Hey ******,
Merry Christmas to you and yours as well sir.
Thanks for checking out the stuff we are doing. I do like to write...I have written three books and working on a fourth.
The purpose of the blog is to present some ideas, the perspective from which I lean, and to instigate conversation. I am regularly frustrated when people talk out of their rear ends without really giving thought to what they believe...from either side of the aisle. I use certain wordings and phrases on purpose to generate honest discussion. I learned a long time ago to try and find out what is right, not necessarily have to be the one that is right. One way to do that is to listen to many perspectives, most of which will contain elements of truth.
I believe one of the things our country has adopted in its philosophy is the fear of failure and pain. As the founder of both profit and non profit companies and organizations, life has taught me that failure is not really failure and is not necessarily bad for me.
Failure as much as success, teaches great lessons so that you are better next time around. If you learn, you have a better product to offer...and if you're better, people will buy. The onus is now on me and my personal responsibility without anyone else to blame. And you know what...the world is not fair or equal. There will always be people better than me and worse than me. If someone has a better product, has more talent, works harder, they should win. They should make more than me. Competition makes us stronger. And I don't think they should be punished for their success. Nor should a government official who has never run a business in his life be able to place demand and take the spoils from those who do.
I too disagree with positions taken by the previous administration. I think though that many of the disagreements I would have with the left or the right stems from the political system they have locked themselves into. When a politician says "Well this is complicated..." sure it is. That is from the standpoint of the box they have put themselves in and the system by which they try to accomplish things. I believe that many of the solutions we need are found in 'out of the box thinking'...since I believe much of our problems stem from the limitations of the current system.
Many practices that have resulted in the quagmire we are in were strongly opposed by the founding fathers of our nation. Maybe an 'out of the box' thought would be go back to the basics of our founding fathers, not just in principles but in integrity and character...just a thought.
I said these things to say...even if it's a bank...let it fail. There is a disclaimer every financial institution gives...RISK! People should be doing their homework on where they invest. If they are going to be so quick to take the profits...they have to be willing to take the losses. Where do people get off cashing in dividend checks one day and yet sue the company if it doesn't profit? Companies succeed and fail all the time. The risk of reward goes with the risk of failure. And furthermore, I just can't see the logic wherein my grandchildren have to pay for the losses of people in my generation. I may seem to be overly simple...but I believe most of life's answers are just that. Simple logic.
A study of the affairs of life in any and all areas of our existence show that all things are cyclical. I am looking outside today and seeing snow pour down. Now what if I felt sorry for all those trees that must be so cold...and the poor animals...certainly we should try to build shelters and refuge centers to protect those poor unfortunate animals from such harsh conditions shouldn't we? I suppose that there would be some ultra left group that may think like that but most of us with some common sense realize its not necessary and actually could be harmful. Think of it. The natural ability to resist hardship and survive would be softened by the pampering making them more prone to be destroyed, not less.
From this perspective, we gotta stop thinking mankind is so fragile and has to be protected from all adversity. And the government is the last organization I would want to take a place of trying to run my life for the sake of them thinking they know what's best for me.
Financial institutions, no matter how large, should fail if they break good business habits. Much of the fault for these failures are rooted in government intervention and demand to help those who had no business owning houses or being given loans. We live in a society of wanting everything right now...and borrowing to get it. People feel they have a 'right' to owning a house, they have a 'right' to a new car...and when the government thinks that they have to give people these things as 'rights'....then demands financial institutions break common sense rules to do it....how can we think we wouldn't have collapse?
To use the winter illustration again...the reason it's unnecessary to built winter shelters for the animals is because we know in the design of their creation, part of the world order in which they exist has equipped them to survive in the midst of hardship. They exist in cycles of winter, summer, spring and fall. I watched squirrels store up all autumn because they instinctively knew a season of scarcity was coming i.e. winter. It happens every year...like clockwork. And they will survive just fine because they instinctively knew to store up and save.
Now if we had done the same thing while the stock market was climbing the last ten to fifteen years, instinctively knowing it could not be sustained and that there would be a correction, we would have been storing or saving, not taking up more and more credit. There are some that were wise, and they are picking things up for a dime on a dollar. I do not feel those that are wise should be punished because of the foolishness of others.
