Which Hard Choices?

Here is what President Obama said Sunday on controlling the debt: "Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics. I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up because I'm calling their bluff. We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics."

My first reaction is that listening to Obama speak of deficit reduction is like listening to Jimmy Swaggart preach against succumbing to the lust of the flesh, or Adolf Hitler denouncing racism.  It just doesn't resonate when a crime's biggest offender says they are going to change next year without offering any indication of that change.  Yet I will give him the benefit of my doubt.  He may cut deficits.  My worry would then turn to how.  He claims that next year he will present difficult choices to the country.  My speculation on those choices would be:

• Complete withdrawal from Iran and Afghanistan without consideration for conditions on the ground.
• Gutting of the military. He would need to cut funding by 50% to make a substantial reduction in the budget deficit.
• Giant tax increases on producers (people who work for a living).
• New taxes on businesses to be passed on to consumers.
• Increase capital gains tax.
• Social Security retirement age moves to 70.

What I don't expect:

• Cut entitlements.  This is Obama's base, so he cannot upset them.
• Cut his health care legislation.

Sometimes I worry more about him keeping his promises than not keeping them.

You Don't Need to Look Very Hard

The Mainstream Media is biased towards liberals.  They may not realize they have the bias, but you never need to look very hard for proof.  The death of Senator Robert Byrd provided a new proof point.  There is only one comparison to Byrd's Senate career - Senator Strom Thurmond. Strom died 7 years ago, nearly to the day.  Strom was a conservative Republican.  Byrd was a liberal Democrat.  Both of their Senate careers were long, both came from southern states, and both had segregationist beliefs in their youth.  USA Today reported both Senator's deaths, but notice the difference:

Former senator Thurmond dies



By William M. Welch, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — Former U.S. senator Strom Thurmond, who took the political stage as the nation's most prominent segregationist and left it as the most enduring political figure of the century, died Thursday night at age 100.

The writer was compelled to mention Thurmond's past support of segregation in the first sentence.  Now, look at how USA Today reports Byrd's death:
 
Senate stalwart Robert Byrd dies at 92
 
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY



WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Byrd, who rose from West Virginia's impoverished hollows to aid, counsel and sometimes chastise presidents from the Senate seat he occupied for more than a half-century, died early Monday morning. He was 92 and had served in Congress longer than anyone in the nation's history.

In act, it is not until the eighth paragraph that his affiliation with the KKK is mentioned:
 
Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s and a participant in an epic but ultimately unsuccessful filibuster against landmark civil rights legislation in 1964.
 
The depth of his affiliation was more than just membership.  At minimum, Byrd provided council to the Grand Poo bah.  From a different story:
 
At a time when Byrd claimed to have withdrawn his membership [from the Klan], he was in fact advising Grand Imperial Wizard Samuel Green on whom to appoint to important posts in the hierarchy of the hate group. In a letter to Green, Byrd urged, "the Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."


A year later in 1948, Byrd opposed President Truman's initiative to integrate the Armed Forces - and he did so using the language of a very much active Klansman.

The powerful Senate Democrat vowed then that he would "never submit to fight beneath that banner (the American flag) with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."

Remember these words when you hear about the distinguished career the Senator from West Virginia had.  Need more proof?

STROM THURMOND, FOE OF INTEGRATION, DIES AT 100


ROBERT BYRD, RESPECTED VOICE OF THE SENATE, DIES AT 92

Both obituaries were written by the same writer, Adam Clymer. The headlines appeared in the The New York Times.

The Mainstream Media are simply distorting the legacy for one of their own.

New Car

I am amazed at how much the car industry has changed since I bought my last car.  A few days ago I blogged about the tactics I have used when purchasing a car.  Not many of those worked well this time.

Terri and I started our car shopping day with a trip to the Chevy dealer we have done business with before.  I had made contact with their Internet salesman earlier in the week to describe what we were looking for - a Equinox, not white or black, 4 cylinder, with leather, heater seats and premium sound system.  The salesman assured me they had a vehicle that met this criteria, plus many others to choose from.  We arrived at 9:15 AM to see the lone Equinox on their lot.  Not only was it the only one, it was not equipped anywhere near what we wanted.  Okay, so maybe they have access to others.  We asked the first salesman who approached us.  Nope, this was the only one.  They would get 2 more at the end of July. 

