Illegal Immigrants - How to Handle Effectively and Fairly

Most illegal immigrants are coming here to better their lives, not because they are in mortal danger. A few, possibly, but not most. That's why we currently have asylum procedures at legal ports of entry. Illegally sneaking over the border outside of these legal ports of entry is done because they know that they have no case for asylum or for remaining in the US. Let's make some effective, common sense changes to our immigration laws that rewards people who come here legally and has zero tolerance for those who do not.

Yes, for the families who sneaked illegally across our borders, keep the children together with their parents and/or accompanying adults, and also photograph, fingerprint and DNA them, then immediately deport them without a hearing, plus make it the law that they will never be allowed in the US for any reason again, while instituting a policy of checking those seeking asylum at our borders against those records. Also, change the asylum laws. If that's what a person or family wants and believes they deserve, then apply at a US Embassy, not at a legal point of entry. It has to be quicker, cheaper, and faster to get to a US Embassy within their own country then to cross through Mexico for weeks to get to the US. If the embassy approves, you're allowed in; if not, you go home. Also photograph, fingerprint and DNA the ones approved to ensure that the approved people come here, and not others with that paperwork. Always remember, for non-asylum reasons, we already have procedures and laws that allow over one million new immigrants a year to enter the U.S. LEGALLY with a path toward citizenship – that's more than all other nations on Earth combined!!

Also, for those who come here legally and temporarily on a visa, but then stay past their visa date and tell nobody, also expel them, but first take their photo, fingerprints, and DNA sample. Make exceptions for those who may have been incapictated medically to leave or notify anyone on time. For those who request a visa extension before the visa runs out for common sense reasons, such as the need to repeat a failed college course in order to qualify for a degree, grant the extension.

Finally, for all illegals currently under the radar and in our nation, pass a new law - no jobs, no public education, no drivers' licenses, no house nor apartment rentals or purchases, and no government benefits. Pass another law giving them 9 months to get out from the date of passage and publish it massively. If they don't get out within the 9 months, when caught, have the government take all their possessions – houses, cars, furniture, money, bank and brokerage accounts, then send them back with just the clothes on their backs. The 9 month delay is a humane measure intended to give them ample time to sell homes, cars, businesses, etc. and keep their wealth before deporting themselves willingly. Mexico once had a similar law for many years to keep Central Americans from emigrating to comparatively “rich” Mexico and it was very effective. Last point - pass laws with extensive jail times for all politicians and police who won't work with federal authorities on identifying and transferring illegals in their custody, and also any American citizens who knowingly assist illegal immigrants to stay here and avoid immigration authorities.

How Much Savings Needed for Retirement

At an "expected" 6% return on savings, you need to save at least 17 times annual income to match your current income. At 4%, you need 25 times annual income; at 8% you need 12.5 times annual income. From those numbers you can subtract the annual "value" of your expected Social Security benefits. For every $1,000 a month in expected SS benefits ($12,000 a year), your SS "value" is equivalent to savings of $300,000 at 4%, $200,000 at 6%, and $150,000 at 8%. Therefore $1,500 a month in SS benefits increases the value 50% at each interest rate; while $2,000 a month in SS benefits doubles the equivalent savings value at each expected interest rate return on investment. Despite fears that SS will go bankrupt and there will be no benefit, that fear is illogical. SS benefits are paid out of SS taxes collected each month from those working. While it is possible that without changes, there may be future SS benefit reductions, it will never be zero. Worst scenario without changes is a 25% reduction in benefits. The wrath of the people will likely force Congress to make changes at the last moment of the start of benefit reductions, as has been done in the past. Finally, do not expect to need less money in retirement unless your plan is to watch TV all day, 7 days a week.

Improving Our Public Schools

If you really want to improve the situation, increase charter schools and make it easier to fire incompetent public school teachers (and frankly all incompetent civil servants). The best way to do that is to ban all government employee unions, given the conflict of interest generated when politicians, who owe their own jobs to union support, negotiate labor contracts with those same unions. Secondly, much of the failure of public schools is a parental problem of some parents not working with their children to make them focus on their school work. Their kids are not trying, the parents are doing nothing about it, and expect the teachers to somehow do the teaching and the parenting job. Send kids to study detention daily who are failing, and if needed to summer school to learn the material. No more "social" promotions to the next grade. Leave them back in the same grade if they fail. If it happens a second time, bring the family to Family court. Those kids may be in a poisonous parental situation and may need to be separated from the parents who have failed them.

Guidelines for a Happy Marriage

Keep the Romance alive:

- Kiss each other in the morning when you wake up and in the evening when you go to bed.

- Kiss each other when one of you leaves or returns to the house.

- Occasionally Kiss and hug each other for no reason during the day.

- Hold hands when walking together even if it's just from the parking lot to the store.

- Recognize when your spouse is very weary and/or not feeling well, and react by being extra kind and helpful.

Share Life's big decisions together:

- No financial secrets.

- Big ticket purchases are decided together as equal partners.

- Be financially responsible to live within your means, which includes building up your savings and investments, and not gripe about “things” you want but cannot afford and therefore must do without.

Disagree nicely and without resentment:

- There are no “bosses” in a marriage.

- You are not and can never be clones of each other, so expect disagreements as a normal part of any relationship.

- Your love and relationship are “permanent” and far more important than any disagreement, which normally is just a “temporary” bump in a long term relationship.

- So never yell and especially never use violence to “win” a disagreement. Mistreating the person you love and have shared so many intimacies and good times with is a loss, not a win.

- We all “snap” occasionally, so if your spouse yells at you, avoid the natural temptation to yell back. Instead, speak softly and caringly to your spouse to calm him or her down. That partner should recognize that reaction to also speak softly and calmly.

- Some disagreements cannot be immediately settled. Table those for a discussion at another time.

- Never withold your love and caring attitude due to an unsettled disagreement.

Don't be Stupid:

- Never cheat on your spouse.

- Never commit crimes.

- Never get high, drunk or stoned. Get high on life instead.

Investment Advice for Novice Investors

Investment Advice for Novice Investors

The most important point here is the age factor at which you start investing. Saving and investing in your 20s will grow to a size of 4 to 15 times more (depending on the rate of return) than if you start in your 40s or 50s. Even better - Investing a small amount one time in a newborn child or grandchild can have that investment grow by over 500 times by the time that child reaches retirement age. Start investing young and make time your friend. Otherwise, time becomes your enemy.

When it comes to IRAs, always invest in Roth IRAs. Ignore the ignorant financial advisors who recommend comparing tax rates now versus retirement. It is much better to pay a little tax now for a Roth IRA, than to pay even a low tax rate at withdrawals of Traditional IRAs that have doubled in value several times since the original deposits. Finally, most people are ignorant of smart investing and are afraid of the stock market, especially in their 20s and 30s. The stock market offers their best chance for the largest investment returns over the long run.

Take advantage of 401K plans that have company matches (usually adds 50 to 100% to your initial investment). Most are “Traditional” 401Ks instead of “Roth” 401Ks, but the company match still make it very attractive. 

Here are some tips to help the novice investor. Never buy individual stocks - they can go to zero or just stagnate far longer than any stock market, plus you are not smart enough to know when to get in or out. Buy pooled assets such as mutual funds, ETFs, and index funds and hold onto them for decades without selling. Only have a small amount to invest - The SandP 500 ETF index (SPY) is all you need (should use the ampersand symbol instead of "and" between S and P, but this system overrides it adds "amp;" to the ampersand symbol - &). It reflects the stock market trend which over the past long run has averaged 10 to 11% average annual growth or a doubling "average" every 7 years. SPY is composed of 500 of the largest stocks ( virtually no risk of all 500 going to zero), is cheap to buy (about $5 to $7 at most brokerage houses) and has the added value of being able to buy or sell it instantly during open market hours (as do all ETFs; mutual funds buy and sell prices are calculated after the market closes and if you buy them after the market closes, then your price is determine after the next day's stock market close which is why it is better to buy these within the last hour the market is open but not too close to the end). Want a technical stock market play also - buy the ETF - QQQ, which reflects the top Nasdaq 100 stocks.

