Populist Blog

Huckabee leads Republican candidates

CP — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:52:00 GMT

Finally some good news to report on the populist front.

Two recent polls put Mike Huckabee way in front of all challengers in the Republican party for the 2012 elections. It's been a very frustrating year watching the new president of the people the president of hope sign bills that only pay off the corrupt organizations that helped him get elected.

Didn't Obama say he was going to help all, didn't he say "it's time for the economy to work for all, not just a few?" well it's not working at all for 1 in 10 American's right now is it? He gave away billions to Auto companies who then turned around and laid off hundreds of thousands and moved more operations to China. The fat cats still have their jobs but Detroit's working class is approaching 20% unemployment. What were those Billions of dollars for? To make sure the UAW big wigs who contributed millions to Obama still have their jobs and to buy off the multi billionaires that run the companies to ensure they build the kind of cars that Obama and the elites want the unwashed masses to drive.

Yet people are still blinded by Obama's words. Recently uniformed people showed up to fill out applications to help save their mortgages. Thousands showed up for a chance at 56 applications. When interviewed, the crowd said they were there for "money" when asked whose money they replied "Obama Money" and when asked where Obama got the money they replied " I don't know, his stash... That's why we love him! Obama! Obama! Obama!"

Wow. Good luck with that.

Huckabee has been outspoken all along against bailing out the rich at the expense of the common working man and woman. Why spend billions so the company can move more jobs off shores. Huckabee's plan to make American companies competitive again is to lift what is one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Instantly making American companies 30% more competitive again and getting American's back to work building things now.

The Obama fantasy to create a new green economy is just that, a fantasy. It takes 5 years to become an electrician to install smart meters. How many can afford to wait that long to get a job? And since you can install 4-5 smart meters a day, how long will you have that "green' Job once the smart grid is done?

The government cannot create wealth, it just moves it around. Usually taking from you and me to give to someone who won't work for themselves or to some fat cat on Wall Street or corporation that moves jobs overseas.

I can't wait to see Huckabee land knockout blow after knockout blow in the debates with chosen one.

Where's the Hope now?

CP — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:20:00 GMT

Well Obama is the President and I'm wondering where the hope and change are now/

I was really ticked off when I tuned in my radio in my car to hear Obama saying "this is a disaster, the economy is terrible and this is an economic disaster".

How the hell is that going to stimulate the economy and get people and businesses spending money again? The President has nothing but negativity to spread. No message of hope now. When the Pres goes on record that this is a disaster people just clam up and stop spending. How about, 'My fellow Americans, I know times seem tough but we've been through this before. Heck in 2002 we had higher Unemployment. In 1982 we had the trifecta of double digit inflation, double digit unemployment and double digit mortgage rates. We're at 6.5% unemployment, nowhere near the 24% of the Depression, or the 14% of late seventies and early eighties. We're American's, we will get through this just like we always do. And I'd appreciate it greatly if the media would please stop blowing this out of proportion and allow us to get to work growing our way out of this."

But no, our fearless leader says "this is a disaster, run for the hills! We're all doomed, doomed I tell you." This is the price we pay for electing a rank amateur with no leadership experience to the highest office in the world.

How about change?

Didn't he say "no more Washington insiders. No more lobbyists..." Come on, Tom Daschle? Tim Gauthier? Hillary Clinton? Aren't these the same bozo's we've had there all along? And now we have an income tax evader running the IRS. Real nice.

No folks, No Hope, No Change. More of the same. Government will take more of your tax dollars for programs you don't support in the name of stimulating the economy. But the economy won't be stimulated.

But, My Fellow Americans, we have been through this before and been through worse. We will emerge better and stronger than before. WE WILL work our way out of this.

President Barack Hussien Obama

CP — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:56:00 GMT

Well it's done. Congrats to President Obama. In a way I'm a little bit proud, as much as I'm not happy with Obama as President, we elected an African American for President. We've overcome all the racial tension and can now put all this nonsense behind us. The most powerful person in the country is not a white person but an African American. There is no more glass ceiling to complain about and there is no more "man trying to keep anyone down". It has been proven that with a little hard work, anyone can be anything in this great country.

I hope that Obama remembers that it was this GREAT country that afforded him and his so far unappreciative wife and pastor this opportunity. He speaks of change, but we've already changed, so what's the problem? If his family was in another country, maybe his wife wouldn't even have been allowed in grade school let alone law school. If this was just 70 years ago there is no way he would have been even allowed to run for President. So President Obama, remember this.

My opposition to this President was never about skin color, it's about our lack of knowledge about him and what we've learned of his associations. So his acceptance speech was nothing but more soaring rhetoric with the caveat that we will ALL have to suffer for this change.

I wonder what that person who said "it's the greatest moment of my life. Now I don't have to have to worry about putting gas in my car and I don't have to pay my mortgage anymore" is thinking now that her Messiah has said, "we are all going to have to sacrifice".

Just remember when we are taxed out of prosperity what was written here before the election. We've tried this all before can anyone say Jimmy Carter and 18% home loans with double digit unemployment?

Don't expect Obama to govern to the middle, he's never reached across the aisles and is no uniter.

Other than that, congrats to President Obama. Please tell me that this means we can put all this victimology behind us and we can truly become a color blind society.

