The key to American success today is a competitive edge. Prior to WW2 America was thriving as the engine of the Industrial Revolution for a couple of reasons: widespread opportunity and access to cheap energy and cheap labor. Today: opportunity has been strangled with a maze of government red tape; highly regulated labor; very costly energy. An American success plan should start with reduction of regulations, especially in the development of energy. Energy development in North Dakota has created a '49ers Gold Rush environment for job seekers in the Bakken area oil fields. More high paying jobs than job seekers!
A Federal Government program subsidizing America's rolling stock to CNG would drastically reduce the demand for imported oil, driving down the cost of that resource which is used in virtually everything Americans consume. Imported oil is in effect a tax upon all Americans that goes off-shore, into the pockets of those opposed to our style of government and freedom, and unlike a legitimate tax is never returned as a government service! Development of CNG, clean coal, our own oil, and new nuclear energy would further drive down the cost of energy. Top-off this plan with the elimination of all taxes on all energy and suddenly you'd have very cheap energy costs, attracting manufacturers from around the world. Jobs: building and re-fitting CNG facilities across the country; building new nuke and clean coal plants, jobs developing our own oil resources - not allowed to be exported! Opportunities for the development of ancillary businesses surrounding these industries wouls spring-up across the country.
That's an American Recovery plan. Not wasted money kicking the can down the road. Not an ideology with a hidden agenda to "fundamentally change" what was and still has the capacity to be the greatest system ever created. We've already spent so much of our ability to repay that which we've already borrowed and now that scheme is busted. Proven, BUSTED! Time to go to work. Real work that makes stuff the world needs.
Let's begin with energy! That's an edge the rest of the wold cannot beat. That's the edge we've still got. We've got the talent, we've got the resources, we've got the people. Let's unleash them - - let's compete!
Cheers,
Mel
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Letter to My Congressman and Senator
Dear Rep Nugent:
Thank you for your response regarding my recommendation to support a Natural Gas bill. I understand your position of not wanting to support further corporate subsidies or additional tax incentives, however, I respectfully disagree. Depending on the price of oil, we are currently importing approximately $1 billion/day of foreign oil. Thus, in my opinion, we are therefore exporting $1 billion/day and we continue to subsidize the likes of Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, King Abdullah and Saudi Arabia and all other dictatorships, monarchies and terrorists around the world. I would think we would be better served to support our own corporations rather than those that hate us and/or those that won't even allow women to drive cars and support other violations of human rights and equality.
Regarding corporate energy subsidies, I fully agree that we should immediately cease supporting subsidies and tax credits for the Ethanol industry. Ethanol is a disaster and although it may somewhat reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it is inefficient, costs more to make than it's worth, increases pollution more than regular gasoline, causes lower gas mileage and causes increased fuel prices for consumers. If Congress announced a Natural Gas energy plan, the price of oil would immediately drop, just based on the announcement. I would anticipate a drop of $25-$50/bbl within 6 months. This would stimulate consumer spending immediately. I also agree we should stop subsidizing big oil. As much as big oil continually say they are not directly involved in setting the price of oil, this is nonsense. Big oil profits are absolutely directly proportional to the price of oil and big oil is probably one of the most destructive forces to our 70% consumer-spending based economy. If the folks are spending more money at the gas pump, they're spending less on everything else. Although big oil will probably be the beneficiary of CNG as a fuel, at least it will dramatically reduce the cost of fuel to consumers, significantly aid in driving consumer spending to other areas of the economy that are suffering, be beneficial to the environment and could possibly totally eliminate our reliance on all foreign oil. Plus it keeps the money here in the USA rather than exporting it abroad as we do now with importing oil. Keep in mind, we supposedly have a 100 year supply of natural gas in this country and I've yet to hear of any natural gas spills damaging the environment like an oil spill. How could the environmentalists debate that? In the meantime the Dept of Energy has been around since the Carter administration and we still don't have a national energy strategy or policy. This is absurd. Why don't we just eliminate the Dept of Energy and use those funds toward a CNG program?
I also support expanding domestic drilling for oil and more use of clean coal while we're getting our national energy strategy in order. It's no secret that Cuba has partnered with China to drill for oil off the coast of our beautiful State of Florida, yet we can't. These communist countries will benefit at our expense. How safe does anyone think it will be having China drilling for oil off of our coast? The answer is obvious. They could care less if they destroy our beaches and local economies that rely on fishing and tourism. I doubt there is much we can do to prevent this, but perhaps it's time we opened up relations with Cuba so we can at least provide American technology and safety measures to potentially prevent an environmental catastrophe. It would be even better if we could eliminate China and partner with Cuba ourselves. Thus we could benefit financially as well as minimize any potential environmental disaster. Castro will be dead and irrelevant soon. We're already softening our relations with Cuba. Why not try to get involved in this oil drilling project? It makes financial and environmental sense.
Regarding the immediate creation of American jobs, I believe there are two major ways of creating jobs in the short term. One is to push hard on getting a good Natural Gas bill passed by Congress. This would create an entire new industry in this country, which is something we desperately need. Good paying jobs would be created to retrofit all service stations to provide CNG, jobs to retrofit existing gas and diesel burning vehicles to CNG (cost permitting), jobs to create a CNG transportation infrastructure (pipelines, etc.), more jobs would be created by expanding the required manufacturing of the components required to make this all happen, ie: pumps, valves, tanks, pipes, etc., and lastly, more jobs to find and drill for natural gas and possibly more jobs to manufacture new CNG powered vehicles. At some point in time we would cease manufacturing and importing non-CNG powered vehicles.
