Relative cost of the bailout

In response to the so-called credit crisis, the government has obligated itself to spend $4.6 trillion. That number is so large, it is hard to grasp. Someone in cyberspace was kind enough to adjust other large government expenses for inflation so that we can compare the current bailout to the cost of other major government expenditures that have occurred at other times in history.

Inflation adjusted government spending for ALL of the below programs combined is LESS that the cost of the current bailout which is $4.6 trillion:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

Hot shots

The snipers that the county hired to "manage" the deer population with silenced firearms in county parks may not be such hot shots (pardon the pun) after all. According to a letter to the editor on Explore Howard, the snipers wounded a deer and were unable to locate it afterward.

The head propagandist for the county had this to say in response to the letter:

Howard County government spokesman Kevin Enright confirmed that parks officials, following standard procedures, delayed opening Alpha Ridge Park while tracking a wounded deer, but said the wound was from a gunshot. He said five people tracked the animal until 1:30 p.m. but never found it.

Good news for GGP

A large hedge fund is betting on GGP to recover.

Buyer beware

This has been flying around on the internet. It's always good for a laugh:

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
The next day he drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died."

Chuck: "Well, then just give me my money back."
Farmer: "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
Chuck: "Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey."
Farmer: "What ya gonna do with him?"
Chuck: "I'm going to raffle him off."
Farmer: "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"
Chuck: "Sure I can, watch me! I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck.
Farmer: "What happened with that dead donkey?"
Chuck: "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898."
Farmer: "Didn't anyone complain?"
Chuck: "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."

Chuck now works for Goldman Sachs

Local representation

In this country, we have or are supposed to have a representative democracy. I have heard over the years a few ideas on how the amount of representation can be improved. Most of these ideas generally focus on the federal level of government. I would prefer to drown the federal government in the Cuyahoga River while it is on fire. However, some of these ideas could be transfigured for a local legislative branch, like the county council. I don’t know if this would be any better or worse, but what the heck, I’ll throw it out here:

Basically, to increase representation in the county council, anyone who wants be a council person can be one. Anyone who identified themselves as a council person could vote on legislation as the council does now, but they cannot introduce new legislation. If you would rather select someone else in your district to represent you as your council person, you could do that and your representative would get your vote in addition to their own. You could change your representative at any time as often as the technology will allow us to keep accurate records. Therefore, there would no more regularly scheduled elections for council members and no term limits. There would have to some kind of secure website to keep track of votes and who each resident selected as their council person. If we can put a man on the moon, I am sure this can be figured out in a way to eliminate fraud. In each of the 5 districts, only the person who represented the most people in their district could introduce new legislation and get to sit in the front of the room while attending council meetings. These would be the only council members who get paid a salary. To keep things simple, we would do away with funding disclosures all together and instead hope that competition for votes would produce voluntary disclosure for those members with the most votes.

Each of the 5 districts would have a total amount of votes based on the number of registered voters in that district. A decision would have to be made about whether or not the voting power of each of the five districts could be forced to be equal as it is currently (like an electoral system), or if there would just be a popular vote.

Thoughts?

Get Wobbly

I know this picture is blurry (I think the lens on my cell phone camera is dirty) but I wanted to mention how much I love St. Michael's Winery Gollywobbler Red. The Gollywobbler White is pretty good too, but my favorite is the red. This stuff tastes like concord grape jelly with a kick.

It is available at only a few liquor stores in Howard County.

St. Michael's also makes a Chocolate Zinfandel that I have tried, but costs twice as much for a bottle half the size, and I don't think that it tastes good.

If you want to recommend any other wines (Maryland or not), give a shout in the comment section.

Update: It appears that not all the liquor stores that sell St. Michael's wine sell Gollywobbler Red, specifically. I know that you can get it at the liquor store in the King's Contrivance Village Center, Pine Orchard, and Woodbine Wine and Spirits.

More absurd government involvement

A gay man has sued eHarmony and forced them to offer dating services to homosexuals as well as heterosexuals. I don’t know why eHarmony would not want to cater to gays without being forced to do so. After all, homosexuals have money that they are willing to spend and I would think that eHarmony would be more than happy to take money from whoever was willing to pay them. Maybe eHarmony has no expertise in matching homosexuals together, and was unwilling to invest in learning how to do so. I am no psychologist, but it seems perfectly plausible to me that whatever works for heterosexuals in a relationship might not work for homosexuals.

