Tag: money

YOU CAN’T ‘FAKE’ STRONG!

Only the strong survive!

you cant fake strong

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.­–Paul the Apostle ,  Philippians 4:13

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One of the most common breakdowns associated with cars are flat tires. When tires are low on air, you can generally see that they need air as you approach you car, but most people do not make a habit of taking the time to inspect ALL FOUR tires on a regular basis, instead looking at the two that face them as they approach their vehicle.  Fixing a flat can be as simple as adding more air, or plugging a small leak. Ignoring the problem can result in serious damage to your tire, car, or even yourself.

According to Goodyear Tires:

“Maintaining proper air pressure is an important factor in tire safety and performance. If a driver experiences a flat tire or loss of air pressure, they should slow the vehicle gradually and carefully pull off to the side of the road as soon as possible. Driving on a flat tire can cause internal structural damage to the tire, may lead to wheel and vehicle damage and may result in poor vehicle handling and control — which could lead to an accident, injury or death.”

You may be familiar with the phrase “the road of life”. As you travel down the road of life, you are the vehicle which carries you on your journey. Like the four tires on a car, you have four categories that determine IF you will have forward momentum, or if your journey will end abruptly.  Your car has both front and rear tires. One each on the passenger and driver sides. You can still drive on a bad tire,  ignoring all the warning signs and neglecting repairing that tire until disaster occurs. Likewise YOU yourself have YOUR four ‘TIRES’ divided into two sides, and keeping all four at or as close to full strength as possible are vital to determine how far you will go down the ‘road of life’.

The two sides are your HEALTH and your WEALTH. Your HEALTH is your WEALTH, and your WEALTH is your HEALTH. HEALTH has two sides as does WEALTH. Your HEALTH is both PHYSICAL and MENTAL. Your WEALTH is both FINANCIAL and INTELLECTUAL. You need all four  to be at your maximum strength to go far in life, but running on three will carry you along for a little distance, and a brief time.   You cannot ‘fake’ strong, you are either strong, or you are weak. A strong person can things that a weak person cannot, and that is an undeniable fact of life.  

How strong are you:

FINANCIALLY

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 “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.” Proverbs 21:20

If you have zero debt and just $10 in your pocket, you are richer than 25% of Americans. Do you spend EVERY cent you get?  The reason the wealthy amass such huge fortunes is NOT because they have stolen it from the poor, but because they have mastered the art of handling money. Getting financially fit means taking the time to develop spending, saving, and investment plans.

 

INTELLECTUALLY

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“How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!” –Proverbs 16:16

Knowledge is power! Education opens doors to greater ventures and better opportunities. The accumulation of ‘USEFUL’ knowledge and ‘USEFUL’ skills will result in greater possibilities of  employment. Having specialized knowledge in technical jobs or trades will get you hired faster than unskilled laborers. There are many classes being offered in colleges and universities nationwide that are totally worthless. Graduating with a degree in ‘gender studies’ or ‘lesbian dance theory’ is a surefire path to poverty. As poet Charles Bukowski once said, the world doesn’t need poets. Would a restaurant hire a chef who couldn’t cook an omelet?  The world needs doctors, teachers, farmers, and builders. An auto-mechanic may not be a glamorous job, but the next time you need your car fixed, you’ll be glad  if they are experienced and competent.  

PHYSICALLY

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“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, who you have received from God? You are not your own: you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

When you take care of your body, you can fight off illness faster, recover from infirmities, and lead an active lifestyle. Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. How can you enjoy life if you are too weak and sickly to join your friends and family in various activities? Watching is fun but it is not the same as participating in the fun. Getting physically fit means taking time to eat healthy and exercise regularly.       

MENTALLY

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“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”. – Matthew 11:28-30

Depression is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of having been too strong for too long. Eventually everyone hits a point when we tire. When things go badly, we tend to focus on our troubles instead of counting our blessings. The Bible is the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and is infallible and without error. When we focus on the world, it’s a depressing place. When we turn our focus to Jesus, we see that with God, all things are possible, and that when  God is with us, no one can stand against us. The Bible is a book filled with hope for something better than this fallen creation. The answers to all of life’s problems can be found in the pages of the Holy scripture, yet there are many who are reluctant, or totally against reading this book for themselves. I was an atheist when I was a teenager, but in college I became a Christian when my one professor challenged me to go to his class on the Bible and read through it cover to cover. I can honestly say I am a better man with God than I ever was without God.   People may disappoint you, lie to you, and hurt you.  Jesus is always good, faithful, and true. What if the one book that you are dead-set against reading is the only book which could provide you comfort and answers. Wouldn’t it be wise to take the time and discover the truth for yourself?  Isn’t it time to fill your ‘TIRE’ with the ‘breath of life’? As always I wish you success and happiness!   

SPARE TIME?

Living in the Moment!

SPARETIME

“We’re all going to die, all of us; what a circus! That alone should make us love each other, but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities. We are eaten up by nothing.” – Charles Bukowski

There are at least two things that differentiate the highly successful individual from the unsuccessful crowd.  Firstly, they handle their money quite differently than the average person. Instead of spending every cent the moment they receive it, they budget their money, save much of it, and invest.  Secondly they do the same thing with their time. 

You may be familiar with the old adage ‘time is money’.  In a very real sense it is. When you work at a job, you get paid for your time. When you invest over time, you get a return on your investment.  In fact, time is more important than money because money can be replaced, but time cannot. Every moment wasted is gone forever. Unsuccessful people usually whine about how unfair life is because they don’t have as much money as Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates.  Here’s the main point. Rich or poor, Successful or not, every single person on Earth gets the exact same number of minutes each year. 525,600 minutes each and every year, with two exceptions. The year we are born, and the year we die. How we spend that year is up to us.

When I started writing my weekly blog InstantCoffeeWisdom over two years ago, the first article was The 52 Week Challenge. It was a weekly savings plan to be done over the course of one year, the end result being  $1350.00 saved to be used as you wish. Every year, I take a great vacation at the shore in Ocean City MD, that is my decision. I know many people who always whine that they never have money for vacation, so the first year I focused on microeconomics (personal finance) to help demonstrate ways to budget, cut expenses and hopefully achieve that goal set by The 52 Week Challenge. The second year, I focused on the bigger picture, exploring macroeconomics, and explaining how religion and politics are interconnected to economics, and why you should have a firm grasp of all three. Hopefully you were able to understand my points, see where I was leading you, and you were able to reach the same conclusions.  As I embark on my third year of blogging,  I’m going to focus on the topic of time. As I already stated, time is money, and we each have EXACTLY the same time each day, week, month, and year, despite financial disparities. How we spend our time is entirely up to us.

When I was a still just a young boy, the biggest time waster was the TV. I had family members whose entire lives were lived vicariously through the television. As a child, it was my ‘babysitter’. Plop me down in front of the set with a plate of snacks and I was good to go. My 77 year-old aunt does nothing but watch TV all day, or sleep. It doesn’t seem like much of a life to me, but she’s 77 and you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I got rid of my TV a decade ago. I’ve saved thousands of dollars over the years by ‘cutting the cord’. If I do decide to watch some program, almost everything is available online and I can watch it when it’s convenient. Although the letters TV  are an abbreviation for Television, it should stand for TIME VACUUM because this activity is just a  waste of time that can suck away hours of your life each day if you let it. Now the biggest waste of time and productivity is the mobile smart phone.

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The smart phone  puts the sum total of human knowledge in the palm of your hands. You can load it’s memory with apps to help you track everything financial or health related. It is a tool that in the right hands can increase productivity and knowledge, and likewise can kill it in the wrong hands. In my youth, phones connected people. Now they divide people. The typical smart phone user touches his or her phone 2,617 time every day, according to a study by research firm Dscout. Extremely addicted individuals use it twice as much as that. The phone is NOT reality. When you spend your time looking at your phone instead of living your life, you are wasting your life. You are cutting yourself off from life and missing all the wonderful things the world has to offer when you bury your face in your phone.

