I really don't post much if you haven't noticed. This is mainly because I don't have much to say, and when I do have something to say I usually don't say it because I don't want it to come back and hurt me in any way, shape, or form. That's why you won't hear me ranting and raving about work, school, family, or other aspects of my life that would possibly come back and bit me in the butt.
But every now and then I have run into something or have a thought that I need to put out there. Sometimes I am unable to express my words clearly without making myself sound like a bumbling idiot, so I will try my best.
With this semester coming to an end I feel like I am at whits end. All I have is one more class to do in the summer than I will have graduated from the rat race called college and enter into the next rat race of finding a job. As I was thinking about this a couple of songs ironically came to mind. Both are by a band called Cake, and I think they best describe what I am feeling right now.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
My Two Cents
I know I don't blog much, but nothing has really brought me to the point that I need to get it off of my chest. That changed today when I had some time on my hands and started to read a little more into this new stimulus bill that President Obama is trying to push through. Now the idea of spending money to get a economy out of a recession is nothing new. Japan did it in 1990, and it failed miserably, leading to the time known as the "Lost Decade" in Japan where the economy struggled and faltered. Their stimulus package quite simply failed.
There is a quote by economist Milton Friedman that states: "The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy." So the solution to the current economic slump is to spend more money, make government larger, and waste more taxpayer money. Milton also said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program," and how true that is. If you looked at the unemployment statistics it wasn't FDR's New Deal programs and all the government spending that got the U.S. out of the Depression, it was WWII and the effects of a military industrial complex that we had to become in order to sustain a war effort on two fronts.
Now on to pork.
A recent statement by Obama states: "I know that there are a lot of folks out there who've been saying, 'Oh, this is pork, and this is money that's going to be wasted,' and et cetera, et cetera. Understand, this bill does not have a single earmark in it, which is unprecedented for a bill of this size. ... There aren't individual pork projects that members of Congress are putting into this bill."
Unfortunately this is just plain false. There are roughly 2.4 billion dollars in "pet projects" that don't constitute as "pork" in the plan, but are still specific projects for specific places. To me that sounds a lot like pork, but I might be wrong in my assumption.
Then I saw this story on Bloomberg.com
All I can say is WOW!! So under the stimulus package there is a new bureaucracy that determines if it is cost effective to save your life. The article talks about how the program would "slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs." This reminds me of Dr. Kelso in the TV series Scrubs; he cared more about saving the hospital money than actually treating the patient in a lot of instances.
And the new bureaucracy would be....."The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board...... This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
So, it doesn't matter if it is a life saving procedure. A group of individuals are going to determine whether or not you life is cost effective to save. I cannot believe that this is happening! This will stagnate medicine, costing lives, and resulting in the loss of jobs in the third largest employer in the nation. The funny part is that all you hear in the news is that the Republicans are stopping the stimulus bill from passing because they are bitter that they lost the election, that they are being left out of the process. From what I see as an observer, with no real political affiliation, is that maybe they might see a problem with all the spending that is going on and the direction that the supposed "savior" of America is trying to do to us.
I don't oppose a stimulus package. I think that doing nothing will cause just as many problems as passing this bloated bill. What needs to be done is to restore consumer confidence. Lower interest rates, put money back into the hands of the consumer. Government has never been able to effectively solve any problem, why is it any different now. When the consumer has confidence in the market, then there is more spending, which creates more jobs, then has a snowball effect which leads to economic recovery. Not ineffective government programs wasting taxpayers money, politicians playing their petty political pandering, and institutions created to help but instead become a drain on society(aka Social Security). The only victims of this are us, the American people, who have to deal with this abuse of government at our own cost.
And that is my two cents
There is a quote by economist Milton Friedman that states: "The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy." So the solution to the current economic slump is to spend more money, make government larger, and waste more taxpayer money. Milton also said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program," and how true that is. If you looked at the unemployment statistics it wasn't FDR's New Deal programs and all the government spending that got the U.S. out of the Depression, it was WWII and the effects of a military industrial complex that we had to become in order to sustain a war effort on two fronts.