Are gay people better off by forcing eHarmony to provide services that eHarmony does not want to provide voluntarily? I doubt it. If it was simply homophobia that was keeping eHarmony out of the market, then why should gays do eHarmony a favor and provide it a larger customer base?

Whatever reason that eHarmony had for restricting its business exclusively to heterosexual clients, it is absurd that someone can sue them and force them to change their business model. Competition should be the only thing that drives what services business offer.

Clicking my heels three times

Wouldn't it be nice if there was someplace you could go and be free? Someplace where no government official would spend your money on stupid crap, where they wouldn't bailout people who made poor judgments, they wouldn't tell you what you could or could not put in your own body, or do to your own body? Someplace where others in your community did not force you to do crap that you did not want to do or impose their morals on you? Someplace where you did not have to pay for stuff that you don't use? Wouldn't that be freaking nice?

I suppose as long as there is politics and arrogant people who think nothing is wrong with stealing your money as long as it is for the "public good" as defined by them, that will be impossible. I think our forefathers would probably be disappointed with the way things turned out.

Should we stop throwing money into a hole?

Why is fake news closer to reality than the real thing?


In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

Monsieur, your enema is ready

I am sure that County Health Officer Peter Beilenson, Victor Broccolino, Ken Ulman, and others have nothing but the best intentions for the health care choices available to County residents, but the recent criticisms of so-called “concierge medicine” that these guys are making are completely misguided and ignorant:

"I understand these physicians' motivation -- they all want to provide better patient care," Broccolino said. "But I am concerned about this trend and its long-term consequences for the general public."

Dr. Peter Beilenson, county health officer, echoed those concerns. He said he knows most of the physicians involved in these conversions and was confident financial gain is not their motivation.

"But I really have a problem with concierge medicine," he said. "It will stratify health care and then only the real 'haves' can continue to get the best care."

Ken Ulman was later quoted in the same article making similar statements.

What these folks are saying is that they would rather see everyone get mediocre health care than to allow some people to get exceptional health care. Concierge medicine is a way of segmenting the market between those who expect to need a high degree of care that they are willing to pay up front for, and those who do not expect to need a lot of medical care and would rather pay as they receive medical services. To say that this is somehow elitist is completely ridiculous. Does Beilenson and friends think that it is elitist that some people who watch a lot of movies join Netflix, whereas others have to rent movies one by one from iTunes? Concierge medicine allows doctors to spend more time with those patients who demand it.

Health care is expensive. The reason it is expensive is because of politicians like Ulman and health care experts like Beilenson and Broccolino who think that heavily regulating the health care industry makes patients better off. If either of these guys know of a way of giving everyone top notch health care at rock bottom prices, I would like to hear how they plan to do it. Otherwise, all three are acting like ignorant politicians when only one of them has an excuse for that.

Decking the halls

I am sure that this will make people happy. I can't believe how many letters to the editor last year blasted GGP for removing the Poinsettia tree in favor of the demonic looking Satantastic display. This year we will have both. Many thanks to the individual that sent me this.

The Poinsettia tree is back

As previously reported by Wordbones, the poinsettia tree is back at the mall. I had never seen it without the poinsettias on it, so I did not know that it has its own watering system hooked to the fountain. Each of those white tubes waters a poinsettia. If GGP's stock goes any lower, they will convert the tree frame into hydroponics apparatus and grow some mary jane.

Jesus take the wheel

This bailout was a huge mistake. Paulson has realized that stealing money from taxpayers and buying up extremely risky financial assets was a bad idea. In light of this, Paulson is changing course and is now considering lending the money that he stole from taxpayers back to them:

The government has abandoned the original centerpiece of its $700 billion rescue effort for the financial system and will not use the money to purchase troubled bank assets.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today that the administration will continue to use $250 billion of the program to purchase stock in banks as a way to bolster their balance sheets and encourage them to resume more normal lending. He also announced that the administration was looking at a major expansion of the program into the markets that provide support for credit card debt, auto loans and student loans.

Paulson said 40 percent of U.S. consumer credit is provided through selling securities that are backed by pools of auto loans and other such debt. He said these markets need support.

"This market, which is vital for lending and growth, has for all practical purposes ground to a halt," Paulson said.

The gummint got us into this mess by trying to "fix" the housing market, and now they are trying to "fix" the credit markets. At the end of the day, "free markets" will be blamed for all this crap and the government regulators who cause and continue to prolong the agony will be portrayed as economic heroes.

I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints

Catholic leaders met in Baltimore, not to discuss their affinity for young boys, but rather to discuss their hope that the Obama administration will legislatively support the Catholic brand of morality. This is a classic example of a special interest group trying to take advantage of the rest of us to please themselves.

I personally do not care what Catholics believe in or worship. That is none of my business, and it is their right to believe in the tooth fairy if they so choose. Many Catholics operate charities, schools, shelters and other charitable organizations. This is all very admirable, and it shows that they are willing to practice what they preach.

However, when Catholics or any other religious group tries to legislate the choices that real people who actually exist can make on the basis of what some old man in the sky says, that is where I draw the line. They are not practicing what they preach, they are legislating what they preach.

On Tuesday, the bishops are expected to once again take up the issue of Catholics in public life. George urged Catholic officials to consider church teaching when setting policy.

"We respect and love you, and we pray that the Catholic faith will shape your decisions so that our communion may be full," George said.

But he also warned that it would "betray the Lord Jesus Christ" if those in public life try to "impose their own agenda on the church."

Catholic leaders -- who run hospitals, adoption agencies and other charities nationwide -- are deeply concerned that any changes in state and federal law not interfere with policies in Catholic agencies that reflect church theology.

God, save me from your followers.

Why Bass Pro Shops creeps me out

What is with all the dead animals on display at Bass Pro Shops in Arundel Mills? I stopped by there to see if they had any casual outdoor clothing and I found myself surrounded by hundreds of pickled animals. I buy a fair amount of outdoor crap, but there is no way I would spend one penny in this store.

What would people say if a pet store had hundreds of pickled dogs and cats on display? It's very strange how completely irrational our cultural customs are.

Weasel word of the day: Challenge

Weasel word to watch out for: "challenge". It seems to me that the word "challenge" is being tossed around a lot lately in a misleading way (or at least I have noticed it more). Three examples from the news recently:

1. From Al Gore's absurd article on so called "sustainable" capitalism:

For example, by challenging America to generate 100% carbon-free electricity within 10 years -- with the building of a 21st century Unified National Smart Grid, and the electrification of our automobile fleet -- we can encourage investment in our economy, secure domestic energy supplies, and create millions of jobs across the country.

Something tells me that if Gore gets his way, his "challenge" is really a mandate. By the way, Gore's idea to stimulate job creation is akin to banning computers and investing in typewriters.

2. In an article about how Baltimore Mayor Shelia Dixon arrogantly wants to restrict what police officers can do on their own time:

The change comes as Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III and Mayor Sheila Dixon have challenged troubled businesses to provide better security, and it will take effect just weeks after police launched a significant crackdown on overtime amid budget constraints. Many officers work such jobs to supplement their incomes by thousands of dollars, and the security details add numerous officers to the streets at peak hours, paid entirely out of business owners' pockets.

Dixon is "challenging" private businesses to discriminate against hiring off duty police officers as security personnel. WTF?

3. Barack Obama's website used to say this:

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.

Now instead of "requiring", they want to "set a goal", which is similar to the word "challenge".

I am now scared to death of any politician that wants to "challenge" me to do something. I smell force and coercion.

Green Tech

The Obama job creation plan: ban shovels and require that all holes be dug with spoons. Well, not exactly, but close enough. Basically, the plan is to have the government (who else would be this stupid) invest $150 billion over the next decade in green technology, which will supposedly produce 5 million jobs. In what world does essentially divesting of an efficient technology and investing in an inefficient technology make sense? This is the road to poverty. And we know that green tech is not as efficient as regular energy, because if it was, private investors would be scrambling to invest in green tech without the use of government force.

This sort of government intervention is very dangerous because it is getting close to planning our economy. We see how disruptive to our economy the well intentioned desire for the government to create affordable housing turned out. It created a huge housing bubble which led to the current economic meltdown. Therefore, Obama is wasting no time setting up for the next disaster. Furthermore, promoters of this idea are ignoring the higher energy costs that we will have to pay as well as the existing jobs in the "regular" energy sector.

