America, here is the fundamental question of all? WHICH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE HAS THE BEST BUDGET -- the GOP candidates or President Obama's? This is a fact question, not an opinion. What does an analysis of their proposed budgets do to our deficits?
Has anyone bothered to read the analysis by economic experts - that every plan proposed by the four GOP Presidential candidates would create even LARGER Deficits than that proposed for 2013 by President Obama? And they would give even more tax cuts to the rich.
So every Republican plan would INCREASE our deficit. That makes President Obama's budget the most FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE of any Republican candidate.
Where are the tea baggers saying "COOL" to the President for doing a better job at controlling our deficits than Mr. Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul? All I am seeing are misleading, false and downright racist and sexist commentary -- against women, Puerto Ricans, each other --you name it they hate it.
You would think that those campaigning to become our next President would be going to serious heights with potential solutions to regain our mojo after the worst economic downturn in 70 years, right? They seem to have forgotten that in January 2001 Pres. Bush walked into the oval office to find a $300 BILLION plus SURPLUS; whereas in January 2009 President Obama's walked into the oval office on his first day on the job to find a $1.2 TRILLION deficit, and another $5 Trillion in IOU's run up by the prior GOP administration, not to mention a couple of hot wars going badly...
Wouldn't you expect that we would be hearing serious proposals from all of these Presidential candidates for job creation and educational advancement for Americans needing work?
Wouldn't you expect them to be detailing serious strategies to help Americans get the skills needed to fill 3 million empty jobs that exist in America TODAY - jobs that remain unfilled. WHY?
Because American workers lack the skills to fill them. However, Asian and Indian workers DO have the advanced skills required by those jobs. So the jobs either remain unfilled --or they go overseas or to foreign workers allowed to live here to fill them. Filling them could drop our unemployment rate to 6% or less.
Are any of the GOP Presidential candidates addressing that problem? I haven't heard a word about that from the Republican candidates. However, I have heard President Obama speak on that issue at length - yet he has received no help from Congress providing that higher level of training for Americans to get those jobs and help us lead the world in the high tech 21st century.
You would think that is IMPORTANT right? If Americans don't have the high tech job skills required in the space age global economy, how can that be good? How can that make us competitive when countries like China have more skilled employees than America because we have let our educational system slip from No. 1 in 2000 to No. 9 in the world by 2008?
I just don't see how the GOP plan to increase our deficits and give yet MORE TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH can pass the economic smell test. I thought tea baggers were against more debt? Did I miss something? Yet every GOP Presidential candidate's budget plans would make our debt situation WORSE than President Obama's. So are they blind or just stupid or something else?
In "Agenda for American Greatness" the last chapter of my new ebook "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" --which is based on my experience from Fortune 500 to becoming an entrepreneur after a layoff and negotiating in nearly 50 countries, I analyze how America got into this economic fix - who ran the ship on the reef - and more importantly HOW we get out of it.
Which policies will get those 3 million jobs filled by Americans? Check it out - the rest of the chapters will give you an idea why I might know what I'm talking about more than someone who never got out of Paint Creek or Texas, or the little town in Iowa were I was born.
My loyalty is to what is best for America and the American public. We can't make wise choices if we don't base them on the global reality -- and FACTS, not some gasbag radio pundit who beats up on young women or by watching a single TV news network that only presents one side of an argument. It's impossible to win the global competitive race by keeping ourselves ignorant of the truth, and by not preparing the next generation.
Global economics and the work skills of our people are basic math. We can't compete with math and science experts in the space age with high school dropouts and art history majors.
None of the Presidential candidates are offering any real solutions based on the world we live in. From Korea to Iran, I've seen it up front and personal....
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
New Leadership for Texas (oops)- Will Take 21st Century skills
It will take 21st Century skills for America and my home state of Texas to compete in this inescapable high-tech, global space age, 21st century economy. Do we have the leaders who have the skills to guide us to success in this challenging world environment?
Reliable sources say that Gov. Perry is seriously considering running for Governor of Texas AGAIN in 2014 - after being in office over 10 years, more than a decade. In that time, Texas ranking in education, graduation rates, etc. have fallen. Simply put, we have fallen behind most of the other states in America in more ways than one during his term. Education in Texas was better when George W. Bush was Governor!
