JOBSEARCH: Age Discrimination? No, really!

Friday, March 13, 2009

http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2009/03/11/age-discrimination-is-the-new-reality-in-job-market-says-guest-expert-dave-opton/comment-page-1/#comment-117011  

Age Discrimination is the New Reality in Job Market Says Guest Expert Dave Opton
Posted in March 11th, 2009
By Dave Opton, CEO and Founder of Execunet, AARP member, exclusive for WWDS.

*** begin quote ***

If you are anything like me, while you always knew there were laws against age discrimination on an intellectual level, it wasn’t until you got out there in the real world looking to make a change at say 45+ that you came to internalize emotionally age discrimination was more than a phrase you read about from time to time but actually came with raw nerve endings. To understate the case, not a great feeling.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, you’re right. Exponentially.

From a societal pov, with the market crash killing 401ks and “savings”, as well as the home value crash, “we” as a society have a big problem. “We” are raising the social security retirement age, and more importantly the Medicare age. And, “companies” are shooting anyone under 40 at their first opportunity. How many “consultants” can our economy support?

As you know, I’m advising turkeys that after 50, they will find it IMPOSSIBLE to get another salaried position. (Now that may be a SLIGHT exageration, but NOT MUCH!)

I’ve revised my “emergency fund required” formula. The age component multiplier goes from a one multiplier at ages below forty to a plus one multiplier for every five years of age OVER 40. (That is 40-45 is DOUBLE; 50-55 is quadruple; 60-65 is five times. SHOCKING? You should see the old farts, myself included, who I tell that they will never work again at a salaried job like the old days! Their stunned. Some have high school age or younger kids in second marriages. Are they surpprised!)

This reflects the reality that “jobs” are really hard to come by.

I tell anyone who will listen that: “Success for future generations is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.” Funny how no one believes me?

ERISA changed the corporate behavior of discharging “old” aerospace engineers before their pensions would vest. SO to we will need such a “game changer” to allow us to “bridge” “old age” to retirement.

I suggest that old farts, or those soon to be old farts, like myself, INSIST on an employment contract before they jump to the next opportunity. Can’t get it; be advised! You’ll soon be screwed. We have to change from an “at will” employment culture to something else.

:-(
fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | JOBSEARCH | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Cramer (a leftist) points out how O doesn’t get it!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/cramer-takes-white-house-frank-rich-and-jon-stewart?page=6

Posted March 09, 2009
Cramer Takes on the White House, Frank Rich and Jon Stewart
By Jim Cramer

*** begin quote ***

Suddenly, bloggers, opinion people, columnists and, yes, pundits who haven’t paid attention to anything I have been saying or writing for the past 18 months are all over me. Suddenly, I find myself in the center of a firestorm over Obama’s economic policies, taking enfilading fire from the “liberal” media (from serious columnist Frank Rich to entertainer Jon Stewart) while being defended by Rush Limbaugh, the standard-bearer for the Republicans.

*** and ***

The answer lies in the way the two administrations handled criticism.

The Bush administration, I believed, simply chose to ignore my warnings, perhaps because of a brutal combination of ideology, fecklessness and complacency.

*** and ***

President Obama’s team, unlike Bush’s team, demonstrates a thinness of skin that shocks me. When I somewhat obviously and empirically judged that the populist Obama administration is exacerbating the crisis with its budget and policies, as evidenced by the incredible decline in the averages since his inauguration, I was met immediately with condescension and ridicule rather than constructive debate or even just benign dismissal.

*** and ***

The markets thought he could stop it; hence the giant relief rally when he was elected. But in fewer than 50 days of his ascendancy, the markets’ hopes were totally dashed and the averages are now forecasting the worst decline since the Great Depression. As someone who listens to what the averages are screaming, I think they are accurately predicting the future.

I welcome any serious exchange with the administration on the issues that are not beyond my ken: fixing house price depreciation, stopping the destruction of wealth as demonstrated by the stock market’s plunge, and solving the banking crisis before we nationalize every bank.

*** and ***

It’s time to get serious. It’s time to take the issue from the pundits and from the left and right, and put it where it belongs: serious non-ideological debate to put out the real firestorm, the collapse of the economy from Wall Street to Main Street and the ensuing Great Wealth Destruction for all.

But if it stays ad hominem, we will all be betrayed and the train wreck will become inevitable.

*** end quote ***

The inept politicians from both sides of the aisle have destroyed the investments of most people. And, all we get from them is “spend more” and “borrow more”.

STOP!

You’re putting future generations in a hole they will never get out of.

Let the failures go bankrupt. Tough medicine.

We are training future generations NOT to invest.

I’ve had two conversations that are noteworthy.

A young woman has pulled out of her 401k because the losses have eaten into her employer’s contribution and hers. A doctor is moving from equities to bonds and his “financial advisor” at the brokerage house thought it was a good idea (i.e., he gets a commission on trades; not results).

The Market’s P/E ratio is either in or going into the single digits. (Last time that happened the market doubled in a year!) The “natural recovery” from a downturn has already begun. See the uptick in home sales as the “affordability” measure is it’s lowest in decades.

