Rosa's Reality Check

I know it’s been a long time…again. Sorry, life has been
challenging this past year, but it looks like things are finally under control.

Where was I the last time I wrote? Oh, yes. My unending
battle with the forces of evil, um, I mean the government, in Nicaragua when I
moved there with my family last fall/winter.

Well, if you’ve been reading my blog until now, you know
that by January, my international entrepreneurial spirit had been thoroughly
squashed. I was, however, determined to make my Internet job-finding business
work even if not from Nicaragua. With this in mind, my husband and I decided to
move back to the USA. Yes, back to the
USA. After all the heartache (and cash-hemorrhaging) of getting our stuff
through Nicaraguan customs.

You would think getting out would be easier than getting in.
After all, they WERE doing everything possible to discourage us from making any
money for or in the country, right? Oh, but that wasn’t the point. It never is.
They had identified a golden goose and they were going to squeeze every bit out
of it that they could get, even if it meant breaking the law (when has that
even been an issue?)

So, I contacted a customs broker and asked what I needed to
do to ship my things and my vehicles back to the USA. (Note that we had to
leave many, many of our personal belongings behind in Nicaragua to save money,
which was fast running out.) The answer I got was a shocking and deliberate
misinterpretation of a customs law that is supposed to help Nicaragua citizens.

You see, since I imported my things and one car using law
535, which allows a Nicaraguan citizen who has lived abroad to import their
household goods and one vehicle free of duties, customs was now claiming that I
had to pay the duties on the car. The price tag? At least $25,000.

Why, you ask? Well, because the law states that if you
import your car under this exemption, then you can’t sell it or change its
ownership for three years. That, I can understand, since they don’t want people
making a business out of importing their cars duty free and then selling them
for profit. Though how anyone would “move” back to Nicaragua from abroad enough
times to actually make any money from this, is beyond me.

However, I was NOT selling my car. I was moving back to the
USA and taking my car with me because, well, it’s mine. For personal use, you
know? But in the gross and deliberate misinterpretation of the law, the
authorities insisted, Minority Report style, that if I took it out then I might
sell it, and they couldn’t have that. So I’d have to pay duties. Which were 50%
of the value. At least $25,000 by their estimate, but they were going to
“assess it.” (You may not know it but in Nicaragua, the government adds on a
tax of between 50-75% of the cost of the car.
So if you want to buy a car that would cost $10,000 in the United
States, expect to pay $15-20,000 for the same model in Nicaragua.)

I wasn’t going to wait around for them to do any
“assessments.” I asked my customs broker if I had any other options. I should
have known the answer by now. For the low, low price of $1500, I could get a
permit to drive it out of the country.

Folks, I know for a fact that getting said permit does not
cost $1500. I’ve driven cars out of Nicaragua before for vacations in Costa
Rica and trips to Honduras and El Salvador. But, seeing as how everyone seemed
to be in league, and honestly I was just exhausted, I said ok.

Before I go on, let me stress the enormity of what had just
happened. I was desperate to get out of a country that was not just business-unfriendly,
but predatory. I had taken my entire life, my possessions, and my family (with
small children) there, and found it impossible to do what I had set out to do.
My life savings was going into a black hole, and now I was being extorted for
either $25,000+ dollars, or $1500 to get my own car out of the country. I had
three choices: 1. Pay the $25,000 to ship it out. 2. Leave it there
(unacceptable.) or 3. Pay the $1500 and DRIVE it all the way to the
Northwestern United States.

Faced with three very unattractive options, I chose the
least horrible and paid the $1500 for the permit (which was probably obtained
illegally to boot). I couldn’t leave fast enough. I’m not even going to get
into the exorbitant fees I had to pay to get my goods and my other car shipped
out.

I rented an apartment “sight unseen” in Boise, ID (my
husband’s hometown and seemingly the best choice at the time in which to land)
and made sure that we could move in quickly. We set out at 6 am on March 10,
2011, on the most terrifying trip of my life. My faithful driver from Nicaragua
generously offered to drive us as far as Guatemala (since he can’t get into
Mexico) and then take a bus back to Managua. We gratefully accepted (and made
sure to provide him the cash to do that), strapped ourselves and our kids into
the infamous car, and took off.

As we drove up the Central American isthmus, I felt like we were
escaping (and stealing our own car.) Never in my wildest dreams did I ever
think that I would have to escape from a country that I used to love. If you’ve
never had to go through something like this, let me tell you that this is how
the Israelites must have felt when they escaped Egypt followed by Pharaoh’s
army. I kept expecting to get pulled over and have someone demand $25,000 in
taxes. Every time we crossed a border, I was freaking out. Never mind that as a
dual citizen I could freely travel Central America, Mexico, and enter the USA
without problems. My kids and husband, being only American citizens, simply had
to pay a “tourist fee” at every border. However, by that point it felt like any
government official could do whatever he wanted to us, regardless of our
rights. I worried that at the US border, they would question why we had
Nicaraguan plates. I had compiled every piece of documentation that I could dig
up to prove we had bought the car in the USA, paid sales tax on it, and that it
was legally registered in California. I had piles of papers in the car, from
multiple copies of every form of ID that we had, to vehicle registrations,
insurance cards, titles, and customs forms. I wasn’t taking any chances. I was
in fight or flight mode.

We got pulled over twice, once in Honduras (for not having
front and back plates; my car only has a space in the back for a license plate)
and once in Mexico, for “speeding.” This is in addition to the numerous times
we had to stop to have our “papers checked” or our vehicle “inspected.” Note
that in Honduras, we were only passing through about 40 miles of that country
(so pulling us over for “plates” was kind of silly), and in Mexico, as we
talked to the cop, multiple vehicles raced by at 100+ MPH. Both times we were
threatened with having our licenses confiscated and having to go pick them up
at some remote location at some later date. Both times we were asked for hefty
“donations” in order to avoid this. The cop in Honduras even had a “bribe broker”,
some random dude that came to “intercede” on our behalf and claimed that he was
working the whole “situation” out in our favor.
Of course, with the three federales holding automatic weapons behind us,
we already knew the score.  Wow, what a
guy! We ended paying only $100 to the officer and everything else we had in
Honduran currency to the “broker.” The Mexican cop seemed less shady (even
asked to shake my husband’s hand), but he happily accepted a nice sum in pesos
and only lamented that he “couldn’t provide us with a receipt.” We thanked him
profusely and drove off…

All this, plus the worry of driving through potentially
dangerous drug cartel/gang territory with our two small children in the car,
AND trying to set up my Internet business and rent furniture for the apartment,
all from my iPad on the road. The data roaming charges were outrageous by the
time we got into the USA.

The roads were terrible until we reached the more civilized
parts of Mexico, but in any other circumstance, the drive would have been nice,
even fun. I wish I could have enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We passed through
forests, mountains, valleys, quaint historical towns, and even stayed at a
resort on the beach at Mazatlan one night. I was too stressed out (and my
husband was sick with fever on top of that) while we drove like bats out of
hell to get to the USA.

