Red Dirt Podcast 010 Six months to Mars 6:30

Red Dirt Podcast 010, Ride to Mars in six months. All Aboard? 6:30
Chuck Ayers Editor of the Red Dirt Post. Contact us at chuckayers.com
Click on link below or copy and paste into browser

http://www.chuckayers.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/rdp-010.mp3

Pollution is job killers

There are always two sides to a story. But if we just listen to the pro-pollution conservative, you would think they were fighting a battle against “Regulation Mongers.” Regulation for regulation’s sake. Regulations that is loved and embraced by legislating control freaks. Sometimes known as Liberals.

You would think there is a war against job producing industries. Industries such as coal burning power plants, mounting top exploding coal mining, hydraulic fracturing gas producers, and others. And again, war against businesses that create jobs. Jobs the out of work would like to have.

But wait, it seems regulation are put in place to protect us from ourselves. Jobs that produce hazardous or polluted environments. Polluting ground water. Damaging and polluting nearby streams and animal habitats. Pollution that fills the air with hazardous materials. Mercury and carbon dioxide. Both if ingested or breathed in large quantities could kill people, plant life, and local animals. But to regulate these industries is a job killer. Never mind the byproduct of CO2 and mercury can also be a job killer. Killing the workers themselves and their families.

If you want to talk about job killers, you could make a good case for growing marijuana. Growing marijuana provides many jobs and good money. Why regulate the growing, harvesting, and selling of marijuana? Well, because it is heavily regulated and rightly so.

Never the less, the true conservative could be characterized as pro-smog. Pro-water polluting. Pro-air polluting. And, people killers. From methane polluted ground water to hazardous working conditions for miners. All producing killing situations. The ultimate job killer.

Just a lovely visit in New Mexico

Coming back home to Tulsa makes me appreciate the calm and peacefulness back in New Mexico. Yes, it’s noisy here in Tulsa. Back in Los Alamos it’s was quiet with pleasant weather. Really nice. No screaming jets streaking across the sky. No rumbling Harleys. No stereo boom cars. Just stillness and pine scented air. You should visit Los Alamos. The historic home of American rocket science and the atom bomb.

Welcome to Billy Bob's. Come on in and eat at your own risk

Now, it’s cantaloupe that is killing people. And, recently it has been ground beef and some seafood. All poisoned with deadly contamination. Easily passing through minimal food inspection. Then bought by inspecting consumers only to result in serious illness and several deaths.

A short while back it was broccoli and peanut butter. Remember? Plus many instances of food born illnesses in many ground beef products. Remember? Also, remember the spinach contamination in California? A situation brought on by the spinach being grown in an area’s close proximity to cattle grazing pastures and resulting in bovine defecation mixed in with the spinach. Yuck! And, it doesn’t end there. It goes on and on.

Why? Mostly because many food processors resist inspection. “Just too much regulation and the federal government sticking it’s noses into places they don’t belong.” Plus killing jobs and raising prices. Yeah right.

So which way do we go here? Back off on inspection and regulation? Or spend the money and hire government or private contractors to do the necessary inspections. Inspections to catch such health threatening problems.

So, it’s up to the consuming citizen. Do you want protection or, buyer beware. Take your chances. Gamble your family’s health. It’s your choice. Just let your government know. Good luck.

What is wrong with protectionism?

America shouldn't be 'made in China By Joel D. Joseph When I visited the new Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, I was shocked to learn the 30-foot-tall statue of our leading civil rights icon was by a Chinese sculptor, out of Chinese granite, and carved in China. Couldn't we find an African-American sculptor to carve King's image out of American granite, with the work being done in the U.S.? At at time when 14 million Americans are unemployed, and President Obama and Republicans in Congress are hammering out a jobs bill, why are we sending big work projects overseas? Yet from one U.S. coast to the other, that's what is happening. On the West Coast, California contracted for the rebuilding of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, with the main steel framework being built in China. On the East Coast, Chinese companies have won contracts in New York City to repair the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River...
For the rest of the story go to today's USA Today

Growing up Okie in Los Angeles

Outfitted with a brown paper grocery sack and a white dress shirt with tails out from my dad’s closet I began to assemble my horrific looking Halloween masquerade. The final touch was the charred cork rubbed and smudged all over my face. Achieving that frightful Hobo smudged beard look of course. So now, I was ready for the annual neighborhood Halloween haunt and goody-grab. This is what this Okie kid costumed him self in for Halloween October 1953. A fearsome look I must admit.

Nonetheless, it also appeared my best friend Donnie and I had the same make-up consultant. The only difference between Donnie and me, Donnie was from Milwaukee and I was as mentioned, an Okie child growing up in East Los Angeles. Certainly Okie cultural credentials enough that would easily waive any big city sensibility. So, I’m not sure what excuse Donnie used to justify his own costuming. What a combo nonetheless.

It was harvest fall by the big fat moon 1953 and Donnie and I were in the fourth grade. However, Donnie was enrolled at Saint Alfoncis Catholic School and I at Montebello Park Elementary. But anyway, why did we dress the same? What was our excuse for the Hobo look in white dress shirts? Hobos rarely wear their dad’s white dress shirts. Shirt Sleeves were rolled up and tails hanging down to our knees. Looking like penguin turned upside down. But anyway, only teenage sisters wore their dad’s white dress shirt with tails out back then. Something’s was certainly wrong here.

Well, in spite of our questionable choice of costume we marched on. So with great resolve, the two of us headed out to Trick and/or Treat. Two neighborhood buds intent on harvesting a large booty of candy and gum. And, This was a time back when kids actually said aloud and as loud as could be, “trick or treat!” But if frightening barks and growls came from behind the front door, we quickly moved on to the next house.

Now let me mention here, these days’ big and little kids come to the door and hold out with great anticipation their orange phosphorescent plastic Halloween bags. Only to say almost nothing. No “trick or treat.” No “please kind sir, give me candy now!” However, you can hear them thinking. “Just put in a dozen Snicker Bars and let me out of here.” You can see this apparent irritation written on their heavily glittered faces. Finally turn their plastic costume shrouded bodies away to the Halloween candy benefactors and shuffle off in full retreat. Completely ignoring the real carved pumpkin face and realistic spider webs over the doorway. Something someone went to lots of trouble to decorate. Oh my. What a perverse and shameless generation.

Oh well anyway, Donnie and I back then had great fun pretending to scare most everybody. Maybe it wasn’t scary as much as it was a surprise. People coming to the door would be stupefied. “Oh my, what are you boys? Teenage girls with black beard?” Donnie and I would look at each other with rolling eyes and think, “Just load in a dozen Snicker Bars and let us out of here. Trick or Treat!

Old Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Of course we all have heard the old saw, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Right? Well, this is the juncture where we are now. At a critical crossroads.

So, if you think it’s bad now in your part of the USA, just you wait. Sure the economy is not good now. But if we change management in Washington in November 2012, you and I will experience the slogan, from the frying pan into the fire.” In other words, going from bad to worse. If you didn’t like what the Obama administration had done just try to imagine what will happen if Rick Perry and his guys take over.

Goodbye Social Security. Goodbye Medicare. Goodbye to any semblance of health care. Goodbye jobs. Goodbye unemployment insurance. Goodbye quality public education. Goodbye to collective bargaining. And, goodbye to any assistance the federal government can offer. Plus goodbye to any protective regulations. Consumer bewares. Good air and water quality, good-bye. No more minimum wage guarantee. Goodbye to any assurance of a quality and long lasting career.


