iicc-iesi

End of Democracy

2010-01-22T07:38:00.000-06:00

End of Democracy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The newest way to do business - do favors.

2009-10-15T19:54:00.003-05:00

Since I was downsized, I'm focusing on my skills at my computer and with my digital camera. I'm gaining experience by doing favors for people. Digital photography and Adobe Creative Suite 4 allow me to create fliers, posters, websites, electronic forms, presentation slides, T-shirts, mugs, calendars, magazines, posters, and other forms of communication, for free.

Yes, free. Just because I'm unemployed doesn't mean I shouldn't stop gaining experience.

I enrolled in online training at Lynda.com and every day I spend at least two hours training on software such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash, Acrobat Pro, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more.

If you visited www.spfld.net in the past you may see some improvements as a result of my continued education. I’m currently working my way through Flash Action Script 3.

The rest of my time is spent looking for work. I occasionally volunteer at a PBS television station, work on other websites, and get involved in political and social causes.

So the new way of doing things, since no one is willing to pay me, is to just keep doing it for free. If you have a problem with that, hire me before I officially start my own business.

Sales Tax

2008-11-07T10:28:00.002-06:00

Republicans want to replace the income tax with a sales tax.
Democrats want to replace the sales tax with an income tax.

Income tax, as a percentage of income, hurts rich people and poor people alike.
Sales tax as a percentage of the expense, hurts poor people more than rich people.

Democrats win, greed loses.

Market Predictions

2008-10-28T08:25:00.004-05:00

The high crop yield will bring down grain prices in a seasonal trend that won't reach to the grocery stores as many would hope, because it's a predictable seasonal trend that has built in levers that gate it at Chicago Board of Trade (CBT).

The result will be severe losses by farmers, not savings for consumers. Farms lose doubly because they bought the fuel, fertilizer, and seed when the prices were at their highest. Now the prices of their crops are plummeting.

It looks like Big Oil is fluctuating the production of oil at the same rate as our planting and harvesting seasons in an effort to destroy American Agriculture by causing price changes congruent with the cost of planting, harvesting and the sale of grain.

Farmers paid too much for supplies, then can't sell their produce at a price that makes up for their costs. This ripple effect can be traced back to petroleum producers. Such a strategy would ultimately benefit mega agriculture producers such as ConAgra and other giant agribusiness producers.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch to make it a conspiracy.

Silvio Gesell

2008-10-24T13:26:00.002-05:00

Money must circulate for an economy to survive.
Dollars are optional.

How many people are unemployed or underemployed?

2008-10-12T11:26:00.002-05:00

First, let's define employment.

When someone is employed, the are earning enough to live comfortably and save money for future expenses, unforeseen or otherwise.

When someone is underemployed, they fall into the following categories:

• They are a salaried employee making what appears at fist to be a reasonable annual income, but they are working between sixty and eighty hours a week which if calculated as an hourly wage will fall below minimum wage.

• They are making a reasonable hourly wage, but they are only working part-time hours which disqualify them from health benefits.

The Unemployed are those people who have file for unemployment benefits. Those are the unemployed that the government knows about. The official number is around eight hundred thousand.

The missing unemployed are those people whose unemployment benefits have expired and are still unemployed. When unemployment benefits expire, the government can officially, but falsely report that unemployment has gone down because the government no longer sees the paperwork.

What happened to the economy?

2008-10-10T09:50:00.002-05:00

It's simple. Workers were not earning enough money to pay for anything more than the bare necessities, and many were not being paid enough to afford the bare necessities.

Business owners thought they were being successful by using their own employees wages as a competitive tool. Workers were supplementing the difference between their wages and the required level of income to survive, with credit cards.

Now the credit had dried up and banks are failing. Prices for everything must be lowered. Raw material, commodities, manufacturing, shipping, etc.

Or wages must be raised to match inflation so the money can circulate through the economy. Money must circulate to be of any value, it cannot stagnate in some hidden war chest.

October Surprise!

2008-10-07T09:09:00.001-05:00

Here's the big October Surprise!

