The Wall Street Bailout masked what is really wrong with economy. We need a consumer Bill of Rights, and we need one now. Additionally, the Federal and State Income Tax Codes MUST be simplified and made fairer to those who are renters.
#1 The right to "OPT OUT" of any financial agreement whenever the loaner changes terms.
#2 Interest free pay down on all credit card debt that is 3 years or older.
#3 40% minimum floor space for products that are actually made in america for businesses such as Target and Walmart.
#4. Government Bailout to Wall Street primarily for U.S. industries that produce products and jobs in America.
#5. The creation of a true Alternative Minimum PERCENTAGE TAX that covers ALL FEDERAL TAXES.
#6 Full Income Tax Deduction for renters, full Income Tax Deduction on the Primary Home Mortgage (with a cap), full income tax deduction on all necessary medical & hospital expenses and on all insurance Premiums.
#7 No change to the current Income Tax Tables.
If the above Consumer Bill of Rights were implemented, the U.S. Economy would rebound.
Are there any downsides? A possibly weakened international military presence and ironically, a rapid and large influx of immigrants who would want to live here.
If we continue on with a strong international military while our own country's insides rot out, one must ask just who does this benefit?
If we put the military to work inside of our own borders, doing things like dredging the Mississippi river and installing underwater hydroelectric turbines, or rebuilding our country's infrastructure of bridges and railways, our own economy will improve. I prefer a consumer bailout versus a Wall Street Bailout.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
117 million Taxpayers received 170 billion dollars in stimulus relief this year, Wall Street wants 700 billion, want is Wrong with this Picture?
117 million Taxpayers received a total of 170 billion dollars in stimulus relief checks this year, now Wall Street wants FOUR TIMES MORE than that amount. I find it crazy that we would ignore the consumer and their exploding debt and instead manufacture money to give to Wall Street, whose primary job is to create more debt among these same group of american consumers that are already in debt.
Crazier still is to give this money to a group of Wall Street Investors WHO WON'T EVEN KEEP THE MONY IN THE UNITED STATES! CRAZIER STILL IS THAT SOME OF THIS MONEY WILL BE USED TO BUY INFLUENCE IN THE NEXT ELECTION!
Clearly, reducing INTEREST ON OLD CONSUMER DEBT for over a 100 million american consumers would re-ignite the economy. Instead, the consumer's interests are not being addressed, but the politicians are listening to the very people who will then rebate them money for their own political campaigns.
Crazier still is to give this money to a group of Wall Street Investors WHO WON'T EVEN KEEP THE MONY IN THE UNITED STATES! CRAZIER STILL IS THAT SOME OF THIS MONEY WILL BE USED TO BUY INFLUENCE IN THE NEXT ELECTION!
Clearly, reducing INTEREST ON OLD CONSUMER DEBT for over a 100 million american consumers would re-ignite the economy. Instead, the consumer's interests are not being addressed, but the politicians are listening to the very people who will then rebate them money for their own political campaigns.
Credit Flowing on Wall Street to do what, invest in other countries while Taking away more jobs from American Workers?
Between the government overtaxing US citizens, to Wall Street investing american money in overseas enterprises, the American Consumer has been thrown to the curb. Where is Ralph Nader when you need him?
Stock Market loses 1.1 trillion in one day over 700 billion dollar bailout bill rejection.
At first thought, one would say it's a "no brainer" to pass a 700 dollar bailout plan if it prevents a one day 1.1 trillion dollar loss on Wall Street. It would also have been a no brainer to come up with a stimulus package for consumers that encourages consumers to pay down their debts, especially OLD, unsecured DEBTS.
Reducing OLD CONSUMER DEBT may possibly be the least discussed option by financial gurus, yet it makes the most sense. Old debt is money owed on unsecured purchases that a consumer has been paying interest on for more than four years yet the principle has remained the same or barely inched downward during that time span.
Wall Street bitterly clings to OLD consumer debt as a source of income in the same manner a dog chases it's own tail. Wall Street wants to be bailed out of current bad loans, but why? So they can make new loans to whom, people still trying to pay off old debt? Wall Street and the Government can only pack so much debt onto the backs of its citizens, then it's either relief, or imprisonment.
