MY ELEPHANT IS ABOUT TO GET SENT BACK TO THE ZOO!
I've been a card-carrying Republican for about 12 years now. Literally. I receive all of the Republican mail and fliers during elections, and my elephant card I most proudly kept and preserved. But I think I'm going to trash the card and send the elephant back to the zoo (and no, that doesn't mean I'm about to adopt a donkey).
What happened? Why the sudden change of heart?
Well, first of all, there doesn't seem to be a political party that fits my beliefs. Not that there has to be, though, but I'll get into that later. Instead of a political party defining who I am, I think what defines me are principals and ideals.
I am very conservative by nature. I don't believe that money can be printed and given away without any good sold or service provided. I don't believe that able bodied people should receive welfare benefits while others work multiple jobs to keep society functioning. I believe in the Ten Commandments. I believe in discipline in the school systems. I believe prayer in school can do no harm. I am a patriot, proud of several of my family members who served in the armed forces to preserve our freedoms and liberty. I believe that jobs shouldn't be taken for granted, because someone has to do triple the work to provide the very jobs for those that are employed. I believe that Jesus was who he said he was, and the Bible is the inherent word of God.
I could go on and on, but I don't have time to write a 100-page dissertation on what beliefs make me who I am. The point is, I have come to the realization that there is no way that a political party can define what I am all about. Political parties are are made up of man's corrupt system. Lying, cheating, stealing, and corruption are the norm in politics. So I no longer feel it necessary to "brand" myself with a political party.
As for the Republicans and my decision to send the elephant back to the zoo, let me tell you why...
In the past 8 years, our Republican party is mostly responsible for the largest government spending in our great country's history. But it's supposed to be the Democrats that do all of the spending, not Republicans. We've seen the sacking of Wall Street this year, and a failure of some of the oldest financial institutions in our history. How did this happen? Was it the constant push for deregulation and getting the government out of the way of the free market economy that we so often heard Republicans preach about? I don't know. Perhaps to a large degree, it could be. But what happened to fiscal conservatism? Seems the Republicans have shoved that ancient belief system into the junk drawer, only to be replaced by the greed-mongering monster that took over after we deregulated the financial sector.
Before you think the Democrats have been absolved of any of this mess, think again. I will be writing a post very soon that exposes the very Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives who vehemently opposed stricter regulatory oversight of mortgage buying giants Fannie May and Freddie Mac. You won't want to miss that one.
But lets get back on the Republicans for now, and look at what we just witnessed during the election. Fasten your seat belts Republicans, because this is gonna get bumpy. Seems that every Republican enthusiast out there was very quick to accuse the Democratic ticket of Socialism. "Obama is going to turn this country into a Socialist state! Universal Health Care is Socialism!" they cried.
And while they pitched their fit about the Democrats being "socialists", their own leader, President George W. Bush, was on television urging the country to support the largest government intervention we would ever see in our lives. While the vehement McCain supporters were at rallies screaming "socialism" regarding the Democratic ticket, he Republican leadership nationalized our banking system. At the same time, John McCain proposed a plan to "print" yet another $350 billion to help prevent foreclosures. If that isn't socialism, I don't know what is.
Seems a bit hypocritical on the face, but maybe I don't have the full picture. But the bottom line is, I'm not going to be caught carrying a card that represents this level of hypocrisy. That's why the elephant has got to go.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Progressive Recession Depression
FROM DENIAL TO DEMISE... WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING?
I don't know if anyone has noticed this or not. But remember 2 years ago at this time when the word "recession" could not be spoken by the press or politicians? After the first wave of mortgage failures in February of 2007 hit, I knew we were in a recession. My businesses took a hit that same month. It was obvious. But it took until early 2007 for reporters and politicians to start saying "the R word" in place of "recession" when they had to make reference to the possibility. By that summer, we heard "the R word" used more and more, but reporters would constantly state that there was no definitive proof that we were going to have an "R word", or even if we were in the midst of one.
Fast forward to early winter 2008, and the reporters and politicians started using the full word instead of "the R word". They said that a recession was possible, but it was too early to tell and there wasn't definite evidence to be able to make that statement.
