So we used to think our national debt was *only* nine trillion dollars. Then an article on Tuesday revealed that we have a "hidden debt" of fifty-one trillion dollars, stuff like social securtiy and medicare that for various political reaons doesn't get counted in the regular national debt number.
OK, so $60 trillion in debt is ridiculous enough. But, hey, that number's been getting higher for years and we seem to be doing fine, so what does it matter, right?
I don't completely understand how money works on these large scales, but apparently, we're borrowing millions of dollars a day from China to pay for our stuff, hoping they won't ask for it back any time soon (anyone remember the post-war debts and one of the major causes of the Great Depression?).
Even if that doesn't appear to be an urgent danger, somehow our increasing debt makes the dollar worth less compared to other currencies. Again, I'm not an economics expert, but as our government keeps spending more money than it takes in, and we just keep ignoring the issue and watching the number get bigger, we're increasing our chances of economic disaster.
This is crazy! I'd never heard of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul until three weeks ago, but almost every day I read news articles that confirm that we need someone like him in office to reduce government power and cut federal spending to a reasonable amount, just to get us out of debt before something drastic happens. Another longshot, Mike Huckabee, claims to want to reduce spending and balance the federal budget, but while he was governor of Arkansas he increased spending there by 60%.
By voting against his own Congressional pay raises during nine terms in Congress and never taking a free trip on taxpayer money, Ron Paul has the integrity that no other candidate has yet claimed to match.
Sometimes it is not difficult for me to understand why so many people are passionately convinced that he is the only hope for America.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Ron Paul For President?
USAToday.com posts way too many articles about the presidential candidates with 18 months to go, but I like to click on them and see what comments people leave to get an idea of how much support different candidates have (Regardless of poll results, Hillary, for instance, has virtually no support among USAToday's readers, Republican or Democrat).
Anyway, many of them have made comments to the tune of "Ron Paul is the only real candidate" or "Ron Paul is the only candidate who supports the Constitution" and other such positive statements.
Ron Paul? Who is this guy? I'd never heard of him . So I looked him up on Wikipedia. He's an interesting guy, and while it's still way too early to worry about, I might like him the most out of the candidates so far. A bit of information on the guy:
Although a former Libertarian candidate for president, due to his political ideals and voting record he probably has a better chance at a Republican nomination than Guiliani (unclear abortion views), Romney (unwillingness to elect a Mormon), McCain (too liberal), or Brownback (too unknown).
I'm tempted to predict Ron Paul and Obama as the future contenders at this point, but again, it's way too early. Just thought I'd let my readers know about Ron Paul, since he's an interesting guy whose been getting more attention and rising in various polls.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/AboutRon_fx.html
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/Issues_fx.html
Anyway, many of them have made comments to the tune of "Ron Paul is the only real candidate" or "Ron Paul is the only candidate who supports the Constitution" and other such positive statements.
Ron Paul? Who is this guy? I'd never heard of him . So I looked him up on Wikipedia. He's an interesting guy, and while it's still way too early to worry about, I might like him the most out of the candidates so far. A bit of information on the guy:
- Right now he's a Republican Congressman, listed as a Protestant, for whatever that's worth
- His nickname is "Dr. No" because he supposedly always votes no for bills that are against the Constitution. He has never voted to raise taxes or congressional pay. He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program and returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.
- Interestingly enough, he has always voted against the War, the Patriot Act, seeming to prefer targeted strikes against individuals. Not sure if that's good, bad, or neutral, but it means he's got a shot at support for votes from the Democratic types
- He used to "be a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology and has delivered more than 4,000 babies. Paul didn't accept Medicare or Medicaid as a physician; instead, he would do the work for free or work out a lowered payment for needy patients."
- He's for limited government that does not pay to solve our problems with our tax money, against amnesty for immigrants and for a fence.
- He's got 17 grandchildren.
Although a former Libertarian candidate for president, due to his political ideals and voting record he probably has a better chance at a Republican nomination than Guiliani (unclear abortion views), Romney (unwillingness to elect a Mormon), McCain (too liberal), or Brownback (too unknown).