Relief is simple enough. Just allow consumers to pay off OLD DEBT interest free. The banks already have made a ton of money off of the interest that has already been paid on the old, unsecured debt, now the consumer gets to pay back the rest with no more interest charges. The plan is so simple, and worthwhile, that not even a peep has been heard in Congress, from the president, nor from Wall Street, because this plan actually helps the consumer first. The consumer in turn would help everyone else. The consumer helping the higher ups is a plan that just cannot be stomached by the egoists in power, shame on them.
Reducing OLD CONSUMER DEBT may possibly be the least discussed option by financial gurus, yet it makes the most sense. Old debt is money owed on unsecured purchases that a consumer has been paying interest on for more than four years yet the principle has remained the same or barely inched downward during that time span.
Wall Street bitterly clings to OLD consumer debt as a source of income in the same manner a dog chases it's own tail. Wall Street wants to be bailed out of current bad loans, but why? So they can make new loans to whom, people still trying to pay off old debt? Wall Street and the Government can only pack so much debt onto the backs of its citizens, then it's either relief, or imprisonment.
Relief is simple enough. Just allow consumers to pay off OLD DEBT interest free. The banks already have made a ton of money off of the interest that has already been paid on the old, unsecured debt, now the consumer gets to pay back the rest with no more interest charges. The plan is so simple, and worthwhile, that not even a peep has been heard in Congress, from the president, nor from Wall Street, because this plan actually helps the consumer first. The consumer in turn would help everyone else. The consumer helping the higher ups is a plan that just cannot be stomached by the egoists in power, shame on them.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Consumer Debt, Why are we not talking about Consumer Debt?
Over the years we have heard about stock market corrections. Stock Market corrections restabilize the market and allow for a new run of success to occur.
Then there is consumer debt. For some reason, the media, the government, nor Wall Street ever states that reducing consumer debt is actually a good thing.
Has consumer debt ever decreased in the past 20 years? Shouldn't consumer debt periodically decrease so the Financial Industry can again entice us to go more in debt? Shouldn't there be an up and down cycle to consumer debt totals?
Consumer Debt Reduction cannot occur with so many hands inside the consumers wallet. Government taxes, state taxes, questionable interest rate charges on credit card debt, not allowing full medical deductions off of our income taxes, and not allowing full rental deductions to those who don't own property are the primary reasons that consumer debt continues to rise every year.
Until consumer debt is reversed and lowered, nothing can be done to fix the economy that will actually work. The Bailout is evil and was rejected, but until the elite in our society acknowledge that the consumer is overleveraged in debt, nothing will change for the better.
Then there is consumer debt. For some reason, the media, the government, nor Wall Street ever states that reducing consumer debt is actually a good thing.
Has consumer debt ever decreased in the past 20 years? Shouldn't consumer debt periodically decrease so the Financial Industry can again entice us to go more in debt? Shouldn't there be an up and down cycle to consumer debt totals?
Consumer Debt Reduction cannot occur with so many hands inside the consumers wallet. Government taxes, state taxes, questionable interest rate charges on credit card debt, not allowing full medical deductions off of our income taxes, and not allowing full rental deductions to those who don't own property are the primary reasons that consumer debt continues to rise every year.
Until consumer debt is reversed and lowered, nothing can be done to fix the economy that will actually work. The Bailout is evil and was rejected, but until the elite in our society acknowledge that the consumer is overleveraged in debt, nothing will change for the better.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Lets have REAL CHANGE, Instead of the Government Saving the Bankers, how about the Consumer Saving the Economy.
Because the consumer continues to be under represented in important, national issues, the government makes knee jerk decision based on input from the actual kneejerkers that caused the problem in the first place. Fixing the economy is easy. Empower the consumer by waiving all interest charges on old debt.
Empower the homeowner by waiving interest payments for a year or two. Even if the payments remain the same every month, apply the ENTIRE AMOUNT towards the principal. This will do a heck of lot to help the economy. Discourage buying things on credit or with 12 months no upfront payments.
If the economy gets back to being real, then the condition of the economy can be reassessed in six months to a year and adjustments made that that time. Nobody is willing to acknowledge that the banking and investment industry suffocated too many people by having them pay too much in interest. Nobody is willing to take the government to task for wanting to much in the way of taxes without providing anything to help the economy.
Empower the homeowner by waiving interest payments for a year or two. Even if the payments remain the same every month, apply the ENTIRE AMOUNT towards the principal. This will do a heck of lot to help the economy. Discourage buying things on credit or with 12 months no upfront payments.
If the economy gets back to being real, then the condition of the economy can be reassessed in six months to a year and adjustments made that that time. Nobody is willing to acknowledge that the banking and investment industry suffocated too many people by having them pay too much in interest. Nobody is willing to take the government to task for wanting to much in the way of taxes without providing anything to help the economy.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Letting the consumer pay off their OLD Debts INTEREST FREE is the only bailout that is needed right now.
What is needed BEFORE a bailout is interest free pay downs on all outstanding consumer debt. This would instantly infuse the banks with MORE of the consumers money as the consumer pays down their debt, interest free.
Money would be used to pay down existing debt, money would also be saved, and a third bonus would be the consumer would actually be able to afford to buy some goods with CASH, and NOT credit. How dare the government pay off Wall Street first while ignoring the consumer. How dare the government print up money it doesn't have and claim that newly printed money has more "value" than the consumer money that has been earned by the consumer performing a job.
No matter how much money is printed by the government, all that really matters is how much money is being generated by people working. What then matters most is, how efficiently is the consumer able to spend that money? Old interest debt on consumeable items that have been consumed and no longer exist is hurting the consumer, and the economy.
But we are led by elitists who think they must "save us" so they can continue their pampered lives of excess. The elite need to go on a diet, and leave more of the consumers money in the consumers pocket, that is how to get the economy going again.
Money would be used to pay down existing debt, money would also be saved, and a third bonus would be the consumer would actually be able to afford to buy some goods with CASH, and NOT credit. How dare the government pay off Wall Street first while ignoring the consumer. How dare the government print up money it doesn't have and claim that newly printed money has more "value" than the consumer money that has been earned by the consumer performing a job.
No matter how much money is printed by the government, all that really matters is how much money is being generated by people working. What then matters most is, how efficiently is the consumer able to spend that money? Old interest debt on consumeable items that have been consumed and no longer exist is hurting the consumer, and the economy.
But we are led by elitists who think they must "save us" so they can continue their pampered lives of excess. The elite need to go on a diet, and leave more of the consumers money in the consumers pocket, that is how to get the economy going again.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Media, Banks, and the U.S. government are either slow to figure out an economic solution, or they have a master plan to keep us Fearful.
Solution 101. If I could wave a magic wand and do one thing for the economy, it would be to allow for an immediate implementation of a full income tax deduction for both renters and property owners.
"Preposterous", the wall street muckety mucks would say, "that is double dipping"! Lol, and just what does the government do every second of every day when it comes to taxation, they double and triple and quadruple dip. The government taxes money coming and going, every which way they can.
Hospitalization costs (including insurance premiums), monthly apartment rental costs and monthly mortgage payments should ALL be completely deducted from a person's income prior to calculating income tax, and the income tax tables WOULD NOT be adjusted to anticipate this real deduction.
Is the government being honest, or is the government trying to trick us by blaming the economy on higher fuel prices and the sub prime mortgage fiasco?
The reason I ask is, if the average consumer is paying $2,500 dollars a year in all kinds of interest & finance charges, and considerably more than that in all kinds of state and federal taxes, why would paying an extra $600 dollars a year on gasoline be destroying the economy?
Wouldn't it make more sense to "re-evaluate" just what kind of interest and finance charges are being charged on the consumer, rather than blaming the economy on the price of oil?
Wouldn't it also make more sense to re-evaluate the fairness of state and federal taxation as well when it comes to assessing taxes on the place we call home, be it rental or otherwise?
