14 years ago, Apple Computer was within three months of bankruptcy when former CEO Steve Jobs was asked to step back into that role by the same board of directors who had fired him 12 years earlier. Today, Apple Computer breifly passed Exxon Mobil to become the #1 most valuable company in America.

What would happen if we asked Steve Jobs, the man who pulled off this miracle, his advice on how to get out of our current economic crisis? According to MarketWatch columnist David Weidner, Jobs' solution would be exactly the opposite of the GOP's current approach (emphasis mine):

So, what would happen if Apple had to tackle the debt crisis? First, it would eliminate spending that’s not working. Then it would make a commitment to spend if necessary. Third, it would look for ideas to spend on. Finally, it would call customers’ bluff. How much are you willing to pay for what the government gives you?

Ultimately, what’s happened to our government, lawmakers, elected officials and ourselves is that we’ve have taken on a mind-set of defeat. It doesn’t seem to matter that the business model — taxing for revenue, spending for growth — isn’t broken. After all, it’s working in Germany, Canada, India and China.

We’ve given up on the model because of our debt situation. It’s a problem, and a pressing one. A default or lower credit rating would cause further damage to our credit picture.

But there are really two ways to handle it. We could take a balanced approach of reining in spending and increasing revenue (cutting costs, raising taxes), or we could simply cut, slashing incomes (Medicare, Social Security, the military). These drastic cuts, which will balance annual budgets, are in effect a surrender.

They are based on the belief that revenues (taxes) won’t rise through increased business activity, and that taxes can’t be raised without scaring the private enterprise. In business terms, management is convinced sales won’t be enough to pay the bills and that raising prices will drive away customers.

Surrender? That's not a very "Republican" thing to do, is it? So why are they doing it? Hint: It's what the upper 1% is asking them to do.

Boo freaking hoo. Now Emperor Kasich wants to compromise on SB 5? Where was this appetite for compromise six months ago when this bill was being considered in the Ohio General Assembly?

Answer: There wasn't any compromise, because Kasich thought he had just been appointed emperor. He only wants to compromsie now because it looks like he was wrong. Too little, too late, Governor. Next time, listen to the input of minority Democrats in the Assembly, and you just might be able to avoid a similar outcome in the future.

These guys are such idiots. Getting involved in partisan politics will be the downfall of the Ohio Chamber. How many police officers and firefighters will hence forth refuse to do business with Chamber members?

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's largest group of business leaders on Wednesday announced it was backing a campaign to retain Senate Bill 5, the state's new controversial collective bargaining law.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which claims more than 6,000 Ohio businesses as members, said it was supporting the effort to keep SB 5. Voters will see the question as State Issue 2 on November's ballot. Issue 2 is a proposal brought by opponents of SB5 who want to see the law repealed.

When even Wall Street watching website The Motley Fool says that the GOP's brinksmanship in tying raising the debt ceiling to spending cuts has hurt the economy, I don't think anyone can deny that John Boehner is a job killer. From now on this website will refer to him as such. I'm actually beginning to believe that the GOP is deliberately sabotaging the recovery just to improve their chances of ousting President Obama next year.

Below is quote from The Motley Fool (emphasis is mine):

Here's something to chew on: If stocks fall today, it will be the longest losing streak in 33 years. The Dow has dropped eight days in a row. Not even during the depths of the 2008 and 2009 financial crisis did we suffer nine consecutive down days.

What's going on?

The correct answer: Who knows? The market is never predictable.

What seems likely, though, is that the recent debt-ceiling charade caused real damage to the economy.

Consider: Consumer confidence in July fell to the lowest level since March 2009 -- a time when the Dow bottomed out in the 6,000s and the economy was losing 700,000 jobs a month. The best explanation for the plunge in confidence is that businesses and consumers stood in shocked disbelief as Washington literally threatened to default on the nation's debt to make a political point.

That fear has real consequences. Businesses that had planned on expanding last month likely shelved projects, opting to wait for more clarity. The focus of corporate boards probably shifted from "What do we need to do to expand?" to "Let's make emergency plans in case the Treasury defaults."

A CNN analysis shows that Speaker Boehner's debt plan wouldn't preserve our country's AAA credit rating.

Harry Reid's plan would.

Sometime during the last 5 days of me jetting all over the country, "Slick Jonny" Husted, in his capacity as Secretary of State, announced that We Are Ohio had enough verified signatures to put a referendum on SB 5 on this November's ballot. 

Shortly thereafter, efforts began to collect signatures to place HB 194 on the ballot. This blatant voter suppression bill includes such gems as not allowing early voting on Sundays, because black churches would encourage their members to go down to the Board of Elections after Sunday services. It shortens the period for early voting and for absentee voting, making it harder to vote for the average Ohioan. Jennifer Brunner's Courage PAC blog lists 12 reasons this bill should be repealed:

RECAP ON REFERENDUM – Here’s what HB 194 would do if voters don’t stop it:

1. Size of voting precincts: voting precincts in cities but not rural areas would be required by law to be made bigger in many cases, which could result in longer lines on Election Day in cities,
2. Poll workers: poll workers would not be required to tell a voter they are in the wrong precinct and that their ballot is not counted if they are,
3. Advantages for corporations: rules would be struck down and laws would be softened that regulate corporations’ activities in campaigns,
4. Citizen petition drives: the time needed to get enough signatures for a statewide petition such as this one would be shortened,
5. Technical reasons not to count votes: more technical reasons would be created to keep ballots from being counted, especially when voters make mistakes, like putting the current year in your birth date for an absentee ballot,
6. Government invading your privacy and identity theft: the government would be using your full Social Security number on documents like provisional and absentee ballot envelopes, with privacy not guaranteed,
7. Using your Social Security number to take you off the rolls: the state would be able to take your Social Security number and other private information about you and compare it with other government records to take you off the voting rolls, even if it finds new information and could correct your information for you,
8. Only certain people can register to vote online: you would be allowed to register to vote online but only if you have a driver’s license or state ID card,
9. Taking away time to correct your ballot: if you voted a provisional ballot, you would not get the 10 days you now have after the election to give additional information so your vote can be counted,
10. Shortening early voting and no Sunday voting: you would only have 3 weeks (not 5) to vote absentee by mail before Election Day; if you vote absentee in person, you only have 2 weeks, and there would be no Sunday voting,
11. Long lines not allowed to interfere with nearby business: even if there is a long line of voters, the law would now ban that line from interfering with a nearby business,
12. Allows for more restrictive voter ID in the future: if more restrictive voter ID requirements become law, this bill says they will control, no matter what.

Now, I have heard even some progressives say that this referendum has no shot, that the Unions "got theirs" and won't bother to particpate in a referendum repealing this blatant voter suppresion law. I disagree, and will be contact Ohio unions over the next few days to get their thoughts.

If the GOP gets what it wants whether it holds the Congress and the Presidency or not, what's the point of:

A) The Democratic Party
B) Federal Elections

I believe this political crisis is more serious than the fake debt limit.

Here's a top business tip for some enterprising editor or publisher of a struggling Ohio newspaper.

Pay Plunderbund some money to syndicate their content.

They are better than anyone you have on staff covering Ohio politics. Period. What are you waiting for?

Apparently Karl Rove's group of lying thieves, Crossroads GPS, has decided to take over the YouTubes. Literally every time I have gone onto YouTube in the past week, there has been an attack ad urging viewers to call Sherrod Brown's office and tell him "No More Blank Checks."

Nevermind that the GOP raised the debt ceiling 7 times to fund President Bush's $3 trillion War in Iraq. Nevermind that it was that war, plus the massive 2001/2003 tax breaks for the wealthy that erased the $5.6 trillion SURPLUS that was the legacy of Bill Clinton's presidency. Nevermind any of that. Tell Sherrod Brown "No More Blank Checks" because he stands up against balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and seniors.

Idiots.

This doesn't surprise me one bit. Way back in the annals of history when there was such a thing as Meet the Bloggers, a lot of people, including candidate for Gov. Jim Petro sat down with a bunch of pajama wearing, basement dwelling writers and answered unscripted questions.

We asked Josh Madel, he eventually said sure - but only if he could see all the questions in advance. Needless to say we declined his ridiculous demand.

Here's the BSB post from the incident. Josh Mandel really doesn't have any substance at all. He didn't then, and he doesn't now.

Did you know that your congress critter can access their Congressional pension as soon as age 50?

That won't be the case much longer, if Ohio's own Sen. Sherrod Brown has his way:

Senator Sherrod Brown has an idea. If we are going to talk about raising people’s eligibility age for retirement benefits, then members of Congress should not have access to their own retirement benefits any earlier than the rest of us.

Brown is introducing a proposal today in Congress that would enshrine this into law: It would amend the Federal retirement system to make the Social Security retirement age the point at which current and future members of Congress get access to their own Federal retirement benefits.

Paul Krugman tried to warn us, but just in case you still don't believe it, here's more proof that you can't cut government spending and grow the economy at the same time.

WASHINGTON -- Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month. Employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent.
The economy generated only 18,000 net jobs in June, the Labor Department said Friday.

And the number of jobs added in May was revised down to 25,000.

The latest report offered stark evidence that the recovery will be painfully slow. Businesses added the fewest jobs in more than a year. Governments cut 39,000 jobs. Over the past eight months, federal, state and local governments have cut a combined 238,000 positions.

God will come and heal the land and bring "a new day to the country," presidential candidate Michele Bachmann told an audience at an evangelical Christian church in Waukee, Iowa on Sunday.

This quote from the Des Moines Register sends chills up my spine. Michelle Bachmann has obviously never heard the story of the man who lived by the river. Or, as the preists used to tell me in Catholic school, God only helps him who helps himself. We cannot ignore the fact that the middle class is disappearing, that the gains from our economy are going only to the top 1%, and expect God to magically fix everything.

I'll ask it again, how can anyone take this woman seriously?

I've only ever walked out of a movie theater once. Almost did it a second time yesterday while watching Transformers : Dark of the Moon. Roger Ebert captures my sentiment on it.

Oh, and 3-D sucks. Can we quit with this fad please?