For the second time in two days, our DSL provider has incurred a major outage affecting about 100 of us.  Yesterday we could not connect to the internet for six hours.  Now this morning, the same problem happens again with preliminary prospects of another six to eight hours with no access to the internet.  If this were some local phone company with one tech guy I could understand, but this is a big company which provides local telephone service to millions of customers.

If access to the internet were only a hobby, then two outages in two days would be a minor inconvenience, but if your livelihood is based upon being connected to the internet; it is whole different story.  In our case, I use the internet to stay connected to this site and a few others and my wife uses it to run an online business.  When there is not access to the internet there is no way to conduct her business.

What is up with so-called “customer service” anyway?  Whatever happened to the old adage “the customer is always right”?  Why is it anymore that if, as a customer, you have a complaint or a situation which causes hardship or danger you are treated like someone trying to rip off the company?  I believe the “me first” mentality has fully crept into the everyday business realm.

We live in the country and our electricity is provided by a rural electrical cooperative.  For years we enjoyed lower rates than those in the city and received a check each year of excess profits.  Then last year the rates jumped dramatically for the first time in years due to the dramatic rise in energy prices.  Our response was to move out of the second story of our home so as to not run the upstairs air conditioner and embark on a series of measures to make sure we used far less electricity than before.  The result was we paid the same even after the huge increase due to decreased consumption.

Three months ago we were notified of another huge price increase that went into effect last month.  We turned the thermostat further down during cold snaps and the A/C higher.  We unplugged unused items and turned off more lights than we turned on.  In January we had the thermostat set at 70 degrees and by March it was down to 64 degrees.  There were some mighty cold mornings in this big house.  The A/C is set at 80 degrees.  There are going to be some mighty warm and muggy days in this place.

Yesterday we received the first bill with the new rate increases.  We had cut our consumption almost in half from one year ago and our bill was $15 more.  It is truly a pity that something like electricity has become something only the rich can afford.

Everywhere I go I see banks and hear commercials for lending companies touting their 4.25% interest rates on mortgages.  Every time I look into refinancing our mortgage to tap into these incredible rates I am met with the same answer MOST people get—“oh we are sorry but you don’t qualify for that rate, but we could get you a 7% rate”.  It is common knowledge that the lenders are so scared they are only giving these low interest loans to people how succeed in jumping through every possible hoop on earth.

I went into town yesterday to mail a bunch of packages.  Once again I was reminded of the 2 cent increase in stamps going into effect on the 11^th.  Less service, but pay more seems to be the way everyone is dealing with the current economic downturn.  Driving by the gas stations I saw the price for a gallon of gas had jumped 25 cents in one day.  Hmmm, if every business in America raised their prices that much overnight, wouldn’t it pretty well destroy the country?

I have no leverage with the electric company, the Post Office, the mortgage company or gasoline stations.  They are going to keep raising rates and prices to compensate for lack of demand for their services or market conditions.  But, when it comes to a phone/DSL company being unable to keep a line up for 24 hours, my patience runs out.  Besides, this is the same company that took almost a month to get service back for thousands of customers a little south of us last winter after an ice storm downed lines all over the place.  Hey what do you know, the restored the service!

It is daily getting harder and harder to stay afloat in this country.  The more one tries to conserve, cut back and be frugal, it does little good as others keep raising prices and rates at the same time.  One step forward and two steps back seems to be the name of the game now days.

Isn’t it a bit curious how in the current United States Senate, there are already two “caretakers” and soon to be three who stand little or no chance of even running again in two years, let alone getting elected? Isn’t it curious that at this crucial time in history one seat is vacant due to voting irregularities, one supposed Independent will be guaranteed to be anything but wholly Democratic in order to retain status and the new President’s opponent in November may end up siding with him more than his own party?

The United States Senate needs to be disbanded and start over. The insane politics which rule that chamber have finally caught up with it. Why is it that if a House member dies or gets booted out, a special election is called to fill the seat, but not in the Senate? Why is it that state governors are allowed to pick and choose whomever they want to fill a seat until the next election? Doesn’t this throw open the door to crimes such as went on in Illinois or childish shenanigans currently happening in New York? Doesn’t this yield convenient deals being made to guarantee a particular candidate wins in the future such as in Delaware?

Filling seats in the United States Senate at the whim of the Governor of a state is an amendment that needs to be proposed and enacted. No good thing can ever come from taking away the vote of the people for their elected officials. I realize that if the President leaves office, just as in most states if the Governor does; there are laws of succession which guarantee no new election is held until the next cycle. Is this a good law or could it not end up in the ruin of our country or a state?

