Posts Tagged ‘bail out’

Rant session (it's been too long I know)

March 3rd, 2009
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So I’m home from work today, feeling pretty good and I turn on the news and get very irritated. I see Bernanke talking about how upset he is over AIG exploiting a major loophole in the treasure and government regulations (I didn’t know there were any at this point) and then says but we must continue to put money into them to ensure they don’t fail.

WHAT????

Then Timoth Geithner gets on and explains that the new stimulus bill that just passed will “get people back to work and stimulate private investment.”

Really? Cause we have had how many stimuls plans and the economy keeps tanking?

Then I liked when REP Jeb Henserling  of Texas asked “isn’t it true that in 8 years the debt would be doubled?” talking about the national debt. Then Peter Orszag the White House Budget director (hmm didn’t know he existed either) said “yes but the debt increase is less then if we did nothing.”

To that I say WTF? I know, so unlike me but come on. You are going to tell me Mr. Orszag that if we do nothing our economy will be worse? How the heck can you tell me that when the stock market is at it’s lowest level since 1997, house prices are at the lowest, unemployment is rising, companies are closing left and right and this is after already dishing out trillions to agencies that wound up spending the money on buying foreign banks, taking lavish meetings at posh resorts and raising rates on the customers when it comes to credit and loans. So excuse me if I am a little pissed off that we continue to dish out more money when all the money that’s already been spent isn’t doing crap for the American tax payer… Remember us, the ones funding your shopping spree?

I’m tempted to go down to AIG since as a tax payer I own part of them (woohoo), walking in and walk out with some artwork, or a chair or something. After all, I own it don’t I?

I guess it would be a different story if ohh say the economy turned around, or there was some benefit that we could actually see. But it’s all theory. The money is being spent on crap that won’t help anyone, and you keep telling us that without the stimulus we will be worse off. PROVE IT! For once quit spending money, let’s see if the free market can turn us around, cause your method of fixing it sure isn’t working. In fact every time the government does ANYTHING the situation gets worse.. I’m really tired of the government stepping in to try to save the world when they can’t even balance their own dang budget. A government that is now nearly $2 trillion in debt is wagging it’s fingers at companies that are in debt? How stupid is that. Let’s get Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey or some other financial guru to get up and lead us. You know, someone with some money that knows what the heck they are doing. But this scare tactic of “we must act” is just a load of dung because we don’t have to act, in fact I’m sick of acting.

Want to know my plan? According to the census bureau we have

305,934,608 people in the united states (tax payers). How about instead of spending $1,000,000,000 ,000 (thats one trillion I think) you instead give each tax payer one million dollars. There’s more then enough in the bail outs that has been dished out to do this. Then each tax payer can take the money and pay off their house, pay off their debt and buy shit to help the economy. At least this way those of us funding your massive bail out plan will see some benefit out of it.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m annoyed and angry. It’s like we are on a boat that is missing the bottom and we are using a pail to try to keep it from sinking cause “we gotta do something.” Screw the boat, inflate the dingy and let the boat sink. We can rebuild, we have to let the pompous monster companies fail that are to stupid to operate and let the strong businesses that have ohhh I don’t know ETHICS and INTELLIGENCE and a CLUE survive.

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Do you think pocket lint will ever become currency?

February 10th, 2009
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Barry………. Listen…… I didn’t vote for ya, in fact I didn’t vote for anybody cause the whole selection of people to vote from really wasn’t what I was looking for and didn’t like any of you. But you won… And you won on a ticket of “change.” So what is one of the first things you do? You allow the passing of a bill, in fact you insulted those in congress and the house to pass the bill quickly.

Here’s my issue. Well, in terms of this. See the bailout from what I understand is supposed to be helpful in turning the economy around. Just like the last bail out however no one is on board with it, in fact just like the last bail out that passed the stock market plunged. Down almost 400 points today, woohoo! So, that’s not different, Bush did that.

