10 Things I Love About My Girl

Listening to: the kids fighting upstairs to their iPod playing the Stray Cats. They are supposed to be cleaning their rooms.

Was just reading this article on the Business Insider website about being addicted to stress -- in which the author suggests a way to relieve some stress is to create a blog on Blogger (done) and do an entry titled "10 Things I Love About My Wife/Husband/Girlfriend/Boyfriend/Significant Other" or some such (current), which it says to fill with images from Google (but I can't figure out how to do it). So that is what I am doing right now -- they are in no particular order:

1. She is a great mother. We have two (2) children, a girl & a boy, who could not be more loved, coddled and set upon a pedestal by their loving mum. Additionally, she looks out for their every need without spoiling them, too.
2. She is a fair disciplinarian. Again, we have two (2) children, who are of a particularly rabunctious temperment. While I often quietly endure it until I snap and fly off the handle at them - she tends to be more understanding and on an even keel.
3. She returned to college. While we have been together, I have encouraged her to return to higher education. She initially put it off, but finally returned and is excelling! Two (2) Associate's degrees and a full ride scholarship to work towards her Bachelor's degree.
4. She let herself be inspired. To be fair, she was goaded into this one of her professor's this semester - and I helped a bit. But we convinced her to start her OWN blog,  http://colombianchingona.wordpress.com/. It's not on Blogger... but go read it anyway.
5. She is Latina.  I have a real weakness for Hispanic ladies. Blame the over-abundance of corn-fed, milk-drinking (it does a body good) girls of spectacularly mid-European/Germanic lineage in my Ohio upbringing that made me susceptible to the forbidden fruit - but it's hot.
6. She is not limiting herself with her higher education. This semester she was inspired by one of her professors (not the one who wanted her to write a blog) to take her education in a completely new direction! She may be changing her major - and it is EXCITING!
7. She dares to dream! With her new idea about this new major came a new idea: the plan to move to a place where she has always wanted to live (well, maybe not always - but in the recent years that we have visited there). So we are on a two (2) year plan to be there. Exciting!
8. She is hot!! I think she it totally hot (not just 'cause she's Latina, either) - and I am not the only one who thinks so. Everywhere we go there are guys (and more than a few girls) hitting on her, too - from compliments on her feet to guys blatantly trying to take her home. HAWT!
9. She is caring. Yes, yes... she cares about me and such - but what I am referring to is how much she cares about other people in general. She's got friends and shyte who have, in my opinion, hardly any reason for her to consider them friends - but she cares about them and takes care of them.
10. She likes to drink beer. That's right! My girl isn't one of those foo-foo drink girls who daintily sips Zima or some other sissy kind of malt beverage shyte -- oh, no! She like chugging beer (and the occasional hard liquor) - and not frou-frou beers, either. REAL beer. 
11. Bonus: She is a demon in the sack. And in bed, the back seat of the car (front seat, too), back rooms, the shower, elevator cars, church parking lots, theaters, cabins, picnic tables, the great outdoors... and plenty of other places, too.

Understand this is not an complete list -- just the first ten (10) - er, 11... that came to mind. I love my girl - she puts up with a lot putting up with me. She amazes me every day.

Totally Made To Look Like an Idiot

I had the realization last night that my girlfriend has a game she likes to play. Now, I don't know what she calls this game, specifically, but it involves her purposely trying to make me look like an idiot.

Which is probably not that hard to do.

Not just talking about showing friends pictures of me in my Freshman year (I look a lot like Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" - and not in a good way) or telling the people I work with how my tough exterior is just a facade, and that inside I am a gooey "teddy bear" once you get to know me (which is totally B.S., by the way). Basically, anything to remove the (nearly non-existent) belief of anyone that I am "cool."

