Manna from Heaven??

So how many of you out there actually think this rebate scheme the government is planning will do any good? My wife and I haven't really discussed what we're going to do with the money but with all our recurring bills I doubt if we're going to be buying anything with it. No, with tuition for two daughters, home upkeep expenses, and property taxes, we really can't afford to go out and spend extra money on anything. For most of the population we live on a payday to payday basis so when extra money comes along we use it to reduce our existing debt, not for to expand our wealth. So if my hypothesis is correct will this scheme really do what it's intended and promote growth in our economy? Makes one wonder... The last time I checked the government is supposed to act as a non-profit agency. If they have money to send out all these checks why do we still have a national debt? Have we been able to create this much extra money to be able to fund this boondoggle? I think not. I've heard the figures surrounding the cost of this plan and I know they're not enough to really make a difference but we're still incurring more debt every day due to Washington's spending habits. Instead of sending out all these checks and increasing our debt even more, why don't they actually try to pay off some of our debt? Wouldn't that help our economy? Our country is slowly eroding it's social benefits because of it's increasing inability to live with it's means. Increasing our debt won't help in that situation. I'm not a big fan of social programs due to their abuse but some really do make a difference in people lives. Increasing our debt will eventually require those programs to be cut even farther. So with all these issues why is the government doing this? The answer is that it's an election year. In reality this plan is no more than voter pandering; and it is some of the most despicable I've ever seen. And it's not just one side that's doing it. Both the Democrats and Republicans have their hands in this one so they can both take credit for it. They've advertised this as a plan to boost our economy but I suspect it will eventually have the opposite effect. What are they going to do next year when we're still in the same boat? How deep in debt will our government go to hide the truth about the economy from it's people. No this plan isn't the answer and has the potential of having some serious long term affect for all of us. I'm not an economist so I won't pretend to have all the answers but it seems to me that if we pay down this huge debt the country, as a whole, would be better off. A few years ago my wife and I where is a similar position; we owed a large amount of money to several agency's. This was mostly because our income level was fairly low and we needed some things just to get by. Due to some changes in my job we found ourselves with the ability to pay off most of our debt and have been able to keep it at bay since then. We still take out an occasional loan for big ticket items but for the most part we're living within our means. What a liberating feeling we've enjoyed since we've become financially free; I can only imagine what it would be like if our country was in this position. Incurring more debt isn't the answer, removing our debt is.

Herk Video

Here's a cool video I hope ya'll enjoy.

Want to make a change?

