Mentally, Emotionally, Physically, Financially, Spiritually and Politically… Never Bet Against America!

Gary Mountain

Life is about choices. Here is a different view and set of choices to ask our leadership to consider.

Currently we are at war against an unknown enemy called terrorists. We are being asked to beware of our own neighbors and co-workers, in any country, at any time. It is wise to expect the unexpected and it is wise to be alert. However, we are also fighting a battle in Iraq, which when closely examined is the same war that has gone on for centuries as a battle of ideological philosophies. It is about us trying to create an unwanted change and against another’s will. There is no sign of an economic gain to recover the huge invested monetary losses from this activity. However, history repeats itself.  Over most of the last 700-800 years, the North African continent has been under siege, most often with the British. The Protestant Christian movement has not fared well in this region and the different beliefs create a lack of trust, honor and communication. We are spending money to force our ways where they are clearly not wanted. Newspaper headlines report that we will spend ½ trillion dollars a year on this effort. Throughout American history, war has been economically profitable as it puts people to work making the supplies and weapons. The fact is that it creates jobs to destroy another territory and then re-build the same after the war is over. In the past, for a short time this has worked to stimulate our economic climate and our leaders have used this method to create a “win-loss” relationship.

I want to offer a different plan of action. I want to use only a “win-win” mentality. We are faced with a huge global warming problem. When there is a huge problem, there can be huge profits in solving it.

Global warming. Pollution.

I have grown up in Santa Clara County since 1952. As a Willow Glen High School student in the 60s, I noticed that each year during the last two weeks of August it rained. At football practice, we would consistently be removing the wet mud from our face masks and mouths. It rained in August and September for the beginning of our school year. We had a real fall season and the trees turned color every October. It was windy and cold from October through December. Today, the climate has changed and now August and September are very hot and dry, and there is no rain! I believe that in less that 20 years we may see fresh water from a river or stream worth as much as gold! It will become a supply and demand issue. Agriculture and power companies are going to always be at each others throats to get a bigger share of the water. We are headed for a big drought.  Most of the southwestern states have had drought for the past 8 years. The dream that I have written about has an answer to this problem built in to it.

I write about God and think about Him often. I do this mostly to myself and for my own understanding. In America,we have the right to worship the God of our choice. If we were to concentrate on building America instead of destroying another territory, we could resolve the issue of how to capture what God gives to us as opposed to misusing it or wasting it. America was founded upon growth. Yet we are now restricting the growth of our country. The size and scope of the project I envision could ensure that every able body man and woman could have employment at premium wages. We could employ every engineer, scientist, and computer math modeler in the country to design the project. The big firms like Lockheed, Bechtel and the like have the management skills to oversee such projects. I would challenge you to consider the possibilities of becoming a nation of builders instead of the most war-like nation in history.

Growth and construction. War and destruction.

Emotionally, we are fed up when we discover that most wars have been created as a result of minerals, precious metals, religious or political ideology, or for economic gain. Books like the “Mouse That Roared,” “The Captive American,” should become mandatory reading for everyone. Both discuss the idea of a nation that is so poor, it makes war with America knowing they will lose, but counting on America to rebuild their country afterwards. These books talk about the errors we are repeating and about the psychology as we do it. Imagine the emotional impact on people working towards creation rather than destruction. We have built America with dreams and desires, wants and needs being fulfilled. Today, consumer confidence is down. Our leadership is questioned and we are not building anything. This brings to mind the saying, “When you are green you are growing and when you are ripe you are rotting.” We are not looked upon as leaders in economics; our stock market has been somewhat stagnant for a few years. The days of the overnight millionaires have simply disappeared and the public is licking its wounds. We should be highly concerned with the fact that foreign countries make more investments in U.S. Treasury Bonds than do the actual citizen of America. Fewer and fewer Americans believe they are going to retire in dignity. For more than forty years, multilevel marketing companies have presented to our people the fact that a job won’t allow you to retire in dignity and that you have to do more!

I find anger to be the number one reason Americans are holding back. Anger is a death grip on creativity. Anger causes us to be unproductive. Most everyone that I talk with is angry about our government’s direction or rather misdirection. Most are angry because they do not see a light at the end of the tunnel that represents relief, but it is the light of a train coming right at them.  They are paralyzed to make a change. Americans are not growing in a positive manner.

