News flash 29 Oct. 2017

This just in from the MSN news site, an article from Newsweek reporter Jack Moore,

"The Clocks Are Changing in Europe But Why Not The U.S.?"

I know it is click bait and I sucked in. I mean, I am a pretty savvy guy and usually am pretty good with knowing what is going on, at least the important stuff, and this did come with a big picture of four guys working on the face of Big Ben which occasionally is taken out of service for repairs but what would this have to do with all of Europe and not impact the U.S. in some small way and would it really matter?

If that doesn't smack of click bait I don't know what does but I clicked anyway.

It turns out that this was yet one more lame story done twice a year, every year to remind us of daylight savings time.  Europe is on a different schedule and adjust this weekend while the U.S. will do their clock change next weekend.  Yippy skippy, end of story....or is it?

I read further and there were some words about which countries use daylight savings time and which do not.  How it started with the war for productivity and ended only to be turned on again later.  How research shows that it messes with our body clocks and can result in an increase in car accidents.  There were a couple of other 'facts' thrown in that sounded interesting but there was this one paragraph that made me question the whole article:

Americans will have lighter mornings and darker evenings because of the earlier sunrises and sunsets in what is a tradition initiated by former President Benjamin Franklin to conserve energy, according to Live Science.

I went to the Live Science web site and learned a little more about daylight savings time from an article by Jeanna Bryner, Live Science Managing Editor.  It looks like Jeanna spent a little more time developing her article and although Jack did not copy and paste his exactly perhaps he should have as I could find no mention of a President Benjamin Franklin in Jeanna's.  Perhaps she corrected it shortly after it was published I do not know.

Then again maybe I am missing something.  After all, President Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill and he was at least 10 times more important than President Alexander Hamilton who is on the $10 bill.  Besides, why would you put anyone other than a president on your money?

And I wonder why I bother to validate anything.

P.S. I am against daylight savings time, always have been, always will be.  It is dumb. Period.  but that is a subject for another time.  Not this week, maybe next week, unless you live in Europe.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Predicting the future

I wish to predict here and now that a very popular social phrase will sweep the nation starting November 9th.  The most common phrase that will be used repeatedly on that Wednesday and many days to follow will come from every possible demographic that can be conceived of by media and pollsters and will be representative of people from all walks of life.

The phrase will be used by all social classes, both rich and poor, and it will not matter which race, religion, or national heritage you claim.  It will not matter your age or gender.  It will not matter your educational background or news network preference.  Even music taste will not determine the usage of this new flash phrase that will encompass all Americans and ex-pats living abroad.

This phrase was not developed by use of Ouija boards, Tarot cards, divining rods, or supermarket tabloids.  This phrase is not being published in several different locations with different predictions on each in an effort to promote the one that is correct.  I did not dial up any 1-900 psychic numbers and ask for this information.  No seances were conducted in the obtaining of this phrase.

The confidence of this prediction is so great that if it were made in relationship to the stock market, earthquakes, famines, wars and/or pestilence, great monies could be made by the predictor and the user of said information.  It is the stuff of legends of which books, and poems, and music and movies are made.  University students could create doctoral thesis on just this kind of predictive power and reasoning.

And the phrase that you can look back on remembering the day that you discovered it before others within your social realm, a phrase that will become a part of you and those around you is;
"Don't blame me, I voted for ...(fill in your choice)."

The choices will run the gamut from anyone you may of heard of this time around as well as a few old favorites like I voted for Kodos (search for Simpson episode from Treehouse of Horror, still one of their best) to lesser known also rans from yesteryear like my favorites Pat Paulsen (look it up on YouTube and you will know why) and Rudy Taft.

Even if you happened to pick the winner no matter who that might be you will still be tempted to use the phrase for your own peace of mind.  Think about it, you probably have already.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Humorous comments on government...

Someone sent this to me some years ago and as I read it again now I still find it all to relevant to our times of today.  I hope you enjoy it as I do.

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress. -- John Adams

2. If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to
lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat

11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan

12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. -- P.J. O'Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. -- Voltaire

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. --
Pericles (430 B.C.)

16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. -- Mark Twain

17. Talk is cheap... except when Congress does it. -- Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer

22. There is no distinctly native American criminal class... save Congress. -- Mark Twain

23. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. -- Gerald Ford

Some things really haven't changed much over the years have they.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Finding hope for capitalism in a game on my tablet

Roy H. Williams of MondayMorningMemo has talked about an 80 year cycle that takes our society from the extremes of a me generation to an us generation every 40 years.  We are approaching the apex of an us generation which would explain all the political correctness of socialism at the moment.  So I was pondering on how will society change back to something more moderate when it seems that socialism is all that is taught in the schools and talked about in the media and legislated in our governments.  Have the roots of capitalism been abolished and replaced with the entitlement mentality?  Has the drive of the individual to become the greatest individual they can become been weened out and replaced with a submission of will to serve the common good however the overlords dictate it to be?

Socialism along with it's more forceful cousin Communism are some of the least effective economic models for a nation even without addressing the moral issues of abolishing free agency.  Take a moment to think about how "well" this world would run if every aspect of your life operated by the same bureaucracy that runs the post office or DMV.  There would be no incentive for efficiency or innovation and therefore there can be no growth.

My vision of the future was growing rather bleak when I happened to find hope in the unlikeliest of places...the games I downloaded on my newly acquired tablet.  Within those games are the elements of capitalism.

At first the elements went unnoticed as I was still learning how to play the various games but then I realized that they were there and hopefully were instilling themselves on those that took the time to play the games.

I have narrowed my recent game time to three games in particular, The Simpsons Tapped Out, Star Wars Tiny Death Star and My Muppet's Show.  All of these games are considered Freemiumware (a combination of free and premium software) in that they can be had for free and played for free but there are extras that you can buy with real money to advance the game a little faster or gratify your vanity.

Within these games there are usually two kinds of currency whether they are called credits, or bux, or vegetables or donuts.  One of the currencies is easy to get and is the basic measuring unit of the game while the other is much more difficult to get but there is always the opportunity to get more in exchange for real life currencies i.e. you real life wallet.  As an added feature of my gaming experience, I make it a point never to use real money in the virtual world .

The games become an analogy of life as they are played.  You are asked to perform certain task for which you earn credits.  These credits can then be used in the game to obtain the next level, a new character or an extra power or decoration.  These will in turn help you earn more credits and at a faster pace in order to obtain more new things that are better, faster, cooler than the last thing and almost always at a higher price.

These are mini simulations of life played out in a somewhat benign way through a computer screen.  Instead of berating our kids for wasting too much time playing video games perhaps we should be playing those games with them and then having discussions with them to help them see the lessons there to be had, lessons we may have missed or forgotten along the way.  The longer you play the game, and the more games you play, the better you will recognize the rules of the game and learn how to play it well.

As the next generation grows up on a diet of these types of games they will provide the energy to reverse the cyclical societal momentum we face and let the pendulum swing back towards a more moderate approach in our lives.

And with that thought my hope was restored.  I remembered that good can be had even in times of extremes.  It is that hope that drives man forward, to challenge the odds and the mandates and give it a go anyway.  It is that spirit that will overcome the oppressive nature of a collective society.  It is that spirit that we should foster to grow and survive not only in ourselves but in others.

I will discuss further some of these lessons I have seen from playing these games and doing the paid to clicks.  Maybe they haven't been such a timesuck after all.  For now this is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

It's all in the game.

I have finally gotten past my emotional frustrations and attachments to this year’s political shenanigans. My hopes have been dashed and disappointments have weighed heavy but are starting to fade. Those of you who were pulling for Obama 4 years ago know what I am talking about. All that talk of hope and change we have been fed turns out to be nothing more than the same old smoke and mirrors we have seen over and over again for years and years. 2012 is shaping up to be nothing less…or more for that matter.

The Republicans have assembled the same old mix of challengers (as is usually produced by the challengers), none of which can deliver the whole package that everyone would love to see. All have some fine qualities and bring some valid ideas to the table but they all come up short in other areas leaving much to be desired. It would be nice to have the ability to create a composite candidate that represented the best of all the rest. I am certain there are those that have tried to pull this off by presenting themselves as such but because it was not the person they really were they quickly faded out in superficiality. Looking for the candidates that stand on their own character without pandering to the polls and swaying their positions based on the desire of their financial supporters, is like searching for a soda that doesn’t use high fructose corn syrup. The cost of searching, finding and obtaining just doesn’t seem worth the effort.

The other thing that continues to amaze me in these races is the ability to call the game early. How many of you have gone to a basketball game and with the jump ball to start the game the announcer comes on and says first one to score a basket wins? Or who has tuned into the Boston Marathon just to see the start of the race and see who makes it to the end of the block first figuring surely they have it all sown up?

