Hot Air strikes again

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/30/another-obama-donor-convicted-of-fraud/

From a news story:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/senior-managers-of-gdc-acquisitions-holding-company-charged-in-brooklyn-ny-with-bank-fraud-conspiracy-99138264.html

"This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes."

The New(est) Party

We have the Green Party and the Libertarian Party, the Conservative Party and many others (yes, even the American Communist Party).  Now we have two more, one maturing and one just getting started.

The Tea Party has been around for a few years. It seems to have started out with the cry, "What about me!" (1) and has morphed into more specific creeds.  Constitutionality. smaller government, less taxes.  It has not been absorbed by the Republican Party but rather attached more like a Siamese Twin.

The 99 Percent Movement is just starting out.  It's rallying cry is "What about me!" - wait - where have I heard that before??  It is coming from the Left but it is not happy any more with the establishment left, just as the Tea Party is not happy with the establishment Right.

So what do we have?  I think the initial movement on both sides is a reaction from the radical right and left.  As the movements mature, they tone down the rhetoric and develop game plans.  As this gets out they start picking up people who are are closer to the center.  All movements by their nature become more centrist in order to keep attracting new followers.  Where will the 99 Percent end up? I don't know - but I do know they need a better name.

==============================================

(1)  For those who think the Tea Party is not the "about me" party - here are some links to peruse - two from definitely conservative sites.  Rick Santelli's (former hedge fund manager) rant asks "who wants to pay for your neighbors mortgage, who has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?"  Well if you got rich on taking your neighbor's money when YOU knew he could not pay his bills, then maybe you should.....he was railing against the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan - not the stimulus by the way.  Ironically, if the government had focused on solving the mortgage problem, maybe jobs would have appeared and we would not be in this mess today...

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/258258/short-history-tea-parties

Look at the signs on this site:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/15/a-tax-day-tea-party-cheat-sheet-how-it-all-started/

http://www.slate.com/articles/video/slate_v/2010/11/the_history_of_the_tea_party_in_four_minutes.html

If I hear this one more time....

I am getting tired of hearing "The wealthy already pay too much in taxes - most people pay nothing at all....."

Okay, the wealthy do pay most of the FEDERAL income taxes in this country.  Never mind that when it comes to disposable income, most people who consider themselves middle class pay more taxes that the wealthy, when you throw in sales, payroll, state, property and other misc taxes.

But forget about that.  How do we get the tax burden off of the wealthy and back on the middle class where the numbers are much larger?  Well, let's say that there are 140 million tax payers (returns) in 2008.  The top 1 percent equal about 1.4 million of this.  That leaves 138.6 million others.  Now let's assume the top 1% pay $392.1 billion in income tax paid in 2008.  If you were to take 50 million of the others and they had to just equal the $392.1 billion, that would mean they would have to pay $7840 in taxes.   In going back to the 2010 tax tables, that means an adjusted income of $45,000.  Now assuming normal deductions, that would be about $55,000 in income for an individual.  That is about $26. per hour.  So if you want the wealthy to stop paying to much, all you have to do is create 50 million jobs that pay over $26. per hour.  More that three and a half times the minimum wage. 

Got any ideas???

ChrisZ

The Basis of the Economy

Some people question why I feel there should be higher taxes on the wealthy, even if temporarily.

Well try to follow this:

For years we have been an ultra-consumer society.  We bought beyond our means.  Some of this was greed, some of this was advertising.  Some of it was trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Some was pushed on us (remember one way were supposed to react after 9/11 was to go out and keep buying things like nothing had happened...) and some we brought upon ourselves (I deserve a new car). 