During that same time, other financial analysts were saying that a recession was definitely going to happen. The most negative prognosticators were saying that we were in the beginning stages of a worldwide meltdown, to the level of a second great depression.
Anyone caught using the "D" word was laughed at, and called crazy. "A depression is impossible in modern times because we now have the FDIC, which insures that banks will not fail" was the common answer.
But as time went on, we started to hear politicians and reporters talk about the recession more and more, and by summer of 2008, they finally admitted that we were in fact in the midst of a recession. Even with the major bank failures and government bailouts (which would eventually number in the trillions), any talk of a depression was met with laughter and chuckles.
I'm not one to be negative, but I am not convinced that the government can "print" their way around a depression. I think the situation we are in is beyond a simple recession, and several countries around the world blame the U.S. for what we now face. I believe that each time we authorize a few hundred billion dollars of "fiat" money to "shore up" the banking disaster only exacerbates the issue. In other words, the more money we print, the deeper the impending financial meltdown will be.
Today was a day of days that I thought I would never see. Watching the evening news while visiting with my parents, President George W. Bush said with his very own lips that we could be in danger of a worldwide depression, possibly even worse than the Great Depression of the 1930's. I thought I was hallucinating. I asked my Father if I had just heard what I thought I had heard. He said, "yes, I believe that's what he said". We talked about how much the general public has been in denial about this, and how long we've been saying that it could come to this.
As negative as this seems, I can only grin and think "I told you so". It doesn't matter how bad this gets, though, or how deep the recession or "D word" gets, because our faith is not in man's system. Our faith is in the Lord our God, and we are instructed to fear not.
I think this is a time that we all need to pray for not just our country, but the welfare of mankind throughout the world, and take every chance we can get to spread the Gospel of Christ and help as many people we can to be saved.
I don't know if anyone has noticed this or not. But remember 2 years ago at this time when the word "recession" could not be spoken by the press or politicians? After the first wave of mortgage failures in February of 2007 hit, I knew we were in a recession. My businesses took a hit that same month. It was obvious. But it took until early 2007 for reporters and politicians to start saying "the R word" in place of "recession" when they had to make reference to the possibility. By that summer, we heard "the R word" used more and more, but reporters would constantly state that there was no definitive proof that we were going to have an "R word", or even if we were in the midst of one.
Fast forward to early winter 2008, and the reporters and politicians started using the full word instead of "the R word". They said that a recession was possible, but it was too early to tell and there wasn't definite evidence to be able to make that statement.
During that same time, other financial analysts were saying that a recession was definitely going to happen. The most negative prognosticators were saying that we were in the beginning stages of a worldwide meltdown, to the level of a second great depression.
Anyone caught using the "D" word was laughed at, and called crazy. "A depression is impossible in modern times because we now have the FDIC, which insures that banks will not fail" was the common answer.
But as time went on, we started to hear politicians and reporters talk about the recession more and more, and by summer of 2008, they finally admitted that we were in fact in the midst of a recession. Even with the major bank failures and government bailouts (which would eventually number in the trillions), any talk of a depression was met with laughter and chuckles.
I'm not one to be negative, but I am not convinced that the government can "print" their way around a depression. I think the situation we are in is beyond a simple recession, and several countries around the world blame the U.S. for what we now face. I believe that each time we authorize a few hundred billion dollars of "fiat" money to "shore up" the banking disaster only exacerbates the issue. In other words, the more money we print, the deeper the impending financial meltdown will be.
Today was a day of days that I thought I would never see. Watching the evening news while visiting with my parents, President George W. Bush said with his very own lips that we could be in danger of a worldwide depression, possibly even worse than the Great Depression of the 1930's. I thought I was hallucinating. I asked my Father if I had just heard what I thought I had heard. He said, "yes, I believe that's what he said". We talked about how much the general public has been in denial about this, and how long we've been saying that it could come to this.
As negative as this seems, I can only grin and think "I told you so". It doesn't matter how bad this gets, though, or how deep the recession or "D word" gets, because our faith is not in man's system. Our faith is in the Lord our God, and we are instructed to fear not.
