I live in California. California is on the verge of bankruptcy. So, California has cut services to reign it's budget back in. That sounds good to me. So what services is California cutting? Well I really don't know. I see more street repairs going on then I ever have. There surely is no cut in politicians. What is funny is that I was recently at the DMV. We all love to point at the DMV as an example of failed government. They, as with most other State employees are furloughed every Friday (I think) of the month.  What is funny to me is that the DMV brings in money for the State. They not only support themselves, but the money that they bring in supports the Highway Patrol and other highway/road costs.

As an independent escrow company, we are regulated by the Department of Corporations, Escrow Division. They too, are furloughed 4 days a month. It is strange, because they are completely self financed too by the dues from independent escrow companies. Furloughing them only cuts salaries for their employees. It doesn't do anything to help the General Fund, just like the DMV. The DOC Escrow Division is necessary to regulate it's member companies, just as the DMV is necessary to manage drivers and their vehicles. It makes me wonder if the politicians are purposely cutting services that are really needed and matter. The ones that will be noticed versus the so-many useless services, agencies, and employees in the state (ie...the Coastal Commission).

It just makes me wonder how serious our politicians are when they cut services with such broad strokes. I would argue that they look a bit closer at what they are cutting and analyze what works best on a case by case basis. So far, from what little I see, they are cutting the money makers in favor of the money takers. Open the DMV as much as you can and collect that revenue. Keep those DOC employees working and managing their caseloads effectively thereby increasing revenues. Cut the programs and departments that spend without much production. That just makes better sense to me. Maybe that's the problem?

As we all have seen lately, there are a bunch of Congresspeople that are not running for reelection. As good as this trend may seem, it is indicative of something very sinister and very bad for America.

As a citizen, my best weapon to effect change is my vote. I use it to threaten my representatives and that has historically been enough to keep them on track (not always my track but at least on someones). Our system has counted on politicians' lust for power and strong desire to keep it. In the past, the threat of losing their seat was enough to keep them honest.

Politicians typically retire to run for a better office or to sit on the Board of one their constituents' companies. Many more become lobbyists. The job is the legal bribe. I can't pay my congressmen to pass a law, but I can give him a wink and a nod and the unwritten promise that when he leaves office, he will have a cush job working for me. Who couldn't use his influence on the hill? The point is that most Congresspeople get their real payday when they leave office.

What is happenning now is that politicans are sitting in office for shorter terms and are not as concerened with the people they represent. They can pass an unpopular law, knowing they will not get reelcted for it, but also knowing that they will get a nice job working for one of the companies that may have benefited from the unpopular bill. I am not fully versed on the laws of Congress, however I am fairly certain that any prohibitions against this are lax, if they exist at all. This doesn't just happen for Congress. It happens all over the government. The same people that work at the FDA have or will work for private sector food conglomerates or pharmaceuticals. The same people that work at the SEC have or will work for Goldman Sachs.

The problem with all of this should be obvious and the best way that I can think of to fix it, is to prohibit it. Do not allow public employees of an executive level to work for private firms for a period of say 5 to 10 years. Pay them a healthy pension, but prohibit Washington's revolving door.

I believe that this is the best way to start to clean up Washington.

What is funny is that this bill is NOT and never was about providing the UNINSURED with insurance. If that was really that intended goal, the simplest way to do it would be to provide health insurance vouchers to all Americans. With those vouchers citizens could buy health ins. coverage from whomever they want. Then the gov't could have made some of the other changes that  it did such as extending the age children could be on their parents coverage, pre-existing conditions, etc...

I don't have a problem helping those in need, but that is not what this legislation is about and anyone can see that. This legislation is all about more control. If the government really wanted to curb healthcare costs they would tackle tort reform and medicare fraud. Those two issues alone would extend Medicares' life for generations. Again, that was never the point.

If you want to reform healthcare, this would be the last way to do it, by mandating that all people carry coverage but not mandating cost controls on health insurers. Oh, wait, that is next. Isn't it obvious. I mean it is not fair to force me to buy health ins. and not tell the health ins. company's that they can't overcharge me. That will be the argument to further regulate the health ins. companies. You know the ones that charge too much and make a whopping 2% profit. Those mean capitalists.

