TMFFlushDraw's Blog

Entitlement vs. Entitlement

TMFFlushDraw — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:12:09 GMT

What do Mitt Romney and the "entitled" 47% of America have in common? How about entitlement?

Here are the two useful definitions of entitlement from Webster's Dictionary online.

- a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group

- belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain priv...

All-In on SPWR

TMFFlushDraw — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:51:36 GMT

FYI to my Foolish followers. I shoved all-in on SunPower this morning. The price is just too attractive to pass up.

I have no idea if the stock is going up or down in the short-term, but as I've written a hundred times in my articles, the company is in the best strategic position of solar manufacturers as costs fall and I love their innovation. It may take some time to pay off but I think this is a great...

We Have Some Real fools (lowercase) in Congress

TMFFlushDraw — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:22:44 GMT

How hard could it possibly be to cut $1.2 trillion in spending over the next 10 years? A vast majority of the budget comprises Social Security, defense, Medicare, and Medicaid. Raise the eligibility age here, cut some benefits there, stop going to war with everyone and whala. Problem solved.

It's a good thing there's a backup plan that will automatically cut $1.2 trillion in spending over 10 years. Or is...

Our Failure to Value Education

TMFFlushDraw — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:52:54 GMT

CNN just posted an article on student loan debt that got me in the mood for another blog post. You can read the article here.

According to the artcile 2010 grads are leaving school with $25,250 in student loans and have merky job prospects at best. As a grad s...

Thoughts on Perry's Tax

TMFFlushDraw — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:51:05 GMT

I'll admit off the bat that I don't particularly like any of the Republican candidates, the Tea Party, or most of the Republican Party's agenda, which may I remind you is actually what got us into this mess (not Obama, who hasn't helped but also inherited $1 trillion in deficits and a terrible economy).

With that said, I do like Herman Cain and Rick Perry changing the conversation about taxes. Simple is ...

What I Want Occupy Wall Street To Be

TMFFlushDraw — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:34:02 GMT

My rant for today...

I love the concept of Occupy Wall Street. There are injustices in society that need to be corrected and I'm all for people voicing those injustices.

The problem is that most of the people protesting are morons and have no clue what really goes on in the economy. And the few that do are drown out by the crowd.

As I was watching pictures on CNN of the conflict in Lybia this morning I started considering how good we have it here. Sure the US has issues. The deficit is at unsustainable levels, debt is piling up, and entitlement programs are in need of drastic changes.

But all of our problems are fixable. Taxes are at historically low levels, the debt isn't nearly as bad as many other countries, and entitlement pr...

The Debt Debate -- A 3rd Grade Lesson Plan

TMFFlushDraw — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:48:36 GMT

I was trying to think of a good analogy to the debt ceiling/deficit reduction debat this morning (because these are the things I think about while bored, ugh) and I thought this was fitting. Here is how I would explain the debate to a 3rd grade class.

Playing the role of the Tea Party is the boss and playing the role of President Obama is the employee.

Setting t...

What Is A Job Creator?

TMFFlushDraw — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:25:36 GMT

When did rich people become the pillar of our economy? When did it become common knowledge that if you own a business you deserve to pay less for social services than the rest of us?

Nothing has driven me more crazy than the Republican mantra of "job killing tax increases" being their calling card in the debt debate. It's a great soundbite but the bite doesn't hold when facts are introduced....

What's Really Holding the U.S. Back

TMFFlushDraw — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:23:58 GMT

Politicians in Washington DC are fighting over the deficit, corporate America (with buckets of cash) isn't hiring anyone, and the economy appears to be stalled again. What in the world is going on?

The biggest problem right now is our instant gratification society. If you can remember back that far in 2009 we were in the midst of a financial meltdown and people thought the world was going to end. THAT WAS TWO ...

A Lesson In Negotiating

TMFFlushDraw — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:47:15 GMT

Not long ago I took a negotiations class that gave all the lessons Washington DC needs to solve the budget problems in about 3 hours. At the beginning of class we were given sheets with our roles, goals for the group we represented, and available negotiating points. We were given an hour or two to negotiate with anywhere between one and six other people on the topics.

Each night we reconvened with our so...

Our Spending AND Revenue Problem

TMFFlushDraw — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:39:01 GMT

Dear tax payer,

I have provided a couple of noteworthy links to our ongoing discussions about deficits. The first one is historical data from the CBO relating to federal gov't revenues and spending.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/HistoricalTables[1].pdf<...

The First Childish Negotiating Tactic Award

TMFFlushDraw — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:22:34 GMT

I would like to offer my first "Childish Negotiating Tactic Award" to Eric Cantor and Jon Kyl for their impressive performance in budget negotiations with Joe Biden this week. There's something to standing up for principal but when your "no tax" stance bring the country closer to financial armageddon I have to wonder if sanity has escaped Washington for good.

It seems to me that the d...

How Would $8 Gas Change You?

TMFFlushDraw — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:32:41 GMT

I'm working on an article idea and I'm curious about how $200/barrel oil and a rise in gas prices to around $8/gallon would change your habits?

I drive a Honda Civic, work from home and rarely go places I can't carpool so I am an anomaly. The 200 miles or so I drive every month isn't going to change with $8 gas but I think it would have a dramatic impact on most people.

** Another political rant, bear with me

Wisconsin Republican Senators threw us a curveball today when they stripped the union rights bill out of the budget bill and passed it without Democrats even being able to make it home for a vote (at least one Dem tried). Not only does this prove union rights had nothing to do with the budget but it shows how class warfare begins in a sleepy midwestern state. ...

On Politics and the Economy

TMFFlushDraw — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:16:00 GMT

Since we try not to delve too deeply into political issues in our fool.com articles I'll use this as a forum to give a few thoughts and see what fellow Fools think.

- Tired of Hearing About Spending

I am all for cutting budget deficits but the talk in our nation's capital is absolutely absurd these days. If yo...

The Market Finally Comes Around

TMFFlushDraw — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:38:34 GMT

My investing moto is "buy short term, sell long term" meaning I want to buy on short term panics in stocks I don't want to sell until far into the future when my investing thesis plays out.

This strategy has also led to a revelation I made recently when reviewing my stock performance: I am rarely wrong long-term but rarely time the market correctly short-term, leading to some big short-term losses.&...

Is Undercover Boss Enlightening or Scary?

TMFFlushDraw — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:29:50 GMT

Another random rant...

I watched Under Boss about Belfor last night. It's probably my favorite show on TV these days but it brings up some interesting questions about corporate America and the companies we invest in.

Are CEOs really that out of touch?

How can you be the CEO of a company that does construction and not be able to...

Thinking Outside The Box On Taxes

TMFFlushDraw — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:10:05 GMT

I realize this tax deal has been done but CNN just reported that Moody's thinks it is a bad idea for our debt (makes sense) and I'm wondering how this helps cut the deficit everyone says we want to cut. How could we balance this equation since low taxes = growth + more debt + higher borrowing costs, leading to more deficits.

Why not make the tax cut dependent on cutting the deficit? Maybe it could go som...

A Fool's View On The Deficit Panel

TMFFlushDraw — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:26:50 GMT

I thought a few words about today's release of the deficit panel's proposal was in order considering the attention it is getting in the press.

A moment for disclosure: I am a conservative and consider myself a Democrat. Maybe that makes me an oxymoron, maybe it makes me a moderate, in either case I think I view ideas from both sides of the aisle with a fair amount of reason.