Our Vice President has done it again. In case you didn’t notice, Joe Biden was again on the front page. This time he called a shop owner a “smartass”. From what I read it was all very innocent and a little comical. Apparently, Mr. Biden bought some custard from the shop and asked how much he owed. The shop owner said something like “Don’t worry, it’s on us, lower our taxes and we’ll call it even”, prompting the remark by the VP.
Now I can see that happening myself. I may even have made a comment like that, had I been in a similar situation. The problem is that he is the Vice President and frankly I expect more professional behavior. But that’s not why I’m upset.
What is making me angry is something else that was in the same news article. Apparently, a few days earlier Mr. Biden was stumping for Senator Russ Feingold, in Wisconsin. He was speaking at a fund raising event and told the crowd “there’s no possibility to restore the 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession”.
What? Then what was the stimulus and TARP all about. Didn’t our government tell us that we had to spend all that money to save and create jobs? Did we really believe it? Not ME!!
I personally wanted companies to fail. I don’t think we should have bailed out anybody. I don’t think we should have saved the auto manufacturers (Fords are best anyway) or the banks or anyone else. What about all of the jobs that would have been lost? Well, I feel for the people who would have lost their jobs, and by the way millions lost them anyway. I know what’s it’s like to be unemployed for long periods and it’s a terrible feeling. However, I believe that other companies would have picked up the slack, bought out the problem companies, changed business strategies and become profitable. We may not have a Chrysler or GM but someone would have started producing vehicles to fill the gaps. Maybe it would have been Ford, and why not? At least they proved that they could manage their own business without getting the government involved. Maybe local banks would have had an opportunity to grow and become even more competitive. Maybe small businesses would have had a chance to expand their lines, but we’ll never know.
In my position of Business Development, I have the opportunity to talk to companies small and large everyday. They are learning to do business differently. They understand that there was a lot of waste in production and manufacturing. They figured out that although it was nice to have plenty of backups (people and parts) for when things went wrong, it was also a waste when things are going smooth.
Almost everywhere I go, people are multi-tasking like never before. I have seen the head of the IT department out cutting the grass and the plant manger filling in on the production line because someone called in sick. And that’s OK!! I think it’s great that some of the managers and other mucky-mucks be brought down a notch and mingle with the riff-raff.
I still feel bad about all of the people out of work and unfortunately, unless we bring some industry back to the states, it will continue for a long time. We have to encourage companies small and large to want to keep their businesses here in the United States. Our governments policies are forcing them overseas where labor is cheaper. I know that’s a bit over simplified, but you get the point. We need to get back to a form of “Buy American”, especially, when it concerns a government contract. A good example is the new A-35 Tanker. Although it now looks like Boeing is going to win the $35 billion contract, our government was actually considering having it built in France or the UK. This is just the kind of thing we need to stop. Our government should only buy from US companies when the items are available here.
So just like many of us knew from the start, all that money we spent is not going to save or create jobs. Once again, we have Joe Biden, intentionally or not, telling us the truth about what is going on.
In November, we can make huge changes. I think we should replace anyone who has been in the congress or senate for more than eight years and get some fresh blood in there. While we’re at it, let’s start at the bottom (local government) and work our way up.
Posted by Tom S on Jun 25, 2010 in
Current Events,
Environment It’s been awhile since I posted something here. That’s not good, especially since I’m the only one who does post here. Well, there is a real good reason for my failure to keep this site update: I was lazy. That’s right, I just didn’t feel like it. Like most of you, I’ve got a lot on my mind. I am worried about a lot of things and although I wanted to write about some of them, you really wouldn’t be interested. So instead let’s take a look at some things that have been happening in the world and I’ll give you my take on them.
The BP oil spill and the way it’s being handled is a mess. Why did we turn down Denmark’s offer of help when this first happened? Why did we not accept any help from the 13 nations that offered it? Why didn’t the federal inspectors close it down when they identified the violations. Yes BP screwed up, but by the same token we have federal inspection procedures in place that should have prevented it. On the other hand there should have been contingency plans in place to handle a crisis like this. I don’t mean our government should have a plan, but the oil companies should be required to have approved emergency plans in place.
Hurray for Arizona. I don’t understand why anyone has a problem with their new immigration law. The federal government wasn’t doing their job, so Arizona decided to protect their own border. Don’t start telling me about racial profiling and all that other crap. Read the law. It does not give the police the right to just pull somebody off the street because of looks. They will only check on people they have stopped for a violation of the law. This is something that every law enforcement officer should be doing in the first place. The keyword here is “illegal”. We have ways to come to the states “legally” but some people choose not to follow the rules. WHY? Because then they would have to pay taxes and act like responsible citizens. Instead, you and I are paying for their health care, school for their kids, food stamps and a number of things that some of our own citizens can’t get. This immigration problem is easy, enforce the laws that we already have in place. Don’t give me any crap about being against Hispanics. My wife is Hispanic but she went through the trouble of coming here legally. In fact, some of the stuff that is going on makes here mad too.
OK!! This is getting too long. I just wanted to get something new posted> If you have comments just go to my site at www.TellMeAboutThat.com and click on the number on the post-it pad at the top of the post. Let me know how you feel, even if you are wrong.
Yesterday we went to the air show at Shaw AFB, just up the street. They have the show every two years or so in the interest of community relations. There are a lot of things to see and it’s very exciting for everyone. Usually the day ends with a show from the Thunderbirds, the Air Force demonstation team and yesterday was no exception.
There were also other flight demonstations, from the C-17 cargo aircraft to old P-51′s from WWII and an exciting demonstration by the Shaw Air Force Base Viper-East F-16 team. In addition to the overhead flights, there were static displays of all sorts of aircraft, both old and new, as well as military vehicles and weapons. All of the military services were represented in one form or another as were the reserves, guard and Civil Air Patrol.
The kids were all having a great time climbing in and out of the displayed aircraft like the KC-135 refuler, C-17 Cargo aircraft, F-15 fighter, and numerous other fixed wing and rotary wing (helicopters for you civilians) aircraft. I think one of the most popular displays, judging by the line, was the US Army Virtual Warfare display. In this display visitors were taken inside and divided into teams. Each team was given a mission (HMMWV or helicopter) and weapons (laser guns). They were then placed on a virtual reality battlefield and got to experience what it was really like in the field.
The best part of being there was seeing all of the red, white and blue around you. It gives you a great feeling of pride to not only be on the base, but to see and talk to the troops attending the festivities, as well as those who were working to make it a great day for all. There is nothing like being around thousands of people who love their country and the military who keeps them safe.
If you’d like to feel some of whatwe felt you can go to www.shawfest2010.com and follow some of the links to the photo gallery that is there.
