Politicaly appointed Government employees

Federal political appointed “managers”

I dealt with four federal government agencies during my career in Engineering Management, Engineering and Business Management Consulting and while running my own businesses.

There are many competent and hard working people working in government service.

My concern is with the political appointees who get appointed to high paying job when there is a turnover in an administration. The “Appointees” are many times people who blew up balloons for the winning candidates.

The worst of the worst are the top “Management” appointees who are in position to spend huge amounts of your money without active oversight. They contribute nothing to the management of their “bureau”, leaving the work to the working troops.

Second worst are the “Administrative Assistants” or “Deputy Assistants”. Every manager seems to have at least one. They provide important functions like getting coffee for the boss, reading newspapers, and running errands.

The permanent hires of inappropriate people without education or experience to perform their job is also a problem. I was an engineering manager for a corporation that designed and manufactured equipment for naval ships. My counterpart at The Bureau of Ships, who was responsible for approving our designs and design changes, was a Political Science Major graduate. He literally didn’t understand nuts, bolts or cotter pins and routinely rejected or disapproved our submittals of drawings and specifications because we had not “adequately explained”. I guess the word “Science” in his Resume (and probable relationship with a politician) qualified him to be an engineering manager. Thankfully, after digging deep into the Bureau, and really ticking off the “manager”, we found real engineers who could assist us. The manager got “Promoted” to get him out of the way.

I think it was Ronald Regan who said, “If you want to see government waste walk into any government office”.

I’m sure he was talking about the political appointees, not the hard working, intelligent, competent, educated, trained souls who sadly will never be “The Boss”.

One last comment:

I was once in the office of an upper level manager in the DOE just after a Presidential election. A new Director had just been appointed.

I asked my contact, “How are you getting along with your new boss?”

He laughed and said, “He hasn’t found his office yet. We hope to keep it that way.”

Class Warfare

Tax paid is more important than Tax rate

During a recent CBS 60 Minute TV interview the Anchor looked at Gov Romney with a “You are disgusting” sneer and asked:

“If your income is twenty million a year you pay a 14% tax rate. If somebody earning $50,000 a year pays a higher rate, do you think that is fair?”

IT”S NOT THE RATE THAT IS IMPORTANT-- IT IS THE AMOUNT PAYED!

To foster Class Warfare and perpetuate the medias bias for Obama’s position that the “Rich” should pay more, the TV Anchor conveniently forgot to state that Romeny’s actual tax payment, at the of 14% rate, on the twenty million Capital Gains, would be $2,800,000, (that is two million, eight hundred thousand) He also forgot to mention that Romney would have also paid income tax on the income that allowed him to invest and make a capital gain.

If the downtrodden “somebody else” tax rate is 28% (double Romney’s “rate”) the tax paid on $50,000 regular income would  be $14,000 (that is fourteen  thousand)..

Romney’s tax, paid in dollars, would be 200 times that paid by the person with the “higher rate”!

I hope you see the deception.

I know all the zeros may be confusing but I’m sure you can see how a biased media can use numbers to create misinformation to smear those they do not support.

 Below are my previous blogs that describe the scurrilous, deceptive use of numbers, used to promote political positions, and to create class envy, hatred and class warfare:

The Buffet Rule is BS        April 25, 2012

Gasoline Price                    April 12, 2012

            This is interesting because the government demonizes huge companies with huge sales by           using the huge profits in dollars while not stating the low profit margin as a percentage   (Oil company profit margin reportedly is 4%).

Government Math               Feb  26, 2012

      

The Media interview that prompted this blog was partially included in an Obama TV add.

The add producer edited the interview response by Romney, furthering the deception.

 Please do not believe everything you see or hear from the media and blogs (including mine!).  Investigate, talk to others and be informed.

Also, emulate, don’t hate the successful.

As my son likes to say, “Get a glove and get in the game.”

If you don’t, soon there will not be a game.

Goodbye USA

Goodbye USA-- Hello USSA

If the US Government seized all money and assets from the “Rich 1%”, how many days would the seized assets run the Federal Government?

When all the seized money is gone what would the US become?  Would the Federal Government Nationalize and run everything? What form would the US Government become? This type of event has occurred in the past.  In this hemisphere, just look at the countries in South America for examples.

Do your homework.

