The Obama Administration has already decided they will be assisting some home buyers with their mortgage payments. The idea of helping your neighbor pay the mortgage they can't afford has left many people, including myself, with a sour taste of redistribution in our mouths. Now, I don't know what the requirements are to receive the payment help, nor do i really care. In my opinion these people should not own a house, as they clearly cannot afford it. What pisses me off even more is the thought of these people who are receiving this mortgage help spending money on unnecessary goods and services. I wonder how many of these people have cable TV, have pets, have an alcohol or tobacco addiction, or have some other expenditure that they could cut out that would allow more money to go to their mortgage.
The argument those is favor of this mortgage assist plan could always fall back on is that Americans do need a place to live, therefore, helping them stay in their home is a necessity. Of course I would argue that an apartment is also a place to live and is suitable substitute for a house, and is generally much more affordable.
And now the new issue that really pisses me off!!
As ridiculous as I thought it was for the Federal Government to assist those in mortgage trouble, I am absolutely at a loss for words after GM has unveiled their new incentive program to get consumers to buy new cars.
Let me set this up for you: Under GM's new plan if you buy a new GM vehicle, and then subsequently lose your job, GM will pay your car payment for a certain period of time. Now to be fair, I'm sure this only applies to certain cars and to certain job loss situations. For instance, I'm sure if you are fired for insubordination, you would not qualify for the program. Anyway, the details are really not important to me. Think of this logically. GM has no money. The only money GM has is money that was given to them from the Federal Government. So now theoretically we can have a guy who has his mortgage paid for by the government and assuming he losses his job, will also have the government essentially pay his car payment. WHERE DO I SIGN UP?? Oh wait thats right, you dont actually sign up, you just buy things you cannot afford and have no business buying.
You might be saying, "but how will I get to work?" Here is a novel idea, buy a used car that you can afford. Or better yet, pay cash for the new or used vehicle you want. And guess what, if you don't have enough money to buy that new Escalade you want, you cant afford it and should not have one.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Things that piss me off!
A lot of things in life annoy me. Some might say I'm a younger and much better looking Andy Rooney. Lately, my levels of annoyance have been at an all time high. At the top of my list for things that annoy me, the number one topic that gets under my skin is all the talk about bail-outs and how "upset" this makes the American public.
Here are a few things that really piss me off
The American public is "outraged" by the fact that AIG executives received roughly $165 million worth of bonuses. I think Americans are idiots. Do they realize that the federal government gave AIG $165 billion dollars? Now lets be realistic, of the $165million that was awarded, some of it had to be earned and warranted. So, lets say that $100 million should not have been paid as it was not earned. (I would personally argue that its all earned considering the fact that the followed the rules set forth by Congress. I guess that's not good enough for President Obama, hereinafter BO) Now, we have $100 million that should not have been paid and Americans are in an uproar. The reason I say they are idiots is because they are worried about $100 million dollars when the federal government literally gave them 165,000 million dollars. But yeah that extra 100 million really set the American public over the edge. What they should be upset about is the fact that they received the $165 billion, not the fact that executives received $165 million in bonuses. LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!!
Of course BO and his administration will get the money back anyway though with some nifty tax rules that will strip the AIG executives from their bonus money anyway. A 90% tax rate may be imposed on those who received bonuses, essentially taking the whole bonus away. Whats more is that the BO administration has now said that they will monitor and regulate all executives that work at businesses which received TARP or bail out funds. This is a terrible proposition and such a tax law will negatively affect businesses. Lets think about this logically, if you were an up and coming executive type who was offered a position at a business that received TARP money versus a business that did not receive TARP money it is a no brain er which one you will pick. You will pick the business that will allow you to make the most money which would include your bonus. So, while the BO administration is trying to "help" the businesses by giving them money, they may actually be hurting them more in the long run by driving away talented young professionals from the company.
Whats more is that now you hear talk about companies that in no way shape or form received TARP funds, but should also take a reduced salary due to the economy. I even heard on ESPN the other day that golfers should agree to lower purses because businesses pay those purses through sponsorships and they need to save their money. Have any of these morons ever stopped to think that maybe the sponsors have done a cost-benefit analysis on sponsoring certain events, and sponsoring major golf tournaments actually generates more money than it costs to be a sponsor in them? Of course they make money, if they did not make money by being a sponsor, they would not sponsor anymore.
Whats next, are people going to want to start to regulate private businesses and how much those CEO's make? If that happens, America will have gone down the wrong path.
Some people say, "no one deserves to make that much money." This just flat out pisses me off. Who are you to say that no one deserves to make that much money? Lets take a look at a few people that receive giant salaries. A-Rod makes something like 275 million for 10 years, 27.5 million a year. I'm sure a lot of ignorant people out there would say he is not worth that and that he should not make that much money. Well the fact of the matter is that to the Yankees, he is worth that much money. The fact of the matter is that because he on the field more tickets are sold, more games are won, more apparel is sold, more hot dogs are sold and more marketing is available to the team. Now would most players be worth that much money, NO. But A-Rod is the exception to the rule.
Lets talk about a CEO of company X. Lets say CEO of company X makes $35 million a year. Many would say that no one is worth that much money. But, lets consider what makes him worth that much money. He has to be very smart.Not only does he have to be smart but he has to have probably gone to a top notch ivy league school. He also has to be very ambitious and hard working. He has to be social, and not socially awkward. He has to be great and making first impressions and he has to be able to move up the corporate latter. Now, how many people do you know that are all those things? Sure we all know someone that has some of these qualities but all of them is a different story. This is what makes these people unique, this is what makes them valuable, this is why they deserve to be paid fair market value for their services. And if fair market value for them is $35 million per year, then I guess that is what they are worth.
Here is the bottom line. If the BO administration continues to impose new tax laws on businesses that received TARP funds, there will be no incentive for promising young talent to work there. Everyone knows that businesses are only as good as the employees that work there, and these establishments will not be able to get any of the top employees.
The American government should have a very limited role when it comes to businesses and the laws that govern them. In a free market system, the weak fail, and the strong prevail. GM and AIG should fail. Certain banks should fail.
So how do we fix the problem?
Timothy Geitner wants to give new power to the treasury department that allows them oversee all actions of financial institutions. First, this is a terrible idea as to much power is given to the government. However, what really pisses me off about this is that we already had a financial oversight committee that was chaired by Barney Frank. I guess no one thinks he is responsible for all the toxic assets that are flooding the major banks balance sheets. I mean it was his job to monitor what the banks were doing, and he did nothing. So either he is to stupid to be the chairman and he should be fired, or he is not studious enough and should be fired, you can pick which fits him best.
At the end of the day, business and law do not mix. Sure there should be accountability for businesses that engage in wrongful actions, but monitoring salaries and bonuses of executives is not the way to go about that. In 5 or ten years when we are out of this recession the American people will once again want a conservative congress that stays out of their business. In times of need Americans want the security of the federal government holding them and telling them it will be OK. However, in times of prosperity Americans want the government to stay out of their business and leave them alone.
Here are a few things that really piss me off
The American public is "outraged" by the fact that AIG executives received roughly $165 million worth of bonuses. I think Americans are idiots. Do they realize that the federal government gave AIG $165 billion dollars? Now lets be realistic, of the $165million that was awarded, some of it had to be earned and warranted. So, lets say that $100 million should not have been paid as it was not earned. (I would personally argue that its all earned considering the fact that the followed the rules set forth by Congress. I guess that's not good enough for President Obama, hereinafter BO) Now, we have $100 million that should not have been paid and Americans are in an uproar. The reason I say they are idiots is because they are worried about $100 million dollars when the federal government literally gave them 165,000 million dollars. But yeah that extra 100 million really set the American public over the edge. What they should be upset about is the fact that they received the $165 billion, not the fact that executives received $165 million in bonuses. LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!!
Of course BO and his administration will get the money back anyway though with some nifty tax rules that will strip the AIG executives from their bonus money anyway. A 90% tax rate may be imposed on those who received bonuses, essentially taking the whole bonus away. Whats more is that the BO administration has now said that they will monitor and regulate all executives that work at businesses which received TARP or bail out funds. This is a terrible proposition and such a tax law will negatively affect businesses. Lets think about this logically, if you were an up and coming executive type who was offered a position at a business that received TARP money versus a business that did not receive TARP money it is a no brain er which one you will pick. You will pick the business that will allow you to make the most money which would include your bonus. So, while the BO administration is trying to "help" the businesses by giving them money, they may actually be hurting them more in the long run by driving away talented young professionals from the company.
Whats more is that now you hear talk about companies that in no way shape or form received TARP funds, but should also take a reduced salary due to the economy. I even heard on ESPN the other day that golfers should agree to lower purses because businesses pay those purses through sponsorships and they need to save their money. Have any of these morons ever stopped to think that maybe the sponsors have done a cost-benefit analysis on sponsoring certain events, and sponsoring major golf tournaments actually generates more money than it costs to be a sponsor in them? Of course they make money, if they did not make money by being a sponsor, they would not sponsor anymore.
Whats next, are people going to want to start to regulate private businesses and how much those CEO's make? If that happens, America will have gone down the wrong path.
Some people say, "no one deserves to make that much money." This just flat out pisses me off. Who are you to say that no one deserves to make that much money? Lets take a look at a few people that receive giant salaries. A-Rod makes something like 275 million for 10 years, 27.5 million a year. I'm sure a lot of ignorant people out there would say he is not worth that and that he should not make that much money. Well the fact of the matter is that to the Yankees, he is worth that much money. The fact of the matter is that because he on the field more tickets are sold, more games are won, more apparel is sold, more hot dogs are sold and more marketing is available to the team. Now would most players be worth that much money, NO. But A-Rod is the exception to the rule.
Lets talk about a CEO of company X. Lets say CEO of company X makes $35 million a year. Many would say that no one is worth that much money. But, lets consider what makes him worth that much money. He has to be very smart.Not only does he have to be smart but he has to have probably gone to a top notch ivy league school. He also has to be very ambitious and hard working. He has to be social, and not socially awkward. He has to be great and making first impressions and he has to be able to move up the corporate latter. Now, how many people do you know that are all those things? Sure we all know someone that has some of these qualities but all of them is a different story. This is what makes these people unique, this is what makes them valuable, this is why they deserve to be paid fair market value for their services. And if fair market value for them is $35 million per year, then I guess that is what they are worth.
Here is the bottom line. If the BO administration continues to impose new tax laws on businesses that received TARP funds, there will be no incentive for promising young talent to work there. Everyone knows that businesses are only as good as the employees that work there, and these establishments will not be able to get any of the top employees.
The American government should have a very limited role when it comes to businesses and the laws that govern them. In a free market system, the weak fail, and the strong prevail. GM and AIG should fail. Certain banks should fail.
So how do we fix the problem?
Timothy Geitner wants to give new power to the treasury department that allows them oversee all actions of financial institutions. First, this is a terrible idea as to much power is given to the government. However, what really pisses me off about this is that we already had a financial oversight committee that was chaired by Barney Frank. I guess no one thinks he is responsible for all the toxic assets that are flooding the major banks balance sheets. I mean it was his job to monitor what the banks were doing, and he did nothing. So either he is to stupid to be the chairman and he should be fired, or he is not studious enough and should be fired, you can pick which fits him best.
At the end of the day, business and law do not mix. Sure there should be accountability for businesses that engage in wrongful actions, but monitoring salaries and bonuses of executives is not the way to go about that. In 5 or ten years when we are out of this recession the American people will once again want a conservative congress that stays out of their business. In times of need Americans want the security of the federal government holding them and telling them it will be OK. However, in times of prosperity Americans want the government to stay out of their business and leave them alone.
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