Note to O: (1) Reinstate the uptick rule. (2) Aim the corporate beggars to the bankruptcy courts. (3) Grab your various regulators and ask them to resign. (4) Eliminate Federal guarantees of ARMs, Interest only, and any mortgage that’s not 20% down 30 year fixed “conforming”. (4) Tell the FBI anf your Federal Prosecutors you want some FRAUD convictions for all the bad paper. (5) Tell the SBA that you want a plan to stimulate small business by the end of the day.

Cut the spending, cut the debt, cut the waste.

Argh!

Like that’s ever going to happen!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: If we can’t kill the FED, should they get a proctology exam?

Friday, March 6, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul509.html  

End the Fed’s Secretiveness by Ron Paul

Before the US House of Representatives, February 26, 2008

*** begin quote ***

Madame Speaker,

I rise to introduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy. How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard-working Americans see their savings eaten away by inflation? Only big-spending politicians and politically favored bankers benefit from inflation.

Serious discussion of proposals to oversee the Federal Reserve is long overdue. I have been a longtime proponent of more effective oversight and auditing of the Fed, but I was far from the first Congressman to advocate these types of proposals. Esteemed former members of the Banking Committee such as Chairmen Wright Patman and Henry B. Gonzales were outspoken critics of the Fed and its lack of transparency.

Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always operated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight of its operations. While the conventional excuse is that this is intended to reduce the Fed’s susceptibility to political pressures, the reality is that the Fed acts as a foil for the government. Whenever you question the Fed about the strength of the dollar, they will refer you to the Treasury, and vice versa. The Federal Reserve has, on the one hand, many of the privileges of government agencies, while retaining benefits of private organizations, such as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Federal Reserve can enter into agreements with foreign central banks and foreign governments, and the GAO is prohibited from auditing or even seeing these agreements. Why should a government-established agency, whose police force has federal law enforcement powers, and whose notes have legal tender status in this country, be allowed to enter into agreements with foreign powers and foreign banking institutions with no oversight? Particularly when hundreds of billions of dollars of currency swaps have been announced and implemented, the Fed’s negotiations with the European Central Bank, the Bank of International Settlements, and other institutions should face increased scrutiny, most especially because of their significant effect on foreign policy. If the State Department were able to do this, it would be characterized as a rogue agency and brought to heel, and if a private individual did this he might face prosecution under the Logan Act, yet the Fed avoids both fates.

More importantly, the Fed’s funding facilities and its agreements with the Treasury should be reviewed. The Treasury’s supplementary financing accounts that fund Fed facilities allow the Treasury to funnel money to Wall Street without GAO or Congressional oversight. Additional funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility, allow the Fed to keep financial asset prices artificially inflated and subsidize poorly performing financial firms.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act would eliminate restrictions on GAO audits of the Federal Reserve and open Fed operations to enhanced scrutiny. We hear officials constantly lauding the benefits of transparency and especially bemoaning the opacity of the Fed, its monetary policy, and its funding facilities. By opening all Fed operations to a GAO audit and calling for such an audit to be completed by the end of 2010, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act would achieve much-needed transparency of the Federal Reserve. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

*** end quote ***

I can’t think of any monopoly that is allowed to exist unexamoned.

I’m hard pressed to think of single reason We, The People should permit it.

We are drowning as a nation in a sea of paper money. William Jennings Bryan, who railed about NOT crucifying the farmers on a “gross of gold”, couldn’t have forseen this “crucification” of the American people on a “cross of paper”.

Andrew Jackson went to political war over the “Bank of the United States” and won.

We have to do the same thing.

While the FED is not the source of ALL of our problems, it’s at the root of most of them.

As Thoreau said “… strike at the root”!

That’s the FED!

Don’t empower COngress with their current powers to set the value of money. Return it to the marketplace.

We do that by repealing the “legal tender laws” and allow people to use what ever they deem “money” to be.

Gold anyone?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: FDIC is not really insuring banks

Thursday, March 5, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025671.html

March 04, 2009
Re: Bair (or Is That Bare?) Says FDIC Going Broke
Posted by Kathryn Muratore at March 4, 2009 05:11 PM

*** begin quote ***

Lew, the counter-intuitive response of government-sponsored bureaucracies like the FDIC make me laugh. So we already know that the FDIC is not really insuring banks in any meaningful sense, although they keep that “Insurance” word in the title. But, imagine what an actual above-board insurance company would do in an emergency – say a hurricane hitting a populated area. In the days before and after the hurricane, can you imagine State Farm sending a bill to all of its customers in the Southeast for an emergency premium hike to cover the payouts that it knows are imminent?

*** end quote ***

Yeah, like Social Security Insurance, which isn’t “insurance” either.

When this musical chairs game stops, who will be left standing?

Taxpayers, the old, those on fixed income.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Inflation on the horizon!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan105.html

Pitchfork Time by Patrick J. Buchanan

*** end quote ***

Where the U.S. government usually consumes 21 percent of gross domestic product, this Obama budget spends 28 percent in 2009 and runs a deficit of $1.75 trillion, or 12.7 percent of GDP. That is four times the largest deficit of George W. Bush and twice as large a share of the economy as any deficit run since World War II.

Add that 28 percent of GDP spent by the U.S. government to the 12 percent spent by states, counties and cities, and government will consume 40 percent of the economy in 2009.

We are not “headed down the road to socialism.” We are there.

Since the budget was released, word has come that the U.S. economy did not shrink by 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter, but 6.2 percent. All the assumptions in Obama’s budget about growth in 2009 and 2010 need to be revised downward, and the deficits revised upward.

