First things first. Please bring world peace and good will towards men, women, children, and all creatures great and small. If you can. Even before you fill the stockings of good little boys and girls, including my wondrous grandchildren, who are, of course, too young to understand how much more they would benefit from peace and good will rather than the latest Bratz Doll. Then, if you still have some time and energy, here’s my Christmas wish list.
You could drop off an application for a job with the new administration in Washington. I understand they have openings. I previously worked for the State Department, the Defense Department, and the Veterans Administration. Maybe this time I should try something else. I was watching a re-run of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Is there still a Ministry of Funny Walks, or was that just in England? I am fully qualified. I lost 100 percent of my balance function in both ears when I was sick a couple of years ago. I can walk now, but I wobble and weave and stagger and stumble like a drunk leaving the bar at closing time. Every now and again, I see a cop watch me get into my car, and I know he is trying to decide if he should pull me over the moment I drive off. I contributed $25 to the Presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Twice. Of course, I would not want that to be interpreted as trying to influence anybody reviewing my job application. I heard what happened to the Governor of Illinois.
The number one thing I wish for is a national health care plan for the United States. It does not even have to be as good as the ones in Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, or England, just to mention our friends and allies in Europe. Only good enough to keep people from having to chose between death, pain, incapacity, and bankruptcy in the event of a major illness. After I spent three weeks in the ICU and another month in rehab, my medical bills exceeded a quarter of a million dollars. I was lucky. I had a good job with an insurance plan, on which I had paid the high option premiums, so that my actual out of pocket expenses were no worse than an unexpected car repair bill for a new transmission. I also had some California do-gooder lawyers in my corner when the insurance company tried to leave me lying in the ditch on the side of the road.
You might remember something nice for all my doctors, not just the ones who saved my life and the ones who gave me my miraculous new, bionic hearing. Cheer up the grumps and those in such a rush to be somewhere else and who just ignore the pain that brings you to their office. You might consider gift certificates for having their hearing checked. I swear sometimes I think when patients talk, doctors go deaf.
I’m not going to bother to put in a good word for Wall Street, banks, insurance companies, or Detroit auto makers. They do not need Santa Claus. They’ve got Congress. One so-called expert, as if pronouncing the street name of a pile of feces in the middle of the living room floor, said on television that government meddling in the automobile business would end up with everyone driving a beige Taurus that got 100-miles-per gallon. Santa, make mine the station wagon. I need the extra room for my landlording equipment and my grandchildren.
Pa rum pum pum pum.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Showing posts with label Economics 101 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Economics 101 2008. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Oil Price Mumbo Jumbo
Last week, I paid $1.78 per gallon for gasoline. Just a few weeks ago, I sweated finding a place to buy any gas, anywhere, at twice the price. Did I miss the news on television the night somebody explained what happened? The default in economics is always supply and demand. Somehow, I can’t really put that together. The most interesting report I have read is that the current collapse of credit has taken the oxygen out of the fire-storm of speculation, therefore forcing the price of oil to actually reflect supply and demand. Maybe. Who knows? Certainly not anybody I know. It is still a pretty safe bet that any society able to wean itself from oil dependency may stand half a chance of survival in the future.
According to the Sierra Club’s The Green Life, “oil prices will rebound to more than $100 per barrel as soon as the economy recovers.” Will somebody please wake me when we get there? It is already hard enough to know what to wish for. By 2030, the price of oil will naturally exceed $200 per barrel, as standards of living rise in China and India. Americans will recall with nostalgia the good-old-days of $4 a gallon gasoline. However, by 2030, alternative fuel vehicles, like plug-in hybrid, electric, natural gas, and fuel cell cars may rule the road, according to The Green Life, making “oil price mumbo-jumbo moot.” Projections that plug-in vehicles alone will eventually account for 50 percent of U.S. transportation argue that household budgets will not be chained to the price of oil. Wouldn’t it be pretty to think so? Where are the corporate clowns at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler? Out lobbying the U.S. government for some sort of taxpayer dole.