Hello to your all-new confederacy. Hello to another Civil War. War between the states. Hello to a religious dominated government. Hello to loss of personal rights. Goodbye to immigration. And, hello to a work force made of single moms and unemployable military vets. And, hello to an administration that has no discernable job plan. Just wait and wait for trickle down. Cool huh?

So, do you want the all-new Perry administration, which is totally in the fire? Or, retain Obama who is struggling to climb out of the frying pan? You can either help Obama on this road to recovery or jump head first in to the hellish fires of the Perry debacle. It’s your choice.

Turn about is fair play. Oh really?

Some of the most admirable people I have ever met spoke well not only of friends but competitors. Certainly applying the principle Will Rogers used in his life. “Never met a man I didn’t like.”

Also Dale Carnegie wrote about the same principles in his book, How to win friends and influence people. A book that speaks of putting yourself secondary to others and in turn gaining their respect and loyalty.

So, where did Rick Perry go wrong?

Will it be yes or no?

Yes, we are disappointed in the Obama administration. Yes, we wanted more to happen. No and absolutely no will we ever vote for a republican government. That’s for sure.

At least we will not vote for a republican government that adheres to the ridiculous “Just say No” policies. Especially to a republican policy that favors non-regulations over good health and clean air. Republican policies that favor the rich and disparages the middle and lower class citizens.

You might say we are voting for the lesser of the two evils. But to be truthful, one big evil and one administration still trying to pass legislation that would benefit the American people. Legislation which have been thwarted by the Republican just say no rule.

Yes, we would have been pleased if a more comprehensive Health Care law had been enacted. A law which would have provided affordable health care for all citizens. Plus a more comprehensive laws and regulations on major water and air polluters. And, in addition to all this, legislation putting the jobless back to work.

And, yes a big fat NO on ever voting for a crazed Republican candidate. Perry, Bachmann, Romney, and the whole lot. All bad for America. So, if you don’t like Medicare and your Social Security vote republican. If you want to protect health education, and jobs; vote Obama.

On vacation and it's quiet here

Away from the craziness of the so-called real world. Visiting in the Land of Enchantment; sometimes called New Mexico. We are in a small town outside Santa Fe with fresh air and blue skies. Just enjoying the total escape.

I wish all could enjoy this as well. But, there is nothing I can do to make that happen. So, just enjoy the vicarious experience. And believe what I say is real.

My favorite part of being here is little or no noise. No nearby international airport. No jets taking off. No jets landing. No screaming jets passing overhead. No Harleys rumbling up and down the streets. No stereo Boom cars thumping and banging. Just kids outside laughing and yelling. Dogs barking. Kitties meowing and frogs croaking.

And, as you probably have surmised, yes, I am an old person and proud of it. Deserving of a little bit of quiet. Happy Weekend.

Debate yourself into a hole bubba.

It seems the more the debaters talk, the deeper the hole becomes. Sinking deeper and deeper after every pronouncement from each partisan prattler. Sinking down into the abyss of the forsaken. Finally slipping away into each candidates own self-miring quick sand.

Surely these garrulous guys must know the more they talk the worse their chances are. All giving good reason for voters to scratch their heads and wonder. Wonder what happened to common sense. What happened to pragmatism. What happened to ‘for the good of the American People.’

The only conclusion is, “What are they thinking?” What are the Republicans thinking when they make such outlandish statements. All sounding like they favor a more autocratic form of government. Anti-education. Anti-good health. Anti-immigration. And the pronouncements just begin there and becomes worse.

Is this the new normal? Or the new abnormal? Either way, I hope it’s short lived. God please prevent such recklessness and forgive us of our ignorance.

Here we go loopty loop. Here we go...

We are like a dog chasing its tail. Running in circles never to catch up. Just like riding on a never ending Merry-go-round and not able to get off. That’s what our downward spiraling economy is doing to we Americans.

Here we go loopty-loop. Here are the basics; We have an economy not willing to buy or spend it’s available cash. This includes small businesses as well as many consumers. Just keeping its cash in the bank. Sitting on it.

Then you have large corporations with plenty of on-hand cash but not willing to hire or build more inventory. Mainly because very few consumers are buying. Actually many consumers are putting what little cash they have in to low-yield CD accounts. Not wanting to take the risk and not trusting banks or Wall Street. Again, sitting on it.

To break this loopy round and round cycle the Obama administration is proposing putting Americans back to work on government projects. Mostly construction jobs which would benefit the states and counties. Jobs which would be first offered to those having been on unemployment or out of work. Out of work for at least six month or more.

So if modest wages are paid to folks who are over due on needing more food on the table, car repairs, dental work, roof repair, and more, money will quickly enter the local economy. These cash strapped people will not be saving their wages but speedily spending. Injecting cash into the cash starved economy. a shot in the arm. Reviving the local economy See how that works. Fast and painless.

All the while conservatives insist tax cuts instead of tax reform is the answer. But, for the thousandth time, tax cutting does not create jobs as documented by the GAO report. Hiring low wage earners does. Any junior high school economist can verify this fact. Just give him or her a twenty dollar bill and Varooooommm! Off goes that currency straight into the Walmart economy. See. See how that works. It can work. It will work. Let’s do it!

Fee politics

Sometimes I feel like I live on another planet.  Another planet with a different reality or perspective.  Maybe I came from the planet Krypton.  You know, the mythical planet where Superman had moved from.

I don’t know if it’s just me but what is wrong with this picture;  The airlines and the Airline Passenger Association are all up in a spastic lather about the Federal Aviation Agency wanting to raise user fees in order to fund TSA airport security agents and other Homeland security functions.   

And in the meantime the airlines themselves are raising fees on heavy baggage and other “essential” fees.  Bags weighing over 70-pounds.  And fees on other check-in or carry-on bags.

Now the FAA fee is something like a 15-dollar fee for one round trip ticket.  Plus a 100-dollar fee for each corporate or commercial airline take off and landing.  Certainly a noticeable fee but nothing the passenger or airline can’t handle.  Or, I guess, get rid of the TSA security folks.  Not a good idea.

However, the airlines are charging fees upwards to450-dollars per bag over 70-pounds.  A huge difference in airline fees and FAA fees.  I don’t get it.

It’s almost like airlines can charge any fee but the government can’t because it might be pronounced as a TAX.  Holy moly another tax.  Yeah right.  It’s the new reality I guess.  You just roll with the punches when airlines raise fees.  But, if the federal government raises fees it’s crimes against humankind.

Worship service or Circus?

Whatever happened to the Biblical notion of “Quick to listen and slow to speak?”  I don’t seem to hear this coming from the current quacking gaggle of conservative presidential hopefuls.  But for sure the opposite.  Judging everything that walks out of the Whitehouse.

Also, what happened to this thing we use to call the “Golden Rule?”  Now, it’s more like say it first about others before someone says it about you.  Just the opposite of the GR.  Nonetheless, I am sure all these guys and gals are suppose to be practicing Evangelicals.  However, I’m not sure if you can equate modern Evangelicals to the traditional form of Christianity.  There doesn’t seem to be a noticeable parallel here.  I would hate to meet one of these barking Evangelicals on a dark back street.  For sure you would need to pack just in case, your 9mm and loaded.  Look out!

