This issue of National Geographic had an interesting article supporting global warming. It looked at changes in food production, quality of life and fresh water usage. The article "assumed" that the reader had already made the decision that global warming was for real and it was caused by us humans. Here is my take on the article.
Soybean production has been increasing rapidly in much of the world including Brazil where it had been coming at the expense of the rain forest. NG did not point out that the rain forest was a climax forest where there were just as many tree growing as dying. The net amount of carbon dioxide that they were taking out of the air was about the same as that taken out by the soybean farms. NG did not point out this fact.
The production of rice has been going down in favor of corn which uses less fresh water and produces more calories for animal feed. China has gotten a taste for meat and corn is the feed stock. In an advertisement next to the NG article Cargill claims that 25% of the planet's hungry live in India. I visited India and it looks over populated to me, but that is not pointed out. The article claims that Russia, who is a large exporter of wheat, could see a reduction due to too much rain due to global warming. They forget about all the frozen land that could be added to the production of wheat. Just a small point left out.
It looks like China produces more corn than rice now. They should thank the Native Americans for showing the world how to grow corn, but they didn't. For some reason they attacked milk. I drink at least a quart a day and have done so for more than 50 years. To feed China's demand for milk, they import Alfalfa hay from California in the empty containers that they use to ship computers and cell phones to the USA. It take a lot of fresh water to grow Alfalfa hay and NG equates it to shipping fresh water to China. Figure that one.
The article does point out that salt accumulation in farm land is a problem and that it is taking much farm land out of production. I pointed out in a prior blog that "drip" irrigation that uses less water is at the root of the problem. There is no free lunch in the area of food production.
What the whole NG article does not reveal is that any problem that maybe caused by global warming or climate change can painlessly be solved by a reduction in the human population here on Earth. NG points out the moral goal of improving the quality of life for the poor of the Earth, but does not also point out that it is the improving of quality of life that maybe the cause of global warming and climate change. NG is a good publication and it disturbs me that they are not more even handed and less biased. Many young readers can not detect the bias and that is a major problem for our future.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Supreme Court Decision
This blog is about the Supreme decision that the word "states" is ambiguous. How about you? When the word "states" was used in our constitution, do you think everyone knew what they were talking about? How about "......left to the states." What were they talking about? I guess our Supreme Court never read our constitution.
You know the expression, "follow the money". That is what we need to do with this Supreme Court decision regarding Obamacare. With their decision, the stock price for the largest insurance companies who stand to gain with Obamacare rose over 7% in a few hours of the decision. We are talking about a company make millions on that decision. You might ask, "why does the decision cause insurance companies to make more money?" How does an insurance making more money help provide a poor person with better health care and save the average family a couple thousand dollars in health care cost? Only a fool would believe Obama when he made this claim to get that last single vote needed to pass Obamacare.
I can't go on with this blog until my mind clears from the disgust that I have for Obama, the Supreme Court and my neighbors who voted for Obama once or twice. I am more concerned now than ever for the future of my children and grand children, give these recent events.
You know the expression, "follow the money". That is what we need to do with this Supreme Court decision regarding Obamacare. With their decision, the stock price for the largest insurance companies who stand to gain with Obamacare rose over 7% in a few hours of the decision. We are talking about a company make millions on that decision. You might ask, "why does the decision cause insurance companies to make more money?" How does an insurance making more money help provide a poor person with better health care and save the average family a couple thousand dollars in health care cost? Only a fool would believe Obama when he made this claim to get that last single vote needed to pass Obamacare.
I can't go on with this blog until my mind clears from the disgust that I have for Obama, the Supreme Court and my neighbors who voted for Obama once or twice. I am more concerned now than ever for the future of my children and grand children, give these recent events.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Racism Myth
I think that what we have been calling racism is really a myth. Even our President tried to divide the country rather than bringing groups together. In this blog, I will point out that many racism claims may be a myth.
For me it was a wake up call when I read the book "The Bell Curve". If you have not read this book, I advise that you do. It may be a wake up call for you as well. I recall that when this book was published, may people called it racist. The reason that they called it racist was that the authors concluded that most of the things that liberals claimed were racism had nothing to do with racism. I will point this out in this blog.
Try an simple test or example. Are you a college graduate? If so, how many of your 10 best friends are also college graduates? Be honest and do the calculations. What you will find is that 9 out of the 10 are also college graduates. Now look at racial groups and what percent of each is a college graduate. Next look at how large these racial groups are. Now you can calculate how many college graduates there are in the USA from each group. I'll do some numbers. I estimate that 91% of citizens are non-Black and 9% are Black. I also estimate that 22% of non-Blacks are college graduates and 6% of Blacks are college graduates. This works out to show that 97% of college graduates are non-Black and 3% are Black. Now, if you were to pick your friends randomly, they would turn out to be in the same ratio as above, with 97% of your friends being non-Black. Revealing isn't it?
The same would be true if you are not a college graduate. 9 out 10 of your best friends would not be college graduates either. Remember the saying, "birds of a feather flock together"? It is also true for us humans and it has nothing to do with racism!
How about Engineers? What if you were an Engineer and most of your good friends were also Engineers? How many do you think would turn out to be Black? For me it is "none". On that basis, would you think that I am racist?
