Day: June 13, 2012

PSEA Wasted $21Gs In Walker Recall

Taxpayer activist Bob Guzzardi reports that the Pennsylvania State Education Association — the umbrella organization for most of the state’s teachers unions —  sent $21,000 to Wisconsin in the union-run Waterlooish attempt to recall Gov. Scott Walker.
The rank and file had no say in this use of their union dues.
If  Gov. Tom Corbett, had an ounce of sense he’d do at least one of the things Walker did and end automatic paycheck deductions for union dues for public workers. When the workers in Wisconsin had to write their own checks to the union, membership fell in half.

Spain And Italy Bailouts? Earth To Europe: Have We Met?

By Chris Freind

Pop Quiz:

Are the Euro-technocrats (and their America backers) who orchestrated the bailouts of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain (and soon Italy):

A. Really smart guys, hell-bent on world domination, who are trying to prop up the Euro to create a one-world currency (to complement a one-world government, of course);

B. Really connected guys with close ties to the banks and governments receiving the hundreds of billions being doled out so cavalierly — and who are undoubtedly being “taken care of” for all their hard work in sending those vast sums to their friends;

C. Good-hearted souls who fall into the category of “there is no such thing as perfect men, just perfect intentions” — leaders who truly believe that more-debt-solves-everything economic policies, while not perfect, are the only salvation for a continent near collapse; 

D. Cowards who know damn well what they’re doing won’t work, but are kicking the can down the road (again) so that the implosion won’t happen on their watch; or

E. Just plain morons. And that’s not meant as a mean-spirited personal attack, but merely a point-of-fact description.

Answer:

F. A little of all everything.

It’s clear brain trust across the pond is trying to prop up the Euro — or, more accurately, save it from extinction. But to be fair, the conspiracy theory doesn’t work because there aren’t enough smart people in Europe to even think about such a feat. Let’s be honest: since they can’t even identify what their problems are, let alone how to solve them, anything more grandiose than keeping their heads above water is simple folly.

Are there folks financially benefitting from the bailouts? Absolutely. Anytime incomprehensibly large amounts of money are changing hands, insiders make out like bandits, because often times they are. Some of that corruption is illegal, to be sure (and difficult to prosecute since those at the top are often in on the deal), but there is also widespread institutional corruption, where many of these financial transactions are immoral, unethical, and “criminal,” just not illegal.

So while the corporate hacks and pols “get theirs,” the people get shafted. And with such an arrangement, why would anyone expect change, since there is no incentive for policy makers to rock the boat? Those who do stand up are often lambasted back into silence, and the European march towards oblivion continues.

Are there some European leaders who believe bailout after bailout is the best — and only — policy to right the ship? Absolutely.  Of course, these people live in a bubble of naiveté borne from never holding private sector jobs. To them, free enterprise is a hindrance, not a solution, so they cannot relate to the countless obstacles businesses must navigate to survive — and keep people employed. And thus can’t understand why so many companies are laying off and shutting down.

They never had to meet a payroll, never dreaded issuing pink slips, never worried about how to pay skyrocketing health insurance. They never had to compete while handicapped with needlessly high energy costs, and never cursed up a storm because of crushing taxes and ridiculous, job-killing regulations.  More important, these leaders never experienced competition and all the wonderful things that striving to be the best brings out in people. 

Bureaucrats thrive in a spread-the-wealth, homogenous environment where mediocrity is the norm, and aspiring to greater things is forcefully beaten down.  Sadly, they have never been imbued with the vision that complacency is the enemy, and that the constant drive to develop better products and services, and how to most innovatively bring them to market, is the only tide capable of lifting all boats.

Instead, they harbor the view that a paternalistic, politically-correct government knows best, believing that government solutions are the only answer.

The problem with bailouts, of course, is that there is no such thing as “government” money; in a democracy, it is always the people’s money sent to the government with the reasonable expectation that it will be spent with restraint and wisdom. In Europe’s case, as in America, that train has jumped the tracks.

