Economists have proven to be a pretty useless bunch lately - but only to us "small people".
Many of us think that the leaders of our two great parties call on the best and the brightest economists ( many of whom they used to smoke dope with in the Ivy league)to help them direct the huge economy and make the SP feel bigger.
The leaders of the big 2 know that if you look long enough you can find an economist who will predict anything and will provide justification for just about any policy.( although there are a large number of economists who are now revealing that they knew what was going to happen prior to it happening).
The Dems,academics,Greenies and Kumbaya crowd love Keynes who I think said 'if things are bad- spend more money'. This means more vote buying ,dependancy creating,agency spawning,political debt paying,worthless research funding and other job creation for the faithful.Paul Krugman is the new bearded face for Keynes, and he hasn't ever said anything that I can believe.
The GOP,Wall Street,moneyed war monger crowd love the Supply side economists who I think say ' if things are bad, reduce my taxes, I'll spend the money and you guys can fight over it'. This theory supports more wealth and power for many and the hope of more wealth and power for the rest of the faithful(many now unemployed). Art Laffer is the leading supply sider although I have trouble believing someone with hair that has darkened since the Reagan administration.
I think the SP need their own economist.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
5 figures versus 7 figures.
Too rainy to ride my bike and too early for a nap. Another day of too much CNBC.
I've got FINREG reform all figured out though...
The Wall Street guys want to be able to help advance the US and World economy by trading vast amounts of assets in creative and complicated ways at lightning speeds while earning 7 and 8 figure compensation. They propose this is good for all of us.
The government wants to create new agencies to protect us from the WS guys while creating more votes for big government.After all, look how well the SEC worked. These people will earn 5 figures and will promise not to look at porn. However, they will think about how to get to the other side and make 7 figures some day.
There are some provisions that may actually work like you have to show what you are doing and that you can only gamble with 20 times your reserves instead of 40.
If we want rely on the 5 figure guys to outwit and control the 7 figure guys who they consider heroes then all we have to do is find very smart people that are not at all greedy.
Damn.. back to the Ivy League again.
I've got FINREG reform all figured out though...
The Wall Street guys want to be able to help advance the US and World economy by trading vast amounts of assets in creative and complicated ways at lightning speeds while earning 7 and 8 figure compensation. They propose this is good for all of us.
The government wants to create new agencies to protect us from the WS guys while creating more votes for big government.After all, look how well the SEC worked. These people will earn 5 figures and will promise not to look at porn. However, they will think about how to get to the other side and make 7 figures some day.
There are some provisions that may actually work like you have to show what you are doing and that you can only gamble with 20 times your reserves instead of 40.
If we want rely on the 5 figure guys to outwit and control the 7 figure guys who they consider heroes then all we have to do is find very smart people that are not at all greedy.
Damn.. back to the Ivy League again.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Hammock time..
The new hammock is now fully tested and qualified - the loft is just right, the swing is perfect and the supporting trees are fully leafed out and let in just enough blue sky. The heat of the last few days evenly surrounds the body and mind.
Time to ride...
That's when I start to miss the old career and start thinking about warm afternoons in a conference room watching Powerpoints about issues,challenges,new products, new ideas,sales projections etc all the while focusing on the left over donuts in the back of the room.
Ooh - management is about to speak to us about our challenges using analogies. He's starting to speak and I wonder - are any of the creme filled left and can I get to one without..being..notic...
Time to ride...
That's when I start to miss the old career and start thinking about warm afternoons in a conference room watching Powerpoints about issues,challenges,new products, new ideas,sales projections etc all the while focusing on the left over donuts in the back of the room.
Ooh - management is about to speak to us about our challenges using analogies. He's starting to speak and I wonder - are any of the creme filled left and can I get to one without..being..notic...
Friday, May 21, 2010
$3.33
Governments both ours and around the world have been tossing around bigger numbers lately, where we used to say "oooh" at a billion now we say what is a trillion anyway?.
I know that they are government supplied numbers and in the case of projections are based more on principle and concept than mathematics (we're lucky if they get the plus or minus part right) but we should try to get a sense of the individual impact.
Whether your a tax payer or a tax taker the amount of burden the government places on the wealth creating parts of the economy effects you.
The tax payer implications are obvious, for the tax takers you may think "great more for my side" . Either way this may help.
With 300 million citizens , we can roughly calculate that each billion is $3.33 each.
Even more convenient for the head of a 3 person household, your share is a sawbuck.
The stimulus package,( Nancy and Harry's porkaplaooza )cost you about $2,600 bucks. In a family of three that's about 8 grand ( don't worry the kid, kids have a revolving line of credit for their part.). Don't ask me where your $8000 is , ask them.
A predator drone costs about a million bucks, that's only a third of a cent each.( Give me a bucks worth!)
