On the Fiscal Cliff

Thomas Sowell expresses his thoughts about the Fiscal Cliff, and these portions echo exactly what I think and feel:

First of all, despite all the melodrama about raising taxes on "the rich," even if that is done it will scarcely make a dent in the government's financial problems. Raising the tax rates on everybody in the top two percent will not get enough additional tax revenue to run the government for ten days.

No previous administration in the entire history of the nation ever finished the year with a trillion dollar deficit. The Obama administration has done so every single year.

Referring to the Federal Reserve System's creation of hundreds of billions of new dollars out of thin air as "quantitative easing" makes it seem as if this is some soothing and esoteric process, rather than amounting essentially to nothing more than printing more money.
Debasing the value of money by creating more of it is nothing new or esoteric. Irresponsible governments have done this, not just for centuries, but for thousands of years.
It is a way to take people's wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.

But it is not the same politically, so long as gullible people don't look beyond words to the reality that inflation taxes everybody, the poorest as well as the richest.

And there are these nuggets from Part 2:

A key lie that has been repeated over and over, largely unanswered, is that President Bush's "tax cuts for the rich" cost the government so much lost tax revenue that this added to the budget deficit-- so that the government cannot afford to allow the cost of letting the Bush tax rates continue for "the rich."

What is remarkable is how easy it is to show how completely false Obama's argument is.

What both the statistical tables in the "Economic Report of the President" and the graphs in Investor's Business Daily show is that (1) tax revenues went up-- not down-- after tax rates were cut during the Bush administration, and (2) the budget deficit declined, year after year, after the cut in tax rates that have been blamed by Obama for increasing the deficit.  

And here are the table and images referred to above:

Albert Pujols - The Choice

On January 6, 2012, I posted this status update:

Albert Pujols is a generous man. I pray that God uses him powerfully in California, as He is still doing in St. Louis. http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/01/06/dnt-mo-pujols-surprise-gift.ktvi.html

My sentiments toward that end have not changed. However, reading the following from Albert today kind of altered how I view him:

Pujols says his preference was to stay a Cardinal for the rest of his career, envisioning the day he would be revered in the city, just as Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Red Schoendienst were. He would have his number retired and have a statue erected outside Busch Stadium along with the other greats.   (Source: USA Today)

Albert Pujols was already revered in St. Louis. He was a living legend, with nothing but further respect and support to gain as the years ticked passed towards his retirement. He could have coasted into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot, wearing the Cardinals hat that gave him a chance to play, prove himself and become one of the best players in history. He could have spent his entire career with the organization and town that held their breath every time he winced or appeared even slightly injured. He could have been the shining example of how a player can stick with a club that may not be the most glamorous, or have the largest payroll, but is dedicated to winning and representing their city and fans well.

So much could have been different.

I'm not saying that Albert Pujols should have turned down the Angels offer. He is a professional athlete and if he wants to maximize his earning based on his abilities and skills, then more power to him. He has every right to make the decision he made. I'm praying that God uses him to dramatically impact his new hometown.

I don't think the Cardinals should have paid him anything near that contract. It wasn't in the organization's best interest long-term. Did they want Albert to retire a Cardinal? You bet. Could they compete with the big money that was thrown at him from the West Coast? Absolutely not.

Sometimes the numbers just don't compare well, and it appears that this is one of those instances where the disparity between dollars and years in the contract offered were apparently too large to overcome for a smaller ball club. The Cardinals made their stand. The Angels made their offer. Albert made his choice.

And I guess that is what bothers me about this statement in this article. St. Louis did not drive Albert Pujols away. The Cardinals didn't ride him out of town on a rail. It's not as if the extremely loyal fan base of the St. Louis Cardinals collectively removed their numerous Pujols jerseys, set fire to them at first base in Busch Stadium and then march down to the Mississippi River and chucked them in.

I'm pretty sure that Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Red Schoendienst, along with numerous other former Cardinals all wanted to see Albert remain a Cardinal. In fact, Stan Musial, the man that is, according to Albert Pujols, the only player worthy to be called "The Man" went to the internet to do his part to get Albert to stay in St. Louis.

If Albert Pujols wanted to remain a Cardinal for life, he could have made that happen.

If Albert wanted a statue next to the greats of Cardinal nation, he could have made that happen.

If Albert wanted to see his number 5 retired at Busch Stadium, he just had to keep playing ball.

