Telling It Like It Is

Visit my FORBES post: How Americans See the Economy & Budget: A “Mess” at http://ping.fm/GSahS

Check out this week's blog post: THE ENTERPRISE at http://ping.fm/5b5NB

THE ENTERPRISE--HITS AND MISSES?

THE ENTERPRISE--HITS AND MISSES?

CHECK OUT MY FORBES BLOG ON THE "MESS" OF OUR BUDGET AND ECONOMY
http://blogs.forbes.com/prospernow/2011/04/29/how-americans-see-the-economy-budget-a-mess/

NOTHING ON THE WEDDING--OVER-EXPOSED ALREADY
I guess it is important when a monarch gets wed. They used to have wars about such things. Yawn.

NOT MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THE TORNADOES EITHER
Except God bless those poor people.  What a tragedy. So sad!  Nature is so powerful! (And we think we can alter the climate?)

THE NFL--STRIKE, LOCKOUT OR WHATEVER--CUT IT OUT
C'mon you guys.  Cut this crap out.  I quit watching baseball after its labor management debacles in the past, and life goes on. (Well, maybe not for the Dodgers owner.)  Work it out and play football.  America needs the distraction from politics.

PAKISTAN WANTS AFGHANISTAN TO JOIN FORCES (AND ALLY WITH CHINA)
Good.  Pull our troops and our financial aid.  Stop the flow of US money to all of them (unless we get a meaningful "seat at the table" to influence their actions).  Warn them that at the first sniff of any terrorism, nukes being traded or other crap and we'll come in there and bomb them all back to the 7th century where they seem to like it.  (India will help us too!)

LIBYA--WHO ARE THESE REBELS?
I'm sorry; call me a bigot, but I don't trust any of these bands of roving rebels.  I'd bet there is all kinds of undesirable riff-raff mixed in there, including al Qaeda.  Either we need to blow Kaddafi to kingdom come--or not.  But we have no idea who will step into the void.  We should have learned the "Crate and Barrel Rule" ("You break it, you bought it.") in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in Vietnam, and in Korea--but I guess we'll never learn.

SYRIA--ASSAD'S FATHER WAS PURELY EVIL--IS HE A "CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK?"
Tom Friedman tells a story in his book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" about the senior Assad winning an election by an almost unanimous vote (evil dictators can do that).  One of Assad's lieutenant told him that he won, and "only failed to get a few votes," asking him, "what do you want?"  Assad said, "Their names."

THE ENTIRE of NORTH AFRICA AND the MIDDLE EAST IS A CAULDRON OF TROUBLE
If the US leadership knows what's best for it, we'll steer clear of getting involved.  I hope HIllary is smart enough to know that and convince Obama.  Nobody wins in Afghanistan--or most of those countries--except the meanest man, and the last man standing.  That's not the USA's style.  Stay on the sidelines and chime in now and then with some "hints."

WE NEED TO FIX OUR PROBLEMS AT HOME--REMEMBER?
EVery time someone says the USA should be a "hegemon," look up the word.  The definition is "one who practices hegmony" so I look that up.  Here it is and here is what we have been trying to be and must back away from.  Granted we spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined (but China may change that).  It is supposed to be "defense"—not "offense"—not "police actions"—not "nation building"—and not hegemony either.  Do you think?
he·ge·mo·ny  noun \hi-ˈje-mə-nē, -ˈge-; ˈhe-jə-ˌmō-nē\  1: preponderant influence or authority over others : domination   2: the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group

QUESTION OF THE WEEK (again!): 
IS DONALD TRUMP A SERIOUS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE --AND CONTENDER--AND SHOULD HE BE?
I blow hot and cold on this one--but NO, he shouldn't be!  After seeing Americans elect Barack Obama to the Presidency after he was a "community organizer" and an undistinguished freshman Senator, who never ran anything larger than the Harvard Law Review--I am not sure what might be possible.  Certainly "the Donald" has run some sizable enterprises, is a tough negotiator who did with some big time deals and faced tough issues, and been up and down and up the business success ladder--and the marriage ladder too. 

I fear that the broad reach of Americans are turned off by his braggadocio and his "attitude."  His ego probably rivals Obama's too.  Trump forced Obama to put his real birth certificate into circulation, and he may force Obama to reveal how he got into Columbia and Harvard with mediocre grades.  But that is different than governing a country to size and complexity of the USA. 

