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!
We must have Circuit City ESP…we knew this a while back
There must have been something in the air that day. We earlier provided you information on how the Circuit City closing liquidation sales would add up to a pile of nothing, well it happened. The early reports are in and even it it’s drowning state, the stores are not providing true sales! This is nuts and further accentuates the reason why everyone quit going there, seriously. Maybe it exemplifies that once the store loses its customer base – they’re history and nothing brings them back, not even a half assed sale.
This should be called “our creditors are still calling us sale” or “feel sorry for us and buy a damn TV sale”.
Bye bye Circuit City! Hey Best Buy, hire these souls please.
Some stimulation feels really good, and others not so much
Samuel J. Palmisano recent put fourth three ideas to help stimulate the economy. His stimulus ideas, or should I say IBM’s stimulus ideas are by no means unique or original, however, IBM did take the time and spend the money (one assumes) to put some facts and figures to the ideas, which I give them total credit for.
The three stimulus ideas are build broadband infrastructure across America, mandate and create a unified health care records and management system and finally develop a modern electrical grid.
All three of these ideas are great ideas and many-many people have brought them up in the past, including our current President elect. All three of the plans combined would cost approximately $30 billion a year, but the flip-side is they would generate (according to IBM) $100 billion a year in new revenue and stimulate significant job creation. Because the Wall Street Journal published the entire article about these topics I will simply include a link to the story for you to read more about these topics. However, I have a few other suggestions I believe should be high on the national agenda, and I will write about them here on my favorite site.
First – A high speed rail network across America. I would like a national high speed rail network that connects all major metropolitan areas in the United States, with more than 1.5 million residents. The system at first could be built for interstate or inter-coastal connectivity, and then integrated into a national system as the project matures. California has proposed a similar system several times with an estimated price tag of $8 billion – $15 billion, so we will take an educated guess and say the national system would cost at least $100 billion dollars, but it would not be completed in a single year, so let’s call it $15 billion per year.
Start the project on the West Coast and East Coast simultaneously, with a third project starting in Texas within 24 months. The first 15 routes would focus on metropolitan areas with more than 4 million residents and then connect to the smaller metropolitan areas as it builds out, based on proximity to the major metro areas.
Second – A national airline. This airline would be used for small “hopper” routes in the Midwest and rural United States. The airline would offer reasonable to cheap flights to under-served areas on non-profitable routes for the major airlines. The national airline would also offer international flights to smaller airports and cities meeting the same criteria.
Third – A national broadband wireless network. IBM proposed a broadband network connecting the entire United States, but they did not specify wireless or hard-wired. I firmly lean toward wireless. I believe we should have the ability to access a wireless Internet signal anywhere we currently receive television or radio signals through the air. The Internet is a government controlled and funded system, and allowing private enterprise to capitalize on such a valuable conduit for providing and receiving information only stifles creativity and growth in the economy, while providing marginal bottom-line benefit to the corporations that push the service.
Fourth – Offer free classes and training at most two-year community colleges. Allow people who need to educate themselves, learn a new trade or simply want to learn the ability to attend a two-year community college or trade school for free. This will not only help stimulate the economy by increasing the available job pool, but it will help in many ancillary ways as well. I better educated society will be healthier, less prone to crime and financially more responsible.
There are many other areas and ideas that should be addressed, but the obvious point of this article and the IBM article, is the approach should be rifle targeted rather than a shotgun scatter approach as is currently the case. If we are going to spend trillions of dollars stimulating the economy let’s at least make us a stronger, wiser and more prepared country as a result.
Barack Obama – George Mason University speech on the economy January 8, 2009
Text of President-elect Barack Obama’s speech on the economy on Thursday at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions.
To give our children the chance to live out their dreams in a world that’s never been more competitive, we will equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges and public universities with 21st-century classrooms, labs and libraries. We’ll provide new computers, new technology and new training for teachers so that students in Chicago and Boston can compete with children in Beijing for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future.
To build an economy that can lead this future, we will begin to rebuild America. Yes, we’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges and schools by eliminating the backlog of well- planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects, but we’ll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy.
That means updating the way we get our electricity, by starting to build a new smart grid that will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation.
