2. Your Vice President Dick Cheney and when told that over 66% of the American population says the War In Iraq is not worth fighting you reply with “so.”

3. You are so blown away by #2 that you decide to make a top ten responses video on why VP Dick Cheney should care “so” much about the United States.

4. You are named after your favorite color (Pink) and don’t care about all of the things you have lost because “so what” your still a rock star and your having more fun.

5. Your an expert at Rock Band and your favorite band is Weezer. Say it ain’t “so” man, a 100%. Nice work.

 6. Your some of the best jazz musicians (Miles Davis and John Coltrane)  of all time and even though you don’t say a word through the whole song you have to call it something. “So what” should I call this song?

7. You ask out the girl of your dreams and you shoots you down but leaves a small window of opportunity for you. All you can say is “So” you’re saying theres a chance.

8. Your family has sold out to corporate sponsors. “So what,” your getting paid.

9. Barack Obama has promised to pay your mortgage and all of your bills. “So” why would I not vote for him?

10. After looking at reasons 1, 2, and 9 its no wonder why our country is “so” screwed up right now.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons To Say “So” Or “So What”

2. Some 40,000 businesses all received a letter stating that they need to pay more into the fund to help cover the amount of money going out to unemployed workers. I know if I was a business owner how pissed I would be. They already own a business in a state where the economy is the worst in the nation.

3. The unemployment debacle is only going to get worse over the next year or so. GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all on the brink of going bankrupt and do you know how many more people are employed by them?

4. Interestingly enough, the Detroit News had another article interviewing the Mayor of Warren James Fouts. He said if any of those companies go under some 23,000 people work for one of the Big 3 or its suppliers. This does not include the 3 jobs which live off of the auto workers like a barber, auto mechanic, deli owner, or your friendly bartender. This is just for the City of Warren. So what happens to the unemployment fund now? Do we really think a company who is going under is going to be ale to put money into the fund to help with unemployment benefits for 20,000 of its ex-employees? Probably not.

5. The unemployment assistance program has good intentions. Its there to help people make their 30 year mortgage payments and to buy groceries. But what do you do when probably 10% of your states workforce is going to be unemployed within the next year? The State of Michigan can keep borrowing money from Uncle Sam but only to put itself deeper in debt. The unemployment benefits is starting to backfire in a extreme way right now.

6. I know a thing or two about unemployment. Since December of 2007 I have been out of work. I collected unemployment benefits for the first time ever this past year. Sure, it helped me get by but I did something most people do not do. I have this habit of saving money for times like this. I always make sure I have enough money saved for at least a years worth of expenses. Some people say its hard to do but I disagree. The way I look at it is I got back all of the income taxes I have paid over the last two years. I would rather of been working but I feel like I am back at square one now.

7. Since I am still looking for a job and my unemployment benefits ran out after the second extension I am starting to use my savings. Of course I do not want too but that’s what its there for. I am against the whole unemployment benefits to begin with. Its not that I do not want to help people its that the system raises taxes on business owners, employs people who provide no benefit to the economy. An economist would call people who work at unemployment agencies a “net negative” employee. Their job was created by taxes to pay out more taxes. I found some info that the State of Michigan let go some 8,500 unemployment agency workers last year.

8. The real problem is income taxes. We are so heavily taxed that these programs almost are a necessity. Our way of life revolves around taxes and its getting out of control. What the Governor Granholm should do is close down the Michigan Unemployment Agency all together. This would save millions of dollars a year in operating costs. Put money back into business owners pockets to re-invest in their businesses.

9. The only way this is going to work is with a change in mind set. If we get rid of unemployment benefits people are going to know they cannot have a seasonal job and collect in the winter. They will have to get out there and work. They will have to learn how to save for a rainy day. They will have to take more responsibility for their own lives and not rely on the Government to bail them out.

10. Imagine if we could get rid of income taxes all together. This way you had control of the money you earned. If you want to blow it all on stuff, then its your own fault. If you want to be responsible, then you are that much further ahead.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons Why Unemployment Compensation Should Be Eliminated

2. I have never considered myself a Democrat or a Republican. In the last election I voted for John Kerry mainly because I did not like George Bush. Last time I voted I was making $8 an hour busting my ass off for nothing just so I had enough money to make it up into the mountains in Colorado every weekend to go and “Shred the Gnar.” I did not care about anything else. I was 23 and just wanted to live. The only issues I had in my life was deciding to get a growler of microbrewery beer from Rock Bottom or picking up a case of Coors Light. Man do I miss those days.

3. After moving back to Detroit I started working at Quicken Loans. Talk about an eye opener. Working 14 hour days was not uncommon. I learned about finances and issues because the majority of my clients were in way worse situations than I was. I did okay at Quicken. I did not make a ton of money because I did not like selling people into new 30 year mortgages when the one they had was fine.

