Tuesday, January 27, 2009

We Can All Learn from Orphan Annie

Left at an orphanage were she was put to work by a drunk did not stop Annie from being positive. Many of us are taking a beating because of our current recession. Some have lost their life savings because of fraud. We've had two billionaires commit suicide because they could not handle the pressure. If we look back at our history as a nation one thing we know is that it always rebounds and new opportunities are created. Just like Annie says "the sun will come out tomorrow".



We should not allow the negative news crush our dreams and vision. Every recession has produced opportunities especially for those that have a definitive purpose. We all just got wiped out on this wave that saw three awesome years in the housing market and so we spent our money like there was no end. Well now we have to get back on our board and paddle out to catch another wave. As we do that we need to remember the lessons from our wipe out. Each one of us has our own purpose and some of us actually write down our goals and take action. We are then ones that will find the opportunities in the next wave and create employment. Some of the industries that will create employment are renewable energy, health and wellness, and green homes. Trust me a lot of the homes out there have outlived their life expectancy. These homes need to be outfitted so that there's a demand for them. I see some jobs for green consultants.



Business cycles happen and they happen so that we can reinvent ourselves. Americans are innovative and productive people. Capitalism is what attracts these people and we must preserve our capitalist society. Government should protect us from those who commit fraud by punishing them to the full extent of the law. We will get over this recession soon. Just keep your head up, continue to educate yourself, and write down your goals and a plan to achieve those goals. The sun will come out tomorrow.

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Over 50k Jobs Cut and Citi Buys a New Jet

I know people are upset but for some reason the market has spent most of the day in positive territory. I guess investors like the fact that corporations are implementing cost cutting measures. So how come a bank that is receiving TARP money went out and purchased a new jet?

I am not going to jump all over the CEO's for laying off people. Ultimately their responsibility is to the shareholders. Shareholders invest because they want to see a certain rate of return on their investment. CEO's in order to continue to attract investors and generate new capital must put up numbers that show growth. If revenue slows down then they are going to cut costs in order to show profitability or smaller loss. Are layoffs the easiest way to cut costs well it depends. Only the insiders of those companies really know but I'm one to hold the executives to the fire first instead of employees that are vital to the day to day operations. One executive bringing in a salary of one million dollars for sub-par results is probably equivalent to 20 employees.

Obviously I'm upset that these overpaid executives continue to keep their jobs. What ever happened to pride or honor. I would be so disgusted with myself. So how do we allow a company that has received our tax dollars to buy something that they do not need right now. Citi wants a corporate jet for what? Is it so the CEO can fly to an overseas operation or cross country and tell them how to continue to lose money. What ever happened to technology making it easier to conduct video conferences. It's not the handshake that seals the deal these days, it is the attorneys.

This is why I have continued to say that we allow free markets to gobble up these inefficient companies. If we continue to allow our legislatures to throw our tax dollars to mismanaged companies then they will not learn their lesson. There is not any consequence for making bad business decisions. If our government continues to get involved in all types of businesses then we eventually will lose our freedom. The government will make the decision that they must take over cause they can not let any one industry fail and our tax rates will just keep climbing.

I feel the same when it comes to any type of welfare. People need to learn that they can not become complacent. I keep teaching my kids that they must always continue to educate themselves. Even if they are experts in a field they must continue to better themselves because you can not rely on anyone to bail you out if all of a sudden your field becomes obsolete.

In simple terms it works like this, if we rob Peter to pay Paul then Paul will not have any incentive to work hard and Peter will have incentives to stop working. Eventually you will end up with two people that are not productive. This is what happens in socialism. People get upset and start demanding answers from your representatives.

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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Personal Responsibility

I just got a little taste of someone who thinks they are doing the world a favor when they do something for themselves. My own son told me that I need to get something out of the car for him since he did me a favor. The favor he speaks about is serving himself breakfast. Well sometimes things happen so fast that I forget to calm down before responding. As you can imagine I blew up and reminded him that doing something for himself is what he is responsible for and he is not a baby where I have to prop him up in a high chair and spoon feed.



I am starting to think is this a behavior that he has learned from me or is it society. Maybe I am hurting them by always being so involved. I always felt that if I got involved in their sports either as a coach or assistant coach and I kept them active they would appreciate it and become more responsible because of the fear of these things being taken away. Every now and then they lose sight of what I am trying to do for them and they take on this attitude of being entitled to certain things. As a parent I do not want to constantly remind them but at the same time seeing what is happening in our society I am scared that they will grow up to be people that are looking for a handout or bailout.



Until I learn a better way I am just going to have to continue to yell at them. After my little lecture they are all of a sudden acting like little angels. I really do not like yelling but with my kids it seems to be the only thing that works. I am going to try to have daily prayer with them and see how that works. Stay tuned....