We finally got to the Mexico/Arizona border late on March
14, and had absolutely no issues (thank God.) No, I mean really, thank God, who was with us through the
whole ordeal and figuratively parted the Red Sea for us.
By that time I was able to relax a little, and we even
stopped by to enjoy the Grand Canyon the next day on our way through Arizona.
Finally, on March 16, sick, stressed, and traumatized, we arrived in Boise
after driving from tropics to desert to the Mountain West. The apartment and
temporary furniture I had rented, sight unseen, was um, not the best, but it
would do.

After several months of headaches trying to make my Internet
business work from the USA (job candidates in Central America were very
unreliable and would just disappear or not show up after they had committed to
a job) we abandoned that venture and decided to find other work. In this
economy, it was not going to be easy.

Long story short, we struggled, my husband working freelance
projects with his small consulting group, until he accepted his wonderful
position in Houston, again thanks to the Lord, who literally dropped the
opportunity in his lap. We are still recovering, both financially and
emotionally, from what felt like the most traumatizing experience of our lives.
Our kids, thankfully, seem to have adjusted well despite having been
transferred from Sacramento to Managua to Boise to Houston, and with all the
different schools they’ve had to attend.

So folks, we had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving,
including the fact that we can work, live, and play in this country without
fear. Let’s keep it that way, ok? As for Nicaragua, well, if you look at their
last “elections” you can see that the situation there is not getting any
better.

I’ll leave you for now with a question: what are the reasons
that countries like Nicaragua are so poor, corrupt, and dangerous, and are we
in danger of falling into the same trap here in the USA? My next blog post will
address this very topic.

“Whew!” I thought, as I watched all my stuff finally get
unpacked, after transporting it home along with my two cars. After our odyssey
getting our stuff past Nicaraguan Customs into Nicaragua (and thousands of
dollars later) I was finally home free and ready to get to work! The first
thing to do was order some equipment for our company, get it incorporated in Nicaragua,
and open a business bank account. In the USA, all this can be done online
pretty easily, and with the ordering of electronic equipment (we needed some IP
equipment for our Internet-based company) generally one can expect to have
their own purchased property delivered with reasonable certainty.

Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with the services of UPS,
FedEx, or the freight and mail forwarding companies in Nicaragua. They do the
best they can, under the circumstances. But the circumstances are pretty
difficult to deal with. Here I was again, dealing with Nicaraguan customs and
their “sticky” hands.

To make a long story short, every time something had to come
through customs, it was guaranteed that the duties on it would be arbitrary,
increase the cost of the item by at least 50%, and it was anyone’s guess
whether we would receive it at all. One example was that we ordered a couple of
unblocked iPhone 4’s from so that we could insert the SIM card from the
Nicaraguan phone company into them (the ones from AT&T can’t be used with a
different SIM card unless you unblock them, and the iPhone 4 at the time was
still too new – no software was yet available to do this.)

Anyway, we got a great deal on the iPhones, had them
shipped, and they were promptly stopped by Nicaraguan customs, who, after
holding them “in inspection” for almost a month, said that the cost on our
invoice was “wrong.” They asked us to provide, as proof of the cost, an
original invoice notarized and authenticated by the Nicaraguan consulate in the
country of origin within 10 days.
WHAT????!!! Explain to me how I was going to contact the vendor in Canada and tell them that the e-mail
invoice was not good enough and that they had to go to a notary with an
invoice, get it to the Nicaraguan consulate in Canada, and mail it to me in
Nicaragua…within 10 days?? Obviously this was a ploy by customs to get more
duties (if they could claim a higher cost, then they would get more taxes.) I
finally just told them to put whatever cost they thought should be on the
invoice, and tax me based on that. It was either that or let them auction my
phones. We ended up paying over $300 in taxes on each iPhone, with no recourse
for disputing the legality of the situation.

I hope that by now, you’re really grasping the importance of
our Constitutional Amendments that deal with property. It is exactly these
rights that prevent the government in the USA from doing to you what other
countries are allowed to do with impunity. Property rights are the bread and
butter of our society, and without them the prosperity of the United States
could never have been possible.  (If you
want to know more about what I’m talking about, Google the term “Boston Tea
Party”)

In Nicaragua, customs is so notorious that the newspapers
cover its shenanigans on almost a constant basis.  I almost laughed myself silly one morning when
the national newspaper ran this title as the lead story on the daily edition –
“The rule of law holds no sway at Customs!!” The goal of the Nicarguan Customs officials
is to either make as much money off of you as possible in taxes, or else keep
your stuff to get auctioned to people that are on the inside.  And don’t think that money or those items go
anywhere but to line the pockets of key officials. Guaranteed. Cars, iPads,
food, wine, phones, TV equipment, books, games, golf clubs, rock
collections(!), and satellite dishes are just a few items that I’ve heard
horror stories about from friends trying to make it work in Nicaragua.

I’ve been picking on Customs to highlight the importance of
property rights, but let’s pick on another entity – the Nicaraguan equivalent
of the Secretary of State in a particular US state – the entities that register
and incorporate new companies. Don’t even ask me to tell you what they are, the
process is so convoluted I couldn’t begin to explain it, and at least 3 different
departments are involved. When we arrived in November, the first thing we did
was to hire an attorney to help us incorporate our Internet-based employment company.
We paid the “expedited” fee (over $2000) to get it done, presumably, in 30 days
or less. Keep in mind that I can open a company in Nevada for less than $500
and have it be ready in a week or less. Or to compare to another Latin American
country, I can pay $1000 in Panama and open it in one day. Nicaragua is a prime
example of what happens when bureaucrats are in charge and not held
accountable. By the end of January, we STILL didn’t have a company. Of course,
no bank would let us open an account without our incorporation papers, so you
can imagine how easy setting up to do business became.

The constant delays, plus the realization that the
government was never going to make things easy for us, plus the additional
realization that should our electronic equipment, unavailable in Nicaragua,
ever need to be replaced, all our business operations would stop while we waited
for Customs to release it, led us to the final decision to incorporate and
operate elsewhere. After all, an Internet business can be operated from
anywhere, and without the energy project to keep us in Nicaragua, there was no
reason for us to stay.

So we were coming back to the USA. Logically, leaving should
have been easy, right? Just pack our stuff and go? By now you realize where the
story is going.

Stay tuned for more…

Ready for another installment of my own Reality Check
experience outside the United States?

I had always taken for granted, even when I lived in
Nicaragua as a teen and young adult, that if I purchased something online or
had something shipped to me, with very few exceptions it would arrive as
planned and be delivered to me. It must be that outrageous idea that my stuff
is actually mine. You know, that
silly notion about property rights? Well, I must have been out of my mind to
think that the Nicaraguan government cares anything about your stuff actually being
yours.

Remember back a couple weeks ago when I talked about being
extorted by Nicaraguan customs officials and brokers? That was just the tip of
the iceberg. When I arrived in Nicaragua, thinking that all my papers were in
order because I had paid the broker $1500 for arranging the import papers with
the Nicaraguan consulate, I was informed by the same broker that now I needed
to pay another $1500 to “arrange” things with the Ministry of Sticky Fing, uh,
Finance inside Nicaragua. Oh, and by the way, I now needed to provide proof of
having been outside the country for 10 years as opposed to the 5 they had
previously stated. Uh, since I had already arrived and my entire life was on
the ocean on its way to port, I wasn’t exactly in a position where I had the
choice to walk away. I worked it out, paid of course, and then waited for my
things to arrive, presumably duty free, into the country.