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Human lives are terribly short. We live at best about 120 years, but that is not guaranteed. There are preemie babies that live a few hours, or a few days.  My father died when he was 57. I missed out on all those great father-son moments growing up without a father as a result.   We are ephemeral, a vapor, and but a blink of the eye of God. We live our lives moment by moment, stringing each moment to the next like pearls on a string. We should do our best to make those moments shine.  Time cannot be replaced when it is gone, and neither can people. The greatest gift you can give a person is your time, and the second greatest gift you can give is your undivided attention. 

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One of my close friends has cancer. I pray for him every day. I hope he beats it, but ultimately that’s in God’s hands, and worrying about it won’t change that fact. If God wants us here on Earth, it’s where He wants us to be. No man can know the mind of God, but He’s in control even if it doesn’t make sense to us now. It is up to us to use our God-given free will to be stewards of our resources, which includes not just money and possessions,   but our time and our health as well. Make every moment count and interact with people instead of tuning out the world. As always, I wish you success and happiness!       

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A HOUSE DIVIDED?

Only you can prevent Socialism!

a house divided

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” -Albert Einstein

You don’t have to be a genius to realize that the United States Of America is unique among nations. As the oldest constitutional republic and longest lasting capitalist country, it has been attacked from day one by those who would see it destroyed. Unfortunately not all enemies are foreign. Since he US Civil War (Apr 12, 1861 – Apr 9, 1865) it has been evident that various leaders of the Democratic National Committee have been attacking the fundamental principals which made this great nation. None would dare call their actions treason, but they are a cancer which must not spread to the next generation. Patriots aren’t born, but patriots need to educate their children to inculcate them from the disease of Socialism. Freedom is only ONE generation away from extinction.

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It’s a Grand Old Flag!               

One of the most striking changes that I witnessed following the events of September 11th, 2001 was that in the days that followed that despicable  terrorist attack against the USA, suddenly everyone was a patriot  and nearly every house was displaying an American Flag. Unfortunately, instant patriots do not last. While slightly more than half the nation remained vigilant, the new instant patriots slowly went back to their old ways.  Since the TERRORIST ATTACK that destroyed the Twin Towers and damaged the Pentagon, an entire generation has been born and these 18 year olds and younger have been taught such lies as the US deserved the attack, it wasn’t TERRORISM, and most recently to quote the words of DEMOCRAT  Representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019 Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, “Some people did something.”    

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“The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”– Thomas Sowell

God, guns, and guts made America great!

Changes in public education have slowly removed the teaching of The Bible in schools, trivialized or eliminated entirely the faith of the Founding Fathers, and streamlined American history in favor of teaching world history and world religions. Children are being taught what to think, not how to think. Civil discourse has all but disappeared and topics of religion, politics, and economics have become the big three no-nos of ‘polite’ conversation.   These are the same tactics that Mao Tse Tung and Adolph Hitler utilized when they created The Red Guard and The Hitler Youth. By co-opting and corrupting the minds of impressionable children, they were able to create brainwashed young adults whom they used to change and  destroy any opposition to ‘the party line’.  These useful idiots are exactly whom Saul Alinsky’s  protégés will use to attempt to win the 2020 election.  In the USA, the head of the DNC Nancy Pelosi wants to lower the voting age to 16 because it’s “important to capture kids when they’re in high school”. DNC Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was pushing her ‘Green New Deal’ and attempting to convince the youth of the nation that is something isn’t done,  the world will end in 12 years. Such attempts by the Democrats to sway children to ‘The Dark Side’ should strike terror into the heart of every parent in this country.   We need to ignite the spark of patriotism in our children so they can become a light against the darkness that threatens to destroy our land.

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2020 Vision

In 2016, Donald J. Trump was elected 45th President of the USA to the stunned disbelief of every Democrat. A grassroots campaign lead by conservative Christians and right-wing Republicans helped launch this great patriot into the oval office.  A constant barrage of Fake News  has been slandering this man since day one. Trump has been on record for over thirty years as saying that he would only run for president if he felt this nation was in danger of being destroyed, and that was exactly what the previous administration was in the process of. All of the freedoms that make America great were being slowly attacked, and Trump was the only man who could stand up to the career politicians and ‘Drain the Swamp’.  No American president in our lifetime has loved and defended our nation and our way of life more than Donald. J. Trump. He has been fulfilling his campaign promises since day one, and this terrifies the Liberals.  They know that when he wins re-election in 2020, the DNC will never regain power in their lifetime.  Currently there are 21 contenders from the DNC considering a run for the White House in 2020. This is the largest attempt by any party to seize power, and such attempts usually end in failure with few exceptions. In 2020, just as in 2016, there will be many new first-time voters 18 and up. We need to convince them of the importance of voting for another four years of the Trump presidency because the fate of our nation and its continued prosperity are on the line. Nearly all of the DNC hopefuls including Kamilla Harris and Joe Biden claim the 1st thing they will do is repeal the Trump Tax Cut, and instill higher taxes.  Taxation is theft, and when Walter Mondale tried this tactic with the Reagan Tax  Cuts, he lost 49 states in 1984. Donald J. Trump could become the first US president to win all 50 states in the Electoral College, another creation by the Founding Fathers which the Liberals want to abolish. Liberals want to re-write or re-interpret the Constitution and preferably ban all private gun ownership, meaning only criminals will own guns.   Also, having lost the liberal majority in the Supreme Court, they want to change than as well.   The 2020 President Election may be the most important election since Abraham Lincoln won, and if Donald J. Trump loses, America loses. Were  we go one, we go all. Our entire way of life is under attack.  As always, I wish you success and happiness!

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WHO’S MINDING YOU!

Escaping the ‘nanny-state’!

whos minding you

This is the forth article in the ‘Who’s Minding’ series. For the first three parts read Who’s Minding the Bank?, Who’s Minding the Market?,  and  Who’s Minding the Food?

I’ve got no strings

To hold me down

To make me fret

Or make me frown

I had strings

But now I’m free

There are no strings on me–  song I’ve Got No Strings by Dickie Jones, 1940

Everyone has an agenda. Some are obvious, are some subtle, and some are hidden and secretive.  Except in the most rare of cases, the person pulling the strings wants what’s best for themselves above all else. Sometimes what’s good for them is also good for everyone else,  and sometimes it’s unashamedly mercenary.  Without question, the two thousand plus billionaires of the world wield great power over the average person.  They are the modern kings of today’s world, and they are playing a Game of Kings to stake out their own little section of the world to rule.  They are the tops of the pyramid, the kings of the hill.  Next in line are the millionaires and multi-millionaires. They too have great power over the lives of the average person.  Independent, hard working people come next. At the very bottom of the pyramid are the wretched dregs of society. People who have either giving up on trying to better themselves, and are dependent upon social welfare programs and the kindness of strangers to survive.

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If you are fortunate enough to live in the United States of America,  then you are blessed indeed. The USA is a land of limitless opportunities, and built upon the tenants of freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Since the nation was founded 243 years ago, it has been the target of powerful people who want to subvert and destroy our great nation. For parts of the nineteenth and all of the twentieth centuries,  the Democratic National Committee has been trying to remake the USA and destroy the Christian country created by the Founding Fathers.  Democrat is indeed the new communist as the liberal left slinks further  and further towards radical socialist agendas and establishing a permanent power over the average citizen. In their new vision of America, we the people will be dependent on the government from cradle to grave.  They will slander and attempt to destroy anyone who dares to oppose them.

Our nation and its government is BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE.  There is nothing wrong with wealth. There is nothing wrong with success. We live in a capitalist society and our economy grows through consumerism.   If people are buying, selling, and trading, there are jobs being created.  What is wrong is when a government tries to enslave all its citizens and destroy the means of creating wealth while raising taxes and killing jobs. This is what Barack Hussein Obama II was in the process of doing, and what Hillary Rodham Clinton would have continued had she been elected.  Fortunately,  there was a very powerful patriot, billionaire Donald J. Trump who was willing to fight to save our nation from those who were willing to save it.  Trump’s love for our nation exceeds that of any president in our lifetime, even greater than Ronald Reagan. Fortunately, WE THE PEOPLE banded together in such force to elect this great man to the highest office. Donald J. Trump has been insulted, slandered, belittled, and bashed by all those who oppose him. The liberals are losing, and they know it!

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  • Billionaires control our world.
  • They control our banks.
  • They control our economy and industry.
  • They control our food.
  • They control our media.
  • They control our communications and social networks.

