Jun 9, 2011

A Minor Reminder

We're dealing with the massive hangover from the biggest, craziest party ever. There's no way to hurry it along, it just takes time. Of course, it'd be nice if certain people weren't walking around banging pots and pans together, and generally acting as if they're intentionally trying to make things worse.

Jun 8, 2011

Welcome Home, Sarge

I guess all I can say is that you should get used to it(?)  And also that this is actually what you've been fighting for, in spite of what you believe you were supposed to be fighting for.

Privatization is the newspeak term for when Government is manipulated in order to pump public dollars into private pockets.

For myself, I can only say I'm sorry for not being able to keep you from it.

Free Markets

Like everything else, Labor is a marketable item - a commodity just like any other.

When a business manager is trying to figure out what his plan should be for the coming year/quarter/whatever, he has to figure out what the costs will be for him to produce the goods and services his company offers.  He has things like rent, and equipment, and taxes, and raw materials, and labor.  He looks at several options before he moves into the space he needs for his operation; he invites at least 3 vendors to bid on selling him the stuff he needs to build whatever he's selling, etc.  The point is to get some real competition going in order to drive down his costs.

If he can pay some dues to Chamber of Commerce, or American Manufacturer's Assn, or some other trade group that can help him elect sympathetic politicians who will pass laws and enact policies that drive down the cost of practically everything, then he benefits greatly; and he will do exactly what we see being done to American workers right now.

When you look at Paul Ryan's budget plan, you needn't wonder why it seems he intends to tamp down on Medicare; he intends to press down on all aspects of the cost of labor because his Corporate Masters have told him to push the labor market to be more highly competitive.    They understand that when you have 100 people standing in line to fill an opening for one decent job, then you've basically created a bidding war.  Suddenly, every prospective employee (aka Labor Vendor) has to bid on that job, and the "winner" is the guy who's willing to do it for the lowest pay, or the longest hours, or the crappiest benefits, or whatever.

You think politicians aren't doing enough to get the economy going again?  Then you're thinking about it from the wrong angle.  The economy is actually going pretty well for the ownership class; all they're trying to do is to figure out how to placate us just enough to keep us from taking to the streets and burnin' this shit down.

Afghanistan

We need to stop this nonsense and get these people home.

There's A Line?

Anthony Wiener is just the latest in a very long (and ever-lengthening) line of people who get into positions of power and prestige, and come to think of themselves as bulletproof.

Jun 6, 2011

Well, It's About Time

In keeping with the spirit of bi-partisanship, Congress and the White House have just announced a compromise aimed at resolving the main differences between The Ryan Plan and ObamaCare.

As usual, we're not sure the American public actually had a Senior Death Match in mind, but hey - at least we're making a little progress (?)  Oy.

Jun 4, 2011

History Lesson

I never knew Paul Revere rang bells and stuff.  Thank you so much, you ignorant slut.

Jun 2, 2011

Today's T-shirt

Hmmm

The population in the US grows at about 9 or 10 or 11% per year.  (The rate of growth is starting to slow a bit, but the Census Bureau predicts we'll be at about 392 million people by 2050)

Some questions:
Why is it hard to find out what the actual numbers are when I ask, "how much is the Federal Gov't expanding? "

What's an appropriate rate for a government to expand relative to the expansion of population?

If government is supposed to operate more like a business, and our Debt-to-Revenue (using GDP) ratio is right around 1:1, and there are many many very large and profitable companies running much higher ratios, then what's the big fuckin' problem?

Yo, Rand Paul

Go fuck yourself.



Why do we keep handing real power to people who are all about abandoning the two mainstays of what makes the US such a great place?

1) Freedom of expression and association.
2) Presumption of innocence.

I don't know if there's anything else - what Hannity said in response eg - but I'd be very interested to find out what the rubes think about it.

And BTW, Democrats, ya gotta be able to make some hay outa this.