The second major way of immediately creating good paying jobs in this country is to get the existing House and Senate Patent bills merged and passed by Congress immediately. This, in my opinion, would shake loose some of the $ trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines waiting to be invested and put people to work. It would also create more products and intellectual property to export to other countries. All good things for America and achievable in the short term.
The GOP needs to lead in the creation of jobs in this country if we are to take over the White House, the Senate and add additional members to the House in 2012. It would be nice to have super majorities in both houses. In addition to getting a Balanced Budget Amendment passed and get it out to the states for approval, we all know that creating more taxpayers and creating more consumer spending is the only way to grow our way out of this mess we're in. Talking about bringing lost jobs back to America is a waste of time. Although it's a good long-term goal, it's not going to happen until it's cost effective, meaning until the middle class wages of China and other emerging countries are somewhat near parity with the USA. That could take decades. It's a good talking point, but not realistic in the short term.
Lastly, I can't stress enough that the only way to get our economy rolling again is by increasing consumer spending, something I rarely hear anyone talk about. I support Cut, Cap and Balance and other measures to get our financial house in order. I support the dire need to reform Medicare and Medicaid and reduce and eliminate fraud. I support reforming Social Security, but I don't believe it is a major problem to make some reasonable adjustments to make it solvent beyond 2036. I agree and support with all of that. But the major issue to grow the economy is consumer spending. It represents 70-75% of our economy. The only way to increase consumer spending is to get more money into the pockets of consumers. In the recent past, consumers were spending and the economy was rolling along just fine. However, it was all based on bogus, fantasy equity in homes. The crash of the housing market, which continues today, will not recover for many years. All of the construction jobs and other housing related jobs, like real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, bankers, etc., are gone. In my opinion it will take at least 10-15 years or more to see a positive return to normal in the housing market. We are in the middle of our first lost decade. Unless something is done to create more consumer spending, we'll have more than one lost decade. We need to create new industries and promote American innovation and creativity. A good Natural Gas program and speed-up of patent approval will help dramatically. I hope you agree.
I'd like to see a GOP coalition from Florida lead on these issues. As such, I am sending a copy of this correspondence with my ideas to Rep West and Senator Rubio.
Sincerely,
Frank S. Fischer
Spring Hill, FL
DAV - Vietnam
Thank you for your response regarding my recommendation to support a Natural Gas bill. I understand your position of not wanting to support further corporate subsidies or additional tax incentives, however, I respectfully disagree. Depending on the price of oil, we are currently importing approximately $1 billion/day of foreign oil. Thus, in my opinion, we are therefore exporting $1 billion/day and we continue to subsidize the likes of Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, King Abdullah and Saudi Arabia and all other dictatorships, monarchies and terrorists around the world. I would think we would be better served to support our own corporations rather than those that hate us and/or those that won't even allow women to drive cars and support other violations of human rights and equality.
Regarding corporate energy subsidies, I fully agree that we should immediately cease supporting subsidies and tax credits for the Ethanol industry. Ethanol is a disaster and although it may somewhat reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it is inefficient, costs more to make than it's worth, increases pollution more than regular gasoline, causes lower gas mileage and causes increased fuel prices for consumers. If Congress announced a Natural Gas energy plan, the price of oil would immediately drop, just based on the announcement. I would anticipate a drop of $25-$50/bbl within 6 months. This would stimulate consumer spending immediately. I also agree we should stop subsidizing big oil. As much as big oil continually say they are not directly involved in setting the price of oil, this is nonsense. Big oil profits are absolutely directly proportional to the price of oil and big oil is probably one of the most destructive forces to our 70% consumer-spending based economy. If the folks are spending more money at the gas pump, they're spending less on everything else. Although big oil will probably be the beneficiary of CNG as a fuel, at least it will dramatically reduce the cost of fuel to consumers, significantly aid in driving consumer spending to other areas of the economy that are suffering, be beneficial to the environment and could possibly totally eliminate our reliance on all foreign oil. Plus it keeps the money here in the USA rather than exporting it abroad as we do now with importing oil. Keep in mind, we supposedly have a 100 year supply of natural gas in this country and I've yet to hear of any natural gas spills damaging the environment like an oil spill. How could the environmentalists debate that? In the meantime the Dept of Energy has been around since the Carter administration and we still don't have a national energy strategy or policy. This is absurd. Why don't we just eliminate the Dept of Energy and use those funds toward a CNG program?
I also support expanding domestic drilling for oil and more use of clean coal while we're getting our national energy strategy in order. It's no secret that Cuba has partnered with China to drill for oil off the coast of our beautiful State of Florida, yet we can't. These communist countries will benefit at our expense. How safe does anyone think it will be having China drilling for oil off of our coast? The answer is obvious. They could care less if they destroy our beaches and local economies that rely on fishing and tourism. I doubt there is much we can do to prevent this, but perhaps it's time we opened up relations with Cuba so we can at least provide American technology and safety measures to potentially prevent an environmental catastrophe. It would be even better if we could eliminate China and partner with Cuba ourselves. Thus we could benefit financially as well as minimize any potential environmental disaster. Castro will be dead and irrelevant soon. We're already softening our relations with Cuba. Why not try to get involved in this oil drilling project? It makes financial and environmental sense.
Regarding the immediate creation of American jobs, I believe there are two major ways of creating jobs in the short term. One is to push hard on getting a good Natural Gas bill passed by Congress. This would create an entire new industry in this country, which is something we desperately need. Good paying jobs would be created to retrofit all service stations to provide CNG, jobs to retrofit existing gas and diesel burning vehicles to CNG (cost permitting), jobs to create a CNG transportation infrastructure (pipelines, etc.), more jobs would be created by expanding the required manufacturing of the components required to make this all happen, ie: pumps, valves, tanks, pipes, etc., and lastly, more jobs to find and drill for natural gas and possibly more jobs to manufacture new CNG powered vehicles. At some point in time we would cease manufacturing and importing non-CNG powered vehicles.