They control so many aspects of our lives, but they can only control us if we allow them.  All of the media, communications, and social networks THEY created can also benefit US if we take the time to navigate the sea of lies and misinformation that powerful LEFTIST billionaires are imposing upon us.  Every wealth group from the ultra-poor to the mega-rich can be divided into two main camps, the left (liberal) and the right (conservative). There are also two other smaller subgroups that are far dangerous to our nation. The centralist, who can flip-flop on issues at the drop of a hat, and the anarchist who wants no government of any kind and doesn’t care about politics at all.  Both of these groups are products of the post-modern school of thought which claims there is no right or wrong.

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In God We Trust!

There was a reason that Madalyn Murray O’Hair fought hard to ban studying the Bible in public schools in 1963. She was a militant feminist, communist, and atheist who founded the group American Atheists.  She  claimed that religion was “a crutch” and an “irrational reliance on superstitions and supernatural nonsense”.  In reality this was all part of a greater plan. The USA was founded as a Christian nation, and by removing the study of the Bible from public schools, O’Hair was sowing the seeds for the destruction of the US.  Without God, there is no USA. 

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. – Psalm 33:12

There is a difference between religion and spirituality, just as there is a difference between morals and ethics. Unfortunately few take the time to learn the distinction.  Spirituality is a belief in God, and the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. Religion is a system of rules and doctrines.  This is why Jesus said in James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. ”   

There is no such thing as a moral atheist because morals are based on Biblical absolutes whereas situational ethics are fluid and can change with the individual or situation. Good can be bad and bad can be good  in the mind of post modernists. God is good ALWAYS and when you eliminate the study of the Bible, you erode the moral backbone of the nation.  If something is legal, it is not unethical. If it were unethical, it would be illegal. Immoral is always immoral, whether it is legal or not. So the word of God is not a ‘controlling’ force, but a guiding factor which is for our benefit.  Warning us about destructive behaviors is not HATE, it is truly being done  for our benefit so that we may life a healthy, happy, and productive life.  The only time I’ve ever seen happy atheists are when they were insulting Christians.

The bottom line is that there are many forces in this world that are trying to control us, even up to and including the point of a gun.  The power we give these earthly forces over us is an illusion we allow them, one that we can shatter at any time. WE THE PEOPLE have the real power, and if God is with us, who can stand against us? As always, I wish you success and happiness!  

Who’s Minding The Market?

Is the game rigged?

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‘The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.’ —Brian Tracy

You’ve probably heard the old cliché ‘the rich get richer while the poor stay poor (or get poorer)’. Although this truism  is often used by the media as a way of stirring up class warfare, it would be more accurate to say, ‘you get what you pay for.’  Success expert and motivational speaker Brain Tracy often remarks that the real reason people are poor is because they haven’t decided to be rich. The truth hurts, but facts are facts. Facts may offend, but facts are incontrovertible, transcendent of whomever says them. Rich people didn’t get rich by making poor people poor, for the most part, they did it by fearlessly investing their money somewhere. 

Knowledge is power

There is a lot of fake news out there, and our society has never been more plugged in and connected. Unfortunately there is a big difference between reading something and understanding it. Not every bit of information being relayed to you is for your benefit. Some information like advertising contains subliminal messages to entice you to purchase their product. Is that flashy new model automobile really that much better than the car you own, or than the dozen other advertisements from other car companies all of which claim to be the best and most reliable on the road? At the end of the day, you can only drive as fast as the posted speed limit, and few people are impressed by your car for very long, if ever. A 17-year old Hyundai Accent that still runs will get you to work just as fast as a brand new one.

Subliminal messages appear in just about every piece of information presented to you. It is a hidden suggestion in the content intended to sway your opinion to their side of the issue.  Someone is pulling your strings, and you won’t even know it unless you learn to read between the lines.  The poor are exploited by the rich because the rich have power, and the poor lack it.

Money is power

Financial freedom is one example of power that the rich have. When you have enough money, you can do anything and go anywhere.  With the possible exception of the nouveau riche, all rich and successful people invest in the stock market. Poor people do not invest in the stock market for a variety of reasons.

  • The most overused excuse is that they lack money. The reality is that they waste money on junk.
  • The next excuse is that they don’t want to lose their money. The reality is your money is gone the moment you spend it on any consumable item. Try getting your money back for the pack of cigarettes you smoked.
  • Stocks are very expensive.  Amazon may sell in excess of $1860 a share, but there are literally thousands of ‘penny stocks’ that cost less than a pack of smokes or even a can of soda.
  • They don’t understand it. That is a valid excuse. A fool and their money are soon parted. However, it is a limitation which can be easily overcome by study and time. Leaders are readers!

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“It’s my own desire

It’s my own remorse

Help me to decide

Help me make the most Of freedom and of pleasure

Nothing ever lasts forever

Everybody wants to rule the world.”   – song Everybody wants to rule the world by Tears for Fears (1985)

Power is power

The rich have knowledge, money, and power. This allows them to control various aspects of our lives.  Some rich people like President Donald J. Trump root for the common man and want every citizen to achieve whatever goals and dreams they aspire to. Others like Bernie Sanders want to control every aspect of our lives from cradle to grave. To warped frustrated old men like Sanders, we are not people, we are cattle. Unfortunately many young mush-heads believe the socialist garbage being spooned down their throats. America is a great nation because of Christianity and capitalism.  No nation on Earth is perfect, but the USA is the greatest bastion of freedom, liberty, and opportunity in the world, and there are powerful men that are working hard to change that. The current generation, known as millennials, are the first generation born in the USA not to be richer than their parents.  They were duped and manipulated by misinformation, fake news, liberal teachers, and mass media.

Is the stock market being gamed?

All media outlets are ultimately owned  by the rich, and they can use these media outlets to influence the thoughts and behaviors of the masses.  If a financial expert on a top news program  suddenly proclaims that the bull market is nearly over, some people panic and sell their shares because the price drops. A short while later, the stock rebounds to new heights. Not only has the skittish investor  lost on their initial investment, but they also missed out on potential gains had they held on to their shares.  An important book to read on this topic is Unshakeable by Tony Robbins. It is impossible to ‘time the market’ and a wise investor knows that bull markets are around long, and bear markets only last a short while. The key is to stay the course. The market is not rigged, but there is some level of manipulation being used against unseasoned investors to exploit their fears. As Warren Buffet would say, ‘when everyone’s selling, he’s buying’.

Facebook Stock is currently trading at $178.28 as of  April 18th 2019. The 52 week high was $218.62 and the low was $123.02. If you panicked and sold it at $123, you would have missed a nearly 50% gain. If you sold at $218, you could have locked in any gains you made, and reinvested it at a later time buying something else, or buying shares at the current $178 price in the hopes of future gains. If you had bought Facebook in 2012 at its IPO of $38, you would have made out like a bandit in either case. Imagine how the people feel who sold their shares a week after the IPO when the stock plunged to about $26 per share and so-called experts were calling it a bad investment! Better yet, imagine if you had brought AMAZON in 1997 for its IPO at a mere $18 a share. A $10,000 investment in that company alone would have made you a millionaire today.  What you hear about a company on the news may cause you to panic and sell at the wrong time, or encourage you to buy at the wrong time, or worse yet never even buy at all. Past performance is no indication of future performance.

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Inside, OUT!

You may have heard of Insider trading, where sensitive information about a company is clandestinely shared with an individual so that they can gain an advantage over the average investor. This is against the law, MOSTLY. There are exceptions to this rule for certain people, and possibly even ways to theoretically circumvent the laws if you are rich and powerful.

What exactly is insider trading? In order for a person to be considered an ‘insider’ they need to have either a 10% stake in that company, or access to valuable, non-public information about that company.  CEOs, presidents, vice-presidents, and board members  are all considered insiders.  In order to LEGALLY trade on shares  IF YOU ARE AN INSIDER,  these transactions must be properly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and are done with advance filings. It is also illegal to share insider information to protect friends and family members who might own stock in that company.  That’s what happened to Martha Stewart in 2001 when she found out  her friend’s company ImClone’s new cancer drug was being rejected by the FDA, and she suddenly sold all her shares days before the official announcement.   Attempting to save $250,000 landed her in jail. Illegal is still illegal even if you don’t like the law. Had she just waited until news of the rejection of the new drug was publicly aired, she might have taken a little or no loss, avoided jail, and would have been able to write off any losses as a tax credit. Greed can get you in trouble fast.

