It's That Time Again

Hi Everyone,

In all of human history, from the cavemen/women to the present day, there have always been the haves and have nots. From our earliest times, some people had more food than other people. Some people also had better shelters than other people. Then when money was invented, there were always people who had more money then others. That tradition still continues through today. Today there are people who have more money then those who do not. So now we are in the every four year cycle of electing the next president of the United States. But just as history over time has repeated itself again and again, it seems that we have the opportunity of not letting history repeat itself again. But will we? Our two current presidential candidates seem to represent the old divide. One represents the haves and one represents the have nots. As always, both candidates say only he represents all of the people. So who represents whom? Today I will give you the facts regarding each and at the end, only you can determine, by voting, who is better to lead our country. May you choose wisely grasshopper.

If you don't believe what I say, check it out for yourself. So here we go..........

Our economy is in bad shape and is/was in the worst shape since the great Depression, hence the reason why this period of time is/was called the Great Recession. Bush II's policies including economic, 2 unpaid for wars that continue to this day, an unpaid medicare drug plan that continues to this day, deregulations etc. and etc., was the perfect recipe for what eventually started happen somtime in 2008, as our economy went into a tailspin. As a footnote, please, please check this out, every recession that has ever happened to this country since 1896, began with a Republican President in the White House. Coincidence? You decide. It really is true though! Also, do not forget that the Great Depression, which started in October 1929, did not really end until the late 1930's, when the Lend Lease program with Great Britain started. That one agreement put hundreds of thousands of mostly men to work in factories making the war materials they needed.

Unemployment is too high and will stay high and no candidate has any plan and or power that can really and truly help. Why? Because as long as the housing market stays stuck in the pits (interest rates continue to be low) and companies don't hire additional employees due to the fact that they are making better profit margins now with less employees. Companies have become so much more efficient in running their companies and have perfected the art of a no price/price increase. They decrease the amount of product and then charge you the same. You know what I mean, instead of a 64 oz carton of OJ, it is now 59oz for the same price. Their current mantra is why hire when they are so profitable and collectively sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars.

Banks are not loaning money out very easily. Almost every bank that received Bush II bailout of $750 billion without any strings attached, didn't loan out that money as intended, but instead invested it and made more money than ever before. Their ability to make unbelievable profits, from very risky bets, without making loans isn't going to change very easily. As long as they don't loan out as much money as they used to and instead make billions in profits from their speculative investments, why would they change? If elected, Romney wants to decrease regulations on banks. Obviously he hasn't learned anything what just happened with sub-prime mortgages.

In case you have forgotten, after the Reagan and Bush I years, this country had the largest deficit in our history. The deficit back then was in the trillions of dollars and we were then told that our grandchildren's children would still be paying it back. Amongst other things, Bill Clinton raised taxes on the 1%. And what happened? Within eight short years, our deficit was eliminated and was turned into a surplus, which Bush II inherited and then promptly squandered and turned it into another huge deficit which continues today. Clinton proved that raising taxes on the 1% wasn't a job killer, but rather a job creator. More jobs were created under Clinton than under Bush II even with higher taxes for the 1%. According to the Republicans that can't happen. Now with the majority of Republicans signing Grover Norquist's pledge to not raise taxes ever, especially on the 1%, which they will protect to no end, compromise is a bad thing and will never happen. It's their way or no way! See my 11/27/11 blog about good old boy Grover Norquist.

Now let's look at something different. When John Kennedy first decided to run for President, the Republicans were all up in arms about his Catholic religion. There had never been a Catholic President before Kennedy and Republicans were terrified that Kennedy's religious beliefs would affect and/or impede his decisions as President. It didn't happen and Kennedy was an excellent President. Today the Republicans have taken their own Catholic beliefs and want to instill those beliefs on the entire country, whether you are Catholic or not. How? Republicans now want to eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood and outlaw (including rape cases) or at the very least severely restrict legal abortions in any state that they can to circumvent Roe v Wade. I guess back room abortions are suppose to be a good thing when abortions are illegal in this countr,y as it was prior to Roe v Wade. There are now so many people who can't have children and adopt children from other countries. What will happen when there is an influx of hundreds of thousands of unwanted babies? Who will adopt them and who will pay for their care up to age 18 if they are not adopted? Taxpayers that who!

