The Two Americas

Life is hard when you don't get bonuses.

but then there is this.

Guess what, the man in the first story really has no sense of how hard it is to have to feed your children on opposite days. Quit whining, asshole!!!!!!!!!!

really.

rojo

Democracy for Sale

This is really a good read, as is the Ari Berman article that is cited. What amazed me is that 18 families basically funded the defeat of the inheritance tax (oh, remember all the horror stories of how the death tax and how it would destroy family farms.) I am betting this is what the people power in Wisconsin is fighting and that John Nickle's new book would be a great read for templates on how to organize and stop corporate money. At least they got recalls, even if the populists only ousted one senator. It really slowed the process.

rojo

The Government Fiddles While The Economy Burns

It takes a whistle blower to find this. and she only did it for the reward. Don't we have government investigators who are supposed to do this? So they party while my home is devalued. Great. And they wonder why we despise their business practices and probably dislike them too.

What is amazing is that CitiGroup needs a charter to stay in business. Why does the government renew their charter instead of disbanding them? This was standard practice--having businesses renew their charter or license to exist every five years or so until the late 1800s. And governments (state and federal) could pull licenses for criminal activities whenever they damned well pleased.

rojo

Budget Thoughts on a Sunday

After reading this article in the paper today, I started thinking. (no wisecracks) According to the US gov revenue website, revenue has increased since 2000 by $.3T. The percentage of GDP that is government revenue has dropped almost 5%. The GDP has risen almost $5T. That’s a lot of cash. If the percentage of revenue were the same from 2000 to 2010, an extra $700B would be in the federal government revenue figures. The “Bush tax cuts” definitely hurt the country. I mean, I would love to look at my budget and say I am projecting to have a surplus, so I will take the next ten years off and then see where I am. How stupid was that decision!!!! You should have at least looked at it annually to see if you could afford it.

That said, defense spending has doubled since 9/11. OW! Social safety net spending has doubled as a percentage of budget since 2000. Some of this is because revenues as a percentage of GDP has decreased. Much of it is because the housing bubble has caused a larger percentage of people to need the social safety net. Some of it is because people are not thinking clearly (how many million big screen TVs were bought for Super Bowl Sunday on credit, or as my daughter said yesterday someone in a homeless program was wondering how to purchase $200 Versace sunglasses, we routinely purchase $3 coffee) People want Stuff now. Medical costs are expanding exponentially (this means non-linear as a percentage of income, but more than that). As a country, we continue to allow jobs to go overseas. We continue to drain our monetary pool for foreign energy (and energy firms, oil companies pay little to no taxes) and we buy our stuff from across the seas. Our money just goes elsewhere, rather than staying here. Or it does not go out for product. Money is a symbol of something made. I dare you to tell me what was made in a hedge fund, or a leveraged purchase, or derivative trading, or betting against futures. The bank bailout cost millions of people their homes through default, but someone got to pocket that money. Soon, we will be paying for WATER just like we pay for gas now, as multinationals are getting into the water business now as a means of getting ready for the coming water shortage.

As a country this can’t continue. The debt just keeps getting higher. But what is the solution? Do I want to be the one to cut back? And give more back? These are not jingoistic questions with easy solutions. What gets cut? who gives back? Who gets taxed more? Who gives up what? Social security is an easy fix. Pay on the first $250000 you make instead of the first $105000. I have no easy solutions, but as country we need to understand the problem in detail. I found it telling in the article that states that get more money from the federal government than they pay into the kitty want government handouts cut and those states who pay more into the kitty are fine with higher tax rates and more government spending.

rojo

Some Saturday Morning Strut




rojo

For grins



rojo

In Today's Paper, part 3

They let the banks fail and started anew. We bailed folks out at a cost of way more than buying every bad and questionable mortgage out there and giving the homes to the residents. And then the bankers took bonuses for saving their failed investments.

Which makes more sense? Keep in mind the bank bail out costs do not take into account the indirect costs of social services and unemployment and emergency room costs for the displaced. Those we bore as taxpayers.

Hindsight is great, but I do know that if I were in the position of handing out bailouts, there would have been strings attached, such as no bonuses, no golden parachutes and criminal fraud charges for those who bundled good and bad mortgages and then bet against them making it. Also, I would have made sure by passing laws this could not have happened again.

The problem is that politicians cannot do that because they need bank money to stay in power. Maybe the first step is to limit the amount of money that can be spent to get elected. and overturn Citizen's United.

rojo

From Today's Papers, Part 2

of note:
1) Asia now has a better infrastructure than the US. Not nimble enough.
2) the nation has stopped training (educating) people so that they can fill mid-level positions.
3) Government subsidies do create jobs.
4) Labor is super cheap and there are no such things as 8-hour days or weekends.
5) the difference in the cost of a complete computer made in the US was $22 dollars, as opposed to $4.85 cents.

So let me get this straight. I know that many Regressives did not want the US government to bail out the car industry because government can't help create jobs. Yet, it has been shown overseas that this is patently the case. Education sucks in this country partially because property values have fallen. This was caused by derivative trading failures and banks betting on failures and companies like Standard and Poor's giving great credit ratings to mortgages that cannot be paid. The second aspect to this is that governments have lowered financial support to education. and one other item I want to speak to--With union workers, in the US with complete benefits the difference for a complete computer is $18. that's right, $18. What were Macs selling for around that time? $1500. Compute the profit margin, folks.

How much profit does a company need to take to a Board? It is the fiduciary responsibility of officers of a company to make money for the investors. That is capitalism. The cancerous part of capitalism is "How Much?"

and how many lives are affected.

When I was taking business courses for my MBA, only one professor asked that.

rojo

Headlines of the Day, Part 1

Granted, not many folks died as a direct result of bank crashes, but many people's homes were taken, there have been suicides and some have died as a result of losing jobs and not having health insurance.

rojo