The bottom line

You will never be able to spend your way into prosperity. The only way to get rich quick is to do it slowly. Rich people run the world, and they got rich because they made the proper choices, took risks, and invested their money. They earned their money the old fashioned way, they worked for it. The good news is that opportunity exists everywhere if you are willing to look for it, and do the work. As always, I wish you success and happiness!

How DEEP is ‘The Deep State’?

Casting light on the ‘Shadow Government’!

HOW DEEP IS THE SWAMP

(This is the second half of a two part article. For part one, read DATA FACT? )

From the Pony Express to the Super-Information Highway

In the 18th century, newspapers were printed to inform the populace of important events and gossip. Even with the fastest horses, news was weeks, or even months old by the time readers got the story. By the middle of the 19th century the invention of Samuel F.B Morse’s telegraph and Morse code made it possible for news to travel first hundreds, then thousands of miles the very same day it occurred. The first trans-Atlantic cable was laid in 1866 making communication with Europe possible without a ocean voyage. The invention of the telephone in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell next made the transmission of sound possible over the wires. About two decades later in the mid 1890s, Guglielmo Marconi developed the first radio. It wasn’t until Christmas Eve 1906 that the first public radio broadcast was sent by Reginald A. Fessenden. Once again, two decades after that John Logie Baird publicly demonstrated the first working television system on January 26th 1926. These last three inventions became the universal standard for widespread news and information dissemination for the next sixty years, up until the invention of the internet in 1989.

Presidential Firsts

  • Rutherford B. Hayes the 19th president was the first president to use a telephone in 1877, He had the first phone installed in the oval office, it’s number was 1.
  • President Calvin Coolidge delivered what is now known as the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Dec. 6, 1923, the first presidential address to be broadcast on the radio.  A later president, Franklin D, Roosevelt addressed Americans thirty times regarding the economy and the war abroad in a series of ‘fireside chats’ from 1933 until his death in 1944.
  • Franklin D, Roosevelt was the first president to appear on television at the opening ceremonies for the World’s Fair on April 30, 1939 in Queens NY.   
  • George H.W. Bush was the first president to use e-mail in 1992, three years after the invention of the internet.
  • On May 18, 2015 Barack Hussein Obama II sent his first tweet from the first Twitter account dedicated exclusively to the U.S. President (@POTUS); his first reply to a tweet directed at him was a tongue-in-cheek exchange with former President Bill Clinton (@billclinton).

Yeah, you read that right, Barack Hussein Obama II was sending tweets on Twitter for over a year and a half while he was still president, yet constantly the media talks about the reckless tweeting done by current US president Donald J. Trump. Double standard anyone?

The importance of draining the swamp

“I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service and of retiring with hands as clean as they are empty.” – Thomas Jefferson to Diodati, 1807.

When the Founding Fathers first started our great nation, they originally viewed the task of leading our country and representing our citizens as a short term obligation. Once their civic duty was completed, they would return to their farms, farming being the chief occupation of most people during our nation’s infancy. Government leadership was never meant to be a long-term, or life-long career. America was crafted by very wise men to be a nation of freedom and liberty, with a government of the people, by the people for the people. It was the opposite of a monarchy, and devoid of tyranny. Since its founding, America has been constantly attacked by various foreign powers intent on extinguishing that light of freedom.

“What if elections were actually useful tools of social control? What if they just provided the populace with meaningless participation in a process that validates an establishment that never meaningfully changes? What if that establishment doesn’t want and doesn’t have the consent of the governed? What if the two-party system were actually a mechanism used to limit so-called public opinion? What if there were more than two sides to every issue, but the two parties wanted to box you in to one of their corners?” – Andrew P. Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey

 We as a nation have solidly locked our political system into a two-party system, split into two factions. The Republicans, AKA the Grand Old Party (GOP), and the Democrats or (DNC) which stands for Democratic National Committee. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican President and was also (unfortunately) the first president to be assassinated in an attempt to alter the balance of power. The 1864 election occurred during the Civil War. In the interest of attempting to unify the nation, Lincoln chose Andrew Johnson, a DEMOCRAT as his vice-presidential running mate. The war ended on April 9th 1865. Five days later, while President Lincoln was attending a play, he was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth. Booth then shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis! (Ever thus to tyrants!) The South is avenged,” and fled on horseback. Lincoln died the next day, and Booth was hunted down and killed days later. Ever since, both president and vice-president have been from the same political party. There have been 30 assassination attempts on US presidents. Only 4 have succeeded, but that number is still way too high.          

“The fact is that the ghost of John McCain and all of the other big business, Chamber of Commerce-type of Republicans that have been selling out the American people, that’s where the Republican Party needs to reconnect, and they can’t simply rely on the Democrat Party falling apart.”– Michelle Malkin

Who watches the watchmen?

Regardless of whoever has been the legitimately elected president, less prominent officials have been undermining political agendas they disagreed with, and hanging on to power and wealth at the expense of the American people.   Tax-and-spend has been the strategy of the DNC as they punish the  rich, and erode our freedoms one bad  law at a time. For most of the 20th century democrats have been promising to end poverty by enacting more and more government mandated social welfare programs and higher taxes on the ‘greedy rich’ so that they pay their  ‘fair share’ despite the fact that 86% of all the taxes collected are PAID BY THE RICH. Across the aisle, the Republicans have been promising to reduce the size of the government, cutting wasteful spending and ineffective programs. As some members of BOTH parties have their coffers being filled by lobbyists, they have resisted any real change in the current status. There are many elected officials who are nothing but the puppets of powerful private citizens who have billions of dollars at their disposal, like George Soros for one.  The first Washington outsider dedicated to ending the status-quo and Making America Great Again is current President Donald J. Trump.  He was been  slandered by the media and referred to as a lying, mentally ill racist who needs to be imprisoned or impeached. Constant headlines of Russian collusion have been plastered on newspapers and magazines, or discussed on radio, television, or internet news show. Media outlets owned by powerful billionaires who hate Trump.       

The politically-motivated witch hunt against President Trump  has failed to produce any evidence of Russian collusion after two years. Special counsel Robert Mueller has finished his investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election, and the will be no further indictments. The report proved nothing.  Now Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi  is attempting to cover-up this by saying that she and her fellow Democrats feel that impeaching  Trump would be bad for the country and  ‘He’s just not worth it.’ This is the equivalent of a five-year-old watching someone do something they could never do, and then saying they could do it too, but they just don’t want to.  The DNC couldn’t prove collusion, because the was NO collusion. They can’t impeach President Trump even if they were to successfully frame  him because they don’t have enough votes to do it even if they wanted to.  This entire dog-and-pony show was meant as an attempt to brainwash Americans through the fake news media so that they could regain control of the country.

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Protecting the nation!

“As president the protection of the nation is my highest duty. Yesterday, Congress passed a dangerous resolution that if signed into law would put countless Americans in danger, very grave danger. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution, and I have the duty to veto it.”

The main reason the DNC is so opposed to the border wall with Mexico is because Trump wants it. In 2006 top democrats voted for a wall. Protecting the people of the USA from all enemies foreign and domestic is the most important task of the government, and anyone attempting to undermine that goal needs to be removed from office. Term limits would be an excellent way to keep alleged members of the secret ‘Shadow Government’ from remaining in power to gain wealth. A dozen republican senators voted against Trump’s wall largely because they hail from states with term limits, because they were RINO republicans. (Republican In Name Only). Trump issued the first veto of his presidency on March 15th 2019 to override the block, ensuring that the wall will be built.

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Remember the USA really is only a two party system.  So pick a party that you can win with was been the mantra of some career politicians. We have a two term limit for the president, we need it for every elected official to prevent the abuse of power. We also need to eliminate their full pension for life compensation, and replace it with  a more reasonable pension plan. The government was never meant to be a retirement home for millionaires.    

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REPUBLICAN SENATORS VOTING AGAINST TRUMP: 
Mitt Romney of Utah, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Marco Rubio of Florida and Roy Blunt of Missouri.

