Penn Jillette has a tendency for strong language but it lays it all out on the table as well as anyone.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
20111228 What Will Cost More in 2012
www.dealnews.com has released its predictions of the eleven items most likely to see measurable preice increases in 2012.
By Laura Heller, dealnews writer
End of the year sales are still going strong, and in this environment it's difficult to imagine not being able to find an excellent deal on the necessities. But sales end and economic trends change, and sometimes even minor shifts can spell big price hikes.
It's inevitable that as the new year creeps closer, we begin to muse about what's to come in the next 12 months. So dealnews is taking a look at what price adjustments consumers can expect to see in 2012. This week, we read the economic tealeaves to see what will be more expensive in the year 2012. Some increases seem almost customary, like ever-rising gas prices, while others, like a potential 25% hike on tap water, are more surprising.
1. Domestic and International Airfare
Greater demand and fewer available airline seats will likely lead to higher ticket prices for flights next year. American Express predicts prices within North America will increase up to 5% for economy seating, depending on the length of the flight, and up to 7% in business class. Things look more bleak for European travel. A new "green tax" implemented by the EU is aimed at reducing emissions, and it will levy a fee of roughly $15 per passenger, each way, for flights to the U.S. Fees on shorter flights within the EU will be taxed slightly less.
2. New Digital Camera Models
Smartphones have quickly replaced budget friendly point-and-shoot cameras, so manufacturers and retailers are focusing more on higher-end digital SLRs. This year, consumers may have a hard time finding a newly-released digital camera with an inexpensive starting price, as the market is moving towards more feature-rich products. "Lower cost products just won't come to market and those that will be out there, will be priced more and more for profitability," says Stephen Baker, Vice President of Industry Analysis at the NPD Group.
3. Hard Drives
There's been a shortage of hard drives thanks to epic flooding in Thailand in 2011, and some retailers have actually been rationing hard drive–based products. As a result, we've seen fewer hard drive discounts. Expect continued shortages throughout the first quarter of 2012, which is when experts predict that production will begin to catch up to demand.
4. Desktop Computers
The consolidation of desktop features into monitor-integrated units — many with touchscreens — will drive desktop prices up in 2012, according to Baker. Expect average selling prices to increase roughly 30% on new desktops.
5. Food for Home Preparation
If your grocery bill seemed higher in 2011, you weren't imagining things. Most retailers have reported that food prices are rising and those increases are being passed along to shoppers. Food costs rose 6% last year and will likely go up at least 2% more in 2012. Increases are likely to affect food eaten at home, rather than restaurants where those costs are easier to absorb when combined with sales of liquor, says Harry Balzer, Chief Industry Analyst for the NPD Group.
6. Mobile Device Data Plans
Data plans in the past have had a tendency to decline, but as carriers build out 4G services, and move away from unlimited plans, data is set to become more expensive in 2012, according to Ross Rubin, Executive Director of Connected Intelligence at the NPD Group.
7. City-Enforced Fees
As municipalities look for ways to make up for budget shortfalls, fees for everything from dog licenses to vehicle registration and parking rates are going up, as is enforcement of fine-related infractions. In Chicago for example, a non-registered dog can elicit a $500 fine, while parking fines in Portland are going up 18% as the city tries to make up a $16 billion transportation budget deficit.
8. Water
Most communities in the United States will face water rate hikes this year, even places that are rich with the natural resource. Water rates in the greater Chicago area will increase by as much as 25% next year, while the parched high desert Denver market is set to rise an additional 5.5%. Like the above-mentioned fees, this increase is mostly a result of cities needing to increase revenue to balance their budgets.
9. Gas
Fuel prices began inching up just before the holidays, and 2012 is looking to be another budget-breaking year at the pump, with prices once again topping $4 per gallon.
10. Gold
The precious metal is poised to achieve its 11th straight year of growth. Gold prices bounced around a lot in the second half of 2011, but analysts expect it to rise roughly 12% in 2012. It's a conservative estimate and a lot lower than the 17% annual growth rate of the past decade, but most believe gold will be more expensive. Take that to the bank.
11. Shipping
Unfortunately for avid online shoppers, the U.S. Postal Service will raise rates by an average of 4.6% next year, while both FedEx and UPS are hiking small package rates by 4.9%. Personal shipping will certainly cost more and it's anybody's guess how long retailers can continue the ubiquitous free shipping offers as rates rise.
By Laura Heller, dealnews writer
End of the year sales are still going strong, and in this environment it's difficult to imagine not being able to find an excellent deal on the necessities. But sales end and economic trends change, and sometimes even minor shifts can spell big price hikes.
