I Hate CAPTCHAs
This isn't a new thing, but over the past 24 hours, I have had to authenticate, nay, prove my very humanity by typing in some stupid warped text from some hellhole somewhere.
I am a freakin' human, but even I can't read some of this crap. Then, after you go through the motions of trying to guess whaever the hell it is that they want you to type, you get a nice message that, "You didn't type the characters correctly. Please try again."
DON'T QUESTION MY AUTHORITY!
Then, I have to go back in and fill out the form again, and take another crack at a new set of words that are even more obfuscated than before. Clicking on the visually handicapped button isn't any better, because then you get a blast of sci-fi sounds that make Star Trek jealous paired with letters and numbers read out to you with clarity that would make the Verizon man shoot himself in the head repeatedly.
I detest CAPTCHAs. Can't someone come up with a better way to keep spambots and automated registrations at bay? Do I have to erode my patience every time I fill out a form?
On the Bailout Bill
This was for my Finance 318 class. The assignment was to write a 1-2 page paper about the provisions of the bailout bill. In my typical style, I went straight for the fun stuff.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was signed into law by George W. Bush on the afternoon of Friday, October 3, 2008. Of course, at the heart of the bill is still the Bush administration's plan to buy troubled assets of mortgage lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and generally "relieve the credit crunch." Of course, though, that's the easy part. That is the part that is almost understandable.
What the real meat of the issue, and what adds approximately $100 billion to the tab is the variety of "sweeteners" (read: bribes, pork) that were added to the bill to make it appealing to Congress to get it passed. These tasty morsels include (but certainly are not limited to):
- "[A] proposal [to] exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more." This is worth $200,000 a year to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon. Interestingly, it was backed by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, a democrat and a republican. What bipartisanship.
- "Creation of a seven-year cost recovery period for construction of a motorsports racetrack." Cost: $100 million
- Tax breaks for money received in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill and litigation. Cost: $49 million
- A $3.3 billion program to replace revenue rural communities used to get from the sale of federal forest land.
- Citizens who don't pay state income tax can deduct the amount of sales tax they pay over a year from their federal income tax for two additional years. Cost: $3.3 billion.
- U.S. production companies can deduct the cost of producing films from their taxes to keep movie production in the U.S. Cost: $478 million.
So, all in all, even in these harsh economic times, it's nice to know that some people are not feeling the crunch like the rest of the world. When many Americans are wondering where their retirement went, Congress is wondering about getting a little discount for their children's collective arrows.
Welcome to America.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/bailout.pork/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/06/walker.bailout/index.html
Senate Passes Bailout Bill
Not only has the senate passed a virtually identical bill to the one that failed in the House 2 days ago, but it has added additional "sweeteners" to it that raise its cost well above $700 billion.
What is going to happen nobody knows. Sure, $700 billion will go a long way to helping ease the pains of our current "credit crisis."
But, will it actually do anything that will keep it from happening again? It doesn't really look like it. The bill does create some more federal oversight. Is that what we really need? Do we really need another federal government entity watching over what goes on every day?
No. We don't. We don't need the government sticking its nose in another facet of our life.
Admittedly, if the government would have taken a laissez-faire approach to the current situation, it would have been much harder for businesses to secure lines of credit, or any credit for that matter. It would have become extremely difficult if not impossible for individuals to obtain credit. Is that fair to citizens? No. Is it necessary to teach these companies a lesson? Think about it.
We have band-aided the problem. We have plugged the hole in the dike with our finger. It's not a permanent solution. There is one thing that could have prevented this whole situation, and there is one thing that can fix this whole situation: sound business decisions.
It was unsound lending that got us where we are right now, and by the federal government buying $700 billion of these "troubled assets" (read: stupid loans), the government is all but legitimizing what's going on. Making it okay. Using the greenback poultice.
It's truly ridiculous.
I don't know how I would have voted if I were a politician on Capitol Hill tonight.
Personally, I think that these businesses really need to learn from their mistakes and boneheaded practices. They need to be taught a lesson, and bailing them out is not a good lesson. It's actually the exact opposite of what needs to happen. It's like a little kid who has just done something bad, and his mother gives him a cookie!
But, on the other hand, Americans have to continue their everyday life. The stupid actions of a few big companies can't ruin millions of peoples' lives. It's immoral, unethical, and just plain rude. This is America, though. To avoid businesses being truly selfish, we do need some rules and regulations--some oversight.
But not too much. At the point where businesses actually have to hire more people and, in some cases, whole departments for compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley), something is wrong. Something is really, really wrong.
The only thing to do now is wait and see what happens. The bill will have to go through the House before it ends up on Dubya's desk for a signature. He has already made it clear what he will do.
After that, we'll see if this bailout, too, gets bungled.