Yesterday I need a couple extra cans of spray paint to finish a small project I was doing so I went to the local Home Depot to purchase them. I am not knocking nor supporting Home Depot. After the employee told me they were out of stock and I did my own search I happen to find what i was looking for. I knew he didn't have a clue if they had it or not and was not willing to look anyway. After all he was there to mix paint only if you brought it to him. Anyway I found what I needed and coaxed him to retrieve it from the shelf after they told me I could not use the ladder myself. Of course had they not seen me trying to use the ladder I would have never been able to get my paint that was out of stock.
I went to the checkout because I hate the self service checkout so i went to the register only to be told to use the self service checkout. I went back over to the self service checkout and started my scan only to be told I need my birth date. I said no way. The young lady said you have to be 18 to by spray paint. I looked at her and said I am old enough to be your grandfather. I think I am fricken old enough. She said I don't care you must enter your birth date to purchase it. I said look. I am using a credit card and you want my birth date. That's not going to happen. She said sir you have to enter your birth date to purchase the paint. I said god dammit I am not giving you my birth date. She walked up and put some birth date in. For all I know it was the birth date of Jesse James.
There are enough aerosols on the market that kids can buy without a birth date if they want to paint their lungs and get high. Stopping a kid under 18 from buying paint is not going to stop them from sniffing paint. Hell all they have to do is ask a friend and tell them they are doing s project of some sort or look in the garage. I guess maybe the drug dealers better ask all the kids they sell to if they are 18. I bet that would put a crimp in drug sales. I am sure a few kids would lie about their age to get the drugs.
The simple solution to sniffing paint, using drugs and all illegal substances is real easy. Especially for kids. If the parents don't know what their kids do then they don't care what they do. Any parent that loves their child and I mean really loves and cares about their childs welfare can tell within the 2nd use of any illegal substance. Don't trust your child. The peer pressure and opportunity to just try things once is to great to rely on trust. Talking may help but it's not any sort of guarantee. A kiss good night and a sniff of the breath and the twinkle in the eyes tells more than they do. Catch them the 1st time and there is a much better chance there won't be a 2nd time.
Being a strick parent if a good parent. My kids now tell me that I was very strick. I thought I was very liberal. They say not at all in comparison to other parents. They said it's not that they were not allowed to do what they liked and have fun. They tell me they knew that when the curfew time rolled around they had to be home and if we were up they had to sit down for a few minutes with us and watch tv. If we were in bed they had to knock on the door and open the door to annouce they were home. They said more often than not one of us would get out of bed to ask if we had a good time that night. They both told us, heck we couldn't do anything wrong because we always greeted them when they got home. They both said knowing that took any temptation of smoking, drinking or drugs away. Going to church on Sunday won't stop your kids from doing drugs on Monday.
I wanted my kids to enjoy themselves but I also knew what being a teenager was like because I was able to do what I wanted with no supervision. I have always been a good person, but I was wild or had the tag of being wild more so because my friends said I was. I drank beer and that was about it. I was always the unlucky guy with the wrong guys when something went wrong. None of it my doing or my idea. None of it ever had to do with stealing or anything like that. Mostly getting caught with beer. When I became a parent I decided I let my kids know I cared about what they did and who they did it with. Both of my kids are successful adults with families of their own. Their children are model citizens. What more could a man ask for in life.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
I almost ran out of gas in 1979
In 1979 when gas was 59 cents a gallon and Jimmy Carter was trying to get everyone to raise their thermostats up to 78 degrees in summer and lower to 70 degrees in winter to save energy everyone thought he was crazy. There was a little talk of solar power and gasohol. Gasoline with 10% ethanol added to save on oil consumption. We just kept sailing along but interest rates were sky rocketing because of inflation. A cheap home loan was 10% if you were lucky enough to get one. Everyone said you will never see a 10% home loan again because some were already creeping up to 12% and beyond. I made $29,000 in 1979 and that was good money back then. My house payment was $540 per month including taxes and insurance on a $48,000 loan. Back in those days my house payment could not be more than 25% of my gross monthly income. I was at the boarder line because my gross monthly income was $2416 and 25% of that was $604. Most loan companies liked you to have a bigger cushion especially if you had a car payment which of course I did.
One day while building my home in 1979 I went to fill my car up and gas had went from 59 cents a gallon to 99 cents a gallon almost over night. Within three months gas was $1.24 per gallon. Poor old Jimmy was the blame for everything. Solar power came out of the wood work. Reagan was elected President the next year and he took all the restrictions off the oil companies to open up what he called a more competitive market. Interests rates were in the 15% to 18% range. Savings and loans were going broke all over the country. Houses were being left and repossessed. Cars weren't selling. Reagan lowered taxes to stimulate the economy which of course raised the deficit. He created 400,000 minimum wage jobs. As usual the rich didn't feel a thing like they never do and the poor suffered through it like they always do. The middle class working people took it in stride and kept plugging along.
What is really amazing is in 1981 just before ole Ronnie removed all the restrictions on the oil companies they were after oil shale in the Rockies and were willing to spend billions to refine it. Also all the oil reserves on the Indian lands were up for grabs. Now I may have my dates wrong but not the time period. All of a sudden all of the construction to produce oil from shale stopped abruptly along with drilling and search or oil on Indian controlled land. EPA restrictions started to be strictly enacted and enforced. Refineries closed down by the dozens. Why did we need all the refining capacity one day and the next day we didn't need it when we were using more oil?
Last summer when a refinery shut down for one day gas in the U.S. would rise 3 cents a gallon. Now the price for a barrel of oil has doubled and the price has only went up $1 per gallon. We are not using more oil. Don't blame China, don't blame India. Blame the greed of the traders. If a dozen or so traders sold out and ran with their profits the price of oil would drop to $40 a barrel tomorrow. If we pull out of the middle east and make friends and not war the price will drop by $40 per barrel. If we offer technology over bombology we may gain a friend of two.
Since the middle east is a tribal culture a true democratic government will never work. I don't care what country it is. To have peace in any middle eastern country there must be one ruler and one ruler only. Look at the Saudis. One family rules the kingdom. They do any excellent job. Aside from their wealth they are respected leaders. Theirs is not a democracy like ours but it works. We had no problem with Iraq when Iraq was at war with Iran. Why because we did not have diplomatic relations with Iran. Actually Iraq was a close Ali. Due to disputes with the Kingdom of Kuwait which we will never understand Iraq invaded Kuwait. Knowing Arabs like I do. ( I worked in the middle east and I worked with Arabs and had Arabs work for me. I understand their culture and the way they think. Read any book about an Arab. They say barter with them or negotiate with them over everything. They love it and they expect it. Push an Arab and you make an enemy, kiss and Arab and you have a friend for life. They are very family loving and peace loving people. They love recognition just like you and I. ) George Bush #1 not idiot #2 never negotiated with Iraq. He gave them an ultimatum. Iraq by that time knew they had upset much of the world but what Bush didn't know nor his advisers is you must allow an Arab a way out of his mess gracefully. You cannot embarrass him to his people. All that was needed was for Bush #1 to tell Iraq we think you may have made a mistake. Or did you know your troops invaded Kuwaiti soil. That would have allowed him to save face to the world and in turn save more 4000 American troops to this day.
Guess what? We have 5-7/8% interest rates and people are loosing homes at record pace. The old adjustable rate trick and of course zero principal payments. We have fat executives and realtors with MBA's and PHD's that made their companies go broke or near broke by their greed. House prices that escalated almost 200% for exisiting homes. Now we have realtors and home builders crying the blues. Did they ever think that maybe the person they sold that $390,000 property only had a $35,000 per year income and he could not even afford the first month payment even though they told him to hang on to it for six months and make $100,000. It wasn't their loss was it. Who lost then. Well it was the poor loan originator that was told my their supervisor to approve the loan that lost his or her job, the poor slob that was dumb enough to buy stock in the loan company because of the 21% returns and the poor guy that not only lost the house but his credit as well. Has anyone ever thought that maybe, just maybe the market is over priced and saturated beyond the amount of people that are seeking to buy a home. Same way for the car business, that happens every 5 to 7 years as well. Did the greedy boys on wall street and the futures markets ever think that the more they control the market the more they screw up the economy. It's no fun having alot of money if your the only one with money. It's more fun to sail a boat when others have sail boats to sail with.