Using the first time I can remember her doing this as an example, her game is played something like this:

1. I get pretty drunk (I can do this on my own without her help, thanks) while we are out partying at a bar or nightclub.
2. My girlfriend focuses on a casual comment I make about a "hot" girl I notice.
3. First she agrees with me that said girl is "hot," then says something along the lines of, "You should totally hook up with her!"
4. I laugh off her suggestion, but she insists. And insists. And keeps insisting.
1. Now at some point, though I suspect I am being played, I have had enough to drink and having a good enough time that I begin to believe what she is suggesting.
2. THEN my girlfriend starts insisting that I could really manage to hook up with this "hot" girl. "I want you to close the deal," is one of her favorite phrases.
5. My girlfriend then begins to challenge me with phrases like, "You don't think you could score that girl?" and
6. Finally, I begin agreeing with her suggestion that not only should I hook up with the "hot" girl, and that in addition to there being a chance the "hot" girl will hook up with me, I begin to believe said "hot" girl actually WANTS to hook up with me.
7. So then I make the move to try and hook up -- sometimes I take the lead, sometimes my girlfriend makes the introduction for me -- and it fails miserably for the following reasons:
1. I am so plowed I am not coherent; or
2. The girl is absolutely NOT interested in any way (for a variety of reason); or
3. The girl might have been interested, but my girlfriend sitting behind me making faces and rolling her eyes at my comments is enough to put her off; or
4. A combination of any two (2) of the above.
8. And I look like an idiot in front of my girlfriend, this girl and anyone else (often my friends) who happen to be nearby and catch the whole thing.

The first time this happened we were at a goth nightclub in an old church in Charlotte, NC, while we were there doing a month of shows. I was having a great time, and drinking pretty heavily while my girlfriend was off dancing with the rest of the cast. There was a hot goth girl all tarted up in skimpy latex and fishnets I was checking out from our table.
My girl came over to check on me, saw who I was checking out - said she would love to see us hook up and, being three sheets to the wind, I agreed. So she went over to talk to this girl and brought her over to the table to introduce us - then left us to "talk."
I am not sure how long with we were "talking" before my girl came back over to save that poor girl. Apparently, one of our cast members noticed that I was desperately holding on to the table to keep from falling over and, after they all had a great laugh at my expense, my girlfriend agreed it was sorely pathetic and came over to break it up.

So this game has continued on several occasions at different places. Sometimes I will be just talking to someone (who I may find attractive) and she will put the idea in my head (and, of course, I can't get it out of my head once she puts it there) so that the conversation eventually goes awry. Sometimes she points someone out she thinks I should "hook up" with. Though laughing at me, she always seems surprised I can't "close the deal."

Why can't I close the deal? There's a ton of possible reasons:

• It is no secret my girlfriend and I are together. And we are THERE at wherever it is together, too - so it's probably just too creepy for most girls. Especially with my girl making faces and rolling her eyes behind me while I make my "move."
• Maybe I'm just not that attractive in the first place (To my girlfriend's credit, she feels that I am - at least she SAYS she feels that way).
• No, really... I realized I'm getting to that "creepy old guy at the bar" kind of age. Ug!
• Could be because given permission to fool around, it just throws me off my game.
• Could be I don't have much "game" in the first place to throw off!! (Honestly, when I was single I was never really a "hook up" or "one night stand" kind of guy - I tended to play the long game.)
• Maybe we're just not trying this at the right kinds of places. But if it won't work at a bar full of drunk folks - where WILL it work?!

 This is my girl, by the way, who says she would rather give me a was of cash and send me to a strip club for a night out with the boys then let us head out to the local bar. She knows we all have less of a chance hooking up at a strip club then a regular bar (Totally true. The girls at the strip club only want your money, guys).

So there you go...

"Why," you might ask, "if you know this is the game she is playing on you do you continue to do it?"

That's what relationships are about, folks! She enjoys it - it makes her happy - and I love making her happy.

Besides -- someday I may just get lucky! ;-)

Almost Had a Shootout Tonight

We have had some problems in my neighborhood with drug dealers.

The whole city has had a problem with idiots folks from out of town coming in to buy drugs. Police tell me that heroin seems to be the big one of choice these days. The other day some retards kids came in town from the sticks out of town and tried to make a buy, and instead got jacked robbed and shot. Not speaking ill of the dead, but my thought is if you come into the hood an area you don't know and try to buy smack do something illegal and get fucked up shot, you are getting what you deserve.

