Politics: More opportunity just means more inequality, because a lot of people are clueless | CainTV

All “men” are created equal. That’s what it says on our Declaration of Independence. But is Jefferson saying we are all equal in all things?

It’s always seemed to me that to claim Jefferson and our Founding Fathers who signed this declaration of treason against Britain were saying all men (and women) are equal in all things is simply naive and silly. Clearly, we are not. The following article speaks to the question of economic inequality and very artfully makes my point.

Politics: More opportunity just means more inequality, because a lot of people are clueless | CainTV.

What I believe Jefferson was saying is that we are all equal in God’s eyes and in the law. And that is how it should be. But in order to accept Capitalism as the economic vehicle by which our nation is to be run we have to come to grips with the fact that there will be losers. Some people won’t get it. And they will fail. The good news is we all fail, and most of us get up, recharge, re-motivate, start over. Most of us. Some are lacking intelligence, or physical ability and cannot accomplish as much.

We can do a lot more for those who have no clue, or who are lacking in some way by allowing for the stronger of us all to thrive and grow stronger. Then the strong can better take care of the weak. Which is as it should be.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

 

April 15, 2013
Categories: National Politics, Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 1 Comment

An Anniversary with Two Related Meanings

Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deuts...

April 4 on any year’s calendar has two meanings to me. Both are important and both are related. To the rest of America April 4th is the day in which Doctor Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated on a motel terrace in Memphis, Tennessee, 45 years ago today. While his greatness is undeniable; his martyrdom sealed with absolute certainty that he would never be forgotten.

 

April 4th is also my wedding Anniversary. The best day of my life was when Miss Sonja Fleming agreed to love me and keep me and honor me and wear my ring for the rest of my life. Twenty-six years later we have enjoyed lots of love and traditions, made our own traditions, raised three kids and stayed together. The staying together part is wonderful and a blessing. But I think my wife would agree it wasn’t a fairy tale. As with all successful marriages we’ve overcome some challenges; though we had more than many.

 

Our 1 and only brief moment to sit during our wedding & receptionThese two anniversaries are related in that Sonja is black, and I am white. At the time of Martin Luther King’s death such a union was extremely rare, and socially unacceptable in the eyes of most Americans. In 1958 only 4% of Americans approved of interracial marriage. By 1968 that figure had only grown to 20%. At that time it was only one year removed from the U.S. Supreme Court making it legal for people of different races to wed. Remarkably there are still 16% of Americans who don’t approve of my marriage. Something I share with my children all the time is the fact that in 1987, when Sonja and I said our “I do’s”, interracial marriage was still rare and still disapproved of by most Americans. I tell my kids this, and they nod, but I can tell they haven’t a clue. How could they? But even those who are my age or older have forgotten what pioneers we were and what obstacles existed as late as 1987.

 

I maintain Martin Luther King’s death made our marriage and it’s longevity possible. His death was so horrible and so universally scorned that even the hateful racists or the indifferent idiots were forced to shut-up over changes that happened far too slowly.

 

Much to my embarrassment and frustration my father was one of the majority who didn’t approve of the marriage of a white man (especially his son) to a black woman. Eight years later my brother married a woman of Philippine decent. And my Dad showed no signs of disapproving. At the time I asked why it was wrong for me to marry a black woman but OK in his mind for my brother to marry a woman with darker skin, and asian. To his credit my father said , “You were Jackie Robinson. You showed that it’s OK”. I loved him for saying what was possibly the very best thing he could have said.

 

Funny how that happens. Things change in society. Some are decidedly bad. But some things we only think are bad at the time change is occurring. Time and example prove the changes were OK at worst, good at best. In other words, the masses are often wrong.

 

I was only four years old at the time of Martin Luther Kings death. But by the time I was 19 Ronald Reagan had signed a bill into law creating a national holiday in his name. Funny, that was opposed too.

English: Photograph of President Ronald Reagan...

President Ronald Reagan and the Signing Ceremony for Martin Luther King Holiday Legislation in 1983.

Race in this country is sadly still a huge issue. And being on the front lines of the issue for more than 26 years I can tell you how sad I find it. For there can be no denying that the ugly face of racism still exists. But I don’t believe it hampers the advancement of most African-Americans from achieving their dreams and goals for success. I do believe the belief, in and of itself, by many blacks that racism holds them back is in fact what holds them back.

