A Passing Thought

So back in July of 2008, when oil was around $147 per barrel, I remember hearing how the main reason for this price increase was the demand from - specifically - India and China.

Now with oil down around $35, and America in a recession, I am just thinking: How much did India and China really impact oil prices? Without trying to ask a rhetorical question, were we being lied to completely while oil companies were raking in over $100 billion dollars per quarter? Who/what should be held reponsible and accountable if these markets were being controlled by the companies and speculators, and not true economic-based supply and demand conditions?

Karl Marx was Right??

According to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, Karl Marx had been right in his analysis of the dangers of capitalism.

If he is saying some of Marx's analysis are founded, I can deal with that. If he's saying he agrees with Marx across the board...

A Quick Thought

So just a quick thought about the current financial fiasco that is going on right now...

In the early/mid 1990's, the former Soviet Union was in need of raising money and trying to turn from a centralized planned economy to a capitalistic economy. One way the government raised money was by a program called the shares-for-loans program. What this program did - in a nutshell - was it allowed the government to "trade" shares of its nationalized companies - such as oil, mining, power, and manufacturing companies - for loans that would be made by wealthy Russian citizens - the oligarchs. The stipulation to this program was that if the government defaulted, these investors could recoup their "loans" by taking control of these companies.

The Russian economy crashed in 1998 and the government defaulted on the loans.

Hence, these companies that had been owned by the government were now owned by citizens - much like our corporations and partnerships here in the U.S.

What is going on right now with our economy and with all of these bail-out programs seem eerily similar - except the other way around. These loan packages - bailouts if you prefer - are being sold to a very skeptical population by saying that there will be long term returns...in fact these bailout programs should be looked at more like an investment in these companies, or loans (as are they are being spun to us by the investment into AIG and the auto companies).

So what happens, theoretically, if all of this money gets spent and 1 year from now, things are no better - or even worse - than they are now? Can the government believe it will be able to pass more "bailout" programs - spending more taxpayer money to prop up failing companies and the financial sector? Not likely. So where would that leave it?

Although just my view, it would be forced to do what the Russian oligarchs did back in 1998 - take control of these companies. In one word: Nationalization. On a large scale.

Is it out of the realm of possibilities? I don't think so. But this is just my quick thought on this. I'll write more when I find time.

Guardian of the List

Obama campaign promises broken...

1. Balance the budget
2. Pull out of Iraq starting immediately and have everyone home by 2010 (summer)
3. Bring "change" to Washington - new blood
4. Repeal tax-cuts for the wealthy...
5. Take on Big Oil
6. Didn't take campaign money from oil companies


As of December 8...


UPDATE: 2/3/09: The Obameter

Saves me all the work!

Black and White?

Was going though a book I had read awhile ago and came across something I had marked when I originally read it. Something I think we should think more about each day:

"'We are facing an implacable enemy whose avowed objective is world domination,' the Doolittle Report, a highly classified evaluation of C.I.A covert operations, concluded in 1954. 'There are no rules in such a game. Hitherto acceptable norms of human conduct do not apply.' Eisenhower agreed. 'I have come to the conclusion that some of our traditional ideas of international sportsmanship are scarcely applicable in the morass in which the world now flounders,' he wrote privately in 1955. 'Truth, honor, justice, consideration for others, liberty for all - the problem is how to preserve them...when we are opposed by people who scorn...these values. I believe that we can do it,' and here he underlined his words for emphasis, 'but we must not confuse these values with mere procedures, even though these last may have at one time held almost the status of moral concepts.'
And so the Cold War transformed American leaders into Machiavellians. Confronted with 'so many who are not good,' they resolved 'to learn to be able not to be good' themselves, and to use this skill of not use it, as the great Italian cynic - and patriot - had put it, 'according to necessity'"

The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis P. 165

I'm sure he was voting for change too...

Quazi-Socialized Medicine - The Genesis Post

Yea, this topic will be evolving a lot over the next 4 years. The non-socialized socialization of insurance and medical expenses.

To be fair, there is definitly a need for at least something to be done for helping people get some kind of medical coverage. Both candidates have expressed this. Second, this is not an issue that there is a "black and white" answer to. There will always be a case of someone that will be an outlier that would cause any solution to healthcare to not be "the best way" to fix it.

But what exactly is the current problem with healthcare? Or more refined, how does Obama's policy solve what he sees as the problem in healthcare?

But before that, what is GOOD in our current healthcare system?

