Quoting myself

Common Sense solutions are often the most difficult to implement.

Business and Farming the Economy

Okay, on a story somewhere, I commented on how it was Republican policy that led us to the Great Depression, Democrats that got us out and it was Republican policy that got us into this mess, and it will be Democrats that get us out - again.  Somebody argued that it was Democrats in power in 2006 when this hit.

Well, DUH!  We had already seen what was coming, tired of Republican policy pandering to corporations, starting wars and screwing everything up.  It was building for a long time.  Nobody with a decent mind can seriously believe that this just suddenly happened a few months after Democrats gained control of congress!!

(Reuters) - In 2007, when the world was on the brink of financial crisis, U.S. income inequality hit its highest mark since 1928, just before the Great Depression.

Seriously, READ THAT ARTICLE!  (not anything I haven't posted here and on Facebook a number of times, but it is Reuters!  Hopefully nobody will squeal "Liberal Source" about them.)

"We need to decide as a society whether this increase in income inequality is efficient and acceptable and, if not, what mix of institutional reforms should be developed to counter it," he concluded.

Well, Crap in ya hat and wear it backwards! Of COURSE it is not acceptable.  For one thing, EVERY time the gap grows, the economy crashes!  We are barely above third world countries now!  Don't get me wrong, I am all for the American Dream of getting rich and all that.  But, Man!! Use some common sense (which is not all that common any more) and personal responsibility.  Pay workers a livable wage - if for no other reason than it will help people buy your product or services!  What is a business or greedy rich person going to do when they have all the money - and nobody else has anything to spare to give them?  Crash.  Its common frikkin' sense, people!!

I've used this comparison before, but Every Farmer knows that in order for the land to keep producing, you have to be kind and take care of it.  You buy fertilizer to pour out onto the land in the winter, till in mulch, sawdust and stuff.  You rotate crops so that you have nitrogen fixers to replenish land that hard crops like corn have depleted.  You maintain your tractor, feed your donkey, plant feeder plots for wildlife so they don't hit your crops as much.  Its the same thing with business or gaining wealth.  If you don't give back, the land dries up and blows away - and you fail.

All those insane CEO bonuses should be distributed to the employees that are the ones really doing the work and making the money.  With the way things are now, they can barely make a living.  We can barely survive paycheck to paycheck.  Wonder why nobody is buying stuff??

Kemal Dervis, global economy and development division director at Brookings and a former economy minister for Turkey, said reducing inequality isn't just a matter of fairness or morality. An economy based on consumption needs consumers, and if too much wealth is concentrated at the top there may be times when there is not enough demand to support growth.

"There may be demand for private jets and yachts, but you need a healthy middle-income group (to drive consumption of basic goods)," he said. "In the golden age of capitalism, in the 1950s and 60s, everyone shared in income growth."

See! I know what I am talking about!  Professionals back me up!!

Sharing more comments

This article had some comments - one - that I really thought summed up things very nicely :

Oct 22, 2010 1:06pm EDT

Maybe most Americans have long enough memories to recall that it was 100% Republican policies that drove this country into recession, and a Republican plan to hand out hundreds of billions to the banks, insurance, and auto industries. Now they want to disperse the money that we’ve been giving the governement all our lives to safeguard our retirement to the same private companies that trashed our savings and 401Ks.

People are stupid.

davewee

This article has some good ones too.  I'll post more about it later... :

Oct 22, 2010 9:13am EDT

I think every American voter should be forced to read this article before running to the polls and voting Republican, as is predicted will happen. It seems that as voters are seduced by the siren song of “lower taxes and less regulation,” they will vote for precisely the policies that put us all in the fix we’re in.

While the article does not purport to arrive at solutions to our current economic crisis, it does a fine job bringing into focus the picture of the economic landscape just prior to our meltdown.

When I look back to the era that was “the beginning of the end,” I realize that this treacherous economic environment was dredged into shape by Republican saint Ronald Reagan’s “trickle-down economics.”

rowettd

...

