inquiringminds

Joe Francis and Larry Flynt want a bailout for the adult entertainment industry. No, it is not April Fool’s day this is for real. I saw it on the news tonight. How much money do they want for their bailout? How about five billion, yes billion dollars. Now, this is insanity. Why should we bailout the adult entertainment industry? Now, I am not an economist but what would happen if the adult entertainment industry went bust? I mean it is only entertainment for some people and most people do not make a career out of being a porn star. Most are only in the business temporarily because it is dangerous to do that type of work because of the health risks involved. I think that the term bailout needs to be redefined by Webster’s Dictionary because everyone keeps asking for a bailout. Our tax dollars need to be more sacred. I mean we never see where they go. I would like maybe a monthly statement issued to the American people documenting where the money goes.

Will our country change because we have an African American president in eighteen days? We want our economy to change and get better but can we really continue to grow as a country? I mean we took a step back in terms of gay rights. Now, even gay couples in California cannot get married even though they had just a few months before been allowed to marry. Even Ellen Degeneres got married when it was legal in California. She seemed very happy as did Portia De Rossi, her wife. We grew because we did elect an African American man our president but we also denied rights to other people. I never understood why people were against gay couples getting married. I mean if you are not gay why would you care if they got married. People bring up the moral issue but heterosexual people do drugs, lie, cheat, and steal and these things are not moral. Why deny someone the right to marry? What is gained there? Hopefully, we can all treat each other better. We need the crime rate to go down and we need people to be less afraid, all you see on the news is scary stories.

Even with a ton of discounts this year, many people did not spend as much money as they did last year during the Christmas season. One reason  is the economy and the fact that people just do not have a lot of money to spend on big ticket items. I got two gift cards this year. I had them for Walmart so I bought food with it and only spent about thirty two dollars extra. Many people had gift cards when I went to the store. It is one reason why people will even shop is because of gift cards and discounts. I only go to Walmart about three or four times a year. Usually just to get presents for family members or holidays. My local Walmart is about a half our away, that is if there is no traffic which there usually is. I prefer online shopping, especially if the shipping fees are reasonable. Overstock.com has become one of my favorites. They have refurbished stuff also which can be a good cost savings for me since I am on a very tight budget. We are all cracking down on our spending. It is a double edged sword.

There was a sludge spill in Tennessee recently. This happened because a power plant dike burst and flooded a neighborhood in Harrimann, Tennessee. The levees in New Orleans broke and flooded the entire city. There was a huge bridge collapse last year. We need to invest in our nation’s infrastructure. It is very important to do. We have not invested in our infrastructure in literally decades. It should not be left up to the states, the federal government needs to put money towards public works projects. Our economy is really bad right now and it would increase construction jobs in this country. President Elect Obama promised to invest in our infrastructure but the republicans may try to prevent it from happening. I do not know why people are so down about infrastructure investing. We need to keep up our country’s infrastructure because the nations bridges, pipes, and roads are in disrepair.

I read that over a billion dollars in the financial bailout package was given to executives. Like those executives really need the cash. I mean these executives make hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and get bonuses on top of their salaries. They also get other perks like company cars and stock options. The oversight of the Wall Street bailout has basically been non existent. I do not think that our tax dollars should have been dispersed so irresponsibly. The executives are still flying their corporate jets, so basically they claim to be poor and in need of money but they are still living the high life. They are living the high life on tax dollars from all of us. It really aggravates me how tax dollars are being spent. I mean no one has to even have approval before they spend the bailout money. I hope that during the new Obama administration that bailout money can be handled appropriately so our tax dollars are not wasted.

New York Governor David Paterson has proposed tax hikes in the state of New York. In this bad economy do New Yorkers need more taxes? I mean it is very expensive to live in New York. He wants to tax sugary drinks, beer, wine, ITunes downloads, cable, digital services, tickets on events, and movies. There will also be cuts in state programs and hikes for taxi fares. New York has a huge deficit, a  15.4 billion deficit to be exact. School aid will also be affected. I do not think that increasing taxes on people is the right thing to do. The first thing that people in government do when there is a money problem is to tax people. I do not think that it is fair. People are losing their jobs and cannot afford to spend extra money for these items. Yes, there is a budget deficit but that is not the fault of New Yorkers. I think that Governor Paterson needs to reconsider this tax proposal.

I saw on Sixty Minutes that the Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia wants the current price of oil to double. He would like to keep the world dependent on oil. These men do not really care about the environment at all. they just want to drill for oil anywhere so that they can make money.They seemed very arrogant on Sixty Minutes. I do not want the world to be dependent on oil. There is not enough oil in the world, no matter what the Saudis say. We need to save the environment before it is too late. Why do you think that cancer and disease are so much more prevalent now then it was forty years ago? It is because of environmental factors. I hope that president Elect Barack Obama can help to make this country more energy independent. Many politicians pay so much lip service to the environment during campaigns but they never come through. Hopefully, we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in the next few years.

Governor Rod Blagojevich is still employed as a governor. The Illinois governor who was disgraced for trying to sell President Elect Barack Obama’s senate seat is out of jail. He posted a four thousand five hundred dollars in bail. If I were him I would not be heading back to work anytime soon. I cannot imagine the gossip that is going on in the governor’s office. If only you could be a fly on the wall around that water cooler. The governor knows that he has a lot to answer for. All of these politicians rant and rave about wanting to serve the people. They are hit with scandals and they do not care about serving the people, they are just in it for freebies and what monetary compensation they can receive. The governor needs to resign. This would allow the lieutenant governor to take office and a special election could be held or the lieutenant governor could appoint a new Illinois senator. Scandals in politics never cease to amazeme but selling a senate seat is a new one.

The workers in a Chicago plant who staged a sit in to try and keep their plant open have won. The Chicago plant was going to close because it could  not get a line of credit. The plant’s credit has decided that it would extend limit loans to the plant. The workers still are not finished with their protest though. The creditor in this case is none other than Bank of America. The name of the plant is The Republic Windows and Doors factory. They had closed because Bank of America canceled its financing. This caused approximately two hundred workers to be laid off. What appalled everyone in this case is that Bank of America got federal bailout money but would not give financing to a company that makes energy star window that Americans need. The sit in was really inspiring. These workers were not going to go quietly. They wanted their severance pay and vacation time. Workers are having such difficult times right now. The economy is bad and many manufacturing jobs are heading overseas. Hopefully, this factory will be able to stay open. The publicity may help them get even more financing in the future/

Congress will send the White House the automakers’ bailout plan this week. The expected bailout package is fifteen billion dollars. This is a very hefty price tag. The automakers’ will need a czar to help oversee the automobile industry. There needs to be oversight to make sure that the bailout money is not being misappropriated. Congress wants the automobile companies to restructure themselves so that they will be viable. The automobile makers need to make cars that Americans will want to buy. Most people buy foreign made cars because they are cheaper, more energy efficient, and safer. The automakers said that they failed the consumers and they are right.Most Americans now want cars that are better for the environment and their pocketbooks. Hopefully, there will be a deal worked out that is good for the taxpayers, the automobile companies, and the government. I do not know what will happen but we cannot lose the automobile industry in the United States of America.