A Year and a Day

The Loop and The Lou -- long self-described as trailblazers in blogspace -- has slowed so far down, some would argue it isn't moving at all anymore. Others might argue that we're still on the go, it's just a different gear. But this blog has never been about arguing over details or semantics, has it?

We'd like to say hello again to our Dear Reader. We may have more than one reader, however our data shows that no more than one person reads our blog at the same time, so we feel comfortable personalizing our message, that's right, to you. How are you? It's been awhile, I know I know, we'll have to catch up...

I am trying to figure out what people are saying about this "fiscal cliff" thing. I like how quickly after this last election attention turned to this newest monster -- I assume in order to prove to us how effectively and earnestly our votes are working for us. As I was browsing some older posts here (our most recent ones, ahem), I noticed a striking similarity between what the politicians are doing now and what they were doing in the summer of 2011. Does this cartoon look familiar at all?

In a piece cleverly [shameless self-promotion intended] titled "You've Lost that Lovin Ceiling", it seems that the same dissatisfaction then has persisted to the present day. Posturing. Hypocracy. False Mandates. No Real Solutions. Ugh. Is Charlie Brown's Christmas special on TV? Much better for the soul.

And in case you have been suckered in to paying attention to the media/politician manufactured hype, consider this quote from a friend-of-a-friend professor in Kansas City:

The most stripped down version of the dispute between the two sides is that the Republicans do not want to raise income and corporate taxes and the Democrats do not want to cut spending. Neither position is tenable given the realities of the debt and deficit – at least according to the bulk of the analytical community. The Congressional Budget Office has been perhaps the bluntest of the messengers but they get support from nearly every economist in the country. The debt is bigger than the GDP (over $16 trillion and growing) and the annual deficit is on track to exceed $1.3 trillion. These are the facts in the debate.

The Simpson-Bowles plan remains one of the most realistic solutions as it managed to evoke massive opposition from all sides in the discussion. The task was to create a solution to the issue – not create a politically feasible solution. The result was a plan that would cut spending deeply at the same time that revenue would be hiked through a combination of higher income tax rates and closing of tax loopholes.

Analysis: The arguments that preoccupy the political leaders today are akin to asking how many angels can dance on the end of a pin. The Democrats and President Obama are bound and determined to task the wealthy but the revenue boost that will come from that hike will reduce the deficit by less than 10% over the course of ten years. The tax reform that the GOP suggests will bring in less than that. The spending cuts suggested by the Republicans will lower the deficit by perhaps 7% over the course of that decade. The Democrats have put forward a set of cuts that will reduce that deficit by less than 3%. In other words the fight is over a plan that does almost nothing to address the underlying problem.

The problem has been obvious for some time but the solutions are as elusive as ever. To reduce a debt and deficit of this magnitude means tax hikes for most everybody – something pretty close to the fiscal cliff we all fear. Reducing the size of government is not accomplished with some nibbling around the edges of marginal programs. A serious reduction means big cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as well as Defense and other sectors. This level of reduction will most certainly mean that the economy will slow. This is precisely what has been happening in much of Europe and the region has indeed sunk into recession.

Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings and Happy New Year from the Loop and the Lou to You, Dear Reader, and Yours. As we used to say before toasting a long-overdo drink with friends, "Here's to looking up your old address."

The Pujols Legacy

It's the end of an era. In a bit of news announced today and anticipated by some for years, and by many for days, Albert Pujols has accepted a deal from the Anaheim Angels worth $250 million over 10 years. News of this deal and Albert's decision has left a lot of people with a variety of feelings, thoughts and reactions.

Comparisons are flying around. ARod, Stan Musial and LeBron James are just a few. Whatever the case may be, it is a little confusing to know what motivated Albert throughout this process. For many years, Albert has professed to want to be a Cardinal for life and had also said that it's not all about the money. Was he just playing the game, or was he playing us? It's not impossible to believe that someone's opinions or attitudes might change over 11 years, but a hallmark of Albert had been his consistency and his words matching his actions, both on and off the field.

Another facet to this seemingly complex story is Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano. By one report, Lozano is a total sleezeball, even in the world of agents, were sleeze is a currency. Was Pujols led down a path by the guy who was professionally trying to show him the money? Lozano's wisdom, without the sleeze attribute, has also been called into question by the deal he previously brought Pujols through -- a deal that made little sense from Pujols' perspective, locking him up through his prime at a severe discount to then try to make a deal in his early 30s.

