House Built on Sand - The Tide Has Come In On Our Credit-Based Economy

We built our robust economy on credit. Ever since we went off the gold standard under Nixon we've been printing money like crazy, building our economy on debt. Our collateral has been the capacity of American workers and enterprise. You wouldn't get a loan youself on such collateral but that's what our economy is based on. There are a couple of really bad consequences.

First, it's really, really hard to fix this problem because so much of our country's economy is based on debt. There's so much debt that pumping billions, even trillions, into it barely makes a dent in the underlying problem.

Second, the only ways to fix it seem to be printing more money or just paying down ALL debt and letting the economy go through the pain of a recovery which involves a lot of corporate insolvency.

We're trying to fix it by printing money because the alternative SEEMS worse. That's basically what these bailouts are ... printing more money and then propping up the dollar with loans from other countries. Did you know that just since September 2008 we've printed twice as much money as ever before? That drives down the value of the dollar really fast and adds mind-boggling amounts of debt we owe other countries. We're mortgaging our country to the hilt ... and beyond. It will create a huge inflationary bubble too. Most Americans don't or choose not to remember what it was like when basic interest rates were around 20% making EVERYTHING cost way more than we could afford. Inflation drives up the cost of everything and makes simple living difficult.

The alternative way of fixing this is soooo painful but will probably be better for us in the long run. We need to give up our 'standard of living' for a while and decrease our debt substantially (at the individual, business and gov't levels) and have it tough for that time rather than creating misery for half a century or more via this stimulus package.

Many Americans don't understand that most of this current stimulus package is not stimulus at all. Instead, most of it is pet Democratic causes and they're using this emergency as an excuse to get them through Congress because they couldn't get them passed otherwise! Did you know that it now includes a huge amount of NEW entitlements that we'll have to keep paying for long after this crisis is over? Do you think this is a good time to institute new entitlements? In fact it's stupid! Speaker Pelosi and President Obama promised that this package would be targeted, temporary and quickly effective. It is none of those things now. It's a shameful, dishonest sham being perpetrated on citizens.

Either way we attack this (through dramatically increased government spending or via capitalistic measures like fiscal responsibility) businesses suffer. If you think that these bailouts will fix it, think again. Businesses will fail at scary rates for at least a year or two whether it's from inflation (ie, printing money) driving their sales down or Americans making paying down all debt their priority instead of buying more 'stuff'.

If you think there's a painless solution to this you're being unrealistic. The painful but true fact is this will be worse than most of us think and I think this so-called stimulus package is a really bad idea, at least as it's currently set up. Encouraging capitalism will be better than just handing people money. And all the new funding for Democratic party special projects just adds to the problem, not fix it. We need ALL the money we can muster to help grow businesses so they can create jobs. The last thing we need is more gov't spending on projects (that CAN wait) and have to get funded by sucking money out of the economy and adding debt. Isn't it clear how stupid it is to do that?

Longing For America To Get Back To The Basics

This will be a series that I want to try out in addition to more mundane topics. Before commenting on specifics by category over the next several months I wanted to express my frustration with our country's direction and state my objectives vis a vis this topic within my blog.

I feel we're losing our way in terms of the kind of successful and healthy society that our founding fathers intended. It seems to me that we've strayed from building on the foundation they layed and are, instead, not just tweaking a so-called 'living constitution' but being pressed by well-meaning minority forces to build an entirely different foundation. I think the potential consequences or risks beg we explore what we're doing rather than just accept it.

I'm quite certain our founding fathers would be saddened by the hate, divisiveness, intolerance (including intolerance in the name of tolerance), and deteriorating integrity, honesty, principles, values and morals. They'd be dismayed by spineless political leadership that serves special interests and political correctness at the expense of citizen representation/protection and true constitution-supporting objectives.

Some of the issues that concern me (more depth on each in future blogs):

o Greed and selfishness. Anything seems to be justifiable as long as we're not the ones hurt, no one is looking and/or we don't think we'll be caught. How our choices/decisions affect others is irrelevant.

o Dishonesty.

o Materialism.

o Expecting someone else to bail us out of trouble, even when we get there through our own foolishness or bad judgement.

o Self-indulgence; no boundaries (by others or ourselves). We see no reason to deny ourselves, much less accept limits from others.

o Increasing immorality ... related to self-indulgence. Immorality is spreading; we're losing our moral compass. For example, sex is becoming a recreational activity.

o Spending well beyond our means and getting deep into debt.

o We don't feel responsible for debt we got ourselves into. In fact, leading debt-reduction companies say you "have a right to" have your debt restructured so you don't have to pay back what you borrowed. Bailing out on one's obligations is no big deal any more.

o We feel we have a right to avoidance of and protection from failure and bad consequences.

