What happened to Blockbuster?

I grew up in the 90's and I got a chance to know the stereotypical video rental store.  I remember the small stores in the small town that I grew up in.  You could rent a video, but candy, rent a nintendo game, and even buy movies or video games. 
    Just in case you haven't noticed lately, the neighborhood video store is becoming extinct.  I see blockbuster videos closing regularly in my town.  I have been to four video store liquidation sales.  Why is the video store disappering?
    The first answer is the invention of the DVD.  This ushered in a new, much smaller medium for home movies.  The DVD can be shipped cheaply, and can be stored  in bulk in a much smaller space than the VHS.
    The other answer is Netflix and Redbox.  I personally started to catch on to redbox first, and was excited to pay one dollar for a DVD rental.  The one in my neighborhood store has a line every evening, and seems extremely busy.  I knew that Redbox was going to be huge once McDonald's bought the company. 
    Netflix took the video rental industry by storm.  It is this innovation and creativity that makes our country great.  Renting movies, and watching endless movies for one low monthly fee. 
    Well, goodbye to the video store.  There are still some video stores, but they are disappearing.  How can they compete?

Sharon Angle Loses the Race

When I fonnd out that Sharon Angle lost the Congressional election against Harry Reid, I was relieved.  I just could not see myself living under the umbrella of ultra conservative (Libertarian) politics in Nevada for the next six years.  Nevada is at such an ultra low point in our depleted economy that the ordinary people need all the help we can get.

Sharon Angle represents the Tea Party, which is an attempt by a specific group to swing our country back to the "trickle down" economics that was ever present in the Reagan Era.  Loosely interpreted, "trickle down" economics is an approach where the government cuts taxes to the wealthiest, who will then in turn spend more money on hiring employees, and investing in business ventures that will help people further down the economic ladder.  In reality, the only money left when it reaches the bottom of the ladder, where the poor folk are, is used to hire a minimum wage worker.  In tough times, whether taxes are high or low, wealthy people are more likely to save their money, rather than invest and spend.

The sad reality is that I don't want Harry Reid as a candidate either, and I see him as a lame duck.  He only came out of the woodworks to help build support for his reelection.  The only thing I can  say is that he is more sympathetic to funding government programs that help the working and lower class, such as unemployment benefits, government medical care, and funding projects that could help to revive parts of our economy.  But, still not the best person for the job.  I weep inside having to put up with the two party system, that offers only two options: a bad candidate, and an even worse candidate.

If you want to check out a news article concerning Sharon Angle losing, click here.

The Stimulus Package Evaluated

I recently read an article about a senior center in Rhode Island that would be closing it's doors for good, even after receiving a recent round of stimulus money. 

This is one way that the stimulus package didn't work to save the economy.  I think the idea was that the federal government would pump money into ailing insitutions and businesses to prevent widespread business failures, and that these widespread failures could  lead to economic metldown.  This was a concept used in the great depression by President Roosevelt to get the economy started again (which was controversial as to whether it worked to rebound the economy back then).

Saving a failing business only prolongs the inevitable, and saves businesses that should go out of business anyways.  It is a sad reality, but pumping money into, for example, a failing bank (this  ought to make you mad) only condones a bank to continue with unethical or risky practices, such as selling and purchasing risky securities and mortgages.  Don't bail out failing businesses, the process of natural selection in the business world will weed out the less efficient businesses.  Personally, I am sad to see billions of my tax dollars go to these huge corporations that took a lot of risk and should have lost out like the rest of us.  In the end, the common person will lose their house and job, but the corporate leader will keep their job and house (and get fatter pockets).

So, what about the community center????  There should be other funding in place through the local governments to assist.  My heart goes out to the community center, but giving them a short burst of the stimulus money without any long term solution really does effect all the seniors that rely on their services.

Here is a link to the article about the Senior Center

Our Economic Problems

           In the news, I am guessing you have seen the endless articles and debates about the economy.  How can we fix it, who can do it, and even can it be done?  I argue that there is no solution.  The economy is a monster that can be swayed one way or another, but no one insitiution or government can make a move to "fix" the economy.
        Let me give you an example, when the Federal Reserve makes an announcement of possible rate hikes in the interest rate, there is major shifts in the stock market.  People make purchasing decisions in the stock market based on interest rates, jobless rates and reports, and presidential declarations.  And, most important of all, stock purchases are largely based on psychology.  Fear of losing money, anticipating the changes in the market, and basic human instinct are a big part of the stock market.  The stock market itself is proved to be the engine behind the economy, yet there is no clear direction of the market and no one way to control it.

Let's look at  all of the failed attempts to save the economy:

• Wallstreet Bailout
• Home Loan Bailout
• TARP

We have all heard the fraud involved with the money given, and how bailed out companies continued to give CEO million dollar retirements, and how these same companies pay out millions of dollar in bonuses. 

So what does work to "fix" the economy?  I say nothing.  The economy is so big and complex thatno one entity can fix what is wrong.  The natural law of economies is that we go through phases of boom, bust, boom, bust, then boom again.  This recession is an effect of the long period of buying overpriced houses, refinancing houses to buy an escalade, and just being financially rediculous for awhile.

Norway Didn't have an economic meltdown

I stumpled upon an article today that was an interview between Jerry Guo from Newsweek and the primeminister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg.  The focus of the interview was of course how he ran his country from his IPAD, while stranded in New York because of the volcano eruption also recently in the news.  What was the secret leadership tactics that he used to grow Norway's economy by 2.2% when the rest of the world's economies were dwindling?  He dropped the interest rate to rediculous rate, cut pensions 3%, and had stiff bank regulation already in place. He also exposed another secret, purchasing stalks when their price plummeted after the economic crash.  He said that they have a long term investment approach. If you want to view the article, click here.

We need to send all of our government on a field trip to Norway to study this guy.  He is the only political leader who avoided the global meltdown mess.  Not only that, he doesn't talk as greedy as most politicians and businessmen here in the US.  Having a long term perspective is probably his biggest secret, a perspective the we need in a country that is searching for quick fixes that might not work anyways.

Wall Street is pulling out support for Democrats

I found a news article summarizing how wall street corporations are reducing their contributions to the Democratic Party in light of government measures that could regulate and reduce the power of the finance industry.  One particular measure endorsed by the Democrats in the Financial Reform Bill.  The article highlights the influence of Wall Street contributors on the dominating party of the government, and how their contributions have benefited their agency. To read the article, click on this link.

Well, it all makes sense.   The wealthy use their money (through "campaign contributions") to influence key government officials.  It is all right there in the article, plus we all know the impact of lobbying and campaign contributions on our government.  Nobody, especially the wealth, will give you money for nothing in exchange.

SEC Employees Watched Porn

I would imagine that everyone has seen the news story in the last week about the SEC employees that were verified as watching pornography on government computers.  The story goes on to say that this has been going on for the past five years, even while Wall Street was making questionable deals, that eventually led to the present day economic meltdown.  Click on this Link to read the full article from CNN News.

What do I think?????  Well I knew that someone was asleep at the wheel when I heard the news from ex-president Bush that the banks were going to drag us all down and we needed to give them billions of our tax dollars to avoid economic death.  I am not shocked that over-paid government employees were jacking around while our economy is crumbling.  What every happened to accountability???  I know if I got caught doing something like this at my job, I would be fired.  I am waiting to see the article where all of these geniuses were fired.  The article even mentioned that some of these employees were making salaries of 90,000 to 200,000 dollars per year.  WOW, get paid that much to cruise on the website all day looking  at porn, and then not get into trouble when the economy screws up????  What a job.  Did they lose their pension???