ok, so i'm going to have to shoot straight here. while i normally like to ramble on about random garbage, i've got a serious burr in my ass and i'm gonna have to pick it out. the burr, not my ass. anyway, so this week we have seen our financial sector take quite a large hit. this has been followed by the imperial federal government proposing, then rejecting, and now proposing again some sort of bailout plan for said financial sector. couple of problems with this deal. first, this is going to cost the taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!!!! the numbers currently read, including bailouts already given to previously failed institutions, OVER ONE TRILLION DOLLARS of YOUR money. one trillion dollars. 1,000,000,000,000 bucks. that's alot of zeros. hope you make good money. this of course does not include money given to the auto industry to bail them out and the government taking on failed airline pensions, as well as any other bailout schemes i've missed. the big o says that this is an investment by the government into the financial sector. these same investments got us into this mess!!! the government won't profit, as has been suggested, it will lose money as have these financial institutions and the burden will be passed along to the taxpayer. say goodbye to your job, your home, and any money you may have been placing into retirement funds. i could go on, but you get the idea; this is an EXTREMELY costly deal. second, while everyone is saying that the financial sector is doomed without this bailout, wall street recouped around two thirds of it's losses in one day. ONE DAY!!!! this mess stems from investors betting on bad mortgages, those given to people who hadn't a snowball's chance in hell of ever repaying it. i find it ironic that the five cities in the us with the largest criminal alien populations also have the largest foreclosure rates in the country. imagine walking into you bank asking for a 300 thousand dollar loan with nothing but a fake id. then you get it, even though you have no credit score. tell me where the problem lies. said mortgage is sold to a larger company, such as washington mutual, or aig, and they artificially inflate the value of said loan to increase investments in their company. then one day, the balloon bursts, and we are in the situation we are in now.
OK, so that's a brief synopses of the problem, at least my take on it. where do we go from here. my opinion is that we let the market take care of itself. evidence that this will work is in the two thirds gain in one day of previous day's losses. sure, other companies will fail, but rightfully so. for those of you who slept through economics, this is the way a free market works. there are winners and losers. it really is survival of the fittest. any businessman will tell you that the way to succeed is to structure your business to be able to fight and win. the wrong way to do this is to underwrite bad debt. this goes for a business as well as a government. the companies we see failing are those whose poor decision making allowed them to be swallowed up in an extremely competitive environment. yes, speaker pelosi, anything does go. that's the way business works. stick to politics and leave the business to the businesspeople. under no circumstances has a large scale government bailout worked. in fact, they usually only artificially inflate an already burst balloon, keeping it inflated until it bursts again with greater ferocity. another point to make is that this also stems from governmental intervention in said free market. by pressuring institutions to lend to the unqualified, the ifg set this mess up. remember the whole "everyone deserves to live the american dream" horsesqeeze that the current administration fed us earlier this decade? well, here is what happens when the government steps in a "helps" make this happen. now, this is the part where i fess up. i was able to take advantage of one of these trumped up programs, namely the now defunct Nehemiah gift program. i was able to finance my home with no money down, although it appeared that i placed a down payment. this was available to first time homebuyers, and without it i wouldn't have been able to purchase my home when i did. call it a case of "gotta have it now-itis." while i have since shown my creditors that i am a reputable borrower, it could have easily gone another way for them. i had no "skin in the game" so to speak. anyway, i though that it was only ethical to point this out.
so where does the blame lie? you can pretty much take a map, put an "X" on washington dc, wall street, and then anywhere else one of these businesses was headquartered. both sides of the isle in the congress are to blame, and equally so. the white house is to blame. the investors are to blame. the mortgage brokers are to blame. the community activists are to blame. and yes, boys and girls, the american citizens are to blame. that's you and i. i recently read an article on self defense. it stated that you and you alone are responsible for you personal protection. this is an unalienable right, and a moral responsibility. if you fail to protect yourself, you are as much to blame for your demise as is your attacker. failing doesn't mean that you did all you could and were still overpowered. it means that you did nothing to protect yourself. that's the position we as citizens are in. we have done nothing to protect ourselves from this situation. we've allowed our government to become abusive of our rights, our freedoms, and our financial well being. in other words, our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. to continue quoting the declaration of independence, "governments are instituted amongst men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying it's foundation on such principles and organizing it's powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
you ask why i bring this up. i believe that thorough examination of the declaration of independence in it's entirety illuminates interesting parallels between the situation in 1776 and 2008. i believe that any freedom minded american citizen will tend to notice some of these similarities. i feel that we have reached a point in history where our country and it's government has outgrown the republic.
