President Bush harms home inspectors on Monday.

[Nick Gromicko]

First of all, I voted for GW twice and would vote for him a third time if I could, but he will be harming inspectors (particularly) on Monday when he prints off a bunch of money and gives it to us.

Printing off money and putting it in the hands of Americans devalues the money they have in their wallets and purses (on average) by exactly the same amount, by causing inflation.

Inspectors haven't raised prices (on average) since the industry began in the 70's. We still charge (on average) for an inspection, about what we charged 30 years ago... an inspection cost about $300 back then and $300 was worth a lot more back then, so we actually lowered our prices every year when corrected for inflation.

Now I'm not one of these people who complain about a problem without offering a solution, you know the people... they drive around with "War is Not the Answer" bumper stickers but oddly don't have the other 1/2 of the bumper sticker that explains what the answer is to getting rid of a tyrant that kills his own people (women and children included) with chemical weapons of mass destruction, so I'll offer a solution to the economy:

Print some more money. But don't give it to those will send it to China by buying cheap plastic crap at one of these Chinese retail outlets (Wal-Mart). Instead, give every U.S. small entrepreneur $10,000. Just give it to them. They will spend a chunk of it here and on building their own businesses. Yes, I know it is a forced transfer of wealth.

But printing money and sending it to those who will likely give most of it to China only causes inflation... the inspection industry's biggest enemy.

[John McKenna]

The BBB set the average price of a home inspection at about $150 ten years ago.
I took some quotes from their flyer and remember reading that back then.

[Nick Gromicko]

Joe Hagarty and I must not have belonged to the BBB back then, huh Joe?

[Nick Gromicko]

I admit that I got my data from a small sample relative to the population: http://www.nachi.org/oldesthomeinspector2006.htm

[Richard W. Washington]

It's more like he's giving us back a portion of the money that we already earned and gave him in the form of high taxes.
Oh and if you want universal healthcare that's fine. I'm all for it. Just give everyone a tax reduction. Instead they are going to raise taxes on us, have the money float around Washington, lose it's value, and then be sent back to us at pennies on the dollar so that we can be assigned a doc. Just let each person get a health care tax credit and let them go out and buy there own healthcare rather than creating another bureaucracy (ie. send to Washington and they send it back). If the gov. really cared about everyone getting healthcare then they would do that.

It's not about people, It's about creating more power.

[Nick Gromicko]

Good post and true. There was a time when the NY welfare department admitted that only 1 penny on every dollar of their budget made it out of their department and to the poor.

[Christopher Currins]

Thomas Jefferson
Periodic revolution, “at least once every 20 years,” was “a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.”

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Good post and true. There was a time when the NY welfare department admitted that only 1 penny on every dollar of their budget made it out of their department and to the poor.

Where's Michael Larson when you need stats questioned????

[George A. H. Luck]

G.W. has ruled your country like a democrat for the last eight years. He is a Republican in pink clothing. Electing either Obama or Hillbilly will only ensure four ( if we are lucky) or eight more years of the same.

[Brian E. Kelly]

So the people with the war is the answer bumper stickers got it right Nick?

Please stop voting in any more National elections.

And spare us your economics lessons.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by gluck

G.W. has ruled your country like a democrat for the last eight years. He is a Republican in pink clothing. Electing either Obama or Hillbilly will only ensure four ( if we are lucky) or eight more years of the same.

From being very close to the energy industry and running the Energy Regulations in this province for 8 years, I got to know quite a few other energy policy and regulation folks across country. Was talking to a person whose superiors were in Washington, DC for meetings recently.........says huge changes and carbon taxes coming with a new administration!

[Vince Santos]

The idea that giving out these checks is somehow going to stimulate the economy validates how out of touch they are with what the working man is dealing with. Does anyone actually think the recipients of these funds are going to head out to the local warehouse and purchase a new television? My plan is to pay down debt and continue to watch my dimes.

[Michael Larson]

The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people's money away quietly, and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly. – Thomas Sowell

[mjones6]

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then
campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are
against deficits, we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation
and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on
appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, The Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme
Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 300 million - are directly,
legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems
that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem
was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound
currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.
They have no legal authority.
They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to
do one cotton-picking thing.
I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The
politician has the power to accept or reject it.No matter what the
lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how
he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what
they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regard less
of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive
amount of gall.
No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and
criticized the President for creating deficits.
The president can only propose a budget.
He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole
responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and
approving appropriations and taxes.
Who is the speaker of the House?

She/He is the leader of the majority party.
She/He and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget
they want.
If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree
to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace
545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and
irresponsibility.
I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly
to those 545 people.
When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of
the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they
want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire
and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they
can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and
from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists
disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation' or 'politics'
that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are
their bosses - provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own
employees.
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

[Nick Gromicko]

Brian writes:

So the people with the war is the answer bumper stickers got it right Nick?

No. But at least they offer their solution as opposed to those who ride around with 1/2 a bumper sticker "War is not the answer"... a bumper sticker which begs the question... Ok... What is the answer to a tyrrant who kills women and children with chemical weapons of mass destruction then? I'd like to see the other 1/2 of the "War is not the answer" bumper sticker.

Anyway, war, at least war we're fighting, really isn't the answer... so I agree with the first 1/2 of your bumper sticker. You're right. The answer, IMHO, is to fund rebels... like Ollie North used to do. Its a gamble though. And I believe political assasinations were outlawed by Congress a while back... so now we just invade the tyrrant's country, convict him, and hang him. A quite pricey way of wackin' someone... no?

As for paying off debt Vince I believe it is probably a wash this year. Inflation is going harm savers and reward those who buy, as far as I can tell.