"We Will Bury You" - Who Would Have Thunk It?

In 1956 during a speech to the United Nations by Harold Macmillan, Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev beat his shoe against his desk and shouted to the US representatives "We will bury you".

Khrushchev was not always polite. During the great Kitchen Debate on July 24, 1959, when Richard Nixon poked his finger in Khrushchev's face, Khrushchev said according to translators, "Go screw my grandmother". Nobody seems to know what Nixon said while pointing his finger, but the pic made big news and endured Tricky Dick to some Americans.

The Kitchen debate was a comparison of Democratic Systems and Communism. Khrushchev said that Communism would win out in the long run"

I never thought it would happen-that Communism would bury us. But that is now what is happening. The government has now taken over three huge financial organizations.

General Motors, you had better watch out.

Bill Moyer's Journal

Last evening (September 19, 2008), I watched Bill Moyer's Journal uninterrupted by commercials on Public Television. I just wanted to get away from the noise of television, the endless commercial tirade that destroys any possible enjoyment of watching a television program.

Every American should read the transcript of that program.

You will learn what created this mess and why we are not going to get out of it without more suffering. You can read the transcript at the PBS site.

Speaking of the greatest calamity since the Great Depression, Gretchen Morgenson said, "Because it affects everyone. It is now possibly bleeding into the economy. We've had a fairly strong economy up until now, which has been a godsend, while this incredible turmoil is taking place. If banks are stopping lending, which they appear to be doing, then that's going to affect the economy, to make the downturn. So it is affecting everyone.

"There was a lack of accountability where a banker didn't care whether the loan was repaid. And the Wall Street firm that sold the securitization trust didn't care if it ever got paid back, because they were happy with their commission. The broker making the loan didn't care, because he got, all the way up the ladder to the CEOs of these companies, who are allowed to walk away from a financial cataclysm with huge payments."

As for the Communist-style takeover of AIG, Bill Moyers said, "Let me ask you about one telling anecdote, at least, telling to me. The Secretary of the Treasury, Paulson, calls the CEO of AIG and says, "You've got to go. Pack your bags and leave." That's usually a decision for a board of directors."

That was not unusual for the Soviet Union.

Floyd Norris said, "The government is nationalizing companies. They nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And that made a little bit of sense, since we'd always thought Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had an implicit government guarantee, whatever that meant. And now they've nationalized AIG. They own eighty percent of the company. They have lent money to the company at very strict terms.

"For this company to somehow pay that loan back will require amazing competence in managing things. And I don't think anybody expects them to ever do that. They're probably going to liquidate AIG. It amazes me. I'm not sure it was unnecessary, as I said. But I can only envision what the right wing would be saying if a liberal Democrat had decided to nationalize the biggest insurance company in America. I don't think you'd be hearing a lot of praise for it."

On Alan Greenspan, Kevin Phillips said, "Turn on the spigots. He started in 1987 with a crash that was a wicked one in one day in 1987. And he turned on the spigots. And they had the huge growth of the tech bubble in the 1990s. And then right after the tech and the stock market bubble blew up in 2000, you had 9/11. So there was a need for more stimulus. And they ginned up the stimulus again hugely.

"And the upshot is that during Greenspan's tenure from 1987 to 2006, what they call total credit market debt in the United States quadrupled, quadrupled from about $11 trillion up to $44, $45, $46 trillion. And finance got the great bulk of it. And Greenspan would do nothing to disturb finance.

He wouldn't puncture a bubble. He wouldn't crack down on the exotic mortgages. He really wouldn't do much of anything except give obscure speeches in which, you know, he mumbled the different directions so nobody would know what he meant. But basically he gave finance what they wanted."

Later in the program, he said, "It's been a bipartisan phenomenon. You can go back to the 1980s and say Reagan and George Bush, Sr., got a bubble started. Clinton got in and got an even bigger bubble going. And then George W. Bush with the biggest bubble of all. But it's not that the Clintonites didn't play. They did. Bob Rubin as Secretary of the Treasury - I mean, if he was a Hindu and he was being reincarnated, he'd come back as a pail because this guy bailed out everything you can imagine. They had the Mexican loan bailout. They had the long-term capital management bailout, the Russian Southeast Asian currency bailouts."