When the Vice President was forced to resign back in 1973, President Nixon was allowed to pick a new Vice President. Of course he chose Gerald Ford who was at that time the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. A year later, Nixon was for forced to resign and instead of there being provisions to elect a new President, an unelected Vice President ascended to the Presidency.

If this were not bad enough, the new President then had to chose a new Vice President which ended up being—Nelson Rockefeller. How a man such as that made it to be Vice President is a tribute to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 which does not allow for a new election for a President.

Lest we ever forget, two attempts were made on President Ford’s life in September of 1975. “Squeaky” Fromme’s gun misfired on September 5^th in Sacramento and Sara Moore’s shot missed in San Francisco on the 22^nd. Only a naïve fool would not see what was planned. Ford was a “stand in” to be removed so that the country could be run by a Rockefeller. Amazingly, two attempts to accomplish this failed within two and one half weeks.

On March 30, 1981 newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington. Amazingly he lived only because the bullet missed its intended target by a fraction of an inch. Coincidentally, the Vice President was a young George Bush who had been highly involved in all sorts of Illuminati activities for years. Mr. Bush was almost nominated to be Vice President by Gerald Ford instead of Mr. Rockefeller.

As it all turned out, the plans of those who have plotted the takeover of the United States since its beginning happened through the electoral process in November. To make sure the agenda will breeze through Congress, the deck is now stacked with unqualified “yes men and women” in the Senate who will rubber stamp every program which will force this country into submission.

In due time all sorts of attempts will be made to amend the United States Constitution to make it more “living” and thus more accommodating to minorities and to eliminate sections contrary to future plans. No attempts will be made to amend it or to eliminate flaws which allow for no Presidential elections outside the four year cycle due to the 1947 act, nor to quit having Governors appoint Senators. This is truly a tragedy for this once great nation.

I understand that we are not to be in debt, so I am not sharing the following with you wanting to be scolded for being in debt. What things are is what things are, and some of us for various reasons got ourselves into situations that necessitated taking on debt and now we are getting ready to pay dearly for it.

Sparing you the details, for they are not important, let me simply say that the following are the facts:

1. We have never been late on any obligation for twenty years.

2. We live in a home that when re-financed in May of 2007 had, at the time, a full one third equity position. In other words, there was deliberately room left for unexpected expenses in the future.

3. We have 7 credit cards with balances on them and another 5 with zero balances.

4. Our income and expenses are the same as they have been for many years.

5. NOTHING has happened, on our end, to alter our situation in the past year and one half.

With these facts in mind, let me tell you what is going on. We have three credit cards that all go through the biggest bank in America. We have had these cards for between three and ten years. At times they have had balances approaching their limits and at other times balances of zero. NEVER has there been a late payment, over credit fee or any other negative. At present, all three carry balances which are at or below 50% of the credit lines.

Last week we received notices with the bills that as of December, the interest rates on all three cards were going from 6.99%, which they have been at for years, to 18.99%. As if this was not shock enough, we were informed the credit lines on all three cards were being frozen at current levels. Although we were able to “opt out” of the rise in interest rates by guaranteeing we would never use the cards again, we effectively were shut down by a bank we had up until a month ago, EXCELLENT relations with.

Yesterday the exact same thing happened with another bank we have two cards with. In both cases the so-called justification for the action was the bank did not like our “debt to income ratio”. Hello, it is the same as it has been for months. Before I had a chance to take all this personally, I did some research and found out what is going on which pertains to any of you carrying credit card balances.

A very trustworthy source, whom I trust completely wrote in an article yesterday that all the major banks and financing institutions are in the process of dealing with 2 trillion dollars in bad credit card debts. To handle this, they are systematically going through their clientele and doing exactly what they did to us with all but the very best customers on their books. In other words, they are cutting their losses by assuming anyone not making $500,000 per year is going to default on their credit card bills and thus they are freezing lines of credit and charging outlandish interest rates.

This has been going on for months and months with those in deep financial trouble, the difference is that now it is spreading to the “common folk” like my wife and I. The banks are bleeding money faster than Uncle Sam can give it to them. Look at the stocks of all the major banks and they are nearing the point of being worthless. No amount of money poured into the banks is going to help, for they are slowing slaughtering the very people who could have made them money via mortgages, loans and credit cards.

