Tag Archives: Financial Crisis

The Layoffs we dont see…

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Article in the NYTimes today about unannounced layoffs and the WARN act… Companies are laying white-collar workers off in smaller numbers so they can do say without giving them notice. We as workers have no rights left in this country anymore. I think all this is appalling. Companies are using this as an excuse to cut workers, reduce pay, benefits, retirement, etc. and they wont ever bring it back once the recession is over. And yes, I am SICK of helping companies that arent hiring Americans anymore.

The unemployment figure in this country is a JOKE. You mean to tell me that we were losing over 600,000 jobs per week in Feb, but somehow we only lost 690,000 for the whole month? Where did we create those other jobs? yeah right, those other people are probably no longer collecting unemployment. And what about the part time workers and the ultimate small businesses…the self-employed. they are never counted if they are out of work. Our unemployment rate has got to be at about 20% at least.

These companies are snakes…how do they think they are going to survive if Americans can no longer buy their stuff? you think those “middle class” workers in China and India will buy the cars, computers, ipods, etc? Hate to break it to you, but the media is stretching it a bit…the middle class in those countries is still insanely small (1 or 2%) and most arent able to buy the stuff.

Thats one of the reasons automakers pay their workers more (even the foreign ones that come here do this) so that their workers can actually buy the things they make. If this fails to be the case in this country, ie. we all work at Wal-Mart for $8 an hour, this country as we know it is finished and we are headed for third world status.

I’m ready for a worker revolution. How can we do it?

Stimulus, Shimulus…Do It Right

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So the stimulus is in trouble. I’m not surprised in the least. There’s too much stuff in this bill in the first place. I attribute this to Democrats not being able to spend on anything for eight years, but this is not the time to cram everything in. So here are the 4 parts that I believe should be the TOTAL stimulus bill of right now.

Break the stimulus into the following parts:

1. Repairing bridges, roads, etc. throughout the country. Hire those laid-off autoworkers, hire engineers and project managers.

2. Give an enormous amount of money to green industry…solar panels, wind power and mass transportation. don’t just give enough for states to keep their existing transit systems…give them more to make the expansion they need due to increased ridership.

3. Restructure the electrical grid. Help fund and give contracts to companies like Better Place, which will send a message to Detroit that there WILL be an infrastructure in place to support the Chevy Volt and other cars when they come out. Oil will only go up.

4. Increase unemployment benefits and let the unemployed go onto Medicare for a time. Find a way to help those who are self-employed and independent contractors…many of whom are illegally paid in this fashion and suffer from extraordinarily high taxes.

This is ALL that should be in this bill. Of course, education reform and health care, etc. are important. My fear is that if we only do half of what is needed in these areas in this bill, when we try to do more, the Republicans will scream “We already spent money on these programs” and we’ll never get it done right.

Democrats, save some bargaining room. Health Care and Education should be addressed later (even in a few months, just to separate from this current bill) and if you dont spend anything on them now, you will have a better place to argue from when you need complete spending to do them right.

Also, let’s get this thing done without the Republicans. Obama needs to stand up to them more…they were not voted in. We wanted a bold, daring stimulus-and this is not it-this is a hodgepodge. It looks like a pot-luck dinner when we wanted and needed 5-star dining. We dont want more tax cuts or credits, either.

The Need for the Bailout

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We do need the bailout. I am in no way supportive of an average CEO compensation package being, according to SEC Commissioner Roel C. Campos, 400 times more than the average employee’s compensation. We know now that the bailout comes with limits on this, as well as giving the taxpayers a chance to get back money or make a profit in the future when the government buys up these bad debts. The government will be taking a stake in these companies who seek the help of the government. I am a huge fan of this because it is regulation and we need it. Bad.

Time for Regulation

Call me a socialist, I probably am, at least comparable to what Europeans are. I liked economics in school and I did well at it and the one thing I remember very clearly were the “sterile” models that were used for, well, everything. “All other things being equal” sound familiar? In real life, everything happens at once, its not standing still. The formulas used to calculate the derivatives, and indeed derivatives themselves, have been criticized by Warren Buffet as “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”

Derivatives, according to the New York Times, are “exotic contracts that promised to protect investors from losses, thereby stimulating riskier practices that led to the financial crisis.” Alan Greenspan and other members of the Fed fought for years against any kind of regulation for these derivatives, with their rationale being the private sector and the markets would act responsibly and that Wall Street could be trusted. Really?

My issue with so much of this stems from one very, very, painfully basic concept of free trade that you learn in basic microeconomics: Once government is introduced, free markets no longer exisit. No country on the planet has free markets; tariffs, taxes, social programs, tax breaks, tax cuts, tax credits…these all mean NO FREE MARKETS. The simple supply and demand graph gets all crazy when government is thrown in, meaning things cannot reach equilibrium. Equilibrium is the lifeline and purpose of free markets.

I don’t understand how so many people can preach about free markets without realizing that our (foolish) commitment to them is actually hurting us. Other countries are taking advantage of our low tariffs (such as Honda and Toyota selling their cars here at very low prices) and then putting high tariffs on the goods we send (our cars in Japan are much higher in price because of Japan’s tariffs). This is not free trade, free markets or competition. Look what this has done to the auto industry.

Moderation vs. Excess

Obviously, our point in this country with regard to free markets is to lead by example. But with the European Union growing substantially and having a higher GDP and population than the US, how can we continue to do this? Maybe its time to get in and play the game. Get some money, reap the benefits of being a big player. Dont’t let other countries take advantage of us. Let’s regulate some, protect what’s ours and encourage true competition by working to set even tariffs or be prepared to raise ours in certain cases.

The Bailout is the first step to regulation and I really hope that it is done in moderation, because as much as de-regualtion has been loved by most in this country, we will all now suffer because of the excess of the elite few. Moderation is key. Its time to get in and play the game.