What The Heck Is A Sharing Economy?

       Have you ever heard of the Sharing Economy, or a Micro-Entrepreneur? They're new, but old, ideas of how to get by in modern America. Stephen Strauss had an article in the Huffington Post yesterday and Thomas Freidman has written about it. It's all about how people, lots of people, are forced by their economic circumstances to make do, share, barter and "get by", because they can't earn enough to live on. See what I mean by a lot of people?
       Strauss tells about how his immigrant parents were forced to do these same things back in the late 1930s. Rent out a spare room, or actually rent someone else's spare room, work day jobs or any odd job that would pay cash, even for an hour or two. Trading hard work for a meal or two.
       On the other hand there were those who were able to live a life of luxury. Did you know, the inequality between the haves and the have nots was very similar in the 1920s and 30s to what exists today? In fact in 1928, the top 1% received 23.9% of all pretax income while the bottom 90% got 50.7%. Nowadays we're just about in the same position. But of course if you mention it, those same 1% cry class warfare. Well, I don't doubt the existence of class warfare, in fact I think it's been building for about 30 years. But it's happening the other way. The very wealthy have been grinding the rest of us into the dust in their quest for ever more riches at the expense of everyone else.
       So what's the point of my ranting? My point is that even though statistics show an improved economy, with income growing stronger day by day, all the economic improvement keeps flowing to those 1% and the rest of us are being left in that dust I mentioned. So again, what's my point?
       My point is that the 1920s and 30s ended up in the Great Depression and forced a lot of redistribution of wealth through legislation and taxation. But after a couple of decades, things started swinging back in favor of the wealthy. Well, at some point that 90% will force those same changes. It may take a while and it may look different, it might even be more ugly, but one thing's for sure, Americans won't stand for this inequality for ever. Nor should they.
    

                                 HAVE A HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND SAFE NEW YEAR.


        Eddie Snowbeard.

The Circles Of Life.

       I wasn't going to write anything until the new year kicks in, but then I read this story in Mother Jones this morning. It's about what they feed cows. Well, no, it's about what they feed chickens. No, actually it's about what they feed cows. Maybe I'd better explain. Mixed in with the feed for cows is the sweepings from the floors of chicken pens and chicken houses. Ya know what's on the floor of a chicken house after the chickens eat? Yes! And all that goes into cow feed.
       Now, I'm old enough to remember back when farms grew what we all called cow corn. It wasn't tasty like sweet corn, but cows liked it.  The farmers chopped up even the corn stalks and put it into the silo for feed for the cows over the winter along with hay. Well, nowadays they don't use that stuff it seems. Instead companies mix together a variety of products to make up a good nutritional feed for our beef and milk. It's another layer of profit for somebody. The sweepings from the chicken pens and the sweepings from the cow barn used to go onto the corn fields with the first plowing.
       So what's in that mix? Well, as I've said, the sweepings from under the chickens, which includes things like some of the chickenfeed that fell on the floor, maybe parts of dead rodents, feathers and the bi-product of processed chicken feed. Oh, and chicken feed is made partially from cow parts. So in a way, cows are eating some cows. Now, let me see, did I leave anything out?
        I can tell you this much, the makers of feed for livestock certainly haven't left much out. So the next time you sit down to enjoy a big juicy steak, perhaps with eggs, it would be best if you just forgot about this information, for obvious reasons.
        The article goes on to say that the practice of cows eating feed that contains other cows is dangerous because it could lead to an outbreak of Mad Cow disease. Yeah, that's right. Which is something we should avoid wherever possible. So what's my point? Well, I just wonder how much we can or should trust the folks who make feed for the meat we eat? Kinda makes you want to be a vegetarian. Unless you look into the seed companies.

Penn's Woods, Gimme A Break.

       Today I'd like to talk about the great state of Penn's Woods. Once upon a time little Billie was given some lands in the "New World", I suppose because he was a good little boy. It's gone downhill a little since then. Today I read in the local paper about two things that makes me wonder. On the front page was an article that tells of our legislators taking $2 million in expenses. And of the $2 million, they had to account for $2000,000.
       The rest they took as "per-diem" payments. That means they don't have to say what that money was spent on. Like a trip to one of our new gambling establishments or Hershey Park with the grandkids. Who knows, they don't have to say.
       Then buried in section "D", the "Perspective" section near the letters to the editor, a small article explaining that the 74,000 state employees expenses will rise an estimated 9%. That's an average of $7,300 each for a total of around $540 million, which includes benefits. So as a state, and knowing you've got this tremendous increase in costs, wouldn't you think it might be time to require everyone to justify their reimbursable expenses. Hey, even if the state could save just one million, it would be a help. But in actual practice, what happens is a legislator hands in a slip of paper that basically says gimme some money. That's what's called per-diem.
       So I've got to wonder how it is that Pennsylvania's workers and management personnel are getting an increase of 9%? And I've also got to wonder how it is that our legislators get to just say gimme, gimme, and they get it with no questions asked. I mean 9% seems high in these currently hard economic times. Lots of people aren't getting any raise or very little. And if you've been unemployed for more than half a year, you're about to get a 100% cut in income. You could extent that unemployment compensation indefinitely on 9% and an extra million.
       Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge those 74,000 state employees getting a nice bump, and I do understand legislators have expenses just like the rest of us, except we don't get reimbursed for our expenses. But then there are those long term unemployed that are about to get the screws.
      

