After the Hangover Wears Off

On Wednesday morning, after the long night of drinking to celebrate or lament, we will wake up and guess what – nothing has changed. We are still the same country with $11 trillion in debt and $54 trillion unfunded liabilities. We are still the same country with unpopular wars in the Middle East. We are still the same country with a crumbling infrastructure. We are still a country that sends more than $700 billion a year offshore for its energy. Most importantly, we are still the same country with an egotistical political establishment; one that would prefer to pander than lead.

This was an election about the last 8 years of Bush more than anything else. Let’s be honest, the electorate is not smart enough to actually look at the issues and make an informed decision, they would rather base their selection on emotion. The contradictory political ads make it even more difficult for the shallow to make sense about where the candidates really stand. In the end, America is all about making themselves feel better – whether that be at the shopping mall or in the voting booth.

After the congratulatory back slaps, lip smacking at the new found political power and the statements of an imagined mandate are over, there still looms the 800 pound gorilla in the room. I stand by my belief that no matter who gets elected (I am about 95% certain that Obama will be elected) nothing will really change where it really matters. The only change will be who is called president. Sure there will be some other changes –Obama will change from Bush’s tax-cut-and-spend administration to a tax-increase-and-spend administration. Oh yeah, Obama will enact cap and trade of plant food (carbon dioxide) which will significantly increase all of our energy bills (although, to be honest, McCain is also talking about that).

What really needs to happen? We need a real leader that would present America with a plan that will include touch choices. A real leader will work with Congress to enact those tough choices. What would those tough choices be?

• Balance the budget with the current revenue stream and that includes excluding social security revenue from the revenue stream. That means across the board cuts, including the military.


• A tax increase levied only to pay down the debt and pay back the trillions in IOUs to the social security fund. I propose a modest national sales tax in lieu of increasing income taxes.


• Consolidate government, reduce duplicity, and increase governments’ effectiveness and efficiency.


• Reform Medicare and Social Security. That means cutting benefits and eliminating the maximum earnings amount above which you stop paying the social security payroll tax.


• Reform our education system and invest in math and science education.


• Drill more and invest in renewable energy. We need to be leaders in the renewable energy field.


• Close military bases around the world and pull our military back. We need to defend OUR borders first and foremost.


• Squash the climate change nonsense which would waste trillions trying to reduce global temperatures by a tenth of degree. Taking that money and investing it in math and science education, renewable energy research, and infrastructure would have a far greater impact.

If the $11 trillion in debt and $54 trillion in unfunded liabilities does not say it all, you, quite frankly, are a moron of massive proportions. These two numbers alone provide enough justification for the measures I propose above. These two numbers provide a measure of the precariousness of our situation. Americans need to realize that the run is over. America needs to rethink its priorities. America needs to realize that money does not grow on trees and cannot be printed wantonly without dire consequences. America can no longer enslave on our children and grandchildren with debt. It is time we take responsibility for our actions, at a personal level and at a national level.

Wake up America. Take some aspirin and drink some water. Shake the hang-over off and demand real change, not the change promised in pretty speeches.

Photo by fellow Engineers Without Borders member, Sugar cane fields, road, railroad, and mountains, Dominican Republic

Welcome President, er, Chairman Obama

Senator and future President of the United States of America Barack Obama promises a change from the last 8 years of Bush. I believe he will deliver that change. It is just not the type of change that you and I are really expecting. It is not the type of leadership this country needs in the face of an unprecedented economic turmoil. Not that that old guy would be any better. We basically have a leadership and intellectual vacuum in D.C.; unfortunately I am ninety percent certain that Obama will be elected because cultural change is more important than substantive issues like debt, deficits, and fiscal responsibility.

The last 8 years of Bush were all about tax cut and spend. How will Obama change that? Will he cut spending? No. He will increase spending by billions taking the nearly $500 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2008 and increase it at a time we need to be cutting spending across the board including the military. Neither candidate does not take into account the trillions spent trying to “save” the system (oh wait, that was “printed” money – my mistake that doesn't count).

Will he increase taxes? Yes and No and Yes. Those making more than $250,000 a year or the top 5% of income earners (those making more than $150,000) will pay more, (not sure which number he means) but those making next to nothing will get money. However, Obama will make plant food (CO2) a major pollutant and likely enact cap-and-trade of plant food (CO2). The dirty, little secret on that is that all our energy prices will sky rocket hitting every income class. Obama giveth with one hand and taketh with the other.

Another change under an Obama administration will be reverting to Woodrow Wilson era politics where those critical of the administration will be silenced. We already have seen the beginnings of that with the handling of Joe the Plumber. An innocent question about Obama's tax policies by "one of us" leads the press to investigate Joe's taxes and licensing. It turns out that all of a sudden Joe needs to be silenced and discredited. Wouldn't you know it, Joe owes back taxes. Never mind that a member of the United States senate, Senator Rangel (D), owed back taxes recently too, but then again he did not have the audacity to question Obama’s policies. Obama had the arrogance to say that he never heard of any plumbers making $250,000. I suppose only elitists with degrees from Harvard and Presidents of the United States are allowed to make that much. How out of touch can he possibly get? He obviously has never run a business or knows anything about running a business based on a comment like that.

Now Obama by himself with a republican controlled house and senate may be held in check and things like the Fairness Doctrine would never see the light of day. Unfortunately, we have the dumb leading the dumber. The combination of Pelosi and Reid will make a nasty three-headed monster that should keep any child from getting a good nights rest. The Obalosied tax monster is coming for your pocket book. Oh, it is a nice monster to poor people, but you rich people better watch out. The Obalosied monster will have the audacity to steal from your pocketbook in the middle of the day. Wow, I really am looking forward to the next 2 to 4 years. If you thought things were rough now, just wait, worse is around the corner.

We are so screwed. Thanks for nothing democrats and republicans. You both have put us in an untenable position. Instead of being so self-absorbed in your party’s power you should have been looking out for America. You should have been leading and not pandering. I hope you can look in your children and grandchildren in the eyes and know that you had a chance to turn the tide, but you chose to be selfish. Thanks for nothing, now go to hell.

Undecided; Leaning Towards Ambivalence

I can’t take it anymore. Listening to the presidential debate makes my head want to explode. First, McCain needs to shut his pie hole and stop sounding like a broken record. He used the same washed up arguments from the other debates tonight. Can’t you come up with anything new and better, McCain? One thing is for certain, and that is that McCain lost the election tonight.

Those of us in the undecided category were listening tonight to maybe help us make up our minds on which of these morons would be the lesser of two evils. I bet Obama sounds like a good choice to many undecided voters after tonight’s performance. He even sounded reasonable to me at times.

Before you utter your disbelief that there are people that actually have not made up their minds yet in this election, let me tell you that those of us that are undecided are probably more thoughtful about our vote than the rest of you. There is a lot riding on this election. We won’t just vote for someone that has a D or R behind their name and we won’t just support a candidate based on one favorite hot-button issue. I personally have been weighing the issues and pluses and minuses of the candidates. Even right now, after McCain’s mind numbing performance I am sitting here with absolutely no clue on how to vote. If Obama gets in and has Pelosi and Reid and democratic house and senate there is no telling what will happen – look how bad it got when the republicans controlled everything for six years. If McCain gets in there is no telling what he will do because I am not sure what the guy stands for – look who we will have waiting to take the reigns if he kicks the bucket. My third option is a write-in candidate by the name of Mr. None of the Above. That third option is looking better and better the closer we get to the election.

Please, Mr. Obama, instead of using the word “fair” just say what you mean – “redistribution”. Obama says that the Buffets of the world can afford a tax increase. Of course the Buffets of the world can afford a tax increase, but there are less than 500 billionaires in this country (500 out of 300 million – do the math). Tax those guys all you want; they probably won’t miss it (By the way, do you ever wonder why they just don’t “donate” their money to the government? Instead they set up their own charities. Seems to me they know how inefficient and ineffective the government is). He says that he will increase taxes on the top 5% - the income split for the top 5% is $153,542. The top 5% pay 60% of the income taxes in this country. The top 10% pay 70% of the income taxes – the income split at that level is $108,904. What is fair in that? I am going to be punished for working hard because you feel the need to fund worthless, bloated government programs and have a vastly different idea of what “fair” means. If someone makes $150,000 they likely have a mortgage and expenses that reflects that $150,000. You take money out of their pockets you take money out of the economy and especially from charities. And believe me charities do a whole lot more than any government program has done or will ever do.

