So here are my findings...Joe Government was right in these situations:
- ....
- [chirp] [chirp] [chirp]
Phew! That was tough! My fingers hurt from typing. Re-read the list when you get a chance...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
When Joe Biden was right...
I decided to spend my free time exhaustively researching when Joe Biden was right at any time (but mostly foreign policy) about any thing. As always, my goal is to share my knowledge to allow us all to grow.
So here are my findings...Joe Government was right in these situations:
So here are my findings...Joe Government was right in these situations:
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Central Planning Anyone?
I listened intently to the final Presidential Debate tonight. Folks you may not believe this but I actually did listen with a VERY objective mind and as much of my bias removed as possible. Just so you understand, I don't have a personal thing against Obama at all (like I do with the Clintons). I would have a beer with Obama (someone has to tell him how wrong he is about so many things). So I listened, as always, to understand each candidate's ideas and the underlying principles and foundation of each man.
My conclusion...I continue to be completely baffled how normally rational thinking adults even entertain half of Obama's ideas. As I listened to Obama during the debate tonight all I heard was Central Planning.
My wish would be for all likely voters to read Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics before pulling the election lever. I know we have a few months to go for Christmas but I will give up my desire for a Golf Sky Caddy GPS system if someone can grant me this wish. It would make this election a no brainer...it really would.
What do I mean by Central Planning? It is a concept of socialism and it is the mechanism by which a government manages all aspects of life. It is how a central government or committee manages supply, demand, prices, manufacturing, energy, food production, do you get the picture? Obama talked at length during the debate about how he will do this and that. How he will ensure automakers make more efficient cars; how he will lower the cost of healthcare; how he will ensure all of our pains and hurts go away. He wants to engineer everything -- just like the feudal lords of old and like any good socialist.
Somebody please tell him that it is NOT HIS JOB! Pretty please.
Every experiment in socialism fails -- it has been tried, tested, and found wanting. Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics performs a knock out on socialism. Mr. Sowell points out how Mikhail Gorbachev, a previous USSR prime minister, walked into an American grocery store and was fascinated at the full shelves stuffed with thousands of brands. You see, USSR never enjoyed packed grocery stores. It is also said that Mikhail Gorbachev asked British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: How do you see to it that people get food? The answer was that she didn't. Prices did that. The British people were better fed than those in the Soviet Union, even though the British people have never grown enough food to feed themselves in more than a century. Prices bring them food from other countries. What does she mean by "prices" -- capitalism and freedom.
You see...most good socialists react to past socialism failures by saying that they can do it better then the last government. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Now you may say this is extreme and that Obama is not talking about controlling grocery store items. But it is the principal that I am addressing. In principle, "Obama thinking" makes the arrogant assumption that government run by Obama thinking minds will do a better job then free enterprise.
Yes, the USSR was not a socialist state...it was a communist state but there is no difference in this regard. Look at any other socialist experiment. India is abandoning socialism for free markets and look at the explosion in the middle class there. Venezuela has lost 25% of its oil producing capacity since Hugo Chavez's socialist government took charge. Ireland is shedding the UK nationalist trends for free markets and is growing rapidly as a business magnet. The list goes on.
Let's not experiment with socialism here in the US. If you still have doubts, let me bring it closer to home, when was the last time you enjoyed your experience at the DMV? Government can't run anything well. Period.
If this was a radio or TV show, I would fade out at this point to Pink Floyd's "Mother", from the album, The Wall. But since this is a blog...I'll leave you with the lyrics that keep going through my head...I think the words are appropriate ending to this debate night...
"Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry.
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true.
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you.
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm.
Ooooh baby ooooh baby oooooh baby,
Of course mama'll help to build the wall..."
My conclusion...I continue to be completely baffled how normally rational thinking adults even entertain half of Obama's ideas. As I listened to Obama during the debate tonight all I heard was Central Planning.
My wish would be for all likely voters to read Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics before pulling the election lever. I know we have a few months to go for Christmas but I will give up my desire for a Golf Sky Caddy GPS system if someone can grant me this wish. It would make this election a no brainer...it really would.
