Friday, September 30, 2011

Kodak in trouble‏

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/09/30/kodak-in-free-fall-stock-plunges-60/

Kodak is headquartered in Rochester NY. When I was in college from 1991-1995 Kodak was in trouble the entire time I was up there. They were always laying off thousands of employees which devastated Rochester. The three big companies up there are Kodak, Xerox, and Bocsh and Lomb. They were all laying people off back then.

In those years it was before digital cameras. I can’t image what Kodak does today. Nobody uses film and they aren’t a player in digital. My guess is they will go the way of Pontiac. Bye Bye….. It will be another Corporate America success story. That private sector sure knows how to do it up right.

Amazon.com‏

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2016289835_amazonwarehouse25.html

Amazon is treating their employees like sh*t. That is what happens when American employees are forced to compete against slave labors in China. It is a race to the bottom. You don’t like getting treated like sh*t??? Too f*cken bad… Where else you gonna work? Do you have any other options? Now get back to work and shut up…..

Goris said he also saw a co-worker pass out at the water fountain and paramedics bringing people out of the warehouse in wheelchairs and on stretchers.

"I never felt like passing out in a warehouse and I never felt treated like a piece of crap in any other warehouse," Goris said.

His complaints are not unique.

Other workers said they experienced brutal heat inside the sprawling warehouse during the summer heat waves. Amazon even arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress.

Those who couldn't quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken to area hospitals.

They also said they were pushed to work at a pace many could not sustain. Employees were frequently reprimanded regarding their productivity and threatened with termination, workers said.

The consequences of not meeting work expectations were regularly on display, as employees lost their jobs and got escorted out of the warehouse.

Such sights encouraged some workers to conceal pain and push through injury lest they get fired as well, workers said.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Make a statement - Take off your clothes‏

Good thing Obama fixed Healthcare‏

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-27/health-benefit-costs-rise-most-in-six-years-surpassing-15-000-per-family.html

Clearly Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment is a rousing success. Before Obama, Healthcare was a real problem. But once he fixed it things are so much better.

Immelt Optimistic about India‏

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Immelt-optimistic-about-India-s-growth-story/852272/

How nice! Obama hand picked US job creator is over in India setting up new manufacturing facilities and talking about how great everything is…..over there.

Warms my heart…..

Oil Company Tax breaks paid for by school kids‏

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9Q0ENHO0.htm

In Texas they want to take money from school kids and hand it over to the oil company’s.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The refineries want the tax breaks in exchange for buying pollution-controlling equipment. (If they have to be clean it is up to you to pay for it.)

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is evaluating 16 refund requests that could add up to more than $135 million,

if the commission grants the requests, at least 12 other refineries that have not sought a refund also could qualify.

Beginning in 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency began requiring refineries to remove sulfur dioxide from diesel and gasoline, and many refineries had to either upgrade existing "hydrotreater" units or purchase new, more effective equipment. (Boo hoo)
San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. argues that the units should qualify for a tax exemption under an amendment to the Texas Constitution that says industrial plants don't have to pay taxes on equipment purchased to reduce on-site pollution.
Valero could potentially get a refund of more than $92 million

Schools alone could be forced to fork over $62.8 million (This is money the schools have already spent. They will have to reimburse the filthy rich oil companies. The oil companies gouge consumers on the front end and get tax breaks on the back end. The end result is always the same…..YOU PAY! And pay and pay and pay….)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Operation Twist

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/09/fed-bernanke-monetary-policy-operation-twist-.html

Just keep throwing sh*t at the wall in hopes something will stick.

Let me grade this latest shot in the dark. Grade = F

They have every possible solution except the one that matters.

The problem remains everything is still made overseas and corporate America still doesn’t want to hire Americans. Not today and not ever. That will remain the problem regardless how much everyone ignores it.

It is like having a dead car battery and their solution is to change the tires. New tires are great but the car battery is still dead. So they say they will just push it through the car wash and clean it right up. Wonderful….. but the car battery is still dead. No worries (they say) we can put new spark plugs in and that should fix it. If that doesn’t work they can put a new air filter in…… There are lots of solutions. Of course only one is the correct one and nobody has said it yet. Year 11.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

College Isn't worth it....‏

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/#43069512

I have been saying this for years.

In 2011 taking on tens of thousands in student loan debt is not worth it. These colleges are robbing kids blind and when it is done (and they have their piece of paper) there are no jobs of any kind. Naive 17 year olds think they are going to get out of college and make a hundred grand. The reality is very different. All the talking heads says the way out of Unemployment is through retraining....Well tell that to all the unemployed recent graduates. They have the latest training. The newest technology, and still no job.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bloomberg_warns_bad_economy_could_SpzJR6SGvta9s07LO0bJSK

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/opinion/21klein.html

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Bill Gates wants taxpayer money...please‏

All I hear is the private sector is where innovation happens. They are the leaders. All things great come from the private sector. The Government is annoying and in the way. Shut up (government) and stand to the side while the mighty private sector leads the way.

Government should be small and weak and is undeserving of any tax revenue.

YET here come the mighty CEO’s asking for more tax payer money to fund their private projects. Please help us (government) because we are totally useless if you don’t show us the way (money).

Social Security needs to be cut. Medicare needs to be cut. Medicade needs to be cut. Welfare needs to be cut. Unemployment benefits need to be cut.

BUT Corporate welfare needs to be expanded…..Please.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/14/bill-gates-jeff-immelt-chad-holliday-urge-taxpayer-funded-innovation.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/181371-dont-get-mean-on-green-bill-gates-warns-congress


The energy group has identified a range of revenue streams to pay for federal energy investment it would eventually like to see reach $16 billion annually.

enacting a new federal fee (tax) on electricity delivered to consumers (Tax the consumer and give the money to Bill Gates)

adding a few cents to the federal gasoline tax (Tax the consumer and give that money to Bill Gates too. Gas prices aren’t high enough already)

levying a fee on carbon emissions (Bill Gates loves taxes as long as he gets all the money).

NASA's Plan...Supposedly

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/future-nasa-rocket-to-1181023.html

NASA has dreamed up the world's most powerful rocket,

The multibillion-dollar program will carry astronauts in a capsule on top, but the first mission would be 10 years off if all goes as planned. Unmanned test launches are expected from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in six years.

the "largest, most powerful rocket built,"

Even the smallest early prototype of the rocket will have 10 percent more thrust than the Saturn V

When it is built to its fuller size, it will be 20 percent more powerful,

The size, shape and heavier reliance on liquid fuel as opposed to solid rocket boosters is much closer to Apollo than the recently retired space shuttles,

The idea is to launch its first unmanned test flight in 2017 with the first crew flying in 2021 and astronauts heading to a nearby asteroid in 2025, the officials said. From there, NASA hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars — at first just to circle, but then later landing on the Red Planet — in the 2030s.

Eventually it will be able to carry 143 tons into space, maybe even 165 tons

By comparison, the long-dormant Saturn V booster that sent men to the moon was able to lift 130 tons.

the space shuttle, which could haul just 27 tons

During its initial test flights the rocket will use five solid rocket boosters designed for the shuttle strapped on its outside and will have shuttle main engines powering it on the inside. But soon after that the solid rocket boosters will be replaced with new boosters that should have new technology and may be either liquid or solid, the officials said

Obama takes Aim At Medicare.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/politics/obamas-expected-plan-for-entitlement-savings-worries-democrats.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

“President Obama is expected to seek hundreds of billions of dollars in savings (savings = cuts) in Medicare and Medicaid, delighting Republicans and dismaying many Democrats.

Nobody excites the Republicans more the Obama. Obama is the greatest republican of the last 20 years. Issue after issue Obama is there to deliver the Republican agenda.

Nobody wants to hack up the entitlement programs faster then Obama. He is ready to lead the way.

So they cut money from the old people. Take the money and pave a bunch of roads. Road construction workers purchase products made in China. China lends the money back to the US with interest. That is how a successful economy functions in 2011.

Yay Obama!

Poverty

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/13/national/main20105376.shtml

If you give tax cuts to the rich it trickles down to everyone. Look at how well it is trickling……

Friday, September 9, 2011

447 Billion More.....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hI_4XzgYftNcOCBa6AudH_PQaX-w?docId=0c5a1093cbbb4921aed6914ca55cc0e3

447 Billion more……. That is what is going to fix the economy.

Even though the government has already spent -

800 Billion on Obamas original failed stimulus.
On top of 700 Billion Tarp bailouts.
On top of 185 Billion AIG bailout.
On top of 15 Billion GM Bailout.
On top of trillion Dollar Bush Tax cuts.
On top of 2 Trillion in Quantitative Easing.
On top of interest rates being at 0% for years.
On top of trillions spent on War Spending.

None of that created any jobs at all. Yet if we just spend another 447 Billion it will all be rainbows and unicorns. Fantastic!

I have complete faith in Republicans and Democrats to lead us into prosperity. I am going to close my eyes and believe everything they tell me. I believe!