DC's Musings

GOP Candidates Are Crabs In A Bucket

2011-09-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

A man walks is in a small town by the Chesapeake Bay. He walks by a store and sees a bucket of crabs without a lid sitting by the door. The man goes into the store and asks the woman behind the counter, "excuse me ma'am but you know your crab bucket out there has no lid. Aren't you afraid some will get out?"

"No they won't escape, they are Republican crabs."

"Why are they Republican crabs?"

"Because as soon as one starts to get ahead and get up out of the bucket the others reach up and pull him back into the bucket."

That is what I think about as I watch the Republican Presidential candidates go at each other on issues that they should not be focusing on. Instead of focusing all their efforts on the poor performance President Obama has had in the White House, his failed economic and fiscal policies, the rising unemployment during his tenure, the continued lack of confidence of consumers and business owners, the candidates are attacking each other and pulling each other down. This only plays to the benefit of Obama and his re-election as the media will use the sound bites of Republicans to discredit whichever candidate gains the nomination.

Republican candidates, voters and pundits need to focus on what matters to our nation: jobs, jobs, jobs and economic growth.

Focus on the $4 trillion spent in deficit spending since Obama took office that has not stimulated our economy.

Focus on the myriad of business restrictions and job killing policies from Obama's regulators.

Focus on ObamaCare that was put through Congress with only Democratic support and is hindering business expansion.

Focus on Dodd-Frank passed with only Democratic support that is restricting lending and the ability for small businesses to obtain credit.

Quit focusing on "gotcha's" in debates on other GOP candidates and attack the incumbent, his party and their policies that has stifled business growth and economic development. Present what will happen when you take office to eliminate these programs.

Focus not on your opponent in the primaries but our opponent in the general election in 2012. Quit acting like crabs in a bucket.

The Last Leg

2011-08-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

When we last left you we were in Idaho Falls, about 1,000 miles from home. Looking at the map we considered adding an extra night to our stop so the girls, in particular Jenna who has had a fascination with the place, could see Las Vegas. After looking at the cost of the trip so far and the cost of adding an extra night in Vegas we decided Thursday night would be our last of the trip. In addition both girls were becoming a bit more vocal that they wanted to get home.

Thursday started with the early risers, Jenna and me, heading down to the breakfast included with the room at the Shilo Inn around 8:00. Of the breakfast-includeds we have had during the trip the Shilo's was by far the best. When we returned to the room the sleeper-inners, Mom and Blaire, were ready for their turn at the buffet. We hit the road around 10:00 with the goal being Cedar City, Utah, a straight 465 miles south on I-15. For our trip so far a very light day spent with the girls singing camp songs and our playing several of our favorite car games (see below).

Once again Leslie put the in car technology to the test and searching hotels under $100 in Cedar City settled on an Okay-8, our second of the trip. Since we were in town around 5:30 we decided to drive around a bit and found Cedar City to be a neat little town. It is a university town with Southern Utah University located there, as well it is a gateway into Dixie National Forest, Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. It also has a Shakespeare Festival which is evidently a big draw for the town.

Part of our drive around was a scouting mission for dinner. We located some possibles in town but upon returning to the hotel noticed an English Pub/restaurant attached to hotel across the parking lot and decided to eat there since they were billing different types of food that might satisfy everyone in the family. Back at the Okay-8 we inquired of our inn-keeper about the place and he said other guests had reported favorably.

There standards must be pretty low as it was by far the worst meal on our trip. Jenna had a pizza in which she just ate off the cheese and olives indicating the sauce and dough were not palatable. Leslie, Blaire and I opted for the buffet with a soup and salad bar, roast chicken, pork, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Thank goodness for the salad bar is my favorable comment. Blaire wondered how the roast chicken, which was only legs and wings, could be so dry for dark meat and further wondered what was used for the potatoes for the garlic mash. Two good inquiries from my buddy Foodie.

Like our prior Okay-8 stay in Nebraska, the room was "non-smoking" but the corridor reeked of stale cigarette smoke. Oh for two on the Okay-8's we will consider the risk reward scenario of quality versus price very strongly before staying at one again.

Friday morning we were up and on the road by 8:30 local (Mountain) time. Heading east into the forests and mountains we quickly began an winding assent into the hills and the Dixie National Forest. Not a road for the faint of heart, we wound up sharp turns with no guard rails protecting from hundred foot drops. Surrounded by lush forest with streams and creeks the morning drive was as beautiful as any we have had on the trip. As we neared the peak the ground changed from grass and plants to what looked like plowed fields with very black dirt. It was not dirt however but rock that must have been lava rock from millenia ago. Very interesting change in the geology.

When we stopped climbing we were in large expanses of meadows and fields used for livestock grazing, high country ranching. I love this type of country and enjoyed the winding drive across the plateau and subsequent descent through the other side of Dixie.

Exiting Dixie we turned south and headed towards Zion National Park. The road was dotted with small towns, each with a posted 45 speed limit and a parked Sheriff guarding the entrance to town, a neat trick to slow everyone down. Seemingly out of nowhere the trees and forests gave was to plateaus, cliffs and yellow and red rocks soaring out of the ground.

As we entered the road into Zion the change in landscape was astounding, from lush, verdant terrain to desert scrub and soaring rocks. At the entrance the Park Ranger taking our fee inquired if we wanted an annual pass for $80 or pay the $25 for a visitor pass. We said we were just there to drive through and see the Park and he told us to save our receipts as they could be applied to an annual pass. Having paid $25 each for Rushmore and Yellowstone we were now $75 towards an annual pass should we visit another national park in the near future. Should you be visiting several parks in the next year keep this in mind.

Zion was just as awe inspiring, "Wow" provoking and incredible as anything we have seen so far on the trip. The massive cliffs that loom over the road, the incredible color that we could not replicate in any of our pictures, the sheer size. Each element of the place is fascinating, combined it was a perfect way to complete our list of sites we had on our list before we had left Long Beach ten days before.

There are many places to stay in just outside of Zion on the western side, as well it is not far from Southern California making it a great weekend trip for the family. Though looking at traffic going the other way my suggestion would be to take the kids out of school on Friday and leave early.

Having taken our leave of Zion we pointed the Odyssey to home. Before we got there however we had one more side trip we had to make. Approaching from the north we exited the I-15 at Las Vegas Blvd and drove down the Strip so Jenna could see the hotels and sites. All the way down she was asking if we could stay, how she wanted to go to Vegas, and knowing I had told her not until she was 21 when I would take her she pointed out several hotels she wanted us to stay at twelve years hence when that would occur. Of all the sites we had seen during the trip the most vocal response from Jenna of all was the drive down Las Vega Boulevard in 104 degree heat in the early afternoon. That is Jenna, bright lights and flashing billboards.

Having done the Vegas to Long Beach drive many times we knew we were four to five hours from home depending on traffic. Leaving Vegas we also encountered something I had not missed in the previous 4500 miles: Southern California drivers. Tailgating at 75 miles per hour when it is evident you cannot go faster due to car in front of you or move over due to cars in the lane next to you, going 60 in the fast lane when flow of traffic is closer to 80, suddenly slowing down for no reason, and increasingly crowded traffic lanes. Ahhhh, home is near!

With a stop at The Mad Greek in Baker for milkshakes we were all ready for the final, final leg of our return. The girls started counting down the time to my estimated 6:00 time of arrival.

Two hundred and forty hours and 4,875 miles after we had left, Lesie and I were back home with our girls. The trip from Camp Birchwood was 2725 miles traveling through Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. The girls were great throughout and gave some fuel to our idea for next summer: driving the girls to camp through Arizona (Grand Canyon), Oklahoma to see their ancestral roots, then up the Mississippi to its source a few miles from their camp.

Before we left when Leslie and I told people we were headed off on the Great American Road Trip many people inquired why we would want to drive to Minnesota when we could fly, looked at us wondering why we would want to spend eight days driving across the country, told us we were nuts for thinking our screen-oriented kids would be able to handle such a long drive. Many others envied our wanderlust and told of how when they were kids they had many family vacations in back of the family station wagon headed somewhere.

To the skeptics we say, put your kids in the car and drive somewhere wonderful--which is most of the country outside the urban sprawl that covers Southern California. We have an incredibly beautiful country, not just the landscapes but the people who live in those "remote" areas. Leslie and I both grew up spending parts of our summers, winter and spring breaks in the back seat of a station wagon headed somewhere. Trips we remember still. Now we have a trip our children will remember and share with our grandchildren, hopefully when they are headed to Yellowstone, or Rushmore, or Zion, or Camp Birchwood in Minnesota.

Pictures below are again the poor Blackberry takes of Zion, Leslie finally home, and our welcoming committee wondering where we had gone. I am hoping to have loaded on YouTube (www.youtube.com/dcslb) some brief videos taken with the Flip, check in Sunday.

Thanks for following along on the Great American Road Trip and the positive feedback. It's good to be home, but it was just as good to be on the road with the family.

Car Games Here are some games we play in the car

License Plates: we keep a list of license plates we see from states we are not currently traveling in. On the way there Leslie and I saw 32 states. On the way back we saw 42 states, nailing Alaska on the final off ramp in Long Beach.

A to Z: Several variations of this game. 1) See how fast you can go from A to Z spotting letters using road signs, license plates, billboards, etc. 2) Rotating through the car name movies that start with the letter at your turn, to make it more difficult do not allow "The", i.e. "The Incredibles" does not count as "I". First person, "Avatar", next "Boyz In The Hood", next "Cars" and so on. 3) Same game but use television shows. Titles cannot be repeated, though after several rounds we gave options for person to skip Q, X and/or Z when it was their turn.

Last to First: Rotate through the car and using either famous people or places each person must name a person or place that begins with the last letter of the previous answer. I.e first person starts with Anaheim, next is Manhattan, next is Nebraska, and so on.

Guess How Far: Pick a point way in the distance and guess how many miles it is or how long it will take to get there

Detour!

2011-08-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

The marvels of current technology assist the family road trip and the assistance provided. As mentioned in perhaps the first post I have a Verizon wireless modem and power adapter for the laptop, not to mention GPS on the Blackberry. These tools have enabled us to find accommodations for the evening while on the fly, calculate/guesstimate how far ahead of us to stop for the evening, and for me to keep in touch with clients in order to ensure I have some income upon our return from the trip.

Yesterday after leaving Yellowstone with Leslie on the helm I dozed off for several minutes, awakening to a "How beautiful" coming from my right. Waking myself from a dream of riding a roller coaster with two friends from high school and David Hasselhoff, I looked out my window to see Jackson Lake about fifteen feet from my window and the Grand Teton range towering over the other side of the lake. Wow.

Through the trip we have been amazed at how quickly many of the mountain ranges have risen from the plains, several miles of some foothills next to most. Not the Tetons. They just spring up, almost straight up, to their maximum elevations. Truly spectacular.

Having no set plan yet as to where to stay the night, just an intention to head below Jackson, Wyoming which we figured would be a nice place to stay but not as nice on the wallet. From Jackson into Utah there are a few routes, going almost due south puts a string of small towns in our path, cutting back east there are fewer towns but a bit bigger and they add distance to the trip. Looking at the map we determined to head south and start looking for hotels from Alpine south.

Firing up the laptop as we drove next to Jackson Lake I pulled up the AAA site and put in directions from Jackson to Salt Lake City and was greeted with yellow warning dots along the route from Jackson to Alpine. It seems a mud slide had closed the road. Uh-oh.

A suggested route was to go over the Teton Pass at 8431 feet and into Idaho. Checking the maps and the towns downstream we determined we could cross into Idaho and make Idaho Falls for a late dinner and a place to spend the evening.

We are glad we took the detour. The trip over the Tetons was pretty quick, only about twelve miles with steep ascent and descent and beautiful scenery. The view back down the mountain and across the valley was magnificent. As well we were in the tree line the entire trip, not sparsely vegetated as in the other mountain passes we have crossed on our journey.

When we dropped into Idaho the landscape was considerably different than the other side of the mountains. We were greeted with huge, vast fields of wheat. The largest continuous fields we have seen in our travels including Nebraska, the Dakotas and Wyoming. Golden fields surrounded us as we moved towards the Snake River. When we reached the Snake we followed it winding through the valleys into Idaho Falls where we checked into the Shilo Inn for a very comfy nights rest before setting out on the final legs of our Great American Road Trip.

As we finished our day we commented that it was the first day on our trip that we did not experience any rain or thunderstorms. As we head into Utah, Nevada and finally California we anticipate rising temperatures from the high sixties low seventies and clear skies.

A shot of the Tetons from the Odyssey.

The Divine At Work

2011-08-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

Numerous stories, articles and books have been written about Yellowstone National Park since the 19th Century when it was initially discovered by Western explorers. My attempt to add to the prodigious volumes available will hardly alter history, but hopefully will engage the imaginations of a few so that they may venture to the Northwest corner of Wyoming to see this spectacular land for themselves.

Yesterday, Tuesday August 9th, we left Sheridan, Wyoming and backtracked south after a few locals told us crossing the Big Horn Mountains further south from Buffalo was a safer trip then the northern option into Cody, Wyoming from Sheridan due to rock slides. With Leslie at the helm we climbed to over 9,000 feet before dropping down the western slope following Ten Sleeps Creek into the town of Ten Sleeps. Crossing through the ever changing landscape we had an interesting stop.

As mentioned in a previous post every highway we have been on seems to having work done, on the 16 West somewhere between Ten Sleeps and Cody the road was down to one lane so we had to stop and wait for the escort car to bring cars from the other direction and then lead us about eight miles down the road. While we were waiting the flag lady, Linda, came to our car and gave us and the kids a history lesson on Wyoming. We learned about dinosaurs and betonite, the local mineral that is only in Wyoming and is a major revenue source for the state along with the oil and natural gas from the dinosaurs.

Typical for our travels through Wyoming we encountered several storms off and on and beautiful scenery from mountains to plains to moon-scapes.

Around 3:30 we reached our destination West of Cody, the Green Creek Inn & RV Park in Wapiti (WAH-peh-tee). Inquiring from the owner about the possibility of jumping into Yellowstone to see some of the sites to shorten our day on Wednesday. He was pushing us driving back to Cody, about forty minutes, to go to an all you can eat Cowboy Dinner then the Rodeo for about $200 for the family. We said, thanks for the advice, we drove west for about forty minutes to Yellowstone. For a one week pass for the car it was $25, an annual pass is only $50. The ranger told us it got dark about 9:00 and it was about one and a half hours to drive the approximately 60 miles to Old Faithful. It was 4:30 local time and we decided to head to Old Faithful.

Here is where I will avoid detailed description and merely say that Yellowstone is proof of Divine Creation. It is so spectacular, so beautiful, so ever changing from the forests that have new growth following the fires of several years ago, to the steam coming from the ground, to the rivers, creeks and lakes, that only a Master Plan could conceive of such terrain, geology and geography.

We made it to Old Faithful about 6:45 and learned that the legendary geyser had gone off about an hour before. Since Old Faithful is due to spew every ninety minutes or so we were on time to see it around 7:15. Thankfully there was a cafeteria right there since it was beginning to rain, the wind picked up and the temperature had dropped to the mid-fifties….we were in shorts and light jackets.
After a dinner the kids devoured we stood on the porch and waited for the show. After a few false alarms Old Faithful blew for over three minutes around 7:30. Looking at the dark skies, and the approaching nightfall, we hustled back to the car for the drive back to the East Entrance to the park and then to our beds for the night.

Driving through Yellowstone is somewhat challenging for several reasons. One is the slower pace. Two is the vigilance on the road while trying not to be distracted by the scenario to make sure you don’t hit a bear or an Elk. Three are the other drivers, many of whom are determined to stop with no notice because they saw a chipmunk and need to take videos and pictures. Add rain and dropping sunlight and the drive is not the easiest we have undertaken.

We hit the gate around 9:00, our room around 9:45 and beds by 10:00. A long day, a wonderful day.

This morning we were up early to catch the incredible Continental Breakfast array at the Green Creek Inn (bread, packaged muffins, a toaster, stale coffee that was somehow just brewed) at 7:30 and headed back to Yellowstone. We left the Inn at 8:00 and drove all day through Yellowstone, going up to the Northern edge then back down the Western side of the park. We stopped several times to walk to see falls, hot springs, or other sites. The weather was spectacular, exceeded however by the vistas from each turn.

Yellowstone is not easy to get to, you can’t just fly in. If it were easy to get to it would be too crowded, as it is there are plenty of visitors. While it is not easy to get to, get to it you must. We spent about eleven hours in the park yesterday and today and we barely scratched the surface. As Leslie said, “We are doing a Taster.” Our next trip to Yellowstone will be for several days. We will try to get reservations at one of the many lodges in the park, otherwise find lodging outside the Western or Northern Entrances.

We learned that every area of the huge park is different, and we look forward to our return to explore each of them more thoroughly.

As for what we saw, Jenna’s favorite was a bear cub, Blaire’s was the bison, Leslie’s was the bison and a sulfur springs area where a very large mound the shape of a baked potato had been formed from the spring under it. As for me, my favorite sights were first from Tuesday evening on the drive back from Old Faithful when the twilight was almost gone, storm clouds were gathered on the mountain ringing Yellowstone Lake and an almost full moon was glisten on the calm water. Tied for favorite site was seeing a bald eagle soaring down the canyon of the Yellowstone River below us as we stood on the rim.

As for you, make your plans to get to Northwestern Wyoming and visit this incredible national treasure endowed to us by our Creator along with certain inalienable rights.

Our pictures today are Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful taken by Jenna, Bison roadside, and the Upperfalls of the Yellowstone River where I saw the eagle.

Roar No More

2011-08-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day seven of the Great American Road Trip is complete with the family firmly entrenched in complete after dinner relaxation in the Best Western in central Sheridan, Wyoming. It was in this town where Buffalo Bill Cody would audition local cowboys for his Wild West Show.

We started our day sleeping in at the Holy Smokes cabin where we stayed the night. After a very long Saturday and a very short Saturday night everyone needed some extra rest. After getting the girls to consolidate from two bags each they used for camp to only one bag each to lug into a hotel each night we went a few miles into nearby Keystone, South Dakota. Hearing a constant roar and rumble from the nearby highway all morning we followed the constant stream of Harleys into Keystone in search of some grub.

Driving through Keystone the intrepid Odyssey vibrated from the hundreds of Harleys on the street, a street lined by hundreds more of parked bikes. Coming down from Mount Rushmore last night we saw a diner we suspected may be perfect for breakfast in the morning. When we parked in a lot, there was zero parking spaces for a mini-van on the street, the man taking our parking fee suggested the same diner, Peggy's Place. A five star recommendation from the Smith's if you are near Rushmore for any meal, hit up Peggy's.

We strolled from Peggy's down one side and up the other of Keystone. Sidewalks were packed with black leather, bandannas and boots, streets were lined with Harleys parked side-by-side-by-side. Having been tipped off by Rapid City native Rachel Bredemus at Birchwood about fudge and taffy in Keystone we made the stop at Turtle Town for some fudge and the taffy-something store for some goodies. Goodies is a vast understatement.

Ready to go we hit the road at noon local and drove around the backside of Rushmore to Custer. A gorgeous drive through the woods and fields and rocks of the Black Hills we had a micro-storm that had many Harley drivers off the road standing under trees as pea sized hail pummelled us for several minutes. Driving from Custer we headed up to Spearfish and then across the border into Wyoming.

Winding our way around a loop we passed several establishments with large banners "Welcome Bikers" and beer gardens set up with hundreds of bikes parked. We passed through Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back of the head while playing poker. His hand, two eights and two aces all black, has become known as the "dead man's hand."

With terrain changing from forested mountains to hilly fields back to forests our drive was beautiful. Our goal was Devil's Tower. You may remember Devil's Tower as the object of Richard Dreyfus in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." We first saw Devil's Tower poking over the landscape during a break in the hills and trees from about fifteen miles away. As we got closer we would see it grow with brief glimpses. Then after passing through Belle Fourche, which was packed with bikers, we emerged from the town and there looming over us was the Devil's Tower. It is incredible to see in person the way it just springs out of the countryside with no foothills or mountains nearby.

From Devil's Tower we began heading west and then north across great, vast plains of Wyoming with the mountain range in Big Horn National Forest growing ever bigger as we drove west. As with our prior visit to Wyoming last Wednesday the horizon was filled with large storm systems and visible rain. After a torrential downpour we arrived safely in Sheridan for a night's rest before heading off tomorrow towards Yellowstone. We are uncertain whether we will enter the park tomorrow or stay somewhere very near the park entrance tomorrow and enter early Wednesday morning to drive through and head towards Jackson.

We did not cover a lot of mileage today, but covered more beautiful country with plains, fields, forests, hills, lakes, streams, mountains and small towns. As we left Buffalo, Wyoming and headed north to Sheridan we finally have left the ring of bikers that emanates from Sturgis. The economic impact of the rally must be tremendous given the thousands of bikers we have seen without actually getting closer than 20-30 miles to Sturgis. Towns, rest stops, roadways, the roads themselves, were packed with the roar and rumble of the huge machines. We saw no ill behavior, poor or dangerous riding or rudeness from anyone wearing the famous Harley-Davidson emblem. I am sure the hundred mile radius around Sturgis appreciates the annual event and the commerce it brings to their stores, towns and communities.

Leslie said she wants start a Mini-Van Rally. I suggested she stage it in Irvine or perhaps a suburb of Chicago, St Louis or Kansas City. Rock on Honda Odyssey! Rock On!

Pictured below is the main drag of Keystone, South Dakota at noon and Devil's Tower from about ten miles away.

Good-Bye to Start Part II

2011-08-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the final full day for campers at Birchwood. The girls needed to pack and have normal activity schedules, which were challenged due to heavy rains most of the day. Leslie and I spent a very leisurely day reading by the lake, then when the rains got too heavy for the trees to protect us we retired to our cabin and spent a relaxing (read lazy) afternoon just resting and reading.

The final evening at camp is pretty emotional as the girls who have been at Camp Birchwood either two or four weeks begin to say good-bye to each other, their counselors and to camp. The final campfire is filled with songs, awards, songs, and some very touching commentary from the girls themselves as several tell their friends what camp and their friendships mean to them.

On Saturday I posted about Camp Birchwood and why Leslie and I send our girls for camp. On Saturday night listening to the girls describe why they like going to camp, and why they do not want to leave, we received full validation. The word "home" was used by almost all of them, "be myself," "learning," and "love" were not said to appease anyone but to tell their fellow campers how they felt about them and themselves.

Birchwood is a very hard place to leave.

Sunday we had to leave along with about 160 girls travelling out of Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. The logistical organization of getting the bags loaded on a rented truck, girls loaded on buses and then everything to the airport so each bag and each camper is loaded on the right plane at the right time is amazing. And it always works.

We woke early Sunday, 5:30 local (3:30 for those on the West Coast) and walked over to camp for a cup of coffee and to collect our girls; I'm not sure which was more important but at our first stop Leslie went immediately to the gas station coffee pot and poured a tall cup.

The vibe in the car was very different with two more passengers than we had on the first 2,150 miles.

At 7:00 we were on the road with our destination being the Holy Smokes Resort in the Black Hills next to Mount Rushmore. As we wound our way through the Minnesota woods towards Fargo our girls slept in their seats, their new home for the next 2,000 plus miles. Hitting Fargo on an interstate and then making our left hand turn south into South Dakota we were again in the Great Plains.

Looking at a map of South Dakota we had to go from the Northeast corner to the Southwest corner. And South Dakota has no diagonal roads or highways. About thirty to forty miles into South Dakota we left the interstate and began our jiggity-jog across South Dakota mostly on two lane highways. Mostly on two lane highways that had no bends or turns for ten, fifteen, sometimes twenty miles. The roads cut through the farm lands of South Dakota that were flat and thinly populated. We could go quite a while with seeing no other cars, towns, people, just us and the corn or wheat or alfalfa growing on each side of the road. The desolation made for good driving times however.

When we hit the state capitol of Pierre I was exhausted and Leslie took over. Once we crossed the Missouri River in Pierre the landscape changed immediately to rolling hills covered in green. The sky began to change as well as we forged west becoming grayer and we could see a large storm to our south with lightning strikes. As we pushed closer to our destination the road began to fill with more and more bikers from across the country heading for the major rally at Sturgis (thanks to my brother for pointing our the misspelling in prior post). Not only did we see hundreds and hundreds of bikes on the road, but a significant amount of trailers being hauled that contained bikes headed to the rally. Looking at road stops along the highway (by now we were on an interstate) the parking lots were filled with Harleys lined up.

Approaching Rapid City and the turn off to our destination at Holy Smokes the road became about five to one bikers to automobiles.

We reached Holy Smokes at 6:00 and we were bushwacked, at least I was. We quickly learned that we had gained an hour as we were back in the Mountain Time Zone. A good dinner of ribs, chicken, baked potatoes and a beer for Mom and Dad revived our energy and we decided to head to Mount Rushmore for a look and see if we could make the evening lighting show.

Best decision of our trip, and one of the best of my lifetime, was the decision to visit Rushmore in the evening and make the lighting ceremony. Mount Rushmore is a national park, it costs $11.00 per car load and you are given a pass that lasts to the end of the year for as many return visits as you like. Upon leaving the parking structure you look up and there they are, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. I've seen the pictures my entire life but was not ready for the awe that came over me upon seeing the carvings in person.

We walked the Presidential Trail that had some great views of the monument and faces from different angles and plaques along the way telling of each President and why he was chosen. We went to the gift store and looked at books and the story of the making of Mount Rushmore. And then we sat in the outdoor amphitheater and waited for the ceremony to begin.

A female park ranger took the stage and began to tell the story of Mount Rushmore. Her story is filled with patriotism and history. A video made by the Discovery Channel is shown that tells of each president, the site and the monument. Then when I thought the show was over the ranger takes the stage again.

She tells of the importance of liberty and freedom. She tells the story that has made its way around the internet and YouTube of Red Skelton's break down of the Pledge of Allegiance and recites to us what each word in the Pledge means. At which point I was thrilled Blaire and Jenna were with us. She then asked that we rise, and below the four Presidents, recite the pledge.

The flag to which our attention was directed was at half mast, as were all the flags in South Dakota in honor of police officer James Ryan McCandless of nearby Rapid City who was shot and killed on duty last Tuesday day.

After the pledge the video played a beautiful rendition of "America" sung by I do not know who. As the song and video are playing the faces of the Presidents high above us are lit. We are then asked to stand and sing the national anthem. I will admit to difficulty getting some of the words out.

After the anthem the park ranger asked that any Veterans and active duty military personnel join her on stage. As veterans began to walk down to the stage we stood and applauded for several minutes until everyone was gathered, about fifty to sixty in all. Shouts of "Thank You!" and "God Bless You" rang out from the audience to the collection of men and women, many in their biker gear for Sturgis, collected on stage and reached out to each other shaking hands and making introductions.

The range asked three of the men to join her at the flag pole to retire the flag for the evening. One man raised the flag to full height from its half-mast position and then lowered the flag to the waiting hands of two other vets. As they folded the flag into its three corner position the ranger read a piece thanking all veterans through our wars and battles from the Revolution through Vietnam and those serving today.

She then said, "as you leave the stage I would like each of you to come and touch this flag as so many veterans have before you and so that I can personally thank each of you for service."

As the men exited the stage the audience, still standing, again began to applaud until every man and woman had touched the flag and left the stage.

As we were exiting the amphitheater a grizzly looking guy dressed head to bandanna wrapped around his head in biker gear said, "Man I have never been so humbled in my life."

That statement perfectly captured what I was feeling.

God Bless America, our Veterans and our every day men, women and families who continue each and every day to make this the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

Day seven of the Great American Road Trip continues tomorrow, after some sleeping in.

Camp Birchwood

2011-08-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

Many people the past few years have said to Leslie and I, "Why are you sending your girls to Minnesota to go to camp?" once they have gotten past that we are sending our girls away for two weeks at all.

The reason we are sending our girls away to Minnesota is because that is where Camp Birchwood is located. Why Camp Birchwood? Two reasons.

Reason one is because of our family connection to the camp. My Dad was a camper in the 1940's and 1950's at Camp Lincoln (still in existence) in Minnesota and he had as a counselor one Jim Bredemus. Dad and Jim became great friends, Dad was in Jim's wedding when he married Nancy, Camp Lincoln's owners' daughter. In the 1960's Jim and Nancy acquired some land on Steamboat Lake and started Camp Birchwood for girls. My Dad and Mom were part of getting the camp opened and spent some summers helping run the camp as counselors.

In the late 1960's my sister became a counselor at Birchwood and Jim and Nancy's daughter Sandy was one of her counselors, we now had two generations of campers and counselors between the Smith and the Bredemus families. In 1970 my brother and I went to the new boys camp, Camp Gunflint, that Jim and Nancy opened at the end of the Gunflint Trail, on the very edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and a short paddle from the Quetico Provincial Park in Canada. We had as a counselor Terry Bredemus, Jim and Nancy's son.

A few years ago my nephew Jack went to Gunflint and his counselor was Danny Bredemus, son of Terry and grandson of Jim. The Smiths now had their third generation of campers being taught by a Bredemus. Last year our daughters, Blaire and Jenna, became first time campers at Camp Birchwood where Terry and his wife Rachael run the camp.

So reason one for why we send our daughters to camp in Minnesota is legacy. Our daughters are part of our family legacy with the Bredemus family, and I look forward to the day when my first grandchild goes to Camp Birchwood for girls or boys.

Reason two for sending our girls to Camp Birchwood is life. The life they lead at camp is so much different than the one they lead at home. No hectic schedule of ballet, karate, music lessons, running here and there. No screens. No television, no video games, no computers, no Nintendos. No parents. That is the big one, no parents.

Our girls are being led by some fantastic young women who are carefully interviewed and selected by Terry and Rachel before they are brought onto the Birchwood staff. They hale from all parts of the country and abroad. The staff go through weeks of training and constant support to help them help their campers, from eight years old to high school. Our girls are encouraged to challenge themselves, to step outside of their comfort zones, to be part of the community and engage with the other campers. They rotate chores of cleaning the cabin, hopping food and dishes at meal time.

Camp Birchwood is not just a place to dump your kids for a few weeks and then their time is filled with time filling activities. At Birchwood each activity has a series of badges and awards the girls are encouraged to work towards giving them goals and markers for their achievements. At meal times when awards are given the entire camp cheers them on and shows their appreciation for what they have accomplished as they have once done it as well.

Since we showed up late Thursday evening Leslie and I have seen a horse show, an art show and a very good scaled down presentation of "The Wizard of Oz." Each of these exhibiting the skills of the campers involved.

