I Read the News Today, Oh Boy

As always, I started the paper off with the letters to the editor. What do my fellow citizens have on their minds that they have to share with others? Oh, hey, look a letter that seems to imply that graduate students teaching classes at the UO necessarily means a poor educational experience:

The UO can’t compete

In the Nov. 25 Register Guard, Anne Williams does a fine job of reporting the facts. One item she missed, however, relates to University of Oregon professor John Nicols’ “concerns” about the quality of education in the program. At the UO, these classes are typically taught by graduate students, not professors, and in halls with 200 to 300 students, not the 30 to 40 in a typical College Now class.

As such, these classes are a profit center for UO, which calls into question the UO’s “objectivity” in evaluating the quality of education. College Now fills a need for students who want high-quality instruction, smaller class sizes and lower cost. The UO can’t compete with those benefits.

Who wrote this letter? Hey, it's our good friend and fellow AFT unionist Bob Baldwin! Thanks a lot Bob.

Two things for Bob, real quick.

One, we prefer to be called "graduate employees" because, and why would you have cause to know this, we actually have to fight the federal government and various state governments just to have the right to have unions, so the word "employee" is quite important to us.

Two, go fuck yourself. It's great that you're proud of Lane Community College and its programs, but do you really need to take a swipe at your union brothers and sisters while doing your bragging? You don't see us writing letters about how much public employees cost and how lazy they are, now do you?

After the letters it's on to the front pages. The R-G just recently started running "corrections" on page two and I love them. Today's paper featured three corrections to a story the R-G ran yesterday about how economists are split over whether Measures 66 & 67 are really "job-killing taxes" which just happens to be what the business-backed people are calling their campaign.

Guess what the three things the story got wrong all had in common. Guess:

A story on the cover of Friday’s newspaper about economists’ views on two upcoming tax measures contained several errors:

The Eugene economics firm ECONorthwest has not taken a position on measures 66 and 67, but its managing director, Randall Pozdena, has. The story incorrectly stated that ECONorthwest contends the tax measures are job killers.

A letter supporting passage of measures 66 and 67 has been signed by 36 Oregon economists. The story incorrectly stated that 16 economists signed the letter.

By 2013, the corporate income tax rate under Measure 67 would be restored to the current level for businesses whose taxable income falls below $10 million a year. The story incorrectly stated that the tax rate would be restored to the current level for businesses whose in-state sales fall below $10 million a year.

If you guessed all three errors hurt the "Yes for Oregon!" side, you win.

Lastly, the Business section. A story about how tariffs on Chinese tires are going to hurt the little guy where it hurts the most. No, not there, in the pocketbook. The article is a beaut, from "President Obama recently slapped a 35 percent tariff on tires after a U.S. union claimed that an influx of Chinese imports has cost more than 5,000 U.S. tire workers their jobs since 2004." to "Matt Edmonds, vice president of the online retailer Tire Rack, says the tariff punishes buyers who want cheaper tires. 'It’s going to impact those who really can afford it the least.'"

My favorite part of the article is where even good American tire companies are going to be forced to raise the price of their tires, partly because these "American" tire companies get some of their tires from China, but, as the tire companies are saying themselves, raw material costs are going up. In fact, even though Goodyear has said its cost increases are from raw materials, article author Dee-Ann Durbin goes ahead and doubts that and asserts that the increase could be to off-set the tariffs.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will raise the price on all consumer replacement tires sold in North America by 6 percent starting Tuesday. The manufacturer, based in Akron, Ohio, cited raw material costs. Goodyear imports about 2 percent of its tires from China, so the increase also could offset tariffs.

And, no, not one person or organization who supports this crazy, (Chinese) job-killing tariff is quoted or cited in the story. Why would they be? They're crazy.

Um, That's My Stool

These are tough economic times for everyone, there's no doubt there. And this new president isn't helping things with his run-away deficit spending, I'll tell you what. This is not the change we voted for! But seriously folks, a lot of people are hurting, and the people I feel most sorry for are small business owners, especially the brave men and women trying to run an unprofitable bar, mini market, or "deli."

Why these people in particular, you ask? Because they have to deal with the tyrannical Oregon state lottery bureaucracy. Can you imagine working with those bastards every day or week or month or whatever? Talk about your tough Jobs! (Pause for biblical-based laughter). That's why when I read that the state was even thinking of reducing the amount of money it cuts to retailers for hosting video lottery games, I knew I had to blog about it. Unless Defazio plans to hold a town hall on the subject, which I doubt he has the courage to do, then this is my best vehicle for expressing outrage. (Just for the record: TORT REFORM!!!)

The last thing we need is more government interference in how we run businesses in this state, and the state threatening to take away or slightly reduce their payments to these businesses is fascism at its worst. A lot of these smaller bars and restaurants will not be able to stay open if the state reduces its payments. Just to make myself clear here, a lot of these business do not have a customer base outside of their Oregon video lottery sales sufficient enough to stay open. And now the state of Oregon wants to stomp on their dreams with their heavy boot of thuggery by keeping more of that money in the state coffers. These bureauthugs must not realize that these businesses are so unprofitable that even a slight reduction in payment - although certainly still an economic benefit to the businesses - might mean the difference between staying open and closing. And then where will the employees of these businesses be? On the state dole, that's where, being supported by citizens like you and me! Which is, of course, the Democrat's whet dream. When we are all living on the dole, then we'll all be voting Democrat to keep those payments flowing.

Let me ask those smart state bureaunazis this, when you've driven every unprofitable bar, mini market, and deli-style video gaming parlour out of business, what will we have then? One word - Communism.

