When we last left our hero he was trying to demonstrate how facial cosmetics might possibly be applied to a pig with some positive effect. In the first episode, he suggested that handing taxpayer money back to taxpayers hoping they will go to a movie and order butter with their popcorn was an even worse idea than passing a stimulus bill at all.
Instead, since the stimulus package is a fait accompli, he suggested the money be handed to the pirates and brigands that are Corporate America with instructions to use it to supplement their own investment in an industry dedicated to economically extracting our natural resources in a responsible and environmentally friendly manner.
This will come with the warning… scratch that… the genuine and very legitimate threat of violent penance should they cheat or cut corners. He also knows he is dreaming about all of this, but so is DC so, so what?
But it takes more than mining, farming and chopping down trees.
Assuming the money keeps flowing out of Washington like water from Meribah, it should continue to help build processing plants that turn natural resources into primary products. These raw materials and parts will then be used to manufacture finished goods and machinery. Domestic and foreign consumption are certain to follow.
New jobs will be created in construction, first for the industrial complexes themselves followed by housing, retail and schools for the people they will employ and their families. Transportation, research and development and even jobs that can’t be described because they will be the result of innovative technologies not yet even created!
Pie in the sky predictions from some nutcase with his head in the clouds?
Maybe. But in their own way, this is precisely what the president and Congress are telling you right now about a stimulus bill, now passed, that for most Americans will result in a few bucks more in their paycheck (and will be lost later) that they will run out to the mall to buy an iPod with.
My suggestion, that is to say using taxpayer dollars to bring manufacturing back to this country, could work. What the President and his pals are doing though, will not work. I have no doubt they will claim it worked regardless of the outcome, but it won't work.
I’ve been reading the actual bill that was passed. Next time I’ll tell you some things your stimulus dollars are going to that are not making the news. (Example: Over $3 billion for rural sewer systems.)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Economic Vanity
As I have said here before, the Economic Stimulus Package cannot work because it is nothing more than handing taxpayer dollars back to the taxpayers with instructions to spend them on frivolous goods and services.
It is the economic equivalent of vanity.
The bill will briefly stimulate local economies but this effect is sustainable only as long as stimulus dollars are available to spend. It will not typically result in new jobs, and will only temporarily stave off the loss of existing ones. Indeed, it may not even do that.
At the end of this Yellow Brick Road, the only economies that may possibly be stimulated are those belonging to the countries that supply us with television sets and iPhones.
There is a way it could work, but it may violate antitrust laws.
An article that I wrote and never posted referred to economies as quasi-living machines lacking any sort of conscience and caring about nothing. The one absolute and constant reality of any economy is that in the beginning, as surely as God created the Heavens and the Earth, economies require something to be created from nothing.
This of course is impossible.
Unless it was created a long time ago and we pull it out of the ground now.
We have become so used to a service economy that we have forgotten that it is possible to use raw materials. We still have them, but by and large it became too expensive to extract them, either because of labor expenses or the cost of mining in a way that is environmentally acceptable.
Enter the Stimulus Package, the Magic Money, and the BailOutBucks. Whatever we call them, they are perfect for going back to the dirt under our feet and pulling things we can use out of it.
Instead of giving all this cash to ordinary people who will typically squander it even without instructions to do so, give it to the big, evil corporate entities with strict instructions that this is to alleviate the costs of once again producing raw materials and selling them to manufacturers.
If they cheat, then they get to build the brick walls they will stand in front of in their corporate board rooms as the firing squads are led in.
You seem to think I’m kidding.
America was built on the land with materials pulled from the land. Stimulus dollars could effectively allow us to rebuild America, but like it or not, we need Corporate America to do it.
Otherwise, we will just watch more TV.
It is the economic equivalent of vanity.
The bill will briefly stimulate local economies but this effect is sustainable only as long as stimulus dollars are available to spend. It will not typically result in new jobs, and will only temporarily stave off the loss of existing ones. Indeed, it may not even do that.
At the end of this Yellow Brick Road, the only economies that may possibly be stimulated are those belonging to the countries that supply us with television sets and iPhones.
There is a way it could work, but it may violate antitrust laws.
An article that I wrote and never posted referred to economies as quasi-living machines lacking any sort of conscience and caring about nothing. The one absolute and constant reality of any economy is that in the beginning, as surely as God created the Heavens and the Earth, economies require something to be created from nothing.
