Fedreal government finally realizes

That U.S. car companies are broke. All the money in the world isn't going to put humpty back together again. Why? Because buyers if there are any left can't get a loan even if they have perfect credit because banks aren't lending. Dealers can't pay the loans they have if they don't sell cars. Giving a $7500 tax credit for buying a car won't help if the credit isn't there. What did the banks do with their bailout. They did just what you or I would do. They paid down their debt and are holding the rest for future losses. Credit still remains frozen. With the job market tanking further squeeze comes from both sides.
With six down quarters I'd say it's safe to say we're in a depression. The way out? With corporations not spending and lay offs adding to the problem and no consumer demand there is no choice but for the government to step in and spend. Hopefully the spending on infrastructure will get things going long enough for the debt to be worked out of the systems. That along with savings should bring about a balance. At least that seems to be the plan. One thing is for certain. This generation will never look at life the same way much like our parents did with the great depression.

Lights out

Well I might have saved all of about 10 cents worth of electricity with the lights out around the world but it did get me to thinking about all the electrical appliances we could do without. But not just that. We have emassed so much over the last 40+ years and it seems that all of the electronics are nothing more than electric vampires. You know they need electricity even when they aren't running. Time to rething what we really need as to what we want in our lives. The one thing that struck me in this little experiment is the deafening silence that can only come from a power outage or the actual concious act of turning off all but the esential power. We do get a good bit of our power here in the northwest from hydro electric from the dams but not all of it. There's still a bit that comes from coal fired plants. Not a good thing if we plan on living on the planet for any extended period of time. Yes I could have the attitude that since I'm closing in on retirement of "oh well that's the next generation's problem, let them deal with it", but I can't because I've spent almost the last 20 years removing hazardous material. I have just a tad bit of respect for the planet and future generations. Don't you just hate it when you go to a campground and the last guy was a slob and left beer cans and garbage all over? As for me I will do what I can to preserve and protect what we have. It shouldn't be something that we're forced to do with heavy fines. It should be something we do because we realize that it will be cheaper in the long run and benefit us all. We need to stop being short sighted quick profit beings and take stock in what we have. This will take the effort of all of us because there are 330 million of us here in the U.S. and you'd be astounded at what we throw away in any given day and just how much energy we waste. Time to rething indeed.

Friday beaver and reminder

Saturday is lights out around the world. In order to save a few watts and a few bucks from 8:30pm to 9:30pm the world will be turning out the lights. Thought I might use a couple of these glow in the dark cats to find my way to the bathroom.

Cover up of soldiers illnesses

Update: Photo above of the burn pit

By Nora Eisenberg (AlterNet)
Six years into the war, many U.S. bases in Iraq are still without incinerators, leaving open pits spewing toxic plumes over soldiers and civilians.
Acetaldehyde, Acrolien, Arsenic, Benzene, Carbon Monoxide, Ethylbenzene, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen Cyanide, Hydrogen Fluoride, Phosgene, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfuric Acid, Toluene, Trichloroethane, Xylene. These are just some of the chemicals detected in smoke from the Balad Burn Pit, one of the many vast open pits spewing toxic plumes over Iraq and Afghanistan.
But not to worry; In “Just the Facts,” an information sheet for troops, the Department of Defense has stated that “the potential short- and long-term risks” from Balad “were estimated to be low.” The VA has just announced it will monitor reports of veterans' pit-related illness. But the DoD has yet to declassify old air sample reports or issue current findings.
The Pentagon’s fact sheet appeared after VAWatchdog.com linked to a memo showing that, as early as 2006, the DoD had known that the pit was “an acute health hazard.” In the memo, titled “Burn Pit Health Hazards,” Air Force Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander Darrin Curtis wrote to authorities that he found it “amazing that the burn pit has been able to operate without restrictions over the past few years without significant engineering controls being put in place.” In an accompanying memo, James R. Elliott, Chief of Air Force Aeromedical Services, concurred that the pit’s fumes contained “known carcinogens” and “respiratory sensitizers” that posed a “chronic and acute health hazard to our troops and the local population.
” The rest of the article

I haven't worked with all of these chemicals and toxins but I can give you a brief rundown of most of them. I'll be keeping track of this situation.

