Proposal: how to fix the U.S. budget

Right... like that is going to happen. You know I don't even know why the US government refers to it's budget as a "budget" - everybody knows the spending will be much more than the income! As a business major I have been taught throughout the five years in the program that budgets are suppose to be balanced (not too hard right California?), meaning the outflows have to equal the inflows. No such luck with the US government, where not since the Clinton era have we even seen a positive balance between spending and income.

But what I am saying? Deficit spending is THE american tradition. Hell I have amassed a few credit cards to attest to that fact (all paid off every month in a very Chinese manner mind you). Well clearly the problem is that the US don't pay off the money it spends on credit (except for that interest payment to the "Federal" reserve, which is mighty fat), not because it does not want to, because they can't! The current government as a business don't make a profit! Never mind the fact that the body of governance in this sovereign nation leaves all its monetary matters to a PRIVATE entity (yes, THAT "Federal" reserve). Guess who is making all the profits then? Bankers and Lawyers.

No I am not going to talk about a private entity having more power than an elected government (it is thesis worthy), that is the not the point of today's post. As anybody that watch some glimmer of news knows, the US government is once again deadlock into passing a budget. The rhetoric is plastered all over the place - Liberals wants to do more spending and taxing, while the GOP wants to cut social programs and taxes for the rich and corporations (spending without taxing!). The following is my opinion on what congress should do regarding the budget.

So what happens when you are spending more than you earn (you declare bankruptcy!)? A sane person or business will naturally cut back on the spending and increase in the income to I don't know, BALANCE things out. Inevitably, congress will need to start looking at the US spending and start making some cuts, especially those that takes up a big chunk of the pie (yes California you have set a wonderful example). And the obvious first choice is...

Defense! Defense spending MUST be cut. Why are we still in the Middle East? Are we even winning? Bin Laden is most likely in Pakistan, and man I am telling you the US is going to go there and hunt... oh wait Pakistan has nukes okay never mind. I mean do you actually think US would actually invade Iraq if Sadam actually HAD nuclear weapons? All the WMD talk by the Bush administration was just smoke screen (probably the abili for W to finish the job his father started). As long as your country have nuclear weapons, the US will not dare to invade you! US is not really going to tolerate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and all his farce if IRAN is not enriching their own uranium. The reason we and the rest of the world is turning a blind side to the human tragedy that is North Korea is because - you guess it, they have nukes. Ghadafi over at Libya (which is in the AFRICA and NOT the Middle East people, google maps is the best) is doing it wrong - should have gotten nukes then UN won't dare to impose a no fly zone. 

But come to think of it, what the heck have we been doing since World War II? What the heck is the US fighting for? Sure WWII had two nations threatening to imperialize the world, but what comes after that? Korea is still a divided country (thank you China), with the South being held hostage (next time ROK, you should think about building your capital city a little bit farther than 20 miles from the border you share with your worse enemy). Vietnam was a disaster. First gulf war did nothing. And now we have been stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq for close to a decade with no results. What the heck is the end game? Spreading democracy? What, is the UN chopped liver? the US have better things to worry about at home. Besides, the resent uprisings in the Middle East have proved that democracy is alive and well without the intervention of the US. STOP acting like you are the last bastion of democracy. 

So yes, pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and let the locals decide for themselves. The surrounding nations (and the Arab League) will see to it that whatever goes on inside will not affect anybody outside the borders. Besides, those two countries don't have nukes, so breath easy US. Don't give me the fighting terrorism rhetoric, as clearly the CIA and your local TSA agent is doing a fine job. As a matter of fact, pull our troops out of their stations in foreign countries. Get the fuck out of the likes of Japan (Okinawans hate you!), South Korea (right, because having troops there will prevent the North from provoking the South.. oh wait), and Germany (nobody received the memo that Hitler is dead and the wall already fell?). Cut back on manpower, while still invest in technological R&D to stay ahead of the game. Let most of the current troops retired, educate themselves (G.I. Bill!), and contribute to society in a more productive manner (because that my friends will raise the GDP).