 

The fact that I’m married to a black woman for 26 years and the father of three kids who society calls black does not insulate me from criticism from some in the black community for holding this belief. One need only look at the fierce attacks

Ben Carson

Dr. Ben Carson 

Dr. Benjamin Carson received for speaking of Conservative Christian values at the National Prayer breakfast in front of President Obama to know I’m somewhat doomed.

 

Race in this country can live up to Martin Luther King’s dream when and only when African-Americans collectively recognize that racism will never be fully eradicated. Idiots and hate have existed throughout history. But to point accusatory fingers at every person and incident and scream “racism” at every slight only frustrates everyone and keeps innocent people on the defensive and pushes them away. For instance, today’s higher rate of poverty among blacks is less the result of societal racism and more the result of the astounding rate of single-mother and teen births.

A graph showing percentage of single mothers by race.

A graph showing percentage of single mothers by race.

As of 2010 72.5% percent of black children are born to single mothers. It’s 29% for whites, 53.3% for Hispanics. Not one single white person, racist or not is responsible for this horrible fact. And it’s horrible because 64% of single mothers and their children live in poverty, regardless of race.

 

Progress has been made in race relations since the death of Martin Luther King and since the 1987 marriage of Sonja and I. A black President with a traditionally Muslim name is fair evidence of this fact. But on this day every year, I want more and better. And from this non-racist white guys perspective the African-American collective bares the burden of making this happen. Not entirely, just most of the heavy lifting.

 

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

 

April 4, 2013
Categories: National Politics, Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on An Anniversary with Two Related Meanings

US Housing Crisis – Negative Equity Infographic – Zillow

Peoria - My House from the Air

 

You think you got it tough? You think, how am I ever going to get out from under this crushing debt? You are not alone.

 

Click on this link for the Zillow Negative Equity Infographic. It shows in startling detail the percentage of homes by county throughout the U.S. that are Underwater and delinquent on payments.

 

US Housing Crisis – Negative Equity Infographic – Zillow.

 

At the peak of the housing crisis over 40% of homeowners owed more on their houses than the houses resale value. According to the most recent information (I could find) from September 2012 over 22% were still underwater. In a healthy housing market only 5% of homes are underwater, or have negative equity.

 

The effects on the economy are enormous. When a family has negative equity their ability to borrow money is extremely limited, preventing wanna-be entrepreneurs from using seed money from their homes, their largest investment, to start a new business. Families can’t refinance in order to take advantage of record low-interest rates. And they can’t sell their house and buy a new one because in most cases they won’t have money left over after the sale to use as down payment on the new home.

 

Snowcapped peaks are a backdrop to many Puget ...

 

In the Puget Sound 26% of King County homes are underwater and 10% are delinquent on their mortgage payments. In Snohomish County it’s 40% and 11%. Pierce County is the worst; 45% and 12%. Throughout the Puget Sound and south to Portland, OR not one county is below 21%. Most are above 30%.

 

Since a decade low of only 60% of Americans own homes we can then do some simple math to determine a majority, over 53%, either don’t own a home or have negative equity in the homes they do “own”. 

 

As someone who isn’t underwater on our home (in fact we have pretty descent equity) but is extremely familiar with the suffocation of debt let me tell you I can relate. A recent ABC News report indicates that a majority, 55%, of Americans have more credit card debt than money in savings. Sadly, I would be among the majority.

 

Getting out of debt is one of my families top priorities. And for this economy to flourish all Americans should make that a priority.

 

As an AdvoCare Advisor Distributor I’m happy to have the award-winning DebtBuster program provided to me for free by AdvoCare. The methods for getting out of debt are simple to understand and follow. If great nutrition, weight loss, muscle gain, and great financial opportunities are not enough to compel you to get happily involved in this great company perhaps the kind and generous help and advice AdvoCare provides FOR FREE to get the stress and suffocating burden of debt off your back will allow you to make this wise decision.

 

We’re following the DebtBuster program and we’re making more money thanks to AdvoCare. I invite you to contact me to learn more. And based on statistics…a majority of you need to do so.

 

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

 

Go to our website, read our story and try some AdvoCare. You won't regret it.

Go to our website, read our story and try some AdvoCare. You won’t regret it.