Instead, spending has increased so exponentially that entire nations are effectively bankrupt. “Government” money has been made so easily available to all people for all things that the sense of entitlement has wiped out any incentive to work harder and be more productive. Europe has become a continent of sloths, more content to lazily enjoy a siesta and draw a lavish pension at 45 years old than put in the work necessary to make one’s life — and their children’s future —better.

And now it’s time to pay the piper. We no longer live in a world where problems will work themselves out in a year or two, but instead will be with us for the long haul until people want to face the truth. But until that hard look in the mirror occurs, and that’s not likely, Europe’s deterioration will only accelerate.

* * *

 Nothing the Europeans are doing will solve the problem, since they are simply robbing Peter to pay Paul. Spain is paralyzed by debt and has whopping 25 percent unemployment rate. And their “solution?” Take on even more debt! That’s like buying a $40,000 Ford with zero in the bank and claiming a “savings” of $60,000 because you didn’t get the $100,000 Mercedes. Earth to Europe: have we met?

Like Greece, nothing will change in Spain in spite of the bailout.  People will not tolerate cuts in pensions, services or programs, and will riot should they be slashed. Leaders will talk common sense austerity measures, yet end up caving. And why not? They just suckered Europe (mostly Germany) and the United States into giving them $125 billion to do as they please. Instead of implementing reforms, it will be Business As Usual with Other People’s Money. Layoffs will continue, defaults will increase, and more companies will close because unaffordable entitlements and a horrendous work ethic will remain intact. 

But soon, Spain will be a distant memory as Italy, whose financial crisis is even larger, teeters on collapse.  All the money in the European Central Bank wouldn’t be enough to save that nation, so the Eurocrats will just keep the printing presses cranking out increasingly worthless Euros. 

So while Europe chooses to keep its head where the sun doesn’t shine, pretending all will be soon be ok while in reality runaway inflation sets in, all eyes will look to America.  As the world’s largest debtor nation, will it continue to borrow from China while sending billions to the Middle East because it willfully ignores its unparalleled energy resources? Reserves so vast, by the way, that America could again become the planet’s dominant manufacturing powerhouse if it produced and utilized what would amount to the world’s cheapest energy.

The truth is that neither Republicans nor Democrats have done what is necessary to fix America’s debt crisis and sagging economy, and it will get a lot worse before it gets better.  Despite that negative prognosis, however, the United States still has an ace up its sleeve that Europe does not.  

It possesses the indomitable can-do spirit — the most productive, powerful and awe-inspiring force the world has ever known.  Simply put, it is that unique American ability to blow through roadblocks and solve any problem when it gets its head in the game.  Europe may never awaken from its deep slumber.  But when America does, China will begging for revamped trade policies and the arrogance of the Middle Eastern oil barons would be put in check, once and for all.

And only then will the world finally be right again. 

The Worst Of Times To Graduate From College

OnlineColleges.net has compiled a list of the worst years to graduate from college starting with 1933. Yup, the last four are on with 2012 being about the worst.
Well Springfield High Class of ’09 next year should be better as I predicted albeit without Sarah Palin as president.
Here is the list courtesy of Jasmine Hall:
1933:
College graduates made up only about 4% of the population of the United States in the 1930s, as the economy was driven by unskilled labor that did not require degrees. Nevertheless, the students emerging into the work force then were faced with the highest unemployment rates in the country’s history. The crisis peaked in 1933 with fully one quarter of Americans out of work. (At the time, the calculation included workers age 14 and up.) That nearly makes 9% unemployment seem like a walk in the park, doesn’t it?
1961:
The recovery that began early on in the year was not enough to help the lingering negative effects of a 1960 recession on the job market. The country lost millions of jobs, with unemployment as high as 6.8%. Although much of the job losses were for unskilled and older workers displaced by new technology, people with no work experience (i.e. college students) were also hit hard. Part of the problem was Baby Boomers born in the early ’40s reaching college graduation age at the same time and causing the size of the labor force to balloon and opportunities to decrease.
1975:
When the economy starting tanking in 2009, the comparisons to the woes of 1975 began to appear. It was the third year of recession started in 1973 by such political missteps as wage controls, which forced salaries up and employers to cut back. Unemployment rose to 9% in May, just as new grads were hitting the job market. An article in the Lawrence Journal-World dated March 31, 1975, referred to students being “considerably less optimistic” about the job market. A dean at the University of Kansas was quoted as saying, “Most companies aren’t looking for as many people. And students are a little antsy.”
1982:
The recession of the early ’80s made for a brutal time to be a job seeker. Between the summer of 1981 and the end of 1982, the U.S. economy lost 3.7 million (3.1%) of its jobs. “Job-market distress” — an unemployment indicator created by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to factor in part-time workers who want full-time work but become discouraged and quit — hit a high of 17.1%. It would be nearly 30 years before it approached such a mark again (2009, see below). Unemployment stayed over 10% for 10 months, maxing out at 10.8% in November.
1983:
The situation did not improve much in 1983. The unemployment rate for college graduates set a record of 3.9% in January. The overall unemployment rate, meanwhile, was 9.6% for the year, peaking at 10.2% in April, an oft-cited example of the worst unemployment rate in decades. The next month, when college students all over the country were donning caps and gowns, the “jobs-hard-to-get” index that measures people’s feelings on the difficulty in finding a job broke 50, a mark it would not hit again until 2011. Surveys found employers in agreement that the market for new grads was the worst since World War II.
1992:
The savings and loan crisis at the turn of the ’90s touched off a recession in mid-1990 to March 1991. Hiring immediately slid 13.3%, then 9.8% farther in ’91. By ’92, new grads were looking at a dismal job market. Hiring fell another 10%, and although gains were made in the second half of the year, unemployment ended up at 7.5%. Payroll jobs were cut, along with weekly hours. Companies like Aetna Life, Compaq, and Bell Atlantic laid off thousands of workers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report in February 1993 entitled 1992: Job market in the doldrums.
2009:
The unfortunate class of 2009 were the first victims of the 2008 stock market crash that relieved companies of billions of dollars and with them, their ability to take on and pay new workers. Job offers plummeted 20% from the year before. By November, the unemployment rate for recent college grads soared past the 10% rate for the rest of the country to an incredible 16%. Stories of applications submitted to hundreds of employers with virtually no response became common. Newspapers were quick to break out the “worst job market in years” headline, technically true but soon to be made redundant.
2010:
Although the class of 2009 was the first to feel the effects of the 2008 market crash, 2010 grads faced a job market as bad or worse than theirs. And they had to contend with 2009 grads still looking for work by summer of 2010. People under 25 with college degrees faced an unemployment rate almost twice as high as that before the recession, not counting those who were underemployed. The labor force for their age group had shrunk by 1.1 million jobs. Average starting salaries fell 1.7% from the previous year. The overall unemployment rate would come out as 9.6% for the year, 0.3% higher than 2009.
2011:
Things began to look a little brighter in 2011, mainly because they couldn’t get much worse. But it was still a brutal job market college grads found themselves stepping into that year. The crummy unemployment rate of 9.1% was actually worse than it looked: the workforce participation rate fell to a 30-year low as discouraged job seekers gave up the hunt. And the rate of unemployment for workers in their 20s was visibly worse, hitting 12.8% in June. The average duration of consecutive unemployment also hit a historic record of 40 weeks.
2012:
Yes, we hate to break it to you, Class of 2012, but you’re graduating into one of the worst job markets in recorded U.S. history. The national unemployment rate is averaging 8.3% each month, and the story is even worse for recent college grads. More than 53% of workers 25 and under were unemployed or underemployed as of the most recent figures. While the national unemployment rate is trending down from recent highs, don’t get too excited; economists expect the rate to remain at or above 8% into 2014.