Enterprise Management and Government For Cook County

I wonder if Cook County should use something like SAP or Oracle. This is a case where a true Enterprise (ERP) system such as sap or oracle should come into play. There is so much bloat and waste in local government, the ability to run your government like a business and see where every dollar is going, and where every dollar is coming in. You can focus attention on the things that need to be fixed, and everyone will know what everyone else is spending.

The people will know how much everything costs, because the budget, books, and reports should be completely open to all. The system should be an open book for all of its citizens. Its our money at work, and we have the right to know where and how it is spent. Furthermore, we should question every expenditure. Call your local congressman, senator, alderman, city council member, what have you, and express yourself. Ask for a copy of the budget, see what happens.
The technology to weave the day to day operations of the government should function seamlessly, and provide you and every a report on what is profitable, and what is not. Not everything makes money, nor should it, that is what the government and services are all about, bet we need to quantify and monitor all expenditures to ensure the right money is being used for the right reasons.

Lets not forget the human equation. we need an accurate count of every employee, their salary, salary structure, etc. We need to keep that in line with the rest of what is normal, so that we keep everything in check. If the government would run as ERP system, I'm sure they will find more money then they know they had, and it would be well worth the investment in time and resources. The people would be surprised to find out just where there money is going, and how much that garbage can costs, or the street light costs. We need to end the way things have been done, and start fresh with a new mentality where everything counts, big and small, and everyone has a right and a voice.

The state of affairs and lesser of two evils

Remember the state of the economy back in the 70s. Carter got the blame for that, as did Reagan for the economic boom and turn around in the 80s. Bush got the heave for the downturn, then Clinton got approval for inheriting the changes that his predecessors initiated. Who is to blame for all of this mess? No one person or act is at fault. The American people are stupid for buying more then they can afford. Mortgage lenders and banks are stupid for giving too much credit to those that can not pay it back, and President Clinton was at fault for letting regulations change that govern how much capital a bank had to have on hand versus how much it can loan out. All of these things and more have brought us to the dire economic situation we are in. the auto Industry has not helped up. The adult entertainment industry is hurting. The entertainment industry as a hole is feeling the pinch. There is not much that has not felt the pain that we have brought upon ourselves. Al is not loss, we have the power to fix this. We control our own destinies, and with a little help and some luck we can all prosper once more.

Automakers must fail to survive

I know everyone has their opinion on what is to become of the automakers, and I am no exception. To be competitive, you have to provide a product that people want to buy, that people should buy. A car that is reliable, gets good gas milage, is easy to maintain, etc. That is part of the problem. There are other ways to make a car run besides gas, and it needs to be forced to happen. The way the cars run needs to change. Gas and oil will not last forever, and we need to be aware of that. Its too expensive to make a car today with the labor costs what they are. No offense to the unions, but they have to go. Isn't it better to have a job, and get some money, then none at all? That's what is going to happen soon. The automakers will eventually run out of money, and the government will stop bailing them out, and they will have to fail. The good that will come out of this is that hopefully they come back as leaner, more effeciant organizations. The days of the past are over and we need to stop rearward thinking and move forward. Salaries and benifits will be more in line with what they should be. Hopefully we will be makini cars that people will want to and can afford to buy. Fuel economy should be emphasised as well as alternative fuel options. I would love to have an electric car that got 200 miles a charge. I would settle for 100 if charging times we less then overnight. Hybrids are a good step forward. What about methane and propane fueled vehicals? Hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells are probably the way to go. No more nasty emmisions, and if the distribution channels could be worked out, like they are for gasoline today, then the cost to fill up with hyrdogen would be better and better for the environment then gasoline. The great thing about hydrogen is that you could even make it yourself, but that is a topic for another post. If the various lobbies would just be made to understand that they are dinosaurs and have to move over for the sake of progress, and hydrogen power was made a national priortity, including building and maintaing a hydrogen distribution network, then we could lead the world in automotive fuel cell research and production, no longer have a need for oil and gas. Imagine not having a depandancy on foreign oil, let alone be able to export our production and make opec a thing of the past. Imagine.

Banking Fundamentals, Stimulus And Economics I Don't Get

I just wonder sometimes how the banks got into this mess and we seemed to have strayed from some very basic and fundamental business practices. As far as I understand it, you give a bank money, they hold onto it for you, loan some of it out, etc. Now things start to get weird, especially when you start talking about pretend money. Let’s say I gave a bank $100.00. They get to put $100.00 on their books. So far, so good. Now, they can lend out some of that money to someone else, and only keep a portion of it in their reserves. So they take my original $100.00 and loan $80.00 of it to someone else. Now this is where some of the magic begins. The bank gets to say it now has $180.00 on its books, even though it still only has my original $100.00. Now the bank can use those numbers to make more loans from money it doesn’t have. Imagine this happening over and over again. Now, this works fine, as risky as it is, if everyone pays their bills. I wonder what would happen if a lot of people were not able to pay their bills and defaulted on their loans…

So where do we go from here? Make smarter loans? Make the banks keep more money in their reserves, not having as much to “give” out? Educate people to only borrow what they can afford to pay back? Probably a little bit of everything. Economic stimulus can only do so much as long and credit and lending practices remain the same and banking fundamentals remain in lala land.