The second major way of immediately creating good paying jobs in this country is to get the existing House and Senate Patent bills merged and passed by Congress immediately. This, in my opinion, would shake loose some of the $ trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines waiting to be invested and put people to work. It would also create more products and intellectual property to export to other countries. All good things for America and achievable in the short term.
The GOP needs to lead in the creation of jobs in this country if we are to take over the White House, the Senate and add additional members to the House in 2012. It would be nice to have super majorities in both houses. In addition to getting a Balanced Budget Amendment passed and get it out to the states for approval, we all know that creating more taxpayers and creating more consumer spending is the only way to grow our way out of this mess we're in. Talking about bringing lost jobs back to America is a waste of time. Although it's a good long-term goal, it's not going to happen until it's cost effective, meaning until the middle class wages of China and other emerging countries are somewhat near parity with the USA. That could take decades. It's a good talking point, but not realistic in the short term.
Lastly, I can't stress enough that the only way to get our economy rolling again is by increasing consumer spending, something I rarely hear anyone talk about. I support Cut, Cap and Balance and other measures to get our financial house in order. I support the dire need to reform Medicare and Medicaid and reduce and eliminate fraud. I support reforming Social Security, but I don't believe it is a major problem to make some reasonable adjustments to make it solvent beyond 2036. I agree and support with all of that. But the major issue to grow the economy is consumer spending. It represents 70-75% of our economy. The only way to increase consumer spending is to get more money into the pockets of consumers. In the recent past, consumers were spending and the economy was rolling along just fine. However, it was all based on bogus, fantasy equity in homes. The crash of the housing market, which continues today, will not recover for many years. All of the construction jobs and other housing related jobs, like real estate brokers, mortgage brokers, bankers, etc., are gone. In my opinion it will take at least 10-15 years or more to see a positive return to normal in the housing market. We are in the middle of our first lost decade. Unless something is done to create more consumer spending, we'll have more than one lost decade. We need to create new industries and promote American innovation and creativity. A good Natural Gas program and speed-up of patent approval will help dramatically. I hope you agree.
I'd like to see a GOP coalition from Florida lead on these issues. As such, I am sending a copy of this correspondence with my ideas to Rep West and Senator Rubio.
Sincerely,
Frank S. Fischer
Spring Hill, FL
DAV - Vietnam
An American Solution to Stagnation
We have to get busy and work for a replacement to Obama and all those stifling energy development. One has to ask, is he and his supporters purposely trying to destroy the country? There is no other explanation for an administration and its cohorts: the Senate majority, and various special interest lobbyists, that have refused to develop energy, which is the life-blood of our civilization. Not just refused to develop it but work actively to shut-down development!
That's not hyperbole, that's a fact. Energy, or lack thereof, was the prime mover of Japan's attack in 1941. It was the reason Adolph and Co. attempted to take-over Europe. Thanks to our abundant energy resources prior to WW2, and of course our distance from the front, we were able to prevail. Since then America has depleted the "low hanging fruit" - we have used-up much of our easy to get oil. But natural gas (NG/CNG) is abundant and available for the taking right here in the US and Canada.
Energy is what has gotten humans to their current high standard of living.
Without reasonably priced energy America cannot compete on the world industrial stage what with competitors like China, who have no EPA, OSHA, Dept of Energy, etc. to shackle and hinder growth and production. In China, a projects are identified, discussed, and if given the go, construction begins within days. At trip to China is absolutely mind-blowing!
I'm not suggesting that we become the dictatorship/oligarchy the likes of China, but we have to develop energy if we are to preserve our strength and our wealth, or we will fall under the control this type of government.
Just imagine where we would be if energy was all but free! We have vast resources of natural gas (NG). Many pipelines are already in place; every major city has them supplying most of the population now. Supply pipelines already criss-cross the country. Our government should offer tax incentives, and outright cash, to convert gas stations to CNG stations. Unlike Cash for Clunkers, a costly and complete failure, Cash for Conversion would yield a payoff every time one used their car or truck! Converting the USA rolling stock to CNG would all but shutdown the use of oil for transportation - our biggest use of the product. The money spent on oil, by the way, is essentially exported.... it's a tax without a return in the form of returned government services. A complete loss! Ironically, most of that money goes toward those at odds with our way of life.
The side benefit, and not a minor one, would be the radical drop in the cost of oil. Add to that scenario: the elimination of all taxes on energy. With these two ideas working together suddenly Made in America would have real meaning..... our products would be far more competitive in the world marketplace. In the EU gasoline/diesel/avgas costs range from $8 a gal on up to $16 a gal and more! In terms of costs of industrial production, we could beat them on every front. China uses coal for industry, but still must ship their finished product around the world, not a cheap enterprise. America, manufacturing locally - customers available localyl - both right where goods could be produced with cheap energy; that spells, what Charlie Sheen calls WINNING!
Add to that: American Cost Of Living would drop drastically. Heating/AC, cooking, traveling - all living costs are tied directly to energy costs - all would be a lot less expensive. This would in turn free-up cash for other uses improving American's lives. Farm products too would drop in cost, since fertilizer, tractor fuel, shipping, and refining costs would all drop - drastically.
Think of the jobs that would be created immediately, today, building systems and converting every service station to offer CNG; and every car and truck to run on CNG. This is the kind of government sponsored infrastructure that would actually pay returns back to citizens for generations.
