So, some Dems are up in arms that some GO Governors are rejecting some of the bailout money that their states will be receiving.
Deomocrats:
State Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler: "He's (Sanford) so ideological," Fowler said. "He would rather South Carolina do without jobs than take that money, and I think he's looking for a way not to take it."
Republicans:
A spokesman said Sanford, the new head of the Republican Governors Association, is looking at the stimulus bill to figure out how much of it he can control.
"We're going through a 1,200-page bill to determine what our options are," Spokesman Joel Sawyer said. "From there, we'll make decisions."
The issue here is interesting. These are the people elected to run their states. Let them do it. If they dont want the money, its not a political power move, and it's not ideological. This bill was created and passed without ANY republican involvement. How is that bi-partisan?
"Idaho, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter said he wasn't interested in stimulus money that would expand programs and boost the state's costs in future years when the federal dollars disappear"
This is an excellent point. What do we expect? This money to be happening all the time? These people are trying it their way. They dont want a handout. Thanks Dad, but I dont need a loan. Sure it will be tough, but we'll get by. I am curious as to how much of this money will be gobbled up by the bureaucracy? It's as if the Governors Association is being yelled at for even reading it.
Democrats of America need to figure it out that the American populous doesnt want a handout. They want a real job. It seems that many of the "jobs" created from this will be working on the infrastructure of America. The skills learned on these jobs, outside of the engineering, are low skill jobs. There is no vertical line to the next level. We are setting ourselves up for this again. We should start an intensive training program for the out of work americans. Training to use their brains, not their bodies.
What we need to do is invest much of this into NASA. Think I am nuts? During the space race of the 1960's, NASA was funded with 1% of the GDP of the US. In 2007 it's less than 1% of 1%.
Think of all the amazing things that have come out of the space program. Computers, cell phones, cable tv, sattelites, velcro, the list goes on and on. This site is awful, but the info is not.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Forgot something
In a rush to get my post done so I could study for my Operations quiz, I left off a great idea of Peter Ubel's I wanted to have here.
In the interview, he was asked "Are there things we can do to construct markets themselves differently so they actually take human nature into account better than the existing free market system?"
Now, his answer is easy. Very easy. In fact, we started doing this already in places like student loans.
"Sure, lets take things like conflict of interest. Say I am a credit rating agency; if you look at one of the causes of this mortgage its that the credit rating agencies weren't saying these loans were as risky as they were. And one possible explanation of that is they had conflicts of interest. They were working with these banks and mortgage companies, getting OTHER business from them. Its just human nature, when you are in that kind of complicated relationship, that being in one part of the relationship will influence how you work in the other part of the relationship; you are going to be less confrontational. You're not going to want to hurt someones feelings; harm the relationship because its important to your other part of your business. This is something we can regulate."
Feelings. Feelings are another reason why we are in this.
People need to learn and use the Ben Franklin decision tool. Basically, wright your problem at the top of the page, and divide it into two sections. One is the Pro side, the other the Con.
This will help take feelings and emotion out of decisions. Please. Use it!
In the interview, he was asked "Are there things we can do to construct markets themselves differently so they actually take human nature into account better than the existing free market system?"
Now, his answer is easy. Very easy. In fact, we started doing this already in places like student loans.
"Sure, lets take things like conflict of interest. Say I am a credit rating agency; if you look at one of the causes of this mortgage its that the credit rating agencies weren't saying these loans were as risky as they were. And one possible explanation of that is they had conflicts of interest. They were working with these banks and mortgage companies, getting OTHER business from them. Its just human nature, when you are in that kind of complicated relationship, that being in one part of the relationship will influence how you work in the other part of the relationship; you are going to be less confrontational. You're not going to want to hurt someones feelings; harm the relationship because its important to your other part of your business. This is something we can regulate."
Feelings. Feelings are another reason why we are in this.
People need to learn and use the Ben Franklin decision tool. Basically, wright your problem at the top of the page, and divide it into two sections. One is the Pro side, the other the Con.
This will help take feelings and emotion out of decisions. Please. Use it!
Mortgage Mess
As I read about the 75 BILLION that the taxpayers are dishing out to help those facing foreclosure, I found myself asking WHY?!
According to this article, it will be helping some 9 million Americans. Ok. So 9 million people out there are facing foreclosure. (4 million facing it now, 5 million under water) I think some questions need to be asked before the government comes and 'saves' the day.
1. Why are these people facing foreclosure?
If the reason is that they lost their income and have no way of paying for their home, then ok, perhaps they should be helped out a little. My family looked foreclosure in the face once before, and any help would have been great. So, by all means, save the day.
According to Peter Ubel, author of "Free Market Madness" people are FAR too optomistic about their futures. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, Ubel states that the governments role in a free market is not to protect the citizen from the 'predators', but to protect people from themselves. I say our leaders have failed us then.
Now, if someone is facing foreclosure because they had no business buying the home they purchased, that's a completely different story. Some may scream "Ah, the predatory lenders! They are evil! It was all their fault!" That may be true, however, that wont work with me. Nobody forced these people to accept a mortgage at these terms. The reason why these folks couldnt get better terms for their loans is because they were too great a risk for the banks. Many, including myself, place blame on past Presidents for thier highjacking of the American dream. (See LINK ) This was pure and simple - banks had to loan the money out to high risk families.
