How so generous of Donald Trump to express a ‘demand’ that employees within his many organization get out and vote, offering them an hour to do so.
It’s a corporate mindset that there’s a responsibility for every registered voter to take part in his or her civic duty to participate in choosing the next President of the United States and every other candidate in federal, state and local elections.
I myself have been given that same ‘opportunity’ during my working years in a corporate setting. The offer was made to take an extended lunch period to make the employees’ voices heard by means of the ballot box.
Well, it sounds real good and patriotic but it still puts a burden on the employ to accomplish the duty within the time allowance. In my instance, the challenge was to get to and get back from the designated polling place for the district I was in. It would have taken 20-30 minutes in travel time. Who knew how long it would take to stand in line before I could stand inside the voting booth to cast my votes? There were, and never are, any guarantees.
Trying to make sure the ballot would be filled out and taking time to eat lunch is a challenge. If you haven’t returned to the work desk within two hours, questions would be asked and answered would in turn be questioned, if not verbalized then expressed by the look in the boss’ eyes.
I wasn’t the only one who would take that extra hour with the lunch period but not fulfill the intended directive. And working an 8 to 5 job it was too risky a deal to do it in the morning before the workday started and occasionally too much of a challenge to place the bet after work, with booths closing at 7, especially if you have other priorities, such as picking up kids.
For the Trump-ster, it’s more of a PR job to make the appearance that his generosity might be second in importance only to the vote count of employees. He can smile with determination, but it’s still the corporate attitude above and beyond all else.
Many states give citizens the opportunity to cast votes early but it’s common for many folks to ponder their choices until the General Election is actually upon them. Absentee ballots are another option but a lot of states have requirements that must be met before the request is honored, such as verification that the voter will be out of town or a handicap makes voting an obstacle.
There are free world countries that respect the rights of voters to make a selection of candidates who will directly affect their lives and the world at large. A national ‘holiday’ to give American citizens a respectful right to vote would be of such importance placed on July 4th, Independence Day.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
ECHOES
This could be considered an addendum to the previous blog SO INDEBTED TO DEBT posted two days ago. http://parcelpost08.blogspot.com/2008/10/so-indebted-to-debt.html
On this day of Halloween celebration, Associated Press reports that Chase, Bank of America, Discover, Citicorp, American Express and other large credit card lenders are urging the Federal Government to allow as many as 50,000 people deep in the doo-doo of credit card debt be forgiven of up to 40% of their balances.
With all this freaky financial turmoil continuing to undermine America’s free market ideology, you might wonder ‘When or will it ever end?’ With the deep, dark, bottomless pit of worldwide failing economies, is that an echo we hear reverberating downward in an abyss of person desperation asking in a helpless voice, “Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Please... Somebody help me!?
Financial institutions are asking that this bailout of individual debt be a pilot program, meant to become a permanent practice.
The rest of us should be asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’, sure to deduce that somewhere along the way we’ll be the ones to ultimately shoulder the expense from adopting such a program.
The proposal seems to put us on a path that will lead the country to BIGGER government, a welfare state and to taking measures suggestive of a socialist government. This is the very claim that presidential candidate John McCain proclaims we will find ourselves from the proposed policies of his rival Barak Obama, but we’re already well on our way so socialism as a result of the too-long a period of time from the policy of the Bush administration giving exorbitant tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations.
The balance of scales has tipped in the wrong direction for low and middle class families. They’ve endured eight years of flat-line wages and reduced benefits for taxpayers earning less than $200,000 per year, a figure referenced from the words of Obama. At this point, lower taxes will make little difference to this segment of the workforce – it will only get worse because one bailout after another puts an endless future of paying off the added national debt.
It’s a shame that the U.S. Government still suggests we’re on the verge of a recession, with much of the media in alignment, while the Grand Poobah of world financial gurus, The Economist, specifically calls the goblin what it is. Let’s hope this deity of financial messengers tells no tale that the ghost of future days is upon us. It would too depressing.
