In the early 1940’s the country was in need of laborers and an agreement was reached between the United States and Mexico which allowed for guest workers and was know as the Bracero Program. This guest worker program ran from 1942 until 1964 and sponsored some 4.5 million Mexican workers.
During the 60’s a number of labor leaders tried to organize farm workers but every time they called for a strike the management would hire Mexican guest workers to replace them and thusly broke the strike. It was only after the Bracero program was cancelled that the United Farm Workers organized.
President Bush tried to reinstitute a guest worker program but it failed in congress.
by James Parks, Apr 10, 2007
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In today’s Los Angeles Times, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, describe how temporary worker programs will negatively impact immigrant workers—and the nation.
Today organized labor faces a dilemma. They do not want immigrants since they lead to lower wages, but they want immigrants since they vote Democratic.
One way to solve this problem is to legalize all and then they can join the union since temporary workers cannot join.
June 25, 2009, 4:55 PM
Guest Worker Program Poses Obstacle for Obama on Immigration Push
President Obama said on Thursday that he was committed to passing a comprehensive immigration plan, but Republicans attending a bipartisan meeting at the White House expressed skepticism a deal could be reached unless Mr. Obama endorsed a guest worker program that Democratic-leaning labor unions oppose.
The best thing that could happen to the president and his party would be amnesty.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
banks
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued its quarterly report on the U.S. banking industry Thursday, saying the group earned $18 billion during the first quarter of 2010, with more than half of banks and thrifts reporting year-over-year improvements.
Now looking at this you might assume that these bankers must be very smart earning this much in a down economy but upon further inspection their secret is revealed. You see the government loans money to these banks at zero percent interest and then these banks turn around and purchase government bonds that pay three percent. This gives the banks automatic profits with no risk and allows the government to have money to spend on other things.
I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but when the senator responsible for all of this, Chris Dodd, has decided not to run for re-election I wonder if he will receive a nice retirement gift from these banks. Call me cynical but this does not pass the smell
Now looking at this you might assume that these bankers must be very smart earning this much in a down economy but upon further inspection their secret is revealed. You see the government loans money to these banks at zero percent interest and then these banks turn around and purchase government bonds that pay three percent. This gives the banks automatic profits with no risk and allows the government to have money to spend on other things.
I want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but when the senator responsible for all of this, Chris Dodd, has decided not to run for re-election I wonder if he will receive a nice retirement gift from these banks. Call me cynical but this does not pass the smell
tax cuts
With the expiration of the Bush tax cuts set for the end of this year, congress is trying to decide on whether or not to extend them and this has given us an opportunity to examine just who benefited from these cuts, as the Democrats have proposed retaining the tax cuts for those earning less than $200,000 per year.
Democratic plan is neither cheap nor paid for. Making permanent all tax cuts for the middle class will cost the Treasury $2.7 trillion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, at a time when Washington has already added trillions
Keeping all of the tax cuts in force will cost 3.7 trillion.
Making permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and AMT relief would have a direct cost of $3.7 trillion over the next ten years (fiscal year 2009 through 2018),
This shows us that 2.7 divided by 3,7 or 72% of the tax savings went to those earning less than $200,000 per year leaving 28% for the so called rich. Now if we investigate who pays taxes we find that those earning more than $200,000 pay over 50%
Nationally, taxpayers earning under $50,000 collectively earned 22 percent of the nation's total AGI, but paid just 8 percent of all federal income taxes at an effective rate of 5 percent. Those making over $200,000 collectively earned 29 percent of total AGI but paid more than half of all federal income taxes at an effective rate of 22 percent.
To summarize the rich people (those with family incomes over $200,000 received 28% of the cuts under the Bush tax cuts and those same people still paid over 50% of all income tax. Since the inception of the Bush tax cuts they have been described as favoring the rich but I am not so sure that was accurate
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Democratic plan is neither cheap nor paid for. Making permanent all tax cuts for the middle class will cost the Treasury $2.7 trillion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, at a time when Washington has already added trillions
Keeping all of the tax cuts in force will cost 3.7 trillion.
Making permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and AMT relief would have a direct cost of $3.7 trillion over the next ten years (fiscal year 2009 through 2018),
This shows us that 2.7 divided by 3,7 or 72% of the tax savings went to those earning less than $200,000 per year leaving 28% for the so called rich. Now if we investigate who pays taxes we find that those earning more than $200,000 pay over 50%
Nationally, taxpayers earning under $50,000 collectively earned 22 percent of the nation's total AGI, but paid just 8 percent of all federal income taxes at an effective rate of 5 percent. Those making over $200,000 collectively earned 29 percent of total AGI but paid more than half of all federal income taxes at an effective rate of 22 percent.
