California dreaming...i think

As San Bernardino, CA filed for bankruptcy today and it became the third one to do so (Vallejo and Stockton were the others), I can not help think, what is happening to this state of such endless hopes, dreams and beauty.  I recently visited Northern California and it is one of the most beautiful places in the world and an amazing place to live.  The climate is great and within 2-3 hours of San Francisco you can be in wine country, Big Sur or  Lake Tahoe.  I know there are earthquakes and wildfires but every place in the world has some risk where the place is amazing to live. 

That being said....the state is going bankrupt and to hide their issues they cram down mandates and tax issues on the municipalities.  That is why you are starting to see certain cities who were crushed the real estate collapse and the weak economy go bankrupt.  I actually think this is a good thing as bankruptcy is far from ideal, but it should result in a cleansing of the system.  The real issue here is that the most populous state in the union and the 8th largest economy in the world (yes is that big) is in dire financial straits and their government is a bureaucratic nightmare.  They continue to raise taxes on the wealthy and the middle class (sales tax highest in the nation) and refuse to cut spending to create a more stable financial future. 

It is just sad that a state that is one of the most beautiful and wealthiest places on Earth, can not get their house in order.  I still want to move their one day and I wont give up on my California dreaming.....but it needs to get better there before my dreams come true!

Fed - More Stimulus??? More wine for all!!!!

The call for more Fed stimulus is like watching Game of Thrones when one of the many kings or lords states "more wine for all".  Well of course we would love more wine, but is that really a good idea when we are running out of it? How much more can the Fed do?  I am sure they can do more, but at some point, lower rates, buying bonds and all of the other tools in their arsenal doesn't fix the problem with this economy.  The economy has never fully recovered from the financial crisis and it shows in the job market and the GDP numbers.  The only way to get the economy started is to grow GDP and when that is anemic and you are spending too much, it is a recipe for disaster. 

One may point that out that we have no choice. I take a more balanced approach and offer solutions that balance growth, deficit reduction and spending to keep the economy running.  The Fed has pretty much bought 2 trillion (yes TRILLION) of government bonds to keep rates low and helps the government maintain a lower interest rate on the debt they owe.  At some point the wine bottles are empty and interest rates will rise.  If the economy is not on solid footing, then this will be a real problem!

The main point here is that we need to Fed, our leaders and president to work together to fix this and not just use rhetoric on twitter and websites all day.  If you worked for a larger company, you wouldn't accept this and neither should we.  This is not an easy problem to solve, but just asking the Fed for more wine, when the bar is almost out, is not a good solution....

Taxes...A love hate relationship

Taxes are the one of the most divisive topics we in America. Everyone pays them and yet we all hate them, even though they support our nations infrastructure, military, health care etc. I want to continue this discussion on taxes because I do not think Americans discuss the topic honestly. We always just say "the rich need to pay more" or "we need more money, so let's raise taxes on all people". Both of those comments make sense to most people, but the waterfall impact in this economy would be pretty harmful unless those ideas are enacted with comprehensive spending reform. I have written before about class warfare and the problem I have with it. I think we should reward people for success and not make people feel like they are being punished. But that being said, why can't our leaders in Washington actually realize that putting band aids over this problem with our deficit, by playing the tax the rich or middle class tax hike game is such kindergarten politics. Can our leaders possibly discuss ways to make the tax code more efficient, which will bring in more revenue. People spend more time avoiding paying taxes than paying them.

Rhetoric is at an all time high on the governments long time financial health and taxes are a huge part of that problem. Why cant we have a REAL discussion where we propose practical solutions to the tax code instead of just saying they are too high or low? Why don't we address the core issues of the over complexity of the tax code? Why don't raise taxes on everyone to make the budget deficit smaller? Why don't we have a 1040 that is one page long so people spend more time paying taxes instead of avoiding them?

This topic will be on the front page for the rest of the year and I will continue to delve deeper into it in the coming weeks and months.

Living in the moment and my thought evolution (vacation edition)

As I gazed up at the Bay Bridge in San Francisco yesterday, while the weather was 62 and sunny and absolutely magnificent, I couldn't help being a little philosophical about the topic of this posting. Let me take you through my thought progression here and then I will make try to make my larger point. We all have been taught by our parents, friends and even colleagues at our jobs to think about the future and the plan ahead. That could relate to our 10 year plans for work or a retirement plan or planning to have a family. We see our politicians speak the same way with regards to balancing the budget or fixing a program like social security (I have a 5 year plan etc etc). Plans are great, wonderful and amazing things that should be recognized, cherished and applauded for their vision and forward thinking, but.....a lot of my blog discusses looking forward and making big plans to solve issues we face, but I couldn't help think of the following yesterday....