How Qualified are Our Presidential Candidates to Handle This Mess?

Moyers asked about the presidential candidates: "What do you think when you hear John McCain and Secretary Paulson say that the fundamentals, however, are solid?"

Kevin Phillips replied, "Well, John McCain once said he didn't know anything about economics. And half the time what he says, you know, proves that on a day-by-day basis. I don't think we have a sound economy at all. Not remotely at this point. I mean, there are, like, ten yardsticks I could use. Paulson is your typical Treasury Secretary guy that has to deal with it. And everybody knows he has to exaggerate. He has to say all the Hoover type stuff about how strong the economy is and the recession's going to be over in three months and that sort of stuff. I don't really credit these people very much. But, frankly, I don't credit the Democrats either.

Bill Moyers said, "No, I was going to say Obama's trademark rhetoric of inspiration seems to desert him when he talks about economic affairs.

Phillips replied, "He doesn't seem to have anything very specific to say. That's part of the problem. A second problem is, for me at least, you know, just as I can't believe that John McCain ever wanted to get his economic advice from Phil Gramm. I mean, Phil Gramm, a former Texas Senator, appalling. He and his wife were known as Mr. and Mrs. Enron because they were so flagrant, that's McCain.

"But then you've got Obama with Bob Rubin and he doesn't have any problem with the hedge fund types. I mean, one of the Chicago people was a major financier of his. He gets a guy to pick his vice-president. Turns out to be somebody who was part of the Fannie and Freddie mess.

"So I don't exactly see Obama as this fellow riding in on a horse who represents all kinds of reformism. It's an important thing probably to have to change from the Republicans but I don't see that he is free of the ties to finance and Democratic Party financial types."

Conclusion

We are not going to pull out of this mess easily.

There is no quick fix.

We will suffer for many years to come because of greed, dishonesty and incompetence.

Those that created this mess are taking their multi-million dollar pensions to a life of luxury. Some are probably scared that the government will grab some of that money. I'm sure they are stashing some of it away in Bermuda Banks.

The solution to this problem is for the Towers of Education to look at the corruption they are producing. Those former Boy Scouts who are running some of our corporations have forgotten the Scout Law.

They are not honest.

They are not truthful.

They are a corrupt gang of gamblers.

When some young persons graduates from our great MBA schools, he or she has only one thing in mind.

GREED!

Our government has been feeding that GREED for years.

They will continue to do so until the people get angry and do something about it.

If action had been taken when it was needed, we could have avoided this financial mess. Soon, the manufacturing sector may suffer from this financial debacle.

If that happens, we are going to our second Great Depression. That is the reason for the current communistic takeovers.

Being confident and having the pipe dream that all will be okay is folly.

Things are not okay.

Until GREED is replaced with HONESTY and RESPONSIBILITY, we will continue to drift into the rocks of total disaster.

The government had better build a lighthouse and keep that light burning for a long time.

Fly Old Glory!

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com - a retired college professor and business executive, Former editor of an international engineering magazine. Novelist and prolific article writer.

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What Would Be Your Retirement Reality In Diaspora? How To Prepare For Today And Tomorrow

If this article appears rather edgy, let the reader know that I mean well.

All of us are getting older abroad, whether we accept it or not. In the next few decades the obituary pages overseas will sadly contain more African names from the 1970s to 1990s tidal wave of immigrants. Africans are no longer migrating in the numbers they did in the aforementioned era. Also, our children born and/or raised here are not about to adopt any foreign culture hook, line, and sinker.

The new culture of wake-keeping in Diaspora might well crumble under the immense weight of our stressful lifestyle and life expectancy and cultural shift. There could become too many funeral fund-raising events chasing very few dollars. If the scarce funds are spent "befittingly" transporting and burying the dead, then what happens to their survivors and dependents and financial obligations? The establishment and expansion of viable social clubs abroad, such as the People's Club of Nigeria, may be an option. Personal responsibility in form of prudent financial planning and realistic expectations (of life and death overseas) may be better alternatives.

