Sole Proprietor Patriot

2010-11-05T21:29:00.001-07:00

I noticed something amazing recently.

I was at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for parents' day, my daughter is a 2nd classman 1st Sgt there.

Anyway, the whole Corps was marching down from Barracks to the stadium for the football game, down the street which they stop to traffic for 10 minutes, and into the stadium. Then the band played the star spangled banner.

A bunch of loud, silly teenagers were walking past me towards the stadium. You know how boys and girls are at this age -- loud, cutting up, showing off for each other. Trying to outcool each other.

But in the midst of that adolescent silliness, 2-3 of them heard the national anthem being played. And they motioned to the other 5-6 to stop, be quiet and remove their hats.

Once the anthem was over, they continued their sillness and cutting up.

It almost made me want to cry. I have been so worried, so alarmed, about where this country is going the last few years. I worry that the nation is going to disentigrate and never again will be great.

Then I saw these kids engage in a spontaneous act of patriotism and it gave me chills. Kinda like I get when I hear the Neil Diamond song America. That's right. I love that song. I love this loud, brash, wonderful, patriotic country.

Maybe we're going to be alright.

Hubert and his 78 or 83 Mouths

2010-10-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hubert the Unemployment Bunny is down in the dumps after today's unemployment report. We're stuck at 9.6% unemployment after 20 months of Hope and Change Government Hocus Pocus.

"Patriot," he's asking me, " I'm worried. I have 78 mouths to feed. Or is it 83? They all run together. It's a hell of a lot. Anyway, what's the government going to do? Keep pouring money down a rat hole?"

That would probably be precisely the case, Hubert. The president and his staff are a bunch of Ivory Tower leftists with not a whit of business experience among them. But fortunately for you and your scores of little mouths, the president and his crew are going to get mauled on 11/2. There just might be some real hope and change on the way.

Why the Golden Age of 100% Government Run Health Care Will Fizzle

2010-10-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

The Golden Age of 100% Government Run Health Care will never be.

That'd be because Americans are not the French. Or the Germans. Or the Swedes. We kick ass. We are not going lie down and allow the government health care freight train to run us over.

You see the evil black pistol at above left? That is a Glock 28, in .40 caliber Smith and Wesson. That little beauty I strap on my left hip every time I ride my bike.

I ride a long way. Often 30-40 miles out in the sticks. When you get that far out, bad things can happen. Dogs attack. Asshole drivers run you off the road. Prick teenagers shoot you with pellet guns. Being a good ole American, I don't take kindly to being victimized. In fact, it pretty darn well pisses me the hell off. So I carry a lovely little firearm just in case the world turns unpleasant.

Not too many Europeans would ever consider being in the same zip code as a Glock. It's second nature for many Americans. We don't much appreciate being victimized, trampled upon, or, say, having the Golden Age of 100% Government Run Health Care crammed down our gullets. We are gonna fight this tooth and nail. And ugly it is going to get. Good. Ugly we Yanks can handle.

PATRIOT

Ted the Government Health Care Unicorn Has a Question

2010-10-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Ted the Government Health Care Unicorn galloped by this morning. He wonders when exactly the Golden Age of 100% Government Run Health Care is going to start.

I'm not sure, Ted, but it will probably be hastened by more health insurance companies such as this closing its doors.

Call me a cynic, Ted, but I reckon some of this health insurance companies going outta business deal is somewhat intentional. This should make your little horn glow with pleasure, because the more health insurance companies that close, the more likely your Golden Age of 100% Government Run Health Care is going to begin.

However, Ted, there is one little item standing in your way, and the president's way: AMERICAN ARE NOT GOING TO PUT UP WITH BEING THROWN OUT OF THEIR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE AND DUMPED INTO THE GOLDEN AGE OF GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE!!!!!

You see, Ted, Americans are not sissy Europeans. More on this later. Go eat some magic oats, Ted.

PATRIOT

Not hiring. But developing rapport with cartoons!

2010-10-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

You win, Mr. President. I'm not hiring. I'm not expanding. I'm sure as hell not spending. I'm conserving cash. Business is slow, so I have time on my hands. Thus I am developing my relationships with assorted cartoon characters!

Heath the Government Stimulus Wolf has been asking me, "Patriot, am I going to get to keep my health insurance if I like it?"

Not likely, ole pal, not likely.

PATRIOT

I am the President's ATM

2010-09-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

I don’t think the president has any idea who I am. He thinks apparently I am an ATM.

I am a sole proprietor. I work in my basement. I work by myself. I make my money through a Website that sells a product/service in the pharmaceutical industry. It makes pretty good money for my family and me.