At the same time Governor Perry who calls himself "conservative" is double dipping -- drawing a pension and a Governor's salary at the same time. Yet he is rarely in his office and refused to reimburse the taxpayers for over $1 million dollars that he billed Texans for his "security" costs while running for President, despite his "oops" and having leftover campaign funds.
Education funding was cut over $4 billion in the last Texas legislative session when tax receipts fell short, and the federal stimulus money Governor Perry had previously used to cover the shortfall was no longer available (while he criticized the feds for giving him the money.) It was a sad first in Texas history that education did not get what it needed. From the beginning of Texas, its founding fathers have committed themselves to giving schools educating future Texas workers what they needed, not the scraps leftover.
Gov. Perry and the GOP legislature broke that promise. Schools only got a fraction of what they needed for our kids to compete in a global economy that will require our kids have high tech skills, not the highest high school drop out rate that we have.
Today Texas trails nationally in education, to name only one. How does shorting education help us win the 21st century, when hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs remain unfilled because Americans/Texans do not have the high tech skills needed to fill them? If our kids can't do those jobs, they will go to the workers in China and India who DO have those skills! I have been in those countries, I know.
News reports are that the Governor is rarely in his office office even today, after withdrawing from his Presidential campaign - at a time when Texas faces enormous problems. In 2011 Texas had a record drought and faces critical water shortages in the future; yet its aging water plan remains unfunded and neglected by our leaders.
Sadly, the embarrassment to Texas of Gov. Perry's Presidential campaign performance (oops!) did not reflect well on Texas' image. Frankly, he made us all look like a bunch of ignorant hicks.
Isn't it time to consider what kind of experience America and Texas needs in this high tech, global, space age 21st century economy? Should we not pick our next Governor someone with the global, high tech expertise and commitment to educate for us to lead America in the 21st Century?
For these reasons, if a major Democrat doesn't get into the 2014 Texas Governors race, I am seriously considering doing it.
Based on what credentials? How about someone who does know Pakistan from Afghanistan. Someone with the global high-tech experience and strategic plan to move Texas from last in education and jobs skills to leading America in the 21st century.
New Leadership is needed for Texas. Our future depends on it. We have fallen behind. If you want facts of how we got into this mess and how we get out of it, read my story at "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" at
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
Then compare that experience to Governor Perry's...
Reliable sources say that Gov. Perry is seriously considering running for Governor of Texas AGAIN in 2014 - after being in office over 10 years, more than a decade. In that time, Texas ranking in education, graduation rates, etc. have fallen. Simply put, we have fallen behind most of the other states in America in more ways than one during his term. Education in Texas was better when George W. Bush was Governor!
At the same time Governor Perry who calls himself "conservative" is double dipping -- drawing a pension and a Governor's salary at the same time. Yet he is rarely in his office and refused to reimburse the taxpayers for over $1 million dollars that he billed Texans for his "security" costs while running for President, despite his "oops" and having leftover campaign funds.
Education funding was cut over $4 billion in the last Texas legislative session when tax receipts fell short, and the federal stimulus money Governor Perry had previously used to cover the shortfall was no longer available (while he criticized the feds for giving him the money.) It was a sad first in Texas history that education did not get what it needed. From the beginning of Texas, its founding fathers have committed themselves to giving schools educating future Texas workers what they needed, not the scraps leftover.
Gov. Perry and the GOP legislature broke that promise. Schools only got a fraction of what they needed for our kids to compete in a global economy that will require our kids have high tech skills, not the highest high school drop out rate that we have.
Today Texas trails nationally in education, to name only one. How does shorting education help us win the 21st century, when hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs remain unfilled because Americans/Texans do not have the high tech skills needed to fill them? If our kids can't do those jobs, they will go to the workers in China and India who DO have those skills! I have been in those countries, I know.
News reports are that the Governor is rarely in his office office even today, after withdrawing from his Presidential campaign - at a time when Texas faces enormous problems. In 2011 Texas had a record drought and faces critical water shortages in the future; yet its aging water plan remains unfunded and neglected by our leaders.
Sadly, the embarrassment to Texas of Gov. Perry's Presidential campaign performance (oops!) did not reflect well on Texas' image. Frankly, he made us all look like a bunch of ignorant hicks.
Isn't it time to consider what kind of experience America and Texas needs in this high tech, global, space age 21st century economy? Should we not pick our next Governor someone with the global, high tech expertise and commitment to educate for us to lead America in the 21st Century?