Hopefully, we will soon wake up to the importance of preparing for the eventuality of getting old and dying overseas while being able to leave reasonable estates for survivors, after funerals and taxes are paid in full. Focusing on the survivors is something our African culture should emphasize but neglects. Are we the ones who will break the jinx of wealth being intra-generational instead of inter-generational?

Just ask those who are in retirement already or go and volunteer in any retirement home near you abroad to begin to grasp the importance of adequate retirement funding. My brothers and sisters in Diaspora, wake-keepings and loosely funded and often raided 401Ks and blaming politicians (both here and in Africa) will NOT cut it!

Studies show the last few years of life are usually emotionally and financially quite expensive not just for the dying but more importantly, for those left behind. To add insult to injury (or add salt to injury), some people started having children and buying homes rather late, for various reasons. These issues could leave the survivors with huge financial responsibilities (young children to educate and large mortgages) on depleted reserves. Spouses with wide age differences, or any couple for that matter, should REALLY be mindful of the financial implications of caring "for better or worse" for their aging mates and of the cost of living after those mates and their financial contributions are no more.

In my humble opinion, one's assets should be invested where the dependent(s) and the spouse can access them when needed. This is a frightening reality to face, in deed. This is one more reason why every savable dollar (earned during healthy working years) should be wisely invested and not wasted.

The objective is to spur profound saving habits to prevent both acute and chronic desperation - the kind that leads too many to attempt unthinkable acts with dire consequences. When one manages one's finances well, one minimizes one's likelihood of doing anything and paying dearly (for it) to become rich over night. As Confucius stated, "He who does not economize will have to agonize." It could be the desperation for money that "is the root of all evil" after all.

Proactive financial planning is like any insurance: you better have the coverage before you need it. Some have misinterpreted money as the "root of all evil". When it's "the LOVE of money" that is "the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). The more desperate or greedy one is, the greater the likelihood one will attempt anything to get that money. Wealthy people are just as prone to avarice as poor persons; kleptomania is the bane of the rich. However, it's rather difficult to turn a content person into a desperate person. Sound savings habits breed contentment ethics.

It is sad but true to admit, some aspects of our Nigerian (old and new) culture breed disastrous consequences by pushing too many people to jump off the edge. Several Africans in Diaspora allow cut-throat rivalry and events in Africa to pressure them into living above their means and taking unspeakable risks to compensate or "meet up". Be yourself by being all you can be, not what others want you to be. For instance, a reader's relatives in Africa demanded that he cash-in his 401K retirement plan in America and send them the proceeds to build a mansion for them because his mates overseas have raised the bar. Obviously, "these so called" relatives did not care that this man has children to educate, mortgage and other bills to pay and that he needs every penny in that 401K account (and some) for his own retirement.

Some have gone into criminal activities to get rich-quick and show off cars, homes, and flashy living. They have created more problems for themselves than they bargained for and have tarnished the reputation of innocent Africans everywhere in the blind ambition.

Others are pressured into failed business ventures that claim their scant resources while saddling them with huge HELOC, mortgages and credit card bills where just two missed payments could have them and their own children thrown out into the harsh streets of Diaspora.

Granted some of our relatives in Africa have no clue of the reality of life over here. Many of us don't tell them the truth either for fear of losing respect or often misplaced glamor of living overseas. People don't realize (in most cases) if one honestly works as hard in Africa as one does abroad and God blesses one, one will accomplish more in Africa. To paraphrase the Hot Chocolate musical group, heaven could be in the back seat of the Cadillac but that vehicle is not available abroad. We all know the richest Africans reside in Africa, not overseas.

I am not knocking life abroad because it has been great to multitudes of us. Personally, I am quite grateful for the opportunities America has continued to avail my family. Majority of us have worked our butts off to attain any degree of success, no doubt. Also, it's true that we've done so with the help of friends, families, countless strangers and supporters. However, I am yet to meet any successful sojourner (who all things being equal) would not prefer to return to the sojourner's motherland and contribute there.

These tested recommendations are applicable in these United States and could be helpful in other countries. If the reader has other functional ideas, email them to me so I can include them in future updates for the good of all of us. Credit will be given where due.

