FED DOUBLES DOWN IN A CRAP SHOOT….WITH YOUR FUTURE

The Fed announced $600 Billion of “quantitative easing”…double-speak for flooding the economy with one helluva lot of fake money. Coupled with failed “stimulus” packages that already generated $2 Trillion of bogus bucks, the dollar is fast becoming an international joke. We are going to have to come up with another term to describe the effects of this travesty. We were already looking at hyper-inflation sometime next year as a result of the "stimulus" packages. This pathetic attempt to stave off the inevitable will only make the penalties for past excesses far more harsh. Some indicated today that the Fed has made a few noises about even more "quantitative easing" of between $2 Trillion and $5 Trillion. Indications are that they intend to keep pouring it on until it works.  

You will certainly see the stock market go higher in an attempt to make up the lost values caused by this extreme dilution of our currency.  Gold will continue much higher....it closed near $1390 per ounce today - up $45 at one point. It is most certainly headed for $2000 an ounce and likely higher than that once inflationary pressures become apparent.

Many suppliers are already slipping it to us by casually introducing smaller packaging at same prices.  There is no way we're going to see wages go up any time soon...except for unions that will strike for higher wages in an attempt to keep up with the falling purchasing power of the dollar. The rest of the workforce will, as always, lag way behind the extortionists.

This chart is the scariest thing I have seen in over 30 years of watching the markets!

To the extreme right is a 'giant' Head & Shoulder formation that began 10 years ago. Although charts don't always accurately predict future market movements, the Head & Shoulder formation is cause for serious concern by market watchers. If the right shoulder that is currently forming should top out between current value and around 12,000 +/- and make a major correction toward the 8,000 mark, it could signal as much as a 6,300 point drop, from the base of the head formation, in the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. That would take us from the current 11,430 range to as low as 1,300…last seen in 1985. 

World economic conditions, U.S. debt, devaluation of the dollar, hyper-inflation and falling confidence [domestically & internationally], continued belt-tightening by consumers, combined with other yet-unknown events such as increased terrorism, higher unemployment, government over-regulation and so on, make the prospects indicated by this chart even more frightening.

Although this formation has taken over 10 years to develop, when considering the above possibilities, I expect the shoulder could peak sometime between now and June 2011.  If it does, and continues to slide downward for the rest of the year or perhaps less.....we could experience a months-long, or even a rapid drop in market values. The formation may not complete itself at all.

There are no sure things in the market, except that it will go up and it will go down. I bring up this ugly possibility only to suggest that you keep a close watch on it during 2011. The Congress must do the right things to reduce government's reckless spending and regulation if we are to avoid an economic tragedy. The piper will be paid some day...there is no avoiding that reality. It's just a matter of how painful it is going to be. The longer we wait to address it, the more devastating will be the consequences.

The Fed and the Treasury Department know full well that they have dug a hole too deep to climb out of without violence in our streets. They are simply trying to stall the inevitable. They don't have a clue about what to do, but they want us to believe that THEY are the only ones that can fix it. WRONG! 

THEY SCREWED IT UP....THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING THEN AND THEY MOST SURELY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE DOING NOW….except perhaps attempting to insulate themselves and their ‘friends’ from the inevitable fallout.

They're already making apologies, referring to what they call 'uncharted waters'….just another way of saying that THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE DOING!

Once again, refer to government expertise and the Post Office, Amtrak, Department of Energy, Social Security, Medicare, Welfare of all descriptions, the Gulf oil spill, so-called Obamacare, Cap & Trade and Algore's global warming lies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. Need I go on?

No need to consider jumping off the roof yet. Just stay vigilant. Don't take your eyes off the ball for a minute. Hold the feet of those clowns in Disneyland on the Potomac, to the fire. I am hoping for the best, but the best will only come to us if we recognize the dangers we face and take the steps necessary to protect ourselves. We made a good start on Tuesday. We can’t afford to let up one bit.

One more thing….If Republicans choose to fight the Tea Party folks, where do you think we’ll be headed?

POLITICIANS HAVE 'EARNED' OUR DISTRUST

I find it revealing that after the people of Florida, Alaska and Delaware decided against a number of establishment Republicans, they and a few other old-time GOP politicians have taken to sharp criticism of the recent winners of those respective primary elections. They have actually decided not to support the winners of their party primaries. Sore losers?

