, where rich take the tax deduction and use their money for something else as taxpayers make the interest payments.

Social Security was originally designed as a government safety net for those seniors who probably would die prior to qualifying for the benefit. It has morphed into the government paying for all living expenses once you turn 66 and for the next 20 -25 years. It is a ponzi scheme based on new people coming into the workforce paying for those leaving the workforce at the other end. Whereas before 20 people coming in payed for 1 person leaving, it is almost two to one now! It is unsustainable.

The recommendations are to raise the retirement age to 69 by the year 2075. That is not as goofy as it sounds. Advances in medicine, including cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease will most likely extend the average life span to almost 90 years old, and general overall medical care will make people more fit for work for longer periods of time. Hardship provisions will be built into the system for those who have physically conditions preventing them from working over 65…but for the most part this idea is a winner. In addition, it raises the amount of income subject to social security contribution to $150,000.00.

The balance of recommendations is mixed bag of fairly standard stuff. There would be an increase in the gasoline tax by 15 cents per gallon. Government would subject to mandatory reductions in earmark programs and an across the board budget cut for all agencies. Also included is a freeze on federal employee wages (long overdue). Tax rates will be simplified and greatly reduced in exchange for elimination of the alternate minimum tax and other tax deductions which are slights of hand for special interest groups. It is chuck full of all sorts of stuff!!

There has been some rumbling from the right and the left. It reminds me of the immortal rules of the late, great Mahoning County domestic relations Judge Leskovansky: If both parties leave here angry at me, then I have done my job.

It remains to be seen how many, if any, of the recommendations will be eventually adopted. But I am encouraged that difficult issues will now be addressed in an adult manner. For all of the posturing on the left and right wing blogs and pundits, most of America is ready for a serious conversation of those things that are necessary to secure the financial well being of our country for ourselves and our children. Bravo, debt commission!!

Republican 2010 - A Tempered Victory

Back in the 2008 Presidential election, I wrote that every twenty years or so the American public flirts with liberalism, and is then reminded to avoid it for another twenty years. Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and now Obama have been the deliverers of the liberal message, and the recipients of the public boot, either directly or through a massive change in Congress.

But this time is different. As far as the public is concerned, Republicans aren’t much better than Democrats. It’s a matter of which devil you prefer. I agree with the pundits who say that the Republicans are now on probation. The country wants the Republicans to act and solve problems, but it won’t be easy. Obama’s approach was to ease the pain by massive federal subsidies. It dulls the ache, but nothing gets better. The Republican approach will be to get the bad stuff and pain over with quickly. It’s gonna hurt; but we will come out the other end stronger…or so goes the theory.

In my humble opinion, this recession is not the result of the ordinary ebb of economic activity. It is systemic. There has to be major governmental course corrections in three areas before the economy can become normalized. I repeat them here again:

1) Normalization of the trade imbalances with China. We are going to have to get tough with Chinese currency manipulations and a Chinese economic plan based on exports rather than internal growth…which it could do if it so chose.

2) An aggressive energy policy. We are going to have to expand our energy supply in all directions with a view to creating energy for energy’s sake rather than a tool of environmental global warming policy. Drill here. Drill now. Build nuclear plants. Build solar and wind farms. Improve battery technology. Develop hydrogen powered cars. Build the infrastructure to allow for alternative energy development.

3) Develop a sane environmental policy. The environmental whackos are calling the shots. It has to stop. Everyone is for a clean environment, but the tail is wagging the dog on this one, and unless it stops, the dog is going to die. Reasonableness and cost effectiveness must be given due consideration. Real science, not pop or cult science, must be the basis of decisions. Review times need to be shortened…and humans must be place above irrelevant, minor and obscure species whose extinction is irrelevant. Thousands of species die out every year by natural selection, and the world keeps on spinning.

As for health care and social security, we need to grow up and get real, balancing the financial realities with undue expectations. The health care bill should be tossed or massively amended to take care of the needs of the uninsured and contain costs. There are ways it can be done without cost effectiveness government panels deciding you are too old for that hip replacement. Many of the social security issues can be resolved by raising early retirement to age 64, and full retirement to age 67. Simple solution… DO IT!!!! People also must be made to realize that social security was never designed to provide an individual with a “full” retirement. It was designed as a supplement, not a life style.

These are simple concepts, although vested and extreme based interests will make a political stink. If the government can do the above…America will once again find the path to greatness.

Election Day - 2010

On Tuesday, you will be asked to cast your vote in one of the most important off year elections this country has seen in many years. It is an election that will decide which path our nation takes and follows into the future. It is an election to see whether the United States will choose hope or fear; freedom or dependency.

For many people, the choice will be based on looking for a safe alternative. The decision will be made based on holding onto a piece of a perceived shrinking economic pie. To slow the shrinkage, these folks will look to the government to protect them. What they fail to realize, it is that very government which is now asking them to prostrate themselves before it for a few pieces of silver has no silver left to give. It has spent all that it has, and all that their children will make.

It is asking you to give up choices…choices relating to health care; choices relating to how you heat your home; choices as to the car you drive; choices as to what you eat; choices as to how you light your house; choices as to what you can put in your child’s lunch box; choices as to how much water you can use…even how you can flush your toilet. You see, the nanny state has a price for taking care of you. That price is to force you into following its vision for some unattainable utopian future. The government has taken your money. Now it wants your soul.

American self reliance has always been our strong suit. What is our self reliance worth? Barack Obama promised hope in his election. Instead, he is peddling fear. He is saying that you, as an individual, cannot make it without his benevolent help…or that of Nancy Pelosi…or that of Harry Reid. Take his hand and he will lead you…but to where? Do you want a nation of elite bureaucrats deciding every aspect of your life? That, my friends, only leads to a life of despair. There are no limits to what these government operatives will require of you for a taste of their vision of hope.

