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Well, it took the addition of tons of “sweetened pork” but the bailout bill finally passed. The economy should be turning around right? Not so fast. My stocks and IRAs are still going down faster than (man I’m too old for these high school jokes)
So why aren’t things being fixed? Perhaps it’s because the bailout won’t really fix the economy.
It seems to me that the only people willing to sell off all their assets to the government at a loss are those with shitty assets. Most people who have mortgages are still paying them, so it doesn’t make much sense to sell that revenue to the government for less than it’s worth.
The people that aren’t paying mortgages still have houses. Those houses still have value (albeit not as much value as they did 5 years ago) If the bank can repossess a house and sell it for $100,000 (down from it’s original $150,000 value) they’re going to do that before they sell it to the governement for say, $70,000.
It just makes sense. As long as their assets have value, a company is going to try to get value out of it before accepting bailout money. That means, nothing is really going to change.
So who will take the bailout funds? Companies whose assets aren’t really worth anything. In other words, all the government is going to end up buying is a bunch of useless crap that they will never be able to recoup any value on. The only people this is going to benefit are the banks and investment firms who want to unload a bunch of unprofitable investments. They’re going to unload them onto the government, who will buy them with our money.
Congratulations you now own part of the Brooklyn Bridge.
In a way, that’s good. Letting the government own a large proportion of property in the country only puts us one step closer to a system like the one in place in China. Do you really want to rent your house from the government?
Another reason banks may not take the bailout is because it puts limits on golden parachutes and CEO pay. Now, I for one think that if you run your company into the ground you shouldn’t be paid at all – but unfortunately I don’t sit on the boards of any companies.
Quite simply, the same people voting whether or not to take the buyout are the very same people who would see decreased salary if they took it. Which way do you think they’re going to vote?
I’m not alone on this either. It’s obvious that many other Americans noticed this – and tried to tell their congressmen. So many in fact, that the House disabled all email from constituents. They didn’t have time to care about what we thought.
But hey, at least we got rid of that $0.39 tax on wooden arrows for boy scouts.
October 6th, 2008
With election season now in full swing and tonight’s vice presidential debate looming, it’s time we take a look at what else to expect this month.
Historically, October surprises have shaped many past elections. In the past we’ve seen Saddam Hussein found guilty right before mid term congress elections, George Bush’s drunk driving arrest before presidential elections, and even Foley’s scandal was right before an election.
The most famous though, was when George HW Bush and Reagan’s campaign manager convinced Iran not to release American hostages prior to the 1980 election. If I remember correctly, we paid them with aircraft tires.
So what will happen this October? Historically all of the surprises happen in favor of the party that needs the biggest boost. According to current polls, that’s the McCain camp. So let’s speculate:
1.) Bristol Palin will get married and it will be a highly publicized event with almost every major republican player present. This will happen within 1 to 2 weeks of the election, in an attempt to make it all memorable to everybody as they head to the polls.
2.) We’ll see another appearance from Osama Bin Laden. Many politicians (including John Kerry) seem to think that Bin Laden’s last October speech was all it took to cost Kerry the white house.
3.) Bush will make a major announcement regarding the war in Iraq. Newspapers have already reported that he delayed bringing some troops home for a time that would be more beneficial to McCain, but look for him to do something else drastic to shape public opinion.
Those are my “most likely to happens” Not only do I expect all of this to happen, but I also expect at least 1 or 2 more surprises.
What do you think will happen?
October 2nd, 2008
Last night’s debate was close. The polls have 40% of undecided voters saying Obama was the winner, 20% saying McCain, and the other 40% undecided still.
It was clear from the start that McCain didn’t want to be there. He refused to look at Obama, and appeared angry most of the night.
Obama also appeared mad later in the debate.
Obama’s anger was probably in relation to McCain sidestepping a lot of the questions. McCain would often rant about something that didn’t actually relate to the question he was being asked.
