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.
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.
Posted by Tom S on Apr 12, 2010 in
Health,
Home & Family Every time I get ready to go in the back yard to clean it up, my wife shakes her head and says something like “Oh baby”. That means she thinks I made a bad decision. Well, maybe I did but I’m determined to see it through and make the yard look better.
The decision we are talking about concerns taking down two big oak trees in the backyard. They had been expanding in recent years and the roots are spreading and were getting closer to the septic tank and side of the house. Besides that, they seem to attract ants and then the ants come to the house looking for food. When you track them back to the source they are climbing the trees. The trees provide so much shade that I can’t get grass to grow in a large part of the yard. Then there are the leaves always falling in the pool and bugs falling out of the tree. Once a squirrel fell in and my wife and I had to rescue him (her?). Then there is the bird poop landing on the deck (I wonder if that is where they got the term “poop deck”?). Anyway the trees had become a problem and we decided to have them cut down.
When we first moved in here, we had several trees cut down and it cost about $100.00 a tree. So when I decided to get three estimates I was surprised to find that $1,000 for both trees was the lowest of the estimates. This included cutting down the two trees, grinding the stumps to below ground level and hauling off the wood. Well, we were expecting a lot less so I asked what it would cost if they left the wood and I took care of it myself? The guy who wanted $1,000 said he’d take off $400. One guy said he would charge more because he wouldn’t have the wood to sell. I didn’t bother to ask the last guy, because I had already decided not to do business with him (he was scary). I told the first guy to go ahead and cut ‘em down and I’d take care of the wood. He said he would change me for cutting them down now and I could call when I cleared the area and he would come back and grind the stumps. So the deal was made.
I watched while they cut down the trees and moved the branches out of the way. It seemed fairly straight forward and besides I had cut down 10 trees myself back in 1974-75. It wasn’t that hard and we had burned what was left. So I figured I could take a couple of days off from both jobs and take care of it over a long weekend. I went and purchased a chain saw and two spare chains. Then it started to rain and even while it was still raining my son found a new house and we spent a couple of days moving him in. So I had two days to work on the felled trees.
This is where everybody started telling me “You’re not as young as you used to be”. After the first two days I was barely able to walk or lift my arms. I had so many cuts on my arms, I was weak from loss of blood. My new hip was killing me and the plates in my left foot were a constant reminder of other bad decisions. So what did I do? I kept working and now we (my wife felt sorry for me and is helping out) are about three quarters done. When we started you could barely get around the yard because of all the branches lining the fence. All that remain are a few branches and the trunks of the two trees.
I saved $400. Well, $250 if you take out the cost of the chain saw. OK, $200 because I bought the spare chains, oil and gas, but that’s still $200 I wouldn’t otherwise have, not to mention the exercise I’m getting.
So if you need some firewood, let me know and I’ll save you some. If you could use a log about 30 feet long and three feet around, come and get it, there are only two left.
