economy
Let’s Cut It to the Bone
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
In the movie Dave, Kevin Kline is told he can have the money for a child care program if he can cut the budget to cover it. He enlists his accountant friend, played by Charles Grodin, to actually cut the budget which they do and they keep the child care program. I never thought I would ever say this but we need Charles Grodin.
I want a good healthcare bill and I think we can manage it if we cut some things. First we should get rid of our Police Force, no not the local one. I mean the one that has been policing since the end of WW II. The one that is in Iraq and Afganistan. The one that had those missions in Korea , Viet Nam and Kuwait. I’m not suggesting that we do away with our Armed Forces, just the policing part.
We have been engaged in police actions since WW II and I can’t think of one success.It seems that all of our interventions have just made the people we were trying to help hate us more.
Let’s do away with the minimum wage. We can no longer pretend that we are not part of a global economy. How are we goiung to compete if our minimum hourly wage is the weekly wage for an other country’s worker? Besides money is just a piece of paper. the value of money is what you can buy with it. I think of it as the loaf of bread theory. If you are getting paid $.10 an hour and you can buy a load of bread then you are better off then the neighboring country that gets $100 an hour but bread costs $101.
Besides the wage is unfair, it didn’t raise everyone’s wages just the ones making the minimum. If I’m making the Federal Minimum wage of $7.25and my co worker is making $7.30and they raise the minimum to $7.29 I just got a raise but my co worker didn’t. Worse than that is the fact that the raise was probably caused by inflation. This means that the loaf of bread that used to cost $7.25 now costs $7.29 which means that my co worker will not be showing up at $.05 beer night.
I have more ways we can cut but I’m saving that for next week cause I am typing this. I literally started personal typing in High School at 25 wpm and ended at 15 wpm so if I type too much my fingers bleed and mess up the keys. Till next week
PS I know that you are wondering if I forgot or maybe I am going by an Aztec calendar( if I am then none of this will matter in 2012) but wasn’t yesterday Tuesday? Yes it was and I have to apologize.
The good news is that everything still has positive and negative effects. Let me explain. When I finish my blog I normally ask my wife to check it out for errors, cause she is smarter than me in everything but picking mates. Once or twice when she was extremely busy I actually posted without her review. Last night I told her I was finished and I expected her to check it and post it. She took it to mean that I had finished and had posted it.
So now the good and bad news, The bad news is that you the reader may have been disappointed and have lost all faith in me. the good news is that my wife now feels guilty and being a typical male I will parlay this into something that is beneficial to me. with any luck I may be busy next Tuesday too.
Maybe We Should Try Democracy?
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 | Economics, Politics | No Comments
Most people think that what we were told in school is true. We are told that we live in a democracy but in truth we live in a representative democracy. How does this change things? Well, in a democracy the majority rules, everyone is pushing for the law to benefit themselves, and the amount of cash they have has no influence on the vote.
In a representative democracy the representatives rule, normally with the rich minority in mind. The representatives have only their job on their mind not the law or your benefit. The only reason that they pay any attention to the rich minority is because they need to get reelected and that costs money.
When the founding fathers came up with the idea of a representative democracy it was a good idea. The majority of our populace was not well educated and so it made sense that the rich, who were, should make decisions for the majority Our country has progessed since then to the point that the majority is well educated enough to make decisions about their welfare.
What I am suggesting is that we change from the representative democracy to a pure democracy. You could set it up sort of like the voting on American Idol, after all, more people vote for American Idol then for our President. Wouldn’t that mean that we would be subject to voter fraud? Well we could always get someone like Richard Daley or even our Supreme Court to oversee the election. We know that fraud could never happen on their watch.
I know that you are probably thinking that this would lead to chaos and perhaps it would. We would no longer send jobs overseas because we would realize that the extra money in wages we would be getting from the closing of the rich’s tax loopholes would make us realize that buying even America’s worst products is still keeping money in America. It would make it almost impossible for lobbyist to do their job which could lead to universal healthcare, gun control, or even not jumping into senseless wars. Total chaos!
Warren
P.S. There are now Congressmen who want to pass a bill to make it mandatory for the President to prove that he meets the qualifications to be President. Ordinarily I would think that they had gone too far but in this case I don’t think they have gone far enough. We should make it mandatory for all public officials. Does that mean that many hours would be wasted by the Congress in following the law? Not as many as they are wasting now.
Too Much, Too Late
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 | Economics, Politics | No Comments
Another person called me today and told me the bad news. He works in the construction industry and hasn’t worked for three months. Another friend works at Circuit City and though he is still working he isn’t putting much in his retirement account. I’d love to think that like some B movie western, the cavalry is on the way but I fear the horses might be dead.
The experts are predicting that the unemployment rate will reach eleven percent by the third or fourth quarter (sounds like a hell of a Christmas present). Yet the Congressional Republicans are still fighting with the President on his stimulus bill.
Some of them argue that the bill will take too long to actually stimulate the economy, others say they want more tax cuts but those of us who don’t have secure government jobs for the next two, four, or six years just want action.
I can’t help but think that the business of politics should change it’s name to show business because all of these politicans seem to be posturing for the next election. Okay, we get it, Republicans are the tax reducers and Democrats spend like there is no tomorrow.( which the way things are going my not be a slogan but a prophecy) On second thought, the way they are arguing maybe that should be No Show Business. When Sean Penn expresses his opinion on a government action we don’t have to listen. When Congress and the President express theirs, we better listen.
I realize that nobody in government wants to make a mistake that would cost them their next election but now is the time for action. If you make a mistake try something different. The American people are forgiving if you make a mistake cause at least you tried something.
Imagine two doctors at the scene of an accident; doctor one waits for the injured to get to the hospital and doctor two treats the wounded on the spot. If one of the injured dies while doc two is treating him we would be more forgiving then if doc one’s patient dies in the operating room. It is better for the economy to have a little now then to die with too much , too late
Be Careful What You Ask For
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 | Politics | 2 Comments
There is still a chance that the Democrats may get the Mythical 60 seats in the Senate. The Democrats have sent everyone but FDR and Obama to Georgia. Coleman seems to be in the lead in MInnesota. Is 60 seats good for the Democrats?
Yes and No. Yes, it is good for the Democrats if they get the 60 because despite the fact that Obama wants to unite the Republicans and the Democrats I doubt that we will be in for a “Kumbaya” moment any time soon. The difference between the Democrats and Republicans is two years. The Democrats have two years to prove that they can change things and keep there lead in the Congress. The Republicans have to prove that Democrats can’t change things. With 60 Senate seats the Republicans can’t easily stop them.
The economy is going to be the Democrats “Gettysburg” in this Civil War. If they get the economy back on track then the American people might not change horses. We might give Obama another term to give us healthcare or cut our taxes but we have to have the economy on track. With a majority in the Congress and a Democratic President it would be like The Yankees playing a little league team and losing. No matter how many times the Yankees blamed their lost to the sun being in their eyes. short of them looking into a solar eclipse nobody would accept their excuse.
The Answer is No. Winning 60 seats would not be good for the Democrats. Our economy is in bad shape and I feel the most optiimistic projection of our economy recovering is about a year away. Democrats may have to go back on their word and raise taxes. Healthcare may remain out of the reach of the common man. They would have the advantage of blaming the Republicans. If Democrats think they can’t do all they want, all they have to do is add a lot of spending to a bill for healthcare and the Senate Republicans would filabuster. Be careful what you ask for, you may get it or not.