Posts Tagged ‘ tyspurlock

Big Three Bailout

OK here is the deal, I know nothing more about about the recent bailouts then the next guy. Here is my beef, why are we bailing them out? This is my view, and again it is general but hear me out.

The big three made most of their money popping out SUVs. There is of course many cars that have been huge successes (i.e. The mustang, Jeep, Corvette, and many others) but for the most part they have been impregnating us all with SUV fever. I’m not going to lie I have the fever. The problem is that we as a population are moving on. We are seeing the effects of the internal combustion engine on the world. It is taking a toll. Now I certainly do not want to sit here and blabber on about global warming, if it is real or not, whatever. We as a people are moving on to a more sustainable way of transportation. Which brings me to my point, the big three do not have the capabilities to give us as consumers what we want.

Why would it be good to see them fall? Well it is simple, when they fall there is going to be a huge demand for cars, the car makers that survive will not have the capacity to meet the demand. When it comes to that, it becomes a free for all. Now you might not know it, but there is so many small companies that are ready for this. Not just the companies, but there is new technology. See in the past we have settled for our petroleum addict cars. Since that is the most convenient, and what we as a people are used to, we settle. We should not settle. Think about the advancements in electronics. That has not come due to an accident, that is what we demand. Think if we were to demand the same progress from the automakers. Think of how much could be achieved. If a store went out of business you would not take on their bills to keep them afloat, you would take your business somewhere else.

What is my point again? It is that we need these companies to fail, or to let them fight their ways out.

Stimulus for Unskilled Workers

In an article about President elect Barack Obama has committed to a fiscal package that focuses on transportation, energy solutions, broadband access, among other things.

In recent reports it was announced that the unemployment rates had risen to 6.7%. While this number is concerning, it was brought to my attention that within that statistic the percentage of unemployment among college graduates remained relatively stagnant. Unemployment for those with only a high school diploma 0.5% and percentage of high school dropouts rose 2.9%. While this seems mundane, I believe that it should be addressed within a stimulus.

We received a stimulus last year that solved nothing. It was poorly planned and researched. If the Government was to issue another it should be focused on this group of people, the unskilled workers. Investing in skills will do a lot in the long run.

The author of the article threw out some ideas that to address this group we could institute a sort of pell grant voucher. This may not be the answer, but something to bring the unskilled workers and invest to their futures.

Something cool that happened

Oh there we are

Oh there we are

My Econ Professor emailed me and six other people on Friday. In the email he told me that I was within the top seven students (I looked it up and found out that I was 3rd out of 89) and that we had done so good that we were exempt from taking the final.

Basically that was the class that I was stressed about. Now I have to study for my Math final, then I am done for the semester. If everything works out on the Math final, I will get my first ever 4.0.

Now I realize to my Wife, older Brother Jake, and His Wife this is not that crazy, seeing how that is their standard, but hey I am pretty pumped.