UPDATES --

Parents:  The 'rents are in North Carolina, having visited Columbus OH for the last couple of days.  If you see a Chevy Trailblazer between NC and FL, honk and wave for the grandkids, will ya'?  Watch out, Florida, they'll arrive there tomorrow.  Batten down the hatches!

Job Hunting:  A form letter came late yesterday.  Third-party consultant's name on the window envelope.  Didn't look good, resembled a K.O.A.D. on arrival.  If you've been a job hunter, you know what I mean, they couldn't take the extra time to type an envelope AND a letter?  So light there's sure to be only one leaf of paper enclosed, with only just enough words to say, "Kiss off and die" in the most PC of terminology.

Worse.  I passed the test.  And they assured me that of course, while I've cleared this threshold, only the MOST qualified will receive an interview, and that if I am deemed worthy I'll be contacted in the next several weeks.  Hmmm.

<twiddling thumbs>

3:25:11 PM    comment []

Just for fun…

One of my favorite blogs, not.so.soft, has a little “contest” soliciting contributions.  See if you’ve got it in you to crystallize this past year in 20 words.  Even if you don't contribute, others' submissions are quite entertaining to read.  Some quite moving, some hilarious.

The Mayfly Project

Birth, infancy and toddlerhood of an index site might be fun to watch.  Check it out at:

PopDex

3:01:38 PM    comment []

RantsCounterRants:  Ants and Grasshoppers – the Ants aren’t all they’re made out to be…

An associate of my spouse with an intensely rightist lean (we’ll call him “Michael” for now) sent for my reading pleasure what he thought was a cute little parable about Ants and Grasshoppers where Ants = hardworking, cash-saving Republicans; Grasshoppers = bloodsucking, society-draining Democrats. 

Punchline: vote Republican.

Hell no.  Not if Republicans are Ants.

Ants are hoarding any savings they make at the moment and plowing them into bond funds or other near-liquid vehicles because deflationary trends and the threat of war aren’t conducive to investment in the stock market or capital goods.  Sure, there’s been a bit of a Santa Claus rally in the last month, but the market hasn’t fully digested all the news from Christmas sales and consumption as yet.  I’m guessing things may be a bit more slow once the January White Sales begin in earnest.  It’s probably going to take a couple of months of improving employment news before the market takes off in earnest.  More simply put, there’s no incentive for those with money to do anything except stay liquid. 

And the ants want tax cuts since there’s no money to be made from a liquid position.

As for the Grasshoppers?  The real ones aren’t as “Michael” depicted in his parable, all parasites on society.  Most grasshoppers I know hereabouts are the working poor, who can’t afford to pay for day care but lose state subsidies for it if they make one cent above $20,000 a year.  The system works to discourage them from making anything they can declare as income or they’ll find themselves having to cough up another $5,000 or more a year in childcare expenses (locally, it’s 5 grand per kid per year).  There are few jobs that pay at the next threshold for these same grasshoppers to break even – the greatest number of jobs available here in state are those that pay between $12,000 and $20,000 a year.  A no-win scenario for those “bloodsucking” grasshoppers.  Try paying rent, buying food, transportation and clothes, getting daycare on 12 to 20,000 a year.  It’s damned near impossible.  Don’t even think about squeezing in any post-high school education, there’s no money for it.  And health care?  Ha!  That’s the real reason why grasshoppers always look so damn puny come winter…

As Robert Shapiro shares in his recent article at Slate, a real key to turning this economy around and getting the grasshoppers to become ants is capital investment OR reducing the deficit.  More capital investment means more manufacturers making equipment for more companies making more goods…but who’s going to consume those goods if there’s no reason to do so, like no paycheck or lousy dividends and stock yields?  What about paying down debt in the mean time, since that’s a drain on economic productivity?  Ah, but that’s the opposite of new tax cuts, isn’t it?

“Michael” dear, thanks for your oh-so-funny parable, but you can just bite me.  You and all the other fire ants at the top percentile who’ve been nagging for more tax cuts on your precious dividends and other income can just shove your cash where it counts. 

If it doesn’t fit there, try buying some capital equipment.

1:50:10 PM    comment []