It has been a while since my last post. It's the whole life thing in effect. Not enough hours in the day, and that sort of thing. I have been watching the status of the democratic nomination process.
All I can say is what a mess. Sometimes I think the election process is one big diversion. I realized that after listening to the latest news on the candidates. You really can get lost in all of the hub bub and nonsense. I think most of us at this point have made up our minds on who we are going to vote for. There are so many other important things going on that need our attention. First off, where did we get the money to put together the stimulus package? Did we print more money, borrow it from next year, or borrow it from another country? What is the status of the national fence at our southern border? What is going on in our own states and cities? Where are they going to get the money to bail out their respective communities? We need to be involved, but pay attention to what is going on. I have had to step back and do this myself.
We fool ourselves into believing that we are doing our civic duty by punching that ticket in the booth. It is not hard to do either the way our lives are day to day. So do your research, make your decision, and then put your thinking cap back on............
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Whats next
Its been over a week since my last post, but here I go again. I am trying to be consistent, but life just seems not to allow it. I have been watching the state of the economy, and I really am trying to figure out how bad its going to get. We have the recipe for what could be disaster in the making. The high cost of fuel, global warming, the Iraq War, the increase in food costs, and many other issues. It is mind boggling how complicated all of these issues are individually, let alone all together.
It reminds me of taking on a big, complicated task. There are at least 300 steps to complete this task. The only way to tackle it, is one piece at a time. Fix one section and move on to the next. I have recently joined an organization called operation clean government. They deal with corruption in the government, and try to defend RI citizens from corrupt, often illegal actions taken taken by individuals within our government. Joining this group is my small piece, and I think we all have a stake in the outcome of political undertakings. I think it is important for each and every citizen take part in the process in their own way. Take the first step, and do what you can. No more, no less, just keep an eye on the goal. We need to change our government. We need to always be asking, " What's next?"
It reminds me of taking on a big, complicated task. There are at least 300 steps to complete this task. The only way to tackle it, is one piece at a time. Fix one section and move on to the next. I have recently joined an organization called operation clean government. They deal with corruption in the government, and try to defend RI citizens from corrupt, often illegal actions taken taken by individuals within our government. Joining this group is my small piece, and I think we all have a stake in the outcome of political undertakings. I think it is important for each and every citizen take part in the process in their own way. Take the first step, and do what you can. No more, no less, just keep an eye on the goal. We need to change our government. We need to always be asking, " What's next?"
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Some History
Well, I am not sure who will read this blog. I am not sure if at some point in a couple of weeks I will get sick of writing, or become to busy with other things and cannot write. I just hope I can continue to write and have people view the blog. I hope people will help me refine my ideas and share their own. Seeing this is my blog, and I can write about any subject, I am choosing to say a little bit about me. It is important in order to understand how some of my views came to be.
As mentioned in my personal information, I am 36 years old. I am happily married to my wife Jo-Ann. I consider myself to be outgoing and opinionated. Ten years ago I was very argumentative. I tried to push my ideas on people instead of simply expressing them. Like most people who do that, I quickly lost my audience. When I would start in on a subject people would find anyway to get away so as not to engage in agressive debates. I must say that from time to time that part of me jumps out, but I quickly put him back in the box. I save that part of me for the times that I really need to get my point across. I guess you can say that I choose my battles carefully. Its funny how age and experience shape how we communicate with people. It takes experience to listen, and really take in what they have to say. When you do that effectively what happens is pretty amazing. What they say becomes a part of you. It constantly shapes and molds how you view things. Maybe a different point of view will solidify your position. Others will modify, and yet there are other points of view that will completely change your mind all together. To keep an open and objective mind is really hard to do. I must say that I have learned to always really pay attention to other peoples ideas. It keeps things fresh.
Anyway a little more about me. Currently I am a systems engineer for a company called Lionbridge. It is a third party test house that performs various test services for all types of companies in the industry. I am in charge of an account in Marlboro Ma. For those not familiar, it is about 20 miles west of Boston. I have been with the company a little over a year. I work with people every day that have varying skill levels with varying opinions on just about everything.
Prior to that I was doing some in between work with a friends lighting company. I installed commercial lighting systems in all types of companies. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it while I was there. Although I must say when I left I did not regret it. The longest I have ever been with a company was nine years. It was with a company called EMC. The largest data storage company in the world. I learned plenty while I was there. I really grew and thrived with the company during my time there.
Then there was the restaurant business before that. Now that seems like a lifetime ago. I worked at many places with varying degrees of success. I even managed a place for a while. It was in that time frame I learned about people, all types of people. I learned a little about business, and I guess really came out of my shell. Lets not forget that currently I am working part time in retail for Lowes. Its a little extra pocket money, and I guess you could say that I am working with people again. It is the best way to get a picture of how people feel about things.
The reason I am talking about all of this, is to explain how I formed my opinions. I have a really good understanding of what the country is going through. My life put me in many different roles, and I learned first hand many realities. From life in corporate America, to everyday folks performing countless jobs. I am a witness to life in America. It is from that vantage point that I speak, and that is how I formed my views. I must say that they do change from time to time, but at this point I am pretty consistent. So to anyone who reads this, please feel free to let me know what you think. I want you to share with me your views and your feelings. I hope that this will become a regular stop for people. I hope that something really important will come from writing this blog. Something more I hope than just data stored on a server somewhere. Only time will tell. Until next time.....
As mentioned in my personal information, I am 36 years old. I am happily married to my wife Jo-Ann. I consider myself to be outgoing and opinionated. Ten years ago I was very argumentative. I tried to push my ideas on people instead of simply expressing them. Like most people who do that, I quickly lost my audience. When I would start in on a subject people would find anyway to get away so as not to engage in agressive debates. I must say that from time to time that part of me jumps out, but I quickly put him back in the box. I save that part of me for the times that I really need to get my point across. I guess you can say that I choose my battles carefully. Its funny how age and experience shape how we communicate with people. It takes experience to listen, and really take in what they have to say. When you do that effectively what happens is pretty amazing. What they say becomes a part of you. It constantly shapes and molds how you view things. Maybe a different point of view will solidify your position. Others will modify, and yet there are other points of view that will completely change your mind all together. To keep an open and objective mind is really hard to do. I must say that I have learned to always really pay attention to other peoples ideas. It keeps things fresh.
Anyway a little more about me. Currently I am a systems engineer for a company called Lionbridge. It is a third party test house that performs various test services for all types of companies in the industry. I am in charge of an account in Marlboro Ma. For those not familiar, it is about 20 miles west of Boston. I have been with the company a little over a year. I work with people every day that have varying skill levels with varying opinions on just about everything.
Prior to that I was doing some in between work with a friends lighting company. I installed commercial lighting systems in all types of companies. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it while I was there. Although I must say when I left I did not regret it. The longest I have ever been with a company was nine years. It was with a company called EMC. The largest data storage company in the world. I learned plenty while I was there. I really grew and thrived with the company during my time there.
Then there was the restaurant business before that. Now that seems like a lifetime ago. I worked at many places with varying degrees of success. I even managed a place for a while. It was in that time frame I learned about people, all types of people. I learned a little about business, and I guess really came out of my shell. Lets not forget that currently I am working part time in retail for Lowes. Its a little extra pocket money, and I guess you could say that I am working with people again. It is the best way to get a picture of how people feel about things.
The reason I am talking about all of this, is to explain how I formed my opinions. I have a really good understanding of what the country is going through. My life put me in many different roles, and I learned first hand many realities. From life in corporate America, to everyday folks performing countless jobs. I am a witness to life in America. It is from that vantage point that I speak, and that is how I formed my views. I must say that they do change from time to time, but at this point I am pretty consistent. So to anyone who reads this, please feel free to let me know what you think. I want you to share with me your views and your feelings. I hope that this will become a regular stop for people. I hope that something really important will come from writing this blog. Something more I hope than just data stored on a server somewhere. Only time will tell. Until next time.....
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Mexican Connection
Today I am writing about the impact of a growing problem that is raging across the US. At last estimate there are 9-11 million illegal immigrant living and working in the United States. There are both direct and indirect costs to these folks living here. According to the Huddle study the cost of these immigrants to the state, local, and federal governments is around 33 billion. Some of this is earned back with the taxes that are paid. When you factor in the cost of the jobs that were taken from Americans and the lack of taxes that they would pay, the figure climbs back to around 30 billion. There is also the issue of illegal immigrants that use the health care system. Since they are not documented that costs that are incurred are passed directly to the health care system. In turn these costs are passed to the insurance companies which then pass the cost to the American taxpayer. These are a few of the financial burdens that are caused by this growing problem.
I believe there is an even bigger problem than direct immigration. You see at some point we all come from a family who came from over seas to live the American dream. Our families came here, worked hard, and made a life here in the US. The Mexican people believe that a Mexican is always a Mexican. So there are no plans to ever assimilate into our society. They intend to move here and push their culture on us. There are growing pockets within the government that embrace this. The Spanish language is becoming bigger and bigger within many cities. There are now neighborhoods in Miami where the signs are almost entirely in Spanish. Restaurants and street vendors are almost all spanish. So what is the governments position on this? Well there is a super highway that is to be built from Texas to Canada. This will bypass the teamsters union and allow Mexican trucks to drive all over the US. When you think your government will make decisions that represent your own, think again. This is not happening on this issue.
I believe there is an even bigger problem than direct immigration. You see at some point we all come from a family who came from over seas to live the American dream. Our families came here, worked hard, and made a life here in the US. The Mexican people believe that a Mexican is always a Mexican. So there are no plans to ever assimilate into our society. They intend to move here and push their culture on us. There are growing pockets within the government that embrace this. The Spanish language is becoming bigger and bigger within many cities. There are now neighborhoods in Miami where the signs are almost entirely in Spanish. Restaurants and street vendors are almost all spanish. So what is the governments position on this? Well there is a super highway that is to be built from Texas to Canada. This will bypass the teamsters union and allow Mexican trucks to drive all over the US. When you think your government will make decisions that represent your own, think again. This is not happening on this issue.
Friday, February 29, 2008
The Economy Stupid
I believe the year was 1992 when the campaign slogan of the day between every day people was, "its the economy stupid" George Bush senior thought he had enough to win the election based on his wartime success. As we know now he was very wrong and the wretched Clinton presidency began. So todayI wanted to take a minute to share some thoughts and statistics on our economy.
I am by no means an economist. I have taken some classes in college, but I am no expert. Most of the information that I am going to include came from an analysis done by a Harvard professor that was featured on 96.9 FM WTKK. It was on the Jay Severin show which airs from 3pm-7pm Mon-Fri. This is a synopsis of his analysis that I found profound.
The economy can be broken down in two distinct sections. The first being post WW2-1975 and the second being 1976-present. In the first period you had steady wage growth. This meant that the salary that someone retired with would be at least double and then some. Also a middle class family could survive with one income comfortably. The greatest generation also had CEO's that earned on an average 20-40 times more than Joe worker. The stock market grew maybe 2-3 times what it was post WW2 by the end of 1975. This is a stark difference to what happened in the second period. Wages have been stagnant for workers. The stock market has grown about 8 times. The CEO's now earn 250-400 times more than Joe Worker. Today most families need two incomes to survive. Now there are things that stand out today that was not there during the baby boomer years. Today we have a different view on what we need to survive. This drastically alters things within todays families financially.
This was basically the focus of the hour long discussion. Of course this is a greatly shortened version of a very informative dialog. I use this as a basis for what I feel is a major problem within our economy. Which coupled with other factors is a cause of great concern.
Wall street looks at a company, any company. For an example I will use Hewlett Packard. Last year HP earned over 100 billion dollars. Wall Street looks at this and says ok great, you made your numbers. A decent boost in stock price is normally the result. Here comes the question, " What next?" Wall Street then sets the expectation, which is largely unrealistic most of the time. There are those who say, well thats capitalism and free market practices at work. As mentioned though look at the numbers and the data. Has this process been working for the US economy? Can Wall St. always expect growth out of certain companies and certain markets? If the next year HP post numbers that stay the same, what is wrong with that? Well normally there is a negative associated with that, and it usually comes in the form of a stock decrease. This constant pressure always forces companies to cut costs to make up for the stagnant growth. At this point in time the place to cut is here in the US in the form of lost jobs. The labor and now a growing portion of the design is being farmed out to third party companies. Do not get me wrong in order for a company to stay healthy you need to have an eye on expenses and cut when necessary. The data bears out though that we have cut to deep. Wall St. in my opinion has to much influence over the US economy. So much so they are creating the so called bubbles that pop from time to time.The housing bubble is a classic example of this. The current rate cuts are another example of Wall St. ability to influence the FED. According to many economists these practices will only cause more pain in the long wrong. By not letting the cycle complete naturally they introduce unpredictable variables that cause unpredictable consequences. I like to compare this process to a great big ponzi scheme. For some that do not know what it is, let me explain.
A ponzi scheme starts out with a product or service that is sold. The idea is for one person to get three, and those three to get three, etc. etc. to infinity. The problem is mathematically not everyone can make money from this scheme. The growth is unsustainable the more people get involved. The same is true for the economy. The desired growth is unrealistic, and throughout corporate america people are rewarded for the cuts that are made. The biggest cut going to the CEO at the top. As we see there is not that much left at the bottom.
I do not know the best way to approach this problem as I am not an economist. I simply state what the numbers are showing and state what I see. Hopefully we can come to the same sort of conclusions and resolve some of these issue. By no means is this the only problem today.
Tomorrow I will discuss the impact that illegal immigrants are having on the economy. Tomorrow- The Mexican Connection
I am by no means an economist. I have taken some classes in college, but I am no expert. Most of the information that I am going to include came from an analysis done by a Harvard professor that was featured on 96.9 FM WTKK. It was on the Jay Severin show which airs from 3pm-7pm Mon-Fri. This is a synopsis of his analysis that I found profound.
The economy can be broken down in two distinct sections. The first being post WW2-1975 and the second being 1976-present. In the first period you had steady wage growth. This meant that the salary that someone retired with would be at least double and then some. Also a middle class family could survive with one income comfortably. The greatest generation also had CEO's that earned on an average 20-40 times more than Joe worker. The stock market grew maybe 2-3 times what it was post WW2 by the end of 1975. This is a stark difference to what happened in the second period. Wages have been stagnant for workers. The stock market has grown about 8 times. The CEO's now earn 250-400 times more than Joe Worker. Today most families need two incomes to survive. Now there are things that stand out today that was not there during the baby boomer years. Today we have a different view on what we need to survive. This drastically alters things within todays families financially.
This was basically the focus of the hour long discussion. Of course this is a greatly shortened version of a very informative dialog. I use this as a basis for what I feel is a major problem within our economy. Which coupled with other factors is a cause of great concern.
Wall street looks at a company, any company. For an example I will use Hewlett Packard. Last year HP earned over 100 billion dollars. Wall Street looks at this and says ok great, you made your numbers. A decent boost in stock price is normally the result. Here comes the question, " What next?" Wall Street then sets the expectation, which is largely unrealistic most of the time. There are those who say, well thats capitalism and free market practices at work. As mentioned though look at the numbers and the data. Has this process been working for the US economy? Can Wall St. always expect growth out of certain companies and certain markets? If the next year HP post numbers that stay the same, what is wrong with that? Well normally there is a negative associated with that, and it usually comes in the form of a stock decrease. This constant pressure always forces companies to cut costs to make up for the stagnant growth. At this point in time the place to cut is here in the US in the form of lost jobs. The labor and now a growing portion of the design is being farmed out to third party companies. Do not get me wrong in order for a company to stay healthy you need to have an eye on expenses and cut when necessary. The data bears out though that we have cut to deep. Wall St. in my opinion has to much influence over the US economy. So much so they are creating the so called bubbles that pop from time to time.The housing bubble is a classic example of this. The current rate cuts are another example of Wall St. ability to influence the FED. According to many economists these practices will only cause more pain in the long wrong. By not letting the cycle complete naturally they introduce unpredictable variables that cause unpredictable consequences. I like to compare this process to a great big ponzi scheme. For some that do not know what it is, let me explain.
A ponzi scheme starts out with a product or service that is sold. The idea is for one person to get three, and those three to get three, etc. etc. to infinity. The problem is mathematically not everyone can make money from this scheme. The growth is unsustainable the more people get involved. The same is true for the economy. The desired growth is unrealistic, and throughout corporate america people are rewarded for the cuts that are made. The biggest cut going to the CEO at the top. As we see there is not that much left at the bottom.
I do not know the best way to approach this problem as I am not an economist. I simply state what the numbers are showing and state what I see. Hopefully we can come to the same sort of conclusions and resolve some of these issue. By no means is this the only problem today.
Tomorrow I will discuss the impact that illegal immigrants are having on the economy. Tomorrow- The Mexican Connection
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A First Step
Today after reading an e-mail from a friend and forwarding that same e-mail to another friend, I sat down to begin executing a plan. I have long dreamed of being actively involved in changing our society. I realize now that I may have waited to long. Maybe that is an overstatement as to how effective I will be at making a difference. Waiting to long then would be an indicator that what I should have done would have already produced results. At this point it does not matter. I can no longer sit by and do nothing. There are things that are wrong with our society. I think the quote that someone sent me sums up exactly what I am feeling today.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." -Thomas Jefferson
Is this what we have today? Do we not here from the politicians that our government will take care of everything. From the cradle to the grave there are statisticians that are molding what will be our future. Like helpless cattle we are herded down a path that we have lost control of.
Sounds like gloom and doom to me, right? Well I guess it is. This is what really motivated me to take action. All it takes is a small pebble in the water to create a ripple that is felt on the other side of the pond. The job is impossible to accomplish at once, but this after all is only, a first step.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." -Thomas Jefferson
Is this what we have today? Do we not here from the politicians that our government will take care of everything. From the cradle to the grave there are statisticians that are molding what will be our future. Like helpless cattle we are herded down a path that we have lost control of.
Sounds like gloom and doom to me, right? Well I guess it is. This is what really motivated me to take action. All it takes is a small pebble in the water to create a ripple that is felt on the other side of the pond. The job is impossible to accomplish at once, but this after all is only, a first step.
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