4. Before I started working at Quicken Loans I had never had to pay at income tax time. The most money I had ever made in a year was around $20k or so. My first year at Quicken I had made more than triple of my best year. Feeling pretty good about myself I was excited to see I might be getting back a ton of money at income tax time. Since I was not married, had no kids, and did not own a home I had zero deductions. I had paid over $6k in income taxes and was hoping to get back at least $2k. Since my income taxes are easy to do I do them myself. I’ll never forget this day. When doing my income taxes I got to the line where it said if this number is greater than 0 than this is your refund. If this number is lower than (or something like that) than this is what you must pay. I HAD TO PAY $2,200 MORE. I paced around my house for a hour dropping F BOMB after F BOMB. This is not like me as I am a pretty reserved guy. I told my dad about it and all he did was laugh. He was like “get use to it.” Luckily for the man I had developed good habits of saving money and was able to pay him his blood money. When I sent my check in I also asked for a receipt on what they were spending it on. Still have not got back anything from them in 2 years. It got me thinking about all of my clients I had and I knew probably 65% of them could not have wrote a check for $2k if asked. What happens to them? This was the turning point in my political opinions (or lack there of). From now on I was going to do my own due diligence and research the candidates. This way I would know who was going to tax me less and hold the government more accountable. I probably would not have done this if they would have sent me a receipt.

5. Getting more involved with political theory over the past 2 years because of this barrage of ads I decided to seek out my own info instead of this biased crap on tv and the newspapers. I was looking for a candidate who wanted a smaller government, less taxes, less government programs, understood that the war in Iraq is not a war, and had ideas unlike the other candidates.

6. It took my quite some time to do this. I took a look at one of those spreadsheets one afternoon where it had all of the Republican and Democratic candidates on it. After reading about the Democrats they all pretty much sounded the same. Nothing jumped out at me and said “I am that much different, vote for me.” All I saw was raising taxes one way or another. The Republicans were pretty much speaking the same. On the chart I saw from my local newspaper it only had the top 3 Republican candidates on it, McCain, Giuliani, and Romney. At the time back in 2007 I was pretty discouraged by all of the candidates at hand. It felt like more of the same or more of the same + worse.

7. Then one night I watched the Republican debate. There were a couple new faces up there. There was this one guy who kept saying things I have never heard before. Here is a highlight video of what he said at that debate. Um what. Eliminate the IRS in his first week of office? You have my attention. Only Republican to vote against the war. You have more of my attention. No “nation building,” no “policing of the world.” Seriously, stop it Ron. You must be crazy. Who says that kind of stuff?

 8. Heading over to Ron Pauls website I started doing some research. He never voted to raise taxes. His foreign policy is just as simple as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The blacks were tired of segregation on the bus. So they stopped riding it causing the bus line to almost go bankrupt. The bus line needed them on the bus so they changed their ways to stay in business. Ron Paul did not want to fight wars with guns but with dollars. If we do not like you then we are not buying anything from you. By putting countries in the poor house, how are they going to be able to buy weapons to use against us. They can’t cause they are broke. Its really that simple. His policies were so simple and so in favor of letting the market decide what is best instead of the government just blew my mind. His argument was that the government is experts in nothing so why should they be the point of contact for information. Ron Paul’s resume is better than all of the candidates. He was a flight surgeon in the Air Force, had his own practice, delivered over 4,000 babies, and is currently a senator. It got me thinking that this guy knows a lot about the issues at hand and was not just some politician.

9. It was interesting watching some of the debates. Here is the only guy who sounds that much different than his party. The one guy who really wants to put power back into its citizens hands. The one guy who speaks the truth. I did my research about Barack Obama, John McCain, and all of the other candidates. This makes me a informed voter unlike the other 70% of the U.S population who probably voted because “I’ve always voted Democrat” or “Anybody but a Republican” or any other BS reason besides the real issues at hand. This led me to write about how we need to have a voter education course where voting is a privilege not a right. I could keep going on and on about his policies but instead you could read Ron Pauls website. I know Barack Obama was elected President last night and good for him. Unfortunately I believe it was because of popularity instead of issues. Maybe you could have watched a video like the one below to help you make a informed decision. There are so many videos on YouTube about Ron Paul but this is my favorite one. Every time I watch it I feel moved.

10.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons Why I Wrote In My 2008 Presidential Election Vote For Ron Paul

2. My friend Dave and I were at a bar this past weekend with some of our friends and their wives watching the Michigan/Michigan State Football game. The topic of “who are you voting for came about” while Michigan State was starting to beat up on Michigan. He replied with “I don’t vote.” His point was that he is knowledgeable about politics but not the issues at hand. Our friends wife was confused because Dave is a well read guy who can carry on a conversation about anything. He brings out a great question. “If you’re voting, and you’re surprised to learn that people you trust as knowledgeable about politics aren’t voting, perhaps it’s you that needs to reconsider.”

3. This got me thinking. I have spent the time this year to learn about the candidates and was able to form my own opinion about who I think will do a better job as President. The majority of people do not take the time to do research on their own. Most people gather their information from the ads they see on TV or from jokes that Jay Leno or Dave Letterman make. With the internet so readily available why do less people go out to gather the correct info?