1. The U.S. healthcare service is ranked, worldwide, number 1 for responsiveness.

http://www.who.int/whosis/database/core/core_select_process.cfm?strISO3_select=ALL&strIndicator_select=nha&intYear_select=latest&fixed=indicator&language=english

2. The number of people with health insurance increased to 253.4 million in 2007 (up from 249.8 million in 2006). The number of people covered by private health insurance (202.0 million) in 2007 was not statistically different from 2006, while the number of people covered by government health insurance increased to 83.0 million, up from 80.3 million in 2006. (Thats about 84.7% of Americans that have some form of health insurance)

http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf


3. Everyone can have access to emergency care regardless of insurance status and ability to pay through the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), passed in 1986.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/EMTALA/


Now let's look at what's BAD in our current healthcare system:

1. Americans without health insurance coverage at some time during 2007 totaled about 15.3% of the population, or 45.7 million people.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf

2. The World Health Organization ranked, in 2000, the U.S. healthcare service the 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health.

http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/annex01_en.pdf

3. Spending on healthcare in 2006 totaled $2.1 trillion, or 16% of GDP. This represented an increase of 6.7% over 2004 spending. Per capita spending was $7,026.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/01_Overview.asp

And what does Obama see as BAD in our healthcare system?

1. On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes - government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe both of these extremes are wrong.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

Doesn't really give much in detail of what the problem is, but if you read he does go more into specifics on health insurance.

This is the overview that I will start with. It's good to start with the framework, then work from there to fill in the details.

Dissent...at last

Well, time to crank up the ole' blog once again...

Politically speaking, this campaign season made me very apathetic towards politics. Both candidates, from my point of view, were lacking the leadership that this country needs now. One has his head up in the clouds in a fantasy and the other has his head buried in the sand, ignoring reality.

But now that the campaigning is over and a new President has been elected - happy for me a Democrat - I can now finally be an open dissident of policies.

You see, my own observations have shown me that if a person of a certain view on politics, a conservative for instance, begins attacking a politician of their own in order to show that they are "open to reason", all they end up doing is cannabalizing themselves and their party. For example, just because Bush may have been one of the worst managers in certain areas, doesn't mean I try to "find the middle ground" with a liberal to look "reasonable" in my politics. If I do, I end up villifying Bush in every policy, when in fact there either was no alternative or that policy was in fact the best option.

Now that there is a Democrat in office, I can now be open in my criticism. From campaign promises that will not be fulfilled, to botched handling of many soon to come policies and problems, I am happy I will be able to vent my frustrations, show the double standards, complain about issues that I don't agree with - and all this while not cannabalizing the party that I most closely assosciate with.

And there are already quite a few things I will be having a field day with...

Ottawa: Day 2

Today was an eventful day. Woke up, got our "continental breakfast" and proceeded back to Parliament. We were told that the changing of the guard occurs around 10 a.m so we got there at around 9:30. We got a good spot and it was a good thing we got there early because that place filled up fast.

The changing of the guard was pretty impressive. They had a full military band with bagpipes, two squads of soldiers, and some pretty crazy hats. I could hear them well before I could see them - as they came from behind and were marching from the street to Parliament. The ceremony lasted around 30 minutes and one of the soldiers dropped his bayonet and it stuck perfectly straight in the ground.

After that, we toured the Center Block - or the main building. We got to see the House and Senate chambers and the library - which is the only surviving part of the original building. Then original Center Block burned down during WW 1. The tour was good - lasted about an hour and a half and we went through some serious security - then we hit the gift shop. I got two Canadian Flag pins.

After that, we walked around town and got some food. Found a special at a restraunt that had a 10 ounce streak and fries for $10. After that, we walked to the "Royal Mint".

This mint is not the one that produces the circulation currency. Instead, it makes proof sets, collectible coins, and investment coins. The circulation currency mint is in Saskatchewan I believe. Our tour lasted around 45 minutes and we were not able to take photos, but we saw some cool machines, coins being made, and I got to hold a real gold bar. Pretty cool I would say.

When we left the mint, we just walked around the city some more. Got some ideas for things we are going to do tomorrow, but called it a day for now.

Other news, the battery on the car is dead. Don't know how, but I will worry about that on Sunday when we are going to be leaving. Hopefully I can get a jump from somebody.

One more day in Canada.

Ottawa: Day 1

Well made it into Ottawa today. Very beautiful place. Reminds me a lot of London. Our hotel is located less than a mile from the Canadian Parliament bulidings,. so in easy walking distance.