If you also want to buy mutual funds, learn about and then buy a variety of mutual funds (these are "managed" assets where the manager is buying and selling trying to time the market - very hard to successfully do), including "growth" and "value" MFs, small caps, medium caps, large caps, and "general" (combination of all 3 company cap sizes). Other considerations - domestic versus international MFs, emerging market MFs, and industry MFs (for example, tech, medical, retailing, transportation, etc.). ETFs mimic many of these funds and are cheaper to buy. Very important - there are "load" mutual funds that take 5% off the top of your initial investment (never buy these - you need 5% growth just to break even) and no load mutual funds. Learn to utilize "research" tools that brokerage houses give you online to determine which mutual funds have been consistently good performers in both the short and long term. 

Roth versus Traditional IRAs and Tax Bracket Insignificance

The tax bracket both now and at retirement is totally meaningless as a decision point of whether to invest in Roth or a Traditional IRA. What matters is the amount of principal taxed. Again, a $1,000 IRA investment as whatever tax bracket is chump change (only $100 to $390 depending on tax bracket) compared to what it grows to at the time of withdrawal. For example, with a young person at age 23, given the historical long term growth rates of the stock market (an average doubling every 7 years), he/she gets to withdraw $64,000 a year for each of 42 years starting at age 65. A minimal tax bracket of 10% still dings him for a $6,400 tax payment each year for a Traditional IRA compared to less than $400 in each of the years invested. Remember, Roth IRA withdrawals are not taxed. So let's add it up on a total lifetime basis. 42 years of paying taxes upon investment of $1,000 for each of those 42 years is a maximum of $390 times 42 or $16,380. For most people, because they are not in the 39% bracket, it will be far less (at 10%, it would be $4,200 in tax). Now for the retirement years - 42 years of you and likely your heirs of withdrawing $64,000 a year in order to deplete the entire account (which is the intent of generating IRA income, plus the government basically forces you to withdraw each year, even at a measly 10% tax bracket is 42 times $6,400 each year for a minimum lifetime tax of $268,800, and possibly double or triple that for higher tax brackets. So which do you think is better - a Traditional IRA with minimum lifetime taxes of $268,800 or a Roth IRA with maximum lifetime taxes of $16,380 and probably much less than that for most middle class people? The answer should be very obvious. Don't let the Federal government become your "investment partner" which it does become with Traditional IRA investments. 

illegal Voting

If another nation or organization tried to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States by military force, all of us would fight back and kill those that tried to take away our freedom to govern ourselves. However, that is not the only way a legitimate government can be overthrown. For example, enough illegal votes from either non-citizens or citizens cheating and voting multiple times either under their own name or that of others, including dead people, if large enough in number, could also overthrow the legitimate government of the US by preventing that legitimate government from being honestly elected.

The end result is the same as a military takeover and should be viewed and treated the same – an attempt to overthrow the legitimate government of the US. The penalty should be severe - automatic execution of those who vote illegitimately.  

The Democratic Party – The Party of Slavery and Discrimination

Just remember that it was the Democratic Party that strongly supported slavery from the day of its creation in the early 1800s, and the Republican Party that freed them. The Democrats started the American Civil War to preserve slavery. 600,000 Americans were killed in the Civil War – far more than any other war in American history. When the bigots of the Democratic Party lost the Civil War, it was the Democratic Party who for over 100 years supported segregation, discrimination, and the suppression of voter and property rights for Blacks (to keep them on their former slave plantations). Democrats also joined the KKK in large numbers and were responsible for much violence and murder against Blacks. Democrats voted 100% against the Constitutional Amendment that made Blacks citizens, while Republicans voted 100% for it and got the Amendment passed.

In the 1960s, when the civil rights laws were passed after much violence by Southern Democrats against Blacks (and Whites) marching for its passage, 35% of Democrats voted against them to only 15% of Republicans who voted against them. Democrats did not immediately obey those new civil rights laws, with Democratic governors physically blocking Black students from entering all White colleges. The Federal government had to call out the National Guard to enable Black students to attend those All White colleges.

Since then, Democrats have been trying to overcome their sordid past by attempting to buy back the Black vote by generously increasing welfare benefits. Democratic President Lyndon Johnson described his Great Society Program (cumulative cost to date 22 trillion dollars – more than the total national debt) he was quoted as saying - "I'll have those n*****s voting Democrat for the next two-hundred years". The net result is that the Democrats have destroyed Black families and engineered massive Black poverty. 3 out of every 4 Black children are born to single parent households – the engine of poverty (28% of single moms are in poverty while only 5% of married couples are in poverty). Poverty is the engine of crime (Black crime rate, including murder, is 8 times higher than the national average). The lack of fathers has led to behavior problems causing education and crime problems out of proportion to the Black population when compared to the total population, depsite the fact that we spend on average $20,000 per public school student (twice the national average) in city areas with large Black populations. The Democratic Party is akin to a dangerous, addictive drug for Blacks. For their own long term safety and well being, Blacks need to wean themselves off of this dangerous, self destructive political affiliation.

Immigration reform

If you want meaningful immigration reform, then just do what Mexico did to stop illegal immigration from Central American nations who consider Mexico to be "rich". Mexico does not allow them to get jobs, nor go to school, nor receive government benefits, nor rent an apartment. If caught, Mexico takes all their assets and money, then deports them. Problem solved. For good measure, make it impossible for those caught to ever become US citizens or to become legal Permanent Residents, or to even visit the U.S. again. Institute this law, suspend enforcement for 9 months to allow those illegals who wish to leave voluntarily enough time to sell homes or take care of other personal matters before physically self deporting themselves. For their minor children who were born here, children belong to parents first, nations second. Therefore the minor children leave with them – no family breakup involved. Long term, change the definition of citizenship to account for modern times, especially transportation advances from 1776. Only children born to American citizens anywhere in the world and those born in the USA to legal residents are citizens. The rest are “foreign nationals” born on US soil, not citizens.

We tried Amnesty in the 1980s when we had 11 million illegal aliens. 30 years later, we have another 11 million illegals. If we again grant them the amnesty that the Democrats want today, then 30 years from now, we will have another 11 million new illegals. If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.

Gender Pay Gap Myth

Equal pay for men and women already exists in the only comparison that matters - men and women in the same jobs with the same years of experience and educational achievements earn the same pay. That should not be a surprise - it has been US law for 50 years. Any other comparison such as one national average pay scale for each gender is a meaningless, statistical fraud deliberately and knowingly perpetrated by liberals and Democrats for unjustified political reasons. You cannot logically take part time workers and full time workers, HS drop outs and grads, college dropouts, college graduates with bachelors, masters, and PHD degrees across every field of work and average them all out to one "national" pay rate per gender and have it mean anything. See links:

The myth of gender pay gaps:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/01/no-women-don-t-make-less-money-than-men.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-gender-pay-gap-is-a-complete-myth/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/10/03/millennial-women-education-wage-equality-column/16644149/

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-bogus-effort-to-bridge-the-phony-gender-pay-gap/

Judges and the Constitution

Unless the Constitution is strictly interpreted by our judges, then the Constitution isn't worth the paper it is written on. To be able to "bend" the Constitution to suit a judge's political whims denies all of us the rights and freedoms guaranteed to us by taking away our legislative rights through the election of politicians that match our political views. Our very wise Founding Fathers, recognizing future, unseen needs to amend the Constitution gave us the means to do that through Constitutional Amendments approved by the vast majority of citizens. That is the way our freedoms and rights are maintained. Judges legislating from the bench are in essence dictators who deny all of us our rights to determine our future.