If the government wants to blame the economy on the sub prime mortgage debacle, why not acknowledge that peoples' desire to own their own living space for just a few hundred more dollars a month than renting was too good to pass up! Once the home interest deduction was added in, it may actually have cost less to own a home then rent from someone else!
The government needs to make it economically sensible to pay rent or the economic instability that is taking over will continue. Some people may choose to own a home and have less money in the bank as a result, others may choose to pay rent and with the money they save per month, actually have a savings account. Both living methods should be equally honored by the government. As it stands, renters are being discriminated against.
If this idea were to be implemented, it is possible that those who rent properties may raise their rates because they know that their tenants will now be getting income tax deductions. However, that would just be ethically wrong.
Once the renters deduction is incorporated into the income tax code, the government could set up an escalating tax on a building owner to prevent the owner from overcharging.
These steps would allow all people to take a huge, deep breath, one that they deserve. People are entitled to reasonable deductions, whether they are home owners, renters or have serious medical issues.
"Preposterous", the wall street muckety mucks would say, "that is double dipping"! Lol, and just what does the government do every second of every day when it comes to taxation, they double and triple and quadruple dip. The government taxes money coming and going, every which way they can.
Hospitalization costs (including insurance premiums), monthly apartment rental costs and monthly mortgage payments should ALL be completely deducted from a person's income prior to calculating income tax, and the income tax tables WOULD NOT be adjusted to anticipate this real deduction.
Is the government being honest, or is the government trying to trick us by blaming the economy on higher fuel prices and the sub prime mortgage fiasco?
The reason I ask is, if the average consumer is paying $2,500 dollars a year in all kinds of interest & finance charges, and considerably more than that in all kinds of state and federal taxes, why would paying an extra $600 dollars a year on gasoline be destroying the economy?
Wouldn't it make more sense to "re-evaluate" just what kind of interest and finance charges are being charged on the consumer, rather than blaming the economy on the price of oil?
Wouldn't it also make more sense to re-evaluate the fairness of state and federal taxation as well when it comes to assessing taxes on the place we call home, be it rental or otherwise?
If the government wants to blame the economy on the sub prime mortgage debacle, why not acknowledge that peoples' desire to own their own living space for just a few hundred more dollars a month than renting was too good to pass up! Once the home interest deduction was added in, it may actually have cost less to own a home then rent from someone else!
The government needs to make it economically sensible to pay rent or the economic instability that is taking over will continue. Some people may choose to own a home and have less money in the bank as a result, others may choose to pay rent and with the money they save per month, actually have a savings account. Both living methods should be equally honored by the government. As it stands, renters are being discriminated against.
If this idea were to be implemented, it is possible that those who rent properties may raise their rates because they know that their tenants will now be getting income tax deductions. However, that would just be ethically wrong.
Once the renters deduction is incorporated into the income tax code, the government could set up an escalating tax on a building owner to prevent the owner from overcharging.
These steps would allow all people to take a huge, deep breath, one that they deserve. People are entitled to reasonable deductions, whether they are home owners, renters or have serious medical issues.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Media Afraid to Tread where this Article Dared to go a year and a half ago.
This is my second reprint of this article. I warned about what was happening to the United States economy back in February of 2007. Pretty much everyone of my complaints has come home to roost.
----------------------------------------------------
Here is a link to the end of the United States as we know it. Home Depot to sell Supply Services Division to make Wall Street "Happy." Below is the article with my comments interspersed.
News Story posted below with responding commentary by Alessandro Machi.
----------------------------------------------------
Posted on Tue, Feb. 13, 2007
Home Depot to consider sale of division
HOME DEPOT SUPPLY SERVES CONTRACTORS, OTHERS; NEW CEO REVIEWING OPTIONS FOR CHAIN
By Harry R. Weber
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Home Depot, the world's largest home-improvement store chain, distanced itself further from the strategies advanced by former Chief Executive Bob Nardelli as it said Monday it will consider shedding its division serving contractors, home builders and other business customers.
The company's shares rose on the news.
-----------------------------------------------------
Home Depot's stock market "value" has risen because Wall Street has approved of a strategy that minimizes the value of American Citizens who do blue collar jobs such as carpentry, plumbing, landscaping and general home improvement for a living.
