"We The People" - Speak Up And Fix The Economy

Recently Dr. Carson correctly stated that if you counted one number per second, it would take 507 years to get to the 16 trillion number we have as a national deficit. "We the people" need to  exercise our constitutional right to tell our representatives what needs to be done.

This is not a right vs. left, not a commitment to any other issue or endorsing any one solution to the problem. This is about getting the job done. Do your part and pass this on to "We the people" and lets get our government working. Notify your represetatives of the following;

"For whatever reason our government has failed in moving forward on the debt ceiling, deficit reduction and adopting a budget. Every american has to address these issues for their families. Every company has to move forward with a plan of action, but our government has not and continues to be stalled in moving forward. This is not acceptable nor will it be tolerated going forward.

We the people demand that our President, Senators and House of Representatives meet every day to resolve these issues and only these issues. All of the representatives are to report to the american people on a daily/weekly basis the solutions they discussed, the compromises they offered and which representitives refused to participate or offer compromise in going forward.

At this point, We The People, no longer want to debate the issue. The delay of any plan is severely hurting many Americans and continues to make a real recovery impossible. Any representative that does not participate in this action will not be voted back into office and will be publicly admonished for failing the people of this country. No more politics, discuss & compromise amongst yourselfs, report your decision to the public and take responsibility for your actions."

If we all push this process, force a decision, we can then go forward and fix whatever else needs to be done. This is not endorsing a position, it is demanding an action and reporting to the american people the details of their efforts. LET'S GET MOVING, LET'S GET THIS DONE - SEND THIS OUT!

Difference Between Politics and Leadership

Since the midterm elections there have been many questions asked about the Republican comments and the Presidential election in 2012. Questions concerning GOP inspired “investigations” of various issues, which are purposely exaggerated, have also been expressed. Come on guys, this is not news and this political nonsense is now the root of our problems as a nation. Instead of finding common ground and coming together on issues, we instead want to talk about;

1) GOP comments that Republicans want to ensure that Obama is a one term President. Is this really a surprise that Republicans want a Republican in office? (This does mean Obama has to be a one term President) Taking one comment and turning it into an argument the GOP has only one objective is just politics as usually and needs to be drowned out by sound minded Americans.

2) The call for investigations by the GOP. Given the mindset of the majority of Americans (as reflected in the midterm elections), we know that congressional bills were not read, financial institution dealings are still not in check, money is being wasted and many other similar issues are having an adverse impact on our country. Is it farfetched that Americans want definitive information concerning what has or will be going on with these situations? No one is saying that investigations are the only thing that should be done. Jobs are at the top of the list, but will be overshadowed by wasteful spending or inappropriate legislation if we don’t have the facts in hand. Building a house on top of this shaky foundation would be a grave mistake.

Let’s see a real effort to first explore common ground between the parties and if that is not possible due to any party’s philosophical ideology, let Americans know what your objectives are and the plans to achieve those objectives so that the American people can have their rightful voice on this very important issue.

2010 Election - 2011 Results

The only piece of information in the blog "Election Returns Are Good for Republicans, Bad for America" ( http://bit.ly/akvhsk )that I agree with, is that the same type of whining that we hear now, we heard from the other side of the isle in 2006. Other than that, when will our politicians, our "journalists" and our TV & radio hosts realize that trying to protect the politics of any party, for whatever reason, will set back any real change for all Americans. Yes, that's "ALL AMERICANS". You can't believe in unity if all you are willing to do is preach the party line & bad mouth each other in what plays out to be some of the most childish conduct we have seen from our "leaders" or at very least our educated communicators. Our system is failing us and that includes the White House, Congress, State Representatives, Business leaders and our objective news media.

In respect to the editorial or "opinion" media - I get it, you have to put on a show each day. This does not give license to purposely take things out of context, sensationalize situations for ratings or for being unprofessional and/or unethical. To our objective news media - where are the lines drawn for professional journalism. It seems that if you were a doctor, you might not do everything in your professional powers to provide the proper care to a patient that you don't agree with - grow up and provide information in a manner in which we can't tell what you or your networks politics are.

In respect to the elections that just occurred - the system works!! Maybe not in respect to your individual wishes this year, but our freedom of speech, freedom of choice and freedom to vote were once again highlighted in a similar manner in which they were displayed in 2008. It is the responsibility of all reasonable Americans to push forward towards creating mutually beneficial laws, regulations & programs for as many Americans as possible (and No, I don't believe you can enact any program that will treat ALL Americans perfectly equal. Strive for perfection realizing that perfection is never guaranteed- that 's the human condition). Any party or individual that preaches an all or nothing approach is pitting Americans against Americans. Although you never stop trying to improve your work product, you work with others that may differ in opinion but that shares a similar work ethic.

Bottom line - if our leaders refuse to do this, the clash of disjointed & opposing goals will and I repeat WILL cause economic & civil unrest for years to come. Is that the choice of an educated, mature, ethical and professional society - I HOPE NOT!

Who Are The Bernie Madoff's Of The Oil Industry?

With regular gas prices climbing towards the $3.00 mark, we should be looking at the question that continues to be unanswered - where is the money going on each gallon of gas. Since we use approximately 380 million gallons of gas a day (http://bit.ly/8Ytq0y), that is nearly 140 billion gallons of gas a year. If the price for gas is raised $.50 - $1.00 per gallon, that will be another 70 billion to 140 billion that the American people will spend this year.

We learned with the Bernie Madoff fraud that the public must continue to question and get answers to these important issues. Although Madoff was investigated by the SEC prior to the truth being known about his dealings and a number of wall street and financial insiders knew that something was not right with Madoff's company, billions of dollars were stolen from the American people. What we learned was not to accept incomplete or simplistic answers to these types of frauds. We learned that you need to press for comprehensive answers that include all the facts, including the names of these criminals and how they conducted their frauds.