I think this is a time that we all need to pray for not just our country, but the welfare of mankind throughout the world, and take every chance we can get to spread the Gospel of Christ and help as many people we can to be saved.
Lube Up the Printing Presses! We Need Money!
THERE WILL BE NO TREES LEFT IN THIS COUNTRY BY 2011
Okay maybe that's a little extreme, but at the rate the Feds are going right now, we're gonna have to start cutting down the Redwood Forrest to keep the printing presses spitting out paper. For those of you that don't know what in the world I am talking about, let me make it plain...
Our leaders passed a bill to "print" $750 billion to shore up the banking system and prevent a financial institution meltdown in October. What many people don't realize is that we have actually "printed" close to $2 trillion over the past year if you include the bailouts of the Bear Stearns bank, Fannie Mae, Fannie Mac, Indy Mac, and more.
So where does this money come from, you wonder? Who pays for this? You do, Mr. & Ms. taxpayer, that's who! The government "borrows" the money and we as taxpayers will foot the bill for the next 100 generations (well, maybe that's a little exaggerated).
But before you think all of this is an automatic process and a "done deal", hold your horses...
First of all, we have to sell bonds on the world market to raise the money. What if countries don't purchase the bonds? We'll get into that later. But let's assume we do "raise" the money. What happens next? We flood $750 billion into the economy over time. That's $750 billion of "fiat" money that does not exist right now. It's virtually the same as the government "printing" money off and injecting it into the economy.
While everyone is sound asleep and not paying any attention to what we just did, let me fill you in on a secret. Printing money, or creating borrowed money that doesn't exist and pumping it into the economy to save the banks or for whatever reason we have will destroy the value of the dollar. At the rate we are going, the dollar will be worthless very soon.
I was so happy to see CNBC run this story about Jim Rogers speaking at the World Money Show Conference in London. Jim Rogers basically said what I have been thinking for a long time, that printing money to solve problems on behalf of the Federal Reserve is a "terrible policy".
If you can't seem to understand why printing money is such a bad idea, let me give you this short illustration.
Let's say that every adult in our home town was given $100,000 of "stimulus" money by the Federal Government. What would result? Well, for starters, there would be a run on every retailer in town. Anything that could be bought would be bought quickly. Imagine what would happen at the new car lot. Every vehicle would disappear quickly, and you would have a waiting list for the next delivery. But you would then have competition for what would be a "scarce" product (the demand is higher than the supply). If John Doe wanted the next F-150 truck more than Joe Six-Pack (haha), then he would offer the dealer $5,000 more. This would start a bidding war.
The next thing you know, the prices of the new vehicles would skyrocket to meet the new demand, and the new retail prices would "correct" for the new influx of cash into the community. Now, a $20,000 car might be $50,000 or more because of the artificial deman. This would have an effect on retail goods accross the board, and eventually would affect the service industry and even utilities.
I have actually heard people say that the cure to this economic downturn would be to give every citizen $1,000,000. And they seriously think this is a good idea. Well, to tell the truth, printing checks for $600 for stimulus rebates or bailing out Wall Street at a cost of $2,000,000,000,000 (yes, that's 2 trillion) is just as stupid.
When the day is done, the value of the dollar will correct for the amount of currency in circulation. If we keep this up, the dollar is doomed. And we can blame our political leaders, both the Democrats and Republicans when it happens.
Okay maybe that's a little extreme, but at the rate the Feds are going right now, we're gonna have to start cutting down the Redwood Forrest to keep the printing presses spitting out paper. For those of you that don't know what in the world I am talking about, let me make it plain...
Our leaders passed a bill to "print" $750 billion to shore up the banking system and prevent a financial institution meltdown in October. What many people don't realize is that we have actually "printed" close to $2 trillion over the past year if you include the bailouts of the Bear Stearns bank, Fannie Mae, Fannie Mac, Indy Mac, and more.
So where does this money come from, you wonder? Who pays for this? You do, Mr. & Ms. taxpayer, that's who! The government "borrows" the money and we as taxpayers will foot the bill for the next 100 generations (well, maybe that's a little exaggerated).
But before you think all of this is an automatic process and a "done deal", hold your horses...
First of all, we have to sell bonds on the world market to raise the money. What if countries don't purchase the bonds? We'll get into that later. But let's assume we do "raise" the money. What happens next? We flood $750 billion into the economy over time. That's $750 billion of "fiat" money that does not exist right now. It's virtually the same as the government "printing" money off and injecting it into the economy.
While everyone is sound asleep and not paying any attention to what we just did, let me fill you in on a secret. Printing money, or creating borrowed money that doesn't exist and pumping it into the economy to save the banks or for whatever reason we have will destroy the value of the dollar. At the rate we are going, the dollar will be worthless very soon.
I was so happy to see CNBC run this story about Jim Rogers speaking at the World Money Show Conference in London. Jim Rogers basically said what I have been thinking for a long time, that printing money to solve problems on behalf of the Federal Reserve is a "terrible policy".
If you can't seem to understand why printing money is such a bad idea, let me give you this short illustration.
Let's say that every adult in our home town was given $100,000 of "stimulus" money by the Federal Government. What would result? Well, for starters, there would be a run on every retailer in town. Anything that could be bought would be bought quickly. Imagine what would happen at the new car lot. Every vehicle would disappear quickly, and you would have a waiting list for the next delivery. But you would then have competition for what would be a "scarce" product (the demand is higher than the supply). If John Doe wanted the next F-150 truck more than Joe Six-Pack (haha), then he would offer the dealer $5,000 more. This would start a bidding war.
The next thing you know, the prices of the new vehicles would skyrocket to meet the new demand, and the new retail prices would "correct" for the new influx of cash into the community. Now, a $20,000 car might be $50,000 or more because of the artificial deman. This would have an effect on retail goods accross the board, and eventually would affect the service industry and even utilities.
I have actually heard people say that the cure to this economic downturn would be to give every citizen $1,000,000. And they seriously think this is a good idea. Well, to tell the truth, printing checks for $600 for stimulus rebates or bailing out Wall Street at a cost of $2,000,000,000,000 (yes, that's 2 trillion) is just as stupid.
When the day is done, the value of the dollar will correct for the amount of currency in circulation. If we keep this up, the dollar is doomed. And we can blame our political leaders, both the Democrats and Republicans when it happens.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Carlton Blog is Here!
Welcome to the Carlton Blog!
This is the third blog that I have created thus far, and the one I am most excited about. Why? Because this will be the blog that I write articles about the hottest topics on my mind. I'll be writing about faith, politics, finance, government, and the Bible. And I will not be holding back! Up until now, I have avoided these subjects. But with the state of affairs going on in the world, I think it is important that I speak up express my opinion.
Just in case you think you agree with me before-hand on any of these topics, beware. I'm probably going to rattle you up and make you think. Nobody's safe. Democrats or Republicans. Baptists, or Catholics. Conservatives, or liberals. Chances are, I'll probably step on your toes before I am done!
So tell your friends, tell your family. Carlton is about to start sounding off. Expect a blog radio version soon, and look for audio in addition to my posts on the blog. It will be mentally stimulating, mildly entertaining, and last but not least, I will have fun along the way!
See ya soon.
Carlton
This is the third blog that I have created thus far, and the one I am most excited about. Why? Because this will be the blog that I write articles about the hottest topics on my mind. I'll be writing about faith, politics, finance, government, and the Bible. And I will not be holding back! Up until now, I have avoided these subjects. But with the state of affairs going on in the world, I think it is important that I speak up express my opinion.
Just in case you think you agree with me before-hand on any of these topics, beware. I'm probably going to rattle you up and make you think. Nobody's safe. Democrats or Republicans. Baptists, or Catholics. Conservatives, or liberals. Chances are, I'll probably step on your toes before I am done!
So tell your friends, tell your family. Carlton is about to start sounding off. Expect a blog radio version soon, and look for audio in addition to my posts on the blog. It will be mentally stimulating, mildly entertaining, and last but not least, I will have fun along the way!
See ya soon.
Carlton
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