I hate repeating myself, but for the sake of blogging about something, I am going to have to repeat myself….again. However, for short, it’s just more of this here.
But for those of us, who want a longer version of the story; I give you this:
When you print more money, you devalue currency, and when you devalue currency, the price of everything goes up. This, in turn, causes employers to have to pay for more everything, and this also causes them to look at their bottom line. This is the vicious cycle of inflation. Which is caused by a fiat currency, which is not backed by Gold. I said this on my old blog, a million times back when Obama was being elected and afterwards.
So, here we have the story about August unemployment numbers being bad. Again, as I report this, remember what I said above:
New Gallup unemployment data suggest an increase in the government’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August when it is reported on Friday, Sept. 7. During recent months, Gallup’s measurements have been more optimistic than those of the BLS. Barring a sharp reversal in this relationship, the government’s unadjusted unemployment rate might be expected to stay the same or increase in August.
Gallup’s Daily tracking of the unemployment situation is based on interviews with more than 30,000 adults over the 30 days ending Aug. 15, and shows essentially no change in the unadjusted unemployment rate at 8.3% compared to 8.2% in July. In turn, this suggests that the government’s unadjusted unemployment rate could increase to 8.7% in July from 8.6% in June. The government’s measurement of the unadjusted unemployment rate has been known to differ with Gallup’s findings, but a drop of 0.3% in July is necessary to bring the government’s unadjusted rate down to Gallup levels.
More interestingly, there were no BLS seasonal adjustments in August 2011. If this remains the same in 2012, the Gallup seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August would be 8.3% while that of the BLS would be 8.7%, assuming a similar increase to that shown in the Gallup data. Further, Gallup’s data show the labor force participation rate to be increasing in August. In turn, that could have an additional negative impact on the unemployment rate for August if the government’s data show a similar pattern.
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Trying to guess the U.S. unemployment rate has been a thankless task in 2012, even using Gallup’s 30,000 interviews as a basis for estimation — even worse than trying to guess the results of the government’s establishment survey. However, like ADP’s (Automatic Data Processing) estimates of the establishment survey results, Gallup’s numbers have been close to the household survey results much of the time.
Regardless, barring heroic adjustments or a sharp change in direction, Gallup data suggest the seasonally adjusted U.S. unemployment rate for August will increase — possibly substantially — when announced in early September.
So, if you cannot find a job, this is why: Employers are having to look at their bottom lines. They have to take in account for the fact that they have to pay for supplies, taxes, insurance, and equipment; this does not leave much left over for extra employees. This is not rocket science my friends; this is textbook small business administration. It is too bad that progressives, Democrats and the Obama Administration simply do not seem to understand this concept.
I was going to try avoid writing about this, but I am seeing some rather silly stuff being written about this win; So, I thought I would offer my thoughts as a former Democratic Party voter. Update:Greg Sargent over at The Washington Post hits the post a bit, but fails, as most progressives do; to see the full picture.
Putting it plain and simple, The Democrats in Wisconsin picked a fight that they could not win. — They were outspent, out-organized, and out-boxed; the Democrats had zero chance of winning this recall election at all. But yet, they still decided to fight for a recall election. They should have taken their cues from Michigan and left well enough alone. The Democrats in Michigan tried unsuccessfully to get Governor Snyder recalled here twice and both times they failed horribly. This is because residents of Michigan knew that the former Governor of Michigan was a incompetent moron who could not Govern worth a damn and they did not want a Democrat back in office again. Thus, the Democrats wisely dropped the issue and decided to try and win the 2012 election. Wisconsin should have followed their lead, but they did not and decided to try and force their hand and failed.
Walker crushed his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the political money wars. The governor raised $30.5 million while Barrett pulled in $3.9 million—a nearly 8-to-1 advantage in candidate fundraising. Walker banked on in- and out-of-state donors, including heavyweight GOP contributors such as Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Amway heir Dick Devos. Walker was able to raise so much money because of a quirk in state law that lets candidates potentially facing a recall raise unlimited funds for their defense. (The normal limit for individual donors in $10,000.) Barrett did not get to raise unlimited funds in his recall campaign—which placed him at a great disadvantage.
All that money helped Walker pound Barrett in the ad wars. An analysis by Hotline On Call found that Walker and his GOP allies outspent Barrett and his backers 3-to-1 on TV ad buys in the three months before Tuesday’s recall. The dark-money-peddling Republican Governors Association itself spent $9.4 million to keep Walker in office.
