I receive my fair share of email forwards as I am sure most of you do as well. Occasionally, there is one in the bunch that is clever and noteworthy. Today, I received one from my friend Jon that really made a ton of sense. So much so, that I decided to post it onto my blog word for word.
Take your time and read it. It makes a ton of sense, now I am not an economist (neither are the people we elect by the way) nor am I an accountant but this plan really makes me think. Send me your thoughts, is this fantasy or reality, either way its a place I want to be!
Btw, thanks for your comments on my last post although it seems that only right wing conservatives have the time to reply (a call out to all my left of center friends that are letting these right wing comments go unanswered!). I look forward to hearing from you all. Enjoy, its a definite eye opener.
OSO.
The "We Deserve It Dividend":
I haven't run the numbers since my calculator won't go up this high (I guess only "government" calculators have this many numbers) but the concept is valid. The Government is talking about a bailout of our financial system totaling about 850 billion, (which is technically not a bail out since many of the assets bought will be sold later at a higher price). Sort of puts the bailout investment in perspective.......I'm against the $850,000,000,000.00 bailout. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $850,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $850 billon that equals $4,250.00. My plan is to give $4,250.00 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend. It means that every adult 18+ has $4,250.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $8,500.00 in total.
What could the average American family do with $8,500.00? Get current on their mortgages - housing crisis solved. Put away money for college - it'll be there. Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs. Put a deposit to buy a new car - create jobs. Invest in the market - capital drives growth. Pay for medical insurance - health care improves. Enable Dead beat Dads to come clean - or else. Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $850 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG, and the others- liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't. Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work." But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party. How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $850 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Where Has Our Money Gone?
Today was an awful day on Wall Street! The dow was down 504 point, bringing the Dow to just above 10,900 (remember when they popped the champagne about 8 years ago when the dow passed 10,000 for the first time?!). The credit crisis, or sub prime crisis, whatever you want to call it, is in full swing, erasing some of our most prominent companies and wreaking havoc on our financial system and economy as a whole.
Yup, this is serious. Bear Stearns gone. Lehman Bros. (who by the way was the first ever company that I used to trade stocks in college, awww) is gone. The giant Merrill Lynch has been bought by Bank of America and there remains only two major firms; JP Morgan (which is technically part of Chase Bank) and Goldman Sachs, who faced all kinds of nasty rumors today as the only two remaining large investment houses on Wall Street. Sad.
The Banks are next. AIG is faltering, looking for a mere 40 billion "bridge loan" to keep them afloat, with no takers as of yet. Washington Mutual has so much crap on their balance sheets that they are on the brink as well, with rumours that Barclays and / or Bank Of America (who seems to have an endless appetite for down and out financial companies) will take WAMU over. Citibank, has already taken billions in loans and "investment" from their Arab friends and has written down a mere 10 billion last quarter with a warning saying more is to come. Who is left?
People this is very serious. We have a very bad liquidity crunch with the safest place to put our money being our bedroom matress. Our banking system is grinding to halt. What is really amazing is that this credit crisis has been going on for about a year and half now and companies still do not know what is real and what is worthless on their balance sheets. Or...maybe they do know but are trying to let the bad news out gradually which seems never ending.
My point here is that we have been in difficult times and there are difficult times that lie ahead. There will be no quick fix here. Christmas will stink as people will not spend. We have not yet hit a bottom and the effects of what is happening will be without a doubt, higher unemployment (no money to create jobs, no bank lending to fuel business growth), reduced salaries, less consumer spending, basically tough economic times. Soooo...what can we do? Well I can tell you what we should NOT be doing as a Nation and that is spending billions of dollars a month on a war in Iraq.
Let me explain; when you dont have money, you dont spend money. When you have a situation where you have limited money but need it badly to improve your situation, you dont waste it else where. When you are facing a tough financial situation you take stock of your resources and maximize them as best as you can. Making sure you spend your money wisely to help you navigate through the tough times. This is the exact OPPOSITE of what our Government is doing.
PEOPLE: we spend 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq. We spend 12.3 billion dollars a month in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Lets do the math:
10 billion a month in Iraq=
120 billion a year=
1/2 a trillion dollars in 5 years!!!
What credit problem? We have no problems, we must be filthy rich! The Treasury chose NOT to bail our Lehman Bros today but will spend about 2.5 billion this week alone in Iraq! Now, I am not saying that the Government should bail out every failed company, after all, they made bad decisions and need to pay the price. Their investors invested in a failed business model and now they must also deal with that reality. BUT, the harsh economic reality is we need our money now to help get us through this very tough economic situation. I think in the long run a financially strong America will be more secure than a weaker one because the day will come when we will no longer be able to afford to defend ourselves.
Imagine if we took the 120 billion dollars we piss away in Iraq every year and put it into our infrastructure, our financial institutions, building projects that create jobs, education, R & D for alternative energy! We would be the strongest country on the planet in every respect. This is a very different country than eight years ago. We no longer have the luxury to spend billions chasing nukes that are not there. We need to be smarter in terms of how we manage our money. Of course, nobody is closing up America, but we do need to make better choices to secure our future and let me tell you, he who is the strongest financially wins.
As always, I welcome your comments.
OSO.
Yup, this is serious. Bear Stearns gone. Lehman Bros. (who by the way was the first ever company that I used to trade stocks in college, awww) is gone. The giant Merrill Lynch has been bought by Bank of America and there remains only two major firms; JP Morgan (which is technically part of Chase Bank) and Goldman Sachs, who faced all kinds of nasty rumors today as the only two remaining large investment houses on Wall Street. Sad.