On this day of Halloween celebration, Associated Press reports that Chase, Bank of America, Discover, Citicorp, American Express and other large credit card lenders are urging the Federal Government to allow as many as 50,000 people deep in the doo-doo of credit card debt be forgiven of up to 40% of their balances.
With all this freaky financial turmoil continuing to undermine America’s free market ideology, you might wonder ‘When or will it ever end?’ With the deep, dark, bottomless pit of worldwide failing economies, is that an echo we hear reverberating downward in an abyss of person desperation asking in a helpless voice, “Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Please... Somebody help me!?
Financial institutions are asking that this bailout of individual debt be a pilot program, meant to become a permanent practice.
The rest of us should be asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’, sure to deduce that somewhere along the way we’ll be the ones to ultimately shoulder the expense from adopting such a program.
The proposal seems to put us on a path that will lead the country to BIGGER government, a welfare state and to taking measures suggestive of a socialist government. This is the very claim that presidential candidate John McCain proclaims we will find ourselves from the proposed policies of his rival Barak Obama, but we’re already well on our way so socialism as a result of the too-long a period of time from the policy of the Bush administration giving exorbitant tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations.
The balance of scales has tipped in the wrong direction for low and middle class families. They’ve endured eight years of flat-line wages and reduced benefits for taxpayers earning less than $200,000 per year, a figure referenced from the words of Obama. At this point, lower taxes will make little difference to this segment of the workforce – it will only get worse because one bailout after another puts an endless future of paying off the added national debt.
It’s a shame that the U.S. Government still suggests we’re on the verge of a recession, with much of the media in alignment, while the Grand Poobah of world financial gurus, The Economist, specifically calls the goblin what it is. Let’s hope this deity of financial messengers tells no tale that the ghost of future days is upon us. It would too depressing.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
So Indebted To Debt
The economic situation that we’re experiencing in the United States won’t get much better any time soon. Just when Wall Street suggests we might soon hit bottom to the tumult, my notions put the economy high on the Richter scale of continued shaky financial ground.
Credit card debt is biting at the heels of stability of the banking industry with lenders writing off over $20B of unsecured consumer loans during the first six months of the year, with a strong likelihood that year-end figures of defaulted credit card debt will more than double. Credit card debt is the next ticking time bomb of financial doom.
I continue to get more offers for plastic than my wallet could possibly hold. I already have a number of cards that, if I were to carry all of them in my back pocket, they would give me a one-sided bubble-butt!
The banking industry has already done a good job to snag me into their web of irresponsible spending. Although I only carry one card at any given time, I typically only use it when absolutely necessary, using the debit card in most transactions; as I make entries into the checkbook, the balance shows me how seriously I must to do some penny-pinching.
On a recent timeout from the real life, I did some spending unbecoming of my pocketbook. From past experiences I've learned that there's little likelihood I'll revisit places I’ve been, although I did fall in love with the Black Hills with the mountains, rolling hills, canyons and the desert conditions of the Badlands. It may be another thirteen years before I visit other natural wonders in these United States. The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountains are on my mind, just the other side of South Dakota. I can't disguise my yearning.
I splurged, within reason, by eating out every day and night, not willing to domesticate what was a time of freedom from everyday food preparations. I brought back a few souvenirs and momentos that I would never have the opportunity to cherish otherwise. Temporary housing was the major source of charges.
The bills are now due. The means of payment? They go on another credit card account, one that gives me a transaction fee of 3% and an "intoductory" interest rate of 0% through the billing period in July 2009. This was my “budgeting plan" for the trip. If I fail to make the minimum monthly payment or go over the credit limit, the default rate is over 25%. Depending on a person's credit score, the standard credit card company charges the prime lending rate plus 14% with the same aforementioned default rate. I’ve already made other charges toward auto and home insurance premiums. Property taxes will likely be next in line. It adds up quickly. And so do interest fees.
