Which came first, the chicken or the house?

Image by river seal via Flickr

I've been seeing these annoying commercials about, of all things, the housing market. The apparent point is that the housing market creates jobs. OK, so I should now go buy a recently built home? This is almost a classic which came first, the chicken or the egg question. But, not really. 

First of all,  I don't think that building new homes creates jobs. On the other hand, I do believe that jobs provide the funds for people to purchase homes, even newly built homes. So, unless the housing market is being subsidized, which would be a really stupid idea, there needs to be a need for new homes and capital to purchase the homes in  order for them to be built. There may be a need, but, without jobs to provide funds for people to make the payments on the mortgages it is just another financial disaster waiting to happen.  Speculators may build homes in the hopes (speculation) that people will buy them. True, a few carpenters will work to build them, but those are temporary jobs, not sustainable stay in one place jobs. 

Now, why are these "commercials" being broadcast on a daily basis? Is it because I need to be convinced that housing creates jobs? It sounds a bit like propaganda to me. That makes me very leery of the people who are putting these adds out. Now, if the beef council puts out an add about "Beef, it's whats for dinner." I know it is because people in the beef industry want me to buy more beef. But I am not going to buy a house unless I need one (I do) and the price of homes in my area are right (they are not, they are still over valued). So, why do we have these "adds"? I hope we don't see another "stimulus" package on the horizon.

In LA It's Stimul-less not Stimulate

Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes the simplicity of the truth makes the complexity of the absurd, well, absurd. The $111million in stimulus finds received by Los Angeles has produced 55 jobs! That's lottery winning odds of getting a job as the result of stimulus funds. There should be a movie line I can quote where the actor says (with appropriate Southern drawl), "What we have here, is a failure to stimulate."

The old saying goes: "You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." A look at the jobs that are supposed to be being stimulated are fish rather than fishing lessons. Here is a sample of some jobs LA is hoping to stimulate. 

Among these are restriping left-turn lanes, replacing old traffic lights with energy-efficient LED signals, improving traffic signal safety at grade crossings and improving Commuter Express and DASH bus services. - Daily Breeze

Before the jobs are even created there is the biggest obstacle to the whole mess. The usual culprit for creating waste is the government. There is Federal, State and City bureaucratic red tape to be navigated. Supposedly, many jobs are lost in the red tape. They are being planned. 55 people are no longer waiting.

Governments do not create jobs. Entrepreneurs create businesses which create jobs. When the government tries to take the place of free market enterprise you get Cuba. People don't stand in line for jobs in Cuba, they stand in line for bread. I don't want to stand in line for bread. The way to create jobs is to allow businesses to flourish. The so-called "stimulus" package is just fish for a day.

So, it looks to me like it has, as predicted, become a "stimu-less" package. 

I Need Hope

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I don’t think I have been this depressed since watching Pink Floyds The Wall. I read an article in my local fish-wrap this weekend, Don’t count Obama out as he preps for act two, by Charles Krauthammer. 

After describing how Obama has changed over one-sixth of the economy by shoving his health careless bill down our collective throats, Krauthammer explains that the financial bill that will create some 243 new regulations and give government unprecedented power in the financial marketplace. Remember, power does what? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!  Then he discussed the stimulus package that has created “ruinous” deficits that are “not easily reversed.”

I have to just quote at this point. “The result? There just isn't enough to cut elsewhere to prevent national insolvency. That will require massive tax increases - most likely a European-style value-added tax. Just as President Ronald Reagan cut taxes to starve the federal government and prevent massive growth in spending, Obama's wild spending - and quarantining health care costs from providing possible relief - will necessitate huge tax increases.”

But wait, there’s more. Act Two will be “massive regulation of the energy economy, federalizing higher education and "comprehensive" immigration reform (i.e., amnesty) - will require a second mandate, meaning re-election in 2012.”

Here’s the deal, I knew I would not like the policies of then Senator Obama because he is a Democrat. What was hidden from me and American’s Republican, Democrat, and Independent voters alike, was just how far to the left, just how “progressive” (which is an oxymoron if ever there was one) Obama actually is.

So, what will we do as Americans? I am afraid that staunch, entrenched Republican and Democrat politicians  are too concerned with reelection and too deep in political crap to help. I like the Tea Party because they are not controlled by the Republican guard. I don’t like groups like the Coffee Party and whatever they are trying to name themselves because they are just puppets for the Democratic guard.

Who will really work for us?  

Obama Stimulus Did Not Help Me

Once again big government got it wrong. Once again, big government helped big business but not me.

I am not surprised, angry, but not surprised. I mean why would anyone think that giving banks crap loads of money was smart? What kind of naïve adult with a supposed sense of history thought the banks would just give the money to people? As my pre-teen daughter would say, “Seriously?”

My grandparents bought their house in 1928. The crash hit and the great depression began. Everybody (literally) on the block lost their homes.. The banks were left holding all the homes. What did the banks do? The banks couldn’t hold onto the homes so they sold people the house across the street at prices they could afford. Grandma told me they actually first bought the home across the street. The market adjusted. The banks made stupid loans. The banks paid the price for their greed and stupidity. My grandparents lived in their home until the late 1980. Grandma sold the house after grandpa died and was able to live comfortably in a nice retirement complex near her church and friends.

The bailout, the Obama stimulus plan is destined to fail and hurt the common man. The banks are proving this as we breathe and daily pay our taxes. The banks are waiting for the market to pick up again so they don’t have to pay the price for their irresponsible choices.

What about those of us who knew we could not afford homes at those prices even if a bank was dishonest and irresponsible enough to give us a loan? My wife and I are still waiting.

The Obama stimulus plan is not helping me. It is stupid and foolishly conceived.

Thus saith me.