It's Time

It's time we Think about the Future

                I don’t understand. How can we continue to cut taxes? How can the Republican answer to everything be to cut taxes? They seem to believe, cut taxes, the economy rises and you get more tax revenues, it sounds good and so simple, but does it really work?

                The last economic slowdown that hit Japan led the Japanese government to drop their tax rate to an effective rate of zero on taxes. That move just seemed to lead to the Japanese having less tax revenue. It didn’t help to solve the problems.

                Obviously, we’ve cut taxes in the past, and yes the economy has grown and improved, but the downside of that has been that our infrastructure has suffered because we haven’t had the monies to keep our highways and bridges in shape. It seems obvious that we need to do something to change the dynamic and get things moving.

                The first answer is that, sure, the government spends all the money we give them, but we cut the amount of money that we give them and they still get to choose where the money is spent. Even though the infrastructure needs work, the work is deferred because the government decides that something else is more important. Government decides that they need to solve a problem that is in their face, and well, the infrastructure can wait until next year, who’ll notice the roads are a little bit worse. The schools are going to be all right, we’ll catch up later.  Apparently that hasn’t worked, so far.

                California has decided that we’re going to run the government based on referendums, in theory, that seems to be a great idea, but in practice, it doesn’t seem to be the way to go.  Let’s face it, if we all read the referendum, we all looked at the proposed law and could see how it fit in with the other laws that have been enacted in the past it might be good. But the way that it happens, in most cases, is that the proposition is written with a misleading title, the proposition is written so that no means yes, and then the advertisements are written to further confuse the issue. The vast majority of the public doesn’t ever read the proposition, they just watch or read the advertising, and they make a decision based on that. We then get a law that may or may not be right, passed by a majority of the small minority that actually votes in the elections.

                It seems everything comes back to the fact that we need to find legislators who doing what is right for the country. Legislators need to stop being committed to a party, they need to be committed to doing the right thing.

 

               

               

It's Time for Politicians to Forget Parties

   

We have sat and watched the wars that have gone on in Congress and the State legislature as they fight over the economy. It seems that all politicians’ first allegiance is to their party and positioning their party to be clear of any fall out that the legislation may cause in the public.  

                In the U.S. Congress, the House Republicans are proud of the fact that no Republican voted for the stimulus package. Do you really believe that if this vote hadn’t been mandated by Party leadership, the legislators would still have voted No? By the same token, without the pressure of the Party would all the Democrats have voted yes? Do you really believe that these politicians were voting their conscience or the wishes of their constituents? Do you think that they really tried to negotiate to improve the package to meet their concerns? It was apparent what was going to happen when the Republicans stated they weren’t voting for the package before they had even met with the President or debated the measure on the floor. The Senate logjam was only broken by three Republicans who were elected in Areas where the Democrats had carried the day in the last election. These Senators saw the handwriting on the wall and realized if they were to have any chance of being reelected next election, they would need to work with the Democrats.

                In the State legislature, the same thing happened. The lawmakers were tied to their party philosophy and they weren’t going to budge. It didn’t matter that the State had to lay off employees, defund programs, and give IOU’s for tax returns. They refused to negotiate or try to reach any agreements. Over 100 days of debate with no movement. Finally, after brazen shows of holding the citizens of California hostage, the legislature finally collected their pound of flesh, signed a budget, and then threw it to the electorate to vote yes or no down the road, when we will be in the middle of a new budget cycle, and new issues. Kick the can down the road and hope no one notices how cowardly their legislation was.

                I’ve never been a proponent of term limits; I’ve always thought that was a lazy way out for the voters. If the politician was doing a good job, he should stay in forever, if not they should be gone. But I’ve come to realize that politicians have cut and pasted together a cloak that protects them from the electorate. They apportion their District, they cut deals with the predominant special interest groups in the area, and they then pledge allegiance to the party elders above all else. They don’t need to listen to us individually, they have the power.

                Governor Arnold is termed out, and has no real interest in being a Republican elder after his term of office, so he is willing to work with the parties to make things happen. This has opened my eyes to the fact that politicians only work for the public interest when they see the end of their career coming over the horizon.

