Nancy Pelosi just doesn’t listen to the American People

Nancy Pelosi just missed the lesson of the election. Either that or she just doesn’t care what those that elected her and write her paycheck think.

She just declared war on the folks that invest money and create jobs. She is basically saying that if you are ‘rich’ you shouldn’t be. Perhaps you got there but being a jerk and ripping people off. I doubt it but maybe you did in her eyes.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/131729-house-passes-legislation-to-extend-only-some-bush-era-tax-cuts

She did something interesting. She poked a stick in the eye of Americans. She is basically saying she can do whatever she wants. The reason I say this is that even those this legislation passed the house it has no shot of passing the Senate. None….

Ok folks…I know the first comment I am going to get it ‘you rich people’. I WISH I was in those tax brackets. I hope someday to be in those brackets. But she just took the incentive away from me to work harder and get there. Why should I if I just write a larger check to the government?

If she can call us names we can call her names right? Here we go….Nancy…I know you are probably a nice woman, sure you may make a good neighbor…But I for one think you are something more a’kin to the Wicked Witch of the West than you are to someone I want living next door.

I think you should go spend more time looking for a new plastic surgeon to hide your aging than playing with the American people like you are.

Can the people of California please vote this woman out? Should I move to her district and challenge her?

DaScienceGuy

Shared Sacrifice – Obama to put off vacation – WOW!

The President, the Vice-President and many of the politicians we see on the news talk about shared sacrifice. This article made me want to throw things at the computer screen.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/30/obama.vacation.tax.cuts/index.html

Basically the President may delay his Hawaii vacation so he can deal with things in Washington. Well let me be the first to say THANK you Mr. President for noticing there was some work to do around the office.

When you spoke of shared sacrifice I wasn’t aware it meant waiting to get on your private jet and fly off to a place most Americans save money for years to go visit just once! I mean after all it has probably been two months since you took a vacation. Thanks for the sacrifice, I do hope you discover how to balance your work and social life better. Next thing you know it will be the basketball game gets pushed back 30 minutes.

WOW! We found their version of sacrifice. I need to fork over another 10% of what I make and he needs to DELAY (note not cancel but delay) his vacation. Well no wonder he thinks sacrifice isn’t that bad. His is pretty easy! I want his version and he can have mine!

DaScienceGuy

Collapse of the European Union – An Insider Perspective

One of the advantages of being a professional scientist is you meet people from all over the world. In the lab this week we have a visitor from Italy.

Me being me I was curiuos about the speculation seen here about the demise of the Euro. I had a previous post in which I predicted it would die off due to all the bailouts. This appears to not be the general thought in Europe. They will want to keep it but they are thinking that what would be best is some intergovernmental controls on what other folks can do.

Interestingly they want to take the same approach as is done here in the United States. One country fifty states.

Odd how they like our approach of 50 pseudoindependent govnerments with one unifying group at the top. INDEPENDENT states with some control of what goes on between them. NOT one massive thing at the top dictating all.

They like the model. I wonder what they think of our modern day execution of that model.

I shall try to find out and get back to my faithful readers.

The European Union and Bailouts

Let us not forget that debt issues with nations are not new. Many countries of used debt as a way to finance various things, wars, roads, etc. Never before in history has it been used as a method of sustaining the ‘normal’.

I think we need look no further than Europe to see our future if we don’t adjust the steering on the ship that is the United States. There are talks now about several other countries needing bailouts. The first after Greece and Ireland being probably Spain. They are having some really bad budgetary problems and they are just hoping that deep spending cuts will fix it. Deep spending cuts normally means more people on various forms of ‘assistance’ which is a different budget column no one ever cuts. I’m sure Spain isn’t counting for what will be the increased spending there and in my opinion as a result will be asking for a HUGE bailout from the rest of the EU as they all share a currency (the Euro).

The issue is normally when a country gets in this predicament they just cause inflation therefore the money is worth less than it used to be and the level of debt doesn’t seem so bad. We are toying with that here in the US (doubt me? Wait six months then let’s talk). Here is the problem….Germany….They are the biggest bank account over there to go take from and bail out other countries. The challenge is they aren’t in THAT great a shape on their own. So after bailing out Greece and Spain what happens? I think the Euro as a currency will go away, or stupidly the US will try to bail out all of Europe.

Now that being said what happens next? The world resorts back to gold? I’m really not sure what happens next but it doesn’t appear like it will be pretty economically speaking. What I am saying is that as the world economy becomes more and more connected we may not be out of the recession woods just yet. I think it gets worse before it gets better due to lack of economic leadership that makes sense anywhere. When I say makes sense I mean like as in a world that understands ENORMOUS debt is BAD!!!!

DaScienceGuy

Financial Advisors – Huh?

I tune in to talk radio often. If you listen on Saturday or Sunday there a wide array of financial advisors on the radio. The conversation is always the same.

How much do you make?

How much have you saved?

Do this…(Usually followed by call my office and become a client).

Somewhere in there they say debt bad, savings good.

Do they not understand the point is to try to teach people things not just instruct?

I have managed my own portfolio for a while. I will say this….With a little bit of homework on your investments beating the market isn’t difficult.