It means expanding broadband lines across America so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.
It means investing in the science, research and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries and entire new industries.
And, finally, this Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will provide immediate relief to states, workers and families who are bearing the brunt of this recession. To get people spending again, 95 percent of working families will receive a $1,000 tax cut, the first stage of a middle-class tax cut that I promised during the campaign and will include in our next budget.
To help Americans who have lost their jobs and can’t find new ones, we’ll continue the bipartisan extension of unemployment insurance and health care coverage to help them through this crisis.
Government at every level will have to tighten its belt, but we’ll help struggling states avoid harmful budget cuts, as long as they take responsibility and use the money to maintain essential services, like police, fire, education and health care.
Now, I understand that some might be skeptical of this plan. Our government has already spent a good deal of money, but we haven’t yet seen that translate into more jobs, or higher incomes, or renewed confidence in our economy.
And that’s why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan won’t just throw money at our problems. We’ll invest in what works.
The true test of policies we’ll pursue won’t be whether they’re Democratic or Republican ideas, whether they’re conservative or liberal ideas, but whether they create jobs, grow our economy and put the American dream within the reach of the American people.
Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made transparently and informed by independent experts wherever possible.
Every American will be able to hold Washington accountable for these decisions by going online to see how and where their taxpayer dollars are spent.
And as I announced yesterday, we will launch an unprecedented effort to eliminate unwise and unnecessary spending that has never been more unaffordable for our nation and our children’s future than it is right now.
We have to make tough choices and smart investments today so that, as the economy recovers, the deficits start coming down. We cannot have a solid recovery if our people and our businesses don’t have confidence that we’re getting our fiscal house in order.
And that’s why our goal is not to create a slew of new government programs, but a foundation for long-term economic growth.
That also means an economic recovery plan that is free from earmarks and pet projects. I understand that every member of Congress has ideas about how to spend money. Many of these projects are worthy; they benefit local communities.
But this emergency legislation must not be the vehicle for those aspirations. This must be a time when leaders in both parties put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests.
Now, this recovery plan alone will not solve all the problems that led us into this crisis. We must also work with the same sense of urgency to stabilize and repair the financial system we all depend on.
That means using our full arsenal of tools to get credit flowing again to families and businesses, while restoring confidence in our markets. It means launching a sweeping effort to address the foreclosure crisis so that we can keep responsible families in their homes.
It means preventing the catastrophic failure of financial institutions whose collapse could endanger the entire economy, but only with maximum protections for taxpayers and a clear understanding that government support for any company is an extraordinary action that must come with significant restrictions on the firms that receive support.
And it means reforming a weak and outdated regulatory system so that we can better withstand financial shocks and better protect consumers, investors and businesses from the reckless greed and risk-taking that must never endanger our prosperity again.
No longer can we allow Wall Street wrongdoers to slip through regulatory cracks. No longer can we allow special interests to put their thumbs on the economic scales. No longer can we allow the unscrupulous lending and borrowing that leads only to disruptive cycles of bubble and bust.
It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now.
We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people, for every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs, more families will lose their savings, more dreams will be deferred and denied, and our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that at some point we may not be able to reverse.
That is not the country I know. It is not a future I accept as president of the United States. A world that depends on the strength of our economy is now watching and waiting for America to lead once more, and that is what we will do.
It will not come easy or happen overnight. And it is altogether likely that things may get worse before they get better.
But that is all the more reason for Congress to act without delay.
I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation. We have already tried the wait-and-see approach to our problems, and it is the same approach that helped lead us to this day of reckoning.
And that is why the time has come to build a 21st-century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded. That’s why I’m asking Congress to work with me and my team day and night — on weekends, if necessary — to get the plan passed in the next few weeks.
That’s why I’m calling on all Americans, Democrats and Republicans and independents, to put — to put good ideas ahead of the old ideological battles, a sense of common purpose above the same narrow partisanship, and insist that the first question each of us asks isn’t “What’s good for me?” but “What’s good for the country my children will inherit?”
More than any program or policy, it is this spirit that will enable us to confront these challenges with the same spirit that has led previous generations to face down war and depression and fear itself.
