Tuesday, March 24, 2009
I Am Against Government Guaranteed Breast-feeding Rights for Working Moms
First of all, I respect and acknowledge people who support breast-feeding-working moms. I encourage people to support them economically. So will you please afford me the same respect and courtesy I am giving you? Am I free to disagree with you?
Furthermore, we do not get our rights from the government. No government is the giver of rights, whether federal, state, nor local. The problem is, public schools teach us that government gives us our rights, so when their benevolence shines into our lives, we are supposed to be grateful:
The above video is an example of why health care prices and California's budget are completely out of control. We are drowning in debt and taxes because we expect the government to distribute rights. I disagree, but am I allowed to act on that disagreement? Am I allowed to act on my belief without the initiation of force against me?
If you agree that I’m allowed to disagree with you and if you agree that I’m free to act on that disagreement, just as you are free to act on your beliefs, by way of example, if I don’t like government programs that "give" rights to breast-feeding-working moms, am I free to not to write a check and not to economically support them?
No, in fact, there is an extremely fine charitable organization named Le Leche League International that I would rather support. LLLi already gets federal help in the form of tax exemption because it is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. There is no possible way I can emphasize how great Le Leche League is. But I am forced under threat of violence to support other sub-standard, monopoly based organizations instead. It's just wrong.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Alphabet Sounds
One of Benjamin's teachers recommended getting some pictures for him to trace to help get him interested in coloring. Part of the problem is he isn't making the connection with the pictures we want him to color. They aren't familiar and he doesn't care to engage.
He really loves a video Karen found on YouTube that has a picture for each letter of the alphabet. The song is popular at Benjamin's various schools, "Alphabet Sounds" sung by Barbra Miline. The video version is excellent, only for one minor thing: they use lower case letters. This does not detract from Benjamin's extreme interest in the video. But Benjamin does observe the letters and confused the upper case "I" with the lower case "l" when he sees the "Lion" slide. To me, the fact that he confused them is great. It means he is connecting the letters to the image. Wonderful progress.
Source: YouTube
His teacher recommended that I extract the pictures from the video with CMD-Shift-F4 (the Mac OS X way) and dump them into a photo so I could print them. I thought that was such a good idea, I did that when I got home after the meeting with her. For speed, I used CMD-Shift-F4, followed by <space>, followed by clicking on the Quicktime window. Then, to get rid of the Quicktime app border and isolate just the image, I used GIMP to use the magic lasso to select just the actual image, then I used "Crop to Selection." This resulted in a perfect crop of the images.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
(BN) U.S. Housing Starts Unexpectedly Increase Amid Surge in Condo Construction
Not only is it too early to get excited, this is worse than bad. This is a result of the government's desire to get banks to lend.
So the banks lent to the most logical party: builders. If the builder defaults, the bank gets the building. But the bank doesn't really want the building because there is already two years worth of inventory.
Once the builders default, now who will the banks lend to?
Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.
U.S. Economy: Housing Starts Unexpectedly Jumped
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. housing starts in February unexpectedly snapped the longest streak of declines in 18 years, raising optimism the market may be finally finding a floor.
Work began on 583,000 homes at an annual rate, a 22 percent increase from January that was propelled by a surge in condominiums, apartments and townhouses, Commerce Department figures in Washington showed today. A separate report showed gains in producer prices slowed, underscoring a lack of inflationary pressures with the economy in a recession.
“It’s a bit too early to get too excited, but we are nearing the bottom in housing,” said Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis, who had forecast an increase in starts.
The lifting gloom pushed up builder shares, led by gains at Toll Brothers Inc., the nation’s largest developer of luxury homes, and Pulte Homes Inc., the largest homebuilder. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Supercomposite Homebuilding Index advanced 6.4 percent to close at 188.92 in New York.
Building permits, a sign of future construction, rose less than starts, indicating construction may again slow. Developers are still contending with record foreclosures that depress prices and profits, and put pressure on the Federal Reserve, which meets today and tomorrow, and the Obama administration to solve the credit crisis.
Starts were projected to fall to a 450,000 annual pace, according to the median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Estimates ranged from 400,000 to 500,000. January’s starts were revised up to 477,000 from a previously estimated 466,000.
More Permits
Permits increased 3 percent to a 547,000 annual pace. They were forecast to drop to a 500,000 annual rate, according to the survey median.
“You get the sense from a lot of the data coming out now that we’re beginning to get to a bottom,” Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re not quite there yet.”
The Labor Department reported wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent in February as the cost of energy products, cigarettes, light trucks and household appliances increased.
The increase was less than forecast and followed a 0.8 percent advance in January. Excluding food and fuel, so-called core prices rose 0.2 percent.