You poor schmucks who think that this legislation is righting the inequities of the health industry are so far off. You just got taken by a masterful shell game, again. If you are the lucky recipient of Medicare, you have already had a taste of it. Did you know that Medicare already denies it's insured more procedures than all private health insurers combined?

What is so disingenuous about this argument is that progressives blame the private market for the health industry's problems. The biggest player in the health industry is the federal government through it's laws and Medicare (the single largest insurer there is). Even if you don't use Medicare, it's policies influence everything, from what procedures are allowed to what premiums your private insurer charges you. Medicare especially dictates medical practices and policies. The point is that if the system is broken, then perhaps it is the existing government influence that broke it. Before turning over the whole thing to Uncle Sam, as you all just did, maybe we should have kicked him out and seen what happened.

I have a 14 year old son and for the first time in my family's history I will be advising him NOT to be a doctor. When the government starts to severely limit his income, as they already have so many current doctors, he won't be able to afford his student loans. Did I say student loans. Oh since they control that too, maybe they'll cut future doctors a break. 

Many of you may argue that it works in other countries and they don't suffer a lack of doctors. That may be true ( I don't know) but they do not work in a vacuum. In order for it to make sense for a doctor to earn only $150k a year, you have to lower everyone's earnings to make that seem like a lot. You may think I am crazy, but that is true. the bottom line is that, that is where we are headed. The trick of socialism is that it doesn't raise everyone to the level of the wealthy, it raises only the bottom rung to that level. It lowers everyone else to be equal with the bottom rung. Welcome to a new reality of American socialism.

I will advise my son to make as much money as he can, so that he can afford private (black market) cash healthcare when he and his family needs it. Hopefully he can afford the same healthcare that Congress and the unions get. Money has always been the great insulator. It has never been truer.

I just saw this on CNN last night. I did some research on my own and it is true. I must first say that I am not a CPA and that you should seek the advice of your CPA on this.

If you buy a street legal eslectric car by 12/31/2009, Uncle Sam will pay for it.

That's right. There are certain qualifying cars that will work for this, but the bottom line is that the government is giving a 100% tax CREDIT for buying this car.

Check it out at www.freeelectriccar.com.

I disagree with these programs and hate that our tax money is being used to subsidize this, however I cannot, in good concience, not take advantage of this offer. It is too good. I have a choice, pay income tax of approx. $6,400 or buy this car. It's a no brainer. I can't imagine why anyone who pays over $6,500 a year in income tax wouldn't do this.

Good luck all.

If our government's main concern is making sure that the uninsured are insured, why not create a voucher system. Give each and every American citizen a health care voucher each month that they can use to  purchase health insurance from private insurers.

Why hasn't this been proposed?

Back in the 60's anything that represented authority was referred to as "the man". Government, business, maybe even dad all were versions of "the man" and the 60's revolutions were all about undermining the man. Stripping the man of his power or changing him to a her. That generation were true libertarians that believed in free love, free will, free and equal rights, etc..

What is sad is how that movement was hijacked by the man and turned into something so ugly and heinous that today's true hippies are Republicans and Libertarians.

What is just as sad is that normal intelligent people of that generation grew up and are now part of the man's apparatus and they don't even know it.

What is genius is how the man just had to change some semantics and then play a quick shell game and now he is still the man more powerful than ever.

How can people who rallied for free love and free rights, be the same people who now demand that we all wear seat belts, don't use our hands to talk on our phones when we drive, can't own a gun, pay more taxes, and have the state so very involved in all of our lives. 40 years ago, they wanted the man out of their lives and now they fight to get the man more in our lives. How did that happen?

Today they advocate discriminating against  white peopel to advance minorities and yet they were the ones who rallied against all discrimination just 40 years ago. How did their common sense get so hijacked?

It is the Democratic party that is known for expanding government and it's power, yet most of the older Democrats were around when they were fighting National Guard troops in Washington to limit government.