This of course is impossible.
Unless it was created a long time ago and we pull it out of the ground now.
We have become so used to a service economy that we have forgotten that it is possible to use raw materials. We still have them, but by and large it became too expensive to extract them, either because of labor expenses or the cost of mining in a way that is environmentally acceptable.
Enter the Stimulus Package, the Magic Money, and the BailOutBucks. Whatever we call them, they are perfect for going back to the dirt under our feet and pulling things we can use out of it.
Instead of giving all this cash to ordinary people who will typically squander it even without instructions to do so, give it to the big, evil corporate entities with strict instructions that this is to alleviate the costs of once again producing raw materials and selling them to manufacturers.
If they cheat, then they get to build the brick walls they will stand in front of in their corporate board rooms as the firing squads are led in.
You seem to think I’m kidding.
America was built on the land with materials pulled from the land. Stimulus dollars could effectively allow us to rebuild America, but like it or not, we need Corporate America to do it.
Otherwise, we will just watch more TV.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Do you really want this budget deal?
It will result in a $14 billion tax increase.
It will result in $15 billion in spending cuts.
It will result in $11 billion in borrowing.
It will waive environmental rules to speed up works projects.
It will provide tax credits to small businesses and tax reductions to Hollywood.
The voters will have to approve five separate measures in May.
Borrowing money from mental health funds.
Borrowing money from children’s health programs.
Changing the way the lottery works.
Changing the way we handle school financing.
Creating a spending cap.
It could change but this is essentially it as of now.
I am inviting replies, and I promise not to respond (by this, I mean argue with you) unless you ask me to answer a specific question.
It will result in $15 billion in spending cuts.
It will result in $11 billion in borrowing.
It will waive environmental rules to speed up works projects.
It will provide tax credits to small businesses and tax reductions to Hollywood.
The voters will have to approve five separate measures in May.
Borrowing money from mental health funds.
Borrowing money from children’s health programs.
Changing the way the lottery works.
Changing the way we handle school financing.
Creating a spending cap.
It could change but this is essentially it as of now.
I am inviting replies, and I promise not to respond (by this, I mean argue with you) unless you ask me to answer a specific question.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday Musings
When did we become mean and why are we so frightened?
I realize that blogs and comments on articles are hardly scientific. But it isn’t just blogs and comments. I hear it from real people. They are frightened, and frankly, sometimes they are mean.
I have listened to otherwise very nice people tell me that they think if an illegal alien comes into an emergency room, that they should not be treated. In effect, they believe we should let them die if it comes to that.
Let them die. Is that what we do in America? Do we just let people die?
I read about a drunk driver killing an innocent, and it turns out he’s here illegally. The focus of the story becomes his illegal alien status when the problem in this case is drunken driving, not illegal aliens. The vast majority of drunk drivers who kill and maim innocent people are here quite legally.
Some say that the children of illegal aliens, whom I suppose most are illegal also, should be denied an education.
Is that what we do in America? Deny children an education because we don’t like their parents?
I wonder if other countries are so fixated on illegal immigration. I’ve done some basic research, more in the way of just glancing around. By and large, it would appear that most countries have illegals.
They don’t start printing everything in two languages. They don’t speak multiple languages in the classroom and they certainly don’t debate the idea of issuing drivers licenses or anything else that might somehow lend legitimacy their residency.
Nor do they label them all potential terrorists or drug dealers. They don’t make them into villains. They simply recognize them for what they are, and when they come across them, they are detained and deported.
There is nothing mean about it. There is no real fear displayed. They just deal with it.
Deal with it. Isn’t that what America used to be famous for? Dealing with the problem?
Any police officer should be able to detain someone for unlawful entry or for overstaying their visa.
Emergency room doctors are required to report all sorts of suspicions already. They can treat someone and also call Immigration.
If a child meets the address requirements for a school district, then they should enroll him or her. If they have reason to believe the child is here illegally, then they can report it.
And regarding each of my admittedly oversimplified solutions, they could all be appended with “or not”. We expect professionals to make on the spot decisions all the time and if they choose not to pursue their suspicions about someone’s status, we can just assume they have their reasons.
However you might describe the current state of affairs, we are not dealing with the problem.
We need to start.
