Out of Control Spending?

Two interesting developments came out of Washington, D.C., this week that I think the average citizen in America wrongly cares little about.  First, we have the raising of the debt ceiling; that is, raising the level of debt that the U.S. government is allowed to pile up.  Second, we have the massive $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill that president Obama signed into law.  Both are disgusting acts of Congress on their own, but when viewed together they paint a scary picture of where this country is headed.

As if the United States wasn’t in debt enough already, the brilliant minds in Washington decided to borrow $290 billion to keep the government afloat for just six more weeks.  Were told that the only other option was for the U.S. to default on its obligations for the first time in history, which certainly would have sent the markets into a tailspin.  So instead, we borrow more money that we cannot pay  back just to pay the loans that we have taken out previously.

Were going further into debt to pay off our debt.  That would be like you and I paying our credit card bills with other credit cards; hardly a good financial practice.  I wonder, why couldn’t we use that additional $200 billion or so that we “saved” on the bailout program to pay down some of our debt?  Oh, that’s right, paying down the debt doesn’t earn any votes for the democrats.  Entitlements are the path to reelection!

In the same week that our government had to take a loan to pay a loan, the president signed into law a massive $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill.  Were told that this is normal spending that occurs every fiscal year, it’s just that they have wrapped the spending up into one easy -to-pass bill.  But if we look closely at the $1.1 trillion spending bill we see that all of the agencies affected by the spending bill received approximately a 10 percent raise in funding.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t receive a 10 percent raise this year.  I bet you could count on both hands the number of private companies handing out 10 percent raises this past year.  We’re in a recession, a bad one at that, but our government still feels that a 10p ercent raise is in order.  While you and I trim back our lives to fit these horrible economic times, the government continues to grow and increases spending by 10 percent.

Our government continues to fail us on a daily basis.  There are many areas in which the government could make cuts, but rather they increase in size.  There are pockets of money available to the government today that could be used to help pay down our debt, but instead the government wastes that money, then goes out to borrow more so that we can continue to meet our obligations.

When will the average American citizen wake up and see the damage being done to us by our own government?  A five-year old could tell you that borrowing more money to pay back your loans that you cannot afford is a bad idea.  Yet Congress thinks it swell, all the while working to pass massive health care legislation that will bring this country to its knees financially.

I wonder which currency will take over when the dollar collapses in the coming years.  It’s time to start investing.

A work in Progress

Welcome to the newly reborn Federalist Journal.  With the current administration and congress pushing legislation that seeks to destroy our liberty and tax us into poverty, I’ve decided that I cannot sit on the sidelines hoping someone else will step up to speak on my behalf.  I am concerned about our nation and the path we are on as a country, and as a citizen of this once great nation I have both a right and an obligation to speak my mind.  This blog will allow me to present my opinions to the world.

For now, the blog is still under construction.  I am working on transitioning from a personal blog over to a political blog.  This will take me some time, so please be patient.  While I work on that, please click the Facebook link on the right side of the page and become a fan of my Federalist Journal Facebook page.

Equal Intelligence Theory

Someone once told me that everyone has pretty much the same amount of intelligence; what makes us different is the amount which we choose to use.  He’s a very smart person, or, I should say, he chooses to use most of his intelligence.

At first I was hesitant to buy into his theory, as it would strip away from me the one advantage I felt I had over most of those around me: I cling to the claim of high intelligence just as Obama has me clinging to God and guns.  But since starting college, my skepticism has been erased, and I have signed on to the equal intelligence theory.

I entered college assuming that my instructors would all be intellectually superior to me.  This was confirmed by the title some of them carried; a few of the instructors that I have had so far were doctors (those who insist on being addressed as “doctor” should be watched closely).  But surprisingly, some of the most questionable grading I have seen has come from their pens.  I have seen grade reductions for failing to answer questions that were not even asked in the syllabus, marks of “unsatisfactory” for failing to respond to a classmate’s post when there were no posts from a classmate to respond to, and accusations of incorrect grammar when using a phrase found in the syllabus, which was grammatically correct.

Certainly these instructors– er, doctors, are smart people, right?  After all, earning a doctorate is hard work; they’re not just handed out for free (If I am wrong about this, please let me know where I can pick up mine).  If these doctors were smart enough to earn a doctorate, why is it that their grading of my work does not reflect a similar level of intelligence?

It isn’t a lack of intelligence that causes these silly grading errors.  It’s that these doctors have chosen not to use their full intelligence.  I am not smarter than they are, and they are not intellectually superior to me.  It’s just that my brain is firing on all cylinders, where they have chosen to throttle theirs back.

Success in school, or anything else for that matter, is not about how smart you are.  It’s about applying the brainpower you have.  We’re all pretty much on an even keel intellectually, and you too can be first in your class.  Unless, of course, I’m in your class, in which case second is nothing to be ashamed of.

