Obama thinks we are all stupid!!!!!!!!!
Posted by admin on July 13th, 2010 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
He wants another hearing? OK one more! The judge in this one better say – Release the oil companies to drill anywhere they want or go to jail! You, your lawyers, and your advisors. Then all the bills signed by you will be appealed. ALL OF THEM! Can’t do that? Sure the Judge can! This is America and we have a want to be Dictator in the White House. And he is as White as I am (during the summer). He was raised from 8 years old by his Grandmother (white) and babied every since.
The Obama’s can go to hell!!!!
I do not care to be political ever and now am forced to say suck a thing about the person that holds the office that I love about this country. I love the differences in this great country but will not take the calling of racism from a black racist. The biggest thing of being a Progressive is being Racist. If you don’t believe it, study history of the Wilson Administration! Both are and were racist! So have right at it guy, tens of millions of us have your number! You went too far today when you sent your wife to the NAACP to call all Chicano’s, Oriental’s, white’s and all other then Black’s racists was proof that you do not even care for your wife!
I respect the office but that does not mean that I have to respect the person holding it. Your party members did the same with Nixon as they should have. You now make Nixon look like a saint! Hope Snow and team enjoy your company because that is all they will have soon!
Obama This Stops Now!!
Posted by admin on June 17th, 2010 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
Every time you open your mouth, you lie to the American public! You continually lied about Health Care, Bank Reform and now Cap and Trade. Tell me how Health Care is going to be cheaper. Don’t just say it is going to be less costly but show the facts of how, without trillions in tax increases, this is going to be cheaper. Buy 2018, I will have to pay 40% extra on my health insurance, 3.8% sales tax on a house purchase, will take cuts in the medications and be subject to a counsel (death counsel) that will approve processes based on age and condition of the patient. Please do not think I am dumb enough to not know how this counsel will work. It was written by the Oregon Group that has such a counsel for the state paid healthcare. Cancer patients that have fast growing cancers are in big trouble in Oregon. The panel takes 30 to 45 days to approve a treatment and by then the cancer has spread far enough that the original treatment will not work so another treatment is proposed. Guess what! Another 30 to 45 day process to approve and the cycle goes until the cancer has killed the person!
The Bank reform legislation has Obama continuing to lie that “too big to fail” is not in the bill. The only thing this bill will do is make people like me report every transaction and investment I make. If “they” (Obama thugs) determine that my trade was not correct, “they” can force me to change it. Stick It, Obama!!! That will be a cold day in hell before I let you or your friends do that to me. As far as protecting me from the crooks of Wall Street, go after Rains and Thane. Both stole from all of us and both need jail time. Last put Fannie and Freddie into the hot box and down size them. A house is not a commodity; it is a place to live!
Does this cycle sound kind of familiar? The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is another instant’s of Obama’s management of a hidden agenda. He lies about talking to experts in the field. The only experts he consulted are ecologist and global warmest. Carbon Dioxide is as much of a global warming agent as oxygen. Basic third grade science tells all of us that fact. He lies about his care for the people in the Gulf Coast. Obama’s agenda required the oil to make land fall in a large area and killing everything in sight. It took two months for this to happen but now he has it. It is very hard to see activity far off shore. This would not fit Obama’s Cap and trade agenda.
Now Obama’s management style is evident. I am not saying that the oil spill can be stopped by him. I am saying every way to stop the spill from getting to the shore line has been delayed or stopped by Obama. Even now he is not allowing any foreign companies to help with the large equipment that can control the oil flows. BP will do what they can and it will not be enough in speed or volume. Obama will make sure response is slow enough that he will be able to sacrifice the gulf coast for Cap and Trade!
