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STFU: You do *NOT* get to simultaneously bitch about big government and then complain about how little they’re doing for you. Pick a side. If you tax-starve the government, they aren’t able to respond to things like the BP Oil Spill.

Our government is *STILL* getting over Bush’s 8 years of famine. The fact that the resources don’t exist to cope with a disaster of this magnitude shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Remember – the governments slow response had a lot to do with the fact that BP LIED ABOUT THE FACT THAT THERE WAS A LEAK. Then when that lie was discovered, they commenced lying about the size of the leak.

I’ll put it into perspective.

If my kid comes in and tells me he spilled some water, I’m not going to run upstairs in a panic.

If it then turns out he emptied the pool into the living room, his ass is grounded until college.

BP is *STILL* lying about the status of the leak. On the news today I heard someone say that if BP didn’t know how much oil was flowing, it was only because they dliberately didn’t want to know. Willful blindness.

Anyone who thinks that allowing the “free market” to take over and for companies to be allowed to regulate themselves is on crack.

Companies *WILL NOT* regulate themselves. It’s not in their financial interests to do so, and the ONLY thing a company does is whatever is in it’s financial interest.

They’re *SO* fucking grounded.

Ok,

On January 13, 2010, the IDIOTS in the virginia legislature passed the following amendment to the Code of Virginia as follows:

§ 38.2-3430.1:1. Health insurance coverage not required.

No resident of this Commonwealth, regardless of whether he has or is eligible for health insurance coverage under any policy or program provided by or through his employer, or a plan sponsored by the Commonwealth or the federal government, shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage.

Now I’m confused.  The bill states specifically that this applies to health insurance, but the language is vague enough (as is any text authored by idiots) so that it could just as easily apply to auto-insurance, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, etc.

So I think I’m going to put it to the test.  Monday morning I’m going to drop all coverage on my truck (since it’s paid off, there isn’t the supplemental problem of pissing off a bank.) and i will go out and get a ticket.  That might take a while, there’s never a cop around when you need one.

When I get the “no proof of insurance” ticket I will officially be an injured party and will commence fighting it on the grounds that SB417 prohibits peanalties and that “No resident of this Commonwealth shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage.” and see how far I can take it.

My argument of course is that to apply this to healthcare and not other forms of insurance violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment of the constitution, by applying to one industry and not another.

It will be a fun expiriment…  (Though possibly expensive – should I open up the floor for donations?)

Virginia auto-insurers are gonna go bankrupt.  Funny part is, Geico is based in Stafford, Virginia.

Overwhelmingly, republican leaning states receive more federal dollars than they spend.  I’m waiting on more recent data, but the numbers from this 2005 report (Source: Taxfoundation.org) say it all.  (FYI – taxfoundation.org is largely described as a fairly right-leaning think-tank, for what it’s worth.)

First this bit:  You are undermining the government of the country you purport to love so much.  Apparently your desire is to force the overthrow of the United States and have it replaced with, what, something like Somalia?  They lead the world in not having a national government.  (They also lead the world in people eating other people, but hey, it’s a trade off, right?)

**UPDATED TO REFLECT 2004 Presidental Election Swing after complaints that 2005 and 2008 are too far distant.  (Truthfully, this makes more sense)**

As you can tell, overwhelmingly, (with very few exceptions), the republican leaning states like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc. are the states most dependent on Federal tax dollars. This is HILARIOUS considering they are the ones more ardently against the government spending, while the more predominantly democratic states consume less and less. (There are obvious Exceptions, Texas utilizes Oil revenue to pad their budget, Florida has thousands and thousands of “Fictitious” residents (Military choose Florida due to the low state income tax, regardless of the fact that they don’t live there), and Nevada, having gambling revenue, relies much less than normal. Though honestly I’m not sure what the deal is with Colorado, the only thing they produce is crappy beer.)

