ECONOMICS: 2% inflation = 47 cents of purchasing power after 30 years

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

http://contrakrugman.com/ep-35-debt-default-good-or-bad/

Ep. 35 Debt Default: Good or Bad?
15 May 2016     |     Tom Woods     |    

You’ll never guess: Krugman contradicts himself this week, but only Bob Murphy, who knows Krugman’s columns inside and out, caught him. This week the topic is whether it’s a good idea at some point to repay the national debt at less than face value. Krugman is horrified, so maybe it’s a good idea….

Krugman Column“The Making of an Ignoramus” (May 9, 2016)
“Keynesians on Treasury Default: Depends Who’s in the White House,” by Robert P. Murphy
“Trump’s Right — Paying Back the National Debt with ‘Discounts’ Is Already Official Policy,” by David Stockman
“Repudiating the National Debt,” by Murray N. Rothbard

Related EpisodeEp. 33 Krugman and Hamilton Sitting in a Tree

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Key takeaway: 

If the Fed does meet its target inflation rate of 2%, then arithmetically over thirty years your dollar’s purchasing power is down 53%.

It’s a silent theft of your wealth.

Good luck saving with that scenario. Back to the analogy — what do you want find a pirates chest full of: US “dollars”, Confederate dollars, or gold coins?

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: One great reason to raise the minimum wage

Monday, May 16, 2016

http://tomwoods.com/podcast/ep-659-afraid-of-president-trump-how-about-presidents-in-general/

Ep. 659 Afraid of President Trump? How About Presidents in General
12th May 2016
Tom Woods

*** begin quote ***

Michael Malice makes his triumphant return to the show with a discussion of a possible President Trump, and why Trump Derangement Syndrome seems to make people forget how bad the other presidents have been.

*** end quote ***

Michael Malice hit a great reason to raise the minimum wage.

Get the stupid people who screw up your order out of the process.

Look at Wendys putting in the kiosks.

Wawa and QuickCheck has.

Feel sorry for the unemployable.

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HEALTHCARE: The Gooferment should NOT be involved in “health”, “health care”, or “health care insurance”

Sunday, May 15, 2016

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/05/13/stossel-hospital-bureaucracy-is-toxic-for-patients-heres-my-solution.html?intcmp=hpff

HEALTH CARE
Stossel: Hospital bureaucracy is toxic for patients. Here’s my solution
By John Stossel  Published May 13, 2016  FoxNews.com

*** begin quote ***

But Goldhill points to one favorable trend. “Increasingly, people have high deductible (insurance) plans … (I)t’s the most promising thing in health care.”

Many patients hate high deductibles. But they are useful because they make us realize that care is not “free.”
Patients with high deductibles and Health Savings Accounts ask important questions: “Doc, do I really need that test? What does it cost?” They shop around.

Suddenly, there’s the beginning of an actual market. When patients shop, doctors strive to please patients rather than distant bureaucrats. More doctors give out their email addresses and cellphone numbers, and shorten waiting times. Their bills are easier to read because the providers want customers to pay them!

Government and insurance companies don’t make health care free. Such third-party payments just hide the cost, which increases the costs and makes payment more complicated.

*** end quote ***

I’ve had really close contact with hospitals twice in my life where I was NOT the patient but the Patient Advocate. (Or PIA!)

The system is a mess.

I’m aware of one case involving my OLD friend where to break a log jam I volunteered to drive a blood sample from Charlotte to Chicago because the first one they took spoiled due to the delay in transport.

(Have to admit my OLD friend reported shocked look on the docs faces when he told them what he wanted to do. Magically the “problem” was “solved”. I knew that would be the response since I had a similar response at one point in my deceased wife’s care where I threatened — at 3PM in the afternoon — to take her out on the hospital driveway, draw a blood sample (I was a credentialed EMT at the time), and have it delivered by limo / escorted by a relative to the appropriate lab in NY. After they put their eyes back in the sockets, “magic” happened and the test was completed by the next morning! Never underestimate the value of a crazy PIA patient advocate.)

The disconnect between the “golden rule” (“he who has the gold makes the rules”) and good medical care is so obvious that only a fool would not make the connection.

Argh!

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SECURITY: Tell me that this is for MY benefit

Saturday, May 14, 2016
Dear Ferdinand,

As we move closer to joining together with Starwood®, we want you to continue taking advantage of everything the Marriott Rewards® program has to offer by making sure your account information is current and secure.

It is our ongoing priority to ensure your personal information is protected. For your continued security, we will be implementing enhanced password protections over the next few weeks. 

You are receiving this email because your account password needs to be updated to comply with our revised security measures. We encourage you to log in and follow the steps below as soon as possible to ensure uninterrupted access to your account when the new password requirements take effect.

As a reminder, experts recommend that you periodically change the passwords you use to access websites as a precaution. Changing your Marriott Rewards password is easy. All you will need to do is:
• Log in to your Marriott Rewards account on your desktop or laptop
 
• Select “My Account”
 
• Select “Profile”
 
• Select “Edit” in the Password section
 
• Enter current and new password
 
• Confirm your identity if you are not using a registered device
Log on now to your Marriott Rewards account to take action. Thank you very much for taking the time to update your password information. 

Sincerely,

Argh! I’m SURE that this id for MY benefit.

Argh! Laugh!

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ECONOMICS: So much for a “great economy”!

Friday, May 13, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/05/michael-snyder/global-depression-begun/

Rail Traffic Depression: 292 Union Pacific Engines Are Sitting In The Arizona Desert Doing Nothing
By Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
May 11, 2016

*** begin quote ***

Because rail traffic is down so dramatically, many operators have large numbers of engines that are just sitting around collecting dust.  In his article, Wolf Richter shared photographs from Google Earth that show some of the 292 Union Pacific engines that are sitting in the middle of the Arizona desert doing absolutely nothing. 

*** end quote ***

All the politicians and bureaucrats squawking about the “great economy” can’t make it so.

Argh!

What we need is to unleash the entrepreneurs.

* A ten year moratorium on new regulations, laws, tax policy changes, and other Gooferment diktats.

* A 10% tax rate for individuals and corporations.

* Ten years of zero Gooferment deficits.

* and put all mandates and liabilities must be put on a track to be fully funded in 10 years.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Children are undervalued

Thursday, May 12, 2016

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/teen-makes-stellar-discovery-previously-unknown-maya-city-005856?nopaging=1

9 MAY, 2016 – 22:03 MARILO
Teen Makes Stellar Discovery of Previously Unknown Maya City

*** begin quote ***

William Gadoury, a 15 year-old Canadian from Quebec, has revolutionized the academic world by using ingenious reasoning to discover a previously unknown Maya city. Based on his own theory – that the Maya chose the location of their cities following constellations, he realized that there must be another undiscovered city in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Satellite images of the area have confirmed his hypothesis.

*** end quote ***

“Children will no longer waste the first 25 years of their lives. Adults will no longer be tossed on the rubbish pile for the last 50 years of their life.”  — CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 2 Page 370

Here’s an excellent example of the waste of human resources.

Sorry, that it’s a sad fact. We went from “child labor” to complete insanity. At least, “child labor” made economic sense in a subsistence economy. (That’s why the USA imposing its social mores on Third World countries with sub-subsistence economies is not understandable!)

There has to be a better compromise!

Like Sheldon on #TBBT, we have to figure out a way to “exploit” the talent that is going to waste.

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Miners walk on Hillary; when do Black Americans do the same to the Democrats

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/05/10/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-west-virginia-trump-nebraska/84185016/

Sanders defeats Clinton in West Virginia
Heidi M Przybyla, USA TODAY 10:29 p.m. EDT May 10, 2016

*** begin quote ***

Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in West Virginia’s Democratic primary Tuesday, while Donald Trump, with no remaining challengers, claimed an easy victory there and in Nebraska among Republicans.

At a rally in Salem, Ore., following his win, Sanders, a Vermont senator, told supporters “it appears that we won a big, big victory in West Virginia.”

