Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Fuzzy Wuzzy has an issue…

Posted: October 17, 2009 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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…that is if he wants one:

Community leaders gathered at the Montachusett Regional Planning office on Friday to talk about the importance of reaching the “hard to count” population living in the area, including low-income residents and illegal immigrants, in the upcoming 2010 census.

Oh we are going to count illegals in the census? The story is titled:

Low-income, illegals must be counted, say local leaders

the mayor’s position?

Wong said she, or a representative from her office, will be part of this year’s Complete Census Count Committee, to provide census workers with relevant information on city demographics, in order to be sure as many people as possible are surveyed.

I think it would be very interesting to see if the mayor directly says that illegal immigrants could be counted rather than deported. Mr. Ford the head of the Minority Coalition in Fitchburg reaction was predictable:

“You’re a human being in that town that affects everybody else’s style of living,” said Ford. “It doesn’t make sense not to count them.”

Yes you do effects peoples style of living, you siphon tax dollars and services from local state and federal government that could be used for oh I don’t know Turning on the street lights. There’s are different words you can use to describe illegal actions to secure tax money from taxpayers. The word I’d use is: “fraud”.

We have a large amount of drug dealers and gangs here in Fitchburg too, they also affect people’s style of living. They provide police hours, a desired service, they spend money in hardware stores for spraypaint, perhaps we shouldn’t arrest them either.

At least one Fitchburg pol sees some trouble with this:

(State Rep)DiNatale said asking illegal immigrants to participate in the census in order to increase federal funding for the population creates a bit of a conflict for him.

Someone needs to ask the mayor directly if she supports counting illegals locally, if she says yes then there is a ready made issue for candidate Michael “Fuzzy” Voisine.

Mayor Wong is considered up and coming in the local democratic party. A few months ago I said the following:

Right now I’m leaning toward the incumbent but it isn’t a clear cut choice for me. The Mayor is a highly educated person who has a lot of theory behind her and is a very hard worker, but Fuzzy has the actual practical experience in real life that is vital on the local level.

If this is the sign of what we’ll be seeing as she rises then I guess my vote is becoming more clear but not in the direction it once was.

She’s not just on facebook, Palin says Drill…

Posted: October 16, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…at NRO:

We rely on petroleum for much more than just powering our vehicles: It is essential in everything from jet fuel to petrochemicals, plastics to fertilizers, pesticides to pharmaceuticals. Ac­cord­ing to the Energy Information Ad­min­is­tra­tion, our total domestic petroleum consumption last year was 19.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Motor gasoline and diesel fuel accounted for less than 13 million bpd of that. Meanwhile, we produced only 4.95 million bpd of domestic crude. In other words, even if we ran all our vehicles on something else (which won’t happen anytime soon), we would still have to depend on imported oil. And we’ll continue that dependence until we develop our own oil resources to their fullest extent.

To pretend we can do without oil is to marry a fantasy. With the weak dollar the need to use our own resources is even more urgent. Not to mention the jobs it produces during a time of very high unemployment. She concludes thusly:

Alternative sources of energy are part of the answer, but only part. There’s no getting around the fact that we still need to “drill, baby, drill!” And if those in D.C. say otherwise, we need to tell them: “Yes, we can!”

Like the daily beast says, she’s not going anywhere.

A weak dollar is a strong opportunity

Posted: October 14, 2009 by datechguy in Uncategorized
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While the Dollar continues to be weak we should strike while the Iron is hot:

Energy: Since a weak dollar increases the price of energy imports we should take the opportunity to drill domestically. The cost of domestic materials do not change based on an exchange rate.

Manufacturing: A weaker US dollar means that US Steel is cheaper as the raw materials for it’s manufacture are available domestically. In addition with states in dire economic straits there have incentive to make deals with holders of foreign capital looking to produce here.

Labor: High unemployment means a larger than normal skilled work force is available and can be had for a lower price than normal. Also those wages are being paid in a depressed currency.

Rents: Housing and rental prices have plummeted, foreign capital can acquire locations for a song, and may even be able to lock in favorable rates for a long term commitment.

Exports All the basic exports from America are now cheaper. American Agribusiness is still very productive and American food products are some of the safest in the world. A smart operator would make long terms deals now while the prices are low and the producers need the business.

Tourism: The US is a big country and provided you steer clear of the gangs of Chicago and the boarder area where the Mexican drug wars are overflowing it is still the safest place to see. The Natural beauty isn’t affected by the dollar’s weakness, Hollywood and Disneyland are still there and if one is into history from Lexington to Little Big Horn and all the Civil war battlefields in between you can find plenty. Almost every foreign community in the world has it’s mirror in the US. (Fitchburg for example has a Finish consulate) so people can find both the familiar and the unfamiliar.

And lets not forget that America is still the most stable country in the world, where hundreds of thousands can protest the government without dirtying the grass.

If we can’t change the circumstances of the dollar a smart administration can that the lemons we have and make lemonade.

Sarah Palin on facebook again on…

Posted: October 7, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…two subjects first Afghanistan:

The 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, and if we are not successful there, al Qaeda will once again find a safe haven, the Taliban will impose its cruelty on the Afghan people, and Pakistan will be less stable.

Our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if we have the staying power to protect our interests in Afghanistan. I recently joined a group of Americans in urging President Obama to devote the resources necessary in Afghanistan and pledged to support him if he made the right decision. Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision — it is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan.

This is a question of saying bluntly what needs to be said, but she said it on FACEBOOK so of course on Morning Joe they are snarking over it. After all don’t we all know that only a Wuss would be afraid of Al Qaeda.

Then on energy and the dollar:

The British newspaper The Independent reported today that Gulf oil producers were negotiating with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the dollar in pricing oil with a basket of currencies. According to the Wall Street Journal, Arab oil officials have denied the story, but even the possibility of such a talk weakens the dollar and renews fears about its continued viability as an international reserve currency. In fact, today a United Nations official called for a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar and end our “privilege” to run up huge deficits. We can see the effect of this in the price of gold, which hit a record high today in response to fears about the weakened dollar.

All of this is a result of our out-of-control debt. This is why we need to rein in spending, and this is also why we need energy independence. A weakened dollar means higher commodity prices. This will make it more difficult to pay our bills – including the bill to import oil.

These are basic truths she bottom lines it:

Though the chant of “Drill, baby, drill” was much derided, it expressed the need to confront this issue head-on before it reaches a crisis point.

This is all about saying out-loud what people don’t want to say and the media want to ignore.

Update: Some in Headline comments disagree but I think the wisdom of the facebook strategy is self evident, no media filter and instant access by millions of subscribers who will see what she actually says before the MSM can play with it.

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