How to Treat a Citizen

I have heard that if you want to see how a man will treat a woman observe how he treats his mother. Perhaps the same could be said of Presidential candidates towards citizens. What does it say about the person running for President or for Vice President? A citizen who the candidate will represent asks a question. It doesn’t matter what his or her station is in life, plumber or not, mechanic or not, accountant or not, unemployed or not, money in the bank or in debt, Republican or not, Democrat or not, independent or not. A citizen or even a non-citizen can ask a question of a candidate, especially if the candidate is supposed to meet the people he is supposed to represent.

What happens? The candidate, unscripted, unguarded for a few moments, responds to the citizen’s question with what can now be described as alarming candor. He’s going to spread the wealth around. Instead of thanking the citizen for asking, that citizen is instead vilified as the most heinous of spies and not representative of an average American. I thought the president was to represent all the people, divorced or not, owing back taxes or not, aspiring to earn more than $250,000.00 or not. Both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have ridiculed this man and in doing so have ridiculed every person who makes less the a quarter million a year and every one who aspires to make that amount and more. This is the height of condescension. How dare this man, not college educated, not a lawyer, not a reporter or pundit, plant himself in the crowd; must have been a Carl Rove plot.

Is this what the citizens of the United States can expect from an Obama-Biden administration? If you want to see how they will treat us when they are in office, just look at how they have treated Joe Wurzelbacher. Don’t dare ask us, we know all the answers, so don’t ask. And don’t dare make us look foolish because we are the educated, not you. And the minions of reporters and snoopers are rooting out the grand truffles that will reveal who “Joe the Plumber” really is. I thought he was just an American, asking a question. And he got an answer of far greater depth than he ever envisioned he would.

From my corner of Main Street and Beech in Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K

Behold, Random Thoughts

I have been enjoying the fall without a job. It is a joyous time for I am not beholden to any suit or the government for my situation. Ken, my older brother, and Jane, his wife, stopped by yesterday on their way back from Branson, MO. I showed them my retirement house and we rejoiced in my good fortune to have found a place that is quiet and where I have found a measure of contentment in spite of losing my job. He and his older son, Matthew, have had an auction business for several years now. They have yet to make a clear profit from it; all funds that are cleared from an auction are used to build up the business. This was the first year they allowed themselves to pay each other a modest sum from the business. It takes a long time to build up a business or even expand an existing one. Theirs is entirely a family owned and operated enterprise with no employees. My brother finally found something he really enjoys doing: auctioneering.   

Before they arrived at noon I had taken my coffee walk up Main Street. A cool foggy day shrouded the small town and brought out the Halloween colors, street signs appeared a brighter orange against the gray, turning leaves were all the brighter in the mist. Cattle in a pasture south of town grazed on grass, mist rose around them as the sun began to burn off the haze. When I got back home there was a message on my cell phone from Ken, he was just east of Eads, CO and wanted to know if I would be home. I called him back and told him to come on to Rocky Ford. After they left I sat in the sun in the back yard and read more of The Worst Hard Time. The author quoted Ezekiel 22:13, “Behold, I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made.” This was in reference to the homesteaders in the Dust Bowl area who had come to believe that God was punishing them for having made such profits during the early wheat boom. But their harvest was not dishonest; they grew a crop and in doing so they unwittingly ruined the land. The whole sentence reads: “Behold, I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.” 

This passage struck me as I sat listening to a cicada in the warm afternoon sun under a now cloudless blue Colorado sky. “The dishonest gain which thou hast made,” stuck in my mind. Many a dishonest gain has been wiped out along with many an honest one in the last few months. Will those who have made a dishonest gain be smitten? Will those whose honest gain has been lost be restored to solvency? Life does not lead to equal outcomes in the temporal sense. If I hadn’t bought a retirement home and sold my other house, where would I be? If I hadn’t followed my own sense of the market, where would I be? This morning dawned clear and cool and I drank my coffee leaning on the fender of my Ford F-150 in the back yard, watched a jet traverse the blue sky leaving a short dissipating contrail while a flock of black birds a few hundred feet up flew in the opposite direction to the southeast.   Behold my good fortune and may God bless every honest endeavor.

