Goodbye to Hollywood , Goodbye to G.M. Our president has ordered G.M. into bankruptcy court and we are promised a whole new G.M. when they are done. I may be cynical, but it looks to me like G.M. has just met two of its dearest goals. Bust the union and shift the cost of the retirees on to the taxpayers. In the business world this is called " externalizing costs" in the real world it means sticking someone else with the bill. That someone is us.
It looks like the people who are not going to be saved in this court ordered transfiguration is the auto workers. Who in part were the author of their own misfortunes, but the UAW did not make the stupid decisions that ruined the biggest car company in the world. That prize goes to the Executive Timber who only knew one rule profit at any cost.
One has to wonder if G.M is closing 14 more auto plants how many can be left? If the are going to lay off 21,000 employees who is going to make all the sporty fuel efficient and reliable cars? Who is going to buy them, the people with no jobs? It will be interesting to see how in the world they are now going to make a world class now when they could not for the past 40 years.
Some of the answers are interesting. The cars are going to be made in Mexico by our Mexican Friends, [So this is what NAFTA was all about.] and shipped back to the good old USA, so if you like the idea of buying an American car you should start thinking Honda and Toyota especially if you like sporty, fuel efficient and reliable cars. Oh sorry that was G.M.s slogan. Do not forget all those auto workers and their friends and families they would walk the streets of hell barefoot before they would buy a Chevy.
Which begs another question. Between running Dietech mortgage company and GMAC financing maybe G.M. wants to be in the money business with cars as a sideline. After decades of perfecting the art of explaining failure and blame gaming it looks like the Suits [meaning faceless executives who get paid a fortune to talk and say nothing] have milked the last nickle out of Good old G.M and are tossing to the husk to President Obama. Who in 6 months is going to wish he had stayed out of the auto business and let G.M. fail. Personally I think it is G.M.s milatary production that saved it.
It would not take much for Toyota to take over the military vehicle production they certainly have the engineering and facilities. Just think our next war could be fought with Toyota Sequoias and Tundra trucks. It is getting harder to remember the Japanese lost the war. Or did they?
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The silence is deafening
I stopped drinking Diet Coke two weeks ago in an effort to lose weight. I could not figure out for the longest time how Diet Pop could make one fat. I mean it is a Diet drink. Until I realized that the Aspartame that is put in Diet Pop creates a craving for sugar that it can never satisfy. So one just keeps drinking more and more. Now that the craving for sugar has been started and not satisfied starch becomes the next best sugar food. What a coincidence that Diet Pop is right there when one gets pizza, french fries and chips. Just a reminder sugar is not unhealthy.
There are many moments of outrage in the story of Aspartame. the first one is that until Ronald Reagan took office the FDA would not approve Aspartame for human consumption. Reagan had to replace the commissioner of the FDA with a new commissioner to get it approved. Oh by the way the new commissioner quit shortly afterward and took a position in the public relations firm that represents Coca-Cola. That must be what they mean by business as usual.
The next outrage is the fact that the chemists and corporate suits knew that Aspartame would create greater consumption of all products containing it. the main drive is to get people to drink beverages with only Aspartame. notice Coke 1 Pepsi 1 this is because the chemists have figured out how to get rid of the bitter taste, so now they are trying to market the old product as a new product.
This is because Aspartame is much cheaper than sugar or corn syrup in beverages, so there is more profit in every can or bottle. Everybody is happy. Except for the nasty side effects and the fact that people are getting fat drinking the stuff.
The last outrage is that the story of Aspartame can be repeated for many of the foods we eat and drink. We see it everyday on TV and the Internet about the problems in our food supply and the additives that are put in. Yet we go blissfully along believing that it is all OK we ate and drank and did not not die so it must be just fine, besides it tastes good and I like it. Isn't that what smokers tell themselves??
There is nothing the average person can do, but it is interesting that we do not even care. We have been so indoctrinated by the advertisers and marketers that we accept what ever we are given and eat it and drink it and never question.
I wonder what it would take before the buying public stopped buying a product it finally realized was unhealthy and possibly deadly?
