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02.20-02.26.2010: Letters from the BlogoSphere... or, Who says you don't listen? We do. Just a few I've seen recently. They reflect my views, too. Don't say nobody warned you... Again. Valerie, has anyone in government read "Atlas Shrugged"? If not, it ought to be mandated. Read this book and then all the answers will jump out at you. If you and the people appointed by Obama have to ask us how to... Oy, are we in trouble! I thought you guys have all the answers?? Bring us, the small business people in and we'll show you how. Won't take the CBO...I have plenty of spread sheets to show how to grow my business. The babies in congress need a new attitude. Work for the citizens, not your party. At this point, I cannot point to a single politician that deserves to be re-elected. IF they cannot do the citizens bidding AND take care of citizens BEFORE they take care of the big banks and big companies, they deserve to be kicked to the curb - just like banks are doing to small biz and home owners. I am sure there are good people in Congress, but so many days there head is so far up their butt - you cannot recognize them. After yesterday's [02.25.2010] inability to agree on anything in the Health Care 7-hour summit, I believe that as long as America is so divided along party lines, that the government will be able to do anything proactively to help this country's economy. When we finally come to the table without our "party" labels, and truly work together, will we be able to pass legislation that will hopefully help this country. Until then, the American people suffer while politics plays out on Capitol Hill! Look at what the federal government has been successful at and what it has failed at. I am old enough to remember price controls in the 70's that added a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork but resulted in no real benefit. It was an attempt to control inflation that didn't work but cost a lot of taxpayer money. I guess it did add employment to the public sector to administrate a totally useless program. I also remember the gasoline shortages of the 70's when our federal government allocated supplies. An example of incompetency. Some states went "dry" while others got more gasoline than they had used before the controls went into effect. Regulations are not necessarily all bad but trying to put too much control in the hands of congressmen who are not experts in the field is just asking for trouble. If we are going to recover in a meaningful and lasting way, we need to start focusing on the foundations of a more substantial and sustainable economy that includes producing as well as consuming. We need to extricate ourselves from being a "debtor" country. We also need to rid ourselves of the greed mentality and self-centered approach to running our businesses. Corporations are owned by their stockholders, true. However, today many of those stockholders are institutions and not individuals. That skews the accountability of the management and allows them to manage for the short-term, get their bonuses and fat parachutes and leave a legacy of problems for the next management team to clean up. Where are the boards-of-directors? Aren't they supposed to be overseeing the managements to make sure the policies and operations are for the good of the stockholders? The answer, of course, is yes, but the boards are made up of CEO's of other companies that have the same types of executive compensation programs and they don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden parachutes. These are tough issues to address but until enough people started asking the hard questions and holding their elected officials accountable they will continue to be problems that ultimately impact every one of us. I do believe in good old American Know-how, we just need to apply it. Maybe we need someone with some real life experience and good leadership and not just another politician that's good at getting elected. http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/23088/1326921... The only number that makes a difference is the unemployment rate. It has risen catastrophically since President Obama has taken office. It’s interesting however that the vast majority of the “saved jobs” are union jobs because the unions are in the pocket of the administration. It doesn't look like many people in this discussion are buying the White House spin. Wise up and start listening to the people. You and the President work for us! The President and you are coming up on the day when you will be laid off by the voting public. Enjoy your retirement. Just so everyone understands that NONE of this insane spending in the name of 'helping the homeowner' has done a damn thing, just out this morning: Mortgages foreclosing, delinquent at 15 percent in Q4 PROVIDED BY Reuters - 10:05 AM 02/19/2010 NEW YORK (Reuters) - A record proportion of U.S. mortgages were in foreclosure or at least one payment past due in the fourth quarter, according to industry data showing the fragile state of the recovery in the housing market. The Mortgage Bankers Association said on Friday the combination of loans in foreclosure and at least one payment past due was 15.02 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the highest ever seen in the survey. However, the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.47 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, down from 9.64 percent in the third quarter, but up from 7.88 percent in the same quarter a year earlier, the MBA said in its National Delinquency Survey. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started fell to 1.20 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 1.42 percent in the third quarter, but up from 1.08 percent in the same quarter a year earlier, the MBA said. The U.S. foreclosure inventory rate for all loans was 4.58 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 4.47 percent in the third quarter and from 3.30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. The records are based on MBA data dating back to 1972. This figure is now climbing at a more rapid rate than it was at the height of 'subprime' (which phenomena is all over but for the crying). These are prime loans as well as Alt-A loans. We (as in WE the taxpayer) have allowed the government to spend $23 Trillion dollars on 'saving the little guy' and what have we got? Bupkiss. Zero. Nada. Well, technically we got a deficit that our children and grandchildren and their children will never be able to pay in their lifetimes, the result of the insoluble, exponential interest overhang. The point several have attempted to make is that Obama does not listen to voices outside the realm of his agenda - he is as partisan as he proclaims the GOP to be; moreover, the President does not listen to voices outside his narrow view of economic or political reality. The very fact that people espouse ideas to help "fix" what is broken with America shows that people care -- the fact that these same people have to resort to posting their ideas on this site in hopes someone will notice reflects the President's closed ears and eyes ... there are good people with good ideas for fixing America's problems ... and these ideas come from both Democrats and Republicans It's time Obama stops the pretty rhetoric about bipartisanship and begins listening to voices from both sides of the political spectrum; stops caring about who is credited with "fixing" problems and purely and simply begins taking the best ideas generated by the best of America to fix what ails America. From the LA Times: Obama's federal government can weatherize your home for only $57,362 each... Prevailing Wage (PW) is something the Unions got passed to allow them to compete for Public Projects. Most people don't know this but if a non-union contractor gets the bid for a job it requires the contractor to pay the employee working on the job a union or prevailing wage. i.e the people who hold the stop and go signs on the road in construction areas that get paid $25 per hour. What it does is makes all public projects cost 30% more than the market and gives unions an advantage to compete. If there was no PW we would have projects that cost less, lower taxes and more jobs. Go figure.... So clearly typical of the current administration! Leap before you look. The level of inexperience is showing again. So we have an update as to the number of homes weatherized. If they are so proud of the numbers why don't they also give us, right along side the number of houses, the number of dollars. I contend that the price per house will not come down significantly regardless of the houses weatherized. They obviously did not understand the definition of "prevailing wage" and how it is going to ruin this economy. Green Eggs and Ham is closer to reality than anything the admin. is saying about jobs being created. Only 2 million public jobs have been saved, not created and guess what, public job bloat is a big part of our overall problem. The folks that used to work in factories, in mines, in forests, in hospitals, in banks and in many other endeavors but lost their jobs are still looking for work or have stopped looking. The unemployment rate in the US is 16.5-17%. Even using the more limited measurement, the difference between 10% and 8% (when the Act was passed) is about 7 million jobs. There are at least 6 applicants for every available job. And, census jobs should not count in the stats. In spite of this, the Obama agenda is to raise taxes for health care changes that 70% of the people do not want and to raise taxes via Cap and Trade, which a similar 70% of the people do not want and to raise the debt ceiling once a quarter. In 2 1/2 years, Obama will be back teaching poly sci at Harvard. In his current job, he is a very dangerous man. Let's hope there will still be some flesh on the bones when the new person takes over. People are complaining because they feel helpless. They don't feel that anyone is hearing them or looking out for their welfare. Everyone in Congress and the administration seems to be listening to special interests...or to the "popular" rhetoric so they can get re-elected. Our economy will recover, but I don't believe it will be because of government. It will be despite government. We need lending/investing in the small business area so people can start their own businesses and create their own wealth. We also need to build things in our own country instead of outsourcing everything. I try to "Buy American" whenever I can, but sometimes it's hard to find American made products. Thanks for listening. |