I was very pleased to see the way President Obama handled this hostage situation. Approving the use of force after negotiations failed was the right thing to do and I was happy to see him act appropriately. According to the article, not once but twice he authorized the use of deadly force if necessary to save Capt. Phillips including expending his initial approval of force to allow for a larger display of force (more people and assets, etc.).
This is precisely the way our nation should act when threatened so much so that when lawless pirates on the high seas take over a ship and learn that there's an American on board that the American is immediately freed for fear of what is to come. This isn't egomanical nationalism, it's care and concern for our country's own. Other people and other nations should not fear us unnecessarily but if other actors - be they other nations or terrorists or pirates or whomever - threaten to do us harm, God help them.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
Don't Support the Bailout
Today I wrote an email to my Senators. I'm incline to include the bulk of it here:
"I want to make sure you're clear on where I stand on a couple of very important issues. I say this not because I feel like my view is of any particular importance or significance but because I feel like my point of view is very much in line with that of most Georgians.
I support FairTax and want to see more done to move us in that direction. Perhaps this economic slump is just what we need to put a sense of urgency to this. FairTax would certainly spur economic growth. It’s great to hear this talked about on a state level in a state that both Congressman Linder and Neal Boortz call home but I want to hear this talked about more on a national level. Georgia can’t get this passed. It’s going to be something that requires involvement of the elected officials from across the nation.
FairTax is a passion of mine because it appeals to my concept of fairness. By no stretch of the imagination am I rich, but I earn a respectable income that allows my wife to stay at home and raise our four young children. My single biggest expenditure every single month is not my car payment or my mortgage payment or anything like that. It’s my federal tax burden! I have withholdings of over 20% for federal taxes including Social Security and Medicare from every check I get. This is simply too much. By the time I figure in my mortgage and my giving to my local church, over half of my monthly income is accounted for. Over half!
I’d like to see a little bit more equality in the realm of taxation. Rather than spreading the wealth around as some have advocated recently, I’d like to see the responsibility spread around. I want to see everyone paying the same percentage of federal taxes and get rid of the progressive tax system. I’m well aware that several tax brackets exist above my income bracket and they only have higher tax rates. I’m also aware that many people that would fall into those brackets don’t derive most of their income the same way I do. Rather than coming directly from an employer on a W2 and being taxed at the published tax rates, their incomes come via dividends from stock holdings or corporations that are set up for the explicit purpose of distributing those earnings at a substantial tax savings. I’d love to do something like that for myself but having been a small business owner, I recognize the times, costs, and risks associated with that. It’s simply not something that’s feasible for someone in my position to do.
The inequities in the current system result in the lower income earners paying no taxes, the rich looking for tax shelters to avoid paying too high a percentage, and the middle class being squeezed. Middle class earners like me are being pinched between those that aren’t paying the same percentage in taxes that we are. I don’t think that meets anyone’s definition of fair. When coupled with falling home prices and increased costs of living – although the drop in gas prices recently has been a welcome sight – it’s a tough time to be middle class. While FairTax isn’t going to magically fix the situation, it would certainly help both from a financial standpoint as well as from an equality standpoint. If you felt like everyone else was pitching in and doing their part as well it wouldn’t seem like such an injustice.
Another big advantage that I see to FairTax that I hear seldom mentioned is the emphasis on savings. Like most Americans, I’ve spent more than I should at times. FairTax would be a nice, friendly, ever-present reminder to think about those unnecessary purchases. It would be a call to us all to do a better job of having a little bit of cash on hand to make it easier to weather declining home values or a layoff or whatever curveball life may throw at our pocketbook. If Americans were doing a better job at saving I’m not going to say the current financial situation could have been averted but having savings available would certainly serve as a safety net against it and hopefully make the current situation shallow and short-lived.
There’s one other thing I want to mention and that’s the proposed bailout of the automotive industry. As you may have guessed from my stated opposition to the mortgage bailout, I’m very much against another bailout. The federal government is today writing checks that I’ll be continuing to have to cash years from now along with my children and possibly my grandchildren. The answer isn’t throwing more money at a problem. It never is. The real question confronting the auto industry isn’t how to fix the current problem but how the situation existed for this long before needing to be addressed? As a corporation, how can you expect to remain viable if you’re costs are higher and your products in many instances inferior to that of your competitors? That’s the question facing the American auto industry today.
I don’t want to see a “car czar.” I don’t want to see new regulations on this industry. I want to see Detroit figure its way out of this current predicament. They certainly can. To think that they can’t do that without the help of federal money is just complete nonsense. Not only that but it’s an insult to the many hardworking and forward thinking Americans that these companies employ. The auto industry needs to be told that they’re not going to get a short cut out of the problem. They’re going to have to deal with the problems they’ve created for themselves the same way anyone else would have to deal with it. If I make poor financial decisions, the government isn’t rushing to my aid with a bailout. It’s my problem to deal with and figure out. Rewarding bad behavior (or in this case poor financial decisions) only reinforces that behavior and removes the only thing capitalism has to dissuade it and that’s the fear of failure and the financial penalties that accompany it.