Keep in mind, if you believe you're doing the right thing by canceling a credit card, it's a negative effect on your credit score. Cut it up and feel empowered to negotiate with the lender a means to pay off the balance, if necessary. Consumer aren't meant to get too far ahead, just like indentured servants in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Just as payday loan sharks snag the workingman with exorbitant fees of 30%, so does the banking industry with rates not much less severe. The recent bailout of large financial institutions that's intended to ease borrowing between banks won’t help the little guy much toward meeting their monthly shortcomings of cash; those Big Government dollars are meant for businesses with that tricky trickle-down expectation.
Hopefully, the bailout success is just around the next bend and the unemployed will get back tens of thousands of jobs, again giving them a means to be consumers, who are the ultimate source for economic growth through spending, the very same source that will fund the bailout.
I was wrong earlier this year to believe oil futures would reach $200 per barrel by years’ end but who knew an alarm through financial markets would grind the wheels of transportation to a near halt? “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” but only if the driver pays attention to the warning signals. It didn’t happen, so the grease slick sent the economy slip-slidin’ away, now flat on its back. Where’s an honest chiropractic mechanic when you need one?
I’m not a financial swami, but more ongoing foreclosures and job losses will continue to lead people to max out their high-interest credit cards, declaring bankruptcy and leaving lenders in another round of what will be a further meltdown in this and world economies.
Hopefully, Election Day 2009 will bring leadership that will prompt changes in credit card interest rate lending practices that create too challenging an obstacle for consumers to pay off their debts. Consumers need a clean slate before they can give a real boost to the economy by, once again, using their credit cards. Indeed, it's a revolving door of credit debt.
Credit card debt is biting at the heels of stability of the banking industry with lenders writing off over $20B of unsecured consumer loans during the first six months of the year, with a strong likelihood that year-end figures of defaulted credit card debt will more than double. Credit card debt is the next ticking time bomb of financial doom.
I continue to get more offers for plastic than my wallet could possibly hold. I already have a number of cards that, if I were to carry all of them in my back pocket, they would give me a one-sided bubble-butt!
The banking industry has already done a good job to snag me into their web of irresponsible spending. Although I only carry one card at any given time, I typically only use it when absolutely necessary, using the debit card in most transactions; as I make entries into the checkbook, the balance shows me how seriously I must to do some penny-pinching.
On a recent timeout from the real life, I did some spending unbecoming of my pocketbook. From past experiences I've learned that there's little likelihood I'll revisit places I’ve been, although I did fall in love with the Black Hills with the mountains, rolling hills, canyons and the desert conditions of the Badlands. It may be another thirteen years before I visit other natural wonders in these United States. The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and the Rocky Mountains are on my mind, just the other side of South Dakota. I can't disguise my yearning.
I splurged, within reason, by eating out every day and night, not willing to domesticate what was a time of freedom from everyday food preparations. I brought back a few souvenirs and momentos that I would never have the opportunity to cherish otherwise. Temporary housing was the major source of charges.
The bills are now due. The means of payment? They go on another credit card account, one that gives me a transaction fee of 3% and an "intoductory" interest rate of 0% through the billing period in July 2009. This was my “budgeting plan" for the trip. If I fail to make the minimum monthly payment or go over the credit limit, the default rate is over 25%. Depending on a person's credit score, the standard credit card company charges the prime lending rate plus 14% with the same aforementioned default rate. I’ve already made other charges toward auto and home insurance premiums. Property taxes will likely be next in line. It adds up quickly. And so do interest fees.
Keep in mind, if you believe you're doing the right thing by canceling a credit card, it's a negative effect on your credit score. Cut it up and feel empowered to negotiate with the lender a means to pay off the balance, if necessary. Consumer aren't meant to get too far ahead, just like indentured servants in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Just as payday loan sharks snag the workingman with exorbitant fees of 30%, so does the banking industry with rates not much less severe. The recent bailout of large financial institutions that's intended to ease borrowing between banks won’t help the little guy much toward meeting their monthly shortcomings of cash; those Big Government dollars are meant for businesses with that tricky trickle-down expectation.
Hopefully, the bailout success is just around the next bend and the unemployed will get back tens of thousands of jobs, again giving them a means to be consumers, who are the ultimate source for economic growth through spending, the very same source that will fund the bailout.
