Nov

22

I am still employed as are the vast statistical majority. But, jobs still needs to soon become a national priority. Done correctly, with the future in mind it is not going to be an easy problem to solve.

Why?

Our economy for the past decade has been fueled and supported largely on credit.

We can spend a book or two pointing fingers and laying blame, but I do not want to digress here. I do want to say that this is not a soley a Republican or Democratic created problem, a private business sector problem, an individual consumer problem. It is an American problem to which we are all responsible.

The only quick solution to the unemployment problem would be to go back to a debt based economy. This is not an option, this is the very reason we are in the mess we are in. In took us a long time to get into this position and it is not going to turn around over night.

…BUT…

With a little foresight there is great opportunity.

We are facing a crumbling national infrastructure; we are facing oil supply and dependency issues; we are facing global climate change; our education system has problems.

If you look closely at our history you will see a society that between both public and private investment was able to make a difference in so many areas at critical times within our Republic..  

How did the following come into existance:

- Current energy grid and natural gas pipelines

- State and National road system

- Phone, Cable, Cellular, Satellite infrastructure

- Air travel infrastructure

- Rail infrastructure

They came into being through a combination of both private and public involvement in building something that was sustainable and that had some longevity to it.

What does the America of the next twenty years look like? What is the national vision for our nation? Do we have one?

We have huge problems to face regarding …

- Healthcare

- Energy

- National Infrastructure (roads, bridges)

- National Security (manufacturing, internet, infrastructure)

- Global Climate

- Education

Each one of these represents an opportunity for job growth that can be fueled by cooperation by both the public and private sector.

Take health care as an example. In a 60-Minutes segment aired October 25th “Experts estimate that $60 billion is paid out in fake claims every year”.  [Statement pertaining directly to Medicare claims]

That is a lot of money. Figuring out how to stop this fraud will require people.

I smell jobs.

The passage of a health care bill that will allows millions of uninsured to have access to care (other than the overtaxed ER’s) is going to mean we need more health care infrastructure.

I smell jobs.

Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is going to mean great captial investment (both private and public) on our soil.

I smell jobs.

If we can see through the obstructionist lobbyists serving the needs of entrenched American business that seem unwilling to change. If we could actually get more Republicans like Olympia Snowe to start engaging in problem solving we can start creating some of these jobs.

Jobs create revenue. Revenue increases the tax base. We can then focus on reducing our national debt.

 

Nov

17

This is a question for forty million of you out there.

What would you do without medicare?

“Write those letters now. Call your friends, and tell them to write them. If you don’t, this program I promise you will pass just as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow. And behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country, until, one day…we will awake to find that we have socialism. And if you don’t do this, and if I don’t do it, one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”

Ronald Reagan spoke these words in 1961 for a public service ad against medicare.

Now this question is for 45 million of you…

What would your quality of life be without social security?

In 1935 Sen. Bennett Clark of Montana proposed an amendment that would have enabled employers to opt out of Social Security if they had pension plans offering more generous benefits than Social Security. By the way, Clark was a Democrat.

“The Clark Amendment was developed by a group of insurance lobbyists under the leadership of Walter Forster, of the insurance brokerage firm of Towers, Perrin, Forster and Crosby, and introduced by Senator Clark as an amendment to the Administration’s bill while it was under consideration in the Senate Finance Committee.”

(Source: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/clarkamend.html)

Seems some things never change. Sometimes smart people are wrong.

This is the for all us. Next time you are driving on an interstate imagine what American life would be like had Eisenhower not enacted the  “Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.” Ike was a Republican.

As you look around at our crumbling national infrastructure, as you watch people oppose Obama’s ambitious plans to revitalize our energy grid, build up our infrastructure, and call him a socialist and compare him to Hitler think about what your lives would be like had our earlier leaders not had the foresight to create the SSA, Medicare, or our national interstate highways.

Think hard about these things.

Sep

16

Pickens Energy Plan

September 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Pickens energy plan has a lot of strong fundamentals and needs to be considered by both parties. http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/ . One of his points is to convert cars to run on natural gas which is in abundant supply in the good ‘ol USA. You may have taken a taxi that runs on natural gas.

The only problem with this is to get car makers to switch to manufacturing cars that run on natural gas we first need a national infrastructure that sells natural gas. Before this happens there is going to be a period of time where the gas stations ROI is low as there will not be many cars running on CNG…a real catch 22. Auto makers would be morons to start making vehicles before a national distribution for CNB is in place. Fuel vendors would be blithering idiots to invest in distributing natural gas before the cars that run on then are being built.

Letting business sort this out is just not going to work. PERIOD!!!! No further discussion needed on this. What will be needed is both govenment mandates to sell CNG as well as government subsidies to help vendors absorb the initial up-front costs. These reasurances, and further incentives will get the auto manufacturers off the dime building vehicles that run on CNG.

If you think this is a reality that needs to occur as far as shedding our dependency on foreign oil then you need to ask yourself which party is better suited to this type of action. Sorry, but the Democrats are much better at legislating these types of matters. In our nations history there are times when we really need the Republicans hands-off approach to business. But, there are other times when government intervention and leadership in steering our nation are essential and required. I think this is that time.

What say you on this matter John McCain?

Jun

25

I am quite fed up with all the right and left wing spin demonizing each presidential candidate. The latest rift started by James Dobson (whom usually is sane) is just a load of crap.

If James pulls out his Bible he might note that the “religious right” of the day tried to trap Jesus into a similar church and state argument. Jesus response was to take a Roman coin and respond by saying “Render unto Ceasar the things which are Ceasar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. Jimbo, I suggest you do the same.

