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Seasonal Affairs-Tea Party
Aloha!
4/17/09 - BEWARE - POLITICS INVOLVED - FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS PAGE!!!
Just to let y'all know, I will always have this warning posted, right at the top, before I start writing any kind of piece like this!
So if you have any negative feelings about the thousands of Tea Party's held all across the country, you probably wanna save yourself some misery and tune yourselves out right about now! Supporters, of course, read on! And for those who don't know what they're all about, you're probably fine to stick around, as well. And I don't mind getting a little flak in the form of disagreements, either, but if you wanna voice your concerns, do try to keep it respectful, allright? I'll try to do the same, as well...
I don't even like to say the word politics because it's so often a negative and derisive term. I just like to call it current affairs, or what's really happening in the world around us. I mean, when the folks down at the Capital move to increase our property taxes beyond the already astronomical fees we're now paying, or send rotting fecal matter into our beautiful beaches because funds to prevent the situation were illegaly diverted and no longer there, or drug dealers can sell their wares with impunity, in broad daylight, with cops sitting idly by, guess what? Despite your refusal to ever get involved in politics - you're already involved!
Everything that happens in governmental affairs always involves us, whether we like it or not, and whether it concerns local, state, or international affairs! The cost of not only taxes, but bread, milk, steaks, gas, automobiles, clothing, houses - in fact, everything we buy, is directly effected by governmental/political affairs, including the cost of the dollar, itself! How much we, ourselves, want to affect these matters is completely and totally up to us as individuals to decide. I mean, I have no problem with those not wanting to get involved with "politics," per se - if you live a good and peacable life, you're actually already playing your part for the better!
Wifey and I, however, like to get a little more directly involved, and that's why we both showed up at the Capital building, which was attended by several thousand other like-minded folk.
For those not sure what the significance of tea is, it goes back to 1773 and the Boston Tea Party, when America was still the property of England. Bostonian's protested being taxed on shipments of tea by throwing the tea in their own harbor, since the America's had no representation in the Brittish parliament. In other words, taxation without representation. Waaay wrong...
This day's events centers on the ginormous spending that Washington is doing with all these Federal bail-out's. Not that targeted relief is never called for, but it's the amount and scope that concerns everyone. With funds not only going directly to the problem, but also to salmon steps, birth control education, and studies regarding the stench of pig farms (I kid you not!), it just doesn't make any sense. If the Government just took the entire amount of bail-out money, and distributed it to each and every American today, we'd all receive $30,000 each, and that number threatens to grow each day! I guarantee, that'd help the economy much more than the pork-barrel-laden stimulus they're planning right now! Why would anyone accede to the position that life-long politicians know better what to do with the money than the American people themselves, from which they are getting all that money in the first place?! Incredulous, it is!
It just highlights and reveals a fundamental difference, a huge chasm that separates the two political forces battling for supremacy today. On one side, you have President Obama's "Government is the only solution to our current problems" type of thinking, and on the opposite side, Ronald Reagan's way of "Governernment is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem" - both direct quotes, by the way.
The best sign of the day came from this young gentleman, who obviously personifies the latter view espoused by Reagan, who also said "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help..." Scary...!!!
One seeks to take from its people to give it back in a different form to the whole, and the other seeks to leave its people with the wealth they've created themselves, according to their own individual merits and accomplishments, whether it's a little or a lot - Which is, respectively - Marx, Communism, and Socialism vs. free-market principles and democracy, by the way...
Now, you may be thinking these two forces I'm alluding to are Republican and Democrat, but that's absolutely not true. The two forces fighting today are conservative (personified by Reagan) and liberal (personified by Obama). Right down the line, whether it comes to the military, government spending, taxation, gay rights, immigration, or whatever, the philosophy of these two forces always stand opposed and clear-cut, while the positions of Republicans and Democrats are oftentimes muddled, hazy, and vacillatory. Case in point, the enormous spending of Republican George Bush, who won on a conservative platform but acted against one of the core tenants of conservatism by increasing the Government as much as any liberal could ever be proud of.
Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those crazed, over or under-intallectualized, anti-establishment people who think the Federal Government should be abolished and we don't have to pay our taxes just because the Federal Reserve is a private company (Yeah, yeah, Bildeburger's, Rothschild's, and Free-Masonry - doesn't that get old!). These people just grumble and rail about anything and everything and are more interested in protesting and getting more for themselves than actually solving any problems. You already live under the umbrella of the Government by driving on Government roads, being protected by police and fire departments, schooling your children (at least for the majority), enjoying our parks and recreational facilities, and most of all, the very security and existence of our entire country from nations led by evil (yes, I did say evil!) dictators that have and always will exist until the end of time.
We do need Government, and I am thankful that we live in the greatest form of Government in the history of mankind, a form of Government that gives us the freedom to peacefully gather in protest, a luxury we often take for granted. I just love being around people who truly love their country, people who fully realize just how grateful we should all be, not just in the days of Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, or even Kennedy, but as we live and breathe on this very day! If you're from Canada, hey, raise that maple leaf; if Japan, hoist the rising sun; if Israel, let the Star of David wave indomitably; but if you're from America, please, be proud of the 'ol Stars 'n Stripes, because if you don't see any reason to be proud, then Russia, China, Zimbabwe, Iran, Somalia, Uganda, Cambodia, and a whole mess of other places are all waiting for you, ready and willing to take you in and give you a schooling on reality and how lucky we are to be Americans!
By the way, we all know that the bad economy is the reason for all this crazy spending, and thus, these tea parties. Furthermore, the bad economy comes, basically, from the insane growth of bad mortgages. Bad mortgages are made by middlemen brokers tying-in consumers to major banks and lending institutions, right? So why would major banks and lending institutions, who are historically so stingy, all of a sudden take-on such bad loans? Why would banks allow middle-men, who don't have the actual money themelves, don't carry the responsibility of the actual loans, and still profit up-front from the sale of each mortgage, to give out their (the bank's) money, which they have historically never done in such proportions? Why would the banks not fear being left with such bad loans?
Well, maybe you should ask this man about it...
Barney Frank is the name, and spin is definitely his game. He is Chairman of the National Financial Services Committee, which oversees all components of the country's housing and financial services sectors. Go to the official Government website at http://financialservices.house.gov/who.html - it does say ALL components. But hold that thought for now.
Getting back to the question of why institutions like CitiBank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America take-on bad loans, consider this: What if you, as the head of any of these companies, received an assurance that the Government will back your loans? What if you were given Governmental blessings to go ahead and issue them, all in the name of getting more and more people into their own homes! Well, that actually did happen through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, along with a few others, who were guarantee'd as quasi-Governmental institutions. But can these people afford the loans in the first place? Aaah, details, details... Worry about that later, right?
Well, for the mortgage brokers, banking institutions, and politicians who are getting the votes and pulling the strings, who cares? The mortgage brokers are being enabled by the banking institutions, who are then being enabled by the full force of the US Government (through our tax-payer dollars!). And the Government can't fail, right?
Freddie Mac and Fannie May constituted about half the monetary value of all loans issued in America. Every major institution relied on them for its loans, loans that could never be issued in the past. People working part-time at McDonald's could now purchase mortgages of $300,000-$400,000, without any documentation at all of income, all pushed by not only mortgage brokers looking for a deal, but also from buy-and-sell con artists who promise them a quick re-sale and instant wealth!
And then, with all these iffy loans being bought and sold, financial institutions begin creating exotic financial instruments like CDO's, or collateralized debt obligations, bundling hundreds of loans together into one package and selling them to other financial institutions. Because they are all sold as one package, the records of the individual loans themselves are lost! What a mess! Who knows who owns what? Hey, as long as the market keeps moving up, everyone still makes money, and no one wants to stop making money, right? Let the good times roll, and the Government-backed ponzi scheme continue!
Well, all the way back to 2003, when everyone was still making money and almost no one had the foresight to see the problem, it was actually the Bush administration that called for the creation of an agency to oversee the now-ballooning Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (guarantee'd, you'll never hear that on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, or MSNBC!), even supporting a move by Democrat John Corzine to do so, but the bill never even reached the full congress. Once again, in 2005, Republican Senators Chuck Hagel, Elizabeth Dole, John McCain, and John Sununu, with the backing of President Bush, introduced the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act, which was again led to a quick defeat by Democratic Senators Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, John Kerry, and yes, Senator at-the-time, Barrack Obama. I watched in horror at the proceedings as Democrats like Barney Frank, Maxinne Waters, and others stand in opposition to the Republican-led bill by announcing that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae needed no further regulations because they were both "sound and healthy." And did you know that Senators Dodd, Kerry, and Obama himself, even in his short time there, were the three largest benefactors in monetary contributions by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Hmmm...
I don't know how it is that these same guys can dupe so many by deflecting blame to just a few select CEO's and executives, who are being scape-goated and paraded like they are entirely responsible for this mess. Big business and oil, the traditional harbinger's of evil perpetrated on the world, are so easy to pick on, despite us benefitting by them like we can't even begin to imagine! Yes, they do share in the blame, and they shouldn't be getting huge bonuses when they are, at the same time, receiving bail-out's from you and I, but this circus of ridiculing them in pompous indignation involves only an ameoba on a flea on a tick on an elephant that is the actual problem.
This is the kinda stuff that makes me wanna get more involved! When I hear what's going on in this world, I tell you, it just makes me crazy!!! And this ain't the only issue out there, not in the least! And this is exactly what gets us all out demonstrating. I cannot tell you how many people there are who voted for Barrack Obama, but never knew he would follow these core liberal principles of increasing the size of Government spending to levels previously unforeseen even in the very playbooks of ultra-liberal Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Howard Dean, the leaders of the Democratic Party! If you had just listened to his own words, and followed his own voting record, and not gotten caught-up in the frenzy of Bush-bashing, you probably would have known better, sorry to say. Is this really the kind of change we need?
But don't worry, plenty of time to re-consider before the next elections. I just saw on the news that Democrats actually constituted twenty-something percent of all the people attending these tea parties nation-wide, so here again, it's not as much a matter of Republican or Democrat as much as it is conservative and liberal. And boy, did I see a lot of Libertarian's and Independant's out there, as well! Scraggly hair'd, older white men that could easily pass as Einstein re-born, and educated Asian ladies who speak perfect Mainland English? Mix that with obvious Republicans who are often small business owners, military, or normal folk like wifey and I, and you have one cool gathering! Hey, take it easy, allright? I'm just teasing and stereo-typing, is all! We all know that I'm the wierdest one out there!
Heck, even the kids were involved!
I love it! I asked one of the parents if the groms actually knew why we were out in full-force today, and she said, "Oh, absolutely!" Brought a smile to my face, it did!
In parting, let me leave you with one final picture, a better look at these jailbirds above, all symbolizing our resistance to more and more socialized programs that may begin with good intentions, but always lead to the imprisoning of its constituents. Go Youth!
I do apologize if I've offended anyone, and I do welcome opposing view-points, but like I said, as long as we keep it civil and stick to the issues, it's aaalll good! Some of my best friends are hard-core liberals! No worries, brah!
So now you know... You've probably already put two and two together from past entries, where I take pot-shots and drop a comment or two here and there, but now you know where I stand, for sure!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
I guarantee, we'll be talking about food, then!
Easy,
Aku
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Comments:
Aku (me!) - Thanks Jeff, for that website you gave regarding the causes of the financial crisis. For anyone out there, it's at
I sent a reply back explaining how I disagree with the outlook written there, but you never gave me a correct address so it was returned. Hopefully, you'll drop me a correct address, but either way, it's all good! I'm all for healthy debate and the exchange of differing opinions, and I'm all for people getting involved only when they wanna get involved! It's everyone's free choice to do or not!