To summarize the rich people (those with family incomes over $200,000 received 28% of the cuts under the Bush tax cuts and those same people still paid over 50% of all income tax. Since the inception of the Bush tax cuts they have been described as favoring the rich but I am not so sure that was accurate
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talk shows
I often hear people question why conservative shows have more appeal than liberal shows and I believe I have an answer or at least a plausible opinion. If you want to talk for several hours about a subject it has to be something that you can be completely honest about. If you are a conservative you believe in the individual’s ability to succeed but if you are a liberal you feel that many people need the help of government to be successful and there in lies the problem. As a liberal you are convinced that because of past real or perceived mistreatment many people need to have a leg up from the government in order to level the playing field but you cannot let them know you feel that way. If you don’t handle this carefully you come across as telling people they cannot take care of themselves and they don’t believe that and don’t want to hear that. They think they are perfectly capable of caring for themselves but they have been victimized by society which leads you as a liberal to confirm their status as victims. You must convey the message to them that their lack of success is not because they are not capable but because of circumstances beyond their control. I maintain that you can do this in a normal conversation but if you have to talk for one, two or three hours your true feelings will slip though and while your audience will not turn you off in anger they will just drift away from you because the true message will come through and they do not want to hear it.
While we all live in the same environment the news is replete with examples of individuals who have faced adversity and won. I don’t need to list names as everyone can think of Horatio Alger stories. I personally know at least a dozen people who succeeded against tremendous odds.
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While we all live in the same environment the news is replete with examples of individuals who have faced adversity and won. I don’t need to list names as everyone can think of Horatio Alger stories. I personally know at least a dozen people who succeeded against tremendous odds.
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volt
GM announced today that their new electric car the “Volt” will cost $41,000 even though the government is subsidizing each car with a $7,500 gift to GM. If not for this you would be looking at close to $50,000.
The Volt can travel 40 miles on its battery charge and an additional 340 miles on a gasoline-powered generator
I believe that certain environmental types will pay that and then plug in the car each night but asking the general public to go this route is tenuous at best.
Since 1997 Toyota has sold 850,000 Prius’s world wide and a Prius cost between $22,000 and $32,000.
I have never considered myself a marketing expert but this doesn’t look too good for GM.
It could be that all new technology starts out like this and over time improvements encourage more and more purchases. We shall see. In the meantime I will continue to purchase small front wheel drive four cylinder cars.
The Volt can travel 40 miles on its battery charge and an additional 340 miles on a gasoline-powered generator
I believe that certain environmental types will pay that and then plug in the car each night but asking the general public to go this route is tenuous at best.
Since 1997 Toyota has sold 850,000 Prius’s world wide and a Prius cost between $22,000 and $32,000.
I have never considered myself a marketing expert but this doesn’t look too good for GM.
It could be that all new technology starts out like this and over time improvements encourage more and more purchases. We shall see. In the meantime I will continue to purchase small front wheel drive four cylinder cars.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Islam
The president said that NASA’s main mission is to reach out to Muslim nations and point out Islams great contributions to math and science. Gulp. Shortly after 9/11 I read a couple of books on Islam, the most informative was written by Bernard Lewis, a man considered to be the foremost scholar on the Middle East. He said that the first 500 years of Islam were the glory years and the religion spread across three continents but for the next 1000 years nothing of significance happened. The reason was that Muslims did not like to live in non Muslim countries as they felt it was not compatible with their religious beliefs. The net result was the west went through the industrial revolution which included a revolution in science and technology and the Muslim world reminded in the 12th century where it is at today.
As the west emerged from the Dark Ages the Muslim world stayed behind. Today many Muslim countries see the value in the results of western ingenuity but they are fearful of being contaminated by the culture. They like color TV but not half dressed women in the ads. They are caught in the trap that comes with a theocracy, in that they desire the productivity and the conveniences of modern life but it does not fit well with Sharia Law, the Muslim law that says that their religion is a way of life. Until they agree to separate church and state they will not fit well into western society.
As the west emerged from the Dark Ages the Muslim world stayed behind. Today many Muslim countries see the value in the results of western ingenuity but they are fearful of being contaminated by the culture. They like color TV but not half dressed women in the ads. They are caught in the trap that comes with a theocracy, in that they desire the productivity and the conveniences of modern life but it does not fit well with Sharia Law, the Muslim law that says that their religion is a way of life. Until they agree to separate church and state they will not fit well into western society.
Bush tax cuts
I am going to make a prediction as to how Obama will handle the Bush Tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of this year. These tax cuts contained considerable benefits for higher income people such as reducing the tax rate on dividend from 39.5% to 15%. They also had some nice benefits for middle class, things like increasing the child tax credit from $500 to $1,000 and moving the lowest tax rate to 10% down from 15%. My prediction is that Obama will allow the tax cuts to end and then he will come in with an Obama tax cut plan directed toward the middle class.