Next question:

How many of the “Richest 1%” have developed plans or already started to move their assets to untouchable locations. Many have already moved out of NY and California. Out of the US would be next.

Most of the “Richest” aren’t stupid. If they move their wealth outside the US, what will our government do? Same answer as above, a Government run economy!

I have worked with many people in government. Most of the “appointed bosses” could not find their own butt with both hands. The Data on that is overwhelming. Pick any government run organization and imagine what would happen if there is no money in the treasury. 

A comedian once said that if the government was in charge of the deserts we would be out of sand in five years.

Well, we would say “Goodbye USA, Hello USSA”, the United Socialist States of America?

Old enough to remember singer Tennessee Ford’s song “I owe my soul to the company store”?

We could owe our life to The Government.

Increasing Business taxes will increase your purchase price

I’m amazed that so many of our elected officials obviously don’t understand or have never looked at a business Profit/Loss Statement.

I owned a Dairy Queen Brazier. Every month I prepared a Profit or Loss (P/L) Statement. The first line on my P/L was the amount of money that came into the business. The rest of the lines were money- out expenses for items like material, labor, utilities, government fees and taxes, my equal payment of Social Security tax, Unemployment Compensation tax, local business taxes, and accounting, insurance, etc.

If things went well and my income exceeded expenses, I made a profit. The governments, Federal, State, and local, then taxed my profit.

The after tax profits was what I could pay myself to support my family. Of course the Governments taxed the salary I paid myself.

The “income redistribution” folks may find this dreadful but when any government agency increased my taxes or operating expenses, I raised my prices. I hope you understand that my prices had to be competitive, but I was in business to provide an income for my family. If you understand what I have just written you will realize that all my suppliers, utilities and service providers, etc, also had their costs go up for the same reasons.  They passed increased costs on to me, requiring me to further raise prices.

I’m writing this to advise that when government agencies raise business taxes or expenses, the cost will be passed on to you. It is always a domino effect. You may not consider it a tax increase but you should.

Please consider my input when listening to politicians who are saying that they are going to reduce your taxes by increasing taxes on business. IT IS NOT REAL!

Writing the above brought back the bad memories that often overshadowed the joy of running my own business:

Final points; when we sold our business, after 20 years of hard work, the Federal Government collected a huge Capital Gains Tax. My wife cried for days. I’m not whining but someday I’ll write about how all levels of government intrude on the small business people, requiring them to spend significant effort collecting and reporting taxes and fees. The governments don’t pay you for collecting their money and seriously penalize you if you make an error or are a day late. I once spent weeks looking for data to prove that three years earlier I had made a payment on time. The Feds threatened to seize my personal and business bank accounts. They were wrong and didn’t even say they were sorry. We bailed, in disgust, after twenty years. This occurred between 1970-1990 so both political parties, unelected bureaucrats and political appointees contributed to our problems and suppressed the joy of being self employed, providing first time jobs to teenagers and providing an excellent product and service.

PCATS

Politicians Comprehensive Assessment Tests

I was required to pass grueling written and oral tests to obtain a Professional Engineer’s license.

Many other vocations (Doctors/Lawyers/Beauticians/Plumbers/Electricians etc) are required to pass a test before being issued a license.           

Every teenager must take a written and driving test before getting a license.

High school students take MCATS/FCATS tests that are used to establish competence when applying for college acceptance.

Why aren’t Politicians required to pass a PCATS before running for office?

Shouldn’t the people who will determine our future be required to prove competence?

A Few Suggested areas of PCAT test:

Basic Math

Math application problems.  Example; If 200,000 jobs are lost every week and 200,000 jobs are created every month what is the net gain or loss of jobs for the month

Problem Analysis and Solution:

Economics and Bank/Trading Regulations

Pros and Cons of Capialism, Communism, Socialism, Dictatorships

Business 101

   Profit/Loss Statements

            If you are operating at 10% profit and a new gov’t reg is applied that will cost  $100,000/year, how much will you have to increase sales/year to pay for the reg?

            What is a Balance Sheet---Describe use and Elements

Civics-Ethics - Election laws for fund raising

The Constitution including all amendments

Our Intelligence System(Nancy Pelosi thinks it should be transparent!)

We need intelligent, principled people in government. This PCATS requirement would help.

There are probably many bright men in Congress. I know it is difficult to say this since so many appear to incompetent, misinformed, lacking in common sense and down right stupid.