So why are all of these states, with populations who disapprove of federal spending, demanding it?? Wouldn’t the right thing be to opt out of the federal programs, not ask for help when a highway needs to be built, or a government contract needs to be awarded, or , oh, say an OIL SPILL or HURRICANE or some other natural disaster rolls through? Why are Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, after lambasting “BIG GOVERNMENT” relying on that big government to bail their hapless, helpless asses out of a bind?

Amazing that Senator Vitter (R-AL), Governor Jindall (R-LA) and the likes SUDDENLY have their hands out begging for federal aid when they need it, but they’re the first in line to blast the very same programs they are applying to for help.

I’m still looking for the source, and will post it here when I find it. But basically when you give a tax cut to the wealthy/large businesses, something like *MAYBE* 50% of that money gets back into the economy. The rest goes to increasing the company/individual’s bottom line, to make their shareholders happy. Really now – is someone who makes a million dollars a year going to change his spending habits if he gets an extra $10k back at the end of the year? No. It’s business as usual.

Conversley, when you give a tax cut to someone making $60k a year, they’re going to take every single penny of that extra money straight to WalMart, or their Car Dealer, Best Buy, or to the local Mall, and spend it. That increases CONSUMPTION, which brings the economy up as a whole. Walmart sells more, order more product from manufacturers, etc. etc. etc. Manufacturers then put more workers to work, who take THAT money and spend it, etc, etc, etc.

Large businesses DO NOT like that idea, because they actually have to work for their money, where they would MUCH rather have the politicians that they’ve bought and paid-for just hand them their profits on the backs of the people who actually work for a living.

I am a business owner. I can honestly say that financially and from a business standpoint that I’m doing better how than I was with the Right in office, and I will believe my checking account balance before anyone’s propaganda any day of the week and twice on sunday.

Ok – i’ve got my asbestos jockey-shorts on, flame away.

Wow – been a while.

I hate banks.  I hate bankers, I think when the glorious peoples revolution comes, they should be the first ones against the wall. (just kidding–sortof)

I think we should nationalize the banks, because as inept as the federal government can be it’s a simple equation:

inept != evil

Anyone who follows me on twitter (both of you) know that I’ve had a btt of a border skirmish going on with my local bank. (Well there’s no such thing as ‘my local bank’ anymore is there – my “local” bank is based out of Buffalo, NY)

I’ve been banking with Merchants and Traders “M&T” Bank (www.mtb.com) since they acquired my last bank, Provident.  I’ve also been planning to leave for some time yet, but it hadn’t reached danger level yet.

I loved Provident, best customer service ever, convenient branches, Sunday hours, and a branch where I could walk in and EVERYONE there knew me.  You know, like Cheers, only serving money instead of bad beer.

All good things must end. M&T bought them, they called it a merger, but it wasn’t. There is nothing left of the bank I was so happy with. Customer service is gone, my local branch is closing, and no more Sunday hours (and severely curtailed saturday hours – what’s the point of being open for 3 hours – seems like a waste of a lot of paperwork?)

M&T is also closing up half it’s branches in Virginia, Maryland, and DC, in fact in my area there is now a 40 mile radius without a branch, which would force me to drive 20 miles in any direction to find a place to drop a damned check off.  They’re laying off employees and cutting branch hours.

This is the picture of a bank in trouble mind you.

So the *whole* story.

About two months ago, I got a call from the branch manager of my branch. Seems when the account was opened the agent who helped me forgot to get me to sign a piece of paper.

I signed the paper – end of story, right?

Nope, another month goes by and I get an illiterately written letter from my branch manager, but suspiciously not signed. In approximately 10 days my account was to be closed.

That very same day I walked the letter into the branch and quite literally said “what the fuck?”. (For added effect, I wrote it on the bottom of the letter.)

The teller explained to me that it’s a minor oversight, that corporate probably didn’t get the signed form (that I signed) and that it was nothing to worry about.  Mike (the manager) would take care of it first thing the next morning.

When asked what to do about the letter, I was told to…”Ignore it – if you don’t hear from us everything is ok.”  (**WARNING** never depend on negative notification when something bad might happen – lesson learned.)

