Seriously out of practice

We're having guests for dinner this evening--small group from church, small menu--soup and salad. I'm so out of practice. Maybe we need to join one of those non-gourmet dinner clubs. These days I mostly stove-top grill or microwave leftovers. The oven might be turned on once a week. Desserts are too tempting, so if we need one, I buy it. It's a good reason to clean the house.

Scratch days are long gone here

A fall treat--Dairymens Eggnog

"Pumpkin pie spice eggnog" is back in the dairy case. Boy! Is that good in coffee! I usually cut it with some milk, but it's still delicious.

Dairymens is a Cleveland company with quite a history. I buy it at Marc's, but don't recall seeing it anywhere else.

Project 21 Black Conservatives

Just in case you thought Herman Cain was lone voice speaking as a black conservative.

Project 21 is an initiative of The National Center for Public Policy Research to promote the views of African-Americans whose entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to family and commitment to individual responsibility has not traditionally been echoed by the nation's civil rights establishment. Maybe you need a speaker?

Project 21 Black Conservatives

Canada ranks No. 1 in “Best Countries for Business”

"Canada ranks No. 1 in our [Forbes] annual look at the Best Countries for Business. While the U.S. is paralyzed by fears of a double-dip recession and Europe struggles with sovereign debt issues, Canada’s economy has held up better than most. The $1.6 trillion economy is the ninth biggest in the world and grew 3.1% last year. It is expected to expand 2.4% in 2011, according to the Royal Bank of Canada. . .

What hurts the U.S. is its heavy tax burden. This year it surpassed Japan to have the highest corporate tax rate among developed countries. The U.S. also gets dinged for a poor showing on monetary freedom as measured by the Heritage Foundation. Heritage gauges price stability and price controls and the U.S. ranks No. 50 out of 134 countries."

The Best Countries For Business - Forbes

Instead of liberal celebs threatening to relocate to Canada, maybe we'll see American entrepreneurs go there. It's closer than China, safer than Mexico. For starting a new business, the U.S. ranks #13 (New Zealand is #1).

RMIT--The Richest Man in Town

The total wealth of America's RMITs (some are women) is $355 billion.

• These 100 people employ more than 91% of Americans.

• All of the fortunes are self-made.

• Only one of them is a professional manager as opposed to a company founder.

• Less than 10% of them have taken their company public.

• Eighty-one percent of RMITs are doing business in their hometown.


Who Are the Richest People in Town? - BusinessWeek

To paraphrase an anarchist--Benjamin Tucker*

This blog is written to suit Norma, not its readers. She hopes that what suits her will suit them; but, if not, it will make no difference. No reader, subscriber, or body of subscribers, will be allowed to govern her course, dictate her policy, prescribe her methods, or choose her topics. Collecting My Thoughts is published for the very definite purpose of advocating certain ideas, such as faith in Jesus Christ, the free market, conservatism, education, recent medical and technological break-throughs, pro-family issues like not killing the unborn, family memories, and public policy; no claim will be admitted, on any pretext of freedom of speech, to waste its limited space or Norma's time in hindering the attainment of that object. Norma is not afraid of discussion, or even an argument, and shall do what she can to make room for short, serious, and well-considered objection to her views, but intolerance of Christians, Christiphobia, church bashing, blasphemy, name calling, bullying, and long boring essays on atheism should be posted on the reader's own blog. Also, since Norma in an earlier career translated Soviet medical material heavily laced with Marxism, she probably knows more than the reader about the joys of attaining socialist goals, so don't bother cluttering with that clap-trap either. As a former humanist, a career public employee (although not a union member), a librarian and a 40 year registered Democrat, there are few arguments from the other side or from the basement archives Norma hasn't heard.

*Tucker wrote a journal called Liberty in the 19th c.

Uncertainty holds back economic recovery

Politicians, policy experts and business leaders gathered in September to try to make sense of the economy and what the government is doing about it. I noticed this panel and the burden our non-elected appointees and czars are imposing on the economy. Small businesses, particularly, can't keep up with the rules, or even hire the staff to wade through them to be in compliance, so why hire or expand, even if you have the money or credit? We were discussing the business climate with a retired friend last night who has passed his firm on to his sons (who divided it), and they no longer have permanent workers, everything is contracted. The complexity of running a small business is overwhelming them. This is why stiffer regulations are supported by some very large firms--puts the competition out of business.