What do I mean by Central Planning? It is a concept of socialism and it is the mechanism by which a government manages all aspects of life. It is how a central government or committee manages supply, demand, prices, manufacturing, energy, food production, do you get the picture? Obama talked at length during the debate about how he will do this and that. How he will ensure automakers make more efficient cars; how he will lower the cost of healthcare; how he will ensure all of our pains and hurts go away. He wants to engineer everything -- just like the feudal lords of old and like any good socialist.
Somebody please tell him that it is NOT HIS JOB! Pretty please.
Every experiment in socialism fails -- it has been tried, tested, and found wanting. Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics performs a knock out on socialism. Mr. Sowell points out how Mikhail Gorbachev, a previous USSR prime minister, walked into an American grocery store and was fascinated at the full shelves stuffed with thousands of brands. You see, USSR never enjoyed packed grocery stores. It is also said that Mikhail Gorbachev asked British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: How do you see to it that people get food? The answer was that she didn't. Prices did that. The British people were better fed than those in the Soviet Union, even though the British people have never grown enough food to feed themselves in more than a century. Prices bring them food from other countries. What does she mean by "prices" -- capitalism and freedom.
You see...most good socialists react to past socialism failures by saying that they can do it better then the last government. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Now you may say this is extreme and that Obama is not talking about controlling grocery store items. But it is the principal that I am addressing. In principle, "Obama thinking" makes the arrogant assumption that government run by Obama thinking minds will do a better job then free enterprise.
Yes, the USSR was not a socialist state...it was a communist state but there is no difference in this regard. Look at any other socialist experiment. India is abandoning socialism for free markets and look at the explosion in the middle class there. Venezuela has lost 25% of its oil producing capacity since Hugo Chavez's socialist government took charge. Ireland is shedding the UK nationalist trends for free markets and is growing rapidly as a business magnet. The list goes on.
Let's not experiment with socialism here in the US. If you still have doubts, let me bring it closer to home, when was the last time you enjoyed your experience at the DMV? Government can't run anything well. Period.
If this was a radio or TV show, I would fade out at this point to Pink Floyd's "Mother", from the album, The Wall. But since this is a blog...I'll leave you with the lyrics that keep going through my head...I think the words are appropriate ending to this debate night...
"Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry.
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true.
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you.
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm.
Ooooh baby ooooh baby oooooh baby,
Of course mama'll help to build the wall..."
Saturday, October 4, 2008
ExxonMobil Bashing
Let's talk briefly about ExxonMobil. This is a company that provides us with products that we simply cannot live without. It is baffling to see and hear so many in the media and "tree-hugger" organizations continuously bash, demean, and attack the company. It proves once again, losers always stab at the ankles of leaders in an attempt to bring them down. But why bring them down?
Because they make too much money? Their primary product, oil, is hated?
Let's tackle the money thing. They are a global entity and you and I cannot fathom the size of their operations. Every number that measures the size of the ExxonMobil or the oil industry is large. You need a calculator with extra digits like the IRS uses just to add up the numbers without causing a stack overflow (a little geek lingo for you fellow geeks -- hey, I aim to please). People like to throw out large profit numbers as if all the employees of ExxonMobil stalked the dead of the night and stole from your homes. Yes, $11.66B is a lot of money earned in a quarter (Feb 2008). But, their profit numbers need to be viewed from a percentage basis to truly understand. Their net income has ranged recently from 7% to 10%. That is not that exciting of a number. Talk to anyone in business.
But their growth is extremely beneficial to....yes....us. They are spending record amounts to find and develop new sources of energy -- not just oil. They just announced spending $125B over the next five years on new energy projects to meet our growing energy needs. Think about THAT number. That is a huge number. $125B. Now don't think it is an altruistic move to spend this much on finding new sources of energy. They are a private company and they HAVE to do everything possible to ensure they are an ongoing concern. Meaning, they want to stay in business for a very long time. I'm sure they'd like to be in business in 200 to 300 years selling us gas-neutrino discharge power cells when our oil may be dried up. So, look what we have here. A private company spending money they have earned on something we want so they can provide what we need. Hmmm.
