The ant and the grasshopper
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I’m not a great fan of Obama, nor am i saying by posting the story, that he is a sh*tty leader. I just thought it was a good commentary on the general tone of our current government. Time will tell what is bourne out from this, its way too early.
But to say that Obama had anything to do with causing this recession, is ridiculoous.I have lost 3 clients, but I have gained 22. I unlike the rest of america bought into the media hype. But my hype was that people were looking for new advisors so I better prospect in full force now. And it worked, so yes some original assets are down, some are not, but I have 22 new accounts that cause my assets to rise way above last year before the crash. So I am up.
I think sometimes the policy that makes the frontpage attempts to justify why it is important to us and how it will change us, but for the most part it doesn’t change how I operate. Sure sometimes my taxes change depending on the policy of the current administration or congress, but I think in the end I pay my fair share and won’t complain about living in the US because i could live in Yemen(not too many advisors there I would think).
On Sports comment about a leader… I don’t think we can accurately judge a leader until time has passed… How many thought Lincoln was a leader when the Civil War started or even ended, but we look back at him as one of our great presidents… Ullyses Grant was a drunk, but he won a battle and became president, don’t really hear about the drunkness unless you have to do a college paper on him… Thomas Jefferson and his illegitamate kids from slaves, yeah it’s out there but that is not what we are told in history class in grade school.
I think to make a blanket statement that these three presidents haven’t affected your life is myopic. First, on the small stage, two of the three changed your income tax rate. That affected you one way or another. On the big stage, two of the three presided over the deregulation of the markets. On the plus side that probably helped you buy your house and at least gave you a great deal on a car. On the negative side it played a leading role in the collapse of the markets. If nothing else, your 401k is affected and your house is worth less. And on center stage, one of them changed our foreign policy to diplomacy with a gun, starting a needless war, while letting our true enemy get away.
That may be myopic, but to assume the Iraq war was needless and that it let the true enemy get away is myopic as well.
Our true enemy is anyone, any group or any country that would benefit or enjoy our destruction or pain.
As an aside, we did NOT let bin Laden get away. Why do you think that? What would have allowed us to capture or kill him? Do you know where he is?
I’m genuinely curious.
Houses in my area are selling for slightly more than they were two years ago. I don’t have a 401k, but my IRA has done fairly well.
But I agree that there have been changes. And that they affect certain THINGS. But I am not living my life or running my business any different. But that’s just me - and apparently chief.
[quote=Moraen]That may be myopic, but to assume the Iraq war was needless and that it let the true enemy get away is myopic as well.
How so? What benefit did the Iraq war achieve?Our true enemy is anyone, any group or any country that would benefit or enjoy our destruction or pain.
As an aside, we did NOT let bin Laden get away. Why do you think that? What would have allowed us to capture or kill him? Do you know where he is? Really? Are you sure we didn't let him get away? Why did we declare war on Afganistan? Wasn't it the home of the heart and head of our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda? Wasn't our goal there to destroy Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, all terrorist training camps, and capture or kill their leaders? Has that happened? No it hasn't. Instead the enemy grows stronger. Why? How is it that the best trained, best equipped, most powerful military force the world has ever known is unable to achieve its stated goals? Are we dealing with a cleaver and cunning foe? Are we out gunned? Are we out manned? Are we out smarted? All the above? Everyone knows the answers to those questions. However few want to admit it.
I'm genuinely curious.
Houses in my area are selling for slightly more than they were two years ago. I don't have a 401k, but my IRA has done fairly well.
But I agree that there have been changes. And that they affect certain THINGS. But I am not living my life or running my business any different. But that's just me - and apparently chief.[/quote]
“Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society” Oliver Wendell Holmes…
I figured out a while ago that the more I make the more i pay in taxes, however the more I make the better lifestyle my family gets to have.
Bondyguy you are right my SEP is down and so is the value of my house, but what I mean by that is doesn’t affect me is that, I don’t need either right now, I have many years until I can take from my SEP and I don’t plan on moving for quite some time.
So by not affected I was referring to my everyday life.
[quote=BondGuy] [quote=Moraen]That may be myopic, but to assume the Iraq war was needless and that it let the true enemy get away is myopic as well.
How so? What benefit did the Iraq war achieve?Our true enemy is anyone, any group or any country that would benefit or enjoy our destruction or pain. As an aside, we did NOT let bin Laden get away. Why do you think that? What would have allowed us to capture or kill him? Do you know where he is?