I can't believe that Trump's inadequate consideration of unintended consequences can let him do a tiny fraction of what he says.  (Seize Iraq's oil fields???)  Another part of me is so fed up with the status quo crap in Washington that I'd love to shake them all up.  The risk is that he'll split GOP voters between a traditional "solid candidate" like Mitt Romney, and we'll have a Ross Perot debacle that allow Obama to get reelected with a plurality instead of a true majority. (Trump swears he won't do this--I heard him in an Iowa interview--and I think he means it). But he can still turn the whole GOP nomination process upside down, which won't be good.

I suspect that among Trump's early moves would be to enable America to become self-sufficient by drilling for oil, gas, shale, and whatever was needed so we could tell Chavez and OPEC to "go pound sand."  He would sure as hell shake the big government bureaucracy to its very roots....and probably downsize the hell out of it.  Or at least I think he would.  (But then he loves leverage and debt too...)  He'd wade into issues like the budget and immigration with a hard nosed pragmatism--until Congress reined him in.

I expect him to back out because he doesn't want to show all his financial statements.  He'd rather be a powerful influence than actually have the job!

So, what do you think?  Is Trump viable?  Or is he "FIRED!"

I STILL LIKE MITT ROMNEY--BUT THIS TIME HE HAS TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF AND FIGHT.
To win the GOP nomination; to beat Obama; and to fix the USA if we can elect him.  Oh yes, now Jon Huntsman the scion of the chemical company wealth is coming back from being Obama's Ambassador to China.  He's a potential "moderate GOP" candidate and yikes--another Mormon?  Maybe they aren't so evil after all?  My other choice is still Mitch Daniels--a solid, but unspectacular governor (IN).  VP candidates could include Marco Rubio (read something of his below) and Herman Cain, or even someone else from the Southern tier of states.  It would be wise to choose a VP (this time) that is a credible Presidential hopeful in 2016 if the GOP doesn't win in 2012.

OUR GOVERNMENT IS WAY TOO BIG AND WAY TOO EXPENSIVE
The government in America--State and Federal--was formed to do things the people couldn't do for themselves--like pass and enforce laws, provide for public safety, public infrastructure and centralized services to the people, and so forth.  Government was supposed to work for the people--and now the American people work for the government, to support the gargantuan government and to have their lives and livelihood controlled by that too-bog, too-intrusive government.  If you don't believe me, do a little research on your own. Google to see how large parts of the government are. Here's a start for you.

GOVERNMENT WORKERS OUTNUMBER PRIVATE SECTOR WORKERS--IN LOTS OF WAYS
There a almost twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) as work in all of manufacturing (11.5 million).  Maybe we should outsource some of those government jobs and bring back manufacturing jobs that were driven out because of government regulations and the overhead of doing business in the USA.   More Americans work in government than work in construction, farming, forestry, fishing, manufacturing, mining and utiLities--COMBINED.

WONDER WHAT'S WRONG WITH OUR SCHOOLS--HERE'S A CLUE
From 1970 to 2005, school spending per student (adjusted for inflation) DOUBLED.  Before you say that's good, consider that during about that same time frame, public school employment per student also DOUBLED.  We call that negative productivity.  Add to that the fact that tenure means poor and mediocre teachers, who pass some very weak criteria are virtually ensured employment for life, protection from being fired for poor performance, and eligible to receive regular wages (often based on nothing more than longevity in the job).  During this three decade period, the improvement in school test scores was ZERO.

PUBLIC UNIONS ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN MOST LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
Once upon a time when powerful employers were abusing employees, unions came into being for a reason--to help protect and represent workers--to balance the power.  That was then and this is now.  Virtually all employers now realize that treating workers fairly, including offering competitive wages and benefits is imperative.  If the competitive environment will not permit companies to pay prevailing wages and give the prevailing benefits and still make a profit--and they do it anyway--the businesses will go broke and the people will lose their jobs.  Thus the workers are competing not with the company, but with competitors from around the world.  And these competitors could care less about what role a union has except that by sucking two hours of pay from every employee, they actually weaken the American companies ability to compete.