For those who do not follow tax law like I do, I want to go back to the time before Reagan and explain how things worked in the old days. Back then tax law was described using a water pump. The Republicans believed in priming the pump at the top and the Democrats wanted to prime at the bottom. Republicans believed that if you give tax breaks to the rich they will have more profits and use the money to expand business. The Democrats felt that if you gave tax breaks to the middle class they would have more purchasing power and demand for goods would rise and business would expand to meet the demand.
As a young man I witnessed both ways and they both worked so I did not really have strong preference either way, but when Reagan lowered taxes on the wealthy something knew happened. Businesses did not expand by building knew facilities but instead just bought up existing businesses. Someone figured out that it was more efficient to buy an existing business than to start a new one so since that time I have been for priming the pump at the bottom. This is what Obama will do and I think it is a good idea.
Just as a review understand that in the 40’s the top tax rate was 94% and President Kennedy lowered it to 75% and Reagan lowered it to 28%. Clinton raised it to 39% and Bush lowered it to 35% so if Obama allows it to go back to 39% that would not be such a big deal. Having the dividend tax rate go from 15% to 39% will be a big deal as will increasing capital gains from 15% to 20% but I believe
For those who do not follow tax law like I do, I want to go back to the time before Reagan and explain how things worked in the old days. Back then tax law was described using a water pump. The Republicans believed in priming the pump at the top and the Democrats wanted to prime at the bottom. Republicans believed that if you give tax breaks to the rich they will have more profits and use the money to expand business. The Democrats felt that if you gave tax breaks to the middle class they would have more purchasing power and demand for goods would rise and business would expand to meet the demand.
As a young man I witnessed both ways and they both worked so I did not really have strong preference either way, but when Reagan lowered taxes on the wealthy something knew happened. Businesses did not expand by building knew facilities but instead just bought up existing businesses. Someone figured out that it was more efficient to buy an existing business than to start a new one so since that time I have been for priming the pump at the bottom. This is what Obama will do and I think it is a good idea.
Just as a review understand that in the 40’s the top tax rate was 94% and President Kennedy lowered it to 75% and Reagan lowered it to 28%. Clinton raised it to 39% and Bush lowered it to 35% so if Obama allows it to go back to 39% that would not be such a big deal. Having the dividend tax rate go from 15% to 39% will be a big deal as will increasing capital gains from 15% to 20% but I believe
S&L
The S&L crisis of the 80’s was predictable and was destined to happen. These type companies known as, “Thrifts” originate from the Civil War days but only became prominent when they started making home mortgage loans in the 1930’s as anyone who has watched the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Lilfe”, can attest. The reason they were doomed to a crisis is mathematical. If you offer a $100,000 mortgage at 6% for 30 years your monthly payment is $600. Even if you assume that is all interest it is a return of 7.2% per year. Well all it takes to get the Thrift in trouble is for short term rates to go higher than 7.2%. If interest rates increase above 7.2% say to 8% the bank must now pay 8% on deposits and they are receiving less than that on their earnings. They can, of course, start charging more on new mortgages but they will have a large portion of their portfolio earning the lower rate. As rates continue to climb the situation is exacerbated and eventually the crisis of 1987 happened. The bailout for that was several hundred billions which at that time seemed like a lot of money but pales by today’s standards.
Now we have the same situation involving commercial banks. Here is an excerpt from Investment Banking magazine dated July 12, 2010.
The practice of short-term borrowing and long-term lending contributed to the near-collapse of the world financial system in late 2008 when short-term financing dried up. Banks suddenly found themselves starved for cash, and some would have collapsed without central bank support.
Get ready for some more bailouts to go along with state debts, and pension debts
Now we have the same situation involving commercial banks. Here is an excerpt from Investment Banking magazine dated July 12, 2010.
The practice of short-term borrowing and long-term lending contributed to the near-collapse of the world financial system in late 2008 when short-term financing dried up. Banks suddenly found themselves starved for cash, and some would have collapsed without central bank support.
Get ready for some more bailouts to go along with state debts, and pension debts
slaves
On the news today a man from Arizona was pointing out that illegal aliens are treated like slaves in that they are asked to work long hours, under adverse conditions for below minimum wage pay.
This caused me to review the past forty years since the start of the Great Society. Over these years we find in the inner cities of most metro areas, pockets of slaves. We have 75% of children born out of wedlock, dead beat dads abound, 25% high school graduation rates, whole neighborhoods of welfare recipients, high crime, illegal drugs, and black on black murders. This economic slavery is the result of good intentions by government and has produced millions of people who can no longer care for themselves and must rely on the good graces of government to survive.