Now on to pork.
A recent statement by Obama states: "I know that there are a lot of folks out there who've been saying, 'Oh, this is pork, and this is money that's going to be wasted,' and et cetera, et cetera. Understand, this bill does not have a single earmark in it, which is unprecedented for a bill of this size. ... There aren't individual pork projects that members of Congress are putting into this bill."
Unfortunately this is just plain false. There are roughly 2.4 billion dollars in "pet projects" that don't constitute as "pork" in the plan, but are still specific projects for specific places. To me that sounds a lot like pork, but I might be wrong in my assumption.
Then I saw this story on Bloomberg.com
All I can say is WOW!! So under the stimulus package there is a new bureaucracy that determines if it is cost effective to save your life. The article talks about how the program would "slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs." This reminds me of Dr. Kelso in the TV series Scrubs; he cared more about saving the hospital money than actually treating the patient in a lot of instances.
And the new bureaucracy would be....."The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board...... This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
So, it doesn't matter if it is a life saving procedure. A group of individuals are going to determine whether or not you life is cost effective to save. I cannot believe that this is happening! This will stagnate medicine, costing lives, and resulting in the loss of jobs in the third largest employer in the nation. The funny part is that all you hear in the news is that the Republicans are stopping the stimulus bill from passing because they are bitter that they lost the election, that they are being left out of the process. From what I see as an observer, with no real political affiliation, is that maybe they might see a problem with all the spending that is going on and the direction that the supposed "savior" of America is trying to do to us.
I don't oppose a stimulus package. I think that doing nothing will cause just as many problems as passing this bloated bill. What needs to be done is to restore consumer confidence. Lower interest rates, put money back into the hands of the consumer. Government has never been able to effectively solve any problem, why is it any different now. When the consumer has confidence in the market, then there is more spending, which creates more jobs, then has a snowball effect which leads to economic recovery. Not ineffective government programs wasting taxpayers money, politicians playing their petty political pandering, and institutions created to help but instead become a drain on society(aka Social Security). The only victims of this are us, the American people, who have to deal with this abuse of government at our own cost.
And that is my two cents
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Yes, I know
Yes, I know it's been a bit since I posted. Yadda Yadda Yadda. So finals are almost over, and just like the post on James blog, I am in a state of finals induced comma. A sinus infection hasn't helped either.
Ok, so now for my moment of gloating. I know this will show how much of a nerd that I am, but this proves that I am doing better. I have gone....drum roll..........36 days without World of Warcraft!!!
The picture was just for the effect. I really haven't missed it, but I'm sure I will start it up again sometime in the future, maybe when I have a killer gaming computer.
Ok, so now for my moment of gloating. I know this will show how much of a nerd that I am, but this proves that I am doing better. I have gone....drum roll..........36 days without World of Warcraft!!!
The picture was just for the effect. I really haven't missed it, but I'm sure I will start it up again sometime in the future, maybe when I have a killer gaming computer.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
My little hole at work
I have had a couple of people ask what my work place looks like. So here are a few pictures of it. Sorry, they are pics from my phone, so they are not the best quality.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Blah, another day
So I am dead tired right now. I was at work until about 3am doing inventory, and I am fairly grumpy right now. So I had an interesting experience with one of the individuals that I work with, and this picture describes him perfectly.
The sad thing is that this individual is doing this at Best Buy. I'm sorry, but my goal in life isn't to work my entire life at Best Buy, so I don't treat other employees like garbage. To try and assert authority just to make it look like you are important is, in my book, pretty pathetic. The funny part is that this individual doesn't realize that a majority of the individuals at work just ignore him.
The sad thing is that you get out of their way and let them live their pointless life, aiming for mediocrity. This made me reflect on how cutthroat individuals are in regards to pointless issues. He's the weekend warrior on the golf course that thinks he should be on the tour, the overzealous parent at the childrens soccer game that thinks that his performance in little league will determine if he makes it to the pros, or the annoying relative who doesn't care what game it is or who he steps over to win a pointless game.