Don't know the first two. Arsenic is a poison used to kill rats. It was also used as a wood preservative in the U.S. on things like power poles, fence posts and at one time spread under homes to prevent insects and rodents. Health effects central nervous system damage.
Benzene is a component of gasoline
Carbon monoxide we all know what that is. Poisoning causes the binding to blood cells making oxygen adsorbtion impossible in the body at high enough levels causes death.
Ethylbenzene another component of gasoline causing breathing problems.
Formaldehyde we all know of that from the FEMA trailers - again headaches and breathing problems.
Hydrogen Cyanide another chemical from burning - central nervous system damage.
Hydrogen Fluoride highly corrosive - lung damage.
Phosgene used as a gas weapon against an enemy causing blindness and lung damage.
Sulfur Dioxide when breathed in mixes with moisture in the lungs to cause sulfuric acid and you know what that does.
Sulfuric Acid highly corrosive to skin eyes nose and mouth and of course lungs.
Toluene another component of gasoline A know cancer causing agent.
Trichloroethane not formiliar with this.
Xylene corrosive chemical also part of gasoline used as paint stripper also cancer causing.

Now I can only imagine what they would burn in these pits. It could be anything from human waste to plastics to body parts, but if they didn't use a respirator and I'm almost certain they didn't because I know how the military works, then our guys are going to come home in a world of hurt.
And her's a little piece of advice for you. The next time you're pumping gas try standing upwind from the fumes or at least turn your head because you're breathing about half of this crap listed above in concentrated form especially on a hot day.

Keep your drums upright

Headlines

The mess continues and Obama is trying his best to get things back on tract. Now I'm hearing ads on CNN saying that the AIG bonuses are Obama's fault. FACT CHECK GUYS: The contract to give bonuses was put in place last September under Bush. Bush and the republicans put no strings on the AIG bail out. Obama hadn't even been elected yet. This was a contract that the Obama administration had no power to break or approve. This was a public company not a government agency. One of the AIG execs just resigned today saying he'll give the money to charity. How about giving it back to the taxpayers where it belongs and no tax write off for that donation?
AIG exec almost doing the right thing

Harry Reid is trying to put together a health care plan for America. Much to the distain of the republicans (surprise surprise) with a proceedural manouver that would prevent fillibuster from republicans. My question: Why would anyone want to block a bill that would once and for all put an end to the high medical costs we now pay (the highest in the world by the way)? This benefits employers as well as employees by taking a large headache of company accounting and insuring that all Americans have coverage. At present some 50 million are without coverage. Myself included.

More later

Bailing out banks

I think we the U.S. taxpayers should demand that the banks get the exact same treatment we get when we apply for a loan. A little taste of their own medicine just might make them rethink their policies. First before they get one nickle they must fill out a lengthy form stating all their income and expenses just as we must. And since they have made the financial mistakes and destroyed their credit rating over the last couple of years we'll have to charge them the highest rates for their loan. This isn't the worst example I could find but it should do. And since they are a high risk we'll have to charge the default rate of 29.99%. They should be more than appreciative that we didn't charge Pay Day loan rates which multiply weekly. If they don't like these rates they can just shop around. Maybe another country would make them an offer but I kind of doubt it seeing the damage they've done to other countries.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR) For Purchases
0.0% until the last day of the billing period ending during April 2010;* then the standard APR, a rate between 10.99% variable and 18.99% variable
Other APRs
Balance Transfers:
Offer A : 0.0% until the last day of the billing period ending during April 2010;* then the standard APR for purchases
Cash Advances: 23.99%
Default Rate: Up to 29.99%*
Variable Rate Information
The standard purchase APR may vary monthly and equals the Prime Rate plus an amount between 7.74% and 15.74%.†
For billing periods ending after May 1, 2009, the default APR may vary monthly and equals the Prime Rate + up to 27.99%, but such rate will never exceed 29.99%.
Grace Period for Repayment of the Balance of Purchases
At least 25 days when you pay your balance in full each month
Method of Computing the Balance for Purchases
Average Daily Balance (including new purchases)
Foreign Currency Transaction Fee
None for billing periods ending on or before May 1, 2009; 2% of the U.S. dollar amount of each purchase made in a foreign currency for billing periods ending after May 1, 2009.
Annual Fee
$0.00
Minimum Finance Charge
$0.50
Other Fees
BALANCE TRANSFER TRANSACTION FEES:
OFFER A : 3.0% for each balance transfer made under this offer, with a minimum of $0.
CASH ADVANCE TRANSACTION FEE: 3% for each cash advance, with a minimum of $5 and no maximum. LATE FEE: $19 on balances up to $250 and $39 on balances over $250. OVERLIMIT FEE: $15 on balances up to $500, and $39 on balances over $500.