THE DYNAMIC CHANGES IN THE CASE OF A PUBLIC UNION--NO COMPETITION EXISTS
When the school teachers, police, firefighters, and so forth are all public union members, where is the competition?  Nearly non-existent. (Hence huge increases in private schools or  "home schooled" children, private security companies, and so forth.) The public union guarantees mediocrity and its own financial success, regardless of the effect on its members.  It collects dues, and funnels that money directly to the campaigns of sympathetic politicians to get them elected so they can influence negotiations to give even larger pay and benefit packages to the public union employees, which increases their own campaign funds. All this happens to the detriment of the towns, cities, counties, and states and the taxpayers who live and work there.  The Democratic party in America is dominated by union influences--most of all--money.  GUESS WHO SUPPORTS WHOM?

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT SAW HOW DAMAGING PUBLIC UNIONS WOULD BE TO AMERICA  FDR was widely quoted as saying clearly that public sector unions should not be allowed to exist (see below) 
In a little-known letter he wrote to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937, President Roosevelt reasoned:

"... Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations ... The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for ... officials ... to bind the employer ... The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives ...   "Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. ... A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent ... to prevent or obstruct ... Government ... Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government ... is unthinkable and intolerable." [my emphasis added]


THE BATTLE IS ON--FOR THE UNIONS' FUTURE AND AMERICA'S FUTURE--WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Even some current Democrats like NY Gov. Cuomo are trying to find ways to curb union power.  Wisconsin has been under siege after elected officials passed laws that opposed collective bargaining.  Democratic members of state government fled the state trying to prevent the laws by preventing a quorum being present--to no avail.  The same happened in Indiana.  In Ohio and Wisconsin public unions are funding recall and referendum campaigns to overthrow legitimately passed laws.  Near where I grew up, in Peoria, IL, Caterpillar employs a small fraction of the people it did in the past.  it has "outsourced work" to its own plants in states with Right to Work Laws like Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas (and to some foreign countries).  The UAW is learning now (too late) in Peoria that its heavy handed tactics were self defeating.

OVERREACHING BY A  MILE:  THE NLRB TRYING TO DICTATE WHERE BOEING BUILDS DREAMLINERS
If you have not caught up with the the Machinists Union that represents Boeing's Washington state workers, has enlisted the National Labor Relations Board (stacked by Obama with pro-union people), and the board has filed a complaint against Boeing for an unfair labor practice--trying to run away from a union.  This one will end up in some fairly high courts before it's over.  The is the typical kind of government takeover that Obama loves--but he's sitting quietly on the sidelines and letting the unions and the NLRB do the dirty work.  This kind of behavior it downright un-American--a blatant strike at our basic freedom and the free enterprise system.
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Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit

Everyone in Washington knows how to cut spending. The time to start is now.

By MARCO RUBIO

Americans have built the single greatest nation in all of human history. But America's exceptionalism was not preordained. Every generation has had to confront and solve serious challenges and, because they did, each has left the next better off. Until now.

Our generation's greatest challenge is an economy that isn't growing, alongside a national debt that is. If we fail to confront this, our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a country worse off than the one their parents were given.

Current federal policies make it harder for job creators to start and grow businesses. Taxes on individuals are complicated and set to rise in less than two years. Corporate taxes will soon be the highest in the industrialized world. Federal agencies torment job creators with an endless string of rules and regulations.

On top of all this, we have an unsustainable national debt. Leaders of both parties have grown our government for decades by spending money we didn't have. To pay for it, they borrowed $4 billion a day, leaving us with today's $14 trillion debt. Half of that debt is held by foreign investors, mostly China. And there is no plan to stop. In fact, President Obama's latest budget request spends more than $46 trillion over the next decade. Under this plan, public debt will equal 87% of our economy in less than 10 years. This will scare away job creators and lead to higher taxes, higher interest rates and greater inflation.

Betting on America used to be a sure thing, but job creators see the warning signs that our leaders ignore. Even the world's largest bond fund, PIMCO, recently dumped its holdings of U.S. debt.  We're therefore at a defining moment in American history. In a few weeks, we will once again reach our legal limit for borrowing, the so-called debt ceiling. The president and others want to raise this limit. They say it is the mature, responsible thing to do.

1-- In fact, it's nothing more than putting off the tough decisions until after the next election. We cannot afford to continue waiting. This may be our last chance to force Washington to tackle the central economic issue of our time.

2-- "Raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." So said then-Sen. Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling by less than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. As America's debt now approaches its current $14.29 trillion limit, we are witnessing leadership failure of epic proportions.