4. Then I had the greatest idea of all time. “We the people” should set up a “Voter Education Course.” If voting is such a big deal and we need to do things like Rock The Vote and Get Out The Vote then why not “Educate the Voter.” There are a million reasons to vote but shouldn’t there just be a couple major ones?

5. In my eyes voting should be more of a privilege not a right. Kind of like a drivers license. I remember hearing a story a couple years ago about a Arab woman getting denied a drivers license by the Secretary of State after failing the written test. She bitched up a storm to the employees saying how she “deserved” a license. The cops had to be called to remove her from the building. She obviously did not take the time to read about proper lane changes or what a blinking red light means. So why would she think she “deserves” a license. That’s like me saying NASA deserves to let me fly the space shuttle with no training just because I want to fly it without taking the 5 years or so it normally takes to learn how to fly it.

6. So if the election is such a big deal then why are we not requiring any voter education. Sure, your not required to vote but there are a lot of people who do vote who should not vote. They vote based on anything but the issues. It always comes down to a popularity vote.

7. I am envisioning this “Voter Education Course” to actually be able to solve all of the United States problems. Figuring out the logistics of it all is another question but some kind of online forum or town hall meeting. The only people who want to vote are going to show up. This would eliminate those who get pressured into voting the day of the election or get dragged into it by their co-workers, etc. I don’t want those people showing up to begin with. More than likely they are just going to go in there and vote a straight ticket or whoever’s ad they remember seeing last on TV. If you do not show up for the course than you cannot vote.

8. What I am liking about this is it brings all of the power back to the people and away from the government. These people are not getting paid to be there, not being wowed by special interest groups, or lobbyists. The major issues will get discussed and probably some forward thinking will come out of it.

9. Here is an idea. What about a simple multiple choice test? First question: Do you want your income taxes: A. Raised (Barack Obama) B. Stay The Same (John McCain) C. Eliminated (Ron Paul). Of course no one is going to pick A or B. So its settled. Barack Obama or John McCain would not be voted in because nobody likes their policies. It’s that simple. This is what baffles me. I have probably been in over a dozen conversations with close friends of mine about this election. When asked who I was voting for I told them Ron Paul. Most have never heard of him. When asked about what he stands for I told him the first thing he was going to do was eliminate the IRS because all the IRS does is legally steal from the U.S citizens. Do you think I got a rebuttal from that answer? No. I won that debate every time. I mean what American tax payer can say they enjoy paying taxes. None. This is just one example but I think you see where I’m going.

10. One thing I like about the “Voter Education Course” is that it not only holds the candidate accountable it holds the voter accountable. No more just showing up to a voting booth and picking whoever and then trying to defend yourself over the next 4-8 years that you did not know said candidate was going to run the country into the ground. With the “Voter Education Course” you would know exactly what they planned to do. If the candidate runs the country even farther into oblivion you have nobody to blame but yourself because you voted for him.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons To Have A Voter Education Course

2. John McCain’s stance on the war in Iraq is one that is very little from Barack Obama’s. Neither of them want to have immediate troop removal. I get the feeling from reading John McCain’s website that he does not want to have the troops there anymore but feels that it is our responsibility to ensure that Iraq is turned over to a government that is ready to handle its new responsibilities. You can’t argue against his military knowledge. His counterinsurgency strategy is working. The question is why do we need a counterinsurgency strategy? Sure, did the U.S go into Iraq with poor information? Yes, we can all agree on that. The problem is that we are never going to be successful in the middle east. On top of that, what are we trying to achieve in Iraq or the middle east to being with? Do not give me this Al-Qaeda crap. Al-Qaeda is pissed because we are there. The best foreign policy is no foreign policy. If people want to have religion run their lives, so be it. We are not going to change anything that goes on over there. What we need to do is cut our losses, give the keys to Baghdad back to the interim Iraqi Government and leave. John McCain should just let it go and focus more on what’s going on in the U.S. If the war in Iraq is the main reason why people do not like George W. Bush than why would you vote for somebody who wants to stay there? There was this guy that said he would bring the troops home the next day after being elected. I guess having American soldiers getting killed for some reason that none of us have a clue about is ok because you did not take the time to read about all of the candidates.