Here's some scary stats

For the last couple of years I've been following these financial gurus (I hate using that term with these guys since they have been spot on about the economy unlike what we're heard on the boob tube). Invictus, Bondad and the not so technical Monkeyfister have given me a better insite into the markets than any financial cheerleaders from CNBC or even Bloomberg. While the TV talking heads were touting how we wouldn't see a recession or if we did it would be a mild and short lived event, my guys via Blah3 were telling us to find a mountain to hide under. While Cramer (Mr. pump and dump) was telling us to buy buy buy (insert your own sound effects) the Blah three guys were saying sell sell sell and find safer ground for your nest egg. So while those of the upper crust were loosing their life savings to clowns like Bernie Madeoff (I call him that because he sure did made off with the money) a bunch of us little guys have our funds stashed in safe places. That is unless the whole system goes down in which case we're all screwed.
With the above introduction Invictus (hat tip to him) gave the charts below for your consideration via the Fed:






Sad to report that things will not get better no matter what the cheerleaders of CNBC want you to believe. The firings will continue until like the bumblers that they are realize that they've shot themselves in the foot. That they have fired their own customer base and no one will be running to their doors to buy products they really don't need unless it's food. Even the wealthy are lowering themselves to poking their heads into WalMart.
So where does all this info leave the average guy? After reading most of the stimilus bill I'd say there"ll be a slight uptick in the economy by mid July followed by more bad news until spring of 2010 at the very earliest. But as anyone knows a lot can happen between now and then.

Until then keep your drums upright.

Spring beaver

The friday beaver is late again but then so is spring. Would have posted more but something ran through me the other day. Wonder if it wasn't food poisoning of some type. Thought my internal organs were coming out in the process.

Looks like this is going to be a late planting season. We're still getting freezes here in the early morning. Guess I'll pick up some seeds and potting soil today before the good stuff is all gone. That's the good thing around here. Everybody waits until the last minute to do anything.

The reversal of Voodoo Economics

The Fed today is pumping money into the economy with the purchase of long term treasuries. This is the direct opposite of what Bush did. Bush the senior criticised Reagan for his voodoo economics. Jr. Bush played an economic card that defies logic. He spent nearly $2 trillion while cutting taxes. A monkey could have figured that that was wrong way to go. Increase your spending while cutting income (taxes) is a reciepe for disaster. Add to that the total elimination of rules governing Wall Street and the perfect storm was set in motion. I'm sure George had hoped his little scheme would lasted just a bit longer at least until the second quarter of this year so he could sit back smirking and blame it all on Obama. But no George was busy giving away billions of borrowed money to banker friends. Nothing like feathering your nest before making that final exit. Only glad that he wasn't in office to finish off destroying the Medicare system and then robbing the retirees of their last scrap of pension. And you know he would have done it given the chance. How's that doughnut hole drug plan working for you guys? What will it be this month heat,food, or medication? Decisions decisions...

In other news I hear Bush is going to write a book. That is right after they give him the consrtuction paper and crayons.
I thought about buying a copy. Yeah I thought I could use it as a door stop but it's probably too thin to stop the door.

I hear there's a couple of Democrats that are banding together to try and block anymore spending plans by siding with the rethuglicans. Not a good idea boys. You block the plan to get this country back on track and you'll find yourselves run out of office like we did the last time around. Here's a suggestion guys, read up on what FDR did to get out of the depression. In 1930s dollars I'm sure what we've spent has been far less. Oh and here's another bit of trivia. FDR in 1938 listened to some of his advisors (republicans) and cut spending. The economy then started to tank. WWII and the spending that went with it kept that recovery going and by the mid 50s the economy was back.

Psychotic news and other merry maladies

In hitting the headlines this morning have you noticed the change. I'm talking about something I've noticed creeping into the news media for about the last year or so. One headline/article says we're doing well while three headlines down the page it says everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Case at point Ed Liddy the head of AIG. The first article says he is "disgruntled" about the bonuses as if he sides with the American people. The next article says he's defending them (bonuses). My question to him would be: How can you give a retention bonus to somebody who's leaving? Contract or not even baseball players would not get a retention bonus IF THEY DIDN'T STAY TO PLAY. Retention means just that to remain to stay to continue.
Some say we should just let the whole company go down the tubes. Let em fail. No that wouldn't be a good idea. First off because we have $170 billion invested in this mess and secondly if you owned an old say Pontiac that was ready for the scrap yard you'd definitely pull the radio, speakers, and that new battery you just bought before calling the junkman. As for AIG we could break it up. Slap different names on the pieces then put them out on the card table on the front lawn with a 25B sticker on them. Or "as is make offer".