If energy was a lot less expensive, maybe we could actually afford to get sick! We have to put those in favor of developing NG into the driver's seat.
Cheers, Mel
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Balanced Budget Amendment needed immediately
I'm 100% convinced this is the only way we'll ever get Federal gov't spending under control (ie: no more annual deficit spending) and the only chance we'll have to reduce the national debt over a reasonable period of time.
I've heard some of the talking heads say it could take 5 to 8 years to ratify a Balanced Budget Amendment, including Rand Paul. I don't believe it. The 26th amendment, providing 18 year olds with the right to vote in national elections, took 100 days to ratify. That was also the fastest time ever to ratify an amendment. On average, it takes about 1 to 2 years. (Note: it took over 200 years to ratify the 27th amendment!!)
What does it take to get this amendment going? The President has nothing to do with the process and Presidential approval is not required. We need 2/3 approval by both the House and Senate and 75% approval by the 50 states legislators.
Hopefully, after passing the recent debt ceiling increase (an immediate $2.4 trillion increase) and spending reduction of about the same amount (to be spread over 10 years - a joke), the Tea Partiers in Congress will start pushing hard to get a Balanced Budget Amendment approved, which was part of the deal. It will be difficult to get this approved since most Democrats don't support it. Why? Simply because it will prevent them from spending more money than we take in. It will severely restrict all of the funding for non-constitutional agencies and welfare programs that don't work and are rife with fraud and waste, It will eliminate their socialistic redistribution of wealth (re: Obama's comment to Joe the Plumber).
We the people need to actively support this by contacting your Congressional representatives. Once approved by Congress, start contacting your state reps. I truly believe this is the only answer to save our country and future generations from total financial disaster. We're already bankrupt.
How bad is it? If you haven't been paying much attention, our current national debt is around $14.6 trillion. The current annual deficit (amount spent vs amount taken in) is around $1.6 trillion. Next year's deficit is forecast to be slightly lower. These deficits increase our national debt since we have to borrow the money to pay the bills. So in the next 2 years, our debt will increase around $3 trillion for a total of $17.5 trillion +/-.
Obama's 10 year spending forecast includes deficits each and every year for the next 10 years. This will drive our debt up to somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 - $27 trillion. If the spending cuts in the recent deal actually materialize, the debt will be reduced by that amount (about $2 trillion). The expiration of the Bush tax cuts will also reduce the amount of debt, unless Congress spends these tax increases. Our current GDP is around $14 trillion, thus our current debt is about 100% of GDP. It'll be nearly 200% if nothing else changes. Greece's debt to GDP ratio is around 167%, but is dropping some because it is getting bailed out and some debt is being forgiven. Who will bail out the USA? Nobody. We need a Balanced Budget Amendment.
How much does all this debt cost us? Through June 2011 our interest expense so far is $386 billion for this fiscal year ending September 30, 2011. Interest cost will far exceed $400 billion by Sept 30, 2011. If interest rates rise, which they eventually will, and our debt rises to over $20 trillion, the annual interest expense will be over $1 trillion/year. This is outrageous. The only way to stop it is via a Balanced Budget Amendment. If not, you can expect your federal income taxes to go up dramatically.
Frank
I've heard some of the talking heads say it could take 5 to 8 years to ratify a Balanced Budget Amendment, including Rand Paul. I don't believe it. The 26th amendment, providing 18 year olds with the right to vote in national elections, took 100 days to ratify. That was also the fastest time ever to ratify an amendment. On average, it takes about 1 to 2 years. (Note: it took over 200 years to ratify the 27th amendment!!)
What does it take to get this amendment going? The President has nothing to do with the process and Presidential approval is not required. We need 2/3 approval by both the House and Senate and 75% approval by the 50 states legislators.
Hopefully, after passing the recent debt ceiling increase (an immediate $2.4 trillion increase) and spending reduction of about the same amount (to be spread over 10 years - a joke), the Tea Partiers in Congress will start pushing hard to get a Balanced Budget Amendment approved, which was part of the deal. It will be difficult to get this approved since most Democrats don't support it. Why? Simply because it will prevent them from spending more money than we take in. It will severely restrict all of the funding for non-constitutional agencies and welfare programs that don't work and are rife with fraud and waste, It will eliminate their socialistic redistribution of wealth (re: Obama's comment to Joe the Plumber).
We the people need to actively support this by contacting your Congressional representatives. Once approved by Congress, start contacting your state reps. I truly believe this is the only answer to save our country and future generations from total financial disaster. We're already bankrupt.
How bad is it? If you haven't been paying much attention, our current national debt is around $14.6 trillion. The current annual deficit (amount spent vs amount taken in) is around $1.6 trillion. Next year's deficit is forecast to be slightly lower. These deficits increase our national debt since we have to borrow the money to pay the bills. So in the next 2 years, our debt will increase around $3 trillion for a total of $17.5 trillion +/-.
Obama's 10 year spending forecast includes deficits each and every year for the next 10 years. This will drive our debt up to somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 - $27 trillion. If the spending cuts in the recent deal actually materialize, the debt will be reduced by that amount (about $2 trillion). The expiration of the Bush tax cuts will also reduce the amount of debt, unless Congress spends these tax increases. Our current GDP is around $14 trillion, thus our current debt is about 100% of GDP. It'll be nearly 200% if nothing else changes. Greece's debt to GDP ratio is around 167%, but is dropping some because it is getting bailed out and some debt is being forgiven. Who will bail out the USA? Nobody. We need a Balanced Budget Amendment.
