Reactivating blog

Much has happened since the last year that convinces me that the United States of America is being transformed into something its founders would not recognize and that its current citizens may not recognize in a couple of decades.  For one thing, the levels of spending and debt are on an unsustainable course, as can been seen by examining the "debt clock at http://usdebtclock.org.  What is really scary is not only the absolute debt, but how much debt there is per person.  The unfunded liabilities are even bigger than the official debt.  They represent the promises (such as for Social Security payments and Medicare coverage) that the government has made to spend money in the future that it has not collected money for.  This course cannot be sustained; something has to give.  I am worried about the future of our children and grandchildren who will be asked to pay for all the spending and borrowing and may not be able to.  I am also worried about the liberties that are being lost that citizens used to be able to take for granted.  There will be more about that in future posts.  What I hope to accomplish with this blog is to stimulate discussion about whether the United States can be saved and, if not, how to pick up the pieces and start again once the house of cards comes crashing down.  I am worried that the Constitution of the United States is losing its effectiveness because all three branches of government have been showing it little respect and because most American citizens are unaware of its contents and its importance.

Although readers of this post are encouraged to comment, the comments will not show up immediately because I have the blog set up so that comments are posted only after I moderate them.  I have set the blog up this way because of a prior experience in which inappropriate material appeared in a comment.  I will not bar a comment because the commenter disagrees with me, but I will bar it if is obscene, disrespectful, or otherwise inappropriate.

It's about time I made another post.

OK, I have not been very good about making it so, at least when it comes to regular posts. The main reason is that my adopted son, who will be two years old in June, takes up so much of my free time, that it is hard to get anything done. I am a bureucrat. One of the primary rules of bureaucrat survival is to find someone to blame who can't defend himself. Sorry about that, Adam.

My older son, Robert, has been much more diligent about posts on his blog - Blog of the Enders. He is running for State Representative for the 80th district of Indiana. Saying anything more would put me in violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits us bureaucrats from becoming involved in partisan politics. However, I am not forbidden to make me thoughts known, especially with regard to a certain politician who is not eligible to be re-elected. So, let me say that I am in the shrinking minority of people that approve of most of what President Bush has done, although I disagree with some of what he has done. On the big things, he did not lie when he warned of Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, and I think invading Iraq was the right thing to do. Privatization of Social Security in the only thing that will save it. The only other alternatives are decreasing benefits, raising taxes or both. That is just the way the numbers work. Medicare is a bigger problem, and making it a bigger problem yet by expanding it with prescription drug coverage was the biggest mistake of the Bush presidency. Medicare is doomed, and the aftermath is going to be very, very ugly. Again, its just the way the numbers work.

A Joyous Distraction

I just got back last night from a week of taking my family to see my family. My wife Sandy, and my son Adam just went to Indiana for a week to show Adam off to his brother, sister, paternal grandmother and three aunts. He charmed everyone, including a lot of people in airports and on airlines in the process of getting their and back. I think the reason why babies are so cute is to make their heads bigger when everyone tells them how adorable they are. Adam is nearly always not only happy, but enthusiastically happy. He is also affectionate. It makes one want to spend a lot of time with him, and he always wants the attention. The price for all this happiness and affection is that he is wearing Mommy and Daddy out. He wants to be held but he twists and squirms to see things and just hanging on to him is very tiring, as is holding him as he jumps up and down on my lap. As a result, I am not getting things done as I would like, including keeping up with my classes and investments, as evidenced by the fact that I was interrupted three times while writing this post. Not being able to invest the money in my IRA may not have been a bad thing, though. The stock market is at its lowest point of the year and apparently headed lower.