I am not ashamed of declaring my love for Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. They are two of my favorite business men because of their willingness to give back to society and the people who essentially gave them the wealth they earned. I’m a huge fan, and have been for a long time, but I think my fandom has reached epic proportions with the introduction of The Giving Pledge.  Essentially, it’s an effort to encourage America’s billionaires to give at least half of their net worth away to charities, which is certainly a LOT of money!  Below is a graphic from Mint.com (who have been doing some pretty fantastic graphics recently, right?) showing what kind of impact this could have.

I love it!  There is a lot of good we can do in the world, and I am very happy to see some of the wealthiest among us giving what they have to bless the lives of others!  <soapbox> This is how I personally feel it should be done – charitable giving from the heart.  Forget government programs that are wasteful and bureaucratic…  Giving to organizations that are run in the public sector with the intent of doing good is the way to go.  We should be spending more time encouraging people to give of their excess and share of their good fortune.  This is how to fundamentally change the paradigm and get Americans to look beyond themselves; good examples and encouragement to join in! </soapbox>

Here’s the graphic:

Also, for those with interest, you can now find me on Twitter: @jeffrsnbgh.  I encourage you to follow me and to join in on the conversation!

I’m getting more and more frustrated with the “stimulus package” stuff that Washington D.C. is going to be passing within the next 4-5 days. I would recommend that people contact (either through email or phone calls) their state senators to let them know you don’t agree with the spending package and you want something more permanent like tax cuts that will actually stimulate the spending within your family.  (The number for the Senate Switchboard is 202-224-3121 – just call and ask for your Senator.)

Here‘s a great article by former Presidential Candidate, Mitt Romney.

For more information on the stimulus, I recommend checking out the following websites:

• NoStimulus.com
• The Heritage Foundation
• StimulusWatch.org

As much as I know some of the projects are the stimulus package are probably worthy of funds and could really help create jobs now rather than later (once money frees up within these states and cities), there is a ton of junk in there that looks like political payoffs for democratic supporters.

Instead of doing my Oh-Bah-Muh chant, I think I’m going to just start chanting TAX CUTS!  I pay Nordstrom prices for Walmart quality, and I’m sick and tired of it.

A couple months ago I had a really fun conversation with Jason Malwitz about government spending and how things have gotten out of control.  One of my strongest opinions is that there is no need for the government to spend anywhere near as much as they do because it only means we have excessive programs and bureaucracy that probably doesn’t need to exist.

Well, it looks like things are getting better, huh?  Big corporate bailouts haven’t worked at all, yet we continue to thing the bailout mentality, or the idea of pumping more money into the system will fix things.  Now we’re talking about Obama’s “Economic Stimulus” plan, which is nothing like a stimulus and everything like an excuse to grow government.

Even if you agree that spending needs to occur, did you know that this is the biggest spending bill ever presented and that it hasn’t gone through a single sub-committee in congress?  Normally these kinds of spending packages are talked about ad nauseum for months before they are approved so that we know we are doing thing properly and responsibly…  I know that Obama says this needs to happen quickly so that we can start healing the economy, but did you know that hardly any of this money will be spent in the next couple of years, and that only a small percentage of the plan has anything to do with economic stimulus?

This plan is all about growing the size of government and performing political favors for people who helped get Obama into office.  This is incredibly irresponsible and it is bankrupting our American future.  It is immoral to put this burden on the younger generations, and I am pretty certain that Ronald Reagan is turning in his grave…

Check this out:

Email your local senator and demand that they vote against Obama’s spending bill.  We can still stand up as voices of opposition!  I don’t think anyone out there who really understands what is going on can feel warm and fuzzy about how much tax payer money is going to be thrown down the drain!

And how will this all be paid for?  Expect higher taxes for the rest of your lives!  I don’t know about you, but I already pay enough money for a service that sucks…  I’m paying Nordstrom prices for Walmart quality, and I’m sick and tired of it!