-A.M.
----------------------------------------------------
Some analysts said the decision to possibly sell Home Depot Supply could benefit the company by allowing it to focus on generating value for shareholders, while others suggested it could put the onus back on the company's retail side, where it faces tough competition from Lowe's.
----------------------------------------------------
How does one "generate value" for Wall Street stockholders? It appears that the Wall Street investment community sees the disenfranchising of Blue Collar American Workers who work in America for other American Citizens as having inferior "value" when compared to businesses such as WalMart that sell retail products imported from other countries.
-A.M.
---------------------------------------------------
The announcement followed a decision earlier this month by the Atlanta company to give a seat on its board to an investment group that wants Home Depot to consider, among other things, a leveraged buyout of the entire company as a way to generate shareholder value.
The group, Relational Investors, had threatened a proxy fight over the home-improvement company's strategic direction, part of an undercurrent that led to Nardelli's resignation in early January after six years at the helm of the company.
----------------------------------------------------
According to Wall Street "experts" it was unnacceptable for Home Depot to have a "supply division" that enabled skilled American Citizens who work with their hands to have a place to go to buy the products they need to do work for other Americans. Because Home Depot Supply Division could not create the kind of immediate profit that importing from other countries can create, Wall Street thinks the division should be sold off.
-A.M.
---------------------------------------------------
Frank Blake, who replaced Nardelli as CEO, said Monday's announcement regarding Home Depot Supply was part of a strategic review the company conducted in November.
---------------------------------------------------
What Mr. Blake calls a "strategic review" I call a sucide bomb placed directly into the heart and soul of the American Blue Collar worker. Wall Street supports the premise that it is not preferrable to sell supplies to American skilled labor because that will generate a smaller profit margin than selling product that is imported from other countries.
-A.M.
--------------------------------------------------
Nardelli had said repeatedly that he believed the company's strategy under his watch did not need changing.
---------------------------------------------------
Mr. Nardelli appears to be a controversial figure. While I wholeheartedly agree with his position that Home Depot should not shed it's Supply Division, Mr. Nardelli just received a huge, really huge severance package for his tenure at Home Depot. It appears that Mr. Nardelli understands that without a strong local economy which the Supply Division of Home Depot helps nurture; local community economies would stagnate. It just seems a shame Mr. Nardelli was paid so much darn money for that basic understanding. Home Depot Supply is the seed that bears fruit for local communities throughout the United States yet Wall Street seems to focus solely on quarterly profit margin reports and is unwilling to acknowledge that long term stability matters just as much.
-A.M.
---------------------------------------------------
Blake said the company wants to concentrate more on its retail business.
---------------------------------------------------
Retail business means the importing of product from other countries at the loss of local blue collar jobs, that's what is Good for Wall Street, but is that what is good for your local community?
-A.M.
----------------------------------------------------
The company said it would ''evaluate strategic alternatives'' that also could include an initial public offering of the supply business. Home Depot did not say how much it could fetch for HD Supply, but some analysts valued it at $5 billion to $7.5 billion.
------------------------------------------------
Strategic alternatives is a code word for outsourcing, for buying as much product from other countries as possible at the expense of the local communities ability to create skilled labor jobs.
-A.M.
-------------------------------------------------
Analysts had mixed reactions.
''While we had long been advocates of the Home Depot Supply business, the market never seemed to warm up to the strategy, viewing it more as a lower-margin, lower-return distraction from retail,'' David Strasser, an analyst with Banc of America Securities, said in a research note.
-------------------------------------------------
Lower profit margin does not mean the Home Depot Supply division was losing money, it just means that it was making less money than Home Depot could allegedly make if it were to simply focus on importing products from other countries.
Do you see a dangerous pattern emerging here? No new United States business can be created that uses United States Labor and United States resources and still score as high a rating with Wall Street as a U.S. business that imports products and/or services from other countries.
At some point, do we dare ask if Wall Street's institutional practices and objectives are violating the constitution of the United States by aggressively advocating the outsourcing of all goods and services to other countries over the blue collar citizens of the United States?
