Five Cents Worth

Trumps Executive Order: Protecting the Nation

2017-01-30T21:23:00.001-05:00

Here is the actual text from Trumps Executive Order: Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.

I'm so sick of the misinterpretation of President Trump's executive order on Immigration. I've heard several news agencies naming several countries whose citizens have been banned by "Trump", but if you read the entire executive order and the actual Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) 8 U.S. Code Part II - Admission Qualifications for Aliens; Travel Control of Citizens and Aliens, particularly Section 1187 called out in the executive order, which by the way was enacted way before President Trump entered office, it only lists 2 countries (Iraq and Syria). Here's the caveat: it specifically calls out Iraq, Syria, or "Any Other Country or Area of Concern". It states "the alien has not been present, at any time on or after March 1, 2011 - (I) in Iraq or Syria; (II) in a country that is designated by the Secretary of State..."

So, where do all of the other countries come from that the media is talking about. Well, interestingly enough, they came from the Obama administration. A CNN article stated, "In December 2015, President Obama signed into law a measure placing limited restrictions on certain travelers who had visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on or after March 1, 2011. Two months later, the Obama administration added Libya, Somalia, and Yemen to the list, in what it called an effort to address 'the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters.'"

Okay, so it wasn't Trump who directly chose these countries. The law was already written and the vetting problem in America is still broken. The president just wants a more secure entry program into this country that will help prevent terrorists from entering the country. He wants a good review and implementation of a vetting program that works can be proven. That includes a thorough review of the INA and other related legislation so your interests can be protected from potential terrorists. Unfortunately, people from the countries previously identified by the Obama administration as potential threat countries are unable to enter the country until this review process is complete and the law is adjusted accordingly so we can better defend our borders from terrorists.

Further more, Trumps executive order made no mention to Muslims, unlike several media outlets that put "Muslim ban" in their headlines. Once again, liberal media is throwing things way out of proportion to cause riots, unrest and protests world wide. Must be their revenge from being called out by Trump with their "fake news".

Stand by your country and stand by your president. Don't let big media fool you into believing what they want you to believe in. Do your own research. Read the laws. If you can't, go find another country and stand by them. We don't want or need you here.

Who's Looking Out for Federal Employees

2016-03-18T16:27:00.002-04:00

"The President’s FY2017 budget request seeks $3,865,000 in appropriations for expenditures for former Presidents, an increase of $588,000 (17.9%) from the FY2016 appropriation level."

I'm not saying this because he is trying to squeeze one in before he leaves, but look at other pay increases along with this budget. Government employees didn't get a 17.9% pay raise. In fact, they haven't had a significant pay raise in a long time. In Dec 2015, he issued an executive order for a 1.3% pay raise for Federal Employees. REALLY! Oh, and 2014 and 2015 pay raises were 1%.

What is inflation right now? About 1.5% in the last 4 years (2015 was actually -0.09 though). It's currently 1.37%. That means the government employee raise doesn't even cover current inflation rate. And what about the rise in the cost of health care? That was a little over 6% this past year. And according to the Milliman's index, prescription drug prices were expected to increase by 13.6%. Mortgage rates are down, but rental prices are through the roof.

The Federal Times said "the last time federal employees received a pay raise above 3% was in 2009 when the feds got a 3.9 percent pay raise." Keep in mind, this did immediately follow "several years of pay freezes".

So, the President himself knows the pains of "cost of living" and has adjusted his pay accordingly. But what about those who keep the country running? Who's looking out for them?

If they are thinking about shutting down essential organizations to save a dollar or two, start at the top. Does he really need the money? With the consulting fees charged by past President's and their wives, they don't even need the lifetime President's pension let alone more of it.

US Default Looms - What Would Default Look Like

2013-10-04T07:48:00.002-04:00

US Default Looms! So, what would default look like if the congressional team can't come to some kind of resolution? With the government shut down and worries spreading across the United States about the future, word about the US going into default, we need to understand exactly what that means and why it can be very damaging to our economic standing in the world.

If the debt ceiling isn't raised, which the GOP leader and President said isn't an option, the country will surely dip into this unsure territory. But what is the real issue that caused the government shutdown and how can it be corrected?

