I want to make sure we recognize the people of Fargo, North Dakota in their battle against flood waters from the Red River. If you didn't notice, people lined up in 9 degree weather to fill sandbags to raise the level of their protective dikes when record rising water threatened the city and surrounding neighborhoods. The reason you might not have noticed is that this really wasn't a news event, other than a human interest story it did not get that much press, which is a shame.
What struck me is that these people did not complain about lack of government help, or why the dikes were a few feet short of the projected record flood levels, they just all got together as a community and solved the problem the best way they knew how. I was particularly struck by the neighbors that got together in small groups to work together and sandbag their homes in a protective circle, even the ones emptied by fleeing neighbors that didn't participate in the work. That is the true meaning of community and responsibility to our neighbor. How much easier would it have been to stand up on national TV and tell the world that their local officials had screwed the deal up by not having the dikes built high enough to anticipate a 112 year flood level, or why the federal government had not prepared for this disaster and supplied their every need? Much easier, but that is not what happened. They took care of the problem and each other in a very personal and responsible way, quite at odds with the practice of being a professional "victim." I certainly don't discount there are victims of many disasters, but want to highlight the different response from Fargo.
I dare say that if the Red River does spill over its banks and demolish Fargo, it will be rebuilt and we won't hear much about it, because the local community will take care of it as a dedicated group of hard working and responsible people. I would also bet there won't be blame assigned, crooked contractors salivating over government rebuilding contracts, or public officials using this disaster for personal gain. Perhaps the residents of New Orleans can learn a lesson from the people of North Dakota, hardy souls to be certain and a vanishing shadow of the American dream.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Financial "In"stability
OK, so I am just as irritated as you are that 165 Million dollars ended up being paid as bonuses out of "our" money to AIG executives. After thinking about it over the weekend, I have to admit that I am more irritated that 170 Billion was spent in the first place, and now our Congress is reacting in a very terrifying manner in an attempt to keep the public's eye on AIG and not themselves. Looking back, this whole issue has ceded impressive new powers to our government's ability to tax, and we the people are the dummies clamoring for it...another reason to enjoy our Founder's wisdom at creating a Republic rather than a democracy, other than the small fact that the leaders of our Republic are actually the ones leading the masses into quick, reactive and punitive decisions instead of protecting us from that type of "mob rule."
One of the reasons I prefer limited government as the Constitution mandates, is that under this arrangement I can expect my stuff to be safe from arbitrary government action. When I see local governments declare property condemned with no other designs other than confiscation, I feel threatened that my property might be next. Now we have the nation's Congress applying a targeted confiscatory tax on a special group of taxpayers. Regardless of our feelings on the subject, whether we can associate with the overwhelming percentage of Americans who see this as an opportunity to "stick it to the man" that has stuck it to them with the gift of recession, or with the group that was contractually promised a certain income much as a waiter/waitress or salesperson would be compensated, the reality and long term implication of this action is we have implicitly given our Congress the right to tax specific groups of people at will.
Add to this frightening new development the role that the government intervention has played in normal business activities. Leaders of financial institutions are afraid to commit to normal business activities, out of fear of being the focus of the next public outrage. In a personal example, a large bank was recently in negotiations with a company I am involved with, the object of the "partnership" was to entertain selected high value clients in a special environment where those clients might be convinced to begin investing or increase an investment in the bank. With the recent developments and instability that our government has created by issuing funds and later disagreeing with the way those funds were used, this project was completely shut down before it ever got started. People are out of a job, and not business executives; caterers, hotel staff, organizers, mechanics, etc are all looking for work or have their job in jeopardy because of this situation. Whatever the intent of stabilizing the financial system, we can now clearly see the reality that any time the government gets involved in a uniform instead of a striped shirt the whole game gets confused, and people lose their jobs.
I will give President Obama one kudo, in the racing industry you hire the biggest cheater as the Chief Technical person. When he hired Tim Geithner he did the same thing, now we can expect the IRS to be fully capable of recognizing the tax cheats out there and getting every last penny out of them, after all, he has the best experience to know how to catch the rest of the cheaters. Its too bad that the real villains are the ones that refused to regulate companies like AIG, instead preferring to pander to their "constituents" at the expense of people that did the right thing and lived within their means. Now those same people in Congress are pointing distracting fingers at the greed of Wall Street, and in many cases rightfully so, but if those pointing fingers expect even the slightest credibility there needs to be some self examination at the same time, and some accountability for throwing money around like drunken sailors while using the AIG execs as their scape goats. It is the whole lot of 535 people in Congress that needs to be fired, well before we ask for the money to be repaid by the banks, so when and if we do get it back it can be spent in a prudent and reasonable fashion to repay the mountain of debt we are creating.
