The 20% Solution

How much of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) should the Federal Government as a percentage of the total productive activity of America be for a functioning economy? Currently, the Federal Government percentage of the GDP is 24-25%. I have read that many economists believe that the proper percentage for a fine tuned functioning economy is 18% of GDP to cover the true Federal Government necessary and truly needed functions. The current problem with the federal government is that it is too bloated by waste, inefficiency, and growth of the federal government mission that exceeds what the tax revenue brings in as people demand more and more "assistance and free stuff" from the federal government even though government expansion is funded by huge trillion dollar deficits that China is asked to fund. The expansion of government influence and control in people's life is even creeping into areas such as what Americans should eat and the dispensation of free contraception. Are these areas that the founding fathers felt are a necessary federal government role?

The Romney/Ryan ticket believes that the federal government percent should be 20% of GDP as a goal to start the process of reducing the soon to be 16 TRILLION federal government deficit.

It is time for the federal government to start to go on a diet and move FORWARD. to a reduced role in the total percentage of the GDP. The Romney/Ryan ticket is on the right track in their efforts to bring the bloated federal government runaway growth under control. Will the American voters wake up to the fact that there needs to be a change in the scope and mission of the federal government or will Americans move FORWARD. over the cliff of fiscal disaster of out of control governmental growth?   Time will tell.

Essential Obama

A teleprompter obscures U.S. President Obama as he speaks during a campaign event in Columbus, Ohio | View photo - Yahoo! News  Some photographs capture the essence of a person/ Some would say that this is the quissensial Obama photograph as the "telemprompter in chief" delivers his message of whatever the teleprompter says he should say. Paul Ryan by contrast "on the stump" doesn't need a teleprompter to deliver coherent thoughts when he speaks. I guess when you know what you are talking about you don't have to rely as much on a machine to prompt you on what to say.

This photograph reminds me of a song called "Machine Head" ironically sung by the band "Bush".

Tomato Harvest

I picked these vine ripened tomatoes today from my garden here on Cape Cod. They are a representative sample of the three types of tomato plants I purchased and raised this year. One variety is the cherry tomato, one "beefsteak", and the final variety is the "super duper gigantic humongous beefsteak". I'm not going to point out which tomatoes are from which variety so see if you can figure them out from the above picture.

I usually don't get "sun ripened" tomatoes from my garden as in past years some sort of "critters" would come along at night and take a bite out of each tomato as part of their nocturnal dinner. Thus, in past years I would pick the tomatoes when they were green and ripen them on a shelf in the kitchen. This year though I have only seen bite marks on one tomato so I appreciate that the "critters" are letting me eat some of my tomatoes.

My first job ever which I think I described in a previous blog post was selling tomatoes and cucumbers in Carmel, New York when I was four. I had a little red wagon and would go around the neighborhood door to door and peddle the produce at the outrageously expensive prices of "two for a nickel and four for a dime", I do remember making change for some of the customers. Now the vegetable prices are even higher!

Dennis Festival Days Antique Car Parade 8/19/12 front of Soundings Resort

At high noon today (8/19/12), the 54th Annual Dennis Festival Days Antique Car Parade rode through West Dennis, Dennis Port and South Dennis. See the cars of yesteryear with this enclosed video filmed in front of The Soundings Resort on Chase Avenue, Dennisport, Cape Cod Mass.

Romney/Ryan

The Republican ticket is now set. Mitt Romney selected current House of Representatives Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R) Wisconsin to be his vice-presidential running mate. The Romney/Ryan Republican ticket hopefully will be a responsible team to restore a robust economy to return America back on the right path to economic recovery. The time for "punting" and/or "kicking the can" down the road as far as dealing with the pressing problems of record budget deficits, anemic economy, record unemployment under President Obama must be changed as America cannot continue down the path of federal government spending exceeding deficits of over one trillion dollars per year. The Democrats under President Obama have a dismal economic record with their dumb and destructive crony deals to their special interest friends such as Solyndra where they were advised to decline the loan guarantees but doggedly decided to proceed with a doomed decision.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the campaign develops as to whether an honest discussion of the differing philosophies of the role of the federal government between the two parties will ensue regarding the future of America or whether the Democrats and their media friends will focus on distorting and demonising the Republican ticket with their lies and false accusations.The day of reckoning is approaching; time will tell what future will develop.

Prove You Are INNOCENT?

Interesting to hear that Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) allege that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney hasn't paid taxes during the previous 10 years as Reid cites an "anonymous" source he claims told him this information. Senator Reid wants Mitt Romney to release these 10 years of tax returns to prove whether Romney had in fact paid taxes during those years. It is interesting especially since from what I understand Senator Reid himself hasn't ever released his own tax returns. From what I understand, a Senator cannot be prosecuted for slander while speaking from the well of the Senate floor. I seem to recall that Senator Reid was involved in some sort of questionable real estate transaction in Nevada. I thought in America people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Senator Reid's spurious assertion is reminiscent of the "McCarthy era" where there was a which hunt for people with presumed Communist affiliation. Reid's unsubstantiated remarks also are similar to the Nazi Germany propaganda where if you state a "big lie" long enough and loud enough it can become accepted as the truth. Mitt Romney in response to Senator Reid said "Put Up or Shut Up".

