Life of Steve

The US Government is going to Nationalize the US Auto Industry- Dec 10, 2008 Reprise

Orginally posted Dec 10, 2008. Seems worth posting again in light of the Official Government takeover of General Motors this week via "Bankruptcy" (Yes. I really did put quotes around it.)

You are hearing the prediction here first. The only entity that can overpay workers on an ongoing basis without any regard for the basic laws of economics is the Federal Government. The UAW Union workers are the highest paid manufacturing workers in the country by a considerable margin and the private US Automotive companies soon will not be able to afford to continue to do business (bailout or no bailout) if this does not change.

Despite the fact that over 61% of the American people oppose this bailout action the Congress and the White House are going to go ahead anyways (Public be damned. So much for a government that actually represents the will of the people!)How insanely funny it is to hear the same bozos who can never balance a budget or reduce the national debt to lecture Auto CEOs about bad financial management! Hello. Pot. Kettle, GET IT?

The politics will trump good judgment yet again. The only way to have Union workers to be paid completely out of line with the reality of cash flows, profits, or any other type of private business reality is for the industry to no longer be private. You can name any bad or well intentioned reason you want but we are in a new age. The favorite industries of politicians will survive and the others will be punished or taxed to pay subsidies to the favorites. The same politicians who blame deregulation and are the ones who arranged the existence of the Sub-Prime Housing disaster (Thank you Barney Frank!) are the ones who will use the public funds to buy up the private enterprises and the government will dictate what is produced, how it is produced, which cronies are in charge (Czars) etc.

I'll miss free enterprise, respect for private property, and capitalism. Maybe it will come back some day after the entire economy fails ala  The Soviet Union of the previous century.

The Government is acting like an abusive Pimp toward Private Enterprises

I was thinking about the actions taken by the government in both the Financial and Automotive Sectors (so far!) and realized that they resemble an Abusive Pimp.

First they start out by giving out some gifts to the girls (Banks.) Some of those girls like AIG gave them gifts first when they realized who would be in power. The gifts in this case are the contributions that AIG made to Chris Dodd and Obama. The bribes must have paid off due to the extremely large taxpayer funded bailouts that these companies received. Of course this pimp has many girls and passed gifts around even to the girls who didn't have financial problems as a means to control them. You took my money now you owe me.

So for a while both the girls and the pimps are somewhat happy. Then a couple of the girls spend some money on things that makes the pimp very unhappy. Remember, now that the pimp gave out the gifts he owns the girls. So the pimp goes over to the girls' houses, steals back some of the money, threatens to publicly humiliate them, and threatens to pass along the names of their family members to people who have threatened violence against them and their families. (This all happened with the AIG Execs. We had Senators call for them to commit suicide and threatened to release the names of their families so that the public could threaten them with violence. In addition, the government officials who happily accepted the money from these companies turned on them at the first sign of populist outrage.)

The other girls who never needed the money in the first place observe this happening and realize they just don't want to have anything to do with this pimp (Government). They have learned that being involved with this sort of devil will result in all sorts of bad things happening to you. Similar in nature to borrowing money from the Mob. Now they own you and can make all sorts of bad things happen to you and your family. So other girls (like Goldman Sachs) who might have not really needed the money are going to return it and don't want anything to do with a pimp (Government) that is going to control and destroy them if they do anything that is not popular at the moment.

After this AIG debacle private enterprises have learned some lessons about how the current regime is going to act. Taxpayer dollars will be forced upon them in order to buy control of the weaker companies. Once that money is accepted then the business will be subject to any whim of the powerful people of the regime. Then every and any action by those companies will be subject to scrutiny and control by the government. The smart and talented people will quickly realize that they and the company cannot financially succeed in an environment whose goal is not pleasing the customer but pleasing the regime. The only logical action will be for them to quit and try to find another place to work where success is still possible. Those companies that are in this situation will never be profitable again but can hang around as zombie companies as long as they are connected to the taxpayer bailout life support machine. Once the regime realizes that smart people will merely quit rather than work in an environment that the government has made success impossible they will need to be able to control other firms as well (This is the power that the Treasury Sec. is looking to get from the Congress right now.) Once that control is granted then private property rights will completely vanish. There won't be a choice of not dealing with the government. They will already control everything.