Publicly, Pujols was an enigma in STL. In many ways you couldn't ask for a better franchise player: A family man and Christian, and a man who made efforts for certain charities he championed. On the flipside, Pujols seemed to only show up to the press after games where he was a hero, and seemed to disappear when he was less than stellar. He was also notorious for being critical of the press and not signing autographs for kids. As time wore on, many fans started noticing what they claimed were attitude changes on the field, including arguing with umpires on borderline pitches, not hustling to first and ignoring coaching staff. Maybe these are just the things that people notice in star players, or maybe Pujols didn't like or want the total package of what it means to be a star player in today's game.

From the perspective of the Cardinals brass -- the men who have to run the business side of this game -- it is hard to find fault. The offer on the table from the Cards that Pujols turned down was already a risky proposition that could have over-extended the entire franchise for years. However, I think many thought that the deal was warranted for Albert even though that kind of deal would probably never be offered to attract a free agent. It begs the question then, was there more to this deal for the Cardinals than just money? Was there some benefit from our perspective of keeping Albert a Cardinal for life? For many fans and for this writer, absolutely. There was nothing I wanted more than to give Pujols the chance for being immortalized next to Stan the Man and for in many ways elevating the entire game itself, still smarting from steroids and other problems. For plenty of other fans, though, no way. The deal was too big, and many are glad to see him go. In any case now, it is confusing. Will the Cardinals retire his number? If he enters the HOF, will he wear a halo or a bird? These are questions that most fans didn't want to have to ask.

There is also the question of his age. Albert is 32 in January, so a 10 year deal brings him through his 41st year. This is assuming he is actually 31 now. Many, many people highly doubt this, and with good reason. There is no birth certificate, and there is an unfortunate pattern of some Latino players lying about their age (or even names). If Albert really turns 34 this January, how much could he have left in the tank? His body type is also not the kind that typically ages well, as so many 20+ year players are skinny most of their career, not stocky or fat.

Either way, the first 11 years of Albert's career speak for themselves -- incredible. And he was loved in St. Louis despite all of his short comings. If it is difficult to compare players from different generations, it is impossible to compare the economics of the game now to those of, let's say, Musial's generation. Pujols walks in rarified air so far and is already considered an elite, all-time player. And although the game is a business, it is not only a business. Many are saying how hard it would be to turn down $50+ million, and that would certainly be true for your first 50. But if it is not about the money, and you already have $250+ million for your family, your children and your great-grandchildren, and you play for a team that has given you two rings with a history and tradition that is junior only to the Yankees and that has arguably the best, most loyal fans in baseball, then what is it really about? The darn humidity?

Let us hope the best for dear Albert, at least they wear red in Anaheim. I hope he breaks every record. But if the game is a business, then I have already given him everything he has earned. I will not bad-mouth or boo the man upon his return, but I will not stand to cheer him either. It's not in my contract.

Ron Paul

This is as funny as it is sad. Part of the reason I stay at all in tune with national politics is because I believe that if we can promote honest discussion on important issues, especially in the media, we will have a chance at reforming Washington.

All this tells me though is that the MSM pretty much comes from the same big business sources and that FOXNews is not really a "conservative" news channel, unless all the major networks are conservative in that they viciously protect the status quo at all costs. Honesty in important topics?

Let Jon Stewart say it funny:



I watched most of an episode of the O'Reilly factor show last night for the first time in a long time. I wasn't mad, I just got really bored. What a boring show. A bunch of people arguing over politicians and not one informative let alone intelligent thing is ever said. I couldn't keep watching and eventually had to watch Ryan Dempster pitch for the Cubs. That's how bad it got.

You've Lost that Lovin Ceiling

One of the biggest things in the news these days is the hubbub the U.S. politicians are making over the debt ceiling. It's absurd. There's not much I can say about it, but I suppose people are talking about it and maybe might want to talk about it around here, which is fine.

The Republicans are hypocrates and the Democrats are Democrats. Both want to take your money and flush it down the Potomac. Actually, they want to pocket it and re-invest it in the greater D.C. area. Did you know that the majority of the top 10 richest counties are right outside Washington D.C. (the others are all right outside of Wall St.'s backyard).

Money continues to pour into our nation's capital, despite the fact that no elected official would send their kids to any of the local public schools, and we are supposed to concern ourselves with a debt ceiling?

