True, a few like Microsoft and Intel are doing so to protect their cash reserves, and should have a "firing" freeze both for permanent and contingent workers.
However, the majority were what I call "fake" businesses- running on 90 day corporate paper to make payroll, and counting on sales to pay back the corporate paper, with no real permanent investment behind them.
Those fake businesses are laying off because they either can't sell the corporate paper to the banks anymore, or they don't have the sales to pay it back.
And actually running a business on cash reserves, is an alien concept to those companies.
Doesn't understand that this is not a single-person blog.
I completely agree with the above.....because without ending the "Wall Street Tax" on employment, we'll never again see "an America for American workers".
Lots of industries today are becoming unprofitable because of this economic recession that results to financial crisis. Economic impact keeps on continuing. It's hard for us to forget that the economy situation is hurting everyone. Recessions and then depressions are typically global in nature (at least in capitalist countries). Layoffs are occurring in other nations such as Japan, Germany, and the UK are being hard hit. President Obama is promising investment in infrastructure and creating jobs – we hope so. The middle class should return to prominence so they don't have to take out as many payday loans.
another thing they might be doing is getting some "American help" to offshore outsource even more jobs, contracts and have "American workers" who know the "culture of America" like local sales people.
But one thing beyond we now know IBM is simply using this latest economic downturn as an excuse to offshore outsource their entire workforce to cheap labor markets....
is that is also proves it's all about labor arbitrage.
Asshats. I hope all of their products rot in hell for this.
I'm sorry but I think Americans should create start up companies pay everyone great wages and plain kick the ass of IBM to bankruptcy.
and so not surprising -- this is the future, and i bet they think they're doing their employees a favor.
and note -- they're not offering them positions in any 1st-world countries where the standards of living/pay/benefits match the US -- it's "growth markets" only.
(and i bet they'll hire them for China or India or Vietnam, etc, so they could train locals -- and then fire them after)
Also, wasn't it the banks that led the charge of offshoring Information Technology to India?
As for immigration policy, Congress IS using it - at the behest of their corporate donors - to divide Americans and pit worker against worker.
The strategy is used by today's multinational corporations as it was used by yesterday's robber barons:
Ludlow massacre
"As part of their campaign to break or prevent strikes, the coal companies had lured immigrants, mainly from southern and Eastern Europe and Mexico. CF&I's management purposely mixed immigrants of different nationalities in the mines to discourage communication that might lead to organization."
There are a group of 16 or 18 Senators locked in a room somewhere supposedly analyzing the Stimulus bill to pick out which provisions actually create jobs and how fast.
I hope they grabbed a few objective economists in that meeting.
I personally have to agree with doing that. They really need to pick projects that are truly going to give the most bang for the buck. In my view, FDR administration really did that and we had incredible infrastructure, bridges, electricity, wage, etc. public works that are with us to this day and really paid out multi-fold.
I just hope they aren't back there arguing more economic fiction again, like "tax cuts".
On the banks, invading the Caymans and taking over the banks sounds like a grand idea!
I think they plain need to nationalize the banks and doing a freeze on derivatives since no one even knows what is going on....I'd like to hear a few economists views on what kind of ramifications that could have....
but hell, FDR plain shut down the banks and it didn't kill anybody.
This never ending black hole money sink called the financial sector...well, it looks like it will go that way anyway, so why not get it over with?
Wall Street has infiltrated the President's Cabinet. They couldn't get their man McCain elected so plan B is to influence the presidency through Obama advisers.
And I thought if you were President that you were going to send all temporary workers on H1b and L1 home. We have to keep on dreaming...for an America for American workers
it's bogus and on top of it they are not even dealing with predatory loans. I think Lou Dobbs is running a personal story on Wells Fargo who put a woman into a subprime which she should not even be in and they are foreclosing and it's all due to the terms of the mortgage.
The very first thing which should be done is a review of all of these foreclosures and which ones are purely predatory. Not only should the homeowner get low rate 30 year fixed, but I think the banks who have done these predatory loans should be required to pay out to these homeowners for damages.
The entire problem with tax cuts like this is it implies someone has disposable income. The only people with disposable income....do not need a tax cut.
For the folks who used to do subprime mortgages, a "foreclosure prevention" scam:
1. Buy house from current owners for EXACT amount owed.
2. Sign current owners up for low interest loan + $7500 in "closing costs"
3. Sell back to the current owners and split the $15,000 tax credit.
Knowing Republicans, they probably had this in mind....
Boy does this 'tax credit' get under my skin. For those of us facing foreclosure (due to job loss) this garbage Republican idea is a giant slap in the face. If I understand this correctly, current homeowners in crisis get absolutely nothing, while potential homebuyers get $15,000 + a very low interest loan. From my perspective new homebuyers are going to make out like bandits on the backs of the folks who will lose their homes.
But that's not all. I recently discovered that although CA is a non-deficiency state, if you refinanced your home (which many of us had to do to get out from under sub-prime mortgages) you lose that legal protection and are now subject to a deficiency judgment for the difference between what you owe on the loan and what it sells for after foreclosure.
So, not only do we get no governmental tax break, nor any bankruptcy cramdown relief, but we also have to deal with a deficiency bill after we've walked away from our home. Wow, in what universe is that a fair deal?
BTW, this is one of my favorite new websites - thanks NDD for the link.
The average American is facing eviction from their rental properties due to lost jobs etc... WE NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO SPEND SOME OF THOSE TAX DOLLARS WE ARE PAYING BACK TO BE PUT INTO STIMULUS CHECKS FOR FAMILIES!!!!!!!!
OBVIOUSLY, THEY HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO NOT HAVE TO SEE THE AVERAGE AMERICANS URGENT NEEDS. We can only pray there is a reorganization somewhere to allow the truly urgent needs at this time and not what will help strictly down the road.
Many Americans will be homeless with children if this is not considered.
The first reason we Americans aren't rioting is because we're constantly fed TV shows and movies and newscasts about how powerful the police and the military are, and how these guys wouldn't blink at mowing down a crowd with machine guns. People are terrified of the authorities.
The second reason is that we've lived so easy for so long that most of us still have our heads in the sand, hoping all this will blow over so we can get back to our favorite cops TV show (see above). We're soft, and we're so used to having our thoughts fed to us that it doesn't even occur to us that things could be different and that the government can be opposed. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave? More like Land of the Sheep, Home of the Slaves.
But don't worry, people will wake up when they've lost their jobs, lost their homes, and the government starts trying to cover deficits with taxes. So pretty soon, then.
"... But Democrats, including President Obama, have said they would prefer for a broader housing/mortgage package to be considered separate from the stimulus package. ..."
"... Angling to spur automobile sales as part of the economic stimulus package, the Senate voted to add an $11 billion provision to the bill that will allow most Americans to claim a tax deduction for the sales tax and any loan interest on the purchase of a new car between Nov. 12, 2008, and the end of 2009.
The vote, 71 to 26, in favor of the tax break for car buyers came as the Senate began to act on what is expected to be a long list of amendments to the stimulus measure. ..." -- Additions by Senate Push Stimulus Near $1 Trillion
-- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/us/politics/04stimulus.html?ref=us
(just sales tax and loan interest tho -- it's not enough)
and as is it's meaningless with that waiver -- if they tell shareholders they can pay and bonus what they wish, and even if shareholders say no, it won't matter.
Actually don't have the money.
True, a few like Microsoft and Intel are doing so to protect their cash reserves, and should have a "firing" freeze both for permanent and contingent workers.
However, the majority were what I call "fake" businesses- running on 90 day corporate paper to make payroll, and counting on sales to pay back the corporate paper, with no real permanent investment behind them.
Those fake businesses are laying off because they either can't sell the corporate paper to the banks anymore, or they don't have the sales to pay it back.
And actually running a business on cash reserves, is an alien concept to those companies.
Doesn't understand that this is not a single-person blog.
I completely agree with the above.....because without ending the "Wall Street Tax" on employment, we'll never again see "an America for American workers".
Lots of industries today are becoming unprofitable because of this economic recession that results to financial crisis. Economic impact keeps on continuing. It's hard for us to forget that the economy situation is hurting everyone. Recessions and then depressions are typically global in nature (at least in capitalist countries). Layoffs are occurring in other nations such as Japan, Germany, and the UK are being hard hit. President Obama is promising investment in infrastructure and creating jobs – we hope so. The middle class should return to prominence so they don't have to take out as many payday loans.
another thing they might be doing is getting some "American help" to offshore outsource even more jobs, contracts and have "American workers" who know the "culture of America" like local sales people.
But one thing beyond we now know IBM is simply using this latest economic downturn as an excuse to offshore outsource their entire workforce to cheap labor markets....
is that is also proves it's all about labor arbitrage.
Asshats. I hope all of their products rot in hell for this.
I'm sorry but I think Americans should create start up companies pay everyone great wages and plain kick the ass of IBM to bankruptcy.
and so not surprising -- this is the future, and i bet they think they're doing their employees a favor.
and note -- they're not offering them positions in any 1st-world countries where the standards of living/pay/benefits match the US -- it's "growth markets" only.
(and i bet they'll hire them for China or India or Vietnam, etc, so they could train locals -- and then fire them after)
Also, wasn't it the banks that led the charge of offshoring Information Technology to India?
As for immigration policy, Congress IS using it - at the behest of their corporate donors - to divide Americans and pit worker against worker.
The strategy is used by today's multinational corporations as it was used by yesterday's robber barons:
Ludlow massacre
"As part of their campaign to break or prevent strikes, the coal companies had lured immigrants, mainly from southern and Eastern Europe and Mexico. CF&I's management purposely mixed immigrants of different nationalities in the mines to discourage communication that might lead to organization."
There are a group of 16 or 18 Senators locked in a room somewhere supposedly analyzing the Stimulus bill to pick out which provisions actually create jobs and how fast.
I hope they grabbed a few objective economists in that meeting.
I personally have to agree with doing that. They really need to pick projects that are truly going to give the most bang for the buck. In my view, FDR administration really did that and we had incredible infrastructure, bridges, electricity, wage, etc. public works that are with us to this day and really paid out multi-fold.
I just hope they aren't back there arguing more economic fiction again, like "tax cuts".
On the banks, invading the Caymans and taking over the banks sounds like a grand idea!
I think they plain need to nationalize the banks and doing a freeze on derivatives since no one even knows what is going on....I'd like to hear a few economists views on what kind of ramifications that could have....
but hell, FDR plain shut down the banks and it didn't kill anybody.
This never ending black hole money sink called the financial sector...well, it looks like it will go that way anyway, so why not get it over with?
So one fact is assuredly in. If McCain had won the election we would right now be over the economic cliff and crashing down.
Wall Street has infiltrated the President's Cabinet. They couldn't get their man McCain elected so plan B is to influence the presidency through Obama advisers.
And I thought if you were President that you were going to send all temporary workers on H1b and L1 home. We have to keep on dreaming...for an America for American workers
it's bogus and on top of it they are not even dealing with predatory loans. I think Lou Dobbs is running a personal story on Wells Fargo who put a woman into a subprime which she should not even be in and they are foreclosing and it's all due to the terms of the mortgage.
The very first thing which should be done is a review of all of these foreclosures and which ones are purely predatory. Not only should the homeowner get low rate 30 year fixed, but I think the banks who have done these predatory loans should be required to pay out to these homeowners for damages.
The entire problem with tax cuts like this is it implies someone has disposable income. The only people with disposable income....do not need a tax cut.
For the folks who used to do subprime mortgages, a "foreclosure prevention" scam:
1. Buy house from current owners for EXACT amount owed.
2. Sign current owners up for low interest loan + $7500 in "closing costs"
3. Sell back to the current owners and split the $15,000 tax credit.
Knowing Republicans, they probably had this in mind....
Boy does this 'tax credit' get under my skin. For those of us facing foreclosure (due to job loss) this garbage Republican idea is a giant slap in the face. If I understand this correctly, current homeowners in crisis get absolutely nothing, while potential homebuyers get $15,000 + a very low interest loan. From my perspective new homebuyers are going to make out like bandits on the backs of the folks who will lose their homes.
But that's not all. I recently discovered that although CA is a non-deficiency state, if you refinanced your home (which many of us had to do to get out from under sub-prime mortgages) you lose that legal protection and are now subject to a deficiency judgment for the difference between what you owe on the loan and what it sells for after foreclosure.
So, not only do we get no governmental tax break, nor any bankruptcy cramdown relief, but we also have to deal with a deficiency bill after we've walked away from our home. Wow, in what universe is that a fair deal?
BTW, this is one of my favorite new websites - thanks NDD for the link.
If you get verified, you'll avoid the Captcha, and we can have a more reasonable conversation.
Are you saying GM hasn't been outsourcing? Or that NONE of the Bailout money went to support outsourcing? Or what?
The average American is facing eviction from their rental properties due to lost jobs etc... WE NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO SPEND SOME OF THOSE TAX DOLLARS WE ARE PAYING BACK TO BE PUT INTO STIMULUS CHECKS FOR FAMILIES!!!!!!!!
OBVIOUSLY, THEY HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO NOT HAVE TO SEE THE AVERAGE AMERICANS URGENT NEEDS. We can only pray there is a reorganization somewhere to allow the truly urgent needs at this time and not what will help strictly down the road.
Many Americans will be homeless with children if this is not considered.
People write such lies about GM is beyond me. These people probably work for the foreign car companies and want GM to fail.
The first reason we Americans aren't rioting is because we're constantly fed TV shows and movies and newscasts about how powerful the police and the military are, and how these guys wouldn't blink at mowing down a crowd with machine guns. People are terrified of the authorities.
The second reason is that we've lived so easy for so long that most of us still have our heads in the sand, hoping all this will blow over so we can get back to our favorite cops TV show (see above). We're soft, and we're so used to having our thoughts fed to us that it doesn't even occur to us that things could be different and that the government can be opposed. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave? More like Land of the Sheep, Home of the Slaves.
But don't worry, people will wake up when they've lost their jobs, lost their homes, and the government starts trying to cover deficits with taxes. So pretty soon, then.
Tax Credit for Homebuyers Passes -- http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/tax-credit-for-homebuyers-...
"... But Democrats, including President Obama, have said they would prefer for a broader housing/mortgage package to be considered separate from the stimulus package. ..."
"... Angling to spur automobile sales as part of the economic stimulus package, the Senate voted to add an $11 billion provision to the bill that will allow most Americans to claim a tax deduction for the sales tax and any loan interest on the purchase of a new car between Nov. 12, 2008, and the end of 2009.
The vote, 71 to 26, in favor of the tax break for car buyers came as the Senate began to act on what is expected to be a long list of amendments to the stimulus measure. ..." -- Additions by Senate Push Stimulus Near $1 Trillion
-- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/us/politics/04stimulus.html?ref=us
(just sales tax and loan interest tho -- it's not enough)
and as is it's meaningless with that waiver -- if they tell shareholders they can pay and bonus what they wish, and even if shareholders say no, it won't matter.
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