Well, it’s been quite a while since I last wrote. I’ve been busy with work and family and a bit of sailing. Recent events have me thinking again and realizing what a crazy world we are now in.
Our economy is crazy right now and although I must admit that I see and hear signs of “recovery” I’m not convinced. Here is why I’m not.
Debt - Greece, England, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, etc. are all under a massive debt burden brought about by government over spending, out of control government pensions, entitlements, give-aways, immigration, etc. (Yes, France and England have a HUGE immigration problem)
Now, look at California. What is happening to them? There are other states/cities that are bordering on bankruptcy. How did they get there? Look at the paragraph above and repeat here. (Saves on typing).
Now, why am I skeptical about the economy and our recovery? I will give you that some sectors are recovering. Manufacturing seems to be up but consumer spending is down. Savings are up, but then again, unemployment is 9.9% as of today. “Underemployment” is at a record high of 17%. Banks are lending again but small business is having a hard time with financing. And then there is the runaway government spending. I won’t go into the debt issue since it’s all over the news – We have added TRILLIONS more to the deficit the last 18 months and more will be added via the healthcare bill and others.
So to be clear, although some areas seem to improve, others are not improving. It’s the others that worry me along with the spector of inflation. I see us in an elongated “W” recovery. We are on the upside of the first part of the W. When we hit the downside of that W the drop will be very painful and recovery very slow.
Why do I think this will happen? Inflation, increased taxes in every aspect of our life (specially the VAT), increased government spending in the public sector and increased entitlements. When all that comes home to roost, our unemployment will go up significantly, cost of living will rise, standard of living will drop, all business will suffer as a result of the higher interest rates and the housing/construction market will collapse. Try buying a home with 17%++ interest rate!! Who would want to or afford it?
If you don’t think this will all happen then you’re not reading very much. Read the papers, listen and look back to 1978.
I’m not an economist but I think I know the solution. Just like your household, in order to reduce debt, you’d reduce your spending and not go further into debt. Of course you’d try to find a greater paying job but if you can’t you economize.
1. Reduce taxes on businesses and incent them to hire. Also reduce the capital gains tax (CGT) as well. This was proven in 1978 and subsequent years to work in generating increased tax revenue. If memory serves, in the early 90’s the CGT was increased and tax revenue actually dropped. Read the WSJ for the details.
2. Eliminate entitlements such as the Obama health care law and curb illegal immigration like AZ is doing. Did you realize that we are pretty much funding Mexico’s welfare program? Their poor come to our country and use our services. It’s not racist but a fact and it’s illegal.
3. Eliminate career politicians. (On a side note before I rant on... I just read where the Utah republican senator shed a tear upon losing his party nomination to a “tea party” supporter. He said that if he knew it would cost him his “career” he still would not have changed his prior votes. CAREER???!!!) That is the root of the problem. The founding fathers never envisioned that being in government would be a career. They didn’t legislate a fix for this problem but we need to now.
To address number 3 above we need to implement:
• Campaign funding reform – All candidates MUST take public funding and be limited in spending. This reform will even the playing field for everyone so that it’s not just the rich whom are elected.
• Term limits – A Washington politician can serve 2 terms total (house and senate). After that they are out – forever. They can never be elected again for anything.
• Lobbying restrictions – A politician that held office cannot lobby the government or work for any company or any other government entity, including state and local, for a period equal to their term. If a Senator served 8 years then he or she could not lobby or be involved with any company or other state or local government for a period of 8 years. All lobbyists must register and are limited to spending only on the actual lobbyists salaries. No trips, junkets or other “donations”.
• Elimination of corporate contributions
• Elimination of PACs
• Ear Mark reform – Eliminated. All expenditures must go through the process of appropriations.
• Line Item Veto – Given to the President in order to make sure that ear marks are not used.
• Legislation reform – If there is a bill presented it cannot be amended with another bill. An example is the school loan bill attached to healthcare.
Is this the “end all, be all” answer? No, it’s not and there would have to be some refining but the concepts are there.
Now, let me tell you why all of the above may never come to fruition. It may not come to fruition because this would eliminate the career Politian and they are the ones that would vote on these changes. We have created our own ruling class and they would never ruin their “careers”.
Now, how to actually make this work – VOTE. Vote them all out and vote in PEOPLE that will agree with all the changes above and enact the needed changes.
The dire warning for not doing this – we will be like California, Greece, etc. What do you think will happen when the U.S. fails? Do you think we will NOT have rioting? Who will riot?.. the ones losing the entitlements of course and the ones working for the government.
Now for other topics… briefly.
When are Americans going to stand up for what is right? I applaud AZ for doing so. What don’t people get about the word “illegal”? I don’t care what race or nationality you are. Seal the damn borders, deport those that are caught and then set up a real immigration policy similar to Ellis Island. Also, have minimum requirements such as learning English, no bi-lingual school classes. Immigrants have to integrate and accept the American way or leave. It’s not racists, it’s Illegal. Stop with the PC crap!!!!
And lastly… We are one lucky country... Not in prosperity but terror related. We’ve had 2 failed attempts. What is Obama doing? He’s finally calling a spade a spade... Terrorism. Not “overseas contingency action” or some political nonsense. So what is he doing? NOTHING as usual. Let’s see if we continue to have a run of luck!
Until next time…………
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
VOTE THEM ALL OUT!!!!!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Liar Liar.....
There have been some very interesting events over the past few weeks. It seems that the conservative population of this great nation has finally found its voice and it’s about damn time! Did you know that a poll done earlier this year had showed more Americans were conservative than liberal? 40% of Americans consider themselves conservative compared to 21% liberal and 35% moderate. The poll was conducted by Gallup.
After years of apathy and being led blindly, many have woken up to what is really taking place in the US government, with both corrupt parties, and have begun to speak out. I just hope it is not too late and that we can reverse this trend, a trend that has been going on since Reagan left office.
A few of the more interesting events were:
• March on 9/12 in Washington. Did you see that? How many people do you think were really there? I’ve heard in the “Tens of thousands” and I’ve heard 2 million. Based upon video it looked larger than the “million man march” so I’d bet the number was over a million.
• Van Jones, an avowed communist (by his own admission, not mine) resigned. I wonder where that scum will turn up in the administration. Also, as a result of Van Jones and conservative Americans, the questions of the czars, and their roles, are now being raised. It is OBVIOUS that the “free for al”l appointment of the czars is stretching the bounds of the constitution. Let me be clear on this – it was wrong with Bush and it’s wrong with Obama. And by the way, speaking of wrong, Obama has approximately 4 times the amounts of czars that Bush appointed. Most of them never going through confirmation hearings or appropriate background checks. They also control up to $1.5 Trillion in government spending.
• Candidate Obama made a statement during a debate with McCain, and I’ll paraphrase here – judge me by the people I surround myself with… Ok Mr. President, you have surrounded yourself with known communists, socialists and radicals of every ilk. I have seen no mention of Volker or the others you claimed will be your guides.
• Very telling this week is the attention to the polls. Obama has gone from 65% to 52% is 9 short months. Not even Bush did that. 58% of Americans think we are on the wrong track.
• Obama, after no success with Iran and his appeasement policy, meets with Russia and (using your best Gommer Pile accent) surprise, surprise, we back out on the missile defense system with two of our newest allies. Oh, Obama says there was no quid pro quo. Right. I believe him don’t you? Since I’m not a member of Congress, and we are not in a joint session I can say this – LIAR. Does he actually thing the American public is stupid? Well, based upon recent commentary by a democratic analyst, he does. He said, on national TV – “do you know how many people know about the missile defense program in the US? Two”. They do think we are stupid and have to tell us what to do and say.
• Acorn – Have you been following this? I think they need to be shut down just for being stupid. Have you seen those two young kids? Do they look like a hooker and pimp? Jeez. The fake outrage from Acorn is almost laughable if the exposure of their deeds weren’t so terrible. Simply put, they could have avoided this by saying “thank you for exposing this. We are rooting out all fraud and misconduct from our organization so as to better serve……” Stupidly they instead defended the people in some cases and just fired others. Their stupidity has shown the depth of the corruption and accentuates the fact that they need to be closed down completely. Last I heard there were 19 states investigating Acorn.