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For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.– Ephesians 6:12

The Strong Survive

All of the over 2500 billionaires worldwide reached their financial peaks because they fought their way to the top every inch of the way. They are the modern kings of this world. World domination and it’s affects on the geopolitical-socioeconomic fabric of our planet has become a game of kings . Money is power, and when you have more money the some nations, the next goal becomes about bragging rights and ego. Whenever you concentrate that many type-A personalities in a group, the fighting for dominance and leadership will get ugly fast. No bones about it, most of them want to be number one at all costs, and are willing to do anything to achieve that title. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Approximately 10% of all billionaires are deci-billionaires,  having tens of billions, but ONLY TWO are centi-billionaires, having amassed over $100 billion each. Jeff Bezos of Amazon is at the top, having taken the reins of commerce, and Bill Gates of Microsoft has conquered the field of computer software and technology. Both are Americans, both are democrats, and both hate Donald Trump.

The information we see now is all but instant. As billionaires own media outlets, they can influence the information we see, either through editorial guidelines or with computer algorithms which track and limit what we see on news-feeds. They can employ their minions in the government or  the entertainment industry to trash or endorse whatever, or whoever they wish. Discernment and the ability to read ‘between the lines’ is necessary to avoid becoming road kill  on the super information highway during the age of information. Learning to think for yourselves as opposed to  adopting the opinions of the masses are key to becoming successful. Always remember, you are being lied to daily. Someone, somewhere wants to convince you that right is wrong, war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. Research what is being told to you, and always consider the source. 

Just like Franklin D, Roosevelt commandeered the radio for his ‘fireside chats’, Donald J. Trump has taken to Twitter to directly address the nation, cutting out the middleman who wants to silence the truth. 

President Donald J Trump is not a perfect man. The only perfect man born in the history of the world was Jesus Christ. God is known for using imperfect men to fulfill his perfect plan for the world. Trump is president because Jesus wants him there. He may not be perfect, but he’s the president our nation needs right now. He is a patriot, and he loves America. As always, I wish you success and happiness.  

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DATA FACT?

What a tangled web we have weaved!

(part one of a two part series)

DATA FACT

Conservative Republican Ronald W. Reagan was the 40th president of the United States. Shortly after taking office on January 20th, 1981, he began his goal of making America great again by implementing sweeping new political and economic initiatives. Dubbed “Reaganomics”, his supply-side economic policies advocated reducing government spending, economic deregulation, and most importantly tax rate reduction. These measures to spur economic growth were directly responsible for the prosperity seen in the 1980’s.    

One of the most radical changes to society which sprang from ‘the decade of wealth’ was the sudden birth of the home computer. Once a staple of science fiction, the idea of actually owning your own computer became a reality. The earliest practical uses were business applications and word processing, as well as early text based games. Computer technology advanced rapidly. An observation by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles about every two years, while production costs halved, became known as Moore’s Law.

Many tech savvy individuals experimented with software development to justify the cost of purchasing these very expensive machines. There was no easy way of transferring data although there were some primitive networks for those who knew how to contact and connect to them with a modem. This changed on March 12th 1989 when Tim Berners-Lee dreamed up a system of Information management allowing data to be exchanged by multiple computers over a vast network, which we now refer to as the Internet and the World Wide Web. In 1992, IBM developed the first ‘smartphone’ called the Simon Personal Communicator. Today, thirty years after the birth of the internet, people have the sum total of human knowledge at their fingertips and the world has never been more connected.

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A fist full of dollars

The are many ways to make money or save money using the internet and the world wide web, whole books have been written on it, thousands of them.

There are crowd-fund platforms to help you market your invention, e-banks which promise better interest rates and less fees, sites with personal finance tips and tricks, streaming media to watch or download, market places to buy and sell new or used items, the list goes on. The net is big business!

The magnificent seven

  1. Staying in touch – E-mail and text messages now exceed personal  letters and phone calls.
  2. Making friends – Social media allows us to connect with people we would never have met. InstantCoffeeWisdom has over a hundred followers from sixty countries around the world. My twitter account has over seven hundred followers, dozens of whom I’ve met and interact with. I’m grateful for all my friends and supporters.  
  3. Being creative – There are endless DIY tutorials online to demonstrate and inspire.
  4. Finding help – Got a problem? There’s a website that has an answer or solution.
  5. Learning – Online courses teach you anything if you study and apply yourself.
  6. Media – Nearly everything that’s ever been written, recorded, or filmed, exists somewhere online, usually available for free if you take the time to search for it.
  7. Shopping – E-commerce has changed the way we shop, and in many cases has brought about the death of some prominent chains. Radio Shack, Toys R Us, and Borders Books are all long gone, casualties of online shopping. Someone, somewhere in the world has the exact same, or very similar item for much less, and in some cases with free shipping.  You just need to search for it.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Everything I’ve listed so far has been good. The bad part is that with so much information and equal mis-information it’s easy to get the wrong source and end up believing in lies. Not everything online is beneficial, and sometimes digging through the ‘fake news’ to unearth the facts isn’t like finding a needle in a haystack, it’s like trying to find a needle in Kansas! The signal to noise ratio is just that great. Worse yet, certain social media platforms use algorithms to selectively edit what you see. Cookies stored in your computer’s memory record and track your browsing history, and bots customize what you see.

The ugly part of the web can range from annoying to horrific. There are some things online that you do NOT want to see, the stuff of nightmares placed online either as a warning, or because some sick individual wanted to share it because they liked it. What has been seen cannot be unseen, beware! There is an entire ‘dark web’ that’s lying under the surface and is just one misplaced or misguided keystroke away. There are internet ‘trolls’ who live to post hateful and hurtful comments in any post that has a reply field. Whole web pages have been created by cyber-bullies to intimidate and humiliate their victims. People have committed suicide over such personal attacks.There are more scams to trick you into handing over personal info than you can shake a stick at. Black-hat hackers have created so many forms of malware that anti-virus protection is a must on any computer. And then there’s the 800 lb gorilla in the room, PORN. When I was a young boy, porn was sold wrapped in plastic, and not kept on display. XXX theaters were in the seedy part of the city where you were afraid to walk in broad daylight. You had to go way out of your way to obtain smut, and now it’s in nearly every home in America, just a click away.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” – Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. – Luke 6:45 ESV

The internet is a tool, and like any tool it can be used for good or evil.  Whoever controls the flow of information can control you. Are you being lied to? Do you even realize it? Who is Q? Ponder these questions until next week, and check back for part two, HOW DEEP IS THE DEEP STATE? As always, I wish you success and happiness!

How big is the Federal deficit?

Can the debt ever be repaid?

How big is the federal debt

“A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” – Alexander Hamilton

The average American doesn’t understand how money, budgets, and debt work at the local level. Personal finances are referred to by economists as ‘microeconomics’. When you start dealing with the finances of nations, your discussing what is known as ‘macroeconomics’. In any case, the underlying principals of income, budgeting, and debt are basically the same, only the scale is different. Savings is always good, and debt is never your best choice. Debt in and of itself is just a tool, but it can quickly spiral out of hand, and you are always spending more money when you go into debt than if you were to pay the full amount upfront in cash. The decision that needs to be greatly mulled-over is the benefits of waiting verses the benefits of instant gratification. 

Going into debt for any reason is never to be taken lightly, and should NEVER be used for trivial pursuits. Sometimes it can be very important to make an purchase in order to establish a platform for future benefits.  On a personal level, an example of this could be purchasing an automobile. There are not many individuals who buy brand new cars outright with cash, though older, used cars might be attainable. In some parts of the USA a car is a necessity. You can’t get to work, or buy groceries because there is no direct public transportation available.  Buying items you really don’t need like the latest video game, or the newest smart phone are examples of foolish debt.

In 1803, the USA doubled in size through a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. Known as The Louisiana Purchase, this deal was more than the country could afford even at the bargain price of 3¢ per acre, yet it was also an offer that then president Thomas Jefferson could not refuse.  The purchase deal  had to be paid immediately because Napoleon needed the funds for a war with Great Britain.  As a result the US was forced to borrow the funds from two banks in Europe at 6 per cent interest.  It took twenty years to pay back the loan, and cost $8 million in interest fees.  Even after the repayment of the loan in 1823, the USA remained in debt for another twelve years.  On January 1, 1835, president Andrew Jackson paid off the entire national debt. That was the only time in U.S. history that had been accomplished.              