How much does all this debt cost us? Through June 2011 our interest expense so far is $386 billion for this fiscal year ending September 30, 2011. Interest cost will far exceed $400 billion by Sept 30, 2011. If interest rates rise, which they eventually will, and our debt rises to over $20 trillion, the annual interest expense will be over $1 trillion/year. This is outrageous. The only way to stop it is via a Balanced Budget Amendment. If not, you can expect your federal income taxes to go up dramatically.
Frank
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Reid and Boehner proposals smoke and mirrors
I'm closely watching the debt ceiling, debt and deficit debates. Other than the Cut, Cap and Balance bill that was proposed by the Tea Party members of the House and passed by the House, as far as I'm concerned the rest of the proposals being created and tossed around on an almost daily basis are just plain bogus, meaningless and full of nothing but empty promises. Senate leader Reid won't even allow a bill into the Senate to be debated. It's the same for any proposed bill that includes a Balanced Budget Amendment. It's truly absurd.
The Reid and Boehner proposals are nothing but smoke and mirrors and more kicking the can down the road by the the elite ruling class career politicians. Reid's bill is full of accounting gimmicks and does absolutely nothing to reduce deficits and debt. Boehner's latest plan is basically the same, however, it does talk about a "possible" Balanced Budget Amendment down the road. The trouble with "down the road" promises from Congress is that nothing ever materializes. It's the same old scam they've been pulling on the folks for decades. It's more of the same, kicking the can down the road and not solving the problems. This is ingrained in the DNA of the elite ruling class career politicians. Democrats, except for a few, don't want a Balanced Budget Amendment. Obama certainly doesn't want it. Why on earth would these fools not want to balance the budget? The one and only reason is they are so addicted to spending our money that they can't stand the mere thought of being restricted to spending more than they take in. Welcome to the Democrat party. Many Republicans during the Bush years are guilty of the same crime.
If you look at some of the numbers being tossed around as far as spending cuts, they may sound big and good, but they're really nothing but chump change compared to where we're already headed. When they talk about a $1 trillion spending cut, that's over a ten year period, or nothing more than $100 billion/year. Chump change when looking at the big picture. Obama's proposed 10 year budget increases annual deficits, and thus the total debt, by around $10 trillion over the next 10 years. $10 TRILLION!!! We already have around $14.5 trillion of debt right now. Add another $10 trillion and it'll be close to $25 trillion!! The Fed has kept interest rates artificially low, but this won't last forever. Rates will go up, guaranteed, and thus so will the interest expense we pay on our national debt. We could conceivably owe a $trillion a year just in interest payments alone! A scary thought. We'll be passing this on to the next generation and the generations after that.
Do the math. A spending cut of $100 billion/year, compared to a deficit of $1 trillion/year (or more) does virtually nothing to reduce deficits and debt. It's a joke. It's a dangerous precedent. It's killing our country. The annual deficit for the 2010 fiscal year ending September 30, 2011 is around $1.5 trillion alone! We are becoming something similar to socialistic Europe. We are becoming Greece. Thank Obama and the Democrats and any Republican interested in a bogus compromise, including John McCain and others. These are the elite ruling class career politicians that got us into this mess. There is no compromising. We need the Tea Party Cut, Cap and Balance bill and we need it now. Keep in mind, the proposed Balanced Budget Amendment requires the budget to be balanced in 5 years. It takes a super majority in both houses, plus the President, in order to pass it. Then it goes to the states for approval. 3/4 of the states need to approve it in order to make it law and part of the Constitution. That process could take a few years. So if it took 3 years to get the state's approval and another 5 years to balance the budget, that would be 8 years out. In other words, it ain't gonna happen tomorrow. However, the sooner the better. The longer we put it off, the longer it'll take to get our financial house in order.
The big difference between the elite ruling class career politicians and the new Tea Party representatives is the Tea Party reps don't care about getting re-elected. They were sent to Congress to fix the problems, not to continue the business as usual scenario that we've had for decades. We the people overwhelmingly sent them there specifically to fix the problems. The 2010 elections were the greatest change in Congress in over 70 years. For some reason, the elite ruling class career politicians still don't get it. They continue to put their hands over their ears and they don't listen to the people. They can't. It's not the way they do business. It's not in their DNA. They don't represent the people. They represent special interest groups that contribute to their re-election campaigns. It's a corrupt system and it needs to be changed. The 2010 election was a good start, but we the people still only control the House, and not by that large of a majority. We need to control the Senate and the White House. The 2012 elections will ensure that happens. The Tea Party is getting stronger by the day and will make a tremendous effort to get out the vote in 2012. It's the only way to save our country. Make sure you are a part of it. Your children's and grandchildren's future depends on it.
Frank S. Fischer
Economist
The Reid and Boehner proposals are nothing but smoke and mirrors and more kicking the can down the road by the the elite ruling class career politicians. Reid's bill is full of accounting gimmicks and does absolutely nothing to reduce deficits and debt. Boehner's latest plan is basically the same, however, it does talk about a "possible" Balanced Budget Amendment down the road. The trouble with "down the road" promises from Congress is that nothing ever materializes. It's the same old scam they've been pulling on the folks for decades. It's more of the same, kicking the can down the road and not solving the problems. This is ingrained in the DNA of the elite ruling class career politicians. Democrats, except for a few, don't want a Balanced Budget Amendment. Obama certainly doesn't want it. Why on earth would these fools not want to balance the budget? The one and only reason is they are so addicted to spending our money that they can't stand the mere thought of being restricted to spending more than they take in. Welcome to the Democrat party. Many Republicans during the Bush years are guilty of the same crime.