Found! $1,705,700,000

CP — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:42:00 GMT

Well, here's where we can pay a small part of the $700 Billion dollar bailout:

Lehman Brothers Chairman and CEO Richard Fuld Jr. made $34 million in 2007. Lehman (OTC:LEHMQ) filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection earlier this month. Fuld also sold nearly a half-billion –$490 million – from selling LEH stock;
• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)paid its Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein $70 million last year. Co-Chief Operating Officers Gary Cohn and Jon Winkereid were paid $72.5 million and $71 million, respectively.
• Bears Sterns (BSC JPM)former chairman Jimmy Cayne, rescued by a $29 billion Fed shotgun wedding to JPM, received $60 million when he was replaced;
• American International Group (AIG) chief executive Martin Sullivan got a $14 million compensation package in 2007. He was ousted in June. The insurance giant (NYSE:AIG) is on the receiving end of an $85 billion federal bailout. Robert Willumstad was handed $7 million for his three months at the helm. (Edward Liddy took over as AIG’s chief executive earlier this month).
• Morgan Stanley (MS) Chairman John Mack earned $1.6 million + stock. Chief Financial Officer Colin Kelleher got a $21 million paycheck in 2007. Morgan Stanley also received an expedited approval to become a banking holding company in 48 hours -- that's record time.
• Countrywide Financial's (CWF BAC) founder & CEO Angelo Mozilo, which has been at the forefront of the subprime fiasco, cashed in $122 million in stock options in 2007; His total take is estimated at over $400 million dollars;
• Stanley Neal, who steered Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) into financial collapse before being taken over by Bank of America, was given a package of $160 million when he left his post last year; That package makes current CEO John Thain was paid $17 million in salary, bonuses and stock options in 2007 look like a bargain.
• Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is acquiring Merrill. BofA CEO Kenneth Davis brought home $25 million in 2007.
• JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chairman and CEO James Dimon earned $28 million in 2007. Chase acquired troubled investment house Bear Stearns earlier this year with the federal reserve backstopping $29 billion in Bear assets to help get the deal done.
• Fannie Mae (FNM) CEO Daniel Mudd received $11.6 million in 2007. His counterpart at Freddie Mac (FRE) Richard Syron, brought in $18 million. Federal government is taking over the mortgage backers with Herbert Allison to serve as Fannie CEO and David Moffett the new CEO at Freddie.
• Wachovia Corp. (W Chairman and CEO G. Kennedy Thompson received $21 million in 2007. He was succeeded by Robert Steel as CEO in July. Steel is slated to get a $1 million salary with an opportunity for a $12 million bonus, according to CEO Watch. Wachovia (NYSE:W is one of the banks that could be sold in the midst of the financial crisis.
• Seattle-based Washington Mutual (WM) will pay its new CEO Alan Fishman a salary and incentive package worth more than $20 million through 2009 for taking the helm of the battered bank, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Selling out

CP — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:32:00 GMT

No I'm not selling out, I'm being sold out! and I am stark raving mad!

What a joke! Let's bail out the people whose greed has decimated the common man's 401K, lays us off and tells us to work until we die. Great! Just Great!

Looks like us commoners that don't know nuthin bout business while we cling to our guns and our religion are about to taken to the bank once again by these morons in the house and senate and the idiot in the whitehouse to the tune of right around $1 trillion dollars. While the crooks who took us to the cleaners get to live their lavish lifestyles.

Let's look at the two candidates take on this crisis. John McCain (who I already stated that I would back, I think I need to reconsider) Sits down with Mitt ( $500 Million dollar Bain Capitol while selling your job to the commies) Romney and the former CEO of Merril Lynch, John ( I pulled $83 million dollars in salary last year while driving my company to insolvency) Thain.

"Flanking McCain were former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, his one-time rival for the GOP presidential nomination, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Others in the meeting were John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, and John Thain, the CEO of Merrill Lynch before it was acquired by Bank of America earlier this month for a much-reduced value.

A survey by The Associated Press found that Thain was the best-paid corporate executive in the U.S. in 2007, receiving approximately $83.1 million in salary and bonuses that year"

Great! So John is sitting down with some of the same people that caused this mess to help him solve it? They were too stupid to even see their own companies dying on the vine while they were buying up Multi million dollar mansions and now they are the smartest economists around? Wow! I'd be willing to bet that John Thain is there looking to protect the 100's of millions he bilked the investors out of. Good choice John.

Now let's hear from Obama. "George Bush caused this and McCain is George Bush. Hope... Change... The sound of crickets... massive applause from the liberal media and lemmings following the messiah." yep that'll do it. DO WHAT!?! Get him elected that's what! Then what, the same failed liberal policies that helped get us into this mess in the first place. Socialist programs that put people into houses that they haven't earned. You know what Obama, you didn't earn the whitehouse either.

Now for a voice of reason, Mike Huckabee http://www.huckpac.com/?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=1899 I don't want to paste the whole blog here but it's brilliant, elegantly worded and straight to the point. I'm now wasting my vote and writing in Huckabee for president and Newt Gingrich for VP. I officially withdraw my support for McCain.

I am sick to death of the elites jamming stuff down our throats and us just having to take it. They tell us "you're not qualified to be president because you didn't go to Harvard as they look down their noses at us and tell us to go back to clinging to our guns and religion. Just shut up and take it as they pull a Trillion dollars out of our pockets.

Now everyone's a Populist. Even Rush Limbaugh I heard him today saying Drill now, Drill in America and create American Jobs. Go away, you big blow hard! I have no respect for you anymore. First you sell out to Mitt (I own Clear Channel) Romney and say you will never support McCain. Now you support McCain after laughing at Huckabee's populist attitude and now your a populist? Just go away Rush.

I have an idea, let's get a regular guy in there that understands what out sourcing and off shoring have done to the middle class. Let's get someone in there that understands that it's not wise to buy $700,000,000 worth of oil every year from our mortal enemies. Let's put someone in there that understands that the normal man can't work well into his 80's because he can't fund his own retirement on $12/hr jobs because his $28/hr factory or $50/hr technology job was taken by a $.50 cent and hour Chinese person or an $8/hr Indian H1B person and there is no such thing as a pension anymore and he's tapped out the equity he once had in his house to make ends meet while working at WalMart.