But the reason they gave for the need to pass the bailout so quickly was because of the need to spend money quickly and help the economy, yet most of the money isn’t even in a stimulus category. I wonder if they ever took out the piece that would pay to re-sod the national mall lawn? Cause after all, after President Obama’s party he had it got damaged. And the money that is stimulus won’t actually hit the economy for years they say. So what’s the rush?  What you want to run the american tax payer $1 trillion more dollars in debt? I’m so over the bail out, I mean we got the national financial crisis, each state has their own crisis and then there is my own financial crisis. How come my money is going to help the fed and not me? 

I don’t know, I just think it’s funny when the government acts by bailing people out and the stock market plunges. The ironic thing, the stock market loved the first bailout, but then the next few rounds of hand-outs they didn’t much care for. Gee, do you think they will be back for more money too? Why not.

I wonder if Barry knew that this would happen. Perhaps thats why last night when he did his first prime time speech he did everything he could to avoid eye contact with the camera, the millions watching at home. You know, us that are funding the dang bail out, perhaps he couldn’t stand to look us “in the eye.”

And I don’t have anything against Obama, I’m just not mesmerized by the president like the rest of the nation appears to be. Heck I even heard they have already name streets and schools after the guy. I’m thinking to myself, slow down there people. Let’s actually see him DO something before we start praising him.

Anyways, that’s all I had to say. Bailout passed today under president barry’s leadership and not a dang thing has changed, just the amount of zero’s that were added to the national deficit. 

I’m really hoping that tomorrow is a new day and president barrys bailout does the trick. But I wouldn’t bet the lint in my pocket that this bailout would do a darn bit of good. Cause you never know, if the economy keeps tanking lint may become a form of currency. That would be fun times.

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No job > taking a pay cut

December 12th, 2008
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Well… Just how stupid can a group of people be? I’m talking about a specific group here, mainly the UAW. Now I originally was totally against an auto industry bail out, however after talking to a friend this morning I do think that bankruptcy is not an option. The process of bankruptcy is, but let’s call it like “Chapter 23 – Auto Restructure”

Here’s the deal, I heard that the UAW a while back agreed to salary pay cuts for it’s employees to help the auto industry rebound. The only issue, they didn’t specify WHEN the cuts would occur. Basically it was an open ended empty promise. Well last night the Senate demanded a time frame to make the cuts from $70 something dollars an  hour down to around $50 an hour to make it be more in line with the foreign auto makers that appear to be doing alright. Well, the UAW rep said nope, we aren’t setting a time frame for the cuts. And then the Senate killed the bailout.

You see, I guess the UAW thought that it’s workers that they represent would be much happier unemployed then taking a pay cut to save an industry that is destined to fail at the current rate. What they thought they could strong arm the government? Oppps guess again. It’s actually a relief to see the government standing up like they did.

All to often people don’t want the governments interference in daily activities. But then something happens and they need help. Ohh sure they don’t want a win-win scenario, they want a win-lose. They MUST come out ahead, taking money power or anything else they can while not giving.

There is a reason why the south “autobahn” hasn’t unionized. It isn’t because the unions haven’t tried, oh they have. But it’s because the foreign automakers in the south like Toyota and Honda pay decent wages, they give health-care and heck even the companies top brass eat in the same cafeteria as the workers. Why unionize? One of the best things about the south auto industry of foreign companies is they are thriving. Because they are in a right to work state without union rules and regulations they can at the flip of a switch modify operating procedures to fit customers needs. Sure this means that jobs may be cut or benefits changed. But the US labor laws ensure a fair and safe workplace environment.  And because of this the foreign makers here in the southern US are able to keep costs low and actually succeed.

But Detroit won’t learn. They fly in on private jets which was a big mistake. Then they turn around and drive in as if we would just forget about the whole plane incident. Then they do make good recommendations on ways to cut costs. I give them credit for some of the plans they have come up with. Then the Union Rep comes to town and says “yeah we agreed, but we won’t say when and we refuse to say when.” So, now the union is basically willing to sacrifice the jobs of all the auto workers by not agreeing to set a timeframe for pay cuts. Yeah it’s unfortunate it needs to happen, but I think pay cuts are far superior then total loss of job and industry failure.

That all being said, this is why a new version of bankruptcy needs to be born. It needs to be targeted at the nations interests in the GDP and ensure that any industry that produces a large amount of the GDP is protected under this new chapter.  Bascially the companies can voluntarily go into it and the government has total authority over the companies to restructure, cut costs and eliminate bad deals. However, unlike chapter 11 warranites and values of the cars or products would still be honored.  This way the value of the industry doesn’t plummet causing a spiral effect to turn into a full blown tornado of destruction and devastation. Then, once the industry has been regulated, fixed and made viable it exits the government controlled restructing chapter and goes back to being managed by the CEO or a private firm.

People might not like this idea, but when you have an industry that is failing so bad that produces so much of the GDP then I think it mandates that regulation be implemented to ensure the continued success.

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Who else wants to be bailed out? Anyone want a free car?

November 18th, 2008
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Well, it’s happened. The government has all this bailout money and just like a rich uncle suddenly all the vermin are coming out of the darkness to come begging for money.  I read this morning that the big 3 auto makers want some of the bail out money to stay afloat to which I say nay nay.

You see, for years the automakers have been making bad business decisions and have not changed their ways. Think about it, over the past 10 years there have been major changes in computers. Operating systems are amazingly sleek and batteries and systems work better (except for Microsoft!, cheap shot I know!) Heck even power tools were updated to go from old NiCad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries to lithium ion, smaller, lighter and more efficient. But yet the auto industry hasn’t changed a bit. Oh sure every year they eliminate one more corner and turn it into a curve on the newest generation of body types and add a new plug for iPods or another cup holder. But that’s all that changed. After all, why on earth would they want to change the engines to make them gas friendlier? Why would they want to try to make them cheaper? Why would they want to do anything different?

On the other hand, airlines didn’t change and they had to file bankruptcy to restructure and stay afloat. Clothing retailers are the same, and even the poor ol Sharper Image suffered some losses.

Why should the American people bail out the big three automakers? They shouldn’t. There are laws put in place to protect companies like the automakers, it’s called Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Yep, with that handy dandy little tool the company can get out of bad contracts, cut costs and restructure themselves. Instead they don’t want to do that for fear of pissing off the United auto Workers union. Boo hoo, the reset of the world is seeing layoffs so why should there be an exception here? I guess the reason is why change when you can just reach out and get $30 billion dollars from the United States tax payers?

I think the big three need to immediately file for chapter 11 bankruptcy, they need to sell their god awful tacky buildings and move into something more reasonable. They need to reduce operating costs (sorry UAW) and start actually making cars and selling them. One quote I heard was that GM was not a car company, but rather a Pension plan that happened to sell cars. It’s true, they pay more on pensions then anything else.

If the big three are handed $30 billion like they are asking it’s not going to do anything but delay the downfall of them. I mean, how long will $30 billion keep them afloat? I’m guess one year tops. So what will they do next year when they are in the same boat? We can’t keep every company afloat. They need to restructure, get with the times and do some necessary layoffs and expense cutting. Then they will be in a position to stay afloat.

If the government is at all thinking of giving them $30 billion I have to say this, rather then hand them $30 billion why not hand every consumer a certificate to go get a new car and then the government can reimburse them? I mean come one, as a tax payer we all paid for the bail out money, so if they get $30 billion handed to them for nothing, that’s our money! If you like this idea immediately call your senator and congressmen to tell them! You never know what can happen, I mean look at all the off the wall stuff that we are seeing go on.

As you can tell I’m a bit bitter. I look forward to seeing what the government does and hope that this auto bailout doesn’t pass. If it does I want a free car……. But then again is it really free if the tax payers are forking out the money?

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Drunk with power… and billions of dollars.

