The New Kid - Wish Me Luck

Click here to first to watch the one minute commericial: The New Kid - Late 80's McDonalds Advert, then come back and read below.

In response to yesterdays post's - Recession's Act Two & The Double Dip, a Naybob of Transport notes...

Good morning *********, or should I say Mr. Naybob

I always enjoy your nattering’s as depressing as they may be, and I agree with you most of the time.

I too feel that we are already in a second recession. If it looks, feels, smells and tastes like sh*t, there is a good chance it is, even if the Government wants to call it something else.

Anyway you cut it, it’s still sh*t, and Obama’s jobs bill is an utter joke as well. There is not one thing contained within it that would prompt me to hire someone that I wasn’t already going to hire anyway. Sure I’ll take the credits but they would be better off leaving as is.

When you use the terms Gutless and spineless, you are being way too nice in my opinion.

My personal net worth has dropped by more than 50% in the past 2.5 years, so forget about my prior plans for retirement.

I just might be that 90 year old man in the old McDonalds Commercials walking out the door in his new McDonalds Uniform walking to work on this first day on the job with his new employer, waiving to my wife with my cane saying “Wish Me Luck”.

I don’t know if you ever recall that commercial but it gave me nightmares. They were trying to recruit older folks that needed a little extra income, but to me it was a nightmare. A total failure of the system.

They tried to make it look like fun, you know get out of the house and be productive. I looked at it as work your ass off all your life and then what do you have to look forward to in your final days?

Wiping down tables at McDonalds, working with people that don’t even know how to count change unless they look at the picture buttons on the register and earn top dollars at minimum wage.

(The Nattering One muses... the next passage may seem racist, but it is just an observation of this individual.)

Stopping at McDonalds and observing who is working there is one of the many gauges I use to determine how bad the economy really is.

When the economy is bad, you will find mostly white people working there. When the economy is a little better you will see mostly white and some african american.

When it’s doing ok you will see a mix of african american and some hispanic. When the economy is humming along you will find hispanic supervisors, an almost all Hispanic work force...

with few african americans and virtually no whites unless of course you are in the middle of corn field USA. I have been observing this for years.

As you know, the majority of my employees are blue collar. I pay on the very high end of the scale but from what I see of these guys in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s are living check to check to check with no savings.

They have no skills other than driving, and they have no money. A nice flat screen TV, but no money.

Very few employers offer any sort of pension program and 401k’s have surely shown what can happen. It’s amazing how many people don’t even have a 401k.

The vast majority of our generation will be looking to Washington for handouts when they get older because they have not saved a penny, or we will be an economy of minimum wage geriatrics.

The meat wagons will be coming by daily to pick up the dead bodies as we drop like flies on the job from old age. “Wish me Luck”.

The Nattering One muses... Tonights offering for your acceptance, submitted for your approval....

Most often heard phrase at Walmart or McDonald's, often being uttered by an employee over the age of fifty...

"Welcome to Walmart, how can I help you?" ; "Would you like to Supersize that order?"

We have noted many a time in these pages about the new world disorder in which one is expected to work till they die...

This is why UNIONS are a necessary evil, TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL against the profit motive AKA GREED, and no Gordon Gecko, greed is NOT good.

Workers must unite in all industries and at all levels, to prevent management from abusing the populace under the profit motive and outsourcing to labor at the margin.

Unchecked and left to their own devices, management will ALWAYS abuse the rights of the individual in favor of the capitalist creed.

What part of FOR PROFIT, did you NOT understand?

We defer to the Grass Roots song "Live for Today":

When I think of all the worries people seem to find
And how they're in a hurry to complicate their mind
By chasing after money and dreams that can't come true
I'm glad that we are different, we've better things to do
May others plan their future, I'm busy lovin' you (1-2-3-4)
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
Sha-la-la-la-la-la, live for today
And don't worry 'bout tomorrow, hey, hey, hey

This is also why PENSION plans, public and private MUST exist. Left to their own devices, individuals will NOT plan for the future.

Again, individuals as a group can muster better placement, control and return's on their nesteggs.

Individual 401K's are nothing more than a Wall Street broker scam to make more managment fees off the individual.

Remember PLANNING IS ESSENTIAL and UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL. There is power in numbers, NOW is the time to "come together right now".

Recessions Act Two

Recession's second act would be worse than the first

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

Fresh evidence of a global economic slowdown has raised fears that governments around the world may be powerless to reverse it. If the world does fall into back into recession, it could be much harder to escape than the contraction that ended in 2009.

With banks still recovering from a decade-long credit bubble, governments slashing spending to cope with unsustainable debt, and unemployment at levels not seen in decades, a new recession would be “disastrous,” according to Roger Altman, a senior Treasury official in the Clinton administration.

“We could be in for a repeat of the experience of 1937, when America fell back into recession after three years of recovery from the Great Depression,” he wrote in the Financial Times.

Altman was referring to the fact the global downturn of the 1930s technically included two U.S. recessions, from 1929 to 1933 and again from 1937 to 1938. U.S. unemployment peaked at over 20 percent in the 1930s, according to historical estimates, and did not decline significantly until factories began gearing up for World War II.

Two years after the latest U.S. recession technically ended, evidence continues to build that the weak recovery is stalling out. The U.S. economy stopped producing new jobs in August after a string of mostly meager monthly job gains that failed to bring the unemployment rate below 9 percent.

On Thursday, fresh data showed the Eurozone's service sector contracting for the first time in two years; a separate index of the manufacturing sector, which has provided much of the region’s growth, slowed for the second month in a row.

A global stock sell-off that dragged market indices to their lowest level of the year spread to the U.S., where the Dow Jones industrial average was down nearly 400 points.

Until recently, there were hopes that emerging economies in places like China and Brazil could prop up global growth until a stronger recovery took hold elsewhere. But China’s two biggest export markets -- Europe and the United States -- are struggling, and that has cut into demand for Chinese goods. A report out Thursday showed that China’s factories slowed for the third month in a row.

"There is a global slowdown,” Jeavon Lolay, head of global research at Lloyds Banking Group, told Reuters. “There is no doubt the risks of a global recession have grown."

That’s also the opinion of Federal Reserve policymakers, who said Wednesday they saw "significant downside risks" to the U.S. economy after deciding to launch an unusual program of reshuffling $400 billion in Treasury holdings to try to push interest rates lower.

But with interest rates already at record lows, few expect the program to do much to increase the demand for loans. Businesses face weak demand for their products and services and consumers are continuing to work to pay down their debts. Though mortgage rates remain at record lows, millions of homeowners are unable to refinance their higher rate loans because they owe more than their home is worth.

Some analysts argue that the Fed’s latest move (dubbed Operation Twist because it “twists” the relationship between short- and long-term rates), will hurt economic growth because it will squeeze bank profits and lower the income consumers earn on their savings. Public and private pension funds, already under strain, will be even more badly underfunded because they’ll have to set aside more money to generate the same amount of cash to pay retiree benefits.

“In a couple of weeks (Operation Twist) will be a subject for economic history, and the main discussion will be that the Fed is grasping at straws,” former Fed governor William Poole told CNBC. “I think that they have thrown lead into the life preserver, and they are sinking.”

‘Slow motion train crash’

European central bankers appear increasingly unable to contain a widening banking crisis, sparked by the threat of bond defaults in Greece and Italy, Europe’s third-largest economy.