Whatever happened to Blessed are the Peacemakers?  Also, whatever happened to blessed are the Meek and humble?  Where did the notion of taking care of the sick, the widows, the imprisoned, and the homeless go?  I don’t hear this in the current political discussion from all these so-called Evangelicals. 

I’m beginning to believe that Evangelical really means, “White old Republican men.  And sometime women.  And obviously not very many Blacks or Hispanics.  And for sure no Moslems or Asians.

Evangelical appears to mean, “Wolf in Sheep clothing.”  Living a pretense just for personal gaine.  Masquerading in hopes of pulling a fast one on the American people.  Tricksters, Carnival Barkers, con men, etc.  Voters Beware!

Not this again!

“Cut taxes for the rich and jobs will follow.”  Yeah right.  A mantra often proclaimed by many conservatives.  Oh really?  So, where are the jobs? 

I know this coming 2012 campaign season once again will have its share of the partisan battle cry, “Jobs Jobs Jobs.”  As if we’ve never heard this before.  Remember 2010?  It was Jobs-jobs-jobs into infinity.  Spouted mindlessly by hollow headed candidates.  But quickly forgotten once a candidate took office and then started their reelection campaign fund raising just days after swearing in. 

Well, if you haven’t been paying attention, taxes have been cut long ago.  The rich have been on a tax holiday for the past ten years.  And most recently the rich have been given an additional year of tax-free frolicking through the daisies.  All the while their savings are stacking up in large vaults like Scrooge McDuck.  But as a result, no new jobs.

So, where are the jobs that the well meaning congressman and the rich had promised?

TEA partiers, where are the jobs?  Mainline conservatives, where are the jobs?  The very rich, where are the jobs?  Don’t give me that shallow excuse, “Well Obama hasn’t created jobs.  The president doesn’t create jobs.  Congress has to act on any proposal the President suggests.  You know the freaking drill.  Stop excusing yourselves and blaming others.

It’s the TEA party stupid!  It’s the conservatives stupid!  It’s cutting taxes for the rich stupid!  All job killers stupid!

A letter to the editor to our local paper

Letter to the Editor: 'China or bust'. Leo Byford, Tulsa. For the first time since 1945, we have seen no net jobs created in the nation. I am not a supporter of President Barack Obama, but Obama is not the only one to blame. When a government and elected officials could care less about the nation and have for years wasted tax dollars, provided taxpayer money to the good ol' boys program, and greed and votes count more than the people who have paid taxes for years, the day has finally arrived for decision making. When we have elected officials and government that reject and will not support energy products that will save electric consumers 40 percent to 50 percent on their electric bills, engines that will get 200-plus mpg, permanent solutions to waste that will stop the degrading of our waters, elected officials who promise change and change never happens, leaders who ignore the laws, a media that only publishes what it wants you to read, you get just what we have now. The question now becomes, do we change or continue to do business as usual or put a sign on the car that says, "China or bust? Letters to the editor are encouraged. .com.. This article is provided to you as a courtesy of NFB-NEWSLIN

A bottle of fine wine may be cheaper than a bottle of gasoline

I am just guessing but I am almost certain when China gets its second breath and continues to progress and build some more, gasoline prices will double.  I may be wrong but it almost looks like that’s the direction gasoline prices are headed.  And, there’s nothing we can do about it.

It is absolutely certain if we drill for oil inland or offshore, whatever is pulled out of the ground will automatically put on the world market.  Our domestic producers are not stupid.  They know where the money comes from.  China being one of them.  Thus prices will sky rocket. 

Nonetheless, it would takes years to get oil flowing.  It just doesn’t happen over night.  It takes geology, guessing, hunting, drilling, and drilling again.  A slow laborious process.

And once again, the oil companies will sell the oil to the highest bidder.  Global demand.  Global prices.  Good luck.

A lesson we all should have learned in High School

How many times do we have to go over this?  How many times do we have to explain simple economics?  You borrow.  You pay back.  Typical credit lending terms.

Please pay attention.  The United States during George W Bush administration borrowed about four trillion dollars to pay for the two Middle Eastern wars.  Okay?  Borrowed from China, Japan, India, and mostly from the federal treasury.

Then on top of that GWB cut revenue into the treasury by reducing taxes for the Rich.  Okay?  Creating a bigger deficit.  Going from bad to worse.

All this would be like a man working two jobs and takes out a large loan.  Possibly more than he could pay back.  In the meantime the man loses one of his jobs.  Reducing his income.  And reducing his ability to pay off the entire loan.  Then man refuses to pay back the loan stating he doesn’t want to look for another second job.  Working two jobs just gets in the way of his personal life.  Leaving a huge debt unpaid.

So, the debt collectors are now knocking at the door wanting payment.  Collector doesn’t want to see a budget plan.  He wants to see hard cash.  Legal tender.  Money!  Money anyway you can get it.

Now the only way the US Treasury can get money is to increase taxes on the rich.  It’s too late to put a lean on George W Bush’s personal property.  However we could attach his current wages.  Not a bad idea huh.  But not enough money to pay downs the deficit.

Social Security and Medicare didn’t borrow money to run two costly wars.  It was the Bush Administration and his rich friends.  So now, he and his rich friends need to pony up and pay back the loan. 

In other words, we must raise more revenue by taxing the rich.  There, I said it.  Tax the freaking rich.  It’s their debt.  Not yours or mine.  Raise taxes.  Stop all give away loopholes.  Let the rich bite the bullet.  It’s their turn.

VW? From a Jack to a Queen?

Volkswagen had recently stopped manufacturing, the updated upscale classic Beetle bug car.  Saying it just doesn’t appeal to men.  It was called in some quarters a girl car.  Some say a Chick bug.  Nonetheless, purchased mostly by younger single women.

Let me mention this, I had two vintage VW Beetles.  A 1958 VW with the classic small oval rear window.  Really cool looking. And then I had owned a 1963 VW with updated front and rear lights.  Still a classic VW Beetle.

What I liked about these two cars was its roundishness.  Rounded front sloping hood and the iconic roundish sloping rear.  And most of all the air-cooled rear engine with dual chrome exhausts.  But an automobile you wouldn’t take to the races.  Probably had about a hundred-horse power at best.  It went zero to sixty in about six days.

Never the less, both model cars I rarely saw women drive.  It was a guy car.  So what happened?  How did this classic German machine go from grassroots blue collar to Pinkish girly suburban transportation?

I suppose placing the larger water-cooled engine in front and flattening out the hood, roof, and rear deck.  Turning it into a morphed Girly Beetle.  Making it look cute instead of caveman basic.

Actually I could care less if a VW Beetle has “Road race” power and handling.  I loved my two Beetles because of the opposite.  It required more hands on and mental ingenuity.  Plus it had a real four-speed very manual transmission.  Shifting is what I liked.

So, if I were to advise VW on how to design the all-new 2012 Beetle, I would suggest to just pick it up where they left off in 1979.  Sitting high on independent suspension, Roundish, four-speed, and rear air-cooled engine.  Pretty much the same humble VW bug that was imported to the US in the 1960s.  I certainly would buy one.  Millions of manly men like myself would buy one.  Yes!  You bet.

Is there really time in a bottle?