"The next panel “The Uncertain Environment and what it Means for American Business” was led by Bob Norton, chief income tax officer for Vertex Inc. Panelists included David A. Heywood, vice president, tax and general counsel, Lockheed Martin Corp.; Hal S. Jones, senior vice president and CFO, The Washington Post Co.; Michael Kenny, CFO, Panduit Corp.; and Cathy Santoro, vice president, finance and assistant treasurer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Norton listed areas that are replete with uncertainty on many fronts. Among them: global economy, geo-political sea changes, technology revolution, security (cyber and other) and regulation. He also provided statistics to reinforce reasons why businesses are facing uncertainty. For example, federal agencies issued 3,573 final rules in 2010, while Congress enacted 217 bills into law. The result of this, he added, is that ”significant law-making power is being delegated more and more to unelected bureaucrats;” the number of pages in the Federal Register last year topped 81,405; and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires 11 new federal agencies tasked with creating 235 rulemaking provisions – 100 rules by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alone.

Jones said that two-thirds of The Washington Post Co.’s revenue comes from education and training, and that this year more than 400 pages of new regulations have been issued related to education. Dealing with so many new rules has caused the company to hold back on hiring, marketing, planning or expanding. The company is willing to comply with the rules, he said, but not knowing what they are is causing the business to stay on hold.

Kenny expressed concern about tax reform and stated he favors business tax reform – not corporate tax reform. (With more than 90 percent of U.S. businesses operating as pass-through private companies, thus taxed at the individual rate, just doing corporate tax reform won’t help these private companies.) He also noted concern for companies that are not large enough to stay abreast of the constant flurry of new rules and laws, not a issue for his company, but a real challenge for untold others."

FEI

Does Obama get the credit for killing Qaddafi?

Ilya Somin: Ilya Somin's response to 'Credit due Obama for Qadhafi death?' - The Arena | POLITICO.COM

President Obama deserves credit for facilitating the overthrow of a brutal dictator at little immediate cost to the United States. Republican critics were wrong to claim that this result could only be achieved with a much larger commitment of U.S. forces.

On the other hand, it is far from clear whether the new regime in Libya will be any better than the old. The new Libyan government includes many different groups, including an influential radical Islamist faction..... If radical Islamists do take over Libya, the result could well be a regime that is just as oppressive as Gadhafi’s and much more hostile to American interests.

The United States may also pay a price for violating our 2003 agreement with Libya, under which Gadhafi agreed to stop supporting terrorism and give up his nuclear program in exchange for the US and Britain implicitly committing themselves to not seeking his overthrow....

Obviously, Gadhafi deserved to be overthrown. He certainly had no “right” to tyrannize over the people of Libya. But, after seeing what happened to him, other dictatorships such as Iran may be less willing to sign similar deals....

Finally, by going to war without congressional authorization, the president violated both the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Act. Then-Senator Barack Obama got it right back in 2007, when he wrote that “[t]he president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”

So stay tuned for the unintended consequences.

Update: LA Times--not real pleased and pointing out it's not going to help him much with his friends or enemies. This year, he has sent U.S. troops into action on land or in the skies of seven countries on two continents. More serious, in my opinion, is his encouragement of "Arab Spring" which is bring out of the wooodwork a whole new batch of bad guys.

What’s on the I-pods of the Occupiers?

Take the Money and Run; Eat the rich; Let’s go crazy; Shakedown; All I need is a miracle; Tax man; Been caught stealing; Money for nothing; Money’s too tight to mention; Smooth operator; Money changes everything; Little lies; Burning down the house; Money, money; Material girl; 9 to 5; Gold digger; Putting on the Ritz; Free money; The pretender;

Actually, I used to be very fond of Jimmy O'Bama

Friday family photo

This was her after breakfast nap. The click on the phone awoke her, so she shifted positions to her before lunch nap. She got up long enough to investigate what I was fixing for lunch, and now she's in her after lunch curl position. She wasn't really reading the book; but you probably knew that. She prefers fiction. She's a calico, a rescue from Cat Welfare in Columbus. Her name, however, is from a horse catalog. Horses have much nicer names than cats.

