People who stumble across this blog may wonder who I am and why I would write on current issues, especially our economic situation. After all, I am not an "expert." I'm not an economist, a journalist, a financier, or a politician. I'm just an ordinary American citizen who is trying to make sense of what I see and hear on the news every day. The fact that I taught high school government and economics may give me a little more knowledge in these fields than your average citizen, but only a little. I'm just as lost as most people when I pick up a copy of Forbes Magazine and read about derivatives, hedge funds, the declining dollar, and financial markets. That, I think, is what makes my blog unique. I am writing about my struggle to understand what is happening in our nation. I don't pretend to have any answers; I am looking for answers. I just want to make some sense of the complex mess our country is in. (I know, I know - it doesn't make sense!)
I even ask myself what motivates me to do this. I know part of it is my insatiable desire to learn. I was born with it. I love researching issues and finding new information. Understanding something I didn't understand before excites me. If that makes me a complete nerd, so be it.
Also, I want the truth. The truth can be very hard to find sometimes, and we may refuse to recognize it if it doesn't fit with our preconceived ideas. My goal in writing this blog is NOT to promote my personal agenda, but to seek truth wherever it may be found. While I could be described as a moderate conservative, I want to be open to new ideas. I want to really hear the opinions of others. If I find something that I believe to be true, I want to spread the word, while humbly acknowledging I could be wrong. I will try not to state my opinions with Limbaugh arrogance.
I guess another reason I do this is that I am a teacher without a class. I have teaching in my blood. I may be retired, but I still have a tremendous need to pass whatever knowledge I have onto others. I hope to take complicated issues and explain them in a way that anyone can understand. If just one person reads this blog and learns something, my goal will have been accomplished.
I also love to write. Writing helps me to think and organize my thoughts. I figure if I can put it into words on paper, I have a pretty good grasp of a concept.
Another reason - I am a confessed news junkie and have been since the first Gulf War. I don't think that is necessarily a good thing, and I am trying to watch the news less and live my life more. I will, however, continue to check in with CNN and FOX News every day. I don't like ignorance. I am appalled when Leno goes out on the street and finds people who can't recognize the vice-president of the United States. I believe a responsible citizen keeps up with what is happening in his government so he can be an intelligent participant in our democratic republic.
And finally, I love this country and want a great future for my son and any future grandchildren. Simply put, I am concerned. I used to tell my students they should get down on their knees every day and thank God they were born in the United States of America. I still believe that even with the problems we face today. We aren't perfect, but we've got the greatest country in the world, and we need to take care of what we've got.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
So How Much Are We Spending?
All of us are aware of the latest stimulus bill and its cost of 787 billion. But that is just one part of the bailouts our government has been funding. CNNMoney.com is keeping a running record of government spending on bailouts. Since December of 2007, the government has allocated 10.8 TRILLION in rescue spending and has actually spent 2.1 trillion of that so far. So how much is a trillion? A noted mathematician has said that if you spent a million dollars a day since the birth of Christ, that would equal about three-fourths of a trillion. One trillion seconds equals 32,000 years. If you stacked a trillion dollar bills on top of each other, the stack would reach 68,000 miles into space, or one third of the way to the moon.
Our national debt is just under ELEVEN TRILLION DOLLARS! Think about that.
On another, equally dismal note,money spent to rescue failing banks has NOT been successful, and now even conservative Republicans are thinking that nationalization of the banks is the only answer. Fear of this sent the DOW tumbling to a six-year low on Friday as private investors dumped their bank stocks. If the banks are nationalized, stock owners of bank shares will lose their investments. They are getting out while there is still time.
However, we should be happy. We will see an increase of about $13 a week in our paychecks, possibly as early as next week. Now, doesn't that make you feel better?
Our national debt is just under ELEVEN TRILLION DOLLARS! Think about that.
On another, equally dismal note,money spent to rescue failing banks has NOT been successful, and now even conservative Republicans are thinking that nationalization of the banks is the only answer. Fear of this sent the DOW tumbling to a six-year low on Friday as private investors dumped their bank stocks. If the banks are nationalized, stock owners of bank shares will lose their investments. They are getting out while there is still time.
However, we should be happy. We will see an increase of about $13 a week in our paychecks, possibly as early as next week. Now, doesn't that make you feel better?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hopeless Complexity
On Tuesday, February 17, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as “the stimulus bill” became the law of the land when President Obama affixed his signature to it. I surmise that few of us know much about the bill, beyond the fact that our government is about to spend 787 billion dollars it doesn’t have to create or save up to four million jobs. Doing the math, that amounts to a cost of $196,750 per job created. Assuming that these are not going to be jobs for CEO’s, the actual salaries paid will, of course, be far less than that. Of course, money will be spent on materials and other costs associated with job creation, but even accounting for that, it is clear that some “extras” were thrown into this bill. “The devil is in the details” has never been so true, and those details are too numerous and complicated for the average person to understand.
I suspect the bill is too complicated even for the Congressmen who passed it. After all, the final version comes in at 1,071 pages! The people who voted on it didn’t have time to read it even if they wanted to, and if they had, they still wouldn’t know what they were doing. Of course, we can read the bill for ourselves. In the interest of transparency, the White House has placed the full context of the bill on the Internet. I have included an actual excerpt here. Since we live in a rural area where agriculture is important to the lives of many, I chose part of Section 102, the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Transition. Please read carefully.