Surprise, this one is going past the first point scored but in my opinion, big fat hairy deal. The game will still be called before half time. A few states will get their 15 minutes of fame and then fade into obscurity with 38 of the other states that don’t garner a passing fancy. Nothing meaningful is coming of it and sadly doesn’t seem to matter. The talking points are the same old rhetoric and the solutions, or rather the appearance of solutions, are the same as well. I am getting tired of it all and have started to tune out which I am sensing is the same for many of the others out there. Besides, there is a football game coming up.

Some points to be made out of all this. Like a marathon race or a NASCAR race all the camera time and attention is given to those in front. If you are not in front then your only chance of catching some attention is when the guys in front come around to pass you or you are involved in a horrible crash and then you get the same amount of attention that is given to all wrecks (woo, glad that wasn’t me, check out the replay, alright commercial, time for a potty break). You might have some good ideas Rick and Ron but you are way behind at the moment and that means you will have to quadruple your efforts just to catch back up to the leaders and be considered as a candidate at this point. Most do not have the energy or stamina to accomplish this as you can see by the number of candidates that have dropped out already. Some never even made it to Iowa. Some are too dumb to realize just what it takes to create inertia.

The sad thing is the media in general and the public at large generates this inability to focus on anything beyond A vs. B. The reality of the matter is that the average person out there is way more interested in choices C,D,E,F,G,H… and has been for quite some time. Look at the channels on cable and the fact that there are more viewers collectively following them than the big three networks. The internet is full of niche players that cater to the interest of individuals. Their audience isn’t meant to be everyone, it is only meant to be those who enjoy a like view. Until the mainstream realizes this and figures out a way to serve the many individuals, we will remain stuck with the bland clichés that sway many but serve no one.

So why is the media so quick to focus on just this or that? I am guessing that cost might be one thing since it cost money to cover everything and they don’t think they can generate enough interest to justify worthwhile coverage of back of the pack.

Also, they have a distinct bias (no matter what they claim or choose to believe). Owners and operators of the media have pushed their points of view since their respective mediums were first invented. Don’t expect anything different at this point in the game. They all do. And we tend to tune into those that most closely align with our points of view or at least give us the most entertaining stirring of emotions.

The media also has the self perception of (and reality to some extend) of being influence peddlers. In other words, they say stuff, people listen and they think and feel and do based on what they are told. This is called power and the media likes to use this power to persuade their audiences in the direction they would like them to go. Sadly, reality suggests that it works. Therefore they frame the debates and topics of discussion only upon those areas they deem serving their purpose. “But Ed, I have seen polls that state that America is interested in this or that, and that our most pressing problems are this or that. How can you say the media is driving the agenda when they are just reporting what the polls show America is wanting?” Take any news story that you are familiar with and have some real knowledge about and then look at how it is covered and not just by one source but by several. Then tell me those slight differences in wording, sentence structure and turning of a phrase don’t hint at bias. Even the headline that tops many articles gives clues to the desired reader’s response. Some headlines are completely out of sync with the article, and are totally misleading but then there are many that don’t read beyond the headline.

Only two areas escape this treatment, one being the generic story report that is copied and pasted as is into several outlets (look at Google news feeds and read a story covered by many sources and you will notice that the articles referenced are all exactly the same, word for word), while the other is the only slightly interesting local interest story that is churned out by the local reporter because ‘we have to have so much of this kind of thing in our paper and I was the one that got stuck with it’ piece. The really juicy stuff, the stuff that gets you noticed, praised and awarded, requires an injection of something more. You are writing to please your audience, and your audience is always prioritized by the desires of the boss and owner coming first, the writer coming next, and the reader/viewer in the end. Just be aware of this next time you feel yourself jumping on the bandwagon. It might be time to take a break from it all, change channel or pick up a good book.

The next point I still find amusing is that the challengers may load the gate with a dozen horses for the race and quickly boil things down to one prime challenger but the incumbent party is pretty much stuck with no choice. They have to dance with their leftover. Oh sure, they might pretend at some point to offer up another choice or two but that would be like admitting making a mistake and that won’t do for the guys on top so they must continue to show (and sometimes “show” is all it is) support for their candidate. Mediocrity thrives on just this kind of practice. Kinda sad really.

Do you realize that there are probably another half dozen parties out there besides the Republicans and Democrats and we seldom if ever hear about any of them? They don’t even make first cut and because someone is deciding that there is no chance or probability for them to win, we lose the opportunity to choose for ourselves and learn of them and from them and sure enough their probability of winning becomes nil. A self fulfilling prophecy?

Last point of things to notice this go around is that everyone loves a bandwagon. There is nothing more fun that to jump on a bandwagon, but you have to be very careful and choose the right bandwagon to jump on. If you choose the wrong bandwagon you might have to explain yourself or worse yet jump off one bandwagon and quickly jump on another. You can’t be “seen” as having picked the wrong bandwagon; it could harm a guy’s reputation. Rush has built his reputation around the fact that “I told you so”. He has had to be extra careful with his wording so that he will have just the right sound bites to fall back on when he needs help convincing you that he was right all along. And of course the Donald can do no wrong (just don’t look at his record too closely) so he is really going out on a limb this early in the race by declaring his support of Romney.

But it is all part of the fun of the game we call American politics and if you have gone through more than one race with an active interest or seen a couple of decades of elections come and go you will start to see that this really is a silly season. It is sad that we have to take any of it seriously because it is all so laughably absurd but there are serious outcomes and gravely serious consequences, and that forces us to participate. Once again I find myself wishing it didn’t really mean so much and because it does mean so much I am wishing we had better choices.

I wonder if we really do get what we deserve. That’s a scary thought.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Perry started down the right path

It may be a little bit after the fact but I wanted to see if there was going to be any additional points to the storied headlines from the Republican debate the other night other than the much maligned Rick Perry's forgetfulness. The real story was not his forgetting the third target of his smaller government plan but that no one jumped on the band wagon.

Here was a real opportunity to make real cost cutting efforts a meaningful part of the debate and start identifying Federal programs and agencies that should no longer exist (as if some of them ever should have in the first place). What would have been much more exciting for this political race and for America is if a new competition would have started that night to see who would produce the most aggressive proposal for real government reduction. The starting bid of three programs was not even bid up to four.

There are far more possibilities than those offered. The National Endowment for the Arts, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Energy, Environmental and that is just to name a very few of the big well known areas. There are dozens more of the lesser known that could come off the top that very few have even heard of.

In addition to the outright elimination of some programs, severe cuts to others would help force them to focus on core functions and objectives that serve the purpose for which they were established. As budgets got bigger, the scope of many agencies grew far beyond their original designs as they became an obstacle and stumbling block to the very public they were designed to serve.

Of course this was promoted heavily by those in Congress that felt they had to pass a new law for every whiny complaint that past through their door. Thanks also to every whiner that brought it too them thinking that government is the solution to all our problems. And a special mention to those that execute said laws and regulations and using their own interpretations to enhance what they feel those requirements were really meant to be.

And because every one of those government programs and agencies support a "someone" somehow, there will always be opposition to turning them off. Any of them.

This is a vicious cycle we have put ourselves in and when only one in ten candidates is even willing to 'talk the talk' you know the odds of real fiscal reform (where someone will 'walk the walk') are not in the cards this go around. Don't be fooled by the sound bites and photo ops but instead look for those that will let actions speak louder than words. I'm still looking, are you?

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Thomas Paine had common sense

I came across this quote today and knew I just had to share it.

Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous conscientiousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labor and poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that mass.

-- Thomas Paine


Did this man know what he was talking about or what? If ever there was a time when this truth needed to be known by it's people it is now.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

The balanced budget amendment is hooey

With the latest financial crisis in America ever present in the minds of some and totally ignored by others (and sadly those that should be paying attention) new talk of a balanced budget amendment is raising it's head yet again. This is total political hype and haymaking and belongs in the area of things to be laughed at and made fun of and here is why. A balanced budget amendment like term limits and debt ceiling limits is a sign of weakness in the individuals that wish to have them. They are also not realistic solutions to very real problems.

Let me explain. Say you had a weight problem and were trying to get your weight back under control but your will power, resolve, and commitment to diet and exercise were just too great for you to handle. What do you do? Well the first thing I would do is pass a law that would not allow my bathroom scale to go over 200 lbs. I know for a guy my size that that is still considered overweight but really 200 lbs. is only a little overweight and wouldn't put me in the category of obese.

Of course the law of gravity (which wasn't written by me and for some reason can't be vetoed by me) is conspiring against my newly written law. But wait, there is a solution, I will buy a new scale for my bathroom, one that only goes to 200 lbs. In fact let's pass another law that says that no one can manufacture or purchase or own any bathroom scales that allow readings greater than 200. Just think of the spurt to the economy we will have from everyone having to replace all those old scales. And this rule applies to everyone equally because we care enough about you that we don't want anyone to weigh more than 200 lbs.

Oh but wait, what about the lineman who play for the Packers? Sports fans are not going to be please when they open their stat sheets only to find that their team is so evenly matched up with the opposing team with every player on the offensive and defensive line at an average weight of 200 lbs. Perhaps we should create an exemption for locker rooms. But then what should the new limit be for locker rooms? And should that be all sport locker rooms or just those of football players? Would the local fitness gym count?

And what about size? Should a 7 foot person be held to the same 200 lbs. limit, and should there be a lower limit for people under 5 feet tall? What if someone bought a metric scale, would a 200 kilogram limit apply?

I could go on and on but you quickly see how silly this stuff can get and this really is how some of our laws get created, especially the ones that shouldn't be laws in the first place as the bathroom scale represents. It is not in the charter people, it does not belong.

As I have stated before many of our laws are created to prevent you from doing or having something that I don't want you to have or do. Term limits where created as a way to remove a candidate that someone else didn't agree with but didn't have enough influence to remove with a legitimate alternative. You would think that common sense would prevail from the majority but as is too often the case common sense is not that common. How else do you explain the reelection time after time of (insert name here but contain yourself to the top 20 that come to mind)? Of course you have to think that if the people continue to put (insert name) back in office then they fully deserve what they get. And if the people of (insert state) wish to be represented by (insert name) then that is their right and I as a member of (insert other state) should have no say in it other than to make sure I am represented by someone who better expresses my viewpoint than (insert name).

Well that is all fine and dandy for the actions of others but what about for yourself? The key words is action and for self. When it comes to being a grown up and an individual we somewhere along the way begin to take responsibility for our own actions, which includes the outcome or consequences of those actions. Some of those consequences are automatic and consistent. If I jump up in the air, I will return to earth (there is that law of gravity again). There are certain rules we all must abide whether we know them or not. We can not impose our will over them just by saying they are not so. And if we say that we weigh 200 lbs. when we do not that is called a lie or at the very least a deception meant for others but mostly for self.

So if it is not a law or should not be then what is it? A GOAL. We can have a goal to have a balanced budget. The proposed law is an attempt to force an action to obtain the goal but it is a forced action and goal both of which are poorly defined, stated and acted upon. The debt ceiling was made into law in an effort to control an out of control government. It is not effective in that it has not made any headway in that regard. Because of it's failure to constrain the government fiscally it has been rewritten constantly to change the total debt limit more times than the number of years it has been in existence. It is like passing a law that says I can not weigh more than 200 only to rewrite it the next day at 201 and the next day at 202 and the next day at 203 and so on and so on and so on.

The other factor that comes into play with these types of legislation is the exemptions. They totally negate the effect you were after by introducing the loopholes by which you can ignore your own rules. We will have a balanced budget every year except when we can't, like during times of war or times of peace or times of famine or times of recession or times of emergency such as tsunamis or floods or hurricanes or tornadoes or earthquakes or depressions or election years or any time one of our neighbors has one of these problems. Oh yeah, and I will never eat chocolate again, unless I have a craving for some that can only be resolved by the ingesting of some form of chocolate.

Getting the idea.

We are the ones that are responsible for achieving our own goals, and we are the ones responsible for defining what those goals are and what rules we will give ourselves to obtain those goals. We then measure our success by how well we achieve our goals or how well we are progressing towards achieving them.

Our elected representatives are put in those positions to fulfill the will of the people. How successful they are is measured by how well they fulfill the will of the people they represent. If the people wish for a balanced budget, a debt ceiling, or a term limit, they do not need a special law enacted. They must take the action to find and elect a representative that will work on their behalf to reach these goals. They must then communicate their desires (goals) and monitor the progress of their representative to see that they are still their representative. If they really wanted a balanced budget then they would pass a balanced budget and with integrity only pass legislation that supported fiscal responsibility.

If we really wanted a balanced budget we also would be willing to accept nothing less. This means not accepting the handouts and entitlement programs that have been used by politicians for years to buy your votes and influence our support.

Just as we know what actions we must take to obtain a healthy weight, politicians know what actions they must take to obtain a healthy fiscal position with which to maintain a strong nation. If they don't, they don't belong there. If they know what they should do but they prefer not to act for their own reasons then they don't belong there. If they are not willing to act towards reaching our goals, simply put, they do not belong there.

If we are not willing to act to obtain our goals then we should not be surprised in the least when our goals are not met. All worthy goals take effort especially if you desire a worthy outcome. And you don't have to have a law written to make it happen. Just do it.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Really, a gang of six?

It is time to comment on the state of the nations budgetary affairs. They are pathetic and only getting worse by the minute. Take the Gang of Six for example. A lousy name which means they have already been placed in the discredit category so no matter what the plan is they came up with, it has already been written off by those who wish to eliminate them as a possible contender for solutions.

And that is all right by me. The gang of six plan is really weak. It does not go far enough. Not nearly enough. To talk of cutting 4 Trillion dollars sounds austere but over a 10 year period it is really just more political ramblings designed to give them bragging rights back home, never meaning to be taken seriously. Even if it was honestly considered by anyone, you would notice that it is very vague in application merely pushing political hot topic buttons but doing very little in the way of reforming a very broken system that is on the verge of an implosion.

No one in Washington D.C. is taking the role of a true leader. No one dares stick their neck out and speak the truth and then take action based on truth. Everyone knows that the first person to present any kind of definable plan is the first one to get slaughtered because know the others have a target with which to aim their slings and arrows. Failure by consensuses is a far safer path for the average politician. And sadly we don’t even have average politicians anymore. They are all sub par.

Congress has never been known to ‘win the day’ on their own. They need someone to take charge, providing direction and purpose while providing the salesmanship necessary to placate the American public into non-confrontational acceptance of their new deal. Presidents have traditionally carried that burden or assumed that role. Don’t look for that this time around. This is one lesson that Obama didn’t quite learn from the Clintons and he is paying the price.

I don’t think he will pay the price nearly to the degree he deserves. There are still far too many people that are blindly in love with whatever they think he is. I hope they don’t wake up too late to realize the party is over and they have wasted the whole evening waiting for a prince charming who will never arrive.

As for the debt problem, reality says to me that we have it every bit as bad as Greece, and some of the others, we are just living in denial big time. The deadline will come and go and very little will be noticed by most. The real damage is yet to come as a last minute knee jerk reaction deal will be made that will allow the politicians to take a photo op, slap each other on the back and proclaim victory for our side (which ever that might be). Then the slide down hill will continue until the next masqueraded crisis rears its ugly head causing us all to take anxiety pills will our leaders forestall the inevitable. And all the while we are in our day of reckoning now and most don’t even recognize it.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

I'm Back

Hello everyone. I'm afraid I've been a little busy lately, and more than a little distracted, but I have returned to share thoughts and insights but probably just to rant and vent.

In fact I have been so upset and angered by this countries lack of discipline, integrity, and sensibility while being driven by an overwhelming self-centered selfishness and an overpowering level of stupidity that my emotions got caught up in it all and I couldn't quite bring myself to compose from a reasonable centered me so I gave it up for awhile.

Anyone that has been watching the news for awhile will have noticed the insanity that has laid claim to the world around us and often makes it tempting to retreat into hibernation or at the very least begin practicing the life of a hermit.

But alas I am too far entrenched in day to day living to commit that form of social suicide. And neither should you if you are experiencing the same level of frustration of that external world that tries so hard to dominate our lives. It is at this point that we must stand and say "nuts to you" and move on with what we do, and that is to live the good life and fight the good fight. To accept anything less is to deny our true inheritance.

So what was the trigger that brings me back around. A little news article on the radio this morning that reported President Obama praising someone other than himself, a republican no less that goes by the name of Mitch McConnell. You have got to know that you are way off base when no less than Obama and Harry Reid are calling your ideas a 'serious proposal'.

So what is this 'serious proposal'? How about letting the President raise the national debt ceiling without GOP support. That's right, the Senate minority leader is suggesting that Congress forgo its duties and responsibilities and hand the President the last keys to national destruction. I don't know why they would bother since all three branches seem to be working in a concerted effort to accomplish the same willful degradation of the remnants of a once upon a time fine upstanding and well respected country.

If you understand the debt crisis at all, or even just a little you are shaking in your boots right now along with the rest of us, but it is not the core of the problem. It is not even center stage of our drama or worse yet in the eyes of the people that matter most, the citizens of this nation. It is also just one symptom of a long list of symptoms plaguing our country right now and its future is hanging in the balance.

Someone from the White House said "never let a good crisis go to waste" but the scary truth that walks hand in hand with that is 'if you don't have a crisis now, make one'. I don't know how much of what is happening is fabrication and deliberate manipulation but I have seen enough to make me think that there is a definite plan being played out and there are some who think they will gain power by allowing events to unfold the way they have. Over the past several years (and decades and beyond) these types of events have led those in power to excuse themselves in taking action that has undermined our freedoms and our liberties. And for all intense and purposes it is happening again. Just as we now joke at the cliche of 'do it for the children' (although I still hear that one used time and again) we are not laughing at the effects it has had on our lives. Last time we were all too willing to do 'whatever it takes' to maintain our homeland security. This time we will do 'whatever it takes' to maintain our economic security. And all the while we have willingly done 'whatever it takes', we have done so without really realizing what was taken. The physical and economic security that was once in our hands as been placed in the hands of another, and now we have neither.

Where is that country that was so highly praised for freedom and liberty and was hailed as a land of opportunity and righteousness? Where is that people that stood proudly for one nation under God and valued it so highly that many would willingly give their lives in defending it? Where are the voices of reason in the tumultuous din of stupidity?

It is not all gone...yet. It is not all forgotten...yet. Fear not to add your voice to reason. If it sounds like stupid and feels like stupid, please don't be afraid to say so. When stupid looks itself in the mirror, truth is revealed and reason can stand. It is time to let laughter and ridicule drive stupidity back into the long forgotten shadows from whence it came.

History is replete with examples where stupidity runs rampant, but it only last for awhile. For those of us looking for the better way, having lived it and knowing what it is, there is still a light of hope that all is not lost. There is still a chance for the return of sanity. And although I am predicting that there is the potential for some serious hard times ahead, both economically, politically and socially, there is still an opportunity for much good to come from all this. That is what I continue to look for, hope for and pray for. I hope that you will be doing the same.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Increase your e-mail awareness

Since I am continuing to send myself an e-mail trying to sell myself Viagra, and growing increasingly tired of the many implications I decided to do a little checking to see where the link was going. I did this without opening the e-mail’s link. I just hovered the curser over the link and looked at the address listed below. I then entered the address into www.networksolutions.com/whois-search and it came back showing the current registrar as Beijing Innovative Linkage Technology LTD. It also shows the name server as ns1(2,3,4).collig.ru. In other words they are using a Russian domain.

There is some other information and some phone numbers but I am not pursing it any farther. I don’t know whether someone is spoofing them the same way they are spoofing my e-mail address to make it look like I am sending myself these e-mails or what but I don’t like it. If our government was really concerned about our welfare they would be actively reaching out and attacking these people. What they are doing is deliberate and with intended consequences. This is not an accident.

If there are any of you out there that love to hack and disturb but still want to do something for a good cause and stand for something right, here is your target. Take out a spammer. Actively eliminate those that are deliberately out to do harm. I don’t have the wherewithal (resources or knowledge to do it) though I really wish I did.

We have all seen the warning about not clicking on a link from an unknown source or untrusted party and that is good advice. It seems that is still only a portion of the advice you need as I can’t even trust my own e-mail now. Either way please be careful out there. The war that is waging out there is bigger than any of us realize and we are getting caught up in the crossfire, so when in doubt…duck.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Beware credit companies, the consumer is coming

You may have noticed an increase in credit and credit card offers lately. Don’t be drawn in. The rules are about to change and the increase in offers is an attempt to lock in the old rules on those willing to play by the old rules.

So what are the old rules vs. the new rules? I am not sure, but I do know this, they involve high fees and high rates with harsh penalties, new or old. Like so many things coming out of Congress these days in the way of financial regulation, the details somehow get lost in the delivery to the public. I do know that there are rules trying to reign in the current almost obscene method credit card companies are using to adjust rates and charge fees.

In fact if you have listened to Clark Howard, Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey you have probably heard at least one call from a listener telling their story of how the credit card company was changing the rules on them mid stream and wondering what they could do about it seeing how they had been a long time good customer with that company. If they do not have any free cash available to close out their account then most times the answer seems to be try to negotiate with the company or try to live with the new terms. (Wherever possible provide yourself some options.)

Trouble is many people have been living on the edge for so long that there is no room for new terms. All of their spending money is pre committed and they are stretched to pay the minimum balance on these credit cards as it is. Sad to say but many people had a very hard time making their new minimum payment the last time Congress got involved and raised the required minimum payment on outstanding balances as the Congress’ way of trying to help (by force) people to lower their debt levels.

The latest round of increased minimum payment is coming about because of changes in the interest rates charged to the card holders by the card companies. The higher the rate, the higher the interest charges and the higher the minimum payment based on that higher charge. These rate changes come about because of changing terms that made your fixed card now a variable card or even worse. Some card companies have added clauses that state if you are late or default not only on their account but that of anybody else’s account they will raise your rate to loan shark levels, and they are doing it.

“But I had an agreement with them” you say “they shouldn’t be able to change the rules mid stream.” They shouldn’t but they do and it comes in the form of a little tiny printed piece of paper that comes with your statement every so often. Do you take the time to read all of them all the way through? Buried in the legalize is the change and if you aren’t paying attention they have you because it usually comes with a phrase or two that indicates your options are two, either continue to use the card and by default accept the new terms, or notify us now and we will cancel your account and your bill is now due in full for the outstanding balance.

If you are able then my suggestion is to pay off the amount in full and close out the account. Let’s put the power of the consumer back in our pocket. There are still lots of competition for credit cards out there if the number of offers I get is any indication which means there are still many companies that should be competing for my business. I as the consumer have the power to pick and choose who has the best deal to meet my best interest. I get to decide which if any is right for me, and I will vote with my hard earned dollars who I will work with, even if that means none at all.

After the new rules go into effect we should begin to see a new set of offers from companies that are trying to decide how best to play the new game in town. If you can hold off till then I think you will be better off for it. When it comes, I think it will be in all of our best interest to take a close look at what the new offers are and compare them to what we have now and actively switch to a better provider if one is found. Credit Card Companies you have officially been put on notice. If you don’t treat me better, and with the respect I deserve then You Are Fired.

The new rules Congress is laying down should make it harder for the companies to change your rules mid stream like they are doing in abundance now, but to get the new rules to apply to you it sounds like you will need to create a new account where the new rules will apply. I hope that is not the case but if it is I see it as an opportunity for those willing to spend the time and effort to search out better and more trustworthy companies to work with in the future. I will share with you my ideals of standards for a credit card in a later entry.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Cash for Clunkers program is fiasco

I am of the opinion that the Cash for Clunkers program was and is one of the biggest mistakes this country has made. It sums up and represents all that is wrong with the government’s approach to correcting this so called economic meltdown. Let me explain.

Cash for Clunkers is once again a knee jerk governmental reaction to a problem that would solve itself on its own if left to the natural forces of supply and demand. The idea instead is to follow the plan put forward by Germany and another country that slips my mind at this time and create an incentive for consumers to go out and spend their money. One major difference between our plan and theirs is that they limited the purchase to home grown vehicles, where as we limited it to gas thrifty cars no matter where they came from.

On the surface this sounds great. Haven’t we been told that the car industry was in trouble and then proved it by taking over two of the three remaining original American car companies. This would drive consumers to their doors just drooling over themselves in an effort to buy a car that Uncle Sam was willing to put the down payment on. And what a down payment, $3,500 to $4,500 and for what, my old worthless beater that was just barely running as it was. Besides if I tried to buy the car on my own, the dealer certainly wouldn’t give me anything for it and I would have to try and sell it myself or get a salvage yard to come haul it away.

Besides that, Congress social engineering kicks in and says why not make the deal available only to those that trade that old beater in on something that gets better gas mileage. That way, we can save the planet while helping to reduce our dependence on oil energy. What a deal.

What a deal is right. First of all, free money is never free. It has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is those that pay taxes and from those that don’t in the form of inflation as the dollar continues to tank for fear that the only way out of this excessive spend rate is to start the printing presses. There are some that will understand this but there are far too many yet that don’t. Those that don’t will soon feel the effects but sadly still not understand what happened or why.

The next thing we notice is that the money only went so far and so a second helping twice as big as the first was dished up while Congress patted itself on the back for finally doing something that helped people directly instead of just subsidizing the financial mistakes of Wall Street. Only thing is this big dollop of dollars like those before it does not help all Americans or even most Americans. It only helps those that fall into their specially defined category, namely those with a clunker/beater that is worth less than the amount of the rebate and gets lousy gas mileage. I have a friend that thinks her car is ready for the scrap heap (though knowing the type car it should be far from it) and all the hype has made her interested in trading in to take advantage but she found out she doesn’t qualify because her old steed is already a fuel efficient vehicle.

The other qualifier is that you must be in a position to be able to afford a new vehicle and not later but now. This isn’t always easy even in the best of times, but that is o.k. because you can just take out a loan. (Wait a minute; wasn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place, easily obtained excessive debt?) So if you can’t qualify for a loan or if you are not willing to qualify but you don’t have a pocket full of cash, sorry Charlie.

But who wouldn’t buy a car now; the incentive from the government is just the icing on the calk. The dealers must be dealing like crazy to stay afloat, after all we still remember the deals they were willing to make after 9/11and back then they were selling way more cars than they are now.

If you happened to look at any of the ads for new cars, have you really seen any deals being presented. Most of the dealers are moving cars so fast they don’t seem to worry about making a deal. They know that if you don’t want it they have another one right behind you that is more than willing. Besides they only have a limited inventory of eligible cars and the government is providing the incentive and they don’t even have to bargain on the value of your trade in so why not sell all cars at full retail MSRP? The dealers can’t help but be overjoyed because now they have buyers that won’t even bother to question the price.

And what of these old cars that are being turned in for free money. Well there first thing to do is to make sure they don’t get put back on the street, so they are destroyed with a mixture in the engine to seize it up for good and then off to the smasher to make sure that the vehicle is beyond the use of any mere mortal. The cars are not even sent to a junk yard to scrap the recyclable parts and put them to use on existing cars that could easily use that unscarred fender or rear axle to return an existing vehicle to serviceable condition without the need of going to a new parts supplier that will have to make the new part using new material (even if it is from recently smashed up traded in clunkers) and lots of energy to form that material into the needed part.

For those of us that have had to live on a budget and are of limited means, a used part was sometimes the only means of keeping our cars alive in good repair. That brings up the other hidden cost to this whole program. Used cars support more than just those that drive them. There is a whole industry built up to support those used cars. Used cars are also the means by which many people have been able to raise their standard of living.

As a person trades in their old vehicle and buy a new one, their old vehicle has value and is still useable by someone who is willing to pay money for that use. They themselves might be trading in their older vehicle in an effort to upgrade and in so doing free up another used vehicle to pass on to someone that has a need for cheap transportation. That vehicle is a means for some to get a much needed job, or to deliver a sick mother to a doctor appointment, or deliver children to school. The vehicle creates possibilities that would otherwise have a person do without.

As all of these vehicles disappear, there will be a whole group of people that rely on these most entry level of vehicles that will have to learn to do without for awhile. Their cost of entry just went up greatly because the supply of good serviceable cars has suddenly shrunken.

So who wins with this lousiest of all programs? The bailed out auto industry? Not if you look at the list of the top 10 qualifying cars and notice that not one of which comes from one of those bailed out car manufacturers. About the American car manufacturer and labor? Well if you look at the cars that are being bought and notice that many of those Toyotas and Hondas and the two Fords that made the list are built in America then yes perhaps some citizens benefited. But for how long? Is this just a massive promotional sale that will only last as long as the ‘free money’ but will return to gloom and doom as soon as it is gone? All indications are that the plants are not ready to crank up production just yet as this has just been an easy way to move existing inventory, in other words, things still look pretty bleak over all for the industry.

But what about the economy, won’t this provide the much needed stimulus we have all been talking about? If you were one of the ones that just happened to be in a position to take advantage of this program then you paid full retail for a vehicle that you are now committed to paying for the next 5 years for. This commitment of future cash flow means that the money is spent and cannot be used for any other purpose or purchase. The fact that the government subsidized the purchase, much like a tax deduction for mortgage interest, doesn’t make it any less spent, and unlike the government you cannot spend you income more than once.

As was illustrated earlier, this does nothing for the lower income brackets but steal away from them a sooner opportunity to move up a notch or two. And what about all the cars that will now be getting better gas mileage, doesn’t that help? States are already crying because they don’t receive enough of your money in the form of taxes so how do you think they will feel when you no longer by enough gas to cover their expected gas tax revenue. They are going to want more, mark my words. Also, I firmly believe that the free market would have given us cars and trucks with much higher gas mileage ratings than we have today if they had just been left alone and let the free market help drive demand rather than letting the government set mandates. If you could convince enough people that they really wanted high mileage vehicles, the market would and will supply them. Where there is value and demand there is a market.

So the only ones that benefit from this fiasco even if it is just temporarily are the car dealers that got one last chance to gouge the consumer if they were lucky enough to retain a dealership after the last round of closures. And if they are gouging, as any consumer should readily see, then are they really the dealers that should have survived the last round of closures. I look around and see the ones that made it near my area and definitely wonder ‘what were they thinking’? Come to think of it, I have been asking myself that question about a whole lot of things lately.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Does anybody want to buy my Chevy?

It is lightly used and in fairly good shape, trouble is, with the changes going on I don’t know how much longer I will be able to keep it that way. Does GM now stand for Government Motors? What has happened to this country?

(As I am slow to get this one published and have since noticed that the August issue of Motor Trend as also used the reference to Government Motors. I may be slow but I am not the only one thinking these things.)

I have said that it was a grave mistake for the financial bailout to happen the way it did and that the government should have only stepped in to help smoothly apply the laws already in place for an orderly application of bankruptcy procedures. Those banks and financial institutions that took the money have either regretted it greatly or were most definitely on the verge of collapse and saw this as the only way to continue to draw an overpriced paycheck for a few more months while they polished up their resumes.

So after seeing this happen, why would any other industry be willing to participate in the grand scheme for the government’s takeover of American industry? Two of the Detroit Three has succumbed to the temptress while Ford is trying for a holdout and now the other two no longer resemble anything of their former selves. Ford will go through its own changes and will most likely not resemble its own former self as it tries to reposition for the new automotive world's future but it will at least be trying to maintain a pretense at independence.

(Also, do you notice how they are referred to as the Detroit Three now instead of the American Automakers? This is done to realize the global nature of the auto business and that there are car builders in America that go by the name of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mercedes, BMW etc. that were not part of the original elite designation. Do you suppose that these American jobs are somehow not valued the same way as those originating out of Detroit to those in Washington?)

Chrysler is an old hand at bailouts having successfully completed one in the 80s. Trouble is this time there is no Iacocca to come to the rescue. With a lack of real leadership at the helm and a government that isn’t interested in leaving them as an American car company, they were handed over to Fiat with far too much ease. This move makes absolutely no sense other than that Fiat makes small cars that the government thinks can be rebadged as Chryslers, sold in large quantities to the American public and thereby meet the politically correct Al Gore global warming agenda.

When I said they gave away the company, I meant it literally as Fiat just promised some of their current technology and they walked away with controlling interest (at least so far as the government will allow). This will not work any better than the merger Chrysler had with Mercedes and for the same reason but on a larger scale, namely culture clash. If hindsight for a Benz and Dodge combo teaches us anything it should at least provide a flashing red light warning for a K-car Fiat.

The new Government Motors on the other hand is just pathetic and sad. After Obama forced out existing management before the bailout was complete (bloodless coup anyone?) GM announced that they are appointing Edward E Whitacre Jr. to become the new chairman after the bankruptcy is complete. Whitacre’s former position was head of AT&T. While this brings praise from the government officials that thought to select him as well as those he will be working with, my view is somewhat different. If AT&T is any example of the kind of company GM is about to become then I do not want anything to do with them. AT&T under Whitacre’s care had become one of the most bloated, conceited, arrogant and uncaring corporate entities to service the public and private sectors. The level of customer care sank to the lowest of depths under his reign and the only reason I can think of for AT&T to continue to exist is that the behemoth was so big it somehow carried on in spite of itself. Actually, it had so much free cash from earlier years that it bought out any potential competitors or spent them into the ground if they tried to enter their markets.

Come to think of it, GM has done much the same thing only somewhere along the line it lost its profitability and ran out of funds to buy out the competition. It then had to stand on its own merits (and GM did have plenty of merits to play from) but it didn’t trust itself to do so. How and what will Whitacre do when the government pulls back the purse strings and makes GM stand on its own? Unlike AT&T, GM will continue to face competition in the automotive world and they won’t be able to rely solely on new government contracts to keep them afloat.

Actually they might. How many other corporate or service entities are there that are strongly subsidized by taxpayer funding for an overzealous government bent on political manifestation? The arts, National Public Radio, the postal service and of course Amtrak quickly come to mind. But wait, don’t these also have competitors present that attempt to service the customer’s needs and the competitors do so at a profit? Yes, yet the government sponsored entities continue to exist with much taxpayer subsidy thereby satisfying its one true customer which is government self interest. Should we expect anything less from their endorsement of Government Motors?

