Surrounded By Reality

Madison, WI has been described as "43 square miles of land surrounded by reality". Actually, I think it's 77...... Being a Madison native I liked this title. Agree or disagree, the important thing is to get involved and learn what's going on and how it affects you..

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Where's The Pork?

Citizens Against Government Waste has an annual report about pork in government spending-very interesting...

Which State is number 1? Link below:
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2008porkpercap

Well, when Senator Ted Stevens goes to jail the spigot will be turned off....


However-check the list and see who's #51- also interesting...


How much money did #1 get? Look at the party column-see who's pushing the pork.....
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2008_database

Hmmm, I thought it's the Democrats responsible for all that spending....

Alaska even has an award winner....
http://www.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10682

Perhaps Ms. Palin was able to do such a good job with her budget because the other 49 states were financing projects that SHOULD have been funded by the Alaska State Government..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/alaska-bloated-state-budg_b_125274.html


The Alaska Legislative Journal is also an interesting read and a different perspective....

Congratulations Brewers / Cubs Choke Again

Kudos to the Milwaukee Brewers for getting into the playoffs and winning at least ONE game. More than you can say for the Chicago Cubs..

I just learned about the "Cub's Curse"...

The Goat of 1945

Back in 1945, a man by the name of William "Billy Goat" Sianis attempted to bring a goat named, Murphy, to Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the World Series. Sianis was the owner of the "Billy Goat Tavern" and was a diehard Cubs fan.

Since there was no signs or warnings that barred animals from the park, Sianis figured he would have no problem bringing Murphy to the park. Ready with one ticket for himself and one ticket for Murphy, Sianis and his pet watched the game until late in the game when they were asked to leave. Orders came directly from Cubs owner, P.K. Wrigley, asking that both Sianis and his pet goat be ushered out of the park. The reason given was "because the goat stinks". As a disgusted Sianis left, he was heard saying "The Cubs ain't gonna win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field."

After the Cubs lost the Series to the Tigers in seven games, Sianis sent a telegram to Wrigley that said "Who Stinks Now?". Diehard Cubs fans believe the curse still exists today.

From Cubbiesbaseball.com

For those of you that are older, the Billy Goat Tavern was spoofed on early seasons of Saturday Night Live in the mid 70's - remember
John Belushi saying "Cheeburger,Cheeburger,Cheeburger.....No Coke-Pepsi......No fries-chips". I never knew the connection- interesting...




Oh No Another Post!

Well I couldn't leave this alone today....had a discussion with a friend ( more of a monologue actually- Ha Ha Ha) and here I go again!

There's gonna be several more failures unless the government buys up nearly all bad debt including failed lemonade stands ( they don't have enough money to do that 'cause it's WAY more than $700 billion). When they do dump their bad paper on the government, and Paulson is hurrying to get that done, the banks will go back to doing what they've been doing (trying to make a fast buck) before new, tough regulations get passed.

The next big shock may be GM getting kicked out of the DJI- it's market capitalization is down around $5.8 billion- if it goes under $5B it could happen-that is unthinkable for what was once the biggest corporation in the world. That's another issue- a couple components in the DJI have changed (I believe WaMU was one) so a this year-last year comparison isn't the same...

I believe that the market drop of 157 points on Friday immediately after the bailout passed was because short sellers (in non-financials) were betting on the bill to fail again and it didn't so they had to quickly cover the stock they borrowed to minimize losses.

The 30 day ban on short selling financials ends Wed.- 72 hour trigger when the bailout passed. . My guess is the market will go up tomorrow but nothing big... The SNL video about the bailout with George Soros in it wasn't far off from the truth. (watch it if you haven't) I believe he made over $3 Billion last year doing hedge fund trading. I've been saying he backs MoveOn.org to get the Dems in office because the market would tank even more and he'd be a big winner....

The bailout actually ended up being $810 billion. You must add in an additional $700 billion the Fed pumped into the stock market during the last year to prop it up. That's $1.5 TRILLION. Remember I've been telling friends about how much they've been pumping in starting over a year ago. The only person I've heard mention that fact is Ron Paul- NO other politician of either party has 'fessed up to that. That "propping up" amounts to setting prices which even Ben Bernake agrees was something the government did wrong during the depression (Ron Paul questioned him about this during hearings on the 1st bailout bill). The market wants to drop-Paulson & the Fed won't let it. All they and the bailout have done is to push the bubble down the road.