This is the result of elected officials and other leaders in the black community using their power and influence to keep these people living in distressful conditions by promising more benefits. After pursuing this course for the past 45 years and looking at the end results you would think that those responsible would feel just a little uncomfortable, but maybe that is asking too much
This caused me to review the past forty years since the start of the Great Society. Over these years we find in the inner cities of most metro areas, pockets of slaves. We have 75% of children born out of wedlock, dead beat dads abound, 25% high school graduation rates, whole neighborhoods of welfare recipients, high crime, illegal drugs, and black on black murders. This economic slavery is the result of good intentions by government and has produced millions of people who can no longer care for themselves and must rely on the good graces of government to survive.
This is the result of elected officials and other leaders in the black community using their power and influence to keep these people living in distressful conditions by promising more benefits. After pursuing this course for the past 45 years and looking at the end results you would think that those responsible would feel just a little uncomfortable, but maybe that is asking too much
stars
I have always been optimistic about life and continue to this day to see the glass half full, but that does not mean that I ignore the problems that we face. One of those problems, that is not easy to put into a box, is the downward trend toward mediocrity. Examples periodically pop up and remind me of this trend. Recently I discovered that in the state of Minnesota in order to graduate from high school you must either pass a math test or flunk it three times. I will give you a second to allow that to sink it and no I did not make this up. Many schools have done away with the valedictorian idea since it is not fair to the others. Many in the younger grades participate in games where they do not keep score for fear of hurting the feelings of those who may lose. We all know of situations where kids are promoted regardless of performance until we end up with high school graduates who read at fourth grade level.
It seems that since we are not able to bring everyone up to excellence we have decided to discourage excellence under the guise of equality. We have forgotten that it is equality of opportunity we should strive for and not equality of results. Instead of providing opportunities for all, to help even the playing field, we have decided to take the fruits of labor from those who have earned them and pass them on to those who have not.
On the other end of the spectrum is my belief that America is the greatest country in the history of the world. To deny American Exceptionalism is to deny history. I could list many examples to illustrate the point but I will point out two. At the end of WW11 the Russians took one half of Europe and the US took a cemetery in France to bury 66,000 dead Americans who gave their lives for freedom. Throughout history the victors in wars have taken territory but not the US. Another example is the almost eradication of polio, a disease that devastated the globe when I was child. Since the Noble prize was started Americans have won 75% of the medals and we represent only 5% of the population.
Right now we are in a battle. Are we going to allow our country to head down the path toward mediocrity or will we rise to the occasion and seek excellence? I say we might be down but we are not out and soon we will regain our balance and once again reach for the stars.
To quote Robert Browing,
“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”
It seems that since we are not able to bring everyone up to excellence we have decided to discourage excellence under the guise of equality. We have forgotten that it is equality of opportunity we should strive for and not equality of results. Instead of providing opportunities for all, to help even the playing field, we have decided to take the fruits of labor from those who have earned them and pass them on to those who have not.
On the other end of the spectrum is my belief that America is the greatest country in the history of the world. To deny American Exceptionalism is to deny history. I could list many examples to illustrate the point but I will point out two. At the end of WW11 the Russians took one half of Europe and the US took a cemetery in France to bury 66,000 dead Americans who gave their lives for freedom. Throughout history the victors in wars have taken territory but not the US. Another example is the almost eradication of polio, a disease that devastated the globe when I was child. Since the Noble prize was started Americans have won 75% of the medals and we represent only 5% of the population.
Right now we are in a battle. Are we going to allow our country to head down the path toward mediocrity or will we rise to the occasion and seek excellence? I say we might be down but we are not out and soon we will regain our balance and once again reach for the stars.
To quote Robert Browing,
“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”
Monday, July 5, 2010
pot
In previous correspondence I have pointed out how cities, states and businesses have paid for current expenses by pushing legacy cost (pensions and health care) down the road, the same way the federal government has dealt with social security cost. Well now we have a new member to this illustrious group, that being, the California push to legalize pot. They estimate that the tax revenues will be over one billion dollars per year but the future health cost will be ten times that amount but that cost will come later as smokers develop lung cancer and other serious illnesses. What a country!
New subject:
Yesterday on the news a talking head was interviewing three physicians and the subject of a recent poll came up regarding intimacy. The poll showed that 87% of women faked organisms and they felt that intercourse in general was not worth the effort. From this I envision a new world order. I can see the day in the future when women all decide to marry women. They will not have to put up with the headache of intercourse, they will have a companion they can have intimate chats with, someone they can go shopping with and someone they can share the house hold chores with. They will not have to contend with men who go fishing and golfing on weekends, or have poker night out with the boys. Not to mention the number of men who drink too much, gamble too much, spend too much on toys and of course those who drink too much and abuse their wives. They can use sperm banks and artificial insemination if they decide to have children and have two income families to cover expenses. As the years pass they can use technical procedures to only have female children and one day there will be no more men. This will leave us with a world with far less crime, and likely be the end of wars. I think I will stop here because this is starting to sound too good.
