Feedback Please

The year 2011 is nearly 3/4 over.  The third quarter ends September 30.  I would like some feedback from my people.

Are you better off than you were January 1?

Have you reconsidered your holiday budget?  Will your gift giving and other holiday expenses be less than last year?

Do you know someone who has lost their job this year?

Do you know someone who has lost their home this year?

This is not a scientific poll.  I have very few people who visit my blog; therefore, the sampling will be too small to mean anything.  This is purely to satisfy my curiosity.

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Balance Sheet

Companies keep balance sheets.  It's a list of all their assets and all their debts.  It also shows owner equity and net income.  It is a snapshot of a business's figures at a given time such as month end or year end.

Among the listed debts would be things like withheld payroll taxes due to be remitted to government; amounts owed on credit cards and lines of credit; mortgage balances at that exact time; and others like balance of gift cards outstanding and all amounts due to bond holders.  A bond holder is a lender to a company.

Many thousands of people hold corporate bonds in their retirement funds and IRAs and 401(k) plans.  The rates paid to these lenders is often higher than government bonds; therefore, the holder faces higher risks but not without some protection.

These bond holders hold claim to assets of the company in the case of a bankruptcy.  There is a pecking order.  There are levels of bonds that stand in line ahead of others at claiming assets in the case of a bankruptcy.

Understand?  So when a bankruptcy is filed, all creditors are identified.  Their claims are satisfied ahead of stockholders.  Stockholders own a piece of the company, all of the company.  Debts and assets.  Once all creditors are fully satisfied, then leftovers are divided among the stock owners.

Of course the White House in the case of Chrysler's bankruptcy, bypassed the rules and dissed the bond holders.  A case brought by the Indiana State Teacher's Retirement Fund went all the way to the Supreme Court in 2009 but the rules were broken and those bond holders lost everything including claim against assets.


Keep all this in mind as the case of  California based Solyndra Inc.  unfolds.  We will learn more and more in the future about how a "deal" was struck to move stockholders ahead of bond holders (in this case We The People).  We have no claim to the $535 million we lent them.  Once again, besides fraud, the law was broken when this deal was made.  


Stay tuned.


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Refocus

It was recently suggested that I change the name of my blog.  Bargain Barb doesn't capture what I've been posting over the past 3+ years.  That's very true.

I will try to refocus my purpose:  To share my tips and suggestions for handling and saving $.

Meanwhile, it's the politics of today and the bent of this administration that makes our $ issues paramount.

We all know someone who is unemployed.  Someone struggling to make their mortgage payments.  Someone whose retirement savings have diminished considerably over the past decade.  Someone who is also worried about inflation.  You can't print money and not realize your $ is worth less and less.

Obama has printed more $ than all the $ printed between Washington and Reagan.  Stop.  Think about that.  Our national debt sits well over $14 Trillion.  That's 14 million million.

This week President Obama has promised a revised tax code.  He can't seem to stomach people keeping much of what they earn.  Truthfully he is against capitalism and the wealthy.  When did wealth become equal to evil?

Well, so much for refocusing.

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Double Dip

A double dip in the ice cream parlor 3 blocks from our home was two scoops on a cone.  Ah, the memories of Grandpa walking us over for a double dip.

These days double dip has an ominous sound, dread.

Fox Business paints a picture so we will know what one will feel like.  House prices will continue to fall.  Unemployment will reach the levels of 1982 - 10%.  [Note:  Illinois officially has hit 9.9%]  Consumer spending and confidence will fall.  We just saw August with no "back to school" bounce.  Plus, the national debt will increase.

Oops.  Maybe we are in the middle of one.  I pray we are not.  We are a great nation that works and needs to get back to work.  We invent, we sweat, and we enjoy.

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Israel Loyalty?

New York voted to replace Anthony Weiner with a little known Catholic retiree.  Bob Turner is headed to Washington to represent a large Jewish district that has not elected a GOP Rep since 1923.  Nearly a century of one party representation.  What has changed?

People will say the Dem candidate had distanced himself from Obama and was not seen as a loyalist.

People will say it indicates the nation is awake and will take out Obama in 2012.

I suggest it has been Obama's anti-Israel rhetoric and policy.  I think the Jewish community is awakening.

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Jobs Bill(s) and Program(s)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904332804576538361788872004.html

It's a long article but very informative.  The history of the government training and "helping" the unemployment.

Shocker.  Obama wants his new jobs program to follow the example of the Georgia job plan.  Read the article.:

Mr. Obama also wants a new federal initiative to be based on Georgia Work$, which the president describes as a program in which "people who collect unemployment insurance participate in temporary work as a way to build their skills while they look for a permanent job." But Georgia Work$ has produced far more headlines than jobs—fewer than 200 this year, according to a recent article in Politico.


Begun in 2003, Georgia Work$ gives people a chance to "train" at an employer for eight weeks. They receive no salary but continue collecting unemployment compensation and as well as a $240 weekly stipend from the state of Georgia. Last year, the stipend was increased to $600 a week and anyone who said they needed a job was allowed to participate. 