If Albert wanted to be revered as a Cardinal, then all he had to do was stay in town.

But he didn't choose that for himself.

It was all right there for the taking.

If that was his dream, if that was his hope, then I'm afraid he gave it up for some numbers that the dedicated, hard working, baseball loving, intelligent St. Louis Cardinal fans recognize as detrimental to the team's future.

Albert made his choice. Now he has to work really hard at making that dream happen over the waning years of his career as an Angel. Something tells me that the people of California may have other stars to follow when Albert's productivity starts to decline.

I wish him well, but I wish he would stop talking about how desperately he dreamed of staying a Cardinal for life. You had that choice Albert, and you chose to move on.

And now, so shall we.

Questions About the KONY 2012 Campaign

A couple of brief thoughts on the KONY 2012 campaign:


- If people (myself included) proclaimed the Gospel as vocally as they promote a viral campaign, it would truly change the world.

- Social awareness may grow through social media, but it doesn't change the situation unless people actually put hands and feet to the problem.

- A well produced video can create a lot of noise on the web, but can it really bring about change?

- If an organization is willing to promote certain things as fact in such a way that is misleading, do you really want to give them your money?

- What happens if all these people donate to the charity and later find out that their money never impacted the life of a child in Uganda/Africa/anywhere?

- It is appropriate and responsible to question the motives behind such a movement and to use the past history of that organization to determine your involvement in promoting or donating to an organization.

---

If you want to help children in Africa, there are plenty of ways through various charities that are more efficient at getting the money to impact children, more transparent in their operation and more Bible-based in their approach.

A few charities worth considering:
WorldVision
Compassion International
Save the Children
Blood Water Mission


If you want to know why I think some of these things, do some research. Below are a few articles I found helpful.

Challies: KONY 2012

KONY 2012: A Survivor's Perspective

Kony 2012: Why I’m Opposed To The Campaign

Joseph Kony is not in Uganda (and other complicated things)

On KONY 2012: I wanted to stay as far away as possible...


The REDDIT comments are quite intriguing

Our Current Position Visualized

This was the front page on CNN this morning and I couldn't resist capturing it and posting it here.

To me, this is a perfect example of what is wrong with our economy and country right now.
Warning: Generalized statements are about to be made which may not be true for all parties involved.

Standing for Nothing
There is a group of people who feel entitled to something without doing anything, or whatever it is they want. (see Occupy Something)

Speaking for Nothing
There is a group of wealthy people who feel that government should place even more of the burden on the rich. The fact that this call is now also coming from a couple dozen wealthier people does not change the fact that it is just another call to redistribute wealth. The fact that Warren Buffet is being used to champion this idea is simply ludicrous. (Buffet has sheltered his wealth from Federal Taxes and has admitted that he thinks the government would not handle the money as effectively and efficiently as a private organization.)

If the wealthy are so concerned with how much they have, they should stop making so much profit (money) or start giving a lot more of it away. This is their personal problem and not the government's problem. If they truly were struggling to sleep at night because they honestly believed that they had too much money and that it could be used to aid other people who desperately need it, they would have already set into motion the actions required to reconcile that conviction on their own. There is no role for the government required here. Thus, it is a cheap political stunt.


Neither of these groups represent a majority opinion. Far from it.

How did we end up here?
Our government has adopted the strategy of the one offered by the company to the right of the page. Spend what you do not have now, pay off less than the interest later and at some point down the line you will realize you are in way over your head and you will desperately need to change your behavior. However, like most Americans, our government refuses to change its spending behaviors, even after after the cost of continuing down the same road become patently clear and the outcome unavoidable.

How do I think we get out of this mess?
- We stop catering to the minority of the population  who screams the loudest. We stop handling them with soft gloves. If you want to protest anything, you need to do it within the bounds of the law. If you go beyond the law, then you should have the entirety of that law brought to bear against you and the organization you claim to represent.

