FFM

I watched Mitt Romney’s speech in Detroit and found it to be a standard campaign speech telling the audience everything he will do for them and stating why Obama needs to be fired. This was the case until the very end when someone asked him his concerns about China's growing economic power. His answer was interesting. He said he welcomed the competition that China provides on the economic front; however, he would demand that they compete fairly and comply with international trading rules. Per Romney, they are allowed to manipulate their currency and steal our technology secrets. "They are good competitors, and like all good competitors , will take every advantage they can get. As long as we allow it, they will continue doing so" , Mr. Romney said.

We have the tools to substantially reduce this nations gas bill. It requires no drilling or exploration for new oil. It does not cause any inconvenience. It fact, it will be more convenient. It is time to unleash the new technology that we all use in our daily lives. It is the Internet, Skype, PCs, video cameras, texting, headphones, microphones and clouds.

" The public school, Mr. Santorum said, arose “when people came off the farms where they did home-school or have the little neighborhood school, and into these big factories, so we built equal factories called public schools. Education reformers on both the left and right criticize the uniformity of instruction that dates from mass public education. But Mr. Santorum...seems to want to substantially scale back or cancel federal and state guidelines on standards and equality of access."  Mr. Santorum Defends Remarks On Obama And Government's Role In Education, New York Times, February 20, 2011

Allot of this is about confidence. Austerity is not working and more stimulus is needed; however, it will add to confidence, and thus GDP, if we began working on a plan to solve our long-term deficit problem now. We are not doing this The Republicans are mainly at fault. The Republicans take their pledge to Norquist more seriously than their pledge to the citizen to act in the best interest of the nation. Obama seems to have given up on this issue. Yes, he included it in the State of The Union address and in his new budget, but he is remiss in using the bully pulpit to make the point. Obama has also told the world that he is through governing this year and off to the campaign. This year we do not have that luxury. We have too many problems. See More: http://goo.gl/y0YtJ

Per the article World War 1 Treaties And Repatriation , United State Holocaust Museum "For the populations of the defeated powers -- Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria -- the respective peace treaties appeared an unfair punishment.... Revision of the Versailles Treaty represented one of the platforms that gave radical right wing parties in Germany, including Hitler's Nazi Party, such credibility to mainstream voters in the early 1920s and early 1930's."

It will still be some time before the recovery matches the GDP and employment numbers of the mid 2000's. We have not found a replacement for new housing construction. Housing will not pick up until demand exceeds supply. There is still a foreclosure hang over the market that will not disappear for several years. Consumers were burnt and they are no longer counting on housing appreciation to be their savings. Thus the housing construction business is stuck in neutral. The net wrthth of families shrunk from the housing debacle As a result, Americans have less to spend and are more cautious. They are also concerned about the federal deficit and our countries inability to govern. Consumer debt was also over extended and we are not in the mood to use credit cards like a piggy bank. Read More:  http://goo.gl/Wn4Tj

I read an article in the New York Times that made me admire many of Ron Paul's qualities. He is a man of integrity and consistency, both of which are hard to find in a politician these days. His home-spun charm could talk the skin off a Texas size rattle snake. His humble beginnings and lack of an ivy league education is refreshing. I certainly can relate to his feelings about the military and foreign affairs. We should no longer be the policeman of the world. He believes in free markets and so do I. We both believe the government is too big and too wasteful. We both would like to see income taxes as low as possible, but I would bet he would agree that a zero tax rate is not possible nor would it be wise. There are certain things that only government can do and we would probably have a healthy discussion as to what those things should be. Further, we both agree that we must get the federal budget under control.