The thought of all this physically sickens me. As a car loving guy, I hate to see what is going on more than most and fear that we will be tossed into the automotive dark ages like that which followed the first gas crisis that generated fuel mileage and emissions mandates and produced some of the lamest excuses for autos for over two decades. These were government mandates and not consumer driven desires and that led to innovative stagnation. All signs are indicating that this is the path we are once again headed.

Also, I am an American and a taxpayer. This country is founded on principles of fair play for everyone yet with every passing day I see less and less of it and not nearly enough voices standing out against the changes taking place. Liberty, and freedom are words that have somehow lost their true meaning as have capitalism and free markets; the consequences both frighten and infuriate. Wake up America. Return to the values our fathers stood for or we will never be able to know them again in our lifetime. We need to return the white elephant now before it eats us out of house and home. For those that do not understand, we have only begun to pay the price for this folly. If we hurry, maybe we can still cancel the check and get our money back.

So if any of you are in the market for a new car, do you really want to pay for it twice, once as the consumer and once as a taxpayer? I know we do that somewhat anyway but really we should be expecting something for our dollars. I have an idea instead of buying new; does anybody want to buy my slightly used Chevy? I just don’t have the desire to support it anymore.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

The automakers dilemma

I have been thinking a little bit about the auto industry lately and the mess they have made for themselves. I can't say that I am surprised by a lot of this. I am very disappointed however.

I am a car nut, an enthusiast even and for the car industry to turn to the very establishment that helped put them in this predicament is truly a situation that will create many a business school doctorate thesis for years to come. What possible good can come from this?

I could be saying I told you so, but I had a hard time finding anyone to tell. No one was listening. The American car makers have had major problems for several decades now, not just the last couple of quarters. They have been given their wake up calls on more than one occasion.

Sure some within the industry heard and heeded the call and some were able to come up with some really good and compelling products. Strides were made in quality improvement but not across the board and not enough to convince consumers that they had caught up with or passed the competition. There were glimmers of hope interspersed with packets of ‘more of the same’.

I feel sorry for anyone that has to turn to the government for a handout or subsidy. Sad to say we all are in that boat now and there doesn’t seem to be any turning back. As those who have had their hands outstretched for a gimme have recently found out, these government handouts come with strings attached. Some are o.k. with that while others prefer their independence. Some are beginning to have regrets.

So what do I make of the current state of affairs for the three? First Chrysler, which lost its way once and found it only to lose it, again, is perhaps in the weakest position of all. It is not currently being run by car guys though it seems to have many car guys within its workings. The shotgun wedding to Fiat seems inevitable if those holding the shotguns have their way, but I think it would be a mistake. Chrysler would do better to maintain its independence and build from its strengths. In order to do that it would need capital, true business management, and leadership with vision. These three components it lacks and therefore I see Chrysler fading away into oblivion even if a merger with Fiat is accomplished.

Second is General Motors, a company that is too big to know which way it is headed and too big to change the direction it is headed even if it wanted to. GM is the prime example of why mergers and acquisitions do not always work in the auto industry. Companies are created for a variety of reason but they all tend to try and differentiate themselves somehow, in other words, not all hamburger joints are McDonalds. Each company in order to do business will come up with its own solution to a consumer need and present it to the buying public. If successful it thrives but if not it goes back to the drawing board or goes away. Some companies will have a few outstanding ideas but will be lacking the rest of the components such as marketing, production, administration and such that make up a well rounded business. These are the companies that become prime targets for a takeover, not to obtain the company but to obtain the patents on the great ideas and incorporate them into your own product line. Many a merger has been done to obtain legal rights rather than finding synergies.

The problem in a merger comes when you try to combine two different cultures, as eventually they will also merge and become one and the same. As this happens, the setting that was the perfect ground to cultivate that great idea slowly fades into the mother company, the same company that was unable to create the idea in the first place and had to buy the other company to acquire. This is very evident in the GM of the 80’s when you the term ‘cookie cutter car’ was coined to describe the fact that all too many cars looked and acted exactly the same. The fact was they were exactly the same with exception of the name badgeing and a few accent trim pieces. You could find the same vehicle at Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, and on occasion Cadillac. Take a look at the pickup offerings from Chevrolet and GMC to see the most obvious example of sameness.

So what does this mean exactly? It means that the accountants and management took control of decision making for future product and decided that it would be less expensive and more profitable to develop one car and put several different labels on it thereby getting two (or three or four) items for the price of one. Sounds good on paper right? It doesn’t work out that way and here is why. Instead of developing and providing to the consumer two (or three or four) solutions to their needs, you have presented one solution and just changed the packaging. This is not an alternative solution to their needs; therefore competition can come in and offer a true difference. Consumers eventually will become savvy enough to know that when they are comparing solutions, they need only look at one of GMs offerings (rather than each one individually) and compare it to what the rest have to offer. And they wonder why their market share has dropped off.

GM has already killed off some of its brands, Oldsmobile is no longer for example. Is it missed, yes and no. If Oldsmobile were still here today wouldn’t it look just like Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick? Other than the slight visual clues for demographics they are one and the same. If they close Pontiac or Buick will they really be giving up that much? When Chrysler shut down the Plymouth name was there really much of an impact? They all have histories and we have fond memories of special cars from the past but was there any guarantee of recreating the magic of those one or two items?

So what is GM proposing to do to salvage itself but cut off some of the acquisition lines that gave it some distinction, namely Saturn, Hummer, Saab. Rather than working to make these somewhat independent lines profitable (and not being an insider it is hard to tell if they were or were not profitable) they have decide to cut them loose. This will create a very shallow corporation with dwindling product line with which to compete going forward. And as the product line going forward will now be determined by divine government intervention which will make decision not based on sound business doctrine but by political correctness, it is hard to say if there will even be a GM 5 to 10 years from now. Do you think the fun cars like Corvette and Camaro will even stand a chance of seeing a next generation under these conditions?

So that leaves us with Ford, the only hold out to the handout. I have to admire that and for that alone give them a standing ovation. I am sure there was a lot of pressure to bow. So Ford becomes the last hope for an American original. It is facing the same problems and constraints that the others are of underfunded pension plans, bureaucratic red tape, poor management, conformist and homogenized product line but it at least seems to be working from a plan and fighting for its continued independence. For this there is hope.

Fords product line is sufficiently diverse in the near term though they have the same problem of cross teaming between their Ford/Lincoln/Mercury lines. They have worldwide ties that should help enormously with product development if used prudently, the future 2011 Ford Fiesta is a prime example. (Ford if you are listening, please don’t over Americanize this car for our country. The European version sounds like the one I would want to own and drive.) The company still has a unique identity and some products still retain character such as the Mustang.

I do not understand the current design direction though. What is it with the 3 big flat chrome piece grill work? It is pathetic and reminiscent of the creased line loot the Art and Technology boys did that made me lose all interest in a Cadillac. I hope it is a short lived fade. They also added it to the full size vans as you can see. This is what being hit with an ugly stick does to you. Why do I always think of the station wagon in National Lampoons Vacation movie when I see these multi-level light treatments? Please run these design changes past someone that has taste before putting them out there?

Will Ford make it? It is hard to say for the same reasons it is hard to say if the other two will or not. The only reason Ford held out is that they had more cash on hand to allow them to stay in the game a little longer. How long it can last is anyone’s guess. I hope they all survive, because I don’t like to see anyone fail for one thing and because I think the open competition is good for the industry and the consumer. We all benefit from the raised bar.

The final note that should be made is that these are not the only American car makers today even if they get all the attention as if they were. Cars made in America include Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, Tesla and others. Are they entitled to equal consideration, or are some ‘animals more equal than others’ in this Obama Nation? Will the rules apply equally to all and apply to all equally? And will those rules be the rules of business with the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail based on the dictates of the marketplace or will the rules change yet again to fuel the fancy of a few? Time will tell as we wait and watch.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Slower Traffic Keep Right some more

For those of you that know me and to those that don’t I must state here and now that I am opposed to speed limits. I like many thought that they were a necessary evil and that in some situations it was the only way to control drivers for safety’s sake but the more I think about it the more I think that that idea is bogus.

I have been on many different roads in many different lands and it is interesting to find that every road has a naturally occurring speed that is comfortable and safe for any given situation of weather, road condition, traffic, time of day, vehicle used, and present state of mind. Given this formula it should be easy to note that the right speed limit is not the same for all users. This is natural.

