A real life version "It's a Wonderful Life"

    One of my favorite movies to watch during Christmas is "It's a Wonderful Life" and no matter how many times I have watched it I will watch it at least once every December.   A major scene in the movie is when the banks fail and there is panic in the streets as people rush to take out all of their money.   But their money is not there.  It's tied up in loans and mortgages around the city of Bedford Falls.   James Stewart's character  George Baley tries to calm everyone's nerves and tell them that the local bank will guarantee their deposits but not for another week.   The people however can't last that long.  They need their money now to buy food and pay bills.  George's new wife, Mary, then realizes they have enough cash on their person from their wedding gifts to keep the bank open.  George uses the money to give the people enough money to hold them over and when it's all done they have $2 left to go back into the safe.  They put other peoples needs above their own desires to have a beautiful honeymoon and "drink the finest wines and eat the finest caviar".   Their selfless act would save hundreds of people who only be able to show their gratitude years later when George was in need of help.

Henry and Frieda Vogel

    Recently, I found out that this story was not pure fiction.  When I was out in Southern Illinois for a Vogel family reunion I was talking with a cousin of mine, Sharon, about some of the Vogel family history.   I asked Sharon, "I was reading about Grandpa Vogel's history and saw that he was president of the Hoffman Farmer's Bank.  Now I know grandpa was pretty good with his money, but he didn't have more than an 8th grade education.  Why would they make him bank president?".   Sharon then told me the story about how during the Great Depression, the bank almost went completely under.  Then your grandpa got together with 3 other farmers and they pooled their money they had saved at home together and were able to re-open the bank and keep it running.   The money grandpa used was money that they had been saving for some new furniture.   Because of their efforts a lot of people in the area were saved.   To thank grandpa for his efforts they later made him president of the bank and he helped get the bank on more sound financial footings (not bad for a guy with an elementary education).

    Sharon went on to tell me that grandpa would get so angry when he would hear people say that FDR had pulled the country out of the Great Depression.  He would say, "NO! It was the little people like US that helped get this country out of the depression!  Not FDR!"

    It makes me wonder how many other stories like my grandfather's are out there that are untold as well.   Just ordinary people stepping in to prevent a crisis using their own money and resources.  Would people like Donald Trump, Bill Gates or Warren Buffet do such a risky and selfless act of heroism?  I sincerely doubt it.   But out there, today, in our small towns and farms there are people like Henry Vogel ready to step up and do the right thing for their communities and their stories will never be told until years later.

By ANY Means Necessary?

     Recently a violent protest took place on the California State Capitol property.  A group called the Traditionalists Workers Party (TWP), which is a loosely organized white neo-nazi group, was granted a permit to host a rally on the capitol steps.  Another radical leftist group called BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) decided to take away this groups 1st amendment right to voice their opinion by assembling near building dressed in black clothes, wearing black hoods and masks and carrying baseball bats and rocks.  A violent fight took place between the two groups and several of the TWP were sent to the hospital.

    Do I agree with TWP?   Absolutely NOT!  

    But as citizens they have their right to voice their opinion peacefully and without interference. 

    Does BAMN have the authority to take away those rights?   Absolutely NOT!

    Groups like BAMN, make me nervous.  Do they really believe in what their name espouses?  Does ANY MEANS really mean ANY MEANS?   ANY does not leave ANY room for discussion or contemplation.   As a superlative it has not boundaries.  What is missing from their name are adjectives like: LEGAL or ETHICAL which might seek to limit the scope of what their mission might promote.  Can a person who connects themselves with BAMN feel any limitation at all?   Probably not.

     I wrote in a previous blog about how many in our government have used a similar argument:  "The ENDS justifies the MEANS".   This is a predecessor of the By Any Means Necessary ideology and has been used over the years to allow the government get its way with the American people.

    Take for example, a professor of economics by the name of Jonathon Gruber was caught on video discussing how they had lied to the American people about the effects of Obamacare on the healthcare industry.  He informed the audience that they (the Obama administration for whom he was employed) did this to dupe the people into supporting it and it worked.   The ends justified the means.

   In another case, Senator Harry Reid was asked about whether or not it was right for him to lie about Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's taxes on the Senate floor (he said Romney hasn't paid ANY taxes and he knew the Senate floor is the ONE place in the US where you can say anything and not be sued for libel ).  Reid laughed at the question and said,  "Well it worked didn't it?".   To him, the ends justify the means.

   Lies are one thing, but seeking to inflict pain or to kill others are quite another.  Other radical leftist groups will follow BAMNs mantra and will use violence to prevent others from voicing their opinions.  Those opinions might be at the voting booth,  or at the checkout counter or in your car.   They will scream out their ideology that they must stop you BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE.   In their vitriolic anger and malice nothing will stop them and as long as people like the news media choose to look the other way and misreport their actions. They will grow bolder and bolder.

    Our only hope is that those on the left who still believe in the rule of law and the Constitution will stand up in the Democratic Party and demand that these radical factions be thrown out from within them so that we can return back to nation of laws and not of tyranny.  I believe they are a silent majority in their party but they need to start speaking soon to turn the tide around before it's too late.

Government employees don't pay taxes.... REALLY!

I want you to consider a hypothetical nation of 4 people.  In this pretend country all 4 of them make $1000 per week in pay.   1 person (let's call him citizen A) works for the government and the other 3 (B,C,D) work in the private sector.   All 4 pay 25% in taxes.

So let's see how this works.   All 4 would pay $250 in taxes each each.  To make it easier to visualize, let's say they all get 2 checks each pay check.  1 check for $750 for their take-home pay and $250 check to pay their taxes.

Each week B, C & D get 2 paychecks but all of their tax-checks are directly cashed and paid to the government to cover NEXT weeks expenses (A's salary).  That's 250+250+250 = $750.    "A" however gets 2 paychecks also, with $250 assigned to the government and $750 from the money gathered the previous week from B,C & D.    One interesting difference however is "A"s $250 check never needs to be cashed as it will just be handed to him again the NEXT week.  So week after week "A" gets the same $250 check each week and a NEW $750 check from the money collected from B,C & D's taxes the previous week (why cash it when you just have to write another one to him the next week).  Since "A"s tax-check is never really cashed, you can arguably say that "A" doesn't really pay any taxes at all.

I know this is a simple case, but it illustrates the fact that government employees really don't contribute money to the government operation at all since their pay is derived from the government and their taxes collected simply get rolled over from the previous week into the current weeks pay, like a check that never gets cashed and is just re-used from week to week.

Only the 3 private sectors actually contribute to the government.

BONUS QUESTION:
    Should it therefore be required that government employees NOT be allowed to VOTE since they don't really contribute to the government financially?