There are some reports that the credit rating of the U.S. federal government will be downgraded regardless. There are reports that if we don't raise the ceiling a disaster beyond imagination will occur. There are reports that foreigners are buying up American homes. There are reports that Republicans are fiscal conservatives. Sorry, now is no time for jokes.

I have been thinking for awhile about writing a post about large numbers and trying to break down the scale of the deficits and debts and budgets to try to make them understandable. If there's enough interest, maybe.

Otherwise, does anyone think Obama, Reid or Boehner has the best interest of the American people at heart? This is why I, a patriot and life long Republican voter, have not voted in a federal election since I voted for Bush the second time. What difference does it make?

But I still read a lot and stay informed. I thought this was an interesting interview, and that this was a very informative article.

Debate on...

Hump Day Wednesday

In spite of being a "computer guy", I've never given much thought to hackers. I always thought that they were both glamorized in movies but over looked in real security matters (like when Congress gets hacked and the IP addresses are always from China).

But this group seems to wield a good bit of power. LulzSec. Never heard of them before, but the story is pretty interesting. Gotta admit it's probably a lot more exciting than whatever their day jobs are.

I've always been a big fan of looking for more thorough ways to utilize the energy that I think of as just laying around. Gravity is a big one for me, wind, and now I guess sun. This guy designed a machine that does some pretty cool stuff just with sun power, and that's not just what you think of as "solar power" but also the amplified, direct light of the sun.

Forgive me for linking to a NYT article (I believe they're just a step slower than the average paper, or else they would be up on phone hacking charges now too). But this was an interesting observation and something I've been thinking about in general. Are we making childhood too safe for our children to turn into decent human beings? Not sure this article is making any grand claims like that, but it does make some good points.

OK, and so these videos are cool. The skydiving from plane to plane is sort of wild and hair-brained. But the flying squirrel suits this couple dons create some pretty beautiful situations.

Every time a 26-year-old girl in America quotes 'The Bachelorette', a 13-year-old girl in China graduates from college.
--from Twitter, @NotKennyRogers

News Nits

"All the news that's fit to reprint."

Greetings, Dear Reader. News Nits is back from our stint on the DL and is currently in our basement ditching a tornado warning. Reminds me of the folks in Joplin, MO, who were lucky if they were able to ditch the storm, as many of them were not so lucky.

Check out the following videos of a group of bystanders in a gas station who got through the storm in a walk in fridge. An incredible testament to just how scary it must have been. Then check out the second video to see just how dangerous it really was and how they all might have died had they remained in the store. Thus, we are in the basement, which is not too bad since the wireless router is still working.





In other news, when a storm does come to town, it is always good advice to find shelter. However, you may want to stand while in that shelter. Turns out, sitting is bad for the body, regardless of exercise rates and other factors. Even NPR agrees, and this is bad news for those of us who have desk jobs and work in front of a computer or on a phone all day.

Did you hear about the rumor about the emails Sarah Palin didn't send? Well, in a rather brilliant move, Alaska released all of the emails that Sarah Palin sent as Governor of the state (after legal teams screened them all). The brilliance of the move comes in the form that they released all the email by paper -- 6 boxes totalling nearly 25,000 pages. And reporters lined up to get their share. Poses an interesting problem, though, how would one actually go about reading through all these emails and finding any juicy tidbits left by Palin's warpath to stardom? An information processing problem indeed. Who knows, maybe this will allow Mrs. Palin to claim she has created more jobs than her GOP opponents if she runs for President.

To round out the nits as our power just went out... there is a rising anti-intellecutalism in the Geek community. Sounds sort of contradictory, right? But think how many successful Geeks bypassed the academic path... and Geeks are always right, right?

High power magnets can thin your blood in seconds, which is cool since TLATL has a strict no drug policy. The drones are here, which is not cool, because they are here to stay. Pretty interesting look into the seedy underbelly of the military-industrial complex. Who will police the drones? I dunno, the Coast Guard?

Please enjoy and comment away a slow morning or afternoon, as we strive to enrich our readers. I need to go find a flash light.

Decision Time

This isn't exactly The Loop vs. The Lou, but it is Missouri vs. Illinois. And not on the basketball court.

In downstate Illinois, you have Cairo, IL. Wedged in between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, this town of 3,000 is the southernmost town in Illinois. And now it is being threatened by rising water levels. In 1937 it was the Ohio. This time it's the Mississippi. The solution that the army corps of engineers has come up with is to blow-up a levee and flood over 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland (and 100 homes). This blogs respective newspapers are on top of the story. Chicago Tribune explains the situation here. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch here. Please keep in mind that these links may change as the story develops.

If the state borders didn't go by rivers there is no way Cairo would be in Illinois. Judging from Google Maps, the distance from the Mississippi and Ohio at Cairo is less than 2 miles and appears to be narrower to the north of it. This little piece of land could easily be Kentucky or Missouri. And if it were Missouri, the Supreme Court might not have to step in.

So what's the right move here? Save a 3,000 person town which has been evacuated? Or blow up a levee and destroy 130,000 acres of farmland but only 100 homes? Should Missouri land suffer to save an Illinois town?

No Description Necessary

Bad Idea Jeans

This is not a post about American foreign policy, but it is a post about bad ideas. Or, more accurately, it's a post about ideas that do sound great on paper but in practice end up revealing some je ne sais quoi that was just not in mente following the Eureka moment -- or even upon critical review of the idea by a group of peers.


This is not a slam on the inventive spirit or the people who came up with and produced these ideas. This is like a 20 game loser in baseball, it's a backhanded compliment. I know I've been suckered by both of the inventions pictured, so I have little qualms with paying back a little through mention.

By contrast, here is a great idea, every time -- playing music with your kids.



So what say you? What are some of the worst, good ideas you can find?

TLATL Tale

Check out these shanastas:

A sign in Soulard, MO may find itself at the heart of a Supreme Court decision. Freedom of Speech, as ruled by the Supreme Court recently, apparently is more important than decency or common sense as it was recently ruled (8-1) that a bunch of people from a "Christian Church" could "protest" a soldier's funeral by alerting the mourning family members that "God hates fags" and other relevant, constructive stuff like this. I wonder how they'll side when business, not a devastated, private family, has a stake in "free speech". I could see how anyone could start a business, but I can't see how anyone can just start a "Christian Church".

One of the main reasons we invaded Iraq was an informant source named "Curveball". Well, it turns out he was a liar as well. There was a great video about this on CNN, but they have since taken it down, since the 24 hour news cycle has expired. Here's a related link anyway. Again, I'm not into whining or pining, but let's not forget the past. As Stephen Colbert says, "There's an old saying about those who forget history. I don't remember it, but it's good."

This link seems innocuous enough but indicates a couple of indirect, really important points: 1) Despite the misty eyed proclamations of Obama worshippers, GITMO is still alive and functioning, and 2) Despite some concern earlier, apparently the CIA now believes that Osama is still alive.

I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
- Mitch Hedberg

As of February 17th, Belgium has not had a government in 249 days, which they believe is some sort of record. It's sort of a reality check for us, as our governments -- state and federal -- face shutdowns behind claims that this would lead to disasters beyond our imaginations. But let's settle down a bit and realize that maybe we don't need our governments as much as they need us. How do the Belgians do it? Looooooots of syrup and beer.

St. Louis is again the most crime-ridden city in the nation. Where's Nelly when you need him? However, I heard today on the radio that Chicago was the fifth most miserable city to live in. [don't know how to link to radio]

A product of the evil corporation IBM, code-named "Watson", has defeated the equally evil Mormon Ken Jennings in a contest of Jeopardy that not even Alec Trebec, the evil Canadian, could ruin. Actually, none of them is evil, or comes from evil (though I wouldn't vote for a Canadian Mormon), and Watson represents a pretty incredible feat in a constrained problem in the field of computer science called Natural Language Processing. Deep Blue. Watson. If IBM can develop a machine that can hit a curve ball, I'll be worried.

Uh, you know how AT&T's phone network stinks? Isn't it awesome that Verizon now supports Apple products? Well, it appears that Verizon may have dropped approximately 10,000 emergency calls in one night in one area. Hmmmmm, makes me wonder how that network will handle the flood of users converting away from ATT, especially in big, dense cities.

Sometimes, famous guys get a bad rep. But aren't there those kinds of guys where you still think, Man, it would be fun to hang out and have a beer with that guy at least. Hank Steinbrenner is not one of those guys. In general, I don't want to transform baseball into a sea of equality like the NFL, and I'm not happy with teams like the Royals who pocket their welfare checks and are in the black by opening day rather than competing, but when the Yanks are spending more in luxury tax and revenue sharing than most teams in baseball spend on payroll, something is wrong there. And like I said, Hank doesn't exactly seem like a guy who's in any way decent to hang out with.

Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to come back soon, try not to be overwhelmed with all the choices out there on the web.

Time To Get The Led Out

This Friday and Saturday, Celebration Day returns to the Pageant for two nights of Led Zeppelin. The band (most of whose members also comprise the Pink Floyd tribute band El Monstero) sells out the venue for two nights of LZ cathexis.

If you have ever had a period in your life where you dug Led Zeppelin, catching this show at some point is a must. This isn't just another tribute act. This band puts everything into the show, playing for over 3 hours straight each night. They do their best to recreate a real Zeppelin show, too: double-necked Gibson guitars, an acoustic set in the middle of the show at the front of the stage, the violin bow during Dazed and Confused, the rest of the band leaves the stage while the drummer does his best Bonham during "Moby Dick", and Jimmy even plays a theremin solo during Whole Lotta Love (who the heck has a theremin just laying around?).

I was a geek enough that last year I actually noted the setlist:


Celebration Day
Heartbreaker
Black Dog
Rock 'n Roll
Trampled Under Foot
Thank You
Immigrant Song
The Lemon Song
Tangerine
No Quarter
Dancing Days
The Ocean
Dazed and Confused
Since I Been Lovin' You
Moby Dick
Going To California
That's The Way
The Battle Of Evermore
The Song Remains the Same
Over The Hills And Far Away
All of my Love
In The Light
The Rain Song
Whole Lotta Love ->
Bring It On Home ->
Whole Lotta Love ->
How Many More Times ->
Whole Lotta Love

Encore:
Kashmir
Stairway To Heaven

A Day In Pictures

Dawson is devastated.

Dwight is delirious.

Doogie is distraught.

Dennis is distressed.

Dana is disheartened.

And McCain is mad.

Why?

They're all Cardinal fans, of course. The Cards and Pujols failed to reach agreement before Camp Pujols' deadline. This all but ensures Albert Pujols will be wearing the uniform of another team in 2012. Yes, the Cards will have the opportunity to compete with other teams when Pujols becomes a free agent after the 2011 season. But the failure to reach an agreement now indicates that the Cards are not willing to spend the money (estimated to be in the neighborhood of 10 years / $300 million) that at least one team will pitch him in November. It's hard to blame the Cards for not wanting to spend that kind of dough, but I'd always had a boyish dream that Pujols would retire as one of the greatest to ever play the game, and as a career Cardinal.

Oh well.

I suppose not everyone feels this is bad news.

I heart Egypt!

The American people demand information about Egypt, so why not let them eat cake?

The brief discussion, started in another post, has flooded over the banks of the Nile and is now threatening Cairo. As we at TLATL constantly meet the needs of our Dear Reader, we stand ready to provide. It is always hard to speak broadly, for example of the "media". Exceptions abound. It may be even harder to speak usefully of events in foreign cultures. For as much as Egypt is a neighbor in this global village, it is perhaps more important to point out that Americans seem more enamored with our interest in Egypt than in the actual country or people of Egypt. Whatever questions have been raised, they are usually with the devilish smirk of how to frame our position, our involvement. Buyer beware.

The Ben Bernanke

In a coincidence of events today, I came across the issue of "Quantitative Easing." This fancy term was a hot topic for awhile, but now apparently plays second fiddle to the chaos in Egypt. Is anyone following what is going on in Egypt? I personally find it rather uninteresting, and as the name of this blog references two fine cities in the great Midwest, I find it more interesting to talk about stuff that affects us more directly.

The mainstream media is a constant dismay for me. I know, I know, that's now an overused and cliched term, but upon finding this article on the NYT website, not only was I saddened by the level of reporting on a really important topic, I was further dismayed to view the home page and find it listed in the second row, behind Egyptanistan. I revisited the NYT Home page just moments ago to reference it, however it is not a static link. Now the reference to Bernanke is totally gone (as is the Egypt story) and there's just a picture of a shirtless doofus politician from NY.

A good friend of mine is a highly accomplished and respected journalist, and he has mentioned to me in conversation how he is not happy with the attacks on "mainstream media" and that bloggers are not professional journalists. This is true, and the attacks are indeed sad. But when videos like the one below contain more information (and are more entertaining) than a NYT reporter can scrap together, I am not surprised to see the Super Bowl ad for TheDaily.com, the first tablet-oriented, virtual news"paper" I know of. Happy viewing, dear Reader.

