FREE ENTERPRISE vs. Socialism
A lesson from our past for our present day politicians and citizens,this movie clip, the final scene in the movie TUCKER, says it all.
There is Hope: Read Op Ed Column at THE DAILY CALLER:
"Reading Tea Leaves - Why American Free Markets Will Win and American Socialism Fail"
http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/28/reading-tea-leaves-americas-free-market-will-win/
Keeping faith and hope alive,
James Michael Pratt
Showing posts with label socialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label socialism. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
TRADITION, AMERICA, VALUES
ELECTION EXPECTATIONS & TRADITIONAL VALUES
My Vote: It’s been one week. I voted against the man who won, and voted for the VP on the ticket of the man who lost. Outside of that I confess to nothing. Goes to show when you can’t be passionate for the leader of your side on fundamentals, how hard it will become for voters to push him to the finish line in to first place.
I wasn’t passionate because I feel the conservative movement is dead. I have a hard time mingling my vote with those who want to “reach out across the aisle” to people who want to cut your hand off. (Not cynicism, just reality) I don’t vote for “compromise.” I, like the liberals who won the election, want to vote for the “win" and the "winner” because we believe in the values he/she stands for. I voted against the other side because I don't believe in their track record or rhetoric. So much for that.
Liberals and Conservatives in America. We need each other. It clarifies things and gives feeling of empowerment when we can state our views. Opposition can be forceful but doesn't need to be nasty. We are empowered through the vote. Some of us believe in "change" because we want to get back to fundamentals that have proven reliable, and some want "change" because of a new vision for an old recipe...in spite of the fact those recipes have poor records on rising to their promises.
“Change” has always been the “raison de vivre” for the left and liberals, and often because it is more exciting (less boring) than substance. I believe in action. I love action, but "action for action sake" may take one down a road with a predictable dead end.
Liberals experiment, Conservatives stick with values and virtues that have a proven track record. Liberal ideology seeks to re-invent failed social experiments as if experimenting enough will finally “fix it”; whatever “it” is. A mature person does not believe in “change” for change’s sake; "change” without definition of what that means.
PRESERVING VALUES: I have liberal friends. I have liberal family members. We debate. I just disagree on the direction that will be best for America based upon the past evidence, present circumstances, and probable future if we choose to obey principles that work versus experimentation.
“Conservative” comes from the word “conservation,” which means to “preserve.” I prefer to “preserve” American values, not ‘re-create.’
Not guessing: It really isn’t a guess on my part when I make these statements. History is in on socialism, for example. It hasn’t worked well. It stifles creativity, kills dreams, not to mention people. Tyrants and autocrats have failed somewhere near 100% when they employed it, and democracies have fared no better. The reason is simple. Government becoming the “Super Nanny” dehumanizes the individual; taking over personal responsibility, the traditional role of religion, and even family, to create utopia. And the kicker? It actually takes money to do this. You really want to invest? The cultural elites who back this stuff never feel the pain of the people who suffer from the stuff. They look out for each other. So...
Where does the money come from? Not a money tree. It comes from taxes which, deducts, takes away, robs, incentives from private business--the engine builders of economy, killing job growth, which jobs pay our bills until killed by over-regulation and high taxation, which puts the citizenry in a position of asking the government for a pay-check, which gives the socialist government the power they seek, until there is no more money and the people revolt...etc., etc. Let's list all the great socialist governments whose citizens controlled by fear and guns finally gave up on the Marxist dream and bolted to capitalism:
Former Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Chechslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania,...to name a few. Let's ask those who remember the post WWII 45 years of socialist repression, "IF" we should adopt even 1 percent what they went through... You know what the answer will be. The Berlin Wall fell and the truth of socialist glory was exposed. Present day socialists long for that kind of lost power, believing it just wasn't done right.
Successful Socialism? Socialism can’t be invented to work successfully unless success is defined by some low-level economic equalizing of all incomes and living standards.
>Think “gray apartment buildings.”
>Think “trash heaps.”
>Think no heating, poor sanitation.
>Think long lines for doctor's visits, dying from illness unnecessarily.