It's really hard to see a happy ending to this. My hope is that one of the parties (Republican or Democrat) will remember that they are supposed to protect the freedoms of the American People and that a government controlling the entire economy and controlling any/all actions of the people is the polar opposite of what this country was founded on. My fear is that these parties will not give back the freedom they are so rapidly taking from us and another force will be what is required to liberate America.

Could you also please stop BS'ing me? If you can fire the CEO (GM) that means you effectively have the power and control over the company. Stop telling us you don't want control when you already clearly have complete control.

Can't they find someone who didn't cheat on their taxes?

Am I the only one who pays taxes? I think I am starting to understand why politicians don't worry about what taxpayer money they spend or how much they loot the paychecks with tax increases on working/producing Americans. They all cheat and don't pay their taxes.

So far we have the following who cheated on their taxes that recently came to light:

-Obama's confirmed choice for Treasury Sec. (The jokes just write themselves folks!)
-Obama's choice for Health and Human Services Sec. (Would run Medicare but didn't pay Medicare taxes. Wakka Wakka!)
-Obama's Candidate for Performance Czar (Whatever the hell a Performance Czar is. Didn't pay taxes for household help.) Withdrew herself once this was revealed.

This doesn't even include the people who withdrew in advance since they already knew they had similar type scandals just waiting to be uncovered. (Richardson and Kennedy I'm talking about you.)

In addition, I really don't need to hear any comments about how "both sides are corrupt." That argument is just like the one used by a kid in second grade who says "But! 3 other kids cheated on the test too!" Doesn't make it right and I will call them out too.

They wonder why so many disapprove of and don't trust government. It continues to amaze me how these people are simply above the law and don't live by the rules they set for the rest of us. How about proving me wrong and stop rewarding the cheats and liars Obama? That would be some change I could believe in.

The Government and the Candidates are getting it wrong on the Housing Crisis

WARNING: Level 10 Rant about to commence!

It would appear that unless you have a job, documentation of income, a good credit history, and some of your own money to put up as a down payment that without government intervention you might not be able to get a mortgage you can't afford or will pay back any more.

Wait? Isn't that the way it SHOULD be? Isn't think how the banks got in trouble?

Oh but it was the greedy bankers and mortgage lenders, Right? Only if greed didn't exist as a human emotion prior to 1995. These mortgage products didn't exist until the government forced the banks to take loans from people without stated income, jobs, poor credit history and no cash of their own to put at risk as a down payment. Uncle Sam decreed that mortgages should be given to people regardless of their ability to pay it back to achieve an artificial level of homeownership to make political and financial gains (In the form of lobbyist $ from quasi-government entities like Freddie Mac.)

Government interference in the mortgage is the primary cause of this problem. Back in the Pre-Boom days a regular mortgage (conforming) had less than a 1% change of default (And this even includes the Jimmy Carter 70's when the interest rates were in double digits and the economy was terrible!) The new products have a default at about 10x that level. This is why prior to government decree the sub-prime mortgage products DIDN'T EXIST. They didn't make any business sense to exist unless they are backed by something else (The Government.)

The problem isn't that these mortgages are defaulting (Of course the chances of default were very high with such a high level of risk and large $ liabilities) the problem is that they ever existed in the first place.