- We need to stop listening to people who claim to offer solutions that appear selfless, when the reality is that their "solution" will not solve the problem. In fact, their path only leads to people other than themselves having more money taken away from them, thus increasing the gap between the ultra-rich and the wealthy.
- We stop spending money we do not have. We force our government to work for us, as it was intended. I do not work in order to pay for a government program. I work in order to have the ability to provide for my family's current and future needs. I am planning for my own future, as best as I can. It would be a lot easier for me if the government that is charged with protecting me woudl stop attacking me financially.
- We stop putting people in positions of power that cannot balance a budget. If you cannot run a household or business without going into debt, we do not need you attempting to guide the country. If you cannot run an election campaign without bungling your finances, we don't need you "helping" solve the crisis we have placed ourselves in as a nation.
- We stop electing people because they seem nice or energetic or young or whatever. We need to elect good, strong people to lead this country in a new direction. We need politicians who see it as being allowed to offer their services to their country and fellow citizens for a season, instead of having politicians who see it as the ultimate SWAG party and ridiculous retirement plan.
- We need to stop electing non-representatives. You work for me as well as the guy who disagrees with me. I am a fellow citizen of yours, just like he is - we are not just your constituents. You answer to me, even when you don't want to. If you make a choice that I find different from my desire, I have the right to express that opinion, regardless of how it might make you feel. If you do not want to hear the opinions of those that you claim to represent, then you have no right to claim to be their representative.
- We need to throw political correctness and sensitivity in the trash can. At the moment, there is very little room in political discourse for us to skirt around certain issues on our tippy toes because you or one of your lobbyist friends might take offense. Please be offended. Be offended that it took so long for you to feel or recognize how poorly you have done your job. Be offended at the fact that many of your actions have led us to this place. If you are too sensitive to deal with these very real, very large issues without getting your feathers ruffled through a lively, boisterous and heated debate, then there is no place for you in politics. Go home and cry in your bed for a while - the country will be better off with you there. This isn't to say that we should be hateful or disrespectful, but we should get fired up about what you are and are not doing with and to our country. That is patriotic. If you cannot handle grown up conversation in a real world that isn't filled with fairies and color-blindness, then you should go write children's stories and not attempt to tell us what stories we can and should read to our children.
- See Why I Think America is in Deep Trouble

Sorry about the length of this post. I got a bit carried away here. It started out as a quick picture and ended with me getting all riled up. I do not apologize for my convictions nor my vocalization of those beliefs, merely for the length of the content.

I hate politics as they are and dream of how I think they could be.
There are so many people on both sides of the aisle that do not deserve to be called representatives or leaders of our country. I am hoping that real world Americans begin to be better represented in the Washington DC.
That starts with you in the voting booth.
Get informed.
Get fired up.
Get represented.
Get America back on track.

Why I Think America Is In Deep Trouble

Last week I was thinking about all of the hype surrounding the debt-ceiling when it occurred to me that I haven't check the status of the Federal Reserve's Monetary Base lately. What follows is a lengthy post where I try to recapture all of my thoughts on this and various topics that I have written about over the course of the past few years.

I started tracking the Monetary Base prior to attending the April 15, 2009 Tea Party in downtown St. Louis, after which I posted my reasons for attending the tea party event. Included in that post was a graph showing the National Debt Per Capita and the Adjusted Monetary Base.

Tyrannosaurus Debt

From Schoolhouse Rocks:

The State of the Union 2011

As is my annual ritual, I read through the President's State of the Union Address this morning. I haven't read or listened to any political commentary at this point, so my perspective is untainted and solely my own.

There are several portions of the speech that I could draw attention to, but I will choose only two.
Here's the first:

And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply can’t afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. (Applause.) Before we take money away from our schools or scholarships away from our students, we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break. It’s not a matter of punishing their success. It’s about promoting America’s success. (Applause.)
In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual tax code. (Applause.) This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them. (Applause.)

Okay, where to start. If you truly care about the deficit, you will stop spending more than you have. Period. This isn't rocket science. Don't spend what you don't have. That means that you can't create new government institutions, agencies, positions and programs until you have funded existing programs. Since the existing programs were running a deficit when the President took office, he should have reigned in spending and reduced the size of the Federal government. But he didn't. He increased its size and scope and buried the nation under a crushing amount of debt that will cripple us in the coming years if the tough decisions aren't made.

The idea of sacrificing for the good if the nation is noble and all, but when the government doesn't choose to adopt the same strategy, one has to question the motivation behind this course of action. America's success isn't going to be determined by whether or not the wealthiest Americans are taxed higher. Her success will be determined by how well the Federal government allows the American people to innovate, create and prosper - including financially. When you tax the wealthiest people at an ever-increasing rate, what do you suppose the final outcome of that will be? Inevitably, the wealthy people find the loopholes, reinvest their finances in other places, or they simply move to a place that will not tax them so heavily.

