Adam Lee's Commentaries

What did Jim Bunning object to, and why is the media in a frenzy about it? Let me explain.

Jim Bunning

Jim Bunning was voting against an extension of expiring stimulus programs that would cost 10 billion dollar. He was the only Senator standing against it because all of the other Senators are seeking re-election (votes) or simply believe in unemployment aid amongst other temporary stimulus measures to be the right thing to do. If Congress fails to pass an extension, the National Employment Law Project estimates that 1.2 million people will lose their benefits in March.

Perhaps Jim Bunning was wrong in taking such a stance, and maybe his intentions and motives were not in the right place, yet eventually our leadership must stand up against more spending. Of course 10 billion dollars spent locally seems more wisely spent than what we are spending overseas – it’s about the same cost as paying for one month of the Iraq war. Additionally as others have explained unemployment money goes directly back into the economy, as those that are unemployed usually need the money to buy necessities while looking for work. Apparently another addition to the stimulus is paying for satellite television through the ‘broadband stimulus package’.

If you’re interested in a visual explanation of what happened, view below:


[This article is in its beginning stages and may change as more details come out]

Here is a small clip of Senator Cornyn from Texas supporting Bunning’s reasoning.

The question is looming, and if you haven’t heard by now the US is deeply in debt. While this is called the ‘public debt’ most rational people I know would not have wanted it to come this far, but it did.

Let me summarize a few key points that will often be brought up in these grim yet true commentaries and tidbits. Public debt is another name for government debt, and the debt I refer to is that of the Federal government. It is called public because the government traditionally draws income from the public through taxes. Of late the government has had to draw upon other sources for money including loans to other countries accomplished through treasury bills and other instruments where the government promises to pay interest provided they are loaned the money.

The national deficit, which is the difference between Federal government revenue and spending, was $1.4 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2009 – the largest on record and in terms of purchasing power the largest any country in history has ever overspent. The deficit is possible through the trust of the dollar and the US government – yet history has shown that national debt and high deficits are rarely actually paid off through painful budget adjustments and shrinkage of government.

In fact quite the opposite is true, the government will actually either destroy its own currency or heavily increase taxes – the first of which will be good for manufacturing yet destroy whatever wealth families have accumulated over the years in order, and the second of which stunts growth and would result in less jobs locally.

Let us hope the less trodden path is taken and prudent budget adjustments are made and expensive and useless wars are avoided. In this way the dollar may survive and people wont be forced into bartering for goods and going back to the financial stone age.

Another important point to bring up is the actual production of goods and wealth. If the US was able to increase economic output in areas which haven’t already succumbed to the manufacturing advantages of certain Asian countries it could also reduce its deficit via a shrinking trade deficit (which I should are proportional to national debt). As it stands, each working person in the United States owes over $60,100 if the national debt was evenly distributed amongst them. Over 10% of 2009’s tax income will go towards paying public debt, the amount of debt the U.S. bears is around four times its annual income (compare that to a person who makes $100,000/year whos debt is $400,000). Another interesting blog I read puts the US in the ’subprime’ category for buying a house.

How can you protect yourself from this? Aside from education, I would suggest either buying silver, owning land, steer clear of keeping large amount of money in low-yield bank accounts or checking accounts, and most importantly invest wisely. Of course spending money, while ironic, is one of the best ways of not accumulating it. Spending it on things that retain value is also a good idea. If you have any more ideas feel free to comment.

The Facebook Matrix

Everything in moderation – that includes viewing photos and news about your friends and uploading photos and news of yourself. Of late I have come to realize that if a person spends on average 1 hour per day on a site like facebook starting at age 15 and lives until 90 (not an unreasonable life expectancy), then that person will have spent over three years non-stop on Facebook. Think about what can be accomplished in three years – a college degree, a three year prison term, etc.

Facebook and online social media including the blog you are reading right now are sapping people of time that they would have otherwise hopefully used in a more productive way. This blog, while in my opinion better than Facebook in that it belongs to me, the ads are mine not Facebook’s and much of what I write requires research and learning, is still most likely going to take up at least a year of my life before I’m finished (literally and figuratively).

In essense, what I’m trying to say is next time you want to ‘poke’ someone on Facebook consider driving over and phyiscally giving that person a poke (after considering the legal implications and of course the social acceptability of the action). Next time you decide to peruse someone’s photo album, take a moment and consider whether it’s worth it – perhaps the time would be better spent getting on the ground and doing 50 push-ups.

A few things to consider:

• Facebook will never tell you how many hours you have spent on the site, it would reduce popularity!
• Advertisements can utilize any information you put on Facebook, such as exact age, political party, music interest, religion, etc. in order to fool you into thinking they are specifically catered to you!
• All photos submitted to Facebook may be used by law enforcement, employers, news papers, etc. without your permission – the photos are no longer yours.
• Blackmail – Facebook rarely deletes your information, even if you change or delete it from your profile.
• Profiles are never deleted, they are only archived and put into hibernation until your revive it.