Note to a successful California architect supporting "Occupy"

You're a little late to the gate realizing how dependent architects are on the wealthy of this country, and also, I might add, the federal government. I'm not sure it's ever been that different--yesterday we toured the home and gardens of F.A. Seiberling, Stan Hywet, in Akron, OH. 65,000 sq. ft, 23 bathrooms, and preserved to be the absolute latest in everything, ala 1915. There were 3,000 separate blueprints and drawings. A special railroad spur to bring in building materials and workers. We were told the landscape architect walked the 3,000 acres (now only 70) for a year just to site it properly. It boggles the mind to think of the thousands and thousands of jobs he created globally in the rubber industry, as well as right there in Akron. And in those days there was no income tax deducation for "doing good"--he just did it. And after the recession following WWI in the 1920s, he went bankrupt from a bad business decision, and started all over at age 62. His next company wasn't as successful as Goodyear, but it did become 7th in the nation in rubber.

There are some good, sincere people wandering around the Occupy movement--I've visited (on the web) about 15 cities/states from Nova Scotia to Missoula to West something Missouri. For the most part, they know nothing about the laws, codes, zoning and tax structure of the business world; they are completely ignorant on the taxes paid or percentage the wealthy contribute to the government or the economy or their own lives; they've taken out student loans for degrees like social work or English that can never be a ROI ($250,000 at Columbia) and racked up huge debts for living expenses; they want "fair" but can't say why Tiger should be paid more than his caddy, Oprah more than the camerman who may work even harder; they are clueless about how dependent they are on the successful, smart, risk takers like Steve Jobs who dropped out of college. They have more greed, envy and lust for material goods than any wealthy person I've ever met.

I'm disappointed you're going down this rabbit hole filled with swampy socialist dreams, when the upper 10%--probably even the upper 20% have created work space for you in their lives. Which from your web page and blog looks a whole lot spiffier than our life.

Road Trip

Hope to have some good photos to post when I get back, but it is very gray and rainy. Conestoga is a great group which supports the Ohio Historical Society. Ohio is part of the original expansion of the colonies, the old Northwest Territory. The NW Ordinance set the bar very high--no slavery, the importance of education and religion, setting up elections, etc. There are so many interesting historical sites in Ohio, that it would not be possible to visit them all--but we'll make a stab at it.

Ohio's Health Care Freedom Amendment Issue 3

Vote Yes. This from National Review Online.

"Most ballot initiatives have little resonance outside the states that consider them. That’s not so with the upcoming vote in Ohio. Ohio’s November vote on the Health Care Freedom Amendment (Issue 3) will have national implications, and could play a role in determining the future of our nation’s health-care system.

The Ohio Health Care Freedom Amendment preserves the freedom of Ohio citizens to choose their health care and health insurance. It makes clear that no government has the right to force free people to buy a government-approved health-care package from a government-approved insurance company.

In this, it’s following in the footsteps of efforts made in numerous other states, from Idaho to Missouri to Georgia, that have adopted measures to reject aspects of the new Obamacare law and reclaim some basic freedoms for citizens from an overreaching federal government.

Ohio’s ballot initiative, however, will be particularly significant because of its timing. Earlier this month, both the plaintiffs and the Department of Justice filed petitions for certiorari, asking for an ultimate review by the Supreme Court of HHS v. Florida. In all likelihood, the Supreme Court will review the case in January or February 2012, with a decision coming by June. That means the vote in Ohio will be the last expression of popular will on the question of Obamacare before the Supreme Court hears and rules on the health-care law’s constitutionality.

Generous Giving Stats & Trends

Dream weaving seen today at a philanthropy web site:

"According to the Borgen Project, annual expenditures of $19 billion between now and 2015 could eliminate global starvation and malnutrition. Another $12 billion per year over that same time period could provide education for every child on earth. And an additional $15 billion each year could provide universal access to clean water and sanitation."