First it was Compact Florescent Lights.  CFL bulbs that are replacing the ancient incandescent light bulbs by federal government mandate.  But not without resistance.  Now its bottled water banned on some college campuses.  We just cannot satisfy the far right conservative mind.  Only if they were indeed conservative or rather conservators of the environment.  But, I guess, they are not.

Let me explain what we are talking about.  Not only is the far right against replacing the old Edison light bulb but also conservatives are up in arms about bottled water.  It appears many colleges across the American landscape have decided to put an end to bottled water and it’s by-product, empty plastic bottles.  Empty plastic bottles abandoned on the college campus.  Tossed away willy-nilly and forgotten.  Campus litter.  Oh sure, the bottles are recyclable but college students rarely taking the time to dispose of them properly.  Bottles easily left here and there around classrooms and dorms.

What has recently replaced the banned bottle on some campuses is a water station or hydration stations.  A convenient centrally located place to refill your personal water bottles.  Easy and no mess.  And best of all, doesn’t cost anything to refill.

However, on some campuses are a group of Republican students protesting bias against the plastic water bottled sold in most grocery and convenience stores.  Sighting that banned bottled water sales takes away the freedom of choice.  And we all know how Republicans feel about Choice. 

But, behind this campus political activism, is the Bottled Water Association.  A Washington lobbying group.  An association who are opposed to “Socialized” water.  Preferring the better choice of Privatized water.  Simply know as Bottled Water.  You get new water and you get a new bottle every time.  How cool.  Not really.

Never the less, whenever a better idea comes along there seems to be some lump heads that always must disagree.  No matter what the cause.  And in this case, colleges are trying to reduce campus litter plus make it more convenient for the student to fill up cheaply and rehydrate themselves.  So, what’s wrong with that?  “It’s anti-capitalism and against free market choice.”  For every good idea, there is an   opposing bad idea.  Such is life.

TV political debates. The ultimate Reality TV.

Survivor, the reality TV show has more to do with today’s politics than politics has to do with real reality.  But we are not talking about reality as Middle American witness in his or her own day-to-day survival.  Go to school, go to work, eat, sleep, pay bills, etc. 

No, not at all. But, politics has more to do with the tribal survival pursuits as seen on TV’s Reality shows.  Tribal, Bazaar, cutthroat, demeaning, and even distorting.  All just to survive.  Just to win at politics.  Winning at any cost.  Winning just to win.  Not to create a better world.  But, “Winning is the only thing.”

But my premise is, what we see on the Nightly News is very much influenced by most of the current crop of Reality TV Shows.  Plus also being influenced by scores of ‘Sitcoms,’ which besmirch subjugated characters just to get in a cheap shot punch line.  Almost always zinging a lowly character at the expense of his or her reputation.  Very much like today’s politics.  Survivor and politics often blending with each other.

Thus making today’s politics our biggest and best Reality TV show.  Blatant disregard for anybody’s position or reputation.  And for sure, the President being the prime target for many opposing politician’s disdain or wrath.  Reducing the President’s persona down to that of a humiliated cast off member of survivor.  Voted of the Island by tribal bullies.  Who needs a President anyway?

Nonetheless, we have watched so many Reality TV shows that the style of politics we see on TV debates and political Ads is really what we expect and want.  I’m almost sure political consultants advise their clients to take on the survivor model since it is so popular.  Our expectations are for dirty nasty contentious politics.  Uncivil Civil War.  We know no other.  So if you have complaint of how campaigns are run, just blame ourselves for watching too much Reality TV.  What you see is what we have gotten.  Survival of the fittest.  Or, survival of the bazaar.  And, Bazaarness is what sells TV advertising.

If you have any boot straps, pull them up now.

Folks, we’re going to have to suck it in and hang in for the long haul.  At the moment there is no magic bullet or quick cure.  And I’m talking about the current condition of the economy.  As you may or may not know the national economy is in a big pickle.  Down in a deep hole and having a horrendous struggle getting out. 

And the reason I’m bring this to your attention is, the president is having a tough time fixing this problem.  All the while he has relentless critics from the left and the right.   Not to mention the harangue from the media and talk radio.  Most of which is not at all easing our current financial dilemma.  More like intensifying an already bad situation.  So, ease off please.

How is it we have become to expect such immediate results.  It took us more than eight years to get to this horrific place and it will take as many to get back.  Back to where we once belong, Jojo(see Beatles song book for clarification). 

My guess, based on advanced years of walking the planet, it will take a while to return to a robust economy.  Most likely an economy base on new ideas and technology.  An economy requiring re-education and learning new skills.  The high paying assembling jobs are gone along with our current expectations of returning to an old manufacturing and export model.  However, we possibly could get back to some degree of a robust economy but it would need to be based on building and using  new technology and using less carbon based energy.  Most likely using less labor at the outset.

Right now, many people and companies are setting on their cash.  Not willing to spend and I am afraid it will be that way for a long while.  Most from fear of the recent economy nose-dive.  Consumerism will possibly never recover to the pre-nine/eleven levels.  So, tighten your belt, it going to be a long ride.

Learn to grow your own food.  Help a neighbor in financial trouble.  Walk more and drive less.  Carpool.  Take a bus.  Use less water.  Turn off the lights in the house.  Eat less food.  Cook at home more often.  Turn up the air conditioning.  Wear shorts in the summer. 

There is nothing in the Constitution that guaranteed us absolute affluence.  As some of us have already found out, it will take an occasional bighting the bullet.  Take your punches and move on.  There will be Falling down and then we get up again.  It will certainly be a struggle but with less complaint and more “get on with it” American spirit, we can get pass this bump in the road.  Please, let’s work together.  It will make it easier on all of us including the Prez.

A column from our local paper

Gossip is allegedly rampant, sources say. JAY CRONLEY World Staff Columnist. We live in a world filled with sloppy gossip. Unsubstantiated rumors top the legitimate news. What is legitimate news? It used to be when somebody listed a source, a name, a real person. Now it's a source close to the White House, a source near the coroner, a source who refuses to give a name because the information is probably wrong and doesn't want to be embarrassed. Legitimate news is wrong less. Gossip has unnamed sources. Manufactured threats: So many unnamed sources are used, you halfway think that the writer or reporter is making stuff up. Sometimes the unnamed source is probably the person doing the reporting him or herself. If gossip isn't repeated, you could get left behind. And not being wrong along with the rest of them has come to be considered a weakness. Just before the 9/11 anniversary, various news and gossip organizations reported that a new legitimate terror threat existed. A reporter-slash-gossip said in one of the worst attributions in legitimate news history that the terrorist threat information came from somebody who should know. Pretty soon everybody had the alleged story. There's more "alleged" in the news business these days than there is in crime. Somebody who should know is considered to be a much better source than somebody who might know, and 10 times better than the source who hasn't known much recently. And this was frightening gossip. We find ourselves in a time when being wrong first is more desirable than being correct later. And nobody ever apologizes for big mistakes; they're on to the next gossip. Do the hustle: Sports has come to be covered like sleazy show-business scoops, with so-called journalists and junk bloggers alike racing to release wild guesses based on unheard-of sources. The mad hustle and shuffle for the best gossip has given rise to a new form of hypocrisy. If a reporter or writer doesn't like anonymous criticism, then you shouldn't make a living off unnamed or anonymous sources. Sometimes it's as if the media has competing for awards at the front of its mind. And sometimes the people can suffer for it..