We recently found out that the same home which we had one third equity in 18 months ago now mysteriously has basically no equity. How on God’s green earth can a home lose 30% of its supposed value in 18 months? At the current rate, we will be “upside down” within six months. Oh how the vultures are circling as they make their plans to snatch this attractive property and acreage out from under us. All we can do is pray and do the best we can. These matters are way bigger than we are.

Don’t be surprised if any outstanding lines of credit you have get frozen soon. Don’t be surprised if the assumed equity you think you have in your home suddenly evaporates into thin air and you find yourself owing more than someone says your house is worth. Don’t be surprised if the reward you get for paying your bills on time, not being extravagant and trying to save money via retirement accounts is having to file for bankruptcy along with 50 states, thousands of cities and in due time, the United States of America.

Yes, that is where this is all heading. Sooner or later the government’s funny money will not be worth the paper it is printed on and no matter how much of it you make or save, it will not be able to help you. Those who sit back thinking they are safe and secure, will see sudden destruction come upon them. Those who thought they had enough in savings to carry them through their retirement years will be trying to survive on Social Security checks alone. Those who thought they had money to burn will find that money has all been burned up.

America’s chickens HAVE come home to roost in the sense that gross mistakes made due to greed are destroying the very financial foundation of this country. All logical measures which could really help the common person are laughed at and rejected outright. Instead, more and more money is thrown to the hungry ravenous wolves which represent the corrupt financial institutions of this world. They will never be satisfied until they have gobbled up every dollar from every soul in America. God help us.

It certainly appears to me that all across society, we are hearing more and more screams from “big kids” who spent years and years being spoiled rotten by the system they now abhor. We all knew, or maybe we were one ourselves, a spoiled kid. This kid was usually an only child whose parents made more money than most and since they did not have a big family to spend it on; they gave little Johnny everything and anything he wanted to be happy.

A child growing up getting everything he wants, becomes an adult who demands nothing less. In our society, we have seen generation after generation rise up with no sense of stewardship and no understanding of what it takes to do without. Even today, as parents scramble to find enough money to pay the bills; the kids throw tantrums, demanding newer computer games and better toys. Even when parents try to say no, they usually crumble under the withering barrage of objections from kids who have never heard that word before.

We are surrounded by children ranging in age from 1 to 65 who never were told “NO, you can’t have that”. Kids have been given everything they think they need and everything they know they want for years. Whether junk food, cell phones, skateboards, baggy shorts or computerized games; all these “toys” have been dropped in the laps of kids for decades.

Parents who have tried to buy the love and respect of their kids by bombarding them with “things” have found these kids to be anything but loyal as they grow older. In fact, many times the kids rebel against this blatant form of bribery. On therapist’s couches across America there are stories told daily by delinquent kids who only wanted love and attention and not all the “things” they were given.

Nothing replaces the time a parent spends with their child. No amount of money and no amount of things can compensate for the time a child craves to spend with their parents. When mom and dad are too busy enjoying their lives to spend time with Junior; they usually wake up one day to a call that Junior either is in jail or killed himself. This is the sad reality of American families these days.

Kids need to be taught they cannot have everything they want. Kids need to be given quality time with their parents instead of shipping them to the mall or their friends houses to get them out of the parent’s hair. Kids need to be given responsibilities and when carried out, given an allowance. It is truly amazing how many kids are simply given money for doing absolutely nothing.

Activities such as television, movies and the such should be regulated and only available after homework is done. Activities such as athletics, drama and dance should be viewed as rewards and not as an equal part of life as breathing. Where in the world did the idea come from that every kid has to be involved with every sport taking up hours of time in practice and games year round? Where did the notion come from that a kid MUST play soccer, baseball, football, basketball along with having a major part in every school play and play a musical instrument to boot?

Is it any wonder that the country if full of families who have no clue how to function as a family? The very concept of a family has degenerated into people coming and going all the time and perhaps on major holidays they actually may all be together. Long gone are the evenings when families would sit around the table and play archaic games such as Monopoly or Clue. Such ideas of family activities today would be viewed upon as punishment by most kids and even many adults.

See, the adults don’t want to give up their favorite television shows or their poker nights or other adult activities; and the kids don’t want to give up their cell phones, e-mails, games and other time wasters. What remains is a bunch of stubborn people who are too selfish to give up what they want to benefit the other. What is truly sad is that the adults don’t have what it takes to put down their foot and simply say: “This is the way it is going to be”. Such words, even if they were said, would be met with a roomful of rolling eyes and “yea sure”.

What we are facing at the current time in this country is a crisis brought about by years and years of neglect and lack of supervision on the account of companies who violated principle after principle of good business practice. Whether they were not taught to do things right, or the greed built by always having what you want when you want it; either way, the result is an economic disaster of unprecedented parallels.

