Before I woke up this morning, I remember listening to a voice mail my mother left me coming from an engram of my mind.
Happy Mother’s day America…!
I grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas, and I can still hear my father say; “Bill …;” he used to say; “…you have to learn to live within your means …” to which I dared never reply; “Whatever..!”
In this regard, I remember talking back to my mother once in my father’s presence and …I confess, I don’t remember much after that …that is, until after coming to again …and finding myself on the floor.
Today, on Mother’s Day …with all due respect, I would ask that you join me in saying that a private conversation, such as this …is now publically long overdue …that is, in respect to our nation’s handling of its Public Debt …principally, before it cold-cocks all of America into tomorrow.
Talk about moving America forward…! I dare not say; “Whatever …!”
Well, today …I have now lived in Wichita, KS for over 13 years, and I can still hear my father lecturing me on the wisdom of handling debt with great respect …a subject which he was always careful to weave into the context of his many lectures regarding the benefits of approaching financial moderation with careful regard …some of which included the topic of carefully planning growth and expansion which invariably fell on my inattentive …but not deaf ears.
I can still remember going with him on a few of his road trips to audit his offices. He loved singing and playing the piano …practicing songs of Kiwanis as we traveled to our destinations.
Growing a business is a lot like running a race;’ he would say; ‘…more like a marathon rather than a sprint. Run with patience…” Going on, he would add; if you are going to have any hope in experiening success, you will have to lay aside every weight in rder to make your course an easier battle to …debt notwithstanding.
But, alas …this was long before my work took me to live and work in Europe for nearly 10 and a half years where I had the time of my life working as a field service avionics technician.
During this incredible opportunity that many only dream of, I lived in various countries …living on the economy …all the while, being paid in US Dollars.
For this reason, I took a keen interest in the exchange rates …seeking to fully understand what affected my Dollars’ strength and their purchasing power.
I credit my heightened interest in this regard to a period which extends far back in time, long before I left the states to work abroad in support of a US Military Intelligence program. As it were, in this early part of my like, my father had grown his finance company from one home office, which he had opened in 1947 …into a business which included 18 satellite additional branch offices in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma until …at which time, it was acquired by Wachovia Bank in the 70’s. From this milestone, he went on to serve as an active member of a local bank’s board of directors while also serving as their President in Charge of Branch Operations.
As such, I never questioned the extent to which my father’s financial background had influenced me. I simply took my growing keen interests in these matters for granted.
Nevertheless, in time …more of the pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall into their places, sharpening my perspectives which provided the answers to the questions regarding what all was at play to affect the exchange rate of my host countries’ banks which exchanged my dollar for their currency.
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall which subsequently was followed by Russia’s abrupt abandonment of their former Soviet Satellites; I came to live and work in southern Hungary at a time where the newly reformed Hungarian economy was being ravaged by rates of inflation in excess of 30 percent.
For a Historical Chart of Hungary’s Inflation, see the above embedded link in “…Hungarian economy.”
(Unfortunately, for copyright purposes, I cannot reproduce it here at this time.)
This further kindled the spark of my interests in economics …interests which my father’s brother, Robert E. Landman …the protégé of author and Yale University Sterling Professor …James Harvey Rogers …had shared as an economist while working overseas for the State Department in the 30’s.
A tragic plane crash claimed the lives of both Landman and Rogers while on State Department assignment in 1939.
In turn, my father’s influence provided the necessary motivation which encouraged my brother to attend Wooster College where he received a degree in Economics.
So, after I returned to the States with all of my experience’s economic zeal, I channeled my culture shock’s energy into writing themes, letters and essays to express my personal thoughts and comments which I blast out to all of the Anchors/hosts of each of CNBCs’ daily segments …while also doing the same in regard to each of all of Fox News’ respective anchors/hosts. Additionally, I included all of the members of The Wichita Eagle’s editorial staff …being careful to also selectively target approximately 50 high value home owners who I knew would naturally take a heightened interest in all things which pertain to and would likely be taken and seen as to what might likely affect an individual’s right to engage and participate in ownership of private property. Admittedly, I grew up in cocooned country club environment (Prairie Dunes Country Club) where most all my father’s peers owned their own businesses. Literally, very few people I grew up around worked for anyone else but themselves.