It is like The Who said, "...meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

History has born it out time and time again. One group overthrows another and then becomes like or even worse than the ones they just threw out. It is sad  that history has repeated itself so many times and yet we don't get the lesson. I'll say it again for you.

This is the problem with centralized power. When power is concentrated it is more easily manipulated. It is really that simple. When our government got so big is when the BIG BAD Corporations thought, "hey if we can control the head, we can control the body".

I advocate cutting off the head, so to speak, by severely limiting the governments' power. By doing so, we are limiting BIG business power and that is a good thing.

Those same people that, even today, rally against big business. but then argue for a more powerful government via Cap n' Trade, or Healthcare Reform, or anything else they want to do are like a dog chasing its tail. Don't they see that voting to give the government more power, makes the head bigger. The bigger the head the more power the corporations that have it in a headlock get. That was the genius of the man.

If you were a hippy, the man took your causes and made them his own so you would be fighting for him and not against him. Now step back and look at what you have created.

For all you revolutionaries out there, the point is to keep your eye on the ball. The 60's revolutions were about stopping the man from keeping us down. What happened though is that those hippies got too rapped up in their individual issues and couldn't see the forest for the trees. They took on causes like free rights and with a narrow mind, championed those causes right into the mans' lap. Now they are his lap dogs. The real cause was always limiting the power of the government first. Then all the other issues could fall into place.

Our forefather's got it. Rather than replacing one monarchy with another, they scaled it back and contained their own ambitions. They foresaw the perils of power and enacted rules and laws to contain it. They knew the dangers in a large overbearing government and they did their best to forestall that. 

We have failed them and ourselves miserably.

I have the answer to almost all of our woes. Before any of you shoot it down, please seriously consider it.

The problem with the discourse in America today is the intimacy between the public and private sector. The Democrats will generally point to the private sector and blame our ills on it. They will tell you that it is the greedy health insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and doctors that drive up the costs of healthcare. Some may even admit that the lawyers have something to do with it too. Or they may blame greedy banks and Wall Street firms for this recession.

Republicans will tell you that it is the government and it's overregulation that spoils things.

Here are the facts. It is the private sectors' job to make profits. When they hire lobbyists to corrupt our representatives, they are just doing their job, as distasteful as that may seem. The private sector is fulfilling it's mandate which is to make money, create jobs and fuel our lives. We can only influence them with our dollar. If you disagree with how a company treats its employees, you can chose not to buy from them. The dollar vote is a powerful one.

It is the government's job to protect us. From enemies foreign and domestic and to police the private sector enough to keep it honest and not too much as to stifle it. This is a very difficult job and one that may never get done just right. But it is a job that is doable. It is not government's job to replace the private sector. I didn't vote for my Congressman to run GM or take over my bank or run healthcare. I voted for him to monitor them and create a level playing field for all.

So who, in these roles, has failed us? The private sector has made its money and provided its services. They lent me the money to buy my house. They fixed my leg when it was broken. They provided me the Big Mac and my iphone. The private sector has done its job very well. They have made me things I never knew I needed.They have bought Washington so that they coul dmake things more favorable for themselves. Can you blame them?

The government, whose job it is to monitor all this has failed me. They have let my dollar drop in value every year, while taking more of them. They have let my streets crumble, my brother to die in a foreign land. They have propped up bad banks and allowed lawyers, health ins. companies, and pharmaceuticals to ruin the healthcare system for profit. They have paid millions for useless weapons, and with some of our worst tragedies (Katrina), they have failed to even help us there. They have failed to protect me and failed to be honest with me. These days the government is more an enemy to the people than a friend. I would guess that we fear them more than we don't. Between the ATF, I.R.S., CPS, DOD, NSA, DEA, FBI  and all the others. If I get a letter from any of them it can't be good.

Government has become inept and ineffective and that is because it has been corrupted by the private sector. So you see, Democrats and Republicans the problem is not the bride or the groom, it is the marriage. It is the fact that the private sector can buy so much influence in the public sector. It is the fact that most Congresspeople spend a bulk of their time chasing money to get re elected rather than doing what we hired them to do. The idea of actually reading a bill seems laughable to them. Again, when I buy stock in GE I expect them to do anything they can to make money, within the law. When I vote, I expect them to protect me from GE.

