We Keep Doing It To Ourselves

I wish that I could pass on some good news. If anyone has any, don't be shy; post it. Maybe it's just gray skies and a return to colder temperatures that has me a bit gloomy today. Or... maybe it's what "we" keep doing to ourselves.

I listened to a local news report last night reporting that research keeps showing that healthy lifestyles curb cancer. That's the good news. Who wants cancer? As you no doubt already know, healthy lifestyle includes eating more fruits, vegetables, and such and staying physically active (otherwise known as exercise). Certainly not bad things to do. I think that there is enough evidence to convince anyone paying attention that better eating and activity choices generally lead to better health. That's fine.

But easily discernible in the report is the not-so-good news. Researchers, medical professionals, and cancer survivors (those in this report anyway) indicate that this should be a "government concern." Of course. No individual can take informative data like this and choose to apply it to his/her personal life. We need a government to step in and make us do the "right" things. Some of the comments I recall: government needs to provide biking & hiking trails; abolish advertising of sweet foods & drinks to children; making healthy foods more affordable; government take on this problem like they did tobacco.

Obvious conclusions... Americans (some) have disconnected themselves from all reality. We have been a great nation because we have demanded liberty. Now we want to surrender that hard-fought liberty to the nanny state. Dining establishments can serve salads and fruits and such because they are good for us. No more burgers and fries and shakes and soft drinks. We cannot take care of ourselves; we are helpless. We are fallible people, so we must trust our elected politicians - also fallible people - to save us from our self-destructive behaviors.

How is this going to be stopped?

The Speech

Here we go again: President Obama lauded for another speech. If his speeches were really as useful as some indicate, we would be the most secure and prosperous people in the world right now. In perhaps the most lucid part of its report, the AP article I have in my hands right now reads, "Thinking longer term, Obama said in a speech lacking many specifics and devoid of initiatives that both political parties must give up favored programs while uniting behind his campaign promises to build better schools, expand health care coverage and move the nation to 'greener' fuel use." ( Associated Press, "Upbeat Obama says U.S. will revive past 'reckoning,'" Kokomo Tribune, 2/25/09, p. A10)

The article also notes that President Obama summoned "politicians and public alike to shoulder responsibility for hard choices and shared sacrifice." (p. A1) I am fed up with having politicians calling me to sacrifice for the suffering and misery they have caused. On top of that, the sacrifice I am supposed to make is for the purpose of allowing them to perpetuate the problems they created! And they refuse to stop their destructive behavior!

So what are the "hard choices?" According to the few plans that President Obama has actually specified, they work out to taking the fruits of responsible, successful Americans, pouring them into the money pit that is our federal government, and maybe doling a bit out to our neighbors who failed to plan for economic hardship. I am not mean-spirited about this. I have always believed that people can do anything they want (legally) with the money they earn. Along with that right comes responsibility, though. Now then my government calls on me to sacrifice so that others do not have to bear the consequences of their choices. How is that supposed to revive a nation?

Well, that's the speech. More government gone wild.

Missed It By a Bunch

Back to the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) broke below its November low, so is now searching for new support. Not all averages have followed suit, but there is severe testing to see if the previous lows hold as support.

The sad, sad uncertainty is that no one in the markets is able to offer much of any clues about the coming economic landscape. Regardless of market swings, stock prices are ultimately driven by earnings. Consequently, analysts inside and outside specific corporations issue earnings guidelines and predictions. In this uncertain environment, some big bellwethers - Microsoft & others - have suspended issuing earnings guidance because they have no idea how this economy and political responses will affect them. As a result, investors and traders cannot estimate fair value and future value.

This administration and Congress have made sure that this is a political, not market, recovery. In fact, they eschew the messages that the markets are giving them. So expect a lot of turbulence and uncertainty in the markets until the uncertainty clears. Oh, and don't expect any clarity to emerge from the President's great orations. His speeches got him elected, but now he has to provide substance. That does not appear to be his strong point.

U.S. Manufacturing

B.H. Obama won the presidential election, but I am having a hard time telling it from his continual stump speeches. He keeps needing, for whatever reasons, to tell Americans about the crises we face, and that without liberal Democrat's constant meddling, we are doomed. To top this off, he has Big Media readily trumpeting his cause.

Except every once in a while, Big Media messes up and forgets its role as the liberal Democrat department of propaganda. In my Sunday, 2/22/2009, copy of the Kokomo Tribune, I ran across the AP article "What do we make? U.S. remains world's leading manufacturer."

What is this? We are not falling off the economic precipice with only the Obama arm to grab on to? Cites the article, "The U.S. by far remains the world's leading manufacturer by value of goods produced."

Isn't this good news? Isn't this positive and hopeful? So why hasn't Washington shared this reality? I suspect it is because that it suggests that we might not need as much Obamanomics as we are going to be forced to take. And as president, BHO seems to be unwilling to consider alternatives to his massive non-stimulus pork bill.

Don't you just love the change, hope, and unity that the Obama administration is delivering?

Era of Irresponsibility

I am making the formal declaration that America - and the world - has entered the Era of Irresponsibility. This did not occur overnight; it has been building for a long, long time. Therefore, there are good reasons why others may say that this era began at some earlier time. I'm not going to quibble too much over such things. For me, I mark the first day of the era of irresponsibility as February, Friday 13th, 2009.

It was on that Friday 13th that I happened to read an article in a paper I usually do not see: USA Today. The article on page B1, "World's efforts trail USA's" (by David J. Lynch), is a brief about the "stimulus" spending of USA and China compared to the rest of the world. Contained near the end of the article was this short, salient paragraph: "But if countries that accumulated sizable financial reserves in recent years, such as Germany and Middle Eastern oil producers, don't do more, they will face a backlash, says Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute for International Economics."

Face a backlash for practicing fiscal responsibility? This is the predictable result of liberal policies that rob both nations and individuals of any reason to act responsibly. All Americans who have been living responsibly for many years, many because they made conscious choices to sacrifice for a better future, are being punished. Those who overspent and did not save and paid no mind at all to improving their lives through education, experience, and personal excellance are being rewarded at the expense of responsible people. Everything that the government is doing rewards bad behavior. Acting fiscally responsible has become the moral hazard. Given this logic, what reason does any rational person have to continue making sacrifices for their personal and familiy's success? You earn it; you save it; and your government will take it to reward those who have made poor choice after poor choice.

This extends far beyond economics; liberalism has also bankrupted moral, ethical, and spiritual responsibility. It has been demanded that America provide billions upon billions of relief to alleviate suffering in third world nations. This has been done for so long, it is a way of life. At the same time, the same governments receiving our free money reject any requirements that they improve their own accountability to their citizens. They have been allowed to continue to practice unabated totalitarianism; moreover, they express openly outright hatred toward America for even suggesting that their people live free.

Liberal collectivism has done the same thing nationally. Successful businesses and individuals are required upon threat of fine and imprisonment to subsidize the consequences of poor fiscal, moral, ethical, and spiritual choices of others while having zero ability to change the negative, irresponsible behaviors. This is not compassion; it is extortion.

Led in large part by the recently passed stimulus bill and other proposals being imposed upon us by our President and Congress, our nation and our world have formally and institutionally ushered in the Era of Irresponsibility. This is not going to be a pretty picture.

Apology

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog.

I especially apologize to those who have this blog as a link on their own site.

I haven't intended to be so lax, but I have been keeping up with a number issues. And, I admit, I have gone through periods of "down" times where I have had to work through some unmotivation.

I don't know how consistent I'll be - this, after all, is a past time & hobby - and it is secondary to my responsibilities. But I could be doing better. And I'll try.

So, again, my apology.