I have posted a lot of negative, and lengthy, stuff lately so I wanted to keep this somewhat short and sweet. These are the closing remarks on a Summer-End commentary made by a group of money managers that I really like. George Shipp is credited as being the author.
"We are aware that a great political debate is ongoing, and admit that it can sometimes complicate the task of fundamental securities analysis. We agree with many who feel that our country is 'at a crossroads.' We worry sometimes that we are tipping toward becoming a 'bailout nation' (cash for washing machines, puh-leeze?!), or that it has become more fashionable to walk away from financial obligations than to meet them. We are embarrassed at the national debt we are handing our children. We wish more stimulus monies [and only what had been necessary] had been applied toward long-term productive investments like infrastructure and education, less toward wealth transfer.
"...We believe in market discipline, AND we believe in appropriate regulation. Let's enforce existing laws. We all need to pay our fair share of taxes.
"This country has survived many crises, and we are confident we will not waste this one [to pull ahead and come out on top], to borrow a phrase. if our collective problem is too much debt (and it is), then it's just common sense that more borrowing is unlikely to be the answer. That din you hear in the background is the formerly silent majority, exercising their power to 'encourage' our political leaders to find that common sense middle ground for the greater good. Have you ever heard such political passion in your lives, as during the last several months? All that gnashing of teeth is not a symptom of weakness or sign of the apocalypse, it's a beacon of strength - democracy in action. The road to recovery will not be straight up, but we believe we're on it, and slowly, but surely, appear to be making progress."
3 weeks ago
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As I read the part about wishing more of the stimulus had gone to education and infrastructure and less towards redistribution of wealth, I began to think about where I live. Handouts and the culture of entitlements has hurt native Americans in irreparable ways. Many of the students I teach will never try in school because they don't have to (or at least that's what they think). They will always have a check coming from the local government, the federal government, and/or their regional corporation (Alaska's alternative to reservations). They have no incentive to better themselves, and even less incentive to preserve their native way of life. I pray that our country stops and reevaluates the road it's on, because this culture of hopelessness and futility will spread if we don't get a handle on things.
I thought your comment about hope is really fitting. Our Bishop gave the 5th Sunday combined lesson and he specifically wanted to talk about how we can defend our families. Of course he talked about all of the oft repeated areas where we need to defend our families, but then one of the things he said really impacted me because I had never thought about it in this way before.
He said that we need to protect our children against the fear of the world. We need to make sure that our kids are given the hope that they need in order to grow their faith and charity. When he put it that way it made perfect sense, but I had never thought that one of the things we need to do is give our families hope in order to protect them.
Hope is something that is really missing from the world now days. And yet given the results of the last election it is obviously something that we crave so much that we are willing (at least the majority) to vote for someone just for mentioning the word often.
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