I will vote to defeat an increase in the debt limit unless it is the last one we ever authorize and is accompanied by a plan for fundamental tax reform, an overhaul of our regulatory structure, a cut to discretionary spending, a balanced-budget amendment, and reforms to save Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

There is still time to accomplish all this. Rep. Dave Camp has already introduced proposals to lower and simplify our tax rates, close loopholes, and make permanent low rates on capital gains and dividends. Even Mr. Obama has endorsed the idea of lowering our corporate tax rate. Sen. Rand Paul, meanwhile, has a bill that would require an up-or-down vote on "major" regulations, those that cost the economy $100 million or more. And the House has already passed a spending plan this year that lowered discretionary spending by $862 billion over 10 years.

Such reductions are important, but nondefense discretionary spending is a mere 19% of the budget. Focusing on this alone would lead to draconian cuts to essential and legitimate programs. To get our debt under control, we must reform and save our entitlement programs.

3-- No changes should be made to Medicare and Social Security for people who are currently in the system, like my mother. But people decades away from retirement, like me, must accept that reforms are necessary if we want Social Security and Medicare to exist at all by the time we are eligible for them.

4-- Finally, instead of simply raising the debt limit, we should reassure job creators by setting a firm statutory cap on our public debt-to-GDP ratio. A comprehensive plan would wind down our debt to sustainable levels of approximately 60% within a decade and no more than half of the economy shortly thereafter. If Congress fails to meet these debt targets, automatic across-the-board spending reductions should be triggered to close the gap. These public debt caps could go in tandem with a Constitutional balanced budget amendment.

Some say we will go into default if we don't increase the debt limit. But if we simply raise it once again, without a real plan to bring spending under control and get our economy growing, America faces the very real danger of a catastrophic economic crisis.

I know that by writing this, I am inviting political attack. When I proposed reforms to Social Security during my campaign, my opponent spent millions on attack ads designed to frighten seniors. But demagoguery is the last refuge of the spineless politician willing to do anything to win the next election.

Whether they admit it or not, everyone in Washington knows how to solve these problems. What is missing is the political will to do it. I ran for the U.S. Senate because I want my children to inherit what I inherited: the greatest nation in human history. It's not too late. The 21st century can also be the American Century. Our people are ready. Now it's time for their leaders to join them. [my emphasis added]

Mr. Rubio, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Florida.  ©The Wall Street Journal

THAT'S ALL FOLKS...AND THAT IS PLENTY.

BEST, JOHN

US has hired #IBM to build a #supercomputer 20 times more powerful than the world's fastest computer: http://ping.fm/AnXXl

#China has produced a twin 23mm #antiaircraft gun that apparently uses stolen #American technology: http://ping.fm/SLQDR

China denies using stolen #US data for #stealth fighter, claims all R&D “homegrown”: http://ping.fm/6v4xu

THE ENTERPRISE--A WAKE UP CALL: FORGET AFGHANISTAN; LET'S FIX AMERICA

THE ENTERPRISE--A WAKE UP CALL: FORGET AFGHANISTAN; LET'S FIX AMERICA

IT IS EASTER WEEKEND, A TIME FOR "RESURRECTION"--AND THAT IS WHAT AMERICA  DESPERATELY NEEDS!

NOTE: I WILL LIKELY CUT THIS DIATRIBE DOWN TO PIECES THAT WILL FIT ON MY WEEKLY FORBES BLOG, BUT HERE, YOU'LL GET THE "WHOLE LOAD" AND THEN SOME...    If you find it to be useful, informative, interesting, accurate,entertaining or just irritating --please feel free to pass it on.

A FORMULA ABOUT CHANGE FROM RICK MAURER,  WHO HAS BEEN STUDYING CHANGE FOR YEARS.
WHEN THE PAIN OF THE STATUS QUO > THE PAIN OF THE CHANGE = CHANGE HAPPENS

THE DOLLAR IS DECLINING AND WILL LIKELY CONTINUE TO DO SO
Why?  Perhaps because we are overspending; perhaps because we are holding interest rates unnaturally low trying to jump start a recovery that has been stifled by the burden of government taxes and regulations (Imagine trying to win a race with an elephant on your back).  Perhaps because our "elephant" owns the printing presses and controls the Federal Reserve Board (indirectly, of course).  Dumping loads of money into circulation, money that is not backed by anything tangible (QE1 & QE2, to the tune of $1 Trillion plus), causes inflation to ramp up, and the dollar to ramp down.  Exports will grow but Americans will suffer from higher costs of everything, and many other consequences...

