U.S. 95 Sentries

For a little over a month U.S. 95, the north/south route through Idaho, has been getting a bit of badly needed repair through the Coeur d'Alene area. It is a highway we travel daily and we've watched the work progress with a great deal of interest.

Each intersection is getting new curbing and sidewalks that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Plus about seven miles of resurfacing. This is a $4.5 million "pavement preservation project" . I was curious as to what pavement preservation projects are since the surface is being ground off and a new one applied. That doesn't seem like preservation to me. It does seem like a shell game designed to allow for federal funding.

Be it federal money or state money or a combination thereof is moot. It's our tax dollars. That brings me to the point of our curiosity. Everyday, at every intersection, regardless of it's state of completion, stands a solitary hard hatted sentry. I have never seen one with a chair of any sort, nor a lunch bucket. Not a port-o-potty in sight. I've never seen one sitting on the ground.

All construction is at night. There is no construction what-so-ever Friday and Saturday. The intersections seem to be well marked and coned. Yet even on the week ends there stand those sentries!

I asked a store clerk nearby one day and was told she thought it was to keep people from walking on or defacing freshly poured concrete yet they stand where none has yet been poured.

This leads me to believe it is some sort of safety issue, but what? Not many of the intersections have people crossing frequently. Those that do have traffic lights and ample room to avoid the construction area. So what's the deal?

Essentially these people are being paid - to do nothing! I've heard of "make work" but this is ridiculous. "Work" is missing from the equation! If this is where our stimulus money is going, it is stimulating something more than my curiosity. It's stimulating the need for a plausible explanation!

The Great Crash Of 2009!

I hadn't finished my first cup of coffee this morning. I had finished both the morning papers. There just wasn't enough in them to keep me busy. I don't read the want ads which are skimpy at best. I avoid the obituaries like the plague and the stories pulled from the wire services are at least a day old if not more.

The only regional newspaper has completely eliminated the northern Idaho edition and stories in the local daily are mostly that - local. Unfortunately, things that would be of interest like city council meetings or commissioners' meetings are rarely covered. We get more coverage of Chamber of Commerce ribbon cuttings and photos of social events than hard news.

Newspapers have become an endangered species. Advertising revenues are way down. The cycle has become self perpetuating. Okay. Enjoying the papers with my morning coffee may now be a generational phenomenon. Who else has the time to spend an hour or so reading a paper from cover to cover other than retirees?

So what do you do? Turn to TV news? Living in a small market, viewers are at a disadvantage to begin with. We tend to get inexperienced young reporters who's names we've barely learned before they, if they're any good at all, move on to larger markets. We get those left behind and their lack of reporting skills leave us more often in the dark than not. I can't help but question their financial woes when we're told a news crew is being dispatched to the scene of an accident hours after it has happened. On the next newscast we get to watch a reporter standing on an empty stretch of highway explaining to us what had happened hours before. Go figure.

Now advertising revenue is down for the broadcast media. Is it any wonder? Just this last week there was a story in the Inlander regarding substantial layoffs at the local CBS affiliate. They've cut mostly behind the scenes personnel, including producers. You know, the very people who make the newscasts work!

Even the network news has become little more than a recap of the day's headlines. As for cable, you'd have to watch a full slate of both FOX and MSNBC to get both sides of what's happening then figure out where the middle is and you may have an approximate idea of reality.

That leaves the computer. The papers have their blogs and on line editions, the TV stations have their blogs and on line editions and the Internet has it all.

Who has time to sort through all of it? I do but I won't. There are too many other things to do! Too many bloggers already spend too much time at work on line; I've never understood that!

I'm lucky. I have a Mac. Mac's rarely crash. Hub runs Windows and has spent the last three days sorting out a problem. During that time he had to read his headlines and papers on my computer. If it should crash - or the whole Internet should go down as it does more often than is convenient with our local Time Warner, how does one stay informed?

It has become a downward spiral that reminds me of a tornado. At the very bottom there is nothing left except the devastation. The remnants will be an uninformed populace.

