Trying to avoid politics. It’s so hard (that’s what she said) to avoid when every news outlet is being so proactive about it. My goal is to become informed within 6 months of voting day. So there.

all i had time to draw in a month

So, i’m going to ignore as much of the political news as i can until there are only 6 months left (so, friday 5/4/2012). It’s good that it’ll be a Friday. I’m just going to read over the remaining candidates’ websites and see who has the most logical, real, well-thought out plans for the rest of us.

I wonder if people will be able to read in 100 years.

Cookies are the best baking success ever.

Metal is jazz in fast-forward mode.

Don’t follow just your heart, use your brain too. You can use them both to make life decisions! It’s amazing!

Hahaha, i should tell people when i think they are giving bad advice, but that “practice makes perfect”. Omg that would rule.

I just happened to check the CPI (consumer price index), and i just about flipped my, uh, well, you know. The government uses this to measure inflation – which has been going up.  Usually, wages follow a similar pattern, but they haven’t.  Inflation has been rising at a higher rate than wages have been.  That means things are getting expensive and we are getting poor. Pretty crazy, right?  I mean, it makes sense.  I think that’s why even dumb people know the word “economy” now.  Things are tough.  Here’s what really got me though: according to CNN, “declining wages are not just a result of the Great Recession. Adjusted for inflation, middle class wages, as measured by median household income, have fallen 7% over the last decade.”  So, WTF have politicians been running their campaigns on?  No matter who is talking on TV, whether they are trying to run for something, pass legislation, or argue against someone, I usually hear “the middle class” in there.  I thought The Middle Class was their biggest focus?  ”Doing this for the good of the middle class”.  It seems that in this instance, they are actually being ignored – like gas prices.

Yay! Daily dose of cynicism! lol

In an article put out by The Street, it talks about:

1. shareholders holding on to the stock against all hope ($150 billion in debt to taxpayers)
2. how the new financial regulations will effect Fannie and Freddie (nothing yet lol)
3. the Government’s options of what to do with the mortgage giants

The biggest part of the article – to me – was screaming at me to retell it: Fannie and Freddie do not have legal obligation to shareholders anymore.  That’s right, Clayton S. Rose, a director at Freddie Mac admitted they are not concerne with shareholders.  According to the article linked above, here’s how the discussion went down:

Mr. Ackman: So you can make decisions that are adverse to shareholders?
Mr. Rose: Correct.
Mr. Ackman: And there’s no liability to you?
Mr. Rose: Correct.

If I were a shareholder, I would convert all my common shares into puts or get out.

Haha, so just for fun, you wanna know how much $150 Billion is?  Well, since the Government is in the hole $150 billion (i know it’s way more, but i’m talking specifically about just this instance) to the taxpayers, let’s say they paid every taxpayer back for what they have borrowed from us.  Let’s assume the 300 million census count/estimate (and while I’m sure there are more people in the USA, i’m positive the number of taxpaying Americans is 300 million or less). If the government paid back what they owe the taxpayers on this one, that equates to $500 each.  Can I get a check please? Those mother fuckers are never going to give you anything for this, but it’s fun to dream! Sorry, got a little mad there

OK, so i was checking up with the Office of Management and Budget and was reading over the summaries for the OMB blog entries.  I began seeing a theme of a “Accountable Government Initiative“.  Of course my first thought was “finally!”

So Mr. Obama put Jeff Zients in charge of making this happen and reporting directly to him (the President). Jeff outlined 6 things things he thought were the most important : 1. Driving agency top priorities; 2. Cutting waste;       3. Reforming contracting; 4. Closing the IT gap; 5. Promoting accountability and innovation through open government; 6. Attracting and motivating top talent.

I’m excited to see something like this happen.  I also think it’s a little hilarious that i’m a fan and this guy came from the private sector and is an entrprenuer. But let’s be frank: when has the government done exactly what it said it was going to do?  Alrighty, now that we’re all a little more cynical, here’s the low down:

the OMB is coming up with these plans (the 6 previously mentioned), but the members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) are going to be driving the implementation. The main page of their site creeps me out. It sounds like they’re going to be the “customer service” of the federal government.

