A Conversation with a Young Obama Supporter
Is life as good for you as it is for me? I hope you guys are doing as well as I am. It has been so much fun taking advantage of these negative real interest rates (the rate minus inflation). This is free money, and I love the word free. I just received a sizable loan from our government (HUD loan) with a fixed rate of 2.3% for an unbelievable 35 years.
How can they offer me all this free money? Someone will have to pay for my subsidy, my gift, and I think I know who. I hope you are able to take advantage of programs like these.
Oh, I hear it is much harder for you to even get a loan.
Have you taken advantage of this Federal Reserve induced bull market in stocks? What a no-brainer! It was obvious to folks like me that the President's fiscal policies of higher marginal tax rates and increased government spending would lead to higher deficits, therefore lower growth. This would force the Federal Reserve to print money that would find it's way into the stock market, not the economy.
Understanding how our economy and markets work is very advantageous. It's a shame that there are too many low information voters who have not benefitted, and will continue to be worse off. During the President's tenure, 8 million folks are missing from the labor force so the unemployment rate is much higher than the official rate. The official rate conveniently does not count the missing. This has resulted in little or no job creation. If you are one of the lucky ones who has a job, how are your prospects for a raise? After all, you just had a tax increase. Sorry about that paycheck shrinkage. I thought he said he wouldn't raise your taxes. I wonder what the final cost of Obamacare will be? Will gasoline soon have a $5 handle ? Don't you think that building the XL Pipeline would help lower the price by increasing supply? Just a thought!
Even though Obama's reckless fiscal policies, and his influence on monetary policy have been financially beneficial to me, I did not vote for him because in the long run these policies will set our country back for decades.
When I taught Economics at a Jesuit School, I had a disagreement with one of the priests. Since most of my course dealt with theories on capitalism, he thought these theories were socially unjust. I agreed with him that a capitalistic economic system would fail if the producers failed to provide assistance to those unable to be productive. But I felt that current policies dealing with fairness and social justice were counter productive. Take the current length of unemployment compensation at 99 weeks. After 2 years wouldn't you think there would be irreparable damage to their work skills. How about 50 million on food stamps where one can use a stamp to buy a lap dance. Another out of control program is Social Security Disability. There are more enrolling in this program than jobs being created. I didn't realize that the workplace had gotten so dangerous. I explained to the priest that I understood and applauded his mission of helping those in need, but the above programs tend only to lengthen the time one spends in the prison of poverty. My mission was to educate so that there could be a successful jail break.
Borrowing money is really renting money. I hope you young people realize that sooner or later, free rent will be a thing of the past. You and your government will need to borrow more and more and the cost will force both of you to give up your wants and maybe your needs. If you think this sequester is painful, you ain't seen nothing yet! Wake up young voters! It doesn't have to be this way.
Ray Zimmerman
Monday, February 25, 2013
A Conversation with a Young Obama Supporter
A Conversation with a Young Obama Supporter
Is life as good for you as it is for me? I hope you guys are doing as well as I am. It has been so much fun taking advantage of these negative real interest rates (the rate minus inflation). This is free money, and I love the word free. I just received a sizable loan from our government (HUD loan) with a fixed rate of 2.3% for an unbelievable 35 years.
How can they offer me all this free money? Someone will have to pay for my subsidy, my gift, and I think I know who. I hope you are able to take advantage of programs like these.
Oh, I hear it is much harder for you to even get a loan.
Have you taken advantage of this Federal Reserve induced bull market in stocks? What a no-brainer! It was obvious to folks like me that the President's fiscal policies of higher marginal tax rates and increased government spending would lead to higher deficits, therefore lower growth. This would force the Federal Reserve to print money that would find it's way into the stock market, not the economy.
Understanding how our economy and markets work is very advantageous. It's a shame that there are too many low information voters who have not benefitted, and will continue to be worse off. During the President's tenure, 8 million folks are missing from the labor force so the unemployment rate is much higher than the official rate. The official rate conveniently does not count the missing. This has resulted in little or no job creation. If you are one of the lucky ones who has a job, how are your prospects for a raise? After all, you just had a tax increase. Sorry about that paycheck shrinkage. I thought he said he wouldn't raise your taxes. I wonder what the final cost of Obamacare will be? Will gasoline soon have a $5 handle ? Don't you think that building the XL Pipeline would help lower the price by increasing supply? Just a thought!
Even though Obama's reckless fiscal policies, and his influence on monetary policy have been financially beneficial to me, I did not vote for him because in the long run these policies will set our country back for decades.
