Congratulations to the President-Elect!

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama who will become the 44th President of the United States. He has run one of the most well-organized (maybe the most well-organized) campaigns in history. As Americans in difficult times, it is incumbent for all of us as citizens and leaders to forget agendas and get to policymaking. Our country and its people deserve no less. Democrats are the party in power and now have the opportunity to lead, and no longer obstruct. republicans have lost their position of power, and must now find ways to help lead, and not simply replace the Democrats as obstructionists. President-Elect Obama is my president and your's, but he is a representative of our views on how best this country must proceed. We need to hold him to account when he is wrong, and praise him when he is right. We need to see that he is now a leader who will be a puppet of no special interest or party. In doing so, I hope that we can make it policy-driven; not disgraceful and personal as has been done too often with President Bush. That is my wish this morning.

7:04PM: Graphic content warning

Okay, so I have CNN, Fox News and MSNBC on the various widescreens. It's the first time I've seen these news channels in years and Jiminy Christmas what's up with the graphics?

I mean, I watch YouTube videos. I play videogames. At any given time I've got multiple tabs open in Firefox. So, okay, information overload isn't a problem for me.

Having said all that, who is designing these graphics and who is the audience? I feel like getting a Ritalin prescription just for watching more than two minutes.

See you tonight!

Well, here's my advice:







See you tonight! Remember, it's 6 pm to 9 pm-ish at my place, WOW Cafe & Wingery. I expect Gary around 6.

VOTE! What's your final thought and the "Hoe-Down!"

PLEASE vote tomorrow for your candidate. You are the final poll, and whether it's Obama, McCain, or other, you need to exercise your guaranteed right. Here's a question, though. What will your final thought be before you make your choice?

Oh yeah! I'm looking forward to meeting you tomorrow night at WOW Cafe and Wingery with my bud, Jay! Come out and blog, and eat, and talk and eat, and joke, and eat! We'll be there from 6-9p.m. Come on out and have fun!

Hoe-down: Tuesday night

Don't forget, on Tuesday night Gary and I will be chillin' at my restaurant between 6 pm and 9 pm (ish).

We can eat, chat, and, um ... well, to be honest, eating and chatting were what I had in mind. If you like Scrabble that much you can bring your travel board and see if anyone will play.

I'm told that there is some kind of political thing going on, so I guess you can talk about that. Me, I'll have my head between my knees. You can talk to me about almost anything else, though. You will find, of course, that I'm very charming.

Synchronized presidental debating

Did you watch all the debates? Got the feeling you're hearing the same thing over and over again? Check this out:

http://www.236.com/video/2008/watch_synchronized_presidentia_9857.php

I don't know what it means and you can see that the author had to do some editing, but wow.

Sorry, I'm having trouble embedding the video here, so I just posted a link to the original. Trust me, you want to see this.

A letter from Ken and my response

This was a letter I received from Ken on Wednesday. I appreciate the time he took to write it, and I thought it deserved equal time considering it, and answering. Below is his letter and my response:

Gary,
We live in a democracy, we're part of a community, we make common decisions. It's sad but you guys seem to think that individual material gain is what matters. You may not realize this but you're mocking democracy. Where's your sense of solidarity and community. An atomized society flys in the face of democracy, it's shameful.

Kenneth, I also share my wealth by buying Thanksgiving dinner for people (7) of them this year, donating to charities, paying for lunches, dinners and tickets for people who can't do it themselves, and sponsoring people to baseball games who otherwise couldn't go. I also sponsor two scholarships for $4,000 and gave $3300 to a school to honor my mom and dad; money that would help for better education of students.

None of that money comes from the government; it comes from me despite the government's efforts to take more and more from me as a producer. Without people like me, the democracy, and particularly the representative democracy which puts them in power doesn't exist. Without my money and other producers like me who have bought into them representing me and you, they are nothing. They produce nothing unless I provide them with the means. My compact with them includes respecting my choices, and making decisions that respect the way I do business as a taxpayer, but more importantly a producer in this country.

When I and people like me stop producing, those who live off the fruits of those labors that are given money by our representatives will receive no more. Do not lecture me about democracy, which by the way means "people power" from the old Greek term. Do you think that meant we should have the power, or just the few representatives whose track record is far worse than most American households where we produce each day?

As far as my sense of community, each member of the community should be doing their best to contribute in some way to, and should not be whining about what the government can do to give them more or perpetuate dependence; rather should be fostering their own independence. That will certainly help the solidarity, togetherness and bond within any community.

Best regards,
Gary Sutton

Redistribution of wealth--Progressive or Regressive

The following is a reprint of a response I had in an earlier post. It is not an attenpt to be a revisionist historian to Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" which I have read. Rather, it is to discuss the benefits and merits of a concept. Debate it rather than just offer up names. Here it is:

The idea that government should choose who the winners will be and who the losers will be is anathema to the whole principle of free choice, isn't it? Progressive taxes? Repudiation of the Bush-Cheyney policies? Come on.

The ultimate job of government is to get out of the way so that individual initiative can have a chance to realize goals if pursued by the individual. It is, or was, based on a society that believed in independence and work. The only "fairness" that we worried about was to try as much as possible to have a level playing field for all in this country.

I do believe that there must be stricter regulation and oversight for situations that we have seen in this financial crises. When power and wealth are abused, especially in a way that takes all of us with them, there must be safeguards in our system of freedoms. People make bad choices, and illegal choices. They must be held accountable.

Having said that, what is progressive about any tax? Government produces no money, but takes it from those that do, then make them pay progressively more than those who don't???? What is progressive about that? How does that provide greater incentive for people to create wealth in this country? How does a 35% corporate tax keep business in this country when every other industrialized country offers less of a strain on earnings? Senator Obama is right in the sense that wealth is built "from the ground up." When you start at ground level, don't you want to achieve higher status financially. What a goal to look forward to when you know that your efforts will lead to a "progressive tax." How is that progressive for success?

Lessen the tax confiscation, tighten the spending, and find an equitable way to provide tax cuts for 100% of citizens in this country; not just 95%. If you nwant to create a nanny state of dependency where we whine for fairness defined as what I can get, I believe we go opposite the very tenets on which we were founded.

An Obama Radio Interview from 2001--Redistribution of wealth.

This has become the great dividing point in the Election of 2008. Where do you come down?

The Election Night Hoe-Down at WOW!

I want to encourage everyone to come out to WOW on Election Night, eat some great food, and take part in some great conversation. We'll also be blogging throughout the evening. I will be there from 6-9 or so. Please plan on stopping by and taking part.
Most importantly, you'll get a chance to hang out with Jay. What could be more awesome? GS

Governor Richardson and Friday's Show

Governor Bill Richardson was supposed to be my guest on yesterday's show, but he stood me up. After waiting 1-1/2 hours to tape the interview, and with much help from an Obama aide, Ebony Meeks, we finally threw in the towel. Sorry. I like the Governor, and was looking forward to his insights. (Sorry especially to RB.)

Friday, we have Chris Markowski, "The Watchdog of Wall Street" from 6:10 to 6:25. This guy is sharp, and he'll be getting into analysis on gas prices, candidates' gas plans, and abolishing 401k tax breaks. Check out his website at http://watchdogonwallstreet.com/tv.html

We also have Dr. Terry Madonna from Franklin and Marshall College who will be talking about the new Franklin and Marshall/Hearst-Argyle Presidential Poll. Find out more at http://www.fandm.edu/x2217.xml

Our 8-9 Call-In Hour will focus on "What changes you would like to see to future presidential campaigns and elections" plus "When it comes down to it in the simplest terms, what is this election really all about?"

Join us 6-9am on York's Morning News.

Monday's York's Morning News

Our guests today on York's Morning News are :

Gary Gagliardi of The Science of Strategy Institute on the topic of ACORN (The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.) If you care to follow up on his work, go to www.scienceofstrategy.com . 6:00 hour.

Joe Mahoney is an investment advisor with Edward Jones Investments in York, PA . He is discussing the financial bailoout and the progress on it in the 8:00 hour.

Thanks for listening--Comments are welcomed here! GS

New poll: Election night hoe-down at WOW?

New poll: Wanna do an election night hoe-down at WOW?

See above post -- Gary and I are thinking of having an election night gathering at WOW. Any interest?

And no, I'm not sure what a "hoe-down" entails. I'm not up on the lingo kids use today, because I'm old. So very old.

Poll results: Who won the VP debate?

Poll results: Who won the VP debate?

Sen. Biden - 23%
Gov. Palin - 53%
Neither - 11%
There was a debate? - 11%

Did anyone win in Debate 3?

Joe the Plumber was probably the biggest winner with some great publicity for business. I thought the introduction of this guy put the conversation on a "Main Street" level that people could understand in concrete terms. Using this point, McCain finally stumbled into differentiating between "spreading out the wealth" by the government, and the individual keeping his own money and making choices as to where it will go himself. This is the ultimate difference between the two.

What did you hear in the last debate?

NEW Candidate??

A staggering development.


CLICK HERE!!

Is America ready to elect someone from Main Street?

Realizing that the VP debate is a sideshow to electing the presidential candidates, I was struck by a thought ; Is America ready to put someone from Main Street close to the presidency? It seems to me that it was not so much a debate last night as a statement of principles. Fairness for Biden and Individual liberty for Palen. More importantly, Palen was the object of perception it seemed to me, while Biden was much more concise as the Washington insider. Main Street language like "Doggone it," "Darn Right," and "God Bless him" were there to connect depending on who said it. So what did the debate do for you, if anything.

VP Debate Drinking Game

MIT's paper The Tech presents: The VP debate drinking game! A sample of some rules:

When Biden begins the “I take the train home everyday story” being drinking. Don’t stop ’till he finishes.

When Palin insists that governing a small town in Alaska is in fact experience: Give your friend a shot glass of beer when he/she asks for a pint and insist it’s the same thing.

Have fun and remember you have to work tomorrow!

Link to VP Debate Drinking Game (from MIT's The Tech)

Has this economic disaster dragged politicians to work as policymakers?

It's probably way to early to tell, but this whole bailout thing might just be the one issue that drags everyone into policy making. Oh, I know, the same rhetoric is going on, but make no mistake about it; people are furious when these do-nothings continue to always use citizen pocketbooks as the bailout. (They call it a buy-in.) Why should they in the wake of Bear-Stearns, Lehman, Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac, and AIG? Has that helped the economy with our infusion of bucks? No! Yet, we do have to find a solution to separate Wall Street and Main Street so this doesn't continue to happen. With the bill being devoted yesterday, the question is what's next? What do you see as the next step, and do you think they can do it for the REAL benefit of the country?

Who won the Debate on Friday?

I thought that McCain had to throw a haymaker and he missed. I thought that Obama had to simply not make any major gaffes and he managed to tread water. Problem was that neither showed themselves to be very good leaders, or be specific in their proposals in a way that we could understand. (Why do I hear Forest Gump talking about Mama explaining things to him in a way he could understand here.) I think that unless some major event comes along, Obama is on his way to at least a decisive victory, and possibly a landslide. What say you?