And if we do, if we are able to summon that spirit again, if we are able to look out for one another and listen to one another, and do our part for our nation and for posterity, then I have no doubt that, years from now, we will look back on 2009 as one of those years that marked another new and hopeful beginning for the United States of America.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
END
(Source AP)
Flaa la la la laaaaa..la la laaaa…at! Sing it
I hate the word “flat”. The holiday retail season forecasts are looking “flat”. Buyers on Black Friday were spending more than last year, but the long range outlook is “flat”. No no – wait, I do like the word “flat”.
I like the word “flat” because it conjours up images of the way many things shouldn’t be in our round world…bare with me as I sort out a random ode’ to the flatness:
“He flatlined!” – really really not good…
“My damn tire is flat.” – again, not good if you’re stuck on a “flat” stretch of highway…
“Your hair is looking kind of flat today.” – really not good if you’re a female…flat means you slept in or the relative humidity is higher than it was yesterday…
“This pillow is totally flat.” – oh my, not good if you’re camping, passed out at a friends house on the living room floor, or nudged up against a cold airplane window (they’re all cold by the way)…
“His voice is kinda flat.” – yeah, that’s a nice way of saying that someone can’t hold a note, is tone deaf, or needs to back away from the jukebox…
“Dude, her chest is kinda flat”- we won’t entertain that one…
“Eww, this beer is flat” – now depending where and when this occurs, it has never really stopped many from lavishing in all that remains of the once bubbly, crisp, and foamy goodness.
Alas, we have good uses for “flat” as well:
“The pancake is flat.” – lumps are bad…
“My abs are looking flat.”- I don’t say this myself, but some do…
Anyway, can we agree on which adjective will become the mainstay when referring to the current economic condition? I also like “the economy is bleak”. I will settle for “the quarterly earnings are dim.” I prefer to hear that “the sales were sluggish”, “buyers were stingy” or even “retailers were in the red”. Amazing how just the right word can put me into a horrible mood and force me to covet my wallet even more.
Flat bread pizza anyone?
We really need your business…liquidate this!
I paid what?
With the tanking economic environment, retailers are hurting. I don’t mean just stub your toe on the coffee table hurting – we’re talking can’t sell a damn thing and turning off the lights hurting. Unfortunately, I just learned something that maybe others before me already knew and I just failed to pay attention.
What is the point of a liquidation sale when in fact, nothing is on sale? To be more specific, the prices marked during most “going out of business” or “liquidation” sales are not any cheaper. Considering the employment instability right now it’s no wonder a frantic dash is on to save money- sadly this probably isn’t the way to do it.
We thrive off the sale, the discount, the wholesale cost, the half off clearance, the two for one, the easy financing, the price match, and my favorite – the midnight madness. To compound the issue, there are promotional outfits who profit when other companies can’t cut the mustard. Where have I been and how many times have I probably purchased something at a liquidation blowout extravanganza?
Here’s the skinny – once a liquidator is hired, the actual store is not setting the prices anymore. Granted, they do want the merchandise to move but the discounts start very low, often the first discounted price is higher than what the store had it marked before the sale! But you wont know that unless you look for a peeled price sticker or do your homework – here are some hints before you take a nose dive into a sale this holiday season:
- Check the price at other stores and you may discover the original price was cheaper.
- Compare prices online. Online retailers such as Amazon and Tiger Direct are good places to compare.
- Beware! Warranties are typically honored through the manfacturer, not the store that sold it.
- Don’t be afraid of sites like Woot and Craigslist. A lot of good used items out there and it’s fun.
If you insist on buying at the big box retailers, you hold the trump card now. After seeing all this, I wouldn’t assume that the price staring you in the face is the best they can do. Consumers are not as dumb as we look – although I’ve seen some classic dumb looks on people’s faces as they parade through a store at 6am looking for a deal. (Did I say that?)
Seriously now – where is the logic in this? I’m sorry, I’m not going to reward your failing business by forking up more cash.
An Open Letter to Hank Paulson: Uncertainty & the Banks, What to do now
Mr. Paulson:
The capital injections by the Treasury have not done anything to inspire confidence in the banking system by investors or to incentivize banks to start making new loans.
I recognize that it is too much to expect banks to run out and start expanding their balance sheets by writing new loans with so much uncertainty with respect to losses and impact on their capital.