As I watch the market upheaval today I wonder why all this is happening. Lately there's been a lot of discussion in the world about increasing prices and the devaluing of money. What there isn't one simple solution to any of the worlds woes, one huge contributor is our own inability to accept change. Here's an example of what I'm talking about: How many of you remember your first car? I remember mine, it was a 1977 Chevrolet Chevette. The Chevette was one of Detroit's answers to our desires for cheaper transportation. It was overpriced, underpowered, and unrealistically small. In the 70s Detroit was still the king at making large comfortable cars so when they tried to downsize their efforts were lacking. The Chevette, Vega, Pinto, and Omni all pretty much sucked. You'd be hard pressed to find any of them on the road today but if you look around you'll still see LTDs, Caddies, muscle cars, and pick-ups built in that era still being driven. Why is that? Could it be that people actually like the look, the comfort, or the power these vehicles offered? I think so. Yes these are gas guzzlers but in reality their mileage isn't that much worse than a lot of the new cars coming out now. At it's prime my Chevette would get almost 20 mile per gallon, with a 12 gallon tank I could fill it up on about $10 bucks. Now I have a Honda Civic that gets about 20-25 MPG around the city and it costs me $25 to fill it up. But neither of these cars are comfortable doing a 3-4 hour drive. So what have I gained? Not much. Now my Honda isn't the only car I have in fact it's actually my daughters car now. I have a very nice pick-up, it's very comfortable, but it cost's me a lot to operate it. My wife have been looking at buying a replacement for her mini-van, we really don't need a car that big now but we do enjoy it's creature comforts. When I go out to buy this new vehicle will gas mileage be my #1 concern? No not really, I'll be looking for a comfortable car that I can drive around the country safely and comfortably. Good gas mileage will be a bonus but won't play much into my decision making. I thin that for the majority of the population that will probably ring true. So how does all this play into the markets? Well my theory is this; people don't purchase based on global concerns, people buy things based on their own needs. When I buy my next car I'm not going to fall prey to this malarkey about how I can save the planet if I buy a piece of crap car. I know that in the cooperate world it's all about how to make a profit. Right now corporations aren't seeing the benefit to their profits to create things that will help the global economy or environment. Detroit is still creating gas guzzlers because gas is the easiest way for them to make a profit. It's easy because it's a proven technology. They don't really have to do anything to convince me that there's a better option. If all the auto makers in the world suddenly said they would no longer build gas powered engines what do you think the out come would be? Well other than a collapse of the oil business that I think would be short-lived, they would have to sell something else right? Gee I wonder what that would be, we have car makers that have a demand but they don't make cars? Come on folks, we have existing technology they could use to make large comfortable cars we would be willing to buy. I saw a show the other day called "Future Cars". A manufacturer in Japan had created a car that looked like a mini RV. It had six wheels, all independently driven, and a huge interior that could seat 6. they said it would easily do 200 mph, but who want to go that fast. If this car was built in the 70s it would have had to have a huge engine in it but this car was electric. Now I'm not sure of the range but I do like the way this was going. A large powerful comfortable vehicle that all I have to do is plug it in to recharge it. Wow what a concept. And on top of it all, a 4 (ok 6) wheel drive. Put a bed and a lift kit on it and you've got a monster truck! Ok, probably not but it's got potential. So why isn't this car being driven? Oil, that's why. As I mentioned earlier, if we quit making gas driven vehicles the oil market would initially be hurt. I said I felt this would be short lived because the initial shock would cause a lot of gasoline centered oil companies would be hurt and even fail but there are a lot of other products that can be created with oil. At our current consumption our oil reserves aren't going to last much longer, maybe 100 years (I'm speculating of course). If the demand for oil was reduced by a drastic change in the gasoline market many of the small companies would fail but auto's aren't the only consumer of oil so a market would still be there. Also, it would take time for all of us to get these new cars so it would be a tapering effect at the worst. In the long run we would in reality be extending our reserves enough that technologies that couldn't be converted could be extended even farther into our future. Since less oil would need to be converted to gasoline, more would be available for conversion into jet fuel, diesel, and other fuels thus resulting into eventual lower costs for these products. If the cost of commercial transportation is decreased a ripple effect of lower prices for everything would result. So next time you decide to "go-green" and "reduce your carbon footprint" (whatever the hell that crap means). Think about if your actually making a real affect. One vehicle isn't going to make change, but a massive change to the vehicle market will. And I'm not talking about environmental change, that's a liberal sympathy ploy, no I'm talking about real change, more money in your pocketbook. And strengthening our pocketbooks strengthens our global economy.

Latest Knee Surgery

Well yesterdays knee surgery went well. Dr DePrange found a tear in the meniscus that was easy to repair. I'm not sure how it happened since I'm not that athletic but I'm pretty sure it happened while I was deployed. One thing I know contributed to the problem was getting knocked around during an approach into Baghdad. We were trying to land and I was standing behind the pilot scanning for threats when we flew through the wake turbulence of a departing IL-76. I got slammed into the circuit breaker panel and ended up on the floor. My knee was the first thing I noticed but that's also when the back problems started. I think I posted a few things earlier about this incident so I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm glad though that we found something and it's now fixed. Next week I see a new doctor about the back, hopefully we get that fixed as well. I'm going to be on leave for a few weeks to help with the recovery of the knee. My plan is to start walking as much as the back can endure. Since I've been back I haven't exercised much and it's showing. I've got to loose this excess weight so I'm going to take advantage of this time off to work on it. Athena is going to be my walking partner; I'm sure she'll love it. I know this isn't my normal type of post but I've found that by writing things out helps me focus and prioritize my thoughts. It's kind of funny how that works; I've never been the type of person to keep a journal or diary but I'm really enjoying this. What's really interesting is that I'll have an idea in my head but when I try to write it out it changes and evolves into something better. It's like I take a bunch of random thoughts and writing it out channels them into a workable plan. If you you find your that type of person you might want to give this "blog" thing a try, it may help. (If you do let me know, I'll enjoy the read).

Another Surgery

Well the Doc's going to hack me open again. He needs to go into my left knee to fix a problem that's developed form last years surgery. Nothing major, just a quick "scope job". Oh well, I could use the time off from work. Now if we could just figure out what's going on with the back...