If you look at some of the numbers being tossed around as far as spending cuts, they may sound big and good, but they're really nothing but chump change compared to where we're already headed. When they talk about a $1 trillion spending cut, that's over a ten year period, or nothing more than $100 billion/year. Chump change when looking at the big picture. Obama's proposed 10 year budget increases annual deficits, and thus the total debt, by around $10 trillion over the next 10 years. $10 TRILLION!!! We already have around $14.5 trillion of debt right now. Add another $10 trillion and it'll be close to $25 trillion!! The Fed has kept interest rates artificially low, but this won't last forever. Rates will go up, guaranteed, and thus so will the interest expense we pay on our national debt. We could conceivably owe a $trillion a year just in interest payments alone! A scary thought. We'll be passing this on to the next generation and the generations after that.
Do the math. A spending cut of $100 billion/year, compared to a deficit of $1 trillion/year (or more) does virtually nothing to reduce deficits and debt. It's a joke. It's a dangerous precedent. It's killing our country. The annual deficit for the 2010 fiscal year ending September 30, 2011 is around $1.5 trillion alone! We are becoming something similar to socialistic Europe. We are becoming Greece. Thank Obama and the Democrats and any Republican interested in a bogus compromise, including John McCain and others. These are the elite ruling class career politicians that got us into this mess. There is no compromising. We need the Tea Party Cut, Cap and Balance bill and we need it now. Keep in mind, the proposed Balanced Budget Amendment requires the budget to be balanced in 5 years. It takes a super majority in both houses, plus the President, in order to pass it. Then it goes to the states for approval. 3/4 of the states need to approve it in order to make it law and part of the Constitution. That process could take a few years. So if it took 3 years to get the state's approval and another 5 years to balance the budget, that would be 8 years out. In other words, it ain't gonna happen tomorrow. However, the sooner the better. The longer we put it off, the longer it'll take to get our financial house in order.
The big difference between the elite ruling class career politicians and the new Tea Party representatives is the Tea Party reps don't care about getting re-elected. They were sent to Congress to fix the problems, not to continue the business as usual scenario that we've had for decades. We the people overwhelmingly sent them there specifically to fix the problems. The 2010 elections were the greatest change in Congress in over 70 years. For some reason, the elite ruling class career politicians still don't get it. They continue to put their hands over their ears and they don't listen to the people. They can't. It's not the way they do business. It's not in their DNA. They don't represent the people. They represent special interest groups that contribute to their re-election campaigns. It's a corrupt system and it needs to be changed. The 2010 election was a good start, but we the people still only control the House, and not by that large of a majority. We need to control the Senate and the White House. The 2012 elections will ensure that happens. The Tea Party is getting stronger by the day and will make a tremendous effort to get out the vote in 2012. It's the only way to save our country. Make sure you are a part of it. Your children's and grandchildren's future depends on it.
Frank S. Fischer
Economist
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Taking Easy Money
The Seniors of America are the last bastion of confiscatable wealth. In practical terms they can't leave the country; they can't sell their assets in a bad economy; they have children and grandchildren they can't leave. Their income, for the most part comes in the form of Social Security and Medicare. It just so happens that those two items are the largest part of the Federal budget.
Now the best part; it's easy to take: 1) stop COLAs - done, 2) pare back Medicare coverage - underway; 3) demonize those two funds as, "The biggest part of the problem is not discretionary spending, it's entitlement spending," read: Social Security and Medicare. Also know that the discretionary spending is the source of pet project money of nearly every elected official. And lastly 4) Inflation, which is the ultimate theft from Seniors; they don't work, have limited ability to earn enough to keep-up, and survive by an ever lowering standard of living. 5) Easy to TAX. They are the largest group of individuals in our society with paid for homes. Seniors do not use credit and are not a threat to the banking system.
A weak and immediately identifiable group: Seniors are America's last bastion of hard earned and saved wealth.
Cheers, Mel Shapiro
Cheers, Mel Shapiro
Monday, January 24, 2011
Frank View of the Big Picture
The following is from friend, NYU Stern School of Economics Economist, Price Waterhouse Accountant, Fortune 500 Co. Comptroller, entrepreneur, and now retired, Frank Fischer. This is his response to an ongoing email exchange concerning the future of America.
Hi Mel...
I think you already know some/most of my big picture suggested spending cuts to the Federal budget. Getting rid of entire agencies and departments, like the Dept of Education, EPA, Dept of Energy, Dept of Commerce and as big a hawk as I am, big cuts in the military/Pentagon. I'm sure there are others that could be eliminated. All other departments and agencies should take a 25% budget hit, bar none except veterans programs. I also believe the Feds should cut 25-40% of all Federal employees and implement wage, bonus and COLA pay increase freezes until the budget is balanced. I also believe it's an opportune time to get a balaced budget amendment passed.
Also, no more defined benefit pensions. Stop them all right now and immediately switch all Federal employees to defined contribution plans like 401ks. No more Cadillac health care programs either. Stick them all into Obamacare insurance pools, if Obamacare doesn't get repealed. Congress and Federal employees are exempt from Obamacare. WTF!!
I also believe we need term limits for all Congressmen/women (3 years) and Senators (6 years). Cut the hell out of their pay, or don't pay them at all, like it used to be. Or pay them something similar to what the military pays for a low-ranking officer. Same for their staff. Give them some frugal expense reimbursement plan. No pensions, no health care they take with them. No more per diem, that they just pocket for personal use. Build a decent barracks-type residence for all reps, or just convert one of the many unused buildings in DC to a residence hall type thing for when Congress is in session. Staff are on their own like the rest of us. Eliminate perks like paying off their school loans for them too.
