Welcome to the Hatbox! My name is Stephen Hatfield, and this is my personal blog, where I talk about things that interest me. The site is built using Expression Engine, and the template was designed by Simon Collison etc.
Global Debt
In their quarterly newsletter, Dr. Lacy Hunt and Van Hoisington of Hoisington Investment Management Company reported the following figures. One of the countries listed was a surprise to me, Canada. The following are the debt to GDP ratios for the areas listed:
Euro zone and the UK: 450%
Japan: 470%
Canada: 410%
United States: 350%
China was not included because they don’t release the data needed to make this calculation. However, there are signs from economists living in China that their debt is growing.
Bottom line - if you think things are bad here, they are worse elsewhere. And if you think the global economy does not affect the U.S., then you are mistaken.
Employment
Employment figures are of interest to just about everyone in the U.S.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
URL: Employment Statistics
Release Date: Generally the first Friday of every month
Report Coverage: employment conditions through the early part of the previous month
Description of the Report: provides one of the best summaries of current economic conditions, and is one of the most closely followed economic reports.
Warren Buffet Again
Warren Buffet is at it again. I wonder this time if the liberals will be so quick to jump on.
Warren Buffet told CNBC “I could end the deficit in 5 minutes.You just pass a law that says anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”
Taking up on this, wouldn’t it be nice if it were a Constitutional amendment?
Here is a Congressional Reform Act of 2011:
(1) No Tenure/No Pension:
A congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when out of office.
(2) Congress, past, present and future, participate in Social Security:
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
(3) Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do:
(4) Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise:
Congressional pay will rise by the lower of the CPI and 3%.
(5) Congress loses their current health care system and participate in the same health care system as the American people.
(6) Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
(7) All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/2012:
The American people did not make these contracts with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress in an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
Many thanks to Woody for passing this on!
Notable Quote
“By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.”
- John Maynard Keynes, Economic Consequences of Peace
Consumer Price Index
There are a number of economic indicators and reports that can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection. I found a fantastic listing of these in the book “The Strategic Bond Investor: Strategies and Tools to Unlock the Power of the Bond Market” by Anthony Crescenzi. I got this book from the library because of the list mentioned.
The first is the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
URL: Consumer Price Index
Release Date: generally around or slightly after the middle of every month, usually on a Wednesday
Report Coverage: consumer prices in the previous month (survey period is the entire month)
Description of the Report: a measure of the changes in prices of lots of goods and services grouped into over 200 categories
The CPI is one of the most closely watched gauges of inflation.
Some Things About Me
Just so you will know where I am coming from, at least on these items, here is where I stand on certain issues:
1. I believe that the political parties in the US should be named ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ and not Democrat and Republican.
2. I am a conservative.
3. I support private business.
4. I support a smaller US government.
5. I think GLBT people are no different than any other people. I, in fact, judge people only by whether or not they are honest and caring.
6. I support income tax code reform to generate more tax revenue and not increasing taxes under the current tax code because it has been shown any number of times that it won’t work.
7. I believe that anyone who earns income should pay income tax, even if that tax is only $1.00.
8. I believe that the current economy is the fault of both political parties. I will state two facts here. Under Bush from 2000-2008, the deficit was increased by 5 trillion dollars. Under Obama from 2009-now, the deficit was increased by 4.5 trillion dollars. Looks like both parties to me.
9. I support term limits for Congress.
10. I believe that Greece will default before the end of the year.
11. I believe that all people who vote in the US should have to prove there are US citizens.
12. I believe that each state should try and make it possible for everyone eligible to vote if they wish, and they should wish.
13. I do not believe the first 800 billion dollar stimulus was successful.
14. I do not believe that if passed, the second 450 billion dollar stimulus will work either. ( A rose by any other name.)
15. I do not believe that Keynesian economic policies cause economic growth.
16. I believe that we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan eventually but carefully.
17. I believe that in most instances the media is liberally biased.
18. I believe that conservative bias exists in the media.
19. I believe we rarely get the full story on anything.
20. I believe that we can reform entitlements in a manner fair to everyone.
21. I believe that a large majority of people in the US have no idea the cost to bring a new drug successfully to market so I will tell you. Right now it is averaging 1 billion dollars. Another couple facts here. One, pharmaceutical costs are at most 10% of total health care costs. Two, I know that most, if not all, pharmaceutical companies in the US have programs to help people afford their drugs. (OK, I admit this one is here because I worked for 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry.)
22. I support balancing the US budget.
23. I support the line item veto in the US budget.
24. I like to read the Wall Street Journal.
25. I believe that in some cases unions are still needed but that in many they are not serving the purpose for which they came into existence.
26. I believe that abortion for convenience is abhorrent.
27. I am a Christian.
OK. Enough for now. As you read what I write some other of my beliefs may come out.