Most nations have national or sovereign debts, and there is nothing wrong with having a debt in many cases. Most creditors don’t worry until the sovereign debt is more than 77 percent of GDP, according to the World Bank. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio was 105 percent. That’s the $21.974 trillion U.S. debt as of December 31, 2018, divided by the $20.891 trillion nominal GDP. So the USA is in ‘the danger zone’ where creditors could begin panicking.  This was one of the reason we lost our historical AAA+ credit after the deficit doubled under the Obama administration.  

The national debt is made up of a few things, and is the total of all the bonds held at the Federal Reserve. Money begins and ends with the issuing body. When certain debts are extinguished, so is the money that created them. US Federal reserve notes are based entirely upon debt having been created through the process of fractional reserve banking. In this process, bank notes are printed and then loaned out to be repaid over time with interest. Our money is not based on a gold standard, or backed by any form of precious metals. A dollar is worth a dollar because the US Federal Reserve Bank tells you that it’s worth a dollar. It is a promissory note printed on paper or stamped on a metal coin that is redeemable for an equal amount in goods and services.  For all intents and purposes, a dollar is little more than an I.O.U.  Since all money created has interest attached to it, the amount of debt will always exceed the amount of money  in circulation.

When president Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve Bank by signing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, he created the perfect excuse of widespread spending abuse by the government. If planned government spending exceeded the federal budget, the deficit could be plugged by borrowing the funds from the Federal Reserve Bank, at interest, for the public good.  As a result, the federal deficit was  $25 billion by 1934, and rose to $250 billion by 1945. In 1982, the national debt reached  $1 trillion for the first time.  There has almost always been massive government over-spending which blew the budget. In the past fifty years,  only five years have had balanced federal budgets: 1969 under President Richard Nixon; 1998, 1999 and 2000 under Bill Clinton; and 2001 under George W. Bush.

The worst example of government over-spending occurred during the two terms of the 44th president,  Barack Hussein Obama II , the worst president in history.   On January 20, 2009, when he was sworn in, the debt was $10.626 trillion. On January 20, 2017, when he left, it was $19.947. President Donald J. Trump has been doing his best to slow the out of control spending, and he has been making progress.  It’s going to take time to repair the damage done by the previous administration.

“President Obama has almost doubled our national debt to more than $19 trillion, and growing. And yet, what do we have to show for it? Our roads and bridges are falling apart, our airports are in Third World condition, and forty-three million Americans are on food stamps.” – Donald J.Trump

The ‘I’ in Team

You earn so much in personal income each year. Your personal income is analogous to the national income from tax revenue.  Your personal budget is like a small scale version of the federal budget. Think of the national debt as you would your personal credit card. It’s the excess that has been borrowed plus interest that has been charged to bridge a spending gap.  If you’re still following along with me in this example, you’re smarter than the average American. 

The nation’s debt limit is similar to the limit your credit card company places on your spending. But there’s one significant difference. Congress is in charge of both its spending and the debt limit. When you max-out your credit card, one of three things happens:

  • You request a limit increase, so that you can continue spending more money than you can afford.
  • You request an addition line of credit, so that you can continue spending more money than you can afford.
  • You stop spending more money than you can afford because no one will extend you additional credit.

On February 9, 2018, President Trump signed a bill suspending the debt ceiling until March 1, 2019. As a result, the limit will be whatever level the debt is on that day. On February 11, 2019, it was $22 trillion. At that level, the U.S. Treasury estimates it will run out of money in September 2019. The debt ceiling is a limit that Congress imposes on how much debt the federal government can carry at any given time. When the ceiling is reached, the U.S. Treasury Department cannot issue any more Treasury bills, bonds, or notes. It can only pay bills as it receives tax revenues. If the revenue isn’t enough, the Treasury Secretary must choose between paying federal employee salaries, Social Security benefits, or the interest on the national debt. Congress created the debt ceiling in the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917. In 1974, Congress created the budget process that allows it to control spending. That’s why Congress raises the debt ceiling. Congress must raise the debt ceiling so the United States doesn’t default on its debt. During the last 10 years, Congress increased the debt ceiling 10 times. It raised it four times in 2008 and 2009 alone.

In addition to the current national debt of $22 Trillion, the USA also has additional debt in the form of unfunded obligations, or future services that the country has promised to pay for years in the future. This is an estimated additional $80 trillion, but might be as high as $200 trillion according to some estimates.

According to experts, there are three possible ways to pay off the deficit:

  1. Raise Taxes
  2. Cut Spending
  3. Print more money

Unfortunately, each of these by themselves are all bad ideas.

Raising Taxes

All taxes raised in this country are paid for by the top 40% of wage earners.  So 60% of the workers in our country pay ZERO in federal income tax.  This is why tax cuts are always tax cuts on the wealthy. It’s because only the wealthy are paying taxes, and that’s not fair. When you raise taxes on the wealthy, you stymie economic growth and slow the economy, thus reducing tax revenue.  Consistently over time, the government has collected 17% in tax revenue of the total of the portion of the US economy regardless of the tax rate.

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Cutting Spending

When you cut spending there are certain places you can and can’t cut, plus when you do cut some federal program, the beneficiaries of that program are going to have a hissy fit.  50% of the federal budget funds social security and medicate. So you can’t cut that. Salaries of federal employees also can’t be cut, nor can you cut military spending unless you want to weaken the defense of our nation. The only fair way to cut spending here would be to phase out certain programs, and privatize some federal jobs.  The problem with privatizing some jobs is that they are tied into national security,  so only cutting jobs or lowering the starting pay for new hires could reduce costs. Also this would only affect agencies that receive tax dollars to pay bills. Quasi-government agencies like the United States Postal Service would be unaffected (as they were during the recent government shutdown) because they receive no  funding from tax dollars. All of their income is derived from postage sales.            

Printing more money.

When you print more money, you increase the number of  dollars in circulation and create inflation, so the spending power of the dollar is diminished. Also depending on how fast you increase the money supply, you run the risk of galloping or hyper inflation. Galloping inflation is when prices rise 10% each month. Hyper inflation is worse at 50% per month. Now as costs rise, salaries eventually rise to compensate, but any savings you have never increases and is worth less.  Inflation is a tax on savings.

“Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.”– Herbert Hoover

Is there a way out?

According to economics professor Antony Davies there is a way to balance the federal budget within 5 years

1) Cut ALL federal spending 10% NO EXCEPTIONS.

2) Maintain this spending level for 4 years, no increases, and no adjustments for inflation.

At the end of 5 years the budget will be balanced.

If you keep the budget balanced and maintain that fixed level, eventually the economy will grow and the deficit will be paid off in about 80 years.  There are ways to do it faster. The federal government collects $3.3 trillion in revenue and spends $4.3 trillion. So a straightforward way to pay off the debt would be to increase taxes 20% and cut spending 20% to run a $1 trillion surplus. That would pay off the nominal debt in about 15 years, depending on economic growth and interest rates.  Unfortunately both of these seem unlikely.  It is still possible to accomplish, but pie-in-the-sky programs like the Green New Deal proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would destroy our economy, as would an expansion of the welfare state, or any move towards socialism. The best way to increase tax revenue would be through a fair tax or flat tax in which EVERY working person pays an EQUAL percentage tax, with no possible deductions or exemptions. Such a tax would drastically raise the taxes on the poorest citizens while dramatically lowering the taxes on the richest.  You could also eliminate the IRS, and reduce government oversight and expenses related to tax collection and processing.  Everyone would pay their fair 10%. In any case, right now we have the right man for the job sitting behind his desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington D.C.,  working overtime to Make America Great Again! As always, I wish you success and happiness!

PUNISH THE RICH?

What if Atlas shrugged?

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“We have a society in which there are an awful lot of people who have no idea that Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung all came to power promising the same kinds of things that Miss Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is promising.

“That led to mass murder, led to dictatorship, and led to genocide.