Medical Marijuana Needs to be Legalized Everywhere

People are needlessly dying because medical marijuana is not allowed in many states. Medical marijuana consisting of "CBDs" is an ingredient that does not get you high (the "THC" ingredient in large volume gets you high). CBDs have helped many people, including cancer patients. We allow morphine in all 50 states for extreme pain management despite the fact that it comes from the same plant that the illegal and dangerous drug that heroin comes from. We need to treat the medically beneficial part of marijuana the same way and therefore legalize it. There's no harm done nor “high” obtained from true medical marijuana. All cancer, and especially terminal cancer patients, should be given the opportunity to possibly save their lives through its usage. Why would you condemn them to possibly needless suffering and/or death.

Marijuana Cancer Cure - http://thefreethoughtproject.com/main-stream-media.../ and http://www.collective-evolution.com/.../20-medical.../ and also - http://www.thestonerscookbook.com/.../cancer-institute.../ and also http://www.cancer.gov/about.../treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq

Benefits of medical marijuana on video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hifOl2yXU40 and http://www.awetv.com/miraclecure/ and also (one hour long) - https://vimeo.com/82053228
CBDs – Safe, effective, and does not get you high - http://realitysandwich.com/171680/high_health_cbd_food_supply/

Usage and Morality of the Atom Bomb In World War Two

72 Years after WWII ended, it still surprises me that the issue of whether or not America should have used the atom bomb on Japan in WWII is still debated. Any fair analysis of that decision needs to be based on what was known in 1945 about the war and about nuclear bombs. Much was known about the war; little was known about the bombs. It was clear through each conflict in the Pacific, that Japan, no matter how hopeless the military situation, would fight to the last man; surrender was not an option. Even the civil population would either fight or commit suicide, rather than surrender to the enemy. Kamikaze (suicide) attacks on ships using planes, human rocket bombs, and human submarine bombs were employed, rather than surrender. The civilian population in mainland Japan was being trained to fight however they could alongside the Japanese Army the expected American invasion. They were expected and willing to fight for their emperor to the death. American generals estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 American deaths in the invasion of mainland Japan. The number of Japanese dead was expected to number several million. The number of kamikaze planes and submarines found after Japan’s surrender indicate that these forecasts were probably quite accurate.

What’s little known or talked about is that both Japan and Germany were working on developing atom bombs and both planned to use them against the Allies. Japan had two facilities working on atom bombs, one in Japan and one in Asia. As the Allied victories placed them closer to Japan, the Japanese attempted to accelerate their atom bomb program with the intent of using them on the allied invasion forces.

When it became clear to Japan that they were unlikely to develop a functional atom bomb in time, they planned to develop and utilize a ‘dirty’ conventional bomb with radioactive material and explode it in San Francisco, hoping to kill thousands of Americans. They made elaborate plans. Japan asked Germany for and was sent 1,000 pounds of uranium by submarine. Fortunately, the war with Germany ended in May, 1945 while that sub carrying the uranium to Japan was still in the Atlantic Ocean and was surrendered to American forces. Japan had the two largest submarines ever made at the time, capable of carrying three small planes safely underwater and launching them at the surface wherever they pleased. The date had been set to drop the dirty bombs on San Francisco. It was August 17, 1945. Note that this planned date is only a few days after America actually dropped atom bombs on Japan (August 6 and 9, 1945). There was also a plan by Japan to drop carefully constructed bubonic plague bombs on our West Coast cities in September, 1945.

So when America captured the sub with the uranium in May, 1945, we knew then that Japan was working on an atom bomb. We did not know if they had or were close to a working model and we did not know if earlier shipments of uranium had been shipped to and received by Japan. Such news had to be alarming to America and its WWII allies. If Japan had or developed such a bomb, there is no doubt that it would have been used. Even if Japan was not close to a working model, a conventional war with Japan would have bought the Japanese much more time to successfully develop and use such a bomb.

Even after we used the two atom bombs against Japan, the Japanese military leaders tried to convince their emperor not to surrender. It was their (accurate) opinion that America had no more atom bombs to use. When the emperor made the decision to surrender, some of the military leaders unsuccessfully tried a military coup to dispose the emperor and prevent Japan’s surrender. These actions show the tenacity of the no surrender attitude of Japan and its people and therefore further validate the forecasts of millions of casualties in a conventional invasion of the mainland.

When you look at the man (President Truman) who made the decision to drop the atom bomb against what was known about the war and the Japanese at that time, it is hard to dispute how he could have come to any other decision. The decision actually saved millions of lives on both sides of the conflict. We killed as many people (100,000) in one night of conventional bombing of Tokyo as did a single atom bomb. The atom bomb was more effective in ending the war and ultimately saving lives.

Finally, look what America and President Truman did after the war. We did not respond like some vengeful monster. Despite hundreds of billions of dollars of crippling war debt, America rebuilt the economies of Japan and Germany by taking on additional debt of many billions of dollars. We also established democracies in those nations that still flourish today. We took no land. We took no reparations. Those nations are free and independent. They are also our allies today, not because they had to (they were not forced), but because they wanted to be our allies.

All war is horrible. The dead and the wounded of that war, whether by conventional arms or nuclear arms were not any less dead or less wounded. If we had not used the bomb, Japan would have. All nations today are more knowledgeable of the dangers and consequences of nuclear war, particularly on the incredible expansion in number and size of today’s weapons. The situation is much different today then it was then. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough of a learning curve to avoid war altogether. Hopefully, it is enough to avoid nuclear war which today could easily wipe out humanity.

Student Loans

The very ease of getting a student loan plus the financial ignorance of the students have been exploited by colleges to raise tuition, plus room and board, much faster than inflation and also to expand their Administrative staffs to bloated levels while paying ridiculous salaries to "star" professors. Given that over half of college students never graduate, no student should get a college loan for the first two years. Let them go to cheap Community colleges instead (and work part time if they need to). If they don't drop out after qualifying for their junior year, then consider college loans, but put a cap on it of no more than $15,000 a year. Also, no loan unless the college the student plans to transfer to, accepts all the student's college earned credits to be transferred (otherwise, expensive colleges will deliberately reject many of the credits forcing the financially naive student to spend more time and money at the college he/she transferred to). Some Community colleges have expanded from two years to four years. Encourage more to do so. That way, many more students could graduate inexpensive colleges without the need for student loans. Now, with less demand for their services, the expensive colleges will be forced to compete for students by lowering costs to reasonable levels and also utilizing alumni donations to help students instead of constructing new buildings and monuments to themselves. Everyone benefits.

Invest in Roth IRAs, not Traditional IRAs, plus use Roth Conversions

Always start off investing with Roth IRAs from day one, never a Traditional IRA, if you qualify. It is better to pay a little tax upfront, then pay a lot of taxes decades later when you begin (and/or are required) to withdraw from your IRA (even if your future tax bracket is lower) when your investment has likely multiplied in value several times (using long term stock market averages, a $1,000 IRA investment in your 20s can grow on average to over $60,000 in your 60s – better to pay the federal income tax on $1,000 now than on over $60,000 later) . Roth IRAs held over 5 years are NOT taxed at withdrawal, and are not forced to be withdrawn, thus saving not only you but also your heirs lots of taxes too.