The only way to correct the problem within the government is to draft and approve a working budget for the country, period. The shutdown is not because of Democrats or Republicans or Obamacare, it's because the country has no budget to go by that is approved by the President, the Senate, and Congress. Bob Corker PolitiFact.com said in a 9-22-12 The Truth-O-Meter Says article, "For fiscal year 2003, the Senate, under Democratic control in 2002, failed to pass a budget resolution of any kind. For fiscal years 1999, 2005 and 2007, the House and the Senate failed to reconcile their different bills and pass a compromise measure. In these latter three cases, the Republicans were in the majority in both chambers of Congress."

This statement alone says it's not a political party problem because both Democrats and Republicans can't seem to come up with a good budget. The clear problem is that the United States simply has too much debt and they have lost control of their ability to manage it.

So, what would default look like? Why can't the US seem to balance it's budget?

Read the article What Would Default Look Like from Yahoo news to get a good idea about what will transpire if the Government falls into default.

Health Care Treated Like Car Insurance?

2013-01-23T10:36:00.001-05:00

There's talk on the street that the ever popular health care is going to be treated like car insurance by some United States firms. What exactly does that mean?

What are they going to do, raise your rates if you get sick or hurt just like car insurance companies do when you get in an accident?

Not exactly. But health care providers don't generally reward its premium holders with cheaper rates when they remain healthy. Should they?

Read more on how "Some U.S. Firms Start to Treat Health Insurance Like Car Insurance on Fox Business News.

One Shot Deal to Get Bin Laden

2011-05-17T07:31:00.002-04:00

This is a great article with lots of details on the attack that took down Bin Laden. Too bad we can't trust Pakistan with a mission such as this, especially when we rely on that area for the push toward thwarting all terrorism. Bravo Zulu to the SEALs!

Navy SEALs Knew Bin Laden Mission Was One-Shot Deal

Retirees Hit By US Debt Limit

2011-05-16T10:31:00.001-04:00

Well, the US finally met it's debt limit today and guess where they are going to borrow the money from to hold it over? You guessed it. The Federal Pension Funds. Another smooth financial move to make matters worse for the country.

Read the story below:

US to Hit Debt Limit, Will Dip into Pension Funds - CNBC

Mother Gives Botox to 8 Year Old Daughter!

2011-05-13T15:56:00.000-04:00

This story is a little creepy. If your 8 year old daughter came up to you and said "I want Botox injections" out of the blue, what would you do? I would love to hear your comments on this post.

Watch the story on Yahoo news

By the way, does anyone know what botox is? Botox is actually a poison or toxin that is created by certain bacteria during food poisoning (botulism).

Here's another good reason not to administer Botox to a child without a doctors advice or knowledge:

"To date, at least sixteen deaths have been attributed to the use of botulism therapy, four of them in children. One of the problems uncovered is that the dosage per unit of various botulism products varies widely; a less-than-alert practitioner could easily administer a fatal dose when using an alternate product. At least one death has been recorded due to systemic botulism from a severe overdose of injected toxin." Read more about children and the dangers of Botox with children.

Stop Looking for Others to Blame! Donald Trump Feeling the Love!

2011-05-13T13:03:00.005-04:00

People are blaming Donald Trump for their ill investments. Just because a developer used his name (paid him to use his brand), doesn't fault Trump in the deal. Apparently, the deal went bad and some of the projects didn't complete. Many people lost millions of dollars. They are trying to blame Trump for "misleading" them into buying into the brand because of his name. True, they bought into the brand, but they need to be suing the developers for failing to complete the project.

The only reason Donald Trump pulled his name off of the projects (even after he was paid) was because he saw them failing and as a smart invester, got out while he was ahead.

People who lose need to stop looking for others to blame when it's their own sound judgement that got them into the predicament in the first place.

Read the artcle from CNBC below:

The Deceptive Practices of Donald Trump - CNBC

Reward Increases Productivity!

2011-05-12T09:32:00.000-04:00

It's a well known fact that reward increases productivity. It works for the Navy. When you dangle the "liberty" flag in front of them "if they get their task done", it gets done in record time and usually better quality if no motivation is used. Of course this only works with a salaried worker who can work 1 hour or 20 hours and still get paid the same. So, what do you do for that hourly worker? Give them a reward for accomplishing their work. Send them home early but pay them for that last hour. Give them a longer lunch.

