Friday, November 18, 2005

Stealing my Mom's Money

My mom and dad belonged to the greatest generation of Americans. My mom lost her first husband over the Sea of Japan. My Dad was in Germany with the Air Corp. When he came home it was back to the ranch where he doubled the size of the business he had inherited from his parents. My parents had to put up with a lot of hardship and stress that comes with working in a business with variables that are not in your control such as the weather, overseas markets, and the price of feed, which is also dependent on the weather. I learned at a young age to pray for rain. When Algore reinvented America he effectively killed the sheep industry that was the lifeblood of our family. Simply put he removed a program that protected us from highly subsidized Australian and New Zealand wool and lamb. Fine, in a capitalist society if you can’t compete get out. Dad had already passed away when we made the decision to sell the ranch but Mom now had a sizable chunk of change which she could live on if prudently invested.

When World Com went under she lost a portion of her nest egg. However she was diversified and didn’t complain knowing that investing carries with it some risk. What she lost in one sector she gained in others, most noticeably in Energy with her oil company investments. Yes, my mom is part of big oil. However we now learn that the evil oil company’s profits are seen to be obscene and should be taken from my mom. The Senate Finance Committee is seeking $30 billion in tax increases, including an indirect $5 billion tax on oil companies. This is only fair, when we were losing money in sheep ranching, when we were loosing money in World Com, when we loose money in other investments, the government is there to give some of it back to us right? Of course not, we live in a capitalist society when you loose money but we are a socialist country if you make money.

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