SEC. 102. AGRICULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE TRANSITION. (a)
FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE ACT. Section 531(g) of the Federal Crop
Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1531(g)) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘(7) 2008 TRANSITION ASSISTANCE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Eligible producers on a farm
described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4) that failed
to timely pay the appropriate fee described in that subparagraph
shall be eligible for assistance under this section in accordance with
subparagraph (B) if the eligible producers on the farm—
‘‘(i) pay the appropriate fee described in paragraph
(4)(A) not later than 90 days after the date of enactment
of this paragraph; and
‘‘(ii)(I) in the case of each insurable commodity
of the eligible producers on the farm, excluding grazing
land, agree to obtain a policy or plan of insurance
under subtitle A (excluding a crop insurance pilot program
under that subtitle) for the next insurance year
for which crop insurance is available to the eligible
producers on the farm at a level of coverage equal
to 70 percent or more of the recorded or appraised
average yield indemnified at 100 percent of the
expected market price, or an equivalent coverage; and
‘‘(II) in the case of each noninsurable commodity
of the eligible producers on the farm, agree to file
the required paperwork, and pay the administrative
fee by the applicable State filing deadline, for the noninsured
crop assistance program for the next year for which a policy is available.
There! How’s that for transparency? I would explain it, but I would first need to assemble a team of lawyers, economists, politicians, and academics to explain it to me. Of course, they wouldn’t agree on its meaning, and I wouldn’t trust any of them to tell me the truth anyway. Therein lies the problem with government – it has become too big and complicated for any of us to understand. How can we have a government by the people when the people don’t have a clue what is going on? Of course, that would not be such a terrible problem if we could trust our elected representatives to make wise decisions for us – a laughable proposition at best. After all, we are talking about a legislative body that couldn’t pass a budget, one of their most important functions, or address the energy crisis when Americans were being squeezed for $4 a gallon gasoline. Now these same people are supposed to fix the greatest economic crisis of our lifetimes, when their policies and lack of oversight helped get us into this mess in the first place. Forgive me if I am not optimistic.
As for the Democrats in Congress, it is Christmas in D.C. They see this bill as the opportunity to include every social program they have lusted after in the past twelve years of Republican control. Never mind that our government is already 11 trillion dollars in debt. We’ll just print more money or pass additional debt on to our grandchildren. What could be the harm in that??? Well, as they say, a trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.
I see the problems, but alas, I have no answers. The scary thing is, I’m not sure anyone does. Obama seems to be throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks, much like FDR did during the Depression. Many economists believe that none of those New Deal programs brought us out of the Depression anyway; WWII did that. After all, if you conscript the entire population of young men and send them off to war, that pretty much solves your unemployment problem. I don’t think any of us would like to solve our current problems with WWIII.
If this is beyond the scope of mortal men to fix, I have one suggestion: PRAY without ceasing!
I suspect the bill is too complicated even for the Congressmen who passed it. After all, the final version comes in at 1,071 pages! The people who voted on it didn’t have time to read it even if they wanted to, and if they had, they still wouldn’t know what they were doing. Of course, we can read the bill for ourselves. In the interest of transparency, the White House has placed the full context of the bill on the Internet. I have included an actual excerpt here. Since we live in a rural area where agriculture is important to the lives of many, I chose part of Section 102, the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Transition. Please read carefully.
SEC. 102. AGRICULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE TRANSITION. (a)
FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE ACT. Section 531(g) of the Federal Crop
Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1531(g)) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘(7) 2008 TRANSITION ASSISTANCE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Eligible producers on a farm
described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4) that failed
to timely pay the appropriate fee described in that subparagraph
shall be eligible for assistance under this section in accordance with
subparagraph (B) if the eligible producers on the farm—
‘‘(i) pay the appropriate fee described in paragraph
(4)(A) not later than 90 days after the date of enactment
of this paragraph; and
‘‘(ii)(I) in the case of each insurable commodity
of the eligible producers on the farm, excluding grazing
land, agree to obtain a policy or plan of insurance
under subtitle A (excluding a crop insurance pilot program
under that subtitle) for the next insurance year
for which crop insurance is available to the eligible
producers on the farm at a level of coverage equal
to 70 percent or more of the recorded or appraised
average yield indemnified at 100 percent of the
expected market price, or an equivalent coverage; and
‘‘(II) in the case of each noninsurable commodity
of the eligible producers on the farm, agree to file
the required paperwork, and pay the administrative
fee by the applicable State filing deadline, for the noninsured
crop assistance program for the next year for which a policy is available.
There! How’s that for transparency? I would explain it, but I would first need to assemble a team of lawyers, economists, politicians, and academics to explain it to me. Of course, they wouldn’t agree on its meaning, and I wouldn’t trust any of them to tell me the truth anyway. Therein lies the problem with government – it has become too big and complicated for any of us to understand. How can we have a government by the people when the people don’t have a clue what is going on? Of course, that would not be such a terrible problem if we could trust our elected representatives to make wise decisions for us – a laughable proposition at best. After all, we are talking about a legislative body that couldn’t pass a budget, one of their most important functions, or address the energy crisis when Americans were being squeezed for $4 a gallon gasoline. Now these same people are supposed to fix the greatest economic crisis of our lifetimes, when their policies and lack of oversight helped get us into this mess in the first place. Forgive me if I am not optimistic.
As for the Democrats in Congress, it is Christmas in D.C. They see this bill as the opportunity to include every social program they have lusted after in the past twelve years of Republican control. Never mind that our government is already 11 trillion dollars in debt. We’ll just print more money or pass additional debt on to our grandchildren. What could be the harm in that??? Well, as they say, a trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.
I see the problems, but alas, I have no answers. The scary thing is, I’m not sure anyone does. Obama seems to be throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks, much like FDR did during the Depression. Many economists believe that none of those New Deal programs brought us out of the Depression anyway; WWII did that. After all, if you conscript the entire population of young men and send them off to war, that pretty much solves your unemployment problem. I don’t think any of us would like to solve our current problems with WWIII.
If this is beyond the scope of mortal men to fix, I have one suggestion: PRAY without ceasing!
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