Living in the moment is not such a narrow concept that I always thought it was. I thought it was easier to think forward and the to say "watching that sunset is nice, but imagine when we own a house here in 10 years and watch that sunset every night". I think that thought above is amazing in both the moment and forward sense, but I know my mind always focused in the forward and forgot how special the present is. Living in the moment could mean to some people being irresponsible or acting out something that could hurt you in the future. That is not what we are discussing here although it is interesting that our political leaders often act like they ONLY live the the moment with certain irresponsible spending or other policy decisions (that will have to wait for another posting).

Sometimes it takes an event or a very special person to come into your life to make you look at things differently. This is not meant to be a life lesson, but purely something that I hope shows my readers that my views may lean a certain direction, but my mind is open to change and thought evolution.

I think we all should cherish that sunset or embrace that dinner with friends or breath deep and suck in that fresh air while overlooking the ocean or like me yesterday enjoying that sun as is it glistened off the bay, but understand that your can live in that moment and ALSO plan and look forward. I am learning that now and it is making me a better person and hopefully a writer for this blog.

My goal with this blog is to have a discussion with my readers about large issues that impact us and come up with practical solutions for these problems, but since I was on vacation, I thought it was important to share how my thought process is constantly evolving.....

Good morning east coast......and have a great day!!!

Passion!!!!

I have written many issue-focused pieces in the last few weeks, however I wanted on the day before we gained our independence to speak to a subject that someone very special in my life made me realize it's the one, if not the most important thing...PASSION!

• Passion is the foundation of almost every successful venture, relationship or career.
• Passion allows us to work harder and smarter
• Passion makes us feel there is purpose to what we are doing
• Passion MAKES IT ALL POSSIBLE

When tomorrow rolls around and we are all watching fireworks, having BBQ's and hanging with family and friends, try to remember the people who fought for that right! They were some of the most passionate people to ever walk this Earth. They fought against all odds to gain our independence and wrote documents that frame how our lives and government is run today. Let us not ever forget what they fought for and remember that it all started with the PASSION to be free!

Happy Independence Day!

Bobby D! What happened..oh I know

So it took over a week for Barclay's CEO Bob Diamond to resign from his job.....WELL THANK GOD!! I am a free market, capitalist but this is how it works. You mess up (not just this once Bobby) and you get canned. Barclay's would be just a middle tier investment bank if its wasnt for the Lehman collapse and subsequent purchase, but all is fair in love and war. I think the whole financial industry needs to wake up and realize that people don't like them and you will ALWAYS GET CAUGHT!

I truly believe that there is a huge benefit to the capital markets these firms provide, but it just seems like every month there is a scandal or something that makes everyone look so bad.

Life and times of John Roberts

I am really unhappy about the decision to allow the government to mandate health care coverage and to TAX people when you don't purchase it. But let's focus on that something else first, To start off, i disagree with the majority opinion written by Chief Justice of the SCOTUS, Mr John Roberts. He has received a lot of flack from Republicans and conservatives for going with the liberal side of the court. My main bone to pick with Mr Roberts is that he was influenced by what happened with Bush vs Gore and didn't want the court to have too seem partisan and to have his court (while he is Chief Justice) to be thought as illegitimate. Yes I said it. You should never make decisions based on how your the legacy of the court will be looked at. From everything I know about John Roberts, he seemed like a middle to right justice and it just stuns me with his decision. I just don't truly believe John Roberts had thought evolution on the specific topic of allowing the government to tax and penalize for you not buying something. This ruling has a far reaching impact as it allows our government to "tax" or penalize us for not doing something. This vote was not about whether you think people should have universal health care (which i think we all somewhat agree people should have in the US). It is about whether you want the government to have your hands on your life even more than it already is.

My conclusion is that I hope that John Roberts voted on what he believed and didn't think about politics or his legacy. When people do not make decisions on how they truly believe (ex. - check out most politicians (Dems and Repubs) in Congress for more than 10 years), this country is hurt by that behavior.

Good day everyone.....

Been a long time......