I have a no-tolerance policy with drug dealers and buyers in my neighborhood that the police know about. I have chased down a few folks - probably most well-known for chasing one down with a sledgehammer in hand. We've also pulled a shotgun on junkies and gone out after dealers and cunts buyers, alike. One of the local officers told me that when he has busted arrested dealers in our area, he has told he is doing them a favor:  to save them from me.

Well - to be fair - to save them from us. Alice is usually the one holding the shotgun...

So tonight I was driving to the corner drive-thru to pick up some beer (new member of the Beer Drinkers Union - Local 32 oz.) and I saw two cars pulled up next to each other just around the corner. Typical buy/hand-off posture. I came to a stop to look at their license plates when one of the guys got out of one car with a baseball bat in his hand. I took off.

Just to go around the block, and pulled the company logo magnets off of the truck to jump back and and tear around the block to catch them. Had my phone out ready to call the cops, too --

As I came around the corner, I saw one car leaving and followed it, accelerating quickly. Within two blocks I was right up behind it - getting the license plate number to call in. But within moments, they know I'm there and they obviously suspect what I'm doing - pulling over to the side of the road on the busy street.

What choice did I have? I went around them and gunned it hard. But they gave chase.

I blasted right around a corner, tires squealing - then quickly shot left while people jumped up on the curb to get out of my way. I gunned it down the quiet, dark block - then, tires screeching in protest, whipped left around another corner before pulling into the drive-thru.

Not the lane to buy, but the parking lot. Then jumped out as the other car pulled up and strode out to ward the street with my hands out in the typical "What you gonna do?" move --


So you think you pretty gangsta? Well I'm pretty gangsta myself. Cunt.


The guy with the bat steps out yelling, "What up?" To which I can yell back, "What up, esse? What you gonna do?" (O yeah. I actually said it. Verbatim.)

And this guy's like, "What you want?" and I replied "What are you doing on my block?"

To which HE replies, "What are you doing on MY block? I live on that corner." And I'm like, "I live on that block, man."

At this point - hopped up for some of the ultra-violence - I suddenly realize all is not as it seems. I throw my hands up and say, "Hold on. Hold on. Let's take a step back here."

By this point he and I are almost nose to nose at the edge of the street, and the other people in the car have now gotten out. I look over and recognize one of them as one of my neighbors. "Oh, hey," I say, "I know you. What's up?" The first guy looks over at my neighbor and says, "Does he live there?" and my neighbor nods.

"Shoot man," the first guy says, "don't roll up on me like that. I almost shot you."

"Are you kidding?" I reply, "I almost shot YOU!"

So my neighbors and I laughed about nearly shooting each other and talked about the problem with drug dealing in our city - and, apparently, our neighborhood - as well as sharing our adventures & experiences. The guy with the bat and I spoke about our mix-ups with drug dealers.

While the police have asked me to stop physically running them off with sledgehammers, they have apparently asked him to stop smashing buyer's cars. We both say that's what they get. He says he's going to start firing warning shots. I promised back up...

So you dealers and junkies: I have some advice for you --

Don't come up on our block, yo.

ADDENDUM: After all this I went through my drive-thru to pick up my beer, and the guys who work there (who know us pretty well) were like, "what's up? we thought there was going to be a fight." And I told them the whole story. The one guy was like, "Man, I grabbed MY gun cause I thought the shit was going down." That was part of the reason I went there - not just because it was well lit. I knew there was back up. 

A Point of Confusion

So let me get this straight:

If I call a company or overall business on their cheating, lying and stealing - I'm wrong. Standing up for fairness and ethics means I'm asking for hand outs, denying these thieves their legal right to make money (even if it is at my expense), and deserving of scorn from both the media and politicians.

And then if I think someone is being removed from their job because they allowed children to be molested and assaulted basically IN THEIR OFFICES and under their watch - because it happened numerous times and they never blew the whistle - I am wrong, because someone's football career is more important than a child's ruined life for some pervert.

So if the accepted morals I was brought up with are wrong... then obviously there is nothing wrong with lying, cheating or anything else... including murder and rape .

