Whether Democrat or Republican, I think you’ll get a kick out of this!

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, “What is Politics?”

Dad says, “Well son, let me try to explain it this way:

I am the head of the family, so call me The President.

Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government.

We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People.

The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class.

And your baby brother, we will call him the Future.

Now think about that and see if it makes sense.”

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to

Check on him .

He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.

So the little boy goes to his parent’s room and finds his mother asleep.

Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny’s room. Finding the door

Locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny.

He gives up and goes back to bed

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, “Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now. “

The father says, “Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think

Politics is all about.”

The little boy replies, “The President is screwing the Working Class

While the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit.”

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What it was for school choice in Georgia. A good start to be sure, but there is work to be done. Thursday, the House passed HB 881, a bill that would create a state-level alternate authorize for charter school, by an overwhelming 120-48 count. This was a bipartisan effort and the debate really underscored the desire of legislators to do the right thing on one hand, and some to fully entrench the power of school boards and educrats on the other.

Change is needed and that is the bottom line. I won’t bore you with statistics, but in Georgia, public education generally sucks. Even where schools do measure up to standards, the bar is so incredibly low that many high school grads cannot compete against other American kids, let alone those from abroad. Unfortunately, reform is 15 years from implementation by many accounts. Charter schools are a viable, proven alternative to traditional public schools. Critics call for more funding, better teachers, but at what cost and when? Why should we sacrifice a generation of children to the alter of the bureaucrat? Charter schools are an interim solution, one that can sustain us until we can get meaningful reforms. To reject them if qualified betrays not only the taxpayers that are supposedly represented, but it betrays our children who deserve better than to be educated based on where they live.

Choice is needed. Charter schools are public school choice. Isn’t it odd that the same liberals that call for us to come in line with the rest of the world on issues of defense, trade, and the global income redistribution scheme that is global warming but ignore the rest of the world on issues of education, healthcare and taxation?

Regarding healthcare, liberals the government to control access to plans and heavily regulate medicine, pharma, and insurance. However, the British, who have had a heavily socialized system of healthcare for half a century are beginning to seek privatization of services. The same goes for the Canadians, who routinely come to the US and pay out of pockets for life-saving services that may take weeks to be administered at their neighborhood hospital.

As for taxation, we are nearly the only Western nation left that has a graduated income tax and our liberal friends are calling for a steeper graduation. Obviously 1% of the population paying over 35% of taxes just isn’t enough. The most other nations have a flat tax that is truly equal. And by the way, a graduated income tax is tenant #2 of the Communist Manifesto.

Finally, we come to education. Go take a look at Sweden, my conformist liberal friends. The Swedes are in the early years of implementing a fully private education system. It is vouchers for everybody and their achievement, along with their neighbors the Fins, is among the highest in the industrialized world. Oh yeah, “free” public education, tenant # 10 of the Communist Manifesto. You won’t find that little fact at a campaign rally, will you?

Choice breeds excellence. Choice breeds innovation. Choice breeds achievement. Take a look at public schools before charter schools entering the market and after. Look at the postal service in the post-UPS world. Compare the USSR and US during the Cold War.

In Georgia, we have a chance to better the lives of our children and make this state a better place to live by giving parents more options in education. Don’t stop this progress. Be part of the solution, not the problem. For once, be anti-establishment on an issue. Support public school choice. Support HB 881.

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Tonight I had the opportunity to watch the State of the Union; which outlines Bush’s final plans for America in the coming year. As the President’s final months come to pass, he is also trying to set some of his legislation chiseled in stone. Of course I am referring to his tax cuts that he introduced in 2001 and 2003. Here is just someone’s opinion on what the tax cuts could do if they are implemented in the tax code for good.

“If Congress makes the tax cuts permanent, the major economic benefits begin in 2011. For example,

Total employment will rise by 1,087,000 jobs per year, on average;
Annual GDP will be over $111 billion higher, after inflation;
Personal savings will grow by $163 billion per year, on average, after inflation; and
After-tax household income will grow by an annual average of $274 billion per year, after inflation.”

Am I true believer of the tax cuts that the Bush administration has put into place over the past eight years? Take a wild guess? No, of course I don’t. Do I believe in lowering taxes? Hell yes I do, but the administration is still going about it the wrong way. I’ve said this over and over now, but the mainstream media still won’t cover the real long-term damages that these tax cuts will have on America without cutting spending. How does the government really expect to purchase all this fancy military equipment without increasing taxes? I am not in favor in cutting military budgets, by any means. I would love to see an increase in domestic military spending and a large decrease in international spending though. It’s like the game of ‘Risk.” It’s much easier defending your boarders than to have your armies spread out all over the map. The Bush administration needs to cut their credit card in half and burn it.