>Think food, gasoline, medicine, water, "rationing."
>Think third world countries...
I'm not kidding. I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived in it. I am NOT guessing about the results. Should we just keep trying until it does work?
So until something else becomes clearly preferable to that which really has worked, I feel strongly about “traditional values” being the ongoing answer for America. That means “equal rights” for all to succeed, fail, have a voice, vote as they please, and live the ideal life they choose. The evidence is clear that it has worked. It has built a beacon of hope and prosperity unlike any country or empire that ever existed in human history. And all this in 230 years.
Traditional Values and America: In 230 years versus the previous 5,000 years of recorded history, we have gone from handcarts to space travel, from letters to email, from speed of oil lamp to “speed of light” in all areas of endeavors. The founders of our country believed in economy, no debt, progress, individual improvement, freedom of speech, freedom from state religion, freedom to explore, grow, live and breathe the exhilarating air of progress where men and women choose their leaders; where we govern the governors.
I am a “traditional All-American” who believes in the values of the Founding Fathers, the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and especially appreciate that we can have opposing views. Opposing views, like market-place competition vs. regulated commerce, clarifies things, helps us formulate opinion and action. Finally...
HIGH EXPECTATIONS. There are high expectations, set by the Presidential election. The winner has promoted “change we need” and “hope,” and promised in his victory speech “We will get there…” Wherever “there” is. I have chills up and down my spine, but not for the reason the immature who buy empty rhetoric as facts may be feeling.
One thing is sure. The higher the bar is set, the higher the expectation and the harder to satisfy those who buy-in to the dream. We are already half-way to full socialism. Will the promoters of "change" be able to fulfill the promises of "hope?" New national leadership can’t fall far for those of us who don't understand the rhetoric of non-defined change, and yet do understand dead-end hope-filled infatuation with a promised and coming socialized culture.
We accept his win though. We do not expect him to change things for the better unless he can formulate and articulate an actual reason and plan with substance, that departs from the present and past policies of failure. We hope he will govern with wisdom and intelligence and not as his chief strategist Ms. Jarrett said he would on a weekend talk-show; that he would,"...be ready to rule from day one."
For a FREE COPY of the US Constitution for your computer, go to my website www.powerthink.com/store and choose the History and Freedom category. Select US Constitution, Democracy in America, or The Federalist Papers (all three are available for free) and go through "check out." You will supply a "Redemption Code" when prompted. The code is: Constitution. (Be sure to upper-case 'C' - it is case sensitive.) Please feel free to share with others.
More coming on AMERICAN VALUES...
James Pratt
My Vote: It’s been one week. I voted against the man who won, and voted for the VP on the ticket of the man who lost. Outside of that I confess to nothing. Goes to show when you can’t be passionate for the leader of your side on fundamentals, how hard it will become for voters to push him to the finish line in to first place.
I wasn’t passionate because I feel the conservative movement is dead. I have a hard time mingling my vote with those who want to “reach out across the aisle” to people who want to cut your hand off. (Not cynicism, just reality) I don’t vote for “compromise.” I, like the liberals who won the election, want to vote for the “win" and the "winner” because we believe in the values he/she stands for. I voted against the other side because I don't believe in their track record or rhetoric. So much for that.
Liberals and Conservatives in America. We need each other. It clarifies things and gives feeling of empowerment when we can state our views. Opposition can be forceful but doesn't need to be nasty. We are empowered through the vote. Some of us believe in "change" because we want to get back to fundamentals that have proven reliable, and some want "change" because of a new vision for an old recipe...in spite of the fact those recipes have poor records on rising to their promises.
“Change” has always been the “raison de vivre” for the left and liberals, and often because it is more exciting (less boring) than substance. I believe in action. I love action, but "action for action sake" may take one down a road with a predictable dead end.
Liberals experiment, Conservatives stick with values and virtues that have a proven track record. Liberal ideology seeks to re-invent failed social experiments as if experimenting enough will finally “fix it”; whatever “it” is. A mature person does not believe in “change” for change’s sake; "change” without definition of what that means.
