Voting the Issues

Today is Election Day. Despite where you may have to go to vote, it is important to get out there and actually voice your opinion. Even if, like me, your opinion is usually in the minority, you need to have your vote recorded. Even voting for the losing candidate or issue is important.

It's also important not to compromise yourself and vote for "the lesser of two evils". Never vote against your feelings. Whichever way you lean, its important to shaping the future that you vote the way you think. Today's loss can shape tomorrow's victory. If 10% of the people vote for something it starts gaining mind share vs. no one voting for something. I also want to note that "not voting because there is nothing I want to put my name on" is a perfectly valid stance in my opinion. Like I say, never vote for the lesser of two evils. If there are only two evils to vote for, don't vote.

And never, EVER, vote without educating yourself on the candidates and issues first. 

That being said, I'm an Ohio voter. Here is where I stand on the issues on today's ballot:

Issue 1: TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE TO ISSUE BONDS TO PROVIDE COMPENSATION TO VETERANS OF THE PERSIAN GULF, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAQ CONFLICTS

Me: AGAINST. This is 200 million dollars in debt for the state of Ohio. I do believe it is important to take care of our veterans, but this is not the State's responsibility, the state of Ohio did not authorize the use of military action on foreign soil, the federal government did. Therefore, it is a federal issue. The last thing Ohio needs right now is more debt.

Issue 2: TO CREATE THE OHIO LIVESTOCK CARE STANDARDS BOARD TO ESTABLISH AND IMPLEMENT STANDARDS OF CARE FOR LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY

Me: AGAINST. That's some tricky language. It sounds like its all for the safety of animals and helps create more humane farms. It, in fact, will do exactly the opposite. Implementing "STANDARDS" sometimes means lowering them. In this case, they want to make it legal for factory farms to pack in more livestock in smaller places. Issue 2 is opposed by The Humane Society of the United States, the Capital Area Humane Society, the Cleveland Animal Protective League, the Toledo Area Humane Society, the Ohio Farmers Union, the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance, Progress Ohio, League of Women Voters of Ohio, Center for Food Safety, the Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association, the Columbus Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Dayton Daily News. Not to mention, issue 2 is an abuse of the state constitution. But the language makes it sound like its good for everyone. I sincerely hope this issue fails.

Issue 3: TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION TO ALLOW FOR ONE CASINO EACH IN CINCINNATI, CLEVELAND, COLUMBUS, AND TOLEDO AND DISTRIBUTE TO ALL OHIO COUNTIES A TAX ON THE CASINOS

Me: FOR. Lets face it. This issue isn't perfect. It is in the gambling industries interest to pass this issue because they will make more money, and we theoretically could get a better deal if we had a smarter state government. But lets look at the facts. 1: Ohio is struggling with debt that is preventing our growth. 2: Casinos will make us money. 3: There are casinos in every surrounding state. 4: People in Ohio are already gambling on the state's stupid lottery system. There is no valid argument against this other than "I just don't like Casinos."

Those are my opinions, yours may differ and thats whats great about today. Today, we can vote and I can hope that the majority feels the same as I do, but if they don't, I at least got to voice my opinion without the fear of reprisal. That, my friends, is democracy.

Hot on the heels

So back in November, CitiGroup announces plans to cut 50,000 jobs.  Think about that, Fifty Fucking Thousand people kicked to the curb. So thats bad. This is after they took 20 billion dollars of US Taxpayer money. That was bad, if you guess that they spent an average of 75k per employee (salary + benefits + taxes et. al.) that would save them 3.75 billions. I can actually see that being a necesary cut, as severe as it may be. And at the time I felt bad for all those people losing their jobs but it was a product of our economy going down the shitter. 

Now? I feel even worse. These corporate assfucking monkeys have ordered a $50 million dollar corporate jet. 50 MILLION DOLLAR JET. FOR 12 PASSENGERS. I hope it flies them around in extreme comfort directly into the side of a mountain.  I'm sorry, I should watch my tone, I didn't mean to insult monkeys who like anal sex by comparing them to megacorp CEOs. 

50 million dollars is 750 jobs for a year. Sure, 750 doesn't sound like a whole hell of a lot, unless you happen to be one of those 750 that had to come home to your family and explain that you're going to have to start shopping at the thrift store for day-old bread. Those 750 that are now living off unemployment, that you and I the american taxpayer are paying. So freaking happy that the money we gave them is being used in this way. 

But hey its not all bad right? That 50 million dollars they're spending doesn't just evaporate, it employs people right? Yeah ... IN FRANCE. Didn't even have the decency to spend our tax bailout dollars on an American-built corporate luxury jet. How's that for a kick in the balls America?

This corporate crap has to stop. There has to be some accountability here. There needs to be oversight. I'm all for a free-market. What you do with your money is your business. But they did this shit with OUR MONEY.  I want accountability!

Downward Spiral

I love stories like this one. Nothing illustrates better how asshat CEOs of megacorps are completely out of touch with reality than this. 1.2 million he spends on an office -upgrade- and I'd be willing to bet his old office wasn't milk crates and cardboard boxes either. At the same time, he signs orders on his $18,000 desk to terminate people's jobs.

This is how the downward spiral starts. People get laid off, people stop spending money. More people get laid off because people aren't spending any money. Eventually the asshat CEO who paid $1.2 million for his office renovation will get probed (and I hope there's no lube involved) because people want to know why all of the sudden everyone is out of work.

I gotta admit, it freaks me out. Right now, I have a job. But if I were terminated (What sick HR fuck thought being "terminated" was nicer than being "fired" anyway?) how bad would it suck to be out there looking for a job while there are 3 million other poor bastards in the same bad situation you are in?

What can be done? Well, CEO accountability is pretty damn high on my list. Fuckheads like "Mr. That 87 thousand dollar rug really tied the room together" up there shouldn't be living the high life while putting the screws to everyone else. To that end, I propose to do this when I'm elected to supreme being of earth: Any time a company has a mass layoff, the executive level salary is cut by the same percentage of the amount of people they're letting go. So you fire 5% of your workforce? You just took a 5% paycut. Oh and make Golden Parachutes illegal. I'm sorry, if I fail miserably at my job I expect a swift kick in the ass, not a million dollar payout.

If stockholders got smart they would kick these wasteful bastards to the curb and hire in some people that will work harder and better for less money. They are out there. Just this last week in fact Toyota stole the crown from GM for company who supplies the most autos to the entire world. The CEO of GM makes around 15 mil a year, the CEO of toyota makes around 1 mil. Not hard to see who is getting more value for their dollar.