( Caution – Chris Grande Rant ahead)
Let’s call today “Ridiculous Friday” Shall we? Why? Let’s get right to the highlights of our “Top 3 Ridiculous Items” and I’ll tell you why.
Number 3: Peter Defazio, a congressman(what else) from Mars recommended a tax on trading stocks. He proposes a 0.25% tax on trades – for example, if this tax already existed, purchasing $8,000 of Citigroup a few months ago may not only have cost you $7,000 in losses, but would have also cost $20 extra in taxes (but only an extra $2.50 on the way out – so I suppose the key is buy losing trades if you want to keep the tax down!). After the discount trade industry brought commissions down from hundreds of dollars to as low as $5 a trade over the past 30 years, this guy wants to cost you more money – probably to fund his dinners at the Capital Grille (no offense to CG).
More info HERE
Number 2: Foreign Worker Visas are down and the new stimulus bill puts further restrictions on foreign worker hirings at companies taking stimulus money. I think I covered my feelings on this in my past post “Sorry Billy but Punjab…” It’s amazing – Bush was blamed for catering to “uninformed” types but this current administration appeals to another whole type of “uninformed” people who horribly misunderstand economics, trade, and the protectionist-type ideas that fly in the face of everything that made this country great. I’m extemely sad about this – and I’m tired of taking our economic policy from “Billy’s” playbook.
More about this topic HERE
And at Number 1: The idea that GM is not bankrupt – I have many problems with this whole GM mess but here’s a few: Why should they not fail? Let me ask you, if you lost your business or job, should government bail you out? Should everyone get a personal bail out package? Why not let GM lose Ford (which hasn’t taken Govt money YET) or to one of the NEWER auto companies in the US such as Tesla Motors.
Besides, the real cost is all of the benefits given to retired GM employees – sorry but I have to fund my own retirement, I can’t also fund fat pensions for everyone else. There is very little honor in America in my opinion. Everyone is looking to be bailed out from their own stupidity. Why were these people not so smart? Their union reps made these deals, and should have known they were long term UNSUSTAINABLE. that’s what we pay these actuary wizards for, isn’t it? But perhaps they are smart because politicians won’t let GM fail – they’ll gladly use our money to save these votes, ahem, jobs and retiree benefits.
There’s the 3 ridiculous items for Friday this week. If you enjoy this I might make this a Friday tradition. I can understand if these items make you as sick as I am so in order to help you feel better, I have this to show you:
Ron Paul’s bill to Audit the Federal Reserve (Fed transparency bill – HR 1207)
If they’re going to print money, bail out everyone and blow up the currency, let’s at least have transparency. Enjoy your weekend. I’ll write a little round up of my Florida trip soon – maybe over the weekend…
Chris Grande