From my corner of Main Street and Beech in Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K

Plumbers are heroes

I checked the crawl space on the north end of my house in early September and found the soil wet and a distinct odor issuing from the under the house. I called a plumber and he checked out the pipes under the house. There was a T-joint that was leaking and needed to be replaced. A couple of days later a two-man team replaced the T-joint. This is not pleasant work. God knows what is in the crawl space of a house. Spiders and other insects and left over material from the day the original construction was completed. The work has to be done regardless of the weather or the cramped conditions. After placing flattened cardboard boxes to line the crawl space the plumber crawled right in there and went to work. No talking, no hesitation. 

Plumbing is an ongoing and essential activity as plumbing needs to be upgraded and completely replaced as old pipes and systems fail. This kind of work costs a lot but it is necessary. A plumber, who was planning on purchasing the plumbing business he worked for, wanted to know how his business would be affected by Senator Obama’s tax plan. Obama responded:

"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success too," Obama responded. "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/13/obama-plumber-plan-spread-wealth/ 

Insanity, Stupidity, and Corruption

Shepard Smith on Fox News was speaking with Austan Goolsbee from the Obama campaign on Oct. 14, 2008. He asked him what programs would have to be delayed. Mr. Goolsbee said that doubling foreign aid would have to be delayed. Wait a minute. I thought Senator Obama was for the American middle class. Why does he want to double foreign aid and what for? I don’t have a job and Mr. Goolsbee said that Obama wants to double foreign aid.    This is insanity. Who is going to pay for this garbage. We are fighting two wars and Senator Obama wants to double foreign aid. He wants to take from the plumber and give it to some foreigner. Does he want the American taxpayer to lift up every sorry beggar in the world? How does doubling foreign aid help rebuild the American economy?

This is insanity. This is practicing stupidity. Government regulation that promoted the sub-prime market was the engine of greed that drove the sub-prime market collapse. And still the politicians never quit. Look at the arrogance of these people who think that they can just conjure up more programs to be paid for by a limited number of taxpayers and a strained economy to feed an already bloated government and an enormous debt. They, the politicians don’t get it. And they think the American taxpayers are stupid. When does this stop? The American economy can’t afford any more government expenditure. Deal with reality, deal with reality, deal with reality. But they don’t, or won’t deal with reality. They have this unrealistic notion of what they want to do when they achieve power. Politicians see government as a giant candy store to do with as they please. Then when they think they have done a good job they adjourn, go on vacation or go on book signing tours and don’t give a damn about the American taxpayer, except when they want more money.

So Senator Obama only sees a delay in his candy list expenditures. Well, why should I pay for his candy list? Tell me why? Why should I go look for a job? A rebate will be given to people who don’t pay income taxes, based upon their Social Security taxes. So they rob from the Social Security tax to pay for a stimulus package. But farther down the road Senator Obama wants to double foreign aid at the expense of the American people. This all smells of insanity, stupidity, and corruption. I’m glad I don’t have a job and am not paying any more taxes.

From my corner of Main Street & Beech in Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K

Politeness

Listen to what they say. I mean actually listen to the words they use. Unscripted moments really reveal what candidates are actually planning, what their vision is for the United States.

"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" the plumber asked, complaining that he was being taxed "more and more for fulfilling the American dream." 

"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success too," Obama responded. "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/13/obama-plumber-plan-spread-wealth/ 

And what did Joe Biden say: “We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people,. . . it’s time to be patriotic … time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut.” http://news.yahoo.com/story/ap/20080918/ap_on_el_pr/biden_taxes_3 

“We want to take money . . .” “It’s not that I want to punish you for success. . . . I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

They want to take money. It might be nice if they asked first. They want to spread your hard-earned and accumulated wealth around. Again, it might be nice if they asked first. The disingenuousness of stating that he doesn’t want to punish your success is incredible. The reality of his statement is that he is going to punish your success. Listen to what they say. No institution is more covetous than government. The engine of government is never satisfied with what it has. Under the guise of providing more, government actually provides less. That is why it must take more. “We want to take money. . .” Biden didn’t say: “We are going to ask for money.” And how do you spread the wealth around? Is Senator Obama going to knock on the plumber’s door and ask? No. The notice will be in the mail. So where is the incentive to create a small business? Where is the incentive to expand a current business? Senator Obama wants to legislate equal outcomes from the bottom up by taking from the people who create jobs. Senator Obama didn’t ask the plumber. He told him flat out he was going to punish him, and he didn’t like it any better than any other taxpayer. But Senator Obama is not going to be hurt by the increased taxes. He’s being completely altruistic about it. Or is he?