For these reasons, if a major Democrat doesn't get into the 2014 Texas Governors race, I am seriously considering doing it.
Based on what credentials? How about someone who does know Pakistan from Afghanistan. Someone with the global high-tech experience and strategic plan to move Texas from last in education and jobs skills to leading America in the 21st century.
New Leadership is needed for Texas. Our future depends on it. We have fallen behind. If you want facts of how we got into this mess and how we get out of it, read my story at "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" at
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
Then compare that experience to Governor Perry's...
Saturday, February 18, 2012
international "Huck Finn" story mixed in with "Alice in Wonderland."
Finally, Finally, Finally, a book that fits our turbulent times is available.
It should be inspirational to those who think we are toast or their life is toast. Or who are wondering "what's next" for America to succeed in a high tech global economy after our surplus of 2000 was squandered in less than 8 years and our educational system plummeted from No. 1 among the world's nations.
"Better Times Ahead: April Fool" subtitled "And Surviving a Layoff on a Global Scale" is now available on Apple Ibooks as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon, at the link:
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
The first eight chapters are a true story, bit of an international "Huck Finn" story based on journals written in faraway places like early China, mixed in with "Alice in Wonderland."
Michael, an ordinary farm kid going up on a Iowa works hard, goes to school and ends up doing Fortune 500 deals around the world. Then the axe falls and he is laid off as the Texas economy collapses in the Great 80's Oil Bust, like what happened to the nation as a whole in 2008. It provided Michael with insights that apply to today as people wonder what they should do.
This story also intersects with major events in American history, like the Iran conflict and first-ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country. At one point Michael goes to Syria (yes, THAT Syria) on an international child kidnapping case for a Texas mother. Another time he discovered an oil opportunity in Africa that helped create a Texas billionaire. He is one of the first into China and India, first with the largest companies and then for the smallest.
The last chapter "Agenda for American Greatness." is about SOLUTIONS. It is about our FUTURE ...how we win it when Chinese and Indian kids have the science and math skills our kids do not --at a time when over 3 million American high tech jobs remain unfilled because AMERICANS don't have the high tech skills to fill them! If we filled those jobs our unemployment rate would fall to 6%!
How do we win the future when China will have a NEW space station orbiting just as ours becomes obsolete and is retired?
We cannot win in a world we are clueless about. For answers, check out:
Better Times Ahead April Fool
by Michael Fjetland
It's on Apple Ibooks as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon, at the link:
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
It should be inspirational to those who think we are toast or their life is toast. Or who are wondering "what's next" for America to succeed in a high tech global economy after our surplus of 2000 was squandered in less than 8 years and our educational system plummeted from No. 1 among the world's nations.
"Better Times Ahead: April Fool" subtitled "And Surviving a Layoff on a Global Scale" is now available on Apple Ibooks as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon, at the link:
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
The first eight chapters are a true story, bit of an international "Huck Finn" story based on journals written in faraway places like early China, mixed in with "Alice in Wonderland."
Michael, an ordinary farm kid going up on a Iowa works hard, goes to school and ends up doing Fortune 500 deals around the world. Then the axe falls and he is laid off as the Texas economy collapses in the Great 80's Oil Bust, like what happened to the nation as a whole in 2008. It provided Michael with insights that apply to today as people wonder what they should do.
This story also intersects with major events in American history, like the Iran conflict and first-ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country. At one point Michael goes to Syria (yes, THAT Syria) on an international child kidnapping case for a Texas mother. Another time he discovered an oil opportunity in Africa that helped create a Texas billionaire. He is one of the first into China and India, first with the largest companies and then for the smallest.
The last chapter "Agenda for American Greatness." is about SOLUTIONS. It is about our FUTURE ...how we win it when Chinese and Indian kids have the science and math skills our kids do not --at a time when over 3 million American high tech jobs remain unfilled because AMERICANS don't have the high tech skills to fill them! If we filled those jobs our unemployment rate would fall to 6%!
How do we win the future when China will have a NEW space station orbiting just as ours becomes obsolete and is retired?
We cannot win in a world we are clueless about. For answers, check out:
Better Times Ahead April Fool
by Michael Fjetland
It's on Apple Ibooks as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon, at the link:
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Presidential Candidates Without a Real Plan...
It amazes me how little has been offered by the candidates running for President.