Also, the result of the emergency European summit this weekend was that the govenments of Germany, Ireland and I believe Italy are now guaranteeing all private bank deposits in their respective countries.

Well, that's enough for today. I SSOOOOO hope I'm wrong on this stuff....

If I Hear The Term "Media Filter" One More Time...

If I hear Sarah Palin use the term "media filter" one more time I'll puke. Gov. Palin seems to think it is her right to do a political ad every time she's interviewed rather than answering the questions she's asked. She wants to speak "directly to the American people" so that we get only her biased opinion- in other words, she's doing the same thing she accuses the media of doing.

Face it, the days of Murrow, Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley are gone. Even they were at least a bit slanted. All media ARE biased- it's reality. One must use a breadbasket of different media to get the real story today.

Shaken Not Stirred- Martinis & Wisconsin Vodka

On a lighter note....

OK, now to the important stuff- MARTINI'S!

Here's a couple places in Madison, WI that I like for martinis ( though they don't have most of my favorite vodka's..actually none...)

Blue Velvet Lounge (metro look, great bartenders)
http://www.thebluevelvetlounge.com/bluevelvet.html

The Ivory Room (dark piano bar-live lounge music)
http://www.ivoryroompianobar.com/

The Brink Lounge (nice atmosphere-really poor service-credit given for introducing me to Hendrick's Gin... also live bands)
http://www.thebrinklounge.com/

I'd give the Blue Velvet the nod over the other two places. The martini's are larger and I belive their Happy Hour (1/2 price) runs till 7 PM.

Wisconsin made Vodka reviews (I think I've had all the Wisconsin made ones now)
Yahara Bay- very smooth but has a noticeable apple flavor- not my cup of tea for a traditional martini- sweet
Rehorst- noticeable burn I didn't like it (Sorry- won't buy this one again)
45th Parallel- very clean, smooth taste- liked this a lot....
Death's Door- very clean, smooth taste- liked this a lot....

Effen is still my favorite, "glacial " is the best way to describe it...extremely smooth, very subtle taste. Reyka is very good too & a lot cheaper- almost as "glacial" as Effen.. Grey Goose is really very good but I'm still boycotting French products.....

Be careful of designer vodkas made in Princeton, MN- I believe it's a contract distillery owned by one of the big guys. I don't know if it's just a marketing ploy or if it's small guys taking their own recipe's in- I'd love feedback on that from anyone who knows...

Favorite gins are Hendrick's- "Industrial"
Bombay Sapphire- "Herbal"

Half & Half mixes of these are very good too!

I'm A Little Confused....

I received this in an email recently- a different way to look at things....

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic,
different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers,you're a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, and you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and be President of the Law Review, and
you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well
grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, create a voter
registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a
Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator
representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the
state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the
United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while
sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and
Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real
leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city
council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20
months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're
qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2
beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real
Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your
disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the
proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no
other option in sex education in your state's school system while your
unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a
prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't
represent America's.
* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI
conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age
25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska
from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

How Politics Work

An example of how politics works..... ( great punchline at the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w91-GMc3j7I


I'd love to dub new audio over this-related to the bailout...Walter Peck (Dickless) looks a lot like Ben Bernake.....

Laurel & Hardy Go To Congress

"Other than that-how was the play Mr. Lincoln?"

If you think this is interesting...send it on...

Laurel & Hardy go to Congress...."Ollie, I think we have a problem..." , "Certainly not Stanley, everything's going to be JUST fine!"

The Players:
Stan Laurel- Treasury Secretary ( & former Goldman Sachs CEO) "Hank" Paulson" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Paulson

Olliver Hardy- Fed Chairman Ben Bernake (actually never worked in real life business- an academic) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bernanke

Why do either of these guys still have jobs? The Fed has been pumping BILLIONS into the stock market for well over a year- that simply kept the market artificially high (free market? Blow me!) and allowed the big banks to continue down the road to destruction. Oh.... and to transfer hundreds of billions to the speculator-plunderer-looter traders....

