Todd’s Life

Today has been a predictable Sunday.  I went to Stake Conference today, ran into some nice members of my ward.  They only speak Spanish and they talk to me like I can keep up with their fast, Chilean Spanish.  It’s kind of funny.  The conference was located a metro ride and a brief 20 minute walk, so we ended up walking together from the conference back to the Metro and then got off at about the same exits.  He couldn’t understand why I was in Chile.  He thought it was crazy.  I guess to most people it does seem crazy that I would come down to Chile and then find a job and to be honest, to me, it seems somewhat crazy at times.  Not too many people do something like this and I guess for good reasons.  What was I thinking?  Ha.Ha.  I’m fine though.  It’s just an experience.  I’ve learned to just go with the experiences and give them time to work themselves out to see what happens.  The guy that I walked home with asked me what I thought about Chile and I told him that it was ok, but that I understood that whenever one moves to a new place like this, everything is always ok.  It takes a long time to get used to it, etc.  Let’s face it.  I left Hawaii, my family, and everything that I knew for this adventure, so some days will seem like “What the heck am I doing?” and other days will not seem like that.  I also ran into this guy that is an Oracle contractor today at church.  He’s visiting for a couple of weeks to do some Oracle work for a company down here.  He’s from California.  We’re going to have lunch this week.  I’ve also learned that you have to be very patient when moving to a new place.  For example, I eventually want to get a motorcycle or something like that, but right now before I do that I have to get a driver’s license and that is all in Spanish, so it will take a while to figure out where to get that and to pass the test.  I can’t just rush out and do everything I used to be able to do in the States.

I’ve got some Hawaiian music on right now as I’m waiting for some friends to come over to cook dinner with.  It is making me remember all the great things about Hawaii, such as the outdoor concerts, the beautiful weather, family, etc.  It’s Sunday, and so normally I would be heading over to Leigh’s house for dinner.  Oh those were some good times.  I look forward to coming back to visit sometime in the future.  Who knows, maybe someday in the future, after I’ve made my fortune and become a writer and teacher, I might just come back to that great socialist republic of Hawaii.  Anyway, I think my friends are here so I have to go, but I thought I’d squeeze off a few thoughts before it is too late.  I’ve got work tomorrow, a full day of orientation in Spanish.  That should be fun.

Today went by really fast.  I went to the temple.  It was packed which meant that it took about 2.5 hours to get through.  Plus you add all the walking time that I take because I don’t own a car and viola, the day is gone.  I did the whole temple session in Spanish.  That was interesting.  Then I had to get my haircut which meant a metro ride and a walk to my stylist.  I like to go to this one lady that I found because she is good at what she does.  So it means that I have to take the time to get there.  I didn’t get back until 5 or so this evening.  I dropped by the fruit market and grabbed some pears, nectarines, watermelon, and oranges.  I was stoked because the fruit is so good.  I took a nap and then went running.  I didn’t feel like running, but know that it is beneficial for me, so I slugged out 6 miles.  It was kind of funny running down the hill because this kid kept letting me pass him, then he would sprint past me for about 40 feet, then he would stop and walk, then let me pass him, then he would sprint by me again.  It was rather irritating, so I just buried him by picking up the pace for about a mile.  I was enjoying my run, but when somebody pulls crap like that it is so irritating.  I’m not sure what was going through his mind.  He tried to keep up with me for about 100 meters, but then gave up.  Then I met Jerome at the sports bar to get some good American food and watch some football.  I caught a cab home.  My spanish isn’t super, but I can communicate.  I got home safely.  Now I’m watching some football online, the USC and Notre Dame game.  I guess that this year and last year aren’t really good years to be a Notre Dame fan.  They just suck.  Sorry Jared, the Irish suck.  Nothing like only gaining 20 yards of offense in the first half.  How pathetic is that?  Anyway, good night everyone.  My 3 months vacation is only 2 days from ending.  Yikes.

Today is the last Friday of my 3 month vacation.  I’m betting that not many of you have too much sympathy for me.  It’s kind of amazing to think that I haven’t drawn a pay check for 3 months.  I haven’t missed work one bit.  No matter how much time I get away from work, it never seems to be enough.  I guess that is the problem with when you work in an area where your passions really don’t lie, but sometimes you have to do that until your dreams align themselves with your ability to make money doing that.  I think it is always important to chase your dreams and make time everyday to chase your dreams.  I believe that eventually, if you put the time in, that eventually your dreams and your job will align and you can make a living doing what you love.  If you fail to put time in each day into the things that you love, then I can guarantee you that you will never work with the things that you love or dream about doing.  For me, I want to eventually make a living like one of my heroes, Thomas Sowell, and just write, research, and teach about government, politics, economics, etc.  So I spend time everyday writing, reading, and thinking.  So chase your dreams.  I meet people everyday or have friends back home that I often think are selling themselves short because they aren’t chasing their dreams.  They are just settling for an existence in life that is good, but not great.  So here’s hoping that we all spend some time everyday chasing our dreams.  I occasionally think that what separates those that are great from those that are just average is that the great ones spend more time each day on the things they love.  We all have the same 24 hours everyday.  What makes us great is how we organize that time.

