Top Of My Head

Today kicks off the effort to remove Scott Walker from the Governor’s office.  We could’ve saved ourselves a lot of trouble and never voted him to be Governor in the first place, but that’s another story.

So, why remove Governor Walker?

He’s done almost exactly what he said he would do.  We are now all able to carry concealed weapons in this state.  He’s limited the power of those nasty unions.  Wisconsin is now open for business.  He’s created more jobs.

Um, wait, no he hasn’t.

Now, pay attention:  Governors and Presidents do not create jobs.  Small businesses and corporations create jobs.  People purchase items, which creates demand, which creates the need for more employees, which creates jobs.  Companies are not going to hire merely because they’re sitting on millions of dollars.  Most of the large corporations and companies (I am not discussing small businesses, because I don’t have the facts about them) that had trouble are now back in the black.  A lot of corporations are showing record profits on the books.  Thanks to tax cuts, subsidies and other benefits, they aren’t paying all that much in taxes.

They’re not hiring.  Why?  Because there’s no demand there.

Now, that said, I would like to point out that unemployment rate in the state of Wisconsin was 7.4% in January, 2011 – when Scott Walker took office.  With the exception of a brief moment (April, 2011 7.3%), the unemployment rate has steadily grown to a high of 7.9% to 7.8% (September, 2011).

Walker’s campaign was about how we were going to balance the budget and create jobs.  He pounded his Wisconsin’s open for Business slogan until you wanted to choke him with it.  He hasn’t created jobs.  Unemployment has gone up and not down.

Is it fair to judge him on something I really don’t think he could do anyway?  Yes.  Yes, because job creation was his own standard.  He was opening Wisconsin for business.  He was going to create jobs.  Then, he turned away the millions for the high speed rail system and cost the state 4,000 jobs.

And, the lack of jobs isn’t my only beef with him.  He’s made our state unsafe with the concealed carry law.  Sorry, no – I don’t believe that every single person who legally obtains a weapon is sane, rational and knows how to use it.  No, I don’t think being able to carry a weapon into bars and office buildings make us all safe.  Just one example:  Charles Julius Guiteau legally obtained his weapon and he used it to shoot a president.  (That’s one example, from 130 years ago, but this discussion isn’t about concealed carry.)

Anyway, there’s only been 2 successful recalls of governors in US history – let’s make it 3.

RECALL WALKER!!!

And, while I am not affiliated with this group in any manner, here is a link to United Wisconsin’s website.  You’ll learn even more information on the recall effort and why you should support the recall.

A lot of people are complaining about their lot in life.  They drew a bad hand.  The “man” is keeping them down.  Big government is butting into their lives.

The truth is that the one person you can blame for your lot in life is you.  Yes, you heard me right.  Look in the mirror.  That person staring back at you is where the buck stops.  Yes, I realize that you can’t be blamed if you caught some disease and lost you job and home.  That isn’t your fault.  However; those people are not my target audience.  I’m not talking about those people befallen by horrible disasters beyond their control.  I’m talking about the people who like to blame everyone else for their issues.

Oh, I pay too much in taxes and that’s why I can’t get ahead.

No, no you don’t.  If you’re earning that much money that you’re in the highest tax bracket – stop complaining.  Man up, for Pete’s sake!  You’re out earning the majority of Americans, so be a little grateful that you won’t have to make the choice between eating and paying rent.

I’m underwater in my house and the government should bail me out.

No, no the government should NOT bail you out.  That’s crap.  You have a choice, continue to pay for the house and wait for the market to bounce back.  It will bounce back.  But, if you just walk away from your home and let it go – that’s total crap.  You’ve now contributed to the housing problem because now your home will lower the value of everyone else’s home.  Thanks a lot.  I understand a foreclosure if you’ve lost your job, but just walking away because you can is totally irresponsible and I’m going to punch the next person I meet who has done just that.

I can’t find a job and I’m still unemployed.