It's Time for a New Career

                Yesterday I became part of the unemployment statistics. At 8 A.M. I got the phone call. My sales territory had been dissolved, and my services were no longer needed. Thanks for your hard work, the check is in the mail, see you.

                Well. I’ve never been unemployed before, so this was quite a shock to the system, 58 years old. And out of work, what to do? I’m guessing this is something that many others have faced, and others out there will face as the economy continues to readjust. I’m no expert; I haven’t even slept at a Holiday Inn Express, but here is what I plan to do

                I could spend the next few days doing the self pity routine, but what does that get me?  I need to go to Employment Development and file for unemployment, even though I hope not to need it. I sat down polished up my resume; reading through my history and achievements made me feel better about myself. I’m really not such a bad guy. I hit all the Job Boards on the Internet. Thank goodness for the Internet for the unemployed. There are a great many sites out there, all the way from Craigslist, to Careerbuilder, etc. There are specialized sites for almost any job category, sales, accounting, nurses and others. I got on the sites, posted my resume, my bio and a cover letter. I’ve gotten some replies and I even have several interviews scheduled.  Now is the time for research on the companies and getting ready to face the inquisitors. You need to think through possible questions and answers. It’s a lot like a trial, you want to answer the questions, but not give them too much info. Many of the people who do interviews, don’t interview for a living, so they really don’t know what to ask, they’re just looking for a “feeling” or vibe from the candidate. So remain positive and keep punching.

                This economy is a challenge, and it looks like it will remain a challenge for a while. We all need to remain positive and look for the positives. We need to be prudent and not do stupid things. This Nation’s economy is based, in large part, on consumer confidence. The thing that’s going to bring the economy around is the consumer having enough confidence in the banks to save money with them, and to seek loans from them. We need to buy things that we need, want, and can afford. This will help us all to see things get better.

GOOD LUCK

               

It's Time For Obama To Step Up

Yes, the Democrats won the election, but they don’t need to try to put all of the things that they’ve wanted for the last eight years in to one bill. Let’s face it, the economy in this Country is too important to be held hostage while the Democrats try to remake the face of government. We all realize that the government needs to spend money to get the economy off its back. There are a group of economists who believe that it needs to be government spending, and there is another group who believes that you cut taxes and let the free market sort it all out. We’ve never had this situation before, so it is all new territory. No matter what, we know that spending money on contraceptives, NASA programs and other special interest groups certainly isn’t the best use of our resources.

                Obama needs to take the mandate for change that was his election, and he needs to set everyone down and pound out a recovery plan that is the best use of the money that needs to be borrowed to make a stimulus possible.

                Let’s remember that this will be borrowed money, it will be an expense that our children and grandchildren will have to pay back. A deficit will weaken our economy in the future. It’s a delicate balancing act between the money needed to get the economy back on track, while not selling away the future. We need to demand that this be done as well as possible.

                As we watch the opening days of the Obama Administration, I think that we’re seeing a great many politicians in a situation that they don’t understand. Obama is going to Congress, talking with them and listening to what they have to say. He’s also saying what he thinks, not making a decision and then going straight forward without listening to anyone. He appears to be confident in his beliefs, but willing to listen to what others have to say.

                I am disturbed that Obama is making rules and then demanding exceptions, for instance his appointment of a former lobbyist to Defense. I’m also concerned that his Treasury Secretary has tax issues, which he clearly knew and didn’t handle. Obama ran on making government transparent, yet he has clear issues which he is asking Congress to overlook in the name of the economy. We all have to believe that there are enough qualified people available that we don’t need to give positions to people of questionable ethics. Let’s make sure that we get people who know their jobs, perform them well, and have ethics we can believe in.

                Part of what will bring this economy out of the ditch that it has driven in to is for the public to have confidence that the government has the ability to make things better, and get us back on track. Obama is a clean slate, a new start, and has a mandate to make changes that will chart the course for the future. He needs to take this power in hand and use it wisely.

GOOD LUCK