USA Today: Tax Bills in 2009 at Lowest Level Since 1950

Although you'd never know it thanks to the ineffective media and the ill-informed extremists on the front pages, income taxes are currently quite low from an historical perspective:

Federal, state and local income taxes consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century.

A recent article from USA today gives further details. Sorry, extremists, sometime the facts just won't conform to your agenda.

Quote of the Day

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt

"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise

Anti-racist writer and speaker Tim Wise has written a very thought-provoking and insightful commentary on race in America. Please check it out: Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black.

President Clinton is Right

Everyone should read President Bill Clinton's recent Op-Ed piece in the NYTimes. It is very timely, given the current political climate of partisanship, hate-mongering, and extremism. We would all do well to heed his wise words:

...Finally, we should never forget what drove the [Oklahoma City] bombers, and how they justified their actions to themselves. They took to the ultimate extreme an idea advocated in the months and years before the bombing by an increasingly vocal minority: the belief that the greatest threat to American freedom is our government, and that public servants do not protect our freedoms, but abuse them. On that April 19, the second anniversary of the assault of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, deeply alienated and disconnected Americans decided murder was a blow for liberty.

Americans have more freedom and broader rights than citizens of almost any other nation in the world, including the capacity to criticize their government and their elected officials. But we do not have the right to resort to violence — or the threat of violence — when we don’t get our way. Our founders constructed a system of government so that reason could prevail over fear. Oklahoma City proved once again that without the law there is no freedom.

Criticism is part of the lifeblood of democracy. No one is right all the time. But we should remember that there is a big difference between criticizing a policy or a politician and demonizing the government that guarantees our freedoms and the public servants who enforce our laws.

We are again dealing with difficulties in a contentious, partisan time. We are more connected than ever before, more able to spread our ideas and beliefs, our anger and fears. As we exercise the right to advocate our views, and as we animate our supporters, we must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged.

Civic virtue can include harsh criticism, protest, even civil disobedience. But not violence or its advocacy. That is the bright line that protects our freedom. It has held for a long time, since President George Washington called out 13,000 troops in response to the Whiskey Rebellion...

Half of American Households Pay No Federal Income Taxes

For all the complaining that we hear in the media about income taxes, it might be surprising to find out that half of households aren't assessed any federal income taxes:

...About 47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009. Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions and exemptions to eliminate their liability. That's according to projections by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization...

...In recent years, credits for low- and middle-income families have grown so much that a family of four making as much as $50,000 will owe no federal income tax for 2009, as long as there are two children younger than 17, according to a separate analysis by the consulting firm Deloitte Tax.

Tax cuts enacted in the past decade have been generous to wealthy taxpayers, too, making them a target for President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress. Less noticed were tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, which were expanded when Obama signed the massive economic recovery package last year.

The result is a tax system that exempts almost half the country from paying for programs that benefit everyone, including national defense, public safety, infrastructure and education. It is a system in which the top 10 percent of earners — households making an average of $366,400 in 2006 — paid about 73 percent of the income taxes collected by the federal government.

The bottom 40 percent, on average, make a profit from the federal income tax, meaning they get more money in tax credits than they would otherwise owe in taxes. For those people, the government sends them a payment...

More detail is available in this article.

Quote of the Day

I'm sure I am not the only one who has noticed the destructive effect that partisan bickering and angry extremism are having on our national discourse. I think this old quote is appropriate for the current political atmosphere:

“Partisanship is our great curse. We too readily assume that everything has two sides and that it is our duty to be on one or the other.”-- James Harvey Robinson (1863–1936)

Americans' Sense of Entitlement Can Negatively Impact Personal Finances

Over at Yahoo! Finance, Laura Rowley has an insightful column on personal finance. She draws some interesting conclusions about the psychology of Americans who look for shortcuts and get-rich quick schemes instead of following basic, boring "standards":

...[It] inspired me to think about how much of my financial life is governed by "the standard" -- principles so often repeated they've become cliches: Live within your means; build your skills and get a higher-paying job; stick to a budget; remain debt-free (except for a mortgage); save monthly for big goals, including college and retirement; learn about investing, risk and taxes so you do the right things with your savings; and yes, research deals and clip coupons. It ain't as sexy as speculating in commodities, but it's worked for me.

