Something's Gotta Give.

As we fall deeper and deeper into debt, things are going to change. The old business strategy of "expand, expand, expand" may turn into one of, "lets just make sure our long term debt = 0."

Considering a future America that must change and become more efficient, I wonder about the USPS. Yes, the postal service, the monopoly, third largest employer of people in the country (700,000+ employees) and single largest vehicle owner. Productivity has increased at USPS over the last eight years, but their long term debt is over 6 billion dollars. Eventually they are going to have to make a move and hopefully not become the next GM.......could they sell all mailing rights to UPS and FedEx for 10 billion and fulfill all their long term debt obligations (like 7.5 billion in pension)?

Either way, somethings gotta give, employee pensions or postal services (or both)......by the way don't expect mail on Saturdays anymore. And if you live off the road 100 miles, shouldn't you have to pay more for someone to spend the time to deliver you something than the guy who lives in the city?

There are better solutions than shuttering the joint that is the USPS, their website still gets over one hundred million hits a year......

Poor decisions, no change in decision makers.....

My hometown of Cincinnati is in a 20-40 million dollar deficit, there was a financial crisis people get hopped up and make some bad decisions, and BANG there goes 40 mil.....no big deal

But, some decisions are just too poor to blame on a crisis. A perfect example of poor decision making can be seen in a near 4,000 square foot 20 bus stop station built beneath second street in 2003 (above). It cost 23 million dollars and it is housing for a few bums who can get past the chain lock......those of you who live here have probably seen the entrance which looks like it leads to a subway and is across from the stadiums.

Now when others make 23 million dollar mistakes at work, they get fired . Where is the new management? When things go wrong, that's ok, mistakes happen but fault needs to placed and new people need to step into the Cincinnati political machine. This was a 2003 mistake, same leadership today (rich peoples sons) that cannot get anything in Cincy rolling.

Hopefully Nick Lachey is panning a run for mayor.......40 million dollar deficits, 2 different stadiums for 2 losing teams (they can both play in one), failure to develop any riverfront property and seeing how cool Newport is, and lastly this bus station have to be reason for a change from the 9 person council system.

From a Friend, Ponder this....

I received this from a good friend, Thomas Schaefer the other day, he received it from a friend of his.........I could not fin the origination of the document, but its a good idea.

"The Proposal"

When a company falls on difficult times, one of the things that seems to happen is they reduce their staff and workers. The remaining workers must find ways to continue to do a good job or risk that their job would be eliminated as well.

Wall street, and the media normally congratulate the CEO for making this type of "tough decision", and his board of directors gives him a big bonus .

Our government should not be immune from similar risks. Therefore:

• Reduce the House of Representatives from the current 435 members to 218 members.
• Reduce Senate members from 100 to 50 (one per State).
• Then, reduce their staff by 25%.Accomplish this over the next 8 years(two steps/two elections) and of course this would require some redistricting.

Some Yearly Monetary Gains Include:$44,108,400 for elimination of base pay for congress. (267 members X $165,200 pay/member/ yr.)$97,175,000 for elimination of their staff. (estimate $1.3 Million in staff per each member of the House, and $3 Million in staff per each=2 0member of the Senate every year)$240,294 for the reduction in remaining staff by 25%.

$7,500,000,000 reduction in pork barrel ear-marks each year. (those members whose jobs are gone. Current estimates for total government pork earmarks are at $15 Billion/yr ).

The remaining Representatives would need to work smarter and improve efficiency. It might even be in their best interests to work together for the good of our country! We may also expect that smaller committees might lead to a more efficient resolution of issues as well. It might even be easier to keep track of what your Representative is doing.Congress has more tools available to do their jobs than it had back in 1911 when the current number of Representatives was established. (telephone, computers, cell phones to name a few)Note: Congress did not hesitate to head home when it was a holiday, when the nation needed a real fix to the economic problems. Also, we had 3 senators that were not doing their jobs for the 18+ months (on the campaign trail) and still they all have accepted full pay. These facts alone support a reduction in senators.

Summary of opportunity:

• $ 44,108,400 reduction of congress members.
• $282,100, 000 for elimination of the reduced house member staff.
• $150,000,000 for elimination of reduced senate member staff.
• $59,675,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining house members.
• $37,500,000 for 25% reduction of staff for remaining senate members.
• $7,500,000,000 reduction in pork added to bills by the reduction of congress members.

= around $8,073,383,400 per year, estimated total savings. (that's 8-BILLION just to start!)

Unemployment Rate, not the real issue.....

Freakonomics Blog poster Justin Wolfers poses and interesting and somewhat scary number that is more worrisome than unemployment. Aggregate working hours. The U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent today and will probably go much higher in the next year.

However, the real issue is total working hours in the United States (or the world), which have diminished severely. So, lets say one person is fired and is now unemployed, how many others work weeks were cut back to 30 or even 20 hours? The people working less hours are not as easily included into the unemployment lot.

The purple line (private total hours worked) dips the lowest whereas the black line is more a reflection of unemployment although it measures payrolls. Check out freakonomics.com for this graph and more in-depth information.

Getting a Beer in Bergen, Norway

Norway is an expensive country to say the least. The government grip is felt in a simple grocery reciept. I want to try to explain this process as compared to the United States......so I may ramble a bit.

Anyways, in the States, more specifically in Cincinnati OH, beer can be purchased at a variety of places; convenience stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, and even Chipotle. Not only that, but it can be purchased until 2 a.m. six days a week and until midnight on Sundays.

In Bergen, Norway beer can be purchased at.......... grocery stores. Liqor is sold at a seperate government owned entity, and I have yet to see one of these establishments. Beer can be purchased until 8 p.m. on weekdays and until 6 p.m. on Saturday............At what time does the average person start drinking? Well for me it's usually past the time you can buy beer in Bergen.
So, i've been in Bergen for about 2 weeks and I officialy have found their cheapest beer for sale. Its called Seidel and in runs 9.90 Kroner (about $1.65) for one. How do I know the price of one bottle of beer at the grocery? Well in Bergen, you can buy 1 beer at a time tearing one poor little beer away from its five other family members. Who would do such a thing? Since one beer in not enough for me, I purchased 8 for 87.20 Kroner and I later realized, 87.20 Kroner= $14.53 = 14.53/8 = $1.81 per beer.......how did 1.65 per ber turn into 1.81.....the bottling fee/tax is 25%!

So drinking here involves preparation, first get you beer early. Second, buy a bunch of individuals because there are no 18, 24, or 30 cases. And third, the beer I drink (the cheapest here I can guarentee you) doesn't come in any kind of carrying case, so get a bag to put them in. If you're in Cincy, think of me the next time your carrying a conveniently filled 30 case of your favorite cheap pilsner........I envy you. It's not all bad, every bottle returned in Bergen= $0.17.