The “sins of the fathers” have been manifesting themselves ever more clearly through the events which have crushed this country in 2008. Unless and until American families get back to living according to the principles set forth in God’s Word instead of the ways of the world, this country would continue to spiral downward throughout the coming generations. Parents waiting on the government, schools or even their church to take over the raising and training of their children are perfect fools. Any parent who willingly relinquishes their responsibility of raising their family right, is a parent unfit to even have a family.

Whether due to being spoiled, neglected or being bribed; there are many “bad kids” who are now running corporations, managing huge financial institutions and are responsible for the horrible mess dragging down this country. Few parents think about the long term repercussions of the way in which they raise their kids. They simply do what is convenient at the present and “hope for the best” when the kids grow up. But what happens when they never do grow up? Look around and you will see.

It has been conservatively estimated that the United States Treasury together with the Federal Reserve Board has loaned and/or given approximately 5 trillion dollars to banks and other financial institutions this year in their attempt to stabilize the economy. Everyone keeps talking about the 700 billion dollars involved with the bailout measure, but there were huge amounts of money involved as far back as last winter being loaned to banks at low interest rates. Little, if any of this money ever has been repaid.

The mere mention of a figure such as 5 trillion boggles the mind. When the word “dollars” is added after it, the mind cannot possibly grasp the immensity of it. Not too many years ago, a very wealthy person was called a “millionaire”. Anyone who owned a million dollars was looked upon as one of the richest people on earth. Now game shows have prizes of a million dollars.

These days the people who are very wealthy are called “billionaires”. There are only a few of them in the world, but they pretty much dictate much of what goes on in this world due to their incredible financial influence. The Warren Buffet’s and the Bill Gates of the world truly are in a class by themselves as far as their net worth. But, as rich as these people are, none of them even come remotely close to being a “trillionaire”.

When these kinds of numbers are tossed around, no one can possibly grasp how big they really are. For people like me, a hundred dollar bill is still something very special and unique. It would take ten billion one hundred dollar bills to equal a trillion dollars. Logically, it would take 50 billion one hundred dollar bills to equal the 5 trillion dollars spent to try and save the American banking system. I hope all these big numbers have gotten the point across that we are talking about a lot of money.

On the other side of coin (so to speak), in the African country of Zimbabwe, they have such horrific inflation that their money is basically worthless. Before they revalued their currency recently the following shows how bad it had gotten.

Can you honestly imagine spending 10 trillion “whatevers” to get some breakfast? I guess you could if the value of your “whatever” was basically zero. The more these huge numbers are tossed around, the more it makes you wonder if the day is coming in this country when a cup of coffee will cost a trillion dollars.

If I were running this country, instead of giving the banks 5 trillion dollars to squander; I would divide that number by the 300 million people in this country and GIVE each one of them an equal share. Talk about stimulating the economy. If each person in this country received an equal proportion of 5 trillion dollars, the amount each would receive would be:

$16,666.666

Food for thought.

]]> http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/how-about-giving-us-all-an-equal-share-of-the-next-5-trillion/feed/ 0 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/the-staggering-cost-of-receiving-medical-treatment-is-it-worth-it/ http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/the-staggering-cost-of-receiving-medical-treatment-is-it-worth-it/#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:22:58 +0000 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/?p=99 ]]>

Let me be brutally honest here. I have a list of physical ailments and corresponding medications and therapies needed to deal with them that is a mile long. With situations ranging from heart failure and coronary artery disease to diabetes to numerous herniated discs in my neck and back to kidney failure to liver problems along with skin issues; I have little choice but to try and survive on my paltry $600 disability I receive monthly from Social Security.

My life is spent going to one doctor, therapist or procedure after another. My money is spent on various drugs needed to somewhat keep all the various conditions under control along with the co-pays and deductibles for all the visits and drugs. Just yesterday I say 4 doctors in one day and spent $100 in co-pays alone. My wife also had a physical problem yesterday which resulted in her seeing the doctor. The final bill for co-pays alone came to $125. She made $130 working over 8 hours yesterday.

Now granted, yesterday was somewhat unusual since I had two doctor visits that only come up every three months, but when an entire day’s earnings are used up just visiting doctors—Houston, we have a problem. Due to the treatment regimen needed to deal with my back and neck problems, I must see the Chiropractor/therapist/medical doctor three times per week for the next few weeks. This is a $100 per week commitment. To get the prescriptions filled to relieve pain and speed the healing process cost another $50. The gas to make the drives cost another $60.

