Election Issues Today

I swear, there is so much money proposed to pump into this economy, one has to wonder what it buys us.

Time.

Sure there will be a few million jobs that can be attributed to direct government action, but most of these jobs are temporary, totally dependent upon a revived economy to continue the demand for workers.  

The goal must be to “jump start” the production of goods to meet the demand of the new construction projects and other parts of the industrial base.   Jobs and salaries will in turn fuel the demand for commercial goods.  We have to remember that demand drives supply. 

These “cycles” of boom and bust have been with us for a long time.  Granted, this one is worse than most, and affects the entire developed World, but such cycles are normal corrections to economic systems that depend upon the fluctuations of supply and demand, inflation and recession.  

A small rate of inflation is considered necessary in a capitalist economy, and after a while, there must be a correction.  This recession is proving to be extra extreme because of poor management decisions fueled by greed.  Bankers and financiers have been exposed as corrupt egotists who have no qualms about taking investors money and a generous salary for themselves, with extravagent benefits, while carelessly disregardly their fiscal responsibilities toward their investors and depositors. Disgustly display of greed.

Meanwhile the amount of money is staggering.  It is impossible to comprehend. 

If we eliminated every single CEO position in the United States economy I doubt if we would be giving up much in efficiency or productivity. 

It may be unfair to compare corporate CEOs to head football coaches, but their tenure is supposed to be based on performance, and that actually means performance by their corporation or team.  

We often see head coaches who do virtually nothing; they have delegated it all to assistants.  Yet the Head Coach still draws the big bucks. Corporate CEO’s are often in their positions based on reputation as well as previous, or proven, performance.  They are often hired based on their “image” as a winner, much like a head football coach. 

• Big reputations for coaches draw big players and big audiences with higher ticket pricing.
• Big reputations for CEOs draw big investors, big customer orders, and big stock market gains.  

I think it is often just a big hot air balloon, both in football and in the corporate world.  The boost that a new coach or CEO provides is almost always temporary.  The insiders quickly take advantage of the temporary boost and “get theirs while the gettin is good.”

The performance of the corporate CEOs that have been in the news recently has been shameful.  They should all be fired.  Talk about an old boy network.  Boards of Directors, CEOs, corporate officers are all made of the same stuff, all went to the same universities, belong to the same fraternities, marry into the same money.  It’s disgusting. 

An economic environment that merely subsidizes the “sit on your butt” mentality, the welfare mentality, the entitlement mentality, does NOTHING to revive our nation’s industry, create jobs or enable the “supply and demand” equation to work.

Endless extensions to unemployment benefits only rewards those who get comfortable on the couch in front of the television set.  After a while, they begin to believe it is the government’s job to support them; that it is their right to draw benefits until someone comes along and OFFERS them something better!

Seed money for entrepreneurs, small businessmen and construction contractors and sub-contractors is needed to create jobs.  Workers who live in apartment buildings overrun with kids and unemployed men and women just feed upon their own misery by commiserating with each other about how the country is against them, the government doesn’t help them, the employers lay them off and then go on vacation in foreign countries, etc.

Everyone waits for a government hand-out, and that has never worked and never will work to motivate individuals to get off the coach.  Some of these “chronically unemployed” need a reality check, a wake-up call, an empty stomach, to get them off the couch and outside the door long enough to clear their heads and at least go look for work.

Enterprising people start their own little business, offer their services, work at multiple jobs and work at whatever jobs ARE available.  Besides the bailout of big banks and financial institutions, government seed money to small enterprise is needed, including help with making payroll, funds for retraining employees, assistance to employees in making down payments on homes, etc.

Send a message to your Congressmen to be creative, be original, be innovative, look beyond mere handouts that require no initiative on the part of organizations and individuals, and stimulate economic conditions in which private enterprise can flourish, while the lazy man must learn to fend for himself for a change.

My head is still spinning from all the excitement, the media coverage, the speeches, the parade and the personalities.  Wow, what a day!

The millions of photos of the day will become treasured keepsakes for the masses of people who assembled in Washington.  Thousands of people have shared their photos online.   Not everyone sat in front of the television for eight hours that day, as I did.  Frankly, I am pretty glad that I was not in Washington DC.  I feel confined in an airplane or an elevator.  A million people in one place?  My home State of Montana does not have that many, in 147,000 square miles.

I was moved when one news reporter reminded us all that slaves had been used in the construction of both the capitol building and the White House, and that they had been housed in a pen adjacent to the site.  

I was taken by surprise when the oath of office was flubbed, not once but twice, and was comforted by the fact that even the big guys can get nervous.

I noted that one reporter referred to Obama’s Inaugural Address as his “acceptance speech.”  I laughed at that one.

I was offended by the analogy of the “Bush family perhaps feeling like the Romanov’s.”  Not appropriate.  Very bad form.  Rude. Disrespectful, and not at all accurate.  I think more than one reporter said this on more than one occasion. I wonder how many in the USA viewing audience understood what the reporter was talking about.  Perhaps the world-wide audience is better educated.

Personally, I suspect that the new President will force members of the Washington DC news media to improve their competence level. 

The new guy is a smart guy.