What if you were a professional basketball or football player and hung around with other professional players? If you were black, what percentage of your friends would also be Black? Given that about 9% of citizens are Black, why wouldn't you expect to have only 9% black friends? If 90% of your friends turned out to be Black, should you be called a racist?
We could do this same thing for politics or any other group and the results would be similar. If you lived in a home that has a cost over $500,000, you would have to earn at least $150,000 per year and have a net worth of over $100,000 to afford it. As it turns out, far more non-Blacks qualify for the above than Blacks, so if you look at a community of $500,000 homes, you will see fewer Blacks than the 9% they represent in the general population. Is this racist? I don't think so.
If a Black student is accepted into a university with lower qualifications than a non-Black student who was rejected, is this racism? Yes!!! I thought that we had laws to prevent this type of thing.
If a Black high school student drops out of high school, is this racism? If a Black male knocks up his girlfriend and does not marry her, is this racism. If a Black uses or sells drugs, is this because of racism? I don't think so. What we have is a situation where "one movers" see differences and jumps to the conclusion that it is because of racism rather than free choices made by individuals. It has to be clear that Asians and other non-Blacks individually make very different choices than do Blacks. Rather than keep calling it "racism" we need to get to the bottom of why Blacks make such destructive personal decisions in this land of personal freedom!!!
For me it was a wake up call when I read the book "The Bell Curve". If you have not read this book, I advise that you do. It may be a wake up call for you as well. I recall that when this book was published, may people called it racist. The reason that they called it racist was that the authors concluded that most of the things that liberals claimed were racism had nothing to do with racism. I will point this out in this blog.
Try an simple test or example. Are you a college graduate? If so, how many of your 10 best friends are also college graduates? Be honest and do the calculations. What you will find is that 9 out of the 10 are also college graduates. Now look at racial groups and what percent of each is a college graduate. Next look at how large these racial groups are. Now you can calculate how many college graduates there are in the USA from each group. I'll do some numbers. I estimate that 91% of citizens are non-Black and 9% are Black. I also estimate that 22% of non-Blacks are college graduates and 6% of Blacks are college graduates. This works out to show that 97% of college graduates are non-Black and 3% are Black. Now, if you were to pick your friends randomly, they would turn out to be in the same ratio as above, with 97% of your friends being non-Black. Revealing isn't it?
The same would be true if you are not a college graduate. 9 out 10 of your best friends would not be college graduates either. Remember the saying, "birds of a feather flock together"? It is also true for us humans and it has nothing to do with racism!
How about Engineers? What if you were an Engineer and most of your good friends were also Engineers? How many do you think would turn out to be Black? For me it is "none". On that basis, would you think that I am racist?
What if you were a professional basketball or football player and hung around with other professional players? If you were black, what percentage of your friends would also be Black? Given that about 9% of citizens are Black, why wouldn't you expect to have only 9% black friends? If 90% of your friends turned out to be Black, should you be called a racist?
We could do this same thing for politics or any other group and the results would be similar. If you lived in a home that has a cost over $500,000, you would have to earn at least $150,000 per year and have a net worth of over $100,000 to afford it. As it turns out, far more non-Blacks qualify for the above than Blacks, so if you look at a community of $500,000 homes, you will see fewer Blacks than the 9% they represent in the general population. Is this racist? I don't think so.
If a Black student is accepted into a university with lower qualifications than a non-Black student who was rejected, is this racism? Yes!!! I thought that we had laws to prevent this type of thing.
If a Black high school student drops out of high school, is this racism? If a Black male knocks up his girlfriend and does not marry her, is this racism. If a Black uses or sells drugs, is this because of racism? I don't think so. What we have is a situation where "one movers" see differences and jumps to the conclusion that it is because of racism rather than free choices made by individuals. It has to be clear that Asians and other non-Blacks individually make very different choices than do Blacks. Rather than keep calling it "racism" we need to get to the bottom of why Blacks make such destructive personal decisions in this land of personal freedom!!!
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Global Warming And The Pope
Did you hear that the Pope had some kind of visitation and now is alarmed about global warming? He is a man of "faith" and now we know that it is "blind faith". This blog is about the facts, not "blind faith".
The Catholic church has been around for over a thousand years and during that time, they have worked with policies and teachings of the church that would make global warming worse. You have to ask what happened for the church to now see that they have been wrong for over a thousand years. We know that the guidance that the church has gotten "from above" has been proven to be wrong many times. This looks like another one.
How about the church's position on birth control? For over a thousand years the church has tried to encourage breeding by its followers in order to create more dues paying members. The only group who is doing this more aggressively are the Muslims. Now, why do I make such a big deal out of breeding? It is because the biggest driver of claimed global warming is the increased number of humans here on Earth. When it was just Adam and Eve, they could burn all the coal and other types of fossil fuel that they wanted and pollution and global warming would not have been a big deal. It has to be clear that the more people we have on Earth, the worst pollution and potential global warming we are going to have. Isn't that clear and the church has been behind over breeding and population growth in the poorest countries on Earth for years? That is just one part of the problem.
The other part of the problem is the "quality of life". It is the goal of every family that has ever existed here on Earth to try to improve their "quality of life". Isn't that your objective for you and your family? Why else would you go to school or work hard? The goal is "quality of life". When we started out as hunter gatherers, it was very difficult to gain a better quality of life than that of your parents and those who came before you. What changed was when we figured out how to make "fire" and burn things like wood and coal. That was the start of us humans polluting the Earth.