It has been a few days since I have ranted or spouted (as we call it here), but I want open the week with a little verbage on this whole Mitt Romney / Bain Capital situation. Mitt Romney was a very successful person at Bain Capital.  He made a signficant amount of his wealth from that job and that is a good thing.  I am not sure why people want to degrade his success or any person that has done well.  Did everything that Bain Capital did during his tenor fit what common middle class folks seems right or makes sense..probably not, but that is the world of private equity and finance.  This world of finance and banking is not the "cleanest" or most transparent business in the world, but it does serve a large purpose in the global economy.

The larger point here is that we are a nation of educated, smart, forward thinking and passionate people.  We should stop making people feel bad for being successful and be honest as to why we do that.

ObamaCare......my backlash

As I explained earlier in my post, I think health care reform is needed.  I think the government should provide a framework for this issue, but when they mandate and essentially push out private companies and choice, that is where I draw the line.

1. COST:  In ALL countries in which some form of government mandated health care has been instituted, there are cost issues, along with rationing of care due to the cost problems.  Government never seems to keep things within budget and this plan will create massive cost issues already adding to the massive gov't debt. 
2. PERSONAl CHOICE: Mandating people to get coverage or pay a fine seems like an overeach with respect to my freedom as an American.  I understand getting car insurance is important as that protects myself AND someone else, but not getting health care really hurts no one. 
3. CARE QUALITY: If people think that quality of care will get better, I think they are crazy.  Private development of drugs will still happen, but there cost will be even higher so companies can make back their investment OR it could really inhibit companies from investing due to the governmental control of the system which limits their return on investment.  Quality of care is based on the best people and the best medicines.  Generally you don't get the best of those when the gov't controls the machine

I want my readers to know that I support reforming broken things.  So often in gov't, we don't reform, we just make things worse (see tax code) which is not true reform. 

Let's discuss this in the coming weeks and not get partisan to the point we can't even have a conversation.....more to come.......

@stretchnelson

SCOTUS Ruling - ObamaCare

Well the ruling is in and the SCOTUS upheld ObamaCare. I am actually too annoyed right now to comment in much detail, but here are my initial thoughts:

• In concept, having the government come up with a plan to cover more Americans, I am generally in favor with (THIS IS NOT OBAMACARE)
• No one in the US has any clue how expensive and financially ruinous this will be to our budget. Everything is puppy dogs and ice cream cones until the bill comes in
• Mandating people what they need to buy with regards to healthcare is such a massive overstep
• Has anyone seen the budgets of Europe who have government-run healthcare? Oh yeah, they are doing really well
• As much as it sounds great for the government to help everyone out, the government's job is not to run every aspect of our lives.

Health care needed reforming, but this decision will mark a day in American history where we ceded control of our future to even more debt and being less powerful.....

Here is a big one...Tax debate

We all hate taxes.  No one likes paying them and we talk about them all the time.  Local, State and Federal plus other excise and sin taxes.  I want to focus on that part of what many people call "paying your fair share", but let's first frame the discussion. We have a huge problem with our deficit.  Its growing at an unsustainable rate and no one wants to really deal with it.  Both sides have provided plans but neither have a chance to pass any Congress.  The focal issue within those plans are taxes.  Dem's will say rich people will solve the issue (WRONG), Republicans said tax rates are fine and we need cut spending (WRONG).  When people talk in absolutes like this, it poisons the discussion. 

We need to do something similar to the Erskin Bowles type plan (Debt Commission). It was the only compromised plan that anyone has ever submitted and it tried to deal with issues and COMPROMISE!  When people discuss paying their fair share, I think it is an extremely posionous and negative.  I would pay more taxes, if our leaders decided to cut ONE thing from the budget, or really reform a broken agency or even raise taxes across those sacred cows....the middle class.  Yep I said it.  I think when 50% of the nation pays NO taxes, its fair not to focus on the top 5%, but the other 45%.  Why cant we talk honestly about this topic instead of saying, "lets just tax the rich".  Let's tax everyone and make changes that really address the problem of our debt etc.

My plan would be a simpler tax system with less tiered rates and minimal deductions.  Make it simple to fill out and you would eliminate everyone who "cheats" on their taxes.  Of course this would make government less important and put HR Block out of business (haha). 

Class warfare is poisonous and downright hurtful.  We are a great nation who prides ourselves on being successful and forward thinking.  Constantly saying people dont pay their fair share or the "rich are this or that", doesnt help.

Let's do better everyone.  I will pay more taxes, if this nation and our leaders agree to grow up and solves problems instead of complaining how hard they are to solve!

Until next time America......