I'm all for simplifying the tax code. What currently exists is so convoluted and complex that even the government institution chartered to enforce those regulations (the IRS) is having trouble keeping up.Contrary to what the President and members of the government believe, this is a fairly simple goal to accomplish. It's called a flat tax. The amount of paperwork and hassle that such a system would remove from businesses is huge. The reduction in size of the Federal government, by way of drastically reducing the size of the IRS, would be sizable. While I am open to the idea of reducing and removing large portions of the existing to tax code as a preliminary step, I cannot see how this type of effort would prove worthwhile over the course of time. Every year there are additions to the tax code. I am of the opinion that a flat tax would work and would allow the citizens and companies of this great land to prosper. The only way this would work is if the government is held accountable and sticks to a non-deficit increasing budget. (That's sounds a lot like common sense, doesn't it. Some might even say it's Constitutional.)

[Feel free to insert a rant about the Federal Reserve's ability to print an unlimited amount of currency here.]

Here's the second portion that I want to draw attention to:

And because the American people deserve to know that special interests aren’t larding up legislation with pet projects, both parties in Congress should know this:  If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it.  I will veto it.  (Applause.)

Let's see how long it takes to break this promise. I cannot imagine the President being able to stick to this. Now perhaps the senators and Congressman will find another way to tack on their pet projects, or call them by a different name, but I just don't see this being a line in the sand that the President is unwilling to withdraw from.

Overall, the speech read like most of the State of the Union speeches. Obviously, I cannot speak to the effectiveness of the President's delivery of these words, nor to the receptiveness of the blended-party crowd. I am sure there is plenty being said about all that extraneous stuff anyway. If I find anything worth linking to or pointing out as I read more and hear more today, I will add it to the bottom of this post.

The Money Answer Book - Book Review

Dave Ramsey's "The Money Answer Book " aims to help you answer specific questions you may have about your finances in short, one or two page responses. This book is a quick read, with real world questions regarding real world problems. It provides answers to common problems in such a way as to make the reader believe that changing their spending behaviors is possible. Having already read two of Dave Ramsey's books previously (Financial Peace, Total Money Makeover), I didn’t find much in the way of new information provided.

With that being said, I would wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who is not ready to dive into the “deep end” of the literature on handling finances that is out there. The advice given is fundamentally solid and will help someone get out of debt, set up a budget and learn to live on less than they earn. This would also be a great high school graduation gift.

Warning! Economics Ahead!

As stated previously, my interest in economics has been aroused and I wanted to capitalize on that interest (pun) by reading a little on the subject. After reading several articles and listening to and watching several speeches and interviews, I found that I preferred the views of Frederich Hayek over those of John Maynard Keynes. However, other than the random quote here and there by one of the two, I had never truly read anything written by either of them. So, in pursuit of learning more of what the man I was agreeing with had actually written and said, I have spent the better part of the last month slowly working my way through "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A. Hayek.

Without having read anything by Keynes, it is fairly safe for me to say that I agree with Hayek on his views of socialism, totalitarianism, collectivism and progressivism, as well as those on economics. Over the next 3 weeks, I will be presenting one quote every weekday from the book that I found interesting, intriguing or thought-provoking. I have not provided any commentary along with the quote so that the reader might digest the thought without any bias from me getting in the way. You will be able to find the entire collection here (Hayek quotes) after they have been posted.

Also, I found this video entertaining and informative and thought you might as well:

Money Makers

I posted the following FRED graph in April 2009, with this paragraph:

Reason #4 – The devaluing of our currency is an economic and moral nightmare.
The Federal government has pumped so much cash into the economy over the past 6 months that it would seem altogether impossible for this action not to result in inflation, at best, or hyperinflation, at worst. Either outcome is harmful to American and its citizens and should be avoided by all means necessary. At this point, the question is how to begin reducing the amount of currency in circulation and the answer is one that the Federal government refuses to accept: let the free market correct itself and determine the true value of the dollar. While such action will undoubtedly lead to tougher times ahead, this correction is necessary to overcome the mistakes of our past and ensure that we are standing on solid financial ground in the future.

To be clear, this is a graph of the amount of money that the Federal Reserve Bank has printed and is currently in circulation in the United States of America.
Here's the status as of today:

In order to bring more clarity to the ongoing devaluing of the dollar, below is the activity of only the last year, so we can see the atrocity up close:

Who says you can't spend what you don't have? Our government does just that and then prints more money to reduce the deficit between their spending versus available funds. I fully anticipate to see this line continuing to trend upward, much to my dismay and as an ever-increasing, impending threat to our nation's economic security.