Watch the video below-Bernake is scared shitless (listen to his voice). He has no idea what's going on (or maybe he does). Hank Paulson is a typical political appointment- incompetent, has this position as a Thank You for his party loyalty...

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=9866762

============================================================

Now read the story below. Bernake thinks the government should pay near full maturity value for "assets" it would be buying. Right, pay 100% for something that's nearly guarenteed to be worth only a fraction of that. here's an excerpt. How can these guys keep a straight face.....

"One of the tricky issues confronting policymakers is how to price the distressed assets that the government would ultimately buy.

Bernanke suggested buying the assets at a "hold-to-maturity" price, which would be based on an estimate of what the securities would eventually be worth as payments came in over the years.

"If the Treasury bids for and then buys assets at a price close to the hold-to-maturity price, there will be substantial benefits," Bernanke said. "First, banks will have a basis for valuing those assets and will not have to use fire-sale prices. Their capital will not be unreasonably marked down."


These banks are desperate so the logical thing to do is to give them 100% of the "book" value knowing this toilet paper is worth only a small fraction of that. BAD BUSINESS. The taxpayers should get this stuff at fire sale prices for bailing them out.


The reason he wants to do this is because if the banks are given the true value, the losses go on the books and you'll see a bunch of banks fail as they have near cash nor equity to take that kind of beating...Oh...and by the way the FDIC is in seriously bad shape- a few more failures & that's going to have to be bailed out too...and you're not hearing about that...


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown


These guys are running something akin to a ponzi scheme....


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme



Realize this $700 BILLION is NOT going to fix the problem. What's next- drop the discount rate again? That's good for about two more good days in the stock market and a whole lot of inflation. The Republicrats ( I use that term because there really is only one party- the Dems & Republicans are equally responsible) will bail out their campaign donors again as usual. We'll get the bill...

The only answer is a third party BY AND OF THE PEOPLE and a flat tax plan. Flat tax- Congress has no power to give taxbreaks & favors- watch the campaign money go away. Campaign money goes away these clowns won't want to stay in office for 20-30 years..

Do this and I will allow the govenment to spend a few billion on retraining all the out-of-work lawyers, accountants & politicos into new useful careers- perhaps the food service industry.."Would you like fries with that?"

Quote from a Bill Moyers interview with David Cay Johnston:

"There's one party in Washington. It's the party of money. It has
different wings and factions. But Washington is the party of money. And
the wealthiest people in America, the large corporations in America, are
busy milking the government for everything they can get. And you are
paying the price of their free lunch."

Hey it's only my opinion (and a crap-load of what little money I have)

Cut Me Some Slack

I'm new at this so if there are some bad links, spell errors, etc. -I'm working on that. Still learning the ins & outs of how this works.

Thanks for your patience!

Your Urgent Help Needed

Oh oh! Over at his CrunchyCon blog, Rod Dreher has received an urgent
email soliciting his help in a large "transfer of funds":

http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/09/your-urgent-help-needed.html

McCain's Economic Plan For Nation

I thought this was pretty funny. It's from the Onion News Network....

McCain’s Economic Plan For Nation: 'Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress'


Banking: The Next Big Oil?

This is an email I wrote to my legislators....

"I am a native-born Madisonian and Wisconsin resident.. I recently wrote to you for the first time but find the need to write again.

I am becoming increasingly concerned with the structure of the revised economic bail out (no, it’s not a “rescue” or “investment plan”) proposal being formulated by the House and whether adequate safeguards are included to protect taxpayers. I agree that assistance is necessary and understand your support in the recent vote.

There are two related areas of concern I have and I would like to know what current provisions in the package or future legislation may address these areas:

1). Money is a commodity (just like oil). The upheaval in the bank and finance markets has caused a sudden and tremendous contraction in the banking industry creating a small number of “super banks” which will control a large portion of the “money” industry. What provision will be included or will be implemented in the future to prevent these “super banks” from adopting the oil industry’s business plan of monopolistic pricing practices at the expense of ordinary consumers?