It's inevitable that as the new year creeps closer, we begin to muse about what's to come in the next 12 months. So dealnews is taking a look at what price adjustments consumers can expect to see in 2012. This week, we read the economic tealeaves to see what will be more expensive in the year 2012. Some increases seem almost customary, like ever-rising gas prices, while others, like a potential 25% hike on tap water, are more surprising.
1. Domestic and International Airfare
Greater demand and fewer available airline seats will likely lead to higher ticket prices for flights next year. American Express predicts prices within North America will increase up to 5% for economy seating, depending on the length of the flight, and up to 7% in business class. Things look more bleak for European travel. A new "green tax" implemented by the EU is aimed at reducing emissions, and it will levy a fee of roughly $15 per passenger, each way, for flights to the U.S. Fees on shorter flights within the EU will be taxed slightly less.
2. New Digital Camera Models
Smartphones have quickly replaced budget friendly point-and-shoot cameras, so manufacturers and retailers are focusing more on higher-end digital SLRs. This year, consumers may have a hard time finding a newly-released digital camera with an inexpensive starting price, as the market is moving towards more feature-rich products. "Lower cost products just won't come to market and those that will be out there, will be priced more and more for profitability," says Stephen Baker, Vice President of Industry Analysis at the NPD Group.
3. Hard Drives
There's been a shortage of hard drives thanks to epic flooding in Thailand in 2011, and some retailers have actually been rationing hard drive–based products. As a result, we've seen fewer hard drive discounts. Expect continued shortages throughout the first quarter of 2012, which is when experts predict that production will begin to catch up to demand.
4. Desktop Computers
The consolidation of desktop features into monitor-integrated units — many with touchscreens — will drive desktop prices up in 2012, according to Baker. Expect average selling prices to increase roughly 30% on new desktops.
5. Food for Home Preparation
If your grocery bill seemed higher in 2011, you weren't imagining things. Most retailers have reported that food prices are rising and those increases are being passed along to shoppers. Food costs rose 6% last year and will likely go up at least 2% more in 2012. Increases are likely to affect food eaten at home, rather than restaurants where those costs are easier to absorb when combined with sales of liquor, says Harry Balzer, Chief Industry Analyst for the NPD Group.
6. Mobile Device Data Plans
Data plans in the past have had a tendency to decline, but as carriers build out 4G services, and move away from unlimited plans, data is set to become more expensive in 2012, according to Ross Rubin, Executive Director of Connected Intelligence at the NPD Group.
7. City-Enforced Fees
As municipalities look for ways to make up for budget shortfalls, fees for everything from dog licenses to vehicle registration and parking rates are going up, as is enforcement of fine-related infractions. In Chicago for example, a non-registered dog can elicit a $500 fine, while parking fines in Portland are going up 18% as the city tries to make up a $16 billion transportation budget deficit.
8. Water
Most communities in the United States will face water rate hikes this year, even places that are rich with the natural resource. Water rates in the greater Chicago area will increase by as much as 25% next year, while the parched high desert Denver market is set to rise an additional 5.5%. Like the above-mentioned fees, this increase is mostly a result of cities needing to increase revenue to balance their budgets.
9. Gas
Fuel prices began inching up just before the holidays, and 2012 is looking to be another budget-breaking year at the pump, with prices once again topping $4 per gallon.
10. Gold
The precious metal is poised to achieve its 11th straight year of growth. Gold prices bounced around a lot in the second half of 2011, but analysts expect it to rise roughly 12% in 2012. It's a conservative estimate and a lot lower than the 17% annual growth rate of the past decade, but most believe gold will be more expensive. Take that to the bank.
11. Shipping
Unfortunately for avid online shoppers, the U.S. Postal Service will raise rates by an average of 4.6% next year, while both FedEx and UPS are hiking small package rates by 4.9%. Personal shipping will certainly cost more and it's anybody's guess how long retailers can continue the ubiquitous free shipping offers as rates rise.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
20121222 Fifty Statistics to Make You Sad at Xmas
Here are the 50 economic numbers from 2011 that will shock you (via www.theeconomiccollapseblog.com):
1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.
4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8 percent once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
11. Back in 1980, less than 30 percent of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40 percent of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
12. Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.
13. One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
14. The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.
15. According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
16. As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.
17. The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.
19. Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.
20. If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.
21. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.
22. New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.
23. 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
24. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
25. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5 percent of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3 percent.
26. One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
27. If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
28. The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
29. It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.
30. The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
31. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
32. According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America’s biggest companies rose by 36.5 percent in just one recent 12 month period.