I'm tempted to predict Ron Paul and Obama as the future contenders at this point, but again, it's way too early. Just thought I'd let my readers know about Ron Paul, since he's an interesting guy whose been getting more attention and rising in various polls.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/AboutRon_fx.html
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/Issues_fx.html
Monday, May 14, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Chart Thursday: Spidey sets records
MOVIES (Last weekend, May 4-6)
1. Spiderman 3 ($151 mil, 1st wk)
2. Disturbia ($5.8 mil, 4th wk, $60 mil total)
3. Fracture ($3.7 mil, 3rd wk, $26.7 mil total)
4. The Invisible ($3.3 mil, 2nd wk, $12.4 mil total)
5. Next ($2.9 mil, 2nd wk, $12 mil total)
ALBUMS (5/1 - 5/7)
The top five:
1. Ne-Yo, Because of You, 251K (new)
2. Michael Buble, Call Me Irresponsible, 212K (new)
3. Rush, Snakes and Arrows, 93K (new)
4. Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing, 86K (495K in 3 weeks)
5. Tori Amos, American Doll Posse, 54K (new)
------
Other interesting selections:
7. Daughtry, Daughtry, 50K (2.4 mil in 24 weeks)
10. Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts, 44K (5.3 mil in 77 weeks)
87. Elliot Yamin, 8K (180K in 7 weeks)
93. High School Musical Soundtrack, 7K (3.9 mil in 69 weeks)
114. Kellie Pickler, Small Town Girl, 6K (518K in 27 weeks)
157. Kidz Bop, Kidz Bop 11, 5K (242K in 11 weeks)
SONG DOWNLOADS (5/1 - 5/7)
The top five:
1. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder," 177K (421K total)
2. Ne-Yo, "Because of You," 117K (206K total)
3. Carrie Underwood, "I'll Stand By You," 114K (238K total)
4. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend," 103K (1.2 mil total)
5. T-Pain, "Buy U A Drank," 89K (535K total)
------
Other interesting selections:
12. Carrie Underwood, "Before He Cheats," 52K (1.17 mil total)
32. Daughtry, "It's Not Over," 23K (1.20 mil total)
COMMENTARY
Thanks to excessive popularity and ever-increasing ticket prices, Spiderman 3 broke various records as it took in five times as much money as all other movies combined last weekend. I must be the only one in the country who hasn't seen it yet.
Meanwhile, some rapper who calls himself Ne-Yo sold the most albums and came in second on downloads. I haven't bothered to look up the lyrics yet. Maroon 5's new song stays on top for a second week. I've heard it once; it's OK.
Unfortunately, pop radio keeps playing the latest country single from Carrie Underwood, pushing her album's sales well over five million and threatening to overtake Daughtry's average yet decent single in downloads.
Speaking of Idol economics, Bon Jovi's feature on American Idol put all six of his performed songs in the top 50 for last week's downloads. Regardless of the overall talent or actual interest of the show in successive seasons, it continues to generate loads of money for both performers and the performed.
1. Spiderman 3 ($151 mil, 1st wk)
2. Disturbia ($5.8 mil, 4th wk, $60 mil total)
3. Fracture ($3.7 mil, 3rd wk, $26.7 mil total)
4. The Invisible ($3.3 mil, 2nd wk, $12.4 mil total)
5. Next ($2.9 mil, 2nd wk, $12 mil total)
ALBUMS (5/1 - 5/7)
The top five:
1. Ne-Yo, Because of You, 251K (new)
2. Michael Buble, Call Me Irresponsible, 212K (new)
3. Rush, Snakes and Arrows, 93K (new)
4. Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing, 86K (495K in 3 weeks)
5. Tori Amos, American Doll Posse, 54K (new)
------
Other interesting selections:
7. Daughtry, Daughtry, 50K (2.4 mil in 24 weeks)
10. Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts, 44K (5.3 mil in 77 weeks)
87. Elliot Yamin, 8K (180K in 7 weeks)
93. High School Musical Soundtrack, 7K (3.9 mil in 69 weeks)
114. Kellie Pickler, Small Town Girl, 6K (518K in 27 weeks)
157. Kidz Bop, Kidz Bop 11, 5K (242K in 11 weeks)
SONG DOWNLOADS (5/1 - 5/7)
The top five:
1. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder," 177K (421K total)
2. Ne-Yo, "Because of You," 117K (206K total)
3. Carrie Underwood, "I'll Stand By You," 114K (238K total)
4. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend," 103K (1.2 mil total)
5. T-Pain, "Buy U A Drank," 89K (535K total)
------
Other interesting selections:
12. Carrie Underwood, "Before He Cheats," 52K (1.17 mil total)
32. Daughtry, "It's Not Over," 23K (1.20 mil total)
COMMENTARY
Thanks to excessive popularity and ever-increasing ticket prices, Spiderman 3 broke various records as it took in five times as much money as all other movies combined last weekend. I must be the only one in the country who hasn't seen it yet.
Meanwhile, some rapper who calls himself Ne-Yo sold the most albums and came in second on downloads. I haven't bothered to look up the lyrics yet. Maroon 5's new song stays on top for a second week. I've heard it once; it's OK.