April 15th – I get paid, deposit my paycheck in said account and go online and schedule online payments for some of the larger bills and more pressing bills to get them out of the way.  I always schedule bill payments at the receiving site, not the sending site.  Bank of America cured me of that habit.

April 16th comes along, the day the letter said my account was to be closed.  All is good.  Bought lunch and something stupid or another, debit card works wonderfully.

April 17th.  Nothing.  NO letter, no notice nothing.  I go to use my card…DECLINED.  I log into web banking (since I have other accounts I can still GET to web banking) and the account was closed and over 3100.00 was withdrawn.

I call customer service.  Fat lot of good they do, they are great at helping you transfer funds or look up a check, when pressed with the question “Where’s my fucking money.” you get a lot of blank stares with foreign accents.

So I spend the weekend stressed.  I can’t get a hold of the companies with whom I’ve scheduled bill payments until Monday, by which point the payments have already been attempted.  Not to mention that to this point, NO ONE CAN TELL ME WHERE MY MONEY IS.  The best answer I got is that it must have been withdrawn at the branch. (Lie #1)

Monday I call the bank and spoke directly to the branch manager, who I’ve had a pretty good relationship with up until now.  “No problem, we’ll get it worked out and get the account re-opened for you.”  (Lie #2)  “I’ll call you this afternoon when it’s done.” (Lie #3)

Tuesday I call the bank “I’m having trouble getting a-hold of the person who closed the account, she’s the one who has to re-open it” (Warning – maybe Lie #4) “I’ll call you before 3pm and let you know where it stands.” (Lie #5)

Tuesday at 6pm (branch closes at 7) I call the bank.  Ask for Mike, teller tells me he’s with a customer and can she have him call me back.  “No thanks, I’ll hold.” -my response.

She comes back and again, tells me that he’s still with a customer, but that my problem is being worked on (Lie #6), and that he’ll call me back in the morning.  -WRONG-  I tell her this can’t wait for morning and thank you, but I’ll hold.

Mike gets on the phone and tells me:

* It’s absolutely their fault for losing the paperwork in the first place (working on getting that in writing)

* corporate is unable  (refusing) to re-open the account

* a check is being cut as we speak

* I can expect it in 5-7 business days

Now mind you that 5 days have already gone by since the day they stole my money.  I’m supposed to wait another week to ten days?  (unlike banks, I measure time as it passes, not what it looks like on a fucking calendar)

I don’t fucking think so.  Tonight I’m drafting a warrant-in-debt.  In virginia it only costs $35 to file a lawsuit and you don’t need a lawyer to do it.

I’m thinking a few extra thousand for putting me through this, the damage to my perfect payment history with my mortgage company, etc. are all in order.   (I’ve re-scheduled the payment from a different account, if they don’t close *THAT* one I should be good)  I’m lucky in that it happened during a time when it’s not a life-or-death problem for me.

Because *THEN* you’d be reading about me somewhere else.  You put my kids at risk there will be more than words.

Banks can #suckit

If we want to reign in the deficit let’s start by fixing the absolutly stupid way our government spends money.  And let’s *START* with the defense contractors, not exclude them like everyone wants to.

This business of “I have to spend the money or I won’t get it next year” has got to stop.  It’s a large part of the reason we’re in this mess.

I spend a lot of my time working at a government agency and I watch it happen every time Q4 rolls around.  Suddenly everyone has money they have to spend and by gods they’re going to spend it, even if it’s on useless shit no-one is going to ever touch.

In one equipment cage someone has abandoned almost 200 SunRay2 client workstations.  They were bought with end-of-year money but there were actually no plans to ever put a virtual desktop infrastructure in place.

In another cage there are several hundred old Dell workstations that have been upgraded.  They are still in support.

You get the idea.  I dig through the floor and find cables that are run from one side of the datacenter to another, capped and terminated on both ends, with no actual use.  (This was the fault of the government contractor, not the agency itself.)

And I’ve been in defense contractors that have literally dumped millions of dollars into projects they KNEW were set to be cancelled just to get the money on their books.