People need to understand that I am not in favor of increasing taxes. I truly believe that raising them will inevitably throw us into a depression, but we must lower our spending habits to save our nation’s future. My first idea that the government could implement that could save them a lot of money, while also cutting taxes for all Americans, is lowering government spending in the private sector.

There are many government programs that tax every single business, but only benefit a few. Here is just an example that helps one industry, but damages another. If the government gives a 10 billion dollar grant to an oil company for global expansion, this will inevitably hurt the alternative oil industry. What happened to the invincible hand of economics that we’ve preached about in econ classes for so many years? Here’s a quick definition - “Smith claims that, in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest tends to also promote the good of his community as a whole through a principle that he called “the invisible hand”. He argued that each individual maximizing revenue for himself maximizes the total revenue of society as a whole, as this is identical with the sum total of individual revenues.”

The other factor here is that every single business will have to pay for some of this “free” grant money. A small business owner in Georgia that makes doo-dads will not see a return in this situation. All they will see is a tax hike in their quarterly payment. Imagine this scenario but a 100 times larger. Government spending has corrupted our nation and truly damaged our economic future. We need to let business fuel themselves and add the real sense of an American meritocracy. In a perfect environment a large business would loan a company the 10 billion dollars and expect some kind of return. That is the true sense of American investing. Business investing in business for the betterment of both parties.

Can we really get out of this hole we’ve dug by implementing tax cuts and still allow rampid spending? Something needs to change… What do you think? What do other people think?

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Now that the Fed cut the rates again, what do you really think will happen? Is this short-term vaccination going to bring a long-term disease? I would have to say YES! Can we seriously keep on prolonging the real issue any longer? Our nation is in over 9 trillion dollars in debt and people still think that a 150 billion dollar tax check will end up fixing our economy. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. With interest rates going even lower, our debt increasing everyday and our national budget is still out of control, yet the government still wants to give out money…. How is this fiscally able to happen without kicking our country in the a$$ in the future?

What type of package do you think the federal government should implement without stubbing the toe of the American economy? I really haven’t seen anything that jumps out at me. There really isn’t any long-term plan that seems to be important enough to really cover. The stock market is not only going down because of the consumer credit market. It’s also going down because investors are taking a lot of money out of American companies and investing it abroad. They are scared that the 9 trillion dollars will end up killing the American economy in the long run.

Instead of trying to increase the dollars value and decrease our debt, analyst want us to reduce rates so low that we end up in the same situation we were in five years ago -an artificial housing boom that ends up hurting our country even more. It’s pretty amazing to me that no presidential candidate wants to talk about our national debt because everyone is so consumed about our short-term economy, the war and healthcare. We won’t even have a country if we do not correct the wrongs of the past.

Here’s my idea  

-Slash international spending

-Slash domestic spending

-Lower taxes for all Americans

-Reform our current tax system to increase domestic investments

-Remove the capital gains tax (increases investment activity)

-Increase Federal spending on education (if there’s any type of government spending I believe in, education is the way to go.)

-Cut the corporate tax code to increase business activity in America

-Reform Social Security and Medicare

 
What do you think?

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Are we really in a recession or has the dream bubble burst? Did we really expect the housing market to always go up with no top on the horizon? Come on now… When I was working at the bank and I was supposed to sell home equity lines and loans to clients that had about 30% debt to income ratio, I knew something was going to happen. Our software actually promoted the idea to sell loans to people that were in the 30-40% debt to income range. I was a simple “banker” (really just a fancy word for salesman of financial products) and I could see what was going to happen four years ago. It just amazes me that financial institutions were so leveraged to the mortgage business even though a high school student with one semester of forecasting could predict it blowing up.

This situation does not have to get you down though. This market had a self-destruct button and it was hit a long time ago. Companies did this to themselves and the ones that can’t take the heat are going to be burnt. Badly burnt. But as you know, there are plenty of companies that are just getting brought down by the huge sell off that’s been going on for a while now. Some companies that seemed too expensive just a few months ago are now extremely cheap. It’s going to me hard making a positive return in this market, but you can certainly build a nice position while the market is low. Dividends are a huge key to be successful in this market, but there are plenty of other ways to get a pay off. Diversification could be a winner here if you choose the right fund. Fidelity reopened the Magellan fund; which brought some nice returns even in a pretty crappy market in the 80’s and 90’s. Fidelity is opening up the flood gates for new investors and maybe you should be part of the rush.

