Wednesday, November 19, 2008

When a stimulus isn't

Well, seems Uncle Sam wants to give away a few billion more dollars to the "taxpayers" (at least a select few) to stimulate the economy. Short term thinking does not fix the problem. Government cannot generate wealth. Only people can do that. People starting businesses, producing goods or services. It is that simple. NOTHING government can do will generate wealth. Government can make the business climate more supportive of growth and new business development, but generate wealth, never. They can only take from one group and give to another, either now (tax redistribution) or in the future (government loans in the form of long-term debt). It is a quicksand mentality and needs to stop. No stimuli; no more "bailouts"; let it ride, because it will ride anyway and there is no need to make it worse.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Turnabout ... is not fair play

Well, he is not in office yet and the tearing down is already in progress. I have watched, especially during the Clinton and Bush years, the process that the video, audio, and print media carry out to try to impune the character of our President. While sometimes quite humorous (comedians handle this so well), the mean spirited practice of burying a politician with his or her gaffs has gotten really old. This process can destroy someone's career or at least make them the laughing stock of the nation, unable to be taken seriously.

For the last 8 years, Bush has been belittled for his lack of command of English, and it moves the discussion from a serious one about the facts to a useless one about his bumbling. The shoe is on the other foot, now. Our newly elected President, in his first press conference after the election, made a gaff ... he mentioned that he had spoken with all the living presidents, quickly realized his error (he obviously meant "former" Presidents), and then clumsily tried to handle it with a quirky remark about Nancy Reagan and seances. So, it was mishandled, but give the guy a break. I did not vote for him, I don't like his politics, but I hate the media, now the conservative media, piling on over a gaff. We have serious problems and these folks are saying it was poor judgement, shows how mean he is, etc.

The new President handled it just fine, in the end. He did not apologize in public as politicians so often do. He called Mrs. Regan and apologized personally. Everyone will make gaffs. Let's start treating them as such, cut these folks some slack, and get down to discussing real issues.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Misleading Politics

I really get frustrated with the way the various political factions distort the truth. My current angst is aimed at the commercials that say ... this candidate (insert name here) "voted to give tax cuts to companies that ship jobs overseas!" There are stupid folks who will take this at face value. The reality is that manufacturing jobs are much cheaper to have almost anywhere other than the US. We have a high standard of living. So, if you are in a situation where shipping costs are outweighed by labor costs related to manufacturing, and you are in a competitive market, you will try to lower manufacturing costs. It is unfortunate, but necessary in order to keep the low prices that the market demands. So, what do good politicians do? Well, they offer incentives, tax breaks, to companies in an effort to offset some of the manufacturing cost so that the jobs might stay here. I just hope that there is a tie-in that requires the tax benefits to go away if the jobs do. More likely, though, the tax cuts will stay so that the company will keep whatever other local jobs it has from moving away as well.

Bottom line is that the commercials try to say the politicians offer tax cuts to companies as a reward for shipping out jobs, whereas the reality is that they are trying to do just the opposite. The commercial must work, though, as there are at least as many versions of the commercial as there are candidates trying to protect their legislative careers.