When Greed Isn’t Good
I’m not sure whether to be worried or not, but I found myself agreeing with Mike Huckabee this week. For a man who thinks the planet was created last week, he’s remarkably astute about the stimulus package both parties are currently flogging.
The Huckster hit the nail on the head when he said that we’ll go hat-in-hand to China and borrow the money to fund the tax rebates. The folks who qualify for the rebates will then spend it on something frivolous, like food or clothing. They’ll run down to the local Walmart and buy Chinese-made underwear or toxin-laced tomatoes.
Simply Stimulating
The plan has other “stimulating” facets too. While the bipartisan boneheads are throwing a sop to the lower income segment, they’re also making sure corporations get a big chunk of the pie. These would be the same corporations that loaned money to people using oxygen for collateral, or that have moved all their production to China, or both.
The mortgage meltdown was obvious to anyone who ever balanced a checkbook long before the astronomically paid investment bankers and their equally greased clientele woke up to it. Somehow they missed the Economics 101 lecture about the inadvisability of loaning money to people who can’t pay it back. And while the saga unfolded, the C-student from Yale stood by not only insisting that things were just fine, but refusing to regulate a market completely unwilling to regulate itself. At least Alan Greenspan, had the good manners to call the equally unregulated Clinton markets “irrationally exuberant”.
In their bipartisan zeal to buy votes with $600 rebates and corporate welfare, our economic establishment is continuing to miss the boat. We continue to sell everything that isn’t nailed down to other countries and continue to lose high-paying jobs to those same countries or their outsourcing subsidiaries. Then, we crow about all the burger-flipping careers we’ve created. And now, we’re borrowing their money to give back to them with a hefty markup. It’s no wonder the rest of the world looks at us like a gaggle of drunken sailors loading up on cheap hookers and grog before the next cruise. ATTENTION SAILORS! NO PAYMENTS UNTIL 2009!
Greed is Good…Sometimes
By and large capitalism is a good thing, but it’s guiding principle is greed. As Gordon Gecko said, “greed is good“, but only to a point. I firmly believe in as little regulation as possible and I have nothing against companies making money - it is, after all, what they do. But when an industry fails to regulate itself and their poor judgment threatens to suck the rest of us down the hole with them, it’s time to be the adult and slap the little shits silly in order to gain control of their “irrationally exuberant” behavior.
Clearly our current Daddy-in-Chief isn’t going to do it. He’s the most irrational and exuberant of the bunch. The pusillanimous Congress sure isn’t doing it, or anything else for the matter. The gaggle of candidates aren’t showing any sign they’ll do it either. Hell, even the countries who own everything except our crap-stained skivvies aren’t doing it. Everyone just keeps borrowing money from each other even though they know there’s no way anyone can pay it back.
Hey, that sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?
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January 27th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
The left continues with this bullshit that all the good paying jobs are sent overseas, yet we have this article I posted the other day:
“And, in a bad sign for the United States and its declining economic might, that shortage of skilled workers is likely to get worse as Baby Boomers retire — with no younger generation of manufacturin g workers to take the baton.
“Our workforce is an aging workforce,” said Chief Executive Jeff Kelly, whose father founded Hamill nearly 60 years ago. “There isn’t a queue of people lining up to come into the industry.”
Some 20 percent of small to medium-sized manufacturer s — those with up to 2,000 workers — cited retaining or training employees as their No. 1 concern, according to a survey by the National Association of Manufacturer s. The survey was carried out in 2007 but has not been published yet.
A separate study in 2005, the latest available, said 90 percent of manufacturer s are suffering a moderate to severe shortage of qualified workers.”
From here:
http://www.r euters.com/a rticle/inDep thNews/idUSN 016189812008 0121?feedTyp e=RSS&feedNa me=inDepthNe ws
It is seems more likely that the “shipping of middle class jobs overseas” is because of the lack of Americans willing to do these jobs.
The story goes on with this:
“The irony is we pay very well, we have good benefits, we have job security and most of the companies that have survived the manufacturin g recession at the early part of this decade can’t find enough skilled workers,” Kelly said.
A typical manufacturin g job pays about $60,000 a year, according to manufacturin g industry figures, a premium of about 25 percent to the service industries.
At Hamill, a general machinist will start at $9 an hour, rising to $14.50 an hour after training, and going up to the mid to high twenties for senior machinists, who can earn nearly $70,000 a year.
But that is not enough to attract younger workers into manufacturin g, a sector that has suffered a bad rap over the years with layoffs in well-known companies such as the big three U.S. automakers.
“Too few young people consider manufacturin g careers and often are unaware of the skills needed in an advanced environment, ” the U.S. Labor department wrote in a study on the issue.”
These aren’t jobs at walmart or micky d’s.
If you own a factory and cannot get skilled workers even for a good wage, what are you alternatives ?
One of those will be to look overseas.
There is no shortage of “good” jobs in America. Just a shortage of people that want to work.
As far as having to borrow the money for the stimulus, why not cut some of the “bridges to nowhere” our government continues to waste money on? If the grass roots people of both parties would focus in on the waste and fraud in government, we could have permanent tax cuts that would require no borrowing.
I’ll bet a bipartisan group of average people could look at the federal budget and come up with 3 times the 150 bil. in savings in about 30 min. The pols want people to focus in myths like disappearing jobs, and supposed health care crises to avert attention from the massive amounts they waste every day.
We would not have to sell bonds if the government would learn to live within their means.
3 trillion dollars of means.
We the people need to quit with the partisan bickering and come together on this issue. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.
January 27th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
The link in the above post did not work. Try this one:
http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSN0161898120080121?feedType=RSS&feedName=inDepthNews
January 27th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Imagine if the money was used to start individual retirement accounts!!! OH THE HORROR!!!!
January 27th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
4th deadly sin - greed
Imagine if the money was used to start individual retirement accounts!!! OH THE HORROR!!!!
Actually is the administrations ( and anyone else who believe in the package) worst nightmare. But then this country has been discouraging savings for years. What does your bank offer for interest on savings account?
The only thing i would recommend is an extension of unemployment insurance. So that what I told my senators.
January 27th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Hey, that sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?
“That sound you hear out there is reality knocking on the door. It has been standing out in the cold for a long time and it is not happy with us”. - Jim Kunstler
January 27th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Etrade savings account rate: 4.40%
Here is another list Chris.
I plan on throwing the money into one of these… if I get any that is.
High savings account rates are not hard to find.
January 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
That is good. However if you do not bank online citibank is 3.75
and B of A
Pricing
Minimum Balance Monthly Maintenance Fee
$300 per day None
An automatic monthly transfer from a Bank of America checking account of $25 or more None
Less than $300 per day or no automatic monthly transfer of $25 or more from savings $5
Withdrawals Excess Withdrawal Fee
3 or fewer per month None
More than 3 per month if minimum balance less than $2,500 $3 per withdrawal
More than 3 per month if minimum balance is at least $2,500 None
Interest rates
Interest is compounded daily and paid monthly.
Regular Savings Interest Rate APY *
All Balances 0.20% 0.20%
January 28th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
wonder what the current vice president is investing in? I know, and you folks ain’t even close. suckers!