Being that today is Mother’s Day, I suppose that it altogether fitting to note that, although my father’s father died when my father was three; it was his mother’s influence which influenced and provided him with the greatest guidance.
Great women seem to do this.
And …as it was that his mother was a widowed school teacher, my father began working to help support her as soon as he turned 12. And although my father came from rather modest and meager means; fostered by his mother’s family background …with her influence, he fell in love with the challenges, incentives and rewards which the American Dream promises to those who are willing to choose to embrace hard work and the responsibilities which are part and parcel of one’s dreams which fuel and feed an individual’s esteem and high regard for an inspiring independent spirit.
He once wrote me a poem which thoroughly articulated the doged spirit of his determination.
He saw, recognized and pursued these opportunities …believing in those precepts which only true liberty can afford one who is willing to make certain sacrifices.
That was available in Hutchinson, KS. That was the spirit which was also fiercely fostered there in salt …in mining …in commerce …in banking …and in agriculture, craft and education …a spirit which was kindled in its people notwithstanding.
As it happened, my Boy Scout Master was also Dillon’s former CEO, Paul Dillon. My Senior Patrol Leader was Dave Dillon, who would in turn; follow his father Paul to become the CEO of Kroger’s.
That was just a sample of my perception of Liberty in this microcosm of America. Expanding on this, Kansas culture furthermore formed the setting of my perspective of the world. For me, that microcosm of Liberty began with Hutchinson, Kansas …and propelled me into the world …not fully prepared to appreciate what I would leave.
Nevertheless, as it were, in returning home from Europe after so long, I guess it was a little presumptuous of me to expect that I would be returning to some similar resemblance of the former slice of Americana which I had left behind.
As such, I was instead …a little taken back by a certain unmistakable widespread manifestation of a disconnect …one which seemingly had cast a net over the one I knew. And it was if Home sweet Home had been covered by a vast numbing net which left a great number of Americans captive …asleep at the wheel …as it were.
Looking back on my homecoming, I can only say that I remember wondering then, not whether or not something had happen …but what had caused the derail of the America that I had left some ten years before..?
I feared for America …and I was a little more than obnoxious in this regard.
Lucky for me that Grace abounds all the more to cover me and my family …for the most part.
Then, for one, I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Instead, I was in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Nevertheless, I found myself fighting a growing sense that something wasn’t right. There was just something that felt curiously different to make me realize that I was a fish out of water …one outside looking back into a glass bowl at a spreading pandemic illness which was taking hold of America. But what it was, at the time …I just could not put my finger on it. Still, I knew something had changed in my absence while in Europe …and it was wrong.
Then, slowly …my understanding revealed what this spirit was.
Case in point, the ever-so-often repeated phrase “…Whatever…” and the acronym “TMI” are those which had become chic …both having become extremely popular by the time I returned from Europe.
As it were, I began to wonder how these expressions had worked their way into the vernacular of the day and how they so had taken root to work and to form such a strong, pervasive makeup of the mindset-Americana of this period.
And while I considered myself every bit an American, still …”WHATEVER…” AND “TMI” …they just struck me as being strangely foreign. I simply had never heard them all the time while I was living and working in Europe. So, naturally …I had a difficult time understanding both …let alone, grasping the full extent of their far-reaching wider socio-economic implications …those which more and more …I came to take as a phenomenon which curiously had formed a certain asocial popular mindset.
And just like the challenge I had taken to heart in the experiences of wrapping my mind’s eyes around understanding what all may come into play to affect a foreign currency’s rate of exchange and the unusual nature of what causes had fueled the outrageous rates of inflation which I witnessed ravage Hungary’s fledgling economy; I knew that there was something which more than suggested that there was something disconcerting which needed to be discerned and cast out in what I perceived and took as being somewhat sinister, dark …something which was lurking beneath the surface of these seemingly benign, cute expressions’ outer covers.