It gives credence to the saying, "even crap, if left long enough, will float to the top."
Basically what I am saying is that you should be nice to people regardless of the situation. That's not to say that you should just lay down and die, but that you should be firm, but friendly.
The sad thing is that this individual is doing this at Best Buy. I'm sorry, but my goal in life isn't to work my entire life at Best Buy, so I don't treat other employees like garbage. To try and assert authority just to make it look like you are important is, in my book, pretty pathetic. The funny part is that this individual doesn't realize that a majority of the individuals at work just ignore him.
The sad thing is that you get out of their way and let them live their pointless life, aiming for mediocrity. This made me reflect on how cutthroat individuals are in regards to pointless issues. He's the weekend warrior on the golf course that thinks he should be on the tour, the overzealous parent at the childrens soccer game that thinks that his performance in little league will determine if he makes it to the pros, or the annoying relative who doesn't care what game it is or who he steps over to win a pointless game.
It gives credence to the saying, "even crap, if left long enough, will float to the top."
Basically what I am saying is that you should be nice to people regardless of the situation. That's not to say that you should just lay down and die, but that you should be firm, but friendly.
Monday, October 20, 2008
No, I'm not dead....but here's what I have to say.
Ok, so I know it has been a long time since I have personally posted. Occasionally I get bored with something and just let it go. Unfortunately this time is was blogging.
Now onto the real reason why I am posting a blog. With the election coming upon us shortly, I feel like I need to throw in my two cents. I had a conversation with a guy in one of my classes about the election and what each of us thought of it. If you looked at this guy you would realize that he is obviously an Obama supporter by the shirt that he wears, the lanyard that he always has around his neck, and the big Obama sticker that he has on the side of his car.
Now I don't have a problem with people expressing their political, social, and other ideas in any way that they seem fit, but where it crosses the line is when people won't respect my opinions because they are not the same as theirs. The conversation I had with this student was congenial and lets say that we agreed to disagree. The biggest point of difference was that this individual was pointing out all the bad things about McCain and all the wonderful things that Obama has said and done.
Now I really don't care much about that, and I really haven't decided on whom I am going to vote for, but a random thought had popped in my head and when I stated it this dude got a little defensive. What popped in my head was a quote from the movie "The Hunt for Red October." Yes, I know that it is entirely random, but the quote fit perfectly on how I feel about politicians. It's at about 5:55 and lasts about 15 sec. sorry, I couldn't find a short clip with just this, and it might take a bit to load, but this perfectly describes my feelings for politicians and why I don't believe people that talk to me about how one candidate is better than another.
Now onto the real reason why I am posting a blog. With the election coming upon us shortly, I feel like I need to throw in my two cents. I had a conversation with a guy in one of my classes about the election and what each of us thought of it. If you looked at this guy you would realize that he is obviously an Obama supporter by the shirt that he wears, the lanyard that he always has around his neck, and the big Obama sticker that he has on the side of his car.
Now I don't have a problem with people expressing their political, social, and other ideas in any way that they seem fit, but where it crosses the line is when people won't respect my opinions because they are not the same as theirs. The conversation I had with this student was congenial and lets say that we agreed to disagree. The biggest point of difference was that this individual was pointing out all the bad things about McCain and all the wonderful things that Obama has said and done.
Now I really don't care much about that, and I really haven't decided on whom I am going to vote for, but a random thought had popped in my head and when I stated it this dude got a little defensive. What popped in my head was a quote from the movie "The Hunt for Red October." Yes, I know that it is entirely random, but the quote fit perfectly on how I feel about politicians. It's at about 5:55 and lasts about 15 sec. sorry, I couldn't find a short clip with just this, and it might take a bit to load, but this perfectly describes my feelings for politicians and why I don't believe people that talk to me about how one candidate is better than another.
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