Tonight begins the a huge event here in Chile.  It is 27 hours of the Teleton.  It’s like the Jerry Lewis MDA fundraising thing every year.  The whole country gets involved in this thing.  They raise tons of money for the kids.  I’m watching it right now.  It’s pretty cool.  Chile only has 16 million people.  The funny thing about the beginning of the show is that the announcer who has been doing this for 30 years spent about 10 minutes just introducing all the government officials.  I thought how funny it is that people the world over think it is so important to introduce government officials as being special people.  They are politicians who spend a large portion of their time lying to people.  I know that is harsh, but I don’t think that anyone, anywhere should set these people up as being special or needing to be singled out.  They aren’t people that any of us should want to emulate.  Harsh, yes.  True, yes.  This announcer is a great announcer.  Some people are just blessed with an ability to talk in front of crowds.  He has the perfect announcer voice, deep, and piercing.  And finally one last political thought that most people never really take the time to think about.  Did you know that often the entities that are pushing for government regulations are the businesses themselves that are regulated.  They do this because it is the fastest way to eliminate competition and control the market.  If the government can create regulations that raise the cost of entry into a market, then existing businesses want that because it keeps others from entering.  Often the reason given by politicians for regulations are safety, but I would bet you that 95% of all regulations in reality have nothing to do with safety.  They have to do with excluding or controlling the competition.  That is primarily why I am against regulation.  All you have to do is check out www.regulation.gov to see that this is true.  This is the federal government website for all government regulations.  Another downside to regulations is that once a department is created to regulation something, it is quickly filled with high paid bureaucrats whose job is to create more regulations to justify their jobs.  In other words, regulators create more red tape which creates a drag on the economy.  Why do you think that so many jobs are leaving the United States?  It’s all the regulation, red tape, etc.?  Anyway, enough of that.  I don’t want to talk politics anymore.

Well, I hope that all of you are enjoying your turkey, football, naps, and time with family and friends.  Aren’t traditions wonderful during Thanksgiving.  I think that is the best part of holidays, doing the same things over and over and hanging out with family.  Today was a little different day for Thanksgiving.  It was a regular day for me, which means that I went to Spanish class, went running, went with a friend to get some good ice cream, and then came home and watched Lois & Clark in spanish.  I love that show.  Now I’m watching Hitch.  I love this show.  I’ve think I already told everyone what I was grateful for, so I won’t say it again.  Instead I think I’m going to mention a few things that I noticed today that were said at class that deserve a little note.

My teacher today was talking about how turning the lights off when not in a room was a matter of conscience.  I just held my tongue this time.  He often says things that come from a progressive standpoint.  I find it rather interesting how progressives in general consider things like saving electricity to be a matter of conscience, but they don’t think twice about abortion being a matter of coscience.  Instead they view abortion as a matter of choice.  Well using their logic, why can’t turning lights off be a matter of choice as well.  I find it rather ironic that progressives care more about the Earth than they do about unborn children.  It just goes to show you that when you value system is all screwed up, your thinking isn’t that clear or consistent or logical.  On a side note, that female actress in Hitch is so hot.  I just had to say that.  Ha.Ha.  Anyway, I also noticed a very interesting parallel with Mao, the Communist Chinese leader, and today’s progressive movement.  Let me explain the connection.

Mao was a very smart man.  He also was very cunning.  He was so successful at what he did for a couple of reasons.  Primarily, I think he was the man with the smallest conscience.  He also understood that the way to control people the effectively was to get them to participate in the dirty work that he did.  So he would get people all worked up against the supposed “rich” people in groups or villages and then allow them to kill them.  In other, he would get them to commit murder.  He also had thousands of youths roaming the city terrorizing and killing people.  He used murder to get people to be complicit in his thinking or in his world.  Once they committed murder, it became necessary for them and their consciences to continue following Mao.  To fight Mao would be an admission guilt and a realization that what they had done was wrong.

