No. 91 – June 3, 2011

A CASUAL CONVERSATION

The other day, my friend Ernesto Patriota, and I were having our weekly beer out by our pool.  He mumbled and groaned about his daughter’s profligate spending on all the unnecessary things that she insists on having.

He looked at me and finally said with convincing authority, “So you know what I did?”

I shook my head.

“I took away her damn credit card,” he said.  “Then I got the bill a few days later and she was totally maxed out.”

“Good for you,” I said, taking a hefty swig of Asahi Beer.

“Yeah,” said Ernesto, with a satisfied grin.  “And then I got to thinking.  Why don’t we just take away the government’s credit card?  I mean, if I can do it, why can’t they?”

And bang!  An epiphany.  What a splendid analogy.  Simple – yet directly to the point. Deny the government ANY more credit whatsoever.

We have gone through QE 1 (Quantative Monetary Easing – Printing More Money), and it was an abysmal failure.

Yet, they say all the “TARP” money has now been repaid.  If that is true, then where did it go?  And why are we going deeper into debt at a faster clip than ever before?

They are now debating whether QE 2 actually did any good at all.  In my opinion, it was a total failure.  Of course, the government – like Ernesto’s daughter – will howl and complain that she “needs” her little toys, or else she simply can’t survive.

As I stated in an earlier newsletter, we WILL see QE 3.  And possibly even QE 4.

This all begs the age-old maxim:

“You can no more borrow your way out of debt, than you can save your way into the poorhouse.”

Yet, I predict, the “debt ceiling” will be extended – once again, by both Democrats AND Republicans.  Sorry folks, but they are both firmly in this together.

And there does not seem to be much we can do about it.

I won’t go through the litany of things that have gone wrong with President Obama’s mismanaging of the American economy.  I am sure that you are all well-aware of what is taking place.

Hold on to your hats.  It is going to get much worse.

And that is not negative thinking – it is simply a realistic statement – backed up by elementary school math.

This is NOT hard to figure out.

IF IT IS SO SIMPLE, WHY THE PROBLEM?

Because they DO NOT WANT to fix it.

Again, that sounds negative but it is not.

Let me set out a scenario – and see if you get my point.

You get elected as a Congressman – and suddenly things change – for the REST of your life .

You get approximately $150,000 per annum – and that is just your BASE PAY.

What counts are all the PERKS that come with the job – not to mention 100% medical/dental coverage until you die.

When I ran for Congress I put forth the idea of mandatory term-limits, cutting down on the “freebies” and – once out of office – only getting two years of “retirement benefits” and then nothing after that.

In other words, doing away with the “pension for life” system that we are now saddled with, regarding all of our “representatives.”

I even challenged candidates, who were already government employees in the GOP, and who were against government run medical care, to give up their government medical coverage that they already had.

I was lambasted by ALL of them.  You see, for them to get top-tier government medical coverage is OK.  But for the rest of us, it is not.

Both parties play the same game.

I was called a Socialist by the GOP leadership.  At open meetings, attended by many who simply did not understand the gravity of what was coming down the line, I was branded a Libertarian, a Communist, a traitor.

I was hounded by both parties as being naive and simple-minded.

In the end, the “chickens” (and I DO mean chickens) have come home to roost.

“Truth is the most satisfying retribution.”

We are now at a crossroads.  But I GUARANTEE that not only will the debt ceiling be raised – we will see QE 3 somewhere down the line.

When you have the literal “license to print money” why not use it?

BEND OVER – HERE COMES THE BIG WIENER

No, not Anthony Wiener.  The GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED WIENER.

Let me state a few facts and figures and see if you can understand what is really going on.

To launch a Raytheon Tomahawk crusie missile – $1.5 million – EACH

Northrup Grumman B-2 bombers cost about $88,000 – per flight HOUR

Lockheed Martin’s and Boeing’s AC-130 Gunships cost $12,899 – per flight HOUR

“The first 10 DAYS of Operation Odyssey Dawn, the multinational effort to stop Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi from attacking rebels, cost U.S. taxpayers at least $550 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

SOURCE FOR ALL STATISTICS ABOVE:  Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine, April 4 – April 10, 2011

And this is just for 10 days.

I leave it up to you, the reder, to figure out how much we have “invested” in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan – over the past DECADE.

Please remember, this is a money game – the one that President Eisenhower warned us about – over 60 years ago.

But no one wanted to listen to a broken down old fart who was entering the sunset of his illustrious career.

He was branded a decrepit old man, on the verge of dementia.

Go back and read the attacks that he sustained after delivering his Military/Industrial Complex speech.  It will astound you as to the remarks that were directed toward him.

This was a proclamation of one of our greatest leaders – and statesmen – of the 20th Century.  But he was written off as completely nuts.

Why?  Because Eisenhower had seen it all – as a 5-Star General, and as a two term president of the United States of America.  Yet, he was tinkering with the actual MOTHER’S MILK of politics – MONEY.

But it does not stop with the military.

