Steve's barking I don't understand abrivations

I read in the paper, this is what you should get out of SUTO.
I never heard SUTO before. I now found that it means state of the union.
What's wrong with editors, not everybody is a twitter bug.
Write it out, so us old fuddie dudies know what your writing about.

Steve's barking with an increase of minimum wage

What would happen if the minimum wage would double?
For those who tell you what happen if you would increase the minimum wage, laugh in their faces.
There are several scenarios.
(1) Prices would go up, leading to minor inflation.
(2)Because prices go up fewer people would partake of some services, therefore leading to fewer people needed to fill jobs.
(3) Lower payed workers would have more discretionary income there by buying  more cheap goods and services creating a need for more workers.
(4) Profits would be lower, competition says that you can only raise the price of goods and services so much.
( 5) Profits will be greater in some industries because the poor have more money to spend and will.
(6) Prices will rise because there's more money to spend.The price of housing and food will go up because the poor have more money and want better.
(7) The price of food and shelter will stay the same, The poor barely makes their rent and food budget now with more money they'll just have more breathing room.

If some one tells you that the raise of the minimum wage will (name the position) ask if he or she has a crystal ball?
Are we mind readers and know what a person would do with extra money?

What's my position on raising the minimum wage?
Raise it allot. I'm a red blooded American, who thinks we are being to coerces.
I'm not a wuss.

Steve's barking the more things change

The more thing have changed in the US the more they remind me of the past.
Our new Senator McCarthy is Ted Cruz
Our new Nixon is Ran Paul.
Our new Roy Cohen is Russ Limbaugh.            
And the the good people of the Republican Party who refuse to stand up to them.

Money still shouts drowning out the voice of the people.

Steve's barking at inequality at work

We've been told the way to wealth in the US is to work hard.
Well who works harder, the plumber or owner of the building?
Who works harder, the executive or the secretary especially with a child and husband at home?

Who gets heard, the person with the most money or the person with the best ideas?

Who gets elected, the person with the most money or the person who could lead the best?

Who has it harder the person who has more income then he can spend and yet is upset that his piersmake more money or the person who works three jobs and still can't get a the cheapest computer for his or her child?

What statement is true and which statement is false?
The harder you work, the more work you'll get and the harder it will be to get an advancement.
The harder you work, the more money you'll make. The harder you work, the easier you'll life will.

Steve's barking at the world in revolt

Every time I turn on the news it seems that an other country is having an insurrection with in it hborders. It doesn't matter if the country had an revolt three years ago and had a democratic elected, like Egypt. It doesn't matter if there is strong leadership or weak leadership.
It wouldn't surprise me if Western nations with strong democratic traditions are in the lines for violent  
demonstrations.
When and if this happens the explanation  from some will probably be income inequality.
Me, I'll just say promises not kept. I'll leave the other explanations to those smarter then me.

Through out history there has been violet upheaval, some good has come from it some times bad, even though just after the upheaval there has been bad. (Some of you who just read this probably have no idea what you just read).

Steve's barking at secondary investors

Secondary investors? What are secondary investors? There the investors who buy shares in a company after an IPO and isn't used by the company to raise money.
Ar these secondary share holders needed? Only to the extent that original shareholders need them to make a profit on their stocks.
Question can stocks be considered a pyramid?
Probably. Especially if not paying dividends.
Question how important are these secondary shareholders especially if they are activist who insist on shareholder value?
Important enough to be an albatross around the neck of any self respecting company.
Question do shareholder activist help or hinder the value of  a company?
In all probability hinder the value of a company.

Steve's barking at investing in Reynolds Aluminum

Judging from all the reading I've been doing on the Internet it's time to invest in Reynolds Aluminum for all the people who will make hats out of Reynolds Wrap to keep the government from reading their thoughts.

Steve's barking at Hamlin

When I was a young lad I read this German folk tale, the pied piper of Hamlin.
The people of Hamlin paid this piper (flute player to rid their town if rats and they would pay him.
After he rid the town of rats the towns people refused to pay him.
Sounds like the Euro zone today, pensioners did their work and were promised a pension, but the countries wise men people ( some times known as the Austerity Monsters) decided that full pension was wrong, there fore the good of the monetary system pay only partial pension.
We of the US shouldn't feel too smug, were cutting promised pensions too.
Now as I recall from the folk tale as punishment to the town the pied piper had the children of the town follow him and they all vanished. Moral of this tale if you make a contract pay what is due.

In the US since the start of the republic to the present day leaders have been trying to renege on promised pensions to the military at least partailly at present.

Don't forget the moral of the pied piper of Hamlin don't renege on your promise of payment or something bad will happen.

Steve's barking worried about the NSA

I'm worried about the NSA. Not for the reason that senators Sanders and Paul are. They're worried that the US Constitution is being broken (questionable about the fourth amendment, while stop and frisk breaks the Constitution's fourth amendment as intended. Yes I know that the liberal supreme court said it's Constitution in limited circumstances). No I'm not worried that the NSA is violation rights. I'm worried that the NSA is doing it's job very well. The White House went to court to find out what phone numbers for phone calls to certain reports to try to find out who's leaking classified information. If the NSA was collecting all phone conversations and e-mails why would the White House need to get a court order if they already had that information? The NSA couldn't stop the Boston Marathon bombing. The NSA couldn't stop the stealing of information from the stealing of credit card information from major department stores.
I want my freedoms.
Freedom to go to a major sporting event without feeling threatened.
Freedom to use my credit without feeling compromised.
Freedom to believe that my country can keep secrets from those who want to destroy it.