My Dream

We could create a massive waterway system that would bring water to drought-laden areas. This system could be used to produce water-generated power, agriculture, rebuild ecology, and replenish environments that had been destroyed by man. By employing every man, woman and able bodied person, it would increase national self-esteem, consumer confidence, economic recovery and prosperity. The war we will wage is a war against global warming. The battles are on our own soil and the money we spend will benefit our own citizens. We can and will build America. We can reclaim our position as world leader. The difference is that we would be acting like the Americans who built our country. In America, God loves a winner. Your neighbor won’t want to bomb you if you are providing them with a better life. The war on terror would take on a new meaning. We could easily feed all who live in America by the additional agriculture and farm animals that could be raised. We could eliminate the conditions that cause poverty. The general standard of living will be enhanced. Americans can dream about renewed fisheries, new wild birds flying overhead, land rich with vegetation, and water to replace our oil dependency. This dream can produce the results of an emotionally sound America.

Clare Rooney and Betty Doty wrote the “Anger Habit,” “Anger Trap” and many more books about the way angry people can’t function as a result of being angry. Champion fighters found out a long time ago that if they can get the opponent to get angry, it disrupts their thinking thus rendering them vulnerable to mistakes-- one that may be a knockout blow! We can change the way people think by causing them to focus on building a future. Put the American man and woman to work and anything can be done! You can chose to be a winner or a loser -- which do you want to be?

Physically, Americans are severely over weight. The result is that we have a huge industry thriving on the fact that we are not skinny, rich, or happy. The burden is that we are killing our population off as a direct result of our diet and the lack of exercise.  Contributing to this is the way we allow tobacco, alcohol, and other similar addictive drugs to be legalized simply because we are dependent upon the tax revenue they generate.  In the name of tax money, we are willing to kill off our own population and we are willing to allow these drugs of choice to reduce the quality of our lives, the quality of the production by the American people, and the quality of our productivity. Cancer, heart disease, lung disease, kidney failure and pancreas failure are a result of the food we eat and the air we breathe. About 80% of obese adults have high blood pressure, diabetes, elevated blood cholesterol levels, coronary artery disease or osteoarthritis. Nearly 40% have more than one of these conditions. The financial costs of these diseases are staggering. Currently about 60% of American adults have these conditions. It is estimated that in the year 2025 about 75% of adults will suffer from being over weight and with these diseases. Obesity results in serious health risk. Emotional stress can come from the disease or from having a loved one who is suffering from the same. Obese people suffer from self esteem issues, which can cause additional stress.

Overweight. Healthy and fit.

My dream will cause men and women to work outdoors digging lakes and creating waterways. Exercise will result from physical labor undertaken by us all. With water brought to new areas, it moves through each area creating oxygen and along with it will come changes in climate. Rain will fall and the sky will be cleared of pollution. Humidity levels will change and temperatures will decline. We will create population centers where today only deserts are present. Our diet will get rich with natural food sources and without food technologists making it bigger or last longer by injecting it with synthetics, because natural food will be plentiful. The income taxes from these new sources are greater than those which can come from selling the American people the wrong products. Physically, we can lose weight by exercise and diet.

So do you want to lose weight in terms of pounds or is it inches that you desire to lose? Do you know how many books are published with promises to help you get rich, be skinny or happy? Brian Klemmer had the right idea when he wrote the book “If ‘How To’s’ Were Enough We’d All Be Skinny, Rich And Happy.” I believe the physical being is what is causing so many American’s to be so ill. This dream is about creating something so big that we are pushed to our limits. We will have cause to inject pride into our work as the results will be immediate and change will happen very quickly. I will ask you an important question…do you want to be “fat” or do you want to be “fat cat rich” in economical, emotional and physical ways? Water is what makes up about 60% of the entire body. Start out every day with a glass of water as you get out of bed. Drink a glass of water before every meal regardless of drinking any other beverages. Drink at least two glasses of water for every caffeinated beverage that you drink. Drink water room temperature and keep a bottle of water at your work area. Drink an 8 oz glass of water for every 15 minutes of exercise.