The same comparison can be made with the progressive movement and their new way of thinking.  In the 1960s, they and their followers somehow got the Supreme Court to allow abortion in the US, even though a change in laws should be done only by the Legislative branch.  At any rate, abortion or legalized murder of innocent life, children, or whatever you want to call it.  The progressive movement won and now millions of babies have been killed in America with millions of complicit mothers, making it much easier to implement more and more of the progressive movements belief system, which is completely opposed to traditional, religious values.  And now, who do we have as President, a man who was supported whole-heartedly by George Soros, a major financial supporter of the progressive movement (check out Open Society here).  Interestingly, the majority of the leaders in Congress, those who run committess, are commited progressives.  Check out the Congressional Progressive Caucus here.  Nancy Pelosi used to be a member of this caucus, but resigned when she became the House Leader.  So by my accounting, the federal government is currently in the hands of the progressive movement, which as far as I can tell, seems to be employing similar tactics to Mao.  The reason they must resort to such tactics is because naturally the people do not believe in progressive values, because they don’t work in the real world.  Traditional values function the best in the real world, but progressives are committed folks.  They believe, as most of us do, in their vision of the world.  So they must resort to other tactics to see their world realized.  These tactics always involve force, complicity, etc.

So for all of you that voted for Obama and the Democrats or the Progressive Party, but are traditional, religious folks, I’d like to congratulate you on your selection of political leaders that believe counter to your traditional values.  This isn’t about Republicans or Democrats.  Both parties are terrible, but one party is the party of the progressives.  Just watch as Congress and the President work overtime to institute progressive policies and force Americans to join them in this movement that will destroy the traditional values of America, the same values that made this country great.  America wasn’t great because of diversity (a common claim of progressives).  It wasn’t great because it was tolerant and non-judgemental (a common claim of progressives).  It was great because it followed traditional values.  Traditional values work because they are the best way to overcome the greatest of human desires, greed and self-interest.  They teach people to control their appetites and passions by themselves.  Yet progressives wish to teach people to do whatever they want to do, then they subsidize the consequences of their stupid behavior with taxpayer dollars, and then try to force them to behave from the top down.  It never works.  Eventually the amount of problems created by the progressive belief system overwhelms the productive part of the economy and it all comes crashing down upon itself.  This is about values and the current leaders of our government do not hold the same values as the rest of America.  Anyway, with that note, I’m going back to watching Hitch and enjoying my Thanksgiving.  Sorry if you all have to read my thoughts on politics, but that is who I am and what comes across my mind and since this is my blog, then that is what I’m going to write about;)  Enjoy your Turkey Day.

Well, today is the day before Thanksgiving.  It isn’t a special day here.  It will be a normal day for me.  I’ll be going to Spanish class.  I will miss the usual turkey, food, family, and football that happens over this weekend, but that is OK.  Sometimes in life, we can’t be close to family.  I am grateful for all of my family and wish them all a Happy Thanksgiving.  I do have much to be grateful for.  I’ve been blessed with good a great family whom I love to be around.  I’ve been blessed with a good paying job in a foreign country.  I’ve been blessed with good health and an ability to be able to run and enjoy that part of life.  I’ve been blessed with good friends.  I’ve been blessed with knowledge and insight into political and economic matters.  I don’t have everything that I want in life, but whenever I feel a little down or a little lonely, I just focus on the things that I have and don’t focus on the things that I don’t have.  I believe that there are times and seasons in life and one of the keys to life is to figure out what season it is and work accordingly.  If it is winter, you don’t go out and dig in the fields and plant seeds.  That would be impatient.  You spend time preparing for spring, not knowing exactly when it will be.  You enjoy the life that you have.  When it is spring, you work hard and plant.  When it is summer, you play more and enjoy the longer days and outdoor weather.  When it is fall, you enjoy the harvest.  Or you just move to Hawaii and enjoy summer all year round… Ha.Ha.  Anyway, I will enjoy the time that God has given me each day to try and make the world a better place around me instead of focusing on the things that I don’t have that I want.  We are all lonely, sad, depressed, or down at one point or another in life.  The key to overcoming these moments is to stand still and let them pass, not focusing on what you do have, but enjoying the time you have to make some kind of difference in the world.  That is my philosophy in life.  Maybe I’ll go to the temple tomorrow or something like that.  Perhaps that will be the day that I find a good woman… NOT… That day is somewhere in the future.  Anyway, I’m going to leave you all with this great Thanksgiving article that I found on www.dailyreckoning.com.  Once again Bill Bonner explains the financial world in a way that is humourous and educational.

The Turkey’s Revenge
Paris, France
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

———————

*** A couple of quiet days for the stock market — but the slaughterhouses and gold mints worked overtime…

*** Houses won’t go to zero because they aren’t financial assets, they are just places to live…the natural, normal response to the credit bubble…

*** Friedman: the voice of the masses…we are all turkeys, waiting for the axe…and more!

“Until today or tomorrow, the typical turkey enjoyed a fairly decent life,” commented our friend Nassim Taleb, in Zurich yesterday.