The Politics of Economics

Because I have never taken a course in it, but have become more interested in it, I have recently begun reading through a book on economics. I picked it up at the library because I had a desire to learn more about economics. I knew nothing of the author and picked the book because it was praised for being easy to understand and readable. Not until I began reading the book did I discover that the very first chapter in the book is entitled "Politics versus Economics".

What Uncle Sam's House Looks Like

Since Lisa and I have been working diligently on getting out of debt (excluding the house debt), I find myself continuously perturbed by the actions of our Federal Government (read "Total Outstanding Debt Owed by the US Federal Government"). When I think about how hard Lisa and I have worked to eliminate our debt by making some tough choices and sacrificing certain luxuries, it infuriates me to see how our government is spending the money that it took from us and is taking from our future paychecks.

The method that Lisa and I have used to become debt-free is quite simple: spend less than you make. In doing so, we have had to plan to save for future known expenses (ie insurance, renovations), while reducing our expenditures. This has led us to where we are today, on the verge of not having a monthly bill associated with credit card or student loan debt. (As an aside, we never carried a balance on our credit card, but we have stopped using it anyway.) It's a great place to be and we are looking forward to the financial freedom we will have in the future because of the decisions we have made over the past few years.

Total Outstanding Debt Owed by the US Federal Government

Yesterday, I found myself wondering what the current level of debt owed by the United States government is, as well as what the history is of the United States Federal Government functioning under an outstanding debt. I very quickly found the data here, but I was unable to easily find a clear graphic representation of that information. I created the following graphs to visually represent the total outstanding US debt on an annual basis. (If you want to see something from the near past, you can see the graph I created showing the US National debt change from Ocober 2008 through April 2009.)

As of 03FEB09, the total Outstanding Debt of the United States Federal Government is $12,346,427,470,024.01. That is almost 12 and a half Trillion dollars! I have added a widget to the right-hand side of this blog to track the daily amount of debt owed.

Click each graph to see the larger, more detailed version.

REALMnotes - Axiom (Week1) 02FEB10

Here are the questions we thought about and talked about last night at the REALM. This was the beginning of a discussion that will be carried on and expounded upon further by Chris and Bruce over the next two weeks. It would be beneficial for you to read through the questions and then look up the verses listed below, as preparation for next week.

Student Loans

Since I graduated from undergraduate school in May of 1999, I have carried a student loan debt that I did a pretty good job of ignoring. There were several periods of time when the loan was put into hardship deferral, and several more months where I simply was unable to make the payment (not the recommended method).

When we got married, I carried this debt into our new family. At the time, it was the only debt we had, but we were not focussed on it at the time and so it lingered on in our lives. Lisa headed back to school and we financed part of that through a family member loan. So, for the past years we have had these two education debts. A couple of years passed and we ended up buying a new(er) car and got a 5 year loan for that. We were doing pretty good financially (or so we thought).

Podcast - Dave Ramsey

Since I got my iPod, I have thoroughly enjoyed not only being able to listen to music at work and at home, but also the podcasts that I have discovered and subscribed to. Now I get to listen to other stuff that is automatically updated to my iPod when something new has been uploaded and I don't have to do any work for it.

I listen to Dave Ramsey's 1 hour podcast almost every day at work. I was turned on to Ramsey by Lisa's uncle, who spent years working for Edward Jones and recommended DR when I was talking with him about finances. I read one of Rasmey's books and have had several friends complete his Financial Peace University course through our church.

While Ramsey can come across sometimes as being fanatical about his approach to finances, his theory behind it all is solid and I believe worth listening to. He talks frequently about his "Baby Steps" to financial freedom and I have listed them below for future reference. The idea is to step at the top of the list and work your way through it to the end, where you will be completely debt free.

If you haven't read any of Ramsey's articles or books, I would encourage you to do so. If you have an iPod, you might want to consider subscribing to his podcast. It's common sense talk about finances and it is real world examples given by callers that help you learn from other people's mistakes and how they recovered from them.

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps
1.) $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2.) Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3.) 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
4.) Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5.) College funding for children
6.) Pay off home early
7.) Build wealth and give!
8.) Invest in mutual funds and real estate