Duh...It's a Job's Bill...

So, now the Cap and Trade scheme is not an environmental protection piece of legislation...now it is a "job's bill". Can someone please tell me how increasing the price of everything creates jobs? I think this flies directly in the face of conventional economic theory. If you increase the price of goods, consumers (that would be us) buy less. When consumers buy less, producers produce less...which means they need less employees. Thus, unemployment increases. This is not rocket science...this is fundamental economics.

I have really had enough of all of this. First, the Economic Stimulus legislation was going to save the economy and keep unemployment from increasing. Remember all the scary figures President Obama threw out? If the legislation was not passed unemployment could approach double digits. Interestingly enough...the legislation was passed and guess what...unemployment is approaching double digits (9.5%). Vice-President Biden laid it out clearly..."we guessed wrong". Beautiful...our elected leaders are "guessing".

Now, we are trying to pass health care...climate change legislation...and a whole slice of the liberal agenda. Seriously, do we really want the government to control health care? Look at the great success of the government managing your retirement funds (Social Security)...it is almost bankrupt. Or we can look at the wonderful job the government does with Medicare. Medicare is so bad that most doctor's won't even touch it.

Let's be honest...what do you expect to get when you have a bunch of elected officials passing legislation that they have not even read...much less researched. This is egregious stuff folks. Passing legislation without reading it is tantamount to complete and absolute failure to perform their basic job functions. I am absolutely ashamed of our elected "officials" right now. We need to throw all of these fools out of office as quickly as possible before they bankrupt and destroy our nation. We need elected officials that understand the foundations of our democracy and understand that they are servants of the people.

Back in Memphis...

All right it has been a little while since the last entry...but, hey we moved from Hong Kong back to Memphis, Tennessee...I think a little slack is deserved.

So...I will hit the key points of the last 60 days or so.

Randi, Henry, and I successfully moved from Hong Kong to Memphis. The trip was a little easier this time on Henry...as we flew direct from Hong Kong to Newark. We then drove from Newark to Washington D.C. and hung out with the family for a few days as that wicked early March snow storm moved through the country. I think Henry was a little shocked to go from Hong Kong to snow. Albeit he had a grand old time playing in the snow at my parents house. We eventually made it back to Memphis after a little bit of car trouble...my Dad's Mercedes Benz died on us 45 minutes into our trip...compliments of a faulty crankshaft sensor.

Once in Memphis we hung out at our friends' house until our household goods arrived from Hong Kong. That took a little longer than anticipated but David and Andrea were awesome and did not mind us staying for a few extra days. Our stuff finally arrived around the 18th of March and honestly since then we have been getting things settled. It is a heck of an event getting everything moved in, sorting through things that were put in storage, and of course getting things just the way you like them. I think there are still a few things left to be accomplished.

On the political front...I am shocked...well actually I am not shocked at the "mess" that President Obama is creating of our country. Sure, I will get lambasted by a few folks out there...but, seriously folks did anyone really think that an incredibly liberal State Senator turned U.S. Senator who ended up in the White House would be anything but liberal? Let's see what he has done thus far to really create a mess:

1. Bowing to the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be a great place to start. Did anyone not tell him that he and specifically the United States is not subject to the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? This is beyond belief...and quite frankly it doesn't surprise me...President Obama has kissed so much foreign ass since he stepped into office that Joe Biden needs to kick him squarely in the ass.
2. Giving Gordon Brown DVD's in the wrong format...priceless.
3. Let's get to some serious stuff...how about forcing the President of GM to step down...since when did anyone in the U.S. government get to make decisions about private industry.
4. Apologizing to Europe for the arrogance of America. I don't call it arrogance...I and most American's call it leading. Leading the world in relief work, leading the world in charitable giving, leading the world in defending those that cannot defend themselves (WWI and WWII ring a bell here), and too many numerous deeds done on the world stage to count...from saving South Korea to kicking Saddam's sadistic ass out of power in Iraq.
5. Nominating apparently every individual in politics who is either too stupid to figure their taxes out correctly, too arrogant to pay their proper taxes, or lacking the morals required to pay their proper taxes. For an administration that is all about "paying taxes" they sure don't take their own advice.
6. Nominating some truly left-wing nut jobs to important offices...Harold Koh as a prime example.
7. Creating some dangerous ethical grounds with "stem-cell" research changes...although the Dickey-Water amendment signed two days after by President Obama (probably without his knowledge) put many of the Bush-era restrictions right back in place.
8. Releasing state secrets (CIA interrogation memos) to satisfy the ACLU. Why don't we just broadcast all of our tricks of the trade to the terrorist organizations out there...that way they know what we are capable of...which will make them play fair...right?