-A.M.
------------------------------------------------
Strasser said Home Depot's stock should react positively to the news.
''This tells us new CEO Frank Blake is focused on value, and taking a fresh look at every aspect of the business,'' Strasser wrote.
-------------------------------------------------
Increased value for whom? Perhaps increased value for those who are already worth millions and salivate for millions more from their Wall Street Stock holdings. How is this "fresh look" achieved, by focusing on the import retail business while downgrading the importance of the local blue collar worker.
-A.M.
--------------------------------------------------
But Mark Rowen, an analyst with Prudential Equity Group, said in a research note of his own that without HD Supply as a growth vehicle, investors soon could start to focus more intensely on Home Depot's core retail segment, which he believes is close to reaching store saturation in the United States.
----------------------------------------------------
Mark Rowen is a smart person. What Mr. Rowen is saying is the diversity of products and services Home Depot provides all over the United States fuels a huge amount of local economies by serving both the consumer with goods they can immediately use, and the blue collar worker with core products they require to do skilled labor, to have a job!
Home Depot is a company that has become an essential economic cog and valued member of local communities throughout the United States, whereas the same cannot be said of Walmart, which actually assisted in the rise and fall of a small town rubbermaid plant located in Wooster, Ohio several years ago. The rubbermaid plant was disassembled and the assembly line manufacturing components were sold to China, over a thousand workers in Wooster Ohio lost their jobs.
What Wall Street is saying to Home Depot is, "Be like Walmart and offer retail only products made from other countries or we will downgrade your Wall Street Value". What Mr. Rowen has intelligently pointed out is that companies that help the local community create and maintain jobs have an intrinsic value that cannot be easily measured by Wall Street. Ironically, it's smaller profit divisions within a company like Home Depot Supply that actually help stabilize a local communities economy and as a result help other Wall Street Stocks meet their bottom line because the local economy sustains more jobs, which results in more overall spendable income.
-A.M.
----------------------------------------------------
''We believe that Home Depot will continue to struggle with the effects of a difficult housing market in the near term, as well as intense competition from archrival Lowe's longer term,'' Rowen wrote.
----------------------------------------------------
Another excellent point by Mr. Rowen. Home Depot has a competitive edge because it offers a diversity of goods and services. Once Home Depot "cuts and runs", they may gain an instant increase in stockholder value for the investors who want to make a quick buck by selling their Home Depot stock. Afterwards Home Depot will simply blend in with their competition and most likely no longer hold any advantage. Meanwhile the blue collar workers who lose their jobs because of less supply availability won't be able to buy any product from Home Depot at all.
-A.M.
----------------------------------------------------
Overall, Home Depot currently operates 2,159 stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China.
----------------------------------------------------
Let us not forget, Home Depot not only sells products to consumers, but Home Depot Supply currently sells product to creators, innovators and blue collar people who use Home Depot Supply product in their own line of work. These jobs fuel the local economy so people have money to spend in their own community. Wall Street is insidiously proposing that it's always better to import product and services from other countries rather than creating the product in the United States. Wall Street is advocating an outsourcing paradigm because it will always create a larger profit margin than can be created with United States skilled labor. Wall Street is advocating this outsourcing motiff at the loss of blue collar jobs in the United States.
In a related scenario, since Wall Street has decided to completely embrace the importation industry over blue collar American Made Jobs, the War in Iraq takes on added significance. Having access to the worlds oil supply is imperative for any country intent on creating an import economy because it takes petroleum to fuel the huge number of ships that bring product from all over the world to our own ports. Yes, Wall Street, whether they realize it or not, appears to be a war mongering institution as well.
-Alessandro Machi
----------------------------------------------------
Here is a link to the end of the United States as we know it. Home Depot to sell Supply Services Division to make Wall Street "Happy." Below is the article with my comments interspersed.
News Story posted below with responding commentary by Alessandro Machi.