I am not opposed to green tech, heck I think it will be the savior of our planet. But I think it would be disastrous to subsidize any sort of new technology with our tax dollars. Green tech will happen when the technology is there. Right now, the technology is not there, and Obama is no better equipped than a capitalist to know when the time is right for investment in green tech.

The union runs this town

I guess this is a dollar short and a day late since the election is over, but I came across a blog which is calling for reform of the Howard County Board of Education. On this blog you can watch a short trailer for a longer documentary about HoCo public schools (a link to the longer documentary is provided as well). I watched the trailer- Gail Bates appears in it for a few seconds although she didn't say anything useful (par for the course).

One thing going against educational choice and public school reform in this county and this state is the strength of the teachers union. As the landslide victory of slots proves, anything can get done in this town if it is strongly backed by the teachers union. Labor unions benefit their members at the expense of those who consume the services that the unionized labor provides. In other words, the teachers union works to benefit teachers, not students or parents. Go figure, the teachers union does not support public school choice.

Later

What a difference almost 12 hours makes at the polling place (prior attempt to vote here). With the second attempt, I sailed right through the voting process. I did not have to wait for a single soul.

This is certainly no surprise, but it looks like Obama has the race locked up. On the Intrade market, McCain is trading as follows (the price is essentially the probability of victory):




And here is Obama:




Maybe later

I was at my polling place by 7am but the line was outrageous. I'll
probably try again later.

Sowell on Obama

Thomas Sowell, someone who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, takes off his gloves and hits Obama squarely in the nose. The gist:

Barack Obama has the kind of cocksure confidence that can only be achieved by not achieving anything else.

Anyone who has actually had to take responsibility for consequences by running any kind of enterprise-- whether economic or academic, or even just managing a sports team-- is likely at some point to be chastened by either the setbacks brought on by his own mistakes or by seeing his successes followed by negative consequences that he never anticipated.

The kind of self-righteous self-confidence that has become Obama's trademark is usually found in sophomores in Ivy League colleges-- very bright and articulate students, utterly untempered by experience in real world.

The signs of Barack Obama's self-centered immaturity are painfully obvious, though ignored by true believers who have poured their hopes into him, and by the media who just want the symbolism and the ideology that Obama represents.

However, McCain is no better. More experienced, certainly, but still impotent in his ability to positively impact our future. While these two candidates have the only real shot of victory, they are not the only choice. Voters deserve whomever they cast their ballot for.

Pot, it's me, Kettle

I get a kick out of how McCain is portraying Obama as a Socialist. Most politicians from both major parties, including McCain, promote policies that have shades of Socialism. I would also like to know how many people that criticize Obama for being a Socialist plan to vote in favor of the slots referendum, which is the very definition of Socialism in that the state owns the means of production.

Obama jokingly said that the McCain campaign found further evidence that Obama was a Socialist because he shared his toys with other children in Kindergarten. The only problem with this joke is that it is not an example of Socialism. This was a free market trade that, presumably, was made voluntarily with the purpose of making Obama and his playmates better off.

One other random ramble- in Maryland, a vote for McCain is wasted because Obama will carry the state very easily. Hell, he will carry the whole election pretty easily. Therefore, if you are not an Obama supporter you should seriously consider voting for a third party candidate if you are not thrilled with McCain. Throw a third party dog a bone.

A Coffee fueled over-analysis

Another dentist is offering to purchase Halloween candy from children, with the purchased candy going to US troops. This dentist is offering $1 a pound, as opposed to the other dentist who is offering 50 cents a pound. Both dentists also include a toothbrush in the deal. The first dentist could arbitrage the second dentist by selling him all the candy she purchased for 50 cents a pound for $1 a pound. Depending on how the cost of the tooth brushes factor in, this could be profitable. This would also allow the first dentist to make the second dentist bear all of the overseas shipping costs which could be substantial. As long as the candy gets to US troops, the first dentist is not breaking the contract with the seller of the candy. Of course, you have to factor in the opportunity cost of the first dentist to engage in this transaction when she could be cleaning teeth for $150 an hour...