As I said, while in Europe …I had heard neither of these expressions used even once. For all that time I spent in Europe, I simply enjoyed a more certain ease and luxury of entering into conversation …so much so that I had literally grown accustomed to expect this luxury’s ease and approach whenever I choose to enter into conversation. In fact, in Europe, as it were, I came to take for granted that I could easily engage in conversation such that I could not have realized how spoiled of a continental lifestyle I would be leaving behind in returning to America.
That all changed radically the moment I returned though.
I mean to be patronizing, but I must honestly say that …I found it ever so more easy to embrace conversation in the comfort which Europe afforded me …so much so …that, even when it came to the most remote strangers …whether it was in simple casual passing …or in more complex and intriguing longer-lived conversations …I could always count on connecting and engaging.
For example, I could visit a cafe, a restaurant or a bistro and easily find myself instantly caught up in a stimulating conversation …particularly with perfect strangers …regardless as to what the topic might be.
I just came to find that the Germans were just that eager, apt and so inclined to engage in great conversations. They just seemed vigorously interested in sharing and discussing what all might pertain to and affect their community, their state …their nation and or any number of other subjects at play on the world’s stages …those sorts of affairs which had unavoidably real socio-economic implications.
And it were …I came to take this norm for granted. In Germany, conversation was a thriving organic state of mind …of being …and I felt connected. And I guess …I took it all mostly for granted; not realizing that I was being both fed and spoiled at the same time.
As such, wherever I went, I found the majority of all Germans to be extremely well read, well informed and just as willing (as I said) to be ready to embrace a mature discussion ….almost as much as they were liable to embrace the next fest …like, Wine Fest, Kraut Fest …Onion Fest …Mayor’s Fest …The People’s Fest …Spring Fest …Fest Fest (among many others …just to name a few) …all at the drop of a hat.
But it was not to be so here …here where it was …or should have been ever so near and dear to me …in my return to where I call home …my expectations somehow fell short of what I had hoped it would be.
Instead, I found a land enthralled with …of all …in almost all things, taken by “WHATEVER…!”
After returning, I soon discovered this otherwise condition …ever so widespread …what came to form the bottom line of my widening realizations …the sum total of an entire culture shock that I just found impossible to swallow.
And it was then that I found America, as it were …to be a land of a growing number of people who had become cocooned and complacent …too busy to be bothered by anything else …save for doing their own individualized personal thing. And then, I found that …that “Whatever …!” thing did not make much room for conversation outside of me.
That is to say; Me, myself, I …mine …my own thing …don’t you know? And I will have a second helping of Self …Rock Chalk Jayhalk …KU. But …in this last regard …alas, I digress …but such is the nature of Social Relativism.
But seriously, it didn’t take long to hit me. And although, I was home; I was not in Kansas anymore …nor was I in the cocoon of any number of community-minded municipalities.
Perhaps, nothing had actually changed …no, perhaps …nothing but my own slice of pie …the sum total of all that which has made my mind’s eye’s perspective see 20/20 more clearly.
Nonetheless, through the lens of the Sixties’ perspective, didn’t people tune in …turn on and drop out?
That was some trip, huh?
Well, then …why not couldn’t it be that, in the Ninety’s …it was as if, for example; “…whatever …!” and; “…that doesn’t really affect me, and I’m not really interested in that.” “So, please just leave me the F#A@#$ alone …” be equally a viable tell tale sign that the nation …as a whole …was ailing.
If the shoe fits, should one wear it…?
My what nice shoes my Pretty…!
There’s no place like home …no place like home …no place …no place like “Whatever …”?
No place like “Whatever …!” witches’ zen freefall…that is unforeseeable …that is to them who are either blind and asleep …or mearly caught up in the presence of an illusionary hallucination.
As for me, I found myself rejecting and shunning this social phenomenon. It was just too much of an unnaturally strange pattern for me to comfortably accept. I perceived took it for what I believed to be …a form of an asocial isolation which served principally as a defense mechanism of sorts, for at the time …I had never the time to consider meaning nor the impact that Social Relativism might carry forward on a socio-economic stage.
