Political food for thought!

[system]

So we the tax payers “loaned” (read: lost to) Solyndra $534 million dollars or so and it went belly up in less than a year. 1100+ jobs gone and I am sure the owners are sitting well off somewhere. The admin says it was a risk…some win some lose but they had no idea the company would fail (although dozens of emails state that exact point before the loan…one even says it would happen in Sept 2011…wow, I want that guy predicting my stock buys now!). Without wanting to get to into the admin crap of it all…just think how many jobs giving 534 pizza owners a million dollars each could have made? 534 new operations or expansions nationwide. 10-20 jobs each on average. Yes some would fail but some would not. 5-10,000 new jobs and the risk spread over a large area of employers and not the failings of one business. Tax revenue from 10K legally employed workers. Corporate taxes from 500+ new or expanded ventures. Capitalism how it is suppose to work. Oh wait…we are no longer suppose to strive too achieve profit and success. Just make the money and spread the wealth. I want to know when I get my gray sedan? My concrete box apartment? My food rations? Oh…I forgot that the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991! It’s all good…we are rebuilding it here! :shock:

 

[Registered_Guest]

qcfmike:

…just think how many jobs giving 534 pizza owners a million dollars each could have made? 534 new operations or expansions nationwide.

That’s some fancy pizza place you are opening for $1MM. :shock:

 

[system]

RG I was thinking about what a person could do in this business with a location they owned, dine-in, carryout, & delivery, all equipment paid in full, nice decor, and still have money in the bank. I figure the $1m number would be a go point. Even if it was a 9 to 1 match for any restaurant owner that was investing in his/her establishment. These are real average day Americans with real jobs being offered. Instead you and I are out HALF a BILLION once again. :x

 

[LittleMissPizza]

Just when I was patting myself on the back for having mostly refrained from any political talk on the TT, I see your post Mike! :mrgreen:

Obama stated that lending, by nature, is risky. True. However lending the taxpayers money to an institution that has a high probability of failing and being aware of that fact before you lend the money, I call that stupidity. Scenarios like the one you stated are all to common these days and they are truly infuriating to myself and hopefully to the others that work so hard to build a life for themselves in which others then leech off of. In my world, dedication, time and hard work=reward/payment apparently this belief is not held by many in society these days. Ok, enough of that tangent!

I love the idea, I could only imagine having that chunk of change and what I could do with that . Not to mention, as you stated, the employees that every shop could hire. Not to somehow get this plan implemented…

 

[wa_dave]

Our Govt did a stimulous package back when the GFC hit for Insulation of houses and school building funds.
The insulation was a debacle with fly by nighters getting in and doubling the price so the customers really paid “full price” after the rebate. The school building fund saw buildings being built at almost double to the average price prior to the stimulous … AND OUR INCOMPETENT LET IT RIDE. It was only after a rash of deaths by young untrained, unsupervised workers in the insulation side that the Govt moved in and shut down the rebates.
Now the question is asked … would any pizza operators fleece the economy by “skimming” off the real costs and giving the Govt a bill for $1mil when it really should only cost $400K ? Temptation is hard to knock back when other parasites get their hands on the money and run such as what Mike stated and just simply close up shop and laugh all the way to the Swiss banks.

Dave

 

[system]

Dave we had the same insulation program. Caulk your windows and door…add some additional attic insulation…bill the gov $6000 per house for $1000 worth of work if that. They just don’t get it. This does not create jobs it creates scams! Fraud! Misuse of funds!.. Wait… so this creates polititians? :shock:

 

[royster13]

The only thing that will create jobs in the long run is to stop exporting money to buy oil and imported goods…But not from from Canada, we need your money…

 

[Registered_Guest]

qcfmike:

These are real average day Americans with real jobs being offered.

Hmm.

This is why your plan would never work. Who wants to be bothered with a job offer when you can just walk to the mailbox and pick up a check?

 

[system]

I think there are plenty that would take the offer and we need limits on the picking up the check bunch. How is a jobs bill always worked around an extension of unemployment benefits? Wellfare needs revamped to remove the abusers. It should not be a lifestyle it is there for EMERGENCY SUPPORT people! Not so you can retire at 22!

Fine, lets tax the rich, the rich then leave, then there is no more rich too tax, then it is a real eye opener for all the monthly check people… where’s my check at? Why is my 7th year of unemployment not here? Me…get a job! Why? Oh, I am still holding out for that executive position. I know…it’s been 7 years and my last job was as a server but I think I DESERVE that new position. If I wait…it will come! Just give me my check! :x

 

[brad_randall]

Quick unemployment benefits quiz (disclaimer: I didn’t know the answers to these questions until I looked them up myself). Highlight the hidden text to see the answers.

1. If you were grossing $1,000/week at a job you lost, on average how much of an unemployment benefit would you collect?

Answer: $360/week. The average weekly payment is 36 percent of the individual’s average weekly wage. Source.

1. What is the average benefit collected per week?

Answer: $292. My math says that’s a $42,000 livelihood now being supported on a $15,000 benefit. Source

1. For how long does the average person collect benefits?

Answer: 40.5 weeks as of September, 2011. 55% collect benefits for fewer than 27 weeks. Source

1. Are those benefits subject to taxes?

Answer: Yes! Unemployment compensation is includible in gross income. Source.

1. What percentage of benefits are estimated to be collected fraudulently?

Answer: Over $11.4 billion in U.I. benefits were erroneously paid in 2009 – an overpayment rate of almost 10 percent. Source

1. Of that fraud, what percentage is being perpetrated by those having gone back to work?

Answer: As much as 30 percent of the wrong payments in 2010 went to people who had returned to the workforce but continued to claim benefits, according to Dale Ziegler, deputy administrator for the Office of Unemployment Insurance at the U.S. Department of Labor. Source

 

[Rick_G]

The Solydra deal created a lot of new jobs. Accountants, Lawyers, adminastrative people, all busy for years trying to sort out the mess. They are not green jobs though as they will be killing tens of thousands of trees to create all the documentation to prove we don’t know what happened to all the money.

 

[system]

Rick don’t forget all the poor trees that will be cut to produce the paper that will be used to print the new money to cover the loan! (Oh, and before I hear it…yes I understand that currency paper is mostly cotton and linen not wood pulp!)

I do have a question about the Solyndra loan that I have not heard talked about yet. Since this is a gov secured loan of $534 +/- million dollars…and since the company is belly up… is there some screwed up political math that says we now have to pay another $534 million back to someone since we “the gov” secured this loan? I am just waiting to hear this one cross the news wire somewhere that the fed gov is repaying this bad loan back to some other gov entity for a total loss of over one billion dollars! It has to be coming!!! :shock:

 

[brad_randall]

qcfmike:

another $534 million

No. In much the same way that the S.B.A. secures a bank loan made to a small business, the U.S. government did not provide any funds but instead guaranteed the loan in the event of default. Had the U.S. government actually loaned the money directly, there would be nothing to guarantee as the U.S. government is the creditor in such a scenario.

 

[system]

Brad I was being sarcastic! :roll: Like with all of what comes out of Washington these days…couldn’t you just see someone trying to make something like that happen? Take a half a billion dollar gamble and then just maybe some pencil pusher would start cutting checks to cover it all! Nothing would surprise me! :shock: