Budgeting the U.S.A. in one Chart

Posted on December 14, 2011 by museman

When it comes to managing finances, Wilkins Micawber, in Charles Dickens’ book “David Copperfield”, observed the following :

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

It’s an observation so fundamental, it’s called the “Micawber Principle“.

Of course, this principle applies to Government budgets as well, but, whenever Government’s involved Murphy’s Law must be duly incorporated; specifically, the following corollary[1]:

“Negative expectations yield negative results; positive expectations yield negative results.” - Murphy’s Non-Reciprocal Law of Expectations

Why? Because Government politicians, especially Democrats (a) never met a pile of (someone else’s) money they didn’t want to spend, (2) never met someone who couldn’t afford to pay more taxes, (c) never created a “temporary” tax, and (d) never made it legal for a citizen to avoid paying taxes (unless, of course, it’s a politician). The result? Come feast or famine it’s misery for the taxpayer, but not necessarily for our elected officials.

Personally, I don’t see why balancing a budget is so difficult: Perhaps it’s because my chosen profession was Engineering, not Economics. Heck, I still refer to the bank’s instructions when reconciling my checkbook… oops… I’m digressing. When I first got out of college I ordered “The Rubber Budget Account Book” by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), which is still available today for a very modest sum (or, for free on the interweb, for those on particularly tight budgets – or insufferable tightwads). While I don’t use the worksheets, I adhere to it’s basic teaching: Expenses expand or contract based on the available income. Elegantly simple, just like Micawber’s observation.

So, during this Holiday Christmas Season I suggest the Congressional Budget Office take some of that Taxpayer money and buy each member of Congress a copy of “The Rubber Budget Account Book“… right after they give each one of them a copy of their excellent, one-page infographic on the United States Federal Budget.

[1]A corollary which, curiously, does not appear on this site… talk about ironic!

Thanks for reading!

Posted in Not Surprisingly, Politics, The Economy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Something New to like about New Jersey

Posted on December 9, 2011 by museman

New Jersey may get a bad rap due to it’s reputation for impoverished cities, airport congestion, pollution, and being the true home of the Statue of Liberty, but I’m not one to vilify it, no sirree!

Before Connecticut succumbed to built their two large casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, New Jersey’s Atlantic City was the place to go if you were East of the Mississippi and wanted to wager legally (Note I didn’t write “gamble”: Gambling is betting money when you don’t know the rules of the game, wagering is when you know the rules but bet anyway… yeah, I digressed). In my youth, I went a couple times a year to Atlantic City, so I’ve traveled through the Garden State enough times to develop some “likes”:

Some Things I like about New Jersey (in no particular order, and non-inclusive)
The Garden State Parkway – Not the road per se [1] (although trucks can’t use it, which is nice), but rather the Exit Numbers: They represent the miles from the southernmost part of the state (ie: Cape May). Clever! Just beware of Exit 14A: Arguably the most notorious speed trap in the country.
Lucy the Elephant - Located just outside Atlantic City, this former house is the best-known example of zoomorphic architecture. So unique, it’s patented!
Coney Island - Although now just a shadow of it’s former self, it still has the Wonder Wheel (a Ferris wheel that, like Lucy, is so unique, it’s patented!), the legendary Cyclone roller coaster (where adjectives like “white-knuckle”, “bone-jarring”, and “uncomfortable” hardly describe it), and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs (best eaten after riding the Cyclone… and, be sure to load on the toppings!).
Cheesequake - I’m not talking about Diary Queen’s (delicious and Trademarked) ice cream treat, available since 2004: I’m talking old school New Jersey where it’s a Travel Plaza, a State Park, a School, and a Town! Admittedly, I’ve only been to the Travel Stop, but how can you not like that name? It’s better than “Shimmer“!
Six Flags Great Adventure
-		 Sure, the park is large, the rides impressive, and they’ve got Warner Brothers Cartoon characters walking around the park. But that’s not what I like about it – It’s the place where I had the most perfectly-prepared Gyro in my entire life (honest!).

…and now, I’ve got something else to add to my impromptu list:

Joe Steinfeld’s Map of New Jersey - Unlike maps showing some egotistical city as the “center of the world“, this Jersey resident’s nicely drawn map portrays the Garden State in a presumeably accurate and unbelievably hilarious way! Be sure to check the comments on his page for even more side-splitting entertainment.

[1] I once worked with a lawyer who chided me almost every time I used the phrase “per se” when talking about something intrinsically by itself, eg: “His interpersonal skills per se are quite lacking…”. Oh well, Turpe est.

Thanks for reading!

Posted in I'm Laughing! | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

SNAP becomes P-h-D-pressing

Posted on December 8, 2011 by museman

Today, during my (almost) daily perusal of favorite websites, I came across a chart on Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis blog created by one of his readers, Tim Wallace: Using US Government data, he plotted the trend in United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation (SNAP) from 1969 to 2011.

Translation? Acronym-o-rrhea aside, he plotted the historical trend of Food Stamp participants from 1969 to 2011.

Here’s the plot — click it to see the larger one at Mish’s blog, and click here to read Mish’s explanation:

Image - Food Stamp Recession Curve

The chart is depressing enough: 45 Million on food stamps, nearly double the number since President Obama took office. And, it won’t get any less depressing if plotted as a percentage of the total US population (which, IMHO, is how it should have been plotted in the first place – click here to see my humble revision[1]).