Yay! After more than a month in transit, my shipment and my
vehicles arrived on December 21^st! So, I just went to the designated
customs warehouse, picked up my stuff, and took it home.

Uh, no. You see, it was Christmas Vacation! How could it
occur to me to ship anything to arrive in December? Customs was on vacay and so
I had to wait until after Christmas to even see my things. My things. Did I mention that my kids’ Christmas presents were in
that shipment? Off I went, to the toy store, to buy a bunch of new presents,
because a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old don’t understand that Santa got held up
by customs.

Christmas came and went, and I was ready to go pick up my
stuff now, thank you. Ooooh, no. Didn’t I know that New Years was coming and
that customs was only working certain days, and on those days they closed at
1pm (more like noon) and I had to wait behind other customers?

Customers? I thought all I had to do was pick up my things.
Silly me, I had to wait for all the paperwork to be done, pay $8000 in taxes on
the second vehicle (in cash) and wait for inspection. Whaaa? That’s when I
found out about the “traffic light.” You see, customs runs all shipments
through a supposedly random light. If it comes out green, you’re good to go,
yellow, and they do a light inspection, and if red, then you get the full
cavity search. Did I mention that 99% of the time it turns out red? Guess what
light I got?

But never fear! For the low, low price of $600 for the
shipment and first vehicle and another $300 for the second vehicle (paid in
cash), I could have the light changed to green! Did I mention this was not
optional? A red light and refusing to pay the “fee” resulted in maybe never
seeing your stuff again, as they would be sure to find some reason to delay
and/or find a reason to confiscate or hold your shipment with additional “fines”
to be paid. I bet you can guess what I ended up doing.

On January 6, after hemorrhaging money to customs and
fretting to no end, I finally was able to take my things and my cars home. My
good friend, a true Godsend, who managed the warehouse, actually gave me a break and
waived the warehouse fee while ensuring that my goods were safe. The one break I got the whole time.

I need to say this again. These were not commercial goods,
they were my own things. Old things. Clothes, furniture, toys. I own them. And
yet, until I took them home, I was never sure if I was ever going to be able
to. Some people have left their things abandoned in customs, to be auctioned (you
should have seen the graveyard of abandoned cars in the customs parking lot)
because they could not pay the arbitrary and exorbitant price to get their own
property back. Can you imagine shipping something to yourself and not being
sure if the government is going to try and extort you for it, or just
outright steal it from you?

I bet you’re wondering if I had any money left at this point
to actually invest in my businesses. Well, apparently customs thought I did,
because now I had to import some equipment for my company, and that was a lot
of fun, too. I’ll leave that one for next time.

Nicaragua has nothing concrete in its Constitution that
defends property rights, and that’s why customs is able to do these things to
people. I wasn’t the first, and certainly not the only one. My friends have
told me customs horror stories, which I’ll relate in my next post as well. I am
very thankful for my 4^th and 6^th Amendment rights, and
again marvel at the foresight and wisdom of the founders. However, even in a
country where owning (and keeping) property is a fundamental right, things
happen all the time that violate our property rights here in the U.S.A. That
comes later in my story. In the meantime, think about whether your property is actually yours, and
whether our government is protecting our property rights as it should be.

Ready to read more about my exciting adventures abroad? When
I left off in my story, I was happily moving my family to Nicaragua while being
extorted by Nicaraguan customs and a suspicious broker. Never fear, though,
because through the grace of God and diligent investing and saving, we were in
a great cash position. I guess governments have some sort of income radar to
zero in on and drain anyone who is productive, and I’ll talk more on that
later, but today I want to focus on the main reason we went in the first place.

As I mentioned previously, Nicaragua, a third world country
with a huge energy deficit, was ripe with opportunity for investment in that
sector. Before we moved, we had queued up several possible manufacturers to build
hydroelectric and wind projects, were in discussions with contacts at the local
power distributor for a PPA (Purchase Power Agreement, needed for financing)
and had previously met with the country’s leaders concerning the need for more
power and been encouraged to build projects. We had detailed designs and had
done some preliminary scouting for ideal site locations. In addition, renewable
energy was being touted and given special tax incentives.

Did you know that European governments will practically give
away money to third world countries to help develop beneficial projects such as
ours? They only ask that standard good business practices be used to protect
against corrupt and graft. When we arrived in Nicaragua, we were blessed to run
into a dear friend of ours who clued us into this and introduced us to people
that could help secure a grant for our project. We, together with our friend
and his contacts, had a fantastic team of talented individuals ready to embark
on exciting work that the country desperately needs. We were on (what seemed) the
right track to build two projects that together would have added approximately
80 desperately needed megawatts to the country’s electrical grid in a  $200 million investment.

However, all was not to go as planned. Nicaragua unfortunately is ruled by a group                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            of Marxists (despite their slogan about being
“Christian and Socialist”), who have recently adopted crony capitalism under
the guise of seeming “business-friendly.” Elected on a shady plurality and with
outrageous promises to the people (another one of his party’s slogans is “El
Pueblo Presidente” or “The people for President”), Daniel Ortega claims to protect
the poor people of the country from oppression from the bourgeois by giving
them free stuff and allowing them to take over public property for personal
use. He also claims that as long as the business sector stays out of politics,
he will stay out of the business sector.

Well. It sounds pretty but, um, it’s not.

You see, in an alliance with Hugo Chavez, Ortega formed a
company called “Albanisa”.  When it was
formed, one of the goals of Albanisa was to funnel Venezuelan oil to Nicaragua
at heavily discounted prices, essentially amounting to foreign aid.  Ortega sold this concept to the people of
Nicaragua as a boon from their friends in Venezuela and that it would help him
realize his goal for providing “social programs” for the people.  The way it would work is thus: Venezuela
would sell Ortega/Albanisa a barrel of oil at a price between
$35-50/barrel.  Ortega/Albanisa would
then turn around and resell the oil at market prices, $80-110/barrel and pocket
the diff…uh…spend it on programs for the people.  Not surprisingly, where the oil was supposed
to be given as untied aid, the exchanges were later converted after the fact to
national debt.  Ortega has mortgaged the
future of Nicaragua for Venezuelan oil. He now uses the money to buy all kinds
of things for himself, personally, within the country.  Purchases include hotels, restaurants, land, and
others.  Seeing how fun capitalism can
be, Ortega has recently announced that he, personally, will begin to address
the country’s energy problems by building all kinds of new power plants.

So despite all the touting of renewable energy as the future
of Nicaragua, it presents a bit of a conflict of interest for a few key people
heavily invested in Venezuelan oil, and a huge problem for small developers
such as ourselves. Oh, there are some renewable projects being built, but with huge
contributions and ownership from other Ortega-friendly governments such as Iran,
and despite heavy obstacles from the government regulating entities, not to
mention pockets being lined left and right.

