LMAO. Lets explore Chavez and his inflation and unemployment then..

__________________
Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

come on you know you wanna play football..

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

Lower standards at Freddie and Fannie is only part of story. The real story is that wages haven't kept up with inflation because the elite don't value factory jobs. Those decent paying jobs have been shipped overseas. So, then fewer young families could purchase a home without reducing the standards. Many of us benefited by these people being sucked into ARM's with low teaser rates,etc - without them we couldn't have profited and moved up into our second or third house. Many people living in their mega mansions didn't get there because they were smarter, they got there because they rode the housing boom on the backs of those entering into the housing market for the first time. They were in the right place at the right time.

So what's going to happen now that we've artificially propped up housing prices with this bail out? It's going to crash again, unless wages go up and that' not going to happen without decent manufacturing jobs. I say fire all the executives and hire management firms in China and India to run our large corporations for pennies on the dollar- and keep our manufacturing here. If I need to hear from a manager he can use the internet or a satellite feed.

__________________


Defeating market theocrats since 2001.

Ditto. Chavez and his government have done well, especially considering an almost universally and openly hostile wealthy elite, including the vast bulk of the media.

GeneCosta, where'd you get those figures?

And when his ability to milk the oil in his country for $120 plus a barrel is officially gone, which is now.. wonder if those numbers stay the same, we will see pretty soon.

Inflation is still at 21.9%.

CFR actually lays it out pretty well.

__________________
Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

come on you know you wanna play football..

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

So you want to keep higher wages but expect companies (manufacturing) to stay in America?

You do understand its because of unions and wages it was not profitable to stay in the US. Its why Manufacturing left. Labor is cheaper elsewhere. So are you willing to take a pay cut? I doubt it.. So pontificate elsewhere.

__________________
Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

come on you know you wanna play football..

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

Original quote from Finny:

"You do understand its because of unions and wages it was
not profitable to stay in the US. Its why Manufacturing left.
Labor is cheaper elsewhere. So are you willing to take a pay
cut? I doubt it"

No. I'm simply stating the obvious. Our economy and our stock prices would do better if we out-sourced our management to professional managment companies in China and India. I would like to see some numbers. How much more could the average worker be paid at GE if GE had no stock repurchase programs, no golden parachutes, and it's executives only earned ten times the average employees salary. I'll bet then they could at least fund a decent pension plan on time. And, I'll bet we could find a foreign managment company to do as good a job under these terms.

I can give you many, many examples of how stupid management can be. A bunch of egg heads with a sheep skin who think they're saving the company money with cheaper labor, when in fact they think this because they don't totally understand or appreciate just what the little people do. Example: Werner ladder moved it's plant to Mexico. Now, they think they're saving money, but no one is chaning the dust covers and tiny pieces of fiberglass are slowly destroying millions of dollars worth of equipment. Mexicans are not stupid. Those workers will eventually hire attorneys who will file a class action suit because of lung damage they'll incur. This wouldn't happen in a modern plant in the states. This kind of stuff happens all the time, but managment is to insulated to be held accountable.

Quote from Finny:
"You do understand its because of unions and wages it was
not profitable to stay in the US. Its why Manufacturing left.
Labor is cheaper elsewhere. So are you willing to take a pay
cut? I doubt it"

No. I'm simply stating the obvious. Our economy and our stock prices would do better if we out-sourced our management to professional managment companies in China and India. I would like to see some numbers. How much more could the average worker be paid at GE if GE had no stock repurchase programs, no golden parachutes, and it's executives only earned ten times the average employees salary. I'll bet then they could at least fund a decent pension plan on time. And, I'll bet we could find a foreign managment company to do as good a job under these terms.