Making sense of it all.

Each time I listen to or hear about another Republican debate, I scratch my head and wonder. I keep asking myself will sensibility ever return to the campaign and voting process in America.  Will truly qualified candidates ever come back to the table and enter the debate?  Well, the prospect looks dim.  Hope is fading fast.

Of course, this time the whole process has been tossed on it’s ear.  Shifting the debate and focus on Rick Perry’s entrance into the Republican scrimmage.  Shifting far right ideology further to the right and drawing all the other candidates along with him.  Sort of like a Texas tornado gathering debris and tossing it over the landscape.  Mostly moving more towards civil war and creating a confederacy.

Nonetheless, I am most concerned because I use to be a Republican.  But in later years since Ronald Reagan, my party abandoned me.  Leaving me in the middle.  Consequently leaving me in the hands of Independent mongers.  People of extreme logic and rationality. 

So I roam through the wilderness searching for who or what to identify with.  Certainly not the right.  And, certainly not the left.  Thus leaving me to decide for myself and Making my own decisions.  Forcing me to study the real issues independently and away from partisan spin and hyperbole.  Well you know ladies and gentlemen, it seems to be working out okay this way.  You should try it.

Social drinking again?

Let’s talk about our drinking water.  For the most part drinking water in our communities is safe and thirst quenching.  But, we are not talking about safe drinking water this time. 

I want to address the rhetoric about socialized this and socialized that.  Babble accusing democrats for their communal mongering.  Always wanting more taxes to fund so called welfare programs.  “Tax and spend again.”

If you haven’t been paying attention one of the biggest socialized programs in our state are the large presents of nearby lakes.  Man made lakes funded by federal dollars.  Lakes built during the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administration.  Some lakes also providing electrical power.  Most providing recreational boating and sailing.  Many with state built lodges.  But most of all lakes providing water for drinking.  Drinking water collected, purified, and delivered to households by state and local municipalities.  Water brought to our water faucet in our kitchens and bathrooms.  Not to mention water to irrigate our lawns and gardens.

But here is my point.  Water collected and delivered to us and paid for by federal money and local taxes.  A social system if I have ever seen one.  Do we want to give up our drinking water just because it’s paid for by federal, state, and city taxes?  Well then, stop this socialized crap.  Or stop drinking our water.  There’s plenty of privatized water at the grocery store.  All in convenient plastic bottles.  Bottles often tossed away over the landscape.  Creating a privatized blight on the environment.

We are all in this together

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, it is the weekend and I will have to admit the weather is much more pleasant here on the southern Plaines.  The nighttime temps have dipped down to the mid fifties, give or take a degree or two.  However, Flood, relentless heat, drought, and power outages are all around us today.  Plus much yelling, pounding, and gnashing of teeth going on in Washington.  Which by the way is normal for Washington

So if you too are somewhere here in the south to mid west, consider yourself lucky.  We’ve got all the good breaks.  Cooler mornings and moderate daytime temps.  Just like any other typical early fall day.  Count your blessings.

But, if you are in any of these other locations with horrific conditions, we feel for you.  We’ve been there and suffered the same as well.  Just stick it out and it should get better.  At least we pray so.

Have a worthwhile weekend.  Stay dry.  Stay cool.  Be patient and this too shall pass.

Let me repeat myself

I believe, if left to it’s own devices, history can repeat itself.  And sometimes, I’m not so sure if that’s good or bad.  Sometimes history can repeat itself in the worst way.  Especially if we ignore painful history. 

Certainly in these difficult times of retreating economy, house foreclosures,  and job layoffs, history has come back to visit.  And in the worst way for sure.  Nonetheless, ignoring the reckless past has presented itself once again.

What is happening now with our poor economy, bankruptcies, many out of work, and many becoming homeless was experienced several times in our American past.  All the classic signs from the great depression, Wall Street collapse, homelessness, and soup lines in the 1930s should have been hints for the present.  All the classic signs from back then were ignored during our recent financial, banking, and automobile manufacturing crash.  Simply put, we should have known better.  We took our eyes off the road.  We ignored 1930s history.  So, it came back in 2008 and bit us in the butt  once again.  My goodness, will we ever learn?

Never the less, this website takes a microcosm from the past, analyzes it, try’s to figure out what happened back then, and takes the wisdom and experiences and creates a better perspective for the present. 

The microcosm?  My Okie family.  The experiences?  Moving from the red dirt Plaines in 1941 from Oklahoma then Growing up Okie in Los Angeles.  The present?  Knowing what happened in the past in order to predict the future.  It’s almost magic.  It works.  We just have to learn to use it.  History is our crystal ball.  The weather forecaster if you will.

So, I dedicate this site for divining the present.  Know history and use it. And, for goodness sakes don’t ignore it.

You will notice the history I write is a little bit tongue in cheek but largely the truth.  My Red Dirt blog and Okie journal I try to represent the forgotten past and the sometimes regrettable present.  LOL.  My radio podcast are brief commentaries of culture, technology, and social issues.  Enjoy listening and reading.

All my best,

Chuck Ayers

You've got to be kidding! This is a nightmare.

Please please no more.  I have heard enough.  If this is all the Republicans can come up with as presidential candidates, they are in big trouble.  A virtual field of idiots.  Junior high caliber.

However, I must give this warning.  If Rick Perry is chosen by his party to run for president he would automatically be the enemy of the state.  And I mean the whole United States.  The world’s most dangerous man.  A walking moralizing self-righteous zombie.  Certainly a man not fit to be President.  Actually a mental pigmy with the intent to destroy all that America stands for.  An enemy of “truth Justice and the American way.  A one man wrecking ball against Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Nonetheless, the entire collection of Republican candidates sounded like a junior high debate team.  Naïve, uneducated, ill informed, poorly read, stupefying, embarrassing, shameful, and just plane extreme.  A mind-boggling gathering of prattling buffoons.

Bring back Richard Nixon.  Where is Eisenhower when we need him?  Abraham Lincoln, please save us from these maniacal guerrilla food fighters.  All these candidates are Purveyors of political slug and mud.  Bona fide toilet workers with the intent of bringing us all down with them.

Help!  Help!  Help!

I want the money to come up here, not down there.

To give some clarity to my earlier post, I must mention a few more things.  Congress is resisting to grass root jobs programs because of many things.  Almost too numerous to mention here.  But, I’ll mention most of them anyway.

First you must understand Congress and big monied interest are sharing the same bed and both are consenting adults.  Right?  Absolutely a quid pro quo relationship.  Sort of like Congress standing by the road with a sign saying, “Will work for good money.”  Doing almost anything corporations, banks, and Wall Street ask Congress to do.  And for sure in return for cold cash for reelection campaigns and a bit more.  So you know for sure money is involved in this illegitimate relationship and willing hands to take it.  Something like Congress suckling the breasts of the adulterous lobbyists.

Second of all congress and their Sugar daddy organ grinders prefer any money spent be filtered through the upper tiers of big banking and Finance.  Absolutely not down at the grass roots.  They lose control of the money that way.  Free money is slow coming if perk elating up from the roots.  It has to pass through too many hands resulting in lesser amounts of money making it to the top.    Big Biz prefers the trickle down method instead.

Let me explain the bubbling up method.  A new hire worker is paid, he or she goes to the store to buy something, a retailer receives their money from purchases, some goes to pay the retailer’s hired help and overhead, tax money is skimmed off and sent to the city or state, wholesalers get their share, and then if anything is left bankers get the remains.  Leaving a lesser amount to add to the big bankers savings account.  So, you can see why Big Money Bizzes haven’t ever liked federal program jobs down at the grass roots level.  It takes the control away from Big Finance and Banks and leaves them with less.  Less than if they got the money first.  Are you following me?  Good.  We’ll continue this discussion later.

Give a poor man a dollar and he spends it immediately

I am not an economist but I know this principle works.  It’s basic cash flow.  Money in.  Money out.  Where it goes and whom it benefits.

Now, if you gave a million dollars in tax breaks to Warren Buffett he would take it and keep it in the bank.  He basically does not need another Million.  Plus he is not going to hire anybody to do anything for him because he doesn’t need the added service.

Like wise a business would take saved money from a possible tax cut and keep it in the bank or pay off outstanding debt.  Not hiring anyone because his or her service or product demand has not yet increased.  Why hire someone to build or manufacture something when the demand is not there.  So, put it in the bank.  And certainly as we all know the lack of demand is due to a very sluggish economy.  No cash flow.

Now, unlike any of the above scenarios, if tax money is spent on hiring a man or woman to repair roads, fix bridges, build high-speed rail, extend runways, and more, that in itself puts cash immediately into the economy.  Let me explain.  Again, it’s simple applied home economics.

For an example if you watch an out of work individual who has past due debt, needs food on the table, gas in the tank, has a car needing repair, has a mortgage and insurance to pay, dental work to be done, children’s college education to pay for, and then give him or her money for hired work almost immediately the cash goes quickly into the economy.  The grocer receives more cash.  The car repairman receives more money.  The local college receives more money.  And you see the flow of immediate cash.  Right?

Then after all the above transactions taxes are collected and that money goes to more street repair and helps hire more police and fire personnel.  See how that works?  It’s almost like a pyramid effect.  Flowing quickly to people who really need the cash flow.

And if that work and cash flow is sustained, money starts flowing up.  And the process that helps to flow up is demand.  Demand for more goods and services.  Thus allowing the larger companies to hire more workers because of product or service demand.  Then the above pyramid effect repeats itself again and again.  See how that works?

Look, I am not a genius.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure this simple principle out.  And, I am sorry to admit Congress is far far below genius level.  Not able to see this principle.  Basically ignoring it all together.  Congress is more intent on reelection politics and playing games with themselves.  Please ask your congressperson to read the economic policy reports.  It’s there.  It’s simple.  Money in.  Money out.  It’s will work.

I would rather vote for Millard Fillmore than for Rick Perry

I think I would vote for Richard M Nixon before I would vote for the current crop of Republican presidential contenders.  I would most certainly vote for Dwight D Eisenhower instead of the current Republican field.  I think I would almost vote for David Letterman or Jay Leno before voting for the nare do well selection of right-wingers and tea baggers.  What an American embarrassment.

Isn’t there a committee or board of adjusters that should certify the candidates before they decide to run for President?  It almost appears if a person is wacky enough he or she can run for President.  How shameful and ridiculous. 

However, on the other end of the spectrum, I would rather vote for Franklin D Roosevelt before voting for Barock Obama.  I also most likely vote for Bill Clinton before voting for President Obama.  We need someone with vision and guts to stand up against the bonehead’s candidates of the Republican Party.

There are just not enough awful words to describe the buffoonery and stupidity found in the current field of Republican candidates.  All the adjectives and expletives barely describe the knuckleheads on the right.  Bottom feeding jerks all of them.  All sounding like barking seals at feeding time.  Flopping about and acting like six-year-old boys with Attention Hyper Distraction Disorder.  “Mom mom!  Look at me.”

How did all this happen?  How did we spiral down to an elementary school level of food fighting politics?  Republican Candidate who all would qualify for “Dumming Down” poster children.”  None of them even qualified for high school class secretary.  I’m not even sure if they would qualified for “Ball Monitor.”  I wouldn’t trust them.  God save us from this mess.  Forgive us for taking our eye off the political ball.  God bless America.

From Okie Without Borders. Growing up Okie in L A.

A few years ago after my dad’s passing in 2007, one of the many things we siblings had to close out on was canceling my late dad’s phone number and service.  Phone number and service he and our mom have had originally setup back in 1948.  Their first phone service they had arranged with Pacific Bell Telephone Company and were then assigned an alpha/numeric dialing code known as a phone number. 

The phone number consisted of a name and a number.  The prefix was Union.  Union 1-5378.  The telephone company thought it might be easier back then for phone customers to remember long phone numbers if placing a named prefix in front of the numeric suffix.  Thus not needing to remember a long complicated string of numbers.  It was so easy.  So what had to be done when dialing was just dial U N 1 5 3 7 8.  Only dialing the first two letters in the word prefix.  Get it?

Now Of course, where my mom and dad originally came from back in Oklahoma, all they had to do when making a phone call was just pick up the phone receiver and crank the handle.  Then ask the telephone operator at the phone office in town to connect to Aunt Minnie’s residence.  So the phone operator just plugged in the right connecting cord plug to the right hole and Aunt Minnie’s phone rang.  But so did a half dozen other phones ring at the same time on her party line.  However, Aunt Minnie had a special assigned ring.  Two shorts and a long ring.  Designating this call is only for Aunt Minnie.  Oh, really?  However that only worked if a phone system had only a hundred or two phone customers.  But when my mom and dad moved out to Los Angeles, the phone numbers increased by several million.  Necessitating the caller to dial multiple numbers to reach the right party.  Making it more complicated.  Just too many numbers to remember.  Therefore coming up with the prefix/suffix system.  Get it?

Never the less back in Los Angeles, when we all moved a few years’ later about three miles eastward in 1954 our phone number prefix changed to Parkview.  So it was Parkview 1-5378.  Or, PA 1 5 3 7 8 and keeping the original subsequent numbers. 

Then when the sixties came Parkview was converted to all digits and phone dialing became a numeric system.  721-5378 had remained my mom and dad’s phone number until their recent passing.  Finally saying goodbye to the old family phone number.  It was so sad to see those numbers go away after being in the family so long.

Now backing up a few decades and going back to the early 1950s.  Inside our little East Los Angeles adobe house on Simmons Avenue, we had one phone.  A black clunky mechanical rotary dialing instrument with a large heavy hand receiver.  Probably weighing about twenty pounds or so.  And all attached to the wall by a six foot hard-wired fabric bound cord.  It was constructed from a black primeval Western Electric Bakelite plastic.  The large double bell ringer could be heard five doors down from our adobe home. 

But anyway, our single phone was located in a small breakfast nook adjacent to our smallish grease laden kitchen.  A place where you could either cooks while you talk or talk while you cook.  Whichever.  Certainly not centrally located but it seemed to work for all of us at that moment.

Nonetheless, as a naïve Okie youngster, I don’t remember ever answering or dialing the phone.  Maybe once or twice but not more than that.  Can’t remember.  This was back at my tender age of six or seven.  I was not sufficiently schooled to confidently operate the talking device.  I felt it my mom’s duty to operate the phone.  I would certainly back away from it when it rang loudly.  Answering and dialing was above my pay grade.

Later, and without too much warning, we Okies all moved into the postmodern world.  Acclimating and upgrading our social skills.  Being the sophisticated Okies that we were, my mom and dad surmised it was time to relocate my oldest sister out of the second bedroom.  A tiny room, which also was occupied, by my youngest sister and older brother.  Three siblings in one dinky bedroom was not practical for good brother-sister harmony.  By the way, I myself was bedded down at that time in a small daybed in my mom and dad’s room.  Which is a story for another time. 

But anyway, my parents decided to move my older sister to the breakfast nook, which was veiled off with a heavy upholstery fabric Curtin.  She was rapidly becoming a teenager and needed her space and privacy.  She was noticeably becoming different than my younger sister.  Meaning, you could see freckles all over my older sisters body.  If you know what I mean.  So, she was moved to her own digs in the nook.

Now this is where trouble began.  You had here teen girl, telephone arms length away, and a heavy opaque privacy curtain.  What were my mom and dad really thinking?  It all started with a missing movable phone taken from the kitchen counter.  Took by a freckled hand and drawn quickly behind the privacy Veil.  Then there were low hushed secretive pig Latin phrases separated now and then with long pauses and rapid breathing.  Breathing with frequent gasps and quivering whispers.  This is not to mention nervous anxious feet stuck up in the air occasionally pounding on the nook wall while steeped in unintelligible communication.  And how did I know this?  My younger sister and I just happened to be outside the privacy veil on a few whispering occasions.  Just minding our own business of course.  Yeah right.

But the big and little of it all was, my older sister’s behavior Certainly had become the prototype model for today’s mumbling, messaging, texting, twittering, facebooking, and 24/7 totally connected teenager.  A teenager intent on covert communications.  A teen information exchange made away from prying adult ears and eyes.  Yes, my older teen sister started it all.

“Tell mom about this today and you’ll be chicken fried snake tomorrow,” I’m sure my sister said back then to me.  lol & grins 4 all.  Thanks for calling and goodbye.  Click!  Buzzzzzzzz.

It would be mad to take our economy into a U-turn.

The big problem with Barock Obama is he is too much of a nice man.  Giving the opposition the benefit of the doubt.  A negotiator and compromiser.  Knowing how to give and take. 

What he needs to learn is the partisan opposition is just that, Partisan and nothing else.  Hard nosed.  Stuck on one issue.  Dead wood starting to petrify into stone.  And in the mean time obstructing good government.  Unyielding politicians more than willing to take advantage of President Obamas democratic style of government.  Basically saying the conservatives will play by their own rules.  And turn around and expect you to play by the rules of normal fair play.

I would recommend to President Obama to become a bit political himself.  Holding his ground on certain issues of benefit for the American people.  Over look politics and go for good policies and laws.

There is no reason to debate why we are in this recession.  We know why people are out of work.  We’ve debated taxes.  We debated how to create jobs for America.

We just need to get past the rhetoric and lies and press for workable jobs programs.  Then ask the large corporations and wealthy individuals to pay their share of the rebuilding and recovery of America.

We tried the George W Bush approach once already.  We gave tax breaks for the rich.  We bailed out the banks and Wall Street.  We had relaxed banking and consumer rules and regulations.  All to discover not only did it not work but got us into this financial and job mess we are now in.  An economy spiraling downward and many out of work.  So, why would we want to go back to such destructive ways?

So to even think of any Republican as a potential president would be to continue the economic downward trends.  We would be nuts to think Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Mit Romney, or any of the other Republican candidates as good for our country.  Because as mentioned, they would continue the GWB policies of tax breaks for the rich  and basically give away our economic engine.  Absolutely back to the financial hole where we started from in 2007.  We don’t want that.  

Aah, the moon and the stars and oh yeah, space junk

So, a big consideration in launching an expensive satellite in to space is danger from…Space Junk.  You can rocket your expensive communication or weather satellite into space but how long will it stay up there?  Not for long if a spent rocket carcass crashes into it at 20k miles per hour.  Either knocking it out of orbit or completely obliterating it.  Turning your expensive satellite into space junk as well.  Worthless.  A giant waste of time and money.  Just adding more debris in space as more threats to future satellite launches or space exploration.

It’s bad enough down here on earth to see abandoned refrigerators along side the rural county roads.  Plus bags of home generated garbage and tossed away rubber tires.  All adding to the blight of our earthbound landscape.  In space or on the ground, we have a growing problem with our trash.  How to get rid of it?

It is obvious our so-called rocket scientists failed to plan for what to do with space junk after the fact.  Most likely a puzzlement beyond the calculations of space engineers.  Likewise our waste management scientists have the same problem.  How to dispose of waste junk.  On the ground and in the air.

Then there the problem with nuclear waste.  Where to put it.  Where to hide it.  We have a huge space and ground waste management problem.

Perhaps we should stop producing future junk until we develop ways of permanently ridding the environment of this junk problem.

Can the rocket scientists make rockets out of biodegradable materials?  Maybe making it from paper egg cartons?  Maybe making refrigerators, which can be recycled into new refrigerators?  How long will we continue to make such junk before we run out of space on the ground or up in space.  No space in space?  Yuck.  How will we observe the stars and moon on a romantic summer night?  “Oh look dear, remember the space lab America and the Russians built?  There it goes up there in about six pieces.  How cool.”