o Personal integrity, ethics and strong principles are becoming old-fashioned and irrelevant. Getting ahead rules. 'My word is my bond' used to be the rule and stood for something. Now, one's promise doesn't seem to mean much either to the person making the promise or to whom the promise is being made.

o Short-term thinking that ignores or sacrifices long-term benefit/good. We seem to be largely incapable of doing what's in our long-term best interest on an individual or any other level.

o Personal responsibility, self-discipline and accountability are to be avoided, not embraced. We even teach our kids this approach to life. Sad.

o Decline in public institutions' service to citizens. The education decline is especially troublesome.

o Doing what's right is less our default thought/action. Whatever happened to the principle of hard work to get ahead or doing the right thing simply because it's the right thing ... for a greater good ... first? Who or what should define what 'the right thing' is anyway? Why not be people of principle whose promise is trustworthy and word is bond?

o Duty, honor and patriotism are considered out of vogue, old-fashioned. Maybe irrelevant? Definitely not the path to being cool.

o Respect that derives from fear or intimidation rather than being gained by earning it.

I'm Also Stoked About Trips With My Sons!

These are my sons, Chris (left) and Matt. I'm excited right now because I'm working on plans to go on fishing trips with each of them individually this year. Fishing trips like this are mostly a good excuse to spend time together without the distraction of home and work responsibilities. Private time together with my sons to share whatever needs to be shared. Time to get to know each other better as adults. I'm so stoked about this and will be posting updates as things come together.

The basics of both trips are coming together. The most likely logistics got established by the fact that Karen and I want to experience Fall in Western Montana (ref blog posted 01/24/09). Since Matt lives in NorIda (what Matt's wife, Heather, calls North Idaho) it will be really convenient to work in a trip with him in the Fall as part of the trip Karen and I want to take up thataway. Current plan is to spend three days with Matt in the Helena area in mid-September probably fishing the mighty Missouri as much as we can. At least one full-day guided fly-fishing float trip is in order as we're not familiar with that area. Having a guide for at least one day will give us a leg up on the how and where of successful fishing there.

That means the trip with Chris will be in the Spring, late May most likely but I need to guess when the rivers will get lower and clear up. The duration's not established yet. We've talked before about meeting half-way between here (Roseburg, OR) and his home (San Jose, CA) so the Quincy, CA area is a logical choice for that and other reasons. Since he's working he can get there reasonably quickly compared with anywhere in Oregon, which maximizes our time together. Also, it's an area where I've fished several times before so we won't be wasting time trying to figure out where and how to fish. This works out well also because that time of year is good fishing in the Quincy area. I will plan to arrive in the area at least a week before Chris arrives so I have time to scope out where the fish are getting active and would likely stay there a while longer following time with him for additional fishing/exploring on my own.

For both trips I'll be taking our trailer, both to save on lodging/meal expenses and for the camping experience it affords. Updates coming as things firm up.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

I love you so much! You bless my life!

(Pic is from last year's BDay but you get the idea.)

I'm Stoked For Trippin' W/Karen

Ah, retirement with the love of my life! We'll be vagabonds more this year. Gotta see Western Montana in the Fall so we'll definitely do that this year. Northeastern Oregon, which we've never been anywhere near before and a line of lakes in South-Central Oregon between Crater Lake and Klamath Falls are possible trips too. Not sure we can do all three this year because we prefer settling in each area we visit for 3 weeks or more. We'll see.

Our trailer, a 25 1/2 foot Nash, is very comfortable for us and we prefer staying in federal campgrounds where we're close to nature and good-natured, down-home people who also love slowing down to appreciate God's handiwork. Fly-fishing is always on the agenda for me everywhere we go.

Will post more info on these trips as the planning progresses. For now it's fun to anticipate the adventures in store for us this year.

Men Are Mostly Posers?

Most men are posers. Interesting proposition by John Eldredge in his book "Wild At Heart" which I've nearly finished reading. I'm still 'processing' his reasoning but there's a lot of merit to it. Our insecurities along with childhood and early adulthood 'wounds' lead us to pose as something we're not nor were meant to be. Longing to find the warrior that was in you as a boy fighting imaginary but fearsome foes? Check out this book.

The War Started Under Clinton, Not Bush

I've got news for those who naively insist we were at peace until George Bush became president. I've been hearing that again lately and can't let it go unchallenged. We've been at war with these terrorists since at least 1993 when they declared war on us by bombing the World Trade Center buildings on their first failed attempt to bring down both towers by crashing one into the other. We just didn't have the guts to fight back the way we needed to until they killed more Americans. Experts said the 1993 explosion could have brought down both towers if the van containing the explosive had been parked a few feet closer to critical support columns. We came that close to having the 9/11/01 disaster play out on 2/26/93 while Clinton was in office. Considering the catastrophe that the 1993 bombing nearly was, a rational person has to ask two questions. First, why wasn't national security, including surveillance tools, made a much higher priority afterwards? Second, why do so many people think this war didn't start until the towers were attacked a second time?

