Some Things To Consider

A couple thoughts as we move towards year-end:

First, Republicans appear to be ready to cave on health care reform.  That should be an unconditional green light to abandon the party and support a third party.  If they can’t stop this legislation given public opinion, then (i) they aren’t trying, and (ii) the party is not worth saving.  How much longer can we support such a party just because they are slightly better than the Democrats?  Meaningful change that supports personal freedom, small government and fiscal responsibility will only happen with a third party!

Second, there’s a lot of chatter about a value added tax.  That is still a tax borne by taxpayers with higher prices.  Because it is a hidden tax, the politicians will love the idea.  Watch our Republicans on this as well.  My guess is they’ll jump at the opportunity.  There’s no talk of a spending cuts or dedicated use of such revenue.  This is likely just another money grab by Washington.

Third, there’s a lot of talk about economic recovery.  We are still very vulnerable with the dollar de-valued, high unemployment, state budgets in crisis, real estate finance unresolved and Congress looking at several new taxes.  We still have energy issues and eventually our lack of a sound foreign policy will lead to a security breach that could result in economic chaos.

Finally, there’s a lot of talk about “stealth” bills and legislation add-ons to pass unpopular legislation.   Congress – Republicans and Democrats alike – needs to be held accountable for their actions in the 2010 elections.  We need to vote these people out.

Do We Still Make Foreign Policy?

Does anyone really know what our current foreign policy is — other than apathy to everything happening in the world?  Has anyone heard from our Secretary of State in weeks?  How about her husband?   There’s a whole lot happening in the world.   I guess one approach is to sit on the sidelines and watch while the world around us changes. I would be a little more comfortable if we were proactive.

Venezuela seems to be aligning with some dangerous folks and building up arms, Iran is working on nuclear bomb capabilities and is getting close, Russia is courting anyone who dislikes us, Cuba is talking with China and others, North Korea is still just being North Korea.  What have we done?  We distanced ourself from our ally Israel, we decided not to protect our allies in Europe with a missile shield, we don’t know whether to surge or run in Afghanistan, we started our abandonment of Iraq, and we even managed to tick off Canada with our trade policies. 

I hope our whole foreign policy isn’t: (i) follow the United Nations and (ii) hope everyone likes us more now that George Bush is out of office.   I fear that we are losing our grip as a global and we do not have the economic clout we once had to overcome bad foreign policy.  As the dollar dives, our position in the world declines and our safety is in jeopardy.

We need a strong foreign policy and a strong Secretary of State.  We currently have neither.  Does any reasonable person feel more secure with respect to Iraq, Iran, N.Korea, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Afghanistan or Russia in 2009 than they did in 2008?

Labor Day

Yesterday as we celebrated Labor Day with picnics and parades, I couldn’t help but look at unions as a lost  resource in the 21st century.  Are there any unions that will  put the issues affecting their members first?  It appears that the larger unions are: (i) more concerned about political agendas, (ii) maintaining power and influence for their leadership and (iii) like certain other special interest groups, such as AARP, little more than political puppets for the left.

Maybe I am just not seeing it.  Maybe the unions need better public relations for their nonmembers.  However, has a single unions suggested that deficit spending by the government may ultimately hurt their members or that something is wrong with a stimulus plan that has not resulted in decline in unemployment?  Has a single union ever questioned whether ”cap and trade” may hurt their membership by driving more jobs overseas.  More directly, has a single union ever proposed that illegal immigrants take jobs from union members or that negotiated health care may be better than government health care?  I follow the news pretty closely and I haven’t seeen any of these issues debated in a reasonable fashion.

The American worker has been an essential part of making America the greatest country in the world.  During the last half of the 20th century, the worker had opportunities for growth and even to buy into many companies.  Workers prospered as America prospered.

The recent economic downturn has hurt workers at all levels – union and nonunion. It has hurt owners and management as well.  In fact, the only group that appears exempt from the pain is the federal government.  Yet, the unions have not demanded accountability from our federal government.  Instead, they have fallen lockstep in line with policies that may be hurting their members.

What are the unions getting out of it?  They are hoping for legislation that make union membership much more likely by making it more difficult for employees to exercise their free choice not to unionize.  There’s not a whole lot of transparency in this power for power bargain between the unions and Congress.  Unfortunately, the workers are being used for power and money grabs by both the politicians and the union leadership.  That’s a shame.

Watch for Diversions

Freedoms are lost when Congress is in session and the people are distracted by crisis or other factors.  As a tax lawyer, I have seen several major tax increases passed at year end while citizens are distracted by the holidays.  It is very important this fall to be aware of what Congress is doing.  It may be the swine flu; it may be Afghanistan or it may be something totally new.  However, we need to monitor closely what this Congress does.

This Congress has the votes to move very quickly and citizens need to be ready and able to come together with a strong voice to avoid losing more freedom. 

The next four months are criticial.  We need to get to the election year.  If the poll that says 57% would be willing to replace the entire Congress is correct, then the people have finally realized that Congress does not have their best interest at heart.  We need to remain diligent and aware even if they attempt to distract us.  They have already tried namecalling and discrediting and intimidation to keep the public quiet.  Diversion will be next.

Republicans have generally not done a good job of resisting these power grabs in times of “crisis.”  Last year’s bank “crisis” and resulting bailout is a classic example.  That is why ultimately we need a strong third party.  In the meantime, the people must be ready to speak out.