OK, so i've gone on for too long. i however hope that this has sparked a fire deep within your being, a fire that begins to burn for change. not the type of change that the big o is promising, but real change, tangible change. in a future installment we will dig deeper into this change and hopefully discover answers to the question before us. at least we'll kill a few minutes of time in the process.
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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Enough for now
what, i didn't even know there was a font called georgia. so i guess it's appropriate that i use it. yes, i reside in the great state of georgia. and while there are some parts of it that are kinda scary (deliverance was filmed in the northeast ga mountains) it is mostly a pretty good state to be in. this is a far cry from the state of my previous residence, which i won't mention (alabama). ok, so i'm a sucker for detail. anyway, the good thing about georgia is that we have very nice firearms laws. not many states let you carry your holstered sidearm into a BANK. you tend to get alot of stares, but hey my second amendment rights are protected here, and by golly i'm going to exercise them. other than that it's just your run of the mill southern state.
wow, i can't believe that i just wrote a paragraph about where i park my fat ass. like you people actually care. anyway, so i'm thinking that four posts in one day is plenty. i wouldn't want to tire you people of my endless banter. god knows most of you are screwed up enough on your own without my twisted influence to make things worse. which gets me thinking.
i am a fairly large, quite handsome fellow. that said, why is it that people expect me to be some sort of role model? God blesses me with a little size and striking good looks and all of a sudden i'm the example that all of mankind should follow. do you realize the implications of this half-cocked line of reasoning? humanity as we know it would be DOOMED!!!! it's bad enough that the people that i am around daily have to put up with my nonsense, but most of them have been inoculated against my insanity. but the general public? i don't think so missy. good god, the mere thought has me trembling. this would be smallpox all over again. i can see it now....innocent folks lined up for vaccination with a picture of me with a red circle and slash on the syringe. without said vaccination the world would probably end rather quickly. folks walking around running into things, tripping over their own egos, throwing out perfectly good lunchmeat, you get the picture. which leads me to say this....
i'm thinking of running for political office.
wow, i can't believe that i just wrote a paragraph about where i park my fat ass. like you people actually care. anyway, so i'm thinking that four posts in one day is plenty. i wouldn't want to tire you people of my endless banter. god knows most of you are screwed up enough on your own without my twisted influence to make things worse. which gets me thinking.
i am a fairly large, quite handsome fellow. that said, why is it that people expect me to be some sort of role model? God blesses me with a little size and striking good looks and all of a sudden i'm the example that all of mankind should follow. do you realize the implications of this half-cocked line of reasoning? humanity as we know it would be DOOMED!!!! it's bad enough that the people that i am around daily have to put up with my nonsense, but most of them have been inoculated against my insanity. but the general public? i don't think so missy. good god, the mere thought has me trembling. this would be smallpox all over again. i can see it now....innocent folks lined up for vaccination with a picture of me with a red circle and slash on the syringe. without said vaccination the world would probably end rather quickly. folks walking around running into things, tripping over their own egos, throwing out perfectly good lunchmeat, you get the picture. which leads me to say this....
i'm thinking of running for political office.
OK, so there really isn't much to say, however I'm sure that I'll be able to fill a couple of minutes of your time with some meaningless crap that will make you wonder why you bother reading this. So far things have calmed down a bit. The surreal fact of a child entering the picture continues to be just that; surreal. Yesterday, we bid on and won the crib bedding set for the little man's room. Having my influence it is of course an aviation theme. I'm beginning to see the upside to having a boy; I get to decorate the room, which means that I get to put all MY favorite toys in there. You know, model planes hanging from the ceiling, the ceiling fan, a big train running along the wall, all kinds of cool stuff that I always wanted but considered a bit much for a thirty-something year old kid to have. So I'm already one of those monster dads who live vicariously through their son. Poor guy, and he's not even here yet.