So now I go to the local 1$ store to buy something for a $1. The manager has a masters in business and the assistant Mgr has BA in business. I was really impressed especially when I knew the manager was making a whopping 20K per year and the assistant mgr was making 18K. I really felt sorry for the part time clerk that was making $8.50 per hour, that equates to $17,460 per year if my math is right. A few years back a good hard worker could be a manager or assistant mgr. The manager made out the schedules and made sure everyone had at least one weekend day off and treated them like real people. Now the manager has a district manager that is 24 yrs old and never had any life experiences, has no feelings what it is like to loose a job or have to feed a family. They think anyone that has anything less than a masters is lazy and dumb. All of these young people and their brain power or so they think don't seem to realize that their grandparents were lucky to have a high school education. They worked hard, respected each other and moved up the ladder by hard work. Education didn't mean you were smart it meant you wanted to specialize in an area such as business. You knew starting out from college you would more often than not end up working under someone with a high school diploma or even a drop out that worked their way up. These people were proud to teach the young grads because they wanted the grads to do more and make things better then they had it. Why don't we manufacture in this country anymore. It's real dam simple. A board of directors agrees with company management at the weekend retreat the company can make more money by having 12 yr olds in India, Mexico or China or some other country do it. Then we start complaining about inferior products. Now don't forget those products are being made for a company in this country that contracted them to make them. What did this company forget. Quality control? Don't that cost money? It's easier to blame the country where the product came from rather than assure good quality in the first place. Do you think some dude from a toy company out on a golf course gives a dam about lead paint in a toy. Not until the recall then it's not the company faultfor not having onsite quality control it's the countries fault. As along as it goes on behind his back he don't care until it hits his bonus check and stock options.
I am not a blogger I am a blabber. I do know this I can see the big picture one hell of alot quicker than anyone in a board room. Who was from Fidelity Investments that said I bought the stock because I liked the coffee. That's a smart man. The same company today is trying to make a come back. To little to late. They are going to soak up a few billion in franchise fees and go to the dogs again.
Now I guess to be important I need to go out a buy a Beamer or a Hummer is more like me. Na I think a Navigator. Anyway I need to watch a self promoting idiot like Cramer that doesn't have a clue about the real world. He sure tricks an awful lot of people into buying stock though. Stock is only for brokers to sell and 401's to invest in. That way only a few get rich on the fees. The price is manipulated by a few people and a few retirement funds.
Better yet I'll sit back and be laughed at by the pimple faced smarties. I had pimples once myself, the only difference was back in my day we were made to listen to our elders not made to listen to the brats. I just wonder how many 5 yr old to 9 yr old kids run the households now days.
One day while building my home in 1979 I went to fill my car up and gas had went from 59 cents a gallon to 99 cents a gallon almost over night. Within three months gas was $1.24 per gallon. Poor old Jimmy was the blame for everything. Solar power came out of the wood work. Reagan was elected President the next year and he took all the restrictions off the oil companies to open up what he called a more competitive market. Interests rates were in the 15% to 18% range. Savings and loans were going broke all over the country. Houses were being left and repossessed. Cars weren't selling. Reagan lowered taxes to stimulate the economy which of course raised the deficit. He created 400,000 minimum wage jobs. As usual the rich didn't feel a thing like they never do and the poor suffered through it like they always do. The middle class working people took it in stride and kept plugging along.
What is really amazing is in 1981 just before ole Ronnie removed all the restrictions on the oil companies they were after oil shale in the Rockies and were willing to spend billions to refine it. Also all the oil reserves on the Indian lands were up for grabs. Now I may have my dates wrong but not the time period. All of a sudden all of the construction to produce oil from shale stopped abruptly along with drilling and search or oil on Indian controlled land. EPA restrictions started to be strictly enacted and enforced. Refineries closed down by the dozens. Why did we need all the refining capacity one day and the next day we didn't need it when we were using more oil?
Last summer when a refinery shut down for one day gas in the U.S. would rise 3 cents a gallon. Now the price for a barrel of oil has doubled and the price has only went up $1 per gallon. We are not using more oil. Don't blame China, don't blame India. Blame the greed of the traders. If a dozen or so traders sold out and ran with their profits the price of oil would drop to $40 a barrel tomorrow. If we pull out of the middle east and make friends and not war the price will drop by $40 per barrel. If we offer technology over bombology we may gain a friend of two.