Instead of increasing our taxes (and asking us to be “patriotic”) or borrowing money from our children and grandchildren start by shrinking government spending first. You could get me on board with a tax increase if you cut spending and produced a balanced budget (how about a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution) and then you came back to me and said that now we need to increase taxes and that tax increase will solely go to pay down the debt in 10 years, for example, and make sure that social security and Medicare are solvent. Once that 10-year plan is accomplished we will remove the tax increase. But you can’t promise me anything like that because you have such disdain for the taxpayer and quite frankly I can’t trust you. You say one thing one week and then something else the next. You move to one end of the spectrum to placate some moronic voting block and then just as fast swing the other way. I simply cannot take your word. Once we start giving to you, you take and take and take. Plain and simple; you, Mr. Obama, and you, Mr. McCain have lost my trust. I did not hear anything tonight that makes me think I can trust either of you with the top job. Where is the talk of balanced budgets, fiscal responsibility, and solving the unsexy problems of Medicare and Social Security? By not talking about the really vexing issues I tend to think that you 1) don't care, 2) don't know, or 3) know but don't want to tarnish your precious political backside by making the necessary but unpopular reforms. I know AARP votes and children don't.

VOTE
NONE OF THE ABOVE

FOR PRESIDENT 2008

Photo by KCThinker, Beach near La Romana, Dominican Republic - a little tranquility in an otherwise turbulent and uncertain world.

This November 4 Check “None of the Above”

Now more than ever this country needs a leader that understands the complex and vexing issues that face this country. We have a financial crisis created by our lawmakers and greedy bankers that has bankrupted numerous banks and financial companies. We have a seemingly never ending war against terror. We have an energy crisis. We have a vacuum of leadership. The so-called leaders refuse to address the looming fiscal crisis of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the massive debt piled up as a result of failed government policies. In a campaign where all the talk is about “change” the real thing we need is massive reform.

For me this election is about the economy, the short-term and long-term fiscal stability of the United State, and a diverse and secure energy policy. If we do not get a handle on those things, you can forget about all the rest because there won’t be a United States of America anymore. We will soon likely have a country in Chapter 11 with foreign governments helping us “reform” or the World Bank treating us like Haiti. Our AAA bond rating will be downgraded meaning that we will have to pay a higher interest rate on our debt which will overnight increase the trillions in unfunded liabilities that are not being addressed.

More than ever we need a leader that will care more for this country than for his party. After more than a year of pure political torture (and hundreds of millions of wasted dollars – the economy seems good enough for Obama to raise more than $390 million off the backs of the “working people”), this 4 November 2008 we will finally get to vote for president of the United States of America. Our choices: Barack Obama (D) and John McCain (R). Given these choices I wonder why I should even vote for president. I would be better off with a box “None of the Above” or “Can I please have a real choice?”

Why should I vote for Barack Obama?

The main reason to vote for Obama is that after the last 40 years we need something new. Obama is young, energetic, healthy, dashing, and a decent orator with a teleprompter. He would bring life back into the stale politics of old, white men. Obama had it right when he opposed the start of the war in Iraq.

Why I should not vote for Barack Obama?

His main mantra is bringing change to Washington, D.C. Yet his policies are largely the policies of the democratic party. The only change he will bring is who sits in the White House, and thankfully that was going to occur regardless. I do not agree with the majority of his policies. From biofuels to taxes, he comes across as a naïve upstart. After the last 8 years I want a president that I think is smarter than me. Obama is definitely not smarter than I am. He is first and foremost a politician that can give a good prepared speech.

Here are a few reasons I will not be voting for Barack Obama:

• He thinks people that make $250,000 are rich. Really? He would increase taxes on the “rich” and cut taxes on the lower middle class at the same time he is proposing billions in new spending. That does not equate to a balanced budget. We simply cannot afford more deficit spending.
• Like his main rival, his energy policy is too one sided and not diversified. Obama likes biofuels. Any civilization that burns food should be severely punished in my opinion. His policy relies too much on alternatives with no realistic fossil fuel bridge. By the way, we still need oil to make the stuff we use everyday – you know, stuff like plastics, drugs, chemicals, and hundreds of thousands of other everyday items we take for granted.
• He wanted to sell oil out of the strategic reserve to lower gas prices. I suppose he does not understand what strategic means unless he thinks it means pandering.
• He believes climate change should and can be fought. The war on climate change brought to by Al Gore. We have seen how effective the war on poverty, the war on drugs, and the war on terror have been (ergo wasted trillions of dollars for very little to show for it).
• Obama preaches change yet he picks an entrenched career politician, fellow senator Joe Biden, for his vice president. Biden has been in the senate for 36 years. Obama complains that McCain has not made any meaningful changes during his 22 years in congress, yet Obama picks a stale old white man to be his running mate. For all his supposed foreign policy expertise, Biden suggested dividing Iraq up into three countries; that would have had disastrous consequences.
• Obama thinks that a strong economy will strengthen the dollar and lower gas prices except he wants cap-and-trade for carbon dioxide (higher energy prices) and he is silent on debt, a balanced budget, and unfunded liabilities (strength of the dollar). A strong economy needs a secure financial structure and cheap energy…endless do loop begins.
• He thinks it is the government’s responsibility to grow the economy. Here he is wrong again - the government is there is provide a stable and responsible platform from which the economy can grow.
• Obama thinks we should to take to people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, who has called for wiping Israel off the map. He naively holds the belief that if only we talked to Iran and engaged them they would not be so belligerent. Looking back at history I see now how effective Chamberlain was in preventing WWII by talking to Hitler.
• For all his talk about reaching across the aisle, there is very little evidence of it. We need someone that will get past the Karl Rove divisive political game. I do not see Obama rising above typical Washington, D.C. politics despite all his "talk".
• Then there are all of his personal entanglements with unrepentant domestic terrorists and racist preachers. Given his quick and convenient disassociation with these people that have supposedly formed him as a man one wonders what he really believes in.

I look at the Obama platform and I see BIG GOVERNMENT. I see us moving closer to socialism where we tax the crap out of everyone and “fairly redistribute” wealth; I see this country digging itself deeper and deeper into debt with yet more failed government and more debt that our children and grandchildren should not be on the hook for. The net result of his platform is that the government will take care of us from cradle to grave. That is fine for hazardous waste management but not for the future of this country.

Why should I vote for John McCain?

He is the maverick. He is a straight talker and calls it as he sees it. He is a fighter and a survivor. Instead of giving up in Iraq he supported the surge (it appears to have been the right move, but the jury is still out on that one). He is saying the right things when it comes to both the democrats and republicans being at fault for the financial crisis. He does not want to bail out any more banks and financial companies. Unlike Obama, he has reached across the aisle, working with Kennedy and Lieberman (of course, we can debate the wisdom of the legislation that came from those pairings). On the face of it, his vice-presidential pick of a reform-minded Sarah Pahlin is refreshing (although her negatives are outweighing her positives). Overall, I believe him more than Obama when it comes to bringing reform (change) to government.

Why should I not vote for John McCain?

Here again, after the last 8 years of Bush I want someone smarter than I am. I want someone with good judgment. There is the stigma that he will be beholden to his party and his party is stuck in the backwoods when it comes to social issues. The republicans also have not shown that they can govern for the people and not for big business.

Here are a few reasons I will not be voting for John McCain:

• McCain is yet another old, white man from the entrenched political establishment. Instead of running a country the guy should be in Florida enjoying retirement. We need a leader that understands the role technology plays in today’s society. I am not sure McCain understands that role. There is also the likelihood that he will die in office during his first term.
• He has stated that we may need 5 more years of budget deficits. We can no longer afford to NOT have a balanced budget. I am not sure he understands the gravity of the situation we are in.
• How can we afford his proposed tax cuts? We are already running a deficit and McCain’s proposals would just increase the deficits. The suggestion of tax cuts increasing revenue just does fly especially when our economy is being hit with this mortgage crisis that is sending it into a tailspin. The bailouts only make the situation more tenuous.
• His vice-presidential pick, Sarah Pahlin, has made statements that worry me. How can I vote for a ticket on which there is a person that would not even allow abortion in the case of rape or incest?
• Although McCain had an interesting pick for vice president, her inexperience and religious right baggage will ultimately be the downfall of the ticket. I have no interest in having another born-again like Bush in the White House.
• McCain’s energy policy is lopsided to the policy of drill here, drill now. We need a balanced approach which only Paris Hilton seems to understand.
• He appears to be a war monger. Just like Obama, he has a naïve approach when it comes to Iran and Islamic fundamentalism. McCain’s policy is at the opposite end of spectrum from Obama’s.

I look at the McCain platform and I see more of the same failed policies of the Bush administration. Our international standing is at all time low and I doubt McCain can help that.

There you have it; all the reasons to simply skip over the presidential part of the ballot on 4 November 2008. Concentrate on the local elections, although to be honest, until we get a true centrist third party what’s the point. The whacked out fringes of the two party system will continue to dictate the worthlessness of the majority of the candidates that we can elect.