Oh, quit your whining.  There are jobs out there, you just have to lower your standards.  And, what have you been doing while you’ve been unemployed?  Have you been taking classes to update your skills?  Have you been trying out side jobs?  Have you been looking to move into a different field, perhaps one that is actually hiring?  Or, have you been sitting on your rear end blaming the world around you for your lot in life.  Yes, American Corporations should be bitched slapped for how they’re laying people off.  However; there are jobs to be had.  Take one.

I’m underemployed.  I’m too smart for this job.

Oh, please, get off your high horse and just be grateful you have a job.  Then, read the paragraph for the unemployed.  You will get nowhere in life if you don’t stick your neck out.  Working full time and going to school is tough.  Finding a work – home – school balance can be tricky, but it can be done.  I had a job that I loved and then it went away.  That was the catalyst that sent me back to the classroom and after six very long years of hard work, I managed to not only obtain my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a minor in Computer Science, but I found a good paying job to top it all off.  And, I’m not just sitting on my butt whining either.  I’m moving into the next phase of my life, as soon as I pick from where I want to obtain my Master’s.  Life is NOT a spectator sport.  You don’t get to sit on the bench and complain that the coach won’t play you.  You have to get out there and make a move that makes you worthy to move up the food chain.

Wow!  I’m glad I got all of that off my chest!  I feel so much better.

Ever since Ronald Reagan fired the striking Air Traffic Controllers, Unions have been getting a bad rap in this country and the newly elected Republicans want to take them down ever further.  American workers need the ability to collectively bargain.  They need to know that they cannot be fired without a reason.  Companies should pay a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?  We keep hearing from the right that we should get back to tradition values and our traditional country, so let’s take a look at what that means – what life was like for non-union workers at the turn of the century.

People worked in sweatshops with no required breaks for coffee, lunch or even bathrooms.  They worked six or, in some cases, seven days a week for wages that would barely feed their families.  The idea that women stayed at home, tending to home and hearth is a fallacy.  They worked just as hard as their husbands did, maybe even harder, since once home, they had to attend to home and hearth.  Children worked alongside adults for half the money.  This was all before the unions.

Back then, companies hired strike breakers to keep their employees’ wages low and their own profits high.  The government past laws to make it unlawful to participate in unions.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

We forget how far we’ve come.  Instead, we’ve been fed a belief that companies “care” about their employees and they’re willing to look out for our well being.  Oh, there are some companies that truly believe in the American way of life, but they’re rare.

Now, instead of hiring thugs to keep the unions out, companies hire other companies to give talks and lectures on the “dangers” of unions.  They’ve actually managed to convince hard working people that unions are bad and that the big brother company knows best for you.  I’ve sat through these lectures and talks.  I’ve heard these anti-union people speak.  They’re good at what they do.  I sat through these lessons of lies while working for a family owned company (not the one I’m at right now) and heard these speakers talk about making the heads of the union rich with the employees’ dues – totally ignoring the fact that through our hard work and sweat, we’ve made the owner of the company a very rich man.

Now, according to a New York Times article, our newly elected Republican officials want to weaken unions even more than they are.  Our very own “Scott Walker of Wisconsin, are even threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts.”  That’s just one step away from taking away private workers’ rights.

Doesn’t that scare you?  Even a little?

It does me.

Ask yourself this:  Who benefits when workers cannot form unions?  Is it the worker?  No, it isn’t – it is the company.  Companies do not like unions.  There was a time when the threat of a union could force an employer to give fair raises to its employees.

Company thugs no longer weld baseball bats – they weld laws written by anti-worker politicians.  They’ve come for your fair wages, health care and benefits.  The whole time, they’re lying to you – the American worker – by saying that this is for your benefit.  This will help the workers, this will help the taxpayers.

No, taking away the right to collectively bargain contracts only helps the Businesses.  The government has all ready made it easier for businesses to send our jobs overseas.  Now, they want to make it easier for businesses to pay you less and work you more for the jobs that are still here.

Henry Ford once said, “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.”  It is really too bad that our CEOs have forgotten his words.

