Tongue-Tied and Twisted, Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I

While Congress grilled Edward Libby, the CEO of AIG, over the distributed bonus money that amounted to less than a tenth of a percent of the $170B of the TARP funds that AIG received from the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve pledged to purchase over one trillion dollars worth of mortgages and long term bonds. In elated exuberance, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped two percent in a matter of minutes. Much to the media’s delight, they reported about the strong positive reaction the markets had to the actions by the Fed. However, there was much more to the story that was going unnoticed; the Dollar was crashing.

The Dollar fell four percent against the Euro, four percent against the Sterling Pound, three and a half percent against the Yen, and three percent against the Candian Dollar. If you were a foreign investor and invested in the American markets Wednesday morning, a day in which the markets rose two percent, you would have actually lost money by the end of trading. This example could eventually become the end game for our recent economic woes. While the worry should be on the collapsing of the housing markets and the freezing of the credit markets, the long term health of the Dollar should be of the utmost importance and it is not.

(more…)

While on a visit to the African continent, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Roman Catholic Church’s position on the use of condoms; it is forbidden. However, the AIDS pandemic has been ravaging Africa, where some countries have seen the disease infect upwards of twenty five percent of their population. In hopes of curbing the prevalence of the disease, condom use has been encouraged by a few of the African governments. These countries have seen decreases in the number of new cases of HIV. Unfortunately, the Church has taken the moral high ground and is preaching abstinence only. Maybe the Pope could learn something from the likes of Bristol Palin… Abstinence only education does not work.

Studies have shown that such programs do not work in preventing pre-martial sex and that in many cases, those who were taught abstinence only engage in more reckless behavior than those who were taught about having safe, protected sex. The Pope is naive if he thinks that by telling someone to not have sex will have any effect on curbing the spread of HIV. People will continue to have sex… it is a natural human desire. It is unfortunate that a man who is among those in position to make a difference is instead, condemning the members of his church to further anguish at the hands of this deadly disease. Shouldn’t the lives of those living be more valuable than those yet to be born? The Church needs to change with the times…

Part of my criticism of using the stock market as a tool to gauge not only the strength of the economy, but the success or failure of the current administration was the relationship between correlation and causation. Bob Henderson, the founder of The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in an open letter to the Kansas School Board, challenged the absurdity of the correlation implies causation concept. His argument was rather simple…

Over the last couple hundred of years, the average global temperature has gone up. Over that same period of time, the number of pirates have declined. (more…)

Yesterday, I discussed how the stock market is a poor tool in evaluating the failure or success of the president. Well, apparently Jon Stewart is a reader of my blog  as he decided to bring up this issue on last night’s The Daily Show.

What is the stock market? It’s an instrument of speculation and while it tends to reflect the nature of the economy, it should not be used to judge the strength of the economy. This is a common fallacy of the public. The market tends to reflect the public’ confidence on the economy as a whole. When it becomes common knowledge that the economy is in trouble, the market will feel the impact. If you were to search the web for articles regarding the housing bubble in this country, you will find articles from a few years ago, spelling out the impending economic catastrophe that we are experiencing today. But when one looks at the market in ’06, they would conclude that the economy was thriving. The common person never cares to look at the numbers behind the market and for this reason alone, the success or failure of the stock market should not be used as a model for success or failure of the economy.

(more…)

One of the many intriguing aspects to the television drama LOST has been its take on fate. At times, the show has addressed the topic by either describing what appears to be random coincidences such as characters on the show interacting in the past or by using a much more blunt approach in discussing the destiny of a character. Season Five has revolved around the idea that six of the characters (O6) who have previously left the island, need to return to save the island. I have given thought to why the O6 need to return to the island and have reached a few conclusions as described below.

The concept of fate dictates that events in our lives are bound to happen. When you meet the guy or girl of your dreams, you were always meant to be together, but you had to find each other first. This implies that a script of our lives has already been written. That every decision we make, while believing that it is an action of free will is really a decision that has already been made for us. (more…)

When riding on the New York City subway during rush hour, you tend to see two types of people. Those who sleep and those who read; I fall into the latter category. My taste, which happens to vary quite a bit, includes the area of socio-economic thought, as found in Levitt’s Freakonomics and Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. I am intrigued by the concept of how what we take for granted, can be explain when analyzed using economic models, such as cost-benefit analysis and game theory. In recent months, I have tried to take a step back from my biases and view situations economically. One such situation has been the political climate in this country since the Obama administration has assumed power.

Only days before Obama took the oath of office, the de facto spokesman for the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, drew a divisive line in the sand when he uttered the words, “I hope Obama fails.” (more…)

Earlier this week, the North Dakota House of Representatives voted 51-41in favor of granting full legal rights to “any organism with the genome of homo sapiens.” This new measure would by default, make abortions the equivalent to murder within the state as a fertilized egg would qualify as a human being. While I would disagree that an embryonic cell qualifies as human life, I must give those North Dakotans credit for thinking outside the box. Since you cannot pass a law outlawing abortion due to Roe v. Wade, why not circumvent the Supreme Court decision and grant the act of abortion as de facto murder. Brilliant!

However, if this bill becomes law, there are a few other caveats that will need to be considered.

(more…)

This is a notice for all those who live or work in the borough of Manhattan. When using an umbrella, please adhere to these following rules:

1. Do not use an umbrella that is larger than yourself.
2. When two people approach each other from opposite directions, it is the responsibility of the taller person to move their umbrella up and out of the way.
3. If it is lightly snowing (as in flurries), there is no need for your umbrella… put it away.
4. If you are using a clear dome umbrella… don’t… you look like a tool.
5. When your umbrella is broken… splurge… buy a new umbrella from a street vendor for five dollars.
6. Do not shake the umbrella to dry it off with people around you… there is a reason we all use umbrellas and it’s so we don’t get wet.

If you have any further rules, please feel free to share.

A month ago, with my iPod playing classical music, I hiked through the Negev desert. I followed my tour guy as we meandered through the rolling sand dunes. No one within the group uttered a word. After twenty minutes, the group separated and we each went on our own way. I turned off my music and scaled up the side of a sand dune. Once I reached the summit of the dune, I looked around and saw a friend on their own dune, a hundred feet away. I laid down amongst the sand and rocks and stared into the sky. I let my mind wander wherever it decided it wanted to go. Afterwards, our tour guide asked us to describe our experience of being alone in the desert, yet the only word that came to mind was that of being insignificant. It was hardly the religious experience that the tour guide was undoubtedly aiming for.

The desert is made up of millions of grains of sand and here I was, feeling like I was just another speck. (more…)