“These promises are old promises, and they invariably lead to bad things. The promise of saying to the people do what you can within the law to make your life better and your family’s life better that system works extremely well. Capitalism is a system that allows people to make something of themselves instead of oppressing other people.” – economist Ben Stein

Recent trends of new Democrats towards establishing socialism in the USA have been unsettling and depressing to most patriots and economists ‘in the know.’ The lack of education and intelligence behind those who think socialism is ‘awesome’ is just staggering. Unable to defend their irrational claims beyond ‘we won’t know until we try’, they often resort to their fallback tactics of changing the subject, or insulting the person questioning them. To make claims of new ideas being ‘scary’ or saying that a person is unqualified  to ask questions because they couldn’t understand the answer is the height of idiocy and indicative of a delusional view of reality.

There is nothing new or awesome about socialism.  The blueprint for totalitarian regimes which inspired some of the cruelest despots  in history was first co-written by Karl Marx and his lifelong friend Friedrich Engels in 1848 when they published The Communist Manifesto.  No civilized nation has ever thrived under socialism. Karl Marx spent his entire life living off the charity of others, earning what little income of his own as a writer. His radical philosophy often resulted in his being deported from one country to another, and he died in poverty  as a stateless person in 1883. Around ten of his friends in London buried his body in Highgate Cemetary.  In 2018, the city of Rheinland-Palatinate (AKA Trier) Germany sold VALUELESS ZERO EURO CURRENCY to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth.  Worthless currency to commemorate a destitute person with a worthless ideology is a hilarious attempt to cash in on souvenir-hungry collectors.    

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Millions and Billions and Trillions, oh my!

Since getting elected in November 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been pressing for a delusional  government energy program which she calls ‘The Green New Deal.’  Two of the key points of this fools’ errand would be massive government spending which would more than DOUBLE, TRIPLE, and possibly even QUADRUPLE the national debt, and increasing taxes on the rich to 70% or more. In an interview with liberal newscaster Anderson Cooper  the rookie congresswoman was grilled about her unrealistic ‘Green New Deal’.

Anderson Cooper: How are you going to pay for all of this?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: No one asks how we’re gonna pay for this Space Force. No one asked how we paid for a $2 trillion tax cut. We only ask how we pay for it on issues of housing, healthcare and education. How do we pay for it? With the same exact mechanisms that we pay for military increases for this Space Force. For all of these— ambitious policies.

Anderson Cooper: There are Democrats, obviously, who are worried about your affect on the party. Democratic Senator Chris Coons, said about left-leaning Democrats, “If the next two years is just a race to offer increasingly unrealistic proposals, it’ll be difficult for us to make a credible case we should be allowed to govern again.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: What makes it unrealistic?

Anderson Cooper: How to pay for it.

In that same interview from the Jan 6th 2019 episode of the news show Sixty Minutes, the former waitress turned rookie congresswoman went on to claim the rich didn’t pay their fair share of taxes, and that President Donald J. Trump was a racist. Ironically, many high-ranking Democrats think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a fruitcake.  

The so-called Green New Deal may tally between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10-years, concludes the center-right policy American Action Forum, which is run by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who directed the non-partisan CBO from from 2003 to 2005.

Here’s the reality, the majority of all taxes collected in the USA are ALREADY, paid for by the rich, and the county CAN’T AFFORD any NEW spending of ANY kind because the country is BANKRUPT!  Currently, the national debt stands at over 22 Trillion dollars. The total amount of all taxes collected doesn’t even cover the existing  annual federal budget, let alone the interest we pay on the amount we owe on the national debt.  It is IMPOSSIBLE to spend your way into prosperity as you dig deeper and deeper into a bottomless pit of debt. Increasing the tax burden on the rich is like pouring gasoline to extinguish a wildfire.  

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If you examine the historical prices of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from its inception, the value of Dow was almost flat during decades of excessive taxation of the wealthiest Americans.  In 1913 the MOST the richest Americans paid was 7%. After Democrat President Woodrow Wilson encouraged Congress to pass the Revenue Act of 1916 the top tax bracket jumped to 67%, then 77% and by 1944 peaked at 94%. It never dropped below 70% until President Ronald Reagan pushed the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 through Congress and slashed the top rate down to 50%. The Eighties was a time of great national prosperity and innovation. When you free up the financial resources of the mega-wealthy,  they tend to reinvest those resources back into the economy creating new jobs, which in turn raise addition tax revenues. If you punish the wealthy, they simply leave for greener pastures, opening factories and offices in foreign countries and creating the new jobs overseas. One recent example of  this was when Jeff Bezos snapped his fingers and killed a deal which would have created 26,000 new jobs because of the constant backlash from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who objected to promised tax breaks for Amazon.    

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The Richest Men In the World  

  • #1 Jeff Bezos $137 billion USA
  • #2 Bill Gates. $89.5 billion USA
  • #3 Warren Buffett. $78.7 billion USA
  • #4 Bernard Arnault. $66.1 billion FRANCE
  • #5 Amancio Ortega. $57.7 billion SPAIN
  • #6 Carlos Slim. $56 billion MEXICO
  • #7 Mark Zuckerberg. $52.3 billion USA
  • #8 Larry Page. $50.5 billion USA

There are 2,208 billionaires dispersed in over 72 countries worldwide. This elite group is worth $9.1 trillion. Their average net worth is a record $4.1 billion.  The combined net worth of JUST the EIGHT RICHEST MEN is equal to the combined net worth of  50% of the population of the planet.  Americans lead the way with a record 585 billionaires, followed by mainland China with 373. About one quarter of all billionaires are American citizens.   Five of the 8 top richest billionaires are American citizens, and the first billionaire in world was also an American citizen, John D. Rockefeller . Again the combined total net worth of ALL billionaires worldwide is $9.1 trillion. Even though only a quarter of all billionaires are Americans, let’s ASSUME for this example that these lucky citizens  account for half of the wealth of all billionaires or $4.55 trillion.  Annual Federal spending is currently about $4.2 trillion. If we seized the entire assets of every single billionaire in the country, and left all 585 of these people standing naked, homeless, and hungry out in the street, we might be able to pay for THIS year’s federal budget.  And NEXT year, when we have ZERO billionaires living in the US, where are we going the get the funds to cover next year’s $4.2 trillion budget? If you think those 585 naked, hungry, homeless billionaires are going to suddenly become mega-rich again, I suggest then that you try standing naked outside in a big city and see how fast you gain wealth.  As always, I wish you success and happiness.

A Game Of Kings!

Shh…It’s a SECRET!

a game of kings

This is part 2 of a 2 part series, for part one read The Big Picture!

“Whatever you believe with feeling becomes your reality.” – Brian Tracy

“Keep watching the skies!” It’s the last line spoken in the 1951 Science Fiction movie “The Thing from Another World” based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s novella Who Goes There? There are many types of conspiracy theories ranging from the ludicrous tales of UFOs and alien abductions, to countless government cover-ups.  I don’t subscribe to many conspiracy theories for the simple reason that most of them are just so ‘out-there’. The few that I do occasionally look into are the more plausible ones involving ‘secret societies’ hell-bent on world domination. I’m not saying that they are true, but they are possible, albeit improbable.  All conspiracy theories contain some elements of truth, even if it’s just a place, a time, people involved, and circumstantial evidence. You can take these ‘facts’ and attempt to extrapolate a bigger picture, but good luck proving it. Feelings are not facts. You can also weave the real elements into a smear campaign which is little more than a web of lies. Rather than examining the web, perhaps it’s more prudent to examine who’s spinning those webs, and who’s pulling the strings.  

