Saturday, November 22, 2008

Unemployment Benefits extended-11/21/2008

The US Senate has now approved up to an additional 13 weeks for the unemployed. The House overwhelmingly passed it and President Bush has agreed to sign it into law. It had previously been extended last June. The estimated cost of this latest addition is $5.7 Billion. The average weekly check will be $300/week nationwide. What this means to me is that millions will have received these checks for a year without ever leaving their home. They are not required to work for less than they were making before losing their job.
I have been opposed for a long time. I can’t believe there are not jobs out there needing workers. After a reasonable amount of time they should be required to take any job available. I would go so far as to have their pay checks enhanced with a government check to bring them up to the $300 figure, but not working and receiving these funds is just plain wrong.
Everyone in the news media keeps referring to FDR and the programs he enacted. What they never say is that FDR insisted that the men leave their home and put in 8 hours of work in exchange for financial assistance. He did not want them to lose their work ethic. Americans then worked their way out of it. Today we just give handouts to everyone, business and labor. We cannot continue as a viable country if this is our only solution.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
November 22, 2008
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Proposed Bailout for the Big Three Auto Makers

As I take the time to put these thoughts on paper I know full well that even if this handout is not approved by the Congress in session now, that it will be early next year when the new Congress and Administration take control. They will take the feel good position that once again some part of our economy is too big to fail. This is outrageous. Where will it end? The States and cities are lining up for easy money and there are store closings and bankruptcies occurring on an ever increasing frequency.
I will tell you how it will end. It will end when we are no longer able to sell bonds to other countries and become insolvent. I think we are closer than anyone realizes. They keep talking about income tax reductions and no new taxes when we are drowning in debt with interest on the national debt this year approaching $500 billion which is close to what is spent on our military, not including our two wars and space war costs. This is insane. Doesn’t anybody in authority realize the dire predicament we are in? I don’t disagree that it was the financial industry running wild that drove us over the cliff but that is another story for another time. This letter is about the auto industry.
There was an advertisement in the newspaper this week that Ford will be releasing their new “muscle” car in March. It is a supped up Mustang with a 350 hp. engine, with plenty of get up and go. Just what the public wants. One of the auto executives testifying before the Senate committee yesterday said just that. They built and sold cars wanted by the American consumers. The question is why do they want them? Could it be that advertising has been effective? After all, that is the purpose of advertising. If truth be known I would bet that consumers in Europe would also like them but with gas at up to $8 dollars per gallon they are wise enough to buy smaller more fuel efficient vehicles.
With the current cost of oil at $54/ barrel instead of $147 as it was a few months ago, what is to restrain American consumers from buying the large behemoths these companies like to sell? With a” happy days are here again” publicity campaign the big three may yet prove to be correct and those who have invested heavily in fuel efficient cars may find themselves outside, looking in, as happened in the 80’s when oil costs were lowered.
To keep this from happening, the Federal gas tax should be one that lowers and increases depending on the cost of fuel so that costs level out at a high enough level to encourage us to make efficiency serious criteria when buying cars and trucks. That just makes too much sense. Instead billions will be appropriated for infrastructure projects that could and should come from the users. They talk about global warming but when push comes to shove they are out of the office that day. How sad. It is our fault. We demand everything as long as we don’t have to pay for it.
The $25 billion already given to the big three to be used to speed up conversion will not be used for its intended purpose. It and the other $25 billion will just be used to keep them afloat until next year when either they will need more or they do indeed begin once again to sell the cars and trucks they are producing now.
Several years ago, Congress, in its ultimate wisdom gave huge financial incentives to buy large SUV’s and Humvees. Then finally they gave a small incentive a year ago for 60,000 hybrids. This was gone before you knew it. If they were serious then it would have been open ended but since Detroit wasn’t making them, this was used to buy Honda’s, Toyota’s and Nissans. These were all Japanese models. Even if produced in America by American workers, I am sure Congress was lobbied hard to not overdo it. What will Congress be doing for these companies to reward them for their engineering and development. It appears nothing. The same old story, bail out those who have not tried and punish those that have tried.
For decades the big three and the oil companies have done everything they could to keep from raising mileage. When California and other States tried they were successfully taken to court. G.M. in particular knows how. They had great all electric cars leased in California to enthusiastic users. They called them back and crushed them to wipe out any thought that they ever existed. They make models in Europe that sell. They just don’t want to sell them here as their profit margin is so much greater with the larger cars and trucks.
Trust me, this is the old story repeating itself over again and I fear with the same result.
The greatest boon Congress could give, that would help all American producers compete in the world economy, would be enactment of universal health care like our competitor countries enjoy. Don’t hold your breath.
In conclusion, the only answer is to let them sink or swim. Use Chapter 11 as the Airlines did. Most of them survived, some didn’t. That is the way free enterprise works. Some make it, some don’t. Free enterprise includes the right to fail. Under Chapter 11 they would be granted time to delay payments to creditors, re-negotiate contracts, drastically reduce executive compensation, eliminate corpulence such as personal jet aircraft that cost thousands per hour to use, and really get serious about redesign.
There is never any useful purpose for these letters I write except to relieve the pressure I create for myself and to leave a paper trail of what could have been accomplished but never was.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
November 19, 2008
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Blueprint for Success

If I was wealthy enough I would purchase a copy of three books for every member of Congress. If they would read and then use as a guide it would not be long before our country would emerge from the financial nightmare we are suffering from. The books are; “Free Lunch” & “Perfectly Legal” by David Cay Johnson and “Bad Money” by Kevin Phillips. I urge you at least to read and then take the leadership in putting forth an agenda including the information gleaned from the work already done by these two outstanding patriotic researchers.

Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
November 12, 2008
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Monday, November 10, 2008

My thoughts on issues to be addressed by the new administration

Representative Gabrielle Giffords
Dear Mrs. Giffords,
Once again I am writing to you since writing to either of our Arizona State Senators is a lost cause. First I want to congratulate you on winning re-election. I believe you have made a great start on your political career. Who knows how far you will go. I wish you the best.
The purpose of this letter is to trigger thinking on your part of things of importance for the next administration to accomplish. You may only have a minor roll to play but on the other hand, you are there, and you are no longer a freshman. You have proven yourself. I would hope you would be bold and assert your thinking into the deliberation process rather than just vote as the leadership demands.
1- Call on the President to immediately release Border Patrol Officers Campion and Ramos from prison. They should be invited to the White House together with their families and be given a public apology for wrongful imprisonment. They were putting their lives at risk apprehending a proven drug smuggler. The morale and effectiveness of other agents would immediately improve and their effectiveness increase with the knowledge that they could pursue their purpose without fear of prosecution.
2- Suggest to the President to remove all political appointments from the agencies that were put there to dictate that the agencies follow the political agenda. With this accomplished then they will be free to discharge their responsibilities per their charter.
3- Suggest that the missile defense systems currently being installed in Poland be quietly dismantled removing this threat to Russia. I am sure he could receive some concession from them such as speeding up the destruction of nuclear weapons or improved accountability of them, anything to make the world a safer place. This has been totally wrong from the start. It is akin to Russia once again placing missiles in Cuba. We wouldn’t allow that. Why would we think that Russia would just acquiesce?
4- Encourage the President to stop all offensive operations in Iraq and accelerate the drawdown of military personnel from that place. The current President is doing all he can to keep this from happening. President Obama contacting the Iraqi Government could keep them from signing the agreement.
5- Request that he demand the Chinese allow their currency to float which would immediately have the effect of removing their built in advantage by 40%. This could begin the return of less labor intensive industries to America. In addition request that he follow thru on his campaign pledge to eliminate the incentives to moving manufacturing off shore. Take action against countries like S. Korea who severely restrict imports of American goods while they are allowed free access to American markets.
6- Bailout- You voted against it, but then after changes, you voted for it. This was done in a panic mentality. Now we find that A.I.G. is asking for additional funds up to nearly $150 billion. We are also informed that some banks are using the windfall to purchase other banks, give bonuses and sponsor expensive outings as a reward for great service. I have also read that since the government now has ownership that we the taxpayers will be paying legal expenses to defend the ones who created this mess to begin with. Once you return you and others must address these problems and make necessary corrections.
7- The cause of the stupidity was the bundling together of home mortgages into salable packages. I don’t know how, but if possible this should be outlawed. When a family purchases a home most need a mortgage. They get that through a local bank. The way it used to be is that bank held the mortgage until such time as it was paid off. It was then redeemed and kept as a keepsake or burned in a party. A mortgage should not be considered an object to sell. It should just be between the family and their bank.
8- Review all of President Bush’s signing statements which allowed him to sign a bill and then ignore it.
9- I care about the environment, wildlife, etc. Return the Forest Service back to protecting the forests not exploiting them for profit. These must be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
10- I realize we must have American auto makers but I am reluctant to give them billions when the leadership of those companies refused to develop fuel efficient vehicles in this country. They know how. The vehicles sold in Europe are fuel efficient and a number of years ago they did have electric cars on the road. A management decision killed them in favor of gas guzzlers. Removing health care costs as part of a universal health care system like the rest of the civilized nations do would greatly reduce their costs and eliminate this unfair cost disadvantage.
There are so many opportunities to repair the damage of the past eight years. I wish you and your compatriots well. Enjoy yourself and revel in your accomplishments.

Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
November 12, 2008
jackbwalters@yahoo.com

Monday, November 3, 2008

Long term occupation of Iraq

Representative Gabrielle Giffords
Dear Mrs. Giffords,
As the end of the Bush years is finally approaching, you need to be alert to the damage he can still inflict on America before he finally heads back to his ranch. The issue of paramount importance to me is the treaty he is desperate to sign with Iraq which would give legal status to keep American troops in that country until 2012, if the articles in the paper are correct.
There is a daily report in the Star showing that he is giving in on all of the provisions demanded by Iraq except the one about them prosecuting our soldiers for alleged offences. Even this, in the end he will sacrifice to achieve his purpose which is decades of occupation as we still do to Germany, Japan and Korea. Your speaker has refused to consider impeachment so far. Should he do this, it alone should be an impeachable offence?
He will agree as I have stated. Your job will be to demand that he not be allowed to sign a treaty without the consent of Congress. I believe it is the Senate not the House. I could be wrong. I will not be asking Senator’s Kyl or McCain as they will support Bush, as they always do. Whether Obama is elected or McCain, I still insist your duty as our elected official, is to pressure the Senate to study and then vote hopefully against this outrageous treaty. What that means is that our troops would cease offensive operations at the end of this year and return to their bases and start a systematic withdrawal of troops and equipment.
Please give this issue your urgent attention whether you are re-elected or not.


Jack B. Walters
3961 N. Hillwood Circle
Tucson, AZ 85750
(520) 722-2958
November 3, 2008
jackbwalters@yahoo.com