Real hope lies in the individual. It lies in freedom, common sense, and responsibility to our God, our nation, our family, and to each of one of us. Government is a false god. Thomas Jefferson said a nation is lost when it forgets that freedom comes from God. Freedom isn’t what the government allows us to have. Freedom is God given, and it is our duty to defend it from government assault.

Ronald Reagan said that government isn't the solution to the problem. Government is the problem. If you have any doubts, look around you. Are things getting better or worse? The financial meltdown was caused not by a lack of government regulation, but by a government that actually encouraged those things to happen that led to that fateful day in September in 2008. Those policies started under Jimmy Carter, and were expanded by Bill Clinton and George Bush.

And here is the dirty little secret. Those policies are still in place. None of the regulation reform instituted by Barack Obama has stopped any of the abuses that caused the problems in the first place. The same nasty practices are still going on today. And you should be afraid.

But don’t fear, you have health care…maybe. You have government regulating what you can eat. You have government regulating what you can say. You have government regulating every aspect of your life, except for the one that counts…the ability for you to go and get a job and support yourself and your family.

Wake up America. When you go to vote on Tuesday, vote for true hope and change. Vote for the candidate that will protect individualism, freedom, common sense, and personal responsibility.

God bless the United States of America.

Energy and Fair Trade - The Path to Recovery

I read an article in Newsweek the other day. The guy writing the article had a pretty good grasp of how currency works, and went into great detail about various currency wars over the past 50 years. His premise was that in hard economic times, most nations maneuver to weaken their currency to expand exports, and the United States is no exception. But as I have written several times over the past weeks, China has raised currency manipulation to an art form. That being said, in this cycle the United States has been successful in weakening its currency vis-a-vis the Euro and Yen.

The flip side of the equation is that as the dollar weakens, imports into the United States become more expensive. So…if China lets its currency rise, imported goods from China become more expensive, and goods exported from the United States to China become cheaper. The unintended consequence is that imported oil becomes much more expensive. Given the regulatory, environmental, and redistribution policies of Barack “no growth” Obama, that becomes problematic. Ex.: the oil drilling embargo in the Gulf of Mexico (lifted just this past week due to massive political pressure). We are between the rock and the hard place. Money flows out of the United States either to China with a strong dollar, or to OPEC with a weak dollar.

Any economic recovery has to be two pronged. 1) China has to let its currency float and rise; and 2) We have to increase domestic energy production to stave off the effects of increased imported oil prices. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Two simple things to restore our nation’s economic prowess!! But it won’t happen, not under this ideologically pure President.

In fairness to Barack, he has addressed the trade imbalance with China more than his predecessors. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much. The United States has to be much more aggressive, but our leaders spew fear that the Chinese will stop buying our bonds. Bunk!!! The Chinese will make a lot of noise. And even if they act, more likely than not it would be an anemic reaction! And even if it was a strong reaction, I have read numerous articles saying that it would not be the financial Armageddon that the many people say it will be. The estimates I have read say it would only affect a small percentage of the debt.

As for the energy, Obama’s green policy is purely ideological, based on global warming. That is a problem. His policy is not one of expanding energy supplies, it is based on restricting your access to any kind of energy at all. An energy policy based on environment purity, and one based on economic growth are two different animals. He is foisting his environmental religion on us in the form of green energy jobs. Spain did the same thing. Any energy jobs produced pale in comparison to more traditional energy jobs lost. Just ask the thousands upon thousands of unemployed oil platform workers in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.

So…this is what we are facing. Currency and energy are the paths to economic recovery; and how to do it is not complicated. The main problem is finding a political leader that can articulate it, and use common sense action to get the desired result. If you know somebody like that…please let me know.

Meanie Bodinie

My lovely wife Ginger, while discussing a family matter, said to me that she was tired of being a Meanie-Bodinie. This morning I read an article by Robert Reich in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled GOP’s Tough Love Cruel to Millions of Americans. A similar topic was the subject of a sermon about benevolence in church…we were told we are not doing enough. Couple that with one Democratic politician who said the Republican solution to health care reform is death….WOW!

I was aghast. I must be a Meanie-Bodinie. But you know what? I didn’t know that being for smaller government, less taxes, and more individual freedom and choice made me a Meanie-Bodinie. I thought it made me a compassionate conservative. Find me a priest. I need to go to confession.

It all depends on how one views issues of poverty. For example, I think that Second Harvest Food Bank is a worthy endeavor, and I do what I can to support it. On the other hand, when I hear comments from various people that the organization is successful because it is now serving 10,000 families, or 15% more families than last year…that’s not success! That is failure. It is failure on the part of our society and economic system to provide people a means to make a living. If the goal of charitable success is more parties served, the nation is doomed to failure.

Money doesn’t grow on trees. It comes from people working, people making things of value. Government produces nothing. It recycles…taking money from one place and putting it in another. To do that, it must pay bureaucrats to handle the shifting of money. More often than not, bureaucrats aren’t very efficient at their job. It is just the nature of the beast. One never handles other people’s money as carefully as one handles one’s own, be it a government endeavor or not. The bureaucrat takes a cut of every dollar that passes though him. He is a middleman. That middleman has no incentive to make sure the money is spent the way it was intended. His function is to disburse the money…nothing else. And his self interest is served by having more and more money to disburse, not resolving any issues.

As Margaret Thatcher once said…the trouble with socialism is sooner or later you run out of other people’s money. No matter how noble the cause or how well intentioned the government program, sooner or later it will run out of money. Right now, in the United States, we are out of money.