Just as the political money advantage proved crucial to labor’s win last year in repealing Ohio’s anti-union SB 5 law, campaign cash appears to have played a pivotal role in the GOP’s Wisconsin wins .
2) The Candidate
Filing nearly one million signatures to trigger a recall election, Democrats and union leaders and members had their sights trained on the governor. The recall election’s Democratic primary forced them to take their eyes off the prize. A primary fight between Barrett and former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk splintered the labor movement. The major unions endorsed Falk early on, sometimes over the opposition of their own rank-and-file. Several other unions held out until late March, when Barrett entered the race, and then endorsed the mayor. This primary drama knocked the anti-Walker effort off course for weeks, if not a month, in a race where every single day counts. It divided a unified movement into Barrett supporters and Falk supporters.
3) No New Ground
Democrats and labor unions touted their massive get-out-the-vote operation, which was supposed to tip the scales in their favor. Turn-out was way up in the elections, at 2.4 million, but the left failed to win over the types of people who elected Walker in 2010. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelnotes, Walker’s Tuesday win is a mirror image of his 2010 victory—just with more voters. He won men and lost women; won independents and lost moderates; and won suburban and rural voters but not urban voters.
More notably, Walker won 38 percent of votes from union households—an increase of 1 percent from 2010. Remember, union members or their spouses didn’t know in 2012 that Walker planned to target them after the election with his anti-union “budget repair” bill curbing collective bargaining rights. Yet 16 months after Walker launched his attack on unions, just as many people in union households voted for him. The unions failed to rally their own ranks.
My thoughts on the Unions — One of the main reasons why the unions failed; not because of a lack of members or money. The unions failed because for the following:
They over played their hand, by storming the capital building and occupying it. This made them look like total buffoons in the eyes of the people, not mention the heavy handed tactics that were on par with communist gulags.
The second reason is a rather simple one; not all union members are on board with the progressive movement, just because someone has a union card, does not necessarily make him a Democrat. Some union members are free thinkers and some of them resent being culled in together with the socialist crowd.
The last reason is this; some union members are just not happy with the Democratic Party and with Obama. I believe Obama fatigue played a big part in the loss in Wisconsin. I believe it will also play out in November as well.
Needless to say, Scott Walker won big and the Unions and Democrats lost big. The results of this will be far-reaching and the Democrats in Wisconsin would be wise to lay low and try to hang on in 2012. But if they do not, they should learn the lessons of the massive over-reach that took place in Wisconsin and with the Democratic Party as a whole. However, knowing Democrats like I do; they will not learn a thing from this.
The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in February vs. expectations for 206,000, continuing a recent trend of decent hiring activity. The unemployment rate held at 8.3%.
But America remains mired in the longest jobs recession since the Great Depression. It’s been 49 months since the U.S. hit peak employment in January 2008. And with nonfarm payrolls still 5.33 million below their old high, the jobs slump will continue for several more years.
The previous jobs recession record — 47 months — came during and after the comparatively mild 2001 recession, which saw unemployment climb to only 6.3%. The average job recovery time since 1980 is 29 months, not including the current slump.
The labor market won’t truly return to health until some 10 million positions are created to rehire all those who lost their jobs and to absorb new workers.
The longest jobs recession in decades coincides, not coincidentally, with the longest stretch of anemic economic performance on record.
U.S. gross domestic profit hasn’t risen 4% or more in any quarter since the first quarter of 2006. That’s by far the longest such stretch on record going back to 1950. The only other sizable sub-par stretch was a three-year span from late 2000 to mid-2003 during the prior recession and sluggish recovery.
I would advise you to go read the rest of that report, as it is quite a depressing read. Ace over at Ace of Spades HQ likes to call it DOOM. I simply look at it as grim reality. This reality was created by the Democrats, who sought to game the system during a time of prosperity. This should be a textbook example of why wealth redistribution simply does not work. Instead, the Democrats will use this as an excuse to try to push their green energy polices and why we all should have healthcare, at the taxpayer’s expense. All the while painting Republicans as racist, money grubbing, thugs who wish to keep the poor, black and disabled down.
Arguing it, in my opinion, is an exercise in futility anymore, because most Republicans are too stupid to know how to make the argument properly. Instead, Republicans come off sound cold, aloof, uncaring, and cold-hearted —- or simply, like Mitt Romney.
This all affects me in many ways. I would get into all of that, but because I do not want to be accused of being a whiner, I will not bother. Therefore, I will simply say this, this all was happening in Michigan, long before it began happening in the entire Country. Thanks to Jennifer Granholm’s inability to govern a state, we suffered long before the rest of the Country did. This is why I like to say, welcome to my world. Because this mess we are in now, has been my world, since about 2000. Admittedly, it got bad around here in about 2003 and after that, it was downhill around here. I have out of work since 2005; and part of that is my fault and part of it is not. My physical health is not in the best of shape either, my back and knees are hosed from years of trying to be superman, when I was working. It all catches up, as I have learned; there is not day that goes by when my back and knees are not in pain. The pain is just a part of life, of getting old, I suppose. I do not have any sort of healthcare insurance, so I live with the pain.
However, I simply refuse to see myself as a charity case. I refuse to take a handout from the Government. Social Security is out for me; hell, I have a friend in Ohio that I have known since childhood — we used to live across the street from one another in Southwest Detroit — and he has a legitimate heart condition and he has a lawyer fighting to get his social security. You want to talk about someone unfairly losing his or her career. My friend Joe, who I have known for an eternity, was a well-paid and very well skilled automotive mechanic. Let me state emphatically that the auto industry is much worse off without his skills. Anyhow, Joe was working in this area not far from where I live, at an automotive dealership. Joe ended up having to move to Ohio to be closer to his family. In the process of moving, he just happened to have a check up and that is when he discovered he had a heart condition. This might help you to understand why it is that I simply do not like dwelling on my own misfortune at all. This is simply because there are those out there, who have it much worse than I do.
The point I am making is this; if my friend Joe is having to lawyer to even get social security disability and he has a legitimate condition, what makes you think I could even remotely get it? I just cannot see myself trotting in and saying, “Hi, I have ADHD and I think I am entitled to social security.” I tried that once, after being pestered by my Mom about it and I tried that and it failed. I will not try that again. I felt like a fool. My point is, I do want to work, doing something that I can do, that will not end up screwing my knees and back up even worse than they already are now.
I have made three major mistakes in my life and I will always regret them. The first was thinking that I could go to Commercial Truck Driving School, on the State of Michigan’s dime no less and then think that I could just waltz into a local driving job. I know now that the commercial vehicle insurance industry just does not allow that to happen. The second mistake was getting a job that was related to the retail industry; retail stores suck and those who work in them are usually complete and useless assholes. Believe me when I tell you this; I know from experience. With the exception of my first job ever, every job I have ever tried work in, which was related to retail was a total disaster. I just do not have the personality for retail sales at all. The main reason for this is that, frankly, people can be just plain nasty. I could tell you horror stories of working in the retail business.
My third mistake was allowing my family to talk me into getting a job where they worked, that was major mistake. I believe the biggest reason I am where I am today is the result that mistake. I love my family, all of them; but I have tried working with them more than once and it was a disaster. Even when my job was not working around them, it ended up with me getting into with them, over something. Lesson learned there, never again.
Therefore, here I sit, writing, hoping that this will all turn around for the Country and me. Something tells me, I am going to be waiting for a very long time.
The U.S. government just notched its highest ever monthly deficit, with the red rink running to an estimated $229 billion in February.
The Congressional Budget Office, in a preliminary analysis, reported that the February 2012 deficit broke last year’s monthly record of $223 billion.
The office attributed the shortfall in part to a decline in revenue — mainly because of a $25 billion increase in income tax refunds thanks to disbursement timing issues.
According to the CBO, processing delays pushed refund payments that would have been distributed in January off into February. And the additional day in February this year allowed for extra refunds to be distributed during the month that otherwise would have been paid out in March.
The CBO projected that for the first five months of the fiscal year, the federal government is running a $578 billion deficit.
The projected deficit this year is once again projected to top $1 trillion
The only thing I can truly say about this one is this; elections matter. This is what happens when you put progressives and moderate Republicans in Government, they spend on your dime and you get stuck with the tab and most usually, you do not get a thing for it in return. This is why we have to get people elected to political office, in City, State and Federal levels; who at the very least, have the American people’s interests in mind and not their own political fortunes in mind. Because when the political veterans are running the show; both Republican and Democratic Parties; this is what you get —- Debt.
