The Way I See ItBy cj pollickElections Are Heating-Up – As expected, several local elections are “heating-up.” Where? Indian Rocks Beach, Belleair and Belleair Bluffs. Not A Part Of Any Political Lovefest - One e-mail message received by the Gazette asked if the newspaper online polls were non-partisan. Yes, the polls are non-partisan, but subject to actual voting by local citizens (who are registered voters.) Thus, final online poll results are results of local citizens who took the time to vote. Unlike some other national polls where you wonder who was called by the pollsters, the Gazette poll is an online poll where any local person could vote and be counted. How did local people feel about last week’s question regarding President Obama’s stimulus sending plan? Seventy-five percent of respondents voted against Obama’s plan. One Reason Why Many Folks Felt GM Should File For Bankruptcy Protection - GM negotiated with the employees union before 1976 to allow retirement with full retirement benefits (pension, healthcare, etc.) after 30 years of employment. Thus, any employee who had started to work at age 19 could retire at age 49 with full retirement benefits. This early retirement benefit did not go unnoticed by GM employees. It was reported that one union official said as early as 1976 many GM employees used the full early retirement option. The result required GM to pay full "working" benefits to an employee who might have been 48-53 years-old and pay full benefits to replace the exiting employee. GM, on the other hand, is not a profitable business, it has needed and still needs taxpayer funds from the government to remain in business. GM may need over $30 billion of taxpayer funds and another $6 billion to allegedly deliver products that are fuel efficient. How and when will this money be repaid? Not known. Yet, there is another problem with the GM business model. The company health plan has used company stock to shore-up health plan assets required to meet reserve needs. Of course, the company stock has tanked and the reserve is most likely not actuarially sufficient to meet all of the plan needs. Bankruptcy protection to amend all of the credit needs of GM? No. Democrats in Congress have a better idea -- lend GM billions of taxpayer dollars (which probably will not be repaid.) How Bad Is Citigroup? - Our government may soon lend enough taxpayer funds to own over 40% of Citigroup. Strangely enough, one bank official responded to this sad situation by adding, " At least they (US) will not own 100%. Other banks in trouble? Bank of America may need more government funds and might also need to sell-off some assets. Citigroup is not alone with its troubles Pope Benedict Meets With Speaker Nancy Pelosi - Just when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought she could sway the opinion of Pope Benedict, she found that the head of the Catholic Church does not mix words when it comes to abortion rights. Speaker Pelosi who purports to be Catholic, has more than once stated that the matter of abortion is an issue of controversy in the Catholic Church, which Pope Benedict informed Pelosi last week was not true. The Pope informed Pelosi that the Catholic Church has been consistent in its teaching of the sanctity of human life "from conception until death." Even though Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden reportedly are members of the Roman Catholic Church, both are pro-choice and support abortion rights. The private meeting Pelosi had with Pope Benedict in Italy was not a public meeting, therefore, much of this discussion has remained private. Another Massive Banking Fraud - There was more bad news for bankers last week; Texas billionaire Allen Stanford of Stanford Financial Group (Stanford International Bank, etc.) is in trouble. According to recent SEC releases, the Texas banker may be involved in a massive banking fraud which could exceed $8 billion. It appears that the Texas banker may have sold bogus CD's to investors at interest rates that were appealing to customers who sought conservative investments. Stanford also owned other Caribbean banks that are having problems with concerned depositors from the Caribbean. Ever since the shocking Madoff case made public news, banking/financial corruption cases have unfolded. Perhaps the SEC is finally following-up on suspect banking and other securities deals that have gone unnoticed. One of those multi-million dollar ponzi/Madoff financial schemes was found to be headquartered in the Sarasota area and could cost local investors tens of millions of dollars. The future of banking? Time will tell, but it is not a good picture at this time. Obama Pays Back The Unions For Their Support - Whether it is a Democrat or Republican president, either one uses the power of his office to tender paybacks to large supporters. Thus, it was no surprise to notice President Obama quietly sign an Executive Order last Friday stating that all government projects must use only union labor. Thus, independent workers may not be allowed to work on government funded projects. Of course, this is a huge financial payoff. Obama plans to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in government work projects that will clearly benefit unions for their support. GOP chairman Michael Steele stated that this latest move by Obama "will drive up the cost of government when we should be doing everything possible to save tax dollars." Steele referred to the Executive Order as nothing more than a payoff to the unions. “Wisdom is not a product of schooling, but of the life-long attempt to acquire it.” - Albert Einstein |