Now that fears are spreading with respect to the commercial real estate market and the consumer loan market, the ability of banks to look at new business is further hampered.
We need to do something decisive and since so many are putting forth ideas, I want to put one out for your consideration.
The problem with the banking system is the continued uncertainty over asset values. Due to the huge leverage of the banks a small decrease in asset values can blow through ALL of the capital in the banking system including the $125 billion given to the 7 largest banks and billions more given to the smaller banks.
As long as these assets are on their balance sheets, this situation remains unresolved and there is no place to go with these assets. This is a cancer in the system and must be removed.
The U.S. Treasury is not moving forward with the TARP. I think this is due to the complexity of the problem as well as the current environment in Congress and I understand your position.
But, with all due respect to you, I do not believe that you can wait and throw this off to the new Administration.
So, where do we go from here?
I think the U.S. Treasury should convene the largest banks in the country, lock them in a room, with the following mandate:
1) The U.S. Treasury (UST) is going to capitalize a special purpose vehicle (SPV) – a new company – with $100 billion in cash. UST will own the common stock of the SPV.
2) The banks (I use banks for ease, this could include insurance companies) – are going to contribute $1 trillion of assets to this vehicle with limits for each bank based on size. The banks and UST will agree on what assets can be contributed and as a group the banks and UST will agree on the value of the assets to be contributed.
The assets that are allowed to be contributed will be broad asset classes, not one-off derivative deals and such. Commercial mortgages, residential mortgages, consumer loans, large corporate and commercial loans (Shared National Credits, loans broadly held by banks) etc.
The $1 trillion of assets will not be contributed at “market value” nor will it be contributed at “par” value (the original value of the asset). It will be contributed at a value that reflects the expected recovery of those assets over the life of the assets discounted back to the present (the “Intrinsic Value”).
3) In addition to the $100 billion of capital injected into the vehicle by the U.S. Treasury the banks will make the following contributions:
a) For each $10 dollars of assets they contribute to the SPV they will contribute $1.00 of common stock.
Combining the $100 billion of cash and the $100 billion of common stock contributed by the participating banks the SPV will end up with $200 billion of capital, which should increase with the stock price of the banks.
b) In addition, the banks will place in escrow $1.00 of common stock for each $10.00 of assets contributed to the SPV.
The stock placed in escrow will be issued to the U.S. Treasury or liquidated at some future date to compensate the U.S. Treasury for any losses from its investment in the SPV and a minimum preferred return. To the extent recoveries on the SPV exceed the intrinsic value estimate, this is the UST profit on the enterprise and the banks recover the shares placed in escrow. The shares placed in the SPV are, again, part of the value to the UST from this endeavor.
3) The banks will receive a senior note equal to the value of the assets contributed to the SPC, paying interest at a rate which is equal to the yield on the collective assets of the SPV less operating costs. The banks will also bear responsibility for providing knowledgeable employees – at their cost – to the SPV to manage these assets. The SPV will have a Board comprised of respected individuals on a bipartisan basis.
The value in this idea is two fold:
First, by the banks getting a lot of these assets off their balance sheets they reduce the uncertainty in the system which should allow the stock market to re-value the equity based on the core business and not the “unknowns” associated with these assets.
Second, the security which the banks take back from the SPV will be worth more than the value of the loans on their balance sheet. Consider this hypothetical example:
1) The banks contribute assets, collectively priced by the market at 50% of the par value of the security;
2) A conservative analysis (5% drop in GDP next year and 1.5% growth thereafter, or something like this) suggests that the intrinsic value of the assets is actually 70% of par;
3) The banks contribute these class of securities to the SPV for $1 trillion at the determined 70% “intrinsic value” (the face value contributed will exceed $1 trillion, but the value is greater than the mark to market value);
4) Now let’s say the actual recovery on these securities is $800 billion, the banks hold a senior security on this asset and thus would have first recourse to the $800 billion;
5) The SPV would however have the $100 billion of UST capital and $100 billion (at current market prices) of a portfolio of bank stocks to satisfy the SPV obligations to the banks.
