A work in progress

This picture's meaning runs deep. It shows how some Americans stick to the old ways and are unable to accept today's diverse world. These members of the WestBoro Baptist Church protest everything. They literally plan protests of celebrity's funerals and soldier's funerals. Maybe they have nothing to do? More worrying however is their inclusion of children in their group. Children and being indoctrinated with their racist views.

In the picture below the first one , the Church is protesting Jews and Israel. This shows just how much these people hate everything and everyone. These pictures provide and insight into the mind of the racist. Although these views are not common in the north, in southern states many people routinely express their views in this way.

Old Traditions

Where I live in Northfield , there is a big gap in houses and generally house size. There are 2 categories of house. 1 is the newly built giant house and the other is the 60 year old small house. What I noticed about the two types of houses is that in my neighborhood , only the older houses had flags. I looked at about 100 houses and saw ~15 flags. Not a single large house had a flag. This reminded me of the discussion we had in class where Mr. Bolos mentioned that in his area more small houses had flags than bigger houses. With some careful observation over the past few years , I have noted that the bigger houses were mainly owned by people who have immigrated to the U.S. within the last 20 years. All the smaller houses were probably owned by the same people for 30+ years. This leads me to believe there is a correleation between how long you live in the U.S. , how successful you are and flags. I will have to study this more in depth.

Irresponsible Retirement

A few days ago I sent a college professor and email requesting an interview, although he could not do the interview he did answer my question. Why do Americans Live above their means? He gave me a very interesting answer that I had not thought of before. If someone is retired and has all their money invested and then the economy goes bad, those people appear to look irresponsible. While they thought they were living within their means , and perhaps for the time they were, the investments failed and now they can no longer pay off their debt. This problem is not easily solved due to the fact that predicting when investments may go bad is very hard. Thus, people always get caught in this trap. I have thought about this for quite some time and cannot help but to think , How does the government prepare for this specific situation knowing that this type of thing is bound to happen ?

Don't Blame the Bankers

I often hear Americans blame banks, bankers or financial institutions for giving loans to almost anybody. While this was most definitely wrong, the bigger blame should go to the people who took the loans even though they were making nowhere near enough to pay them. As a nation we are quick to point fingers ,but we need to take a closer look at ourselves. If we saved money instead of spending money we didn't have the economic situation might have gone better.

From Modest to Mcmansion

According to an NPR article (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283) , the average size of a house in the united states has gone from 983 sq. ft in 1950 to 2400 sq. ft now. This is a disturbing trend because the size of our families is not increasing ,but rather decreasing. What does all this mean ? It means that on average Americans are attaining higher expectations. One reason for the huge increase in house size was the fact that in the early 2000's loans were being given to anyone. This fueled an increase in construction ,which in turn caused house size to go up. Why are Americans growing more greedy? Why was 983 sq ft enough 50 years ago ,but it isn't now ?

Living in credit

Being in the middle of a credit crisis has got me thinking, why do Americans feel it is ok to live so deep in debt? Buying a house that they clearly cannot afford, not thinking ahead and racking up a giant debt. People are complaining now ,but have they looked back t0 2 years ago when they were spending carelessly? Although banks are partly to blame for giving loans to almost anyone , common people need to realize that scapegoating the banks does nothing when they themselves are the root cause of the issue. The average American who wanted an above average lifestyle. I feel like too much of the blame is being put on "wallstreet fatcats" and bankers when most of the blame should lie with the American public.

Aig set to pay out 450 million in bonuses

Even as it is apparent that AIG's failure was because of mismanagement, executives and other employees are set to receive about 450 million in bonuses. This is outrageous considering AIG is bankrupt and those receiving the bonuses are getting them directly from out tax dollars. The government needs to step in here and prevent the people who's actions led to this company's downfall from getting massive bonuses. The latest payment of the 450 million is $160 million dollars. Although Obama's plan already limited future payments, the current ones need to be stopped as well. Although contracts would have to be broken, this is one situation where it would be wise to bend the rules.

Iran has enough nuclear material for a bomb

The top U.S. military official ,Adm. Mike Mullen, has stated that based on current reports , Iran has enough enriched Uranium to make a bomb. Iran is a radical country with a very crazy leader. Iran's president ,Ahmadinejad,has said on multiple occasions that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. This leads to worrying thoughts. Should Iran actually make a nuclear bomb, they would start to use it for leverage in world politics. At this point it is necessary for the U.S. government to intervene.

Constitution? We don't need no constitution....

This week Venezuela's president,Hugo Chavez, won a referendum to remove the term limits from Venezuela's constitution. If you are going to so blatantly disregard a constitution ,why have it in the first place? Venezuela is on track to becoming a socialist country and Chavez is set to be president for life. In the end Venezuela's people are the ones who will suffer. Socialism has never worked well so what makes Chavez think he can fix it ? Whenever we look back at the lives of people in socialism vs capitalism ,the people who live in a socialist state always have much lower quality of life. In my opinion Chavez is crazy and power-hungry. Hopefully someone will put him in his place before he goes to far.

