It’s Monday, January 25, 2010 and we’ve had President Obama for a year. He’s gearing up to deliver his first State of the Union address and it’s probably no surprise that I have some input.
I can honestly say that I’m worse off today than I was this time last year. While having my pay cut by 2.5% hasn’t put a noticeable crimp in my lifestyle, it’s the principle of the thing. With the stroke of a pen, someone, somewhere reduced my value to my employer by 2.5%. Plus, they cut the employer match to my 401K, which cost me a hell of a lot more than what’s lost by 2.5% fewer peanuts. It’s more money now and a LOT more money on down the road.
They wouldn’t have dreamed of pulling this when unemployment was at 6%, like it was when Obama first took office. They’d have had employees leaving in droves, yours truly included. But 10% unemployment has the affect of freezing the runner at first and lets them pretty much chain us to the oars. Well, some of us at least. More on this later.
For me, it’s more of a morale thing. We didn’t get any raises or bonuses last year and all indicators are that we won’t again this year. Last year was (as best I can remember) the first time in my civilian job history that I did not improve my bottom line by either promotion or pay increase. Some of that’s on me. I just haven’t been terribly motivated to excel, but most of it is due to a bad economy. I remember thinking that it was okay. Times are tough all over, but there’s no way this will spill over into the next year, being an election year and all.
One thing is for certain; I don’t have much of a future in soothsaying.
So it was optimism back then. One of my favorite songs is Tomorrow from the musical Annie.
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Okay, maybe the day after tomorrow, or the day after that. Time marches onward and I’m still waiting for the sun, but I remain optimistic. I still believe the best days are yet to come. We may just have to wait 3 more years. Or 1 more year, depending on whether or not the predicted bloodbath occurs in the congressional elections.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still doing pretty darned spiffy. I’m blessed far beyond my ability to articulate. And yes, there are folks out there a way more worse off.
I’m not whining about anything. Pipe down or you’ll be wearing yellow flippers the next three times you’re up. The point I’m trying to make is that I’m looking at two consecutive years where I’ve not advanced in some way, be it money or position. I’ve never done that before and it bugs me. As before, I’ll take some of the blame for this from being less ambitious and way less motivated, but only some. One year I credit to Bush: things didn’t get better for me. The second I give to Obama: things actually got worse.
With unemployment seemingly stuck at around 10%, I’m wondering how long before another pay/benefits cut. Given that Obamacare looks to be roadkill, the talk now is turning toward the economy, recovery and jobs creation.
The really frustrating part is that it’s a stupidly easy fix. All they (Congress and the president) have to do is to first set aside the partisan bickering and accept some basic facts.
- People (companies too) will spend more money if they have more money. Think about it for a second. If you had say, an extra $50 in your paycheck, you’re gonna spend that dough. You’re gonna go out to dinner and a show more often. You’ll buy some new duds more often. You’ll upgrade your cable, your internet, your cell phone, etc. If you do sock it away, chances are it’ll be for some larger, one-time purchase like new tires or carpet for the living room.
- People (companies too) spending money is a GOOD thing. I’m not gonna take you through an Economics 101 course here, but the store you bought your new hat from is gonna use that dough to replace their inventory. Their supplier will do the same. The manufacturer will use it to make another hat. Money cycles though the system, coming full-circle, back to the banks that created it.
- Banks then create more money (I’m not gonna explain this again, but trust me, banks create money based solely on a promise to pay) by extending more credit. (The trick of course is to make sure this is done RESPONSIBLY and not repeating the Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac fiasco.) Money flows into the economy and gets spent, wending it’s way full-circle, back to the source. It’s a beautiful thing to behold.
- Lathe + rinse + repeat = Prosperity
- Prosperity is taxable. If the government wants more dough, let businesses create more taxable incomes. The more, the better. The faster, the better.
- Since we gottah cut the tax burdens for EVERYONE (No, not tax credits, but immediate and real reductions in tax liability) the federal government is just gonna have to get by with less, until prosperity returns. Which means they’re gonna just have to do less. Which, boys and girls, is actually a good thing too.
