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New Years Resolutions

Well, we all make resolutions this time of year but you might find ours just a bit MOOT!
I resolve to have answers to the following questions (many are carry overs from 2007,2006,2005…)
1- Why do we continue to create methanol from Corn?
It is very apparent that it is the least effective method for producing the alcohol we blend with gasoline while we continue to subsidize the industry that is most effective in producing methanol…. Sugar Cane. Solution is to quit giving handouts to farmers that only increase the cost of food as corn products are used in over 50% of any processed foods you now buy. Take away the subsidies to sugar cane producers and let them make Methanol. Win win for taxpayers!
Plus give subsidies/tax break to those who can produce BioButanol, as it is closest thing to gasoline itself and can be made from non-food products including sugar beets.
This would create new farmers and more home grown jobs and more small independent companies.

2- Why can’t I figure out how much anything actually costs in the store?
A- look for price… it’s not there, not stcker, no sign. It was suggested to take item to a scanner located at end of isle. Found getting price on first 5 items took 10 minutes.
B- look for price… price was listed for someone in a club that I do not think I am part of. Where is the price for anyone else? Clerk tells me fill out some forms and I can get the club price but the info seems kinda personal to me. I take pass and ask for prices.
c- I did my smart shopping and only bought the things that I could positively know what the price was and thought was a fair price and still surprised at the check-out. Reviewing the sales receipt at home I find the prices charged did not match the price I find on shelf on 20% of the items. I also find not all of my purchases were included when they were bagged. I also find some items were charged twice when I only bought 1. Boy did I $ave #&*!?
Determined to get this straight, I wait in line back at store for 25 min. and take 10 minutes to explain to the service desk clerk where now I seem to have a hard time to prove my point and spend 5 more minutes explaining to manager where I still have a hard time to prove the missing items and double charge for items. Well I get my $3.27 that was mis-charged me for items at the registar and have lost the cost for 2 missing items and 2 double charged items. What a bargain, I basically spent 30% more on the items that I did receive after the correction refund if you look at it that way and
I also find that nobody cares as prices still wrong and register still double ringing and I think nobody looks at sales slip and/or to lazy to get a correction. This problem is made bigger by this grocer having bought-out the more than 12 local grocers in the past 20 years and I have no where to go except a Big Box Mart and having had a similar experience there, I stopped going there 5 years earlier as a cost savings measure.
MOOT It Is !

3- Why do we not demand that US companies dis-invest the foreign assets they acquired in the last 12 years before getting a forced hand-out from the taxpayers credit line? Talk about a re-distribution of wealth, is this really MOOT!

4- Who shall prove “The Greenhouse Effect”?
All of our current thinking seems to be based on this theory that has yet to be more than just that… a theory. I say that as a true environmentalist!
Yes, I am NOT an activist (those are the folks who would tell you what you should do having no experience in it themselves). I have lived with a wind generator for 8 years, solar electric for 9 years and still working on my solar/geothermal heat system I designed in the late 1970’s while in High School.
Let me tell you this is not a cheap thing to do no matter the scale or if you are smart enough to do it yourself so I will not preach to you that you need to do it as you probably can not afford it and has little pay-off unless you have space for a larger scale and have some time to recover payback.
But everyone benefits when you find alternatives to pesticides and other toxins.
That my friends is being an environmentalist and not a activist. One who cares enough to actually do it as a matter of principle.

To get back to the MOOT point here, I have no doubt that the earth is warming ever so slowly and that the effects of that will still be a bit of theory but one can easily project that it is not a very rosy projection.

