vlogolution network » debt

How to choose the best political candidate

Alexander P Morris — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:50:37 +0000

For those who still can’t comprehend the meaning of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS OF DEBT (let alone $4 TRILLION in a single year), this excellent video by Tony Robbins may help simplify it for you. And moving onto politics, the following article sums up my thoughts quite eloquently…

(NYPost) “It’s good that so many Americans (and possibly non-Americans) donate money to the worthy cause of informing us how bad politicians are. .. Still, I fear all these negative ads will not be enough to counter the extremely destructive and diabolical (though luckily rare) positive ads.”

“The mere thought of one of these positive political ads chills my soul. Either there is a voiceover as the politician meets with hard-working Americans, or the politician looks directly at the camera with his soulless eyes and tells us that we can trust him to fix our problems and strengthen our nation.”

“Look at our bloated government, our countless regulations, and our military engaged in constant conflicts overseas — did we get all this because we listened to the negative ads about our politicians, or because we somehow got it in our heads that we could trust them? After every election, the negative ads stop, and we start to get that fool notion that we can rely on these people.”

“Do we need exorbitant amounts of money from unknown sources to tell us not to hug angry badgers? No, we’ve learned that by word of mouth from our friends, families and neighbors. This is how we should know not to trust politicians. .. If a politician asks for your money, don’t give it to him. And if he tries to trick you and instead asks for other people’s money so he can buy you presents, just get away from him as fast as you can. Catch a ride in a stranger’s van if you have to..”

“We also need volunteers to continue informing people how bad politicians are, even in non-election years; too many folks now have the ridiculous idea that they can trust the people running the government.”

“Many folks don’t trust politicians from one side of the aisle. It’s like they know not to trust a crack addict to watch their kids, yet don’t see anything wrong about dropping the kids off at the meth addict’s house.”

“And once we convince everyone that all politicians are bad, some will ask, ‘Then whom do I vote for?’ Smack them, because they still don’t get it. You don’t vote for any of them. It’s like having a choice of what kind of cancer to get: You’d just pick whichever one you think you’re most likely to survive.”

“Just remember that, after that new politician takes office and says, ‘Now I’m going to work hard on our nation’s problems and get our economy and job growth going again!’ you respond: ‘Just keep your hands where I can see them, and don’t make any sudden movements or spending decisions.’ ”

Full Story: It’s the positive ads we should worry about (NYPost)

America didn’t become great because of the government or its politicians.

America became great IN SPITE of them.

Wow, fellow Americans, maybe WE really did build THAT!

It’s All Connected: An Overview of the Euro Crisis

Alexander P Morris — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:55:46 +0000

Very nice interactive visual guide by NYTimes charting the web of debt exposure among sagging economies, and showing how much each European country owes and to whom.

(NYTimes) “Arrows show imbalances of debt exposure between borrowers in one country and banks in another; arrows point from debtors to their bank creditors. Arrow widths are proportional to the balance of money owed. For example, French borrowers owe Italian banks $50.6B; Italian borrowers ower French banks $416.4B. The difference – their imbalance – shows France’s banking system more exposed to Italian debtors by about $365.8B.”

Full Interactive Chart: It’s All Connected: An Overview of the Euro Crisis (NYTimes)

How is Estonia surviving their economic downturn with upgrades and budget surpluses?

Alexander P Morris — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:58:30 +0000

(Spiegel) “In the middle of this year, two rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, upgraded Estonia’s credit rating. The country had a budget surplus of €115 million in the first two quarters, and it is expected to virtually balance its budget for the entire year. Government debt is about 6.6 percent of the gross domestic product, as compared with 120 percent in Italy, 160 percent in Greece and 80 percent in Germany. In the first two quarters of 2011, the Estonian economy grew at an annualized rate of 8 percent.”

“The record for establishing a company, he adds, is only 18 minutes. In other words, the government doesn’t say: Hey, Peral, who do you think you are, starting a company, just like that? No, he says, the state actually encourages entrepreneurship, and says things like: So you have an idea, Peral! Go for it! And then he says that it takes him 20 minutes to prepare his semi-annual tax return, and that when it was time to slash the government budget, Estonia’s cabinet ministers started with their own salaries.”

“.. when we had finally escaped from Soviet socialism, we were sick and tired of government centralism. We wanted precisely the opposite in all respects: We wanted a transparent state. A country that isn’t constantly intervening, nationalizing businesses, placing a bureaucracy above everything and imposing rules on people in every respect.”

