Monday, August 17, 2015

Strange Business Logic


When manufacturing was moved to far away lands out-of-sight and out-of-mind of American business owners and consumers, it eased their consciences.

American didn't have to confront the worker abuse, safety hazards, and child-labor issues common overseas. Now they discovered a way to isolate the abuse closer to home.

When retail operations arrived on the Internet, customers and even some retail stores that ordered their supplies online no longer crossed paths with disgruntled employees.

Distribution centers are typically located in rural areas at major intersections of interstate highways, railroads, or by airports. With great distances and long hours, there's not much chance that a warehouse worker will have the energy or time to complain,

Friday, August 07, 2015

What Does The GOP Want With Your Money?


They keep saying they want to cut taxes, and when they can, they do, for millionaires and billionaires. They keep saying they want to end "Entitlements" or "Welfare." What do they really mean?

If they privatized Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, where would that money go? Just answer this question: Where do the fees charged to your 401(k) go? Where do the fees charged to your investment accounts go? When the Stock Market crashes, and it will, what happens to all of the privatized, invested money formerly known as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

Probably exactly where the fund managers want it to go. Then they throw up their arms and say, "that's the stock market," then later they pay themselves massive bonuses.

At the debate on Fox News August 6, 2015, throughout the entire debate, the word "healthcare" was mentioned once, followed by the word "system" only seven times. The transcript at the CBS website had within it
"10:06 p.m.: Huckabee and Christie had a back and forth on whether the government should alter entitlement programs like Social Security. Huckabee has pledged not to, while Christie argues for reforms like raising the retirement age."
A Generalized description such as this does not a legitimate transcript make. According to this document there was no mention of any kind about privatizing Social Security. However, Jeb Bush previously stated that the next president should privatize Social Security.

Fortune reported that Fox News was technically unable to continue their online livestream video of the debate, but they also cut off YouTube and Sky News which were actually working. Since the transcript from CBS is not Verbatim, and any video recording on the Internet is incomplete, who knows if we we ever see what really happened, unless of course you still have cable television.

This may or may not have been by accident, but these candidates will do much better in the polls with less rather than more exposure.

As the discussion about "Entitlements" gets quietly swept under the rug due to the growing popularity of Bernie Sanders, I still have the urge to understand why the GOP wants to stop the flow of money into the local economy.

Who cares if welfare recipients are lazy? Who cares if the minimum wage goes up to $15 per hour? That money is going to be spent at your business if you own one. That money is going to be taxes for improvements in the infrastructure you use as part of your local business.

Why would entrepreneurs be so opposed to raising the minimum wage? That would raise the tide of income for everyone evenly. The Trickle-Downers love to say "A rising tide lifts all boats." but over the last thirty or forty years it never happened. It has to start from the bottom-up.