I have also proposed that a Candidate must have run a small business for a minimum of two years and have supported and paid for all family expenses from the business profit. The objective being to educate candidates that profit is not a dirty word and that dealing with government rules and regulation is time consuming, expensive and exasperating and takes time that should be used to run a business. Excuse me, but dealing with borough, city, township, county, state and federal officials caused me to sell my business. Dealing with hundreds of auditors with Napoleon Complexes was maddening.

Please read my previous Blogs

2/26/2012 Government Math

2/27/2012 Politician Tax Proposals

3/7/2012   How many Zeros in a Billion

4//11/2012 Who is spending your $

4/12/2012  Gasoline price

4/23/2012  Buffett Rule is BS

Perhaps all the talking TV heads and political journalists should also be required to pass a PCATS test! Oh, forget that---You can’t fix stupid!

 

Vietnam War POW's----Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda has written a new book and is being touted as "The woman of the Century"

If you have read my novel "The Last American Hero"; My March 26, 2012 Blogged Poem, written by Major Mike O'Donald  (MIA);John McCains horrific experience as a Vietnam POW; and knew that a good friends brother, a Navy Pilot is still MIA, you will understand why I'm blogging this email.
It was sent to me by a close personal friend who was a pilot during the Vietnam war. I credited him as source of info in my novel.

The Email:

Never Forget!  Never!   

---

:
> I'd like to know your take on her????
>
>
> Subject: Barbara Walters on Jane Fonda      I am sending this one out
> because so many do not know this truth...
>
> And also because she was on 3 times this week talking about her new book...
>
> And how good she feels in her 70's... She still does not know what she did
> wrong..her book just may not make the best list if more people knew...
>
> Also...
>
> Barbara   Walters said:
>
> Thank you all.  Many died in Vietnam for our freedoms.
>
> I did not like Jane Fonda then and I don't like her now.
>
> She can lead her present life the way she wants and perhaps SHE can forget
> the past, but we DO NOT have to stand by without comment and see her
> "honored" as a "Woman of the Century."
>
> (I remember this well)
>
> For those who served and/or died. . .
>
> NEVER FORGIVE A TRAITOR. SHE REALLY WAS A TRAITOR!!
>
> And now President OBAMA wants to honor her......!!!!
>
> In Memory of LT. C.Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton
> [Famous North Vietnam Prison]
>
> IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE
> WILL KNOW!!!!!!
>
>
>
> A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO  BE HONORED.
>
> KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA
>
> This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and
> didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers
> and sisters had to bear.
>
> Jane   Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.'
>
> BARBRA   WALTERS WRITES:
>
> Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never
> known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific
> men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.
>
> The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot.
>
> The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll , a River Rat.
>
> In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho
> Lo Prison the ' Hanoi Hilton .'
>
> Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in
> clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace
> Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.
>
> He s pat at Ms. Fonda , was clubbed, and was dragged away.  During the
> subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which
> sent that officer berserk.
>
> In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which
> permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied
> application of a wooden baton.
>
> From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6
> years in the ' Hanoi   Hilton '...the first three of which his family only
> knew he was 'missing in action'. His wife lived on faith that he was still
> alive.  His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in
> preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.
>
> They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that
> they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper,
> with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.  When
> paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each
> man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry
> you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your
> benevolent captors?' Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her
> their sliver of paper.                >
>
> She took them all without missing a beat.. At the end of the line and once
> the  camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she
> turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of
> paper...
>
> Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost
> number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions
> that day.
>
> I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam , and was captured
> by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held
> prisoner for over 5 years.
>
> I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia ;
> and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi .   My North Vietnamese captors
> deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a
> leprosarium in Banme Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle
> near the Cambodian border.  At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My
> normal weight is 170 lbs)
>
> We were Jane Fonda 's 'war  criminals....'
>
> When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi , I was asked by the camp communist political
> officer if I would be willing to meet with her.  I said yes, for I wanted to
> tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... And how different it
> was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by
> her as 'humane and lenient.'
>
> Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my
> arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten
> with a bamboo cane.
>
> I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released.  I
> asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV.  She never did answer
> me.
>
> These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored
> as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget....' 100 Years of
> Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the
> blood of so many  pat riots.
>
> There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's
> partici pat ion in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to
> forward to as many people as you possibly can.. It will eventually end up on
> her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget.
>
> RONALD   D. SAMPSON , CMSgt,
>
> USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron,
>
> Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM : 883-6343
>
> PLEASE HELP BY SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.  IF ENOUGH
> PEOPLE SEE THIS MAYBE HER STATUS WILL CHANGE.