While those ‘losers’ have been unwilling to fight the kinds of fights Democrats have levied against them in times past, they pulled out all of the dirty, low-down and sometimes vulgar tactics used so often by shameless leftists against Republican adversaries in their desperate attempts to hold onto their respective offices. Subsequent to their losses, they have chosen the low road of open bitterness and divisive rhetoric. Imagine that!

Not only have the likes of Charlie Crist, Lisa Murkowski, Mike Castle and Carl Rove failed to take a respectable and professional approach to those losses, they have ‘chosen’ to expose their bitter and emotional selves to the people. That exposure is quite telling…proving to We the People just how important those politicians believe themselves to be. The will of the people be damned!

Unity within the parties exists only so long as politicians play the game according to the rules…rules determined by our elite class of self-dealing politicians. It’s all about the power and the money and the special interests…about letting us believe they are looking out for us, while they plunder our wealth and chip away at our liberties. The Constitution be damned!

The above mentioned Republicans, along with others who have become vocal about their contempt for the people in the Tea Party movement…Trent Lott, a number of staff of Senator Jim DeMint, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and other notables…are now beginning to show their true colors. Although Republicans and Democrats believe in differing means to their ends, it is becoming increasingly clear that the actual ends are the consolidation of power unto themselves…at the expense of the wealth and liberty of people.

I have said it before. The folks in Washington, and at the state level, no longer wish to represent the people. Their interests and aspirations have taken them away from their oaths of office, away from the Constitutional limits to their authority and power. In office too long, they do not see themselves filling the role of ‘public servant’. They are in the game for the power, money and control.

As Thomas Jefferson once said; “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct” and “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

Today’s politicians, from all parties, are proving Mr. Jefferson to have been a prophet.

A far too substantial number of politicians and government employees demonstrate to us by their actions, and by their inaction, that their values are contrary to those expressed in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. They have believed, up to now, that we are too lazy, too ignorant and even too stupid to see what they are doing to us.

Now, the likes of Crist, Murkowski, Castle and Rowe are willing to risk the loss of some congressional seats in their effort to show the Tea Party…the people of the United States…who’s in charge. What message does this kind of behavior send to us? I suggest that the message is simply that the political machine is more important to politicians than the people and the welfare of the United States of America…that certain sacrifices must be made. Those sacrifices are expected to be made by us. Sacrifices are rarely, if ever, made by them.

Regardless of party, we have listened for far too long to what politicians have promised and paid far too little attention to what they have actually delivered. Rhetoric is meaningless pap. Actions and failure to act, on behalf of the people and the Constitution, are what we pay for. Both parties have, instead, chosen to take more of our wealth and to dominate American citizens through ever-growing and increasingly confusing and burdensome bureaucratic control.

Civil discourse is required to promote and discuss differing points of view. The discourse of politic in our country has degenerated into nothing more than childish put-downs, oneupsmanship, self-serving sound bites and incitement to class warfare. Such degeneration is not the result of intellectual prowess and persuasion. It is the result of a total disrespect for the American people, their intellectual abilities and at the same time a testament to the intellectual ineptitude of an undereducated [by choice] class of Americans.

We will never be able to hold our politicians to a ‘higher standard’. We will only be able to vote them in or out of office. To be effective, we must know who and what they really are. We must begin our view of our elected officials with distrust. Once left to their own devices, they will earn it.

No Such Thing as a Socialist Intellectual

The harmless looking and self-proclaimed 'expert', Erica Payne, would like you to see her as today's image of intellectual superiority.

Her smile is the signature of her belief that she has become one of the 'elite'...superior to those of us who don't know enough to accept her socialist view of the way things ought to be. Her intellectual response to those who may choose to question her views, and those of folks like Karl Marx, Mao Tse Tung, Vladimir Lenin, George Soros and Barrack Obama, is "F*ck You".

This is what she and today's socialist democrats have to offer We the People and the future of the United States of America.

Her views and vulgar response to legitimate argument are typical of Harry Reid's hand signals....and of organizations like Moveon.org, the Huffington Post, numerous empty-headed socialist blogs, Nancy Pelosi, and most of Obama's staff. The difference is that she has chosen to go very public with her harsh and offensive thoughts about you and me ....with mugs and t-shirts sporting the true depth of her intellect.

