Simplified Answer To All Economic Woes

It's Jobs Stupid.

Hey folks,

I know I was told I shouldn't say anything, but, nice try. You know who you are, and you know what I'm talking about. {Smile} Nice try. But here we are. Happy Thursday to you folks.

Now, as I said before, some of you heard me on the Tom Sullivan Radio Show on Friday talking about the Housing quote - unquote "Recovery." Tom asked what I though could be done to speed up the Housing "Recovery." Some of you did not like my answer. "Too simplistic." Well, I have news for you. It really IS just this simple. So I wanted to elaborate a bit more on this topic.

Oh, I could get on here and talk about different Economic Formulas. I could talk about inserting more Capital into the Housing Industry, and speak in Financial lingo. I could talk about statistics and show you how this and that SHOULD work in the Industry via looking at history. But this will not solve ANYTHING. It may make me "sound smart." You may be left with the feeling that this is just too complicated to understand therefore I must know what I'm talking about. But the TRUTH is really not that difficult.

Why are people not buying homes? Well, why are they NOT buying Cars. Why are they not buying a big screen TV from the local Retailer? A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday 72 percent of people said they were very worried about Joblessness and 67 percent were very concerned about Government spending. With the "Official" Unemployment rate of 9.5 percent, REAL numbers in double digits, and the huge Budget Deficit, people are just not going to go out an make investments in, well, ANYTHING.

Look, the formula is really simple. No Job, or fear of losing one, no spending. No spending, no new Jobs, no new Businesses. If you do not go to Merchant A and buy item B. Merchant A makes no money. They do not hire more people. In most cases, they CUT people. I'm not going to go out and buy that Big Screen TV, if I do not know if I will be able to pay my Electric Bill next month. I'm not going to go out and buy a new Car tomorrow if I am collecting Unemployment, or am fearful I may soon be. I, sure enough, am not going to invest in a long term Mortgage.

Chances are, raise your hands, you know someone now that is unemployed. They are collecting $500 bucks from the Government in unemployment benefits. That leaves little money, even with a "Housing Incentive" tax break, or $8,000 dollars check. That eight grand is not going to cover the long term Thousand plus monthly bill.

I told this story on the show. I met this guy at a Mini-Mart. We were both getting a Coffee. He just bought a home in this new Neighborhood that was built, well, started to be built, about Four years ago. There is him, and a Neighbor a street or two over. Oh there is houses there. About eight or so. Some are not even completed. He paid 1.4 Million dollars. Now he has done pretty good for himself. He can afford it. So he bought it. But now? The house right across the street from his, a "cookie cutter high end home," that looks just like his, now on the market for $400 Grand. Same configuration. Same size. Everything. $400 Grand. His Neighbor? He said his Neighbors are on their way out. They can afford it as well, but they have already lost a Million Dollars, why continue to pay. They can afford to go somewhere else, and pay cash for a smaller home. So they are thinking about it.

Credit? Who cares? Is your Credit Score 700 or higher? GREAT! Where are you going to get a loan? WHY are you going to get a loan? No one is lending. It makes no logical sense whatsoever to go out an make an investment, when you do not know what tomorrow brings.

I know this guy. He got a job where he is, because of the Benefits, and Job Security. It was pretty much a standard belief that once you are vested in this Job, you are there for life. Well, 5 years later, half his department was cut. His Supervisor that has been there something like 15 years got demoted. There are now like two people left in front of him, before he goes in and gets a pink slip. Do you REALLY think that he is all that concerned about investing in a bigger home? A new Car? He has a family, and his Wife has a child on the way. He WAS looking into getting a larger home. He has a modest two bedroom now. Nope. He is going to work with what he has got. His car is pretty beat up. Is he worried about going out and investing in a NEW one? Nope. As long as it will go from point A to B, he will keep it.

They use to say, "It's the Economy Stupid." Well, it's Jobs Stupid. Without Jobs, and with this growing fear about losing them, we will NEVER have a recovery in Housing, the Auto Industry, or ANY Economic Recovery at all. It ALL has to start with JOBS.
Peter

Damage Control By NYT and MovOn.org

Hey folks,

Happy Monday to you. Well, while we await the words of wisdom by Little Hitler, there is another Moron in the news. That's right morOn.org is doing some damage control. So is the New York Times. Problem is, no one really cares about what they are attempting to rectify.

Now you all know that the Soros funded MoveOn.org, put a full page ad out calling the leader of the war in Iraq “General Betrayus” This wasn’t cute. It wasn't funny. It was traitorous. It was completely asinine. To besmirch this four star General with a history of intelligence, integrity and service was completely over the edge. Yet NYT ran with it. Which makes them no different than morOn.org. Congress, minus the 25 Democrats OWNED by Soros, voted to, and did condemn this ad.

Now there was a bit of a side story that MorOn.org got a discount. This was challenged by many other people that wanted to run an ad at the same price. I thought this whole concept was stupid to begin with. Why give the NYT any more money? But it seems that Rudy did get the same price. However, he was not allowed to pick the date to run it. It was explained at the time that the discounted rate was for a span of dates. Even though the MORON ad ran on the date they wanted.

So now? It seems that the NYT and morOn.org are doing some damage control. MoveOn.org Political Action released this statement yesterday.

In the Public Editor column of today's New York Times, the Times' vice president admits that, without the knowledge or consent of MoveOn.org Political Action, the Times "made a mistake" in charging MoveOn its standby rate of $65,000 for the advertisement run on Monday September 10. According to the Public Editor, the Times' vice president admitted that the company's advertising representative "failed to make it clear that for that rate the Times could not guarantee the Monday placement but left MoveOn.org with the understanding that the ad would run then." According to the Public Editor, "the group should have paid $142,083."

Now that the Times has revealed this mistake for the first time, and while we believe that the $142,083 figure is above the market rate paid by most organizations, out of an abundance of caution we have decided to pay that rate for this ad. We will therefore wire the $77,083 difference to the Times tomorrow (Monday, September 24, 2007).

We call on Mayor Giuliani, who received exactly the same ad deal for the same price, to pay the corrected fee also.

The Public Editor's column makes crystal clear that at no time did MoveOn have any reason to believe that it was receiving from the Times anything other than the normal and usual charge for the advertisement. And there is no evidence of any kind that the error in quoting of rates was in any way based on the content of the advertisement or the identity of its sponsor. Of course, MoveOn believed that it was engaged in an arms length negotiation regarding advertising rates with the Times and assumed that it was being quoted advertising prices consistent with the Times' usual and normal charge.

MoveOn continues, of course, to stand by the content of the advertisement and to urge citizens and their elected representatives in the Congress to focus on the continued dishonesty of the Bush Administration and the American blood and treasure being lost in a war for which the Administration has no exit strategy. Certainly that issue is more worthy of the attention of the electorate and the media than the mistake of an advertising representative or the wording of an advertisement.

Ok, one THEY do NOT care about the “American blood and treasure being lost.” They are using the “American blood and treasure being lost” for political gain. They do not care about the war. All they want to do is get Bush. News flash for MorOn.org, you are sick. You are mentally disabled. You are not in good company.

You may have been trying to make right about MONEY. But we care about the Troops. We care about America. You are traitors. Plain and simple. Your little ad was a slap in the face of every man and women in uniform. It was a stab in the back of America itself.

Of course they continue to stand by the asinine content. We would expect non-the-less from the loons. And to answer their last question, your traitorous, idiotic, and completely FABRICATED advertisement IS worthy of attention, and YOU are worthy of condemnation.
Peter

Source: MoveOn.org Political Action