If your income is too high that the government will not allow you to take out a Roth IRA, there is a work around method. Take out the Traditional IRA. Next convert it to a Roth IRA and pay the taxes that you would have paid anyway if you were able to take out a Roth IRA in the first place. There is no limit on the number nor amounts of Roth Conversions. Why does the government allow this? No one ever accused our government of being smart.

Educate your heirs if you are leaving them a Traditional IRA not to withdraw all of it in a single year, but instead convert the entire amount to an inherited IRA. Otherwise, up to 50% or more of their inheritance may be lost in Federal and State income taxes. If they are under 59 ½, then another 10% tax is charged. For really high inheritances, the Estate tax could push that to 80% or more. A Roth IRA held 5 years or more avoids these tax issues. A Traditional 401K can also be converted to a Roth IRA (usually after your retire or leave the company). This is one time you may want to discuss with a good, tax knowledgeable financial adviser. Like most government programs, there are plenty of “rules” and mistakes can be very costly and irreversible.

For people with Traditional IRAs, there are two options to reduce Federal income taxes through a Roth Conversion. The biggest tax break would to become a General Partner for one year, then reduced to a limited Partner, using non-IRA money, in a new oil or gas well project (you can do that for as little as $20,000). You get to reduce your taxable income by 80 to 100% of the investment principal. Personally, I don't like the risk of that option (look at how much the price of a barrel of oil has changed in just a year's time recently and in the past). Also, though the chances are remote, when you are a General Partner, you could be sued for everything that you are worth (most partnerships of this type carry lots of insurance to prepare for this relatively rare possibility)

A more conservative option is to invest in income producing non-liquid assets (non-liquid for 2-8 years) within a Traditional IRA. A few months later, move it to a Roth IRA and get a “forecast market valuation” of its worth at the time of the Roth Conversion. To make it worthwhile, you need to convert in $100,000 minimum chunks each year, but don't do so much as to raise yourself to the maximum tax bracket ( or if on Medicare, exceed the maximum annual income limits which could double your Medicare premiums the following year. You will need a certified Financial Planner (not a stock broker) to help you. They are generally affiliated with either Madison Avenue Securities or VFG Securities.

Never let Politics Determine your Family and Friends

Politically, like almost all other nations, the US is a very divided nation. There are virtually no extended families out there that are either all Republicans or all Democrats or all Independents. However, one issue all sides strongly agree on is that the US is a nation of freedom and we want to keep it that way. Therefore, when you think about it logically, if you are cutting ties with family members or friends because you do not like their political views, then you are a wannabe dictator - the anti-thesis of freedom. You cannot logically believe in freedom for all and at the same time sever your ties with family members or friends who do not agree with your own political viewpoints. Learn to recognize and accept the fact that none of us are always right nor always wrong. That is an undeniable characteristic of all humans. Those who disagree with our own political views are not evil and do have what they consider good reasons for their viewpoints. Normally, there is some truth on both sides of any political issue, no matter how passionately we feel that only our viewpoint is the only correct viewpoint. People are a lot more than their politics. They earn livings, make sacrifices for others, love family unconditionally, contribute to charity, try to live a good moral life, help others when needed, have triumphs and disappointments, etc. See the whole person, not just their politics.

How does US Health Care Compare to other Nations?

An "Investor's Business Daily" article a few years ago (prior to Obamacare) provided very interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization.
Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S. 65%
England 46%
Canada 42%
Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
U.S. 93%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S. 90%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77%
England 40%
Canada 43%
Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million:
U.S. 71%
England 14%
Canada 18%
Not sure why percentages were used. The latest comparison to all nations can be found in thhe following link - https://www.statista.com/statistics/282401/density-of-magnetic-resonance-imaging-units-by-country/ Note that England and Canada are so low that they are not listed in the top 15.
Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in "excellent health:
U.S. 12%
England 2%
Canada 6%
And now for the last health statistic:
National Health Insurance:
U.S. NO (this comparison was done prior to Obamacare).
England YES
Canada YES

The Importance of Perseverance

If I was asked to describe in one word, what is needed for success, that word would be “Perseverance”. Those who persevere in all aspects of life (education, work, personal finance, relationships, etc.) are likely to succeed; those who don't persevere are likely to fail and be less happy in life. Success requires constant effort throughout life. The road to success especially in achieving educational goals, satisfying careers, well paid jobs, desired promotions, nice homes, furniture, cars, and vacations plus saving and investing money for today's needs, future family needs, and future retirement needs is a long and sometimes difficult road. It takes a lot of daily effort year after year for several decades to first achieve the educational goals needed for success and then to achieve the career goals of job and income needs and satisfaction.

The road to success necessarily makes you weary at times. At those times, you will likely ask yourself – when will this struggle end? Is there an easier way? Can I really take two more difficult years of college to graduate or work every day for another 20 years until I reach retirement age? Or you may stop making efforts toward your goals, falsely promising yourself that this is only a temporary break and you will renew the struggle (for example, to continue your education), when in reality, stopping the struggle and enjoying the break from that struggle just makes the thought of renewing the effort to pursue your goals seem even more difficult in the future.

We literally get through life one day at a time. We don't have to accomplish years of effort and goals in one day, whether it be to continue our education or employment or saving money, etc. When you are struggling to persevere to the goals that you have previously set for yourself, remember that. Just get through today. Don't put the weight of all the years left that is needed to achieve your goals in the future on your shoulders today. Perhaps, promise yourself a reward for today's seemingly extra tough struggle, be it a dessert, or a nap, or a short drive to somewhere nice, etc. to help you get through today. Do what it takes, but just get through today. There will be other difficult days in the future, but there will also be many good days and/or good moments in the future too.

Why persevere to pursue this struggle at all? Very simple answer – history shows that the odds are very high that your life will be infinitely happier and more satisfying for the next several decades that it (hopefully) takes for you to reach the end of your life, than if you make the decision (or let inertia make the decision for you) to just give up.

It was certainly the truth for me (both for school and for work) as it was also the truth for my father. Perseverance toward our goals, very difficult, tiring, and exasperating at times, made our goals happen, and life is and was very good due to it.

Causes of the Great Depression and the Great Recession

If you only know when things happened and not why, then you are economically ignorant and therefore part of the problem. FDR, by raising taxes to balance the budget whose revenues had dropped because so many people were out of work and not paying taxes thus reducing disposable income which in turn lowered demand for products and services, plus by enacting trade barriers to imports which other nations retaliated, causing entire industries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to collapse, throwing many more people out of work is the reason why it took 10 years and a World War to get out of the economic mess of the Great Depression. The recession of 2008 was the result of high defaults on home mortgages. The high default rate occurred because in the 1990s, Bill Clinton put Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act, which put pressure on banks and mortgage lenders to lower borrowing standards "so that the poor can buy homes" on steroids. Not surprisingly, these loans had high default rates. It took years for the percentage of these type of loans to total loans to all borrowers to become large enough to have a meaningful impact on the economy, To his credit, Bush recognized the problem early on in his first term in office and tried to change the law 18 different times. However, the Democrats, led by Congressman Barney Frank screaming "don't fix what isn't broken" blocked passage of the bill. When the inevitable happened and too many loans defaulted sinking the economy, Democrats lied and blamed "greedy banks" for the problem. Gullible people bought it. The Democrats passed all sorts of new regulations after Obama got elected, but none of them fixed the real problem - the Community Reinvestment Act forcing banks to give loans to unqualified buyers. Therefore, history is likely to repeat itself in the future and the economically ignorant will not have a clue as to the cause. 

Student Loans

The very ease of getting a student loan plus the financial ignorance of the students have been exploited by colleges to raise tuition, plus room and board, much faster than inflation and also to expand their Administrative staffs to bloated levels while paying ridiculous salaries to "star" professors. Given that over half of college students never graduate, no student should get a college loan for the first two years. Let them go to cheap Community colleges instead (and work part time if they need to). If they don't drop out after qualifying for their junior year, then consider college loans, but put a cap on it of no more than $15,000 a year. Also, no loan unless the college the student plans to transfer to, accepts all the student's college earned credits to be transferred (otherwise, expensive colleges will deliberately reject many of the credits forcing the financially naive student to spend more time and money at the college he/she transferred to). Some Community colleges have expanded from two years to four years. Encourage more to do so. That way, many more students could graduate inexpensive colleges without the need for student loans. Now, with less demand for their services, the expensive colleges will be forced to compete for students by lowering costs to reasonable levels and also utilizing alumni donations to help students instead of constructing new buildings and monuments to themselves. Everyone benefits.

How NOT to Unintentionally Disinherit Your Children

If you have re-married or do so sometime in the future, you need to be aware of how you could unintentionally disinherit your children. In a second (third, fourth, etc.) marriage, even if the current spouse is not listed on any of your IRA beneficiary forms, by Federal law, the current spouse, if she/her survives you, gets all the money in the account, and the other beneficiaries (for example, your children) get nothing. There is one exception to this law. If you have a signed waiver where the current spouse gives up her/his rights to the money, then your IRA(s) will be distributed to the beneficiaries in the manner that you designated. That is why our own Trust mandates a premarital agreement at least 30 days before any future marriage in which the prospective bride and groom are each represented by different legal counsel. Should you be in similar circumstances, you need to be aware of this law and how to ensure that your inheritance wishes are followed. 

If I ran for President

If I ran for President, I would be a lot more specific on my plans concerning jobs, wealth, debt, and unfunded government liabilities. First, I would end all 2200+ Federal government subsidies totaling over one trillion dollars a year. Next, I would require all healthy welfare recipients who are not working to work, creating menial public works jobs if necessary. That takes care of annual deficits and produces a surplus. I would stop being the only major nation who taxes companies from bringing their overseas profits to invest in America creating new jobs in the process.

I would revise income taxes to be taken at the gross income level without deductions in a progressive manner, but at a lower tax rate so that the impact is tax neutral on individuals and as with Social Security, there would be no tax forms to fill out.

I would add a Social Security option, based on life expectancy tables, to fully collect the highest SS check when one spouse dies (just like today), but with the option on the second lower SS check to collect some, all or none of it when the first spouse dies by taking a little bit less of the second lower check when both spouses are alive (similar to what most pensions do today).

Also on SS, I would fund it differently. SS consists of a pension, disability, and child welfare for widows. I would fund SS by having one SS tax for pensions designed so that people get back what they put in thus limiting as today the amount of income taxed, and a second welfare tax for the other two programs which taxes all income (at a tiny 1-2% which is about all that is needed).

I would eliminate overtime pay in the calculation of government pensions to eliminate the fraud of working massive overtime in the last year of work to boost pensions from 50% of income to 100% at taxpayer expense.

I would repeal the Community Investment Act and similar laws that force banks to make mortgage loans to unqualified buyers "so that the poor can buy homes" which later they default on their mortgages because they couldn't afford it in the first place (the real cause of the 2008 Recession courtesy of Bill Clinton who expanded the original Jimmy Carter program and which Democrats wouldn't let Bush fix).

I would fix health care costs by first allowing insurance policies to cross State lines and compete. Most importantly, since up to 50% of medical costs are spent on terminal patients in their last six months of life, I would have two types of insurance policies. One type for those who just want to be kept comfortable when near death and one who want every effort expended (driving up costs exponentially) to keep them alive for a few more weeks (though even with that, I would have some reasonable government limitations). Those that choose the comfort option would pay a lot less in insurance than those who don't. No family member can override the option chosen by the patient when they bought their insurance.

I would also have third party insurance companies administer all government health care programs as they have less than 1% medical fraud while the government medical fraud rate is estimated at 10 to 25%, costing hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

I would get rid of the asylum loophole at the border by requiring foreign asylum seekers to get approval and documentation of approval from an American embassy to show at a legal point of entry. Without it, or even with it if they cross anywhere but a legal point of entry, they are immediately deported without a trial.

I also would change the definition of citizen. Those born of American citizen parents anywhere in the world are citizens. Those born in America of legal permanent residents are ctizens. All others are not citizens even if born in America. They are foreign nationals born on American soil.

Finally, I would take some of the new budget surplus I created to increase the size of our Army which is now too small to defend ourselves in a conventional war and is the cause of so many repetitive deployments overseas by our current troops. 

Political Correctness - the Hallmark of all Dictatorships

Political correctness is an abusive political tool to say that one side is always right and the other side is always wrong. To those who believe in political correctness, I say who determined what is politically correct? You don't know and therefore cannot tell me, can you? More importantly to validate politically correct issues and answers, first show me a complete list of all the politically correct issues and the politically correct answers. Next show me the dates when a national vote was taken on these issues along with the vote counts for and against. If you cannot do that, then you are just making it up as you go. That makes all my issues and all my answers as politically correct as yours. The entire concept of political correctness, I repeat, has absolutely no place in a freedom loving democracy. Political correctness is the hallmark of all dictatorships. If you are not politically correct in a dictatorship, then you are jailed or tortured or killed or all three.

Black Killings - The Real Problem

A lot of protests and media press has been given lately to a handful of cop killings of blacks as if there is a huge national conspiracy by cops to kill blacks. Yet, very few blacks are killed by cops and those that were killed were engaging in criminal and violent activities plus resisting arrest and deserved what they received. The media has even supported the frequently seen protest lie concerning Michael Brown of "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" when all the witnesses who were actually there and testified under oath in court, including Black witnesses, that it never happened that way. Instead the 300 pounder put his head down and charged like a football player engaging in tackling violently toward the officer.
Of course, all the so called Black Civil Rights leaders have promoted the myth of cops killing blacks simply because they are black. More Whites are killed by cops than Blacks, but that fact is ignored. Also ignored is the fact that thousands of Blacks are murdered each year - 93% of them are murdered by other Blacks. In 35 years, over a quarter million blacks have been murdered by other Blacks. That's more than double the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam and Korean Wars combined.
If "Black lives Matter" as the protesters and Civil Rights leaders love to shout at cops, then why don't all those hundreds of thousands murdered Black lives by other Blacks matter? Why are they not trying to address and fix the real threat to Black lives instead of the miniscule handful of Blacks killed, normally for excellent reasons, by cops? If you are a Black person, you have a lot more to fear from other Black people than you do from cops. Imagine how many more Blacks would be murdered if it weren't for cops?

Immigration Reform

If you want meaningful immigration reform, then just do what Mexico does to stop illegal immigration from Central American nations who consider Mexico to be "rich". Mexico does not allow them to get jobs, nor go to school, nor receive government benefits, nor rent an apartment. If caught, Mexico takes all their assets and money, then deports them. Problem solved. For good measure, make it impossible for those caught to ever become US citizens or to become legal Permanent Residents, or to even visit the U.S. again.

Social Security Unfair Taxation

Since 1993, retired couples have been taxed on their Social Security benefits despite the original promise by FDR that Social Security benefits would never be taxed. Passage of the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act HR 3894 would fulfill the promise made to seniors on Social Security by eliminating Social Security benefits in the calculation of federal income taxes.
For a retired couple with a total income (including SS) of $65,343 or more, their Social Security is taxed at a 28.2% rate. A non-retired couple has to earn $146,400 to pay taxes at a 28.2% rate. This is unreasonable and unfair!  