Your part of the Greek bailout , through the IMF, is about $27 ( $84 for a family of three.) We could do dinner and a movie for this and really stimulate the economy.
Government spending can be fun as long as you remember your piece!
I know that they are government supplied numbers and in the case of projections are based more on principle and concept than mathematics (we're lucky if they get the plus or minus part right) but we should try to get a sense of the individual impact.
Whether your a tax payer or a tax taker the amount of burden the government places on the wealth creating parts of the economy effects you.
The tax payer implications are obvious, for the tax takers you may think "great more for my side" . Either way this may help.
With 300 million citizens , we can roughly calculate that each billion is $3.33 each.
Even more convenient for the head of a 3 person household, your share is a sawbuck.
The stimulus package,( Nancy and Harry's porkaplaooza )cost you about $2,600 bucks. In a family of three that's about 8 grand ( don't worry the kid, kids have a revolving line of credit for their part.). Don't ask me where your $8000 is , ask them.
A predator drone costs about a million bucks, that's only a third of a cent each.( Give me a bucks worth!)
Your part of the Greek bailout , through the IMF, is about $27 ( $84 for a family of three.) We could do dinner and a movie for this and really stimulate the economy.
Government spending can be fun as long as you remember your piece!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Voting guidance..
Our governments and associated institutions have driven the economy into a ditch and demonstrate little understanding of how it happened while still assuring us that the latest plan they've come up with will work.
They've spent us deeper into debt while telling us that engorging the health care system with 30 million more people without any credible operating changes will save us money.
Buying our votes with our own money is understandable as their way of keeping their jobs and power, what's really thought provoking is that they think we believe this crap.
The voters have sense enough to know that they can never sort out the details ,spin and gibberish to find out what's really going on and will just vote against any encumbent. That is a blunt yet powerful and somewhat effective tool for selecting candidates to favor.
I have an additional decision making tool...
DON'T VOTE FOR ANYBODY FROM HARVARD OR YALE.. or from the rest of the Ivy league if possible.
This came to me while drinking cofee in bed watching CNBC this morning.
Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Professor and economic adviser to Barama ( Columbia/Harvard) couldn't seem to understand why our money for small business loans pushed out through the banks was having little effect. Don't small business owners wake up every morning thinking " I hope i can borrow money today?" Do bankers start the day saying " I gotta find small business guy to borrow money whether he wants it or not?
Obviously not understanding banking or small business, Prof Warren, despite her professorship couldn't run a 7 eleven and would bring down a McD's in 6 months.
This same group of Ivies who were sure that that the plumber or dry cleaner or flower shop owner would add an employee because of a small tax credit. They assume that Joe the plumber would forget the fact that business was down and he didn't know what his health care would cost, would add an employee because they were "on sale".
In the Bush ( Yale/Harvard) years the "best and the brightest" said to us ' I know your house price and 401k have fallen and you're afraid of losing your job but here's $650 of your taxes back - Go party!.".
In my business career, I called on and met with thousands of people at many hundreds of small and large businesses and can't recall dealing directly with anybody from the Ivies.
Long ago I dated a girl whose father was an expert consultant to the government on education ( he was an intelectual and an Ivy), he didn't know what the muffler on his car did.
I worked for a family owned company run by a Northwestern Grad, who would have been worse except NW is on the fringes of the Ivy league and he spent most of his undergraduate years on Rush street.
They leave the Ivies confident they know whats' best for us and that they are destined to manage the broad sweep of history and then spend the rest of their lives hanging out with others like themselves while taking care of us.
Give me somebody from State U or Community College who knows their ass from a hole in the ground and who can dig the hole if necessary.
Thanks for listening.
They've spent us deeper into debt while telling us that engorging the health care system with 30 million more people without any credible operating changes will save us money.
Buying our votes with our own money is understandable as their way of keeping their jobs and power, what's really thought provoking is that they think we believe this crap.
The voters have sense enough to know that they can never sort out the details ,spin and gibberish to find out what's really going on and will just vote against any encumbent. That is a blunt yet powerful and somewhat effective tool for selecting candidates to favor.
I have an additional decision making tool...
DON'T VOTE FOR ANYBODY FROM HARVARD OR YALE.. or from the rest of the Ivy league if possible.
This came to me while drinking cofee in bed watching CNBC this morning.
Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Professor and economic adviser to Barama ( Columbia/Harvard) couldn't seem to understand why our money for small business loans pushed out through the banks was having little effect. Don't small business owners wake up every morning thinking " I hope i can borrow money today?" Do bankers start the day saying " I gotta find small business guy to borrow money whether he wants it or not?
Obviously not understanding banking or small business, Prof Warren, despite her professorship couldn't run a 7 eleven and would bring down a McD's in 6 months.
This same group of Ivies who were sure that that the plumber or dry cleaner or flower shop owner would add an employee because of a small tax credit. They assume that Joe the plumber would forget the fact that business was down and he didn't know what his health care would cost, would add an employee because they were "on sale".