So we kept spending.  We ran up credit card debt, home equity debt, we even borrowed from our 401K to make ends meet.  Yes the economy did well - but it was all based on a bill that had to come due soon.  So, the companies had their money - right from the bank - but where did the bank get it?  From the IOUs that we gave them.  When the day of judgment came and we decided we didn't want to spend anymore, the house of cards came down.  When we decided to keep that car one more year and not buy a new one, auto sales dropped.  When we decided the house we were in was big enough, new home sales stopped.  When we decided to stay home rather than go out to eat, restaurant sales slowed.  In each business, less sales equaled less workers needed.  Less workers means less people with money and less sales.  And the spiral begins.

Now when does it stop?  When all the debt accumulated gets paid down, written off,  or blown away.  When people, not businesses, feel comfortable in spending money again and then instead of a downward spiral, you have a climbing flight.

Now how can the wealthy help?  Well the reason they have the money is that we traded it for debt.  Now depending on who you feel is right or wrong will determine your solution to the problem.  But anyway you look at it, if money does not move from the wealthy to the debtors, the economy will not grow.  How and  why is not for this post.  But somehow we have to figure out how to do it.

ChrisZ

Solyndra - Putting the Puzzle together

I am still trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle together but here is what people want me to believe:

The President - in an attempt to reward one of his campaign donors, forces the DOE to loan 500 million taxpayer dollars to a company that they know will go bankrupt, thus costing the government (taxpayers) and the investors (campaign donor) millions of dollars of losses.  This will discredit the Solar Energy Industry, and at the same time end up giving tax credits to the (campaign donor) who's fortune derives from the oil industry.

How Machiavellian!  And you claim that the President is a Socialist Liberal, when this proves in fact that he is a capitalistic stooge!  Wow!

Here are some things to watch for:

"Under terms of the February loan restructuring, two private investors - Madrone Partners LP and Kaiser's Argonaut Ventures I LLC - stand to be repaid before the U.S. government if the solar company is liquidated.

The two firms gave Solyndra a total of $69 million in emergency loans. The loans are the only portion of their investments that have repayment priority above the U.S. government.

Argonaut is an investment vehicle of the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation. Through Argonaut, the foundation holds a 39 percent stake in Solyndra.

George Kaiser, chairman of BOK Financial Corp., raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for Obama's 2008 campaign, federal election records show. Kaiser has made at least 16 visits to the president's aides since 2009, according to White House visitor logs.

Madrone Partners is affiliated with the Walton family, descendants of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Rob Walton, the eldest son of Sam Walton, contributed $2,500 last year to the National Republican Congressional Committee."


http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=592&articleid=20110917_49_E1_WASHIN711341


So $69 million is ahead of the $535 million of taxpayers money.  Should no be a problem with a company that might be worth a at least $500 million - right?  Not if the first companies buy the full assets under a fire sale which might happen.  This needs to be followed - not to find any scandal, but rather to see how money makes money and tries to make a silk purse out of a sows ear....

There will be incompetence and criminality if you look for it.  It will not rise to the level of an Enron or TRW (if it does it shows that businessmen are the most ego oriented people [It can't happen to me!]  and that we need more regulation not less.)

So keep watching and take it all in but don't expect it to prove anything - on either side.

ChrisZ

A Place to Start

They say the longest journey begins with the first step.  Everyone is looking for that ONE idea to fix the economy.  The partisan bickering is keeping us from accomplishing anything.  So let's set up some guidelines for National Policy:

The priorities of any law should be:
1. National Defense
2. Immediate Environmental Damage
3. American Economy (jobs)

All expenditures that don't meet these criteria should be suspended (not repealed) for 5 years.

All elected officials will take a 10% salary cut - I know this is mostly symbolic to them but isn't that the definition of what symbolic is?

There will be a temporary tax surcharge on those making over $500,000.

$500,000   +1%
$1,000,000  + 2%
10,000,000  +3%

Capitol Gains for individuals will go up to the level of income tax for individuals in 3, 1 year steps.

Capitol Gains for business owned by more than 3 people will drop 5%  and a tax credit issued for the amount put back into the business to employ workers - not to buy machines.

Money for the arts will be cut to the amount it does not directly employ people and at a rate no more than $100,000 per worker.  This is no money to employ a $1,000,000 head of a non profit art organization.