When I taught Economics at a Jesuit School, I had a disagreement with one of the priests. Since most of my course dealt with theories on capitalism, he thought these theories were socially unjust. I agreed with him that a capitalistic economic system would fail if the producers failed to provide assistance to those unable to be productive. But I felt that current policies dealing with fairness and social justice were counter productive. Take the current length of unemployment compensation at 99 weeks. After 2 years wouldn't you think there would be irreparable damage to their work skills. How about 50 million on food stamps where one can use a stamp to buy a lap dance. Another out of control program is Social Security Disability. There are more enrolling in this program than jobs being created. I didn't realize that the workplace had gotten so dangerous. I explained to the priest that I understood and applauded his mission of helping those in need, but the above programs tend only to lengthen the time one spends in the prison of poveryt. My mission was to educate so that there could be a successful jail break.
Borrowing money is really renting money. I hope you young people realize that sooner or later, free rent will be a thing of the past. You and your government will need to borrow more and more and the cost will force both of you to give up your wants and maybe your needs. If you think this sequester is painful, you ain't seen nothing yet! Wake up young voters! It doesn't have to be this way.
Ray Zimmerman
Is life as good for you as it is for me? I hope you guys are doing as well as I am. It has been so much fun taking advantage of these negative real interest rates (the rate minus inflation). This is free money, and I love the word free. I just received a sizable loan from our government (HUD loan) with a fixed rate of 2.3% for an unbelievable 35 years.
How can they offer me all this free money? Someone will have to pay for my subsidy, my gift, and I think I know who. I hope you are able to take advantage of programs like these.
Oh, I hear it is much harder for you to even get a loan.
Have you taken advantage of this Federal Reserve induced bull market in stocks? What a no-brainer! It was obvious to folks like me that the President's fiscal policies of higher marginal tax rates and increased government spending would lead to higher deficits, therefore lower growth. This would force the Federal Reserve to print money that would find it's way into the stock market, not the economy.
Understanding how our economy and markets work is very advantageous. It's a shame that there are too many low information voters who have not benefitted, and will continue to be worse off. During the President's tenure, 8 million folks are missing from the labor force so the unemployment rate is much higher than the official rate. The official rate conveniently does not count the missing. This has resulted in little or no job creation. If you are one of the lucky ones who has a job, how are your prospects for a raise? After all, you just had a tax increase. Sorry about that paycheck shrinkage. I thought he said he wouldn't raise your taxes. I wonder what the final cost of Obamacare will be? Will gasoline soon have a $5 handle ? Don't you think that building the XL Pipeline would help lower the price by increasing supply? Just a thought!
Even though Obama's reckless fiscal policies, and his influence on monetary policy have been financially beneficial to me, I did not vote for him because in the long run these policies will set our country back for decades.
When I taught Economics at a Jesuit School, I had a disagreement with one of the priests. Since most of my course dealt with theories on capitalism, he thought these theories were socially unjust. I agreed with him that a capitalistic economic system would fail if the producers failed to provide assistance to those unable to be productive. But I felt that current policies dealing with fairness and social justice were counter productive. Take the current length of unemployment compensation at 99 weeks. After 2 years wouldn't you think there would be irreparable damage to their work skills. How about 50 million on food stamps where one can use a stamp to buy a lap dance. Another out of control program is Social Security Disability. There are more enrolling in this program than jobs being created. I didn't realize that the workplace had gotten so dangerous. I explained to the priest that I understood and applauded his mission of helping those in need, but the above programs tend only to lengthen the time one spends in the prison of poveryt. My mission was to educate so that there could be a successful jail break.
Borrowing money is really renting money. I hope you young people realize that sooner or later, free rent will be a thing of the past. You and your government will need to borrow more and more and the cost will force both of you to give up your wants and maybe your needs. If you think this sequester is painful, you ain't seen nothing yet! Wake up young voters! It doesn't have to be this way.
Ray Zimmerman
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The Reelection of Barack Obama
" A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years". The author was Alexander Tytler, an 18th century Scottish historian.
I have listened to many reasons, excuses if you will, given for Romney's defeat. The media's biased coverage; Hurricane Sandy and Chris Christie's effusive behavior; Romney playing prevent defense with regard to Benghazi to name a few. But I would argue that Romney lost because we are at Margaret Rouse's tipping point. A critical point in an evolving situation that leads to Tytler's new and irreversible development. There are now more takers than givers. This election proves that we have passed this critical point.