Per the advice of our friend and his European contacts, we
tried to structure our project so that we could build something together with
the government and get a grant, but despite their previous “enthusiasm”, when
it came time for the Nicaraguan government to commit, we began to find it
increasingly difficult to get in contact with the same government officials we
had spoken to before. In addition, the implication was that we would need to
resort to the same illegal bribing as the other projects currently under
construction (and give away the business in the process) in order to get any
traction, which would have not only landed us in jail in violation of the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, but it would have made us ineligible for the
grant, which has very strict ethical provisions.

The icing on the cake, after months of work to build the
project (years if you count the preparation before we moved) and nearly
$100,000 of our own money invested, came with the news that the local power
distributor was deep in debt, had failed to pay its energy suppliers, and was
now asking for its parent company in Spain to bail it out. The Spanish company
refused to do anything, and so the Nicaraguan government is considering a
bailout (read: nationalization.) This made the PPA worthless, and any hope of
financing (even with a grant) was now a fond memory. To make matters worse,
there is speculation that this bankruptcy was encouraged by insiders in bed
with the government to secure the oil interests.

Our team decided that the conditions in the country were not
conducive to investment in energy, and we decided to move on. So much for the
future of Nicaragua, not interfering in business, and touting renewable energy.
The oil company owned by Nicaragua’s leader and his cronies simply could not
allow anything or anyone to get in the way of its Venezuelan oil deals, and so
the people continue to suffer and investors are driven away.

OK, you may be saying, that really sucks for Nicaragua. That’s
why it’s a third world country, full of people that were easily swayed to vote
for Ortega in exchange for the promise of a free ride. What does that have to
do with U.S. politics? It’s not like we
have a president who got elected with empty promises and is an egomaniacal dictator
wannabe, abusing the executive power to control the oil and energy industries
and other vital sectors of the economy for his own political and personal gain
and that of his cronies.

Oh…wait…

I’ll leave you to chew on that until next time…

I didn’t mean to quit blogging for almost half a year. I
kept meaning to do it, but other things just kept me away. I’ve had a crazy six
months, but what has happened only gave me more fodder for my political rants.
I’m going to start my comeback to blogging by telling the tale in a few installments.
If it feels like what I’m writing has nothing to do with American politics, I
promise that at the end I have a very real point to make when I tie it all
together.

You see, my husband and I got some silly ideas into our
heads that we wanted to MOVE to Nicaragua and start some businesses there.
Well, the ideas weren’t quite so silly; we did end up with a good business
(more on that later.) But we never imagined the epic adventure (or
misadventure) on which we would end up embarking.

Let me start at the beginning, so this doesn’t sound so completely
out there (and I promise this all ties into politics in the USA.) We were
living in California with its ridiculously high taxes and its welfare state,
and decided to flee the state like most income producers that don’t want to put
up with being robbed of their hard-earned money. As some of you may know, I am
a first generation American with most of my family (parents, sibling) still
living in Nicaragua. Anyway, there were some really good opportunities to
invest in hydroelectric and wind power plants there according to the Nicaraguan
government’s “come invest here arm”, Pro-Nicaragua. Since my husband and I have
extensive experience in energy, finance, and environmental engineering, and we
have the contacts to build projects such as these that the country desperately
needs to quit relying on Venezuelan oil, we thought, “Hey! This could work if
we went there and developed some stuff.” With my family’s contacts to boot, we
had a really good “in” to make it happen. Heh, heh…or so we thought.

Without going too far into details, an energy deal required
four aspects: government cooperation, an agreement with the local energy
distributor called a PPA (Purchase Power Agreement) that ensures that they will
buy your energy, financing for the project, and a contractor to build the
thing. These aspects are all like a chicken-and-egg thing. The bank won’t
finance the project unless you have the other three, the government won’t
cooperate unless you have a builder and financing, the builder won’t talk to
you unless you have financing and a PPA, and so forth. In our case, however,
these weren’t so far-fetched because we were supposed to have government
cooperation and a PPA already worked out through our contacts and as a result
of previous meetings with key officials including President Ortega (the key
word here being “supposed.”)

In addition to the energy project, we also started another
business that consisted of a website designed to find household jobs for
domestic workers (maids, nannies, etc.)

So, we gave our 30 days notice and started packing for our
exciting trip. We used a freight forwarder to ship our stuff and our two cars
to Nicaragua, and made our travel plans. Here is where the fun began.

You see, I am a dual citizen who can take advantage of a
special law in Nicaragua that allows Nicaraguans who have been abroad to import
their household goods and one car, duty free. So naturally we decided to ship
everything in my name, as known by the Nicaraguan government, which includes my
mother’s maiden name as part of my last name.
Of course, in the USA I am known officially by my married name. Keep
this in mind for the hijinks that ensue later in my story. Anyway, my husband
had to sign over the vehicle titles to me for the Nicaraguan government to
accept the vehicles. American customs posed no issued on the way out (why would
they?) so it was time to focus on making sure I could get our stuff into
Nicaragua.

My father in Nicaragua located a customs broker to help us
though the process and I started researching the requirements for being able to
import my stuff duty free. The customs broker, who works with the Miami
consulate, informed me that I needed to provide proof that I had been outside
Nicaragua for five years. Ok, no problem. I looked on the website for the Miami
consulate and it seemed to match what she said. Then out of curiosity, since my
things were leaving out of California, I checked the website for the San
Francisco consulate. They said 3 years. Los Angeles said 2 years. Ok, strange,
but none of these were a problem. Then I called the Miami consulate (where I
had a contact) and was informed that I needed to have been abroad for 10 years.
Huh??? Which was it? I told them that the person in Nicaragua, their website,
and 2 other websites all said different.

Well, 10 years is kind of hard to prove, and now the bureaucrats
were insisting that was the requirement regardless of what the law stated. I
was stuck. I had five years worth of tax returns but nothing before that except….college
transcripts! Um, those were already packed and on the ocean. Never fear,
though, because then the customs broker said that the consulate changed their minds
and said I could provide 5 years of proof instead. Oh, and could I wire $1500
for her services? Um. Little did I know that this was just the beginning…

My adventures with customs don’t end here, but I’ll wrap it
up for today. Before I go, I’ll leave you with a thought and a question: Nicaragua
is not unique in this, not by far. How many times have you encountered a
government official here in the USA who is making arbitrary decisions about
your life, and you powerless to stop them?

See you next time!

Here’s a quick analysis of the widely watched Nevada Senatorial race, to give you a good idea of just how damaging the 17^th Amendment has been to our nation. As we all know by now, Democrat Harry Reid beat Tea Party Republican Sharron Angle by a bit over 4 points. Let’s take a look at the Nevada county map (obtained from Nevada’s Secretary of State Website) to see the results by county:

Whoa…it looks like Harry Reid was elected by the people of just three counties: Clark (Las Vegas), Washoe (Reno), and Mineral counties. That’s funny, seeing as how there are 17 (yes, seventeen) counties in Nevada, and fourteen of them elected Sharron Angle!