The F-35 Is Strictly A High Test Airplane.

       With the restoration of the defense budget, it looks like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter airplane will be a definite go. This plane is supposed to do just about anything but bake cookies, and with all the classified equipment on board it might even do that. But cookies aren't what makes this plane special. It's a plane that every branch of the military will use in the future. It's supposed to be very versatile.
       But versatility isn't what makes it so special either. What makes it the most special aircraft our military has ever developed is the costs involved. Lockheed, the builder, claims the cost will be $75 million per plane. They say that, but the Government Accountability Office says $137 million each and tack on an additional $1 trillion to keep them flying for 30 years, the norm for such aircraft.
       The Pentagon stated this was an unaffordable amount so they lowered the expected cost to $857 million. That's right, from $1 trillion to $857 million. And they were able to lower that cost with no discernible change to what will be done to keep the planes flying. A savings of $999,143,000,000. $999 billion and some loose change! And no lose of servicing to the planes. Just what was all that money going to be spent for? You don't suppose the Pentagon is under estimating the cost, do you?
       Initially the cost to roll out the fleet was set at $233 billion, but now is set to run $400 billion, and counting. So if that cost doesn't rise any more and the GAOs estimate is more accurate, we're looking at $1.4 trillion. Where's all this money gonna come from? Oh, that's right, it's gonna come from you and me. Including the $999 billion the Pentagon doesn't think they will need.
       Now imagine if your child or grandchild wanted to buy one of these F35 Joint Strike Fighters for his or her school. How many chocolate bars will he have to sell? Well, at a dollar a piece, he'll have to sell at least $137 million chocolate bars. Does she know that many people she can hit up for a purchase of a Hershey bar? Can Hershey make that many bars in the allotted time period? And what about the fuel to get it to the school? It won't run on unleaded ya know.

Speaking Of Special Interest Groups.

       Speaking of special interest groups, did you know that there are more special interest groups than there are Senators and Congressmen combined? In fact I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are more special interest groups than there are citizens in America. There is no subject for which there isn't a special interest group. You've got to be careful where you walk lest you step on one. And for heavens sake watch what you say or you'll run afoul of the SIG police.
       There are conservative SIGs and liberal SIGs, hot button issues SIGs, and presumably cold button issues SIGs too. In fact when you stop and think about it, pretty much everybody is a member of some sort of SIG. So it's hard to say we should do away with SIGs or that we should ignore Sigs. I formed a special interest group to pay attention to me. Can you imagine if everybody ignored my SIG? That would be devastating. No, we've got to come up with a different way.
       The problem with SIGs is that just about anybody can run a SIG and I mean anyone. Now that, in and of itself isn't a problem. The problem is that a bunch of special interest groups are causing problems with our government and the way our country operates. Some folks think we should shut it down permanently and just do away with it. What those folks want is to run it their way or the highway. That would work if they were a majority of citizens, but they're not. And they're not alone. There's another group that wants things their way and they don't like this first group.
       Now this shouldn't be a problem for our government and usually isn't, except both sides got some odd people elected and now they're at odds and are willing to do just about anything to get their way. That's bad enough, but one of the groups has another SIG within it's group and they want something entirely different.
       These are the special interest groups of which I speak. These are the SIGs we need to figure out how to ignore. We should be polite, but we should ignore. My mother always said to be polite. The ignore part she didn't like so much, but there does come a time when ignoring is the preferred recipe.

What's The Problem With The Senate?

       Well, a couple of weeks ago the majority leader in the Senate, Senator Harry Reid pulled the nuclear trigger. I'm told that the Senate still exists though, contrary to some predictions. Oh, I admit that the minority is very unhappy with the change. They can't just call up Harry and tell him they want to put a hold on some appointment or other. Now they have to find other ways to hold up progress in the Senate. Of course they can still put a "hold" on legislation and require 60 votes to bring it up for a vote, while presidential appointments only require a majority of 1 vote.
       It was a surprise and uncle Mitch is still boiling mad. He's still telling uncle Harry to just wait and see what we'll do when we regain majority status. But judicial appointments that have been waiting for years, literally, are finally getting approved. Family get-togethers are really rough though. What with uncle Harry getting some things done and Uncle Mitch steaming mad about it, there's no peace at the table. "Just wait! You'll see!" And an "I had to do it to get some work done."
       So exactly who's in the wrong here? Who's lily white and without sin? On the one hand this secret filibuster rule has been around for a couple of decades and it worked pretty well. Nobody likes change and uncle Harry knows that. On the other hand a couple dozen or so such filibusters has turned into well over a hundred and fifty. When it comes to sin, I have to go along with the "let whoever is without sin cast the first stone." Or in the Senate's case, the first vote.
       In fact that rule, the one about casting the stone, or vote, might be a good idea for all legislators in Washington and the state capitals to consider. If you haven't taken any money from someone or some company this bill will effect, you can vote. That's because you're without sin. But if you did get money or your campaign did, then you can't vote. Boy would that change things. Then all that would be left to deal with would be special interest groups. But that's another whole story.