As a result of this structure, the SPV senior securities taken back by the banks would have a tremendous cushion to absorb losses and still be worth par value to the banks which participate. The break-even recovery in this example is 56% on the original par or face values of the securities contributed. This should provide considerable ability for the new SPV senior securities on the bank balance sheets to be valued at Par. This will enhance the asset quality of the banks and likely allow them to mark up asset values on their balance sheets.
This is how the UST gets the “bang for the buck” that you referenced when you said the TARP could not serve its purpose.
The banks would be healthier as a result of this structure and thus the stock they contribute as capital and to the escrow should be a good store of value.
THE KEY MERIT OF THIS IDEA IS THAT IT REPLACES ILLIQUID ASSETS WHICH NO ONE CAN VALUE WITH A SINGLE ASSET THAT HAS ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AND SHOULD THUS BE WORTH PAR.
The taxpayer is protected by the escrowed stock that the banks contributed to participate. The escrowed securities first go to compensate the UST dollar for dollar on losses and then up to a preferred rate of return. Any appreciation in the stocks is split with 50% staying with the UST and the rest returned to the banks.
Since no one will buy bank stocks right now – everyone, I mean everyone who has bought bank stocks in the last two years has been killed – this allows the banks to effectively RECAPITALIZE themselves with some assistance from the UST.
By getting a large part of the troubled assets off the balance sheets of the banks, placing it into a vehicle that is NOT PUBLIC (thus it can sit and hold these securities without concern for the “mark to market” accounting) and replacing those assets with a single security whose credit has been enhanced partly by the UST and partly by the banks themselves, you will dramatically reduce the uncertainty in the banking system.
The banks will still have some troubled assets which due to the unique characteristics of those assets are not appropriate for the SPV. But the idea here is that by reducing the MAGNITUDE of the problems the banks are facing and enhancing the asset quality of the banks through this program you leave them in a better position to take the write-off on those assets or to work them out themselves.
Are the days of big business and big government over? Part 1
I am not a scholar nor am I an expert on anything, so I am sure this question gets asked every few years by someone, and every few years they are proved wrong. Having said this, and having already accepted the fact that I am probably wrong I still feel the need to ask the question, and to try and defend the question.
It seems to me that in the modern era of technology it is less and less critical for information to be consolidated into an elite group of thinkers hands, and at least for the younger generation (say under 40ish) multiple streams of data is often the preferred method for receiving and for digesting information.
Take for instance the recent election. Some observers of the election may say that the people who voted for Barack Obama from the younger generation were actually voting for a “We” society instead of the traditional “Me”. I too believe this to be the case. We is the new Me, just as bold colors are the new pink or whatever the people who follow that stuff say these days. The point is there is a psychological shift taking place in the world, and when leaders of any ilk say they are the “decider” it makes us cringe. In today world we want all the facts so we can make up our own minds about a topic. We further want to feel like all people who are educated on a subject will have a chance to comment and perhaps even influence the direction “We” as a nation are going to take.
Some businesses have grasped this concept and embraced it thoroughly to make their business more successful. Take for instance Google. I know everyone takes for instance Google, but darn it they are a good model and I am using them. Google takes a “We” approach to nearly everything they do. Whether you are discussing the on campus gym, dining room or their search techniques “We” is always at the center of their thinking. Recently in the news Google announced they are tracking illness searches by users across the country in order to flu outbreaks and other contagious illnesses. This is truly a “We” concept. We are saying the data is out there in multiple places, and in multiple hands, but We the people also do our own research and often lookup flu like symptoms to see what may be the cause of our ill feelings. This self driven desire to understand our symptoms could have left Google to profit on the information and sell the information to pharmaceutical companies or other industries that profit on the ill feelings of their customers, but instead Google is just putting the information out there so anyone can take it and do with it as the please.
Other examples of Big Business vs. We Business are auto manufactures whom for the most part have ruled the Earth with complete autonomy until recently. Auto manufactures are now faced with a society that is more educated and well informed, which causes them to lose margin and also meet certain performance and reliability standards that in the past were always a bit of a mystery. Honestly, who didn’t know what the new Camero was going to look like 2 years ago, or who goes to a dealership now without knowing the cost of the vehicles they are interested in and the probable price they are going to pay for a lease or a purchase? Well unfortunately I can admit that I know plenty of people who still do not know these things, but my point would not be bolstered by my admitting it so I won’t. The real point is why not open up concept cars and concept fuel alternatives and let the public educate themselves and then help you decide? We are all not idiots and we may be able to give some valuable design and demand data to you for free, just ask.