• Did you know that if you work for a bank or a financial institution, the government will dictate your pay and bonus, even if you didn’t receive bailout money? Surprised? I told you what Barney was up to a few blogs ago and you’ve seen in the news the fed’s moves so you shouldn’t be surprised. Tell me, if you work for a investment bank, work your butt off, make smart trades and risks (and by the way, it’s all risk no matter what) and you get your pay limited, would you stay there or move to another industry that would reward your talents? Under that premise, what do you think will happen to the banking and financial industry which is a world leader in wealth creation? This is a typical government screw up as usual. Instead of looking at the underlying regulations (or over regulations) they look at the backside pay issue because it plays well to the public. I am speaking specifically about the short selling rules as well as the regulations around mark to market. Instead of looking at the capital markets for what they are and let the banks rise and fall as the markets dictate, they look at over regulation. Basically, we should have let AIG and Goldman fail. Business, nature and the world abhor a vacuum and the vacuum left by those going out of business would have been filled by other players and other organizations. Would it be painful to some, yes but we’d be over it by now. What better regulations than letting them fail? BTW, a bit of HISTORY… if it wasn’t for regulations put in place in the 1990’s by a democratic president and republican congress, we wouldn’t have had this happen in the first place. Another great case against the US government regulation. Letting people own homes that can’t qualify.
• Liberals are afraid and what do they do when they are afraid and cannot mount a fact based argument? They pull out the race, fear and violence cards. Completely disgraceful.
• Our President is actually a disgrace. Black, white, red or blue he is a socialist of the worst kind and meddling disgrace. In my mind, he is very Un-Presidential. What do I mean by that? How about his meddling in state affairs. Specifically him communicating to the current governor of NY that he should back out of the race. The white house denies this but again, the American public is not stupid.
Did you see or read about Obama’s interview on American Barrack Channel? ABC…. Here is an excerpt:
George Stephanopoulos: "Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don't. How is that not a tax?" the host asked.
Obama responded: " No, but -- but, George, you -- you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase."
Stephanopoulos then offered the dictionary definition.
"I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam-Webster's dictionary: 'Tax, a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes,'" he said.
Visibly taken aback, Obama rejected the notion it was a tax increase and said pulling the dictionary out was a sign the host was "stretching" a little.
"No. That -- that's not true, George. The -- for us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase," Obama said.
As my Dad would often say - BULLSHIT.
And lastly, a bit of legal analysis by Judge Andrew Napolitano that suggests Obama is either lying or misinformed or just playing stupid:
“In the late 1970s, the State of Texas enacted legislation that denied a public school education to the children of illegal immigrants and denied state aid to municipalities that attempted to educate those children. Many illegal immigrants filed suit and all of the cases made their way to the Supreme Court. In a landmark ruling, that most lawyers know about, and that every professor of constitutional law knows about, called Plyler vs. Doe (1982), the Court ordered Texas to make the same education available to illegal immigrants as it does to citizens. In so doing, the Court held that: (a) the Constitution protects “persons” ; and (b) “persons” are citizens as well as strangers, people born here and people who end up here, people here lawfully and people here unlawfully; and (c) in the area of social services, whatever benefits the government makes available to the general public cannot be kept away from a class of persons based on their immigration status or that of their parents.
It is because of this ruling that Proposition 187 in California, which attempted to do via a referendum what Texas attempted to do via legislation, was invalidated. It is clear from the broad language in the Plyler case that providing an education is in the same class of social benefits as providing health care.
Now, back to Congressman Wilson and President Obama. Can anyone really suggest that the Harvard Law School-educated University of Chicago-employed professor of constitutional law did NOT know the law when he contended that the Congress can keep universal health care away from illegals? He must have known that, short of amending the Constitution to re-define “persons” and “Equal Protection”, whatever the Congress makes available by way of social services to the general population, it must make available to all persons.
There is no question that under the present law, Congress simply cannot pick and choose which “persons” to whom it will afford social benefits and to which “persons” it will not. How could the president not have known that?”
Go green, recyle congress (all of them)
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
After years of apathy and being led blindly, many have woken up to what is really taking place in the US government, with both corrupt parties, and have begun to speak out. I just hope it is not too late and that we can reverse this trend, a trend that has been going on since Reagan left office.
A few of the more interesting events were:
• March on 9/12 in Washington. Did you see that? How many people do you think were really there? I’ve heard in the “Tens of thousands” and I’ve heard 2 million. Based upon video it looked larger than the “million man march” so I’d bet the number was over a million.
• Van Jones, an avowed communist (by his own admission, not mine) resigned. I wonder where that scum will turn up in the administration. Also, as a result of Van Jones and conservative Americans, the questions of the czars, and their roles, are now being raised. It is OBVIOUS that the “free for al”l appointment of the czars is stretching the bounds of the constitution. Let me be clear on this – it was wrong with Bush and it’s wrong with Obama. And by the way, speaking of wrong, Obama has approximately 4 times the amounts of czars that Bush appointed. Most of them never going through confirmation hearings or appropriate background checks. They also control up to $1.5 Trillion in government spending.
• Candidate Obama made a statement during a debate with McCain, and I’ll paraphrase here – judge me by the people I surround myself with… Ok Mr. President, you have surrounded yourself with known communists, socialists and radicals of every ilk. I have seen no mention of Volker or the others you claimed will be your guides.
• Very telling this week is the attention to the polls. Obama has gone from 65% to 52% is 9 short months. Not even Bush did that. 58% of Americans think we are on the wrong track.
• Obama, after no success with Iran and his appeasement policy, meets with Russia and (using your best Gommer Pile accent) surprise, surprise, we back out on the missile defense system with two of our newest allies. Oh, Obama says there was no quid pro quo. Right. I believe him don’t you? Since I’m not a member of Congress, and we are not in a joint session I can say this – LIAR. Does he actually thing the American public is stupid? Well, based upon recent commentary by a democratic analyst, he does. He said, on national TV – “do you know how many people know about the missile defense program in the US? Two”. They do think we are stupid and have to tell us what to do and say.
• Acorn – Have you been following this? I think they need to be shut down just for being stupid. Have you seen those two young kids? Do they look like a hooker and pimp? Jeez. The fake outrage from Acorn is almost laughable if the exposure of their deeds weren’t so terrible. Simply put, they could have avoided this by saying “thank you for exposing this. We are rooting out all fraud and misconduct from our organization so as to better serve……” Stupidly they instead defended the people in some cases and just fired others. Their stupidity has shown the depth of the corruption and accentuates the fact that they need to be closed down completely. Last I heard there were 19 states investigating Acorn.
• Did you know that if you work for a bank or a financial institution, the government will dictate your pay and bonus, even if you didn’t receive bailout money? Surprised? I told you what Barney was up to a few blogs ago and you’ve seen in the news the fed’s moves so you shouldn’t be surprised. Tell me, if you work for a investment bank, work your butt off, make smart trades and risks (and by the way, it’s all risk no matter what) and you get your pay limited, would you stay there or move to another industry that would reward your talents? Under that premise, what do you think will happen to the banking and financial industry which is a world leader in wealth creation? This is a typical government screw up as usual. Instead of looking at the underlying regulations (or over regulations) they look at the backside pay issue because it plays well to the public. I am speaking specifically about the short selling rules as well as the regulations around mark to market. Instead of looking at the capital markets for what they are and let the banks rise and fall as the markets dictate, they look at over regulation. Basically, we should have let AIG and Goldman fail. Business, nature and the world abhor a vacuum and the vacuum left by those going out of business would have been filled by other players and other organizations. Would it be painful to some, yes but we’d be over it by now. What better regulations than letting them fail? BTW, a bit of HISTORY… if it wasn’t for regulations put in place in the 1990’s by a democratic president and republican congress, we wouldn’t have had this happen in the first place. Another great case against the US government regulation. Letting people own homes that can’t qualify.
• Liberals are afraid and what do they do when they are afraid and cannot mount a fact based argument? They pull out the race, fear and violence cards. Completely disgraceful.
