Getting Killed On Black Friday Sucks.

I read today that a temp worker at Walmart was killed when Black Friday shoppers rushed the doors.   What possible savings at Walmart could warrant a crowd to get into a frenzy.    I wonder what shoppers are thinking when the doors open and they rush in.   Could they be thinking that Walmart holds some salvation that couldn’t possibly be satisified some other way?   Do they feel those items are 1000% required for a good Christmas?

Is it Walmart’s problem that they offered a discount on their items?    I’m sure the family will think they have some part in it.   Is it the crowds fault?   Is it the governments fault?   Companies faults?   I’m sure that over the next weeks the news will try to appoint blame for the death.    I think the responsibility is to be had by all on this one.   A mob outside the store for several hours before it opens is probably a clue a problem is brewing.      The high unemployment is probably another reason people would be interested in lower prices.  It is just a total line of crap.   There is no TV or toy worth a persons life.

To put things into perspective, there are people dying in Iraq regularly.   I wonder if a person killed by a road side bomb would compare that to working on Black Friday.     I just wonder what causes perfectly normal people to be put into a position that would allow them to act worse than grade school kids.   We have soldiers that will spend this holiday away from there families and some will never spend another holiday with anyone but god.    But in this country a mob killed an innocent worker over pretty crappy discounts on crap they didn’t need.

I feel for the workers family,   i feel for the workers at the store.   I feel for the idiots that could not control themselfs.    Restoring the pride means starting with our neighbors.    It’s not about trampling them to get a TV for a couple bucks cheaper.      We have people die for this country daily to protect us.  You wouldn’t think you would need that kind of protection from idiots in our country.

I would have to say this is a Black Friday.    A Black Friday americans should not be proud of.    We spent yesterday giving thanks for the blessings we have.   I’m sure this work was thankful to have a job.    I’m sure today the family is not thankful, but in sorrow.    So when you look at your spoils from today’s shopping.   Take the time to remember this person and think if you saw anything today you could have influenced or done to help someone.   Maybe if we all do that some good can come of this tragic and sensless death.

Thanksgiving Is a Reason to Be Proud.

In many minds Thanksgiving is a day to eat and watch sports.    For others, it is another painful reminder of how little they have.   While some people spend their holidays at resorts like Disney or on cruises, others spend it at home with little.     Either way is fine, but the point is that it is a reason to be proud.  Proud of what we have accomplished and what we have yet to accomplish.

Those many years ago the first Thanksgiving was shared between the Indians and the Pilgrims.    The Pilgrims had lived through very hard times.    Some barely had any food.   Many died from illness.   They lived in homes that were rustic.   The Indians provided guidance and showed them how to grow things in the environment.     That was a reason to be full of pride and thanks.    It was not the end of the road celebration but a beginning.   The beginning of the next chapter.

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving.    We are thankful for what we have.   We are thankful that we have a future to look forward too.    Thanksgiving is not measured by the amount of money we have or the amount of things we have.   It is not measured by the number of friends nor the number of family.   Thanksgiving is measured by what we have recieved from others and what we give back to others.

Many have lost jobs, homes, and family members over the past year.    Many are separated from the ones they love the most.     We need to be thankful for the time have spent with those people.    We need to be thankful that we have the opportunity to have new relationship and have new impacts on others.  We need to be thankful we have a place to stay and have the opportunity to move into something better.

Being thankful does not mean we have to be happy.    You may not be happy that you lost your home, or your job.   I would like to say there is a bright side to everything.   Time gives us a different look at things that happened in the past.     I’m sure there was a Pilgrim that probably hated corn but was thankful to have something to eat.

Be proud for where you are.  Be thankful that you have an opportunity to change something in the future.    At times it might seem all is lost.   At times it might feel like the weight of the world is on you.   But be thankful you have those times, because at some point in time, you won’t.     So for today be thankful and be proud you made it this far.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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Tags: Thanksgiving

Bailout A Bad Thing?

After thinking about this for awhile I can see the need for a bailout.    I’m just not sure who should get it.  The auto companies want one,  wall street wants one,  home owners want one.  Heck, I think everyone wants a bail out. With that said, who should get one?

Looking back at the last great depression, the government grew to a huge size.   It basically put programs in place to employ everyone that needed to be employed.    There were government agency that paved roads, planted crops, made dam’s, and built anything they could.     It was a huge bailout.   Everyone got a piece of the action.