Happy Forth!
New subject:
Yesterday on the news a talking head was interviewing three physicians and the subject of a recent poll came up regarding intimacy. The poll showed that 87% of women faked organisms and they felt that intercourse in general was not worth the effort. From this I envision a new world order. I can see the day in the future when women all decide to marry women. They will not have to put up with the headache of intercourse, they will have a companion they can have intimate chats with, someone they can go shopping with and someone they can share the house hold chores with. They will not have to contend with men who go fishing and golfing on weekends, or have poker night out with the boys. Not to mention the number of men who drink too much, gamble too much, spend too much on toys and of course those who drink too much and abuse their wives. They can use sperm banks and artificial insemination if they decide to have children and have two income families to cover expenses. As the years pass they can use technical procedures to only have female children and one day there will be no more men. This will leave us with a world with far less crime, and likely be the end of wars. I think I will stop here because this is starting to sound too good.
Happy Forth!
paintings
Be careful what you wish for is an old adage that might very well apply to the Republicans who want to retake the house this November. The big domestic issues are jobs and deficit spending and I am not sure they have a plan. The jobs one will be the easiest to explain as they will say just make things more favorable for small business and that will likely work but it will take some time. They are not going to increase taxes so if they want to tackle the deficit they will have to reduce spending which means cut benefits. To make any kind of dent in the problem they will have to do more than not renew unemployment checks. They will not want to cut defense during war so they will have to go after the big items like social security and Medicare. The only way to avoid cuts is to have enough growth to cover the debt and that is possible and could very well happen if and when small business feels comfortable in expanding.
New subject to prove that I am interest other than politics
Starting back some 30 plus years ago it became common for expensive paintings to be auctioned off to bidders who were unidentified and the purchase was made over the telephone by a third party. These paintings often sell for more than 50 million dollars. I have always been suspicious when I see these mysterious sales as I believe they could be tax scams. If I purchase a painting for 5 million and sell it a year and a day later I have a long term capital gain and pay 15% tax on the 45 million or 6.7 million. If I am rich I am in the 45% tax bracket when you count federal and state taxes so I gave the painting to a museum I could deduct it as a charitable contribution and save 45% of 50 million or 22 million in taxes. Now I would not do that if my only concern was saving taxes but if I had a partner working with me, I could set up the following scheme. My partner buys a painting for 5 million at the same time that I buy mine and a year and day later he sells his to an unknown buyer for 50 million just as I did. Now here is the scheme. I bought his and he bought mine. Now let us see where we stand. I paid him 50 million for a painting he bought for 5 million and he paid me 50 million for a painting I bought for 5 million. At this point we are both out 5 million. We each donate our respective paintings to the museum and we both take a 50 million dollar charitable deduction which saves us 22 million in taxes. This is a nice return our 5 million investment. There is a limit of 50% of adjusted gross income on charitable contributions so each of us would have to have an AGI of at least 100 million but the people that would do this have billions so that would not be a problem. As far as establishing the value of the gift the general rule is the value is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller and we clearly established that at the
New subject to prove that I am interest other than politics
Starting back some 30 plus years ago it became common for expensive paintings to be auctioned off to bidders who were unidentified and the purchase was made over the telephone by a third party. These paintings often sell for more than 50 million dollars. I have always been suspicious when I see these mysterious sales as I believe they could be tax scams. If I purchase a painting for 5 million and sell it a year and a day later I have a long term capital gain and pay 15% tax on the 45 million or 6.7 million. If I am rich I am in the 45% tax bracket when you count federal and state taxes so I gave the painting to a museum I could deduct it as a charitable contribution and save 45% of 50 million or 22 million in taxes. Now I would not do that if my only concern was saving taxes but if I had a partner working with me, I could set up the following scheme. My partner buys a painting for 5 million at the same time that I buy mine and a year and day later he sells his to an unknown buyer for 50 million just as I did. Now here is the scheme. I bought his and he bought mine. Now let us see where we stand. I paid him 50 million for a painting he bought for 5 million and he paid me 50 million for a painting I bought for 5 million. At this point we are both out 5 million. We each donate our respective paintings to the museum and we both take a 50 million dollar charitable deduction which saves us 22 million in taxes. This is a nice return our 5 million investment. There is a limit of 50% of adjusted gross income on charitable contributions so each of us would have to have an AGI of at least 100 million but the people that would do this have billions so that would not be a problem. As far as establishing the value of the gift the general rule is the value is what a willing buyer will pay a willing seller and we clearly established that at the
soap
As most of you know I have some serious concerns about the important issues facing our country but the most important of these has not made the headlines. I am deeply disturbed by the lack of detergent commercials on TV. What is going on. Remember “Tides Inside” and “Duz does everything”. We need a congressional investigation. Something is afoot!
congress
After searching diligently for the past several years I have found a corollary between the average person and a congressman. Congress over the years has passed a number of so called consumer protection plans that are for the common man. This means that when you buy a house you have thirty pages of documents to sign, none of which make sense and would only be understood if you had two lawyers by your side interpreting. The result is that you sign the papers and worry about what they mean later. Congress has now passed national health care and financial reform both of which were over 2000 pages that no one read and members concluded that they will figure out what these bills mean after they are in force.