Disappointed, we moved on to the next Chevrolet dealer.  They also had only one - a black one.  It was at this second dealership that we began to look at the Traverse, the next model up from the Equinox.  We liked it a lot and began to deal on one that met our option list.  Our trade-in was evaluated which returned the exact value we thought it should.  So far so good.  As is normal, the dealer's first offer was at sticker price.  I countered a number that I thought would at least begin the serious discussions.  Instead, the dealership's general manager dropped by with the dealer invoice.  To my surprise, there was only around $1,000 mark up.  I had offered $7,000 less than sticker, $6,000 less than invoice.  Obviously the dealer was not going to go that far, no matter how long we dickered.  We excused ourselves and left.  There was no attempt by the salesman to continue negotiations.  First new car-buying lesson learned - mark up on new cars is not as much as it once was.

Terri and I then broke for lunch where I began calling other dealerships to inquire on the availability of Equinoxs.  I learned that nobody had more than one, and it as usually black or poorly equipped.  One Internet dealer informed me that if I seriously wanted a new loaded Equinox, I would need purchase it before it was delivered to the dealer lot.  This was not something I am inclined to do.  Second new car-buying lesson learned - all prior tactics do not work when you are pursuing a popular model of vehicle.

So we then began expanding our potential car models.  We drove a Kia, then a Subaru.  Both had good points, but neither had he smooth quiet ride of an Equinox.  We  then decided to go to a GMC dealership and look at their version of the Equinox.  We learned that version was called the Terrain.  The local dealership had 3 on their lot.  One met our needs.  Within a couple hours we reached a deal with the salesman.  Our new car is shown below. 

Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill

How many times have you heard the current gulf oil spill referred to as Obama's Katrina?  I am getting a little tired of the comparison on several levels.  Let me explain.

When Katrina hit New Orleans, whiny liberals everywhere saw the suffering of the local New Orleans minorities and immediately blamed the Bush administration for not responding fast enough.  While mostly unsaid, they were charging racism.  They wanted the federal government nanny to swoop down and save Americans from their suffering.  No time was spent discussing whether the federal government should have led the relief effort, or simply support the state's and city's effort. 

Jump ahead several years to the current gulf oil spill.  Republicans are now taking their pound of flesh from Obama as retribution for the attacks on George Bush during Katrina.  Just as then, local efforts should lead,  with support from the federal government.

I for one do not want to solely rely on the feds to "take care of me", so I will remain consistent and not blame Obama for the federal response to the gulf disaster. While I feel the oil spill is not Obama's Katrina, there are plenty of things I do blame him for.  I would rather the national media focus on his health care legislation that will ruin the best health care system in the world, the piling up of the national debt and his socialist tendencies.  He deserves scathing criticism over these items, but not so much on the oil spill.

My tolerance of the tit-for-tat political wrestling matches is also at the end.  Fire them all.  Let's start with a new Congress.

Buying a Car

Terri and I are considering buying a new car.  Since I only replace one of our two cars every 3-4 years, I use this time to remember how I go about getting the best deal.  I learned from a master - my father.

My father was brutal to the car salesman.  His strategy was to ensure the salesman became more emotionally invested in the deal than my father would be with the car.  My father would draw negotiations out for days or even weeks.  He would grind the last $50 off the price of the car, and then go for another $50 on the trade in.  By the time he agreed to a deal, the saleman had many hours of effort invested.  It would convince the salesman that any profit was better than nothing after the expended effort.  Eventually, they would give up their best price.

I don't have the patience for days of negotiations.  Instead, I have 2 tactics that I use every time, and couple of potential opportunities that I use when they present themselves.  These tactics and opportunities have worked well for me in the past.  I feel I get good prices without spending more that a couple hours with the salesman.