There are many moments of outrage in the story of Aspartame. the first one is that until Ronald Reagan took office the FDA would not approve Aspartame for human consumption. Reagan had to replace the commissioner of the FDA with a new commissioner to get it approved. Oh by the way the new commissioner quit shortly afterward and took a position in the public relations firm that represents Coca-Cola. That must be what they mean by business as usual.
The next outrage is the fact that the chemists and corporate suits knew that Aspartame would create greater consumption of all products containing it. the main drive is to get people to drink beverages with only Aspartame. notice Coke 1 Pepsi 1 this is because the chemists have figured out how to get rid of the bitter taste, so now they are trying to market the old product as a new product.
This is because Aspartame is much cheaper than sugar or corn syrup in beverages, so there is more profit in every can or bottle. Everybody is happy. Except for the nasty side effects and the fact that people are getting fat drinking the stuff.
The last outrage is that the story of Aspartame can be repeated for many of the foods we eat and drink. We see it everyday on TV and the Internet about the problems in our food supply and the additives that are put in. Yet we go blissfully along believing that it is all OK we ate and drank and did not not die so it must be just fine, besides it tastes good and I like it. Isn't that what smokers tell themselves??
There is nothing the average person can do, but it is interesting that we do not even care. We have been so indoctrinated by the advertisers and marketers that we accept what ever we are given and eat it and drink it and never question.
I wonder what it would take before the buying public stopped buying a product it finally realized was unhealthy and possibly deadly?
Friday, April 10, 2009
Take me out to the ball game or Gush forth my tears
The Bankers have been getting a lot of bad press lately especially Bernie Madoff who was not really a Banker but played one on TV. These fine feathered fellows are not really Bankers in the real sense of the word . What they were and still are is salesmen who have a financial background so what they sell is money in any convoluted form they can dream up. Even though they are the scourge of society right now they will be back in a couple of years wearing sheep's clothing with some new scam. You see our swindler's and con-man of the new century are college educated. I would guess this is one of the negative benefits of higher education.
The Boys I really feel sorry for are the so-called professional athletes. These fellas have been raised on nothing but pure adoration and toys since high school. The NFL, NBA, MLB the Big Three where players are paid fantastic sums of money to employ their mighty finely honed skills beating up a Ball. My but won't that be useful when it comes to trying make a real living.
The world of professional sports is in for a huge shock that actually started last season. I like football so I watch the NFL games, but what to my disbelieving eyes did I see last season? Half filled stadiums!!?? so many commercials so often that if one does not have DVR. Watching one game can burn up 4 hours[who has that kind of time]of mind numbing commercials interspersed with lame plays on the field because the players had to wait so long on the field between the commercials that even they lost the flow of the game.
Bear with me on this. What I believe we are going to see going forward in all three major league sports is a huge drop in live attendance and drop in viewers which are all counted by the minute by our cable and satellite boxes[hi Mr. Orwell] sponsors only pay for eyeballs. Ours not the crying eyes of spoiled rotten athletes who egos are so huge that they are like crack heads who can never go straight and live like the rest of us.
What about all the money they have made?? Well when you have 3 mansions and a fleet of cars and trucks to ferry your entourage of losers around money goes fast and pleasure even faster. So what is going to happen to these Boys when the party is over? Some will probaly try the Micheal Vick school of Dog fighting and they will rot in jail & hell with him. But I believe most of these professional athletes will just work for less money.!!!
I know it is hard to believe but consider this. There has been a growing shortage of skilled workers and professional athletes are highly skilled in a very narrow area. the younger players coming up want even more money than the players leaving. One solution is keep the players they have working Longer for Less money. One can see this trend with quarterbacks. The age of the average quarterback is 38. That was unheard of even a decade ago
Let us take this a step further. This shortage of skilled experienced people in all fields blue collar pink collar and white collar is just as real and getting worse. Since finance has been the glamour job of the past twenty years we have a huge shortage of Engineers and physicists and teachers and nurses ect. Since college has gotten so expensive for the middle class fewer middle class kids are going to college meaning even more shortages, and older more experienced people usually want more money and plan to retire and enjoy life.
