If you are not one of the more than 1,900,000 people who have viewed this video on YouTube, then you need to watch it.

If you missed it, on February 27th tens of thousands of Americans across the nation woke up to what is really happening in the money management arena in government, and participated in a Tea Party: a symbolic start of the second American Revolution.

If you have watched this video, but haven’t yet mailed teabags to our un-representing representatives, then you need to watch it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA&feature=channel_page

The Congress and the President anticipated the unrest in America that their recent economic stimulus package actions would cause. Why disappoint them? Watch the video and mail your teabags. Your future economic survival may well depend on it.

Got a story about your actions in response to this video? Leave a comment.

This excerpted article, by Charley Reese, former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper, does give a dramatically different money management perspective than the one we hear from our government in Washington D.C.

“Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices, 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.

The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party.

She and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red .

If the Army and Marines are in Iraq, it’s because they want them in Iraq.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics,” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!”

Original Source Article: Reese, Charley “Looking For Someone To Blame? Congress Is A Good Place To Start.” 7 March 1995, Orlando Sentinel (Page A8)

In these economic times when workers are losing their jobs and business owners are struggling to survive, I believe that both business owners and workers alike need to adopt the mindset that they are willing to do Whatever It Takes (WIT) to maintain their money management goals and their own economic well-being.

Now, I’m not advocating doing anything illegal or unethical in terms of money management. I’m just making this comment because I have noticed a curious attitude among some workers here in the U.S., whether employed or unemployed, who are in debt and struggling. There seems to be a prevailing attitude that:

1 – The business owner is my enemy.

2 – I’m a victim and everyone else is to blame for my financial situation.

3 – I don’t need to practice smart money management. I’m in debt, but I’m too good / educated / valuable to get a second job to pay it off.

4 – The current government is my money management savior and they will take care of me.

5 – I can’t make the payments, but I have to keep my expensive car / house to keep up my image.

6 – If I work a second job to make it financially, it would damage my image and my own self-esteem.

7 – Buying and owning ‘stuff’ is more important than investing in my own financial security

8 – I cannot cut expenses anywhere.

9 – I cannot afford to put any money into savings to take care of the smallest emergency.

10 – My Boss is my enemy.

I was an employee for the first 27 years of my career, while I also owned small businesses to supplement my income. I believed I was responsible for reaching my own money management goals. In 1995 I left the corporate world to become a full-time business owner. In every positions I held, whether employee or business owner, I always knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was the only one who was responsible for taking care of me financially, and that there will always be unproductive people with their hand out and the idea that they are entitled to part of my money even though they have contributed nothing to help me earn it.

I recently received an email from a friend, and while I have no idea who the original author was, I believe that this should be required reading in every high school economics class and for all adults. Here is the email from a business owner’s point of view.

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy does not pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.

However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.

First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.

However, what you don’t see is the back story.

I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business — hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70′s. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have
a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this
business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations… You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.

Now the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn’t. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.

Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds.

Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes, federal taxes, property taxes, sales and use taxes, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation taxes, unemployment taxes, taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.

The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree, which is why your job is in jeopardy.

Here is what many of you don’t understand … to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.

So where am I going with all this?

It’s quite simple.

If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my money management problem any more.

Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

If you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about….

Signed,
Your Boss

Pretty enlightening money management point of view, I’d say.

While the media is spinning story after story about the Presidential Campaigns, and Obama and McCain are chanting “Change, Change, Change,” I am asking “How, How, How are you going to do that?”

First, and most obvious, there is no power vested in the power of the President to enact law. That power is fully invested in the power of the Congress according to our Constitution. Let me repeat that. The Constitution does not empower the President to make law.

Executive Orders issued by the President that bind the entire nation are illicit because, as noted above, “All legislative powers” are possessed by Congress. An Executive Order that binds only the employees of the federal government (such as granting a holiday) is proper because the President should be considered to be the holder of power much like that possessed by the CEO of a company. But the entire nation is not in the employ of the President.

What power does the elected President have? The President does have a role in lawmaking with his possession of a veto. He can veto a measure approved by Congress (which can be overturned by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress), or simply allow it to become law by doing nothing within 10 days, “Sundays excepted.”

Both candidates are saying they are going to cut income taxes, balance the budget deficit, straighten out the US economy, stop the wasteful spending, rehabilitate the Social Security system or provide affordable healthcare and health insurance to every citizen but, what they aren’t telling us is how they are going to get Congress to do that.

Second, it is an obvious mistake to think that cutting taxes will fix the government’s economy and allow the budget deficit to get handled. Any ordinary individual knows that in order to pay off debt, more income is needed. If enough income were made in the first place, of course, there would be no need to take on debt. Debt is simply a function of spending money you don’t have.

Since the government produces no income of their own and they just take it from us taxpayers, then if they take less income from us, they will have to borrow more money to fund all of their projects and that means a BIGGER budget deficit.

Smart money management requires working both ends; consistently raising gross income while cutting unnecessary spending to live within your budget. In all the years I have been around, I have never seen the US government demonstrate their ability to do this simple money management survival action.

What is the price of attaining financial freedom? It really is very simple. Make a ton of money, spend less than you make, don’t contract for any debt you cannot immediately pay with cash, and set money aside for the future survival of the organization.

Wednesday, September 17th, is Constitution Day – a day specifically designated by an act of Congress when Americans are supposed to honor the remarkable document that created our system of government. The date was chosen because the Constitution was approved at the original Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. How well do you know your Constitution? How well do Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain know our Constitution? Perhaps we should ask them about this by insisting they tell us HOW they intend to make all of these new changes which require new laws be passed.