Where Wealth Comes From

Many of you will have already seen this over at One Reality, but for those of you who haven't, it is spot on with the major theme behind this blog--and too good not to pass along.

Four Ways to Spend Money

When you go to the polls next week, think about which way the candidates and the initiatives propose to spend money...and then remember that the most cost-effective way to spend money is when you spend your own money.

Vote accordingly.

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A Shameless Political Appeal

Hi folks.
I haven't been writing much these days. Too busy putting my face and voice to work for the issues I believe in. Time to move out from behind my keyboard and be a lot more public.

At the beginning of this month, I flew to Washington DC to work with

Docs4PatientCare at the scientific convention of the American College of Surgeons. That was relatively easy as it primarily involved standing at a booth and talking to people who approached us with questions.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been making phone calls on behalf of John Dennis who is running for Congress against Nancy Pelosi. That's a lot harder because I have to insert myself into other people's lives whether they want me or not. But--I just keep telling myself it's important to act on my values in order to have a chance at effecting a change.

If we can just get the word out about John, I think he would have a real chance of winning. Pelosi is at an all time low in the polls, and John is a unique Republican who is both a fiscal conservative, and a strong supporter of several traditionally liberal social issues. That's because John is a principed believer in individual rights.

In talking with John this weekend, his main difficulty is getting the word out about himself. He is just now starting to get some national attention. with more help, he could pull off a "Scott Brown" and unseat Pelosi.

So....If there's anyway for you to contribute---money, phone calls----please do. Now is the time to send Washington a big message: stop spending our money and stop controlling our lives.

Here's a few video clips to get you inspired to act:

2081 and Social Justice

A movie about the logical conclusion of implementing "social justice."



HT Joshua Lipana

Disturbing discussions to nationalize private retirement accounts

Too busy with other things to write a in depth comment or analysis but want to be sure folks know this:

[L]ast Thursday, a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on retirement savings and security... The point of the meeting was to figure out ways in which private 401(k) plans could be more "fairly" distributed as taxpayer-funded pensions. Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee, hand-picked the witnesses for the meeting. Who did he chose? People advocating "Guaranteed Retirement Accounts"...It is a plan created by Theresa Guilarducci and it would seize private retirement accounts, set up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax, and then use the money from the tax and seizure to distribute it "fairly" to Americans."

Read more here.

One quick note---consider the fact that if the government could not devalue our money, saving for retirement would be much easier. Fiat money and legal tender laws give government the power to erode the value of the dollars we earn so that simply putting them in a bank is an inadequate strategy to save for the future. In order to just stay even, one has to invest.

Here's a chart of the increase in the monatary base (i.e. creating money out of thin air) since 1910:

Now look at the purchasing power of those dollars:

Key dates to remember:

1913: The Federal Reserve was created .

1944 Bretton Woods and the creation of the International Monetary Fund.

1971: Nixon defaulted on the gold standard, ending convertibility of the dollar to gold.

Looking at the purchasing power chart, it is glaringly obvious that each of these government manipulations of our money was followed by a severe plummet in the value of our dollars.

A dollar earned in 1910 would only be worth $.04 in 2009.

A dollar earned in 1950 would only be worth $0.11 in 2009.

This is out right theft by the government---which then uses the fact that people have a hard time saving for their retirement to justify the "need" for programs like Medicare and Social Security.

These acts should be considered crimes!!

And now, the covert theft of our savings is inadequate to fund the bloated beast of government spending, and they want to confiscate our retirement funds outright.

Where is the outrage?

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