I know it seems depressing when you turn on the TV and all you see is the Dow sinking even further. I wouldn’t recommend putting all your money in one stock or purchasing a ton of stocks at one time. You need to purchase slowly and keep buying even if the market keeps sinking. The best idea is just let an index fund do everything for you. Just keep on dumping $300 dollars a month (if you can) in an index fund that is spread over the S&P 500, raw materials, minerals, and petroleum. The stock market will go up and you just need to buy it as the market goes down. There will be a U-turn at some point and investors will be happy that they bought when everyone was selling.

I also think that boom markets will be produced from this mortgage disaster. There’s still a lot of older people out there that are about to retire. This situation alone will send up certain sectors to new highs. Medical and anything influenced by an aging population will send stocks soaring. And because the whole market is hitting new two year lows, this offers the opportunity to own lots of stocks for real cheap. Happy investing and I would love to hear some new investing ideas you might have.   

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This is my first week in the Capitol and things have been a little hairy to say the least. I come to you this morning from the Senate Chamber on Day 3 of the 2008 Legislative Session. Here’s a little recap of what has happened so far…

Day 1 there were fireworks for the first time in 34 some-odd years. The House overrode 12 of the Governor’s vetoes from last session and the Senate has refused to take the issue up. Hopefully, we can see at least some action on those today. Among the overrides is HB 559, a bill put forth last session that would allow charter school teachers access to the state benefits plan, just like all other public school teachers — because remember, charter schools are public school! To the Senate, if you want to show you are not the Governor’s lapdog and override the veto with the House for one bill, do it on HB 559.

Day 2 saw HB 881 move out of the House Charter Schools subcommittee into the full Education Committee. The full committee will vote on the measure in the coming weeks, most likely after budget hearings next week. This is step one of many for this very good bill that would give a better shot to charter school petitioners whose applications are victims of political posturing by local school boards.

Day 3 begins today with a Senate session at 10:30am and the House reconvening at 1pm, followed by the Governor’s State of the State address to a Joint Session at 2pm. It will be a busy day with plenty of opinion and information out there all to digest.

Tomorrow, Day 4, will see a gutted gun bill come to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. This issue pitted the 2nd Amendment v. private property rights and it will interesting to see NRA response, as well as response in general, especially if the measure fails.

Overall though, the first session in the Capitol has been most interesting. It is quite a place and I get all warm-hearted seeing representative government at work. I’m sure there will be frustrating times ahead, but that’s all part of the territory I suppose. Win or lose though, what an experience, I’m so lucky to be here!

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Come on, did you really think that we could get through an entire election cycle with a guy named Huckabee in the race and not reference that movie?

So Mike Huckabee took the who cares Iowa caucus yesterday. OK, great win for morale of the troops, but what else really? New Hampshire is in four days now, so expect that overplay as well. But at least that is an actual primary. To me, there is something perverse about the caucuses, especially for the attention they get. Basically, each members of the community belonging to each party gather in a room and talk about who they want to be president, logging in a vote. For the Republicans, it is one man, one vote. For the democrats, they have a screwy system where if your candidate doesn’t place in the top three, then your second choice is logged in as your vote. Talk about skewed results.

I think the obsession with Iowa is that everyone wants an edge in political reporting. Well, you are following a red herring folks. I am not a dem so I can’t speak for them but I think if you really want a good indication of how the Republicans will eventually fall into place you should take a look at what happens in South Carolina in a couple weeks. Here is the first primary in a decent sized state with a decently representative population. And it is especially important for the Republicans. This is where the true conservatives are. That is a vote they don’t want to lose.

My predictions? You have not seen the end of Guliani of course. He endeared himself to me quite a bit by not playing in this Iowa business, seeing how much I am not a caucus fan. Don’t count out John McCain either. The defense angle still plays very well with many conservatives, although his immigration views may get him in trouble in an illegal-laden south. Here’s the word on the street though…if Fred Thompson ends up dropping out, which seems likely sooner than later, he may throw his support behind McCain. Don’t underestimate that union. There is still support for Thompson out there, media coverage or not. Right now, if I had to pick, John McCain is my guy, but not by much. Let me put it to you this way–if I was giving my free time to a campaign, it wouldn’t be to any of them at this point. They just haven’t differentiated themselves to me yet. We’ll see though. Cannot wait for South Carolina!

