SWB: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Coach - ECoaching - Email Coaching

Sword Point Saturday - #1 Political Issue

Today's Sword Point question might be a little harder than usual because this country is so screwed up and all of the issues are intertwined.  You can't fix or mess one up without doing something to all the rest of them.

The question is: What is the most important political issue to you in the presidential election?

5 Sword Points for answering.

No extra points but if you would like to explain which candidate you think would do best on your issue, feel free. 

Or if you like, you can tell us who you're voting for and how you think they'll stand on your issue.

As always, you can answer in the comment section of this post or you can answer on your own blog and put a link to your article in the comment section.

It's no surprise, I'm sure, that my #1 issue is the economy.  I think it's the foundation of so much.  We aren't going to be able to fix the other things if we put ourselves into a depression.  Healthcare and education are huge for me but we won't even be able to pretend to touch them if we continue in the direction we're going.

You already know who I'm voting for and unless you get your information from TV, you already know that Ron Paul knows more about the economy than any of the "front runners".

What's your issue and who can fix it?

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On the next page is a propaganda video for Ron Paul that I thought was well done.  No information really, just an emotion piece and completely unrelated to today's topic.  I include it today because, you know me, once I move on, this video will be lost from my mind.

Ron Paul: Old Media Plugs Its Nose and Swallows

Mike Huckabee's skyrocketing poll numbers in Iowa over the last couple of weeks are a frangible creation of the Old Media.  His position in the polls has been pushed to the top and the process of tearing him down was being prepared at the same time with little seeds being sown even as they reported on the great numbers.  The tearing down process needs to be done as quickly as the building up was done so that he's not the front runner when it's time to caucus.

Much to the chagrin of the obsomedia, who steps forward the strongest to blow the strawman to shreds?

Ron Paul has hired a couple people very familiar with Huckabee's tax and immigration policies and they are touring Iowa setting the record straight.

Rudy, Mitt, and Huckabee have all had problems because they change stances depending on which election it is or who they are talking to.  It comes back to bite them but obviously it only really hurts when the Obsomedia turns the spotlight on.  They have done it with Mitt's abortion stance until he's gotten bored with answering the question and we've gotten bored of hearing the answer.

Now, they are going to take Huckabee and his "Jesus Juice" and flog that horse for all its worth.  Tax Hike Mike, as he's being called on that mysterious counter media source - the Internet, better work fast to make the best use of the poll numbers that Old Media loaned to him.  The numbers are manipulated but that doesn't mean he can't capitalize on them but he's going to have work faster than all the 3-letter boyz (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox) if he wants any lasting effect.

Each time they take the crop to the slumping Huckabee horse, they mention Ron Paul.

That's just the beginning for this weekend for Ron Paul.

A Nice Christmas Story

My wife ordered some games for Trey for this Christmas.  Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Memory.  Great games and games that Trey would love to play.  He's played a couple of them at a friend's house and goes on and on about it.

Some company came to the school and had all three games in a package deal so she ordered them and couldn't wait until Trey opened them on Christmas.  Out of all the gifts he was going to be getting, she was most excited about these games.

Last Monday, she called in sick.  Tuesday, she went to work and went to the faculty lounge to get the games.  She was told that they had been delivered.  The games weren't there.  They had been delivered but then they were stolen by a teacher in the school.  My wife sent an email to all the teachers asking that the games be returned, that it could be done anonymously, and nothing else would come of it.  They weren't returned.

The games would be easy enough to replace but it really ate at her that someone she worked with would steal gifts from a 3 year old boy, gifts that would give her so much joy to give.  She talked to the principal but she said it was obviously not good that it had happened but there was nothing she could do.

We planned on picking up the games when we went to town next Monday.

This morning, she went to exercise with a friend of hers.  Her friend is a teacher at the same school and they exercise several times a week before the buttcrack of dawn.  This morning, her friend had a gift bag for my wife.  She was in town yesterday and had bought new games to replace the ones that had been stolen.  My wife brought them home and we didn't wait until Christmas to give them to Trey. 

