Yep, tell me about it. As a cashier at a local comic book store, and formerly at Borders and Target, I’ve gone to steakhouses three times in my life so far; Once 25 years ago as a young kid, paid for by my parents. And twice at the Outback Steakhouse, paid for by myself. The money I save from not dining out much and from not owning a car goes to pay for DSL.

Sometimes it seems like Journalists are oblivious to how some of us simple folk have quietly spent our entire lives in conditions which they consider to be deprievement.

The Marxists of this state, for all of their crying about the “environment” have made fortunes as Hollywood dumps their toxic waste into our culture. The ramifications of their toxic waste are far more palpable, more measurable than the dubious claims of “An Inconvenient Truth. The inconvenient truth is that for decades this state has given the proverbial bird to the vast majority of Americans, our values and our faith. They have wasted their money on left winged programs encouraging illegal immigration. Still lingering in my mind are the recent images, tens of thousands of militants at “gay pride” parades marching through the streets of San Francisco dressed up as our Savior Jesus Christ as they shockingly mocked everything that is sacred to “fly over country”. Now you dare ask me for my money? I thought “gay marriage” was supposed to save California from destitution? Listening to the glowing reports by ABC, NBC & CBS led me to believe that this celebration of sodomy was going to single handedly balance California’s budget, no?

Is California “too big to fail?” In my estimation, this albatross of a state is too odious NOT to fail. There is plenty of wealth there already. If they want a bailout, they need to go to the Hollywood elitists and make them practice what they have preached. The fortunes of Steven Spielberg, Rob Reiner and David Geffen alone can balance California’s budget. It’s time for California to “take” the “excess profits” from their own citizens. What about the “fairness” doctrine leftists have been ramming down our throats this election season? Let’s see how eager Spielberg and Reiner are to be plundered to support the causes to which they are owing.

That’s the beauty of federalism. There is healthy competition between the states; so if a state governs poorly, there are 49 others from which to choose. I know there are so very good people living there and those good people can vote with their feet – and they will.

By the disgraceful way this state is run, they may deserve to be the first state to be forced OUT the union, “forced secession” if you will. Nobody will be stuck there if they go bust. The only thing that may be stuck there with a little luck is Hollywood and that my fellow Americans would be a good thing. For Hollywood to be plundered by the state treasury into extinction would be the best thing that happened to this country in the past 100 years.

You want to really spark some outrage the likes of which we have not seen since 1861 – go ahead – make our day; force decent Americans to bailout Sodom. (from my column at http://www.TableofWisdom.com )

Fundamentally wrong so far is this formula ‘global trade = outsourcing’.
Due to the 80’s recession, companies were pounded by numbers and cut costs by shifting out manufacturing bases without thinking. It went so far to almost take out the manufacturing base of America. Government seems to enjoy that too, trumpeting the numbers. These purely tactical moves has altered significantly the America growth strategy from a producer/consumer to an consumer-only society. So one lever is lost forever and leave the government little choice but to only increase easy money.

That is the governments main objective right now, to get businesses and consumers borrowing again- So they can continue to live in their fantasy world where they all have the “RIGHT” to own a 3,000 sq ft house, a shiny new car, and get $4 coffee every morning, regardless of whether they actually earned it or not. This whole thing makes a joke of those of us who have lived within our means. And we have the “RIGHT” to be angry!

Doesn’t anyone realize that we cannot keep this up indefinitely? Consumers are tapped out. The reason they aren’t buying houses, new cars, and the latest chinese gadgets is because they already have all of that stuff and the huge loans and credit card balances to go with it. There comes a time when it just won’t work anymore, people will have to live within their means. This is artificial wealth we are creating, it is not real! No goods were produced, no services performed to obtain that wealth. It was created out of thin air!

What happens if all of the bailout money and government spending doesn’t work and the economy crashes anyway? Does anyone anywhere have a plan for that scenario? Where does the money come from to pick up the pieces and start over? Certainly not from the taxpayers who will have lost their jobs by that point on top of being burdened down by the bailout debt. Where does the money come from to run our state and local governments, our schools?, our police? after they’ve gone broke? Where does that money come from to rebuild our economy after the dollar is worthless in the eyes of the world? STOP AND THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES! We need to stop all of these bailouts right now. McCain and Obama both promise us more of the same, I see no difference between them. We need real solutions to the bigger problems, instead of expensive attempts to recreate the same old problems. When was the last time you saw anything with the “made in the USA” label? Think about it…. Where will we be in ten years???

Why do states like California seem to spend their way into trouble so quickly. Deficit spending be it federal or state and for that matter local government is a sure way to destroy quality of life for everyone.

Perhaps if government would live within its means like have to it would be a great place to live.

just saying…

And these days THEY seem to just decide how much they want and just take it from us!

More than fixing my personal finances, fixing my outlook to life is a challenge. I keep telling myself that the dual degrees I have is not a waste. Midlife crisis just zoomed past. We are in national depression!

Tax is only one factor. But it is not the solution to the whole problem. In fact the Reagan era tax cuts had proved that tax cuts do not necessary translate into higher tax revenue. It will be a mistake to think supply side economics is a cure all to what we are facing today.

What you need is a business friendly environment so that it can create more jobs. When you have the tax system is so complex that it requires a rocket scientist to figure out, businesses are less likely to flourish. Also the nation cannot remain competitive unless you create a background that is favorable to new industries and innovations. Otherwise you will be giving up the strength of the US economy which used to be an edge over the rest of the world.

(BTW I tried to find Brian’s blog thru the foxbusiness webpage and i couldn’t find it. I had to google it to find the blog. guess the foxbusiness webpage is not as user friendly as I would like to be.)