Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Fed Up

No this is not a post about the American peoples’ rejection of Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Washington politics.  Many others are having fun welcoming the Republican wave that swept away many notable Democrats…though not nearly enough.  Jerry Brown as governor?  California you have got to be kidding me.  I am holding in a wait-and-see position having been sorely disappointed by Republicans far too many times.

Unbeknownst to many Americans the Federal Reserve (The Fed) had scheduled a meeting today to decide future monetary policy.  I find it interesting that they chose the day after a hotly contest mid-term election to meet and announce their policies.  The centerpiece of their plan is Quantitative Easing 2 (“QE2″).  The Wall Street Journal describes QE2 as:

Hunky Dory

Before I start, I want to ensure you that since I am at least 75% Ruthenian and/or Slovak I have the proper standing to use the term “Hunky.”  I really never considered the label as derogatory and I always took some pride in calling myself a Hunky.  

The homelands of my ancestors have changed names so many times, I often hesitate when answering a question about my nationality.  I guess in today’s PC world I would be a Slovak-American, but an American none the less.  I got a shot of native homeland pride recently when I read an article about one of the home countries, Slovakia.

True American Hero – Paul Ryan

Even though this post is about, perhaps our next president, I am going to start it with quotes from two prominent politicians;

“Republican leaders haven’t come up with “a single, solitary new idea” to help the American people recover from the economic recession.”

Barack Obama

“You lie”

Joe Wilson

Maybe Barack Obama was being Clintonesque parsing “single,” “solitary,” “new” in his mind to justify the lie.  I’ll admit that many Republicans have no new ideas and many of them are progressive and probably agree with Obama’s direction, just not his speed.  I would argue that the same could be said of Obama’s vision for America.  His plan for “spreading the wealth” is not a new idea.  His plan has been tried numerous times always with the same result…either failure (see Greece) or totalitarianism (Cuba, Venezuela, etc.).

Wyatt’s Torch

Part of my morning drive took me along a country road that would along a stream.  Homes were scattered along the road in pockets and shaded by rather large sycamore trees.  One drive home this spring as I approached this curvy stretch I heard a very loud blowing sound.  I had been traveling this way for months and had never noticed it before and wondered if it had always been there and I never noticed it because my car windows had been shut during the winter commutes.

Immigration I Can Live With

Relax I am not for open borders allowing a bunch of people to overtax our economy.  I am thinking about a forced immigration policy where we can go and drag a person back to our side of the border.  We would overly compensate the individual for their inconvenience and allow familial visits or suggest that they bring their family with them.  We could even substitute a similar person.

News Briefs Volume VI

News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories…

Brief 1:  Obamagovernment dictates an increase in fuel economy of 10 mpg by 2016 (to 35.5 mpg).  Estimate are that this will only cost you another $1000 for your next car, but it will save you over $3000 over the life of the car.  If you use government accounting (i.e. Congressional Budget Office rules) they probably assume that the car will last you 25 years.  In order to achieve that mileage they will probably have to be plastic so they probably won’t rust.  The only real issue will be when some 90-something-year-old T-bones you at an intersection killing you and all of your passengers.  Plastic cars kill.  The way it works is that an auto manufacturer’s has to produce cars that average the new standards.  So all companies have to produce is a super high mileage car to balance the lower mileage cars that American consumers want to buy.

Uncertainty (un – sûr – tn – tee)

Uncertainty is defined as:

  1. Situation where the current state of knowledge is such that the order or nature of things is unknown, the consequences, extent, or magnitude of circumstances, conditions, or events is unpredictable, and credible probabilities to possible outcomes cannot be assigned.
  2. Doubt

Synonyms:  doubt, mistrust, suspicion

What does W think?

“If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.”

George W. Bush

Can you give an example?

Debt…Deficit…Doubt…Disaster?

credit-card-drowning2Personal Finances:  My wife and I have amassed some decent credit card debt by spending more money than we had available, or deficit spending.  Since we are blessed with a good credit rating, the banks are always willing to raise our credit limit.  They are just so nice about that.  Rather than take advantage of those nice folks’ offer, we are in the process of reducing that debt through a number of means.  We are going to have to spend less, sell some investments, and restructure some debt, but should have it eliminated within the next three months.  Although it will be hard, but we feel that there is a need to eliminate this debt.  

A Call For Third World Politics

A series of events over the past few months have made me consider the logic of third world politics.  I am not talking about killing people or imprisoning detractors.  That is what happens in places like Cuba, China and Iran.  What I am thinking about is the prosecution of the prior ruling party by the new ruling party. 

holder-ciaMany of us were abhorred by the possibility that Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, is open to investigating and prosecuting members of the CIA for alleged torture of Islamic terrorists.  That sickened me to think that this administration would politicize the folks who have kept us safe for over seven years.  This was strike one.