See her fine products for yourself at:
http://biggovernment.com/libertychick/2010/08/13/erica-paynes-fck-tea-campaign-reveals-more-about-her-character-than-the-tea-partys/

Just what our kids need to see and wear on our streets today, Payne's sentiments express exactly what she and her ilk think of the rest of us and the subject of rational discourse. Interesting how acceptable this kind of raw disrespect has become in recent years. Could our failing public education system have anything to do with it?

Just as occurs in states like Iran.... Payne, Reid, Pelosi, Obama, Soros, Huffington and others seek to rally their base of illiterate and so-called scholars alike, the 'elitist' wannabes and the growing number of social and fiscal parasites whose primary objective is to enslave the producers to their dictatorial designs on the United States of America. Their actions and rhetoric speak their views and intentions most clearly.

Those who accept such a plan for America can be described as socialists, statists, parasites, lazy, uneducated, evil and eventually...murderers. The system they desire cannot be maintained without such brutality. History attests to that.

Deny it. Deny reality. You'll pay a heavy price....unless you have become one of the 'elite' class who will make the rules and punish the heretics.

BANNING THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE

Once again, the socialist administration in Washington, D.C. has decided its political agenda to be far more important than the lives of We the People…especially those Americans living on or near the Gulf coast. It is becoming increasingly apparent that We the People are considered nothing more than a mere nuisance to the socialist objectives of central planning, high taxes and a strangle-hold on all of the important aspects of life as we once knew it.

After the Court struck down the administration’s initial ban on deep-water drilling, Obama’s Interior Department issued a new ban on drilling on July 12th. This time, the department indicated it will expect “new rules” to be developed by the end of August and most gulf oil rig operations to be halted through November 2010 so that rig operators can “prove” their rigs and procedures able to avoid future disasters.

Over 50,000 wells have been drilled in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1960s. The recent BP fiasco represents a two thousandths of one percent [.002%] failure rate over 50 years…an enviable record for any industry.

Further, the ban on drilling and operations, like Obama’s criticisms of the Arizona immigration law and the Henry Louis Gates affair, comes prior to discovery of the facts related to the cause of the BP leak. Neither BP, nor the US government’s inspectors, Department of Interior or special commission have discovered the cause of the leak or the actual events leading up to the disaster.

The new ban on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrates openly the arrogance of the 18-month old socialist administration. If that circumstance and all of its economic implications are not enough by themselves to convince onlookers of Obama’s disdain for our American way of life and the lives of Americans, in general, add to it the bizarre legal maneuvering taking place as Attorney General Holder challenges Arizona’s immigration bill prior to its taking effect. This, as illegal aliens cripple our education, hospital, prison and welfare systems and our state and federal budgets.

The Obama administration and the Democrat [Socialist] Congress have demonstrated, for eighteen months, obvious contempt for the concepts of individual liberty and responsibility, honor and capitalism. They have not simply inferred that contempt. They have legislated it while mocking the majority of American citizens and paving the way for law-breakers, invaders and parasites who are rapidly driving the United States toward bankruptcy and depression.

The naked truth is that the current socialist administration and all of its friends, agents and financial supporters place a higher value on replacing our “outdated” Constitution of the United States of America with form of government that has failed every attempt to rule by centralized control of the economy and political machinery.

There can be only one reason to so desperately pursue such a course against the most free and prosperous nation the world has ever known. In the name of “fairness”, the rulers will make themselves a rich, elite class…untouchable by the peons that produce that wealth. Such rulers would never consider placing themselves among the general citizenry who will do the work required to keep the ruling class in power. Once successful, the statist rulers will do what they must to maintain their positions of power. They will rule with an iron fist…and with the gun. There can be no other way.

NO MORE DENIAL....IT HAS BEGUN!

November 5, 2009 - A deranged psychologist named Nidal Hasan, who just happened to be Muslim, killed thirteen military personnel at Fort Hood, Texas as he shouted “Allahu Akhbar”.

December 25, 2009 – The so-called underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who just happened to be Muslim….not a terrorist, just a troubled and inept kid attempted to blow up a passenger plane carrying 290 people during final approach into Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

May 1, 2010 – Faisal Shahzad, who just happened to be Muslim, used a car bomb in his attempt to create havoc at Times Square in New York.

The Obama administration has been unified in its attempt to downplay the ‘terrorist’ aspects of the Fort Hood and Detroit incidents. Now….finally, they have been forced to use the distasteful term ‘terrorism’ as the first of what will likely be many car bombs was placed at Times Square.