Each day girls chose their activities for the following day choosing from dance, drama, arts and crafts, riflery, archery, horse back riding, sailing, water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, photography, rock wall climbing, or perhaps they are off on a wilderness trip to the boys camps several hundred miles away to canoe and pack through the wilderness. Or an over night bike trip that my girls took.

Each activity is not just about getting through the activity but involves training, learning and getting better.

That is why we send our daughters to camp in Minnesota. If you want to change the life of your daughter, or son, or grandchild, or niece, nephew, send them to Camp Birchwood.

One more day of fun for Leslie and I before we start Part II: The Return of the Great American Roadtrip. Yesterday we went sailing and Leslie skippered a sailboat for the first time, so learning new skills is not just for young girls at Birchwood! In the late afternoon the weather turned from sunny to dark, cool and big gusts of wind. Satellite imagery showed a huge thunderstorm cell headed our way. Camp was quickly buckled down and everyone collected in the dining hall as the storm with 60 mile and hour gusts, lightening and hail the size of quarters just missing us.

Today the girls have normal activities while packing to leave tomorrow. The logistics of getting over two hundred kids to Minneapolis-St. Paul airport for their various flights is something to behold. But they do it every session, every year and do it well.

Tomorrow is an early start for us as we hit the road for about seven hundred miles to Mount Rushmore. I'm off to the dining hall for some breakfast.

Rest Stop

2011-08-05T05:16:00.001-07:00

While the most people were caught up in the plunge of the stock markets yesterday Leslie and I were in financial-chaos-oblivion as we headed to our Part I destination on Day Three of our Great American Road Trip. While I was getting text messages from a service I subscribe to informing me that mortgage rates were doing well (blatant advertising, for more mortgage news check in frequently at www.DennisCSmith.com/myblog If you wish to help subsidize this trip and live in California call me to assist you with the purchase of your next home or to refinance your current mortgage---end advertising), it wasn't until a reporter for the Orange County Register emailed me to get my reaction to the Dow Jones crashing over 500 points that I was aware of the sell off. Being transported through our nation's Corn Belt with a beautiful driving companion, multiple CDs and satellite radio enables the cocoon effect from the outside news that we, or I, usually spend so much of my day following and comment upon.

Back to the trip. Before going to sleep Wednesday night we plotted our course for Camp Birchwood, destination for Part I of the trip. Deciding that going to Omaha would add too many miles we cut northeast about 90 miles east of our starting point of Gothenberg and then north towards Fargo, North Dakota. Once in Fargo we would cross into Minnesota and begin to work our way into the deep woods and farmland of the state. This route would take us off major interstates for much of the journey and on two lane state routes through small towns and farmland. Pretty much what I like to see on a trip.

Ever since we left California all the roads, especially the interstates, have been in great shape. Most of the roads are in much better shape than almost any of highways and byways of the Golden State and considering the states we have gone through, Nevada, Utah, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, and that each has baking sun, freezing rain, snow, sleet, hail, to contend with one needs ponder why it is these states have such better road maintenance than California, well one does if one is a resident and tax payer of California like I am. Not to dwell or ponder this for long but consider where our state budget goes and who it supports next time you realign your Honda Pilot on your way to work.

Our progress on this road trip has been delayed somewhat by construction projects on every highway we have been on since leaving Nevada. One aspect of the freezing rain and snow is that the window for road maintenance is rather small, pretty much April to October.

Back to the trip. Driving through the rolling hills of Nebraska--yes hills and plenty of them--we were surrounded by miles and miles of corn interspersed with rotated crops of alfalfa. Stands of trees, silos, barns and homesteads dotted the landscape surrounded by the lush green with yellow tops of corn. The small towns we passed through were spotlessly clean, and many laying claim to their local heros or legends. For Nebraska we passed through Johnny Carson's hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska, other towns would have signs stating Home of .... and I would recognize the name of a University of Nebraska Cornhusker. I gave a little spit and a curse when we were told we were on the Tom Osborne Highway (for those who do not know Osborne was coach of the Huskers for many years and made a good habit of beating the much beloved, very respected and thoruoughly supported Sooners of the University of Oklahoma).

Reaching South Dakota we made a stop in Yankton (home of Tom Brokaw) and saw some guys getting their Harleys ready. I asked them if they were headed west and they assured me they were. West being Sturgess, gathering point for thousands and thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts (let's face it many are not "bikers" but business men and women with a hobby) for a week. A week that starts on Friday August 5th one of our Yankton bikers thought (they looked like bikers not insurance salesmen).

"Leslie we might want to check on our stop at Mount Rushmore, the Sturgess Rally is going on."

"Where is Sturgess?"

"Somewhere west of here."

Sturgess is in western South Dakota, above Rapid City, which is just above Mount Rushmore. If outdoor retailers could sell out hotels in Salt Lake City I was thinking thousands of bikers could sell our Rapid City, South Dakota. Leslie fired up my laptop and started working the phone and the AAA website before securing a non-refundable room for Sunday night in Mount Rushmore. Kids better be ready for a seven hundred mile day.

Back to the road. South Dakota was filled with more corn but the hills flattened out and the road got a lot straighter. Nothing against South Dakota in the eastern part of the state but Nebraska has you beat from a view stand point. Though this is not to say the vistas were not beautiful with the miles of fields, woods peppering the landscape and rivers and streams winding through them all.

We hit Fargo at rush hour. Rush hour for Fargo being akin to about two in the afternoon on our local freeway with the lanes about seventy-five percent full. Clearing Fargo without even knowing it we entered Minnesota, Land of 10,000 lakes. Meandering through the woods with sudden breaks in the trees revealing a large, or small, lake, or perhaps fields with horses or cattle, we were on county roads and after cruising at a good clip--let's say a bit above the posted limits--for 2000 miles the last 100 was at a relative crawl. All the more so because we were so close to our destination.

At 7:30 we finally came to the end of the quarter mile gravel drive and arrived at Camp Birchwood. Our girls home for the past eleven days and ours for the next three.

Part I complete, time for some rest, fun at camp sailing, swimming, and other activities before we depart very early Sunday morning to make our non-refundable reservation at Mount Rushmore.

(Sorry for the crummy picture quality, something up with the Blackberry camera that makes stuff blurry than it needs to be).

Here is the path Leslie and I take from our cabin next door to camp to get to camp for our meals, activities and haning out. At the top is my view this morning after a sail as I do some work before lunch. Nice office!

Over The Hump

2011-08-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day two of the Great American Road Trip started pretty well, FedEx had my wallet in hand before 10:00 so Leslie and I hit the road south of Salt Lake City and started moving up the Wasatch Mountains. For those who have never been to Salt Lake City, the city is in a valley that is fairly flat for being in the mountains, just east of the city the mountains spring seemingly straight up. We headed into the mountains and began climbing, about twenty miles later we were driving along a high valley where Park City is located.

Turn after turn we were given beautiful vistas, and changing topography and flora. From pine forests to dessert landscape, we wound up and down, north and south as we headed east towards Wyoming on I-80.

The I-80 crosses Wyoming along the southern border, and it is an amazing drive. Huge vistas that looked like the plains states, but at high elevation, we were definitely in cowboy country. It was easy to look at the rolling fields with grazing cattle and horses, the mountain peaks hundreds of miles to the north and the south, and imagine what it was like one hundred fifty years ago with men on horseback working their herds.

A highlight of the day was our lunch stop, not just for the great barbecue pork and brisket sandwiches we found at a local spot we decided on instead of a Subway turkey sandwich, but the actual location. We pulled off the road in Rock Springs. Which happens to be the birthplace of my daughters' grandmother, Leslie's mother. Like many of the towns that were spread out along the I-80, Rock Springs is a tidy town spread out along a river valley and has a main drag with a 35 mile per hour speed limit. If you ever are in Rock Springs go to Dickey's Barbecue Pit, they have a small sandwich for $3, a medium for $5 or a large for $7 which has two kinds of meat and cheese. I got a small pork and a small brisket and Leslie went for the medium pulled pork. Delicious, Leslie also recommends the fried okra.

Throughout the day we saw major storm clouds to the south. As the day wore on and the Honda Odyssey forged ever Eastward, dark clouds--beautiful, full storm clouds--collected ahead of us. As we closed in on Laramie the sky became very dark. Then from Laramie to Cheyenne we were alternately dumped on with so much rain that it was almost a white out, then it would immediately back off to scattered showers, then again with the torrential downpour. It made for interesting driving and nice scenery with the clouds and storms across the horizons.

Dropping out of Cheyenne the weather cleared almost on top of the Nebraska border about forty miles east of Cheyenne. As we approached the border we saw a huge, perhaps thirty feet tall, white stone Jesus facing Wyoming on the north side of the highway. Jesus welcomed us to Nebraska, I told Leslie if you are leaving Nebraska, Jesus turns his back on you.

We have made it over the hump of the mountains that separate the West from the Midwest and officially entered the Great Plains.

The drive across Nebraska, or about two hundred or so miles of it, were just as pretty as the drive through the mountains in a different way. Rolling green hills, copses of trees along river banks, farms and silos. I told Leslie that Nebraska's horizons are dotted with silos the way Utah's is with steeples.

As we passed North Platte and headed to our evening's destination we saw herds of deer coming out of the woods and eating in alfalfa fields or walking through streams.

Oh, and yes there are plenty of corn fields.

I was tempted to pull over in Sidney and go to the headquarters and major store for Cabella's, perhaps the number one purveyor of outdoor wear and gear for hunters, fisherman and campers. Had I gone in I might have cost us several hours and money we cannot afford to spend on jackets and boots I may never wear but look and fit great.

We are spending the night at the Super 8 (I'll call it the Okay-8) in wonderful Gothenberg, Nebraska. We pulled in about 9:00 local time and went to hunt for dinner. Someone rolled up the town about dinner time evidently but we lucked out on a local diner still open and willing to make some ham and eggs and a club sandwich.

We drove through the town looking for a place so we could avoid McDonald's and I can tell you that Gothenberg is not a one-light town. It does not have one light. Not one. Lots of stop signs however.

Not sure if we can make Camp Birchwood tomorrow since we missed our goal of Omaha by about 240 miles due to the late start waiting for my wallet. We covered 700 miles each of the first two days, we'll see what tomorrow brings as we continue our trip across this incredibly beautiful country of ours.

Here is the mobile phone shot from out the window in the middle of Nebraska:

Sleepy Lagoon

2011-08-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

This is not the first trip I had taken up the I-15 through Vegas and into Utah, I first took the trip starting Labor Day weekend 1991. A lot has not changed in twenty years, a lot has. Obviously Las Vegas skyline has changed dramatically in its hotel room count, so too had that of Beaver, Utah.

One of my closest friends from college, Chuck Smith, had been accepted to the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University in Chicago. I had known Chuck since our first day on campus when we met at an orientation meeting, had lunch then went to check where our mailboxes were. Chuck's mailbox was 823 and I was 824. Upon learning this I looked at Chuck and said, "You know what this means? We'll be sitting next to each other at graduation." And indeed we were, in about 100 degree heat in May 1984.

By the time August 1991 came seven years later Chuck had married Michelle and they have twin one year old boys, Chad and Tim. All of whom needed to move to Chicago so Chuck could begin his studies at Northwestern.

Sensing adventure, the ability to help and some wanderlust I volunteered to help Chuck and Michelle drive cross-country, with one provision, "I won't change any diapers."

So it was set, Chuck, Michelle and the twins would ride in their Ford Aerostar, I would drive the small Mazda four door whose model I can no longer recall. Before cell phones and any internet I was somewhat advanced in the communication department with pager that had voice mail. It proved helpful the afternoon before our trip when I was at my brother's apartment in Los Angeles where I was to be picked up the next morning so we could start our trip (Chuck and Michelle living in Van Nuys and me in Long Beach it made the most sense).

The message was along the lines of, "Denny we have a bit of a problem. Michelle is at the hospital with her had badly cut up. Call me later." And he left the number of a friend's house. Evidently Michelle was doing last minute clean up of their home they were going to rent while in Chicago and using a borrowed ShopVac. The top had been broken so the high speed fan that generates the suction was partly exposed. Michelle reached behind her to move the vacuum and her hand....well let's say when I saw her the next morning she had loads of stitches and her hand was bandaged in such a way as it appeared she was flipping you the bird constantly.

It was evident that Chuck would be changing every diaper from two one year old boys for our journey. An ominous beginning. But begin we did.

It was Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I was cruising along behind the Ford van listening to college football games until we lost radio signals somewhere near Mesquite, Nevada. We stopped for gas, diaper change, and a snack late that afternoon somewhere in or near St. George, Utah and it was decided would push on and find a room for the night a bit further up the I-15.

Around 7-7:30 Chuck pulled off the highway in a small town. As we met up at the gas station right off the exit he said the kids were spent, everyone was hungry and we would drive through the town and find a place for the night. Right in back of the station was a good sized Comfort Inn or Best Western, keeping an eye on the budget we decided to drive through the town and see if there was anything. We drove past probably four or five small motels and hotels and everyone had "No Vacancy" signs lit up in the twilight. We pulled up next to each other in a parking lot and decided costs be damned let's go to the big hotel at the other side of town.

When we pulled in we all went in the lobby, Chuck looking like he had been on the road for several hundred miles with twin babies, Michelle leaning her elbow on her hip with her hugely bandaged hand flipping everyone off, and me eyeing the lobby for a spot to get a beer.

As we waited for the hotel desk clerk to help the couple in front of us we heard, "Sorry but we are booked up, the entire town is." As the couple left we looked at each other with "Uh-oh..." expressions. Yes, we were told the largest hotel in town was booked as was every other room as it was Labor Day weekend in Beaver, Utah. "What is so big in Beaver, Utah on Labor Day weekend?"

"It is an annual Alcoholic's Anonymous convention." In Beaver Utah. On Labor Day Weekend.

Despite our pleas, showing the twins, showing Michelle flipping him off with her bandaged hand, the clerk said he was totally booked.

We regrouped in the parking lot and decided to make a pass through town, if we did not see anything we would get on the highway and press on to the next town and keep pressing until we found a room.

Driving around a bend as I followed the Ford Van we passed the first motel on our left. In the growing darkness a sudden bright red light caught my eye, whipping my head around I saw big, beautiful letters shine "VACANCY!" I flashed my brights, honked and whipped a u-turn without carrying if Chuck saw me turn. My turn was just in time as the car I cut off followed me into the parking lot of the "Sleepy Lagoon" motel looking for a room.

They had one room, two queen beds. We got it. The last room in Beaver, Utah.

Yesterday Leslie and I made a pit stop in Beaver and as we were leaving the Shell station I asked her to drive into Beaver so I could see the old motel that saved us that warm summer night twenty years ago. (Remember that she was driving as my license and wallet were en route to Utah from Long Beach where I had left it.)

Alas the Sleepy Lagoon no longer takes conventioneers for the annual AA convention, if they still have it. Instead it appears it lodgers are dope fiends and kids looking for a place to party. The place is abandoned and he sleepy lagoon is an algae covered pond that must produce a prodigious amount of mosquitoes.

Au revoir Sleepy Lagoon Motel, au revoir.

Road Trip!!!

2011-08-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Roooooad Tripppppp! (Picture John Belushi in Animal House)

Day one of our Smith Family Road Trip 2011.

The destination is Camp Birchwood on the shores of Steamboat Lake, Minnesota. Blaire and Jenna departed for Camp last Monday, flying without parents for the first time ever.

Leslie and I embarked this morning at 8:00 a.m. from Long Beach with intention of arriving at Camp Birchwood Thursday night. We will then depart Sunday and wind our way back to Long Beach through Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Zion and possibly show the girls the lights of Vegas.

Incredibly we cleared the LA basin this morning with no traffic and made Las Vegas at noon. Finding a small Italian deli north of the strip it was with some angst, some anger and some bemusement that when we were ordering our sandwiches that my wallet had failed to make the trip!

Leslie began to text our house sitter about the situation to ensure the wallet was in fact at the house. I then fired up the laptop, connected to the internet via Verizon’s groovy wireless gizmo, and using the AAA travel site began to call hotels in Salt Lake City to get an address; not only for us to lay our heads down this evening but to be able to get FedEx delivery tomorrow. Evidently there is a rather large outdoor products convention in Salt Lake so rooms are scarce, thankfully we secured one!

Leslie, already sensing my desire now that we are on the road to push far and fast, giggled and said, “thank goodness the FedEx is before 10:00 delivery and not 8:00 so I can sleep in a bit tomorrow—we are on vacation!”

We have cleared St. George, Utah and are about 260 miles south of Salt Lake as I type this. Gorgeous country through the canyons and hills. Temperature has gone from 103 south of St. George to 80 degrees wherever we are now and where the picture above was taken. Big thunder clouds around us all day, a few flashes in the distance but perfect driving for us under high clouds and filtered sun light.

Looking forward to getting my wallet tomorrow!

Plastic Bag Bans

2010-12-07T09:50:00.001-08:00

At some later date I will explain my hyatus the last four plus months, in the mean time here is letter to the editor that was not printed today, Tuesday December 7, 2010. This evening the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to vote to ban plastic bags being given away at grocery stores and other merchants.

Here is a link to the Press-Telegram story where I got the figures they used that I rebut in my letter: Will Long Beach Ban Plastic Bags?

Dear Editor:

I question the veracity of some of the “facts” published in the P-T article on plastic bags. One “fact” was that plastic bags make up “25 percent of the county’s litter stream.” That would mean 25% of most trash trucks, trash cans, and dumpsters would be plastic bags. Simple visual observations tells us this is not true and an inflated number used by ban supporters. One “fact” is that Californians use 19 million plastic bags per year, and also that they generate 147,038 tons of waste per year. For these numbers to equate each plastic bag must weight fifteen and a half pounds. Apparently another set of inflated statistics. Finally, the “fact” that “Californians throw away 600 plastic bags per second” would mean over 2 million per hour, or almost 52 million per day. How can we throw away 52 million per day in California and use only 19 million? Especially if they weigh over fifteen pounds apiece?

Once again elected officials in California take inflated statistics from alleged experts to create an intrusive law (see AB 32). Those of us who act responsibly, re-use and recycle our plastic bags are made to pay for those who feel litter is fine and part of their neighborhoods and throw their plastic bags and other trash in the streets, alleys and sidewalks. Congratulations to the grocers in Signal Hill, Lakewood, Seal Beach and other border cities for the increased business they will do when Long Beach City Council bans the fifteen pound plastic bags.

Dennis C. Smith
Long Beach, CA

Gimme Your Money

2010-08-04T05:51:00.001-07:00

On Monday I wrote about the City of Long Beach and the perpetual deficit due primarily to the inability, or rather the unwillingness, of the City Council to address the basic issues which plague the balance sheets and income statements. Deficits exist because of a gap between revenue and expenses, with the latter greater than the former. One way to solve deficits is to increase revenue rather than cut expenses, this is the route most elected officials prefer to take in our region and state.

Revenue growth of course is generally meant to mean tax increases but taxpayers don't like to read about tax increases but feel good about increasing revenues. Which explains a lot of the behavior of the electorate in the ballot box.

Revenues need not always need to be from direct taxes, but can also come from other entities that receive taxes. What the Long Beach City Council has been doing the last few years to prevent having to make the necessary decisions to solve the budget deficits is essentially engineer their own bailouts, or like street thugs at a mugging demanding "Gimme your money."

The Port of Long Beach is a huge economic engine. Over the decades it has consistently been ranked as the busiest or second busiest port in the world. Sitting side-by-side with the Port of Los Angeles, the harbor area sees tons and tons of cargo loaded and off loaded every day. Almost anything you see stamped "Made In China" comes through one of these two ports. With each car, radio, shirt or laptop comes a few pennies in revenue for the ports.

State laws dictate how the Port can spend its revenues and profits, often times the City of Long Beach needing some financial assistance will take a look at the laws on the books, see that the requested expenditure is a valid and request funds from the Port of Long Beach. And the Port of Long Beach, governed by commissioners appointed by the Mayor, accedes to the request. Essentially the Port of Long Beach is the City of Long Beach's rich uncle who has a hard time saying "No" to his favorite niece--no matter how much trouble she has gotten herself into.

The commissioners have done an excellent job running and managing the Port. Properly planning for expansion and growth, putting aside reserves for future projects, such as a new bridge between Long Beach and San Pedro. The Port nonetheless seems to have a special reserve account for the recalcitrant niece who cannot control her spending or properly budget for her future.

The City of Long Beach has considerable portions of the city that are in enterprise zones and business districts. Revenues (taxes) are collected and put under control of the Redevelopment Agency for use to, oddly enough, redevelop blighted areas of the city. The RDA has different zones, downtown, central and north. The problem from many citizens viewpoint is that for decades the RDA seemed to exist solely to dump money in the the downtown project area at the expense of the redevelopment in the rest of the city. Particularly frustrated over the years has been those who live north of the San Diego Freeway, those in the North PAC.

Raided over the years to make up funding shortfalls in downtown and central area projects, now the RDA is using funds designated to redevelop North Long Beach to bailout the city on debt payments for the Aquarium of the Pacific. For the second year in a row. For those readers not familiar with the Long Beach and the Aquarium of the Pacific it is not located in the North PAC.

Year after year, seemingly month after month, the City of Long Beach is asking for the wallets of the Port of Long Beach or the Redevelopment Agency for bailouts. Time after time, request after request the Port and RDA hand over their wallets.

Our city government is being enabled by the Port and RDA to make poor budget decisions and rewarded for not properly planning, and sticking to the plans they make. Elected and appointed officials behave like spoiled trust fund kids who know their mistakes or poor decisions will always be covered by the two entities. Because of term limits none of the council members have to live long term with their poor decisions and pushing any difficult budget decisions into the future.

Now we have an even richer uncle providing even greater bailouts that relieve the city from one of its basic duties: maintenance of infrastructure. All around town we have had torn up roads and big signs saying we are restricted to one lane and sitting in stalled traffic because our route is being repaved thanks to the American Recovery And Reinvestment Act of 2009, i.e. "The Stimulus." Like the Port providing funds so we can keep lifeguards or the North PAC having funds robbed to keep the fishtank open, the Feds are paving our roads for us. Thanks to the kind people of Tulsa and Pierre our city government can cross that expense off the list and use the funds for more salaries and benefits elsewhere.

Redevelopment funds are sorely needed in North Long Beach. Taking funds from the North PAC to support the Aquarium, whose tourist dollars only help downtown businesses, is unjust to the people of North Long Beach and the taxpayers who pay into the RDA coffers. North Long Beach is grimy, dirty, crime ridden, filled with many hard working people and many laze leaches on society. There is a lack of business and commerce, I don't think there is even a coffee shop in the Ninth District. There is no development because in years past the North PAC was raided to pay for projects elsewhere. And there will be no redevelopment in the near future because funds are now being raided to bailout the city on its debt obligations elsewhere.

The Port of Long Beach has proven fiscally responsible and a great economic partner for the city. Now the City Council and Mayor will push for passage of a ballot measure to change the City Charter to restructure how much money the city gets to take from the Port every year. Like most governments they feel they can better spend the money better than the person, or organization, that earned the money.

Like many large urban cities across the country Long Beach is failing economically. Not because of the downturn in the economy but because of the downturn in political courage and vision. Long Beach is fortunate to have wallets to rob, other cities not so fortunate. Until a majority on the City Council have the guts to stand up and make difficult decisions to slash expenses and programs while laying out the purpose and long term vision of fiscal responsibility our city will continue to flounder and look to others for bailouts.

Running for office means you are willing to make difficult decisions. Decisions that will not please some people, and may in fact bring some harm to some citizens in the short or long term. However the overall quality of life for the majority of residents and businesses should be critical and central to decision making. Not what is best for city employees, but what is best for the residents and businesses that are invested in the neighborhoods and business corridors that make a city what it is.

It is time for the City Council and Management of the City of Long Beach to quit depending on others to cover their fiscal and political cowardice. Make the hard decisions and put our city back on a healthy fiscal plan for our future.

DCS08042010

City Budget Decisions: It's Deja Vu All Over Again

2010-08-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

Yogi Berra, famous for his malaprops, infamously said "It's like deja vu all over again." That sums up perfectly the City of Long Beach budget process that is now underway. And probably the budget process of most cities across the state and many across the country. With just two changes, for the council members from the 7th and 9th, I could just repost the piece I wrote last September, "Dear City Council, Fix It" and once again follow up with "How To Crush Budgets: The Median Income Spiral" because nothing has really changed structurally or politically in Long Beach. To update for the current council from last year's district by district analysis I would say no real change in the 7th and a big change in labor's favor in the 9th. Not good news for residents looking for real shifts in fiscal policy at City Hall.

Last year I said that until the City Council addresses the pensions and benefits for public employees we can expect to read about the City of Long Beach facing another $20 million deficit next year. I was off by $1.5 million as the City must deal with an $18 million deficit. Despite the calls from 3rd District Councilman Gary DeLong last year there has been no movement to reign in the spiralling pension and benefit costs for the city. As a result next year at this time I will be writing about the City of Long Beach and its $20 million deficit.

Last year's budget was presented and passed with the hopes that the City could renegotiate with the various unions that represent almost all workers, from public safety through Parks & Rec. While there were some minor concessions made in negotiations earlier this year the golden eggs were not touched nor discussed. With no real change in the composite of the City Council and their dependence and favoritism to the public employees' unions we can expect no real change in the structural deficit our city faces due to growing pension and benefit contributions and payments.

While pay increases have been postponed under recent negotiations, at some point those postponements come due. As I wrote in "...The Median Income Spiral" when the pay raises are due to kick in the City will continue to use the formula of basing our employees' salaries on those in surrounding and like sized departments and populations. Ask the cities who have the City of Bell in their median income pool how that will go for them. Because of the formulas used to determine salaries and benefits, Long Beach continues to facing growing spending and deficits until the City Council directs the City Manager to re-open all city contracts and renegotiate them from top to bottom.

Meanwhile Mayor Foster and City Manager Pat West have presented their budget to Council and workshops and budget sessions have begun to debate where to slash spending to make up the $18.5 million gap. This past weekend the Press-Telegram published 43 budget questions for readers to answer with a simple "Yes" or "No" regarding budget cuts. (It is also on-line for those who wish to chime in: "How Would You Cut Long Beach Budget")

Thanks for asking but I would have answered anyway. As I have stated in the past the primary problem our country faces when it comes to governance is no vision and no over-riding philosophy of the purpose of government at each level. For Long Beach I believe the most basic purpose of the city government is to protect persons and property, to provide services that provide for the safety of the citizens, to build and maintain the infrastructure necessary to support neighborhoods and business districts, to provide limited services that promote the general welfare of all citizens, such as libraries. According to my perceived purposed of city government the budget should focus on public safety, which includes not only police and fire but also life guards, park rangers and crossing guards; city inspectors for buildings, health and code enforcement; maintenance crews to repair city streets, sidewalks, sewers, water lines and public parks and buildings; public libraries, parks and recreation. Since our City has a Health Department which keeps us somewhat independent from the County it would also by a budget priority. Once those budgets are properly funded and secured if there is any funding left over then the City can consider temporarily funding other services and programs that have mushroomed over the year. Do we really need a Human Dignity Officer and staff? A Mobility Coordinator? A Sustainability Office? Do we need to spend millions of dollars on bike lanes? Do we really need both a Civil Service Department and a Human Resources Department? How many departments and personnel do we have that are feel-good departments that cost money that should be used elsewhere?

Unfortunately I have little faith in our current City Council to make the necessary cuts and give the necessary instruction to fundamentally change the budget of our city. The majority are beholden to public employees for their positions, current and future when they seek higher office, and that eliminates fundamental changes in contracts with city employee unions. The majority are of a particular ideology that the purpose of government is too provide seemingly infinite services to mostly poor residents rather than attracting business, economic development and new home owners to stabilize neighborhoods. They would rather perpetuate the pockets, growing, of poverty that attract more crime, more public service dependent residents and more poverty. Instead of developing a long term economic plan to provide for more private sector jobs the City Council has decided a major public works project requires a Project Labor Agreement to drive up costs against a deficit budget and restrict employment in an almost 20% unemployment community.

My expectation is that City Management will not be scaled back, union contracts will not be renegotiated, and we will face another $20 million or more deficit next year. And the year after. In 2012 we will have another election, this time for the even Districts, and the same general ideology and fiscal policy mentality will remain. And City residents will complain about what programs are being cut after essentially electing the same politicians cycle, after cycle, after cycle.

Visit the Press-Telegram site and cast your votes on what should be cut, but don't expect much in the way of results. Our City Management and Council don't have the stomach for them, results that is.

DCS08022010

Risk & Leaping Through Windows

2010-07-28T06:34:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning we sat in church with some thoughts on our minds about packing, logistics, and letting go. Reverend Peggy's sermon this morning was on our ability to fly freely, to allow Spirit to guide us to the heights we desire and can achieve. Boiled down to the street, it was about risk management and how we over manage risk that may not be existent but in our minds, or conversely how if we get trapped in risk management we would lead lives of paralysis.

As Peggy said, "Life and risk are inseparable." Getting out of bed in the morning invites risk from the moment we set feet on the floor until we curl them under the covers again that night. As part of my counseling for families purchasing homes I bring up "What if you are hit by a bus?" Crossing the street is a risk. Driving to work is a risk. Eating steak is a risk. Falling in love is a risk. Getting married. Having children. Buying a home. Taking a job. Casting a vote. Risk. Risk. Risk. Life and risk are truly inseparable and some of us are paralyzed by the amount of risk in living and others of us are completely carefree regarding the risks in life.

Risk has many meanings. Risk can be a gamble. Risk can be peril. Risk can be embarrassment. Risk can be hurt or harm, physical or emotional. Essentially risk is the opportunity for a less than intended result for an action or decision. While the intended result is good, a possible result is less than good, and depending on the odds and amount of risk the possible result could be fatal.

Risk is a tool that is used to leverage the general human condition to manage or avoid unnecessary risk that to sell products, ideas, and in many cases the past several years laws. Risk has become attendant to safety. Safety good, risk bad. As a result too many of our laws have become risk management to protect the masses from themselves and risky behavior or possible negative outcomes. Many of the risk management laws are sensible and create a lawful and orderly society, many others however stretch the power of the government into our daily lives and limit our freedoms and liberties. There are those who feel my position (against) legalizing marijuana is such a limitation, there are others who feel it is an appropriate restriction based on risk management. From child seats to disclosures in a real estate transaction, our lives are filled with laws to disclose or mitigate risk from bad decisions or accidents.

But try as we might we cannot legislate against risk. We cannot legislate against accidents nor stupidity. They exist and as a result individuals will end up on the negative side of a risky situation. Because of the existence of accidents, and stupidity, the majority are restricted more and more from taking risks, and have more and more of our freedoms and liberties restricted in the process.