So how are the poor best served? I subscribe to the belief that a rising tide raises all ships. If the economy improves, all citizens will benefit. If a healthy base is rebuilt from the shambles of the financial meltdown…all citizens will benefit. If small business is able to regenerate itself, all citizens will benefit. But in order for that to happen, the government needs to get out of the way, and yes, some folks will have to feel some pain as things move forward. There is no free lunch. Sooner or later, we are going to have to take the medicine, and a spoonful of Obama sugar won’t help.

Mr. Reich, one of President Obama’s closest advisors testified in Congress we don’t need any more, white, blue collar construction jobs. Unfortunately, Mr. Reich, that’s EXACTLY what we need. It is those white, blue collar construction jobs that pay taxes.

Condemning folks to a lifetime of government assistance and dependency is the worst kind of cruelty. That is a new form of slavery that knows no color..only hardship and dependency. Obama commented this past week it took a long time to free the slaves in this country. Yes, Mr. President, you are right. But how do we free the people stuck in poverty…1/10th of the United States population on food stamps. Who is the real Meanie-Bodinie?

Five Free Things to Improve Our Schools

Waiting for Superman is the new documentary about the failure of American public schools. Once the envy of the world, the American education system has declined to an embarrassing ranking of 26th. The documentary examines many things, but from what I have read places the blame mostly on teacher unions. I disagree. They are part of the problem, but down on the list. More money isn't the answer either. We have continually thrown money at the problem with per pupil spending rising exponentially, while test scores plummet. The answer is someplace else.

Here are five things that would improve learning in the schools, and none of them cost a dime.

1) BAN CELL PHONES IN THE CLASSROOM. How did we survive without them for all those years? Parental pressure keeps schools from requiring cell phones to be checked at the door. But simply banning their use in the classroom doesn't work. Teachers spend a good part of their teaching time looking under desks and behind books as students continue to text away rather than pay attention to the teacher, not to mention the teacher's time in enforcing the rules.

2) UNIFORMS. Leave the butt cracks and bouncing boobs for the malt shop. Schools with uniforms routinely outperform schools without uniforms. Today's students can't respect education if they can't respect themselves enough to leave the gangsta rap droopy drawers in the drawer back home. And just so you know, "dress codes" work for about the first three days of school.

3) HIRE TEACHERS, NOT COACHES. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the beginning of the slide in American education occurred about the same time as men moved into the primary education field in a big way. School hiring should be based on what teachers can teach and how well they can teach it...not what they can coach. How many social studies teachers have been hired because they can coach wrestling? Coaching staff should be handled independently of the teaching staff.

4) END MAINSTREAMING. Another example where courts have interfered in the education process. While some challenged students actually benefit from mainstreaming, many of them do not. The purpose is to make the parents feel better. Teachers are using an inordinate amount of time at the expense of the other students taking care of mainstream issues. All students should be placed in a learning environment best suited to individual needs within reason. Challenged students should be placed where they can actually learn something, no matter how disconcerting it is to Mom and Dad.

5) LIMIT ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF. Bureaucracies beget more bureaucracy. Schools are no exceptions. Lately there has been a piling on. Administrative personnel tend to get bigger raises at the expense of teaching staff....over and over and over again. No teacher should be laid off in order to provide an administrator with a 5-10% raise, not in this day and age. The cost of administrative staffs should be limited to a certain percentage of a school system's budget, and no raises should be given to these folks at all if teachers are being laid off.

Add increased discipline to the mix; allow teachers to once again flunk students; prohibit administrators from unilaterally changing grades; expel students who either physically or verbally abuse teachers….you will see the school systems shape up real fast.

But you and I know none of the above will ever happen. Meanwhile, let's just blame the teachers.

Where Do You Go To Get Your Reputation Back?

Wikipedia defines Yellow Journalism as follows:

“Yellow journalism or the yellow press is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension "Yellow Journalism" is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion .”

The latest local political scandal involving the Cafaro family and certain public officials has once again garnered yellow journalistic headlines in the local paper. What are these folks doing?

My position is clear. No matter how inflammatory the indictment or bill of particulars, these are allegations, not statements of fact. Just because somebody said it happened doesn't make it so. The Vindicator knows that. Buzz words like conspiracy and bribery and perjury make for great headlines and may even sell a paper or two. But at the end of the day, this is a criminal proceeding in which both sides of the issue will be heard by a jury. Until that time, all of the parties are presumed to innocent until proven guilty. That isn’t a platitude. It is the bulwark of our criminal justice system. The Vindicator should tone it down a bit, especially under these circumstances.

Nobody wants corrupt public officials. But there is something more going on here. This isn’t open the fee drawer in a judge’s desk or look the other way while the mobsters are blowing up another car or taking bribes to allow trafficking in drugs. This looks more like politics bleeding into the criminal justice system. “We don't want Cafaro controlling Mahoning County” is not a legal argument. It’s a political argument.

Criminalization of political behavior is a dangerous game. Remember Scooter Libby? The government went on a multi-year witch hunt to find out who leaked that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. Turns out the special prosecutor knew the answer almost from the beginning. Instead of stopping the investigation, the special prosecutor wasted millions upon millions of the taxpayers’ money harassing Bush appointees for political purposes; convicting Scooter Libby for perjury in an irrelevant interview a year after the Special Prosecutor should have ceased the investigation. Is that kind of justice you want?

Or Blago up in Illinois. Now there was an open and shut case. Dude, he walked!!! So much for all of the hype! It was political behavior. It might be unseemly and dirty, but the Feds couldn’t get the jury to agree it was illegal.