NO BIG SURPRISE--IS IT?
Any country that spends a lot more than its revenue will (sooner or later) run out of money and then run out of people who will lend it more.  I guess no one (especially our governmental leaders and Spender in Chief Obama) noticed that in the sub prime housing & mortgage crisis. 

DOLLAR DENOMINATED OIL MAKES IT WORSE, SO DOES (STUPID) CORN BASED ETHANOL
As the dollar drops in value, the price for a barrel of oil in dollars goes up, and up, and up.  Can you say $4, $5, $6 gasoline.  Europe pays about $10/gal. and Barack Obama loves the way Europe does things.  Obama also believes in "miracles" like "alternative energy" coming to the rescue (in his lifetime?)... if only he can print enough money to pay for it.  Corn-based ethanol inflates food prices by taking crops out of production to produce a fuel that is less efficient from an energy standpoint than just burning gas. It takes more energy to produce ethanol than it delivers--compared to gasoline!  Why would we do that?  Politics and a lobby for ethanol producing states (the same places so many unnecessary/outdated farm subsidies go).

"STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES" —(Forrest Gump's Mama said so!)
But Barack Obama won't let us drill for the billions of barrels of oil that lies just off shore or in the vast wasteland called the Alaskan Natural Wildlife Reserve (ANWR). God forbid that we displace a few caribou from 1% of this vast area to drill for oil and build a pipeline to bring it down the the lower 48 states.  Better that we pay OPEC/enemies (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, et. al.) to drill in their vast wastelands instead, and use tankers to haul the oil several thousand miles to the US.  And of course we let "Dirty Harry" Reid stop the use of the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility after the US government spend tens of billions of dollars building it, and companies paid more to store waste until it was ready.  Stupid!

SOUND STUPID?  IT IS!  BUT IT CONTINUES.  BLOCK DRILLING, PRODUCE ETHANOL, PUSH WINDMILLS, STOP NUCLEAR STORAGE, ETC..
America can be independent of all Middle Eastern oil (and any from enemy states--Venezuela, Iran, Libya, Sudan, etc.) within this decade--if we'd simply allow energy companies to drill (or mine) what we have here in the USA (including Alaska) & Canada. Oil, natural gas, oil shale, etc. are all plentiful, just waiting to be tapped.  Force the bleeding hearts and environmentalists to take a hike if they get in the way. Let them drive their $40,000 (with gov't subsidies) electric cars, that run out of juice after about 40 miles in a sub-zero Mid-western winter day.  That might "cool their jets."

DONALD TRUMP? PRESIDENT? REALLY?
I was dead set against this idea of Trump running for President until I heard him really lay into Barack Obama the other day. He says things that need to be said. He says a lot that doesn't too, but he'll learn as he goes. Suddenly I realized that he isn't so far-fetched as a presidential candidate at all--at least not when compared to Obama at this point in the race a few years ago.  Trump is an egotist and a self-promoter (but so is Obama) but he is much more accomplished, experienced, and no more radical--just different--than Obama. He can go toe to toe with Obama on "ego and stump speeches," and Trump does it without a teleprompter. (Ok, so he misspeaks now and then, but so does Obama but his are usually correcting prior lies.) Are Trump's solutions all rock solid? Heck no. Some are downright radical--or a t least I think so, but remember DaVinci carved David out of a flawed block of stone. Stranger things have happened (Obama's election)--and I would love to see Trump and Obama go head to head on national TV!  Wouldn't you?  What other GOP hopeful would hold his own as well with Barack and his magic teleprompter?


DETROIT'S DECAY--DEVASTATING IMAGES



HOW ABOUT BRINGING OUR PEOPLE AND MONEY HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN AND USING THOSE RESOURCES TO "REBUILD AMERICA"
This wasn't done by a "war" --at least not one that was waged by enemy nations. It was done by a war that was waged by misguided unions, by misguided government policies, by mistaken management and by neglect, negligence and stupidity. But the destruction and desolation is equal to that done by any war.  We claim to be rebuilding Afghanistan--but we are doing it while America decays. That's just wrong!  The Afghani people--a huge majority of them (I've read 85%+) have no idea why we are there.  Most of them don't care; they'll gladly take our money and go back to doing things the way they have for decades--or centuries. But they'd really rather we'd leave--or at least the bunch called the "Taliban" (Is that Afghani for "public employee unions").  They shoot at us regularly and try to blow us up. 