Back to the present case concerning current oil prices. There are a lot of smart well informed people in the oil industry, financial community and in the government that understand the oil market and know the players. We must press our US Attorney General, State Attorney Generals and all our public representatives for a thorough investigation into oil pricing. This investigation needs to explain step by step the changing of hands in the oil market. We need to know who is getting what out of each gallon of oil. Only then will we be able to know who is making what and how much the market is being manipulated by outside interests and speculators.

This is one of the biggest frauds and market manipulation in our history. Don't except partial answers - the people of this country deserve better and need to demand more from our elected officials and our business community.

Health Care - Questions For All Our Representatives

I believe I speak for the majority of people that none of our representatives should have voted (for or against) the health care bill unless that representative can inform us of the specific sections of the bill (by paragraph and section) that everyone knows is important to us. Each and every representative should explain how this will be paid for considering financial issues with other federal programs (Social Security, US Postal Service, Medicare,etc).

Additionally, all representatives should hold Town Hall Meetings during the session break to show that this was about doing it right. This process should not have been about forcing a bill through before it can be properly discussed with the people that not only elected these representatives, but who are most affected by the impacts that will come with the health care bill.

We need this bill explained and then and only then will it be decided by all of the people of this country that this was the best that could have been done.

Healthcare - What To Do If We Want It Done Right!

With all the press about the far left, the far right, moral imperatives and whether we can afford it or we can't afford not to "reform" it, I hope that the vast majority of people can be reasonable on the health care issue. What I believe most people will agree on includes:

1. Health care costs are out of control.
2. Providing health care to all is a reasonable moral goal.
3. Cost does matter.
4. Our representatives are responsible for understanding a bill that they will vote on.
5. We are all entitled to our opinion.

Although I will expand on each of the above issues separately in future blogs, let's see where the questions will lead us and ultimately what the answers should be. The two basic questions that will clarify a direction for the majority of the "reasonable" people in the country are:

1. Can we implement a health care bill no matter what the cost will be.
2. Do we allow politics, fear or blind faith to replace rational, objective sound judgment in crafting a historic congressional bill.

Let me briefly explain why I have focused only on people who belong to the "reasonable" segment of society.

• The word reasonable means sensible, rational and realistic. Hopefully this applies to the average person, which also constitutes the majority of the people in our country.
• Our laws and culture have always used the mindset of the "average" or "reasonable" person in determining what is right or wrong.
• Both the extreme right and the extreme left wings find all sorts of justification to support their views, no matter how many "reasonable" people may object or be hurt by those views.

So how to we put this all together so we can move forward on the decision making process. Well, let's say you go to a doctor complaining about pain in both your knees. After a short physical examine the doctor says he believes you have extensive damage in both knees and he wants to admit you right away and replace both your knees. You say "wait a minute, aren't there some tests that you can do before I have both my knees replaced?" The doctor says "who's the doctor here! If I say you need to replace your knees, you need to replace your knees. How dare you question my judgment!"

I am sure that you would be finding another doctor. You would have some tests done, have the doctor show you the test results, fully explain your knee problem and the "choices" you can make. Why would we not do the same for an event that will have a major impact not only on your health, but on the health 0f everyone in the United States. So where does that take us to - what can we do. Start by using the KISS method (that's right - KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID). Ask yourself who are the people that are responsible to review all the information, create reasonable solutions to resolve the problems and EXPLAIN THESE SOLUTIONS AND THE CHOICES WE CAN MAKE! You guessed right - our Congressional Representatives are our legislative "doctors".

I know that some of you want to give up already, but we can't because we have too many people that are counting on the majority of citizens that are reasonable and will ask the right questions. Here is what we can do. Demand of all our representatives/leaders to respond to the following:

1. Have you read the entire bill so that you can provide us with an thorough understanding on what the bill will do and how it will do it.
2. Provide us with a summary explaining what sections of the bill do what (if a cop can reference the sections of the traffic law that apply to a ticket that they write, our representatives should be able to cite the sections of the bill that will have tremendous impacts on our lives.)
3. Explain the "year to year cost impacts" that the bill will have (you wouldn't let anyone buy a house because they saved their money for years and then would predictable run out of money based on their annual income - why would we let anyone run a country like that!)
4. Represent that there are no provisions or lack of provisions that will allow a future interpretation to change the regulations and thereby changing the original intent of the bill.
5. Demand that this information be put into writing so that it is part of the representatives formal record.

If you write, call and email as many of the country's representatives demanding this information we will find out who the "good doctors" are.

Republican Message Problem- Avoid the Car Alarm Syndrome

As we listen to the debate on health care, cap & trade and other issues, I hope that the Republican message can avoid the "car alarm syndrome."

For those of you that don't remember when car alarms were becoming popular, when a car alarm sounded this sound was not common and you could not help but to check what was going on with that car. Unfortunately, now when a car alarm goes off we often do not even look. We assume that someone brushed up against the car, a loud sound set it off or the owner pushed the wrong button on the remote key. The reason for the alarm (theft protection) was lost in the consistent repetition of alarms going off on a daily basis.

To have a proper debate we need to evaluate both sides of the debate. The information from the Democratic side comes from many different sources (The White House, Congressional Bill sponsors, analysts, etc.). Republicans need to respond in a way that doesn't come across in the same way each time. Americans need to choose and must be careful not to ignore important information that seems at times to be very repetitive.

Republicans - provide information in a way that will not be drowned out by the same "alarms" every day.