The first tactic is the most important.  Get smart.  Before you begin dealing seriously, you must know what the dealership paid for their vehicle.  This is now pretty easy since all the information is available over the Internet.  You do not necessarily need to know the invoice cost of the base model and every option.  A little study reveals that mark up is pretty consistent.  Last I remember (5 years ago?) the base price of a vehicle was marked up 8% and each option was marked up 14%.   Once you learn this, you can calculate the invoice cost while on the lot. 

If trading in a vehicle, an honest assessment of the vehicle's condition can be used to determine the fair trade in value.   Knowing both the dealer cost and trade in value of your car will make is simple to determine if the salesman is dealing in good faith or looking for maximum profit.  If their interest in not in your best interest, (and they never are initially) my second tactic is used. 

I have used my second tactic almost every time I have purchased a new car.  I simply thank the salesman for their time and excuse myself.  The intent is to signal to the salesman that I am not invested in the specific car under negotiation, and quite willing to go to another dealership.  This action is guaranteed to get a better price immediately.  If you are not impressed with their next offer, you probably will not reach agreement with the salesman so it is time to end it and move on. 

Many opportunities can make buying a new car very easy.  Here are these opportunities I look for:

• End of model year or end of month - Dealers will sell a car below their cost when 1) they need the room on their lot for new models, or 2) when meeting a sales goal increases their percentage of profit for all cars they sold during the month.  I once bought a $44k car for $34k for this one reason.
• Pick a green, wet-behind-the-ears salesman -  New salesman don't make much money and will sacrifice a full commission just to make something.  I once had a brand new salesman agree to a $50 commission just to make the sale.  You will never get this from a salesman with awards on their office wall, a large mortgage and a tuition payment to make.
• Network - If you know someone in the dealership, see if they can help.  I once got a good deal because my Sister In Law Lisa (SILL) was in the finance department of a local dealership.  I also once worked at the same company with the son of a salesman.  He allowed me to see the best deal already made that day, and gave me the same deal.  Both of these negotiations took less than 30 minutes.

I am just starting my new car quest, and will update the blog when a deal is made. 

Sacrifice

Modern day Americans are so lucky.  We have little idea the kind sacrifices made by our ancestors in building this country.  Only our military families sacrifice today.  They separate and go off to fight our enemies, while the rest of us occasionally watch on TV.  It hasn't always been this way.  You can still see evidence of past sacrifice in prior generations.

I remember my grandmother, who everyday after retrieving the daily newspaper would carefully untie the string around it, add it to her ball of string in the kitchen.  I didn't think much of it then, but now have come to believe this behavior was learned from her parents who were only a generation removed from the pioneer days of America.  If my ancestors needed string, they could travel a mile or more into town to the local mercantile , which might have string for sale.  If not, they could order string to arrive in several weeks.  Or they could make their own string.  How inconvenient.  If I were in the same situation, I too would save small pieces of string so that I would have it when needed. 

The pioneer days were not the only era that fostered this behavior.  We can also see it in our parents and grandparents.  My mother in law would wash paper plates and reuse them.  My father in law will use left over paint instead of buying new paint.  Nothing of even minimal value is discarded.  They are not hoarders.  Their behavior was probably passed on from their own parents and collective experiences of life during world wars.

War time behavior was that our nation would scrimp and save everything to support the troops.  Metal drives would donate tons of scrap iron used to build guns, ships and tanks.  No scrap was too insignificant to donate.  Gasoline and food rationing would ensure that our troops had what they needed to survive.  War bonds collected billions of dollars from a less than affluent citizenry. Everyone sacrificed.  Nothing was thrown out.

I believe this mindset still exists in our parents.   It has died with my generation.  We began the disposable society.  We throw it away when done.

Parasite?

I got a kick out of the local man's attempt to vent along a major highway in the area.  It seems that a few other people don't like his message, or feel he is undeserving of free speech.

Some one has attempted to destroy his trailer/sign by burning it down on a couple of occasions.


But who can argue with the message?  You are either a provider or one who relies on those who provide. 

The definition of a parasite is:

• an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); it obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host

• leech: a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

Doesn't that accurately describe those who live off the American worker by living off of welfare and unemployment?  So if his message is factually correct, his right to free speech must be their quarrel with him?