2012 A Year to Evaluate

The beginning of each year is a great time to evaluate the direction of your life and to ask yourself some very important questions.  Often we get so busy just living life that we lose our perspective.  It is important for each of us to take time once in a while to reassess how our lives are going.  It is also important for all of us to reassess the direction that our nation is heading in every so often.  The truth is that America has gotten badly off track.  We have abandoned the principles which once made this country great, and this country is literally falling apart all around us.  Hopefully the questions below will not just get you focused on our problems.  Hopefully they will also spur you to think about solutions.  Both individually and as a nation, we are in a lot of trouble.  We need to start asking better questions and we need to rediscover the things that once made America the greatest nation on earth.  If we are willing to humble ourselves and change course then there is hope for us.  If not, then the road that we are currently on will only lead to national disaster.

The following are 112 questions to ask yourself in 2012….

#1 Are Barack Obama and Mitt Romney really the best that America can come up with?
#2 Right now the nations of the world are 55 trillion dollars in debt.  How long will it be before this system of debt totally collapses?
#3 What things in life are you truly grateful for?  Do you ever take time to thank those that have been so good to you?
#4 In 2012, when you add the maturing debt that the Italian government must roll over to their projected budget deficit, it comes to 23.1 percent of Italy’s GDP.  How in the world is Italy going to be able to handle that in this economic environment?
#6 According to a survey conducted by the National Geographic Society, only 37 percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 can find Iraq on a map of the world.  What does that say about our education system?
#7 Do you give more than you take?  Would you rather serve people or be served?
#8 Why were gun sales in the United States at record levels as we entered 2012?
#9 What are you afraid of? Are those fears rational or irrational?
#10 168 million emails are sent every single minute.  Are we rapidly getting to the point of information overload?

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#11 Do you care enough about other people?  Do you spend more time thinking about yourself or thinking about others?
#12 Why are there 18.5 million vacant homes in America today?
#13 Did you spend enough time with your family last year?  Will you spend enough time with them this year?
#14 The number of Americans on food stamps has increased by 20 millionover the past five years.  What does that say about the state of the U.S. economy?
#15 Is your family prepared for what is about to happen to this world?
#16 Why do the poor in America just keep getting poorer?
#17 After you are dead, what will people be saying about you?  Will they miss you or will they be glad that you are gone?
#18 Why have 10 million more Americans fallen below the poverty line since 2006?
#19 What do you need to change about yourself?
#20 Should we all be concerned that doctors in India say that “incurable” cases of tuberculosis are showing up in India?

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#21 Who do you know that could use some more love?
#22 Why is the Department of Homeland Security scanning Facebook and Twitter for “sensitive words“?
#23 Is your country a better place because you live there?
#24 Why is the FBI building a massive new biometric database?
#25 What do you think your life will be like ten years from now?
#26 40,000 new laws went into effect across the United States as 2012 began.  What does that say about the culture in this nation?
#27 If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would that be and why?
#28 What did Mitt Romney mean when he stated that he wants to “eliminate some of the differences, repeal the bad, and keep the good” in Obamacare?
#29 What is the best piece of advice that you have ever gotten?  Are you still following it?
#30 Is it a good thing that the wealthiest 10 percent of all Americans have 56 percent of all the wealth?

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#31 What books do you need to put on your reading list this year?
#32 About half of all Americans are now either living in poverty or are considered to be low income.  So are we still a “wealthy” nation?
#33 What are the things that you do that waste the most time?
#34 Why aren’t more Americans concerned that the trade deficit is increasing again?  This is one of the things that killed the Greek economy and it is most definitely sucking the life out of our own economy.  Could it be that most Americans have become so “dumbed down” that they don’t even know what a trade deficit is?
#35 What would happen to you and your family if you suddenly lost your job?
#36 How is Germany able to build twice as many cars every year as the United States does?
#37 Have you done anything worth remembering lately?
#38 Why is the average age of a vehicle in America now sitting at an all-time high?
#39 If you only had one day left to live, how would you spend that day?
#40 How stupid are the American people for piling up 700 billion dollars in credit card debt?

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#41 Is there anything that is worth giving your life for?
#42 If Obamacare is so great for working people, then why are so many unions requesting (and getting) Obamacare waivers from the federal government?
#43 Do you believe that you can be a hero?
#44 Why is the government allowing genetically modified mosquitoes to be released in the United States?
#45 What is one great decision that you can make right now?
#46 Why is Mitt Romney taxed at a lower rate than most middle class Americans are?
#47 If someone gave you one million dollars today, how would you spend it?
#48 Who decided that it would be a good idea for TSA “VIPR Teams” to set upthousands of internal checkpoints across the United States every year?
#49 What is the number one thing on your Bucket List?  Why haven’t you done it already?
#50 Why is the federal government spending billions of dollars to militarize local police departments across the United States?

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#51 If it was possible, would you want to live forever?
#52 Should we be concerned that 30% of all Americans get arrested by the age of 23?
#53 Where would you rather be than right here right now?
#54 Why did the D.C. government pass a new law that protects the rights of rats?
#55 Which is greater – the number of people that you love, or the number of people that you hate?
#56 Are CEOs really 243 times more valuable than the average worker is?
#57 What will your legacy be?
#58 Is the massive swarm of earthquakes that New Zealand is experiencinga sign that the “Ring of Fire” is becoming more active?
#59 What would your plan be if there was a major volcanic eruption on the west coast of the United States?
#60 If 63 percent of all mortgaged properties in the state of Nevada are still “underwater”, then how in the world can anyone claim that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the housing crisis?