Really? Are you sure we didn’t let him get away? Why did we declare war on Afganistan? Wasn’t it the home of the heart and head of our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda? Wasn’t our goal there to destroy Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, all terrorist training camps, and capture or kill their leaders? Has that happened? No it hasn’t. Instead the enemy grows stronger. Why? How is it that the best trained, best equipped, most powerful military force the world has ever known is unable to achieve its stated goals? Are we dealing with a cleaver and cunning foe? Are we out gunned? Are we out manned? Are we out smarted? All the above?
Everyone knows the answers to those questions. However few want to admit it.
I’m genuinely curious. Houses in my area are selling for slightly more than they were two years ago. I don’t have a 401k, but my IRA has done fairly well. But I agree that there have been changes. And that they affect certain THINGS. But I am not living my life or running my business any different. But that’s just me - and apparently chief.[/quote] [/quote]
BondGuy read my response to Bill Singer’s post under “Legal”. It talks about the gains in Iraq.
I’m sorry you feel that we didn’t achieve much. But from my experience being there, I feel we did quite a bit.
We were never trained for this type of combat. The type of war we’ve been trained to fight has been Vietnam until recently (after 2004 by the way). If you’ve ever read FM 7-8, you can tell that the battle drills contained in there do not match up with the war we are fighting. We were not outgunned. But we were out-experienced, because they have been fighting in that terrain for decades.
We didn’t let him get away, because we didn’t know where he was. Have you ever been to Afghanistan? Climbed mountains? It’s damn difficult terrain to even walk in, let alone look for someone.
The enemy is not nearly as strong as it used to be. We here in the U.S. just didn’t know how strong they were. Sitting cozy in our nice lifestyles, where even the “poor” among us have TV’s and cars.
Remember Operation Anaconda? A brilliant tactical success.
Our goal was not to JUST kill Al Qaeda, but ALL terrorist organizations. You can say what you want, but the Iraq war helped with that. Besides, how many have we killed? Al-Zaquari is dead isn’t he? Did you really think when Bush said, “This is going to be a long war, and not finished during my presidency” that he was perhaps joking? Perhaps he decided that he would trick 'em with that line.
By the way, are you sure he’s in Afghanistan, or even Pakistan? I’m not.
BondGuy - I’ll defer to your wisdom in this business of ours. I think you know a lot and have been through a lot. However, I have looked terrorists directly in the eyes. I have fought them. I know their hatred. Something that we cannot comprehend here.
Despite what the news and pundits on either side say, we ARE winning this war. Will we lose battles? Will we makes tactical blunders? You bet. But we are WINNING.
[quote=Moraen] [quote=BondGuy] [quote=Moraen]That may be myopic, but to assume the Iraq war was needless and that it let the true enemy get away is myopic as well.
How so? What benefit did the Iraq war achieve?Our true enemy is anyone, any group or any country that would benefit or enjoy our destruction or pain. As an aside, we did NOT let bin Laden get away. Why do you think that? What would have allowed us to capture or kill him? Do you know where he is?
Really? Are you sure we didn't let him get away? Why did we declare war on Afganistan? Wasn't it the home of the heart and head of our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda? Wasn't our goal there to destroy Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, all terrorist training camps, and capture or kill their leaders? Has that happened? No it hasn't. Instead the enemy grows stronger. Why? How is it that the best trained, best equipped, most powerful military force the world has ever known is unable to achieve its stated goals? Are we dealing with a cleaver and cunning foe? Are we out gunned? Are we out manned? Are we out smarted? All the above?
Everyone knows the answers to those questions. However few want to admit it.
I'm genuinely curious. Houses in my area are selling for slightly more than they were two years ago. I don't have a 401k, but my IRA has done fairly well. But I agree that there have been changes. And that they affect certain THINGS. But I am not living my life or running my business any different. But that's just me - and apparently chief.[/quote] [/quote]
BondGuy read my response to Bill Singer's post under "Legal". It talks about the gains in Iraq.
I'm sorry you feel that we didn't achieve much. But from my experience being there, I feel we did quite a bit.
We were never trained for this type of combat. The type of war we've been trained to fight has been Vietnam until recently (after 2004 by the way). If you've ever read FM 7-8, you can tell that the battle drills contained in there do not match up with the war we are fighting. We were not outgunned. But we were out-experienced, because they have been fighting in that terrain for decades.