Read an article the other day that just defies any sense of ethics or fair play. Banks are starting to lower their credit limits. You might not think this was such a bad idea and I would agree to a certain extent. Unless you're a business you have no need for a credit card with a $20,000 limit. But what the banks are doing is lowering the credit line to below the current balance, You have a $1500 balance and the bank lowers it to $1000 therby putting you in default and charging over the limit fees. I'm beginning to think loan sharks are kinder people than these guys. I guess when these bankers loose their jobs they go directly to the nearest payday loan office and are hired immediately.

Just thinking

With $170 billion invested in AIG we (the American people) own the company. We own 80%. If we are the owners of the company doesn't that give us the right to terminate the contracts of the CEOs and other "top" management. I'm sure they might have golden parachutes but why let these criminals steal any more by taking yet more of our money to line their pockets. We could use another approach. That would be to split the company into parts and let the weak elements fail. That's the way other big companies get out of difficult situations. By doing that the bad guys don't win. They don't get bonuses.
Oh and here's some other great news if you didn't catch it. We the taxpayers paid for this bail out twice. Goldman Sachs we bailed out once before then AIG gives them $12 billion.
I also wonder if we ever got back the $10 billion we lent to the airlines right after 9-11. I'll bet not.

More later

Update: My blog buddy Crum informs me that yes indeed the airlines did payback their loan and the taxpayers did profit. Now let's see if the banks and AIG can follow suit.
From Propublica:
The Chrysler and airline bailout plans had a commonality: stock warrants. A provision inserted into the ATSS Act, which allowed the Treasury to purchase stock at below-market prices from any airline receiving a loan guarantee, allowed the Treasury to earn money. Reports varied on the total net profit, ranging from $141.7 million to $327 million. The loan guarantee program suffered one loss of about $23.2 million when ATA Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection.

Time for reeducation?

A Calif. Republican Rep. Joel Anderson wants to have google earth block images of possible terror targets. Somebody want to tell this idiot that the horse is already out of the barn? In fact it's been out of the barn for five years now. Google Earth was out as a preview version in 2004. You could download photos of any major city anywhere in the world. I have somewhere in my collection of info an entire map of Bagdad. I wanted to see just how big the place was and what it looked like and let me tell you the city is huge. Sorry Joel if there was the dumbest lawmaker award you'd get it. D'OH



View Larger Map

Maybe the senator would like to ban all the maps of the U.S. A google search reveals 134 million of them.

It's Friday beaver time

Looks like they're getting this one ready for the spring season. I didn't know they got that big. This one pulled from the East river was four feet long and weighed 40lbs!

Triskaidekaphobia?

Huh? For those of you without a linguistics degree or too lazy to look it up that's merely the fear of the number 13. As tomorrow is Friday the 13. Hey didn't we just have one of those the other month? Yep and we've got one more again in November. Am I one of those fearful 13 fraddycats? No. I have a brother who was born on Friday the 13th in hospital room 1313 and according to mom she had 13 cents in her purse at the time.

The other week was no cussing week in LA county. Profanity has become strange of late. I've always considered profanity to be like hot spices of language. A little bit goes a long way. Too much and the "dish" gets ruined. Also there has been so many loopholes to saying the exact same things. Let's take Carlins seven dirty words as an example.

Sh** = poop,ka ka,doody,dump,defication and feces
Pi** = urinate,tinkle,pee,water
F*** = fornicate,intercourse,ball (not to forget)friggin,bloody and flaming
C*** = vagina,hole,hoo hoo,taco
Coc****** Can't think of a good one for that it seems to be fading from the language.
Mother****** = Not much there either unless you'd say mom pleaser. I'm you're Dad son that's my job I'm a MF. Unless of course you're a giggilo or adulterer.
T*** = bossums,rack,jugs, balloons

Then there's the little profanities that are loosing their meaning and punch because they've been over used. Son of a bitch is the male offspring of a female dog. Hey wouldn't that be a male puppy? How cute. Hell and damn was one mom used and I'd always reply "I don't know the woman".
I wonder why A-hole didn't make the list? That's a fairly derrogatory expression. An ass a small donkey type animal. Hey I may be an ass but don't they work for a living? I don't see penus on the list either. Now how can you have vagina and not penus? That's discrimination I tell you.
There's much more but that seems to be relegated to the far recesses of this old brain and best left there.