I can give you many, many examples of how stupid management can be. A bunch of egg heads with a sheep skin who think they're saving the company money with cheaper labor, when in fact they think this because they don't totally understand or appreciate just what the little people do. Example: Werner Ladder moved it's plant to Mexico. Now, they think they're saving money, but no one is changing the dust covers, so tiny pieces of fiberglass are acting like sandpaper and slowly destroying millions of dollars worth of equipment. It's not so good for lungs either. Mexicans are not stupid. Those workers will eventually hire attorneys who will file a class action suit because of lung damage they'll incur. This wouldn't happen in a modern plant in the states. This kind of stuff happens all the time, but managment is too insulated to be held accountable.

So Nike, Walmart, Ford, and the many others.. who moved the majority of their plants to foreign markets like Mexico, China and Vietnam aren't saving money by paying Pedro and Yu pennies on the dollar in wages? Avoiding large Unions which have priced themselves so high it cost billions a year just to fund the pension plans. You notice the recent trend in the UAW strikes. Ford and GM were allowed to buy out contracts (for $35,000 plus retirement for anyone who had 30 years with company or 65) and get people to retire early to SAVE MONEY so jobs didn't have to be cut.

You do know why GE does (did until recently to keep it AAA rating) buy back right?

Because 36,000 GE employees below the level executive officer hold GE stock. Buying back stock keeps the price at a certain level so folks who want to sell GE stock can do so at a profit or to cover loses. It's also used when a mass amount of retirements are coming up so those retiring make money.

Now on to the Gold Parachute. Everybody gets a Gold Parachute. Workers get pension plans and retirement pay. No matter how a company does. A CEO gets Stock Options and if the company stock goes down, they lose money. Salaries are higher but when you are head of a company everything rest on your shoulders. Everyone blames you. But if you are a worker and you screw up, you don't lose a damn thing as you are protect by Unions.

Are Union members willing to put their pay and retirement packages on the line like CEOs do? Again I doubt it. But they love to complain about the pay.

I would like all companies to do what I do for those who work for me. Have every employee come to my office after I do a performance review. We discuss their performance for the year and if they are able to prove they deserve a raise based on performance. If they don't, they're wage stays the same. If they do they get 5% salary increase.

__________________
Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

come on you know you wanna play football..

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

Finny quote:
"Are Union members willing to put their pay and retirement packages on the line like CEOs do? Again I doubt it. But they love to complain about the pay."

I'm not talking about entrepreneurs - unless they've already sold out to wall street. I'm talking executives who never started a business from scratch. By the way, my wife and I did start a company from scratch ($10,000 in 1985). We worked together and sold it to a NYSE listed company so that we could move across the nation to help care for her mother. I stayed on for a few months to help with the transition after we were merged with another company. I only bring this up, so you might understand that I can appreciate what you're saying. However, my own observations and experience suggests that CEO's of large corporations don't put their pay on the line. The board and compensation committe are in their pocket. Shareholders and workers need better representation in the boardroom.

I'm saying that this Globalisation thing has gone too far. It would be better to have a little higher unemployment, and high enough wages that people who actually work can afford a first home without having to resort to dropping the lending standards. Hell, I grew up in the seventies when things were supposed to be just awful. But all the coal miners and truck drivers and factory workers I knew always had a new car and often paid cash and lot's of theirs wives didn't even have to work. Their homes were neat as a pin and they always were able to take a family vacation. Far fewer families today can say that. We're working harder than anyone else in the world, and we're being taken advantage of by Wall Steet. I want to know why I can't get even one safe option in my 401K, without accepting a locked in rate of 3% per year for ten years. If I want to move to another account within ten years, I'm penalised if interest rates have gone up during that period. Money markets aren't safe (now they are for awhile anyway). I have zero tolerance for risk in my retirement plan. I take risk outside of the plan. I'm being screwed because Wall St. has too much influence. Hell, I can get more than 4% in a checking or savings account and ING Orange and more than than in a CD. The 401K should be forced to compete with CD's. within the 401K account. My party, the Republicans, have shot themselves in the foot by giving Wall Street too much. Forget privatizing social security now. I used to be for it, but I'm getting screwed in my 401K and I have no other option unless I don't want to take advantage of my employers contribution, and rely solely on a Roth IRA.