Stimulus, Jobs, Federal Governments, Change

The stimulus bills all over the world, not just in the Americas, all are done to put tax money, literally, to work. Now, the question is, does it work?

With the cities and states and provinces all dealing with dramatic falls in tax income, the bridges, roads, hospitals, and other public buildings are also falling way behind in repair. One bridge here had a wooden under structure, and when someone used a fire to keep warm (at least that is the assumption here) the bridge caught fire and put hundreds of thousands of commuters out of a means to get to work.

There are literally hundreds of other bridges all over the world that need to be either replaced or repaired, so governments are putting money into these projects to make jobs and to get the building done.

There are other things that have been left to basically fall down until someone got hurt. Minnesota had one situation where the bridge collapsed too.

This is where governments are all focusing their stimulus. But, there has to be an integrity, a sense of “doing the job well” and certainly the people need to understand that shoddy workmanship is no longer acceptable.

Counting on any government to get the entire society out of this mess is foolish, at best. So … what to do?

If  I make kitchen cabinets, for example, then I need to step up my craftsmanship to make the best cabinets I know how, to push myself to making cabinets that will last 20 or 30 years. A lot of places did build shoddy products, thinking that there would always be enough money in customer pockets to buy more shoddy but pretty cabinets. Today, that has come home to roost with those who built crappy stuff, because the customers just flat don’t have the money to keep buying crap.

If I am a cook, then make damn good food, not just chemical soup, literally. Take the time to use food that is nutritious, tasty, and definitely far better quality.

I have worked in several industries, and the most valuable lesson I ever got was “go for the quality, do the absolute best you can” and you will learn to do it better and quicker. Too long have companies made things with built-in obsolescence and basically crappy products.

We don’t have the money or time to waste on these products any more. Would you rather buy furniture that you KNOW you can use for quite a while, that is made to be comfortable, and has covering that is easy to take care of, or junk that you buy every 3 to 5 years?

I have seen housing built that, within 3 years, needs to be repaired because the housing leaks badly. To me, that smells of a racket. I will not buy a house that is poorly constructed. Watching “Holmes on Homes” put that idea in my head when I saw the crappy workmanship and just flat out scamming that some “contractors” pulled. To hell with them!

Again, quality counts!

I worked in a furniture manufacturing facility where the boss insisted on speed over quality. Guess what? He is out of business, because the people working there were not interested in doing their jobs well, producing quality, and the furniture was rejected by the buyers!

If you are spending any money for goods that you need,  look for quality first. Yes, it probably means you spend a bit more for it, but when you look at how often you have to replace crappy stuff, then you actually do save money over time! Wal-Mart is NOT the place to buy durable goods, like furniture, appliances, clothing and especially goods you know MUST work when you need them.

The same principle goes when you are working, produce quality products. Even if your product is a haircut, waiting on tables, digging ditches, do it with quality and integrity.

Companies that ask us to make crap need a lesson too. To hell with companies that make poor quality products, so tell them with your wallet. Put the businesses that treat their employees like crap out of business, because there is a serious lack of integrity within the management there.

There have to be a lot of people out there that want to be their own bosses, want to do something they are good at, and want to make a real difference in their community. I am talking about those who are very good at dealing with people, dealing with machines or other goods like food.

Now may very well be the time for people who needed the time, to learn business procedures and to start making quality count. Go to the library, study on cash flow, tax law, business management and take that risk on you! Please, create businesses that are based on quality, integrity and best of all, create something worth buying!

If there is someone out there wanting to build housing, find out what it takes to make a home that is totally energy efficient! Learn about the innovations in hot water, solar heating and energy, windmills that produce power that can be used in residential housing, and about making houses that are high insulation value.  Build the houses with good quality and don’t buy crappy building products! People will put money into things they know are worth buying.

The most effective choices we can ever make is to do what we honestly enjoy doing, that just never does seem like work at all. Writers who get lost for hours writing, are working, but it is so much fun they never even notice the work in it! Woodworkers who spend hours in the shop, sanding, inspecting, sanding more and putting hours into polishing and finishing make furniture that draws awe from all of us, if we are lucky enough to see it. People who make simple clothing that fits, wears and washes like a dream are those who make the clothing because they enjoy the creation, the design, the feel of the fabric and love to see the clothing finished well.

No matter what you do in life, do it with quality. Push beyond mediocre and go for the best you can. We will spend our money, if you do that.

