Captain Clarity

Rev. Al Sharpton Led a protest where protestors demanded “…easier access to jobs” as though jobs just “exist” and that these poor people are being kept from them. It’s really too bad that so few in America today understand the basics of economics, yet we now give college degrees in every politically correct issue there is.

Someone has to have a dream, an idea or a goal. They then have to pursue it against all odds. They usually have to work most of their life away, skipping weekends and vacations. They will work themselves right into the ground and skimp and save everything they can. Most end up having to get loans from banks or investors. Most of these ventures fail and the courageous lose everything. Then…they try again. Finally, a small percentage break through and hire more people to help them attain their goal. This is when and how jobs are created. Sometimes, these ventures go public, meaning that they get investment from Wall Street investors, and then many more jobs are created. Yet, these protestors are vilifying the very people who want to create jobs.

There is government, and there are the people. I am saddened to see these people railing against the people, when it is the government who writes the laws and regulations according to one thing and one thing only… campaign contributions. If protestors would wise up and realize that government is not the solution but the problem, then the people would win.

For generations now, education has been dominated by liberals and they have force-fed their beliefs on generations of kids, who in turn have grown up, become the new teachers and professors and continue the process.
For generations now, Hollywood, TV and Movies have been dominated by liberals and they have force-fed their beliefs on generations of people, who in turn have grown up, become the new stars and they continue the process.

For generations now, the mass-media been dominated by liberals and they have force-fed their beliefs on generations of readers and listeners, who in turn have grown up, become the new anchors and journalists and they continue the process.

For almost 60 years now the liberals have dominated our education, entertainment and media so that they have had complete and total control over the mush that goes into people’s heads. They have allowed no room for conservatives within their ranks. Coming out of the conservative closet has been career suicide.

This is the result. Please people, quit railing against those who want to create jobs and rail against the government who wants you dependent on government. Investors and successful people want to create even more wealth, which requires more investment and more employees. You have been dupped by the media, entertainment and especially your educators throughout your life. Look where it has gotten us. Let’s turn the tide the other way for once and protest against government and in support of the people, us, me and you.

The most recent Greek tragedy is the one in which the Greek economy is failing.  I read an article today in which someone in Greece was quoted as saying:

We demand a fair distribution of the burden so that wage-earners and pensioners do not pay the price for a crisis they did not create.

All of the sudden a landslide of thoughts nearly collapsed my ability to reason.  How much ignorance and stupidity can one roll into one sentence?  The total ignorance of that single quote demonstrates that the person stating it can display their entire intellectual catalog on a bumper sticker.   This single statement also demonstrates the unfathomable ignorance, laziness and lack of personal responsibility that permeates Europe and the USA today.  Unless you live in totalitarian society, YOU are responsible for your own government – period!  He said:

We demand a fair distribution of the burden…

Are you kidding?  Do you really expect the freakin’ government to “distribute burden.”  I had no idea that this was the roll of government.   This is the same kind of idiotic rhetoric from morons who would state that the government should redistribute wealth.  The government shouldn’t distribute or re-distribute anything because Governments have NOTHING except what they take from the public.  Governments shouldn’t produce anything.  They shouldn’t have factories nor stores.  How could individuals compete with government for business?  Any time that an individual started to do well, the government can tax or sue him into oblivion and tax all citizens to subsidize a lower cost.  Eventually there would be no private business and we would all live under government control, with the government handing out only what they see fit.  That is called communism.   Unless you desire communism, you should never suggest that the government “distribute” anything.

Now let’s look at the other half of his intellectual nugget:

…so that wage-earners and pensioners do not pay the price for a crisis they did not create.

Nobody to blame here...please move along

Are you serious? “Wage-earners” can vote and “pensioners” have been voting even longer.  We are all guilty of this economic mess we are in.  “Society” must take all credit and blame for “society.”  After all, isn’t “society” the totality of the average people in any given region?  More importantly, each and everyone of us gets to choose how much we spend and how much we save.   I have spent most of my life watching Europeans and Americans sit around at sidewalk cafes sipping espresso and debating politics with complete and utter ignorance of economics.   How much does an espresso cost?  How much do coffee beans cost? How successful and popular have coffee shops been throughout Europe and the US for the last 20+years?  Think about it!  We sip away on a $5-$7 cup of coffee that costs 10 cents to make.  I used to work with a 20 year-old who would leave the office about 5-6 times a day to go get a $7 Starbucks Coffee.  So there went about $40 per day, or $880 per month or $10,560 per year.  If you are one of these people, please put down your espresso because class is now in session.