These morons do not know what is good for us they are not in the words of the Great Abraham Lincoln a government OF the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE, FOR the PEOPLE.

People, We are the People let's take back our Government! Write in an independant ( Im writing in Huckabee) and vote every incumbent out of office Dem and Repub alike. These people have let us down and given away our country to the highest bidders.

Take it back! Vote them all out! Vote independent where ever possible. Throw them all out!

Lift the ban on drilling

CP — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:47:00 GMT

George Bush symbolically lifts the presidential ban on drilling offshore and the price of oil drops nearly 20%. Lifting this ban does not mean we can actually drill, congress needs to lift their ban on drilling as well. But it was enough to send a message to the speculators and to OPEC that we are serious about energy independence. Gas prices in my area are down to $3.74/gal from their high just a few weeks ago of $4.29/gal. Just from a mostly symbolic gesture.

just think what would happen if congress lifts the ban and we can actually start exploring and drilling.

Pelosi and Co. better get with the program.

In my opinion we should do it all. Drill, work on alternative technologies, just get us to energy independence as soon as possible.

$1.7 Billion tax dollars go towards layoff of 1,700 hardworking Americans

CP — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:50:00 GMT

US Sugar and the State of Florida announce a monumental $1.7 Billion dollar taxpayer funded buyout of US Sugar by the State of Florida.

Quote "

U.S. Sugar chief executive Robert Buker called the deal "monumental" but said he was saddened to see the demise of his company. Its 1,700 employees, including those who work in the mill and operate the cane-cutting machinery, will lose their jobs, though the state is offering them retraining.

"We built a company that right now is the pillar of the agriculture community in Florida," Buker said. "Because of that, I stand here today with mixed feelings. ... On the other hand, I'm excited about what we're doing here today."

The entire American sugar industry has struggled with stiff competition from imported sugar.

At least 33 mills have closed nationwide in the past decade as producers try to remain competitive in a market flush with sugar from the likes of Brazil and Thailand, which have lower labor costs than U.S. producers, said Phillip Hayes of the American Sugar Alliance."

First of all Robert Buker probably stands to make a mint off of this deal so to heck with US employees, the state of Florida will retrain them with Tax dollars. For what will they train them? Most likely just enough to be WalMart greeters. That's just great.

Second of all, what business does the State of Florida have using taxpayer dollars to fund this deal? The Greens are all over this saying how great it is that they brought down a pillar of the Florida agriculture industry and sent the good paying jobs overseas.

Republican Governor Crist (who has been mentioned as a possible VP candidate) declared the agreement "as monumental as the creation of our nation's first national park, Yellowstone." Now tell me that there's a difference between the Dems and the Republicans.

Third, Here we go again. Just wait, when inflation spirals out of control in the countries we import sugar from and the dollar continues to decline, imported sugar will cost 1,000 times what it costs now but we will need to keep importing it because we can grow our own because of this stupid deal.

Who makes out on this deal? The C Levels of US Sugar make out like bandits and laugh all the way to the bank that they scammed the state of Florida out of $1.7 billion dollars for a business in an increasingly competitive market. Gov Crist comes off looking like an environmental hero and I'll bet that US Sugar gave generously to his campaign, (or the executives did anyway as mentioned before on this blog, companies contributions are capped but there are ways around that).

So for the benefit of a few, 1,700 Americans lose their jobs and the tax payers are bilked for $1.7 Billion dollars. This the modern America, get yours if you can and to heck the rest of them. Or ask not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for you.

America The Reactive

CP — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:41:00 GMT

According to a NewsMax.com story, 3 in 4 American's favor drilling offshore American Oil reserves;

"Three in four likely voters – 74% – support off-shore drilling for oil in U.S. coastal waters and more than half (59%) also favor drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows.

A majority of likely voters across the political spectrum support off-shore oil drilling, with vast majorities of Republicans (90%) and independents (75%) in favor of drilling for oil off U.S. coastal waters more than half of Democrats (58%) also said they favor off-shore drilling. Republicans (80%) and political independents (57%) are much more likely to favor drilling for oil in ANWR than Democrats (40%). The telephone survey of 1,113 likely voters nationwide was conducted June 12-14, 2008, and carries a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percentage points."

While this is great news and we might finally get some movement on this from the House with Bush repeatedly beating on this point as he has for 8 years and public sentiment finally catching up. My question is, What took so long? Are American's just lemmings now? Or are we just powerless to change anything because our two party system has left us with no true choice?

Case in point; the housing crisis. Think about it, stagnant wages for 20 years, housing prices going through the roof (pardon the pun). So the solution is all kinds of risky financing schemes like no money down, interest only loans and no money down ARMS. This creates a housing boom with McMansions being built everywhere and people buy houses they cannot afford. No one saw it coming? How poor is our education system that pushes out people that can't figure out that if interest rates are at historic lows, they will go up and you won't be able to afford the house that you are in.

Right now, we get more than 80% of our oil from other countries. Who are most of these countries? Arab, Islamic controlled countries and communist or dictatorship controlled countries. What are these countries views of America? The Great Satan, Enemy of Communism... That's right people that hate us. Yet we don't see this coming?

Here's something that might be coming and we are heading for catastrophe.

We can't do anything for ourselves. What happens when a global conflict breaks out and cuts off the flow cheap goods from China?

Think about our, imports. Right now we don't have the capacity to clothe ourselves. We import 95% of our clothes from China and other countries. We don't have the capacity to build our own TV sets or Radios. We don't have the capacity to build our own Nuclear power plants. We don't have the capacity to fully feed ourselves. We definitely can't power our own cars. We're looking at sending military building overseas (Airbus) so we won't be able to build our own war machines... the list goes on and on. This trade deficit is not just sucking our economy dry by sending all the jobs and money overseas. It's sending all the American know how there as well.

Our factories are 30 years out of date. We haven't built a nuke power plant in 30 years. We haven't built a refinery in 20 years. Where does the knowledge go when no one here does it anymore? That's right, we are so vulnerable right now it's scary. We're even outsourcing our road building to other countries. Soon we won't even be able to build a bridge.

If and when a global conflict breaks out, will we be able to ramp everything up fast enough? I don't think so. We need to for once stop reacting when things happen and plan ahead. We need new investment in America from American sources. We need to rebuild our infrastructure and assure ourselves that we can take care of ourselves and we need to do it now.

The Oil crisis is a wake up call America. We need to reevaluate everything and stop sending all our knowledge, skills and know how overseas and start using it here for the good of all Americans, not just the elites.

John McCain sees the light on Oil, Partially

CP — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:23:00 GMT

John McCain announced today his support for Oil exploration more than 50 miles offshore. We finally see some form of intelligence from the old man.

In the past John McCain has voted against and said he would vote against Oil Drilling offshore and in ANWR. He is still against ANWR drilling but is now pushing for drilling more than 50 miles offshore. This is a step in the right direction. I have reported before that China and Cuba are already drilling just 65 miles off the coast of Florida. We need that oil for ourselves and need to start developing it. Now if we can just get him to open up ANWR.

Barrack Obama's response, "This is just a continuation of the failed policies of the Bush Administration. We can't drill our way out of this problem." WHAT!?! Bush has been asking congress to open offshore and ANWR drilling for 8 years and they have shot him down every time. This policy has never had a chance to work. NOT drilling would be a continuation of the failed policies of the democratic controlled congress. Let's vote these clowns out of office.

Barrack even recently said,"I would prefer a slow move up in the price of gas and oil, not this sharp spike." WHAT!?! so you mean to say high prices for gas and oil are good for America? This is the mindset of the uber liberal. In Al Gore's book, he pushed for higher prices to get Americans out of SUVs and save the earth. Well he got it and all the liberals can only point to Bush who had nothing to do with these high prices, he even tried to head it off 8 years ago.

We can only hope that McCain has more revelations like this one.

High deducatable HSA accounts, not ready for prime time

CP — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:19:00 GMT

High deductible health insurance is supposed to be all the rage and the answer to the health insurance situation in America. Here's how it is supposed to work; the deductible is set really high usually $5,000 per family. In exchange you get a very low monthly premium. You set up a HSA account. HSA is Health Savings Account. Some accounts allow you to invest in stocks and mutual funds, deposits can be pre tax or tax deductible. Your employer may or may not put a set amount per month into your HSA. There is a $5000 per year cap on contribution to your HSA account. You can make a one time roll over from a qualifying account (traditional IRA...). The money in the HSA account is always yours and you can build it up over time and use it for retirement health coverage.

To use the insurance you get an insurance card (just like any other insurance card) and a Debit card from your HSA account holder.

Supposedly you go to the doctor and give them both cards, your provider submits the amount for the visit to go against your deductible and takes the deductible out of your HSA account via the debit card. You can even buy over the counter drugs and "wellness" products with your debit card. What could be better?

Too good to be true? you ask?

Yep!

Here's what really happens; So I took the HSA plan at my employer this year and rolled over $4000 from my IRA so it would be fully funded (my employer puts in $1000/year). My share of the monthly Premium is $90 for the family coverage. Far less than the $390 share for the PPO plan.

My first experience using the insurance was at the Chiropractor. When I walked in and handed them both cards, the person behind the desk looked puzzled. I figured maybe she didn't quite understand and I started explaining. She cut me off mid sentence and told me she knows what it is but why would change from the coverage I had before for this crap? I was now puzzled. She told me this was going to be a paper work nightmare for me.

Uh oh, you mean I don't just give you both cards and you do your thing? Nope. She started to explain that if they submit it to my insurance, the charge will be $120. It would take the insurance company 30-60 days to get back to them about how much they can really charge and then I would get a bill within 90 days that I would have to pay immediately or if went past 90 days it would already be in collections for the original $120 regardless of what the insurance said was ok to charge and would be considered delinquent. Oh my!

The other option, use the HSA card alone and pay $45 and submit to the insurance carrier myself. Ok charge me the $45 I'll just send the papers you give me in myself. So I pay the $45 and then send the receipt into the insurance carrier and then...nothing. No "we got you claim" "we are processing"...

So I call the insurance. The response? "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" It turns out, it must be submitted electronically and they need to take their cut from the bill first. But I saved you $75 I say. "IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!" Ah crap.

So the next month I go back to the Chiro and hand them both cards. The same person behind the desk is confused. So I explain and she says "OK, but I'm telling you..."

The following month I go back to the Chiro, different person behind the desk. "You have an unpaid balance of $120" so I explain the whole thing again. The response, "we usually don't treat people with unpaid balances but you've been a client for a long time. If you pay for this visit up front, we'll see you." I ask $45 or $120? "Depends on if you want us to submit it or not. " Well I just explained that I can't submit it myself without the proper process" $120! This sucks!

The next month I still hadn't seen a response from the insurance carrier so I skipped the appointment. Mind you this is past 60 days since the first visit. A week later I see the response from the insurance carrier. $120 applied to your deductible, Please pay provider $120. HUH!?! I thought they were supposed to discount it. Now I'm out $240 out of my HSA account when I should have been out $90.