Yesterday, the stock market was quiet. The Dow ended up 36 points.

Oil held at $50. Gold too…it stayed right where it was, at $820 an ounce.

But the slaughterhouses and gold mints worked overtime.

“You can understand how fraudulent most economic analysis is,” Nassim explained, “just by looking the life of the turkey. The animal is fed for 1000 days…and then it is killed. So, if you plotted out the turkey’s life on a chart, it would look great for 1,000 days…each day, the food arrived reliably, and each day, the turkey gained weight. The turkeys would look around and say they were enjoying growth and a bull market. Momentum investors would see it as an opportunity. The quants would run linear regressions on the data and prove that the risk was minimal. ”

Ben Bernanke would describe the turkey’s life - with no setbacks - as the product of a “great moderation.” Turkey stockbrokers would assure their clients that nothing had ever gone wrong in the turkey’s life. Turkey econometricians and theorists would come up with explanations for why the turkeys’ growth would continue forever and they’d pat each other on the back for having finally mastered the “turkey cycle.” Turkey politicians would run for re-election on the grounds that they had helped create a better world. And turkey economists would project further weight gains…until the turkey was the size of a hippopotamus

Then, come Thanksgiving, and all of a sudden, something goes wrong. Alas, all the turkeys’ theories, models, and conceits were for the birds.

“Rare events can’t be modeled,” Nassim continued. “Because they are too rare. You can’t get a statistically reliable sample. Alan Greenspan recently explained that he ‘had never seen anything like this before.’ Well, of course he had never seen it before. It never happened before.

“Because these events are so rare, they are also completely unpredictable…and usually much worse than you can expect. Like Thanksgiving Day for the turkey.”

The turkeys are getting the axe…but they’re having some revenge: Americans are getting the axe too.

Unemployment is rising sharply…and tomorrow, when Americans sit down to their turkey dinners, they will be dining in houses worth about 18% less than they were worth a year ago. Not only are their houses worth less…their values are falling faster and faster.

There’s no sign of a bottom to the housing market. In some areas - Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, and San Francisco - the loss in housing wealth already exceeds 26% from a year earlier.

But don’t worry, dear reader. Houses are not dot.coms. And they’re not turkeys. They won’t go to zero. And they won’t disappear.

Besides, they were never financial assets in the first place. They’re just places to live. If you’re happy with your house…you don’t care what its price is.

On the other hand, if you’re not happy with your house, this is the time to start looking around. Our guess is that house prices will go down another 20-30%. Then, you will be able to get houses at very reasonable prices.. Unless you want to live in Detroit - where you’ll be able to get a house at a remarkable price.

Meanwhile, the economy itself is sinking too. GDP faded in the 3rd quarter - down 0.5%. Most likely, the U.S. economy will begin walking backwards faster too. Which means…more businesses will fail…more people will be out of work…and those people with any money in their pockets will be very careful about how they spend it…

…which will, of course, make things worse.

All this is a natural, normal response to a credit bubble. It gets bigger and bigger - and then it blows up. Loans are made…and then they are collected. Mistakes are made…and then they are corrected. People do stupid things…and then they pay for them. People go mad on the way up…then, they go mad again on the way down. What could be simpler?

But if you think the feds are going to stand still and let something natural happen, you have not been reading the papers. They’re “pulling out all the stops” to try to prevent the correction. More below…

*** So far, the feds’ efforts have been futile. But we have little doubt that they will get the hang of it eventually. If there is one thing the feds can do it is inflate the money supply. Ben Bernanke stakes his reputation on it.

And here is Thomas L. Friedman explaining what is needed:

“…a massive stimulus program to improve infrastructure and create jobs, a broad-based homeowner initiative to limit foreclosures and stabilize housing prices, and therefore mortgage assets, more capital for bank balance sheets, and most importantly, a huge injection of optimism and confidence…”

Friedman is the voice of the masses. But the intellectuals agree. Bloomberg reports:

“‘You want to do everything you can when you’re facing the threat of a deflationary breakdown of the economy,’ says Michael Feroli, a former Fed official who is now an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. He sees the central bank cutting the overnight lending rate to zero in January and holding it there throughout the year.”

“Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are being forced to pull out the stops because the extraordinary actions they’ve taken so far have failed to gain much traction. Credit markets are collapsing, stock prices are plunging and the world economy is sinking into a recession.”

“The biggest mistake Obama could make,” says Yale economist Jeffrey Garten, “is thinking this problem is smaller than it is. On the other hand, there is far less danger in over-estimating what will be necessary to solve it.”