I realize that blogs and comments on articles are hardly scientific. But it isn’t just blogs and comments. I hear it from real people. They are frightened, and frankly, sometimes they are mean.
I have listened to otherwise very nice people tell me that they think if an illegal alien comes into an emergency room, that they should not be treated. In effect, they believe we should let them die if it comes to that.
Let them die. Is that what we do in America? Do we just let people die?
I read about a drunk driver killing an innocent, and it turns out he’s here illegally. The focus of the story becomes his illegal alien status when the problem in this case is drunken driving, not illegal aliens. The vast majority of drunk drivers who kill and maim innocent people are here quite legally.
Some say that the children of illegal aliens, whom I suppose most are illegal also, should be denied an education.
Is that what we do in America? Deny children an education because we don’t like their parents?
I wonder if other countries are so fixated on illegal immigration. I’ve done some basic research, more in the way of just glancing around. By and large, it would appear that most countries have illegals.
They don’t start printing everything in two languages. They don’t speak multiple languages in the classroom and they certainly don’t debate the idea of issuing drivers licenses or anything else that might somehow lend legitimacy their residency.
Nor do they label them all potential terrorists or drug dealers. They don’t make them into villains. They simply recognize them for what they are, and when they come across them, they are detained and deported.
There is nothing mean about it. There is no real fear displayed. They just deal with it.
Deal with it. Isn’t that what America used to be famous for? Dealing with the problem?
Any police officer should be able to detain someone for unlawful entry or for overstaying their visa.
Emergency room doctors are required to report all sorts of suspicions already. They can treat someone and also call Immigration.
If a child meets the address requirements for a school district, then they should enroll him or her. If they have reason to believe the child is here illegally, then they can report it.
And regarding each of my admittedly oversimplified solutions, they could all be appended with “or not”. We expect professionals to make on the spot decisions all the time and if they choose not to pursue their suspicions about someone’s status, we can just assume they have their reasons.
However you might describe the current state of affairs, we are not dealing with the problem.
We need to start.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Happy Saint Valentine's Day!
My father was pretty predictable in some ways. For example, if I felt like an argument, all I really needed to do was walk into the room and say something like “Ronald Reagan being elected president was the worst thing that ever happened to this country.”
Sometimes he was really depressed, so I would venture that Richard Nixon was not only a crook and a liar, but that also he looked funny and probably smelled bad. It never failed to lift him out of his depression and sally forth against this pinko-liberal offspring that his wife insisted belonged to him.
And on Valentine’s Day, he would invariably look through the little school valentines and read them out loud: “Be my one true love…signed JOE!” Or “Steve” or whatever.
There were plenty of Nancys, Janes, and Marys as well, but he didn’t pay attention to them.
He believed that the boys should give valentines to the girls, and girls should give valentines to the boys. Frankly, that makes more sense to me too. But of course, popularity is one of those natural concepts that schools and other governmental entities are always trying to fool with, and the result though well-meant ends up being silly.
Some kids are liked more than others. Without any regulation of such practices, some kids will get a boatload of valentines and others won’t get any. Ergo, every kid in the classroom gives every other kid in the classroom a valentine.
Now I see, in my youngest son’s school district anyway, that they don’t exchange valentines at all because it is disruptive and has nothing to do with providing a well-rounded education. I can say this with authority because the school sent a letter home telling me so. It certainly stops people like my dad from having all sorts of sarcastic fun.
Happy Saint Valentine’s Day, and Joe, wherever you are, I can only hope you got over me.
Sometimes he was really depressed, so I would venture that Richard Nixon was not only a crook and a liar, but that also he looked funny and probably smelled bad. It never failed to lift him out of his depression and sally forth against this pinko-liberal offspring that his wife insisted belonged to him.
And on Valentine’s Day, he would invariably look through the little school valentines and read them out loud: “Be my one true love…signed JOE!” Or “Steve” or whatever.
There were plenty of Nancys, Janes, and Marys as well, but he didn’t pay attention to them.
He believed that the boys should give valentines to the girls, and girls should give valentines to the boys. Frankly, that makes more sense to me too. But of course, popularity is one of those natural concepts that schools and other governmental entities are always trying to fool with, and the result though well-meant ends up being silly.
Some kids are liked more than others. Without any regulation of such practices, some kids will get a boatload of valentines and others won’t get any. Ergo, every kid in the classroom gives every other kid in the classroom a valentine.