What to do hmmm. How about cutting the value of the stock market by 50%. So the 401ks people were forced to take after the traditional pension plans were dropped because the cost the corporations to much money. Now are worth much less so those older experienced workers can not retire but have to keep working until who knows when [hello again Mr. Orwell]. The bonus is they will also work for less. Because they have to. That big house they bought is now worth a lot less but the payment has not gone down and the taxes keep going up.
Think about this. In 2008 the CEO of Frontier corp here in Rochester received a 74% increase in pay while the people who actually work for Frontier are working 12 days for free in 2009 or risk layoffs and there has been no cost of living raise. It is not hard to understand where the CEOs money came from.
Our Governer Blind David Patterson is singing the Blues about the public employees while fighting like a tiger to not raise taxes on the Rich. I got some news for the Guv the problem is not public employees or the Rich it is the consultants and contractors who milk the state like a it was a Guernsey cow. It is all the Bonds the state has floated over the years, the interest is coming due and is paid out of tax revenue. That is the other problem since NYS has done such a fine job driving business and people out of the state there is a permanent drop in tax revenue.
Everyone knows that the income of the top 3% of the people in this country has sky rocketed over the past 20 years. The talking heads on CNN and Fox agree on that. The conservatives and Liberals agree on it, and we all agree that it is not going to change.
I think we all feel that This trend is well established . So we can all expect to work longer and for less money while that dream of retiring and enjoying life drifts farther down the line. While the Government whips up more propaganda to make us all feel better about being exploited even more,and those fine feathered bankers wearing sheep's clothing will come up with another scheme so we can believe that some day we will be Rich Too. [there goes that Orwell fellow again].
The Boys I really feel sorry for are the so-called professional athletes. These fellas have been raised on nothing but pure adoration and toys since high school. The NFL, NBA, MLB the Big Three where players are paid fantastic sums of money to employ their mighty finely honed skills beating up a Ball. My but won't that be useful when it comes to trying make a real living.
The world of professional sports is in for a huge shock that actually started last season. I like football so I watch the NFL games, but what to my disbelieving eyes did I see last season? Half filled stadiums!!?? so many commercials so often that if one does not have DVR. Watching one game can burn up 4 hours[who has that kind of time]of mind numbing commercials interspersed with lame plays on the field because the players had to wait so long on the field between the commercials that even they lost the flow of the game.
Bear with me on this. What I believe we are going to see going forward in all three major league sports is a huge drop in live attendance and drop in viewers which are all counted by the minute by our cable and satellite boxes[hi Mr. Orwell] sponsors only pay for eyeballs. Ours not the crying eyes of spoiled rotten athletes who egos are so huge that they are like crack heads who can never go straight and live like the rest of us.
What about all the money they have made?? Well when you have 3 mansions and a fleet of cars and trucks to ferry your entourage of losers around money goes fast and pleasure even faster. So what is going to happen to these Boys when the party is over? Some will probaly try the Micheal Vick school of Dog fighting and they will rot in jail & hell with him. But I believe most of these professional athletes will just work for less money.!!!
I know it is hard to believe but consider this. There has been a growing shortage of skilled workers and professional athletes are highly skilled in a very narrow area. the younger players coming up want even more money than the players leaving. One solution is keep the players they have working Longer for Less money. One can see this trend with quarterbacks. The age of the average quarterback is 38. That was unheard of even a decade ago
Let us take this a step further. This shortage of skilled experienced people in all fields blue collar pink collar and white collar is just as real and getting worse. Since finance has been the glamour job of the past twenty years we have a huge shortage of Engineers and physicists and teachers and nurses ect. Since college has gotten so expensive for the middle class fewer middle class kids are going to college meaning even more shortages, and older more experienced people usually want more money and plan to retire and enjoy life.
What to do hmmm. How about cutting the value of the stock market by 50%. So the 401ks people were forced to take after the traditional pension plans were dropped because the cost the corporations to much money. Now are worth much less so those older experienced workers can not retire but have to keep working until who knows when [hello again Mr. Orwell]. The bonus is they will also work for less. Because they have to. That big house they bought is now worth a lot less but the payment has not gone down and the taxes keep going up.
Think about this. In 2008 the CEO of Frontier corp here in Rochester received a 74% increase in pay while the people who actually work for Frontier are working 12 days for free in 2009 or risk layoffs and there has been no cost of living raise. It is not hard to understand where the CEOs money came from.
