If you watch the nightly news or read the news on the web, it sounds like things are getting better. The stock market is up 40% over its low, the banks appear to be stable, job losses are tapering off, real estate sales are up 6% from the month before, and on and on – [...]
Archive for the ‘government’ Category
Is the Recession and the Financial Crisis Almost Over?
Posted in economy, government, health care, investing, politics, public policy, renewable energy on October 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Health Care System Needs a Radical Change
Posted in economy, government, health care, politics, tagged economy, health, health care, insurance industry, obama on August 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Everybody hates something about all the healthcare proposals out there, so here’s another one to hate. How about if we have the government provide a system whereby it provides a basic level of healthcare below which the patients pays nothing, fills out no paperwork, needs no adjudication, it is just there and available to all [...]
How should congress structure the economic stimulous package?
Posted in energy policy, government, public policy, renewable energy on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Republicans suck and need to be voted out of office. We need to use some common sense in dealing with the stimulus plan, and we need to get moving on renewable energy and an entirely new electrical grid.
$18 billion in bonuses paid by Wall Street firms in 2008
Posted in education, government, tagged 18 billion, bonuses, ceo compensation, ceo pay, corporate corruption, federal bailout, wall street on February 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I doubt the number $18 billion in bonuses is accurate, it is likely many times that amount, but lets go with that for a minute. As far as I am concerned, those $18 billion came directly from taxpayers since every firm that paid those bonuses was receiving far more in taxpayer money than they paid [...]
Will we be able to retire?
Posted in economy, energy, energy policy, government, investing, tagged economy, investing, pension plans, retirement, retirement savings on January 3, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I’m pretty well off relative to most people and now I’m starting to doubt my ability to retire, so I can’t even imagine how the people of lesser means will ever make it. We are being hit from all sides, and scratch the surface just a little, and you’ll find some greedy bastard at the [...]
When did we start expecting the government to do everything?
Posted in economy, government, tagged economic meltdown, economy, financial crisis, politics on December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When did we start expecting the government to do everything and pay for everything? Wall Street implodes as it was bound to and when it did, everyone expects the government to make it all better. Real estate hit the inevitable meltdown and the government is supposed to prop it up. Bernie Madoff rips off thousands [...]
California and Climate Change
Posted in energy, energy policy, government, renewable energy, tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, California climate change, global warming, renewable energy on December 11, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Congratulations California for doing the right thing at a time when the right thing in the form of new fees and regulations may not be popular.
When should I buy a house?
Posted in financing, government, investing, public policy, tagged financial bailout, financing, investing, Obama policy, real estate on December 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to purchase a home when so many millions of others are losing theirs, now is the time to act. Prices may fall a bit further, but not much, but price isn’t the only factor. Speculators that have long been sitting on the sidelines are starting [...]
Financial Crisis vs. Econ 101
Posted in energy, energy policy, financing, government, public policy, tagged bailout, Chrysler, economics, financial crisis, Ford, GM on November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In Economics 101 we all learned that bigger is better due to economies of scale. The logic went that if 10 companies produce 100 widgets each, 1 company that could produce 1,000 widgets would have a distinct cost advantage. Makes sense, right? You can eliminate all the duplicated management and overhead and [...]
The bailout, how stupid do they think we are?
Posted in economy, government, investing, tagged AIG, corruption, financial bailout, politics on November 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I just read an AP story where congress was grilling bankers about why they aren’t lending more money. Apparently there was no real answer. The committe then asked about how the bailout money was being spent. The AP reports, ”The committee has asked whether (bailout) funds would be spent on executive compensation,” said Jon Campbell, regional [...]
