Goverment is stupid

I believe that we all recognize that government is a stupid entity. However as I times goes by I am consistently floored by the degree to which government is stupid. Lets take the TARP that we just so recently got. They set aside 700 Billion dollars to buy up bad assets of the banks so that the banks could go on about their business of lending money to people again. The government in turn would hope that those bad assets would eventually turn good, or at least better, and they wouldn't lose too much money on them. This was an admirable plan.

The reality was that this money was used to buy stock in the banks. What the hell. The thing is that the banks don't need more money. The problem with banks is that they made bad loans, these bad loans are weighing in on their solvency. WE CANNOT PUMP ENOUGH STRAIGHT CASH INTO THESE TROUBLED BANKS TO MAKE THEM SOLVENT. This is a fact.

The reason that we did not buy the bad assets that are destroying the banks solvency is that they were going to be to cheap. We would have purchased them for about 20 cents on the dollar. For that price the banks go out of business. If the government pays more for these assets it artificially inflates them and is essentially creating inflation. If the banks take the money they right down the costs until they are broke.

So we recognized that the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) wouldn't work the way we wanted it to.

What do we do next? That's right we come up with a Bad Bank program. Basically the Bad Bank program would purchase all these bad assets that the bank has that is crippling them and making it so that they aren't able to lend money to people... wait a second. Isn't that what the TARP was? No that couldn't be right. We couldn't possibly be coming up with the exact same program, we already wasted 350 Billion bucks on this how could we set aside a different 900 Billion to do the same thing that we already recognized wont work, that would be silly.

But anyway, what about this stimulus plan. Seems like a good idea right. That seems like it ought to help us fix the underlying issues that are affecting us in this recession. You see the reason that we are in a recession is that the house prices fell out the bottom, which dropped the value of the loans the bank had, which made lending difficult to do when the banks recognized that they wouldn't be able to make current big loans, which meant that companies couldn't get loans for payroll, which meant that people would have to get laid off, which drops the GDP because people tend to spend less money when they don't have income.

So the stimulus plan which will help us get out of this recession- sod the lawn. Wait what was that, what does sod the lawn mean, that must be a metaphor, that we will sod the lawn of the american industry hoping that with time and appropriate moisture it will take root and our economy will flourish again. No they are going to literally sod the lawn of the Washington Mall.

What the hell.

Oh that ought to fix the root problems that stem from the problems in the housing area. $980 Billion dollars of spending for contraceptives, yard work, food stamps, and various and sundry other solutions that DO NOT address the problems we face today. Thats like loading up on tea and honey during an influenza out break rather than vaccines. Lets address the symptoms of the problem rather than the cause, shall we? Thats all I got.

PAX

It has begun...again.

So here we are. Its the new year and I am placing my first posting upon the virgin internet of 2009. I have decided to begin working on my novel again, I spent way too much time away from it and have only been doing a little bit on it here and there, and almost nothing for the last six months. My decision is that to keep myself fresh I am going to make sure that I write something everyday, and when I work on the novel I will be sure that I write three pages on it at a time, at that rate I should be able to finish it in the next six months. Of course just because its finished doesn't mean that I will be done working on it. I still have to go over it a few times, makes sure the grammar and language are appropriate and make any changes to the story that need to take place.
Additionally I have not been involved in doing anything to exciting recently. I think thats a lie actually. I have been working pretty hard at Edward Jones for the last 9-ish months. Talking with people who have been in this industry for a while and they have told me with a great deal of certainty that this has been the most difficult market that they have ever experienced. That being said I have managed to meet the goals that have been set for me and from time to time actually exceed expectations. I would have to say that I did the most work during the month of December, and interestingly that was the month that I had the least amount of results. When January came around I reaped the rewards from last months work.
I don't really have very much clever insight to provide on any of the various and sundry topics that I usually like to write about, but I will have to make sure that I come up with some clever and witty prose with which to spill upon the empty screen before me. Additionally I am going to try and type on this ol blog here from time to time. With that I bid you Adieu.