I have listened to many reasons, excuses if you will, given for Romney's defeat. The media's biased coverage; Hurricane Sandy and Chris Christie's effusive behavior; Romney playing prevent defense with regard to Benghazi to name a few. But I would argue that Romney lost because we are at Margaret Rouse's tipping point. A critical point in an evolving situation that leads to Tytler's new and irreversible development. There are now more takers than givers. This election proves that we have passed this critical point.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Ponzi Schemes Revisited
The light of day has fallen on The Social Security ponzi scheme. For the first time, those who retire today will have paid more in social security taxes then they will receive in benefits. We have come along way since 1960 when one could expect to get back 7 times payroll taxes paid.
In 20 years, when the so called trust fund runs dry, the promised benefits will fall by 25%. If we want to keep benefits from falling we will just have to pay higher payroll taxes. It is only a matter of time before the kids figure this out and force politicians to get real..
I wrote a blog a year ago about another federal ponzi scheme called Keynesian Economics. This theory defies common sense. Keynesians would have us believe that if you take from Peter, which will dis incentivize him to increase his productivity , and give to Paul who will be convinced that there really is a free lunch, that this will produce a multiple increase in our national income (GDP). Well just look at the scoreboard. We have increased government spending in the last 3 years by over 8%, yet real GDP has fallen. If my math is any good, that looks like a negative multiplier.
Academia considers the likes of President Obama and Paul Krugman as Keynesian intellectuals. My definition of an intellectual is a person born with a high IQ and zero common sense. Once again, "the emprorer has no clothes". Even Keynes would have agreed with the recent Ernest and Young study that if the President's plan to raise tax rates becomes law, it will kill over 700000 additional jobs.
Ray Zimmerman
Sagle
In 20 years, when the so called trust fund runs dry, the promised benefits will fall by 25%. If we want to keep benefits from falling we will just have to pay higher payroll taxes. It is only a matter of time before the kids figure this out and force politicians to get real..
I wrote a blog a year ago about another federal ponzi scheme called Keynesian Economics. This theory defies common sense. Keynesians would have us believe that if you take from Peter, which will dis incentivize him to increase his productivity , and give to Paul who will be convinced that there really is a free lunch, that this will produce a multiple increase in our national income (GDP). Well just look at the scoreboard. We have increased government spending in the last 3 years by over 8%, yet real GDP has fallen. If my math is any good, that looks like a negative multiplier.
Academia considers the likes of President Obama and Paul Krugman as Keynesian intellectuals. My definition of an intellectual is a person born with a high IQ and zero common sense. Once again, "the emprorer has no clothes". Even Keynes would have agreed with the recent Ernest and Young study that if the President's plan to raise tax rates becomes law, it will kill over 700000 additional jobs.
Ray Zimmerman
Sagle
Thursday, July 12, 2012
FOURTEEN REASONS TO REELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA
FOURTEEN REASONS TO REELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA
Because he believes that:
1). Higher marginal tax rates will grow our economy and spur employment. Even though historically this tends not to be true, our President claims that this time it's different, and we know how prophetic he has been in predicting economic results. But the defining reason for this position is that it is fair.
2). Obamacare will cut costs and increase quality. We can be sure that he will pick fair, honorable, and constitutional loving members to serve on the unelected commission that will decide how our entire healthcare system is rationed. Oh! The shortage of doctors is a overrated problem.
3). Adding an additional $5 trillion to our debt in just 3 1/2 years was extraordinary and beneficial. After all, who is seriously contemplating paying it off.
4). Deficits of $1 trillion plus, as far as the eye can see, is a brilliant strategy. How else can we continue our standard of living? We are borrowing .40 of every dollar we spend. If we reelect him, he will clearly increase this percentage.
5). It is important that we fund the increasing dependency of our citizens such as funding Social Security Disabilities. Where does one go after 99 weeks of unemployment insurance that has expired? The good news is that the number of disability applicants is growing faster than our nation's total job creation.
5). It is important that we fund the increasing dependency of our citizens such as funding Social Security Disabilities. Where does one go after 99 weeks of unemployment insurance that has expired? The good news is that the number of disability applicants is growing faster than our nation's total job creation.
6). The $830 billion stimulus was a investment like Solyndra, and a very profitable one at that. The American People paid a very reasonable $278,000 per job for one that paid $35,000.
7). Having a photo I.D as proof that one is eligible to vote is down right discrimination. We should stick to the honor system. Why would one want to cast a ballot illegally?