One my enduring memories of the early 1950’s is of guys older than I was, teenagers, in their front yards taking cars apart and putting them back together again. Just for the fun of it, as best anybody could tell. They dressed in blue jeans and white t-shirts and looked like young Marlon Brandos and James Deans even before the images of young Marlon Brando and James Dean had been invented by Hollywood cameras. Where did those guys go? Did they get swallowed whole and end up in the belly of the whale in Detroit? I’d like to think that they, or maybe their children and grandchildren are still tinkering in garages and tin-roof buildings on secondary highways along the railroad tracks all across America. Moe and Molly the mechanics refuse to accept the lazy corporate response and are building and/or converting their own cars that run on something other than gasoline. Electric, natural gas, cooking oil recycled from do-you- want-fries-with-that. A guy in Douglasville, Ga., has converted his own S-10 pickup to all electric. Cost $12,000, including the used truck. A company in Canada will sell you your own natural gas fueling device to hook up to the natural gas utility line service in your house. This is on sale now, available by mail order at about $3,000. I want to talk to some of these folks, learn more about how they did it and what they have to say. If I do, Paw Paw Bill will let you know. Now that the election is over, this is the most important thing I can think of.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
According to the Sierra Club’s The Green Life, “oil prices will rebound to more than $100 per barrel as soon as the economy recovers.” Will somebody please wake me when we get there? It is already hard enough to know what to wish for. By 2030, the price of oil will naturally exceed $200 per barrel, as standards of living rise in China and India. Americans will recall with nostalgia the good-old-days of $4 a gallon gasoline. However, by 2030, alternative fuel vehicles, like plug-in hybrid, electric, natural gas, and fuel cell cars may rule the road, according to The Green Life, making “oil price mumbo-jumbo moot.” Projections that plug-in vehicles alone will eventually account for 50 percent of U.S. transportation argue that household budgets will not be chained to the price of oil. Wouldn’t it be pretty to think so? Where are the corporate clowns at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler? Out lobbying the U.S. government for some sort of taxpayer dole.
One my enduring memories of the early 1950’s is of guys older than I was, teenagers, in their front yards taking cars apart and putting them back together again. Just for the fun of it, as best anybody could tell. They dressed in blue jeans and white t-shirts and looked like young Marlon Brandos and James Deans even before the images of young Marlon Brando and James Dean had been invented by Hollywood cameras. Where did those guys go? Did they get swallowed whole and end up in the belly of the whale in Detroit? I’d like to think that they, or maybe their children and grandchildren are still tinkering in garages and tin-roof buildings on secondary highways along the railroad tracks all across America. Moe and Molly the mechanics refuse to accept the lazy corporate response and are building and/or converting their own cars that run on something other than gasoline. Electric, natural gas, cooking oil recycled from do-you- want-fries-with-that. A guy in Douglasville, Ga., has converted his own S-10 pickup to all electric. Cost $12,000, including the used truck. A company in Canada will sell you your own natural gas fueling device to hook up to the natural gas utility line service in your house. This is on sale now, available by mail order at about $3,000. I want to talk to some of these folks, learn more about how they did it and what they have to say. If I do, Paw Paw Bill will let you know. Now that the election is over, this is the most important thing I can think of.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Road Test
Alright, $25-billion here, $170-billion there, pretty soon we’re talking about some real money. Everett Dirkson, the late Senator from Illinois with the beautiful hair and even more beautiful voice, assured himself a permanent place in American history with the model for that analysis.
If we are going to socialize the U.S. auto industry, maybe we should just pick one company, let the others sink or swim. They could draw straws, or at least let’s take them for a road test. Here’s my plan. The Big Three from Detroit meet at some NASCAR venue like the Indianapolis Speedway or Daytona. Bring their best cars. Give each car 10 gallons of regular gasoline (up to 10 percent ethanol allowed). Gentlemen, start your engines. Let them drive around the track at Interstate Highway speed until they run out of gas. The last car still moving wins for its manufacturer the honor of becoming the new taxpayer owned auto maker. The others can live or die by old fashioned capitalism. If they can’t survive, let them go the way of the tyrannosaurus rex. Once the tax-payer buys its own auto manufacturer, maybe the government will be able to regulate gas standards and alternative fuel vehicles enough to give the country half a chance of survival beyond the next holiday shopping season.
If the U.S. Congress comes up with an auto industry bailout, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the plan would require use of existing funds from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and have many strings attached, including restructuring company finances, meeting new standards for gas mileage and requiring advanced technologies "to compete in the domestic and global market." What about the SUV’s and big macho trucks Detroit has clung to like they could not see it coming? Democrats also said they would include new limits on executive pay at the Big Three auto companies.
Auto executives, corporate clowns and empty suits to the bitter end, are fear mongering and threatening the loss of millions of jobs, added to an economy already crunched by the credit crash. Detroit’s Big Three also provide healthcare benefits to almost 2 million Americans and pension benefits to 775,000. Many politicians and other free marketers believe America cannot afford a collapse in the car industry. Others think, “Taxpayers should not be on the hook for bailing out businesses that have made very bad decisions and deserve to face the consequences.” According to Cato Institute associate director Dan Ikenson, a bailout will just delay the inevitable. “If all three went down and all the parts’ suppliers went down at the same time, yes we are talking about millions of jobs. But that’s not going to happen. What should happen is one of the Big Three should go down and liquidate. Then prospects for the other two would be much brighter. Quite frankly, the US economy could survive without an auto industry. It’s not going to happen, but we could survive. We would not survive without banks or a credit system.”