NO JOBS packages. No statements about why need to upgrade our skills to compete in the global economy - even candidates who don't know Afghanistan from Pakistan, or where Libya is after it being in the news for only 10 months beforehand...
NONE of them of seem to know a thing about the rest of the world the U.S. must compete with. We have yet to hear a strategic thought based on the real world. We need to be focused on jobs and technology advancement instead of birth control debates that won't fix our economic problems.
None of the Presidential candidates have any global expertise, nor have they done anything other than local politics, certainly not Global Negotiations in dozens of countries.
You WILL find all of that - AND a Global Strategy to win our American future in "Better Times Ahead: April Fool? Surviving a Layoff on a Global Scale.
NONE of the Presidential candidates have any real global experience worldwide. None are offering a real world plan to return America's lost technology and educational leadership.
The last chapter of "Agenda for American Greatness" DOES offer a real world plan to regain America's mojo - written by someone who has been in nearly 50 countries and actually negotiated everything from Fortune 500 contracts to child kidnapping cases in the Middle East.
It deals with the FACTS how America got into this mess --and how we get out of it in an inescapable high tech, global 21st century.
It's a true adventure story that also offers real world solutions...
Details:
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comTuesday, February 7, 2012
A book that most fits our crazy times...Better Times Ahead: April Fool?
(7 Feb 2012 Special)
Better Times Ahead: April Fool? is probably a book that most fits our crazy
turbulent times - economic upheaval and international threats.
It is a true story of surviving a layoff, re-inventing yourself during a
recession, and not only surviving but thriving in new opportunities -- not just
locally but as a global entrepreneur -- despite mistakes and all.
It's a journey documented in old journal entries written in remote places that lead the news today: China and India, by a farm kid who became a young Fortune 500 negotiator before being is laid off and losing EVERYTHING.
Then he gets it back and more. The book's author finds himself doing international kidnapping negotiations for a Texas mother whose child was kidnapped and taken to the Middle East.
He runs out of money in Bangkok in the early days. With little money he starts
out riding "Night Trains" through old China. Yet he ended up being a TV terrorism
adviser on 9/11 and found himself running for Congress against one of America's most feared
politicians, "The Hammer" -- and even survives that!
The name comes from a sign in India.
The book ends with vital insights for our future based on the author's three decades of
global entrepreneurial and Fortune 500 experiences in a chapter focused on current
times, called "Agenda for American Greatness."
It analyzes how we got in this mess and, more importantly, how we get out of it in the global, high tech space age economy we have entered in the 21st century...
It's an Ebook available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, etc at:
http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
Pass it on! Let us know if the links work!
Thank you for continuing to refer us to your friends as we expand our Global
American education network - leading America back to No. 1 in the 21st Century.
Michael Fjetland, BBA/JD
Global American Series
Author, "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?"
Sponsored by Armor Glass International, Inc.
www.ArmorGlass.com
Protecting American families and business & saving them money (while supporting
the author's need for food and shelter while working on his book!)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The REAL Death Panels: Tale of Two Brothers.
The REAL Death Panels: Tale of Two Brothers.
I was examined for a possible blood clot today. The girl said she couldn't tell me the results, but IF I had a Clot in my leg my doctor wanted to check out, I would NOT be leaving the premises.
Yet, I discovered late today that my brother WAS also diagnosed with a Blood Clot this week - and they sent him home! Why?
To WAIT for a call for a hospital appointment - all WEEK. Why? Because the INSURANCE COMPANY was holding things up....(details at link). This is not Obamacare -- it hasn't kicked in yet. This is the current backwards system we have. Insurance companies run our healthcare system, for their profit, not our care.
Click "subscribe" or "follow for updates...on this and other issues critical to millions of Americans.
I was examined for a possible blood clot today. The girl said she couldn't tell me the results, but IF I had a Clot in my leg my doctor wanted to check out, I would NOT be leaving the premises.
Yet, I discovered late today that my brother WAS also diagnosed with a Blood Clot this week - and they sent him home! Why?
To WAIT for a call for a hospital appointment - all WEEK. Why? Because the INSURANCE COMPANY was holding things up....(details at link). This is not Obamacare -- it hasn't kicked in yet. This is the current backwards system we have. Insurance companies run our healthcare system, for their profit, not our care.
Click "subscribe" or "follow for updates...on this and other issues critical to millions of Americans.
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