In the Bush ( Yale/Harvard) years the "best and the brightest" said to us ' I know your house price and 401k have fallen and you're afraid of losing your job but here's $650 of your taxes back - Go party!.".
In my business career, I called on and met with thousands of people at many hundreds of small and large businesses and can't recall dealing directly with anybody from the Ivies.
Long ago I dated a girl whose father was an expert consultant to the government on education ( he was an intelectual and an Ivy), he didn't know what the muffler on his car did.
I worked for a family owned company run by a Northwestern Grad, who would have been worse except NW is on the fringes of the Ivy league and he spent most of his undergraduate years on Rush street.
They leave the Ivies confident they know whats' best for us and that they are destined to manage the broad sweep of history and then spend the rest of their lives hanging out with others like themselves while taking care of us.
Give me somebody from State U or Community College who knows their ass from a hole in the ground and who can dig the hole if necessary.
Thanks for listening.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
..and SOMETIMES Y ..dammit!
As Americans all focus on tax day and forget the plight of the people of Kyrgystan,the problems continue and the story of the Kyrgyzites moves to the back of the newspaper.
As a good community organizer, I think I can help.
First is that they have to do is recognize the problem... a lack of vowels.
It's bad enough that the country name ends in 'stan'. No sensible outsider will ingest anything or believe anything that comes from a " ' stan".
The consonants in front of 'stan are unpronounceable and therefore can't be spelled.
If you can't be spelled you can't be googled .If you can't be googled you don't exist.
The ideological leaders of the USA ( Cable talking heads,fading actors and singers and academics) always afraid of mispronouncing something, are just moving away from the Kyrgz story faster than the Health care reform story.
That's the problem, here's the solution...
The K leaders need a ballot intitiative to come up with a new national name that addresses the search problems. Suggestions include "Springfield",
" Naked" and " George Clooney" ( no f***king ""stan").
Getting a more search friendly name will take a while but there are immediate things that can help..
- get the most credible ideological leader, the Coach of the Duke Basketball team to say he's from there and speak on their behalf.
- Launch "Vowel-aid". This should engage and provide good exposure for the celebs/greenies and academics. ( the academics could explain the whole vowel thing). Concerts could be given and books will be written. ( It's always for the general good that these groups be occupied).
- Promote the national sport of Ulak Tartysh, a combination of rugby and soccer played on horseback with a headless goat as a ball. We could export
a good part of PETA with this idea and maybe displace some poker and fishing from ESPN2.
-President Obama could announce that he won't attack them with Nukes
It's a big problem and this is just a start, suggestions appreciated.
As a good community organizer, I think I can help.
First is that they have to do is recognize the problem... a lack of vowels.
It's bad enough that the country name ends in 'stan'. No sensible outsider will ingest anything or believe anything that comes from a " ' stan".
The consonants in front of 'stan are unpronounceable and therefore can't be spelled.
If you can't be spelled you can't be googled .If you can't be googled you don't exist.
The ideological leaders of the USA ( Cable talking heads,fading actors and singers and academics) always afraid of mispronouncing something, are just moving away from the Kyrgz story faster than the Health care reform story.
That's the problem, here's the solution...
The K leaders need a ballot intitiative to come up with a new national name that addresses the search problems. Suggestions include "Springfield",
" Naked" and " George Clooney" ( no f***king ""stan").
Getting a more search friendly name will take a while but there are immediate things that can help..
- get the most credible ideological leader, the Coach of the Duke Basketball team to say he's from there and speak on their behalf.
- Launch "Vowel-aid". This should engage and provide good exposure for the celebs/greenies and academics. ( the academics could explain the whole vowel thing). Concerts could be given and books will be written. ( It's always for the general good that these groups be occupied).
- Promote the national sport of Ulak Tartysh, a combination of rugby and soccer played on horseback with a headless goat as a ball. We could export
a good part of PETA with this idea and maybe displace some poker and fishing from ESPN2.
-President Obama could announce that he won't attack them with Nukes
It's a big problem and this is just a start, suggestions appreciated.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Hammock Time!
New Hammock arrived today.
Initial setup is complete.
Ride height (loaded and unloaded) swing smoothness and droop tension have been set to initial specifications. All done using a combination of the supplied hardware and my custom tree connection system.
A little cool and breezy for any serious testing today. When the weather gets warmer we'll do some final tuning and setup before the maiden snooze.
Final commissioning will follow in early May.
Initial setup is complete.
Ride height (loaded and unloaded) swing smoothness and droop tension have been set to initial specifications. All done using a combination of the supplied hardware and my custom tree connection system.
A little cool and breezy for any serious testing today. When the weather gets warmer we'll do some final tuning and setup before the maiden snooze.
Final commissioning will follow in early May.
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