The Banks are next. AIG is faltering, looking for a mere 40 billion "bridge loan" to keep them afloat, with no takers as of yet. Washington Mutual has so much crap on their balance sheets that they are on the brink as well, with rumours that Barclays and / or Bank Of America (who seems to have an endless appetite for down and out financial companies) will take WAMU over. Citibank, has already taken billions in loans and "investment" from their Arab friends and has written down a mere 10 billion last quarter with a warning saying more is to come. Who is left?
People this is very serious. We have a very bad liquidity crunch with the safest place to put our money being our bedroom matress. Our banking system is grinding to halt. What is really amazing is that this credit crisis has been going on for about a year and half now and companies still do not know what is real and what is worthless on their balance sheets. Or...maybe they do know but are trying to let the bad news out gradually which seems never ending.
My point here is that we have been in difficult times and there are difficult times that lie ahead. There will be no quick fix here. Christmas will stink as people will not spend. We have not yet hit a bottom and the effects of what is happening will be without a doubt, higher unemployment (no money to create jobs, no bank lending to fuel business growth), reduced salaries, less consumer spending, basically tough economic times. Soooo...what can we do? Well I can tell you what we should NOT be doing as a Nation and that is spending billions of dollars a month on a war in Iraq.
Let me explain; when you dont have money, you dont spend money. When you have a situation where you have limited money but need it badly to improve your situation, you dont waste it else where. When you are facing a tough financial situation you take stock of your resources and maximize them as best as you can. Making sure you spend your money wisely to help you navigate through the tough times. This is the exact OPPOSITE of what our Government is doing.
PEOPLE: we spend 10 billion dollars a month in Iraq. We spend 12.3 billion dollars a month in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Lets do the math:
10 billion a month in Iraq=
120 billion a year=
1/2 a trillion dollars in 5 years!!!
What credit problem? We have no problems, we must be filthy rich! The Treasury chose NOT to bail our Lehman Bros today but will spend about 2.5 billion this week alone in Iraq! Now, I am not saying that the Government should bail out every failed company, after all, they made bad decisions and need to pay the price. Their investors invested in a failed business model and now they must also deal with that reality. BUT, the harsh economic reality is we need our money now to help get us through this very tough economic situation. I think in the long run a financially strong America will be more secure than a weaker one because the day will come when we will no longer be able to afford to defend ourselves.
Imagine if we took the 120 billion dollars we piss away in Iraq every year and put it into our infrastructure, our financial institutions, building projects that create jobs, education, R & D for alternative energy! We would be the strongest country on the planet in every respect. This is a very different country than eight years ago. We no longer have the luxury to spend billions chasing nukes that are not there. We need to be smarter in terms of how we manage our money. Of course, nobody is closing up America, but we do need to make better choices to secure our future and let me tell you, he who is the strongest financially wins.
As always, I welcome your comments.
OSO.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Hello Y'all. While this is my first post, I am not ready to make it my "First", so while technically it is the first post ever on my blog, I am not ready to sit down and get all thoughtful as is appropriate for one's first ever web log post. I will, however let you know when the "official" first posting is ready.
I am, what some might call, a closet (more like frustrated or even lazy) writer. I always loved writing, have been told often that I am good at it, but never committed to it. Whenever the opportunity presented itself and I found myself sitting and writing something, I would kill it, but, for some reason, as the years moved forward, I found myself writing less and less (I was busy, getting married, getting divorced, working, and fathering though not necessarily in that order). Can you relate? I am one of those people that loves to buy fancy writing journals, leather bound writing tablets, of course the nice smooth writing pens. I would then put these beautiful journals in my briefcase so that I could write in them on the train to work or whenever I had extra time. I would, at first, pen a few pages about whatever I was thinking of at the time (work, life) but would never stick to it. Still, when I am in the bookstore, I often find myself creeping over to that section with the fancy writing notebooks and helplessly buying another one. I guess it represents to me the desire to write, the intention is there, but... it never happens with any consistency. Lets see if this blog can change all that.
So, to all you wanna be writers out there, like me, that can relate, here is my blog, my place where my muse will find its way out of my brain and into the written word. No promises but definitely good intentions. If you have any thoughts on this, perhaps words of encouragement (yeah I love those!) or similar experiences, I would definitely love to hear them, so for now...lets see what happens.
OSO.
I am, what some might call, a closet (more like frustrated or even lazy) writer. I always loved writing, have been told often that I am good at it, but never committed to it. Whenever the opportunity presented itself and I found myself sitting and writing something, I would kill it, but, for some reason, as the years moved forward, I found myself writing less and less (I was busy, getting married, getting divorced, working, and fathering though not necessarily in that order). Can you relate? I am one of those people that loves to buy fancy writing journals, leather bound writing tablets, of course the nice smooth writing pens. I would then put these beautiful journals in my briefcase so that I could write in them on the train to work or whenever I had extra time. I would, at first, pen a few pages about whatever I was thinking of at the time (work, life) but would never stick to it. Still, when I am in the bookstore, I often find myself creeping over to that section with the fancy writing notebooks and helplessly buying another one. I guess it represents to me the desire to write, the intention is there, but... it never happens with any consistency. Lets see if this blog can change all that.
So, to all you wanna be writers out there, like me, that can relate, here is my blog, my place where my muse will find its way out of my brain and into the written word. No promises but definitely good intentions. If you have any thoughts on this, perhaps words of encouragement (yeah I love those!) or similar experiences, I would definitely love to hear them, so for now...lets see what happens.
OSO.
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