Baby booties

I find that we, at the Crozier household, seem to have a lot of discussion about Jacobs bottom. Whether the fact that he has managed to form a new delightful pile of love for us to caress from the tiny recesses of his body, or a new and shockingly red rash has developed or that it is simply cute, which by the way it is, My son has a cute booty. Not too much more to say about that, its a fact.
So tomorrow we elect a new president, Barack McCain. Oh man, how disappointing is that. Barack Obama is frighteningly inexperienced and manages to say nothing better than anyone has managed to say nothing- potentially in the history of man, with perhaps the notable exception of Tristi Mcneil, I went to college with her and man she talks a lot of nothing. John McCain on the other hand is likely to die without much notice, and so while he is experienced, a knowledgeable corpse is of little use.
So who am I voting for- Nader. I'm kidding a vote for Nader is like a vote for the mentally handicapped. I mean we like the fact that they have a special Olympics and we don't pay attention and a gold medalist is not a real Olympian, Nader is not a real candidate, but we humor him. I've seriously considered voting for the Libertarian candidate, but I I don't think thats going to happen.
No I am voting for John McCain, I will take the experienced corpse over the living idiot. There are some things that Barack Obama has said that he wants to do that are mind numbing. He wants to create a, I am not joking about this, an arm of the executive branch answerable to only the president that will investigate people who have dissenting opinion, and they will be armed and have power like that of the military. Look into history and find out about the brown-shirts.
There are a few other things but, goodness me. I don't know if her realizes how frightening that could be, not necessarily with him as pres, but somewhere down the line abuses will happen. well thats enough from me, no ones reading this- or if you are it will be after the commandant is elected.
PEACE OUT HOMBRE.

The Facts of Life

Let me tell you something, starting off in the career of a Financial Adviser is not an easy thing. It takes a lot of work, and doesn't really pay a lot. I basically knock on doors over and over and over, then I call people and try to encourage them to invest with my company. It is a slow process that takes a lot of faith and confidence that the system works. So far I have had one big success, and I look forward to the next one. The big thing I think is to keep going and keep doing what it is that I am doing.
That being said I like the ability that I have to help people out, lots of folks say "Looks like you picked the wrong time to start in the business". I think thats very interesting, to me now is the best time to start. People don't need a financial adviser when you can randomly pick a stock and make sick cash, no they need a financial adviser when times are tough and the decisions are difficult. Its like going to the Dr. when you're healthy, yeah its probably a good idea but its hard to find time, but when you get cancer it may be a good idea to talk to the doc. People have lots of questions and I try to answer them as best as I can, hopefully these people will remember my good will and will eventually do some business with me :)
So there you go, a slightly longer post than my last one, its a hard knock life as a FA ( as we are called in the biz) but I will soon be making too much money to count, or at least $20, which is really not too much to count. Well, we won't worry about that for right now. Peace out and have a nice evening, morning afternoon or next year.

PAX

I should be working right now.

Hey, I ought to be working right now. I know this because it is true. So this post will be short. But I have not posted since I had a mere 23 days left of work in the active duty Army. I am not yet in the reserves, because the Army is stupid. So I am working for Edward Jones, Jacob can refer to himself in the third person, and Smokey is still alive, though she has lost some weight. Rebecca was working at a Children's mental place, now she is working at the VA- as of today that is. So there you go, I will not post a picture today, but another western has been released "Appaloosa", and I liked it. Hey, I gotta go.

-PAX

Victory in the last days

I hope that title doesn't sound too Dooms-Day, because really its Happy-Days, no not the show the reality of days that full of happy, or happiness if you prefer. If I was keeping track, which of course I'm not, then I could tell you that I have 23 days left in the Army before my leave starts and that of those 23 days only 8 of those days are working days. However, as I said before I am not keeping track of that kind of stuff so I don't really know how many days I have left. I must say that leaving the Army is an exciting proposition. I no longer have to deal with insane bosses that have control of every aspect of my life. I will agree that there are most likely there are insane bosses outside of the military as well, however I think that there is a qualitative, if not quantitative, difference in the insane bosses here. It must be that the Army attracts people who like to be able to have a great deal of control with a fairly limited amount of oversight and a population that has little say, few rights, and less knowledge about their rights. I don't want to say that I have hated all the time I have spent in the Army. I would say that there have been some good times and some experiences that I would not trade. The Army has allowed me to be financially independent, has paid off my student loans, has gained me a Masters degree for free, has allowed me to purchase a house, two vehicles, have a baby (again for free), and do things that few people get to do. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity. That being said I am not re-enlisting. To be fair I am getting a commission. Let me explain a little the difference between an enlisted soldier and a Commissioned Officer. An enlisted person performs the menial labor to middle management of the Army. At its most basic level the enlisted soldier is the guy marching, shooting, fighting, dieing, and training every day to do what the Army does. The NCO (what I am currently) supervises and makes sure that the day to day tasks are completed and that the soldiers are able physically an mentally to do what they need to do. The NCO should be a self sacrificing individual who puts the needs of his soldiers above his own, who ensures that his soldiers are held to strict rules, but is fair in applying corrective actions. The Officer is the management and planning. They develop the goals the NCO's implement, they decide what the goals for the unit are and develop the standards of the unit. Officer's are the white collar workers, Enlisted are the blue collar workers.
As I said I am taking a commission, but its in the reserves. I like to think of the reserves as doing the Army as a hobby. Right now I do the Army as a job, but in the reserves I get to act like a soldier one weekend a month, couple weeks a year, you know like a hobby. But like with all hobbies, there is the possibility that I will have to it professionally for a time, 15 months or so. I talk a lot about the Army on this page a lot I guess. Mostly I think its because there is so much interesting culture that is specific to the Army, and the Military in general. As it so happens I now am leaving, and am very happy to being doing so. My last few weeks I get more time off to take care of the things I need to do and to set myself up for the next step in my life. I have been fortunate in the Army, more fortunate than most, and get to leave intact in body, mind, and soul. Thanks Uncle Sam, and thanks for stopping by.