Who will know? How will they find out?

I'm already devastated and it's only because I have too much coffee to drink with my papers. I can make a smaller pot. I'll really be devastated when there is no reason to brew a pot at all!

Bailouts And Jobs - In India??

I had a pollster call me last night. From his accent I gathered it was coming from a phone bank far from our shores even though it was of political intent.

Actually, most of us who have computers and have had to call for technical support more often than not talk with someone who is fluent in English but not "American" English.

That brought to mind a recent Jim Hightower column berating a recent move by JP Morgan Chase.

It also made me want to reiterate my advice to seek out news wherever you can find it because in this day of cut backs too much is slipping through the cracks. Even network news is little more than Obama and a recap of the day's headlines. Cable news is totally skewed to the right or the left and papers are scant of content to say the least.

So here's the nitty gritty. Mr Hightower tells us we, the taxpayers, have poured $25 billion into Morgan Chase. What have they done with it? They've increased their outsourcing to India by 25% - to some $400 million!

Talk about unintended consequences! The government has slapped them with cost cutting goals. How better to do it then outsource more than they already have? It doesn't stop with JP Morgan Chase either. According to Business Week India's top tech firms are also bidding on at least three other $100 million contracts.

The 25-30% saved by outsourcing to India goes to the company; the workers in this country who have been replaced get nothing. Mr. Hightower makes one other point of note. Lower cost bank executives can also be found in India, but strangely, no one is looking for them! Is this how the bailout was intended to work? Somehow I doubt it, but as with other aspects of the bailouts, as well as the stimulus programs, it's being made up as they go. Has anyone seen concrete evidence that any of it is working?

The question is being asked if too much is happening all at once. My assessment at this point is yes. Program upon program is being introduced. The debt has gone beyond comprehension. Is it time to slow down and get the programs already in place working before adding to them? Forget that it has to all get done now because mid term election campaigning will take over next year. This is no way to run a country! I'd much rather see less done yet done well than piling the table so full it ultimately collapses.

I've said before and I'll no doubt repeat again, the stimulus and bailout programs have not been well thought out before the beginning of implementation. Slick rhetoric does not make it so. Just think about it. The claim that 95% of Americans who pay taxes will not see their taxes go up one dime. No. But they will see an increase preceded with the $ symbol. Everything from the local level on up where taxes are increased, be it on gas or cigarettes or alcohol or "fees" or "levies"; they are all tax increases!

Just who is minding the store? None of those Indians holding our outsourced jobs pay one cent of our taxes!

Obama - Messiah Or Dictator?

There is a difference between anger and worry. I've experienced too much of both lately as I watch the administration try to mend the financial crisis by trial and error.

Today, I'm halting the emotions at worry. Tomorrow it may well be back to full blown anger. I am extremely uncomfortable with the sanctions that are being heaped on corporations receiving bailout money without the ground rules being set at the get go.

Take for instance the exit of Rick Wagoner from GM. GM was to submit their reorganization plans by March 31. That's tomorrow. However, the "auto czar", who has no auto industry experience, decided it wasn't adequate. The President, on his own, told Wagoner if there was to be any chance for GM to get additional help he had to go. Did Obama have that right? Should he have that right?

Granted, the GM board should have removed Wagoner long ago. And yes, it's tax payer dollars being used to bail them out. But without preset rules and an arbitrary opinion from someone outside the industry, it makes Mr. Wagoner the scapegoat. For what? To make the administration look tough?

I listened to Obama say that for GM to go in a new direction it needed new leadership. Wagoner's number two took over. Is that new leadership?

Okay, there can be a lot of arguments for everything the administration is doing because of tax payer dollars. However, more and more it looks to be an attempt to change the way corporate America works and if so, you'll soon see us as a diminished nation even more than we already are.

The New York Times had a story which was even more frightening. They are considering regulating executive pay via regulation rather then legislation. This smacks of dictatorship.

