Well…one of the themes that has come out of the budget nonsense here in Michigan is that of “shared sacrifice’ and is being sold that everyone needs to give a little to help our state survive. But, again, those that are being asked to sacrifice are only the workers and the retired folks here…and this increase in taxes on you and me is going to be used to give business billions in tax breaks since these idiots still believe that giving tax breaks preserves and grows jobs here in Michigan. Let’s take a look at one example that I am personally aware of here in GR where Steelcase was given huge tax breaks to keep jobs here and build state of the art manufacturing facilities…well…guess what was just announced a few weeks back? Steelcase is moving the remaining manufacturing jobs from Michigan to low wage states and Mexico. No matter what the state does, no matter how much the workers give up, it is never enough for business and the repubs that run them…they will never be happy until all of us work for minimum wage no matter what our education level or our contribution to the bottom line. I’ve never shared this from my personal work life; shared how I was treated by business that didn’t care about anything but the bonuses that the ceo’s get….in the week before I was axed…I gave that company over 5 million dollars in cost reduction that went right to the bottom line…and over my career, I was personally responsible for almost 100 million dollars of these lower costs…and they axe me because they were consciously trying to rid themselves of people over 40, my average salary of 60 K a year and 28 years of service meant absolutely nothing to them….
So, giving tax breaks to these fools is not going to ensure that jobs stay here….it will only result in you and I paying for their folly and huge executive bonuses…when will this nonsense stop? Geez….
Well…not sure why I have feeling so lousy lately but I do have hope that today will be better….yesterday was a veg day almost…did get a few things done around here but wasn’t really motivated to do more….didn’t even cook and If you know me, that’s like not breathing but maybe today I’ll fire up the slow cooker for some chicken….today looks kind of busy with the warmer weather…I am going
to wash the wreck to get the salt off and try to get out on the bike if it’s going to be in the 50’s….then there are the qualifying races from Daytona and maybe meeting up with G for a couple…then the Wings play later so finally, I have a day that I don’t have to think, I can just do the mindless things that most people do. I am really looking forward to that….I will get a couple out later since it is looking like the repubs have taken their stupidity to the next level and I will have to comment…do you expect anything less? More later….
Well…the tanned one had his Marie Antoinette moment this morning when he was asked if the cuts he is proposing will mean the loss of jobs in the USA….and his answer was ‘so be it” that he doesn’t care that these cuts will potentially cost a million jobs and has the real possibility of plunging the country back into recession. I’m sure you can see his reasoning here which is the reasoning of the repub party….keep the economy bad and unemployment high and the repubs take back the White House in 2012. Another example that the repubs don’t care a bit about you or I…but Boehners case has a nice little twist to it…he’s perfectly happy to cut jobs anyplace but his home state of Ohio, where he is using the earmark process to continue a spare jet engine that no one else wants…not the pentagon or anyone else wants this bit of wasteful spending to continue…but Boehner does since the engine is being made in Ohio and continuing it will protect 7,000 jobs and his re-election status next year….can anyone say pork, pork, pork? Geez….
Well…I hope you got the chance to read some of the news coming out of Michigan today…Gov Rick Snyder unveiled one of the primary ways he proposes to balance the budget here…and guess whose backs that one is going to be carried on? While proposing the repubs cut taxes on corporations here, his new proposal raises taxes on every retired person in Michigan by raising taxes on pensions, IRA’s, and Social Security. Nope, I’m not making this up folks, the tax cuts for the rich party, who blew a gasket when Granholm proposed higher taxes as a part of the deficit solution, now propose that people that worked their whole lives to get their meager pensions subsidize business by paying more taxes. And, that is exactly what this is, you and I and the rest of us workers are being asked to build better roads, utilities, and other infrastructure for business to take advantage of while they get to retain more of the highest profits in the history of the world as they continue to send jobs overseas and ask for more, and more, and more, concessions from you and I. Where is the outcry from the right who constantly spew that taxes are too high and who sabotaged the Granholm administration for 8 years ensuring we’d end up with an untenable financial position?
I hope this bunch of hypocrites are seen for what they truly are, lying shills for business who will be taken care of by business when they leave…..to make millions from the companies they have just rewarded…geez…
Well…. a little bit more fun last night with taking it much easier…I did win at pool again but I know I can’t keep shooting well and Tom won’t keep giving me games forever….have not been sleeping well so I have to try something here in the near future…can’t keep going on every day being exhausted…but, I’ll figure something out…always do….at least the weather is better and I can almost see over the snow piles and it should get much better here in the next couple of days..it is treacherous out there trying to walk with the snow melt freezing when I go…have bunches of new muscles that hurt with the slipping and sliding…still want to get the bike out tomorrow and at least get a little muddy…will probably wear shorts, too, but it is a pain that the trails are not melting at all and I’ll have to use the streets….not much to do today….I’m not going to bore you with describing the same thing you’ve heard for the last year….so, if there is something new, I’ll pass that on…more later….
Well…had to get this one out while I’m still seething abut it…I hope you’ve read about and have the same outrage that I have about comments made by senator Chuck Grassley yesterday about the bonuses that GM is paying out to it’s hourly and salaried workers…they are going to pay out about 400 million dollars since the company is profitable again after the trip through bankruptcy. Ole Chuck is bitching about the fact that they have only paid back about half of what they owe to the US gov’t and feels that there should be no bonuses paid until all of the loans are paid back. Oh, really Chuck? Where the hell were you when the big banks that were bailed out by the TARP program were paying out 20 times more than that in bonuses before the TARP loans were paid back? Not a fricking peep from you, Chuck, because those bonuses went to the rich and connected and just shows your underlying hatred of the middle class and the workers of this country.
Why isn’t this inconvenient fact being reported in the media? I guess it’s now our job to hold these hypocrites accountable….geez…
One last inconvenient fact….the three top guys in the banking industry got more than 400 million dollars in bonuses….that’s three guys, folks…and old Chuck is pissed because 76 thousand workers are going to share 400 million…but, as you know, he was one of the ones on the right who wanted the auto companies to just fail and go away because they have unionized workers…no matter that they are American workers in the middle class..or is it because they are middle class…
Well…up late last night for no reason other than “Top Gear” was new and I wanted to see it….but that didn’t mean I slept in…no matter what time I crash at night it’s always up at the same time…between 6 and 6:12….no dreams either and that means the sleep was quite crappy. Oh, well…didn’t do a lot yesterday..no G so it was a night off for me…still feel kind of crappy and that is with being a good boy…have to take a while to figure that one out. Got everything done I wanted to yesterday but that only took until noon so the boredom came back quite strongly in the aft….need to get started on the next novel just to think I’m accomplishing something and I may get tot hat today…it’s not well fleshed out yet but I do have the kernel of an idea that might be a good one…won’t know until I get into it….not much to do today….might have lunch with T but haven’t heard from her so maybe not….going to take it easy out in Ada today if it happens…just not feeling well enough to do more….more later…
Well…I’ve had lunch and have been watching Man U play but it’s halftime and I thought I’d get a few more ideas down. Have been looking for the Chuck Krauthammer article from a couple of days ago but have had no luck….so I can’t comment on that idiot…I really don’t know what else to talk about……oh, there is one thing, why aren’t companies that are sitting on all that cash looking for ways to expand into new markets? If I remember my college econ….the way to maximize profit is to get into new markets first or to create new markets that no one else has recognized yet. It doesn’t take much work to just sit on your hands until all of the excess capacity in your business is taken up by the recovery, but it does take smarts, vision, and guts to go out and lead the market by making a bet on what you think is going to be the next big thing. That means building new plants, hiring new talent, and opening the checkbook to grow your business. I think it’s one of the things that is currently missing in our economy; no one is willing to take any risk since the ceo’s stand to lose if their ideas aren’t successful. But that’s the problem…the ceo’s get exorbitantly rewarded for caution so why would they do anything different? There is plenty of talent just sitting on the sidelines waiting for that vision but it won’t be there forever….geez…
Well…I’ve got a bunch of things running around in my head today and they are stating to itch so I thought I’d get a few down here in what I call a mish mash of ideas and thoughts. First, I am really surprised at the industry of revising history that has arisen around ole GW….the latest idea that is being floated is that Mubarek leaving in Egypt can be attributed to GW’s policy of freedom and democracy for the Arab world. I am stunned by the gall of these folks, what’s next, are they going to take credit for the snow melting here in Michigan? For the record, the Egyptian uprising was not, and I’ll repeat, was not a result of anything that GW or his cronies did…I think it was set back by their inept and simplistic foreign policy and can only be the result of the Egyptian people saying enough and having the social media tools that allowed them to move faster than the Egyptian government could. No cigar for GW….
Next…you should be appalled at the focus of the cuts in government that are coming from the repub house…as always, these are going after the poorest and least powerful with these cuts…where is there proposed cut to the subsidies for the oil industry that total almost 20 billion dollars a year? What about the subsidies for the factory farms out there and the one for ethanol? They cry and cry about letting the market control this stuff but when it comes to doing whats right, money talks and you and I get screwed. People need to wise up to these lies…and I don’t mind cutting wasteful spending, but let’s not cut early childhood education and subsidies for college students while the rich keep getting theirs….they are setting us up for long term failure as a nation where only the rich will be able to afford the education we need to compete….okay, that was only two topics…don’t think that qualifies as a mish mash…I will have a couple more later….have to have lunch first…
Well…a pretty much total veg day yesterday after the newspapers…just couldn’t get motivated to do anything…I did get out for a while since it was so warm and that was nice…it looks like the winter thaw is coming this week and I am going to get out on the bike Thursday since it is going to be around 50….just need the melt to happen before that so I can get on the trails…not anywhere near enough room to ride on the roads with the big snow piles out there. Need to wash the car this week, too so I can see out of the windows again…got reminded by T this morning that it is Valentines’s day today and I don’t know how I feel about it…it would be nice to have someone to go out to a nice dinner with…and the rest of it but it’s been so long since I’ve dated that I may have forgotten how it’s done. Oh, well….not much to do today…have to go out for supplies and the normal stuff of course….and the daily grind of resumes, resumes, resumes….but I am getting behind in my posts so I’ll try to do three today…including this one of course…more later…