California, The Unions, Education and The Democratic Party: Catalyst for Tea Parties on July 4th 2009. May 23, 2009

The events that are unfolding in California today (5/23/09) are unprecedented and will affect every state in The United States of America. The people have spoken and they have said “NO MORE NEW TAXES” A catalyst for a perfect storm on Tea Party Day July 4th, 2009.

What has transpired over the years in California that I have been in here (1980) is nothing less than tragic.

I moved to a state that was relatively easy to get a job if you really wanted one. If you didn’t want to work and wanted to be on welfare it was a lot more difficult to accomplish that goal.

California was led by the Democratic party from a land of sunshine, plenty of work and an occasional earthquake to a land of excruciating high taxes, huge numbers of illegal immigrants, easy welfare accommodations for anyone, strong control by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and SCAQMD (South Coast Air Quality Management District) and radically powerful, strong unions that have crippled the work force with a total disregard or understanding of how the economy works.  Every day now there are protests in the streets by these unions demanding that their particular financial interests should be continually supported by the California government that is fiscally broken. They fail to see that the economy in California has completely collapsed.

Due to the Democratic mantra of  “Tax and Spend” California has become the most unfriendly environment for both small and large businesses to flourish in. Consequently a lot of businesses have closed or have left California for other states and more than likely other countries.

An example of this is when Lockeed closed down it’s Burbank facilities instantly putting 15,000 people out of work.  That is the figure just for Lockeed. It doesn’t address all the subcontractors for small parts and materials that went into the building of the aircraft in that facility.

Another example of that is the General Motors Plant in Van Nuys, CA.  Built in 1947 and closed in 1992.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Nuys_Assembly

This plant towards the end built some of the worst cars ever assembled by General Motors. The Chevrolet Corvair, Camaro, Nova and Firebird.

While it is true that the plant was old, the property and the location were ideal for GM to build cars specifically for the California market.  With some effort the palnt could have been rebuilt and modified for newer assembly line could have been built. How ever the decision was made to move this assembly plant to Sainte-Thérèse Assembly in Quebec, Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Therese_Assembly

So the issue at hand is jobs. As I have written about in the past, government does not create jobs. private enterprise creates jobs. The Democrats have completely damaged the business environment here in California. In the process of damaging the business environment the Democrats have diminished the tax base dramatically at the same time they have tried to make up for the lack jobs by huge tax rates for the people that still have jobs and businesses that are still open. The squeeze has to end somewhere or sometime and that somewhere and sometime is now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090522/ap_on_re_us/us_california_day_of_reckoning

I voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) hoping that he could get the job done.  In the beginning he was doing a great job.  But the Democrats saw his power and popularity as a threat and stone walled his every move and he finally capitulated to the Democrats and agreed to raise State Income Taxes, DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) taxes, and State Sales Tax which is the most destructive tax a legislator could ever raise.  This has exacerbated the crumbling economy here in California.

As long as California is a Democratically controlled state it will never ever regain the grand status that has left us in the late 70’s and the 80’s. The Democratic stranglehold on the State of California will be very hard to break because of two simple facts. 1. The number of business owners that would lobby against the Democrats is dwindling. The number of employees that expect their employers to provide all kind of services for free greatly out number the employers. 2. The number of people that expect the California Government to provide everything for free is in control of who is put in office.

In fact California is so damaged that there is serious discussion about rewriting the California Constitution.  The California Constitution is not broken, the Democratic party that is interpreting the California Constitution is broken.

How is rewriting the California Constitution going to help the people of California get new jobs created by new companies that start and flourish and old companies that expand and grow and hire people?

I’m sure that with the state of California being run by Democrats, the “New and Improved” version of the California Constitution will be so severely flawed and skewed towards the Democratic mantra of “Tax & Spend” that the State of California will just continue to deteriorate at a much greatly increased speed.

Here is the next thing to think about. California has always been on the leading edge of trends that eventually move through out the rest of the states. If the California Constitution gets re-written will the following happen?

1. Will the Democrats in the other 49 states try to rewrite their own states constituion?

2. Will Barack Obama and the Obama Administration try to rewrite the US Constitution making the United States an even greater ‘Land of Entitlement”? Thus creating a land that contains a plethora of welfare available to anyone from the United States or any other country just by asking for it and not proving that an individual really needs welfare funds to begin with?

For some reason in past years there has been a fairly complex and sometimes efficient system of checks and balances between the Democrats and the Republicans.  But all that has changed with the deteriorating economy.