Lesson #1: Produce more than you consume

Here in the US, we have the Obama Administration and all big-government supporters in both parties telling us that borrowing from the Chinese to build and rebuild our own internal infrastructure is going to revive our economy.  This make as much sense as thinking that if my family sits in our home buying and selling things to and from each other, we will somehow become wealthy.  No, it doesn’t work like that.  We have to leave our home and produce something to earn something to bring home.  If we only sat in our homes buying a selling to each other, the cupboards will run empty and eventually the taxman and the mortgage company will show up at our door.  It’s very simple: produce more than you consume.  All you have to do is balance a checkbook to learn that you must produce more than you consume.  How many bridges are we going to sell to China?  How many roads and tunnels are we going to sell to India?  None.  How is building tennis courts in a park and a turtle-tunnel under a highway are going to revive our economy?  It’s not; all that does is put a little money in a few peoples’ pockets to prolong the inevitable collapse.  The best thing the governments can do is get out of the way of business

China, India and Southeast Asia are explosive economies while Europe and the USA are failing.  You see, people in China, India and Southeast Asia only want an opportunity, while Europe and the US want handouts.  We sit around and whine about sweat shops, while they hope, pray and work to get factories to work in.  We have deindustrialized our nations and shipped our manufacturing jobs overseas.  Why?  UNIONS!  Unions always talk about a “living wage, living wage,living wage.”  What they are referring to is paying $147,000 per year to an uneducated grunt for twisting bolts!  Let me see…go to college and study business only to earn $26k my first year, hope to reach $45k within 5-10 years and maybe achieve $100k plus in 15-20 years.  All the while changing employers and relying on my own ability to remain employed…or skip college and drive a bus for the same amount of money.   Hmmm, let me think about this one.

Lesson #2: Don’t punish achievement nor reward failure

Doesn’t anyone remember Pavlov’s dog?  Ivan Pavlov’s research on conditional reflexes is common knowledge in science and pop-culture.  Pavlov’s dog proved that if you reward an activity you will get more of it.  If you punish an activity and you will get less of it.  Reward the uneducated and unemployed and you will get more of them.  Punish success and achievement and you will get less of it.

Why do our local, state and federal governments require that people become destitute before providing assistance?  It’s really quite simple; because it is in their best interest to make you dependent.

The phrase “Pavlov’s dog” is also used to describe someone who merely reacts to a situation rather than using critical thinking.

You can’t tax yourself into prosperity.  You need the majority of your population to produce more than they consume.  Heck, even idiot drug dealers will tell you that.  Drug dealer who use their own products don’t survive because they always use more than they sell.

Pitting haves against have-nots is tired and old…more importantly is it LAZY!  If you want something EARN IT!

How does your vote influence your income and your life?  President Obama and most of the Democrats have promised Americans that they will tax the rich to pay for America’s opulent and indulgent lifestyle.  In 2007 and 2008, Senator Barack Obama traveled the country and even foreign countries promising to punish the rich and “spread the wealth around.

Let’s take a quick look at how this is working out today.  …and by the way, how is your 401k looking now?  How is your property value doing?

Market Overview

US Markets

Asian Markets

Donald Trump said “Bush has been so bad, maybe the worst president in the history of this country. He has been so incompetent, so bad, so evil that I don’t think any Republican could have won.”

Is Donald Trump Smart Enough And Tough Enough To Be President?  I would have to say that he might be a good candidate for President of The Hair Club For Men if Sy Sperling decides to retire, but it might be a good idea to pass legislation barring Donald Trump from getting within 100 miles of Washington DC.

I am starting to feel sorry for Congress and the White House administration.  Only now am I starting to realize the depth of their collective disabilities that they are forced to live with.  These poor people are so addicted to spending that they seem to be beyond a cure.  No matter what we say and what we do, they can’t control themselves.  It is an illness that seems to permeate government buildings everywhere you go.

They are like every other kind of addict in that they are in denial and they can’t control themselves.  The 2010 election was like a failed “intervention.”  I’m afraid that it is a mental and behavioral disorder.  Maybe we need to create another whole host of treatment programs, subsidized by even more unfunded federal dollars printed up by our treasury.

“Hello.  My name is Harry Reid.  I have been clean for…well, let’s see…”

I think the only solution now is to build more treasury buildings across the country so they can print and spend money faster.  They have all proven to us that they are beyond a cure.  I give up.  My forehead is bleeding from pounding it against the wall.  My throat is sore from trying to explain to the entitlement 1/2 of the American population that the federal government only has debt, and that the only “money” they appear to have is what they take from us and what they print.  My keyboard is giving out and I don’t know if I can afford a new one.