Sometimes I’m Surprised

 

There are certain things that you never expect to write, and yet it comes to pass.  I’m having one of those moments:  “We could learn something from anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan.”  I never thought I would say that.   You see, in prior years, I thought Ms. Sheehan was just another irrational George W. Bush hater who would do anything to try to make him look bad.  I thought it was personal and/or political.

 However, Ms. Sheehan is still critical of the war and the new administration as well.  Her actions seem to be based  upon principles rather than politics.  That’s unusual in the 21^st century.  I can respect that.  I do not happen to agree with her views, but I can respect her position and the actions she is taking.

 Unlike many in the media who continue to blame Mr. Bush for everything and refuse to hold Mr. Obama or Congress accountable for anything, Ms. Sheehan appears to have strong beliefs against war (probably any war) because war results in death.  It does not appear to matter whether it is a Republican or a Democrat running the war.

 Today’s internet reports indicate that there have been more U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan in 2009 than in any other year.  If Mr. Bush were still in office, this would be highlighted with much greater alarm and criticism by the mainstream media and Congressional leaders than is currently being expressed.  That is why politicians and the mainstream media have lost credibility.

 Where Ms. Sheehan and I continue to disagree is that I happen to believe that war, while unpleasant,  is sometimes necessary and this war, in particular, is necessary.  Unfortunately, war does result in death.  What concerns me about both the prior administration and this administration is that they do not appear to have solid plans for “exiting war with victory.”  I believe that you should “never open a door that you cannot close.”  The prior administration did just that, and the current administration does not appear to have a plan for closing it either. My fear, however,  is that when it gets difficult, we will exit without victory and lives will have been wasted.

Need A Third Party

Last November, Democrats claimed they had a mandate from the people.  The Republicans were out of touch with the people.  Now, 9 months later, the Republicans claim the Democrats have gone too far and the public is ready to embrace the Republican agenda.  

I doubt the November election was really a mandate for Democrats.  Rather, the public was very dissatisfied with Republicans, and they had no real choice other than the Democrats.  The Republicans did not effectively distinguish their platform from the Democratic platform. 

I also have my doubts about whether the public is now ready to embrace the Republicans again.  However, the public is not ready to have European government/economy imposed upon them.   Maybe they remember the Democrats criticizing Republicans for budget deficits, but then incurring  much larger deficits.  The real issue is that we have no real choice, no meaningful leadership.

What we really need is a third party, to provide people a meaningful choice.  Over the past 25 years, the Republicans have had their chances and the Democrats have had their chances.  Each party has been corrupted by power.  They have failed to make the difficult decisions.  As a result, we have huge deficits, high taxes, less freedom, less security, a weakened economy,  and we move from crisis to crisis.

If the Republicans and Democrats had to lead instead of just blaming one another, our government might actually work for the people instead of  for the politicians.  A third party forces accountability.  The New Enterprise Party offers new ideas which will serve the people.  We need leadership in Washington.

Things that Keep Me Awake at Night

Why I have trouble sleeping at night in no particular order:

10. Cap and trade and the possible negative impact on our economy.

9. Health care and lack of honest debate of the issues. 

 8.  White house asking people to report people spreading rumors.

7. Loss of mainstream media as fair information resource.

6. Risk of loss of internet as “free” information resource.

5. Trillion dollar deficits; trillions of unfunded social security and Medicare liabilities. A trillion is a 1 with 12 zeroes to the right.

4.  Passage of a local school levy with 26% voter turnout (stealth election tactics by a government agency)

3. The lack of honest debate on the illegal immigration issues and the impact of these isues on our economy

2. Manipulated oil markets

1. Security letdown against terrorists and rogue governments.

Most of all I have trouble sleeping because we are facing a leadership crisis in America (in all segments of society).

Impact of China on Economy

There’s a huge factor in our economy that nobody seems to be talking about – China.  We need to take control of this issue in advance, rather than just let the circumstances occur.  First, China is a huge debt holder becoming larger every day.  If they ever decide to demand payment or reduce the amount they are willing to carry, we will have  problems.  Thus, to a certain extent we have lost control  of our economy already.  Second, American consumers and industry rely on the Chinese industry to produce low-cost products.  Thus, we have moved a certain segment of our employment/production overseas.  If we ever want to reduce such production and move that part of the economy back to the United States, then China may demand payment of the debt it holds.  If China ever decided to raise its production costs, it would have a negative impact our cost of goods and on our economy.

Both of these circumstances just seemed to occur over time; now we must address our economic circumstances with these conditions in place.  However, we now need to stop the flow of jobs to China and flow of borrowed money from China.  We need to develop a stronger, more directed plan in order to regain some of the self-control we have lost.

First, we need to be proactive in reducing our debt.

Second, we need to reduce the regulation and taxation of American small business  in order to bring back some of the jobs we have lost to China.

Third, we need to make sure that we do not create an additional disadvantage to American business  by burdening such business with Health care and environmental costs.

Fourth, we must keep the minimum wage in check so that we do not out-price ourselves in production costs.

Fifth, we need to take control of energy costs with American production and innovation.

Finally, we need to consider the overall long-term impact of the current circumstances and develop an appropriate economic policy that favors America.

On a separate matter, we need to undertake a similar process for addressing the illegal immigration issues.