I don’t know how this is going to turn out. Almost all of these folks had stellar reputations in the community prior to these alleged "crimes." It may be everything the prosecution says it is, or it may turn out to be a political vendetta. I have read a portion of the indictments and the pleadings. In my opinion, this is much ado about nothing. Lot's of smoke, but not much fire. I might be proven wrong; but what if I’m right?

If it turns out these folks are innocent, where do they go to get their reputations back?

Where Have All The Homeless Gone?

Where have all the homeless gone? Remember during the Bush years the continual cacophony of homeless noise on CNN and the rest of the “mainstream” media? The unemployment was at 4.5%, but the media talked about “jobless prosperity” and how many homeless there were in the country. Story after story of people looking for shelter told us the Bush and the Republicans were deaf to the cries of the poor and needy.

Of course, those stories only surfaced during the administrations of Bush the elder and the Bush the younger. There were no homeless under Bill Clinton, and there are definitely no homeless under Barack Obama. It’s a miracle.

The truth is far more disturbing. Poverty in the United States is on the rise. The poverty rate is currently 15%, up from 13.5% last year. That means 1 in 7 Americans are living in poverty, and experts claim that, truth be told, it is actually approaching 1 in 6.

Approximately 3.5 million Americans will be homeless at least sometime during this year, if not more. Approximately 1.6 million of these folks will be housed in a public shelter. On any given day, there are approximately 650,000 American living in a temporary shelter. The rest will end up in a car or on the street, or take refuge in the home of a relative. The chronically homeless number about 110,000 and is on the rise.

A little under ½ of the homeless suffer from a disability, from mental disease to HIV. Each night there are approximately 107,000 veterans using a public shelter. Of families located in shelters, 240,000 are single mothers. Other categories include those suffering from domestic violence, and young adults barely 18 years of age bounced out of the foster care system (Statistics taken from Poverty.org / Who Is Homeless in America by Josie Raymond /July 6, 2010).

Yet to watch the evening news, you would think that they have simply been absorbed in the aura of Obama’s wonderfulness. They don’t exist unless they are reported by the media, and the media has chosen not to report them.

In my research for this article, what surprised me was the coldness of the statistics that were being reported by various government agencies. Rather than examining the causes of homelessness, the numbers were couched in terms of 6000 people being served. The measure of success at the various agencies was not geared in developing policies to end homelessness, but rather to signing people up for government programs.

Here is the bad news. The government can try, but it will NEVER “program” folks out of poverty. There isn’t enough money in the world to do that. Best case scenario, any government program will be temporary (as it should be). Worst case scenario, those signing up for the program instead sign up for a life style of continual poverty and hopelessness. When success is measured in “numbers served” rather than numbers moved off the roles to successful lives, those in the system become just that…a number served. No help. No improvement. No success. Just a number to justify more money to the agency!

Obama has made homelessness a priority, whatever that means. But the increasing poverty numbers and homeless don’t do anything to help his presidency. He prefers to keep them hid. What he has proposed is an expansion of the Bush homeless policy. Bush concentrated on housing for the chronically homeless and veterans. Obama is keeping the Bush strategy intact and expanding on it with the goal to “end homelessness by 2020.”

Good luck with that, because the Washington Post reported that while the Obama proposals are strong on platitudes, they are short on funding. There is a reason for that…like I said…there is not enough money in the world to take care of the problem.

In the meantime, if you see a homeless story on TV news show, let me know. I bet the next time you see a homeless story on any network other than Fox, there will be a Republican president. They will just kind of pop up from nowhere.

In Afghanistan, What Does Win Mean?

I am very uncomfortable about the Afghan war. In this political season when domestic issues are at the helm of the debate, Afghanistan is looming in the background. If the mainstream press catches on to what is going on over there, I predict it will move to the forefront of the political debate in the next presidential election.

More than 575 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since Barack Obama was sworn in as President. 323 of those casualties occurred this year alone. The total number of American/British/Australian casualty’s exceeds 2200 since the beginning of the war. The death trend lines are on the way up.

President Obama said that Iraq was the wrong war. The right war was in Afghanistan. He has a point. Afghanistan was the launching point for the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda in collaboration with the Taliban Afghan government. We should retaliate against the country that invaded us…and that would be Afghanistan. The first American military charge of the 21st Century was a cavalry charge in the Northern provinces.

But beyond the logic of attaching those who attacked you…what does one do with Afghanistan? It is one of the poorest nations in the world. Its chief export is opium. It has a medieval religion…even the moderates are archaic! It does have substantial natural resource deposits, but they are located in difficult places to mine.

To quote the Looks Like I’m Fixin’ to Die Rag from the Vietnam protest days: “Well, it’s one, two three, what are we fightin’ for?” I wish the government would explain what the ultimate goal is in Afghanistan. How does one define “win” in Afghanistan?

We have routed the Taliban from Kabul, the capital. The balance of the country is nominally under control of the national government, but in reality is under the control of a bunch of tribes and warlords. These guys are friendly to whomever pays them the most, or the party who scares them the most.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban are scattered in the mountains, some of which are in Afghanistan, and others in Pakistan in a wasteland region out of control of the Pakistani government. This is guerilla warfare being fought by zealots funded by Iran. How does an occupying force “win” such a war? I don’t think it can be won in the traditional sense. Even a nation building approach is questionable as the Afghan government is hopelessly corrupt.

President Bush was faced with three rogue nations after 9/11: Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. Bush and Obama have at least achieved a degree of victory in Iraq. Iran seems to be off the table when it comes to military action. And in Afghanistan, we appear to be gearing up for a war of attrition against an enemy that cannot be defined or segregated into any specific boundary or territory. That is scary. Afghanistan is not called the graveyard of empires for nothing. Its most recent casualty was the Soviet Union, which bankrupted itself into oblivion.