I took damn big risks to get here, because I thought the possible reward was worth it. And it was.

It gives me a very nice little life. I work when I please. I bike 20-30 miles per day when most people are sitting in offices. I go for a run when I like. I walk the dog when the feeling strikes me. I take a nap around 1 pm sometimes because I am tired.

And, more importantly, because I make more money than I did 5 years ago, I buy stuff that employs other people. I contribute to the economy in very concrete ways. A lot more than if I were still an office drone.

Let me be specific - in 2008 when business was a booming, I bought: 2 flat screen TVs, a BMW, 2 computers, a Lowes pressure washer, finished my basement, bought some nice Costco jewelry (they have NICE stuff) for the wife. And that’s off the top of my head.

My point isn’t to boast about what a rich big shot I am (footnote, in this economy, my revenues are 50% or less of 2008). No, I’m trying to point out that when I make money and am allowed to keep it, something fascinating occurs: I BUY STUFF.

Yes. I buy stuff that other people make. I buy stuff from ‘little’ people who do construction, put together things, make electronics and cars and so on. This sort of activity grows an economy. Take that money from me in taxes…..well, I guess you can argue that the government will do something better with that money.

But if you take another 7-8% from me, I guaranfreakingtee you I won’t be buying as many tvs or pretty diamond brooches for the wife.

Anyway, back to how I got to here - to get to the point where I’m making good money in my basement by myself, I had to take risks. Specifically, in 2004, I quit my full time job as a writer for a real estate company in Fairfax, VA, and took freelance jobs. I already had a mortgage and a family at this point. This was a big freaking risk, friends.

Then in 2008, I had to borrow $50,000 to buy the website. Another sizable risk.

Why did I do these things? Well, a big part of was I just hated working for other people. Sitting in a cubicle all day, the commute, bosses and so on.

But the other big reason was I wanted a better life and income for my family. I wanted to be making 200-300k per year, not 50k. To achieve this, you have to take chances. But to take chances, there has to be a tangible reward, a benefit for the risk.

And this is what I mean when I say this president doesn’t know who I am.

He does not seem to understand that by using people like me as an ATM to fund his agenda, he is discouraging risk taking. He discourages the next guy in Washington DC – the guy making 43k per year in a dead end job in communications. He wants something more. He hates riding the freaking Metro every day next to the lady who clips her nails. He can’t stand listening to the gossiping and the backstabbing in the office. He really despises his boss who makes him write his MBA writing assignments. He wants to make more money, work for himself. He wants to be buying a BMW (which helps employ people who build BMWs). But if he does not see enough reward, he won’t take the chance as I did.

There are a LOT of potential sole proprietors out there. People who COULD have a much better life, make potentially a LOT more money, and contribute MUCH MORE to our economy, and buy stuff as I have. But if you make it too hard for them, tax the crap out of the risk takers, make it so the reward isn’t worth it, they will stay right where they are. In some crappy job making crappy money next to a lady who cracks her gum and talks to her computer all day. He won’t go for it, because it’s just not worth it.

This president does not know who I am.

Returning the Bust - What a Bust

2010-09-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

As many readers know, in February 2009, President Obama sent a famous bust of Winston Churchill back to Great Britain. It had sat in the Oval Office since 9/11.

Now since that time, I can think of approximately, oh, 27,434 things that this president has done that irritate/horrify me. Items such as the takeover of our health care system and wasting $800 billion on a stimulus (58 jobs were reportedly created out of $120 million stimulus dollars in Los Angeles) tend to take precedence in my mind.

But returning the bust was and is a big mega deal. It could have been quietly parked in some obscure corner of the White House. But no. This president wanted to make a statement. I’m not completely sure what that statement is. He hates Great Britain? Beats me.

But one thing I know for sure – the next president, whoever he or she is, really needs to make a major PR event out of placing that bust of Churchill back in the Oval Office. Ask the British government for the bust, and then conduct a nice little photo op with the media and put that bust back in the Oval where it belongs.

I think this would be a super thing to do, and would really help the ratings of the new president. Here’s why .

We feel that some of the traditions of America are under assault, they want us to be something we are not. Me, I’m a shy person, I’m not the kind of guy that wants all the attention at a party. I don’t go around introducing myself to strangers. The thought of it horrifies me. I’m not going to be that guy, no matter what my wife says or wants. It isn’t me. And if you try to make me that person, I get pissed off and I’ll fight you.

In a similar vein, I think this president wants us to be something we are not. Our roots are with Western Europe, Great Britain in particular. We have a natural affection for them, and they for us, I’d like to think. Trying to break that bond does NOT break that bond at all. It simply angers and frustrates Americans, who feel our leaders are pushing us to be what we are not.