2). The banks strongly supported ( and were able to get legislation passed) creating major changes in the bankruptcy laws a few years ago. These changes were detrimental to consumers who find themselves in tough financial states and prevent many from filing bankruptcy when it is their only alternative. This meant that many people with no money could not file bankruptcy which would force banks to show the losses on their financials. The people still had no money and the loans still went unpaid but banks were able to continue to carry these loans on their books as “good “assets thereby artificially inflating their profits and also meant that necessary additions to reserves for these bad loans were not required. What safeguards will be put in place to prevent future financial “hocus pocus like this?"

Why This Country Is Messed Up

The finance industry bail-out bill (or "rescue bill" or "investment recovery bill" if you're a politician trained as a lawyer) started out as a 3 page bill from "Handy Hank" Paulson- basically, give us $700 BILLION dollars and "trust us"- yeah, right....it just needed to be a big enough number to "shock & awe"- it might cost well over a TRILLION dollars-nobody knows.......

It goes to the House and becomes a 110 page bill which fails- now renamed "Emergency Economic Stabilzation Bill"

It goes to the Senate and becomes a 451 page bill which fails- now renamed "Emergency Economic Stabilzation Bill"
Here's the link:
http://www.c-span.org/pdf/hr1424_100108.pdf

Want to guess how many pages when it comes out of the house again? 600...700?

Some highlights-
Excise tax waiver on the manufacture of wooden arrow shafts
Excise tax limit delay on rum made in Puerto Rico
Change in investment recovery period on race car tracks to 7 years
Even something on incoming averaging on amounts received from Exxon Valdez litigation!

If you want to know who's votes are needed to get this porker passed- figure out who's districts have arrow manufacturers, rum importers and NASCAR tracks..

Look at page 261- there's a summary. There are some good things for disaster relief & energy conservation but that stuff should be separate.......not here....

Sounds like "Lipstick on a Pig to me!" And no, I am not insulting Sarah Palin....

Straight Talk Express- Yea right...

Watch the whole video below- the whole McCain campaign is smelling a lot like Karl Rove and Sarah Palin is beginning to act a lot like Dick Cheney ( denying reporters access & refusing to appear for Alaskan subpoenas) ...this man is not fit to be president & she is not fit to be VP).......His "keepers" are leading him around making the decisions-he's got no idea what's going on and it shows. Obvious to see why he wants to bail on the Friday debate ( and get Palin out of hers).

He blew off Letterman just like he blew off his first wife... outright lied to him ( think he'd be straight with the American people?)....this is going to cost him....

Think this is bad? Check out Palin's interview with Katie Couric trying to explain how being able to see Russia from her house is foreign policy experience. Someone described it as very similar to the South Carolina pageant queen talking about "The Iraq"- I heard it and they were right! In another part of her interview you see her looking down like she had "notes" ( or rather a list of buzz words & sound bites and no full understanding of what she's saying).


David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign
On the "Late Show
," David Letterman talks about John McCain suspending his campaign in order to solve the economic problems.

A New Way For Me To Vent...

Well, I've decided to actually use my account here. I've been sending out a lot of emails lately and thought this might be a good way for people to see what I'm thinking without having to deal with a bunch of emails from me. Trying to be more "green" in terms of internet bandwidth usage....

I'm posting a bunch of stuff from the last couple weeks. The number of new posts will probably be a lot less in the future depending on what's going on- I hope so...

Kucinich's Main Street Recovery Plan

Read his plan- I think Kucinich left a few things out:

Zero Calorie Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream & McDonald's Big Mac's
Free Viagara & Sex Surrogates for all
A Windows OS that doesn't crash
A Beatles Reunion with all 4 original members

and of course....
Brett Favre's Return to the Packers and to the Superbowl!



KUCINICH'S MAIN STREET RECOVERY PLAN

Dear Friend,

While Wall Street and the Bush Administration try to blackmail Congress into a $700 billion bailout for corporations that have shown zero concern about the plight of the American people through the last decade, I have been working on a comprehensive alternative. Today, I am releasing a plan for economic recovery that will provide not only economic stimulus, but also fairness for everyday people on every "Main Street" in America. The plan is detailed below, and it will also be available on the campaign website www.kucinich.us.

Of course, this is a plan that has not only economic implications, but also moral and spiritual implications as well. The social, economic, and political divisions in our nation must be healed. We can make a new beginning, seizing this moment of crisis and transforming it into a moment of rebirth for our nation. I hope you will take the time to read it, consider it, and share it with your friends. I welcome your comments and your support.

