State of the Union - Part Deux (yes, I've been bad again)

Back from the [blogosphere] dead! I have been the perfect example of what NOT to do if you want a successful blog. I disappeared for weeks without hardly a note explaining why. Shame on me! Cue music please! "Bad girl, drunk by 6..."

Here is the reason though, COMPANY. I was home, on the ranch in Arizona with Daddy-o and Mrs. Steinman for about 8 days working on a very special, top-secret project, which you will know about one day, I promise. Then Mrs. Steinman and I hopped a jet to NYC where she proceeded to stay with Koosh and I for over a week. Did I also mention that Koosh's friend from college flew out from L.A. to stay with us as well? Yes, it was crazy, crowded, fun, but not the best environment for writing. However, QMT and my dear readers were always on my mind. I can't help but write, even if it is in my head or in conversations with people. I always think, 'that would be a great blog post. Totally writing about that.' So there are plenty of fun posts ahead, please don't get off this train.

Now that I have groveled and explained myself let's get to my latest rambling. Part two of our on-going dissection of the State of the Union Address from President Obama. While in Arizona me, Daddy-o and Mrs. Steinman enjoyed a nice dinner at CPK discussing what I am sure most neighboring tables were thinking, "how inappropriate - at the dinner table?! In public no less." Yes, politics. I give you the State of the Union Address, Part Duex, enjoyed over a Mai Tai, Margarita and Coke, respectively.

• Use the $30 billion Wall Street repaid the government and give that money to small, community banks so they can provide loans to small business owners. I say, no, no, NO! We never had that $30 billion in the first place, last time I checked our national deficit was somewhere in the TRILLIONS! So now, luckily we get that $30 billion back and instead of using it to pay OFF some of our debt or helping out Medicare and/or Social Security, we are spending it AGAIN. What kind of example is that? Society, media and the president himself have all agreed that Americans need to learn to save their pennies and live within their means - shouldn't our national leader be setting this example? Daddy-o's comment: Do these small banks even need the money? According to reports, no they don't. I pulled this from an article: Easily overlooked amid the crisis of big banks today, small-scale financial institutions are, for the most part, holding steady—and sometimes even better than steady. According to FDIC data, the failure rate among big banks (those with assets of $1 billion or more) is seven times greater than among small banks. Moreover, banks with less than $1 billion in assets—what are typically called community banks—are outperforming larger banks on most key measures, such as return on assets, charge-offs for bad loans, and net profit margin. Entire article is here: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0811.longman.html
  

• Proposing a new small business tax credit to those that hire workers or raise wages. This sounds like a nice reward for business owners taking a risk, but really it's unnecessary and again, keeping the government from collecting much-needed taxes. I say let the free market play itself out. Daddy-o is a business-owner himself and he said that regardless of a tax-credit he will hire if he needs to hire and not hire if he doesn't need to hire. I pointed out that this tax credit will likely not even cover the expense/salary of bringing on a new employee so I think this incentive doesn't make a single difference. The government loses tax dollars and the business-owner's behavior is not swayed either way. He/she will continue to hire and fire as needed and possibly get a cushy little break out of it if he/she just happens to need to hire.
  

• Put people to work via infrastructure projects such as the high-speed railroad through Tampa, Florida which is funded by the Recovery Act. I smell a rat. High-speed railroad in Florida of all places?? Do we really need this? This project sounds like some lobbyist pet-project. I appreciate that we are putting people to work, but how about working on our already deteriorating infrastructure like our bridges. Remember the tragedy of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis? After that terrible collapse everyone was up in arms about how badly our bridges need to be repaired. Let's get to work on those bridges instead of creating a high-speed railroad that is better suited in Europe than Tampa.

• Put more Americans to work by building clean energy facilities. I don't know what these clean energy facilities are. Anyone have some insight out there? I can say it is good when jobs are available so I like that part of this.

• Give tax rebates to people who make their homes more energy efficient which will support the growth of clean energy jobs. You know, earlier I was bashing this idea mostly because I don't like the idea of tax rebates when we are soooo broke as a nation, but this move does help build the green market, thus creating jobs. However, I feel people should live more green because it is our responsibility as a society not because there is incentive. Koosh and I recycle everything and we even wash our ziploc baggies to reuse them instead of just throwing them out to sit in a landfill. So do we get a rebate? No? Fine. That's ok with me because I do all of this with a conscience (!) not because I want a tax rebate. Daddy-o had some insider info from a friend who bought solar panels for his house. According to his friend, it takes 50 years to even break even when factoring in the cost of the panels and the total amount of money you save on your energy bills. Ironically, the panels are generally busted by year 50 and it's time to buy them all over again. So for those who just want a tax rebate and don't care about being green - let's hope the rebate covers your expense. Otherwise, kudos to those who do it because they want to and now you'll enjoy a tax break.

• Slash tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that create jobs in U.S.A. Now I may have read this wrong, but I had NO IDEA companies were getting tax BREAKS for shipping jobs overseas. What is that all about?? I thought we were all about creating jobs in America? If I did indeed flub up on my research, please let me know but this is how I read the text from the NYT. Anyhow, props to Obama for not rewarding people for shipping jobs overseas, I am happy to hear the tax breaks will end. As for the tax break part for creating jobs in America, you know how I feel about that. A tax break/rebate (it's all the same) for hiring people won't affect business owner's choices. What will affect their choices is supply and demand. If there is more demand for a company's product they will have to produce more and thus hire more employees. Now as consumers we want the cheapest price. Most of the times the cheapest price comes from overseas - why do so many people buy leggings from H&M instead of American Apparel? They are cheaper! Crappier, but cheaper and most decisions are made with regard to the bottom line. American labor costs more than Chinese or Indian labor so how can we level the playing field? Import tariffs. Forget tax breaks, let's impose some taxes with this one! So why don't we slap on a few import tariffs? Well, one reason is.....LOBBYISTS. Major business is done overseas making many a man/woman rich, rich, rich and in order to keep their business booming they rely on the cheap labor and American dollar. So they hire lobbyists to convince our government officials to not impose import tariffs thus keeping the imports cheap, which in turn provide a high supply and demand for international employees instead of our own employees on American soil. So chew on that folks.

Ok, so why don't you let those roll around in your head for a while and get talking! See what your friends and family think about these State of the Union initiatives that are taking shape this very minute. Come on, do what I did, make that cardinal sin - talk about politics on your first date. Shoot me in the foot - why did I do that again?? Was it all of the wine? Oh well, it was a great meal! Talk to you later kiddies.