Obama’s Management Style
Posted by admin on June 15th, 2010 filed in Uncategorized1 Comment »
If we take the President at his word that he has been in control of the Gulf Oil crisis since the very first day, then it is time to asses his management style. State and local governments have asked for help since early on and have been told that a study must be completed first. Not until the oil reached the mash areas did the Obama Administration allow Louisiana to start building the protective sand islands. Some may think that this is miss management but in this case the Administration needs as much devastation as possible to get Cap and Trade passed. Alternative fuels have always been very expensive compared to oil. So how do you raise the actual and perceived costs? You let a big oil spill into a monster spill. This is exactly what Obama had done. If you don’t believe this, prove me wrong!
A VAT is not a Sales Tax
Posted by admin on April 7th, 2010 filed in Uncategorized1 Comment »
Before you think a VAT tax is a good alternative, think again! A value added tax is added at all levels of making something. Take peanut butter. The farmer buys the seed – taxed! The fertilizer producer makes fertilizer for the farmer: all products purchased for the making of the fertilizer is taxed individually. Then when the farmer buys the fertilizer it is taxed again. The farmer sells the crop to the peanut butter plant – taxed again. All the other materials and products purchased to make peanut butter are individually taxed. Then the peanut butter producer sells his product to a distributor – taxed again! The distributor sells it to a store – taxed. And finally I get the peanut butter in my hot little hand – taxed again. What is really sad is if I forgot a step in this process, I forgot some tax. In the countries where this tax has been implemented, the average cost admitted to is about 20%. So a new car now costing $30,000 will now cost $36,000. The average of the incremental tax is around 3% at each step in the process. So when you pay your $36,000 total for your car, it is only the last 3% or $1,080 that you actually would see. The rest is hidden by the process. This is why politicians love this type of tax – you actually pay about 20% but only see about 3%.
Now for sales taxes, only the end product (peanut butter) is taxed when it is sold to the consumer. I hate sales taxes and is one of the reasons I live in Montana. The VAT is a tax on top of tax over the complete production process. If your goal is to live in a permanent recession just institute a VAT!
A Little Economics 101
Posted by admin on February 23rd, 2010 filed in Uncategorized4 Comments »
Did you see the Consumer Confidence Index this morning? Probably not and I would not have except for using it to get an attitude of the general public when I was working as a Forecasting Economist. It was the lowest in months and the fastest rate of decline ever. CNBC said that the reason for this was the continuing high unemployment rate. This is partially true in that it is the possibility of even higher unemployment in the near future.
President Obama has reintroduced the abomination called the healthcare bill. My retirement is from one of the companies that have a “Cadillac Plan” that is union. Unfortunately for me I was management. My current plan has me pay half of the raises in healthcare costs. Current payments I have to make total $212 per month to cover the last 6 years of increases. With the bill having a 40% tax on plans like mine even half will be around $2,700 for the first year. Lowering costs???? Not for me! Oh and by the way I make less then $50,000 per year. Guess we are going to be taxed even when we are middle class.
Now how is the Consumer Confidence Index going to affect employment? Without knowing how Healthcare will be paid for and the uncertainty of the proposals, no one is going to higher new people unless it is absolutely necessary. This is not the environment that supports growth. Anyone that has looked at the proposal can tell that most of the costs will not be covered by “savings”. This means a $2.7 trillion uncovered expense over the next 20 years! Who do you think is going to pay for this? If you make any money at all, you will. Of course the more you make the more you will pay, it is the Progressive way!
Mob Obama
Posted by admin on January 14th, 2010 filed in Uncategorized1 Comment »
Be really careful with what you ask for! You want the large banks to pay for there activities that caused the current recession. OK just make sure that you do not end up paying more right along with them. The facts are that the Federal Government took the risk with these firms to keep our economy from going into a depression. The Companies that took TARP money have borrowed it. There is $10 of Billons that were forgiven by the courts through bankruptcy and takeovers. Chrysler, GM, Fannie and Freddy have been forgiven many of there depts., some of it TARP money. Those that paid off TARP paid interest and principle plus the warrants demanded by the government to the tune of $54 billion interest and warrants to date. Now because the banks made great profits, the Godfather wants a bigger cut. This is exactly the same as you borrowing money from a bank to buy a car and when you pay off the loan the banker wants more money because your current income is more then he expected. Only the Mob does business like this.