Am I the one who is crazy for thinking that if you can't afford something you shouldn't buy it? Is it crazy to have steam coming out of my ears for hearing that certain presidential candidates I won't name want to adjust or pay down loans for people who were too irresponsible to buy a house they could afford? Did the real estate agent put a gun to their head and make them buy the house? Did the banker strap them to a chair and force them to sign the loan paperwork? Is it really too much to ask to hold people accountable for their own bad judgement? Is it wrong for the people who bought a house within their means and were responsible about their debt to be hopping mad about proposals to give their hard earned tax dollars to people who either speculated on housing prices or simply bought a house with no intention of being able to pay for it? If you don't make your car payments they repossess your car. If you don't pay your mortgage they take your house. What is wrong with that? You aren't suppose to get to have or keep things you didn't pay for. That's the way it works.

I realize that there may be cases where there was fraud involved.  Fraud in this case means fraud by a mortgage broker about switching a mortgage  vs. fraud by the person requesting the loan by lying about their income. By all means, if there is fraud they should be proscecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Sadly, it has become the nature of people/corporations/states/etc to expect handouts from the government. The sin involved is envy not greed. The reason it is envy is because in the real world some people are successful and some people are less successful. The rationale is that it is ok to use tax dollars to give people who were irresponsible mortgage help to keep them in the houses they  were never able to afford or bothered to pay the mortgage on because that money comes from the 60% of people who paid the taxes who are successful enough to be able to earn a living and pay their bills. The reasons are not important. They have it, I envy it, the government should transfer it to me from them. Class Envy and Class warfare pure and simple. It's a redistribution of the wealth at the point of a gun (just try not paying your taxes and they will come with the guns to take you away) and it is a great moral failure.

It's not ok. We need to send a message loud and clear that it is government that is the problem. We need to let them know that we want real reform and not just a shell game that moves the taxpayer money around to bribe the right groups of people at the right times to get elected.  Stop and reverse the government takeover of the mortgage market and the entire financial industry as a whole. Allow the credit markets to function as they should. Lenders lending responsibility based on acceptable risk levels. It's the only way to resolve this problem over the long term. Banks unable to manage their risks must fail or risk will simply cease to have any meaning (and failure will not mean anything either)

I haven't seen anyone within our government with the power to make this happen decide to do this. The corruption is too great and they are bought off at this point. Sadly it really won't matter who is President as far as this goes. Short of a flat tax or Amendment to contain spending (perhaps both) I don't see the government allowing capitalism to function or to turn off the road to socialism that we are now on. McCain and Obama both don't get it. They are both wrong. If you are looking for the right solution from these two look elsewhere.

Mocking Dumb Political Polls

Read two pretty silly polls lately.

Most prefer Obama to watch a football game with:
-First of all, I thought he played basketball.
-Second of all, I voted yes to this one too because I thought it meant I had the choice to either a) Watch a football game with Obama or b) Have him be The President

Parents prefer Obama over McCain as Childs Teacher:
-Of course Obama. I agree. McCain can't lift his arms or type. How is he going to smack the ruler over the kids knuckles with his POW injuries? (Like the Nuns did) I want the scary, in shape, tall, (I didn't say Black. Not allowed to mention that I know that! I deny it! Is he really black? You don't say? I never knew!) not-white guy over McCain too. Not sure how this child teacher criteria has anything to do with being President though. Clinton was President but I wouldn't want HIM teaching my daughter anything! Not even the "Obama's Sex Ed for Kindergarten" course!

We need a couple more polls though. How about these ones:

"Who would you prefer to shovel your driveway?"
"Who would you prefer to lead an Aerobics Class at your Gym"
"Who would you prefer to go shopping with at the High End Mall?" (Darn suspicious clerks!)
"Who would you prefer to 'Organize' your Neighborhood?" (What does this mean? Midnight Basketball? Or just stumping for Democrat Votes from Homeless People with gifts of booze bottles?)
"Who would you prefer to coach your child's hockey team?"
"Who would you prefer to deal with an annoying neighbor who is damaging your property?" (Is Samuel L Jackson a choice for the neighbor role?)