I was wrong earlier this year to believe oil futures would reach $200 per barrel by years’ end but who knew an alarm through financial markets would grind the wheels of transportation to a near halt? “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” but only if the driver pays attention to the warning signals. It didn’t happen, so the grease slick sent the economy slip-slidin’ away, now flat on its back. Where’s an honest chiropractic mechanic when you need one?
I’m not a financial swami, but more ongoing foreclosures and job losses will continue to lead people to max out their high-interest credit cards, declaring bankruptcy and leaving lenders in another round of what will be a further meltdown in this and world economies.
Hopefully, Election Day 2009 will bring leadership that will prompt changes in credit card interest rate lending practices that create too challenging an obstacle for consumers to pay off their debts. Consumers need a clean slate before they can give a real boost to the economy by, once again, using their credit cards. Indeed, it's a revolving door of credit debt.
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Economist Global Galloping Poll For Obama
Call it The Economist side of my reading that takes an interest in worldly opinion of the Presidential race between Senators John McCain and Barak Obama. The on-line poll requests participation in casting votes toward the “Global Electoral College”, asking the question, “Obama or McCain, who do want?”
The poll is probably pointless, other than giving a worldly view of what each country would like to see in the Election Day results. With the re-election of G. W. Bush four years ago, America has proven world opinion is worthless, the same attitude of the 43rd President of the United States.
As of October 24, Obama has racked up 36,286 votes compared to 6,731 for McCain. This translates to 8,969 Global Electoral Votes for Barak and 285 for McCain.
Eight countries have put McCain as their preference, of which 3 (Cuba, Iraq and Namibia) are strongly for his election victory and 5 (Algeria, Republic of Congo, Macedonia, Moldova Sudan) are leaning toward his maverick ways. On the Obama side, 109 are strong in his favor and 4 lean his way out of a total of 194 countries.
In 62 small countries, more votes are needed before the tally is complete. In one country, Georgia, it’s a “Toss Up” with a 2% difference.
Of course, the poll is fairly selective in the class of voters. If nothing else, they read The Economist, the magazine Governor Sarah Palin listed as an afterthought when questioned which newspapers she reads. Was she McPrompted just as teachers give guidance to students taking the FCAT?
The rest of the world can be brushed/Bushed-aside but in these United States of America, The Economist voters selected Barak Obama over John McCain 80% to 20%! Any margin of error wouldn’t give McCain much of a chance at succeeding in his opportunity to become Commander-In-Chief of this most influential Government in this great big world.
You are invited to check it out, and cast a vote when you log-in, at:
www.economist.com/vote2008/?mode/=leadershipboard
The poll is probably pointless, other than giving a worldly view of what each country would like to see in the Election Day results. With the re-election of G. W. Bush four years ago, America has proven world opinion is worthless, the same attitude of the 43rd President of the United States.
As of October 24, Obama has racked up 36,286 votes compared to 6,731 for McCain. This translates to 8,969 Global Electoral Votes for Barak and 285 for McCain.
Eight countries have put McCain as their preference, of which 3 (Cuba, Iraq and Namibia) are strongly for his election victory and 5 (Algeria, Republic of Congo, Macedonia, Moldova Sudan) are leaning toward his maverick ways. On the Obama side, 109 are strong in his favor and 4 lean his way out of a total of 194 countries.
In 62 small countries, more votes are needed before the tally is complete. In one country, Georgia, it’s a “Toss Up” with a 2% difference.
Of course, the poll is fairly selective in the class of voters. If nothing else, they read The Economist, the magazine Governor Sarah Palin listed as an afterthought when questioned which newspapers she reads. Was she McPrompted just as teachers give guidance to students taking the FCAT?
The rest of the world can be brushed/Bushed-aside but in these United States of America, The Economist voters selected Barak Obama over John McCain 80% to 20%! Any margin of error wouldn’t give McCain much of a chance at succeeding in his opportunity to become Commander-In-Chief of this most influential Government in this great big world.