Steve's barking at the attack on the nation's printing press

Just recently anyone who shopped at Target and Burdoff Goodman had their credit card compromised.
I don't know how this was known, or how the hacking into the computers of these stores were done, all I know is what I read in the paper. I also know that any compromise on plastic is an attack on the economic system. Using credit cards and debit cards is like printing money ( though most people don't understand this principle).
A danger of compromise of credit  and debit cards to the point that they are not trusted anymore is like nobody trusting  or taking a nation money.

Steve's barking the man behind the tree

Last week the Governor of New York State in his state of the state message made a case for new government initiatives including pre-k and getting federal government guaranties for a billion and a half bond issue for a bridge over the Hudson River (the state would still have to pay but the interest would lower) while stating that he wanted to cut taxes by I believe two Billion dollars. The question is who going to pay for this?
Answer: *Not you, not me, but the man behind the tree.
We have choices in life, pay for what we get by raising taxes. Lowering taxes and having less government services including less roads to travel. Having pay for services such as higher tolls on our highways, or having our great grandchildren pay monetarily and or no services all together.

When politicians deliver on services with out means to pay for them it called **Greecification.

* Quote attributed to Russel Long on who should pay taxes.
** New word meaning  promises made and kept by government but with no means to pay for them forcing draconian measures later.

Steve' barking at liars in winter

Liars in winter are not lion in winter.
Chris Christie knew nothing, just the fact that his staff thought it would be a good to hurt the people of New Jersey who happen to live in Fort Lee, just because they felt it would be a good idea of maybe hurting a Democrat, never mind that it hurt Democrats and Republicans from Fort Lee. His staffer and friend didn't get the culture of mean from the governor.
We're going to find out if those buffoons who claim that the unemployed would get a job if only they didn't get unemployment insurance are right they would get jobs and more people would be employed in America. If they are right then I'm the buffoon.
Speaking of the unemployed, if those who no longer collect unemployment insurance and are still unemployed are they counted as unemployed? Are they called and asked if they are still looking for work or do they suddenly disappear.
Those liars in the Euro Zone, do they real believe things are getting better economically in Europe.
Those statics don't mean a thing if your a pensioner in Greece or even in Germany.
Yea and those young unemployed in Southern Europe those statistics are useless too.
There are still whiners who shout conspiracy to those IRS members who are doing their jobs as picking on conservatives.
Then there are those television news people ( I use that term loosely ) who have some of the easiest jobs in the world telling those who are struggling to pay their bills that they shouldn't complain and demand a wage that they could pay their bills.
Then there are those goofballs who state those who can't find a job should move.
Let's say that a large portion of the unemployed move to North Dakota or any of those oil states who mead workers, the unemployment rate in those state will become greater then the states that they had just left, the wages would decrease and violence would increase.

Steve's barking at the education industry

The new mayor of New York City wants to give free pre-k (kinder garden) to all, by taxing the wealthy in a small way. The Governor of New York State doesn't believe in home rule, he says he believes in giving all the young children in the city pre-k only using money that's already in the coffers. The mayor says rightfully said hay we can use that money for something else.
I remember a time that higher education (in the US that means college) and you didn't have to put up your first born as collateral for a loan that you hope would let you earn a good living.
Am I imagining this or do some colleges payinmg their presidents what the CEO of major corporations earn and that state university presidents earn multiples of what the governors of said states earn. When they earn that type of money I guess they believe that they earn it by showing large endowments and large profits for non profit institutions.
I remember suffering not going to school because of a teachers strike. Did it retard my education? No I was already retarded. I don't blame the Teachers Union for the lost time and bad grades in my first two years of high school, I blame the board of ed. Going down memory lane it was though that decentralizing the school system was the way to go, of cause some local boards who were suppose to be helping the children were helping themselves to the money that was to go for education.Now we have charter schools in New York City. Some are good some are bad, but it's reported that they all have revolving doors, so that one year you may have great dedicated teachers and the next they may have teachers that don't know that a gold fish is dead if it's floating on the top of the tank. The charter schools have a great incentive to have students do great on standardize test. In other words they have a great incentive to cheat.

What I would do to help the public school system is hire an army of college students to go students homes and try to help by turning on that switch that children have in their heads to learn and to enjoy learning.
(Tuttering)? Will it help? Slightly

Steve's barking what is considered affordable housing?

I've just read in my home town paper that Governor Andy was proposing 100 million for affordable housing.
My question is what is affordable housing? I know that it's recommended that one not pays more then one third of their income for housing. Is New York State going to set aside money so that a family making $100,000 a year pays no more then $3000 a month. Maybe the meaning of affordable is that those apartments that some one making $50,000 a year pays no more then $1,500 a month. Maybe  they consider affordable housing for those making under $35,000 were rent is under $1,000.

Supply and demand and a lot of people making great money makes my town's housing almost unaffordable even for those who might be considered making high middle income.

Steve's barking bit coin, blame it on NIxon

The debasing of the currency as the no nothings would say, getting the US off the gold standard was Nixon doing.
Is anything wrong with not having our dollars backed by gold? Not at this moment and probably not in the near future. Those gold bugs had a case when we had stagflation, it was wrong but they had a case not having the dollar backed by gold.
Not having the dollar backed by gold give the idea that the FED can print money out of thin air just by buying government bonds with dollars it doesn't have (kind of like the American consumer does by buying items with the credit card) .

Now I can just imagine some mischievous nerds, just sitting around and having a little bit too much Sherry deciding that if the FED can print money why couldn't they create digital money and call it bit coins. They would make government backed money by selling this cyberspace created money.
Well as all money is, it's only as good as the seller of goods and services except it. If sellers of goods and services except this form of money though not backed any government  a new form of money has been created. If it's not excepted we have a  monetary pet rock.
So you see kiddies, you can blame it on Nixon.