...For others, looking for solutions "short of the standard" comes from an entitlement mentality. As a recent article in Psychology Today noted, our discontent is culturally afflicted. We optimistically -- and rightly I think -- believe in progress, in mobility, in the power of good ideas to prevail in a free market. But at the same time, the media often casts personal freedom as life with a menu of infinite choices. When something isn't making us happy, we can erase the old and pick something new! We can live a rich life! Perfection -- or at least endless improvement -- is our destiny.

"The result is an ongoing self-appraisal of how your personal life is going, like having a continual read-out of your emotional heart rate," Andrew Cherlin, sociology and public policy professor at Johns Hopkins, told Psychology Today. "You get used to the idea of always making choices to improve your happiness."

Cherlin was talking about the problems of applying the value system of the free market to one's spouse or romantic partner -- but the same issues arise with money. When the goal of life becomes personal happiness, it's easy to internalize the message that we are entitled to more. Welcome to a never-ending sprint on the hedonic treadmill.

I agree with Laura's view. Personal finance is not the mysterious conundrum that some people make it out to be. Actually, it is pretty straight-forward if you are willing to take the path of patience, self-discipline, and common sense.

Rewriting History is Dangerous for America

In February, I wrote about The Top 10 Challenges Facing America Today. As a consequence of two problems on the list (#4 Failing Education System, and #7 Ineffective Media), the general public is becoming increasingly uninformed about the basics of American History. This lack of knowledge and inability to place events in an historical context, make Americans very vulnerable to those who wish to manipulate and mislead.

Lately, certain extremist groups have been taking advantage of rampant ignorance and spreading misinformation in order to further their political agenda. These blatant lies are spreading like wildfire on the internet, making gullible citizens into unknowing political pawns.

A recent article by Steven Thomma with McClatchy Newspapers highlighted some of the more outrageous false claims being made and refuting them with actual facts. His list of the top five distortions bears repeating here:

1. JAMESTOWN

Reaching for an example of how bad socialism can be, former House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said recently that the people who settled Jamestown, Va., in 1607 were socialists and that their ideology doomed them.

"Jamestown colony, when it was first founded as a socialist venture, dang near failed with everybody dead and dying in the snow," he said in a speech March 15 at the National Press Club.

It was a good, strong story, helping Armey, a former economics professor, illustrate the dangers of socialism, the same ideology that he and other conservatives say is at the core of Obama's agenda.

It was not, however, true.

The Jamestown settlement was a capitalist venture financed by the Virginia Company of London — a joint stock corporation — to make a profit. The colony nearly foundered owing to a harsh winter, brackish water and lack of food, but reinforcements enabled it to survive. It was never socialistic. In fact, in 1619, Jamestown planters imported the first African slaves to the 13 colonies that later formed the United States.

2. ALEXANDER HAMILTON

At the same event, Armey urged people to read the Federalist Papers as a guide to the sentiments of the tea party movement.

"The small-government conservative movement, which includes people who call themselves the tea party patriots and so forth, is about the principles of liberty as embodied in the Constitution, the understanding of which is fleshed out if you read things like the Federalist Papers," Armey said.

Others such as Democrats and the news media, "people here who do not cherish America the way we do," don't understand because "they did not read the Federalist Papers," he said.

A member of the audience asked Armey how the Federalist Papers could be such a tea party manifesto when they were written largely by Alexander Hamilton, who the questioner said "was widely regarded then and now as an advocate of a strong central government."

Armey ridiculed the very suggestion.

"Widely regarded by whom?" he asked. "Today's modern, ill-informed political science professors? . . . I just doubt that was the case, in fact, about Hamilton."

Hamilton, however, was an unapologetic advocate of a strong central government, one that plays an active role in the economy and is led by a president named for life and thus beyond the emotions of the people. Hamilton also pushed for excise taxes and customs duties to pay down federal debt.

In fact, Ian Finseth said in a history written for the University of Virginia, others at the constitutional convention "thought his proposals went too far in strengthening the central government."

3. THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Theodore Roosevelt was long an icon of the Republican Party, a dynamic leader who ushered in the Progressive era, busting trusts, regulating robber barons, building the Panama Canal and sending the U.S. fleet around the world announcing ascendant American power.

Fox TV commentator Glenn Beck, however, says that Roosevelt was a socialist whose legacy is destroying America. It started, Beck said, with Roosevelt's admonition to the wealthy of his day to spend their riches for the good of society.

"We judge no man a fortune in civil life if it's honorably obtained and well spent," Roosevelt said, according to Beck. "It's not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it only to be gained so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community."

Actually, Roosevelt said, "We GRUDGE no man a fortune ... if it's honorably obtained and well USED." But either way, Beck saw the threat.

"Oh? Well, thank you," Beck said with scorn during his keynote speech to the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. The presidential suggestion that the wealthy of the Gilded Age should contribute to the good of society was a clear danger that must be condemned, Beck said.

"Is this what the Republican Party stands for? Well, you should ask members of the Republican Party, because this is not our founders' idea of America. And this is the cancer that's eating at America. It is big government; it's a socialist utopia," Beck said.

"And we need to address it as if it is a cancer. It must be cut out of the system because they cannot coexist. ... You must eradicate it. It cannot coexist."

There's no doubt that Roosevelt was a domestic policy liberal by today's standards. In a 1910 speech in Kansas, he acknowledged that his "New Nationalism" meant "far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions in this country than we have yet had."

The 26th president insisted, however, that he wanted the government to guarantee opportunity, not a handout.

"The fundamental thing to do for every man is to give him a chance to reach a place in which he will make the greatest possible contribution to the public welfare," he said.

"Give him a chance, not push him up if he will not be pushed. ... Help any man who stumbles; if he lies down, it is a poor job to try to carry him; but if he is a worthy man, try your best to see that he gets a chance to show the worth that is in him."

In his autobiography three years later, Roosevelt went on to dismiss the tenets of socialism as taught by Karl Marx as "an exploded theory."

"Too many thoroughly well-meaning men and women in the America of today glibly repeat and accept," he wrote, "various assumptions and speculations by Marx and others which by the lapse of time and by actual experiment have been shown to possess not one shred of value."

In addition, Roosevelt didn't advocate government ownership of the means of production, the definition of socialism.

4. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

It's long been debated how well Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal government programs countered the Great Depression, but now a prominent conservative has introduced the idea that Roosevelt CAUSED the Depression.

"FDR took office in the midst of a recession," Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. "He decided to choose massive government spending and the creation of monstrous bureaucracies. Do we detect a Democrat pattern here in all of this? He took what was a manageable recession and turned it into a 10-year depression."

A year before, Bachmann went to the House floor to blame FDR and what she called the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs for creating the Depression.

"The recession that FDR had to deal with wasn't as bad as the recession (President Calvin) Coolidge had to deal with in the early '20s," she said.

Coolidge cut taxes and created the roaring '20s, Bachmann said.

"FDR applied just the opposite formula: the Hoot-Smalley act, which was a tremendous burden on tariff restrictions. And of course trade barriers and the regulatory burden and of course tax barriers.

"That's what we saw happen under FDR. That took a recession and blew it into a full-scale depression. The American people suffered for almost 10 years under that kind of thinking."

The truth? Historians agree that tariffs hurt trade and worsened the depression.

However, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act — not Hoot-Smalley — was proposed by two Republicans, Sen. Reed Smoot of Utah and Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon. A Republican House and a Republican Senate approved it. President Herbert Hoover, a Republican, signed it into law.

The facts also show that the country was in something far worse than a "manageable recession" in March 1933 when Roosevelt took office.

Stocks had lost 90 percent of their value since the crash of 1929. Thousands of banks had failed. Unemployment reached an all-time high of 24.9 percent just before Roosevelt was inaugurated.

5. JOE MCCARTHY

Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., burst onto the national stage in the early 1950s with accusations that he had a list of names of known Communists in the federal government. He didn't name them, was censured by the Senate eventually and his name became synonymous with witch hunts — McCarthyism.