Now I am not going to arbitrarily bash President Obama...I will give him kudos for few things:

1. Going to Iraq after his "European vacation" was a good move as the troops always need and want to hear from the Commander-In-Chief.
2. Not pulling troops out of Iraq precariously fast and actually listening to the commanders on the ground is a sound move.
3. Taking the fight to the Taliban and putting more troops on the ground is a solid move.
4. My personal favorite though has to be letting the special operations guys do their thing and kill three terrorists...I mean...pirates off the coast of Somalia to save a U.S. citizen.
5. I am also a fan of him telling Mexico's President Calderon that the U.S. is not going to enact a new "assault weapons ban" just to put a band-aid on the growing drug war in Mexico. Let's be honest if Mexico was securing their border...the guns would not be getting into the country and if we were securing our border...drugs would not be getting into our country...problem solved...secure the bloody border.

Now...let's move onto some lighter subjects. Where oh where do you think FedEx is sending me on my first project since arriving back in the States...you guessed it Asia...you have to love the irony of the situation. Moving all the way back to the United States just to get sent back to Asia.

I understand it though...expatriates are not cheap...and we are all in cost saving mode...even FedEx.

Randi is working hard trying to figure out what she is going to do...school...job...both. All the options are on the table. She had a second interview today at one company and I think she is pretty excited about her prospects there. It looks like it would be a good company to work for and it would provide a challenging environment for Randi to work in.

Lastly, when did humans drop down on the food chain. Today I was walking on the FedEx campus where we have some particularly hostile geese and noticed that several individuals were walking around the geese at the slightest hint of aggression from them. As I strolled closer to one particularly aggressive goose...he/she lifted his/her head and hissed at me. Now on any other day and particularly in any other location this particular goose would have ended up on the wrong end of a Benelli shotgun. However, being at work I suppose there were only two options...walk around this goose and let him/her think just for an instant that they were the apex animal on the block. Not a good option in my opinion...or number two charge said goose and make him move his aggressive ass out of my way. I chose option two and clapped and charged said goose and watched him get out of the way in a hurry. Hey folks...humans are apex predators in case you missed the latest addition of National Geographic. In order to stay that way...animals need to know their place...you can also check your bible for this...we are at the top of the food chain. There is not an animal on earth that we cannot hunt and kill. So...why would we as humans let some arrogant goose think that they are at the top of the food chain? All I have to say is that is one lucky goose...he/she should have been on my plate this evening.

What's a few more billion...

While we are literally throwing billions around like pennies...why not just throw a few more billion at the U.S. auto industry? I stated clearly in my November 18, 2008 post that bailing out the auto industry was a big mistake and that it would just lead to more and more billions.

Let's be honest the U.S. auto industry could be weathering this economic downturn quite well if they had been managed effectively over the last few decades. There are thousands of companies out there (big and small) that are weathering this downturn and not turning to the U.S. government for a bailout. So, why is the U.S. auto industry turning to the government...the reason is pretty clear...they suck. Seriously, they have been managed so poorly that no one (outside of the U.S. government) is willing to provide loans to them. Think about...would you loan money to GM right now? How about Chrysler? Maybe Ford? I certainly wouldn't...they would only ask for more later. I certainly would not expect my money back any time soon.

So, the companies have been mismanaged and now we (the taxpayers of the U.S.) are being called upon to bail out the companies. This is beyond ridiculous. These companies are publicly traded (or were in the case of Chrysler) and operated in our capitalistic system successfully for decades. Decades until they lost ground to the competition. Most companies, when they lose ground to competitors, have to get creative to save their business. They can come up with innovative products, reduce price, cut costs, etc. All of these things are things the U.S. auto industry should have been doing since the late 80's. However, they have not...and now they are in trouble...I am not surprised.