I think many Americans would feel a great bond and affection with a new president who once again recognizes and embraces our close relationship with Great Britain. And the small gesture of placing that bust in the Oval would do just that. On camera, please.

Being defined by a negative

2010-03-05T08:48:00.000-08:00

I see the president is visiting a small business in VA today. Pushing 'clean jobs.' What's the first thing to come to my mind? That he seems to care far, far, far more about 'transforming America' with a radical Congress on health care and environmental issues than he does about seriously slashing unemployment.

This is a big problem for him. I think a LOT of people feel this way, given how far he has dropped in the polls the last 6-8 months.

Obama has come to be identified largely by a negative stereotype - radical who doesn't care about the recession.

Just as Bush, right or wrong, came to be identified with an unpopular war.

Diane Sawyer and Active Avoidance

2010-03-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

Briefly clicked past Diane Sawyer reading the news on CBS tonight. First time I've seen a regular evening news broadcast in years.

I don't merely not watch mainstream news because it does not interest me. I make an active, conscious choice not to watch it to punish those behind it Why? Because I feel they have a lack of respect or outright contempt for many of the views of regular Americans.

Their contempt for us is a major reason why they are circling the toilet bowl in the Neilsons.

Mainstream journalists should be aware that their contempt for their audience makes millions of people ACTIVELY avoid their garbage sold as 'news' to punish them. Maybe they should at least pretend to have respect for limited government, tea party people etc?

I'm More Likely to Become a Ballerina Than For Obamacare to Pass by Reconciliation

2010-03-03T05:30:00.000-08:00

People who just catch snippets of news -- a headline here, a brief TV report there -- might think that there is some momentum behind the push to pass Obamacare by reconciliation. It's an illusion. Our DC leaders may well be dumb as a bag of hammers but they understand the media. Throw a few confident-sounding quotes into the media every day and maybe people who aren't paying attention will think this thing is going to pass.

It isn't. They don't have the votes. The bill is dead. They just don't know it yet.

People wearing Che t-shirts should be publicly humiliated

2010-03-02T13:09:00.001-08:00

2010-03-02T04:07:00.000-08:00

Warren Buffet says Obamacare needs to be redone and focused on cutting costs above all else. Debt is damaging the economy.

It's becoming fashionable to say America will never be the economic top dog again. China is where it's at, some say. I don't believe this. I strongly believe the freedom and values of the American people make us the best economic engine on earth.

But our leaders are grotesquely failing us in Washington. Spending and entitlements need to be dealt with. Soon. And the last thing we need is another $1 trillion+ entitlement paid for with borrowed money.

Dems: Debt, Schmedt: We Prefer the Land of Unicorns and Rainbows

2010-02-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

Bernake states that Congress better get its fiscal house in order QUICK or a fate such as Greece's awaits us.

And yet some continue to debate the addition of a $1 trillion+ entitlement to our debt obligations.

Unicorns and rainbows are much more fun to think about for our politicans than slashing spending.

Fall on Your Sword

2010-02-28T12:04:00.001-08:00

Nancy Pelosi tells moderate Democrats to pass Obamacare and lose their seats in November.

So those safe in the rear tell the front lines to engage in a frontal assault in broad daylight. I wonder what the front lines have to say about this?

Political Death March Through the Valley of Reconciliation

2010-02-28T08:26:00.000-08:00

Lamar Alexander states today that the GOP will campaign to repeal Obamacare if it passes by reconciliation.

As I said yesterday, if they do pass it via reconciliation, Katie bar the door. It's gonna get ugly for Democrats and liberals.

2010-02-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Red State guys agree with me. The opposite reaction to the passage of Obamacare would probably include a pledge by the GOP to repeal it and enact sane health care reform in the next Congress. I'm sure they can figure a way to repeal it due to the huge public opposition to it.

An Equal and Opposite Reaction

2010-02-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

Andrew McCarthy at National Review's Corner states yesterday that the president knows and doesn't care that the Democrats are going to get killed in November from Obamacare.

For them, they are happy to pay that price to 'transform America.' Because such a program would be very difficult to repeal, goes the argument.

I see the point, but look: The passage of Obamacare via reconciliation would be a shocking political action in the face of strong public disapproval.

I think for that strong ACTION, there would be a difficult to comprehend REACTION from mainstream America.

No one imagined in January 2009 that the president would cause the Tea Party movement to spring up. And look where it is today.

If Obamacare passes, look for serious public revolt. Lawsuits and legislative action at the state level are certain. And what else? I don't know. But I know this - most Americans don't want a European welfare state on these shores.

