Jan

30

I’m Not A Popular Guy Right Now

Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Freedom, Government, Politics, etc. | 3 Comments

After a Personal Management class at the University of Scouting that I took my 11 year old scouts to last Saturday, I asked the instructor (who works for a local bank) how he advises the people in his bank when the dollar is loosing so much value and Bernanke dropped the interest rate again to help the stock market.

He said, “when I have little old grandmother’s who were getting 5 percent interest on their life savings coming into the bank and finding out that they get 2 percent, I’m not a very popular guy right now. These folks were barely making it as it was.”

Imagine that. Hard-working Americans who aren’t free-riding on the government, who’ve saved, who are now in their later years…and they’re savings are vanishing through their fingers. All so that we can shore up against the consequences of bad decisions by the Federal Reserve Board in the past. I couldn’t have painted a better picture how irresponsible policies to “stimulate the economy” hurt the poor.

This banker friend of mine, said, “2008 may be one of the most difficult years we’ve seen in a long time.” I fear he is correct and now wouldn’t be surprised if Bernanke does it again.

Jan

30

Adopting New Technology

Filed Under Technology | 3 Comments

Anyone in the business of helping people adopt new technology will get a kick out of this video on YouTube…

Jan

21

Why My Vote is for Ron Paul

Filed Under Freedom, Government, Politics, etc. | 1 Comment

My good friend from high school, Aaron Anderson, started blogging recently and asked me why I supported Ron Paul. I never got around to writing any more than why I had cooled on Mitt Romney (I’d choose Romney over McCain or Hillary any day).

Our country faces some serious problems right now, lots of them. Given the circles where I interact and what I read, the problems I hear most about are:

  1. The weakening of the U.S. dollar and an imminent recession/depression.
  2. A failure in Iraq and poor reputation globally.
  3. A failing educational system.
  4. A heightened anxiety about immigration.
  5. Concerns about outsourcing and China.
  6. Healthcare crisis (I hear this more in the media than from conversations)

This list by no means purports to be all-encompassing, it’s just the issues I’ve heard a lot about and have stood out to me. Which candidate hasn’t talked about change? Obama, Hillary, Romney, et. al. say they’re going to bring change to Washington. They will be different that it’s been in the past.

Yet, the only one the media really points out as different, to the point of trying to marginalize him, is Ron Paul.

First, Aaron, to put the principle problem into perspective…

View a piece from the Comptroller of the United States, David Walker and Glen Beck on the bankrupt United States of America. This is for real, Aaron. That you and I owe, right now, $400k each for just Medicare and Social Security, is slightly disconcerting, isn’t it? How did this happen?

Ron Paul’s view, which I share, is that we created the problems abroad, in health-care, in education, and in many other facets of our government by departing from the famous contract that we, the people, have with our government. I’m going to share Paul’s take on each of these issues (with my thoughts) in a separate posts.

Here’s an 8 minute introduction to Ron Paul (ignore the bit about polygamy and Mitt Romney…these videos are created by his supporters, not his campaign). Take a few moments to watch it, including the credits.

The most common argument against Paul I hear is that he can’t win. That’s not true. Whether or not he takes the nomination, the principles he stands for are the only ones that can win. Natural consequences of going against correct principles will correct us whether or not we decide to change, the question is how painful will those consequences be? How long do we wait to change? I have hope, because of Ron Paul’s campaign, that there are a substantial group of Americans who understand the Constitution enough that they want to live by that document again. These people give me hope. I feel nothing but hope for America’s future and for our Constitution (this is link to a wonderful song about the constitution).