I know a lot of people will be affected if the auto industry fails. I know a lot of people could lose their jobs and on and on and on. I understand that it’s a trickle down affect that impacts suppliers, parts makers, tire dealers, and so very many people. But look for a moment at how many people are affected by not addressing the problem? Everyone is affected by higher taxes. Higher taxes for many means they can’t buy the new car they had in mind. Selling fewer cars given the current state of auto sales could mean the very same things for the auto industry. At best all this bailout does is delay fixing the core problems within the industry until the next economic bump in the road. Then we’re faced with making yet another bailout or finally letting the industry struggle to deal with their own problems at a time when the impact will be far deeper and more widespread than it is now.
Please show some responsibility, show some restraint, show some fiscal conservatism and let these industry problems remain industry problems rather than making them all of our problems by getting the government more involved in the situation. Ronald Reagan once said that “Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us.” That I fear is the situation that we’re currently faced with. Please don’t be blinded by the power we’ve entrusted you with.
Thank you and God bless."
"I want to make sure you're clear on where I stand on a couple of very important issues. I say this not because I feel like my view is of any particular importance or significance but because I feel like my point of view is very much in line with that of most Georgians.
I support FairTax and want to see more done to move us in that direction. Perhaps this economic slump is just what we need to put a sense of urgency to this. FairTax would certainly spur economic growth. It’s great to hear this talked about on a state level in a state that both Congressman Linder and Neal Boortz call home but I want to hear this talked about more on a national level. Georgia can’t get this passed. It’s going to be something that requires involvement of the elected officials from across the nation.
FairTax is a passion of mine because it appeals to my concept of fairness. By no stretch of the imagination am I rich, but I earn a respectable income that allows my wife to stay at home and raise our four young children. My single biggest expenditure every single month is not my car payment or my mortgage payment or anything like that. It’s my federal tax burden! I have withholdings of over 20% for federal taxes including Social Security and Medicare from every check I get. This is simply too much. By the time I figure in my mortgage and my giving to my local church, over half of my monthly income is accounted for. Over half!
I’d like to see a little bit more equality in the realm of taxation. Rather than spreading the wealth around as some have advocated recently, I’d like to see the responsibility spread around. I want to see everyone paying the same percentage of federal taxes and get rid of the progressive tax system. I’m well aware that several tax brackets exist above my income bracket and they only have higher tax rates. I’m also aware that many people that would fall into those brackets don’t derive most of their income the same way I do. Rather than coming directly from an employer on a W2 and being taxed at the published tax rates, their incomes come via dividends from stock holdings or corporations that are set up for the explicit purpose of distributing those earnings at a substantial tax savings. I’d love to do something like that for myself but having been a small business owner, I recognize the times, costs, and risks associated with that. It’s simply not something that’s feasible for someone in my position to do.
The inequities in the current system result in the lower income earners paying no taxes, the rich looking for tax shelters to avoid paying too high a percentage, and the middle class being squeezed. Middle class earners like me are being pinched between those that aren’t paying the same percentage in taxes that we are. I don’t think that meets anyone’s definition of fair. When coupled with falling home prices and increased costs of living – although the drop in gas prices recently has been a welcome sight – it’s a tough time to be middle class. While FairTax isn’t going to magically fix the situation, it would certainly help both from a financial standpoint as well as from an equality standpoint. If you felt like everyone else was pitching in and doing their part as well it wouldn’t seem like such an injustice.
Another big advantage that I see to FairTax that I hear seldom mentioned is the emphasis on savings. Like most Americans, I’ve spent more than I should at times. FairTax would be a nice, friendly, ever-present reminder to think about those unnecessary purchases. It would be a call to us all to do a better job of having a little bit of cash on hand to make it easier to weather declining home values or a layoff or whatever curveball life may throw at our pocketbook. If Americans were doing a better job at saving I’m not going to say the current financial situation could have been averted but having savings available would certainly serve as a safety net against it and hopefully make the current situation shallow and short-lived.
There’s one other thing I want to mention and that’s the proposed bailout of the automotive industry. As you may have guessed from my stated opposition to the mortgage bailout, I’m very much against another bailout. The federal government is today writing checks that I’ll be continuing to have to cash years from now along with my children and possibly my grandchildren. The answer isn’t throwing more money at a problem. It never is. The real question confronting the auto industry isn’t how to fix the current problem but how the situation existed for this long before needing to be addressed? As a corporation, how can you expect to remain viable if you’re costs are higher and your products in many instances inferior to that of your competitors? That’s the question facing the American auto industry today.
I don’t want to see a “car czar.” I don’t want to see new regulations on this industry. I want to see Detroit figure its way out of this current predicament. They certainly can. To think that they can’t do that without the help of federal money is just complete nonsense. Not only that but it’s an insult to the many hardworking and forward thinking Americans that these companies employ. The auto industry needs to be told that they’re not going to get a short cut out of the problem. They’re going to have to deal with the problems they’ve created for themselves the same way anyone else would have to deal with it. If I make poor financial decisions, the government isn’t rushing to my aid with a bailout. It’s my problem to deal with and figure out. Rewarding bad behavior (or in this case poor financial decisions) only reinforces that behavior and removes the only thing capitalism has to dissuade it and that’s the fear of failure and the financial penalties that accompany it.