Today, we left Toronto and made it into Ottawa in about 6 hours. It rained most of the way and we saw two cars getting lifted out of the river - they flew off the interstate and went through the guardrail. But besides that, it was a pretty uneventful ride to Ottawa.

When we got here, we went and got something to eat - and it was the WORST food I've ever had. Never eat at Manchu Wok.

After that, we walked down the main street - Rideau Street - and walked down by the river. Then we were walking towards some old looking buildings and I asked a cop what these buildings were and he told me that these buildings were like our White House and Congress buildings. So we are in the capital of Canada and I didn't even know it! The guard also said to take a tour of the buildings - but do East Block first because they closed first.

So we went and got our free tickets and ended up being the only 2 people to do that tour. It was pretty cool though and we learned some history about Canada and how the government works.

Then we walked around the city more. We just happened to run into the changing of the guard. It was pretty cool. Second time I've seen that - saw it at the Tower of London (I think) back in 1996.

We have a lot planned for the next two days, so hopefully we can do everything we want to.

Toronto, Day 2

So today Zac and I went back to downtown Toronto. We decided to go by and see the water and then head on to the CN Tower.

Now, besides being REALLLY expensive, it is REALLLY cool to do. The CN Tower gives you not only a view of Toronto, but even on a very cloudy day we could easily see 40+ miles in any direction. They even posted signs that said on clear days, you can see Niagara Falls and Rochester, NY. Now that's pretty impressive!

We got the "Total Tour" (or whatever they called them) tickets, so we were able to see everything and do everything. We went to the Observation Deck, Sky Pod, the glass floor view, the movie about the CN Tower and it's construction, and the ride. The ride was random. Not really worth going into detail over.

But the Sky Pod is 147 stories above the city and a total height of 1465 feet. Definitely something you must do if you go to Toronto - even though it is a tourist trap. Go all the way, get the "Total Tour" package, and you'll definitely have something to remember.


After that, we walked around the city and got lunch. One thing I did notice today was that in Canada, they don't have water fountains in malls. Just a fun fact (FF).

When we left the city, we proceeded to get stuck in traffic for nearly 2hrs. 30 minutes. They had closed down the interstate (or whatever it's called here) and we got stuck in it. Not much we could do. But we made it back and all was good.

Tomorrow, we leave Toronto for Ottawa. Toronto is a city that I would recommend to people to come and explore. We only were able to do a few things, but wanted to do more. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays were not in town, hockey and basketball are over for their seasons, and the Soccer All-Star game is tomorrow night. Oh well. Maybe next time.

My Travels: Ocean City - Toronto

So although a bit behind on this, I am going to go back and chronicle my traveling from Ocean City Maryland through Canada.

Ocean City: July 14 - 16

Was a very relaxing time. Made the trip in 8 hours and 15 minutes, not stopping once. Met up with my cousin, Zac - who I am making this Canadian trip with and my Uncle Neil and Aunt Bet while in Ocean City. Went back to my grandmothers and just spent some time with her.

Later, my cousin and uncle came back over and we watched the home run derby. All in all, was a good day and enjoyed spending time with some family.

July 15 went on to the boardwalk at Ocean City. Didn't stay long and was not able to do much, but had a good time anyhow. Afterwards went back to my grandmothers and was able to just sit out on the front porch and talk with her for 2 hours. She told me how to pickle cucumbers and told me about her garden she was working on on the back porch. She is growing peppers and tomatoes and was very upset at the lack of production from the tomatoes.

July 16 left Ocean City around 11 am and heading to Baltimore where Zac lives. Got there in about 2 hrs 30 minutes.

July 17 went to the batting cages and proceeded to strike out often. Hit a few but think they would have been foul.

July 18 took Zac to get some blood work done. Everything came back normal. Was able to finally meet Dr. Chan for the first time. Later, went to an Orioles game. They played the Detroit Tigers and won 7 - 4.

July 19 proceeded to go to D.C. for the day. Zac was getting packed so I went to the city by myself to just walk around. Had a good time. Went to a few Smithsonian's and ate at Potbelly's. Spent about 4 hours down there and enjoyed it very much.

July 20 started the trip to Canada. Our first stop was Cooperstown, NY. Got there in good timing but the tolls were outrageous. If you go the "quickest route" on your GPS, be prepared to spend nearly $20+ on toll roads. Fortunate for us, my aunt has an EZ-Pass and let us use it. So saved me a lot of money. Thanks Aunt Sharon!!

Got into Cooperstown around 3 PM. Headed straight to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Very small, kind of humble museum. Had 3 rooms and the gift shop. The "shire" was the largest room by far and it was definitely something all baseball fans should go see. Also got a AAA discount of 10% :)

Afterwards, walked around the "city" of Cooperstown. All 1 road of it. Went into a lot of baseball card and memorabilia shops and ate at some Cafe (Doubleday Cafe maybe?). While walking around, we came across Doubleday Field. When we got there, we were the only one's in there and it was something.

Got to our hotel and proceeded to realize that they did not have any internet connection. But a single-A baseball team was staying there too, but most of them didn't speak English.



July 21 went back into Cooperstown and sent off some postcards. Having a postcard of a Hall of Fame player and a postmark from Cooperstown, NY is pretty cool I think. Went into a few more shops and then proceeded to Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Was only 3 hrs. 30 minutes but for some reason the ride seemed to go on forever. When I got to the border I got interrogated by the customs lady. But they were questions that I am sure everyone gets asked. But still. Do I look like I'm packing heat?!

We went to our hotel first - The Ritz. Don't let the name fool you. It was a cinder-block room with hard, sticky tile floors and smelled like a tobacco factory. BUT the good side to it was the hotel not even 2 blocks away was charging double AND we were only 5 blocks away from Niagara Falls - so pretty cool I must say.


But once we left the hotel room we proceeded to go eat at a restraunt called The Happy Wanderer. It was a German-Canadian cuisine restraunt and on the outside it had a banner that read "Breakfast $1.99" so I figured that it would be a decent priced (cheap) place to eat.

Well...it was and it wasn't. A "hamburger" costs $12. But this "hamburger" was no ordinary hamburger. It came without a bun, sauteed with onions, came with green beans, beets, fries, salad and bread. And everything tasted amazing. It was well worth the initial "sticker shock" and I would recommend going there. The lady serving us - who was obviously German - said that they had been there for 40 years.

After eating we headed on to Niagara Falls. It was amazing. We started getting "misted" on about 3 blocks from even being near the edge of the water - which was probably a quarter mile away from the falls themselves. Zac and I got wet but got some good pictures and were able to cross another thing off our list of "things to do". Niagara is a nice city and as I later learned has a population of around 80,000.

After that we walked around some of the city and stopped in a few gift shops. We headed back to the hotel for the night.

July 22 went out to Denny's for breakfast. Walked about a mile to get there and noticed an obvious increase in price. But they did take American currency at a 1:1 ratio so I didn't really mind. Headed off and tried to find a post office in Niagara. Talked to an old couple who told me that they didn't even know where one was any longer because, as they put it "they keep moving". They told me a little about the town (hence my knowledge of the population of their city) and said they liked to color of the van. The gent told me he was originally from Ottawa and told me to have fun while I was there.

We then headed off to Toronto.

It took around 1hr 30 minutes to get there. But when we got into Toronto, we knew it. Big sky scrapers, the RN Tower, a huge wind turbine. Tinted blue glass building everywhere. It was everything you expect a big city to be.


We went to our hotel and the person at the desk, after I told him this was the first time I've been here, got real excited, pulled out a map and told me places to go and how to get there. Even though his directions were wrong - and the GPS got confused for a short time - we got to downtown Toronto, paid our $10 to park, and started walking towards the Hockey Hall of Fame.


The Hockey HOF was completely different than the Baseball HOF. It was a much larger building that you had to walk through a mall to get to. My camera died but Zac took lots of pictures. The set up was more of just walking around looking at the people who were in it and their jersey's, sticks, trophies, etc. But the amount of memorabilia, trophies, movies, etc that they had there was simply amazing. And, oh yea, we got to touch The Stanly Cup. Yea, pretty amazing I got to say. It was THE REAL Stanley Cup.


After we left, we walked around the city, staying on Young Street, which I was told was one of the main streets in the city. We stopped at a McDonalds and got a quick bite and continued just walking around the city. As we turned and headed back to the car, we took a detour and walked by the CN Tower and the Rogers Center. We then headed back to the hotel - which is much nicer than the Ritz (Canada's Best Value - and in fact it might just be that) - and then went to a mall which is located just a mile away from the hotel and had dinner at some Mediterranean place.

I will try to keep my traveling updated and maybe expand on the past traveling as well.

Moon Landing

Quote of the Day

Not that I will actually keep up with a Quote of the Day part to this blog...but...

“A corporation is just like any natural person, except that it has no pants to kick or soul to damn, and, by God, it ought to have both!”

Health Care

So what ever happened with health care being an issue for this election? Is it just me or were Hillary and Obama fighting each other over whose health care bill would be more beneficial not even 3 months ago?

I mean, this is a very important issue. There are around 45 million people in America without health insurance. And those who do have health insurance seem to have to fight an uphill battle to get their insurance companies to pay up when the time comes.

So with Obama vs. McCain being what 2008 will be all about, what are their stances on this issue?

Well, you check it out for yourself. Obama McCain

But here is something to think about. This comes from the book Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science

Any insurance question ultimately begs one explosive question: How much information is too much? I guarantee that this will become one of the most nettlesome policy problems in coming years. Here is a simple exercise. Pluck one hair from your head. (If you are totally bald, take a swab of saliva from your cheek.) That sample contains your entire genetic code. In the right hands (or the wrong hands), it can be used to determine if you are predisposed to heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, depression, and – if the science continues at its current blistering pace – all kinds of other diseases. With one strand of your hair, a researcher (or insurance company) may soon be able to determine if you are at risk for Alzheimer’s disease – twenty-five years before the onset of the disease. This creates a dilemma. If genetic information is shared widely with insurance companies, then it will become difficult, if not impossible, for those most prone to illness to get any kind of coverage. In other words, the people who need health insurance most will be the least likely to get it – not just the night before surgery, but ever. Individuals with a family history of Huntington’s disease, a hereditary degenerative brain disorder that causes premature death, are already finding it hard or impossible to get life insurance. On the other hand, if insurance companies are forbidden from gathering such information, they will be crushed by adverse selection. Individuals who know that they are at high risk of getting sick in the future will be the ones who load up on generous insurance policies

A recent editorial in The Economist noted this looming quandary: ‘Governments thus face a choice between banning the use of test results and destroying the industry, or allowing their use and creating an underclass of people who are either uninsurable or cannot afford to insure themselves.’ The Economists, which is hardly a bastion of left-wing thought, suggested that the private health insurance market may eventually find this problem intractable, leaving government with a much larger role to play. The editorial concluded: ‘Indeed, genetic testing may become the most potent argument for state-financed universal health care. pp. 89, 90

Six Principles of Sticky Idea

An excerpt from the book Made to Stick:

“Principle 1: Simplicity…Proverbs are the ideal. We must create ideas that are both simple and profound. The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity: a one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it.

Principle 2: Unexpectedness…We need to violate people’s expectations. We need to be counterintuitive…We can use surprise…we must generate interest and curiosity.

Principle 3: Concreteness…We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information…Naturally sticky ideas are full of concrete images.

Principle 4: Credibility…When we’re trying to build a case for something, most of us instinctively grasp for hard numbers. But in many cases this is exactly the wrong approach.

Principle 5: Emotions…make them feel something…research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region.

Principle 6: Stories…Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation in the physical environment. Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively.” P. 15 – 18

What Lies Ahead

An interesting passage from the book Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800

“The earth belongs to the living and no generation should be bound by the decisions of its predecessors, Jefferson told Adams. Stability is crucial and is reinforced by obedience to old laws and charters so that uniformity ‘becomes a national Habit,’ Adams responded.” P. 77

I'm sure I will come back to this in the future. It is something to think about though.

Catch Up

So yeah, Miami is a pretty awesome place. Had a great time there and depressed to be back in Columbia. If you've never been there, this is what it looks like:



If you go, here are a few things to keep in mind:

* There are 20 girls for every straight guy (thanks to Nikki from Guatemala for that info)
* You get tan faster because the location of Miami in regards to the equator (thanks to Chad for that info)
* Mojitos are for ladies only
* Be sure of what building you are walking into. Target is different than Score
* Miami is not a cesspool

Miami

So heading to Miami tomorrow until Monday. Being a long road trip ahead of me, it forced me to purchase an iPod. I think I must be the last person on earth not to own one. In fact, I bought an iPod Classic. Classic? Really?!

But when I get back from Miami, I think I will have some good ideas I'll put up here.

Politically Apathetic

What is a good way to describe George Bush's term in office? I guess it might go something like this: You are leaving the grocery store and you get in a wreck and total your car - but the eggs don't break in the backseat.

I have to say that this whole election that is coming up has really made me totally apathetic towards politics. I have always been interested in politics and think that there are some fascinating things to learn - things like management, accountability and leadership - just by learning about how government works. This upcoming election though has me still scratching my head and asking myself, "Seriously? These are the best leaders that we have in this country?"

The saying goes the grass is always greener on the other side, and yes it is so over-used that it can be called a whored phrase. But are any of these candidates any better that Bush? Although hard to say no, I fear that it is possible they aren't.