But, I found a comment posted comments by one “astroboy.20000″ (whose copyright I respectfully acknowledge) even more depressing – especially for those wanting to reverse that SNAP trend:

astroboy.20000
“I have a PhD in physics and developed a method of testing for a birth defect which was otherwise impossible to detect until brain damage had occurred. At least once a week the neurosurgeons would have me do my analysis to see whether removing part of a kid’s brain was necessary or not. For this I was paid $40K a year. I have three children, and I was on WIC. Humiliating. When I mentioned this to my boss he thought WIC was some sort of trust fund. Unfortunately, my low salary gave the MDs the impression that I could easily be replaced. I was offered a permanent position at $36K a year, which, yes, was a $4K pay cut . Take it or leave it. I had to leave it, tough luck for the kids who would suffer brain damage, but what could I do? Yeah, the import from China didn’t work out. Nice resume, was happy with the $36K, just couldn’t do the work.

Food stamps and other programs subsidize sub-standard wages, pure and simple. I blame business, not the government or workers who are forced to such [sic] on the public teat or go hungry.”

While I don’t agree with his reasoning that assistance programs are solely the result of sub-standard wages paid by business, I surely sympathize with his comment.

However, I don’t know who to feel more sympathy for: Those pediatric neurology patients being diagnosed by the lowest bidder, astroboy.20000′s wife & three children, his (allegedly insensitive) boss, or the fact that his PhD in Physics (a far more practical degree than, say, a Doctorate in Byzantine Studies from Harvard[2]) is only worth about $36,000 per year as a full-time job.

[1]My revised chart uses total population numbers from US Census Bureau’s Publications “HS-1” and “Summary Table A-1” along with the SNAP Participation history tabulated in the USDA’s FNS “National Level Annual Summary“.

[2] Not to disparage anyone having a PhD in Byzantine Studies… history has valuable lessons to teach, and we need experts to teach them. But, physicists may actually provide, or contribute to, innovations that would help the US maintain their technology sector and could ultimately employ thousands of Americans.

Update: Then… I read this. Thanks Mish: Looks like I’ll need more Pepcid AC than I’d originally planned for.

Thanks for reading!

Posted in Not Surprisingly, So Wrong! | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tragedy for 8 Horses in Japan!

Posted on December 5, 2011 by museman

But, it’s not what you think…

From the UK’s Daily Mail reporter “Daily Mail”, with plenty of photos for those of you who savor schadenfreude:

“The £2.5million motorway smash involving 8 Ferraris, 3 Mercedes, a Lamborghini, a Skyline and a humble Toyota Prius (which was in the wrong place at the wrong time)”

I’m guessing it resulted from a perfect combination of speed, testosterone-fueled-male-machismo, improper use of cup holders, the road perhaps being slightly wet… oh, and speed.

Well, I learned a long time ago that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade whiskey sours. So, let’s try to look on the bright side:

  • The blonde (no, not this one) responsible for crashing her Bentley into a Mercedes, a Ferrari, a Porsche and an Aston Martin can now breathe a little easier.

Thanks for reading!

Posted in I'm Laughing!, So Wrong! | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Eco-Friendly Human Consumption?!?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by museman

Let’s say someone wanted to generate electricity using a power plant that takes a “working fluid” (say, water, ammonia, freon, etc.), heats it up to a tremendous pressure, runs that high pressure through a turbine (making it spin very fast), causing an electrical generator to rotate, and volia!, out pops electricity.

What fuel should they choose to heat up that “working fluid”?

Well, seems someone’s seriously considering using humans as a fuel source (aka: Homo Sapiens Sapiens, “The Average Joe”, “those unwashed masses”, etc.). Must be because human beings are ubiquitous, renewable, and potentially has lots of energy per kilogram.

Sounds like an uphill battle to convert hearts & minds into accepting this source of biofuel – Nuclear power hasn’t overcome their bad rap, and they’ve been working at it for over sixty years!

BTW: You don’t need to use combustion – you could simply use  flowing water to spin that turbine by building a hydroelectric dam. But…hydroelectric dams are bad – those poor helpless fish!

Thanks for reading!

Posted in Are You Kidding me?, Environment, So Wrong! | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is this REALLY Obama’s Campaign Slogan?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by museman

Sam Stein of the Huffington Post reported on 12.01.11 that President Obama appeared to be using a new “catch phrase” during a fundraising speech in New York City last Wednesday:

“Change is”

Well, I thought I was slightly clever with my recent post on Obama’s “Never Fail” campaign song… but I’ll be hog-tied-and-batter-fried if his new phrase doesn’t suggest an even better one – David Bowie’s classic song from 1971, “Changes”.

And, unlike my “Never Fail” post, I don’t even have to bother with the entire set of lyrics – The first stanza pretty much completely sums up Obama’s blameless, egocentric first (and, hopefully only) term:

“Changes”
words & lyrics by David Bowie
from the album “Hunky Dory”, 1971, RCA Records

“Still don’t know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets and
Every time I thought I’d got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I’ve never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I’m much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!”

Gosh, am I the first one that wonders if Obama and/or his campaign staff thought this one through? Is it a rare case of introspection and/or assessment, or just another ill-conceived act of his Presidency? I mean, it’s not like this connection hasn’t been thought of before, albeit indirectly.

Thanks for reading!

Posted in Are You Kidding me?, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment