I know it's been a while since I've written anything for now President Obama's aides to take to him, but I think he's had some time to settle in.  Besides, some of these topics really need to be discussed now before the bailouts go any further.  Let's start with the money Bush approved. 


That $700 billion dollars was appropriated for the banks with virtually no limits on how it was to be used.  Consequently, the recipients of these monies have misused them.  Institutions have not been substantially increasing the amount of loans approved but rather using the money to pay for bonuses, trips and acquisitions which are unrelated to loans in any way.


And when GM and other automotive industrial businesses came to the government for bailout money, why weren't they referred to the banks that, since the bailout, the government technically owns?  One would expect that after giving the banks emergency money to make loans, that businesses that needed emergency loans could now get them.  That's how the system is supposed to work. 


There is no reason for the taxpayers to give money to companies who may get loans from the banks we've financed.
But the gross malfeasance committed by bank executives must be halted, immediately and with memorable harshness. The country is going hungry and those people are siphoning the soup bowl. 


Time to crack the whip.


All bailout monies not used directly for the purposes of the business of banking must be returned immediately.  And I mean in less than a week.  Executives who don't do that, or turn over the parties who misused the money will be jailed under the enemy combatant statutes of the Patriot Act because, well, stealing from relief money at a time when financial security is a matter of national security is an act of treason.  Put them away and we dont even have to deal with them until the crisis is over.  No lawyers, no charges, no communication, no habeas corpus.  They can sit and ponder their sins until the justice system gets around to them.  And that could be a long, long time.

 
The people who replace them then should have a greater respect for the handling of government assistance.  The days of money growing on bushes are dead and gone.  We have a responsible adult in the White House now and he's going to make us behave ourselves. 

Don't make him get the belt.


Republicans threw a hissy fit in the house and not one voted for the economic stimulus plan.  This is simply a show of obstinance by the republican party.  It wouldn't have mattered if the democratic party introduced a stimulus bill which came down from Mount Sinai chiseled into rock, no one would have voted for it.  This was the first time they had a chance to defy the president and like any good labor union they went on strike.  When the going gets tough, you know, the republicans become democrats.  Who knew?


Still I believe that money needs to be going out to the lowest levels, out in the counties and cities, to build jobs and rehire the workforce. Without jobs people can't buy.  Without sales merchants can't sell.  Without sales and income the government won't get taxes.  And without taxes, who's going to help all those people out of work? 

Better to get them all out working on the shambles of our highway systems and our bridges that, as happened in Texas when Bush was governor, went to hell in a handbasket from government neglect.  (hint: lowering taxes doesn't get public works repaired.  Only spending does that)

And the rest of the challenges this country faces?  Well, I don't have enough room for that.  Suffice to say that ALL of us are in this together, not just the president and not just the democrats.  If we fail, we fail together. 
 
So if you want the economy to get better, let's cooperate.  And if you see a house republican in the next couple of weeks, slap 'em for me, will ya?

Perry

Howdy!

Today I’m not going to talk about the election.  I think we’re all about to shed hairballs about all that.  We’ll all know soon enough how it will all come out and on Wednesday we can each take our celebratory valium and pull down the signs.  Today I’m going to talk about greed.

Have you noticed how the price of gas has suddenly fallen off to levels as low as the same time LAST year?  Aren’t ya glad?  The recent high prices, up to nearly $5.00 a gallon in some places, have caused the basic principles of economics to kick in – the ones that all those golden-parachuted, Italian-heeled executives learned as a freshman in college:  supply and demand. 

Supply and demand is a pretty simple concept – heck, even Dubya understands it.  What it means is that the supply will go up to meet the demand and at that point the equilibrium price will be set.  The corollary to this is that as demand rises and supply falls, prices will go up. 

This is what the Pig Oil companies have used to try and wring every last cent out of us.  Their reasoning seems to have been, “Hey, they have to have gas, so we’ll just charge them right up the butt.  They have to pay or they don’t drive!”  And that’s pretty much what happened.  However these heady brain-trusts forgot another rule of economics:  You can’t squeeze blood out of a stone.

There comes a point where the price is so high customers need to prioritize their spending.  When there are only so many dollars in your budget (a thought which is totally foreign to oil execs), some expenses get cut.  A huge reduction in the use of gasoline is one of the first changes made in most families.  They try to travel only to work and school and back.  People started using more public transportation and alternative methods such as biking, walking and hitchhiking (well, ok, not so much hitchhiking).  They traded in their gasburners for smaller, lighter cars.  When you reach the top of that bell curve, the only way to go is down.

The decision to raise gas prices to celestial levels also affected prices of public transportation: busses, trains and aircraft.  Airlines, already going broke because they and their entire system are outmoded, had to charge more per passenger to cover the cost of jet fuel.  Americans decided flying was once again becoming a luxury and planned their vacations closer to home, sharply limited visiting distant relatives and friends.  When it comes to a choice between paying the mortgage and bills or flying to Disney World, so sorry Mickey, maybe next year.

Pig Oil companies pretty much priced themselves right out of the market.  You can charge $100 per gallon for gas but you won’t find people lining up to buy it.  Instead, we will use our ingenuity to work out other answers.  In the last year many alternatives to gasoline powered transportation have been offered, many of them quite workable.  And once we have the infrastructure for renewable electricity, we can tell the oil companies to go to hell.  Americans won’t be held hostage by foreign terrorist or disgustingly greedy corporate power mongers. 

So, get busy there, you oil magnates.  Either pitch in or get out.  Oh, and a little time begging forgiveness wouldn’t hurt either.

Perry

My dearest constituents and friends,

Well, I think the time has come.  This has been a long, long two years.  And the last two months have been even longer.  Mom and dad have the news on and I just heard John McCain say, “Barak Obama wants to ‘share the wealth’”.  And people booed!  What’s wrong with that?  The wealthy have had the wealth for a long time.  And the folks down here that do the working and living and dying in this country aren’t seeing any of it.  The days of “Trickle Down” economics are over.  The only thing that trickles down is, well let’s just say it trickles down your leg.  McCain continued, “Obama wants to cut into your pie!  I want to grow the pie!”  Well, I don’t know what HIS mother used to do, but most people with pies bake them.  Perhaps Mother McCain was simply a confused cook.

Yesterday General Colin Powell, an experienced and once close personal advisor in the Bush administration, endorsed Barak Obama. 

And since it is the Obama campaign which has been borrowing most openly from my blogs and websites, I believe they are on the right track.  Barak has picked up my ideas about non-combustible energy development, economic reform and other important issues.  And he’s CUTER than McCain, just like I am. 

So, due to the blatant discrimination against non-human candidates and my own inability to gain more attention from the human voters, I am withdrawing my bid to become president of the United States of America.  And because of this act, I implore all my supporters and friends to vote for Barak Obama for president.  He is a fine man with an IQ nearly as high as mine is.  He remains unruffled and competent in the face of crises and has a lot of great ideas about making this country into a better place (no matter where he got them from). 

In conclusion, I want to thank all of you who have been with me throughout my two-year campaign and all of you have given support and sent in ideas since joining my team.  I deeply appreciate your dedication and friendship.  Do not despair, for I plan to keep Barak on his toes.  In fact, I’m going to ask him to make me his energy Czar.

And should John McCain win this election-

I hear it’s very nice in Australia.

With many thanks,

Perry Tenitiss

Greetings and some thoughts upon this Columbus’ Day Eve,

The man who discovered the Americas bravely convinced the frightened crews of three ships (Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria) to take him to the edge of the map where, he claimed, they would not fall to their deaths but rather go around the belly of the world and sneak in the back door of India.  And he was partially correct.  Yes, he was right about not falling off the map and that the world was round.  No, he didn’t end up in India.  However he covered his error quickly by claiming it was indeed India and naming the native people “Indians”.  That, my friends, is a mighty big spin.

And since we’ve been spending so much time in front of the television while mom lays around with her broken leg (BOTH leg bones broken we found out yesterday, by the way) I have been seeing some equally big spin.  And, I might add, some damned fine tap dancing.  Ever since the debate things have had the ambiance of a Wild West roundup full of drunk cowboys.  Or, if you will, the Keystone Cops on acid.