Now I see, in my youngest son’s school district anyway, that they don’t exchange valentines at all because it is disruptive and has nothing to do with providing a well-rounded education. I can say this with authority because the school sent a letter home telling me so. It certainly stops people like my dad from having all sorts of sarcastic fun.
Happy Saint Valentine’s Day, and Joe, wherever you are, I can only hope you got over me.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Triskaidekaphobia
I’ve never been superstitious. Knock wood on that!
Actually, I have one superstition. I don’t know if it is a Scottish thing, or just a family thing, but I am very superstitious about trimming photographs. The less rational part of me becomes very uneasy whenever it occurs.
This became apparent to my wife not long after the wedding. Prior to marriage, we discussed career plans, children, finances and what habits one of us (me) would give up.
Curiously, the subject of trimming photographs never came up in conversation.
One fine Saturday about a month after the wedding, she proudly hands me an album. My interest was feigned at first as I took it but upon opening it became quite genuine.
OMG as the young texters write, You Cut Pictures!
She had trimmed pictures here and there, in order to get them to fit on the pages. I’m having trouble writing this even now.
I suddenly felt the need to sit down, although I don’t believe I actually lost consciousness. My wife in the meantime was quite worried, wondering if her new husband was about to expire permanently. I know I was sweating and I’ll wager I had turned snow-white. This was bad. This was real bad. This was The Titanic Has Hit An Iceberg Bad!
A few moments later, I had recovered enough to explain to her why I became so upset, and then like a gentle missionary speaking to some savage group of headhunters on a distant island, I told her with as much gravity that I could possibly muster about her injudicious folly and gave her dire warnings about never doing it again.
She said, “That’s silly”.
That’s silly? That’s silly?
Good heavens! The headhunters have rejected the missionary and are rubbing oil and spices all over him! They can’t understand the horrible path they have chosen! She is the love of my life and I can’t save her!
But I continued to try to get her to see the error of her ways and finally she turns and says “School Photos”.
I swallowed hard. I knew where this was going.
She said “the wallet sized photos all come on one sheet. Your parents had to trim them.”
I said nothing, and refrained from thinking about at least fifteen years of school photos, six to a sheet and quite intact, in the envelope they came in, in a case in my parents closet.
But she figured it out.
“Your parents never cut them up and put them in wallets?”
I stayed silent.
“Why did you think they sold wallet sized pictures?”
I didn’t answer, and had never really given it much thought, but thinking about it now, I guess I figured it was just a way of making money. Anyway, most of the pictures were awful. Who wants to see a nine-year-old with a forced smile and so much Butch Wax in his hair he looks like the progenitor of Jimmy Neutron?
With time our marriage re-stabilized, and while I suspect my wife still cuts photographs to this very day, she must do it when I’m not around. I rarely open albums though.
Happy Friday the 13th!
Actually, I have one superstition. I don’t know if it is a Scottish thing, or just a family thing, but I am very superstitious about trimming photographs. The less rational part of me becomes very uneasy whenever it occurs.
This became apparent to my wife not long after the wedding. Prior to marriage, we discussed career plans, children, finances and what habits one of us (me) would give up.
Curiously, the subject of trimming photographs never came up in conversation.
One fine Saturday about a month after the wedding, she proudly hands me an album. My interest was feigned at first as I took it but upon opening it became quite genuine.
OMG as the young texters write, You Cut Pictures!
She had trimmed pictures here and there, in order to get them to fit on the pages. I’m having trouble writing this even now.
I suddenly felt the need to sit down, although I don’t believe I actually lost consciousness. My wife in the meantime was quite worried, wondering if her new husband was about to expire permanently. I know I was sweating and I’ll wager I had turned snow-white. This was bad. This was real bad. This was The Titanic Has Hit An Iceberg Bad!
A few moments later, I had recovered enough to explain to her why I became so upset, and then like a gentle missionary speaking to some savage group of headhunters on a distant island, I told her with as much gravity that I could possibly muster about her injudicious folly and gave her dire warnings about never doing it again.
She said, “That’s silly”.
That’s silly? That’s silly?
Good heavens! The headhunters have rejected the missionary and are rubbing oil and spices all over him! They can’t understand the horrible path they have chosen! She is the love of my life and I can’t save her!
But I continued to try to get her to see the error of her ways and finally she turns and says “School Photos”.