Now don’t get me wrong, (full disclosure)  *I* am a government contractor.  However, I’m also the one who flat-rates a 40-hour week and then regularly works 60 hour weeks to ensure I get the job done.

We as a people could eliminate the deficit without laying off massive numbers of people by simply being smart about how we (agencies) spend our(American’s) money.

1. Find a way to provide incentive for government agencies to save money.  Offer a 10% bonus for savings, recognition, etc.

2. Stop with the “you didn’t spend it last year so you don’t get it this year.” bullshit.  Needs change from year to year and this practice does nothing but forces agencies to spend money uselessly.

3. Understand that shit happens.  Allow government agencies to apply-for and pull from discretionary funds for unforseen/emergency spending with justification and approval.

4. Motivation is key – Get the unions out of government offices.  The reason federal employees are so lethargic is because they know it’s almost impossible to fire them.  Unions just make this worse.

5. Get rid of the GS payscale system.  When a federal employee gets to Step-10 of their pay-scale, they know there are no significant future increases in their pay coming.   Therefore they have no motivation to do anything over and above “their job.”  Federal employee payscales should equal private industry payscales, to attract the best and brightest of the industry.  (As an example, if you are hired as a GS14-Step10, you take the job knowing you’re never going to get a significant pay-raise for merit.)

I’m curious as to other suggestions my 4 readers might have.

A while ago I posted the following to Twitter:

“If you surround yourself with people who think exactly like you, you’ll never learn anything.”

Apparently the concept was fairly well received, it got Re-Tweeted at least 4 times that I could count.

I live in North-Central Virginia. A little to far north to be hicksville, a little too far south to have actual culture.

What I’ve found, being surrounded as I am by republicans is this. People vote republican for the following reasons.

1. Self Interest – Most republican voters I’ve met are concerned with how government affects them personally. Not them as a neighborhood or them as a species, but them personally. They all want to see stuff done, but to a one, none of them wants to put ten cents into the pool to do it. These are the people who are against universal health care based on the cost to them. Never mind the benefit of having a healthier, more productive, less-expensive-to-maintain population. They’re fine with that so long as a dime doesn’t come out of their pockets to make it happen.

2. Theology. The Republican part has done a pretty good job of aligning itself with the Religious among us. Which is funny because the whole notion that is put across by the party that “This country was formed on a Christian foundation” is complete fabrication. This country was founded by a bunch of Diests, among these, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and some guy by the name of George Washington.  (They were also Freemasons)

It’s hilarious to think that the *ONLY* reason the republican party caters to the religious is because there isn’t a snowballs chance in hell they could win an election without them.  It’s pure pandering, and the religious conservatives sell out cheap.  All you have to do is throw gay-marriage or abortion into a speech and they’re all over it.  Nevermind that everything ELSE they believe in goes against everything that religion is supposed to stand for.  You know, like bombing women and children back to the stone-age.

2. Committment to “Small Government” – This is where the conflict comes to light.  Republicans are comitted to “Small government” but yet the l influence of corporate interests and the military-industrial-complex on the republican party forces it in exactly the other direction.   When National Defense is included (as it should be, it’s the largest government orginization there is) the size of our government actually shrank during the clinton years, In fact, the last two major Civilian Federal departments were created during republican administrations.  The EPA was created in 1990 by George H.W. Bush, and the Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002 as a reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. *

3. Committment to “Minimal Government Intervention in Citizens’ lives” – This is another place where the rhetoric doesn’t match the actions.  This would preclude the government from getting involved in causes like Abortion & Same-Sex Marriage, where this time the religious right push the party off it’s true message.  Abortion and Gay Marriage should be up to the states to decide, but more and more often you’re finding idiot “republicans” calling for constitutional amendments to solidify their palce.  Now this annoys me because the Constitution is really a remarkable document, and it was truly a great set of rules 200 years ago when this country was first formed.

To introduce such idiocy into such a remarkable document would forever make us a laughing stock. (the mere suggestion of consitutionalizing a ban on gay marriage has ALREADY put is on that path.)