But this is not the point… To all you dillweeds out there…

Here is the point…

-The housing market is on the brink of collapse

-Our healthcare system is an out of control nightmare still unavailable to many

-Dependency on oil and current prices are going to put us over the edge and require both long and short term solutions

-Climate change is an issue we need to address NOW! The science exists, is valid, and conservative media Bozo’s need to pull their heads out of their ass and get enagaged in reporting how we solve this problem.

-Oh, and by the way, there are jihad zealots who are willing to sacrifice their lives to kill us and our way of living…

Given the above most of us could give a crap who Barack or John’s pasters are or who is or is not endorsing them this week. We could care less about most of the sniping that is going on between the left and the right and the polarization that occurs as a result. Maybe we all could pull our collective heads out of our rear ends and focus on what we are going to do short term and long term to solve these problems.

As someone that tends to be conservative in my political views I would suggest that the conservatives start listening to folks like Newt Gingrich. The Republican party and the right are so out of touch with reality these days it is hard to even listen to word most of you are saying. Y’all need a huge look in the mirror. You have become inflexible, intolerant and disconnected with reality. This November conservatives will be in for the political shock of your lives. And by the way, the church seats are well populated with Christians like myself that hold similar points of view.

As for you liberal weenies, to quote a Navy term, you will soon have the “Deck and the Con”. Make the most of it and start leading us in digging out of this mess we are in. Some words of wisdom. Listen to some of the ideas of the right and do not dismiss them because they come from the right.

It is time we start working together. I do realize for most of you this is too much to ask.

Jun

23

Jun

23

Global climate change is real! Hear is a site with some compelling information (though very scientific) http://books.nap.edu/html/climatechange/. For those of you that do not want the science (this would include all the influential media shit for brains telling us there is not a problem… Sean Hannity and Glen Beck come to mind) let me put it to you on these terms.

If you do not think the continual release of man made gasses and chemicals into our atmosphere is not a problem why don’t you just pull your barbecue into your home, start using it (please do not be an idiot and do this) and see how long you live. The only difference between the two is economy of scale.

Jun

7

Oil and energy prices skyrocketing. Food prices soaring. Home prices tanking. Jobs shrinking. Things are looking pretty bleak. Living through these times can be a real roller coaster ride.

For those of you not saddled with debt there are some potential long and short term opportunities out there.

Energy prices are heading upward. They will likely level out at some time in the future (who knows when), but it is highly unlikely that we will ever see gasoline under 3$, even 4$ again in the good ‘ol USA. It is already over 8$ in many parts of Europe. As I said in a previous post, the answer is to build cars that increase MPG. What is the most popular vehicle? The Prius. Gas hog vehicles sales are plummeting, fuel efficient vehicle sales are on the rise.

US auto dealers are being tight lipped. While their management can be a bit stodgy and slow to react they too can read the tea lives. In fact, it may very well be the energy crisis that cause both GM and Ford to get busy and to emerge again and compete with the likes of Honda and Toyota.

Rising gas prices are going to create a demand in the market (it already is) for fuel efficient cars. In two years time we have gone from an average price of $2.25 to $4.50 a gallon and still climbing. At $5.00 a gallon (not far away) it is going to cost you $3600 a year to drive your 20mpg car 12,000 miles. Compare this with $1350 just two years ago! At $8.00 a gallon the cost will be $4800.00 a year.

Ford is allegedly working on a technology called hydraulic hybrid which could lead the way. There are rumors of an F-150 that can get 60mpg. GM is working on hybrid technology as well. Both stocks are currently in the tank (Ford has been for years).

If you have some patience, and are willing to take some risk this might be a good time to start buying auto stocks. This is bit of a contrarian view. And, there is no guarantee that US Automakers will see the writing on the wall.

 

 

May

9

Hertz is starting to offer the Prius. I drove about 65 highway miles and 25 city miles. I see how people can get addicted trying to see how high they can get their mpg. The console has a display where you can watch how you are doing on a digital scale that goes from 0 to a 100. It calculates and displays total miles driven and your average mpg once a minute. It almost becomes a game to see how well you can do, at least it was for me on the highway. I got 53.5 mpg driving the rolling highways of Central Wisconsin, and about 35 mpg in Marshfield.

I was staying about 30 miles from the airport. Filled it back up for $5.25 (obviously it was topped off a bit more before). Drove to the airport and it was still of F when I parked.

The guy at the Hertz counter said a lot of people did not want to drive it. I thought it was a great car. Unless they come out with something with even better gas mileage I plan on buying one.

 

 

Jan

8

A typical desktop computer can consume 150-250 watts per hour (this includes the montor). A typical laptop consumes 20-50 watts. Anywhere from 1/3 to 1/20th less power than a desktop.

So what do you have to give up?

Price?

No way. You can get a nice laptop for $650 or less.

Okay but what do I sacrafice?

Nothing really. You get a decent sized screen (15.4″), big hard drive (120gb), 1gb of memory (more than enough). I am writing this blog on a $650 laptop. It is both the cheapest and the nicest computer (by far) that I have ever owned.

Are there any advantages over a desktop?

Yep…can you say wi-fi… I can take my computer to the backyard, sit in an easy chair and watch a rerun of Heroes. I can compute in my office, I can take it back to my bedroom to work or surf the net. Heck, I take it on the road and compute in my hotel room.

For the same price as a desktop, all this flexibility and major savings in energy and less stress to our environment this is an easy decision!

Mar

24

In this Wednesdays Seattle Times the front page featured a story on 10 townhouses being built in the Issaquah Highlands that are being designed to be the epitome of green energy efficiency. While being hooked up to the grid these homes sport solar, maximum insulation, energy star appliances, and energy efficient lighting.

While being touted as 0 energy, they will likely draw 30-50% of there energy from the grid. This is still great news. We need to keep moving green products and ideas into the mainstream until they become the norm.

— keep looking »

Blogroll