Ron Paul Promises Better Economy

Ron Paul has promised voters that with him as president, citizens could see the economy improving within 12 months of him in office.

Ron Paul says that, realistically, we cannot end the Fed right away. Too much of our economy is tied into the system, and ending it outright would deflate currency so fast that the only people who would be okay are the wealthy. It has to be done incrementally (but purposefully) over time, in a process that helps to reverse the bad policies without putting all the strain on the average American.

CNN kinda danced around the legitimate point that this would eliminate a bunch of jobs Ron Paul rightly categorized as "non-productive" .. We kinda can't have our cake and eat it too here, though. People that are totally out of work would have to be a moron to turn down a public sector job. People really do need jobs TODAY. Not when an economic plan starts to take effect... public jobs, private jobs, non-productive jobs (might as well be paying taxes on their welfare)

You must remember though, our taxes are paying 100% of public job wages. You could use your extra money (from tax savings) to hire someone for your personal use, SAME effect! If the government is going to tax, it should do so to provide for the common social good. Keeping unnecessary beuracracy just so people can have jobs is really doing nothing except taking from people who do have jobs, in order to hide how bad the unemployment problem is.

I guess what I'm getting at is Ron Pauls plan needs to outline and quantify the savings in cutting the regulatory burden to small business that I guarantee will create jobs. Business is not content to stagnate but will surely hunker down when the anti-business policies of this country threaten their very existence. There's no substitute for man hours in growth so give business the room to grow, the incentive is already there and they will hire.

The Euro Needs to go!

I am of the opinion that the Euro was created to consolidate the assets and debt that countries such as Greece, Italy and France had so that they could fund their bloated and broke governments. What I found interesting was that Great Britain did not join the Euro dance when this occurred which to me was a telling example of the strength of the Euro.

New York Times

The only country that had some liquidity was Germany: an economy I will add that was subsidized by the US government for over forty years as our forces occupied their country for that length of time. Many Germans rejoiced as US service members were leaving only to realize the economic impact we had in their country while we were there as their jobs disappeared as a result. But kudos to them as they adjusted well; after all like the US, Germany was always been known to manufacture great products. So it was just a matter of time before they dug themselves out of the hole. Now they have the dubious responsibility of helping other broke EU nations that were always broke and needed handouts in order to sustain their worthless governments.

A great deal of economic maneuvering is needed to reduce the debt issue the broke Eurozone countries have Currency will only retain its value if the consumer believes it is worth something. Once it loses that trust, the whole system will collapse.The economy of the European Union stands for almost 1/3 of the worlds´s economy. It is even larger than the US´s. I know that a lot of people talk about the rising Chinese giant, but the real economic giants right now are the US and the EU. If either fails the world is in for a huge depression. It is in the interest of all to wish for the best of our neighbors. And in today´s world we are more and more like neighbors. It is interesting to see how some users from the US speak negatively about the EU. I wonder why?

Who needs Black Friday!

Cyber Monday is the only holiday that makes sense to me any more. It is by far the most logical holiday. It combines all the fun of shopping with all the fun of sitting. Go shopping on Black Friday, and you will get pepper sprayed or beaten. I wish I were joking. The worst that will happen is an unwanted pop-up ad. If it were possible never to show up anywhere again, we’d all be tempted. Even on Black Friday, some of us opted to do our shopping online. Everything we need is online, or if it isn’t, it will be soon. We can “hang out” with our “friends.” We can date, and we can download our favorite movie!

Monday analysis of cyber monday found that Amazon was the top visited, followed by Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and Apple. Amazon had over 50 percent more visitors than any other retailer. The company announced Monday that it had sold four times as many Kindles this year as it had last year, and saw strong sales for its new Kindle Fire tablet. Estimates say that Cyber Monday generated around $1.2 billion in sales! ComScore reported that e-commerce spending was up 26 percent online for the days following Thanksgiving. An estimate from IBM research found that online shopping was up 20 percent.

Life seems designed to discourage us from showing up. On the Internet, we can have whatever we desire, be anyone we want to be. The cyberworld indulges us. If we want someone to paint us a portrait of Lady Gaga riding a unicorn, we can arrange it!

Dispute about renewable energy opens up between the U.S. and China

The U.S. solar industry is divided over a petition by a handful of companies aimed at pressuring the Obama administration to impose duties on Chinese solar imports.One of the companies alleges that China is flooding the U.S. market with under priced solar panels and subsidizing its solar industry in violation of World Trade Organization rules. China’s efforts, the company says, are burdening U.S. solar manufacturers and are partly responsible for seven U.S. companies going out of business or downsizing in the last year.

Unfortunately these complaining companies can't compete. So as their last "hurrah", they are trying to go the route of protectionism. They don't care about the thousands of jobs in the service end of the business installing these cheap Chinese panels. Nor do they care that the biggest problem of solar is price, and getting cheaper panels allows for wider adoption of the technology.

The Chinese are serious about solar energy, at the moment, the USA is not. We need to get on board and support the sector with a feed in tariff ASAP, not try to pick winners

Government Thugs Are Coming to Close Your Post Office!