I go back to the Chiro two months late and get the original person behind the counter. She smiles and says "you know that you are nearly 90 days past due and we are just about to send this to collections?" Yes, I hang my head in shame and hand her the card, not cards. Going forward I will not submit the Chiro stuff to the insurance and will just pay cash out of the HSA account. Of course now it won't apply to my deductible. So if I ever hit my deductible. I will be out all the money I paid to the Chiro again.

AHHHHHHHH!

It gets worse. My child had strep like symptoms. So I take him to his usual doctor who is part of the biggest provider in this area and hand them both cards (surely they have their act together and my Chiro is just too small to "get it"). The person behind the desk hands me back the debit card and says, "we can't charge you now, we don't know what it will be". OH CRAP! Not again! OK, I say, what is your cash charge? "$167, but that's just for the visit, any tests are extra" WHAT!?! With my old carrier it was $80 per visit. "that was a PPO that had a deal with us" But if I pay cash, I"m saving you money by you not having to submit this and bill, and collect. Can't I just pay the $80? "Nope". OK then deal with my insurance.

68 days later. I get a bill from the health care provider. Please pay $20 now this is 60 days past due. $20? what happened to $167? Oh that's still pending insurance response. So I write the debit card number on the back of the bill and send it in. 30 days later I get a call on my cell phone from a number I don't recognize. Yep, you guessed it. It's a collection agency. Asking for $187. It can't be, can it. I ask, What was the date of service. The collectors response, " we don't have that information, you owe $187." I explain that I think this is for my son and explain that I sent in $20 a few weeks ago and that I still hadn't seen a bill that says the $167 had cleared the insurance that I need to pay it. "well then this is something different, you owe $187 pay it or we will report it to the credit reporting agencies." But I don't think I owe it, I say, can you prove that I didn't pay the $20 or that this is a different charge. What was the date of service? "are you going to pay this or not?" How do I know that this isn't a scam? I can't just give you my debit card number because you call and tell me I owe you $187. If you had said $167 I would pay it. "Sir, do you know what happens when this is reported to the credit agencies?" I sure do, having a developmentally disable child I nearly went bankrupt paying for his treatment and had bad credit for years and had to dig my way out of it and now have great credit. Can we please work this out? "no, you owe $187, unless you pay it, we will file." So I gave him the debit card number.

2 weeks later I get a bill from the health care provider. Paid $20, please pay $167 this is 120 days past due!

WHAT!?! I call them and tell them I paid their collections agency $187. The confused person on the phone asks why I would pay more than I owe? I explain the whole conversation and tell her that I'm still steamed about this and will take my business elsewhere. She apologizes and explains that the outsourced collections agencies can take up any account over 90 days past due that is published on list but sometimes the information about who paid who what is not timely.

Great. Just great. Another good idea ruined by a bureaucracy.

And we think it will be better when the Government is running health care.

Right.

These big companies are getting to be just like the government. Too big that they just get in the way of themselves.

Back from Vacation

CP — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:18:00 GMT

Well I'm finally back from vacation and ready to get back to work. I am sorry about the 2 week delay in posting.

4000 dead in Iraq put into perspective

CP — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:08:00 GMT

The main street media likes to put out the number of killed American troops in Iraq to try to sway the general public to their side. To explain where I'm coming from on this topic and to try to avert the rage of readers before it starts; In my mind even one violent premature death at anyones hands is one too many.

That being said, sometimes war is a necessary evil. Without war we would still be ruled by a king, Hitler and the Nazi Party would rule the world, we might be under communist rule and we would still have slavery.

4,000 is a lot of deaths and my heart goes out to all their families for their sacrifice. All of them and the other 1.5 million military members who have served in Iraq are hero's in my book. Is the price too high? Let's compare this to other American wars:

WWII had over 405,000 American deaths
Civil war 620,000
Revolution 34,000
Vietnam 47,000

So in terms of other conflicts this one is relatively mild. The comparable statistic that really brings it home for me is the number of violent deaths on American streets in the same time period. The number of murders in the United States is approximately 15,000 per year. In the 5 years of the Iraq conflict 75,000 people have been killed on the streets of America for no good reason what so ever.

That's right for every American death in Iraq there are 18.75 deaths on the streets of America.

And what are American's dieing for in the streets for? Drugs, Money, and other foolish things. What are the sacrifices of American soldiers doing for us? Keeping Islamo Fascism at bay. Trying to stabilize a region and establish a democracy for the people of Iraq. And they have succeed in removing an evil dictator from power. There also hasn't been an attack on American soil since 9/11/2001.

So before you take the main stream media at face value and join the surrender and run crowd. Take a minute to think about it and salute and honor those that served and see their mission through.

Senate committee once again says no actual oil price relief

CP — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:43:00 GMT

May 15, 2008, discussion on Colorado and Utah oil shale development. The Senate appropriations committee voted 15-14 strictly along party lines to not permit development of Colorado and Utah oil shale for production of trillions of barrels of Oil.

Guess which party voted against this. That's right the same party that cries of collusion among oil companies and the Bush administration. The same party that says "we will tax the big oil companies and take away their $18 Billion in subsidies and we will sue OPEC and Hugo Chavez." Because if we make it more expensive to do business, they won't pass it on to the consumers. Right? In case you haven't figured it out, it's the Dems.

Please someone ask the question, why do we need to beg OPEC to increase production? The answer is simple, because if the supply of oil increases above demand, the price drops. Shocking.

Here's another question. Why don't we do something about the trade deficit and develop our own sources of oil so we can export more than we import? Gasp! We can't do that! Why not? Because the same people saying we need more oil and lower gas prices are the same ones that won't let us drill our own. Does this make sense? It sure doesn't to me.