Life and risk are inseparable. But it is the taking of risks that allow us to grow, to succeed and to create better lives for ourselves and our children. Bob Maxson past-president of Cal State Long Beach used to say, "When you pass an open window of opportunity you only have a short time to decide whether to jump through that window before it closes and the opportunity is gone." Not only that, if you do not jump soon enough someone else probably will.

Taking Maxson's windows of opportunity further, in my own experiences I have noticed that when we are open to change, risking our current comfort zones, change occurs. Too often in my twenty plus years of helping families purchase homes have I seen the dramatic amount of change that occurs in their lives when they make the decision to purchase a new home. Buying a home is a risk. It takes most of your savings, it will be the biggest debt of your life and consume the biggest part of your paycheck. You are changing your shelter, a primary need for your and your family.

Once an individual or couple opens to change in their life by purchasing a new home, deciding to accept the risks of homeownership, I have seen the other changes that occur: new and better jobs, engagements and marriages after years of dating, getting pregnant after years of trying.

In our lives we experience periods when we are open to change and windows of opportunity present themselves to us. After a period the windows close and disappear and it can be some time before we are once again open to change. Many people during these periods over-analyze the risks and other make no analysis at all, thus the range of results from those stuck in their jobs, relationships or living conditions that make them unhappy, and those who try wildly and fail due to improper risk consideration.

Success depends on us finding that balance between risk assessment, risk management and trust. Because ultimately trust is the deciding factor in taking a risk or not. Do we trust our information, do we trust whatever partners may be involved, most importantly do we trust ourselves?

As we sat in church on Sunday listening to Peggy talking about mother eagles slowing creating an uncomfortable nest for her eaglets and eventually pushing them off the edge of the nest and making them fly we thought of our girls who we would be sending to Minnesota the next day for two weeks of camp. The comments from other parents have been wide ranging, from "oh, how can you be away from them for that long?" to "what a great experience." Those who see peril and risk and try to protect their children as much as possible to those who understand our primary role as parents is to develop adults who make good decisions and can live independently.

We are not risk seekers, Leslie and I. But at the same time we know our kids face daily risks and accidents and sometimes we have to let them happen. They need to learn to fail as much as they need to learn to succeed. They need to learn how to make their own risk assessments so later in life when their windows of opportunity present themselves they will make the leaps necessary to improve themselves and their lives.

Children love to come to us and say "look what I did!" not "Look what you did for me!" Accomplishments are based on overcoming risk, even slight risks. Making the choice to be successful is risking failure. We need to teach our children how to take these risks. We need to accept that life and risk are inseparable and allow individuals to make choices, to make decisions, and to accept the consequences of their actions and decisions the risks they chose to take. Our society has increasingly moved those consequences from the individual to society as a whole, the blame for poor risk management and decisions from the individual to others. Too many are passing this philosophy and dependency onto their children, inhibiting their ability in the future to make decisions, grasp opportunities, leap through windows, limit their opportunities for success.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing...Security does not exist in nature," Peggy quotes us from Helen Keller. Imagining not being able to see, hear or speak one wonders how can life be experienced, and yet Keller did experience life to the extent she understood the relationship between risks, security, and life more than those without any of her disabilities.

In this troubled economy so many people have seen their job loss, or loss of their home, as an opportunity, a window to jump through. Starting a new business, being free to move to another region of the state or country for a new job or career, unburdening themselves from emotional anchors that have weighed them down from creatively soaring, these individuals have taken risks and are succeeding. Instead of shutting down and creating negative environments for themselves they have opened up to the changes available. They have taken risks, easier to take after losing what they thought was security.

Take a risk.

Jump through the open window of opportunity. Go to your personal Home Depot and buy that window yourself and open it.

Be open to changes in your life and match them with your vision for what you truly want to do and want to be. Balance risk analysis and risk management.

Most importantly trust yourself, your wisdom, your experience, your talents, your creativity, your judgment, your relationships and your faith. Jump and you can soar.

DCS 07282010

Are Subsidies and Payment Transfers Stimulus?

2010-07-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

It appears that after practically in third, from $120 billion to $34 billion, that a few Republican Senators will jump the aisle and pass a bill that will re-new extended unemployment benefits. The bill has been held up as Republicans have asked, "how are we going to pay for this?" With no budget in place, and not budget being presented nor debated in Congress, Republicans wanted to see some cuts in spending made elsewhere before passing the bill.

Using the politics of division that are so natural in Washington, Democrats, led by House Speaker Pelosi and President Obama, accused the Republicans of cold-heartedness, not caring about American families and blocking a bill that was "about jobs." Jobs? How is extending unemployment benefits about jobs?

Once again we see this Administration and Democrats confuse economics with social policy. While this Congress has passed three huge bills that have transformed our national debt and both the healthcare and financial industries, none of the bills have really done or been about jobs. Preaching the Keynesian religion, Democrats feel that the best way to stimulate a moribund economy, increase hiring in an economy and promote economic growth is through sweeping government regulation and spending.

The practice has never worked as a long term economic policy and as is being seen in our current economy is failing now. Jobs created to work for the federal, or state, or local, government, are not jobs upon which an economy is built nor sustained. As the number of people reliant upon tax dollars and government spending increases the burden for making those payments becomes focused more and more on a shrinking number of net tax payers instead of takers. Eventually this system collapses under it own weight. Unbridled public spending and borrowing cannot continue for prolonged periods of time without leading to insolvency, which leads to economic crisis and melt down.

Jobs that allow an economy to grow and sustain itself are created in the private sector. In America this mostly means within the small and medium size businesses that support local communities and larger businesses. Locally these businesses are hurting because of the lack of manufacturing businesses in California that support smaller subcontracting companies and suppliers. Through tax policy, environmental policy and costs to operate businesses have left the state and/or country to manufacture their products.

Nationally the uncertainty created by the 111th Congress and Obama Administrations have led companies to hang onto cash and not reinvest in their businesses. Having found out what was in it after it passed as promised by Pelosi, corporations are estimating their costs due to Obamacare in the billions of dollars. Bent on overtaking and controlling the banking system the financial reform bill puts tremendous powers in the hands of an appointed official, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, to dictate credit policies and asset ratios of banks. Businesses are holding onto cash because they are not able to get credit lines secured by receivables due to Fed auditors scrutiny of bank balance sheets and discouraging credit extensions they consider risky. Businesses are holding onto cash as they are uncertain if/when the Cap and Trade movement will gain ground in Congress between the mid-term elections and the end of this Congress. If passed Cap and Trade will increase taxes and costs for businesses.

Every piece of legislation this Administration and Congress has passed has increased to costs on businesses. Instead of loosening the cash and anxiety among business owners by extending the Bush tax cuts (which increased revenue for the Treasury every year from passage to 2007 as predicted by the Laffer Curve), stopping "comprehensive" reforms, and allowing the private sector to heal, the constant drumbeat to reform all of America at the expense of the private sector has killed economic growth.

Into this dying economy the Administration plunges ahead with more speeches for reform that is about "jobs" but in reality is about votes. Looking to use the immigration issue as another wedge to divide the country for political advantage, Obama knows that if he is able to naturalize many or most of the 12 million illegal immigrants in our country he has secured the votes of the Hispanic and Latino communities for the Democrats for decades. Somehow his language will make his quest for these votes about jobs, but we won't know until legislation is passed what it will mean.

Regarding the bill to re-new extended unemployment benefits, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) said, "This bill is about jobs, and this bill is about compassion." I will grant that the money given in the form of unemployment benefits will trickle through the economy for food, rent, gas, but to say it is primarily about "jobs" is deceitful. Extending the payments is not about creating or saving jobs, it is about using the Federal Treasury without limit as a social welfare system.

We are a resourceful nation populated with so many who have an entrepreneurial spirit. Despite the recession individuals across the country are creating their own businesses. I have spoken in the past several months with many small business owners who have started what I have termed "Recession Businesses." Each has said they took the opportunity of being laid off to start their own business so they would not be dependent on a single source of income for their future. Sure there is risk and they may not make it, but maybe they will. One owner of a small hot dog and hamburger shop has hired at least two or three workers, and has created business with his suppliers that did not exist before. No boss to give him a pink slip, not dependent on the government for survival, he represents many small business owners spring up in Long Beach and across the country.

It is my belief that 99 weeks of unemployment benefits is too many, it appears that my sentiment is shared by about half the country so it is a divisive issue that crosses party lines. My solution to the issue would be a multi-pronged series of actions.

First, on the benefits scale back the payments as the traditional 26 week benefit is passed. Lower the payments by 5% per month until the maximum of 99 weeks is reached.

Second, to pay for the deficit created by the benefits instead of recirculating repaid TARP money and profit into more government bailouts and takeovers, transfer the funds to cover the unemployment benefits.

Third, with some more of the funds left over make one-time cash payments to community colleges to jump start programs for re-training laid off workers, assisting small business owners and start ups.

Fourth, extend the Small Business Association lending program that is currently being phased out. Allow small and community banks to assist local businesses in loans to purchase equipment and obtain cash flow as they grow and secure their business. Instead of re-circulating TARP funds into government programs and jobs, use the funds as intended--to assist banks with their assets. Use the re-paid funds as funds for small and community banks to make small loans, $10-50,000 to small and medium size businesses.

Fifth, repeal or at least suspend Obamacare. This gets a guffaw from those who supported major healthcare reform, but was reforming our entire healthcare system for 10% of the populace when we have 10% unemployment a wise decision? Reduce the costs to employers and increase the chance they will hire and extra worker, or two or three.

Six, extend the Bush tax cuts. Facing increasing tax burdens to pay for increasing debt burdens at the state and national level, businesses, and small business owners, are holding cash to bridge the pending gap between revenue and expenses created by this hit to their bottom lines. Most businesses are Schedule C or S Corporations, meaning personal tax returns are in play. Reducing the tax burden allows business owners to expand their business.

America needs private businesses. It needs them to thrive to provide jobs and stability in local communities. Private businesses create tremendous velocity of money through payrolls, suppliers and tax revenues they generate. Since January 2009 Washington has passed legislation that has only hindered and hurt private businesses and economic growth.

Extend unemployment benefits? Congress and Obama need to extend private business, let them take care of getting rid of unemployment benefits with jobs.

DCS07212010

You're Doing A Bad Job.....Here's My Vote

2010-07-19T05:34:00.001-07:00

Last week's release of a Field Poll shows that 16% of Californians approve of the job our State Assembly and Senate are doing. Sixteen percent. Who are these people and why is the number so high? Despite several years now of structural deficits and cash shortages the fiscal policy of the majority has not changed: expand government, protect state employees at all costs to taxpayers, raise taxes.

In late June both Gallup and Rasmussen released polls gauging the American confidence in Congress. According to Rasmussen only 12% of those polled felt Congress is doing either an "excellent" or "good" job. Gallup's numbers reflect this by asking merely if respondents "approve" of how our Washington legislatures are doing. Twenty percent said they approve. Approve of passing the $800 billion stimulus bill, approve of passing Obamacare without reading it or knowing what we are now finding out was in it, approve of passing the massive financial reform bill that will stifle economic growth and job creation as small businesses are burdened with costs and taxes.

So how will voters react to this dismal performance by their representatives? Evidently it is the other guy's representatives we disapprove of in Southern California because our elected officials keep getting recycled and re-elected. The integrity of the voter is abysmal. I am not sure if it is because our region is so incredibly partisan or so incredibly ignorant as to the correlation to our votes and our outcomes.

Case in point are the teachers. Teachers have been furloughed and laid off this past year because of the lack of funds from Sacramento to the school districts. Teachers, almost unanimously, donate about $6 per pay period locally to their Political Action Committee and an additional amount to the statewide PAC at the California Teachers Association. Keeping in mind that teachers are being laid off because of the poor fiscal management and decisions made by our California Legislature over the past decade or more, the teachers are continuing to fund the campaigns of the same politicians who have caused the furloughs and lay-offs.

Chances are after the November 2010 election our Assembly and Senate will look identical to how it looks now because of gerrymandered districts, ignorant voters and ignorant public employee union members who continue to donate to PACs that support the status quo. Next spring our school districts will go through the lay off procedures once again as the same politicians in the same jobs will continue to produce the same results: less money for local education and the perpetuation of structural deficits. Don't believe me? Here is the California Teachers Association endorsement page for the coming election. This is a real diverse group isn't it?

As for Republicans they have already shown their rewarding bad behavior by nominating Mike Villines for Insurance Commissioner in the primaries. Villines is one of a few Republicans that crossed the aisle to vote for the biggest tax increase in history last year. A vote made after he signed a "No Tax Pledge" and vociferously defended the No Tax Pledge publicly. He did not and will not get my vote, not only for his vote that allowed the tax hikes to go through last year but for his lack of integrity and honesty.

Speaking of integrity, in my local Congressional District that went approximately 70% for Obama in 2008 my Congressional Representative is running for re-election. On a record that has been with the Democratic Majority in virtually every single vote, Laura Richardson has shown the District she is nothing if not loyal to the Democratic National Committee, that plays well politically but what about her integrity? In a District that has unemployment near 20% she has supported legislation that hinders small businesses and economic growth. Not that she cares since she has her job and for Richardson that is all that matters. But this is only part of the Richardson iceberg.

A woman driven to climb the political ladder, Richardson bought off union support for her run for the Assembly by introducing legislation in Long Beach that would require hotels on city leases to unionize, thankfully the legislation was vetoed but Richardson got her support, won her primary and in the district was a shoe in for Assembly. In the Assembly she voted to require the California Indian Tribes to unionize their casinos. This guaranteed her support in the race to win the Congressional seat of Juanita Millander-MacDonald who had passed away while in office. Richardson won this race as well and promptly quit making payments on the home she purchase in Sacramento barely a year before.

This past month Richardson was cleared by the Ethics Committee in Congress. She was before the committee because of the dealings with her home in Sacramento that was foreclosed upon, sold by the bank (WAMU) at auction and then bought back from the buyer by WAMU and given back to Richardson. Seems there was some "mistake" in the foreclosure, of all the foreclosures in California the past few years hers was the "mistake" and the bank paid a premium to re-acquire the home to give to her. Evidently, according to the Ethics Committee, the transaction that resulted after Richardson personally contacted WAMU's lobbyist in Sacramento to re-purchase the home well above the foreclosure auction price and deed it back to Richardson was "normal business." Maybe for a member of Congress but I'm not sure too many families in California have experienced such "normal business." Further the committee bought that Richardson was a victim of "loan fraud." Richardson was as much a victim of loan fraud as President Clinton was a victim of sexual harassment and assault.

But to the super-majority in the California 37th Congressional District it does not matter that the incumbent is not intelligent enough, or has enough integrity, to know her personal finances and whether she can afford to support three homes on a public salary. It does not matter that she has received special favors from a now defunct bank that others going through foreclosure will never receive. It does not matter that her loyalty is to herself and to her PAC contributors. What matters is they don't have to think, don't have to look at the character of the candidate, don't have to see any connection between her votes and their conditions. Just look inside the parenthesis and make your vote.

Eighty percent of Americans do not approve of the job Congress is doing, but fifty percent of the registered voters approve of the job their Representative is doing?

Hard to believe that any group that is comprised of individuals selected by a series of majorities could have a lower approval rating than Congress, but the California Legislature manages to succeed. Even more challenging in California than upsetting a Congressional incumbent is upsetting an incumbent in either the Assembly or Senate due to the incredibly partisan districts. That and again the ignorance of the voters to connect their condition and that of the state with their own voting patterns. Despite the almost criminal sell outs to state employees at the expense of the rest of the budget the champion of sell outs, Warren Furutani's district will re-elect him. Rarely is there a SEIU or other labor rally where Furutani is not present. He led a march in Long Beach against immigration policies in which many members of the union were interviewed for a story in the Press-Telegram but did not give their names as they were illegal immigrants. A union with as much power as SEIU that control many in the legislative majority having protests about immigration that are populated by their own members who are illegal immigrants. And the voters will punch Furutani's ticket again in November, and other candidates supported by the SEIU, CTA and other unions reaping billions in the state budgets.

Do voters make the same decisions in their lives that do not include voting? Do they buy the car they have the 80% disapproval for? Do they date the person who they have only a 16% feeling of "excellent" or "good?" Of course not, but that is because they can make the immediate connection between action and resulting impact on their condition.

Across the nation Americans are waking up to the power of their vote, the most powerful right in our Constitution, to select our representatives in government. Reinforcing the studies that have shown for some time the poor performance of our statewide education system, the lesson is yet to be learned by California voters.

I am hoping that come November the majorities in districts across the state will have done their homework and pass their tests in the voting booth. Especially in the CA 37th Congressional District.

DCS07192010

Try Enforcement Before Any More Regulations

2010-07-14T05:37:00.001-07:00

This week I took two tests to fulfill the requirements of the National Mortgage Licensing System Requirements (NMLSR) for the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act, Title V of Housing and Economic Recovery Act). As I studied for the tests I realized how many different agencies, acts, regulations and oversight departments I am responsible to for the simple act of originating a mortgage. Despite the myriad of reports, licenses, disclosures, compliance audits, etc we go through, somehow we must go through even more since Congress and the Administration feel the only way to solve any problem is with more regulations and agencies (this applies to state government as well).

Here is a partial list of the Federal Laws covering the mortgage industry:

SAFE Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing
Housing and Economic Recovery Act
TILA Truth In Lending Act
Regulation Z
RESPA Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
Regulation X
HPA Homeowner's Protection Act
HOEPA Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act
FCRA Fair Credit Reporting Act
FACT Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003
Do Not Call Registry
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (aka Financial Modernization Act)
Fair Housing Act
ECOA Equal Credit Opportunity Act
CRA Community Reinvestment Act
HMDA Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
MDIA Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act
Regulation H Flood Disaster Protection Act

We are regulated, overseen, report to or otherwise beholden to:

FTC
HUD
Federal Reserve Board
FNMA
FHLMC
FHA
FHFA
CA DRE (or CA DOC)
OCC

These are not complete lists but the major ones of regulations and overseers. But evidently we need more as exemplified by the financial reform bill about to be passed by Congress that will add more agencies, more acts, more regulations, plus more costs, more paperwork and fewer options for consumers.

Our government is expanding its influence and control to solve problems or issues that could be solved by following and enforcing existing regulations, or eliminating existing regulations.

Obamacare could have been cut to 10% if existing regulations were repealed to allow greater freedom for Americans to shop and purchase insurance and existing regulations enforced to reduce and eliminate fraud and waste.

The Gulf oil disaster could most likely have been averted had existing regulations and oversight been enforced and active.

The housing and credit crisis could have been mitigated and the depth of the recession shallower if existing regulations had not created an environment where Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became subprime lenders with the encouragement and blessing of Congress. Mortgage fraud could have been reduced greatly if existing regulations had been enforced.

I am glad there is finally a national license for mortgage originators, unfortunately like most legislation targeting an industry it is half-assed and will have a net negative impact. Excluded from the licensing requirements are those who work for federally chartered depositories (Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo...). Essentially the bright minds in Congress and the regulatory bodies who created the SAFE legislation feel there is no fraud or deceit among mortgage originators in federally licensed institutions. Right, and they will also take your three dollar bill.

The overall purpose of the SAFE Act, combined with many of the provisions in the financial reform bill about to be passed is to eliminate independent mortgage originators. The legislation eliminates many mortgage products and options, or limits their use to direct lenders. Selfishly the legislation helps our company by eliminating competition. But elimination of competition and products does not benefit the consumer/home owner. It does benefit the major banks, of which there are becoming fewer and fewer.

Also benefiting the big banks is the Federal Reserve policy limiting the ability of small banks to lend to small businesses. In meetings this week a top Fed auditor admitted they are discouraging community banks or the seven hundred plus small banks on their "watch list" from lending to small companies as they do not want them taking on the risk. Restricting capital flow, revenue flow, credit extension hurts small businesses and communities and drives business from small banks to major banks. Eliminating competition increases costs and fees, and creates an environment where the federal government can more easily control our banking system.

And that is what all the legislation from this Congress and Administration is all about, more control. Restrict the number of companies and firms in the private sector and allow for more regulations that allow government take-over and control. Once passed it will not shock anyone to see a path towards nationalized banking, to go with our health care.

Exempt from the financial reform legislation are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, already in government trusteeship and majority ownership. The next step for the GSEs is to become part of HUD and fully under government control.

After financial reform President Obama wants to see "comprehensive immigration reform." "Comprehensive." That means a multi-thousand page bill that no legislator will read that dramatically alters our nation. The ultimate purpose could be the naturalization of tens of millions of illegal immigrants--future voters. The immediate impact will be more regulations that will be ignored by regulatory bodies and not enforced leading to the same issues and problems in the future.

Because of lack of enforcement of laws and regulations already on the books the current Congress and President have created issues that require "comprehensive" legislation. Comprehensive means elimination or restriction of free markets, more government control and intervention, higher fees and taxes and less freedom and liberty for consumers and business owners.

I would like to see one regulation passed: Government agencies or individuals who do not fulfill their duties and obligations of oversight, regulation and enforcement are subject to penalties and fines including restriction or forfeiture of their salaries, benefits and pensions.

Enforce the laws we have and see how many problems and issues get solved that way before imposing more laws that restrict our freedoms and liberties and increase the control and dominance of our government.

Happy Bastille Day commemorating when French citizens overthrew a tyrannical government.

DCS07142010

Soccer: We Get It...We Just Suck At It

2010-07-12T05:41:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying I am not an anti-soccer snob. I played my first game of soccer sometime around 1973 when I noticed a game being played on the field next to the high school up the street from our home in Berwyn, Pa. I was riding my bike home from a friend's and stopped to see what was going on. There were some kids and about two or three adults. "Hey, want to play?" "I guess." I was pressed into service and put in the goal.

Up to this point I was a three sport participant, Pop Warner football in the fall, rec league basketball in the winter and Little League baseball in the spring. No where near the best on any team, I worked my butt off to stay on the team. Now here was another sport. When I entered Junior High I tried out and made the team, it seems soccer has a position for guys who are not the fastest or strongest but who have stamina. I became a midfielder as I could run the whole game, not the fastest but able to keep going.

When we moved to New York I was on the freshman squad in high school. That year the New York Cosmos in the now defunct North American Soccer League signed Pele, the Brazilian superstar. He came to our school and put on a clinic for us. I'll never forget his opening talk that lasted ten to fifteen minutes. He walked up and down juggling a ball that never hit the ground--we had never seen such incredible touch.

When we moved to Brussels my sophomore year I joined the team there, again not the fastest, strongest or best kicker, but someone who could stay out on the field and just keep going. Our coach was a former player for Liverpool and the English squad sometime in the 1960's; our colors were white and red and patterned after The Reds. My junior year I had a letter to the editor in Sports Illustrated when I wrote that the NASL would benefit from the European practice of not interrupting games with commercials but rather put the sponsors logos on the screen during live play. This year ESPN and ABC finally got the message with their coverage of the World Cup.

Having lived in Brussels during the 1978 World Cup and experienced the passion of the people. While Belgium did not qualify neighboring France, Germany and the Netherlands all had teams in the the draw. At the time very few homes in the country had televisions, Belgium itself had two channels for the entire country, importing two each from France, Netherlands and Germany for viewing. Bars would be full with patrons slowly sipping their Stella Artois or Maes Pils to make it last through the match. Department stores would turn over their display windows to banks of televisions with speakers set up outside and the sidewalks would be crowded with spectators watching the games being beamed from Argentina. Belgium is officially bi-lingual (note "officially" unlike America) with the northern region, Flanders, speaking Flemish which is a Dutch dialect and the southern section, Wallonia, speaks French. Brussels, the capital, is in Flanders and is bi-lingual; all the signs are in Flemish and French. They do not like each other very much the Flemish and the Walloons, and tend to gravitate to the host nation of their language.

Holland made the finals of the 1978 World Cup and Belgium was somewhat crazy with the prospect that it would bring home the Cup. Alas it was not to happen and Argentina won its first cup.

Since then I have followed, as well as I can in a country that has not really followed, the World Cup. Not to the extent that I can whip off the winners of all the Cups, nor know all the world stars of the game. But I understand the depth of the sport throughout the world and our place as an also ran in the sport. I "get" soccer. Maybe a bit more than some of those who are arrogantly suggesting those who criticize the sport do not "get it."

Soccer is not a success in America for many reasons. The marketing ability of the NFL and NBA to capture audiences. The lack of a solid league that has built fan bases that translate into butts in the seats and eyeballs on the screen for games. But mainly soccer does not succeed in America because we suck at it.

Just about every four years we are hyped by the covering network that "this could be the year that the U.S. Soccer Team breaks through at the World Cup." "If the U.S. squad does not advance this year it will be a disappointment." And we don't. This year we lost to Ghana, a country with a population of about 23 million people and our trip to the Finals was once again derailed. In 2014 our boys in Brazil will get bounced and not make the semi-finals. Why? Because we suck.

With a population in excess of 300 million people from which to draw twenty five players we have the masses to produce a team that can get through all the regional qualifying, but once we meet the elite we are not one of the elite. Our soccer athletes just are not as good as those from other teams and may never be.

It is a bit frustrating to think about. Across the country we have millions of kids playing soccer through AYSO, school and college. There are a lot more kids and young adults playing soccer than there are playing hockey, and yet our national hockey team reaches the elite levels. Why? Because in other countries their best athletes tend to play soccer and then hockey. Our hockey team consists of our third level "best" athletes, as do our soccer players.

And that is why when it comes to international soccer we suck at it. We are not sending our best athletes, nor our secondary athletes, to the game. If we did the rest of the world would bitch and complain and try to ban us from playing the game. Our national soccer team is the one thing we give the world that makes them feel superior to us. If there was a national effort to win the World Cup in 2018 we would win. But at a price.

What if our national team consisted of Kobie Bryant, LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Reggie Bush, Brian Urlacher or any of numerous professional athletes in our country who chose basketball, football or baseball for their careers? Can you imagine a secondary back from almost any top ten college football team playing soccer? What about an outside linebacker on defense? No country comes near our in producing the number of athletes with the size, strength, speed and athleticism as the United States. None of them play soccer.

Once the top athletes have decided, usually by the end of high school, to play one of the big three, the other athletes then dilute themselves among the secondary sports, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, volleyball, swimming and in many areas baseball is included in this group. It is rare that the top athletes are playing one of the non-revenue producing sports, so rare that any top athlete that does play one of these sports is a superstar.

For those who lament that soccer is not popular in America because we don't "get it," I say, you don't get it. There are enough of us who have played the game, coached or watched our kids play the game and been exposed to it to know the game and "get it." What you don't get is that we don't watch the games because we know we are not watching our best athletes participate. When a network turns over an hour of programming so a soccer player can announce he is going to play for whatever the name of the team in Miami is called, then we might win internationally.

Until then, soccer will remain a secondary sport and the United States will remain a secondary power in international play.

DCS07122010

Marijuana

2010-07-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

In November the same voters that have consistently voted to bankrupt our state will have on their ballots Proposition 19. Prop 19 will legalize marijuana in California. Not just pot for medicinal purposes, but for any and all purposes.

There are many ramifications of such a vote, unfortunately I do not have the faith in the average California voter to understand the ramifications, nor to think through the consequences passage of Prop 19 brings. There will be plenty of money to fund the Yes On 19 campaign, billionaire George Sorros is rumored to be ready to spend considerably to support the Proposition. Websites are popping up to generate funds for Yes On 19, and one wonders how much Mexican drug cartels are pouring into the effort, after all who will benefit more than them if Prop 19 passes?

And therein lies the biggest problem I have with legalizing pot in California, even medical marijuana use. Unless the cultivation and transportation of marijuana is legalized in the state and all pot sold in the state must come from a registered state pot farm then we are funding the drug cartels in Mexico with our marijuana consumption, legal or illegal. Take a look at Mexico and what drug money has done to the country. Already Third World before the rise of the drug cartels in the last decade, the country now is lawless and run by drug dealers, especially in the regions along the United States border. Now imagine legal consumption of Mexican grown marijuana, an increase in demand in California, federal laws against the importation of marijuana, and an Administration that is determined not to monitor our borders.

Arizona passed its immigration legislation in response to a federal government that has refused to protect our borders, refused to enforce federal immigration laws and refused to acknowledge the deep rooted crime and costs associated with the open border with Mexico. Showing its position on illegal immigration and enforcement of current immigration laws the Department of Justice has sued Arizona to stop the enactment of SB 1970. What happens in the Arizona deserts if Prop 19 passes? Or do Californians, especially those supporting Prop 19, care?

One of the arguments in favor of passing Prop 19 is the tax revenue it will raise. "Tax marijuana and it will generate billions of dollars in tax revenue for the state and help solve our budget crisis." No, stopping spending on myriads of failed social programs, re-negotiating contracts with state workers' unions particularly for pensions and benefits, and not borrowing more money for bonds to pay for ridiculous propositions will solve our budget problems. Giving more tax revenue to our legislators in Sacramento is akin to giving more booze to an alcoholic, it won't end well.

Supposing the proposition passes, where is the tax collected? At point of sale? At transfer from the grower to the distributor? What if the retailer is buying from a dealer getting the pot from Mexico? How is that transaction taxed? Who monitors the collection of the pot tax? Who monitors the cultivation of the pot and ensures it goes from grower to retailer? Who monitors the dealers, I mean retailers, dispensing of the drug? Who monitors the dealers to ensure they are only purchasing from legal and registered growers--if that is required? Will this cost money? What about the cost to local and county governments to monitor the law and the sale and use to ensure it is all law abiding?

I am going out on a limb and making the presumption that those in favor of legalizing pot in California are more liberal than conservative. A side benefit for those who support Prop 19 will probably be the up-ticket benefit on election day. Just as Obama being on the ticket in November 2008 was responsible for the failure of Prop 8 to pass, Prop 19 being on the ticket will most likely benefit Barbara Boxer in her re-election bid against Carly Fiorina and Jerry Brown in his gubernatorial bid against Meg Whitman. The increase in pro-pot voters will likely lead to an increase in votes for the Democratic office seekers, a two for one deal for the liberal portion of the state. Incumbent on defeating Prop 19 will be a get out the vote campaign targeting socially conservative Democrats who voted for Obama but against Prop 8. Without Obama on the ticket however it will be difficult to get these voters to the polls again, and if they do show up chances are if they vote "No" on Prop 19 they may check all the (D) boxes as well.

Prop 19 is a bad idea for our state. It is another in a series of visceral propositions that Californians tend to vote for because it makes sense to them or makes them feel good about being engaged in democracy. But like bonds for high speed trains, or bonds for stem cell research, or bonds for reconstruction of the watersheds, once passed the reality and consequences of the propositions come to bear and damages our states finances and spreads to negatively impact the state and local governments.

