Hold onto your shorts!

"The administration projects the deficit will remain above $1 trillion in 2011. In fact, according to the estimates it made in August, the deficit will never drop below $739 billion over the next decade." AP Business writers Martin Crutsinger And Daniel Wagner

Hold onto your shorts, this means that in 10 years the national debt, which today is $11,986,954,033,520.56, will soar to about $22 TRILLION! That's almost double what it is now and at that level, interest alone on the national debt will be north of $700 Billion!

The interest that we will be required to pay will be not all that short of the $1.116 trillion collected in 2007 income taxes, the latest year those figures are available. Most calculate receipts for 2008 and following will be less, considering the current and near term future economic picture.

So, why should you "hold onto your shorts?" With that amount of federal debt, lender nations, i.e. the Japanese, Chinese and Saudi Arabia among others, will be getting very nervous (reality check, they already are starting to fidget) about purchasing our debt and the interest rate we consumers will pay will go through the roof.

Consider it an embedded tax, courtesy of the generosity of your elected officials who have yet to see a spending plan they didn't love, an election they didn't think they could buy.

Hope and Change? Let's hope, and vote, for change, a political sea change in Washington. Starting with my congressman and senators.

How 'bout yours?

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Veteran's Day

As one of the "minor" holidays, for most Americans, Veteran's Day goes by with little notice. I dare say that even most young people now serving in our nation's military barely gave this day a nod prior to their enlistment.

For the many who have forgotten the roots of this day and why it is important, I bring to your attention the following:

"Thanks to heavy and successful lobbying from the travel and leisure industry many "federal" holidays are now celebrated on Mondays. That's great if you work for the government, or in a bank. Not so great if you work retail. Or in a restaurant or supermarket.

But Christmas, New Years, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Veterans Day are not guaranteed Monday holidays. For good reasons.

Monday holidays make a lot of sense: especially if you have the day off, someplace to go and money to make it all work. But for some events that are date/tradition specific, the date, not the day of the week, is the big deal.

Very few people who are still alive remember the original event, World War I, that led to Armistice Day, the original name before it was legally changed to Veterans Day. At one point it too was celebrated on a Monday until somebody said, "hey wait a minute!" Turns out November 11 is an important date, a date to remember, even if it was (as many self-centered people say) before before they were born. Still, it happened.

World War I ended, by an armistice, that was to take effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Tragically, more than 10,000 men died that day even though their commanders knew well in advance that it was over and there was no point in fighting anymore.

Many students of history think the war shouldn't have happened. That it could have, and should have, been avoided. They say it was a "bad" war that set the stage for even more bloodshed in a good-as-in-necessary war, World War II.

Understanding World War I, what happened and why, is important if you want to understand what's happened since. President John F. Kennedy once told a friend that every world leader should be forced to read about it at least once a year. He recommended Barbara Tuchman's book, The Guns of August. Not a bad idea from a bona fide veteran of World War II.

My own favorite book on the subject is 11th Hour, 11th Day, 11th Month, by Joseph Persico. He points out that more people died that day, a day when no one needed to, than on D-Day, the Allied Invasion of Normandy. That also happened before a lot of you were born, but it still happened.

Pardon the quickie history lesson. Just thought it would be nice if all of us, whether working or not today, gave it some thought. This is not a fun holiday. But is an important one." by Mike Causey

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson