DO YOU love Congress? I didn’t think so. Guess what? Today’s vote on raising the federal debt ceiling probably isn’t going to do much to change your opinion. So what’s the scoop?
Last week, Senate Democrats brought a bill written by House Republicans to their own floor for a vote. Why? So it would fail.
The bill was written by fiery Representatives who have their district’s Tea Partiers screaming bloody government in their ears all day; as such, it contained some controversial Medicare language. The wiser, cooler Senators had no choice but to let the Democrats embarrass them with the headstrong, politically unviable work of their colleagues in that other, lower chamber.
Now it’s the Republicans’ turn to embarrass the Democrats, and the House instead of the Senate is the stage this time. So what are they voting on now? Raising our debt limit by $2.4 trillion dollars, no strings attached.
How many times have we raised the debt limit? I heard on NPR that we’ve done it at least sixty or seventy times since the First World War (when these limits were first put in place). Is raising the debt limit anything to be alarmed about? Anything to engage in parliamentary parades about? Is it anything at all important?
Nope!
But it’s an emotional issue in a time of economic woes, and politicians want to mine that rich vein as much as they can. So the no-strings-attached bill failed today – even though Democrats said an increase was exactly what they wanted.
But it wasn’t exactly what they wanted – and that’s the Republicans’ point. The Democrats want strings attached, but only their strings. To be fair, the Republicans only want their strings attached, too, and this struggle is politics summarized quickly.
Ironically, to put the American financial house back in order, the Democrats need to attach their tax increasing strings and the Republicans need to attach their spending reduction strings – but neither will let the other get on with their work!
Tomorrow, Wednesday 1 June 2011, House Republicans will haul it down Pennsylvania Ave until they reach Mr Obama and the White House. There, they’ll complain about being snubbed after giving uncooperative Democrats exactly what they wanted. They’ll complain about how Senate Democrats backstabbed their fine friends in the upper house. Most importantly, they’ll complain about the deficit.
And Mr Obama, now above the parliamentary fray from which he came, will calmly juggle their opinions in balance against the opinions of his own party, the opinions of the American people, the Libyan rebel crisis, the splitting of Somalia in two, the ongoing humanitarian crises in Japan and Haiti, the nuclear crisis in Japan, Germany’s rising discontent with its European brothers, North Korea, Venezuela and the need to increase exports with Canada, Brazil, India and Russia.
At least one politician doesn’t have time for games.
Live well, live well within your means, and remember – that’s how the Solvency Shark seas it!
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5/31/2011 8:17:00 AM by
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I KNOW – it’s a confusing title, but it’s meant to jolt you out of your regular mode of thought and place you in a new one; one where the Japanese economy and the American economy are not separate but joined together in so many ways they’re practically a single unit; one where the health and well being of Japan is the health and well being of America.
Oh, wait – that’s already a reality being played out live on the world stage today. In case you weren’t aware:
On 11 March 2011, the northeastern coastline of Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake – the biggest any human can remember hitting Japan and one of the top five since recording began in 1900. It was such an enormous earthquake, the Earth itself skipped ahead on its axis (2011 will be a few milliseconds shorter as a result).
That’s not all; when the ground shifts, the water shifts with it. The earthquake pushed huge tsunami waves over ten stories high six miles inland. There was a huge loss of life, a huge loss of real estate and a nuclear disaster to boot.
Now, Japan is saddled with a clean-up and recovery effort that could top $300 billion. They haven’t got enough time, manpower or working factories to pump their gadgets into the global supply chain.
Here’s where America comes in to the picture. America runs on tight global supply chains. America also runs on technology and automobiles. Technology and automobiles run on micro chips. Japan is the current master of manufacturing micro chips and reducing their size over and over again.
So when Japan is unable to make micro chips, the rest of the world is unable to make technology and automobiles. When the rest of the world is unable to make technology and automobiles, America is unable to sell that technology and those cars back to the people who made them.
And so our economy slows down. A new report shows our growth has slowed to what reporters call “anemic”. Much of this slowdown can be attributed to high oil prices, but some of it is now being blamed on Japan. “They’ve put a kink in our supply chain, man!”
