You'll have to forgive my absence, I had to take some time to think.
I looked at the change.gov site, there's quite a lot there. The one thing that troubled me though, was what I didn't see. Nothing. Not one single program involves free market systems or no intervention. It's all government throwing money at everything to force change and regulate people's behavior, not government standing aside and occasionally giving incentives to encourage entrepreneurs with new ideas to move forward. People need to wake up and realise that in order for this economy to work, some businesses need to fail occasionally so they can learn from their mistakes or branch in new directions. We havent allowed that to happen with many large corporations, and now it has come back to bite us in the ass. And we're turning right around and repeating the same mistake we have for 50 years, turning to the government and pleading for it to bail us out and magically make everything better. If we don't take our economy back from government this will continue until we reach total collapse. And hopefully no sane person wants that.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Why cap and trade is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas
From factcheck.org
Cap and trade sounds like a greenie's dream, but it is a nightmare waiting to happen to all of us. This is an artificial price gouge by the government to punish people for needing energy in an attempt to force them to accept "green energies". It does absolutely no good, and instead hurts everybody, especially those unlucky or not rich enough to be able to afford enough of these 'credits' to cover expected and unexpected emissions. So the cost to produce electricity goes up, which makes the cost to make things goes up, which means the cost for you to buy stuff goes up, meanwhile the need for energy can go nowhere but up, while the government slowly tightens the noose by issuing fewer credits at higher prices with higher fines. Oh, and meanwhile the government is pushing energies that are still in developement and require large amounts of energy to implement. You know, what I'd love to see is one of them screw up and set it low enough that human beings fall under this wonderful new system, it'll be hilarious to watch people get pissed off that they are now having to buy an indulgence from the almighty government for the right to breathe. Another example would be forcing someone to switch to the Model T by shooting their horses, not by touting the benefits of the Model T.
Oh, and this caught my attention. The study that says teens who watch sex on TV are more likely to get pregnant. Umm, why can't it be the other way around? Oh, right, cause that means its the teens' fault and not the TV, and we all know teens are children and therefore not expected to have any responsibility for their own actions. Hooray for anti-logic.
Cap-and-trade programs are designed to decrease the use of fossil fuels by requiring that industries (including power companies) cap their total carbon dioxide emissions. Companies would receive credits for CO2 emissions; any company that managed to stay under its quota would be permitted to sell its additional credits. The cap (or total number of credits issued) would shrink over time. Obama has proposed auctioning the initial credits, a policy that he says will generate revenue that can be invested into alternative energy research.
Eric Roston, of the nonpartisan Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, says that any cap-and-trade program will raise the cost of electricity. As he told FactCheck.org, "The goal of cap-and-trade is to make fossil fuels more expensive, which will make new technologies competitive with them." And since Obama would be auctioning credits, Roston says that it's "not unreasonable" to label Obama's program a tax politically.
Cap and trade sounds like a greenie's dream, but it is a nightmare waiting to happen to all of us. This is an artificial price gouge by the government to punish people for needing energy in an attempt to force them to accept "green energies". It does absolutely no good, and instead hurts everybody, especially those unlucky or not rich enough to be able to afford enough of these 'credits' to cover expected and unexpected emissions. So the cost to produce electricity goes up, which makes the cost to make things goes up, which means the cost for you to buy stuff goes up, meanwhile the need for energy can go nowhere but up, while the government slowly tightens the noose by issuing fewer credits at higher prices with higher fines. Oh, and meanwhile the government is pushing energies that are still in developement and require large amounts of energy to implement. You know, what I'd love to see is one of them screw up and set it low enough that human beings fall under this wonderful new system, it'll be hilarious to watch people get pissed off that they are now having to buy an indulgence from the almighty government for the right to breathe. Another example would be forcing someone to switch to the Model T by shooting their horses, not by touting the benefits of the Model T.
Oh, and this caught my attention. The study that says teens who watch sex on TV are more likely to get pregnant. Umm, why can't it be the other way around? Oh, right, cause that means its the teens' fault and not the TV, and we all know teens are children and therefore not expected to have any responsibility for their own actions. Hooray for anti-logic.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
How our economy currently works
Entrepeneur starts business, borrows money.
Entrepeneur hires workers, buys materials, buys equipment, sells goods/services.
Employees spend money on other goods/services/investments.
Business makes money, spends money on expansion, spends money on investments.
Business grows, hires more workers, buys more stuff, sells more goods/services.
Employees spend money on other goods/services/investments.
Business reaches plateau, expands to new areas.
Business may become corporations, or split into smaller businesses, or go international.
All throughout this process government is taking money from them and their employees, taxing everything they both buy and sell, telling them what they can and can't do, forcing policy decisions that may lead to total collapse years down the road with the assurance that the government will never let that happen, when they are doing well people hate them and want to take more from them, and when they are hurting nobody fucking cares, and they are constantly portrayed as monolithic evil moneygrubbers by politicians and filmmakers.
Meanwhile some people can sit on their ass all day and wait for their magical government checks to show up to pay for their home, their food, their kids, their clothes, they go to emergency rooms for minor things (which runs up your medical bill), and since they don't have a job they can get lots of extra government money to pay for nearly anything they want.
Great setup we have, yes?
Entrepeneur hires workers, buys materials, buys equipment, sells goods/services.
Employees spend money on other goods/services/investments.
Business makes money, spends money on expansion, spends money on investments.
Business grows, hires more workers, buys more stuff, sells more goods/services.
Employees spend money on other goods/services/investments.
Business reaches plateau, expands to new areas.
Business may become corporations, or split into smaller businesses, or go international.
All throughout this process government is taking money from them and their employees, taxing everything they both buy and sell, telling them what they can and can't do, forcing policy decisions that may lead to total collapse years down the road with the assurance that the government will never let that happen, when they are doing well people hate them and want to take more from them, and when they are hurting nobody fucking cares, and they are constantly portrayed as monolithic evil moneygrubbers by politicians and filmmakers.
Meanwhile some people can sit on their ass all day and wait for their magical government checks to show up to pay for their home, their food, their kids, their clothes, they go to emergency rooms for minor things (which runs up your medical bill), and since they don't have a job they can get lots of extra government money to pay for nearly anything they want.
Great setup we have, yes?
Monday, October 20, 2008
The mortgage bubble
Found this decent article on how this bubble happened.
The financial crisis blame game
A few points they missed were the laws passed that forced loaners to give a percentage to people they knew couldn't pay it back if they wanted to expand or merge, the laws that were passed that gave organisations like ACORN free reign to intimidate banks into making those loans, and 50 years of Hollywood and school history books shoving the "evil old rich guy" and "evil corporation" stereotypes down our throats hasn't helped.
What should make this really infuriating is that the government already gives out massive amounts of your money for low income housing programs. If they had simply expanded those programs (in which case we'd just be complaining about yet another bankrupt govt program) rather than make private banks act with a "wink, wink" that the govt will step in should they fail, our economy would be lower but in much better shape rather than fluctuating wildly in an attempt to equalize. We are in the perfect position right now to restructure and come out of this dip stronger than ever, but first we have to learn from the mistakes we've ignored several times now.
The financial crisis blame game
A few points they missed were the laws passed that forced loaners to give a percentage to people they knew couldn't pay it back if they wanted to expand or merge, the laws that were passed that gave organisations like ACORN free reign to intimidate banks into making those loans, and 50 years of Hollywood and school history books shoving the "evil old rich guy" and "evil corporation" stereotypes down our throats hasn't helped.
What should make this really infuriating is that the government already gives out massive amounts of your money for low income housing programs. If they had simply expanded those programs (in which case we'd just be complaining about yet another bankrupt govt program) rather than make private banks act with a "wink, wink" that the govt will step in should they fail, our economy would be lower but in much better shape rather than fluctuating wildly in an attempt to equalize. We are in the perfect position right now to restructure and come out of this dip stronger than ever, but first we have to learn from the mistakes we've ignored several times now.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Reserved for debate 3
There is also the government mandate that banks must make subprime loans to grow that caused this.
Ending tax breaks equals higher tax overhead.
Government should never act on current market swings. It doesn't help now and it hurts 4 years from now when the market catches up to policy
that 95% tax cut figure is bull. It completely ignores the fact that higher tax equals higher end cost for everything you buy.
Go McCain. About time you fought back.
What, a Democrat used the word responsible?!?
Dammit, I've had it with the Bushbashing. Great comeback by McCain.
Bullshit on the coal thing
That was a stupid move. You never say 100% on anything because it leaves you absolutely no wiggle room.
What economic crisis? It's a fucking hiccup that has been blown completely out of proportion by people wanting handouts.
NOT THE WORST CRISIS SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION! FUCK!!!
Biden is a professional politician. Palin is a regular person.
Why can't Palin be president, that would be cool.
Yeah, you really don't want to say unilateral renegotiation when allies are involved
10 years? How, with no nuke, no drill, no coal, nothing but alternatives we would kill our economy DEAD in the rush to transition. D-E-D Dead.
I love how Obama's so for human rights yet he's ignored/opposed the human rights we've given in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere by opposing the war.
I love how nobody ever notes how all this fucking around with healthcare and punishing the system is why few people go into the medical profession. Docters pay shitloads in insurance and have to spend most of their time filling out paperwork, and one unhappy patient or one slipup and their insurance skyrockets.
McCain's plan also encourages competition, which lowers prices.
Let it unravel, buy your own fucking healthcare, if those corporations are so evil why are we so dependant on them for our healthcare?
Dammit, fuck Roe v Wade, its a pointless fucking case that by this point the overturning of which would mean absolutely jack shit. It wouldn't ban abortion, and too many people in this country are for it or don't care about it for it to be banned in very many states.
Ending tax breaks equals higher tax overhead.
Government should never act on current market swings. It doesn't help now and it hurts 4 years from now when the market catches up to policy
that 95% tax cut figure is bull. It completely ignores the fact that higher tax equals higher end cost for everything you buy.
Go McCain. About time you fought back.
What, a Democrat used the word responsible?!?
Dammit, I've had it with the Bushbashing. Great comeback by McCain.
Bullshit on the coal thing
That was a stupid move. You never say 100% on anything because it leaves you absolutely no wiggle room.
What economic crisis? It's a fucking hiccup that has been blown completely out of proportion by people wanting handouts.
NOT THE WORST CRISIS SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION! FUCK!!!
Biden is a professional politician. Palin is a regular person.
Why can't Palin be president, that would be cool.
Yeah, you really don't want to say unilateral renegotiation when allies are involved
10 years? How, with no nuke, no drill, no coal, nothing but alternatives we would kill our economy DEAD in the rush to transition. D-E-D Dead.
I love how Obama's so for human rights yet he's ignored/opposed the human rights we've given in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere by opposing the war.
I love how nobody ever notes how all this fucking around with healthcare and punishing the system is why few people go into the medical profession. Docters pay shitloads in insurance and have to spend most of their time filling out paperwork, and one unhappy patient or one slipup and their insurance skyrockets.
McCain's plan also encourages competition, which lowers prices.
Let it unravel, buy your own fucking healthcare, if those corporations are so evil why are we so dependant on them for our healthcare?
Dammit, fuck Roe v Wade, its a pointless fucking case that by this point the overturning of which would mean absolutely jack shit. It wouldn't ban abortion, and too many people in this country are for it or don't care about it for it to be banned in very many states.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The new depression? More like a hiccup perceived as a heart attack
This is all a war of perception. If everybody stopped panicking, took control of their own finances and their own future (this includes putting aside some money for emergencies, something about an ounce of preparation or something like that...), and stopped letting Congress and organisations like ACORN fuck around with our economy for political gain (seriously, they are professional extortionists. Most of the 'professionally poor' in this country are richer than I am because of them, and they don't have to produce anything in return for all the handouts they get), the free market would adjust and keep going. What we seem to forget is that 777 drop is like every other drop in US history, we have recovered, and we have done better since then.
Woohoo, The market is down. Start shopping for cheap stocks and buy them, and hold onto those you have until the market goes back up. Rinse, Repeat, Profit.
Woohoo, The market is down. Start shopping for cheap stocks and buy them, and hold onto those you have until the market goes back up. Rinse, Repeat, Profit.
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