Another article worth sharing

7 ways to create . . . By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY More than two years after the Great Recession ended, some 14 million Americans are out of work, nearly half of them for six months or longer.What's worse, this bleak picture shows no signs of brightening soon. Economic growth is expected to plod along at a lackluster 2.5% pace next year, leaving the jobless rate hovering just below 9% by the end of 2012. And so for the second time since early 2009, the government is looking to jump-start a job market caught between tight-fisted consumers and wary businesses. President Obama on Thursday is expected to propose more government spending on construction projects, aid to budget-strapped states and new tax credits to encourage hiring, among other strategies.Republicans have signaled they're firmly opposed to another large economic stimulus that adds to the $1.3 trillion deficit. They prefer less-costly steps to promote job growth long term, such as cutting the corporate tax rate and streamlining regulations.USA TODAY decided to look past the partisan crossfire and ask more than a dozen think tanks, economists, industry groups and lawmakers a simple question: What can Washington do to get America back to work again? Repair roads, bridges, schools Fixing the nation's aging infrastructure would create jobs more quickly than tax cuts -- in as little as a few months -- and meet critical needs that must be addressed eventually. Transportation bottlenecks are costing the country about $200 billion a year, or 1.6% of economic output, according to a study by a bipartisan coalition of state and local politicians. It would take $2.2 trillion over the next five years to upgrade the USA's roads, highways, seaports, rail lines and bridges, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates. With yields on 10-year Treasury bonds at about 2%, borrowing costs for the U.S. government are as low as they've ever been. There's never been a more opportune time to invest in infrastructure," says Andrew Fieldhouse, policy analyst for the liberal Economic Policy Institute (EPI). To make a tangible impact, Congress could go big, spending $200 billion each of the next two years. Fieldhouse says that would create more than 2 million jobs and reduce unemployment about 0.8 percentage points. While that may seem ambitious in an era of fiscal austerity, each dollar spent generates $1.44 in economic output, according to EPI and Moody's Analytics. As a result, about half the money would come back to the government through increased tax revenue. Some funds also could be used to build out a smart electric grid, bring broadband to rural areas and upgrade water systems. Political and budget realities, of course, may mean shrinking grand visions. A growing chorus of economists are calling for a more targeted plan to upgrade the nation's schools with projects such as fixing up playgrounds, removing mold and installing solar panels. Unlike highway or rail improvements that take months to launch, cash could be funneled to states and school districts within 30 days through existing funding formulas, and much of the work could be done in the winter. And since the projects are more labor-intensive, they would largely pay for salaries rather than heavy capital equipment. Such a plan could draw wide public support, says Jared Bernstein, former economic policy adviser for Vice President Biden and now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. These are the public schools in our communities where we drop our kids off. A broad jobs bill by Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., calls for spending $100 billion to create 650,000 school construction and maintenance jobs in two years. Yet anything that looks even remotely like the $800 billion economic stimulus might face an uphill fight in Congress. A more politically palatable option that's gaining some traction is an infrastructure bank that would provide loans and loan guarantees to private firms that could recoup their investments through highway tolls or local sales taxes. Obama has pushed the idea. And a bill by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, would leverage $10 billion to $160 billion in public financing to generate up to four times as much in private investment. U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue this week said, "There is lots of private money there" to invest in infrastructure improvement. Here's the rub: Such a bank could take at least a year or two to get up and running, so it wouldn't provide the kind of short-term stimulus needed to quickly jump-start the anemic job market. Give states a helping hand Since early 2010, budget-crunched state and local governments have cut 425,000 jobs even while private employers have added 2.3 million. States face budget shortfalls totaling $103 billion in the current fiscal year, helping to force an additional 300,000 state and local layoffs by the end of 2012, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. The government could provide up to $20 billion to states to save about 200,000 teaching and other government jobs. That's probably the quickest way to prop up payrolls, says Michael Ettlinger, vice president for public policy at the liberal Center for American Progress. A $50 billion program would close half the $97 billion deficit states face for Medicaid payments, saving about 500,000 jobs, Fieldhouse says. Schakowsky's bill would spend $227 billion to create 2.2 million jobs in two years, at a per-job cost of about $50,000 a year, all through existing funding programs that can disburse the money within weeks to states and localities. Besides the school repair projects, her plan would hire about 350,000 teachers, police officers and firefighters, 40,000 health care workers and 100,000 youths to spruce up parks. Add workers, at a discount If you want to boost sales, cut the price. That's basically the idea behind a tax credit for each new employee a business hires over its staffing level the previous year. To make an impact, the government should offer a per-employee credit of $10,000 as well as 10% of increased wages for two years, says Michael Greenstone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. This is most directly targeted at the thing you want: more employment," he says. A similar tax credit last year didn't appear to light a fire under employers. Those that hired people who were jobless at least eight weeks were exempt from the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax. Employers of 10.6 million workers from February through October 2010 were eligible for the credit, which saved as much as $3,480 for the addition of a $40,000-a-year worker. But the Treasury Department acknowledges it doesn't know how many of those workers would have been hired anyway. Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business oppose a hiring tax credit, saying companies add workers because of increased sales, not temporary windfalls. Yet a sizable credit could nudge companies thinking of hiring but hesitant to pull the trigger amid economic uncertainty, Greenstone says, adding that last year's credit was too small. He also would not limit hiring to employees who've been jobless for a minimum period as that discouraged businesses that simply wanted to recruit the best workers. Studies found a $4,500 tax credit in 1977 -- $14,400 in 2008 dollars -- increased employment by 3% at firms that knew of the program vs. others that didn't, creating 700,000 jobs. Greenstone estimates that under his plan, employers would add about 6 million jobs that would be eligible for a tax credit, about 900,000 of which would not have been created otherwise. Share jobs to save jobs Perhaps the least expensive way to bolster payrolls is through work sharing, a program that encourages employers to avoid layoffs by cutting all workers' hours instead. For example, instead of laying off 20% of its staff, a company could trim all workers' hours by 20%. The government then would make up half the workers' lost pay with unemployment insurance -- so it's basically a wash or a small expense for state and federal coffers. It keeps people employed and at very little cost," says Dean Baker, chief economist of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Twenty-two states have work-sharing programs, but they're sparsely used. Baker says a federal initiative would be better publicized and could give employers more flexibility during the program to modify the number of employees getting reduced pay. Although the recession's widespread job cuts are over, businesses are always laying off some workers, even when total payrolls are growing. An average of about 650,000 workers a month this year have been temporarily laid off, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If 10% of their employers adopted work sharing, 65,000 jobs a month could be saved. In Germany, widespread adoption of work sharing helped lower unemployment to 6.7% from 7.1% before the global downturn despite economic growth that has lagged behind the U.S. Lower corporate taxes Many economists call for cutting the average 35% federal corporate tax rate to make the U.S. more competitive in a global economy. The average tax rate in Europe is 23%. Chris Edwards, senior fellow at the conservative Cato Institute, calls cutting the rate to 25% "the single best thing we could do" to grow jobs. Obama has said he wants to reduce tax rates while eliminating loopholes and deductions. Trimming the rate to 22% would cost the government $81 billion in lost revenue but create 350,000 manufacturing jobs directly by 2019 as it prompts U.S. and foreign companies to open factories here instead of overseas, the non-partisan Milken Institute says. An additional 1.7 million jobs would be added as benefits ripple through the economy, Milken says. Economists say it could take a few years for any tax cuts to grow jobs. But Aparna Mathur, an economist for the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says creating certainty about tax policies could lead firms to hire in the short term. Train the jobless At least part of the reason for the high jobless rate is that many laid-off construction and manufacturing workers, for example, lack the skills for growing jobs in heath care and technology. Thirty percent of companies surveyed by McKinsey Global Institute say they have had positions unfilled for six months or longer. Darlene Miller, CEO of Permac Industries and a member of Obama's Jobs and Competitiveness Council, is helping spearhead a 16-week course in advanced manufacturing at two Minnesota colleges. The program, she says, aims to promote better coordination among colleges, businesses and area career centers to identify and train workers. Officials hope to expand the initiative across the country in three to six months, Miller says. The council, she says, also wants to help schools graduate 10,000 more engineering students each year to meet a dire shortage of engineers. The panel aims to raise $100 million in private funding for scholarships, launch a media campaign to trumpet engineering careers and encourage schools with high graduation rates to share their strategies. Cut red tape The Chamber of Commerce calls regulatory roadblocks that delay construction, environmental and other permits "the most significant obstacles to new hiring. McKinsey says "inconsistent and sometimes lengthy" reviews can add months or years to project development, discouraging foreign firms from locating in the U.S. Susan Lund, McKinsey's research head, says the government should allow one-stop shopping so companies can secure various permits from a single agency as well as enterprise zones in which many permits would be pre-approved. It would be no surprise if the job-creation debate bogs down in political wrangling, with Democrats favoring new stimulus and Republicans supporting tax cuts. But Ross DeVol, Milken's chief research officer, says any viable plan must include both. We can't allow ourselves just to be in one or two camps and believe those are the only prescriptions that will work," he says. Think of it as portfolio of stocks and bonds. You wouldn't want to have all your investments in one particular area.