• Our President is actually a disgrace. Black, white, red or blue he is a socialist of the worst kind and meddling disgrace. In my mind, he is very Un-Presidential. What do I mean by that? How about his meddling in state affairs. Specifically him communicating to the current governor of NY that he should back out of the race. The white house denies this but again, the American public is not stupid.
Did you see or read about Obama’s interview on American Barrack Channel? ABC…. Here is an excerpt:
George Stephanopoulos: "Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don't. How is that not a tax?" the host asked.
Obama responded: " No, but -- but, George, you -- you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase."
Stephanopoulos then offered the dictionary definition.
"I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam-Webster's dictionary: 'Tax, a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes,'" he said.
Visibly taken aback, Obama rejected the notion it was a tax increase and said pulling the dictionary out was a sign the host was "stretching" a little.
"No. That -- that's not true, George. The -- for us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase," Obama said.
As my Dad would often say - BULLSHIT.
And lastly, a bit of legal analysis by Judge Andrew Napolitano that suggests Obama is either lying or misinformed or just playing stupid:
“In the late 1970s, the State of Texas enacted legislation that denied a public school education to the children of illegal immigrants and denied state aid to municipalities that attempted to educate those children. Many illegal immigrants filed suit and all of the cases made their way to the Supreme Court. In a landmark ruling, that most lawyers know about, and that every professor of constitutional law knows about, called Plyler vs. Doe (1982), the Court ordered Texas to make the same education available to illegal immigrants as it does to citizens. In so doing, the Court held that: (a) the Constitution protects “persons” ; and (b) “persons” are citizens as well as strangers, people born here and people who end up here, people here lawfully and people here unlawfully; and (c) in the area of social services, whatever benefits the government makes available to the general public cannot be kept away from a class of persons based on their immigration status or that of their parents.
It is because of this ruling that Proposition 187 in California, which attempted to do via a referendum what Texas attempted to do via legislation, was invalidated. It is clear from the broad language in the Plyler case that providing an education is in the same class of social benefits as providing health care.
Now, back to Congressman Wilson and President Obama. Can anyone really suggest that the Harvard Law School-educated University of Chicago-employed professor of constitutional law did NOT know the law when he contended that the Congress can keep universal health care away from illegals? He must have known that, short of amending the Constitution to re-define “persons” and “Equal Protection”, whatever the Congress makes available by way of social services to the general population, it must make available to all persons.
There is no question that under the present law, Congress simply cannot pick and choose which “persons” to whom it will afford social benefits and to which “persons” it will not. How could the president not have known that?”
Go green, recyle congress (all of them)
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
Monday, September 14, 2009
Unions and Protectionism
Let me start with this disclaimer - I am very anti-union. They had their place in the early industrial revolution but not now. I’m positive they are now quasi socialist/communist organizations. So with that, my latest rant and rave regarding recent events and Obama’s tariff on tires.
Keep this in mind as you read – We didn’t bail out GM and the auto industry. WE bailed out the UNIONS.
Noun 1. protectionism - the policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect home industries from overseas competition
economic policy - a government policy for maintaining economic growth and tax revenues
import barrier, trade barrier - any regulation or policy that restricts international trade
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Examples:
1. Ordered by Congress to "buy American" when spending money from the $787 billion stimulus package, the town of Peru, Ind., stunned its Canadian supplier by rejecting sewage pumps made outside of Toronto. After a Navy official spotted Canadian pipe fittings in a construction project at Camp Pendleton, Calif., they were hauled out of the ground and replaced with American versions. In recent weeks, other Canadian manufacturers doing business with U.S. state and local governments say they have been besieged with requests to sign affidavits pledging that they will only supply materials made in the USA.
2. The Obama administration will put steep import duties of 35% in the first year on Chinese passenger and light truck tires, responding to what the U.S. International Trade Commission determined to be a surge of Chinese tire exports that has rocked the domestic U.S. tire industry and displaced thousands of jobs, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Friday night. On Sunday the Chinese ministry said it was investigating U.S. automotive and poultry product imports following complaints from local industries that some of these products are being dumped in the Chinese market or are benefiting from subsidies, "seriously affecting" domestic industries.
Buy your tires now! Most tires, even those sold by the major tire manufacturers in the US are made in China.
Reactions to the recent trade tarrifs on China. This is direct from the WSJ and is from leading economists:
-“It certainly does not look good. [P]rotectionism is driven by the desire to protect jobs. Unemployment has not peaked in the US, and some analysts suggest that China’s job losses are far worse than the 20 million often bandied about, more on the order of 30 to 50 million. So political pressure is set to intensify.” –Yves Smith
-“A victory for the protectionists. Disappointing news”. –N. Gregory Mankiw
-“Barack Obama does something really stupid: tire tariffs. [..] The Trade Act, Section 421, gives the U.S. the right to impose tariffs in response to a surge. It doesn’t make the surge a crime, or a violation. And it doesn’t require the U.S. to impose tariffs–especially if imposing them would be a really bad idea for U.S. consumers.” –J. Bradford DeLong
-The “macroeconomic impact is not enough to warrant an escalation of such a trade dispute to such levels that would threaten the strategic relationship between the two countries,” Wang Qing, chief Asia economist for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong told Bloomberg News.
-“While there’s friction, I suspect that the two nations will keep any disputes under control,” David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore, also told Bloomberg. “They understand that they’re increasingly dependent as trading partners.”
-“I think within the next 60 days you’ll see some pretty significant price increases,” Jim Mayfield, president of Del-Nat Tire Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., a large importer and distributor of Chinese tires told the WSJ’s Timothy Aeppel. He estimates prices for “entry-level” tires could increase 20% to 30%.
-The timing of the tensions is unfortunate, James Brander of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia told the Globe & Mail. “It’s a fragile time,” he said. “It looks like most economies in the world are just turning the corner.”
“In an environment where it looks like global trade will not recover to the levels we saw before the crisis for quite some time, the last thing we need is any sort of inkling of protectionism,” Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist with Societe General in Hong Kong, told Reuters.
-”Over 7 days right before and after the Smoot-Hawley act was passed in mid June 1930, the DJIA fell 15% but got most of the decline back by late July before falling more than 30% into year end. Let’s hope the just announced tire tariff on China and their possible response is just a one off spat but global stocks are down as a result.” –Peter Boockvar, writing for The Big Picture.
-“In 1930, the Republican controlled House of Rep, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the… Anyone? Anyone?… the Great Depression, passed the…Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act which, anyone? anyone? Raised or lowered?… Raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal gov’t. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the US sank deeper into the Great Depression.” – Ben Stein, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (via The Big Picture)
And from the Unions:
United Steelworkers backed the Obama administration's decision to impose tariffs on Chinese tires. "The President sent the message that we expect others to live by the rules, just as we do," USW International President Leo W. Gerard said in a statement.
Ah, ok, and who’s rules are those? The Unions, the worlds, the WTO, Americas? It’s called “global” trade. The unions have outlived their usefulness. They have bloated the cost of business with benefits, hours and wages that the average American doesn’t experience. If in doubt, just look at the autoworkers pay, benefits and retirement package.
Oh heck, don’t go look. Through the mystery of the internet, I’ll just give it to you here:
Breaking the $73.26 figure down, General Motors reports that it pays base wages of roughly $30 an hour. At the end of December 2006, the average vehicle assembler at GM earned $28.02 an hour; the average machine repair electrician earned $32.43.
Other provisions raise cash earnings above this base pay. For example, workers at Ford earn 10 percent premium payments for taking midnight shifts and double time for overtime hours worked on Sundays.
Autoworkers put in substantial overtime hours at higher rates, raising earnings above their base pay. GM reported that its average hourly employee worked 315 overtime hours in 2006. Including all monetary payments--base wages, shift premiums, overtime pay, as well as vacation and holiday pay--GM reported an average hourly pay of $39.68 an hour in 2006. About 54 percent of the average UAW employee at GM's earnings came in cash in 2006.