Look for the deficit for 2009 to cross $2 trillion.

*** end quote ***

I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t afford the Obama budget!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Poor Economy and the Gooferment

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2009/03/its-not-all-media-hype.html

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

It’s not all media hype

*** begin quote ***

Twice this past weekend I found myself talking to two men – separate conversations – who believe that the “economic crisis” is mostly media hype. “They’ve got to sell papers”, is what one of them told me.

I didn’t know what to say. As someone who’s fairly well convinced that we’re heading down and fast I didn’t know where to start. I simply let each of them say what they had in mind and walked on. I was shocked. I have no idea what these men do for a living, but I hope to God they’re right. I’m sure they’re wrong, but I hope they’re right.

Today the news is full of the “mini-budget” or emergency budget or whatever you want to call it coming at the end of the month. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for waiting a month – having been about 4 months late realizing how bad things are – but it’s lost to me. I can’t understand why they don’t just impose the tax hikes right now. What does the state gain from such a delay?

There’s a small part of me wondering if there isn’t something bigger being planned for the economy than 2c extra on the tax rates.

*** and ***

Comment

It’s bad, there’s no denying that – but there is an element of Chicken Littleism to the media reporting, the herd pack mentality running headlong off the cliff together. The media moves its focus in shifts, and now the hot story of the moment is the sky falling; you have to sift to get the nuance and balance that goes beyond the populist trend. So yeah, I’d agree that we aren’t getting a true picture of what is going on. The media is a populist beast.

Carrie

*** end quote ***

MY RESPONSE:

Well, there is a measure of truth to the “hype” argument. If you extract the financial firms from the indexes, the numbers don’t look absolutely terrible. It’s the options and derivatives that are putting downward pressure on the market. Where everyone of the experts really “stepped in it” imho is the failure to use bankruptcy as “medicine”. If they (the gooferment) had said “Sorry, corporations can use the Chapter 11 or one of the other options.”, then there would have been some immediate pain, but it would have been over. Quick and clean. The gooferment could have properly provided the bankruptcy judge with transitional financing assistance to the debtors taking over.

Bet there would have been a lot more serious consideration of the corporation’s options. After all, hard to be an executive if there’s nothing to be an executive up. THe law and implications are well understood.

AND, the market would have formed of “carrior eaters” who would “feast” on the “bones”. A tranche of mortgages would have gotten a quick proctology exam to determine what was good and what was toxic. Various vultures would have bid on the “remains”. The results would have been well-known.

The real estate bubble would have been popped and, while traumatic, it wouldn’t be in “limbo”. That’s why the Street is reacting badly. Uncertainty.

And the gooferment acts like they could NOT find their own A Double Q in a dark closet with a flashlight. This is like the Great Depression in that the gooferment interference in the marketplace is making the problem worse.

My fear is we are going to have a gooferment induced “Lost Decade” for the next 20 years. Like Japan.

Argh!

reinkefj 03.04.09 – 11:37 am

# # # # #

3 Visitors Online

Name:

Email:

URL:

Comment: ?

Notify me of followup comments via email

Commenting by HaloScan

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Drought is an excuse for more gooferment control

Sunday, March 1, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2737316820090228?sp=true

Calif. declares drought emergency, mulls rationing
Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:20pm EST
By Peter Henderson

*** begin quote ***

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 27 (Reuters) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.

*** end quote ***

Interesting the RINO’s response … gooferment force.

Not that a democrat’s response would have been different.

Interesting how water if treated as a commodity could be different.

Interesting how gooferment in the “water” business manages to be unable to supply consumer demand. (Doesn’t happen at McDonalds!)

How about metering usage and having new more expensive water. Privatize “water”. Eliminate the gooferment in any role concerning water; no law, regulations, or interest.

Put people in control. And, we’d have water galore. Maybe someone might even invent a way to store water to even out the droughts. Or, even make it!?!

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Eliminate the corporate income tax

Sunday, February 22, 2009

http://www.reason.com/news/show/131556.html  

Economic Change We Can Believe In
To improve the economy, eliminate the corporate income tax
Jeffrey A. Miron | February 6, 2009

*** begin quote ***

President Barack Obama’s stimulus proposal entails an awkward tradeoff between spending and efficiency. Fiscal stimulation suggests large, rapid increases in spending, while efficiency means cautious, modest increases. Similarly, Obama’s plan favors tax cuts for low-income families, since they are most likely to spend rather than save, yet the drive for efficiency means cutting marginal tax rates on high-income consumers.

*** and ***

One policy change, however, can stimulate both the economy in the short-run and enhance efficiency in the long-run: repeal of the corporate income tax, which collects up to 35% of the difference between revenues and costs of incorporated businesses.

*** and ***

Corporate income taxation has other negatives. It requires a complicated set of rules and regulations, over and above the personal income tax system, generating compliance costs. Special interests ensure that corporate tax systems favor specific industries or activities, further distorting private investment decisions. Along those lines, corporation taxation reduces financial transparency, making it harder for investors to monitor corporate behavior.

So repeal of the corporate income tax is good policy independent of the state of the economy and would provide short-run stimulus.

*** end quote ***

Corporations don’t pay taxes; they hide them in the final price of goods sold!

Only people pay taxes!

# # # # #

1 Comment | Political | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Tax increases in a recession?

Sunday, February 22, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/21/AR2009022100911_pf.html

Obama’s First Budget Seeks To Trim Deficit
Plan Would Cut War Spending, Increase Taxes on the Wealthy
By Lori Montgomery and Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 22, 2009; A01

*** begin quote ***

President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.

*** end quote ***

Companies don’t pay taxes; people do. So raising the corporate tax is essentially a tax increase for everyone; poor included.

Rich folks have the ability to defer income and shit it and even “coast”. Watch how revenues “fail to appear”!

Stupidity!

Ignores the lessons of Kennedy and Regan.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | ADMINISTRIVIA | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICIAL: Ron Paul on Bill Mahr simple and direct!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5lb0l3sYBo&eurl=http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025457.html&feature=player_embedded

Ron Paul rocks on Bill Mahr’s show!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political, Ron Paul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Abortion is genocide

Saturday, February 14, 2009

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87549

The George Bailey Effect
Posted: January 31, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
By Larry Burkett

Editor’s note: The late Larry Burkett, popular Christian financial counselor and author, penned this article in 1998. It is a compelling “response” to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent statement that the economy benefits from “family planning.” Joseph Slife contributed to this column.

*** begin quote ***

As the preceding evidence demonstrates, abortion is not simply a matter of private conscience, but of public concern. Abortion-on-demand has effects that are rippling throughout our society and could even threaten our future liberties.

This is why abortion, even if all moral arguments are totally discounted, cannot be ignored in framing public policy. Simply writing off abortion as a “moral” or a “religious” issue is a short-sighted approach that fails to reckon its economic and demographic consequences.

We can’t undo the past, of course. We can’t undo the fact that we have had 35 million George Baileys, people never born, people whose lives were never allowed to touch other lives. Indeed they have left an “awful hole.” But for the sake of our nation’s economic future and national security, as well as its moral character, we must resolve to promote from this time forward an ethic that is pro-family and pro-children. Only then can America continue to have a wonderful life.

*** end quote ***

When Pelosi and the Obama Democrat “liberals” advnace the pro-abortion agenda, everyone has to think of the “George Bailey” effect.

Have we aborted the future of America?

Like a self-imposed genocide.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: How does burdening future generations help us?

Friday, February 13, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/01/republicans_won.html

In the House Republicans’ meeting with Obama on January 27th, Maryland’s sole Republican Congressman, Roscoe Bartlett, said it best:

“Mr. President, I probably come at this from a slightly different perspective. I remember when FDR beat Hoover in 1932. So I remember the Great Depression very well. I don’t remember any of the many government programs affecting the course of the Depression. Government programs didn’t work then; I don’t know why we think they would work now. Mr. President, I think our obsessive borrowing has fully mortgaged my kids and my grandkids. Now we’re working on mortgaging my two great-grandkids. Mr. President, I think it’s more than a little bit selfish to try to solve our economic problems which we created by burdening future generations yet to be born.”

# – # – #

Sounds like this fellow should be Treasury Secretary!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Should economists be held accountable for their forecasts

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

“How much should economists be held accountable for their forecasts?  Should we view them the same as TV weather forecasters, where the public acknowledges that the science of forecasting can be highly unpredictable and therefore all predictions should be taken with a grain of salt? Or should economists be held to a higher standard? For instance, their forecasts often dictate how a state spends, or saves, its money. At what point should they face some kind of penalty for incorrectly predicting economic changes?”

What’s next? Holding politician’s accountable? Don’t make me laff!

The joke in college was that “you could lay all the economists end to end from here to the moon and never reach a conclusion”!

Sort of like the archeologist’s theory about a dead civilization. Or, a scientist’s assumption how the world began. Who cares? But the question of economics is really important to our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Economics is the dismal science. It tells us that there is NOT enough to go around. We have to share scarce resources. Make smart decisions. That there is no goose laying golden eggs.

So we have to have good economics. Good forecasts. Great ideas.

We have to hold them accountable. And, not just with the media driving it’s agenda.

Maybe we need “certified” forecasts. Where the economist bets a paycheck on that. Get it wrong and he has to become the WalMart greeter!

Same for politicians.

Barney Frank for his FannieMay and FreddieMac predictions, WalMart!

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: What is a dollar?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rajiva/rajiva12.html

Fiat Law and Fiat Currencies – the Relic of Barbarians
by Lila Rajiva

*** begin quote ***

The free market arose wherever there were laws and systems like that – whether in Europe or Africa or Asia. One way to think about this difference would be to see it as the difference between a fiat money, like paper, and a real store of value, like gold. You can print all the money you want, but if there’s nothing to back it up, then you’re in a bit of trouble. Your creditors are unlikely to put much store in you as a credit risk, just as the world’s wringing its hands today over the dollar. Pretty soon, they come calling for their loans with cudgels and pitchforks.

Gold does not have the same problem, because there’s a limited supply of it. It has to occur in nature. It has to be found somewhere underground and then mined and refined. It’s an expensive business – that takes risk, time, and money. There are costs attached to it that someone has to pay. Paper money, on the other hand, can be printed any time you want. Just ask Ben Bernanke. He’s dropping it by the helicopter load from the clouds.