Keep your drums upright people.

Random Thursday

Hat tip to watertiger

Checked all the job websites for any possibilities of work. Nothing there. It used to be you could rely on telephone selecitor or topless dancer. The Do not Call list took care of the first and I'd only qualify for one of the three ugly ones at the dance pole. I don't dance anymore since the demo work took it's toll. You wouldn't want to picture me in a thong anyway.
One web site recommended networking to find work. I tried that last year when things were better. Everybody I talked to was in the same boat. Only working a day or two here and there. Some hadn't worked in six weeks while others six months.
In looking at the stimusus bill I saw that things won't even begin until after July 1. All I can say is they sure did this thing backwards. They bailed out the banks first. Big mistake. They should have bailed us out first then we could have bailed out the banks by spending, saving and paying taxes. As it stands now all they are doing is encouraging unemployment. As I've said before you can keep your check and put me to work before my arteries totally harden and I'll be no good to anyone.

Housing market has a dirty little secret. This from the AP:

While the number of foreclosures continue to soar nationwide, banks have held off listing properties for sale, Sharga said. There were around 700,000 such properties nationwide at the end of last year, making up a "shadow inventory" of unsold homes that could drag the housing crisis out even longer.

Of course you know why they're holding off listing these houses. It would kill their bottom line even more and cause prices to fall even more. Wonder if they'll start tearing those houses down like they did in the depression. Oh that's right this is a depression and they will tear them down.




Here's something that should scare you. The FDIC does not have enough money to cover losses. They tried to raise the premiums for the insurance that banks pay. The banks whined and now the money will come in the form of loans. Hummm doesn't that sound like an IOU to you? This entire system is looking more and more like a Ponzi scheme

Hey anybody got an idea?

McCain trying to prepare "Contract against America" economic plan... again.

They ( republican party) are looking for ideas to present as a defense against the Democratic plan to get this country moving again. I remember when they unveiled that moronic plan many years back. It stunk then and anything they'll come up with now will stink as well. This time the patient is on life support because of their bumbling and there are no last minute magic solutions. Sorry guys Gregory House is not going to come rushing in at the last ten minutes of this show with that " give the patient a double dose of antibiotics and he'll be fine by lunch" routine. Or in your case it would be " empty the guys wallet, max out his credit cards and give it all to Cuddy. We'll divide the spoils amongst ourselves later."

So since Obama is busy undoing your screwups of the last twenty plus years, what could you possibly offer us as a viable solution? Tax cuts for the top 1% just aren't going to fly. And at some point we're going to have to pay for the mess you left. Here's a novel idea. How about the ones who made the mess get to pay for cleaning it up? Let's undo the last four Bush tax cuts to the wealthy.

Birds of a feather or should I call this history repeats itself?

Mugabe
Refugee camps
Bush


Homeless camps

Chinese navy getting bored

It's a bad situation when some Chinese navy ships have nothing better to do than go after a contracted U.S. Navy ship. Geez I didn't know the military subcontracted ships as well.Mooning an adversary?
Back in the 60s our military used to drop marbles on Russian subs that they followed near the U.S. coast just to let them know that we knew they were there. Maybe we could go to a time of using pies and water ballons. Cream pies at 25 feet. You know you'll see this in the next comedy movie.

March has come in like a lion. It's snowing here. Not sticking much but still too cold for my tastes.

Picked up a part for my dishwasher door last week. The door spring broke (it is 30 years old). Went to the appliance store showed the guy the old part and he said follow me. We went around back where he had a bunch that were headed to recycle and pulled a spring off an old machine. I asked what I owned him and he said it's on the house. When I replace that machine you'll know I'll be back there if they give a fair price. Getting the newer spring in was no picnic. I didn't want to pull the whole machine out so there was about an inch and a half space to work (yea and I do have small hands). After figuring out exactly how it went in it flipped off the first time but seated nicely the second.

Not much else going on right now. Keep your drum upright.

Beaver Friday's back

Back from their winter hiatus the friday beaver is back. How else can you get cheap web traffic? It's much better than screeming murder rape sex drugs and rock and roll in the heading.