The United States Postal Service. Is it an efficient example of government management at its finest or a leech sucking on the taxpayers teat? The whole debate has gotten rather pedestrian.

Shutterstock

Since 1971 after the passage of the Postal Reorganization Act it has not received taxpayer dollars with minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with disabled and overseas voters. It pays its bills out of operational revenue, meaning the products and services it sells. It does have a monopoly on first class service, but must compete on package delivery and expedited service, and it cannot raise rates anytime it wishes, as UPS and FedEx have the freedom to do. It cannot impose 'fuel surcharges', as both of the private companies did in 2008 when gas skyrocketed to $4 a gallon. It must receive approval from the Postal Rate Commission, in a long and tedious process, before any rate changes can go into effect. 
The US Postal Service also essentially subsidize private companies like UPS and Fed Ex because these guys do not deliver directly in rural areas. They deliver to central post offices, which then deliver in rural areas. It subsidizes rural service so that these areas can be served. It's why the postal service loses since it must charge a uniform rate and must serve high cost areas.

The problem with the USPS is the same as Amtrak, it isn't profitable to run in rural areas that have few customers. There was a time when the post office delivered multiple times a day in cities and towns. The USPS should have adjusted their pricing to match the cost of delivering a letter to different areas of the country, like telephone service before. 

To wrap things up, this is how I would handle it:

1) Triple the cost of bulk mail/junk mail that you charge advertisers
2) Reduce costs to everything else to be cheaper than UPS/FedEx
3) Offer more options like insurance and tracking for cheaper
4) Offer bigger bulk discounts to businesses to get them to use you instead of UPS/FedEx
5) PROFIT! (or, "keep your jobs and retirement")

Here's what you don't do: The same thing you have been doing.

Sincerely,
~Me 

On the Bank of Collapse

Fear in the markets came today as investors and economists worried that Greece could be closer to defaulting on its debt, analysts say they don't believe the U.S. can be insulated from this stress on European banks. Economists are already worried that the U.S. is headed into a recession and worry Europe could be the tipping point.

In my opinion I don't think Greece will default, I believe that they will have a very strong restructuring. I don't think it'll be an unstructured default, meaning that they run out of money. I think they'll get more money on top of the cash they already received. Even though they haven't met the criteria for the austerity that they've done. I believe that it's the end of the line for this program. The eurozone is going to see that the deal with Greece isn't working out, and realize that there's no way they're ever going to get re-payed. The eurozone is going have to right down the debt, let Greece default, then deal with it in an orderly and structured way. The problem with this deal though is that the bondholders of the Greek debt. While that's principally Greek banks, there's also German, French and Belgium Banks.

But what people are asking is how will this affect the United States, a country teetering on recession? While defaulting sucks. I look at it as a positive thing. It shows that the countries ways are unsustainable, and it forces them to change. What we should really be concerned about is the economy, in both the United States and in Europe. Because at the end of the day austerity, which is what these countries are undergoing, is not a beneficial thing over the short to medium term. When you start cutting staff or wages (which is what austerity is) your basically just sucking money out of the economy and so that's going to have a negative impact on it. Greece defaulting shouldn't be frowned upon, shouldn't be looked at in fear by other nations. Nations shouldn't bail each other out, It sets a bad example. Let Greece default, if Greece wants to remain a player in the EU, then they should help themselves, not plead for help from others!

Source

US Sues to Stop AT&T Buy!

The Justice Department moved Wednesday to block AT&T's $39 billion plan to buy T-Mobile, claiming that combining the two wireless giants could stymie competition and innovation. I believe that this is fantastic news. This is what the government is for! To protect it's people. If this merger goes through it could set a dangerous precedent. Escalating costs are endangering the American way of life for those in the lower and middle classes. Every day we demand the government do something about gas prices, which they are largely powerless to affect, but here, we have laws and policy to protect our citizens from being taken advantage of!

lazytechguys.com

While some people might say that Sprint and Nextel were able to Merge, so it's only fair that AT&T and T-Mobile are able to merge as well. I call bull crap. The real difference is that Sprint + Nextel = 10 or 20% of the market. AT&T + T-Mobile = more like 40%. Also, at the time Sprint bought Nextel, there were more players (this was also before Alltel was acquired). So the landscape was left with Verizon, AT&T, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile. 5 carriers. By contrast, AT&T is trying to sell us on a future with 3 carriers as being a "SUPER COMPETITIVE MARKET!!"

Services and technology, which enjoy some of the fastest growing demographics can keep raising their prices. Some of these services, like cell phones, are going to become even more necessary than they already are since most of us have replaced land-lines with them. When they are left as our own source of phone communication, they'll be free to do what they want unless to regulate them properly now. Of course our economy will suffer if companies are allowed to get fat and lazy like this. Why would they innovate and create new jobs if they we are all ok with them letting maintain the status quo and still make more money for it. The Dept. of Justice needs to stand firm on this and show AT&T that AT&T isn't the one who keeps the public's best interest in mind.