Let’s just agree to classify their spending addiction as a disability so they can get special protections and spend until they are frothing at the mouth, with their eyes bulging out of the faces and their hands are shaking like any other addict (Nancy Pelosi is already there).  It’s just not fair for the rest of us to keep trying to deny that they are all sick and in need of our understanding.

Give up America.  Just give up.

President Obama has been nicknamed “No Drama Obama” by those close to him because he is just so cool. Even with doom and devastation all around him, he can flash a million dollar smile and stay relaxed. Many uptight people wish they had that quality, me included. Let’s take a quick look at the state of the world right now and see if we can learn anything from the master of cool.

US Housing starts posted their biggest decline in 27 years in February and building permits dropped to their lowest level on record. Gas prices are now the highest on record for the month of March and showing no sign of letting up as the world’s largest oil producing region is at war with political uprisings. The cost of jet fuel rose by nearly 20 percent in January, so airlines have reacted with fare increases of up to 30 percent. By Monday, every single stock market around the globe in the US, Asia and Europe were in a free-fall. I personally sold all of my stock because almost all of my 2010 gains were stripped away in 3 days of free-fall global sell-offs sparked by the trifecta of national disasters plaguing Japan.

Protesters are taking to the streets by the tens of thousands in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and other states across the US. Union thugs and even little-old ladies are making public death threats against our elected politicians for doing their jobs. The police and sheriff unions sent threat letters to business owners in Wisconsin and yet who can these business owners turn to for protection? If the police threatened me, I might go the the Sheriff. If the Sheriff threatened me, I might go the the police. What do you do when the Sheriff and the police threaten you? Where is the FBI in all of this? Why are they not doing anything?

The US had an election last year so our elected representative chose to not vote on a budget for 2011 so that their votes could not be used against them in their campaigns. In other words, winning political office for themselves was more important than establishing a Federal budget for you and your country. It is now mid-March and they are going to punt again with another temporary fix called a “continuing resolution” so they can all go home and take a little personal time for rest and relaxation.

The Middle East is imploding with untold numbers of innocent civilians being slaughtered and bombed in their homes by their very own leaders and governments. Starting with Iran in 2009 and recently reigniting in Egypt, then spreading like a wildfire throughout the entire region. This is the most widespread political uprising in our lifetime. The civilian rebel fighters in Libya have been begging for a month now for just a little support in their battles against a brutal dictators who is bombing his own cities and killing his own people, yet the UN and the US leaders just talk about it and say “we’re still thinking about it.”

The Pacific Plate is clearly on the move with devastating earthquakes in Chile, New Zealand and Japan in the last year. Looking at the edges of the Pacific Plate clarifies that the western US is the next likely tectonic plate edge that will release power and produce a major earthquake. What are we doing to prepare in the wake of this wake up call?

Japan would have been in bad enough shape from a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, but the following tsunami wiped out an entire region of their island nation. The third largest economy on earth has been brought to her knees and over 10,000 are expected dead. Millions of our friends are now homeless, starving, freezing and now sitting on the doorstep of a complete and total nuclear meltdown of numerous reactors.

So…let me see if I’ve got this straight… In the last few weeks, food prices have jumped faster than they have since 1974. Oil and gas prices are skyrocketing and increasing the cost of…well…everything. Housing data in the US is on a downward trend. Every US industry that is tied to the Japanese economy is about to take a BIG blow, including technology and the auto industry. War is spreading like wildfire. The economy has jumped off the cliff and markets are in a free-fall… not looking very good.

No Drama Obama is picking his favorite college basketball teams, going to dinners, parties and all kinds of fun political fundraisers. Michelle Obama is planting a garden and all of the Obama family is packing for their vacation in Rio. Of course, President Obama will be meeting Latin leaders and giving speeches (nothing new) while Michelle, the girls and all their security detail will enjoy a lot of sight-seeing, fun and frolic. There will probably be more pictures of the Obamas frolicking on the beach.

1. We live in the year 2011, not 1911
   

   This picture is NOT 2011.