We recently had to make the yearly decision as to taking the high or low option on insurance through my wife’s employer. The basic difference came down to whether the insurance would pay 70% (low option) or 80% (high option) and whether co-pays would be $35 (low option) or $30 (high option) for doctor’s visits. The difference in price for high vs. low was an incredible $45 per week. In other words it was going to take $45 more per week to get insurance to pay 10% more of the bills.

We, as usual, chose the low option with a $40 medical re-imbursement option. Even choosing this package, the cost per week is $85. Some would say that is a small price to pay to have decent insurance; I would say that we are thankful to have the coverage, but…

If I had to go in the hospital for any of my various maladies, I would be responsible for a $300 per day co-pay and then insurance would only pay 70% of the cost of all things done while in the hospital. A one week stay in the hospital would cost a staggering $3,000 or more probably. Needless to say, I avoid any trips to the hospital like the plague.

I put off getting a bridge put in my mouth for a year. This is the third of four needed bridges. Since insurance only pays a fraction of the cost, I was left to pay the rest. Last week, an astounding $4,500 was charged to my Care Credit account to pay for a major bridge, a crown and other needed work. Last year a similar bridge “only” cost about $3,500 which was slowly being paid off. I am now maxed out on this account so I can only pray for no more emergencies.

I had to get the truckload of mail order prescriptions filled last week. The bill was just under $500. Trying to find the means to pay all these bills along with everything else is frustrating and a lesson in how people end up hopelessly in debt. Even if there were no other obligations, staying on top of numerous and varied medical conditions ends up eating all available funds plus more. Yes, things like Care Credit help with Dental and Veterinary bills (a staggering sum to care for our sick dog which recently passed away), and hospitals will set up payment plans at times for big bills. But they also want you to cash in retirement accounts and drain savings plans also.

Everyone talks about the reason people like my wife and I are in the dire straits we are in financially is due to our irresponsibility concerning finances. They say because I am lazy and won’t go find a job and insist on being sick all the time we are in the mess we are in. Here is my question to those who blame me for all our woes. Should I, as Jimmy Stewart tried to do in “It’s a Wonderful Life” go jump off a bridge and at least end the constant draw on finances my ailments bring? Should I hope to get killed in an accident on the Interstate so my wife can collect from a couple of accidental death insurance policies I have? Am I to try, at almost 56 years of age to find work knowing I cannot faithfully show up and do the job?

One of the doctors I was at yesterday was in a foul mood. I was ten minutes late due the previous doctor talking on the phone for fifteen minutes with his financial broker. The doctor in the foul mood spent all of five minutes with me and was obviously upset for I was his last patient before leaving at 10:30 in morning. I could hear him complaining as the nurse did the pre-work about patients not respecting the doctor’s valuable time. I should have walked out then and there. How many times have I waited for hours on a doctor hopelessly behind schedule.

If I could survive without medical care, I would. If I could survive without prescription drugs, I would. If I could guarantee an employer I could and would show up daily to work and do the job without being in a drug fog, excruciating pain or having to leave to go to doctor visits three times per week, I would. Since I can’t, what else can I do but what I do?

I hate being a physical liability to not only my wife but society. Should I move to Oregon and ask to end this life? Am I to sit in front of stores with a can asking for alms? Am I to ignore all my medical conditions and let them slowly kill me? I wish those who quickly condemn some of us for the situations we are in would honestly look at what got us in them instead of blasting us with their self righteous and pompous sermons about responsibility.

]]> http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/the-staggering-cost-of-receiving-medical-treatment-is-it-worth-it/feed/ 1 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/which-is-more-risky-700-billion-with-no-oversight-to-government-or-25000-to-each-adult-in-the-country/ http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/which-is-more-risky-700-billion-with-no-oversight-to-government-or-25000-to-each-adult-in-the-country/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:31:31 +0000 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/?p=96 ]]>

No accountability for the 700 billion bail out money. No one knows who has received how much and what is being done with the money already given. Is this any way to run a government? Of course it is when we are talking about the United States of America.

There will, no doubt, be some bail out for the GM, Ford and Chrysler. They will be handed the billions of dollars needed to appease the UAW and keep the multitudes of high salaried top officials happy. Meanwhile, where is the bail out for all the small businesses in America? Where is the bail out for the beleaguered families unable to make ends meet?

These crooks who parade around the halls of various official looking buildings in Washington should all be hauled before tribunals and sentenced to life in prison for high crimes and misdemeanors against the American people they swore to serve. These people serve no one but themselves and the influential power brokers who tell them how to vote and who to give away money to next.