Since the middle east is a tribal culture a true democratic government will never work. I don't care what country it is. To have peace in any middle eastern country there must be one ruler and one ruler only. Look at the Saudis. One family rules the kingdom. They do any excellent job. Aside from their wealth they are respected leaders. Theirs is not a democracy like ours but it works. We had no problem with Iraq when Iraq was at war with Iran. Why because we did not have diplomatic relations with Iran. Actually Iraq was a close Ali. Due to disputes with the Kingdom of Kuwait which we will never understand Iraq invaded Kuwait. Knowing Arabs like I do. ( I worked in the middle east and I worked with Arabs and had Arabs work for me. I understand their culture and the way they think. Read any book about an Arab. They say barter with them or negotiate with them over everything. They love it and they expect it. Push an Arab and you make an enemy, kiss and Arab and you have a friend for life. They are very family loving and peace loving people. They love recognition just like you and I. ) George Bush #1 not idiot #2 never negotiated with Iraq. He gave them an ultimatum. Iraq by that time knew they had upset much of the world but what Bush didn't know nor his advisers is you must allow an Arab a way out of his mess gracefully. You cannot embarrass him to his people. All that was needed was for Bush #1 to tell Iraq we think you may have made a mistake. Or did you know your troops invaded Kuwaiti soil. That would have allowed him to save face to the world and in turn save more 4000 American troops to this day.
Guess what? We have 5-7/8% interest rates and people are loosing homes at record pace. The old adjustable rate trick and of course zero principal payments. We have fat executives and realtors with MBA's and PHD's that made their companies go broke or near broke by their greed. House prices that escalated almost 200% for exisiting homes. Now we have realtors and home builders crying the blues. Did they ever think that maybe the person they sold that $390,000 property only had a $35,000 per year income and he could not even afford the first month payment even though they told him to hang on to it for six months and make $100,000. It wasn't their loss was it. Who lost then. Well it was the poor loan originator that was told my their supervisor to approve the loan that lost his or her job, the poor slob that was dumb enough to buy stock in the loan company because of the 21% returns and the poor guy that not only lost the house but his credit as well. Has anyone ever thought that maybe, just maybe the market is over priced and saturated beyond the amount of people that are seeking to buy a home. Same way for the car business, that happens every 5 to 7 years as well. Did the greedy boys on wall street and the futures markets ever think that the more they control the market the more they screw up the economy. It's no fun having alot of money if your the only one with money. It's more fun to sail a boat when others have sail boats to sail with.
So now I go to the local 1$ store to buy something for a $1. The manager has a masters in business and the assistant Mgr has BA in business. I was really impressed especially when I knew the manager was making a whopping 20K per year and the assistant mgr was making 18K. I really felt sorry for the part time clerk that was making $8.50 per hour, that equates to $17,460 per year if my math is right. A few years back a good hard worker could be a manager or assistant mgr. The manager made out the schedules and made sure everyone had at least one weekend day off and treated them like real people. Now the manager has a district manager that is 24 yrs old and never had any life experiences, has no feelings what it is like to loose a job or have to feed a family. They think anyone that has anything less than a masters is lazy and dumb. All of these young people and their brain power or so they think don't seem to realize that their grandparents were lucky to have a high school education. They worked hard, respected each other and moved up the ladder by hard work. Education didn't mean you were smart it meant you wanted to specialize in an area such as business. You knew starting out from college you would more often than not end up working under someone with a high school diploma or even a drop out that worked their way up. These people were proud to teach the young grads because they wanted the grads to do more and make things better then they had it. Why don't we manufacture in this country anymore. It's real dam simple. A board of directors agrees with company management at the weekend retreat the company can make more money by having 12 yr olds in India, Mexico or China or some other country do it. Then we start complaining about inferior products. Now don't forget those products are being made for a company in this country that contracted them to make them. What did this company forget. Quality control? Don't that cost money? It's easier to blame the country where the product came from rather than assure good quality in the first place. Do you think some dude from a toy company out on a golf course gives a dam about lead paint in a toy. Not until the recall then it's not the company faultfor not having onsite quality control it's the countries fault. As along as it goes on behind his back he don't care until it hits his bonus check and stock options.
I am not a blogger I am a blabber. I do know this I can see the big picture one hell of alot quicker than anyone in a board room. Who was from Fidelity Investments that said I bought the stock because I liked the coffee. That's a smart man. The same company today is trying to make a come back. To little to late. They are going to soak up a few billion in franchise fees and go to the dogs again.
Now I guess to be important I need to go out a buy a Beamer or a Hummer is more like me. Na I think a Navigator. Anyway I need to watch a self promoting idiot like Cramer that doesn't have a clue about the real world. He sure tricks an awful lot of people into buying stock though. Stock is only for brokers to sell and 401's to invest in. That way only a few get rich on the fees. The price is manipulated by a few people and a few retirement funds.
Better yet I'll sit back and be laughed at by the pimple faced smarties. I had pimples once myself, the only difference was back in my day we were made to listen to our elders not made to listen to the brats. I just wonder how many 5 yr old to 9 yr old kids run the households now days.
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