My blog was used to brief both Obama and Bachmann

   Evidently the politicians are following my blog.

   After the highlights of my blog yesterday were read to Mr. Obama, he responded during the deficit meeting, "Enough is enough!" He repeated what I had written, "...everyone is more interested about posturing, political position and protecting their base." He claimed he wasn't interested in "a short term fix" and "at the risk of bringing down his presidency" he was holding his ground and he walked out.
   On the other side of the political arena, Michele Bachmann responded to the President's threat of denying senior citizen's their right to August's social security payments with, "We don't believe that for a moment."
   What a show!
   The war is over folks. We lost a long time ago when we failed to maintain a budget—when we spent more than we had, to provide what we wanted, not what we needed. We've grown up on a diet of prime rib, 55" flat screens TVs, Smart Phones... and stupid politicians. We can't have everything we see and want. We can have, however, everything we work for.

   Now, there is a campaign promise, a bumper sticker worth honking for and an idea worth rallying around. Let's all work for what we need. Seems I'm on a roll here. But isn't that just like a politician? Slight of hand, a little mis-direction. Don't focus on the problems, move on to "change."
   And talk about mis-direction and shifting focus—Tim Pawlenty made a statement early this week about Bachmann's record in congress, claiming, "her contribution in Congress is non-existent." When Bachmann was asked to respond to Pawlenty's remark, she—as she often does when asked a question she doesn't want to answer—said, "...my focus in not on negativity." Obviously her focus was not on answering the question and/or making a difference. Her focus is on getting elected, not solving problems.
   I am looking more and more like a real candidate everyday, talking badly about the political adversaries and my promises of a brighter future while disowning yesterday's problems. Yes, we need change. We need to change the way we have dealt with the problems created in the past. We need to quit doing the things that created today's problems and start doing the things that will fix them rather than move on to bigger and better—whoa! make that bigger and worse problems. If what we did yesterday didn't work, doing more of the same thing today is not going to make it better!
   Yes sir, I'm sounding more and more like a candidate everyday. Your future is in your hands. Do something about it because if you don't, they will.

Mark my words...IT WON'T HAPPEN.

   It won't happen. Mr. Obama threatened yesterday that those who receive Social Security checks may not get their check next month, in August. When I first heard him say this, it brought a shiver down my spine. That is exactly the response he wanted from me and everyone else who depends on their monthly check.
   Now, if in fact, we don't get our check in August, he will get the credit for warning the conservatives if the liberals don't get their way—it will be the Republicans at fault. On the other hand, if the checks keep on coming, he will take the credit for saving us from financial disaster. Either way, his irresponsible prediction will get him a predictable response.
   It won't happen. He knows it won't happen. Watch and see. We have no choice but to hold our breath and watch and see as the politicians continue to wring their hands and posture themselves as wise and prophetic. The next thing you are liable to hear from them is that to stave off such an economic disaster, one of our elected officials will recommend suspending congress's salaries until the crisis passes. That won't happen either, but it will make a good sound bite.
   The entire country will hold their breath while the politicians wring their hands and point their fingers across the aisle. The end result will be they will get what they wanted all along and we will be thankful for their wise and timely decision to forego disrupting the delivery of social security checks—this time. But they will continue to hold the threat over our heads for some time to come.We will re-elect them because they dodged the bullet for us. Getting re-elected is and has always been their number one priority. (I know that sounds too general a statement—stand up and show me I'm wrong and that you actually care more about the country's interests than yours.)
   The stock market will take a huge dip because of the uncertainty of our future. Unemployment numbers will increase—they were going to anyway. Housing markets will continue down. Yes, they were going to decline anyway. After saving our social security system, we will be told it was at the expense of raising taxes and cutting some other programs. We will have been told to look away while they give us the needle containing the medicine they were prescribing in the first place.
   There are no easy answers to the problems that beset us.They think we can't handle the truth. It has always been the best policy to tell the truth. It has always been the best policy to be fiscally responsible.
   It has always been the best policy to do for the American people what is in their best interests—not the interests of any special interest group.
   If you, your company or industry, your campaign contributors or party is benefiting by the eroding of our economy, the establishment of over-funded programs to help the poor, underemployed, undernourished, undocumented workers, and undeserving in order to secure their votes while cutting services to those that have funded our government through their Social Security taxes since 1937, (It was 3 years later, in 1940, before the first Social Security benefit was paid.) shame on you. Stop it! Come clean, do what is right.