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#61 Why is the federal government arresting people who produce raw milk?
#62 Is the world on the verge of an absolutely nightmarish water crisis?
#63 What are you really good at?  Are you using that skill to make a difference in the lives of others?
#64 Why is the U.S. government giving nearly half a billion dollars every 12 months to an organization that performs about 300,000 abortions a year?
#65 What is the meaning of life?
#66 Why are so many Planned Parenthood executives earning well over $100,000 a year?
#67 How can you make tomorrow better than today?
#68 While the TSA is groping millions of Americans at airports every year,rampant sex trafficking is going on in virtually every major American city.  Isn’t it time that we admitted that our allocation of law enforcement resources is very seriously flawed?
#69 How can you make next week better than this week?
#70 One recent survey found that only 29 percent of people would describe themselves as “very happy”.  So what does that say about the state of our country?

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#71 Do you consider yourself to be good?  If so, how did you determine that?
#72 If we are on the verge of a global recession, then why is the stock market still so high?
#73 What would happen if government spending was cut by 50 percent?
#74 Is the euro going to eventually fall to parity with the U.S. dollar?
#75 If the euro fails, what will Europe do?  Would national currencies make a comeback or would a new “European currency” be created?
#76 Are we getting dangerously close to a war in the Middle East?
#77 What would happen to the price of gasoline if foreign oil supplies from the Middle East were suddenly cut off?
#78 Is Germany going to just stand by and watch Greece default?
#79 Is it likely that your eating habits will send you to an early grave?  If so, why not make this the year when they change?
#80 Why aren’t politicians from either major political party doing something to stop the massive flood of blue collar jobs that is pouring out of this country?  Don’t they care about average Americans?

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#81 Why do we spend so much time on things that simply do not matter?
#82 Since 1971, consumer debt in the United States has increased by a whopping 1700%.  Is that a sign of a nation that is going to be prosperous in the long run?
#83 Does the U.S. need a new major political party?
#84 The U.S. debt problem continues to escalate.  During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.  Very few of our politicians seem alarmed by this.  Are we the stupidest generation in American history?
#85 Does the U.S. need a new Constitutional Convention?
#86 When we finally see the U.S. economy collapse, who will be in better shape – those that have spent years preparing or those that have not prepared at all?
#87 Are you so afraid to fail that you simply do not even try anymore?
#88 We are facing the most horrific retirement crisis in U.S. history.  Right now, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65 every single day.  So where in the world are we going to get all the money we need to pay them the retirement benefits that we have promised them?  Isn’t the Social Security system essentially one gigantic Ponzi scheme?
#89 If people started following your example, would that be a good thing?
#90 According to one Gallup survey, 7 out of every 10 Americans believe that religion is losing influence in the United States.  Is that good for America or bad for America?

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#91 Do you ever do anything that is outside of your comfort zone?
#92 The U.S. dollar has lost well over 95 percent of its value since the Federal Reserve was created, the U.S. national debt is more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was created and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a track record of incompetence that is absolutelymind blowing.  So what possible justification is there for allowing the Federal Reserve to continue to issue our currency and run our economy?
#93 If you lost everything that you currently own, would your life be over?
#94 If the European financial system is going to be just fine, then why is the UK government preparing feverishly for the collapse of the euro?
#95 When you meet someone for the first time, do you tend to instantly love them or do you tend to instantly judge them?
#96 If the one thing that almost everyone in the Republican Party seems to agree on is that Obamacare is bad, then why is the candidate that created the plan that much of Obamacare was based upon about to run away with the race for the Republican nomination?
#97 Do you feel like you are truly alive?  If not, what can you do to change that?
#98 Why have we allowed the “too big to fail” banks to become even larger?
#99 Who are you living your life for?  Does the answer to that question excite you or depress you?
#100 One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.  So where are all of the jobs for the “economic recovery” going to come from?

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#101 As you have gotten older, have you also become more loving?
#102 Since 1964, the reelection rate for members of the U.S. House of Representatives has never fallen below 85 percent.  How stupid can the American people possibly be?  They keep sending the exact same Congress critters back to Washington D.C. over and over and over.
#103 Do you treat others the way that you would like to be treated?
#104 According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married.  Back in 1960,72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.  Without strong family units, can America survive?
#105 Do you prefer to forgive those that have hurt you or do your prefer to hold long grudges?
#106 According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.  So why are so many young people so broke?
#107 Do you tell your family and your friends that you love them or do you just assume that they already know?
#108 According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4% of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1% of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6% of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6% of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.  How bad are things going to be when the economy gets even worse?
#109 If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.    How in the world can we justify putting so much debt on to the backs of future generations?
#110 How do you want the story of your life to end?
#111 Will the years ahead find you cowering in fear or will they find you enjoying greater adventures than you ever dreamed of?
#112 If you had the opportunity to tell everyone in America one thing, what would it be?