Now, the end of the Cold War has opened up spy files and identified many Communist spies who operated inside the government during the era. Some conservatives argue that this proves not only that McCarthy was right, but also that he was a hero and that he was smeared by liberals, the news media and historians.

"Almost everything about McCarthy in current history books is a lie and will have to be revised," conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly said.

"Liberals had to destroy McCarthy because he exposed the entire liberal establishment as having sheltered Soviet spies," conservative commentator Ann Coulter said in one interview.

"The myth of 'McCarthyism' is the greatest Orwellian fraud of our times," she said in another. "Liberals are fanatical liars, then as now. The portrayal of Senator Joe McCarthy as a wild-eyed demagogue destroying innocent lives is sheer liberal hobgoblinism. ... If the Internet, talk radio and Fox News had been around in McCarthy's day, my book wouldn't be the first time most people would be hearing the truth about 'McCarthyism.' "

Yet even some prominent conservatives say that McCarthy's defenders go too far, and that even from a conservative perspective, McCarthy was no hero and damaged the country.

"A dangerous movement has been growing among conservative writers to vindicate the late Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy and his campaign to expose Soviet spies in the U.S. government," Ronald Kessler wrote for the conservative Web site Newsmax.com.

"The FBI agents who were actually chasing those spies have told me that McCarthy hurt their efforts because he trumped up charges, unfairly besmirched honorable Americans and gave hunting spies a bad name."

Kessler said the release of secret Cold War files under the Venona Project confirmed that there were Soviet spies in the U.S. government.

"The problem was that the people McCarthy tarnished as Communists or Communist sympathizers were not the real spies," Kessler wrote.

"The cause of anti-communism, which united millions of Americans and which gained the support of Democrats, Republicans and independents, was undermined by Sen. Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin," wrote William Bennett, who was the conservative secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan.

"McCarthy addressed a real problem: disloyal elements within the U.S. government. But his approach to this real problem was to cause untold grief to the country he claimed to love," Bennett wrote in his book "America: The Last Best Hope."

"Worst of all, McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions."

This is a very disturbing and destructive trend. Fellow citizens, please, I implore you: do your patriotic duty, pick up a book, educate yourself, and do not allow yourself to be manipulated with misinformation!

Top 10 Healthcare Reform Myths

WalletPop has a great post refuting some of the most insidious myths about healthcare reform. There are so many overblown fears surrounding this legislation! I wish the media would stop promoting uninformed, extremist opinion, and focus instead on disseminating objective facts.

Is this Really Middle Class Status?

This slideshow, How to Gauge Your Middle-Class Status, claims to offer a quantitative look at what makes someone Middle Class. Some of these statistics seem a little off to me. They strike me as more representative of what I would consider Upper Middle Class. What do you think?

False Expectations from the Middle Class?

In a recent article over at US News & World Report, Rick Newman has an article outlining 7 Stressors Sapping the Middle Class. I found his last point to be the most thought provoking:

For the past 40 or 50 years, Americans have lived by a series of unofficial tenets: A good education guarantees a good job, hard work will bring prosperity, and 40 years of 40-hour-a-week work earns a comfortable retirement. Then, maybe; now, not so much. Workers who believe that somebody owes them a comfortable life just because they try hard are risking bitter disappointment in a Darwinian economy, where there are likely to be more losers and fewer winners than we're used to. The winners will be those who learn how to adapt, expect nobody to give them anything, and are prepared to work harder in the future than they did in the past. That's how it was in America before anybody ever heard of the middle class, and it may be that way for a while again. The real middle class—the true bedrock of the nation—will be able to handle it.

Is the future that bleak and desperate? Or is it just a return to reality after a 50 year detour on Easy Street? What do you think?

Alternative Voting

Here at Eloquent American, we often discuss the growing partisan divide in this country and the negativity and gridlock caused by the two-party system. A recent Thomas Friedman column in the NY Times, A Tea Party Without Nuts, discusses an interesting solution: Alternative Voting.