Now some big businesses will probably always be big businesses. Take for example Exxon, Shell, BP and the other giants in the energy world. These guys don’t care one bit what we think, because they already pay for the data that matters to them and they have no intention of sharing it with anyone, and honestly I am not sure I blame them. If you have a captive market why not keep it, but brother don’t we all wish we could crack that code and find a way to replace them.
I find this post is running a little long, so I will simply call this Part 1, and I encourage all contributors to hearditinabar.com to add to it or disagree. I am not sure I have even conveyed my thoughts fully in this first post, but I feel the concept is worth discussing.
Circuit City shorts out…customer service still rules
This news is not surprising considering the economic tailspin right now, but I think I saw this coming long ago. It was a sure sign back in October when this retail chain began closing stores…ding ding! It goes back to something that I felt in my shopping gut even before this news came out – customer service.
It’s a heavily overused term in the retail business, but for the first time in the spring of this year did I realize what bad customer service felt like. It was a simple oversight but it was the way they handled it that made me even more angry.
Searching for a new video camera is not fun especially with all the features and brands, it can be downright depressing. So anyway, I find a Circuit City coupon in a local mailer that advertised this sweet Sony DVD hand held video and digital camera combo – had to have it! We walked into the store on some lazy Sunday afternoon and the first thing I notice is the lack of customers. The second thing I notice is the lack of employees in the various departments. This is normally not a big deal unless you have a specific question and are looking for one paritcular item and really need to find someone! Let me preface this by saying I am not one of those snobby customers that expects an associate to help me blow me nose, but if I have a question or appear to be actively checking products out – then come talk to me! I’m standing in the video camera aisle sifting through the displayed cameras – nobody walks up. Fifteen minutes or so goes by (you can tell by this time I’m executing my own little secret shopper experiment) and I’m still perusing through the cameras – still nobody walks down the aisle.
Finally, after looking around and losing faith that I’ll be discovered, I walk over to the counter. I explain the mailer I have and that I’d like to see one of these advertised cameras. He disappears only to reappear and tells me “well, according to the computer we have some but they haven’t been unloaded off the truck yet”. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I ask “uh, well will you be getting them off the truck and will they be displayed sometime today?…since you have a mailer that was sent out to the public”.
He proceeds to ask a manager who heads into the backroom, only to return and give me the exact same update. They’re still on the truck but could I check back in about an hour or two. At the time, I didn’t throw a stink, I didn’t cuss – I simply complied and walked out the door. Lesson here – Unload the truck if you want people to buy your products.
I was calmly disturbed that day and promptly drive over to Best Buy. So, I head through the double doors as the yellow shirted dude gives me the proverbial “what’s up” accompanied by the ‘up and down’ glance they’ve so perfected. The minute I walked into the video department I was swamped by at least three different associates asking if I had a question. Think for a second, haven’t you noticed how utterly different and more positive the Best Buy experience is going to be simply because someone asked me if I needed help? They’re already doing something that Circuit City failed to do.
I’m not advocating one store over the other but this really stood out to me that afternoon. The Best Buy store was brighter, there was more activity, more kids playing video games, there was this bustling feeling of people really digging the stuff and spending money. There are so many associates it overwhelms you at times. However, at that moment I needed that overwhelmed feeling considering what had just happened. The Best Buy department manager honored the Circuit City advertised price which is common for stores to do – Best Buy is no exception. I walked out with a sweet video camera at the Circuit City discounted price…cha ching’!
I personally declared I would no longer set foot in a Circuit City store. Sadly, I don’t like to see economic hard times fall on companies which directly impacts a lot of good employees (and not so good ones). That being said – I’m sure people have had horrible experiences in a Best Buy store as well. It is amazing how a good or bad experience can completely rub you the wrong way and influence your purchasing decisions. Based on the news of the store closings, maybe I wasn’t the only one.
It is time to heal not reel – Change is a-coming
I am going to break the anonymity rule of this site by revealing more about me than just my generic author name – They. I am a male, I am between 20 – 50 years old, and my race is always an option on any general federal form. Now that you know more about me it is time to give my opinion on a topic that has been in my craw since Wednesday morning.
I am rapidly growing sick of hearing people complain about Barack Obama becoming the next President of the United States. I do not mind people expressing their opinions, but I do find myself feeling nauseous when I hear under-educated people regurgitating inaccuracies about him, and then acting as though these are fundamental issues they can never look past and therefore his Presidency will always bother them. I see these comments on Facebook and other blogs, and I hear them from coworkers and of course talk radio.
I think the reason it is bothering me soooo much this time, as opposed to all the other Presidential elections, is I for the first time in my adult life actually feel optimistic about a future President’s chances of making a real change in America. I am sure the naysayers just screamed out loud about the changes they fear, but I am referring to real positive changes, and not the fear of change itself. I hope we for the first time in a long time will have a federal government focused on real changes, for example:
- An education system extreme makeover
- Direct federal loan program for student loans – Federal first and private for those who want it
- Affordable health care for everyone and free health care for children under 18
- National credit card interest rate limits – Arkansas model 5 percent above the federal discount rate
- Simplify the federal tax system, and eliminate deduction
- Corporate oversight reform
- Gun control
- Tariff reform
- Work with Mexico and Canada to provide equal but non-voting rights to all citizens in all 3 countries including land ownership, private property rights and wage scales based on community average incomes
- Environmental reform
- Energy independence
There are many topics covered in the above bullet points, and some may be unrealistic, but it is a unique time in America when for the first time in a long time there is a chance some of them may. This hope, this chance, is the thing that has made me truly happy for the first time in recent memory about an election, and about the direction America may be headed, both domestically and internationally.
So for all the naysayers out there I ask the following. Let’s stop the hate, and let’s for the first time accept the current situation on face value and work together to show the rest of the world just how great we as a unified America really can be. It is time to lead the way to peace and prosperity.
Thank you,
Heard It In A Bar RSS Feed- Texas – what the hell is wrong with you!? September 3, 2010I’m going to be honest with you, it is going to be very difficult for me to be calm about this. First, we had the Rep. Barton apologizing to BP for the Obama “shakedown”. Even his own party rolled their eyes and popped their Tums. I was up in arms over this and even got [...] […]She
- Lost is over and I actually miss it… September 3, 2010Six years of roller coaster loop de’ loops, dozens of undeveloped characters, and a story line that was as easy to follow as a chicken in a barnyard. If you didn’t watch Lost, you missed a show which challenged the fan to no end. Season after season of questions, theories, hypotheses’, cliff hanging plots, and a [...] […]kansasview
- Teetering on the edge…how does Bret Michaels do it? September 3, 2010I have to give Bret Michaels credit, he has battled a life of disease and he keeps bouncing back. At the age of six, he was diagonosed with Type I diabetes and has struggled to maintain his health all the while becoming an 80’s glam metal rock god, a history of hard hard partying, and what [...] […]kansasview
- A softball player who just happens to know the law, sign her up… September 3, 2010Does this woman really matter to you? If you look deep into the background of a possible supreme court justice, do you want actual bench experience or do you prefer someone who knows the law and has written a few hundred papers on well…the law? Princeton graduate, Harvard Law Dean,…on the surface at least Elena Kagan [...] […]kansasview
- When it rains for Tiger, it pours… September 3, 2010The muscle of this man has shrunk and shows more sign of atrophy as each new story surfaces. This blog did a pretty good job of leaving Tiger alone and I have to say after the recent events, I still stick to that credo. The bomb of the last couple months has dropped, the shrapnel has [...] […]kansasview
- Where have we been? September 3, 2010Well, a few good men and an even better woman started the idea of this blog and we owe it to someone to unspill the contents of our head, or at least mine. The time has come to once again say all the things I want to say and it’s an invitation for you as well! It’s [...] […]kansasview
- Brittany Murphy’s death is troubling September 3, 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… September 3, 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? September 3, 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) September 3, 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
- Texas – what the hell is wrong with you!? September 3, 2010