* Federal spending actually rose at adramatically much slower rate during the Clinton administration (1992 – 2000).  (Federal Spending actually went from 1.4 Trillion to 1.7 Trillion during the Clinton Administration, but went from 1.7 Trillion to 3.1 Trillion during the bush years.

Sarah Palin can kiss my ass.

Seriously…though someone might want to warn her that as she leans in I can turn around really fast…

So David Letterman made a joke.  Funny that, he’s a comedian.  He makes jokes.  Usually at the expense of celebrities.  I’d like to know what the Palin’s think they are if not celebrities at this point?  Including their kids, who there were *REALLY* quick to trot out on stage in the middle of the fucking night irregardless of their health and sanity…

I’m sorry Sarah – you opened the door when you introduced them to the world.  You led your little white-trash family out into the open and you have no business being shocked when people take shots at them.

Come on – it’s so easy.  The whole lot of them fit right into my idea of the brand of trailer-trash you are.  Of course, I’m still waiting for Jerry Springer to come out and announce that that fucking bone-head-almost-son-in-law you’ve got was actually sleeping with Mom, Daughter *AND* the family fucking goat. (Todd)

So Todd, Sarah, (& co.)  Give it up.  You are a joke, and you have nothing and no-one to blame but yourselves when people like David Letterman point that out to people.

“you bankers are SCARY.”   (Sylvester Stallone in “Oscar”)

Bankers are the latest in a long and destinguished list of people who I believe need to be strapped to a gurney and castrated with a rusty pen knife.

It is true – much in the same way i automatically question the motives of people who WANT to go into politics, anyone who WANTS to be a banker you can almost universally assume is a greedy bastard who should be shot on sight.

1. On what planet is it ok to spend a million dollars renovating an office while your business is circling the proverbial drain?

2. On what planet do people get amazing bonuses, consisting of many times their annual salary, for not only failing, but failing miserably?

3. On what planet can you lend $500,000 to someone for a house who can’t even prove he has income, and not expect it to come back to bite you?  (I’m a small business owner, even I have 1099 forms showing my income.)

What sparked these two questions running through my mind like a pack of barking dogs chasing a car is this.

Industry “experts” say that imposing salary caps on executives while they are taking aid from the federal government will cause the best and the brightest executives to leave the banking industry…

And I have two follow-up questions for these supposed “experts”

1. If they were the “best and brightest” in the industry, why is it that their banks are failing?  Why do they need aid?

2. Where the fuck do you think these bankers are going to go?  How do you interview for a position with a resume that says something like: “Bankrupted my last copy and cost the taxpayers of the united states 50 Billion dollars in the process.”

Now I used to be a big supporter of the bailout, when I thought it was going to be implemented sanely.  But then the Bush administration got ahold of the money and handed it out to everyone and their mother without getting so much as a damned receipt, let alone something concrete like a BUSINESS PLAN.

Then enters the Obama administration.  I had  high hopes for the Obama administration, that is until I realized that congress was still….well….congress.

It started with “I don’t work for President Obama.”  No you schmuch but in a time of need you should at least try to pretend to work WITH him.

Then came headlines like “Congress Trumps the White House” when they tried to do the president “one better” on capping executive salaries, forgetting of course to make it retro-active to the FIRST bailout.

Why?  Because bankers have money, and like it or not, money drives politics.  Of the 535 members of congress (435 Representatives, 100 Senators) not a single fucking one of them is honest in any way, shape or form.  They’re all on the take, they’re all out to protect their jobs and their little fiefdoms.

And they can all go fuck themselves.

Here’s my plan -

1. Nationalize the banks.  Hell with it, we’re halfway there already.  Take control and make them all a part of the federal reserve.  Make them non-profit which will keep shit like $4 ATM fees and $2 “Balance Inquiry” charges to a minimum.