The remaining $33.58 an hour of hourly labor costs that GM reports--46 percent of total compensation--was paid as benefits. These benefits include:
• Hospital, surgical, and prescription drug benefits;
• Dental and vision benefits;
• Group life insurance;
• Disability benefits;
• Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB);
• Pension payments to workers pensions accounts to be paid out at retirement;
• Unemployment compensation; and
• Payroll taxes (employer's share).
• General Motors UAW retirement plan paid $4.9 billion to 291,000 retirees and surviving spouses in 2006. That works out to $31.04 an hour when apportioned among active workers.
Not bad work if you can get it. The retirement plan is pretty lucrative. Their medical is covered 100% .
Now, taking this into perspective of the average American worker, and global competition, and you’ll see that the pay scale and benefits is absurd and not sustainable. And on top of that, we want to dictate to the rest of the world our pay and benefits scale. No wonder China and India are cleaning up. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not for “stooping” to their level regarding pay, benefits and working conditions. We all know that in some areas, it’s just plain bad. But, I’m all for suggesting that we are WAY off course and out of control with the unions.
So, my rant for this edition is simple. Obama and the Democrats, hell government as a whole, are in bed with the unions to protect their asses. If we continue down this path of pro-union, pro-socialism then hello Smoot-Haley and hello depression. It's obviously not to late for Obama and his croneys to turn a recovery into a depression. They will protect their asses but in the end cost us all dearly and if they do that, then the result will be equalization – we will all be making what China makes in wages. Doubt me? READ YOUR HISTORY!
One last thing… do you know who owns the second largest share of GM (Government owns the largest)?
WE didn’t bail out GM. WE bailed out the UNIONS!!!
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
Keep this in mind as you read – We didn’t bail out GM and the auto industry. WE bailed out the UNIONS.
Noun 1. protectionism - the policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect home industries from overseas competition
economic policy - a government policy for maintaining economic growth and tax revenues
import barrier, trade barrier - any regulation or policy that restricts international trade
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Examples:
1. Ordered by Congress to "buy American" when spending money from the $787 billion stimulus package, the town of Peru, Ind., stunned its Canadian supplier by rejecting sewage pumps made outside of Toronto. After a Navy official spotted Canadian pipe fittings in a construction project at Camp Pendleton, Calif., they were hauled out of the ground and replaced with American versions. In recent weeks, other Canadian manufacturers doing business with U.S. state and local governments say they have been besieged with requests to sign affidavits pledging that they will only supply materials made in the USA.
2. The Obama administration will put steep import duties of 35% in the first year on Chinese passenger and light truck tires, responding to what the U.S. International Trade Commission determined to be a surge of Chinese tire exports that has rocked the domestic U.S. tire industry and displaced thousands of jobs, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Friday night. On Sunday the Chinese ministry said it was investigating U.S. automotive and poultry product imports following complaints from local industries that some of these products are being dumped in the Chinese market or are benefiting from subsidies, "seriously affecting" domestic industries.
Buy your tires now! Most tires, even those sold by the major tire manufacturers in the US are made in China.
Reactions to the recent trade tarrifs on China. This is direct from the WSJ and is from leading economists:
-“It certainly does not look good. [P]rotectionism is driven by the desire to protect jobs. Unemployment has not peaked in the US, and some analysts suggest that China’s job losses are far worse than the 20 million often bandied about, more on the order of 30 to 50 million. So political pressure is set to intensify.” –Yves Smith
-“A victory for the protectionists. Disappointing news”. –N. Gregory Mankiw
-“Barack Obama does something really stupid: tire tariffs. [..] The Trade Act, Section 421, gives the U.S. the right to impose tariffs in response to a surge. It doesn’t make the surge a crime, or a violation. And it doesn’t require the U.S. to impose tariffs–especially if imposing them would be a really bad idea for U.S. consumers.” –J. Bradford DeLong
-The “macroeconomic impact is not enough to warrant an escalation of such a trade dispute to such levels that would threaten the strategic relationship between the two countries,” Wang Qing, chief Asia economist for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong told Bloomberg News.
-“While there’s friction, I suspect that the two nations will keep any disputes under control,” David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore, also told Bloomberg. “They understand that they’re increasingly dependent as trading partners.”
-“I think within the next 60 days you’ll see some pretty significant price increases,” Jim Mayfield, president of Del-Nat Tire Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., a large importer and distributor of Chinese tires told the WSJ’s Timothy Aeppel. He estimates prices for “entry-level” tires could increase 20% to 30%.
-The timing of the tensions is unfortunate, James Brander of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia told the Globe & Mail. “It’s a fragile time,” he said. “It looks like most economies in the world are just turning the corner.”
“In an environment where it looks like global trade will not recover to the levels we saw before the crisis for quite some time, the last thing we need is any sort of inkling of protectionism,” Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist with Societe General in Hong Kong, told Reuters.
-”Over 7 days right before and after the Smoot-Hawley act was passed in mid June 1930, the DJIA fell 15% but got most of the decline back by late July before falling more than 30% into year end. Let’s hope the just announced tire tariff on China and their possible response is just a one off spat but global stocks are down as a result.” –Peter Boockvar, writing for The Big Picture.
-“In 1930, the Republican controlled House of Rep, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the… Anyone? Anyone?… the Great Depression, passed the…Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act which, anyone? anyone? Raised or lowered?… Raised tariffs, in an effort to collect more revenue for the federal gov’t. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and the US sank deeper into the Great Depression.” – Ben Stein, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (via The Big Picture)
And from the Unions:
United Steelworkers backed the Obama administration's decision to impose tariffs on Chinese tires. "The President sent the message that we expect others to live by the rules, just as we do," USW International President Leo W. Gerard said in a statement.
Ah, ok, and who’s rules are those? The Unions, the worlds, the WTO, Americas? It’s called “global” trade. The unions have outlived their usefulness. They have bloated the cost of business with benefits, hours and wages that the average American doesn’t experience. If in doubt, just look at the autoworkers pay, benefits and retirement package.
Oh heck, don’t go look. Through the mystery of the internet, I’ll just give it to you here:
Breaking the $73.26 figure down, General Motors reports that it pays base wages of roughly $30 an hour. At the end of December 2006, the average vehicle assembler at GM earned $28.02 an hour; the average machine repair electrician earned $32.43.
Other provisions raise cash earnings above this base pay. For example, workers at Ford earn 10 percent premium payments for taking midnight shifts and double time for overtime hours worked on Sundays.
Autoworkers put in substantial overtime hours at higher rates, raising earnings above their base pay. GM reported that its average hourly employee worked 315 overtime hours in 2006. Including all monetary payments--base wages, shift premiums, overtime pay, as well as vacation and holiday pay--GM reported an average hourly pay of $39.68 an hour in 2006. About 54 percent of the average UAW employee at GM's earnings came in cash in 2006.
The remaining $33.58 an hour of hourly labor costs that GM reports--46 percent of total compensation--was paid as benefits. These benefits include:
• Hospital, surgical, and prescription drug benefits;
• Dental and vision benefits;
• Group life insurance;
• Disability benefits;
• Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB);
• Pension payments to workers pensions accounts to be paid out at retirement;
• Unemployment compensation; and
• Payroll taxes (employer's share).
• General Motors UAW retirement plan paid $4.9 billion to 291,000 retirees and surviving spouses in 2006. That works out to $31.04 an hour when apportioned among active workers.
Not bad work if you can get it. The retirement plan is pretty lucrative. Their medical is covered 100% .
Now, taking this into perspective of the average American worker, and global competition, and you’ll see that the pay scale and benefits is absurd and not sustainable. And on top of that, we want to dictate to the rest of the world our pay and benefits scale. No wonder China and India are cleaning up. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not for “stooping” to their level regarding pay, benefits and working conditions. We all know that in some areas, it’s just plain bad. But, I’m all for suggesting that we are WAY off course and out of control with the unions.
So, my rant for this edition is simple. Obama and the Democrats, hell government as a whole, are in bed with the unions to protect their asses. If we continue down this path of pro-union, pro-socialism then hello Smoot-Haley and hello depression. It's obviously not to late for Obama and his croneys to turn a recovery into a depression. They will protect their asses but in the end cost us all dearly and if they do that, then the result will be equalization – we will all be making what China makes in wages. Doubt me? READ YOUR HISTORY!
One last thing… do you know who owns the second largest share of GM (Government owns the largest)?
WE didn’t bail out GM. WE bailed out the UNIONS!!!
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
Monday, September 7, 2009
September 7th, 2009
Happy "Labor Day"... if you are pro-union.
Read this collection of facts and events and tell me if you see a trend -
30+ Czars in the Obama admin that are not appointed by Congress and only vetted by Obama.
They only report to him.
• The new “green” czar is a committed radical by his own admission and only now, when he’s under the spot light does he “apologize” for what he said. He is also a racist of the worst kind. (Thankfully he just resigned)
• Obama appointed an FCC “diversity” Czar, Mark Lloyd. By his own admission and actions, he is a dedicated communist and has the goal of shutting down free speech and conservative talk radio via the “fairness doctrine”. The new FCC czar believes that Hugo Chavez is correct and that if he had taken over the media sooner his revolution would have succeeded sooner. He is proposing such activities here in the US – Example of his statements:
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) must be reformed along democratic lines and funded on a substantial level,” Lloyd wrote in his book.
“Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded,” Lloyd wrote. “This funding should come from license fees charged to commercial broadcasters. Funding should not come from congressional appropriations. Sponsorship should be prohibited at all public broadcasters.”
And:
"our work was not simply convincing policy makers of the logic and morality of our arguments. We understood that we were in a struggle for power against an opponent, the commercial broadcasters."
And finally he wrote this:
“the purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance."
• Obama just appointed another czar. Ron Bloom. He is a well educated Harvard MBA (as if that makes him smart) and worked on the auto group that presided over Government Motors and Fiat’s take-over of Chrysler. He is defiantly pro-union and was a special assistant to the president of the united steel workers union. Before joining the steelworkers, Bloom was one of the founding partners of Keilin and Bloom, an investment banking firm, where he was involved in numerous transactions on behalf of the Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, Teamsters, Air Line Pilots Association and other unions. And he’s in charge of setting US manufacturing policy? What do you think he will do the companies themselves or the owners? He is to make US competitive with the rest of the world when it’s obvious that jobs are going overseas due to lower cost of employees and, what is not mentioned, a lower tax burden.
See any trending here? Keep reading…
• The US bails out the financial industry and winds up owning a series of major banks. (and we can thank Bush for starting that one)
• The US, along with the unions, now owns GM (Government Motors). The bond holders were wiped out despite legal contracts.
• The President appointed a pay Czar that controls all pay decisions at all nationalized firms or firms that took bailout money.
• Congress (Barney Frank to be precise) now has asked all insurance companies to give to Congress all records relating to pay and other items such events, outings, entertainment, etc. Even if the company was not subsidized by the US government.
• The President wants to talk to our children. First to gain support for his programs as evidenced by his suggestions for “after speech” activities. When he was called out on this he changed it to more moderate activities focusing on staying in school. That’s actually fine by me. What I don’t like is the liberals saying… “give the man a chance…”, “he’s our president so we should support him”… If it were Bush, the liberals would have been SCREAMING foul play. They never supported Bush even though HE was the President. So why should we be different in our dissent?!
• The President has come down on the side of Hamas and not our long standing ally Israel as seen in recent news articles. He’s favors the radicals that would destroy democracy over a democracy that supports the US.
• The National Endowment for the Arts recently asked Hollywood film makers, writers and poets to start producing literature in favor of Obama’s socialist agenda. This is government, i.e. your money and mine, being spent on this work. The NEA back peddled on this but recently proof via emails and memos have emerged showing them as, in the polite terms of politics, “less than truthful”. I’m not a Politian so I can call them a “Damn Liar”
• Obama and Congress are trying to pass a bill that would give the President vast powers over the Internet even for commercial operations. It would be against some cyber threat yet to be defined. Isn’t that what the government just did in Iran?
• The Obama administration wants to reinstate a pro-Chavez president in Honduras even though he was legally removed the their congress.
• Manning Marable, a leader of the Communist Party offshoot Committees of Correspondence for Democracy&Socialism claims that Obama "understands what socialism is. A lot of the people working with him are, indeed, socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party or as independent Marxists. There are a lot of people like that in Chicago who have worked with him for years..."
• The massive amount of money that is going to organizations such as Acorn that supported Obama.
• The US governments attempt to take over healthcare. Read the bill if you are in doubt. All 1019 pages if you dare. It will scare you. And with Social Security, Medicare, etc we think that they can financially run 17% of economy? If you think that, then you are delusional.
• Flag.gov email asking for tips on “fishy” behavior.
• Cookies on your computer that track whenever you’ve been on a government website. This used to be illegal but was recently changed.
• The government using outside companies to track and contact you. Are they gathering information?
• And lastly this statement by the, at the time, presidential candidate Obama:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
Who makes up the civilian “army” and who is this unseen and unidentified threat within the US? Is it you and me? Is it the drug runners? Illegal aliens? Is it the people that carry the “don’t tread on me flag”? Is it conservatism? WHO? Don’t we have a national guard that is used for civil unrest?
What scares me is the creation of the “army”. I’m a history buff. I love history and the fact that if you don’t study history, you are doomed to repeat it. So with that, remember the “brown shirts”. If you don’t know what they are, look it up on the internet. Also, look up the “red army” of the early 1900 in Russia. There are plenty of examples of such “armies”.
I’m also not a conspiracy advocate but in my reading, and I’ve done quite a bit, there does seem to be a massive trend taking place with some very unnerving undercurrents and with organizations that are divisive to the US and democracy.
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
Read this collection of facts and events and tell me if you see a trend -
30+ Czars in the Obama admin that are not appointed by Congress and only vetted by Obama.
They only report to him.
• The new “green” czar is a committed radical by his own admission and only now, when he’s under the spot light does he “apologize” for what he said. He is also a racist of the worst kind. (Thankfully he just resigned)
• Obama appointed an FCC “diversity” Czar, Mark Lloyd. By his own admission and actions, he is a dedicated communist and has the goal of shutting down free speech and conservative talk radio via the “fairness doctrine”. The new FCC czar believes that Hugo Chavez is correct and that if he had taken over the media sooner his revolution would have succeeded sooner. He is proposing such activities here in the US – Example of his statements:
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) must be reformed along democratic lines and funded on a substantial level,” Lloyd wrote in his book.
“Federal and regional broadcast operations and local stations should be funded at levels commensurate with or above those spending levels at which commercial operations are funded,” Lloyd wrote. “This funding should come from license fees charged to commercial broadcasters. Funding should not come from congressional appropriations. Sponsorship should be prohibited at all public broadcasters.”
And:
"our work was not simply convincing policy makers of the logic and morality of our arguments. We understood that we were in a struggle for power against an opponent, the commercial broadcasters."
And finally he wrote this:
“the purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance."
• Obama just appointed another czar. Ron Bloom. He is a well educated Harvard MBA (as if that makes him smart) and worked on the auto group that presided over Government Motors and Fiat’s take-over of Chrysler. He is defiantly pro-union and was a special assistant to the president of the united steel workers union. Before joining the steelworkers, Bloom was one of the founding partners of Keilin and Bloom, an investment banking firm, where he was involved in numerous transactions on behalf of the Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, Teamsters, Air Line Pilots Association and other unions. And he’s in charge of setting US manufacturing policy? What do you think he will do the companies themselves or the owners? He is to make US competitive with the rest of the world when it’s obvious that jobs are going overseas due to lower cost of employees and, what is not mentioned, a lower tax burden.
See any trending here? Keep reading…
• The US bails out the financial industry and winds up owning a series of major banks. (and we can thank Bush for starting that one)
• The US, along with the unions, now owns GM (Government Motors). The bond holders were wiped out despite legal contracts.
• The President appointed a pay Czar that controls all pay decisions at all nationalized firms or firms that took bailout money.
• Congress (Barney Frank to be precise) now has asked all insurance companies to give to Congress all records relating to pay and other items such events, outings, entertainment, etc. Even if the company was not subsidized by the US government.