Anyway, yes, please make the government less terrible (congressional approval rating sucks!!!), but, as I recall, we elected our 535 policy makers to represent us.  I hope the SES isn’t just “customer service” but a way to transparency.

2009 was quite an experience for the markets and per capita.  We had the DOW as low as 6547 and as high as 10,500.  We have had the highest unemployment rate in decades – 10.2%.  A mortgage deliquency rate of about 33% and increasing.  CPI over the last 12 months increased 1.8 percent before seasonal adjustment, the first positive 12-month change since February 2009.  A year most politicians and I wish had gone better.

Now, it seems, we are taking note on what lessons we should be learning.  Ben Bernanke has a few things to say about how none of the financial collapse or the meltdown of the mortgage market has anything to do with loose monetary policy.  Unfortunately, most of his speech revealed a college student could calculate, forecast, and implement the tightness/looseness of monetary policy (check out The Taylor Rule). 

The new debt ceiling has been signed into law at 12.4 trillion - the largest amount of debt our country has tried taking on.  Although, a new ceiling is likely since this ceiling should only last through February.  So, while other governments are slowly buying our country, we will be drowning in new bond issues and inflation.  This new debt issuance is going to be interesting for our governments credit rating because it “may ‘test the Aaa boundaries’ because public finances are worsening in the wake of the global financial crisis.”  In other words: the U.S.’s ability to claim a guaranteed rate of return on it’s bonds has deminished.

For those of you out there with a level of cynicism, let’s see what lessons we have really learned from last year

There is a lot going on in the background of what the media is pushing into headlines and through your tv screen.  For instance, Timothy Geithner got grilled on his performance thus far for his role as treasury secretary - finally.  As you can tell, i’m not the biggest fan of timothy geithner.  The reasons include: 1) His encouragement of an economic “stimulus“, 2) the article he and larry summers wrote, and 3) his inability to accept responsibility (site any Congressional Oversight Panel video with him).

Speaking of stimulus, I have been against the ideas of Paul Krugman for a while.  There is, of course, a group of economists that agree with him.  The latest news is that we in need of a second stimulus.  The reason we need a second stimulus is because:

“skyrocketing debt is far less of a concern than letting the country’s people and productive capacity lie fallow for the decade or more that it will take back to get to full employment.”

By the way, if reading this article was the first time you heard of the Congressional Oversight Panel, it was formed last year.  It was formed in lieu of the TARP program to keep track of developments and to ensure the program’s succeess.  So, everytime there is a new program, remember: as programs increase, the government grows, and that requires more tax revenue.  You know how many people pay income tax?  130 million people – less than half the population.  If you pay income tax, I would encourage you to think about what programs the government should have – since you’re footing the bill.

What has also been funny to watch is the developing investigation of ACORN.  Apparently, all that we needed to do was look under a few rocks, and the corruption just spills out everywhere.  I wonder what an unbiased investigation of the government and the federal reserve would reveal?  I’ve said it before, but, currently, the Fed CANNOT be audited for the following:

1. transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization;
2. deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations
3. transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or
4. a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board of Governors and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)-(3) of this subsection of US Code.

So, why hasn’t Paul Volckner been in the news?  He’s the Obama Administration’s economic czar, but, given the “economic crisis”, I haven’t seen this guy in the news once!  I was happy about Obama’s choice to nominate Volker because Volcker helped us through the recession in the early ’80s.  This guy is saying some pretty intense stuff too.  Like “I don’t remember any time, maybe even the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast.”  Dude is 82 years old, so he was about 8 years old in 1930.  I would listen to this guy; he REMEMBERS the Great Depression!  Why is he not being heard?  There’s a list of articles that, as Obama’s head of  the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, should be paid some attention.

Go be angry.