There was a time in America where you graduated from high school, started a job at a local business, worked there for thirty years and retired – with a full pension and, in some cases, medical benefits.  That was back when American Corporations still cared about their employees.  It was back before the Supreme Court stated that Corporations are people and should have the same rights.  It was back when unions were strong in this nation.  It was back when “the average CEO of a major corporation made 42 times the average hourly worker’s pay”. (Quote link)

Sadly, those days are gone.

Those of us who are not among the wealthy have been handed a bunch of malarkey from our leaders – the politicians, the management at many companies and even our talk show hosts.  We’ve been told that what’s bad for business is bad for jobs.  We’ve been told that moving factories to Mexico and importing goods from China is good for American companies and, therefore, good for those of us who work for a living.  We’ve been told that tax cuts for the rich and lowering the corporate tax rate will help bring jobs back to our neighborhoods.   We’ve been told that regulating the financial market is bad and deregulation is good.

All of this has been one great big lie.  Case in point: tax cuts.  Corporations are paying lower taxes than they have in half a century and, yet, they didn’t keep people on the payrolls.  Wonder why?  Another case is the financial market breakdown.  We’ve spent the last 30 years (and especially the last eighteen years) dismantling the regulations enacted during the depression that were designed to prevent the exact kind of meltdown our financial market suffered in 2008.  And, we’ve been told it was a good thing.

Now, Mitt Romney, in an opinion piece in USA Today, claims that people on unemployment don’t really want to work.  Does this man have a clue?  Does he get it?  He says (and I’m quoting because unlike Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, I don’t make shit up!), “The indisputable fact is that unemployment benefits, despite a web of regulations, actually serve to discourage some individuals from taking jobs, especially when the benefits extend across years.”

I’ve been on unemployment three times in my life – never for more than six months – it was some of the worst times.  The idea that an American worker prefers unemployment is absurd.  My salary on unemployment would drop by 72%.  I can’t make my bills on that.  Now, I’m very fortunate – I am employed and in the last nine years, I have been unemployed for a grand total of one week – and I was paid by my ex-employer for that week and the one after it.  I have a friend who has been unemployed for a year and a half.  I can tell you that she’d rather be working.  In fact, I do not know one unemployed person who has said, “Gee, I love my unemployment insurance!  I guess I won’t look for a job!”

Romney is trying to convince the American Public that the unemployed are lazy and don’t want to work.  Where have we heard that before?  (Hint: Rush Limbaugh)

He goes on to say this (and the emphasis is mine):

“The system is also not designed for a flexible economy like ours in which some employees move from job to job for short periods, and are therefore ineligible for unemployment compensation when they are faced with a protracted spell without work.

To remedy such problems we need a very different model, perhaps establishing individual unemployment savings accounts over which employees would exercise direct control when they lose their jobs, or putting in place financial incentives for employers to hire and train the long-term unemployed.”

How many people in our economy really “move from job to job for short periods”?  I’m betting not many.  Even contractors work for just one company and, apparently Mitt has never been on unemployment, it is tracked for all of your employment.  Every state is different, but most states ask about your work history for the previous year and then you’re covered.  I believe he’s way off base.

But, his idea of unemployment savings accounts?  What is his problem?  So, now we’re responsible for our own retirement (no company pensions) and we’re going to have to come up with money to put aside in case our employer lays us off?  Just where is the average American worker supposed to get the money?  American Families are hard pressed for cash now, imagine them trying to save for college, health care, retirement AND unemployment.

As far as put in place incentives for employers, please – big eye roll – they all ready have plenty of incentives.  But, I do have a plan – triple their taxes and give them a tax break for every new hirer.  Take away their profits in taxes unless they hire more people.  Make companies that earned a profit, but laid off employees pay 85% of the profit in taxes unless they hire back 50% of the laid off employees.  How’s that for an incentive?  Start putting high tariffs on products made overseas and imported here – include American companies in the mix, so they have an incentive to build plants here.

American companies have had it easy for the last thirty years and take a good look at where it’s gotten us.  It’s time for the American Workers to take back the wheel and drive this bus!

Did Republican Leader John Boehner really say on Sunday we can’t “begin to talk about potential solutions”?  Honestly?

Why not?

Are we really going to allow the nation to fail for the next two years because the Republicans don’t want Obama to succeed?  How does that work?

High unemployment?  We’re sorry, but if everyone who wants a job had a job, Obama would get the credit.

Is that there answer?

Is anyone paying attention?  Or, are we all drinking tea?

I saw a very quick blurb in last week’s Businessweek.  I’ve been a little busy, so I’m behind on my reading.  According to the blurb, there are 2.3% of jobs out there that cannot be filled with the right people.  2.3%  – that would bring our unemployment rate down to around 6.5%.

But, why can’t these companies find the qualified people — here are two my quick and dirty off the top of my head ideas.

• We have a huge disconnect between out secondary education and our business needs.  We need to get business and higher education better aligned.  How we can do that or where we can start — that I don’t know.  But, it’s sad, isn’t it?
• We have a huge housing problem because qualified people are now locked into homes they can’t sell, so they can move to the jobs.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Economists are calling on Washington to create yet another stimulus package. Bush previously said, “No” to the idea, but something has changed his mind and now he wants one.

Well, I can’t imagine this being a good idea. Let’s just put our deficit even higher. Our government all ready owes everyone and their brother money. The bailout has cost every American citizen $3,100 and now, they want to pass a $150 billion bill. How is this going to help? Maybe, we just need the economy to suck for a while. It’ll come back, let’s just sit, wait and see what happens.

If anything should pass, it should be to give states enough money to cover unemployment. I heard that Wisconsin is running out of money. Also, it should be to help the 7.5% of Americans who are or will be unemployed find training in other fields.

Side note: My mother keeps insisting the economy is chugging along and everything is fine. One of the things she says proves this is our unemployment rate. Right now, it’s lower than 7.5% and it is lower than it was in the seventies, so things are okay. Well, I don’t know a lot about the seventies, but I know now if you’re unemployed and not on the unemployment roll, you’re not being counted. If you are still employed, but looking for a full time job, you’re counted as unemployed. If you took a job way below where you were before, you’re not being counted, but you’re not making your full pre-firing, pre-laid off wage. None of these are good for the economy. Another thing that isn’t good was the high gas prices.

Now, if they are going to send sums home to people, let’s send more than a lousy $600.00 per individual. Cheryl and I normally spend more than $1800 on Christmas between gifts, wrapping paper, Christmas Eve dinner and charitable donations, but not this year. We’re cutting way back this year. We haven’t been able to put money into our savings accounts like previous years due to various reasons — the least of which included the high gas prices — and we’re going to need to use the Christmas fund to pay our home taxes. Now, I’m not complaining, we both have jobs, things are just tighter than normal. We’ll get through it, just as many of Americans will.

But, the only way for the economy to bounce back is we need to put money into it. So, here’s my suggestion — partially stolen from Lewis Black — let’s build something, anything. Let’s put money into our intrastucture. Let’s improve our roads, let’s update our railroads. If we’re going to spend $150 billion dollars, let’s use it to create jobs. How about create an energy company, solely owned by the government, that will research fossil fuel alternatives? What about a company that will invent a better running car? Something, anything that will create jobs. And, let’s take a look at the hardest hit areas of the nations and put in training centers. Let’s train our unemployed and underemployed for different jobs. Not only would we employ people as trainers, but we’ll make our un and under employed citizens ready for the next jobs in their lives.

How can we pay for this?

Well, let’s stop substizing oil companies and large farms (not family farms, the big guys) and I’m sure there’s other things as well. Let’s rollback the tax breaks on the upper 1%. We all know taxes have to be raised, so let’s just get it over with. Hell, I’d chip in a little more in taxes to pay for something that benefits all.

But, it’ll never happen.

So, if they do pass the stimulus, I hope it’s enough money so we can buy some really nice Christmas presents.

God Bless