So, do you sometimes wander around in a fog? I tend to spend most of my waking moments in some sort of stupor, which seems to be related to stupid, not sure if that's a coincidence or not. I'm fairly sure the reason for this is entirely too much animal products in my diet. Or maybe too much Jagermeister. Maybe both (my money's on the Jager). Which by the way is a very fine liquor for those of you not opposed to the occasional nip of the good spirits. Or frequent nips, I won't judge. Back to the fog thing. It seems lately that the fog has gotten thicker. I personally am experiencing some really cool things, but it seems that everything around me outside of home is falling apart. For confidentiality reasons I won't go into detail, but it should suffice to say that things are pretty shaky. Maybe that's the source of the fog. Maybe it's because of the whole surreal 'bout-to-be-a-papa thing. Maybe it comes back to the whole light and darkness thing, except mostly I am complete darkness. Not really complete darkness, just very shadowy. I don't know (I still put my money on the Jager).
I just came to the realization that a big train running around the room doesn't fit the aviation theme. Guess I may have to scratch that and put a smaller train in the basement. See, best of both worlds. Kid gets a way cool miniature Smithsonian, I get to play with model planes and finally build my train layout in the basement. IT”S FOR THE KID HONEY, I PROMISE!!!!!!! (She tends to read this garbage before the rest of you crazy people). The kid thing is definitely making me more security conscious, but that's another issue for another time.
See, I told you I could waste your time, and do it with relative ease. That is one of my talents. I also juggle and can rub my belly and tap my head at the same time (not while juggling, however). Stay tuned, I've got some stuff I want to say in future issues that you may actually find useful, informative, life threatening, disgraceful, disgusting, etc. See, I just wasted more of your time. Told ya it was a talent. Later
So, do you sometimes wander around in a fog? I tend to spend most of my waking moments in some sort of stupor, which seems to be related to stupid, not sure if that's a coincidence or not. I'm fairly sure the reason for this is entirely too much animal products in my diet. Or maybe too much Jagermeister. Maybe both (my money's on the Jager). Which by the way is a very fine liquor for those of you not opposed to the occasional nip of the good spirits. Or frequent nips, I won't judge. Back to the fog thing. It seems lately that the fog has gotten thicker. I personally am experiencing some really cool things, but it seems that everything around me outside of home is falling apart. For confidentiality reasons I won't go into detail, but it should suffice to say that things are pretty shaky. Maybe that's the source of the fog. Maybe it's because of the whole surreal 'bout-to-be-a-papa thing. Maybe it comes back to the whole light and darkness thing, except mostly I am complete darkness. Not really complete darkness, just very shadowy. I don't know (I still put my money on the Jager).
I just came to the realization that a big train running around the room doesn't fit the aviation theme. Guess I may have to scratch that and put a smaller train in the basement. See, best of both worlds. Kid gets a way cool miniature Smithsonian, I get to play with model planes and finally build my train layout in the basement. IT”S FOR THE KID HONEY, I PROMISE!!!!!!! (She tends to read this garbage before the rest of you crazy people). The kid thing is definitely making me more security conscious, but that's another issue for another time.
See, I told you I could waste your time, and do it with relative ease. That is one of my talents. I also juggle and can rub my belly and tap my head at the same time (not while juggling, however). Stay tuned, I've got some stuff I want to say in future issues that you may actually find useful, informative, life threatening, disgraceful, disgusting, etc. See, I just wasted more of your time. Told ya it was a talent. Later
Preparing for Jonas
For those of you who don't know yet, the wife and I are expecting our firstborn sometime around January 19. And as you can tell by the name, it's a boy. So fortunately for the world the Ellis name is safe for another generation. Imagine if it were to end with me. Think of the emptiness the world would feel without an Ellis from my lineage running things. "Tis would be sad days indeed. Anyway, so maybe if I feel like it I'll post my random thoughts (and I do mean random) on this little site here from time to time. You have to promise not to hold me accountable to them, as sometimes they tend to be far flung and completely inundated with the miscellaneous crap that runs through my head like an out of control freight train; one of the big, heavy, long freight trains that you get stuck at a crossing by for like 15 minutes while it runs past at 60 mph causing you to experience motion sickness even though you aren't prone to motion sickness. Promise?? Ok, guess I'll have to take your word for it.
