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A very good description of why business is so bad in America today......
"WASHINGTON - November 6 - Following a statement on the Floor of the House of Representative, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement:
"Why is it we have finite resources for health care but unlimited money for war?
"The inequities in our economy are piling up: trillions for war, trillions for Wall Street and tens of billions for the insurance companies. Banks and other corporations are sitting on piles of cash of taxpayer's money while firing workers, cutting pay and denying small businesses money to survive.
"People are losing their homes, their jobs, their health, their investments, their retirement security; yet there is unlimited money for war, Wall Street and insurance companies, but very little money for jobs on Main Street.
"Unlimited money to blow up things in Iraq and Afghanistan, and relatively little money to build things in the US.
"The Administration may soon bring to Congress a request for an additional $50 billion for war. I can tell you that a Democratic version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is no more acceptable than a Republican version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Trillions for war and Wall Street, billions for insurance companies... When we were promised change, we weren't thinking that we give a dollar and get back two cents."" Common Dreams | News & Views
If you want to get rich then the military/industrial complex is where to put your money today..........
In the mind of nutty types like Dennis Kucinich and those who think he (or his twin from the opposite of the lunatic fringe of the Right -- Ron Paul) there is no real private business. Everything is controlled by invisible forces that only a super powerful government of black helicopters {or a massively overarmed citizenry of militia types from the other side} can undo...
Personally I like to think that the reason there are limits on what can be spent on healthcare is that someone realizes that money has to come from somewhere AND I ALSO THINK that the money spent on the military is FAR FROM UNLIMITED as there have been cuts in programs for both unneeded weapons and bases that qualify more as pork than defense BUT ONLY when the lobbyists types are all thrown into a tizzy that EVERYONE has to get lumped into some 'commission'...
I hope that we never try to over regulate private business and quickly get the heck OUT of the firms that were 'rescued' as the end result of government being involved in propping any firm at best results in something like British Leyland British Leyland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and at worst turn the whole country into something like Italy where no really does much of anything anymore... Italy's business clusters: Sinking together | The Economist
To fund a war you need money.
To get money you need revenue.
To get revenue you need tax "payers".
To get tax payers you need jobs.
To spend money on defense is propping up one industry but the rest of the revenue base is falling apart between layoffs and offshoring. Both layoffs and offshoring impact government revenue.
When Americans have little to no money to spend, business hurts. When business hurts they layoff or close up. It's a vicious cycle that, in the past, has been broken by WAR.
I'm just watching this train speeding down the track totally ignoring that half it's wheels are off the track.
In case you haven't noticed American businesses, by and large, are doing okay. They may not be making as much or selling as much as they were two years ago, but they're making money because they've shifted to reflect the new level of demand by reducing their costs very aggressively.
Gov't on the other hand hasn't been quite so responsible. But make no mistake, just because a lot people don't have jobs doesn't mean businesses are all struggling. Some are but thats just simply a reflection that not all businesses can or should do well or even survive at all.
In case you haven't noticed American businesses, by and large, are doing okay. They may not be making as much or selling as much as they were two years ago, but they're making money because they've shifted to reflect the new level of demand by reducing their costs very aggressively.
Gov't on the other hand hasn't been quite so responsible. But make no mistake, just because a lot people don't have jobs doesn't mean businesses are all struggling. Some are but thats just simply a reflection that not all businesses can or should do well or even survive at all.
The financially strong companies will survive. I think there's still some more fallout though so I'm sitting on the sidelines but I am researching companies to follow.
The ones that survive will be lean and mean with little to no debt that they can easily manage. Now that they've trimmed employment, the next is to trim dividends and use whatever extra money they have to pay down debt and manage their inventories correctly for the "new consumer", one who now only has a finite amount to spend.
When I get back in it will be for the long haul as an investor. Until then I'm quite content to sit on the side and study various industries and companies.
I can tell you that a Democratic version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is no more acceptable than a Republican version of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan........
To fund a war you need money.
To get money you need revenue.
To get revenue you need tax "payers".
To get tax payers you need jobs.
To spend money on defense is propping up one industry but the rest of the revenue base is falling apart between layoffs and offshoring. Both layoffs and offshoring impact government revenue.
When Americans have little to no money to spend, business hurts. When business hurts they layoff or close up. It's a vicious cycle that, in the past, has been broken by WAR.
I'm just watching this train speeding down the track totally ignoring that half it's wheels are off the track.
You know. it's bad when all our wartime production has been contracted everywhere else, but it's even more telling when security at Fort Hood was contracted out as well.
How cute.
Oh yeah, I have seen what happens when a Trackmobile with a bunch of railcars goes too fast and derails...not pretty. I just don't know who can drive the cherry picker over to pick the mess up...that has probably been outsourced as well.
To fund a war you need money.
To get money you need revenue.
To get revenue you need tax "payers".
To get tax payers you need jobs.
. . . . .
Nope.
Just need debt and a salesman.
Been the case since Reagan onward.
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