3. John McCain’s National Defense stance is no surprise. I cannot say anything bad about his career in the Navy. He is the ultimate bad ass. Getting the opportunity to leave early from prison but does not because he wanted to stay with his fellow soldiers. I am sure that he has some stories that cannot be printed or told on tv.  As you can see from his website he wants to have a larger military. He believes that we need to have a larger presence around the world. I really cannot believe that both of the leading candidates for President Of The United States think we need a larger military. What good is going to come from a larger military? None. I understand that there are these “rogue states” like Iran and North Korea but what makes them “rogue?” What are these countries trying to do to us? There must be something that you know that we do not. You probably got some information in a meeting with W. and he told you some stuff that you could use as a scare tactic. I don’t believe it anymore. Why would these countries want to start a war or launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at us? I don’t think they want to. What’s funnier is that John McCain wants to support “Smarter Defense Spending.” Um..huh? You just told us that you want to spend more money on soldiers salaries. How about just closing all of the bases around the world and bringing all of those troops home and making them get new jobs. I bet you this will save billions of dollars a year in defense spending. At the same time we would be taking our troops out of harms way and giving back the land we occupy in foreign countries back to them. There was this guy that was going to close all of our bases around the world the day after being elected President. He said that by doing so it would save enough money in one year to give all U.S citizens free health care if we wanted.

4. John McCains policy on the economy is better than Obama’s by a lot but still not good enough. I like how he wants to lower corporate taxes from 35% to 25% (when I read it was 35% I almost puked) and this is why its hard to do business here in the states. This does promote business but does nothing for wages. What good is new business without better wages. Sure, more firms will stay in the U.S if they get lowered taxes but shouldn’t your first order of business be to lower income taxes? There was a guy that was going to abolish the IRS the day after being sworn into the office of President. You have to ask yourself this question. Is lowering the taxes business (small or large) pay by 10% more than getting rid of the 15% income tax that most Americans pay? Last time I checked 15% is more than 10%. I bet even more businesses would come back to the U.S if the people that ran them saw that they were no longer going to have to pay income taxes themselves. Imagine how much money the U.S would save by no longer having to run the IRS. Its in the billions.

5. What is interesting about John McCain is that his website does not give as much information up as Barack Obama’s. I stopped while reading over McCain’s site and could not find that much information about how he was going to change more things just what he wanted to change. I kind of came to the conclusion that McCain wants to run a government that is not in our faces as much as Obama does. How I started writing this was going over the major points and coming to a conclusion. Its hard to give a lot of reasons not to vote for him if everything he has for me is little bits of info. There was no talk about 30 year mortgages or the growing foreclosure problem. With so much talk about these in the news every day I would at least like to know his take on it. If his take is nothing needs to be done by the government than I agree.

6. While I feel that John McCain is not going to change the day to day life of Americans he is not going to be as bad as Obama. Besides his take on Iraq and National Defense he actually is saying enough is enough on some major topics like health care. He does not want universal health care but wants a system that gives flexibility to each American citizen to decide what company they want to go with. I feel that this is not much different than right now because I currently buy my own health insurance. Its like $50 a month for catastrophic care.

7. Even his take on the Roe vs. Wade is not that bad but I do not totally agree with it. His site wants to get rid of the U.S Government from making any decision on the issue and give it back to the states. He then says he wants to end abortion. Well, you are giving up federal powers and giving it to the state powers. The states are still a government so its like nothing changed. All you did was pass the question on to the state, which I like, but the Roe vs. Wade and abortion issue should not be a government issue at all. I know by me saying that it makes me pro-choice and I would rather have a mom go through with abortion than raise a kid she does not care about. I remember reading the book called “Freakanomics” which discussed all of those weird economic numbers that never get talked about. It was interesting that in the book it showed how after abortion became legal that 16-20 years later crimes dropped around the country. The author says that there were less adolescents in those years in previous years in areas of the country that usually are high crime areas.

8. I just get the feeling that McCain has the opportunity to make some greater changes than what he wants to do. The issues he has that are important are things that should not be an issue. His take even on immigration brings up too many responses from me like, “duh.” Be harsh on companies hiring illegal citizens. Do background checks on illegal citizens here and determine if we should make them citizens. If they can then they need to pay us back taxes or get lost.

9. The sad thing is that I dislike John McCain less than I do Barack Obama. John McCain got all of the publicity because of his Naval career and American citizens relate to that because all of us know somebody who is in the military. Unfortunately this does not mean that your political policies are what’s best for the U.S. The issues I feel that are important, income taxes, economy, war in Iraq, less government, McCain misses out on. The guy that should have been the Republican nomination was Ron Paul. Imagine waking up the day after he was elected President and not paying income taxes. Bringing home ALL of our troops around the world and saving TRILLIONS of dollars that could be used to pay back all of our debts. Doing this would make the U.S dollar worth more and give more financial security to U.S citizens. Ron Paul would close a lot of failing government programs like social security. The only way to fund social security is to raise taxes. No where on McCains site does it talk about social security so I could not talk about it. Ron Paul was going to get rid of the Department of Education because it is proving that it is a failure. He wants to leave it up to the states to teach their kids what they think is important.