PRESERVING VALUES: I have liberal friends. I have liberal family members. We debate. I just disagree on the direction that will be best for America based upon the past evidence, present circumstances, and probable future if we choose to obey principles that work versus experimentation.
“Conservative” comes from the word “conservation,” which means to “preserve.” I prefer to “preserve” American values, not ‘re-create.’
Not guessing: It really isn’t a guess on my part when I make these statements. History is in on socialism, for example. It hasn’t worked well. It stifles creativity, kills dreams, not to mention people. Tyrants and autocrats have failed somewhere near 100% when they employed it, and democracies have fared no better. The reason is simple. Government becoming the “Super Nanny” dehumanizes the individual; taking over personal responsibility, the traditional role of religion, and even family, to create utopia. And the kicker? It actually takes money to do this. You really want to invest? The cultural elites who back this stuff never feel the pain of the people who suffer from the stuff. They look out for each other. So...
Where does the money come from? Not a money tree. It comes from taxes which, deducts, takes away, robs, incentives from private business--the engine builders of economy, killing job growth, which jobs pay our bills until killed by over-regulation and high taxation, which puts the citizenry in a position of asking the government for a pay-check, which gives the socialist government the power they seek, until there is no more money and the people revolt...etc., etc. Let's list all the great socialist governments whose citizens controlled by fear and guns finally gave up on the Marxist dream and bolted to capitalism:
Former Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Chechslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania,...to name a few. Let's ask those who remember the post WWII 45 years of socialist repression, "IF" we should adopt even 1 percent what they went through... You know what the answer will be. The Berlin Wall fell and the truth of socialist glory was exposed. Present day socialists long for that kind of lost power, believing it just wasn't done right.
Successful Socialism? Socialism can’t be invented to work successfully unless success is defined by some low-level economic equalizing of all incomes and living standards.
>Think “gray apartment buildings.”
>Think “trash heaps.”
>Think no heating, poor sanitation.
>Think long lines for doctor's visits, dying from illness unnecessarily.
>Think food, gasoline, medicine, water, "rationing."
>Think third world countries...
I'm not kidding. I’ve seen it, and I’ve lived in it. I am NOT guessing about the results. Should we just keep trying until it does work?
So until something else becomes clearly preferable to that which really has worked, I feel strongly about “traditional values” being the ongoing answer for America. That means “equal rights” for all to succeed, fail, have a voice, vote as they please, and live the ideal life they choose. The evidence is clear that it has worked. It has built a beacon of hope and prosperity unlike any country or empire that ever existed in human history. And all this in 230 years.
Traditional Values and America: In 230 years versus the previous 5,000 years of recorded history, we have gone from handcarts to space travel, from letters to email, from speed of oil lamp to “speed of light” in all areas of endeavors. The founders of our country believed in economy, no debt, progress, individual improvement, freedom of speech, freedom from state religion, freedom to explore, grow, live and breathe the exhilarating air of progress where men and women choose their leaders; where we govern the governors.
I am a “traditional All-American” who believes in the values of the Founding Fathers, the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and especially appreciate that we can have opposing views. Opposing views, like market-place competition vs. regulated commerce, clarifies things, helps us formulate opinion and action. Finally...
HIGH EXPECTATIONS. There are high expectations, set by the Presidential election. The winner has promoted “change we need” and “hope,” and promised in his victory speech “We will get there…” Wherever “there” is. I have chills up and down my spine, but not for the reason the immature who buy empty rhetoric as facts may be feeling.
One thing is sure. The higher the bar is set, the higher the expectation and the harder to satisfy those who buy-in to the dream. We are already half-way to full socialism. Will the promoters of "change" be able to fulfill the promises of "hope?" New national leadership can’t fall far for those of us who don't understand the rhetoric of non-defined change, and yet do understand dead-end hope-filled infatuation with a promised and coming socialized culture.
We accept his win though. We do not expect him to change things for the better unless he can formulate and articulate an actual reason and plan with substance, that departs from the present and past policies of failure. We hope he will govern with wisdom and intelligence and not as his chief strategist Ms. Jarrett said he would on a weekend talk-show; that he would,"...be ready to rule from day one."
For a FREE COPY of the US Constitution for your computer, go to my website www.powerthink.com/store and choose the History and Freedom category. Select US Constitution, Democracy in America, or The Federalist Papers (all three are available for free) and go through "check out." You will supply a "Redemption Code" when prompted. The code is: Constitution. (Be sure to upper-case 'C' - it is case sensitive.) Please feel free to share with others.
More coming on AMERICAN VALUES...
James Pratt
Saturday, November 1, 2008
SUPER POWERs & WHO WE TRUST
SUPER POWERS, POLITICOS and ELECTIONS
The political machines of two dominate parties in high gear, we are days from electing our "future." The candidates are all making promises, thick enough if spread beneath their feet over the average lake in your neck of the woods, they could literally walk on water. Politicians are asking for power and would have you and I trust them. They offer “God bless America,” just enough to make you feel they really mean it. Some do, of course. But that’s not the point.
Much is made of the United States, Russia, and China as “Super Powers.” The difference lies in which country honors the real “Super Power.” Other countries such as Iran, North Korea, seek weapons in order to “join the club.” “Joining the club” of political Super Powers through political and military might isn’t the way it works. It's about people, their will, and what they grant in the way of power that makes a nation great.
The point is this. The people of a nation must govern their leaders and insure that those elected officials remember who is the REAL Super Power. When that check and balance of people governing elected officials, and God acknowledged in public and private freely, along with freedoms established by a Constitution guaranteeing such rights, the term “Super Power” begins to have real muscle.
It’s simple really. The United States of America was the only place on earth, when first established, where the RIGHT to worship God according to the individual dictates of the conscious was a primary protection. The founders, including my ancestor Lt. William Pratt who settled in Massachusetts and then Connecticut in the 1640's, came to this land for religious and economic reasons; in a word "Freedom."
Every other country on the planet was either secular in nature or ruled by a strong central figure coupled with a “State” authorized religion. Belief in “super powers” was often highly controlled. Not much has changed unless…
You consider the great debates resulting in the Constitutional Convention (1787) and the resulting document deemed sacred to Americans for over 200 years. Every time I look at a US minted coin and see, “In God we trust…” I hear a prophetic Isaiah of Israel (Isa. 42:1-3) who must have foreseen our day. We know what happens when faith is persecuted and prosecuted. My paternal ancestors fled England in search of “Freedom of Faith” – to be who they wanted to be, worship as they wanted to worship, build a society in the fashion of their ideals based upon individual effort in collaboration with others of the same desire.
More moral freedom always encourages personal and community growth and greatness. Openness to faith and the promotion of the moral compass inherently found in faith creates not only individual character, but the character of an entire nation; resulting in “Super Power” status.
Mantras of Change: Beware of those who find it necessary to change a successful formula, or tweak it with ideals and social experimenting that has a track record of failure and oppression. All one needs to know is found in the reading of history, and where failure is concerned, a study of political change in the 20th Century.
Take God out of the ‘Super Power” and you have a hollow inside with an outer shell of bellicose rhetoric, some angry men and women guiding a nation on their own, mixed with intercontinental ballistic missiles, and self-worshipping ego-centric “follow me” attitudes the size of the title “Super Power.”
The Autocrats: Chairman Maos, the Castros, the Stalins, Hitlers, Pol Pots, dictators small and large come and go. While tens of millions have died under their power faith lives, and their memory is one of contempt. Heaven forbid we ever elect one...
China, Russia, and other supposed “Super Powers” will never rise to the level of greatness that their people as individuals aspire to until they learn the lesson of faith in a power beyond themselves, and power beyond theirs to control. As long as the human spirit yearns for faith, the bands of political control may never contain it.
To remain a SUPER POWER we in the United States must rule the leaders. We grant them the “power” to manage the greatest nation ever conceived in mortal history. The sacred document organizing our United States was agonized over by a group of wise men who began their deliberations with prayer each day during the summer of 1787. The Founding Fathers looking beyond their day and into ours, knew that absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we get back to the genius inspired principles of balance of power, free market economics, (Adam Smith, author Wealth of Nations, was the Founder's hero...available at my website www.powerthink.com)along with freedoms of faith and others guaranteed by their concensus in the US Constitution, our position as a people and a country will remain blessed and secure.