C'est le vie

That's life. I was thinking earlier about life, and what people do in life. When I started to define what it is in life that matters, and when I look back on my life the things that make me happy are the memories I have of events, of conversations, of places I have been and amazing things I have seen. I guess what that means to me is that I don't often look back on my life and smile with fond recollection that specific sitcom I saw three years ago and think how great it was to sit on my couch and watch it while slowly sipping my flavored soft drink.
The more I think about what counts in life the more I realize the value of activity. There is a certain immediate gratification in watching TV and being lazy. It allows you the comfort of inactivity. You say to yourself "I'm relaxing, and I need to relax because what I do is hard work and I need to not work hard all the time." That's okay I guess, I've seen some stirring movies and would consider some to be art and was glad for the time I spent watching them, but I have also seen Rush Hour 1 and 2.
I think about the time that I have wasted and feel a little bad, there have been so many opportunities in my life for a quality experience that I chose not to partake in or did not go out of my way to find. Then I think of people who do less than I do and it makes me feel bad for them, even worse I guess. I'm not trying to say I do everything great and that other people are huge retards wandering around being stupid (though there may be a certain element of truth to this). However people seem to consistently choose not to be involved in things of meaning and not to find experiences that will fulfill them in some deeper way. I don't expect that everyone ought to go rush off and see the Eiffel Tower, tour Europe, or see the Bridges of Madison County (the real things not the movie, though I understand the movie is good too (good job Clint)), but I am sure that there is some wilderness out nearby every ones house, or at least within a relatively short commute. Go to it and look around. Yes there will be bugs there, yes sometime you will sweat But if you live the entirety of your life with the sole purpose of avoiding sweat and bugs then you have had a sad existence. There is too much life to live and sweat, blood, tears, laughter, joy, sorrow, and pain all make up life. I don't think you need to go around being a masochist or anything but at least once I think we all ought to go on an adventure. Whether the adventure is alone, with friends, or with family I don't care but a life without some excitement, without some challenge or danger is not a life. In art, and in life, contrast is important. If there is not enough contrast you can't make out what it is your looking at. If you don't have the contrast of sorrow with joy you will never know how good joy feels. that's just my two cents, thanks for stopping by.

ARMY ARMY ARMY ARMY ARMY!

I have talked about cadence in the past. The mysterious semi-singing form of communication that keeps soldiers a-truckin. I was once told a story that at a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) school a guy was told to do cadence to march the platoon someplace. He responded "I don't know any cadence." They told him "make one up." So he said "A is for Army, R is for Army, M is for Army, Y is for Army." Followed by "ARMYARMYARMYARMYARMY!" At the top of his lungs as fast as possible. This story has nothing to do with why I am writing today.
It was 0300 and I was sleeping on my couch. You see on Thursday I had discovered my toe had become infected, it was black and horrible. I went in to the ER and the Dr. sliced it open and gave me some drugs and told me not to go to work the next day. I was also supposed to keep my foot up. That was why I was on my couch. So there I am sleeping peacefully on my couch when my phone begins to humm its gentle melody. So I answer the phone, as has become my habit. "SGT Crozier, you need to go to the AOD desk and report to the SDNCO ASAP, one of your buildings is unsecured. I tried to call your counterparts but they were unavailable so you will need to go in until they relieve you."
"What?"
"You need to get in ACU's and go to the AOD, now!"
"I'm on Percaset."
"Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? Because you're slip said you were off of duty for 24 hours and its been over 27 hours, so you should have no excuse not to be able to go into work."
So here I am. An AOD is like the Hospital's night watch. They mostly sit and answer phones. The SDNCO is the Staff Duty NCO. They wander around post and make sure all the buildings are locked. As it turns out, one building was not locked. So, because this building was unlocked I was asked to go and sit in it until someone came to lock. I didn't have a key, but I am a soldier with a damaged foot. Right now it is 0530, on a Saturday and it is raining outside in drought ridden North Carolina. It is times like these that I am glad that I only have 2 more weeks of work as an active duty United States soldier. Don't get me wrong, the Army has been good to me and I have been pretty good to the Army. However these are the times when I think how stupid some of the things we do are, and how petty people can be about things we have no control over.
The moral of the story: If you are in the Army and they have not issued you a phone, don't answer it when it rings.