10. I almost do not want to vote this year and am debating whether or not I am going to. I absolutely do not want Barack Obama and do not feel that things are going to get worse or better with McCain. I am thinking about doing a write in vote and putting down Ron Paul. My hope is that in 4 years when they look at all of the votes maybe other people would have voted for him and the media would be like “how did Ron Paul take 7% of the vote?” It sucks because I really do not want Obama and get the same feeling every election year that my vote does not do anything. I would suggest to anybody that really wants to see what a visionary leader would have been to read Dr. Ron Paul’s websites and this video. It is one of the most viewed videos on YouTube ever. Hopefully it will move you and enlighten you.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons To Not Vote For John McCain

2. Barack Obama’s defense plan sounds like George Bush’s current plan. More and more government. On Barack Obama’s website it clearly states that he supports the idea of increasing the size of the U.S Army by 65,000 and the Marines by 27,000 troops. Its funny because on his website the very next point it has him talking about leadership from the top. The current leader of the U.S is not doing a good job of doing that if its hard to find people to want to join the military. Barack says that by increasing the amount of personnel it will “help units retrain and re-equip between deployments and decrease the strain on military families.” So if it is really about the families then why would you want a larger government to begin with. I understand the whole concept of having more troops on shorter deployments to keep them fresh but shouldn’t we be looking at a policy where we need less troops. Saying that you want another 92,000 troops ready to go at anytime does not solve anything. It is going to raise taxes because now we have to pay more salaries and more for equipment to suit them. When you say you need more troops I get the feeling that you are wanting to plan another attack on a nation. I remember a quote from one of my favorite movies (Spies Like Us starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase) where a Air Force General has had this secret base and his plan all along was to make a situation to use his new weapon. The weapon was a Soviet ICBM and was set off by Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd from Russia to be shot at us. The weapon we had was a laser that would shoot down any incoming nuke. Well, the laser missed and after it missed the protocol was to do nothing and let the nuke hit the U.S with nobody knowing it. The General told everybody that “a unused weapon is a useless weapon.” Pretty powerful statement knowing that he knew he was going to be responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans. So Barack, if you want more troops then you have to use them? Because your not just going to have them sitting around doing nothing, right? There was one guy who was running for office this year who suggested that we need to lower our troop levels and as a matter of fact bring all of them home. Do you think by doing this it would save a couple lives? Probably a lot of lives. This guy’s idea was to close every single base around the world that the U.S runs and bring the troops home because the goal of the United States Military is to protect its borders not bases we run in other country’s. His idea was to overhaul the intelligence communities (FBI, DEA, CIA) and make them work together instead of working with leaders of other opportunistic countries. He was also a retired flight surgeon for the U.S Air Force. Have to listen to somebody who has been there. Not going to tell you who yet, but soon.

3. Barack’s foreign policy states that he wants to do more of being in every body’s business. On his site he has all of these great plans to help out other nations like Israel, Sudan and other nations in Africa. What have any of those nations ever done for us? I cannot think of one. After reading what he had to say I feel like we would be getting in the way again and even more than before. On July 19, 2005, Obama passed a bipartisan amendment, along with Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) to provide $13 million for the Special Court for Sierra Leone. That’s right, he signed a bill to give $13 million to keep a court in Sierra Leone open to be able to convict all of the bad people that are committing crimes to its citizens. I do not like what is going on over there, but its not your right to give them $13 million dollars to run a court. Wouldn’t it just be easier to send the Navy Seals in and take out these rebel groups instead of spending the money? How about all of the rapes, murders, burglaries, and other crimes that are happening in Detroit, MI? Do you think some cities around the U.S could of used that money (that was pulled from mid air because it does not exist anyways) to keep things up and running? His stance on Darfur was to raise $20 million dollars for the African Union Peacekeeping mission to make sure the U.S is the world leader in ending the genocide going on there. He also had another bill passed and this comes straight from his site, “Obama revamped U.S. policy in the Congo to include a commitment to help rebuild the country, develop lasting political structures, hold accountable destabilizing foreign governments, crack down on corrupt politicians, and professionalize the military. The bill also authorizes $52 million in U.S. assistance for the Congo“. This sounds all too familiar. $52 million dollars for the Congo? WTF? Aren’t you already bashing George Bush about what’s going on in Iraq? Its probably that $52 million does not sound as bad as $1 trillion in Iraq and that is why it has gone un-noticed. When we add it all up that is $85 million dollars going to help the people in Africa and not going to support the people of the United States. You are running for President of The United States, right? Why do we need to support…anybody with money? The U.S government should not be handing any tax payers money over just because it looks good. A good foreign policy would be none at all. Let those nations decide what they want to do. If we like them then we could do something like…business. Yea, like trade goods and services which leads to prosperity. If there is one way to always make someone aware of something its always in their wallet. There is this guy that was running for office that suggested this because giving any money to another country is a competitive dis-advantage to us because we do not have that money to do things.