You are invited to check it out, and cast a vote when you log-in, at:
www.economist.com/vote2008/?mode/=leadershipboard
Thursday, October 16, 2008
McCain In Vain
For a military man intent on maintaining a military presence in Iraq for an undetermined length of time with the belief that the war can be won, it’s more than just a little surprising with some of his actions and decisions in his bid to succeed in the General Election and become America’s Commander-in-Chief.
He has chosen to wave the white flag in a state that would delivery 17 of the 270 electoral votes to win the Presidential election. That’s over 6% of the necessary total. How many other surrenders will he declare in the final countdown to November 4?
I felt McCain’s demeanor in the debate was unbecoming of a Presidential candidate. I chuckled more than once when his eyes rolled and facial expressions indicated a juvenile reaction to Obama’s comments. Off camera, I imaged him sticking out his tongue!
These are reasons why I believe the Arizona Senator’s election bid will be remembered as McCain In Vain.
He has chosen to wave the white flag in a state that would delivery 17 of the 270 electoral votes to win the Presidential election. That’s over 6% of the necessary total. How many other surrenders will he declare in the final countdown to November 4?
I felt McCain’s demeanor in the debate was unbecoming of a Presidential candidate. I chuckled more than once when his eyes rolled and facial expressions indicated a juvenile reaction to Obama’s comments. Off camera, I imaged him sticking out his tongue!
These are reasons why I believe the Arizona Senator’s election bid will be remembered as McCain In Vain.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Ya Having A Good Time, Boys?
Happy Anniversary, Boys.
Traveling along I-90 west from South Dakota into Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower Monument, one of the first sights to see are those gray, aged wooden fences where two boys posted the body of Matthew Shepard ten years ago today.
The two murders’ names aren’t important. Their life sentences were well served with their act that took the life of an innocent 21-year old man of a different sexual orientation than their own.
What is most notable is that they are behind steel bars. With other men. For the rest of their lives. May they spend their days and nights getting their own just deserves from other cellmates.
Have a nice life, boys
Traveling along I-90 west from South Dakota into Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower Monument, one of the first sights to see are those gray, aged wooden fences where two boys posted the body of Matthew Shepard ten years ago today.
The two murders’ names aren’t important. Their life sentences were well served with their act that took the life of an innocent 21-year old man of a different sexual orientation than their own.
What is most notable is that they are behind steel bars. With other men. For the rest of their lives. May they spend their days and nights getting their own just deserves from other cellmates.
Have a nice life, boys
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Moon Gas
Oil prices began a moderate retreat as the discovery of undetermined amounts of natural gases in the south polar region of the moon. No timeline has been given for further exploration.
It was an unexpected find when a probe named Huygens parachuted from the parent spacecraft Cassini to investigate what had appeared to be hundreds of dark, lake-like features. In the joint venture of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, the success of the launch included proof that, other than Earth, there is now at least one celestial body in the Solar System that has liquid on its surface. The total cost of the mission is over $3B.
The body of liquid is about 7,800 square miles, slightly larger than Lake Ontario. Other dark areas on the surface have the same appearance but remain unconfirmed as other lakes of ethane, a liquid solution of methane, other hydrocarbons and nitrogen. The find substantiates scientific belief that clouds of methane exist in the moon’s atmosphere.
Ethane derivatives are rather diverse in their applications and could ease the energy squeeze of developing countries. A process called “cracking” incorporates a procedure that breaks down the molecule weight to produce “light hydrocarbons”. The resultant product is dependent on the temperature (750 to 950 degrees) and various catalysts.
One of the chemical byproducts produced is ethylene, which is used in a wide range of consumer products.
By nature, ethylene is produced by climacteric fruits, such as bananas, pears and tomatoes, to speed up ripening. That’s why some fruits ripen quicker in a plastic bag. Commercially, small amounts of ethylene are added to agriculture products to speed up ripening. It is also used to induce flowering but lessens the life of flower arrangements as it depletes the oxygen level.