Tuesday Primary Results..our friend Charlie Rangel

Charging to a 22nd term in Congress....here are the recent accomplishments of your very own Charlie Rannnngggeeell

• Scandal with failing to pay taxes on his beach home and using the home for fundraising (remember him passed out in the Caribbean on that chair)..so great !
• Censure in the House

My point about this example is to say, "don't we expect more from our politicians?"  Republicans and Democrats both have issues but this guy is STILL going to represent people in his district in Congress.  If someone had done this working at Merck or GM, he or she would have been fired.

I also don't like people serving in government for 50 years.  Government service should be limited to a certain time frame as this should make people focus on doing the right thing instead of trying to get reelected.

New Campaign slogan "Hi I am Charlie Rangel.....what's my next scandal....Just kidding :)"

The education discussion

In America today we are always talking about education.  It dominates local, state and national races.  People are constantly discussing the importance of educating our children and having great teachers and compensating teachers more.  All of those topics are long discussions in themselves, but I want to briefly talk about where I think the most important part of education starts....in your home. I think education starts with your parents.  Each home is different with respect to what your parents do for a living or their interests or passion resides. But I believe good parenting starts with giving your children the drive and focus that in the early parts of education.  From a personal experience both of my parents constantly pushed me to excel in any subject or class I was in.  One could say that they pushed too hard or they were too strict, but I deep down enjoyed the challenge. 

In today's hyper competitive global economy and job market, the push, drive and support that parents show their children in my view is critical to how our society will grow and flourish in the decades to come.  Most kids today do not learn science and math like kids in Asia or India, and I am not saying that is for everyone.  To be a musician, actor or writer are amazing things, just like being a doctor or lawyer or even focusing a trade like a carpenter or plumber etc. 

We have to be realistic where the economy will grow in the next 20+ years is related to computers and technology and we have to be prepared as a society to keep those jobs and companies here in the US.  It all starts with your parents and the children being on the same page of the importance of education.

Regulation

Regulation is always a touchy subject with people. When things go bad, people want more of it. When things are good, the regulation laws never seem to fully protect our society from things like Madoff or the financial crisis or the housing debacle. PLEASE DO NOT THINK I AM AGAINST regulation. I am fully for sensical and appropriate regulation of most sectors. Like many of my columns, I stress a balanced approach to solving issues and with regulation, that approach is 100% required.

I deep down believe that any business or enterprise that wants to get around regulation can and will. The Financial industry did and Dodd Frank will improve things at the margins, but with a global economy and large banking centers outside the US, it is hard for me to believe that Dodd Frank and other laws will prevent another crisis. This topic came up last night (see my morning posting "Musings from the corner bar seat") and I was totally portrayed as I didnt want any regulation. That is far from the truth. I do know that regulation in the financial industry will help, but will never prevent a major meltdown.

A very smart gentleman pointed out something to me last night that and I have had time to think about more today. I do agree with his premise that the Glass Steagal repeal was a huge moment in the financial industry and probably was a caused of alot of the issues around the financial crisis. A lot of people would prefer that banks just keep your money and make loans. That is the way it used to be. Now JP and Citigroup are so large and intertwined with banking, trading and investing that you never know what could go wrong (see 2008). I think that argument has validity to break these enterprises up, but we also have to remember how important (everyone is sighing right now) these companies are to the market and overall.

I think we need to get the best people in government (regulators or legislators etc). That is how you solve problems. Get the best and brightest!

More to come.....

Musings from the corner bar seat....

We all have been in a bar or pub in our lives and have had political discussions where there is passion, agreement, disagreement, arguing and even a touch of compromise over a few cocktails. I am writing this because I love to debate and have frank discussions with people.  I may agree or disagree, but I want to hear their point of view.  What makes this nation great is the ability for everyone to voice their opinion with numerous forums to express it......and sometimes that forum is from that corner bar stool.

The corner bar stool at many establishments is a place of power.  It's a place where a person sits and controls the space and sometimes the discussion.  I mention this because I always find talking to these people to be the most fascinating.  They are generally passionate and definitely have their own strong opinions.  With the state of the global economy and our many issues we have on our soil, its a time where we should be debating, discussing and working on practical solutions for things. 

Last night I had a honest discussion with some amazing people.  I was accused of being:  right, wrong, close minded, tea party guy (I AM NOT) etc.  I have a very positive view of this nation going forward, but I am also a realist.  I realize that health care, entitlements, taxes, immigration and creating jobs are all very dynamic and hard issues to solve, but having the debate and throwing out ideas is the way we move forward and create a dialogue that allows for solutions.