We didn't let him get away, because we didn't know where he was. Have you ever been to Afghanistan? Climbed mountains? It's damn difficult terrain to even walk in, let alone look for someone.
The enemy is not nearly as strong as it used to be. We here in the U.S. just didn't know how strong they were. Sitting cozy in our nice lifestyles, where even the "poor" among us have TV's and cars.
Remember Operation Anaconda? A brilliant tactical success.
Our goal was not to JUST kill Al Qaeda, but ALL terrorist organizations. You can say what you want, but the Iraq war helped with that. Besides, how many have we killed? Al-Zaquari is dead isn't he? Did you really think when Bush said, "This is going to be a long war, and not finished during my presidency" that he was perhaps joking? Perhaps he decided that he would trick 'em with that line.
By the way, are you sure he's in Afghanistan, or even Pakistan? I'm not.
BondGuy - I'll defer to your wisdom in this business of ours. I think you know a lot and have been through a lot. However, I have looked terrorists directly in the eyes. I have fought them. I know their hatred. Something that we cannot comprehend here.
Despite what the news and pundits on either side say, we ARE winning this war. Will we lose battles? Will we makes tactical blunders? You bet. But we are WINNING.[/quote] We should just ask Windy. He has him as a client.
[quote=SometimesNowhere] [quote=Moraen] [quote=BondGuy] [quote=Moraen]That may be myopic, but to assume the Iraq war was needless and that it let the true enemy get away is myopic as well.
How so? What benefit did the Iraq war achieve?Our true enemy is anyone, any group or any country that would benefit or enjoy our destruction or pain. As an aside, we did NOT let bin Laden get away. Why do you think that? What would have allowed us to capture or kill him? Do you know where he is?
Really? Are you sure we didn’t let him get away? Why did we declare war on Afganistan? Wasn’t it the home of the heart and head of our sworn enemy Al-Qaeda? Wasn’t our goal there to destroy Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, all terrorist training camps, and capture or kill their leaders? Has that happened? No it hasn’t. Instead the enemy grows stronger. Why? How is it that the best trained, best equipped, most powerful military force the world has ever known is unable to achieve its stated goals? Are we dealing with a cleaver and cunning foe? Are we out gunned? Are we out manned? Are we out smarted? All the above?
Everyone knows the answers to those questions. However few want to admit it.
I’m genuinely curious. Houses in my area are selling for slightly more than they were two years ago. I don’t have a 401k, but my IRA has done fairly well. But I agree that there have been changes. And that they affect certain THINGS. But I am not living my life or running my business any different. But that’s just me - and apparently chief.[/quote] [/quote] BondGuy read my response to Bill Singer’s post under “Legal”. It talks about the gains in Iraq. I’m sorry you feel that we didn’t achieve much. But from my experience being there, I feel we did quite a bit. We were never trained for this type of combat. The type of war we’ve been trained to fight has been Vietnam until recently (after 2004 by the way). If you’ve ever read FM 7-8, you can tell that the battle drills contained in there do not match up with the war we are fighting. We were not outgunned. But we were out-experienced, because they have been fighting in that terrain for decades. We didn’t let him get away, because we didn’t know where he was. Have you ever been to Afghanistan? Climbed mountains? It’s damn difficult terrain to even walk in, let alone look for someone. The enemy is not nearly as strong as it used to be. We here in the U.S. just didn’t know how strong they were. Sitting cozy in our nice lifestyles, where even the “poor” among us have TV’s and cars. Remember Operation Anaconda? A brilliant tactical success. Our goal was not to JUST kill Al Qaeda, but ALL terrorist organizations. You can say what you want, but the Iraq war helped with that. Besides, how many have we killed? Al-Zaquari is dead isn’t he? Did you really think when Bush said, “This is going to be a long war, and not finished during my presidency” that he was perhaps joking? Perhaps he decided that he would trick 'em with that line. By the way, are you sure he’s in Afghanistan, or even Pakistan? I’m not. BondGuy - I’ll defer to your wisdom in this business of ours. I think you know a lot and have been through a lot. However, I have looked terrorists directly in the eyes. I have fought them. I know their hatred. Something that we cannot comprehend here. Despite what the news and pundits on either side say, we ARE winning this war. Will we lose battles? Will we makes tactical blunders? You bet. But we are WINNING.[/quote]
We should just ask Windy. He has him as a client. [/quote]