Harvard did a study on this and you can read it by visiting:

Careers & Managing: Employee Productivity—Win Their Minds, Not Their Time — CNBC Executive Careers - CNBC

The Terminator's Marriage is Terminated

2011-05-10T12:45:00.001-04:00

Apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have been talking about separating for quite some time and finally dropped the bombshell yesterday. The two after 25 years of marriage are calling it quits with no apparent hard feelings.

Read more in the Fox News Article 'Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wife Maria Shriver Separate'

Osama bin Laden is Dead!

2011-05-02T08:23:00.000-04:00

Osama bin Laden is Dead! Great job to the Hampton Roads based Seal Team for a job well done! Now the big question - will this end terrorism and al-Qaida or will it just cause more terrorist activity in retaliation. Regardless, the world is now a better place.

Please post your thoughts on this.

Libyan Troops Issued Viagra?

2011-04-29T06:41:00.001-04:00

Even in war, some things are just plain wrong. This man and his regime have to be stopped. They are terrorists and are terrorizing their own people, showing the world who they really are.

Libya: US Says Gaddafi Troops Raping, Issued Viagra - CNBC

The 91-Year-Old Woman Selling $60 Suicide Kits

2011-04-28T14:06:00.000-04:00

A 91-Year-Old Woman Sells $60 Suicide Kits? I can't believe she got away with it as long as she has. She sold over 1600 "kits" to people contemplating the unthinkable. If Dr. Kavorkian can't do it, what makes Sharlotte Hydorn think she can do it.

Suicide is not the answer. Find ways to get help, don't just call it quits. Let people know how you feel and ask for help.

New Obesity Treatment Shows Twice as Much Weight Loss

2011-04-27T07:17:00.001-04:00

According to Fox News, New Obesity Treatment Shows Twice as Much Weight Loss. It's a strange combination of drugs, especially since I took one of those drugs for migraines.

Doctors today aren't trying to cure the problem, they are treating it with expensive drugs, that, when taken away, will most likely cause all of your weight to come back double-fold. People can't afford to take the drugs that are altering their body's chemistry even more than the toxins they are dumping into their bodies everyday.

Learn how to restore your body's own ability to lose weight and maintain proper healthy function so you don't have to be dependent on prescription drugs and you will see a big difference. There are better ways to keep that weight off than drugs.

Can a tight budget help you pay off your credit card debts fast?

2011-04-25T21:34:00.001-04:00

Can a tight budget help you pay off your credit card debts fast?
by Erica Smith

For most people in the US, the thought of following a budget brings devastating thoughts of penny-pinching and crunching numbers in their minds. Most Americans love to hate a budget and this is the most obvious reason behind the surging level of national credit card debt. No American uses a credit card payment calculator to determine his total debt amount while opting for an option that can make them debt free. According to most financial experts, a budget is the secret to financial freedom.

A budget is the base of all financial foundation and without it you're most likely to drown in credit card debt. As credit cards can trash your credit score and make you completely unworthy of getting new lines of credit, you must always make sure that you follow a tight budget to pay off your credit card debts fast. Here are some steps to follow in order to be able to pay off your credit card debts fast and become debt free.

1. Create a frugal budget that can be followed: You must create a tight budget that eliminates all kind of unnecessary spending on items that you can do without. Make sure you keep a close watch on the amount of money that you make each month and the way you're spending that money. See where each penny goes and make improvements if you think that you're spending in unnecessary places. Frugal living is the ultimate secret to financial freedom. Live within your means and follow a tight budget.

2. Save enough money: Without boosting your daily savings, it is almost impossible for you to pay off your financial obligations. With the rising commodity prices, it is pretty difficult for someone to make ends meet until he goes through a salary hike. The only way he can become debt free is by saving at least 10% of his monthly income. As per a survey done by some financial experts it has been seen that 2011 has seen a large number of individuals who have started saving 8% of their monthly income. This is a positive sign for the US economy.