Not true. Global starvation, malnutrition and sanitation have never been about enough money or calories. It's about power held by the governments which hold the people, which make the laws, which ignore the terrorists (like Uganda and Libya); it's about resources diverted from infrastructure like roads which move food and goods to market into glittering palaces like those that housed Saddam Hussein and his sons or Idi Amin or Pol Pot or Joseph Stalin. 35 years ago when I worked with agricultural credit files as a librarian, the evidence was clear, and it's never changed. We the people still believe you can fight evil with more money.

Generous Giving Stats & Trends

Can't always trust what you read on the internet

Herman Cain sings "Imagine there's no pizza" in 1991

This was in Omaha for a Press Club event. Not a bad voice.

One of the 53 percent

Today I talked to an assistant manager--mid twenties--at a nice chain restaurant--asked him about his college loans. "Don't have any," he said. "I didn't go to college--don't need to." Next he'll get his own store with the chain, then he hopes to some day own his own restaurant; probably started at minimum wage running the register or bussing tables. I believe in eduction--especially would like to see more students graduating from high school that didn't need remedial work in college. But this man had good people skills, excellent English, no nose or ear rings or tattoos (showing), he shows up on time, works hard, is friendly to old ladies, and he has a plan. And then there are the "occupiers" . . .

I'd be mad too if I were paying $65,212 a year to attend Columbia School of Social Work (I checked the website), and then found out my first salary wouldn't pay the postage to mail the laundry back home to mom, let alone buy pizza and beer. You might think that before investing over a quarter of a million dollars in an education a student would check out how much writing grants or visiting poor children paid. Now they want us, the 53%, to pay their college loans.

"The protesters' [at OWS] online manifestos read like a Marxist child's letter to Santa Claus, demanding everything from college loan debt forgiveness to a living wage "regardless of employment." " Ben Boychuk

Where's my bailout?

BEN BOYCHUK: "If the Occupy Wall Street protests were merely a gathering of liberals angry at the pathetic state of the economy and the incestuous relationship between Big Government and Big Business, most Americans likely would be on their side.

But something else is happening here.

We don't have much real data about who these protesters are or what exactly they believe. But we have a few hints. The protesters' online manifestos read like a Marxist child's letter to Santa Claus, demanding everything from college loan debt forgiveness to a living wage "regardless of employment."

New York Magazine took a snapshot poll of 100 protesters camping at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. About 34 percent of the "young, smart, educated young people" the magazine surveyed are "convinced the U.S. government is no better than, say, Al Qaeda."

So it's fair to say a sizable minority of the people camped out in New York and dozens of other cities around the country are on the fringe of mainstream American politics.

And yet Occupy Wall Street has touched a nerve for the right reasons.

"If you're a bank or an insurance firm, and you create a product that your investors and your regulators can't understand in a crisis, you aren't punished...Instead, you get rewarded with bailout money," my City Journal colleague Nicole Gelinas observed recently. "It's hard to argue with the Zuccotti protesters' manifesto on this point: 'They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity."

The difference between the Tea Party marches of 2009 and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations of 2011 is the difference between "No more bailouts!" and "Where's my bailout?" For the Tea Party, Big Government -- too many regulations, too much federal meddling in Americans' lives -- is the problem. For Occupy Wall Street, bigger government-more taxes, more regulation, more subsidies -- is the solution. The choice is yours."

Red and Blue America; what does Occupy Movement mean?

Michael Moore Occupies Wall Street

Michael Moore has made a fortune criticizing and lying about capitalists. Recently, he’s been on the front lines of Occupy Wall Street. He gave aid and comfort to the enemy during the Iraq War (when it was Bush’s problem). He makes films about the racist, evil, greedy United States which are forced on American students in high school and college. Then with his profits from the films he invests in American companies. His own “investment portfolio has included owning significant shares of stock in medical, health, pharmaceutical, defense and big oil companies, such as Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Pharmacia Corporation, Tenet Healthcare, Sunoco, General Electric and even the “evil” Halliburton. He has also invested in firms that outsource jobs to the Third World – including China, where slave labor is rampant. He wants to soak the rich with higher taxes, but uses accountants to exploit every loophole and exemption to reduce his burden to Uncle Sam.” The left is filled with such hypocrites. You can bet that as they destroy your retirement portfolio, they’ve figured out how to make a few more dollars.

KUHNER: The hypocrisy of Michael Moore - Washington Times