Mark Sanford has an affair. This causes people to question him, to call for his resignation and of course it has to reflect on the entire Republican party and how long they will remain in "the wilderness" according to the media.
Gavin Newsom has an affair with the wife of his campaign manager, accidentally pays her off to the tune of $10,154 and finally declares that he need treatment for alcohol abuse.
This only puts him in a good position to run for governor of California and help his party toward a better future.
No double-standard there though.
I look forward to all the Democrats and members of the media who will question the mental state of Gavin Newsom, the state of the Democratic party, and finally how the whole party must be wandering into "the wilderness", the toilet oh, and has no future since the "best" they have run for governor is a philandering, alcohol abusing, law ignoring, mistress bribing, mess of a human being.
For Republicans, this criteria is the beginning of the end of their careers. For Democrats, it is practically a prerequisite to run.
May 18, 2009
Feel like you are part of a broader trend?
CNN-Recession Gardens
A couple of good points about this article and the first one is that it is nice to see an article about people taking action to get control of their own lives and not have it associated with some sort of extremism. You can plant a garden and not be an economic survivalist or even own a compound. I mean what sort of country are we that all the sudden growing a garden instead of purchasing a latte makes you a nutjob?
Second the returns there that are being sniffed at are well above what anyone would beg for on the stock market even in good years. The low ball estimate is 900% return on your gardening dollars invested and the high ball estimate is 2500%. This means that even if you don't know what you are doing you can pretty much guarantee yourself a 200-300% return on your money.
Where else could you get that in this day and age?
Last year, Burpee released a report saying a family will get an average 25-to-1 return on its investment in a garden.
So, by that count, a family that spends about $200 on a medium-to-large garden, as Michelle Obama reportedly did, will save $5,000 in grocery bills over the course of a year.
That statistic is inflated, said Mike Metallo, spokesman for the National Gardening Association.
Metallo's group says a $70 investment in a garden will yield $600 in produce for the year.
To get those savings, a gardener has to know what to plant, when to plant it, where to plant it, how to deal with different soil types and how to care for the garden.
A couple of good points about this article and the first one is that it is nice to see an article about people taking action to get control of their own lives and not have it associated with some sort of extremism. You can plant a garden and not be an economic survivalist or even own a compound. I mean what sort of country are we that all the sudden growing a garden instead of purchasing a latte makes you a nutjob?
Second the returns there that are being sniffed at are well above what anyone would beg for on the stock market even in good years. The low ball estimate is 900% return on your gardening dollars invested and the high ball estimate is 2500%. This means that even if you don't know what you are doing you can pretty much guarantee yourself a 200-300% return on your money.
Where else could you get that in this day and age?
May 17, 2009
Obama = The Boomer Bust
NY Daily News
The reality is that most boomers and most Americans who lived and continue to live like the Obamas have no magic beans, no silver bullet, no possibility of having something come along and save them from the trajectory of their financial choices. The Obamas did and clearly their mentality for solving it for much of their generation is to charge it to the kids while hoping for a silver bullet in medical records efficiency or green technology to save them and our economy from themselves.
Isn't it sad when we have to tell almost 50 to almost retirement age adults that there are no such things as fairy tales? They should know better by now.
In April 1999, they purchased a Chicago condo and obtained a mortgage for $159,250. In May 1999, they took out a line of credit for $20,750. Then, in 2002, they refinanced the condo with a $210,000 mortgage, which means they took out about $50,000 in equity. Finally, in 2004, they took out another line of credit for $100,000 on top of the mortgage.
Tax returns for 2004 reveal $14,395 in mortgage deductions. If we assume an effective interest rate of 6%, then they owed about $240,000 on a home they purchased for about $159,250.
This means they spent perhaps $80,000 beyond their income from 1999 to 2004.
The Obamas' adjusted gross income averaged $257,000 from 2000 to 2004. This is above the threshold of $250,000 which Obama initially used as the definition of being "rich" for taxation purposes during last year's election campaign.
The Obama family apparently had little or no savings during this period since there was virtually no taxable interest shown on their tax returns.
In 2003, they reported almost $24,000 in child care expenses and, in 2004, about $23,000. They also paid about $3,400 in household employment taxes each year. And as Michelle stated, they spent $10,000 a year on "extracurriculars" for the children.
These numbers clearly show the Obamas were living beyond their means and they might have suffered financially during the decline in housing prices had they relied on taking ever larger amounts of equity from their home to pay the bills.
But in 2005, Obama's book sales soared and the royalties poured in. Michelle explained, "It was like Jack and his magic beans."
Without those magic beans, the Obama family would have eventually suffered the consequences of too much debt.
The reality is that most boomers and most Americans who lived and continue to live like the Obamas have no magic beans, no silver bullet, no possibility of having something come along and save them from the trajectory of their financial choices. The Obamas did and clearly their mentality for solving it for much of their generation is to charge it to the kids while hoping for a silver bullet in medical records efficiency or green technology to save them and our economy from themselves.
Isn't it sad when we have to tell almost 50 to almost retirement age adults that there are no such things as fairy tales? They should know better by now.
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