A Plea to Politicians

The analogy’s simple
Should require no brain
As an obvious pimple
Or a cold driving rain

When our income has dried up
And jobs disappear
Politicians must give up
On raises this year

The budgets are lacking
The funds to fulfill
The pork they are backing
Or their personal till

The banks are not lending
We owe mortgage or rents
But we must keep on spending
On our country’s defense

Once our nation was great
And it will be once more
It is not too late
For to close that barn door

Please cut back your spending
We’ve been pushed to the max
Heed the message I’m sending
We can’t pay you more tax

Long Island is part of the State

According to NY Assembly members from both sides of the aisle Governor Paterson snubbed Long Island in his first State of the State address. The Governor only mentioned the Island twice and both items were of the negative variety.

I believe his omissions to be made out of ignorance rather than contempt. Therefore I would like to request that the Governor visit Long Island on a fact finding mission.

And I extend a personal invitation to Mr. Paterson to visit my home for a chat. I promise to serve his favorite diet soda.

Will the Tax Cut Work?

A poll on SmartMoney. com asks if the Obama plan for $300 billion in tax cuts is a good idea. One third said yes; one quarter said no and the rest were spread between 'only if I get it' and 'it should be bigger.'


But one incredibly intelligent person not only answered the poll but commented on the question itself. I was so impressed with this person's words that I had to copy them here.


"The question is too simplistic. Yes it will benefit many but not others. Businesses will benefit and so will entrepreneurs who will not have to pay taxes on profits from their quick start-ups. But will it benefit those of us on unemployment? Not for a long time and many not ever.

Overall it will be a good thing but the same could be said about many plans. The key is to follow through and follow up and not just give money away as we did to the banking industry.

I realize that many people hate having more government in their lives but right now we have no choice.

When you take out a mortgage you accept bank control for a time with the proviso that once the loan is paid off the house is yours! Tax cuts and new regulations must be done the same way with definite goals and expected time frames in place."

Okay, can figure out which curmedgeon wrote it?

Change of Heart

I spoke too soon yesterday and without all the facts. I am so sorry that I impugned the honor of our great Rep. Gary Ackerman. He has set me straight by explaining why he needs more of our money.

It did my heart good to see the smiling face of Rep. Gary Ackerman as he accepted the pay raise he says he so richly deserves. It lifted my spirits because I had just come home from the unemployment office where so many of my fellow Long Islanders were not smiling.

It is nice to know that our tax dollars paid for his vacation, I mean ‘fact finding’ trip to Israel where he must believe he will find a solution to our problems here in New York.

Thank goodness the ‘red-eye’ flight home allowed him enough time to attend to the boring matters of congress such as the Madoff alleged Ponzi scheme hearings. I trust he slept well and was able to contribute commentary to the congressional committee.

Mr. Ackerman further hinted that his salary was still not sufficient due to the enormous amount of unpaid overtime he and his fellow governmental leaders put in.

I believe we should thank him for his past service and suggest that he start taking it easy from now on. It is time for you to relax Mr. Ackerman. Please enjoy your retirement and your wonderful pension. It's on us.

Raise This!

Congress just took a raise!
And just who authorized it?
Congress!

When an owner realizes that his company is not doing well he is compelled to make changes. Usually his first instinct is to cut costs and even forego his own bonus let alone those of his employees.

We are in a recession that has cost this country billions of dollars and millions of jobs. Those of us trying to get by on less cannot understand why our government officials are not tightening their own belts. To allow, no relish a raise as so many senators and representatives are doing is repugnant. Our own Rep. Peter King stated that “steady pay increases are vital to attracting quality candidates to Congress.” Judging by our current situation the incumbents have not performed all that well so why give them raises?

I applaud Messers Suozzi, Levy, & Weitzman, Ms. Rice, and Ms. O’Connell et. al. for not joining the greed parade. These public servants showed compassion and turned down the raise.

My tax dollars pay their salaries in effect making me their employer. And workers who have done such a poor job deserve to be fired not praised. I therefore rescind their pay raises and ask all taxpayers to join me in protest.

Udder Dilemma

One of the features of the economic slowdown is a decrease in consumer spending. Many people have either lost their jobs or are afraid of losing them so they spend or rather don't spend accordingly.

Now we cannot stop spending for the basics of life such as food but new clothes can wait just a bit longer and do we really need to go out to dinner so often? (This does not apply to certain sectors of the economy such as a team in dire need of a first baseman, you know who you are.)

And every cycle of this fear induced decrease in spending causes a slight worsening of the over-all economy which in turn causes us to even spend less.
This vicious cycle has hit the nations farmers and more precisely the dairy farmers. With the worlds population increasing especially overseas we were exporting more milk than ever before when the recession hit and the spigot was nearly turned off.
When we cut back on travel gasoline sales drop and so does the price so production of oil is slowed. And when we stopped buying cars production out of Detroit etc. slowed to a crawl.
BUT how do you tell a cow to stop with the milk already? It is an udder-ly perplexing problem.

Many programs were started during the Roosevelt years to help the farmer in times of trouble and one of them was to purchase his excess and sell it a loss. This semi-sweet deal allowed the Farmer to sit on his Fanny.

And when it came to milk the government stored it in powder form which increased it's shelf life dramatically and it can also be used as feed. But how much can Washington do and which industry deserves to get the next handout?

Some farmers are now thinking of selling off their milk cows but no one will buy them until things turn around. Of course at that point why sell? And that is the same dilemma hitting many industries. The best solution is to get the banks to start lending some of the money we gifted them and get companies who borrow to start hiring back the people they laid off in the first place.

And I will do my part. I hereby promise to drink more milk if they do!

Created Equal but not Treated Equally

A newsday article concerning the early release from prison of Freddie Warren, January 1, 2009 brings a glaring issue to the front once again namely punishments in America do not fit their crime and are not handed out fairly.

Mr. Warren received a sentence of 20 years to life as a persistent felon after being convicted of selling a controlled substance. His crime was most likely fueled by his own addiction to that controlled substance and he spent the better part of 18 years in a stark 10' x 10' cell as a result.

Bernie Madoff also committed a crime by distributing lies to feed his own addiction, greed. He is currently serving time as a prisoner in his own luxurious $7 million Park Avenue apartment which is most likely a bit larger than 10' x 10'.

Mr. Madoff will undoubtedly receive leniency if he cooperates and aids the return of some of the cash he stole. But he will not return the life of French financier Thierry de la Villehuchet who committed suicide over the losses he suffered. And he will not return the conifidence he stole from average investors who lost their relative fortunes in the market and are afraid to return.

These inequities of punishment in our society are what should be addressed. It seems to be a constant that if you have money you have a leg up on forgiveness, right OJ? Of course Simpson is in prison now but don't forget that he did run out of cash first.

I used the following phrase in an earlier piece but it fits so wonderfully here that I had to repeat it; Mr Madoff subscribes to the adage, "If you owe the bank $100 they own you but if you owe them $1 billion you own them." And his favorite movie just might be Jimmy Cagney's 1959 film, "Never Steal Anything Small."

Mr. Madoff is a criminal and he must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
This glove does fit and therefore we must not acquit.