Isn’t that an awful way to think? In terms of disrupted supply chains instead of dead human beings? Still, we need help – our economy isn’t doing too well. How do we help ourselves? Well, Japan still needs help, too, and it seems like if we go to the Japanese people and truly help them, we’ll be helping ourselves.
So be a patriot and help yourself to some Japanese relief efforts.
Live well, live well within your means, and remember – that’s how the Solvency Shark seas it!
YOUR COMMENTS ARE MORE PRECIOUS TO ME THAN A BALANCED BUDGET. PLEASE LEAVE THEM BELOW.
Posted:
5/31/2011 8:17:00 AM by
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May 27th 2011, 08:17 by Stewart Pelto | WASHINGTON, DC
TORNADOES twisting through the midwest aren't free. They rip up houses, destroy businesses, even take lives – and extraordinarily enough, that destruction can be quantified and subsidized. So who's going to pay for it? American taxpayers.
Despite the recent 21 May 2011 letdown (Jesus Christ was bringing the rapture until the Macho Man Randy Savage dropped a sacrificial elbow on him), this year is still shaping up to be a record year for American tornadoes. Also, droughts and floods historic are plaguing farmers.
When it snows, people scoff at Al Gore.
“
THIS is global warming?!” they curse.
Educate yourselves. We've changed “global warming” to “climate change” to better reflect the wacky meteorological processes our polluting, wasteful presence on Earth causes. Summer is hotter, winter is colder, hurricanes are bigger, tornadoes happen more often, flowers open early, bees and other pollinators get their schedules messed up, pest and other insects move further up mountains.
You've seen Al Gore's movie, right? You guys know what I'm talking about.
So how do taxpayers across America account for “natural disasters” (a silly term) in the Midwest? A recent article by Marketplace has the answer: Federal crop insurance.
Federal crop insurance was created after the Dust Bowl to prevent the extinction of American agriculture in the face of Mother Nature. These days, Americans subsidize 60% of farmer's insurance – 60%! – and climate change could push that number higher.
To account for that risk, which being unknown is even riskier, insurance premiums increase. To account for that increase, the federal government increases farmer subsidies. To account for that increase, the federal government will tax Americans more.
So what do we do? Defund farmers? Will that promote smaller, local farms? I don't really know. Maybe we should do something about climate change. The G8 are meeting in Paris right now. Mayhaps they could put climate change back on the table and agree to some firm numbers for cutting back on emissions.
That might sound off topic, but if we treat the disease, we won't have to pay taxes for the symptoms. Make sense?
Live well, live well within your means, and remember – that’s how the Solvency Shark seas it!
YOUR COMMENTS ARE MORE PRECIOUS TO ME THAN A BALANCED BUDGET. PLEASE LEAVE THEM BELOW.
Posted:
5/27/2011 8:17:00 AM by
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TWO WEEKS ago, I spent nine days in and around Amsterdam. I had been to the Netherlands five years prior as a university student and was pleased to see not much had changed since then: the Dutch canals were still gorgeous, there were still more bikes on the road than people in the city and I’m always amazed at how well the Europeans balance work and life.
There was just one glaring difference: Chinese tourists!
Everywhere we went – to see the tulips blooming at the Keukenhof Gardens, to watch windmills turn in the idyllic village of Zaanse Schans, even the Red Light District – I heard Mandarin being spoken (How did I recognize which language was being spoken? I have three semesters of Mandarin under my belt and am taking private weekly classes at the moment).
Up until now, China hasn’t been much save a farming nation struggling to modernize under the yoke of Mao Zedong’s bizarre worldview, but then Deng Xiaoping showed up and said it didn’t matter if the cat was black or white as long as it caught mice. He initiated market reforms that led in part to China’s current rapid rate of growth.
So what does this mean? If there are Chinese now rich enough to play in Europe, there are Chinese now rich enough to ask for more freedom.