33. Today, the “too big to fail” banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.
34. The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.
35. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.
36. If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
37. A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7 percent) than has ever been measured before.
38. Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.
39. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.
40. Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4 percent of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1 percent of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6 percent of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6 percent of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
41. Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
42. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
43. A staggering 48.5 percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
44. Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
45. For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.
46. If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.
47. Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.
48. If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.
49. The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.
50. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.
Of course, after going through all these numbers, the obvious question is, “how has it come to this?” The Economic Collapse has a simple answer:
. . . the heart of our economic problems is the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a perpetual debt machine, it has almost completely destroyed the value of the U.S. dollar and it has an absolutely nightmarish track record of incompetence. If the Federal Reserve system had never been created, the U.S. economy would be in far better shape. The federal government needs to shut down the Federal Reserve and start issuing currency that is not debt-based.
1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.
4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8 percent once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
11. Back in 1980, less than 30 percent of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40 percent of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
12. Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.
13. One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
14. The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.
15. According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
16. As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.
17. The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.
19. Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.
20. If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.
21. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.
22. New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.
23. 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
24. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
25. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5 percent of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3 percent.
26. One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
27. If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
28. The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
29. It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.
30. The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
31. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
32. According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America’s biggest companies rose by 36.5 percent in just one recent 12 month period.
33. Today, the “too big to fail” banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.
34. The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.
35. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.
36. If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
37. A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7 percent) than has ever been measured before.
38. Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.
39. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.
40. Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4 percent of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1 percent of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6 percent of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6 percent of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
41. Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
42. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
43. A staggering 48.5 percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
44. Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
45. For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.
46. If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.
47. Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.
48. If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.
49. The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.
50. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.
Of course, after going through all these numbers, the obvious question is, “how has it come to this?” The Economic Collapse has a simple answer:
. . . the heart of our economic problems is the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a perpetual debt machine, it has almost completely destroyed the value of the U.S. dollar and it has an absolutely nightmarish track record of incompetence. If the Federal Reserve system had never been created, the U.S. economy would be in far better shape. The federal government needs to shut down the Federal Reserve and start issuing currency that is not debt-based.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
20111208 Strange Bedfellows
It is no secret that I am not a fan of the group Anonymous. My problems with them go well beyond my not being able to play Bad Company 2 online for over a month when they crippled the Playstation network. They actively call for distruction and murder. They want to tear down the system in the most violent of ways without thought to what comes next.
HOWEVER, we have now found a point of agreement. Congress has just tossed out the bill of rights and no one else is talking about it. Even if you love Obama and want to make him dictator, will you like the guy who comes next?
As for myself, I was informed almost three years ago that I was on a government watch list with a file at Homeland security. While my taxes are paying for the feds to monitor what I am saying, at least I have the freedom to say it. Now the government has defined a potential terrorist as a person who has more than seven days of food stockpiled and is giving the military to lock up American citizens indefinitely without charges if they are a potential terrorist.
And now, my enemies who are in agreement with me:
HOWEVER, we have now found a point of agreement. Congress has just tossed out the bill of rights and no one else is talking about it. Even if you love Obama and want to make him dictator, will you like the guy who comes next?
As for myself, I was informed almost three years ago that I was on a government watch list with a file at Homeland security. While my taxes are paying for the feds to monitor what I am saying, at least I have the freedom to say it. Now the government has defined a potential terrorist as a person who has more than seven days of food stockpiled and is giving the military to lock up American citizens indefinitely without charges if they are a potential terrorist.
And now, my enemies who are in agreement with me:
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
20111207 Bob Bertsch Goes Galt
Article from Kennewick, Washington:
Kennewick construction company auctions itself off
By John Trumbo, Tri-City Herald
KENNEWICK -- It took Bob Bertsch 25 years to build his construction business and just a day for it all to go away.
Bertsch's Kennewick-based Ashley-Bertsch Group went on the auction block Friday at 9 a.m. By 4 p.m., Booker Auctions had sold off almost two dozen vehicles and trailers, tons of power tools and supplies, even the gas-fired fireplace in the office.
Bertsch, 65, said he is down-sizing because the tax burden got too expensive to stay in business.
After a quarter of a century of building a successful enterprise at 5903 W. Metaline Ave., Bertsch sat back and watched as about 200 people bid on what was left of his company -- boxes of electrical parts, a drafting desk, high-end office furniture, TVs, computers and even the phone system.
Anything that could be carried away, was.
"I am tired of carrying all the tax load," Bertsch said. "I renew 13 licenses here every year just so I can spend money in this city."
Bertsch makes no attempt to conceal his frustration with the costs government imposes on small businesses like his.