We need to stand firm and let our elected officials know that enough is enough. We need to stop loaning them money and let the free market work. If they leave the market (go out of business) so be it. That won't mean our economy will fall into some abyss...usually when businesses collapse other businesses fill in. This means that other companies (Toyota, Honda, Audi, Hyundai, Mazda, etc.) will fill in the gap and provide vehicles to U.S. consumers. Many foreign auto makers (Honda, BMW, Nissan, etc.) are already producing cars in the U.S., buying U.S. parts from U.S. suppliers, employing U.S. citizens, etc. This is how the free market works.

The U.S. government needs to butt out of the free market and let the market work. If they continue to mess with the free market; we could be facing some serious and lasting problems for generations to come. Let's be honest...most politicians are lawyers...and most politicians have been in politics for a long time...would you bring in a politician to run your business? I wouldn't...and we need to remember this when it comes to election time.

Some fun facts about Pizza Hut in Hong Kong...

So, Randi and I had pizza and a movie night last Friday night in Hong Kong. In pulling up the delivery number for Hong Kong on the Internet; we found some fascinating facts about Pizza Hut in Hong Kong.

Now, first let me say that Hong Kong has just over 7 million people and covers around 386 square miles (which is close to the equivalent of New York City). However, 75% of the land is open countryside and mountains...that means that more than 7 million people live in an area approximately the same size as Washington D.C. proper, which has a population of around 600,000. On Hong Kong Island alone there are approximately 1,268,112 people which leads to a population density of around 91,500 per square mile. So, I hope you get the fact that Hong Kong is small and loaded with people.

So, now that we know about all the people and how big it is...the next questions comes to mind...how do all those people get their pizza...specifically Pizza Hut pizza?

Well, according to the Hong Kong Pizza Hut website Hong Kong is served by over 4,000 well trained professionals of the Pizza Hut Hong Kong delivery team. Thousands of people dedicated to getting you a pizza, broken down as follows:

1. 500 hotline order operators (covering Mandarin, Cantonese, English, and a few other languages);
2. 1,700 trained prime chefs;
3. over 900 take-out order operators (they drive mopeds and motorcycles with hot boxes on the back); and
4. over 1,000 support staff.

So, if you ever wondered, like me, that there seems to be a ton of Pizza Hut delivery drivers cruising around Hong Kong on their mopeds...yep, there are...there are close to a thousand of them. The coolest thing is that they have over 80 dedicated express centers (this is where the pizza is actually made) to serve the delivery orders. Your pizza is not coming from a restaurant...nope...from a specially designed express center. Pretty cool.

So, mathematically, even if just .1% of the population (7,000 people) order a pizza a night, that means a minimum of 7,000 pizzas are being ordered. That means (assuming 24/7 operations and equal distribution of orders and employees) each operator must take at least 14 calls, each express center must make over 87 pizzas, and every delivery driver must deliver 7 pizzas.

I found this fascinating...just thinking of all the work that goes into our steaming hot pizza making it to our flat.

Seriously President Obama...is this your best?

So, I have been quiet as of late...just sitting back and watching everything that is going on in our world as of late. I have to say...I am not surprised. Economic stimulus (1 trillion dollars), foreign funded abortion, closing Gitmo, etc., etc. I will say it again; I am not surprised.

I have no idea how so many people are looking to President Obama for leadership when he has never exhibited any leadership. I blogged about this awhile ago...but, do you realize our President has never led an organization larger than thirteen people. Thirteen people under the DCP organization. Now, some people are surprised that he can't lead 300,000,000 people...I am not shocked.

What President attempts to use scare tactics and writes opinion articles in the Washington Post to attempt to pass legislation. That is not leadership, that is a lame attempt at trying to coerce people into doing something.

I am so glad that not one Republican voted for the stimulus plan in the House...so glad. I hope that not one Republican will vote for the stimulus plan in the Senate. This is not a stimulus plan, this is nothing more than an attempt by Democrats to make the "big government" bigger. There are so many "pet projects" in the bill and so little actual stimulus that I have no idea how they are even calling this thing a "stimulus" plan.

I think our new President is having a "wake-up call" right now. This is not a Dictatorship and our Democracy means sometimes things don't go your way. I hope the Republicans continue to stand strong...otherwise we really could be faced with a calamity...a calamity created by the Democrats and our President.