   Please do what is right and in our best interests.

Johnny, how many times have I told you to clean up this mess?

     How long have you known this assignment was due tomorrow?
     If you had changed the oil in your car when it was due, it wouldn't be broke now. Now the entire engine needs to be replaced. You can't just add a little oil now—it's too late! Whose going to pay to fix it?

     If we are truly going to fix it, we're all going to pay. If we are going to attempt to patch it yet again, the Democrats want the Republicans to pay by taxing the "rich." To fix the deficit problem, the Republicans want the Democrats to cut spending on programs designed to help the "poor." Sounds fair doesn't it? Sounds fair to the rich if cut out spending on the poor. Sounds fair to the poor if you use some (or all) of the money the rich have to provide benefits for the poor.
     The politicians are divided into two camps. They're stalling now—but the homework is due. We've known for years that the money jar was emptying faster than it was filling. In fact, the only thing remaining in the money jar is I.O.U.s. There isn't time to do the work that's required. They are going to take short cuts, only do half the work needed and they'll still get out in time to play. They know the work isn't going to be completed. They know it will not get an "A." In fact, the only way they will even get a passing grade is if the country will grade them on the curve—their accomplishments have been less than spectacular for years. We have come to be less than satisfied with Johnny's scores. The politicians will pass into yet another term, because we have been convinced their task is too great. Let's all compromise and get back to playtime.
     When does it stop? When do we put our foot down and fix things for society's sake, in everyone's best interest, and "man-up" to the task? We broke the system because we neglected it. Now the engine needs to be replaced.
     They're pussy footin' around. We're pussy footin' around. Shoot! I won't even say it out loud with the words that describe what I'm really talking about. Our economy is not ailing—it's all but dead. In fact, I pronounce it DEAD! Time of death, July 2011.
     Kiss the Great Society good-bye. Mourn the passing of the New Deal. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal might have worked if it hadn't morphed from the "3 Rs", Relief, Recovery, and Reform, to an uncompleted program that let "Reform" slide because it was too difficult a task to face. "There will be no uncomfortable, uneasy, unpopular change on my watch," cried the politicians in office at the time. Seventy-five years later, the politician's faces have changed, the problem is still with us, only it looms uglier and larger than before. Before it was referred to as the Great Depression. What will we call this?
     Now is the time? NO! Then was the time we should have done what was required to remedy our economic programs. Not with the 3 Rs but the 3 Ss—Stop (spending), Save (money), and Share (share the responsibility, the burden, and eventually, our society).
     Talk is not cheap, it is costly. While we talk, the patient will surely die. We must act, swiftly and decisively.No more half measures. We must fix it now, once and for all. If we don't, it will fix itself and when the fix comes about, you won't like it.

LET ME PAINT A PICTURE FOR YOU.

