TBWAIN - AKA Jeff Svare's Blog

Hilda Solis, President Obama's Secretary of Labor, has elected to discontinue using the ubiquitous black limo, and has purchased a Chevy Equinox. At a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor she was asked why the switch to the SUV? What better example could I set if I encouraged my staff to go and purchase and seek how we could acquire a vehicle that would for me would send a signal that we're for supporting our American workers, American-made products, fuel efficient as well. Sounds good, right? There's only one problem. The Equinox is made in Canada. The country north of the United States. Also known as Canuckland, the Great White North, and What Sarah Palin Can See From Her Back Porch. When US News contacted the Secretary's office to clear up her misunderstanding, a spokesman replied, "Modern automobile manufacturing is a global industry and General Motors is a company whose reach extends far beyond the boundaries of the United States."

At a press conference today, 15 July 2011, the President said he was, "turning 50 in a week, so I'm starting to think a little bit more about Medicare eligibility." You may want to reschedule that party, Barry. You birthday isn't July 22nd, it's August 4th. He also said, "Yeah, I'm going to get my AARP card soon, and the discounts." Yeah, like he needs them. As president, he earns $400,000 year, with a pension valued at $197,000. Last year, he and the First Lady reported their adjusted gross income as $1,728,096. They paid $453,770 in taxes, and donated $245,075 to charity. That still left them with 1.2 million dollars to scrimp by on. Filing status married, joint return, two dependent children. If you leave out the dog, that 1.2 million breaks out to be $257,312.75 per person in his household. And, if he portioned out that 257K as a weekly allowance to each of his girls, that would be $4,948.32 a week. Did I mention that he gets $500,000 per y

Merchants win, banks loose and so will debit card users, I'm afraid. If you didn't know, currently banks charge merchants an average of 44 cents for each transaction. The Federal Reserve has proposed limiting this to twelve cents. 44 cents per swipe doesn't sound like much, does it? On the surface it sounds like that old story, "if I were to give you a penny today, and double what I've given you every day for a month, would you rather have that or a million dollars now?" According to the Fed, the banks and credit card companies earn $16 billion per year on them. That sounds like real money to me. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said that taxpayers helped banks "in their darkest hour." And were repaid by them using the $700 billion bailout to pay huge bonuses to their executives who got them into trouble in the first place. In response, banks say the decision does not take into consideration overhead costs, so they will have to raise other fees to make up the

Evidently, it's not worth even $50. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) used to receive a fifty dollar stipend from the Federal Government to reimburse them for their services at military funerals. This would help pay for a flag for the survivors, bullets for the salute, gas to get to the cemetery, and clean their uniforms. Now that the government is running out of money, the Middle East is blowing up--and the President is going golfing on the weekend--this benefit has been discontinued. This is shameful, appalling, and offensive. I have attended military funerals before. This simple act, to honor the memory of a fallen comrade has provided comfort to many, many grieving families and provided them the reassurance the sacrifice of their loved one was not forgotten. This nation has repeatedly asked it's young men and women to put up their lives in its defense, with promises of education, training, a possible career, and the respect of a grateful nation. And now, we take their s

It started with a phone call. You know the kind--one of those automated ones. The kind you usually hang up on as soon as you realize what it is. This particular one was from my insurance company's pharmacy provider. So I thought I'd listen to the message. "Your mail-order prescription has been processed. We must speak to you before it can be shipped. Please call us at 1-800, blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah. Would you like me to repeat that number?" As soon as the message got to the "please call us" part, I was looking around for a pen and paper to write the number down. I couldn't find one, so I thought I'd try stalling for time. "Yes, please repeat the number." "Please call us at 1-800, blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah. Would you like me to repeat that number?" No pencil in the drawers, no pencils in the pencil cup. I thought I'd better keep stalling for time. "Yeah, repeat the number!" "Please c