One person's ramblings, can be another person's insight.
Posts tagged Obama
A President for Change
May 16th
Obama After Bush: Leading by Second Thought
The president for change was what everyone said about President Obama. He will change the way we do our business, on how things are run. A noble thought.
In April of 2009, President Obama sought additional “emergency” funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He used the same tactic that he blasted President Bush for doing. Instead of going through the normal budget process, politicians can claim it is an emergency and deserves the funding now. You can read about this here.
So after reading both articles, I wonder if he is still for change, or maybe the decisions made were the right ones. Maybe, the path we were going down was the best choice.
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
May 15th
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
While cruising the internet I came across this article. I have seen on the local news, all of the hate articles about the moves from Chrysler and GM to cut down on the number of dealers they have. A couple of points in this article is what is missing from most articles about this subject.
One, and foremost to me, is the restructuring is being done to meet the expectations of Obama’s auto task force. So in other words, it is to comply for the bailout they are trying to get. Which also lost in the shuffle is the fact that so far Ford is not asking for help. More on that later.
The second point I saw, was an interesting spin that relates very closely to my opinion of newspapers. Is the internet changing the way we buy cars? The conclusion in the article is we still need dealers, but I am wondering if that is only a temporary thing.
The internet certainly can make a buyer more aware of trends, and can compare pricing all over the US if they want to. With that information, they can haggle more effectively for that car, thus driving down the profit of the car. So is all these closings just something that would have happened in time anyway? Another bygone era along with 8 tracks?
As for Ford, I must give it to them. They are struggling that is for sure, but the longer they hold out the better it could be for them, especially with all these dealers closing. If I was in the market for a new car I would buy a Ford, not because I love the car, but because the bailout is tainting the other two.
Who would want to buy a car from a company that is closing dealerships, reducing brands, and in general is giving signs of being in severe distress. Ford may be just as strapped, and if they can hold on I think they will benefit greatly as people will feel safer buying a car from a Ford dealer over one of the other guys. Who knows, maybe in the future there will be only one of the big three left.
The Tax Cut Wars Begin….
Jan 11th
The Tax Cut Wars Begin….
Well it has started, the tax cuts proposed by Obama are going through the grinder as we speak. Likely they will not happen. I remember when Tax Cuts are supposed to be a good thing, where most economists insisted that it would stimulate growth.
I have wrote recently about the price tag of Obama’s stimulus package as being too high, and though I stand behind that, at least part of that price tag included tax cuts. Tax cuts that were designed to go right back into the pockets of middle class Americans and businesses.
Now, “Senate Democrats Seek to Raise Energy, Infrastructure Investment, Keep Taxes Cats Low in Stimulus“. So my question is if there is less in cost due to removing or lowering the tax cuts, why is the price tag going up?
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed Sunday that the package that comes out of the lower chamber would include no earmarks and predicted the stimulus plan might exceed $775 billion. Some lawmakers have put the price tag at nearly $1 trillion.”
Historically it has been proven that if we give more money back to the tax payers, especially as it was proposed in Obama’s plan, that it will stimulate the economy. More people will have more money in their pockets to buy the essential things they need, pay their bills, and so forth. Businesses benefit also when they pay less in taxes, because then the overhead of the operation becomes lower allowing them to hold on to employees longer, and just like Middle Class American, pay their bills.
Somewhere about three to four years ago, tax cuts supposedly became the opposite in many Democrats eyes. So let me ask, if we increase taxes will that stimulate the economy? I am not economist, but somehow that makes no sense to me.
At least one democrat sees it the way Obama does, Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin disagreed with the Democrats lining up to criticize the tax breaks.
Well with a price tag of $1 Trillion there is a good chance we will see tax increases. Why do I suddenly feel like I am working for Enron, and soon the pork belly projects will be added to this plan and fiscal responsibility will be thrown out the window.
Obama urges Congress to pass stimulus plan
Jan 3rd
Granted, I am no economics expert, but I do think I know a few things on the basics. At least on a business level, and a personal level. “Obama urges Congress to pass stimulus plan” which is a great idea. The economy is in trouble, there is no denying that.
Remember though, we just spent $700 billion dollars on the Wall Street bailout so between these two plans the proposal is to spend $1.5 Trillion dollars. That my friend is a lot of money. The concept is great, but where are we getting this sort of cash? The current national debt reported in the Wall Street Journal is exceeding $10 Trillion dollars, so I just do not understand where this $1.5 Trillion is coming from.
In the article it speaks of tax cuts, building projects, roads, and so forth. But once again where will the money come from? Is this like that desperate second mortgage you take out on your house for some quick cash now, and later you pay for it?
When you run a business or in your personal life, and bad times come, and things are uncertain that is not the time to take a loan, or increase your debt. It is time to save money, cut the expenses you do not need, be careful what you spend. You do not take a loan out on the hopes, that in the near future you will be making enough to pay it back. Isn’t this what we are doing, since we obviously do not have the cash lying around.
Now, maybe the government plans to fund this by reducing their spending, that would be a perfect way to handle this. Redistribute the money to make it more efficient to help where it is needed, but somehow I doubt that is part of the plan.
Granted, I might be totally off base here, but I think we do need to take a second look at this. I understand we need to do something, but is this the most fiscally responsible alternative we have?
Gas Prices, Remember When…
Dec 20th
One thing that annoys me about the news, is the lack of attention. For months all we heard was how the sky was falling all because of gas prices. Well now gas prices national average prices is $1.66 per gallon in the United States. A year ago it was over $2 a gallon, 6 months ago it was over $4 per gallon, and only three months ago it was still over $3.50 per gallon.
Now look at it.
I have yet to see a front page article saying, “Gas prices falling, boon for economy”. It certainly helps us in these tough times that we are not paying $4 per gallon.
Check out this historical chart from www.gasbuddy.com located here.
I also came across this article, during the presidential race when gas prices were such a hot topic. Everyone was blaming each other, and each said they had their plan to fix it. In this article Obama blamed it on the old political structure, you can read the article here.
And it was not just Obama, even McCain said he would act immediately to lower gas prices, this was on his own polical website located here.
Hillary Clinton also had her spin on how she would fix things on her website located here, she squarely blamed the Bush administration.
Well here it is, almost a month before Obama takes office, and it looks like it is fixed. Down the prices go. No real major policy changes, Bush is still in office, none of these people are in office to effect change and it happened anyway. Could it have anything to do with how much we are paying for a barrel of oil?
Now of course, the theories will fly that it was a conspiracy of some sort, or that the impact of a new president coming to power influenced the prices to go down. Or they will say Bush got so rich off the oil, that he does not need it anymore.
Me personally, I think it is just part of the cycle. Economy and prices always go up and down, things change, there are so many factors that are likely involved that we will never know the reason the prices went down. Too often we look for the one answer, but life is not that simple. But someone will take credit for it.