To share this video visit
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/keatingvideo

Demand that the Bailout Legislation Be Rejected

2008-09-24T10:31:00.001-05:00

We are witnessing a bankers' coup d’etat. In the name of saving the economy from a crisis created by their own greed and immense profits, the biggest bankers have taken a country and a people hostage.

“Give us your money and tear up what’s left of your Constitution or we will sink your economy,” is the message from Wall Street and the Bush Administration. “Give us the power and money we demand or you will be left jobless from a new economic depression."

Under the pretext of the banking crisis, the Bush Administration is changing the way this country operates. This is not simply taking trillions of dollars from the people and giving it to the richest bankers to do with as they see fit.

VoteNoBailout.org

Your consumers

2008-09-21T11:54:00.002-05:00

Hey bankers and businessmen, did you know that your consumers are also your own employees and the employees of your fellow bankers and businessmen?

If you and your friends employed people in the countries where you are trying to sell your products, and you paid them well, there's a good change you might have more customers.

But no. You had to compete with each other for the sake of your shareholders by cutting wages and benefits for your employees. Now your shareholders are losing because you have no customers. What good is your stock if nobody can afford your products?

You'll just chalk it up to poor fiscal management on the part of your customers. Fiscal management of what, minimum wage?

What? You don't care because you have your money now and you can feed your family for the next four generations? Good luck holding onto it. Your going to need razor wire around your gated communities.

Economic Depression

2008-09-16T09:53:00.003-05:00

What we have been posting on our website
http://www.iicc-iesi.org
and at the blog here has finally come to pass.

Chicken Little is out there standing wings akimbo clucking "I told you so, I told you so."

Ross Perot is probably reading the paper at breakfast nodding his head up and down, with a suppressed sense of self-satisfaction, thinking to himself, "I told them so."

Ralph Nader is staring out at the world with one eyebrow raised, his head slightly tilted, wondering where in the world he and those of his sensibilities will survive and how far will they have to run to get out of the shadow of a falling behemoth nation.

Bobb Barr, Ron Paul, Mike Gravell are probably planning to dequeue from the current hegemonic circus and begin collecting the intelligent among us and lead an exodus to a land for intelligent people.

The current culture of materialism and instant gratification is heading for major withdrawal and deprivation.

This blog and the website may not be available much longer. Good Luck.

The work time calculator

2007-09-30T10:24:00.000-05:00

A new interactive Adobe Acrobat document was posted at www.spfd.net

It's called "The American Dream Calculator for the Working Class" and it automatically calculates how many hours of work you need to perform to pay for thinks like:

• Gas for your car to actually commute to your work
• Cigarettes
• Lunches

You'll need your last pay stub from your employer and it doesn't calculate for overtime (Something I'll be working on when I actually work overtime and figure it out.)

First, it subtracts your withholding and gives you your actual net earnings, net wage per hour, and even net wage per minute. (for Minimum wage earners, it's $0.09 per minute.

Once you have that calculated, you will be able to divide any expense into your net wage per minute to find out how hard you actually must work to pay for what you want.

• For someone who earns minimum wage and travels 1.4 miles to work, it takes 29 minutes of labor to pay for it.

• Someone earning minimumm wage paying $7.20 for five lunches during a work-week must work 6 hours to pay $36.00 for lunch that week.

• If a pack of cigarettes costs $3.00, a pack-a-day smoker pays for it with 11 hours of labor per month.

• The form also recalculates the net wage after gas and meal expenses. The net wage for the minimum wage worker after lunch and gas in this scenario is $4.67 per hour.

This form is an early experimental form that is intended to make it easy to see the cost of your lifestyle in a new light.

Senators and Representatives on Summer Break

2007-08-07T07:21:00.000-05:00

Our U.S. Senators and Congressmen are on their August break. You might see them around your district. We, the people expected change after the 2006 election, and the rumors going around are that the Democrats have rolled over and have not been effective since they have become a majority.