Next on the list of cuts is everybody's favorite dead horse to beat on - Social Security and Medicare. First and foremost, it must be made clear that these are NOT entitlements (sorry GOP). These are setup to be insurance trusts - meaning they are self sustaining, and theoretically SHOULD NOT be part of any government's spending budget. In fact up until now Social Security inflows from taxation is actually HIGHER than the amount of premiums it pays out. You know that sizable amount we lose to those two programs in our paychecks every month? Well Social Security and Medicare is suppose to then invest that money into a portfolio of many different things to essentially "grow" the money. That is how these entities sustain themselves. They should not require any government money AT ALL. 

Well turns out bonds put out by the Treasury are also considered investment opportunities in the eyes of Social Security and Medicare. Guess what happens when the government is spending more than it takes in, and are looking for avenues to cover that deficit. That's right, being federal entities they are essentially impelled to invest the majority of their portfolio in government bonds. Because it is just too easy - like borrowing money from your parents. But hey this means that not only is the US borrowing heavily from China, but it is also heavily borrowing from you the working man! The only reason Social Security and Medicare is part of the spending budget is because both are government entities, nothing more. If separated out they are both self sustainable (for the time being anyways) with actual SURPLUSES,

Not honestly going to pare down Social Security and Medicare are you GOP? Again, they ARE NOT entitlements. Cutting down these programs while still borrowing from it is essentially robbing the general public! Now do those programs need reform in order to have long term sustainability? Of course (isn't the joke that my generation won't have any Social Security?)! Stop forcing them to buy treasury stock, let them invest in a diverse portfolio (like banks!) with much higher growth potential, and the problem will fix itself. But you say wait, people are living longer and longer! Social Security in the future cannot possible cover the ever enlarging retirement population (sorry Florida). The problem is not the amount of people, the problem is the COST to sustain them. And the number one cost would be - MEDICAL! Health care cost has sky rocketed in a rate much faster than increase in income. I am willing to bet a lot of it is artificial (hello big corporate drug and insurance companies!). Congress should do something about that, and I believe everything will take care of itself.

I don't think I need to mention at length about fixing the American epidemic of being FAT and its link to medical cost. 

Last thing I want to talk about in terms of cutting spending, is idiotic government subsidies and corporate tax loopholes. Why are we subsidizing things like corn? In fact, while do we have farming subsidies at all? I understand its history, but there is no reason we should still have them in this day and age. Listen, we have enough food in the US. In fact we have a SURPLUS of food (probably the only thing we have a surplus of). That on top of the fact we are a nation of eating too much! So lets make this clear - we make enough food to feed ourselves, and yet we still have subsidies to encourage food production? I understand the reason for keeping the prices low for the general public, but honestly how bad is it going to get if subsidies are done with? People will still buy gas at $4 dollars a gallon! The need for food is inelastic.

Cut subsidies to foreign countries as well. I am pretty sure it is kind of sort of not kosher under WTO regulations. But nonetheless, worry about the home first before helping other people. You don't see corporations making donations when they are not making profits (shareholders won't like that). 

So corporate tax loopholes. This one is easy to figure out. Just go look up the profits for companies like Exxon and General Electric and compare that to the amount of taxes they actually paid. It is an outrage when the US is home to many corporations with revenue that rivals some nation's GDP, yet the US is still crying poor? These corporations should be properly taxed! If a person made $250,000 a year and 33% percent of that went to taxes, there should be no reason that a corporation will have to pay the same rate, if not MORE. Come on congress, the US GDP is still plenty robust. FIx our tax codes, tax our production correctly, and just maybe we will have enough income to support our extravagant spending.

Speaking of taxes, get rid of the Bush tax cuts. How can a nation possibly justify a tax cut when we are in such debt with a negative difference between spending and income? I understand when Bush did it, because the Clinton year brought budget surplus - Bush could not have possibly predicted that after the tax cuts the nation will be fighting two war simultaneously and go through one of the worst economic meltdowns since the great depression. But to extend the Bush tax cuts while we don't have enough money? I don't like paying taxes as much as the person next to me, but since we are a nation of entitlements (but we are not socialist nor communist, no, NEVER), that money have to come from somewhere. I don't see how raising taxes back to pre Bush levels will somehow stop people from functioning as usual. 

