Please sir, can I have another?

Who are the craziest, bravest, and most egotistical men in the world right now? The CEO's of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Two of the possibly most hated entities since the Nazis, these two groups have made stealing an art of men in nice suits!

Today they currently are being bombarded by a House committee and rightfully so. If you have been in a cave or just not well-versed in the numbers these 2 companies put up, take a look.
Out of the $90+ billion that the US government (taxpayers=us) gave Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, $95.4 million has gone to bonuses of the top level mangers. Mr. Williams (CEO of Fannie Mae has received $9.3 million in bonuses over the last 2 years. Mr. Haldeman (CEO of Freddie Mac) has received $7.8 million in bonuses over these two years and is scheduled to receive another $6 million bonus this year!! Under his tenure though, Freddie Mac has lost a total of more than $11 billion between 2003-2010.

So first and foremost- another disclaimer- I do not believe that we should be protesting outside these companies and placing all the blame square on their shoulders. However, I do think we should be writing our congressmen and telling them we want our money back or at the least these institutions should be allowed to fail and shut down. I agree that government should stay out of the private sector for the most part, but its too late. Under the Bush administration these organizations received billions of dollars that came from our taxes. Can anyone think of a better way to spend $90 billion? I understand the fear and sense of urgency to save something viewed as crucial to stability, but look at these guys. While people have lost their jobs, taken pay cuts, and lost their homes, these guys are getting between $4-5 million bonuses on top of their salary- and they are running their companies into the ground.

Logically speaking, there is nothing we can do to get our money back now. I freaked out today because I had to spend $100 on getting my car fixed. These guys are getting millions of dollars for doing a poor job! I do not deserve a million dollars- but clearly- neither do they. The money is gone- it has been spent and given to ill-deserving managers and executives. But we should not even entertain the idea of giving them more money to keep their miserable companies afloat. Why are we even wasting our time with congressional hearings? Its simple- you have posted net losses in the billions each year in your job and yet you give yourself a $5 million bonus- NO - you can't have more money!!

Now this may seem like a pretty clear cut, logical thing to say and do. Unfortunately its never a case of using common sense in Washington. What would be the advantage in giving these guys any more money? I would assume they are all driving foreign cars, hiring foreign house help, and traveling internationally- meaning they are not even stimulating our economy with all the money we bleed for them.

Tell me what you think- is there any reason to bail out this or any other company in the future? What could we do with $90 billion? Build the best 100 schools in America, invest in Research and Development in Science, find a cure for cancer, repair our infrastructure and create state and local jobs?

Business Week Polls

Bloomberg released polling results today for 504 likely voters in New Hampshire and Iowa illustrating, among other things, who they would choose for the Republican nominee for President. These two key early voting states play a significant role in the way the rest of the country plays out. After the initial round of primary elections, candidates will start to pull out and place support behind their favorites and causing an exodus of supporters to remaining candidates. What these two early polls indicate is that there would definitely not be a definitive winner after these two states vote. In Iowa, Herman Cain would win with 20% of the vote, with Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich all right behind him. However in New Hampshire, Romney pulls in 40% of the vote, Ron Paul taking 2nd place of only 17% and Newt Gingrich a lowly 11%.
So based on these results we can all but assume that barring some great revelation, Michelle Bachman (7% total for both states), Jon Huntsman (8% total), Rick Perry (10% total), and Rick Santorum (4% total) will be falling away after these initial rounds of primary elections. Based on pride and the way these candidates compose themselves I would imagine Bachman and Perry will remain in the race for a little while longer. While Bachman has disappeared in to the backdrop in recent debates, she is still the only real voice of the tea party and I think she will stay in as a sense of duty. Perry will stay in because he is Perry. I think he is still under the assumption he can win. Since people started speculating about him running, I always said that he does not have the national presence. Much like Huntsman, people at home may like these guys, but the rest of the country doesn't know who they are. And for many Morman humor is as foreign to them as Texan humor.
So after the first two primaries, I expect that Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman will bow out. Now the question will be, who will they back and where will their supporters go?
48% of likely voters in Iowa said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who has been married more than 3 times or has had extramarital affairs. This means less of those Santorum-Huntsman supporters in Iowa would change their vote to Gingrich. 58% of Iowans polled would vote against a candidate that supported any form of mandated healthcare, thus explaining Romney not doing well. This puts Ron Paul in a pretty good position. With Gingrich's multiple marriages, Cain's alleged sexual harassment/assault charges, and Romney's mandated state healthcare system in Massachusetts, Iowan voters are most likely to pull their support from Santorum-Huntsman and place it behind Paul.
43% of those polled in New Hampshire say they would not vote for a candidate accused of sexual harassment. 40% said they would not vote for a candidate who has been married more than 3 times or had affairs. 43% are against a candidate who wants a national sales tax. 46% are against a candidate who has supported mandated healthcare (interesting because Romney is currently killing in this state- that number probably means the rest of the state would vote against him). These stipulations once again put Paul in a strong position to gain some supporters here.

