Yes, I turned the big "three-two" yesterday. I rang it in with just a small birthday party with my mom, dad, aunt, and grandmother. My friend Keith came over to lift weights and to play Mortal Kombat, and today I have a nice dinner picnic with one of my friends. I really didn't want a big hoopla for my birthday actually. All I really wanted was some brownies, milk, and for me to plop in front of the TV to watch my two favorite TV shows: Neil Cavuto (Your World) and Glenn Beck. I could have spent the night going out with friends, partying it up, but I was too tired. And I could have invited a lot of friends over, but I was too lazy to plan something big.

I did spend the earlier portion of my day doing a small vow renewal, that I will blog about in the coming week, but that's about it. I must be getting older...working on my birthday?!! That's unheard of!

So what have I learned over the past years of my life? Quite a bit. But what was on my mind as I turned 32 was more about my future, than antyhing else. And all I can say is that I'm actually quite scared on what the future may hold for me as our country inches toward a socialistic society under Obama's watch.

When is he not campaigning?

I keep hearing the rhetoric that Obama believes in the American Dream, but once you accomplish it, he wants to take more than half of it away, so he can "spread the wealth around" so others can have a chance. I really want to expand my business, but if I do, I will more likely make less money than I am now. And this rhetoric that the government has to create the future of jobs, not the free market, is just mind numbing.

Right now, I pay into the greatest ponzi scheme in America, Social Security, because I will never get back a penny that I put in. Who cares about Bernie Madoff, I'm getting ripped too! So are you! I pay so much of my income to taxes. If I make good business decisions, I get taxed on it. If I invest and make a profit, I get taxed more. I dunno, it just seems as though I'm getting targeted here under this administration.

And Obama keeps holding these town hall meetings, virtual and in person, as though he's back on the campaign trail. Why is he campaigning? He's chuckling and smiling as peoples investments whither away. And his solution to solve this economic downturn is to tell us that we, American's have to start borrowing again, when borrowing was what got us in trouble. Now I'm not claiming to be smart as Obama, but here's the way I see it.

America's wealth, over the past few decades, has been built on nothing but credit. We here in America, have rewarded wealth through speculation, not intrinsic value. For example, the Internet bubble was based upon speculative earnings, not real earnings. Most dot com's went bust because those companies didn't make a penny! The real estate bubble was no doubt about it, over valued. People were flipping homes like Internet stocks, when the land and materials, and the market demand at that time, could not support inflated prices. Money poured into the credit market because the Federal Reserve and politicians toyed with the free market. They kept interest rates lower than they should have ever been...in a truly free market, interest rates would have never gone that low. Politicians forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create 100% loans, which eventually gave birth the adjustable mortgages we started to see pop up everywhere. The free market, would have never tolerated such risk, but congress, the government, toyed with it, created a credit bubble....and we just saw it crash. The free market would have always required 20% down payments and proof of income to get a house. Not when the government got involved.

Free Market Capitalism doesn't not have to be regulated, because it was never the free market that caused the problem.

So it was the government that truly caused this crash, and now, we are again looking to politicians, who have no idea how to run a business, for answers. Their plan...is to spend more, so they can create yet another bubble.

American's saved less, borrowed more, because they built wealth through credit. BAD BAD BAD

I don't believe for a second that any of their solutions are going to work, even though the stock market is rebounding a bit from it's lows. The fundamentals of our country is sick. We have unions who are literally running companies into the ground. Environmentalist who chase away innovation. People who are not saving. Class warfare, and welfare. Executive leaders who get chastised for successfully leading. And leaders of our country who believe that the solution to getting America going is by getting them to borrow again. True wealth is never built upon credit, it's built upon cash. Cash is king.

I am 32 now, I will be about 35 when Obama gets out of office. My plan, truly, is to save save save, and put a lot of my investments into gold and the mattress over the next few years. I may invest a little into the stock market, but only whose companies truly turn a profit...such as Netflix. But it's scary for a person my age...it really is. I'm just really glad that people are still deciding that no recession is going to stop them from falling in love.

Steven Young

The Hawaii Wedding Reporter
http://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com/