I’m shocked that Obama didn’t actually attack McCain at one of his weakest moments though. At one point McCain mentioned fighting pork barrel spending and used the bear program in Washington as an example. Perhaps Obama wasn’t aware, but McCain actually voted FOR this spending, and I’d have loved to see Obama call him out on it.
I would have liked to see some 3rd party candidates there, but I guess they’re just being realistic.
I knew McCain was going to pull his POW card too, I just thought he’d play it more.
September 27th, 2008
John McCain’s decision to not participate in the debate has nothing to do with the current financial crisis or anything going on in congress. Given McCain’s voting record (least of anybody, ever) it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t give a shit about bills going on. Hell, he didn’t even vote on any of the bills that he’s using in his current TV commercials as examples of pork barrel spending that he stopped.
McCain knows that any debate he or Palin participate in can only hurt their campaign. Seriously.
The majority of McCain supporters fall into 2 categories: Republicans who always vote republican, and people who are only supporting McCain because he’s not Obama.
There’s no changing the minds of that first category. They’re going to vote republican because they’ve always done so and that’s that. McCain could fellate a puppy on national television and they’d still support him.
The second group however isn’t so tied to him. Some of them are racists, some of them have fallen for the lies of his TV campaign, and a large majority of them still think Obama is a Muslim. They just aren’t familiar with him.
It’s obvious from his past appearances that McCain isn’t as good of a debater as Obama. When faced with a tough question, McCain often goes back to his “when I was a POW” story and completely sidesteps it. When asked with a policy question, such as “should health care cover birth control?” he often answers with “I’ll have my people get back to you.”
That’s why the Republican party announced last month that all interviews had to be approved. They wanted to make sure they were lobbing softball questions that they had prepared for.
In a debate, you can ask anything, and saying “I’ll get back to you” just won’t fly.
McCain isn’t ready to debate. There’s no way he can win a debate with Obama and he knows that.
Sure, there will be public backlash against him for not debating, but that won’t steer voters away from him.
Looking like a stumbling fool on TV as he can’t answer any tough questions thrown at him – could cost him his campaign.
Look for him to find other reasons not to debate, or sidestep them all entirely.
September 25th, 2008
Wow, It’s only 1:00 and it’s already been a great day.
Matt Millen was fired, Todd Jones retired, and Clay Aiken announced that he’s gay.
What’s next? John McCain announces that he’s giving up his presidential candidacy to Ron Paul?
September 24th, 2008
My job is over 50% talking. Most of my day is spent talking to various people about websites, advertising, SEO, and all that fun stuff. I’m not complaining about it, but I’m starting to wonder why we keep using the phone.
Why not just email?
I’m about twice as productive via email as I am on the phone, and I think there’s a few reasons for that.
1.) I never attend to email when it would interrupt something productive (like a phone call often does)
2.) I don’t have to take notes when you email me something, nor do I have to remember it. It’s still in my inbox.
3.) When people send email they’re concise and stick to the topic. There’s no need for this “how was your weekend” crap. I can’t remember the last time somebody honestly cared about my weekend.
4.) You don’t hear my cat screaming in the background.
I like email, I don’t like the phone.
Strangely enough, I’d still prefer a phone call to texting – as all the productivity gain is sucked away by the time spent typing my message on my phone keypad.
September 22nd, 2008
Thanks to my cat not wanting to take her flea medicine, I now have a new piercing: in my finger.
Her two fangs actually touched inside my finger.
I think she hit a nerve or something, because I still can’t use the finger.
Here’s a picture:
September 22nd, 2008
I just wrote the next part of the installment, but it’s only on shoutwire for now – so if you want to read it you’ve got to go there.
Again, if you want to share your fast food stories, please post them in the comments of this post
September 19th, 2008
Looking at the recent presidential polls, it looks like a very close race. Follow the betting odds and contributions though, and this race is swinging highly toward Obama.
How is that?
It’s the polls. Most polls are done via land line telephone. They simply don’t include mobile phone numbers.
