TOLEDO'S GLASS MUSEUM

Toledo Ohio has built a glass building for its newest museum. The crazy part of it is that Toledo had to buy the high tech glass panels from China! Granted some of the panels are large and curved to boot, but why couldn't Toledo buy the panels from a US manufacturer? Is China to blame? No, China is not to blame. In fact, a Chinese company was the only company that Toledo found that would make the glass panels. Why? Because no US manufacturer was willing to invest the $500,000 for a machine that would make the glass. Now for many years, the US has been the leader in high tech glass manufacturing and now we are loosing our lead to an emerging foreign company. Why is this? Is it because US companies have no guts or no ambition anymore? No, its because the US is now turning into a welfare state with higher taxes on individuals and businesses.

US businesses are now in a period of total business uncertainity. They don't know what new taxes they will have to pay. They don't know how much they will have to pay for employee's new health insurance plans due to the new health care law. They don't know what market demand will be with so many people out of work and so many cities and states having budget problems, especially for any custome made products such as curved panels of glass. So who is to balme for this state of affairs? Our leftist socialist Congress of course.

IS A MARKET CRASH COMING?

A popular TV and radio host is saying the a market crash is possible and cites the Hindenberg Omen as one of the indicators. The theory is that when the "Omen" is indicated in market action that a crash happens 77% of the time. The "Omen" has recently occurred. A market crash is always possible but so is a market boom. No one can say for sure no matter what the indicators are showing. But lets suppose that a market crash is coming. What should people do? My theory is that people should always be prepared for economic or natural disaster if they want to protect themselves and their families.

Please note that I am not a financial advisor nor a stock analyst. Nor am I an economist. But here is my advice if you are interested. Be prepared for either possibility. If you take all your money out of stocks then you might lose out on the next stock market boom. If you put all your money in bonds and deflation does not happen then you may lose money on the bonds (depending on what bonds you buy.) If you have a stock portfolio there are ways to protect your assets such as positions in gold, options, or inverse ETF funds. Ask an expert for advice.

If you are not a stock market investor what should you do? Try to make sure you will have cash money available to you if the markets do crash and the banks fail. Save as much of your paycheck as you can. Keep up your home food supplies. Keep your cars filled up with gasoline and have extra motor oil on hand. An extra set of tires in your garage is a good idea. Have a stock of necessities at home. Keep jugs of clean water at home. Make sure you have wood for your fireplace. If you don't have a fireplace, install a wood stove or kerosene heater (have a supply of kerosene for it) if you live in a cold climate. Plan for an evacuation of your area with a route and a place to go live if you need to. Learn to camp out and have camping equipment on hand. It is also a good idea to own a legal registered gun if you can shoot. Owning fishing equipment and knowing how to fish is also a good idea. Then don't forget the usual emergency supplies such as flashlights, batteries, matches, etc. I know that a lot of my advice is easier said than done, but do the best you can to be prepared.

Finally, don't be afraid. Be proactive. Work hard for yourself and your family. Watch out for opportunities that you can take advantage of to improve your situation. Don't let anyone discourage you. Save and invest wisely.

CHINA BUYING DEBT OF OTHER NATIONS

China is buying debt of nations such as Japanese government bonds, more South Korean debt, and is adding Malaysia to the group of currencies it is allowing to compete with the yuan. What is the significance of China buying the debt of other countries? The answer is going to be the eventual financial control of other countries that will be virtually as good as political control once they start to implement their financial power that stems from holding the debt and large monetary reserves.

Consider what would happen for example if China suddenly dumped their holdings of almost $1 trillion of US Government bonds. The market for these bonds would suddenly drop dramatically, especially for the longer term bonds such as the 10 year and 30 year maturities. People and businesses in the US and other countries would lose faith in the bonds and their value could become worthless in a selling panic. The US could not issue new bonds because there would be no confidence in their safety or value as an investment. This could cause severe financial problems for the US and other countries possibly throwing the entire world into recession or even a depression. China will then of course come to the rescue provided that we give China certain privileges of control over our affairs and the affairs of other countries.

But what about China? Wouldn't this also cause them financial problems? Not to worry. China has $2.5 trillion in reserves and also has many gold fields and many gold mines. In June 2010 alone China mined over 31 tons of gold or approximately 1.2 billion dollars of value at today's gold price.

Now combine China's buying of other nation's debt with their buying of natural resources all over the world and we have a recipe for disaster. China will rule the world financially and politically and that will be that!

THE HUNTINGTON WORLD MODEL

The Huntington model views the world as it is not as we (the US) would like it to be. The problem with our present, and our long standing, diplomatic policy is that we don't consider the real cultural nature of our so-called allies and enemies.