Producing goods with built-in obsolescence or that needs immediate repair is wasting more than just money, it shows us all contempt for the work we have to do to buy it, and ultimately shows just how little you value your own work.

President Obama may be one of the few international leaders that is showing the world that quality, integrity, and going that extra bit is worth doing. There are others out there, watch how they do what they do, then use those lessons to do your own best work.

I think it is high time those who were elected, all over the world, value our work, value our integrity, and above all, act with integrity, honesty, and value the position we elected them to. No more shoddy behaviour, no more “putting in the time for pension benefits” and certainly no more self-serving actions. Respect the neighbours and your international neighbours and the current mess will be one hell of a lot easier to live through. Do the opposite, create war and conflict and we all face a far more miserable future.

We need innovative thinking now, we need to have people who listen, who are willing to mentor those who have become lost, and we need people who make good decisions with honesty, integrity and above all, awareness that this planet is small, and choices ripple out to either raise the quality of life or swamp people and create disasters. Empathy is one of the most valuable assets we all have.

Corporations, Banks, Others Way Too Big Now?

This may sound like a simple question, but with all the bailouts and over 7.7 TRILLION dollars spent in the US alone, which amounts to $24,000 dollars per adult and child, I am really wondering if international linkages and businesses have gone beyond reasonable limits.  The reasoning for bailing out AIG was that “it is too big, too involved, to allow to go under” and now Citibank and subsidiaries along with the Big 3, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors are all in that same basket, all “too big, to much an integral part of the economy” to be allowed to fail too.

Maybe one of the plans or regulations or restrictions of some kind should be put on corporations that get to the point where the failure will create a massive disaster. I don’t know, but one thing I do know is the old saying, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall“. I suppose the corollary to that is the deeper the hole they create when they do fall.

Wal Mart is another part of the huge economic downturn. How on earth can I say this? Well, if most remember, when Wal Mart moved into communities, small shops, business, suppliers all died off. What most people want are lower costs, true, but at what detriment to their own communities. Each small business in town paid separate taxes, school, road, etc. as well as creating jobs for the owners and the employees in that small business. When a store like Wal Mart appears, the tax base goes down, not up. The wages for businesses who supply smaller stores are usually better than those paid by the big box stores, and most owners try to provide benefits for themselves and their employees. Wal Mart is well known to buy goods produced overseas, sending the money to foreign suppliers along with jobs.

Yep, people may get some things cheaper, but overall the economy loses. Businesses that worked in tandem with their neighbours often worked more efficiently, and became an integral part of the community, with problems dealt with on site. Again, is this type of business “too big to be barred”?

If people want to have work, decent work, then maybe it is time for the small business owner to be allowed to thrive without dealing with the big box stores. Each of the big box stores hire fewer employees and pay them as little as possible. Employment goes down, not up. Imagine trying to get a foothold in business when you have to deal with those who have the funds to undercut you at every turn. Tough to make a decent living with that going on, yet people want work!

Some of the Wal Mart stores have been unionized. Yep, they have been. Yet, Wal Mart tried to make a case for closing the first store to become unionized by closing it and opening another close by. Hmm not a good way to be a decent employer or neighbour, or one that I would, personally, want to have nearby.

Yes, I do shop at one of the big box stores here, but I will never work or buy from Wal Mart. The way the company treats the general public, employees, and especially their suppliers is a methodology I cannot support. So, I speak with my dollars. I will shop at other stores that compete with Wal Mart instead.

Big banks, with many arms into all kinds of financial realms, can make a very shakey structure if one part is weakened. Citibank is one of those, with a multiplicity of arms. GM even got into mortgages, instead of maintaining the focus on automotive innovation.  AIG got into some financial areas it should never have, so when it got into trouble, out goes the tax man to pay up. AIG was supposed to be an insurance company, backing mortgages. See a theme here? Corporations did not keep their focus, did not keep their area of expertise intact, and others, like Wal Mart, have removed small businesses all over the country, even internationally. The effects are now being seen as people are either worried about jobs, or out of the workforce, maybe for a long time now.

Bigger is defninitely NOT better, when bigger can crater economies.

Deflationary Opportunities for Legislators

There are some interesting opportunities for legislators in deflationary times. One of these, especially with the lowering of the values in property, is to obtain subsidized housing stock. Especially when there are so many families diving straight into povery, this is one way to ensure stable homes for kids who would otherwise be moving around because of rental increases. Giving those who NEED stability the most, the vulnerable, is one of the benefits here. When parents have a stable housing situation, it is a hell of a lot easier to plan out the future. It also benefits the schooling systems, keeping students in a steady path, allowing opportunity for the children to develop social skills, friendships, and giving the entire family a support system within the neighbourhood.