*** end quote ***

They are “counterfeiting value” by printing more money electronically. It’s slight of hand. To understand, you have to understand the answer to the question: “What is a dollar?” and proceed from there.

The answer is it’s NOW an imaginary unit, backed by the belief that you can exchange a green peice of paper for something. A Keynesian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian) will never talk about what the definition of money is. An Austrian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_School) will insist that the pricing mechanism in the economy have commodity money. It USED to be tied to gold.

Sadly, as an Austrian, I think you are in for hard times. O is going to “finance” 2T$ in current spending. By monetizing it. A fancy word for counterfeiting. And, the value of the dollar is going down even further.

To understand, you have to go to Robinson Crusoe’s island, that economist’s use to simplify ideas. A fisherman, egg gatherer, and a fruit gatherer are on the island. (Magic; don’t ask questions yet!) They barter between themselves. After a while, 1 fish = 2 eggs = 4 coconuts. Due to the relative difficulty of effort. But the fisherman and fruit gatherer don’t deal directly. The egg gather is the middle man. Then a banker arrives. He creates money so that the Fisherman can deal directly with the Egg guy. He uses seashells. Then the value equation is 1 fish = 2 eggs = 4 coconuts = 8 seashells. The evil banker after a while introduces more seashells into circulation by spending them. So he get more stuff. Similarly through out the ages, the King (Government) seeks to enrich itself that way. When the currency is gold coins, it’s much harder. (I first learned this when I saw an exhibit at the Smithsonian of French Francs over time. The French Franc of Louis I was a gold hockey puck; Louis XIV’s was a very thin button. Inflation!) When the currency is pretty green pieces of paper, it’s much easier.

So there you have how O44 is goign to spend 2T$ that we don’t have.

Basically, it’s a “tax” on anyone who has a dollar or dollar denominated assets. By adding a “seashell”, the value of all the other seashells is adulterated. Watered down.

So who get’s screwed?

The Chinese have 5T$. There’s a lot of dollars out there. The poor and people on fixed incomes (i.e., the purchasing power of their few dollars goes down) get less for their money.

Who makes out?

The US Government mostly. People who have “valuable stuff”. Commodities, commodity producers, land owners, people who produce stuff that others want.

So that’s how O will spend what he ain’t got.

He’s betting that before the inflation comes, the economy will “restart” and we won’t notice. (Think LBJ and Carter!) It worked for Kennedy because he lowered taxes on the productive class and everyone was motivated to get to work. His quote was: “A rising tide raise all boats!”

Sadly, I don’t see O or his staff being that smart.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Probability lessons for weighing the odds

Monday, February 2, 2009

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article5446920.ece  

From The Times
January 5, 2009
Probability lessons may teach children how to weigh life’s odds and be winners
Professor wants ‘risk literacy’ on the curriculum Risk literacy could be taught as part of maths, science, or civics and personal and social education
Mark Henderson, Science Editor

*** begin quote ***

Professor Spiegelhalter’s four rules of risk, which he says everyone should know

* Stuff happens We cannot predict exactly how every precise event will turn out, but we can often predict the overall pattern of events surprisingly well

* Compare like with like If you want to show that speed cameras reduce road traffic accident rates, don’t just put them in places that have just had a run of accidents

* What am I not being told? This person may well have got better after she took this wonder treatment, but how many other people’s stories are not being featured?

* Twice not-very-much is still not very much Increasing a tiny risk may not be so important: almost everything interesting might help and it might also harm. The trick is working out the balance for you

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Smoot Hawley — the 2009 version?

Saturday, January 31, 2009

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090131/D9624PL00.html

Obama facing dilemma over protectionism in bill

Jan 31, 8:01 AM (ET)

By DESMOND BUTLER

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (AP) – Less than two weeks into office, President Barack Obama faces a dilemma over protectionist provisions in a massive economic stimulus bill: Backing the measures could set off a trade war, while opposing them could trigger a backlash from his supporters.

The choice involves “buy American” provisions attached to White House-backed stimulus legislation moving through Congress. They would require major public works projects to favor U.S. steel, iron and manufacturing over imports.

Some Democratic lawmakers and interest groups allied to the president support the measures, but international allies and trading partners are warning that favoring U.S. companies would breach U.S. trade commitments and could set off tit-for-tat countermeasures around the world.

*** end quote ***

What bunch of idiots we have in Congress.

Did anyone read about the Great Depression and Smoot Hawley?

The mere passage of that was the trigger that set off the Great Depression. That didn’t end until WW2.

How stupid are they?

Warm up the lines to the congress critters!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: O versus L? The typical false choice.

Friday, January 30, 2009

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18194_Page2.html  

Are you with Obama or Rush?
By JONATHAN MARTIN
1/29/09 8:00 PM EST
Updated: 1/30/09 4:37 AM EST

*** begin quote ***

Politico has learned that tomorrow Americans United for Change, a liberal group, will begin airing radio ads in three states Obama won — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada — with a tough question aimed at the GOP senators there: Will you side with Obama or Rush Limbaugh?

“Every Republican member of the House chose to take Rush Limbaugh’s advice,” says the narrator after playing the conservative talk radio giant’s declaration that he hopes Obama “fails.”

“Every Republican voted with Limbaugh — and against creating 4 million new American jobs. We can understand why a extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama’s Jobs program to fail — but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That’s another matter. Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate, and the question is: Will our Senator”—here the ad is tailored by state to name George Voinovich in Ohio, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, and John Ensign in Nevada—”side with Rush Limbaugh too?”