Congress already set aside $25 billion to help pay for government-imposed fuel-efficiency quotas. This was before the $700 billion TARP. Now Detroit wants a share of the $700 billion intended to bailout the stock markets. Or was it for the failed mortgages? I get confused. The Secretary of the Treasury keeps moving the shell, and I lose track of the pea. I just hope there is still some of the $700 billion left when these lame ducks limp and quack away.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
If we are going to socialize the U.S. auto industry, maybe we should just pick one company, let the others sink or swim. They could draw straws, or at least let’s take them for a road test. Here’s my plan. The Big Three from Detroit meet at some NASCAR venue like the Indianapolis Speedway or Daytona. Bring their best cars. Give each car 10 gallons of regular gasoline (up to 10 percent ethanol allowed). Gentlemen, start your engines. Let them drive around the track at Interstate Highway speed until they run out of gas. The last car still moving wins for its manufacturer the honor of becoming the new taxpayer owned auto maker. The others can live or die by old fashioned capitalism. If they can’t survive, let them go the way of the tyrannosaurus rex. Once the tax-payer buys its own auto manufacturer, maybe the government will be able to regulate gas standards and alternative fuel vehicles enough to give the country half a chance of survival beyond the next holiday shopping season.
If the U.S. Congress comes up with an auto industry bailout, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the plan would require use of existing funds from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and have many strings attached, including restructuring company finances, meeting new standards for gas mileage and requiring advanced technologies "to compete in the domestic and global market." What about the SUV’s and big macho trucks Detroit has clung to like they could not see it coming? Democrats also said they would include new limits on executive pay at the Big Three auto companies.
Auto executives, corporate clowns and empty suits to the bitter end, are fear mongering and threatening the loss of millions of jobs, added to an economy already crunched by the credit crash. Detroit’s Big Three also provide healthcare benefits to almost 2 million Americans and pension benefits to 775,000. Many politicians and other free marketers believe America cannot afford a collapse in the car industry. Others think, “Taxpayers should not be on the hook for bailing out businesses that have made very bad decisions and deserve to face the consequences.” According to Cato Institute associate director Dan Ikenson, a bailout will just delay the inevitable. “If all three went down and all the parts’ suppliers went down at the same time, yes we are talking about millions of jobs. But that’s not going to happen. What should happen is one of the Big Three should go down and liquidate. Then prospects for the other two would be much brighter. Quite frankly, the US economy could survive without an auto industry. It’s not going to happen, but we could survive. We would not survive without banks or a credit system.”
Congress already set aside $25 billion to help pay for government-imposed fuel-efficiency quotas. This was before the $700 billion TARP. Now Detroit wants a share of the $700 billion intended to bailout the stock markets. Or was it for the failed mortgages? I get confused. The Secretary of the Treasury keeps moving the shell, and I lose track of the pea. I just hope there is still some of the $700 billion left when these lame ducks limp and quack away.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Monday, October 6, 2008
Don't Bet On It
I helped close and lock up the Kroger store at Peachtree and 8th. Streets in Atlanta on Saturday night of the Fourth of July weekend the year John F. Kennedy was running for President of the United States. I got the job as a grocery sacker when my buddy Luther was promoted to produce clerk. I had all the right qualifications. First in line with my application because of insider knowledge that the job was even coming vacant, I was 16 years old and willing to work for 52-cents an hour, almost half the legal minimum wage. Many shoppers tipped “sack boys” just for loading the groceries into the car. When elderly ladies walked to the store, you carried their groceries all the way home for them, and they snapped open coin purses to dig around for a dime. I worked part-time, five hours on Friday till closing, then all day Saturday. My paycheck each week averaged just over $5, after taxes. I usually matched or doubled that amount in tips. The checkout Queen Bees cashed my paychecks and exchanged my nickels, dimes, quarters, and occasional half-dollar for folding money. Because of the busy holiday shopping crowd, I had more than $25 in my pocket that July Fourth, the most money I had ever earned or even seen at one time.