My Request- Please forward this to your friends.  Thank You--- Jerry

>
>

On my Own----- There is hope!

ON MY OWN-------YEAH??????     

The following was written before the Wisconsin Governor  Walker Recall vote.

Remember President Obama’s speech declaring that if Republicans are elected the people of the US would be on their own?

 The Insinuation: Sick people would die. Old people would die. Kids with illness would die. Kids would not be educated. Bridges would collapse. Etc.

 Perhaps I overstated, but that was my impression of the point he was making. The Dems had just shown a TV add where an old woman in a wheel chair was shoved off a cliff by a Republican

I was born a few years before the start of the big recession. My family was frequently cold and hungry but we survived. My mother and my aunts worked as servants for the owners of a Coal Company. We were despised “Shanty Irish”.

I started working when I was ten, searching through a junk yard dump heap for metal to sell to a junk dealer for pennies.

At fourteen I got my first paying job as a dish washer and clean up boy in a restaurant.

At eighteen I was in the military and at twenty had my first real job as a mechanical draftsman

While married and raising a family I commuted sixty miles to night school for eight years and earned an engineering degree.

While working full time for two corporations I bought or started six small businesses,

At age forty nine I resigned from my day job and worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, running my own businesses.

Along the way I contributed my share of taxes to many government agencies, the last being a huge Capital gains tax when I sold my businesses and retired.

My great employees earned salaries and paid taxes.

In total my businesses paid governments more in fees and taxes than I made in profit!

I’m still on my own, living on a fixed income, trying to survive on money I saved and invested.

The huge cost of living increase caused by skyrocketing price of food and gasoline has caused concern about my future. My retirement money is being rapidly depleted because of the rapid price hikes.

Still, I’m proud that I gave been on my own for most of my life.

Notice all the “I’S in the preceding?

I was on my own, working hard to fulfill my dreams.

So, Mister President, why can’t everybody be “on their own”?

I know some people will always need help but:

Why is my future threatened because I am paying for people who receive government dollars (my tax money) who are:

Too lazy to get out of bed and get a job.

Fat, drunk, or on drugs and therefore are “handicapped” and get paid for not working

Have a government do nothing “Job”

Get freebies like Cell Phones

Get Government subsidized housing and food stamps without being required to work.

I understand the politics and that the Gimmee people will vote to keep providers in office.

The Gimmee people who are given everything they need to survive have no motivation to work.

Your statement that people who disagree with you are misinformed (Stupid) was an insult.

I will always voluntarily contribute time and money to private organizations that help people who really need help.

As a comedian recently said:

“I will help buy a safety net…..but I don’t want to buy somebody a hammock.”

We will know after the next election if the USA will survive.

Just in case, I’m looking for a place to go where I can still be:

ON MY OWM.

Note: June 6, 2012

There is hope—Thank you Wisconsin Governor Walker.

Stop Government Waste and Corruption

The following is based on my experience in dealing with multiple Federal, State and Local government agencies as an employee of two major corporations, as an Engineering/Business Management Consultant and as a Business Owner:

Newt Gingrich once spoke about the inefficiency of the Federal Governments system of accounting for the expenditure of your tax dollars.

He compared the governments accounting system to the computer programs Federal Express uses to track millions of packages every day. Fed Ex customer can track the location of a shipment anywhere in the world, in seconds.

Newt described the government accounting as “Men with green eye shades sitting at high top desks recording data with quill pens.”

 A dramatic statement for effect, but I got the point. I realized that the real point is that the Federal Government would apparently be happy to keep spending “cloudy”. The murkiness covers turf building, boondoggles and corruption.

The recent activities of the GSA certainly would support my conclusion. Expensive “parties” in Hawaii and Las Vegas have been reported. It has also been reported that “Stay at home” employees, doing who knows what, are also being paid for travel! What are they doing and where are they going?

Another ploy is setting up dummy businesses and then awarding contracts to the dummy business.

