OP-ED

OK, since I haven't posted in a while I thought I would post an OP-ED that I wrote as an assignment for my creative writing class that I decided to take at night at the local community college because it was transferable and only $174, so not a bad deal altogether. It's a response to this editorial in the Star Tribune.

Money invested into family planning is a form of stimulus for the economy. In economics it’s clear, a dollar spent on family planning and a dollar spent on infrastructure achieves the same thing in creating jobs and putting money back into the economy. In addition to this, in a time when people are losing jobs and unemployment is rising, having more children and adding another mouth to feed may not be the best choice.

The Idea that only an investment in infrastructure is the solution to the economy is ludicrous. Infrastructure alone only adds jobs to one sector of the workforce, which admittedly has been depleted by the outsourcing of many blue-collar jobs oversees. But other sectors of the American workforce are suffering as well. There are not enough infrastructure projects that have long-term economic stimulus to justify hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money being spent solely on this form of stimulus. You can only pave so many roads before the economic cost of paving these roads exceeds the benefits of having them paved in the first place.

While family planning is being ridiculed, it does serve as a long-term economic stimulus. The cost spent on condoms and family planning education could save an unemployed couple with two children the expense of having a third one in a time where money is tight and unemployment is rising. In addition, it could save the government and taxpayer’s money on Medicare for the cost of delivering, treating, and vaccinating a child, as well as the family when the crisis is over and there is more money to go around. Instead of the family now having to pay for the cost of another child, they can go out and invest in their current family, buy more goods, go on vacations, and even send both their children to college. The last one is the most beneficial part of the long-term investment, especially if with three children, the family could have only sent one child to college. This is stimulus in two ways, first the obvious way; the children that receive college degrees will get better paying jobs in the skilled labor sector, and therefore have more disposable income to spend, increasing the multiplier effect. The second, but not so evident stimulus is that instead of adding two people to the unskilled workforce, you add zero. This is important because what leads to unemployment is the discrepancy between the supply of unskilled labor and the demand of unskilled labor caused by, the economically inefficient but socially needed, minimum wage price floor. Now if you picture the first scenario on a larger scaled basis, this could drastically decrease the supply of unskilled labor, lowering the amount of unemployment and even raising the minimum wage, inflation adjusted, from what it is now. This stimulates the economy by saving the government money on unemployment benefits and other social programs that are directly affected by high unemployment and low wages. Unlike paving roads, family planning has more of a stimulus effect on the economy.

I know, some of the same old Ideas, but I only had an hour. Now I agree that spending on Infrastructure can be stimulus in the long run, but I didn't have time to put that part of the Argument in there (did this last minute, and was too lazy). The invest I find most stimulus in infrastructure is Rapid Transit. I might have to make a separate post on Rapid Transit alone.

College Dropout

I haven't posted in a while, but I have been doing some soul searching. First I had finals, then I had to find a way to pay off the semester, and well I never achieved that last step, so with 3 semesters left, I will have to defer my college education for now. At first this was a little depressing, actually It still has fully sunk in, but I guess there's no point in crying over something I have no control in. It is a sad time for me, but also a time to think. To get something accomplished and to take initiative. I've looked for internships, but in this economy, none of them are paying ones, and I desperately need the money. So right now I'm thinking of running for office since you don't need a degree for that. I've actually worked in the elections office for the secretary of state before, so I know the "to do's" and requirements for running, as well as the deadlines. Just wondering If anyone has any advise or recommendations on literature I should read before running.

Freedom and Equality: Two conflicting Ideologies

If been busy lately and I've tried to write a couple posts but I just keep shooting blanks. But I feel as if I need to get this off my chest. I have no idea if there is some out on this or not, but while I was taking a shower I just realized how Freedom and Equality in their truest forms can't exist with one another. When I came to this realization, I thought, no way, maybe I'm missing something, because those two words are always used together. But the more I rationalize, Freedom and Equality are two conflicting ideologies.

First lets look at Equality, in its truest form. Equality in its truest form holds that every person should be treated as equals, no one has the right to be better then another, which completely takes away human freedom to compete (when there's competition there's always a winner), which is one of the most basic human freedoms their is. Now lets look at Freedom, in its truest and purest form. Freedom in its purest form is a persons right to free will, which is to say that a person may do as he pleases, which in society can very dangerous as that can lead people to cheat, steal, and kill, which all take away from a persons equality.

The more I think about it though, the more it make sense. Lets take a look at economic ideology now. You have Socialism (in its purest form) which is heavily influenced by Karl Marx and stress equality, and then you have Capitalism (in its purest form) which is heavily influenced by Von Hayek and Friedman and stresses Freedom. It doesn't take a Nobel Prize winning Economist to figure out how both these theories have gone very. When we take Equality to an extreme (or close to it), we get the Soviet Union, and when we take Freedom to an extreme (or close to it), we get our current economic crisis.

Now this is not to say that Freedom and Equality cannot exist together, that is not what I'm saying. They cannot exist in their purest forms together, but they can exist as a form of compromise between one another. Think of it like this: when you click on the settings button on the computer there one side that says slow and another that says fast (think of it as Freedom and Equality on opposite sides) and you have to move the little dial in between them so you can pick which speed is best for you, well its the same thing with Freedom and Equality, you just adjust how much of Freedom you want to sacrifice for Equality or vice-versa. I really hope I'm not ripping off someone Else's theory here.





This reminds me of Baudrillard quote I read from Utopia Achieved, where he describes the difference between American and Europe as, in America everyone starts Equals but make their way to different paths, while in Europe everyone starts on different path and make their way towards equality. Off topic, but it just came to my head.

Random Thoughts

Just some Random Thoughts because I've been so busy with 3 tests this week.

I just read a great column here, writen by Bill Simmons, about Elgin Baylor. If you don't know who Elgin Baylor is, he was a Hall Of Fame basketball player for the Lakers, and up until this week the General Manager of the LA Clippers. Whats really interesting is how most people don't know about him and the struggles he went through as a basketball player and a black man in America. How he paved the way for basketball similar to Jackie Robinson.

"Elgin came into a league where guys shot running jump hooks and one-handed set shots. Teams routinely took 115 shots a game and made less than 40 percent of them. Nobody played above the rim except Russell; nobody dunked, and everyone played the same way: Rebound, run the floor, get a quick shot. Quantity over quality. That's what worked. Or so they thought. Because Elgin changed everything. He did things that nobody had ever seen before. He defied gravity. Elgin would drive from the left side, take off with the basketball, elevate, hang in the air, hang in the air, then release the ball after everyone else was already back on the ground. You could call him the godfather of hang time. You could call him the godfather of the "WOW!" play. You could point to his entrance into the league as the precise moment when basketball changed for the better. Along with Russell, Elgin turned a horizontal game into a vertical one."

I knew Elgin Baylor had been a great player, the Kobe Bryant of his generation, but not this revolutionary. But what stuck out to me was what he had to overcome.

"Elgin lived through some things during his career that we like to forget happened now. Lord knows how many racial slurs bounced off him, how many N-bombs were lobbed from the stands, how much prejudice he endured on a day-to-day basis as the league's signature black star. Russell bottled everything up and used it as fuel for the next game: He wouldn't suffer; his opponents would suffer. Oscar morphed into the angriest dude in the league, someone who screamed at his own teammates as much as the referees, a great player who played with an even greater chip on his shoulder. Elgin didn't have the same mean streak. He loved to joke with teammates. He never stopped talking. He loved life and loved playing basketball. He couldn't hide it. And so his body soaked up every ugly slight like a sponge."

The column goes on to give a real life account of the some of the racism Baylor encountered in his playing days, Including a story about a game in Charleston, West Virgina, where he was dehumanized by the same people he came to play in front of. This was a really chilling and well told story about a great basketball player who was classlessly fired in power struggle this week. It's a story of sports pioneer who overcame great adversity. One of the few good reads of my day today.

Another interesting, but scary thing I read was This, about Iceland on the brink of Bankruptcy. This was a pretty interesting story because Iceland is actually a really small country with a huge Economy. The Thing about Iceland is that its the only Hydrogen Economy in the world. They mostly use Geothermal, Hydroelctric, and Hydrogen energy over there, so it has a very low dependency on foreign Oil. The problem is that Iceland's Banks have taken on to much liabilities. This will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Something Else that interested me was

this Penguin story. Now I'm not one of those PETA freaks who go around throwing blood at people, but this story really touched me. This story is basiclly about 100+ penguins who got stranded on a beach in Northeastern Brazil. They were helped and rescued by various agency working together and flown south by the Airforce. Its stories like this that actually give you some hope in humanity. I just thought these were Interesting

Greed

This here is a list of the 20 highest paid CEOs.

1. Larry Ellison, Oracle (US$192 million)
2. Frederic M Poses, Trane (US$127 million)
3. Aubrey K McClendon, Chesapeake Energy (US$117 million)
4. Angelo R Mozilo, Countrywide Financial (US$103 million)
5. Howard D Schultz, Starbucks (US$98.6 million)
6. Nabeel Gareeb, MEMC Electronic Mats (US$79.6 million)
7. Daniel P Amos, Aflac (US$75.2 million)
8. Lloyd C Blankfein, Goldman Sachs (US$73.7 million)
9. Richard D Fairbank, Capital One Financial (US$73.2 million)
10. Bob R Simpson, XTO Energy (US$72.3 million)
11. Richard S Fuld Jr, Lehman Brothers (US$71.9 million)
12. Steven Roth, Vornado Realty (US$71.9 million)
13. Marijn E Dekkers, Thermo Fisher, (US$69 million)
14. Steven A Burd, Safeway (US$67.2 million)
15. Gregg L Engles, Dean Foods (US$66.1 million)
16. Nicholas D Chabraja, General Dynamics (US$60 million)
17. Leslie H Wexner, Limited Brands (US$56.1 million)
18. David C Novak, Yum Brands (US$55 million)
19. John T Chambers, Cisco Systems (US$54.8 million)
20. William R Berkley, WR Berkley (US$55 million)

I got it from here

What you will find most surprising is that at 11 on this list is Richard S Fuld Jr, the former CEO of the now defunct Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. He made 71.9 million dollars this past year, yet was unable to keep his company from filing the largest bankruptcy in US history. Now let me get this straight, This CEO is paid over 70 million dollars in one year to basicly mismanage a corporation, well I know I can do that for 70 million. And Now we are suppose to give them 700 Billion to bail them out. Well I'm in favor of the bailout for one reason alone, the credit crunch. This problem severely hurts students like me who need to get loans, but either can't get them at fair rates or just can't get them altogether. But for me support a bailout and pay this man or other CEOs like him that now are begging for corporate welfare would be madness. I'm personally in favor of these men and their top executives not receiving anything more then 500,000 dollars a year in both cash compensation and stock options, and HELL NO to bonuses.

You will also note at number 8 on this list is Lloyd C Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, which is still alive but floundering and in need of the coporate bailout. Hey I'm pretty sure those 73 Million would be a big help right about now.

Then you also have the evil Aubrey K McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, who, along with Clay Bennett and two other partner, stole the Seattle Supersonic franchise from seattle and moved it to Oklahoma City because they couldn't swindle the City of seattle and its tax payers to publicly finance a new stadium for them. This whole story gets even funnier, because the team was sold off by Howard Schultz, The CEO and Chairman of Starbucks, and YES, number 5 on that list. What is funny about this situtation is that its not the worst things McClendon has been tied too. Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake Energy have been accused by government officials of Price fixing to raise the price of its natural oil. This man makes 117 million dollars a year and thats not enough for him, he has to nickle and dime his way through the people, with price fixing on natural oil and then making tax payers pay for a new stadium so that he can charge to enter and watch his team in the stadium you paid for, wow.

I'm all for Market Economy, competition, and incentives. But when is enough going to be enough. 73 million dollars a year is roughly 1.4 million dollars a week. I'm not saying to not pay these guys, but when you are making more in a week then most will ever see in their life times, then something truly is wrong in the world. I for one will boycott all these Multination Corporation until they start paying the rest of their employees more and their executives less, and I hope anyone who read this will join me.

Life...

Well, Remember Track 3 from Illmatic with the jazzy sample, the catchy hook, and the most ominous meaning... Yea that's how I'm feeling right about now. Thanks to this fucked up economy, this fucked up government, and some fucked up timing on my part, my futures looking real cloudy. First I fucked up my grades over the summer when I decided to take 3 classes and fucked my GPA, dropping it below. Well, you might say, 'ohhh whats the big deal, you GPA is below 3, its not the end of the world'. The problem is I really on schoolarships to cover whats left to pay after I've recieved all the grants from financial aid. Now most of these schoolarships depend on a GPA above 3, so there goes 6,000 dollars out the drain. To make matters worse, with this fucked up economy and government slashing money on spending for education, I'm now even more fucked. My Financial Aid Grants were cut by just over 1,000 dollars while tuition still increased, and now with this fucked up Economy theres no way I can get a Private Loan to cover the 7,500 I need to pay January to Continue School in the Fall. Life really sucks right about now, I wish I could just 7,000 dollars of those 700 billion being given out. To me the only silver lining in that is that now they'll be able to control the paychecks of those greedy CEO, but I need a real solution to my Problems, any Advice, Information, or Help would be useful, Thanks.

Wind Energy? Feasible?

Well, I've been researching Alternative fuels for the past week and half, thinking of way out of this mess we've put ourselves in. Ethanol and Hydrogen look really attractive to me, mostly because of the Chemistry, but they have so much obsticles in the way that we still years away from really being able to develope it, market it, and mass distribute it. The one thing I do see promising though is Wind Engery.

Wind Energy is Renewable, Enviromentally Safe, and best of all, Almost no marginal cost. Thats right, forget paying 5 dollars a gallon at the pump, instead of 40 dollars to fill your tank half way, Imagine paying 1 dollar for fuel that could last you a whole week. Now realisticly this doesn't seem possible in the next 10, 20, or even 50 years, but you never know what new technology can come out tomorrow.

At about 300 feet above the ground the wind in the atmosphere is actually relatively constant and can keep powering a turbine no matter how much wind is actually blowing on the ground. This alone could even double the efficiency of some turbines and Wind Farms.

I actually have alot more research to do, but just thought I would share some of this.