“In God We Trust” and “God Bless America” are located on coinage and through the written and spoken word. To the degree they are genuine and heartfelt we will remain a free nation and Super Power.
James Michael Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
The political machines of two dominate parties in high gear, we are days from electing our "future." The candidates are all making promises, thick enough if spread beneath their feet over the average lake in your neck of the woods, they could literally walk on water. Politicians are asking for power and would have you and I trust them. They offer “God bless America,” just enough to make you feel they really mean it. Some do, of course. But that’s not the point.
Much is made of the United States, Russia, and China as “Super Powers.” The difference lies in which country honors the real “Super Power.” Other countries such as Iran, North Korea, seek weapons in order to “join the club.” “Joining the club” of political Super Powers through political and military might isn’t the way it works. It's about people, their will, and what they grant in the way of power that makes a nation great.
The point is this. The people of a nation must govern their leaders and insure that those elected officials remember who is the REAL Super Power. When that check and balance of people governing elected officials, and God acknowledged in public and private freely, along with freedoms established by a Constitution guaranteeing such rights, the term “Super Power” begins to have real muscle.
It’s simple really. The United States of America was the only place on earth, when first established, where the RIGHT to worship God according to the individual dictates of the conscious was a primary protection. The founders, including my ancestor Lt. William Pratt who settled in Massachusetts and then Connecticut in the 1640's, came to this land for religious and economic reasons; in a word "Freedom."
Every other country on the planet was either secular in nature or ruled by a strong central figure coupled with a “State” authorized religion. Belief in “super powers” was often highly controlled. Not much has changed unless…
You consider the great debates resulting in the Constitutional Convention (1787) and the resulting document deemed sacred to Americans for over 200 years. Every time I look at a US minted coin and see, “In God we trust…” I hear a prophetic Isaiah of Israel (Isa. 42:1-3) who must have foreseen our day. We know what happens when faith is persecuted and prosecuted. My paternal ancestors fled England in search of “Freedom of Faith” – to be who they wanted to be, worship as they wanted to worship, build a society in the fashion of their ideals based upon individual effort in collaboration with others of the same desire.
More moral freedom always encourages personal and community growth and greatness. Openness to faith and the promotion of the moral compass inherently found in faith creates not only individual character, but the character of an entire nation; resulting in “Super Power” status.
Mantras of Change: Beware of those who find it necessary to change a successful formula, or tweak it with ideals and social experimenting that has a track record of failure and oppression. All one needs to know is found in the reading of history, and where failure is concerned, a study of political change in the 20th Century.
Take God out of the ‘Super Power” and you have a hollow inside with an outer shell of bellicose rhetoric, some angry men and women guiding a nation on their own, mixed with intercontinental ballistic missiles, and self-worshipping ego-centric “follow me” attitudes the size of the title “Super Power.”
The Autocrats: Chairman Maos, the Castros, the Stalins, Hitlers, Pol Pots, dictators small and large come and go. While tens of millions have died under their power faith lives, and their memory is one of contempt. Heaven forbid we ever elect one...
China, Russia, and other supposed “Super Powers” will never rise to the level of greatness that their people as individuals aspire to until they learn the lesson of faith in a power beyond themselves, and power beyond theirs to control. As long as the human spirit yearns for faith, the bands of political control may never contain it.
To remain a SUPER POWER we in the United States must rule the leaders. We grant them the “power” to manage the greatest nation ever conceived in mortal history. The sacred document organizing our United States was agonized over by a group of wise men who began their deliberations with prayer each day during the summer of 1787. The Founding Fathers looking beyond their day and into ours, knew that absolute power corrupts absolutely. If we get back to the genius inspired principles of balance of power, free market economics, (Adam Smith, author Wealth of Nations, was the Founder's hero...available at my website www.powerthink.com)along with freedoms of faith and others guaranteed by their concensus in the US Constitution, our position as a people and a country will remain blessed and secure.
“In God We Trust” and “God Bless America” are located on coinage and through the written and spoken word. To the degree they are genuine and heartfelt we will remain a free nation and Super Power.
James Michael Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
Friday, October 24, 2008
SOCIALISM 101 Eyewitness to Failure
2 Years in a South American Socialist Utopia and Why Socialism Cannot Create a Thriving Economy out of the Best Economy Ever Built
Socialism 101 Preface: I was an eye witness who lived among the poor. I saw first-hand the Russian allied Peruvian dictator Juan Velasco ruin his country, turning it into a trash heap of despair and squalor. Living in Peru for two years during the volatile swings from free market to socialism, and now back left me with little doubt as to the absurdity that any new comer with a "remake" of the modern European style, Leninist, Marxist, or Maoist ideas of social utopia can succeed.
Life in General Velasco's Peru 1972-1974 As a wide-eyed young American eager to do my spiritual/humanitarian best for the people I went to serve among I learned several things. The list goes something like this:
1. I learned Americans were'nt poor under our worst conditions.*
2. People really do die from preventable sickness and disease.
3. People really do starve, and struggle on $1.00 a day under hyper-inflation.
4. Capitalists offer a "hand up" not merely a "hand out" but lose their hands.
5. Socialists take the capitalists businesses and re-distribute the property.
6. Re-distributed "rich" man's companies fail when nationalized due to stupidity and lack of incentive.
7. Educated businessmen leave the country they love because of economic bias. People they once employed go jobless.
8. Joblessness soars. Life is one big "black market" of selling anything to survive.
9. Cops carry machine guns. Easier to hit rioters that way.
10. People who get arrested often dissapear.
11. 15 days a month without meat or protein except for the last chicken egg, sucks.
12. Hot showers are a modern marvel enjoyed far far away.
13. Shaving cream @ $12.00 a can (1974) stinks. So does shaving w/soapy cold water.
14. Running for your life from thugs, thieves, and desperate people stinks.
15. When the government can't tax more people they simply blame evil capitalists.
16. People live in fear and wish the socialists would go back where they came from.
17. Right wing dictators eventually kill or jail the left wing dictators.
* Poverty comparison to millions I witnessed living "dirt poor" without sewers, running water, with thatched or mud walls, no roofs, food and clothing, emergency care, dirt floors, and so on.
A WHOLE LOT MORE I never wrote home to Mom about... Coming soon.
Socialism 101 Preface: I was an eye witness who lived among the poor. I saw first-hand the Russian allied Peruvian dictator Juan Velasco ruin his country, turning it into a trash heap of despair and squalor. Living in Peru for two years during the volatile swings from free market to socialism, and now back left me with little doubt as to the absurdity that any new comer with a "remake" of the modern European style, Leninist, Marxist, or Maoist ideas of social utopia can succeed.
Life in General Velasco's Peru 1972-1974 As a wide-eyed young American eager to do my spiritual/humanitarian best for the people I went to serve among I learned several things. The list goes something like this:
1. I learned Americans were'nt poor under our worst conditions.*
2. People really do die from preventable sickness and disease.
3. People really do starve, and struggle on $1.00 a day under hyper-inflation.
4. Capitalists offer a "hand up" not merely a "hand out" but lose their hands.
5. Socialists take the capitalists businesses and re-distribute the property.
6. Re-distributed "rich" man's companies fail when nationalized due to stupidity and lack of incentive.
7. Educated businessmen leave the country they love because of economic bias. People they once employed go jobless.
8. Joblessness soars. Life is one big "black market" of selling anything to survive.
9. Cops carry machine guns. Easier to hit rioters that way.
10. People who get arrested often dissapear.
11. 15 days a month without meat or protein except for the last chicken egg, sucks.
12. Hot showers are a modern marvel enjoyed far far away.
13. Shaving cream @ $12.00 a can (1974) stinks. So does shaving w/soapy cold water.
14. Running for your life from thugs, thieves, and desperate people stinks.
15. When the government can't tax more people they simply blame evil capitalists.
16. People live in fear and wish the socialists would go back where they came from.
17. Right wing dictators eventually kill or jail the left wing dictators.
* Poverty comparison to millions I witnessed living "dirt poor" without sewers, running water, with thatched or mud walls, no roofs, food and clothing, emergency care, dirt floors, and so on.
A WHOLE LOT MORE I never wrote home to Mom about... Coming soon.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
TRUE CAPITAL, CHARACTER & Joe the Plumber
“I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.” --President Ronald Reagan
The Final 2008 Presidential Debate: Last night I stayed awake for most the Presidential debate. I was wide awake during all comments about “Joe the plumber.” I have to say that Joe the aspiring business owner from Ohio stole the show and, of course I connected with it, because I have been an “average Joe.”
Obama’s blunder: Senator Obama may have lost the election because of just an average Joe, and now must regret talking to the plumber from Ohio. Answering a question that he was interested in “spreading” Joe’s “wealth around” if he made over $250,000 a year was like revealing he was going to play "Robbing" Hood on the middle class job creator. Days ago paying higher taxes was called “…time to be patriotic” by another “Joe;” Senator Biden, Obama running mate.
America’s Joe from Ohio uncovered the hidden truth about Obama and Biden’s redistribution of wealth plan and showed how out of touch they are with small business owners, and what constitutes wealth in middle America. He asked a simple question about taxes and found out that his “dreams of wealth” could not be achieved unless he “spread” his gains around; courtesy of the Obama Administration hopefuls. With all the costs of doing business, including payroll contributions, worker’s comp insurance premiums, liability insurance premiums, expansion capital, etc. $250,000 is HARD EARNED, and can be lost overnight without extreme business oversight and diligence.
I KNOW JOES' DREAM: I was a small builder that started a construction business with $900 dollars severance from a Police Dept. in May 1984 with a need to care for a young family, and a desire to make something of myself. I was constantly struggling to do all the work I could physically do to keep control of quality and dollars in our pocket. It was extremely difficult. If I had known what I was in for, especially with regards to six day work weeks, 12 hours a day for twelve years, and then losing nearly one million in California real estate and other business value during a deep real estate recession of 1991-1995, I wouldn’t have had the heart.
But it was MY dream... AND we had a great life. Hard work didn’t hurt me at all, and we enjoyed the “fruit of our labors” during the Reagan tax-cut years. I had proved I could start with under $1,000, and simply started over once again in 1994.
A NEW DREAM: There were no handouts, welfare payments, or government interventions when I was in a hospital bed, just back from near-death after the second life-saving blood transfusion in as many years. It was May 1997. I got a call from a literary agent. We had no income, no health insurance, and no job. I had chosen to “start over” in spite of it all. I had a “dream” to write. That dream then and now included making a fine income, and building wealth from my new self-employed risk taking. I had three tubes coming out of my body when I was told I would make a $250,000 “Advance” for The Last Valentine, my first of seven novels. It was hard work and risky to get from bankrupt “bad news” to the hospital bed “good news” where I recieved the welcome phone call. But I had a dream, and have once again benefited from a land that didn’t “spread my wealth around” but allowed me to dream big enough to grow a new business.
THE POINT: “Spreading wealth around” needs to be a private choice and not a “social” experiment run by a government. The character it takes to be self-employed, take no paydays for sometimes months at a time, and build something from just an idea can’t be appreciated by the non-participating “receiver” of my hard earned “wealth.” In fact without hard work the “welfare” recipients put on my payroll by a government mandating my charity expect to not be asked to contribute to my dream and business vitality. Class envy is enevitable when the government decides who should prosper and how and it cannot produce wealth. Such socialism cannot solve budget deficits, cannot provide new value or help someone develop the personal characteristic that fosters profit for a truly wealthy economy and personal life. Taxing wealth cannot produce more of it.
WHAT WORKS: Work works. Hard work, freedom to earn and work at whatever we chose without the fetters of government will solve the present economic crisis.
Capital, Values and CHARACTER: At the end of the day, it’s all about the essence of capital: value and character. The greatest “capital” created in any economy is the personal capital of the American man or woman with a dream. Incentives to better ourselves and personal lifestyles contribute to wealth. The dream begins it, hard work continues it, and the realization of profit takes it to a new level.