Four of us from the grocery store, headed over to Luther’s. He lived on Juniper, less than a block away. His mother was out of town for the weekend. I had told my mother I was spending the night at Luther’s, neglecting some of the details. Joining us was A. J., the senior sack boy, and the other produce clerk, Mark, age 19. None of us was old enough to get our hands on beer, but Luther said his mother would never miss a few shots from her liquor closet. We brought sodas and chips from the store, as well as two brand new decks of cards. I had played penny-ante card games after school since I was 12, draw poker, deuces and one-eyed- jacks wild, seven card stud, blackjack, dealer’s choice. I liked blackjack when it was my turn to deal. I could count to 21 and had developed a belief in luck smiling at me more often than not. Luther, A.J., Mark, and I played cards till dawn. I lost $25 and change. The next week Mark showed up at work wearing a new pair of Thom Mccanns. Shiny as dancing shoes. Probably cost $75.
I swore off gambling, the way some people swear off alcohol or other things that will get them in trouble. Never again. I’ve never been to the casinos of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, the Gulf Coast, Mississippi River, or Native American Reservations. I have never bought a lottery ticket, no matter how big the jackpot. Two different companies I have worked for awarded me stock bonuses, and I sold the stock immediately. I also cashed out my 401K’s the day I turned 59-and-one-half and could do so without tax penalty. I am not offering any financial advice. I am just telling what I did. Most people won’t tell you, even if you ask. Maybe they’ll say something they read somewhere or some salesman said. Someone at the workout center recently volunteered, “I came into this world with nothing, and I’ve still got some of it.” The stock market dropped like a rock down a hollow hole the day Congress voted against the current $700-billion bailout for Wall Street or Main Street in search of the sunny side of the street. Then Congress voted for the bailout. Stocks dropped some more. I have considered it a sure thing that I would never agree with Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby and two-thirds of the members of the House GOP caucus. Good money after bad. Don’t bet on it.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Four of us from the grocery store, headed over to Luther’s. He lived on Juniper, less than a block away. His mother was out of town for the weekend. I had told my mother I was spending the night at Luther’s, neglecting some of the details. Joining us was A. J., the senior sack boy, and the other produce clerk, Mark, age 19. None of us was old enough to get our hands on beer, but Luther said his mother would never miss a few shots from her liquor closet. We brought sodas and chips from the store, as well as two brand new decks of cards. I had played penny-ante card games after school since I was 12, draw poker, deuces and one-eyed- jacks wild, seven card stud, blackjack, dealer’s choice. I liked blackjack when it was my turn to deal. I could count to 21 and had developed a belief in luck smiling at me more often than not. Luther, A.J., Mark, and I played cards till dawn. I lost $25 and change. The next week Mark showed up at work wearing a new pair of Thom Mccanns. Shiny as dancing shoes. Probably cost $75.
I swore off gambling, the way some people swear off alcohol or other things that will get them in trouble. Never again. I’ve never been to the casinos of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, the Gulf Coast, Mississippi River, or Native American Reservations. I have never bought a lottery ticket, no matter how big the jackpot. Two different companies I have worked for awarded me stock bonuses, and I sold the stock immediately. I also cashed out my 401K’s the day I turned 59-and-one-half and could do so without tax penalty. I am not offering any financial advice. I am just telling what I did. Most people won’t tell you, even if you ask. Maybe they’ll say something they read somewhere or some salesman said. Someone at the workout center recently volunteered, “I came into this world with nothing, and I’ve still got some of it.” The stock market dropped like a rock down a hollow hole the day Congress voted against the current $700-billion bailout for Wall Street or Main Street in search of the sunny side of the street. Then Congress voted for the bailout. Stocks dropped some more. I have considered it a sure thing that I would never agree with Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby and two-thirds of the members of the House GOP caucus. Good money after bad. Don’t bet on it.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Monday, September 22, 2008
Blank Check
Is there a pattern here? Government by historic disaster: 9/11, Wall Street collapse, Mortgage meltdown, Oil Crisis. No plans. Nobody sees anything coming. Then when the front wheels leave the ground, somebody shouts, “We’re going off the cliff.” No time to think or ask questions. The end of the world is at hand. Send the troops to war. Socialize the economy. Before the election. Conclusion 1: George Bush is the worse President ever. Conclusion 2: Republicans are wrong; the United States does need a government. Conclusion 3: Somebody stole the money. Take your pick.
So the Bush administration is asking Congress to write a check to cover Wall Street’s bad debts. Estimates reach $70-Billion, or even a trillion. I can’t even count that high. How many zeros in a trillion? At first blush, the bail-out will cost each and every American family $2,000 to $5,000. Then, who is next on the list of big businesses run aground and asking for help from the taxpayer? Some say auto makers. Another $25-Billion or so for this sad collection of suits who cannot keep their eyes on the road. The cost for refusing to do it? Auto workers without jobs, maybe 250,000 of them. Look, this is not creeping socialism. This is socialism with the pedal to the metal. Who do we think we are, China?
Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, suggests, “The public doesn't like a blank check. They think this whole bailout idea is nuts. They see fat cats on Wall Street who have raked in zillions for years, now extorting in effect $2,000 to $5,000 from every American family to make up for their own nonfeasance, malfeasance, greed, and just plain stupidity. Wall Street's request for a blank check comes at the same time most of the public is worried about their jobs and declining wages, and having enough money to pay for gas and food and health insurance, meet their car payments and mortgage payments, and save for their retirement and children’s college education. And so the public is asking: Why should Wall Street get bailed out by me when I'm getting screwed?”
Here is Reich’s five point plan to guide Congress through these uncharted waters:
Any taxpayer bailout must give the government a proportionate equity so that after the economic recovery, taxpayers, the new stockholders, receive profits, dividends, and bonuses.
CEOs, executives, and fat cats who got us into this mess should relinquish their stock options and salaries, and future salaries should be linked to profitability.
Prohibit campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs. Taxpayer dollars used to get our nation out of a crisis cannot be used to prop up lobby operations.
Regulation, regulation, regulation. Wall Street can not expect to take taxpayer dollars without increased transparency and more oversight, the absence of which caused the current mess.
Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners. Why should working families lose our homes so CEOs can keep theirs, even if they do not know how many they’ve got.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
So the Bush administration is asking Congress to write a check to cover Wall Street’s bad debts. Estimates reach $70-Billion, or even a trillion. I can’t even count that high. How many zeros in a trillion? At first blush, the bail-out will cost each and every American family $2,000 to $5,000. Then, who is next on the list of big businesses run aground and asking for help from the taxpayer? Some say auto makers. Another $25-Billion or so for this sad collection of suits who cannot keep their eyes on the road. The cost for refusing to do it? Auto workers without jobs, maybe 250,000 of them. Look, this is not creeping socialism. This is socialism with the pedal to the metal. Who do we think we are, China?
Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, suggests, “The public doesn't like a blank check. They think this whole bailout idea is nuts. They see fat cats on Wall Street who have raked in zillions for years, now extorting in effect $2,000 to $5,000 from every American family to make up for their own nonfeasance, malfeasance, greed, and just plain stupidity. Wall Street's request for a blank check comes at the same time most of the public is worried about their jobs and declining wages, and having enough money to pay for gas and food and health insurance, meet their car payments and mortgage payments, and save for their retirement and children’s college education. And so the public is asking: Why should Wall Street get bailed out by me when I'm getting screwed?”
Here is Reich’s five point plan to guide Congress through these uncharted waters:
Any taxpayer bailout must give the government a proportionate equity so that after the economic recovery, taxpayers, the new stockholders, receive profits, dividends, and bonuses.
CEOs, executives, and fat cats who got us into this mess should relinquish their stock options and salaries, and future salaries should be linked to profitability.
Prohibit campaign contributions from Wall Street executives and PACs. Taxpayer dollars used to get our nation out of a crisis cannot be used to prop up lobby operations.
Regulation, regulation, regulation. Wall Street can not expect to take taxpayer dollars without increased transparency and more oversight, the absence of which caused the current mess.
Bankruptcy judges get broader leeway to help homeowners. Why should working families lose our homes so CEOs can keep theirs, even if they do not know how many they’ve got.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Alpo On Sale
For the last 15 years of his life, my Daddy lived in a brick ranch house, 1,700 square feet, not including the full basement, in Cornelia, Ga. Outside was parked a two-year old Chevrolet Suburban with three rows of seats and a motor boat big enough to take out deep-sea fishing. House, car, and boat all paid for. Overhead in the basement was the most elaborate HVAC duct work I have ever seen to this day. All the insulation, every strip of shiny duct tape, diverters and controls, all personally and painstakingly installed by my Daddy, whose training as an air conditioning tradesman was obtained under the WWII GI Bill. One-third of the floor space in my Daddy’s basement was devoted to work benches and storage of his large collection of tools. The rest of the basement consisted of shelves full of canned food, both commercially produced and home-made in Mason jars. String beans, lima beans, and navy beans. Black-eyed peas and crowder peas. New potatoes. Yams. Hominy. Corn. Bread and butter pickles. Watermelon rind pickles. Chow-chow. Corned beef. Spam. What was he expecting? Nuclear attack? No, he had lived through The Great Depression, and these were the scars to prove it.