Even worse, they are considering extending this practice to financial institutions not receiving bailout money and even to publicly traded companies.

Obama campaigned on regulation to give share holders a larger say in setting executive pay. Well, that's the responsibility of the board. If the shareholders don't like what the board is doing they can vote them out. The hitch here is the shareholders have to exercise their right and vote their proxy's if they can't attend the annual meetings.

Just like politics. You have to vote to have a say. The responsibility, in that respect, falls on the shareholders, not the executives.

"What about corporate greed?" you may ask. There is far too much of it to be sure. But if what the administration is attempting doesn't shape them up nothing will. They will just move off shore.

Speaking of greed, how about the greed for power? To have the ultimate authority to reshape an entire country into a vision not necessarily sanctioned by the people? To dictate what CEO's can and cannot do while giving Unions a pass? By doing an end run around Congress?

Think about it. We criticized the Bush administration mightily for all Bush's signing statements stating he was going to ignore parts of passed legislation. We criticized Bush for ignoring the Constitution on many occasions. We criticize the Christian Conservatives for trying to hijack the government so they can force their agenda on those of us who don't agree with it.

I'm worried. Oh, yes I am. I see our President running around the country and the world as head cheerleader while in truth the team is making up the rules as they go. Who's our cheerleader and how can we win? Without a say, we can't.

Newspapers As Non-Profits

Every time I write a post about the print media I lament the fact that it is slowly, or maybe not so slowly, disappearing. I talk of how I'll miss it with my morning coffee. Just today it was announced the Boston Globe has been added to the list.
True, I sit at my computer browsing on line editions every day. It just isn't the same. So when I read that Senator Ben Cardin, D-Md, introduced the Newspaper revitalization Act I took notice.

Why not? Most newspapers are non profit already! That's why they're going under like corpses encased in cement!

The suggestion is that this may be more suitable for small local papers rather than those held by large media conglomerates. The ones vital for communities, like ours, to get the information needed to be well informed. There are a few caveats however. They must have a staff of reporters large enough to cover what the community needs. The dull and boring stuff like city council meetings, regardless of what's on the agenda, and school board meetings, commissioners meetings, etc. All the non-glamorous stuff. And they must do it. Picture pages of social events and pages and pages of legal notices doesn't cut it.

According to Cardin's thinking, this could open the door for a non-profit paper to purchase one held by one of those conglomerates. Imagine the Coeur d'Alene Press being able to buy, say the Spokesman Review! Now that would be something! Yeah, I know, Hagadone owns a chain of papers but I don't think he's in the same league as, say Gannett or even Spokane's Cowles!

As a 501(c)3 they'd be operating for educational purposes similar to public television. That should be a slam dunk. Isn't that what newspapers are for in the first place? Education?

The best part of all is that while they would still be able to cover all things political, including campaigns, they'd be prohibited from giving political endorsements. Locally that would put a crimp in the style of the blogs operating under the newspaper's banner. It would certainly make for an interesting change of pace. Maybe they'd get back to something else a newspaper is supposed to be. Objective.

Intimidation Is Not Justice

When I was a youngster, there were two things I was forbidden to discuss with my friends. My mother's age and my dad's salary. They were no one's business. Nor were they mine for I knew neither.

When I learned New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatened to make the names of the AIG bonus recipients public it was one more step too far. His rationale was that the public had a right to know where their tax dollars went. They already do. They went to bonuses. It need go no further. The recipients had no part in determining the bonuses.

He finally thought better of it. Considering the recipients had been instructed to call 911 should they feel at all threatened, to watch out for anyone who might seem suspicious around their place of business or home and to wear nothing that would indicate that they were an employee. Of course there was also the e-mailed suggestion that these recipients "should be executed with piano wire around their necks."

It seems this whole fiasco is surrounded by people who are trying to further their careers, like Mr. Cuomo, or save their careers like Geitner and Bernanke, Dodd and Frank.