New Orleans is perhaps one of the most dramatic examples. Before the hurricanes hit, yes, there was crime, yes, there was poverty, but people lived in neighbourhoods, knew who was the best person to talk to, who was the person to avoid. Now, the entire city of New Orleans is becoming one of the strongest examples of what not to do. Instead of rebuilding the city, with improvements and better chances for people returning to some semblance of neighbourhoods, money designated for that has disappeared. Crime rates in New Orleans have risen, mostly because of desperation, poverty, instability, poor schooling, and definitely because those who were supposed to help just flat-out did not give a damn!

The one thing I would avoid when buying subsidized housing stock is creating ghettos or making entire neighbourhoods into pockets of poverty. The better choice is to buy up stock in various places, so that children and families are exposed to the opportunities, greater information on how to make a living, and certainly not straining schools with problems all in one area. Mixing those who are working with those who are not will often make connections for those looking for work. We all know that as networking, so why not do it within communities?

Another possibility here is to find materials at cheaper cost for repairing buildings, putting into those buildings that are currently plagued with cockroaches, rats, and mold, repairs that otherwise would be far more costly. Toronto is one of the cities that desperately needs this cost saving. The housing authority there has been so lax in repairing their buildings, some of them resemble third world housing.

With people losing jobs, and others trying to subsist on no work, this may well be the time to get those living on the welfare rolls into the job market by allowing recipients to keep a portion of the money they make. Yep, start at the bottom, the real bottom. Give those who have been so severely disadvantaged the hope, the opportunity, the idea that they actually matter in our society. This means getting over the attitude so common in the game of “poor bashing”.  Currently a lot of those receiving welfare find a job, then find out that, not only are their wages taken back, but that the costs of clothing, transportation, and day-care are coming out of the money left over. Basically those living on welfare (known as assistance in some places) end up in a deeper financial hole! Some incentive that is, NOT! If you think this is not true, think again.This is where the legislation needs to change, to provide a basic honouring of the worth of that work too.

Fleet purchases for some jurisdictions can be done now at a far better price. No, I am not talking about companies like Translink or the Toronto Transit Authority, who run mass transit companies and  provide cars for employees, I am talking about power authorities etc. who use vehicles to keep our power on, our roads in repair.

Computers can now be bought with fewer dollars too, and if you really want to save on money, use LInux, Ubuntu systems that are free, open for anyone, and have systems that do work with virtually all applications. Forget paying for your operating systems and put the money into better operating supervision and technical support. Computers can be made now for less than $200, and with a free operating system, that is good savings, along with basic monitors. Schools can do this, as can agencies who have to keep their systems running 24 hours a day.

These are but a few, but with some intelligence, some planning, and with a much more open mind, it is possible to put a lot into the neighbourhoods, the cities, the states and provinces, with a hell of a lot less cost.

President-Elect Obama Has A Job I Sure Would Not Want

Where, indeed, to begin, literally?

People often think of the President as a powerful post, and sometimes they are right. Barack Obama is taking on a daunting task here, and for once, I seriously would not want to be the president. It seems that there is a huge lineup at the door, all beggars, seeking monetary aid, bailouts, and all screaming over the other.

Barack Obama got it right in his campaign, putting the emphasis on the people. Without people, the government is an empty place. Government NEEDS people, people don’t NEED government.

Paulson finally woke up! All the toxic debts and CDS banks “invented” to circumvent laws are now going to stay with the banks, investment houses, and those who abused the financial system are just going to have to deal with the mess of their own making! Finally some common sense. Unfortunately, those banks “played” consumers, taking what should have been a simple contract called a mortgage and turning that into a splintered, then shattered, mess. Like I said previously, it would be worth a few hundred dollars to find out if banks et al breached those mortgage contracts. Re-selling and manipulating the housing markets by allowing “invisible” parties to endanger the entire world economy, personal mortgages, and then asking for the Fed to bail them out is ludicrous!

Obama has to deal with issues that are so complicated it takes at least 20 different people just to make the map, nevermind navigate it! Balancing the interests is tricky, at best. The two wars need to be mapped, understood, and navigated so that Iraq and Afghanistan both come out at least with some semblance of stability, otherwise the world may well end up going back in to restore them again. Not my idea of fun, trying to figure this out!

The banks and investment houses created a mess so large it has foundered the world economies! You can bet that anger is definitely NOT limited to the US, as most of the world is so very angry at those “fat cat” jackasses who tried to pull these scams off. Personally I would love to put on my steel-toed boots and give at least 20 of them a very well aimed kick in the ass! Then see all those “perks” they took taken back, liquidated, and the proceeds put into welfare programs, to enable families tossed about like “collateral damage” the lifeline of some food, clothing and, wow, even shelter! I have no problem with putting every bloody “fat cat” behind bars, say in Guantanamo Bay, for a while. Maybe then they would truly appreciate being alive and find a far more human set of priorities. This should start with the woman in Merrill Lynch who designed the base for CDS etc.

Obama has to figure out how to get a far “greener” path started, which means weaning the US off of wasteful behaviour. There are kits and instructions on the net for making wind turbines, solar panels, and lighting that is LED. Time for the common person to get busy saving things, remaking what used to be discarded into products again. Recycling soda cans, glass bottles, plastics, and using cloth bags, all would be a good start. This is where Obama may be able to lead by example. Install solar panels on the White House, use low wattage bulbs, and get a composting program going for the gardens.

Obama can lead his country well, if some of the petty, stupid games quit. I am amazed at how unbelievably childish some of the “adults” in Congress and the Senate are. Wow! “Gimme!” “I Want!” “No, you can’t play with my toys!” ” You cannot change things, because ‘that is the way things have always been'” Phooey! Grow UP! This is a new world here, things have changed, and get your head out of the bloody sand! In short, Obama can do a lot, but it DOES take us to help him out, not put childish, self-serving blocks in the way, “just because”.

The auto industry may have BEEN a major industrial engine, but the technology they use is from the last century, not pertinent now. Obama can tell car makers to get with the change. Take a look at the Tesla automobile! It is totally electric, can go like greased lightening, and has a range for driving that is as good as most people will ever need. Get rid of the hydro-carbon, gas guzzling technology and devise other choices.

President-Elect Obama, if you want to see a banking system that is the best in the world, I strongly suggest you check out the Canadian system. None of the banks there are even close to being in trouble, lending is going on, and they got hit in a very minor way with any of the CDS or other “funny-money” ways the US banks did. Look at the regulations! Those banks are NOT government owned, but they are regulated in ways that have allowed them to continue to work effectively! Amazing!

Health care, it needs to be changed. No question. People are dying, kids are getting sick and dying because the costs are far too high, the paperwork is eating up a huge chunk of the cost of doing business. What the hell? Paperwork accounts for a huge part of the costs? If anyone gets into an accident, it can mean death from untreated injury, or bankruptcy if the injury is treated. Talk about living between a rock and a hard place. I agree with Obama, get the costs down.  But it can be done by those who are not sick working to demand answers, demand better service, and certainly demand the FDA get off it’s butt and realize that most of the generic drugs coming from developed countries ARE made to high standards. Help the president by joining in, not making his job harder. It means demanding generic equivalents be prescribed by the doctors, hospitals, so all of the people get a better deal. Remember the “name brand” companies make huge, fantastic profits, and they have a vested interest in YOU buying them.

Jobs, and more jobs, the necessity for people to have meaningful work, we all need them. President-Elect Obama has the correct focus, here, but there is no way in hell he can do THIS ONE ALONE! This is where the recycling and reusing all those discarded materials could make work. It takes imagination, thinking, and yes, even work to find new uses for all those discarded things once used. For example, take plastic soda bottles and turn them into automated watering devices. It is as simple as filling the bottles with water, then turning the bottle upside down and pushing them into the soil around plants.  Start making solar panels, then put them on every house in town! Wind turbines work with even small breezes if they are made with a governor on them. There are some that can be made at home, and if at least 10% of the houses have them, the power grid is boosted! There are literally millions of ways to turn garbage going to landfills into useful things again, from braided rag rugs to vehicles. Help your president and your environment all in one! If nothing else, set up a recycling depot for local things.

International relationships need attention too. Wow, this list is getting long, but with help via the internet, it can be achieved! Talk to people around the world, listen and discuss issues with them. President-Elect Obama got that one right! He did go to the internet to talk and listen. Give the US the help in returning to a better international status by being a little more concerned about others, listening to other ideas. Why? Because maybe someone elsewhere in the world has the answer you need to solve your own problems, or you have the answer they are looking for!

Yep, the President-Elect has his work cut out, but with help from all of those in the world, maybe, just maybe, we all can lighten his load just a little bit.