2. We all have the right to apply for any job we want
3. We all can quit our job if we want
4. Nobody in the US is “forced” to endure anything at work (see rule #3 above)
5. There are a gazillion Federal and State laws on the books to protect employees from employer abuse
6. Whips and chains are not allowed to be used on employees  in the workplace…except in the adult film industry…but even that is by choice
7. Women are not forced to wear aprons and head-scarves in the workplace
8. Children are not enslaved in our factories.  In fact, no company in the history of America ever had the power to force child labor.  It was PARENTS who put their children to work, to help their families survive.
9. Current LAWS (not union contracts) won’t even allow children under 16 to work any more.  Of course this also makes it hard for them to learn personal responsibility and buy a car at 16 too.
10. Everyone gets a 1-hour break for lunch
11. Everyone gets other breaks throughout the day
12. We are all allowed to go to the bathroom
13. Men with pocket watches and top-hats and Fedoras do not pace up and down the factory isles beating employees for sneezing
14. Everyone gets vacation time
15. Most of us work 5 days per week
16. Overtime is paid for working any hours over 40 hours per week
17. We are allowed to call in sick.  It is up to individual employers to offer the amount of sick time that they can afford
18. Health insurance is a benefit, not a right
19. Workplace retirement is a benefit not a right
20. Most of us do have to actually produce some form of benefit
21. Companies are not formed for the sole purpose of providing jobs
22. Desks are made for working, not as a place to sit 5 days a week while waiting for a paycheck
23. Raises are usually tied to the value we bring to the company including – but not limited to - work history, performance, education and experience in current field…and in no way are raises tied to calendars.
24. Promotions follow the rules of raises.
25. No, everyone is not entitled to a 6-figure income…in fact, we are not “entitled” to anything.

If you don’t like your job, quit and get a new one. If you can’t seem to get a job that pays as much as you want, consider an education.  If there are “no jobs available” in your area, move to where the jobs are.  Nobody “owes” you anything for breathing.  If you want to quit breathing…go ahead, that’s your choice.  A job is not a “right.”  Jobs are earned.  Raises are earned.  Promotions are earned.

I pay for 100% of my family’s medical insurance and retirement.  I have yet to find one person who will even attempt to explain to me – logically – why it is my responsibility to pay for all of mine and all of theirs too.  We don’t need unions.  In fact, unions are nothing more than gangs who threaten to create havoc if the majority of the rest of us do not concede to their demands.  I earn my keep, you should earn yours.  You have no “special rights” over me.  ELIMINATE UNIONS AND RETURN OUR COUNTRY TO A FREE MARKET ECONOMY!

Since the end of 2008, the global economy has been in shambles and now, protests, marches and even violent government overthrows are expanding and spreading before our very eyes.   Even US cities and states are experiencing increasing turmoil.

I personally haven’t received a raise in 3 years and I have no job security.  I am not a part of any union and so I have to pay for my own family’s retirement and medical insurance.   Our CEO has been talking to and looking at me differently lately.  I’m fairly certain that I will soon be unemployed.  Unemployment and mortgage foreclosures continue to plague the American people.  Considering the state of the union, I am not pleased with being forced to pay for the retirement funds and health care of other people, while I teeter on the brink of financial ruin.

Americans are taking to the streets to protest like they haven’t in decades.  Wisconsin and Ohio are leading the charge on this.  Tens of thousands of government employees are refusing to do the jobs we pay them to do.  They still get paid, but they won’t work to earn their money.  14 Senators have fled the state of Wisconsin, refusing to do their jobs and the union police also refused to do their job when ordered to clear the Capitol after more than two weeks of 1960′s style sit-ins and shouting matches.  This is causing smaller satellite protests of solidarity across the US.  Everybody expects this to spread like a wildfire. Read more…

Union/Government Attack Taxpaying American Citizens - Photo courtesy of AP

These BIG-union-organized protests are an attack on working families.  The vast majority of “working people” and “working families” are not union members, yet we are all forced against our will to pay for 100% of union members’ retirement, lifetime medical insurance, extended paid vacations, etc.  We already pay 100% of our own retirement and medical expenses so it doesn’t make sense that we should have to pay for our neighbors’ retirement and medical expenses too.  Doesn’t it make sense that each and every person can be responsible for their own well being?  During these tough economic times it is simply not practical for the majority of working families to continue to try to support their own families and the families of people who get special protections from the government and their big-union political contributors.

The vast majority of workers don’t have a say in the matter.  If you pay taxes, your income is confiscated from your check and then delivered by your government to pay for union members’ salaries and gold-plated lifetime benefits.  The really bizarre part of this is that taxpayer money is being used by these unions to demonstrate against taxpayers to make us give them more money.  Bizarre, don’t you think? Read more…