Saturday, February 7, 2009 by Special Contributor.

Some back story:

On February 4, 2009, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf wrote to Senator Judd Gregg that the CBO has conducted an analysis of the macroeconomic impact of the stimulus. CBO estimates that this Senate legislation would, in the long run, cause a “decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) compared with CBO’s baseline economic forecast.”

One of my correspondents replied, “It is difficult not to conclude that Congress is the arsonist who starts the fires and then rushes in as the firefighter to ’save us,’ only to set yet another fire.”

He also reminded me of Congress recent culpability, to wit:

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about the Social Security deficit coming in our lifetime and they have with all deliberation ignored it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about the Medicare shortfall coming in our lifetime and they have with all deliberation ignored it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about Mortgage Crisis I problem and they frittered away 350 billion dollars on it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about Mortgage Crisis II (the “good” Option A and ARM notes coming due) problem and they have with all deliberation ignored it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, that throwing trillions of dollars to their friends while looting the last of the great and little manufacturers (the car companies and America’s small businesses) is a bad idea. They have with all deliberation ignored that, too.

With that as the discussion that goes before, regular correspondent Geno sent this along:

“We is doomed,” wrote Bob and Dick.

That, we may well be.

Congress (largely both sides of the aisle at this time) is a self-serving entity. Members of Congress see this as a money tree and a way to get reelected. The unuttered charge is, “don’t try to derail my gravy train with facts.”

They simply don’t want to hear it; so no amount of public opinion will slow the train’s engineers.

On the Right, a few conservatives are holding out, but only marginally. And, of course, moderates (read that republicans who are too wimpy to admit their liberalism) do not care because they have no core values upon which to stand. They are Right when Right fits their need and Left when Left best fits. Keywords here are “their need.” I hate that in both a leader and a follower.

The economy was bad during the Carter years, and interest rates were high double digits. Now it’s bad and interest rates are next to zero. So, where’s the connection? Maybe there is none. Maybe it is a mirage. Maybe even the way a nation measures its wealth is an aberation.

Of course, wealth is a virtue and a national treasure. But when wealth is measured by a string of numbers on paper–or worse by how much of it one can hold in ones hand, then it is a tenuous virtue indeed. Does anyone really believe that there are enough greenbacks in circulation to pay every American the amount he claims he owns? Or for that matter, enough gold in Fort Worth? (forgive the Texas joke).

Perhaps money has no color–green or otherwise–and exists solely in the elbow grease and common production of its citizenry.

We have strayed so far from that tenet that even I scoff when I write it.

Money is the root of all evil, some theologians will say. But, contrary to common wisdom, the Bible does not teach that. It clearly says that “the love of money” is the root of all evil.

And there are people committing that sin who don’t have a dime.

Posted in Guest Posts, Throw Da Bums Out, Society, Politics & News | 2 Comments »

Thursday, January 8, 2009 by Special Contributor.

Regular correspondent Geno sent this along:

Yesterday I went to my financial planner with a check for $30,000 and purchased a fixed-index annuity. I had withdrawn the money from a passbook savings account that paid me .75% interest, and when I purchased the annuity I got an immediate 15% bonus ($4500).

So, my $30M in the savings account would earn me about $300 a year after compounding, but the 15% bonus on the annuity earned me $4500. That equals $34,450 or an increase of $4500. The downside is that I can only draw out %15 of it per year for income if I need it. I don’t need it.

I have a half dozen of those, and a couple are well above $100M–and each of them will let me draw out 10% per year for income if I need it. I don’t need it–because…

…Mrs Geno and I sat down last night and figured it out. Since President-elect Obama’s tax plan will ensure that no one earning less than $50 will have to pay income tax, she and I will join the Democrat party in 2010. She plans to retire in 2010–after which we will both be pensioners, earning prolly around $27,000 and only withdrawing enough from our annuities to stay below the $50M cut-off line.

Of course, once we are democrats we will vote to make sure that the arrogant people earning above $50M get no tax relief. Screw them, the selfish f***ers.

Hoperfully Universal Health Care will have become a reality by then or shortly thereafter. It sure would be nice to sit back with $50M and not have to pay anything out for taxes or victimization expenses like health care and such. Mebbe we can get a tax rebate for driving old cars–even though we will not have paid any taxes. I love liberalism.

I have always wanted to be a democrat because I love Katie Couric … and that Dan Rather was a hoot.

Posted in Guest Posts, Society, Politics & News, PC | 1 Comment »

Monday, December 15, 2008 by Dick.

I spent the day in my closet again. I need a divider wall and shelves to increase my storage capacity.

Nice, painted, real plywood paneling cloaks some of the walls in this house; it has grooves that simulate random width boards. I like the look and planned to duplicate it on the divider wall.

The orange box had no plywood paneling that matched my pattern. They did have a flimsy, MDF panel but that very thin medium density fiberboard (paper) panel has only one advantage: cheapitude. 1/8″ thick. Wibbly, wobbly, swelling, sagging stuff. Coated so it won’t take paint. It does not install well and it certainly does not stand the test of time in this humid, subtropical climate.

I bought a good, smooth sheet of actual plywood for about a buck more than the MDF. It has three core plies and two very thin veneer layers, all sandwiched into 5.2 mm of thickness. It “gives up” 3/64″ on the standard 1/4″ panel but I can live with that. I have a router and just four grooves to cut for each divider panel.

My neighbor came over shortly after I had discovered the “Made in China” label on the plywood. He spent his entire life in the forest products business and built a state of the art sawmill operation, planer mill, and a lumber remanufacturing operation in Wisconsin.

“Oh yeah,” he said, “I’ve seen their plywood plants. They have big, modern presses but no conveyors or material handling equipment.” Of course not. Material handling is a serious expense here. People there are still cheaper than machinery. Skynet would not (yet) get a foothold in China.

He also told me that the veneer logs had been cut in the spring or summer when the sap was running. “Good veneer makers want only winter cuts,” he said. The sap stays in the tree and starts it rotting. These panels have black traces where the rot was. Chinese manufacturers don’t care. The 4×8 panel sold for $11.87 in the orange box and that’s all that matters.

Geno wrote in a comment to an earlier post:

It is a wonder to me that corporate upper-management — both for profit and nonprofit — remains ambulatory after shooting itself in the foot by doing exactly as Dick avers. But let’s face it, the best and brightest are the most highly paid; and since cutting cost is the sole liberal textbook criterion for avoiding bankruptcy, those employees are the first to go…

“Cutting cost is the sole liberal criterion for avoiding bankruptcy.”

Likewise cutting cost is the sole Chinese criterion for making sales.

What a wonderful economic model.

Oh, are we in trouble.

Engineering adage:
There is never time to do it right
There is always time to do it over.
Sometime soon I will harp about bean counters.

Posted in Guest Posts, Business, Random Access | 2 Comments »