So yes, cut spending and raise taxes. Because you the government have no choice when a private entity controls your entire money supply, and whom you owe A LOT of money to. 

Fatigue, farewell - random thoughts

It is bloody cold! After what seems to be 6 hours of incessantly rain today, it has finally given away to this bitter cold. Currently I am in a nice temperature controlled room of a toasty 70 degrees, and man is it comfortable. But pretty soon I will have to walk outside to go home and yeah that is not going to be fun. But you know this aluminium construction of a laptop does draws the heat from the internals right up to the surface and it does quite well to be a hand warmer while I leisurely type into this window.

So the past 72 hours have been quite the interesting. I think I have only been at home to shower and sleep for the past three days. It's like staying at a hotel, accept the bed is always comfortable and I don't have to pay a dime. Nothing like leaving the house at 9 and not coming home until around 11 for three straight days. But it is all worth it I guess, except for the fact I did not get any exercise in at all. 

Two of my entrepreneur classmates actually had the soft launch of their business last night (company is called Hubby & Lee, their blog is here - http://bit.ly/dJyDPa). Their business is beer tasting events, introducing beers and food pairings to the masses. Since I am the only one in the class with a photography background, I honored to be the event photographer for the evening. It all worked out, as I did not have to pay for the event, but taking pictures after you've had a few in your system is quite the different feeling I must say. 

I also must say that I am not drinking cheap beer again. Or drinking beer alone for the matter. Premium beer is just like wine - you have to know how to taste it properly, and pair it with the correct food, to get the full enjoyment. I learned a tremendous lot during the event, and afterwards cheap beer pong beer just taste like water. Oh yeah, drinking 6 different beers and all the finger foods that goes along with it is a recipe for extreme bloat-ness - especially if you have just ate dinner before the event (had Greek food for the first time!). I mean what can you do, you hear finger food and all that pops into your mind is not enough portions.

Ah yes my spring break has started! Though it will not be much of a break since from next Monday through Wednesday I will be at my internship full time since the company is ramping up the website redesign to finish in time for the Groupon launch on Wednesday. Well at least I get the rest of the week off. I just hope the weather is not as crappy as this week so that I can get some modicum of fresh air if and when I go outside. But honestly I have been so busy I almost forgot next week was spring break. Lots of WHAT THE FUCK moments in class when teachers say there is no class next week haha.

Now I have AT&T DSL for the past half decade, and they have treated me well and never failed to get me that copy of *insert incriminating name of certain software things*. But news have surfaced that AT&T will begin capping their previously unlimited DSL service. From infinite all the way down now to 150GB's per month. Now normal users unlike myself, this should be no problem. But for me when certain things online by itself is around 10GBs then yeah that is going to be a problem. Not to mention I share the internet connection with two other computers. Sure I can be dictatorial and block my little brother from using the internet, but I do not think my parents will be all too happy if I ban them for watching their videos on Tudou.

I don't know what I am going to do. Comcast is only marginally better at 250GB per month. I want my unlimited back! How do broadband providers expect people to stay within those boundaries, especially with all the streaming TV and movies that are now available? Even if I don't download a single piece of whatever and just stream everything, I don't think I will have trouble passing 150GB per month at all (because remember it is me and two other computers). Internet is fast becoming the de facto avenue to deliver ALL media content, and yet providers are now going to put in caps? Of course it is a money grab, just like how there are no unlimited data plans from the big two mobile phone companies. It is all counterintuitive - as people are using more and more digital data then ever, now is the time to put a cap on it? It makes no sense for the consumer.

So Verizon say I am eligible to renew my 2 year slave contract with them and get a new phone! But damnit it is only late March, and the next iPhone do not come out until June so I guess I will have to wait until then to switch. There is nothing wrong with my current phone (LG ENV Touch) as it perform its function well (texting!). But I think it is time for me to upgrade to a proper smart phone - you know, to play angry birds all day and get nothing done. Now I could just get the current iPhone 4 now and be happy with it. But hey those people at purchase iPad 1 just before iPad 2 came out is kicking themselves. Would I be that impatient to not wait for the new one, especially when I know for sure when it will be out?