• The President wants to talk to our children. First to gain support for his programs as evidenced by his suggestions for “after speech” activities. When he was called out on this he changed it to more moderate activities focusing on staying in school. That’s actually fine by me. What I don’t like is the liberals saying… “give the man a chance…”, “he’s our president so we should support him”… If it were Bush, the liberals would have been SCREAMING foul play. They never supported Bush even though HE was the President. So why should we be different in our dissent?!
• The President has come down on the side of Hamas and not our long standing ally Israel as seen in recent news articles. He’s favors the radicals that would destroy democracy over a democracy that supports the US.
• The National Endowment for the Arts recently asked Hollywood film makers, writers and poets to start producing literature in favor of Obama’s socialist agenda. This is government, i.e. your money and mine, being spent on this work. The NEA back peddled on this but recently proof via emails and memos have emerged showing them as, in the polite terms of politics, “less than truthful”. I’m not a Politian so I can call them a “Damn Liar”
• Obama and Congress are trying to pass a bill that would give the President vast powers over the Internet even for commercial operations. It would be against some cyber threat yet to be defined. Isn’t that what the government just did in Iran?
• The Obama administration wants to reinstate a pro-Chavez president in Honduras even though he was legally removed the their congress.
• Manning Marable, a leader of the Communist Party offshoot Committees of Correspondence for Democracy&Socialism claims that Obama "understands what socialism is. A lot of the people working with him are, indeed, socialists with backgrounds in the Communist Party or as independent Marxists. There are a lot of people like that in Chicago who have worked with him for years..."
• The massive amount of money that is going to organizations such as Acorn that supported Obama.
• The US governments attempt to take over healthcare. Read the bill if you are in doubt. All 1019 pages if you dare. It will scare you. And with Social Security, Medicare, etc we think that they can financially run 17% of economy? If you think that, then you are delusional.
• Flag.gov email asking for tips on “fishy” behavior.
• Cookies on your computer that track whenever you’ve been on a government website. This used to be illegal but was recently changed.
• The government using outside companies to track and contact you. Are they gathering information?
• And lastly this statement by the, at the time, presidential candidate Obama:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
Who makes up the civilian “army” and who is this unseen and unidentified threat within the US? Is it you and me? Is it the drug runners? Illegal aliens? Is it the people that carry the “don’t tread on me flag”? Is it conservatism? WHO? Don’t we have a national guard that is used for civil unrest?
What scares me is the creation of the “army”. I’m a history buff. I love history and the fact that if you don’t study history, you are doomed to repeat it. So with that, remember the “brown shirts”. If you don’t know what they are, look it up on the internet. Also, look up the “red army” of the early 1900 in Russia. There are plenty of examples of such “armies”.
I’m also not a conspiracy advocate but in my reading, and I’ve done quite a bit, there does seem to be a massive trend taking place with some very unnerving undercurrents and with organizations that are divisive to the US and democracy.
Don’t go blindly into the night…..
You get what you allow to be done to you…..
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
It’s been awhile since my last blog but I’ve been busy. I’m one of those well dressed people that attend the town hall meetings – that’s what people with JOBS look like! I guess our elected officials have been so buried in DC that they forget. Or they are more apt to understand the code pink dress code and actions.
I was going to discuss Zars but I’m past that. But, before I move on from the topic, think about this. Zars do not report to Congress. They report to the President only. They have far reaching powers without appropriate oversight or checks and balances. Tell me what that sounds like? A government takeover is what it sounds like. History – this is what took place in Germany in the 1930. If you don’t understand history, you are doomed to repeat it.
Healthcare and the budget. Geez, don’t these guys get it?
Revenue is down so what does the government (President and Congress) do? They SPEND. Obama can’t blame the new deficit on Bush anymore; it’s all his! Why don’t they just stop until the tax base and revenue revives? Common sense would dictate that action similar to what we do at home. Better yet, why don't they give us tax cuts so we can spend it on growing our businesses?
Let me give you some examples of their blindness and quite frankly gross negligence.
Airplanes – $500 million for new jets not requested. New tankers not requested by the Pentagon. A new engine for a fighter that the Pentagon says is a waste of money. And the list goes on and on.
Healthcare –
Have you read the house bill? You should. It’s a bunch of BS and very hard to read. It took me over a week to read it and I'm not sure understand it. No wonder most Americans don’t understand what takes place in DC – they wrap it in un-readable double talk.
The bill is worse than what you read on the news, no matter what news you read or watch or listen to. Did you know there will be a “commissioner” that will dictate coverage. Can you say “Commissar”? This person and a committee supporting him or her will be responsible for dictating coverage at all stages of life. I’ll be you haven’t heard that in the news. Read it and it will scare the hell out of you.
You have also heard about “end of life” or death panel and I can tell you that there was no death panel noted in the bill. There was however very broad and indistinct wording regarding elder care and end of life issues. It would be very open to the ruling of the commissioner and commission. The fact that it is left to this group, and not a doctor or a patient is worrisome.
Do we need reform? Yes, I think a certain amount is needed. I won’t go into all the rhetoric about UK and Canadian health care but I do know that the US has the best in the world – Period. Can it be made more cost effective? Definitely and I have a potential cure for its ails. TORT REFORM. Ask any doctor about what is wrong and they will almost all say that they are dying under the crush of malpractice insurance. Many have quit as a result. Unless we get a handle on the trial lawyers, nothing will succeed. And who makes up the majority of Congress? Lawyers. Enough said.
Query me this batman….. I really don’t get it and maybe someone can explain it for me.
1. 50 million uninsured
2. Real number is closer to 17 million based on all reports, conservative and liberal.
3. 300 million people in the U.S.
4. Therefore, 283 million people have insurance of one type or another.
5. Proposed $50 billion cut in Medicare
6. $1.5 Trillion in new spending on Healthcare
So my question is this – why are we going to throw it all ways, raise taxes on everyone, spend $1.5 trillion to insure about 5% of the people? So we are going to ruin it for 95% of the population to take care of the other 5%? Even if the number is truly 50 million, then why are we still going to ruin it for the rest of the country? We are going to reduce coverage (Medicare) to cover the rest? It doesn’t make sense.
And if this is so damned good, why isn’t it mandated that members of Congress have to enroll in the same coverage? What makes them so special… or are they are “ruling class”?
Think about it. Call you Congressman or Representative. Attend a town hall meeting. Be respectful but FIRM!!! Do not let them get away with vague political answers.
Ask them this question – What government program, as large as this, has the government run effectively, efficiently and fairly? When they give you vague answers about the post office and the forest service remind them that they owe us our Social Security, and a few other programs.
Enough said. I’ll end with a great quote from Thomas Jefferson:
“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
Thomas Jefferson
I was going to discuss Zars but I’m past that. But, before I move on from the topic, think about this. Zars do not report to Congress. They report to the President only. They have far reaching powers without appropriate oversight or checks and balances. Tell me what that sounds like? A government takeover is what it sounds like. History – this is what took place in Germany in the 1930. If you don’t understand history, you are doomed to repeat it.
Healthcare and the budget. Geez, don’t these guys get it?
Revenue is down so what does the government (President and Congress) do? They SPEND. Obama can’t blame the new deficit on Bush anymore; it’s all his! Why don’t they just stop until the tax base and revenue revives? Common sense would dictate that action similar to what we do at home. Better yet, why don't they give us tax cuts so we can spend it on growing our businesses?
Let me give you some examples of their blindness and quite frankly gross negligence.
Airplanes – $500 million for new jets not requested. New tankers not requested by the Pentagon. A new engine for a fighter that the Pentagon says is a waste of money. And the list goes on and on.
Healthcare –
Have you read the house bill? You should. It’s a bunch of BS and very hard to read. It took me over a week to read it and I'm not sure understand it. No wonder most Americans don’t understand what takes place in DC – they wrap it in un-readable double talk.
The bill is worse than what you read on the news, no matter what news you read or watch or listen to. Did you know there will be a “commissioner” that will dictate coverage. Can you say “Commissar”? This person and a committee supporting him or her will be responsible for dictating coverage at all stages of life. I’ll be you haven’t heard that in the news. Read it and it will scare the hell out of you.
