Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Dominos King Tut style


I thought from first look that Algeria was going to be the next target of unrest in the middle east. I didn't do quite enough research on that. Seems their leader was smart enough to head off another revolt with his actions.

Protesters complained about food prices but also about a lack of housing and jobs as well as corrupt local officials.

The government responded by cutting the cost of some foodstuffs by half and by making huge purchases of wheat on the international market in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid bread shortages that could rekindle unrest.

Belkhadem said oil and gas revenues -- energy exports earned nearly $60 billion in 2010 -- are being shared out among the population, partly through a plan to spend $286 billion over five years on infrastructure, hospitals, schools and housing.

"It is unfair to say that Algeria is rich and its people poor", he said. "Health and education are free in Algeria."

"We created 550,000 jobs in 2010. I know that we should do more, but I must say that few countries in the world could create half a million jobs per year," he said.


Again I repeat from a previous post. What is our government doing about our own economic situation? Are they worried about the welfare of the average person here? In his STOU speech Obama is going right along with the opposition party in freezing wages and calling for cuts in domestic programs. All the while when prices for things like gas and food are going up. But I forgot those things aren't counted in the gross domestic product balance sheets. Exactly why is a puzzle. All is going well if you don't count that 800lb. gorilla in your living room trashing the place and eating you out of house and home.

I always thought Jordan was a bit more stable. It seemed like the country where everyone fled when things got tough at home. I guess I was wrong. Maybe the influx of refugees has finally taken its' toll. And now we'll see the closing of borders because we can't have those pesky furriners coming in to pillage the place taking our jobs and eating all our food. Interesting to note that King Abdulla is trying to head off an uprising by sacking his PM. We'll see how this action is accepted in the next few days as the protests in Egypt continue.

And now I'm hearing Syria is gearing up for protests.

Tax cuts work well in a thriving economy. They're like hitting the nitro button in a dragster. Not so much when the economy is doing poorly. They must be made up for somewhere on the balance sheet and that usually falls on the poor. So what are these fools in government going to do? They're going to cut taxes which they've already done if you're lucky enough to have a pay check these days. But they chopped a couple of precent from social security withholding. That will truly keep the system going. One of the main reasons retirement programs fail in this country is because they're underfunded. Companies that were supposed to be making contributions to their plans as promised are instead using the money to bolster their balance sheets. The can is kicked down the road until the road ends. Retirees are left with nothing. Anymore having a company retirement plan is much like playing the lottery. Maybe it will be there and maybe it won't. There is time to fix this problem (about 26 years) but not if our government isn't willing to actually fund it.

12 comments:

BBC said...

Can anyone explain to me how the DOW can keep going up? What in the hell am I not getting about that? Well, maybe I'm not crooked enough to understand that.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they're betting that the Gyppies will use a shitload of war hardware and it will need replacing?

Anonymous said...

Betting on war is always a sure thing.

No?

BBC said...

Sadly, betting on war is a sure thing. Yes?

Demeur said...

That's an easy one Billy. Now that the wealthy got their fix of cash from the tax cuts they have to stash it somewhere. Got to inflate the bubble so you can bet against it and make a fortune.

Demeur said...

By the way you might want to stock up on food because that's said to be the next bubble.

S.W. Anderson said...

"What is our government doing about our own economic situation?"

Too little, which wouldn't be so bad if that wasn't followed up with doing the wrong damned things.

But never fear, President Obama has taken care to surround himself with people who could better be described as parts of the problem than of the solution. With their help, Obama will continue to forget more than he ever knew about being a Democrat.

As a result, we can expect more upbeat talk about how well the wrong damned things are working, with silence about who they're working for. (Crossed fingers make no noise.)

MRMacrum said...

When it all seems to be going to Hell, I just pull out my compilation DVD set of "Leave it to Beaver" - deluxe edition. That always brings the world back into perspective.

Anonymous said...

I can not stand to listen to that duplicious bastard speak any longer.

And to think I voted for the liar.

Fool me once...

Anonymous said...

Beaver is good but they all seem to be of the Brazilian variety now.

What's up wit that?

BBC said...

On the bright side, Farrah Fawcett's red swimsuit is going to Smithsonian.

Ranch Chimp said...

Understand to what alot of folk's are not paying atencion to, is that this recent GOP rise has an objective (there are also democrat's involved as well ... put it this way, once you accept friendship with these and take money ..."you owe" .. period), but much of what is happening is all well planned from the "state to state" talk as far as making decision's, even the recent HCR being pushed into the Supreme Court is also a scam ... to prolong any passage of action because while it's tied into litigation's ... you cant "move", and it's planned that way ... because the plan is to tie it up as long as possible, they will spend million's the next two year's to twist the 2012 vote to make sure Washington is all on their side, and the Supreme Court, then they will try to force system's into failure ... that have been traditionally government system's like SSI, health care item's ... municipality budget and bond's failure's, etc Why? ... because this is how you "privatize" the nation and take it away from gvmnt control ... if they succeed at this move of course, there will be no longer any voice of the people at all ... they will have total control over evrything more than ever now through the market's, which are more of a monopoly as it is instead of truely free market. At the same time on a national as well as international level ... their increased "control" will also be a blessing in disguise to us, what they dont see is the chaos it is going to create for them, and accelerate the revolt against them too. So it just speed's up the process of actual beneficial change, although it will be hard on many. This is what I call the "collapse" in many posting's. Everything is all connected, even though it seem's to be steming from different sources for different reason's ... it is not. I say that it's "NOT" a conspiracy ... only because when you have so much power and control to even shut down communication's, manipulate media control all energies, food, etc ... and total control over gvmnt's ... you dont need a conspiracy or even any hidden secret's or agenda's ... you just act ... such as they do when they hire our rep's to re-w rite legislation copied from the attorney's, etc.