Go to missingmoney dot com and search for free if you have any unclaimed money in America. These are funds from forgotten deposits, refunds, from business dealings in the places you have lived or worked or patronized in the States. You have to have proof you are the rightful owner of the money. Don't pay any company to reclaim your money, do it yourself. Enter the last names of people you know and see if they have unclaimed funds and inform them if you find anything for them. In researching this article for you, I found a couple of my relatives have funds waiting for them and I have alerted them to reclaim the assets.

Change oil in your vehicle oil per the manufacturer's specifications, not every 3,000 miles as oil companies have conditioned many of us to do to their benefit. Most car makers recommend oil changes every 5,000 to 12,000 miles. Change the oil plug too. Some vehicles alert you when you need oil change based on your driving habits and the internally monitored condition of the oil in your engine. If you drive 10,000 each year and change your oil twice instead of every 3,000 miles, and you pay $30 per oil change, you will save at least $30 per year, based on changing oil every 5,000 miles.

Re-shop your automobile and homeowners or rental property insurance every year. The keys to saving on insurance premiums are being a good driver and having minimal claims. It is not always true that bundling your insurance (auto, home, rental, life) policies with one insurance company saves you the most money.

The joy of parenthood is immeasurable, just ask most parents. True, if our parents solely focused on the costs of having children, most of us would not have been born at all. However, children cost lots of money; so have as few kids as you can afford to raise to productive citizens. Remember you still need to save for your own retirement. In U.S.A., the estimated cost of rearing a child from birth to age 18 is $289,380, excluding the cost of college education which could be another $200,000, for middle income families. The fact we come from large families in Africa does not mean we can afford multiple children in Diaspora. Too many offspring could leave you financially strapped. Also, it could cause your children to develop that nasty permanent taste of deprivation some of us experienced growing up.

Are you a renter? Ask the property owner to give you a $50 per month discount for paying one month ahead during the lease. Chances are you will receive it. Good tenants are priceless as any landlord or landlady would tell you. If you pay on time and take good care of the property and get along with your neighbors, you become a jewel of a tenant. Moreover, if you consider what banks are paying in interest these days, you will reap huge profits by paying your rent one month in advance rather having that amount in the bank. Rents are always negotiable!

It's beneficial to tip: Tipping people you have business relationship with can save you lots of money. I learned this from a high school mate. Although he is a penny pincher, he tips generously. I never understood why he did that until I started being more generous with tipping and watched the benefits flood in. Tipping is a wise thrifty move! Just to give you an example, the service representative of the dealership where I service our car has saved me thousands of dollars because I treat him with respect and dignity and tip him well. One time, he told me about a catalyst converter problem a few months before the manufacturer's warranty expiration. That alone saved me almost $1,200, and there are other instances as well.

The most appreciated tips are the ones given when no services are being rendered. When you are in the area where your favorite service provider is, just drop off a $10 Starbucks Coffee card or a $25 back-to-school gift card to his or her child or a T-shirt from your last vacation.

If you can't truly tip monetarily for any reasons, be generous with your words and commendations. Ask to speak with the manager of the person who had just assisted you and tell that manager how delighted you are for the superior service you've received. Find the name of the CEO or president of the company and send a hand-written note stating your satisfaction and name the employee that provided you the great service.

These people would reward the employee, and your gesture would bring them joy as they too are not used to receiving compliments from happy customers. Make people you want to reward feel good about themselves. You may not be able to please the whole world but do try to be kind to people you who provided you superior service so they would do more for you in the future. You can use these positive reinforcement methods to turn an average service provider into an over-achiever. Everyone likes to be appreciated.

It is best to tip well in addition to being lavish in your praise. While on a Southern Californian vacation in June 2011, my family did just that and reaped monumental benefits. We first spent a few days in Anaheim before going on a Mexican Cruise only to return to Disneyland for more memorable times. As we checked out to go on the cruise, we generously and genuinely praised the hotel staff for the great service they rendered to us, making sure some guests checking in over-heard how happy we are with Desert Palms Suites at 631 W. Katella Avenue, Anaheim. We did it to express appreciation, not for any other benefits. One of the hotel checkout worker who overheard us confided in us that if we go on-line to Tripadvisor.com.com and register our satisfaction, the hotel would give us 10% on our next stay.

Our next stay was just 9 days away after the cruise and Lego-land legs of our vacation. When we returned they staff remembered us and found us a large suite in a fairly full hotel (without reservation) at a lower price PLUS a cascading 10 percent discount for next 7 days of our vacation (just for that positive review on Tripadvisor.com). The cumulative 10% savings alone were several times more than the tips we gladly left.

Avoid wasteful spenders (unless you are providing goods and services to them) and make friends with savers. Some people think the way to have friends is to spend their money to keep the friendship going. Any one can have those hangers-on as long as one is spending on them, once the money stops; they drop one like a hot potato. The friends you keep can influence your spending habits.

Finance experts would tell you when it comes to saving large sum of money, you have to pay attention to the pennies or cents, not the dollars or pounds or Euros. Just like any great palm-wine tapper would tell you, the palm trees that produce the best tasting wine drip ever so slowly, they don't gush or stream. Conversely, "Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship", according to Benjamin Franklin.

If you minimize the rich-at-all-cost mentality, and blaze your own trails at your pace, chances are you will NOT be lured into regrettable dragnets. Be thy self! Saving is like good driving, it's not how fast you get to the next traffic light that counts; it is how safely you arrive at your destination.

Money saving habits are better acquired and used pro-actively. If you start saving before you are desperate, you are likely to make sound decisions that will propel you to better financial standing. On the other hand, if you exist paycheck to paycheck thinking "you only live once and better live it up now since no one knows tomorrow," then when you go down in financial flames, you will be so desperate that you will sell your soul to the devil just to obtain a drop of water on your thirsty tongue. You become prone to making decisions you will regret, not just today but forever.

If you read the devil-made-me-do-it excuses illicit drug carriers give after they are caught at African airports and overseas, you will have an insight into the apex desperate circumstances some of these people operate in. Why else would someone risk it all by ingesting dangerous drugs and getting on an airplane for hours just to make money? Men and women, children and teenagers, old men and old women all have died or been caught in this brazen, life-threatening act; all in the name of making money overnight. They forget creating lasting wealth takes time and patience and dexterity.

Few have stowed away in tire wells of airplanes in dangerous no-win efforts to escape Africa for greener pastures overseas with deadly consequences. Some of these people are either too desperate or too naive to know they could not survive hypoxia - lack of oxygen in the bloodstream - even for minutes (if they don't die of hypothermia) at high altitude where airplanes cruise.

These desperate behaviors indicate the level of economic hardship that African leaders have been presiding over for decades in a nation that is endowed with natural and human resources. Hopefully, the new administration will help make things better for the average persons. However, acceptance of personal responsibility is in order as aforementioned, people can't continue blaming circumstances for their own desperation and greediness.

Whatever the root causes are, these conditions should be mitigated. Greed fueled by our culture and other human factors can combine to become lethal concussion that can lead many astray. The need for more money, mo' money!, and bigger houses and cars "by all means necessary" have continue to blind too many folks. It's difficult to predict what any desperate and greedy soul would try to do when the heat is on full blast. As William Wilberforce put it in his famous speech against slavery: "interest [fueled by desperation and avarice] can draw a film across the eyes, so thick, that total blindness could do no more". That statement is true today as it was when Wilberforce first uttered it on Tuesday, May 12, 1789.

Attaining one's financial goals may first appear as Sisyphean as the abolition of slave trade seemed to the 18th century world, but if one passionately sticks with it, one will break free and realize one's dreams. Most dreams faithfully worked on, do come true! So go for it!!

Though very important, money is not everything! To reiterate, true success should not be based on the size of your bank account or your home or the type of vehicle you drive, it should be measured by the positive impact you have on others, including those who are not directly related to you by blood.

Thanks But No Thanks - What Lincoln Would Have Said to Paulson's $700 Billion Ransom

"These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people, and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel."