Yeah…go ahead and err on this side now…. Why not? You erred on the other side. That is about the depth and breadth of thinking on the issue - at least from the people who never understood what the problem was…and now offer to solve it.

And it was to one of these same hacks whom Obama has turned for his Secretary of the Treasury - Timothy Geithner. Here is another Hank Paulson. Unlike Hank, he did not work on Wall Street. Instead, he was supposed to be keeping an eye on Wall Street - as head of the New York Fed. “He was in the room,” when all the bailouts and busts happened, said one Wall Street pro. AIG, Bear, Lehman, Citigroup - he was in on them all. And he was at least peeping through a keyhole when Wall Street was enjoying its wild party. He saw the deals go down…the leveraged debt…the private equity buyouts…the subprime razzle-dazzle…the quants…the bonuses.

We don’t recall a single word of warning. But then, he’s a young guy…maybe he’s learned something.

But we have a pretty strong hunch he’ll be at the Treasury Department not to further his education…but to play his role in the developing tragedy. He’s meant to try to stop the correction. Rather than examine his lines carefully to see if they really make sense…he’ll speak the speech given him. “Stimulus,” he will say. “Protect jobs…save homes…avoid financial meltdown.” he has heard them before. He will say them again. And why not? Almost everyone wants to hear them. They all want bailout. Almost everyone wants to be saved. Almost everyone wants to duck the bill collector…and stop the hangman.

We all have to play our roles, dear reader. We are all turkeys…waiting for the axe.

*** The way, for now, to avoid getting flattened by the Big Bang Bailout, soon to be ignited by Mr. Obama, is to buy gold. But how? This week, we got word that that Perth Mint has had to shut it doors.

This, from the Australian:

“FEARS of the unknown long-term effects from the global financial crisis have sparked a new gold rush.

“With retail and wholesale clients around the world stocking up on the precious metal, the Perth Mint has been forced to suspend orders.

“As the World Gold Council reported that the dollar demand for gold reached a quarterly record of $US32 billion ($50.73 billion) in the third quarter, industry insiders said the race to secure physical gold had reached an intensity that had never been witnessed before.

“Perth Mint sales and marketing director Ron Currie said the unprecedented demand had forced the Mint to cease orders until January, with staff working seven days a week, 24-hour days, over three shifts to meet orders.

“He said Europe was leading the demand, with Russia, Ukraine, Middle East and US all buying — making up 80 per cent of its sales. One European client purchased 30,000 ounces for $33 million.

“We have never seen this before and are working right at capacity. And we are seeing it from clients in the shop buying one ounce, right up to 30,000 ounces from overseas clients,” Mr Currie said.

“Robert Jaggard, manager of bullion and rare coins dealer Jaggards, said business had picked up strongly and he expected it to increase further.

“All around the world there has been a heavy run on physical gold and there is a shortage of supply,” he said.

Until tomorrow,

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning

Today was the day of two very different conversations.  First, I had a conversation with a man from England.  He believed that government was good and business was evil.  I know it is funny and it completely discounts the history of the world, but there are still people that believe this.  We talked and argued for the good part of lunch.  I’ll talk later in this posting about our conversation.  Second, I had a nice conversation with one of my teachers at the school about the plan of salvation.  I guess she had some questions about what Mormons believed and so I went over the plan of salvation with her in Spanish.  After we were done, she said I answered her questions.  She wants to continue our discussion next week.  I guess when she was younger, she really didn’t have any religious questions, but now that she is older, she is starting to wonder about life, etc.  She complimented me on my explanations of things.  I laughed and told her that I had the knowledge and that she had the language and that together we could really explain things really well.  I got notice today, also, that my work orientation will be Monday, December 1.  I can’t believe that it is actually happening.  It’s so weird.  After 3 months of no official work, it is time to start working.  Am I ready?  What will happen?  Will I like it?  I don’t know, but as with most things in life, you just make choices and see what happens.  Life, for the most part, is just an experiment in making decisions.  The orientation will be in Spanish which I find to be kind of funny.  If the work is in English, shouldn’t the orientation be in English.  Now onto my discussion with this man today.