We figured out how to farm and as a result we cut down the forests and planted crops. With that new source of food, we could feed more children and thus the population of the Earth boomed. Next we found domestic animals that we could eat, but it was the steam engine and electricity that caused the final boom. Along with the steam engine and electricity, the boom was in the "quality of life" for us humans. The more energy we use that the Sun created millions of years ago and stored in the form of oil and coal the more we "return" the carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and improved our quality of life.
Are you starting to finally see the potential cause of global warming? It is driven by two things that the Pope and his church has been advocating for over a thousand years. Don't you know the cause?
(1) The higher and higher number of people here on Earth!
(2) The higher quality of life for us humans that the church worked so hard for!
If you want to stop the cycle that the Pope thinks causes global warming, you have to lower one or both of the two causes above. Anything else that you might do will be small potatoes and end up doing very little to change things. The higher the quality of life, the higher the carbon foot print and the more people on Earth the more carbon foot prints! It is easy to understand so start facing the music and that goes for the Pope and everyone else.
PS---Tell me what over populated country has the highest standard of living? What is the standard of living for the 10 countries who have the smallest carbon foot print? Why do you think that the median family net worth for Australia is five times that of the USA? What do you think the carbon foot print "per square mile" is for Australia compared to Italy? Is there some kind of lesson in all this?
The Catholic church has been around for over a thousand years and during that time, they have worked with policies and teachings of the church that would make global warming worse. You have to ask what happened for the church to now see that they have been wrong for over a thousand years. We know that the guidance that the church has gotten "from above" has been proven to be wrong many times. This looks like another one.
How about the church's position on birth control? For over a thousand years the church has tried to encourage breeding by its followers in order to create more dues paying members. The only group who is doing this more aggressively are the Muslims. Now, why do I make such a big deal out of breeding? It is because the biggest driver of claimed global warming is the increased number of humans here on Earth. When it was just Adam and Eve, they could burn all the coal and other types of fossil fuel that they wanted and pollution and global warming would not have been a big deal. It has to be clear that the more people we have on Earth, the worst pollution and potential global warming we are going to have. Isn't that clear and the church has been behind over breeding and population growth in the poorest countries on Earth for years? That is just one part of the problem.
The other part of the problem is the "quality of life". It is the goal of every family that has ever existed here on Earth to try to improve their "quality of life". Isn't that your objective for you and your family? Why else would you go to school or work hard? The goal is "quality of life". When we started out as hunter gatherers, it was very difficult to gain a better quality of life than that of your parents and those who came before you. What changed was when we figured out how to make "fire" and burn things like wood and coal. That was the start of us humans polluting the Earth.
We figured out how to farm and as a result we cut down the forests and planted crops. With that new source of food, we could feed more children and thus the population of the Earth boomed. Next we found domestic animals that we could eat, but it was the steam engine and electricity that caused the final boom. Along with the steam engine and electricity, the boom was in the "quality of life" for us humans. The more energy we use that the Sun created millions of years ago and stored in the form of oil and coal the more we "return" the carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and improved our quality of life.
Are you starting to finally see the potential cause of global warming? It is driven by two things that the Pope and his church has been advocating for over a thousand years. Don't you know the cause?
(1) The higher and higher number of people here on Earth!
(2) The higher quality of life for us humans that the church worked so hard for!
If you want to stop the cycle that the Pope thinks causes global warming, you have to lower one or both of the two causes above. Anything else that you might do will be small potatoes and end up doing very little to change things. The higher the quality of life, the higher the carbon foot print and the more people on Earth the more carbon foot prints! It is easy to understand so start facing the music and that goes for the Pope and everyone else.
PS---Tell me what over populated country has the highest standard of living? What is the standard of living for the 10 countries who have the smallest carbon foot print? Why do you think that the median family net worth for Australia is five times that of the USA? What do you think the carbon foot print "per square mile" is for Australia compared to Italy? Is there some kind of lesson in all this?
Monday, June 15, 2015
Immigration Reform
How many times have you heard some politicians shooting their mouth off calling for "immigration reform"? Did you ever hear one explaining what "reforms" they were talking about? Remember that Obama campaigned that he would make the "right" changes. Notice that he did not tell anyone what those changes would be. He left it to the simple minded voters to individually think that Obama was going to make the changes that they were thinking about. Simple minded, right? In this blog, I will tell you what "changes" or "reform" of the immigration laws and policies that I favor.
Here is my list.
(1) No one over the age of 50 should be allowed to immigrate into the USA. People over the age of 50 will never contribute to the economy and the quality of life for those of us who built this place. They will be free loaders and we do not need more.
(2) Under no conditions will an immigrant ever be allowed to vote. If we don't do
this, politicians will try to stuff the ballot box with legal and illegal immigrants.
(3) People seeking political assilem should not be allowed to have children or if they have children, those children should only be citizens of the country from where their parents came from.
(4) Under no conditions should we allow people to be "dual" citizens. They are either USA citizens or not, no dual citizens.
(5) People who have gotten into the USA illegally should never be allowed to become citizens and any children that they had here should be deported.
(6) People who enter the USA illegally for the third time should be subject to execution as the penalty.
(7) Legal immigrants should only be allowed to have "one" child. If they have more, they and their whole family should be deported.