You have also heard about “end of life” or death panel and I can tell you that there was no death panel noted in the bill. There was however very broad and indistinct wording regarding elder care and end of life issues. It would be very open to the ruling of the commissioner and commission. The fact that it is left to this group, and not a doctor or a patient is worrisome.
Do we need reform? Yes, I think a certain amount is needed. I won’t go into all the rhetoric about UK and Canadian health care but I do know that the US has the best in the world – Period. Can it be made more cost effective? Definitely and I have a potential cure for its ails. TORT REFORM. Ask any doctor about what is wrong and they will almost all say that they are dying under the crush of malpractice insurance. Many have quit as a result. Unless we get a handle on the trial lawyers, nothing will succeed. And who makes up the majority of Congress? Lawyers. Enough said.
Query me this batman….. I really don’t get it and maybe someone can explain it for me.
1. 50 million uninsured
2. Real number is closer to 17 million based on all reports, conservative and liberal.
3. 300 million people in the U.S.
4. Therefore, 283 million people have insurance of one type or another.
5. Proposed $50 billion cut in Medicare
6. $1.5 Trillion in new spending on Healthcare
So my question is this – why are we going to throw it all ways, raise taxes on everyone, spend $1.5 trillion to insure about 5% of the people? So we are going to ruin it for 95% of the population to take care of the other 5%? Even if the number is truly 50 million, then why are we still going to ruin it for the rest of the country? We are going to reduce coverage (Medicare) to cover the rest? It doesn’t make sense.
And if this is so damned good, why isn’t it mandated that members of Congress have to enroll in the same coverage? What makes them so special… or are they are “ruling class”?
Think about it. Call you Congressman or Representative. Attend a town hall meeting. Be respectful but FIRM!!! Do not let them get away with vague political answers.
Ask them this question – What government program, as large as this, has the government run effectively, efficiently and fairly? When they give you vague answers about the post office and the forest service remind them that they owe us our Social Security, and a few other programs.
Enough said. I’ll end with a great quote from Thomas Jefferson:
“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
Thomas Jefferson
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
June 30, 2009
I have an idea that can save the US and improve citizen involvement. Will this be a “perfect solution”? I doubt it but it will be a significant improvement over the current government administration.
First, we keep the democracy we have based upon the constitution. It has worked for over 200 years and has served us well.
The change is in the administration of the government and eliminating a situation where the fox is watching the hen house. Currently, there cannot be a change in congress because they have to initiate it. See the conundrum?
So hear it is – short and simple
1. Like the President that is limited to 2 terms, a member of Congress (Senate and House) would also be limited to 2 terms.
2. After the individual has left government service, they cannot work in any industry directly related to government contracts or lobbying for a duration equal to the terms they served. Another words, if they are in for 4 years then they cannot be a lobbyist or work for an organization servicing the US government for 4 years.
3. All elections are to be publicly funded. No private money can be raised for an election. This will equalized the field where right now, we have millionaires or a millionaire class, running for government. With this requirement, elections cannot be bought and the average person can be elected. Yes, details will have to be worked out to avoid scams in this area and encourage real individuals to run for election. A reason for this – Obama rejected public funding despite his promising to take the funding and thereby limit total dollar raised. Consequently he raise $900mm where his opponent lived up to his word, took public funding and only had $250mm. As I said, this would eliminate what I consider the purchasing of elections.
4. While in office, they are forbidden from charging for a speaking engagement. Current members of Congress can charge very high fees for speeches. We pay for them to speak so they should be doing for free. The only thing that will be covered is expenses related to travel, food, etc. I could go as far as suggesting they should be treated like every other business person and be allowed only a per diem, but I won’t.
5. Each member will be allowed to miss 5 active sessions. They would, like the rest of America, be docked pay
6. They cannot vote “present”. We know they are present. They have to make a decision. Yay or Nay.
7. Pay would be a flat $300k a year. I understand they will work very hard and should be paid accordingly as an executive in business.
8. Pension would not be for life nor would medical. It would be just like business. They would get a pension for their services related to 20% of their congressional salary. They would also get to participate in the government medical plan but would only be subsidized up to 20% of the cost. They pay the rest. Another words, don’t get comfortable.
Ever notice that members of Congress enter government to serve and come out millionaires?? This would stop or limit that and ensure that they are truly serving, not just power.
Ok, on another note….
Talking over a few beers with friends and other small business owners the topic came around to the deficit and the money we are spending. As small business owners, we look at the cost of growing our business and off set that against gains and a good bit of common sense.
When we looked at some of the number from the government and Obama, we thought they didn’t make much sense, but then again, he never ran anything before.
Let me run these by you. These are rough averages and I’ll round since the numbers are BIG
- A statement by Obama early in his administration and during the election was that he would “save” (define that one) or create 1.5 million jobs with his $800b stimulus bill. $800b divided by 1.5 million (and let’s say “new” jobs) is - $533 thousand per new job.
- A recent statement by the Obama administration now says they will create 600k new jobs with the stimulus. Ok, let’s run those numbers. I’ll save you the time. It’s $1.3 million per job.
Curious – do you think these jobs will generate the tax revenue to pay that back? Hell no! Most are “shovel” ready.
So where is our money really going!!??
It’s going to a couple of places such as
1. Fiat didn’t spend a dime and owns Chrysler. You and I paid how many billions? About 9b I think.
2. UAW now own 40% of Chrysler and they definitely didn’t buy anything. Obama gave it to them and screwed the bond and stock holders
3. GM - $30b or so of our money and the UAW owns a huge share. Again, bond holders –SENIOR bond holders were screwed and junior holders were given priority. Contracts? Yeah, right.
4. Banks and Insurance companies that should have been allowed to file bankruptcy. I’ve written on that before.
5. And the list goes on and on.
My next blog… ZARS. What’s up with that? And our universal medical hoax..
First, we keep the democracy we have based upon the constitution. It has worked for over 200 years and has served us well.
The change is in the administration of the government and eliminating a situation where the fox is watching the hen house. Currently, there cannot be a change in congress because they have to initiate it. See the conundrum?
So hear it is – short and simple
1. Like the President that is limited to 2 terms, a member of Congress (Senate and House) would also be limited to 2 terms.
2. After the individual has left government service, they cannot work in any industry directly related to government contracts or lobbying for a duration equal to the terms they served. Another words, if they are in for 4 years then they cannot be a lobbyist or work for an organization servicing the US government for 4 years.
3. All elections are to be publicly funded. No private money can be raised for an election. This will equalized the field where right now, we have millionaires or a millionaire class, running for government. With this requirement, elections cannot be bought and the average person can be elected. Yes, details will have to be worked out to avoid scams in this area and encourage real individuals to run for election. A reason for this – Obama rejected public funding despite his promising to take the funding and thereby limit total dollar raised. Consequently he raise $900mm where his opponent lived up to his word, took public funding and only had $250mm. As I said, this would eliminate what I consider the purchasing of elections.
4. While in office, they are forbidden from charging for a speaking engagement. Current members of Congress can charge very high fees for speeches. We pay for them to speak so they should be doing for free. The only thing that will be covered is expenses related to travel, food, etc. I could go as far as suggesting they should be treated like every other business person and be allowed only a per diem, but I won’t.
5. Each member will be allowed to miss 5 active sessions. They would, like the rest of America, be docked pay
6. They cannot vote “present”. We know they are present. They have to make a decision. Yay or Nay.
7. Pay would be a flat $300k a year. I understand they will work very hard and should be paid accordingly as an executive in business.
8. Pension would not be for life nor would medical. It would be just like business. They would get a pension for their services related to 20% of their congressional salary. They would also get to participate in the government medical plan but would only be subsidized up to 20% of the cost. They pay the rest. Another words, don’t get comfortable.
Ever notice that members of Congress enter government to serve and come out millionaires?? This would stop or limit that and ensure that they are truly serving, not just power.
Ok, on another note….
Talking over a few beers with friends and other small business owners the topic came around to the deficit and the money we are spending. As small business owners, we look at the cost of growing our business and off set that against gains and a good bit of common sense.