Our Governer Blind David Patterson is singing the Blues about the public employees while fighting like a tiger to not raise taxes on the Rich. I got some news for the Guv the problem is not public employees or the Rich it is the consultants and contractors who milk the state like a it was a Guernsey cow. It is all the Bonds the state has floated over the years, the interest is coming due and is paid out of tax revenue. That is the other problem since NYS has done such a fine job driving business and people out of the state there is a permanent drop in tax revenue.
Everyone knows that the income of the top 3% of the people in this country has sky rocketed over the past 20 years. The talking heads on CNN and Fox agree on that. The conservatives and Liberals agree on it, and we all agree that it is not going to change.
I think we all feel that This trend is well established . So we can all expect to work longer and for less money while that dream of retiring and enjoying life drifts farther down the line. While the Government whips up more propaganda to make us all feel better about being exploited even more,and those fine feathered bankers wearing sheep's clothing will come up with another scheme so we can believe that some day we will be Rich Too. [there goes that Orwell fellow again].
Friday, March 27, 2009
Rush to Limbo or the Fatman Cometh
Rush Limbaugh was getting quite a bit of press a few weeks ago it was disturbing to see what passes for leadership in the Republican party genuflecting and apologising to him for any unkind word or thought they might have said or thought about him. Considering that Mr. Limbaugh is a master propagandist who has legion of Ditto Heads dancing to what ever tune he calls. I hope the Republicans like to dance in 2012. Let us leave Mr Limbaugh for the moment high atop the E.I.B. building.
Fresno California there has seen a staggering increase in tent cities springing up in the metro area. The people in these tents are not drug addicts or alcoholic bums. These are people who were living large and lost their jobs and then lost everything else. These are not welfare bums sucking off the systems. These are educated skilled people who hit bottom fast and have nowhere to live. In these tent cities one of the biggest problems is no toilets no running water and prostitution. This is important because this is how epidemics start.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the federal government to step in and do a Katrina type rescue of these folks. This because the state is broke. This scenario is occurring all over the country in the major cities. What happens in seven months when winter sets in or this summer in the southern cities when the temperature is unbearably hot.
What happens if all the cautiously optimistic economists are wrong and the economy does not start to create jobs and restart consumption. What if there are more job losses, foreclosures and auto repositions. We all know what a gamble President Obama is taking by pumping a Trillion dollars into the economy. Inflation could be running rampant in 12 to 18 months.
The interesting part is unlike 1972 when we went off the gold standard and Richard Nixon pumped three billion dollars into the economy those were real paper dollars. In 2009 it is digits on computer screens not real money that can be spent for food clothing and shelter.
What we have is the potential for a tremendous amount of anger and desperate people who do not care anymore about politics. People who played by the rules and worked hard and were cheated by the Wall St. Smoothies who cashed in their 401ks for them and took the money, who gave them mortgages to buy houses they could not afford, and credit cards they could not handle. people who feel they have nothing to lose.
This is where Rush Limbaugh comes in. Rush is already trying to focus the anger and desperation on President Obama. With the party of No., Excuse me I am being a bore. I mean the Republican party. He is trying to derail the efforts of the very people who are actually trying to to something real about the problems instead of sputtering on about the road to socialism.
The real danger is the man behind Mr. Limbaugh. Karl Rove, do not not recognize the name,no surprise he has worked very hard to stay in the shadows. He was Bush the IIs most important adviser who along with Dictator Dick Cheney started a war for profit and deregulated the commercial banking industry until it went bankrupt.
Over the next 12 months I believe we will be moving closer to either socialism or a dictatorship . The page of history is being turned and written at the same time. It is going to be a dramatic change as we go from a lifestyle that was unsustainable to a lifestyle that is sustainable. So hold on I have a feeling it is going to be a rough ride.
Fresno California there has seen a staggering increase in tent cities springing up in the metro area. The people in these tents are not drug addicts or alcoholic bums. These are people who were living large and lost their jobs and then lost everything else. These are not welfare bums sucking off the systems. These are educated skilled people who hit bottom fast and have nowhere to live. In these tent cities one of the biggest problems is no toilets no running water and prostitution. This is important because this is how epidemics start.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the federal government to step in and do a Katrina type rescue of these folks. This because the state is broke. This scenario is occurring all over the country in the major cities. What happens in seven months when winter sets in or this summer in the southern cities when the temperature is unbearably hot.