China cannot buy our debt forever, or eventually they will own this Country. Not to mention, China is not exactly a free Country. All China would have to do, is tell the United States that they will not be buy anymore of our debt and we, as a Nation, would be history. We, as Conservatives have no one to blame, but ourselves for this fine mess. The Republican Party elected a moderate Republican by the name of Richard Nixon, who wanted so badly to make a name for himself and that idiot liberal Republican just had to go to China and normalize relations with those Communist bastards. Which is pretty darned ironic, considering what the Communists in China did to John Birch. This is one Conservative who felt Watergate was nothing more than sweet justice. (…and No, I am NOT being snarky!)
This why we the American people, the silent majority; need to vote differently this coming November. Our Nation’s future might just depend on it.
Yes, I voted for him in the primary. I had to, I would be sinning otherwise.
I know that Ron Paul will not win the primary race here in Michigan. I also know that Ron Paul will not be nominated as the Republican Party’s choice for candidate for President of the United States of America. However, I voted for him in the Primary here in Michigan. Please, allow me the time to explain why.
There are a number of reasons why and they are the following:
Spending: Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich all talk a mean game about cutting spending out of one side of their mouths, and out of the other, they all speak of strengthening our Military and of future conflicts with Iran.
Religion: I realize that Religion is not supposed to be a litmus test for Presidential elections. However, I believe that Religious influence is an issue in selection of one’s vote. It is a fact that Mitt Romney is of the Mormon faith. It is a fact that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both of the Roman Catholic faith. As a Protestant Christian, as a Fundamentalist Christian and as an Independent Fundamental Baptist, I must unequivocally say that I do not consider Mormons or Roman Catholics to be true born again Christians at all. I realize that this position might offend some, to them I simply say; I must follow what I know in my heart and soul to be right. I believe a vote for any of these other three men would be a slap in the face to the Almighty God and to his Son Jesus Christ, who came to save and deliver all from the bondages of sin and from false Christian doctrine; including Mormonism and Roman Catholics. Furthermore, I could think of no greater grievous Sin than to vote for a man, of whose religion is, what my Religious convictions consider a false form of Christianity.
Wars: As someone who spent over 7 years blogging against a war in Iraq, of which I felt was very unjustified and quite immoral — I just cannot support Republican candidates who wish to steer us into further conflicts in the Middle East. This not to say that I do not support Israel, anyone who reads this blog, knows that I totally support the idea and preservation of the Jewish State of Israel. However, I am wholeheartedly opposed to the continuation of fighting Israel’s battles for them. I believe that the United States of America needs to stop being the World’s police officer and let these Countries fend for themselves. Furthermore, I believe that the United States of America needs to stop funding the feud between the Arabs and Jews, which the United States has done for years.
For these reasons and for these reasons alone, I have cast my lot to the man, who I feel best represents my beliefs as an American, as a Christian, and as a libertarian-minded Conservative. I feel personally that any other sort of a vote would be Anti-Christian and Anti-American. This is not to say that I do not have some minor differences of opinion with the Representative from Texas; I do have a few. However, I am not, as some are, to toss out the proverbial “baby with the bathwater.” Because of this, I have voted for and will continue to support Ron Paul for President of the United States in 2012.
These Statements are true and are a true representation of my political positions and opinion.
The Obama Administration’s $85 billion auto bailout in 2009 was “crony capitalism on a grand scale,” according to Mitt Romney.
In an opinion editorial published today by The Detroit News, the Republican presidential hopeful not only attacks the way the administration handled the bailout of General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, but argues that the United Auto Workers union benefited from the bankruptcies in wake of contributing millions to Democrats and Barack Obama’s campaign.
“Thus, the outcome of the managed bankruptcy proceedings was dictated by the terms of the bailout,” Romney writes. “Chrysler’s ‘secured creditors,’ who in the normal course of affairs should have been first in line for compensation, were given short shrift, while at the same time, the UAWs’ union-boss-controlled trust fund received a 55 percent stake in the firm.”
I mean, the man is a serial flip-flopper, to the point when Jennifer Granholm, of all people, had to point this out. Now he is trying to appeal to the wealthy Republicans by capping the auto industry. The dude is a two-bit phony and I believe Michigan is getting hip to this. Which is why he is failing in the polls here. I am not a fan of Santorum either; but at least he is honest about what he actually is. But, no matter, neither of them will win to Obama. Which is why I believe we need a brokered Convention in the Republican Party. So we can put a real Conservative in there, a Tea Party candidate and not some beltway veteran.
The $25 billion settlement with banks over foreclosure abuses may result in a wave of home seizures, inflicting short-term pain on delinquent U.S. borrowers while making a long-term housing recovery more likely.
