"Do we want what is best for our country or do we just want what is best for us?"
Consider for a moment the possibility that the answer to this question is
"What is best for our country is best for us."
And that the answer we give will determine our destiny ... and our future ... for generations.

Consider this ...

Have you noticed that the 21st century is very different compared to earlier centuries?
Changes are happening much faster now (exponentially) than ever before.
The reason for this is the widespread use of Computers and the Internet which has unleashed
a powerful force which I call CIC(kick) that is speeding up change ... EVERYWHERE.
You are not imagining that the world is moving more quickly. It is.

CIC is the combined exponential power of Creativity, Information, and Communication.

The old (linear) ideas don't work in this new world.
Are you willing to open your mind and consider some new (exponential) ideas to find out ...

• Why Citizens feel so disconnected from Government. 
• What is wrong with the US Economy and what will make it right.
• How cost/quality/access can be balanced in the US Health Care System  
• Why there was a 2008 Financial Crisis.
• Why the 2009 Economic Stimulus didn't work. 
• Why the US/Mexican Border has not been secured.
•  Why the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill happened.
• What is really happening in Europe and the Middle East.
  
• Where we will be in 10 years … in 50 years.

AND

• What WE can do about what is happening.

THE FAUCET PRINCIPLES
These principles are valid for Actuarial Soundness, for Exponential Solutions … for Life. The secret is to balance or optimize them so that they work cooperatively. When one principle is ignored or violated, the faucet becomes impaired.

Make no mistake, interest rates will begin to rise and/or the Stock Market will begin to fall if the US Debt Limit resolution is viewed as inadequate (written July, 2011). And in our new exponential, electronic, globalized economy, this could happen in seconds. Have you noticed the level of interest rates in Greece lately?

And now (November, 2011) the heads of government in Italy and Greece have been replaced and we await the deliberations of the US Congressional Super Committee. Can we anticipate a concrete solution or is this just more dancing on the deck of the Titanic?

Are US political leaders aware of the risk and real danger here? They are playing with fire and acting like the man who was asked for the definition of Ignorance and Apathy.
His response was, "I don't know and I don't care."

As for help from our Allies, remember, the first reality of geo-politics is anarchy.
All countries will never fail to act in their own self-interest.

The presumption of the US Federal Government is that it must be the architect of any economic recovery by creating jobs. In fact, it is the Private Sector which creates jobs and wealth. The President's message should not be, "This is how I will create jobs". Rather, it should be, "This is how I will get out of the way to better enable the Private Sector to create jobs".

One of the problems confronting the US economy is that, like the federal government today, too many people were using borrowed money as income for decades before the financial crisis of 2008. When they were unable to continue borrowing, such income disappeared. It will not return until their outstanding loans have been repaid. This has left a big hole in consumer spending, which is about two-thirds of the US economy, and made recovery a lot more difficult. Unfortunately, a substantial part of this borrowing was in the form of higher home loans which turned out to be a very bad idea when the housing bubble burst.

Many of you may think I am exaggerating, that somehow consequences can be avoided forever, just because we don't want them to happen.
As an actuary I can assure you, it doesn't work that way. Risk doesn't work that way.

The most important thing to understand about Risk is that risk is impersonal. Risk does not care if you are a good person. Risk does not care if you are doing something that you think is socially desirable. Risk does not care if you do not have enough money to back up taking the risk, in case it materializes adversely. Risk always operates the same way, for everyone. Always. Every single time. It operates on the basis of circumstance and probability.

Risk can be brutal. It has left us with three economic choices.
1. Make the tough decisions to reposition and redirect the US economy: promises made and expectations may have to be revised downward (depending upon how smart and bold we are) but at least we will be able to pay for them and end up with a healthy economy.
2. Don't make the tough decisions to reposition and redirect the US economy: inflation will revise the value of promises made and expectations downward to a level we can afford. Unfortunately, at the same time, inflation will devastate the rest of the economy.
3. Something in-between 1. and 2.: The closer to 1., the lower will be inflation and the healthier will be the economy. The closer to 2., the higher will be inflation and the more devastated will be the economy.

Pretending these are not our choices will result in 2. It is time to Pay the Piper and his price-tag for delay is inflation and increasing the difficulty of the decisions required ... exponentially.

What people everywhere cannot believe is that, for the first time in our lifetime, there is no longer enough money to pay for everything we want. Unfortunately, we have waited so long to do anything about it that we are not even close to having enough money, unless we are willing to embrace some new ideas. The alternative is that it is likely everybody is going to pay, whether they like it or not.

How to understand and use CIC (and Risk) can be found by clicking on BOOK.
We don't have a lot of time to learn about CIC and how to use it. 
The Exponential Clock is ticking toward the 29th day ...
tick ... tick ... tick.
 

See the ABOUT and FAQ pages for more information on what and how. Or jump right in by clicking BOOK, BLOG or FORUM on the menu bar.