Speed limits in this country were originally set by building the road and then opening it up to traffic and watching to see what rate of speed 85% of the public was traveling at. They then set the speed limit at the next highest multiple of 5 and on we went. Occasionally the limits would have to be reevaluated and that is normal too. As technology has advanced, so have the capabilities of the cars we drive. Our cars have better brakes, suspensions, tires, engines, windshields, seats, seat belts, airbags, crumple zones, and a host of other things that exists below the skin beyond our view. What we drive today is nowhere near what we drove a decade or two ago let alone what was available in the era before seat belts and steel belted tires.

As times have changed, so have we. Some cities made it a law that when you went out to go for a ride in your horseless carriage, that you must have someone walking in front of you with a red flag to warn others of the impending danger your horseless carriage might make. Sometimes I wonder if we have really advanced that far.

Let’s face it, speed limits are not about safety, it is about control. I have heard some of the most ridiculous agreements for and in behalf of speed limits and their enforcement. I have been in cities where the natural flow of traffic was 10 mph faster than the stated speed limit and heard people say that if they raised the speed limit higher by that 10 then people would just drive 10 faster than that. So what does that tell us? Is the speed limit set 20 miles to low? Can you keep raising the speed limit eventually to infinity and people will continue to travel 10 mph faster even to infinity plus 10?


But Ed, we have always been told that speed kills. I must state the fact that I have yet to reach a speed that I spontaneously combust. Anybody that has witnessed a race will not that there is no magical speed that when it will cause the car to immediately burst into flames and sail into the stands wiping out many of the fans that came to watch just such an event.

No, speed does not kill. The misapplication of speed can. Does that mean that there is a skill level involved in the operation of our vehicles? Of course. Does that mean that the average driver out there is not being properly trained and their skills have not been developed enough to cope with any higher speeds than we currently allow? Possible but whose fault is that?

I’m sorry but I believe in people and their abilities to make good choices and to have capabilities that far exceed what they use on a daily basis. I believe that people can have common sense or at least develop it in the course of their lives to a point that they do not need to be told how to do every little thing. I believe that people have the ability to decide for themselves what is best for them and have the gumption to do it given the chance.

I would love to see a movement start on the interstate system. These roads were designed for safe 80 mph travel in the 50’s. Remember the cars we had in the 50’s. Remember that all those cars were not new then either. How far have we come, or rather how much farther should we be if we could only continue to advance our lives in a progressive manner? So what could we do?

Take all the speed limit signs down and replace them with “Slower Traffic Keep Right”. It is not making everyone drive at a set speed that creates a safe situation but having rules that make it possible for people of different speeds to coexist peacefully. “Slower Traffic Keep Right” allows for everyone to travel at the speed they are comfortable with and anyone that is comfortable traveling faster can move to the left, pass, and then return to the right at the speed they are comfortable with. People would know the rules and know what to expect from other people that knew what the rules were. People would use turn signals and rear view mirrors and be aware of those around them.

Drivers already know these things. Drivers use their turn signals and rear view mirrors. Drivers pay attention to what is going on around them. The look ahead and try to predict the possible actions of others around them. Drivers realize their own abilities of those of their cars and make decisions based on those abilities for the given conditions. Drivers know and care about these things. Real drivers also know just how slow the speed limits really are.

I have driven with the locals at speeds far faster than the stated speed limit but I have also driven with the locals far below the stated speed limit. 55 mph on an ice covered road in a heavy snow storm with gale force winds just isn’t going to happen no matter what the sign says. If we are smart enough to go slower than the speed limit as conditions warrant, then why aren’t we allowed to be smart enough to go faster as conditions warrant?

If you want to try something interesting, get in the right lane (where you should be unless you’re passing anyway) and drive 5 or 10 mph below the stated speed limit. See what happens to traffic around you. See what happens to you, how you feel, how relaxed or anxious you become. Can you make adjustments with merging traffic? Can you maintain that speed without absent mindedly trying to match the speed of others? Do you feel guilty for holding up others or do you feel empowered by it? Do this and you might learn as much about yourself as you do those around you.

It is all right to be different. All I want is the right to be different as much as I want you to have the right to be different. When we all can live differently together then will the possible become possible.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Is Slavery returning to America?

Government is intruding into our lives more and more. Frankly, I didn’t invite it and I don’t agree with it. As we turn over more and more of our personal responsibilities to the goverment, or should I say as they assume more and more of our personal responsibilities, we faulter as a nation and as a people.

It is easy to see how we have succumbed to the siren call for abrogating our responsibilities. It is easier to say ‘It’s not my fault’ than to take personal responsibility. We have all been given ample opportunity to participate in the blame game, and we have certainly been taught by masters.

Our politicians have worked hard to convince us that all our troubles are not our fault and that we should blame the other guy. Their very existence and all their power is derived by creating a strong emotional response to the ‘us vs. them’ point of view. And as we have seen in the past, ‘Don’t blame the present on me, it was the last guys that were here’ is the chant of the moment.

As they con us into the latest crisis of the day, it provides for them an opportunity to snatch away more of our personal responsibilities and liberties under the misguided notion that they can run our lives better than we can. I wish to state that this is not true in my case. I hope to shout that it is not true in yours either.

All it takes is one look at the decisions coming out of Washington lately to know that they have not got a clue let alone enough knowledge, wisdom and foresight to make any decision concerning our own personal well being. In short, They Don’t Get IT.

We were not put on this earth to let others take care of us. We were not placed here by a kind and loving Father to be left in a permanent state of childhood. We are meant to grow and learn and reach for our potential. We are meant to learn right from wrong, and to learn that there are consequences for our choices and our actions. As we live we will make mistakes and we are meant to learn from them, correct them, repent of them and forgive them, and then move on.

We can choose for ourselves the right paths to take. The right path for me may not be the right path for you. We can’t all be firemen and ballerinas nor would we want to be. We all have differences and we can all contribute. That is what you get when you talk about the family of man. It takes all kinds to make this world so why would we allow anyone to mandate their ‘one size fits all’ world on us?

So what got me started on this rant? Perhaps it comes from seeing traffic cops at every turn, perhaps it is hearing of all the various bailouts using my hard earned and all too easily extracted taxes dollars, or perhaps it is the massive government budget proposal with its accompanying changes to social policy. In fact it is a combination of all these things and many others that are not listed. Why does it seem to me that the current direction our government is taking us is down the path of voluntary slavery? Debt is the master of the borrower and though each of us may have worked hard to avoid this situation in our own lives, our government is seeing fit to shackle us all with our without our consent. Isn’t it ironic that the man leading the charge into this voluntary slavery is the very one chosen as the iconic representative to supposedly close out the chapter of slavery from our past history?

Do we have what it takes to make a stand? The longer we wait, the harder it will be. Just like debt, the cost to regain freedom given up only grows bigger and more painful the longer we put it off. Denial does not work. We will eventually have to face it head on or give up and accept living in bondage. Our forefathers fought and died to give us that freedom they valued so highly. What will we pass on to those that follow us?

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Witness the birth of the new Great Depression Part 3.

In fact, that is just what happened. Everyone started leveraging everything and because everyone was doing it, it seemed to make it all right. We piled on debt to pay for everything to be able to live for today and it was all o.k. because once all our cards and accounts reached their max we could just consolidate everything into one big newly refinanced loan by tapping into the freshly created inflation generated equity that the investment in our homes had just produced out of thin air. Pretty neat eh?

This worked so well that we got used to it and came to expect that it would work every time. Jobs were consist enough that we could count on the income to always be there and so we went ahead and obligated ourselves to make consistent payments that matched those consistent paychecks. Most Americans had it worked out so well that everything that came in was exactly the same as everything that went out. It was a smooth running machine, until one day when the price of gas went up. Now instead of it costing $20 to fill the tank it cost $40 and you don’t have the other $20 in your pocket. Something has to go but everything you have is already spoken for. Witness the pin that popped the bubble.

So stupid people make stupid decisions, this is nothing new. It has happened before and it will happen again. The key point to take from all this is that we don’t make the innocent pay the price for the ignorance of others. That is where the second comparison has come into play. The knee-jerk reactions that followed the bad choices of others as happened following the first great depression should not be replayed this time around. Obama and Congress are launching on the biggest mistake in this nation’s history and it is not without forewarning. The “stimulus package” will seal the fate of this nation as a full blown socialist state with little hope of return. There are far too many critics that have been far too quiet concerning this matter. It is not because they have not spoken in the past or in the present, but the current mass media markets have decided not to listen. Make no mistake about it, voices are being suppressed. The America of our forefathers is in jeopardy of being no more, and for the sake of being politically correct we will squelch the voices of wisdom. We will label them crackpots or worse.