And again, the Obamacare action will absolutely guarantee an equal and opposite reaction. Bank on it.

Nobody's there and the MSM yawns

2009-03-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

We keep hearing over and over that the president has many vacancies in the Treasury Dept. under Tim Geitner. But according to this report, on a blog no less, Obama has appointed just 73 people to 1,200 jobs that require Senate confirmation. But the president seems to find the time to have parties several nights per week and pose for magazine covers.

Question -- Why is it that the mainstream press is not making the connection between the president's extracurricular activities and the empty job posts? Why does it take a blog of all things to make this connection?

And last -- would the mainstream media have failed to make this connection if the president were, oh, I don't know, a Republican Texan?

And people are surprised that major news outlets are going the way of the 8-track?

Wow I sure feel better now.

2009-03-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

It turns out that President Obama didn't have something up his sleeve when he was a bit rude to the British prime minister last week. No, he's just overwhelmed. Swell.

I guess the whiz kids from the Windy City don't have all the answers for the economy.

I think they have a big thing to learn yet -- the United States economy isn't run like a Chicago ward from the precinct HQ.

Obama's "Mission Accomplished" Moment?

2009-03-07T05:55:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the president traveled to Columbus, OH to tout his stimulus package. Apparently some of the funds from the $800 billion were used to save the jobs of 25 Columbus policemen/women.

This event was heralded on a day when it was announced by the Commerce Dept. that the unemployment rate spiked to 8.1% and another 700,000 or so jobs were lost in Feb.

Towards the bottom of the story, one discovers that these 25 officers may end up losing their jobs next January. The stimulus money is going to run out by then.

So I ask two questions - are the creation of temporary government jobs -- even police officer jobs -- really what is going to get the economy rolling again? Is that result really worth the massive debt we are taking on?

Just because I like the graphic so much

2009-03-06T16:20:00.001-08:00

The beginning

2009-03-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's starting - the beginning of the broad public perception that the president is not helping the economic situation. The polls are generally not showing this yet, which causes some consternation in conservative circles.

I think there is a rational explanation for it. People rally around the president in times of trouble. Many forget that President Bush's approval rating topped over 90% after 9/11. It continued over 60% through 2003.

It is going to take time for all of the terrible economic news, and Obama's often puzzling responses to it, to filter down to public opinion polls.

But there is no doubt that plunging economic numbers are beginning to raise doubts.

The first time I heard it

2009-03-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

It was March 5, around 6:25 pm EST. That's when I finally heard a pundit from the media say she wondered if Obama is taking on too much too early.

Nah, you think?

Right now, my take on our national priorities are - reforming the entire health care system, reforming Social Security and Medicare, reforming/transforming our energy policy, fighting global warming.

And oh yeah - combating the worst economic crisis in most of our lifetimes. Did I miss something there?

The great conservative economist Thomas Sowell once said that there is a reason why radical socialists can so often be found on college campuses -- there their ideas can always stay theoretical and don't have to prove themselves in the marketplace.

Well, we now have a radical college professor without any real experience outside of "community organizing" rabble rousing who has the authority and power to enact radical ideas thought up at the coffee house on the college green in 1974.

Obama's style so far has the feel of an arrogant college kid with 'big ideas' who has never had to deal with the real world of markets and economic realities.

Obama seeks economic advice from someone with no economic experience

2009-03-06T10:47:00.001-08:00

Yet another summit has been convened at the WH today. This time it's one featuring young 'business leaders' to solicit their ideas for the economic crisis. One of them is CEO Ev Williams, the founder of Twitter.

Note that Twitter is handy and popular, with 6 million members.

One small problem.

It doesn't make any money.

So a 'community organizer' with no economic experience is asking a CEO with no economic experience how to save the economy in the worst recession in 70 years.

What I am not purchasing in the Obama Bear Market

2009-03-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit of an astronomy buff. With some of the success I've had in my online business, I've been debating buying this -- the Celestron CGEM 1100 - 11” Schmidt Cassegrain on CGEM Equatorial Mount. It's $3,000.00.

Now if I bought that, I'd also need a 12 v battery pack to run it. $100. And 3-4 1.25" eyepieces. Call it $100 each.

So in normal times I would have sent Celestron around $3500, or $4,000 if they collect sales tax.

This is one of the purchases I am putting off indefinitely. Obama has scared me with his radicalism. With his endless babbling about health care and cap and trade schemes in the midst of a terrible recession.

A big reason why things are getting markedly worse is that people are not spending money. Obama is contributing to fear and panic by not focusing like a laser on the banking and financial crisis.

And guys like me with money in the bank are delaying major purchases. I have seen the future by watching Obama in action and it ain't looking bright any time soon.