1) No. He has no depth beyond his celebrity. Real estate is not the same as service or manufacturing. He has been to bankruptcy several times. If you cannot make money running a casino- you are not a manager. He has also taken his partners into bankruptcy several times. His style of business is fine for NYC gentlemen. People who know the rules, are aware of the NY & federal laws, and who need to play fair-ish because of their next deal. It won't work against really evil people who are not afraid to use violence or cause deaths on a large scale. He has never faced anyone who has nothing to lose and is willing to burn everything down.
2) "Birther" and Affirmative Action Issues. Side shows attractions. The sizzle and aroma that brings in the crowd. The fresh baked cookies or bread that set the stage and bring the crowd to see/buy something.
3) Trump's appeal...WHY he is gaining traction over Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, etc... He is an America Is Great advocate. He does not apologize. He does not accept arguments that mistakes are errors of current social policy are fatal character flaws. He proudly and loudly states that America is a good nation. Americans are a good people. Americans are better at guiding our own future than any other nation.
America is the best friend any democracy seeking people will find anywhere. We are there when disasters happen (our military budget pays for this largess-remember the military budget-?) We do not say "You -must- have and American style democracy". We don't really care what for type of democracy you choose, as long as you do it peacefully.
Trump is saying all this (by his actions and boisterous challenges more than words alone) after almost three years of non-stop apologies, withdrawal from confronting evil, and following the hard Left turn to Collectivist-Redistribution path towards insolvency. No country has ever accomplished what Obama proposes without slaughtering 5%-10% of their population. America is not -that- country.
4) Money... Trump's wealth is locked up in assets. He is usually short of the "readies" aka ready cash. He cannot raise enough from other donors to win. He has celebrity because he has time to develop it-for his business i.e. building overly posh, over priced buildings for people with too much money.
5) Trump sets the narative for a strong, fiscal conservative and strong defender of America. If the Republicans say to the social Conservatives "You talk to the states"...The game changes. No more need for federal money, regulations or laws to distract from the mess we're in
6) Obama is a known commodity. He is no longer the perfect blank slate spouting aphorisms that we can interpret to fulfill our fantasies. He is known. He appears bored with the job. He makes it seem beneath him and not really worth his time. He is afraid of a mistake and therefore dithers, delays and delegates waiting to claim victory or blame others. He makes no efforts or commitments
7) Obama's financial machinery won't work this time. The rope-a-dope donations where the internet accepts -any- name as long as the credit card numbers are good. The laws are based on the names. So long as no single named person+address donates over the limit-he's in good shape. The question is whether the Republicans will follow this bit of sophistic legalistic magic or take the high road-? I doubt the F.E.C will ever respond to this hole in the laws. Obama & Democrats are counting on Republicans playing by the spirit of the laws while they play by the tight, legal defintions of each word. ( a nation of lawyers ruling us peasants-?)
8) The $3 billion given to A.C.O.R.N. and all it's newly named groups may not work. The public is aware that false absentee ballots are being applied for, false names are being registered as voters, no photo ID's mean that any person can vote multiple times, that the elderly and enfeebled are having their ballots filled out for them, etc... Will that practice continue-? Do we value our votes or simply not care-? This is a local issue...what are -you- doing about it-?
9) The Unions are busy fighting for their continued existence. Their right to continued extortion of employees and state governments is being challenged in many jurisdictions. Their manpower and money is going in many directions this year before the November 2012 election.
If they lose the "Check-off" they will not be able to have the employers -TAKE- money from the workers paychecks and -GIVE- it to the unions. They must then go hat-in-hand (or baseball bat in hand) to ask for the monthly dues... Not a pretty sight. People tend to thing the money thy earn belongs to them. They will also start asking the famous consumer question "What are you doing to earn my money each month-?"
10) Trump has never taken a ten-year full time commitment to anything. Obama is only committed to his own sense of magnificence and his definition of glory. He was The First. His place is sealed in the history books. Any future (aka The Next) candidates -will- be investigated, known, understood and examined -MUCH- more closely. No more stealth candidates... We learn slowly, but we learn and remember.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Where Are We-?
Like that hoary olde joke about the Fugawi tribe... I sense Americans are asking each other "Where Are We-?" and even more importantly "Where Are We Going-?"
I suppose we need t ask "Where Have We Been-?" Lyle Lovett once sang "You've got to look at what you've been thru to see what you've become"... That's us.
We are uncertain. We voted for "Change" but never knew we were signing up for "Fundamental Change to American society"... We got both, in varying degrees. Now we can only "Hope" that we can find ourselves and a way out. We are not like we were. The path we're on has never been done by anyone in the real world. Only academics, enjoying govt funding, have professed the collectivisation and re-distribution of wealth as a sustainable model. Even then, they assume humans are closer to angels than our own selfish, self-interested nature.