This dream of mine can cause fresh water to be available where today there is none. Swimming is an excellent way to exercise. Would you rather be drinking fresh water and swimming in fresh water or polluted water drainage run-off after the power companies have used it and the agriculture has sucked the nutrients out and replaced them with pesticides and herbicides?  The dream offers you the choice for life. You can have a physical life that is full and abundant. Talk with Chuck and Charlotte Shelton of Dennison Texas (903) 463-4635 and listen to them tell you about the health that can be yours. Listen to them talk about the need to create a diet and to supplement the foods that you eat and the importance of fresh water in the diet.

Financially, the people that I see on a daily basis are afraid that the company they work for will “go bust.” They are concerned that they don’t know what is happening. They are unsure of the company’s plan and its implementation. What I see is a lack of communication of the present and guesswork about the future. I am seeing firms that don’t write a business plan out more than about three years and even make comments like “hey if we make it three years we can always write the next three years later.” I see and feel huge apathy at a management level as well as at an employee level. Financially, we all want a plan of action. Moreover, we want a commitment that we can count on. Corporate theft is at an all time high. CEOs are more concerned with the size of the “golden parachute” than the scope of the plan they are signing on to. American management is only about the famous exit strategy. Well the real issue is that they are not committed for the long term and as such, often look for the cheap way out…except where their pay is concerned. I have no idea why anyone being fired should get more pay than they earned while working! Our government officials are operating under the concept that I get my government pay plus whatever they can steal along the way. Stories about abuse of power or corruption from senators, congressman, governors, mayors, and their peers are all to common in the newspapers today.  Stories such as this and other incidents have led many to believe that many in our government do not have the ability to act and think ethically. .This may help to explain why when I presented my dream to them, I never received any type of response.  There is no Political Action Committee funding this dream. Fact is “No money…no audience.” I write a lot of home loan applications and the clients buying a home or refinancing the same are all scared about the fact they don’t have faith in our management. This pertains to the management at the top of their firms, the management within their companies, and certainly includes the way our government is making our policies.  The people all talk about the fact they don’t know or believe in the plan.

Financially, all of America should read the Robert Kiyosaki books and play his “Cash Flow Game” every other day for two to six months. Such training would result in many people choosing to be a self-employed, incorporated independent contractor.  By doing so, they would have more money “net” every month. They would expense the expenses first and then pay taxes only on what is left over. The next change is that these people would spend more time building their plan of action instead of working someone else’s plan of action.

Our Personal Real Estate Financial Planning Work Book is available on our Web site’s home page. Since 1972, I have asked my clients to fill out this document and to create a plan for themselves. My team and I assist clients to implement the plan the clients create for themselves. We teach the Rule of 72 to each client. If you are to become rich then you must practice this economic rule that Einstein wrote. Here is how it works: you take the interest rate you are earning on you investment and divide it into 72. 10% divided into 72 = 7.2. That means that if your investment earns 10% and you let it compound then you will double your money in 7.2 years. If the investment is earning 2% it will take 36 years in order to double your money. We want you to have a plan and to know how the plan will achieve the end result you desire. We want you to learn how to use the tax laws and the tools to make informed decisions. I have taught these lessons to my staff and they are here to serve you. Einstein created the theory of compounded interest and I believe it is more valuable than his Theory of Relativity. The issue is our school teachers don’t understand and practice this and so we don’t learn about it growing up. Our government does not want you to know about the advantages of being self employed as it results in less tax being paid by you!

There is a book available only on the Web, called “Vultures In Eagles Clothing” that exposes who really owns the Federal Reserve Bank. It is not the American government and six of the eight stockholders are not even American citizens. Yet, your taxes are funneled to an entity that is not who we are told it is. I want you to be armed with knowledge and to have the ability to make an informed choice. After all that is really why we are Americans -- our ability to make choices with regards to what religion you practice, the type of work you chose to perform, the ability to attend school or not. We even have all volunteer armed forces. I am now asking that you choose life! An abundant life full of ethics, morals, health, wealth, spirit filled, mentally alert and informed, and 60% of who you are is water! Global warming will soon be upon the children of your children and it is up to us to make a difference. My life long goal is to create significance in another person’s life. Abundance to me is when you give to another person without the expectation of repayment in any way. You must have it in order to give it away. God always asked that you tithe ten percent of first fruits; he never said that he wanted you to tithe from “small” fruits. Hence, you all have the ability to create what you can dream about and then to find a way to give it away. Let’s live lives of significance and abundance.

