Category Archives: Grace and the lack thereof

They Should Raise the Voting Age

Posted by bulldawgy on November 3, 2008 None comments

I just heard on cable TV news that the Dems expect to win the 18-29 year old voting group by 20 to 30 points. 

This is ridiculous on so many levels.  My guess is that most of these (let’s be really generous and call them ‘young adults’) young adults are pretty much fresh out of the nest or in college where mommy and daddy still pay for most everything or they pretty much can get by working at Starbucks or Barnes and Noble because they don’t have their own kids or their own family.  For these young adults, the cradle to grave nanny state is just like a cup of momma’s warm cocoa on a chilly November night.

Raise the drinking age, the draft age and the voting age to 30.

It’s morning in America gang, and on this new day is the terminal diagnosis for freedom in our country.   We get what we deserve.

She’s Made of Iron

Posted by bulldawgy on October 24, 2008 None comments

One of my wife’s all-time favorite TV shows is Alias.  One of her favorite actors from the show (though I don’t think she could call him by name) is Victor Garber.

 

You might remember that Victor Garber was also in the cast of Titanic where he played Thomas Andrews, the engineer and designer of the ship doomed to sink.  I understand, of course, that the movie Titanic is held in disdain by many movie buffs as being poorly written or poorly acted or overly sappy or overly melodramatic.  I understand – and even though I am not a teenage girl nor do I swoon a the sight of Leo DiCaprio – I still like the movie – for recreating the event in a somewhat realistic fashion.

 

One of my favorite movie quotes comes directly from the movie – as Mr. Ismay, the executive from the shipping company that owned the Titanic, and Thomas Andrews – the aforementioned designer of the ship – have a discussion shortly after the ship has hit the iceberg.  Mr. Ismay – has bought into the notion that the ship is truly unsinkable.  It goes like this:

 

Thomas Andrews: The pumps will buy you time, but minutes only. From this moment on, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder.
Ismay: But this ship can’t sink!
Thomas Andrews: She is made of iron, sir. I assure you, she can. And she *will*. It is a mathematical certainty.

 

There a quite a few things in this world that are a mathematical certainty.  As we all well know, the Titanic did sink.  All the way to the bottom of the ocean, she sank.  She’s Made of Iron.  And unless Iron is shaped just a certain way (and has no holes in it), it will sink.

 

Our economy faces distinct and serious challenges in the years ahead.   And as close as it gets to a mathematical certainty, our economy more than likely cannot sustain higher taxes and more government spending.  It just won’t work.  There’s not enough money in the economy to take more out – and plow it through government programs – no matter how noble and profitable those programs must be.   Face it folks, Obama is going to win the presidency.  The Democrats will have a solid majority in the House of Representatives and perhaps a super majority in the Senate.  They will be able to do what they will – unfettered by the 46-48% who will vote for the opposition party.  It will be the definition of democracy:  mob rule.

 

Where the money is going to come from, I don’t know.  Start taking it away from the corporations and the "rich" – and jobs will dry up.  When jobs dry up – more jobs will dry up.  The economy will shrink – reducing tax revenues at the same time our current unfunded liabilities (i.e. Medicare and Social Security) come due and the IOUs need to be converted to cash.  The cutting (not increasing taxes, but the cutting of spending) needs to start somewhere.

 

The notion that the Federal Government will solve our nation’s financial problems with increased taxation and spending is patently naive and without any basis in reason.  Our economy is made of iron.  Poke enough holes in it and it will sink.  I assure you – it can and it will – if enough damage is done.  It is a mathematical certainty.

More Economic Food for Thought

Posted by bulldawgy on October 22, 2008 None comments

For all of those clamoring for economic good news, the recent upswing (market conditions at this press time notwithstanding) in the stock market may bring you some comfort.  In a sea of seemingly disastrous financial news, the small recovery in the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been somewhat comforting.  But behind every cloud’s silver lining is, well, to put it plainly – a cloud. 

 

This is an interesting article on the current world financial situation – and I think that it is realistic.  No pie in the sky – no unrealistic optimism.  Just plain, straightforward assessments of the situation.  The author is not predicting global financial collapse or depression, but he does make it clear that there is plenty more bad news coming down the pike.

 

More tangible evidence that Jane and John Q. are really feeling the pain and hunkering down in earnest, was the sharp decline in September retail sales to a three-year low. Nothing short of horrendous is the latest bulletins on housing. Starts of single-family homes in September plummeted 12% to still another 26-year nadir. And building permits, a precursor for homebuilding, skidded 8.3% to the lowest level since November 1981. And factory chimneys across a broad swath of industries have started to emit dust instead of smoke.

Those chronic optimists, who have become a bit more shy about trilling their joyous notes in recent months, shrug off the downpour of dismal data as "old news". Old, shmold, it hurts just the same, and-you can bank on it-there’s plenty more where that came from.

 

He also makes a very good point.  Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat – we should all be able to agree that both Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank) and Henry Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury) should have seen this crisis coming long ago and taken proactive steps to mitigate the systemic damage.  They did not.  And today, we entrust them to administer the nearly $1 Trillion of Welfare being given to Financial Institutions and we trust them to safely guide us out of this crisis.

 

But for some strange reason we don’t find it entirely reassuring that the very same people charged with foreseeing and forestalling the credit disaster and who so miserably failed to do so — Paulson and Bernanke somehow leap to mind — are entrusted with the formidable task of repairing the damage. Mark it down to our being an incurable malcontent.

 

It is important to remember in times like these that our only real hope for the future is to cry out God help us.  All things, after all, are indeed in His hands.  Let’s us keep our trust in Him – and do our part to be good stewards of what we have been given by Him – plan accordingly, knowing He guides our paths – and knowing that none of this comes as a surprise to Him.