Uber also states that "Most people have a hard time comprehending numbers, things like percentiles. If you asked the average American what is 10% of 1000, probably 1 in 3 people wont be able to answer that quesiton correctly. Now, put those same people in front of a mortgage broker who is talking about an adjustable rate mortgage that starts at x percent and goes potentially up to y or z percent. Remeber, these are people who dont understand what a percent is, and we're expecting them to understand ARMs? I think sensable regulation would say that we need to either help make sure people understand things like that better or we need to set acutal limits on how much people would need to put down on a house before they can qualify for a certan type of mortgage to keep them from over-extending themselves. "
This sounds a lot like the way mortgages were done before the multi-national banks, when each city had their own savings and loan.
Not everyone should own a home. Only those of us who have shown over time that we are credit worthy pepole.
Now, back to this mortgage bailout. The next tier of folks to receive some help, are the 5 million under water. I really feel for these people. These are people who's mortgages are for more than their home is worth. One more time. Their property values have fallen, and now they owe more than their home is worth.
Why? Because the housing market has collapesed; the first 4 million who were a litte too optomistic about their incomes lost their shirts.
So now, we have people who pay their bills on time and are otherwise good citizens being dragged down bigtime. This will eventually be felt all the way to the top.
I am all for helping these folks, but, for the ones who caused this, I say
NOTHING. Uncle Sam is closed.
According to this article, it will be helping some 9 million Americans. Ok. So 9 million people out there are facing foreclosure. (4 million facing it now, 5 million under water) I think some questions need to be asked before the government comes and 'saves' the day.
1. Why are these people facing foreclosure?
If the reason is that they lost their income and have no way of paying for their home, then ok, perhaps they should be helped out a little. My family looked foreclosure in the face once before, and any help would have been great. So, by all means, save the day.
According to Peter Ubel, author of "Free Market Madness" people are FAR too optomistic about their futures. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, Ubel states that the governments role in a free market is not to protect the citizen from the 'predators', but to protect people from themselves. I say our leaders have failed us then.
Now, if someone is facing foreclosure because they had no business buying the home they purchased, that's a completely different story. Some may scream "Ah, the predatory lenders! They are evil! It was all their fault!" That may be true, however, that wont work with me. Nobody forced these people to accept a mortgage at these terms. The reason why these folks couldnt get better terms for their loans is because they were too great a risk for the banks. Many, including myself, place blame on past Presidents for thier highjacking of the American dream. (See LINK ) This was pure and simple - banks had to loan the money out to high risk families.
Uber also states that "Most people have a hard time comprehending numbers, things like percentiles. If you asked the average American what is 10% of 1000, probably 1 in 3 people wont be able to answer that quesiton correctly. Now, put those same people in front of a mortgage broker who is talking about an adjustable rate mortgage that starts at x percent and goes potentially up to y or z percent. Remeber, these are people who dont understand what a percent is, and we're expecting them to understand ARMs? I think sensable regulation would say that we need to either help make sure people understand things like that better or we need to set acutal limits on how much people would need to put down on a house before they can qualify for a certan type of mortgage to keep them from over-extending themselves. "
This sounds a lot like the way mortgages were done before the multi-national banks, when each city had their own savings and loan.
Not everyone should own a home. Only those of us who have shown over time that we are credit worthy pepole.
Now, back to this mortgage bailout. The next tier of folks to receive some help, are the 5 million under water. I really feel for these people. These are people who's mortgages are for more than their home is worth. One more time. Their property values have fallen, and now they owe more than their home is worth.
Why? Because the housing market has collapesed; the first 4 million who were a litte too optomistic about their incomes lost their shirts.
So now, we have people who pay their bills on time and are otherwise good citizens being dragged down bigtime. This will eventually be felt all the way to the top.
I am all for helping these folks, but, for the ones who caused this, I say
NOTHING. Uncle Sam is closed.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
My favorite gadget
Ok. So its been a while. I seem to say that each time.
Oh well.
I got to use my favorite gadget the other day. The Kenmore Vacum with the Intelli-clean system. It's awesome. It has this colored light system that I was sure was bogus, but, after hours of use, I am sure it works.
Case in point, when I was moving, I vacumed my bedroom with my vacum, then with the Kenmore. This room was an addition onto the house. After I finished with the Kenmore, there was LOTS of drywall dust that the other vacum did not pick up.
I have since used it 2x in my current location and i swear it works like a charm. This may not be the best vacum for stairts, but, wow its awesome.
Check it out!
GREATEST VACUM EVER!
Oh well.
I got to use my favorite gadget the other day. The Kenmore Vacum with the Intelli-clean system. It's awesome. It has this colored light system that I was sure was bogus, but, after hours of use, I am sure it works.
Case in point, when I was moving, I vacumed my bedroom with my vacum, then with the Kenmore. This room was an addition onto the house. After I finished with the Kenmore, there was LOTS of drywall dust that the other vacum did not pick up.
I have since used it 2x in my current location and i swear it works like a charm. This may not be the best vacum for stairts, but, wow its awesome.
Check it out!
GREATEST VACUM EVER!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)