I’ve decided I need to live in a bunker a thousand miles away from any civilization.  If I run into or talk to another person from a free country who advocates how more government intervention is better than or freedom or that makes comments such as “Cuba has the best health care system in the world”, I think I’ll go crazy.  It reminds me of reading about many in the liberal media travelling to Communist Russia during Stalin’s time and coming back and saying how wonderful communist Russia was.  Yet, we found out later that is was all a ruse.  Stalin let people see what they wanted to see.  Everything was tightly controlled.  What they didn’t know or refused to acknowledge were the tens of millions of people killed in gulags and as a result of economic central planning by those “wonderful” Communists, lovers of socialism, and worshippers of Marx.  I love how people refer to Cuba as having the best health care system in the world, but as with all insane statements like that, the devil is in the details.  First, the report is put out by the United Nations, which isn’t actually a bastion of freedom and liberty, nor an unbiased institution.  Second, the report only focuses on primary health care, you know the kind that won’t save you if you have cancer, need surgery, etc.  So to say that Cuba or any other socialist nation has the best health care system in the world requires a lot of astericks next to that statement.  Look at the price that the Cuban people have to pay to get the best primary health care system in the world.  They drive cars from the 50s and have no economic freedom, political freedom, or opportunity; but hey, they can get their blood pressure taken whenever they want.  Finally, the one thing I always like to ask these people is “If it is so great in these communist countries, why don’t you pack your bags and go live there?”  I find it highly hypocritical that these lovers of the left, these minions of Marx, and lover of government intervention never live in these countries.  They often enjoy the benefits of freedom, while at the same time attacking it.  They never put their money where their mouth is.  They are just like Al Gore when he talks about the dangers of global warming and our need to get away from the evils of fossil fuels, while at the same time running up electricity bills of $20,000 or more a month.  Anyway, I need to write more about this conversation I had with this gentleman today during lunch.  He was a typical big government intervention guy who said that free markets were evil and that government was our only savior.  He is my favorite kind of misguided person.  He doesn’t live what he believes.  If he truly lived what he believed, then he should move to a country with a strong central government.  Yet they never do this.  They always spout inconsisten thinking under the guise of education.   All it takes is a little determination and persistance and eventually you can discredit their thinking to the point where they just call you stupid and say they have a master degree in economics, which is exactly what he did.  I know when someone’s arguments are weak when they result to calling you and your ideas stupid, laughing at you, and saying they have a master degree.  I’ve got master degrees as well, but I realize how worthless they are.  It’s not like getting one imbued me with a great deal of intelligence.  It means nothing in the realm of wisdom.  Anyway, I’ve got to go write more about this discussion.  I’m going to start writing a little article called “In Defense of Liberty” which outlines why I believe what I believe.  I need to organize my thoughts better so as to confront what I consider to be faulty logic of my opponents, those who reside of the side of big government, benevolent government (didn’t know that existed), and the belief that business is evil (this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard).  They are just misguided folks who have bought hook line and sinker the socialist ideas they were taught in public education and in university.  It doesn’t take much effort to uncover the lies in the propaganda that exists on that side of thinking, but it is so hard to admit that one’s view of the world is wrong.  It’s the hardest thing to do.  I don’t mind people believing in things that just don’t work as long as they don’t continue to try and get my tax dollars to implement their schemes that have no history of working.  Keep my money out of your crazy beliefs and all will be well, but if there is one thing I know about the left, they are in love with their ideas.  They never look at facts or evidence that their beliefs are wrong.  They always want to put other people’s money where their mouths are.

Well, I have just discovered that I can watch some NFL football live.  I have cable in my new apartment.  I figured that I’d need it to listen to Spanish and keep myself busy when I just want to relax and vedge and I was surfing the stations and found that ESPN broadcasts a few football games every week as well as NBA basketball games, so I won’t be completely cut off from the sports world.  Yeah, I’m happy, because I love to watch sports.  All the announcing is in Spanish as well.  I paid for my first months rent today.  I had to go to the Bank of Chile to have them deposit some money into the lady’s account that I’m renting the apartment from.  I did fine with it.  It was all in Spanish and it went pretty smoothly.  There are so many words and phrases that I don’t know, but I’m able to communicate somewhat in Spanish.  I also had a great run today.  I think I went about 9 miles.  It is just so beautiful to run about 7:30 pm.  The sun has gone down sufficiently so that it is cooled down and there is a nice breeze running through the city.  I really need to find a running group and a gym to join.  There is one thing that is difficult about moving to Santiago.  It would appear that it is difficult to find groups of like-minded people here.  I’d like to find some runners or something like that here, but it is hard to find information online.  It is much easier to find that kind of stuff in the US.  I love my apartment as well.  I opened up both french doors today as the sun went down and there was a nice cool breeze coming in.  It sure is nice to live in a third story apartment with 2 balconies.  I love the fact that I can open up the doors and windows and just leave them open. 