8). Saving General Motors by bailing out the UAW saved thousands of union jobs. (sorry bond holders. Be careful to whom you loan money). The good news is that we have been paid back. Some day (not in our life time) the 500 million shares that we the taxpayers own at $55 a share may make a profit. The shares are currently trading at $19.
9). It is unconscionable! It is not what we are all about! It is torture to waterboard terrorists, but it is humane to kill them even with accepting innocent women and children as collateral damage.
10). Even though it is a matter of their conscience, it is still wrong for the Catholic Church to deny free abortion pills to their employees.
11). Just because an employee loses his employer's health coverage which the premium was paid with pre-tax dollars, and he is forced to buy insurance in the state exchanges using after tax dollars, this is not considered a tax increase because the President has proclaimed this a bogus argument.
12). With regards to leaking classified intelligence, sharing our technology and secrets with the rest of the world is the fair thing to do. Plus it makes our president look macho and cool.
13). A more progressive tax system will enable the bottom 50% who do not pay any income taxes, to become the bottom 60%. This will ensure the election of future politicians who will guarantee future fairness.
14). As Marx believed, that fairness trumps freedom.
Ray Zimmerman
Sagle, ID
Sagle, ID
Monday, June 18, 2012
PROFIT
President Obama's knock on Free Enterprise is that it is driven by profit. Where does he think jobs come from? Jobs, both private and public, are generated by profits, and they are maintained only when profits are maintained. He says he wants to grow our economy. Grow what? If he desires more tax revenue, profit cannot be a pejorative term. Profits are the mothers milk of a growing vibrant economy.
According to our President, the government is the driver of growth. Recently, he stated that he was not worried about the private economy, but the public side needed some help. But state and local layoffs have not resulted from falling tax revenues. These are up 6%. It is the rising pension and health care costs that are causing the shortfall and layoffs. He wants Federal taxpayers to send money to Jerry Brown in California so Brown can continue his State's insane public pension policy. But liberal parts of California are beginning to see the light. Last week the liberal city of San Jose voted 70% in favor of cutting pension and other fringe benefits for their public workers. This event along with Wisconson's failed recall could be a catalyst for much needed public pension reform.
Ray Zimmerman
According to our President, the government is the driver of growth. Recently, he stated that he was not worried about the private economy, but the public side needed some help. But state and local layoffs have not resulted from falling tax revenues. These are up 6%. It is the rising pension and health care costs that are causing the shortfall and layoffs. He wants Federal taxpayers to send money to Jerry Brown in California so Brown can continue his State's insane public pension policy. But liberal parts of California are beginning to see the light. Last week the liberal city of San Jose voted 70% in favor of cutting pension and other fringe benefits for their public workers. This event along with Wisconson's failed recall could be a catalyst for much needed public pension reform.
Ray Zimmerman
Dreams From My Father
Four years ago, I read President Obama's first book about himself. When I finished, I felt confident that America would not elect someone so self absorbed; someone who had such antipathy for America.
David Maraniss's new book "Barack Obama: The Story", sheds a not so complimentary new light on our President. Just like Richard Blumenthal, who served in Vietnam and didn't, and Elizabeth Warren, a Cherokee who isn't, our President exaggerated his job history and basketball prowess. According to Maraniss, Obama never had meetings with Japanese financiers and German bond traders. His office was so small, barely large enough for a desk. He worked in back rooms checking things on the phone. And in highschool, he claimed that he was denied a starting role on the basketball team because of his black style of play. It turns out that he didn't jump very well. Were these "Dreams From Barack"? By the way, his team won the State Championship.
As Charles Krauthammer said, "How many people have written a total of two books, both about himself? That should have given us a clue."
Ray Zimmerman
David Maraniss's new book "Barack Obama: The Story", sheds a not so complimentary new light on our President. Just like Richard Blumenthal, who served in Vietnam and didn't, and Elizabeth Warren, a Cherokee who isn't, our President exaggerated his job history and basketball prowess. According to Maraniss, Obama never had meetings with Japanese financiers and German bond traders. His office was so small, barely large enough for a desk. He worked in back rooms checking things on the phone. And in highschool, he claimed that he was denied a starting role on the basketball team because of his black style of play. It turns out that he didn't jump very well. Were these "Dreams From Barack"? By the way, his team won the State Championship.
As Charles Krauthammer said, "How many people have written a total of two books, both about himself? That should have given us a clue."
Ray Zimmerman
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