"Earned, not Given"!

I saw a twelve year old wearing a t-shirt that gave me the strongest reason for optimism that I have had in several months.

   The t-shirt said:  “Earned, Not Given”.  Could this youth be representing a new generation that does not want to be entitled, but rather to “earn” their way??  If so, America will have a renewal in twenty-five or thirty years when this youth generation gets into power.

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It used to be a man sired enough children to take care of himself in his old age when he was unable to work.  Somehow that has been turned upside down.  We have now begun to think that the parents should leave a financial legacy for the children. And the children expect it as an entitlement.  What a reversal!  Especially since the children now days can feel discriminated against if they don’t get a car when they reach sweet sixteen, at least five years of college to complete four years of work and a forgiveness for any loans they may have taken out to finish school.   What a difference the words on a T-Shirt could make!!!

How to Elect Romney

One of the good lines that came out of the Republican Nominating Convention was:  Every good Repubican should make a personal pledge to convince one person who voted for Obama four years ago to NOT vote for him in 2012.

The line died, was not repeated and it should have been.



Just think, if every Republican would convince just one person who voted for Obama in 2008 NOT to vote for him in 2012, Romney would win in a walk.

If you want to be sure, ask that every Republican convince three people to NOT vote for Obama even if they can't bring themselves to vote for Romney.  They can still vote for the other Democratic nominees if they wish.

Who  are the best candidates for conversion??  My guess is that the most lucrative are the young voters in 2008 aged now about 25-35.  They have seen that their "hopes" for Obama have not been warranted and the "change"  has not been what they expected.

Taxpayers and Congress Align!

An open letter on a creative idea to get citizens and politicians aligned on the task of Deficit Reduction.

If you like the idea, please sign our petition.
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An open letter to:  Representative Dave Camp, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee

Here’s an idea that would get all the taxpayers focused on the deficit.  It might even increase consumer savings, curb the inevitable inflation and get more and more voters intimately involved in government finance and deficit borrowing.

How would any one idea create so many miracles?  Read on, dear congressman.

First, the Republicans would have to agree to a 10% tax increase for ALL tax payers.  Don’t choke.  There is a redeeming feature. The feature is this:  The taxpayer would receive a 30 year government “deficit bond” equal to the 10% increase he is forced to pay in taxes, but the interest rate would be 0%; however, the interest rate would increase by X (say 1%) for every Y (say 4%) that the deficit decreases.

After three years or so, the 10% tax assessment would fall in some proportion to the decline in the deficit.

The program ends when the government deficit reaches a specified % of GNP.  

Banks will make a market for the bonds to create liquidity for people who can’t or don’t want to keep the bonds to maturity.  Each series (vintage year) of bonds ideally would have different interest rates based on the year of issuance and how much the government debt had declined since issuance.

Want to reduce taxes? Get the deficit down and taxes automatically reduce. Want to stimulate the economy?  Get the deficit down and the value of the Deficit bonds citizens holds goes up making them feel wealthy and motivating purchases.  Let politicians compete for ways to reduce the deficit because the average citizen sees a direct, financial impact in doing so.

And if you are looking for a catchy name for these bonds, play off the bonds called TIPS and call theses deficit bonds DIPS.

Good luck Congressman Camp!


Please Sign our Petition