Three and a half years of working at my current job finally paid off as I finally got a substantial raise (I can finally buy that ring she wanted!). Sad part is I can no longer work here after I graduate, which is only 8 weeks away (good times). No I am not complaining because as my professor say, cash flow is the most important thing to a business or person, especially when it is positive. Too bad this newfound wealth have already been earmarked long ago due to previous spending. Though I have been enjoying the fruits of those spending for some months now, thank you very much. And IRS, where the heck is my tax return?! Yes I know I can check online, but don't they know how busy I am?

Very excited that baseball is only 1 week away. Now I finally have something to watch while I do homework at night. Looking forward to the Giants defending their World Series championship. Still don't know when I will be able to watch my first live game of the season, as I still need to see how rotations and lineups set up before choosing the appropriate game to go. I am however for sure going to the big showdown with the Phillies in early August, as the respective pitching staffs are said be to be tops in the league. My main hope is that the Giants' arms can stay healthy and strong, because pitching one extra month due to the post season is not a joke on someone's arm. No matter how many Poseys show up in the big league, pitching still wins championships.

Me and a few of my entrepreneur classmates (wait sorry, I mean a few of my entrepreneur classmates and I) have started going around eating ethnic foods the Bay Area have to offer. Probably just as an excuse to hang out and eat (because soon we'll graduate and be gone). Last week was Vietnamese food, the week previous was Indonesian, this week will be Filipino, and next week is Burmese. Interesting how so far it has all centered around the southeast Asia area. Pretty soon I will get to represent and show them Chinese food. And the only place in the city to go for that kind of stuff is of course the expensive as hell Koi Palace. It is the Chinese restaurant I recommend every time I get ask the question: "where is the best place to get Chinese in the city".

Well, on to the rainy weekend. 

America should not be afraid of nuclear power

As if the biggest earthquake in the history of the country and a massive tsunami that ensued was not bad enough, Japan is still frantically trying to stop a nuclear meltdown at one of their nuclear power plant that was damaged due to the earthquake. It would be like pouring salt on a a really bad wound if that power plant implodes and harmful radiation spreads like it did when Chernobyl had it's down similar disaster many moons ago. 

But engineers knew the risk of nuclear power plants. Hence there were safety measures put in, and fail safes also. But then again, they probably did not think at that time an earthquake as massive as the one that just hit would ever happen. See the nuclear power plant they have over there was relatively old, and supposedly the newer the power plant, the more safe it is since safety technology has been improving consistently over time (as well they should have). 

I just hope engineers over in Japan can avert the crisis, as I think even something even at a quarter of the scale of Chernobyl was to happen, we here in the US can kiss nuclear energy goodbye. 

Sure nuclear meltdowns are terrible tragedies, and radiation can do some damage to a human body. But name me a significant energy source that is 100 percent clean and environmentally friendly? As with anything there are risk attached to it. I don't see how some people in the political arena can even argue against nuclear power, and using the case of Japan as evidence. The German people are even tell their government to shut down their perfectly fine plants. And where do you suppose the country should get its energy, oil?

Lest we forget, oil is responsible for some or the worse man made disasters ever. Last time I check, the BP oil spill happened just this past year, and of course the poster boy for environmental disasters - the Exxon Valdez. So politicians if you are going to harp on about the safety of alternatives other than nuclear, I really don't think you have a case (clean coal is an absolute oxymoron - you hear that CHINA?). And I thought we are trying to lower our dependence on foreign oil? You know, be self sustaining in terms of our energy needs? Might not happen with the automobile, but I am pretty sure powering the grid (TRON reference) should be left to our own. 

Nuclear is the next frontier of clean power, and it is time US joins the rest of the world (not you Saudi Arabia, you should worry about an uprising first) and embrace nuclear full steam. If all the safety technology is implemented, it should be plenty safe. I just don't understand how the government can be so apprehensive about it. Every kind of energy solution has its potential problems (plane flies over field of solar panels, gets incinerated by the reflection, but of course this is conjecture). Oil can spill, miners can get stuck in mines, and etc. I mean according to the game Sim City, short of leverage the powers of nuclear fusion, current nuclear power plants are some of the safest, least polluting, and most power generating type of plant on the planet. There is no reason the US should not be using it fully.