(8) Any legal immigrant who commits a felony within the first 5 years that they are here should be deported or subject to a minimum imprisonment of 25 years.
(9) All people who immigrated into the USA illegally should be rounded up and deported starting with the "oldest" person or the person who has been here the longest.
(10) Students who over stay their visas should be considered as illegal immigrants and treated accordingly.
(11) No one should be allowed to immigrate into the USA whose economic skill level is below the median. If this is not done, immigrants will lower the median standard of living of the USA.
How is that for immigration reform? Our problem is that we have far too many dead beat citizens here already and we do not need any more. This country belongs to those who worked and built this place and we do not need a bunch of free loaders taking advantage of our hard work for "free". If their country is a mess, they should stay there and clean up the mess rather than bringing their mess here. Look at the Africans from Somalia as an example of how brainless immigration policy has ended up biting us in the ass.
PS---I would like to add another item to my list.. I am tired of "remittances". This is where immigrants send money back home rather than spending the money here or investing here. I would put a 50% fee on this type of transaction. Did you know that for many countries "remittances" is one of the largest components of their economies? Remember the song by Jimmy Buffet, "The Remittance Man"? I am sure that most of you had no idea how big of a problem this is for the USA.
Here is my list.
(1) No one over the age of 50 should be allowed to immigrate into the USA. People over the age of 50 will never contribute to the economy and the quality of life for those of us who built this place. They will be free loaders and we do not need more.
(2) Under no conditions will an immigrant ever be allowed to vote. If we don't do
this, politicians will try to stuff the ballot box with legal and illegal immigrants.
(3) People seeking political assilem should not be allowed to have children or if they have children, those children should only be citizens of the country from where their parents came from.
(4) Under no conditions should we allow people to be "dual" citizens. They are either USA citizens or not, no dual citizens.
(5) People who have gotten into the USA illegally should never be allowed to become citizens and any children that they had here should be deported.
(6) People who enter the USA illegally for the third time should be subject to execution as the penalty.
(7) Legal immigrants should only be allowed to have "one" child. If they have more, they and their whole family should be deported.
(8) Any legal immigrant who commits a felony within the first 5 years that they are here should be deported or subject to a minimum imprisonment of 25 years.
(9) All people who immigrated into the USA illegally should be rounded up and deported starting with the "oldest" person or the person who has been here the longest.
(10) Students who over stay their visas should be considered as illegal immigrants and treated accordingly.
(11) No one should be allowed to immigrate into the USA whose economic skill level is below the median. If this is not done, immigrants will lower the median standard of living of the USA.
How is that for immigration reform? Our problem is that we have far too many dead beat citizens here already and we do not need any more. This country belongs to those who worked and built this place and we do not need a bunch of free loaders taking advantage of our hard work for "free". If their country is a mess, they should stay there and clean up the mess rather than bringing their mess here. Look at the Africans from Somalia as an example of how brainless immigration policy has ended up biting us in the ass.
PS---I would like to add another item to my list.. I am tired of "remittances". This is where immigrants send money back home rather than spending the money here or investing here. I would put a 50% fee on this type of transaction. Did you know that for many countries "remittances" is one of the largest components of their economies? Remember the song by Jimmy Buffet, "The Remittance Man"? I am sure that most of you had no idea how big of a problem this is for the USA.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Real Global Warming Impact
Have you noticed that the news media never gets beyond the scare of global warming? They are never specific about the impact. This simple blog is going to point out the potential "impact".
Here are some cities that we are all familiar with. Most of the people who live in these cities like where they are living and would not want to live any place else. This is reality. Here is the average temperature for several cities. You look at the numbers and tell me what you think.
1. Kansas City---------------------53.4 f
2, Omaha---------------------------51.05 f
3. Des Moines---------------------50.85 f
4. Minneapolis---------------------46.15 f
If the average temperature of Minneapolis were to increase to that of Des Moines, do you think that anyone in Minneapolis would die or the economy would be in the tank? Get real! What if Des Moines average temperature increase so that it was the same as Kansas City, do you think the world would come to an end for the people of Des Moines? Are you starting to see how absurd this whole global warming fit is.
In a prior blog, I pointed out that the rough texture of the Earth has more to do with weather and climate than anything else. Over millions of years, the surface of the Earth has gotten smoother as mountains are worn down by rain and wind. Gravity works 100% of the time to pull things down. Have you noticed that? Wake up!!!
PS----Did you every fly in an airplane and notice that when you are at 30,000 feet all the weather is below you? Did you notice how thin the clouds are compared to the size of the Earth? Do you think that global warming alarmists have ever flown in an airplane?
Here are some cities that we are all familiar with. Most of the people who live in these cities like where they are living and would not want to live any place else. This is reality. Here is the average temperature for several cities. You look at the numbers and tell me what you think.
1. Kansas City---------------------53.4 f
2, Omaha---------------------------51.05 f
3. Des Moines---------------------50.85 f
4. Minneapolis---------------------46.15 f
If the average temperature of Minneapolis were to increase to that of Des Moines, do you think that anyone in Minneapolis would die or the economy would be in the tank? Get real! What if Des Moines average temperature increase so that it was the same as Kansas City, do you think the world would come to an end for the people of Des Moines? Are you starting to see how absurd this whole global warming fit is.