If you want to solve our problems, lets's divorce the private from the puvlic sector. Eliminate lobbysists and PACS. Limit how a politician can run and eliminate anyones' need for money. Maybe we should provide 3 hours per night to each candidate on public television. They could talk until they are blue in the face. We would get to know all we need to know about them and then we would be better informed.I am sure there is a way fro a politial candidate to get the message out without private sector money.

I realize that this idea tramples our right to free speech in this regard, but it is a freedom that makes sense to sacrifice to preserve the rest of our freedoms.

Just think that if the government wasn't involved, many more banks would go out of business and we would be left with only the strongest ones. Actually had the government really been doing its job, many of those banks would have been better regulated. Without their lobbyists they would have been fairly regulated. Banking rules would be more fairly designed to level the playing field while being tougher.

Health care costs wouldn't be out of this world if lawyers weren't allowed to write every law. If pharmaceutical companies were really regulated and if health care costs for the 47 million weren't forced to be born by private businesses instead of the government who made the rules.

At this point I'm rambling, but my point is that it is the absolutley the incestuous nature of our current political system that has put us where we are. Instead of giving the government more we should be limiting them, Instead of allowing the big corporations to exercises more power, we should eliminate their stranglehold on our government. In essence the government is the puppet and big business is the puppet master. Let's cut the string.

Let busienss do busienss and demand that government represent us. Allowing the government to further melt into the private sector is the worst mistake we could make. Yes we need reform, but not this kind.

In the end, I voted for my representative and not for the lobbyist that owns him. In the argument of who is better Democrats or Republicans I would have to say Libertarians, because they understand that the government has failed us and big business is doing exactly what it will always do. It is not bad or good, it just is.

We are currently in talks with the island chain of Palau to take 17 detainees from  Guantanamo. You might remember Palau from the TV show survivor. Anyhow, the detainees are Chinese Uighur Muslim fighters. We won't give them back to China because they might torture them.

So we are in talks with Palau. We may be paying them $200 million to take these 17 detainees. That is almost $12 million per guy to protect them from torture in China. Was this the change we had in mind. What is wrong with keeping Gitmo and perhaps changing some of the ways we have to do business there.

$200 million is a ton of money, especially to waste on 17 detainees. What are we thinking. Are we so rich that no one cares about $200 million. I do. For that amount, I will buy an island and take them. I could take good care of them for the rest of their lives with a full time staff to help me and still be a rich man.

This type of waste makes me sick and reminds me why I know that I can't trust them with anything. Our government doesn't care about us, our money, or what we think. They are a bunch of crooks with no responsibility. Anyopne who thinks they can handle the trillions of dollars it would take to manage healthcare just need look at this to understand why so many oppose it. Who else wastes money like this?

This was a response to a  response in one of my other blogs. I was reprimanded for being rude to another blogger and this was my resposne. It really sums up why I blog for those who care...

"Maybe I do need to change my style a bit. I am emphatic about what I believe in and what I see around me and in here. My passion stems from the fact that Ibelieve that I see the tru th of things. Not what I want to see or what someone else wants me to see but what is there. Personally, I really have no horse in the race.

Most of my political beliefs are based on the fact that I trust no one and belive no one is so competent as to run all of our lives. I wish our society was structured that way as to prevent anyone person or ideology to control so much of our lives. We should all  be free to make our own mistakes.

Maybe my side favors conservatism more than liberalism. I have had spats with some big Conservatives too on this forum.

My point is that what I rally against most is people who, I feel, just tow the party line. To me they are the most dangerous of them all because they are the shock troops of tyranny. Tyranny from either side, Bush or Obama.

Someone in particular, bashes Bush to justify Obama, always. She rarely says anything that is original or that I didn't hear on the morning news from some other liberal talking head. When pressed, she cannot substantiate anything she says. I have tried so many times to get her to actually debate and she will not.