Compared with February 2008, producer prices were down 1.3 percent.
Slack, Prices
“There’s just a huge amount of slack now in the U.S. economy and the global economy” that’s keeping prices down, said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “That’s going to hang around for some time.”
Economists predict Labor will report tomorrow that consumer prices increased 0.3 percent in February for a second month. January’s gain was the first in six months. Excluding food and energy costs, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that the central bank is “not anticipating deflation,” or a prolonged drop in prices that hurts profits and makes it difficult to repay loans.
Bernanke on Inflation
“We are committed to price stability, we believe we have the tools in place to do that,” Bernanke said March 10 in response to a question after a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “Right now both the objectives for price stability and the objectives for growth are pointing in the same direction and that is for strong support of the economy.”
Fed policy makers will keep the benchmark interest rate near zero following their two-day meeting tomorrow and discuss additional measures to calm the credit crisis, economists said.
Bernanke and his colleagues are examining whether to expand existing asset-purchase and lending programs or initiate fresh measures, such as buying Treasuries. The central bank also is purchasing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Bank debt under a program aimed to reduce mortgage costs.
The Commerce report showed construction of single-family homes climbed 1.1 percent to a 357,000 rate. Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartment buildings, surged 82 percent to a 226,000 pace from 124,000 in January.
Northeast Surges
The increase in starts was led by an 89 percent jump in the Northeast.
Banks need to “go the extra mile” and keep credit flowing to businesses to prevent the economy from worsening, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in remarks at the White House yesterday. The economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
President Barack Obama has pledged a $275 billion rescue to help keep as many as 9 million borrowers in their homes and trim foreclosures. His efforts also include a tax break of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers that wouldn’t require repayment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
U.S. Economy: Housing Starts Unexpectedly Jumped
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. housing starts in February unexpectedly snapped the longest streak of declines in 18 years, raising optimism the market may be finally finding a floor.
Work began on 583,000 homes at an annual rate, a 22 percent increase from January that was propelled by a surge in condominiums, apartments and townhouses, Commerce Department figures in Washington showed today. A separate report showed gains in producer prices slowed, underscoring a lack of inflationary pressures with the economy in a recession.
“It’s a bit too early to get too excited, but we are nearing the bottom in housing,” said Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis, who had forecast an increase in starts.
The lifting gloom pushed up builder shares, led by gains at Toll Brothers Inc., the nation’s largest developer of luxury homes, and Pulte Homes Inc., the largest homebuilder. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Supercomposite Homebuilding Index advanced 6.4 percent to close at 188.92 in New York.
Building permits, a sign of future construction, rose less than starts, indicating construction may again slow. Developers are still contending with record foreclosures that depress prices and profits, and put pressure on the Federal Reserve, which meets today and tomorrow, and the Obama administration to solve the credit crisis.
Starts were projected to fall to a 450,000 annual pace, according to the median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Estimates ranged from 400,000 to 500,000. January’s starts were revised up to 477,000 from a previously estimated 466,000.
More Permits
Permits increased 3 percent to a 547,000 annual pace. They were forecast to drop to a 500,000 annual rate, according to the survey median.
“You get the sense from a lot of the data coming out now that we’re beginning to get to a bottom,” Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re not quite there yet.”
The Labor Department reported wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent in February as the cost of energy products, cigarettes, light trucks and household appliances increased.
The increase was less than forecast and followed a 0.8 percent advance in January. Excluding food and fuel, so-called core prices rose 0.2 percent.
Compared with February 2008, producer prices were down 1.3 percent.
Slack, Prices
“There’s just a huge amount of slack now in the U.S. economy and the global economy” that’s keeping prices down, said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. “That’s going to hang around for some time.”
Economists predict Labor will report tomorrow that consumer prices increased 0.3 percent in February for a second month. January’s gain was the first in six months. Excluding food and energy costs, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that the central bank is “not anticipating deflation,” or a prolonged drop in prices that hurts profits and makes it difficult to repay loans.
Bernanke on Inflation
“We are committed to price stability, we believe we have the tools in place to do that,” Bernanke said March 10 in response to a question after a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “Right now both the objectives for price stability and the objectives for growth are pointing in the same direction and that is for strong support of the economy.”
Fed policy makers will keep the benchmark interest rate near zero following their two-day meeting tomorrow and discuss additional measures to calm the credit crisis, economists said.
Bernanke and his colleagues are examining whether to expand existing asset-purchase and lending programs or initiate fresh measures, such as buying Treasuries. The central bank also is purchasing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Bank debt under a program aimed to reduce mortgage costs.