One reason independent, third-party, centrist candidates can’t get elected is because if, in a three-person race, a Democrat votes for an independent, and the independent loses, the Democrat fears his vote will have actually helped the Republican win, or vice versa. Alternative voting allows you to rank the independent candidate your No. 1 choice, and the Democrat or Republican No. 2. Therefore, if the independent does not win, your vote is immediately transferred to your second choice, say, the Democrat. Therefore, you have no fear that in voting for an independent you might help elect your real nightmare — the Republican. Nothing has held back the growth of independent, centrist candidates more, said Diamond, “than the fear that if you vote for one of them you will be wasting your vote. Alternative voting, which Australia has, can overcome that.”

I think this is a very viable option, and I wish the idea would get more attention in the media. I don't see any drawbacks. What do you think?

Elizabeth Warren: Defending the Middle Class

The NY Times has a great profile of Elizabeth Warren, head of oversight for the Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP"). She strongly advocates for Middle Class families in her work to promote consumer protections and financial regulatory reform. She also has a great American life story of pulling herself up by her bootstraps.

College Rejection Breeds Future Success

The Wall Street Journal has a wonderful story, Before They Were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People Were...Rejected, profiling successful Americans who overcame early failures. It has a very positive, inspirational message. I really like this quote from Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, who was rejected from Harvard:

To "allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake," says Mr. Bollinger, a First Amendment author and scholar. "The question really is, who at the end of the day is going to make the determination about what your talents are, and what your interests are? That has to be you."

Anything is possible in America!

More Doomsday Commentary...

Yet another prognosticator is predicting decline for America. Over on cnbc.com, Antonia Oprita has an article, Health Care Law Signals US Empire Decline?, in which she discusses the ideas of David Murrin, the co-founder of Emergent Asset Management hedge fund. He thinks China will soon surpass America due to demographic shifts and increasing risk aversion in the United States.

Is the situation really this dire and inevitable? While I agree that there are many challenges facing America today, and we will have to work hard to overcome them, some of these fears seem overblown. What do you think?

Quote of the Day

All the public uproar over the passage of the new healthcare bill brings to mind a quote by Horace Mann:

“Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge”

Certain Collapse of the American Empire?

Over at MarketWatch Paul B. Farrell has a column, The rise and certain fall of the American Empire, predicting the inevitable demise of American society. He bases his argument on historical precedent set by earlier societies. Farrell outlines a five stage cycle identified by a financial historian from Harvard, Niall Ferguson, that is based on a series of paintings by Thomas Cole called "The Course of Empire":

1. 'The Savage State' before the Empire rises
2. 'The Arcadian or Pastoral State' as the American Empire flourishes
3. 'The Consummation of Empire'
4. 'The Destruction of Empire'
5. 'Desolation' ... after the Empire disappears

Farrell and Ferguson posit that we are between the fourth and fifth stage, and that the coming destruction may be a sudden systemic shock, rather than a slow, protracted demise.

This fatalistic prognostication strikes me as overly pessimistic. What do you think? Is it really too late?

Failed Revolutions from Both the Left and the Right

In a recent column, The Broken Society, NY Times columnist David Brooks discussed twin revolutions that have occurred over the past few decades.

First, there was the cultural revolution from the Left, which liberated people from society's traditional morality, and elevated the importance of an individual's rights over that of one's responsibilities.

Second, there was the market revolution from the Right, which promoted globalization and deregulation and negatively impacted local, small business.

Brooks argues that, together, these revolutions created unintended consequences like greater bureaucratic centralization, weakened community ties, and increased social isolation and disenfranchisement.

Brooks referenced the ideas of British writer Phillip Blond as a possible solution. Blond proposes a three-pronged response: remoralize the market, relocalize the economy, and recapitalize the poor. He outlines the following specifics:

This would mean passing zoning legislation to give small shopkeepers a shot against the retail giants, reducing barriers to entry for new businesses, revitalizing local banks, encouraging employee share ownership, setting up local capital funds so community associations could invest in local enterprises, rewarding savings, cutting regulations that socialize risk and privatize profit, and reducing the subsidies that flow from big government and big business.

These are the types of ideas and proposals that we need to focus on in the struggle to overcome the challenges facing America today.