THANKS JOE! Your question clarified what America is all about in spite of our politicians inability to do so.
James www.jmpratt.com & www.powerthink.com
The Final 2008 Presidential Debate: Last night I stayed awake for most the Presidential debate. I was wide awake during all comments about “Joe the plumber.” I have to say that Joe the aspiring business owner from Ohio stole the show and, of course I connected with it, because I have been an “average Joe.”
Obama’s blunder: Senator Obama may have lost the election because of just an average Joe, and now must regret talking to the plumber from Ohio. Answering a question that he was interested in “spreading” Joe’s “wealth around” if he made over $250,000 a year was like revealing he was going to play "Robbing" Hood on the middle class job creator. Days ago paying higher taxes was called “…time to be patriotic” by another “Joe;” Senator Biden, Obama running mate.
America’s Joe from Ohio uncovered the hidden truth about Obama and Biden’s redistribution of wealth plan and showed how out of touch they are with small business owners, and what constitutes wealth in middle America. He asked a simple question about taxes and found out that his “dreams of wealth” could not be achieved unless he “spread” his gains around; courtesy of the Obama Administration hopefuls. With all the costs of doing business, including payroll contributions, worker’s comp insurance premiums, liability insurance premiums, expansion capital, etc. $250,000 is HARD EARNED, and can be lost overnight without extreme business oversight and diligence.
I KNOW JOES' DREAM: I was a small builder that started a construction business with $900 dollars severance from a Police Dept. in May 1984 with a need to care for a young family, and a desire to make something of myself. I was constantly struggling to do all the work I could physically do to keep control of quality and dollars in our pocket. It was extremely difficult. If I had known what I was in for, especially with regards to six day work weeks, 12 hours a day for twelve years, and then losing nearly one million in California real estate and other business value during a deep real estate recession of 1991-1995, I wouldn’t have had the heart.
But it was MY dream... AND we had a great life. Hard work didn’t hurt me at all, and we enjoyed the “fruit of our labors” during the Reagan tax-cut years. I had proved I could start with under $1,000, and simply started over once again in 1994.
A NEW DREAM: There were no handouts, welfare payments, or government interventions when I was in a hospital bed, just back from near-death after the second life-saving blood transfusion in as many years. It was May 1997. I got a call from a literary agent. We had no income, no health insurance, and no job. I had chosen to “start over” in spite of it all. I had a “dream” to write. That dream then and now included making a fine income, and building wealth from my new self-employed risk taking. I had three tubes coming out of my body when I was told I would make a $250,000 “Advance” for The Last Valentine, my first of seven novels. It was hard work and risky to get from bankrupt “bad news” to the hospital bed “good news” where I recieved the welcome phone call. But I had a dream, and have once again benefited from a land that didn’t “spread my wealth around” but allowed me to dream big enough to grow a new business.
THE POINT: “Spreading wealth around” needs to be a private choice and not a “social” experiment run by a government. The character it takes to be self-employed, take no paydays for sometimes months at a time, and build something from just an idea can’t be appreciated by the non-participating “receiver” of my hard earned “wealth.” In fact without hard work the “welfare” recipients put on my payroll by a government mandating my charity expect to not be asked to contribute to my dream and business vitality. Class envy is enevitable when the government decides who should prosper and how and it cannot produce wealth. Such socialism cannot solve budget deficits, cannot provide new value or help someone develop the personal characteristic that fosters profit for a truly wealthy economy and personal life. Taxing wealth cannot produce more of it.
WHAT WORKS: Work works. Hard work, freedom to earn and work at whatever we chose without the fetters of government will solve the present economic crisis.
Capital, Values and CHARACTER: At the end of the day, it’s all about the essence of capital: value and character. The greatest “capital” created in any economy is the personal capital of the American man or woman with a dream. Incentives to better ourselves and personal lifestyles contribute to wealth. The dream begins it, hard work continues it, and the realization of profit takes it to a new level.
THANKS JOE! Your question clarified what America is all about in spite of our politicians inability to do so.
James www.jmpratt.com & www.powerthink.com
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