April 20, 2010 - In addition to the apparent acknowledgement of terrorism in the United States, the Obama administration fell flat on its collective face as it was impotent to respond to the oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.

June 3, 2010 - The federal government’s “planned” emergency response and associated equipment has been non-existent. A boom required to address the oil spill was ordered from an Illinois company….13 days after the incident. Northern Gulf coast states, businesses and wildlife are now severely damaged by the spill that currently threatens the Florida Keys and the Gulf beaches of the Florida peninsula. “Planned” responses to burn off boomed crude or to apply chemical dispersants were cancelled in apparent deference to the environmental crowd who reminded the president of his political obligation to their voting bloc.

Every relevant member of the Obama administration….President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano….have embarrassed themselves, and our country, as they publicly decried the state of Arizona’s recently passed legislation regarding illegal immigrants and admitted, after denouncing the law, that they had not read it. Worse yet, President Obama and his party have continued to incite racial division with politically biased comments about the legislation.

The entire Obama administration reveals itself, collectively and individually, to lack the executive experience, Constitutional knowledge and the common sense necessary to manage the affairs of state. At the same time, its desires for a Marxist / statist form of government are becoming increasingly clear.

Pandering to our enemies and insulting our allies, the Obama administration has enabled the likes of Iran, Hamas, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea and others to embark on behaviors and missions that endanger the safety of the entire globe. Israel is once again under attack by UN weasels and anti-US ingrates for defensive measures aimed at the interdiction of weapons materials destined for Gaza and Hamas terrorists. AMATEURS...DANGEROUS AMATEURS!!

If there has been any doubt up to now about the intentions of President Obama and the Democrat Congress, the time for denial is truly over...IT HAS BEGUN! The logical conclusion of Obama's Marxist policies is heavy taxation and unemployment, unprecedented personal sacrifice and eventual violence against the American people...and perhaps widespread war in the Middle East and renewed war on the Korean penninsula. Venezuela, Cuba, Russia and Turkey stand ready to cheer the violence on...thanks to the pathetically incompetent conduct of foreign affairs by the inexperienced and unknowing Obama administration.

REFLECTING ON MY GOOD FORTUNE

I took the time a few months ago to analyze my good fortune and attempt to understand how I arrived at the opportunity to take advantage of the work of those who came before me. I came up with a few statistics that emphasized, for me, a few of the special adventures that I have enjoyed. In spite of all of the political, economic and personal struggles that have affected us and our country during the last few decades, I’m sure that most of us have occasionally taken time to reflect seriously about some of our individual good fortune and the effort, investment and sacrifice that brought that good fortune within our reach.

Recorded history goes back about 5,000 years. The existence of the human species goes back about 200,000 years. In all of that time, I believe that the 65 years since the end of World War II have been the most prosperous, the most pleasant and the most enlightening years of all time….for most American citizens. We have been truly fortunate....in spite of wars, unrest and political problems.

It's estimated that approximately 107 billion people have been born since man first appeared on this planet. About 6.4 billion, or 6%, of us are currently living.

Man has always looked skyward with dreams of flight….with an envy of the birds that soar the invisible waves of air and touch the clouds above. Although I never yearned to be as those birds and the pilots of those many aircraft that cruise our skies, I became a pilot out of necessity and came to take great pleasure in the ability to fly numerous aircraft in pleasant and not-so-pleasant weather.

While comparing my aviation experiences to the rest of mankind, I discovered the following:

• 94 millionths of one percent of persons who ever lived were fortunate to become aviation pilots.

• 42 millionths of one percent of persons who ever lived were fortunate to be capable of instrument flight….to fly aircraft by instruments inside clouds and ice and in black skies.

• 56 millionths of one percent of persons who ever lived were fortunate to fly multi-engine aircraft.

• 47 millionths of one percent of persons who ever lived were fortunate to enjoy the thrills of skydiving.

• Only 2 millionths of one percent of persons who ever lived were fortunate to do the things I have done with a glider, to fly nearly 200 miles at altitudes up to 23,000 feet and for almost 8 hours.

I mention these accomplishments not to brag on myself, although I am proud of them. I mention them to demonstrate my good fortune that accrued to me only through the hard work, dedication and sacrifices of those who came before me. If not for them, I would likely be a simple farmer struggling, against all that Mother Nature has to offer, to make a living for my family.

I have enjoyed many other things, of course. I have been exceedingly fortunate. Nearly 107 billion people did not have the opportunities that I have had. That statistic is very humbling. I can never allow myself to think in terms of misfortune or want, no matter what may happen in the future. I have lived a charmed life, in spite of occasional missteps and set-backs. There are nearly 45 million reasons for my opportunity to have the life I've lived. 658 thousand of them died fighting wars to preserve my liberty and yours. Another 1.5 million of them sacrificed their limbs, health and fortunes for the cause of life, liberty and property.

Many more hundreds of thousands have died in the process of pioneering and building the country we have enjoyed up to now. Our federal, state and local governments, through recent acts and omissions, have chosen to ignore or discount the value of the sacrifices and contributions that our parents and ancestors made to the prosperity we have all had the good fortune to enjoy. Our dishonorable federal and state governments now look at our prosperity with the attitudes of common criminals who wish to steal as much of it as possible for their political friends, certain special interests and for themselves.

One more thing….I want to call your attention to one of the greatest philosophers of the last 5,000 years....Ms. Ayn Rand. Rand wrote, in 1957, a book called "Atlas Shrugged" in which she warned of all that is happening to our country today. She lived through two Russian revolutions and witnessed the communist takeover of her homeland. Emigrating to the United States in 1926, she later recognized the early stages of our shift toward statism. Everyone interested in the preservation of liberty and the right to one’s life and property should read this prophetic novel and others in which she laid out the arguments for the right of the individual to live for his or her own sake....and to sacrifice no one to himself without the other’s consent.

PARASITES AND THE RULING ELITE

REALITY is what it is....not what politicians may deceive others to believe it is or what an individual may wish it to be. To ignore reality, evidenced by actions and facts, is akin to suicide.

Few of us have known the kinds of sacrifices, hardships and brutality endured by those who brought us the freedom and prosperity we have known since the first Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

Now, we find our government, at all levels, actively moving to take our country away from ‘We the People’ and our descendants. Today, we must choose whether to follow a bunch of anti-capitalist statists into a world that will strip all of us of the rest of our liberty and opportunities.

Prohibition, during the 1920s, was the product of arrogant politicians and rabid, hysterical special-interest groups who proclaimed to know better than individuals how to make choices affecting personal morality. The resulting rise in violence and black-market activity destroyed the lives of many Americans.

Today, our federal government and many state governments are out of control….out of our control. Today, our out-of-control federal government is bent on forcing American citizens to accept what politicians once again tell us to be best for us. They arrogantly inform us that we will pay the bills and endure the shortcomings of more government-run “programs”.

Lately, Congress' primary objective seems to be the consolidation of power unto the federal government. Much of what is being done today in Washington is designed to "rule" American citizens....to "dictate" to us rather than "serve" us.

Nowhere in the Constitution of the United States of America is there any provision for government-mandated policies that take the property of some citizens for redistribution to others. Nor is there any provision for a statist government to dictate to We the People contrary to our individual rights to our lives, our property and our own choices.

James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers #41, regarding general expressions such as the “General Welfare” clause and the “Commerce” clause that the Constitution did not provide for unlimited exercise of power regarding those clauses, but that limitations were placed on all general expressions by specifications contained in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The General Welfare and Commerce clauses relied upon by the Congress to justify its abuses of authority and usurpation of power from the states and the People, are expressly limited by the U.S. Constitution for the purpose of safeguarding the powers of the states and the People….from trespass by the federal government. Throughout the 85 letters included in the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay went to great lengths to explain the intentions of the members of the Convention as they drafted our Constitution and the Amendments thereto.

Our federal government has become a self-proclaimed elite class of privileged non-producers, panderers and outright criminals. Washington, D.C. and many state governments no longer represent the People of this country....the producers, the working families, the taxpaying and abused citizens who have become chained to the wants of the non-productive and uneducated. The demands of special-interests….groups, businesses, countries and individuals…. have assumed higher priority for Washington, D.C. and state politicians who have no right whatsoever to the labor and the wealth [such as it may be] of we, the producers, working families, taxpayers and abused citizens.

While we have been hard at work on behalf of our families and our futures, and often just plain careless about political affairs, another new class has emerged within our once mostly capitalist economy. That "entitled" class has become a substantial force in political affairs and has successfully taken its place between the poor and middle classes of our country. They have established themselves with the help of the new noble class of privileged non-producers, panderers and outright criminals in Washington, D.C.