I swallowed hard. I knew where this was going.
She said “the wallet sized photos all come on one sheet. Your parents had to trim them.”
I said nothing, and refrained from thinking about at least fifteen years of school photos, six to a sheet and quite intact, in the envelope they came in, in a case in my parents closet.
But she figured it out.
“Your parents never cut them up and put them in wallets?”
I stayed silent.
“Why did you think they sold wallet sized pictures?”
I didn’t answer, and had never really given it much thought, but thinking about it now, I guess I figured it was just a way of making money. Anyway, most of the pictures were awful. Who wants to see a nine-year-old with a forced smile and so much Butch Wax in his hair he looks like the progenitor of Jimmy Neutron?
With time our marriage re-stabilized, and while I suspect my wife still cuts photographs to this very day, she must do it when I’m not around. I rarely open albums though.
Happy Friday the 13th!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
An operating automobile being necessary the security of a person’s job, the right of the people to have and use automobiles, shall not be infringed.
A functioning Nordic Track possibly being necessary to the reduction of a prominent waste line, the right of the people to purchase expensive exercise equipment and then hang laundry on it, shall not be infringed.
I received an email from someone asking my position on gun control since I had skipped over that one in my position statement the other day. I replied that in my opinion, people should keep very careful control over their guns. Furthermore, if they want to wear short-sleeved shirts, that is their business!
Furthermore, if they want to wear short-sleeved shirts, that is their business!!
Furthermore, if they want to wear short-sleeved shirts, that is their business!!!!!
You know!! Keep and “bear” arms….bear or bare arms as in not clothed…
Oh, never mind.
I absolutely believe that Americans have the right to arm themselves to the teeth if they want to and the second amendment to the US Constitution says it right there, plain as day. I don’t see what the controversy is. The other two versions I created clearly show that you can still buy cars and Nordic Tracks and use them pretty much anyway you want to. Frankly, we should keep better control of our automobiles and Nordic Tracks should be outlawed altogether.
The FOUNDING FATHERS gave the reason for the right to have assault rifles, but they clearly did not make the reason a requirement.
They did not make the reason a requirement.
I can have guns without belonging to a militia just as I can have a car and use it to go see Neal Diamond live at ARCO Arena. I can make payments of $59.95 every month for thirty-six months while I hang my shirts for work on my Nordic Track.
Does that make sense?
For the record, I don’t have any guns and this former Marine, if he had a magic wand, would wave it and make all of them disappear. Guns may not kill people, but people kill other people a lot more efficiently with guns.
But there are no magic wands, so there you go.
Just watch where you point that thing!
An operating automobile being necessary the security of a person’s job, the right of the people to have and use automobiles, shall not be infringed.
A functioning Nordic Track possibly being necessary to the reduction of a prominent waste line, the right of the people to purchase expensive exercise equipment and then hang laundry on it, shall not be infringed.
I received an email from someone asking my position on gun control since I had skipped over that one in my position statement the other day. I replied that in my opinion, people should keep very careful control over their guns. Furthermore, if they want to wear short-sleeved shirts, that is their business!
Furthermore, if they want to wear short-sleeved shirts, that is their business!!
Furthermore, if they want to wear short-sleeved shirts, that is their business!!!!!
You know!! Keep and “bear” arms….bear or bare arms as in not clothed…
Oh, never mind.
I absolutely believe that Americans have the right to arm themselves to the teeth if they want to and the second amendment to the US Constitution says it right there, plain as day. I don’t see what the controversy is. The other two versions I created clearly show that you can still buy cars and Nordic Tracks and use them pretty much anyway you want to. Frankly, we should keep better control of our automobiles and Nordic Tracks should be outlawed altogether.
The FOUNDING FATHERS gave the reason for the right to have assault rifles, but they clearly did not make the reason a requirement.
They did not make the reason a requirement.
I can have guns without belonging to a militia just as I can have a car and use it to go see Neal Diamond live at ARCO Arena. I can make payments of $59.95 every month for thirty-six months while I hang my shirts for work on my Nordic Track.
Does that make sense?
For the record, I don’t have any guns and this former Marine, if he had a magic wand, would wave it and make all of them disappear. Guns may not kill people, but people kill other people a lot more efficiently with guns.
But there are no magic wands, so there you go.
Just watch where you point that thing!
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