The difference between a cheapskate and a thrifty person depends on the eye of the beholder

I used to call my father a cheapskate, but as I got older I started calling him thrifty. Now the same is probably happening to me, and what is now probably said about me by my relatives.

When times get financially hard in the USA, our definition of happiness will certainly be redefined. That is the good news as so many Americans who think their entitlements so far in life are God given, are actually human given. People too busy now to value their families will have more time to appreciate what they have. What a shock to so many to find out that even clean running water and forced air heat are privileges, and not God-given rights. America will be better off if we actually have to pay our way and work together for our common good.

The main question is not that change is coming, but will we use our votes and common sense to be in charge of the change, or will others, maybe even foreigners, be in charge of our change. A train analogy may be make sense by suggesting the track has already been laid, but just who are going to be the engineers driving this train. And we should not pick on the foreigners who have bought into the American dream by loaning us so much money that our past needed to keep things going: benefits, government retirements and medical benefits, and basic government services like police, fire, water, health, defense, and safety and border security. Yes, as hard as it is to believe, our taxes were not enough to do the basics.

Much as in genealogy research, or crime scene investigations (from TV observations), having two independent sources is a good way to go in trusting one’s conclusions. This poster can report now three independent sources have reported what I think. The present candidates for President of the USA are poor leaders, and all wish we had other choices for a leader and bully pulpit for the coming hard times, both foreign and domestic. Now many posters suggest we have to accept what we have been offered. I respectfully disagree. My disagreement is a little idealistic, since there are supposedly 515,000 elected positions, and it is certainly not too late to find and vote in other political leaders, to include the President of the United States. But the local city and county commissioners count too in our future. And so many communities are full of leaders, men and women just oozing with leadership, who may get dragged down in the near future, but also are the best citizens to bring us back for our future.

To remind the readers of the train analogy, it is not to late to find and vote in the engineers to drive today’s train. For those that disagree about 2008, then I suggest it is also not to late to start working on the engineers for the years 2010 and later. There is something inherent about wanting to drive our own USA train, and hiring our own engineers and building our own routes. The eye of the voter and their common sense will count for much. Here’s why.

If we have so many smart men and women, how did we come to the present situation? Perhaps they are educated, but not smart, or experienced. Perhaps they are human? Another old joke line comes to mind. If you ask three PhD’s a question, you will get at least four different answers. In my case, answers to very difficult biology questions at a quail plantation (playing God with land and life is dangerous) were best answered in terms of reliability by old time people who had lived there, and seen things come and go. In their case they were poorly educated, but also smart and experienced. So like them, the answers about the differences between a cheapskate and a thrifty person are in the eye of the beholder, and voter common sense.

PS. Did you know a PhD got a Nobel Prize for proving a good investment plan was to diversify?