We now know that once government gets it greedy little hands on a formally capitalistic institution like a bank that things are going to get nutty. Case in point the salary cap for CEO’s. Does Mr. Obama really think this is going to fix anything. This is only going to make things worse. When you cap the pay for those at the top it has a trickle down effect. If a CEO only makes $500,000 a year then the VPs that work under him are only going to make $300K to $400k. The folks below them will make even less and the folks below them will make even less and so on and so forth until the guy at the bottom (me and you) make way less than we do now or be out of a job all together. How is that supposed to fix the economy?

Also do we really want the government running “private” businesses. I mean look at the great job they have done with this country. Gosh they have got everything running so efficiently and we have lots of money in reserves for things like social security and medicare and Medicaid. Wow I am so impressed. They never waste a dime and have always looked after the best interest of the American people. Everything the government touches turns to gold. Oh, and the ethics and the morals of those in elected office are of the highest order. They never lie, cheat on their spouses, or their taxes. They never take bribes and they are above reproach. Wow why didn’t we think of this sooner, of course the government can fix everything. After all unlike most businesses if they run out of money they can always print more. Why shouldn’t we have socialized and nationalized everything. What are we waiting for utopia awaits!

In reality things are not going to turn out well. I will say that for a short amount of time (maybe a few weeks) things are going to look like they are going to turn around. The money from the stimulus package may actually buy us a little time. But in the end I am afraid that once the money is gone (and it will not take long) that we are going to be back in bad shape but next time it will be even worse. We are going to be in more debt than this country has ever seen. Business all over this country are going to continue to fail one right after another. More people are going to loose their jobs and the next time the government will not be able to buy its way out of a wet paper bag. We are headed right into national bankruptcy and the idiots are leading the parade. The sad thing is I don’t think they know just what they are doing to this country. They think they have the answer but they lack the foresight to see the errors of their ways.

It disturbs me too that the American people are not fed up with all this crap. That they are not protesting this monumental brain fart that the government is selling us. Well if the American people are missing it somehow, the rest of the world is not. You would think if this stimulus package was such a good idea that markets all over the world would be rallying behind it with support. You would think that investors world wide would be chomping at the bit for a piece of the action. But that is not what is happening at all. When this so called stimulus package was passed investor confidence world wide took a huge dip. It is funny that the rest of the world see this for what it is. It is the death of capitalism and soon the free market system.

So how do we reverse this. Well I don’t pretend to have all the answers but here are a few things that I would suggest for the short term for all you potential bail out I mean stimulus recipients:

1. If you are a business owner large or small, never take government money. This will allow you to make your own decisions about how and when you invest your money. You will not have to worry about salary caps or big brother interference (other than some of the stupid laws that you are already dealing with). If you business is failing then find a better business model, or reorganize so you can start making money again. But what ever you do don’t take cash from Uncle Sam, there is always a string attached.
2. Quit making the same widget if  it is not selling. Move on and keep up with the times. I don’t care if your great, great, great, great, grand father came up with the widget maybe people in 2009 just don’t need it anymore.
3. If your CEO mismanages the company fire him or her. Don’t let one idiot run the whole thing into the ground.
4. Modernize your operations so you can produce quality. The adage is true you have to spend money to make money. If you keep producing crappy products sooner or latter people are going to figure this out and stop buying from you.
5. Quit sending American jobs overseas. If we are to survive in this global market we need to be strong at home first. That means hiring Americans and paying them a fair wage so they can better afford to buy your widget and which in return will lead to stronger sale figures for you. We are one of the biggest consumer markets in the world but this is quickly changing because Americans no longer can afford to buy even the cheep imports you keep sending over here from countries like China because the job they once had that let them buy this stuff is now being done by a 13 year old in a factory in Beijing. American families can not survive on Wal-Mart greeter salaries.

