Leave the Damn Kids At Home!!!!!

Okay! Okay! I can hear the groans and read the comments already. But I have reached the end of my tolerance. My nerves are shot. My stomach is tied up in a knot. I have had it with parents who insist on bringing their little darlings to everything. Please. Leave the kids at home. Enough already.

Call me Scrooge…but I have had enough…especially in restaurants that are not designed for kids. Here is a news flash. No two year old wants to sit at a table while Mommy and Daddy eat expensive food and drink and talk on their cell phone. Of course the crumb grinders will be crabby. THEY ARE TIRED AND SHOULD BE HOME IN BED!!!!!

A white table cloth restaurant is no place for a kid on a Saturday night at 8:30 PM while people at adjoining tables are spending in excess of a hundred bucks for nice, adult night out. What are you thinking?

Modern parents seem to live in their own little world. When I was small, my parents called one of my cousins in to babysit me when they went out. When my son was small, we took him to grandma’s or hired a kid to sit for an hour or two while we went to get some peace for ourselves. If we couldn’t find or afford a sitter…or it was going to be a late night…we stayed home. It’s part of being a parent. It's called R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y!

Not today. A case in point was this past weekend when my wife and I went to a relatively expensive restaurant to have Saturday night dinner. We were shown to our table, and immediately to the left of us were Mom, Dad, and a two year old little girl. Mom was drinking her wine and talking on her cell phone. Dad was trying, and failing, to keep this obnoxious little kid occupied by throwing her up in the air and traipsing her around the restaurant. This was an adult establishment, with average menu prices of 30 – 40 bucks. What could possibly be on the menu that would interest this poor little girl? While she screamed and carried on, and Daddy tried to shush her…Mom continued to drink and talk on the phone. It took just a few minutes for me to arrive at my breaking point, patient though I may be, and we paid for our drinks and left the restaurant, advising the management I hope the little darling would spend as much money there as we would!!

This is a problem generally in our society. Whether it is in movie, or grocery stores, or the theater, or church, it isn’t the kids fault. THEY ARE KIDS. Mom and Dad, you chose to have your children…stay home and take care of them!!!!! Did you not think that the little ones would crimp you social life? They do!!!!!

Today at lunch, Mom and Dad were several booths down from where I and my associate were sitting. Their little adorable two year old carried on, and I mean at the top of her lungs, for almost 15 minutes. It was clear the little girl was tired and needed a nap. The parents were oblivious. “Now, honey, let’s behave!” “NOOOOOOO” “Now honey, let’s be quiet!” “NOOOO!!! I DON’T WANT TO EAT THAT!!! AAAAAAA!” Ad infinitum.

Finally, I turned around and gave the look. I said “Jesus!” The mother snipped at me that the little girl was only two. “That,” I responded, “is exactly the point!” They left in a huff yelling at me that I hoped I enjoyed the rest of my lunch. I did. It turns out the mother was related to one of the waitresses in the joint. Too bad!!!

All kids are going to misbehave at some time, and I have no problem if the parents attempt to do something about it, like put down their cell phones and booze and take the kid outside for a walk. But I have come to the conclusion that the management of these places has to take a stand after a period of time of unacceptable behavior by unruly children with ignorant parents. Other patrons are spending their money too. So I have decided to let them know my displeasure. Will they say I grumpy? Will they call me a mean old man? Will they say I am a curmudgeon? You’re damn right they will. But you know what? At least I will enjoy my hamburg!!

Please address all hate mail to Barack Obama. And thank you for your support!!!

Lay Down With Dogs, You Get Fleas!!

The health insurance companies are learning a hard lesson. You lay down with dogs, you get fleas. What were these guys thinking? For those of you who have only been half following the health care debacle, our stalwart health insurance companies thought they made a deal made in heaven, and it turns out they made a deal with the devil.

When President Obama took office, he made it clear that health care reform was a priority. He immediately tried to build a consensus as to what that reform would look like, and went straight to his view of the problem sources. He went to big Pharma, and told told them if they went along with his proposals he would make sure that Americans would not be allowed to go to Canada to buy cheaper drugs. He went to the doctors, and told them he would stabilize their Medicare reimbursements, or alternatively devise a payment plan that would not decrease their income. He went to the seniors, and told them he would lower supplemental insurance premiums and reduce the drug “donut hole” and not Medicare benefits.

The health insurance companies were lulled into an Obama alliance baited with a huge, new source of insurance customers: those younger than 30 years old that typically don’t carry health insurance. It was to go something like this. Obama’s health care reform would require the insurance company to insure folks with pre-existing conditions at normalized insurance rates that would follow “government guidelines.” In exchange, the government would require everyone to carry insurance. The increased insurance pool would cover the costs of those with pre-existing conditions.