Asked to respond, Limbaugh had a message for his party.

“Senate Republicans need to understand this is not about me,” he wrote in an email. “It is about them, about intimidating them, especially after the show of unity in House. It is about the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is an opportunity for Republicans to redefine themselves after a few years of wandering aimlessly looking for a ‘brand’ and identity.”

*** and ***

Senate Republicans acknowledge that they’ll lose some of their members on the first vote.

“We’re in a little different spot than the House in that we have a handful of Republicans who have all but committed to supporting the package,” said a Senate GOP aide.

The aide declined to say who, but speculation on both sides of the aisle is centered on a group of northeasterners — Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Sen. Judd Gregg (NH) and Specter.

*** end quote ***

Everyone should be real clear. The “stimulus” bill is not about stimulus, jobs, or benefits for the “folks”.

It’s about socialism, pork spending, and making future voters for the democratic party.

Rahm told you that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

We’ve been hustled before — the Bush pre-rebate, the TARP, and now this!

And, the ad offers a false choice — O versus L?

I’m with neither.

The Republican Party NOW, when it’s out of power wants to “brand” itself as the party of smaller gooferment again. Where were they for eight years? We have the TSA, deficits, and out of control spending. All caused by a President who wouldn’t veto anything.

And, O wants to remake America on the basis of he “won” an election. Hey, guess what, more folks didn’t vote than voted. So you were elected by 28% to 24%. That should tell you that your plurality is very small.

More than half the Americans know they are getting screwed no matter which “side” won.

Not that there is much difference between EITHER “side”!

In this case, I am against the “gooferment enlargement” package.

You want to restart the economy. Shrink gooferment — Nuke the TSA, Kill whole gooferment department and agencies, stop the psuedo drug war, pardon all non-violent drug offenders, and return to normal. Cut the corporate tax to ZERO forever. It’s a sham; only real people pay taxes. Corporate taxes hide how much the gooferment is stealing from us.

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Economy needs Austrian solution!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/01/27/opinions/doc497f83d8ae815184216560.txt

DISPATCHES: Economy needs Keynesian solution
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 5:06 PM EST
By Hank Kalet, Online Editor

*** begin quote ***

   The mood of the nation may be changing.

   A nation that for nearly three decades bought into a conservative ideology that painted government as the enemy is embracing the return of federal intervention in the economy as necessary to repair the damage caused by years of neglect.

   Polling over the last month shows that about two thirds of Americans support an economic stimulus package weighted toward government spending while a majority of Americans now favor increased regulation of the financial industry.

*** end quote ***

Yeah, they want more gooferment regulation to fix the problem that the gooferment regulation created in the first place. Argh! Theres an incestuaous relationship between the congresscritters, the regulatory agencies, and the companie being regulated. Argh! Follow the moeny and campaign contributions! And, you expect it to change?

*** begin quote ***

   The credit crunch has resulted in “trillions missing from the economy,” he said. “Money is not moving, and the government is in a position to make money move.”

   Direct investment — in the form of road and bridge repairs, construction of a 21st-century electrical grid and expanded broadband access — will not only get people working again, but also leave the nation better off down the road.

   A little more than a third of the $825 billion stimulus package on the table in Washington is slated to go toward what some are calling “make-work” projects, which also include building schools and providing funding to help local and state governments, as well as homeowners, make their buildings more energy efficient.

   The package also includes significant aid to the states, an expansion of unemployment benefits and assistance with health care — all of which not only puts money back in the economy, but alleviates some of the economic pain being felt by average Americans.

*** end quote ***

YEAH, every social program that can be thrown in has been. Please don’t make me laugh. The socialists of the R’s and D’s are using this crisis — as politicians have throughout the ages — to justify more and bigger intrusions on our lives, our pocketbooks, and our essential liberties. Argh!

*** begin quote ***  

   Without the federal aid, it is likely states will need to slash their budgets, drastically in some cases, to meet constitutional requirements. New Jersey, for instance, requires that its state budget be in balance, meaning falling revenue must be addressed either by cutting taxes or spending cuts — neither of which makes sense at a time of severe recession.

*** end quote ***

NJ finances are a joke. The crooks in Trenton spend like there is no tomorrow. And, the taxpayers get stuck.

*** begin quote ***

   While many tie the New Deal — Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s package of programs meant to battle the Great Depression — as Keynesian, Dr. Reich reminds us it was “not until the U.S. entered World War II” that the nation implemented “Keynes’ idea on a scale necessary to pull the nation out of the doldrums.”

*** end quote ***

FDR had to lure, cajole, and almost force the Japanese into the attack on Perl Harbor. To end the Great Depression. And, we’re left with the illusion that FDR was a “good guy”.

*** begin quote ***

   These results — and the long economic expansion that followed — are evidence we need bold action; we must inject public money into the economy regardless of its impact on the deficit. Once the economy is rescued, we can start thinking about reining in the deficit.

*** end quote ***

No we need to have a revolution!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Pensions are at risk! (Updated)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-companies-face-409-billion-rb-13997269.html

U.S. companies face $409 billion pension deficit: study
    * Wednesday January 7, 2009, 5:35 pm EST

*** begin quote ***

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Volatile markets have saddled U.S. companies with a $409 billion deficit on pension plans, reversing a $60 billion surplus a year earlier, and will cut into earnings in 2009, consulting firm Mercer said.