I know a lot of people will be affected if the auto industry fails. I know a lot of people could lose their jobs and on and on and on. I understand that it’s a trickle down affect that impacts suppliers, parts makers, tire dealers, and so very many people. But look for a moment at how many people are affected by not addressing the problem? Everyone is affected by higher taxes. Higher taxes for many means they can’t buy the new car they had in mind. Selling fewer cars given the current state of auto sales could mean the very same things for the auto industry. At best all this bailout does is delay fixing the core problems within the industry until the next economic bump in the road. Then we’re faced with making yet another bailout or finally letting the industry struggle to deal with their own problems at a time when the impact will be far deeper and more widespread than it is now.
Please show some responsibility, show some restraint, show some fiscal conservatism and let these industry problems remain industry problems rather than making them all of our problems by getting the government more involved in the situation. Ronald Reagan once said that “Government is never more dangerous than when our desire to have it help us blinds us to its great power to harm us.” That I fear is the situation that we’re currently faced with. Please don’t be blinded by the power we’ve entrusted you with.
Thank you and God bless."
Friday, October 24, 2008
Trick or Treat
I'm just not a "spread it around" kinda guy. I'm all for helping other people but people also have to be willing to help themselves. If I leave it up to the government to decide who should be helped then there's major problems with inefficiency, waste, and sometimes downright corruption. Those same things can happen with charities as well but with charities I can reward those that distribute my money more effectively. I can't do that when government is my charity.
When government is the charity and people are legally compelled to give, I also lose any moral benefit from giving and helping others. If you've ever sarificed to help someone else, you know what I'm talking about. It feels good to feel like you're making a change to better someone else's life and situation. When my money is forcibly taken by the government there's no feel good sense from having done the right thing and helped someone else. When there is no choice, there is no benefit to having made the right choice.
There's also the issue of practicing what you preach. If Obama is such a big fan of spreading it around, why doesn't he do it in his personal life? According to Bloomberg the Obama's donated a total - a TOTAL - of $10,772 from 2000 - 2004. Now it did jump in subsequent years but still amounted to only about 5% of their total income. I'm certainly no standard of charitable giving or philantrophist in the making but I give a far larger percentage of my income to charity than does Obama. A FAR larger. Just last year my charitable giving was larger than Obama's total giving from 2000 - 2004. There's just something wrong with someone wanting to spread your money around but not being willing to do the same with his.
Monday, June 30, 2008
War Is an Ugly Thing
I came across this quote this weekend. I wanted to seek it out in a slightly greater context and record it here. It speaks a lot to me. It's certainly not a glorification of war but the recognition of it as a necessary evil to stop injustice sometimes.
"But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”
- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), “The Contest in America.” Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 143, page 683-684. Harper & Bros., New York, April 1862.
"But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice – a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice – is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”
- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), “The Contest in America.” Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 143, page 683-684. Harper & Bros., New York, April 1862.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Mike Anderson's BBQ
I had the beef brisket and ribs. The brisket was some of the best I've had in a while. The ribs weren't exactly my fare. They were a dry rub with a strong smokey taste but weren't the most tender or flavorful I've ever had. The sides were outstanding, though. I had the cheezy cornbake which is like a cornbread dressing with whole kernel corn, onions, peppers, and lots of cheese stuffed inside and the double-breaded fried okra. Both were just top notch. I'd love to find the recipe for the cheezy cornbake to make at home sometime. The website claims that all their sides are homemade daily and after tasting them, I believe it. They had the standard tomato-based, Texas-style sauce and they had a jalapeno sauce. It was basically their regular sauce spiced up a bit with pickled jalapenos floating. It was quite good - and quite spicy.
Other random thoughts... the guy behind the counter was quite nice. He noticed I wasn't familiar with the way they do things there. He asked if it was my first time and where I was from. When I told him Atlanta he immediately replied that next time I come I should bring some Brunswick stew and he and I can work out a trade. I don't think it was Mike Anderson I spoke with but the guy was extremely nice. Another nice plus that I didn't notice until I was on my way out was they also have a soft serve machine that's free for all customers. That along with the available outdoor seating area (covered with a lattice type structure around it) were both very cool.
Other random thoughts... the guy behind the counter was quite nice. He noticed I wasn't familiar with the way they do things there. He asked if it was my first time and where I was from. When I told him Atlanta he immediately replied that next time I come I should bring some Brunswick stew and he and I can work out a trade. I don't think it was Mike Anderson I spoke with but the guy was extremely nice. Another nice plus that I didn't notice until I was on my way out was they also have a soft serve machine that's free for all customers. That along with the available outdoor seating area (covered with a lattice type structure around it) were both very cool.
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