Shoot me now

I just heard someone call to complain about the staples in her stapler. She says they are "sticky" and wonders if she needs a new stapler. Just overhearing that gave me a headache. This person couldn't have thought that maybe the staples were meant for a different stapler?

I know this because I got staples from the same spot the other day. I noticed two things right off the bat. There wasn't a box of staples just a bin that looked like hit had a number of staplers emptied into it. I grab the biggest links I could and put them in my stapler. They didn't fit right and should didn't come out smoothly. So I looked at the staples I had and noticed that some were slightly bigger than the others. So I got rid of the big ones and kept the small ones. Case closed. I didn't feel the need to call for help on staples. But I am willing to bet she goes and buys a new stapler. Any takers?

Another thing that I heard on the radio today just about pissed me off. Dan Bice of JSOnline had a story about a couple of local politicians went to the Presidential Inauguration last week and tried to charge into the local government. They wanted the taxpayers to foot the bill for the bit of "history". Other politicians that went paid for the trips themselves or from their campaigns. It was only after these two were outed that they decided to reimburse Milwaukee County for their trips.

You would think the story is over but it is not. Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway seems to be unhappy not about the fact these two supervisors billed the county but the fact that they were caught and had to pay for their own trips. Calling trips to D.C. for their own personal gain to be legitimate is bull and Holloway should know it. It isn't like he sent them to Washington to suck on the government teat for money from this craptacular stimilus plan they are trying to pass.

So much for change, huh? These damn politicians keep acting like taxpayers have no right to know how they are spending the county's money. The county is already spending money it does not have and Holloway thinks it is good to spend money on a trip to Washington so these supervisors feel good? And to top it off he gets upset because they got busted. Cry me a river Lee!

Holloway also comments about doing the work to get money from the feds when they begin to dole out more money they don't have. The stimulus plan they are looking to pass is a crap sandwich being called a Philly Cheese Steak. It does not guarantee the economy will be improved nor does it come close to guaranteeing job creation. Good chance it won't create any jobs. Here is a terrific article from the US News and World Report site. 10 Reasons to Whack Obama's Stimulus Plan. I would rather listen to economist that Washington on what steps to take to improve the economy. Hint...look at what George Bush did in 2003. But one of the best arguments from the article about job creation is this:

5) University of Chicago economist and Nobel laureate Gary Becker doubts whether
all this stimulus spending will do much to lower unemployment: "For one thing,
the true value of these government programs may be limited because they will be
put together hastily, and are likely to contain a lot of political pork and
other inefficiencies. For another thing, with unemployment at 7% to 8% of the
labor force, it is impossible to target effective spending programs that
primarily utilize unemployed workers, or underemployed capital. Spending on
infrastructure, and especially on health, energy, and education, will mainly
attract employed persons from other activities to the activities stimulated by
the government spending. The net job creation from these and related spending is
likely to be rather small. In addition, if the private activities crowded out
are more valuable than the activities hastily stimulated by this plan, the value
of the increase in employment and GDP could be very small, even negative." emphasis mine

Any money that goes to infrastructure means hiring skilled workers from companies that have workers. There is no guarantee they will hire people, train them, and keep them on board once the work is done. Those that are employed will reap the benefits of the spending plan quicker than those looking for a job. You cannot throw money at a project and think voila! jobs are created because I said build a bridge. It just doesn't work that way.

Great, headache is back. I could also use a drink.