Hi all. I know I've been quiet since the New Year. I've actually been I guess what you call "laid off" since the beginning of the year. To protect the guilty, I won't reveal my company name or specific profession, but I am in the real estate business. And we don't earn salary. We are paid on a commission basis. So when the company runs out of work, so do its employees. The good news is I have two projects I'm starting up on Monday so play time is over. But this last week or two have been relaxing. Kids back in school while I have been catching up on sleep. Lots and lots of it, too! Hell, my oldest woke me up on the couch when he walked in from school yesterday. I'm a loser. Ha! But I've also squeezed in a small house project and finished some much needed maintenance on one of my cars. I'm also giving a presentation to one of the real estate associations here in Seattle later this month, and the topic is Puget Sound housing trends from 2000 to present. So I've been doing some ninja number crunching and PowerPoint action in preparation. Yawwwwwwwwn. That shit is probably what has put me to sleep during the day. But it's time to kick 2009 into high gear.
So I hear that the current national unemployment rate is 7.2%. And President Bush wants to pursue the remaining $700 billion in bail-out money before the next Administration or he'll use his veto power. Ooooohhhhhh. I'm really scared. Good riddance dude. You'll be remembered in the same sentence with Herbert Hoover.
What to say about this bail-out money? Well, for starters, we're chasing bad money with borrowed money, which will only lead to more bad money. Now this probably wouldn't be the case if our national debt was some reasonable obstacle to overcome. But you know what? Check this shit out. I put our national debt clock on the side of our blog towards the bottom, and it's pathetic. $10.6 trillion. I can't even fathom that much money, and now is the time to ask what the fucking point is. After all the bail-outs thus far, we've been told that banks aren't spending it; the Treasury won't tell us who loaned what to whom; bailed-out homeowners still aren't paying their mortgages; automotive sales continue to decline, and the unemployment rate continues to increase. So about the only real change we've seen from these bail-outs is a decline in the US dollar value and an increase in the unemployment rate. And now the government wants to spend even more: $700 billion in remaining legislatively approved bail-out money plus another $1 trillion from the planned Obama stimulus package. Sorry, but the only thing you sorry fucks in DC are stimulating is public unrest and more really crappy economics. How are we supposed to even start paying this shit back? HOW??!!! And it's not even working, but wait!!! If only we spend even more!!! You fucking kidding me? What was that definition of insanity proposed by Einstein? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Something like that?
The bottom line is jobs. If that national unemployment level approaches 10% and continues to climb, we are in deep deep shit. Ain't no amount of imaginary money spent in DC will fix that. You historians can point to FDR but I'll just laugh at you. World War II and the subsequent, massive global demand for US-manufactured durable goods lifted us from the Great Depression, not rampant government spending. Won't happen again, though. You know why? Because China makes all our shit now!! Do we even mass produce a single fucking bolt in this country today? I know we produce lots of nuts, though! Fucking A!!!!
So take care of your own my friends. Get your house in good order because the government abandoned us a long time ago. It is on a self-destructive path and I say, "Burn mother fuckers!" I gotta admit that I can't wait to watch the Democrat Party eat itself these next couple of years. They'll eventually fall and burn just like the loser Republicans. They all suck. In hindsight, maybe Ron Paul was really onto something.
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14 comments:
You ain't a loser brother, just self-sustaining.
As for the rest of your post A+.
I raise my beer to you! That was a good one! How's your weather, Paul? Bet you could moonlight as a claims adjuster right about now!
We can see the moon down here tonight, PeggyU. That's a real change I tell you what! It's been snow, rain, more rain, and lots more rain so I welcome tonight!
And if you look outside, you'll see a bright bright light shining in the sky to the south. That's my ass mooning Washington, DC! BWAHAHAHAHA! OK, time for another beer.
That sucks about work - my neighbor is the western region CFO for a major home builder and in Las Vegas alone they went from 300 houses built a month to 3 in December. Glad to hear you have something starting next week after your *much deserved* R&R.
Kerrcarto posted some Merle Haggard last week, which reminded me of the song Rainbow Stew. 20+ years later and still applies to idealists.
Jackie D, I'm not surprised. Las Vegas, southern CA, and Miami represent Ground 0 in this real estate mess. I'm going to take a wild guess that your neighbor perhaps works for DR Horton, Centex, or Quadrant. Am I close?
Fuck man, that sucks. Sorry to hear about that, brother. Keep yer chin up!
Work's been dryin' up down here since last September. We had a couple $3 million freeway jobs already awarded to us and then Caltrans came in an pulled the rug. Needless to say, we had to let some people go. Good people too! We were really counting on those projects.
Shit's gonna eventually work itself out in one way or another and all we can do is just keep charging full speed ahead. You're a smart motivated dude, so you'll be alright in the end. Count on it.
Keep yer chin up and yer ammo dry...
Cheers Paul!
Paul: It is overcast and cold here. It says it's 41 degrees out there ... but it feels colder than that. I just can't get warm this evening ... should probably just pile the blankets on the bed and crawl under the covers and call it a day. Well ... I guess it is pretty late so it has been a day!
Paul- Bingo! DR Horton.
good luck to ya. i read that obama said we should make more money. as in just produce more of the paper stuff. i ain't the brightest crayon but dayum these powers that be have been doing some not just stupid, but disastrous shit lately.
pablo,
i agree that these dolts that think they can solve the problem are the problem, but despite bush's failures, at least he tried something, he tried to discuss the options and asked for congress to take action many times A LONG TIME AGO. tell me one thing this congress has proposed to combat these long brewing, exhaustively debated topics (GSEs, Govt influence pedaling, social insecurity)?? chirp, chirp?
Watch how it's made on the science channel, we manufacture all kinds of shit. Better yet, come back to your homeland in texas for a spell. the USofA has innovation and determination in shades the world has never matched. let me tell you about how one day we will all be checking our email on our watches? I said that, ten years ago, and today i have a handheld phone that does everything but the laundry. you don't think shit is getting better, despite the economy?? warning: you are starting to sound like them.
it ain't over, sweets. it's just the gut punch. get back up, you're the winner. i know it, you know it. government was never the answer, and they still aren't...no matter how solidly they ram the I-beam up our collective ass. you hear? that's the troof, lovebug.
good luck with the job search as well.
Supergurl, hate to burst your sweet little bubble but that little phone of yours that does everything except the laundry? Yeah that one. Made in China! I hear what you're saying, though. You have a more optimistic handle on things than I do at this point, and you're probably right. I'm not job searching BTW I think you misread me.
I really like to read your posts on our financial mess.It helps me to understand what's going on. You know that we're always right behind you in Canada. We just follow your good and bad times.I hope that things settle for people like you, and my sons. You all work so hard. It seemed much easier when I was young.
All the best, as always, Paul.
Sorry! My comment was printed twice. Don't know why...I deleted it.
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