People seem to think that President Obama is somehow and somewhat responsible for the shortages that Social Security is experiencing. For some 35-40 years, SS always had a yearly surplus. But our wonderful politicians decided to use those yearly surpluses as a piggy bank to help balance budgets. If that money was never touched, there would be no SS shortages, period.

When Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, he considered himself a moderate Republican and stated such every chance he could. With the help of Democrats, he enacted his own Romney Care for his state. What people call Obama care is modeled almost exactly after Romney Care. But now since Romney has forgotten that he said he was a moderate and now says he has always been a conservative, he says that Obama care is a job killer. It wasn't a job killer in Massachusetts. But don't forget that Obama care doesn't really kick in until 2014. What has kicked in is that your child can be covered under a parents insurance plan until age 26. What a help to those young people who otherwise would be uninsured. Remember that insurance companies want to have more young people insured since, statistically, they are a healthier population and their premiums help offset the older populations costs. Now under Ryans budget plan, which the Tea Party wholeheartedly endorses and Romney will eventually have to endorse for fear of angering the conservatives, wants to turn Medicare into a voucher system for those 55 or younger. What that means is that retirees would have to purchase their own retirement insurance, at higher rates, since they are older and would later receive a voucher from the government that would pay a portion of their premiums. The seniors are liable for whatever the vouchers won't pay. That doesn't seem to be fair or right because the poor and middle classe may not be able to afford what is not paid by the voucher system. Then what happens?

Additionally, Ryan's budget plan would eliminate amongst other things, the Dept of Education and the EPA. I guess in the Republicans minds, education and environmental protection are not important and should be eliminated. Remember that the whole reason that the EPA exists is because left on their own, companies have no problem using up any and all resources and polluting any ground, water or air that they want. Is that what this country wants? I don't think so. We have only one planet and it needs to be protected from rogue companies that only care about their bottom lines.

Now if you still need more proof of who represents whom, Romney in his infinite wisdom, has decided to only release his 2010 and 2011 tax returns, which is what the federal law requires. Other presidential candidates have released up to 10 years including McCain and Romney's father, George when he ran for preisdent. But, not Mitt Romney. He has used for years, off shore accounts to hide his assets and pay a nominal percentage of taxes. Off shore accounts are used for only one purpose, to pay less if any taxes. For the 2 years of returns that he released, 2010 and 2011, the average tax rate that he paid was just 13%. Do any of you pay a 13% tax rate? I think not. Romney is well aware that if he releases more tax returns, people will see what he was up to when it came time to pay his fair share. He hasn't paid his fair share in years and years. But that is the way he likes it. In case you were not aware, Romney wants to decrease the tax rate for the 1% even more. The Bush II tax decreases were suppose to create more jobs, but did it? All you have to do is check out the DOL figures for when Bush II was in office up to present and guess what you will find? No increase in total job creation but a decrease during his 8 years. So why are Republicans still trying to keep the present rate and even decrease it? It makes no sense what so ever, except in their minds.

Romney touts his business experience as what is needed to help pull our country out of the Great Recession. Ever checked out Bain Capitol? Bain did create a few jobs, but mostly at its corporate headquarters. But their business was to buy companies at a low price in order to be able to sell them for a profit. How do they do that? By dismantling the company, in order to sell off its parts and lay off a whole lot of the employees. Have you ever heard of a company who buys another company and doesn't lay off employees? Oh right, you haven't heard of it because it doesn't normally happen in 90% plus of company takeovers. Bain also transferred thousands and thousands of jobs, especially manufacturing jobs overseas that will never return to our shores. This is the business experience that he says will help us. I think not! But Romney says he wasn't CEO when jobs were sent overseas. If that is true why was he still signing letters and legal documents as its CEO during that time?