In the long run we need to elect better leaders and toss the bums out of Washington. I went to school to be a teacher and I have heard it said that there are those who can and those who teach. To some extent this is true. You would never ask an economics teacher with no cooperate training to take on a job as a CEO of a major fortune 500 company so why do we elect folks who have never been successful or even tested in private business to run a capitalist country. We need to look at how we pick our leadership. The leaders we choose should be the most successful and resourceful among us. We should never vote for someone who wants to be a career politician. We need term limits of four years max for every public servant. I would love to see the entire governing body from the fed level to the state and local turn over completely every four years. No one should every make their carrier as a politician. They should get into office do their job and get out. If we could find a way to turn our leadership over every four years I think we would see a much more efficient government. Their would not be time for corruption to grow (as much) and the government would have to be light on its feet in order to get anything done. There would not be time or room for so much bureaucracy. Politicians would know that there is a price to pay for screwing up. Because when their term is over they have to go back to the private sector and find a job. If the screw up to bad they may not have a job to come back to. We need a way to fire those that don’t preform and quickly fill vacancies. So every position would have a runner up. A person that was second in the election who could step in and do the job if the elected one can not cut the mustard. We need a ban on lobbying. We have representatives in Washington we don’t need a group of people who were not elected trying to influence our representatives to do their bidding.

Basically  we need to rethink our government from the top down. What we have now is not working. Not only do they not represent us, instead of listening to the desires of the American people, they spend most of their time trying to figure out how they can exert more and more control over every little thing we do. It is time for a tea party Boston Style.

Keep the "Change"

So what lead to this rant tonight? Well, I have been working on a computer for someone that cuts my hair. The fist computer she had me work on was an older laptop with several very serious issues. I told her what I usually expect to get to do all the stuff I was going to do for her. She agreed, and I did the work and got paid. A few days later she called me and said that she wanted me to look at her daughters laptop. I did and I told her what was wrong with it and how much it would cost to fix it. Well, at first she said that she was just going to let a friend work on it for her. I said that is fine with me, and if she changed her mind she could always call me. About a week went by when she called to see if I would do the work at a discounted price. I thought about it and said I would as long as I did not have to back up and restore the documents that were on the computer. I told her I would do it for half what I had quoted her. I said that because I know she does not have a lot of money. She called me a few days later to tell me to go ahead and do the work but to try to back up some of the documents. I reluctantly agreed and I did not raise my price back to the original quote, that was my first mistake. I guess once I gave in on that point she thought I would give in on other things later.

Well tonight I called her to arrange a time to deliver the laptop. She asked me on the phone if I could give her a discount. I then explained to her that I had already given her all the discount I could. She said I don’t have a lot of money right now and needed a break. I told her I could just hang on to the laptop until she had the money but I could not go any lower.  To that she said ” Eddie, come on, I know you can do better.” I don’t know what it was. Was it that I just got through vacuuming and was already tired and not in the mood to bargain or was it the way she was said “I know you can do better” what ever it was I was not going to budge. You know, I don’t know what gets into people that they think that the world should hand them everything.  I don’t treat people this way and it really gets under my skin quickly when you have already given in to help someone and all they want from you is more. I think she thought that because she has cut my hair for the last several years that I would just take what ever she offered and do this for next to nothing. I don’t know when I will learn not to do business with family, friends, or in the case my hair dresser. It hardly ever goes the way it should.

Case in point more than a few times I have had neighbors and family members ask me to work on their computers or do other things for them that would have cost them a lot of money had I not done it and not only did they not offer to pay me but when I brought it to their attention how much time and effort it took to fix whatever it was all I got out of it was a handshake or a pat on the back. That gets real old after a while. I have even had one relative take such advantage of me that I have told them that from now on they need to go to a pro or someone else for their computer repair needs. I had to do that because it was coming to the point that it was going to create a problem with my relationship not only with them but with my wife, who by the way, gets mad when I go see this person and all they want me to do is look at their computer to fix the next issue. It is not like I feel that I should get paid for ever little thing I do, and I have in the past, done lots of quick fixes without charging a dime, but when a issue takes a day or more to fix I feel I should be compensated. After all, the time I use to do a free job could have been used to take care of a paying customer.

Anyway, I don’t yet know what will happen when I take this laptop back to my hair dresser. I do know this, this is the last thing I will help her with. Again, when someone agrees to help me for an agreed upon price I have the responsibility to meet my obligation, and I am always quick to pay. That to me is the only way to be, and I guess that is the least I expect from others. So no, it is not okey to bargain a second time. Once we have an agreement that is it. I they can’t pay then they should tell me that up front. I know that soulds harsh but what else am I suposed to do? If I had not alread cut my price in half, only to be told later that they wanted extra work done for free, I may have looked at this differnty. But as it is she will eather pay up or do with out a laptop until she can pay.  Fair is fair right?