Does no one fact check this president?  He has twice (2009 and 2011) stated that Abraham Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  


Who's driving the bus?


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Beck Radio

Heard the funniest "game" on Glenn Beck this morning.  They played parts from Obama's speeches.  One from a 2009 speech and one this year.  Both about the stimulus/jobs bill, etc.  They sounded so similar, words were the same in many of the pairs.  The game was to decide which one was from 2009 and which from 2011.

Bob and I were in the car for several hours this morning.  We "played" in the car and we were only right once.  Same phrase but Obama's tone was angrier so we knew it was from 2011.  We laughed but then we grew quiet.

I was overwhelmed by the seriousness of it all.  We spent over $850 Billion with the first stimulus and now he wants over $450 Billion.

Let's review the definition of insanity.  Same behavior expecting different result.  Seriously insane.

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Good Idea?

I just heard that the government is recommending the 14 million unemployed to take a part time job, especially if they can find one in their field of experience or education.

I have a friend who is in management at a manufacturing plant in the Carolinas.  They have offered jobs to people who have said they would not take the job until their unemployment ran out.  They would want to start in a couple of months.  Why work if one doesn't have to?

So, let's extend the unemployment benefits another year or so, recommend they work part time which will cause loss of those precious unemployment checks, and then we are upset that the rich corporations are not hiring. Maybe we need to revisit this whole thing.

If I was on unemployment and getting those regular checks until a known date (which may be extended), I would be a fool to take a part time job.  Really, Big Brother?

Someone up there on the Hill should come down into the trenches.  Talk to my friend.

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ESP

I have ESP.  No need to watch the address to Congress this evening.  No need to watch this president once again diminish the office with a campaign speech in front of the joint Congress and Justices.

I predict he'll demand at least $300 billion to hire union only workers to do all kinds of important tasks from shore to shore.  He has decided this exciting 2% reduction in "payroll taxes" should be extended and possible expanded to include employer side.  [Note:  I thought Social Security was in trouble and yet he reduces the amount being collected in this big ponzi scheme.]

He will toot that he's lowered the amount of restrictions on patents without mentioning all the new regulations and hurdles he has placed in the path of businesses.  He will continue to toot every socialistic step he has taken and how wonderfully they have affected the middle class.  He's the biggest support of the middle class.

Since I have foretold all this, no need to watch.  Let's watch the pre-game shows.  NFL kicks off right after the president speaks.

At least the GOP is smart enough not to respond......

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Exclusivity

Obama will ask for $300 billion tomorrow night for construction which will mean jobs.  Never mind that most of the construction/infrastructure money never built much of anything.  That's from the infamous stimulus money.  [Dems no longer will use the word stimulus.]

Where did that money go?  A question many are asking.  But never mind, Obama will get billions more.

Underlying truth:  Union only jobs.  Exclusively union work.

Fair?  Open?  Honest?  Transparent?

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Time Changes Things

What a difference time makes.  We saw 95 degrees on Friday with very high humidity.  Yesterday, Labor Day, I wore a sweater as we warmed to the mid-60s.  It was wonderful to open the windows and air out this place PLUS how wonderful not to hear the air kicking on and off all day.  The meter slowed down.

Labor Day.  Parades (even allowing Republicans to participate), grilling, family and friends.

This holiday has a long history going way back to the 1880s.  It was celebrate on May 1 or May Day for a while.  It has its roots in the AFL and the Socialism Party.  In Europe labor and socialism still celebrate on May Day.

Shocked that the AFL is tied to socialism?  I set out the challenge to you.  Dig back into time and find the truth.

Of course, now we celebrate the three-day holiday grilling, waving the flag and mourning the end of summer.

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What Matters?

The flag is flying.  My Army solider nephew is on R&R in Indiana with his family.  The waters are calm.  The sun is out.  A holiday is upon us.

What matters?  This country matters.  Family matters.  The economy matters.

Freedom matters.  Make that freedoms.  Our freedoms matter.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.

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Boehner's Comeback

"As you know, the House of Representatives and Senate are each required to adopt a Concurrent Resolution to allow for a Joint Session of Congress to receive the President. And as the Majority Leader announced more than a month ago, the House will not be in session until Wednesday, September 7, with votes at 6:30 that evening. With the significant amount of time - typically more than three hours - that is required to allow for a security sweep of the House Chamber before receiving a President, it is my recommendation that your address be held on the following evening, when we can ensure there will be no parliamentary or logistical impediments that might detract from your remarks. As such, on behalf of the bipartisan leadership and membership of both the House and Senate, I respectfully invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8, 2011 in the House Chamber, at a time that works best for your schedule."

The internet claims Boehner dissed Obama. Mean old Boehner. Some of his letter makes sense. I think the letter was ill advised. Let Obama go ahead and see how difficult and how against the LAW it would be or at least difficult. Let him look bad but not the GOP look bad.

Also, could not the GOP debate have been moved back an hour or two? It's in California where they would have had more day left. Then the debate could have include the wonderfully brand new suggestions Obama has promised. A quick response among our candidates. A thought. Not mine. Krauthammer's.

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