Eloquent Americans

In honor of the name of this blog, here are ten outstanding quotes by Eloquent Americans:
1. "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson
2. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy
3. "There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism." - Alexander Hamilton
4. "No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." - Samuel Adams
5. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. "Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." - Helen Keller
7. "It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives." - John Adams
8. "History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster." - General Douglas MacArthur
9. "Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt
10. "If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs." - Theodore Roosevelt

Googlers Support Entrepreneurism

BusinessWeek has a great article, And Google Begat..., that discusses the positive impact that former Google executives are having as investors in new tech start-ups. To me, this exemplifies the best of the American entrepreneurial spirit. These young execs became millionaires as a result of their innovative ideas and willingness to work hard and take calculated risks. Now, instead of resting on their laurels, they are extending a hand to other innovators as "Angel Investors". America needs more successful people to adopt this of this type of enterprising agenda.

A Movement We Can Support: The Coffee Party

This week, the NYTimes featured a profile of a new movement that has formed in response to the Tea Party: The Coffee Party. This group was founded by Annabel Park to “support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.” The Coffee Party promotes governmental cooperation, civility, political engagement, and a moderate, middle-of-the-road approach. Their slogan is “Wake Up and Stand Up.”

This is exactly what we need in this country! A grassroots group that encourages everyone to get involved, treat each other with respect, and work together to put an end to the constant, petty bickering and gridlock we see in the public sphere today. Bring it on!

Political Problems

Over at Yahoo! Finance, The Naked Economist, Charles Wheelan, Ph.D., has an interesting column that touches on some of the themes we cover here at Eloquent American. His recent article The Real Problem in Politics? It's Us identifies three types of dysfunctional behavior that negatively impact the American political process. He also places blame on citizens who are civically disengaged and do not participate in the political process in order to effect change. I think this is an important point. We all need to work together in a productive and focused manner if we are going to make America a better place for future generations.

Words of Wisdom from Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is well known for his insightful maxims, especially with regard to frugality and industriousness. His sayings still stand the test of time. Here are ten favorites:

1. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
2. Wise men learn by others' harms, fools scarcely by their own.
3. Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue: 'tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
4. He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
5. Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt.
6. For age and want, save while you may; No morning sun lasts a whole day.
7. Diligence is the mother of good luck.
8. Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
9. Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
10. Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Death of U.S. Capitalism?

This is an interesting article by Paul B. Farrell posted at MarketWatch. In it, he asks whether Americans are in denial about the prospects of our economic system. He references Charlie Munger's recent commentary that "It's Over" for the United States. (If you don't know, Charlie Munger is Warren Buffet's long-time business partner.) Is it too late for America to get back on the right track? What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments.

Death of U.S. capitalism: The final 10 scenes Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch

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Higher Standards and Community Involvement

Last week, I highlighted Top Ten Challenges Facing America Today and number four on the list was the Failing Education System. Earlier this week, NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert wrote a piece called Where the Bar Ought to Be about the education system in the United States. He profiled a passionate Harlem charter school teacher, Deborah Kenny. She has found success using the following philosophy:

The majority of the youngsters come into the middle schools performing at three to four years behind their grade levels. Within a very short time, they are on the fast track toward college. In 2008, when the math and science test scores came in, Ms. Kenny’s eighth graders had achieved 100 percent proficiency. It was not a fluke.

What’s ironic is that the teachers are doing everything but teaching to the tests. Ms. Kenny’s goals for the youngsters in her schools are the same as those that she had for her own three children, who grew up in a comfortable suburban environment and are now in college. Merely passing a standardized test was hardly something to aspire to.

“I had five core things in mind for my kids, and that’s what I want for our students,” she said. “I wanted them to be wholesome in character. I wanted them to be compassionate and to see life as a responsibility to give something to the world. I wanted them to have a sophisticated intellect. I wanted them to be avid readers, the kind of person who always has trouble putting a book down. And I raised them to be independent thinkers, to lead reflective and meaningful lives.”

It never crossed Ms. Kenny’s mind that a rich and abiding intellectual life was out of the reach of kids growing up in a tough urban environment.

To me, this exemplifies the approach that we should try to replicate throughout the country. We should encourage a sense of common responsibility to our communities, get involved, help each other, and hold each other to higher standards. We can do better.

How to Be Happy (10 Steps)

It's easy to get discouraged given the state of the country today. You can't always control your circumstances or the challenges that life brings you, but you can control your attitude and how you react to the world. Here are ten steps you take in your everyday life to increase your happiness:

1. Spend quality time with loved ones. Nothing can bring you more joy in life than your friends and family. Don't miss the special moments; make the people you love a priority.
2. Practice the art of gratitude. Find something to be grateful for everyday, even something small. Can't think of anything? Do you have someone who loves you? Do you have your health? Did you have enough food to eat today? Do you have somewhere warm and safe to sleep tonight? Did you learn something today? Are you still alive? These are all things for which to be grateful.
3. Appreciate nature's beauty. Taking a moment to admire the glory of a sunrise, a sunset, a cloud, a tree, a flower, or a butterfly can make you feel connected to the world and happy to be alive.
4. Give someone a genuine compliment. You can brighten someone's day with just a few kind words -even a stranger. It feels good to make other people feel good about themselves.
5. Be in the moment. Try not to worry about the past or the future. It's easier said than done, but worrying all the time is pointless. You'll miss the good things happening now. Pay attention to the present. Don't borrow trouble.
6. Help someone else. It feels good to be helpful and needed. Volunteer at a food pantry, shovel an elderly neighbor's driveway, or just hold the door open for someone at the post office. It will take your mind off of your own troubles.
7. Take care of yourself. Get a good night's sleep, eat healthy food, and get some exercise. You'll have more energy to tackle life's challenges.
8. Accomplish something you've been putting off. It feels good to cross something off of your "To Do" list, even if it's a small task. So, don't procrastinate any further. Do your taxes, mop the kitchen floor, or make a dentist appointment.
9. Adjust your perspective. When you find yourself getting really annoyed or stressed out about something, take a moment and ask yourself, will this matter in 50 years? Chances are, the answer is no. Like the saying goes, "don't sweat the small stuff".
10. It could always be worse. It's not very enlightened, but if all else fails, consider the absolute worst case scenario. Odds are, your problems will seem small in comparison.

Do you have any happiness tips? Share them in the comments section.

"The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

There are a lot of scary things going on right now. On Thursday I posted a list of the Top Ten Challenges Facing America Today. It's a daunting list, and it is easy to become overwhelmed by problems. But we cannot allow ourselves to surrender to fear. Fear can be a powerful motivator, but it distorts one's thinking, and can lead to very bad decisions.

It is crucial to keep in mind that our country has faced, and overcome, seemingly insurmountable obstacles many times before. Here are just a few:
• Overthrew the British Empire
• Ended slavery with a bloody Civil War
• Survived the Great Depression
• Defeated the Nazis and saved the world from facism in World War II
• Faced down the Soviet Union in the Cold War

On a more personal level, many of us owe our citizenship to ancestors that were brave enough to leave everything and everyone they knew, sail to a foreign land where perhaps they did not speak the language, and build a life from scratch.

That's why they call this the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!

Triumph over adversity: how do we do it?
• Face our problems head on
• Focus on things we can control and establish common ground
• Work together in cooperation and shared sacrifice

Since I opened with a quote, let me close with one as well:

"United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.” - Patrick Henry

10 Life and Money Lessons Learned from Immigrant Parents | Wise Bread

This is a great post from Wise Bread that talks about the rewards of a simple, yet determined, American lifestyle. It is presented as an immigrant's approach, but I think it used to be a common outlook that was shared by many people born in the United States. Perhaps we should all take a lesson from earlier generations and readjust our priorities. What do you think?

10 Life and Money Lessons Learned from Immigrant Parents | Wise Bread

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What is the Middle Class?

How do you define the American Middle Class? Is it a certain lifestyle, a set of values, an occupation, an education, an address, or an income range? In this country, it seems almost everyone wants to call themselves Middle Class, even if they make $250,000 a year (which would place them, by the way, in the top 1.5% of all households).