Spiritually and politically, America is bankrupt. We read about church clergy exposed for abuses of power or violations of our trust. The people don’t support churches because the churches are not meeting the needs of the public and because they are not living to set a good example. I’m not talking to the people who are attending and participating, but to your neighbors who are not. I realize that we have become so caught up and involved with activities that that consume most of our time. I do realize that we have many competing activities. There are the many reality TV shows and the game shows; even watch for the lottery numbers via TV. Look at how we are wasting our time and mostly it is about “thinking about getting something for almost nothing.” It is about us drifting into cyberspace to hide from reality, to gamble, or watch others doing it as if you can learn how to gamble. My clients talk about living vicariously through these moments in time. This scares me because what I am now seeing is that I go to a home and find a card table and chips ready to be played. This is being done by children who actually talk about becoming gamblers and just playing cards for a living. We are looking for the quick fix and the rest of the world is laughing at us because of our behavior. Fraternities like The Masonic Lodge, Elks, Moose, Lions, are all organizations that support different charities and cause its membership to volunteer and participate in the community and yet their memberships are down by half of what they were 40 years ago. The American people are not joiners anymore. We do not get behind an idea and in mass move it forward. We are giving up the foundation of our Country; our Motto was “In God We Trust.” We are replacing God and our values are found in the toilet. We know that legalized gambling is never a win-win way. However, our government is happy to get the tax revenues and as such just looks away. For each man to win, many more must lose. This is not good for our spirit. We are not encouraging and mentoring another, we are beating someone instead.

Leadership starts with God. If you are not following his plan, then whose plan are you following? I was raised that the choice was God or the Devil. Perhaps “the Devil Wears Prada.” What was funny to me was the amount of people who told me they know a boss who is just like the lead in the movie. Yes, I am all in favor of everyone having the right to worship as they choose. What I am talking about is the fact that when some are getting into the car to go to the church of their choice they leave their neighbors behind. In fact, many have never invited their neighbors at all. Have you ever thought about replacing being alone and scared with belonging to and being part of?

The dream is so huge that we will need to get all of us behind it. Global warming is coming and your grandchildren may not survive at all based upon what you do now. I am going to ask that you talk with your religious leader and ask about the way God has asked them to be present in your life. Yes, I know to be politically correct we must say “the God of your choice.” Our leadership in our places of worship all have some form of a story about the world’s end. So what are we going to do to take care of our planet? When? How are we going to resolve this matter? We need the leaders who are outside of the government to stand up and be counted on and to create great influence upon our elected officials. Moved by the Spirit we can do anything. In moments of great stress the human body has performed miracles that later without the urgency the same person could not accomplish the same task. Americans can and will perform under great stress. The time is now to band together and to look closely at this dream. Each year our insurance firms pay out billions of dollars as a result of massive storms that create flooding along the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee Rivers. Each year we have huge flooding in the Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas states because God is giving to us the water we need and we are not capturing this gift and distributing the asset where needed. We don’t have to allow history to repeat each year. We can build this system and we can make productive use of this natural resource. Insurance firms know the history of where the damage has taken place and this can be tracked. Our government needs your direction as they don’t have a political action committee to fund the idea and to promote it to them.  So it is up to you to write to these officials that you voted for and to tell them that you are not OK with the same misuse of our resources each year. Tell them you are unwilling to accept the losses and the damage any more that this dream can be the answer. Warren Buffett says “never bet against America.” As America’s most outspoken billionaire states often that in America we create winners. This means the real issue is how can we win in a way that someone else does not have to lose? Different than gambling this is a sure bet and the land, the animals, the air you breathe, the fish, birds and people all win. This dream is about creating a win-win for all of our children’s future children.

This dream has the potential to be the biggest project ever and the impact can be as huge. It should be it does not come from Gary but from God. The Higher Power is in charge and you are being called upon to write a letter and ask that this project be built. The American people can do this and from the income taxes the government has the available cash to make this a reality for all of you to live and play with.

Gary Mountain
08-22-06