- Abraham Lincoln, speech to Illinois legislature, January 1837

In July, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said of his massive underwriting scheme for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, "If you have a bazooka in your pocket and people know it, you probably won't have to use it." On September 7, Paulson pulled out his bazooka and fired, effectively nationalizing the mortgage giants. Last week, Paulson pulled out the bazooka again and held it to Congress's head. "Seven hundred billion dollars or your credit system will collapse!" Seven hundred billion dollars is more than the country currently pays annually for Social Security; and for what do we owe this ransom? To bail out bankers from their own folly in speculating in a giant derivative Ponzi scheme that is now imploding. But policymakers justify rewarding the guilty parties at the expense of the taxpayers by arguing that "we have to do it to save the banking system."

Abraham Lincoln was faced with a similar situation when he stepped into the Presidency in 1861. The country was suddenly in a civil war, and there was insufficient money to fund it. The British bankers, knowing they had him over a barrel, agreed to lend him money only at 24 to 36% interest, highly usurious rates that would have bankrupted the North. Our fearless forefather said, "Thanks but no thanks, I'll print my own." Issuing the national currency is the sovereign right of governments. A government does not need to borrow its national currency from bankers "merely pretending to have money." That was the phrase used by Thomas Jefferson when he realized the bankers' "fractional reserve" lending scheme meant that they were lending the same "reserves" many times over.

The federal dollars issued by Lincoln were called U.S. Notes or Greenbacks. They allowed the North not only to win the Civil War but to create the greatest industrial giant the world had ever seen. Lincoln's government launched the steel industry, created a continental railroad system, promoted a new era of farm machinery and cheap tools, established free higher education, provided government support to all branches of science, organized the Bureau of Mines, increased labor productivity by 50 to 75 percent. The Greenback was not the only currency used to fund these achievements; but they could not have been accomplished without it, and they could not have been accomplished on money borrowed at 30% interest.

There are other historical examples. In the 1930s, Australia and New Zealand avoided the Depression conditions suffered elsewhere by drawing on a national credit card issued by publicly-owned central banks. The governments of the island states of Guernsey and Jersey have been issuing their own money for two centuries, creating thriving economies without carrying federal debt.

In none of these models has government-issued money created dangerous price inflation. Price inflation results either when the supply of money goes up but the supply of goods doesn't, or when speculators crash currencies by massive short selling, as in those cases of Latin American hyperinflation when printing-press money was used to pay off foreign debt. When new money is used to produce new goods and services, price inflation does not result because supply and demand rise together. Prices increased during the American Civil War, but this was attributed to the scarcity of goods common in wartime. War produces weapons rather than consumer goods.

Today in most countries, money is created privately by banks when they make loans; but the banks create only the principal, not the interest necessary to pay the loans back. The interest must be borrowed into existence, continually increasing the money supply, in a Ponzi scheme that has reached its mathematical limits. The latest desperate proposal for propping up this collapsing system is to deliver $700 billion of taxpayer money to ex-Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson to buy unmarketable derivative paper from the banks, shifting the loss on this dodgy paper from the banks to the taxpayers. Seven hundred billion is just the opening figure; losses on the imploding derivatives pyramid could wind up being in the trillions. And where will this money come from? It will no doubt be borrowed into existence from the banking system. We the people will be in the anomalous position of paying interest on a debt to the banks to bail out the banks! At the very least, doesn't it seem that the banks should be paying interest on the $700 billion to us?

Rather than propping up an unsustainable system with taxpayer money, it may be time to let the private money-making scheme collapse and replace it with something better. Banks that have thrived in an unregulated free market should be left to work out their fates in that market. If they go bankrupt, they can be put into receivership and reorganized in return for an equity interest in the banks, as was done recently with AIG. The government would then own a string of banks, which could issue "the full faith and credit of the United States" directly, returning the country to productivity and prosperity just as Lincoln did.

As for the derivatives mess, there may be some derivatives that serve useful market functions, but most of them should be declared an illegal form of gambling and void. Neither party would owe on the deal; the bets would cancel each other out. True, dodgy assets transformed into "triple-A" investments by fake derivative insurance would lose that rating; but they aren't triple-A investments, and the pension funds now holding them should dump them. The downgrades could wreak havoc on the balance sheets of some banks, but that's the free market. If they go bankrupt and we the people have to bail them out, we should do it only in return for adequate quid pro quo in the form of their stock. Like Lincoln, we should say "Thanks but no thanks" to Paulson's $700 billion ransom.