THE HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY AND IDIOCY
Scenes like these Detroit pictures can be found in many of America's older inner-cities, where industries and jobs have departed, taking hope, prosperity and opportunity with them.  Just take a train ride and look what lies along the  tracks--the decaying remnants of America's industrial might. Our President (if it suits his campaign strategy) might visit these ruins once in a while, after which he will make an impassioned speech (not from his heart; from his teleprompter) about how sad it is.  He'll promise how he can fix everything, if he can just tax the rich "millionaires and billionaires" and then use "Big Brother" government to take care of everything (with your taxes).  If Obama could tax the so-called rich—millionaires and billionaires—at 100%, take all of their money, it wouldn't even cover the deficit in his proposed 2102 budget.  To pay for the level of spending he is proposing, taxes will need to be increased on Middle-Class Americans--not only the "millionaires and billionaires."

UNIONS ARE BECOMING AMERICANS' PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE, BUT STUPIDITY MAKES IT WORSE
Union activists are our domestic "occupiers," taking over the Wisconsin Capitol building, while disgruntled Democratic State senators go AWOL--hiding in motels over the border in IL.  (The ones from IN are hiding there in IL too.)  Isn't that a pretty picture?  People elected to represent the citizens go AWOL, while busloads of paid demonstrators use lies and misinformation to incite near riots, requiring police to remove "occupiers" so the WI State legislature can do its job.  Does that sound like a story Americans should be proud of?  Public unions are a curse on the American taxpayer.

ATC--ASLEEP ON THE JOB--AND THREATENING TO LIVES
While we take our shoes off, endure pat-downs and put shampoo in 3 ounce bottles, larger dangers lurk right in the control towers.  Air traffic controllers fall asleep on the job--regularly.  So much so that they now want "scheduled nap time."  Why? Because they are (rightfully) tired, but that's not all. Their union, speaking for the controllers, insists on something called a 2-2-1 work schedule (because it gives them 3 day weekends periodically).  Read on.... 

HUJMAN CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS WILL NOT BE DEFEATED
Controllers on 2-2-1 schedules, work two swing-shifts, two day-shifts and one midnight-shift, which begins at 10PM, just 8 hours after the second day shift ended at 2PM.  That's crazy because it goes against how the human body works.  But the FAA allows it, because the union demands it. This defies every study about human circadian rhythms, so it's no wonder they are sleepy and fall asleep, while planes full of people depend on them for their safety. 

AND IN A DARKENED ROOM--TALK ABOUT A PLACE FOR A NAP!
But that's not the only reason. US' Air Traffic Control systems are so antiquated, controllers must work in "darkened rooms" so they can see the blips on black-background radar screens.  What a great place to take a nap.  You come to work sleep deprived, and trying to work when your body is crying for sleep, then you watch little blips move around on a black screen in a darkened room.  I get sleepy just writing about it.  The US is one of the few countries still using such outdated technology, and when combined with foolish work schedules, disaster looms.  Stupid, huh?   Why can't we fix it?  Maybe because we are too busy conducting "kinetic action" (war) in Libya, and rebuilding Afghanistan (using our soldiers as social workers) while America falls apart.

DECADES OLD AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS STILL IN USE
The union and controllers are not the only ones to blame for the archaic Air Traffic Control systems.  These evolved between 1930 and 1960, when planes had to fly from radar (beacon) station to radar station, emitting transponder signals, so controllers could "know" where they were and keep them spaced properly so they didn't collide.  Stupid?  You bet!  Cars have better navigation systems than our Air Traffic System. My iPhone has a better navigation system than the the  airport's control tower. Internet mapping systems are way better. You can choose alternative routes, avoid certain highways, and on the iPhone, a blinking blue dot shows you just where you are!  Private aircraft use point to point GPS based systems that are infinitely safer, better and more efficient.  Our government is so caught up in bureaucracy and spending and passing new regulations, that it can't get around to fixing this vital part of America's transportation system.

