Tag Archives: money

The Keating Five

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I am sure that the Democrats would love for us all to forget this chapter in American history. I would hope that those of us that know, especially those of us that remember first hand will never let them forget it. Let us keep reminding them on a regular basis. We do not want this memory to fade away.

We should have learned some important lessons, and we ought not to forget them. First, heroes do not always make good senators. Second, just because a man is a good pilot does not automatically make him a good representative or senator. Third, it also does not insure their honesty or integrity.

John Glenn was a hero and an astronaut. John McCain was a notable figure from Vietnam. However, the two of them, along with Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle, hatched a financial plot that rocked the financial fodations of the country to the point that we no longer have savings and loans. There is no doubt in my mind that they should have all gone to prison. The three non-heroes did, but not for long. My best guess is that they didn’t want to incarcerate a war hero and an astronaut. If it were all revealed, my guess is that none of them would have spent another day inn the Senate.

They interfered with investigations involving large savings and loan establishments, which eventually collapsed. Conveniently, Glenn and McCain were cleared and served no time. My money is on the fact that their hero status kept them out of prison. Well, there may have been some conversation and some bribery going on. That part we will never know. I can’t even hazard a good guess. However, I wouldn’t doubt for a minute that large sums of money exchanged hands.

The net result is that the Savings and Loans went the way of the dodo bird, which, for the most part forced us all to go to banks for doing all of our savings and receiving all of our loans. This was something of a windfall for the banks, especially since the savings and loan establishments were the primary compilation for the banks. When this all happened, I had to move my checking account from my savings and loan to a bank, which was not at all happy with. My S & L just went away. They never asked what I wanted. I don’t think they wanted to know.

And, the Keating five. Well I don’t think they cared either.

It would seem the feds just can’t resist the urge to get their mitts into the financial institutions and cause mismanagement every couple of decades. And it’s us that suffer. Those in government that mess things up never pay the costs.

Neither Glenn nor McCain did either.

Competition for Dollars

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I don’t much care for repeating this, but those that read my posts vary. So I feel the need to an explanation for some before I proceed.

I am not rich. I basically live off Social Security. With that, I do have to pay for utilities, food and transportation. Mostly, the highlight of the day for my wife and I is going out to eat. Here in Desoto County, we have a wide variety of reasonably priced restaurants that are really pretty good. Many of the people that work at these places have gotten to know me enough to wave at me as they see us entering. We would eat at home but for two things. With just the 2 of us, a lot would get wasted. It is difficult to prepare portions for two. Then too, would you deny us of our one highlight of the day.

Now to get to what I wanted to say. Did you know that there are about 1 million official charities in the US. That means, if I had 1 million dollars and gave one dollar to each charity, I’d be broke again. It is, as I have said, they are all competing for my dollars. And, as mentioned, I don’t have many dollars.

Even if I meticulously pare down all the charities to those I would like to give to, that’s about 20. If I were to give ten dollars to each, that’s $400. Sorry. Can’t afford that. I would have to give up eating for a few days a month. And by the way, there’s a lot of inflation going on out there. I’m having to pay $40 for what I used to pay $25. I am already having to cut back, back at the store and the restaurant. These days, we have to pass on salads and desserts.

The radio station I listen to is a important to me. I have already done away with cable and if the prices keep going up, I’ll have to go to a restaurant to gain access to the internet. However, every time I turn around, someone on the station is coming up with this reason for me to send them money. I’m not going to get specific for these reasons, but I am sure you have an idea.

This time of the year, there are dozens of folks looking for contributions for campaigning. I understand. Really I do. I would like to give them the money. They all have good reasons. On the other hand, over the years, I have also become fond of eating. I hope you understand.

The thing is, they don’t limit themselves to charities. They have businesses that are paying their bills. They are called sponsors. They pay the bills for the radio stations and for the productions. They also pay the salaries of the talk show hosts and their staffs. They all live better than me, I’m sure. So I am quite reluctant to let go of mine.

Still, I have no use for many of the the things they advertise. I mean there are ads tempting me to get security systems. May I remind you, I don’t have much. If a burglar were to break into my house, he’d be tempted to leave me a dollar or two when he saw the way we live. Not much to steal here.

Even so, you must understand. It is a competition for what little I have. If I give to the charities and candidates they want me to give to, I have no money to buy the security system. Even if I had a little money, I would have to be careful, you see. I can’t contribute to the charities and candidates and make the purchases of what all they advertise.

I don’t think I am alone in this. Some are worse off than me. My little house is small and it isn’t worth much. It does need some serious attention, but it is paid for. Some of us living on Social Security can’t say that. Some might be making big house payments too. Some may not yet be on Medicare so they are paying $1800 a month on Obama care.

The truth is, as they compete for the dollars, there are some of us who just don’t have many of the dollars for anything other than paying the bills. I don’t write this out of self-pity, but rather to enlighten those seeking money from those of us who simply don’t have it. It has been my experience that when I say I can’t afford that security system, they think I am lying to them. It’s not my problem if they have a hard time with that.

You can thank Obama care for some of that. Before my wife got on Medicare, I paid out 35,000 on Obama care for my wife. If I hadn’t had to do that, just maybe I would have been just a little more generous. For that, we can thank AARP for backing the plan just enough to get it passed. (I wonder who got a dollar or two for that one. You think maybe AARP and Obama had a few face to face meetings. Does AARP represent the elderly who pay their dues, or Obama?)

Government Paychecks

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I guess I was in high school when it first occurred to me about folks drawing paychecks directly from the government. Many more draw their pay indirectly from the government, such as working for companies deriving the majority of their income from the government.

Many will ask why it should make a difference. Others will suggest it is a good and honest way to make a living. I guess to some degree both are true. However, I like to consider it scaled down.

Consider, a town of 100. Would it be a good thing that 50 of them draw paychecks from the other 50? Is it a good thing that only 50 of them do productive work?

I am being extreme, of course in making my point. It just is that with the small numbers, it is easier to comprehend what happens when someone draws a government paycheck.

The fact is, big government is expensive. Extremely big government is extremely expensive.

I look around and what I see, is extremely big government. To some, it might not seem so but we must remember, every person deriving a paycheck from the government means more taxes. That is to say, the others of us must provide for them, food, shelter, and so forth.

Certainly, some things must be done by governments. Consider The Department of Education. It has 4400 employees and a budget of 68 billion. Why? How many of them stand in a classroom and teaches… or makes a measurable contribution. I truly suspect that if the entire department went away, hardly anyone would notice. Well the National Education Association to be sure. The two of them are joined at the hip.

The thing is, it doesn’t stop there. There is no telling how many people work in each state for some kind of education department. Let’s multiply that by 50 fifty and we’re talking a bunch of people.

Then each county and each major city has their education system. At this point we are likely talking a bunch of folks who make their living educating our children and none enters a classroom.

Actually The Department of Education is a relatively small department. At every level, city, county, state and federal governments we have, law enforcement, courts and lawyers, again multiplied by fifty.

As an aside, what physical product do the lobbyists produce? Oh. That’s right, none. They’re in essence a bunch of parasites making a fortune in bribery. Going back to our little 100 person community, just what purpose would they have there?

Yet, if we ask every government employee at every level to justify his job, they would all be ready with an answer. Well, almost all of them.