Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Iran, Oil, and Citibank
I wanted to make another quick comment on some items today. I saw an article on the web that has the Iranian President saying that the economic woes in the West (world wide really) is the beginning of the end for Capitalism. I can understand his point of view, but he is completely wrong. He obviously doesn't understand the history of economic trends and that these worldwide recessions and depressions have happened before. Unfortunately this one is made worse than the last several recessions because the regulations that were put into place in the US during the 'Great Depression' have been slowly eroded over the last 30 years.
I am glad that some of that may be reversed only because it means we may finally get some sanity back in this country as a whole.
Where does Citibank fit in all of this? Well they announced yesterday that they were performing much better than expect in the first quarter of this year, and the market went up. January sales numbers for Wal-Mart were better than anyone expected. Is the economy suddenly better off than it was 4 months ago, NO. It is just a sign that the economy 'maybe' at the bottom, not that it is turning around. We could be at this level for sometime before things improve.
Why do I feel we may be at the bottom? Aside from the two items mention above, I have seen an increase in the last month in the number of jobs available in my field. Tax accounting isn't something a company rushes out to hire in a down economy because we are seen as a double hit on the bottom line. An increase in Tax Accounting jobs available with corporations is a good sign that companies may be starting to feel better about their financial situation. Actually 2 of the jobs that I have seen are new positions with companies that haven't had internal tax accounting personnel in the past.
(Hopefully one of them will come through in the near future.)
Please keep your fingers crossed, or my wife and I may soon be amoung the growning numbers of homeless people.
I am glad that some of that may be reversed only because it means we may finally get some sanity back in this country as a whole.
Where does Citibank fit in all of this? Well they announced yesterday that they were performing much better than expect in the first quarter of this year, and the market went up. January sales numbers for Wal-Mart were better than anyone expected. Is the economy suddenly better off than it was 4 months ago, NO. It is just a sign that the economy 'maybe' at the bottom, not that it is turning around. We could be at this level for sometime before things improve.
Why do I feel we may be at the bottom? Aside from the two items mention above, I have seen an increase in the last month in the number of jobs available in my field. Tax accounting isn't something a company rushes out to hire in a down economy because we are seen as a double hit on the bottom line. An increase in Tax Accounting jobs available with corporations is a good sign that companies may be starting to feel better about their financial situation. Actually 2 of the jobs that I have seen are new positions with companies that haven't had internal tax accounting personnel in the past.
(Hopefully one of them will come through in the near future.)
Please keep your fingers crossed, or my wife and I may soon be amoung the growning numbers of homeless people.
Spree Killings
I just felt a need to discuss this for a moment since we had a spree killing yesterday, an attempted spree killing on Sunday, and the 17 year-old going on a spree in Germany today.
I find these very disturbing. Yes, I sure most people do. The main reason that I feel the need to get this off my chest today, is that I suspect we will see more of this kind of thing. I don't think that this is an isolated set of incidents, but something symptomatic of the economic circumstances that we find ourselves in at this point in history.
There are always the occasionally spree killing, but I can't remember see so many in unrelated 'venues' in a short period of time. If the world economy doesn't begin to show signs of improvement soon, we will probably see more of these sorts of things. I really hope that I am wrong, but I just see the trend toward a violent outburst as getting worse as the economy gets worse.
I find these very disturbing. Yes, I sure most people do. The main reason that I feel the need to get this off my chest today, is that I suspect we will see more of this kind of thing. I don't think that this is an isolated set of incidents, but something symptomatic of the economic circumstances that we find ourselves in at this point in history.
There are always the occasionally spree killing, but I can't remember see so many in unrelated 'venues' in a short period of time. If the world economy doesn't begin to show signs of improvement soon, we will probably see more of these sorts of things. I really hope that I am wrong, but I just see the trend toward a violent outburst as getting worse as the economy gets worse.
Labels: Commentary
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Is the Far-Right going completely off the reservation?
I know it has been some time since I have been here to express my self by something that I just read is really disturbing me.
Chuck Norris: I may run for president of Texas
This article/post of Mr. Norris at World Net Daily, greatly disturbs me. Not because it is being said by Chuck, after all he showed that he is a bit nutty during the last election cycle, but because I do not believe Chuck is the only one who is 'thinking' this way.
I have been telling my wife for more than two years that I see signs that this country is moving toward a second civil war. I do not believe it is inevitable but I do think that it becomes hard to avoid when you have people at the extremes of the political spectrum who are so locked in to a set view point that they are unable to compromise.
The problem here is that both sides are becoming set in the 'it's my way or the highway' mind set, but that is not were we need to get to. The Republicans and others on the Far-Right are always talking about our Founding Fathers and their religious beliefs. Very few of them would be in line with the religious view that are prevalent today. Most of them were deists and not Christians in the modern usage.
I am really getting tired of the situation. The same loons who were saying while GWB was President that speaking against the policies of the President during a time of war were committing treason, are doing the same thing with Barack as President. The President has changed, and the party of the President, and the tune has changed. They have no problem talking about other people being treasonous for disagreeing with a President, but when they talk open sedition, apparently that is okay.
This is really frustrating.
Chuck Norris: I may run for president of Texas
This article/post of Mr. Norris at World Net Daily, greatly disturbs me. Not because it is being said by Chuck, after all he showed that he is a bit nutty during the last election cycle, but because I do not believe Chuck is the only one who is 'thinking' this way.
I have been telling my wife for more than two years that I see signs that this country is moving toward a second civil war. I do not believe it is inevitable but I do think that it becomes hard to avoid when you have people at the extremes of the political spectrum who are so locked in to a set view point that they are unable to compromise.
The problem here is that both sides are becoming set in the 'it's my way or the highway' mind set, but that is not were we need to get to. The Republicans and others on the Far-Right are always talking about our Founding Fathers and their religious beliefs. Very few of them would be in line with the religious view that are prevalent today. Most of them were deists and not Christians in the modern usage.
I am really getting tired of the situation. The same loons who were saying while GWB was President that speaking against the policies of the President during a time of war were committing treason, are doing the same thing with Barack as President. The President has changed, and the party of the President, and the tune has changed. They have no problem talking about other people being treasonous for disagreeing with a President, but when they talk open sedition, apparently that is okay.
This is really frustrating.
Labels: Commentary