*** end quote ***

Put aside the obviously corrupt Enron-type organizations like the State of New Jersey, GM (who wags call “a sick insurance company that happens to make cars”), and the other “captive of union contracts” companies, that make no pretension of even trying to honestlly fund their pension obligations.

This presents a problem for both companies and all of their pensioners. If the company doesn’t make money, the federal Pension Guaranty fund will eventually be saddled with it. Think the Delta pilots getting screwed.

(You weren’t still living in the illusionary world of the “gold watch” era. Were you? Where “companies” felt a moral obligation for the promises they made. Silly rabbit. That went down the drain with all the other ethos that made America great.)

So if you are owed a pension obligation, you better get vocal.

Better yet, like the Social Security Ponzi scheme, plan for it to not be there. It probably won’t!

Sad, but true.

You can only count on the gold coins in your back yard for your “retirement fund”. And then you have to pray you don’t get Alzheimer’s and forget where you buried them.

Argh!

# # # # #

John Celenza on Facebook commented: “But haven’t pensions always been at risk? Invested as they were in stock. duh.”

My response:

*** begin quote ***

No, there is risk. And there is gambling. Back in the “gold watch” era companies, like AT&T and IBM, incorporated subsidiaries whose whole job was to pay those pensions. (That prevented things like Delta pilots getting screwed.) They staffeded it with execs nearing retirement to watch the pot. And they took it as a moral obligation to pay those and fully funded them. In IBM’s case, I know they over funded them to be certain. I suspect AT&T did the same thing. Today, it’s completely different. It’s gambling.  Except where there is not even a pretense of doing the right thing, that’s just fraud. imho!

*** end quote ***

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

PLATFORMS: Windoze7 is on the horizon

Saturday, January 17, 2009

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/090108/

Will the Windows 7 RTM make an early entrance?

*** begin quote ***

The official release of Beta 1 of Windows 7 to the public is widely expected to occur next week. If all goes well with the remaining testing, indications are that the final, RTM (released to manufacturing) version will be available as early as August. Lending support to this theory is the fact that the end-user license agreement of Beta 1, like all recent prerelease versions of Windows 7, states that the software will expire Aug. 1, 2009.

*** end quote ***

With a tip of the hat to the folks at WINDOWSECRETS.COM … …

Why do I feel like I have seen this “morality play” before?

Because we have?

Now everyone will be urged to test and upgrade asap. Hardware won’t support it? It’s an Intel / Microsoft treadmill. Intel needs you to buy more hardware so Microsoft makes fatter OSes. Microsoft needs you to send them money so they need to inflate their OSes with more “features”.

For what?

To do websurfing, email, wp, spreadsheets, and some slides.

Ya gotta be kidding!

If your platform works — which for most home users it does — sit tight.

Windoze cruds up over time. Fact of life. So focus your energy in a “refresh”.

Or move to Linux. With free software.

And. get off the treadmill entirely. It’s not taking you anywhere you want to go. Except to spending more money.

Computing should now be a commodity.

A very cheap one.

imho

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | PLATFORMS | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Ron Paul on Obama’s “Trillion Deficits for years to come”

Friday, January 16, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUQo5QQSlys&eurl=http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/024759.html&feature=player_embedded

Guess this is the “change” we were promised?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Despise Health Insurance Companies? Just wait!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

http://distributedrepublic.net/archives/2008/12/23/simple-indeed-or-the-audacity-cluelessness

Simple Indeed, or The Audacity of Cluelessness
Submitted by Brandon Berg on Tue, 2008-12-23 21:52

*** begin quote ***

The International Herald Tribune showcases the astonishing cluelessness of people who are presumably among the best and brightest of Obama’s supporters:

   When a dozen consumers gathered over the weekend to discuss health care at the behest of President-elect Barack Obama, they quickly agreed on one point: they despise health insurance companies.

   They also agreed that health care was a right; that insurance should cover “everything,” not just some services; and that coverage should be readily available from the government, as well as from employers.

   “We have to keep the momentum going,” said Hijane, 34, who was a volunteer in the Obama campaign and is active in women’s health advocacy. “We are not lobbyists. We are simple citizens.”

*** end quote ***

Get ready for national health care. Delays, Higher Costs, Rationing, and … … yes, sadly, deaths.

That’s what happens when the Socialists take over.

Sigh.

Need a new category … STUPIDITY!

Anyone want to start an insurance company? No. Me neither!

# # # # #

1 Comment | Political | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Judge Green’s Bell breakup did more than ruin people’s lives.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

FROM LINKEDIN

News Discussion: AT&T Alumni
Does the AT&T Break UP Still Matter? – NYTimes.com
From: New York Times | December 19, 2008

*** begin quote ***

   When AT&T grudgingly agreed to break itself up 25 years ago, it was seen as a truly momentous event in the history of the teleco Read more at New York Times »

*** end quote ***

Gene Russell
   * This article was submitted on December 19, 2008 at 09:00 AM PST

*** begin quote ***

I wrote the marketing and financial sections of the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph “Evaluation of Post Divestiture Provision of Customer Premises Equipment” Business Plan while on Jim Moberg’s team reporting to Sam Ginn. Ultimately many of Judge Green’s rules and regulations destroyed a lot of business strength and growth opportunities. For example the newly minted baby Bells were prohibited from manufacturing telephone equipment i.e. CPE. Ultimately we went off shore and created an intense stream of jobs to go away. We went to LG in Korea, some minor players in Hong Kong and ultimately to China. This lightly written and short article needs a much more serious study and review of all aspects of the break up, the restrictive rules imposed by a Judge without a business background. Many people speak about the break up in terms of their personal experience with their phone and phone service. The deeper industrial and corporate wastage and inefficiencies need to be given serous academic review. PhD proposal anyone?