Home interest deduction is to be caped at $25,000 per year per family.

Medical deduction capped at 8% of income with no minimum.

The Military budget will be cut by 20% and 50% of that money put aside for the health care of our current and past servicemen and women.

Taxpayers will have to pay Social Security taxes on the first $150,000 of salary up from the current $107,000, and all income is calculated against your SS earnings limit.  The government has to freeze borrowing against the SS fund and start returning 1% per year to the fund.

Able-bodied welfare recipients will be required to spend up to 50% (20 hours) per week performing assigned work.  The government will have the ability to overrule union regulations as long as the additional workers do not affect the working hours of the existing workers too less that 40 hours.  Any company that hires a person currently on welfare would be eligible for a tax credit for one year,  up to the amount the person would have received in welfare had they stayed on.  The person would be subject to all the responsibilities of any other employee - so special consideration.

This is just a start of what can be done - we need people with ideas to get us out of this problem, not fight over who got us in.

ChrisZ

Raise you hand if you agree

Well we are 2 1/2 years into President Obama's term.

What has he and his administration done right:
1. Pretty much reestablished our credibility or at least acceptability around the world.
2. Got Osama bin Laden and working on dismantling Al Qaeda.
3. Rescued the American car manufacturers.
4. Gotten health care reform going (although see below)
5. Gotten serious discussion going on the economy.

Now, what he has done wrong:
1. Gave health care to Congress to screw up - so instead of a national health care plan supported by a national sales tax, we end up with a convoluted system balancing on a future Supreme Court ruling on the individual mandate.
2. Took his eye off the tax code - When the Bush tax cuts expired, he should have changed the brackets and raised taxes on the top earners.  This would not have solved the deficit (although it would help) but would have restored faith in the average man that the President is not just a puppet of corporations and Wall Street.
Instead, we will end up in the same place we started, with the rich getting richer though no effort on their part.
3. Gave in on the stimulus and did not direct enough money to reforming he housing crisis.  The little tax break that dominated 1/3 of the stimulus did nothing, and the money to infrastructure did  little on the money spent per job created chart.  We forget that today, infrastructure repairs are done with big machinery and not many laborers.

So what can he do in the second part of his term?

If he lets the deficit ceiling deal go off without a plan to increase revenue  from the wealthy and the big corporations, then he is doomed.   How do you cut social services, when so many of your constituents need to be on them???  

What we need is a 5 and 10 year plan, that can be modified as we go along, in order to reinvent our economy to what will be needed in the technology age.

He will have to open up a discussion of immigration  - he has to take a bold step in 2012 whether it helps or hurts his election changes.

He needs to bring a substantial number of soldiers home (disclaimer - I have a son who should be deployed in 2012 - I would stick to this even if he ended up in Montana....) and reduce the amount we are spending on foreign wars and end the hidden costs.  We are still losing many brave, young men and women and too many are coming back injured.  Maybe some of the money form the higher taxes on the wealthy can be  invested in our returning veterans, as they have made it possible for this increased wealth.

ChrisZ

Test Post

Yes, just a test for now - soon to be a real post!

Chris's Law #1

Chris's Law # 1 is:

Never update the Operating System a computer comes with. You will never recover the time involved in increased productivity. If you need a new operating system, you need a new computer.

How do you create wealth?

There was a post on another site on how wealth is created.

Well, let's try MY explanation:

Wealth = Money x Time x Effort x Knowledge

Now the neat thing about Money, Time, Effort and Knowledge is that it does not have to be yours!

A business owner makes money off the effort of others. A stock broker uses knowledge to make money for others. Someone who inherits money and invests it over time also can become wealthy.

The problem that I see is what if people don't have access to the basic formula. If someone does not have access to knowledge then they cannot develop wealth. Or if some one has special access to money, they are ahead of the game. Too much of today's economic war is keeping people from the tools to create wealth, rather than improving your own situation.