My Daddy was not quite 20 years old when Herbert Hoover announced “The fundamentals of our economy are sound,” despite the stock market crash, banks closing, people losing their homes, no jobs, no money. Franklin D. Roosevelt came along and saved everybody’s bacon, including the Republicans, with government regulation, work programs, and social welfare. Maybe it will see us through things yet. All my life I’ve thought it could not happen again. How could anyone gamble borrowed money on the stock market? Who could let all the money just disappear? Margins. Derivatives. Hocuspocus. Now you think you see it. Now you wonder what happened.
Now the U.S. government, the insurer of last resort, is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Of course this will not impact the federal budget, because it will just not be reported on the books. Like privatizing the war in Iraq by hiring private security forces. Hessians. Keep it off the books and keep it quiet. Government by administrative fiat and secrecy. While we are at it, we will lend $85-Billion to giant insurance company AIG to keep it from going broke. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi describes this new economy, “All the profits are privatized and all the losses are nationalized.” You would think George Bush and the Republicans would be too ashamed to show their faces in public. John McCain’s chief economic spokesperson, who was fired from her last corporate job, says none of the current candidates for President or Vice President would be qualified to run a major corporation. I guess any jackass can run one into the ground. It takes special qualifications to run the entire country into the ground.
The only good thing about the Wall Street meltdown is maybe now the silly talk about privatizing Social Security will be too self-evidently preposterous and embarrassing even for Republicans to try to sell. Maybe seniors who support John McCain will get real. If Social Security had been in the hands of Wall Street, the September surprise would have been the lines of seniors at the grocery stores stocking up on Alpo.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
My Daddy was not quite 20 years old when Herbert Hoover announced “The fundamentals of our economy are sound,” despite the stock market crash, banks closing, people losing their homes, no jobs, no money. Franklin D. Roosevelt came along and saved everybody’s bacon, including the Republicans, with government regulation, work programs, and social welfare. Maybe it will see us through things yet. All my life I’ve thought it could not happen again. How could anyone gamble borrowed money on the stock market? Who could let all the money just disappear? Margins. Derivatives. Hocuspocus. Now you think you see it. Now you wonder what happened.
Now the U.S. government, the insurer of last resort, is taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Of course this will not impact the federal budget, because it will just not be reported on the books. Like privatizing the war in Iraq by hiring private security forces. Hessians. Keep it off the books and keep it quiet. Government by administrative fiat and secrecy. While we are at it, we will lend $85-Billion to giant insurance company AIG to keep it from going broke. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi describes this new economy, “All the profits are privatized and all the losses are nationalized.” You would think George Bush and the Republicans would be too ashamed to show their faces in public. John McCain’s chief economic spokesperson, who was fired from her last corporate job, says none of the current candidates for President or Vice President would be qualified to run a major corporation. I guess any jackass can run one into the ground. It takes special qualifications to run the entire country into the ground.
The only good thing about the Wall Street meltdown is maybe now the silly talk about privatizing Social Security will be too self-evidently preposterous and embarrassing even for Republicans to try to sell. Maybe seniors who support John McCain will get real. If Social Security had been in the hands of Wall Street, the September surprise would have been the lines of seniors at the grocery stores stocking up on Alpo.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Fall of the House of Homer
Home Depot opened its original store on Memorial Drive just before I became a first-time homeowner down the street in Decatur. Lucky for me. I needed a hammer and some nails, screwdrivers and screws, pliers, bolts, nuts, drills, saws, paint rollers and brushes, and gallon buckets of paint. Later I bought a duplex I intended to rent to others, and I really needed 4 X 8 sheets of drywall, 2 x 4’s, plumbing pipes, faucets, light fixtures, Liquid Nails, bags of cement, and five-gallon buckets of paint. Year after year, I spent more money at Home Depot than I paid in income taxes, and believe me, the IRS got plenty. Hometown Atlanta founders of Home Depot realized retirement dreams to follow fish and football.
Now Home Depot has announced a layoff of 10 percent of its Atlanta headquarters workforce, blaming the sluggish homebuilding industry and the economy in general, which is the corporate explanation avoiding the R-word, recession, or the B-word, Bush. As President George Bush has managed near national bankruptcy, he also has been a shameless example to businesses, even legendary ones. Home Depot turned over its booming profit machine to corporate carpetbaggers, who wasted little time smashing the piggy bank and loading their own pockets so flagrantly even firing them did not stop the multi-million dollar looting.