IT'S ALL A MATTER OF PRIORITIES AND SPENDING-AND ON WHAT?
But NOOOO! Our politicians are busy spending our money on anything and everything else--but fixing America. When Bill O'Reilly asked Congressman Charlie Rangel (D, NY) why Congress didn't pass the 2011 budget by Oct. 1, 2010 when they were supposed to, instead of fighting over it in April 2011, half way through the year, Rangel's answer was beyond stupid: "We just didn't get to it."  It WAS their job, but I guess they were busy grilling Roger Clemens about whether he used steroids, or in Rangel's case, preparing for hearings about his illegal/unethical activities, for which he was merely "scolded."

THE "SPENDER IN CHIEF'S" IRRESPONSIBLE BUDGET PROPOSAL
Then our "Spender in Chief" shows us the first 2012 budget proposal, spending $3.7 Trillion against expected revenue of $2.4 Trillion--about 40% overspend. And then he negotiates bitterly about a House proposal to cut 1% of the 2011 budget. Are you kidding me?  Now he has a new one, a couple of months later, after the House's Paul Ryan puts forth a "real plan."  Obama revises his, trashes Ryan's plan, then incorporates his favorite--"tax the rich---millionaires and billionaires, and repeal the Bush tax cuts" theme--and spreads the savings out over 12 years--long after he's gone!  Can you spell "cop out?"  How about "phony?"

OUR AIR WAVES ARE FULL OF TRASH--OF ALL KINDS--BOYCOTT IT!
We believe in Freedom of Speech, which is why I can write and post this. Our television stations and movie theaters (actually those who create and produce the shows--the stations just broadcast them) are full of trash. Check any night and see: half of the programming is so immoral or so inane and useless that it is embarrassing. (Or it is punctuated by commercials for "when the moment is right"-- Cialis, Levitra and Viagra--all sex medications that this same government proposes to pay for with our tax dollars.In what alternative universe does this make sense?  (Have any of your kids or grandkids asked you what it means by "an erection that last four hours or more?")

OBAMA ABSOLUTELY HELD OUT FOR FUNDING TO SUPPORT PLANNED PARENTHOOD--A DEAL BREAKER
No wonder sexual promiscuity is rampant. We KILL 40% of the children that are conceived with abortions before they can be born--and the government pays for most of those in one way or another. Oh,maybe not always directly, but money is fungible--it can be spent on many different things--once an organization has it. Who can prove which dollars paid for what? They tell us all these abortions reduce the crime rate! Right, but so would carpet bombing.  Look at America's decaying inner cities as an example. Inner cities (like Detroit pictured above, and many others) have an under-culture of mostly minorities, where the unemployed outnumber the employed, and over half of the children are born into drug-infested one parent (if they're lucky) "families/homes," often with little reason except to secure larger welfare payments. Giving a lot of these people more money is pointless.  They will just squander it on drugs, alcohol or crime.  They need help, not largesse.

Note:  The only place where this "random sexual mating" is probably higher is among the Hollywood/Movie/TV "entertainment group"  where highly publicized and admired the stars of TV, music and movies.  They pair off and copulate producing children in random pairings, much like a group of animals in the wild. Then they split (amidst much more publicity), sometimes feud, and then choose someone else to procreate with.

AND WE ARE SPENDING BILLIONS TO RESCUE LIBYA, REBUILD AFGHANISTAN AND FORCE DEMOCRACY INTO IRAQ--AND TO WHAT END?
So we can impose on them our idea of the ideal society, capitalism and Democracy. Don't let them watch our TV, or go see our movies. They will wonder what kind of a "ideal society" we want to impose on them.  When a couple of movies deal with reasonable, decent, human topics, they win Academy Awards (voted on by the same aforementioned, commingled "herd") e.g, The President's Speech, The Fighter, True Grit. How do you discourage the crap on the media? Same as with anything undesirable--don't buy it, don't watch it, and boycott the sponsors who pay for it to be broadcast. There used to be commissions on decency in broadcast media--but Cable TV neutered them. 

MISGUIDED THOUGHT, MISPLACED PRIORITIES--ALL NEED RETHINKING--AND FAST
How do you rebuild America?  Stop trying to rebuild, bribe and reform other countries' societies and governments.  Use the money here at home.  The military is neither a group of social workers, or tour guides for government officials.  It is supposed to "provide for the common defense."  Government regulations were intended to protect Americans not to persecute them.  Taxes were intended to do those things the people couldn't do for themselves--not to "run everything."  Somewhere, somehow, over the 200+ years, our country has gone off track.  It will take tough, courageous, competent leadership to bring it back.  There will be "pain" during the transition.  Transitions are always painful, some more than others.  The deeper the hold you have dug, the harder the climb out of it will be.