The truth is that some nations we now consider, or have considered, as allies are really culturally opposed to our type of democracy, freedom, and method of governing. We should really consider them as non-friendly or even enemy nations as far as our relationship with such nations is concerned today. Examples are nations that pretend to be democratic but are really religious dictatorships, despotic, communistic, or monarchies that support cultures and activities that are secretly against our culture or even openly attack our government or its institutions. Treating such countries as allies or as trading partners is courting disaster for the US.

The world situation we have now is that we have a serious and sometimes deadly confrontation of ideologies of the major cultures. We as a free democracy are under serious pressure by cultures that are each trying to dominate the world and neither of which are compatible with our culture. We know who they are and what they are doing but our government acts as if there is no problem and that we can really get along with these cultures. Nothing is further from the truth. It is really a case of "them or us" and someday if this situation is allowed to persist, we will be forced to accept what we don't like and don't want as a foreign culture that will control our government and our very lives.

The present world situation, if I have my history correct, is very much like that of the late 1930's when the fascist powers were rising to world powers and both Germany and Japan were on a path to world conquest. At the same time the US refused to accept the true nature of the threat and did nothing until it was almost too late to stop the fascist flood. In fact in the late 1930's the US shipped many tons of scrap iron to Japan which they used to build a massive naval fleet that we would eventually have to fight against.

We should be very careful when picking our allies and our trading partners that they are like us culturally and are democratic. Also we need to be more aggressive in protecting our interests, our technology, making sure that we are militarily strong, and constantly improve our homeland security against terror threats. We cannot let down our guard.

CHINA IS BUILDING UP THEIR MILITARY?

Suddenly the US is concerned about China's military build-up. It will have new carrier-killer missiles. Surprise. What else is new? Hello? Wake up US! The Chinese have been building up their military for at least a decade or more. And, what else would you expect from a super-power in this dangerous world? They now build their own jet fighters, and yes, missiles, and probably soon stealth bombers. Expect nuclear powered ballistic missile submarines next.

So what is the answer to this problem? Of course the answer is first intelligence and second our own revitalization of our defense industry. We must know well ahead of time what China and other powers are doing to build their military and then plan our defenses accordingly. But just defensive weapons is not enough. No war was ever won with defense only. We must constantly be developing new offensive weapons and technology that can defeat any enemy now or in the future.

What kind of weapons should we have or develop? Nuclear? Conventional? Ships? Subs? Advanced fighters and bombers? Advanced drone aircraft? Anti-terrorist weapons? Electronic? Cyberspace? Yes. All of the above, and deployed without interference from the politically correct crowd!

Also badly needed is up-grading our homeland security. Are our borders well protected? No, we know they are not. Are our ports protected from terrorist weapons on ships or in cargo containers? Do we check every ship and container that comes to our shores? Do we constantly monitor for nuclear materials in our cities?

One thing we should consider seriously is a total up-grade of our nuclear weapons and to resume underground testing to make sure that they really work. Without real testing how do we know that they work?

A very strong military and strong homeland security is our only real deterrent to the bad guys.

WHY DO WE NEED SOCIAL SECURITY?

A lot of conservatives, especially young people and rich people, don't think that we need the government social security system. These people believe that a person should be responsible for saving for their own future. Well lets look at some facts. First of all if a person has saved $1,000,000 and has it invested at 5% interest (hard to get these days), he will only have an income of $50,000 per year. After 25% tax he is left with only $37,500 for the year, assuming he does not start spending the principle. Spending the principal does not make sense, if he has a lot of years left to live after he retires and if he wants to leave something to his decsendents. Another problem is that if for some reason he gets sick and has to go to a nursing home, he will need to pay the nursing home $60,000 to $75,000 a year and money will be needed to do this. Most likely he or she is just going to make it on the $1,000,000! If a person is only able to save say $300,000, then their retirement will be very marginal and either they will have to invest in very high risk investments or they will have to continue to work well past the age of 70 and even may never be able to retire.

Now lets assume that you have a person who never makes more than $25,000 per year his or her entire working life. Just living expenses will eat up their entire earnings and they will be able to save only little if any of their earnings. Without being able to retire on social security, this person would have to work into their 80's or as long as they are able just to survive. What happens if this person gets sick or disabled and cannot work? He or she then becomes a ward of the State and who will pay? The tax payers of course! I can tell you that a lot of people like this person will be homeless when they can no longer work.

We have to face up to the fact that a lot of people will never go to college and will never be able to save enough money for an adequate retirement. Taxpayers will pay for this in one way or another, whether its social security taxes, or subsidized housing, or food stamps, or emergency services, we will pay. So I am in favor of the Social Security system, even though I am very conservative in my politics. We are a wealthy country. We don't need to have large groups of destitute, homeless, and poverty stricken people that we could have helped with social security.