Quote from Congressman Conyers regarding health care bill.
“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill,’” said Rep. John Conyers. “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Quote from Nancy Palosi regarding heath care bill.
But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.
Quote from Senator Dodd after passing the finance bill
“It’s a great moment. I’m proud to have been here,” said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. “No one will know until this is actually in place how it works.
Do you find it a little unnerving that we are acting like congressmen?
Quote from Congressman Conyers regarding health care bill.
“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill,’” said Rep. John Conyers. “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Quote from Nancy Palosi regarding heath care bill.
But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.
Quote from Senator Dodd after passing the finance bill
“It’s a great moment. I’m proud to have been here,” said a teary-eyed Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee led the effort in the Senate. “No one will know until this is actually in place how it works.
Do you find it a little unnerving that we are acting like congressmen?
pension reform
The pending crisis in pensions is looming larger each day. When a pension fund does not have enough money to meet its promises it is called underfunded. This has happened in the past, most recently in the late 70’s when inflation hit double digits. The funds that are adversely affected are not the 401 K types but those called defined benefit plans and most state employee plans are in this category. Recall how these plans work. The fund has a factor, usually between one and two percent. The factor is multiplied by the number of years you worked and that is the percent of your salary that you will receive at full retirement. If the factor is 1.5% and you have worked there for 30 years you will retire at 45% of salary. Some people have suggested that the factor be lowered to save the fund and this would work but I have a better suggestion. Remember that the benefit is determined by the factor, the years of service and final salary. I suggest that the states announce that all future pay raises will be one half of the inflation rate and this will hold wages down. People who are close to retirement will not be affected but younger workers will and they will have time to make up for the pension loss with other savings. All employees will know that they are not going to receive pay raises comparable to those in other jobs and they can look elsewhere if they are not happy. New hires will know up front what they are getting into and so no surprises for them. How long this restriction on wages lasts depends on the economy and may someday be adjusted. Take one example. Employee A is 30 years old and earns $40,000 per year. If inflation over the next 30 years is 5% his wage at age 60 would be $172,800 per year and if he retired at 45% his pension would be $77,800 per year. If his salary was allowed to increase by only 2.5% his final pay would be $83,900 and his pension would be $37,700. As you can see the reduction in wages would not have to be as drastic as one half of the inflation rate and it could be calculated to make the pension whole again. My experience with pension tells me that holding wages down by a small amount over a long period of time would be the least painful way to solve this problem.
While what I am suggesting here looks and is drastic there are other ideas that are even more troublesome. One is for congress to pass a law that allows states to file bankruptcy after which they can renegotiate the pensions agreements and get them properly funded. In any event you will be hearing a lot more about underfunded pensions in the near future.
While what I am suggesting here looks and is drastic there are other ideas that are even more troublesome. One is for congress to pass a law that allows states to file bankruptcy after which they can renegotiate the pensions agreements and get them properly funded. In any event you will be hearing a lot more about underfunded pensions in the near future.
soccer
I generally check in on the English Al Jazzera site and in today’s news they pointed out that the entire Arab world was pulling for Algeria in the soccer game. In line with the Obama policy of going out of our way to try and get along, I think we should have lost the game on purpose and then all those Arabs would like us better. We missed an opportunity to engender good vibs from our Arab friends.
I wonder if Patraeus demanded that the July 11th pull out date be rescinded as well as the don’t shoot until your shot at rule before he agreed to take the job. Recall that Senator Obama was outspokenly against the surge in Iraq which Patraeus successfully handled. After the success Obama had a change of heart
Barack Obama purges Web site critique of surge in Iraq
BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Monday, July 14th 2008, 8:10 PM
·
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S.troop "surge" in Iraq, the Daily News has learned.
I wonder if Patraeus demanded that the July 11th pull out date be rescinded as well as the don’t shoot until your shot at rule before he agreed to take the job. Recall that Senator Obama was outspokenly against the surge in Iraq which Patraeus successfully handled. After the success Obama had a change of heart
Barack Obama purges Web site critique of surge in Iraq
BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Monday, July 14th 2008, 8:10 PM
·
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S.troop "surge" in Iraq, the Daily News has learned.
oil rigs
For anyone who might have skipped geography class, I would like to remind you that the island of Cuba sticks out right into the Gulf of Mexico. In recent years Cuba has made arrangements with China, Russian, Spain and Italy which will permit the construction of off shore oil rigs in the Gulf. Using slant drilling these rigs will tap into the vast reserves that were assumed to belong to the US and Mexico. In addition Venezuelan has recently contracted with Cuba to build a large refinery in Cuba. Recent news items have suggested that the oil platforms may move to Brazil or Africa but the may only move a few miles into Cuban waters and start pumping oil for Russia who will then sell it to the US further increasing our dependence on foreign oil.