“West Virginia is a working-class state, and like many other states in this country, including Oregon, working people are hurting,” he said. “And what the people of West Virginia said tonight, and I believe the people of Oregon and Kentucky will say next week, is that we need an economy that works for all of us, not just the one percent.”

*** end quote ***

May I offer Bernie another interpretation?

The D’s have long been anti-coal. Here’s the average working-class joe sixpack sending HRC a message.

I’d be astonished if WV does go big for Trump.

Bill Clinton, for all his faults, was spot on with “It’s the economy, stupid!”

The only think I wonder is when Black Americans will wake up like West Virginians? Their loyalty to the Democratic Party has been both misplaces and abused. Go through the classic Civil Rights legislation and count the Democrats who opposed it and Republican who did. Go through the litany of cities with Democratic mayor and machines, count the ones that for all intents and purposes are little better than war zones. Some Iraqi and Syrian cities look better than Detroit. Finally, go thru the casualties in the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” and the Welfare State’s destruction of the black families and the black churches.

Then tell me how good the D’s are for the country! (Not that the R’s are that much better. But one must pick the prettiest horse in the glue factory coral.)

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INTERNET: Is there such a thing as “fitbit hypochondria”?

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

https://www.reddit.com/r/HealthAnxiety/comments/3myqes/fitbit_heart_rate_monitor/

http://www.medicaldaily.com/dr-google-breeds-hypochondria-scaring-people-thinking-worst-332316

*** begin quote ***

Zuccon argues the resultant “cyberchondria” people experience — the fear that they have something worse than they actually do — isn’t entirely people’s fault. The Internet isn’t a luxury anymore. People demand up-to-the-minute information about their health, and the tools of search engines must be smart enough to accommodate that need. Unfortunately, the sites’ algorithms prioritize results according to different metrics.

*** end quote ***

In the last decade, I’ve been a bad sleeper. I charged it off to old age. My last primary care physician said “normal for my age” and to ignore it.

Well, I ,too, got a fitbit to track my sleep.

And this is a typical night:

FITBIT 1 1

A typical crappy night for me.

But what shocked me was this picture:

FITBIT 1

Now I am freaking out. Did my heart stop at some point? I have NEVER seen this before; I’ve been watching for the last few months.

OR have I now “infected” myself with the “fitbit hypochondria” virus (akin to the Doctor Google hypochondria)? It’s a meme-borne virus of the brain!

Argh!

First thought was to RUN to a cardiologist I know.  Second thought was to stop looking at data that I neither could understand, interpret, or take action on.  Third thought was to bring it up to my new primary care provider at a already scheduled appointment in a few weeks. (Assuming I survive that long! If I don’t, I don’t have a care in the world and my “inheritors” will be happy. Not as happy as if I won the powerball, but still happy.)

So, wish me luck while I wait.

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INTERNET: To leave Apple — or not?

Monday, May 9, 2016

Perhaps it’s time to leave Apple, its crappy planned obsolesce strategy, and its mediocre software behind once and for all.

QUESTIONS:

* What do I lose completely?

* Is the decision iPhone / MacBookAir versus Samsung / Chromebook or mix and match?

* My current iphone5 has at least two bugs: 
    — no sound other than podcast and alarms. Annoying but not a killer.
    — Address Book doesn’t sync. Annoying and maybe a killer.

* My MacBookAir will probably soon be obsolete?

Comments?

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PRODUCTIVITY: Stop multitasking!

Sunday, May 8, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/05/04/multitasking-is-actually-kind-of-problem-for-kids-and-adults/

The SwitchMultitasking is actually kind of a problem — for kids and adults
By Hayley Tsukayama May 4 

*** begin quote ***

Parental advocacy group Common Sense Media came out with a new study Tuesday that looks at how parents and their children view their own media habits — and whether they feel as if they’re “addicted” to their screens.

But it also takes aim at another common modern behavior: multitasking.

Chances are that we all multitask. (Case in point: In the course of writing this post, I have taken four calls for three stories, sent seven emails and participated in two work chats.) It has become easier than ever with the advent of new technologies that let us juggle screens — and even multiple things on each of those screens.

*** end quote ***

I am writing this while watching TV.

Maybe I need to change?

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