The International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that Europe and the United States could slip back into recession next year without bold action

"We are seeing a slow-motion train crash in the euro area, where credit contraction risks leading to a new recession by Christmas unless governments face up to the task swiftly and forcefully," Martin Enlund, market strategist at the Swedish bank Handelsbanken told Reuters.

Policymakers in China, the world’s third largest economy behind the U.S. and EU, face their own set of tough choices. Rapid growth rate has fueled inflation that is running at a double-digit rate, according to analysts -- much higher than official targets. To contain inflation, Beijing has raised interest rates five times and lifted banks' reserve requirements nine times since October. If it clamps down too hard, though, a deeper economic slowdown could reverse China's efforts to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

China is also coping with a banking hangover of its own, after years of massive government lending for expansion of state-owned enterprises an infrastructure upgrades.

"There is a two-tier system within China and I think the lending that's taking place and the percentage of nonperforming loans is now at a level that is disturbing," David McAlvany, chief executive at McAlvany Financial Group told CNBC. "Ultimately, (China's banks) will have to see some comeuppance."

Recessions Act Two

The Double Dip

The Nattering One muses... long ago in these pages we predicted the double dip.

We keep hearing all these stories about recovery from the pollyannas we know. We quip, what recovery?

The markets are jury rigged and contrived, witnessed by the stock market level and real estate prices being completely false.

As stated before, the equation is simple...

Bail out all you like... until real durable economic jobs are created domestically, there shall be no recovery.

We differ with Mr. Altman in only one aspect, inflation is anything but negligible and tame.

Much like the guvmints unemployment number at 9%, the inflation number at 3% is missing something... the truthful number one in front of it.

19% and 13% would be accurate numbers for unemployment and inflation respectively.

In Greece it's reported that something like 50% of ALL jobs are Government or Government related. Outside of tourism and olive oil they produce NOTHING.

Greece have been in technical default fo something like 100 of the last 150 years. They have no industry that exists anymore that they can even tax to make it look as if they are even trying.

We have institutionalized and fed a dysfunctional and corrupt, gluttonous, slothful, over-paid and under-performing Government for decades. WE ARE GREECE.

We have stated many times that globalization and outsourcing to labor at the margin are nothing more than euphemisms for global corporate rape and pillage.

This is what happens when the special interest lobbyists run everything, and our government is no longer for the people and by the people, but for the corporations and by the rich upper 2%....

you outsource everything and turn to globalization, you wind up with a soft non durable service based economy...

dependent on the largess of others to patronize you with loans and tourism.

We can't come to a budget deal because the layers of corruption overlap on so many levels, and we have no national will to self-correct.

Everything is broken, and the leadership we've elected whether they be Republican, Democrat, Tea Party, Libertarian or Independent...

are just spine-less jellyfish and pawns of groups that don't want to compromise on anything that they have control over.

It's a total catastrophe, a failure of epic proportion. We have failed at every level, Main Street, Wall Street, The Financial System, everybody and every institution is corrupt and lazy.

As Jonathan E.(James Caan) said in the original Rollerball: "It's like people had a choice a long time ago between having all them nice things or freedom. Of course, they chose comfort."

Bartholomew (John Houseman): "The game was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort."

"Corporate society takes care of everything. And all it asks of anyone, all it's ever asked of anyone ever, is not to interfere with management decisions."

There are no heroes. We're just spineless sputem of our forefathers and we've squandered the whole deal.

Ladies and gentlemen, will you stand please for the playing of our Corporate Hymn.

America and Europe are on the verge of disastrous recession

Roger Altman

September 21, 2011

Interest rates on US, German and UK government bonds have fallen to all-time lows. Yields on 10-year US Treasury securities, for example, are below two per cent.

That is the lowest recorded since the Federal Reserve began publishing market data in 1953.

In addition, yields on the inflation-protected 10-year Treasuries are zero. These are nearly incomprehensible levels whose implications are profoundly negative. Namely that Tuesday’s International Monetary Fund report is quite correct to warn that America and Europe are on the verge of renewed recession.

It is only the anticipation of negligible demand for capital and negligible inflation ‑ both hallmarks of recession ‑ that could drive rates this low. For the American and western European economies to decline again, when unemployment levels are already so high, would be disastrous.

It would shock consumers, businesses and financial markets. Fearful, they would retrench further, causing the economic decline to accelerate. Weak labour markets would get even worse, as would the already swollen government deficits and debt.

Overall, we could be in for a repeat of the experience of 1937, when America fell back into recession after three years of recovery from the Great Depression.

How do we know that another recession is approaching? For starters, there is no other credible explanation for the relentless fall in interest rates.

Yes, monetary policy is on maximum ease and that controls short-term rates. Safe haven psychology also is at work. However, these cannot explain such low yields on longer-term government and corporate bonds.

Further, bond markets usually signal recession through an inverted yield curve, when long-term rates are lower than short-term ones. Technically, this is impossible now, as short-term rates are zero. But, the recent movement in long-term rates is the equivalent.

Moreover, recent US and European economic data conveys serious weakness. US household net worth has begun to fall again, and jobless claims have been rising for several weeks.

Retail sales are flat and consumer confidence is hovering around modern lows. Onshore corporate liquidity has reached a record $13,000bn, which signals that businesses are uncertain over the outlook.

Across the Atlantic, the trend is also poor. Neither Germany nor France grew in the second quarter. Household consumption in the eurozone actually fell during that period.

Moreover, the European Commission is forecasting only 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent growth across the region for the third and fourth quarter respectively. The worsening of the sovereign debt crisis surely means that actual results will be worse.

It is the debilitating sovereign debt crisis in Europe that is pushing both regions back towards the brink. It is causing credit conditions to tighten again for sovereign credits, weaker borrowers and small and mid-sized business. It also is suppressing consumer and business confidence and the export outlook.

The never-ending nature of this crisis was avoidable. At every opportunity Europe’s leaders have delayed, taken the tiniest steps possible and generally averted their eyes to the elephants in the room.

Yes, everyone knows that the country-by-country politics are difficult, starting with Germany. But the risk of another Lehman-like market collapse and subsequent economic contraction is huge.

Faced with this, European leaders must confront the politics. Instead, their grudging incrementalism is deepening the risks. Implicitly, this was the message behind Treasury Secretary Geithner’s presence in Poland last week.

A single currency representing 17 separate nations inevitably requires a unified balance sheet behind it and, following that, a form of fiscal union. The time for denying the latter is over.

The European financial stability facility must be enlarged exponentially so that it can stand behind nations such as Italy or Spain. In addition, the mandate of the European Central Bank must be expanded.

Just like the Federal Reserve, it should be responsible for maintaining a sound banking system and stable capital markets. This requires a permanent capacity to finance banks directly, just as a group of central banks did last week.

It also requires the flexibility to buy and sell sovereign debt securities in secondary markets. These reforms must be accompanied by tighter, eurozone-wide bank regulation and supervision.

It also requires IMF-like conditionality to accompany direct EFSF loans to member nations. Finally, the ECB should ease monetary policy now as there is no visible inflation risk.

America also must stop its own partisan bickering and undertake one last round of fiscal stimulus. The $447bn job-creation plan by President Obama, or another quick-acting plan of similar magnitude, should be enacted immediately. The Fed should also initiate further moves to promote credit availability and lending.

Another recession would be profoundly damaging to labour markets and public confidence. It would take years to fully overcome.

We must try to avoid such an outcome at all costs. That requires the type of far-sighted leadership that we haven’t seen much of lately.