Unions Should Be Banned

Do you believe in monopolies? If the answer is no and it should be no, then you should be against all unions. Logically, for employers, a union is a labor "monopoly". Like any monopoly, unions wield incredible power over the "price" of labor (wages, benefits, work rules), just as business monopolies exercised incredible power over the price of labor, goods and services. Business monopolies were banned in 1890. All the monopolists then, just as the union members today, thought they had a "right" to exist. However, their total control over 'price' prevented free market competition from determining fair prices and consumers and laborers were unfairly hurt. The same is true today for unions. Union members earn wages and benefits beyond what is normal elsewhere for their labor based on education, skills, and outside competition. That hurts profit margins, stockholders plus raises the price needed to make a profit and stay in business. This in turn hurts consumers and other laborers as the reduction in discretionary income reduces spending which in turn reduces jobs as less people are needed to produce less goods and services being bought.

Decisions that the Unemployed Should Quickly Make

Whether the unemployed are earnestly looking for work or enjoying a government paid vacation, extending unemployment benefits is a bad idea. For the roughly 25% enjoying a government paid vacation, taxpayers don't need to pay for that. For the rest earnestly looking/wanting employment, it postpones the inevitable and makes it even worse. Essentially for many unemployed people, from day one, there's a major decision to be made - Do I preserve my standard of living or do I preserve my wealth?

To preserve your standard of living, you normally need to deplete your wealth even while collecting unemployment benefits. Stay unemployed long enough and you will lose both your standard of living and all of your wealth. Odds are good, especially if you are 40 or over, that you will never recover them. The unemployed person who quickly decides to substantially reduce their lifestyle and standard of living (move to cheaper housing, sell expensive cars, etc.), has a good shot of preserving their wealth. If they do get a good job again, they will be able to go back to their former standard of living if they wish, plus have all or most of their wealth intact. If they never get that good job, by having quickly reduced their standard of living, they can at least keep all or most of their wealth. That's a lot better place to be at then the person who tried to the bitter end to preserve their standard of living and lost everything.

How to Fix Government Pensions

Many government public pensions are way more generous than private pensions. They are designed in a manner that truly rips off the taxpayer. The situation is so bad, that the unfunded pension liabilities are going to bankrupt cities and states. This is not only bad for those cities and states, but bad for the government employees who may collect much less pension than they were expecting. There is a need to correct these problems in a manner that is fair to both the government employees and the taxpayers.

How did this happen in the first place? There is a very serious, obvious conflict of interest between public unions ( a legal labor monopoly that should not exist at all because it has all the adverse impacts of banned business monopolies) and the politicians, who get elected with union support (time, money, and votes), that negotiate wages, pensions, and benefits with the people who got them their jobs.

Here are my recommendations:

Fund all public pension liabilities that exist and new ones that are created. You can't use government bonds to fund them; you must use taxes that are invested by qualified, non-interested commissions subject to rules and review. However, if that funding requires a tax increase greater than inflation or a tax increase two contracts in a row, then publicly state how much in total and by average taxpayer, and hold an election in which voters can accept or reject the contract.

Eliminate the conflict of interest between public unions and politicians. The simplest, most effective way would be to ban public unions. Other less effective solutions may work such as point 1. Arbitration of union contracts by non-politicians who are not interested parties could be another solution.

3. Overtime pay may not be utilized to calculate income in pension determinations. Furthermore, management and professions, just as in private industry, can not be paid overtime, but are expected to work overtime as required to fulfill the duties of their jobs.

4. To avoid the spiking of pensions through either massive overtime or phony promotions in the years just before retirement, annual income for pension calculations will be the highest consecutive 5 year average of the last ten years and again can not use overtime pay. No pension amount can exceed 55% of this five year average annual pay. You get 1.5% credit for each full time year worked, not to exceed 55% in total. Part time years get partial credits in proportion to a 40 hour week.

5. Full pensions cannot begin until age 65 and partial pensions until age 55. For each year of retirement before age 65, the pension amount will be reduced 4% from the full pension amount.

6. Government workers must also contribute to and receive Social Security. Calculated pension amounts will be further reduced by half the projected Social Security benefit.

7. Government workers who are married at the time of retirement may choose to allow their spouses to collect their pension after they die. However, the amount of pension collected will be further reduced based on life expectancy tables of the husband and wife.

8. No cost of living raises will be allowed on government pensions.

9. Should there ever be a default of a government pension so that only partial benefits can be paid, those collecting pensions that were calculated utilizing overtime pay, would have their pensions reduced first to what their pensions would have been without overtime pay. Then all pensions, if still needing to be reduced, will be reduced by the same percentage.

10. In the future, eliminate government pensions and just contribute to 401K plans (no more than 5% a year). 80% of taxpayers have no pensions and should not be on the hook to fund extravagant government pensions.

What I have proposed is essentially the way private pensions work. Federal pensions should not exceed the private pensions of those taxpayers who get them.

School and other Bond Referendums - Information Black Hole

Voters just approved a 312 million dollar bond referendum for schools in my county. No information other than how much it would cost was given on the ballot. How is someone supposed to make an intelligent decision to approve or disapprove? Prior to the elections, there was precious little information in local papers other than how many schools were to be built and what they each would cost. One school is estimated at 145 million dollars plus land costs. You could build a palace for that price! There should be a law forcing government to give pertinent facts on all bond votes such as:

Cost per square foot and cost per classroom. (for roads, cost per mile, etc.)

Cost of the school building and cost of the athletic fields/stadiums separately.

Average cost per household of the bond total.

Costs in total and costs per household of all other outstanding bonds.

Projected repayment costs of principal plus interest as an annual dollar total and percentage of tax revenues.

Is this an interest only bond with a principal balloon payment at the end (probably necessitating a refinancing to pay off the principal)?

It seems that if you just put the word "school" in front of a bond referendum that it is likely to pass without any serious review by voters. That is fiscal insanity!