Now if a government official is going to blame capitalism and greed for our failure...then they better be able to present their own resume of 'righteousness'...and if they can't even pay their own taxes...how do they get off assassinating one persons character for things they can't even walk in...the word for that is 'hypocrisy'. The 'us verses them' mentality used over and over again in the political arena harvests an anger from one group against the other. Lawyers make their money arguing this way, and when a lawyer is a government official, they will continue to see things through that mindset. And the masses just go right along with it.
Doesn't anyone think it's just a little off when a tax cheat governing official rants about corporate greed? Can't we say the reason for cheating on taxes is to keep money...and isn't that a basic form of greed in itself?
If a politician feels he can take my money from me to give to the less fortunate, let me see if he is doing the same in his own personal giving. If a government official is going to take my taxes and give to the poor, let me see them too. That generally doesn't happen because those that create the laws know just how to get around them and not pay. So while I am being taxed out of control, they can keep theirs because they know how to get around the law...all in the name of business savvy.
The answer to these things I believe starts with personal responsibility. Take the rewards of good decisions and profit, and learn from the mistakes and don't make them again. Don't feel guilty for either one. Demand your public officials to do what they said they would do. Learn to communicate and read between lines. Don't let anyone BS you.
For example. When a politician says he is going to create jobs, that's ridiculous. It's a buzzword or phrase they think you want to hear. The fact is businesses create jobs, not the government. And if they were to create a job in the sphere of what they do...which in reality would simply be part of the increasing bureaucracy...you need to think about something...
...the government has only one way of generating income...by taking it from you!!!
I believe in taxes...the bible tells us to pay them. But we also have every right to demand accountability and responsibility. The voting booth is a great place to start.
Stay out of the cold...see ya soon.
PJ
Great post PJ. "Doesn't anyone think it's a little off..." It's not "off" if you're enjoy privileged membership in the post-modern secular aristocracy. There are rules yes but they're selectively applied as in there are rules for serfs and there are rules - strike that - exemptions from those rules for the anointed aristocracy. Example, the aristocracy exempt themselves from the abomination that is to be the new health care bill. The same ones who also exempt themselves from social security. And what about knuckle dragging neanderthals serfs like myself? Well we should be grateful for the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
ReplyDeleteSo the question I ask is simply this. What kind of intellect must one possess that makes it acceptable that some must follow the "rules" while others do not? History tells us there is one class that always fits this bill: aristocrats and/or tyrants. I personally have a hard time telling the difference between either.
Great post; definitely shakes the tree of ideas. Most of our problems stem from corruption in the great giant institutions of our society that have great power over the lives of the American individual. Certainly our great serpent of a government is at the top of the list. However many giant national and multinational corporations are also on that list. The corporation has grown to the point where it nearly eclipses the American individual and small business as the dominant economic institution of western society. This is mostly for ill. Most giant corporations now are politically correct shells and mandate Happy Holidays over Merry Christmas and treat and think of individual humans like inanimate car parts. Or likely will fire a Christian for quoting Romans 1:27 to the faggot or dyke who may brag in their face about having "married" their lover. These same corporations generally do little or nothing to office workers who rip about Christian "narrow mindedness" or stating that Christ or Christian are racist or homophobic. These things have happened by the way, I’m not making this up. A lot of giant corporations intensify the growing anti Christian trends in American society due to their size and the fact that they have such solid control over so many livelihoods.
ReplyDeleteNow that Christian who may have gotten a home within his means with a proper fixed rate mortgage is in danger of not being able to pay for it and feed his or her family and may have to stock pile weapons or ammunition to resist being thrown out of that home. The same kind of armed outcome has sometimes with others who have gotten sensible homes consistent with their economic status with, of course, fixed rate loans. They get laid off by their giant corrupt corporation because it can’t make enough money (though it pays its CEO a 30 Million dollar bonus). This person now can't make the mortgage payments and feed their families and is at risk of getting thrown out to. At this time of year they may freeze to death in the Winter. Homeless shelters have little space in the Winter. Better to stock up on food, water, provisions and weapons and resist the SWAT team than to freeze to death. If the American individual did this consistently then yes many of these liberal unwise businesses would fail, but we'd also stop the housing crisis and new more sound, smaller businesses would replace the evil giants like Citigroup, Lehmann and others. Smaller businesses are a lot less sociopathic and we need to have as few sociopaths as possible in human society.