| Think
about the current economic recession in a different way. Think
locally - not nationally. Imagine what you can
do to create the future which you want for yourself, your family, and
your friends.
Ask not what your government can do for you.
Ask what you can do to stop what your federal government is doing to you, your
family, your friends, your business, and your community. |
|
Restoring a Limited Federal
Government - Only "we the people" can make it happen now.
See "Tea Party Tactics" for local action
suggestions. |
|
Americans have lost trillions in asset values in the last year as the
residential real estate market and financial markets collapsed rapidly.
Although the total number of home foreclosures has risen sharply, it is
still a relatively small and isolated problem - concentrated heavily in
those places where Congress tried to push banks through Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac to make unsustainable mortgage loans.
There have also been problems with real estate
speculation. Remember all those get rich quick ads about
"flipping" houses? You didn't have to be a genius to recognize
that this was an economic "bubble" waiting to burst as low down
payments, minimal income requirements, and low interest rates combined
with unusually rapid rises in home prices and new home construction to
create this current mess. |
| As
for the financial markets, the extraordinary leverage of some banks, and
lack of transparency about the risks in complex financial derivatives,
combined with the real estate bubble to magnify the impact.
Anybody with stock market investments, whether directly or through
retirement plans or mutual funds, probably has been startled to compare account statements for 2009 with 2007 or early 2008. In
fact, considerable gains in value since the last recession of 2000 -
2003 have been wiped out. |
|
So, what are you going to do about it? |
|
Hundreds of people showed up for the Chicago Tea Party
taxpayer revolt. See our photos. |
|
The Tax Day Tea Party protests attracted
600,000 - 800,000 Americans in 800+ cities in just 8 weeks. |
|
The Chicago Tea Party. Thank you, Rick
Santelli of CNBC. We chose not to wait for July, or to
trust GE and NBC to look out for our interests. We're the ones
bringing good things to life now. |
| Put a
pencil to it (or a spreadsheet). How much value have you lost in
your home, if you own one? How much money have you lost in your
investment portfolio? Have you lost your job, or are you earning
less? If you own a business, have your profits declined or become
losses? Chances are that you have friends,
neighbors, and colleagues who are facing similar challenges.
Nationally, it adds up to many trillions of dollars in
lost asset values and income from the market peak in 2007.
Think of that as the economic value destroyed by
your government - plus all of your tax costs.
This is what federal government intervention in the economy
has cost you personally - so far.
Do not underestimate the potential for the federal
government to quickly make it even worse.
Don't just think about all of the tax costs you
pay. Look at the power of government to quickly destroy the asset
value of a lifetime of hard work and careful savings and investment
decisions.
This is not just "generational theft" going forward
- as government runs up even larger debts and risks further damage to
the economy. Beyond the "death tax", this is the destruction of
the wealth of the "greatest generation", the "boomers", and every
American with any savings. |
|
Pay it forward - invest in limiting
the power of government to keep destroying your future |
| Stop
believing that we are all somehow victims of frauds on "Wall Street",
and that more federal regulation and "stimulus" or other intervention in
the economy is the solution. That's the problem.
The government will not solve this problem for you.
It created this problem for you. You were probably doing the right
thing. You were working hard. You were paying your bills.
You were saving what you could, and trying to invest for a better
future. You were spending responsibly - perhaps not always, but
you were free to make your own choices and to deal with the risks of
making costly mistakes.
In spite of your best efforts to create a better
future for yourself and your family, this recession came along and, as
in past recessions, you had to change your plans to adjust to the new
situation as best you could. For some people, that change is
obviously a far more painful process than for others. Some people
are facing very severe hardships - even if they seemed to have been
making good choices. There is no question that this may all feel
very "unfair" - which, of course, is an opening for populist
politicians. |
|
You have no choice about investing through taxes and inflation.
As proven through the economic "stimulus" bill, the federal government
has the power to impose tax costs and the debt burden of rising deficit
spending programs. These
trillions may well trigger inflation which will further erode the
value of your savings and investments, aside from the rising costs of
paying off all of that debt. As long as the
Democrats control the White House and Congress and follow such policies,
you're basically out of luck. They have the power to keep
destroying your savings, raising your taxes, and harming the business
environment in which you work to earn your living. They have the
power to help any special interest group which they choose to favor with
your money. Even if you may somehow think that you will benefit
from this illusory federal largesse, it's just seducing you to surrender
more freedom.
Do not quietly accept this liberal insurgency as
inevitable. It is already costing you dearly. |
|
Invest your time and resources in what
you can do to create the America you want |
| Once
again, think about how much value the government has destroyed in your
own life in 1-2 years. It has probably
happened before, too. Think back to past recessions.
What has government really cost you over your life? It is far more
than just the income taxes or other taxes and fees which you pay.
The federal government is a major threat to your career security and
financial security for a lifetime.
It still maintains federal
Ponzi schemes like Social
Security as an illusory benefit based on the outdated idea that there
would always be far more people working than retired, and that the
workers could therefore always pay fur the current benefits of the
retirees.
In the past, you might have worked for 40 years or
more and then retired for 10 or more years. People didn't live
very long, and retiree benefits would typically be lower than current
earnings. Now, you might live 30 - 40 years after retirement, and
your costs in retirement may keep rising (not just health care).
The point is that everybody knows that Social
Security, Medicare, and other entitlement costs will go bankrupt at some
point as a simple matter of demographics unless there are significant
changes, and yet the politicians keep insisting that they will find a
way to keep that house of cards standing - with either more of your
money in taxes and rising debt to fund it, or less benefits than they
promised. |
|
Find a way to get involved in changing this picture. Think
about how much you have lost. Make a personal investment of your
time and money to change this future - not by investing in even more
federal government power, but rather by investing in initiatives which
can limit the damage to you of such power. |
| If
you own a business, think carefully about where you will grow it,
and what you can do to improve the business environment in your
community. Are you supporting community development in ways which
reflect conservative values about limited government, or are you looking
for government to do you favors? Are you supporting philanthropic
and charitable initiatives which address local social needs, or are you
reinforcing dependency on government programs?
Think about it. Each of you makes a difference. This
is not about top-down federal mandates or state or local government
initiatives. It is about investing directly in the future which
you want to create, starting in your personal and business life in
cooperation with your friends and colleagues in your community.
America is a nation of free individuals who create
exceptional lives, businesses, and communities. It is not
government which bestows success on us, or relieves us of all risks, or
ensures "fairness" in all things. We delegate some essential tasks
to government, but we must still create our own futures and limit the
economic value destroyed by the creeping power and cost of government
bureaucracy. |
|
|