I would be the first person in line to say that our economy is not improving as well as it should be under President Obama, but remember, our country used to be based on a huge manufacturing sector which now unfortunately doesn't exist. Our econonmy now is based on our being a service economy with people having to spend more on services and not necessarily buying products that are not made in the US of A in order to improve our economy and break us out of this recession. What this country needs is more of a manufacturing base, instead of a service base. Don't believe me, check out China.

Finally, I was absolutely flabbergasted to learn that in the infinite wisdom of Republicans, it is a good idea to have tough new voter identification laws in place by this November. These new laws will make it more difficult for the elderly, disabled, poor and young adults to vote, because each voter would have to show a vaild photo ID. These people don't usually have photo ID's since they don't drive. Having worked for the Board of Elections for the past 10 years, I can tell you personally, that there is absolutley no problem with in-person voter fraud. Even the government says there is no porblem. But the Republicans think there is a problem. What I can also tell you is that these people are part of President Obama's base and the Republicans want to take away those voters rights, which is supposed to be protected by our constitution. But the Republicans pretense is to prevent voter fraud. So I guess that the perceived voter fraud only happens in red states. What a back door way to try to win an election. State Supreme Courts should shoot down these blatant attempts to steal, yes steal, the elections in November. Only you, voters, can stop the insanity by voting in November.

So now I have informed you of who represents whom in this upcoming election. Don't be fooled by the blatant lies, inuendos and dirty pool by what the Republicans will say and do. They will say anything to get elected. Remember the 2003 Bush II lie about how only the Republicans could protect us from another terroist attack? They didn't protect us from 9/11/01 did they? Don't believe what I said above, just check it out for yourself. But don't believe any online stuff. Check it out with major newspapers, where they get sued for misrepresentations and lies. Online writers are not held to the same standards and can and do say whatever they want because they believe the ends justify the means

Now you know, don't let let history repeat itself, choose wisely and vote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you don't vote, you have absolutely no right to bitch about the outcome and keep your thoughts to yourself.

Til next week.

Peter

Please Beware! How To Avoid Being Scammed

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I were at a pool party yesterday and I again heard a very familiar story. Today's blog is geared to the older generations, who are the easiest to fall victim.

The story we were told yesterday was how this elderly, but still very active both physically and mentally woman, was scammed out of money, by paying in full upfront for work that was never performed. The elderly get scammed more often than younger folks. I would like to give some common sense advice for when any type of work needs to be done on their homes. So here is my top 10, plus one list:

1) If you don't know who to call, ask your neighbors, family and friends for people/companies who they have used and (this is very important), would use again.

2) Get at least 3 quotes. Remember that the cheapest quote is not always the best. If one quote is far less then the others, get another quote from another company.

3) Ads can be very misleading as to their performance level and professionalism so be careful when calling them.

4) Ask companies for references, but remember that they are only going to give you their best ones, not the ones who had problems.

5) Do your homework. Call their references and ask very pointed questions regarding what they did  and how that relates to the job you want done.

6) Call your local Better Business Bureau and get any info they have on the company. You can even check Angies list online

7) Go to the government agency in your county i.e.: consumer affairs etc., that holds the contractors license and get any info that they may have. Also make sure that the contractor's insurance policies are in effect during the duration of the job. At the least they should carry, Worker's Compensation and Liability insurance.

8) Once you have chosen a contractor, depending on the job will depend of whether any up front money will be due. For the most part, any small job should be paid in full only at the completion of the job and never pay upfront.

9) If you have to sign a contract, make sure that your interests are covered like; amount of money to be paid up front, then at 50-75% of job completion and the final payment to be made only after your approval of the job completion. Also make sure that start and end dates are included. The best contracts have daily or weekly penalties if the job is not finished on the agreed upon time.

10) Make sure that the contractor follows the signed contract and that they do not use any cheaper materials or short cuts. That means that you have to watch the job while in progress.

Plus One) And last but certainly not least; NEVER, EVER use a contractor who shows up at your door uninvited, even their price seems to be to good to be true, that's because it is a scam.

By using common sense, most people can avoid the pitfalls of being scammed out of your hard earned money.

Til next week.

Peter