Innovation: Interrupted

College debt : is it a problem on the economic horizon?

Here is an essay that thinks not.

But the thinking here is that the framing of this argument as it being a form of debt does not meeting the traditional qualifier of an overvalued asset is missing the bigger point: that a huge financial debt load on a young person entering the work force stifles innovation --  and thereby stifles economic growth.

How? This person is far less likely to take the risk of starting a new enterprise when a fat monthly check needs to be mailed to the bank. Instead, it's a more logical path to go "work for the man", get that steady income flow and save the aggravation.

Not good; especially when considering that this is the demographic of people most likely to do so in the past.

Whoops! So it IS Affordable After All?

At least a certain contributor to a certain magazine is published as thinking so ( see link below) ...

Running the $'s can be mind-numbing, so I don't know the validity of this author's argument of "guess what? It IS affordable after all!"

But you an take this to the bank: the premiums in the red states WILL be relatively higher than what has been see in the first 3 states to publish. So don't be surprised. The con's will rig it that way to inflame their soldiers.

FORBES OP/ED:

"Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates"

 

 

IRS vs Tea Party

So the IRS supposedly targeted Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny, hmmm?  Two points:

1. If an organization has as one of its founding planks its desire to "stop paying taxes", isn't this kind of a tip-off? Not to mention; a good place to start looking?

2. Then again, it could be viewed as the ultimate example of government waste.  After all, how many Teabaggers have you met making enough money that would make them taxable?

So Ya Wanna Get on the Guest List?

The POV of a Rock & Roll Show Promoter:

My floating you a Guest Pass to tonight's show should be considered a longshot, unless you qualify under at least one of the following tests:

1. You are my Current Employee

2. Your are my Current Business Partner

3. You are my Direct Family Member (as in REAL direct)

4. You are someone with whom I Slept With within the past X amount of time (with X being subject to my discretion) and with whom I am still on good terms (see above about the 'my discretion' part)

5. You are someone with Whom I Am About to Sleep With, and of which this courtesy will move you into the Item #4 camp

If you meet one of those 5 qualifiers, you are then subject to passing BOTH of these remaining tests:

1. You must have actually Spoken to Me within the past two (2) weeks on a totally unrelated matter.

2. You are Dead Broke and would not be able to attend this show otherwise.

If you are still eligible after this exercise, feel free to leave a message on my Voice Mail.

Just call me at the brand new number I just got today!!!!.

(Courtesy Of: Jim Barnett.. thx JB)

WTF Dave?

It doesn't matter where you stand on the 'gun' issue, but I think this question should be in play for all observers:

- What exactly does Albany County DA David Soares have to do with the gun show at the Saratoga Springs City Center?  You'd think it was McArthur setting foot on the Phillipines.

Did I miss a memo about the city seceding-to or being annexed-by Albany? Maybe I'd better get back on the AM coffee wagon.

The Junk Era

We live in what future historians might call the Junk Era. Junk food. Junk Media. Junk housing. Junk goods. Junk news. Junk music. Junk religion. Junk TV. All of it with a goal of appealing to the lowest desires of the largest swath of consumers.

This plague has entered the intellectual arena. We now have Junk Science, junk logic, junk reason and junk politics. On the latter, this results in a system whereby the issues of the day are reduced to slogans, taglines, phony data being published as truth and policy arguments supported by leaps of faith in reasoning.

The current rage on gun control provides easy examples. Take the following beauty, making the rounds as a means of rallying the pro-gun minions:

The problem here, of course, is that this  'A Compared to B' is invalid --  if the concern is validity in the research methodology.  Assuming for the sake of argument here that that quoted fig on death-by-hammer is accurate, the process of then comparing it to a SINGLE MODEL of firearm (the AK-47, in this instance) defies logic and avoids the basic challenge of the topic; i.e., what is the relative occurrence of deaths by guns (or its subset of assault rifles)?

The valid comparison, naturally would be to compare it to a single model of hammers, like the Stanley Model 47 Claw Hammer. But, that wouldn't support the case, would it?

So, where we should be able to engage an easy solution as a means of reducing a  readily defined problem, we get junk as the supporting arguments. Yes: it is thrown at us from all sides of the issue at hand.

No wonder we can't get anything accomplished.  

Rock vs DJs

A good Facebook post I just caught, from a female friend of mine who is involved in a humorous online debate over the relative creativity quotient of club DJ's.  Humorous to us here at the 'burgh, at least.

"What you find personally "fulfilling" is not our concern and not really the topic here, is it? It's all art. Just like me doing my white girl dance to a jukebox is art or tapping my fingers to this song I hear right now is art or my horrible karaoke is art. It's all artistic interpretation and to a lesser extent artistic creativity. I am just saying that your "design my own beats" thing'y is a little closer to my karaoke and finger tapping on the creativity scale than it is to somebody actually singing their own songs and playing their own instruments on a stage."

Touche, girl ...

Happy New Year, poseurs!

Breaking Up? Not So Hard To Do

This has been floating on the Book of Faces @ the inter-tube and is worthy of a share, wethinks:




Dear Red States,

So you want to secede, do you?  We'll beat you to that punch.

We're ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics (like "legitimate rape") so we have decided to leave you.

We in New York intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the rest of the Northeast.

We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the new country, the Enlightened States of America (E.S.A).

To sum up briefly:

You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.

We get stem cell research.

You get Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin. We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85 % of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.

You get Alabama. And Louisiana.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue.

You now get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 % lower than the Christian Coalition's we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that the E.S.A. will be pro choice and anti-war and we're going to want all our citizens back from Afghanistan at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no convincing purpose.

We wish you success in Afghanistan and possibly Iran as well, but we're not willing to spend our resources in these sorts of pursuits.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90 % of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy (Yale, Harvard, etc.) and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Berkeley, U of Chicago, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs; 92% of all US mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists; Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite.

38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale; 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws; 44% say that evolution is only a theory; 53% claim that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazies believe that you have higher morals then we lefties.

We're taking the good California and Oregon weed, too. You can have the junk they grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,

Citizen of the Enlightened States of American