Get rid of all the BS money-draining subsidy programs like Ethanol and money sucking things like Amtrak and the Post Office. Privatize these things with no subsidies from the taxpayers. If they fail, they fail. If prices go up, tough shit. Pay the going rate or use something else.
That would reduce federal taxes for the folks which would help our 70% consumer spending based economy and set an example for frugality for state and local government. State and local gov'ts need to cut the fat and get rid of all of the money sucking union pensions, health care and big paychecks. The lower taxes that would result will also help the 70% consumer based economy. Privatizing a lot of what state and local govt's do will cut costs and make things much more efficient. Case in point - NYC Sanitation Dept. Why have a city run sanitation dept? Sub-contract the work out, including snow removal. There certainly wouldn't have been any slow-down in snow removal with that last storm that hit NYC. Waste Management does a great job. They've been picking up my trash for years at a very low cost and I don't know if they provide pensions or health care to their employees. Frankly, I don't care.
We need a national energy plan and as you know, I recommend CNG, nuclear and clean coal. Plus we need to drill for more domestic oil in the meantime and send these OPEC and other dictatorial financial rapists back to the stone age. This would probably be the biggest contributor to putting money into consumers pockets, thus helping the 70% consumer spending based economy.
Those are some of my "big picture" actions I'd like to see take place. I don't consider them small or insignificant.
As far as all of the smaller things I, and you, become aware of and bitch about all the time, a $ billion or two here, a few $ billion more there....it all adds up to tens or hundreds of $ billions. It's just like eliminating earmarks. Sure, they don't add up too much in the big picture scheme, but taken as a cumulative whole with everything else, they add up to a ton of money. Plus, it helps eliminate corruption. Corruption always starts small and grows from there as politicians become bolder and bolder and steal/waste more and more of our money. Case in point is the ethanol scam and the proposed cap & trade fraud.
As far as our economy goes, I still believe we're in the midst of our fist lost decade. And it may continue to another decade, not unlike Japan. Obama and Congress aren't going to get us out of this mess. Only the private sector can do this. Regretfully, I don't see any clear way out. I don't see any clear way to reduce unemployment, other than through attrition as folks fall off the unemployment roles. But then they're on welfare, food stamps, etc. The housing market has crushed us. The US economy has been riding on fictitious, non-existent wealth in the form of bogus home equity for the past 10 years.
For years, folks have been pulling this bogus equity out of their homes to buy cars, big screen TVs, take vacations, remodel their homes, buy 2nd homes, etc, etc, etc. Then there were the house flippers taking quick profits of bogus equity. It was all BS. Look at what happened when the bubble burst. IMO this is the main cause of unemployment in this country. All of the lost jobs including contractors/builders, sub-contractors, building suppliers, realtors, mortgage brokers, bankers, title companies, etc, etc, etc, plus all of the government related jobs, like those in building depts, inspectors, etc. Then the effect it had on the rest of the economy. Severely reduced auto/trucks sales, mall closings, restaurants closings, retail shops out of business.... you name it, it's gone. Then the foreclosures....well over a million, maybe 2 million and an estimated 3 million more coming. This has touched every part of our economy.
So the big question is: in what sector of the economy will jobs be created? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else, including Obama and Congress. The truth is I don't believe a significant number of jobs will, or can be created in any sector. Hence my forecast of 2 lost decades. Until such time as all of the millions of baby boomers (1946-1964) are finally out of the work force, we'll continue with 9-10% or higher unemployment. It's the norm now and may get worse. We need to create 140K jobs a month just to keep up with normal growth. Where are all the kids graduating high school and college getting jobs? They're not. They're moving back in with their parents or other family members. Folks that have lost their job and their houses are moving in with friends and relatives. It's a mess. All of this causing a lack of contribution to our 70% consumer spending based economy.Yet the population continues to grow.....with illegal aliens and babies from single parent mothers living in projects and ghettos. All needing entitlement support, further stressing out the financial situation in the country.
Sure, the stock market is doing better, but it's all BS. Most companies are recording increases in their bottom line profits, but little to no growth in their top line, revenues. This is all because they cut the hell out of expenses, mainly with headcount reductions. Productivity is way up. Wall St banks are making a killing since they're able to borrow money from the Fed at zero % interest and turn quick, daily profits by lending it to other banks on short terms. Business and consumer credit is still tight and tough to get. All of this Wall St and stock market crappola does nothing for our 70% consumer spending based economy. Consumers that do have an income aren't spending. Those that don't, can't. Many are terrified and either saving or paying down debt. Many are helping to support other family members, just to help them get by with the basic needs to survive. Bankruptcies are at a record high. Foreclosures the same. Huge numbers of unsold homes are out there and the numbers are growing. Home values are dropping like a rock and continue to do so.
That is the big picture. We're screwed. The truth is guys like you and me DO get it. It's the rest of them that don't.
Frank
Hi Mel...
I think you already know some/most of my big picture suggested spending cuts to the Federal budget. Getting rid of entire agencies and departments, like the Dept of Education, EPA, Dept of Energy, Dept of Commerce and as big a hawk as I am, big cuts in the military/Pentagon. I'm sure there are others that could be eliminated. All other departments and agencies should take a 25% budget hit, bar none except veterans programs. I also believe the Feds should cut 25-40% of all Federal employees and implement wage, bonus and COLA pay increase freezes until the budget is balanced. I also believe it's an opportune time to get a balaced budget amendment passed.