But, we, the people rolled over. We only gave the Democrats a simple majority, not an overriding majority. For the Democrats to be effective against the onslaught of warmongering predatory capitalists, an overriding majority is needed, a better than two-thirds majority that can override a Presidential veto or some other arcane parliamentary procedure.

So we have nothing to complain about but our own inability to elect an effective majority of legislators different from those who dominated our government for the last six years.

Entrepreneurial Spirit - First Hiring.

2007-03-10T10:59:00.000-06:00

Starting your own business is the way to go. It's the right thing to do. Your first week has been really tough and for the first time ever, your thinking about hiring someone to work for you.

You metion it to your friends and family, and they all come forward with people they would like to see working for you. Friends, neighbors, and relatives.

What happens if you hire someone who was recommended by a friend or family member, and they can't or won't do the job, either properly, or at all? You fire the person and you fall out of favor from those who recommended the person. Or, you get sued for discrimination and lose because you did not do the following:

1. Advertise in the newspaper at least two weeks in advance of the hire date.
2. Accept and review all job applications and resumes from the period of the first advertisement to the scheduled hire date.
3. Of the qualified candidates, conduct at least ten interviews of a diversity equal in race, ethnicity, and gender.

I know someone who just started a business. They never listened to me before, so instead if giving them the advice directly, I'll just post it here. Ignore it at your own peril.

Bush in Brazil

2007-03-10T10:50:00.000-06:00

President Bush is in Brazil ready to make Ethanol energy deals with the largest country in the southern western hemisphere. This is going to bring down the price of corn so small American farmers will finally declare bankruptcy and become overrun by Cargil, Conagra, Archer Daniels Midland, and other Agracultural Giants.

But those companies will be competing with Ethanol imports by companies like Exxon Mobile, BP, Shell, and other energy giants.

So Americans will get trampled underfoot again by battling giant multinational conglomerates who are protected by laws that prevent the small farmer from producing his own fuel.

Trade Deficits

2007-02-20T14:17:00.000-06:00

Even on C-SPAN they talk of a trade deficit with China. There are goods being manufactured in China for consumers in the United States. Goods were once manufactured in Mexico for the United States too.

A Mexican Ambassador once said that most of the companies in Mexico are American companies. It was the first and last time something like that was ever again said on television.

The trade deficit with China is a lie. The companies in China are American companies. The one truth is, however, that the money is going to China, but then it goes into the bank accounts of those who were once American, but now can globe-trot and thumb their noses at the citizenship rules by which the rest of us live.

They are the global entrepreneurs who have shed themselves of any sense of loyalty to their childhood nation. When Leona Helmsley said “only the little people pay taxes,” her biggest mistake was living in the United States when she said it.

So let’s think about it for a moment. If they are doing it, why shouldn't the rest of us? Why should we be hindered by the rules of patriotism shirked by those who control all of our natural resources?

I worked hard, like the dutiful Kamikaze pilot who celebrated his final flight with rituals and parties, but when his engine didn’t start, he walked off the runway to his superiors who previously proclaimed they would soon follow him, and he discovered that they had no such plan to die that day, or any day.

There was no reciprocal loyalty at work when I was laid off at AT&T. They paid me a wage so they didn’t have to consider my intrinsic value as a human being.

So, what makes you so sure that all your hard work will win the hearts and minds of those who are forced by law to pay your wages, taxes, health insurance, and other benefits?

Never assume that you have job security. Always look over your shoulder. It’s a cold hard world in America.

Bad news for retailers

2007-01-05T11:06:00.000-06:00

Walmart will be the only survivor. That's the word passing through the economist underground. Prices everywhere else are unsustainable. Publicly traded retail specialty is doomed.

Consumers are hesitant not because of gas prices, or the increase in interest rates on mortgages and credit card debt, or because of some presumed knowledge of what the consumer perceives as valueable.

Who do these "economists" think they are? Sages? They don't even pay attention to wages as an important factor in their calculations. The consumer perceives his or her paycheck. Two thirds of consumers in Sangamon County earn nine dollars per hour or less, and at least two dollars per hour are taken out of a ten dollar per hour wage for taxes and Social Security.

