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Last Updated: "There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the Republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader and converting measures into opposition to each other." Political parties are to be "dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution." John Adams “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.” "Let's hope!" -R. Quinn Politics The Congressional Pickle
As you may recall during the election campaign I pointed out the absurdity of Sen. Obama repeatedly saying he was not taking money from lobbying groups and would cut their influence during his administration. I also noted that influencing the President was not the real issue in any case, but rather the correct target was Congress.
Let’s take a look at the major supporters of the Democrats in money and power, the UAW, trail lawyers, the AFL-CIO and environmental groups. Now the Democratic Congress has to figure out how to keep them all happy while not making it too obvious that the average American or as they like to say, middle class working American is getting the short end of the stick.  Does anyone really think that the rush to save the auto industry is motivated by anything other than pay back for the UAW? The $25 billion already allocated to the Big 3 is supposed to be for “green” cars. How does that help them survive? And if the money is not used for that purpose, the Democrats will have explaining to do to the environmentalists. What a pickle.  Now Congress is rushing to send more money to the failing auto industry or more accurately the failing three American manufacturers. How is it that virtually every other car maker in the world can make money (excluding the current economic crisis) and what was once the largest of the group is falling on its face? Pelosi and the gang easily focus on controlling executive pay in return for a government handout, but readily ignore the failed business model when throwing money at GM, Ford and Chrysler. That’s your money by the way.  There is one sure prescription for failure in the future, that is allowing Congress to micromanage American business…but I guess it’s a little late to worry about that.  We all Know the Truth, Right
I hope we all know that very little of what Obama (or any politician) is promising is actually going to happen, the bloom will be off the rose rather quickly as reality sits in and hits the far left democrats, the super rich liberals and the celebrity elite smack in the face. None of the numbers add up, taxing the “wealthy” does not mean more for the middle class, federal programs are notoriously under priced and inefficient, decades of helping the poor by throwing money at them has failed, pitting classes against one another is a losing proposition and dismissing the danger of small dictatorships and overestimating the receptiveness of other enemies is pie in the sky. We all really know that right?
We all know that smart wealthy people will find ways to avoid tax increases and that is likely to result is less opportunities for the rest of us in terms of shrinking innovation and new jobs, right? Hey, that’s why they are wealthy in the first place because they are smarter than the rest of us. God Bless em. We all know that shutting down free trade and reneging on trade agreements means a lot of Americans will lose their jobs, and the cost of many of the goods most important to the middle and lower classes will increase (think Wal-Mart, right? We all know that legislation to make it easier for unions to organize workers without a fair, secret vote will increase company costs, lower productivity and make the Just checking. The Great Illusion
As the US government doles out cash and commitments in the face of our now very real economic crisis, one has to wonder where the politicians will get the funds to keep even a smattering of their campaign promises. Sen. Obama’s Robin Hood strategy may be melting away as the rich he seeks to tax and the corporations already overtaxed in a competitive new world are in dire straits. As Kim Strassel points out in the Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2008 there is a certain magic here and like magic it is all an illusion, nothing is what it seems to be. If a fourth grader applied the math skills that appeal to our politicians, she would be relegated to a remedial class, ah, check that, in today’s society the parents would insist on Advance Placement classes.
You see, despite the popularity of targeting them, corporations and the wealthy, the majority of which are small business owners, are good. They create and provide jobs, they fund our retirement, they provide health insurance to tens of millions of Americans and did I mention they provide jobs. Employers pay for half of our Social Security benefit, their stocks supports our savings (even in these absurd times). So, when you hear a politician attack business, when you listen to a union seeking to squeeze more from the greedy corporations, in the end it is all coming from you.  Everything really is connected.Unless there is robust growth in the economy to sustain paying for the stuff we all want, there is no place to get it other than more debt and more taxes. That strategy rather than help the economy, harms it. Those people who like the message they hear about more regulation, higher taxes on the “wealthy” and array of new programs from the government, better get out that fourth grade math book. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Obama has garnered union support under the mantel of keeping jobs in America. Sounds good and easy to accomplish, Americans should simply buy American, give up that Japanese car they drive for a Ford. Avoid foreign made goods at Wal-Mart, check the label on the clothes they buy. Oh, wait, will we need a new stimulus package to help us afford American made goods made in a union shop? The US standard of living, you know, a cell phone in every purse, a CD player attached to every flat screen TV is based on Americans being able to afford foreign goods, BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEAPER, because other countries have a much lower standard of living than the US.
How does all this "everything is connected" stuff work again? But perhaps, we are different, perhaps Americans can have it all.
October 10, 2008
Congress Wants to Help you With Your 401(k) Plan...
eliminate them that is! Look here on quinnscommentary for more information.
In a typical knee jerk, spur of the moment, government broad brush reaction some members of Congress and social "experts" would like to see mandatory government plans replace your 401(k).
Before You Point the Finger at Wall Street, Better Look Toward Washington. When did the Mortgage Crisis Really Start?
The unintended consequences of government action.
What Happened to Change?
For those of you who support Mr. Obama because of his change theme and appeal, I have a question.
Today the good Senator “pledged” that if you earn no more than $250,000 a year (the very, very great majority of Americans) he would not raise your taxes. As we have learned from the past that may end up after the fact being further defined to perhaps income taxes only, but nevertheless it is an obvious appeal to the middle class in American. Ok, that’s fair, but in the process of making that pledge he has closed the door on solving many of our problems like Social Security and Medicare and a few other big dollar items. You can squeeze only so much from 5% of all Americans. He now sounds more like the traditional politician than a change agent.  Couple this with the selection of one of the most ingrained Washington insiders as Vice President and it’s hard to see how “change” will be accomplished, or have we redefined "change?" Perhaps change is now merely new policies which of course will be the case no matter who is elected President. Obama’s appeal to younger people, minorities, even women appeared to be as a result of a new fresh face shaking up the establishment. If you act and think like the establishment, how does that work? And before you say it, McCain is no different, but that is exactly the point. The only difference is deciding how to redistribute wealth and the size and scope of government in the lives of Americans, not a new story. What do you really expect from a President Obama?  September 12, 2008
A Fishing Trip
Another went to college and started his own business and is doing very well. A third went to vocational school and is a skilled craftsman in an industry in high demand and makes an above average salary. On average these three pay 24% of their income in taxes. Of the seven remaining friends, five graduated high school and drifted into various jobs, one is an assembly line worker, one a machine operator, one a bookkeeper, one a call center representative, etc. On average they earn slightly less than $40,000 a year and pay about 12% of their income in taxes. Two of the friends dropped out of high school and have menial jobs; one is a school janitor and the other a mason’s helper. Their average pay is less than $25,000 and they pay no federal taxes. Seven of these people are not happy and to some extent envious of the other three. Over time the gap in earnings between the seven and the three has widened and that is not a good thing. To solve the growing problem you must (1) find money to do something and (2) figure out the best thing to do for the long term. You can raise income taxes on the three and give the money to the other seven. Or, you reduce expenses and use the money saved to provide training, additional education and career assistance to the seven so that long term they will have better skills and can take advantage of new opportunities. There is an old saying; “Give a starving man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” Senator Obama seems to favor passing out fish taken from someone else’s pond. I am aware of only one person who was able to take a very limited number of fish and divide them among the masses, but even that was for only one meal.
September 3, 2008 Start Packing Sarah
Track,
Smart gamble or dumb move, who knows, but one thing is for sure, the lack of experience argument for Republicans is kaput. From city council, to mayor, to half term governor to a heart beat (a 72 year old heart) away from President, ah, not so much. But hey, the Democrats haven’t cornered the pandering to the masses technique.
Let’s see she is a woman, pro-life, pro-gun, pro drilling, conservative on spending, she is a woman – oh, I said that. How about she is a working woman who went back to work three days after giving birth, Did I miss anything, oh yes, she is young and good looking and I bet she knows how to operate a computer and iPod. Well, all bases are covered, I’m sold. Hey Sarah, even though you have a few years to go any ideas on Social Security and Medicare? Joe asked me to ask you if you have ever been to I'm All for Change, But...
"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world."
"I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it."
- Barack Obama What's Your Fair Shares of Taxes?
Sometimes if you hear an idea enough times you believe it. If someone talks as if he is spouting facts, they become facts in the minds of those who are listening.
For example, we all know that the rich are getting away with paying too little in taxes and that the lower income earners are paying a disproportionate share. We also know that lower taxes are bad because they lower federal revenue.
Let’s check out the facts. The top 1% of earners with incomes over $388,000 a year pay 40% of all income taxes (while earning 22% of all income), that is the highest it has been in 40 years. The top 10%, those earning over $108,000 pay 71% of all taxes.
Looking it at another way, the bottom 50% of earners pay 2.9% of taxes while the top 50% pay 97.1%
Taxes paid by millionaires more than doubled between 2003 and 2006, a period when tax cuts were put into effect.
So, is the tax system fair? Should we soak the rich more?
One has to wonder if a politician promises he will cut the taxes for lower wage earnings, how much lower than 2.9% it should go.
How much more are you willing to pay in taxes to help the lower 50% pay less (or nothing)?
And who are all those millionaires, they are people who earned the money rather than inherited it.
[Data taken from editorial in the WSJ July 21, 2008]
Broken Souls
“Our souls are broken.” “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day.” I do not feel that way. I feel that this is still a land of opportunity and that there is still a great chance for anyone to achieve what he or she desire even with an economy that goes up and down, and when even in down times it is so much better than much of the rest of the world. Our “crisis” economy of 2008 has far lower unemployment and lower inflation than past downturns, the stock market is still over 11,000 DJIA and yet today it seems fashionable to ramp up the whining. Is your soul broken, are you truly struggling to barely make it every day?” Perhaps you have to be a graduate of Princeton and Harvard and clear half a million a year in income to be able to see into the souls of middle class working Americans who have given up on America or to know what barely making it really means. Either that or you have to have the insight of Michelle Obama.
July 19, 2008 Obama Is Too Good
The problem with Sen. Obama is that he is too good, at speaking that is. Of course, compared to President Bush who speaks in public like a fifth grader standing in front of the class for the first time that is not a major accomplishment.
The Obama message plays well to people who are being hit hard by the current economic conditions in the US, who perceive they have been harmed by global trade, who resent corporate profits and greedy executives, big business in general or who are simply looking for reassurance that their current situation is not really their fault alone. Cynical views, perhaps, but Americans tend to take a short term perspective and to seek short term answers with little consideration for the longer term consequences. Maybe it is not only Americans but all of us human beings. Unions are not a bad thing, they can be very good, but some items on big union agendas will limit America’s competitiveness in the world market, corporate profits while easy targets in the political arena are not bad, they fund growth, innovations and the success of America’s corporations on the world scene. Corporate profits make up the financial security of hundreds of millions of Americans who are either relying on dividends as part of their income or on pensions whose trust funds are invested in the stock market. Taxes are necessary, but the solution to our national debt problems is found both in the expense and revenue areas, not simply raising taxes. And, taxes are forever it seems. So a “good idea” in today’s environment may not be so good in the years ahead, think AMT, think estate taxes, think gasoline taxes not devoted solely to roads. Affordable health care for all Americans, every one is for that, but what is it?  Ask those espousing the concept to give you an idea of what is affordable? Many Americans probably already have it and don’t know it. If you work for a large corporation and pay $200 - $300 a month for family coverage (not uncommon), is that affordable? If you pay far less but have a $3,000 annual deductible, is that affordable, maybe if you don’t have any claims? Don’t buy a concept unless you understand what is behind it. What’s the point? Simply this, when a politician, any politician, throws out a grand sounding plan to stick it to one group or spend a great deal of money for another, ask how and why and what are the tradeoffs for all Americans. It is not hard to hit the hot buttons of an audience by telling them what they believe or want to hear, it is quite another to confront the hard facts and to make things come together with overall benefits for all Americans. 
Celebrities Do Matter
According to a Harris Poll reported in USA Today, 48% of Americans said a celebrity’s support for a political candidate “probably does” influence people’s views about which candidate to support. 8% said it definitely does and 10% said not sure. The balance said probably or definitely does not. So it would appear that the likes of Tom Cruise, Sharon Stone and perhaps even Eric Estrada can get people to vote for whom they support. And forget Oprah that’s a given. Wealthy, self-absorbed, spendthrifts who can’t stay married (even after spending $2 million on a wedding) who are good at telling us how to save the world as they jet about the globe in private jets or spend millions to have a baby in a shack in Africa are also able to help us run the country…whoopee! I know I am generalizing and I suppose there are some sincere, well informed intelligent people who can be called a celebrity and still have a functioning brain worth listening to, but those people are generally not the ones shooting off their mouths. On the other hand perhaps Jane Fonda (who) can help us with Ah, the informed voter, I am going to vote for the person who most looks like me and be done with it. P.S. If you want to know why whomever is the next President is not going to change much of anything (except perhaps taxes), read The House
June 3, 2008
Oil on the Voting Machine
Let’s look at the cause of high gasoline and oil prices, clearly the oil companies are at fault, right? Wrong! Do the words supply and demand ring a bell? The world output of oil is about the 85,000,000 barrels a day, the world demand is about 87,000,000 barrels. Much of that demand comes from countries other than the Notice I didn’t mention the big bad oil companies. I didn’t, but our politicians sure do. And as an aside, what percentage of the total world output of oil do you think is controlled by Exxon? Give up?
It’s 2% so it seems obvious with that corner on the market they surely control the price of oil worldwide. Consider too that many countries own national oil companies and many, especially in the In the last quarter Exxon earned $11 billion so that means that the Federal government collected about $5.9 billion in taxes. So perhaps profit is a good thing after all. Representative Maxine Waters while grilling oil company executives made a statement to the effect that as a liberal she was going to try and have the government take over the oil companies and nationalize them. Such pandering, grandstanding and ignorance is an insult to the American people, especially considering that Ms Waters was named in 2005 and 2006] as one of the "most corrupt" members of congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. What’s the point of all this? Well, it would appear that you can place more trust in an oil company than in the people you elect to represent you in Congress. Who would have thunk it? May 23, 2008
Elite Opinion On Sunday May 4th Sen. Clinton was asked on ABC’s This Week to name a credible economist who supported her (and McCain’s) idea to suspend the federal tax on gasoline for the summer. Her reply was, “We’ve got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans.” Elite opinion you say, you mean educated opinion that does not sit well with populist pandering to people who have no clue as to why the price of oil is so high and likely to go higher? Masking the real problems and creating incentives for Americans that help us hold on to our old ways is exactly the wrong idea and attempting to shift blame to the oil companies is just plain self-serving and stupid on Clinton’s part. Why don’t we tax the windfall profits of agriculture companies to help lower the price of corn and rice, no wait we subsidize them. Perhaps we should add an extra tax on companies that outsource work overseas or let the AMT drift lower and lower to fund more Congressional pork projects, oh my gosh we did that too. How about adding a surtax on When you see more Smartcars ® on the road than SUVs and hemi engine trucks that haul nothing heavier than the weeks groceries (lighter these days I suppose because food is so expensive), then talk to me about an effective energy policy.
May 6, 2008
Pie in the Sky, Heck There is a Whole Bakery up There
Raising taxes will only increase government and squash economic growth in the long term making the What to do, what to do? We are in the proverbial pickle you see, we have borrowed from our future, we have set up programs we cannot afford, we are spending money we don’t have and we are burying our heads in the sand (I am being kind). McCain is going to save money to divert to tax breaks by cutting federal spending [laugh extremely loudly right here]. That has never happened where the cuts stayed in place. What would your friendly politician use to buy your votes if he or she didn’t have something to spend that you want? Hillary is going to expand heath care by cutting administrative waste from Medicare…you mean there is waste that has not already been cut for some other spending scheme? Americans are over taxed and Just as Barack is not going to change the way government and Congress works, John McCain is not going to change the way government and Congress spends, especially with a Congress using high interest credit cards with abandon. Hey, I am all for lower taxes and certainly opposed to higher taxes, but let’s get real and deal with the problems we are facing, let’s tell Americans the truth. Let’s do the math. I was going to suggest letting Wall Street wizards help with the finances and risks, but on second thought.
Time To Bail
Our good Senators Obama and Clinton are now calling for more regulation, control and oversight over the lending industry because all of our financial woes are due to predatory lending practices, greed, misleading people and such. Yes, there was some of that misleading or not fully informing people. Is there ever a time when there isn’t such goings on somewhere? What is different now is that the people wanted a quick profit, wanted to flip a house, wanted to tap home equity, and naively believed that the value of their house was always going up. Every case I have read in every magazine in the last nine months makes it clear that many people got into things they could not afford and should have know that regardless of the fact that a banker or mortgage broker told them the “payment may go up a little when it adjusts.” They should have known that no one can predict what the interest rates will be five years in the future, they should have known the maximum they could afford to pay, and they should have known that their home equity is not an ATM to be tapped for a new motorcycle or a family vacation. I suspect that deep down many people did know all this, but today it is far easier to blame the lenders than to look stupid. It is far easier to have politicians call for bailouts and federal backup on loans than to take personal responsibility. Is it time to admit that most Americans are just plain stupid? We already know many Americans can’t punch a chad from a ballot, now we find out they don’t know loans have to be paid back. Politicians are the really smart ones; they have the innate ability to find a scapegoat to cover every personal shortcoming and to somehow turn personal responsibility into government regulation. April 17, 2008
Wealth Gap Our politicians make us painfully aware of the wealth gap. Of special focus are those greedy SOBs on Wall Street and corporate executives who help hold down the masses, the ones with tens of millions of dollars in bonuses each year…all 223 of them (yeah, I made that number up, but I know it’s not millions or thousands). I want to know why we never hear about the movie stars, or TV personalities, or singers, or rappers or sports stars who are bringing in millions each year and don’t mind showing it off. If there is anyone who is ripping off the middle class it is the people who make it unaffordable to go to a ball game or the movies or buy a new CD. There is no hiding the absurd ostentatious way some of them live (and a few are morons and criminal too boot – oops, ok so that’s like some on Wall Street too). How do I know, by watching Cribs of course and seeing how important it is to own six cars, a gourmet kitchen when you don’t cook, a media room when you can barely speak English (assuming every other work being F_ _ _ is not acceptable) and showing off your poor taste with gold ceilings and bathroom fixtures or twenty more rooms that one could possibly use. Just who are the bad guys anyway?
“WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama introduced a Senate resolution late Thursday that says President Bush does not have authority to use military force against Iran, the latest move in a debate with presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton about how to respond to that country's nuclear ambitions”. I read the above and I read it again, and again. Then I said to myself, is it just plain stupidity that someone running for President of the Does this person intentionally put an election strategy ahead of his Country’s security or international strategy? This comes very close to giving aid and comfort to the enemy does is not? Treason may be a bit strong, but disloyalty, betrayal and duplicity are not. Look, you may not agree with the current administration on many things and neither do I, but don’t we seek a little common sense from our politicians or at least the ability to keeps ones mouth shut at times, no matter what you think? If you were living in a country that considers the
Come See Oprah There is no doubt that the endorsement of a candidate by a celebrity is the best way to select a president, senator or even a representative (although a representative probably has to stick with the B list of Certainly, we realize that following the lead of a well-known person, a movie star, or a TV personality is our obligation as citizens participating in the electoral process. Why think for ourselves, don’t people who make a lot of money doing nothing productive know best? Frankly, I am well aware that million/billionaires and deep thinkers like Michael Moore (“I don't think the country needs a movie that tells you that HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies suck. Everybody knows that.”), Oprah Winfrey (“Because I know him personally,” Ms. Winfrey replied. “I think that what he stands for, what he has proven that he can stand for, what he has shown was worth me going out on a limb for – and I haven’t done it in the past because I haven’t felt that anybody, I didn’t know anybody well enough to be able to say, I believe in this person.”) , and Rob Reiner (“''Every one of the Democratic candidates is strong, but Hillary is head and shoulders above the rest,'' the 60-year-old director said Wednesday.”) are far better qualified than I to evaluate a candidate, to assess the economy, the world political climate and all the problems facing our world. I am also well aware that people with millions upon millions of dollars are far more in touch with average people and their problems, they certainly can be objective about raising taxes on the “wealthy” Americans, you know families with an income of $100,000 to $200,000 (a few months interest for our political experts). Until I can demand $40,000 to speak to an audience, I had better keep my mouth shut. There is no mystery in this connection between celebrities and politicians, they both are great actors on a large stage, they both know how to appeal to the faults and fears of average people and they both know that people respond to perceptions and high sounding messages and that the average voter knows very little about the issues or the people they vote for. Be an informed voter, go to the movies, watch TV, keep track of the best dressed and the best speaker.
Pandering to the Populace A recent Money © article tells the story of a women earning $77,000 a year and who purchased a duplex house for $600,000 and 3% down payment (I say, that’s three percent). Her mortgage is for 40 years with the first ten years interest only. When the ten-year period ends her monthly mortgage payment goes to $4,000. Even though she had rental income of $1,100 per month, how can a person with that level of income afford such a mortgage? They cannot. This woman is saving nothing and according to the article, if she sold the property, she likely would not clear the balance on her mortgage. Potential foreclosure? Perhaps not. Our pandering politicians may see to that. Mrs. Clinton blames President Bush for the mortgage crisis and her strategy would be to Personally, I think they have missed a few things. Why not give out free high efficiency light bulbs so those in danger of a foreclosure don’t have to give up their cable TV, but can save the cost via their electric bill? On the other hand, I think anyone earning over $200,000 should be made to increase the interest rate on their home mortgage so that we can lower the interest rates for all those people who should never have purchased the house they did…because they could not afford it! Imagine if you were at work, came up with such brainless ideas, and in making your proposal simply ignored the cost, the inequity or the long-term implications. That’s the beauty of politicians, they can say whatever sounds good to the audience they think may vote for them and reality be damned. So who is to blame for the mortgage crisis? No one except the people who took the mortgages, yes there were apparently rather shady people out their promoting some of these deals, but that does not excuse people from making stupid decisions or from buying something or structuring a mortgage they could not possibly afford either now or in the years ahead. I recall when we bought our first home (for $29,000). I set up a simple chart showing the mortgage payment and the real estate taxes so I knew if the house cost X I needed the taxes to be Y, etc. I agonized for months over what we could afford and I tried to figure in various contingencies, what if my wife lost her part-time job? I did the same thing with our second home where we have lived for 35 years. I once used a home equity loan to pay for college costs and as I wrote checks each month, I could not sleep. What if the interest rate goes up again, how am I going to make the payments? So, I stopped and converted the home equity line to a fixed mortgage that I could afford. Is all this beyond the capabilities of the average person? I think not, that is unless you are plagued by delusions of grandeur or simply greedy. I want a politician to tell people that...don’t do stupid, greedy things so that you will not be disappointed when other people don’t bail you out. Yeah, right! January 1, 2008
In a recent Money © magazine article, Rep. Charlie Rangel (The Champion of AMT Relief) provides insight into the mind of a liberal. Mr. Rangel notes that the AMT will bring in $ 1 trillion over the next ten years and that is the last he talks about revenue and expense. His scheme to eliminate the AMT is to raise taxes on 1.6 million people. Couples making more than $500,000 will pay a 4.6% surtax and those between $200,000 and $500,000 a mere 4% as if there were no difference between $200,000 and $500,000. That is not the most disturbing comment though. Consider, “The surtax is modest relative to the dramatic pay some of these people get.” Some of these people which “some” are we talking about? Does a couple earning $200,000 feel like Warren Buffett or a hedge fund manager? Is $250,000 dramatic pay or perhaps the result of 60-hour weeks, or years building up a business or a medical practice? Noting that the upper middle class is caught by the AMT, he rather glibly makes another comment to Money. You can put out a special edition for billionaire readers that says, “Sorry, you didn’t make the cut!” Ok, I know the average household income in the Billionaire, $200,000, $500,000, all in the same pot? Therefore, the message is clear, work hard for 30 or 40 years, go to college, become a professional, take risk, achieve the American dream and fall prey to politicians who simply cannot conceive of any solution to a money problem that does not raise taxes on someone. By the way, you and Buffett and Gates and Trump, and Soros apparently do have something in common The AMT was effective in 1970 and was target at 155 high-income households that had so many deductions they did not pay any income tax. Therefore, the mental midgets in Congress changed the tax law to take care of those folks, did not add an inflation escalation to the tax and merrily went on their way spending all the extra money. Da ya think there was a problem in this logic from the start? And so it is with many in
I have been racking my brain trying to succinctly define the difference between a liberal and a conservative. I have it now. A liberal views the average person as a dunce incapable of personal responsibility and quite capable of blaming others and circumstances for their woes and thus in need of government support and guidance. The answer to many problems is more government programs requiring higher and higher taxes and wealth transfer. The conservative views the average person as a fully capable human being seeking more personal responsibility, abhorring government telling them what to do and thus not in need of government intervention. The answer to many problems is more private action and less government action. Here is the dilemma, the average person is not fully capable and does not seek more personal responsibility. The average person may not want the government involved in their lives but welcomes government programs such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and an endless list of other activities. The average person cries at paying more taxes but views what government does for them as “free.” The average person complains about the inefficiency and waste in government, but votes for politicians who promise more from government. The average person thinks a rebate is a gift. And you wonder why there are more liberals than conservatives. So Rush, Laura and others, your ideas may sound logical and your principles may be valid, but you are fighting a losing battle because there are only a very few true conservatives and they are “wealthy”…like you guys. In fact, it appears that the most visible and active liberals and conservatives are wealthy and above the fray so to speak. They are not concerned about income taxes, or inheritance taxes or the average successful American and thus it is easy to support wealth transfer and pander to the populace. So where does this leave us…right in the middle and waiting for our rebate check and universal health care.
Blast globalization anyway, workers need jobs in the Uh, not so much. Our fate is in our own hands, just ask the buggy whip maker, or the wheelwright or maker of 33 1/3 records (what?) or the … Consider the following New Workers Sorely Lacking There is a glaring deficiency in reading and writing among new entrants in the American workforce, and that is troubling employers who are being forced to invest in additional training—or simply look for skilled workers offshore—for one of the most fundamental job skills in the 21st century economy.
The latest report to sound this alarm was published last month by the National Endowment for the Arts, which concluded that employers ranked reading and writing as the top deficiency in new hires. The study, “To Read or Not to Read,” was based on a variety of data sources including a 2006 report by the Conference Board titled “Are They Really Ready to Work?” which concluded that today’s American workforce is “woefully ill-prepared” for the demands of the workplace.
However disparate the sources of the data, the picture presented is one that NEA Chairman Dana Gioia described in the report’s preface as “simple, consistent and alarming.” The decline in Americans’ reading and writing skills has “demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications.” Workers who cannot read and write well earn less and have higher unemployment rates. Employers, meanwhile, must spend more time and money on what is considered a basic skill.
Linda Barrington, research director for the Conference Board and an author of its report, says that even among recent graduates of four-year colleges, new hires were unable to write effective business communication, read analytically or solve problems.
“It’s nice that they are reading e-mail and reading comics,” Barrington says, “but if they can’t turn it into a communication tool, that is where the breakdown happens on the employer side.” The Conference Board study was prompted by a closed-door meeting two years ago with Fortune 100 CEOs who worried that the skills gap would only quicken the off shoring of American jobs. Literacy levels today are similar to those in 1970, according to the Nation’s Report Card, the federal government’s annual assessment of literacy levels. But the economy has changed drastically since then. Workers today need to be able to read and analyze complex, often very technical material, like manuals for car mechanics, to succeed in most jobs.
“Jobs that don’t have much in the way of skills have moved out of the To read the full article visit this site. http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/25/27/49.html When was the last time you read a book?
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We also know that the mass confusion among politicians who now are willing to throw federal money (otherwise known as our money) here and there at just about anyone who asks for it is a clear indication they have no idea what they are doing, right?
Check out this 
Let’s say you had ten friends, one friend graduated college, works for a big company and makes a lot of money.
the earnings of college endowment funds given the cost of a college education goes up each year at nearly double the rate of general inflation – not unlike health care? Talk about elite opinion, who better than college professors (who by the way spend a good part of their time not doing their job in any case) have been able to divert scrutiny over costs away from their business. And talk about elite opinion disadvantaging Americans, have you been to 
Democrats are going to raise taxes, and John McCain is going to cut them, maybe. “McCain Tax Cuts Would Bloat Deficit or Take Huge Spending Curbs” WSJ April 22| All material copyrighted by Richard D. Quinn LLC |