Former employees will line up to tell you what went wrong at Home Depot. “It has to do with a manager not being allowed to hire the number of people he KNOWS it takes to properly run his store because of labor management controls from corporate, and it comes from laying off employees who know the companty, know the stores, and know the customers and hiring less expensive and less trained newbies to replace them. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank NEVER hesitated to make sure a customer was taken care of when they visited a store, even if it meant taking time from a training session to wait on the customer themselves.” At one time, many Home Depot employees were moonlighting carpenters, electricians, plumbers, masons, skilled tradesmen. I consulted with them on projects, and when they saw me in the store later, they would recognize me and ask me how my project went. Sadly nowadays, if I can even get the attention of a store employee, I would be lucky if one knew the difference between a fluorescent and incandescent light bulb.
My worse experiences have been about pricing, items that ring up for a different price at the cash register than the sign displays on the shelf. I often ask to see the manager when this happens, not that I don’t already know the lame excuses and explanations I will get, but just because I do not want it to go without notice. The last time this happened to me at Home Depot, the manager was even more insulting and insufferable than usual. Since I lost my hearing and received my cochlear implant, I often have difficulty judging my own speaking volume. The manager said to me, “You do not need to raise your voice. I am not deaf.” So I reached up to my ear piece, took it off, and presented it open-handed to the manager. “I am,” I said. The look on his face was so much fun, I have added this stunt to my repertoire.
Has Home Depot become any worse than the Bank of America, Comcast, Blue Cross Blue Shield or _________________? You fill in the blank with the corporate brand run by empty suits and providing customer disservice with attitudes ranging from sanctimony to condescension and based on a policy that the customer is always wrong. I am no longer a regular shopper at Home Depot, which has become my do-it-myself supplier of last resort. I would rather support the independents and mom and popshops.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Now Home Depot has announced a layoff of 10 percent of its Atlanta headquarters workforce, blaming the sluggish homebuilding industry and the economy in general, which is the corporate explanation avoiding the R-word, recession, or the B-word, Bush. As President George Bush has managed near national bankruptcy, he also has been a shameless example to businesses, even legendary ones. Home Depot turned over its booming profit machine to corporate carpetbaggers, who wasted little time smashing the piggy bank and loading their own pockets so flagrantly even firing them did not stop the multi-million dollar looting.
Former employees will line up to tell you what went wrong at Home Depot. “It has to do with a manager not being allowed to hire the number of people he KNOWS it takes to properly run his store because of labor management controls from corporate, and it comes from laying off employees who know the companty, know the stores, and know the customers and hiring less expensive and less trained newbies to replace them. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank NEVER hesitated to make sure a customer was taken care of when they visited a store, even if it meant taking time from a training session to wait on the customer themselves.” At one time, many Home Depot employees were moonlighting carpenters, electricians, plumbers, masons, skilled tradesmen. I consulted with them on projects, and when they saw me in the store later, they would recognize me and ask me how my project went. Sadly nowadays, if I can even get the attention of a store employee, I would be lucky if one knew the difference between a fluorescent and incandescent light bulb.
My worse experiences have been about pricing, items that ring up for a different price at the cash register than the sign displays on the shelf. I often ask to see the manager when this happens, not that I don’t already know the lame excuses and explanations I will get, but just because I do not want it to go without notice. The last time this happened to me at Home Depot, the manager was even more insulting and insufferable than usual. Since I lost my hearing and received my cochlear implant, I often have difficulty judging my own speaking volume. The manager said to me, “You do not need to raise your voice. I am not deaf.” So I reached up to my ear piece, took it off, and presented it open-handed to the manager. “I am,” I said. The look on his face was so much fun, I have added this stunt to my repertoire.
Has Home Depot become any worse than the Bank of America, Comcast, Blue Cross Blue Shield or _________________? You fill in the blank with the corporate brand run by empty suits and providing customer disservice with attitudes ranging from sanctimony to condescension and based on a policy that the customer is always wrong. I am no longer a regular shopper at Home Depot, which has become my do-it-myself supplier of last resort. I would rather support the independents and mom and popshops.
Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Call Me "We"
I received a notice from my credit card company that they were changing the terms of my credit card. This information was three legal size sheets printed front and back with type so small I could barely read it. Nonetheless, the thought nagged at me that the changes might be something I ought to know about, and I put the pages on my bedside nightstand where I keep my copies of MOBY DICK and WAR AND PEACE for nights of insomnia.