4. Barack’s “universal health care system” is not going to work. It sounds great because it is told to us that all Americans get it. I even thought this was great at first. No more paying anything. But, that is not how it works. It is just going to come from increased taxes. I don’t like increased taxes so how is this better? Its not. What will happen when you let more government get in the way is there will be more mandates set forth that the insurance companies have to follow. The drug companies are spending more money on advertising than they spend on research and development. They do this mainly because when they get one drug that sells good the have to sell the crap out of it to stay in business instead of focusing on making better and cheaper drugs. With Barack’suniversal health care it gives more government control than before because now the Physicians boss is the government. He says he will make health insurance companies more competitive by making them pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care instead of keeping the profits. I’m confused. If we have a “Universal Health Care” why would there be a need for Health Care Insurance Companies. I would think that you would force all of those companies to go bankrupt the next day because now the government would be running all of the administration things. Isn’t that what it means. I’m starting to think that what it means is that every body gets health care and the same large health insurance providers stay in business to do all the admin and clerical work. The government just writes the check to the health insurance companies after you come in for a visit, no questions asked. The government has to print up more money to pay them and the health insurance companies can now do whatever they want to a degree because the government is writing the checks. What this system does not promote is “good health.” With everybody getting health care regardless of your life style it does not give back to the people that try to live a health life. If anything, it penalizes them. Take for instance a person that works out 4 days a week, does not smoke, and eats right would pay the same as somebody who smokes a pack a day, is obese, and obviously does not work out. Both people pay the same even though the person who keeps them self healthier has to pay the same premium as the unhealthy person. I hate knowing that I keep myself in good shape and have not been to the Dr.’s office in two years and I have to pay the same as some people I know that do not live a healthy life style and go to the Dr’.s office 6 times a year. The Dr. always says to them that you need to eat right and exercise. Really? There is this other guy who was running for office that is against “universal health care” because he says that government has proven it cannot manage it and has no business being in it. What he suggests is letting each American decide what Health Insurance Company they want to go with. By doing this it would let new health insurance companies start up and make their own rules, not the ones that government mandates. By doing so it will fight the large health insurance providers into bringing down premiums. He also suggested the idea that certain health care providers should start giving health check ups and if you are healthier than the next you will get lower premiums. I don’t know about you but I think I could take an afternoon off from work to get a physical and some tests to show how healthy I was if it was going to save me $30 a month in health insurance bills. I think that would make every person who likes to get McDonaldsevery day think again about getting it because they know that if they ate healthier it would save them a lot of money. This same guy is not only a Senator but is actually a Dr. himself. He has delivered over 4,000 babies before he left medicine. Do you think this guy knows a thing or two about health care or do you want to go with the career politician who wants more government control?

5. Barack’s energy plan is pretty impressive sounding. He wants to give a tax credit to all Americans feeling some pain at the pump (When are we never feeling pain at the pump? How about just lowering taxes?). Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future (Where is this $150 million coming from, let me guess taxes?). Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined (Agreed, but usually politician talk.). Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars, cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America (Sure, but are you going to build these with your hands). Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025 (How can you ensure anything? This is just more politician talk to help you get elected.). Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 (Why promote any program when what needs to be done is say “hey consumer this type of energy pollutes and this one does not, which one do you want?”). There is this guy who is trying to do a lot of the same things but in a better way. Get government out of the picture and let the market dictates what happens. Barack’s plan is to enfore more gvernment involvement (getting in the way) to make it look like something is getting done when he is in office. It’s always easier to bring in the EPA to clean up your mess while you go into bankruptcy then bail you back out on the tax payers dollar. How about no! Leave it up to the consumers to decide what they do and do not want. People are not dumb, they will figure out a whole lot faster what is better when your not there to bail them out. Nobody learns anything Barack’s way.

6. Barack Obama’s social security plan is to have people and their employers that make over $250k a year contribute 2-4% more of their pay checks to help balance out what is going to be a lack of funds within the next 10 years. At first I thought this was a good idea and it mainly is because I do not make over $250k a year. Then I thought about if I did make over $250k a year. I came to the conclusion that I would be angry because now you are taking another $10k out of my pocket on top of the $30k you already took to fund a program that does not work. I would rather keep that money in my pocket and invest it and make a 5%-9% return. I could do this probably because most people that make that kind of money a year are smart enough to figure out that they can make more with it than the government can. The people who struggle with any financial education would rather other people just “take care of it” for them and let the government tell them that there will be money waiting there for them when they are in their 60s. I started wondering if this system is ever going to work moving forward. I came to the conclusion that it is not. What we are doing is spending money to have the Social Security System running which comes out of those dollars we pay into it. I understand that there are people out there that need some sort of income because they cannot work due to disabilities or other mental illnesses, as I have an aunt that (supposedly) has one. For everybody else though this system guarantees nothing and all that Barack is doing is looking for a way to tax the rich. How about we just get rid of Social Security once and for all? The guy who was running for office was one of the only Senators to suggest this. He showed how this system does not work and is not ever going to work unless the government starts taking more which leaves less for the people to have to get by with. He instead suggested personal savings accounts (tax free forever) and letting younger people get out of the system now because there is not going to be anything left for them when they get old. What a great idea! Get government out of my way and let me invest it back into the companies that are going to grow this nation instead of giving it to one (government) that has proven it cannot manage a retirement system.

