True That

Enough said

Who Says Crime Doen't Pay

1% or 99%, this tells the truth

It doesn't matter if you are a 1%er or a 99%er, these statistics from the IRS tells it all. Watch it yourself and see. I'm not a 1%er by their standards, but I don't consider myself a 99%er either. I am an American that wants our government to get back on track. Everyone needs to pay taxes, or like Bill says, "everyone needs to have skin in the game." You decide.

Illinois Raises State Tax by 66%

The Illinois government has decided to raise State taxes 66% from 3% to 5%. Now that doesn't sound like much, just 2%, but it will take more money fro the people that are already strugling. I hope we don't see Federal taxes rise, although I feel it will be likely that they will at some point.

Illinois Lawmakers Approve 66% Tax Hike.

http://video.chicago.cbslocal.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=5461547&at1=Political&h1=Illinois

Another One Bites The Dust

I'm afraid we will be seeing four or more cities/states defaulting on their obligations.

The city of Chowchilla defaults on a bond.

But at least one business is doing well...

"But his Brock Locksmithing has weathered the storm, meeting a frenzy of demand from lenders. "I'm optimistic," said Brock, 66, who was on his way out the door Thursday to re-key another foreclosed house for another bank. "But I think it's going to take a little while."

Unemployment Now 9.8%...Hmmm

The "experts" were predicting that unemployment would go down to about 9.4%. Uh, well it went to 9.8%. This video will answer a few questions.

Are You Kidding Me?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101117/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fed_stimulus

In the above article, Ben Bernake was quoted as saying the latest QE2 stimulus of  $600,000,000,000 will create 700,000 jobs over two years. WOW, that is only $857,142.86 per job created. If it takes that much to create a job, then with about 14 million people that is jobless, we will need about 12 Trillion dollars to put everyone back to work.

Is that a good use of YOUR money?

Nancy Pelosi, (D) California, Time To Retire

Are you kidding me...Nancy Pelosi says that unemployment checks are the fastest way to create jobs. What has she been smoking? Her logic is that the unemployed will get a check and go out and spend it on "stuff" and that will create jobs. I think most of those that get these checks are spending it on rent, food, utilities, car and credit card payments. I would bet they don't have much left over for discretionary spending. Watch the video and hear Nancy Pelosi try and explain how this works.



Time to retire Nancy.

Laws Don't Mean Anything, Anymore

The Sec. of Labor doesn't care if you are documented or not, you have the right to the same wages as those that are here legally. I'm sorry, but the illegal immigrant should not be getting a job here, and if they happen to find someone that will hire them illegally then they get the wages they agree upon.

Chaos, Anarchy To Reign....

Well, it could get ugly for NY by Monday if a deal cannot be reached. Monday could be doomsday if budget deal can't be reached according to Gov. Paterson. Do you boys and girls realize what this would do? One of the most populous states in America without the means to continue running it's government!

"Such chaos includes closing all state parks, motor vehicles offices, courts, and even the lottery. Public assistance payments would not be made and unemployment payments might also be held up."

Wow, not that will cause chaos. When the entitled society cannot get their money to buy the stuff they are used to getting, things will get ugly. This won't stop here though. What about the thousands of employees at these area that will be shut down. They won't be working, so they will enter the unemployment lines...oops, the unemployment offices will be closed because they don't have money. See where I'm going? The domino effect will be huge. What about the coney dog vendor on the sidewalk outside one of these state office buildings, guess he better not order more dos just yet, because he may not have any customers on Monday.

"Sources said the next emergency bill from Paterson will have up to $350 million in cuts to human services and mental health. But Republicans, who could become Paterson's new allies in the budget battle, aren't satisfied with that.


They want $750 million in new cuts like:


1. Delaying the 10 percent welfare grant increases
2. Withholding welfare from those who don't comply with employment requirements
3. Reducing the personal needs allowance of people in drug and alcohol programs"

They way it looks, somebody has to give. But someone is going to take it hard. $350 million or $750 million, either way the entitlement society won't like the outcome. NY is going broke and the governor is trying to cut back on spending, but a couple democrats don't want any cuts. How will they dig themselves out of the hole if they don't cut spending? The Dem's don't want to take away any money from their constituents as that may cost them votes in the next election. It won't end good either way, but spending cuts now is the best choice. Let's watch and see what happens.

Keep you eyes open on this as it may be heading to other states/counties/cities and even our country.

New York State In Trouble Financially

Now if you and I postponed paying our bills, we would be forclosd upon, or our interest rates would go up to 30%. We need to let cities and states declare bankruptcy and move on. How will lawmakers realize that you can't borrow what you don't have.