To make it work, Obama told the insurance companies he would be some teeth in the mandate. If you are 21 years old and don’t purchase a government approved insurance plan, you would be fined up to $2,100.00 and face a possible jail term of a year. Oh boy!!! How do you think that went over with those peaches and pie faced young people who chanted for hope and change during last autumn’s election? You got it. It didn’t. They were for hope and change as long as it didn’t cost them anything.

The proposed Baucus Senate plan contained the above mandate and the associated enforcement mechanism. That lasted, however, for about a day when wussie Senate Democrats recoiled in fear of what their constituents would do to them with such a mandate. All of a sudden, the “teeth” part of the mandate dropped from $2,100.00 to $100.00.

So as the plan currently stands, anyone can go in and buy insurance at any time. That means you don’t really have to buy it until you need it. Simply pay the IRS $100.00 and fuggetaboutit. If you get sick, you can always go and buy the insurance as they wheel you into the emergency room…kind of like waiting 'til your house burns down to buy fire insurance.

The insurance companies were aghast that the Senate reversed Obama's promises to them. In a very public move, they presented a Price Waterhouse study showing that it would put them out of business!!!! Do ya think? You don’t have to be a CPA to figure that one out.

But Obama doesn’t care, because that was his plan all along. Now the insurance companies, and the doctors, and the seniors, and the young people are going to learn life’s number one lesson. There is no free lunch. Somebody has to pay. And it is not sitting well with any of these folks who laid down with a dog, and got fleas.

NOT YOUR FATHER'S BUSINESS CYCLE

I listened to a financial analyst on CNBC this morning who kept talking about where we are in the business cycle. In the normal business cycle, unemployment keeps going up even after the recession is over. In the normal business cycle, corporate profits pop due to layoffs and efficiencies imposed by companies. “In the normal business cycle…in the normal business cycle…in the normal business cycle...”

I tried to follow what the guy was saying. In “normal” circumstances he would most likely be correct. But we are not living in normal times, and any economic recovery will be tenuous at best, if it comes at all. The rules of capitalism have been breached. The invisible hand of economics has been severed.

The country will not experience a normal economic recovery because the government has intervened in ways it has not done so before. Not only that, the government has promised to keep intervening in all aspects of our economic life. This fosters uncertainty and fear. How can any business person plan for the future when the unpredictability of the current administration makes any future assumptions more fiction than they normally are? With fear of higher taxes, the falling dollar, cap and trade, health care changes, income redistribution, salary caps, government competition with private enterprise in the auto industry, the banking industry, and the health care industry, why would any sane private business planner spend one thin dime? He won’t, and the economy will continue to stagnate.

What has allowed the economic dynamics of our economy to excel in worldwide competition has been the relative stability of our system. Our rule of law has always given a firm base on which to build an economic structure. Predictability and reliability are the cornerstone of our free enterprise system. That has been shattered.

The Obama administration has spent so much money it has undermined faith in our economy not only here at home, but abroad. There isn’t a day that goes by when there isn’t a news story reporting that the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, and the likes of OPEC are secretly gathering to eliminate the dollar as the world’s currency of choice. The price of gold is going through the roof. The government printing presses have been turned on. Interest rates are at zero.

The deserved fears of massive deficits of catastrophic proportions are further bolstered by governmental intervention into bankruptcy proceedings, picking and choosing winners and losers in the supposedly free marketplace, subverting the rule of law. Government ownership in failed American businesses changes the rules of competition.

Add to the mix the Obama administration’s attempt to penalize American manufacturers through its draconian cap and trade plan. Meanwhile, back in Beijing, China has been quietly buying up all of the oil it can muster from just about every oil producer in the world. When there is a recovery, China’s current activities will drive the price of oil through the roof, making the spike of 2008 look like a walk in the park. Here is a news flash: China doesn’t give a good damn about climate change.

And don’t forget Obama’s bent to reward his union buddies, representing less than 12% of the American work force. Don’t forget the rising minimum wage. There is a real job creating policy.

So, let’s assume you are person who is of entrepreneurial spirit and want to open up a donut joint. Knowing that you may end up paying your worker’s $10.00/hour, knowing that any profits you make will be taxed at increased rates to “spread the wealth around,” knowing that you will be penalized if you don’t provide health care to your workers, knowing that you will have to spend huge amounts of money for “green” lighting, heat, and air conditioning, knowing that your employees will be encouraged to unionize….

Just how willing would YOU be to make such an investment? I thought so!!! No, this is not a normal business cycle. This time it is different, and this is the first time I believe it.

One postscript: if you are watching the rise in the stock market, it's not based on what is happening in the United States. It is based on what is happening in the rest of the world. The market can rise without any meaningful job recovery here. Just a thought, and one that is unsettling. Let me know when the real business cycle starts again...if it ever does.