“Of course, he says, it’s important to help a society’s losers, the ones who are left behind. It would be wonderful, he adds, to have a fantastic healthcare system and offer social guarantees for every emergency. ‘But you have to have the money. We don’t have it. Our average monthly income is €800. So we have to reflect on what’s important for a society’s development. It’s the top performers, the successful ones. Ideas! Companies! Products! If all you do is administer, nothing comes of it. The state must clear the way for those who want to achieve something. That’s the function of the state.‘ ”

“Estonia finally joined the euro zone this January. The euro had always been the country’s declared goal. In the last few years, starting in 2008, the Estonians had fought their way through the worst economic crisis they had ever seen, triggered by the global financial crisis and the bursting of the local real estate bubble. The economy shrank by 14 percent in 2009.

Then three things happened. First, the government announced a harsh austerity program. The government bureaucracy was thinned out, healthcare and social services were cut back, and even the streetlights in Tallinn were switched off at 3:30 in the morning. Businesses reduced wages by up to 40 percent, with the promise they would be increased as soon as the economy improved. The government did not pump borrowed funds into the economic cycle. Instead, it did what economists call internal devaluation.

The second — and oddest — development here was that the Estonians stoically accepted these measures. There was no unrest and no protests.

The third thing that happened was the positive outcome of this blood, sweat and tears strategy. Last year, Estonia easily satisfied the Maastricht criteria. In fact, its government finances were sounder than anywhere else in the European Union.”

‘Europe Has Too Many Restrictions’ – “Skype”, Estonia’s Success Story…

“We had no money, so we had to come up with something. We built our concept on three pillars: communication in networks, the idea of limitlessness, and the future. We started small and built up from there. The more people participate, the more powerful the network becomes.”

“.. in many European countries we have too many restrictions, prohibitions, lobbyists and people protecting vested rights. Countries must act as simply as people think, using the same principles, ..”

Full Story: Estonia Lives the European Dream (Spiegel)

Ray Dalio Interview on Charlie Rose

Alexander P Morris — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:08:20 +0000

Great interview on Charlie Rose with Ray Dalio, where they discuss his thoughts on government spending, debt / deleveraging, Occupy Wall Street, Greece, along with how people should objectively come to logical conclusions. It’s more valuable to know what you don’t know, and if we recognize and worry about being wrong, then we can then have a thoughtful dialog and truly learn and grow. For example, before politicians propose policies that have no foundation in common sense economics, they should first come together and agree as to how the economy actually “works”. He also believes Europe will likely employ a combination of printing and writing-down to deal with the Greek debt crisis.

“The great fallacy of all mankind is that people know more than what they do, and it’s a discovery process. The process for learning is to say I don’t know.” (18 minutes in)

Has Anyone Bothered to Read the Healthcare Bill?!

Alexander P Morris — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:58:47 +0000

It’s always fascinating how many people will waste hours upon hours arguing for something such as the national healthcare plan without having bothered to spend 5 minutes reading even one page of the actual bill. Of course, when people don’t even care when their own politicians admit that it’s too much trouble to actually take the time to try and understand it, perhaps people deserve what’s coming to them. According to democrat John Conyers of Michigan, “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” This guy is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

And have you ever noticed that those who endorse higher taxes never seem to be the ones who bother to actually pay them? Consider the odd case of democrat Charlie Rangel, chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He’s leading the charge for a new 5.4% income tax surcharge and recently called it “the moral thing to do.” Ironically, this comes from a politician who has more blatant outstanding tax evasion issues — 6 investigations so far and counting! — than our Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner himself. From violating rent-control rules to hiding rental income to tax evasion, one wonders how Rangel has any time to do perform his duties of serving the people… Serving them with more crappy bills and exorbitant taxes that is.

So, for anyone set on the terrific merits of the ObamaCare healthcare bill, let me help you out with some specific points and details directly from the bill, page numbers included. Mind you, these are just a few of my favorite points from the bill (as compiled by Peter Fleckenstein):

(read more...)

How a $20 Bank Credit Card Charge can Cost you 100 Bucks!

Alexander P Morris — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 22:00:00 +0000

Many Bank Cards look and act like credit cards… unless you don’t have enough in the bank to cover the charge. Watch out or each transaction over your limit will be smacked with hefty overdraft fees just like a check!

(01/30/2007 UPDATE – NEW ARTICLE DESCRIBES HOW DEBIT CARDS OVERDRAFT FEES ARE ALSO RUNNING RAMPANT!)