1st I guess, I should state just what the “greenhouse effect” is as not many that are touting it ever tell you what exactly it is. I ask those who use those words to explain it to me and 99% do not come close so here it is (short version).
Light/Heat energy from the sun passes through the atmosphere (carbon dioxide as well as nitrogen and oxygen), reflect from the earths surface and
then are somehow reflected by the carbon dioxide( CO2 ) that it just past on the way down in the atmosphere like a one way mirror, to the earths surface and lower atmosphere once again thereby adding to the heating of the atmosphere and creating “global warming” or atmospheric heating.
So now I will not continue to go into the aspects of the theory of “global warming” as they are all based on the “Greenhouse Effect” being a fact not theory. This way will not get to the root problem until we face up to the science facts and the Greenhouse Effect is not one of them.
Why don’t the scientist speak-up?
I can only think that one, it is now a political issue and research funding dollars are at stake and two, while many who may disagree with the cause, the root fixes that are being planned are good steps in the right direction anyway as some just hate the oil companies just like I do but I reduced handing my hard earned dollars to them some time ago as a matter of personal choice.
As far as increased carbon dioxide levels go, please see data about deforestation. When you have destroyed as much CO2 converting vegetation, I.E. rain forest etc, you not only are going to see higher CO2 levels but lower O2 levels (that is the stuff we breath).
One other point that needs to be made in this is that when you burn any fossil fuel (ie oil, coal, gas, methane, propane) one by-product is common to all and it is water. Yes, you may not see this when cooking with your natural gas or see it at your tailpipe, but it is there in the form of steam.
I can not understand why this seems so obvious, it has not been looked-at at-all! Increased levels of moisture. This makes more sense than the greenhouse effect as Mars is comprised more CO2 (95%) then we (earth) have Nitrogen (78%) and if this data were even close to correct, it would be a very warm planet, not 65 degrees on a hot day at its equator and so cold that the CO2 freezes at its poles. CO2 does not have a liquid state or Mars would have oceans of it. Mars does lack one thing… WATER, H2O.
Buy the way, is anyone taken to an idea that our Great Lakes continue to empty (lowering) to the ocean (raising ocean levels) and continue a 100,000 years of receding from the melting of former ice shelf/glacier that was once there that also has fossils of life in a tropical environment?
But in any case, it is a historical fact that the earth went through as many as 7 Ice Ages that we can tell and as many high temperate/tropical periods as well. The question is how fast is the current one progressing?

I can only think that the hurry-up mode of the fixes that have been plotted, all be it good, but expensive ideas that are improbable until oil is $200 or more a barrel and gas $7 a gallon. I do not think that anyone has done the math on just how much CO2 is created in the making of alternatives along with many other toxins that we are not ready to deal with just yet. But this is no reason not to proceed.
One could also project from the normal cycle data of the earths short term to intermediate temp cycle is set to decline soon (2012?) and anyone who supports this idea would like to be able to claim victory in getting some action before the next minor temporal cycle downward start to show.
Take some time to look at record highs and lows and you will find more record high temps created in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s than present day. But gee, we have not been recording temps that long.
It was just during WW2 that that Japan showed us they knew of the “JET STREAM” as we did not.
And was just in the 1980’s that science told us we were going through a “mini ice-age” (a dip in the short/intermediate cycle).
Science also just discovered “la-nina” and “el-nina” in the 1980’s
What other stuff do we not yet now of our planet?
I know of one that seems to be forgotten that I was taught in 8th grade science… 80% of the earths kinetic energy (heat energy) comes not from the sun, but from inside the earth. The Sun is the icing on the cake.
Don’t believe that… …then why is geothermal heat more reliable than solar ?
As it was once told to me ” if you do not like the weather, just wait, it will change”.

In saying all of this please believe that supporting alternatives is foremost a national security issue. But you can not do enough fast enough to make a real difference without making more impact on what you are trying to avoid.
Best and fastest solution is to start planting lots of vegetation now and stop the decline of what we now have if you believe CO2 is the Culprit or not you might worry about the oxygen supply that without the vegetation to convert the CO2 to O2 while we burn more O2 with every power plant, car ride, meal cooking and forest fire is a danger to our children. Its like taking out a loan on our grand kids credit.
I just want to slap someone when every major storm or forest fire is blamed on global warming and folks are buying it!
In any case you will have a much bigger problem to deal with than global warming soon….
… it is plastics…. more to come!
Forget the greenhouse, take care of the plants in it as you are only as healthy as they are, or are you as MOOT!

5- Why have all the Anti-Trust laws been ignored ?
Most of the current companies that now are failing, have been the largest to merge in the past 15 years. This would never have been allowed pre 1980 so where was the needed change to create the new allowance for this. Now that the small non-corporate independent retailers and banks are gone, where do I go for my needs when the new bigger merged company’s are sitting under chapter 11 or even worse. Their competition is now gone, I have no choices.
Please only ask yourself if you are willing to bail-out Wal-Mart with a tax increase should they fail.

George Bailey Must Have Jumped From the Bridge !

For those that do not understand the reference, “It’s A Wonderful Life” 1946 Movie Building And Loan Chair George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart).
How else can you explain the lack of a Savings and Loan Now-a-days?
For those that have forgotten just what that is or was,
Local folks with Secure Vaults hold the savings of other local folks and pay them interest on their money.
The money is then made available to other local folks for lend at a premium over the interest paid to the savers.
Yes, I think Mr Potter has won the day.
What kind of interest do you make on savings now ?
If you borrow, look at what they charge for the lease of the money and those hidden rules and fees seem to change no matter if you are “good for it” and probably worse if you are good for it. Mr Potter (The banks) have become so large, they do not know who you are. Just how much juice can you squeeze from that lemon.

