There has been some discussion about tariffs, but whenever it comes up someone brings up tariffs that were instituted in 1929 by the Hoover Administration. Apparently that was supposed to be a major cause of the Great Depression. I'm certainly no economist, and would never want to be one, but I think that time frame was very different than what we have today. Back then the US and Canada were both heavy exporters to Europe and Asia. The tariffs put in place resulted in retalitory tariffs in both Europe and Asia and then added to the unemployment. For me I think a lot could be done to improve the employment situation by changes in the tax law and in unemployment benefits. Corporations will continue to move jobs overseas as long as they are penalized for putting jobs in the US and rewarded for putting jobs overseas. Overseas job creation is a child of the bottom line. Make that bottom line suffer for the movement of jobs and you will see the movement of those jobs cease.
Well how about this for a solution to greedy unions... during negotiations instead of higher benefits for unions in industries like the auto industry give them equity in the company. That way the workers take less and get to partake in the success of the company when profits increase? Basically stock options. I know of one example of this. Suncor offerred a stock option program to employees several years ago and I know some who have made upwards of six figures on the program. And most of their non-professional (geologists, engineers, managers etc) are unionized at their oilsand operations in Alberta.
That's an excellent idea. The only downside that I see is that the union leaders would say that the numbers can be manipulated so they won't go along with the deal. Of course, that discounts the fact that the union leaders would lose some of their power and clout and that would also seem to limit the likelihood of it working. Too bad really because it is a great idea.
And just to put into perspective how silly a lot of the coverage of this thing is the most reasonable opinion I have heard in the media concerning the occupy movement comes from... The Ultimate Warrior! Ultimate Warrior: Wall Street Occupiers Are a Bunch of iPad-Toting Hypocrites! | TMZ.com
OK...that was just weird...lol I'm not a big wrestling fan....actually not a fan at all. But who would have thought they are asked to provide political and sociological insight whilst being interviewed in full regale....lol. And, "The Ultimate Warrior" provided! With big words and all! I don't think the media is doing a very good job of getting the message from protestors to the masses. They seem much more interested in covering the nuts who outnumber the sane by a large margin. Here is what I think the root message is: The disparity between the wealthy and average people (1% vs 99%) is growing at an alarming rate. Incomes for most people have been stagnant for a decade while the wealthy have seen their income skyrocket in the same period. A lot of that wealth is coming from shipping jobs overseas. Very concerning to me is the power that that wealth provides. The wealthy are in more of a position to pull the strings of puppet politician than ever in recent history. They control the media for that matter. Even the `liberal`media is mocking the protestors and not addressing the real story.
rdubnpk I think the reason there is no real direction to the whole movement is because it is so difficult to figure out exactly who is to blame. Who do you point the finger at, exactly, for getting us into the mess we are in. And more importantly, who do we see about getting us out of it. You read all the stories surrounding this mess and, Lord knows, there is plenty of blame to go around, but who is going to be held responsible? It looks like noone and the rest of us are just supposed to suck it up and pay the frigging bill. That makes me mad as hell but, like those in the movement, I see no accountability and noone taking steps to see it doesn't happen again. If that is boo-hooing, guess I'm a big boo-hooer. And as to paying the frigging bill. It looks like the people who are responsible are getting bailed out, paying themselves bonuses, and getting away scott free. Meanwhile, every proposal to pay the frigging bill results in a reduction of income and/or benefits for the middle class and the poor. I have even heard that the tax deduction for interest paid on home loans is being looked at for deletion. The movement sees this as totally unfair and it is. But again, what can you do about it but camp out on public lawns??
It seems to me that noone is ever accountable anymore. If a judge makes a wrong decision and a killer goes loose and then kills someone, he or she has no accountability. If a politician is corrupt and sells out to special interests all that happens to them is that they get more campaign money and re-elected. A labor union bankrupts a company and what is their accountability? Why the taxpayers step in and cover their pensions. Buffalo is the second poorest city in the US so what happened in the election two days ago? Shock upon shock but every single incumbent got re-elected. No accountability starts with us and the people we elect. Sadly those of us without political connections are accountable to the nth degree. If we make a mistake, or often even if we don't make a mistake, and have an accident we can be sued and everything we own be taken. As to who ends paying the bill, it is all of us who are not politically connected. GE closes US divisions, makes over $14 billion and pays no US taxes and what happens to them? Oh, our beloved President appoints a commission to develop US jobs and he names the Chairman of GE to head it up. What is left of the middle and upper end taxpayers will be saddled with paying for the idiocy of government forever now. Those that take now exceed those that make so they can put in any toad they want to in office and we can't do a thing about it. Most of the OWS protesters are asking for more giveaways, not less. They aren't looking for change for the positive. All they are looking for is more of a free ride than they already have.
