New legislation to kill American Family Farms....

Thanks to Familysecuritymatters.org for the article "Exclusive: Obama’s New Food Act to Seal Sorry State of America’s Farms" by Paul Williams, Ph.D..

Congress in it's infinite wisdom is going forward with the Food Safety and Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749)...skipping most legislative procedures and getting this sucker passed. It sounds spiffy on the surface, but lurking below are some ridiculous requirements on our nations farmers and perhaps anyone who grows food and then sells it. The bill attempts to set up sterile farms...farms free of bacteria. This requires farmers to set aside large areas of land for 'buffer zones', erect huge fences, pay additional fees (read taxes), poison ponds (for sterility) and drain wetlands (because they are so dirty!)....I won't mention the warrant-less searches by federal Ag officials. This will do 2 things (at least).....crush the small farmer to the point of going out of business and drive up the cost of food due to the enormous cost placed on the remaining farms.

It seems as if there is almost a concerted effort by the legislative and executive branches to crush every aspect of American productivity....I find this extremely strange since the government gets it's money from the very businesses and working people it seems to be putting out of business.     When are the people going to wake up?....I suspect when it is too late.                                           

 

On vaction....

The Mrs. and I are on a bit of a vacation visiting family and friends. Will be back in August....I'm trying not to look at the news too much...it causes too much hair loss.

-PS

The other shoe to drop...

The commercial real estate market is in trouble.....big trouble. But instead of dealing with the problem, banks are poised (under the direction of Ben Bernanke) to do a little accounting jig called an 'extend and pretend'. Basically, banks will extend loans (for a fee or increased interest rate) and pretend everything is ok. The reason for this is commercial loans are a bit different. Those receiving the loans, pay interest only for say 10 yrs. and then the full amount of the loan is due. So banks are pushing off the due date since so many cannot pay.....so many in fact that the economy would crumble into a much larger disaster than the one presently in. The key is that the economy must recover substantially (and quickly) for this to work. There are no signs this will happen...in fact some estimates are pushing recovery off until 2011.

This is exactly the bad road Japan went down in 1990. What the heck? When is America going to wake up? There is no money for bailouts...with the looming Health Care bill who are they going to increase taxes on this time?

Toxic Commercial Real Estate

Bernanke and Troubled Commercial Real Estate Loans

Healthcare...the cost is tremendous.

The House of Representatives unveiled their healthcare plan. It's massive and ridiculously expensive with huge tax increases on individuals and companies. Penalties and taxes inserted in a vain attempt to cover the cost (remember the government is already ~$11.5 trillion in debt and growing). CBO estimates this will cost an additional $1.5 trillion....paid for by the only group of people left with any money to revive an already gasping economy. It's as if the government wants to crush any life left in the US economy.

As to health care...why the AARP supports this is beyond me...do they realize that if their constituents are past a certain age they will NOT get treatments they need if deemed the cost to benefit ratio is too high...they will be pushed to the back of the line (younger first) for regular treatment.

Anyone who has been in the military knows how government healthcare works...it is a disaster.
The proposed government plan looks something like this:

Oh but it ONLY effects those making +$1 million (an additional $54,000+ a year...how would you like to cough up $54,000+ a year more?) they can afford it. Not quite...hidden in the bill are other groups that will also pay....

-surtax on individuals who earn $280,000.
-surtax on couples who make $350,000 or more.

-businesses that don't provide healthcare will get slapped with a penalty tax (8% of wages).

-...oh yes and individuals that decide to opt out of the national healthcare program get another 2.5% penalty taken out of their paychecks....forced government healthcare or pay a penalty?!?!

"The legislation calls for a 5.4 percent tax increase on individuals making more than $1 million a year, with a gradual tax beginning at $280,000 for individuals. Employers who don't provide coverage would be hit with a penalty equal to 8 percent of workers' wages, with an exemption for small businesses. Individuals who decline an offer of affordable coverage would pay 2.5 percent of their incomes as a penalty, up to the average cost of a health insurance plan. "

Of course this is the same thing that caused GM, California, New York, etc. to collapse under the weight of it's programs. Too many on the welfare/healthcare/pension rolls and not enough paying in. The number of millionaires has declined by 14% in the last 2 years and is continuing to decline.....so where do you think the money is going to come from in the future?

Wake up America before congress destroys this country!!!!

Deficit continues....

Today the U.S. Deficit (more money spent than taking in) reached over 1 trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000).

"The US budget deficit reached more than one trillion dollars for the current fiscal year in June as the government wrestled with a prolonged recession, official data showed Monday.

Nine months into the 2009 fiscal year that ends September 30, the budget deficit widened by 94.316 billion dollars in June to 1.086 trillion dollars, according to the Treasury's monthly statement of receipts and outlays."

Complete article HERE.

Of Deficits and Debt...

The U.S. Government continues to spend out of control. But, what are these words deficit and debt the government keeps tossing around.

Check out the U.S. Debt Clock....it will turn your stomach.

Deficit is the amount of money going out the door verses the amount received in a year (via taxes receipts). This is a short term view of spending. Present U.S. Government Deficit year to date is $965 billion and rising (+$965,000,000,000) at a rate of ~ $600,000 every 10 seconds.

Debt is the amount of money borrowed to pay for something..like using a credit card to by a TV. The problem arises when you don't pay down your credit card and debt accumulates...this is what the U.S. Government is doing. Debt is the accumulation of deficits. The government says it backs its received credit (debt) with the value of American production...in other words the work, goods and services you and I do. Our sweat and labor is the governments bargaining chip.

Presently, the government is in debt $11.39 trillion and rising (+$11,390,000,000,000) at a rate of ~ $1 million every 3 seconds.

The government is banking on 2 things to get out of it's present pickle...a robust recovery in the economy and raising taxes on those making over $200,000 (or $250,000 or $300,000...the number keeps changing) to pay for the debt, BUT there is a big problem, well several. The government is adding new programs that require even more funding. So instead of reining in spending, they are increasing it. This will accelerate the deficit and thus debt. Taxing the only group left with any income to spend in the economy just doesn't seem to smart. So if the 'wealthy' have less money to buy, how exactly is the economy going to get going?

Oh I forgot to mention 70% of the US economy is generated by the U.S. consumer. If we have no money to buy items other than groceries...how exactly is the economy supposed to bounce back? Manufacturing and service sectors will continue to collapse putting more people out of work. Even less revenue will be coming into the government. We are stuck in a vicious circle, and it is only going to get worse.

Call your congress critter and tell them to knock it off. Time to make the tough choices and get out of debt...that really will stimulate the economy.