And if that is the case, then it's okay for me to do all those things... so no one is safe: no politician, corrupt ceo (I was going to say corrupt politician too, but that's a total oxymoron), or person on the street.

If holding on to some moral compass is going to be illegal, then it just further confirms I am an Outlaw. Screw your 99% I am still a one-percenter.

Not Looking Any Better

Currently watching Captain America: the First Avenger on DVD (from Netflix).

I am cancelling my Netflix account tonight. Just don't use it enough to make it worthwhile.

Often as I have gotten older, I thought of myself (with some solid looking in the mirror) as a rugged older Sean Connery or - at my worst - maybe an Ernest Hemingway... but with more hair (in both cases). I expressed this out loud once. My girlfriend laughed so hard she almost peed herself.


So, instead, I am trying to own up that I might just look like a fat junkie these days. So you KNOW that's not good. 

"What?" you say. "Fat?! Really...?"

Look - whenever you meet someone new, don't you compare them to someone famous, or recognizable to you? Well, they are doing the same thing to you. Sometimes they TELL you who they're thinking of and comparing you, too. I had high hopes of who I might be being compared with... But lately all I have been hearing is that I look like someone specific:

This guy.

Meat Loaf.

Not the newer, slimmed down Meat Loaf who often plays a movie villain, but the 70s era "Bat Out of Hell" singer. At least his voice was amazing. I cannot say the same for myself.

The other problem is how I have been dressing whenever I am not on stage. Here's some examples:

Yesterday morning I didn't put in my contacts - so I was wearing my Versace glasses...

This bears some explanation. I'm not some damn hipster or anything like that, wearing awful glasses, a horrible beard and all kinds of shyte (What? You think hipsters are cool!? Some time in Silver Lake trying to get a decent drink at a bar should fix that for you.). I have always liked wire-framed glasses, and they look good on me, but they're hard to wear on my scoot. I like the glasses worn by my friend Jonny, who works for Motor Trend Magazine -- but I don't know if I can pull the look off. He sure looks good, though.

On easy street... er, pier.

It just boiled down to: when I needed new glasses, the Versace ones were the only ones in the store that looked good on me. That's what I get for glasses shopping at the Glendale Galleria.

Anyway - so yesterday I go to take the kids to school... I put on my glasses, didn't have time to brush out my hair (luckily still kind of braided from the day before) or brush my teeth, wore some Old Navy jeans and an over-sized light blue  Full Throttle Saloon shirt (both of which I slept in the previous two nights) - my boxers (also slept in) is black with orange bats - and a pair of black Crocs. Yeah, you heard me. I threw on a FreakShow Deluxe sweatshirt over this ensemble.

Winning.

So after dropping them both off I went ahead and finally got a shower, and changed my clothes. This time into:

An over-sized Venice Beach Freakshow t-shirt, an old pair of Aeropostale sweat pants (with a hole where the dog bit me once), red plaid boxers and the Crocs once again. Still wearing my glasses, but this time throwing a skeleton hoodie over the top of everything.

I wore THAT outfit until after taking the kids to school today - where I switched (after yet another shower) to some olive green BDU pants, a grey old school Mickey Mouse t-shirt, and a pair of black utility Sketcher's shoes. Skeleton hoodie and glasses still... not up to putting in my contacts. The cold, wet weather just doesn't call for it.

Even when I am "dressed," I just don't know... Maybe I need that show where those two people go through your wardrobe and help you choose a style. OR just stay in my show stuff all the time!

That's style, baby!

Can't Work On a Plane

Flying on an airplane, with Zookeeper playing on the screen.

I find it impossible to work on airplanes.

For whatever personal reason, I just can’t get comfortable to work. I like to try to – in fact, I am trying to write this blog entry while on a plane right now. It’s not going well. The person in front of me just leaned his/her seat back and knocked the computer pretty badly. Ass.

Anyway. . .

I really need to -

OH! Just had a thought. I think FreakShow Deluxe may set a cup of coffee down on a counter at the beginning of each long run of shows – and then it has to stay there until we leave. We photograph it each day for the entire run. Then we compare them over every show…

AND we need to put Motley Crue’s “Kick-Start My Heart” in the FSD set list.