When it is so widespread …this sort of disconnect can only be taken as a red flag.
And then, something shocking happened …Columbine.
And then I knew I had the tip of an iceberg …a confirmation of that thing which I initially couldn’t quite put my finger on. As it is, I have come to see that there are naturally more contributing factors …many more which are conspiring together to steel, kill and destroy the spirit American’s Liberty. But what of the greatest granddaddy of all …the one which receives the least attention …and almost “Whatever…” no room in the national conversation…?
Put succinctly, I put light on the US Federal Public Debt. And I call upon all who will to engage in a conversation as to how we may …might and should deal with this single most insidious factor which has been unleashed to ravage and marginalize the American Citizenry.
Our nation’s Public Debt is the one factor which ironically has been freely and obsequiously serving to enrich a politically power-greedy blind elitist minority’s regimen of our nation’s professional ruling aristocracy.
To call this back into conformity and alignment with constitutional norms, I believe that only by amending and instituting TERM LIMITS and adopting a Comprehensive CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM will “We the People …” be able to once again adequately address “WHATEVER …” CAN POSSIBLY sustain a manageable healthy Public Debt …FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF ALL …AND NOT JUST THOSE FEW ELITIST WHICH HAVE RUN THIS THING BEYOND THE LIMITS OF FREEFALL.
So, I call all to adequately address this thing once and for all …for if we do not, Liberty’s freedoms will not have long to ring …united or divided.
As such, I sort of now see this social disconnect as a widespread populist withdrawal …one which has relinquished hope …one which curiously too often also has taken to following “Whatever…!” …wherever that was leading to when I first encountered it …one which …coincidently …I also heard just about three times or more each day following each of my encounters with what …? Tat’s right; you guessed it! Now you are likely getting “…Whatever …!” it is that I am talking about.
That’s right! So, whenever I heard someone say; “…Whatever …;” half of the time …I also heard it punctuated with a certain acronym which NBC’s Saturday Night Live had helped to popularize in many of its numerous skits.
In fact, I often found myself wishing I had a dollar for each time I heard someone not only use the “Whatever” word …but then also …one when they followed in mopping up their initial indifference by saying; “…that’s TMI..! It doesn’t affect me. I am not the least bit interested. So …leave me the %$!@ alone.”
Literally, it seemed that, at that time …I could just about count on hearing both used together …fifty percent of the time. That’s no exaggeration, for after hearing the “…Whatever…” word …it was a natural like thing …adding insult to injury, or like …rubbing salt in an open wound.
So, what is or had the nature of character become …culture?
And what of ones fate…? Hope? Not hardly me thinks.
As a result, of these oft repeated encounters so widespread …I soon found that I could no longer accept this attitude of indifference. So, I took to writing e-mails …and spinning my own cocoon. After all, that was the way of building a vide Americana …to push back against what I perceived to be a largely missing will to accept …let alone, take responsibility more than merely sidestepit.
Yet, the more I followed the news; the more I began to realize that this cocooned attitude and its spirit of indifference extended into many realms where performing due diligence, accountability and oversight was also missing. It was almost as if an illness had woven its grip’s impression onto the very thread, into the fabric and what all made up the entire quilt of America’s institutions and their composition.
It was as if I had returned to a house of cards.
And it was not as if my impression of this illness was limited to just one household …but had become an infestation which had affected America from the least to all of Her institutions …in every dimension …on every stage …and at every level.
Can you say; thorough…?
The mindset of “WHATEVER…” was like a moth and the rust which doth so easily corrupt.
And so, after I had taken up writing for a spell, in almost no time at all, I realized that these media’s outlets’ talking heads were literally borrowing my stuff …using my material to form many of their sound bites …all of which emboldened and encouraged me all the more. So, I continue to write.
And so, I pushed back all the more against most of that which struck me as being mostly mindless, liberal drivel …those things which obviously were counter intuitive to the better interests which make up the bulk of private ownership.