IS LEAKING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS A CRIME OR NOT?

Wikileaks has released thousands of classified Afghan War documents and plans to release more that they have obtained. Isn't releasing classified documents a crime anymore? Why hasn't the Government charged these people with crimes against the United States of America and the legitimate government of Afghanistan?

Has our government gotten so rotten with the worm of leftist socialist anarchy and mis-guided pacifist politics that it has lost all sense of justice? What is the Justice Department doing with this case?

If any Afghans or American soldiers die as a result of the action of Wikileaks or their associates, the blood of the victims should be on the hands of Wikileaks and its staff. In that case, all of the staff and associates of Wikileaks and any others who have participated in the documents being processed and released should be charged with First Degree Murder and Treason.

Mr. Eric Holder what are you doing? Why aren't you doing something about this blatant act of treason?

Why is there a strange silence on this subject from the White House? Are they afraid to take a position? Is the White House going to approve what Wikileaks has done? No? Then why hasn't the White House instructed Mr. Holder to do something? Is this a case of "chicken politics", or say nothing to stay out of trouble? This should give the Republicans a real issue to talk about. Republicans are you awake? Hello? Fox News why aren't you reporting on this?

THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST PARTY

The so-called Democratic Socialist Party (a contradiction of terms in its name) is promoting their socialist ideas to take the place of capitalism in America. These people stand for the same ideals as the communists of North Korea, China, Vietnam, and Cuba.

Is this what we want in America? This "progressive" organization thinks that government can make better decisions for people than people can make for themselves and therefore the government needs to control everything, especially health care. They will also want to control and sensor media, control all banks and financial transactions, utilities, and all means of production and transportation. What does this result in? A dictatorship of course!

Since capitalism is eliminated by the rules of Democratic Socialism, an individual will not be allowed to own any capital, or any asset that would have capital value. You cannot own your own home as this would make you a capitalist!

America is this what you want? If not, you need to be vigilant and make sure that you protest any people who advocate the DSP or extreme left proposals. Make sure you never vote people like this into office! We already have a lot of these people in our government and they push their leftist agenda whenever they can. Also watch out for people who pretend to be "conservative" but whose record and statements indicate they are really the progressives (leftist liberals) or socialists. Don't vote for them.

FOREIGN AUTO COMPANIES IN US HAVE UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

Ford, Chrysler, and GM do business in their 100% unionized plants with the UAW. Congress has guaranteed that the UAW will maintain their solid situation at American auto companies by a tweak here and there to US laws.

But a foreign company can build a plant in the US and avoid the UAW. One, example: VW will build a plant in Kentucky but will not have to have a union in that state.

We do not advocate for or against unions, but we do feel that this is not a level playing field and that laws need to be changed so that competition is fair. Either the UAW should be in all auto plants or not required to be in any auto plants. Or, tariffs on US sales need to be in place against foreign auto companies if they do not unionize in their US plants.

The situation now is like so-called "free trade" where no tariffs can be applied no matter how different the labor scale is between our country and the foreign competitor.

What we need is FAIR TRADE! So-called free trade has done a lot of damage to this country's wealth and business. If it continues and American exports and business sales remain less than our foreign imports we might as well just send money to foreign governments, clean out our treasury, and close down the country.

Write and call your Congressmen and let them know this situation is wrong and needs to be corrected!

UAE AND SAUDI ARABIA TO KILL BLACKBERRY USE

The UAE and Saudi Arabia will ban Blackberry email and text messaging. Why? Are they afraid of terrorist activity? NO. The freedom of the internet and encrypted communications threaten their dictatorships. They are the typical dictatorships that want to spy on everyone and know everything people say and do.

So, should we do any business with countries like this? We say not if we can help it! It would be great if America as a free nation, did not have to buy oil or anything else from these dictatorships or from any country that participates in OPEC.

Should we treat these countries as allies? Why should we? They will do whatever they want to without a second thought about us. Other than oil we don't need anything from them.

We support these dictatorships by buying oil from them and selling weapons to them. This needs to stop.

US energy independence should be a number one priority. We should drill in deep water, shallow water, dry land, mine shale and the oil sands, and find oil anywhere in the world that we can drill for it.

We should have a crash program to build nuclear power plants and convert vehicles to electric power as soon as possible. The intrusions of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and China on communications freedom should be a wake-up call for the US. We should find enough oil for ourselves and, if we have a surplus, sell to other free nations.

Write and call your Congressmen and tell them that you want some action on energy policy or they are going to be looking for a new job in November.