The Commerce report showed construction of single-family homes climbed 1.1 percent to a 357,000 rate. Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartment buildings, surged 82 percent to a 226,000 pace from 124,000 in January.
Northeast Surges
The increase in starts was led by an 89 percent jump in the Northeast.
Banks need to “go the extra mile” and keep credit flowing to businesses to prevent the economy from worsening, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in remarks at the White House yesterday. The economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007.
President Barack Obama has pledged a $275 billion rescue to help keep as many as 9 million borrowers in their homes and trim foreclosures. His efforts also include a tax break of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers that wouldn’t require repayment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
Sent from my iPhone
Who is more honest?
That's crazy. Members of Congress are seen as exactly equal to Walk Street in terms of honesty. So why do we trust either with so much responsibility?
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, March 15, 2009
(BN) California Budget Falls Back Into $8 Billion Deficit, State Analyst Says
It's going to get much worse. Raising taxes in California will result in much less revenue, not more. It will force people to spend less than they are doing already. Notice they're talking about a $12 billion shortfall by 2010, but I say at least tripple that.
Bloomberg News, sent from my iPhone.
California Budget Runs $8 Billion Short, Analyst Says
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- California’s revenue over the next 16 months will fall at least $8 billion short of what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers assumed when they passed a budget in February, the state’s fiscal analyst said.
The shortfall would leave California with a $6 billion deficit by June 2010, after a $2 billion budget reserve is spent, state Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said in a report to lawmakers today. The shortfall would grow to $12 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2010, he said.
The new forecast shows how quickly the state’s finances are being upended by the worst recession since the Great Depression. Just three weeks ago, Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed to close a record $42 billion deficit with a package of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing plans that were supposed to leave the government with a surplus 16 months from now.
“Unfortunately, the state’s economic and revenue outlook continues to deteriorate,” Taylor said in the report. “Even in the few weeks since the budget was signed, there have been a series of negative developments.”
The Legislature and governor will need to adopt “billions of dollars in additional solutions” to rebalance the budget, Taylor said.
Schwarzenegger’s budget anticipated an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent this year, a figure that has already been eclipsed as businesses continued to fire workers. In January, the rate reached 10.1 percent.
Rising Taxes
The $130 billion budget signed in February raised the state sales-tax rate to 8.25 percent from 7.25 percent and boosted vehicle license fees to 1.15 percent from 0.65 percent of the value of an automobile.
The spending plan also added 0.25 percentage point to all personal income tax brackets for two years, so that a resident taxed at 8 percent will face an 8.25 percent levy. That increase may drop to 0.125 percentage point depending upon how much money California receives under the economic stimulus measure signed by President Barack Obama. The budget anticipates at least $7.8 billion in such federal funds.
The spending plan also cut $15 billion of spending, half from schools and colleges, and anticipates issuing $5 billion of bonds backed by the state’s lottery, though voters must approve the debt in an election in May.
“Our year of shared sacrifice isn’t over,” said Noreen Evans, a Napa County Democrat and chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee. “As grim as it is, this forecast is not even the worst-case scenario facing California. We must be prepared for more bad news to come.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
California Budget Runs $8 Billion Short, Analyst Says
March 13 (Bloomberg) -- California’s revenue over the next 16 months will fall at least $8 billion short of what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers assumed when they passed a budget in February, the state’s fiscal analyst said.
The shortfall would leave California with a $6 billion deficit by June 2010, after a $2 billion budget reserve is spent, state Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said in a report to lawmakers today. The shortfall would grow to $12 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2010, he said.
The new forecast shows how quickly the state’s finances are being upended by the worst recession since the Great Depression. Just three weeks ago, Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed to close a record $42 billion deficit with a package of tax increases, spending cuts and borrowing plans that were supposed to leave the government with a surplus 16 months from now.
“Unfortunately, the state’s economic and revenue outlook continues to deteriorate,” Taylor said in the report. “Even in the few weeks since the budget was signed, there have been a series of negative developments.”
The Legislature and governor will need to adopt “billions of dollars in additional solutions” to rebalance the budget, Taylor said.
Schwarzenegger’s budget anticipated an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent this year, a figure that has already been eclipsed as businesses continued to fire workers. In January, the rate reached 10.1 percent.
Rising Taxes
The $130 billion budget signed in February raised the state sales-tax rate to 8.25 percent from 7.25 percent and boosted vehicle license fees to 1.15 percent from 0.65 percent of the value of an automobile.
The spending plan also added 0.25 percentage point to all personal income tax brackets for two years, so that a resident taxed at 8 percent will face an 8.25 percent levy. That increase may drop to 0.125 percentage point depending upon how much money California receives under the economic stimulus measure signed by President Barack Obama. The budget anticipates at least $7.8 billion in such federal funds.