 

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March 23, 2013
Categories: Business, National Politics, Washington State, Weight Loss . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on US Housing Crisis – Negative Equity Infographic – Zillow

Do you want More Freedom or Less?

Pocket knife

The question posed in the title of this blog seems simple, as does the answer. And yet in today’s America we are constantly relinquishing our freedoms, or being asked to do so. Our collective compliance will only lead us to a totalitarian, tyrannical world in which a very tiny segment of our society decides what’s best for us and how we should live our lives. The weak among us are less afraid of this scenario. They wish to be led. They find self-responsibility and risk, which go hand-in-hand, very uncomfortable.

The latest issue that brought this issue to mind is the TSA‘s (Transportation Safety Administration) decision to once again allow small pocket knives on airline flights. On the surface it sounds like a crazy idea. And the mass media and liberal pundits are jumping up and down screaming we’ll be less safe and planes could be taken down again like they were on 9-11. But when you look at the decision and break it down to its basic truth this represents a very rare occasion where government is returning rights to you it had previously taken. And this should be applauded.

Prior to 9-11 carrying small pocket knifes, or large ones for that matter, onto air plane flights was not illegal. In the time before 9-11 you could also travel with your own shampoo. But in the hyper-safety-conscious period following 9-11 the TSA was created and new rules and laws, like the passing of the Patriot Act, took away our individual rights in the name of security. At the time it was understandable to temporarily suspend some of our individual liberties because we didn’t know how great a danger we faced as a people, as a nation. Lincoln suspended habius-corpus and declared Marshal Law during the Civil War. So, it’s been done before, for temporary and emergency circumstances. But 9-11 was 12 years ago. There have been no major terrorist attacks on Americans since. And yet the Patriot Act was renewed by a Democratic Congress at the behest of President Obama.

And before you argue that there is no need for people to carry knifes and therefore they should be denied the right to carry them. Please keep in mind the Constitution of the United States was written and intended for the protection of the people, the individual person, from their government. Also keep in mind how hypocritical opposition to the small knives on airplanes really is. The TSA already allows screwdrivers up to 7 inches in length, and small scissors. Both these implements can do as much, and possible more damage than a 2-inch knife.

1.2 liter Super Big Gulp

Also in the news this week was the story that a New York Judge has struck down Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s law preventing the sale of large (32-ounce) soft-drinks. Here again, what Bloomberg fails to understand is that it is every American’s right to get as fat as they want. Bloomberg says New York will appeal the judge’s decision. Apparently, he is still convinced that he knows best and therefore can and should restrict the rights of the people in his city.

English: New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg.

New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg.

Folks, it is every American’s God-given right to do something stupid. This right should never be restricted unless a person’s stupid decisions endanger or harm another person or inhibit another person’s rights. And, to be clear, carrying a pocket knife doesn’t harm anyone; only using a pocket knife in a violent way can actually hurt someone. And there are already laws against that.

Every time you think you know best, just realize you may be wrong, what you know best may only apply to yourself, and you can’t legislate against stupid.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Call for Video Production Services: 425-687-0100

Call for Video Production Services: 425-687-0100

 

March 15, 2013
Categories: National Politics . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Do you want More Freedom or Less?

The American Dream Needs Revisiting

The Statue of Liberty front shot, on Liberty I...

The big lie about the American Dream is the concept of upward mobility through dedicated effort to a career and a job. Statistics and surveys indicate THAT just doesn’t happen any more in America. The fact is great economic upward mobility comes from those who work not only harder, but smarter.

An article in the Seattle Times yesterday made us all aware of how bad things have gotten. “Problem With Paychecks” took much of its content from Parade Magazine’s annual “What People Earn” survey. Here are just some examples of what the story reported. The following list names the person, their location, and their annual income and descends from highest to lowest:

…11. Lorri Froid, Seattle
Office manager
$49,000
12. Heather Murphy
Woodinville elementary school teacher
$39,032
13. Anne Fogarty, Kirkland
Event planner
$37,760
14. Mary Purdy, Seattle
Dietician and adjunct college professor
$36,000
15. Nan Lammers, Skykomish
Forest services snowshoe ranger
$33,414
16. Curtis Hodgson, Burnaby, B.C.
Lacrosse player
$26,500
17. Ned Whalen, Seattle
Car sales professional
$26,000
18. Cara Sullivan, Seattle
Barista
$15,000
19. Betsy McPhaden, Seattle
Artist
$2,000

I didn’t list the Top Ten on the actual Seattle Times list since most of us are not them; i.e. Major League baseball pitchers, NFL running backs, CEO’s of billion dollar corporations, etc.

