The only problem I have with McCain, aside from the insulting pick of Palin as a running mate, is that he's an insider....has been for over 20 years. It's indisputable that he's a total badass and hero...but, to me (and in my own humble opinion) he represents one face of the machine that runs our whole country and maybe even the world.
My wife and I have a nice older home (we put 20% down and have a very low mortgage payment) and two older cars (an '05 Subaru and '99 Yukon) which we will keep and maintain until it's not cost-effective. We have no debt other than our mortgage and a student loan payment. We live on cash...no credit. We try to live like our grandparents did...although we probably have a few more luxuries than they...we occasionally eat out and have some "stuff" like big TVs and we travel some....overall we're very conservative when compared with our peer group. We' also consider ourselves very fortunate! We're Constitutionally and fiscally conservtive...although when most people say "conservative" these days they mean morally conservative.......I don't call myself morally conservative. That's a whole other topic. :-) I agree, Fritz, on the tax issue. I'm self-employed and we pay an obscenely large tax bill each year....Obscene! Anyone out there educated on the Fair Tax plan? I don't know too much about it but I've heard it proposed that everyone pay a flat 10%.....I'd have to have plastic surgery to remove the grin from my face if all I had to pay was 10%...!! Scott Nicholson, Broker KW Commercial 512-947-2688 Discovery Realty Group www.DiscoveryAustin.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Fritz Holt <fh...@townandcountryins.com> To: Scott Nicholson <csnichol...@sbcglobal.net>; Off Topic <o...@texascavers.com> Cc: Russ K Johnson <russ.k.john...@westonsolutions.com> Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2008 10:25:10 AM Subject: RE: [ot_caving] andrew basevich My wife and I have two nice homes, older automobiles (02&87) and NO DEBT. We are most fortunate (except for my wife being married to me) and we are conservative in our lifestyle and our politics. We are against more and higher taxes as we already pay more than we should. This is one of several reasons that I am voting for John McCain with no apology. Uncle Sam nicks us good for the privilege of living in the greatest (freest) nation on the planet. I only wish that I could convince my precious wife to leave the congested, over taxed war zone known as Houston in favor of The Hill Country. Fritz -----Original Message----- From: Scott Nicholson [mailto:csnichol...@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 5:50 PM To: Off Topic Cc: Russ K Johnson Subject: [ot_caving] andrew basevich A guy I wouldn't normally read (he's too conservative for my general tastes), Andrew Basevich, said something smart lately. Basevich is a Vietnam/Gulf War vet, retired colonel, West Point grad, Johns' Hopkins professor, etc.... He said he couuld trace our current financial crisis on our "mistaking freedom for consumerism". I agree with him... We've shifted to a mindset wherein it is our birthright as Americans to rabidly consume...often beyond our means. We live our lifestyle on the soulders of the rest of the world.... Our #1 industry is now credit servicing; in the early 70's it was manufacturing. Our entire cultural midset has devolved into rampant comsumerism...... The housing fiasco, greed on Wall St., everyone credit-carded to the max...it's downright scary! And sorta sad to see our great country wallowing in a Huge Mess that was forseeable/preventable (at best) and probably repeatable (at worst). Scott Nicholson, Broker KW Commercial 512-947-2688 Discovery Realty Group www.DiscoveryAustin.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com l --------------------------------------------------------------------- Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