Conservatives want to fix public school funding by replacing its source with something besides local property taxes. But what? Another income tax? Another sales tax? A sin tax?

Can the forty thousand people in Sangamon county, earning seven dollars or less per hour, afford an increase in sales tax? They can barely afford rent.

We know that money is a finite resource, and twenty cents for every dollar spent at a national franchise will leave Sangamon County, never to be circulated here again.

How small businesses struggle

2006-12-06T13:03:00.000-06:00

Twenty or thirty years ago, we never imagined that one day we would be able to communicate without paper. The printed word is already extinct in most major markets.

Large cities like Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and so on, have left their photo copiers and fax machines along the roadside, with a modest asking price, or a sign that says "Free to take!" but the lonely hulking plastic beasts begin to show tiny rings where rain has splashed the accumulated dust kicked up by weeks of passing traffic.

It's a trend that too many people are ignoring. Like the shoemaker who became adept at making buggy whips, and threw out his shoemaking skills and tools, only to find that suddenly, the orders for new buggywhips stopped, and instead, orders for automobile upholstery surge at the shop next door.

This habit of denial was seen in the post-election speech by Ken Mehlman, speaking about issues that appealed to an audience that had by this time, become too small to affect retention of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives and Senate.

And so goes the photo-copier and document specialists, the United States Post Office, Newspapers and the rest of the print media.

Knights Action Park vs. Minimum Wage Increase

2006-11-27T21:47:00.000-06:00

The owner of Knights Action Park spoke out against a state minimum wage increase, saying that it would cost him $56,000 extra per year if the wage went up by one dollar. I did the math(1) and it translated to around 13%, which means a total expense increase to around $420,000.00 in payroll, or between five and seven jobs eliminated to maintain the same payroll as before.

If 13 percent of all the people in Sangamon County were laid off because of the increase in the minimum wage, we would have around 6,460 more unemployed low-wage workers. The rest would be earning a total increase of around $1.3 Million dollars per week in potentially disposable income, which, because the wages is still far below living standards, will wind up in the cash registers of Walmart, Meijer, McDonalds, Aldi’s, and other national franchises that can undercut our local businesses.

When people have to adjust their lifestyles downward, it becomes very difficult if not impossible to adjust their spending habits upward again once they start earning more. Loyalty goes out the window -- the baby with the bathwater.

Could there be a more fitting punishment for a state that does not care about raising the minimum wage, than to only spend your money at businesses that send their profits out-of-state, and which sell merchandise made in a foreign country?

(1) Let us say for example, that the average minimum wage worker works around 30 hours per week because he or she must work another thirty hour per week job elsewhere to make ends meet without costing the employer overtime. Assuming that one employee works 30 hours at the park per week, he or she can expect $195 per week gross income at minimum wage, or about $9,360.00 per year. Let’s say the wage goes up by one dollar per hour or $1,440.00 per year. That would increase our employee’s annual gross wage to $10,800 per year. Since $1,440.00 goes into $56,000 38.89 times, Knights Action Park must have about 39 employees who already earn a combined total of $364,000.00 a year.The cost would go up to around $420,000.00 for employee salaries. Providing of course that Knights Action park had 39 minimum wage employees. >From that base of 39 minimum wage earners, Knights Action Park can eliminate around five or six employees or around 13%

Fairview Closes

2006-11-18T07:40:00.000-06:00

The smoking ban has aided the national franchises in their competitiveness toward local restaurants.
The new national franchises have delicious food, but it’s also “cookie-cutter” food that it created in advance and frozen.

I once had an omelet at a new franchise and part of it was cold. It came to the table within ten minutes at 6:30 in the morning on a Thursday. It was very fast because advances in flavor technology give these large national chains the advantage (You will see this when you watch the new movie “Fast Food Nation.”

What is the dilemma? We must choose to eat food that is technologically advanced beyond our expectations, and send some of our money out of our local community, never to be seen again, or, we can support our local businesses so they can advance themselves and circulate profits within our own community?

Which is it going to be?