See, that’s what happens… All this wacky stuff keeps getting in my head and keeping my attention –

So, anyway, my point was that I need to start wearing long sleeves when I travel. Why, might you ask?

Cause from doing the pincushion, stapling and messing with flame, fire and sharp pointy things, I must look like a junkie. That’s what people must think when they look at me. Especially after this week of mayhem – shows every day of the week – lots of sticking myself with all kinds of shyte. It’s like I went rounds in a Mortal Kombat video game – all stuck up, bruised and stuff.

Add that to some greasy hair, an unshaved face and still wearing the clothes I slept in… ug. You know what, and it never occurred to me that this is what I look like since I have never done drugs or anything like that. Or spent much time hanging with junkies.

But I have spent SOME time with a few.

So when I saw some pictures of my raggedy-assed self and noticed that I looked just like the pictures of said junkies… Well.

Covering up a bit will help. And a shower, too –

Not Going Well So Far

Currently watching Ride the Bullet on SyFy Channel.

Aaannnddd...

My plan to write a blog entry at least every day is not working out so far. I have been busy, true --

But really not too busy.

Mostly I have this weird thing going on where i cannot can't seem to get things done. It doesn't happen often - but it happens. I can't bring myself to look through my email, or check my voicemails. Can't get myself finish these couple of projects or finish this proposal.

I can still get basic things done around the house, though. Dishes. Laundry. Cooking. Some picking up.

Of course, I am not the only one! I feel okay mentioning it on my blog because I had several conversations with other people about them having this same issue. The same "problem."

Malaise.

Some where, someone reading this is saying, "back in my day, you just pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and kept going! Suck it up, cupcake." Well, back in the "old days" or whatever you call it, people also drank a lot more. A LOT more! That helped.

In trying to write this blog, by other problem is the entries have been too long. Makes it hard to read for a lot of folks. And in the meantime, I will fight the malaise and get some more entries posted.

And Then I Was Drunk

Currently, I have had too much to drink.

There's a small Mexican bar & grill close to the hotel here in Gas City, IN, where I find myself. I am starting to suspect they may not be Mexican. Maybe Honduran... Whatever...

There was Dos Equis on draft. I got two big ones. Some chips and salsa (horrible salsa... I want something homemade!). They had a DJ playing songs like "Bad Company" and "18 and Life." I watched the most awful College Football game I have ever seen (between Boise and Fresno State). Apparently, both teams suck.

Had all day of performing at a Civil War Reenactment on "School Day." I insulted many a Jr. High student and their mothers. Though, honestly, I was paying compliment to their mums - but, as the one kid pointed out, if I had really slept with as many mothers as I apparently informed the kids I had -- I would not have had time to do anything else.

Honestly, sounds fun. Should get on it!


Realized today I dress like an idiot. Once I was out of my official "work" outfit, I wore Manpris, t-shirt, belt with big buckle, wallet with substantial chain (like a bike chain) and Doc Martin sneakers (that look like all leather All-Stars). Overall, for someone my age, I looked like an idiot.

Realized it when 20-something year old kid was wearing basically the same outfit with his teenage girlfriend. He wore a backwards DG baseball cap -- only difference.

Every time someone meets me they compare me to Meatloaf (the singer -- not the dinner... though, honestly, I never asked - so they may mean the dinner).

No wonder I don't feel I am taken seriously! Something must be done!!

The Argument Continues About Occupy Wall Street

Currently watching: Road House with "Story Notes" on AMC

The story note that just came across that while Sam Elliot and Patrick Swayze are driving along in a car (right after Elliot's character arrives) the song playing on the radio is actually Swayze singing his own song (Cliff's Edge 1989). I guess they couldn't just let him openly masturbate on screen...

On that note --

This morning I was in a bit of an online argument with a guy I mentioned yesterday, John Manes. It was all in one of David Esrati's Facebook post's comments. For 20 minutes or so we went back and forth, with him telling me how it's Economy 101 and Business 101 how corporations should not be limited in how much they can earn. Trying to explain to ME how business works...