At Least the Dishes Will Get Washed, No?

I got this email from a concerned member of our society, I thought I'd pass it along:

D----- just sent out this list of all of the people we are hiring for the economic stimulus deferred maintenance projects. 62 men and 1 woman. I know there may be a factor that women might just prefer not to go into trades work and probably the vast majority of people who submitted applications were men. I just wonder what kind of effect it will have on society. Most of this economic stimulus money is for construction-related projects and 99% of the people being hired will be men. Are 99% of the people that have been laid off in the last year men? If not, we'll have a much larger percentage of unemployed women than men. Will that have some unintended/unforseen consequences or does it not really matter? Is just reducing unemployment quickly the most important thing? Have people been talking about this in all of the media that I rarely bother paying attention too?

It's So Simple, Maybe You Need a Refresher Course

Like many states, Oregon is struggling with a bit of a budget crisis. I try not to follow the news, so I am only vaguely aware that people are suffering and that there is something like a $400 million billion whole in the state budget. Fortunately, unlike a lot of other states, Oregon has been firmly in the hands of the Democrat party for about four years now, so we don't have to waste a lot of time arguing about who's fault it is that our economy has collapsed.

Even more fortunately, we have dynamic leaders like Jeff Kruse (R-1) who has some fresh new ideas for how to bail Oregon out of our woes. His newsletter, which I will link to as soon as it is up, lists some proposals I would share with you all. Any ray of sunshine in dark times is welcome on my blog.

1. Reduce income taxes. With money in the hands of real Oregonians, business with flourish. And the best part is, with new business activity driving the state economy, state tax revenues will actually go up!

2. Tax credits for capital improvements for businesses. Now is the time (finally!) for the state to pay businesses to improve their businesses facilities. Better facilities leads to more sales. More sales leads to more jobs. More jobs equals more tax revenue for the state!

3. Matching funds for private airport improvement. One of the major limits on economic development is the inability to fly into meetings. Flying into meetings leads to happy business leaders, happy business leaders hire more people, more people working means more revenue in the state coffers.

4. Not taxing unemployment benefits. Agreed.

5. Cut down the trees. Cut down all the trees.

6. Did I mention the trees? We have so many trees we could make so much money if we would cut down the trees. It seems so simple.

7., 8., 9. Reduce taxes on businesses.

10. Eliminate regulations on business so they can get down to the serious business of hiring people, which will, in turn, raise state revenue.

Ten new and dynamic ideas for making Oregon a better place to live and work from the desk of Oregon State Senator Jeff Kruse. Let's hope that Jeff has not precluded a run for the Governor's seat next year. I'm on board.

Thanks Congress!

I read in the paper today that the Senate voted to give new car buyers a tax break. From the article I see that the discount would amount to approximately $1553 on a $25,000 car.

According to my calculations, a 60-month loan on a $25,000 car, with no trade-in or anything, would come to $476 a month. With my tax-break savings, my car payment effectively becomes $453 a month. Boom! That's $23 I can spend on a date night with the wife at my local neighborhood Applebees, two for $20 here we come! Plus a tip to help the local waitress make her car payment.

I, of course, support this measure whole-heartedly. Plain and simple, this nation needs more cars. Mini vans preferably. Jeebus, when I think of how our ancestors had to carry their kids around in nothing more than a Lincoln Continental, I struggle to comprehend how they did it. You might not believe this, but my parents actually raised (half-successfully) two kids while driving nothing more than a Ford Granada. Unfortunately, none of us still live at home, so there's no way for Child Protective Services to get involved, but you can imagine how many nights I sat silently weeping by the phone trying to get up the courage to pick up the receiver and dial that number.

I'm also very on board with Obama's desire to strip out the protectionist "USA steel" tax break for manufactures. The last thing this country needs is a trade war. That could only lead to more manufacturing in this country and that would lead us dangerously close to become a producer, rather than consumer, nation again.

Nope, small tax breaks for large purchases is just what the USA needs right now, because if the '00s taught us anything, it is that you can't go wrong basing your economy on high consumer debt.

The Congress has finally done something right. Stood up for the little guy. Now when the wife tells me there is no reason we should be buying a pickup just because it can stop a million pound load in under 20 feet, I can tell her that the United States government wants us to buy that car. They need us to buy that car. And in places she doesn't talk about at cocktail parties, she wants me to buy that car.

I think we can all agree that just because there's a major global recession on doesn't mean we shouldn't have nice things.

Cheney - "No one saw the recession coming"

In an interview with the Associated Press in his waning days in office, US Vice President Dick Cheney is quoted as saying "I don't think anybody saw it coming". His statement was in reference to the current global economic crisis.

Further to this statement, he defended President George W. Bush's economic record, stating that he saw no reason for the President to apologize for not foreseeing the economic turmoil.

In all fairness, who could have seen the recession coming?

I mean, who could have foreseen that decades of unlimited tax cuts for the rich, coupled with a decline in real wages for everyone else, could have negative consequences?

Who could have foreseen that the intentional destruction of the American manufacturing base through "free trade" agreements could be anything but beneficial?

Who could have foreseen that the deregulation of the financial sector could lead to corruption and fraud?

Who could have foreseen that an economy based on consumption and debt could do anything but keep growing?

Who could have foreseen that a service-based economy would be unproductive in the long run?

Who could have foreseen that the removal of protections for workers, the Wal-Martization of jobs, and the destruction of the social safety net would reduce confidence in the economy?

Cheney is right. Absolutely no one serious could have foreseen any of this.