What’s abundantly obvious is that government economic stimulus does not work. Given facts in evidence, a case could be made that it actually makes matters worse. 15 million of us are out of work. That’s almost twice what it was before the economic stimulus package passed a year ago. More government spending is fail.
Yes, thank you Captain. A lot of times, a complex problem has a simple solution. The economic problem, while hugely complex, has an equally simple solution: Let us (yeah everyone, rich and poor) keep more of our dough.
And no, I’m not talking about tax credits. To take advantage of a tax credit, you have to be or do whatever it is that makes you eligible for it, then claim it on your next tax return. We need something just a little more immediate. Keep the tax credits for sure because they’re great for encouraging long-term, sustainable growth in specifically targeted areas, but like a guy with a dose of the clap, we need the penicillin now.
So here’s your chance, democrats and republicans. Lemme see what you got inside those melons atop your necks. Or, beat each other with tire irons. If you’re not gonna solve this problem, the least you could do is provide us with some entertainment.
But as for me, I think it may be time for a change.
Close, but I’m talking about a serious career change, not doing the same thing somewhere else, but doing something completely different. Yeah, I have a degree in computer science and I am pretty darned good at helping people solve their problems, but this has become (of late) unsatisfying on a number of levels. I’m not at all sure doing this elsewhere would bring it back.
I’ve had a number of people tell me that I should do this for a living. Yeah, I’m smart, I’m funny (to me at least) and I have a meager talent for wordsmithing. Is it enough to feed the bulldog? I’m not at all enthusiastic about going back to being a single-income family. While this blog has exceeded all my expectations for popularity (you-all are some weird people) I’m thinking 9,000 hits a month probably won’t generate the kind of coin I need to maintain my present lifestyle.
So what to do, gentle readers? Some of you know me quite well; some know me only via this blog. What do you think I should try for my next career? Thus far, I’ve been a welder, a cop, a truant officer, a client adviser (guard) at a pre-release center, a student, a network analyst, a systems/network administrator, a college instructor, a freelance computer technician and now a tech support weenie.
What’s next? I would like a job no more complicated than strolling to the mailbox to collect my check, but thus far, have seen nothing like that in the want ads. Send your suggestions to the usual place. Who knows? You may win some Hand Salutes!
In other news, no “Where I Ate” today. We had a real-deal snowstorm over the weekend. This to the point that it wasn’t worth the risk in going out among the plethora of idiots that a storm like this brings out.
Random Fact Guy called in sick again today, so we have another special guest star to fill in.
Oh wait, they decided to do a two-fer in his absence:
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In other news and precisely on schedule, the White House is claiming that Massachusetts voters didn’t elect Brown to stop Obama’s healthcare “reform” plan. According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; “More people voted to express their support for Barack Obama than to oppose him,”
Thanks again, Captain. I’m probably gonna need one from just spewing coffee into this one. So to be clear, the voters of Massachusetts elected a republican senator to express their support for Obama? Geeze, but how I hate starting out a week in yet another alternate universe.
In other news, our not-so beloved county attorney is running for his sixth term. I had planned on filing to run against him, just to give the voters a way to run against him, but alas. One of the qualifications is that the candidate has to be licensed to practice law in Montana. I’m not sure why, unless plea-bargaining is practicing law.
Some of his supporters are trying to say that plea bargaining saves us the expense of trials and congested prisons and I suppose it does, but come on. I guess we saved a bundle with the plea bargain that let Ricky Ruben Steinmetz actually kill someone while driving drunk and not serve 1 day in prison. I’m not kidding. The story is
here.
So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m not all jazzed up of Paxinos saving the people of Yellowstone County a bunch of dough. But, as long as you’re reelected without opposition, you get to do whatever the hell you want.
In other news, it looks like the democrats have given up on trying to blame Bush.
I gave Obama and his get one year to square this country away. You get to blame the previous guy for one and only one year. After that, it’s your fault, regardless of whatever mess you claim to have inherited. So here we are a year later and guess what?
It’s Obama’s fault.
Pushing this up a little early. I actually started this one on the weekend and it’s getting quite long. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Story Time.