I have posted our entire conversation below -- what it amounts to (in a nutshell) is his constant insistence that profit should come above all else, and that any restriction put on corporations, or taxing them, will result in them going out of business, further crippling our economy.

And my reply (in a nutshell) boils down to my quote to him: "Your belief that these giant corporations are going to go tits up because they have to pay taxes is ludicrous. It may mean that they can stop operating in a fantasy world where an executive in charge during a profit downturn will still get his bonuses and perqs. Because there is "profitable" and then there is hand-over-fist greed, which in the long-term (a concept you seem to be unable to grasp in this conversation) is what is hurting these corporations and banks."

I did not get into it with him, really, on some of the points that I was thinking - he's got "Business 101" down - but NOT Advanced Business Theory. And his real world experience is, in my opinion, limited to "running a store," not "growing a business and legacy."  His thoughts are all for the very short-term. The long-term results of his (or his company's) actions are lost on him -- all that matters is the bottom line in that moment... on a Quarter to Quarter basis.


See, that's the thing: the bubble always bursts. Profits cannot continue to rise every Quarter. You cannot consistently profit. Prices will not continue to rise unabated. Look at the dot.com bubble. Look at the housing bubble. Look at the automotive industry. Look at the coffee market and Starbucks, even! The list goes on and on. So someone telling me how I need to leave well enough alone and not to mess with success - when I'm like "You are fooling yourself! It won't last!" while all these examples are all around us and irrefutable.

My analogy of the Wall Street situation is part of Road House - The villain, Brad Wesley (played by the fantastic Ben Gazzara) - representing Wall Street - is summed up by the late Patrick Swayze's character, Dalton, as so:

I know exactly who Brad Wesley is! I have seen his kind many times. He keeps taking and taking until somebody takes him!

And that's the deal. In the movie, Brad Wesley is a local powerhouse. He says he built the town - there was nothing when he arrived, but he brought in the Photomat, the Dairy Queen, and eventually JC Penny will arrive, too. All thanks to him. He has a big house, big cars, helicopter - and doesn't need to follow any law. He feels he can pay anyone off - and is pretty good about doing so. Anyone who doesn't go along with him gets destroyed - and he makes it pretty well known that he's behind it, but never faces any consequences. Never mind that plenty of people do NOT want what he is bringing there - many are more concerned that HE makes lots of money off these deals, while it ends up COSTING them.

And that's how Wall Street is -- they feel they're doing all these things for people (whether the people want them to or not), and they make a ton of money on it - but they're making that money by taking it away from everyone else. And not giving anything back but blowing up their car parts shop and stabbing Sam Elliot on a bar.

They'll keep taking until you take back.

Which is why, in the end, Occupy Wall Street will not work. Like Road House, Dalton's decision to try and be peaceful, in the end, does not work. He ends up having to respond violently. It is the only thing that these people understand --

And, like Dalton, you're going to have to tear someone's throat out.
------------------------------------
ANYWAY -- If you are interested, here is my whole online interaction with John and a few more folks. I just picked it up at the part where David Esrati made his observation. I invite your comments...

David Esrati No one needs to make $100 million a year guys. No ONE.

Yesterday at 4:29pm ·

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  John Manes Certainly no one needs to, but also, no one should be able to restrict them from doing so.
  

  Yesterday at 4:35pm ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh Even when they're making that kind of money at the expense of their employees, their company, government and the American society in general?
  

  Yesterday at 4:53pm ·
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  Kent Metcalf David ~ where would you be without the misused words in a a free society of "should" & "need"? Quit shoulding yourself!
  

  Yesterday at 4:55pm ·
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  John Manes First, it's not like every CEO makes a ridiculous amount of money, and B, if you took the typical CEO's pay and spread it amongst all of the companies employees and contractors, it would not amount to much for each of them. As as the government is concerned, I would much rather a business or an individual invest their funds, than hand it to the government where it is much more likely to be wasted.
  