Unfortunately, pop radio keeps playing the latest country single from Carrie Underwood, pushing her album's sales well over five million and threatening to overtake Daughtry's average yet decent single in downloads.
Speaking of Idol economics, Bon Jovi's feature on American Idol put all six of his performed songs in the top 50 for last week's downloads. Regardless of the overall talent or actual interest of the show in successive seasons, it continues to generate loads of money for both performers and the performed.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Terrorists Can't Burn DVDs, or Military Forts
Sounds like we got lucky on this one.
The big headline is that they foiled a terrorist plot by six Islamic militants to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey.
The details are still unfolding, but it appears that these guys weren't in any hurry. The feds have been investigating this for fifteen months, apparently. They also say that they don't know if it's linked to al-Qaeda, although the guys were watching bin Laden videos in their free time. I suppose the government is paranoid about linking anything without undeniable evidence these days...
It also appears that the first tip came from a store clerk when a customer asked to have a DVD made of a video that "showed men in military fatigues shooting assault weapons while calling for jihad, or holy war, and shouting in Arabic, 'God is great.' "
Wait... so we caught the guys because they didn't have DVD-writeable technology? And they were dumb enough to have it done at a store?
Thank God for snooping, curious clerks. But what does that say about our official intelligence? It was only after the clerk called police that the smart boys discovered that some of them were here illegally and had illegal firearms. What if they had actually been smart enough to avoid letting incriminatory footage into the hands of an outsider?
Well, New Jersey's safe for now. Mother Nature's looking more dangerous than Father Turban these days. A tornado wiped out 90% of a small Kansas town, only killing 10, while the rest of the state as well as parts of Missouri are flooding, thanks to all the recent rainfall.
And there's thunderstorms forecasted for tomorrow.
The big headline is that they foiled a terrorist plot by six Islamic militants to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey.
The details are still unfolding, but it appears that these guys weren't in any hurry. The feds have been investigating this for fifteen months, apparently. They also say that they don't know if it's linked to al-Qaeda, although the guys were watching bin Laden videos in their free time. I suppose the government is paranoid about linking anything without undeniable evidence these days...
It also appears that the first tip came from a store clerk when a customer asked to have a DVD made of a video that "showed men in military fatigues shooting assault weapons while calling for jihad, or holy war, and shouting in Arabic, 'God is great.' "
Wait... so we caught the guys because they didn't have DVD-writeable technology? And they were dumb enough to have it done at a store?
Thank God for snooping, curious clerks. But what does that say about our official intelligence? It was only after the clerk called police that the smart boys discovered that some of them were here illegally and had illegal firearms. What if they had actually been smart enough to avoid letting incriminatory footage into the hands of an outsider?
Well, New Jersey's safe for now. Mother Nature's looking more dangerous than Father Turban these days. A tornado wiped out 90% of a small Kansas town, only killing 10, while the rest of the state as well as parts of Missouri are flooding, thanks to all the recent rainfall.
And there's thunderstorms forecasted for tomorrow.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Gas Breaks Record, Breaks From Pattern
Gas prices have risen a lot over the last three years, and there's been a lot of fluctuation. I've carefully followed the prices of both gasoline and crude oil since Katrina damages sent crude oil to a record $70 and local gasoline to a record $3.09 a gallon.
There have plenty of gas price spikes since then, and many like to accuse the big oil companies of deciding to gouge prices because they can. However, I knew there was more than that, because gas prices would typically spike whenever the price of crude oil jumped, and trickle down when it had some catching up to do. After two years, I became familiar with the relative prices (for a while, $70 meant $3 a gallon; $65 meant $2.50, and $60 meant $2) and I could guess with decent accuracy what days the price of gas would go up.
This custom graph from stlouisgasprices.com shows that in the last three years overall gas prices and crude oil have risen and fallen together, suggesting that the big oil companies aren't randomly raising prices because they can. The two red spikes in the middle are post-Katrina and post-Rita, after which crude oil dropped back to "normal" and gas prices trickled down to under $2 through the end of 2005.
Suddenly, last month, that pattern was broken. Gas jumped several times without a justified spike in crude oil. Notice the very end of the above graph, where blue drops and red rises. If we zoom in to the last six months, there is a clear and sudden disparity:
Since the beginning of April, I have not been able to predict what gas prices will do. At the end of this week, St. Louis prices shot up to a record $3.19, while crude oil dropped to $62. Last summer, crude oil in the record $70's kept us under $3 for gas.
Before, conspiracy theorists claimed that big oil companies jacked up the price just to make more money, but the data showed a different cause. But now, I don't know. For the last month the past patterns led to the prediction that gas would slowly trickle down until it had caught up with crude oil. Instead, gas has continued to spike, reaching new records.