This administration and those entwined with it are beginning to bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the Bush administration's governing by fear. Bush relieved us of too many of our rights in the name of "security". The Obama administration is using the economic melt down to grab power.

Yes, we are suffering the consequences of bad management and greed but fear mongering to the point of turning us into frothing mobs of hatred is no way to solve the problem.

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself" no longer rings true. We well should fear those who instill it.

They Want What??

The current climate of the government going after everything and everybody represented by a three piece business suit and matching martini lunch reminds me of Japanese horror films where the monster emerges from murky depths and destroys everything in its path!

The monster in this case is a two headed one - one a Geitner head, the other a Bernanke. If this wasn't so serious it would be funny - just like the old Godzilla movies.

Here we have two men who were a part of the AIG bonus problem from the get go. Here we have two men who have been floundering for months, in way over their heads. Finally they tell us they have a solution. They had to tell us something before the demand for their heads really gets serious.

Buoyed by having come up with something, no one is yet sure exactly what, they've found themselves emboldened. Now they want the power to take over any financial institution they deem in need! They've got to be kidding! We don't even know if the "solution" they've come up with under duress is going to work. How the heck are they going to save others from themselves when they didn't even recognize the perils before them as they sat in on AIG strategy sessions!

The only positive I see in any of this is that they are asking for the power rather than seizing it like the Bushies did in the name of "security". Give them time, however, if Congress doesn't give them the authority they seek, they, too, may just seize it.

As I've said before and often, when the government gains too much power over the private sector, the private sector and we, the people, will lose. Yes, the private sector and we along with them are suffering mightily for mismanagement and greed. Who, however, in government has the slightest idea of how to manage such a business? Chris Dodd? Barney Frank?

Oh, stop. I can't stop laughing. Seriously though, who's next? Hmmm. How about the struggling airline industry? Do we want the government running them? Will they be able to take over, say a GE, because they have a financial branch? How many other large corporations do? Ford. Once they get their foot in the door watch out. They will spin it as a mandate from the people. Populism at its worst.

When those old monster movies were popular I loved watching them. I never dreamed I'd be living in the middle of one. The trouble with living it I'm finding, is those posing as the good guys either aren't or are the most inept hero's ever brought to light!

A Come Back When We Really Need One!

Man starts company, man loses company, man wins company back. A cliched romance of the best kind has occurred just when American entrepeneurialism most needs a boost!

How long ago was it when brand name retailers began disappearing from the American landscape? I can remember when Federated acquired the May company stores and brands changed forever. Marshall Fields, Lord and Taylor, Robinsons,The Bon Marche, Frederick and Nelson, Pittsburgh's Kaufmanns where I worked for a time when I was fresh out of college. Over the years it seems like everything became Macy's! Then came the downsizing and stores across the country closed.

Thinking back on this, it has been going on for years and has ultimately lead to the retail doldrums of today. Look at the names that have closed their doors just recently. Circuit City and Linen n' Things to name but two. Other specialty stores are in trouble. Ann Taylor and Talbots. Wow. Will everything end up being Macy's?

Nope. I was picking up a stack of catalogs to take out to the recycling box this morning and there sat Owner's Manuel No. 67! J. Peterman! "Wow!" I exclaimed to Hub, "Why are you throwing this out and when did they come back?" He responded with an disinterested shrug.

I remember how saddened I was when they ceased operations in 1999. Now they are back. Their catalog is iconic. It's worth getting just to read of the romance behind the clothes they carry. I even used to purchase from them though infrequently because it was expensive. The J. Peterman duster. I have the jacket length version hanging in my closet awaiting spring temperatures. It has worn like iron over the years.

What makes the story of their return even better is that the original owner has regained the rights! Good old fashioned American effort combined with some hard learned lessons has provided a most happy ending. The best part of all, the government and it's bailouts had nothing to do with it! Left to our own devices, the deserving and able will survive; those entities who lack those attributes should be allowed to fail. It isn't the brand name that's the problem, it's the people calling the shots, and as long as they remain in those positions nothing will change. Why prolong the inevitable?