Disasters happens. What can you do but try to prevent the heck out of it. But mother nature is unpredictable, and hence you should not be scared by it. Did people of New Orleans move its city north just because of the Hurricane and the fact their city STILL lies beneath sea level? Since when did US drop its balls and not willing to live with the risk when the benefit FAR and FAR outweighs it (hello off shore drilling). Unless there is some treasure trove of oil that rivals the combined might of the OPEC countries, US is going have to start looking at adding more nuclear power plants. Lest we have to invade another sovereign country, accuse them of harboring weapons of mass destruction, and the plunder their oil (which is not true, for pretty much the war in iraq was a just massive display of nothing - and so many died, its a shame). 

Its is energy - the whole world runs on it. With the rise of China and other fast developing countries, it is appearing more crowded in this zero sum game. Stop using Japan's nuclear nightmare as an excuse to deter the US from using nuclear power. Besides, relatively speaking the US is not that densely populated hence the energy department should have no problem finding a suitable site far away from civilization to build nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power is the answer to the US's energy problem. No oil need to be spill, no miners will die a horrible death, and of course fail safe the hell out of the plant. What is happening in Japan is horrible yes, but no one could have predicted such natural catastrophe. Engineer says new nuclear power plants are built to withstand such earthquakes, so I don't think it should be a deterrent at all. I mean, I am not going back to rubbing two sticks together. 

Compass you'd be north - random thoughts

Welcome to another Thursday edition of my wonderfully wonderful tumblr blog. As I am typing right now the voice in my head is in an English accent because I have just finished watching a piece that was made in the UK. Through the years with all the Formula 1 coverage and Top Gear episodes, my inner voice has a tendency to convert to the British accent whenever I am amongst programming (or for that matter people) that emanates it.

Nonetheless, for the past few weeks I have stuck to a Monday - Thursday blog schedule, and I feel like the spacing works out perfectly for me because I do not have the time to write any more often than that. Anyways as far as format goes I think for the Thursday post I will stick with the random thoughts theme, and the post on Mondays will be centered around one big topic (next Monday's post will probably be about Japan again). Anyways, let's begin. 

Today is St Patrick's day, and also the first day of the tournament. If I was not in school and busy with the equivalent of a full time job, I would have just taken the day off and gotten drunk and watch tons of basketball from morning until the evening. But of course my immediately obligations to graduation and getting out of debt precluded me from making that choice. Thus I am stuck at some form of work or school from 9:30am this morning until 10:30pm tonight (13 hours of pure unadulterated fun I might say). So not only is there no alcohol for me (not a good idea actually since I have another full 8 hours of work/internship tomorrow) today, I cannot even watch basketball to see how fast my brackets crumble (damn you Morehead State!). Though I must say thanks to the NCAA iPad app, today's lone three hour class was went very smooth indeed.

Oh and I hate how conservatives complain about Obama having the time to fill out a bracket, amidst all the tragedy and tumult around the globe and on the home front (budget? no?). Give the guy a break. He is human after all, and a male at that. March Madness is the best month in the entire year of sports (unless your hometown team won it all and became the World Fucking Champions). Even presidents needs to kick back and enjoy life a little (unless you're Richard Chaney)  

You know how they caution people to not text and drive (wait, I have just receive word that it is indeed illegal in California), well I say people should not text and walk either. As I was walking from my parked car towards class today, this was the scene that played out: 1. Girl walking out of the door, texting on her cellphone. 2. Girl meets the ultimate monumental challenge - three flights of stairs down. 3. Girl trips on the first step. 4. Phone leaves girl. 5. Phone implodes on the pavement. 6. Profit?

Lesson is, unless you are a budding comedian, or have a very robust insurance plan for your undoubtedly very expensive smart phone, please hesitate to text and walk at the same time. Put the phone away and enjoy the scenery, look at hot girls or guys - you know, the reason your ocular abilities have evolved as such. Staring at a three inch screen while in motion is not what our caveman ancestors did.