The old saw that money makes money is probably truer today than ever before. The question is how do we restore the balance so everyone at least has access to the formula. If we admit that is not possible, where do we go from here?

ChrisZ

The NPR Story

Maybe you have heard about Juan Williams being fired from NPR. Maybe you are wondering what the fuss is or maybe you are infuriated about it. Maybe a little background would help.

But first, a quiz:

1. How much money does NPR get directly from the Government?
a. 100%
b. 60 %
c. 20 %
d. 2 %
2. How many companies was Juan Williams working for?
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. More than 3
3. NPR does not allow it's workers to criticize the government?
a. Yes
b. No
4. Fox News never fires anyone for what they say.
a. Yes
b. No

Okay, a little background on NPR. It was created in 1970 after the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. It is a both privately and publicly funded although the majority of it's funding now comes from members and corporate donations. Federal monies comes to about 2% of NPR's direct annual budget. Because member stations pay a fee to NPR, and they are sometimes funded through government grants, this figure is debated. More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Public_Radio

Now Juan Williams was a contract worker, although he was not solely employed by NPR. He also worked for FOX, wrote newspaper columns and also was an author. Under his contract, NPR could fire him if they felt he breached their code of ethics, and since he had been warned before about statements on FOX, it seems that this was legal.

Now, people are calling for the government to cut all funding to NPR. As above, there is very little direct funding. Indirect funding would be harder to stop, without affecting many small community radio stations. It might be interesting to know that in recent years, NPR has come under fire for being too conservative, based on money flowing in from corporate sponsors. Here is a peak at their 2008 sponsors. Note that Fox Broadcasting was a donor in the $50 - $99 thousand dollar range.

Of course Fox has had some firings also, but not so famous. They fired one of their on air staff , E.D. Hill, after comments about the President and his wife. Also fired as another commentator who might have protested too much against another FOX commentator. Mark Lamont Hill got in a "dispute" with David Horowitz and was soon gone. Guess to be on FOX your name cannot be Hill!

So, in the end, what is the result?
1. Juan Williams gets fired for something he was warned about. (my personal opinion was it was overdue)
2. NPR gets a lot of bad press at a time they are doing fund-raising.
3. Juan Williams gets $2 million dollars to stay at FOX. (I wonder how long this will last not that he does not have Liberal ties)
4. His First Amendment Rights are certainly not violated, and considering NPR's budget, he will be paid only a little less than the government money that goes directly to NPR.

What a Country!

Oh, the answers to the quiz?
1. d
2. d. (counting himself as author)
3. a. Actually a trick question - they are not to give any comment based on the section" VIII. Politics, community and outside activities" in the ethics code.
4. b.

ChrisZ

Up is down and black is white

The new economic report came in and the job numbers were not good. Private business created 64,000 jobs and the feeling is that over 200,000 are needed each month to keep the economy going. But the interesting news is that government CUT jobs, buy over 100,000, so there was a net loss for the month. Now on one hand, some are saying what a terrible job the Democrats are doing, while calling for MORE job cuts in government. You can't have it both ways. Either cutting jobs in government is cutting spending and is a good thing; or cutting jobs is a bad thing - period.

So if you take the government jobs out - the economy gained 64,000 jobs - good.

BTW - the Stock Market was so depressed by the news that the Dow broke 11,000.......

What do I have to do?

I am tired of repeating the mantra:

"The President did not say that passing the stimulus would keep the level of unemployment under 8 percent!"

I keep hearing it left and right. For the record. The 8 percent figure came from a report his economic advisers released in January 2009, BEFORE he was elected.

If you want more info on this - check out:

Politifact - George Will

I would not even give it a "Barely True" - I would give it a false.

The unemployment rate in February, when the stimulus passed was already at 8%

So how can the stimulus hold the rate to something lower than it already is???!!!

Is the Recession over?