Reading several articles across the 'net gives some insight. "Reduced output due to refinery problems" seems to mean that the crude oil bought is not being refined into gas as quickly as it usually is. If gasoline supplies have been declining for twelve consecutive weeks, a decreasing supply coupled with increasing demand (of US gas short-term, not world oil long-term) this would anticipate a rise in gas prices that was unrelated to the price of crude oil.
I still don't like that it's broken years of its pattern, though. I don't like it.
There have plenty of gas price spikes since then, and many like to accuse the big oil companies of deciding to gouge prices because they can. However, I knew there was more than that, because gas prices would typically spike whenever the price of crude oil jumped, and trickle down when it had some catching up to do. After two years, I became familiar with the relative prices (for a while, $70 meant $3 a gallon; $65 meant $2.50, and $60 meant $2) and I could guess with decent accuracy what days the price of gas would go up.
This custom graph from stlouisgasprices.com shows that in the last three years overall gas prices and crude oil have risen and fallen together, suggesting that the big oil companies aren't randomly raising prices because they can. The two red spikes in the middle are post-Katrina and post-Rita, after which crude oil dropped back to "normal" and gas prices trickled down to under $2 through the end of 2005.
Suddenly, last month, that pattern was broken. Gas jumped several times without a justified spike in crude oil. Notice the very end of the above graph, where blue drops and red rises. If we zoom in to the last six months, there is a clear and sudden disparity:
Since the beginning of April, I have not been able to predict what gas prices will do. At the end of this week, St. Louis prices shot up to a record $3.19, while crude oil dropped to $62. Last summer, crude oil in the record $70's kept us under $3 for gas.
Before, conspiracy theorists claimed that big oil companies jacked up the price just to make more money, but the data showed a different cause. But now, I don't know. For the last month the past patterns led to the prediction that gas would slowly trickle down until it had caught up with crude oil. Instead, gas has continued to spike, reaching new records.
Reading several articles across the 'net gives some insight. "Reduced output due to refinery problems" seems to mean that the crude oil bought is not being refined into gas as quickly as it usually is. If gasoline supplies have been declining for twelve consecutive weeks, a decreasing supply coupled with increasing demand (of US gas short-term, not world oil long-term) this would anticipate a rise in gas prices that was unrelated to the price of crude oil.
I still don't like that it's broken years of its pattern, though. I don't like it.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Chart Thursday: Avril and Disturbia top low sales week
MOVIES (Last weekend, 4/27-4/29)
1. Disturbia ($9 mil, 3rd wk, $52 mil total)
2. The Invisible ($7.7, 1st wk)
3. Next ($7.1, 1st wk)
4. Fracture ($6.8 mil, 2nd wk, $21 mil total)
5. Blades of Glory ($5.1 mil, 5th wk, $108 mil total)
ALBUMS (4/24 - 4/30)
The top five:
1. Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing, 121K (408K total in two weeks)
2. Joe, Ain't Nothing Like Me, 98K (first week)
3. Nine Inch Nails, Zero, 57K (246K in two weeks)
4. Various, Now 24, 55K (656K in five weeks)
5. Daughtry, Daughtry, 49K (2.3 mil in 23 weeks)
------
Some interesting albums:
108. tobyMac, Portable Sounds, 7K (156K in 10 weeks)
129. Relient K, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, 6K (158K in 8 weeks)
SONG DOWNLOADS (4/24 - 4/30)
The top five:
1. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder," 244K (new song)
2. Carrie Underwood, "I'll Stand By You," 124K (new song)
3. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend," 116K (1.1 mil total)
4. Kelly Clarkson, "Never Again," 107K (new song)
5. Timbaland, "Give It To Me," 97K (648K total)
COMMENTARY
Last weekend no movie made $10 million. I remember articles fretting about the movie industry last year when the top movie was under $30 million. Regardless, they're up 3% on the year, and besides, Spiderman 3 will make more money this weekend than all the movies put together did last weekend.
Meanwhile, album sales, which have been dropping for several years, thanks to illegal downloading and not helped by legal single-song downloading, hit a new record low last week. Avril's latest sits at the top for two weeks in a row, although the stupid song "Girlfriend" finally fell from the top downloads, thanks to a new Maroon 5 song.