 For the past two years, the left has tried in vain to show Russian collusion involving President Trump and the 2016 election results.  Ever since he was elected President, Donald J. Trump has been under attack by various media outlets, entertainers, the Democrats, certain RINO Republicans, and other ‘Never Trumpers’. There has never been a greater number of outspoken domestic enemies within the government ceaselessly attempting to unseat a duly elected American president.   Even his loyal supporters have been demonized, referred to as  racists, Nazis, hicks, misogynists, and just plain hateful. Actress Alyssa Milano called the red MAGA hat  the new Ku Klux Klan hood.  Singer Madonna said she wanted to bomb the White House while wearing a pussycat hat at the so-called Women’s March in DC. At the  same march, female Trump Supporters including a little girl wearing a red MAGA hat were kicked out and told they didn’t belong by radical feminists, some wearing vagina hats.  Comedian Kathy Griffith  destroyed her pathetic career when she thought it was ‘funny’ to pose for a picture holding a bloody severed head of Trump. She then said Trump ‘broke her’, so HER poor choice was HIS fault. The list goes on.  The hatred from leftist loons knows no bounds, yet supporters of Donald Trump are branded as hate-filled ,and ridiculed.  Have you ever stopped and wondered why this is?  Someone, somewhere is lying to you, and manipulating the truth. A key tactic in hiding the truth when it is uncovered is to discredit the witness.  The more foolish or mentally unstable that you can paint the person, the more people with little knowledge of the issues will  dismiss the statements of the witness as being nothing but the ravings of a madman.  Examine the facts for yourself and draw your own conclusions. Being paranoid doesn’t mean someone’s NOT out to get YOU.

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“Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.”– Brian Tracy

The truth is out there!

Since the invention of the internet, and the subsequent creation of the ubiquitous smart-phone, searching the  web for any bit of information has never been easier. The few remaining holdouts that refuse to have a cell home usually still have a computer or at the very least, access to one. Society has never been more connected, and the access to the sum total of human knowledge has never been easier. If a person is determined to believe falsehoods, no amount of truth will dissuade them.

“The death of America is a real possibility. There are very powerful people in America who are working overtime to kill America”– Dinesh D’Souza Death of a Nation

Politics, economics, and religion.

The three big no-no’s of polite conversation are finances, politics, and religion. As I’ve stated before all three are interconnected to form a big picture.  If you don’t understand the microeconomics of paying your own bills, and handling your own money, how can you possibly understand the macroeconomics of  government finances?  Worse yet, if you don’t understand the attempts of social engineering, the damaging effects of socialism, and the attempts by liberals to create ‘freedom from religion’ by banishing Christianity, you’re going to elect officials who will destroy the American Dream for every citizen, and the America created by our Founding Fathers will cease to exist.

One tactic of so-called Democratic Socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  has been to sow the seeds of class warfare by alleging that world-wide poverty is the results of the many billionaires, and even millionaires who have somehow ‘stolen’ all the wealth out of greed. They want to punish successful people for becoming wealthy by imposing a tax on the highest earners of 71%. The fact still remains that the USA is 25 TRILLION DOLLARS in debt! The total amount of tax money collected from all sources cannot even begin to pay the interest on the debts we as a nation currently owe, and increasing government spending for a ‘Green New Deal’ is the worst possible idea imaginable. The welfare state needs to end.  A person who chooses to be stupid and lazy has no one to blame but themselves for their deplorable condition.  I don’t care if you call yourself a socialist,  a libertarian, a democrat or ‘little bunny fufu’, if you’re not pro America, you’re nothing but a dirty commie!  

“If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.”– Abraham Lincoln

Who’s REALLY in charge?

There are 195 countries in the world today, and of course, each one has a leader. The USA is the ‘world leader’ in terms of freedom, opportunity, and technological advances. We are the longest lasting constitutional republic in the history of the world. Not ‘every’ nation in the world likes us,  but the majority do.

Up until the eighteenth century, leadership of a nation was the greatest goal a person could achieve.  That has changed in the past two centuries. Captains of industry have become the modern day ‘kings’ of the world, with world domination being a  ‘game of kings’           

The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Originally, the Illuminati were a secret society created in 1776. Other such secret societies include the Freemasons and The Skull and Bones Society. According to some conspiracy theorists, these and subsequent subgroups are hell-bent on world domination, and the only thing standing in their way is the USA. It’s an interesting theory, and impossible to prove, or disprove. How does this affect the average person? If total control of the world is inevitable, you absolutely positively want to have the most benevolent world leader.  The average person has no real control, so worrying about such things will not change a thing. Eventually, nations die because of despotism, decadence, and debauchery, so it’s important to keep our nation strong. The USA is a republic. We elect officials to enact laws on our behalf. Essentially we are handing over control of our lives to leadership who have the power to enact laws that will affect us, our children, and our children’s children.  The best defense against bad government policy is a well-educated public. As Former president Ronald Reagan once said, “Man is not free unless government is limited,” and,  “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

“The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.  Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost?  Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders?  Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?” – President Donald J. Trump quote from speech in Warsaw Poland July 6th 2017

Q and The Plan to save America

As I stated previously, secret societies have existed for centuries. IF one were to ‘guess’ the membership of these groups the wealthiest people in the world would ‘probably’ number among them, as would many world leaders. According to legend, the  Illuminati is comprised of a Committee of 300 of the most powerful and influential people in the world. These would PROBABLY be people who have seized power and held on to it for a very long time.  They would also, probably have their hands in the Trilateral Commission (established by Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and David Rockefeller in 1973) and most assuredly meet at the ultra-secretive  Bilderberg Meeting , an annual conference established in 1954 by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands “to foster dialogue between Europe and North America”. There are entire books written on all of these groups if you want to research them further.  The bottom line is that globalism spells the death of nationalism.

illuminati

Donald J. Trump was a Washington outsider who for over 30 years stated again and again that he would only seriously run for president IF he felt that our nation was in danger of being destroyed by those who wish to ‘extinguish the light of Liberty’. President Trump is a true patriot, and he is actively repealing the destructive legislation enacted by previous administrations. He is hated by liberals because he really wants to Make America Great Again and believes in the American dream.       

The amazing side effect of having the sum total of human knowledge at our fingertips, and the fact that we are more ‘connected’ than ever is that many of these secrets and lies have been exposed through   crowd-sourcing and social bookmarking.  we are witnessing right now one of the greatest communications events in history. I am referring to the Q anon phenomenon. Call this if you will, a ‘reverse’ secret society.

On October 28, 2017,   an anonymous person identifying as “Q Clearance Patriot” first appeared on the /pol/ board of 4chan, an anonymous online community.  The Q clearance refers to a United States Department of Energy security clearance required for access to Top Secret information about nuclear weapons and materials. There is no way to track the identity of a 4chan or 8chan user. Some people have theorized that this is a group of either government patriots with high ranking military ties, or a hoax perpetuated by hackers and online trolls. Some of the evidence texted by Q, sometimes called Q drops, or Q crumbs, hint that a group of powerful patriots begged Donald Trump to finally throw  his hat in the ring for president in the last, best attempt to battle the deep state and corrupt media intent on destroying this country. Many of the facts presented are eye-opening, and more often than not Q encourages his followers to follow the white rabbit and do their research, often asking questions in order to encourage cognitive thinking and civil discourse. If you’ve seen disturbing images shared  on social media like Facebook or Twitter, I strongly advise avoiding 4chan or 8chan. These are the ‘wild west’ sections of the internet, anything goes,  and some online trolls like to post some very nasty things in the comments to some of the Q Crumbs. The basic message in a nutshell is  that Donald Trump is a great man, and that the media is attempting to destroy him using vicious lies, such as Russian collusion and mental instability. Because of the freedom of information shared through the internet, these lies have been exposed. A storm is coming, and America will be saved from those who wish to destroy it.

trumpq

Many of the search hashtags used include #WhereWeGo1WeGoAll  #WWG1WGA  #QAnon  #Q

If you are interested in researching Q further, you can search through the Q drops and replies on https://qmap.pub/ and https://qanon.pub/ Again, be aware that there might be things that you don’t want to see mixed in with the must see and must read stuff.

The REAL Bottom Line!

 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Anything shrouded in darkness and secrecy is not good.  Jesus is light of the world and the King of kings.  People who chose to ignore this have slandered, despised, and ridiculed Christ since the first century.  The Bible tells us that one day all of this world will be swept away in a great battle between the forces of good and evil. When that day arrives, those on the side of evil will face judgment for their sins. The Bible is the ONLY truth on Earth you will ever read. If there was ONE source of information I would implore you to search more than any other, The Bible would be it. Our Founding Fathers were Christians, this nation was founded as a Christian nation. There have been many people throughout the past 243 years who have sided against the USA. Everyone of them has failed in the end. Don’t worry, God’s got this fight in the bag. Until that final day of Judgment, elect moral leadership every chance you can, because if your aren’t serving the King of kings, I hope you like very warm temperatures. As always, I wish you success and happiness!