Mutual funds can tie the market, some even beat it and that works if you want to invest and hide your head in the sand. But if you like taking care of business yourself here is my advice. Read 4-5 books, do your homework on each company and go for it. I a mere scientist made over 80% last year and am up over 30% this year.

Financial advisors by the way usually charge either enormous hourly fees so if you make money or not they don’t care…Their other option is a percentage of every sale if you made money or not.

DaScienceGuy

Morning Joe and Nancy Pelosi discussion

Morning Joe is talking about an interview Nancy Pelosi gave about the passage of the Health Care Bill.  She is claiming, in this interview, that the opposition was fighting FOR the big insurance companies.

I think she is delusional.  She just passed a law making every person in America buy their product.  Why would she think the other side saying no no no would be a benefit to them?

Sure they have to have pre-existing conditions, etc.  However, there are a large number of uninsured young people who rarely get sick!  I think we need an actuary to sort this out and just figure it out.  Stop pointing fingers and answer the question.

I personally don’t think either side cared about insurance companies in the least while arguing this topic.

Education, Welfare, Low Income neighborhoods and dependence on government

I’m really not sure what to say here other than describe a situation.

I was at a post office yesterday in a not great part of town.  Lower income families, many dependent on various forms of government assistance.  I understand this situation and think we should help people out when they need it.

However in the early days of these programs they were designed to put a mattress underneath someone so that the fall didn’t kill them.  In other words give people a bit of money so they don’t starve.

I’m in line behind people wearing designer clothes carrying cell phones, blackberries, text devices and all manner of stuff in that regard.  I know this because it was a constant chatter of people talking loudly about nothing in general besides who is doing what to whom.  Texting by people was constant.  These things are all fine as well as it is a free country but these devices aren’t cheap and if you are living on my tax dollars I feel a bit concerned about the prevalence of designer labels I don’t wear due to the cost, and devices so new I don’t have the technogadget yet.  And that says a lot as I have a lot of gadgets.

Here is the part that makes me suspect these folks are now SO dependent on government they can no longer function in any job and that bothers me.  There were maybe 10-12 people in line in front of me.  There were 2 instances of people getting to the front with their package to be shipped which it had no address.  The people were shocked they couldn’t just tell you who it was for and the general neighborhood and the package wouldn’t get there.  THEY DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED THE ADDRESS!!!!

I asked the postperson behind the counter if that was common.  They said ‘happens all the time’.

I fear for the future.  Unemployment isn’t going to get better if this is what the public education system turns out.

Something needs to be done.  We need serious education reform and need it today.

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand and Who is John Galt?

So I finally finished this book.  I am not sure what can be said about it that hasn’t been said before.

I could describe the story line but everyone else has.  So here is my take or thoughts on it.  The book goes to a few extremes.  I don’t think every thinking person would leave many are too passionate to do that.  However if they did the world would crumble.  I do know a bunch of people too timid to make a decision now so that was kind of interesting to me.

I do however think one thing about this book that I think is probably new.  It should be REQUIRED reading for any person wanting to hold the office of Mayor or higher in Government Service.  If not this book at least a look at the underlying philosophy of it or something near it.  I am not saying that one should get preachy that is where everyone screws up.  It just shows what can happen at the various extreme positions and perhaps get people to not be that deep into any of those extremes.

One Senator Jim Bunning hold up Jobless-Benefits good thing?

One Senator has stood alone on an interesting issue.  He has chosen to say no more spending on anything unless we find an offset.  He chose to hold up a $10B jobless benefit bill because it would tack more money onto the deficit.  

I think its a good thing to STOP debt spending.  STOP it cold.  I for one support him in his stop of the deficit spending.  I think we can find $10B to cut someplace.  Cut it from unspent stimulus funds is where he wants it and that I guess is ok because it will eliminate MORE deficit spending although even that is a bit of a shell game as the stimulus is all debt.  

I for one like I said support him in his efforts if $10B can’t be found in a budget this large…what the heck.  I can find it for them. 

GET IT FROM FOREIGN AID.  We send so much money to other countries for ‘aid’ and its again debt spending that its nuts.  Take it from there.  Take care of PEOPLE HERE.  Stop charging on the national credit card for this kind of thing.

The nuclear option by Obama, Pelosi, Reid on Health Care

Apparently, according to the news the Democrats are going to attempt to use reconciliation.  That method only allows for budget items so someone procedurally has to go through a cross out anything not budget related.

This is to me an interesting thing.  As the president said if the people don’t like it that’s what elections are for.  He forgets something, I think, and I could be wrong, that he’ll lose a lot of democratic support if he tries this.  I could be wrong but it may happen.

Several outcomes are possible.

First, the news is wrong and this isn’t what they are going to do.  A real option.

Second, it will pass in some unrecognizable form.  The democrats will lose both houses in the process or you won’t be able to get a hotel room in DC due to all the protestors.  Both are fine options with me.

Third, it will fail and President Obama’s approval rating will take a deeper dive than it already has.

I don’t see any of these except for the first as something beneficial to the President or the Democrats.  They have to know this.  I can’t see their angle.  What are they trying to accomplish?  Being able to paint the republicans as the party of no?  Because they are doing what the polls show the American public wants at least on this subject?  Confused at the real motivation here.  If anyone has an idea what that motivation is please leave a comment and help me see it.