“Unless otherwise noted, we are making the Amendments in this Notice primarily because of a change in our business practices.” I read that several times, trying to figure out if it said anything or at least if it said anything that would end up costing me money. After that followed paragraph after paragraph about Definition of Terms, Calculation of Finance Charges, Average Daily Balances, Annual Percentage Rates, Promotional Offers, Transaction Fees, Variable Rates, and Arbitration and Litigation. How come I was not asleep yet?
“We” means the credit card company, they explained. Not to be confused with me AND the credit card company. “All claims must be resolved through arbitration if you or WE elect,” according to the notice. Arbitration precludes “a right or opportunity to litigate claims through the court.” Last time I checked, there had been a judicial system created by the Constitution of the United States. Wait a minute. Now I see it. “We will not choose to arbitrate an individual Claim that you bring against us in small claims court or an equivalent court.” I guess WE does not intend to miss the chance of a lifetime to be on “Judge Judy.”
Arbitration of any dispute against WE will be by a “nationally recognized, independent arbitration organization,” and if I am required to pay any arbitration fee, administrative and hearing fee to pursue my claim in arbitration, “WE will advance” the fees, at my written request, my notice offers. Well, hey! I can just put it on my credit card.
Meanwhile, I better keep up my monthly payments. If I have any two “default re-pricing events,” such as missing or late payments, during 12 months, WE will shoot the interest rate WE charges me up to 32.24 percent. What? That is just a whisker short of one-third of the total amount I owe WE already for new workout shoes, giant-screen high-definition color television with surround sound, DVD and CD players, I-Pod, laptop computer, cell phone, my vacation two years ago, movie tickets, fancy restaurants, as well as having it my way at fast food joints.
Hasn’t WE ever heard of Usury? And that it’s against the law? 32.24 percent? Georgia usury law limits the amount of interest that can be charged on a loan under $3,000 to 16 percent. If you owe over $3,000, hold on to your saddle horn; it’s going to be a ride you may never forget. Most states have tighter usury laws. Unless you are a WE, which somehow managed to get the Congress of the United States to pass a different set of laws for WE.
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ban02.htm
WE tells me in bold type: KEEP THIS NOTICE FOR FUTURE USE.
I’ll use it as a bookmark. Let’s see. Where was I? Oh, yeah. “Call me Ishmael.”
(Originally posted 9-15-07)
Copyright 2007 by William C. Cotter
“Unless otherwise noted, we are making the Amendments in this Notice primarily because of a change in our business practices.” I read that several times, trying to figure out if it said anything or at least if it said anything that would end up costing me money. After that followed paragraph after paragraph about Definition of Terms, Calculation of Finance Charges, Average Daily Balances, Annual Percentage Rates, Promotional Offers, Transaction Fees, Variable Rates, and Arbitration and Litigation. How come I was not asleep yet?
“We” means the credit card company, they explained. Not to be confused with me AND the credit card company. “All claims must be resolved through arbitration if you or WE elect,” according to the notice. Arbitration precludes “a right or opportunity to litigate claims through the court.” Last time I checked, there had been a judicial system created by the Constitution of the United States. Wait a minute. Now I see it. “We will not choose to arbitrate an individual Claim that you bring against us in small claims court or an equivalent court.” I guess WE does not intend to miss the chance of a lifetime to be on “Judge Judy.”
Arbitration of any dispute against WE will be by a “nationally recognized, independent arbitration organization,” and if I am required to pay any arbitration fee, administrative and hearing fee to pursue my claim in arbitration, “WE will advance” the fees, at my written request, my notice offers. Well, hey! I can just put it on my credit card.
Meanwhile, I better keep up my monthly payments. If I have any two “default re-pricing events,” such as missing or late payments, during 12 months, WE will shoot the interest rate WE charges me up to 32.24 percent. What? That is just a whisker short of one-third of the total amount I owe WE already for new workout shoes, giant-screen high-definition color television with surround sound, DVD and CD players, I-Pod, laptop computer, cell phone, my vacation two years ago, movie tickets, fancy restaurants, as well as having it my way at fast food joints.
Hasn’t WE ever heard of Usury? And that it’s against the law? 32.24 percent? Georgia usury law limits the amount of interest that can be charged on a loan under $3,000 to 16 percent. If you owe over $3,000, hold on to your saddle horn; it’s going to be a ride you may never forget. Most states have tighter usury laws. Unless you are a WE, which somehow managed to get the Congress of the United States to pass a different set of laws for WE.
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/ban02.htm
WE tells me in bold type: KEEP THIS NOTICE FOR FUTURE USE.
I’ll use it as a bookmark. Let’s see. Where was I? Oh, yeah. “Call me Ishmael.”
(Originally posted 9-15-07)
Copyright 2007 by William C. Cotter
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