If we need more oil on the market, don't take the oil companies profits away let them invest it in America. Open 2,000 acres of ANWR's 18.9 Million acres to drilling and flood the market with oil. Drill offshore and extract the trillions of barrels of oil from the oil shale and flood the market with oil. Put OPEC out of business. We have no business suing OPEC, our courts have no jurisdiction over foreign governments and there is no world court. This is basic economics and world government, this isn't rocket science.

Plus the economic benefit is huge. Oil companies investing in American oil developments and hiring American workers to extract the oil decreases unemployment and increases American spending ability which brings in more tax dollars and more prosperity for all.

When will people open their eyes and understand this?

George Bush, the only politician that WANTS to do anything about gas and oil prices

CP — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:50:00 GMT

It's a sad day in the greatest super power on earth. Our President had to go begging the Saudis for more oil. It wasn't long ago that we supplied the world and they turned to us for guidance. Now the come to us asking for money and we borrow it from China and give it to them putting our nation deeper in debt than ever.

Our elites have squandered our wealth and our block the excavation of our resources to the point where we can't take care of our own needs. So the President of the greatest nation on earth has to go begging for help. Early in Bush's administration he lobbied for the opening of ANWR and deep sea off 100 miles of the coast and was shot down by the Dems. Earlier this week he again made the plea asking the dems to help him lower oil prices and foreign relations by letting us get back into the global oil market and use our own resources rather than sending our money overseas to people that hate us. Remember the Saudis are still mad at us because 16 of the 18 terrorists that bought down the twin towers came from their country (huh?).

There is really something wrong with this country when political correctness comes before the well being and security of this country. We can't drill in ANWR, it's a nature preserve they say. Did anyone look at the facts and realize that ANWR is 19,000,000 acres and drilling would only need to take place on 2,000 of those acres? Does anyone know what ANWR is? Anybody been there that is against the drilling?

Look, alternative energy is great but let's be real, it's decades off before it is reliable and cost effective. We have 400 years of oil reserves here in the US within our boarders. Digging it up and refining it here would add American Jobs and reduce the cost of Oil and create energy independence and stimulate the economy without borrowing $600 billion from China so we can buy Chinese products and stimulate their economy instead of ours.

John McCain would have stood with the Democrats

CP — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:03:00 GMT

Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain said today that he was not present for the vote that once again blocked oil drilling in ANWR and 100 miles off the gulf coast (even though Chavez is already drilling in the latter), he was too busy campaigning for a new job.

He did say that if he was there he would have voted to oppose drilling in those areas. Thereby all this talk of energy independence and price relief at the pump amounts to a load of crap.

We cannot have meaningful talk of energy independence and price relief without drilling and digging up our own oil. As mentioned before in this blog, we have 400 years worth of oil within our own borders. Why do we fund terrorists and countries that hate us and want us dead by buying their oil?

Also why do we send all our energy money overseas? Why not build more refining capacity (the last refinery to come on line was over 30 years ago) and expand our oil drilling here? It would create jobs, decrease the trade deficit (by selling the oil on the world market), stimulate our stagnant economy, and reduce prices by increasing supply. Wow, how profound, can it really be that simple. YES! it is. It's simple economics without the load of crap that political correctness piles on top of everything.

Oh but the polar bears, you say? There now an endangered species. Even though their numbers are increasing and higher than they've ever been. Political correctness even has us listing animals that aren't endangered in any way as endangered based on flawed computer models. They can't tell me accurately what the weather will be in three days but you're telling me they can predict a 1 degree increase in global temperatures 40 years from now? Give me a break, anyone with half a brain can see that this is nothing but speculation.

Past 10 year weather patterns show no warming. So the Global Warming fanatics blame global warming for the latest cooling trends. Why not just blame everything on Bush and Global Warming? Oh yeah, that's what the media and brainless leftys do already.

At least Bush wanted to do something about the Oil and Gas crunch 8 YEARS AGO. But he's labeled as the village idiot. He saw this coming, you lefties did not and now you want to blame him.

Freaks.

Democrats to American's No we will not help lower gas prices!

CP — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:17:00 GMT

Democrats have sent a strong message to American's. That is no Drilling in ANWR or off the gulf coast (never mind that Hugo Chavez is already drilling there. Their answer, stop buying oil for the Federal Reserves. Yeah, that'll do it.

How can we stop being dependent on the middle east if we won't provide energy for ourselves? The environmentalists have been proven wrong on so many occasions that we need to stop listening to them. Want the truth? Listen to the people whose lively hood depends on nature.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/news/story?id=2368920

If it's so bad for the environment why do the sport fishers want the rigs to stay. The oil rigs haven't decimated fish populations or ruined the environment. They've helped.

If we had listened to Bush 8 years ago and opened Anwar and the Gulf to drilling, we wouldn't be paying $4/Gallon right now. We would have more supply than demand, the price would drop. Basic Economics.

The thing that ticks me off the most about this is that the same people that are blaming this gas crunch on Bush are the same people that are stopping him from doing anything meaningful about the problem.

We just had the coldest April in 119 years, we had the snowiest winter in 126 years and the second snowiest on record and the earth hasn't warmed on degree in 10 years. Do you want to know where the $4/gal gas is coming from? Read Al Gore's book, he wants us to pay more for gas so we will stop driving our cars. The dems have the same views as he does. They are privately delighting over the high cost of gas while they are publicly slamming Bush for their own policies.

Gas Tax Holiday? Don't count on it.

CP — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:06:00 GMT

I'm not sure how many of you caught the interview on the O'Reilly Factor with HRC last night, but there was an interesting exchange between them.