  Yesterday at 5:39pm ·
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  John Manes Economy 101..... Businesses and Corporations do not pay taxes, their customers do. Increasing the tax on BP will just result in an increase in the cost of gas. So increasing taxes to businesses is really just a tax increase on all of us consumers.
  

  Yesterday at 5:40pm ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  You're wrong, John. And your defeatist attitude that "if you took the typical CEO's pay and spread it amongst all of the companies employees and contractors, it would not amount to much for each of them" is not only an illogical argument, i...See More

  
  

  20 hours ago ·
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  Kent Metcalf
  

  We are talking about greed. Greed @ every level. The poor in the U.S. have a better quality of life than roughly 85% of the worlds population. Greed from the poor, middle & upper classes. Distribution of wealth does not work. It simply decreases motivation for ingenuity, creativity and business growth. We're not leveling the playing field; we're cutting off the oxygen which feeds the fire of corporations, jobs & employing people. Doesn't matter if you make $20K a year or $20 million; when we remove an individuals ability to double their income, we remove their motivation and the economy stalls.

  
  

  13 hours ago ·
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  John Manes Thomas: Look around you today; the price of oil went up dramatically the past two days and you are seeing that increase in cost in the price of gas that stations are moving to today. A business' most common reaction to an increase in cost is to either raise it's prices or layoff workers. This pretty much is Business 101.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes And by the way, I in the 80's and 90's I used to be part owner of a very successful chain of stores, and when our costs went down, we passed that on to our customers, and when our costs went up, we passed that on as well.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  
  

  In the world of an academia, maybe, that price increase is equal to increase in costs - but in the real world in which we live, prices (especially oil prices) are based more on speculation of the future, rather than the actual costs with providing the goods. Basically, a fantasy about the future dictates what the cost is now. Short-sited at best. Since we are discussing oil prices specifically, oil companies tend to jack up prices, citing rising costs - yet show RECORD profits every year. Obviously, their costs were not what they thought.

  
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  If you had gone beyond Business 101, you might have learned a bit about long term strategies towards building a base of returning customers. Constantly changing prices, laying off workers and cutting costs at the expense of the product, while they may look good on the short-term bottom line, are what harm companies in the long run. American car companies never did learn this lesson. Pushing for record profits quarterly may look good for shareholders but, again, will cost the companies in the end.

  
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes Oil prices go up, gas prices go up, oil prices go down, gas prices go down. Cost of shipping goes up, cost of most goods goes up. Cost of jet fuel goes up, cost of airline tickets go up. Increase taxes to businesses, costs of their goods and services goes up, (or layoffs occur). This is not rocket science.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  The other thing that does is these executives and companies effectively boasting about how they are ripping off the public. Wal-Mart is a chain of successful stores that is starting to feel that crunch -- the short-term savings of getting a few cents off product pales to the long-term effects of trying to cover the medical costs and lack of retirement (and related expenses) for Wal-Mart's employees, since they do not take care of their own people.

  
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes What caused the major issue with US car companies is that their high labor costs and higher taxes caused them to become uncompetitive in the marketplace.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh While that was part of the problem - it was not the major problem. The major problems are as I outlined them. There is more to running a company than just costs and bottom line.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes Walmart is a retailer, a very large and successful one, but they are still a retailer and their wages and benefits are on par with most other retailers large and small.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes No, the major problem with US cars is that you could buy a better car at a cheaper price than you could from them.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh Except for the disparity of salaries and that they hire a disproportionately large amount of employees that they have (especially those working less than full time).
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh No - the major problem with US cars is that they didn't plan for the long term, follow trends in the marketplace, and the exorbitant perqs packages to their executives (and employees, too). Executives of the most successful Japanese companies do not show the disparity between salaries of the average worker and executive -- AND they look out for their employees as well as their customers AND stockholders.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes
  

  They are still a retailer, and the marketplace determines salary and benefits, if all of a sudden they could not get employees because someone else is paying better, then they would pay better too. If I own a company, (which I did), I paid my employees what the market determined was correct. If I could not have gotten good employees then I would have provided better pay and benefits, but again, if those caused my costs to go up, then my prices would follow.

  
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  
  

  I attract the best people to my company by paying a better wage. It may cut into the profits - but there is still profit! And in the long term I come out better by having a better product because I have better people - and in turn repeat customers that keep my business going. It is the business model of many a successful small company. If I just concentrated on "profit," I have no doubt I could generate more -- but it would be at the expense of my people, and eventually my customers, who would no longer buy my product, and I would be out of business!

  
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes The point with car makers, as any others here is that if costs go up, prices go up, where that cost comes from was not the point, and you have proved my point by stating that US car makers costs caused the product to not be able to compete with other companies. Again, if costs go up prices go up, if taxes go up, prices go up.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes So if your company all of a sudden sees a rise in the taxes you have to pay, you are just going to absorb that cost and possibly be forced out of business.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  John Manes A company has to be profitable to exist for any length of time, if costs go up, those costs have to be made up somewhere, or the business will fail. Corporations do not pay taxes, their customers do as that cost is buried in the cost of their goods and services.
  

  12 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  Your belief that these giant corporations are going to go tits up because they have to pay taxes is ludicrous. It may mean that they can stop operating in a fantasy world where an executive in charge during a profit downturn will still get his bonuses and perqs. Because there is "profitable" and then there is hand-over-fist greed, which in the long-term (a concept you seem to be unable to grasp in this conversation) is what is hurting these corporations and banks.

  
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh
  

  John, you are not convincing me of anything with your Business 101 discussion points, or your focus on the short-term. Especially not in this faceless forum. Frankly, I have seen and been a part of many a company who has gone under because they looked at things in a way similar to you. The belief that "too big to fail" is a good, possible and real thing. I look forward to an opportunity to have a discussion with you in person --

  
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  John Manes Your string is working from the theoretical, mine is working from the real world, and as you can see from gas prices today in the real world, when costs go up, prices go up. It's that simple.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh No, it is not in the theoretical. Your short-sightedness and inability to see the big picture is appalling.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  Thomas Nealeigh Now, if you will excuse me, I have a business to run.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  John Manes Check the price of gas on your way to work.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  David Esrati ‎@John Manes do you want me to troll up Kirby's accusation that you embezzled money from him? In starting that chain of stores...
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  David Sparks Troll it up Dave. We're always looking for insight.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  John Manes Dave: I think you are crossing the line and their are always two sides to every story, maybe you should ask Kirby how he tried to steal our name and lost in court.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  John Manes This is not a venue for those type of comments and you should note that I don't typically resort to insults and accusations.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  David Esrati John- I'm staying out of this one- 'cause I don't care. But, there are a whole bunch of court cases involving foreclosures etc. attached to you and or that chain. What- did the banks recklessly lend and over-extend credit to someone who wasn't credit worthy?
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  John Manes I got out of that business in 2000, what happened the last few years had nothing to do with me, they were a product of the decline in that business as many other businesses of that type, (in fact almost all) have failed in the past 5 years.
  

  11 hours ago ·
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  John Manes While I was an owner of the company we were voted Dayton's best on numerous occasions and were up for National Retailer of the year by NARM on three occasions. We were the dominant chain in this area for years at a time when most markets were dominated by National Chains, and we did it by providing services and prices that were unmatched by our competitors.
  

  11 hours ago ·

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    Thomas Nealeigh So I checked the price of gas when I was out. It was actually lower than it has been for a while...
    

    26 minutes ago ·
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    John Manes Yep, it was 3.01 on my way home for lunch when I filled up, it was 3.27 on my way back to work 45 minutes later and by now, most stations have raised their prices. The price of oil jumped about 8% in the past two days.
    

    5 minutes ago ·
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    Thomas Nealeigh Raised for no real reason except greed, I'm sure. Speculation, I would imagine, about what these "Occupy" groups are going to do.
    
    I remember the night of Desert Storm, as soon as it was announced, a local gas station raised its prices 150%, hoping to cash in on panicked people rushing to fill their tanks. Since no other gas station raised prices, they failed there - AND no one would buy gas from there after that knowing they tried to take advantage of the situation.
    

    2 seconds ago. <br>
    

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