Mixed bag

Oil - I see the speculators are coming back into the markets as oil is at over $43. It's been said that there's no gouging going on. I say bull. There so much oil out there that we're swimming in it and the price isn't going down? Give me a break. They're taking old oil tankers and using them to store oil until the price goes up. Isn't that called hoarding?
More people are backing out of Obama nominations. Can you blame them? Looking at this mess I'm sure it's going to take 16 hour days to turn things around. Then there's all theose guys who still need to do their taxes.
The obstructionist (er republican) party has stalled the spending bill and a temporary bill to keep things going was passed. I wonder if they wanted to sneak more pork in it for the red states before a final vote comes next week.
Health care - That's another mess. We spend $2 trillion per year on it as a nation. That cost will go up as the population ages and more of us hit retirement. Which brings us to the 800 lb. gorilla that nobody wants to talk about social security. The peak for baby boomers will be between 2016 to 2020. After that things only get worse. There was a point where 5 workers were paying into the fund (actually it went into the general fund and was never set aside) for every retired worker. By 2016 it will be down to 2 to 1 or less. This was a Ponzi scheme that lasted for what 70 years? It might have worked if they had kept the original concept of providing a small supplimental income to help in retirement. It was never ment to be the only source of retirement funds. Problems came when it was expanded to include extensive disability payments and dependent payments. At this point I'd be glad just to get out of it what I paid into it with a little interest. I think the last I checked my statement I'm worth more dead than I am alive. I wonder if they still give a $255 death benefit? Just about enough to put me in a body bag and cart me out to the dumpster.

Bubbles

Just thinking about bubbles no not the ones you blew as a kid with a small plastic hoop dipped in the bottle but the ones that keep being blown as part of our economy. We're just hell bent on blowing more. Maybe that is just human nature. We think of a whiz bang idea to make money and we run with it and run with it. Until like the merathon runner we run out of steam and the idea goes beyond the breaking point. And those at the beginning who were smart enough to head to the showers before the pop make off with grand prize without even crossing the finish line.
We've had a bunch of bubbles before. The industrial revolution was one bubble where machines turned out products faster than ever before. There was the railroad bubble. That started around the Civil War with thousands of men laying tracks to every major city. Now it's done by a couple of guys and one machine. Then there was the airline bubble. That started just after WWII. I think it was Pan Am that was one of the first.A buch followed but things changed with deregulation and they are slowly merging into a handful. Anyone remember Eastern, TWA, or Allegheny?
There was the Dot Com bubble. I have to laugh at some of the ideas that were promoted during that wild west show. Let's take a totally unsubstainable business model and try to make it work on the internet. Again the guys who got in and sold out half way though did quite well for themselves. You may still remember the sock puppet from Pets.com or the orange guy from Homegrocer.com. I remember seeing one of the delivery vans and thinking how they won't be around long.
Now we come to our next bubble. I'll skip the housing bubble and move forward to the next. Energy or specifically oil will be the next one. Mark my words please. As we all know oil is finite. There's only so much in the ground and at some point the supplies will run out. They think that we are at peak right now. That is we're beyond the halfway point in our consumption. So what happens? First everything starts to slow down transportationwise. Then rationing followed by desperation. Then we get smart and get serious about using our noodles to solve the problem. That will create the next bubble but not until oil has hit new highs and a crisis is near. The oil bubble will pop and the cycle will start again.

The Disaster Continues

Saw the headlines on the financial pages. Worst job losses in 60 years. As I look out my front window and see at least 12 cars in the neighborhood parked. They're usually gone well before 7 am. I know a bunch of us work in fields tied to construction either directly like myself or indirectly in fields related to construction. Some are in tech that are having their hours reduced. It's now become common to go to the four day week. Some only working three. In checking the business section it looks like 630K lost their jobs last month.
The thing that really irks me is still the attitude of the republicans. They're still clinging to that tired belief that tax cuts will get us out of this. Hey whiz kids! One hundred percent of nothing is still nothing. I guess they like to just ignore history. That's good because if they didn't read what happened to their party during FDR's term in office they are about to be bitched slapped in the next congressional election. If they are too stupid to see what's coming then so be it. All they need is one of those town hall meetings with most of the audience out of work. They can tout their Joe the Out of Work plumber and their milf from Mooseland all they want but even the dumbest amongst us shouldn't fall for that balogna.
So here we all sit waiting and hoping and wondering how long this mess will last. I know things aren't going to get better soon but the waiting is sure depressing. Maybe that's why they call it a depression. So to all out there who have jobs I say get to work. It's your tax dollars that are paying my unemployment right now as well as for those corporate jets and junkets. I'd be more than happy to join you in this fool's errand if only the jobs hadn't dried up last year. Enjoy your paychecks while you have them because I'm almost certain you'll be joining us in the near future.