The writer is founder and chairman of Evercore Partners and former US deputy treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton.

Roger Altmans Financial Times Op-Ed (Registration Required)

The Big Default

Shhh... pay no heed to the man behind the curtain...

Unless an agreement is reached by Aug 2nd, the US Treasury will run out of money to pay its bills.

Most likely, only defense contractors and social security payments would be delayed.

However, in the event an actual default occurs, then a downgrade on US debt ratings will occur.

Those required to hold AAA rated securities must then liquidate non AAA assets.

The cascade created by this public/pension liquidation on CDO and CDS would be like Lehman Brothers 10X...

"The irony of the situation at the moment ... is that the biggest threat to the world financial system comes from a few right-wing nutters in the American Congress rather than the euro zone,"

British government minister Vince Cable said on Sunday.

The Nattering One muses... We warned in the past about this. Greece just got its second bailout package. Will Japan and China bail US out?

Read details here.

Part VIII: The War on Vox Populi

The Nattering One muses... The chart above witnesses how jobs are being outsourced while our economy is expatriated.

Meanwhile the teabaggers are crafting the final solution for the new jews... homosexuals, immigrants, pensions, unions and public workers...

Quietly, those stealth whores on the hill have set it up so that their rich friends pay no tax while the working stiff gets screwed royally.

This is a classic parliamental misdirect in our governments "War on the Vox Populi" and "War on the Middle Class".

We refer to our tried and true axioms: Adam Smith's Urban Myth AKA: "There are NO free markets" and Globalism: "a euphemism for unfettered corporate rape and pillage"...

and add a new one from our "Ducky" friend: Rather than a revolution against "no taxation without representation"...

we need a new revolution against "representation for the ultra rich without taxation" and "taxation without representation" for everyone else.

...while Main Street Americans are having their services gutted and public investment is being slashed, some of the country’s most profitable corporations are getting away with paying little to nothing in taxes.

The amount of money that taxpayers are losing from the tax dodging by these major corporations is enormous.

For example, if five of the nation’s biggest banks paid their taxes at the full rate, we could re-hire every single one of the 132,000 teachers laid off during the recession — twice.

A new report by Public Campaign examines how these major corporations have influenced Congress to craft a tax code that lets them get away with making so much money and paying so little taxes in return.

In its report, “The Artful Dodgers,” Public Campaign juxtaposes the limited tax liability of dozen major corporations with the companies’ campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures, which amount to more than a billion dollars over the last decade:

EXXON MOBIL: The oil giant that was the world’s most profitable corporation in 2008 has spent $5.7 million in campaign contributions over the last ten years and $138 million in lobbying expenditures. Its federal corporate income tax liabilities for 2009? Absolutely nothing. Not only did it pay nothing, but it also received a tax rebate the same year of $156 million.

CHEVRON: Chevron spent $4.4 million in campaign contributions and $91 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received a tax refund of $19 million in 2009 while making $10 billion in profits and $324 million in government contracts in 2008.

CONOCOPHILLIPS: The Texas-based gasoline giant spent $2.5 million in campaign contributions and $63 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received “$451 million through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction,” a special tax break, between 2007 and 2009, despite $16 billion in profits over the same period of time.

VALERO ENERGY: Valero spent $4.1 million in campaign contributions and $4.8 million in lobbying expenditures from 2001 to 2010. It received a $157 million tax rebate in 2009 despite $68 billion in sales during the same year. It received “$134 million through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction” over the last three years.

BANK OF AMERICA: Bank of America employees contributed $11 million to federal political campaigns from 2001 to 2010 and spent $24 million lobbying over the same period of time. It made $4.4 billion in profits in 2010 while receiving a tax refund of $1.9 billion.

CITIGROUP: Citigroup employees contributed $15 million to federal political campaigns from 2001 to 2010 and spent $62 million lobbying over the same period of time. It made $4 billion in profits in 2010 while paying absolutely nothing in federal corporate income taxes. It also received a $1.9 billion tax refund.

GOLDMAN SACHS: The mega-bank Goldman Sachs, which is often called “Government Sachs” in insider circles because of its clout over Washington, spent $22 million in campaign contributions and $21 million in lobbying over the last decade. It paid an ultra-low tax rate of 1.1 percent in 2008, while also receiving $800 billion in government loans to help weather the financial crisis.

BOEING: The aviation and defense contractor giant gave $10 million in contributions and $115 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It paid a grand total of nothing in federal corporate income taxes in 2010 and received a $124 million tax refund.

FEDEX: FedEx spent $8.7 million in campaign contributions and $71 million in lobbying expenditures from 2001 to 2010. It paid a .0005 percent effective tax rate recently, actually spending 42 times as much on lobbying Congress as it did paying taxes. To do this it utilizes 21 tax havens.

CARNIVAL: The cruise line paid $1.7 million in campaign contributions and $1.6 million in lobbying over the past ten years. Despite the relatively low amount of money it spent influencing Washington, it has gotten away with a super-low tax rate. Over the past five years, its federal corporate income tax rate has been an effective 1.1 percent.

VERIZON: Verizon spent $12 million in campaign contributions and $131 million in lobbying expenditures over the past decade. It paid absolutely nothing in federal corporate income taxes over the past two years and $488 million in government contracts in 2008; in 2010, it made $12 billion in profits.

GENERAL ELECTRIC: General Electric spent $13 million in campaign contributions and $205 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade while netting a tax refund of $4.1 billion over the past five years. It made $26 billion in profits over the same time period.

See original text here.

Part VII: Rand Paul and Ayn Rand: Nothing in Common

The Naybob of Realty, Not Reality, has done it again...

To Parts V & VI she replied... with a notice for the new Atlas Shrugged movie and a Rand Paul petition for "the Right to Work that Obama fears" with the comment:

"As I said before… I think you’re living around too many fossils who hang on to the experiences of yesteryear...

and days long gone by that don’t exist anymore… the killer of visionaries and entrepreneurs."

The Nattering One muses... If Rupert Murdoch is your visionary and Rand Paul is the saviour of your entrepreneurs...

by destroying the only thing standing between you and slavery...

that being unions and the existence of the right to negotiate for fair wages and decent working conditions.

then you are at best, hopeless, clueless and quite misinformed. But then again, you did vote for Shrub Jr. twice and that says it all.

FYI, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged has many of its precepts lifted from the 1922 novel The Driver, written by Garet Garrett which concerns an idealized industrialist...

named Henry Galt, who is a transcontinental railway owner trying to improve the world and fighting against government and socialism. Sound familiar?

Both novels suggest pro-capitalist ways in which the country might get out of the depression. But in plot, character, tone, and theme they are very different.

The real purpose of Ayn Rand's book is to expouse the core tenets of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.

The Conservative Teabaggers stain Ayn Rand's opus with their misinterpretation or "Fox News world perception" of John Galt's message that...

civilization cannot exist where men are slave to society and government.

This message is stained by perverting the idea put forth in the book, that the destruction of the profit motive leads to the collapse of society,

into a crusade of the FOR PROFIT corporation and Government by The Rich and for The Rich, trumping the individual and government by the people and for the people.

Again, for the conservative, Republican or teabagger, the following truth holds: unions, pensions, public workers, homosexuals and immigrants are the problem...

if you eliminate them, you eliminate the problem, this is the final solution to rid us of the NEW JEW.