For those who argue, "well alcohol is legal." Yes it is and the manufacture, distribution, transportation and sale are established and tightly regulated. Drug cartels in Mexico are not supplying us our Crown Royal and Miller Lite. Drug cartels are providing our nation with pot, meth, cocaine and drugs I probably do not even know about. How good of an idea is it to provide them with a legal and supposedly legitimate market for pot that enhances their revenue, and allows them to smuggle other illegal drugs into the country with their pot shipments?

No on Proposition 19. Click on "Comments" below and let us know how you feel.

DCS07072010

Raising Generations of Wimps

2010-06-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

Listening to the radio last evening on the way home I was incredibly frustrated. The topic was Abby Sunderland, the 16 year old girl who was attempted to follow in her older brother's wake and sail around the world, solo. Reflecting the incredibly over protective society and culture that we have created, mother's were calling in chastising Sunderland's parents, ascribing motives, stating as fact the level of intelligence and maturity the sixteen year old Sunderland must have because they have a sixteen year old girl.

Thank goodness for the Abby Sunderland's of the world. Young people who have a dream, have acquired skills and who are fortunate to have parents who support their dreams and help build their skills. The Abby Sunderland's of our nation are getting to be fewer and farther between as our Nanny State culture and sociology not only prevent the ability of an Abby to develop, but if and when she does descends on the parents of such a remarkable young women with threats of taking away other children and prosecution for child endangerment.

To recap, Sunderland set off from Marina Del Rey with the goal of sailing around the world in her boat "Wild Eyes." Her brother had accomplished the feat a few years ago and at the time set the record for youngest solo circumnavigator, since broken. She grew up on the water and sailing in small and big boats. Earlier this month a rescue signal was sent from her boat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Having survived a big storm, Abby was below deck repairing her engine (yes a sixteen year old girl repairing a marine engine) when a rogue wave rolled her boat. It rolled completely, broke her mast, damaged much of her electronic gear and also knocked Abby out for a time according to her account. A few days after her disabling she was rescued by a French ship that was a few hundred miles away--close in the Indian Ocean. Yesterday Abby's mother gave birth to either her seventh or eighth child, a boy named after the captain of the French vessel that rescued Abby.

Before she took off the Helicopter Moms and Dads were out in force trying to get the State of California from preventing Abby from setting sail. Because their own children are coddled, wrapped and taken everywhere in their Navigators or Escalades they feel every child must be like their own. Unfortunately more and more are becoming unable to fend for themselves, or even make breakfast, as parents tend to more and more of their needs. On the other end of the spectrum are more and more children who are ignored by their young parent(s) and raised by grandparents. A gulf is forming between the entitled and pampered and the destitute and ignored among our children. Abby, who is neither, provides hope that once again our nation can raise children who are able to learn skills, focus and apply them to create adventure, conquer goals and challenge themselves and others.

I have a friend who works in a Southern California high school in an urban setting. She is an administrator and over the years her job has evolved so that her primary duties are to work with pregnant students. Keep them in school through their pregnancies and then after delivery getting them back to school. Special classes have to be set up, there are enough pregnancies to have their own teachers. Should not this situation, in just one high school but no doubt reflective of many in our region, be of greater concern than another sixteen year old girl sailing a boat by herself?

This weekend another teenager, a fifteen year old, was shot and killed in Long Beach. Police say he was a gang member, one of tens of thousands of fifteen year olds in the region in gangs. One of hundreds of young teenagers killed in gang violence of the past several years, his murder merits a column on the front page and soon will be forgotten by all but a few. Shouldn't the condition that allows families to raise multiple generations of gang bangers be a bigger concern and issue than parents who have given their children the skills, physical, emotional and intellectual, to sail a high tech boat with the goal of circumnavigation?

On the one end of the spectrum we have the throw-away children the state and local governments feel can be treated with more and more money and programs that have proven do not work as they try not to caste judgement on the parents, but rather want to feel good about how they are trying to tackle the problem. They may feel good about the programs they have developed that continue to fail, but their failure is costing lives and creating future failures as the problems grow. Afraid to look judgemental they cannot come to castigate young, unemployed or still in high school, poor women having babies with absent dads (often thankfully), often more than one baby with more than one dad. These children are on the road to gang membership because there is no family to raise them, but rather a public sector that employs no consequences for the mother, or the father, or the grandmother or grandfather who enabled their teenage children to become parents. But ask their opinion of Abby Sunderland and her parents and the judgements are easy to come by.

Go by any elementary school on a school day and count how many children are walking or riding their bikes to school compared to how many are being dropped off by moms in huge SUVs slurping on a Starbucks or Big Gulp as they drop off their kids then speed off at 35 MPH in the school zone talking on the phone. Go to any sports practice and see how many kids from the neighborhood have walked or rode their bike to the practice compared to how many are not only driven but their parents are sit and watch everything Salem or Montana do.

Our school has a Talent Show and some parents are upset because the kids are judged and winners are announced. Uh-oh! You know what that means? If there is a winner their must be a loser. Yes, I'm sorry but Jennifer or Jose did not sing or dance as well as the other kid--evidently you are the only who could not see it. Do you think Abby Sunderland's parents lamented awards being handed out in school for performance, achievement, success? Probably not, but then their kids probably were and are kicking every other kid's butt.

Drive around neighborhoods on weekends or after school, how many kids do you see out playing in the yards and streets? Was it like this when you were growing up? Our kids are padded from knees, to wrists, to elbows to heads to ride a push scooter. The state has mandated that they be strapped into special car seats until they are practically having their first periods or "night time discharges" and my guess is that by the time my kids reach sixteen the minimum driving age will have moved to eighteen, or maybe twenty-one.

I am not sure what is worse for the future of current generations, the single moms having kids in gang infested communities destined to repopulate the gangs, or the Helicopter Parents who hover over every little move and activity of precious Tonya or Austin. These parents never leave their children, at birthday parties you need food and beverage for each kid and at least one parent, at rehearsals or practices, at school field trips, one wonders if the kids must leave the door open when using the bathroom.

We are raising two types of children, those with no hope because they are born into the high crime, low parental touch, community or they are born into the high touch, afraid to let you fail and learn community. In the meantime Abby Sunderland and her family is criticized because she is neither. God forbid some more children in our society are raised to achieve success on their own, or learn how to cope with failure when they don't.

Ask the mom of the fifteen year old shot down this weekend if she would rather her son met the fate he met, or had the chance to sail around the world with the risk he may die that way. Abby knows the answer.

Abby Sunderland's news conference, does this sound like teenagers you encounter?

Abby Sunderland's web page

DCS06302010

May Peace Prevail On Earth

2010-06-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

In Sign Language, Spanish, Hebrew and English these words are written, "May Peace Prevail On Earth" and attached to a Peace Pole dedicated on Sunday by the Seal Beach Center for Spiritual Living, a congregation of Religious Science. These words, "May Peace prevail on earth," are part of the weekly service as a lamp is lit symbolizing the desire, the vision for world peace. It is a vision wholly embraced and sought by Doctor Reverend Peggy Price, Dr. Peggy, minister at the church, and spiritual advisor and mentor to many; including yours truly.

Dr. Peggy challenges me routinely with sermons, teachings and our conversations regarding peace on earth. Universal peace, a world without war or armed conflict, is quite a vision. It is a vision everyone certainly has. But to what extent does our current reality enable such a vision? This is the source of my challenges with the means by which the vision may be achieved. I believe it is the source of all, or most, people's challenges with achieving a state of world peace.

I see peace as two-fold, there is Peace which is internal and individual. Daily I strive to live in Peace. Dispel my internal conflicts and quell daily assaults on my psyche that arise from just living life and working at the goals of achieving inner, personal Peace. Release anxieties, fears and frustrations for myself and family at times can be challenging but ultimately working to achieve that inner-Peace brings the release I seek.

Then there is peace, as in peace between nations, between rivals, between foes. This is the peace where there is absence of war, absence of oppression, absence of violence. How do we get to this state of global peace?

Yesterday in her sermon Dr. Peggy spoke of Peace within, saying (paraphrasing and not a direct quote to what she said), no President, no Senator, no Congressman, no Mayor can give us Peace. No Reverend, no Minister, no Priest, no teacher can give us Peace. For each of us must find our own Peace. Once we find it for ourselves by living within it we will show others that Peace so they too may find theirs. But can these people, elected officials, religious leaders, give us "peace?"

Many feel they can. Many feel that if our President and elected leaders withdrew American troops from conflicts and "hot-spots" around the world that other leaders would follow and peace would result. If we speak to the despot building nuclear arms with the intent of destroying another civilization or nation, that conversation will result in peace and the absence of conflict. That if the United States were to unilaterally disarm and disable all nuclear weapons all other nations would follow suit creating a world free from nuclear weapons. Ardent and committed pacifists believe if we remove the military element from our nation we will not have to turn the other cheek as the absence of the ability to make war, even in defense, will disarm those who would strike our cheek in the first place.

Dr. Peggy is not, to my understanding though I have never asked her, an ardent pacifist. She recognizes that past conflicts and wars have resulted in freedom from tyranny, slavery and oppression. Acknowledging the positive outcome of past conflicts seems to acknowledge the potential need for future conflicts resulting in freeing others from tyrannical oppression or protecting freedoms they already have. The question becomes what is a "just" war? A "just" conflict? How is this framed within a vision of global peace?

Peace and safety are inter-related. The safer one feels the more at Peace one is. Absence of threats, physical, financial, social, makes finding Peace a much easier process for us. Perhaps this is why recent studies have shown that we become happier after the age of fifty. A myriad of factors may contribute to the happiness that grows as we age and mature, but deep seeded in this must be an inner-Peace and knowledge of personal safety.

Lack of safety, or the feeling or perception of safety, is the primary factor for lack of peace in our nation. With declarations and acts of war against our country by some Islamists, a small percentage of all Muslims globally, we know we are not entirely safe. For decades now striking in our country and others killing ordinary citizens in their ordinary routines, these groups have changed how we may achieve world peace. No longer lining up army to army, division to division, company to company to wage battle, the new threats to our safety and security come in bombs planted in cars or planes. With a belief of eternal pleasures if they die in their pursuit to eradicate "non-believers" these terrorists create the biggest challenge in history to the freedoms and liberties of not only our nation but others as well. How to combat these threats while maintaining a vision that peace prevails on Earth?

As we enter yet another phase in our war in Afghanistan, a new commander and a deadline to withdrawal American troops and turn over security to the Afghan government. As we face another deadline to withdrawal our troops in Iraq and allow local police and the Iraqi military to provide the security for Iraqi citizens. As we withdrawal our presence while terrorists remain in the region, what is to become of the people who live in the region? How is that vacuum filled? Presumable as it was filled before, by despots and tribal leaders who oppress the population and murder those who are of a different sect or tribe. And how does this impact our safety, or does it? And if it does not should we be concerned?

The United States of America is not perfect, but it is far less imperfect than any other nation on earth. We are a morally just society that has at times lost a bit of its morality. Whatever our flaws and imperfections, we stand as a beacon to those who desire freedom and liberty for all, including women. That beacon is a challenge to those who see freedom and liberty as threats to their power, their beliefs and their ability to oppress. When any conflict or crisis occurs where does the world look for intervention and/or relief? Not China. Not Russia. Not France. Not Senegal or Australia or Venezuela or Cuba. Not Saudi Arabia or Syria or Iran.

What will make it possible for our nation, for America, to be at peace throughout the globe? Free from attacks, free from being a target for those who wish to deny liberty and freedom to all? Free from being called upon to defend and protect other nations?

May peace prevail on Earth. Yes, may it. May it prevail in my lifetime, or my children's, or my grandchildren's, or my great-grandchildren. Some future generation will surely know this vision to come true. For today I embrace the vision for world peace, while also knowing our safety and freedom is challenged and must be defended so those future generations may know that peace.

In the meantime I shall continue to strive for Peace. If all individuals are able to find this Peace it puts us all a step closer to peace prevailing on Earth. First with ourselves, then with our neighbors, then within our community, our city, our state and within our nation. When we reach absence of armed conflict and violence within our own country we then truly become a Beacon for the rest of the world and truly laying the foundation for global Peace.

If you are driving by the corner of 5th and Marina in Seal Beach, as you come to a halt at the stop sign, take a look at the Peace Pole and envision what your life, your children's life, would be like should Peace Prevail on Earth.

Click to learn more about the Seal Beach Center for Spiritual Living

UPDATE: This morning the Supreme Court ruled in McDonald v. Chicago that 2nd Amendment rights extend to all individuals in all states. Interestingly the decision quoted extensively from members of Congress post-Civil War debating the 14th Amendment and the rights of "freedmen", former slaves, to keep and bear arms. The 19th Century lawmakers believed that a "loaded musket" was at times necessary for the freedmen to protect themselves, their families, their household and their freedoms. Peace, avoidance of conflict, by armed protection as a right. Interesting in the historical perspective of a topic still debated today.

DCS06282010

Politics Like Water

2010-06-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Pour a glass of water on a table and as it spreads imagine instead of water it is politics, for they are similar. Without restraint it flows outward until restrained only by its own surface tension holds it back. It cuts into rock creating new streams and rivers reaching far into continents of mass. We are surrounded by it and it lays constantly under the surface. Life cannot exist without it.

Having beat the metaphor to death, the politics of water has constantly been a source of tension, money and emotions in California. Water is constantly in the news and lately the water news is as constant as it ever was.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is constantly in discussions in Southern California, I am guessing more so than many other areas that are not located on the Gulf itself. Our Pacific Ocean border gives us the ability to imagine tar on our own beaches, our own wonderful pelicans covered in oil, our own businesses impacted. The politics of the Gulf spill therefore are also of interest and conversation, unusually quiet in regards to any criticism of the governments response, not surprising but quiet nonetheless.

Arizona passes SB1070 and shakes up the immigration debate across the country. In Southern California that debate includes water. Our shared border with Arizona is water, the Colorado River, source of life for both states and California's agriculture in the region. Even debates on illegal immigration, state sovereignty and interstate commerce include water in California.

A continual debate and mired in politics is the Delta in Northern California. Hundreds of millions in bond measures pass to shore up levys that are as decrepit as those that failed in New Orleans several years ago. Politics of national versus state's rights and jurisdictions, economic and environmental interest lawsuits and the value of water for all versus life for a fish smaller than your finger.

Debate now begins on whether California's decade long drought is finished, living in Southern California I believe there is no drought but rather normal conditions of living in an arid climate and reclaimed desert. The drought debate comes to for as water companies have enacted policies to restrict water use, encourage conservation and raised rates.

Water. As one philosopher said, man values gold but if dying of thirst would give it all for a cup of water. It is our most precious commodity and we cannot sustain ourselves, or our lifestyle, our culture, our communities without it. We cannot make water, though we are trying to convert ocean water to potable water, we are not there yet.

We drink it, we water our property with it, we play in it, on it and under it, we eat from the bounty it sustains, we clean ourselves in it. Water is the focus of some much of our lives, and because of our ocean neighbor, perhaps more so than most parts of the country.

Locally we have had a debate for years regarding a tremendous breakwater that was constructed by the federal government over seventy years ago. The purpose of the breakwater was to create a huge anchorage for ships to make harbor in Long Beach. Then a major Navy town, sailors and soldiers embarked from Long Beach to fight in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Home to the busiest port complex in the world, ships sit at anchor in the calm waters created by the breakwater before off loading goods from abroad or loading up on American goods.

For many years some of the residents have advocated deconstructing the breakwater and letting waves come crashing on our Long Beach shores once again. The picture above is Long Beach from sometime in the 30's before the breakwater was built, and also the condos and other developments. The Remove The Breakwater (RTB) crowd posits that our community will become flush with tourism dollars as those looking to enjoy the ocean flock to Long Beach rather than Huntington Beach or the South Bay beaches.

The Long Beach is bordered by two rivers, the Los Angeles and San Gabriel. Of particular interest in this breakwater debate is the LA River, more importantly the pigs and slobs who live upstream and dump their trash, crap and junk into the river bed, or that is washed off their streets and into the gutters, through the sewer lines and into the river. Because of the lack of wave action, the RTBs argue, the junk ends up on Long Beach shores. Remove the breakwater and all that junk will no longer be on our beaches and we will have clean ocean water.

Because of the politics and water, in this case water is a giant highway and primary mode of transportation of goods, the Port of Long Beach has a somewhat complex set of policies and restrictions as to where its profits and revenues must go. One would think that because it is in Long Beach, on property in the City of Long Beach and governed by appointments from Long Beach City Hall that Long Beach would benefit greatly from the profits and revenues of the Port. One would think. Because of some politics involving water several decades ago this is not the case. From time to time the City of Long Beach must go to the Port of Long Beach, hat in hand and ask for money. Money to cover development projects such as the Aquarium of the Pacific that cannot meet bond obligations is an example. The Port is like the City's rich uncle who under certain circumstances may help you buy a new car to get to your new job.

The City of Long Beach faces its annual budget deficit crisis. I believe the current number is $19 million but I may be off a few million. We have aging infrastructure that needs replacement and repair, so much so that a bond measure was put before voters specifically to complete infrastructure repairs and replacement because decades of no vision by those at City Hall, elected and appointed, failed to properly budget such expenditures. It failed, and so we are stuck with broken sidewalks, potholed streets, unpaved alleys, failing water and sewer mains.

Last night the City Council of Long Beach voted unanimously, well almost one member was absent, to spend $4 million on a feasibility study. The $4 million price tag is half the cost of the study with the Army Corps of Engineers picking up the other half of the study. The purpose of the study is to determine if the breakwater can be reconfigured to allow waves to return to Long Beach, while protecting existing property and residences and also not interfere with the commerce of the Port by retaining a safe and calm anchorage.

Here are some issues that I have not seen addressed by those most ardent about the breakwater and want its removal.

Isn't the Army Corps of Engineers the organization that was doing feasibility studies and repairs on the levies in New Orleans?

For $8 million of government funds, i.e. taxes, i.e. funds that could be spent on other projects, all we are getting is a survey, a study, paper.

What guarantees do we have that those overseeing the survey, the Army Corps of Engineers, do not have a preconceived outcome that the breakwater cannot be reconfigured? What happens then when our community is $4 million poorer and still have a breakwater?

Assuming the desired outcome from those in favor of spending the money on the survey results, i.e. the breakwater can be reconfigured, what next? Does anyone think that to go through the reconfiguration process will not cost a billion dollars? We are talking about a government project, it costs the government $400,000 to pour concrete for a skatepark or basketball court.

Where is the money to come from to pay for reconfiguring the breakwater? Will the City of Long Beach suddenly become flush, or will the Port of Long Beach be strong armed into coughing up the cash? After all the survey will take four years, then we will have years of planning, during this time several Port Commissioners will be up for re-appointment, or replacement.

Will the number of people going to the beach increase exponentially with the sudden addition of wave action at our beaches? Or will the local economies of Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and the South Bay suffer? Does that matter?

With our civic history of not being very good at budgeting and fiscal control, a scaling back of Marine Department personnel, staffing levels at Long Beach Police Department, the maintenance department and other workers who actually work in the city instead of City Hall, looming because of deficits; where do the funds come to keep the beaches now filled with people clean and safe?

The vision of enabling waves to return to our shores while enabling the vital Port traffic to continue and the property and residences to not be washed away in storms is quite compelling. Spending $4 million of public funds in our current economic state with no plans for what happens next seems short-sighted and wasteful.

The emotion and passion of the water has overcome our city leadership to enter into the agreement for a study. I would prefer that there had been some thought as to how to pay for reconfiguration, how to pay for increased personnel needs, how to manage and mitigate possible traffic and parking issues, had been discussed and thought out before committing to spending what amounts to 25% of our current deficit. On a study.

The lack of "what next" discussions exemplifies the biggest problem with all levels of government. Consequences of decisions and votes are not looked at and analyzed. Votes are made to make supporters happy, to satisfy an immediate visceral cause, and little heed is paid for "what next." How do we pay for what needs to happen next if the study says, yes the breakwater can be reconfigured? If we do not have the answer to that question then the study is a waste of money not matter what it determines.

You've spent the $4 million, now it is up to you, the City Council, to begin work right away on answering the "what if" and "what next." You have four years.

Of course by then we will have a new members of City Council and probably a new Mayor due to term limits and it becomes their problem. Politics.

DCS06232010

What If We Ignored Politicians?

2010-06-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

I believe that we are surrounded by perfect solutions to all situations at all times. Our humanness either prevents or inhibits our ability to see the myriad of solutions. Our race consciousness overrides the openness required to move beyond what we know, what we think we know, and our innate self-interest so we are receptive to all solutions available. Only by stepping out of ourselves and putting aside our personal history, our demographic identifiers, our prejudices, our expected outcomes, can we then be open to alternative solutions to problems and issues.

Accepting this process of solution finding, what if we ignored our politicians? What if we ignored the solutions that they present to problems that often they themselves have created? What if we ignored solutions that are formed often not because of their worth but rather because of what they can do--raise money and votes? What if we who are closest to most of the issues and problems looked inside ourselves and our immediate community rather than outside for the perfect solutions which exist by we have not seen?

Our problems are a lot different than they used to be. While many problems remain through history, poverty, illiteracy, quality housing for all, the percentage of our population afflicted with these problems are smaller than they were before. Consider the conditions in major urban areas such as New York City, Chicago or San Francisco one hundred years ago and know we have made great strides in education, sanitation, and safety.

But as our problems have changed so has our problem solving. It seems to me that over the years, especially the past few decades, we have ceded more and more of our problem solving and solution providing to those further and further away from ourselves and where problems exist. Instead of looking within our communities to solve our problems with solutions that exist locally, collectively we have removed ourselves and our communities from the process with the exception of a ballot cast every two or four or six years. Rather than having a local issue that needs addressing being addressed by local residents coming together to discuss the issue and the range of solutions, more and more residents have taken the path of waiting for the government to identify and solve the issue.

What if we lived and acted not out of selfish self-interest but out of what is right, ethical, moral? Can we even do this anymore? Our education system has curriculum designed and required by bureaucrats and politicians not in our community. Our health care delivery system has mandates and requirements that place incredible control in the hands of bureaucrats not in our communities protected by politicians residing far away most of the time. Our public safety is more and more detached as local communities interact less and less with those working to protect them. What solutions that we as a community have are even brought forth much less able to be enacted?

What if we ignored our politicians? What if we ignored the attachment identity that not only they have but that many, most, of us have as well. Attachment and detachment identity. What if we ignored politicians who stake themselves to one solution, in doing so their most ardent supporters stake themselves too, inhibiting the free commitment to the myriad of solutions that surround issues. Too often the solution is conceived by political party officials or workers so far removed from the problem being addressed that they have no concept of the issue much less any possible solutions. Too often the solution has very little to do with the actual problem and more to do with the individuals or groups that enable election and re-election.

What if we ignored the solutions offered by politicians to problems and instead required them to offer their philosophy of problem solving? What if instead of them telling us what problems we have and how they plan to solve them we demanded they tell us instead of what role the government should have in solving problems that exist in our community? What if instead of telling us who supports them we demanded instead that they tell us why that support exists? What if we broke down from the required political dialogue of what can you do for me/us and instead learned what can you do that allows me/us to do for ourselves?

Politicians have one purpose, to determine how much of our money they can acquire through taxes and then to determine how that money will be spent. Our money goes to the city, the county, the state, the federal government, with the belief by those given the power to collect our money that they can spend our money better than we can to solve problems that affect us more than them. What if we were able to use that money ourselves to solve these problems ourselves in our own communities? Are we capable? Would we be able to transcend selfish self-interest sufficiently to enact community self-interest and do what is right? Would we see a greater amount of accountability and personal responsibility within ourselves and our community?

Yesterday as we walked into Ralph's grocery store my eight year old asked me, "Dadda, if we are a free country why do we have laws?" I explained to her the value of laws, to ensure that everyone has an equal chance to be free so some of us do not restrict or stop the freedoms of others. But then I thought, she's is on the right track, but I ask "if we are a free country why do we have so many laws?" Because we are enabling our politicians to create more and more laws by ceding more and more control of solving our problems to them.

What if we ignored our politicians and began finding the perfect solutions that exist within ourselves and our own communities? What if our politicians recognized that more laws and more money do not solve problems, but individuals and communities with recognized common values, common morals, common principles of integrity, accountability, personal responsibility and trusteeship can solve problems?

We are surrounded by perfect solutions, are we open to seeing them? Do we have the internal integrity and courage to recognize them and implement them? Can we ignore our politicians and create our own solutions?

DCS06212010

Energy

2010-06-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

We use a lot of energy. Twenty million barrels of oil a day. Approximately 1 million tons of coal per year, almost all of it for electricity production. We us a lot of energy. The energy we use is a tremendous economic engine as well. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are tied to energy: production, distribution, transportation and delivery. Billions of dollars in taxes are generated by energy: corporate tax, dividend and capital gains tax, income tax, sales tax, state tax, local utility tax, property tax.

We use a lot of petroleum products besides gasoline for our SUVs, SmartCars and Hybrids. Plastics, paint, technological hard ware, look around where you are sitting right now and try to find something that is entirely natural with no petroleum distillates added. Ignoring the petroleum required to power the manufacturing plants and modes of transportation of the items we use every day, the items themselves are made almost wholly or in part by petroleum distillates.

The food we eat is dependent on oil. Not just to power the tractors and harvesters for farming, or the trucks that transport it from distant farms to our local stores. But also in most of the fertilizer that is used to grow crops.

What is happening in America, and around the globe, is an inability to separate "oil" from "energy." This lack of separation is welcomed by the "global warming" crowd and those who seem bent of removing all fossil fuels from our economies and use. But it is important that we consider the energy issue as two issues: oil for consumer consumption and energy for the production of electricity.

Oil is the current dirty word due to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as we turn on our televisions and see the gushing oil from the ocean floor. Knee-jerk reactions were unsurprising to call for the cancellation of all off-shore drilling and some calling for the cessation of all drilling in our country. In the next breath these same people decry our dependence on oil produced abroad. But we consume 20 million barrels of oil a day. But we are not permitted to produce what we consume at home. Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico, are just a few nations willing to continue to extract oil from the earth and send it to America to fill the gap between our domestic production and consumption.

We need to drive less and have more energy efficient cars. How much? What is an acceptable amount of oil consumption? Fifteen million barrels per day? That's a 25% cut in consumption, pretty steep. A fifty percent cut to ten million barrels per day? We can cut our driving and increase the efficiency of our automobiles that much? Maybe use more Hybrid vehicles. But don't they actually have larger "carbon footprints" due to their production?

Let us assume that Americans through economical driving habits and advancing technology of automobile manufacturing are able to reduce our gasoline consumption by fifteen percent. Does that cut the oil consumption by fifteen percent? When we are consuming more and more goods made by petroleum by-products? We are replacing books with little plastic devices. We are replacing our plastic cellular phones every year or two depending on your calling plan. We replace our laptops and home computers every few years to keep up with the changing technology. We are buying new iDevices that are somewhere between our laptop, Kindle and handheld phone/calendar/camera. We buy new printers that are cheaper than purchasing ink for the old printer.

Our entire economy and personal consumption habits are dependent on oil, petroleum, fossil fuels buried in our earth. Our political climate is such that we are shutting down the exploration and extraction of this commodity from the earth within the boundaries of the United States. We are becoming increasingly dependent upon foreign nations and companies for the commodity that is most important to our economy.

We have oil, plenty of it. Oil we can get to without deep water drilling, which is what has created the problem in the Gulf. Had the same incident occurred closer to shore on a slant drilling rig the nation would be talking about the financial reform bill working through the House and Senate and not the oil rig accident that was capped in a few days. Had the same type incident happened on a drilling rig on dry land you never would have heard of it. This disaster is a disaster because of where it is located: one mile under the surface of the ocean.

As politics and extreme environmentalism shuts down the ability to operate drilling and extracting operations in relatively safe environments the likeliness of future drilling disasters like the one now occurring increase. We have plenty of oil, off the Atlantic coast, off the Gulf coast, off the Pacific coast, throughout Alaska, we have oil that can be drilled and extracted without incurring anywhere near the disaster of what is happening now. Last night President Obama spoke about the relationship between oil companies and politics and said something to the effect that we need political "courage and fortitude" I believe were the words used, to break our oil dependency.

What we need is political courage and fortitude to encourage and support production of our oil supply within our nation's boundaries and be serious about reducing our reliance on foreign production--much of it in the control of tyrants who repress their citizens. We are not going to reduce our reliance on foreign oil by reducing our consumption if we continue to reduce our domestic production. What we needed to hear last night from President Obama regarding oil production and consumption was a commitment to utilize our nation's national resources for safer and cleaner extraction of this commodity upon which our economy and way of life balance.

Regarding energy production for our electricity needs, Obama gave us the standard pablum of "green jobs" and increasing solar and wind technologies. Which take up huge swaths of land to provide their relatively clean energy (solar panels and wind propellers are mostly petroleum based in manufacturing) and in California are being opposed by environmentalists so they won't be in production any time soon.

What about nuclear energy? Zero mention of this clean energy that is one reason Europe consume less petroleum, natural gas and coal per person than Americans do--most of their energy is now coming from nuclear power plants. We have entire fleets of decommissioned nuclear submarines that can be converted to provide electricity to our coastal communities. Entirely clean and safe. We have approximately twenty nuclear power plants across the country that are stalled from being put into play because of government and legal issues.

We have the solutions to our national energy "problems." Our issues are not lack of solutions, it is lack of implementation. Our issues are due to dishonest discussions that bend public opinion into keeping us trapped in our dependency of foreign oil production and out of date and dirty energy production. Until President Obama and others in politics break themselves away from the extreme environmentalists we will not be able to implement solid strategies that solve our two issues of energy consumption.

DCS06162010

Coyote Activity Will Increase Bixby Knolls

2010-06-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of playing golf at Virginia Country Club this Sunday. We teed off a little early, a bit after 6:30, and about 30 minutes later as we approached the 4th green we saw a coyote running parallel to the fairway and into the brush on the hill between the 4th green, 5th tee (Ladies), 16th tee and 15th green.

When I saw the coyote I said to my playing partner, "Looks like we have some company." He said that evidently there is a litter of pups in the brush in that area. Perhaps Mama was out foraging for her youngsters.

Later in the round we heard many "yips" that those who have heard them first hand know are definitely the sound a pack of coyotes make. Virginia Country Club is abundant with wildlife enjoying the brush, ponds and fields. Besides the coyote we saw a hawk doing lazy circles in the sky, copious amounts of squirrels and several varieties of birds busy in the morning hours. Plenty of feeding opportunities for a family of coyotes.

Also plentiful is the colony of feral cats that I believe still abound between Virginia CC and the Los Cerritos Rancho.

But no matter how abundant the current food supply may be for a mom and her young pups, eventually the hunting grounds will start to expand and when it does residents in the Los Cerritos area, and then Bixby Knolls east of Atlantic and then south of Carson, can expect some increased coyote activity as the summer gets going full swing and the little ones begin to mature.