Exit Michael Steele... Enter Reince Priebus

Here he is ladies and gentlemen!

OK... haha... but really - it's not that far a stretch:

And the secret word of the day? 'Blood libel' of course!!

Post

State of the Nation

Merry Christmas everyone.

As we approach a new year, I thought it might be worthwhile to post some thoughts that have been churning around in my head regarding the state of our nation. I'm afraid this post is going to pose a number of questions and not a lot of answers. But nonetheless I wanted to at least put these thoughts out here to see what others think.

I've been thinking of this post for a while, but was prompted to actually do it today after listening to the NY Times Front Page podcast, and hearing that "retail spending rose 5.5 percent in the 50 days before Christmas." This seemed to fit with what I saw in the past couple months - malls and retail outlets were packed with shoppers. But the story doesn't add up to me. Isn't the unemployment rate still almost 10 percent? How is it that people can afford to spend as much as they did in the same period of 2005?

The Times article quotes Craig R. Johnson, president of the consulting firm Customer Growth Partners saying "In the face of 10 percent unemployment and persistent housing woes, the American consumer has single-handedly picked himself off the mat, brushed his troubles off and strapped the U.S. economy on his back." Let's see, unemployment still high, housing prices still low... maybe if we spend more that will fix it? The economy is slow, let's extend a lot of credit to people who don't really understand (or don't want to understand) the risk of credit card debt? It worked in 2005, maybe it will work again? Am I the only one who finds it strange that this man is applauding the American Consumer for what I can only see as the same pattern of reckless lifestyle that helped get us into this mess?

So that got me to wondering exactly how much money Americans are saving. A couple months ago I listened to the episode "Is America Ready for a 'No-Lose Lottery'?" on Freakonomics Radio. The episode presents an idea worthy of its own discussion - can a lottery be used to encourage people to save? But the story used to setup the episode was what stuck with me. In a survey last year, 2100 Americans were asked if they could come up with $2,000 cash in thirty days. 46% of Americans said they could not. The survey consisted of people from all income brackets, and the result I found most alarming was that of people making between $100,000 and $150,000 a year, 25% responded that they could not come up with $2,000 in thirty days. Now, the sample size is a bit small. So I won't dwell on this too long. But still.

OK, so back to how much Americans are saving. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysts, as of November 2010, Americans are saving about 5.3% of their disposable income. If you look back through the years in that link, you'll see that this is about as good as it has been for the past decade, about the same as the 90's, worse than the 80's, much worse than the 70's and worse than the 60's.
So Americans are saving a smaller portion of their disposable income than they saved in the past.

Is that a bad thing? Taken at face value, one would say yes. But there are other factors to consider. Perhaps Americans don't need to save as much because they're getting more for their dollar. Compared to the rise in inflation, healthcare and education costs are increasing much more rapidly. So, I'd say no, we're not getting more for our money, and yes, the decrease in percentage of disposable income saved is a bad thing.

Why is it such a bad thing? Because all Ponzi schemes eventually collapse. Social Security will, too, and probably before the readers of this blog retire. (OK, there is a lot of debate over when/if Social Security will dry up, but I'll contend that if your retirement plans depend upon collecting Social Security checks, that is a risky plan at best). We all know the story. The magical age at which one qualifies for Social Security is not rising fast enough to keep up with the rising cost of living and average life span. But here's something you may not have known that is pretty frightening: The money that funds Social Security is not sitting in a trust somewhere, safely invested and earning modest interest. The money in the fund is invested in government treasuries. In other words, the the money in the Social Security trust fund has been lent to the government. No kidding. And the kicker? The debt the government owes to the Social Security trust fund is NOT counted in the national deficit. So tack on another $2.4 trillion to the current national deficit. Check out the episode "In Search Of The Social Security Trust Funds" from the excellent Planet Money podcast series on NPR for more info.

All this leads me back to my original complaint: Americans are spending the money they should be saving. If you agree that this is a problem, how is that fixed? Previously in this post I linked to an article co-authored by Peter Tufano, who was also partly responsible for the "$2,000 in 30 days" survey. Tufano suggests that perhaps people should be educated about compound interest and credit card debt, rather than educated about retirement savings. Seems like a good idea to me. I'm all for education on both topics. There is also the option of legislation to "protect consumers against predatory lenders". My knee-jerk reaction is usually to not involve the government and/or that people should be wary enough to know what they're getting into, but I think I'm in favor of this idea, too.