That might sound all OK and fine, but according to the latest Nielsen study up to 17% of American households don’t have landline phones.
That number is up 8% from last year, and Nielsen expects it to rise to 20% by early 2009.
Looking at the wireless only families, one sees that they have an average income of around $40,000, live in one or 2 person families, and have recently moved or changed jobs.
Are they poor? Nope, they’re young people. This 17% is almost entirely made up of 18-25 year olds.
That’s a significant demographic of people that standard telephone polls just aren’t reaching, and it’s certainly something to keep in mind whenever looking at the next Harris poll.
September 18th, 2008
Almost a year ago I wrote a post that was called the 10 minute interview in which I talked about my method of hiring fast food employees and how it can be adapted to other professions.
I realized that these 4 questions don’t only serve as a great interview guide, but they also remind me of some very interesting stories. So, I’d like to take some time and share those stories. We’re going to start with question 1: http://crochet247.com/tag/summer-scarf/ Tell me about the worst customer you’ve ever had to deal with.
It was Wednesday, and I was working the morning shift (7am to 5pm.) I had just finished collecting the money from the registers and was preparing a bank deposit when there was a knock at the office door. Opening the door I saw my cashier standing there with a crisp new $100 bill.
“Can you make change for the lady at the counter?” she said, handing me the bill.
I said “Sure, no problem” as I grabbed 5 20’s off of my desk and locked the door behind me.
As I got to the counter, I noticed my store was nearly empty. There was a family near the back sitting at a table, and one single lady busy holding down my counter.
I walked up to her and said “were you waiting on some change?” but she simply gave me a blank stare.
All of a sudden, the lady in the back of the restaurant came charging up to the counter saying “that’s my money, why did you assume it was hers?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I was told the lady at the counter, and this was the only lady at the counter. Here’s your change.” as I held out the stack of $20 bills.
She didn’t take it. Instead, her scowl embiggened and she repeated (only louder) “Why did you assume it was her $100 bill?”
Again, I repeated “I’m sorry, I was told to make change for the lady at the counter, and there was only one lady at the counter.”
“No, that’s not what you assumed,” she said. “You assumed that because I was black that I couldn’t have a $100 bill, so you thought it was the white lady’s. You’re just a racist.”
Somehow managing to restrain my laughter I once again said “No Ma’am, I simply thought that somebody waiting for $100 wouldn’t get up and walk away. Here’s your change” and I held it out for her again.
Still, she didn’t take it.
“I don’t need to sit here and be mistreated because of my skin color. You think that black people can’t have any money, that we’re all on welfare don’t you you little prick? I don’t have to take this shit from an ignorant racist like yourself.”
At this point her food was being placed on the tray in front of her and her kids were starting to pick at the food.
“You’re right, Ma’am” I said. “And I don’t have to sit here and be insulted by a customer either.”
“Here’s your $100 bill back,” I announced as I placed it on the counter and proceeded to dump her tray of food into the trash can. “We’re not going to serve you. Have a great day.”
This pissed her off even more. She started calling me every name in the book, at which point I simply told my cashier to help the next customer and went about my job without acknowledging her.
My non-responsiveness wasn’t enough, and she took out her cell phone and dialed 911. I couldn’t restrain my laughter this time as I heard her telling the officer that she was being racially discriminated against.
Shockingly, within the next 20 minutes two policemen actually showed up. When they walked into the door the lady flagged them down. Before heading over to them though, I noticed that the one officer whispered something to the other.
That’s when he went over to the lady and spoke to her. About 20 seconds later they were placing her in handcuffs and exiting the store.
Laughing hysterically I asked one of the officer’s what was going on.
“is she the one that called us?” he said.
“yup, why?”
“well, she’s got felony warrants out for her arrest. We recognized her as soon as we walked in. I can’t believe she actually called us.”
That was the end of that. At least she managed to take her $100 off the counter before going to jail. She probably needed it for bail.
September 17th, 2008
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