So for the first time in my adult life, there is a crib in my house. I mean come on, what the hell is that all about? I realized this after driving for an hour to another town still considered Metro Atlanta that seemed like it was on the other side of the planet. I know, there are some of you who live on the other side of the planet and I have no idea what I'm talking about....but have YOU ever driven from one ATL town to another? That's what I thought!!! For those of you who don't know, I live in the northwest Metro Atlanta area, in a smallish suburb called Dallas. It is in a county directly west of the infamous Cobb county, where the flowers are real and the people are plastic (Colee, sometime around 1997), (no offense to those of you residing in Cobb, you guys ROCK!!). Anyway, from my place to the people's place where we bought the crib it is like 60 miles, IN THE SAME CITY. So I'm driving down GA 400 in my Grand Caravan (yes the notorious red van that wreaked so much havoc in St. Pete one nite in late May). Now, the wife and I have had a van for about five years. The first one met an untimely death at the hands of a 1990 Volvo (another story). This current one we bought in July of 2004, shortly after we bought our house. We have two labs, and we make frequent trips of 8-17 hours duration, depending on which family member we are visiting. I married a Yank so the in laws all live far away, some even in other countries. So the van is great for trips. That explains the van. Where was I?
Isn't ADD great? So driving home I realize that I am installing baby furniture in my house. As yesterday wound down, and I am dosing off to switching between AUvLSU and FSUvWake, I come to the realization that I am horribly unprepared for the events shaping up in my future. So that's where I intend to take this thing, chronicling my probably ill fated attempts to prepare for the most life changing event I'll ever experience. It proves to be an entertaining adventure, more so for you people, as it is probably going to drive me to the frayed ends of sanity. Hey, that's a Metallica song. By the way, the new Metallica album rocks HARD. The boys are back and they are PISSED. Get it today. I don't work for them, just like their music. Alright people, that's enough for now. You are free to go about your business. Take care.
So for the first time in my adult life, there is a crib in my house. I mean come on, what the hell is that all about? I realized this after driving for an hour to another town still considered Metro Atlanta that seemed like it was on the other side of the planet. I know, there are some of you who live on the other side of the planet and I have no idea what I'm talking about....but have YOU ever driven from one ATL town to another? That's what I thought!!! For those of you who don't know, I live in the northwest Metro Atlanta area, in a smallish suburb called Dallas. It is in a county directly west of the infamous Cobb county, where the flowers are real and the people are plastic (Colee, sometime around 1997), (no offense to those of you residing in Cobb, you guys ROCK!!). Anyway, from my place to the people's place where we bought the crib it is like 60 miles, IN THE SAME CITY. So I'm driving down GA 400 in my Grand Caravan (yes the notorious red van that wreaked so much havoc in St. Pete one nite in late May). Now, the wife and I have had a van for about five years. The first one met an untimely death at the hands of a 1990 Volvo (another story). This current one we bought in July of 2004, shortly after we bought our house. We have two labs, and we make frequent trips of 8-17 hours duration, depending on which family member we are visiting. I married a Yank so the in laws all live far away, some even in other countries. So the van is great for trips. That explains the van. Where was I?
Isn't ADD great? So driving home I realize that I am installing baby furniture in my house. As yesterday wound down, and I am dosing off to switching between AUvLSU and FSUvWake, I come to the realization that I am horribly unprepared for the events shaping up in my future. So that's where I intend to take this thing, chronicling my probably ill fated attempts to prepare for the most life changing event I'll ever experience. It proves to be an entertaining adventure, more so for you people, as it is probably going to drive me to the frayed ends of sanity. Hey, that's a Metallica song. By the way, the new Metallica album rocks HARD. The boys are back and they are PISSED. Get it today. I don't work for them, just like their music. Alright people, that's enough for now. You are free to go about your business. Take care.
Good Lord Willing!
Yep, you may now welcome me to the twenty-first century. I have officially begun this whole blogging thing. I must admit that I kind of like it. OK, let's set some ground rules. These are for your own protection. First, I am not responsible for the content of every post I write. My mind tends to be kinda squirrelly, if you know what I mean. This may cause some of the garbage in my head to actually spew forth, causing maximum offending, wreckage, not to mention carnage. Second, all capitalization will be dispensed with effective immediately. i hate having to hit the shift key when i type, so this is merely for my own personal comfort, and let's face it, my comfort is what is most important. ok, i think that's it for the rules. now, let's kick this thing off with a couple of old posts from my facebook notes. enjoy.
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