Add to the mix Obama’s extreme left wing ideological bent…I think he owes the American public a concise and pithy explanation of American goals in this war. If it were George Bush sitting in the White House, I guarantee you would see body counts on the nightly news…night after night after night.

So Mr. Obama, what does “win” mean in Afghanistan?

A Broken Moral Compass

I had lunch with a friend of mine last week. He is a banker, and talked about how folks are walking away from their mortgages. They are walking away not because they have lost their jobs, or are having financial problems, but simply because their homes are “underwater.” That means the house is worth less than they paid for it, and most likely less than the mortgage.

Folks like this have a choice. They can do the right thing: keep paying their mortgage knowing they owe the money; that the value of the house will most likely return in better times; and it is the moral thing to do. Or they can do the wrong thing: walk away and stick the bank with the note and the property. Too many folks are choosing the latter instead of the former.

My friend said that years ago that wouldn’t have happened. People had respect for themselves and other people. People had honor, and did the right thing. “We have lost our moral compass,” he said. His statement gave me a moment of clarity. I think that sums up the problems of today in about a pithy a statement as one can make.

Whether it is the government or unions or big business or education or anything else, America has adopted a mentality of everyman for himself. I watched a movie the other night entitled “The Smartest Men in the Room.” It was the story of Enron. Talk about the lack of a moral compass. It should be required viewing for every business student. The scam these guys pulled off was breathtaking in its magnitude, and was void of any morality.

My wife was in Penney’s on Saturday and it was packed with teenagers being followed by herds of children. One of the clerks told here these young women were single mothers who were given a $175.00 JCP gift card for each one of their illegitimate kids. The program was part of Obama’s stimulus money, implemented through the county. The story was buried in the Vindicator under a headline relating to demolition contracts. 3400 single mothers participated. Given most of these folks have more than one illegitimate child, you can guess that it cost the taxpayer close to $100,000.00 in Mahoning County alone.

It’s not that I don’t have sympathy for these folks, but the spectacle was obscene. In light of all the sex education programs in the school and the accessibility of contraception, there is no reason for illegitimate children in this day and age other than the mothers may want them, or they have zero sense of responsibility at all. The “nobody is going to tell me what to do” entitlement mentality has to be learned. There are two ways to prevent an unwanted pregnancy: 1) use birth control, or 2) don’t have sex. Both are easy and cheap. But the moral compulsion, the moral compass, isn’t there to point in the right direction.

The lack of a moral compass is rooted in two things.

1) The elimination and degradation of religion in our society. In order to establish morality, there has to be some mechanism that establishes right and wrong. Historically, that has been in religion. It’s no coincidence that the basic moral fabric of the United States rooted in the Ten Commandments has frayed as the Ten Commandments have been moved from our public institutions. Right or wrong has to be the starting point…and the shades of gray should be the exception instead of the rule; be it stealing or sex.

2) Secular relativism has become the norm. Beginning in the 1960’s, the do it if it feels good philosophy took root and flowered in our schools, universities, and the media. It’s all about what makes me happy. I am entitled to be happy. There are no rules, just self satisfaction and feeling good. But to have aspirations and goals, one has to know the rules. Today, there are no rules. Look around. What do you see? Anger is growing in our society. People are becoming more antagonistic by the day as decency and common courtesy have given way to individual and selfish needs and desires. Walk away from the mortgage. Scam those stockholders. Have more babies out of wedlock. People are even losing the ability to talk to one another. It’s all shades of gray.

Nothing will get better in this country until boundaries of behavior are re-established based on higher moral principles other worship of the government. Until that time, we are in for a bumpy ride.

Cafaro v. Mahoning County

Once again Mahoning County leaps to the forefront of corruption. It seems that over the past 20 years, Mahoning County has been at the center of one corruption investigation after another. Just when you start think the pit has been cleaned out, here comes another wave.

Now we are at the center of another scandal as indictments were issued against a county commissioner, the county auditor, a local lawyer, a former county treasurer, and Anthony and Flora Cafaro, who are among the most prominent of families in the Mahoning Valley. The indictments center around the purchase of the Southside Hospital by Mahoning County. The primary goal was to do some consolidation of county offices, but mostly to move the Family Services Department from the McGuffey Mall, owned by the Cafaro Company, to the new facility.

At the center of the controversy was the lease between the county and Cafaro for the McGuffey Mall facility, requiring the county to repair the leased premises. My understanding was the lease was a triple net lease, requiring the county to do the repair work when they vacated the premises. A lawsuit followed, and the county ended up having to pay for the work required under the lease.

A political brouhaha developed around the purchase of the old hospital facility, renovated previously under a public/private partnership that went belly up. Sides were drawn up between those who wanted to purchase the facility, and those who wanted to continue to lease the existing premises at the McGuffey Mall. The Cafaro’s, over the years, made campaign donations to those opposing the move which tied into a political fight to control the local Democratic Party…somehow. I can’t figure it out.

Here is what I do know. The Cafaro family has been a prominent and an extremely philanthropic family in the area for as long as I can remember. We owe them a lot. The headquarters was kept within the City of Youngstown helping its tax base. Its real estate holdings in Mahoning and Trumbull County help support our schools and roads. They have been major backers and source of funds for Youngstown State University. The Cafaro family has always made political contributions to just about every candidate running for office at every level of government. There is nothing new here.

The indictment was non-specific…and it appears to me that something else is in play here. I just don’t know what…yet. I do know that on its face this appears to be an effort to criminalize normal political behavior. People can have differing opinions, even among our elected officials, as to the wisdom of various government financial decisions.