Ellen Brown, J.D., developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In "Web of Debt," her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and "the money trust." She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her websites are http://www.webofdebt.com/ and http://www.ellenbrown.com/ Her eleven books include the bestselling "Nature's Pharmacy," co-authored with Dr. Lynne Walker, which has sold 285,000 copies.

America - Would Our Ancestors Recognize It?

I am glad that my beloved late grandfather is no longer around to see America-the country he once loved. He was a naval officer that served his country during WWII as a pilot. As children, my grandparents didn't rely on government subsidies to survive. They worked in fields, grew their own food, made their own clothing, and solved their own problems. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans rose up against a common enemy: the axis powers of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan.

If you look at old pictures from the WWII era, you will see dirty faced American men and women standing side-by-side with their sleeves rolled up in some filthy factory. At the time, those people were considered your average hard-working Americans. They beat the sun out of bed and went to work. If you take a close look at the photographs, you will see many of them were lean, strong and walked with their heads held high. It was definitely American ingenuity at its finest. Unfortunately, we no longer live in the same America my grandfather once knew.

America has become the unwanted houseguest that sleeps on the sofa and raids your refrigerator. We are the despised meddling neighbor that has 911 on speed dial. We are the preacher that neglects his own family for his congregation. Long gone is the reputation of Americans known as producers. The world now looks at Americans as a nation of whining consumers. We ship our jobs overseas and depend on foreign oil like a crack addict depends on his dealer.

There is barely any resemblance between our America and the one my grandfather knew. America has become a society of fat, rude, obnoxious, and lazy people who file lawsuits whenever someone hurts their feelings. We kill, maim, destroy, lie, cheat, and steal for personal gain. And when caught, we blame it on our parents because no one hugged us as children. We are a nation of blameless people who never accept responsibility for anything. We blame our problems on everyone else except for the person in the mirror.

The recent passing of "Obamacare" proves my point about America. Since when did we decide that we need the government to subsidize our health care? Although some people think this is a great moment in history, they are only looking through rose colored glasses. I don't think it has settled in that working taxpayers will be forced to pay for it. And when this happens, the doctors and health insurance will then be forced to raise their prices to keep up with the growing population.

Some people don't have insurance because they can't afford it. Health insurance is as much of a right as a driver's license. So what's next? Will the government start mandating that everyone drives an odorless green car? And if you don't own one, will you be forced to buy one?

Health insurance has just become another freedom we have relinquished back to the government. We are on the heels of becoming a Socialist nation like England and Canada-Nations that reward success and hard work with more taxes. What people forget is that once you start relinquishing your freedoms, you eventually become China or Cuba.

Don't be surprised when the government starts regulating what type of home you can buy or what you can name your children. Our politicians have put us in debt with the Red Chinese, a communist nation that laughs at our failing economy. It's because the Chinese know that our foolishness is their gain. Sadly, the America our ancestors and founding fathers once knew has gone M.I.A

Marc Hoover has a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana Wesleyan University and has more than eleven years experience working in social services. Marc also wrote the humorous dating book titled You Need A Cellmate Not A Soulmate, published by Ladybug Books. Marc's book is currently available at http://www.Ladybugbooks.com and http://www.Amazon.com. Additionally, Marc manages two websites: A dating website titled Socialhearts ( http://www.Socialhearts.com ) and Letters Beyond Heaven ( http://www.Lettersbeyondheaven.com ), a site to remember and honor deceased family members and friends. Please feel free to stop by either site with any recommendations or comments.

Socialized Medicine - Would it Work For the United States?

"Socialized Medicine" is primarily an ideology championed by the Democrats. However, contrary to popular belief, a nationalized health care system has never actually been on the agenda for President Elect Obama. His agenda has always been to assist those who are rendered uninsurable and or are in need of assistance in obtaining health care coverage due to low income. Part of his plan is to expand the role of SCHIP and State Insurance Risk Pools so that those who are rendered "uninsurable" on the individual major medical market have access to guaranteed insurability.