Put to a national vote right now, I would predict Romney would win the Republican nomination. While Ron Paul is currently in a better spot than he ever has before, his ideas are still to radical to win a majority vote, even against an unpopular sitting President. Romney has the most support, least mistakes, least skeletons in his closet and is center enough to even entice some Democrats but not far from the right where Republicans want to be right now. What will be the deciding factor in whether any of these candidates can beat President Obama, will be the ticket. Whoever the nominee is, he/she has to pick the perfect running mate to balance their strengths, support their weaknesses, and give the people the interesting mix of things they all demand now.

Who do you think will win and who do you think will drop out first?

(to view Bloomberg poll go to: www.businessweek.com/pdf/poll11-16-11.pdf)

Where are we headed?

This blog is for those of us who believe in America- what we stand for, who we are, and what we are capable of, but also wonder, "where are we headed"? In the run up to what could be one of the most important Presidential elections in the last sixty years, developments continue to occur which are worrisome, laughable, and incredible. With this blog I hope to start a discussion with others on the future of this country and how we can get there. With each entry I will try my best to be fair and balanced and try to see both sides. Like many people my age, I am very conflicted by being socially very liberal but economically very conservative. Hopefully with my postings and our shared discussions we can discover the middle ground that this country's future will be built on. A ground solidified by being responsible, fair, competitive, and progressive.

The idea for this blog came from the current increase in debates and coverage of the upcoming Republican primaries. I find politics very interesting and love analyzing every little thing. I started off very excited to see a diverse group of republican candidates and though surely one will step up and give President Obama a good challenge. Over the last few weeks during debates and press conferences, I have lost much of that optimism. Not that our current President is an acceptable alternative. He has his own scandals with the current solar company being asked to avoid layoffs until after the election and wasting his first term on an unpopular and possibly unconstitutional health care bill. Just to be clear though, I am not a wall street protester. I do not believe in blaming others for my plight. I have had my fair share of jobs beneath me, but at the end of the day, a paycheck is a paycheck, and I work hard to give my life meaning and provide for my family. The American dream was built by those who pulled themselves up by their own boot straps, not complained about how hard life was and waited for their government to take care of them. I am also a firm believer in if you have a complaint, you better damn well have a solution. Complaining when you can't think of a reasonable alternative is a waste of time. There is a lot to change, but complaining without offering alternatives is wasting valuable time that we could be using to improve this country faster.

I am about to turn 30 and will be buying a house next year with my beautiful wife and my awesome dog. The best job I have ever had was monitoring and analyzing the last election. I followed every poll, debate, and gaffe. Over the 6 months leading up to election night I analyzed everything I could find. All that work cumulated in an election night party which was absolutely exhilarating with constant projection changes or swing states going a different way than expected.

While idealism is an ideology of the young and unexperienced, I still believe in this country and the future of America and the world in general. We have sent people to the moon and back, developed a weapon that could kill us all hundreds of times over, created a world forum to discuss grievances, and created a giant science experiment that may be the first step in proving time travel is possible- all works of science fiction that have become reality. What will be our next great accomplishment that will keep America and civilization in general moving forward?