Was the original lease bad for the county? Yes...but the county signed it years ago, and it was reviewed and held up for public comment. Could the Cafaro’s have met with local public officials regarding continuing a $500,000.00/year lease for Family Services at the McGuffey Mall? Of course, they run a business! It is also possible the public officials involved could buy the Cafaro argument and conclude that the purchase of that monster building on Oak Hill would be a financial boondoggle, which it may turn out to be as the assumed figures of the purchase proponents are starting to look a tad iffy. Does that mean the Cafaro’s and the public officials broke any laws or the public trust? NO!

Unless they are able to prove that there was some quid pro quo between the Cafaro’s and public officials; unless they are able to prove the public officials did something illegal in support of the Cafaro position; unless they can show there was intentional fudging of proposal numbers and manipulation of county funds…what we really have here are two factions within the local Democratic Party fighting among themselves using the legal proceedings as a club.

I read the lease which was the seed of the dispute. Let’s just say I am willing to keep a very open mind on who is doing what to whom on this one. Time will tell.

2011 Tax Hikes

A friend of mine sent this to me. It was written six months ago. Some of what is included here has been resolved...but much of it has not. So much for no middle class tax hikes.

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.

They will hit families and small business in three great waves on January 1, 2011.

First Waive:
Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief
In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families. These tax cuts are all scheduled to expire on January 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise.

The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent. All the rates in between will also rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).

Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will be phased out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates. The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:
- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The 25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracket rises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family.

The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1,000 to $500 per child.

The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level.

The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The return of the Death Tax. This year, there is no death tax.

For those dying on or after January 1, 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate.

Higher tax rates on RETIREES, Savers and Investors.

The capital gains tax on investment income will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011.

The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. A WHOPPING 260% INCREASE!
These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave:
Obamacare
There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare.

Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:

The Medicine Cabinet Tax:
Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The Special Needs Kids Tax:

This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2,500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Under tax rules, FSA dollars cannot be used to pay for this type of special needs education.

The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike:
This provision of Obamacare increase the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent.

Third Wave:
The Alternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes.

When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they will be in for a nasty surprise: many AMT tax relief provisions will have expired. The major items include:

The AMT will not apply to over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year.
These families will have to pay taxes at the higher level. The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.

Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear. Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or depreciate) equipment purchases up to $250,000.

This will be cut all the way down to $25,000. Larger businesses can expense half of their purchases of equipment. In January of 2011, all of it will have to be depreciated.


Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses. There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place. The biggest is the loss of the research and experimentation tax credit, but there are many, many others. Combing high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced.
The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available.

Tax credits for education will be limited.

Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.

Education Savings Accounts will be cut.

Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.

The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs are no longer allowed.
Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA. This contribution also counts toward an annual required minimum distribution. This ability will no longer be there.

PDF Version Read more: http://www.atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171##ixzz0sY8waPq1

Now your insurance is INCOME on your W2:
One of the surprises we will find come next year, is what follows - - - a little “surprise” that 99% of us had no idea was included in the “new and improved” healthcare legislation.

Starting in 2011, (next year folks), your W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are given by the company.

You will now be required to pay taxes on a large sum of money that you have never seen.

Take your tax form you just finished and see what $15,000 or $20,000 additional gross does to your Tax debt. That’s what you’ll pay next year. For many, it also puts you into a new higher bracket so it’s even worse.

This is how the government is going to buy insurance for the 15% that don’t have insurance and it’s only part of the tax increases.

Two Proposals to Solve What Ails our Political System

It’s time to put an end to the madness that has become our election system. Americans shouldn't have to make Draconian decisions between an extreme candidate on the left and another extreme candidate on the right. As both parties become more and more polarized, that is exactly what is happening. The result is the mess that we have seen reaching epic proportions over the past 20 years. There are two solutions to the problem. Either would help…both would better.

1) Term limits for members of Congress. Six terms is enough for any member of the House of Representatives…that equals twelve years. As for the Senate, the time to go should clock out after three terms…that equals 18 years. I didn’t vote for Robert Byrd (they had to carry him out on a stretcher). I didn’t vote for Charlie Rangle (it will take the jaws of life to pull him out of there notwithstanding the massive corruption charges). I didn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi (this whackadoodle will be there until the Second Coming). These folks, and their conservative counterparts, yield almost limitless power not because of ideas or electoral will, but because they are elected from safe districts. Many of these districts are designed to promote their tenure. Look at Barney Frank! The nut was involved in a sex ring with male House pages, and he is still there. If two terms is enough for President of the United of States…term limits should apply to all members of Congress. The states would have to call for a Constitutional Convention to do this. Who wants to lead the fight?

2) Elimination of partisan primaries for members of Congress. This can be done from within the states. The concept is simple. The political parties have become excessively radicalized. Therefore, in the primaries, you can bet your bottom dollar (if you still have one) that the nominee will be reflect the most radical elements of the party because those are the ones who show up to vote in primaries. I am not calling for open primaries, where anyone can “crossover” to another party to vote in the other party’s primary. Rather all of the candidates should be lumped into a bunch, and the top two or three winners become the candidates in the general election. They can maintain their party affiliations, but the top two vote getters get to go on to the general election. If it is two Dems…or two Republicans…so be it. What it will do is force the radical elements to the center…and boy do we need the center.

Those with vested interests in the current system will make all sorts of arguments against the what I am proposing. My favorite is why should we be forced to change Congressman if he/she is doing a good job? My answer: find someone else who will do a good job. Or how about we will never attract good people if they know they have to quit after so many years. Really? Look who we’ve got now. I say move ‘em in, and move ‘em out!