3. Stop using your credit cards: If you want to get debt free sooner, you need to make sure that you stop using your credit cards. The more you use your cards, the more you dig yourself deeper into the debt hole. Lock them in your cupboard and go shopping with cash.

4. Trigger paying off your debts: As you gain positive results through your saving efforts, you must start triggering off your credit card debts one by one. You can start with paying off the high interest rate debt first and then concentrate on the accounts with lower rates. This will facilitate your debt repayment procedure.

Thus, after going through the concerns of this article, you must have been intrigued by the necessity of following a tight budget to pay off your credit card debts fast. Determine the debt amount by using a credit card payment calculator and save money according to your needs.

New Black Panthers gearing up for "National Day of Action"

2011-04-22T21:00:00.001-04:00

Black Panthers gearing up for 'National Day of Action' -National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com Funny how anti-racist groups are some of the most racist people you hear about. Please stay away from these demonstrations and protests, especially if you are a clearance holder. Read the full article to see where they will be protesting.

The Problem with the United States Budget!

2011-04-20T22:27:00.000-04:00

'The Problem with the United States Budget' is an article by Jason Moser and his thoughts on the way the government is handling its responsibilities. He has taken several personal finance classes in college as well as creates budgeting materials for his own budget.

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Instead of figuring out how to trim the deficit with pointless cuts here and there that barely even scrape the dirt at the bottom of the deficit, how about figuring out how to bring in more revenue to pay off more debt each year!

In a Fox Business News article called 'Only in America: More Debt to Avoid Fiscal Meltdown', the government is contemplating a very critical decision on a catch 22 situation that could go bad either way. In one direction, the government will pretty much default on all of their debt and all of the world's powers will lose all confidence in our ability to pay them back. In the other direction, by increasing the debt limit, the government will be able to simply increase the deficit even more.

Congress is going about it all wrong. The financial think tank is thinking like a multimillion dollar business instead of like a family with a huge buget. Thought the United States is a huge government, it is still one budget. How difficult could it be to:

A. Stop borrowing money.
B. Stop spending more.
C. Raise more income.
D. Lower the debt.

Think about the budget from your prospective. What would you do with your personal budget if you were in a situation where:

A. Your income is $100,000.00
B. Your spending is $150,000.00
C. Your liabilities total $750,000.00
D. Your net worth is $250,000.00 not including this year's income

In this example, most of your earnings doesn't go to bills. You pay the minimum on all of your credit cards and loans and practically everything you purchase is on credit, not cash.

What would you do to solve the problem?

Well, the first thing you should do is shred every single credit card you have. Closing all of the accounts is not smart, but requesting lower limits doesn't hurt. Your credit score will go down if you close all of your credit card accounts at the same time. But, you must get rid of the source of credit, the cards and the numbers you use to make your purchases.

The second thing you should do is assess your budget and see where you are going wrong. The first problem is that you are spending more than you make. The second thing is that you owe more than you are worth. Those are the obvious problems. Now you have to dig deeper and find where you are spending that keeps widening your debt (eventually you will run out of credit). You are going out to eat way too much, you pay top dollar for the best services (doctors, dentists, lawyers, hair dressers, therapists...), you have to have the newest cars, largest boats, and biggest house. And the five i-phones for your household are a must. You have people cut your grass, prune the bushes, and even wash your car. You are rarely home, but all of the lights, televisions, computers, and appliances stay on constantly. And everyone must own a car in the house, sometimes two of them. Wow, there are a lot of things that can be trimmed down to control your spending.

Third, figure out exactly where all of your money is going. You must know all of your bill outflows as well as all of your miscellaneous living expenses. Bill outflows are your utilities, mortgage, auto loans, cell phone bill, store charge cards, credit cards, and personal loans. These bills generally have a minimum payment or a set monthly payment. You must know how much you must pay on all of these to not get behind. If you are paying minimum payments, you are owing more and more every year on interest alone. If you make interest only payments, your balance will never go up or down so the debt will never be paid off. For your miscellaneous expenses, you must know how much you pay for gas, food, entertainment, medical, health, and everything else that consumes your money each month.

Now that you know where all of your money is going, you need to make a budget plan to actually trim down your unnecessary expenses and bills at the same time.

