Thoughts on 2009

The continuous boom of fireworks woke me up last night. As per long-standing tradition I went to bed early New Years Eve. I have yet to regret that old decision.

2009 has a number of unique promises to fulfill. Whether or not it will is yet to be seen. We could either be witnessing the dawn of one of our most prosperous decades beginning with 2010, or the inexorable advance of Armageddon; the potential swing of the pendulum is that wide.

President-elect Obama has already shown himself to be less of a puppet of the liberal left than a lot of pundits feared. His willingness to work with people his typical constituency view as blood enemies shows an inner core of character I was unable to see during the campaign. It will be interesting to see how his middle-income tax cut fares and what, if implemented; it will do for the economy. American big business has become quite reactionary when asked to share their plunder. I personally know of instances where a business owner has actually taken steps that harmed his credit rather than reduce his own personal income to save the business his father began.

As is typical to the Middle East, the millennium-old conflict between the sons of Abraham rages on, but for the past several hundred years the fault lies on Ishmael’s side, not on Isaac’s. I have yet to get a real handle on the problem with the Palestinians. Their heritage is Jordanian, not Israeli. They hail from southwestern Jordon, not from the western side of the Jordon River. Not one accomplishment toward bettering humanity or society, or even themselves can be attributed to any of their disparate groups, and yet the world seems intent on blaming Israel, the real victim, for the Palestinians’ troubles. It seems to me that when someone gives you thousands of acres of arable land, you develop it; you don’t spend all your time developing weapons. The followers of the Babylonian moon god allah don’t care about logic, obviously.

Because of the vast Democrat sweep of nearly every significant office, the Reid/Pelosi cabal has been clamoring to move even further toward socialization. They envision American healthcare as being a mirror of what is offered in Canada. There are so many errors in that form of judgment that space is simply not sufficient to even cover a tiny percentage, but let’s just look at a couple right now. Both Pelosi and Reid happen to be independently wealthy. Over the years I have noticed that those who proclaim the socialist agenda to be the best are often the least generous with their own wealth when they have it. Both Pelosi and Reid share the trait of being dictatorial. They do not work well as the member of a decision-making team; they have a drive to be the one and only decision maker. Every socialistic leader in our world’s history has shared the same trait.

In Canada, it is true, you can see a doctor without paying a co pay. Of course, you have already paid 60% in taxes and had to wait for upwards of half a year while your condition grew worse, but that $20 didn’t leave your wallet. As in the UK, Canada’s health system has morphed into a two-tier system. Those who can afford to pay for extra privilege, get it and the government, used to privilege, does nothing to halt the trend. Do you really think that if it came to it that Reid or Pelosi would be waiting in line with you to see a doctor?

About a year ago my humble house was worth about $250,000. Now it is worth about $150,000. I have actually worked to improve the property, but the price went down. Fortunately the taxes also went with the price. Some economists are warning of hyper-inflation while others are screaming about the coming depression. I think a different scenario is possible, if Uncle Sam will get out of the way. My house was never actually worth a quarter of a million. It simply is too small and in too normal of a location for that price. As with all the other homes around my neighborhood, it was caught up in a short term economic frenzy and far too many scam artists got into a feeding frenzy. The balloon has burst and now things are beginning to stabilize...as long as greed is kept out of it. Gas prices are just about where they really belong along with a great many other commodities. If those businesses who failed were actually allowed to fail, better run companies would take their place. It has happened before and it will happen again. Simply because the owner of a business has a friend in Washington, it does not mean that my taxes can be used to cover up his failure. At least it shouldn’t mean that.

So, welcome to 2009. It should be an interesting year.