The spending plan also cut $15 billion of spending, half from schools and colleges, and anticipates issuing $5 billion of bonds backed by the state’s lottery, though voters must approve the debt in an election in May.
“Our year of shared sacrifice isn’t over,” said Noreen Evans, a Napa County Democrat and chairwoman of the Assembly Budget Committee. “As grim as it is, this forecast is not even the worst-case scenario facing California. We must be prepared for more bad news to come.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Should We Let Iran Have Nuclear Weapons?
I keep seeing articles on my aggregator that ask the question, "Should We Let Iran Have Nuclear Weapons?"
What arrogance. But I guess if only 61% of people in the US are sure it's not the job of the government to keep people from overeating, I really shouldn't be surprised at these kinds of questions.
Again I am reminded that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn anything from history.
The US Government has threatened practically every country that embarks to seek nuclear technology. But when they achieve nuclear weapons capability, the US stops threatening them and even send money! Such a deal! So with that kind of track record, why would Iran stop researching all things nuclear? What are our so-called "leaders" telling the world by acting like that?
If Israel and/or US forces try to disarm Iran by force, it will be because they didn't learn from Otto von Bismarck who warned that preventative war is "like committing suicide out of fear of death."
What arrogance. But I guess if only 61% of people in the US are sure it's not the job of the government to keep people from overeating, I really shouldn't be surprised at these kinds of questions.
Again I am reminded that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn anything from history.
The US Government has threatened practically every country that embarks to seek nuclear technology. But when they achieve nuclear weapons capability, the US stops threatening them and even send money! Such a deal! So with that kind of track record, why would Iran stop researching all things nuclear? What are our so-called "leaders" telling the world by acting like that?
If Israel and/or US forces try to disarm Iran by force, it will be because they didn't learn from Otto von Bismarck who warned that preventative war is "like committing suicide out of fear of death."
Not because Iran is powerful. By no means. But we are in the worst economic crisis because of these foreign and domestic preventative strategies. It doesn't work. To suggest otherwise is to just ignore history.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Glocks and CCW and PTSD, Oh My!
I was at the local gun shop today just looking around. The guy behind the counter was answering a few questions then just announced that he was out of all personal defense items. I guess there were enough people asking the same question at the same time, he felt necessary to tell everyone there.
Then, one of the customers decided to say, "Except for that Glock, but who would want it?" He was referring to the item in the case.
Nobody said anything, but we all looked at each-other. Then I heard someone softly say, "Speak for yourself."
Along the same subject, I asked a veteran I ran into if he was still eligible for Concealed Carry Weapons permit. Out here, you have to give a "legitimate need" on the application, but supposedly it's not a huge hurdle. What I was wondering about was his mental status. He was all to happy to announce to everyone that he was having trouble finding a job, having just come back from Iraq. He said you can't really put his experience on a resumé, what with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and all. So that's why I asked about CCW. I wouldn't normally just come out and ask, but his mental status was being discussed openly. Supposedly, here in California, PTSD is not yet a reason to stop CCW issue ... yet. Just give 'em time.
I also asked him what he thought of the stop loss going on in the military. He said it was pretty much a non-issue. Some call it a backdoor draft here in the States, but he said everybody in the military knows it's just part of the contract. In other words, if you only signed up for 3 years, but a stoploss is invoked, your stay is extended another 5 years and you knew that when you enlisted. So these people who are upset about stoploss are really saying they didn't read their contract.
Well, I'm glad I asked.
Then, one of the customers decided to say, "Except for that Glock, but who would want it?" He was referring to the item in the case.
Nobody said anything, but we all looked at each-other. Then I heard someone softly say, "Speak for yourself."
Along the same subject, I asked a veteran I ran into if he was still eligible for Concealed Carry Weapons permit. Out here, you have to give a "legitimate need" on the application, but supposedly it's not a huge hurdle. What I was wondering about was his mental status. He was all to happy to announce to everyone that he was having trouble finding a job, having just come back from Iraq. He said you can't really put his experience on a resumé, what with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and all. So that's why I asked about CCW. I wouldn't normally just come out and ask, but his mental status was being discussed openly. Supposedly, here in California, PTSD is not yet a reason to stop CCW issue ... yet. Just give 'em time.
I also asked him what he thought of the stop loss going on in the military. He said it was pretty much a non-issue. Some call it a backdoor draft here in the States, but he said everybody in the military knows it's just part of the contract. In other words, if you only signed up for 3 years, but a stoploss is invoked, your stay is extended another 5 years and you knew that when you enlisted. So these people who are upset about stoploss are really saying they didn't read their contract.
Well, I'm glad I asked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