Many states already have established Risk Pools. However states such as Arizona and Florida do not. These states desperately need such Risk Pools. Unfortunately, until now they have not been able to receive enough Federal funding to expand this much needed role. President Elect Obama wishes to provide more Federal funding to these existing risk pools to drive the premiums down, thereby making this option more affordable for those rendered uninsurable.

One of the reasons a "nationalized" health care system has never been on Obama's agenda is most likely due to the terrible failure of such programs in countries such as France & Canada. However, proponents of "socialized medicine" often use Canada as a template in which the U.S. Health Care System should follow. Those living in Canada know full well that their government run health care program is most certainly not working. As a matter of fact, many Canadian citizens choose to hire high priced brokers to find them quality health care right here in the United States because of the terrible bureaucracy that controls all forms of health care in Canada. For facts about the current Canadian Health Care System and how it correlates to the current state of health care in the United States watch the short but informative documentary videos embedded in the first article of my health care blog located at the end of this article.

The truth of the matter is we already have an enormous amount of entitlement programs available to those who find themselves unable to pay for their health care. Often times these entitlement programs are offered to those who are here legally and illegally as was the case in the State of Illinois. Most recently, the State of Hawaii tried to emulate the Medicaid Expansion programs that were enacted in Illinois. It took less than 7 months to render their program bankrupt.

All things considered, the best way to offset the high cost of health care in the U.S. is to adopt the initiatives set forth over a decade ago by Senator Bill Archer (R) of Texas. The HSA (Health Savings Account) commonly referred to as a "Medical IRA" coupled with an HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) is a unique option that maintains high quality health insurance coverage for the policy holder whilst also building a tax deductible, tax deferred interest bearing account for the insured to use for future medical expenses. Many medical expenses that would not normally be covered by a traditional health insurance plan would be a 100% tax deduction when the insured owns a tax qualified HDHP. The list of IRS approved expenses can be found on the HSA section of the IRS web site.

Even if one can not qualify for the aforementioned HDHP option due to underwriting restrictions. There are still several other options now available to those who have been rendered "uninsurable" in the individual health insurance market. These options are as follows:

1.) The aforementioned State Insurance Risk Pool Coverage provided under HIPAA which provides seamless continuation of coverage once an insured has either lost employer sponsored group or has been offered Cobra continuation coverage and then exhausted it. To find out the states that have risk pools visit: http://www.naschip.org/states_pools.htm

2.) Small Group or Employer Sponsored Health Insurance which contains the all important "Guaranteed Insurability" clause. A Small Group policy can be purchased by as little as two people (often husband and wife working under the same corporate tax ID number).

3.) Gauranteed Issue HIPAA certified "Defined Benefit" Health Insurance policies issued on an individual basis to anyone regardless of medical history. Whilst these plans offer limited benefits, they will cover pre-existing conditions such as Cancer and Diabetes from day one providing the applicant can produce a Certificate of Creditable Coverage from their former carrier showing at least 18 months of continuous coverage with no lapse of more than 63 days.

In the end consumer education and retention of existing Federal entitlement programs (via a legitimate needs assessment test) will go a long way towards not only maintaining our current health care system, but also towards keeping the bulk of our nations risk where it belongs namely, with the private health insurance sector. In light of the recent $7 Trillion "Bail Out" and many other failing corporations coming to the table with their hats in their hands (and their private jets on the tarmac) the last thing our government should do is start cutting more blind "bail out" checks in an effort to "reform" the U.S. health care system.

C. Steven Tucker, is the President of Small Business Insurance Services, Inc. and has been a Licensed Mult-State Insurance Broker serving the small business and self-employed market for over a decade. Mr. Tucker believes an informed insurance consumer makes the best health insurance purchasing decisions. Mr. Tucker has written several articles that focus on small business health insurance, which can be read on a number of web sites around the web. He also serves as a health insurance subject matter expert for the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Business Magazine, The Nashville Business Journal, Real Estate Executive Magazine, The Tennessean and other business journals around the country.

You can learn more about the state of health care and how to avoid insurance fraud by visiting his health blog here: http://www.sbisvcs.com/blog.htm

If you have general questions regarding health insurance, or you are in the market to purchase a health insurance plan, you can also call Mr. Tucker toll-free at 1-866-SBIS123 (724-7123)