One of the reasons I prefer limited government as the Constitution mandates, is that under this arrangement I can expect my stuff to be safe from arbitrary government action. When I see local governments declare property condemned with no other designs other than confiscation, I feel threatened that my property might be next. Now we have the nation's Congress applying a targeted confiscatory tax on a special group of taxpayers. Regardless of our feelings on the subject, whether we can associate with the overwhelming percentage of Americans who see this as an opportunity to "stick it to the man" that has stuck it to them with the gift of recession, or with the group that was contractually promised a certain income much as a waiter/waitress or salesperson would be compensated, the reality and long term implication of this action is we have implicitly given our Congress the right to tax specific groups of people at will.
Add to this frightening new development the role that the government intervention has played in normal business activities. Leaders of financial institutions are afraid to commit to normal business activities, out of fear of being the focus of the next public outrage. In a personal example, a large bank was recently in negotiations with a company I am involved with, the object of the "partnership" was to entertain selected high value clients in a special environment where those clients might be convinced to begin investing or increase an investment in the bank. With the recent developments and instability that our government has created by issuing funds and later disagreeing with the way those funds were used, this project was completely shut down before it ever got started. People are out of a job, and not business executives; caterers, hotel staff, organizers, mechanics, etc are all looking for work or have their job in jeopardy because of this situation. Whatever the intent of stabilizing the financial system, we can now clearly see the reality that any time the government gets involved in a uniform instead of a striped shirt the whole game gets confused, and people lose their jobs.
I will give President Obama one kudo, in the racing industry you hire the biggest cheater as the Chief Technical person. When he hired Tim Geithner he did the same thing, now we can expect the IRS to be fully capable of recognizing the tax cheats out there and getting every last penny out of them, after all, he has the best experience to know how to catch the rest of the cheaters. Its too bad that the real villains are the ones that refused to regulate companies like AIG, instead preferring to pander to their "constituents" at the expense of people that did the right thing and lived within their means. Now those same people in Congress are pointing distracting fingers at the greed of Wall Street, and in many cases rightfully so, but if those pointing fingers expect even the slightest credibility there needs to be some self examination at the same time, and some accountability for throwing money around like drunken sailors while using the AIG execs as their scape goats. It is the whole lot of 535 people in Congress that needs to be fired, well before we ask for the money to be repaid by the banks, so when and if we do get it back it can be spent in a prudent and reasonable fashion to repay the mountain of debt we are creating.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Top American Cities with Poverty-a Lesson?
A friend set this to me, I haven't verified this information and thought someone might have a few comments. If its true then it speaks to a culture of dependence and oppression we have to stop empowering.
Cole
TOP 10 POVERTY CITIES
This has got to be one of the greatest American tragedies. What do the top 10 cities with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961;
Buffalo, NY (2nd)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954;
Cincinnati, OH (3rd)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984;
Cleveland, OH (4th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1989;
Miami, FL (5th)...has never had a Republican mayor;
St. Louis, MO (6th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1949;
El Paso, TX (7th)...has never had a Republican mayor;
Milwaukee, WI (8th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1908;
Philadelphia, PA (9th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1952;
Newark, NJ (10th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
Einstein once said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'
It is the disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats --- yet are still disadvantaged.
The disadvantaged remain disadvantaged because they are looking for a Liberal Democratic Government to give them something, when all they have to do is work for it.
(How can a person be 5th generation & disadvantaged in this country?)
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free".
Cole
TOP 10 POVERTY CITIES
This has got to be one of the greatest American tragedies. What do the top 10 cities with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961;
Buffalo, NY (2nd)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954;
Cincinnati, OH (3rd)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984;
Cleveland, OH (4th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1989;
Miami, FL (5th)...has never had a Republican mayor;
St. Louis, MO (6th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1949;
El Paso, TX (7th)...has never had a Republican mayor;
Milwaukee, WI (8th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1908;
Philadelphia, PA (9th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1952;
Newark, NJ (10th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
Einstein once said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'
It is the disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats --- yet are still disadvantaged.
The disadvantaged remain disadvantaged because they are looking for a Liberal Democratic Government to give them something, when all they have to do is work for it.
(How can a person be 5th generation & disadvantaged in this country?)
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free".
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