Again, your misguided NAZI like efforts are due to your being easily misled, clueless, quite obviously misinformed and sadly...

this short (thumb and index finger held one inch apart) of being in a vegatative state or medically induced coma.

Verily your ideology is a shining testament to the phrases, "if you tell a big enough lie, enough times, people will believe it" and "there's a sucker born every minute".

Remember Naybob's of reality, do not drink the kool aid, remain one of the innoculati, and when the time comes, be merciful and aim for the head.

Part VI: Night of The Living Brain Dead

Our Naybob of Realty has done it again... This week she sends a piece of tripe purported to be authored by Dr. Walter Williams titled..

Obama cannot be defeated in 2012. This tripe is attributed to Townhall.com...

however we cannot find any link between Townhall, Dr. Walter Williams and this piece of tripe that found our Inbox...

Never the less, The Nattering One muses...

Thanks for the inspiration from your unchecked Obama story... it spawned Part V: The Two Party System, I even mentioned you.

From your latest piece of tripe... something actually worthy... "The American people are notoriously ignorant" No statement could be truer.

This is how Bush got elected twice, by braindead flatliner idiots, in two rigged elections.... These are the same people who also believe...

in invisible men that live in the sky and a hereafter...

and that terrorists are on every corner...

and that religions other than their own are praying to the wrong god...

and that heathens and infidels should be put through the inquisition and crusades to be coverted or brainwashed..

and that immigrants, unions, public pensions and homosexuals are the problem...

who support globalization and outsourcing to labor at the margin...

who support avoidance of environmental requirements... so they can pollute and destroy at will, for profit...

who support greedy, two faced, corporations, bankers, finance and Wall Street rapists who were and still are allowed to run wild...

who now whine constantly about a President who happens to be black, and the world of shit we are in... because of their greed, hubris and poor choices...

who insist on cutting income taxes for the corporations and ultra rich, while raising consumption taxes on the ultra poor.. through Fed banker led inflation..

who insist on destroying unions, without which we would already be working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day...

without benefits or vacations, for below minimum wage, next to 14 year olds and prison laborers... Oh wait a minute, that's Walmart, I forgot....

Yes, the American people are generally ignorant, at least the 51% that voted for Bush are...

and those Republicans, conservatives or Tea baggers, Libertarians or Nazis or whatever they call themselves today...

are getting everything they so richly deserve, In SPADES... oh yes, now we are all at the mercy of the two party machine that is...

GOVERNMENT BY THE CORPORATIONS AND FOR THE RICH...

From those of us who have a brain, and a brain wave, and can still think rationally... WE THANK YOU. No really, we do....

Do the rest of us a favor, start praying to your imaginary friends in the sky... for a merciful and quick death, your own that is.

with no right to organize, no right to bargain, it sounds like slavery is making a comeback...

I do hope those rich aristocrats will be more tolerant than our founding fathers were.. or at least our Communist Chinese overlords.

Oh that's right, you can shit in one hand and pray with the other... see what you get first. In fact, see what you get period.

So much for your higher power and prophets... its not "for prophet", its "for PROFIT", what part did you not understand???

Help us Zeus, Apollo, Mohammad, Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Satan or what was his/her/it's name anyway? I prefer those who pray to totem and May poles myself....

at any rate, in closing we offer Claire Wolfe... "America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."

Oh no Claire, we beg to differ, time to start loading up and taking aim, before its too late for the rest of us...

that are still in possession of our minds and guns that is. And remember...

the brain dead Zombies in this horror story, can only be killed one at a time, by a clean shot to the head.

Take that you pack of whining braindead pod people, standup and kick yourself in the ass, you know who you are.

Part V: The Two Party System

A Naybob of Realty, not Reality send an email regarding...

Obama signing an executive order to loan 2 Billion of our taxpayers dollars to a Brazilian Oil Exploration Company to drill for oil off the coast of Brazil.

The oil that comes from this operation is for the sole purpose and use of China and not the USA.

Later UN-fact checked email is exposed as the product of Rupert Murdoch's disinformation machine.

In the initial email this misguided Naybob states...

"This is a perfect example why many refrain from watching news on ABC, NBC, CBS, or MSNBC. Thank God for Fox News and Glenn Beck!"

The Nattering One muses... This is why you will never know the truth.

Pravda and Goebbels were more fair and balanced than Fox news.

Why do you think FOX trademarked the phrase, fair and balanced?

Besides, the Republican illuminati, which by the way, are the same people running the Democratic party,

i.e. THE RICH UPPER 2% which include Rupert Murdoch... George Soros, etc. do not want you or the public to know the truth.

These people have only one interest at heart, their money, keeping it and expanding their power base by taking whatever they can from you and I, legally or illegally.

REPUBLICANS - FAT GREEDY ELEPHANTS

Republicans want you to believe that smaller government, laissez faire economics, fiscal conservatism and trickle down economics with less taxation is better.

The theory goes that reduced income tax rates increase GDP growth and thereby generate the same or more revenue for the government from the smaller tax on the extra growth.

This belief is reflected, in part, by the party's long-term advocacy of tax cuts.

Many Republicans consider the income tax system to be inherently inefficient and oppose graduated tax rates, which they believe are unfairly targeted at those who create jobs and wealth.

Republicans tend to favor faith-based initiatives. They believe private spending is usually more efficient than government spending.

Republicans also believe the private sector is more effective in helping the poor than government is; as a result, Republicans support giving government grants to faith-based and other private charitable organizations to supplant welfare spending.

Republicans also oppose the estate tax which is viewed as another penalty on the wealthy.

Republicans are opposed to increases in the minimum wage, believing that such increases hurt many businesses by forcing them to cut jobs and services, export jobs overseas, and raise the prices of goods to compensate for the decrease in profit.

Most Republicans support school choice through charter schools and school vouchers for private schools; many have denounced the performance of the public school system and the teachers' unions.

They are generally against affirmative action for women and some minorities often describing it as a quota system.

Some Republicans are skeptical of anthropogenic global warming and question scientific studies on the impact of human activity on climate change.

Instead, they assert that global warming is part of a natural cyclical phenomenon, or is caused by a number of other alternative factors.

DEMOCRATS - AN ASS BY ANY OTHER NAME

The Democratic party has historically favored states' rights and strict adherence to the Constitution; and at its inception, opposed a national bank and wealthy, moneyed interests.

In the past, the party has favored farmers, laborers, labor unions, and religious and ethnic minorities and has opposed unregulated business and finance, and favored progressive income taxes.

Democrats favor a higher minimum wage, and more regular increases.

Democrats have opposed tax cuts and incentives to oil companies, favoring a policy of developing domestic renewable energy.

Democrats generally support a more progressive tax structure to provide more services and reduce economic inequality.

Democrats generally support more government spending on social services while spending less on the military.

Democrats believe that the government should protect the environment, the most important environmental concern of the Democratic Party is global warming.

Most Democrats have the long-term aim of having low-cost, publicly funded college education with low tuition fees, which should be available to every eligible American student.

The liberal and cosmopolitan wing of the party, including the intelligentsia and college-educated professionals overall, tend to favor globalization, while the organized labor wing of the party opposes it.

The Democratic Party supports equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of sex, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, or national origin. The Party supports affirmative action programs to further this goal.

Some members of both parties favor civil unions for same-sex couples, others favor full and equal legalized marriage, and others are opposed to same-sex marriage on religious or ideological grounds.