The TARP plan was flawed, but we faced a crisis of confidence in our financial institutions. Pres. Bush doubled down and requested the rest of the funds so that Pres. Obama could have flexibilty as needed. Pres. Obama then got the Stimulus Package and added bits of money. My memory-guess is approx $1.4 Trillion. How much has been spent-? We don't know. The rabbit holes got filled with cash. Some 200,000+ new federal employees were hired to monitor where it went.
I'm a simple guy. It seems to me that handing out $1 Million, tax-free to 1,400,000 (one million four hundred thousand) people chosen at random would have done more for the country.
People would have bought a lot of stuff; new cars, houses, furniture, started new businesses, paid down credit cards and so on. Plus No New Federal, State, County or Municipal employees would have been hired. So, our costs into the future would have been lower. The strings attached ar just beginning to be felt. They now hurt the states who took the poisoned money.
I'm tired and confused by all the funny numbers being batted around. I'm one of those who wants to know what's behind the numbers and what are the assumptions. we're not getting the TRUTH. Every set of numbers has a different source of actuals and different set of assumptions about the future. I've always believed that Revenue Forecasts are Promises. Expense Projections are Commitments. The revenue numbers are too rosy. The expense projections are short on details.
We owe money. We have NO way to pay it back. In business, that would be cause for great alarm. When a company files bankruptcy and you asked the owners/managers "What Happened-?" almost invariably they say "We Ran Out Of Time". Unless we recognize our problems; we will run out of time. when a person, business or country is stretched this thin, they lack any flexibility to act should an emergency arise.
Over 47% of US citizens pay no taxes.
Only 2% of those who do pay taxes pay over 56% of all our bills.
Over 50% of all of us, receive some type of check from the government.
We don't have a sustainable business model...
IOW, We are in deep _______ and know no way out of this mess.
We even refuse to believe we're in trouble.
So, should those who worry stock the bomb shelter and hunker down while we away the inevitable-? If we wait for those who say "Nope, No Problems" now to say "Oh S---!" won't it cost us a heck of a lot more-?
No business deserves to stay in business longer than it's value to its customers.
No country lasts forever.
What do we choose for our future-?
I'm thinking it's time for some more change. Hope alone is not gonna get us out of this mess.
Marxism Fails
You can't re-distribute what hasn't been collected because there is none to collect.
I suppose we need t ask "Where Have We Been-?" Lyle Lovett once sang "You've got to look at what you've been thru to see what you've become"... That's us.
We are uncertain. We voted for "Change" but never knew we were signing up for "Fundamental Change to American society"... We got both, in varying degrees. Now we can only "Hope" that we can find ourselves and a way out. We are not like we were. The path we're on has never been done by anyone in the real world. Only academics, enjoying govt funding, have professed the collectivisation and re-distribution of wealth as a sustainable model. Even then, they assume humans are closer to angels than our own selfish, self-interested nature.
The TARP plan was flawed, but we faced a crisis of confidence in our financial institutions. Pres. Bush doubled down and requested the rest of the funds so that Pres. Obama could have flexibilty as needed. Pres. Obama then got the Stimulus Package and added bits of money. My memory-guess is approx $1.4 Trillion. How much has been spent-? We don't know. The rabbit holes got filled with cash. Some 200,000+ new federal employees were hired to monitor where it went.
I'm a simple guy. It seems to me that handing out $1 Million, tax-free to 1,400,000 (one million four hundred thousand) people chosen at random would have done more for the country.
People would have bought a lot of stuff; new cars, houses, furniture, started new businesses, paid down credit cards and so on. Plus No New Federal, State, County or Municipal employees would have been hired. So, our costs into the future would have been lower. The strings attached ar just beginning to be felt. They now hurt the states who took the poisoned money.
I'm tired and confused by all the funny numbers being batted around. I'm one of those who wants to know what's behind the numbers and what are the assumptions. we're not getting the TRUTH. Every set of numbers has a different source of actuals and different set of assumptions about the future. I've always believed that Revenue Forecasts are Promises. Expense Projections are Commitments. The revenue numbers are too rosy. The expense projections are short on details.
We owe money. We have NO way to pay it back. In business, that would be cause for great alarm. When a company files bankruptcy and you asked the owners/managers "What Happened-?" almost invariably they say "We Ran Out Of Time". Unless we recognize our problems; we will run out of time. when a person, business or country is stretched this thin, they lack any flexibility to act should an emergency arise.
Over 47% of US citizens pay no taxes.
Only 2% of those who do pay taxes pay over 56% of all our bills.
Over 50% of all of us, receive some type of check from the government.
We don't have a sustainable business model...
IOW, We are in deep _______ and know no way out of this mess.
We even refuse to believe we're in trouble.
So, should those who worry stock the bomb shelter and hunker down while we away the inevitable-? If we wait for those who say "Nope, No Problems" now to say "Oh S---!" won't it cost us a heck of a lot more-?
No business deserves to stay in business longer than it's value to its customers.
No country lasts forever.
What do we choose for our future-?
I'm thinking it's time for some more change. Hope alone is not gonna get us out of this mess.
Marxism Fails
You can't re-distribute what hasn't been collected because there is none to collect.
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