IT ALL BEGINS AND ENDS WITH LEADERSHIP--QUICK--NAME A LEADER YOU ADMIRE, OR SOMEONE YOU CONSIDER A "HERO"
That sound you hear is silence while you strain your brain for an answer. If it isn't a deity, or a parent, your answers will be sparse, and your reasoning behind them sparser. We don't have many heroes these days.  We don't have enough true leaders either.  That was why you had to think so long.  How do you rebuild Detroit? Perhaps with some of the money that is being wasted in Kandahar or Kabul (those are cities in Afghanistan). When planes are flying out of Afghanistan loaded with millions of dollars, a lot of it was given to that country by the U. S. A.  Afghanistan's GDP just isn't high enough for anything else to be the case (except maybe a bumper crop of opium). We need to "forget Afghanistan and fix America," before it's too late.

AMERICANS SUFFERING WITH THE SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS--4 MAJOR REASONS
The financial crisis was caused by:1) lax lending on the part of under-regulated banks, it was 2) fueled (a lot) by Fannie May and Freddie Mac's irresponsible handling, and 3) encouraged by the wrong-headed Democratic Congressional leaders—Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Chuck Schumer...and even Barack Obama (until he moved on to cause bigger and more expensive problems). 4) The problem was made worse by people who KNEW they couldn't afford the house they were buying and did it anyway.  How many "decent" American mortgages could have been "bought down" and/or "refinanced" with the money wasted on the enormous duplication and waste in the Federal government? Most of them--except for the ones who should have never been allowed to "own" a house in the first place. They know who they are!  Every American deserves an OPPORTUNITY to own a house; NOT every American can afford a house, and those should NOT own one.

FINALLY, NATION BUILDING IS A MISTAKE
We now realize that America must stop "nation building." But are we?  What gives us the right to decide what is right for other countries? When they have centuries of dictatorships in control, they neither know how to, or are likely to adapt well to a democracy. We don't do so well with our democracy and we've been practicing for 200+ years. Some think the women should be treated differently. But many of them may think we should treat our women differently too. They wouldn't touch pork, and we dig into a full rack of ribs with gusto. Etc., etc., etc. We think Jesus and the Bible are pretty special and they think Mohammed and the Koran are right. Buddhists think something else entirely. Who are we to say what's right for them--whoever "they" are. 

UNIONS--A PURPOSE LONG PAST GONE--NOW A HUGE LIABILITY FOR AMERICA
Which brings me to unions, and specifically public employee unions in America. Unions had a worthy purpose when they began: helping balance the power between workers and powerful (and at time bad, cruel or unfair) employers. They did their job, until mid-to-late 20th century when the power balance shifted and unions extorted non-competitive pay and benefits from American corporations. Unions drove jobs out of America by the millions from 1960 to 2000.  Union  contracts priced American workers out of the market and left them bitter and unemployed with increasingly obsolete skills and even more obsolete expectations.

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT SAW HOW DAMAGING PUBLIC UNIONS WOULD BE TO AMERICA 
FDR was widely quoted as saying clearly that public sector unions should not be allowed to exist.  In a little-known letter he wrote to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937, President Roosevelt reasoned:

"... Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations ... The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for ... officials ... to bind the employer ... The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives ... "

"Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. ... A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent ... to prevent or obstruct ... Government ... Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government ... is unthinkable and intolerable."




HOW MANY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ARE THERE?  TOO MANY!
Enter the explosion of public employees and their unionization. There are almost twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) as work in all of manufacturing (11.5 million).  Maybe we should outsource some of those government jobs and bring back manufacturing jobs that were driven out because of government regulations and the overhead of doing business in the USA.  More Americans work in government than work in construction, farming, forestry, fishing, manufacturing, mining and utilities--COMBINED.

I GUESS THAT IS ENOUGH OR ONE EDITION!
I had to get all of this out of my system at one time.  I believe it is time to get pragmatic/realistic and stop the stupidity in America, replacing it with considered, thoughtful, common sense--and hard-nosed, old-fashioned discipline, character, integrity, and morals. 

I hope this edition will make you think--about what we should do--who we should elect--what positions we should support--and what we want America to be like for our children and grandchildren.

It sure is on my mind a lot.

Best, JOHN













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