As they roam the area at night they are looking for easy prey, which includes domesticated animals out for the night. If you see one or more during your morning or evening walks make plenty of noise, yelling, whistling and clapping, and usually they will trot off away from you.

One antidote for them coming onto your property is to spread human urine on your yard, garden or perimeter--sounds like a good excuse for the neighbors to come together for a "Make Coyote Repellent Party!"

For those golfers reading this, after spotting the coyote I two putted from the back of the green to the front pin location for par and my buddy knocked in his uphill eight footer for birdie. Mama Coyote was good luck, and we needed her for one more hole as we proceeded to double and triple the par 5 fifth.

Watch your pets.

DCS06152010

Credit or Debit?

2010-06-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

A question we are used to answering as we pay for our goods and services at coffee shops, grocery stores, barber shops and book stores. The assumption by retailers is that you will not be paying cash for your transaction, but rather that you will swipe either a credit card or a debit card tied to your bank account. With over $1.63 Trillion in debit card transactions in 2009 according to J. D. Power & Associates survey, compared to $20 billion in credit card transactions, Americans are saying "debit" more frequently.

With consumer spending dropping in the recent recession, so to has consumer debt. Seeing an increase in debit card usage and decline in credit card usage for purchases is not surprising as consumers begin to reign in buying "wants" and stick to "needs." Through all of these transactions is a myriad of companies and fees that scrape a little off the total bill of $43.56 you just paid at Trader Joe's to handle the transaction and make your check out so easy.

There are different fees for debit cards and credit cards and most retailers prefer the debit card transaction as it costs them less per transaction. With the rising numbers of debit card transactions, retailers are facing a choice, or have already slowly implemented their choice: raise prices or lower profit margins, because of the rising costs of doing business with a consumer that is moving away from cash. Years ago AM/PM made the move to give the consumer the choice: pay cash or pay $0.45 more on your transaction to use a credit or debit card. The choice most retailers are making has been an incremental increase in prices, a penny hear a nickel there to cover their increased operating expenses due to decreasing cash transactions.

When you swipe your card at the cash register the merchant pays a fee up to 2.95% of the total transaction cost plus a flat fee up to $0.15 (fifteen cents). Larger retailers such as Home Depot or Kroger's, have a better rate than smaller merchants that may have only one or two, or even ten, stores. The percentage rate can, and usually does, vary by the size of the transaction with the higher rate being for smaller purchases. A stand alone coffee shop with an average transaction of $4.32 will most likely pay the highest fees for offering the convenience of card transactions, using the $4.32 transaction up to $0.28 (6%) can be for fees so you can use your card. In addition to the swipe fee the retailer has standard bank fees for statements, transfers, etc.

Looking forward the retailers and banks realize that the use of debit cards for transactions are likely to increase as more and more consumers become used to using them, essentially as those who grow up with debit cards make them an integral part of their financial habits, just like on-line bill pay. Banks and Visa/MasterCard have been increasing their marketing to use debit cards because of the billions in fees collected by the use of these cards through the interchange rates per transaction. Retailers have been supporting their use to an extent, as banks have been raising their fees for debit cards the convenience offered customers balanced against the higher fees offset by a recession that makes raising prices very difficult, retailers are in a difficult financial position. Especially smaller retailers.

This huge financial industry that is integral to almost all of our lives now has a new factor with which to contend: politics. President Obama, Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi have found a silver lining in the Gulf oil disaster, it has completely obfuscated all news on their financial reform bills. As complex, confusing and disjointed as the health care reform act, the financial reforms coming out of yet another multi-thousand page bill have seen little scrutiny by the media. As a result most Americans are completely ignorant of many provisions that will impact their daily lives. In fact many industries are still trying to learn how they will be impacted if the bills are passed as they currently stand.

One aspect of the current bill in the Senate is to limit the fees that can be charged retailers for interchange fees. The purpose of this is, of course, to "protect the consumer." The principle being to limit the fees that banks and credit card companies can charge retailers will limit the charges passed onto consumers for debit charges through higher prices needed to off-set the bank fees. This works very well for the retailer and the large banks such as Chase and Bank of America, but not so well for many consumers and the smaller community banks and credit unions.

Under the proposal the government will set the interchange fees for debit and credit card purchases and the supposition is the fees will be much lower than they are today. Seeing the billions of dollars to the banking and credit card industry in these fees that ultimately are paid by consumers through prices at retailers, the politicians feel having government control of these fees will lower the costs to consumers by taking them out of bank profits. But like taxes, fees or inability to collect fees to maintain profit margins, are always passed along to consumers.

Small banks and credit unions are strongly opposed to the government intervention in the interchange fee market and especially forcing lower fees. They are communicating to their customers that such a reform will result in their having to raise their bank fees to depositors, and/or charge a fee for every debit transaction they process to individual accounts to make up for lost fees from retailers. They argue that retailers most likely will not lower their costs to make up for the lower fees imposed by the government, so in the end consumers will pay the same retail costs plus higher bank fees for the convenience of using debit cards.

Retailers, particularly small retailers, have long complained of the high costs of debit and credit card fees paid to banks, fees that have become increasingly more noticeable to them as the number of cashless transactions they process has risen. Banks count of the fees to ensure profitability, or at least lower operating costs; as has been seen in the past few years many banks are on the verge or have been past the verge of profitability. Caught in between, as always and as the market system is supposed to work, are the consumers. Choosing between quality, price and service consumers make their choices known by where they swipe their cards. With the pending legislation impacting bank fees consumers will then be faced with making their choices on which banks to use based on what charges will accrue to them for the convenience of using debit cards for their transactions.

Since 2007 we have heard "too big to fail" in many different ways. In looking ahead to the future for American consumers and their financial options, it appears Congress and the Administration would rather have a few very large banks, lets call them huge, versus an economy with many small community banks and credit unions serving local populations. By moving the charges to consumers for using debit cards from the retailers to the banks, the pending legislation will move consumers from smaller banks to larger banks that will be able to use economies of scale to offer lower fees to a larger customer base.

As a consumer that uses a debit card significantly more than cash for my purchases, I would much rather pay the retailer for any interchange fees as part of the price of the goods and services I am purchasing than have additional fees added to my monthly bank charges. For one in any given month I do not know how many such charges I will have making it difficult to properly budget these fees.

Do you use mostly cash or debit/credit cards for your everyday transactions? Would you rather pay for the convenience of these transactions at the cash register or through your bank fees? Click on "comments" below (itty-bitty next to "Posted by Dennis C Smith...") and let us know will you go back to cash or stick with debit card if fees change?

DCS06142010

California Crossroads

2010-06-09T05:47:00.001-07:00

California voters have put the state at a crossroads. Using Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" as an analogy. One is a road deeply trodden black from elections past, the other grassy and wanting for wear.

One road will echo the path of Washington the past eighteen months, the other provide the people with protection from reckless spending, higher taxes and continuing failed economic policies that have pushed our state, and nation, down the road of insolvency.

With our gerrymandered districts for State Senate and Assembly there is little chance the composite of the California Legislature will change. It will remain firmly in control of Democratic majorities, who will need just a few defectors from the GOP side to pass any budgets. Not needed will be any defections to pass mountains of legislation that impact businesses, daily life and continue the intrusion of the state into our lives.

Our government is set up with a system of checks and balances, you learned about them in high school, or should have. Unfortunately too many voters, most voters, do not appreciate their role in the checks and balances between the Legislature and the Executive. Having one party with a significant control over the Legislature and the Executive removes safeguards for extreme legislation.

In the primary election yesterday Meg Whitman secured the Republican nomination in a brutal campaign with mostly Steve Poizner. Whitman trounced Poizner but in the campaign he took more than an ounce of flesh. In a critical election, once again the California Republican Party shows no discipline, no cohesion and assists the Democrats with a close primary fight that wounds the winner financially and politically. Whitman having secured the nomination of the minority party must now unite not only the Republican Party but also enough Independent and Conservative Democrats (are there any in California) to upset her opponent. If Poizner truly cared about this election he would start today in congratulating Whitman on the race and work hard for her campaign for November--without his supporters the race is lost.

Whitman's opponent is no surprise. Spending perhaps $100,000 through the primary former Governor Jerry Brown secured the nomination in a landslide. Making no news, merely sitting back and letting the two Republican candidates pound the politics out of each other, Brown's campaign just ran their DVRs and recorded what a fellow Republican said about Brown's opponent. The Democrats kept any serious candidates out of the race allowing no spears to chink Brown's armor.

Jerry Brown is an open book. He will campaign as close to the center as he can get. He need not appeal to the Democratic base because he is the base: he defines liberalism in California as shown by his years in the Governor's mansion, Mayor of Oakland and more recently as Attorney General. His sole campaign strategy will be to appeal to Independents and the right-wing of the Democratic Party. Sound familiar to November 2008? Like then Senator Obama, Brown can leave his principles and ideology off the campaign trail and pick them back up when, if, elected.

Quickly looking down ticket it is a landslide for Democrats: Lt. Governor will pit Abel Maldonado (R) against San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome (D). Maldonado has angered many in the GOP with his vote to raise taxes last year; Newsome is Jerry Jr. with his liberal agenda and willingness to ignore the California Constitution for his own political gain and popularity.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen (D) will face unknown Damon Dunn and unless she is caught doing something illegal will cruise to victory, though depending on the illegal act California voters will probably ignore and transgressions and re-elect her anyway.

Similarly Treasurer Bill Lockyer (D) will face Mimi Walters in a race that should mirror the Secretary of State race.

Perhaps showing some competitiveness will be the race for Attorney General between Kamala Harris (D) and Steve Cooley (R). Cooley has a record that can appeal to the middle, but enough to defeat rising star Harris? He may not contain the GOP base, which would be a shame for that base if they do not support him, if not he goes down.

Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General, at a minimum four of the five seats can, and probably will, go Democrat. Facing the "checks" and "balances" of a Democratic Senate and Democratic Assembly.

So the question Californians need to ask is this: Can our state afford having every statewide office plus the Legislature in the control of one party? If you answer "no" then you need to support Meg Whitman for Governor, not just with your vote but with your voice, your money and your relationships. If you answer "yes" then just sit back and wait.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Excerpt from "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Will California take the one less traveled by?

DCS06092010

Joe Friday Interviews President Obama

2010-06-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

He brought us "just the facts, ma'am" now he comes back to life to interview the President.

DCS06082010

More Jobs On Your Payroll

2010-06-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday the Labor Department released employment figures for the Month of May. To those who just read the headlines the news was fantastic, 431,000 net new jobs in the economy. Unfortunately headlines are not news, except to the lazy and continuously uninformed. Beyond the headlines we learned that the actual number that should have been highlighted by news publishers was 41,000. That was the number of private sector jobs created in May.

Of the 431,000 jobs created 411,000 were temporary Census workers hired by the Federal Government. And according to some reports the Census is firing workers and then re-hiring them to pad their employment reports (NY Post, Neil Cavuto, CBS Sacramento). So we do not know is if the 411,000 being touted as new hires by the Census are representative or inflated. Keep in mind that to count as a new job the Census Bureau must hire someone to work one hour in a month. Sounds like unemployment to most people but not the Labor Department.

What gets lost in these numbers are the payments these workers receive, the cost to train them to knock on doors and say "How many people live here," are paid by taxpayers. Taxes that come from public sector jobs are just recirculating dollars within the government sink, taxes that come from the private sector are adding new water to the sink--water to replace that which has gone down the drain.

With only 41,000 new jobs in the private sector supporting 411,000 new jobs in the public sector it seems well continues to run dry to support expanding, or even current levels, of government employment. Meanwhile the majority in Washington (and Sacramento, Albany, Springfield...) and the Chief Executive feel more spending will create more jobs. This may be so on a very limited basis if any spending is actually being done to create private sector jobs, but that is not what has occurred or what is planned to be spent next.

Government spending to stimulate the economy is referred to as Keynesian Economics, after economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes' philosophy of government fiscal policy to stimulate an economy was very popular with Western governments after World War II and the policies seemed successful as economies boomed. That economies had tremendous manufacturing bases built to produce war material now converted to consumer goods seems lost on the economic historians touting the success of Keynesian activity during the Fifties and Sixties. As the economies slowed and the oil embargoes pushed the cost of production higher in the Seventies Keynesian policies began to unravel. No mind to Europe as social democrats continued their progress to where they are today, deep in debt, high percentage of their populations on government payrolls or entitlements and being forced to rapidly retract government spending and handouts.

The White House is under the economic policy advice of Keynesian philosophy. The modern neo-Keynesian philosophy is that for every dollar the government spends economic output will grow 1.5 times, a fifty percent return. Under this philosophy the "Stimulus Plan" in February 2009 of $787 Billion should have a return of almost $1.2 Trillion. Except there has been practically no return as most of the funds did not go into jobs stimulation in the private sector.

Underlying the Keynesian $1 of spending is that dollar has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the private sector. For the efficiency of government spending it needs to collect almost $2 for $1 it wishes to spend in transfer payments (social security, Medicare, government salaries). Further exacerbating the current situation is that most of the spending on "jobs" bills in Congress have nothing to do with enabling the private sector to create jobs, but rather end up increasing taxes on the private sector that inhibits job creation. Increasing payments to unemployed workers is not a "jobs" program, it pays people not to work. Making massive payments to state governments, $100 billion so far and requests for at least $25 billion more, to retain teachers is not a "jobs" program. Increasing taxes over $80 billion on small businesses is not a "jobs" program. All these measures continue or expand government payrolls, benefits and pensions that are being supported by a shrinking private sector.

Small and medium size businesses provide the overwhelming majority of jobs in the private sector. For the past few years credit has been almost non-existent to this sector restricting operating expenses, growth and expansion. Credit has been tight as banks are concerned about balance sheet audits and federal take-overs of banks considered "risky" by the Feds. Lending to small businesses can be risky. Too many small business loans by a local community bank results in a balance sheet that the Feds may not appreciate and require the bank to be absorbed by a larger regional or national bank. With the risk of losing a charter on the horizon smart bankers are sitting on their deposits.

Small and medium size businesses generally do not operate with the reserves or ability to gather capital like large businesses and multinational corporations. With the entitlement and benefit mandates included in Obamacare and other industry specific legislation passed many businesses do not have an idea of what their future costs will be. If I hire a new worker at $45,000 per year will it end up costing me $60,000 per year? Will the extended benefits I will have to provide to my current workers equal $45,000 so I should save the funds to insure against future employment costs? Uncertainty leads to stagnation. Few businesses expand into an uncertain economic environment. Faced with higher costs in benefits and taxes most businesses are not going to take on new employees until they know exactly what the cost-benefit analysis will be.

With many small and medium sized businesses family owned as either LLCs, Sole Proprietor or S Corporations profits and net income flow from the company income statement onto the personal tax returns. If the company profits $250,000 and the business owner decides to retain $150,000 in capital for reserves and cover operating costs, lines of credit or future equipment replacement, he is still taxed on the $250,000. A magic number with the Obama Administration to eliminate tax deductions for home interest deductions, increase marginal tax rates and expand taxes to health care premiums and other expenses. Facing increased costs on the business and personal side of the income stream business owners are not willing to invest in expansion or growth to further increase the net negative on their personal net incomes.

Throughout the current Congress every piece of legislation has expanded government and restricted private business. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus), Obamacare, Cap and Trade, Financial Reform, all programs near or over $1 Trillion have expanded government spending on government employees and increased the taxes, and therefore burdens, on the private sector.

Currently our federal debt is $13 Trillion and our national Gross Domestic Product is $14.4 Trillion. We owe 90% of what we produce. The debt is growing at a pace of $1 million every thirty seconds, the GDP is growing at a pace of $1 million every two minutes. Our debt is growing four times as fast as our production.

We need our elected representatives to stop pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into spending that does not directly produce private sector jobs. Failure to do this will create an economy that is an upside down pyramid with the balancing on the private sector becoming less and less secure. For examples of this look at the economies in Europe with huge public payrolls and entitlements balances on a shrinking private sector no longer able to support the taxes required for those payments.

Here's a "jobs" bill: expand the 2001 tax cuts across the board; reduce taxes by 10% on small and medium size businesses; suspend revenue collections under Obamacare for a minimum of twelve months; kill Cap and Trade; cap Federal payroll and benefits at 2% growth per year for the next five years.

Finally, quit thinking that the Federal Government can spend my money better than I can. Small business owners want to increase their company payrolls not the payrolls supported by their taxes.

DCS06072010

Why I Do What I Do

2010-06-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you reading this who don't know what I do, I am a mortgage broker. I have been in the industry since 1988 and have a strong passion and commitment to my work. Every Friday I write and send to my past and current clients, real estate professionals and assorted others my "Weekly Rate and Market Update." It includes a Question of the Week that is generally sent to me to answer.

This week I used a question I am asked often from various areas, including within: Why do you stay in the industry? To answer the question I tell the story of a recent client. It perfectly summarizes why I do what I do.

Question of the week: Why do you stay in the industry?

Answer: This is a question I get from within the industry from time to time, and from within myself from time to time as well, checking in to see if I am still doing what I do for the right reasons. With all that has occurred in the last several years, and all the regulatory changes that are on-going, it certainly has been easy to question our participation and motivation. That said, I am a firm believer that everyone should ask this question of themselves regularly.

This week confirmed for me why I am in the mortgage business. While at times I enjoy what I do more than others, in the end helping a family achieve their dream of homeownership is the core of what I do. Along the way helping other families with financial management with refinancing is a big plus, but still secondary to the homeownership piece.

Every family’s home is special and I appreciate working with all my clients get the keys to their own front door. Some families however take a bit of a stronger hold on my heart as we pursue together their new home. These are the loans that strongly remind me why I am in this industry and will be in it for many, many years to come.

In April I was contacted by Eileen. She and her husband, Nick, wanted to purchase a condominium. They have a daughter with disabilities and wanted the permanence of their own home for themselves and for her as they raise her. There were challenges for us, we would be using a PERS loan, Eileen is a member of the Public Employees Retirement System which allows accessing retirement funds as a secured loan to use as down payment for purchasing a home. Because of the type of loan our lender partners were limited. As well we had less than 20% down so we would need private mortgage insurance, PMI, on a condo. Further complicating the issue was Nick teaches at night at a couple of different colleges so he can be with their daughter during the day.

One thing that came across very early was the commitment Eileen and Nick had to becoming homeowners. On meeting them and going through their qualification material I too became committed to their goal. Along with their agent, Jennifer, a team Eileen and Nick came together. Quickly they found the unit they wanted, unfortunately it was beyond their price range. But they were committed and this was the home they wanted.

Writing an offer below list price and at the edge of their price range, Eileen and Nick wrote a letter to the seller explaining why they wanted to purchase this property. Being honest about their situation and their desire for a home for their daughter had an impact and the sellers agreed to their offer.

Loan processes these past few years have become increasingly challenging with lenders tightening their standards and double crossing every “t” re-dotting every “i” and scrutinizing every comma. The primary reason is to ensure any loan they fund will be purchased by FHA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Knowing this and also the lender we would need to work with because Eileen and Nick were applying for a PERS loan, I warned everyone in the transaction, “By the time this transaction is completed we will probably go through the wringer. The lender will ask for additional paperwork, forms, etc that we do not even know about yet. There is a very good chance that at the end you will not want to do business with me again, and that is fine. I understand that and it is part of the business. But despite all this I will focus on one goal and that is the goal of Eileen and Nick to become homeowners. No matter what happens that is my goal.”

Thankfully, very thankfully, everyone in the transaction understood and were committed to the same goal. The professionals in the transaction acted as professionals (thank you Jennifer, Carol and Carmen among others) and when a snag popped up did not lose their heads calling and screaming at everyone.

It could have been one of those deals to get the label “Nightmare.” But instead it became one labeled “Career Validation.” No matter what was needed, instead of asking “why do they need that…” and trying to argue the request from the underwriter, the document or form was provided by whoever needed to provide it. No matter what the delay, instead of yelling and screaming about docs not being sent from PERS, or underwriting not signing off on a condition yet, the response was, “okay, let us know when you hear something.”

Everyone was on Team Eileen and Nick. Everyone wanted them to have this home for themselves and their daughter. Everyone worked together and kept working together to the finish.

Yesterday after more running around and collecting documentation asked for by the underwriter an hour before the funding deadline we finally provided everything we thought could be provided. As the 12:30 deadline approached I sat at my laptop staring at the clock in the corner.

At 12:31 I received an email and picked up the phone. “Eileen, we funded. You are going to be a homeowner.” Gratitude. Tears. On both ends of the phone.

Thank you Eileen and Nick for allowing me the opportunity to help you with your goal of homeownership. Thank you for showing me why I am in the mortgage business and what it is I get to do every day.

Our industry gets kicked around a lot. There are plenty of people who do damage to the industry with their rotten behavior and looking to make what they can on who they can. But for most of us in the mortgage business we are in it because of Eileen and Nick. And Curtis and Lisa. And Donna. Or Lee. Or Steve and John. We are in the business to enable and protect homeownership and allow families to fulfill their goals and objectives.

Thank you for allowing me this indulgence this week to tell why this business is so important and why most of us still in it remain. And a special thanks to all those who support my business and have used me for their mortgage needs throughout the twenty plus years I’ve been taking loan apps and making the phone call, “we funded.”
Have a question for me? Ask me!

DCS06042010

Budgets

2010-06-02T05:37:00.001-07:00

It is that time of year again when elected officials in Sacramento realize their deadline to have a budget in place is rapidly approaching and they need to quit spending time proposing laws that require citizens to use light bulbs filled with hazardous materials, ban parking in cities, and close businesses and move jobs across state borders. We are in the time period when Sacramento must figure out how to pay for the excessive spending habits they have not reined in through previous budgets, or if they will continue their habits and find other ways to fill the approximately $20 - 25 billion deficit.

You may recall that last year a similar gap was filled mainly with new taxes and more borrowing by the state. A budget was finally passed when a few Republicans in the Assembly and in the Senate left party ranks and joined the Democrats in voting "aye" and then Governor Schwarzenegger backing down off his rhetoric about no new taxes and signing the bill. Of the Republicans that crossed the aisle to raise taxes a few of them are termed out and now running for statewide office, those facing re-election are facing voters with long memories of their budget votes.

For this year's budget dance the Governor has proposed his budget, without any tax increases, and immediately it was picked apart by the major media in the state (read: Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle) and the Democrats as being "unfairly balanced" on the poor. Not facing the reality of the fact that a budget where the bulk of the spending goes to either public employee salaries or services to the "poor." I say "poor" because it seems the definition of "poor" for purposes of receiving free services from the state keeps moving up the income ladder. Further, like many states but more than most, our illegal immigrant population enjoys the ability to partake of most of these benefits and services.

Having expanded the scope of medical, education, housing and nutrition services throughout the state while decreasing the opportunities for private businesses to open and expand, Sacramento has created a balance sheet that is light on services for taxpayers and employers and heavy on services for those defined a "in need" by state bureaucrats and politicians. Now that it is time to close a $20 billion gap between revenues from fees and taxes and spending the Governor has realized that the revenue side of the budget is tapped out. Any more taxes in an economy with unemployment close to 15% in the state and unemployment plus under-employment exceeding 20% will greatly reduce future revenue through reduced tax collection due to increased job loss, corporate relocations and drop in consumer spending. Schwarzenegger realizes spending must be cut.

Naturally in criticizing Schwarzenegger's budget individual programs are chosen and picked to show the inhumanity of his budget cutting $10 million from a program that helps the elderly exercise or $25 million from a program that provides free dental cleanings to children in-need. With every story about the budget we receive the individual human interest story of someone impacted by the cruelty of the Governor's budget. Inevitably there is no suggestion as to what should be cut to close the $20 billion budget. Note that not reported are the individual stories of the worker laid off because his company has higher tax and regulatory obligations.

On the Democrats side Assembly Speaker John Perez has proposed a budget that does not cut spending, increases taxes on oil production, extends the "temporary" tax increases passed in earlier budgets, postpones a corporate tax credit for expanding businesses and job creation and borrows $9 billion. Yes, borrows $9 billion to fill the budget deficit.

So as we eagerly await the June 30th deadline to pass a budget that will undoubtedly be missed yet again, we can assess the California economic landscape in which the budget debates will occur. Rising unemployment is reducing payroll tax revenue. Increases in business failures and closings are reducing corporate income tax revenue. Increased "wealth flight" is decrease personal tax revenue on interest, dividends and capital gains. Increased unemployment is reducing consumer spending reducing sales tax revenues. Continued foreclosures on residential housing continues property value declines in some areas while other areas have struggled back to flat values, decreasing property tax revenues. An increasing rise in commercial foreclosures will see a result of decreasing commercial property values, decreasing property tax revenues.

The economic engines that generate tax revenues are in decline in the state. One of the factors in our last several budget deficits has been an over-estimate of tax revenue collection. Raising more taxes in this environment will create a bigger budget deficit merely due to another under-estimate of tax revenue due to a budget increasing taxes, again.

California is Greece. Greece's economy crashed and it took an emergency bailout from other nations to save the country. But the bailout came with strings. Greece had to change its social democratic priorities and cut spending, cut entitlements and put the economy on a foundation of a private sector generating jobs not taxes for government salaries and benefits. Government programs and entitlements that created a budget that was incredibly upside down and balanced on private jobs and companies for the benefit of public sector jobs and entitlement recipients finally tipped over.

California's budget has become similarly upside and balanced on the on the private sector. Unless the majority in Sacramento understand the economics of our state economy and public spending the budget will tip further towards complete default in the near future.

Sacramento must balance a budget based not on more taxes and expected tax revenue, and especially not on more borrowing, but rather on systematic and institutional cuts to spending and allocation of resources. We have seen through the relative lack of loss in service due to furloughs that we can cut significant amounts from departments across the state with little productivity loss. Spending must be cut, any failure to do so will plunge the state into default and economic chaos in the very near future.

Who knows, maybe the plan is to run the state over the brink forcing Washington to come save the state with a huge bail-out of its own. Being the 7th biggest economy in the world how can Washington allow it to fail? Does "too big to fail" apply to states? Maybe that is the safety net for Speaker Perez and the majority as they start to move ahead with with their plan to spend, tax and borrow out of the budget deficit.

Thankfully our State Constitution requires a two-thirds majority requirement to pass a budget. I am hoping this year every member of the minority holds firm to not passing any budget that will increase taxes and borrowing to achieve a balance, but I'm sure there will be enough defections at some point in the process to push California closer to complete default.

Remember votes counts, they have led us to where we are now. Will yours help us change direction in the future?

DCS06022010

Election June 8th

2010-05-26T05:30:00.000-07:00

In two weeks we have the opportunity to once again exercise the most most important right we have as American citizens: voting. With a lot on the ballot I will run through my two cents for the races on the Democratic and Republican primary ballots.

Note that I am a registered Republican so the recommendations below indicate that barring some unforeseen circumstance this is how I will be completing my ballot. For the Democratic candidates I am using my wife's sample ballot and will provide my thoughts on why if I were a registered Democrat for my choice.

Governor: It seems the Democrats have only one selection: Jerry Brown. While he has six opponents none of them have a chance. With Jerry you will be getting an old fashioned liberal. For the Republican side I am voting for Meg Whitman, I feel she has the stronger backbone to stand up to the Democratic majority that is guaranteed to hold in the Legislature against further tax increases and expansion of our state government.

Lt. Governor: This is an anyone but vote and I need to do a little more research but it seems tough to beat the ones with name recognition. For Republicans anyone by Abel Maldonado who sold out on his personal vow to not raise taxes as a member of the California Senate and cast the vote needed to give us the highest tax increase in history last year. He did it so he could be appointed Lt. Governor by Schwarzenegger, thankfully the Democrats in the Legislature have not confirmed him. On the Democratic side anyone but serial law breaker Gavin Newsom. As Mayor he has encouraged law breaking by making San Francisco a sanctuary city, performing gay marriages and even cheating on his wife. The guy seems to have no moral compass for right or wrong, for law or lawlessness, it is what ever makes him happy.

Attorney General: Republicans need to vote for John Eastman, who I wrote about in March and am endorsing. For the Democrats I know that Kamala Harris has support locally, but as DA in San Francisco she has aided and abetted the law-breaking of Mayor Newsom, while I am in favor of gay marriages it is not the law in California, he job as DA and as AG if elected is to enforce the law not allow politicians to break the laws. For Democrats I would take Chris Kelly, like Eastman a non-politician with no favors to pay-back. We need a strong AG to enforce the laws and Constitution of this State, not go off on their own agenda as we have seen with current AG Jerry Brown.

Insurance Commissioner: I can't believe we vote for this position. On the Republican side we have one member of the Legislature who like Maldonado broke a no tax pledge to his constituents (Villines) who I cannot vote for, therefore I am voting for Brian Fitzgerald who is in the Insurance Department's enforcement division. On the Democrats side two members of the Legislature are running, Hector De La Torre who annually tries to pass a law to give illegal immigrants drivers' licenses and Dave Jones. I hold my nose and vote for Jones.

U.S. Senate: I doubt any Democrat will beat incumbent Barbara Boxer, ma'am, though I think it is funny that uber-liberal Mickey Kaus is running against her because she is not liberal enough. On the Republican ballot I stick with my endorsement of Carly Fiorina from February. Acknowledging that Tom Campbell and Chuck Devore are very good candidates and would do a very good job, I think Fiorina has the best chance of unseating Boxer.

U.S. Representative (37th): Yeah! I actually have a candidate on the GOP primary for the 37th District! And it is a great candidate with a solid chance to win the general election in November: Star Parker. On the Democrats side we have incumbent Laura Richardson who is under ethics investigations and has a well chronicled history of personal financial mismanagement versus two always-runs and a new comer. The new comer deserves support and votes from local Democrats, Terry Ponchak. He is from the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, local attorney, involved in the community and is not Richardson. I wish him well in unseating an incumbent in the primary--it has happened in other parts of the country will local voters see it happen here?

Member of the Assembly (55th): For Republicans there is one name on the ballot, Christopher Salabaj. For Democrats incumbent and organized labor's best friend Warren Furutani who has never met an anti-business/pro-labor rally he didn't like, he should have an SEIU patch on his suit.

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Not a visible office but an important one, both parties have the same names on their ballots. I have not researched every person, however I do know that Diane Lenning on the bottom of the ballot has been criss-crossing the state listening to parents, teachers and administrators as she campaigns for office. I am voting Lenning.

Propositions: NO on all propositions but Prop 13 which limits the reassessment of property that has undergone seismic retrofitting. My initial instinct would be to vote no on this, however if a building has to undergo state mandated seismic retrofitting, as in a hospital or private school or college, then why should that retrofit further increase costs by raising taxes? Yes on Prop 13.