How Many Tax Evaders Are Acceptable?

Here we go again! Headline on Yahoo News Trade nominee Ron Kirk agrees to pay back taxes! Yet he's the right person for the job.

What in the heck is going on? Everyone is complaining about the tax payer money the administration is pouring into businesses that should be allowed to fail, mortgages that people shouldn't have in the first place and programs that haven't been thought through as to the possible unexpected consequences. Nothing new here. It's politics. It's also known that we are actually borrowing this money from foreign countries, mostly China. Why? Could it be that too many tax payers aren't paying?

Okay, the tax code is confusing at best and it's easy for an individual to make mistakes. But what about the tax programs you buy to simplify the process? Plug in the numbers and walla, you've got your tax return. Are they flawed? Or all the tax preparation companies that have their Uncle Sams on the street corners to entice you in. Do they know what they're doing? And the professionals on a higher level who work with the Daschles of the world; do they not sit down with their clients to make sure everything is in order before submitting the return for signature? Or are these people, you know the tax payer who signs the return, truly - cheats? And if they are why are they being included in the administration under the guise that it's a "few minor issues"?

There has been much criticism about the bailout packages rewarding people for bad behavior. I believe it to be true but apparently I am wrong. Bad business decisions. Buying unaffordable homes and allowing it to be done. What the heck, those are but a few minor issues.

How can it be anything else when this is the standard applied to those who would serve in the administration? The return was prepared by a paid tax preparer. Right. Now you know where the buck really stops!

Huckabee - What A Stretch!

Wow. The ink isn't even dry on the stimulus compromise and the religious right is already up in arms!

Mike Huckabee has declared it "anti-religious". What?? It must have really hurt to have to take both the Democrats and Republicans to task for this offense. After all, it is a 'bi-partisan' bill. Well. Hardly. Three Republicans signing on hardly makes it 'bi-partisan'!

What, however, was so egregious it warranted this response? Both the House and the Senate version banned higher education funds from going to either a school or department of divinity. What's his rationale?

Actually the Congress got this right. It's what separation of church and state is all about. If included, how would you explain it to the tax payers? How would you explain to one religious persuasion that their tax dollars were being spent to support a religious persuasion to which they might be strongly opposed?

I'm not sure higher education funds fit the parameters of "stimulus, but if they do, the Huckabee wing of the Republican party needs to do better than this. It will, for sure, "stimulate"! It will "stimulate" strong opposition from those of us who actually understand and support the premise of separation of church and state!

These Requests Are "Shovel Ready" All Right!

Boy, can a picture ever tell it all! Today was the U.S. Conference of Mayors' turn to come forward with hat in hand and their lists of "shovel ready" projects. In reading through some of the requests I'm beginning to think we are a nation governed by those who just don't get it.

Granted, a lot of the projects would indeed provide jobs and therefore stimulate the economy. However, by their own admission, some used the "throw spaghetti against the wall" approach. Throw enough and some of it will stick.

The Wall Street Journal listed some of them. $2 million for neon lights for Las Vegas. Enlightening. $4.5 for butterfly gardens and gopher tortoises for an "eco" park in Boynton Park, FL. $500,000 for an off leash dog park in Chula Vista, CA. $3 million for an environmentally friendly golf course clubhouse in Lincoln Nebraska. The construction of said clubhouse would create a whopping 54 jobs! Then what?

I shouldn't leave out $886,000 for a 36 hole "disc golf" course in Austin TX and Shreveport, LA wants the Feds to pony up the funding for eight Harley-Davidson's for their police department. Vrooooom!

Either these mayors are the smartest politicians in the country or the dumbest of the dumb. I'm not sure. When they look at what Congressional pork projects have included previously, why not try? On the other hand this does not seem to me to be the time for frivolous wish listing. It gives me the feeling the economic meltdown is not being taken seriously.

Is it?