Some states are already moving to Proposal Number 2, non-partisan primaries. The State of Washington has this sytem, and California just adopted it this past June. Louisiana has operated with a non-partisan primary system for years. Oregon is also considering it. While critics say that it hasn’t had the moderating affect it promised, it certainly broadens the field and makes the fringe a little less “fringy.” Surely it couldn't get any worse. Lawsuits to follow in California.

There is nothing in our Constitution that provides for a two party system, or for two party primary elections. In fact, only one of the two parties we have now goes clear back to the founders…that is the Democratic Party. The Republicans go back to Lincoln. But the horse and buggy has been left in the past…maybe it’s time to do the same thing with partisan primaries. I’m just sayin.

Let Them Eat Cake

Where did you go on vacation this year? I had enough money to get me to Sebring. Oh well, at least I can say I went south!!!

The nation continues to spin out of control. I never thought it was possible, but right now I am living in an alternative universe where black is white, hot is cold, and the truth is lost in maze of political speak, spin, and pundits. No wonder there is such discontent in the country.

Let’s start with Michelle Obama’s to Spain. Minimally, in a time of austerity, using taxpayer dollars for an extravagant personal vacation trip taking over half of a five star resort…what are these people thinking? That is 60 – 70 rooms upwards of $2500.00/room/night plus. Some of this is being funded personally by the Obama’s, who must be doing much better than you and me; but there are always public expenses. For example: the seventy secret agents that are accompanying her. Then we she gets back…she will go to her New England vacation after going to her Florida vacation. Might I suggest a weekend here in Youngstown, Ohio. Much to do and see…and a hell of a lot cheaper than Spain! What did you say she is doing there again?

Then we have the Obama administration suing Arizona over the illegal issue. Wouldn’t it be better to help the issue rather than waste government money suing “We, the People?” Do these folks purposely want to hurt us? Congressman Pete Stark answered the question this past week. He said the federal government can do anything it wants. Really?

In the first of many court skirmishes over health care, a Federal judge in Virginia, in an exquisite and detailed opinion, said the Virginia can sue the Feds over the mandatory purchase of health care provisions in the Obamacare bill. Remember…the Obama administration told you and me that this wasn’t a tax, until they got into court. The main defense being used by the Obama administration is that the mandatory purchase provisions are a tax. There is a reason they are arguing that…they and I and just about every constitutional law scholar knows the current Supreme Court will eventually rule the mandatory purchase provision does not fall under the Commerce Clause. So the government must say it is tax. Is it…or isn’t it? Only the Shadow knows.

Racial tensions like I haven’t seen in years are boiling just under the surface. Violence is increasing. Fear is increasing. Unemployment is increasing. Businesses are refusing to expand in light of draconian government regulations. The leftists are doing what they always do, in office our out, they are suing us. Unbelievable.

But the Obama’s party on! The New York Daily News compared Michelle to Marie Antoinette. Works for me! Let them eat cake! Vive La Revolution! Wait…do they have cake in Spain?

Finreg...Huh?

This past week Congress passed the most sweeping financial regulatory reform since the 1930’s. Because I tend to be a tad verbose in my opinions, numerous folks have asked me what I thought about “finreg” (shorthand designation for financial regulations). Given that I have a hard time balancing a checkbook, I quote Sergeant Shultz with an emphatic “I know nothing…I hear nothing!”

That being said, here is what I know. In September of 2008, the world financial system was hours away from total collapse. There literally was a run on the bank. Not from ordinary people, but from other banks that scrambled to cover all of those ingenious collateralized instruments in their portfolios as the weight of debt collapsed the system. It was scary. What was even more disconcerting was the lack of understanding of the problem by many of our national leaders. Notwithstanding, whether in spite of their actions or because of their actions, these folks managed to stop the bleeding and we survived…barely!

There were two roots to the problem. The first was the rescission of the Glass Steagall Act passed in 1933 in response to the Great Depression. This separated retail banks (the ones you and I use) from investment banks (the ones that underwrite stock issues and trade bonds). Bill Clinton repealed this as one of his last acts in office. In fairness to Clinton, he repealed it because it made our financial institution non-competitive with other international banking entities; but it opened up the abuse floodgates to those kinds of instruments that the law was intended to prevent. It only took nine years for the poison to kill the system.

The second were abuses at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the issuing and trading of mortgages to folks who couldn’t afford them. This was a direct result of governmental policy fueled by both parties. Bush believed in an ownership society…and Barney Frank said "Amen" to that. We were off the races as home loans were given to anyone who could almost spell their name and had ten bucks in their pocket.

I am old fashioned. I believe in old fashion values when it comes to modern finance. If you want to buy a home, put 20% down and get a responsible appraisal as to the value of the real estate.

And if a bank issues a mortgage, the bank should carry the paper…not resell it. That way, they will be double sure as to whom they are loaning money.

If you want to buy a credit default swap (an insurance policy insuring a bond), you should have an insurable interest in the bond. I can’t buy a life insurance policy on a stranger betting he is going to die. I shouldn’t be allowed to buy a default policy on a bond owned by stranger hoping there is a default on the bond. It’s the same thing. Buying a life insurance policy on a stranger could hasten the stranger’s death, accidentally that is!! Same with a bond insurance policy. The person holding the policy may try to force a default on the bond to collect the insurance…accidentally that is!! And that's what really happened!!!!

No naked short selling. That means I sell a stock that I don’t own betting I will be able to buy the stock cheaper when I have to actually produce the certificate. It used to be the broker handling the sale would loan stock to people to do this. That still happens, but people now do it with no access to the stock, which causes the stock to fall in price.