November 15th, 2008
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So I’m a bit angry again with the good old United States government and world leaders. For anyone who doesn’t know we are in a bit of a world wide financial mess. This mess was caused by greedy companies that started writing mortgages to people that couldn’t pay them. I mean come on, how can you even begin to issue a mortgage that requires no proof of employment? Ohh sure simple, you just charge a higher APR. But how do you know the person can pay it? You don’t. Mortgage brokers starting writing mortgages that went bad (surprise, surprise) and the market just tumbled from that point into a world wide economic mess. 

Well last night apparently the leaders got together in Washington to discuss the state of the crisis. You would think if they were actually concerned about cutting waste, helping the world get back on track that they would start to use common sense. But nope. Instead they served $499 bottles of Shader wine. Now the White House said they do buy wholesale and get much better prices, but come on. My neighbor works for a government entity and they paid 3 times more for an almost identical laptop to the one I bought my wife. And we all know that everything the government buys costs a fortune, like the $1,000 hammers. These leaders should be showing they understand reality and instead of drinking $499 bottles of wine drinking wine from a box. 

Then the food, the menu was insane. It consisted of Fruit with smoked quail and thyme roasted rack of lamb, tomato fennel, eggplant fondue 

I guess it makes sense, after all of the European countries said they are officially in a recession so why not pop the $500 bottles of wine?

At first when the mortgage mess happened I didn’t care. It didn’t impact me and as long as I didn’t have to pay for other people’s mistakes I was fine. After all, why should I pay for my neighbors mortgage because they bought a house that was to big? I shouldn’t have to. But then the bail out came and well… that didn’t work. We were told that the money would buy up the bad mortgages. I didn’t like it but whatever. Now all of a sudden Henry Paulson is telling us that nope, they changed their mind and now they will invest in the banks. So basically we were sold a bill of goods, they didn’t follow through and now my generation and my children’s generation will have to pay off the greed of the businesses and government over the past few years. 

The government really is a big corporation. More so now then ever. I mean come on, we own mortgage companies, banks, insurance companies and several other entities. Next will be the Airline industry and Auto industry. So there is no denying that we are a corporation and we are all the shareholders. The only differnece is when corporations do things they need shareholders approval. But in our case we are silent shareholders. Sure we voice our opinion of our anger, we tell them what we want and don’t want and then they turn their backs and tell us we don’t know what we are talking about and go the opposite direction. 

But after hearing about AIG doing these company retreats with bail out money, the government actually passing the bail out package, and now the government having an economic crisis meeting with $500 wine and quail and lamb. 

I say the world is in such a mess we call a “do over.” Yep, all nations forgive the debts of each other. The credit card industry wipes clean all the debt of the consumers and everyone gets a fresh start. Why not? With all the money being thrown around this could almost happen. But rather then actually giving money to the consumer the money is going to the greedy people that caused this mess.  

As you can tell I’m a little ticked and am rambling so I will end this. I just would love to see something positive come out of all of this, but I’m afraid a black hole has been opened and it’s just going to suck money from the country for the untold future.

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The world is coming to an end… have we learned nothing?

November 9th, 2008
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I heard a quote that I love the other day. It says that “history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Now it took me a few minutes to totally appreciate that quote. I’m not a history buff, but I do know that every 4 years during election years there is always volatility in the economy. Jobs are lost, stocks waiver and reporters tell us how the world is going to end if the person they don’t like doesn’t win. I’m not sure about you but when I was a child I was read a story about Chicken little who went around telling everyone “the sky is falling.” Isn’t this the same thing? Fox news who claims they are fair and balanced was behind McCain and every chance they had would bash Obama. CNN who backed Obama would support him and bash McCain when they could. You almost have to watch both channels all the time to get a truly “fair and balanced” perspective. 

It really isn’t the end of the world no matter who wins. Frankly both Obama and McCain scare me, but then again it’s because they are politicians. There is a history of politicians telling you what you want to hear and delivering very little. So to me hearing what they “want to do” doesn’t matter much. It really is more about the person and how I believe they would react to various situations. 