----------------------------------------------------
Posted on Tue, Feb. 13, 2007
Home Depot to consider sale of division
HOME DEPOT SUPPLY SERVES CONTRACTORS, OTHERS; NEW CEO REVIEWING OPTIONS FOR CHAIN
By Harry R. Weber
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Home Depot, the world's largest home-improvement store chain, distanced itself further from the strategies advanced by former Chief Executive Bob Nardelli as it said Monday it will consider shedding its division serving contractors, home builders and other business customers.
The company's shares rose on the news.
-----------------------------------------------------
Home Depot's stock market "value" has risen because Wall Street has approved of a strategy that minimizes the value of American Citizens who do blue collar jobs such as carpentry, plumbing, landscaping and general home improvement for a living.
-A.M.
----------------------------------------------------
Some analysts said the decision to possibly sell Home Depot Supply could benefit the company by allowing it to focus on generating value for shareholders, while others suggested it could put the onus back on the company's retail side, where it faces tough competition from Lowe's.
----------------------------------------------------
How does one "generate value" for Wall Street stockholders? It appears that the Wall Street investment community sees the disenfranchising of Blue Collar American Workers who work in America for other American Citizens as having inferior "value" when compared to businesses such as WalMart that sell retail products imported from other countries.
-A.M.
---------------------------------------------------
The announcement followed a decision earlier this month by the Atlanta company to give a seat on its board to an investment group that wants Home Depot to consider, among other things, a leveraged buyout of the entire company as a way to generate shareholder value.
The group, Relational Investors, had threatened a proxy fight over the home-improvement company's strategic direction, part of an undercurrent that led to Nardelli's resignation in early January after six years at the helm of the company.
----------------------------------------------------
According to Wall Street "experts" it was unnacceptable for Home Depot to have a "supply division" that enabled skilled American Citizens who work with their hands to have a place to go to buy the products they need to do work for other Americans. Because Home Depot Supply Division could not create the kind of immediate profit that importing from other countries can create, Wall Street thinks the division should be sold off.
-A.M.
---------------------------------------------------
Frank Blake, who replaced Nardelli as CEO, said Monday's announcement regarding Home Depot Supply was part of a strategic review the company conducted in November.
---------------------------------------------------
What Mr. Blake calls a "strategic review" I call a sucide bomb placed directly into the heart and soul of the American Blue Collar worker. Wall Street supports the premise that it is not preferrable to sell supplies to American skilled labor because that will generate a smaller profit margin than selling product that is imported from other countries.
-A.M.
--------------------------------------------------
Nardelli had said repeatedly that he believed the company's strategy under his watch did not need changing.
---------------------------------------------------
Mr. Nardelli appears to be a controversial figure. While I wholeheartedly agree with his position that Home Depot should not shed it's Supply Division, Mr. Nardelli just received a huge, really huge severance package for his tenure at Home Depot. It appears that Mr. Nardelli understands that without a strong local economy which the Supply Division of Home Depot helps nurture; local community economies would stagnate. It just seems a shame Mr. Nardelli was paid so much darn money for that basic understanding. Home Depot Supply is the seed that bears fruit for local communities throughout the United States yet Wall Street seems to focus solely on quarterly profit margin reports and is unwilling to acknowledge that long term stability matters just as much.
-A.M.
---------------------------------------------------
Blake said the company wants to concentrate more on its retail business.
---------------------------------------------------
Retail business means the importing of product from other countries at the loss of local blue collar jobs, that's what is Good for Wall Street, but is that what is good for your local community?
-A.M.
----------------------------------------------------
The company said it would ''evaluate strategic alternatives'' that also could include an initial public offering of the supply business. Home Depot did not say how much it could fetch for HD Supply, but some analysts valued it at $5 billion to $7.5 billion.
------------------------------------------------
Strategic alternatives is a code word for outsourcing, for buying as much product from other countries as possible at the expense of the local communities ability to create skilled labor jobs.
-A.M.
-------------------------------------------------
Analysts had mixed reactions.
''While we had long been advocates of the Home Depot Supply business, the market never seemed to warm up to the strategy, viewing it more as a lower-margin, lower-return distraction from retail,'' David Strasser, an analyst with Banc of America Securities, said in a research note.