New York state delayed paying $2.5 billion of bills...

"This is the third time since December the cash-poor state has withheld funds."


"They are feuding over how deeply to slash health and education programs."

Well, how much do they cut entitlement programs is the question. Cut some and they may loose voters. Cut too much and they loose voters and have riots on their hands (i.e. Greece). Don't cut enough and they are still in financial trouble. Let's see what they do. My bet is they cut a little and need to cut more later. They don't want to loose voters before November elections.

Time To Bailout The Unions

Well, it would be a payback for all the votes they have gotten the Democratic Party over the years. This bill being introduced by a Democratic Senator will bailout the Union's pension funds and would cost $165 Billion to the taxpayers like you and me. The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people. Before the recession, I mean depression, started only 6% of these funds were in good shape. Now, with all the other bailouts going on, why not help out the people that got you elected. Of course, they will say "it's to save jobs". I call Bravo Sierra! $165 BILLION will "save" 3.3 million jobs paying $50,000 for a year.

The President just last week said "it's time to stop the bailouts". Let's see what he does with this. If he rejects the bailout, the unions will be pissed. If he goes along with the bailout many Americans will be pissed. Let us see what he decides.

Oil Clean-Up Made Simple

I'm no scientist, but if this works, why not try. We are wasting time and money as the oil spill moves around and nobody knows where it will go. The leak continues so why not try to clean up what we can.

A couple of "good-ole boys" may have an answer. If this works, it could put the boat captains, farmers and truck drivers back to work. So it could help keep our beaches clean, the tourism industry afloat (no pun intended) and maybe employ some folks that need work.

$23 Billion Bailout For Teachers

You may not have heard about this one, but the Obama administration came out Thursday in support of emergency education funding legislation that would provide $23 billion to preserve teacher jobs in the face of massive impending layoffs across the country.

Wow, now let me understand. We bailed out the housing, banking and auto industries, but now we are going to bailout the teachers union. We will give $23 billion to the teachers union, but only $2 billion to the firefighters and police.

"Duncan's letter, which received White House support, urged Congress to include the emergency funding in an upcoming supplemental spending bill to fund military operations and other expenses."

Now, they are going to slip this into a defense/military spending bill. Bailout teachers and military spending...now they are similar, huh? That is how the CONgress critters do things, attach one spending item to another spending bill. The reason they will get this passed is who want to be seen denying the military funding. If you vote against this when you run for re-election, your opponent will show you voted "against" our military. Of course you won't be able to explain that you supported the miltary, but just didn't support our poor teachers....oops, you don't want to do that....okay, I'll vote for it. This also appears that this funding will come from our "regular" federal budget and not the stimulus spending bill funds. Why not? I don't know, but I'm sure they have a good reason, just like the reason they are trying to keep this hush-hush.

"We know that economic prosperity and educational success go hand in hand, which is why the Obama administration is concerned by looming state and local budget cuts that threaten the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers across the country, Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes wrote in a blog posted yesterday to the White House website."

I call B.S. on this one. We all know that the teachers union was one of Obama's biggest financial supporters and this is just him watching out for another one of his supporters. They state they are concerned about the "hundreds of thousands of teachers" that may have their jobs threatened, but what about those millions of people that have lost their jobs. Where was their industry/union bailouts?

"In addition to state budget shortfalls across the country, stimulus funding for education is also winding down. The Recovery Act, specifically the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, has helped save upwards of 300,000 education jobs. Since the Recovery Act was enacted, the Education Department has provided roughly $100 billion to states. The Harkin bill would, in essence, be an extension of the state funding."

So, we have already used the "stimulus" to a tune of $100 billion to save 300,000 education jobs and now we are going to spend another $23 billion. WOW, that's $410,000 per job saved. That's enough to let those 300,000 teachers be unemployed for 8-10 years if each was paid that $410,000. That is not fiscal responsibility!

Those that are unemployed should be really ticked off.

This Is A Must Watch

Okay, I know it is long, but you need to watch this video. It is almost an hour long, but will tell you and explain things that you are not hearing on Lame Stream Media. Take an hour, sit down with a cup of coffee and listen and learn. But I will warn you, the information you will hear may wish you started with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Terrible Cuts Coming To California

Well, they probably should have made these cuts a while back. This state has been underwater for a while, and the Republican Govenor and Democrat controlled Legislature cannot come up with a plan.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will seek “terrible cuts” to eliminate an $18.6 billion budget deficit.

"California’s revenue in April, when income-tax payments are due, trailed the governor’s estimates by $3.6 billion, or 26 percent. The gap wiped out gains from the previous four months, leaving collections $1.3 billion behind projections for the budget year that ends in June."

