border wars

i've been sitting here thinking about our budget, and the wars that many people blame for the rising debt…

we got Saddam, we got BinLaden, we keep saying that we're bringing the troops home - and here at home we have a problem with all the money being spent to build and rebuild places in other countries while another war is being fought to defend our borders to the south from illegal immigration and drug cartels.

why don't we bring all the troops home and use them to reinforce the few thousand miles of border with Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico?

these troops are going to get paid either way, they could spend that money in those states instead of overseas. if we're going to maintain a barracks, why not do it on US soil until those troops are needed?

i'm sure pro-immigration people would have a problem with this plan, and i'm not against immigration. there are processes in place, as defined by law to properly immigrate, right? until then, why not help the border patrols by using US Troops, and USN river boats to help?

i mean, if we're spending money on them, why not spend it here on a problem which has been costing Americans their lives, at least until the north Mexico cartels are no longer a threat?

gas prices - this isn't complex people

look its simple... oil is traded in dollars.  every barrel of oil that is bought or sold in the world is priced in dollars.

when sheik abdul goes to sell a few million barrels, he's left with dollars.  he can't sell them for euros, he can't sell them for yen, he's never left with rubles or pesos.

however almost everything he wants to buy with those dollars can be purchased with every other form of money.  from eggs to ferraris to boats to chewing gum.

so, he wants a strong and valuable dollar, so that his dollars are worth more than everything else, and he can get more for his dollars.

then, we go out and create trillions in debt lowering the value of the dollar... now his dollars are worth less and he can buy less stuff with the dollars he got for his oil.  to compensate, he raises the price of oil.

the more debt we create as a country, the more we force the value of oil down and the price of gas up.

now, some would say that its worth more to have whatever we got for that debt... the government jobs, the stimulus, etc.

the problem is that those things are not sustainable, they are a quick fix.  however, a strong dollar has more value over time, and in more than lower oil prices.  lower interest rates, lower prices for imported goods in general, and nominal inflation to name a few.

so... as your days progress, realize that charity is a good thing, and that the government should support its people, but its not up to the government to do either on a big scale.  we are paying for it either way - if you want to help, don't let the government borrow, spend some of your own money hiring someone else.