Bill asked Hillary about her proposal for the Gas Tax Holiday for the summer driving season. Her response was "we'll pay for it with a windfall profits tax on oil companies."

Bill did a good job pressing her on it bringing up the point that both parties have failed the American people in our countries energy policies and made that point that we have 400+ years of oil right here in our own country. If we could just drill in Anwar, the Gulf and dig up our Oil Sands.

Hillary just ignored those comments and moved right into how she will,"Take on OPEC" by filling lawsuits to "break up the cartel" and sue to "become the leader that we ought to be".

In response to her first point of windfall profits tax on oil companies, how does she think that this will help? if it costs more to do business the oil companies will raise prices to recoup their costs. This will increase the cost of gas for the consumers and amount to an additional tax on drivers, not a tax holiday.

In response to her OPEC comments. The US court system has no jurisdiction over the OPEC cartel. There is no world court and if she intends to create one, the US will have to be under it's jurisdiction in order to participate. This will undermine the sovereignty of the US and put us under world rule. I think I would rather pay high fuel costs. The world court could force us into the Kyoto treaty and force whatever rulings it wanted on us. We would no longer be our own country.

If we are to become the leader in energy that we ought to be according to Hillary. We need to start by digging up our own oil. We are the only country in the world that has the reserves to be energy independent and doesn't dig it up and sell it on the world market. Our economy is in the tank, just think of the jobs it would create if we started building oil wells and refineries.

We haven't built a refinery in over 30 years. The liberals and militant environmentalists along with the spineless Republicans who won't stand up for what is right for America are fully to blame for this failed energy policy. But all we get in response is "alternative fuels, Bushes war, and let's talk to OPEC". None of this will help this economy. What will help is infrastructure investments in fossil fuel supply in America to create American jobs and provide ourselves with the fuel we need to power our economy.

Sweatshops are alive and well in 2008

CP — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:32:00 GMT

Imagine working at a factory that is more fortress than factory, exposure to harmful chemicals, abuse of all kinds, torture and indentured servitude all for about $1/hr. Think this is a story from the Oliver Twist era or the beginning of the industrial revolution. Or maybe products made for a third world economy? Think again!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/23/shrimp.workers.report/index.html

In America we have all kinds of laws protecting workers and guaranteeing their safety and wages. So what do the execs at WalMart and other retailers do? Simple, produce your product where there are no rules. Next time you eat shrimp or buy that Chinese product, stop for a moment and think about the suffering that went into producing it. You'd think that we would have moved beyond this by now as a country but the Unfair Free Trade policies of the last 20 years have all but assured us that this practice will continue for the foreseeable future. Good paying American manufacturing jobs have been moved overseas to these types of sweatshops. Have prices gone down? Nope but Executive salaries have risen to incredible highs and companies are making record profits left and right.

Oh well, at least it's not here in the States right? Wrong again!

Picture this, a young Indian man answers an Indian company's add promising a high tech position. The young man signs up and is instantly moved to a different country away from his family. Forced to sign a three year agreement and the Indian company keeps 30-70% of his high tech pay as a sponsor fee, pays him months late (if at all) and if he complains, threatens to deport him and ship him out of the country. Not here? Wrong again! This is the life of an H1B tech worker in the United States. 8 out of 10 H1B workers, yes that is 80% work for Indian companies dual based in the US and India and we are about to increase the amount of H1B workers by 70%. No one really knows that these H1B's are actually getting paid, they are contracted out by the Indian contracting company and the client (Microsoft...) pay the Indian company, not the H1B worker. The worker has no recourse for immoral treatment since they don't want to be deported because conditions as bad as they are being treated here beat conditions in their countries where they'd be working at a call center with same conditions as the Shrimp factory workers above.

Emergency Tech Worker Relief? For who?

CP — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:03:00 GMT

Not the tech workers.

Cornyn, Lieberman, Gregg & Hagel Introduce Legislation To Help Maintain U.S. Competitiveness, Grow The Economy At Home

http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ForPress.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=39c4cd1a-802a-23ad-4d63-7b0adab48b23

Basically Bill Gates (as this writer reported over a month ago) came to Washington and told lies that there are not enough skilled American workers to fill his positions. He lied that the majority of these workers needed were high end, highly educated, persons that are needed to fill key positions in areas of expertise not available in the American workers.

Well Mister Gates, the truth of the numbers say otherwise. Here is a Transcript of a recent Lou Dobbs report on this topic:

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Cornyn thinks business needs some emergency relief. Senators Chuck Hagel, Judd Gregg, Joe Lieberman agree. Hence, Senate bill 2839 or "The Global Competitiveness Act of 2008." It doesn't quite do what Microsoft's Bill Gates wants to see done with the H-1B visa program, a foreign guest worker program for skilled workers.

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN: Even though it may not be realistic, I don't think there should be any limit.

TUCKER: But it would expand the cap by 77 percent, from 65,000 to 115,000 starting next year. The bill is being offered, Cornyn says, because American high-tech companies have thousands of unfilled positions. Yet studies done by the Urban Institute, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Duke's Frat School of Engineering all came to a similar conclusion. There is no shortage of skilled American workers.

VIVIK WADHWA, DUKE UNIVERSITY: So far, I've seen no research study which showed that there was a shortage of engineers in the USA. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence, maybe some local shortages, but there's no shortage that I know of. If there was shortages (INAUDIBLE).

TUCKER: Worker activist groups say the picture painted by big business doesn't match the reality they are seeing and hearing.

PRIYANKA JOSHI, WASHTECH: I get e-mails from all over the country with people who are very well educated, who have American education and they have no jobs at all.

