Myself and a friend were recently talking about the “economic outlook” of the country. He was told to scale back his hours to a more part time schedule. Then, I took a look at my own department at work. Seventy percent of my department was all hired in the last 2 months and they are mostly part timers. With our own experiences we came to a few conclusions. That the problem probably isn’t as bad as we probably perceive it is. Also, that corporate America is using it as a scapegoat to downsize their work force and maximize their profits.

It all boils down to this. Companies LOVE part time employees now days. Mainly because they don’t give them benefits, which saves them a ton of money against their bottom line. Secondly, if you are in a field with a high attrition rate, you haven’t lost that much impact time if you have to fire an employee. So, where does this leave us as a nation? As my friend and I summed it up with one statement, “Rich people are douches.”

Lately, the more I read and learn about certain circumstances, and since yesterday was earth day, about pollutants and big hitting polluters, I’ve grown more left in my opinion. I’m entirely convinced that big business has to go. Nothing was more evident than when the head of division at my work, was talking about one of my co-workers. While introducing him to one of his management cohorts he said and I quote “This is Richard. He’s a real asset.” Just by the mere management lingo, I was appalled. If I ever had someone call me “an asset”, I’d probably tell them to go to hell. When you call something “an asset”, it denotes some sort of control and ownership. The mere arrogance that Corporate America views it’s employees as such is probably going to be the downfall of our way of life.

Gone are the days of company softball games, and treating them as they should be treated, as people. When the concept of corporate conglomerates appeared in the 50’s. The overall owners still had a sense of public support and wanted to give the image that they cared about their employees. Much of that was cast by the wayside during the 80’s, and the invention the market corporate sharks depicted in the movies like Wall Street. Now, we’re left with our current fiscal situation.

By now, I consider myself an independent. I’m neither liberal, nor conservative. I do believe in fiscal responsibility, and I believe we demonstrated that in the 90’s. I believe in small government, and gun rights. I believe in environmentalism and high penalties for companies who are not responsible. I believe that Americans have to completely rethink the basis of their lives. We cannot just continue doing the same old, same old. I read a great article on Reuters, that I actually agree with. You can view it here. It basically states that Conservatives are pissed, but can’t do anything. The article recognized that the polar sides of the political parties no longer represent most of America. 90% of our politicians are not in touch with their own constituents any longer.

Stop the insanity!

I’m throwing this out there right now. The word, BOYCOTT. While perusing through my daily view of Reuters, I came across an article talking about royalty remakes and franchises. Check out the article here. Now, it doesn’t tell us something that we already don’t know. However, what’s good about it is the way some producers are actually commenting on it, and the quotes.

After reading this business model outlook from the producers of these movies, I’ve decided that I will have a ground rule set out. I will not watch any more sequels or remakes unless a name brand director is attached to it. Otherwise, it’s gonna wait till video. It’s not retro-active though. I will see the 2^nd Transformers movie, and maybe the 3^rd depending on who’s attached as writer and director. Also, any subsequent Batman sequels with the Nolan’s involvement on get a free pass. However, if any of these movies change either writers or directors, I probably won’t see them in the theaters. I also will probably not see GI Joe in the theaters as well.

My ultimate favorites are these quoted projects:

“Neil Moritz, who produced "Furious," is developing a new version of the 1990 sci-fi hit "Total Recall" as well as relaunching "XXX," which first hit the screen just seven years ago. "Lara Croft" is getting a new treatment from Dan Lin and Warner Bros. just eight years after the Angelina Jolie original. Fox already is eyeing a relaunch of its "Fantastic Four" franchise; the two entries were hits just a few years ago. And at the recent ShoWest exhibitors' conference, Sony said it will bring back "Men in Black" for another escapade.”

So, they’re going to relaunch movies that are just as fine now as when they were first made? Huh. Now, we know why our economy is crumbling. Money crunchers and accountants have no creativity what so ever. Instead they like investments they speak as sure fire. In their opinion, why should we re-invent the wheel? We really need to take a stand so that they know they can’t put one over on us Americans.

Why the hell would anyone remake XXX? That was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Plus, it has a dose of Vin Diesel crying. Vin Diesel should be ashamed of being in that movie. I’m ashamed for seeing it in the theater because a buddy of mine “just likes action movies”. Plus, I think Rob Cohen is now the devil. He's had a hand in almost every movie that I hate.

It’s time to boycott the relaunch movement. Who’s on board with me?

Effective use of enemies.

This last week finished the run on one of the shows I’ve been watching. The Gundam 00 plot puts forth an interesting notion to me. Just a quick synopsis for y’all, Gundam 00 is about a group of people who go try and stop all the conflict on the Earth. They do this by coming up with a vastly superior weapon, than most of the militaries in the world. Then, they set out to resolve conflict anywhere. However, they don’t pick sides. So, let’s say the IRA and UK are fighting over whatever it is they’ve been fighting hundreds of years for. Then move on to a resolve problems against both sides in the Middle East. They would swoop in and pretty much destroy both sides. This causes the world to unite against them, countries are united and borders dissolved, so in a way they reach their goals.

Are these the type of guys we should do away with?

What has occupied my mind as of late, is can this type of model actually be applied to the real world? For example, if we went in Sri Lanka and just took out all the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lanka forces, what would the result of that conflict be? In the end, you give the people something to hate other than themselves. Humankind will always have someone to hate, someone that they want to do harm to. They’ll always feel that some group has slighted them, or has done something to their ancestors that they just can’t forgive. However, if you give them something to fear or hate, other than their own minor petty conflict, what would the result be? Human beings always get united when facing adversity. Is it so absurd to think that the only reason we have conflict, is because we don’t have things to hate?

If we were able to implement some sort of campaign against conflict, it would also prevent Genocide. I don’t need to say that a fast acting completely intervention force, would be great to resolve all these conflicts. I know that many of that are reading this now might be thinking, well that’s what the US is doing. The problem is that it’s not effective. The US is an established entity. You’re giving others a physical target that they can strike against, and cause terrorism. However, if the organization wasn’t affiliated with any physical location or government it can move and be a focus of hatred, but with no way of countering.

Gundam 00, pictured above, one of the best shows the last 2 years, in my opinion

Now, some might argue, that in essence I’m saying fight terrorism, with terrorism. Which is one of the things that Gundam 00, talks about during the series. The characters are of the opinion that they are sinners and will be punished, once they accomplish their goals and unite the world to a common goal.
In my mind, I really think that this could be one way to get rid of some of the conflict in the world. It just makes sense to me. In fact, if we could stop genocides and injustices across the world and unite it’s people, no price would be too high for me. Even if it meant giving up a portion of my way of life, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Economical woes!

California cash to cover through June. According this Reuters article, California does have enough cash to cover it’s fiscal year, through June. However, in the article, they state that they already have massive budget short falls for the coming year. This is just one of the several things that I have been reading up on as far as fiscal responsibility goes. Also, compare this with a recent Frontline report (which can be viewed here). Now, the tone of the overall piece is very Anti-Bush, but if you look past that at the actual information, there is a very good hidden gem of knowledge, that of fiscal responsibility.

The basic information in the Frontline report is accurate. We had budget surpluses going into the Bush presidency. The, we ended up spending more in the last 8 years. Most of that is for entitlement programs. Entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and now Perscription Drug benefits), are going to end up costing more than we generate. As the coming generation ages, they’ll end up using these benefits. I do think that the current estimates are based on the use of those entitlement programs for people who are already currently using them, ie those people in their 70’s and 80’s. I actually have faith that many of the people whom I know in their 50’s, family & friends etc., are really knowledgeable with their money, and have saved. I have a great amount of pride in the way that they’ve been so responsible, and don’t want to use these entitlement programs. I’ll talk about them in later posts.

The presidency under George W Bush spent more money, while taking in less, than most republican presidents. Now, I’m not one to point fingers and say it’s one person’s problem, more than another. Under Bill Clinton, corporations and other entities had some very “creative accounting”. The Enron scandal happened during the Clinton years and under his watch. However, we are spending more and more, and borrowing on credit. I don’t bust out the religious stuff here too often, but for years my religious leaders have been giving out one piece of advice, “Get out of debt”. When I look at the cost projections by what Frontline states, it hits home even more.

We, as American’s, have been spending more, and more, and more over the past couple of years. We are living outside our means. It’s absolutely absurd for a man to spend five thousand dollars on two utility vehicles, or a boat that they only use once or twice a year. A person shouldn’t need to take a trip to Brazil one year, and Africa the next. If you are going to dedicate that much to travel, you’re whole life should be based on that, at the sacrifice of everything else. Many people, from the past generations, only took a “trip” once every 5 years. Also, how many jobs have been created based on this practice? How many guys are working selling SUV’s, or boats, or working in Casinos, or the vacation industry? Because, automatically those jobs SHOULD shrink, because of how un-needed they are.

One thing I agree with Barrack Obama, on that we have problems and we need to pay to change them. I think back to the nature of equivalent exchange. To gain something, something of equal or greater value must be used. The nature and concept of credit, is an affront and abomination of this. We need to change the nature of our thinking. This means giving up some of our comforts for things in the long term.