A State with No Republicans

Very interesting...Note this. A US State with zero Republicans in office -
The State of Illinois. Think about this.
Some interesting data on the 'state' of Illinois... There are more people on welfare in Illinois than there are people working. Chicago pays the highest wages to teachers than anywhere else in the U.S. averaging $110,000/year. Their pensions average 80-90% of their income. Wow, are Illinois and Chicago great or what? Be sure to read till the end. I've never heard it explained better. Perhaps the U.S.should pull out of Chicago? Body count: In the last six months, 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago. 221 killed in Iraq; AND Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the entire US.
Here's the Chicago chain of command: President: Barack Obama .
Senator: Dick Durbin . House Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr. .
Governor: Pat Quinn . House leader: Mike Madigan . Atty. Gen.: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike) . Mayor: Rohm Emanuel . The leadership in Illinois - all Democrats. . Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago.
Of course, they're all blaming each other. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any! .
Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!
State pension fund $78 Billion in debt, worst in country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!
Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!
This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois. And he is going to 'fix' Washington politics for us?
George Ryan is no longer Governor, he is in the prison.
He was replaced by Rob Blajegovitch who is that's right, also in the prison.
And Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned a couple of weeks ago, because he is fighting to not be sent to...that's right, prison.
The Land of Lincoln, where our governors make our license plates.
But you know what?
As long as they keep providing entitlements to the population of Chicago, nothing is going to change, except the state will go broke before the country does.
"Anybody who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian."
Don't forget Detroit another good example.
Some of you might find these data interesting. ALL SHOULD. There are actually two messages here. The first is very interesting, but the second is absolutely astounding -- and explains a lot!
A recent "Investor's Business Daily" article provided very interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization.
Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S. 65%
England 46%
Canada 42%
Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:
U.S. 93%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S. 90%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77%
England 40%
Canada 43%
Number of MRI and CT scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million:
U.S. 71
England 14
Canada 18
Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in "excellent health:
U.S. 12%
England 2%
Canada 6%
And now for the last health statistic:
National Health Insurance:
U.S. NO
England YES
Canada YES
And check this last set of statistics!!
The percentage of each past president's cabinet who had worked in the private business sector prior to their appointment to the cabinet....
You know what the private business sector is. A real-life business, not a Government job. Here are the percentages.
T.Roosevelt................... 38%
Taft...........................40%
Wilson ....................... 52%
Harding....................... 49%
Coolidge.......................48%
Hoover ........................42%
F. Roosevelt...................50%
Truman.........................50%
Eisenhower.................... 57%
Kennedy........................30%
Johnson........................47%
Nixon..........................53%
Ford...........................42%
Carter.........................32%
Reagan.........................56%
GH Bush........................55%
Clinton .................. ...39%
GW Bush........................55%
Obama.......................... 8%
This helps to explain the incompetence of this administration: only 8% of them have ever worked in private business!
That's right! Only eight percent -- the least, by far, of the last 19 presidents! And these people are trying to tell our big Corporations how to run their business?
How can the president of a major nation and society, the one with the most successful economic system in world history, stand and talk about business when he's never worked for one? Or about jobs when he has never really had one? And when it's the same for 92% of his senior staff and closest advisers?
They've spent most of their time in academia, Government and/or non-profit jobs or as "community organizers." They should have been in an employment line.
Pass this on because we'll NEVER see these facts in the mainstream media.
"One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you will be governed by your inferiors." - Plato

Why Raising the Minimum Wage Never Works

Economic lesson - why raising the minimum wage never works as intended. There are calls today to more than double the minimum wage to a "livable wage" of $15 an hour. First, based on history, raising the minimum wage prices many of our inexperienced, unskilled youth out of the job market, raising their already sky high unemployment rates. Not a good thing. Those inexperienced youth who get a first job usually join the middle class within 15 years. Those that don't get that first job when they are young, stay government dependent for the rest of their lives. Most importantly, the experienced and skilled workers logically expect to earn more money than inexperienced, unskilled workers. Many were once inexperienced and unskilled. They worked hard for years to achieve their current skills and income level. They will demand and receive substantially more than inexperienced workers. So if $15 an hour became the minimum wage, the experienced workers will receive proportionally more money than they receive today and therefore continue to receive more money than inexperienced and unskilled workers. If that didn't happen, experienced workers would actually suffer a reduction in their standard of living because in all of this, the volume of goods and services (GDP or Gross Domestic Product) is unchanged. Now we have more income chasing the same amount of goods and services. The result is inflation (goods and services cost more) and the people making the minimum wage still have proportionally less money than others to buy the same amount of goods and services available. Nobody can buy any more goods and services than they could before the minimum wage was increased because nationally there are no more total goods and services available to be bought. minimum wage increases only increase paper money, not goods and services produced. In order to increase your buying power, you must increase your contribution to the production of goods and services so that the total of these rises. In other words, you must increase your skill and/or education levels so that the value of your work makes a greater contribution to the total goods and services produced. That will get you paid more than the minimum wage. The silver lining for those people crying out for a "livable wage" is that 98% of the workers earning a minimum wage are students or youth still being supported by parents or the second member of a household with someone else earning a living wage or combined earning a living wage. Only 2% of minimum wage earners are truly head of household and the only worker in a family. They often get additional help from government. So the 'living wage' issue is really a false, minor issue. Bottom line, raising the minimum wage hurts the inexperienced, first time job seeker and also hurts savers (as their accumulated lifetime savings loses significant purchasing power due to inflation.

Better Social Security Benefits at No Expense to Government

Give upfront options to married couples on the lower SS check for collecting SS in the future when a spouse dies. Currently, the spousal survivor loses the second check. That represents a 33-50% loss of SS income. Too many people can't survive financially with such a loss because their bills (rent, mortgage, car payments, property taxes, home insurance, etc.) do not go down 33-50% when a spouse dies (they don't go down at all!).

At the time that the second spouse applies for SS, based on life expectancy tables so that there is no extra cost to SS, offer 4 options on the lower check. Collect at 100% and forfeit that check on the death of the first spouse (that is the same as today), or collect the second check at 50% or 75% or 100% when the second spouse dies by taking correspondingly less money on the second check from the time both people are on SS. How much less depends on their ages and life expectancy tables.

That's the option I had with my corporate pension. The company did not care what option was chosen because, based on life expectancy tables and factored over thousands of retirees, the overall total cost to the company is the same. If the government adopts these extra options, there would be no increase in costs to the government, but a substantial increase in security for married couples on Social Security. That's a win-win solution.

Fixing Medicare Fraud

Depending on what article you read, Medicare fraud varies from 10% to 25%. Compare that result with private insurance companies. Private Insurance companies experience less than 1% fraud.

Therefore, the best approach would be to maintain the government program as is, but hire insurance companies, not federal government workers, to manage the program as "third party providers". The US military forces already do this for many job activities. Just as with military combat operations, this is not "privatizing" Medicare. It will still be government insurance run by government overseers. Just the administrative workers will be different.

Secondly, roughly half of all Medicare expenses go to people in their last year of life. Many of these recipients are too sick to make medical decisions. So other family members, or government, or medical providers make these decisions for them. The result is often extending the dying process, not the living process, for the benefit of the medical providers.

For example, "have cancer and only have 6 months to live, we need to do quadruple bypass surgery now so you can make it to six months." That benefits the medical providers financially in a very substantial way, but what does it do for the patient except extend his/her suffering?

The solution is for the Medicare recipients at the time they sign up for Medicare, to fill out a medical will that all medical providers have access to and must follow unless the patient changes his/her mind when the time comes. That takes it out of government's hand, out of medical provider's hands, and out of family members hands who may not know the patient's wishes in such a situation and the patient is unable to respond to questions clearly and/or intelligently.

For people already on Medicare, each year they must make new choices for part D prescription programs. At that time, for any who have not submitted a medical will, have them do so. Either fill out a government form or if they have a medical will already, give government a copy.

False Claims that Blacks are Trapped in Poverty

With the 50th anniversary of the 1963 MLK March and "I have a dream" speech, numerous articles are appearing that the job isn't finished, blacks are trapped in poverty, and more help is needed to raise the standard of living for black people. What utter nonsense! Blacks are NOT trapped into poverty! Blacks have every opportunity to succeed today and for the last 20-30 years but too many blacks throw those opportunities away. It starts with the disintegration of black families (3 out of 4 black children are born to single parent households). That's a choice, not a trap! Too many blacks fail to get a good free public education by either dropping out or not trying to learn much if they stay in school despite the fact that we pay up to $20,000 per year per student in black urban areas on education or double the national average. Again that's a choice, and also a failure of family parenting, not a trap. Black crime rates are up to 8 times higher than the national average. Again that is a choice, plus a result of the first two points I made, not a trap. Blacks live in a free nation where they are free to make bad decisions. Way too many blacks make bad decisions. The ones that don't, that is the ones that actually try, who study hard, get an education, and work hard, generally succeed. The blacks (and whites) who don't try to earn their way out of poverty generally live in poverty. Again, that was their choice. Don't falsely blame anyone else, nor unfounded 'universal' racial discrimination claims, nor history for that outcome. Take personal responsibility, study and work hard, and change your life for the better! Otherwise, stop complaining because no one will nor should listen!