Before I go on, you can see where this is going to get cumbersome with the United States Government. Can you imagine how many pages of income, expenses, liabilities, and assets the government has? How can anyone simply review the budget and come up with any kind of solution?

The forth thing you need to do is to get the entire family on board with the plan. If any one part doesn't do their part, the plan will quickly fall apart and the old habits will be reenacted. Discuss the plan with all parties and reach an agreeable decision. Getting a family of four or even ten is easy. Getting an entire congress full of democrats and republicans to all agree on the same budget is near, if not, impossible.

Once everyone is on the same page and agrees to the budget plan, you must take action on the budget plan. Your goals are to increase income, lower miscellaneous living expenses, creatively raise bill payments to pay the higher interest liabilities off faster while still paying down the other liabilities, and not incure any new debt until the original debt is paid off.

Now how easy is this? Very, very painful. But necessary to avoid financial collapse. Some people will simply bail out and take the bankruptcy road, trying to erase all of their debt that way. This may work to an extent, but it is backfiring on you in the long run when companies raise their interest rates or prices to make up for the lost money from your bankruptcy, of course costing you more every month.

Unfortunately, our government can't just bail out and file bankruptcy. But they can do something about the debt in question. But unfortunately it will take some time to go through the thousands of financial statements and pages of budget proposals to even think about a solution. Here's some quick fixes the government could do to help in some of the budget areas:

A. RAISE MORE INCOME! Create a FLAT TAX! Here's some statistics from a CBO Study: "Middle-class households that earned between $34,300 and $141,900 paid 50.5 percent of all federal tax revenues in 2007 (the most recent year analyzed), according to the CBO study released Thursday, and households that earned between $34,300 and $352,900 paid 66.7 percent of all federal taxes.

"Households in the top 1 percent for annual income (those earning more than $352,900) paid a healthy 28.1 percent of all federal taxes, but households in the lower income brackets paid relatively little. Those earning less than $34,300 paid only 5.2 percent of all federal taxes, and those earning less than $20,500 carried almost none of the federal tax burden (just 0.8 percent of the total) in 2007." That's a pretty large spread of tax burden among the income levels.

From low income to super wealthy, everyone pays the SAME tax rate every year for every dollar they earn. This is easy. Go to the IRS, erase every computer hard drive they have, get rid of every tax program out there, and start over. The 14EZ form will be super easy for everyone; 4 lines total. One for total income, one for the amount you were actually taxed throughout the year (which should be 15% lets say for all earned income from a job), a line for how much tax you should owe based on all income sources, and how much you still owe. Nothing more. Sign it, send it in and you are done. Simple as that. If someone doesn't pay their taxes, put them in jail or make them pay double to stay out of jail.

Another thing they can do is stop importing oil and other commodities that we have readily available right here in this country. Exporting is highly encouraged, but no more importing until spending is under control. This may hurt the world economy right now, but they aren't really watching our backs right now.

B. STOP BORROWING MONEY. If you look at the rate at which the United States borrows money, you would fall over dead. They need to stop. If they have to borrow money, just like with normal every day citizens, then they don't need it. If they don't have enough to attack a country, they shouldn't attack the country.

C. STOP BAILING OUT BANKS AND OTHER COMPANIES. Worrying about the economy and trying to be the do all save all is what is killing this country's economy. Stop giving away billions to failed companies. They failed because they didn't run their business correctly. This is what really added to the deficit in the past three years, especially when none of the companies are really paying it back.

D. STOP WASTEFUL SPENDING. This is a big one that the government put themselves in trying to help businesses who provide items via a stock system. When the government shops around for the lowest price, it's not necessarily the lowest. If you buy a toilet seat a Lowe's, you may pay $22.00. The government, because the item is tracked with a special stock number, will have to pay around $200.00 for the same toilet seat. Get rid of the stock system all together and purchase everything on the open market. Stop paying hundreds for dollars.

E. FIRE SOME OF THEIR EMPLOYEES. I know this will hurt the job market at first, but there are way too many people working in the government that are really considered unnecessary. By unnecessary, I mean sit on their butts all day everyday not really doing anything. With all of the pay increases for all of these government employees (including military), the amount of people (too many people) that get paid isn't supporting these increases in the overall outlook of the budget.