What happens if all the cautiously optimistic economists are wrong and the economy does not start to create jobs and restart consumption. What if there are more job losses, foreclosures and auto repositions. We all know what a gamble President Obama is taking by pumping a Trillion dollars into the economy. Inflation could be running rampant in 12 to 18 months.
The interesting part is unlike 1972 when we went off the gold standard and Richard Nixon pumped three billion dollars into the economy those were real paper dollars. In 2009 it is digits on computer screens not real money that can be spent for food clothing and shelter.
What we have is the potential for a tremendous amount of anger and desperate people who do not care anymore about politics. People who played by the rules and worked hard and were cheated by the Wall St. Smoothies who cashed in their 401ks for them and took the money, who gave them mortgages to buy houses they could not afford, and credit cards they could not handle. people who feel they have nothing to lose.
This is where Rush Limbaugh comes in. Rush is already trying to focus the anger and desperation on President Obama. With the party of No., Excuse me I am being a bore. I mean the Republican party. He is trying to derail the efforts of the very people who are actually trying to to something real about the problems instead of sputtering on about the road to socialism.
The real danger is the man behind Mr. Limbaugh. Karl Rove, do not not recognize the name,no surprise he has worked very hard to stay in the shadows. He was Bush the IIs most important adviser who along with Dictator Dick Cheney started a war for profit and deregulated the commercial banking industry until it went bankrupt.
Over the next 12 months I believe we will be moving closer to either socialism or a dictatorship . The page of history is being turned and written at the same time. It is going to be a dramatic change as we go from a lifestyle that was unsustainable to a lifestyle that is sustainable. So hold on I have a feeling it is going to be a rough ride.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Bruised fruit of the Reagan Revloution
And on the 8th day Reagan said let it be Morning in America and it was. I liked Ronald Reagan he was a great leader. So we start the 1980s with slogans like " Government is the problem not the cure." " Deregulation will unshackle free markets. " and of course " USA,USA" This was also the beginning of talk/hate radio. Hello Mr. Limbaugh, and born again Christians praying to Jesus for a tax cut for the rich so rising tides will lift all boats equally. My MY but it was a grand time for propaganda.
It was also the beginning of turning economics into a moral issue with the creation of the Conservative vs Liberal scam which has made the aforementioned Mr Limbaugh and his kindred very wealthy. Let me state for the record. Supply side economics, the Savings and Loan bailout and the present Wall Street Bailout. Never has been, is not now, nor will be in the future a Conservative or Liberal Issue.
Since 1972 when this country went off the gold standared. It has been about defrauding the American taxpayer. Forget about blue collar, white collar and welfare queens. That has been propaganda to keep the attention off of the Multinational corporations and the Wall Street Banks. I would like to remind my Conservative and Republican Friends that ever since 1970 this country has been run by the Republican party along with the every businessman's friend Bill Clinton. The exception being Jimmy Carter who tried to restore some integrity back in government and we all know how we he was scorned for his effort.
Conservative and Liberal issues are Abortion, Legalizing drugs , Gay rights and Prayer in schools. Economics have nothing to do with those issues. These are issues that are decided by people based on their religious and moral beliefs or lack therefore of. One only has to look at the over crowed courts and prisions to realize there is a significant number of people in this country who have no morals at all.
In 2009 there will be a war going on in America. It will be a war of Propaganda vs Truth. The Republicans are going to try and hold on to whatever shreds of belief they still have in Reaganism but it will not work as it was all a scam from the start. When Rush Limbaugh and Joe the Plumber are the featured speakers at the Republican party's annual convention you can see how far the mighty have fallen.
This will be a sideshow though compared to the propaganda offense Big Business is going to be putting on. There was a small sampling of it during the football season this year. Howie Long in his Chevy Silverado sneering at the owners of Ford and Toyota trucks and telling them they were not real men . Remember GM sells lifestyle not quality.