By Gene Russell President and CEO

*** end quote ***

I know first hand the personal disruption this caused. Family and friends were hurt. I landed on my feet. In some ways, much better off. However, those friends and family never recovered. My mom was forced out after 45 years. She was expecting to work for another 5 years. They did give her 2 years pay. But, she was “her job” and never recovered. My friend was bounced around, ill-treated in the spin outs, and basically tossed. He was out for several years trying to find a slot. There went his “retirement”.

As a country, having been at the Labs a few times, that was the country’s crown jewel. That was nuked.

Western Electric, the manufacturing arm, was nuked as well.

A tremendous cost in people, hardware, and potential.

Down the drain by a bureaucrat in a funny dress.

Argh!

Collective stupidity.

Supposedly to save money?

I just shake my head.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GOLD: Demonstrating the eternal value of commodity money

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7797977.stm

*** begin quote ***

An amateur British archaeologist has discovered almost 300 gold coins dating from the 7th Century at a dig just outside Jerusalem’s Old City.

*** end quote ***

Wonder how much a paper IOU from the then Byzantine Emperor Heraclius would be worth today?

# # # # #

1 Comment | GOLDBUG | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Gooferment bailouts mere prolong the inevitable

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker115.html

The End of the US Piano Industry by Jeffrey A. Tucker

*** begin quote ***

Today government is even more arrogant and absurd, and it actually believes that by passing legislation it can save the US car industry. It can subsidize and pay for uneconomic activities, and pay ever more every year. The government can also pay millions of people to make mud pies because mud pies are deemed to be an essential industry. You can do this, but at what cost and what could possibly be the point? Eventually, even the government will have to accord itself to the reality that economics reminds us of on a daily basis.

*** end quote ***

It’s hard to envision a sadder time in American History.

The gooferment bailing out the UAW union.

That’s what this is all about.

The unions wield enormous political power.

And, like a parasite, they eventually kill their hosts.

Look at the Teacher’s Union and education. The ports with their union. The railroads with their union. Government workers and their unions.

And, don’t make the mistake that the Union is looking out for its members.

Sure, they do from time to time, but that’s to preserve the illusion.

Example, State of New Jersey hasn’t contributed to the pension plan for several administration. It’s under funded by 3T$. Think the Union has grabbed the politicians by their privates and insisted. No, they are all in bed together.

Example, UAW hasn’t insisted that Automakers align the executive’s interest with the worker’s. It’s a scandal that a CEO makes more than the line worker in salary. CEO’s shouldn’t make more than a 1$/year anytime. Give them stock options that vest in 5 year increments (i.e., 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, …). Then stand out of the way as the thinking shifts to long term value.

Example, the Delta bankruptcy screwed all the retired pilots. Hear anything about that?

Unions are an institution that needs to be reinvented.

Where’s my “union” for bloggers?

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: Leaders empower their people

Thursday, December 18, 2008

http://execunet.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-email-of-day-award.html  

Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Best Email of the Day Award

*** begin quote ***

…Goes to Peter Clayton, producer/host of Total Picture Radio. It needs no further commentary from me as it eloquently speaks for itself. Good on ‘ya Peter.

“Capital goes where it’s welcome and stays where it’s well treated.” Walter B. Wriston

Dear Dave,

When “The Citi Never Sleeps” ad campaign was first launched in 1978, Walter Wriston was running the place, and the motto had real meaning. Wriston was highly regarded, as was the institution he lead. Citibank / Citicorp was a cherished brand by its employees and a respected competitor in the financial services industry. Citibank had a unique, authentic, brand identity

*** and ***

According to David, “82% of shareholder value is intangible.” According to John, one-third of all shareholder value is attributed to “brand.
“So here’s an idea I’d like your help with: If we could find 24,000 Citibank employees willing to donate $10 each into a fund to “keep the trains running,” it might give the employees of this beleaguered institution something to be proud of, and smile about. I bet through Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, and Facebook we could mobilize enough Citibankers to take up the cause. Next year, the Holiday Trains at Citigroup Center exhibit could be “In memory of Walter B. Wriston.” The fund could be set-up as an old-fashioned “Christmas Savings Account.”
*** end quote ***

Dave always finds the great challenging ideas. Worth every nickel of my free RSS subscription.
It is clear that the current crop of “leaders” isn’t worth the power to blow them over. Poof! They’re gone. Gone; absconding with the salary, bonus, options, perks, and benefits. (I laffed at the Ford guy taking a $1/year! If the Congress MYOBed and Ford had to do Chapter 11, he could wave “bye” to his stock and options.)
It’s sad that “leaders” are so dishonest.
The time of large corporations is so OVER!
# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Productivity | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »