So why are more companies not yet hiring?
U.S. Workers are still filing a large amount of unemployment claims and this is after five weeks of declines in this area.
Where are the culprits and which industries are still hurting? It’s apparent as we have seen over the last year is that a gradual stabilization of the economy does not naturally translate to a increase in the labor market stability.
The gripping effects of the recession have no indications of going into a double dip as economist like to call it, trade gaps are narrowing, imports and exports are up, and yet bottom line profits are not improving.
Where are the jobs going and why even after the influx of billions of dollars in stimulus funds…the unemployment rate still hovers around 9-10%?
Pizza ranks high as a mobile commodity
One of the silliest applications on the Iphone and the Ipod touch (neither of which I have) but what a great idea.
The app has been in the Iphone world for about three months now and has generated over $1 million in sales!!
Pizza Hut previously had a WAP enabled application that allowed mobile ordering, so they’ve been in this space for a while now.
Who needs a fancy level or directions through the NYC subway when you’ve got instant access to breadsticks and greasy pizza?
Mmmm…
Glad the government planned Cash for Clunkers so well !
Little did the gub no that nearly 180,000 cars would be involved in the CARS program. They ran out of money after only one week of the program, people were getting cheated because the minimum MPG ratings changes mid-stream, and just what the hell happens to all those vehicles that are turned in?
Here are some tidbits of the program I question.:
There are several requirements (but you also have to meet certain conditions for the car or truck you wish to buy). Your dealer can help you determine whether you have an eligible trade in vehicle.
Your trade-in vehicle must
- Have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in
- have a “new” combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less
- be in drivable condition
- be continuously insured and registered to the same owner for the full year preceding the trade-in
- The trade-in vehicle must have been manufactured not earlier than 25 years before the date of trade in and, in the case of a category 3 vehicle, must also have been manufactured not later than model year 2001
Note that work trucks (i.e., very large pickup trucks and cargo vans) have different requirements
There are several requirements (but you also have to meet certain conditions for the car or truck you wish to buy). Your dealer can help you determine whether you have an eligible trade in vehicle.
Isn’t a car more than 25 years old (if it even ran) be considered one hell of a clunker and omission spitting beast? So all those cars stay on the road.
Has to be in drivable condition? Of course it needs to be drivable so the dealer can either put the piece of crap back on the lot, or sell it at auction, which once again, will end up on some other lot and sold to someone else. I thought the whole gist of the plan was to encourage people to trade a car and purchase a more ECO friendly vehicle? Car dealerships now have hundreds of used cars on their lots that initially met the standard of horribleness to be traded in…..ummm..then will be sold? That goal sounds foiled to me.
So, we just removed these cars and put them back on the road again? I guarantee you the dealers won’t have all these thousands of trade in’s smashed into tiny little , shiny metal sauce pans. They make money by moving the car through the system and they get re-imbursed by Uncle Sam for that hefty allowance they just gave you!! This is isn’t a movement to eliminate these cars, we all know it’s more of a push to get dealers making money again. The auto industry still makes the same ECO disaster models so we are just making our roads temporarily more healthy?
The worst joke would be if people are working that $4500 credit into their loan! No No No…you need to ask for cash in your grubby hand! NEVER have a rebate or cash allowance worked into the loan to ease the payment or bring down the balance. If a program offers cash back, then get the cash back and if they don’t offer that option, walk out the door!
Happy car trading and don’t bank on CARS being your answer. As always, buy a car you can afford to pay off in 5 years ! Here that? 5 years ! Or do not buy the car because you can’t afford the lien.
Kisses !
Keep your chin up America!!!
Something I’ve Observed: Jobs are lost, economy sucks, we still love baseball !
Cheap seats to the game are $400 bucks for standing room only, good seats will run upward of $1000-$1500 bucks!
Unemployment is 9.5% which is the highest in years, the economy is trying to rebound slowly…and yet Americans still flock to the ballpark to watch their favorite players.
BTW, most of these players are earning most of our country’s money but we cheer them on anyway. Good to see happy, drunk people throwing down a lot of cash on the All Star festivities. Gives me a glimmer of hope that the money is still moving around!
With car dealerships going bye bye…do we all start walking now?
The news is bleak and and what is being touted as a cost cutting measure is going to royally screw us. Chrysler announced yetserday that nearly 800 dealership franschises agreements would be ending. This doesnt mean that all dealers who sell Chryslers will close, it simply means they wont be selling you one anymore.
Bigger dealerships will feel the pain but won’t all together die because of this decisions. Smaller family owened businesses that only sell Chryslers are finito.
Just today GM has announced a similar kick in the ass. So where does that leave us? Not sure considering that nobody is buying cars or else these closures would not be occuring and GM would not be about one month from bankruptcy protection.
I have this fear that the car buying experience is going to get worse rather than better. I mean worse in the sense that so many other outlets are opening up for people to buy cars that the process of buying one is going to change.
But that’s is a good thing right? Well yes and no…depends on who you are. I like the advent of online car buying but like I have mentioned in other posts, some buyers don’t. Dealerships suck that’s a given, but it’s hard to throw down cash on a vehicle you cant plop your ass into.
This is a sickening feeling watching these dealerships go up in smoke. Lost jobs, lost profits, loss of competitive advantage pricing, what else?
I’ll be anxious to see what the 2009 Auto Shows will be like this year. Will that many people get all giddied up over $250, 000 concept cars when they can’t afford to visit a dealer and buy a sedan for $15000? Enough with the hype of super, jetsetting sports cars and uber tekky, GPS synched computers on wheels. How about coming out with affordable, eco friendly cars which don’t break the bank of the manufactures (thank you UAW!!!!!!) and…do not put the average car buyer into a high percentage loan they can’t afford.
Have you noticed a lot of people riding busses and buzzing around on scooters? So have I.
As big as the industry is, it’s hard to gauge how all of us will truly feel the effect but we will soon, before the summer is over I bet.
Ponzi scheme victims get to write off 95% of losses – Welcome to the American Ponzi scheme
This is a sad sad day for the American taxpayer. Apparently, the United States tax system is officially only in place to take money from stupid Americans and make every possible exception for those tax payers who have the power to manipulate our representatives.
I sympathize with people who were swindled by criminals, I hate that people in this world try to skate through life by stealing from others. The world would be a much happier place, if these types of people would simply vanish. However, none of the investors who were victims of criminals has earned even $1 dollar of my money or yours.
Am I missing something or has the U.S. tax system somehow morphed into a nanny state system? I for the life of me cannot figure out how or why U.S. taxpayers deserve to become victims of these Ponzi scheme criminals, but that is exactly what is happening if we us non-victim money to bail them out.
Over the last 100 years there have been numerous scammers and thiefs who stole countless dollars from millions of Americans, but I do not recall a single instance where their grief and suffering somehow became all of American’s problem. But you take one high flying Wall Street banker, and an elaborate scheme to steal from his influential clients, and all of the sudden we all have to bail them out.
Again, I have sympathy for those who lost money by the heartless acts of criminals, but our congress is no better than Bernard Madoff when it comes to robbing Peter to pay Paul, with absolutely no regard for the little tax payer who keeps their engine of greed running.
Here is an article that discusses the tax break, if you want to read the facts, instead of my rant.
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service announced unprecedented tax relief for victims of Ponzi schemes, saying many of those affected could deduct up to 95% of their losses immediately.
The move, which corresponded with a congressional hearing on the issue Tuesday, represents a significant relaxation of longstanding limits on tax relief for victims of investment scams. It reflects the pressure officials are feeling to help individuals who have been hurt in the current financial crisis, particularly at a time when public resentment is growing over the billions of dollars the government is directing into troubled banks and other big corporations.
The IRS action drew praise from lawmakers, who have been pondering legislation to help victims of swindlers such as Bernard Madoff, who has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges, after confessing to running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. “It’s a rare day when someone can be happy with the IRS,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) at the hearing held by the Senate Finance Committee.
The IRS guidance is more favorable to victims than prior positions the agency has taken, said Robert Willens, a New York tax adviser.
In broad terms, the IRS said Ponzi scheme victims who aren’t suing to recover their losses can generally deduct up to 95% of their qualified losses — minus any potential recoveries from insurance or the Securities Investor Protection Corp. — in the year the fraud is discovered. Those pursuing third-party recoveries can deduct 75% of relevant investments, after potential recoveries. The Securities Investor Protection Corp., or SIPC, is an organization designed to help investors at failed brokerage firms.
The IRS said victims wouldn’t be subject to limits that apply to personal casualty or theft losses and could carry back net operating losses five years to offset taxes paid, or forward 20 years. Under prior rules, many investors had to subtract $100 and 10% of their adjusted gross income from their loss deductions, and could carry back losses only three years, or forward 20 years.
In another change, the IRS said investors can include their principal, as well as any so-called phantom income they have received over the years, in their theft-loss deductions. Previously, the IRS allowed some Ponzi scheme victims to deduct only their principal as a theft loss, not phantom income.
The changes left open a number of questions, including how to help people who had invested in Ponzi schemes through nontaxable accounts such as Individual Retirement Accounts. People who invested indirectly through feeder funds potentially face a more complex situation in getting relief under the changes.
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said he was concerned that the guidance would “encourage tax cheats to take abusive deductions.”
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said any taxpayers who seek the new relief must file special forms identifying themselves as Ponzi victims. That will make it easier for the IRS to monitor claims and “look behind these, so we don’t have a lot of fraud,” he said.
The government has also limited tax-loss claims by individual investors that apply to normal losses from trading, due to concerns that it could result in a large loss of government revenue. But Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) Tuesday said Congress should consider liberalizing those rules to help more consumers.
Paying off the National Debt and Stimulus Package in minutes, hours, days
I do not think much needs to be said here. Just look at the numbers, and imagine how much money it really is. Numbers like this seemed inconceivable just 30 years ago.
We need to worry about how we are going to fix the debt problem, and we need to ask how those spending the money plan on paying it back.
Stimulus money feels great when you receive it, but paying it back is not as fun.
After downing a pint of Guinness in the airport terminal…you won’t find this Irish humor too funny
It has finally happened. An airline executive has pondered a great way to make extra income, charge passengers to use the plane potty. Irish carrier Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told the BBC that the idea had come up in discussions on how to generate income. The rational is that most passengers have money on them when they travel, however the decision would not affect those passengers that choose not to use the plane’s toilet.
Whaaaa? You have the option “not” to use the toilet? Check out the article for yourself. Maybe it’s something you declare when being screened at the security gate.
Do you wish to use the toilet? Yes or No
Will you be drinking heavily while flying with us? Yes or No
Did you eat Mexican food in the last hour? Yes or No
Do you have first class tickets or will you be sitting in the blue water suite? Yes or No
Personally, I’d stick my tush out the window but that air pressure issue might come into play.
Brief profile of the charmed American autoworker
Producing and assembling cars in this country can be a very lucrative profession. Many insiders have blamed the union system for the fallout of the Domestic auto-industry. The economic fallout is beginning to hit autoworkers, but it won’t affect them like it hits those in other industries. The UAW has set up a golden platter of benefits and protections for the members of its union. I’m glad we have these men and women in the factories to make our cars. It’s a physical job…but these aren’t neurosurgeons.
Here are some tasty morsels to chomp on next time you hear another news story about the auto crisis:
1) Unionized members make an average of $24-30 an hour (you do the math). Not too shabby.
2) In GM’s case: The combined “legacy” benefits (pensions, insurance, retiree benefits, etc) equates to nearly $70 an hour. Not an actual rate, but an overall analyst driven calculation of what “total” labor and current retiree benefits is costing GM. Workers are not getting paid $70 an hour as some stories suggest.
3) In the early 1980’s, the UAW created a program called “job banking” which pays at least 90% of a laid off autoworkers salary until the union can find them a new position elsewhere. The job banking practice was implemented as a way for autoworkers to “absorb the punch” when automated, robotic technology was introduced on the assembly line. The terms and conditions vary by automaker, because each labor contract is different. GM factory workers who get laid off start out at “sub pay,” in which they receive unemployment benefits, and GM pays the difference, up to most of their salary, for 48 weeks. After that, laid-off employees go into the jobs bank, which averages almost $62,000 a year — plus benefits, without reporting to work. In the meantime, the company tries to find them jobs elsewhere. That sucks!
4) In 2005, nearly 12,000 autoworkers were drawing a full salary without ever setting foot in an auto plant. Most simply had to show up at a local union hall and hang out.
5) Over the last 15 years, nearly 83,000 autoworkers have lost their manufacturing job, however, 91,000 new positions were created in other states.
6) Delphi, the parts wing of GM, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999 because UAW would not agree to a wage cut.
Interesting information and compelling reasons why these men and women so cherish their jobs. With the onset of the government bailout, many of these perks are changing or going away. Late last year, the GM job bank program was suspended (actually the UAW allowed it to be suspended, hmm) due in part to the auto crisis. The union provides a very secure blanket of protection over its workers and gives them tremendous incentive not to leave. In the same light, the UAW is doing a horrible disservice for this population of workers. This is all they have ever known considering most autoworkers never leave the industry and retire with healthy pensions. Sadly, this causes a career black hole that provides an illusion that every other American worker has these same benefits and freedom of labor expression. Autoworkers will become lost in a corporate world that does not look out for them. They have skills on the assembly line- but where will those skills be transferred? Many of them will find good work in certain trades or other manufacturing capacities, but nothing with the same “bling bling” of the auto assembly line. With the reality of the disappearing job bank system- this will be a shocker for many leaving the union. To a degree, the auto worker has become easy pickings for ridicule and scorn. The general public has become aware of how well they are paid and the security of employment they are offered – and to a degree – are jealous.
Despite a loss in members, the UAW is still a $2 billion dollar organization with approx. 550, 000 due paying members. They have some nice assets too.
The Black Lake Country Club and Reuther Center is a $33 million dollar golf course and retreat owned and operated by the UAW. The course itself is $6 million dollars. The UAW is losing money on this forested beauty every year as more members leave the union. I truly hope our bailout funds keep this course afloat, being a golfer, I’d love to play it someday… but not for $33 million bucks.
Pretty isn’t it? I heard they’re hiring part time caddies with benefits and life time pension.
I should have been an autoworker.
Heard It In A Bar RSS Feed- Brittany Murphy’s death is troubling March 11, 2010Not that it’s another tragic celebrity death, not that it’s another young life taken so early…these are all troubling and sad in their own right. It’s another tragic case of someone getting caught up in the web of drugs…the legal type! It truly saddens me that so many of these stars seek out more and more prescription [...] […]kansasview
- Internet fun for the weekend… March 11, 2010By far one of my favorite websites of late is called GraphJam.com. Essentially, the website attempts to break down the world and how we interact with it in a series of graphs. It is hilarious when you see how the world around us can be so easily summed up in a pie or bar chart. [...] […]kansasview
- So why are more companies not yet hiring? March 11, 2010U.S. Workers are still filing a large amount of unemployment claims and this is after five weeks of declines in this area. Where are the culprits and which industries are still hurting? It’s apparent as we have seen over the last year is that a gradual stabilization of the economy does not naturally translate to a increase [...] […]kansasview
- Facebook is down…Facebook is down…5:42 (cst) March 11, 2010This website is not a help desk for Facebook but it’s a civic duty to keep the American public aware of all possible natural disasters!! Facebook is down! Facebook is down! Don’t toss your Iphone in the river or hurl it at your wife and complain that it doesn’t work worth a s***. Here is the current [...] […]kansasview
- Hot new golfer to challenge Tiger’s limelight March 11, 2010It’s tough not to hear Tiger Woods’ name in the media of late with all this marital infedelity hoopla and now text messages coming out from his brood of women across the country. Frankly, it’s getting old and let’s focus our attention on those athletes who don’t get all the attention. Especially those golfers who shy away [... […]kansasview
- Eight years of success turns into one year of demise for Kansas coach Mark Mangino March 11, 2010The story and the jokes can finally come to an end. Sports fans throughout the midwest have been following the fate of KU head football coach Mark Mangino and allegations that he verbally and physically abused his players. Well fans, now that he has resigned and the weeks of rumors and headlines about his coaching future [...] […]kansasview
- Tiger’s “cat” is almost out of the bag March 11, 2010Of course we couldn’t wait too long before throwing in our own two cents about the Woods story, it wouldn’t be American! I’m getting to the point where I’m getting angry because this is now a public issue. It’s private until Tiger hopped behind the wheel and crashed his vehicle. It’s private until the police are called a […]kansasview
- Come on ABC…Lambert only kissed another guy, big deal March 11, 2010What’s wrong ABC? You can’t allow a very flamboyant and talented singer on GMA? However, you have prime time shows that openly display homosexual men/women and sometimes they kiss! Brothers and Sisters, Modern Family, Grey’s Anatomy, they all have gay characters who quite frequently engaged in PDA. Granted, these are actors but there is […]kansasview
- Wow! Those facebook pics sure got some attention! March 11, 2010Interesting story out of Quebec, if you haven’t read the article, do so. Once again, a story comes along that just sends my editorial neurons out of whack. So, you go to the doctor and are diagnosed with severe depression…so severe that she is forced to go on short term disability for a year from her [...] […]kansasview
- Palin…go away! March 11, 2010Seriously, I don’t care that you have a new book….I don’t care that you have a tattered relationship with your daughter’s “baby daddy“…and I find absolutely nothing of this fascinating in the least. It’s all over TV, she’s been on every talk show on earth….all for what? To increase exposure for a […]kansasview
- Brittany Murphy’s death is troubling March 11, 2010