It will get very nasty as the year goes bye. The Big Advertising agencies will be turning out all kinds of media warning YOU about the menace of Socialism and Liberalism. Big Business is going to push the game of divide and conquer as far and as hard as they can. If the American people really realized how the Upper Class in this country looks down in disgust at the rest of America they would be shocked.
In the end though Barack Obama and the rest of us little people will win because the culture we have created in America is unsustainable and we have run out of money to sustain it. A page of history is being turned and a whole new way of life is going to happening. Ironically it a way of life that is going to be alot like the 1970s. Welcome to the future past.
It was also the beginning of turning economics into a moral issue with the creation of the Conservative vs Liberal scam which has made the aforementioned Mr Limbaugh and his kindred very wealthy. Let me state for the record. Supply side economics, the Savings and Loan bailout and the present Wall Street Bailout. Never has been, is not now, nor will be in the future a Conservative or Liberal Issue.
Since 1972 when this country went off the gold standared. It has been about defrauding the American taxpayer. Forget about blue collar, white collar and welfare queens. That has been propaganda to keep the attention off of the Multinational corporations and the Wall Street Banks. I would like to remind my Conservative and Republican Friends that ever since 1970 this country has been run by the Republican party along with the every businessman's friend Bill Clinton. The exception being Jimmy Carter who tried to restore some integrity back in government and we all know how we he was scorned for his effort.
Conservative and Liberal issues are Abortion, Legalizing drugs , Gay rights and Prayer in schools. Economics have nothing to do with those issues. These are issues that are decided by people based on their religious and moral beliefs or lack therefore of. One only has to look at the over crowed courts and prisions to realize there is a significant number of people in this country who have no morals at all.
In 2009 there will be a war going on in America. It will be a war of Propaganda vs Truth. The Republicans are going to try and hold on to whatever shreds of belief they still have in Reaganism but it will not work as it was all a scam from the start. When Rush Limbaugh and Joe the Plumber are the featured speakers at the Republican party's annual convention you can see how far the mighty have fallen.
This will be a sideshow though compared to the propaganda offense Big Business is going to be putting on. There was a small sampling of it during the football season this year. Howie Long in his Chevy Silverado sneering at the owners of Ford and Toyota trucks and telling them they were not real men . Remember GM sells lifestyle not quality.
It will get very nasty as the year goes bye. The Big Advertising agencies will be turning out all kinds of media warning YOU about the menace of Socialism and Liberalism. Big Business is going to push the game of divide and conquer as far and as hard as they can. If the American people really realized how the Upper Class in this country looks down in disgust at the rest of America they would be shocked.
In the end though Barack Obama and the rest of us little people will win because the culture we have created in America is unsustainable and we have run out of money to sustain it. A page of history is being turned and a whole new way of life is going to happening. Ironically it a way of life that is going to be alot like the 1970s. Welcome to the future past.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
For all those who missed it the Great Depression again
There have been a lot of comparisons to our present economic condition and the Great Depression of the 1930s and for good reasons. I think there is going to be some interesting variations this time around. One new wrinkle is we are going to see many professional people taking jobs that at one time they considered beneath them. Such as former corporate executives managing a McDonald's. Software engineers working a Internet retailers help desk. Educational administrators teaching in the classroom again. The list goes on in every field. The two fields where the shortage has been most severe, Teaching and Nursing will benefit the most from this.
Another interesting twist will be that the people who were at the top will get a chance to do put all their great ideas for everyone else into real world practise. This would defiantly bring a much needed professionalism and intelligence to lower income jobs. Won't that be fun! The very people who are so smug and sure that the Union Mentality is destroying this country may well find themselves in a union or organizing one.
Thanks to the advertising and marketing [propaganda] folks. We have developed in this country a caste system similar to the one is India. Classism is a bigger problem than Racism it is just less obvious. The new economy is going to be the Big Equalizer which I think in the long run will be a huge benefit to everyone. We are going to be forced to realize we all Americans and are in this together. Any problems with race and class are going to be brought to a crisis point and will be resolved, perhaps not in the positive way we would all like to see. Bottom line is we are all going to have to get along.