There are of course differences between now and then. FDR waited several years and I imagine went through quite a bit of debate before implementing the new deal. Obama and his congress have rushed the current new deal through in a matter of days. This surprises me especially when you compare it to the regular congressional budget that usually is past after the new fiscal year has begun, and sometimes months after. Why this rush? Banks closings are up but not anywhere near the level of the Great Depression. Unemployment is up, but also not anywhere near what it was in the Great Depression. 7.5% vs. 25+% do the math.

The economy was a hot button item during the election timeframe and usually is during campaigning. The Democrats and their media talked up how bad things were when in reality things were not really bad at all. This is not to say that there were not some bad areas and some people experiencing bad times. That has always been the case in our nation’s history. There are boom and bust cycles going on all over all the time, nothing new. But like so many political campaigns, you can’t convince others to vote for you unless you can convince them that the other guys are doing worse than you would. Standard fare, I mean I many times have you heard that the last few years under the Bush administration were the worst years ever in recorded history. Kind of sounds like the same thing Bush said about Clinton and Clinton said about the Bush before that. My question is why do we continue to believe it when the truth says otherwise, or at least is somewhere in between?

So the Democrats have convinced us all that the economy was falling apart and only they could make it work again. They said it so long that we and they started to believe it. Is this the case of a self fulfilling prophecy? Pretty soon people started making decisions based on this doomsday prophecy, confidence in the system was shaken and those decisions triggered other decisions which started us down the path of an economic slowdown.

If we can raise this slowdown to the level of a crisis, then we can implement all kinds of legislation without any questions or obstacles. What better way can you think of to get your policies in place before anyone has time to think twice? It has to be done now because it will be too late tomorrow, and beside we have to do something…don’t we? The knee-jerk caught a lame duck president with a first financial bailout and followed on to the new president with the stimulus package.

This isn’t the first real estate driven crisis, remember the 1980’s and the savings and loan problem. Remember how it wasn’t solved with a massive spending bill but a revamp of the banking industry that combined savings and loan institutions with bank bringing them under the FDIC insurance for depositor safety and then orderly liquidated bad real estate deals through the use of open market pricing? Why are we subsidizing the bad institutions this time and trying to keep them in business when we should be helping them liquidate in an orderly fashion? The FDIC could play the role of insurer as it is chartered to do and protect depositors money up to the agreed upon amounts, sell off the assets of the defunct business at market prices to willing participants and we could all get on with the business at hand.

Instead we are putting the patient on life-support, one that only prolongs the misery and the pain. Japan went through a period of denial with its real estate boom of the 80’s and they are still paying the price. Instead of clearing the books they finagled them through adjustable accounting. We are doing the same. Where oh where has wisdom gone in our elected officials?

And where has our wisdom gone? This article has taken a lot of thought and effort to write. As I have watched the proceedings take place in the news and the actions taken by our elected elite, I am both in awe and wonder. I am totally dumbfounded by what is taking place. It just doesn’t seem possible that this is actually happening in real life, and maybe when I get up tomorrow I can find that I just read it wrong. That was several days ago and I am still seeing the same thing, it is really happening. I can’t stop it, I am not an insider so I can’t profit from it, and I shudder to think what it will take to reverse it now that it is in place.

When reason fails with man, and the world begins to tumble, I guess the only thing left is the thing we have had all along. Turn to God. Pray and know that God lives. As the world tosses and turns and changes with the winds and tides; know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therein lays our strength, our guide, and our salvation. Ours need not be a fleeting moment in time if we are willing to look to our Father in Heaven with eternal eyes. My prayer for us all, leaders and citizen alike is that we have the wisdom and the courage to make the right choices and to stand for what is right.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Click here if you want to see the new Great Depression Part 1 or to go to Part 2.

Witness the birth of the new Great Depression Part 2.

So what did you want the government to do, nothing? Yes, as a matter of fact, that would have been the best course of action for it to take. If we really believe in free markets (a freedom principle) and the economics of supply and demand, then the role of government is too help protect consumers from fraud (a criminal act with criminal intent) and monopolies (manipulation of markets to gain control and prevent freedom within the market), and such acts for fairness sake, but not to dictate which businesses we can have and how we should run them or who we can and can’t deal with. It is when governments try to intervene on the belief that they can best determine how to ‘create’ fairness that we all lose.

This is called social engineering and it has never worked well if it has ever worked at all. In any instance I can think of, it comes down to taking away from one to give to another. It is providing subsidies for a favored group at the expense of a less favored group, and it is always the party in power that is making the decision of which group to favor. This is not equality this is theft, and it is the worst injustice of all. Two wrongs do not make a right. Just because your group or cause may be winning the ‘equality equation’ one minute is no guarantee that it will the next. Welcome to the roots of Socialism and Communism. Ayn Rand, F.A. Hayek, George Orwell, and many others have tried to warn and persuade against these evils.

So if the government would have done nothing, the market would have worked itself out and life would have gotten back to normal a lot sooner than it did. Remember the words about supply and demand. Basic economics says that when a seller and a buyer have the same price in mind, a transaction takes place. If there is a difference in the desired price each is willing to accept then no transaction takes place…that is until they come to an agreed price. Of course, if a seller’s price is less than what a buyer is willing to pay or if a buyer’s price is higher than the seller is expecting a transaction will also occur with a happier than expected outcome for one of the participants.

If prices rise too far, buyers quit buying or buy less than they normally would until either their situation changes or prices fall back to a level they are willing to accept. This is where the true power of the market and more importantly the people’s power lie…as consumers. If a consumer decides that the price is too high she can just turn away, and with the markets that America has developed, they can look elsewhere. We as consumers have the power of alternatives and options, another great benefit from having free markets…choice.

So what happens in a bankruptcy? The prices fall to clear inventory. How far the prices fall is determined by the market and the need to move that inventory to meet the demands of the defunct business. Again the market place determines a fair price by matching the seller with the buyer at a price both can live with. In the case of stocks, the price will fall to some level where a buyer will believe that he can find value in the purchase. Look at the recent Circuit City bankruptcy as an example. They have invited in the liquidators who will sale all remaining inventory (and then some) at liquidation prices. First they will move all prices back up to full retail and then start marking off a certain percentage to make the sale. A few weeks pass and they will raise the percentage off to sell a little more. A few more weeks and a few more percentages, until most all the inventory has been sold off by having a willing buyer and a willing seller at an agreed upon price. The good stuff will go first at the highest prices and the lesser stuff will go as their fair price is eventually reached. It is natural, and it is how real markets work.

So what can we compare this to today? There are two common elements that exist today that were common back then. First is an overinflated market full of speculators and hype that has easy access to excessive credit for an overleveraged play. If anybody could not see the comparison to Real Estate investing then you shouldn’t be allowed to vote because you just aren’t paying enough attention to the world around you.

Real estate has been a huge hit sense someone went to the trouble of trying to convince everyone that they should have some. A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, and home ownership, the American dream, who could ask for anything more?

Real estate promised equity and wealth, and a place of status. It was incentivized and subsidized by tax breaks and government programs. Best of all you could finance 80%, then 90%, then 100% with no money down. They even had loans that would give you 120% of the homes “value”. At the pinnacle of it all you could even find loans where you never had to pay back the principle, just pay the interest and everything would be fine. After all the prices were going up and up and up and they aren’t building any more land you know.

Everywhere you turned there was a class or a course on how to buy real estate with no money down, or how to flip a home, or buy a foreclosure, or become a landlord. Real estate gurus came and went as fast as you could change the channel on the late night infomercials. All you had to do was take a look around and you could see someone that had made a mint in real estate, why even the Governor of California made his millions in real estate so why shouldn’t we.

And even if it wasn’t to make us rich by becoming the next Donald Trump we could at least be better off. We have always been told that owning your own home was a good and smart investment. Look at the equity your building. You have ownership of something and they can’t take that away from you. Why pay someone else when you can be paying yourself? (That is good advice when applied in a practical matter).

So the equity you built is caused by inflation and not by an increase in value, and owning your own home allows you to put holes in the walls where you want to and repaint any color you so choose without checking with a landlord first, and owning your own home means you can do with it whatever you want to as long as what you want to do is consistent with existing zoning laws and property covenants and building permits, and owning your home means no one can take that away from you unless you have a mortgage and miss a payment or run up against hard times and can’t pay your property taxes, but hey it is your home.

In the past, you could only borrow an amount that would have your monthly payment no greater than 25% of one wage earners income and that was probably take home pay at that. Recently it seems that you could qualify to finance an amount that would take 80% of your take home pay. (The remaining amount could pay for cable and you could feed yourself with food stamps).

Click here to see the new Great Depression Part 3 or here to go to Part 1.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.