"Government is killing small business. We used to have 24 employees at our peak. Now, all of those people who used to work here are in unemployment lines," he said.
Seeing all his life work and hard-earned gain sold off wasn't easy, Bertsch said, but the sale was successful enough to ease the hurt.
"I wasn't as emotionally attached as I thought I'd be," Bertsch said at the end of the day while sitting in what used to be the company's conference room in the 5,000-square-foot office building.
Most of the auction action took place inside and outside a 4,000-square-foot warehouse.
The buildings and 3.2 acres of property already had been sold. The Kennewick School District paid $960,000 and plans to expand the Tri-Tech campus on Kellogg Street to the site, Bertsch said.
Bertsch, who is a commissioner for the Benton Public Utility District, said selling off the company's assets doesn't mean he is retiring.
"I like what I do. All of my work has been relationship-based, with mostly referrals and negotiated jobs," said Bertsch, who expects he will be doing much of the same in his home-based, husband-and-wife operation.
Bertsch told a friend at the auction he is selling out because government was taking more out of his business than he was.
But auctioneer Merle Booker said Bertsch's wife put it differently.
"She said Bob told her he was shedding his skin," Booker said. "I'm not retiring. Just slowing down.
Kennewick construction company auctions itself off
By John Trumbo, Tri-City Herald
KENNEWICK -- It took Bob Bertsch 25 years to build his construction business and just a day for it all to go away.
Bertsch's Kennewick-based Ashley-Bertsch Group went on the auction block Friday at 9 a.m. By 4 p.m., Booker Auctions had sold off almost two dozen vehicles and trailers, tons of power tools and supplies, even the gas-fired fireplace in the office.
Bertsch, 65, said he is down-sizing because the tax burden got too expensive to stay in business.
After a quarter of a century of building a successful enterprise at 5903 W. Metaline Ave., Bertsch sat back and watched as about 200 people bid on what was left of his company -- boxes of electrical parts, a drafting desk, high-end office furniture, TVs, computers and even the phone system.
Anything that could be carried away, was.
"I am tired of carrying all the tax load," Bertsch said. "I renew 13 licenses here every year just so I can spend money in this city."
Bertsch makes no attempt to conceal his frustration with the costs government imposes on small businesses like his.
"Government is killing small business. We used to have 24 employees at our peak. Now, all of those people who used to work here are in unemployment lines," he said.
Seeing all his life work and hard-earned gain sold off wasn't easy, Bertsch said, but the sale was successful enough to ease the hurt.
"I wasn't as emotionally attached as I thought I'd be," Bertsch said at the end of the day while sitting in what used to be the company's conference room in the 5,000-square-foot office building.
Most of the auction action took place inside and outside a 4,000-square-foot warehouse.
The buildings and 3.2 acres of property already had been sold. The Kennewick School District paid $960,000 and plans to expand the Tri-Tech campus on Kellogg Street to the site, Bertsch said.
Bertsch, who is a commissioner for the Benton Public Utility District, said selling off the company's assets doesn't mean he is retiring.
"I like what I do. All of my work has been relationship-based, with mostly referrals and negotiated jobs," said Bertsch, who expects he will be doing much of the same in his home-based, husband-and-wife operation.
Bertsch told a friend at the auction he is selling out because government was taking more out of his business than he was.
But auctioneer Merle Booker said Bertsch's wife put it differently.
"She said Bob told her he was shedding his skin," Booker said. "I'm not retiring. Just slowing down.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
20111206 Big Statism is Osawatomie
The following was printed today in New Republic and written by Michael Knox Beran:
Big Statism in Osawatomie
December 6, 2011 1:10 P.M.
By Michael Knox Beran
He’s been Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan; today, President Obama travels to Osawatomie, Kansas, to unveil his latest persona: Teddy Roosevelt, who delivered his “New Nationalism” manifesto in the town’s John Brown Cemetery in August 1910.
Obama would do well to be cautious in inviting comparison to the popular image of the “Rough Rider.” The president whom Matt Drudge delights to picture on his vacation bicycle, safety helmet in place and a Dukakis-in-the-tank grin on his face, does not compare favorably as an action hero to the man who fought at San Juan Hill.
But where economic policy is concerned, Obama and the “New Nationalist” Roosevelt are not so far apart. At Osawatomie, the former president lamented the “absence of effective state” in America and advocated a policy of paternalist “control” of the nation’s commerce. President Obama, too, wants more “effective state” in America. The difference is that in 1910 government spending amounted to about 8 percent of GDP. A century later it comes to around 40 percent. The country today has too much state, not too little.