We'll be playing Candyland tonight because of the kindness of a friend. 

More Bad News For The Economy

The stock market went down even after the Fed lowered the interest rate again.  That's bad news.  Investors didn't think the Fed cut the interest rate enough to head off a recession.

The market went back up again because the Fed said they will start cooperating with foreign banks to try undo the damage that was caused by stupidity. 

Two wrongs don't make a right and three wrongs speak of desperation.  It will also have a good chance of making the collapse that much worse when it happens.

This bail out is going to bankrupt our country and most people probably don't even know that it's happening.

Sigh.

The Wendover Effect - Part 2

You can read Part 1 of the Wendover Effect HERE.

Living here in isolation has had several other effects on us.  Some would probably have happened anyway but being here changed us more quickly.  Writing this blog changed things too and I probably wouldn't have spent so much time on my blog if we didn't live here.  We changed our life when we moved here so that one of us was with Trey all the time.  That put an end to our social life.  We also knew that Wendover was a temporary stop to regroup and so we haven't gone out of our way to create new friends that we'll just be saying goodbye to.

One important lesson that we've learned is that we don't really need much stuff to live.  We don't buy very many things because we just don't need them.  We see things that seem nice or fun to have but by the time we get to town, we don't remember what it was.  If it's something that we really need, that need will keep coming back, reminding us.

Treasury Secretay Henry Paulson Smokes Crack

I just thought you should know in case you ever read an article quoting him like I did.  Okay, I haven't actually seen Paulson smoke crack.  In fact, until I looked for the image for this post, I had never seen Paulson as far as I know.  Still, with a comment like this, I don't need to see Paulson to know that he is on some mind-altering substance or is another of King George's whipping boys:

"We have very much a strong dollar policy ... that's in our nation's interest. Our economy, like any other, goes through its ups and downs but I believe the U.S. economy will continue to grow and its long-term strength will be reflected in our currency markets," Paulson told 567 Cape Talk radio.

Mind you, I only have a couple of problems with this statement. 

The first of which is that we have the exact opposite of a strong dollar policy.  We have a policy that weakens the dollar at every opportunity because of point #2.

The US Economy doesn't have ups and downs.  The economy is manipulated so that if at all possible, there are no downs.  There might be times of slow growth (accompanied by a plummeting dollar value) but the people in charge of the dollar policy do everything in their power to try to keep the economy from going down.

I do however agree with Paulson that our long-term strength (or lack thereof) will be reflected in our currency markets.

Speaking of which, do you think I can get my employer to pay me in Euros?

Commentary for December 9th, 2007

You may find this all hard to believe but the New York Times reported it so I'm going to pass it on to you to see what you think.  It appears that the scientific polls being done for this election might not be representing the actual consensus of the people.  It appears that these polls are done using landlines and auto dialers and as such, they are getting a very small cross-section of people that might not fully represent the people in the area of the poll.  Most of the people who answer calls by auto dialers hang up which further decreases the number of people being polled.  The belief is that people who don't have landlines probably aren't going to vote so this under-representation hasn't been much of a worry but suddenly the NYT is wondering if the polls should be more accurate.

You know, they just might be on to something.  I wonder how this kind of thing slipped the attention of everyone else.  I'm still going to say that since the scientific polls are "scientific," they are accurate.  Why else would we call them scientific?  Duh! 

Cellphones Challenge Poll Sampling

Read the rest of this post for yet another rant on MSM and something interesting about hybrid cars.

Sword Point Saturday - You Make The Call

Easy one today for 5 Sword Points.

If you had the authority to make it happen, what would you do to fix the economy while wreaking the least amount of havoc on the people?

My answer is several pages long and I'll reveal it at a later date but I'm curious what you all think.