Regarding Prop 14, aka the open primaries proposition, I am against this. This proposition only helps the majority party and hurts the minority party and minority candidates. A case in point is the race for governor. There is no way that Jerry Brown loses the Democratic nomination. If Prop 14 were law now this guaranteed win allows the Democrats to encourage their party members in key districts to vote for the candidate of the Democrats choice, most likely the candidate least likely to win the November election. The same can happen in strong Republican districts for Assembly and Senate, GOP voters putting votes to the weakest Democratic candidates to ensure wins in November. If we are having open primaries then ban parties and make all statewide offices non-partisan and run like city council elections, unless someone gets 50% plus one of the votes then have a run-off. Open primaries allows more dishonesty into the political process, vote no on Prop 14.

The only major news that can come from this election is the race between Ponchak and Richardson for the Democratic nomination for the House of Representatives, if Ponchak can upset Richardson it will continue the story of an upset electorate across the country. I hope this is the story that is on the top of the fold on June 9th: Ponchak Wins.

DCS05262010

Principled Leadership For A Better Community

2010-05-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

In the Spring of 1998 I was floundering. My marriage was great, Leslie and I had been married for three and a half years. My career was doing well, I was helping families purchase homes and had already developed a reputation in the local industry as a hard working and honest mortgage broker. I was active in the community, volunteering for projects through the Long Beach Board of Realtors and also with the Long Beach Education Foundation. Externally everything seemed fine, but you know what they say about a book and its cover. Inside something was amiss.

I could not put my finger on the source of my discontent, if it even was discontent. Something was not clicking and evidently it was beginning to show. About this time a local real estate agent whom I knew a bit better than most had introduced me to a new client. Both of the women were older than me, in fact both have children close to my age. Both were active in the community, and both began to encourage me to apply for a leadership program I was aware of and knew several people who had been involved with the program. So insistent committed were Pam Spoo, the real estate agent, and Gayle Clock that I apply for the program that Pam slid an application under the door to our company at 5:00 a.m. on the way to the airport for vacation.

Wow, I thought, someone that committed about this; I should really take their advice seriously.

Before applying for the program I called three or four people I knew and trusted who had been through the LLB program and each of them said, "I cannot tell you exactly what you will get out of it, but I can tell you if you have the opportunity to participate in the program you most definitely should. It will change your life and be very positive for you." The part of me that was feeling disconnected grabbed onto to this recurring theme and said, "apply and see what happens." I completed my application for the Leadership Long Beach Class of 1999 to begin in August 1998.

Soon thereafter I was called for an interview and met with three alumni of the program, Mark Bixby, David Neary, and Minnie Douglas. Three people I did not know, though I had met Mark a few times in the past, but would come to know very well through the years. A few weeks following the interview I was contacted and told I had been selected to participate in the upcoming class.

Late in August I found myself in a stark corridor outside the auditorium at Long Beach Community Hospital. At the time who knew that in a few years I would be a member of the board of directors of Community Hospital of Long Beach after it was shut and re-0penned and later serve as the Chairman of the Board largely because I was standing in that hallway that morning. The class was to start at 8:00 and it was about 7:45, not surprisingly I was early. So were two other people, Janine O'Hare and Jerry Caligiuri. To break the ice with these strangers I said, "we better get to know each other because we will probably be the first ones at every class...we're the early people." Prescient.

And thus began a journey from August 1998 through today. The class met from August through June on the first Monday of every month with a three day retreat in the local mountains in September. I had twenty-eight classmates who were complete strangers at 8:00 a.m. that August morning of our first class and now are all people I know fairly well, some very well having made life-long friendships and relationships. We met at various venues through the city from the hospitals to the new Aquarium of the Pacific to the colleges to the Water Department. Our class had or conceived I believe five children during our class time together (including Leslie and I) and as a class we brought forth five class projects for the Long Beach community.

But my journey with Leadership Long Beach did not end. I was fortunate to serve in various capacities on the Executive Committee and board of the organization, including President. About five or six years I was able to go up the mountain once again as part of a team to facilitate the weekend retreat for new class members in the program. The eeriest was in 2001 when our retreat began days following 9/11. I remember the joy I felt one morning when I looked up and saw contrails in the high mountain sky knowing the terrorists had not won, commerce and travel were resuming following the tragedy.

It has been my fortune to participate in class days through the years as either a day chair constructing the curriculum or being a panelist fielding questions and engaging the members of the class in issues, able to challenge their perspectives.

Central to all of this participation on my behalf however was the engagement and participation in that first year, my class year. As we went through each class and dissected core leadership principles I began to feel more and more complete and whole. I recognized that I was in need of change in my life as there was no congruence between all aspects of my life, that I was being challenged to adhere to my own principles which matched those of the organization. Eventually I did make on major change, I left the company where I had worked for ten years and with some partners we formed Stratis Financial in September 1999.

Also changing during the period of our class was our home, Leslie and I sold our home in Los Altos and purchased our current home in Bixby Knolls. And as stated above, being open to change in my life the ultimate change occurred and Blaire was born in September 1999. I firmly believe that because I was open to change, deep internal change, and a re-alignment of my core values: of committing to living with integrity, been accountable and taking personal responsibility that I became whole. My internal and external balance were restored as I knew that how I wanted to live was how I was supposed to live and there was this great group of people who supported and encouraged such a life. Principled leaders also committed to living principled lives for the betterment of their lives and also our community were all around me, I just never knew them or saw them.

Now I do. I know that if I come from a place of integrity I can offer opinions, offer myself, offer my talents or offer my resources without concern or worry as to how they will be taken because I know the source and intention with which they are being offered. Never one to be shy with my thoughts or words, Leadership Long Beach training and development, both during my class year and in the years since volunteering to assist the organization and classes, has re-affirmed that honesty and integrity are very much valued in our community.

In college we have the opportunity as young adults free, or almost free, from our parents homes and direct influences to form strong relationships that can last a life time. For those of us who lived on campus it enables us to spending prolonged periods of time together with only our friends to help us solve our problems and allow us to help them solve theirs. During four years of living so closely with others and going through the pressure of exams, relationships and the changes that occur as we transition from dependent teenagers to adults starting a new life and careers, we learn who is trustworthy, who is dependable and who has the strength and depth of character we admire and gravitate to.

After college it becomes more difficult to form deep, personal relationships as we do not have the same opportunities. We have work relationships based on hierarchies. We have neighborhood relationships based on proximity. We have children relationships based on our kids schools and activities. But we rarely have the opportunity to develop deep, lasting and strong personal friendships and relationships.

Leadership Long Beach provides this opportunity and personally it is the greatest benefit I have received from my decade plus association with the organization. Almost anywhere or any meeting I go to in Long Beach I see people who I have met through the LLB organization. No ice breaker needed. Because of the openness and honesty of the communication in the classes and meetings there is no need to try to play a role, just a need to be myself.

Through the years I have heard many people say, "I don't need Leadership Long Beach I know a lot about this city." Or, "I'm established in my career and I can't see how it will benefit me."

I've also heard executives in the fifties who are deeply involved in the community say "I wish I had done this ten years ago." I have heard small business owners say, "this is the best thing I ever did for my business, not because of what it did for my business but because of what it did for me so I can do better by my business."

Those who think they cannot benefit from Leadership Long Beach, no matter what stage of life or career they are in, are saying they cannot benefit from spending time building new relationships, cannot benefit from sharing common principles such as integrity, accountability, ethics, with others, cannot benefit from learning more about their community and city. No one is above this program, anyone open to principled leadership will benefit and I encourage you to apply for the program.

If you feel you can benefit from associating with an organization whose mission statement is to "connect principled leaders for a better community," that you can benefit from forming and developing new personal relationships that will add a richness to your life, that you can benefit from learning more about the community where you live and/or work, then I encourage you to apply for the Leadership Long Beach Class of 2011 (link below). Who knows, maybe we'll meet as part of your interview for the program.

Click here for an application for the Leadership Long Beach Institute.

If you know a high school student who would be interested in the youth leadership program applications are being accepted for that program as well. Click here for Youth Leadership Long Beach application.

Or for more information contact Executive Director Peter Bostic or Program Director Jeff Williams at 562-997-9194.

DCS05242010

Your Money And What It Looks Like

2010-05-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

One of the sites on the web I look at frequently is the U.S. National Debt Clock which shows in real the time our national debt, national deficit, tax revenues, Gross Domestic Product and other financial information. As I write this our national debt is at twelve trillion nine hundred seventy eight billion eight hundred fourteen...fifteen million..sixteen million. A million dollars is added to our national debt every twenty five seconds.

The primary reason for the growing national debt is the growing deficit, now over $3.56 Trillion, and growing. This number, the federal deficit number, tripled from the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008 to October 2009. With the spending on TARP, the "Stimulus Plan" adding up to over one trillion dollars a then record deficit of $1.44 Trillion while shocking was no huge surprise. Growing two and a half times from October 2009 to now however is staggering. And it keeps growing.

At one point the American public became used to government tossing around the million dollar number. Later generations became accustomed to speaking of the Federal Government spending and borrowing using the word billion. In a little over a year has the American public come to accept "Trillion" in describing budgets and deficits funded by their taxes?

The comparison below has been sent to me, and I'm sure you, many times showing how much one Trillion dollars is relative to money in our wallet. As our national deficit approaches 100% of our Gross Domestic Product I feel compelled to keep it permanently posted here.

Here is the $100 dollar bill. We don't see these as much any more since most of us get our carrying cash in twenties from the ATM or grocery store. If you want a hundred dollar bill you need to go inside the bank, or cash in your chips in Las Vegas.

Put together ten hundreds and you get one thousand dollars, stack one hundred $100 dollar bills and the bank puts a bank around the stack: $10,000. This is the stack we are used to seeing in gangster movies stuffed into suitcases or used to throw horse races, "Here Louie, see that gets to the trainer." Most Americans, even affluent Americans, have never held a stack of $10,000. I remember counting out $10,000 for a customer at Farmers & Merchants Bank in 1985 when I was a teller and thinking "I'm counting Ten Thousand Dollars!" It was a big deal, still is.

Stack up several stacks, one hundred stacks to be exact (sounds like Dr. Seuss) and you have one million dollars. Being a "millionaire" used to be really big stuff. Now shortstops who can't field, hit or run have contracts that pay them $1 million a season. Towards the end of the housing bubble there were Million Dollar homes in almost every market in the country. When reduced to a stack of hundred dollar bills on the floor one million dollars isn't as impressive as we imagine it to be.

Wow! A pallet of hundred dollar bills! This pallet is worth one hundred million dollars: $100,000,000. The standard multi-year contract for a sports superstar. Remember each of the bands is one hundred one hundred dollar bills. This pallet represents one million one hundred dollar bills. In the time it takes me to write this post this morning this amount of money will be added to our national debt obligations.

Take ten pallets and add them up and you have one billion dollars. That is one hundred thousand one hundred bills. This amount of money used to be the combined budgets of several states, now it may be the budget of a small city. We now have "billionaires" who could go to this stack of money, peel off ten of these bills ever day for over twenty five years and still have a few left over.

Each of these stacks is two-tiered of stacks of pallets containing one hundred million dollars, each level is five hundred billion dollars. This is one trillion dollars. One thousand one billions. Multiply this by three and add one more top level and that is our national deficit. Multiply this by thirteen and that is our national debt. Remember to throw on another pallet every forty minutes.

This is what our government is spending and burdening us and our children with. For those who feel the Tea Party protesters complaining about bigger government and government spending are creating false demons take a look at these pictures. Imagine thirteen times the final picture. Now imagine how we begin to make that pile smaller without crashing our economy or culture.

DCS05192010

Update: A dedicated reader sent this picture in summarizing our national debt:

Boycotts

2010-05-17T05:46:00.001-07:00

Not surprisingly city councils across the country are passing, or considering the passage, of official boycotts or resolutions of condemnation of Arizona for the passing and signing into law of the now famous SB 1070. For those of you asleep for the past several weeks, SB 1070 prohibits all levels of law enforcement in Arizona from ignoring federal immigration laws, cracks down heavily on employers who hire illegal immigrants and essentially requires federal laws to be enforced in the state.

Most of those who had immediate visceral reactions to SB 1070 had not, and still have not, read the Arizona law, most famously our esteemed Attorney General Eric Holder admitted before a Congressional committee that he had not read it. (Please note that I did read SB 1070 as then amended prior to writing my post on May 3rd.) The AG going as far as to admitting he has formed his opinions on SB 1070 from "television and newspapers." Joined by his boss who immediately condemned an entire state under his leadership as President, presumably without reading the law, Holder exemplifies the speak first learn later (if at all) politics of emotion that consumes the left.

Now city councils consisting almost entirely of Democrats and leftist politicians who have overseen the decline and incredible financial failures of their cities are spending time and resources denouncing enforcement of federal immigration laws rather than tending to the business of fixing the messes they have wrought in their cities. But rather than see any connection between their inability to separate law from their ideological positions they see greater personal benefit from passing condemning legislation rather than fiscally responsible legislation.

To date in California Los Angeles, West Hollywood, San Francisco and the San Diego Unified School District have passed boycotts of the state, while the city of San Diego has passed a resolution of condemnation. Given the liberal leadership in many cities that still have not chimed in, including my own City of Long Beach, it will not be surprising if more California cities follow suit. As with the Attorney General one wonders how many, if any, of those voting for the boycotts have even bothered to read the law. Los Angeles is deeply in debt and looking at laying off up to 2,000 workers, but feels it necessary to not have any official travel to Arizona or buy from companies headquartered there.

The obvious purpose of the boycotts and resolutions is to pressure the citizens and businesses of Arizona to push their elected representatives to repeal SB 1070. "Dear Citizens and Businesses of Arizona, we will hurt you economically unless you can get your elected representatives to repeal a law that requires the enforcement of the law. We ask that you not enforce the law, as we do not enforce the law, and encourage lawlessness and illegal activity. Thank you."

Residents in Arizona are striking back. San Diego fills in the summer with Arizona residents looking to escape the heat. Less so this summer as hotels throughout the city have received cancellations from Arizonans who cite the city's politics and not feeling welcome. Not getting the connection between their city's politics and the financial impact on Arizona versus their own, Joe Terzi the President of San Diego Convention and Visitor's Bureau stated regarding the cancellations pouring over the Colorado River into his members' hotels, “This affects all the hardworking men and women who count on tourism for their livelihoods, so we’re saying, don’t do something that hurts their livelihoods.” Yes it does, just as the message sent from the San Diego City Council and Unified School District does.

Meanwhile someone in the private sector gets it, Charles Holladay is the manager of a Ramada in Mission Valley. “I understand the City Council was being passionate about their politics, but I don’t think they thought it through,” Holladay said. “If it negatively impacts hotel revenue, it impacts the transient occupancy tax, and that goes right into the general fund, so they’ll have less money for their programs.”

Which is exactly what those who are boycotting Arizona want to occur in Arizona. It is okay for us to boycott you, but please ignore our politics and come spend your money in our cities. Sorry, I and many others will not due that.

But it strikes both ways. While I am just one person with control, or rather influence, over one family's budget, I am boycotting any city or agency that boycotts Arizona. I will take my own stand to support the enforcement of the law and support the people of Arizona who are taking a stand against human smuggling, kidnapping, drug dealing and violence and huge public burdens to legal taxpayers for services required for the health, education, protection and law enforcement due to illegal immigrants. I support the people of Arizona for strengthening their laws to prosecute businesses that hire illegal immigrants. I support the federal immigration laws and their enforcement.

Any city includes my city of residence, Long Beach. If our city passes a resolution boycotting or condemning Arizona I will cease spending any money in the city as much as possible. I will buy gas near my office in Huntington Beach or Seal Beach. I will no longer shop and Ralph's and Trader Joes near our home but rather will drive to Lakewood. While convenient to stroll to dinner in Bixby Knolls, I will pack the family in the Pilot and drive across the border. My message to local businesses will be to encourage those on City Council to repeal their anti-Arizona resolutions that show support for lawlessness and illegal activity and I will return to spending my hard earned money that generates tax revenue in Long Beach, or any other city that does not stand against illegal activity and does not support federal immigration laws. Is such a stand fair to local businesses? No more or less so than a city council's actions against another state or city refusing them revenue and business based on politics.

Given the press given the Attorney General's admitting having not read the law, however I feel somewhat secure in our city council, somewhat, that once they read SB 1070 and not the newspaper, blog and television accounts of the law they will see that it makes no new immigration laws, does not allow profiling and addresses illegal immigration in a manner intended to protect the citizens of Arizona. Again, somewhat secure with one or two exceptions, okay maybe three or four.

As for Mexico, I decided a long time ago I am not visiting there again. I would rather spend our vacation dollars in Hawaii, Palm Springs, or Scottsdale, than Cancun, La Paz or even Ensenada. The corrupt government who insists on meddling in American sovereignty, supports and aids illegal immigration from its country to ours, and has created a dangerous environment along our borders deserves no support from me nor any tax revenue from my family.

So boycott away American cities. Ignore the real problems you have in your cities, the fiscal issues that are bankrupting your treasuries and leading to job losses in the public and private sectors. Just know that the actions taken by the state you condemn is supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans. We support the law, and Arizona's enforcement of the law as written by the federal government. We do not support you and until your laws are repealed we boycott your cities to condemn your ignorance of the law and in support of the State of Arizona and its citizens.

In the meantime having been to Scottsdale twice in recent months, I look forward to our next family vacation in the wonderful city.

DCS05172010

Citizen Unrest

2010-05-12T05:32:00.001-07:00

In Utah last week a United States Senator was removed from his party's primary at the state wide party convention. Three term Senator Bob Bennett (R) became the first incumbent in the current election cycle to be removed from office not of his own volition.

Number two went down yesterday in the West Virginia Democratic primary when Alan Mollohan was defeated in his bid to defend a seat he has held since 1982. That is not a typo, he has won fourteen straight elections for the seat, a seat his father had held for the fourteen years before that. In 2008 Mollohan was re-elected with almost 100% of the vote, only 130 voted against him.

Upcoming is the interesting re-election bid of Senator Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. Specter switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 2009 figuring it would help his chances of re-election. Specter is tied in some polls and behind in some others against Rep. Joe Sestak. Things are so bad for Specter that President Obama has pulled his support and will not visit the state for him or show any support--thanks for giving us the 60 seat majority in the Senate Arlen but I've lost enough elections lately appears to be the message.

So for twenty Republicans have announced their retirement from Congress and seventeen Democrats. What is of importance in the retirements is that almost all of the Republican vacancies will be in "safe" seats whereas almost all of the Democratic retirements are in seats where a challenge to the incumbent, either in the primary or general election, can prove successful. Democrats in Congress when faced with a challenging election fight and possible defeat versus retiring have mostly opted for the latter.

None of this should be a surprise, though many in the media who have discounted the citizen unrest that rose throughout last spring and the summer over Obamacare seem surprised. Despite efforts of the Mainstream Media, the left and Democratic leadership to portray Tea Party activists and those who attend their rallies as racist, extremist, dangerous or otherwise disconnected from Main Street America, the citizens and voters across the country are saying otherwise. The general sentiment in most Congressional districts is one of "enough."

Enough of the arrogance and entitlement of incumbency. Enough of putting down the American people as not smart enough to understand what is good for them. Enough of passing life changing legislation against our desires. Enough of huge deficits and growing public debt. Enough of fiscal policies that guarantee more and more taxes and regulation in the future. Enough.

The unrest is not just focused on federal politicians but also state and local incumbents are taking heat and facing difficult re-election bids. What can be challenging in California is gauging the sentiment in other parts of the country. With a vast majority of our population concentrated in the mass urban areas of San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose and Los Angeles-Long Beach-San Diego the liberal mindset of the general populace and media has far more impact than say Oklahoma with two relatively small cities in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, or Ohio with spread out smaller urban areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. The bubble in California has enabled and supported a strong movement to big government from the cities through the counties up to Sacramento. Gerrymandered districts ensure incumbency, even with term limits the replacements are the same ideologically as their predecessors, and continued government growth.

Are even Californians becoming sufficiently dissatisfied to start challenging the government status quo at all levels of government? In Long Beach the recent elections suggest perhaps not as three out of three incumbents on the ballot easily won re-election to City Council, as did the Mayor, and of two incumbents running write in campaigns one has made a run-off. With primary elections approaching in June there is little competition for any of the incumbents up and down the ballot from within their party. I say party as with the exception of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher who represents the southern part of Long Beach, all of our incumbents are Democrats.

The main exception is a challenge to Rep. Laura Richardson from Terry Ponchak in the Democratic primary. In many parts of the country Ponchak may have a good shot at defeating a member of Congress who has voted lock-step with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, including the $787 Billion Stimulus bill that has done nothing and Obamacare. Added to that are her well documented personal financial problems, including a foreclosure that was mysteriously reversed and several local merchants who have been stiffed by her for services and goods provided in the past. She blatantly sold her seat on the Long Beach City Council to the unions in a bid to force unionization on local hotels just before her run for State Assembly then leveraged those same connections to beat better qualified Jenny Orepeza in the Democratic primary for her current seat. Unfortunately Ponchak is running against an incumbent with $1 million in funds in a not very educated voting base. While I wish Ponchak well in his run I feel any chance to beat this incumbent will come from the Republican side in the general election from Star Parker.

The citizen unrest does not begin and end at the ballot box. More and more citizens are demanding answers from the bureaucrats and leaders of the various levels of government as to how their tax money is spent on salaries, benefits and pensions. Fueling the unrest is the growing realization by the citizenry of the immense power and influence the public employees unions have in selecting candidates and funding political campaigns to ensure labor friendly votes in the legislatures. With the State of California running deficits into the tens of billions of dollars, voters want to know why departments are buying whole new fleets of cars, why many employees receive up to 50% of their income in overtime, why we have an unfunded pension obligation approaching $500 billion dollars, and that is just at the state level.

Locally Long Beach is running a deficit of almost $20 million, again, and the same targets are on the radar of unrest, the size of the city government and number of employees and the salaries, pension and benefit obligations being paid by the citizens. Incumbents get re-elected and city leadership throughout the top levels stay the same and deficits continue. While the size of the government does not shrink basic services such as road repair, library hours, and public safety decline.

To show the issue the Long Beach Post yesterday posted a link that lists every city employee, their classification and salary. It has caused quite an uproar with the employees who feel their privacy has been violated, but the information has been made public by the city under a public records request. While the ethics of posting names is debated the underlying issue is the sheer number of employees and the total financial obligation in salaries, benefits and pensions.

I presume that very few Tea Party attendees are government workers. Assuming that I am correct and most are in private industries, employed by small and medium sized businesses, or small business owners themselves, it is easy to see their anti-big government position. It is natural for them to make the observations regarding their companies and industries in comparison with government: While our industry has become much more efficient through technological advancement and investment, government has not. While we have been able to grow our business by leveraging technology instead of employees, government has not. While our industry has had to lay off 20% of its workforce due to economic down turn, government has not--in fact it has added jobs.

As an ideological outsider to most I come in contact with in Long Beach and California I am amazed at the lack of understanding of those upset and dissatisfied with government and its fiscal irresponsibility from Long Beach to Washington D.C. The echo chamber of local opinion and ideology creates a sense that everyone thinks the same way and an incomprehension of how the people in Nevada, Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania can some how unseat their incumbents and those who share their ideas of big government.

Well it is happening. Maybe not here in Long Beach or in California, yet, but on the other side of the Colorado River citizens across the country are saying "enough." While the publishers and editors of the Long Beach Post are taking considerable heat from city employees, and may suffer some economic consequences if their advertisers do not stand by them, by posting for all citizens to see who gets our tax dollars they are starting the conversation in Long Beach that could lead to true fiscal reform and an overhaul of our local government.

Or maybe not. Incumbents are pretty comfy in California, therefore so are top managers, leaders and workers in the government offices...at least until the majority of voters decide to change how they vote.

CORRECTION: I inadvertantly used 2008 revenue for Richardson's campaign funds, here is link to her 2010 campaign funds, as you can see she has only $40,000 in the bank and over $330,000 in debts---not at all ironic given the deficit she has helped rack up in Washington.

The opensecrets.org site does not yet have campaign finance information on the other candidates for the seat, Democrat Terry Ponchak or Republican Star Parker.

DCS0512010

Ballot Test

2010-05-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

In 1964 the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, it eliminated a Poll Tax as a requirement to cast a ballot in any Federal election. In the next few years the United States Supreme Court knocked down as unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause the imposition of Poll Taxes for state or local elections. By 1966 Poll Taxes were eliminated in all states through Federal lawsuits. The purpose of a Poll Tax is to limit the size of an electorate, only those who can afford to buy a ballot could cast one.

Another way to limit access to ballot boxes is the use of a literacy test. Before receiving a ballot a voter must proof he or she can read in English. The justification being that if you cannot read how can you properly vote and know for whom you are voting? Literacy tests while not specifically banned in the Constitution as Poll Taxes are have been ruled unconstitutional, for the most part, by the courts.

Laws and judicial rulings protect the right of American citizens to vote. It is the most fundamental and important right of all citizens, our voice in determining who shall govern us. But who are we voting for? What, if any, restrictions are there on who can be placed on a ballot?

In general the only requirements for most jurisdictions to be eligible for a ballot are age, citizenship, eligibility to vote, residency and whatever the local rules are for getting on the ballot by collecting signatures and/or paying a filing fee.

It seems simple to me. To become a fire fighter or police officer you must pass a series of exams and have a minimum qualification criteria. To enlist in the military you must take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam. To work for most branches of government you must take and pass a Civil Service exam or similar aptitude test. To argue a law case on behalf of another before a judge representing the judicial branch of the government you must pass a state bar exam.

But to govern and make rules and policies for fire fighters and police officers there is not test. To hold office and determine the budgets or duty of our military personnel there is not test. To preside over the management of civil servants, appoint and/or confirm judges, and make the laws upon which they rule, you merely need to win an election.

Shouldn't there be some intellectual standard, some basic knowledge, some degree of exhibiting an understanding of our Constitution and simple principles of economics before someone is eligible to govern us? In looking at the laws passed, the statements made, the arguments made in debates by elected officials, from local through national, I am amazed at the seeming lack of understanding of basic economics or the Constitution by many of them.

I propose that before someone is eligible to be placed on a ballot to be elected to represent any citizens of the United States that they pass a basic test, or at minimum take the test with their results made public. The test should include topics that are relevant to their jurisdiction and representation and should encompass economics to show an understanding of budgets and fiscal policy, the Constitution and government, United States history and geography.

Here are some sample questions I propose, feel free to add your own in the Comments section below:

How many amendments are there to the U.S. Constitution?
Name four states considered in the United States Midwest.
If demand is constant and supply increases what happens to prices?
What is the Bill of Rights?
Name two causes of inflation.
The primary source of illegal immigration into the United States is from its Southern or Northern borders?
Who were our Allies in World War II?
What is the "velocity of the dollar" and is better during times of recession to have a high or low velocity?
Are our income tax laws regressive or progressive?
Are sales taxes regressive or progressive?
Which Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states "their shall be a separation of Church and State?"
Name five states that border Canada.
Can/do tax revenues increase if gradual income tax rates are reduced?
What are the three branches of government?
Why do we have an Electoral College?
How is the Constitution amended?
What is the size of the city/county/state/federal debt?
What is GDP?
Which of the following are specific rights enumerated in the Constitution: education, health care, ownership of a gun, retirement/social security benefits, privacy?
Which branch of the government is most important and why?
Increasing the number of individuals employed by the government is good for the economy in the short and long term. True or false and why?

Should our political candidates who will be voting to tax us, to restrict our liberties with more and more legislation, soon to be controlling our access to health care, determining the debt our children and grandchildren will be burdened with, should they not have some equal and level examination by which the voters can measure them? Rather than endorsements and fliers from the standard groups would you not rather receive a copy of their Ballot Test Results and answers to a wide variety of questions?

What questions do you feel someone should be able to answer before representing you?

DCS05102010

Financial Dominoes

2010-05-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

In February 2007 a mortgage company from Orange County California, New Century Mortgage, had its credit lines on Wall Street shut down. It could not borrow any money to fund mortgages in its pipeline. New Century was the second biggest subprime lender in the country and funded a little over $2 billion annually in mortgages. The overall mortgage market was funding approximately $1 Trillion annually so New Century was only 0.2% (zero point two percent, not two percent) of the overall market. As a whole the subprime mortgage market was approximately 10% of the total mortgage market.

Because of New Century's size and footprint in the subprime market its inability to capitalize for continued lending was big, big news on Wall Street. Big enough that the investment houses and credit lenders to the mortgage industry decided to take a ride down to the mortgage departments and sniff around their mortgage portfolios.

Hmmmm. It seems that the issues that led to New Century's credit drying up, high loan to values, stated income and assets, low credit scores, were fairly common factors in their subprime investments. Not a lot of equity created a difficult situation should the lenders need to foreclose, just a minor shift in the housing market and entire portfolios would be underwater.

Wait a minute. What's this? It appears our "conventional" and "prime" mortgages underwritten using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines and automated underwriting have some common factors as well: little to no equity with mortgage debt up to 100% of the property values, no income or asset verification in the files, many files with no appraisals, no pricing adjustments for median credit scores, minor adjustments for low credit scores.

It appeared that much of the "prime" debt had similar aspects to the "subprime" debt and here is a major subprime lender losing its ability to obtain funds and going under. Uh-oh, time to worry.

The New Century domino fell and soon others followed through Greenpoint, Ameriquest, Countrywide, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and on and on. The housing bubble was exposed as being built on cheap money due to low interest rates and low scrutiny due to loose underwriting guidelines. Cheap money and loose credit standards support expanding markets and prices. Like a balloon, once stretched it does not take something as sharp as a pin to pop it, any pressure will due. Pressure like a company in Orange County being unable to obtain credit and fund its pipeline of mortgage applications.

History provides lessons that cross many boundaries, unfortunately too often those who need to know and understand history feel lessons from history are confined to similar social, economic and political situations and occurrences. Not so, as we are about to learn from the lessons from the history of our housing, mortgage and credit markets in the last decade.

Many, perhaps most, Americans pay little attention to the daily news for what is happening within America. Others are engrossed in the economic, political, lately environmental and social news on the front page and leading the evening news. Most Americans are somewhat ignorant of international news, and even more unaware of the impact events across the oceans have on our country. Let's take a look at what is very big news.

First, instead of property value let's use the term Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and instead of mortgage let's say national debt. Instead of borrower income or debt to income ratio let's use budget deficit. For the mortgage market the higher the loan to value, i.e. the greater the percentage of the value of the home that is covered by a mortgage, the riskier the mortgage and the higher the interest rate for the borrower, or it should be higher. Further, if a borrower has a high income to debt ratio that means that his debts, his monthly payment obligations, are a high percentage of his income. High debt to income ratios are bad, low debt to income ratios are good.

