Category Archives: headlines

Wrong? Does Iowa mean something?

I do not like admitting that I was wrong. It annoys me greatly. That is why I usually do not make big sweeping statement on my blog because then later I will feel the need to either corrected or apologize. But, alas, I may be wrong about the Iowa caucus.

I have to say the one thing I never contemplated happening happened. Who would have thought that Rick Santorum would have been inches away from winning? This may be a game changer! The reason there are so many Republicans in the race to begin with is due to the fact no one sees an option to Romney. If Santorum has a real chance of becoming the Republican nominee I think we may start seeing people drop like flies out of the primary race.

I am not sure that the Iowa caucus counted for anything but it just may have. We will only find out the next days or weeks to come. This could get interesting….

Who cares about the Iowa caucus?

Before the results are in from the Iowa caucus, let us just put everything on the table. The Iowa caucus is unreliable and irrelevant. For heavens sake. Ron Paul, the candidate who said he does not even think he can win, is probably going to show up as the winner of the Republican Iowa caucus. I am really hoping that this time when the crazy candidate i.e. Ron Paul wins, it proves to the world that this is a waste to began with. I am not sure how it got so much prestige to begin with. I have heard that it was a pet project of the press back in the 80s but even that sounds too ridiculous to be true but, we are talking about the press so who knows.

So I for one am not even planning on tuning in to or reading about any of the coverage of the Iowa caucus. I will just wait till something more that counts happens.

(And no, I don’t think Paul is crazy but I think his chances are.)

Money Gap or Motivation Gap?

This last week I heard about the Pew study that came out about Economic Well Being by age groups. Here is the very notable section:

Trends in household wealth reveal the pattern most vividly. In 2009, the median net worth (all assets minus all debts) of households headed by an adult ages 65 or older was 42% more than that of their same-aged counterparts in 1984. By contrast, the net worth of a typical household headed by an adult under the age of 35 in 2009 was 68% less than that of their same-aged counterparts in 1984.

I agree with a local radio personality here in Fresno, Inga Barks, who said that it is good that are seniors are more secure. And she pointed out that at 25 it is a lot easier to get a second job than at 65. And that is all true.
But through all the discussion I have heard there is some key facts that I haven’t heard taken into account. First off is the bounce back kid. Some of these college graduates are coming home to live off their parents until they are in their 30’s not because they can’t find any job but because they can’t find their ideal job. Also you have more and more college graduates who aren’t working their way through college but living on loans or mom and dad.

Could all this factor into the money gap? Is this really just a sign of how well our economy is doing because this young adults can afford to not work? What does this really mean?

What the Blurg?

1/2 a billion dollars. 1/2 a billion dollars down the toilet. Why? Because the administration thinks the way to make an industry grow is by throwing money at it willy nilly. The Bush administration had already passed on backing Solyndra but Obama was sure he knew better. I mean when George Stephanopoulos says that people warned him, you know there had red flags a waving.

I don’t have a problem with this due to the fact it is green energy but do to faulty business theory. Government should get out of the way of business but that isn’t the same thing as throwing money at it. I would love to see us as an active participant in the green energy race but lets not worry about shipping over seas until we can take care of the domestic demand.

If we can build a better product then we should do it. But inflating a company’s worth with false cash flow does not actually make it successful. That is really only done by actually producing a product or service that people want to buy. And Venture Capitalists are always looking for that to invest in.
Venture Capitalist is not a role the United States government should be taking on.

Pay Cut for Early Retirement?

I find the concept of collecting retirement and at the same time collecting a pay check from the same entity a bit disconcerting. Is that was is going on with Superintendent Larry Powell and his voluntary pay cut? While I really like him and think that what he is doing is nice, is it all people are thinking? Do people realize he might be getting retirement at the same time?

I just want to declare my motivation for this post. 1)I think Larry is a good guy but I thought there should be full disclosure if he was also collecting retirement just to properly frame everything.  2) I just don’t like this loop hole! Not everyone is doing it for such noble reasons and that costs us all lots of money.

Update: Brad saw an interview on FOX where Larry Powell said he was going to donate his salary to charity! Good for him!

Obama Caused the Downgrade of America

I believe that President Barak Obama caused the downgrade of America from a AAA rating to a AA+ rating by the S&P. I know, that is a bold statement but one I believe is true.

We won’t get into a whole conversation about if the US can really default on a T-bill since we print money…That is not the point.

It wasn’t 2 weeks ago that President Obama came out and said that if we didn’t raise the debt ceiling that the US would default on their loans. So the S&P believed him. They believed him in saying that 1 deal not passing the legislature could break the US. I don’t know if I believed him but needless his words had consequences.

Now President Obama comes out saying how ridiculous it is that the S&P would downgrade the US as an investment because we are so stable. Really? As my momma used to say, you were either lying then or lying now.

By the by, I think it is interesting that the S&P sited our leadership as the reason for the downgrade….

Bibi Schools Obama Like a Parent

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I loved this whole exchange;). I could go into why what the Prime Minister said is true but that is every where right now. Just leave it at he was right and Israel isn’t going to just going back to the 1967 borders. Period.

But something made me chuckle when I saw this (ok, many things about this made me chuckle). This little speech was made after Obama’s public speech calling for Israel to go back to 1967 borders. It reminds me of a parenting tactic my mom took and I have threatened with.

I hate how kids try to back you into a corner sometimes. The idea that they will to wait and ask you for something in public. It is that thing you usually say no to but they are hoping that by asking you in front of people you will concede. My way of dealing with it (and my mother’s before me) is if you try and embarrass me or put me on the spot, I will go into detail explaining to you why you can’t have what you want. I will go into the detail that you already know and it might be embarrassing to you.

I hope that Obama was more than a little embarrassed. Partially for trying to ignore history. But also for pretending that Hamas is this innocent organization when the US already knows better.

Is Newt Serious?

Apparently Newt Gingrich is going to announce his candidacy for the office of President on Wednesday (according to the Wall Street Journal) and I wonder if he is serious. While I have a fondness for Newt Gingrich, I look at this with quite a bit of hesitation. I wonder if there is a chance in heck of him getting either the nomination or elected. Newt is not really palatable to the country as a whole so does he really have a serious chance? Or is that the point?

Is he running as a palate adjuster? Doesn’t it make people like Palin or Daniels seem much more main stream? Is he just wanting to make sure that issues that are important to him are discussed?  Is this even a serious campaign?

I really don’t know what to think about all of this. How about you? Would you use your primary vote on him even though Newt has a slim chance of winning? Do you think he is running a serious campaign that is aiming at winning? Or is Newt going to continue his bomb throwing ways?