7. Barack Obama’s stance on taxes is not that bad, its just that all of his other stances need tax dollars to stay afloat. Some of his points are to provide tax rebates up to every American worker (how about just lower our taxes for good and stop spending on useless programs), establish a $10 Billion foreclosure prevention fund to help families keep their homes (so taking more tax payers dollars to not only bail out the family but the bank too? Good ol’ government just printing up money again and letting our dollar value fall), provide another $10 Billion to hard struck state and local governments due to the housing crisis so they can keep vital city services open (so one government bailing out another government for making unwise decisions and approving every housing permit because you thought this would mean more property taxes and revenue for the cities even though it backfired in their faces pretty fast. Its okay, we will let the U.S government print up another $10 Billion and lower the value of our dollar), and extend unemployment benefits to people who have been out of a job for a long time. I can relate to all of these because I use to work at a mortgage company but lost my job when we could not longer approve anybody on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. I in turn lost my job and have been on unemployment benefits for 8 months now because I cannot find a new job yet in Michigan. I do not have that many bills and actually have about $400 left over every month to spend on whatever I want. Some of my friends can’t believe I have just not taken any job just to get off of it but I told them that I would only be making about $1k more a month than what I am getting and after income taxes and spending money on gas just to get to work it wipes out any monetary advantage. If anything, I am getting back all of the money I have paid in income taxes over the past two years and have been able to enjoy my summer. I hate saying it but its true. I started thinking again about what if we did not have any income taxes at all. Would you believe that this same Senator suggested getting rid of the IRS all together. He said that if he was elected President he would get rid of the IRS the very next day. He says that the income tax is stealing and its not Constitutional. He says that by doing so it would eliminate the money needed to keep the IRS functioning (saving millions of dollars a year in taxes) and put the money back into its citizens. Sounds like a nice guy. I wonder why more people don’t like this guy. Barack Obama wants to make filing your taxes simpilier but at the end of the day you are going to be paying more to support his programs.

8. Barack Obamas education plan is definitely good. I can tell that it has the best interest of the students at the fore front but when looking at all of the points he makes on his website it sounds like more political talk to try to get him elected. There is so much that he wants to do and I can tell that his intentions are in the right place but one of the problems he brings up is funding for all of the schools. The only mention he has in his points of a tax credit is for college. I like that idea because colleges around the country are ripping kids off but we are missing the point. If we looked at everything he wants to implement you have to start wondering where that money is going to come from. Barack plans to keep all of the current education programs open and add more on top of it. Where does this money come from? If you guessed taxes you are right. To get more education programs you can expect to pay more taxes if you elect Barack Obama. What Barack is telling us is that he wants to fund even more money to the Department of Education which is proving to all of us that it is not working. Even Barack says that only 70% of all high schoolers graduate and those that do read at levels way below their age level. This other guy that was running for President suggested shutting down the Department of Education completely!! What, who says that. Most people when they hear that they will turn on you and say that you do not believe in our kids education and their futures. He counters with getting government out of the way you leave it up to each individual state to teach the kids what they want, not some know it alls in Washington D.C. By doing this the States can focus on what technologies and businesses are popular in their state so hopefully when the kids get out of high school they will want to stay in state and start their families and careers there. By getting rid of the Department of Education Americans would save $59.2 Billion dollars a year. Pretty ridiculous number huh? Barack Obama wants to increase that number and it is going to come from your Federal Income Taxes. This other guy wants to help the American population save $59.2 billion a year and let the citizens of your state decide what you want your kids to learn. By doing so it will hopefully keep the economy of your state growing as it competes with others.

9. The one point he makes about families in the United States got me thinking pretty deep. I come from a strong family and was interested in what had to say. I just do not know what to say. His intentions are good but again he wants to tell all of us that the government needs to be in your business. He wants to “provide a living wage” for people. Great, you raised the minimum wage which buys you nothing. Inflation is out of control and now since you told all employers that they need to raise wages or lose their business license they are going to do that and probably let another person go making the person that got the raise work harder. If you read all of his points on his site about family all that I see is him wanting to add more funding to more programs and more services. I agreed with some of it (as I will with all candidates) but the main issues is that Barack Obama sees the only way to help out America is by making the decisions for them.

