ivoteamerica

In many of America’s real estate markets homes, once the primary facilitator of middle class American retirement, are worth on the average about 67 pennies of what they were five years ago.

The American currency…our once powerful dollar…is now worth pennies of its former value and the erosion shows little sign of abatement as gold and silver continue their march toward record per ounce prices.

Under the new Federal Budget, each American man, woman, boy and girl will be saddled with 4,000,000 pennies of personal and, although owed to the IRS, uncollectable debt ($40,000 each). That is $200,000 for a family of four! Does this make cents to you?

Our Mount Everest of debt has now empowered and installed Communist China and a handful of other anti-democracy nations as the current economic caretakers and ultimate beneficiaries of your and my labor, creativity and ingenuity for as far as we can see into the future. I don’t recall signing-on to work for Mao’s legacy.

Household net worth is now about 52 pennies per dollar of what it was a scant five years ago. Indeed, this is chump change we can believe and the reality of our now everyday existence. Projections of future declines seem to indicate that, if left unchecked, the Federal government, yours and mine, will drive our worth to below 50 pennies of what it used to be.

The ability of small business owners and entrepreneurs to access the pennies they need to build, sustain and grow their business and thus, create jobs has dried up with only the most pristine and perfect borrowers being granted access to capital…except, of course, the Federal Government who continues to borrow from us.

The fastest growing employer in today’s economy is government. Employees of the government are seeing their wages growing at a record pace. The best paying jobs are no longer in the private sector but the government.

The budget submitted by President Barack Obama will catapult our debt into the farthest reaches of the stratosphere to numbers so beyond the pale that typical American life as we know it may be changed for the worse for as much as two generations into the future.

Pinching pennies is our new reality and the remaining few quarters, dimes, nickels and Lincoln pennies are even themselves in the crosshairs of an over-arching, out of control bureaucracy and answer-to-no-one government.

This is truly “change” we can believe. More importantly it is change we can change. Please be reminded by iVoteAmerica that the next Presidential election is 1,003 days from today and the midterms are in November, 2010…let’s hold on to what copper we have left until then.

According to the web site USDebtClock.org, the national debt as of 7:18 a.m. Pacific time on this, the first day of September, 2009, was $11,740,092,343,061…and counting.

The per person debt is at $38,199 and climbing with each day. Is it any wonder that the people of America are enraged over the disregard, and in some cases, contempt, that our elected officials have toward average citizens who see the national debt being used as a tool to control vitually every aspect of the economy.

Below is the screen shot of USDebtClock.org on September 1, 2009 at 7:18 a.m. Pacific time. Check out the clock and look at all of the RED.

The Federal Government took an important step when it forced banks to accept funds in exchange for perferred stock making itself a part owner in some of the largest financial institutions in the United States.

Experience tells us that where federal funds are allocated, behavioral demands are not far behind.

Today, President Barack Obama dropped the second shoe in a move that iVoteAmerica believes sets the stage for more and more government intervention into the private sector.

The shoe that dropped fell like a jack boot on the necks of “executives” and how private companies and their owner/shareholders will be allowed compensate them.

It’s an easy boot to bring down if only because the recent excesses make the topic a highly charged emotional one and an easy sell to most Americans who are struggling through difficult financial times and are as angry as hell. Are we angry with American businesses or just the few slick execs that slid through the exits with a briefcase full of compensation?

Who Needs More Control, Us or Them?

We would ask, “Who needs more control, business or government?” We recall and remind Americans of Ronald Reagan’s statement, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

But does Obama’s new policy of controlling the pay of what he calls, without explanation, “top executives” open another door that in the end weakens business and empowers Washington with a new set of compliance regulations that will control not just executive pay but company operating cultures, models, products, services and a host of other free enterprise components that are the real cure to an ailing economy.

Do we really want or even need Washington telling privately or publically owned companies how they should operate financially? Isn’t that something Washington needs to apply to itself, not us?

Here are the salient features from President Obama’s announcement today and we invite you to read and parse it slowly, asking yourself what it might really mean:

…these guidelines we are putting in place are only the beginning….we are going to examine the ways and means and manner of executive compensation…we are going to be taking a look at broader reforms so that executives are compensated for sound risk management and rewarded for growth measured over years not just days or weeks…we all have to pull together and take our share of responsibility…that’s true here in Washington and it’s true on Wall Street…the American people are carrying a huge burden as a result of this crisis…”

Notice the language contained in these key lines:

“…this is only the beginning…”
“…we are going to examine executive compensation…”
“…we are going to be taking a look at broader reforms…”
“…we have to pull together and take our share of responsibility…”
“…that’s true in Washington and true on Wall Street…”
“…the American people are carrying a huge burden as a result of this crisis…”

iVoteAmerica thinks this is a carefully woven set of pronouncements designed to spotlight the emotional issue of executive pay as the precursor to more socialization of our economic structure. Afterall, who could possibly agree with the montrous financial severence and bonus packages paid to executives whose performances were dismal?

We believe, however, that Obama’s pronouncementst should be viewed cautiously as a signal of Washington’s claim to the right to use taxpayer funds as the means for intruding into, tampering with and nationalizing much of the private sector in order to further strengthen the need for centralized control and dependency.

Exercising a New Brand of Self-Righteousness

Suddenly Washington DC is being cast as the Robin Hood of the common man while the private sector is labeled as suspect, out of control and the sole and complete cause of America’s financial dilemma. Is Washington suddenly exercising new brand of self-righteousness? Has anyone noticed the PORK our elected officials tried to steal from us under the guise of stimulating the economy?

Is this what Americans really believe? Is this type of control what you want to see Washington implement? Do you really believe the government is more capable of creating meaningful corporate reform than are the owners and shareholders of America’s businesses? Do you think that the current economic situation resulted from a handful of greedy and overly compensated executives?

Or, when you step back from the emotion of the issues do you think Washington needs to conduct a little policy reform of its own? After all, wasn’t it President Obama who recently attempted to put three tax dodgers on his cabinet with one being successful, the new head of the IRS?!?

Are we listening and thinking and parsing? Are we letting Washington go too far? Is there any chance we are over-reacting, moving too quickly and going too far?