In a prior blog, I pointed out that the rough texture of the Earth has more to do with weather and climate than anything else. Over millions of years, the surface of the Earth has gotten smoother as mountains are worn down by rain and wind. Gravity works 100% of the time to pull things down. Have you noticed that? Wake up!!!
PS----Did you every fly in an airplane and notice that when you are at 30,000 feet all the weather is below you? Did you notice how thin the clouds are compared to the size of the Earth? Do you think that global warming alarmists have ever flown in an airplane?
Tools
Some times we humans need to be reminded about what makes us humans and not just an animal that walks upright. What do you think it is what makes us so different from animals? We use "tools", but that is not the real difference. So what is? Humans "make" tools. There are a few animals that know how to use tools too. I saw one animal that used small pieces of grass to stick down the hole of an ant hill to fish out the ants so they could eat them. The animal used the tool, but did not make the tool. That is what makes us humans so much different and that is the objective of this blog.
When I was a kid, back in the 40's and 50's, I noticed that most of the high quality measuring tools were made in Germany. I had a micrometer and a microscope and both were made in Germany. I had a friend who had a very high quality knife and it was made in Germany too. At the time, I did not wonder why no one had tools that were made in Africa or Mexico, but now I do. The reason is that Germany was a place where the humans were more advanced and more human like. Sounds strange to say something like that, but it was the case. Germany was the best educated country in the world back in the 40's and 50's even though they had just suffered a big loss in WWII. Germany is still up there in education, but I am not sure they are still number one.
Back in the 60's I was working at a technical company in the Santa Clara Valley and I noticed that many of our machine tools were made in Germany and Wisconsin. Later, I found out that back about 1900 more people in Wisconsin spoke German than English. That must have been the reason why Wisconsin dominated the machine tool industry in the USA at the time. As time went on, I started to see more and more advanced tools stamped "made in occupied Japan". Later they dropped the "occupied". Japan could not have fought such a war had they not been very advanced at making tools that were then used to manufacture guns and airplanes. Germany and Japan were alike in many ways. I hope you are following this build up.
Now when I buy a new tool of some kind I notice that most are made in China or Asia some place. I am talking about advanced tools that require advanced skills to design and manufacture. There is a company near by that does injection molding and both their machines and dies are made in China or Asia. The only thing the workers do here is load and unload the machines. The workers don't even need to know how to read or write to hold down these jobs. As you might expect the jobs only pay the minimum wage. If the companies paid the workers any more, it would be cheaper to get the injection molded parts made in Asia.
I have a challenge to all of you. Ask your friends if they make tools of any kind. What you will find is that they may use a tool, like a computer, but they do not design and manufacture the computer. They may even program that computer, much like a truck driver drives a truck, but they do not design and manufacture that computer. You have heard the expression, "follow the money" if you want to find out what is really going on. If you want to understand basic human development, economics and the future quality of life for your children, "follow the tools". For the USA, being a leader in tool making is now ancient history. For a good wake up call, visit the "Harbor Freight" store in your area some time. They have all kinds of tools made in China at prices less than half of what it would cost us to make, even if everyone worked at minimum wage.
PS---No smart phone or TV set is made in the USA. Does that tell you something?
When I was a kid, back in the 40's and 50's, I noticed that most of the high quality measuring tools were made in Germany. I had a micrometer and a microscope and both were made in Germany. I had a friend who had a very high quality knife and it was made in Germany too. At the time, I did not wonder why no one had tools that were made in Africa or Mexico, but now I do. The reason is that Germany was a place where the humans were more advanced and more human like. Sounds strange to say something like that, but it was the case. Germany was the best educated country in the world back in the 40's and 50's even though they had just suffered a big loss in WWII. Germany is still up there in education, but I am not sure they are still number one.
Back in the 60's I was working at a technical company in the Santa Clara Valley and I noticed that many of our machine tools were made in Germany and Wisconsin. Later, I found out that back about 1900 more people in Wisconsin spoke German than English. That must have been the reason why Wisconsin dominated the machine tool industry in the USA at the time. As time went on, I started to see more and more advanced tools stamped "made in occupied Japan". Later they dropped the "occupied". Japan could not have fought such a war had they not been very advanced at making tools that were then used to manufacture guns and airplanes. Germany and Japan were alike in many ways. I hope you are following this build up.
Now when I buy a new tool of some kind I notice that most are made in China or Asia some place. I am talking about advanced tools that require advanced skills to design and manufacture. There is a company near by that does injection molding and both their machines and dies are made in China or Asia. The only thing the workers do here is load and unload the machines. The workers don't even need to know how to read or write to hold down these jobs. As you might expect the jobs only pay the minimum wage. If the companies paid the workers any more, it would be cheaper to get the injection molded parts made in Asia.
I have a challenge to all of you. Ask your friends if they make tools of any kind. What you will find is that they may use a tool, like a computer, but they do not design and manufacture the computer. They may even program that computer, much like a truck driver drives a truck, but they do not design and manufacture that computer. You have heard the expression, "follow the money" if you want to find out what is really going on. If you want to understand basic human development, economics and the future quality of life for your children, "follow the tools". For the USA, being a leader in tool making is now ancient history. For a good wake up call, visit the "Harbor Freight" store in your area some time. They have all kinds of tools made in China at prices less than half of what it would cost us to make, even if everyone worked at minimum wage.
PS---No smart phone or TV set is made in the USA. Does that tell you something?
