Governor Rod Blagojevich is being impeached for allegedly auctioning off a US Senate seat to the highest bidder. Bernard Madoff is going on trial for an alleged ponzi scheme, where money is brought in, and returns on investment on paid with the money of other contributors, rather than the merits of the investment.
Why are these guys being singled out? Most Congressman vote on bills not for the bill's merit, but by the amount of pork that gets fed into a bill that has nothing to do with the bill. That's how the bailout passed. The first bailout was voted down. Then it was voted in because congressmen were promised money in their district for various programs that had nothing to do with the bailout. Isn't that selling your vote? How does that differ from Blagojevich? How is it wrong wrong to sell the job, but OK to act that way once you have the job.
As for a 50 billion dollar ponzi scheme: How many trillions of dollars have gone into Social Security, where we pay into a system that transfer the money to someone else? The scheme has been going on longer than Madoff's and is tremendously larger, but one of these days that scam is going to run out of money too. I doubt anyone is going to stand trial for that one.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Reaction to the President's Farewell
A quick observation:
Over President Bush's 8 years, I've noticed that whenever he cites people's actions in his speeches, it's always people who are indisputable heroes. Tonight was no exception. For example: the staff sergeant who charged into an ambush in Iraq to save three of his fellow marines. The 60 year old surgeon who enlisted in the Navy medical corps to honor his fallen son. These people are the finest examples of courage, heroism, and resolve.
When I listened to President Elect Obama during his campaign, he was citing people who can't pay their bills, don't have medical insurance, are unemployed and/or have had their homes foreclosed upon. These people are the clearest examples of pain and suffering.
Both types exist. Draw your own conclusions as to why they choose the people they choose in their speeches.
Lastly, a few quotable quotes from a President who has strengths, but public speaking is often not one of them:
We must resists complacency.
We must keep our resolve.
And we must never let down our guard.
If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.
Over President Bush's 8 years, I've noticed that whenever he cites people's actions in his speeches, it's always people who are indisputable heroes. Tonight was no exception. For example: the staff sergeant who charged into an ambush in Iraq to save three of his fellow marines. The 60 year old surgeon who enlisted in the Navy medical corps to honor his fallen son. These people are the finest examples of courage, heroism, and resolve.
When I listened to President Elect Obama during his campaign, he was citing people who can't pay their bills, don't have medical insurance, are unemployed and/or have had their homes foreclosed upon. These people are the clearest examples of pain and suffering.
Both types exist. Draw your own conclusions as to why they choose the people they choose in their speeches.
Lastly, a few quotable quotes from a President who has strengths, but public speaking is often not one of them:
We must resists complacency.
We must keep our resolve.
And we must never let down our guard.
If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.
Monday, January 12, 2009
We Don't Need Government to the Rescue
Today, President George W Bush said "And I readily conceded that I chucked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisers that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression".
Mr. President: I've argued for you when it was very unpopular to do so. You can take responsibility for recognizing we were at war when the rest of the so called civilized world just wanted to chant bumper sticker slogans. But today, I'm beyond dissappointed. First, whoever told you things could be worse than the Great Depression either lied or is an idiot. We're nowhere near breadlines and 25% unemployment. And anyone who believes this ridiculous TARP program that's trying to keep failed companies afloat has staved off an economic disaster can call me because I have a bridge to sell them. Try reading some memoirs of the Great Depression before making such ridiculous comparisons.
Next, nice to know you chucked aside your free market principles because things were looking bad. It's easy to have principles when things look good; try standing by them when things get tough. You certainly did that by sticking it out in Iraq and the Surge when the rest of the world said we lost. Obviously, there were no free market principles.
Now onto our incoming President-Elect. Recently, he told us that only government can get us out of the mess. Well, that's a slap in the face to every entrepreneur and hard working independent Americans. Most of us don't want government helping us, and we most certainly don't need the government to get us out of this. When there's adversity, there's opportunity. Has everyone in the government forgotten this? I hope none of you have.
Get ready for the biggest power grab you have ever seen on American soil. If Barack Obama and Congress get what they want, we're looking at a massive transfer of economic power from the private sector to the government. And we all know what a great job the government has done with managing the DMV, Social Security, etc.
This isn't Republican vs. Democrat. There aren't enough voices on either side of the aisle with any common sense. Everyone is afraid, everyone is going to vote for this economic takeover, and whenever things turn around, they just want to take credit for it. But things are going to be made much worse from this intervention, prolonging the misery. You can't avoid recessions, they're part of the free market.
This is still a democracy. When the time comes for the Great American Bailout Plan, where trillions of dollars of money we don't have gets proposed in the name of "saving the economy" - I hope you're ready for battle. Make sure you call your Congressmen and Congresswomen, and let them know this is not what we want. They don't listen to us because they represent us; they listen to us because we can vote them out if we have half a brain. I hope we do.
Write Your Representative
Contact Your Senator
Mr. President: I've argued for you when it was very unpopular to do so. You can take responsibility for recognizing we were at war when the rest of the so called civilized world just wanted to chant bumper sticker slogans. But today, I'm beyond dissappointed. First, whoever told you things could be worse than the Great Depression either lied or is an idiot. We're nowhere near breadlines and 25% unemployment. And anyone who believes this ridiculous TARP program that's trying to keep failed companies afloat has staved off an economic disaster can call me because I have a bridge to sell them. Try reading some memoirs of the Great Depression before making such ridiculous comparisons.
Next, nice to know you chucked aside your free market principles because things were looking bad. It's easy to have principles when things look good; try standing by them when things get tough. You certainly did that by sticking it out in Iraq and the Surge when the rest of the world said we lost. Obviously, there were no free market principles.
Now onto our incoming President-Elect. Recently, he told us that only government can get us out of the mess. Well, that's a slap in the face to every entrepreneur and hard working independent Americans. Most of us don't want government helping us, and we most certainly don't need the government to get us out of this. When there's adversity, there's opportunity. Has everyone in the government forgotten this? I hope none of you have.
Get ready for the biggest power grab you have ever seen on American soil. If Barack Obama and Congress get what they want, we're looking at a massive transfer of economic power from the private sector to the government. And we all know what a great job the government has done with managing the DMV, Social Security, etc.
This isn't Republican vs. Democrat. There aren't enough voices on either side of the aisle with any common sense. Everyone is afraid, everyone is going to vote for this economic takeover, and whenever things turn around, they just want to take credit for it. But things are going to be made much worse from this intervention, prolonging the misery. You can't avoid recessions, they're part of the free market.
This is still a democracy. When the time comes for the Great American Bailout Plan, where trillions of dollars of money we don't have gets proposed in the name of "saving the economy" - I hope you're ready for battle. Make sure you call your Congressmen and Congresswomen, and let them know this is not what we want. They don't listen to us because they represent us; they listen to us because we can vote them out if we have half a brain. I hope we do.
Write Your Representative
Contact Your Senator
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