I know, I know. Democracy blah blah blah, those three counties are the most populous, blah blah blah…

Um…that’s what the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES is for!

The two Senators from each State, as you may recall, are supposed to represent each region of a State equally, which is why they were appointed by State legislatures, that is, until the 17^th Amendment made State governments practically irrelevant in Washington politics. It also made all those people living in those other 14 counties irrelevant. So all Harry Reid needed to do was campaign to the unions in Las Vegas and Reno, and completely ignore the rest of Nevada.  

Want more? Go out to the news websites and take a look at the county results maps for California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and a few other States. Even where Republicans won, the races were really close, because of those really populated cities.

Nice, huh? A picture is worth a thousand words…

Do you, or did you ever, play board games like Monopoly? They are a lot of fun, buying and selling property, charging rent, seeing who makes the most money…until people stop playing by the rules.

 Ever play with someone who charges rent to some players but not to others, or refuses to follow the directions on the little cards, or a banker that distributes the money incorrectly and unfairly…on purpose? What happens when players collude, conspire, and band together against others who are playing fairly? Or build houses and hotels without paying the right price for them, with impunity?

In other words, what happens when people stop following the rules? Well, some follow suit and also start ignoring the rules, others get annoyed and walk away, while still others attempt to continue playing by the rules…but the game isn’t much fun anymore, is it? Things become pretty chaotic and break down pretty quickly after that. There’s a pretty simple word for this behavior: cheating.  

It sucks.

That, dear readers, is what is happening in our country. The Constitution is our set of laws, or rules, and the people who have sworn to protect and uphold it, who are supposed to govern by it, are doing just the opposite: they are twisting its meaning and intention, taking it out of context, and in the worst of cases ignoring it altogether and making up their own rules to suit their own agendas.

In this three-part series, I will provide examples of how each of the three branches of the Federal Government is governing extra-constitutionally (read: cheating.) Since we’re right on the verge of Election Day, and since so many Congressional seats are up for grabs, I think I’ll start with the Legislative Branch…

It would make your head spin to know how many Unconstitutional laws and Congress has passed and agencies they have created, simply by claiming that they fall under the umbrella of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution. To refer to just a few:

• They created the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) and delegated to it the power to control interest rates, print money, and in a sense, control the availability and access to U.S. currency.
• They created the Interstate Highway System, forcing states to depend on Federal funds to maintain it.
• They banned Tobacco commercials on national TV stations.
• They created the Environmental Protection Agency, to regulate, among other things, environmental outputs of industry.
• Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and TARP. See my discussion here.
• Other Federal bailout programs (Government Motors, anyone?)
• Of course, let’s not forget the Granddaddy of them all, “Obamacare”.

These major pieces of legislation are whoppers for a Federal Government supposedly limited in scope by our Founding Fathers and the Constitution, but since they vehemently insist that they have the right to pass these bills because of the infamous Interstate Commerce Clause, my curiosity got the best of me. I decided to look up this amazing Constitutional clause that gives Congress nearly unlimited power! I said to myself, it must surely take up at least a dozen pages in the Constitution! Well folks, here is that fascinating piece. Drumroll, please…

The Congress shall have Power…

”To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;”

Did you blink? You might have missed it if you did. Yep, that’s the whole “Interstate Commerce Clause.” That’s it. The Constitution names other powers granted to Congress, but in relation to commerce, that’s all of it. It’s easy to see how this means that Congress has the power to control our money, our private affairs, and our lives…NOT.   

The spirit in which these rules were written was obvious: that Congress was supposed to “regulate” inasmuch as it made commerce easier and more profitable between States. “Regulate” never meant “force”, “control”, “create”, or “nationalize.” However, these rules were twisted and ignored to suit the agendas of key people whose interests would be served by passing unconstitutional legislation.

So, regarding Obamacare, the Mack Daddy of unconstitutional, how did our Legislative Branch react when asked questions about the bill or confronted with the fact that they were cheating?

Nancy Pelosi: “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.”

In other words, sign here, then I’ll let you read the contract. Huh? What kind of fools do you take us for?

Our Madame Speaker also wrote, “The Constitution gives Congress broad power  to regulate activities that have an effect on interstate commerce. Congress has used this authority to regulate many aspects of American life, from labor relations to education to health care to agricultural production. Since virtually every aspect of the heath care system has an effect on interstate commerce, the power of Congress to regulate health care is essentially unlimited.“

I think the Founders would have keeled over (again) had they read that statement. Ms. Pelosi is applying the “Interstate Commerce Clause” to a bill that forces Americans to engage in commerce, forces them to pay for services they don’t need, and forces doctors to provide services at a government –mandated price. It impedes commerce by forcing businesses to buy government health insurance or pay a heavy penalty, and forces Americans to provide funds for services they may be against, such as abortions and services to illegal aliens. Finally, it violates the 10^th Amendment by forcing the States to be subject to the Federal Government, instead of the other way around.

Speaking of the 10^th Amendment, another popular argument I hear in defense of all this cheating, is that “…Just because it isn’t stated outright in the Constitution, that it doesn’t mean the Federal Government can’t do it!”  Lisa Murkowski, the sore loser from Alaska who couldn’t accept her defeat in the Republican Senatorial primaries and is now running as a write-in candidate, said to Rachel Maddow that “thinking something is unconstitutional because it’s not in the Constitution is not ‘mainstream.’”

I’ve got news for Ms. Murkowski: we don’t govern by what is “mainstream.” That’s called mob rule. It’s also stupid. And for those of you wondering, here’s the text of the 10^th Amendment:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

So, um, yes…if it’s not in there, the Federal Government can’t do it!! Jeez!

And just to be sure they weren’t leaving anything out, the Founders threw in another amendment in the Bill of Rights that is conveniently ignored over and over when Congress is passing bills under the guise of the “Interstate Commerce Clause.”

It’s the 9^th Amendment, and in a shout-out to En Vogue:  “And it goes a little somethin’ like this (Hit It!)”:

“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

So, all that stuff about forcing us to buy health insurance because they have the power to regulate commerce? Amendment 9 trumps that. Oops.

But they don’t care. Because they’re cheaters. Which is why we have to fire them.

There’s one last thing, though. Since they’re cheaters, firing them won’t be easy. Already in Nevada thousands of people have shown up to vote at the polls, only to find that their ballot has already been cast for Harry Reid. Honest mistake, you say? How come no ballots have been cast mistakenly for Sharron Angle?

In Florida, South Carolina, New York, and other States, absentee ballots to the military were sent out late, which means that military voters won’t get their votes cast in time (guess which way the military tends to vote…)

In Cook County Illinois, ballots were delivered to prisons, even though that’s against the Illinois Constitution (guess which way convicts are likely to vote…)  And oh yes, over two thousand military absentee ballots have been rejected because they were postmarked too late.  Doesn’t the election actually happen next week?

In Alaska, a list of write-in candidates was given to voters at the polls (including Murkowski’s), even though that constitutes campaigning at a polling spot. Alaska’s Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that it was unconstitutional.

So get out there and vote, because in this political war, everybody counts. The cheating is slowly breaking down the system, but with determination we can take the country back.

Stay tuned for part two: legislating from the bench…

Ready to vote? If you’re an American citizen, you have the ability to exercise a very unique and powerful right. Don’t let it go to waste, but don’t take it lightly, either. There are a lot of politicians out there fighting to get your vote, they’re well funded, they’re making a lot of promises, and it’s getting more and more brutal the closer we get to Election Day.  Things are getting heated enough that Barack Obama pulled in over $1 billion dollars in campaign contributions in 2008 and Meg Whitman is spending $150 million of her own money to try to become governor of California this year.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the Congressional election process and why they would work so hard and spend so much money to get your vote and a seat in Congress, particularly the Senate. Now, we know that politicians are after power and money, but have you ever wondered why people from the outside would contribute millions, if not billions, to get a particular person into the Senate? Well…because arguably, a United States Senator is one of the 100 most powerful people on earth.

Yes, you read right. You see, together with the House of Representatives, the Senate has the power to do such things as declare war, make laws that tax the citizens of the United States to raise billions for the Treasury, decide how to spend it, and impeach the President. But unlike the House of Representatives, which is composed of delegates from each state according to population for a total of 435 members, the Senate only sends 2 delegates per state for a total of 100, which means that the vote of each Senator packs a whollop! Add that to the fact that their terms last 6 years and they have no term limits…draw your own conclusions, my friends.

Now, why would the founders construct the legislative branch this way? Well, the Senate was not always an elected body, and for very good reason. Our election process has changed quite a bit over the 200-plus years since we became a nation. Not all change is good.

Here’s the thing. There was a lot of debate going on during the writing of the Constitution between those that thought the legislative branch should represent state governments, and those that preferred that the people themselves be represented instead. So, to provide a middle ground, two houses were created. One, the House of Representatives, was elected by the people of each state and had representation based on population. The other, the Senate, gave equal representation to each state and was appointed by the legislature of each state. It balanced out because while states with bigger populations had more representation in the House, smaller states had an equal vote in the Senate. Both the people and the state governments were represented at the Federal level. The Two-Senator-Per-State rule gives States (the only members of the Union) true representation and freedom from the tyranny of mob rule (or “democracy”, as my Greek-speaking friends like to call it).

But even more importantly, Senators were entrusted with greater voting power and longer terms (that whollop I mentioned) because they were beholden and accountable to the state legislatures that appointed them. These state legislatures could not afford to appoint senators who made bad choices in Congress, because they in turn were accountable to voters in their local counties for re-election (and legislatures in states turn over pretty frequently.)

Then something disastrous happened. I discussed it here. On April 8, 1913, the 17^th Amendment was ratified. The year 1913 was a really bad one for the Constitution. I really wish we could have skipped that year, kind of like high rise buildings skip over the 13^th floor?

Anyway, in a nutshell, the 17th changed it so that the Senate was now elected by popular vote. O. M. G. Were they out of their minds? These very powerful Senators were suddenly beholden to no one! State legislatures now had no representation at the Federal level and no say in the Federal law-making process. Foreign governments have representation in Washington; state governments, none.

But the repercussions are much worse than even that, if that’s possible.  The makeup of Congress as prescribed in the Constitution not only gave smaller states an equal vote in the Senate. By having state legislatures appoint the Senators, it also prevented large population centers from dictating to more sparse, but equally important areas. 

Here’s an example: California has a few ridiculously large and populous cities, and the rest of the state is pretty rural and not as populated. California sends 53 representatives to the House, and 2 Senators. Representatives are popularly elected by district. If the Senators were appointed by the State Assembly, then each member of that Assembly, representing each California county, would get a vote regarding whom to send to Washington, D.C. from California, and the Assembly members from the less populated counties would get as much say as the ones from Los Angeles County or the Bay Area. In a popular election, however, the two Senators from California will always be elected at the complete whim of the voters of Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and San Diego, regardless of the desire of the voters of the surrounding counties. See how that works?

Think about it. If it hadn’t been designed to work that way (initially), what would have been the impetus for people to move west and settle the less populated areas, plow the fields, and produce the food that we enjoy every day thanks to our vast supply chains? There are many people that actually prefer that lifestyle, and pretty much to a person do not like the culture of big-city life.  If they (via their representatives in the state legislatures) hadn’t been given equal voting power and representation in those remote areas, then people simply would have remained in the cities and America would never have expanded to what we know it to be today. So admit it, the Founders were geniuses. And then, with the 17th Amendment, we decided to screw those people. No wonder they’re furious.

It doesn’t end there. Since the state legislatures decided not to do their jobs and instead subject the appointment of the United States Senators to popular votes, then outside parties (foreign countries, corporations, unions, cartels) decided they could influence the outcome of those very important elections (only 100 of them, remember?) by injecting lots and lots of money into their campaigns. These are what we call “Special Interest Groups.” They purchase those very powerful Senate seats and control the passing of United States laws. So now, instead of being accountable to their state governments, these very powerful men and women get seated by organizations with lots of money who can inject it by the billions into their campaigns and influence the popular vote.

Why am I telling you all this? Because if your state is electing a United States Senator this November, you have a very important responsibility when you go to the polls. Since the 17^th Amendment, your state legislature decided that it was your job, not theirs, to appoint the United States Senators. Look carefully at each candidate, and step into the shoes of your state senator/representative/assemblyman. Will this candidate act in your state’s best interests, or will they vote away your state’s rights as a member of the union (as they have done repeatedly since the 17^th Amendment was ratified)? Who is backing them financially? Why? Would they survive in the Senate if they had to be appointed by your state’s legislature and be held accountable by that body?

Next, I would encourage everyone to contact their state legislature (and their Senator and Representative) and press upon them the necessity of repealing Amendment 17. Say something like, “Ok, now that I did your job for you, can you please go back to doing it yourselves? Thanks…”

Good luck and go vote!

Last time I wrote, I gave President Obama the benefit of the doubt in order to make a point about his eligibility for President.

So…I’m done with that.

Let’s be real, folks. Pretty much everyone in every branch of the Federal Government has lied to the American people left and right (literally AND figuratively) in order to get their agendas passed, in violation of both the spirit and the letter of our Constitution. Yeah, remember that? That little document that so many politicians would like to brush aside? Well, it’s still the law of the land, and the people who are supposed to uphold and protect it are doing a miserable job.

For instance, it is now the six month anniversary of the passing of the healthcare bill, or as we so lovingly know it, “Obamacare”. I don’t need to remind you that it is a total bust and wildly unpopular. The news outlets, the Tea Party, and other media outlets are doing a fantastic job of that. I don’t need to remind you of how it is 2500 pages, simply too long for anyone, even the members of Congress who voted it in, to read thoroughly. I also don’t need to remind you that in order to get it passed, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and other Democrats lied through their teeth about what was actually in the bill: subsidized partial-birth abortions, coverage for illegal aliens, mandatory insurance purchase even if you don’t want it, penalties for companies that don’t purchase the government health plan, rising health costs, hidden real estate taxes, extra income taxes…it just goes on and on…

But the biggest lie the government is trying to push on us, regarding the healthcare bill and just about every other unconstitutional bill they are trying to shove down our throats, is that the extra taxation is only going to affect the “rich”, whom they define as everyone earning $250,000 or more per year. To illustrate just how much of a lie this is, I’m going to profile the average family who makes this much money.   Keep in mind that I believe that families who achieve this income level are blessed.  But are they “rich”?  Let’s take a closer look.

To make this exercise easier, I’m going to assume the family lives in Texas because 1. I’m familiar with the state since I lived there and 2. there is no state income tax so the take home pay calculation will be easier. I’m also going to assume that while both husband and wife have degrees, the husband is the sole breadwinner, is an executive, and they have no side businesses, since two incomes and businesses would complicate things. But the same assumptions might be applied to a family with a small business as well. There’s almost no difference in the eyes of the government.

Next, let’s assume that to climb the corporate ladder to an executive position the couple is at least in their mid-to-late 30’s and has a couple of small children. Finally, executive salaries come in the form of base pay and bonuses, so let’s assume the base pay is $200,000 and the bonus last year came out to $70,000. Congratulations! This family just joined the ranks of the rich! Time to buy a couple of Rolexes and Land Rovers, right?

Not quite. While this family, through hard work, education, and dedication, has gone far, it’s not exactly the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” They have had to be financially prudent, as you’ll soon see, and they hardly have money to throw away.

How much do they have? Since normally companies in the USA pay 26 biweekly paychecks a year rather than a monthly salary, let’s figure out how much this family takes home every paycheck. $200,000 in 26 paychecks is $7692 a paycheck (I’m going to round to the nearest dollar.) Now let’s take out income tax, payroll tax, social security, Medicare, and all that other good stuff. This part is tricky because everyone withholds a different amount, claims different exemptions, and the tax code is (intentionally) tricky, so I had to ask some of my friends to let me look at their W2’s, and kind of reverse-engineer an average percentage based on what I saw in this tax bracket. I saw that all this stuff combined tends to hover around 25% off the total take home, so let’s use that.

25% off of $7692 leaves $5769. Ok, good. Now, since the company probably has some sort of 401K plan and also health insurance, let’s take out the provisions for that, too. Let’s assume the health plan takes out $125 a paycheck and that they put 8% of the paycheck, or $615, into the 401K. That leaves $5028. Finally, let’s not forget that most companies have pet charities to which all the executives have to make “voluntary” contributions. That comes out of the paycheck, too. Let’s be conservative and say that this executive contributes $100. Therefore, this family’s take-home pay is actually $4928 per paycheck. If we assume roughly two paychecks a month, this means that the family takes home about $9857 per month.

Now, let’s assume this family lives in a 4 bedroom home that they bought a few years ago, when rates were not completely hitting the floor. Since most homes where I bought mine a few years ago were in the $250,000 price range, let’s use that. And rates were hovering at around 5.5%. If they put down 20% like any financially responsible family, then their payment would be $1,135. Property taxes and insurance on the home would add about another $700 a month, so the total payment comes to $1835 a month. Add some Homeowners Association fees at $150 a month, and it comes up to $1985 to live in the house. That leaves $7872 per month for other stuff.

This family probably has two cars, one for the husband to take to work every day, and one for the wife to use for errands. The wife’s car is most probably an SUV, since she has to drive two small kids around along with all their junk including two giant car seats and probably a stroller and diaper bag (trust me, this is me.) The husband’s car probably has to get decent gas mileage on the highway, since he commutes to work every day. Two cars, costing approximately $35,000 each, at about 5% for 4 years, assuming previous cars were traded in or a down payment made means this family is going to be paying about $500 per vehicle loan. $1000 total per month on auto loans, leaving $6872 in the monthly budget.

Now for some utilities. Electricity averages $300 a month, water $40, sewer $30, Internet $25. One cell phone for the wife (since the husband probably has one issued by the company): $60 basic plan, $25 data, $5 for texting plus applicable fees and taxes make the cell phone about $90 per month. The land line is about the same. Cable or Satellite, basic plus maybe a Direct sports ticket, $170 per month. Total utilities: $745. $6127 left over.

Insurance: auto insurance, $140 per month for two vehicles. Term life insurance for two 30-something adults in excellent health, for 30 years, $1.5 million for the husband, $500,000 for the wife, about $150. Consolidated student loans still at $80,000 for two graduate degrees (the wife doesn’t work, but she uses those skills to manage the household and invest wisely): $500 a month. Money left after student loans and insurance: $5337.

Groceries consume about $300 a week. The wife goes to the store twice a week. She carefully plans the weekly menu, makes a list, and sticks to it. She cooks healthy meals, and they eat out only on weekends. They try to take a break by going out a couple nights a week, so babysitting, at $12 an hour, costs $120 a week. Also, they have a housekeeper come once a week to help the wife with cleaning. This costs $80 a week. Monthly cost of groceries, babysitting, and housekeeping: $2000. Money left over: $3337.

To make sure they stay healthy, the family has a gym membership, and also plays tennis. However, for the wife to be able to work out, she has to use the child center, so they have to get a family membership. Cost of family gym membership: $200/month. Cost of family membership at tennis club: $100/month. Cost to play a tennis match twice a week for 4 hours while children are at kids club at club rate of $16/hour: $512/month. Total for working out/sports: $812/month. Money left over: $2525.

Now, since this family is financially responsible, and they want to send their kids to college, maybe build up some funds to perhaps eventually invest in a business, plus of course have an emergency fund in case they ever find themselves without employment, it makes sense to put some money away every month for this purpose. Let’s assume this is 10% of their gross pay, or $1500 a month. This leaves $1025.

As you may already know, most Americans are very generous as well, and the higher their income, the more charitable donations they make. Most families get calls or letters from at least one charity a month: March of Dimes, Susan G. Komen Foundation, local Shriners, United Way, Toys for Tots, etc. Donations can vary from $150 to $300 and most are tax deductible (some are not) but on average, let’s say the family donates about $200 a month. Money left over: $825.

Preschool for the three-year old, twice a week: $150 a week, or $600 a month. Money left over: $225.

This has to cover any other incidentals: medical bills, home repairs (or home warranty payments), clothing and shoes for themselves and their ever-growing children, alarm services, pest control, landscaping, prescription and over-the counter drugs, school field trips, fundraisers, PTA, etc. And maybe, just maybe there’s something left over for a family vacation once a year.

What?? The bonus, you say? Well, it’s incentive pay, so IF they actually get it, then it’s received at the end of the year and taxed at the highest rate (33%) and actually comes in at about $43,000 after all the taxes (income tax, payroll tax, Medicare, etc.) are taken out. It ALL goes into Savings, or helps pay off the credit card after the family vacation (and Christmas presents for the entire extended family, plus all those charities that come knocking at the door during the holidays), then goes into Savings, to help build that emergency fund/college fund.

Pretty luxurious life, huh? Um, no. And mind you, this is in a CHEAP state that doesn’t charge income tax. God help the people in California, New Jersey, Oregon, or Washington!

Folks, these are the people that DRIVE the American economy! This is the typical American family, not the “rich.” If you have a college education, are ambitious, driven, and have any brains, then this is YOU, if not today, then soon, and you will be punished for those qualities. Think about all the businesses I named (and the people employed by them) that benefit from families such as this. Who benefits when they are deprived of their hard-earned income by heavy taxation and forced government healthcare?

The government would tell you that, well, the poor would benefit. The poor? Do the poor have the creative ability, drive, and education to use and invest the money the same way? Of course not! They need a freaking job! A job that is going to disappear the day you raise the taxes on the “rich” family, who is going to have to fire their housekeeper, and cut back on playing tennis at the club to compensate. So, the tennis club is going to turn around and fire the kid’s club babysitter because there aren’t enough people using it. On top of that, the family is going to think twice before starting a business with their carefully saved money, and employing people for whom they are going to be forced to buy government health insurance, or pay a heavy penalty. Maybe they’ll invest in something else instead. So, who really lost out, here? 

There is evidence today that household savings in the United States is at an exceptionally high level and credit card debt is rapidly shrinking, per capita.  Is this a good sign or are these “rich” people holding off on investing for fear of being further punished through more government-sanctioned “redistribution”?

One last thing…

When this heavily taxed “rich” family goes to the emergency room because their 3-year-old is running a 105-degree fever at 2 am, and find they have to wait four hours to get their baby seen, because of all the people in front of them getting “free” healthcare, this not-so-stupid family understands exactly who is paying for all of this, again and again and again. Despite government assertions to the contrary. It’s not the super-wealthy who know how to get around the tax system through trust funds and offshore accounts (and who are in bed with the politicians.) It’s also not the 47% who don’t make enough to pay taxes at all. Do you know who it is??

Dear readers, the day has come to discuss a rather hairy issue. For some time, I’ve been pondering the major questions surrounding our current President’s eligibility to hold the office. It’s a touchy subject, I know, but let me warn you in advance: I’m not going to be drawn into any discussions of racism, so don’t even go there. As with everything else we’ve seen so far, let’s look at the topic objectively and from the point of view of Constitutional law, which regardless of anyone’s personal feelings, has the final say.

So, before we can begin to discuss the question of eligibility, we need to actually establish just what Constitutional law says about a citizen’s qualifications to be President of the United States, so we’re all on the same page. There are three requirements:

• First, the person must be a natural citizen of the United States. (More on this in a minute.)
• Second, the person must be at least 35 years old.
• Finally, the person must reside in the United States for a minimum of 14 years at the time of his election.

We all know that President Obama meets requirements 2 and 3, so let me expand on the first requirement for just a minute. What makes a person a natural citizen? Well, he could be born in the United States, regardless of who his parents are. That automatically makes him a natural citizen. Also, he could be born abroad to two citizens of the United States. That also makes him a natural citizen, as in the case of Mr. Obama’s opponent in the 2008 elections, John McCain, who was born in Panama to two American parents. Finally, if only one of the parents is an American citizen and the child is born abroad, then that parent must have had citizenship for at least 5 years after the age of 14. In other words, if the parent was a citizen at age 14, then the parent must be at least 19 for the child to be born a natural citizen. Pretty convoluted, huh? Anyway, those are the rules.

Oh, one more thing. If a natural citizen at any point in time renounces his citizenship, he automatically loses his eligibility to be president, even if he later regains his citizenship through re-naturalization. This makes him a naturalized citizen, just like any foreign immigrant who comes into the country and gets citizenship. Got it? Good.

Now I’m not even going to touch the birth question. If you want to read a really good analysis of the birth dilemma, go here. The author, Mr. Paul Hollrah, is a recent member of the Electoral College and much more qualified than me to address that part of it (best and brightest, remember?)

Incidentally, a loyal reader and cherished friend asked me a while back, after I wrote that very first post about the Electoral College, whether the College hadn’t in fact verified President Obama’s eligibility before voting him into office. That was part of their job, yes. In fact, a candidate is supposed to be vetted on three different occasions: first, by their party at the time of their nomination, then by the Electoral College during the election process, and finally by Congress before the inauguration. That’s how important it is to our nation that our President be properly qualified! BUT, in terms of the Electoral College, it’s not like they get together and discuss the eligibility of each candidate over coffee or drinks. It’s a secret ballot. Each member of the College has the individual responsibility of deciding for himself whether the candidates are qualified, and they vote based on their personal findings. No member of the Electoral College knows for sure who any other member voted for, though they can probably take a good guess based on their party!

Anyway, for purposes of today’s discussion, I’m going to simply assume that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii. Why? Because he said so, and I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. In fact, I’m going to take everything he’s said at face value and assume he’s telling the truth: that he was, in fact, born a natural citizen.

I’m also going to assume he’s telling the truth when he states in his autobiography that he traveled to Indonesia (to visit his mother, who had renounced her American citizenship) and Pakistan in 1981. And THAT’s what causes a major problem in my mind. You see, no American citizen could have traveled legally to either of those countries on an American passport in 1981. They were considered nations that harbored terrorists and therefore enemies of the United States. So…how did he get there?

I’ve heard some say that Mr. Obama was born with dual citizenship, American and British, because his father was Kenyan and a British subject, and that he could have traveled on a British passport. While it is true that he could have been born with dual citizenship, by 1981 Kenyans were no longer British subjects and he would have had to exchange his British passport for a Kenyan passport, and there’s the catch: Kenya does not allow dual citizenship with the USA for adults. Mr. Obama would have had to choose between his U.S. citizenship and Kenyan citizenship! I’ve also heard the argument that since his mother had obtained Indonesian citizenship, maybe he had dual citizenship with Indonesia. The same rule applies: dual citizenship between the United States and Indonesia is not allowed. The only way Mr. Obama could have traveled to Indonesia and Pakistan legally would have been to renounce his American citizenship!

Which then makes you (or should make you) wonder…how did he get back into the United States? Well, he could have gotten re-naturalized, in which case he is an American citizen, but no longer a natural citizen, and is therefore not eligible for the Presidency. But…why isn’t there a record of that? Even worse scenarios, which I don’t even want to think about, are that we elected a resident alien, or WORSE, an illegal alien! (Maybe that’s why he’s in such a snit over Arizona’s immigration law?)

There is, of course, the best case scenario: that he never gave up his citizenship but simply traveled illegally on his American passport, in which case we simply have a criminal in the Oval Office. Seeing as how this particular crime doesn’t involve smoking marijuana (and not inhaling) but illegally traveling to countries that are Enemies of the State, while his eligibility would then not be in question, in my mind (and hopefully in yours) his loyalty to the United States would be. Still not a good scene.

Even in the best case scenario above, Mr. Obama slipped past his own party, the (mostly Democrat in 2008) Electoral College, and (again, Democrat-controlled) Congress. In their zeal to get him elected, all these people were willing to overlook real (and obvious) issues with Mr. Obama’s eligibility and/or questionable loyalty to the country he is supposed to protect,  for our nation’s highest and most powerful office. And they didn’t even need to look further than what he himself admitted to! Why??

I don’t know about you, but to me, Obamacare is the least of our worries…