Lenders slowed the pace of foreclosures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent paperwork used to repossess homes. With yesterday’s agreement, banks are likely to resume property seizures.
“The best thing about the settlement, frankly, is that it will be done,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Seattle-based Zillow Inc. (Z), a provider of home-sales data. “The shadow of the settlement hung over the market for a year now.”
The backlog of foreclosures has trapped homeowners in properties they can no longer afford, depressed neighborhood prices by increasing the number of abandoned homes and led banks to tighten mortgage credit standards because of uncertainty about the cost of their potential obligations. Foreclosure starts fell 46 percent in December from October 2010, when the investigation into the so-called robo-signing of mortgage documentation began, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.
At the risk of sounding like, of all people, Ron Paul; This is what happens when Government gets involved with the private market. It gets screwed up and attempts to fix it, screw it up even worse! Let this be a lesson to our Government and all involved; do not involve yourself in private markets, like housing. It only messes things up. The sad thing is, a whole bunch of people had to suffer, because a group of liberal elitists decided that a tried and true system just had to be tweeked to give to the “have-nots” and from what I read above, the suffering is just beginning.
First of all, before you watch my video; Go read this article here, it will open in a new window — then come back here.
After reading that article, I went to twitter and really spoke my mind:
I am the type of person, if I make a mistake; I will admit it. I am also the type of person, that when I feel that I am right, I will back it up. So, I made this video:
I will simply end this blog posting with this; as I said in the video. To Michelle Malkin and Karl Rove; clean up the crap in your own party, before you unleash on my home town. The Republican Party is just as evil, just as screwed up and just hypocritical about many things, including foreign policy. I agree on Terrorism, it is a problem. But the Republican Party’s nominee for 2000 and 2004, who won those elections handled 9/11 in a wrong-headed way. Because of this, we are now having the problems in the middle east that we are having now. Maybe you should work to fix the problems with your party’s foreign policy and let Detroit sort out its own problems.
Update: ….and if this isn’t bad enough, we have Andrew Breitbart meeting with Bill Ayers. You see now why I don’t want anything to do with the Republican Party and the majority of the Conservatives; or those who call themselves Conservative? 🙄
Update #2: In my video, I made a reference to Michelle Malkin using Frankfort School tactics, this is what I was referring to here:
I thought I would let everyone know that I am going to be taking the weekend off. I will not lie to you all; I am feeling a bit glum right now. As I mentioned before, I thought I was getting a job. Well, that really did not pan out. My cousin from my Father’s side of the family got a job working for a uniform company. A few days back my cousin came over and really made it clear that if someone called from that company, that someone here at the house should answer the phone. Well, I took that as if I were going to get a phone call to come in for an interview or something. Anyhow, yesterday, I got word that the company really was not hiring anyone. It is not that I do not appreciate my cousin looking out for me, it is just that I have been out of work for so long, that I actually was a bit excited at the prospect of going back to work; only to have the rug yanked out from under me. It does tend to get a bit depressing. I am not blaming my cousin, he meant well. I blame the stupid economy.
Another thing that has me feeling a bit blue is the fact that my so-called “Small Business” is not getting any kind of business at all. It is because of the fact that I just cannot afford the cost of a license for a piece of software that handles the web site, billing, and automation of running a shared hosting business. The license is fifteen dollars a month directly from the software manufacture, or I can get it for twelve dollars and some change a month from a third party who buys the licenses in bulk. Either way, that comes to around one hundred and eighty dollars a year — Which, now, I just do not have to invest in a small business. Not to mention the costs of getting my LLC License and Tax License all set up. I have all those costs itemized over on my Amazon Wish List, in case anyone is interested in helping me out.
I will also make something abundantly clear; I do not blame anyone, but my own self for getting into this situation. I am the idiot, who had the accident back in 2004, which screwed me from ever being hired by another trucking company. I am the idiot who quit the job back in 2005, because it was making me physically sick and did not bother to find another job quickly. I did it, not anyone else. I am the idiot who sat around here and blogged my rear end off from 2006 until now and does not have a damned thing to show for it. It was I, nobody else. I am the one who has written things in the past that were taken out of context and construed as anti-Semitic and/or racist. I did it — no one else. A real man takes responsibility for his mistakes, cowards try to shift blame on others; and I am not a damned coward.
So, there you have it. That is what is happening in my life and it is enough to make a man just want to quit. However, I am not going to quit —- I am, however, going to take a break for the weekend.