But please take a moment to ponder if all of this had not happened. I mean to say that the most of us put a third of our savings into a Savings and Loan where local money stayed local much like George Bailey’s Building and Loan.
I can’t say you would be better off personally but your community would be better off and you personally would be better for it as you would have more folks working and paying taxes so your share of those taxes needed would be less. It seems to be a simple trend to follow, the more and bigger the companies get, the fewer jobs there are and the higher taxes we are asked to pay in the following years.

Now Mr. Potter has become so large and greedy after putting the thorn in the butt Bailey Building and Loan out of business that he can not manage his own affairs and asks us for a hand-out. Because so much is riding on so few, it is a major event that they should fail and now we must actually do something for him as he controls so much. Gee, I thought we were to bail-out George Bailey not Mr Potter. I have never seen a bigger argument to “Break-Up” the Mr Potters of the world into smaller, more manageable parts but the reverse seems to be continuing despite our recognition of that. Show me where and how many people have benefited by allowing big mergers and and will show you more that have lost, just over a longer period of time so the losses remain a hidden statistic. Just not enough competition for a Mr Potter now-a-days. He spent so much acquiring competition, he can not sit-out a small storm, instead, a small storm is now a hurricane for all of us.

Now when you spend your money at The Big Box Marts, Company Owned Franchises or the Local Gambling parks of the world that Mr Potter Types Owns or Controls, you help a local employee with a small wage and that is all. The profits are taken to be spent in other regions of the country and world. Mr Potter just horded the money to benefit only himself and that is legal and O.K. but what does it do for your choices to put your money spending or saving?
Local money taken to other areas is local money never taxed again that tax loss you must now make-up for while your new Franchise or Mart has been costing you in other ways in the form of Roads/traffic control, police and fire protection and water and sewer improvements. Now you have little choice as Mr Potter is are all that survives but at a price we shall all pay.
We are all guilty of greed and unlike the movie, You sold your shares to Potter, Now You Must Deal with Mr Potter! How do you like him so far? Much more of Mr Potter to come if you have not yet made up your mind.
Yes, George Baily must have jumped from the bridge or got his wish and never have been born.
…signed – Clarence, who never got his wings and now wishes to join George and not been born and therefore moot.

Where are you George Bailey, we need you !
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Blagojavich Gets Caught !

That is what the headline should read. There is much more to read into what we are hearing.
First, I think we can all agree that this sort of thing has been going on for quite some time in all areas of our great nation.
The two things that make this stand-out is 1- It is a sequel of corruption for the state and 2- It was Obama’s former Senate seat.
Now the later is what got the most attention, I think to make an attempt to at least embarrass the new President or at least try to keep his plate full of things to deal with before he even takes office. Of course I find this most counter-productive but normal politics not needed at this point in our current crisis.
What disturbs me the most about all of this is how some are attempting to deal with it. Trying to find ways to bend the constitution to get him out of office. This is dangerous even if it is popular. Hey, I don’t want to see this guy continue any more than the folks in his home state but I’m not willing to let someone set a new standard for ousting these guys that could be used in a way not intended for perhaps a politically unpopular but good future Governor. Please think about this before supporting bending the rules to fit the need as it makes Us just as corrupt and dangerously subject to bad future politics. It may be that they will just have to live with this guy till he is convicted or unseated by popular vote. That is the American Way!
I can only wish they would clean out Congress as well.

Big 3 Get Taxpayer Money As Loan ?