2. Round up all of the bank executives and shoot them.  Ok, maybe that’s a bit forgiving.  Audit them back 20 years.  Look at every receipt, every record, etc.  Crawl up their asses with a microscope and comment on the decor.  If one thing is found out of the ordinary put it on public display.  Charge them peanalties and interest back to the date of the infraction and if they can’t pay it, lock them  up until they do with 24×7 webcams on them so we can see what happens to fuck-heads who put their $25,000 toilet seats ahead of the people of this country.

3. Free up the credit markets.  Provide 1% loans, re-age and recompute mortages so people don’t find themsevles trapped by their homes.  Enforce fair credit-card rates, and get money moving.  This recession isn’t going to end until *WE* start spending money again, and the only way to do that will be to make credit available.  No one is spending money when they owe $200,000 more on their house than it is worth.  Trust me in this, 1st hand experience.

Buy a clue.  You’ve got enough damned money.

I figured I’d start prefacing my post titles so that people who don’t care about my political ramblings can just move on.  (much in the same way most people do about the rest  of my ramblings.

In economic politics, there are two schools of thought.  Those who believe that tax cuts are the way to stimulate the economy, and those who believe that spending is the way to stimulate the economy.

I’m going to explain to you, as a small business owner, why the republicans CONTINUE to have their collective heads up their collective asses.

Scenario #1:  I am a small business owner (I am) who is barely making it by.  My republican lawmaker offers me a $10,000/year tax credit for each person I hire and keep working.

How many people do I hire?  None.  Because as a financially strapped small-business owner I need two things to be able to hire people and keep them employed.

1> Income.  In order to hire someone I have to have the work to put them to work.  If I have the work to keep someone busy, I’m going to hire them no matter what the government does. If I dont have the work to support it I’m not going to spend $50,000 (arbitrary number) to hire someone.  (No matter what some avid shoppers, you can’t save money by spending money unneccessarily.)

2> Money.  In the (very real) scenario above, money is tight.  I as a small business owner don’t have the money to hire someone, if the republicans offer $1,000, or $10,000 or $100,000 in tax breaks it doesnt help the fact that I don’t have the money to make the hire in the first place.

Scenario #2: I am a small business owner (I still am) who is barely making it by.  My democratic lawmaker friends pass a bill authorizing infrastructure upgrades around the country.

I (still a small business owner) bid on and receive a project grant for possibily millions of dollars for thousands of man-hours of labor.  I hire a few project managers, several architects, maybe two dozen entry level peple for labor, and put them to work.  Thereby putting thousands of dollars back into the local economies.

Also, and on a slightly unrelated tack:

If you (as a government) give a tax cut to someone making a million dollars a year, it increases his net-worth.  They don’t change their spending patterns because of it, they don’t take the money down to the local mall and spend it.  They sit on it.

If you (again, as a government) create a thousand $50,000/year jobs.  You pump $35,000,000-$40,000,000 *DIRECTLY* into the economy where those jobs are created.   DIRECTLY.

This works.  this has worked.  This will work again.  But republicans are too tied up in their stupid idology to realize that over the last eight years their buddy, Bush, has managed to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt something democrats have been trying to prove for years.

Not only does “trickle-down” economics not work, it has exactly the opposite effect.  Trickle-down economics only truly affect the companies that are already making money.  The use the tax breaks along with well-timed layoffs to pad their bottom lines and make their stock-holders happy thereby raising stock prices and earning themselves fat bonuses.

Hasn’t anyone known that layoffs always happen right before quarterly earnins reports are put out?  This is because while you and I view layoffs as awful, stockholders only see these people, these families, as dollar signs.

Now it’s just me – but you might try giving the democrats a shot at this.  It’s the right move, and it sure beats the last 8 years of going 100% in the wrong direction..

In seven days the world becomes a better place.

In seven days the stranglehold the right-wing of the Republican party is broken.

In seven days we start reconstruction, rebuilding the pride and the power of the American people.

In seven days we make history (American) and try to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the world.

In seven days we start moving forward again, after a long national nightmare of regression and repression.

In seven days our hopes are restored, our country reborn, and our past behind us.

…

Oh, and In seven days a village in Texas gets their idiot back.