I have been massively living unhealthily since starting work at my internship. Today is already Thursday of the week and I have only worked out once this week. Not only that with the internship place being at an industrial park at Oyster Point, the only food option of choice is either a diner, taco truck, or the nearby Costco (though extremely cheap). Not exactly the most healthy of choices. I would bring my own packed sandwich but I don't have the time in the morning, and I have enough stuff to carry as is since I have to lug all my photography and mobile computing equipment to the internship. Plus this weekend I am pretty much going to be out all the time so I think from now until graduation my traditional healthy lifestyle will be taking a significant hit. To be young again with a raging metabolism (8 slices of pizza like it was nothing).

An old co worker of mine, and a good friend, have been trying to get a radio gig for awhile now, since that was what he studied for career goal is. As you may all know the job market is still in the tank, and I guess the broadcasting industry is no exception. My advice to him was to just keep putting out work, make your own podcast, and upload them online. Because even if you think no one is listening to noticing it, someone out there is. The reason to do it is basically build up your experience and portfolio (no to mention, it was his passion), so in the case you do get a job interview, that resume will look very shiny.

Recently this friend swung by my work to say hi, and turns out he got a successful interview with a radio station in LA. The funny thing was, the interviewer said that the company already knew about him from listening to all the podcasts and radio shows he have been putting out! The lesson is this: never stop working on your art. Keep putting out stuff because someday someone will notice it and the hope is you will get your reward in the end. I am indeed very happy for my friend.

Gives me tremendous resolve and inspiration to continue to work on my digital photography, blog, and flickr. Even if nobody reads them, I genuinely enjoy doing it. And that, as Mastercard so eloquently puts it, is priceless. 

So everybody knows I am a big proponent of Apple's Mac computer line. I use it for everything, including editing and publishing my photos. Naturally I bring my Macbook along with me to my internship so I can do on the fly editing (not ideal, since the dinky 13 inch screen pales in comparison to my 30 inch at home, not to mention not nearly as color correct). My internship place uses Windows PC, and I must say unintentionally I am influencing them to the power and simplicity of mac. What can I say, as a creative type the mac is the de facto platform to do that kind of stuff on. PC may have the same program, but they are just not as intuitive as they are on the mac. Not to mention, windows has one fatal flaw - font handling. Every notice fonts (even of the same one) looks vastly superior on the mac system? Windows handles font in a terrible way, and if you are a graphic artist doing signs and things, that is just not going to work.

And to quote my boss: "The next Macbook Pro I see I am going to steal it"

Thanks to the honorable George W. Bush, the start of daylights savings time since couple of years ago have been push forward a couple of weeks. While I do enjoy the idea of having more of the sun's time (I mean today at 6pm it was not dark yet!), anybody will tell you springing forward just messes up your body. Its like a self induced Jet lag, without the travel to exotic locales. Body clock and habits takes a while to change, and you feel like you just never get the same sleep you did before the change, even if the hours are the same. These days I am so tired at the end of the day I just crash straight to deep sleep, and I wake up extra tired in the morning because body clock still feels like it is waking up one hour too early. I am contemplating moving back to the mother land where clocks stays put (or, be an iPhone user).

Oh and I how can I forget about that UCLA chick's rant about Asians in the library. Perhaps I am on the mellower side of the political correctness scale, but I kind of found it funny? In the face of such blatant ignorance, one can only laugh and have pity on the girl. Besides, like many responses have point out, some of the stuff she say is true anyways. Sure she made fun of how the Chinese language has so many words that ends with "ing", but heck the Chinese been using that technique to identify other Asian ethnicities for a long time (Japanese - lots of sentences ending in  "ka", Korean sentences with "yo"). Is she wrong? Of course! Should she be persecuted like she has? I don't think so. Lighten up, laugh, shake your head, and move on. Thought I must give props to all the Youtubers out there that have the comedic mind to respond in a hilarious and responsible manner. Best thing to come out of all this? The girl has learned a good lesson, and will never do it again. Is that not the true American value?

Random thoughts have stopped for now. Have a good weekend.