I will try and tackle the specific topics discussed last night over the coming weeks because I truly believe in my heart that debates like last night (from the corner bar seat) are the small embers that inspire all of us to move forward and create compromise on really tough issues.

Our Prez....and twitter...and jobs....

I love Twitter. I really do, as its a medium that goes to the heart of my inner mind, short and to the point. One could argue that the shortness allows for some poetic license and that is what struck me today with Barack little tirade on Mitt shipping job overseas etc. I do not doubt the "factual" nature of what he said (sorry if that sounded disingenuous) but I would hope that the president of the united states would realize (along with his predecessor) that capital flows to the place of least resistance. When you make it hard for people to create jobs or businesses they will go where they can. In the US that could between states ( see Texas and South Carolina vs California and New York) or between countries like the US and china or other Asian countries.

Let's start focusing on why jobs are leaving the US and not what someone did in the past. Please realize that if you ran a business and you could make a profit of 3x by making it somewhere else, you would do that most of the time. I won't even go to the fact that our best company (Apple) can't even hire enough computer science and engineers in the America which would be American jobs....but china and India now has those jobs......

Many angles will be taken from this last paragraph in the coming weeks

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Fidgeting through 2012

My teachers, friends and family said that I could never stay still.  My leg would bounce up and down at the dinner table or even in the classroom.  You may say, what is the relevance to a blog focused on politics and markets etc.  Well here it is, I feel like our politicians and leaders are like me...SO FIDGETY.  

Deep down if you asked Barack Obama or Mitt Romney without anyone around and the tapes would be destroyed, I think they would say this: "I think America is the greatest country in the world, but i am really nervous and scared about so many things (debt, wars, China etc".  

I truly believe that our leaders are nervous because they actually don't know what to do.  That is a bold statement but if this was a company who job was to make money and sell a product, the CEO and the whole leadership would have been fired.  I don't just mean the president, but the whole congressional leadership.  We are broke and have 2 parties who cant agree on anything except spend more money we don't have.

#boldeststatementoftheyear

Student Loans

This is a great example of how Washington looks at things individually instead of looking at the overall picture.

I am sure we all agree that student loans should be kept as low as possible to allow people to go to school and get a great education....but we need to start paying for things. Our country can not fund everything through raising taxes. Sometimes you have to cut costs and the partisan atmosphere in DC is just horrible. No one wants to CUT anything or RAISE anything. That is a disaster that is waiting to happen.

Like many things in life, you can take a small thing or solution and apply it to larger problem. Can our leaders rise above this partisan rancor and solve things......

Yes I am frustrated and its only day three on this blog!

Inflation - honesty!

On the back on my writing about the Fed yesterday and the topic of inflation, I really think it something that should be discussed in detail at some point, but here are a few thoughts: - Do prices seem like they have only gone up 2%?  per year? 

- When you go the store, everything is more expensive and packaged in smaller boxes to shield us from the sticker price

 - We always ignore gas and fuel from this discussion, but stripping it out is like saying, I have alot of money each month if I didnt have to pay my mortgage.

The genesis of this discussion is at the heart of why people dont trust the government or what some of our politicians tell us.  Reality of our daily lives always trump stats by some agency etc.  I think it's important to be real with people and have an HONEST and OPEN discussion. 

More to come....

I was just thinking....

As the temperature starts to approach 100 degrees in NYC and our economy is supposed to be as hot as the weather, I look at the Bloomberg website and see all of this positive economic news (just kidding): - US Stocks decline among bads reports

- Banks to be downgraded

- More Americans forecast to file as jobless

The list goes on and I think, where are the leaders of both parties. Well they are arguing about Eric Holder and some documents. I dont diminish the importance of truth in government and this issue, but as you read this blog, a theme will emerge. People run the government like nothing else in their lives. The overspend, waste time and refuse to move forward.

This country is essentially going bankrupt and our leaders can't honesty discuss issues like our debt or entitlements going bankrupt. We scare senior citizens about cutting benefits or we say raising taxes are bad. BOTH are bad, but what are our choices here? A balanced approach to bring back fiscal sanity to our nation is needed.

Join me in this discussion over the coming months and maybe we can start making these people in Washington realize that they work for us and we want something different on both side of the aisle. We want term limits for these people so they have incentives to solve problems and not just to get reelected!

Have some passion America and let's move this country forward....