I’ve been thinking about this credit crisis and the solutions that Obama and Bush are proposing.  If I’ve got this all right, I think what happened is that the federal government encouraged lenders to make loans to people that should have never got them.  The federal government seems to want people to get into debt.  That should come as no surprise to people, because it is easier to control people that are in debt to a banking system that is really an extension of the Federal Reserve, which is an extension of the federal government.  So, in essence, people that are in debt are in debt to the federal government.  It’s the perfect socialist system, when you think about it.  So the banks lent money to people who couldn’t repay it and when they couldn’t repay it, it caused a bunch of banks and lenders and mortgage companies to go out of business, because the dirty little secret of our banking system is that banks and other lending institutions don’t have the assets to cover all their liabilities.  They are allowed to relend money out many times over, for what reason, I’m not quite sure.  They, in essence, pyramid money on top of other borrowed money and when people can’t repay, the whole system falls apart.  The federal government has been using this system to central plan the economy.  It reminds me of a conversation that I had with one of Representative Abercrombie’s assistants.  She said that the percentage of government spending as a percentage of GDP has remained steady for many years, which is true, but the government doesn’t need to directly control money to control or plan the economy.  They, essentially, encouraged banks and lending companies to lend money to people (mostly poor) who should never have gotten money.  I’m sure they did this for several reasons.  First, it’s the American dream to be in debt and own a house.  They bought votes.  Second, a people in debt are easy to control.  Third, they are arrogant enough to believe they know what is best for the country, even though most of them are lawyers, not business people or economists.  They are experts in arrogance.  The government can control the economy without directly controlling it by threatening industries or businesses with lawsuits, by passing laws that benefit certain groups or people, etc.  In essence, the government has been centrally planning our economy for sometime now.  And look what happened.  It all came crashing down, because they have been diverting too much money into things are aren’t productive.  There are two things you can never get back.  That is time and money spent.  They have wasted our economic future on their pet projects.  The federal government is the one’s responsible for this economic crisis, yet they want to fix it by flooding the system into the same places that caused the problem in the first place. I don’t know about you, but something doesn’t appear right.  I feel like I’m being scammed, but there is no way to fight it.  Oh well, I guess the only thing to do is get out of debt and get prepared because they are only going to screw it up more.  It is so funny to watch all the so called experts talk about how it is such a great idea to blow trillions of dollars on this bailout.  They are idiots, educated idiots, but idiots nonetheless.  The system is rigged to benefit the federal government at the expense of the people, yet the people are too stupid to see they are being played by the Republicans and Democrats.  I guess the koolaid is just too strong.  Flooding a broken system that caused this problem is like giving drugs to a drug addict to solve the problem.

Well, here are the pictures as promised of my new place.  It’s amazing what you can get for the equivalent of $700 a month right now.  Check out the pictures here.  I just got home from church and am tired because I couldn’t fall asleep until 5 in the morning.  I guess I was just too excited to be in a new place and still getting adjusted to it.  It has been a beautiful day as well here.  Sundays always are.  So I think that I will read a little bit and study a bit, then take a nice nap.  Enjoy the photos.

Well, I’m in my new place now thanks to my friends Jeroen “J” and Ingrid, his girlfriend (polola).  They picked me up this morning, drove me to my new place with my stuff, and then took me to Jumbo (the equivalent of Costco here, except it is much better.  They have everything there.  It was a zoo because it was Saturday.  One thing that is different about Jumbo than any grocery store in America is that in almost every aisle is a good-looking, thin woman or two or three dressed up in a Nascar like jumpsuit who is offering help to the people who walk by.  It’s rather interesting.  Also, they have so much interesting kinds of fresh bread.  It is so awesome.  I did intend to go play some ping pong tonight with the Elders at church, but when push came to shove, I didn’t want to walk down there in the heat.  I just relaxed and then went running.  You know me, I often just like to spend a quiet evening at home.

I’m constantly impressed with how  much stuff Santiago has.  Anyway, my apartment is really nice.  I can’t believe how lucky or blessed I am to be able to rent it in such a beautiful neighborhood, close to the metro, etc.  It’s kind of weird how things have just worked out rather easily.  I’m kind of skeptical that my streak of luck will continue, but I’ll pray it does.  I’ve just been enjoying my new apartment today, relaxing, napping, going for a run, etc.  I will post pictures tomorrow so you can all see my new style.  And finally, I’ve got a few political thoughts that have been running through my head today.