The McCain campaign took the Wind-Up Sarah Palin Attack Doll and turned her loose without keepers.  People are finding her Tina Fey-like performances amusing and comedic.  The problem is that she’s doing it for real, and in real life it just ain’t funny.  Her malapropisms, innuendo and outright lies have left a trail of blood which her running mate now has to clean up.  Put on your latex gloves John, remember: blood borne pathogens.

McCain’s damage control has gotten him booed at his own rallies.  Crowds of McCain supporters are talking about killing Barak Obama. The Sarah Doll and her misinformation machine have McCain’s more intelligent adherents afraid to have a terrorist for a president (you mean like a man who dropped Napalm on innocent civilians?) and calling him “an Arab”.  Unfortunately the Palin Doll isn’t getting out the message that Obama was born in Hawaii and McCain was born in Panama.  (Wait a minute, when did Panama become a state?)  Mr. Obama doesn’t even need to let his opponent have enough rope to hang himself.  John McCain seems to have his own rope factory.

One of the more amusing spins is when you pull the Chatty Sarah string and hear the “Obama is Reverend Wright” phrase.  Deep down in her recordings there is another phrase that doesn’t get much play, “My pastor is a Witch Doctor!”  Oh, I mean witch HUNTER.  Sorry, hope that doesn’t play as a sound bite.  Another really ridiculous “item” is that Barak’s middle name is Hussein.  First, how many infants choose their own middle name?  Now I’m just a cat, but I can tell you that I didn’t pick my own name.  Mom didn’t pick hers.  Dad didn’t pick his either.  Some people change their names, but there’s no record of Obama ever doing that.  And what if John McCain’s mom had a beloved Uncle Adolf and gave him that for a middle name?  Would that make John McCain a Nazi?  Let me repeat that last for the sound bites: John McCain a Nazi

Things are getting so bad I’m actually starting to feel a little sorry for Mr. McCain, except that he really brought it all on himself.  It reminds me of what my old grampa used to say, “You may speak out the truth as long as you know, but slander is slander where ever you go!

And Barak Obama and his camp remain poised and calm.  Although this situation is no doubt causing inward pain, outwardly he stands tall through the onslaught, confident the truth will out.  Was he on a committee with Ayers?  Yes.  Were they plotting to blow up the Sears tower?  Not according to the minutes.  Still, perhaps Obama should bow gracefully out of the race.  Why?  Well, let me tell you. 

Things have gone to crap under the hand of George Bush and his cronies (we WARNED you people when he left Texas, but did you listen?).  The economy of the ENTIRE WORLD is now in danger of collapse and the Ultra Great Depression fast on its heels.  Most, if not all of the financial regulations put into place after the Great Depression by Franklin Roosevelt have been removed over the years until the stock market is operating exactly like it did that October in 1929 if not worse.  You remember, the CRASH?  We didn’t recover from that until 1954.  Only cheating businessmen would think that other cheating businessmen should self-regulate.  And George Bush ran Arbusto Energy into the ground by committing fraud and left his investors holding the bags.  Not what I would call an “honest businessman”.  That's why I want to say, let a republican inherit this mess.  After that, there will never be a republican president again.  Ever.

So, this would be my plan:

1)      Declare a “bank holiday”- close the banks for a few days to give everyone time to get a grip.

2)      During that holiday, enact or reenact strict regulations on banking and stock market trading

3)      Halt all home forclosures for 90 days.

4)      Order renegotiation of forclosures during those 90 days.

5)      Restructure taxes on businesses grossing over five million dollars per year, on net income, flat percent tax.

6)      Put a five year freeze on executive salaries, benefits, dividends, profit sharing and retirements

7)      Order any company in America moving jobs overseas to pay full salary and benefits for each employee left without a job in the US for one year.

8)      Require companies to put retirement funds into trust prior to spending any net income

9)      Reduce congressional salaries by ten percent.

10)   Up food production by eliminating “fallow field” incentives

11)   Moratorium on all benefits and incentives to oil/gasoline companies

That’s a start, anyways.  And it’s waaaaaay better than leaving business to patrol itself.

So, enjoy the rest of the election and keep your head down if you go to see Obama.  There’s a bunch of republicans who’re being incited to riot (a felony, I believe) and conspiring to murder (yet another felony).  Personally, I’m wearing a bullet proof collar.

Perry (votecat)