The "entitled" class of parasites enjoys the financial assistance of small businesses and middle class families who have seen their profits and incomes taken through taxation by the Congress and redistributed to progressive organizations and supporters of liberal causes. This new and most unworthy class of parasites is now attempting to subjugate the middle class of the United States to its statist agenda and replace the middle class as the most influential voting bloc in our country.

Refusing to educate themselves or to learn skills demanded by our economy, proclaiming themselves to be persecuted victims, and producing little or nothing while demanding participation equal to that of the producers....this new "entitled” class of parasites has secured the support of state and federal politicians who have lost sight of their Constitutional limitations and obligations.

Together, those non-producers have decided to take the United States of America from the People who provide the foundation for prosperity. They have decided to enslave the producers to the "needs" of the so-called victims of capitalism and the Washington elite.

America became the greatest and most prosperous country of all time, not by giving away the labor and wealth of others to make every person somehow more “equal”. America became the greatest and most prosperous country in the world through competition, the freedom to make choices and to reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of those choices without government interference in the personal decision-making process.

Since the discovery by politicians that they can tax the American people with impunity and without consequence to their re-election and consolidation of power, Washington, D.C. and the states have become increasingly more bold in their efforts to cement their parties and themselves into permanent layers of political bureaucracy designed to stifle effective dissent and overwhelm the People they are obligated, by the Constitution of the United States of America, to represent.

Through the usurpation of authority constitutionally guaranteed to the states or to the People and through the transfer of wealth produced by the People, the Congress along with its bureaucratic maze and many special-interests have managed to defeat the will and unalienable rights of the People.

Through lack of common sense, carelessness and ignorance, the People have continued to put into office the kinds of disingenuous, dishonorable and dangerous persons whose agendas contradict the will of the People and the guarantees of the Constitution.

Americans have been the most generous, compassionate and charitable people this planet has ever known. Americans willingly offer aid to those in need. They rightly detest government programs that represent redistribution in the name of charity. Americans resent the growing number of government programs that exist to redistribute their incomes and property to persons who, through their own poor judgment and poor choices, find themselves wanting for things they cannot afford.

Far too many who benefit from our many welfare programs are simply parasites that have “chosen” to live off the labor of others….”chosen” to scorn education and hard work. They deserve no charity from the productive citizens of our country. Charity toward obvious parasites encourages more ignorance, slothfulness, demands and resentment.

We the People have relinquished much our liberty and property to this “entitled” class of parasites and to a self-proclaimed political elite that has pursued its statist objectives and power through promotion of class warfare and through quiet, active promotion of anti-capitalist and anti-American indoctrination in our public schools and universities. Government over-regulation, confiscatory taxation and government growth have undermined our individual rights to the pursuit of life, liberty and property.

Failure of federal and state governments and elected officials to fulfill the true purpose of government established by the Constitution of the United States of America and the constitutions of the various states has injured the lives and property of all productive Americans. Failure by the federal government to protect our borders and our treasury continues to severely damage our economy and the People for the purpose of ingratiating lawbreakers and parasites to self-dealing politicians in Washington, D.C. and the states.

Government, of course, is not the solution to our problems. Government has become the source of most of our problems. Thomas Jefferson stated; "Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct". It is fair to say that such “rottenness” grows as a man remains in office.

We the People have sacrificed too many of our liberties as we listened to what our politicians said. We the People, to our peril, have quickly forgotten, failed to understand and ignored what our so-called “representatives” in Washington, D.C. have actually done….to We the People, our country, our property and our liberty.

Our government was designed by the Founders to “serve” the People. Reality today shows productive Americans suffering the inverse condition as an out-of-control federal government demands that We the People serve its bloated, statist bureaucracy and its favored parasitic constituents.

US CONGRESS A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE?

Lobbyists and PACs 'contribute' money and favors to most of our federal and state legislators. Where does that money and the capacity for those favors come from? Is it possible that we, the taxpayers, provide the funds that make their way through the Congress to special interests only to return to our legislators in the form of campaign contributions and special favors?