In the 1970's Northern European countries began to coalesce under economic agreements to provide leverage and economies of scale to compete in a global marketplace dominated by the United States, the Soviet Union, Japan and increasingly China. Slowly the economic agreements led to the creation of the European Economic Community, the EEC. Economic policies and treaties were made that treated the EEC as one economic entity in negotiations with non-EEC trading partners. Trade barriers internally to the EEC were lifted. A stated objective became the union of the nations under more than just the economic umbrella but also political and social. Eventually the EEC evolved into the European Union, or EU.

Like most most economic and political organisms the EU had members that wanted to grow and expand. Countries on the outside looking in started making noise about equality, equity, fairness and European social justice. Fearful of looking like the Haves and shunning the Have Nots, the EU allowed in several countries with inferior economies and sketchy political stability and integrity; namely Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece as they became members became the Have Nots in the Haves group. The theory being with the EU serving as an economic umbrella the economies of the marginal nations would be lifted and all of Europe would benefit.

The EU established elections for leadership and representation from member nations. A standard currency was established, the Euro, and individual currencies were discarded. The EU established not only economic policy but social, environmental and political as well.

As the EU was gaining power over sovereign nations' policies and laws, member nations governments became more and more extravagant in their expansion of services and entitlements. Government jobs in some countries almost outnumbered those in the private sector. Government spending grew rapidly and tax rates climbed to feed the spending.

Popping the housing, mortgage and credit bubbles in America was a sharp decline in housing prices in major markets. Suddenly credit portfolios had liabilities that exceeded asset values. As values declined, foreclosures and defaults increased, assets were sold at lower values, lower values led to more defaults and the spiral started.

Greece has a national debt that far exceeds its GDP, somewhere in the neighborhood of 125%. Basically its loan to value is upside down, like many American homeowners who purchased homes in 2006 or 2007 with 100% financing. Greece recently had a tough time selling any debt to finance its government, its credit lines dried up. Greece, on the very thin edge of massive defaults, needs a bailout to the tune of approximately $150 billion. Chump change for America given the bailouts we experienced in the past two years, but a staggering sum for the European Union.

Seeing that allowing Greece to fail is not in the best interests of the EU, nor themselves, the Germans have been working to provide a bailout for Greece. Problem is they want to make sure that if they do provide a bailout that Greece makes some changes. Changes that are not sitting well with many Greek citizens, changes like cutting the pay for government workers and entitlement payouts. Perhaps watching our bailout of General Motors with the massive pension and benefit payouts still looming in the future that will require further bailouts, Germany is wanting Greece to only come to the well for one drink. Greeks want the money with no strings attached.

Greece desperately needs the bailout funds as its borrowing rates on its bonds have ranged from 13% to 18% for short term notes (U.S. notes meanwhile are cruising between 1% to 3%). Further impacting Greece is the sizable downgrade in rating for their national bond issues from virtually everyone. The downgrades began before the latest crisis started boiling a few weeks ago.

Also downgraded recently have been the bonds of Portugal, Spain and Italy with Ireland moving in that direction. Each of the downgrades has been directly related to the national debt vis-a-vis national Gross Domestic Product, with the latter being higher than the former.

With member nations lining up to be bailed out more and more burden is placed upon those still working in Germany, France, the Netherlands, etc and politically fewer and fewer German autoworkers, French wine makers and Dutch cheese makers are willing to throw their Euros to the failing economies of EU member nations most of them did not want as part of the Union anyway. As more nations fly to the brink of economic chaos and fewer nations are able or willing to help them the dominoes across Europe start to fall.

Is there a bridge for the dominoes to cross the Atlantic? Already the Greek crisis in impacting our markets as the stock markets fluctuate wildly daily on news of bailouts (stocks rise) and concerns that bailouts won't work or are not available (stocks drop). The current beneficiary are U.S. borrowers as mortgage rates, and government bond rates, have stayed low and dropping through the crisis as investors park their money in the safety of American bond yields.

Back to that bridge. Europe's economic woes begin with national debt that exceeds national Gross Domestic Products, their mortgages are greater than their property values. Continued deficit spending by the EU countries creates less ability to pay back their over extended credit, resulting in higher interest rates they cannot afford but must borrow. Deficits that are too big and debt that is too high and Greece is leading several nations to the cliff of financial collapse.

In the United States we have a current national budget deficit (national we are not including the multitude of state deficits) is at $1.4 Trillion with future budget calculations projecting deficits up to or beyond $3 Trillion. Currently the U.S. GDP is at $14.4 Trillion and the U.S. national debt is at $13 Trillion, or 90% loan to value. Add interest and future deficits to the debt and we are quickly approaching national debt exceeding national GDP.

Would you loan $250,000 to someone who is spending 70% more than they earn on a home worth $275,000? If you purchase U.S. Treasury bills that is what you are essentially doing.

Greece, like New Century Mortgage, is the first domino to fall inside the bubble. Who is next and how many will fall?

DCS 05052010

Tenth Amendment vs The Left

2010-05-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

In late April the Legislature of the State of Arizona passed SB1070 the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" the following week they passed several amendments to the bill restricting some of the provisions given to law enforcement in the original bill. Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed into law SB1070 and the amendments, all to take effect July 1, 2010.

It took about five minutes for the first protest against the law from the left. In watching the protests and vitriol hurled at Arizona from the left is reminiscent of their behavior throughout the Bush Administration. Ignore the issue before them, ignore the consequences of the behavior and actions legislation is meant to curb and fix, offer no solutions of their own, cast up and label a group of people whom they oppose and their position on the issue.

SB1070 states "No official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may adopt a policy that limits or restricts the enforcement of Federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law."

United States immigration law requires all non-U.S. citizens to carry with them at all times proof of identification and residency in the United States. This has been federal law for over fifty years.

SB1070 as amended states that law enforcement may only request identification from any person as part of their routine duties as law enforcement. Law enforcement may not walk up to someone not committing a crime or suspected of doing so and ask for proof of residency and identification. If however an individual is pulled over at 3:00 a.m. with no tail lights on their vehicle and police in the process of writing a ticket may ask for legal driver's license and proof of residency for non-U.S. citizens.

In every state in the union individuals are required to obtain a permit from their state of residency to operate a motor vehicle, a driver's license. Every state in the union also provides identification cards for those who do not drive that serve in the stead of driver's licenses for purposes of identification of that individual. Post-9/11 the REAL ID Act was passed to standardize the requirements of state issued identification cards and drivers' licenses. While protecting the rights of the states to provide driver's licenses and requirements to obtain one, the federal government wanted to standardize the requirements regarding non-U.S. citizens since driver's licenses are the most common form of identification in the nation.

Now Arizona wishes to codify its commitment to federal immigration laws. It is forbidding law enforcement personnel and agencies from ignoring the federal laws. SB1070 is not making up any new laws, but rather saying that throughout the State of Arizona the law will be enforced.

And this is a problem with the left.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

So reads the 10th Amendment to the Constitution establishing states rights and federalism in our republic. Certain powers are delegated to the United States, all others unless prohibited are reserved for the States and/or the people. SB1070 is acknowledging the federal powers of immigration law, and acknowledging it will enforce those laws. As it does federal laws against robbing banks, smuggling drugs, or violating federal gun sale laws.

The left has a problem with the 10th Amendment and States' rights, unless the States are enacting laws the left embraces. As we have seen under the Obama Administration and the current Congress, the purpose of the federal government is to control as much of the power as possible. Centralize banking and control over the financial industries within the Executive Branch. Centralize health care delivery and payment within the federal government and the Executive Branch. Centralize manufacturing and energy rules and policies under the federal government and Executive Branch.

The federal government, to the left, is the end all be all of ruling the country and its individuals; provided those rules fall in line with their perspective of liberalism. After our nation was attacked on 9/11 and President Bush and Congress moved to enact laws to protect our nation and its citizens the left waited the appropriate one year waiting period before attacking the Patriot Act (still in effect and extended by Obama), interrogation techniques (most still in effect and extended by Obama), and efforts, however weak, to secure our borders (the Fence is still being built). Rather than present any solutions to the problems of terrorism entering the United States they just castigated the solutions presented by others. While popular to call the Republicans the "Party of No" they are the party of "Look At This" presenting alternative ideas and legislation ignored by the Democratic majority. The original Party of No was the Democrats under Pelosi during the Bush Administration--I encourage my liberal and Democratic friends to go back through the news articles and statements made by Pelosi and other Democrats throughout the Bush Administration, see how much opposition they presented and how little was offered in exchange. It seemed okay for you then to have a "Party of No" because you did not like Bush or Republicans, now however opposition to your party and leadership is a bad thing.

On Friday I engaged in an exchange on a friend's Facebook page regarding Arizona's SB1070. It started with his saying that University of Arizona and Arizona State University students were transferring because of SB1070. Someone else posted that California colleges should take those students. I saw this as typical knee-jerk response from the left, let's enroll more students in our universities and colleges that are not admitting all qualified California residents as a sign of protest and also to show our liberalism. Ignore that California parents paying taxes are seeing their children denied enrollment in the educations systems they support with their taxes, let's instead shove more kids aside because another state chooses to enforce laws ignored within our own state.

Through the exchange I presented my views, that anyone pulled over by the police must show legal identification, why not illegal immigrants? Further why should Arizona not step in when the federal government is refusing to uphold the law and control the flow of illegal immigrants into their state? I also asked what he, the owner of the Facebook page, would do for solutions to 10+ million illegal immigrants in our country impacting our health care, education and penal systems. No response. Later another individual asked someone, "what is your solution?" No response.

On the campaign trail both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said regarding illegal immigration that they would secure the borders, enforce current laws on the books (which includes maintaining proof of legal residency I presume), and crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Even today Obama makes the same statements. Yet when the Arizona people say this they are vilified. The ones who are paying for the immense failure of the federal government to control our southern border for the past decade and more are vilified for saying, "enough, the federal government is ignoring our security, our financial burden and our safety."

The Greater Phoenix area, the Valley of the Sun, has over one reported kidnapping per day related to the Mexican drug trade. Each requires police response and investigation. Arizona has approximately 1,000 illegal immigrants sneaking across the border daily into their state. In the past month a rancher on the Arizona-Mexico border was fatally shot on his land by drug or immigrant smugglers using his land, a deputy was shot over the weekend by a band of illegal immigrants running from his pursuit. Arizona, likes its neighbor to the west, is deeply in debt and spending tremendous resources on law enforcement, hospital and health care costs and education due to illegal immigration.

Instead of protesting Arizona enforcing federal laws why don't the protesters turn their attention south? Where are the protests against a nation with incredible natural resources, and obviously a very industrious native citizenry that is mired in illegal drug production and trafficking, wrought with corrupt and inept government, and failing its citizens with poor education systems, employment opportunities and health care? Why is not the source of illegal immigration being vilified rather than the recipients of illegal immigration?

To follow my own advice rather than just complain about the complainers here are some solutions for illegal immigration:

Follow Arizona and detain and deport illegal aliens caught when in violation of U.S. or state laws
Stiffen penalties against all employers, contractors, plumbers, golf courses, agriculture growers, who employ illegal aliens
Sanction Mexico economically to force Mexican government to cooperate with stopping flow of illegal immigrants into the United States
Incentivize and pressure Mexico to allow U.S. to intervene and assist in Mexico's fight against the drug cartels
Tax transfer of funds from the U.S. to foreign countries between individuals unless legal proof of residency by the sender is provided
Require any institution receiving state or federal funds to require proof of legal residency before providing services

Arizona is not creating any new laws. The left is not presenting any real solutions. Who's right?

DCS 05032010

Good Legislation: Freeing Up Education Money

2010-04-21T05:32:00.000-07:00

State Senator Alan Lowenthal has certainly sponsored some questionable legislation, two pieces of Lowenthal's work this year I have previously labelled Dumbest and More Dumb. But if his SB 1396, co-authored with his ex-wife Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, passes he will be the author of a groundbreaking pilot program that can change the future of education in our state.

If it becomes law SB 1396 would initiate a three year pilot program for three school districts, at this point Long Beach Unified School District, Fresno Unified School District and Garden Grove Unified School District. Under the pilot program the State Schools Superintendent would convert funding for the Districts for "categorical education programs" to block grants. In short, the bill would eliminate state spending mandates for the Districts and allow the local boards of education and Superintendents determine how those funds can best be spent within their districts to improve student education.

This program is the first step to return control of education to the local communities, putting more responsibility for education funding and programs with the Districts, and therefore with the parents and residents within the Districts. This legislation greatly diminishes the control of the state government and bureaucracy, which means it also diminishes the influence and control of the California Teachers Association and other unions representing education employees. This legislation will allow Long Beach, Fresno and Garden Grove to show Sacramento, and the nation, that the closer to the source government revenue is controlled the more efficiently it is used.

As part of the legislation the districts must show measurable improvement in API scores, graduation rates and students headed off to college. The funds are not just going to be dumped on the districts with a "good luck, see you in three years." As well they will still have to adhere to any federal spending mandates tied to any federal funds received. By setting the goals and having the ability to apply spending where needed to meet those goals however allows significant more opportunity for success than having to meet goals set from the state with mandated spending by a bureaucracy that has no idea what local needs may be.

Long Beach Unified is on the record as proposing the legislation, and since the Lowenthals' districts cover areas of Long Beach Unified, Bonnie was a member of the LBUSD Board of Education before her election to the Long Beach City Council. The ties between the Lowenthals and LBUSD are long and deep. A very progressive school district, LBUSD was first in the nation to require every student in elementary, and then middle, school wear a uniform every day, required students reach benchmark reading levels at 3rd and 8th grades, required students with multiple fails to repeat 8th grade, and has been a finalist for the Broad Award several times, winning once. The partnership between the Lowenthals and LBUSD is a natural for this legislation impacting Long Beach.

Education reform is extremely difficult to achieve given the nature of funding for districts, they raise no funds on their own but rather receive funding from the state and/or federal government directly. Because their revenues are filtered through the state the revenues are able to be controlled by the state. Through the years special projects and agendas have resulted in funding mandates for revenues sent to districts. As more and more mandates are placed upon the revenues local school districts have less and less control over their budgets. Even how teachers can be laid off or let go due to poor performance or egregious actions is dictated by the State Code of Education, handcuffing the ability of Districts to able shift personnel and needs for their students. Needless to say this control by the state over employment also prohibits school districts from creating and utilizing performance criteria for teacher evaluations; therefore the teachers you get and that stay through good times and bad are the ones there the longest, which means some of the best will be left behind when layoffs occur.

Across the country there has been significant moves by states to remove power from the state capitals and return it to the local districts, to dilute the power of the state and local teachers' unions and their strong influence on budgets and policy. Florida came very close to a major education overhaul until the bill was vetoed by Governor Crist because of politics and his campaign for U.S. Senator. That California is considering a change in funding for school districts and decentralizing the budgetary control is a major step for not only our state but for the nation.

I called out Senator Lowenthal for his legislation to out law parking and to require carbon monoxide detectors in all homes, it is only right that I laud him for legislation that unwinds state spending mandates and allows school districts the freedom to allocate funds as needed within their districts, not as dictated by Sacramento. Well done Lowenthals, let's hope your fellow members of the Senate and Assembly agree with you.

DCS 04212010

Do The Math: We Can But Congress Can't

2010-04-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

Politics is about ideology, horse trading, vote buying, and majorities. The only math a member of Congress needs to know is either 218 for the House of Representatives or 60 for the Senate, these are the number of votes needed to move legislation through their bodies.

As the 111th Congress controlled by Democrats and the White House under President Obama push through yet another massive bill, 1440 pages and counting, that will not be read but will be deemed "necessary" and "urgent" to solve a crisis that is not, it is prudent to understand how little those in control of our government understand about economics and especially basic math.

For the past sixteen months Washington has looked no further than the next days headlines and the elections of 2012. Ask the numerous Congressional and Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2010 how much the White House and Democratic leadership cared about their re-election campaigns in 2010 when they passed Obamacare.

A recent change in events however has shown that perhaps some of the messages have gotten through to the Obama Administration regarding the 2010 elections with his Security and Exchange Commission, the SEC, filing charges against Goldman Sachs the same week the Senate takes up in earnest the massive, 1440 page, financial services reform bill. Very authoritarianesque to use the power of the Executive right at the time the Legislative Branch is taking up major reforms for an industry that has pretty much righted its ship, is shedding weaklings and financing a slowly recovering economy. But if using the SEC can push through financial reforms that concentrate even more power inside Obama's White House then use the SEC they must.

But back to math.

Our Gross Domestic Product is $14.343 Trillion

Currently Federal income ($924 billion) and payroll tax (887 billion) revenue total $1.81 Trillion, total Federal revenue is $2.12 Trillion. Income and payroll taxes are about 12.6% of GDP.

Our current government spending is $3.55 Trillion. $3.55 less $2.13 leaves a deficit for the Federal Government of $1.42 Trillion for the current fiscal year---current fiscal year.

To close the current deficit total Federal Revenue must increase 33%, of Congress plans to close the deficit on tax payers alone Federal income tax revenues must increase 54% from current levels. Again that is just to pay for the current year's deficit.

Outstanding Federal debt is $12.85 Trillion and climbing. At 89.6% of GDP the Federal debt is quickly heading to 90% of GDP with a current deficit of almost 10% of GDP and future projected deficits at 30%.

Currently each worker in America is the equivalent of $103,000 of the GDP, this is because of the economic principle of the velocity of the dollar. The U.S. workforce is at 139 million workers with over 15 million workers not working. To reach zero growth in unemployment the economy needs to add approximately 125,000 jobs to absorb new workers entering the marketplace due to population growth and immigration. To cut the number of unemployed by 10% in one year the economy needs to add 3 million jobs, or about 250,000 jobs per month. This level of job growth has never occurred over a sustained period with the exception of the period during World War II.

Under the current sliding income tax levels approximately 1% of Americans pay between 35-40% of total Federal income taxes, the top 10% pay 70% of income tax and the top 50% pay 97% of the federal income taxes. There are currently 100 million taxpayers.

Of the taxes that are paid $193 billion goes to paying interest on the Federal debt (about 7% of which goes to China who holds almost $900 billion in U.S. Treasuries). That means that 21% of Federal income tax revenue goes to paying the interest on the debt.

The stated objective of the Obama Administration is to "tax the rich" to pay for his policy agendas including Obamacare. Obama defines "rich" on income earnings not on wealth--the "Henry's" (High Earner Not Rich Yet) bear the brunt of his tax policies.

If we consider the top 10% of tax payers the "rich" they are paying 70% of the current income tax revenue, or $647 billion. Currently we need to add an additional $1.42 Trillion to these income earners, meaning their tax liability must double just to pay for this year's spending deficit. Add in spending deficit proposals in the Administration budget of another $3 Trillion and the Administration will call upon the top 10% of income earners to quadruple their income tax burden to reach zero deficit spending. Why work?

The budget proposed by the Obama Administration adds another $3+ Trillion to the current deficit. Because of the sentiment across the country that is against the massive amounts of spending in Washington, extremely high unemployment, added government bureaucracy and control of individual liberty and freedoms through Obamacare, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi knows that any debate on the Administration's budget proposal will only help the Republicans and further hurt Democrats at the polls in November.

Her solution? The House will not take up and pass a budget. Meaning there will be no guidelines for spending and appropriations. Each bill will be passed not within the frame work of what American can afford, but rather what the majority desires. Not having a budget will not reduce the Federal deficit but will allow it to rise uncontrollably.

Government math: we need to add 125,000 jobs per month just to keep unemployment at current levels. The current debt stands at $128,000 per tax payer, however the balance is skewed heavily to the top 10% of income earners. Fifteen million Americans are out of work today, another five to ten million are working part time or are considerably underemployed.

With these figures in the equation Congress and President Obama feel we need to further increase not only the tax burden on current American workers but also future American workers to pay a debt that they continue to grow.

Does this seem anything like the creation of the housing bubble to anyone else? Cheap money, free spending, no limits?

Here are some links:

U.S. National Debt Clock

National Taxpayers Union

U.S. Treasury Major Foreign Debt Holders (you will see that seeing where we are going China has been selling U.S. Treasuries at about $10 billion per month)

DCS 04192010

Just Some Questions

2010-04-17T15:49:00.001-07:00

More Dumb Legislation

2010-04-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

In February California State Senator Alan Lowenthal presented legislation that I nominated as Dumbest Legislation of the Decade in only the first month of the decade. With that bill Lowenthal wanted to eliminate free parking for Californians and their guests visiting with cars.

Lowenthal is at it again, presenting legislation that his fellow Democrats have passed through the Assembly, that is unnecessary and extends the Nanny State a bit further.

SB 183 is another piece of legislation that impacts all Californians because of the actions of a few. According to the California Air Resources Board, that appointed body that has powers to enact rules and laws without approval of any elected officials, and has done so driving companies out of business, the same body who accepted a report as the basis for their imposing job killing laws in which the author was known to have fraudulently boosted his credentials, according to the ARB California experiences 30-40 deaths each year due to carbon monoxide poisoning in the home. Out of 30 million people 30-40 people die due to carbon monoxide in the home. How many of these deaths are attributed to the hibachi dragged into the illegally converted garage where a family or two sleeps? Perhaps most.

Because one-one thousandth of our population dies, according to the ARB, from carbon monoxide, Senator Lowenthal has presented a bill requiring virtually every home and residence to have carbon monoxide detectors. Not just any carbon monoxide detectors (CMD), since the bill states "the State Fire Marshal to certify and approve carbon monoxide devices and their instructions, as specified, for the use in dwelling units intended for human occupancy, as defined." Manufacturers must pay off the State Fire Marshal to get their CMDs approved, more revenue for the state.

According to the bill if you are a homeowner in a dwelling requiring a CMD and do not install a detector you can be fined $200. Since the detectors run from $15 to $25 chances are you will install one. By the way, it appears the state is mandating the purchase of about 10 million of these detectors, what is the tax revenue from the mandated purchases?

Since most of the carbon monoxide deaths I have read and heard about occur in garages with hibachis burning charcoal as heat I wonder exactly how many deaths this law forcing Californians to spend about $200,000,000 will prevent. How will the law prevent families living in unpermitted living units with heat from ignorantly burning Kingsford coals and endangering themselves and their families?

I want to try to stay ahead of Lowenthal and his ridiculous legislative agenda so I did some research. A national killer that puts down more people than plane crashes, firearms, snakebites and lighting is choking while dining. According to the National Safety Council over 2,100 people each year die while eating. Assuming California with about 10% of the population takes on 10% of the deaths (actually since our elected representatives feel the general California population is so ignorant and incapable of taking care of ourselves without the state protecting us the number should be higher), that brings choking deaths in California to 210 per year, more than those dying from carbon monoxide. We have to eat so unfortunately Lowenthal cannot ban food.

However, there is hope! According to the National Safety Council 90% of the choking deaths are caused by steak. Yes steak kills more people than plane crashes and look at all the regulations we have for planes! Steak comes from cows and cows produce methane, use water, take up lots of land that cannot be used for low income housing and are just bad for our environment. Not only that according to statistics steak kills almost 200 Californians every year.

Ban cows. Lowenthal can save the environment, like his dumb free parking legislation was intended to do, and save more Californians' lives than his carbon monoxide detector mandate. Lowenthal can present the Bovine By-product and Environmental Protection Act of 2010. Ban the raising of cows in California and the consumption, sale, distribution or cooking of steak in the state.

If he cannot get support for that I am sure Lowenthal and his fellow Nannies can pass legislation requiring all restaurants serving steak to slice the meat into little tiny choke proof pieces before serving, just like Mommy used to do.

DCS 04142010

Intention And Purpose

2010-04-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our guest minister raised the four questions that Man has asked and studied since Socrates, probably before.

Who am I?

Where did I come from?

Why am I here?

Where am I going?

In asking the questions we look inward to our purpose for Being. In answering we, perhaps, answer our intention for Living. Intention and purpose. Investigation of our intention and purpose is usually a discussion framed within the confines of religious doctrine or our faith. As we explore our ideas for our purpose in this life and our the intention for which we were give it we also explore our beliefs in respect to God, Spirit, Universal Energy, or whatever definition you wish to put on the Divine.

Intention and purpose. This week in particular, as we face deadlines to fund our government with our taxes, is a good time to ask the questions regarding intention and purpose about our government, our Republic. What is the purpose of our government? What is the intention we have for our government? Take the four questions at the top of this post and substitute "government" for "I."

Who is our government? It is supposed to composed of representatives of the people. Our government was established to be representative in nature and given guidelines by which to operate, our Constitution. Our government is to be us, we, the people.

Where did our government come from? From men who gathered from across a land that had been inhabited by European settlers for barely 100 years, a scant time in the history of Western Man. Men with common values, common beliefs and common principles established a form of governance never before seen. Our government was formed by men who thought to right down "all Men are created equal" and that among the gifts granted by Our Creator are "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Our government came from men, who while flawed like all men, set forth the most closely perfect form of government to that point in history, or sense.

Why is our government here? Ah-ha! What is the purpose of our government? What purpose do we allow our government to have? This is the crux of political discourse and discord. What purpose our government has is the very foundation upon which we should base our votes.

Where is our government going? For Man this question is meant to imply where am I going when I die? For government the question is different as it is as close to eternal a body as we may know in our lifetimes. Where is our government going? What is its intention? Another foundation upon which our votes should be based. More than purpose, the intention of government and our representatives is fueled by ideology and personal opinion. And even more than purpose the subject of our political, and societal, unrest when we disagree.

This past week was "Tax Freedom Day." The approximate day in the year where all the work you have been compensated for no longer feeds government through taxes but now can feed you. The day is meant to commemorate that from January 1st to some day in early to mid-April all your earnings to that point have gone to pay your state and federal tax obligations. It is meant to give tax payers, citizens, an idea of how much we actually pay the government. Since most of us have income taxes withheld from our paychecks we can lose sight of how much of our hard earned income we do not receive.

Actually, I need to make a correction. "Most of us" is not accurate as data recently released shows that fifty percent, half, of American households pay no federal income tax. "Most of us" are not paying taxes. Put that in the context of the intention and purpose of government.

On Thursday, April 15th, all income earning Americans must make filings with the Internal Revenue Service and their state tax boards. Our taxes are feeding a Federal government that has is spending over $3.5 Trillion this year, is currently running a $1.4 Trillion deficit, is getting ready to debate a budget that pushes that deficit to over $3 Trillion and is in debt over $12.4 Trillion. In debt over twelve trillion four hundred billion dollars. To what purpose do we have our government? What is the intention of our government?

Is it the purpose of our government to keep us safe from enemies foreign and domestic?

Is it the purpose of our government to establish equal rules and regulations regarding trade and commerce?

Is it the purpose of government to supply and regulate a common currency?

Keep us safe, enable commerce and ability to earn a living to support our families, establish common laws that enable us to live with our liberty and freedoms. Broad, basic purposes.

Is it our intention that our government shall educate us and our children?

Is it our intention that our government shall regulate with great detail commerce and industry?

Is it our intention that our government shall establish laws that make work places safe for the workers?

Is it our intention that our government protect workers from their employers?

Is it our intention to decide whether future life shall occur or not is decided by a mother?

As our intentions evolve with our Republic so do does the purpose of our government. What the government provides the people through the representative government becomes an entitlement and a right that can no longer be taken away. Social security, Medicare, education, abortion, food stamps, day care, are some of the programs and entitlements created, supported and expanded by government over the past century and decades.

Now it appears the purpose of government is to try to ensure that if you purchase a home and can no longer afford the payments you will keep that home through government intervention. The intention of our government is to provide homeowners with less debt and monthly obligations that they agreed to if they so wish or claim financial hardship, but there is no intention for those not claiming hardship, who do not own a home or own a home with no debt. It is the intention of the government to take from those who live within their means to support the housing for those who have not. It is the intention to force banks and lenders to lose billions of dollars with forced modifications to allow some to remain in homes many should not have bought.

It appears the purpose of government is that if you have a company with enough workers who belong to labor unions and the company is failing in part because of labor agreements the government will purchase the company. The intention of the government is to protect jobs that were already protected, to guarantee retirement payments to those whose retirement was already guaranteed by the taxpayers and to make and sell better cars. It is the intention to take billions of dollars of tax revenues from the people and support a company that has been failing for over a decade and will continue to fail.

It appears that the intention of government is to insure, and ensure, everyone within the borders of the Republic, have equal access to healthcare; access that already exists for over 90% of citizens within the borders. It is the intention to of the government to destroy the current health care industries within our Republic and build new industries at the cost of the citizens, or those who pay taxes.

Currently the top 1% of income earners in our country pay 35% of the Federal income taxes in America. Fifty percent of income earners pay 100% of Federal income taxes. What becomes of our intent and purpose as expressed at the ballot when a majority of households are not paying any income taxes? What becomes of our intent and purpose of our government when the top 1% are paying 40%, 45%, 50%, of all Federal taxes and 40%, 35%, 30% of income earners are paying 100% of the taxes?

Is it really our intent to have over fifty percent of our citizens contribute nothing to the Federal Treasury and define our purpose? What results when over half the citizens are living under the rule of a government that is paid for by a shrinking minority? More programs that become entitlements paid for by fewer Americans?

It appears that the intent of the majority in our Federal government, and in Sacramento, and the White House, to increase taxes and revenue from the higher income earners, a definition which declines from $200,000 to $180,000, to $100,000 to $70,000...as more taxes are needed to fund more handouts to those not paying taxes.

It is the intention of our President and his allies in the majority of the Senate and the House of Representatives to redistribute wealth and income from those they deem "rich" to those they deem "in need."

What is the purpose of government? What is the intention of government? The answers to those questions are provided by the people of America when they vote.

Thankfully there are groups of people across the country now asking those questions clearly and loudly. Questions those in power do not like to answer: Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you here? Where are you going, or if elected where do you want to go? What is your intention? What is your purpose?

We need to ask. Loudly, clearly and consistently.

DCS 04122010

Just Some Questions

2010-04-10T15:56:00.001-07:00

Below are questions I have asked myself throughout the past week. Instead of writing what my answers to them would be I am interested in any answers you may have, or additional questions you have asked yourself.

For the week starting Saturday April 3, 2010 here are some questions I have had while on vacation in Scottsdale:

What is your order at In-N-Out?

Yahoo, Google or Bing?

What is your SPF? Is it different in April than August?

Will Tiger win the Masters?

Putin is a bully, has invaded Georgia, ignores international boycotts, supported Saddam and Iran, signs new nuke treaty with Obama, days later plane crash kills the very strong President of Poland; coincidence it happened in Russia?

Does who is financing a political campaign influence your vote? If so more positively or negatively?