So what say all of you? Do you agree/disagree with what I've said? Like to argue points or add more? Have ideas for a fix or just need to vent a little like I did? I am eager to hear thoughts on this.

Happy New Year.

Hack and Sack

You may have heard recently that a computer worm infiltrated and seriously debilitated two Iranian nuclear facilities. I'll admit that when I first heard about this, my reaction was one of awe. The more details that come out, though, the more it becomes clear (yet again) that the real battlefields are in a virtual world; that the largest military in the world can't necessarily keep a nation from being brought to its knees.

When word first spread of the worm, the popular belief was that the creators of the worm - the "Stuxnet worm" - were those most likely to be harmed by the production of those facilities, the Israelis.  This theory was based on a word found in the worm ("Myrtus"), which may have been an intentional reference to a biblical figure who saved Israelis from the Persians. Couple this with the wide smiles sported by Israeli officials when asked about Stuxnet, and the theory didn't seem that wild. "Oh, those Jews and Persians. They'll never get along, will they?"

I actually had my own conspiracy theory. It wasn't the Israelis. It was the U.S., or the Chinese, or the Russians, and they were merely practicing on the Iranians for a bigger target.

As the worm has been studied, some new information has emerged. Check out this FoxNews article for the details (if you read one linked article in this post, read that one). I don't know about you, but that article blew me away. (By the way, yet another blow to Microsoft's security credibility. And was anyone else surprised to see a nation using Windows as the OS to control their nuclear facility?).


Now, as coordinated and precise as the attack was, I suppose it actually shouldn't be that surprising. I think it's generally understood that governments, militaries and even large corporations have divisions whose sole purpose is to poke holes in the defense of their opposition and infiltrate or destroy. Wikileaks recently let it out that it was the Chinese government that hacked Google in early 2009. There are reports of China and Russia hacking into U.S. electrical grids. Heck, in 2002 the U.S. tried to sell the Chinese a bug-ridden plane for the Chinese President. We even have our own cyber-intelligence division here at TLATL, but it mostly consists of Coovo calling up the authors of our rival blog The Lou and The Loop and pretending to be their mom and asking if they remember her maiden name because she forgot it again.

If our governments and national infrastructure aren't safe, neither are the big banks. So my question to everyone is, how scared should we be? Is it pointless to be paranoid about things out of our control, or are there any, even small, steps we can take to protect ourselves? Friend of TLATL Joel once wrote to me "Paranoia will destroy ya." True, but stories like these still make me feel a little helpless.

Hope that cheered everyone up! And if you get any calls from your mom asking for her maiden name, just tell her it's "passw0rd".

Tea Time?

How about these Brits? I can't pretend to have deep knowledge about the UK budget or politics, but I find it refreshing to see a nation tightening their belts for the good of future generations. Across the Channel, though, more than a million people went on strike in protest of Sarkozy's bid to raise retirement age from 60 to 62.

What do you all make of this? We face the same problems here, but do we have the nerve to tackle them? If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the UK handles its spending cuts in the next 5 years.

Making Your Own Fun

.....And We're Back!

Google just came out with Google Instant, and it's awesome. I use Google multiple times a day. If Google Instant saves you 2-5 seconds for each search, it probably saves me 30-60 seconds a day. Which is.... not a lot. But I can't help it - there is something so satisfying about seeing the results for your search appear before you even finish typing in your search criteria.

Another search engine feature that has been out for quite some time but also brings me happiness is type-ahead search.

How do you enter search criteria? Do you enter keywords, or just ask a question? For years, I was a keyword searcher. If I wanted info on a topic, I used 2-3 related words in my search. Seeing suggested results in type-ahead search showed me that a lot of people just type their questions into the search box.

For some cheap amusement, type the beginning of a question into Google to see what the most popular endings are to that question. Try "why is my" or "what would happen if" or "how many times can a". Or just start with "why" or "how". Keep adding words and see where it goes.

And just to be fair... I'm pretty sure the George Bush search results are part of some incredibly stupid fight between his detractors and supporters. I recall hearing something about how some group of people were trying to game search results so that if you typed George Bush into a search engine, the first type-ahead response would be "an idiot". His supporters must have come to his cyber-aid and tried to game the system the other way.

Gaming search results for George Bush
Gaming search results for George Bush is funny
Gaming search results for George Bush is a sign you should get a job

I promise to try to be better about posting, if you promise to try to be better about listening.

Hasta pronto,
el rollo