"Who would your prefer your daughter take to the Prom?" (Creepy I know)

Is Obama really polling so badly on actual issues/topics of importance that these are the ones the media is releasing? I have to wonder.

Is it because this Election has been going on since I was in Grammar School and they ran out of polling questions and analysis? For Example: "You know it's really fasinating when you consider which person voters would rather have with them in a Bar Fight because of the proven qualities of wielding a broken bottle at a Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

Pondering a Consumer Jihad aganist Dish Network

I currently have Dish Network as my Satellite TV Provider. We are signed up for the premium channels, High Definition, and also the premium maintenance services (we pay extra for this.) In the past years I have had very excellent service from Dish Network. However, more recently I have had lots of trouble with the service working at all and then getting support in a timely and effective manner when I have needed it.

About a month ago we lost our satellite signal. No TV at all. Nothing. So I went through my normal routine to call Dish and do some troubleshooting over the phone. After about an hour we still weren't any closer to fixing the problem so they recommended that they would need to schedule a tech to come out to my house to fix the problem. In addition, I would need to pay an additional fee. This didn't make me very happy since the it's their equipment that is not working and I also already pay an additional fee every month to cover exactly the type of issue I was dealing with. So I told them to go ahead and send a tech out ASAP. Then they told me that they couldn't get a tech out in the next 8 DAYS! In addition, they said that I might want to call someone else to fix the problem who didn't work for Dish Network directly who might be able to fix the problem sooner (passing the buck.) Of course if I did that I would have to pay even MORE MONEY to get the problem fixed since they wouldn't honor the Dish Network maint. plan I pay extra for every month. So I reminded them that I pay in the triple digits for this service every month and that I was very unhappy about paying for service that they don't have working.

8 Days later the tech comes out and replaces a cable which supposedly was worn out and then my one TV started to work again. Unfortunately since I was working in my home office at the time I didn't test the second TV we connected to Dish Network. A couple days later my wife notices that now the second TV doesn't appear to be connected. So I go back down the same path with Dish again. Hour on the phone. Send out a tech. Tech can't get out for over a week. Blah blah blah. So maybe I am near the end of this nightmare right? (I think you know the answer)

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. My Dish tech is scheduled to arrive between 12-5PM. 3:10PM my phone rings and Dish tells me that the tech just finished up a job and would arrive in about 20 minutes. I say ok and go back to what I was doing. 3:30PM passes. 4:00PM passes. 4:30 passes. 5PM Passes. 5:01PM I call dish and ask what happened. They tell me that he just finished a job and would arrive in 20 minutes (I feel like I am being lied to by the airlines with delays every 20 minutes by this point) and I grumble ok since I need to cook dinner, cut the grass, pack for vacation, etc. My wife comes home, we cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up after dinner. The phone rings again, It's dish. By this point I decide to let my wife scream at them on the phone with all this terrible service, etc and she tells them to just reschedule this for after our vacation (week of Sep 15) since we have been waiting and we need to do other things. In addition, she tells them that we are moving in a couple months and are seriously considering dropping Dish Network due to the extremely poor service. Now I don't have to worry about this until after I get back from my vacation, Right? (I think you know the answer again)

7PM The dish network tech arrives (after we told them we didn't want him to come tonight.) I am in the backyard breaking my lawn tractor when my wife comes down and tells me the tech is here and she will explain later. It appears she told him that if he wanted to he could go home (since it was very late) but if he wanted to try to fix it that was ok too. So long story short, he found out that the wiring was screwed up off the dish to the second TV (as a result of the work of the first tech that I had to pay for) and he replaced some wiring stuff.Then the TV had to download some guide (which I assume completed eventually) and he left.

After such a series of sour experiences with Dish Network I seriously doubt that I want to have them as my provider after I move to my new house. I like having service and I very much dislike the hassle of the equipment failing but more importantly the unreasonably long time I have to wait for them to address a problem when one occurs. The amount I pay for TV has increased dramatically over the years while the service has seriously declined. Not the best way to treat your customers. If I wasn't moving soon I would cancel it today but it's just not worth changing this twice in 2 month. If you live in Western PA seriously consider using someone other than Dish Network.