More tomorrow.

Thank you,


Dennis
www.Kucinich.us
216-252-9000 877-933-6647

Kucinich’s Main Street Recovery Plan

1. Health Care for All: Insurance companies make money not providing health care. As the co-author of HR 676, a universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care system, Medicare for All, I understand millions of Americans want health care that is accessible and affordable.

Medicare for All will help businesses large and small, create jobs as well as save the jobs of thousands of people including those of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who are currently leaving medicine because it is run by the insurance companies. $1 in every 3 dollars of the $2.4 trillion spent annually in America for health care goes to the insurance companies. If we take that money ($800 billion in unproductive wasteful spending) and put it directly into care, we will have enough money to cover everyone. We are already paying for Medicare for all, but not receiving it. HR 676 changes that!

2. Prescription Drug Benefit for Seniors: HR 6800 is the MEDS Act, which provides a fully paid prescription drug benefit, under Medicare, for all seniors. I wrote this bill to help alleviate the economic pressure that comes from the high cost of prescription drugs. We can pay for it by letting the government negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies as well as by permitting re-importation.

3. Stop the Oil Companies’ Price Gouging: As you know, I was the first one to step up to challenge of the corrupt price gouging and market speculation of the oil companies by proposing a windfall profits tax, on oil and natural gas companies, with revenues put into tax credits for the purchase of fuel-efficient American-made cars. However, it may be that nationalization is the only way to put an end to the oil companies' sharp practices.

4. Protecting the American Homestead: As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Oversight Subcommittee, I am working to protect your basic right to have a roof over your head, whether as an owner or renter. I have investigated and helped to expose the manipulation of mortgage markets, and I am crafting a new federal policy so that neighborhoods with the highest number of foreclosures get the most help.

5. Jobs for All: Congressman LaTourette and I have co-authored the bi-partisan New Deal-type jobs program, HR 3400, "Rebuilding America's Infrastructure." It will create millions of good-paying new jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges, water systems and sewer systems.

6. American Manufacturing Policy: I am drafting the American Manufacturing Policy Act, which for the first time, will state that the maintenance of U.S. steel, automotive, and aerospace industries are vital to our national economic security and must be maintained through integrated public-private cooperation, new trade policies, and investment.

7. Works Green Administration: I am also drafting plans for a green New Deal jobs program, in which the government creates millions of jobs by incentivizing the design, engineering, manufacturing, distribution and maintenance of millions of wind and solar micro-technologies for millions of homes and businesses, dramatically lowering energy costs and reducing our dependence on oil.

8. Fair Trade: The U.S. has lost millions of good-paying jobs, and more jobs have been out-sourced. As you know, I have helped to lead the way in opposition to trade giveaways. I strongly urge repeal of NAFTA. We must include workers' rights, human rights and environmental quality principles in all trade pacts. We must also protect the Great Lakes' water resources from the reach of multi-national corporations.

9. Education for All: I know families need help with the rising cost of day care. That is why I introduced HR 4060, a universal pre-kindergarten program to ensure that all children ages 3-5 have access to full-day, quality day care.

10. Protecting Pensions: I am working to change bankruptcy laws so pensioners' claims will be first, ahead of banks, and that corporate executives who misuse workers' pension funds are subject to criminal penalties. I want to fully fund the Pension Benefit Guarantee Board.

11. Social Security: From my first moments in Congress, I have exposed Wall Street's efforts to privatize Social Security and attacked it in the Democratic Caucus when it was being proposed. Can you imagine where seniors would be today if Social Security had been turned over to the stock market? Social Security is solid through 2032 without any changes.

12. Protect Bank Deposits: I will work to make sure the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has sufficient funds to provide for insurance of deposits up to $200,000 at all banks and savings and loans. This is an urgent matter since so many banks are said to be vulnerable.

13. Protect Investors: Bring back strong regulation to Wall Street. As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, I challenged the Wall Street hedge fund speculators as a threat to small investors. I intend to keep active watch over the machinations on Wall Street.