The Rush Limbaugh conservatives have been throwing around the word Socialism like it was a witch's curse. What are they so afraid of? I think it has been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dog Eat Dog capitalism is not working. Over the next few years the Federal and State governments are going to have to assume more control of peoples lives. This is going to be very interesting to see how much control and what the reaction will be. Who knows maybe the Government Will legalize drugs just to keep everyone stoned and not causing trouble or let Black Water security, the guys who had so much fun in Iraq take over our prison system. The variations are endless.
A very different America is just starting to emerge. it is going to be a exciting and wretched at the same time. I feel we will come out of this Depression as a country free from the propaganda of division and conflict and united in the belief that everyone of us has a place in America that we are not merely economic units but living breathing people who have more to contribute than just our economic value.
Oh by the way . It states in the stimulus bill [spending bill] all projects paid for with stimulus money have to use American steel and iron. President Obama is afraid this will send a protectionist message to our foreign trading partners. I got some news for Mr. Obama
China and Japan have done a tremendous amount of building over the past ten years. Does he believe they used one ounce of American steel or iron or anything else Made in America? What is wrong with rebuilding our American industries that the Capitalists sold off decades ago in the name of profit at any cost.
Another interesting twist will be that the people who were at the top will get a chance to do put all their great ideas for everyone else into real world practise. This would defiantly bring a much needed professionalism and intelligence to lower income jobs. Won't that be fun! The very people who are so smug and sure that the Union Mentality is destroying this country may well find themselves in a union or organizing one.
Thanks to the advertising and marketing [propaganda] folks. We have developed in this country a caste system similar to the one is India. Classism is a bigger problem than Racism it is just less obvious. The new economy is going to be the Big Equalizer which I think in the long run will be a huge benefit to everyone. We are going to be forced to realize we all Americans and are in this together. Any problems with race and class are going to be brought to a crisis point and will be resolved, perhaps not in the positive way we would all like to see. Bottom line is we are all going to have to get along.
The Rush Limbaugh conservatives have been throwing around the word Socialism like it was a witch's curse. What are they so afraid of? I think it has been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dog Eat Dog capitalism is not working. Over the next few years the Federal and State governments are going to have to assume more control of peoples lives. This is going to be very interesting to see how much control and what the reaction will be. Who knows maybe the Government Will legalize drugs just to keep everyone stoned and not causing trouble or let Black Water security, the guys who had so much fun in Iraq take over our prison system. The variations are endless.
A very different America is just starting to emerge. it is going to be a exciting and wretched at the same time. I feel we will come out of this Depression as a country free from the propaganda of division and conflict and united in the belief that everyone of us has a place in America that we are not merely economic units but living breathing people who have more to contribute than just our economic value.
Oh by the way . It states in the stimulus bill [spending bill] all projects paid for with stimulus money have to use American steel and iron. President Obama is afraid this will send a protectionist message to our foreign trading partners. I got some news for Mr. Obama
China and Japan have done a tremendous amount of building over the past ten years. Does he believe they used one ounce of American steel or iron or anything else Made in America? What is wrong with rebuilding our American industries that the Capitalists sold off decades ago in the name of profit at any cost.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Billy Sunday and the church of stop shopping
Some leading economists are predicting that the American economy will be back on track by the end of 2010. I hope they are right.But do they mean that we will be buying $50,000.00 pick-up trucks and 1500.00 Louis Vuitton handbags. I think this is where the expression pipe dream comes from.
Let us look at Circuit City for a minute. These guys are a classic example of the whole mess. The Executive Compensation at Circuit City was pretty juicy, so juicy in fact they stopped paying their sales people commission and fired the best ones. This is basically what the big banks and the auto companies did, so why shouldn't we bailout Circuit City too. After all why give Best Buy a monopoly.
The bottom line is we are going into a whole new phase in America and it is the end of mega-shopping and mass merchandising. This bottom line gets even lower when you consider that no one has gotten a decent raise in at least 5 years so we are all to the point where we have just enough money coming in to keep it all going and with all the job cuts and lay-offs starting it is getting nasty. What Will be even nastier is just around the corner with the government printing money as fast as it can, by 2010 what is going to be off the tracks is inflation so that just enough we have will be worth even less. Hey how about a bail-out for the rest of America. Like gas 1.50 a gallon guaranteed by the same government that is guaranteeing billions to the Robber Barons of the new century.
The true shame of America is we were part of the greatest propaganda campaign in history. The advertisers, marketers and I am going to throw in all the Universities too. Convinced themselves and us that you could have something for nothing. You could turn lead into gold if you just wanted it enough and were willing to work hard enough and had a winning attitude. The only motivation that has been pounded into us through all the media and now the Internet is selfishness and greed. Excuse me, I am being boorish the term is Enlightened Self Interest. The American family and all its members have become an economic unit to market to and tax . Nothing more.
Remember always use Other Peoples Money this is a clever slogan that got people to borrow a lot of money it also has been taught and accepted as good business . The only problem with this Ponzi scheme is there are no other people, there never was there has always been just us and the reality that money is loaned to make a profit. Has anyone reading this ever made more on their savings account than they have paid in interest on a loan. We have been sold a version of the American dream , a dream no one wanted to pay for. An American dream of a free ride and an infinite adolance.
The Biggest multi-national corporations in this country and our own government have been running a giant Ponzi scheme since we went off the gold standered in 1972. think about the Social Security program using money from those paying in to pay-off those who are collecting. We have been told for years that Social Security should only be part of a persons retirement plan. Well after we have watched our pensions and 401ks being raped[ is that not the way it feels] What is left but Social Security.
The final outcome to all this is going to be going forward we Will all be living sampler lives with smaller dreams and reduced expectations. The way of life that was promised us will fade as we watch the whole culture evolve from propaganda to truth because it will be to expensive to market propaganda to people who have no money. We have had a consumer economy since world war II ,that has run its course. I do not know what will take its place but it will be interesting to watch the change that is coming.
Let us look at Circuit City for a minute. These guys are a classic example of the whole mess. The Executive Compensation at Circuit City was pretty juicy, so juicy in fact they stopped paying their sales people commission and fired the best ones. This is basically what the big banks and the auto companies did, so why shouldn't we bailout Circuit City too. After all why give Best Buy a monopoly.
The bottom line is we are going into a whole new phase in America and it is the end of mega-shopping and mass merchandising. This bottom line gets even lower when you consider that no one has gotten a decent raise in at least 5 years so we are all to the point where we have just enough money coming in to keep it all going and with all the job cuts and lay-offs starting it is getting nasty. What Will be even nastier is just around the corner with the government printing money as fast as it can, by 2010 what is going to be off the tracks is inflation so that just enough we have will be worth even less. Hey how about a bail-out for the rest of America. Like gas 1.50 a gallon guaranteed by the same government that is guaranteeing billions to the Robber Barons of the new century.
The true shame of America is we were part of the greatest propaganda campaign in history. The advertisers, marketers and I am going to throw in all the Universities too. Convinced themselves and us that you could have something for nothing. You could turn lead into gold if you just wanted it enough and were willing to work hard enough and had a winning attitude. The only motivation that has been pounded into us through all the media and now the Internet is selfishness and greed. Excuse me, I am being boorish the term is Enlightened Self Interest. The American family and all its members have become an economic unit to market to and tax . Nothing more.
Remember always use Other Peoples Money this is a clever slogan that got people to borrow a lot of money it also has been taught and accepted as good business . The only problem with this Ponzi scheme is there are no other people, there never was there has always been just us and the reality that money is loaned to make a profit. Has anyone reading this ever made more on their savings account than they have paid in interest on a loan. We have been sold a version of the American dream , a dream no one wanted to pay for. An American dream of a free ride and an infinite adolance.
The Biggest multi-national corporations in this country and our own government have been running a giant Ponzi scheme since we went off the gold standered in 1972. think about the Social Security program using money from those paying in to pay-off those who are collecting. We have been told for years that Social Security should only be part of a persons retirement plan. Well after we have watched our pensions and 401ks being raped[ is that not the way it feels] What is left but Social Security.
The final outcome to all this is going to be going forward we Will all be living sampler lives with smaller dreams and reduced expectations. The way of life that was promised us will fade as we watch the whole culture evolve from propaganda to truth because it will be to expensive to market propaganda to people who have no money. We have had a consumer economy since world war II ,that has run its course. I do not know what will take its place but it will be interesting to watch the change that is coming.
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