Also, no more defined benefit pensions. Stop them all right now and immediately switch all Federal employees to defined contribution plans like 401ks. No more Cadillac health care programs either. Stick them all into Obamacare insurance pools, if Obamacare doesn't get repealed. Congress and Federal employees are exempt from Obamacare. WTF!!
I also believe we need term limits for all Congressmen/women (3 years) and Senators (6 years). Cut the hell out of their pay, or don't pay them at all, like it used to be. Or pay them something similar to what the military pays for a low-ranking officer. Same for their staff. Give them some frugal expense reimbursement plan. No pensions, no health care they take with them. No more per diem, that they just pocket for personal use. Build a decent barracks-type residence for all reps, or just convert one of the many unused buildings in DC to a residence hall type thing for when Congress is in session. Staff are on their own like the rest of us. Eliminate perks like paying off their school loans for them too.
Get rid of all the BS money-draining subsidy programs like Ethanol and money sucking things like Amtrak and the Post Office. Privatize these things with no subsidies from the taxpayers. If they fail, they fail. If prices go up, tough shit. Pay the going rate or use something else.
That would reduce federal taxes for the folks which would help our 70% consumer spending based economy and set an example for frugality for state and local government. State and local gov'ts need to cut the fat and get rid of all of the money sucking union pensions, health care and big paychecks. The lower taxes that would result will also help the 70% consumer based economy. Privatizing a lot of what state and local govt's do will cut costs and make things much more efficient. Case in point - NYC Sanitation Dept. Why have a city run sanitation dept? Sub-contract the work out, including snow removal. There certainly wouldn't have been any slow-down in snow removal with that last storm that hit NYC. Waste Management does a great job. They've been picking up my trash for years at a very low cost and I don't know if they provide pensions or health care to their employees. Frankly, I don't care.
We need a national energy plan and as you know, I recommend CNG, nuclear and clean coal. Plus we need to drill for more domestic oil in the meantime and send these OPEC and other dictatorial financial rapists back to the stone age. This would probably be the biggest contributor to putting money into consumers pockets, thus helping the 70% consumer spending based economy.
Those are some of my "big picture" actions I'd like to see take place. I don't consider them small or insignificant.
As far as all of the smaller things I, and you, become aware of and bitch about all the time, a $ billion or two here, a few $ billion more there....it all adds up to tens or hundreds of $ billions. It's just like eliminating earmarks. Sure, they don't add up too much in the big picture scheme, but taken as a cumulative whole with everything else, they add up to a ton of money. Plus, it helps eliminate corruption. Corruption always starts small and grows from there as politicians become bolder and bolder and steal/waste more and more of our money. Case in point is the ethanol scam and the proposed cap & trade fraud.
As far as our economy goes, I still believe we're in the midst of our fist lost decade. And it may continue to another decade, not unlike Japan. Obama and Congress aren't going to get us out of this mess. Only the private sector can do this. Regretfully, I don't see any clear way out. I don't see any clear way to reduce unemployment, other than through attrition as folks fall off the unemployment roles. But then they're on welfare, food stamps, etc. The housing market has crushed us. The US economy has been riding on fictitious, non-existent wealth in the form of bogus home equity for the past 10 years.
For years, folks have been pulling this bogus equity out of their homes to buy cars, big screen TVs, take vacations, remodel their homes, buy 2nd homes, etc, etc, etc. Then there were the house flippers taking quick profits of bogus equity. It was all BS. Look at what happened when the bubble burst. IMO this is the main cause of unemployment in this country. All of the lost jobs including contractors/builders, sub-contractors, building suppliers, realtors, mortgage brokers, bankers, title companies, etc, etc, etc, plus all of the government related jobs, like those in building depts, inspectors, etc. Then the effect it had on the rest of the economy. Severely reduced auto/trucks sales, mall closings, restaurants closings, retail shops out of business.... you name it, it's gone. Then the foreclosures....well over a million, maybe 2 million and an estimated 3 million more coming. This has touched every part of our economy.
So the big question is: in what sector of the economy will jobs be created? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else, including Obama and Congress. The truth is I don't believe a significant number of jobs will, or can be created in any sector. Hence my forecast of 2 lost decades. Until such time as all of the millions of baby boomers (1946-1964) are finally out of the work force, we'll continue with 9-10% or higher unemployment. It's the norm now and may get worse. We need to create 140K jobs a month just to keep up with normal growth. Where are all the kids graduating high school and college getting jobs? They're not. They're moving back in with their parents or other family members. Folks that have lost their job and their houses are moving in with friends and relatives. It's a mess. All of this causing a lack of contribution to our 70% consumer spending based economy.Yet the population continues to grow.....with illegal aliens and babies from single parent mothers living in projects and ghettos. All needing entitlement support, further stressing out the financial situation in the country.
Sure, the stock market is doing better, but it's all BS. Most companies are recording increases in their bottom line profits, but little to no growth in their top line, revenues. This is all because they cut the hell out of expenses, mainly with headcount reductions. Productivity is way up. Wall St banks are making a killing since they're able to borrow money from the Fed at zero % interest and turn quick, daily profits by lending it to other banks on short terms. Business and consumer credit is still tight and tough to get. All of this Wall St and stock market crappola does nothing for our 70% consumer spending based economy. Consumers that do have an income aren't spending. Those that don't, can't. Many are terrified and either saving or paying down debt. Many are helping to support other family members, just to help them get by with the basic needs to survive. Bankruptcies are at a record high. Foreclosures the same. Huge numbers of unsold homes are out there and the numbers are growing. Home values are dropping like a rock and continue to do so.
That is the big picture. We're screwed. The truth is guys like you and me DO get it. It's the rest of them that don't.
Frank
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