Pumps' Perplexities

I am beginning to think that the writers and
reporters for the major TV news networks also
write plots for fictional TV shows....Nothing
they report anymore appears to be the truth.....

Last Friday morning every news network had
some woman reporter in a Mall reporting
on the crowds and store sales for the day.....
All reported that, based on their observations,
the crowds were "down" and the sales "poor"..
It looked like "Black Friday" was a "bad"
indicator for the holiday season.....

Well here it is Sunday, two days later, and
the total sales for the last Friday are in......
In 2007 sales were 10.3 million dollars and
this year 2008 sales were 10.6 million.....
And INCREASE......More than expected.....
More than "expert" forecasts......How can
that be?????........

I wish that these reporters would just stay
home with their "predictions"....Reporters
are to "report" the final news and true
facts not what they THINK will happen
based on the crowd at a "woman room"
in the back of a Mall......Pumps.......

In about 6 weeks or so, there will be a new guy
that takes over the "Big Job"......

Being president of the United States is not
a "cake walk" job......It does pay a little more
than McDonald's but you are on duty 24-7....
Your life is not your own and if you say it is
"Green" someone will say it is "Yellow".....

I am beginning to suspect that there are
"a lot of people" behind the new guy who is
taking over the "Big Job"......

The big question is that will the man, with
"a lot of people" , make him able to handle
the "Big Job"? OR will the "Big Job" dictate
the actions of the man and "a lot of people"?

In four years, along with the words of history,
someone will answer that question......In
the meantime brace yourself for the unknown...
Pumps

Way back during the summer of 2008, Senator
Chuck Schumer wrote a letter concerning the
financial condition of Indy Mac Bancorp of
California.....Why a senator from New York
was interested in a California banking
institution is a question unto itself.......

Indy Mac failed and was taken over by the
Government in July.....Then Countrywide
Mortgage failed......Washington Mutual
(WaMu) was the next bank in trouble....
Then on to the Government's own Fanny May
and Freddie Mac, then Bear-Sterns, Lehman
Brothers, AIG, and the latest Citibank Corp.....

I am beginning to believe that Mr. Schumer's
letter was designed to result in a SMALL
banking crisis, the intent of being some help to
the the Democratic Party during the National
Presidential Election......

However, removing his finger from the small
hole in the dyke has lead to a BIG financial
problem which I believe he and others did
not anticipate......

So much for a politician's planning, research
and thought process......I bet you that HIS
letter has cost HIM to lose money along
with the rest of us......Serves him right....Pumps

It appears that in today's financial climate the
words "too big to fail" are the cries for
"bail-out" money from the US Government......

"Too big to fail" has never proven to be
true for those who have studied history,
beginning with "David and Goliath"....Pumps

Here we are a few years away from 2012,
with a world in financial and some may
say social turmoil......A time of change,
a time of trouble which effects the daily
lives of many........

Two hundred years ago in 1812, the
army of Napoleon retreated from Russia.....
It to was a time of change, trouble and
turmoil for thousands of men.......

The result, of this time in history, was
some written words, a few painted pictures
and a lot of brass, military uniform,
buttons in the earth of their retreating
path, in Lithuania.......

Another "footnote" in a history book, as
so will be these days in the United
States.....Pumps

Twenty-Eight days after our new president
assumes his new office, a great number of
of people that voted him into office will have
no TV.......To many of them it will seem like
Armageddon......

I know that the US Government has spent
a year in informing people that on 2/17/2009
the good olde rabbit ear TV will no longer
work......I know that you can send away to
the US Government and get a $40 credit
card for the purchase of a digital converter
box......I know that some retail Drug Store
chains are even selling these new electronic
converts for $40.....Just give them the
credit card and the converter is FREE.....
Other models may require you to add
$10-$25, of your own money, to purchase
a higher quality converter......

With all that being said, everyone will
not have one.....And people will get angry......
What is even worse is the fact that the
converter, if you did buy one, is a piece
of modern electronic, Chinese made,
equipment and must be "programed"
properly in order to work......Another
"remote" to learn how to use......

"All will not be happy in Mudville"...Pumps

The United States just had a presidential
election that will change the structure
of its government from "center right"
to "left" or "center left"......

To some this is a big deal in the world....
But the world is the "world" and as
history has proven in the past, changes
whether social, or political do conform
with other parts of it (the world).....

The Government of New Zealand has
just elected a new Prime Minister and
its government structure is about to
change.......It seems that their citizens
wanted CHANGE also.......

They just elected an "inexperienced"
47 year old man to become their new
leader.....He has had a meteoric rise
is politics over the past 6 years......
He will change New Zealand's government
from "Labour left" to "center right".....

A complete opposite change of direction
as the US.......But yet, we await Winter,
and the "left", and they Summer, and
the "right"......Another fact for the
"ain't history great" file.........Pumps

It is now official......Over 63 million people went
to the polls yesterday and in doing so they have
stopped complaining and whining about their
lives......

Sixty Three million people are now happy....
Is not America great?......And it happened
in just one day......

There will be some ramifications though.....
The late night TV show comedians will no
longer be able to do political jokes about
the President or Vice President hunting
accidents.....The talking heads on CNN,
PBS and MSNBC will be out of work
because there is nothing for them to
complain about anymore.....The New York
Times, Washington Post and other
newspapers will only have "good" news
to print.....No more "troubling" headlines.....

Utopia has arrived and we are living in
it, so we are now told.......Pumps

There is a major Presidential election in a few
days and both candidates are saying what they
have to say to get elected.......

Us olde folks have lived through many times
of toil and trouble.....We have had some
leaders, both good and bad.....And, we always
remembered that getting FREE stuff does
not mean it is free.....There is always a price
to pay.....If not in money than in "freedom"...

The "sky is not falling" and "the world is
not coming to an end".....

Think positively and plan ahead for the
disaster in your life....Believe me "it will
come" and no politician in the world will
ever help you or try to stop it......

But until that new disaster besets you,
you have time to vote on November 4th....
Then "batten down the hatches" because
no matter who wins you are going to
get "screwed" anyway......That is just the
way it is and has been all through out
recorded history......Pumps.....