Does anyone know this Steve Ebels guy?

Josh M.

Anybody done the math? I come up with about $10K per income producer for the bail-out. Imagine what would happen if they took that money and invested it into alternative energy and other new industries. From the ground up rather than the top down. There would be jobs for those folks trying to pay for their mortgages.

RAM_2

Does anyone know this Steve Ebels guy?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26841602

Any of you ever run across this guy? -wink

Hey Steve, hate to hear about your bad luck. That sucks. You are a good guy and didn't deserve that.

Paul Pollets

One of the best!!

Steve is a highly competent hydronics expert. I'm sorry he's had business problems. We're also seeing a downturn in the economy that hurts business.


It's a good time to be very careful with customers and make sure they have the ability to pay to contract terms. The government is not likely to bail out small businesses. The Wall St. fiasco will take years, if not a generation, to pay off. I just don't understand how we can come up with 700 billion to shore up companies who took unneccesary risks financing zero down mortgages for folks with very limited incomes, and we can't come up with a national health plan. Or pass legislation for true alternate energy initiatives or tax credits for solar or high efficiency boilers.

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Andrew Hagen_3

Exactly!!

Steve is one of the best. It is unfortunate that area of the country has been hit particularly hard.

I believe we are putting a bandaid on a chainsaw wound when it comes to our national economy. Even with the $700,000,000,000.00 bandaid, we are still bleeding profusely. Crises like these present excellent opportunities for the rich to get richer while the average person slips down the economic ladder. (edit: reference Warren Buffett's recent investment in Goldman Sachs)

As Dan's recent column states, the comfort business may have transformed into the efficiency business. But when no one has the money to invest it could turn into no business at all as people simply struggle to stay ahead of their utility bills. Wait until CNG becomes a common vehicle fuel and the price increases to a level near the price of gasoline. NG is produced by the same companies that produce our oil. Will they undercut their oil to sell natural gas? I doubt it. The price we pay for NG to heat our homes will skyrocket and we will have a real energy crisis as people scramble toward electricity to heat their homes. Unfortunately, a significant portion of our electricity generation comes from natural gas. It doesn't take a big stretch of the imagination to see we are stuck in an escalating climb up the energy ladder with no escape once we are at the top. ...and now I'm getting way off topic...

I wish the best to Steve, Hopefully the economy bounces back in that area soon.

Darin Cook_8

Awful!

I will have too comment more later because I have to go to work now to come up with the coin to pay the Man!

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Unknown

Very trying times

I have been feeling the crunch since May and it is not getting any better. This is the time to go to prayer and my prayer is for the Lord to wake up America's leaders and deliver them from their greed. At the same time to make a way for all of us were there seems to be no way. My Jesus is the God of the impossible. I am praying for everyone every day. I especailly will be praying for Steve who is an honest a straight forward man. God will make a way through.

Paul Pollets

2K

MSNBC reported $2000. for every man, woman and child in the USA.


It's very obvious that the next president will have to raise taxes. Get ready....

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Josh M.

Pucker up! Kinda sucks that I can give my guys raises and they will still see less net income than before.

Andrew Hagen_3

Bailout

And what do we get for the money? Do we avoid another great depression?

I hear we have to borrow this money from a number of countries, hoipefully giving them a stake in making sure the US economy doesn't collapse. When will our credit run out as a nation? Our national debt is staggering, equating to $32,000.00 per citizen. For a family of four, that's $128,000.00. I know it's simplistic, but would that be a $1,000/mo payment for each family for 30 years assunming we balanced the budget today? I'm not sure I would like to see my federal taxes increase by $12k per year. When do we stop mortgaging our future to fund the excesses of today?

Steve Ebels_3

Thanks guys

Your comments are appreciated.

I was kind of floored when Allison responded to a reply I posted at the bottom of an article she wrote. In my comment to her article I expressed a fair amount of frustration about the bailout and also the seeming lack of accountability and personal responsibility in the actions of these companies.

She e-mailed me and asked if she could do a phone interview with me and truthfully, I had reservations due to previous encounters with the media.(no offense intended to John Hall) What a person says is not always accurately relayed to the printed page but she did a good job.

The thing that really freaked me out was a phone call yesterday from NBC Nightly news asking to do an on camera interview. Thankfully I was tied up with meetings at the capital in Lansing all day and couldn't make it work. (Whew!.....wiping brow) I don't know how well I could have held my tongue.


Another crazy thing is that I am getting phone calls from all over the USA and people are thanking me for expressing the very thoughts they are having. Seems I'm not the only person that feels this way.