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

California's IOU's

I wonder if we were to pay our state taxes with IOU's if the state would waive any penalties? I really don't think they would and so why is it okay for the state to think it's okay to pay with IOU's and only pay interest? This is getting ridiculous and the people of California need to demand better representation. My biggest problem with government is that they are innefficient. There are may departments that the state should shut down. I would like to see the people on welfare weaned off and then allow non-profits to take on that burden. We are a charitable group of citizens and I know most of us believe in helping our neighbor but when the government is the one handing out the checks, there's an enormous amount of fraud.

We once were a state that was big enough to be its own country and now we can't pass a simple budget. Yes I said simple, it's the legislation that has made it difficult.

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California's IOU's

I wonder if we were to pay our state taxes with IOU's if the state would waive any penalties? I really don't think they would and so why is it okay for the state to think it's okay to pay with IOU's and only pay interest? This is getting ridiculous and the people of California need to demand better representation. My biggest problem with government is that they are innefficient. There are may departments that the state should shut down. I would like to see the people on welfare weaned off and then allow non-profits to take on that burden. We are a charitable group of citizens and I know most of us believe in helping our neighbor but when the government is the one handing out the checks, there's an enormous amount of fraud.

We once were a state that was big enough to be its own country and now we can't pass a simple budget. Yes I said simple, it's the legislation that has made it difficult.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Sometimes You Have to Let Them Fall part 3


After falling a few times, Austin is getting the hang of it. Thanks to the patience of his big sister, Alaina, and her willingness to follow him and allowing him to learn on his own. My point is that we shouldn't be so quick to pick them up. As parents it's hard to see your child get hurt but their own determination will get them up and they will learn how to get up after getting knocked down. One of life's most important lessons.

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Sometimes You Have to Let Them Fall part 2


Austin eventually lets go of the wall but he takes a tumble.

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Sometimes You Have to Let Them Fall part 1


Austin attempting to roller skate. When he first starts he doesn't want to let go of the wall.

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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration Poem

I wonder if the crowd will snap their fingers instead of applaud once Elizabeth Alexander is done.

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Obama's Inauguration

It took the election of one man to bring back confidence and to remind us that we are a strong nation that can get anything done when we stay united. I wish him lots of luck and I hope he can get us back on track and wean Americans off of government assistance.

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Friday, January 16, 2009

How the Mighty Have Fallen!

I am watching the news and the banks are dominating the headlines. The banks keep losing money and keep asking the government for more of our tax dollars. They continue to make bad decisions and we continue to pay for it. I am not sure when society made it more acceptable to ask for welfare but in my opinion it is an epidemic that will lead to socialism and/or nationalization. Maybe it was how I was raised but I am not that old. Might be a trend that has been happening year after year and really picks up steam during recessions.



We keep assuming that if the financial industry collapses then we end up in total chaos. The assumption is that if a company or bank fail then nobody replaces them. Basic economics teaches us that if there is a demand there will be a supplier of goods or services. When the supplier is willing to supply a good or service at the price that the consumer is willing to pay then we have market equilibrium. I'm sure that banking is profitable enough for a new supplier to appear and take over the large demand that will exist if these companies fail. The government is trying to protect themselves by throwing money at the problem without any guarantees. Why do these banks continue to buy other banks if all the assets are considered toxic? Why do these private banks run to the government for help instead of restructuring and making sure these loans perform. They after all made these loans because they abandoned traditional underwriting standards in order to keep up with every other lender that was making these ridiculous loans. When sub-prime lenders rapidly pulled their programs in August of 2007 the markets downturn picked up a rapid pace. Do these CEO's automatically assume that they are going to get bailed out. What ever happened to having some pride in running a successful company instead of waiting to get fired so that they can collect on their golden parachute.



The government pumping our tax dollars has done nothing but allowed companies like AIG to continue to have extravagant parties for their terrible executives. I would love to make a million dollars to run a company into the ground but guilt will drive me crazy. We need to allow the natural business cycle to take place and not try to incorporate corporate welfare. If banks and lenders would have started to work out modifications from the beginning we would not have entered into such a mess because more families could have afforded to stay in their home and we would not see as many foreclosures flooding the market. Sure people will argue that the foreclosure rate was higher on modified loans in the first quarter of 2007 but that's because they continued to allow foreclosures to hit the market and so those with modified loans still did not have principal reductions that allowed them to see that they might be able to absorb the loss in equity. From my experience the banks have been unwilling participants and I think it is because they are dependent on getting some of our taxes. If we cut off their funding then they will do whatever it takes to keep those loans performing and we will see a decrease in foreclosures.

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Monday, January 12, 2009

Fox Business

I'm really proud to be a Fox Business viewer especially after hearing that they have filed a suit to have the FED disclose what assets they are getting w/ the TARP funds. I believe the public needs to know what is being done w/ their money. Good Job Fox Business.

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Thursday, January 8, 2009

playing around w/ utterli.

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