H. L. Mencken’s analysis of Teddy as a Big State Man is worth pondering. The “America that Roosevelt dreamed of,” Mencken wrote
was always a sort of swollen Prussia, truculent without and regimented within. . . . He didn’t believe in democracy; he believed simply in government. His remedy for all the great pangs and longings of existence was not a dispersion of authority, but a hard concentration of authority. He was not in favor of unlimited experiment; he was in favor of rigid control from above, a despotism of inspired prophets and policemen. He was not for democracy as his followers understood democracy, and as it actually is and must be; he was for paternalism of the true Bismarckian pattern, almost of the Napoleonic or Ludendorffian pattern—a paternalism concerning itself with all things, from the regulation of coal-mining and meat-packing to the regulation of spelling and marital rights.
There is more than a whiff of President Obama in this, for he too is a Big State Man. And as such he is out of step with the time. A century after Roosevelt called for more government control at Osawatomie, the dead hand of Big Statism is destroying the economies of the West and bankrupting the treasuries. Yet President Obama and his party stubbornly resist policies to restore a more reasonable balance between state power and private enterprise.
The remedy for pernicious concentrations of power is free competition. That was true in 1910, although Roosevelt didn’t realize it; what the country needed then was not state control of commerce but an effective anti-monopoly law. (Although the Sherman Act had been on the books since 1890, anti-trust law was in its infancy.) Today, too much power is concentrated in Washington and on Wall Street, and the two concentrations reinforce one another. Wall Street helps fund the campaigns of politicians in both parties, and in exchange the politicians give Wall Street regulation that insulates the biggest banks from competition by subsidizing their failures. The remedy here, too, is not more state control, but more competition and more free, unsubsidized enterprise.
Big Statism in Osawatomie
December 6, 2011 1:10 P.M.
By Michael Knox Beran
He’s been Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan; today, President Obama travels to Osawatomie, Kansas, to unveil his latest persona: Teddy Roosevelt, who delivered his “New Nationalism” manifesto in the town’s John Brown Cemetery in August 1910.
Obama would do well to be cautious in inviting comparison to the popular image of the “Rough Rider.” The president whom Matt Drudge delights to picture on his vacation bicycle, safety helmet in place and a Dukakis-in-the-tank grin on his face, does not compare favorably as an action hero to the man who fought at San Juan Hill.
But where economic policy is concerned, Obama and the “New Nationalist” Roosevelt are not so far apart. At Osawatomie, the former president lamented the “absence of effective state” in America and advocated a policy of paternalist “control” of the nation’s commerce. President Obama, too, wants more “effective state” in America. The difference is that in 1910 government spending amounted to about 8 percent of GDP. A century later it comes to around 40 percent. The country today has too much state, not too little.
H. L. Mencken’s analysis of Teddy as a Big State Man is worth pondering. The “America that Roosevelt dreamed of,” Mencken wrote
was always a sort of swollen Prussia, truculent without and regimented within. . . . He didn’t believe in democracy; he believed simply in government. His remedy for all the great pangs and longings of existence was not a dispersion of authority, but a hard concentration of authority. He was not in favor of unlimited experiment; he was in favor of rigid control from above, a despotism of inspired prophets and policemen. He was not for democracy as his followers understood democracy, and as it actually is and must be; he was for paternalism of the true Bismarckian pattern, almost of the Napoleonic or Ludendorffian pattern—a paternalism concerning itself with all things, from the regulation of coal-mining and meat-packing to the regulation of spelling and marital rights.
There is more than a whiff of President Obama in this, for he too is a Big State Man. And as such he is out of step with the time. A century after Roosevelt called for more government control at Osawatomie, the dead hand of Big Statism is destroying the economies of the West and bankrupting the treasuries. Yet President Obama and his party stubbornly resist policies to restore a more reasonable balance between state power and private enterprise.
The remedy for pernicious concentrations of power is free competition. That was true in 1910, although Roosevelt didn’t realize it; what the country needed then was not state control of commerce but an effective anti-monopoly law. (Although the Sherman Act had been on the books since 1890, anti-trust law was in its infancy.) Today, too much power is concentrated in Washington and on Wall Street, and the two concentrations reinforce one another. Wall Street helps fund the campaigns of politicians in both parties, and in exchange the politicians give Wall Street regulation that insulates the biggest banks from competition by subsidizing their failures. The remedy here, too, is not more state control, but more competition and more free, unsubsidized enterprise.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
20111201 Adam Breaks It Down
Adam Corolla went to the L.A. auto show and somehow the conversation turns to OWS and he goes off. He manages to break the situation down very nicely.
WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE
WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE
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