Most members of the Democratic Party believe that all women should have access to birth control, and support public funding of contraception for poor women.

Democrats want you to believe that the benefits or redistribution of wealth through increased social services, in monetary and non-monetary terms, are a more productive labor force and cultured population...

and believe that the benefits of this are greater than any benefits that could be derived from lower taxes, especially on top earners, or cuts to social services.

The Nattering One muses... Aside from some obvious differences in dogma...

when it comes to maintaining special interests in banking, finance, globalization, health care insurance, pharmaceutical and big oil, over the last 30 years the Democrats have voted on the same side as the Republicans.

Whats mine is mine and what's yours is mine, and if you don't like it, fuck you. This is the Republican mantra.

Whats mine is mine and what's yours is ours, and if you don't like it, fuck you. This is the Democratic mantra.

These policies are being furthered by a system bound in senseless term limits and seeming political gridlock.

The two party system is certainly better, for the corporations, insurance, banking, finance and the ultra rich, and that's the way they like it.

This is government by the rich and for the rich, not by the people or for the people.

Those that control it will do anything to keep the masses at bay, up to and including using economic, religious, racial, ethnic...

gender, sexual persuasion and political dogma to create race and class wars amongst those below them in monetary stature.

Through political divisiveness they conquer by creating fanaticism and tyranny, both of which are the spawn of ignorance, which they strive to preserve at all costs.

Reductions in educational spending as a result in tax cutting were just the start of the dumbing down of America.

And any political body that supports this platform will be supported by the blue blooded elites and their ideological MBA educated lackeys.

The two party system keeps those in control, in control, and affords the illusion or delusion of democracy or choice to the ignorant masses whom are enslaved by it.

Those who are hailed as saviour's, such as Donald Trump, George Soros, Rupert Murdoch et al. are really your jailer's.

Think about it for a minute, those with the money and power, want to keep it that way.

Why not turn the mindless masses against one another through devisiveness? It's really quite easy to do you know.

Just tell one side that the other side said, their god isn't the real god, then stand back and see what happens...

while you sell weapons to both sides and profit, and they kill each other off. Now thats what I call easy money.

Naybob's rule #1: IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
Naybob's rule #2: Never forget rule #1.

Part IV - The 401K Shortfall or Work Till You Die

The median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account...

has less than one-quarter of what is needed in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement…

according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve and analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for The Wall Street Journal.

The 401(k) generation is beginning to retire, and it isn't a pretty sight. Welcome to WalMart World, where “work till you die” is our motto.

In this WalMart World (outsourced, prison and child labor, minimum wage, no benefits, no vacation, no pension) that we live in…

the private sector has already weaseled out, now, the public sector follows, leaving the faithful employee standing alone...

holding a sack of what filled up the other hand, and where the wishes of “golden years” were not.

The retirement savings plans that many baby boomers thought would see them through old age are falling short in many cases.

This story is about what happens to most people who rely on 401k's. In general, people facing problems today got too little advice, or bad advice.

They didn't realize that a 6% annual contribution, with a 3% company match, might not be enough.

However, 401K’s have been a gold mine for money-management firms.

In 30 years, the 401(k) went from a small program to a multi-trillion-dollar industry supporting thousands of financial planners and money managers.

The Nattering One muses... The sad thing is, the people trying to take away pensions from today’s workers...

are the very people that have benefited from pensions in the first place, retired pensioners that have gone into public service.

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore… or constructive pension reform to put a halt to system abuses is one thing.

Destructive, hack and slash, wholesale abandonment, as in, we got ours, and screw you and yours, is not a solution.

I hope that there are still some smart people in the right places who realize the truth is out there. Maybe your reading this right now…

Click here for the full WALL STREET JOURNAL article.

More to come in Part V

Part III - Why 401K's are NOT the Solution

So, the state of Utah has been putting insufficient money into its pension plan? and now there isn’t enough money there to meet upcoming liabilities.

And the solution here is for the state, in future, to contribute “roughly half” of what it’s been spending up until now in pension contributions.

Needless to say, this makes no sense on either front.

The liability to existing workers doesn’t go away if a different plan is adopted for new workers, so the problems at the pension plan aren’t being addressed.

On top of that, it’s hard to see how contributing much less to new workers’ retirement is going to help them at all, either.

From a pensions perspective, there’s no winner at all: the only entity better off is the state, from a cashflow perspective.

401(k) plans are a bad deal for taxpayers.

Dollar for dollar, a traditional pension plan yields more pension benefits than do 401(k) plans because 401(k) management and investment fees are three times higher.

The only clear winners when pensions switch over to the 401(k) plans are brokers and bankers…

The unintended effect of widespread 401(k) plans is more volatility. In contrast to traditional pensions and Social Security, 401(k) plans fuel bubbles and make recessions worse.

When the economy is booming, 401(k) plan asset values soar, making people spend more and work less. Not what you want in an expansion.

Worse, when the economy plummets and takes 401(k) assets with it, people do the opposite; they cling to the labor market and rein in spending – again, two things you don’t want in a recession.

For rich professionals who jump from job to job every few years, 401(k) plans do make a certain amount of sense.

For public servants spending a lifetime in the police force or in elementary schools, by contrast, they emphatically don’t.

Click herefor the full text.

Part II - The Overblown Crisis and The Contract

The redistribution of wealth…

Last year, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) decided to forgoe the $3 billion annual state contribution to the pension plan while pushing $1 billion in tax cuts for the state's wealthiest citizens.

Meanwhile, Christie's budget for fiscal 2012 includes $200 million in corporate tax cuts, with plans to increase those cuts to $690 million a year by 2016, along with $180 million in 2012 tax cuts for homeowners.

It's a fairly straightforward proposition: Christie is taking money from public workers and giving much of it to corporations, cloaking the transfer of wealth in the language of fiscal responsibility.

A gross distortion…

As it stands, pension contributions appear to have a relatively small impact on state budgets. "They have time to make adjustments," said Keith Brainard, research director for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. "The idea of imminent insolvency is a gross distortion."

Despite major standoffs between conservative governments and labor unions in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Florida, these states' pension plans are all on strong footing, even given disastrous economic conditions.

Wisconsin and Ohio were each cited in a 2010 study by the Pew Center for the States as "a national leader in managing ... long-term liabilities for both pensions and retiree health care."

Florida was cited by the same report as a "top performer" for its pension fund.

After the massive 2008-2009 House of Finance Bailout…

In early 2010, Goldman Sachs announced two blockbuster numbers: profits of $13.4 billion for the prior year and compensation of $16.2 billion -- the equivalent of about $500,000 for each employee at the Wall Street titan.

When news of Goldmanesque bonuses first sparked public outrage, both Wall Street and the White House combated the criticism with a persistent argument:

Yes, it might be deeply frustrating to see taxpayer dollars used to further enrich already wealthy bankers, but these bonus deals were were contractual obligations and America is a nation of laws.

Not so sacrosanct anymore…

Now, with state leaders planning pay cuts for teachers, firefighters and other public workers, contracts aren't described as so sacrosanct anymore.

In Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Florida and New Jersey, Republicans swept into power last year by voters outraged about ongoing economic distress are now targeting benefits for pensioners...

hiking taxes for employees who will one day receive a pension and, in Wisconsin, even trying to eliminate the right for public employees to collectively bargain for a pension.

Pensions, needless to say, are, like some Wall Street bonuses, contractual obligations. They're deferred compensation that formed the basis for years or, in some cases, decades of work already performed.

Bonus This…

The average annual pension for government workers is roughly $19,500 a year, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the nation's largest labor unions.

That would mean $500,000 could provide about 25 years worth of payouts to a retired public servant.

The $9 million bonus Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein received for 2009 could have provided two decades of pension pay for 23 such public workers.

"These people would never invest all of their own money in Treasury bonds alone, yet they expect pensions to plan as if they did," says EPI's Morrissey.

"They're resorting to accounting gimmicks to make the hole look a lot bigger than it really is. The reality is that contributions can be adjusted very gradually because there isn't any immediate cash-flow problem."

The Contract…

The employer has to figure a way to have the little guys who make their companies run profitably, not live in poverty during their golden years.

The compact or contract between employer and faithful employee has been broken.

Gone are the days when the employer (private or public sector) would match or contribute to the faithful employee’s pension plan.

Gone are the days where if the employee dedicated their career and life towards the advancement of the corporation or city, they would receive a just reward for their diligence and perseverance in the form of a pension.

Thanks for 30 years....

tough break on your little 401k when the market crashed, but the burden is all on the employee and none on the employer.

401k's as a stand alone are another way to fatten corporate/finance America's pockets at the expense of the little guy.

Click here to read the full text.

Part One - The Shameful Attack and Truth

The Nattering One Muses...Rather than place blame, directly were it belongs, with the politicians responsible for the House of Finances ascendancy over the last thirty years...

and the rich blue blood fatcats that got them elected in order to rape and pillage globally along with their globalization (new world disorder) plans...

along with the greed and hubris of Wall Street, real estate, bankers and financial criminals who brought us the house of cards or shit we now live in...

Public servants are convenient scapegoats.

It's far more convenient to go after people who are doing the public work -- sanitation workers, police officers, fire fighters, teachers, social workers, federal employees -- to call them "faceless bureaucrats" and portray them as hooligans who are making off with your money and crippling federal and state budgets.

Public employees earn far more than private-sector workers?

That's untrue when you take account of level of education. Matched by education, public sector workers actually earn less than their private-sector counterparts.

Only 23 percent of private-sector employees have college degrees; 48 percent of government workers do.

Over the last fifteen years the pay of public sector workers has dropped relative to private-sector employees with the same level of education.

Public sector workers now earn 11 percent less than comparable workers in the private sector, and local workers 12 percent less.

Even if you include health and retirement benefits, government employees still earn less than their private-sector counterparts with similar educations.

Public-sector pensions are crippling the nation? Public-employee pensions obligations are out of control?

Some reforms do need to be made. Loopholes that allow public sector workers to "spike" their final salaries in order to get higher annuities must be closed. And no retired public employee should be allowed to "double dip," collecting more than one public pension.

But these are the rare exceptions of ABUSERS. Most public employees don't ABUSE and do not have generous pensions.

After a career with annual pay averaging less than $45,000, the typical newly-retired public employee receives a pension of $19,000 a year. Few would call that overly generous.

And most of that $19,000 isn't even on taxpayers' shoulders. While they're working, most public employees contribute a portion of their salaries into their pension plans.

Taxpayers are directly responsible for only about 14 percent of public retirement benefits.

Bargaining rights for public employees have caused state deficits to explode?

Some states that deny their employees bargaining rights -- Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona, for example, are running giant deficits of over 30 percent of spending.

Many that give employees bargaining rights -- Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Montana -- have small deficits of less than 10 percent.

Public employees often know more about whether public programs are working, or how to make them work better, than political appointees who hold their offices for only a few years.

This version of class warfare is to pit private-sector workers against public servants.

The ruling class would rather set average working people against one another -- comparing one group's modest incomes and benefits with another group's modest incomes and benefits -- than have Americans see that the top 1 percent is now raking in a bigger share of national income than at any time since 1928, and paying at a lower tax rate.

Shameful indeed.

More to come in this FOUR PART series.

Click this link to read the full text of former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich’s op-ed.

The Nattering One Muses... Lazarus has arisen, rise and tell others...

We need to school some liberal left wing Democrats and conservative right wing Republicans.

We won't mention anyone else calling themselves tea baggers, because calling a Ex-Democrat - a Libertarian, or a Ex-Republican - a Tea Party member, is like calling a Ex Nazi - a Socialistic Swastika Lover.

Warm and fuzzy, isn't it? Tell that to the six million Jews that were gassed and turned into ashes.

Your political camouflage is a thin cheap veneer, and deep down, you know what you are, and you can't handle the truth.

The truth being, you can't change your spots or stripes and hide from the Nattering One or anyone with an ounce of common sense.

We of the COMMON SENSE party call BULLSHIT and SHAME on all of you... and like the hunters we are, we will expose you through your words and actions.

Why Privatization IS a BAD Idea

The Cape Council have been entertaining privatization notions of late.

Excerpts from a recent Newsweek Report follow...

There is no substitute for water...Most of us would probably agree that water is too precious for anybody to own.

But the rights to divert water—from a river or lake or underground aquifer—are indeed sellable commodities; so too are the plants and pipes that process that water and deliver it to our taps.

Markets don’t care about the environment, And they don’t care about human rights. They care about profit.

Privately owned water utilities will charge what the market can bear, and spend as little as they can get away with on maintenance and environmental protection.

Private operators often reduce the workforce, neglect water conservation, and shift the cost of environmental violations onto the city.

In the late 1990s the World Bank infamously required scores of impoverished countries—most notably Bolivia—to privatize their water supplies as a condition of desperately needed economic assistance.

The hope was that markets would eliminate corruption and big multinationals would invest the resources needed to bring more water to more people.

By 2000, Bolivian citizens had taken to the streets in a string of violent protests.

Bechtel—the multinational corporation that had leased their pipes and plants—had more than doubled water rates, leaving tens of thousands of Bolivians who couldn’t pay without any water whatsoever.

The company said price hikes were needed to repair and expand the dilapidated infrastructure. Critics insisted they served only to maintain unrealistic profit margins.

Either way, the rioters sent the companies packing; by 2001, the public utility had resumed control.

Private water companies usually have very little incentive to encourage conservation; after all, when water use falls, revenue declines.

In 2005 a second Bolivian riot erupted when another private water company raised rates beyond what average people could afford.

Even as many U.S. cities look toward ceding their water infrastructure to private interests, others are waging expensive legal battles to get out of such contracts.

In 2009 Camden, N.J., sued United Water (an American subsidiary of the French giant Suez) for $29 million in unapproved payments, high unaccounted-for water losses, poor maintenance, and service disruptions.

In Milwaukee a state audit found that the same company violated its contract by shutting down sewage pumps to save money; the move resulted in billions of gallons of raw sewage spilling into Lake Michigan.

And in Gary, Ind., which canceled its contract with United Water after 12 years, critics say privatization more than doubled annual operating costs.

It ends up being a roundabout way to tax people, Only it’s worse than a tax because they don’t spend the money maintaining the system.

The Nattering One muses... Privatizing overpaid city hall executive management is one thing...

However, privatizing the Cape's most valuable resource, its water production, distribution and reclamation, is quite another.

Losing control over the taxpayers most valuable resource, has been, is and always shall be, a fatal mistake.

Gentlemen, you would do well to take heed, as this regrettable mistake, oft made by the misinformed, is quite avoidable.

The Race to Buy Up the Worlds Water.

Sans Souci Bay: Too Good To Be True?