Listen to what the candidates say. Pay attention to the unscripted moments when the truth slips out and reveals the true vision that these men have for the American people.

From my corner of Main Street & Beech, Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K

The Trilling

While waiting for the Bronco game to come on I went out the back door of my house and heard the trilling of hundreds of birds. I looked up and saw a swirling flock of sand hill cranes. Small V’s of 3 birds joined up with larger V’s of 10 or more. But the swirling mass had no leader. It wasn’t a fur ball of fighter pilot jargon, but rather was a feather ball of turning V’s and individual birds trying to tack onto a leader, who would guide the flock the rest of the way on their migratory flight. Some smaller V’s paid no attention to the large feather ball and followed their leader either east or southeast.

I watched the feather ball for several minutes as it slowly began to gain the semblance of a formation. Then with the still confused trailing birds the mass continued on its migration to the southeast. The younger birds had finally tacked onto a flight leader, while smaller flocks had already gone ahead disregarding the confused feather ball. I analogized their confusion to the uncertainty of the nation’s financial markets. The mass of investors and voters are looking for a leader to tack onto. Smaller groups have already tacked onto a flight leader and some individuals have made their own way without need of a leader.

The disturbing thing is that, finally, the news media’s much longed for and beloved recession is finally here. Now their anointed savior can come to the rescue of a beleaguered and eventually grateful and adoring populace. One has to ask: Who created this swirling political and economic feather ball?  And which direction will the swirling mass eventually turn to as it tacks onto a leader?

From my corner of Main Street & Beech, Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K

A Word Defined

After 22 years of reading case law and then not reading it at all now, I look back and recall very few significant phrases that stuck with me. The most familiar one is that a word is defined by the company it keeps. This concept can also be applied to what defines a man or a man’s character. A man is defined and judged by the company he keeps. Hugh Hefner is defined and judged by the company he kept, woman after woman. John Edwards like wise is now judged by the company he kept, while running for president and while his wife struggled against cancer. O.J. Simpson has, finally, been judged by the company he kept. The lasting stain on Bill Clinton’s presidency also reflected the company he kept in the oval office. So doesn’t the company Senator Obama kept define him and his character?

Who are these men: Tony Rezko, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and Bill Ayers? How has their relationship with Senator Obama helped to shape the man who seems to be so at ease in dismissing these relationships as peripheral to his true character. A relationship does not end simply because it has been disavowed or broken off; the effect remains for years, even for a lifetime. The influence that one person has upon the character of another is not so easily cast off simply by reading a press bulletin or making a public announcement of disavowal or condemnation. That influence lingers in the mind and the stronger of the personalities knows this and will stimulate that dormant influence to active receptivity. The word character is defined by the words which surround it, just as a man’s character is defined by the human influences affecting his psyche.  To say that a man has cast off an influence means about as much as a judge telling a jury to disregard a previous statement or testimony. The testimony has already had an effect upon the minds of the jury.

The record that Senator Obama is running on is also defined by the means by which it was implemented and those who leveraged their influence to help him. Just what did he achieve besides expending grant money and organizing communities? As I watch the loads of onions pass my house on their way to be processed at the produce warehouse north of Rocky Ford, I wonder what Senator Obama has produced, promoted, and marketed? Perhaps he carries with him the residual influence of the men who helped shape his true character and also define his political image. To see into the character of a man one must be able to observe and listen to the company he kept. Their words and deeds will tell you far more about the man than his own words would ever disclose.

From my corner of Main Street & Beech in Rocky Ford, CO.