Of Loopholes And Truth Holes

So Obama has come out with a proposal to curb speculation in the energy markets. Speculators - those who would gamble on the price of oil for the benefit of their pocket books and the detriment of everyone else. A reason why gas prices are what they are.

Futures are sold electronically to evade regulation. That allows commodity traders play their game, at our expense, with no public oversight. This is a simplistic explanation of the "Enron Loophole", written by Enron lobbyists back in 2000. Passage through Congress was spearheaded by then Senator Phil Gramm.

Senator McCain's campaign has accused Obama of "mimicking" McCain's lead. McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds says, "John McCain has supported bipartisan efforts to close this loophole and will work to address abuses in oil speculation."

Hmmm.  How can you trust McCain's sincerity about closing this loophole when his chief economic advisor is the same Phil Gramm and while he was busy pushing it through Congress his wife sat on Enron's board of directors?

Talk about an oil slick!

The Globalization Of Our Landmarks

According to the New York Post Abu Dhabi is buying the Chrysler Building. This bit of news got me to thinking whether Homeland Security is on the right track worrying about illegal aliens crossing the Mexican border rather than worrying about who is buying up our landmarks and who happens to have an issue with those buyers.

Japan is a huge player. Japan based entities have interest in, if not outright ownership of, such icons of American culture as Tiffanys, Manhatten's Algonquin hotel and Exxon headquarters in Rockefeller Center, the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, even St. Clement Winery in the Napa Valley.

Our friends, the Brits, are in on Almaden wines, Ballpark Franks and French's Mustard not to mention part ownership of the Watergate complex in Washington D.C.

The West Germans are in on Allis Chalmers and Doubleday. Dubai owns New York's Essex Hotel.

We've been stewing for years about foreign automakers not only taking over our markets, but also our manufacturing facilities. We've also been stewing for years about the loss of our jobs to overseas operations that are more economically attuned to the bottom line.

Just think of it as a plus when it comes to keeping the homeland safe. I think the repercussions would be interesting if a bunch of renegade Arabs decided to smack a plane or two into the Chrysler Building!

However, if someone gets ticked off at the Brits or the Japanese would we have to worry about what's in our wine or hot dogs and mustard? We'd be okay with Nestle products because they are Swiss owned and the Swiss don't fight with anyone.

Now I'm wondering - what's going on with our tomatoes?

The "Ultimate" Severance Pay!

Much is always said about government spending; how fiscally irresponsible it is. The same is said about reigning in the oil company profits by taxing them. What would that accomplish? Less money for reinvestment into drilling or alternative energy research and more money for which the government can continue to be - fiscally irresponsible!

I'll give government a break today and focus instead on corporate irresponsibility, or more precisely corporate board irresponsibility. It's bad enough corporate executives are paid kazillions while workers are being laid off. Salary aside, there are the bonuses and perks. Plus the "golden parachutes" they receive when they themselves retire or are replaced.

It goes even further. The Wall Street Journal today outlined some of the "golden coffins" executives get when they die! Now granted, all of us would like to see our families well cared for should we meet a premature end - and even if we live out a long and natural life, but for companies to shell out $263.6 million "severance" payment to an estate, like Eugene Isenberg of Nabors Industries, Ltd., should he die in office, is insane.

Another example of total insanity is the $17 million that would be paid to the CEO of the Shaw Group, Inc. for a non-compete after dies. Hello?

Consider, as the campaign heats up and economic issues will be a hot topic, that one of McCain's economic advisers is Carly Fiorina, former head of Hewlett Packard who got booted after forcing through the acquisition of Compac. Her severance package back in 2004 was $14 million, $7.4 million in bonus money for a failed strategy plus $21.1 in "additional" compensation. That's a lot of "vacation" pay! $42.5 million total! Some economic adviser!

Maybe it is time for change. Instead of retired military, over the hill politicians and personalities with dubious credentials who make up many corporate boards how about some actual stockholders or even employees of those corporations? People in who's lifetime couldn't imagine earning anywhere near a million dollars what's more the figures thrown about here!

Now that would be change I could believe in!