rdubnpk I dispute your analogy that it’s a movement, Whatever it started out as and what it intended to accomplish is still up for debate even among all involved, What it is now is a bunch of worthless thugs, criminals, homeless and the entitlement socialist wackos. In witch none of them have employment or seem to even care if they are employed. They have their hand out wanting someone to pay for them. Wall Street is not the problem, the real estate mortgage crash was a bomb waiting to explode. Our government with its own regulation forced banks and lenders to relax the criteria for home loan approval, That fueled the real estate boom, from new construction loans, home equity loans, commercial real estate loans, money was too easy to get, there was no having to save for 20% down payments there was no risk for the buyer he had nothing invested it was all borrowed money, Many Americans bought homes that they couldn’t afford, took out home equity loans for more than the real estate was worth. When payment couldn’t be made the buyer walked out on the loans. That was the start of the collapse, it continued through the auto industry, the banks, mortgage companies, insurance companies, etc. When the easy money spout was turned off to the overextended consumer, our economy was brought to a standstill. Company’s that were poorly managed and over leveraged , started laying off workers to try and survive, of course that added fuel to the already collapsing real estate, mortgage industry, now mr consumer had no income to pay for the house he couldn’t afford in the first place. Is it wall street’s fault or the governments fault that mr consumer made a Dumb decision in entering into a contract that he didn’t understand and couldn’t afford or is it personal responsibility? Now banks, mortgage lenders, investors, insurances companies that made very poor decisions are on the hook to pay for the loan that Mr. consumer couldn’t. afford to start with. So The government steps in and offers bail outs to ( Banks, Auto Industry, Insurance companies, state governments, foreign governments etc) Our government is now picking winners and loosers in our free economy, The term too big to fail was invented, followed by “investment in our economy” ( new term for government spending TAXES) No company is to big to fail in our free economy, if a big company fails there are many smaller companies that are ready to absorb the customers from the failed one. This senearo has been proven again and again throughout our history. We Americans have the chance every 2 years to elect competent people to have our voices heard, the congress is the group that determines were and how money is raised and is spent, Not the President Not the treasury not the federal reserve, only Congress has the authority. Why is anyone protesting Wall Street? OWS is a diversion from the underlying issues of too much government involvement in so called “social justice” , Just because someone works harder is smarter and has creative instincts doesn’t mean that individual should be penalized and his wealth taken from him and distributed to others that are lazy, incompetent, or just outright dumb? Should the government be playing the role of how much someone should make?
rdubnpk So all of you guys are saying "if they are incapable, for whatever reason, of making it in America then screw them." If they can't afford health insurance and contract a disease that will be fatal if not treated, let 'em die. If the man of the house disappears and the single mother is unable to feed the kids, let them starve. I could never live with myself with that attitude. It flies in the face of all humanity and makes a mockery of any type of charitable work. But, it would certainly lower the tax base.
I don't think any of us are saying anything like that. What I (we) have a problem with is not those that CANNOT work, but with those who WILL NOT work. There is a huge distinction between those two concepts. Almost every thing I have seen of this so called movement is nothing but "gimme, gimme, gimme. I want my freebie." That is the gist of what I am seeing and hearing. "Pay my student loan! Give me free food! I don't want to pay my mortgage! I want free housing!" C'mon, this is not the voice of a movement. This is a two year old having a tantrum! Yesterday I drove by the "Occupy Buffalo" group in front of City Hall. What I saw wasn't a bunch of idealists working for the good of man. I saw a bunch of freeloaders picking up a free lunch and being able to brag to their buddies that they got laid in a pup tent in front of City Hall. My only hope now is for a very cold winter and some really good brisk gusts of wind off Lake Erie to send this malcontents back to Mommy and Daddy.