When you are on vacation do you do any work or can/do you leave it all behind until you get back to the office?

Best book you have read so far in 2010?

Are the supposed threats and screaming at Democrats any more and louder than there were during the Bush years or is the mainstream media just reporting it this time?

What question were you asked by a child this week that caused you to smile?

Do you look for sun or shade when setting up by the pool for the day?

Did Obama’s announcement about off shore drilling change anything?

Who will win the GOP nomination for President in 2012?

Have you finished and filed your taxes yet?

Who would you like to be sponsored by?

Worst book you had to read in high school?

Fritos or tortilla chips with chili?

Do you perform consistently well under pressure or just sometimes?
When was the last time your were in Blythe?

Cookies or Pie?

So those are the questions, what are your answers?

Click on the hard to read “comments” button below and let us know what you think!

Pointing The Pudgy Finger Of Blame

2010-04-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

We had a big Mercury Colony station wagon, the kind with the seats in the way back. Mom and Dad in the front seat, Dad driving of course, and Sharon, Michael and I in the back sliding around on the big bench seat. After Michael's baseball game, or some other late afternoon out, once in a while we would have a special treat. Dad would pull into the MacDonald's on Peoria and get a sack of cheeseburgers and fries. On the way home he would hear a chorus of "Daaad! Don't eat all the fries!" as he would dip his large hand into the bag and pull out the still hot fries to munch on the short drive home. It was a treat.

Going to MacDonalds, or Wendy's, Carl's Jr., Burger King, is not a treat for many families. It is a routine. A routine that has become so prevalent that the epidemic of fat kids, ooops severely overweight or obese kids, has been blamed on the fast food joints. They "hook" kids on their food by offering toys with their cheeseburgers and fries. They have a clown that encourages kids eat burgers so McBurglar doesn't get any. Our nation's kids are fat and it is the fault of Ray Croc, Dave Thomas and Carl Karcher.

As a kid I played a lot of sports. About a week before sign up for baseball, basketball, football I would be bugging my Mom to remind her. When I wasn't at practice or a game I would be running around the woods or neighborhood with my brother and our friends. In summer or spring time we would leave the house after breakfast and either be home with a bunch of kids for lunch or home for dinner. We would ride our bikes five or six miles to the movie theater to watch "Posieden Adventure," "The Voyage of Sinbad" or sneak into "Billy Jack." No rides to school we walked or rode our bikes, unless it was pouring rain and even then we liked the adventure and would try to talk Mom out of shoving us all in the Mercury wagon.

A treat was after a game or practice on a hot day Mom would pour a glass of pee-green Gatorade, I felt like a real pro! After finishing that and saying I was still thirsty she would remind me where the tap was and to get myself some water. We drank out of hoses a lot, often a neighbor's whose house we were running by while thirsty. Today we see fat kids walking around with 20 ounce bottles of Powerade, or 24 ounce cups from 7-11 or AM/PM filled with soda as they haul themselves into the back of Mom's SUV for the two minute ride to school. Our nation's kids are fat and it is the fault of Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

We brought our lunches to school a lot, almost daily. Mainly because I was a very, very picky eater--which makes it difficult for me to get on our youngest daughter too much who shares that DNA thread evidently. My brother, Michael, our friend next door, Dick Mackey, who we would walk to and from school with every day, and I would have contests to see who could re-use their brown lunch sack the most times--not be "green" but just because we were boys and it was another contest. My Mom would pack us with a sandwich, an apple, maybe some chips but rarely and a piece of dessert. If we were able to successfully lobby (read: nag like crazy until we broke Mom down) in the store, once in a blue moon we would find a "Big Wheel" or something--but rarely. We would buy milk at school. The stuff served in the cafeteria tended to be somewhat gross to my elementary school palate and to this day there is a certain odor that when I smell it I think, "Hillside Elementary cafeteria."

Today our school system is set up to encourage kids not to bring their lunches to school. We get roto-dialed to enroll our children in the "free lunch program" because anything you don' pay for directly is from the government and it must be "free." Schools are encouraged to sign students up for free lunches because that is how they measure poverty levels and the more kids getting tax payer bought lunches the more money that school gets in Title I money from the Federal government. Since lunch, and usually breakfast, is paid for parents happily skip out on the morning routine of preparing their kids a somewhat healthy lunch and send them to school for "nutritious" lunches of carbs, salt, sugar and fat. Our nation's kids are fat and it is the fault of the school system encouraged, almost forced, to feed more and more children with less and less money.

I love to go grocery shopping, more so if I have one or both of the kids with me. I enjoy sitting down and planning a menu, the food we will need for lunches for the week, breakfasts, replacing supplies in the pantry. Put my in a grocery store with a cart, a list and a kid or two on a Saturday morning and I'm about as happy as I can get. One thing you notice pretty quickly at the Ralph's, Safeway, Von's or Albertson's is that fat kids hanging around grocery carts usually do not have skinny, or fit looking parents. If there are any vegetables they are frozen or canned. Fruit appears to be paired with ice cream if in the cart at all. Trix, Cocoa Puffs, frozen waffles and most importantly the portable and edible Pop Tarts appear to be the breakfast menu. Cheetos, Funyons and Pringles are purchased by the cart full. Four flavors of soda fill the bottom rack of the cart--but half of them are "Diet." Crackers, ice cream, Ding-dongs, frozen pizzas, a plethora of pre-prepared food that can be used to put together a meal or snack in a matter of minutes. Those food items supplement the meals that are not purchased through a small window from the air-conditioned comfort of the minivan or SUV.

MacDonald's, Wendy's, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Carl's Jr., Sara Lee, Breyer's, Coke, Oscar Meyer, are all to blame for our nation's fat kids.

But I don't see an executive from Pepsi pushing the Big Gulp cup against the lever under the Diet Pepsi label and then handing the cup to the child. I don't see a deliveryman for Frito-Lay pushing the cart laden with poor meal planning choices and asking the child which brand of Hostess she wants for afterschool snacks. I don't see anyone from MacDonald's driving the SUV ordering double happy meals for the ten year kid playing his PlayStation in the back. But society and the progressive political-media alliance has made them the reason we have more and more fat kids who are getting fatter and fatter.

The society wrecking trend of removing personal responsibility and accountability is a national crisis. Parents are become less and less responsible for their children's health, despite the fact they, the parents, make the decisions as to what, when and where to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As they continue to make poor choices, as they continue to value convenience over health, more blame piles up on those who manufacture food items that were once treats and now have become the staple for parents creating fat kids. They have abdicated the nutritional responsibilities from themselves to the government and media to comfort them, "it's not your fault your kid is fat from eating five dinner and four breakfasts a week from the drive through windows, it is the company's fault for making it so cheap and so bad at the same time."

Before one more pudgy finger is pointed out of an SUV by an overweight Mom or Dad sipping on a 42 ounce Diet Coke blaming our "fast food culture" for the fat kids they are raising in the back seat, I'd like to see society point the finger right back at them. Where is the blame and shame for the parents? They are given excuses: it's too cheap to buy fast food, they work and it is too difficult to make healthy meals every night, s/he's not a very good cook, they don't have time to shop properly, there is not store in their neighborhood.

ENOUGH! Enough with giving the parents who drive the cars to the drive through instead of the grocery store, who push the cart down the chip aisle instead of the vegetable aisle, who let their kids sleep in and hand them a Pop Tart for breakfast as they walk out the door instead of waking them up and making them a solid breakfast, enough with giving them excuses and someone else to blame.

Every fat kid has only one place to lay blame, at his or her parent(s). Let' s start being more honest with who is responsible and who is not in this nation. Fat kids are fat because their parents don't want to put up with an argument over meals, don't want to bother making dinner or doing dishes, don't want to bother with healthy choices, but rather want to make their kids happy, make their lives easy and spend money on gas for the car instead of gas for the stove.

Those who know me know that I am somewhat husky, chubby, fat, myself. Hovering around 6'2" I flirt with 250 pounds, usually looking down at it more than above it. My eating and exercise choices have not always been the best. But as a parent I have noticed my choices have become better. My kids are fed a healthy meal made at home every morning, lunch and dinner with the occasional "treat" out. We are not perfect parents, but we work hard to educate our children about what food makes them behave in what way. No preservatives, no food dyes, no chocolate with vanillin (it's like crack). If my kids are fat it is no ones fault but ours. That fact that I sport a too big midsection and jowls is not anyones fault but mine. Quit trying to blame someone else for the choices I made and make. I grew up skinny with exercise and healthy meals. In the last fifteen to twenty years the meals, metabolism and exercise changed--I can't blame Mom for the choices I make now.

Fat kids. We can call it an obesity epidemic. A fast food culture. But they are truly victims of poor parenting. To call it anything else perpetuates the cycle and we will have more fat kids being raised by fat parents. Go to your local grocery store this weekend and see what I mean. The kids aren't pushing the cart and aren't swiping a debit card to buy the crap in the cart.

Point the pudgy finger of blame at parents.

DCS 0472010

My Two Cents And How It May Affect Your Life

2010-04-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

Just as your health was put into the hands of Senator Harry Reid, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and various committee chairs in Congress, now your financial future is in the hands of two men in Congress. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass) are engaged in a financial reform effort that may be akin to the ObamaCare legislation we just saw pushed, bought, pulled and bribed through Congress. If the resulting legislation resembles the ObamaCare package there are some certainties we can count on, and some uncertainties that seem perfectly reasonable that we should bank on.

One certainty if things progress along similar legislative lines as ObamaCare and the American Recovery and Revitalization Act (aka Stimulus, aka Massive Amount of Pork) will be a bill that is a couple of thousand pages at least. We can count on few, if any, of those supporting and voting to pass the legislation to have read the bill. We can count on favors and carve outs for specific states, districts and constituencies. And we can count on the federal government intruding even further into our lives.

The end result will eventually be the same as ObamaCare, the government--and therefore you and I--will have so much invested in the financial components of the legislation that my business becomes everyone else's and everyone else's business becomes mine.

ObamaCare is being sold

(jump off p0int: if the legislation is so beneficial why does President Obama still need to sell it? It's the law now, why isn't he moving on? He sold it for over twelve months and the majority of Americans weren't buying, he ignored them and shoved the bill into law. What's his purpose in still campaigning for legislation he made law? jumping back in)

ObamaCare is being sold as actually saving the government money. Despite adding millions of people to MediCare and MediCaid or some form of government insurance program, we are to believe we will actually see the federal deficit decline. This happens one of two ways: higher taxes or lower spending on MediCare and/or MediCaid, or both. In the end your health care delivery and insurance becomes the responsibility of the United States government, and decisions will eventually come down to actuary tables and accounting principles of cost-benefit analysis.

The best way to save money will be to ensure that every single American, and illegal alien residing in America, lives a healthy lifestyle as defined by those in charge of the medical industry--you Congressional representatives and government appointees. Because your obesity and my proclivity for pork products are potential timebombs on the national balance sheet something must be done to change our habits and waistlines. So my two cents will become very valuable in shaping our future health care, and financial future.

Already we see the progress from creeping intrusion by government into our daily lives move past creeping and into steady (and creepy). We are in Arizona this week and every single menu has a warning printed on it about consuming raw or undercooked meat, poultry, seafood, shellfish or eggs may cause food borne illnesses--so can consuming spinach from Mexico or strawberries from parts of the San Joaquin Valley some years. Eating my second cousin's celery root casserole at Thanksgiving caused many an illness but we all knew it and avoided it, we didn't put it on the invitation. In New York they have banned cooking with transfats and are looking at banning the use of salt in food preparation. Salt!

Across the country as nanny-state legislatures get more more concerned about fat kids they start making more requirements on those who deliver the food than on those who are buying the food--but that will most likely change under ObamaCare. Instead of state by state having food bans, menu disclosure requirements and restaurant restrictions, the process of dictating your eating habits will now come under the federal government.

Since your kid drinking four sodas a day, eating six out of seven dinners from Wendy's or Burger King and having Trix or Pop Tarts for breakfast has made him look like Jackie Gleason while in the 4th grade his obesity is now my problem. Which is just what the liberals have wanted all along. Having slowly chipped away at the personal responsibility requirement for many in society, the new legislation will strip it away completely and put it in the hands of your neighbors and friendly government.

Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, joint deterioration, are all linked to inactivity and incredibly poor dietary choices. Not only what you eat but how much. So we can look forward to incredibly bland food and choices coming to us in increasingly small portions. If I owned stock in Claim Jumper I would be selling as there is no way they will be able to survive the coming bureaucratic decrees that will limit calories, sugar, sodium, fat content of servings and portion sizes. What's the point? Instead of underground Rave parties for twentysomethings the latest trend will be underground restaurant parties for fortysomethings getting texted late Saturday evening the location of the warehouse where a blackmarket chef will serve foie gras, braised pork belly, stuffed pork chops and chocolate mousse.

So what can result from a major reform of our financial industries? What about this scenario in 2014: Our neighbors have been buying a lot of toys lately, jet skis, cars, big screen televisions, time shares; she is a teacher and he works in solar technology. I think they may be overextending themselves and to protect my financial interests I will need to turn them in for investigation lest they go into foreclosure and lower the value of my home and that of other neighbors? The family down the street went through a government driven mortgage modification in 2010 and now are looking at an equity line of credit to remodel their kitchen. Have they paid back their modification, will they have enough money to pay for their children's college tuition in ten years? Have they saved enough money in their retirement accounts to fill the hole where social security used to be?

As an out of control liberal leadership in Congress feels empowered after its incredibly dysfunctional legislative process on ObamaCare tackles another industry one wonders where this is all headed? Will the intrusion of the government make us all so dependent on the overall results that a nation of Mrs. Kravitzes (for you younger folks Mrs. Kravitz lived across the street from Darren and Samantha Stevens on "Bewitched" constantly spying on them and the goings on in her neighbors home and reporting it to her disinterested husband)?

As the federal budget becomes more and more dependent on the choices of individuals it is not a far reach to assume that the already intrusive nature of the so called progressives (progressing further and further into our personal liberties) results in less and less personal liberties and choice choices. The goal is elimination of opportunity for what they deem poor choices and decisions and the ignorance of man's mortality and desire for some of us to enjoy this life as we are able.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness so long as it is sodium free, full of fiber and fiscally responsible in the eyes of your government...and neighbors.

DCS 04052010

Just Some Questions

2010-04-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

What happens when the additional taxes layered on top of the “rich” don’t bring in what is expected in order to pay for Obamacare?

Are taxes on tanning salons a racially discriminatory tax?

Why is gas $3.17 a gallon in Blythe and $2.76 a gallon in the truck stop across the river?

Does it take you longer to get on vacation schedule with your internal clock or get back to a regular schedule after vacation?

Did the Easter Bunny come to your house?

A question I get all the time: Do you dye your hair?

Will union money be able to buy the Long Beach 9th Council District Election?

What about the Long Beach Unified School District race for 1st District?

Will the Democrats use financial reform legislation as a political tool to try to harm Republicans and gain back some lost ground from their health care bill, or will the legislation be something worthwhile?

Do you have any questions?

Cookies or Pie?

So those are the questions, what are your answers?

Click on the hard to read “comments” button below and let us know what you think!

Don't Worry About the Chickens...Count Your Eggs!

2010-04-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Tulsa, Oklahoma has some interesting weather. It can get nasty, cold and icy in the winter. Hellaciously hot and humid in the summer. Hail storms and tornadoes or beautiful mild sunny days with soft breezes in spring. I used to think my grandfather Jack invented the phrase, "If you don't like the weather just wait a day, it'll change" describing our weather.

My Mom was from Sacramento and until she married my Dad and moved from Palo Alto and Stanford University to Oklahoma she had never lived anywhere but Northern California--warm, warmer, sunny, sunnier, with an occasional period of mild inclement weather. Married to my Dad she came to know a lot about Midwestern and Southern weather patterns as his career in the petroleum industry took through some of the less populated less populated areas of Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana in the late 1950s and early 1960s. From a Catholic background with a strong sense of family and traditions, Mom always made sure the holidays travelled with her, where ever home may have been set up at the time.

Sometime around 1965 or 1966 Mom and Dad moved into a new home in Tulsa, having relocated with my older sister Sharon, older brother Michael and me from Oklahoma City. The house would be my third at the ripe age of three or four. It had a great backyard and plenty of room for three kids and whatever kids in the neighborhood were around. A perfect backyard for the Easter Bunny to hide our eggs for a good old fashioned Easter Egg hunt.

Because of the crazy weather patterns in Tulsa in the Spring we never knew when we were decorated our eggs with that vinegary smelling PAAS egg dye stuff whether we would be having an indoor or outdoor egg hunt. So depending on the weather Easter morning, or Easter eve night, we would wake up, grab our baskets and tear through the house or head out to the back yard.

One year, in retrospect it must have been our first or second Easter with good weather, Mom gave our eggs to the Easter Bunny to hide outside because it was very nice spring weather. Sharon, Michael and I--ranging in age from five or six to nine or ten--headed out and starting finding eggs. In the log-cabin playhouse. Under the umbrella (pronounced UM-brella in Tulsa please) on the patio. Between logs in the log pile. On the birdfeeder. Running from spot to spot we looked until we could find no more. We gave the eggs to Mom who would then use the hard boiled eggs for all sorts of gross and disgusting dishes--to this day I cannot bear the site or smell of hard boiled eggs.

Story over. Easter in Tulsa is done.

Not quite.

Tulsa can, and does, get really hot in the summer. A day with hundred degree heat and hundred degree humidity with no rain is not something unique. One summer as Michael and I and our friends played around in the backyard we began to notice a smell. At first we thought it might be a frog that had died from our frog farm (we would scoop frogs eggs out of the pond across the street in a big plastic tub and leave them in the backyard where we would watch them go from eggs to tadpoles to frogs and then there would be none left in the tub but all over the yard). Or maybe some other critter had crawled under the log-cabin playhouse and died. As the summer wore on the smell got worse and worse.

Finally one day a ball or something rolled over by the fence with the neighbors. We went to get it and Phew! The smell was horrible. Being boys we became more curious about what could make such a horrible smell. After a little looking we finally a found the source.

Faded but still distinctly colored by a small child, an Easter Egg that had been in the Tulsa weather, and heat, for several months just rotting away. Evidently we had not found all the Easter Eggs during our fervid hunting back in March or April.

Mom wasn't real thrilled with our discovery, but less thrilled that we brought it to her so she could see, and smell our treasure. From then on Mom knew, always count your eggs before handing them over to the Easter Bunny for hiding and make sure the number found matches the number hid!

Oh, and be careful what gets left out in the Tulsa weather.

DCS 0401210

Where Are The Eyeballs?

2010-03-31T05:32:00.000-07:00

The decline of daily print newspapers has been pretty steady for the past several years. With many fingers to point looking for blame the two primary factors appear to be the internet and content. And one, internet, has been able to show the problems with the other, content. Not as widely reported has been the continuing decline of high profile television programming--programming that used to be driving forces in television news reporting.

For years cable news and commentary was owned by CNN and Larry King. CNN invented the 24 hour news cycle and cable news. I had the fortune to hear Ted Turner speak sometime in the late '80s at a college alumni fundraiser (Tipper Gore also spoke when she was just a Senator's wife and not the 2nd Lady--that may be for some other time). Turner, in his high pitched southern accent said about CNN, "I do a lot of traveling and my clock gets messed up. One night I'm in some town in a hotel room and around four in the morning I couldn't sleep so I turned on the television. They had my TBS Superstation and it had on wrastling. I don't always mind wrastling but that time I wanted to see what was happening. I wanted news not wrastling. So I invented CNN so I could watch news in my hotel room at any time." Simple solution to a simple problem: create a new network that will have continuous live programing all day and night, every day and night.

As the cable television industry grew so too did the number of cable stations. Soon Turner created Headline News. CNN became a more trusted source than the half hour evening news programs, in large part due to the first Gulf War when Wolf Blitzer gave us live reports with green tracer bullets and explosions streaking the background.

As the internet gained traction in the late 1990's we were able to read news reports from papers across the country and across the sea. News media began providing content on-line, for free, and slowly the free content started sucking up eyeballs and the daily paper slowly began losing subscribers. With the first Bush election in 2000 internet content exploded, as did cable news. NBC joined forces with Microsoft to create MSNBC filled with news talk shows and essentially live, visual radio programming. Rupert Murdoch entered the fray creating the Fox network and starting the Fox News Channel on cable. Lines were quickly drawn, CNN began hiring hosts that would decidedly anti-Bush, MSNBC did as well. Murdoch filled his counterpart with programming that featured pro- and anti- forces on both parties and most issues, early programing sometimes resembled playground fights.

Slowly through the 2000's as internet content and blogs exploded, the trusted content of the network news and daily papers, now labelled Mainstream Media, began to come under scrutiny. The liberal bias of major papers editorial pages became even more apparent, and slowly the bias of the news programmers came more and more to light as alternative reports of the same stories were available on-line, for free. Now instead of a ten second clip of what someone said we could watch the entire statement, instead of reading the stock AP report, or report from the New York Times or Chicago Tribune reporter, we could read more accounts from those who were at the scene. Mainstream news came into question.

The trust for many Americans blew up courtesy of an internet blog. CBS' 60 Minutes for decades was Sunday night staple for viewing. Dan Rather was a primary contributor to in depth stories on issues and people. During the 2004 Presidential Campaign Rather did a story on President George W. Bush with the angle he dodged the war in Vietnam using the Texas National Guard and connections to get favorable treatment. The center piece of evidence was a memo from the Texas National Guard files. Except the memo was a fake.

Within minutes of the memo being posted a blogger dissected the type and showed it to be unavailable type face at the time the memo was written, it could only have been written on a more modern typewriter. The memo scandal blew up on the internet and after several weeks the rest of the Mainstream Media quit protecting Rather and CBS. Eventually Rather resigned from the show and CBS News.

As a tipping point it was pretty clear the 60 Minutes scandal solidified for many Americans that the news they and their parents trusted was now in doubt. Lines were drawn and the reaction by the cable shows was to hire more commentators and hosts who moved more to the edges. CNN and MSNBC became clearly anti-Bush and pushed an anti-Iraq agenda. Fox drifted to the right, which for the Mainstream Media meant right extremist. Daily newspapers lost subscribers in droves.

Almost six years since the CBS Memogate the perceptions and actualities of cable and network news still persist. MSNBC hitched its wagon for many years to Keith Olberman who was unapologetic and unfiltered in his hatred of Bush and all things Republican. Spewing vitriol and venom he became a celebrity for the hard left. Larry King became predictable in interviewing either elected Democrats or Hollywood stars. Fox brought up from the ranks Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. The battle for eyeballs began in earnest.

For many years now Fox News was behind CNN for viewers and playing back and forth with MSNBC. That changed during the 2008 election cycle (which probably began in 2006?). Fox began to narrow the gap on CNN and O'Reilly's viewers grew and grew. Sometime in 2007/2008 Fox surpassed CNN for eyeballs.

Today it is not even close on viewers. With little to no changing in their on-air talent or programming CNN is getting about 25% of the viewers of Fox News, most of those from people waiting for planes in airports, and MSNBC in the most recent ratings is at less than half the viewers. Larry King? He has had the worst two quarters in his show's history, down almost 10% from last quarter when he had his second worst quarter. Olberman? His show continues to decline, but at a slower rate last quarter, coinciding with his taking a month off. Fox? Ratings and eyeballs grow for all Prime Time programming.

At some point some news editor and publisher and senior network executive will realize that American is a center-right nation. We're also pretty connected and those they target for advertising and eyeballs tend to be pretty intelligent and capable of sifting chaff from wheat, or biased commentary from news reporting. Someone may notice that as the Mainstream Media and CNN and MSNBC have become more anti-conservative, anti-non-liberal, and are less and less obscuring their Obama cheerleading and pushing agendas like Cap and Trade and Obamacare, they are losing eyeballs, which means they are losing advertising dollars, which means they are creating their own demise. A demise which appears from the television ratings and subscription numbers which appears to be increasing exponentially. A demise that increases the more they and their dwindling core of supporters criticize and demonize those who have ideas with which they vehemently disagree.

Until then, those who don't get it will continue to lose eyeballs, and advertisers. And as they lose them will continue to demonize those who are picking up those eyeballs...and those who own those eyeballs. Continue to call me a misogynistic, racist, teabagging, ignorant reptile, while asking me to read your paper or watch your programming, and then ask how that approach has been working for you?

It is okay to show some bias, just don't try to hide it or lie about it--at least not if you expect to win the huge middle ground of American people and their attention and support. Speak your minds, state your opinions, but if people are tuning out or cancelling subscriptions please don't look to the government to bail you out, accept your failure to win support.

DCS 03312010

You Are Government's Line of Credit

2010-03-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

Cheap money makes products more expensive. When borrowing gets really easy money becomes cheap. The more qualified borrowers for financing for a product the higher the demand, the more bidders for the product, the higher prices climb. College tuition is a good example. As student loans became cheaper and cheaper more and more people were able to pay for tuition and tuition rose disproportionately to the value of the product produced. Now private colleges will set a family back about $200,000 for four years for a degree that is not much more valuable than that obtained from a state university (also obtained at an inflated price, albeit lower price).

A much more appropriate market to look at is the housing market. As mortgages became easier to obtain and as the amount of money needed for down payment became less and less, home prices climbed. With the introduction of 100% financing with no income documentation prices soared. Suddenly anyone could purchase a home, no money needed, your income was not a problem, hell even if you had crappy credit you could buy a $650,000 home and then all you had to do was wait until it was worth $750,000 and you could sell and make a quick hundred thousand. Or if you liked your home, you could use the same financing to pull equity out of your home. After the first refinance that lowered your rate and your payment and pulled out equity to pay off your revolving debt, you could take out an equity line and use that to remodel your home with all the finest appliances, or buy a boat.

Money for mortgages was cheap, way too cheap, and it created a surge in home prices. But what happened when the money went away? What happened when the mortgage lenders started to fall and the credit decisions became tighter? Housing prices at first stalled and then crashed. Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent lower. Suddenly millions of Americans are going through foreclosure, living in homes worth 50-70% of the amount they owe on mortgages and the Obama Administration is pushing lenders to modify loans, forgive principle on debt and relieve borrowers of having to make payments they agreed to make.

At the same time 8 million Americans have lost jobs. Personal consumption, which is 70% of our nation's economy, has dropped precipitously. As a result tax revenues are down, all tax revenues, income tax, property tax, sales tax, capital gains tax. Despite the rising unemployment figures and dropping tax revenues, trends that could be seen to be coming in 2007, our state and federal governments continued on their spending binges. They were like homeowners with an ever increasing home value and lenders willing to make them easy and cheap loans.

Now that the economy has gone further south state governments who do not have printing presses, have now been faced with having to cut their budgets. Despite rising unemployment last year California Democrats, aided and abetted by three Republicans and the Governor, raised taxes, essentially going back to their line of credit--you and me. No doubt they will try it again this year to protect their special interest from budget cuts, yet further cutting budgets for school districts across the state. They see us as their equity line. A cheap and endless stream of funds for them to spend as they see fit. And one can't help but get the feeling that the underlying mentality is, "Obama and Pelosi will bail us out if it gets really bad."

And why shouldn't they have this attitude? GM got bailed out. AIG got bailed out. Homeowners are getting bailed out, or at least they are trying to bail them out. Congress passed a $787 billion spending bill in a few days that went to all sorts of non-essential projects. Why would Washington not bail out California? We are a huge part of the economy, surely we are too big to fail?

The current deficit for the federal government is $1.4 Trillion. This year's spending from Washington is $3.5 Trillion. Our federal debt is $12.6 Trillion. Trillion. I'm not sure everyone is capable of comprehending how much one trillion actually is. The number is thrown around so often it has become as easy to say as "billion" but the difference is enormous. And that is what Washington has been spending with as much thought as you may put into a new set of golf clubs, actually probably less thought since they do not have to worry about paying it back, you do.

Money has become so cheap for Congress and the Obama Administration that they are re-creating the housing bubble with government debt. A health care bill that costs a couple of Trillion dollars. Stimulus packages that add up to a Trillion dollars. Spend, spend, spend, borrow, borrow, borrow. Sound familiar?

Whereas before Countrywide, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase were the lenders for lines of credit that supplied the funds that helped create the housing bubble; today the American voter has become the lender for Congress and the creation of the debt bubble. Our borrow and consume mentality gave us some good times for much of the Aughts, has transferred to our elected officials. Go ahead and spend the money, it's cheap. We'll just have Treasury auction some more T-bills and write another spending bill.

Try to stop government spending and you are demonized. First Senator Bunning and last week the Republican Senators blocked legislation to continue unemployment benefits unless the funding was taken out of either the already passed stimulus bill and unused funds, or cuts are made in another part of the budget. How dare you hold up unemployment checks for Americans in need! Who cares where the funds come from? We are the federal government just spend it!

Just spend it. Borrow it. Rates are low and repayment is cheap. But for how long? How long can the debt bubble continue before it pops? Every month the Treasury has been auctioning hundreds of billions of dollars in various notes, 3 year, 5 year, 7 year, 10 year, 30 year debt auctions have been occurring all year. And most of them have been fairly well received, meaning there have been sufficient buyers to keep the rates on the notes sold low.

But this past week the sentiment was not that great. With the backdrop of Greece having difficulties with its debt, a tremor went through the debt markets. Not as big of a tremor as went through Wall Street when New Century Mortgage had capitalization problems and started the credit collapse, but a tremor nonetheless. Investors hesitated before buying U.S. debt.

Wait a minute. The U.S. outstanding debt is $12.6 Trillion and growing. It's GDP is $14.3 Trillion, and finally growing but at a slower rate. America's equity is mortgaged to almost 90% of its economy's value and they are still spending and increasing their borrowing on their equity line--the American consumer and tax payer. How much more can the United States borrow before its bubble bursts?

Cheap money leads to price inflation, which creates bubbles, which pop. When they pop prices drop, money becomes more expensive and markets collapse. Debt is a market. The more demand there is for someones debt the higher the price and the lower the interest rates the borrower has to pay. As demand wanes prices drop and rates increase. This past week demand was not as great as it has been for U.S. debt.

And Congress went on recess with Democrats upset because they could not spend a few billion dollars more on the credit line. Your credit line.

You, and me, are the lender for the U.S. government, we are guaranteeing debt that at this point approximates $42,000 for every person in America--that's $168,000 for my home, how much for yours? Like the housing and equity frenzy of 2002-2007 a bubble is growing rapidly. When will it pop and what will happen to the credit markets when that happens?

My daughters are 8 and 10, they haven't been to college, haven't bought a car, haven't even had a job yet and already both are over $40,000 in debt. It bothers me to think what that number will be when they start their careers in about fifteen years.

To follow our national debt, revenue and spending check out the U.S. National Debt Clock

DCS 03292010