I think President Obama needs to sit back and reassess his role and what he should and should not do. Objectively looking at his first few weeks in office...they have not been the greatest and I hope he is off to a rough start that will smooth itself out. However, I am not holding my breath as we are talking about a man who has no leadership experience and if there is one thing that is pivotal to the Presidency...it is leadership.

President Obama...stop the scare tactics...stop the oped pieces, stop the "Democrat Retreats", and at least attempt to lead. Also, while you are at...please try and maintain some respect to the office you were elected to...that means your staff need to wear a jacket and tie when coming into the Oval Office...I think that was your first mistake. The office of the Presidency deserves respect, there is a time and a place to be casual and roll up your sleeves...the Oval Office is not the place and now is definitely not the time.

As much as you want to be the next "Abraham Lincoln" Mr. President, maybe you should read some books on his leadership style.

OPEC...are you serious?

OPEC is a shameful organization and we (oil consuming nations) need to do more to aggressively cut ourselves from them.

In July of this year the world was shocked when oil climbed to a record high of $147.27 and during this climb consuming nations asked OPEC to increase production to ease the pain. The International Energy Agency (IEA) even asked OPEC to increase production in 2007 and 2008 to combat the rising price of oil. Saudi Arabia agreed to increase production in May 2008 by 300,000 barrels a day. The rest of OPEC merely dismissed the concerns saying there was nothing that they could do to bring oil prices down.

OPEC was upset with Saudi's decision with OPEC oil ministers decrying the increase at every opportunity. Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Cor. was quoted as saying: "I don't know on what ground they took this decision...I think it came in response to the many requests of the United States...if they think it will help the market, I don't think so because the market is already very well supplied.'' OPEC was happy with prices over $140.00 a barrel and they were raking in the cash. A barrel of oil had risen from $70.00 (in May 2007) to over $140.00 a barrel in approximately a year and with that the coffers of OPEC members were exploding. OPEC budgets were swelling and the governments were spending the money left and right. All of this while oil consuming nations were edging into recession due to gas prices that were literally beating people down financially.

Then the current global economic recession took hold and in less than half a year oil has fallen to under $50.00 a barrel and with it the excess riches of OPEC have decreased. The price of oil has literally fallen over $100.00 a barrel and OPEC is not happy. Budget deficits are creeping into the picture and the wealth is being trimmed down as prices continue to fall. Saudi Arabia recently announced that they felt $75.00 a barrel was a "fair" price for oil. I find it fascinating that when the world was hurting OPEC wouldn't cut oil prices...but, now that they are hurting they are going to slash production by 2,000,000 barrels a day starting in January 2009. At the peak price of $147.27 that 2,000,000 barrels would have represented daily revenue of $294,540,000.00. That's right almost two-hundred and ninety-five million dollars...and that 2,000,000 only represents a 3% decrease in production. That same 2,000,000 barrels now only represents $90,000,000.00 at a price of $45.00 a barrel. That is a huge swing of $200,000,000.00. OPEC has to be the most selfish money addicted group of countries in the world and it is time that we give them a taste of their own medicine.

2,000,000 barrels a day...can you believe that. When the world was hurting only Saudi Arabia would boost production and then only by 300,000 barrels a day. Now, that they are on the opposite end of the price they are going to cut oil production by the largest amount ever and in doing so hope to boost oil prices to a "fair" price.

Seriously, screw OPEC. I think most of the world would say that a "fair" price is $25.00 a barrel. So, this is my suggestion:

That 2,000,000 barrels represents (among other things) approximately 39,000,000 gallons of gas (approximately 19.5 gallons of gas can be produced from one 42 gallon barrel of oil). Based on rough figures from the Department of Transportation there are approximately 140,000,000 registered cars on the road in the United States. Let's assume that 50% of these are regularly driven...that means there are 70,000,000 cars on the road being regularly driven. So, if we take the 39,000,000 gallons of gas (the approximate gallons of gas that the 2,000,000 barrel a day production cut represents) and divide that by the 70,000,000 cars that are being driven daily on a regular basis and you come up with .55 gallons per car. That means if every one of those drivers cuts their daily gas intake by approximately a half a gallon per day (or 3.8 gallons a week) the United States alone would negate the production cut by OPEC. This is absolutely doable...I have no doubt that I can cut my personal gas usage by 3.8 gallons a week, heck just driving a little slower and being a bit gentler on the throttle would save that amount. It basically represents 19% of a full tank of gas (based on a 20 gallon gas tank). Just imagine the results of everyone cutting their gas usage by that amount. If you think gas prices are low now...just think of the results this could produce.