Today on a Fox News Roundtable - Bill Kristol kept saying that it would be wrong to raise taxes during a recession. Well Bill, I have news for you, the recession is over:

Is the Recession Over?

Technically it was over last year (2009). The problem is that people feel that since unemployment is still high, that the recession is no over. Actually, lots of companies are making profits and lots of people are making insane amounts of money again. They are doing okay while many are still fighting for the few jobs out there.

Now, I am not saying that there are not problems. The concept of a jobless recovery, but its own definition is a problem. But let us not say that we can't raise taxes because we are in a recession, because that is technically not correct.

ChrisZ

Questions for New Yorkers

1. How far does ground zero extend - 1 block? 2 blocks? 10 blocks? 100 blocks? The entire city?

2. The people we are fighting to free in Iraq and Afghanistan - what religion are they?

Thanks

The story of the economy

I will give a simple view of the current economy.

Supply and demand - with very few exceptions (fads like iPhones and Beanie Babies) supply follows demand.

For the last 20 years, the American consumer has been on a buying spree, fueled by artificially low interest rates and availability of cheap credit.

Cars, houses, consumer electronics, vacations; all purchased on credit, without a corresponding savings to back them up, led us to this economic bubble.

As we overspent the economy went into overdrive and incomes, home values, government, health care all spiralled up as no one cared about the end of free money.

Well the end has come. Jobs have been cut, salaries are frozen if not going down, home values have crashed, and next; government jobs, salaries and benefits will have to be cut to bring things back into balance.

Once that happens, and people get their savings and lifestyle back into balance, then the economy will start to properly grow.

There are new factors that will affect this however. Technology will create a problem as it displaces traditional jobs. Education and especially mathematical and scientific knowledge will be necessary for the worker of the future.

The question is, what to do about the person who cannot work and will not continue to learn.

That is for another post.

ChrisZ (10 min)

Paul Ryan Lies

I don't think I can express my feelings. It is one thing to go on Sean Hannity's show and agree with a nod and a wink, but to blatantly tell lies, or deliberately confuse people with numbers, when you are accusing others of doing the same thing is unbelievable. I guess Congressman Paul Ryan decided that if you can't educate people with logic and facts, then the only way to go is to fabrications to get them excited.

From this date on he is totally worthless in my book.

ChrisZ

Keep Geithner away from the press

Timothy Geithner is a very smart man. I believe he has worked very hard to keep the financial system afloat. Maybe in later years we will find how close we really came to a complete financial breakdown but for now I will assume that everything we did was necessary for the country.

Having said that the man should not be on TV, the radio, or quoted in the papers. He has no concept of public speaking. I just watched an interview with him on one of the Sunday shows and he either did not hear any of the questions, or he avoided them. He was very self congratulatory (which might be true - maybe he did all those things) when he needed to be more humble. He needed to give confidence and hope and what he gave was a technical dissertation.

He needs a good speech coach.

Chris Z
5 min

Checking in

Too little time, too many thoughts.

Random thoughts

Research, research, research - people keep sending me things that are easy to research and rebut. Don't just forward something unless you check it out first.

Government cannot create jobs - unless they are government jobs. Tax cuts don't create jobs - unless they are targeted to specific industry. So how do you create jobs? You get the economy moving by inspiring hope, trust and a purpose. When people share these feelings then jobs will come out of the woodwork.

I like term limits, I like restricted benefits for elected government service (no big pensions), I like government funded web sites for candidates (they can spend all the money they want on their own) and I would love a portable lie detector on all politicians and talk show hosts!

ChrisZ

5 min

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

There is a TV commercial where your day trading skills can be improved by plotting and watching trends on stock values. My belief is that this is wrong - a capitalistic sin. People are making trades not on the intrinsic value of a stock, but rather the lemming mentality of it going up or down. No wonder we end up with overvalued stocks and ready to burst bubbles. Why we keep ending up with the rich getting richer and the rest of us with nothing to show for it - not even products of worth.

ChrisZ