The Day The Vizio Went Dark

Taking advantage of a rare moment of bravery, and the not-so-rare feeling that the local cable company is soaking me for sub-par programming, I cancelled my cable television subscription this past weekend.  Walking into the local Time Warner storefront (which has the look and feel of a DMV office), with my set-top box in hand, I felt liberated; no longer would I pay their inflated rates for service that leaves me dumber and wanting.

After waiting for my number to be called– I was the only customer in the store, yet I still had to take a number; very DMV-esque– I approached the counter and submitted my request.  After a quick game of Twenty Questions to prove that I was who I said I was, the kind lady behind the counter (not so DMV-esque) punched a few keys on her keyboard and then proceeded to ask me two questions whose significance I did not recognize until later that day.

“Do you want to keep the basic tier so that you will still have reception?” she asked, almost as if she just needed to confirm that I indeed did.  Of course, this would still leave me paying them for television service, so I replied with a kind “no, thanks.”

And then came the all important question, marking the climax of the transaction taking place that day:

“Well, what are you going to do for T.V. then?”

Her tone suggested concern for my ability to procure entertainment, or possibly suspicion that I had come off my rocker mentally.  Life without TV?  But…; what about…; what if…; Can you do that?!

Sure can.  I’ve been doing it for almost a week now and I’m still relatively sane.  Television is not the necessity that our society makes it out to be.  I don’t need 200 channels of drivel piped into my home 24/7.  Most of what cable has to offer is pure rubbish, like a show about rich drama-queen high school students from Orange county, California.  There is little on cable television that has any value, be it educational or entertainment.  But yet we still see it as a necessity; a must-have service as important as electricity.  And it’s this very mentality that allows cable companies to charge highly inflated, constantly rising rates (well, that and the regional monopolies they have set up).

I for one have had enough.  I will no longer allow the cable company to treat my bank account as a trough from which they can feed freely.  My seventy dollars each month is better spent elsewhere: reducing my credit card debt, paying down my car loan, attacking my student loans.

Will I miss cable television?  Most likely, yes.  But not as much as I have been missing my hard earned money.

Take Me Out With The Crowd

They call it America’s pastime, and rightfully so.  There is no clock to race, and timeouts are unlimited.  Baseball; the game is more American than hot dogs and apple pie.  And if stopping three-quarters of the way through a game to stretch and sing a song isn’t American then I don’t know what is.

Baseball is more than just a sport or a game; it’s a way of life.  It’s a family friendly event that has provided joy and excitement for decades.  And it’s a great opportunity for fathers and their sons to bond.

As a young boy I spent many afternoons and evenings watching baseball on television with my father.  We pulled for the Cubies and the Braves, and sang along with Harry Caray during the seventh inning stretch.  Given my father’s poor health, we didn’t make it out to the park much to see the local minor league team play.  But I have no doubt in my mind that had he been healthy, my father and I would have been frequent visitors to the stands.

Through my late teens and into my early twenties (my “dark ages”) I fell away from the game.  But within the last 12 months my love of the game has been reignited by a promising Mets ball club and my oldest son turning three.  Over the past couple of weeks, my son Kasey and I have watched a few Mets games on the tube.  Of course, he struggles to stay focused, and thinks every time the ball is hit is a homerun.  These moments shared are truly priceless.

This coming week I plan on taking Kasey out to his first game.  We’ll head over to Frontier Field to see the Rochester Red Wings take on the Charlotte Knights.  We’ll have a few Zweigle’s hots, catch a bag of peanuts from a vendor, and maybe even tip back a couple sodas if he promises to not tell mom.  But more importantly, we’ll have fun together and our relationship will strengthen, and I’ll pass down to my son the tradition of father-son baseball outings.

I know my own father would be proud.

Blink and It's Gone

I’ve been chained—er, married, to my dear lovely wife Melany for exactly 4.353 years.  A mere blink of the eye when compared to my advanced age of twenty-six years.  But I’ve made more sacrifices during that blink than all of the previous years combined.  Or, at least that’s how it feels.

Just recently I made the ultimate sacrifice for my wife short of giving my life for her: I sold my Macintosh computer to pay for a camera lens she’s had her eye on.  Now, I know what you’re saying: “Kyle, it’s just a computer.”  Oh, but it was so much more!

My iMac provided me with the freedom to compute without the annoyances that come with MS Windows.  It inspired me to be creative and take on new challenges.  It gave me reason to believe in a brighter future.  It was like a third child to me.

Okay, some of the above might be a stretch, but I think I’ve made my point.  I will certainly miss my Mac, probably on a daily basis, and selling it was not easy for me to do.

I’m sure this wasn’t the last sacrifice I will make for my wife, and likely not the largest either.  Marriage is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated.  But I am managing, and doing so quite well, I’d add.

Now, if my wife could just put that new lens to work so I could painfully sacrifice my full-time job to make time for running her business.