Conducting Fair Presidential Primaries

Iowa, a small farm state, and New Hampshire, a tiny, liberal state have deliberately positioned their Presidential primaries to be the first in the nation for the sole purpose of having an enormous influence on who is nominated. Conservatives and anti-subsidy candidates are at a distinct disadvantage. Major Presidential candidates have been knocked out of contention by these first primary states as their failure to conform to liberal policies resulted in a poor showing and unfair drop in polls which seems to have a huge impact on voters. This forces all serious candidates to cater to the political wishes of two tiny states, not representative of the rest of America, and handicaps candidates who are for the real changes needed to fix our government spending problems. Other states and their political interests are consequently at a distinct disadvantage as Presidential candidates spend enormous amounts of time and money campaigning in these two tiny states, and have much less time to spend in other States. The winners in these tiny states have enormous advantages in ultimately winning their party's nomination for President.
This is totally, unfair, un-American, not in our best interests as a nation, and contributes to the out of control spending policies of the United States. I am sure that if our Founding Fathers, noted for their wisdom in setting up our Democracy, were alive and asked to design Presidential primaries today, it would be much different than what we have now. I believe there should be 5 primary election dates, one a month, from February through June, in which 10 states vote in each. These 10 states should be taken geographically from North, South, East, West, and middle. There should be a balance of red-blue states, conservative-liberal states. Then every four years, the order of voting of these same 10 states should be moved with the first group of 10 states becoming the second group of 10, the second becoming the third, etc. with the last group of 10 from the last primary becoming the first group of 10 states in the current primary. No individual state should have a significant advantage in shaping the candidates or US policy.

Ending the Welfare Mess

The current welfare and food stamp programs are set up in a manner that incents people to have as many babies as you can, without supporting fathers, in order to gain more government benefits and "retire" without ever having worked. It is an axiom that whatever you incent people to do, that's what they likely will do. So in the future, let's incent them to work. End or at least substantially reduce welfare and food stamps and replace that program with a child care services program so that the mother is free to work and must work to earn the money necessary to support her family housing and food needs. At the same time require that fathers of all children be identified (with severe criminal penalties for lying, plus free DNA tests) so that they can be forced to support their children. If the fathers don't work, subtract child support payments from any government benefits that they receive to incent them to work. By incenting people to work, more people will work. Less babies will be created for the sole purpose of increasing government benefits of the parents. The disintegration of families (3 out of every 4 black children are born to single parent homes) will begin to reverse which will lead to less crime, less government costs, more children staying in school and actually learning, and most importantly better lives for more Americans.

Social Security Inequity toward Working Spouses

This is best illustrated by example. Two couples A and B are the same age. The husbands make the same salaries during their work life, started working on the same day and retired on the same day 45 years later. Couple A has a working wife who made half the income as her husband and also worked for 45 years. Couple B has a wife the same age a couple A's wife who never worked.

Therefore Couple A has paid 50% more into Social Security through SS taxes over a lifetime (and so have their employers who must match their employees' SS contributions) than Couple B. So, when retired, which couple collects the higher Social Security income? Answer – neither couple – they both collect exactly the same amount of SS income even though Couple A contributed 50% more in SS taxes! That's because couple B's wife who never put anything into SS still collects half the amount that her husband gets which is exactly the same amount that Couple A's wife will collect. Now is that fair?

How to Cut Government Spending

How to Cut Government Spending

We need a real and huge spending cut program. Start with the government subsidies (there are over 2200 of them) - eliminate all of them (that equates to about one trillion dollars a year). Subsidies, which always interfere with the free marketplace, are essentially a "slice" of Communism - the most failed Economic system ever. Next reduce government workers' salaries to be more comparable to the private sector for the same type of work, eliminate pensions and instead put them on Social Security plus contribute 5% of income monthly to a 401K to get in line with voters' retirement benefits in the private sector. No overtime pay for management employees. Go to automatic federal income tax deductions similar to Social Security – no tax forms to fill out - enabling us to eliminate most of the IRS. Abolish the ridiculously expensive, debt ridden and job killing Obamacare. Government regulators get a new job - instead of endlessly creating more job killing regulations, they start of with a clean piece of paper, make a minimum of needed regulations and eliminate the millions of regulations on the books now. Consolidate government agencies as has been recommended in the past. For instance, we don't need separate departments for Medicare, Medicaid, and Senior prescription drugs - one organization should be able to handle all of it. 535 Congressman and senators don't need their individual huge staffs repeating the work of each member 535 times. They get small staffs and a small pool of workers for each political party to share their work results with all their party members. We sell the 14,000 government buildings not being used. We don't give income tax refunds to those who don't work. We don't give government housing to anyone but limited military. Fathers whether wed or unwed must support their children. Unwed, welfare mothers get no government support unless they truthfully identify the fathers (who then must provide child support). Illegal aliens get no government assistance, no jobs, no free education, no place to live and we have a tough, mandatory system with employers, schools, and apartment/housing rentals, and the IRS to ensure that all gets done. If caught, then before immediate deportation, we take all their assets - houses, furniture, cash including bank and brokerage accounts, from them and send them home with just the clothes on their backs. We toughen Social Security Disability requirements, especially for reasons of “stress”. Children must legitimately pass their school subjects to be promoted. If they get left back twice, a social worker investigates the family to see if it is in the best interests of the child to be taken away from their family. All public unions are outlawed as they should be as a corrupt conflict of interest (supporting the election of politicians, then negotiating with these same politicians for wages and benefits). Government agencies that are responsible for social security or any form of welfare/subsidy must operate within administrative costs of no more than 5% of their total budget (same as a good charity). Since Medicare fraud is estimated to range from 10-25% (or hundreds of billions of dollars per year), while private insurance fraud is less than 1%, fire the government workers and instead hire insurance companies as third party providers to administer Medicare and Medicaid.

Climate Change Facts

First, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Life could not exist without carbon dioxide. Second, the last 15 years have not warmed at all. That's a scientific fact. Third, the recent tiny increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere is attributed to deforestation (farmers burning down forests to plant crops). Fourth, China is putting two new, large electrical coal plants on line every week. Nothing we do can change that. Plus China has less controls on coal emissions than we do. India is also building coal plants and their population will soon exceed China's. Fifth, the number of hurricanes per year is nowhere near record levels. Sixth, the mandatory ethanol blends for gasoline add to pollution and don't save any oil imports, but they do increase the price of food and have killed thousands through starvation. Seventh, climate change models, the basis of climate change policies, have failed to accurately predict the weather of the past 30 years when put to the test. Conclusion - we don't have a climate change problem, nor a carbon problem. So why the fuss - liberals want to use climate change as a basis for taxing rich nations and sending the money to poor nations. It's always about the money!

Income Tax Reform

Let's adopt a flat income tax that is simple and also "progressive" (to get liberals to pass it) so that the higher your income the greater the percentage of tax that you pay. Contradiction? No. Either exempt the first $20,000 of income from income taxes or better yet, tax it at a nominal rate like 5%. After $20,000, then tax at a reasonable flat rate with no deductions nor exemptions. The net tax rate is very progressive. For example, if the flat tax was 15% and the first $20,000 of income was exempted,, a person earning $30,000 would pay $1,500 in income taxes which is a 5% 'effective' tax rate. Another person earning $100,000 would pay $12,000 in income taxes which is a 12% 'effective' tax rate or more than double the tax rate the $30,000 income person paid. In both cases, no income tax forms are needed. For interest, dividends and capital gains, either no tax (probably not passable) or the flat tax rate taken out and paid automatically by the financial institutions holding your money. Do the same for companies and corporations, but based on profits (again with no deductions or exemptions).