I know the income that my wife and I earn, and I know how much we struggle to meet our bills and live in what could only be described as a middle-Middle-Class lifestyle (8-10 years ago I would have said upper-Middle-Class, but that’s another story). Nine years ago when we bought our home in the Seattle suburb of Renton, WA it’s purchase price was exactly what the King County Association of Realtors was identifying as the median-price for homes being sold in King County at that time.

Map of Washington highlighting King County

Some up-grades may have pushed its price slightly above the local median price/value; but for the most part it serves as a pretty evident measuring stick for middle-Middle Class. My point is…for the people listed above…I don’t know how they make it.

The American Dream as it is defined by one on-line dictionary is as follows:

a·mer·i·can dream
Noun
The traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity.

The term was coined in 1931 by historian James T. Adams. It’s changed over the years but basically came to represent:

Owning a home and a car or two

Raising a family, with kids that grew up to do much the same as you

Working 40 hours per week for 40-50 years in a job or career

Taking 1-2 approximately week-long vacations every year to Disneyland or the big regional beach

Retiring in comfort to regularly play golf, bingo, and visit the grandkids once in a while. 

It became:

Leasing (buying) your home from the bank who charges you a low-interest rate for the right to do so; a home of 2500 square feet or more, 2-3 cars, and an RV.

Have kids raised by someone other than Mom or Dad who are too busy at the office to be home for dinner, let alone after school (whether as a family or not is optional); or raised by your 55-inch tv, or by Facebook. Pay $15,000-$20,000 per year per kid for 5-6 years for them to get drunk at college.

Work 50-70 hours per week for a wage capable of allowing you to save for retirement, or (as with the people listed above) 40 hours per week to barely scrape by and have zero retirement.

Vacation every year for 2 weeks in some exotic location, paying for all of it on your credit cards.

Retiring in your 70s with a reverse mortgage praying the 20-30% equity you’ve managed to accumulate in your primary residence is enough to maintain your lifestyle.

That’s some lifestyle. That’s a lifestyle in which children are sacrificed in favor of “stuff” and “status”.

Today working a job that keeps you from your family, or your recreations, 50-70 hours per week is something people wear like a badge of honor. Why? Wouldn’t you be better off working only 30-40 hours per week, making as much money or more, and devoting the rest of the time to your children, your wife, your husband, vacations, etc?  The obvious answer is, yes. And you can do it. But the key is to get money working.  Get multiple streams of income. The earlier mentioned Seattle Times article points out that median hourly income has rose only 11-percent since 1973. Additionally, in 2011, wages for males with college degrees were JUST 5 percent greater than in 1979. For men with only high-school degrees, entry-level wages were 25 percent lower than in 1979. Your single-solitary job is making you poorer and requiring you to work more hours. The 1-job, 1-career American Dream doesn’t work. You need money coming in from elsewhere.

We used a very large sales-commission check to buy our first home in 1994. Two years later being home owners allowed for us to borrow enough to move-up into a bigger house and keep the other house as a rental. We did the same thing again in 2003. My wife and I acquired nearly all our most valuable possessions, went on our most expensive vacations, and spoiled our kids during the time we had the additional income stream from owning rental property from 1996-2006. Warren Buffett, among others, is one who cites multiple streams of income as key to being successful.

The Missus and I have finally re-learned what we knew before. In our case AdvoCare is already giving us a new income stream. Based on the $20-25-thousand per month incomes our friends achieved with AdvoCare in just 3-years, we expect it to be a sizable stream, growing into a river. We’ve met many others who also are earning over $1000-per month with AdvoCare while working a mere 5-10 extra hours per week. And it’s a growing business. And it has the added benefit of paying us while we aren’t even doing anything. It has the added benefit of only paying us when we genuinely help other people. And it has the added benefit of being a continuing inheritable business and income stream, meaning should my wife and I die the income generated by our AdvoCare business becomes our children’s. Then they will have multiple income streams too.

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

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Click to go to our AdvoCare website.

March 11, 2013
Categories: Business, National Politics, Washington State, Weight Loss . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on The American Dream Needs Revisiting

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