The corruption in Washington has reached epidemic proportions and has nothing to do with which political party a person belongs to. The vast majority of all Congressmen and women are pawns in the big game being played out by the groups who control the affairs of this nation.

California is burning and no one cares. Texas and Louisiana were steamrolled by Hurricanes Ike and Gustov and no one cared. FEMA is out of money along with the Red Cross and most charities. The only ones with any money are the big banks who just keep getting more and more “loans” from the Treasury and Federal Reserve.

I am tired and I am angry. I have tried to help people in distress and find resources for those in need for a long time. There is no one around to help for all their resources are being spent to stay afloat themselves. The money situation is way past the crisis point in this country. It is at the “there’s no way out” point.

How can those entrusted with the oversight of 700 billion dollars not have a clue where the money is going and how it is being spent? This to me should qualify as illegal or at least grounds for an investigation. But no, we must find billions more to throw at the tired old automobile giants who should have changed their ways years ago. We must throw more and more money at situations which need to resolve on their own.

If the government gave a hoot about us, they would allow us to withdraw one time from our 401K plans and IRAs without the atrocious penalties normally incurred. Sure talk of this surfaced awhile back and then vanished. Many of us will have to pay the penalty soon for we have no other source of money but our retirement accounts.

If the government simply gave every American family $50,000 with no strings attached what would happen? How could whatever would happen be any worse than giving banks hundreds of billions of dollars with no oversight? What would people do with that kind of money anyway?

Most of us would immediately pay off debts. Guess where that money would go? TO THE BANKS. Next up we would pay down on our mortgages. Guess where that money would go? TO THE BANKS AND MORTGAGE HOLDERS. Some of course would spend the money on big screen televisions and computers and furniture, etc. All of a sudden the retailers would make money again.

But this solution is to simplistic for the morons who run this country. To simply give the people the money is irresponsible for they cannot be trusted. Since when can a politician be trusted, especially with money? The government’s response to this whole fabricated financial mess has been convoluted and irrational. But what do you expect from a body of people whose only mission is to make themselves and their cronies rich.

I say give every citizen of the United States over 18 years of age a check for $25,000 with ZERO tax liabilities and no strings attached. Sure it would cost a bundle of money, but nowhere near the 5-10 trillion dollars flushed down the rat holes of the banking and other financial businesses.

Watch would happen to the United States economy within a month if everyone suddenly had $25,000 to work with. Some would invest it, some would spend it, some would save it and many would use it to pay off debts. Regardless, it would be used in a way to stimulate the economy and stabilize not only the financial markets but thousands of household’s budgets.

Of course my plan is only in my dreams and will never happen. Oh well, it was a nice dream for awhile.

There are approximately 200 million licensed drivers in the United States. So far, the United States Treasury has doled out around 2 trillion dollars to bail out banks and other financial institutions in their attempt to correct the financial mess. Simple math dictates that if that 2 trillion dollars were to have been given equally to every licensed driver in the United States, each person would have received $10,000 dollars.

The average American family would have received anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000 depending on children of driving age and spouses who drove. IF the every American family had received this kind of money as an “economic stimulus”, there would not be the crisis in banks, automobile manufactures and mortgage companies. There would not be major retailers teetering on bankruptcy and the looming anticipation of tens of thousands of businesses going belly up in January.

But no, the powers that be saw fit to covertly “give away” all this money to institutions with very little or any oversight or accountability. Even now, some of the original beneficiaries such as AIG, Fanny and Freddie are back with hands out demanding more billions of dollars to stay afloat. When will this madness every end?

25 billion dollars to help the big 3 auto makers wasn’t enough to save them. Now we need to “give” them another 25-50 billion dollars to keep them from going bankrupt. Why are we “bailing out” car makers but not major retailers? Why are we “bailing out” banks but not the banks are not “bailing out” individuals who are out of options?

Little has been said regarding the top secret meeting coming up this weekend in Washington with all the top money people in the world gathering to hammer out a “new world order” in the financial realm. Rest assured, whatever these top representatives of the Illuminati, Bilderberg Group, Council of Rome and Trilateral Commission talk about, it will only be to speed up the total revamping of the money system worldwide to accommodate their aims of first regional oversight and currencies and ultimately a true one world financial system.

Only a year ago, such talk would have been nothing but the idle bantering of conspiracy theorists. Now we sit at the precipice of seeing it really happen. The events which have rocked the world’s financial markets and individual country’s economic systems the past few months have literally opened the door to those whose interest has always been to control all the monies of the world to accomplish their goal.