Much has been made of the recent council decision to vote the Sans Souci Bay project down.

Our council elected to decline, despite a very enticing offer from the developer...

which could have paid for all city infrastructure costs (est. $6 million) to support the project.

On the surface, the offer seemed almost too good to be true, and that's because it was.

Skeletons in the closet or flys in the ointment:

1. If a PDP is approved (including the RD zoning) and if "substantial construction" is NOT "commenced" within two years of project approval the PDP would become null and void.

However, any rezoning; vacation(s) of plat; or variances approved during the PDP shall remain in full force and effect.

In other words, if after receiving the PDP, the property were flipped or resold, the new owner would then be...

completely free, without question, to exercise any and all of the unfettered provisions of the RD zoning district.

2. Over 60% of the Sans Souci Bay site already lies within the CHHA (Coastal High Hazard Area).

It is known that the National Hurricane Center is currently reviewing the CHHA and the boundary delineating the CHHA will be elevated a minimum of one foot...

and possibly as much as two feet... the affect will be to move the boundary inland to include most it not all of the Sans Souci site.

The Nattering One muses... A hypothetical... I bought this swamp land and I know that all of the parcel will soon be in the CHHA.

But, if I get the city to grant me variances under the PDP, I can flip it to an unsuspecting investor at a much higher price.

Granted the new owner will be able to exercise all of the variances within the PDP, but the impending CHHA re designation would severely cut into the market value.

So if I make the city an offer they CAN'T REFUSE, as in we will break ground within 60 days and pay for ALL CITY EXPENSES and INFRASTRUCTURE...

we can expedite this little land scam at a nice profit, and never actually break ground.

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Hat tip and Holla out to our man at City Hall, Paco... Orale ese vato!

FDIC, Lee County, Kalifornia, It's All Greek To Me

FDIC just liquidated all their Lee county FLA commercial properties, in "take it or leave it" blocks of 50...

a block including hotels and restaurants in Cape Coral was bought by a California investment LLC.

There's another group of investors, thinking they scooped a bargain, that will get pancaked on the next down leg...

FDIC SW FLA regional have notified their local contractors that their final day of employment is May 26th...

In other words, they will liquidate all their remaining residential properties in the next 90 days.

The fire sale is occuring because FDIC have exhausted their $65 billion reserve and are now quietly borrowing Treasury money to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, Lee county courts are backed up with 23,000 foreclosures that have YET to hit the GHOST inventory.

Now we just need one more downdraft to create a major bank failure and thats all she wrote for the FDIC safety net.

Last week’s chilly reception to the Treasury’s 10 & 30 year auctions... served as a catalyst for the recent rise in rates.

The Fed surprised the market Thursday by raising the discount rate to 0.75% from 0.5%, the first RAISE in over three years!

If Greece's 5 billion Euro 10 year note test offering is not well accepted, this would raise fears of Greek insolvency...

then European leaders could be forced into some form of direct bailout. The threat of one default setting off a wave of defaults...

as scared markets would demand higher rates, would push many of the weak Southern European economies into imminent default.

Just waiting for the chaos to hit the street (Wall) again.... stay tuned as California makes matters worse by defaulting on its debt in May...

The California legislature have not shown the will to take the pain of accepting austerity spending cuts...

The shockwaves of the 7th largest economic entity going BK will make Greece's debt crisis and the plunging Euro look like nothing...

The Nattering One muses... Can you say, global panic and a second credit market freeze? I can...

Don't Build It and They Won't Come

A Nattering exclusive, regarding the biosolids project featured on NBC last week.

Tip o the hat to our inside sources, especially PACO at City Hall.

1. Who sez they don’t run this town? The city needs a full set of the building, electrical, mechanical, etc. specifications as drawn up by MWH.

These are specifications, which would have resulted from the $4 Million est. in engineering fees already paid to MWH for the CC11 project.

Until they are officially eliminated by the city from the bid process, MWH refuses to hand over a set of the plans to the city on a project, which the city has paid $20 million to date. Funny how that works.

2. Anti Trust. In addition, until MWH are eliminated from the bid process, Andritz (equipment manufacturer) and Haskell (contractor) cannot bid on the project as neither wish to damage their business relationship with MWH by directly competing.

3. The Book of Mark Up. On the last open bid, MWH have placed a bid of $26 million, of which their subs bid $14 million to complete a new structure and install the new equipment.

This means that $12 million of profit margin has been tacked on by the manager “at risk”. At the peak of the construction boom, Bonita Springs built a facility half the size, for under $5 million.

The city can easily manage the project and build this building for under $14 million, probably closer to $10 million.

4. The Book of Mark Up II. The city has already spent $20 million on engineering fees and new equipment for the new revenue generating process, which requires a new building.

The new equipment would have cost under $10 million had it been purchased directly from Andritz. However, the manager “at risk” tacked on $4 to $6 million in profit margin and $4 million in engineering fees.

5. To be or NOT to be. If the city opts NOT to build a new building, then the $16 million in equipment would be sold, for pennies on the dollar, resulting in a net $19 million loss.

Oh, by the way, as for the equipment sitting and rusting, there was a factory acceptance test late last year, for ANOTHER 28 pallets of equipment YET to be shipped to the city.

6. Die Hard. The existing building and equipment have NOT had a major expenditure in over 17 years. The law of averages is overdue to bite the city with a major failure on this existing system.

7. Die Hard II. It will cost $5 to $7 million to repair and bring the existing biosolids system up to snuff.

This update will NOT add new process and the associated revenue streams that the new equipment and construction of a new building would provide.

8. New revenue streams: These would come from acceptance from other municipalities, and processing of liquid sludge and cake sludge into solid pellets. The solid pellets could be sold at a profit, as fertilizer or soil amendment.

Cape Coral could become a regional sludge waste center, this would be looked upon favorably by the county, state and federal government. This could open up possibilities for future grants or low interest loans.

9. Cost vs Revenue: Current annual cost to chemically treat and transport the dried sludge is $1 million. The new process would eliminate these annual costs and generate an additional $1.5 million positive annual revenue stream.

10. Breakeven: on the $20 million plus $10 million for the building is $30Million/2.5Million = 12 years.

11. Rates UP. The city has already built in a $30 million price tag for the new building and equipment into the 92% utilities rate increase.

In other words, taking a $19 million loss on the $20 million in equipment and fees will NOT be the only loss.

The $2.5 million revenue stream that in the future, would have offset the 92% rate increases, will be lost.

12. Rates UP II. In the next few years, requirements will become more stringent, and fewer municipalities will be willing to accept our dried sludge.

Thus, the current $1million per year cost to treat and transport our sludge will increase in years to come. Thus, causing more rate increases.

City Council Action Items

1. Stop wasting time, the city MUST find a way to complete this project and implement the new revenue generating process.
2. MWH needs to be officially eliminated from the bid process, this will allow Andritz and Haskell to submit a bid.
3. The city needs to take ownership of the bid process and the construction project.
4. If necessary, the city needs to borrow against future water revenue streams to obtain the necessary funds for the building.
5. If still employed by the city, the parties responsible for signing off on a $20 million equipment purchase without approval for the structure to operate it in, need to be terminated for their complete lack of competence and common sense.

The Nattering One muses... Talk about putting the cart before the horse, or buying oats for a nag you don’t own yet.

This is the mayor and city councils job, find a way to come up with the $10 million and get it done. Common sense tells you, don't be penny wise and pound foolish.