So now Obama won by a landslide, and I think it’s for two reasons. First because he had one heck of a campaign. I mean this guy sold himself like no other. McCain on the other hand didn’t sell himself. It’s like he was running the worst campaign ever. I wonder if he even wanted to win. You would think that he would have been more visual, he would do more to get his name and face out. Did you know that Obama even went so far to create an iPhone/iPod touch app for his campaign? That was genius! You can tell which candidate was more knowledgeable with current technology by how it was utilized in the election. And with both of them wanting to digitize health records to save costs perhaps it is more beneficial to have someone who can actually use a computer. Heck Obama has several quotes showing he uses Youtube. 

The second reason I think Obama won was because of the current republican party. People are just sick and tired of the same thing. Every day we turn on the TV and hear about billions more being spent on wars over seas while our economy tanks. I don’t believe in handing people money, but I do believe that we have plenty of homeless and others in our own nation that need assistance. And because no one but “the other guy” is being helped americans are sick of it.

Regardless who won the economy is in bad shape. And regardless who won it will continue to be for sometime. It does irritate me that both Obama and McCain voted for the $700 billion dollar bail out plan that had to be completed within a week to save the world. And now they are still figuring out what to do with the money. And of the money they distributed AIG used some to take 2 retreat/meetings. And other banks are sitting on it for “tougher times” as it said in one article I read. That’s right, we as tax payers appear to have paid $700 billion to give banks more money to sit on so they have reserves and extra cash to buy up their competitors when they fail. So I’m so glad that the money we are all paying for is being put to good use. Of course this was passed weeks ago and the economy is even worse now then it was…. So tell me how exactly did the bail out work? But have no fear, a second stimulus package might be passed soon so that’s even more money we get to throw down the drain! Woohoo.

Here’s my bailout plan. The companies that are failing, let them fail. Will it hurt the economy? Sure it will. But tell me isn’t it pretty lousy now? Companies that are not fiscally responsible should not be rewarded by being handed cash. They should be allowed to fail and other companies should take them over. Isn’t this what the saying “only the strong survive” means? When the world is deregulated as much as it was allowed to be this is bound to happen. The company I work for almost went under. Did the government throw us money? Nope. Instead we had to go through bankruptcy court, restructure and lost a lot of jobs, closed 107 stores and had to correct our mistakes. If we were buddies with anyone in Washington we probably could have continued doing business as usual which would have ultimately lost more money because we wouldn’t have changed our business practices. But we did and now are doing decent taken into account the economy.  I believe that throwing money at the problem will only delay the inevitable, businesses must fail, others must change their ways of doing business to survive. It’s a little something called evolution.

You can see the picture here that shows why businesses fail. It’s because they quit trying, they quit working. CEO’s get greedy, workers quit caring.

Another plan of action for my bail out plan. Rather then handing out money to people in the form of welfare that would stop immediately. There is to much trash on the streets, to many things that need to be done and I think if people want welfare the government should put them in community service type jobs and make them EARN  the money. Hmmm, earning money by working for it? What a concept! And I know there are some that can’t work physical jobs, so in home programs could be setup like data entry, making phone calls, envelope stuffing or other low impact jobs. Hell even make these people write a paper on what they will do with the money when they get it, and how it will better their lives. I bet most of those on welfare would refuse to work, but then they shouldn’t get the welfare check. After all, why am I paying for sally joe bob to stay at home with her 14 kids watching Jerry springer while I’m working 40-50 hours a week? People would stop getting handouts for doing nothing if I was in charge. The programs would still be available, but you would have to do something to get your check. Work, right a paper, just something. 