On another note, we just landed a nice job that will go a long way towards getting us back to even. Nice to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.


Still alive and kickin' in Falmouth, Michigan.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_11

painful memories

Steve,

Read the article & that certainly dredged up some painful memories! Been there too. Tis why I try to avoid working with the majority of builders in our area. The come and go in the middle of the night, it seems, with almost total immunity from prosecution and it's too flippin easy to declare bankruptcy in the USA while turning around and continuing under a different name the next day.

We're the first trade group in and the last one out & that makes us an easy target for folks who don't want to pay their obligations.

Came within a whisker of being put out of business in my third year of business by a builder who cashed the final draw and skipped town. Turned out he owned not one thing under his business name - no assets. No accountability - from the big boys who just skated with golden parachutes to general contractors who stiff subs.

Reminds me of that old Carson show when he asked a famous celeb if she'd sleep with him for a small fee. She at first declined the offer & he kept raising the stakes until she agreed to give him a whirl. If memory serves, his answer got him in hot water!

singh

Sorry Steve

for the pain and hassle you have gone through. I think most of the guys in biz here on the wall have been stiffed monies owed to them.
I remember that sick feeling in the stomach, and sleepless nights, and worrying about paying the bills. In my case it was'nt a builder , but homeowner, knowing that lien laws, dont enforce much.

As for this bailout, it is sickening, and it's one of the biggest shams perpetrated in America's history. First, adding 700 billion to the flux of money is just going to lower the current value of the dollar even more, right? So essentially a hidden form a tax when the purchasing power is lessened.
Then there is the fact that the Federal Reserve is NOT a federal agency but a group of member banks (Lehman Bros. and Goldman Sachs are members oddly enough) that formed this corporation, they will create the paper money, out of nothing, loan it to the goverment and in return receive interest payments for the loan, then take the available bailout funds and loan it out again to the smaller banks, which will then lend it to us. All with a few strokes on a keyboard, no gold or silver, or trinkets to back it up.
Its called Fiat currency, I call it monopoly money. Except the banker holds the "get out of jail" card. Meanwhile, the gov. has to repay this loan, so they tax it's citizens.

And what saddens me more is the millions in this country with out health care, citizens living below poverty levels, children going to bed hungry yet politicians from BOTH parties will quibble back and forth about ways, and how much to help the people, but within days will ok this corporate welfare plan.

One day, CHANGE WILL COME, but it won't come from Washington, or any elected official.

My .02 cents, for what it's worth.

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Ken Field

Sorry to hear about your problem

It seems that we create these problems because we actually LIKE to work. We trust people which sometimes proves to be a big problem. But most of us would rather do an installation than write fine print and get contracts signed and play the lawyer games. Unfortunately, there are scum out there who prey on trusting people like us. And when they get in a jam, they run and file for bankruptcy instead of facing their obligations. This year we all need to tighten up our books and let the credit card companies carry the debt. Anything is better than getting stuck. Steve, I hope you get back what you lost plus some.

Ken

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scott markle_2

It's really boggling to try and understand what is going down right now. As if energy issues were not enough.

It's clear to me that too many have made far too much doing far to little for our society. We need to stop being thankful for the trickle down and hold the rich accountable. Let them pay this back, we need to question the religion of capitalism, people at the top levels of our society have run this country into the ground for there own enrichment. Ironic to see the neocons who cry "socialism" for any government program that's not military so willing to accept the "socialization" of our financial institutions.

Wayco Wayne_2

Steve

I believe you should go into the commentary business. You seem to be able to speak clearly for the common man. Heck! I think you would have been a better choice for McCains VP than what he picked. (What was he thinking?) Glad to hear you're seeing the light. WW

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Steve Ebels_3

You know guys.....

A thinking person has to wonder what in the world is really going on with all this. What's the true agenda of some of our politicians? Senator Harry Reid is attempting to attach a ban on oil exploration in the oil shale areas of the Western USA to the bailout now being considered. What the blazes is he up to with that?? Are these people so out of touch that they don't realize what the stakes are when it comes to energy independence.

I urge all of you to call the congressional switchboard and leave a piece of your mind with your senators and congressmen. I just left a message for both of my senators and I hope that they actually hear it. The phone number for the switchboard is 1-202-224-3121 and there is someone there 24-7.

PS Don't call me a political activist.....to many negative connotations. I am however, and we all need to be right now, politically active.

PSS Don't turn this into a politics type thread. We all need to be Americans at this point in time, not repubs or dems.

Thanks

As ME says...the soapbox is now open