I think that most Americans think that we have the best of everything, but that just isn’t true.  I think most likely that the majority of Americans never leave the country, so they develop their beliefs and opinions solely from TV, magazines, etc.  It is really too sad because these modes of media are more about entertainment and propaganda that anything.  They believe it when the federal government or the media tells them that their country is number one, has the best, etc.  But if you came down to Chile you’d see that there are many countries that have equal if not more than we do, and they don’t carry the heavy debt load that America has.  I don’t most Americans realize that the federal government has essentially put our country in a $60 trillion or more debt hole due to current debt and promises they have made to people in the future.  The primary culprits in creating these programs that have led to these unfunded obligations or promises have been the Democrats with the creation of social security and Medicare (under a Democratic Congress and President during the 30s and 60s).  The Republicans got into the unfunded promises business with the creation of Medicare Part B, but primarily I believe the culprits to this have been the Democrats and the federal government and now that we have a Democratic majority in Congress and the Presidency, I expect nothing but their best in creating more unfunded obligations.  They just don’t get it or the federal government is intent on destroying our country through debt.  They should never be trusted with the reigns of power.  Both parties have proven they are worthless, untrustworthy, and dishonest.  I laugh when I think about the millions of people who voted for Barack thinking they will get anything different.  As I always say, I guess the koolaid is strong.  People want to believe what they want to believe even if the evidence points strongly that it will be different.  So let them believe in their pipedreams.  Let them believe in their socialism.  The government will be able to provide them lots of money, but the one thing they can’t provide well are the products and services that people want.

I laughed when I heard that Barack wants to create 2.5 million jobs by 2011.  Are those government jobs?  Since when is it the government’s job to create jobs.  They can’t do anything well.  They can’t protect our borders.  They can’t keep terrorists from entering illegally.  They can’t spend money honestly.  They can’t quit counterfeiting money.  They keep creating one financial crisis after another.  I have read the Constitution and I can’t find anywhere where it says the government should be creating anything.  That isn’t the role of government.  That is the role of a government that is trying to central plan everything, which is basically a socialist/communist government.  The arrogance of these men and women that run our government is incredible.  They sit on their great thrones from above and don’t listen to the people one bit.  They act like they know what they are doing, when in fact they have no clue.  Yet people still believe them.  It’s almost laughable.  Once again, I ask, what are the people’s recourses when the federal government and those who run it no longer listen to the people who elect them?   

Just another day in Santiago.  Hot and sweaty.  One day closer to working again after 3 months of vacation.  I’m excited to give it a try and see what happens.  Things have worked out too perfectly.  It’s weird how things just fell into place.  I never intended for it to happen and to be honest I really don’t know what to make about it.  The apartment that I found was just perfect.  The lady that rented it to me works for LAN airlines and speaks English, so hopefully I can find some cheap deals to fly.

I had an interesting conversation with a guy today about Israel and Palestine.  He naturally took the side of Palestine like any good listener of CNN would.  I told them that it was pretty easy for me to know what side I was on.  I just look for the side that respects liberty and freedom more and take that side.  And it is fairly obvious that Israel is a much freer nation.  I then told him that I would never choose the Palestinians because they teach their kids from a young age to hate Jews, to think suicide bombers are great, etc.  It is pretty obvious which side is wrong on this one and which side is evil.  That isn’t to say that Palestinians as a people are evil, because they aren’t.  It is to say that the leaders of that nation, including the religious leaders, are evil.  If you teach your kids to hate, you are evil, pure and simple.  He had never heard about the Palestinian version of sesame street where they teach their kids to hate, to kill Jews, and to worship the deeds of suicide bombers.  Now, why the United Nations and the rest of the world takes the side of Middle Eastern, freedom-hating nations is beyond me.  Wait… It must be the oil.  And they mock America for trying to change governments in Iraq and Afghanistan to ones more suitable to our liking and more free.  They have the audacity to try and lecture us about going into Iraq for oil.  By the way, I still don’t understand why or how Iraq was about oil, because if it is was about oil, wouldn’t we have taken the oil and not allowed oil prices to go to $150 a barrel.  It is funny to listen to liberals, Europe, and much of the free world and the rest of the world castigate us for going to war for oil (I don’t believe that), when they base their policy decisions on not interupting the freedom-hating Arabs or they base their policies around oil.  What a bunch of hypocrites.  I just wish more people would use two very important words when listening to these hypocrites speak on CNN or other liberal media stations.  SHUT UP!!!!!!!  Instead, you get the majority of the world taking sides with freedom hating Arabs and not freedom loving Jews.  It’s incredible.  You could write books on the propoganda genius of these people in convincing the free world to hate freedom and to feel sorry for haters and to love big government.  I think I would like to study how that has all come about and write books on it. 

Here’s a great article on global warming.  It looks like the Earth is cooling down again.  That makes me wonder why Barack Obama and all the other crisis creators are still worried about something that isn’t a problem.  Well, they are left-wing elitists who believe in what they believe and if there is one group of people you can never talk out of a burning building, that would be left wing ideologues.  They put their complete faith in their ideas and laugh and mock people who put their faith in God and traditional ideas that have stood the test of time.  Instead they believe their silly philosophies, care about whales more than about humans, etc.   Anyway, here’s the article.  I don’t recall seeing it in the media.  I guess it doesn’t fit their view of the world or their desire to trick the people into going for more government.  Read here.