Now Obama is coming after the common people. First it became obvious that the supposed tax cuts last year was just a reduction of the amount deducted from our paychecks. When filing your 1040, you will find out that the same amount of tax will be due the Federal Government as in 2008 and now in 2010. Second the healthcare bill is being negotiated to exempt unions but everyone else gets to pay 40% on there “Cadillac” plan. Remember Obama saying that no one will have there taxes go up if you make less then $250,000? My wife and I make a nice income for Montana but no where near half of the $250,000 minimum. So it is great that Godfather Obama may force the two of us to pay up to $11,000 total $5,500 each in tax on our health plans. I am retired management so I can not join a union and my wife is a non-union State worker. Right now my plan pays for my MS medications but many of the normal plans do not. I guess we will see if the Death Panel will allow me to continue treatments (Yes they are Death Panels). How does this equate to equal treatment under the law? It will be a terrible day for all of us if this bill becomes law.
Finally there are the Bush tax cuts that expire this year. Based on Obama’s actions so far he will let all of the law expire that gave a tax break to all over $28,000. Less then that was not paying taxes at that time. So guess what, between the “Cadillac” plan and tax cut expiring I will see my Federal Taxes go up more then 5 times. I am not unique is this, so all of you out there that think this will not happen better brace themselves. Obama thinks he can do anything he wants. November will not come fast enough.
Micro Economics on Housing
Posted by admin on November 24th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized5 Comments »
All that say “housing is local” are exactly right. The thing is that until the local economy has grown enough in the right kind of jobs for home owners, housing will not recover. During the last downturns of the 1980’s, housing in Denver, CO, Missoula and Butte, MT had fallen apart because of economic downturns but the recoveries were totally different in each city.
Denver, CO was flying high with the oil prices high and drilling activity higher then it had been in decades. Like the past, Denver was the city that financed the oil and gas industry for the northwestern region. Oil Markets crashed and the exploration firms went broke. Many of the S&L firms not only had loaned to the Oil industry but also had speculated on the expansion of housing. The influx of people started to slow and then the large spec houses did not sell as fast as they used to. Finally, large S&L’s like Silverado folded. House prices continued to fall for about three years and it was another 5 or 6 years before the housing market could be considered fully recovered. What made housing recover was a growing economy. Housing will not recover unless there is growing demand for the homes. Pricing is the last item to recover fully because most peaks are in a bubble and normal growth takes years to catch up with the peak.
Missoula, MT is a city that has the Timber Industry and U of M for major industries. The Timber industry expanded until the late 1980’s then started to shrink because of lack of raw materials to process. Some of this was natural and some was ecological. The last closure was the Milltown mills east of Missoula. Now the industry is a small fraction of what it once was. U of M has maintained its economic influence on the area while an influx of retirees and small businesses have helped to keep the economy moving. The attraction of Ravalli County (south of Missoula) to people like Charles Schwab has been a bright spot of bringing in economic activity. Growth has been slow in recent years and housing is based on demand.
Butte, MT is a different story from the other two. Butte is and always was a mining town. The Anaconda Company closed in the early 1980,s because of the demands of the unions. 2,300 workers lost there jobs permanently. The federal government provided one year of wages over two years so these workers could retrain for other local jobs. During these two years, the Butte economy actually grew. After the funding started to run out the workers that still needed a job had to move and the economy started to shrink. The average age of the miner was 56 so a lot of them could retire after the other income stopped. Some 360 families moved for Butte over the next 3 years. Then the shrinkage slowed to about the death rate. Butte was becoming a ghost town with large areas of town having vacant houses. It was 10 years later that Dennis Washington bought the mines and opened them as a non-union operation. Without the union work rules 375 workers produced the same as the 2,300 did under the rules. Not the support to the local economy that it once was but much betters then anything at all. The pay was two fold, 28,000 base on average and 50% of the profits over the first 10%. Most years the bonus was more then the base pay. In recent years Butte has grown because of the largest wafer plant in the US being build west of town. Some of the “student exports” of 20 and 30 years ago have now moved home and opened businesses. Many of these are in the high tech world such as specialized software. With these other businesses Butte will survive.
Denver and Los Vegas have some similarities. The drivers of the two economies are totally different but both are attractive to companies that are trying to move away form high taxation. Los Vegas is attractive to any business in California and even some areas of Arizona. This is less true today in Denver then it once was but compared to California Colorado is an oasis.
Missoula and places such as Bend, OR are similar and will recover slowly. Ecological considerations sometimes overtake economic ones in both these places.
These three examples have other counterparts in the nation. Detroit will probably be like Butte for a long time. The Auto industry will not show recovery until the union work rules are removed. I think all three will continue to have problems.
Just a few thoughts from a 25 year veteran of Micro Economics!
The Three Forks Montana Fly-in
Posted by admin on August 10th, 2009 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
This last weekend there was the annual Montana Antique Airplane Association (MAAA) fly-in at Three Forks, Montana. Many of the pilots and planes could not attend because of the economy and some bad weather. It was a great time for those that did attend. I took the 1946 Piper J3 Cub that is pictured at the top of this blog. Those that know me know that the Cub was restored by my father and since his passing has been my pleasure to take the Cub to show others what early flying was. The MAAA awarded me the Best Antique award for 2009. Thank you to the MAAA for honoring my father and me in such a way.
Is there a “W” in the Economy’s Future?
Posted by admin on August 10th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized2 Comments »
Some Economists think that the recovery will stall in the near future. Soon after a fall to or below prior lows will put us in a worse position then we were just a few months ago. Is this possible? The answer is yes and maybe even probable. It is going to depend on how much of this recovery is caused only by government spending. If the spending ends up being a catalyst to private sector recovery then the possibility of a “W” is small at best. The “W” occurs when government spending stops and private sector spending is no where to be found. This was what occurred in places like Butte, Montana because mining had closed to not reopen for nearly 10 years. The government support fell off within two years, thus the second downturn. It is hard to imagine the whole country going the same way as Butte. Diversity of our national economy should keep us from experiencing such a painful turn of events.
Finally Some Good News on the Economy
Posted by admin on August 9th, 2009 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
Last Friday’s Employment Report showed a slight decrees in the unemployment rate. It is true that some 200,000 more persons lost there jobs then found jobs and that the unemployment dropped because 400,000 people were dropped out of the Workforce (total people working plus unemployed seeking jobs). Some think the drop in workforce was caused by the people loosing unemployment benefits during the last week of July. The employment statistics for July were based mostly on statistics taken mid month that were run through a model. Adjustments to the model could be made to the model for this drop but I think other reasons should be considered.
For over two years all of the Macro Economists have been saying that the people that were planning retirement have put it off since the worth of there investments has fallen so much. Along with the Baby boomers entering retirement age other possibilities exist. There are plenty of the baby boomers that are planning to remain in there current homes and have substantially recovered 401k accounts to at least consider retirement. Others may have been looking for other work until there unemployment insurance ran out, then decided to retire because other conditions have improved enough to retire. Retirement removes you from the workforce. Another scenario is the person becomes self employed that does not immediately show up in the employment statistics. All three of these scenarios lower the Workforce numbers without being negative for the economy. The last possibility will not be added to the workforce again until taxes are filed. Economic studies are all about allocation of resources. If the resources are now there for some to retire, some will. The August Employment Report will be interesting to see if the unemployment rate continues to fall. It will be the loss of unemployment Insurance against the need for some to increase inventories. August could be the second month of good economic news.