Successful privately owned businesses are constantly vigilant and must prevent waste. Every non-productive or stolen dollar steals the profit of ten dollars in sales. Well run companies prosper. Poorly run companies who do not audit, by internal and external people, go bankrupt

Taxpayer money being wasted or stolen is rampant. This has been true for decades. Instead of the government going bankrupt, money is borrowed and taxes are raised.

I have said, many times, we need successful, hard nosed business men/woman running for elected office. They would recognize the need for oversight by both government and non-government audit.

They should only be elected if they have a vetted, proven, honest track record and should only serve a maximum of two terms.

“Stop the waste and corruption” would be an election slogan that would grab my attention.

I sincerely hope you are informed and engaged.

Time is running out.

The most dangerous man in the US Government

Federal law--- implementation and enforcement

Hopefully (?) US citizens are familiar with how federal laws are written, debated, passed by Congress and the Senate and then signed into law by the president.

Most people do not know how laws are implemented and enforced.

Non-elected appointed government lawyers and their staffs convert laws into CFR’s, the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR’s)

What happens in the translation and enforcement depends, in many instances, on the philosophy of the lead lawyers. CFR’s can be revised without further input/review by elected officials.

Currently the lead “Regulation Czar”, appointed by President Obama, is Cass Sunstein. The right calls him “the most dangerous man in the US government”. Google Sunstein’s name if you are not familiar with his positions on things like energy. President Obama said he would bankrupt the fossil fuel industry The fossil fuel industry is presently screaming about the thirty plus new regulation that Sunstein has issued that “will bankrupt their industry”.

In the past CFR document have been revised and issued to control manufacturing deemed undesirable by environmentalists. In my home area in western Pennsylvania  CFR/ EPA requirements contributed to the closure of Steel Mills, coal mining and coke ovens, causing major job providers to move to Canada.

The Clean Air Act CFR forced the closure of a friend’s iron foundry. The factory had been started by my friend’s grandfather to manufacture manhole covers for world wide users. My friend got a second mortgage on his house and scraped together every penny available to install the best air pollution control equipment available. The equipment missed meeting requirement by a percentage point. The EPA forced him to shut down or be fined $5,000 per day. Jobs lost-lives destroyed. The EPA knew the requirements could not be meet with existing scrubbing equipment.

The Clean Air Act also forced the closure of foundries in two large manufacturing plants in my home town. Eventually both plants shut down. More lives destroyed.

The endangered species act CFR has been used to stop construction of flood control dams and electrical generation plants.

Senator Harry Reid threatened to put game birds on the threatened species list to force agreement on an unrelated issue. Barney Frank used the act to stop construction of a commercial site on a river in his district.

I worked in the Nuclear Power industry. We were controlled by 10CFR50 Appendix B. The CFR imposed American Society of Mechanical Engineers codes and standards on nuclear power plant pressure containing equipment. The ASME issued an appendix to their codes every year. Each appendix was about an inch thick. Every three years the code was updated by incorporating all the appendices.

When we placed an order for equipment the Code in affect (including all appendices) on the purchase date was the code used for design, manufacturing and testing.

Insiders in the government who opposed nuclear power allowed people, who were not involved in the construction of power plants, to participate in the review/licensing process for nuclear power plants. The “interveners” were allowed to attend Hearings and question every aspect of the design, construction and operation of the plant. The intervener’s intent was to delay construction, increase cost and dissuade nuclear power plant construction. The delays bankrupted the construction of 5 nuclear power plants in Washington State (WOOPS).

The nuclear CFR was changed to require the ASME code for equipment design/manufacturing/testing to be based on the date of the Construction Permit for the plant. The years of delay interveners injected in the Licensing and Permit process required equipment manufacturers to review the new code appendix every year and to certify that design/manufacturing/testing meet the “new” code or to revise or scrap the equipment.

The one sentence change in the CFR was costing my employer ten million dollars a year. It took me three years of intense lobbying and support of a future US Secretary of State and a US Senator to get the CFR change to be rescinded.

Recently a US Senator on TV described the mayhem that is being caused by the deluge of new regulations that could destroy the country.

The EPA has evidently caused the shutdown of fossil fuel companies. An EPA executive resigned recently because of a “Crucifixion” (control of dissidents) reference.

This destruction of the US economy is not new. It has been has been in process for fifty years.

If we allow the present slide to continue the Greatest Country in the World will decline to Third World Status.