Otherwise, just write off the $20 million already spent, kiss $2.5 million is annual cash flow goodbye and get ready for more rate increases.

A View To The Cape

Stumbled across these postings on Craigslist...

To Our Elected Officials...

We got to put pressure on our elected officials. We helped build this town and instead of our “elected officials” helping us attract business with incentives and other ideas to create more jobs...

they only came up with ways to increase our cost of living our tag fees by 100% they over charge us with water taxes and fees ($35,000 for city water for my house because it is a corner lot?)…..

We are the fools that stayed behind hoping things would change but the only thing we stayed behind for is to see our home go on the rocket docket and lost forever then being sold to some northerner for less than half of what is worth...

I can list twenty other examples of how you have failed us but one good thing you did well was push the people that lived here out, it’s only a matter of time before you screw your new rats that took our homes also. Thanks.

And someones reply to the above!!! RE: To Our Elected Officials (Cape Coma)

Cape Coral has been an absolute mess for 30 years. That is why it is the land of newly weds and nearly deads and NO trees.

Your city council consists of people that are way too old to have clue about what it takes to run a city and the young ones (Rosato and Grill) are thieves.

You chose to live there...Deal with it!! 10 minutes worth of research online would have told you that.

As someone who lives at the other end of the county all I can say is stop whining or move.

The Nattering One muses... Ouch! I thought these were supposed to be job postings, not open mike night at the city council.

Is this a barometer of peoples agitation levels. And how. The current administration is getting its feet wet. The learning curve involves being bombarded by insiders.

Most of whom are crackpots and/or backstabbers ready to throw momma from the train, just to avenge some perceived grievance.

In regards to the situation at hand, its easy to throw rocks from the outside, now nestled inside, you become painfully aware of certain realities.

Said realities heretofore unbeknown st, suddenly make mountains out of what seemed mere molehills.

Most of the insiders are not only clueless, but vision less as well, only being able to plan into the future as far as their next budget.

Which they manage to spend every single dime of, and more. Being rewarded for saving money is not in the "conditioned to spend" public servant's vernacular.

This makes sifting through the pile of humanity amidst the mountain peaks a herculean task.

So far, some progress has been made. During the holiday hiatus, the Mayor and Co. need to start separating the wheat from the chaff, AKA...

Identifying clueful insiders with a vision and a sense able plan, then assembling the core of a task force to be headed by a new city manager.

Cm on guys, quit being gun shy and put the wheels of change into motion. Now, that's what I'm talking about.

Stuffed In A Mailbox

Found a copy of CCC's ON THE MOVE, stuffed in a mailbox... The Nattering One has some random musings on items that stick out, like sore thumbs..

1. Cape TV Contract renewed without FAC meetings.

Not good, wouldn't be prudent at this juncture, ALL the Financial Advisory Committee meetings, discourse and findings need to be public.

2. Public Works reorganized for efficiencies.

Word on the street has it that so far, the "reorg" has had the opposite effect; i.e. costing the city more money, while reducing service levels.

3. The New ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, from JD Edwards using Oracle databases.

Rumor has it, in short, a disaster. Very complicated to deploy, modify, maintain and use. To be filed under, if it works, don't F with it.

4. 2nd Phase of Public Safety Broadband Wireless Network; the 4.9Ghz band for fire & schools.

This radio network will stand alone, but would have piggy backed nicely on the WW12 communication towers proposal.

That being a $12 million proposition for four 100 ft plus communications towers; and a network control center; that MWH tried to bamboozle the city with.

Rumor from Paco at Capevine sez: some intrepid and enterprising city insiders can achieve the same end results as WW12 for under $500K. No surprise here.

Someone needs to club the soon to be ex-manager at risk over the head with this one.

5. Paco from Grapevine also reports that certain council members have been making the rounds at the water treatment & water reclamation plants.

If you want the real inside dope on all the system improvements; additions; and manager at risk mistakes being paid for with taxpayer money...

have some private meetings with those who are intimate with the process and daily operation.

Suggestion: Grant immunity, then listen closely.

The Nattering One muses... Water, Sewer & Irrigation which is within Utilities and Public Works...

is the ONLY department in this CITY that pays for itself and generates SURPLUS cash for the city. Go ahead check the CAFR.

Water, Sewer & Irrigation provide on average $12 to $14 million NET to the city coffers every year.

Proving that WATER and the systems that process, reclaim and deliver water, ARE this city's MOST VALUABLE RESOURCES.

Rule Number One: Never mess with, sell, lease or privatize the operation or management of your civic CASH COW.

Rule Number Two: Refer to rule number one.

Question to ponder: Where did all the surplus water money from past years go? Answer: Ask the parties who had fiduciary responsibility at the time.

Nice Ex-Swampland in FLA

Some notable retail BK filings since 2007: Circuit City; CompUSA; Gottschalks; Shabby Chic; Ritz Camera...

Sportsmans Warehouse; Chrysler; Filenes; General Motors; Eddie Bauer; numerous Dunkin Donuts LLC's; restaurants too numerous to list...

Golfers Warehouse; Old Time Pottery; Samsonite; Linen's n Things; Mervyns; Sharper Image; Woolworths; Bombay.

Our query from the previous posting: Where does one find such an individual? AKA Turnaround specialist who is NOT a hack, slash, burn and run type.

The Nattering One muses... Naturally the retailers of essentials...

WalMart & Costco will thrive as many flock to their scales of economy and command of the supply chain.

To find a pearl in the rough, one must look to the retailers of "non essential" goods that have so far managed to survive this depression.

One such retailer that comes to mind would be Cost Plus, hardly the poster child for essential goods, and certainly a "discretionary cash" retailer.

How have they survived this pullback? One might review their financials and ask their CEO since 2005, Barry Feld.

Hey Barry, SOS from Cape Coral, I got some really nice ex swamp land in Florida, if your interested?

An Enema or An Anathema?

Sorry for the absence my little droogies and fellow Naybobs... during the interim, seems the City Manager had a revelation and decided to git along.

A public council vote of no confidence and termination would not have helped his future in public service.

Seems the new mayor and council are sending out a clear message...

That being, those who are suspect of obfuscation, omission or any commission of disinformation to the council, are going to be, shall we say, summarily dismissed.

Rumor has it that certain financial services, parks & rec and public works directors, might already have their e-tickets punched.

The acting CM & economic development director, ne assistant CM has some be-heady tasks ahead of him. (No pun intended)

That is if he wants to keep the CM post permanently.

The Nattering One muses...

If the acting CM can't "Schwing" this sinking ship around, then... this town needs an outsider coming from a corporate or private sector background.

A CEO turnaround specialist, NOT a hack, who burns, slashes and runs.

The slash and burn mentality of angry stock holders allowed ex GM CEO Rick Wagoner to destroy the number one automobile manufacturer in the world.

Wagoner, the anathema, should be the poster boy for what the Cape doesn't need. In short, what this town needs is an enema, not an anathema.

Emphasis should be on some in house cleansing to promote the CREATION of NEW business and GROWTH of revenue sources...

NOT on the further slashing of rank and file benefits, pounding out union concessions...

or the wholesale reshuffling and DECONSTRUCTION of the organization... which is all that has happened in the last year or so...

much to the detriment of employee morale, public service levels, and the local economy.

Not a tight fisted machine gun hand, but a kinder, gentler, helping, healing hand, is much needed.

Where does one find such an individual? More to come...