Here is a fact that might surprise some people: in 2007 (the most recent data I can find), the median household income in the United States was $50,233 a year. For those of you that failed statistics, that means half of the households made more than that, and half of the households made less. The median gives a more accurate picture than the average, because it is not skewed by unusually high or low values (outliers like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett). Also, household income is not personal income, and may include two (or more) earners.

In my mind, the term Middle Class paints the following picture:
• Has a respectable career with reasonable job security and the opportunity for advancement
• Owns a home in a safe neighborhood in a good public school district
• Able to feed, clothe, and educate two or three children and provide them with the opportunity to go to college
• Owns one or two cars and popular consumer electronics like televisions and computers
• Does not live paycheck-to-paycheck or fund their lifestyle with debt
• Able to take the family on a modest vacation every other year
• Able to provide decent healthcare for the family
• Able to save enough for a comfortable retirement

Do you think the list above is possible to achieve on a median annual household income of $50,233? Was it possible 30 or 40 years ago?

What does "Middle Class" mean to you?

Top 10 American Values We Can All Agree On

Lately it seems as though the ideological divide in this country is wider than ever. Partisan bickering between the Left and the Right has developed into outright hostility. That's why I think it is time to remember the things we can all agree on, whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent. At some point, we must set our differences aside and find some common ground, so that we can start working together to improve the country we all love. The following is a list (in no particular order):

1. Freedom
2. Justice
3. Opportunity for All
4. Independence/ Self-sufficiency
5. Optimism
6. Persistence
7. Hard Work
8. Innovation
9. Entrepreneurial Spirit
10. Common Sense

Reading through the list, you might question whether some or all of these truly apply, given the current state of affairs. We have certainly fallen short of living up to these ideals many times in the past. But, can't we all agree that they are worth pursuing? In my opinion, American society is on a perilous path if we turn away from these values. It's time to refocus.

Do you agree? What do you think?

Top 10 Challenges Facing America Today

The first step in any recovery program is admitting you have a problem. The following is a list of what I see as the ten greatest challenges facing America today, in no particular order:
1. Living beyond our means. On a personal level and on a national level, Americans are living beyond our means. Our society is materialistic and wasteful, and our lifestyle is funded by debt. We are financially dependent on others. We have shifted from producers to consumers.
2. A pervasive sense of entitlement. The strong work ethic upon which this country was founded is no longer central to society. The superficial cult of celebrity has Americans convinced that we are all destined for fame and fortune. We demand instant gratification.
3. Energy dependence. Our insatiable thirst for foreign oil skews our foreign policy objectives and makes us vulnerable to those who would harm us.
4. Failing education system. In math and science, we continue to fall behind the competition. High school graduates don't know the basics. Our culture has come to celebrate willful ignorance.
5. Crumbling infrastructure. Our bridges, highways, and utility distribution systems are quickly falling into dangerous disrepair. This impairs our global competitiveness and imperils our citizenry.
6. Growing income inequality. The wealthiest 1% of Americans now hold 40% of the country's wealth. The middle class is shrinking, and many feel that the American Dream is no longer achievable. If these trends continue, social destabilization is inevitable.
7. Ineffective media. The current 24-hour news cycle creates a sound bite mentality in which nuance is discouraged and whoever yells the loudest wins. In the quest for ratings, media outlets substitute uninformed opinion for factual, objective reporting. There is no longer a focus on investigative journalism. Inaccuracy, intellectual laziness, and imprecision abound. We prioritize scandal and gossip at the expense of more meaningful issues.
8. Loss of faith in institutions. Abuse of power by big business, religious organizations, and government has led Americans to become jaded and distrustful. "Experts" no longer have any credibility.
9. Meaningless work. In recent decades we have shifted away from manufacturing toward a service economy. As work has become less tangible, and more contrived, many workers in Corporate America find their jobs dissatisfying, mind-numbing, and even "soul-killing".
10. Social isolation. The bonds that tie us to our communities are weakening. As Americans become unmoored from society due to unemployment, poverty, and disenfranchisement, we no longer feel a sense of social responsibility.

Do you agree? What do you think?