There are also government officials who are proud enough of their citizens’ newfound wealth to ask for more power on the international political stage. Just this morning I heard a piece on Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s
public scandal; while his rape trial gets underway in New York, he’s been asked to step down as head of the International Monetary Fund.
Europeans naturally are searching for another European to fill the rest of his term, but developing nations such as China are complaining that a temporary IMF opening should be given to someone from their world – the world of growing power instead of established power. And why shouldn’t they?
Isn’t the mantle of power shifting eastwards anyways? Hasn’t everyone drilled the inevitable ascent of China into our brains since about the year 2000? Maybe it isn’t. I just watched a wonderful
documentary called “Last Train Home”. It’s about Chinese migrant workers, their annual 1,000 mile migration back to the country for New Year’s and the strains placed on their families.
From this movie, other documentaries and books I’ve read on the Chinese situation, it seems like the Chinese people are happy to be making more money but also on a knife edge lest that be taken away from them. If China can keep making the kind of economic decisions that allows its people to vacation in Europe, their ascent will continue. If they can’t – well, the Arab spring is infectious.
Live well, live well within your means, and remember –
that’s how the Solvency Shark seas it!
YOUR COMMENTS ARE MORE PRECIOUS TO ME THAN A BALANCED BUDGET. PLEASE LEAVE THEM BELOW.
Posted:
5/19/2011 8:17:00 AM by
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DO YOU fear poverty and can’t enjoy the things you buy? Do you shop uncontrollably, then feel bad afterwards? Want to make money at all costs? Get angry if you have to pay full price? Gamble it all away? Defining your mix of emotions towards money can help you become financially stable.
Enter an interesting
BBC News Magazine article I read the other day called “Why are we so emotional about money?” It’s a piece that introduces the BBC Lab UK’s “Big Money Test”, which links personality types to spending habits. Here are the five archetypes they define:
MISER: You have an irrational fear of spending because you’re convinced it can only lead to poverty. When you finally break down and spend money, the purchase is ruined because you’re too preoccupied with the unspeakable horror you’ve just committed to enjoy it.
SPENDER: You just broke up with your boyfriend and feel insecure. It’s time for a makeover! $300 on new clothes feels SO good; a $90 haircut feels even better! You shop to excess when you feel down because shopping makes you feel good, but when the spree is over, you’re left feeling guilty. “Damn… I just spent $400. I don’t feel so good.”
TYCOON: Money is power, money is happiness, money is everything. You like money and you want to make a lot of it because once you do, all your problems will be solved. No need to fight with the wife because money will take care of all your problems when you’re finally rich! Besides, your wife won’t do naught but adore you once you’re a billionaire anyways!
BARGAIN HUNTER: Ever seen that extreme couponing on TLC? That’s a bargain hunter on crack (they like bargains so much they can’t quit buying them even when the sheer volume of it becomes financially irresponsible). Bargain hunters clip coupons, google online coupon codes and keep an eye out for deals wherever they go. If you pay less than full price, you’re elated. If you pay full price, you get angry.
GAMBLER: You’re irresponsible, period. I was going to summarize this spending type as cutely as I had the other four, but if you gamble with the money you earn, you’re stupid. As a gambler, you feel exhilarated when taking risks. You keep playing even when you lose badly because a single win gives you a sense of luck, accomplishment and power. If you can’t stop, you don’t deserve to be rich.
Sorry, guys – that last one was harsh. You can probably tell I’m not a gambler, but I’ve certainly got a blend of the other archetypes inside me: I’d like to make a lot of money (Tycoon) but understand it won’t solve all my problems; I like bargains (Bargain Hunter) but am unafraid to purchase an item at full price if I perceive it to be new, luxurious or well-built (Spender). I’m not much of a Miser, though, because I don’t fear poverty. I spend money knowing full well how to make more.
So – which archetype or combination of archetypes are you?
Live well, live well within your means, and remember –
that’s how the Solvency Shark seas it!
YOUR COMMENTS ARE MORE PRECIOUS TO ME THAN A BALANCED BUDGET. PLEASE LEAVE THEM BELOW.
Posted:
5/13/2011 8:17:00 AM by
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