God hates me- Hanna Track & my Vacation

Here is the projected track for Hanna.

My planned vacation has me in North Topsail Beach, NC on Saturday. My only real vacation in the last 18 months. Very badly needed. However, it would be nice not to be vacationing with a hurricane blowing my beach house (with me in it) into the ocean.

Pittsburgh weather has been sunny and warm for about the last 18 of 20 days (give or take) however the second I have time off and a trip to the beach all hell breaks loose.

Like I said. God hates me this month.

This is me in Grade 9, Baby

Aw Man I'm gonna miss "Stairway to Heaven."

Anyways, this past weekend I was doing some "Winter Cleaning" and trying to purge some items that were taking up too much home office space. I don't really feel like I am that much of a pack rat but I did feel like there were many things that I had no idea why I kept.

For example:

-Prom Pictures from my Junior and Senior Proms
-Program for a High School Musical (South Pacific) I played in the Pit Orchestra for in 1991
-Baby Slides and Senior Pictures of the NHHS Class of 1991
-Homeowners Insurance Policy for a house I no longer own.
-Cards from my Graduation Day
-Operating Instructions for a Boom Box I owned in High School that I disposed of 5 years ago.
-Paperwork notes from Consulting Job I completed in 1998
-Bank Statement from 1995
-Christmas Cards from 5 years ago.
-GMAT Results from 1996

Just to name a few. I don't know why I dragged some of these stuff around to the 3 or so states I lived in since my High School Graduation. In spite of all this I still have some old things that I can't seem to part with (My Sock Puppet.) I suppose they will bury me with the puppet on my hand. :)

Marrying for Love ... of Money Article

I read this article on the Wall Street Journal Online Labeled: "Marrying for Love ... of Money" and it made me sad.

A couple of Highlights from the Article:

-Fully two-thirds of women and half of the men said they were "very" or "extremely" willing to marry for money. (Women Marry for money. No Really?!)

-Asked how much a potential spouse would need to have to be money-marriage material, women in their 20s said $2.5 million. The going rate fell to $1.1 million for women in their 30s, and rose again to $2.2 million for women in their 40s. (This must be the Gold-Digging Inverted Curve)

-Among the women in their twenties who said they would marry for money, 71% said they expected to get divorced (Hmmm. Seems to be even worse odds of success than average. Maybe marrying for money actually DECREASES your chance of having a successful marriage!)

Here is what I think: There are lots of other ways to get money that don't involve the hassle and expense of actually getting married (If your only goal is money and that is what you love.) Try the following:

-Become a favorite of an old, sick and wealthy relative. At least you would be getting the money from your family without the all the pretense of a marriage relationship when they die.

-Play the lottery and win it. Good for a few Mil of Cash Money

-File a frivolous lawsuit with John Edwards as your Trial Lawyer. Your winnings can be in the millions and he can keep getting those $400 dollar haircuts that give him those "boyish good looks." Double Win!

And if all else fails. Get a high paying Job and make your own money. I know this might sound like work but just think! You won't even have to pretend to share any money and you won't have to have a sham marriage either!

Ho HO HO (In Christmas Context)

OK. Topping my list of "dumbest things I have heard lately" is that Australians have decided to make Santa's Laugh Hate Speech against women! That's right Santas in that country have been told to change the laugh that the IMAGINARY character has been using for centuries from "Ho Ho Ho" to "Ha Ha Ha.!"

Folks, a lot of language is dependent on context. This is stupid because the context is obvious. If you are wearing a SANTA COSTUME and saying "Ho Ho Ho" you are doing Santa's Laugh and not the slang word for women. Spare us the fake outrage over something you already know isn't demeaning in a Christmas Context and find some other lousy thing to complain about.