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Even if they lift the ban on drilling it is likely that new regulations that will not affect Cuban waters will increase the cost of drilling….things like safety equipment, insurance and other government regs. With these additional cost it may be better business to move into Cuban waters
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Even if they lift the ban on drilling it is likely that new regulations that will not affect Cuban waters will increase the cost of drilling….things like safety equipment, insurance and other government regs. With these additional cost it may be better business to move into Cuban waters
General
I cannot let this day pass without putting in my two cents worth on the General McChrystal situation. His actions indicate a degree of immaturity which disqualifies him from his position. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with the president but it is best to express his concerns face to face in private and if he cannot carry out the orders given to him he should resign. Some say that it was his plan that Obama asked him to carry out but that is not the whole story. He asked for 60,000 troops and received only 30,000. After he agreed to the plan the president announced a date to start withdrawing and later placed restrictions on how the troops in the field should behave, going so far as to say they should not fire unless fired upon. I believe McChrystal should have resigned when the July of 2011 start of withdrawal was announced. To tell an enemy who fades in and out of the woodwork that you plan to start leaving next July is an unacceptable military policy and McChrystal knows that, but chose to stay in spite of it.
One wonders what he will say after he retires on his speaking tours. Will he undermine the Obama war effort or will he put the safety of the troops first and keep quiet. Will Obama be concerned about what he might say and keep him on. Stay tuned!
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John/Jack
One wonders what he will say after he retires on his speaking tours. Will he undermine the Obama war effort or will he put the safety of the troops first and keep quiet. Will Obama be concerned about what he might say and keep him on. Stay tuned!
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John/Jack
pensions
About a month ago I wrote about pensions and how the benefits are determined and how easy it is to manipulate calculations to get a desired result. In the news yesterday is the latest gimmick that states like Illinois plan to use to help their budgets. They say that all new hires will have to accept lower pension benefits so they can reduce the amount of money they must put into the plan today and thus have those funds available to pay for current benefits like salaries. Recall that when determining current contributions to pension you must consider benefits that may not pay out for many years. This way they can keep the pension promises they made to current employees and reduce benefits only to new hires and of course this is easy to enact and they can worry about new hires in the future. Can’t you just see this future situation where I was hired a year before the change and you and I are now retiring you with 39 years of service and me with 40 years and my pension is $25,000 and yours is $20,000. That might cause some controversy but that is a long way off and someone else problem.
It has been the history of pensions that problems were pushed on down the road for the next guy to handle and this case is no exception.
My brother lives near New Orleans and I asked for his thoughts on the oil spill and here is his response.
Slidell is about 40 miles north of New Orleans no problems yet. Thank for asking.
Now thisoil spill is BP's fault for sure, but I fault the administration (obama) slow response turning down help from the Dutch and other who are very experienced in these matters, they offered skimmer boats and other aid 3 days after the explosion and was turned down because of the Jones act (Unions). I believe that 90 to 95% would been captured.
This is a political BS Tto try to get cap and tax. They also need to investigate the governmnet agencies who's it is to over see and insepct these rigs.
obama is putting 1000's of people out of work out of work the moritorium on oil drilling and wants BP to pay for is agenda for people out of work and cap and tax.
If they had been allowed to drill in shallower water like Gov Jindal authorized they would not have had this problem.
Mike
It has been the history of pensions that problems were pushed on down the road for the next guy to handle and this case is no exception.
My brother lives near New Orleans and I asked for his thoughts on the oil spill and here is his response.
Slidell is about 40 miles north of New Orleans no problems yet. Thank for asking.
Now thisoil spill is BP's fault for sure, but I fault the administration (obama) slow response turning down help from the Dutch and other who are very experienced in these matters, they offered skimmer boats and other aid 3 days after the explosion and was turned down because of the Jones act (Unions). I believe that 90 to 95% would been captured.
This is a political BS Tto try to get cap and tax. They also need to investigate the governmnet agencies who's it is to over see and insepct these rigs.
obama is putting 1000's of people out of work out of work the moritorium on oil drilling and wants BP to pay for is agenda for people out of work and cap and tax.
If they had been allowed to drill in shallower water like Gov Jindal authorized they would not have had this problem.