     In the 18th century a relatively new and beautiful great ship named the US Opportunity separated the two great oceans, the Pacific to its west and the Atlantic to its east. When it was first christened for service it was sleek and fast-moving, riding high in the waters. Some of the crew and passengers had escaped tyranny and came together to form a more perfect union. Some of the people on board came for the adventure and riches. Some of the passengers had been there all along, hiding in the shadows, living simply off the Opportunity's natural resources—they were misunderstood, perceived as a threat, and rather than assimilated, they were nearly annihilated.
     Word spread around the world that the Opportunity offered freedom, a new life and opportunity. Many came to the Eastern seaboard through Ellis Island. Those with riches were welcomed to the top, those without riches but strong backs were put in the bottom—without comfort but with at least some opportunity. Most who came through the Pacific ports looked different and spoke a strange and unfamiliar tongue—most were put to hard work serving unfairly the other passengers.
     While many of the early passenger's traits were noble, they harbored a great deal of greed and fear. They held much resentment because they had come first—except for the natives who lived in the shadows and didn't appear cultured or civilized to their standards—the opportunities were rightfully theirs.
     Regardless of where they came from and where they positioned themselves aboard the Opportunity, as more passengers came aboard, the great vessel began to sit lower and lower in the water, it began to move slower even though it consumed more fuel. It appeared there wasn't enough resources to go around.
     Acquiring more resources required more labor. Technology that would eliminate much of the great need for manual labor wouldn't be developed before the next century, but the need for more resources was now and the short-sighted answer was to go across the Atlantic and steal or buy a nation of people who were not capable of defending themselves but capable of working hard in poor conditions without wages.
     Years later, immigrants began to arrive from the south. They too were seeking freedom and opportunity. However, many of the early passengers aboard feared the Opportunity's limited resources were being used by these late comers from the south. The early settlers saw them as suitable laborers to work in the harsh sun and, since they were accustomed to having nothing, they gave them little or nothing for their labor. But still, they were happy to just be aboard, even if not respected or treated fairly. They weren't given opportunity—they were given scraps. Many became complacent when they were eventually offered resources without performing any labor at all.
     Now the Opportunity has come to a halt and is taking on water, slipping slowly under. From the very top, the passengers couldn't see or didn't want to see that those below them were struggling, abused, bitter for their mistreatment, and the Opportunity as a whole was becoming a wreck, a derelict that took on more water than it was able to bail.
     Before the Opportunity rolls over from the weight of the idle cargo in its holes and the stuffed carrion above that gorges itself on the dead and dying, we need to make changes.
     It is not a pretty picture but it is an accurate representation of our situation. We need to lighten the load. But, before you consider tossing overboard the non-productive cargo or the fat cats, consider trimming the vessel. Plug the leaks, train the unskilled permitting them to enlarge the ship, making room for everyone and making each person a contributor to the society aboard and not a liability.

     Do these solutions seem too simplistic of an answer? You can continue to add to the load and put off a viable solution or you can—too late! Abandon ship. We have drowned beneath our debt and the refusal to see the storm as it approaches.

IF WE KEEP DOING THE WRONG THING, DO YOU REALLY THINK IT WILL GET BETTER?

     There are numerous things we're doing wrong, programs we've started that aren't working, some have failed and continue to  get worse, and others we just seem to think will go away all together. Do these people think they'll be out of office when it blows up in somebody else's face?
     I'm sorry, I'm not even elected yet and already I'm blaming it on the last guy  here. Let me start over...
     We've known for years that the Social Security system was failing, running out of money. We knew better than to borrow money from it—which we knew we couldn't or wouldn't pay back. When you whack yourself on the thumb with a hammer, you don't hope the pain will go away—you stop what you're doing! It's not going to get better until you quit hitting yourself.
     When medical expenses are spiraling out of control, like an airplane, you jump out or you pull up. What kind of pilot rides it down to the ground. It appears some people think it's all a dream—their term will be up, they'll wake up, and they'll be out of here and collecting their pension before the inevitable crash and burn. 
     How many years have we watched our education system collapse. How many times have we reported lower grades, higher failure rates, and Johnny still can't read and write?
     There are rarely quick or easy fixes to these types of problems. Is that why we appear to no longer demand some change? If it's broke, fix it. Don't ride that horse till it dies.
     There I go again. I'm starting to sound like a politician promoting change on the broken back of the incumbent. Change doesn't come easy. If it were easy you would think any Democrat or Republican with a basic working knowledge of economics could solve our financial problems. If you haven't figured out the answer to that yet—it's don't keep spending money you don't have.
     Our forefathers did without some things. They ate potatoes with brown spots. They stewed tough meat. They wore faded blue jeans— I don't mean the $200 kind. 
     It seems simplistic. Don't spend more than you've got. Quit spending and start saving what you can. Live on some amount less than you make. And, if you're making nothing right now, start making something! Even if it's just a plan—better than the plan you're working under now.
     Good luck with that. Next time let's take one specific challenge and see what we can do with that. Let's work together...for and in your best interests.


     Got an idea? I'm listening...

CHANGE?

Seems like every politician promises change. Now is the time for change. Yes, we can...change...change the things we do...the way we think.
     Over 225 years ago, our founding fathers worked long and hard on creating a foundation for our government that would change the way things had been for them under British rule. And while they should be commended for the foresight they had in establishing a more perfect union, it is time we consider changing where we go from here.
     In the last 200 years we have made some missteps, done a little stumbling, and took some steps that perhaps have not made a more perfect union—steps that have made just more union, more government and not better government.
     What change or changes am I proposing? In my thinking, they are positive and they are...in your best interests.