Want another example of waste, fraud and corruption?

Here are just a few salaries for university presidents – that receive AMERICAN TAXPAYER DOLLARS to subsidize their educational fiefdoms.

I don’t think you will believe these salaries.  I almost fell over when I read them:

Ohio State University president, E. Gordon Gee – $1,818,911 per annum

University of Washington president, Mark A. Emmert – $905,004 per annum

University of Texas president, Francisco G. Cigarroa – $813,892 per annum

University of Central Florida president, John C. Hitt – $800,703 per annum

Penn State University president, Graham B. Spanier – $800,592 per annum

SOURCE:  The Wall Street Journal, Monday, April 4, 2011, page A4

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

Now pick up your calculator and figure out how much JUST THE PRESIDENTS get paid for every college and university in the USA, that is subsidized by WE THE PEOPLE, and you will begin to see why college students are forced to go into catastrophic debt just to get a useless BA degree.

Ladies and gentlemen – this is nothing short of legalized banditry.  The pirates, off the coast of Somalia, have nothing on these “educational” bloodsuckers.

And then we have the professors, staff and administrative personnel to contend with. It is nothing short of total insanity.

And to top it all off, many of our so-called “college graduates” can’t perform simple math problems, have no writing ability whatsoever, lack proper business communication skills – yet feel that they will be in corporate management “within three years” of getting a job.

Again, the vile snake of unfounded self-esteem raises its ugly head.

The same situation can be said for public employees at all levels of government.

Please don’t get me wrong.  Government employees should get a fair pension plan, just like everybody else.  But it has become so absurd, so corrupted and so unbalanced that we are now drowning in our own debt – yet STILL are unable to see the light of day.

SO, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

America will continue down this path until the credit card is taken away.  It is as simple as that.

Every politician that votes to raise the debt ceiling should be voted out of office.

Every politician that votes for QE 3 should be voted out of office.

All congressmen and senators should receive two years pay upon retirement – then nothing after that.

This should also apply to the president and vice-president.  Just think how much past presidents make on their book deals and speaking engagements – in the MILLIONS of dollars – yet they quietly pick up their retirement pensions of well over $500,000, plus lifetime medical and health benefits – and no one bats an eye.

All FEDERAL Employee pensions should be reduced by 50%.

Find a GOP candidate who has the balls to make these proposals – and that person would win in a landslide.

But I am afraid that is asking for too much.  Again, is this a negative comment?

No, it is pure reality.

Why?

Because I have not seen ONE candidate, who is running for president, propose ANY of these ideas.

When I do, I will vote for that person – and that candidate will win in a landslide.

Not until then.

OBAMA IS A ONE-TERM PRESIDENT

Anybody who thinks this is a foregone conclusion is simply not in touch with reality.

Yet, there are a lot of people who believe this to be the case.

I venture to say that the majority of people watch only programs that they agree with.

I take a different approach.  I try to watch all of the so-called “news” networks.

When you actually do this, you will see how “average Americans” really don’t understand what is going on.

I just watched MSNBC last night – and they are completely off the scale – when it comes to what the actual problems are.

Yet, one after another of the “guests” simply gushed about what a wonderful job Obama has done.  It is incredible what people can be led to believe.

“If you tell a lie long enough, people will start to believe it.”

It reminds me of the conversation that I had with one of my classes in China, when I brought up the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

“You are wrong,” came the chorus of replies.  “It never happened.  That is just American propaganda.”  I am not kidding.  This is exactly what they said.  Later, I was reprimanded for bringing up such a “sensitive” subject in the first place – and instructed not to do it again, “If you know what is good for you.”

And you wonder why Google declined to get involved with the “Misinformation Industry” in the People’s Republic of Communist China?

The same goes for the average American voter.

I have never been concerned about Obama winning the White House.

What bothers me are the people who were gullible enough to vote for him.

And then there are those who vehemently complain about how Obama has let them down on Gitmo, Afghanistan, the economy and unemployment – yet profess, with unflinching surety, that they are going to vote for him – again.

Dick Gregory once mused, after he decided that Liberals just didn’t get it after all, that, “Hell hath no wrath like a Liberal scorned.”

He was vilified from there on in by Liberals for “deserting the cause.”

THE GOP FIELD

If the GOP goes with any of the “circus riders” that are now out there, the country is in extremely serious trouble.  Four more years of the Obama Administration would be tantamount to National Suicide.

Yet, that seems to be the way we are headed.

If Herbert Cain, and others like him, are able to wrest the reins of power from the GOP Status Quo – and if Republicans finally wake up – we still might have a good chance of winning back the White House.

But if the EGO Candidates decide to run on a Third Party Platform – then Obama wins in a Landslide.

Let’s hope that is not the case.

As Ernesto said, just before we parted, “Reality sucks!”

Until next time, take care and keep thinking positive.

Only 525 days left until November 6, 2012!

Best wishes,

Lawrence Klepinger
Editor/Publisher
THE AMERICAN TELEGRAPH