It seems hard to fathom that Mitt Romney would not pay the amount of taxes due as I'm sure that he has an accounting firm help him with his tax returns. I doubt if Mitt spent countless hours at his kitchen table with a calculator,shoe box full of receipts, legal pad, and his investment statements filling out his yearly taxes. You would think that Mitt Romney was probably audited by the IRS at least once over these alleged 10 years of tax returns if not every year. And, if the IRS did audit Mitt Romney's tax returns then the IRS would make sure that Mr. Romney was paying the proper amount of tax owed the government. From what I understand, Mitt Romney served as Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the amount of ONE DOLLAR per year. I heard today on "talk radio" that the Obamas have some of their investment money in a Bain Capital related investment.I say good for them, good to see that they have a little personal investment sense even if they show no economic sense regarding the US economy.

Slithery politicians such as Senator Reid should not be able to get away with "anonymous" sources in their character assassination efforts. After all, the media has never pressed President Obama on his college admissions, Connecticut Social Security number, his affiliation with convicted felons and Weather Underground members, to name a few clouds hanging over our hopeless current president.

Don't you think that Mitt Romney would make sure that his taxes were properly paid considering the fact that Mitt was a candidate in the 2008 Republican primary? Don't you think Mitt Romney and/or his advisers would consider that maybe the Democrats would look into his tax history? Just because our current Democrat appointed Treasury Secretary didn't pay his proper amount of taxes doesn't mean that Mitt Romney didn't pay his taxes. "Dirty Harry, Make My Day, show us your proof that Mitt Romney hasn't paid taxes in 10 years OR SHUT UP AND QUIT YOUR BASELESS ACCUSATIONS".

Policies Past and Present

Policies past and present. Which do you prefer? President Obama recently said something to the effect that other policies of the past had failed but his have worked. Now, I will grant that the financial crash of 2008 was a key bad event caused in major part by the collapse of the "real estate bubble" which in turn was caused in part  by the political directives coming out of the United States Congress which compelled the banks to grant loans such as the "NINJA" mortgages. "NINJA" mortgages in in reference to the "No Income No Jobs" mortgages where people of lower credit ratings were offered no money down or low money down mortgages with favorable "teaser" mortgage rates so that the goal of raising the percentage of Americans who are homeowners could be achieved. This goal of increased home ownership  was originally started during the Carter Administration and pushed as well with the Clinton Administration. Efforts during the Bush Administration to try to correct the practice of bundling poor credit quality mortgages and making securities of
these mortgages backed by FNMA (Federal National Mortgage Association, a quasi-governmental agency) were thwarted by the Democratic party controlled House of Representatives and Senate. When the percentage of these low credit quality mortgages started to default and the rise in the value of most real estate homes stopped; the effects rippled through the economy.

Getting back to President Obama: During the Bush years when the unemployment rate spiked to approximately 5.4% the media and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi termed this a "jobless recovery". President Obama has been steward of an economy with a record 41 months of over 8% unemployment. If the goal is to have a high unemployment rate and a record over 47 million people on food stamps dependent on the government to afford something to eat then I guess you can say that President Obama's economy and policies have "worked". I would say that the "failed policies of the present" is a more accurate representation of the current economic situation. I understand that in politics one of the key features is impression management where you try to say a few key phrases like "failed policies of the past" even though your record (Obama) is worse than the past policies. It is common in politics to work on people's emotions and come up with gimmick words like "Forward", "Hope and Change" especially when you have a poor failed record to run on (Obama). It is not uncommon to try to "demonize" your opponent especially if you cannot really run on your own failed policies (Obama). This is known as divert the spotlight from yourself and your own record and try to instill fear and character assassination of your opponent.

This presidential election will involve a choice by the voters as to whether the future will be governed by a collectivist inexperienced smooth teleprompter reader perceived "cool and hip" candidate Obama; or an experienced private sector candidate who believes in free enterprise and rewarding individual effort of the people with a record of job creation in the private sector along with government experience as Governor of Massachusetts with a history of managing people, budgets, businesses and the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Mitt Romney. Do we want a "cradle to grave" oppressive liberty stealing big government future or do we want a future where government is scaled back with an effort to try to bring the trillion plus dollar per year  federal government deficits back under control? Time will tell whether the voters endorse "four more years of the failed policies of the present" or vote for an experienced adult with a history of creating viable business enterprises who pledges to try to return America back to the days when hard work and free enterprise are rewarded not punished.