"Democrats this week introduced a package of bills that would raise as much as $2.9 billion annually by imposing a 10 percent severance tax on oil production in the state, repealing corporate-tax breaks approved last year to spur job growth and assessing commercial property taxes differently."

Okay, let's raise tax on oil production which these companies will just pass on to the consumer. The unemployment rate is 13% and underemployment rate somewhere near 20%, so let's repeal tax breaks for companies. This doesn't make sense for two reasons. One, companies/corporations are the ones for the most part that hire the unemployed and Two, any tax increase to corporations will be passed on to the consumer, so prices for goods and services will increase. Where are the proposals to cut spending? How about reducing entitlement programs, no more free services to illegal immigrants, and less government spending.

Just these three things would save billions of dollars. But these require common sense.

How We Become A Slave

This is an edgy video that lasts about 13 minutes, so you need to be focused when you sit and watch it. It will lead you through the steps that are taken to enslave, uh...us. I would say enjoy, but it is pretty intense but very informative.

33 States Out Of Money For Jobless Benefits

Things don't look good!

"A total of 33 states and the Virgin Islands have depleted their funds and borrowed more than $38.7 billion"...

Thirty-three states have been relying on the federal government to pay the jobless benefits. But, the CONgress just extended benefits for the unemployed and the President signed it which extended it, through Memorial Day 2010. Now this is an additional $18 billion which we don't have, but I guess we can print some more. How many times will CONgress extend these benefits? As sad as it may seem, we need to stop these payments and let people start working.

"The nation's financing system for jobless benefits is under unprecedented stress," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the New York-based advocacy group for the unemployed.

I would say this is an understatement. The article mentions that at the beginning of the recession only 19 states had the recommended level of funding.

"The current crisis should compel policy makers to forge a new path to forward financing of the unemployment insurance program," Stettner said. "As the broke funds of 33 states makes clear, unemployment insurance reserves need to be stocked up before recessions hit so that states are prepared."

Unemployment insurance is paid by employers. If the employers costs increase, these costs will be passed on to the customers through higher prices. Higher prices means inflation. Get prepared.

April Unemployment Numbers

Well, you may have heard President Obama on ToutTV telling us that we had positive numbers on the recent Unemployment for April 2010.

Our government reports the U3 number. This is the 9.7% that is being reported today. If you want to see a real picture, you should look at the U6 number.

The classifications are:

U1: Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
U2: Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
U3: Official unemployment rate per ILO (International Labour Organization Definition. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the tripartite UN agency that brings together governments, employers and workers of its member states in common action to promote decent work throughout the world.
U4: U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
U5: U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
U6: U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons (underemployment).

So, as you can see if you look at the U6 nuimber it includes ALL persons who would like to be working full-time. We could call the U6 unemployed and Underemployed. Now I'm not saying that this administration is not telling the truth. Like the previous administrations they are only reporting the U3 numbers which only report some of the truth. And yes, we follow the guidelines of reporting the U3 per the UN definition.

Here is another chart from ShadowStats.com that reports the U3 and U6 numbers.



Their chart is not as promising...

Underemployment at 20%

I have said that unemployed is only one number to follow, the other is underemployed. We have many people out of work, but as this report shows, there are many underemployed.

Underemployment hits 20%, Mid-March 2010

Why is this important? If people still have a job, they can pay bills and put food on the table. But, if they are now making let's say 30%-50% less than they used to make it makes it harder to pay the bills. Something will have to give...will it be mortgage, utilities, car payment, credit cards, who knows, but something will be sacrificed.

"The danger associated with focusing on unemployment is reflected by the recent statement of Morgan Stanley economists suggesting that the U.S. may add as many as 300,000 jobs in March owing to an improvement in the weather, economic growth, and the government's hiring of temporary census workers. If anything close to this number of new jobs is announced by the government in early April, there is likely to be an enthusiastic, possibly even celebratory, response. Government officials are liable to tout the continued benefits of last year's stimulus and the future benefits of the new jobs bill. Many Wall Streeters will likely argue that the surge in jobs is simply another confirmation of the strength of the overall economic recovery.


However, before policymakers celebrate too much, they should note Gallup's recent findings involving its new, more inclusive measure of underemployment.."

If there is an increase in jobs you can bet the MSM will pick that up and report it. I wonder if they will report the 20% underemployed. Also remember if jobs are added that some of these are likely to be these underemployed workers and the 17,000+ census workers. I will be watching for the April unemployement reports when they are released and let you know my thoughts.