10.  Barack Obama is not a bad guy by any means. He means well. I know that he is trying to make “Changes” but in reality it sounds like more of the same but just from somebody who can speak a little better than the current President. I know I have gone over a lot of his points and I hope you can take the time to ask yourself this one simple question, “When I wake up in the morning do I want more government telling me what to do or can I make my own decisions?” If you answered that you want more government to tell you what to do you have officially called yourself an idiot. Sorry, but its the truth. If you answered with I don’t even know what the government does for me on an everyday basis than you are on the right path. Every time I have ever looked at a paycheck and saw 15% of my income gone for taxes that I do not even get a receipt for it kind of makes me mad. Now to know that if I vote for Barack Obama its probably going to be 21% of my taxes to pay for things I do not use. The only reason I can think of that would be great for Americans if Barack Obama was elected President is because he is black. This would eliminate affirmative action once and for all regardless of what race you are. How could any body from a minority complain that they are being discriminated against based on their color? You can’t, there would be a person who is from a minority (I feel that word minority is over used nowadays because if you add up all the minorities in the country they out number the majority) who occupies one of the most powerful jobs in the world as President of The United States. I feel the whole race card would be brought to an end the second he would take the oath. From what I have read about Barack Obama from his website and from the videos I have seen I feel that anything but “Change” is going to happen. Nothing he says or promotes is going to change the day to day life of any American. The sad thing is that most Americans are raised to believe that the government has all the answers. Then you get older, start working, raising a family and start wondering what the government actually does for you from day to day. Its not much or anything at all. If you want to learn about a person who has some great ideas and really has his head on straight I would highly suggest reading about Dr. Ron Paul at one of his websites or just doing a search about him. Better yet, here is one of the most popular videos on YouTube ever.

If you really believe in “Change” America you will learn to change yourself without having government do it for you.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons To Not Vote For Barack Obama

2. Barack, your not the President, yet. Your probably going to win the election because the media loves you and wants to see that the United States gets a black man to be the President. John McCain is old news because he is a white guy and we have had many white Presidents before him. The media needs something new for ratings and to sell magazines.

3. Barack, if you really wanted to impress the American people why don’t you do some campaigning in the United States. Who cares about the rest of the world. There are a lot more problems going on here that need time to be spent on than overseas. What is great about the U.S is that we make changes (for better or worse) much faster than the rest of the world. We can make examples of ourselves and of what a great nation we are by helping ourselves first then worrying about other nations. I bet you would earn the respect from the people who you should be trying to earn it from most, the average American citizen.

4. Barack, do you really want to promote being a do-gooder? Here is a good idea. Get in a bus with everybody that works for your campaign, get a rake, a broom and a garbage can for every person that goes with you and drive to downtown Detroit and start cleaning up the city. Last time I checked the City of Detroit was in the United States and can vote for you. I bet if you spent one day with 500 people cleaning up as many neighborhoods as you can you will probably get some votes that way. I know things like homelessness, poverty, foreclosures, unemployment, high crime rates, shady political figures in office (yes Kwame that’s you), public schools closing, teachers losing their jobs, and the worst high school graduation rate in the country are not sexy things to talk about (mainly because there is no money for you or the government in poverty) but you could break the trend. You would be doing something called “leading by example” which every person can relate to.

5. Who cares about overseas when we have major issues here like inflation, job loss, immigration, and foreclosures just to start with. If I was the president of another country I would be like what are you doing here when you’ve got so much to do back home. It’s like going out and partying on a week night until 3 am knowing you have to be at work at 7am. You know you shouldn’t do it because your going to feel like crap the next day (if you make it to work) but its hard to pass up a good time.

6. I was watching TV last night and they interviewed some guy who runs a bakery in Israel who was making cakes on Barack’s behalf. The guy said that he hopes Barack wins the election so then it will help out Israel. Wait, What? Dude, if you think Barack is going to be able to help your country end this battle you have had going on with your neighbors for the past thousand years you are sadly mistaken. Barack was on TV talking about how he wants to help out Israel and other nations come to peace over there. Why can’t we all just come to the realization that all of those nations in the Mid East just do not like each other? They are going to continue to kill each other and history has proven that they are not going to stop even if they sign some dumb treaty. What we should do is let them continue fighting each other and whoever is left we will decide if we want to be friends with them.

7. Nothing that you do overseas is going to affect what happens in the United States.  

8. To the people that actually have read about what each candidate stands for neither Barack Obama or John McCain are going to provide any drastic or if any change to what is happening in the United States or abroad. Unfortunately the average American citizen is worrying about how they are going to be able to put food on the table, save for retirement, put gas in their car, or make a payment to their 30 year mortgage without having to go into foreclosure to take the time to really see what each candidate stands for.

9. There was one candidate who we all should have voted for but nobody took the time to read what he stood for. Here was a guy who was going to eliminate income taxes, yes “eliminate income taxes” because they are unethical and go to a usage tax but the average American never heard about him on TV because unfortunately he is not a favorite with the media. Think about the one thing that really makes you mad that the Government does and the first thing that comes to your mind is always taxes. It does not matter how much or little you earn in a year you are affected by income taxes. So why is he not going to be elected? You had to go out of your way to hear about Ron Paul.

10. I guess I just do not get why Barack Obama is overseas except to try to push himself as a worldly kind of guy. I like that you want to know what’s going on and I know that you are a smart guy but to me if you are running for the President of The United States of America then you need to be in The United States of America. We have more than enough problems going on in our borders to keep you busy.

Post from: The Top 10 Reasons

The Top 10 Reasons Barack Obama Should Not Be Overseas Campaigning