Please research the goals of the environmentalist movement and who is funding them. The crazy ones want to shut down US industry, imprison CEO’s, and have you live in communes while riding bicycles! We would become the old China and China will become the “new” USA.

If you don’t become informed and actively participate (write/email/call your elected reps, write letters to editors and VOTE) you will be responsible for the future!!

Get busy!!!!!

Don’t be discouraged if you get an “Auto Responses” or are brushed off by a snippy phone answer person. Be persistent and report non-responsive actions to newspaper “Letter to the editor” pages. Post responses on community bulletin boards.

A word of caution: While trying to get “Officials” to review or take action on a potential terrorist plot (before and after 9/11) my computer screen suddenly displayed a skull and cross bones and a “Die Bastard” epitaph. My computer screen went blank and my hard drive was wiped out. This occurred after I forwarded a CDC (Center for Disease Control) Report about potential deliberate contamination of our water supply system, which supported my concerns, to a Federal Cabinet Member.  She didn’t know that the CDC( under her direction,)  supported a concern that she said could not and did not exist. I had also, just prior to my computer malfunction, sent an email to a Federal “threat advisement group” formed after 9/11, advising that the new “System” wasn’t working because all emails and phone calls were being rejected due to “overload of their system”!   

Document your activity, back up your hard drive and have a good security program for your computer.

Finally, don’t bug or lecture your friends. Bug your elected officials! BE INFORMED AND VOTE!!

I don’t care if you are a liberal or conservative:

DO NOT ALLOW THE UNINFORMED, CONVENIENT  IDIOT, GROUP THINKERS DESTROY THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH.

SURI-FACT CHECK=NOBEL PRIZE!!

I just had a brilliant idea!

If you have a smart phone you can ask Suri a question and get an immediate answer. If you are traveling in a strange town and ask “Where is the nearest Dairy Queen?” Suri will tell you and provide a map.

I’m proposing application of this technology to political speak. If anyone talking on TV or radio misspeaks, lies or exaggerates, there will a loud beep and Suri will provide correct information immediately.

Written information can be monitored by connecting all word processing devices to the same system. We have Spell Check, why not Fact Check?

This would eliminate propaganda and political spinners.

I think I should be awarded a Nobel Peace of Mind Award.

If Al Gore can claim that he invented the internet, I can claim that I stopped propaganda!!

CAR CZAR JOKE

This joke was circulated by my engineer, science and techie friends after President Obama appointed a Car Czar to “Save General Motors”:

The Car Czar arrives at the GM main office and calls a meeting with the GM top managers.

At the meeting the Czar announces:

“The President wants you to design a four door sedan that will seat six and get fifty miles a galloon. How soon can you get that done?”

The Director of Research and Development replies, “That is impossible1”.

The Car Czar asks, “What makes it impossible?”

The Director replies, “The Laws of Physics.”

The Car czar replies, “That’s not a problem. My party controls Congress and the Senate. We can change the laws and the President will sign the new laws.”

At the time this first made the rounds the joke was funny.  Two years later it is scary!

The logic and math distributed from Washington on just about everything is so stupid that it is embarrassing. I don’t think it is political. I think the present administration has less intelligence than a fifth grader.

Imagine what the decendants from Old Persia are thinking. They invented math and must be thinking that our leaders are stupid, convenient idiots.

General Motors stock was part of my Retirement investment plan.

VP Joe Bidden recently proudly announced, “GM is alive!”

He was ecstatic. Me—not so much!

I’m happy that many people retained their jobs but:

I had significant problems with five consecutive GM cars. One car was in the dealers shop five times for major repairs. The last was a factory defect that caused an engine fire. It was “repaired” and a week out of warranty the fire occurred again. The Zone Manager said “Tough”

I called Roger, the  GM CEO, explained the problem, advised my immediate family had four GM cars and we had a GM van in our business. He replied that the Zone Manager had already given GM’s answer.

When I asked if he thought I would ever buy another GM car he said, “I could care less.”

GM received a Government bail out. Some said they should have gone out of business or at least obtained better management.

Their pensioners retained their wonderful pensions.

My stock value went to zero.

My tax money was used for the GM bailout!

Yeah Government! They CAN change Business and Economics “Laws” by issuing Regulations.

Sadly, the stupidity in the joke translated into reality and bit me on my butt!

Reality TV

Who watches TV Reality Shows?

I will admit that I don’t watch Reality TV shows.