GM, Speaking before Congress says that filing bankruptcy is “NOT AN OPTION”.
I can only imagine the reason why is because the type of bankruptcy they would file would be
a Chapter 11 (reorganization) and allows the government to see the books and
allows a judge make the decisions about what is cut including the CEO and board wages/benefits.
I do think there are many secrets in those books they do not want to share or have investigated.
In a earlier post, we touched on the fact that they were nearly selling as many cars as they
did before the 4 record setting years and seemed to make money then. Of course now
everyone is too scared to buy anything and that has to hurt everyone including GM.
I found an interesting fact from a non-featured article at Forbes.com that mentioned in later text
that GM, after re-tooling with original taxpayer money (25 billion) the past year, is taking the large equipment
purchase tax write-off in a 1 year write down instead of the normal 7 year depreciation.
This allows them to show no profit/big loss for the year and this increases their bargaining power with labor,
Bond Holders and the like as this makes the books look much more dyer.
It is a bit irritating that I keep hearing a quote of Line Workers at GM making $78 per hour.
Lets set the record straight on this right now as some folks are repeating in a way that gives this
a new meaning. They DO NOT MAKE $78 per hour. The number that everyone seems to be
repeating and not quote the source is a cost of the employee with medical and retirement expenses of both
the current and already retired workers included that GM did not properly fund the pensions of. So if you do as they do, compare this to a worker at a US Toyota plant, keep in mind Toyota does not have “Legacy Retirement Costs” to deal with or at least yet.
Nobody has been there long enough to collect a 20 year funded pension with benefits that would be added on the cost of a current worker. The line worker makes about the same as a Union Iron Worker, where the jobs they do are a bit more dangerous. Reality is they probably do make 15% more wages and benefits than similar industries but please keep in mind they negotiated those benefits so that means GM is also partly to blame for it.
A quote from Forbes.com
“workers at GM make $28 per hour, versus $25 at (nonunion) Toyota plants in the U.S. Benefits and payroll taxes add $33 an hour at GM ($22 at Toyota). Another $17 an hour of compensation at GM (nothing at Toyota) is for health care for current and future retirees”
So it is not a fair comparison but does reflect the need to do something with the rising cost of health care that is a big part of this number
and growing for them and the rest of us.
I don’t see anyone comparing the wages and benefits of the CEO & CFO to Toyota counterparts as the margin is much greater there.
In any case, the UAW at GM will take control of their own Benefits in 2010, taking the burden off GM, but the company is still 10 years overdue for a trim and a new vision of what they want to be in the future, much more than Chrysler did in the 70’s !
In any case this is an attempt to have a bankruptcy without a judge to force cuts on the top end.
Why can’t they just file like anyone else.
I find it most upsetting that companies who have made much foreign investment instead of domestic investment, are now asking me for a hand-out to support their overseas investing !
Chew on that one for a while….

And The Winner Is… (no poll or magic ball needed)

Writing this the day before the election, I can say who the absolute winner of the
2008 Presidential Election Is !
It is the media not the candidates. Think about this, both sides total sum of spending on advertising is 50% higher than ever before and this comes from many years of new record levels.
No wonder the media is so interested in buying out their competitors even though the say they are losing money?

I’m willing to bet they make enough during Presidential Campaigns alone to pay the rent for 4 more years.
Now Newspapers are allowed to buy Radio Stations, who also claim they make no money???.
Just something to think about the next time you wonder where your choices went for REAL news.

Who does Investigative Reporting anymore? One could wonder if there is a pact between candidates
and media… spend campaign money with us and we won’t shine a bad light on you?
Political Parties are nothing short of organized crime and the media are now the hit-men!
Just something to think about the next time a Newspaper, Radio or TV station endorses a candidate.

And The Loser Is…
I don’t have to tell you that one do I?
Do you know who owns your local Media? Look them “all” up and also check in your next town/city
as it may surprise you ’cause they do this very quietly.
I come from a small town where one company owns the only 3 papers in my county and every towns paper in 8 other nearby counties and 99% of the folks here do not know it.
How long before they close 2 of the 3 and distribute the one county wide paper? They might as well because the
type errors in the stories are the same no matter which one you read!
If you don’t think this has an effect on local and national politics, think again.
Thank You De-Regulation. You know, every time something is De-Regulated, it seems to take 5 to 15 years for us to realize why it was regulated to begin with.
The Big Boys Can’t or Will not behave and the little guy pays the price yet again.
The cutting of Red-Tape is short for, let my campaign supporter buddies make some money here!
I’m MOOT NEWS and I ENDORSE THIS MESSAGE. ; ) Also see Discovervoting.com

Stock Market Jitters

Why can’t someone in the media just say it….
The reason for the stock market woes is “Confidence by Banks Lending to Other Banks”
And the politicians probably need to keep their mouth shut for a while (if that is possible in an election year or any time of year).
Wall street has a lot to digest and if they think a politician is going to make a change in what the market now holds, they sit it out to see what the effect might be. That means less buying. Less buying means values will drop.
So call’m up and tell them to SHUT-UP for a while. Wall street would like to deal with what is at hand, not what might be at hand. You only intervene when they are at an impasse.
The government only needs to do what was done during the great depression. Go around and certify (and guarantee) a bank is solvent, one by one. Let the weak fall, put the criminal in jail. After all, this is the capitalism they boast about.
Problem is, some of these criminals are on Capitol Hill!
This is still a matter of the books being cooked that started back in the 90’s and the politicians have done more to insure this was more possible than anyone is telling you. I do want to see some heads hang on this, I mean real time in real jail and not just some discussion in front of a congressional committee where a Politician gets a headline for lashing out.

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