-------------------------------------------------
Lower profit margin does not mean the Home Depot Supply division was losing money, it just means that it was making less money than Home Depot could allegedly make if it were to simply focus on importing products from other countries.
Do you see a dangerous pattern emerging here? No new United States business can be created that uses United States Labor and United States resources and still score as high a rating with Wall Street as a U.S. business that imports products and/or services from other countries.
At some point, do we dare ask if Wall Street's institutional practices and objectives are violating the constitution of the United States by aggressively advocating the outsourcing of all goods and services to other countries over the blue collar citizens of the United States?
-A.M.
------------------------------------------------
Strasser said Home Depot's stock should react positively to the news.
''This tells us new CEO Frank Blake is focused on value, and taking a fresh look at every aspect of the business,'' Strasser wrote.
-------------------------------------------------
Increased value for whom? Perhaps increased value for those who are already worth millions and salivate for millions more from their Wall Street Stock holdings. How is this "fresh look" achieved, by focusing on the import retail business while downgrading the importance of the local blue collar worker.
-A.M.
--------------------------------------------------
But Mark Rowen, an analyst with Prudential Equity Group, said in a research note of his own that without HD Supply as a growth vehicle, investors soon could start to focus more intensely on Home Depot's core retail segment, which he believes is close to reaching store saturation in the United States.
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Mark Rowen is a smart person. What Mr. Rowen is saying is the diversity of products and services Home Depot provides all over the United States fuels a huge amount of local economies by serving both the consumer with goods they can immediately use, and the blue collar worker with core products they require to do skilled labor, to have a job!
Home Depot is a company that has become an essential economic cog and valued member of local communities throughout the United States, whereas the same cannot be said of Walmart, which actually assisted in the rise and fall of a small town rubbermaid plant located in Wooster, Ohio several years ago. The rubbermaid plant was disassembled and the assembly line manufacturing components were sold to China, over a thousand workers in Wooster Ohio lost their jobs.
What Wall Street is saying to Home Depot is, "Be like Walmart and offer retail only products made from other countries or we will downgrade your Wall Street Value". What Mr. Rowen has intelligently pointed out is that companies that help the local community create and maintain jobs have an intrinsic value that cannot be easily measured by Wall Street. Ironically, it's smaller profit divisions within a company like Home Depot Supply that actually help stabilize a local communities economy and as a result help other Wall Street Stocks meet their bottom line because the local economy sustains more jobs, which results in more overall spendable income.
-A.M.
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''We believe that Home Depot will continue to struggle with the effects of a difficult housing market in the near term, as well as intense competition from archrival Lowe's longer term,'' Rowen wrote.
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Another excellent point by Mr. Rowen. Home Depot has a competitive edge because it offers a diversity of goods and services. Once Home Depot "cuts and runs", they may gain an instant increase in stockholder value for the investors who want to make a quick buck by selling their Home Depot stock. Afterwards Home Depot will simply blend in with their competition and most likely no longer hold any advantage. Meanwhile the blue collar workers who lose their jobs because of less supply availability won't be able to buy any product from Home Depot at all.
-A.M.
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Overall, Home Depot currently operates 2,159 stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China.
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Let us not forget, Home Depot not only sells products to consumers, but Home Depot Supply currently sells product to creators, innovators and blue collar people who use Home Depot Supply product in their own line of work. These jobs fuel the local economy so people have money to spend in their own community. Wall Street is insidiously proposing that it's always better to import product and services from other countries rather than creating the product in the United States. Wall Street is advocating an outsourcing paradigm because it will always create a larger profit margin than can be created with United States skilled labor. Wall Street is advocating this outsourcing motiff at the loss of blue collar jobs in the United States.
In a related scenario, since Wall Street has decided to completely embrace the importation industry over blue collar American Made Jobs, the War in Iraq takes on added significance. Having access to the worlds oil supply is imperative for any country intent on creating an import economy because it takes petroleum to fuel the huge number of ships that bring product from all over the world to our own ports. Yes, Wall Street, whether they realize it or not, appears to be a war mongering institution as well.
-Alessandro Machi
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