The domino effect of the smoking ban: Sacrifices on the altar of quality.

2006-10-22T10:35:00.000-05:00

Bernie and Betty’s is one restaurant that feels the sting of the smoking ban, and it shows. The last time I ate there was before the smoking ban went into effect. The food took longer, but it was well worth the wait. Lately though, things were very different.

Even though the restaurant was packed on Friday night, October 20, 2006, the service was, by one patron’s account “The fastest I ever had here.”

I concluded that faster service increases turnaround, which in turn increases revenue, but that sounds like logic from some board of directors that looks at a balance sheet which typically omits the intangible social value of an eating and drinking establishment.

But like any Springfield restaurant these days, the quality of the food is being sacrificed for the bottom line, perhaps to such a degree that might increase turnaround so they would start to see a profit; or put them out of business.

Unfortunately, these business models are based on the success of national franchises that can compete unfairly because they have vertically integrated supply sources and are well established in other locations with more lenient regulations.

At Bernie and Betty’s, when I asked for a Pepsi, the waitress said they served RC cola. It didn’t matter much to me if they changed brands of soda, but another patron refused to drink anything but Pepsi. The major issue was the cooking.

The peppers and onions were barely grilled for the sandwiches (the Bernie Melt and Italian Sausage), one patron said her Meatball Sandwich was burned and had much less cheese than before, and another patron’s Poor Boy came without its customary dipping sauce.

These mistakes (as I prefer to call them) usually occur once in a while, perhaps more frequently on a busy night like Friday, but to all occur at the same time, and at the same table are much more than the acceptable level of error.

Depending on one’s perspective, the social value of the place may outweigh the quality of the food and keep them in business, but knowing “Springfielders,” a second chance may not come again for a very long time.

There was speculation that they changed chefs, but I have a feeling that an accountant was in the kitchen that night.

Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard

2006-10-08T18:50:00.000-05:00

She said "Americans are not entitled for work for HP"
So she can go to Hell.

FairHills Mall - Foreign Property

2006-10-07T11:02:00.000-05:00

The shops that reside at Fair Hills Mall in Springfield, Illinois now pay their leases to a foreign company. The entire story is available in today's issue of the Illinois State Journal Register.

Fair Hills Mall is now foreign property.

Newspeak Dictionary

2006-09-21T22:12:00.000-05:00

I wanted to buy a thousand copies of George Orwell's book 1984, to give out at local high schools, because that book by now must be banned from public schools. But to my astonishment, I don't need to do that. Just visit the following web site!

http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/

Senate Poised to Pass Bill Taking Away Your Right to Know What's in Your Food!

2006-08-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

**Tell your Senator to vote "No" on the "National Uniformity for Food Act" **

The House of Representatives has passed a controversial "national food uniformity" labeling law that would take away local government and states' power to require food safety food labels such as those required in California and other states on foods or beverages that are likely to cause cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions, or mercury poisoning. This bill would also prevent citizens in local municipalities and states from passing laws requiring that genetically engineered foods and ingredients such as Monsanto's Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (RBGH) be labeled.

Soon, the Senate will vote on this bill, which would gut state food safety and labeling laws. The "National Uniformity for Food Act," lowers the bar on food safety by overturning state food safety laws that are not "identical" to federal law. Hundreds of state laws and regulations are at risk, including those governing the safety of milk, fish, and shellfish. The bill is being pushed by large supermarket chains and food manufacturers, spearheaded by the powerful Grocery Manufacturers of America.

Big food corporations and the biotech industry understand that consumers are more and more concerned about food safety, genetic engineering, and chemical-intensive agriculture, and are reading labels more closely. They understand that pesticide and mercury residues and hazardous technologies such as genetic engineering and food irradiation will be rejected if there are truthful labels required on food products. This industry-sponsored bill is gaining momentum and must be stopped! Act now! Preserve local and regional democracy and protect yourself and your family from unsafe food by sending an email or calling your Senator.

Learn more and take action here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/labeling.cfm

Take action now at http://www.democracyinaction.org/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2752&t=

From: The GRACE Public Fund