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Best And Worst Paying College Majors
I am not going to make a list of the best and the worst paying college majors in this blog. What I am going to do is to propose that parents and teachers do their own analysis. How many children go off to college and spend both the wealth of their families and the taxpayers money without any idea of how they are going to be able to pay back the "bait"? It should be an assignment for every high school freshman to research what college majors pay the best. It is not enough for a teacher, parent or career advisor to "recommend" a major, the student needs some skin in the game. That skin is the work that is required to research the facts. If a person has to do their own research, there is a lot better chance that they will take their findings more seriously.
There is an old adage that things you have to work for are more valuable than those given to you for free. Sounds like some of the "free" government welfare programs. This leads me to an other point and that is what college majors are easiest and most difficult. If you understand that there is no "free lunch", then you will also understand that the same thing applies to the choice of college majors. If this analysis is done at the high school freshman level, there is a much better chance that the student will understand that taking the more difficult classes will pay off in the end.
I would also recommend that we reevaluate this whole business of the "honor roll". Studies of college grading shows that the easiest majors like Education also give out the highest grades while the more difficult majors like Math and Engineering give out the lowest grades. It would be like rewarding cheating by not taking into account the difficulty of the class. The economic world recognizes these differences and pays them accordingly. Why don't our schools get on board?
Remember the expression from sports, "no pain, no gain"? It seems that parents, students and teachers all want to reduce "pain" for the students. Kids used to walk a mile or more to and from school, but now we provide a bus so kids do not have to walk. Teachers used to a require much more home work, but now we hear that kids can do their home work a lot faster by using their computer. It is my opinion that calculators and computers are "bad". It would be like lifting barbells with a fork lift rather than with your own muscles.
My final point is that "modern" school teachers and administrators want to "add" new classes or subjects. You can not add a class without taking time and attention away from existing classes. This is another case of "there is no free lunch". If you look at what has been added, those classes are easier or mostly "busy work". An example is going as a class group out to collect trash from the street. This is not the type of thing that schools should be involved in. That is the responsibility of the child's parents and "not" on school time.
I think you can see that if we do not change, this whole country is going down the tube!
PS--How about the student loan program? We taxpayers have more money at stake and at a higher risk than we did in the housing bubble. We make loans to kids taking fluff courses using the same rules and standards that we do for kids taking more difficult and needed majors like math and engineering. If that is not fiscal stupidity, I don't know what is.
PS---One data point I saw was that graduates in Material Science are some of the top earners and I also noticed that 90% of the kids working on PhD's in Material Science were born outside the USA.
What does that tell you? They were not born in Baltimore!!!
There is an old adage that things you have to work for are more valuable than those given to you for free. Sounds like some of the "free" government welfare programs. This leads me to an other point and that is what college majors are easiest and most difficult. If you understand that there is no "free lunch", then you will also understand that the same thing applies to the choice of college majors. If this analysis is done at the high school freshman level, there is a much better chance that the student will understand that taking the more difficult classes will pay off in the end.
I would also recommend that we reevaluate this whole business of the "honor roll". Studies of college grading shows that the easiest majors like Education also give out the highest grades while the more difficult majors like Math and Engineering give out the lowest grades. It would be like rewarding cheating by not taking into account the difficulty of the class. The economic world recognizes these differences and pays them accordingly. Why don't our schools get on board?
Remember the expression from sports, "no pain, no gain"? It seems that parents, students and teachers all want to reduce "pain" for the students. Kids used to walk a mile or more to and from school, but now we provide a bus so kids do not have to walk. Teachers used to a require much more home work, but now we hear that kids can do their home work a lot faster by using their computer. It is my opinion that calculators and computers are "bad". It would be like lifting barbells with a fork lift rather than with your own muscles.
My final point is that "modern" school teachers and administrators want to "add" new classes or subjects. You can not add a class without taking time and attention away from existing classes. This is another case of "there is no free lunch". If you look at what has been added, those classes are easier or mostly "busy work". An example is going as a class group out to collect trash from the street. This is not the type of thing that schools should be involved in. That is the responsibility of the child's parents and "not" on school time.
I think you can see that if we do not change, this whole country is going down the tube!
PS--How about the student loan program? We taxpayers have more money at stake and at a higher risk than we did in the housing bubble. We make loans to kids taking fluff courses using the same rules and standards that we do for kids taking more difficult and needed majors like math and engineering. If that is not fiscal stupidity, I don't know what is.
PS---One data point I saw was that graduates in Material Science are some of the top earners and I also noticed that 90% of the kids working on PhD's in Material Science were born outside the USA.
What does that tell you? They were not born in Baltimore!!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Ounce Of Prevenntion Is Worth A Pound Of Cure
Did you ever hear the old saying that, "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? These old sayings have a lot more truth than you might think. How about, "a stitch in time saves nine"? This blog is about how these time tested sayings apply to a lot more modern situations than you may think.
Further, many situations are "unstable" and easily can get out of control if corrective action is not taken immediately.
There are all kinds of old stories about leaks in dykes where, if the leak was not repaired as soon as it was detected, the whole dyke might have been wash away. Remember the story about the little Dutch boy who held his finger in the dyke until help came? He was a hero because his quick action saved his town. Are you starting to get the idea? Well, I have more.
I have blogged in the past that good managers are the ones who "prevent" problems rather than try to fix the problem after the fact. Notice how Obama never knows about a potential problem until after it has happened? Obama then calls a meeting to come up with a solution after the fact. Look at ISIS and what they have already done and are doing. Why didn't Obama see this coming? Easy! He is incompetent as any kind of manager or President. It would be nice if eliminating ISIS now only took "nine" times the effort or "16 times" the cost that it would have taken to have "prevented" them. It is going to cost a lot more.
How about, "closing the barn door after the horse is out"? Isn't that what Obama has been doing? Or how about this one. "The devil you know may be better than the devil that you don't know". Isn't that the case with Iraq? We got rid of one bad devil only to get a worse devil. It is like the old saying that, "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence". How about the Shaw of Iran? We got rid of him and see what we got in his place. Russia did it too and see how they have ended up. Or better yet, look at Cuba. How have they done for the past 50 years?
How many times have you heard some liberal scream that, "anybody is better than (Republican)"? Well, we got Obama with that kind of logic and see what has happened? I don't know what the solution is because short sighted liberals have become blind with stubbornness. Recall that I have blogged in the past on how low IQ people often resort to stubbornness as a way to cope with the complex world that they do not understand. This is the case with Obama and most of his followers. When they get in over their heads, they resort to stubbornness. That's what happens.
Further, many situations are "unstable" and easily can get out of control if corrective action is not taken immediately.
There are all kinds of old stories about leaks in dykes where, if the leak was not repaired as soon as it was detected, the whole dyke might have been wash away. Remember the story about the little Dutch boy who held his finger in the dyke until help came? He was a hero because his quick action saved his town. Are you starting to get the idea? Well, I have more.
I have blogged in the past that good managers are the ones who "prevent" problems rather than try to fix the problem after the fact. Notice how Obama never knows about a potential problem until after it has happened? Obama then calls a meeting to come up with a solution after the fact. Look at ISIS and what they have already done and are doing. Why didn't Obama see this coming? Easy! He is incompetent as any kind of manager or President. It would be nice if eliminating ISIS now only took "nine" times the effort or "16 times" the cost that it would have taken to have "prevented" them. It is going to cost a lot more.
How about, "closing the barn door after the horse is out"? Isn't that what Obama has been doing? Or how about this one. "The devil you know may be better than the devil that you don't know". Isn't that the case with Iraq? We got rid of one bad devil only to get a worse devil. It is like the old saying that, "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence". How about the Shaw of Iran? We got rid of him and see what we got in his place. Russia did it too and see how they have ended up. Or better yet, look at Cuba. How have they done for the past 50 years?
How many times have you heard some liberal scream that, "anybody is better than (Republican)"? Well, we got Obama with that kind of logic and see what has happened? I don't know what the solution is because short sighted liberals have become blind with stubbornness. Recall that I have blogged in the past on how low IQ people often resort to stubbornness as a way to cope with the complex world that they do not understand. This is the case with Obama and most of his followers. When they get in over their heads, they resort to stubbornness. That's what happens.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Undubbling
If you have studied economics in the last 50 years, you know what "undubbling" was. Exploring "undubbling" is the objective of this blog.
Starting with the Great Depression from about 1929 to 1945, most families were so poor that their adult children could not afford their own homes. What they did was to move into their parents basement and "doubled" the number of families who lived in the typical home. Given that so many young adults moved into their parents basements, there was no need to be building new homes. During the Great Depression home building dropped to a very low level. This pattern continued until the end of WWII in 1945. Remember how home building expanded rapidly after WWII. That was because of the families during the Great Depression "undubbling".
The problem that average people have looking back at the period after WWII is that they do not understand that the big building boom was a "one shot deal" that will not be repeated. Expecting the government to do something that would cause a new building boom is not logical. Government did not cause or create the building boom after WWII, so why would anyone think that government could do something to cause another building boom now? Not going to happen.
What we have now is a pattern similar to the Great Depression where "dubbling" is starting all over again. This business of moving into one's parents basement is not unprecedented. It is a very logical action to save money and maintain the quality of life. Multiple families in a home is a very common pattern around the world. That is one reason why countries that appear to be very poor have a higher quality of life than you might have expected.
Look at Japan where adult children live in their parents homes. Young adults who live at home have jobs and often have more net worth than young people here in the USA. After about 1975, or 30 years after WWII the USA went off on a different type of home building suicide run. Families went into debit like they had never been in debit before by buying homes that were clearly too big and too expensive. What we have now is much of our countries net worth is invested or tied up in non liquid homes with mortgage payments that eat up almost 50% of a family's income. How do we get back to "normal"? That is if we even know what "normal" is.
I think that the new "doubling" is part of getting back to "normal". Kids used to want their own "pads", but now they can not afford them. Low skilled labor used to be able to demand a high wage after WWII when the rest of the world was all bombed out, but not any more. The value of low skilled work is now getting back to its low value "normal". Do you know what is "normal"?
PS---This is another example of mistaking a "one time event" at a "trend". Dubbling and undubbling has been the major causal event of the booms and busts of in home building, not government programs.
Starting with the Great Depression from about 1929 to 1945, most families were so poor that their adult children could not afford their own homes. What they did was to move into their parents basement and "doubled" the number of families who lived in the typical home. Given that so many young adults moved into their parents basements, there was no need to be building new homes. During the Great Depression home building dropped to a very low level. This pattern continued until the end of WWII in 1945. Remember how home building expanded rapidly after WWII. That was because of the families during the Great Depression "undubbling".
The problem that average people have looking back at the period after WWII is that they do not understand that the big building boom was a "one shot deal" that will not be repeated. Expecting the government to do something that would cause a new building boom is not logical. Government did not cause or create the building boom after WWII, so why would anyone think that government could do something to cause another building boom now? Not going to happen.
What we have now is a pattern similar to the Great Depression where "dubbling" is starting all over again. This business of moving into one's parents basement is not unprecedented. It is a very logical action to save money and maintain the quality of life. Multiple families in a home is a very common pattern around the world. That is one reason why countries that appear to be very poor have a higher quality of life than you might have expected.
Look at Japan where adult children live in their parents homes. Young adults who live at home have jobs and often have more net worth than young people here in the USA. After about 1975, or 30 years after WWII the USA went off on a different type of home building suicide run. Families went into debit like they had never been in debit before by buying homes that were clearly too big and too expensive. What we have now is much of our countries net worth is invested or tied up in non liquid homes with mortgage payments that eat up almost 50% of a family's income. How do we get back to "normal"? That is if we even know what "normal" is.
I think that the new "doubling" is part of getting back to "normal". Kids used to want their own "pads", but now they can not afford them. Low skilled labor used to be able to demand a high wage after WWII when the rest of the world was all bombed out, but not any more. The value of low skilled work is now getting back to its low value "normal". Do you know what is "normal"?
PS---This is another example of mistaking a "one time event" at a "trend". Dubbling and undubbling has been the major causal event of the booms and busts of in home building, not government programs.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
2,300 Humvee's
Did you hear the news about the Iraqi army abandoning 2,300 of the "free" Humvee's given to them by us tax payers? 2,300 is a lot of Humvee's. I thought that I would use my 4th grade math to see if I could put this whole thing in perspective.
What if we had a parade in front of your house with the Humvee's with 80 feet between them driving at 15 mph? How long do you think the parade would be? Use your 4th grade math to come up with the answer. I'll do it for you. It turns out to be 43.5 miles along!!! That is a very long parade.
How about some more 4th grade math? How long do you think the parade in front of your house will last? I know that you are smart enough to do the 4th grade math. Again, I will do it for you. It turns out that it will take 2 hours and 54 minutes. That is our tax money in the parade. I am not going to calculate the amount of your hard earn money is going to be in that parade, but I will give you an estimate.
I estimate that there are about 45 million taxpaying families in the USA. If each Humvee has a cost of $150,000, then the parade has a cost to us taxpayers of $345,000,000. If we divide that by the number of taxpayers watching the parade, it has a cost of $7.67 for each of us. I am not sure that a Humvee only has a cost of $150,00. That is only 3 times the cost of a GMC pickup truck.
The bottom line is that we now have to spend about a million dollars to destroy each of those 2,300 Humvee's. That means us taxpayers are going to have to pay over $50 more to destroy those Humvee's.
From this blog, I think that you can see that us taxpayers are going to keep paying for Obama's incompetence until we get someone in the Presidency who is not a Judas.
PS---I think that you could count on one hand the number of countries in the world who have as much military hardware as was abandoned by the Iraqi army that has now ended up in the hands of the terrorists. When I used to teach "Decision Theory", I hammered my students that the most common reason for a "bad" decision is that "all" the possible outcomes of the decision were not considered. Did anyone in the military or the Obama administration not consider the possibility that the Iraqi army would not run rather than fight and abandon all the military hardware the taxpayers of the USA gave them for "free"? I guess not!! Grade---"F".
What if we had a parade in front of your house with the Humvee's with 80 feet between them driving at 15 mph? How long do you think the parade would be? Use your 4th grade math to come up with the answer. I'll do it for you. It turns out to be 43.5 miles along!!! That is a very long parade.
How about some more 4th grade math? How long do you think the parade in front of your house will last? I know that you are smart enough to do the 4th grade math. Again, I will do it for you. It turns out that it will take 2 hours and 54 minutes. That is our tax money in the parade. I am not going to calculate the amount of your hard earn money is going to be in that parade, but I will give you an estimate.
I estimate that there are about 45 million taxpaying families in the USA. If each Humvee has a cost of $150,000, then the parade has a cost to us taxpayers of $345,000,000. If we divide that by the number of taxpayers watching the parade, it has a cost of $7.67 for each of us. I am not sure that a Humvee only has a cost of $150,00. That is only 3 times the cost of a GMC pickup truck.
The bottom line is that we now have to spend about a million dollars to destroy each of those 2,300 Humvee's. That means us taxpayers are going to have to pay over $50 more to destroy those Humvee's.
From this blog, I think that you can see that us taxpayers are going to keep paying for Obama's incompetence until we get someone in the Presidency who is not a Judas.
PS---I think that you could count on one hand the number of countries in the world who have as much military hardware as was abandoned by the Iraqi army that has now ended up in the hands of the terrorists. When I used to teach "Decision Theory", I hammered my students that the most common reason for a "bad" decision is that "all" the possible outcomes of the decision were not considered. Did anyone in the military or the Obama administration not consider the possibility that the Iraqi army would not run rather than fight and abandon all the military hardware the taxpayers of the USA gave them for "free"? I guess not!! Grade---"F".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)