When we looked at some of the number from the government and Obama, we thought they didn’t make much sense, but then again, he never ran anything before.
Let me run these by you. These are rough averages and I’ll round since the numbers are BIG
- A statement by Obama early in his administration and during the election was that he would “save” (define that one) or create 1.5 million jobs with his $800b stimulus bill. $800b divided by 1.5 million (and let’s say “new” jobs) is - $533 thousand per new job.
- A recent statement by the Obama administration now says they will create 600k new jobs with the stimulus. Ok, let’s run those numbers. I’ll save you the time. It’s $1.3 million per job.
Curious – do you think these jobs will generate the tax revenue to pay that back? Hell no! Most are “shovel” ready.
So where is our money really going!!??
It’s going to a couple of places such as
1. Fiat didn’t spend a dime and owns Chrysler. You and I paid how many billions? About 9b I think.
2. UAW now own 40% of Chrysler and they definitely didn’t buy anything. Obama gave it to them and screwed the bond and stock holders
3. GM - $30b or so of our money and the UAW owns a huge share. Again, bond holders –SENIOR bond holders were screwed and junior holders were given priority. Contracts? Yeah, right.
4. Banks and Insurance companies that should have been allowed to file bankruptcy. I’ve written on that before.
5. And the list goes on and on.
My next blog… ZARS. What’s up with that? And our universal medical hoax..
Thursday, June 11, 2009
June 11th, 2009
My family and I recently returned from a vacation and had a great time. Like all American’s, we scaled back. We went to San Antonio and visited Sea World, the Caverns and the Alamo. Every good Texan needs to visit that Alamo at least once. We drove instead of flying and used hotel points for our family. We scaled back.. So why, if we are scaling back, is the government spending so much????
Have you heard that there is a potential the credit rating of the US could be reduced?? Mm.. I wonder why that might be? Maybe it’s a result of our wild out of control spending with a reduced tax base?? Is it a risk that we can’t pay back our bonds? I’ve previously written that China has stopped purchasing 10 year US treasuries and only buy 7 year treasuries. Why do you think that might be???
Oh, but what is a little tax base issue to our government after all…. They can just make it up by raising our taxes!! Have you heard about the VAT tax they are considering? For those that are not familiar with a VAT tax, so prevalent in the EU, it’s a national sales tax on EVERYTHING. Yes, another way to raise money for our government to service you better and give you everything you would ever need or want (along with telling you what to drive, what to eat, where to sleep, what to pay for a house, etc..) and you think Bush was scary with our “civil liberties” and freedoms.
Wake up AMERICA. Bush, with the patriot act, was berated about wire taps and the like. The ACLU was complaining about the potential reduced freedoms but where is the ACLU now? I’m more worried about the freedoms I’m losing today! What “freedoms” will I lose? How about what to drive, what to eat, how to spend my money, what I can say and not say, what gun I can own, and on and on! The government will tell me what doctor I can go to and what I’ll get for treatment. If you don’t think that is going to happen then you’re delusional. Look at the UK and ask a Brit what is done with a UK citizen that is on dialysis and can’t get a transplant at age 55. (Hint – they don’t get a transplant and don’t get to continue dialysis) In doubt? It’s document and Phil Donahue did a show on it!
Back to my (and your) freedoms. How about the right to possess fire arms? The current Supreme Court nominee has said that it’s up to the states to decide. How about the right to practice my religion? Recently the California city of San Diego told a couple that they couldn’t have bible study at their house since it constituted a “religious gathering”! It was a meal and bible study for pete’s sake!! What is next?? Can I have a cigar in my house?? God forbid I should also have a drink!!
My message – government completely out of control. Common sense has gone out the window!
At least I can say one good thing about California – their supreme court upheld their constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The PEOPLE voted against it and the courts had the common sense not to undo the voice of the people based upon a minority. That battle will continue and I’m sure it will be harsh. Like how they treated Miss California and her free speech.
I was thinking today, as a small business owner and a hard worker, what the government is doing to me. I realized that I pay a minimum of 35 cents of every dollar to the federal government. With other taxes on property I think I pay about 45-50 cents of every dollar to either the federal or state government.
Let’s put that in perspective – give me 40 cents of every dollar you make today. Period. Think about it. Hurts doesn’t it. What am I working for? Granted some of that money goes to good things but so much goes to BS. I work my ass off and give away my money to fund a study of hookers in China or to pay for medical care for illegal immigrants. Where and when does it stop!? When is it too late? When they take YOUR money?? What do you think a VAT tax is?? It’s a tax on everyone even if you make $5,000 a year. You buy food and you’ll be taxed via the VAT.
I’ll sign off for now. Think about what you are really going to give up during this administration and what will they do that can’t be un-done later. Speak now or accept it. Vote, write, call, blog against the big government and let’s get some sanity back into America.
Btw, in my next blog, I have a cure for the government.. it’s very easy and will fix many many things in Washington.. stay tuned!!
Have you heard that there is a potential the credit rating of the US could be reduced?? Mm.. I wonder why that might be? Maybe it’s a result of our wild out of control spending with a reduced tax base?? Is it a risk that we can’t pay back our bonds? I’ve previously written that China has stopped purchasing 10 year US treasuries and only buy 7 year treasuries. Why do you think that might be???
Oh, but what is a little tax base issue to our government after all…. They can just make it up by raising our taxes!! Have you heard about the VAT tax they are considering? For those that are not familiar with a VAT tax, so prevalent in the EU, it’s a national sales tax on EVERYTHING. Yes, another way to raise money for our government to service you better and give you everything you would ever need or want (along with telling you what to drive, what to eat, where to sleep, what to pay for a house, etc..) and you think Bush was scary with our “civil liberties” and freedoms.
Wake up AMERICA. Bush, with the patriot act, was berated about wire taps and the like. The ACLU was complaining about the potential reduced freedoms but where is the ACLU now? I’m more worried about the freedoms I’m losing today! What “freedoms” will I lose? How about what to drive, what to eat, how to spend my money, what I can say and not say, what gun I can own, and on and on! The government will tell me what doctor I can go to and what I’ll get for treatment. If you don’t think that is going to happen then you’re delusional. Look at the UK and ask a Brit what is done with a UK citizen that is on dialysis and can’t get a transplant at age 55. (Hint – they don’t get a transplant and don’t get to continue dialysis) In doubt? It’s document and Phil Donahue did a show on it!
Back to my (and your) freedoms. How about the right to possess fire arms? The current Supreme Court nominee has said that it’s up to the states to decide. How about the right to practice my religion? Recently the California city of San Diego told a couple that they couldn’t have bible study at their house since it constituted a “religious gathering”! It was a meal and bible study for pete’s sake!! What is next?? Can I have a cigar in my house?? God forbid I should also have a drink!!
My message – government completely out of control. Common sense has gone out the window!
At least I can say one good thing about California – their supreme court upheld their constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The PEOPLE voted against it and the courts had the common sense not to undo the voice of the people based upon a minority. That battle will continue and I’m sure it will be harsh. Like how they treated Miss California and her free speech.
I was thinking today, as a small business owner and a hard worker, what the government is doing to me. I realized that I pay a minimum of 35 cents of every dollar to the federal government. With other taxes on property I think I pay about 45-50 cents of every dollar to either the federal or state government.
Let’s put that in perspective – give me 40 cents of every dollar you make today. Period. Think about it. Hurts doesn’t it. What am I working for? Granted some of that money goes to good things but so much goes to BS. I work my ass off and give away my money to fund a study of hookers in China or to pay for medical care for illegal immigrants. Where and when does it stop!? When is it too late? When they take YOUR money?? What do you think a VAT tax is?? It’s a tax on everyone even if you make $5,000 a year. You buy food and you’ll be taxed via the VAT.
I’ll sign off for now. Think about what you are really going to give up during this administration and what will they do that can’t be un-done later. Speak now or accept it. Vote, write, call, blog against the big government and let’s get some sanity back into America.
Btw, in my next blog, I have a cure for the government.. it’s very easy and will fix many many things in Washington.. stay tuned!!
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