This is a great start that will definitely help the United States in their quest for a lower deficit. What is trimming four trillion dollars off of the country's fourteen trillion dollar deficit, especially over a twelve year period. Our country has to do something right now as the debt continues to grow through interest payments alone before all of the other nations in the world who we owe debt to bail out of the dollar and leave us high and dry to lick our wounds.

6 Year Old Brings Gun to Kindergarten in Texas

2011-04-20T12:23:00.000-04:00

Gun control freaks are going to jump all over this one but there is only one set of people at fault for this one. A 6 year old boy in Houston, Texas brought a gun to Kindergarten, accidentally dropped it and shot himself as well as two fellow students. Is it the child's fault who is barely old enough to spell his name?

No, it's the ignorant parents that left the gun laying around in the first place.

If you have a gun, keep it locked up. Don't even tell your kids you have it, which means don't play with it in front of them. If they do know about it, there are locks you can buy to prevent the trigger from being pulled. If you want your 6 year old to know you have a gun, TEACH them about the safety rules. They are in the learning stage of their life. They will understand. Show them what the gun can do, that it's dangerous. Then tell them to stay away from it. Previous rules apply. Lock it up.

I have been around guns all of my life and I understood at a very young age the importance of gun safety. I never played with the guns in my house, even though I knew where they were and how to get to them. It's all about being open with them and teach them how to handle the gun, when to handle the gun, and set the rules of the house.

It's not the gun that kills, it's the idiots who own them that kill.

Support NRA and your constitutional rights before these idiots totally ruin it for everyone.

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

2011-04-18T20:13:00.000-04:00

The following is the best debt clock in the world. Shows all of the important numbers our budget is facing in the United States. U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Nicolas Cage Arrested!

2011-04-18T08:12:00.000-04:00

Actor Nicolas Cage and his third wife Alice Kim had a little spat 16 April while in New Orleans. Click the link above to read more and post your comments on my blog.

Damage Reports in the Hampton Roads Virginia Area

2011-04-16T22:27:00.000-04:00

Damage reports in the area on Wavy 10. Storms cruised through the entire Hampton Roads area this evening causing severe damage by high winds and tornadoes. The lightning here in Chesapeake, VA was constant for a good hour. Lots of much needed rain too.

Nearly Half of U.S. Meat Tainted With Drug-Resistant Bacteria

2011-04-15T13:47:00.000-04:00

Scary but true, almost half of the meat and poultry in the stores have deadly bacteria, most of which is resistant to antibiotics. Very interesting article, Nearly Half of U.S. Meat Tainted With Drug-Resistant Bacteria covers an intense study done on the subject. To set you at ease, this bacteria is easily killed with proper food management.

Post your thoughts to this article below.

Two Major Soaps Canexed by ABC

2011-04-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Two major soap operas are being cancelled by ABC. 'All My Children,' 'One Life to Live' will be no more this coming fall and winter. The world really is coming to an end. I remember when these shows were chugging along when I was a kid...at least 30 years ago. Daytime drama will never be the same.

Express your thoughts.

The Guy Who Says He Owns 50% of Facebook Just Filed a Boatload of New Evidence—And It's Breathtaking - CNBC

2011-04-14T09:36:00.000-04:00

The Guy Who Says He Owns 50% of Facebook Just Filed a Boatload of New Evidence—And It's Breathtaking - CNBC. I love this article. Why on earth wait almost six years to file a lawsuit. He claims he forgot about the contract, but how do you forget something that is in everyone's face for three or four hours a day? I guess it has to be greed then. He only apparently invested $2000.00 in the development of "the face book" project. But 50% (or more) share of the company six years later is worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

Post your comments.

The Debt Bomb Is Coming Due!

2011-04-13T12:20:00.001-04:00

CNBC Money and Politics Blog — Larry Kudlow: The Debt Bomb Is Coming Due — CNBC.com US Economy and Politics - CNBC. The real truth is not to increase your credit limit, it's to lower the spending to lower the balance on your current limit. What happens when most people raise their credit card credit limits? They tend to spend more money and misuse that credit. What do you think the government will do if they raise the debt ceiling (credit limit)?

Post your comments on this story.