In any case, what do those lobbyists and PACs expect from our legislators for those investments? Could it be that our legislators assign certain priorities to their legislative activities based on the numbers of dollars and favors received from parties that stand to benefit from the actions of those legislators? Whose interests are legislators elected to serve? As is the custom in some countries, could it be that our legislators must be approached with what amounts to outright 'bribery' before they will entertain action on behalf of the constituents who elected them?

The money trail is not difficult to follow, has been documented with payment amounts and names and correlated to legislation that benefited the donors. Dick Morris' books, "Fleeced" and "Outrage" provide documented/footnoted evidence of the behaviors that recently resulted in the Fannie Mae fiasco. Small businesses, the backbone of the US economy, will suffer the consequences of those abuses while the Congress spreads trillions of dollars among its favored few. This, at the expense of existing and future taxpaying businesses and individuals.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 [corporate welfare legislation] sets the stage for the distribution of more trillions of dollars to undeserving entities nationwide. Such corporate and government irresponsibility will damage the US economy in ways yet to be seen.

The US Dollar? How will the international community of investors view their investments in our economy? The dilution of our currency resulting from the mutually beneficial acts of the legislators and their beneficiaries will eventually have a dramatic and undesired effect on all of us. The manner in which the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was rushed through Congress, followed by the supposedly unintended administration, distribution and use of those funds should leave every taxpaying citizen cold, angry and fearful about the economic future of the United States of America.

Who were the victims of this catastrophe? You need not look far away, but contemplate the answer for only a few moments. It will take some serious strategic and financial planning by individuals and small businesses to successfully weather the effects of this unnecessary burden.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

As a business owner for 25 years and a one-time lobbyist in Washington D.C., I affirm the comments of Mssrs. Hoogendyk and Littman when they say; "Follow the money". The state legislature in Lansing and the Congress in Washington do not, and have not for decades, represent the citizens of this state or country.

Entrenched politicians, through the financial capacities of our two popular political parties and special-interest businesses, individuals and groups, have become self-serving, demogogic charlatans responsible to none other than the benefactors who have effectively bought and paid for legislative influence and votes. Bribery in the name of "political contributions" has effectively stolen the government from the people.

Citizen apathy and our pathetic state "education" system, along with an openly accepted form of bribery, have brought us to the point where our state and federal legislators, ignorant of economics and deaf to their constituents, refuse to consider cuts in spending in favor of increased taxes....even as Michigan and our country spiral downward into an economic abyss.

Support of the many and growing number of "programs" and special-interest contributors is designed to keep politicians in office and a certain block of voters beholding to them and continue to be lawmakers' most pressing concerns. It is becoming more and more disingenuous for us to refer to rampant political corruption as a phenomenon once commonly thought to exist only south of our U.S. border.

DO YOU HAVE A PERSONAL PLANNING DOCUMENT?

For a long time, I have noticed a serious void in our high school and university curricula. At the top of the list is the lack of practical instruction about the personal planning of life goals and objectives. This lack of knowledge often results in mediocrity and a lifetime of mild or even severe disappointments for many who graduated from our schools with high expectations.

Why do our students know virtually nothing about personal finance, about money and its uses, about credit and its proper use or dangerous misuse, about capitalism and the consequences of government and federal reserve meddling in the economy and money supply? What do our students know about planning for their financial futures? Like many of their parents, I suspect that they know very little about the mechanics of proper budgeting, investing or reconciling a checkbook.

Most students and far too many adults know little or nothing about the impact on their financial health made by government spending and taxation. They certainly don't know that they can protect themselves from those effects while becoming millionaires, saving a very minimal amount over the course of their early years and working lives.

Kilteely Advisors offers two programs that define these two processes. At the end of a short program, every person walks away with a written "Personal Planning Document" that will assist them to plan for and attain their goals and aspirations.

Kilteely's "Finance for Beginners" program provides participants with the ability to create, revise and track their financial investments with a simple and flexible spread-sheet approach. Each person receives a straight-forward budgeting document that can be revised as necessary to accommodate changes in income and liabilities. All participants will be able to create a personal balance sheet often required by lending institutions and will be able to reconcile any checkbook or on-line account.

These two valuable opportunities can be made available through extra-curricular or continuing education programs wherever you're located. Arrangements may also be made for presentations at other than educational institutions. Don't go through life wondering where you were when that "key" to success was delivered to your peers. The hardest part of success is planning for it and Kilteely will make that an easy and enjoyable process that will assist you and your children throughout your lives.

http://kilteelyadvisors.com/