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.
Federal Gov Spending For Fiscal 2011
The Congressional Budget Office announced spending for fiscal 2011, a mere 3.6 trillion, surpassing the 3.52 trillion spent in 2009. The information included below is from the Wall Street Journal. Anyone who said Bush’s tax cuts led to the current problems should look at how close we came to balancing the budget in 2007. The source for this information is the Congressional Budget Office.
Year Receipts Outlays Deficit Deficit as share of GDP
2007 $2,568 $2,729 $161 1.2%
2008 $2,524 $2,983 $459 3.2%
2009 $2,104 $3,520 $1,416 10.0%
2010 $2,162 $3,456 $1,294 8.9%
2011 $2,303 $3,600 $1,298 8.6%
Amounts are in billions of dollars.
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.
Terrible Business Practice
My daughter-in-law had an interview scheduled for Thursday (yesterday) on Tuesday. When she got to the interview, she was told that the position had been filled a week ago. I find that a despicable business practice not to mention it appears the human resources part of the company (large department store chain) doesn’t communicate at all. At least have the common decency to tell someone before they drive to an interview that it is no longer necessary to come. I will be boycotting this company going forward.
And this is not the only bad practice seen these days. How about when one actually has an interview and then never hears from the company again? Just as bad. Obviously caring about people is something far too many businesses have stopped doing.
Anniversary Of D-Day
June 6th as most know is the anniversary of the invasion of France at Normandy by the Allied forces in WWII. My hats off to all those brave men, who survived and did not survive. Every single soldier who landed on those beaches is a true American hero!
Do You Treat Your Own CDs Like This?
I have owned CDs for lots and lots of years and never has one been damaged so that it doesn’t play. Yet the books on CD I get from the library are consistently scratched. Do people think that because they are free (so to speak) that they can throw them around like frisbees? Perhaps I am asking too much for people to handle CDs from the library like they would their own - or - I am an exception and most people mishandle their own CDs like they do with the ones from the library. I suspect though that these same people that ruin library CDs are the same people who throw trash out of their car windows along the road.
Free Is Nice
Carol, Delaney, Ella and I got back just a bit ago from our free night compliments of Priority Rewards. We stayed at the Staybridge Suites near the girls. It was very nice! Included were dinner, beer and wine, breakfast, and all the swimming we could handle. That part was what the girls like best. Delaney took are of washing all the dishes we used. She is an unbelievable great helper! Ella did her usual job playing life of the party. If you want to get away for a night, I would highly recommend Staybridge Suites. The regular price is not even that bad, around $90 a night for a suite and all that I mentioned.
A New Retiree
That would be me. After 30 years at Lilly and 6 years at the University of Minnesota before that, I am retiring officially at the end of the year. My last working day was Friday December 18th. Prior to leaving I had a very nice retiree lunch sponsored by the company, an extremely nice retirement reception, a super lunch hosted by the quality group I worked with the last few years, a nice evening with one of my best co-workers, Anand, and lastly a nice after work celebration with my quality buddies. Leaving the parking structure for the last time as an employee felt strange and exhilarating.
It is starting to really sink in now but it is taking some time. Last Saturday I found myself thinking about work stuff and reminded myself I didn’t have to do that anymore. On Sunday, when I moved my briefcase to set up to iron my shirts like I always do, I realized I didn’t need that anymore either. It is now emptied and stored.
I am really looking forward to January 4th, 2010, though. When I wake up that day, and not to an alarm clock, I can lay back and relish NOT having to go to work that day!
I haven’t decided for sure what I am going to do but when I decide, you can find out here.
Oh Deer
Last Monday while driving to work, it was raining and dark (when you leave for work at 4:30 am, it is always dark). Something appeared to be blocking the road ahead but I couldn’t make it out. I slowed down and sure enough in my headlights, frozen, were 4 deer! I stopped (and fortunately the person behind me was able to stop as well). The startled animals scurried to get off the road, slipping and sliding on the wet pavement. They made it to safety. Had I not stopped I likely would have hit at least 2 of the critters.
I’m Back
After a loooooong absence, I am back and pledge to regularly post new stuff. To leave a comment you will have to register. Sorry but gotta keep those spam comments away.