Dr. K

The Worst Hard Time

I’ve been reading The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Egan takes the reader into the dust bowl world of the Oklahoma-Texas panhandle, southwestern Kansas, southeastern Colorado and eastern New Mexico. The wealth of the earth was overproduced then the plowed ground was allowed to go fallow. The winds came and blew the dreams and aspirations of thousands of homesteaders, ranchers and businesses away. Today the winds of financial markets are blowing through the accumulated wealth, or debt, of an overvalued market. Driving around the Arkansas Valley during the last week I didn’t see any visible signs of this paper cloud. I attended a class reunion that included a high school homecoming football game, a veteran’s parade, a tour of my high school, and a banquet with my classmates. We shared memories and some of the pain of life. In a sense it was a healing experience of leaving some of the baggage behind and realizing that not everything is accounted for in the balance sheet of the economy.

I cleaned the screens and window sills on my house yesterday, get it done before winter. They hadn’t been cleaned since the windows had been installed sometime in 2007. There was dirt, dust, cobwebs, and dead insects between the screens and the windows. Perhaps this market fall is the cleaning of the screens of an overheated economy. But people don’t know what to do. The pundits don’t know what to do. I do not know what the future will bring.  But there are similarities to our situation in an earlier eight-year period. I look back to 1964-1972. LBJ engaged in a guns & butter economy, fighting the Vietnam War and proposing the Great Society. He couldn’t pay for both (and continued by Richard Nixon). What we got in the 1970s and early 1980s was the first fuel crisis, stagflation, then double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, and double digit unemployment.

In 2001 a war was forced upon us, but we didn’t treat it as real war time, economically. President Bush wanted Americans to go shopping. And he and Congress followed that advice. Again, guns and butter were purchased with a national credit card. President Bush received the authority to engage in a second war in Iraq with no commensurate increase in taxes to pay for it. The country incurred the loss of considerable wealth after 9/11. The economy rebounded but this recovery was based upon credit and, eventually, some of it bad credit. This process had to come to an end. And now people are paying the price for over indulgence both for a spend thrift government and a highly leveraged populace. For many it may indeed be their worst hard time. Even though we can’t see the dust cloud approaching, these winds of change are moving faster than both political parties can rewrite their talking points.

From My Corner of Main Street & Beech in Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K

This was to be in response to Victor Davis Hanson’s column: Wall Street 101,

I took action in the spring of 2007 that led me where I am today.  I found and bought a retirement home in a depressed market.  There was no sub-prime mortgage for me.  There was a conventional 30 year loan and my lender allowed me a very limited amount since I already had a home in a higher market where I worked.  I knew I couldn't keep both homes so I put the home where I worked on the market. Funds from my Roth IRA were used for the down payment on the retirement home.  In Feb. 2008 my company announced that 20 positions would be eliminated by June 2, 2008 as a result of off-shoring.  The same day I closed on the sale of my home, I was also notified that my position had been eliminated.  So after 22 years with a company I got 26 weeks of severance pay in the very low five figures.  And I was a top performing editor analyst.  But I sold in a worsening market and paid off all my debts, except for the mortgage on my retirement home.

So am I angry?  Yes.  I'm angry.  I worked on my education, worked at my job and received production and quality awards, bought and sold property.  And now I find out that playing by the rules doesn’t count. Executives of failed companies walk away with millions. Why? They failed. Someone with no income, no assets, no credit check could get a mortgage for 125% of the value of a home purchase. And every mortgage agent, loan originator, home inspector, home appraiser, title company, and insurance agent is culpable in this sub-prime mortgage mess, but only because the mortgage companies had to set aside a certain number of loans for sub-prime. And who set those standards? The government did.

And so, who gets a lipstick, the cheapest, gaudiest red? The swine herd that is congress and the pigsty that is the Capitol get just one lipstick and they have to share it. The reality is that a lot of people are going to have to do without for a long time. I, meanwhile, am not eager to rejoin the work force. Work is not appreciated by corporate America. Only cheaper is appreciated. I made my own plan and it worked. I bought the best piece of property that I could for my money; brick and mortar on Main Street, USA. The Roth stock that I sold in 2007 for the down payment on my retirement home dropped from $13.00 a share in 2007 (when I sold) to $8.50 a share now. Does that make me look like a genius now? I don’t know. Maybe I heard the hoof beats of the coming financial apocalypse or perhaps I was listening to God whispering in my ear. 

From my corner of Main Street and Beech in Rocky Ford, CO

Dr. K