1. Disturbia ($9 mil, 3rd wk, $52 mil total)
2. The Invisible ($7.7, 1st wk)
3. Next ($7.1, 1st wk)
4. Fracture ($6.8 mil, 2nd wk, $21 mil total)
5. Blades of Glory ($5.1 mil, 5th wk, $108 mil total)
ALBUMS (4/24 - 4/30)
The top five:
1. Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing, 121K (408K total in two weeks)
2. Joe, Ain't Nothing Like Me, 98K (first week)
3. Nine Inch Nails, Zero, 57K (246K in two weeks)
4. Various, Now 24, 55K (656K in five weeks)
5. Daughtry, Daughtry, 49K (2.3 mil in 23 weeks)
------
Some interesting albums:
108. tobyMac, Portable Sounds, 7K (156K in 10 weeks)
129. Relient K, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, 6K (158K in 8 weeks)
SONG DOWNLOADS (4/24 - 4/30)
The top five:
1. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder," 244K (new song)
2. Carrie Underwood, "I'll Stand By You," 124K (new song)
3. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend," 116K (1.1 mil total)
4. Kelly Clarkson, "Never Again," 107K (new song)
5. Timbaland, "Give It To Me," 97K (648K total)
COMMENTARY
Last weekend no movie made $10 million. I remember articles fretting about the movie industry last year when the top movie was under $30 million. Regardless, they're up 3% on the year, and besides, Spiderman 3 will make more money this weekend than all the movies put together did last weekend.
Meanwhile, album sales, which have been dropping for several years, thanks to illegal downloading and not helped by legal single-song downloading, hit a new record low last week. Avril's latest sits at the top for two weeks in a row, although the stupid song "Girlfriend" finally fell from the top downloads, thanks to a new Maroon 5 song.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Health Care, Haircuts, and A Republican Actor (553 days to go)
One poll says Obama is ahead of Hillary in Democratic polls. Not that you can't find one poll that says almost anything you want.
Hillary has said she has a universal health care plan for a while now, without admitting where the money will come from. Obama has pretty much said, me too. Now Edwards says, "Me three... but it might take more taxes." At least he's honest. Apparently all the Dems are for this Universal Health Care thing.
Not sure whether it's better to take even more money from the wealthy just because they can afford it (the fundamentals of socialism) or leave the poor hard-working folk in debt from hospital bills. Not sure whether the President has much say over health care, either... I need to check my Constitution, but I would've thought that was more of a Congress thing (which Obama and Hillary are supposed to be a part of when they're not campaigning for an election 18 months away). Maybe Congress should just regulate ridiculous hospital bills ~ that might solve a lot.
Meanwhile, conservatives are having a lot of fun with the $400 haircut that John Edwards took out of our tax dollars or his campaign funds or whatever... He said it was a "mistake." Ad hominems are so much fun in politics, because the character of the person is just as important as their arguments.
On the Republican side of things, the latest rumors are that Fred Thompson will be entering the race (what's with this "enter the race" colloquialism anyway? If you don't enter soon enough, will you be too far behind? Not if the race hasn't even started yet.) Apparently he was an actor turned senator. *shrug* Everybody seems to have fond memories of Reagan. But everybody's also glad that Ahnold doesn't qualify.
Well, that's about all we have for now. I can't say much more because I just can't bring myself to do in-depth research into the qualifications, viewpoints, and policies of anybody when we still have 553 days to go.
Edmond the Hun
Hillary has said she has a universal health care plan for a while now, without admitting where the money will come from. Obama has pretty much said, me too. Now Edwards says, "Me three... but it might take more taxes." At least he's honest. Apparently all the Dems are for this Universal Health Care thing.
Not sure whether it's better to take even more money from the wealthy just because they can afford it (the fundamentals of socialism) or leave the poor hard-working folk in debt from hospital bills. Not sure whether the President has much say over health care, either... I need to check my Constitution, but I would've thought that was more of a Congress thing (which Obama and Hillary are supposed to be a part of when they're not campaigning for an election 18 months away). Maybe Congress should just regulate ridiculous hospital bills ~ that might solve a lot.
Meanwhile, conservatives are having a lot of fun with the $400 haircut that John Edwards took out of our tax dollars or his campaign funds or whatever... He said it was a "mistake." Ad hominems are so much fun in politics, because the character of the person is just as important as their arguments.
On the Republican side of things, the latest rumors are that Fred Thompson will be entering the race (what's with this "enter the race" colloquialism anyway? If you don't enter soon enough, will you be too far behind? Not if the race hasn't even started yet.) Apparently he was an actor turned senator. *shrug* Everybody seems to have fond memories of Reagan. But everybody's also glad that Ahnold doesn't qualify.
Well, that's about all we have for now. I can't say much more because I just can't bring myself to do in-depth research into the qualifications, viewpoints, and policies of anybody when we still have 553 days to go.
Edmond the Hun
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