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In an unbelievable turn of events, the New York Times, the most openly hostile newspaper to the views of anybody remotely conservative, has published an article today that looks at the social science behind global warming and delves into some psychological reasons for the hysteria. And of course, what would a decent article be is we did not include some fact-busting and questioning of the unquestionable, Al Gore.

John Tierney conveys the sentiments about global warming that I think many conservative-types have:

“’Many people concerned about climate change,’ Dr. Sunstein says, ‘want to create an availability cascade by fixing an incident in people’s minds. Hurricane Katrina is just an early example; there will be others. I don’t doubt that climate change is real and that it presents a serious threat, but there’s a danger that any ‘consensus’ on particular events or specific findings is, in part, a cascade.’

“Once a cascade is under way, it becomes tough to sort out risks because experts become reluctant to dispute the popular wisdom, and are ignored if they do. Now that the melting Arctic has become the symbol of global warming, there’s not much interest in hearing other explanations of why the ice is melting — or why the globe’s other pole isn’t melting, too.”

And:

“The planet has indeed gotten warmer, and it is projected to keep warming because of greenhouse emissions, but this process is too slow to make much impact on the public.”

“When judging risks, we often go wrong by using what’s called the availability heuristic: we gauge a danger according to how many examples of it are readily available in our minds. Thus we overestimate the odds of dying in a terrorist attack or a plane crash because we’ve seen such dramatic deaths so often on television; we underestimate the risks of dying from a stroke because we don’t have so many vivid images readily available.”

As a result, activists hijack the cause, as Al Gore has done, and made things appear to be much worse than they are to push a certain set of policies on a gullible public that is unknowing of the facts. Anyway, it’s a very good article, John Tierney writes good pieces anyway.

On another note, if we use such great science to measure the effects of greenhouse gases on warming, why are carbon reduction goals always always always a percentage divisibile by five (e.g. 30%, 45%, etc.)? Look, I may have gone to Tech for international affairs, but I did my fair share of science, hell I was an engineering student for my first year and a half there. Not once in my calculations did a number come out to a five divisor. Not once. If we are truly looking to stem the tide with minimal economic damages, don’t you think we would have at least one 26% goal in there? Just a thought. And this goes for all sectors, we see it in government all the time. What is the obsession with whole numbers on the fives?

Enough for now, read the Tierney article, it’s something to think about. And we can solve the global warming issue without hysteria and radical economic effects, as the worldwide environmental protocols and calls for a heavier government hand in the private sector would produce.

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With all the news circulating about the Fed’s decision on cutting rates for the third time in a row, is the economy really based on the Federal Reserve or companies blowing away earnings estimates provided by analysts? Right now it seems like it’s heavily dependent on the Fed. The complete lack of confidence in the market is creating a lot more controversy than the whole mortgage mess. I think that there’s about 600-800 points of pure speculation embedded in the Dow right now. Usually when people think of the American stock market and economy, they think of the purest form of separation of government and business.

But does this situation erase the line in the sand and mix the two together? I am starting to think that it is. It feels like a complete bail out of companies that really don’t deserve to still be around. The major companies that have suffered were in the business to make money out of thin air. Did they really think they would make money off of a consumer that can’t even pay for the minimum payments on their credit cards? Come on now! And those are the idiots the Fed is trying to save…

I am sure our country would be perfectly fine with the total disappearance of some of these companies. When you play with fire, your ass will get burned most of the time. The companies playing around with crappy mortgage portfolios deserve what they got. If I went to a casino and bet all my money on red and the ball lands on black, am I allowed to complain and try to get my money back? I could, but the manager would tell me it was my fault for gambling.

Where should we invest our money to get ahead of the game? I think we should play the market in a 10-12 stock portfolio. You need to have some consistent growers like (Kroger, (KR), Coke (KO), Costco (COST), and some that will deliver constant dividends Pengrowth (PGH), Bank of America (BAC), Unilever (UN). After the portfolio has a strong foundation, you can pick some good performers over the long-haul. I like Wainwright Bank (WAIN), Adobe (ADBE), Honda (HMC) and Hologic (HOLX). Those stocks have some varied fluctuation, but have a strong long-term performance. Your portfolio is almost complete, but it’s still missing a few more stocks to really make it happen. I am still on the E*Trade (ETFC) bandwagon even after all the news. Does this make me a hypocrite because of what I said before? Maybe a little, but their main business is still very strong and their cash infusion will certainly help. Here are some picks of my favorite movers and shakers: Nintendo (NTDOY.PK), Suncor Energy (SU), and ValueClick (VCLK).

No matter how you end up playing this wild market, keep your eye on the long-term and remember that the stuff in between is almost like an illusion. The next year might be scary, but I think that this market will end up producing a lot of rich people. Do you want to be part of the pack or sit on the sidelines with your best friend Mr. Mutual Fund?

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I have to say, I am a fan of charter schools. I’m sure most of you have heard the term, but you may not know what it means. I want to clear up a misconception or two right here, right now, so that when a debate on the issue comes up, everyone can know what is going on.

First off, a private school is a public school that operates under less strict regulatory guidelines that an ordinary public school. They are usually administered by a non-profit professional school administration company and control their own funds. A charter school is bound to perform by a document called a charter that effectively serves as a contract between a local Board of Education and the school. The charter also serves as a contract between the parents of the school and the educators. It effectively relinquishes the school from complying with many education regulations set forth by the State and local Board of Education. In doing so, the charter gives school leaders and instructors greater autonomy in how material is presented and in how the school is run. With this freedom comes responsibility. Outcome goals are set in the charter and if the school does not perform, it will be shut down, unlike a traditional public school. In essence, charter schools gain greater flexibility for greater accountability.

Currently in Georgia, 70-some public charter schools in Georgia. Overall, they produce results, involve parents, and those served by them love them. A few haven’t been so great and they have been shut down. I’m sure many urban parents wish that could happen to their local school after children in their community continuously fail to meet standards.

Now that everyone knows what a charter school is, it’s time to clear up some common misconceptions. First off, as mentioned above, a charter school is NOT a private school. It is a PUBLIC SCHOOL. I really want to push this point across so here it is again and again–

CHARTER SCHOOL = PUBLIC SCHOOL

CHARTER SCHOOL = PUBLIC SCHOOL

CHARTER SCHOOL = PUBLIC SCHOOL

CHARTER SCHOOL = PUBLIC SCHOOL

–ok, I think that six times in a couple of paragraphs is solid enough. The second and third points kind of piggy back on this public school notion. First, contrary to popular belief, charter schools do not have admissions policies. They can’t! Remember, it’s a public school! While some school may be geared more towards some groups (such as special needs, gifted, math and science, etc.), charters by law have to be able to take in and accommodate every child, just as a traditional public school does. What may be skewed as an admissions policy is really a waiting list. When you want to send you child to a charter school, there is limited space available, as the charter prescribes. This is a fact that will come into play a little later.

Second (or third, however you want to look at it), charter schools don’t charge tuition. Remember the public school thing? Yeah, comes into play here too.

OK, now that the background work is done, let’s talk legislation. YAY! House Bill 881, put forth by Rep. Jan Jones of Alpharetta. Here’s the gist of it: Charter schools are not getting their fair shake, either in authorization or funding once authorized. Numbers seem to back this up. This year alone, 17 charter schools have applied for authorization to local school boards, all but two have been denied. This really is no surprise. After all, this arrangement is like requiring the zoning for a Burger King being approved by McDonalds. HB 881 would change how authorization takes place. Charter schools would be able to go before an independent state level board for authorization. McDonalds would be circumvented. I like this idea. It takes politics out of the authorization process. It better allows for the fulfillment of a need, as wait lists at existing charter schools indicate there is, and it will inject the power of the market in the public school system. Traditional public schools will be forced to shape up or lose enrollment to charters that outperform in the same community.

The second aspect of HB 881 that I love is that of funding equalization. Right now, charter schools, a public school remember, inexplicably receive about 40% of the funding that traditional public schools receive. This is wrong, inexcusable, and a great example of politics in action. HB 881 would change that. State and local dollars would follow the children that they are intended for. Charter schools would receive 90% of the education dollars entitled to a child, with the other 10% being left to the local school district that previously educated the child to cover administrative costs associated with the transfer. The costs are thought to be about 3-5%, meaning the local school system would gain 5-7% of a child’s share of the cash without having to educate that child.

This is a bill that is good for not only charters and kids, but also for the taxpayers that fund the traditional public school system. Competition is not something to be feared, it is something to be embraced. Our education system can become leaner and meaner, producing kids with better educations and more marketable skills using less money if competition is injected.

If you like the sound of HB 881, let your representatives know!

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