The amounts of money which have been pumped into various nation’s banks and others financial institutions over the past month or so is staggering. Good grief, when a Marxist country such as China even has to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into its financial sector, you know we have major problems. The nationalization of the entire financial sector is nearing completion. All that is left is manufacturing.

Since the election here in the United States proved conclusively that the media walks in lockstep with those who really run this world, the communication realm is basically already part and party to the fascist parties making their power play. With the banks and other financials now firmly indebted and more or less owned by the governments; the financial sector is now under control.

Once GM, FORD and Chrysler get their huge government bailout money and become companies owned by the state; the final piece of the puzzle will be closer to being put into place. Once oil spikes again, the airline business will again be clamoring for bailouts along with the huge companies which make the planes. It is inevitable that very soon the companies which make Semi Trucks, earth moving equipment and the such will demand to be bailed out too. Very soon the entire transportation sector will be to some degree nationalized.

Fascism demands that the government control all avenues of making money, moving goods, communications and distribution of money. Coupled with Marxism, the end result for the common man is “spreading the wealth around” and the reduction of society into a state best exemplified by Cuba. Although highly doubtful that the United States would ever become a totally Marxist country like Cuba, it is heading toward the China and Venezuelan examples.

Going back to my original statement; if the government really wanted to help America, they would have bailed out the people and let them bail out the businesses. But anytime the government bails out the businesses instead of the people, it is a 100% certainty that fascism and Marxism are the driving forces behind the actions. Having said that, I beg any and all who may stumble upon this post, to keep their eyes firmly glued on what is really happening in Washington this weekend, and not what the media is saying happens.

Obama is nothing but a figurehead President elect. He will do as told by his handlers. When all is said and done; the unholy trinity of Clinton, Bush and Gore will welcome with outstretched hands their newest member, Obama, to their little club as they wait for the demise of their elders Carter and Bush Sr. These guys are nothing but front men dutifully carrying out the policies and dictates of those who are rushing this world into the throes of becoming one world.

For nearly two years, the collective eyes and ears of America and the world have been focused on an election which is now ancient history. In some respects, the whole thing somewhat reminds me of two weeks on non-stop hype preceding a Super Bowl; only to have the game end with a score of 76 to 7. There is something amazingly anticlimactic about all that has gone since Tuesday night at 10:00 pm when the election was “called”.

After daily being the top of news, regardless of other events going on, the election itself proved to be about as interesting as comparing the fashions of Michelle Obama and Nancy Reagan. There was a certain sense that the whole thing had already been decided and putting the numbers on the television screens was a mere formality. Perhaps the huge advantage Obama had in the polls contributed to this, but maybe not.

Maybe John McCain was getting old or maybe he just didn’t care if he won; but he never looked like he was trying to win. He went through the motions but it appeared his heart was not into doing whatever it would take to even be competitive. The entire election process gives off a very strong scent of being pre-orchestrated and pre-arranged long before the actual events played out.

Last season a NBA referee was found guilty of fixing games. Throughout the history of sports, there have been scandals where teams (black sox) and individuals were found guilty of “throwing the game” to enable someone to clean house via a bet. Horse racing has been rife with rumors of this happening for years along with boxing. No one will ever forget the Sonny Liston fiasco.

I do not believe for one instant that those who run for President of the United States do so out of the goodness of their heart and as their patriotic duty. Those who actually end up the nominees of the major parties have been handpicked and prepared to stage a campaign every bit as real as numerous movies depicting campaigns. No one will ever forget “Wag the Dog”.

In trying to determine what is real and what is not, it must be remembered that those who devote their life to running for public office face one of the most insecure jobs known to man. Perhaps only a college basketball coach or a NFL football coach has a more insecure future than someone who must run for office ever two , four or six years. At lower levels of politics of course the contests are real, but once one attains the level of Senator or Presidential candidate; things are not as they appear.

The election of 2008 was signed, sealed and predetermined long ago. There was no way those who control the affairs of this country and world would let an “accident” happen in an election. Only those directly involved can say what “really” took place in the 2000 election and why it ended the way it did. The best guess is that Al Gore did better than expected and thus the whole Florida mess.

George W. Bush served his masters well and accomplished for them what they asked of him to deliver. He will go down in history as one of the least recognizable Presidents (along with his father) who really did very little for eight years except drag the country into wars. George W. was the perfect “fall guy” to reap the public scorn for the economy since he already was their enemy for the Iraq war. When the perfect economic storm blew into town in September, it marked the end of the election campaign.