Obama's stimulus package

I read through a breakdown of Obama's Tax plan and the overwhelming majority of the plan appears to be waste. Here is the breakdown:

Health Care: $150.1 billion

Education, Science and Technology: $132.6 billion

• $41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion);
  
• $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas;
  
• $15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500;
  
• $15 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures;
  
• $10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation;
  
• $6 billion to expand broadband internet access so businesses in rural and other underserved areas can link up to the global economy;
  
• $6 billion for higher education modernization.

Energy and Environment: $104 billion

• $32 billion to transform the nation's energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology;
  
• $31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long term energy cost savings;
  
• $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments;
  
• $16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits;
  
• $6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes

Unemployment Compensation: $63 billion

Transportation: $40 billion

• $30 billion for highway construction;
  
• $10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

Misc: $29 billion

• $25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education;
  
• $4 billion for state and local law enforcement funding.

Tax cuts : $275 Billion

Foreign Aid : $40 Billion

A better use for the $150 Billion to be used for health plans would be to shred the money up and compost it into soil. At that point we could plant crops into that soil. If the money-soil proves to have enough nutrients, we could use it to replace lost top soil.

The $132 Billion which will be spent on education is not as wasteful as the healthcare money , but certainly we need to cut down the education funding and increase the science funding. The Pell grant increase is wasteful.

The $104 Billion in energy spending is not being put to the right use. Restructuring our energy grids is not as important as funding clean energy programs/technology. The 22 Billion being spent to renovate houses is a barrel of pork.

The next part of the plan is $63 Billion in unemployment benefits. This is one of the reasons why I really didn't like Obama at first. Our nation is in a time of crisis, the focus should be to revitalize the economy not to print money and then incinerate it in a furnace. The money spent does little to help our economy in any significant way.

The $40 Billion being spent on transportation improvement is a good idea ,but is really not necessary in time of deep recession.

The 25 Billion being spent on "high priority needs " is unclear so I am unable to make a comment on it.

The next part of the plan is $275 Billion in tax cuts. This is a sensitive issue due to the issue of implementation. The tax cuts should be very specific such as cuts for people who buy homes. Tax cuts should only be used if the cut significantly improves home sales or other economic issues.

The biggest waste of the entire plan is $40 Billion in foreign aid. This money might as well be sent into space or burned. Actually that would be great. $40 Billion less money means less inflation. Why should we , when we are in a crisis be helping other nations? If we weren't in a crisis this might not be so outrageous.

Overall the plan is wasteful ,but with some reorganization the money spent could be put to the use of restarting our stagnating economy.

Agreement reached on Ukrainian gas conflict

An agreement was reached between Russia and Ukraine on the price of Ukraine's gas for 2009. The price will be $360 per 1000 cubic meters, double what Ukraine payed in 2008. The flow of gas will resume once the two country's gas companies sign a contract. 80% of the gas that Western Europe gets from Russia comes from pipelines in Ukraine. The earlier conflict was that Russia accused Ukraine of stealing gas bound for western countries. New monitoring systems will be installed to make sure gas is not being stolen. Russia has said it will decrease shipments by whatever amount is stolen.

As gas prices are expected to drop significantly later this year the final price Ukraine pays may end up being much lower. Overall the main thing this conflict shows us is that arguments between a few people may end up affecting millions of people ,as in this case some Europeans were left without gas.

Ukraine Gas conflict

In the past few weeks Ukraine had a serious conflict with Russia over gas prices for 2009. These discussions culminated in accusations of Ukraine stealing gas and the gas being cutoff. Russia alleges that Ukraine steals 15% of the Euorpe-bound gas. Since 80% of the gas that western Europe gets passes through Ukraine, the shutoff of the gas is affecting all of Europe. The issue over price arises just after the Georgian conflict , during which Ukraine supported Georgia. This pissed off Russia immensely. The whole conflict will still need some time to be resolved.

When I traveled to Ukraine 2 years ago, Russia charged $179 for 1000 cubic meters of gas. This is about 70% less than what Western Europe is charged. A increase was discussed which resulted in protest. Now, Russia is demanding $428 per 1000 cubic meters. This price hike will greatly affect Ukraine's economy which has recently taken a down turn. Ukraine may try to find some leverage in the fact that it owns the rights to the pipelines and if it doesn't get a good price it may deny Russia their use. What is likely to happen is that a middle ground will be found , probably around a $250-350 compromise.

Gaza under seige

Just a few days ago Israeli military officials decided that a ground invasion of Gaza was necessary. Even as the ground invasion continues , Hamas militants continue to fire rockets into Israel. The Israeli military forces say that not harming civilians is a top priority ,but even so it is likely many innocent people will be killed. According to CNN many of Gaza's hospitals are full and patients are dieing before they can be treated. Another source of concern is that since the borders of the Gaza strip are blocked off, there won't be enough food in Gaza. This will soon lead to a humanitarian crisis and if the U.N. does not intervene soon, people will die of hunger. The whole issue is very controversial due to the fact that Israel has the right to defend itself ,but the militants try to look like common people. This causes many civillian deaths to occur. The weapons may be stored in civillian areas and religious sites. By doing this and using these cheap strategies , Hamas is endangering many innocent lives.