Deny, Deny, Deny!

As a follow up to my most recent post, the news continues to usher in more of the same uncertainty that leads me to believe we are heading for one of the most eye-opening wake up calls of our time. 

It started this week with news out of Egypt that protesters are jubilant about the decision by Hosni Mobarak to vacate his position and turn the country over to a new, yet to be named, leadership.  The media is touting this as a victory for democracy and a chance for freedom in Egypt.  I am all for the spread of democracy throughout the world, but we are talking about Egypt here, the neighbor of Israel - Islam's greatest enemy!  Anyone who believes there is not a group of radicals preparing this very minute to make their move on Egypt is simply dillusional.  With Palastine on one side and Egypt on the other, what chance would Israel have?


In this case, who will be the one to come to Israel's defense?  Ordinarily, it would be the U.S., but with the standing President, I am not so sure.  If we defend Israel if such an offensive should occur, it would cost even more money that we do not have.  If we fail to defend Israel, what option would Israel have to push back the enemy?  Israel has nuclear capabilities and who would blame them for using them when forced into a corner?  The Mobarak government may not have been the ideal form of government, but it worked in that part of the world and say what you will, he continued to honor the Egypt - Israel Peace Treaty, which brought an end to a war between Egypt and Israel.


The news of last week brings an uncomfortable level of uncertainty to this region and may hasten changes in the U.S. as well.  This is definitely one to watch.


The other interesting, yet troubling bit of news was from the budget talks in D.C.  The Republicans proposed $61B in cuts to the budget.  I guess we can call it a start, but hardly enough to pay down a $1.5T deficit.  It is like paying $10 toward your credit card debt when the minimum payment due is $75.  We continue to pay interest on the interest and the debt. 


With the proposed cuts in place, there will be very noticeable changes across many sectors - state and federal - construction projects will stop which means people will be put out of work; government assistance will end or be reduced to some people and programs will shut down.  If the proposed cuts are passed, they will be noticed.  The problems are: 1.  I do not believe Congress will allow them to pass - again, they do not want to upset their constituency.  2.  As difficult as they are, they are not deep enough to save the country. 


This is exactly what my last post talked about.  The changes this nation will require to save us from ourselves are going to be so devastating, so drastic and so earth shaking that they will never happen.  At least not until we have no other choice - when we hit rock bottom!  What the people do not realize is that we can tighten our collective belts now, help each other through a period of very difficult times - 5, 10 years and come out much better on the other side, but we are all too selfish; all too greedy!  Instead, by fighting to keep the luxuries we all feel we deserve, we will all collectively destroy the economy of the nation and bring the country to it's knees.  This recovery will take much longer and the nation that rises out of the ashes will be a much different nation than the one we destroyed and that is not necessarily a good thing.


The news is coming at us very quickly today.  Events are happening at a pace that is difficult to maintain.  You can look at history and justify everything that is happening today with comparisons of similar times in the past, but the variable today is that people are taxed at a level much higher than at any time in the past.  Whereas in the past there was always more to take, the same cannot be said for today.  The only solution to the problems today is deep, painful cuts in government spending like nothing we have ever seen before; deep cuts in taxes to drive the economy and bring business back to the nation; and a no-nonsense approach to defense - if we are going to fight, do it hard, do it cheap, do it fast and come home, or don't do it at all!