Reinstate Glass-Steagall. I don’t want the bank that is giving me my mortgage and holding my money to be selling a CDI or CDS or any other alphabet security to Denmark…putting me, my money, and my home at risk.

Now some of the above sounds simple, and some of the above is complicated for many folks including myself. I will guaranty you this, finreg does nothing to address any of the above issues. So what is in those 2400 pages of new law and regulations? To quote Nancy Pelosi, we simply will have to pass the bill to see what's in it. And I don’t think we are going to like what we see.

The Coming Winter of Our Discontent

This was supposed to be the post partisan President. This was supposed to be the post racial President. Yet Barack Obama has polarized the country in ways not seen since the dark days of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War. He has opened up racial wounds. He has used thuggery like all leftists do. He is using the courts to sue America’s citizens, like all leftists do. His surrogates are screaming racism in the various tea party movements while the only racist rhetoric I have heard have come from Black Panthers, black ministers, and the NAACP.

He has overwhelmed the system with leftist programs to the point people have stopped watching the news because they are shell shocked. Yet anger is seething beneath the surface, and it will erupt. You can’t govern against the will of the governed for long before there is a reaction. Just ask Richard Nixon.

Will the reaction be violent? Probably not, at least until after the fall election. But if a lame duck leftist Congress tries to ram through an ultra leftist agenda after the election and against the will of the people, I will guarantee you will see citizens storming the Capitol building, perhaps forming human barricades to prevent Congress from voting for any more Christmas Eve surprises like health care last year. America has had enough.

The shame is that real progress had been made in race relations in this country. African Americans, finally given access to the successful path of other immigrant groups, have followed that path through law enforcement, then into local politics, then into state politics, and finally into national politics. The liberal designated “Uncle Tom” blacks like Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice to name a few, blazed the trail for the first African American President, elected on bringing parties and races together. He fooled us, and fooled us good. His policies have been anything but, and have fostered racial hatred and renewed racial bigotry. He has managed to destroy years of racial progress by appealing to the most radical and extreme of the fringe left and the black community.

What did we think we were getting when we voted for this guy? He was surrounded by radicals and communists. He couldn’t last six months at his job on Wall Street. His sole experience was registering minorities to vote, a noble thing to do, but not sufficient background to President of the United States. While the press crucified Sarah Palin and her family for her lack of experience, they neglected to look at Obama’s lack of experience in anything at all. His reaction to the gulf oil spill is a shiny reflection of that lack of his incompetence.

No he is in danger of losing control of the House in the fall, and possibly the Senate. So rather than slow down and regroup, he has decided to push through his radical agenda on energy and immigration…notice that jobs aren’t in the mix. After all, we don’t need any more white construction jobs. He doesn’t care!!!

Supreme Court Justice Kennedy has taken direct aim at Obama by stating he will not retire until after the next presidential election. In other words, all that stuff Obama has been doing…will be facing that 5 – 4 conservative vote. It’s not nice to diss the Supreme Court in the State of Union Address.

The only remaining question is how much more damage can he do before he is subjected to an education on checks and balances. Not much I hope. On the other hand, if he goes nuts with a shoved through progressive agenda…this winter might be our winter of discontent.

President of the Minorities

It is becoming increasingly clear that Barack Obama has made a choice as to which America he represents as President. As the political heat mounts from more and more questionable policy decisions, he keeps running further to the left for cover. Unfortunately for him, and for the rest of us, the extreme left is never satisfied. Its demands are insatiable. His efforts to placate them will fail as he isolates himself more and more from centrist American politics.

People have criticized Presidents who have governed by polls, and that is probably a just criticism. But Obama actually seems to relish going against the polls. In health care, in immigration policy, in energy policy, in spending policy, in tax policy, in race relations policy…he continues to stick it up the majorities’ posterior. Since he is obviously tone deaf to where America is on the issues, who is he trying to please? And why does he enjoy it so much?

The answer is simple. He is an African colonial ideologue, with no particular allegiance to the United States other than the opportunity to punish it for his perception of America’s misdeeds. He is a minority president who has decided to ignore the class of citizens that have made this country great. His policies and actions have lost all semblance of being centrist. He doesn’t even pretend anymore. If the oil spill kills Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida…so be it. They are a bunch of redneck white racists who are getting what they deserve. Those states won't vote for him anyway. And while he is at it, he can destroy the big bad oil companies in the process.

He doesn’t need any additional legislation to secure the borders. He has all he needs. He is choosing not to do it, holding enforcement hostage to “comprehensive immigration reform” which translates to amnesty. If more illegals flood into the country…so be it. That is more people he can give amnesty to, and America is too white anyway. He will sue Arizona from enforcing ID legislation that the rest of us have to abide by both here and abroad (try crossing from Canada into the United States without a passport) while letting sanctuary cities pass laws which fly in the face of the federal law.

His blatant misrepresentation of this monstrosity of a health care bill becomes more and more evident each day. He doesn’t care. His appointment to head Medicare has publicly stated he is for rationing of health care for seniors, and is an admirer of the British system. Try getting a hip replacement in Britain if you are over eighty. He is a scary dude. But middle class America has more than its fair share of the health care pie.

And as he goes merrily down the road with his radical leftist agenda (the purpose of NASA is outreach to the Muslims?), he is destroying our currency and loading the country up with debt…like someone with a stolen credit card. Don’t interrupt his golf games, his concerts, his travel plans and his parties. Nero is fiddling while Rome burns…and loving it.

The fall elections are the most important elections in our lifetime. Unless some checks and balances are put into place, we are in big trouble. The damage will be irreparable, and country will be asking 10 years from now…what happened? Look at what he is doing. Enough!!