I have a comment about education in California.  I understand and I am in sympathy of what is happening in the schools with the cutbacks and overcrowding.  But here is a question. Do you remember what John Kennedy said” “Ask not what your country can do for you, Rather ask what you can do for your country!” I have to admit for a Democrat he was connected to reality more than any other Democrat or Republican for that matter by saying this.

So here is my point.  When some one decides to have a child, the responsibility of education should be partially funded by the individuals that have children that are being taught in the primarily the K-12 education system.  Junior Colleges and State colleges are already paying tuition. To believe that education can be completely funded by state and local property taxes is absurd.  I believe that the parents of these children should pay something towards enrollment for students.  This tuition payed can only be used in that school that the tuition was payed to.  Not to all the schools in the district. Maybe it is a small amount to subsidize, but it is something that that will help ease the financial burden of the California educational system. Which leads to why I brought up John Kennedy’s famous statement. Not all property tax payers have children in the educational system especially older citizens. Why should the burden of funding people that have children in the system be places on people that are not using the system.  This is not to say that people that do not have children in the education system should not pay anything. That is not what I am saying.  What I’m saying is that the people that do have children in the education system have to pay some kind of a tuition to offset the shrinking tax revenue do to loss of jobs, poorer paying jobs that does not generate high volumes of income tax and of course the number of foreclosure on homes that is diminishing property taxes.  I do not know the numbers exactly but the logic is that the greater majority of people with children are renters and do not pay any property tax yet their children are in the schools.  The amount of property tax on a commercial apartment building doesn’t even come close to paying for all the kids in that building. OK so you ask why doesn’t the landlord pay higher taxes? Well the local county could raise taxes…..but guess what?  You are right.  Rent would go through the roof and people would not be able to afford the apartment that they are renting nor would they have a big enough deposit to move to a different building. In general raising taxes is always a bad thing.

It all goes back to what I believe.

If the Democrats can keep people poor, uneducated, unemployed and desperate they will always have a voter base.

STMARIE

Barack Obama’s Swing set. March 6, 2009

I just wanted to let you know that because of William Jefferson Clinton’s reckless mandate for banks to write more loans even though the loans were not qualified or underwritten corretly, You have lost your house to foreclosure.  But you can sleep well because Sasha and Malia Obama have a new swing set.

Sleep well my brave Proletariat.  Barack will reward you with food stamps.

ST

Barack Obama’s Propaganda and Conspiracy Continues to Erode Assets On Wall Street. (Updated Periodically.) March 5, 2009

I am now convinced that Barack Obama is just filling the media with propaganda on how bad the economy is going to fail.  This is rapidly eroding the consumer confidence of the people in  the United States and his rhetoric is actually the largest contribution to the continuing collapse of the economy.  Everyday the banks hear this over and over and the underwriters at these banks are very, very reluctant to write loans. I have always said that Barack Obama has an ulterior motive that he is not telling us about.  The writing on the wall is becoming very clear now.

Barack Obama ultimate goal is to shift the economic power from the public to the government (Socialism). If you really look at the “Stimulus Bill” program, it is ultimately designed to put all the economic power in the hands of the government.

I bet if today he quite saying that economic failure is imminent without the passage of the stimulus bill, after a while consumer confidence will soon start to recover because the threat of economic failure is not being broadcast in the news ad nauseam.

Lets take a look at some Stats.  Source Yahoo Financial Page.

February 10, 2007 Barack Obama announces Presidential Candidacy

February 12, 2007 Dow Jones Index closes at 12552.55

February 12, 2007 Standard and Poors 500 closes at 1433.37

February 12, 2007 NASDAQ closes at  2450.38

June 4, 2008 Barack Obama wins Presidential Candidacy

June 4, 2008 Dow Jones Closes at 12390.48

June 4, 2008 Standard and Poors 500 closes at 1377.20

June 4, 2008 NASDAQ closes at 2503.14

November 5, 2008 Barack Obama wins Presidential Election

November 5, 2008 Dow Jones Closes at 9139.27

November 5, 2008 Standard and Poors 500 closes at 952.77

November 5, 2008 NASDAQ closes at 1681.6

January 20, 2009 Barack Obama Takes Oath of Office

January 20, 2009 Dow Jones Closes at 7949.09

January 20, 2009 Standard and Poors 500 closes at 805.22

January 20, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1440.86

January 21, 2009 First Day of trading after Barack Obama Takes Oath of Office

January 21, 2009 Dow Jones Closes at 7956.66

January 21, 2009 Standard and Poors 500 closes at 832.23

January 21, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1515.05

February 17, 2009 the day Barack Obama signed his personal massive “Spendulas” bill.

Today analog television stations were to stop transmitting analog signals before he screwed that up also.

February 17, 2009 Down Jones Closes at 7552.60

February 17, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at 789.17

February 17, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1470.66

February 19, 2009 the day after Barack Obama announces his 75 Billion Dollar mandate for banks and lending institutions to write loans at an artificially low rate thus making it difficult to be profitable.  This mandate also rewards people that can not afford home loans with a bail out. This mandate also put a huge burden on tax payers that are paying their loans on time.

February 19, 2009 Down Jones Closes at 7465.95

February 19, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at 778.94

February 19, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1442.82

February 23, 2009 Barack Obama appoints VP Joe Biden to Oversee Stimulus Package Implementation. This my friends is like assigning the Fox to guard the Hen House. Joe Biden has never ran a business nor does he know how to run a business.  How in the world can Joe Biden be fiscally responsible for managing this amout of money.

February 23, 2009 Down Jones Closes at 7114.78

February 23, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at 743.33

February 23, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1397.72

February 24, 2009 Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke speaking positively says there there is a possibility that the economy will start to turn around in 2009 if the Obama Administration gets everything right. This is what the American people want to hear over and over to build their Confidence. This is the exact opposite of the rhetoric that Barack Obama has been preaching from the pulpit.

February 24, 2009 Down Jones Closes at 7350.94. Up 235.60

February 24, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at 773.14. Up 28.45

February 24, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1441.83 Up 42.46

February 26, 2009   Barack Obama reveals his plans to expand healthcare coverage and curb costs calls for cutting Medicare payments to private insurers, letting consumers buy cheaper medicines and preventing drug companies from making deals that block generic competition.

February 26, 2009 Down Jones Closes at  7182.08.

February 26, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at  752.83

February 26, 2009 NASDAQ closes at  1391.47

February 27, 2009 Barack Obama gives away the United States military strategy for the future by announcing US troop withdrawals from Iraq by August 31, 2010. This will allow terrorist to start moving their operations from Afghanistan to Iraq by that date.  Wonderful Huh?

February 27, 2009 Down Jones Closes at  7062.93

February 27, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at  735.09

February 27, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1377.84

March 2, 2009  Rahm Emanuel announces yet another broken promise by Barack Obama. Barack Obama will sign a pork laden, special interest 410 Billion Dollar Spending Bill. Again Barack Obama lies to the people of the United States.

March 2, 2009 Down Jones Closes at  6763.29

March 2, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at  700.82

March 2, 2009, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1322.85

March 5, 2009  Barack Obama initiates Government goals to re-engineer US health care practices in the United States of America.  The first move towards establishing socialized medicine in the USA.  As of this date everything that Barack Obama and the current sitting Congress has done, has no psychologically stimulating effects on main street and the result is the slow destruction of Wall Street. Barack Obama says it is not important to watch the “daily fluctuations” of Wall Street. He is heeding his own advice and not paying attention to the  fact that he is destroying the life savings of most all Americans.  That seems to be OK with him.  If the public does not have any savings they will become more and more dependent on the government instituted  socialist welfare.

March 5, 2009 Down Jones Closes at  6594.44

March 5, 2009 Standard and Poors closes at  682.55

March 5, 2009, 2009 NASDAQ closes at 1299.59

Again Barack Obama is creating a “Land of Entitlement” with the United States.  Rewarding unresponsible people with responsible tax payers money. This is also eroding the publics confidence in Barack Obama’s ability to be the leader of the United States of America.

Everyday Barack Obama speaks in public the markets loses more and more confidence in how he is running the country. It is obvious that at least today the investors in the US Stock Market have absolutely no faith in Barack Obama.  Will this be different in the future?

I hope the pubic wakes up soon and sees what Barack Obama is doing and what a catastrophic mistake it was to elect him.

ST

Barack Obama’s New Cash Cow Is In Your Hand. February 28, 2009

Gaze fondly at that little device in your hand that is your legacy, your life, your survival. An item that can help you achieve your dreams, your aspirations, your goals in life. Give you the confidence that your family and friends are OK when they answer your call or return your call.

Yes, it is your cell phone.  Barack Obama will make that a huge cash cow to help pay back the trillions that he is spending.  And you won’t have any say in it. As the Telcom companies have to pay these increases in spectrum license user fees, they will be very happy to pass it on to you and voila, a whole new set of fees, surcharges, taxes will magically appear on your cell phone bill.

Keep in mind that first responders in local municipalities will have to pay these fees also on the radio frequency spectrum that they use for Fire, Police, EMT, Haz Mat and other public communication services. The local governments will be glad to pass that on to you in the Real Estate Taxes that you pay in your town or city.

This will also affect commercial broadcasters (TV, Radio etc) who have to pay huge spectrum license fees already. Do you think it ends there? Guess again. It will affect providers of two way radio communications for businesses. Communications for delivery trucks, service companies that do repairs at your home. Telemetry used for businesses like UPS , Fed Ex and common carrier trucking companies to keep track of your packages. Oh did I mention radio services for our railroads, airlines, commercial and passenger ships, buses and other forms of public transportation? All using Radio Spectrum frequencies. But here is the one that I know will be a Huge Cash Cow for Barack Obama.  Guess what is so very popular in our business today?  Yep, Direct Connect or Nextel. What is that going to do to the cost of doing business?

OK, so can you see how we are going to get to 13% inflation or more that Jimmy Carter awarded the citizens of the United States with in 1980? Does this make sense to you now?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/28/obamas-proposed-2010-budget-juices-carriers-for-more-cash/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10173072-94.html

The people who voted for this monster called Barack Obama must be very, very wealthy and have a huge pile of cash to pay all these taxes that are in the future.

ST

What the Dysfunctional Socialist (Democratic) Party is Doing For/To The Citizens of the United States. February 20, 2009

Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Franks et al  are the new political criminals in our society. As they bask in the sun of jamming the largest spending bill down the throats of the US citizens without even giving the citizens a chance to vote or comment on it, we begin to see the damages that are now occurring especially on Wall Street. For years people have been self sufficient in their savings for the future. Now all of that has been wiped out and the new Socialist Party (the Democrats) have now made us totally dependent on the US Government with threats of government controlled national banking system. Just think, Barack Obama and his fellow thieves will be able to go into your account at any time and demand fees, taxes, assessments, surcharges or anything else they decide to take from your account.  Just think of your phone bill with all those government unjustified mandated charges.  Your bank account will look just like that.

Just like his predecessor, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama has sent a mandate to spend 75 Million dollars to force lending institutions to write loans to people that should have never had a loan to begin with. Again Barack Obama is creating a land of “Entitlement” rewarding non-responsible  people with tax money provided by hard working Tax Payers that make their home loans on time.

Again I have to keep going back to what Bill Clinton did in 1997.

http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/register/2005/2005_10024.pdf

http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/register/2005/2005_10025.pdf

This is where Bill Clinton made a similar mandate for lending institutions to write loans bases on quantity instead of quality.

There is one huge difference between what Barack Obama is doing and what Bill Clinton did.

Bill Clinton mandated the law gambling with investors money i.e. people that had stocks and other savings in various institutions.

Barack Obama is gambling with every tax payer’s money and the huge taxes that will need to be collected in the future from the children that are now growing up. Barack Obama has made it very difficult for the children in the future to be self sufficient in savings and investments as they will be paying back a very high rate in taxes back to not only the US Government but to local State Governments also.

So now lets look at what is happening here in California where I live. Yesterday the California government finally created a budget for the future and besides spending cuts (Which I give Kudos to the Socialist Party for doing) it also levied $12 Billion Dollars in tax hikes. We now have the highest sales tax in all of the states, DMV taxes have doubled, and there is an undetermined increase in State Income Taxes that the Socialist Party forced upon the citizens in California.

So what does that mean to us here in California. Well, because any TAX CUTS the Federal Socialists gave us in California, the State Socialists are taking back.  So in a nut shell Californians gained nothing.  Even though California is in line for millions of federal tax payers money in the “State Bailouts.” I imagine this will happen in a lot of other states as California usually sets a lot of precedents  for what other states do.

The Socialists are just making it worse and worse every day.  Today we are experiencing a 6 year low in all the markets and what is worse banks are on the point of collapse from fears of being nationalized. This my friends would be the end of the Free Market that we here in the United States have enjoyed for over 200 years.

ST

Barack Obama and Market Confidence. November 12, 2008

Well Barack Obama has been the president elect now for 8 days  and the market has fallen 661 Points.

Dow sinks 661 points in 3 days

So I am not advocating that this is Barack Obama’s fault because it isn’t. He hasn’t had time to implement any changes and he is not President yet.  But what is apparent is that the markets are in fact just the opposite. The market makers are not influenced or excited that Barack is President Elect. Barack Obama as of today has not been an inspiration to bolster confidence in the public sector when it comes to the economy.

I know it is early.  But what strikes me the most is the huge confidence level that all of Barack’s voters were showing during the election.  Why is that confidence not carrying over in the economy and starting to show some excitement that the candidate of choice has won the election?

I guess the next opportunity for this to happen will be January 20th.  But by then a lot of retail small businesses will have shuttered over the Season’s holidays when those businesses should be having the best time of year in earnings.

Time will tell

 

ST