Without hope …in hopelessness, those opposed to Liberty’s freedoms will always seek the ways and means which destroy …steal, kill hope and divide the spirit.
After four (4) years of tireless writing …while approaching the run up to 2010 Mid Terms, I could no longer contain myself. And so, it was then that I realized that I needed to reach more people and do so through some means which would establish a distribution whose cover would spread effectually well wider beyond those ivory towers among those …in the media …against whom I had been pushing back.
So, I guess it was only natural that …going into the midterms, I would realize that I had been seriously limiting myself by simply blasting out my emails to the media heads of their respective networks daily segments.
It was then that I decided that I needed to make plans on putting up a blog site …hitting on the name Geoblography.
As it were, in the early summer of 2010, I went for it, and put up the most plain-jane vanilla theme which would support a modest blog that would allow me to begin writing. And in this way, I wrote …sometimes as much as three or more times a week at …. https://www.geoblography.com/
Geopolitical, Financial and Economic Trends in Perspective.
Since then, though my writing has progressively slowed down a great deal, nevertheless …my passion for all things geopolitical, financial, and economic still burns within my heart with even greater zeal …as it is the case that America has greater need to realize that She has been too long …way too complacent and altogether far too blind to realize the actual magnitude of the very real and very tragic threat which debt presents to America and its security …both now and for generations to follow.
I firmly believe that National Public DEBT …as it now stands at +$19.25 trillion, ironically represents the largest contributing resource which has built out a stairway to both power of a few elitists and those they have relegated to a legacy of overwhelming unspeakable poverty.
So oppressive it is that it is no wonder why I found it impossible to enter into conversation beyond the barriers of the likes of “Whatever …” and “TMI…”
As such, I also firmly believe that our Nation’s Public Debt is become the granddaddy oxymoron of all times …the very one which currently rests atop all of the government’s many former contenders and pretenders to the thrown …those such as military intelligence …just to mention one.
Public Debt is without question the undisputed king of the hill in that regard.
It is the self-serving hope of all politicians while, simultaneously serving to destroy the hopes and dreams of the entire nation’s citizenry …not to mention those others lives throughout the world which America’s debt mismanagement manages to also adversely affect.
It is the Mathew 23 of political power …the opportunity to lay heavy burdens upon men’s’ shoulders while not even so much as being willing to offer to lift a finger to lighten their loads.
As in regard to your (Peter G. Peterson Foundation) foundation’s work in support of all the organization’s which you support, I would like to thank you (? Perhaps …maybe not) for taking painstaking efforts to fight hard a long overdue battle in standing against this evil and for relentlessly doing whatever it takes in heralding the warning cries.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Fix_the_Debt
Therefore, dare I say; “…Keep up the good fight …;”?
To answer this, I say instead; “…you shall know them by their fruit…”
Regardless, to all subterfuge …I must turn and say the more; “America …may you never tire in your relentless pursuits of what will break the shackles of this snare …the addiction which has mortgaged our nation’s future by reason of the insanity of our public debt’s plight.
And may you America, encounter nothing but unity to pave the most efficient way to good success in what all needs must manifest the spirit of what regards Liberty …in, by and with relentless courage so as to never again lose sight of the great foresight and vision required to leave behind a more true and genuine wake to speak well of our nation’s legacy and the hope we now ought to hold and safeguard for those who will never inherit our waste …and our shame.
And may our fingers never more point to those we ought to be encouraging and never those even who have historically engaged in rounds of never-ending blame.
No, I salute the resolute stand any and all Americans who will and who have decidedly taken to actively opposing the ignorant hurt by those whose political greed wantonly seeks to leverage debt for power’s sake …only to wantonly also promote a devastated land of undeniable weakness and poverty …an oxymoronic paradox if ever there was one which dares to stand to speak of hope and moving America Forward …that in which furthers the continuance of its divided paths’ failures which have offered nothing but the height of hypocrisy …offering no workable solutions but excessively increasing burdens which do nothing but reflect a failing regard which has chosen esteem for power beyond the decent considerations which otherwise have cast aside regard for the greater consequences of the increasingly debilitative costs and associated burdens which poor public policy have added to the shoulders of America’s citizenry.