By the way, a man named Ramzi Yousef, who trained with Al-Qaeda, planned the 1993 attack and was one of four men who carried it out. Guess who his uncle is? Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Ali Fadden, the principal architect of the Sept 11, 2001 attack! Khalid gave Yousef advice what to do and how to do it over the phone and funneled funds to him by wire transfer. (Doesn't that give you pause to consider even stronger surveillance techniques, not weaker?) Yousef was assisted in assembling the bomb by Abdul Rahman Yasin, an Iraqi bomb-maker. Yasin was detained by the FBI afterward and released but immediately left the country for Iraq. This all leads to a third logical question: why weren't our intelligence organizations able to connect the dots to the people and planning involved in the Sept 11 attack and, perhaps, prevent it? I believe the fundamental reason was because most Americans didn't believe or want to believe we were in fact at war.

Too many people still don't take this war seriously enough. This is a stateless, ruthless enemy who is absolutely committed to our destruction. It's an enemy which uses diplomacy like a weapon only to buy time and mislead. We need to wake up and fight this war with determination and commitment appropriate for the threat we face.

God Bless The USA!

A genuinely momentus day in our history today as an African-American, Barack Obama, is sworn in as president! We pray for a new spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and responsibility throughout our country that focuses not on divisive attitudes but on resolving the problems we face with courage and resolve in God's good grace.

It's Sick, Not Manly Or Entertaining

"Annihilation Cage Fighting" is coming to town. Anyone as appalled as I am at this 'sport' and its popularity? I don't see what is either rewarding or entertaining about two guys being trapped inside a cage and not be allowed to exit until they've viciously beaten the crap out of one another by any physical means useful to that purpose (fists, knees, feet). I don't understand it but I think the fact that it's acceptable speaks volumes about our culture's principles today.

But What About Principle?

I'm sooooo tired of Political Correctness (PC) and agenda-driven behavior on truly important matters! Why are there so few people in Congress who function from a core foundation of principle ... ie, who know, do and encourage doing what's right regardless of party/politics? The top two issues in our country right now are the war on terror and our troubled economy. (In that order by the way!) Isn't it completely rational that appointments to leadership positions in those areas should be based on competence to do the job, not on some agenda? Two recent examples:

Primary qualification for next CIA chief: must not have supported or appear to have supported Bush administration policies in the war on terror. Since the CIA had to be totally transformed to fight the war on terror after what the Clinton administration did to it, that disqualifies all the people who are now most experienced about terrorism and how to fight it effectively. So, is it any surprise that the only person left standing for this appointment (because experienced people won't take such an important job where surveillance and other tools they know they need cannot be used) is a bureaucrat who never worked in the agency much less in the field of intelligence operations? Can any independent-minded rational person think that Mr. Panneta is an appropriate choice for, arguably, one of the most important positions of leadership in our federal government right now? One argument I've heard supporting this choice is that an inexperienced George Bush took it over without much criticism. That argument is completely irrational and irrelevant because there was no war on terror then. The war on terror changed everything about the CIA and related/supporting agencies. This is one of the scariest appointments of any I've observed in my life including supreme court justices. Too many people don't truly understand the danger from this new stateless and completely ruthless enemy. Appointing Mr. Panneta to lead this agency and its fight against this new enemy represents a kind of warped Bush-vindictiveness and PC gone nuts. Terrorism is, by far, the gravest danger to our country and we should have only the most experienced people leading the fight that we can find. Expect lots of other experinced people to leave the CIA and related agencies who saw purpose in devoting their labor to a cause (elimination of the terrorist threat), not an agenda. Don't principles matter any more?

Excusing Tim Geithner's $34,000 tax avoidance with dismissive comments like "it's a common mistake". A huge percentage of Americans don't even make that much money and we're expected to just say its okay? No way! It's not okay! And we're expected to believe he's the most qualified person in the country to lead the Treasury, which is responsible for collecting taxes, when he doesn't understand that everyone must pay social security and other taxes? I might buy the argument that's it's a common mistake if it weren't made regarding the guy who's about to be in charge of the agency responsible for executing tax policy and collecting those taxes. It is true that he has strong credentials for this job which make me inclined to give him a chance. However, I think we should at least be hearing from our country's leadership that what he did is fundamentally wrong and irresponsible. Forgive it ... okay. Just excuse or dismiss it ... no way. Don't principles matter any more?