If you still think their profits are too large, add up how much they pay in taxes. In 2007 alone they paid $105 B in world wide taxes. For every dollar they earn, they pay two and half dollars in taxes. And this does not include the taxes charged at the pump. In the US alone, they paid $65 B over the past five years. Now here is an interesting stat...during that same period of time their US earnings was $19 B less then the taxes paid. Let me do the math for you...they made $46B in the US over the past 5 years but paid $65B in US taxes. Do you think they will continue to be a US corporation over time?
We should be proud of them as a US corporation. They are up against companies that dwarf their size! They rank 14th in the world in terms of oil reserves and probably even lower in terms of revenue and profits. The companies above them are state run enterprises from (listed from largest to smallest): Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, UAE, Iraq, Russia, Kuwait, Venezula, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, and Malaysia.
So turn off the radio or TV the next time you hear about taxing wind fall profits. If anyone should be taxed it should be the government's wind fall tax confiscation.
We also need to stop buying into this tribalism -- that is -- the "us" versus "them" mentality. It is easy to paint a large company as "them" and how "they" are raking in profits over "our" hard work. But who is this company? It is "us". It is made up of people just like you and I...proudly working hard to achieve their dreams.
Because they make too much money? Their primary product, oil, is hated?
Let's tackle the money thing. They are a global entity and you and I cannot fathom the size of their operations. Every number that measures the size of the ExxonMobil or the oil industry is large. You need a calculator with extra digits like the IRS uses just to add up the numbers without causing a stack overflow (a little geek lingo for you fellow geeks -- hey, I aim to please). People like to throw out large profit numbers as if all the employees of ExxonMobil stalked the dead of the night and stole from your homes. Yes, $11.66B is a lot of money earned in a quarter (Feb 2008). But, their profit numbers need to be viewed from a percentage basis to truly understand. Their net income has ranged recently from 7% to 10%. That is not that exciting of a number. Talk to anyone in business.
But their growth is extremely beneficial to....yes....us. They are spending record amounts to find and develop new sources of energy -- not just oil. They just announced spending $125B over the next five years on new energy projects to meet our growing energy needs. Think about THAT number. That is a huge number. $125B. Now don't think it is an altruistic move to spend this much on finding new sources of energy. They are a private company and they HAVE to do everything possible to ensure they are an ongoing concern. Meaning, they want to stay in business for a very long time. I'm sure they'd like to be in business in 200 to 300 years selling us gas-neutrino discharge power cells when our oil may be dried up. So, look what we have here. A private company spending money they have earned on something we want so they can provide what we need. Hmmm.
If you still think their profits are too large, add up how much they pay in taxes. In 2007 alone they paid $105 B in world wide taxes. For every dollar they earn, they pay two and half dollars in taxes. And this does not include the taxes charged at the pump. In the US alone, they paid $65 B over the past five years. Now here is an interesting stat...during that same period of time their US earnings was $19 B less then the taxes paid. Let me do the math for you...they made $46B in the US over the past 5 years but paid $65B in US taxes. Do you think they will continue to be a US corporation over time?
We should be proud of them as a US corporation. They are up against companies that dwarf their size! They rank 14th in the world in terms of oil reserves and probably even lower in terms of revenue and profits. The companies above them are state run enterprises from (listed from largest to smallest): Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, UAE, Iraq, Russia, Kuwait, Venezula, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, and Malaysia.
So turn off the radio or TV the next time you hear about taxing wind fall profits. If anyone should be taxed it should be the government's wind fall tax confiscation.
We also need to stop buying into this tribalism -- that is -- the "us" versus "them" mentality. It is easy to paint a large company as "them" and how "they" are raking in profits over "our" hard work. But who is this company? It is "us". It is made up of people just like you and I...proudly working hard to achieve their dreams.
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