Hypocrisy is the pursuit of Debt-heightening self-service.
As it has been said; vision without execution is hallucination.
In this, America has become the patient addicted by her ruling class injections.
Let us therefore, join in prayer that our execution be strong and resolute in divine might …one worthy to demonstrate the love and the determination of our commitment by holding true to the performance and execution of Liberty’s responsibilities in observing the details of due diligence …the degree to which more than adequately may best respect the sacred high responsibilities which are worthy of the calling to provide and summon adherence to the constitutions’ limitations which are designed to help and to defend our Lady Liberty’s freedoms. As it is written; Where the Spirit of the Lord is; there is freedom. That Spirit transcends Liberty …chief progenitor which sustains all of the many other freedoms which embody the grace of Liberty’s common spirit.
As it is written; “whosoever shall say unto this mountain; “…be thou removed and be though cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in their heart …they shall have whatsoever they say.”
That remarkable statement is the single greatest embodiment of the spirit of faith …an immutable spiritual law which transcends all barriers and is independently applicable to all races, religions and creeds.
It is Liberty’s guiding principal upon which this nation’s founding promise was set forth like a peculiarly rare and precious gem …set up, consecrated to this notion which was to be carried forth in such a coveted manner so as safeguard the guaranty that all mankind would forever have equal access to Her freedoms …and in that, to have bold access unfettered and unshackled restraints imposed by such a tyrannous nation which has now …too long now …grown entirely so all too accustomed to the detriments of debts …one which is become so unsustainable so as to make this faith the tail rather than the head She and Her peoples were purposed to be.
Should “…We the People …” then, merely choose to mouth this simple law of faith, or shall we hide it in our hearts and do something more noteworthy than by espousing faith in mere lip service?
Let us therefore, draw closer to our nation with our hearts …
Let us never again turn our backs on the land on which God shed His grace.
Let us make up our minds never to desecrate it ever again with the stench of unmanageable and unsustainable debt …the debt which we have despicably placed on the backs of our youth and future generations.
So, let us resolve to do what needs to be done in order to stand in the gap to repair and mend our land so that we may not only be the ally of our youth, but also so that America can also be the best ally and friend any other nation could hope to have in standing against tyranny.
After all, no one wants nor needs another bully. For if history has taught us this, it is that bullies usually come in twos and threes.
What this lesson means is that this world needs leagues of heroes …not zeros.
After all, hope builds up …whereas hopelessness tends to tear apart and divide.
In this simple understanding, let us resolve …in all things, to unite in thanksgiving …as one nation and one people …to cast this public debt thing into the sea.
And whereas the mountain is huge like the debt; in closing, I say; keep up the good fight…!
Better to tear down the mountain than one another, for there is one simple way and no others.
It is simple. We either tear down the mountain, or we tear down one another.
One way we all have hope to prosper and the opportunity to heal our land.
That’s a simple way to win. And there is a simplistic way to do so.
On the other hand …we have only the assurances of a single guarantee we will most assuredly all lose everything together.
In fighting our nation’s public debt, I am with your foundation’s work efforts all the way …all the way to the finish line …God willing.
Let’s be honest about this though. God’s will favors a people who make Him their hope …not a candidate.
So, let the freedoms of that wholehearted belief in Liberty reign in reflections of our every deed …our every word …and in our every action, for legacy of Liberty is not a hallucination …it is the sound execution of a plan worthy of a love for such which yields it fruit in due season.
Let’s plan on planting and harvesting a bumper crop …openly …with the well-oiled lamp of esteem for knowledge and wisdom …in all transparency …so that all who have chosen to be …are also those the prepared who may participate and experience the opportunity to take the understanding …some 30 …some 60 …and some 100 fold given them.
Let us acknowledge what we lean on.
May it be taken …when it is given …debt free.
Until then, good luck …with mere luck.
But above all …do so WHATEVER as my father might say …to try to live within your means.
I’m trying