Boom! BOOM! ( Yeah, I was right all along! )

One of the first of the Tea Party has said - admitted - that what we see now is a deluded, Republican bought and paid for Sham.  Raw Story has the article!

A financial blogger and ex-CEO credited with being one of the original "founders" of the Tea Party has come out against the movement, saying it has been hijacked by the very people it was protesting and is now obsessed with "guns, gays and God."

Denninger writes: "Tea Party my ass. This was nothing other than the Republican Party stealing the anger of a population that was fed up with the Republican Party's own theft of their tax money at gunpoint to bail out the robbers of Wall Street and fraudulently redirecting it back toward electing the very people who stole all the ****ing money!" 

 (emphasis mine)

Some Links from the article :
http://fedupusa.org/
http://market-ticker.org/

and a quote from a comment on the article :

 They don't want anyone to understand the inconvenient (for Tea Baggers) truth that we are actually getting the TARP money back with a higher interest than we would have if we had invested the money in ANY OTHER WAY.

That's right, folks. TARP made a profit! 

and this one too for a finale'

...the Tea Party, complete with white rabbits and madhatters. 

Taking Steps

In a few hours, a few of the top LYING ARSE crap ads that were displaying on my blog will be blocked.  Corporate (possibly foreign) interests using pseudo-movement group names and attacking Progress and Truth should not be supported by me in any way...

I already report those ads as Misleading or Offensive on Facebook.

Local Jackson Items

WOOHOO!! is the only response I can come up with for the news that Fortification is getting revamped! Its about time!  Now I can get to the Pub without the fear of tearing the underside from my car!  Oh, and to Baptist Hospital too, I suppose... the colonnades, where my Doc is too.

And why our Governor is a Sorry Jackass whom I hope our citizens will boot his whole party out of the state when his term is up.

The Gas Crisis in the US

Okay, check this out! In 2006, Honda developed a clean diesel engine that is quiet and not smelly.  In Europe, they have these diesel cars for the most part, getting 40, 50 mpg (english gallons, not imperial) on the road - and have for years.
With Bio-Diesel, prices are comparatively low - you can go further for less money.  So, why do we not have these cars in the United States?
WHY!?!?!  I mean, I am PISSED OFF.  I had hope that we would see a selection of diesel cars in 2010 - but it was dashed!  I like Honda - they have made some great advances - released only in Europe and Japan.
It appears that I am going to have to buy a German-made auto in order to get what I have been looking for since 2000!!!
The US consumer and politician can be so completely STUPID most of the time.  We are so far behind the rest of the world in so many areas - education, fuel economy, technology, High-speed data transfer rates...  and you still have people chanting "USA, We're Number One!"  In what? War? National Debt?  .... yah...  :(

Word of the Day

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

antediluvian

   \ an-tih-duh-LOO-vee-uhn \  , adjective;

1.

Of or relating to the period before the Biblical flood.

2.

Antiquated; from or belonging to a much earlier time.

noun:

1.

One who lived before the Biblical flood.

2.

A very old (or old-fashioned) person.

SHROOMS!

Okay, so I was wondering what kind of mushrooms are used on Pizza.  Google was not much help.  I know, shocking!
Although not stated explicitly anywhere that I could find in a quick googleing of the the subject, it appears that White Button Mushrooms are used on most pizzas.  Oddly, as the same mushroom grows, it has many different names!  So, saying that a portobello mushroom is on your pizza is technically correct...

Shiitake Mushrooms are reportedly super-healers and cancer fighters!

Just some Stuff

The First Amendment - you SHOULD know it!  Candidates for Congress even more so!  


I am thankful that the GOP is blowing a Congressional Majority. :D


Here is a book for ya! Tears of A Clown...  and Common Nonsense.

"From Beck’s book, pages 210 to 211: “What we’ve finally come to understand, Noah, is that the people can’t be trusted to control themselves. Even the brightest of them are still barbarians at heart... The American experiment has failed, and now it’s time for the next one to begin. One world, one government—not of the people this time, but the right people: the competent, the wise, and the strong.”"

and on a good note, The Dead Sea Scrolls - digital edition.