Looking at the modern bailout, I’m not sure people need to be employed by the government.    Putting money into companies that create or hold jobs seems to be the right way to go.   The automotive companies employee a ton of people.    Their suppliers employee even more people.    So if they fail, those folks go on the unemployment line.    Nothing gets built or sold why those people are on unemployment.   So does it make sense to give money to the auto companies.    It is a definite maybe.   If the money goes to creating and maintaining job’s in the United States.    If the company takes the money and continues to build plants in Asia and closes them here, they should not get a dime.   Possibly the government should just buy the auto companies and put them into receivership.

The wall street bailout continues to crack me up.  What an utterly futile bailout.    They want to free up credit they continue to say.   What does that mean?    The people who have good credit can continue to get it.   People with bad credit will be less likely to get it.   So how does it help anyone?    I’ve said this before but it needs to be repeated.   When did the stock market become a bank?   It is a casino.   If you put your money in your 401k and risk it.   Then its gone.    Now I know some companies contribute to your 401k via company stock.   So if you had Ford or GM stock in your account, that could be bad.

I doubt wall street will go back to the same lending practices as before.   With people in a worse financial situation, I don’t see the money going to them.   Now the government makes a case that money will flow back into companies.   What guarantee will there be that it will stay in the United States?   None.

The oversight on all of these programs is a joke.    In order to get any money each company should have to submit their business plan for congress and the public to review.   If they don’t like it, don’t ask for money.

There is nothing in the latest round of bailouts that says anything about stopping foreclosures or helping the job market.    Just that if the mortgage fails the government covers the debt.   Oh yea.   You can now get unemployment benefits longer.    People want jobs, a home, and food.   If money goes to some other purpose its wrong.     I don’t particularly care if a  CEO needs to fly coach instead of first class.

Tags: bailout

Is It Fun Being Green? It maybe cheaper too.

Hi All,

For years we have heard from environmental wackos about being green.    Tree huggers have been pushing their agenda of save the tree’s.    We’ve heard global warming gloom and doom for years and years (except in the 80’s when they said the new ice age was coming.)    Everyone says we should embrace green things because it will protect our children and save the world from pending doom.     I have a better idea.   Maybe going green could save money.    A ton of money.   It potentially could screw the big corporate greed mongers.     Why is that?   If you make it and build it yourselfs what do you need to buy the crap they are trying to sell.

Understandably, not everything you would want or care to make your self.    In my quest for entertainment I was watching HBO’s Deadwood last night.     As this turn of the century camp grows and thrives, it occurred to me almost everthing they did was green.     The used local lumber,  local live stock,  local labor (of course some if it was imported),  didn’t have electricity,  and didn’t have a ton of money.   It still had all the elements of greed and corruption that made the west what it was, and the corporations what they are today.   There was an underlying theme though.     Man helping man and using what they had for the betterment of the camp.

With that said, how does that apply to us today?    When we purchase things we need to look back at what we are buying.   Can we get it from a local person?  Do we really need it?  Can we make it?   Can we get a used one? Those are four really good questions.   If we asked ourselves that for every purchase we could start to get america back on track.

Can we get it from a local person?   Many people are just minutes away from a local farm that sells produce.   Others are close to farm butchers that you could get meat from.    There are many craft shows where people make quilts and other things that are of high quality and complement any house.

Do we need it it?    A large majority of the things purchase are managed by TV ads.    Do we really need all the things we buy.  How much do you get from a store that ends up in a closet and used twice.   How many cheap things do we buy that break in a day.   Does it really help you or just something you like and now will have to carry around until your throw it out.  This save on the amount of junk going to land fills.

Can you make it?   There are many things that can be made at home.    Bread is a good example.   With the cost of some foods going up it is cheaper to get the ingredients and make them at home.    Can you grow some of the food you need?    IF you are good at crafts you could make some of the decorations for your home.

Can you get a used one?   This is a really good one.    People are so custom to buying new.   Used is just something people think poor people do.    Which is just a total load of crap.   There are many good used appliances, cloths, and cars.    You can buy many appliances for a fraction of the price from a thrift store or garage sales.    A good example is I recently bought a bread maker for $5 at a thrift store.   The same one was at Walmart for around $60.    I saved about $55 on it.  It makes the same bread in the same amount of time.    So who is the fool.   The fool that spent $60.  On the flip side.  If you don’t use something, donate it.  Get the tax deduction and help someone who might need it and can’t afford it.    Also, recycling saves the environment.