TUCKER: There is currently no mention of emergency relief for American workers, even though the phrase "emergency relief" seems to be the new trend in visa talk in Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER: Emergency relief was the justification used by the Department of Homeland Security when it announced a rule change without public comment, increasing to 29 months the time that foreign graduating students could stay and work in the country after graduation.

But we can report that LOU DOBBS TONIGHT has learned that a coalition of worker activists are preparing a lawsuit to challenge the DHS rule change.

Lou, it seems that the workers are at last learning they're going to have to stand up and speak for themselves in the place of a Congress that clearly is content to speak for business, not them.

DOBBS: This is, to me, shocking. Senator Cornyn, in most other respects, has demonstrated himself to be an able senator, man of integrity, and a well-informed senator. There is no possible explanation that this sponsorship is anything more than a reflexive, acquiescence to the demands of corporate lobbyists, putting intense pressure on Lieberman and Cornyn and all the other senators involved. This is so disappointing when it comes to Senator Cornyn, it seems like. Terrible.

TUCKER: And you can't draw any other conclusion. Bill Gates goes down to the Senate and to the House, tells them what he wants, and Lou, he's getting everything he wants. He got the extension of practical training. That was what he requested. You got to believe he's going to get an increase in H-1B visas.

DOBBS: Well, let's just remind our viewers of something. What percentage of these visas are actually high skilled workers coming in to this country?

TUCKER: The vast majority of the visas, I don't remember the exact percentage, Lou, go to the low-end of the pay scale.

DOBBS: In order words the entry...

TUCKER: No, the H-1B's. They go to low-skilled entry.

DOBBS: Low skilled.

TUCKER: Low skilled. Yes.

DOBBS: Low skilled workers.

And let's remind our audience of one other thing, and perhaps Senator Cornyn as well, and his staff, and maybe our good buddy, Bill Gates, who's got -- sort of he has got enough power that people just start are slobbering over themselves when he goes to Capitol Hill.

What percentage of the workers that are brought in here under h1b visas at the top? What percentage of those top corporations bringing those folks in are Indian companies based in this country and they're bringing in low-skilled workers for the specific purpose of outsourcing American jobs in this country to an Indian company here in this country.

TUCKER: As unbelievable as this number is, Lou, 80 percent. 8 of the top 10 are Indian companies either based in India or based here.

DOBBS: Now Bill Gates, I want to offer you an opportunity. I know you could buy a couple of networks if you wanted to. But you're more than welcome to come here and explain how a man supposedly as smart as you are, who would have an interest in this country, who would have an interest, one would think, in truth, could come up with this -- the nonsense that you have and spew it on Capitol Hill in the form of testimony?

I would love for you to come here. We'll have a nice little discussion about it. You have a standing, open invitation to do so. And Senator Cornyn, you, too. We need to start getting real honest folks about what we're talking about. And that should start with some of the most responsible leaders in the country. Certainly Bill Gates should be among those.

All right, Bill. Thank you very. Bill tucker.

That's right, you read it, the majority of these workers are Low Skilled, entry level, at the bottom of the wage scale. Bill Gates just wants low paid workers so he can make more money.

I would like to tell Bill Gates how the free market system works. If a person has a skill or service that demands a higher cost due to what it takes to attain those skills or the scarceness of those skills, you pay them more. Supply and demand. Just like Oil, the demand is so high that the resource demands a higher cost. It is not a free market system if government steps in and floods the market with low skilled resources to artificially decrease the cost just because Bill (richest man in the world) cries "I can't afford it".

If this is the way we are going to run the economy then Mr. Liebermann and Mr. Cornyn please dig up all the oil in our country and flood the market with cheap oil because we really can't afford the gas right now.

On top of this, pushing this through without comment under the guise of "emergency relief for tech workers" is just plain deceiving stinks of politicking. It is obvious that you are so out of touch with reality that you need to be removed from office.

Also, please explain to me why if there is a shortage of tech workers, why do we need a bill to extend benefits of out sourced tech workers?

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9027798

Also 80,000 people lost their jobs last month alone

http://www.washtech.org/news/industry/display.php?ID_Content=5228

Also I looks like there are about 15,000 unemployed high tech workers in Microsofts backyard in neighboring state of Oregon. So MS can hire workers from out of the country but not across the state boarder?

http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid=00005767

And lastly, why are tech workers in Silicon Valley so worried if they are in such demand?

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2008/01/31/san-jose-calif-tech-workers-are-nervous.html

Obviously, there is no shortage, this is just another attack on the middle class. Why would a person get into this industry? Why spend $40,000 on education just to have your job out sourced to India for 10% of what you were making? Mr Gates, you are the problem here not the solution. Hire Americans for what they are worth on the FREE MARKET. Just like we buy your product for the FREE MARKET price, buy our services for your company for the FREE MARKET price. Maybe we should lobby congress to flood the market with cheap operating systems to lower the cost of your product. That is what you are doing to us.

We need to stop artificially lowering the costs for the few at the expense of the majority. This is no longer a free market system.

Are we safer now or were we safer with Clinton?

CP — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:06:00 GMT

I hear it repeated time and again by both Obama and Clinton (and their supporters) that the Bush policies have made us less safe. Let's take a look at that:

Under Clinton:

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured 1,000; President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

Under Bush:

After the 2001 attack on the World trade center; Bush promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished and they were and there have been no more attacks in the last 7 years of his presidency.

Maybe if Clinton had followed through on his promises, 5000 American's have lost their lives on 9/11.

While I am no big fan of Bush's trade policies, his tax cuts and his record of stopping the terrorists in their tracks should not be questioned. We have been safer for the last 7 years than we were at any time during the Clinton years.