I’m sure that contestants in shows like The Great Race and Survivor have skills and some other “shows” may have “interesting” content.

However, Reality shows like The Jersey Shore, The Bachelor, The Kardumbians, and Crazy Housewives of (Fill in a town name) seem to be populated by idiots without talent who should be in psychiatric, drug or Anger Management treatment.

I came to a conclusion on who would waste their time viewing the growing number of despicable Reality shows.

The answer is obvious: the casts of these shows have become rich and famous celebrities without having talent, brains or redeeming qualities.

Viewers without talent, brains or skills must think, “They made it. There is a chance for me.”

If you are a fan of these shows please don’t hate me. Also, please don’t vote!

Even 5th Graders know--BUFFETT RULE IS BS

The Buffett Rule IS BS

President Obama has been proposing the passage of what he calls The Buffett Rule.

He sites the “fact” that Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, has a lower tax rate than his secretary. What he either doesn’t know or doesn’t want us to know is that Buffett’s rate is the tax on Capital Gains and his Secretary’s rate is an income tax rate. Either way he is floating apples and oranges.

Buffett has earned and has paid income tax on the amount earned. He then can invest some of his income in securities like stock, mutual funds, bonds, etc. If he sells the securities he pays a Capital Gains tax on the profit, if there is any. If he loses money he doesn’t pay tax because there was zero profit. Currently the Capital gains tax is 15%. It was once higher. Obama wants it increased to 30%.

Buffett’s secretary’s income tax rate is probably around 30%.

What is the amount paid by each in DOLLARS? That is the significant question.

Show a fifth grader two stacks of $100 bills that represent Buffett’s payment and his secretary’s payment. Ask which stack is the greatest. The dumbest kid you ask would get the right answer.

Why does the president think adults will believe him?

Oh yeah, if we disagree we are misinformed (STUPID)!

Somebody should ask the President to look at the business page of most any newspaper. There are thousands of businesses listed in the New York, American, and Nasdaq stock exchanges. These are businesses that have sold stock to start, expand, or improve their business. The majority of people who own these stocks are people like you and me. We realized that the money we were putting aside for the future could possibly grow better if we invested in stocks. We are not "the richest" people. We are just thoughtful.

If you are smart enough to invest in a good public company and the company makes a profit the government steps in and collects a tax on that profit. The problem is that the managers of the business don't own the company, the stockholders do. So the company makes a $1,000,000 profit; the government takes $300,000 in taxes. The managers may decide to set aside some of the remaining $700,000 for research and improvements. If there is any money left it is paid to the stockholder as dividends, usually amounting to pennies per share. Then, guess what, the stock holder pays personal income tax on the dividends. When you sell the stock to use it for college tuition etc., the government again steps in and collects a Capital Gains tax on any increase between the purchase and selling price. The fact that inflation has diluted the gain is ignored. The net result is that you are penalized three times for working and wisely investing your money.

I suspect that the Buffett rule would only be applied to people who make over a government decided “fair” amount. Sure would discourage me from investing if I thought the Government was going to take 30% of any gain. That would certainly discourage investing in anything or expanding a business.

It has been pointed out that if the Buffett rule is applied to the top earners it would pay for a few days of government spending.

What’s the point? Why not cut spending?

On a personal note, I sold a Dairy Queen Brazier that I had owned and operated for twenty years. Over the years we had tripled the size of the facility, expanding from a small walk up to a modern restaurant with indoor seating and a full fast food line. My son and I are both handy. To save money we did as much work as we could ourselves. Friends and family helped and we subcontracted the rest.  I sold the store for twice the original investment. My sale price was the best I could do in a depressed market. We knew that because of inflation, personal and friend’s labor, and the investment in training of new employees, we should have sold at three times the original cost. The tax laws took none of this into account and we paid a huge Capital Gains tax.

            I held the mortgage on the store. The Capital Gains tax consumed all of the buyer’s down payment remaining after real estate agent and lawyers fees. To make matters worse, my accountant called me to tell me how much the capital gains tax was going to be the same day the local newspaper announced that the federal government was going to spend a million dollars to repair a government subsidized housing project that had been trashed by its tenants.  Much as I object to unfair taxation, I would have been partially satisfied if I could have directed the money to someone deserving.

            To those of you that nod your head up and down when your President, representatives and the media are justifying tax increases, just remember, eventually it is going to affect you, causing higher prices, layoffs or businesses to close or relocate.. Don't buy into the propaganda that profits are bad and that hard working people, businesses and stockholders must be overtaxed.

The next President of the USA is-----

The nominees for the 2012 USA Presidential election have apparently been finalized.

George Soros said, on TV, he doesn’t care who is elected.

That is really scary!

I know we will all get to vote but---- who really selects the candidates?

During the summer of 1991 my neighbor Bob sat down on our patio and said, “You’re going to love our next president. He was the most corrupt governor ever elected in Arkansas.”

Bob was a former Air Force Colonel/ Wing Commander during WWII and flew 30+  B17 missions over Germany. He was also a retired, successful, high end real estate sales business owner, and self proclaimed Arkansas rice farmer. In the neighborhood he was known as “the walking encyclopedia”.

Bob was very intelligent.

When he made his presidential prediction I started to laugh. I’d never heard of William Jefferson Clinton.

Bob stormed off and came back with some “newspapers”, the equivalent of our present Political Blogs. The newspapers were full of stories, with pictures of important looking people shaking hands with a young Clinton. The headlines proclaimed that Clinton had agreed to terms and would be the next president.

I said that I didn’t recognize the people shaking hands with the future pres, and that the paper stories could be political crap.

Bob stormed off again. The next day he returned with sheets of paper scotched taped together. The paper was a copy of the roster of the US branch of The Council on Foreign Relations. David Rockefeller, a Republican, was identified as the founder of the US branch of the CFR. A statement, reportedly from his biography, promoting a one world government, was included.

Bob had brought along his papers and spent an hour pointing out the people in the photos and pointing to their names on the roster.  The roster identified top leaders from industry, education, finance, banking, investment houses, transportation, media, entertainment, TV, the arts, government, military etc, who were members of the CFR. Many of the government people I recognized as being in the Federal government no matter which party was in power, I was impressed but skeptical.

I noticed that President George H W Bush was shown at the top of the roster and that Clinton was shown as the Democratic nominee for the 1992 election.

I asked, “What’s Bush have to say about this? Did he agree?”

Bob showed me another article in one of the papers that, paraphrased, reported, “Bush’s boys will be taken care of and one of them will run after Clinton’s term.”

I laughed out loud. Bob shook his head and went home.

During the 1992 presidential campaign I observed that Bush didn’t seem to be enthusiastic. Others noticed also. There was an incident during a debate when Bush was observed looking at his watch. He said he was just seeing how much time was left in the debate. Many wrote that he didn’t seem to be running hard.

Ross Perrot entered the race as an independent. Perrot was a Naval Academy graduate and founder of a huge, successful Data Processing Corp. He correctly predicted that current US policies would lead to the “Giant Sucking Sound” of manufacturing companies leaving the US.

He and his family were threatened and he demanded government protection. He was pronounced “crazy” by the media and his run faltered. He did siphon off enough votes to allow Clinton’s victory.

The “Read my lips. No new taxes” (but I will increase present taxes) Bush lost.

Amazingly Jeb and W both were in high visibility business positions and both became governors of major states. The rest is history.

Bob Dole was a token candidate before Clintons election to a second term.

After Clinton was elected my neighbor Bob often reminded me of his prediction. He died before W and Jeb became governors and before W became president so I escaped further ridicule.

I still have the scotched taped roster he gave me. Many of the people on the roster are still in high positions in the federal government.

During the Primaries, after Clinton’s two terms, John McCain was leading George W Bush going into South Carolina. I liked McCain because he had been relentless in uncovering Government waste.

Before the vote in SC a story was leaked about McCain, that was widely disputed. W won SC and became the Republican nominee.

After W’s two terms Barak Obama came out of nowhere and with massive financial and media support. Despite a lack of experience and questionable associations, he was easily defeated a tired McCain.

In my view, all of the Republican contenders since Ronald Regan have been tax and spend progressive.

In this (2012) election cycle another empty Republican suit without firm principles will face of against a super progressive who wants to “redistribute wealth”.  Even if the Suit wins the people in congress who are conservatives will be declared crazy and the slide to the far left will continue.

George Soros doesn’t care who wins!!!

So, who really determines who the next president will be?

Do our votes mean anything?

Are you engaged in the political process?

Have you ever contacted your representatives in DC to express your concerns?