Barak Obama will deliver whatever it is those who selected him to be the next President want from him. He will appoint who he is supposed to appoint and yield to who he is supposed to yield to. He will provide an articulate and charismatic leader who appears to be working hard to help the average American. He will, no doubt, perform his duties just as flawlessly as George W. performed his.

That is it; these people are merely actors in a great theatrical production. They learn their lines and they perform them flawlessly. They succeed in convincing everyone they are the real thing, but in reality they are merely actors perfectly producing the characters they are paid to portray. Obama has grown into the very image he has projected. McCain did the same. Biden already was that image. That leaves Sarah.

Sarah didn’t play by the rules. She took this whole thing seriously and thought she was supposed to really try to win the election. She was told to back off and quit doing what she was doing. She did not listen. She insisted on attacking to the very end the credentials of the opposition.

From the minute the election was over, the very people she worked for have been tearing her apart and trying to portray her as the reason McCain lost the election. She has been accused of being “stupid” and naïve and unlearned in civics and government. She has been maligned for clothes purchased, errors in understanding and for being herself. No person of her character deserves what she has been given, by her own party.

The Palin fiasco of the past few days proves conclusively that the election was nothing but a long planned operation to put in power the people now being put in place. Sarah played by her own rules and pissed off those she should have been bowing down and kissing the feet of. Her reward for two months of faithful service is to have her name and reputation drug through the mud, not by the opposition, but her “friends” in her own party.

I am glad this silly excuse for an election is over. Let those who are going to do what they are going to do, do what they are going to do. Whatever happens is what those really in charge have planned to have happen for years. John McCain will land on his feet doing something that will make him happy. Unfortunately, Sarah will have a much harder time doing the same since she has been cast as the scapegoat for an election defeat preordained to happen since probably 2000.

If early reports out of Philadelphia are any indication of how this very long day will go, my disgust for the entire voting system has grown by leaps and bounds. Anyone who thinks we hold fair and legal elections in this country must literally live out in the country like my wife and I do. Within the melting pots called inner cities, the entire voting process bears no resemblance to that done in affluent suburbs and rural areas. It is as if there are to elections going on at the same time.

When polling places throw out judges simply because they are of the opposing party, what does that say about what has and will be happening at that site? Isn’t it interesting that the polling places which always seem to turn up huge numbers of fraudulent voters are the ones in inner cities. It is no coincidence that inner cities vote almost 100% for the Democratic candidates.

Once again, just as in the past two presidential elections, attempts have been made to negate the overwhelming Republican influence in the United States military. If the McCain people see enough evidence of illegal or unethical activity to already have filed a lawsuit, there must be some horrendous and grossly unfair activities already unearthed.

This is my tenth Presidential election I have been allowed to vote in. As far as I am concerned, this probably will be the last one I can or will take part in. The entire process is a joke at best and the perfect example of the defiling influence of money and special interests. Long gone are the days of honest debate on issues. Those days have been replaced by years of building organizations and fundraising to squander hundreds of millions of dollars on never ending commercials and other gimmicks.

When the day finally arrives to cast one’s ballot, the entire system is quickly found to be a broken mess of voting machines and corrupt local officials. The media has long ago written this election off as a landslide for Obama and has done everything in its power to persuade Republican voters to stay home and not even bother casting a vote. Many Republicans bought into this error initially, but thankfully many have decided to vote anyway on the off chance the polls were all wrong.

When the head political commentator for major television network gives Sen. McCain a 0% chance of winning the election; that network should be shut down and put out of business. The supposedly “unbiased” media has proved itself over and over again this election cycle to be who they have always been; 95% liberal Democrats who have sold their souls to that party.

I used to be an Independent until a few weeks ago. As much as I despise many things about the Republican Party, I absolutely abhor most everything about what the far left has turned the Democratic Party into. I thus am left the unhappy proposition of wasting my vote on a candidate who makes no difference in the outcome of the election or casting my ballot AGAINST the Marxist Party intent on usurping what is left of my personal freedoms.

For the first time in many years, when I go vote in a little while I will vote for the Republican slate; no questions asked. I will do this NOT out of any love for the Republican Party, but as a personal protest AGAINST the illegal, unethical and domineering tactics of the Marxist Party, aka Democratic Party.

Anyone reading this who has not voted, please join us in voicing our opposition to the Obama steamroller and do all in our power to stop this insane plot to overtake this nation from happening. Thank you.