Mike
claims
Recently there have been a number of cases where candidates for office have exaggerated their resumes and got caught because so many people take the time to check things out on the Internet. The same is true for those already in office as I know a number of people like myself who look up claims made by politicians. Here is an example of two senators making statements about their proposed legislation and I decided to do a few calculations.
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) found many reasons to gloat after getting the 74-page study that showed the overall costs from their legislation’s major global warming provisions would cost an average household between $80 to $150 per year.
“There’ll be some people who will want to demagogue that politically, but that’s less than $1 a day,” Lieberman told reporters. “Is the American household willing to pay less than $1 so we don’t have to buy oil from foreign countries, so we can create millions of new jobs, so we can clean up our environment? I think the answer is going to be yes.”
We currently import 4 billion barrels of oil per year and at the current price of $70 that comes to the tidy sum of $280 billion. There are 112 families in the US so the annual cost per family is $2,500 or $6.84 per day per family. Now this is six times more than what Lieberman says and I would be willing to pay that to get rid of all imported oil, but since these senators have come up with this misleading information I am concerned about everything else they say about their bill.
It has become increasingly difficult to get accurate information out of the government officials. As more and more people learn to check out claims by using data collected on line it is going to be more difficult for these politicians to make blanket statements and expect people to take them at their word. I know I certainly don’t and I have friends who check things out like I do.
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) found many reasons to gloat after getting the 74-page study that showed the overall costs from their legislation’s major global warming provisions would cost an average household between $80 to $150 per year.
“There’ll be some people who will want to demagogue that politically, but that’s less than $1 a day,” Lieberman told reporters. “Is the American household willing to pay less than $1 so we don’t have to buy oil from foreign countries, so we can create millions of new jobs, so we can clean up our environment? I think the answer is going to be yes.”
We currently import 4 billion barrels of oil per year and at the current price of $70 that comes to the tidy sum of $280 billion. There are 112 families in the US so the annual cost per family is $2,500 or $6.84 per day per family. Now this is six times more than what Lieberman says and I would be willing to pay that to get rid of all imported oil, but since these senators have come up with this misleading information I am concerned about everything else they say about their bill.
It has become increasingly difficult to get accurate information out of the government officials. As more and more people learn to check out claims by using data collected on line it is going to be more difficult for these politicians to make blanket statements and expect people to take them at their word. I know I certainly don’t and I have friends who check things out like I do.
paygo
Most of us who have been around for a while understand that politicians running for office tell us what we want to hear and our president was no exception to the rule when he was a candidate. In spite of this the president said the reason he did not call the CEO of BP is because
I have not spoken to him directly – and here’s the reason: because my experience is when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he’s going to say all the right things to me.
Here is one example from the campaign and when he was in office
Jan 30,2010
By Anne E. Kornblut
Pledging to curb federal budget deficits, President Obama used his weekly radio address Saturday to praise the Senate's passage of a measure requiring that increased spending be offset with cuts and to tout his proposed freeze on non-discretionary budget spending. The idea is called pay as you go or paygo.
The problem is that all the government has to do is to declare an emergency and they can bypass paygo
Pay-go gets passed, then it gets bypassed
By Walter Alarkon - 02/16/10 09:33 PM ET
The ink is barely dry on the pay-as-you-go law, and Democrats are seeking to bypass it to enact parts of their job-creation agenda.
Democratic leaders said extensions of unemployment insurance and COBRA healthcare benefits should be emergency spending that isn’t subject to the pay-as-you-go statute, which requires new non-discretionary spending to be offset with spending cuts or tax increases.
This is not just my criticism of Obama but one of the main reasons why many Americans are unhappy with their government. This sort of double talk has been going on for many years now and I could fill up a book with examples like the above.
I have not spoken to him directly – and here’s the reason: because my experience is when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he’s going to say all the right things to me.
Here is one example from the campaign and when he was in office
Jan 30,2010
By Anne E. Kornblut
Pledging to curb federal budget deficits, President Obama used his weekly radio address Saturday to praise the Senate's passage of a measure requiring that increased spending be offset with cuts and to tout his proposed freeze on non-discretionary budget spending. The idea is called pay as you go or paygo.
The problem is that all the government has to do is to declare an emergency and they can bypass paygo
Pay-go gets passed, then it gets bypassed
By Walter Alarkon - 02/16/10 09:33 PM ET
The ink is barely dry on the pay-as-you-go law, and Democrats are seeking to bypass it to enact parts of their job-creation agenda.
Democratic leaders said extensions of unemployment insurance and COBRA healthcare benefits should be emergency spending that isn’t subject to the pay-as-you-go statute, which requires new non-discretionary spending to be offset with spending cuts or tax increases.
This is not just my criticism of Obama but one of the main reasons why many Americans are unhappy with their government. This sort of double talk has been going on for many years now and I could fill up a book with examples like the above.
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