The Command T.O.C.

30,000 More Military Troops for Afghanistan; Mullen Declares it is Not Going "Well"

In the Pentagon's game of "whack a mole" and because they refuse to just get the hell out of Iraq immediately, they will now deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Based on the fact I am receiving a lot of emails from former soldiers being called up for IRR duty, I would say these soldiers are coming from the reserves. 

Obama should end this now! Get us out of Iraq, put the right active duty soldiers into Afghanistan and draw the rest of the military down to pre "take over the world" levels. 

Madoff Miffs Minneapolis

Due in large part to the Midwestern predilection for financial modesty, the Madoff scandal reverberated through the closely knit Jewish community of Minneapolis' western suburbs.

How can people do this to each other?


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My Extended Vacation is Over......

Well, I must admit I took somewhat of an extended vacation and therefore had not blogged for a while. Because I was getting comments posted by a neo-nazi from Seattle, I had to make all comments "await moderation". I then promptly forgot to publish the many great comments I was receiving.

However, all is well now. I posted all the comments and let's start holding the new President and the Democrats to their commitments. End the war in Iraq, bring the troops home now and let's concentrate on getting this economy going. Given the choice between building a school in Baghdad or building one in Detroit, I will take Detroit. Perhaps the soldiers in Iraq can become part of a type of W.P.A program and help with the infrastructure of this Country first.

Why is Larry Di Rita still defending Rumsfeld?

You have to wonder how anyone can possibly think the disaster that was Donald Rumsfeld was a good thing for this Country. Well, the ex-spokesperson for the Pentagon apparently thinks he was great. The hubris of it all!

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Amazing: CNN's Rick Sanchez Destroys "Joe the Plumber"

Today CNN's Rick Sanchez went after "War Corespondent" Joe the Plumber showing just how stupid this "Joe the Plumber" is. Fantastic!!! Keep it up Mr. Sanchez. Call out this moron. Imagine, the "almost President" hung his campaign on this panty waste and Sarah Palin.

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Grim Jobs Report Calls for Needed Stimulus Package

Today we had the much anticipated jobs report and as expected, this economy is shedding jobs faster than my lab is shedding her hair. The unemployment rate is now 7.2%, the highest rate since January of 1993.  We lost 524,000 jobs in December. Add to this that the average manufacturing work week is down to 33 hrs per week and you have a recipe brewing for a disaster.

There is also an interesting statistic called the "U-6" which includes those who are working part time but would prefer full time work if they could find it and those who are available for work but are not looking at this time. That number is now 13.5% which is the highest we have seen since record keeping started for this number in 1994.

So, even those who kept their head in the sand as long as they could are now popping out and agreeing we are in a deep recession (I think McCain was saying in September that that economy was "fundamentally strong"). We also must state that the Bush administration and the Republicans were handed a very strong economy that was running a surplus. A mere eight years later  they hand us back a Country that is in deep recession (not a cyclical one but rather the worst since the great depression), a $1 Trillion dollar deficit, a two front war and a financial system in ruin due to lack of regulation. Thanks George. Great work.

So, what to do? I am sure the Obama stimulus package will be debated over and over and everyone will nitpick it for their personal gain (we should invest in "this" v. "that" where "this" benefits the person supporting it) but a few things are clear:

• The need for a large stimulus package is a foregone conclusion. Consumers must regain faith that their job will be around next year to get them to start investing and spending.
• The need to stop the housing slide is a must. I have changed a bit on this. I was in the camp, initially, of saying "tough luck" for those who got themselves into too much debt. However, I now believe the carnage being put on the entire economy by abandoned and foreclosed houses cannot be sustained. There needs to be help.
• The recession will be here for all of 2009. It could go into 2010.
• We have to end the wars. Bottom line is we cannot afford them. I suppose you could say the wars are a government works program but the problem is it is a "consumable". Meaning, the outcome adds no long term value to the economy. Bridges, roads, schools etc. add long term value. Rather than building these in Baghdad, we should build them in Detroit.

While we can argue "around the edges" of this, I cannot imagine anyone still believes this is just a "blip" anymore.

Links:

Vanguard economic week in review
Northern trust economic daily review.

The Big 3 New Advertising Campaign to Hit Streets on Monday

U.S. steel industry urges ''buy America'' recovery plan

Here is a new approach.. buy American!! This means the car companies who just received billions from the U.S. Taxpayer should have set goals to buy American parts and American raw goods. Ford used to brag how it will buy "$1bl of parts from China". That should be abandoned immediately.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ailing U.S. steel industry is pressing President-elect Barack Obama for a public works plan that could be worth $1 trillion over two years to boost flagging demand for U.S.-made steel, the New York Times reported in...

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Finally... A President Without His Head in The Sand

The best part of President Elect Barack Obama's weekly radio address (seen below) this week is the satisfaction of knowing we finally have a President who at least knows what is going on in the economy. Unlike Bush who, until the entire thing exploded, kept telling us how the economy was great (McCain told us it was great even after it exploded), Obama appears to at least understand the issue and has some pretty good ideas on what to do about it. I like that he is talking about private sector jobs, education and health care.

You may not agree with his politics but we can all agree on one thing. Thank God the buffoon is gone. Finally, we have a leader who addresses the issues and tackles them head on. Not the "Iraq is going great", "The economy is great", "Katrina is no big deal" President.

Cash-Strapped States Contemplate Selling Off Roads & Parks

Here is the next "Ponzi Scheme" and, as is rightfully stated in the article, we are "privatizing profits and socializing losses". Let's see how this works: A state leases an asset for x number of years. The private company raises fees, lowers maintenance on the asset and let's it go into disrepair as they reap huge profits. At some time (probably not the end of the lease), the company that leased the asset tells the state, "You either kick in some money to fix this or we are going bankrupt and we will leave the asset and walk away". Now, what does the State do?

Let's look at the Indiana toll road. Do they just close the road and abandon it? Heck no. The road is "too big too fail" and the State comes in to bail out the company that let it go into disrepair. Voila!! The banking Ponzi scheme all over again just with different assets.

Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

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