-5

When Uncovering the Truth Becomes Too Easy

King George lied about Iran's nuclear program but still wants to invade them, "just in case."  CNN runs stories on the NAU and the NAFTA Superhighway and then picks a question to make it all sound like a conspiracy theory.  Mitt Romney fires a couple of illegal aliens that he says he didn't know were illegal but somehow Rudy knew.

It has gotten to the point where there is almost no attempt to conceal the lies being told.  We are living in a time when it's acceptable to say what you want and change your words the very next week.

I watched a video of McCain and Kerry and Kerry ends up saying, "You're arguing against yourself."  McCain denies it but there are clips from just a week prior where he is saying the opposite thing and when he quotes other people, there are clips of what those people actually said and McCain is saying the opposite of what they said, claiming it's a direct quote.

I watched one today of what Bush and Cheney thought of the Iraq 7 years ago and 3 years ago when they thought we should be involved in nation building and policing other countries.  Cheney says at a point when 130 American soldiers have died that it's too many and we shouldn't sacrifice anymore to try and get Saddam.  He says that taking Saddam out is a bad idea anyway because it will destabilize the whole area and people will fight over pieces of Iraq.  Turns out he was right and should have followed his own advice.

The question though is, do enough people care enough to call them on it?

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Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

Freezing ARMs

2.3 millions ARMs are scheduled to reset in 2008 making people just a little bit nervous.  The plan now is to freeze interest rates for 5 years so that they don't bump up as scheduled and of course, keep lowering the interest rate and pumping more fiat money into the economy.

The two things don't go hand in hand.  Freezing the interest rates for people is a nice thought and they are probably going to be thankful.

If King George and the Federal Reserve continue to devalue the dollar, it's going to undo the plan.  If you keep interest rates from jumping a couple percentage points but you devalue the money by the much, you're going to end up with the same result in the end.

Sure, the house payment will stay the same but they may raise the price of food and gas to such an extent that it's the equivalent of raising the house payment to unaffordable levels.  When the choice gets down between food and house payment, there are still going to be record numbers of defaults and foreclosures.

You know, I'm not even an expert on this stuff and I can see that what they're doing is not going to work.  It's all part of the bail out.  Bush came right out and said that they were doing this to protect lenders and investors.

My wife asked me to run for office so I can get some of the kickbacks for helping make rich people richer.  I told her that I would consider it.

ING's Christmas Present

I just received an interesting email from ING.  For Christmas, I can get a loan with an additional 1/8th of a percent off of a home loan.  I can also give this gift to someone else as a Christmas present.  Nothing says Merry Christmas like going into debt by a couple hundred thousand dollars. 

Christmas spirit can now be yours at a reduced rate.

Anyone want a home loan or refi?

You want some SWB small print on this?  This isn't on the coupon.  This is just Success Warrior's take on this wonderful deal.

They are going to give you an 1/8th percentage off but I'll bet you that the Fed lowers the interest rate by 1/4th on the 11th.  ING is willing to cut you in on half that break but you have to act fast.

The Fed will probably cut another quarter percent off on January 22nd too.  And again on March 4th. 

But if you act now, you can lock in their great discount price.

Operators are standing by.

Act now because this deal won't last.

Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

New Fringe Group Throws Support Behind Ron Paul

First, it was the slightly discontent among Americans who were opposed to the illegal war on Iraq with an impending illegal invasion of Iran on the horizon.  Then it was those dang rebellious college kids who didn't think it was fair to pay into a social security system that was going to pay out.  Here and there you heard from radical groups that were under the impression that the government should operate within the law instead of breaking it at every opportunity for the benefit of for-profit special interest groups.  This last group shows just how far the envelope is being pushed on the fringe of the Ron Paul Revolution.

A group of Personal Finance Bloggers has banded together to show their support for a presidential candidate that actually understand how money and the economy work.  Yep, you heard me.  Personal Finance Bloggers.  Wild characters, to be sure.

These are the people that think that Americans have a great deal of control over their own money if they can break out of the mindless consumer mentality and take a look around and if the government will quit hindering people.  I know.  It's a radical idea that people can create financial well-being when given useful information and are allowed to spend their money in a way they see as best without having it taken away in taxes or devalued by the Federal Reserve. 