I am affected by her choices. That is how it is in a democracy. I want all people to make informed wise choices. Do I always know which is the best choice? No. So I welcome others who have insights that I do not. I just wish that we, as Americans, stopped getting duped and elect thoughtful people. I also wish that we, as Americans, above all else realize that the government should be severely limited in its powers as it will abuse its power just as any corporation or other power will do.

History has shown us, time and time again, that power really does corrupt. Let's adhere to what our founding fathers wanted wich was a limited government.

Here is the Secret: all we need to do is to look, objectively and without any party loyalty, at the programs that our government has done in the past. Look at the money that they have spent. Look at their policies and their reach. I think we all can agree that the government has been the most powerful and influential leg of the chair of society. Many would argue thatbusiness controls government and that may be true. My point is that wi th all that power and influence the government still pays $500 for an air force toilet seat. Billions of dollars on education in Califionia and we are 48th in the nation for the best schools. Billions on healthcare, billions in New Orleans and they are not even near where they were. Billions on an underwater highway in Bostson and it leaks. Our government just doesn't do a good job when it does something. Everything they do costs 10 times what it should cost and is filled with corruption, partisanship and bloat.  Just look and you can see it everywhere. What is more is that it really makes no difference who sits in the President's chair or who has the majority in Congress.

Our problems keep getting worse and our issues bigger. The secret is that the government is and has always been the real problem. They do some good things, but they are far outweighed by the bad. You may disagree and I am happy to debate that, but if you agree than we should not discuss any other issues from now on. All we should strive to do is shrink and limit the government. Many of our problems will go away when we do.

Obama promised change and many of you liked that  idea. I think this was not the change you all wanted,but I see hope in the fact that we all wanted it.

Michelle, I will work on my debating tactics. Thank you."

It is so frustrating debating these days and I often wonder how people keep their cool doing it.

Investment advisers often tell their clients to not get emotional about their investments. For good reason, the emotion clouds judgment and makes it more difficult to  get out of a bad investment. To be a successful investor, one must be able to remain neutral with regards to their investments so that they can see and judge them clearly and without bias.

This is how citizens should act too. Our policies and the politicians who make them are all investments. We hope that they perform, however when they don't , we can fire them.

The problem, now, is that the politicians and parties have turned this into a cult of personality and Obama is the culmination of years of this game.

How can we honestly evaluate and critique our leaders when we cannot see them and their actions clearly?

In this forum, it is common to read canned responses to insightful questions. There are some people in here who would rather bring up past president's mistakes to justify the current president's mistakes. Clearly, these are people more interested in winning an argument than on having an educated discussion with the common goal of fixing our nation's woes. Rather than stopping the bleeding we are all arguing about who made the wound.

I am sure we have all heard the phrase "divide and conquer". That is exactly what the power elite have done. When seen clearly the two parties have both failed us miserably. They basically do the same stuff just with a different rhetoric. We have been divided into two political parties and we have definitely been conquered as a questioning public.

Too many people here are too quick to argue and very slow to debate. Too quick to fight and too slow to reason. Too quick to take a side and too slow to try to eliminate them. Too quick to see differences and too slow to see similarities.

I predict that we will all see the Libertarian party emerge as the biggest benefactor of the Obama presidency. The Republicans have lost many members because of their social platform and their inability, under Bush, to reign in spending and manage immigration. In other words the Republican party has shown their true selves to do whatever they need to to grab power, just like the Democrats. This is the second time in history this has happened. Democrats used to be the conservative party. I digress. The point is that a Republican is a party and not an ideal. Their platform changes because it is not based on any foundation anymore. Democrats are really no different.

Many will leave the two party system and flee to a party thats major belief is to limit the power of government. After the government consistently failing us over many decades and many presidents it is the thinking people who are leaving their parties and going Libertarian.

In the end, I am confident that Obama will prove to be just like the rest. He is already changing his position and revealing that he lied, numerous times, to get the Presidency. Thinking democrats will soon realize that their party, too, has abandoned them, just as Republicans are realizing. Once we realize that our leaders consistently abuse our trust and appeal to our emotions because they can no longer appeal to our brains, we will all ditch this two party, conquer and divide system.

Divest yourselves from the party (or the man) and invest yourselves in the country.