Other commercial use is extensive: wires, insulation, automotive, carpets, flame-retardants, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. And plastics: shopping bags, plastic jugs and all those other consumer throwaway containers. Think of all those Made in China products.
It is also used in the process of producing gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and ethanol.
Actually, this monumental discovery has nothing to do with Earth’s Moon but about obtaining scientific knowledge about the Solar System. The spacecraft Cassini was launched Oct 15 1997 then did two flybys of Venus before getting a gravitational boost as it passed by Earth on Aug 18, 1999. On Dec 20, 2003, the most detailed pictures to date of Jupiter were transmitted back to Earth as it gathered other scientific data.
Just imagine spacecraft Cassini cruising between the outer rings of F & G as it became the first spacecraft to reach orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004. The probe Huygen was released Dec 25, 2004, and reached the surface of Titan on Jan 14, 2005. Titan is one of 60 known moons, of which only 52 have been named, and the brightest with a size consistent with small planets like Mercury.
So, none of the world’s ever-increasing energy needs can’t be solved with a commodity over 600 million miles out in space and, however extensive the volumes of ethane and other natural gases may be on Titan, it won’t help resolve any portion of our energy needs anytime in the foreseeable future.
Crude oil investors, and all those other opportunists of making an easy buck at the expense of Earth and its inhabitants, can add that bit of trivia to further justify their politic solution (excuse) of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was an unexpected find when a probe named Huygens parachuted from the parent spacecraft Cassini to investigate what had appeared to be hundreds of dark, lake-like features. In the joint venture of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, the success of the launch included proof that, other than Earth, there is now at least one celestial body in the Solar System that has liquid on its surface. The total cost of the mission is over $3B.
The body of liquid is about 7,800 square miles, slightly larger than Lake Ontario. Other dark areas on the surface have the same appearance but remain unconfirmed as other lakes of ethane, a liquid solution of methane, other hydrocarbons and nitrogen. The find substantiates scientific belief that clouds of methane exist in the moon’s atmosphere.
Ethane derivatives are rather diverse in their applications and could ease the energy squeeze of developing countries. A process called “cracking” incorporates a procedure that breaks down the molecule weight to produce “light hydrocarbons”. The resultant product is dependent on the temperature (750 to 950 degrees) and various catalysts.
One of the chemical byproducts produced is ethylene, which is used in a wide range of consumer products.
By nature, ethylene is produced by climacteric fruits, such as bananas, pears and tomatoes, to speed up ripening. That’s why some fruits ripen quicker in a plastic bag. Commercially, small amounts of ethylene are added to agriculture products to speed up ripening. It is also used to induce flowering but lessens the life of flower arrangements as it depletes the oxygen level.
Other commercial use is extensive: wires, insulation, automotive, carpets, flame-retardants, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. And plastics: shopping bags, plastic jugs and all those other consumer throwaway containers. Think of all those Made in China products.
It is also used in the process of producing gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and ethanol.
Actually, this monumental discovery has nothing to do with Earth’s Moon but about obtaining scientific knowledge about the Solar System. The spacecraft Cassini was launched Oct 15 1997 then did two flybys of Venus before getting a gravitational boost as it passed by Earth on Aug 18, 1999. On Dec 20, 2003, the most detailed pictures to date of Jupiter were transmitted back to Earth as it gathered other scientific data.
Just imagine spacecraft Cassini cruising between the outer rings of F & G as it became the first spacecraft to reach orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004. The probe Huygen was released Dec 25, 2004, and reached the surface of Titan on Jan 14, 2005. Titan is one of 60 known moons, of which only 52 have been named, and the brightest with a size consistent with small planets like Mercury.
So, none of the world’s ever-increasing energy needs can’t be solved with a commodity over 600 million miles out in space and, however extensive the volumes of ethane and other natural gases may be on Titan, it won’t help resolve any portion of our energy needs anytime in the foreseeable future.
Crude oil investors, and all those other opportunists of making an easy buck at the expense of Earth and its inhabitants, can add that bit of trivia to further justify their politic solution (excuse) of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)