So how does this help the economy?    Depends on where you sit.   For most middle class folks that are feeling the economic pinch it can mean they can sustain part of their current lifestyles with makeing different choices.    For low income people it means the can get some essential items for next to nothing.   For rich CEO’s it means they don’t get the revenue they don’t think they are entitled to.   It means they will have to layoff more people. Wait a second there.    Most household products are made in China.   So I guess the people in China well feel the pinch on that.

Buy local goods helps the local economy.    Help your neighbor or friend by buying something they make or sell really helps them out.    If we continue to circulate the money locally, things will get better locally.    Now I know there are critics who say its a global economy now.    My response is why?  Why do we need a global economy?     If our kids starve or are homeless why do I care if the people in China have jobs?    I believe all people in the world have a right to exist, just not at the expense of someone else.

These ideas are the end all or the total save the economy package.    They could be a save your family package.   In the end I might save the environment too…

Tags: cheap, environment, recycle

What happened to America?

I started thinking about how the country used to be.   I came to the conclusion that the past out of context is a dangerous road to walk.    I could pick a time in history and say America was the land of the free and home of the brave and be partialy right.

What does that mean?    It mean’s that someone was always poor.  Kids went hungry.  People were beat based on the color of their skin or their ideas.   So does that mean that America always sucked?   I think it means that America sucked based on the seat you were sitting in at the time.

Back in the 1980’s the midwest textile workers were the brunt of the storm.   Along with the textile workers, farmers were hit hard.    Ronald Regan stood up and said we will retrain and retool the works for the next decade and century.    Hi-tech was the future.

So in the 80’s plants closed and clothes were made over seas.    Did we get a bailout?   Not really.   The country was economicly sound at the time.    So the closures were absorbed by country.    It did devistate some comunities that probably never recovered.    Do those works feel any better?   Textile works were some of the first people who’s jobs were off-shored.

Let’s go further back.    Let’s take a look at the railroad.  Steam engines once ran through the country.   Town’s popped up along the tracks through out the United States.    What happened to them?   A drive through Ohio and Michigan you can find train stations with no railroad tracks.   Where did all the workers go? They moved on to other things.    The loss of the railroad killed many small towns where hopes and dreams were built.

So what is my point in some of this?    Based on where you sit you can view the economy, the government, your neighbor, as the biggest problem.     Does it make it less painful for the person living it?  Part of bringing the country back together is making people aware of the problem and working to absorb the people into new jobs.

We have a huge up hill battle on this one.    Every generation had the next thing to look forward to.   We went from horses, to trains, to cars, to planes.    We went from lo-tech to hi-tech.   Something always replaced the thing that was going away.   Now there are no manufacturing jobs that will be replacing the ones lost.   There are no hi-tech jobs waiting to be filled.   We have taken most of the middle class jobs and sent them over seas to make a quick buck.

Problem with offshoring is that when the middle class jobs are gone there is nobody buying your product.   Ford and GM are learning that the hard way.    When you employee almost a half of a million people, you have half of a million people buying your product.   I know because I came from a 3 generation Ford family.  We only drove what supported the family.  Now we drive anything that is cheap.  Ford lost a ton of business when the let my Dad go.   He bought a new car every year on A-Plan.

I’m not sure why companies do not think that far ahead.   Do they look at just the earnings each quarter.   People love to buy what they make.    It is a shame people companies do not see it that way.    Also,  It’s amazing to think that companies do not recognize that if other companies layoff people it will effect their sales.    Citigroup just announced they are laying off 55,000.   Bet those folks aren’t buying cars.   Could any other company out their help Citigroup not layoff jobs?

We need to work together and realize what makes America strong is people working together.   We need to let companies that work to seperate us fail and start new ones with the right ideas.  Maybe we need a new Ford or GM.    Let that company hire the auto workers and build cars that are cheap and ones that people want to buy.

The economy is a giant circle.    Build – Sell – Buy.    Right now its just sell and buy.   With no new industry showing up we will have to go back to a build – sell – buy all back in the USA.   If people in China or India are upset over that.   Then they can buy their own products they build.    I am willing to help and trade with other countries but not at the expense of this one.