Ron Paul believes in an unrestricted Internet, sound money, and a strong economy.  Absolute music to the ears of Personal Finance Bloggers all the way across.

***

If you have a finance blog and would like to be included on the list, copy this letter to your blog and let me know about it.  I'll pass the word around so that your name and url end up on all the other blogs.

Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

Every Campaign Is A Ron Paul Campaign

Where ever you see Rudy McRomney, you're going to see Ron Paul, or at least his supporters.  The fact that the media is doing a brown out on Ron Paul hasn't been lost on the Revolution.  Ron Paul supporters have also figured out that where every the warmongers go, there are cameras.  So, guess which campaign events the Revolution is showing up at?

All of them.

Ron Paul does a rally that brings out a few thousand people and gets an honorable mention in local papers.  Rudy goes for a walk with a dozen of his supporters and cameras are following him like starving orphans hoping for a few pence.  Only this time, there were also a dozen Ron Paul supporters.  They doubled the number of people for him.  Isn't that nice? 

"Two dozen people showed up to see Rudy go for a stroll," they can report - later.  They can't report it at the time because the only you can hear are people chanting, "Ron Paul!  Ron Paul!  Ron Paul!"

Commentary for December 2, 2007 - Money vs. Spreading Democracy

Hugo Chavez is trying to make himself the king of his country and has said that if King George interferes, "no more oil for you" (done in soup-Nazi voice).

Do you think King George will accept that answer or will he put someone else in control that will continue to give us oil?

If W can't pull the stunt off, our oil prices are going to go up.  It might also encourage other countries to resist US tyranny.

The problem is that we can't enter into an illegal war with every country that we've pissed off.  Not because it's illegal but because we don't have enough soldiers, equipment, and money to fight the whole damn world.

Chavez knows this or he probably wouldn't have threatened us.  If we can't go to war with him, it really leaves us in a tight spot.  Do we allow him to become ruler-till-he-dies so that we can have our oil or do we do make their country a better place and "spread democracy"?

Chavez's supporters agree with the threat.

"'He did right! The United States has to know what will happen to it if it attacks us like it did Iraq and wants to do to Iran,' said Jose Antonio Garcia, a 43-year-old off-duty police officer shopping for groceries in a market."

Don't they understand that we just want to spread our goodness?

Speaking of which, did you see that the United States has slipped from the #8 best country to live in to #12?  Iceland, Norway, and Australia are the top three.  Canada is #4 so my wife and I are keeping that option open for our next move.

Sword Point Saturday - MSM vs. the Internet

Allow me to start off on a tangent and then bring this post around to what I promised yesterday that it would be about.

I was getting ready for work yesterday and my wife was out in the living room watching the news.  I heard a cop's voice so I wandered out to see what was going on.  The story was about another excessive use of force case between a driver and a cop with a Taser.  These things seem to be getting more common.

The driver, Jared Massey, was stopped for allegedly speeding back in September.  The Utah Highway Patrol officer, Jon Gardner, approached the vehicle and told Massey that he was going a little fast and was asked for his license and registration.

Gardner returned to the vehicle and told Massey that he was being issued a citation.  Massey said he had slowed down before getting to the 40 mph Speed Limit sign.  You see that sign at the beginning of the video and it's apparent that Gardner is making the stop before Massey is in the zone delineated by this sign.  Gardner states that there is another sign further up the road and tells Massey to sign the ticket.  Massey says he's not going to sign the ticket because he doesn't believe there is another sign.  He wants verification of the sign before he signs.

That's not how things work.  Cops don't go around pointing to speed limit signs on every stop.  If there isn't a sign, you take pictures of the area, show them to the prosecutor before the case, and the charges are dropped. 

Anyway, Massey says he won't sign so Gardner tells Massey to get out of the vehicle.  Massey walks back to his patrol car, puts the ticket book on it, and pulls out his Taser.