I think the world should be furious...and we should as a loud voice give the old "one finger salute" to OPEC. If there ever was a time to become energy independent...now is the time. Let OPEC suffer for once...they were happy when the world was suffering from high gas prices. I didn't hear many voices in OPEC saying a "fair" price was $75.00 a barrel when the price was over $140.00 a barrel.

So, I pledge to you that my family will reduce our gas consumption by at least 3.8 gallons a week for our two cars (daily drivers) when we return to the United States. We will combine errands, plan the most efficient route and generally drive a little slower. I ask every American that is sick of OPEC to do the same. If only 10% of the folks out there do it we would still use approximately 3,850,000 less gallons of gas a day or 197,435 barrels of oil. Just imagine if everyone was committed. Folks, there is a lot of talk out there these days of energy independence and doing the right thing...but, until we (the average American) take things into our own hands we won't get the results we need.

So, pledge to America's future and economic prosperity and cut your fuel usage by just 3.8 gallons a week...that is a small price to pay to give OPEC a clear signal that we will no longer be subject to their greed. If I get enough interest I will create a website where folks can sign up for the 3.8 gallon a week pledge. Forward the link to this blog entry to your friends and spread the word.

Beijing...Crap It's Cold!

Well, here I am in Beijing and let me tell you going from Hong Kong to Beijing is quite an adjustment. Let me just say this...Beijing...crap it's cold!

I arrived here on Sunday evening and will be here through tomorrow...then it is off to Shanghai, then to Shenzhen, and if all goes well back in Hong Kong on the 23rd. Just in time to do some Christmas shopping for the wife on Christmas Eve...I love it when a plan comes together.

Beijing is interesting. Monday and Tuesday were disgusting. The pollution was so bad that it was burning our eyes and throats. I will honestly say this...I rather be shot at than breathing this stuff in constantly. At least when the shooting stops you know you are OK...here...who knows what this is doing to my lungs. I can honestly say I have no idea how people live here...you could not pay me enough to live here. I thought Hong Kong was bad...these last few days in Beijing made Hong Kong's pollution look like an amateur. See the picture below, this was shot in the middle of the afternoon (after lunch) and the sun is completely obscured by pollution. When you can look directly at the sun without sunglasses...you know the pollution is bad. It really is quite disgusting...it is a brown/grey color and it covers everything. The cars have a nice layer of pollution on them after only a few hours of sitting outside...lovely.

Luckily we are staying at the Westin here and if it is good enough for W it is good enough for me. Seriously, the new Westin is where President George Bush stayed during the Olympics...albeit I have not been able to talk my way up to the Presidential Suite yet to see what kind of room he was staying in. I can't complain about mine...so, I am sure his was pretty nice too.

So, I won't bore you with the details...the food is good. We have eaten at some great restaurants since we have Larry with us. Larry is a U.S. based auditor, but is originally from Beijing so here knows the city very well and where to eat. His language skills are also great to have. The Hong Kong members of the team speak Mandarin as well, but seeing how it is Larry's first language...he is obviously the best person when it comes to talking with the locals. My Mandarin lessons have not been for nothing...I have been able to understand a bit here and there...and I can make some basic comments...I need to study more.

Let's see...funny story of the day. You know it is cold inside, when you go to the bathroom and your "stream" steams. Yes, I did say inside...the operations here save money by being frugal with the heaters. Our conference room at the first station we visited was a toasty 58 degrees Fahrenheit and when we cranked up the heat (we were too cold) we were able to get the room up to 68 degrees Fahrenheit after a few hours. The bathroom where the heat is off and the windows are open...I am guessing was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. We had a little snow this morning...so, we will see how the day progresses. Cheers from Beijing and more to follow. Oh, can someone explain to me why FedEx stock dropped over $10 yesterday...hello...we are still making money and have earnings...doesn't that count for something?