14. Strength through Peace: You'll remember when I led the effort against the ill-conceived Iraq war, which has now cost more than 4,100 US soldiers' lives, cost U.S. taxpayers between $3 trillion and $5 trillion, and resulted in the deaths of more than a million Iraqis. We must bring our troops home and end the war. We must engage in diplomacy. We must reduce the military budget, and we must stop outrageous cost overruns by the likes of Halliburton.

15. Safety in America: I am proud of my work for peace. In July 2001, I introduced a bill, which today is HR 808, that for the first time creates a comprehensive plan to deal with the issues of violence in American society, particularly domestic violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, gang violence, gun violence, racial violence, and violence against gays by establishing a Cabinet-level Department of Peace and Restorative Justice. This proposal has sparked a national movement and when implemented will save tax payers millions of dollars.

16. Monetary Policy: It is long past the time that we looked at the implications of our debt based monetary system, the privatization of money created by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act, the banks fractional reserve system and our debt-based economic system. Unless we have dramatic reform of monetary policy, the entire economic system will continue to accelerate wealth upwards. I am currently working on drafting legislation for an 'American Monetary Act' to address these and other issues in order to protect the economic wellbeing of America.

How Much Is $700 Billion? My List

About the bailout- How much is $700 Billion?

I just did some numbers. The results are mind boggling- I didn't believe them but I checked them several times-check for yourself and let me know if I made a mistake. If you agree with these numbers- send them on to your friends and remember who put us in this position on election day...:

700 Billion $1 Bills stacked up would be 47,530 MILES HIGH
(1/6th the distance to the moon- a $1 bill is .0043 " thick)

700 Billion $1 bills placed end to end is 66,287,878 MILES LONG
(2/3rd the distance to the sun or 138 round trips to the moon- a $1 bill is 6" long)

$700 Billion divided by the number of people on Earth (6.93 Billion)= $104.58 for each person on the face of the Earth

$700 Billion would buy 28 Million Toyota Prius automobiles (at $25,000- base price is $22,000)
(The are roughly 135,400,000 passenger cars in the US- not including trucks or SUV's)

$700 Billion would buy 1.75 BILLION Playstation 3 game consoles
(roughly 1 for every 4 people IN THE WORLD)

$700 Billion would pay for 1 MILLION heart transplants with 10 years of follow up care
(Transplant-$300K plus 10 years at $40/year = $700K)

$700 Billion would buy 26,223 TONS of Gold
(10/3/08-Gold Price $834.16/ oz. -2007 world gold production was approximately 2,500 tons)

$700 Billion would give each person in Wasilla, Alaska $71,574,300
(2007 Population estimate 9,780. Yes that’s $71 MILLION for each resident)

$700 Billion would buy 358.9 MILLION 52” 1080P LCD TV’S
(Samsung 52LB5-$1950 at American TV- Over 6 for each US household (105.5 million -2000 figure)

Brain To Nowhere


YouTube - Broadcast Yourself help center | e-mail options | report spam

madcitygork has shared a video with you on YouTube:

Too awesome! Ken Lonnquist from Madison, WI -watch the piano player....also listen to the piano at the end..

Topical song about Sarah Palin by Ken Lonnquist.
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

VP Debate on SNL

These just keep getting better & better.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/


What's scary is that Tina Fey's portrayal of Palin is so accurate...Palin could actually become Vice President- even scarier then Dan Quayle who was VP....Palin believes in the Dick Cheney model of the office- we all know how dangerous that is...

Outsourcing

http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/outsourcing/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210602255&pgno=1&queryText=&isPrev=

This is an interesting article- look to the paragraph at the end, it's all about money- the writer has just put a lot of lipstick on it.

What he doesn't realize is that he is helping educate the outsourcers and eventually they will probably replace his company when second generation engineers arrive. This is the way China plays the game. Look at their space program. In just three flights they have gotten to the level it took NASA about 20 to achieve. They will do the same with other technology...

Also notice that India is now "too expensive" at 75-85% of American wages....Indian outsourcing firms are actually moving into China as well-thereby screwing their own citizens.. Don't be surprised if the African market is tapped too. There are millions of Nigerians that could be re-trained from inheritance /lottery scammers into help desk representatives quite easily. They speak/write English (sort of) and have basic computer skills...