But I digress. I’m tired of everyone bashing Obama and McCain. Am I happy with how it all turned out? I’m impartial. Do I think that good things are coming? Definitely, in fact I wish that we could start early with the president-elect. But then again no matter who won my attitude is the same. The reason is because regardless who won the election, these bumps would be happening, the stock market will waiver, but like a cold give it a little while without medication and it will heal itself. Treat it with the incorrect medicine and it only gets worse, and a government who has got us into so much debt in the last 8 years apparently only knows how to treat problems in one of two ways, going to war with it, or throwing money at it, then there is always the hybrid of going to war and throwing money. Treat it correctly and it will be healed in a very short amount of time. So hopefully there is a plan now that doesn’t include throwing money at the problem and instead actually focuses on fixing it.  But people just need to keep in mind that history rhymes. Every time there is an election year things get bad, come December or January everything will most likely be just fine. 

But in the meantime, I’m enjoying the $2.09 a gallon gas. I’m contemplating taking some money and putting it in the stock market. After all, with stocks this low it’s a great time to buy! This part of the economic cycle is when people that make the right decisions can make serious money. It’s everyone with the “sky is falling” attitude that is killing it. Why not just yell “FIRE!!” in a crowded theatre?

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House passed bailout, everyone celebrate we are now $700 billion in debt!! Woohoo.

October 3rd, 2008
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So, today the bill for the bailout passed. But we aren’t supposed to call it a bailout, it’s actually “economic relief.” Isn’t that a fancy way of saying socialism?

What I find funny more then anything is just how biased the news can be. I’ve bee watching the stock market all day today. This afternoon around 1:00pm before the vote the stock market was up nearly 300 points. A great day! Well, around 1:30 when the bill was voted on and passed, the stock market tanked, yep, as of 2:05pm which is approx 40 minutes after the bill passed the DOW is up only 76.54 points, there for a while it was down to a 24 point gain. So, we were doing great, then the vote hit and the bill passed and then the stocks tanked… Ummm, I thought this was supposed to turn everything around. Or were we lied to?

Well let’s just see who is reporting what.

Fox News is saying: “Dow Jumps as House Cotes on Bailout Bill.” (See below)

While CNN is saying “stocks trim gains after House vote.” (see below)

So which one is it? Did it go up or did it go down? I guess it depends on which one you listen to. From where I sit, we are down over 200 points from the high which occurred before the house voted to pass the bill.

I supposed it really doesn’t matter. Now our nation is almost another trillion dollars in debt. I just picture that a guy was working at the Federal Reserve bank watching the news and as soon as the bill passed someone called him and said “Print the $100′s!”. I suppose that money has to come from somewhere, why not just print it?

Am I glad the bill passed? Nope, same ol’ crooks are still working in the senate and house that will be overseeing the massive plan. Why does NASCAR need $100 million dollars? Why do children’s wooden arrows need $2 million dollars? These are things in the bill that are nonsense. But hey, we needed it right? Meanwhile I keep paying money into social security and will never see a dime of it but hey, at least kids can have wooden arrows and NASCAR can buy some more fuel.

To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I really thought we had a government that was “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Instead it’s a good ol boy network full of people doing favors for each other and totally forgetting about us from main street.

You know what they kept saying “people can’t get loans to buy cars!” like that was an issue. What you mean if you go in with a good down payment you can’t get a loan? Yes you can. It’s the saps who go in who are upside down in their current loans, buy a new car and finance 130% of the value into a new car. Those are the people that can’t buy a new car. And they shouldn’t be allowed to anyways.

I think this bailout is only putting off the inevitable. Banks will get a huge relief as bad loans are sold to the government. Banks will then start to make the same bad debts perhaps at a slower pace this time and then here in a year or two we’ll see the same dilemma only we will have already spent our trillion dollars. Where is the lesson that these greedy wall street people are supposed to learn? Is the government going to step in and help me pay for my house? Nope, I was responsible so I’ll just get screwed all the way around. I’ll get the chance to pay for my mortgage, and my tax dollars will get to help my neighbor down the road pay for his cause he didn’t do his homework before buying a house.

That’s all I have to say. I could rant on and on, but I’d rather look into turning into a priest or something where I can start earning money and having it be tax free because I’m doing it as a church or member of clergy. I doubt I can figure it out but it’s a thought. I hate to pay taxes and see the money wasted.

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